Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The woman occupied her place on the table, looking around carefully. She once again admired those worn out tapestries that still hung from the walls, they definitely had seen better years but despite everything, it was still possible to appreciate the delicate work that the master artisan had put on those at the time of the creation. She had always imagined how much more beautiful and brilliant they must had been in the past, how many parties and important reunions they had been witnesses of. Maybe some secret romance as well. But now they were just witnesses of that odd group of people she belonged to. She couldn’t avoid to feel pity for those tapestries, from being admired by the eyes of Emperors and Princesses, to now that only her eyes were set on them.

“I’ve never understood why you’re always looking at that stuff.” Her colleague asked dismissively as he squinted his eyes, trying to find something worth of his attention.

“Perhaps are you looking for moths or beetles?” A voice that appeared coming from a bush in a planter suggested.

The woman shook violently her head, she would definitely not look for moths and bugs.

“I didn’t see you there, Gympie.” The young man with long hair said to the planter.

“I’ve been very interested myself in finding some eggs of those cloth moths that have been eating the tapestries.” The woman who looked as a bush said as she took her seat at the table. “Did you know that some of the dyes used on those were highly poisonous? There is a manuscript on the library that details the symptoms the workers developed before dying. I bet that I could get something interesting if I use those eggs.” She said as she stared without blinking while her eyes scanned the closest tapestry.

“Uh? Are you interested suddenly in poisons as well Thorn Princess? That’s why you have been looking at those rags?” The young man asked to the first one rather accusative.

“Those rags are still invaluable, Hemlock, so I’d appreciate if you refrain from calling them rags.” A soft commanding voice that belonged to an older gentleman said.

The room filled with silence as the older gentleman walked in and slowly took his seat at the head of the table. The three younger people had been looking at the entrance, as if waiting for someone else but seeing that no one was coming they turned with questioning eyes towards the man.

“That’s why I’ve called you all today.” The man said with a sigh. Maybe he was becoming softer as he was turning older, he thought. They were suppose to know the risks of the job, they knew the standard procedure of what was to be done if some of them was captured. They were to be discarded as a rabid dog. And yet… “Matthew has disappeared.” He announced with the same soft voice he always used. He looked around him as he said the words. There was nothing but utter annoyance on Hemlock’s face. Gympie kept looking for bugs. Thorn Princess was shocked at the news. He wondered what would happen to his legacy once he was gone as well. By looking at those people around him, he knew he had failed at his task. None of them could pass as a functioning member of the society just as Matthew did on a daily basis. Heck, he even wondered if they could survive without the money he paid for their jobs. That’s why he needed Matthew, he told to himself. It wasn’t about rescuing him, it was about trying to rescue the Garden Legacy. Shopkeeper couldn’t do it alone.

“W-what happened to him?” Thorn Princess asked, her voice breaking fearing for the worst.

“Didn’t you hear he disappeared?” Hemlock answered annoyed.

“That’s not what she meant.” Gympie said as her attention drifted towards a spider that had just captured a mosquito on the corner of the room.

“He left his home three days ago, on account of going to his civilian job. When he didn’t return the first night, Mrs. McMahon didn’t think of asking around since she is used to him disappearing without previous notice for a day or two. On the third day she found Chief Barnes at her doorstep inquiring about the health of Matthew, believing him to be sick. Mrs. McMahon covered for her husband saying that he was still highly infectious and that she was about to get the physician, thus effectively getting rid of Chief Barnes. She started to make her own investigation and well, that was what caught my attention. I have reasons to believe that Matthew has been captured by spies from the West.” Shopkeeper told them what he thought they needed to know.

“Spies from Westalis?” Gympie repeated. Even if they had had certain encounters with people from the West, there was really no reason for Westalis to abduct Matthew McMahon. Even if they learned from his job at Garden, what would they do with that information? Force him to kill someone? Just the same, assuming they really had Matthew McMahon, if the Director had done what they were supposed to do in case they were captured…

“In that case, McMahon should be dead already, right?” Hemlock voiced Gympie’s thoughts. They had been trained to kill themselves in case they were captured by anyone. “And if he isn’t, the only reason I can think of you gathering us here is so we can look for him to silence him after his failure to do so himself.”

“Is that what you think as well, Thorn Princess?” Shopkeeper turned to the woman on his right who looked rather lost in thought.

“Director McMahon is a really smart man, if he hasn’t… followed the protocol yet, he must have a very good reason for it.” She spoke a bit shy at the beginning but as she talked she felt the confidence that Director McMahon was alive and they had to rescue him.

“I agree with you.” Shopkeeper said hiding a smile with his hands.

“So are we supposed to raid Westalis to get him back?” Hemlock asked as he fretted a little internally. He had always thought he understood Shopkeeper the best. “I can take around 100 men per hour and Thorn Princess can probably keep up, but it would still take us sometime to beat all of Westalis population…”

“We’re not trying to start a war.” Shopkeeper told him.

“I can prepare some chemical bombs.” Gympie said, thinking that she could probably not take one man in a hand to hand fight, but she could take 100 men as well with one of those.

“I said, we’re not trying to start a war.” Shopkeeper repeated, thinking that rising those children was perhaps not his brightest idea.

“I’ve never been in Westalis, is it true that they eat people?” Thorn Princess asked to the other two.

“No one is going to Westalis.” Shopkeeper said finally rising his voice by an octave. “Matthew is not in Westalis, yet. I’ve been able to figure out that he must had been taken to Wuppertal.”

“Wuppertal? Is that where those trains are being built?” Thorn Princess asked quickly.

“I didn’t know you were interested in trains.” Shopkeeper told her amused.

“N-no! Not me! My brother! He has been talking non stop about it.” Thorn Princess blushed as she shook her hands.

“Why there?” Hemlock asked.

“Wuppertal has become of lately a hive of spies.” Shopkeeper explained. “I don’t know exactly what is going in there, but there has been rumors that something has been found in the mines nearby the city. And of course, with the building of those flying trains there is a lot of corporate espionage happening as well. I’ve heard the lead engineer has a full unit of bodyguards at his service since there had been several attempts to kidnap him.”

“I’ve heard the government is building some secret weapons in there, using the Schwebebahn as an excuse.” Gympie added.

“Maybe, maybe not, either way that is not of our concern.” Shopkeeper said enigmatically. Of course he knew that the government was building there, but telling those three would not benefit anybody.

“Uhm, what if it isn’t Westalis who had kidnapped Director McMahon?” Thorn Princess asked nervously.

“Hahaha, who would then if not? Now, let’s discuss about how to infiltrate that pesky den of spies.” Shopkeeper dismissed Thorn Princess’ worries and started talking about his plan.

Thorn Princess sighed as she arrived to the train station with her two bags. She was nervous about this job, she had never had to infiltrate anything. Well, maybe some of her previous jobs required some level of infiltration but the details were always handled by Director McMahon, she was only the hammer. And besides there was Yuri’s reaction when she told him that she would be going to Wuppertal for some time. He had not reacted well, crying out loud that it was a dangerous trip to a dangerous place.

“That place is full of brothels and nothing else! What are you going to do there!?” He had freaked out at her words. “There is nothing but dirty men looking for a hooker to spend the few coins they gain on the mines and the railway construction!”

Thorn Princess sighed at the memory, what would Yuri say if he knew that she was supposed to infiltrate as one of those hookers. Thorn Princess didn’t look down on those women, she knew better than anybody what it meant to have nothing absolutely nothing but her own body. She just had been lucky enough that she could use her body in a different way under the training of Shopkeeper. But she still had the bitter memories of those men that approached her when she was barely a teenager looking for a way to survive. She didn’t know how she was going to do what Shopkeeper was asking her to do. According to him, there was a particular brothel in Wuppertal named WISE that was frequented by spies to exchange information through veiled meetings in the rooms of the brothel. Shopkeeper suggested for either her of Hemlock to infiltrate as one of the sex workers to get access to the customers and identify the ones coming from the West in order to find Director McMahon.

“You should stop babysitting us and just let Hemlock do it.” Gympie told her once the train they were taking towards Wuppertal started moving. “You’re not our older sister, you know that.” She said that aloud while thinking that Thorn Princess didn’t have to sacrifice for them as she did for her actual little brother.

“B-but Hemlock looked very uncomfortable at the idea.” Thorn Princess muttered.

“Just as much as you look.” Gympie said as she started pulling some acorns to snack. “I wouldn’t mind doing it, but I don’t have the looks. I think I would only attract the weirdos.”

“D-don’t say that Gympie! Besides you’re very important for our operation, Shopkeeper is trusting you with all those complicated medicines.”

“A truth serum is hardly a medicine, and I don’t know how Shopkeeper expects me to create the perfect one when those spies have been trying to fabricate one for years with no result.” Gympie sighed, she knew about poisons, not about truth serums. But perhaps she could start with a hallucinogen, although it was going to be difficult to have a test subject, she would have to use Hemlock then, she thought. “If you want I can create something as well for the customers you’d have to see, something to knock them out before they try anything funny with you.” Gympie offered.

“You’re very kind, Gympie.” Thorn Princess replied with a smile.

Gympie didn’t say a thing, she knew that Thorn Princess was actually the kind one, and despite what she had said, Gympie thought of her as an older sister. They almost never worked together in Garden, since their lines of work were very different. Thorn Princess couldn’t remember how to create a poison even if her life depended on it, so their interactions had consisted basically of Gympie poisoning her to help her build a resistance against those substances. Gympie had been afraid that Thorn Princess would grow to resent her because of that, but the other girl had always thanked Gympie for her hard work and would always offer a smile to reassure her that everything was fine.

So despite everything, Gympie had been happy with the plan suggested by Shopkeeper. The three of them were supposed to travel together and establish a temporary residence in Wuppertal posing as three orphans that had out grown the system and had heard that there was easy money in Wuppertal. Gympie would use her knowledge to pose as an apothecary. Although the position was dismissed by the recently industrialized society in favor of the pharmacists, the poorer layers of society still looked for the apothecaries as a cheaper and more familiar alternative for their ailments. Wuppertal in particular would be filled with men that performed extenuating physical activity who would favor ointments and restorative teas. In the meanwhile, Gympie would try to create the perfect truth serum. Most of her bags where filled with all the things she could think of could be useful for that purpose. Good thing that when one of the train guards had become suspicious of her large boxes Thorn Princess had appeared and the man had become distracted trying to talk with the pretty woman.

An apothecary would also be a more approachable profession for the prostitutes looking for an abortive. An apothecary would not ask questions or impose moral judgment as the pharmacists and medical doctors frequently did, or that had been the idea for many years before the occupation started to sound more like the field of quacks and scammers.

So while Gympie would work on the truth serum and establishing an information network with those lower layers of society, Thorn Princess and Hemlock were to work their way into the spies networks that were supposed to dwell in Wuppertal. Shopkeeper suggested to infiltrate that brothel in the easiest way possible and engage in sexual encounters until they found one of those spies. Gympie thought that it wasn’t exactly one of the best plans of Shopkeeper, but she understood that the man was limited by what he had at his disposition, that meant, the three of them. But at the end, Gympie thought, the limitations were coming from the same Shopkeeper. He had trained Thorn Princess and Hemlock so if anybody had the fault that they could do nothing else but to kill in combat was him. He could had spare some time to teach them something else if he ever expected them to do something else. But they didn’t even have the sparsest of sexual education. Gympie had learned something about it because of the whole anatomy that she had to learn to improve the poisons she prepared. She knew that Thorn Princess and Hemlock had also learned anatomy to find the weak points of their opponents, but they never heard anything else than: “kick them in the nuts if you’re in problems”.

She could easily picture the whole ordeal failing as soon as Thorn Princess or Hemlock would have to serve their first lewd customer. The man would definitely end dead. Shopkeeper wasn’t thinking clearly, perhaps he was actually more worried about Matthew McMahon than what he wanted to admit. So Gympie had decided she would take the lead of the operation and would create something that would allow for the lewd men to think they had sex and put them to sleep instead, that way she could keep Thorn Princess and Hemlock safe, and more importantly, they would not be discovered on their first day in Wuppertal.

Gympie had always thought that Thorn Princess and Hemlock had to lead a very exciting life outside, unlike her who spent most of her time covered in dirt while she worked in the greenhouse or in the lab. Her mouth hanged open for a while when as soon as they had given merely ten steps outside of the old train station in Wuppertal when she witnessed one of those exciting episodes she was always imagining. Just as Thorn Princess was carrying all of their bags and they were trying to find the way towards the place where they were supposed to rent a room, they heard a commotion coming from the left. Gympie had just turned towards the direction of the noise and Thorn Princess was already in there, in the middle of everything holding a large metallic thing that looked very heavy. There was a crane dangerously oscillating above the people, the metallic thing must had fallen from there.

A woman and a child were on the floor, if Thorn Princess hadn’t jumped to hold the metallic beam they would had been crushed by it. Gympie saw how a bunch of men and women in black suits hurried, but then she saw in disbelief how they carried the woman away but let Thorn Princess with the beam and the child still in danger. Gympie started running towards there, she could at least move the child away so Thorn Princess could put that beam down before she was crushed as well, but Gympie was small and always had problems moving around people. She wanted to shout that all those who were watching idly by the side should be helping Thorn Princess, but her voice also didn’t work around multitudes. When she finally managed to go out of the circle of bystanders she saw that there was a handsome blonde man holding the child in his arms. Thorn Princess had put the beam down and was blushing and babbling something.

“Hahaha… yeah, I guess it was one of those cases where you get strength from nowhere…” Thorn Princess was saying as she was trying to avoid the gaze of the man.

“I cannot thank you enough for saving her. Anya, I’ve told you many times to be careful on the streets.” The man told to the girl, who Gympie thought didn’t look half scared as a child that was almost crushed by a metallic thing should look.

“Tho…” Gympie started to call her but put her hands on her mouth immediately, she had screw up already, they weren’t supposed to use their code names on the street.

“Oh, Gy… Gina! There you are!” Thorn Princess said nervously, thinking that she didn’t know which was the civil name of Gympie.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Gina. My name is Loid Forger and this is Anya.” The man said to Gympie but Gympie thought that his eyes were actually looking at Thorn Princess. “Please let me know if there is anything I could do for you.”

“We just arrived to Wuppertal, maybe you could tell us where to find the Prick Hostel?” Thorn Princess told to the man, but she found that Gympie took her hand and pulled her before the man could answer.

“Don’t worry, mister, I know how to get there.” Gympie told to the handsome blonde man named Loid Forger, for some reason she found him troublesome. She would use the multitude of bystanders that were still gossiping around to disappear and that would be the end of it. She pulled Thorn Princess away from the man and she turned one last time before they were devoured by the people to see how he kept looking at them, or more precisely at Thorn Princess. Gympie was about to tell her what a creep that guy was but when she looked at the other woman she realized she also kept looking at the man. Gympie froze and Thorn Princess tripped on her.

“I’m so sorry, are you okay Gympie?” Thorn Princess said, very sorry to have stepped onto her.

“D-don’t worry. It was my fault.” Gympie responded, feeling uneasy about the whole thing. It couldn’t be, could it? She needed to arrive to the hostel so she could unpack and confirm with one of the forbidden books about what she had just witnessed.

Twilight kept on holding Anya as he saw how the two women walked away. Once they were finally out of sight he turned to check the beam. It wasn’t really possible that a young woman could hold that as he had witnessed, was it? He kicked the thing and regretted it immediately, frowning at the giggling coming from the girl.

“What were you doing here?” He asked, finally starting to walk away from the scene. Although the people kept talking around them, the topic of conversation had quickly switched.

“Searching for information!” Anya proudly announced. “Anya doesn’t want to go hungry to sleep tonight.”

“I see…” Twilight said, recognizing the uneasy feeling on his stomach as guilt. He had said after all that the girl had to prove her worthy.

“Are you mad with Anya?” The girl asked, curling a bit on his arms.

“No, but Anya needs to be careful. That woman you saw today…”

“The super strong lady?” Anya asked with shiny eyes.

“No, not her. The one on the ground with you.” Twilight looked at the girl amazed that she didn’t look terrified after the experience, maybe she was too young to understand what had happened.

“Ah, the lady with the wrinkly eyes!” Anya said trying to imitate the face of the woman.

“Stay away from her.” Twilight told the girl as he put her down so she could walk. If she wasn’t scared, she could walk.

“Is she bad?” Anya asked tilting her head. The girl couldn’t put into words what she had felt being close to the woman.

“The people around her are dangerous, did you see how no one helped?” Twilight took the hand of the girl and both started walking back to the place where they were currently living.

“Everybody was saying that.” Anya whispered, remembering what the people around her had been thinking. “And the other lady? The strong one?”

“The strong one?” Twilight frowned, maybe she was a strong woman from some circus? Or maybe it was as she had said that the situation rushed the adrenaline in her system giving her that super strength for a few minutes. It wasn’t unheard of similar feats under similar situations, mothers rushing to help trapped children, siblings helping each other… And he didn’t even got to know her name.

“Anya likes her.” The girl grinned.

“Well, Wuppertal is a small place, we’ll meet her again for sure.” Twilight sighed without noticing it.

Twilight put Anya on his shoulders and started climbing a ladder he had set up on the back alley to reach the place where they were living. He used that entrance when he didn’t want to meet with the landlady, which was almost everyday. He entered through the window to find the annoyed face of Franky.

“I’ve told you not to climb through that window without announcing yourself! What if I was with a woman?” Franky complained as he put aside the clockwork mechanism he was trying to fix. “Don’t look at me like that, it could happen.” He added seeing the faces of Anya and Twilight. “Besides, I’ve been telling you, you need to find your own place, my landlady will not be too happy if you two continue to live here for too long.”

“Mrs. Hudson loves Anya!” Anya said happily. She would have added that Mrs. Hudson also loved Twilight but guessed Scruffy wouldn’t like to hear that. Mrs. Hudson was a widower that lived downstairs and was always sneaking in sweets for Anya.

“Anyway, isn’t it too early for you too to be back?” Franky asked looking at the girl who went to pick up her doll. He guessed something had gone wrong by judging the bad mood from Twilight but didn’t really wanted to ask.

Franky had come to Wuppertal half a year ago, he was supposed to work developing the steam engine of the new train. He had been very excited but quickly found out that everything was a cover operation of Ostanian government and the steam engine was supposed to be used for some war vehicle. Although Franky loved the idea to continue working in such a thing, he despised the idea of helping the government or even worse, that one of his ideas could be used for war, so he had quit hoping to find something else to do in Wuppertal. At the end he managed to get small jobs to fix things here and there, it wasn’t too much, but it was enough to live in that place and save a little, thinking of his next invention. Or that was his cover story anyway, actually he had quickly noticed that there was a lot of spies in Wuppertal and decided to offer his services as informant to whoever paid enough. For that he had recruited the help of the rascals of the neighborhood. There was nothing like those children to know who was where, with who and at what time. They were invisible for the rest of the world and the only thing they asked of Franky was some food. That’s how he had found Anya. In one particularly difficult case one of the older kids had told him to look for their sage. It took Anya three hours to give him the information he wanted, so he had decided to keep using the girl.

However, none of his plans had accounted for Twilight arriving to Wuppertal. Twilight and Franky had met several years ago and developed a transactional friendship. Meaning that Franky would provide to anything that Twilight requested, as long as Twilight paid enough. The friendship part was because they allowed for some banter between them, something that did not happen with other informants or spies. Twilight had barely escaped a botched infiltration operation and was badly injured when he had appeared for the first time through that window almost a month ago. Franky was sure that Twilight had still not fully recovered from the injury and that was probably the main reason he was still living there, but his presence was a liability for Franky. Their transactional friendship was not supposed to put each other lives in danger. Twilight was breaking their non spoken agreement.

And then there was Anya, who had come crying one day to his doorstep after she had a bad nightmare. Franky thought that he wouldn’t had had any problem putting her back on the streets after comforting her a little, but it turned out that Twilight was a softy with children and the girl had remained there since then. Franky kept asking them to leave day after day, but Twilight pretended not to hear him and Anya just danced around the floor. After a week with the two of them, Franky knew that he couldn’t throw Anya to the streets never again, but he would gladly had thrown Twilight instead.

Chapter Text

After walking for a while, turning left and right and stopping for directions endless times, they finally arrived to the Prick Hostel. Thorn Princess thought that it looked like a card castle. The three bottom floors were of brick and stone, but above them, a “newer” construction of wood extended its height by at least seven levels. Thorn Princess wasn’t sure about the actual number of floors, it looked as if they were not leveled so they could be even more. She looked nervously at the heavy luggage from Gympie, she was afraid that structure would not support the weight of all the stuff she needed for her laboratory.

“I hope we can get a room in the ground floor, I don’t want to go up and down that many stairs.” Gympie said. “Do you think the people in here still throw their waste to the streets? Nevermind…” She said after looking at the horrified face of Thorn Princess.

As Gympie was reaching out to hold the handle to open the door, the door opened violently with a loud noise and a bundle of clothes and hair came rolling out of it.

“And never come back!” A woman yelled as she blandished a broom on her right hand and a pot on the left.

“As if I would ever want to put a foot inside such a pigster!” Hemlock said standing up and cleaning off the dust from his coat. He looked at Gympie and Thorn Princess but didn’t say a word and started to walk away with very exaggerated long steps.

“W-wait, Hemlock!” Thorn Princess tried to stop him.

“What!?” Hemlock yelled his frustration at her.

“You should wash your clothes, I don’t think the ground around here is a good place to roll around, you must be covered in pe...” Gympie said but found that she couldn’t finish her thought because Thorn Princess had covered her mouth with her hand.

“We should stay together.” Thorn Princess said and then turned towards the woman with the broom and started to apologize for whatever Hemlock had done.

“Hmmp.” The woman made a disapproving noise. “I don’t see the little master there apologizing.”

“Apologize, Hemlock.” Thorn Princess asked the young man with authority.

“W-why would I?” Hemlock hesitated, Thorn Princess never talked to him like that.

“I said, apologize!” Thorn Princess took him by the back of his head and made him bow with a single movement.

“Sorry! Sorry! I’m sorry!” Hemlock said still surprised.

“Fine, I’ll let you stay, but if you do or say anything funny you’re out!” The woman told to Hemlock as she indicated the other two to follow her inside.

Gympie’s worst fears came true as they had to climb up using a very small and steep stair. The innkeeper had given them a room in the "new" part and she had had the nerve to charge them dearly for the room, saying that the view was the best of Wuppertal. While Thorn Princess tried to balance the weight of their luggage around the room, Hemlock was opening and closing the only door the room had, the one they had come in.

“What is it, Hemlock?” Thorn Princess asked seeing the confused look on the man.

“Where is my room?” He asked confused at the lodging Shopkeeper had arranged for them. He was used to staying in way better places.

“There is only a room, we’ll have to share.” Thorn Princess said as she moved a particular heavy box to the other wall.

“Don’t look at us when we’re changing.” Gympie told Hemlock.

“Of course I don’t have any interest in watching any of you!” Hemlock responded upset. He starting tapping his foot loudly which gained them the complains of their neighbors downstairs.

“Keep it quiet!” A grumpy voice complained.

“What is it, Hemlock?” Thorn Princess asked, noticing one again the discomfort on the man.

“Where is the bathroom? I want to take a bath.” Hemlock responded nonchalantly.

“There is no bathroom.” Gympie responded, she was looking for the box with the forbidden books.

“What do you mean there is no bathroom? Do I need to go downstairs with that hag if I want to bath?” Hemlock asked them not understanding what they were telling him.

“I don’t think the hag has a guest bathroom.” Gympie said as she opened one of the boxes, but that wasn’t the one she was looking for. “We probably will need to look for a public bath.”

“Do you need to use the toilet, Hemlock?” Thorn Princess asked softly as she put her hair down and started to comb it.

“W-why… Don’t talk to me as if I’m a small child?” Hemlock said loudly.

“Keep it quiet!” The neighbor downstairs yelled again.

“There is no toilet, feel free to use that window, we won’t look.” Gympie told him pointing to the window in the opposite wall.

“I’m no animal!” Hemlock exclaimed, but by then it was evident the little dance he was doing. “Fine, don’t look!” He said finally as he hurried towards the window.

“Wait, Hemlock, the wood over there is rotten…” Thorn Princess just saw how the man plummeted down when the wood at his feet broke.

Thorn Princess sighed as she looked at the stars above them. It had been many years since she had had to camp in the middle of the forest while she wasn’t on the job. The innkeeper had thrown them away complaining of destruction to her property and they had used almost all of their money paying her so she wouldn’t call the police. They had moved to the outskirts of the city, to the entrance of the forest that lead to the mines. Gympie had said that she was happier to not stay in the Prick Hostel, since she wanted some land to cultivate some of her herbs. Hemlock claimed that living in the wild was the way to improve his skills and had said that he wouldn’t return to the city and had started to practice with his sword.

Thorn Princess sighed once again, something was bothering her. She wasn’t one to look for luxuries and comfort when she was in the middle of a job, but Shopkeeper had always provided something  different. It wasn’t as if Thorn Princess always had a bed or a roof over her head, there had been some really bad nights when she had been trapped in all kind of places, but all of this felt different. She had the uncomfortable feeling that Shopkeeper was using them in a different way than usual. It almost felt as if he was lying to them. 

Maybe it was the way he had said that they were not going to Westalis. Thorn Princess had actually believed him, it wasn’t until they arrived that the reality struck her. It had been merely eight years since Ostania had invaded and taken control of a large portion of Westalis. In her mind, that part of the map was still Westalis, however, in her mind as well, she had no idea on which part of the map Wuppertal was. She was sure the innkeeper of the Prick Hostel hated them because they were from Ostania. She had felt the animosity in the city, but hadn’t really thought about it until the innkeeper demanded all of their money to not call the cops. She wondered if they would find the same rejection from all the people from Westalis. The face of a blonde man appeared on her thoughts. She shook her head, he had been kind but he didn’t know they were from Ostania, maybe he would also be harsh with them when he figured out the truth.

Thorn Princess raised her hand towards the unreachable stars. What a silly thought, to think that somebody could find the truth about her and not hate her. She had to focus in finding Director McMahon so they could return as fast as possible to Berlint.

“What is it?” Gympie asked noticing that Thorn Princess was moving one of her hands. “I think it’s too cold for mosquitoes, but did you find any interesting bug?”

“B-b-bug!?” Thorn Princess repeated as she quickly stood up and started spinning to find the invisible bugs.

“Never mind, I forgot you don’t like bugs.” Gympie said as if nothing had happened and wondered if she could burn something to repel any possible bugs.

Thorn Princess pretended to fall sleep but couldn’t really rest thinking of those creepers that dwell in the forest. She decided that Gympie and Hemlock could stay in the forest if they wanted to, she was going to look for a job and a place to sleep inside Wuppertal the next morning.

As she intended, she went very early to Wuppertal, stopping by the market street to find something to eat in the food stalls. Most of them offered a very cheap option, targeted mainly to the men that were going back to the mines. Those men would not return to the city in a whole week, while the men that were just finishing their shift would make their apparition on the streets at noon. The woman that sold her a watered down tea and some stale bread for a dalc wasn’t particularly kind, but she wasn’t rude either, she was just focused on her business. Thorn Princess asked if there was some place where she could sit down while she ate her breakfast and the woman just pointed towards some boxes at one corner. Thorn Princess guessed that the earnings of those people were likely not enough to have any employee, so she wouldn’t have luck by asking for a job in there, so she decided to just eat in silence.

Then she heard the woman from the butcher shop talking with a woman who was shopping for the day. They were saying about someone leaving town.

“I’m not surprised, honestly, there is nothing left here for Westalians like us.” The first woman sighed. “I’ve been talking with my husband about leaving as well, but he thinks it is still a good business even with all those easterners.”

“Well, of course it is a good business, they’re all a bunch of savages.” The second woman responded. “If your husband would really support our cause he would refuse to sell to them.” She said reproachfully. “All of us are doing sacrifices.”

“Sacrifices my ass…” The first woman muttered.

“Excuse me?” The second woman asked shocked.

“Oh, isn’t that Master Frost from the brothel?” The first woman said, pointing to some people that were gathering around the bakery.

“Look at the time, I have to hurry.” The second woman said without turning and started walking away very fast.

Thorn Princess turned towards the bakery, this could be a chance to get into the brothel, but she felt the dread on her stomach and she didn’t move. The woman from the butcher shop started sweeping in front of the shop and another woman that was selling something from a basket approached her.

“Did you hear the youngest of the Brehman is going into the mines as well?” There was clear worrisome on her face.

“But he is just a boy!” The other woman lamented. “I thought the Brehmans were going to the west.”

“They were, but since the oldest disappeared two weeks ago, they’re clinging to the hope of staying to find him.” The woman with the basket said.

“What is going to happen to us, Emma? We were told we could stay here and continue our lives, that we would only have a government from Ostania… but the taxes are too high, they’re pushing us to sell our homes and land and now they’re stealing our boys from us.” The woman from the butcher shop complained. “And that hateful Mrs. Schlag comes bragging as if the whole town doesn’t know her husband is in cahoots with that people from Berlint that are controlling the mine.”

“What’s that?” The two women turned to some cries and commotion coming from some doors down street.

Thorn Princess hurried towards there, where an older woman was on the floor, all the produce she had bought splattered on the street. Someone had mugged her. Thorn Princess looked around trying to find the culprit and going after him, but the woman stopped her by holding her arm and asking instead for help getting up. Once the woman was up, Thorn Princess started to gather what could be savaged and then she noticed once again that just like the day before, the people around them were not helping. Some of them were even maliciously stepping onto the things on the ground, pretending not to see them.

“It’s okay, dear.” The old woman said with a smile. “Could this old woman ask you to walk me back home? I’m afraid I forgot to bring my cane today.”

Thorn Princess took her by the arm and as they walked down the street she saw one of the street vendors was hiding a cane behind his foot. She snapped one button of her coat and threw it against the man’s forehead. The man fell down unconscious and the cane came rolling down. She went to pick it up and returned it to her owner.

“Look at that, I did brought it! Hahaha, when you get older you forget all sort of things! Had you have breakfast already, dear?” The old woman giggled as she guided the way towards her house.

It was a small two stores house. Narrow front, basically only one door wide. When the door opened, there was an equally narrow stair towards the second floor.

“I rent out the upper floor, as a widower a little of extra money is always welcomed.” The old woman continued chatting. She was quite the talker. “My dear old Frank who left me I don’t even remember how many years ago used to go without a penny on his pocket for days. Not because he didn’t have any, but because he was always finding someone who needed it more than him. We used to fight a lot because of that. I wanted the whole thing, you know? A big house, a big family… Now now, look at me, making you all sad. Never mind. As I was saying, my dear old Frank, did I tell you already he was from Ostania? When we married my parents disowned me because that was what parents from Westalis were supposed to do.”

“Is that why the people are mean to you?” Thorn Princess asked as she was already sitting and had a cup of hot tea in front of her. The widower was as fast with her hands as she was with her talking.

“Hahaha, I guess it’s not possible not to notice, right? Well, that might be the reason but at the same time it’s not the reason they’re like that. Yes, my husband was from Ostania, but he had already passed away when I came to live here. And that was many years before this last war, so why would they hate on a man they never met? No, they’re just venting, trying to put the blame on someone.” The woman smiled as she put some fried eggs and bacon on the little table. “Are you from Ostania, per chance? I don’t think I have seen you around here before.”

“Y-yes, I-I just arrived yesterday.” Thorn Princess answered nervously, what if despite all the friendly chat from the woman she would turn angry once she learned she was from Ostania.

“Times must be really hard if young people like you need to come to this kind of place.” The woman said. “So, what are you doing here?”

And that was how Thorn Princess ended getting a job with Mrs. Hudson, the name of the widower, when she couldn’t put into words her plan of working in a brothel.

“I’m just too old.” Mrs. Hudson told her. “And to have to take care of two grown men is too much for my back. Even going through these stairs it’s becoming impossible for my poor bones. Oh, don’t worry, despite how they might look they’re respectable young men. But they’re still men and I need to clean up here every other day to avoid a cockroach infestation or worse.”

“O-or worse?” Thorn Princess shook with fear, she couldn’t imagine anything worse than a cockroach infestation.

Mrs. Hudson opened the door from the second floor towards a little living room. It was so little that it was cramped with books, tools and a lot of funny looking devices. There was a tea table full of dirty dishes, and crumpled paper on the floor. Mrs. Hudson sighed and went to open the curtain, she disapprovingly looked at the ladder that was hanging from the window but didn’t say a thing.

“This is the restroom, if you find it particularly disgusting I’ll hire someone else to clean it.” Mrs. Hudson said, opening the door to the left to check how bad it was.

“I-I will clean it! After all you’re offering me this opportunity!” Thorn Princess expressed.

“Uh… what’s with the noise?” A voice from one of the bedrooms said as the door opened.

“Oh, Franky, I didn’t know you were here. Anyway, it is perfect, please meet Yor, she will be helping me to keep this place clean.” Mrs. Hudson said as she passed a finger over one of the counters.

“H-help? It was about time, I have a ton of clothes that need washing...” Franky said half sleep. However his yawning got interrupted and transformed into an internal scream when his eyes finally noticed the young woman next to Mrs. Hudson.

“Not a problem, please give me those clothes, Mr. Franky.” Thorn Princess said with enthusiasm as she rolled up the sleeves of her shirt. She was going to prove Mrs. Hudson she wasn’t bragging about her cleaning skills. She would make sure no spot was left on those clothes.

“N-never mind!” Franky said blushing while cursing internally, he would never let such a pretty lady to see his dirty clothes. At least not until they were married. “I just remembered I already took care of that!” He lied as he tried to hide with his feet one garment that was on the floor. He quickly closed the door.

“What? But if you were just complaining yesterday about how you didn’t like how Mrs. Thompson was doing the laundry!” Mrs. Hudson exclaimed moving her hands over her head.

“M-maybe you don’t really need my help, Mrs. Hudson… If there is nothing to clean around here, there is no point in hiring me and I really liked this place…” Thorn Princess asked sounding a little bit defeated.

“Yor was going to stay with me downstairs according to our agreement.” Mrs. Hudson said, one hand on her cheek while moving her head expressing sadness that it wouldn’t happen.

“W-WHAT!? You know, I don’t have anything, but I’m sure that guy has tons of things in there that need cleaning!” Franky said hurrying to force the lock on the other bedroom. He knew Twilight would kill him for that, but he wasn’t going to lose the opportunity to fraternize with someone as pretty as Yor.

“Fine! I’ll get to it!” Yor said entering the other bedroom with confidence.

It was at least organized, unlike the rest of the floor. Although it was a little dusty, so Yor started to dust all the furniture. Whoever was the owner of this bedroom, he had a large amount of books and old newspapers. So Yor was very careful to not disarray anything while she cleaned. When she finished with that, she grabbed the basket with the dirty clothes and went downstairs to wash them. It looked like the owner liked to spend a lot of his time on the forest, since there was a lot of dirt in the legs of the trousers, but other than that, the cloth was practically clean. The owner must be a very meticulous person.

“What’s this?” Thorn Princess thought as she reached the bottom of the basket. A vest with a dark stain, the kind of stain she knew very well. She asked Mrs. Hudson for some baking soda and carefully scrubbed until she was satisfied with the results. Then she went to clean the rest of the floor.

Franky had attempted to clean his mess, meaning that a lot of the devices and tools were now dangerously cramped in a corner and hidden behind a coat hanger and an oversize coat. Yor didn’t say a thing and started sweeping and washing the floors, she would attack the bathroom later. Franky was panicking internally because if there was anything more disgraceful than having a pretty girl washing your dirty undergarments, it was for a pretty girl cleaning your bathroom. He couldn’t allow it. So when he saw that Yor was returning with some clean water, a mop and several brushes to start with it, he stood in front of the door.

“I think you’ve done a good work today, why don’t you take a break? I’ll take it from here.” He said smiling, remembering how much Twilight had pestered him to clean that bathroom the weekend before.

“This is my job now, Mr. Franky, so don’t worry.” Thorn Princess replied, waiting for Franky to move, but he didn’t move.

“Look at the time! I’m really hungry, wouldn’t you like to go out for something to eat as well? On me, of course!” Franky said blushing.

“Once I’m finished, although I think Mrs. Hudson was almost done preparing dinner, it wouldn’t be right to ruin our appetites after she has been cooking for us.” Thorn Princess replied, prepared to move Franky by force if he didn’t move on his own. “Now, Mr. Franky, please let me…” She didn’t finish her sentence since she saw a shadow on the window and instinctively took a defending stance.

“Twi… Loid! My man!” Franky said, never been happier to see Twilight going up that ladder. Of course that Anya was tagging along.

“It’s the strong lady!” Anya exclaimed happily as she ran towards the woman.

“Oh, hello, Miss. How are you today?” Thorn Princess greeted the girl with a smile.

“She called me Miss!” Anya turned to Twilight, who had a silly expression on his face.

“Ah, it’s you!” Thorn Princess and Twilight said at unison.

“You know each other!?” Franky asked agape. “Where did you meet her!?” He went straight forward to confront Twilight.

“We just met yesterday…” Twilight said, unable to part from her eyes.

“Oh! Mrs. Hudson asked me to tell you to please start using the front door as any normal person.” Thorn Princess said with a giggle that sounded like music, at least that was what Anya read from the minds of the men in the room.

“He is not a normal person!” Anya told to her as she clung to her skirt.

“Is he not?” Thorn Princess asked as she took the girl on her arms finally dropping all the cleaning utensils.

“Cut it out, Anya.” Twilight said, feeling how his ears were burning.

“By the way, Mrs. Hudson also said that the young lady living here needed to take a shower before dinner.” Thorn Princess said to the girl who tried to jump out of her arms, but she couldn’t do it.

“Gah!” Anya exclaimed as she twisted as a cat.

“I’ll be back.” Thorn Princess announced as she went downstairs.

“What the hell is she doing here!?” Twilight asked Franky in low voice, so she couldn’t hear him.

“Mrs. Hudson hired her to clean.” Franky responded shrugging, he was more interested in how much they knew each other and wanted to interrogate Twilight, but he knew he had to run downstairs as soon as he saw the face Twilight made as he opened the door to his bedroom and found out that Yor had already been there.

“Franky…”

“I’m going to clean the bathroom!” Franky said, quickly grabbing bucket, mop and scrubs and locking himself in there.

Twilight analyzed the damage, all his carefully prepared artiluges to see if anyone had intruded in his personal space had been activated. He used the dust to know if anybody touched anything, but now there was not a single speck of it. The hair, threads and pieces of paper that he left as markers on the things he considered more confidential were gone. He took a deep breath, it was not a problem, he knew who had been there, he would only need to tail her to know what were her intentions. Then he noticed the basket was gone and he lost it. He went running downstairs, there was no way she woulnd't say a thing if she had seen that.

He didn’t have to go all the way down to see his clothes hanging on the line in the back patio. The damn vest in there. He had to double check, but it didn’t matter how much he looked, the stain was gone. Whoever this Yor person was, at least she was good to remove blood stains. His eyes turned cold at the thought, maybe he would need to interrogate her as well, not only follow her.

Then his thought were interrupted at a window that opened next to him.

“Are you spying on us?” Anya asked, steam from the hot water in the bath surrounding her and escaping through the open window.

“Miss Anya!” The terrified voice of Yor followed by a splash.

“Close that window Anya! I’m very sorry Miss Yor, I swear I didn’t see anything!” Twilight said as he pushed Anya back into the bathroom and tried to close the window which the girl fought with all her strength.

“It’s too hot in here!” Anya complained from inside.

Twilight used that chance to walk away as fast as he could, just to find himself face to face with Mrs. Hudson and two weird looking people. He recognized one of them as “Gina”, the woman that had been with Yor the day before. The other, a young man with long blonde hair was a complete stranger to him.

“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Hudson!” An apologetic Yor bowed continuously once she was out of the bath. “It wasn't my intention to bother you so much!”

“Not a problem!” Mrs. Hudson replied smiling, as she tried to fill two extra plates with the dinner she had prepared. “Although it would have been good to know so we all would have enough food.”

“I won’t have dinner, I’m not hungry!” Yor said, but a noise from her stomach quickly exposed her lie.

“Non sense, you’ve been working non stop today.” Mrs. Hudson said as she looked around the kitchen, finally finding what she was looking for. Some old smelly cheese.

“I don’t understand how you end banned from a forest.” A cynical Franky said as he moved the goulash in front of him with a spoon.

“Just throw a bee hive and an angry bear towards a group of well dressed men.” Gympie replied, poking at the potato cubes on her goulash.

“Weaklings that cannot endure what the forest has to offer have no business in a forest.” Hemlock added, his face covered in some muddy substance. He had a huge bump on his forehead that he tried to scratch but he was stopped by Gympie.

“Don’t remove the stings yet, I’ll collect them later.” Gympie said, looking fascinated at Hemlock’s face.

“Hey, Mrs. Hudson, how are you planning to accommodate this many people on such a small place?” Franky asked annoyed. There was only one arrangement he would approve, and that was if Yor and him shared a room.

At the end, Mrs. Hudson surprised everybody as it turned out the woman was also the owner of the much bigger property next door. She said she just never used it because she never had that many people visiting her, but she was happy to start operating a larger guest house. She negotiated a price for Gympie and Hemlock, since Gympie also wanted to start growing some plants in the central yard. Franky demanded to move as well to that part of the property to a larger room where he could have all his stuff. It was past midnight when all the new and old guests were installed in their own rooms.

Twilight watched uncomfortable all that movement from the roof. He didn’t want to move, but Mrs. Hudson insisted. He had picked a small room above another one that worked as a small wine cellar. It wasn’t as far away as he would have liked from the rest of the people, but at least he could go and come as he wished since he had access to the roof from one of the windows. He didn’t turn when he heard the ruffling of clothes.

“Aren’t you supposed to be too old and fragile to be climbing up here?” He asked without turning, he knew very well who was there.

“A little wine works wonders.” Mrs. Hudson replied, she was carrying a bottle on one of her hands. She drank up from the bottle and offered it to Twilight who shook his head. “Why are you always so serious?” Mrs. Hudson asked him, pinching one of his cheeks.

“Are you sure about this?” Twilight asked her.

“I’ve heard the good old neighbors are concerned about the blonde bloke that has been living here. I think a little more of people around here will help with your cover.” She replied without emotion. “How are you?”

“Perfectly fine.” Twilight responded but lost all color once Mrs. Hudson pinched him on the side.

“Perfectly fine… It’s been almost a month, how is that it hasn’t healed yet?” She asked, her voice sounded noticeably younger.

“I burnt it.” Twilight said, recovering his breath.

“For fuck’s sake, are you insane?” Mrs. Hudson looked at him as if she wanted to kill him.

“We don't have enough time.” Twilight said bitterly.

“Fine, do as you want, just next time you’re barely alive don’t come to me.” Mrs. Hudson said with anger as she descended way too easily for a woman her age.

Twilight watched her go. He wanted to tell her not to worry about him, but he knew things didn't work like that. If there was anything that worried him at the moment more than his current mission was to put her in danger by staying there. 

Chapter Text

The streets of Wuppertal were dark, only the newest Wuppertal neighborhood had gas lamps in every street. Other than that, the road that lead to the mines had a few gas lights, but not all of them were working as of last year. In general, people from Wuppertal avoided to be outside when it was dark, except for the usual customers of the red district. And even calling that place the red district was a stretch. It was mainly composed of the one brothel, several guest houses that offered adult entertainment and a couple of taverns that every night saw one or two fights. The red district was illuminated only because of the light that escaped through the cracks of the windows of those old buildings. Just as any other night, the music and voices from the red district traveled through Wuppertal until they were lost in between the labyrinth of small streets.

A man whistled as he walked through the dark alleys. He was using a heavy coat that concealed all his features, a hat all the way down his ears. And yet, by the way he was walking one could guess he was the kind of person that was very satisfied with himself. The kind of person who thought he could get his way all the time. He never noticed the pair of eyes that were watching him from the second floor of one of those hovels next to the road. But he did notice the sound of the steps that were following him. They were muffled, very light. He only heard them because something cracked under the weight of whoever was following him. He stopped and turned back, but he didn’t see a thing. He made a noise with his tongue and continued walking, a little faster. There was a gas lamp at the next corner, he decided he would stop there, but as he approached the place the lamp went off. He cursed under his teeth, his breath noticeable as the weather was getting colder due to the incoming winter. He told to himself that then he would just hurry up, his stride became longer, his body lost the confidence he had been exuding a moment before. A nervous grin on his face as he thought of the faces of the guys when he told them this little adventure. There were always rumors of what appeared at night in Wuppertal. He had never believed in them, until that night, when the gas lamp turned on again and he saw that thing with the green eyes. The people who lived nearby heard his screams, but no one dared to unlock their doors.

“Don’t wanna! Don’t wanna! Don’t wanna!” Anya screamed running around the table. It was the umpteenth attempt to send her to the school.

“Hey, you promised before, remember?” Twilight told her as he cornered her, but the girl ran below the table and locked herself in the cupboard.

“Don’t wannaaa!” Anya screamed from inside the cupboard.

“Again with that?” Franky asked as he entered the common kitchen and looked around for breakfast. “Anya, if you don’t come out I’m going to eat your breakfast.” Franky said, eyeing the cooked eggs with bacon that Twilight had prepared for the girl.

“It’s mine!” Anya said as she jumped out of the cupboard and grabbed her food with her little hands.

“There is no need for that.” Twilight said as he grabbed a napkin and cleaned the girl. “Here, use this.” He said giving her a fork. “Do you remember what I told you?”

Anya looked at him and nodded. Twilight had promised her that she would always have a roof over her head and food on her stomach as long as she went to school.

“I’ll go tomorrow…” Anya muttered as she munched on the food. She knew very well that when Twilight had promised her that, he was actually thinking of Mrs. Hudson providing all that. Anya liked Mrs. Hudson but she preferred Twilight, he was the coolest person she had ever met. Not that she had met too many people.

“Hum…” Franky said skeptically. “Where is my food?” He then asked to Twilight, who was now also eating his breakfast.

“Uh? I thought you said the other day that you would never had to endure the torture of my cooking since you were going to be eating only whatever Yor cooked?” Twilight asked, rising one eyebrow.

“Yeah, well… I’ve changed my mind.” Franky responded.

“Scruffy spent all of yesterday in the toilet.” Anya told to Twilight.

“I see.” Twilight responded. Initially, all the guests had been on board with the idea of Yor cooking for everybody, but after the first meal Twilight retreated. He was actually surprised of the perseverance of Franky that had survived three days of those meals. “I’m not cooking for you.” He added quickly. 

“Miser.” Franky said as he went and put some butter on a bread. “Listen, I need your help with something.”

“And that’s how you talk to me?” Twilight asked him. “Sorry, I’m kind of busy right now.” He refused moving his hand.

“Forget about that, this is important. What do you know about the green eye monster?” Franky took a seat and looked at Twilight.

“Green eye monster? As in envy?” Twilight was honestly confused.

“No, as in an actual green eye monster!” Franky said excited. “I have a request to find someone. Wilhelm Weg, he was last seen three nights ago by his lover. He was supposed to go back to the mines but he never arrived.”

“You know people disappear around here a lot.” Twilight said thinking that in the time he had been in Wuppertal he had known of at least ten people who had gone missing. “How is that the authorities don’t do anything about it?”

“Beats me.” Franky responded shrugging. “They will never look for the poor people, I bet that only if one of those rich children goes missing then they will do something. Anyway, do you think you could spare a few minutes of whatever you’re doing and ask around and see if you hear anything?”. Franky sighed when Twilight left without agreeing.

Twilight went to his fake job. He entered the large building that once had been a Museum. The Wuppertal Natural History Museum had been the pride of Westalis for many years. It had displayed fossils from the Eocene Epoch and also a large mammoth skeleton that had been borrowed from Ostania, in a time when the countries were still friendly with each other. No one knew what had happened with all the stuff that the Museum used to have. Now the building was used by the Desmond Mining Company and hundreds of employees walked in every day. Twilight was posing as an external accountant, hired to audit several departments since rumors from embezzlement had reached the ears of none other than Donovan Desmond. The man was supposed to be retired from politics, focusing on the family business, but WISE, that now worked more as a resistance organization than an intelligence unit, suspected otherwise. Donovan Desmond had perhaps not started the war that erupted ten years ago, but undoubtedly he had lead the flash attack that had ended in that peace treaty where Westalis was reduced to half its size.

At the time, all the information that WISE had gathered indicated that the DMC (Desmond Mining Company) had found a very large deposit of a dangerous material at Eastern Ostania. And the information also indicated that Donovan Desmond had surrounded himself with scientists that were trying to create a weapon using those materials. These weren’t rumors, WISE agents had died after being exposed to that material during an infiltration operation. The head of WISE at the time had advised the government for unconditional surrender. Of course that there had been people against the idea, people that wanted to fight to the bitter end, fortunately or not, WISE had had enough evidence to convince the right people. Since then, WISE had lost a lot of their influence and power, but there were still people who didn’t trust in Donovan Desmond and saw with concern all the mining in Wuppertal. That was the reason Twilight was there, to find a way to infiltrate into Donovan’s inner circle and learn about what they had actually found in the excavations near Wuppertal. So he pretended to focus on his job, while he listened to all the conversations around him, trying to find anything that could add to his investigation. 

Thorn Princess sighed as she walked towards the market. She had really tried her best to cook but she was just learning that her cooking skills were abysmal. Hemlock was upset with her, claiming that it was unfair that she had decided to try her luck with poisons. He even accused Gympie of teaching her behind his back. Franky had spent a whole day locked in the restroom and Loid and Anya had refused to try anything she cooked after the first meal. The only one happy was Gympie, who seemed to enjoy the chills the food poisoning caused her. But Thorn Princess wasn’t ready to give up, she was sure that if she tried hard enough she could cook something that everybody could enjoy. She returned home that day with some suspicious looking mushrooms and something similar to a large rock, that turned out to be a rock.

“You gotta be careful with some of the sellers, they like to mess up with people like us.” Franky tried to comfort her, after Gympie had taken the mushrooms and confirmed that the other thing was a rock.

“People like us?” Yor repeated sniffing.

“From Ostania.” Franky added uncomfortable. “I mean, I don’t judge them. I guess it cannot be easy to accept the concept of surrender.” He said shrugging. “Not that I care, I wouldn’t care less if Ostania changed of name or just disappeared. I’m not the patriotic type.”

“I see.” Yor muttered, wondering if she was the patriotic type. They were supposed to help control the Ostanian underworld, or at least that was what Shopkeeper and Director McMahon were always saying. That they were soldiers, that they were fighting for the good of the country. But she had never actually felt any satisfaction from that. She had only found a way to survive and provide for Yuri… “Yuri!” She said aloud, scaring Franky. “Franky, do you have some paper? I need to send a letter to my brother or he will get so worried about me that he could abandon his job and come all the way here.” She turned around, looking for something to write.

She was just finishing the letter when Loid arrived, she had tried to keep the letter cheerful and talk about how pretty was Wuppertal and how good everybody was at the guest house. She made emphasis in having found a female acquaintance in Wuppertal and how Mrs. Hudson was like a grandmother to all the guests and that she was always looking after them, girls. She avoided going into deep detail about the men living in there, actually, she avoided to mention them at all, so she spent a lot of ink talking about Anya. She couldn’t really talk much about Gympie because Yuri would be upset that Yor had a friend that she hadn’t introduced to him. Once she was satisfied with how the letter had come, she put it in an envelope that Franky had given her and wrote the address from Yuri.

“Are you going to mail that?” Loid asked her as he finished sauteing some vegetables he had brought. He had already heard about her shopping fiasco. “I can send it tomorrow when I go to work.”

“Would you do that?” Yor thanked him. “Sorry, it’s just that after today I’m a little worried that they might even overcharge me for the stamp…”

“I can see that happening.” Loid told her with a smile, as he grabbed the letter and placed it in a little basket that there was close to the exit door. “But don’t worry, as people get used to see you around here they’ll become nicer. It’s just that they’re wary of their homes being taken away from them by all the people that it’s coming to live here.”

“I remember I heard something like that the other day.” Yor responded, remembering the conversation she had overheard.

“Home, I’m back!” Anya yelled as she opened the door, but tried to ran away as soon as she saw Twilight.

“Where did you go? Just look how dirty you are!” Twilight reprimanded her, grabbing her by the collar. All her clothes had dirt on them and her hair looked as if she had rolled around in the mud of something.

“Miss Anya! I heard you’re going to start school tomorrow!” Yor said excitedly as she clapped her hands and started to get some leaves and twigs from the girl’s head.

“Gan!” Anya gasped, she had forgotten completely.

“I’m so jealous, I wish I could have finished school. I wasn’t a good student, but you get to do a lot of fun stuff and you could meet lots of friends.” Yor told her smiling. “I should wash this, so it’s ready for tomorrow. Come, let’s take a bath.” She told the girl as she grabbed her hand and walked her towards the bathroom.

Twilight watched in silence their interaction, it was the first time that Anya hadn’t screamed her lungs out against the idea of going to school. He went towards the entrance and opened the letter from Yor, nothing suspicious there, he thought as he carefully put the letter back into the envelope.

“That’s such an ungentlemanly thing to do.” A voice said at his back.

He turned around, trying to figure out where the voice had come from, he was sure there was no one there, then he saw how what he had took for a bush in a pot moved.

“Ah, Miss Gina!” He smiled sheepishly, searching for an excuse.

“Call me Gympie, it’s such a bother to remember the other name.” Gympie said looking at the rude blonde man who didn’t seem to understand a word of what she was saying. “I mean, everybody call me Gympie, I’m not used to my actual name anymore.”

“I see.” Twilight pretended not to think anything of the matter, but his brain was overclocking.

“So, did you read anything interesting?” Gympie fixed her stare into the obnoxious blonde man in front of her, watching him as if he was a beetle. Gympie had been suffering since arriving to Wuppertal, she had thought it would be easier for her to get that, but the town was too puritan for it. She was starting to get impatient. She had decided that that man, Loid Forger, was the only one who could help her. And here he was, giving her the chance to get what she wanted from him. “I wonder what would Yor think of you reading her private correspondence.”

Twilight didn’t respond. He just watched how Gympie walked slowly around him, as if gauging him. He decided not to say a thing, he suspected the woman was going to try to blackmail him, but with what purpose? Was she some sort of intelligence asset from Ostania that had found him? And what about Yor? Was she also in cahoots about this? Was all of this situation an elaborated trap to bring him down? Despite his control, his eyes turned cold, waiting for what Gympie had to say.

“I’m willing to forget everything, as long as you get me this.” Gympie took out a piece of paper that she had been holding on her pocket. She had been showing that to several people in Wuppertal, but no one seemed to recognize what it was.

Twilight took the paper and read the line that was written in there. He looked back at Gympie, it wasn’t for sure what he was expecting. He still suspected this was a bait, a bait he was willing to swallow now that he was aware of it. “Hum, Miss Gympie, I’m afraid this might be forbidden literature. I’m pretty sure Ostanian Government just banned this author last year for considering it… seditious.” Twilight chose his words carefully, he could have played dumb, but he was sure that he wouldn’t get anything from Gympie like that.

“But you do know where to get it, right? You haven’t refused.” Gympie quickly was on her toes, trying to reach his face.

“Not in Wuppertal, that’s for sure.” Twilight responded. He wondered if he should mention that it would be better to talk with Franky about this, but he didn’t want to sell his informant identity before being sure of Gympie’s intentions.

“I-I don’t have much money, but I’ll pay you something… I-I just need to know what happens next! The cliffhanger from last chapter where Carmichael is outside Victor’s bedroom, I’m dying here!” Gympie complained.

“Yeah, sorry, I don’t know too much about the plot of The lovers of Victor Volkov, but I’ll see what I can do for you.” He sighed, thinking that perhaps Gympie was younger than what he had estimated. Anyway, he didn’t want to know a thing about the lovers of Victor Volkov and definitely didn’t want to risk exposing his secret identity by trying to get the latest issue, he would just ask Franky to get it.

“By the way, don’t mention about this to anyone.” Gympie added with somber voice and after getting confirmation she disappeared humming happily a weird melody.

The guests of Mrs. Hudson’s guest house had quickly developed a routine that allowed them to interfere the minimum on the lives of the others. Loid Forger was usually the first one to wake up and the last one to go to sleep, but he kept to himself most of the time, just using the kitchen to prepare some food for him and Anya. Sometimes he would agree to cook something for Franky as well, but only when he wanted something. Like for example, for Gympie’s request he had agreed to cook for a week for Franky. Other than that, he usually spent the day outside, either at his fake job or doing something of his actual job. Yor Briar was the second one to wake up, she started to clean all the common areas and the place where Mrs. Hudson lived. Once she had finished with that, she went to prepare her own breakfast and after that she would do the laundry that the other guests had left for her. She had noticed Loid never left anything, but she didn’t asked him about it. He seemed to be very particular about his likes and dislikes and Yor was sure that he hadn’t been satisfied with the first and only time she had washed his clothes. And she had really taken that spot out of the vest, but maybe he was upset because she hadn’t patched it, it was just that sewing wasn't one of her strengths. Once she had finished, Gympie would be up and working on the central yard trying to get some of her plants and herbs to thrive. Gympie seemed to survive only by munching on nuts, raw vegetables and green leaves, although if she was feeling adventurous she would ask for Yor to cook something for her. Then she would be joined in her room/lab by Hemlock who would complain the whole day about how that style of living was bad for his training and how he couldn’t understand why Thorn Princess looked so satisfied by that dulled life. Franky would be generally the last one to be up, except if he managed to get some food from Twilight, then he would be up early. He would leave the guest house during a big part of the day to go gather information around Wuppertal. And finally Anya would do as she pleased, waking up early to get out as soon as Twilight was out and wandering in the streets of Wuppertal until she got hungry.

Nighttime was a whole different nightmare because of the bath. Mrs. Hudson had one for her own private use so the rest of them had to share the other one. It was quite the spacious bath and Franky had managed to build very easily a mechanism to heat the water inside the bath by just re purposing a small engine he had in his room. However, there was always a fight between Hemlock and Franky about the usage of the bathroom. Hemlock always wanted to be the first one to bath, thing that he never managed because usually the girl and Thorn Princess took an early bath in the afternoon. Twilight suspected Franky had some pervy intentions to bath immediately after Yor and Anya, but Franky insisted that it was only because the bath would smell very good after them. He complained that if he took a bath after Gympie, the bathroom would smell like herbs and medicine. And Hemlock always left a mess of water on the floor. Twilight always bathed the last, very late at night, when the rest of them were supposed to be sleeping already.

That night it wouldn’t be different, he was outside, hiding in a dark alley as he kept a watch on the mansion where Donovan Desmond was supposed to live. He had never managed to see the man entering or leaving the mansion. The most he had accomplished was to reduce the number of the cars where he could ride to two, but he couldn’t say for sure if Donovan Desmond was in there, since the windows were tinted. He had already memorized all the other vehicles and faces of people that went into that mansion. He knew which respectable Westalis citizens had agreed to work with Desmond Mining Company to force the sell of the plots around Wuppertal that belonged to other people that originally were from Westalis. He also knew the shifts of the guards, who of them fall sleep on the work, who had problems with the wife, who loved to go to the red district, who had had a case of food poisoning that he could have sworn had the same symptoms as the people who had tasted Yor’s food. He knew all that there was to know, and yet he knew nothing because he hadn’t managed to get anything on Donovan Desmond. So he kept going there, hoping that there could be something he could use.

There was a reason why he had pushed for Anya to go to school. Donovan Desmond had a son around her age. Twilight had no idea why Desmond had brought the child to Wuppertal, but since his second son was here, some teachers from Berlint had also moved along. One of those teachers had volunteer himself to teach as well in the local school. If Anya started going to his classes, maybe, just maybe, there was the chance of an opening through this Mr. Henderson. At the end, Mr. Henderson was supposed to be living in the Desmond Mansion. It was a long shot, but Twilight was willing to try anything at this point. Whenever he was on this vigilance, his mind would usually focus on what was going in the Mansion. He even knew at what time to expect which lights to go on or off, but as of lately he had found out that his mind started to drift. He blamed Sylvia for this, if she hadn’t accepted to host such an extravagant group of people he could relax a bit. But instead he spent those hours thinking that Gympie was such a weird nickname, specially if she was supposed to be making medicines as she claimed she was. He also didn’t really know the name of the other guy. Twilight thought that he had introduced himself as Jones, but he had also heard Gympie and Yor calling him something different. And he was weird, Twilight would have bet a dalc that that Jones guy was old nobility. The kind of old nobility that felt entitled to certain things, such as taking a bath before anyone else. And then there was Yor.

He didn’t even know where to start with her, since the first time he had saw her he felt something on his chest. He couldn’t really describe what was what he felt, so he thought it was a hunch. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she was carrying a very heavy beam as if it was nothing, or maybe it was those eyes of her. Franky had asked him about a green eye monster, he hadn’t heard of one, but he had heard of one with red eyes. An old legend from Westalis that made reference to some crazy governor from Ostania that liked to behead his enemies and impale their disemboweled bodies outside his castle, or something like that. As Twilight had grown older he forgot the details about the legend, or they got mixed by the stuff he witnessed during the war. The only thing he was sure about was that on his mind after he heard of the red eyes he had always believed it was a folk story about someone with albinism. People liked to invent stuff like that about others who looked different from them. He wondered if Yor could actually be dyeing her hair somehow. He wondered where was Yor from, he wondered what she had lived through that she didn’t get to finish school… Before he could realize the time, he saw how the last light of the mansion went off. It was time for him to go, someone else from WISE would take his place at this time.

He returned to the guest house and went to take a bath. He felt tired, he had been worried about his injury that didn’t seem to heal as fast as he wanted, but at least it looked as if he had avoided any infection by cauterizing the tear on his skin and muscle. He knew he had been lucky, if that thing had got any deeper, he would have been disemboweled, just as those guys from the stories of the red eye monster. But it still cost him a good chunk of skin. Whenever he touched the burned area, it still felt hot, which he thought might be good, at least it wasn’t rotting. Although to be honest he didn’t know how it felt that your own body was rotting. He only knew of the corpses during the war, of the smell that filled those battle fields. As he closed his eyes and sunk in the bathtub, those images came rushing to his mind. He hated his mind in those moments, he hated he was able to remember in such detail. The sound of the guns, the screams, the silence that followed everything. The stench.

But the stench didn’t came this time, instead he found himself detecting a faint perfume. It smelled of roses. He sensed someone outside the bathroom, so he hurried to grab a towel and opened the door, he couldn’t get caught as compromised as in the bathtub. He stood aghast, it should had been obvious but his mind had drifted so much he couldn’t really process it in the moment. It was only Yor at the other side of the door. It looked as if she had taken a late bath as well, her hair looked still a little damp, the faint smell coming from her. Probably some rose oil. Now he understood why Franky said it smelled good, because it did. He felt a shiver traveling through his spine as Yor kept looking at that towel that was on his waist. Those carmine eyes shining, entranced with whatever she was looking at. Twilight gulped, he wished he had taken something more than a towel, something that could hide better the reaction of his body when her finger touched his side, very softly, very carefully.

“Looks painful.” Yor said, looking at the burn Loid had. She had expected other kind of injury based on the blood stain from the vest, but she could see the damage had been large. She tried to pull down the towel a little bit more, to see how large the burn really was, but there was resistance. A resistance that made her realize what she was doing and as she felt on her bum trying to walk back she started mumbling some apologies. She didn’t dare to look at Loid in the face. “Here!” She said giving him a little jar with some ointment she had requested from Gympie. “I-It will help you but I’ll ask Gympie for something special for burning!” She said as she crawled her way out of there.

Chapter Text

The activity started very early in the Donovan Manor. A lot of the trustworthy employees lived in there, in a building that had been specifically built for them. The Donovan family lived in the old Mansion, with only a few housekeeping staff that had been with them for years. Desmond Donovan was rich, very rich, but he was also the most distrustful person in Ostania and perhaps, Westalis. If he had always been like that, no one could tell. Some people believed there had been a change in him during the war, his closest allies said that he had witnessed betrayals and horrors that had turned him like that. What did she think of that? That was the question that came to her mind every morning.

Melinda Desmond, the wife of Donovan Desmond, opened her eyes, even thought she hadn’t really slept that much. She just had learned that by closing her eyes and using the eye mask people believed she was sleeping and left her alone. She went to wash her face and then started applying several layers of makeup to hide as much as possible the dark circles under her eyes. She didn’t care that much about the wrinkles on her face or the rebellious white hairs on her head that reminded her that she wasn’t a young woman anymore. But she knew people talked behind her back, and no one had anything nice to say about her. If those people were to see her without makeup, they would be convinced she had gone crazy.

Once she was done with the makeup and her hair, she opened a drawer from the fine boudoir that matched the rest of the furniture on the room. She carefully examined the objects in there, for anyone who didn’t actually know her, she was just selecting the jewelry for the day. But her inner circle, those men and women that talked to her ears every other Friday, knew better. She took a silver bracelet that had some clear stones on it and she examined each and every one of those stones. They had been polished to make those simple quartz to look as something more valuable, but Melinda didn’t care about that. She only wanted to know that they hadn’t turned opaque. Master Crowley had given her that bracelet, not as a guard, but more as a telltale device, to know when the energies around her were evil. She put the bracelet back in its box, she needed a new one. She could see how the dark lines inside the crystals were bigger than last time she had reviewed them. She needed something else, something more powerful. She went instead for her earrings made of selenite. They were small, but she was always at peace when she wore them. She grabbed a small velvet bag and put a bunch of different stones in there and put the velvet bag on a hidden pocket on her dress. Those stones were disposable, their only purpose to absorb and purify all malign energies.

Once she finished dressing she left her bedroom, towards the dining room. She would only have a coffee, she couldn’t remember when was the last time she had actually felt hungry. Her eyes scanned nervously the corridors and the people that she crossed paths with, wondering if her husband would be around. The simple thought of him made her heart beat faster, but not in the way it used to beat. Long gone were the butterflies and the joy of seeing him. Now there was only dread. She didn’t know why she had come to Wuppertal. Then she opened the door of the dining room and saw the child in there. Then she remembered she had come because of him. She had no idea what Donovan was planning, it was very unusual for him to request the presence of their second son. Once Melinda heard the news, she couldn’t stay in Berlint, she had to come, because even as weak as she was, there was still a part of her that wanted to believe she could protect that child. Even if she couldn’t protect herself.

“Good morning, Mother.” Damian greeted her with an exaggerated formality that made Melinda smile.

“Good morning, Damian. Professor Henderson.” Melinda greeted as well the older gentleman that had agreed to come with them as a private tutor for Damian. She was very grateful for that.

“Good morning, Mrs. Desmond. Another wonderful day awaits us.” The man said as he enjoyed a cup of hot tea.

“I’ve heard you’ll be starting today with the lessons in the local school as well.” Melinda told him, as the maid brought her a cup of dark coffee.

“That’s correct, Madame. I must admit that the idea of those young minds bring an extra smile to my heart today.” Professor Henderson replied. “Apparently the school has been without a formal teacher for half a year.”

“That’s terrible.” Melinda pretended to be bothered by the news. She was good at pretending, the wife of a politician ought to be.

“Indeed, a tragedy. Fortunately Mr. Desmond has agreed that it is in the best interest for those children to resume some sort of formal education.” Professor Henderson had talked about his idea with Donovan Desmond briefly. He had been afraid that Donovan would refuse his request, since at the end the less educated the population, the easiest it would be for him to get low paid workers for the mines. But Donovan had said that it was a good idea and approved the free time for Professor Henderson. “I’ve been trying to convince to the young Mr. Desmond here to join me in this new adventure, however I’m afraid my motivations are of no interest for him.”

“I have more important things to do in here.” Damian responded a little ashamed of being told in front of his mother.

“That’s right, Damian. You have big things ahead of you.” Melinda said, her eyes hollow. Did she actually believed that? She felt that ugly thing inside her growing, taking control of her. She grabbed one of her earrings with her fingers, she needed to purify her thoughts. She needed to be strong. “Still, it would be good for you to learn how these people live.”

“Y-you’re correct, Mother. I-I should do an effort to understand the lives of those that will work for us.” Damian said flustered. He hadn’t expected for his mother to say that.

“I should be going.” Professor Henderson excused himself. “I’ll see you in one hour, Mr. Desmond.”

Melinda saw how the man left the room and Damian escaped shortly after. He had to finish some of the homework that Professor Henderson had given him the day before, or so he said. She didn’t know what to think. A butler brought her some more coffee. Except that he wasn’t an ordinary butler, he was also Damian’s bodyguard.

“I’m very sorry, Mrs. Desmond, I’m afraid we haven’t been able to locate the person you’re interested in.” The man apologized.

“It’s not your fault, Jeeves.” Melinda responded sighing. “It’s just that sometimes I wished those goons that work for Donovan would use their brains a bit. To think that they carried me away like that, without giving me the chance to thank that wonderful young woman for saving me…”

“I’m sure they just considered the situation to be too dangerous.” Jeeves told her. “To be honest, even if I had found her I wouldn’t bring her to the Mansion without a background check first. There is a lot of animosity in Wuppertal, Mrs. Desmond. Please, don’t go out of the Mansion without a proper escort. In that same line, I would not recommend for Master Damian to go with Professor Henderson.”

“I wasn’t planning to approve of that.” Melinda responded quickly. She had only been humoring the professor, there was no reason for Damian to mix with those children.

“Fine, I’ll continue with the search of this young woman. If there is anything else that you could remember about her that you could tell me, that would help me.” Jeeves asked her once again.

“What else could I tell you? I’ve already told you she is very pretty, young and very strong… I really cannot think of anything else.” Melinda said, thinking that if she was half strong as that young woman, she wouldn’t be so afraid all the time. Maybe she would actually be able to protect Damian like that. That’s why she wanted that young woman.

“By the way, Madame. I’ve heard that your expedition has found an ouroboros.” Jeeves lowered her voice. “I think they’re getting closer to what you’re looking for.”

“Really?” Melinda asked, her voice full of excitement.

“It’s just a drawing on the stone, but it’s undeniable it is an ouroboros. If you want we can send another team to extract the drawing.” Jeeves offered.

“N-no, let’s leave it in there for the time being. Just send someone to copy the drawing so I can see it… or a picture if you’re sure it won’t damage the original.” Melinda responded, feeling something she hadn't felt in a while: excitment. 

Anya wasn’t particularly happy or excited about going to the school. She was just going because Yor was actually walking her to that place. Anya had originally planned to escape and just go play somewhere else and pretend that she had been in the school, but Yor had re-purposed one of her bags so it could work as a school bag for Anya and had bought a notebook and some color pencils for the girl. Anya felt that she couldn’t say no anymore, so she decided to be brave and go to that awful place.

The school building was not really big, seen from outside it looked more like a small parish than anything else. Some of the windows were broken and the yard was full of overgrown weed. There was a large tree at the front, but it was the kind of tree that lose all its leaves during fall, so it looked very sad. And overall the place was silent, very silent.

“It seems there is no one around here…” Yor said, a hand on her cheek. With the other one she was holding the girl’s hand.

“I’m so saaad. Let’s go back then!” Anya said turning around. Yor might have not heard anything outside, but the loud thoughts of a man had reached Anya.

“Ah, welcome, welcome.” An older gentleman greeted them from an open window. “Please come in.”

No one but Anya had showed up for the lesson. At the end Yor had decided to stay, so more than anything that looked as a private lesson for Anya. Anya had been dreading the whole studying thing, but since there were no other students, Professor Henderson decided to go easy on their first day, just checking how proficient was Anya in writing and reading, some basic math and they spent to the rest of the time looking at a very old map, that still displayed Westalis and Ostania as a single country.

“And to the North you can find another large mine that is managed by the Desmond Mining Company.” Professor Henderson said. “All the exploration that is being done in this area is new, since there are some studies from the University of Berlint that suggest there are underground rivers in the whole region that most likely connect a cave system full of minerals and possible gems.”

“Do you think someone could fall into those underground things?” Yor asked, thinking that perhaps Director McMahon had been swallowed by the ground on his feet.

“I wouldn’t discard the idea completely, but I think it would be very difficult to find a place where the ground naturally gave into. Maybe if you’re walking near the excavation area it is more probable, but there is a lot of people in there and as far as I know, it is forbidden to go nearby to the general public.” Professor Henderson explained that he had tried to get permission on several occasions since he thought it was a unique opportunity to learn hands on, but he hadn’t been allowed to go nearby. “I guess they think an old man like me will die if he goes into the mines.”

“I’ve heard there is a treasure buried in there…” Anya said as she moved her legs. The children that lived in the streets were always talking about what they would do when they found that treasure.

“I’ve heard so as well.” Professor Henderson said, clearing his throat. “But I would say the value of things is set by each of us. What some people see as a treasure might be nothing more than a bunch of stones to someone else, and some old books might be nothing else than a waste of paper for some people and an invaluable source of knowledge to other. So I would not suggest to go into the mines with the idea of finding a treasure that is valuable in money, although it might be exactly what everybody is doing around here.”

Anya had caught an idea of what Professor Henderson considered a treasure, and he looked like a nice person, but she knew she couldn’t talk to anybody about that. So she didn’t say anything and instead started drawing some trees, as the ones that grew deep in the forest.

Twilight decided to return early that day to check how things had gone with Anya. He was skeptical she had actually gone to the school, so he was gladly surprised when she showed him her new notebook filled with illegible letters that were supposed to be her notes of all that she had learned. He felt uneasy when he heard that she was the only child, he had expected some coldness from the locals but not at that level. It was really silly of them to not send their children to the school, specially when someone as prepared as Professor Henderson was in charge. He had had some doubts at the beginning about the character of the man, Twilight didn’t believe that a good person would willingly work with Donovan Desmond, but after WISE investigated a bit, he was surprised to read that he was actually a well known Professor in Berlint, Headmaster at the prestigious Eden College. Their informant in Berlint had told them that the motivation of Professor Henderson was simple, to teach the children in Wuppertal after he heard that the school had been closed for a long time. Although, it seemed he had some concerns as well about the well being of the youngest Desmond. No one knew what Damian Desmond was doing in Wuppertal, which only meant that it was on request of Donovan Desmond.

With so many questions without answer, Twilight knew that he had to ensure more children started going to the school, so he decided he would visit the kids at the slum they called “the pit”. He smiled without noticing it when Anya told him that Yor had stayed the whole afternoon in the school. Yor was another enigma, he thought as he went quickly towards the kitchen when he perceived the smell of something burning. He grabbed a towel and took away from the oven whatever was in there, he looked at the suspicious confection with distrust, then turned towards the couple of women who were entering the kitchen.

“I’m so sorry! I should have been more careful!” A Yor covered in a mix of flour and dirt was apologizing.

“It’s my fault, I asked her for help.” Gympie said, her eyes glued to what Twilight was holding. “Did they burn?”

“Probably just a bit at the back… still… I don’t think these are safe to eat.” Twilight said carefully choosing his words. He had guessed Yor had baked those cookies. They looked and smelled like everything she had tried to cook before.

“Maybe if we scratch the back with a knife…” Yor said as she took a large butcher knife from the counter, but put it down when she noticed the horrified face of Loid. “It’s just that Professor Henderson had us over tea and cookies one the classes were over, I thought I could bring something for tomorrow.”

“I’ll take those!” Gympie said hurrying to grab the cookies, before the blonde Loid Forger could throw them away.

“What are you going to do with these?” Twilight asked such that only Gympie could hear him. He was still holding the tray above Gympie’s head.

“An antidote… perhaps?” Gympie said as she pulled out her hands trying to reach the tray, but that damned blonde Loid Forger was too tall. She wanted to study the concoctions of Thorn Princess, in the past Shopkeeper had tried to instruct Thorn Princess as well in the arts of the poisons and its antidotes, but none of her poisons were ever effective. It had been a revelation to learn about her food. Gympie was sure she could learn a lot from it, that was the reason she had encouraged Thorn Princess when she had said that she wanted to try her luck by baking some cookies. Something baked was supposed to last for some more days, giving Gympie enough time to study them and learn of the deadly kitchen skills.

“Ok.” Twilight said sighing as he gave the cookies to Gympie. “Just make sure Anya doesn’t eat any… erm, I mean, too much sugar will be bad for her.” He added quickly seeing the expression on Yor’s face.

“Anya is full of sweets. Anya doesn’t want any more sweets today.” Anya said aloud, thinking that she would not risk her life by trying one of those lethal cookies.

“Are they really that bad?” A heartbroken Yor asked.

“Of course not, it’s just that I think you used these berries and they don’t look that fresh. Probably a seller with bad intentions.” Twilight said quickly, suspecting that those were not berries.

“Oh, I didn’t bought those, I reaped those at the forest.” A smiling Yor said as she went to grab one. She hadn’t tried them, but they looked very delicious.

“I think these are not berries, but bella-dona.” Gympie said as she took as well the recipient where the small fruits were. “I’m confiscating these as well.” She said as she went away humming happily with her acquired treasures.

“I-I-I…” Yor was speechless.

“Why don’t I teach you a very simple receipt?” Twilight said trying to light up the woman who looked depressed. They decided to go to buy the ingredients the next afternoon, since it was already late and almost time for dinner. Yor had cheered up a little and more when later once Mrs. Hudson was back she gave her a letter from her brother.

Twilight went to the pit before meeting with Yor. It was a dilapidated neighborhood that had once been home of several warehouses and small factories. However, precisely because of that, all those had been destroyed during the war. Now it housed a bunch of delinquents, according to the good people of Wuppertal. Those delinquents were actually orphans in their vast majority, perhaps only a couple of teenagers that had ran away from home, but most of them were children that everybody had forgotten. Their number changed every other week, as some of them left Wuppertal and new ones arrived. No one knew for sure where they were coming from or going to. Some were going towards the west, with the idea that they would find fortune in Westalis. Some others walked towards the east, thinking that once they reached the original limits of Ostania things would be better. Franky had told him that Anya had arrived there one day, one of the older kids, one of the ringleaders that worked as messenger for Franky had told him about a small child. For some reason they had called Anya a sage back then. Twilight hadn’t been able to learn too much about the girl, he suspected she was around some knowledgeable people because at the beginning, even he had been fooled into believing that the girl knew a lot of things. But the more time he spent with her, the more he realized she was just a scared girl.

Twilight knew how hard was to live on the streets as a child, he could guess easily it wasn’t going to be better being a girl, so he decided to take her in, thinking that Sylvia would step up. Sylvia hadn’t said a thing, but it had been obvious she was pissed. And despite yelling at him that he couldn’t come with a new child as if it was a pet, she had immediately soften up to Anya. However, the bonding that Twilight had expected didn’t happen. Anya seemed more attached to him than to Sylvia and strangely enough, now to Yor.

“Mister.” A voice called him between the shadows, it was Fritz, the messenger. “Is there any business you’re interested in?”

“The school.” Twilight responded, they were talking without seeing each other. Twilight wasn’t actually in the deeps of the pit, he was in the outer part of it, the only place were adults were allowed. Fritz remained hidden, because it was part of the deal, no one could knew they talked.

“What with the school? Do you want us to burn it?” Fritz guessed, he knew the man known as Loid Forger wasn’t what he pretended to be. He had already hired Fritz two times in the past to create some havoc.

“No, I want you to go to the school.” Twilight responded.

“Uh?” Fritz didn’t understand.

“I need to keep those lessons on going, if there are no children, they could get suspended.” Twilight explained.

“Sorry, Sir. No one around here is interested in the school.” Fritz said, denying with the head. “We have better things to do, like survive.”

“I’ll provide food for those that decide to go to the school.” Twilight offered.

“As good as your food is, do you know how the people will look at us going to the school?” Fritz said as he looked at himself, all covered in dirt and with clothes that weren’t his size.

“Just pass the voice around, food and clothes for those that go to the school. Those who go for a whole month will get some money.” Twilight add something that knew most would be interested in. He considered one month should be enough to get what he needed from Professor Henderson. “Besides, it would be really good for the younger ones to learn how to read and write and some basic math, so they don’t get so easily tricked.”

“I guess you’re right.” Fritz responded. “I think I can send you at least three of the smallest ones, Peach, Mousy and Smelly.”

“Just make sure Smelly takes a bath first.” Twilight threw some coins towards Fritz. “The clothes will be at our usual exchange place in a couple of hours. What happened with the other one, with Pinky?” Twilight went in his mind through all the children he knew. Besides the three that Fritz had mentioned, there was a fourth one, very short and skinny. He had an older brother who was called Index.

“Dunno.” Fritz said moving uncomfortable. “Index had said that he wanted to take Pinky somewhere else before the winter, because last year he almost didn’t make it after he got sick. But they just disappeared one night, I-I don’t think they willingly left, but you know how it is around here.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Twilight asked him surprised at the anger in his voice. He wasn’t mad with Fritz, he was mad with himself because he had thought that he had convinced those children they could trust in him.

“No one cares about people who disappears around here. It’s just a matter of living in Wuppertal.” Fritz responded shrugging.

“Do you think they were hunted? I told you to not let them wander at night.” Twilight tried to think if he had heard anything like that lately. He knew there were some men who stole the children from the pit, there were all sort of crazy rumors, but the ones he believed were the ones that said that those children were taken to the mines, so they could crawl in the small spaces were a grown man wouldn’t fit, so they could investigate if it was worthy to continue the excavation that way.

“I don’t know, man! I tell them all the time to be careful, but what would you know of what it feels to not eat for days?” Fritz said with anger. “A-and b-besides, there is the monster.” He added, his voice going very quiet, regretting immediately the words.

“Monster? You mean the green eyed monster?” Twilight asked surprised.

“Have you heard of it?” Fritz asked equally surprised. After Twilight encouraged him to tell him what he knew about the green eyed monster, Fritz took a deep breath and continued talking. “Pinky was the first one who told me about it. He woke up one night and he saw that thing looking at him in the darkness. He was so scared he didn’t want to leave this place for days. Then more and more of us saw it. It never gets really close, it just watches us from afar, as if waiting for the chance to attack. Franz thinks that there is something around the pit that protect us from it, and that as long as we stay in there at night we’re safe, but I don’t know… I-I was coming late the other night and I can swear that thing was walking away from inside the pit.”

“Do you think I could see the pit?” Twilight asked, knowing well the answer.

“Franz and the others will not accept.” Fritz said bitterly.

“Well, if you see that thing again, come to tell me. And if you or the others feel that you’re in danger because of the monster or the hunters, come down to Mrs. Hudson’s, she will always open her door for you.” Twilight told him, hoping that he would believe him.

“Hey, Mister… is it okay for you to be spending that much time with me? Your missus is about to buy a cow skull.” Fritz said as he pointed out to the pretty young woman who was talking with a seller since some minutes ago. Mister Forger had asked him several days ago to keep an eye on her, and help her to avoid nasty encounters with the deceitful merchants.

The cow skull was a success with Mrs. Hudson’s guests. Gympie wanted to use it to dance and ask for some rain, Anya wanted to dance with her. Even the elusive and bitter Jones looked jealous of Yor’s purchase. Only Twilight couldn’t understand how is that Yor had been convinced that a cow skull was the secret for the chewiest chocolate cookies.

Chapter Text

Hemlock took a deep breath, taking a defensive stance, the metal of his blade shining under the moon light. He tried to remember all the things his grandfather had taught him, all his stories about the Garden of his second great grandfather. A Garden that nowadays had only one alive witness, the Shopkeeper. Hemlock took pride in his job and position, something he had learned from his grandfather. That’s why it was so irritating to see Thorn Princess to turn so placidly into that domestic life. Cleaning duties, taking care of the girl, helping the old woman, it was irritating to see someone that had so little respect for their job as members of Garden. He couldn’t stand it, it was about time for him to take the lead and put an ending to all that McMahon business. To teach Thorn Princess what it meant to honor their oath.

He lunged quickly, his blade still resting, waiting for the perfect moment. Thorn Princess was fast, but her weapons had a minor range, she would need to get close to him and before that he would stab her. An easy plan, he thought, if only she stopped dodging and moving so he could finish her. So far he had only been able to scratch her neck and place a superficial cut on her arm. He knew that wasn’t going to be enough to beat her, he had to deliver a single powerful blow. He put his sword back in a tail stance, his senses in overdrive, guessing the next spot where Thorn Princess would step into. He knew he had the fight won from the beginning, Thorn Princess mind wasn’t in it, or maybe it was her heart the one that had never been really into the job. But he had no doubts in his own, he knew his path was the one that would turn him into the strongest. A smirk appeared on his face, as he could see the next movements of Thorn Princess so clearly that it was as if the woman was moving in slow motion.

“It’s getting late, you better hurry.” Gympie said as she looked bored at the other two. She never found too much excitement in their fights. She was always worried that they would actually hurt each other. “Uh? What is that? Is Anya crying?” She asked, pretending she could hear the girl, although she was supposed to be very far away, at the house where all they were living.

“Who cares about that brat!?” Hemlock asked upset, he certainly didn’t. However, before he could understand what was happening, the fist of Thorn Princess found his head and he knew nothing else of the world. 

Gympie apologized as Thorn Princess carried the unconscious Hemlock back to the guest house. She was holding him by his feet, with his head and hands dangling dangerously close to the ground. They had had a small discussion that afternoon, because Hemlock was getting impatient.

“I think Hemlock is right, we should be doing something more actively. I don’t think we’re going to find Director McMahon just by living as town people.” Gympie said.

“I-I k-know, it’s just that…” Thorn Princess hesitated. Before it was only because she didn’t want to pose as a prostitute, but now the idea of having to pretend to be a prostitute in front of Anya and Loid was way worse than the idea of Yuri knowing about it.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you two. There are two places in here we should investigate, WISE and WHYS. I don’t know why Shopkeeper didn’t write the name down, it would had been more helpful.” Gympie explained to Thorn Princess that she had learned about the two places via one of her customers. Gympie was already selling some ointments and medicines that she had made with the dried herbs she had brought from Berlint. And she had been doing some extra money by selling the cookies from Thorn Princess, apparently they were a hit with the ladies from Wuppertal, because they could lose a lot of weight after eating them. Gympie had just added some stuff to make them a little less toxic. At the end the berries that Thorn Princess had collected were just berries and ended in Gympie’s stomach.

“Uh?” Hemlock started to recover consciousness but after the sudden movement he made when he realized he was heads down, he found himself hitting the ground. “WHY!?”

“What is that Hemlock? Do you want to go to WHYS?” Thorn Princess asked him. “Then I guess is WISE for me.”

“N-no, w-wait, what are you talking about? Why-s?” Hemlock repeated.

“We already heard you, you’ll go to WHYS. It’s good to see you so motivated. So no more fighting, ok? Thorn Princess will go to WISE.” Gympie said as she picked some strange looking root from her pocket and started chewing.

Hemlock didn’t understand what had happened, it didn't matter how many times he asked, he received those ridiculous answers. 

Twilight emptied the glass in front of him. He didn’t particularly enjoy that cheap whiskey but it was the kind of drink the persona he was pretending to be would drink. The bartender asked him if he wanted another round, but a brunette woman with glasses approached them and with a sharp voice interrupted them. 

“Cut it down, Dominic, or he won’t be able to satisfy our dear Mrs. Frost.” There was clear spite on her voice.

“You should give Shary here a chance, Master~!” A blonde, younger woman said in a childish tone. “She can be as mean as Mrs. Frost.” She let out a little giggle. The business hadn’t been good lately, to be honest it had never been good. But as of lately it was worse with most of the clients asking for Mrs. Frost.

“Millie could really humiliate you, Sir.” The woman with glasses said, looking coldly at him. “But if you want to feel as a miserable worm, then we would have to recommend you Camilla. There is no way your dignity will come in one piece after being with her.”

“Or for a special price you can get the three of them!” the bartender chimed in quickly. Twilight knew he had a relationship with Camilla and was always shooing the customers away.

“Maybe next time, this time I’ve already asked for Mrs. Frost.” Twilight said as a woman as cold as her alias approached them.

“Come.” Fiona Frost ordered to the disheveled man in front of her. She knew who was behind the disguise. She had been waiting all afternoon for him, her heart beating like the one of a teenager. If only she could kick away all of the other customers she received that day and spend the whole night with Twilight, she would had been a happy woman. She guided, as usual, up to the second floor, towards the door at the end of the hallway. Into the Frost Suite. She opened the door and waited until Twilight entered then she closed it and locked it. It was against the rules of the place, so she had to be very careful that nobody noticed it. She started a timer, this particular customer was known as Quicky in the brothel, because even if he paid for one hour, he was usually out before the first half. Because Twilight went in there only to get information, and lastly, Nightfall, that is, Fiona Frost, another secret agent from WISE didn’t have anything new to report. This time was not the exception, so she bit her thumbnail nervously when he quickly checked the whole room, to confirm that there was no one hiding around who could listen to them.

“Is there any novelty on our targets?” Twilight asked once he was satisfied with his inspection. Nightfall was supposed to be getting information on Lotan Leichenberg, a business associate from Donovan Desmond who had a particular obsession with being dominated.

“None, despite my best efforts he remains distant and only spends a few hours with those random girls that are only passing by Wuppertal.” Nightfall explained. She had tried on several occasions to approach the man, but had stopped, given that it would damage her reputation as dominatrix to continue to pursue him as customer. Word in the brothel was that he paid very well to those random girls because they were usually gone from Wuppertal after a few nights with Leichenberg.

“I see.” Twilight said, he hadn’t expected anything different. That was supposed to be the only point of discussion between them, and despite that he couldn’t stop himself. “Have you heard anything about hunters lately?”

“No. I only heard that one of the regular customers of that Sharon girl disappeared last week. He is the fourth one in one month.” Nightfall said, although no one in Wuppertal considered a vanishing person as something unusual anymore. At the beginning the people from Wuppertal had thought that there must be a beast or several of them roaming in the nearby forest and had gone hunting, but they couldn’t find anything that could explain the large number of people missing. Then they thought it had to do with the old mines, that people were falling through some cracked openings, but they couldn’t find anything. So at the end, everybody just starting talking about monsters and curses and stopped looking for the people, afraid of them becoming cursed as well.

“Don’t you think people are disappearing more often than before?” Twilight asked, thinking of what was the rate before. He wasn’t sure, the numbers always changed, since undoubtedly there were some murders that were hidden using the monster excuse, that without saying the slavery ring they suspected Leichenberg was leading.

“I haven’t really thought about that.” Nightfall responded, looking nervously at the timer. Twilight was unusually talkative. Maybe he was feeling lonely? She could help him with that.

“Do you think that perhaps those random girls aren’t leaving Wuppertal?” Twilight asked, realizing they had missed a very valuable clue in front of their faces all this time. “It is imperative to get some more information on Leichenberg.”

“I-I understand. I’ll do my best.” Nightfall muttered, she hadn’t seen Twilight like that in a long time. She could feel her heart beating furiously. She wanted him to feel it as well. “W-why don’t you stay tonight? W-we can talk…”

“Can’t do. Look how late it is, I need to go back.” Twilight said thinking about how he had promised Anya to bake a cake first thing in the morning. It had been a big commotion in Mrs. Hudson’s Guest House to learn that Anya had never eaten cake.

Gympie had had a busy morning, somehow her little business was becoming famous between the good people of Wuppertal and she received several customers during the morning. She decided she was going to limit the hours her little shop would be open. It wouldn’t be fair for her to continue earning extra money while doing nothing of what Shopkeeper had asked from her after what she had told Thorn Princess the night before. A chill traveled through her spine, she still had no idea of how to create a truth serum. She had spent several nights going once again through her books, but she couldn’t find any herb that would have such effect. She didn’t know why Shopkeeper had asked her that. He should know it was beyond her means. Just as she was thinking that, someone knocked on the door and Gympie went upset at the interruption to see who it was.

Her expression didn’t improve when she saw three women standing outside. They entered without waiting for an invitation and in short words demanded some of the miracle weight loss cookies that had become so popular between the female population of Wuppertal. Gympie decided she was going to charge extra for the entitlement and the extra ingredient she was going to add to those cookies for those three to experience some discomfort. If she was lucky, they would not return. As she was finishing with that, one of the two blonde women, the one with the longer hair asked her.

“Hey, is it true that the handsome man that lives here is dating the brunette woman that lives here as well?” She tried to sound non interested, but no one would ask such thing if it wasn’t of their interest.

“Handsome man?” Gympie asked scratching her head. “Long hair or short hair or scruffy hair?” Gympie wasn’t someone who would judge anyone by their likes and dislikes. Even Franky ought to be handsome for someone.

“Short blonde hair, blue eyes!” The woman responded upset.

“Why do you think they’re dating?” Gympie asked as she started to put the cookies in a little bag.

“Uh? I don’t think so… It’s just everybody in town is talking how they are always together with that little girl.” The woman responded flustered. She wasn’t trying to date the man, at the end she already had Dominic, but it bothered her that the man had never paid any attention to her, no matter how many times she walked in front of him when she saw him on the streets.

“Here.” Gympie said giving her the cookies and hearing how they complained after hearing the price, which they, never the less, paid.

Later the next day, Gympie was working on her little garden. It had been fun to see the face of Hemlock when he finally understood what was WHYS, but since he had look out for that fight the night before he couldn’t back out now. He had left very early in the morning, saying that he needed to train his body to put his mind in the right place. He hadn’t even stayed for the cake, which Gympie thought was a waste for him. None of them had ever had a cake either since they joined Garden. Maybe Thorn Princess had had several with her blood brother. And now that she thought about that, maybe even Hemlock had had one or two with his grandfather and mother. Maybe it was only Gympie who had never had a birthday cake, just like that girl, Anya. It didn’t matter to her, really, it was good that Anya had managed to get a cake even if it wasn’t her birthday. Gympie wondered if Anya knew when was her birthday, she would talk with the girl later, once she was back from school. If she didn’t know, then they could pick one together, maybe she should ask Thorn Princess as well. Maybe Thorn Princess had already thought about that, Gympie thought. A strange feeling moving inside her, maybe nostalgia? She stood up when she noticed the eyes of the handsome blonde man looking at her.

“You have a very interesting selection in here.” Twilight said, recognizing some of the first sprouts. He needed to remind Anya to stay away from there.

“It’s my dream to have my own Alnwick.” Gympie responded plainly. She wasn’t lying, she always thought that if she was ever to have her own garden, it had to be even greater than Alnwick. “The line between medicine and poison is in most of the times, a very thin line.” She added, guessing what Loid Forger was thinking. Then her face shone, seeing what the lovable blonde man was holding. “You got it?”

“I got it. Sorry it took so long.” He said, giving the printed magazine to Gympie. He wasn’t lying, he had guessed it would be easier to get that kind of things, but apparently the Government was really cracking down on that stuff. He admired the will power of the woman, who had basically torn off the magazine from his hands, just to take a deep breath and placed it carefully where it wouldn’t get dirt or water while she finished to tend the small poison garden.

“I have to finish first.” She explained, as she sighed and continued as her usual pace. The plants didn’t like to be rushed, the plants liked to do things at her own pace all the time, she told to herself, as she continued watering, plucking unwanted weed and loosing the soil, to ensure her little garden could thrive. Shopkeeper had taught her all that. She noticed that insidious blonde man was still there, maybe he was waiting for the payment she had offered. She did had money, but now that she thought about it, he should be thankful she hadn’t told Thorn Princess about his offense. That had to be enough payment. After all, Gympie also suspected he wasn't indifferent at all towards Thorn Princess. It was supposed to be easy, she just had to tell him, but she wasn’t good at facing people, so as usual, she couldn’t find the right words and just stammered a bit and continued working on the garden.

“You said there is thin line between medicine and poison, would you know about something that would make someone immune to the pain?” Twilight asked, pretending he wasn’t interested at all in what he was asking.

“Immune to pain? That’s such a dangerous thing, pain keep us safe.” Gympie responded remembering that pain was the first signal the body provided to the mind to let it know that something was dangerous. The burning sensation on your mouth when you ingested something you shouldn’t, the itching on hands and legs, everything had a purpose in nature. “You’re asking about drugs, and in a way, medicine and drugs are basically twins.”

“Is there a drug that can numb completely the pain? Let’s say, someone loses a hand but continues as if nothing happened.” Twilight explained his idea, remembering the last fight he had had, when he had been injured. How his opponent didn’t flinch when the bullet blow out a couple of fingers.

“Definitely drugs.” Gympie responded after thinking for a moment. “Even if they're not actively under the effects if they're addicted the promise of a drug is enough to keep them going. Artificial drugs are way more powerful and addictive than anything the nature can produce, you should be asking a pharmacist if you want something like that. I can make some very good pain killers based on a person physique and general health state, and maybe if you’re full of adrenaline you can keep moving even if you lose a leg.” She said thinking that she had heard of very bad injuries that Hemlock and Thorn Princess had suffered during their jobs. “But I personally think that the only purpose of that, is that your body is giving you a chance to get some help.” Then she remembered what Thorn Princess had asked from her recently and understood who had been the recipient. She sighed, she wished Thorn Princess had been open about it, she had been making that ointment for burns thinking that it was for the other woman, if she had known that it was for that blonde man, she would had made some adjustments so it worked better. “Did the guy that burnt you lose his hand?” Gympie asked him.

“Uh? No, no, he didn’t.” Twilight responded thinking that he shouldn’t be surprised that Gympie could quickly put two and two together after his questions. The only thing she didn’t know was that he had burnt himself to cauterize the injury. “I just saw someone suffer such injury one time and was wondering what he had on him.”

“It would be hard to see someone suffer such injury more than two times.” Gympie responded giggling to herself. She thought the conversation would be over, but that inquisitive blonde man was still there. She surprised herself finding that she felt more curious about what he wanted than upset.

Twilight cleared out his throat before talking, he wasn’t sure why he was doing that. It was dangerous, Gympie was a smart woman who could quickly discover what he was if he kept pushing his luck. And yet, he had come to the conclusion that the risk was worthy. The healing injury on his side was a clear indication of that. He needed her skills in case he had to fight with that man again. “Miss Gympie, would you be interested in the crimson book?”

“T-the Crimson Book?” Gympie couldn’t control her voice. It was the bible of the forbidden books. It had been her dream since she started to read those books to get a glimpse to it. But it was impossible, the Government had burned all the copies of The Crimson Book. “D-don’t play with me.” She responded, her voice quivering.

“I’m not playing.” Twilight said as he showed her what he was hiding inside his jacket, a small book with a distinctive crimson leather as cover. The leather had a dark burnt mark on it.

Gympie knew that she should had refused. She knew that she was breaking the rules of Garden and was creating a vulnerability. She knew that Shopkeeper would be mad at her, that Hemlock would be furious at her. She had no idea of what that dangerous blonde man would ask in return for that invaluable treasure, but she couldn’t not accept it. She took the book and ran to her room to hide it in the safest place she had found in there. When she returned to her garden, the enticing blonde man was gone and she knew for sure she had condemned herself.

Twilight decided to go and start an early watch on the Desmond Mansion. He didn’t know the reason behind it, but he had been feeling reckless as of lately. The vigilance always demanded to be still during a long period of time, activity that usually worked for him to clear his mind. When he had been sent to Wuppertal, he had been upset about the mission. He had been recruited by WISE shortly after he had been injured during a battle in the previous war, when Westalis had lost half of its territory. He hadn’t been happy about any of the outcome, but he had been found lying about his age and the man from WISE had said that they would be lenient with him. This man had talked to him about starting a guerrilla to regain what Westalis had lost. The man told him that WISE needed people like him to sow the idea between the population that now was under the Ostanian regimen. However, this man quickly abandoned WISE to start his own career as a politician, repeating the same mantra of recovering the territory that Westalis had lost, now in front of a multitude of people in the western region of Westalis, as far away as he could from the front lines.

It did make a difference for Twilight, because he ended under Sylvia’s orders. She put him under a merciless training, aiming to make him useful to gather information about the plans of Ostania. That was very different to what he had been promised when he joined WISE, but Sylvia quickly organized his ideas with some bad beatings. WISE wasn’t trying to regain anything, WISE was desperately trying to avoid an even bigger disaster.

“Do you know what the uraninite is, agent Twilight?” She asked him after she gave him some ice on a bag, so his face wouldn’t swell, after one of those beatings. “Perhaps you’ve heard of the pitchblende?” She offered, noticing the confusion on his face.

“Some kind of rock.” He replied, ashamed of not knowing the answer. Sylvia always knew too many things, it didn’t matter how much he read, she was always ahead of him.

“Until a few months ago it was nothing much that some kind of rock.” Sylvia said, losing herself in her thoughts for a few seconds. “It’s the reason Westalis lost the war. We don’t know what they did with it, all we know is that all our agents that were investigating the Ore Mountains died within a month after an explosion in one of the mines. Terrible deaths, I must say.”

“Because of the explosion?” Twilight could only imagine that they must had been very close to the site of the burst, but it would had been uncommon for all of WISE agents to be so close, unless they were in pursuit of someone.

“Because of what came after the explosion, some invisible poison. We know nothing about it, except that somehow the uraninite that they extract from there is related. And now there are rumors that they had found a similar deposit here, near Wuppertal.” Sylvia pointed to a place in the map that was hanging in the room where they were talking.

“How could it be that Westalis didn’t know a thing about it?” Twilight asked, not understanding if that thing was so dangerous why their own government hadn’t done anything. “Wait… did they force that treaty where Westalis surrendered that much territory to get with these mines?” His eyes opened wide in disbelief, as his mind started to think of the possibilities. How much ahead from them Ostania really was?

“I’m going to Wuppertal starting next week.” Sylvia informed him. “You’ll continue your training here until you’re ready to start taking missions on your own. If we’re all lucky, I will never see you again.” Sylvia told him with a smile.

As it turned out, they weren’t lucky at all. Twilight’s career at WISE had started probably earlier than expected, but he managed to complete assignment after assignment. Days became months, months became years. He occasionally heard a word or two about the investigations in Wuppertal, but nothing came of it. Until recently, when all alarms were triggered when Donovan Desmond decided to go to the place itself. WISE was sure the DMC had found something worthy of Desmond’s attention, another bed of uraninite perhaps. However, despite the fact that the number of their agents in Wuppertal had increased over the years, they didn’t know anything for certain. The place was a fort, a fort that they hadn’t manage to break in. So they decided for Twilight to go there, it was probably their last resort.

There were many things that made Anya scared. Thunders were one of them, she felt amazed by the lighting, but she couldn’t stand to the roar that came after. It sounded as if a monster that was flying in the skies was ready to attack all the people in the ground. However, thunderstorms were not common in the area, so she didn’t have to worry too much about it. Then she was also scared of the ugly people on the walls. But she hadn’t had to see them since she left that place, so she was happy about that. She was afraid of the nights without moon, because those nights she didn’t have her powers and she was afraid she would make the people around her mad and then they would abandon her. She was afraid of being alone once again, but she was too small to understand that, so she only knew she was afraid of the nights without moon. And now she was starting to get afraid of the nights of full moon.

She had never been afraid of the green eyed monster, as Franky had called it. She had seen him multiple nights, when she was living in the Pit. That furry large thing that came and went as an errant soul, she had just learned the word errant from Professor Henderson. She liked it because she finally knew how to put into words what she felt about the green eyed monster. She hadn’t liked the idea of going to the school at the beginning, but Miss Yor, the strongest woman she had ever met, was next to her in every lesson learning with her, and the other children from the Pit were also in there, and Miss Yor had been right, it was fun.

But just like her own powers, it seemed as if the moon phases, another thing she had learned from Professor Henderson, affected the powers of the green eyed monster. When the moon was full, its powers increased, spreading nightmares across Wuppertal. Anya was scared of those nightmares. The first night she had them she came knocking, looking for Twilight, she had had a very scary dream. Now she couldn’t remember much about it, just that she had been very scared, so scared she had had to leave the Pit and come looking for some grown ups, which meant she couldn’t go back to the Pit, according to their rules. Tonight she had had another bad nightmare, she was crying out loud, but unlike previous times she found herself surrounded in a warmth embrace that tried to comfort her. Miss Yor was hugging her and patting her back, trying to calm her down, but Anya couldn’t stop shaking and crying. She was scared, very scared, because she had dreamed that Twilight was hurt somewhere, that he needed help and she couldn’t find him and then she would lose him as well.

Yor walked with Anya on her arms, the girl still sobbing. Yor had been knocking on Loid’s door, but he wasn’t answering, most likely he wasn’t there although it was very late. She wondered where he could be, feeling a discomfort growing inside her. There wasn’t much to do in Wuppertal at night, only the brothel. Her lips formed a straight line at the thought. She didn’t know why the idea of him in there upset her that much. She had tried not to ask too much about his relationship with Anya, but it was obvious that the girl was very attached to him. As someone who had taken care of her little brother when both were left orphaned, she knew how distressing it was for children that young the thought of losing their caretakers once again. She would need to talk with Loid and let him know a thing or two. She stopped her pacing, she thought she had heard something. A storm? She thought, but the skies were clear. She felt that Anya was trembling with fear and started to sing a lullaby, trying to get her to sleep again, while at the same time wondering if some kind of explosion had happened in the mines instead.

Chapter Text

Yor woke up the next day with a new determination. She was going to WISE and start investigating what she could about Director McMahon so they could leave Wuppertal as soon as possible. She had spent a good chunk of the night worried about Loid, thinking that something bad had happened to him, but no, he just returned at two in the morning as if nothing had happened. Anya had finally gone back to sleep on Yor’s bed, so it didn’t make any sense to go and confront Loid about him abandoning Anya. Yor realized her grievances were ridiculous, yes, it was true she had suspected from the beginning of Loid being the actual father of Anya. The girl had even admitted of not knowing who her father was, although she could remember her mother a bit. After talking a bit with Mrs. Hudson who was always complaining that Loid wasn't really committing to his relationship with Anya, it became crystal clear for Yor that Loid had fathered that child and conveniently forgot about her until Anya’s mother passed away, then he must had felt some guilt that made him take Anya under Mrs. Hudson’s, but not enough guilt to actually start acting like her father.

Yor didn't want to believe that Loid was a bad father, but he had left the child to live as an orphan, if he had done it once, he would more likely do it again when he found someone he would want to marry and start a family with. It was unfair for Anya, she would of course talk with Anya and Loid first. She paused, there was someone else she needed to talk about this. She wasn’t sure if Shopkeeper would agree to let her raise the girl, but she wanted for Anya to go back to Berlint with her once they find Director McMahon. Yor had already raised Yuri, it should be easier now to take care of Anya since she was older and had more money than when Yuri was a kid. She could imagine Yuri taking Anya to the park while she cooked dinner for the three of them. The problem was that somehow the image of Yuri was suddenly substituted by the image of Loid cooking dinner while Yor and Anya were playing in the park. She shook her head, but any time she thought of forming a little family with Anya, the face of Loid appeared as part of it. She shook her head once again, it was better to keep those thoughts outside of her mind, she told to herself as she finished to ready herself and went to find WISE.

She had dressed still very conservative, considering the kind of job she was going to look for. A blue navy tea dress, ankle boots with a very low heel. A mustard colored cardigan on top. She was wearing very light makeup, just to cover the bags under her eyes after the bad night she had had and added a little color on the lips. Just as she was entering the kitchen, she met the man himself. Loid Forger was in there, the slightest frown on his always impassible face. Yor couldn’t avoid to feel some flutter on her stomach when she noticed how his face lighted when he saw her.

“Good morning, Yor. Have you seen Anya? She isn’t in her bedroom.” He said. Yor wasn’t sure if she was imagining a hint of worry on his voice. Perhaps she was, because otherwise how could he pretend he was worried about the girl and spent the whole night who knows where and with whom.

“She had a bad nightmare last night, so I took her to my room.” Yor responded, trying to sound polite but cold at the same time.

“I’m so sorry about that, she does get some bad nightmares some nights.” Loid responded. “Breakfast?” He offered, as if nothing had happened.

“No, thanks.” Yor refused his lame peace offer. How could he be so shameless? After spending the night with… with… She shook her head again, she wasn’t making any sense. They were only people who lived in the same guest house, nothing else. “Erm, I have something to do, so I better leave early so I can return to complete all my chores around here before it’s school time. Have a good day.” She said, trying to control whatever storm was messing with her head.

Twilight was a little baffled at the coldness from Yor. Maybe she was upset after all because he had been pushing Anya’s care into her. He would need to find a way to thank her properly, he thought as he passed the pages from the newspaper. There was nothing interesting that day, same usual politics from Berlint, the job posts from the mines. But something caught his eye, it was unusual for such section to exist in the local newspaper. He wondered if it could be some ciphered message. He looked at the advertisements, one was for a jewelry sale, something pretty unusual in Wuppertal. Other mentioned a fashion show, in the same special event that the jewelry sale. He then understood the purpose of that section, to caught the female gaze. Maybe he could go to that sale and buy something for Yor. His eyes idly scanned the rest of the page as usual. A horoscope section that he had initially thought was unusual now had an explanation. He was always telling himself that there was nothing left of the boy he once was, but of course he remembered his birthday and knew a thing or two about what a horoscope was supposed to say, but those were weird. Who would tell a large bunch of people to avoid nightly walks until the next full moon?

Yor had left without saying anything else, Loid didn’t say anything either, so she just started walking without a real direction. She still didn’t know where WISE was, she was a little hungry, but overall she was incredibly confused. Loid had been very kind to her in the small interactions they had day after day. He had even spent some time trying to teach her some basic recipes. Some afternoons they would talk about the lessons from Anya or small things they had done during the day. It wasn’t anything special, and Yor knew that, so she naturally felt very stupid for letting her head going overboard. Maybe it only was that no one had been kind to her before and she was confusing things. As she continued lost on her thoughts, she had wandered to an area of Wuppertal that she hadn’t visited before, it looked rather nice, with new streets and buildings, but somewhat different to the other areas of the city. She guessed this must be the new neighborhood that hosted mainly the people coming from Ostania. She could easily understand why the people from Westalis didn’t like them, it was as if they were shoving their money in their faces.

Just as she was thinking that, a vehicle passed speeding through some puddle, splashing dirty water on her dress. Yor was quite crossed by the situation and was thinking on running after the vehicle to let them know a thing or two when the automobile came to a stop and a woman elegantly dressed descended from it.

“Oh my! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Melinda Desmond exclaimed quite excited to finally see the young woman she had been trying to locate for the past days.

Yor moved uncomfortable in the metal chair where she was sitting. The woman she had saved on her first day in Wuppertal had insisted to take her for breakfast and they were in one of those new buildings. From outside it looked kind of plain, but inside it was like entering a palace, or at least that was what Yor thought, she had never been in an actual palace, or at least not in one that wasn’t in ruins. White marble covered walls and floor, little columns all around the place. The furniture was kind of modern, bare metal everywhere, just some white cushions to try to make it more comfortable. Yor thought that it was kind of unnerving to think about eating in such a white place. She was afraid of spilling her tea and being kicked out because of her clumsiness. The tea by the way, was delicious, she had never tasted anything like that. She had just ordered the same thing as the woman, who had introduced herself as Melinda and right now was just explaining some dish with a foreign name. Yor smiled and nodded, it looked as if Melinda wanted to order the specialty of the place. It didn’t matter to Yor, she was honestly afraid because she didn’t know what to do with so many forks and knives. Melinda was telling her something about the stains on her dress, but Yor reassured her that there was no problem. Yor thought that Melinda didn’t look as a bad person and was just starting to relax when a man dressed in black approached them. There was something about him that Yor didn’t like, probably the huge golden chain on his neck where you could see an equally huge clear crystal.

“Melinda.” The man said with a soft smile as he approached the table. He looked down towards the young woman in front of Melinda, pondering if she was going to be a hindrance.

“Good morning, Professor Peichstein.” Melinda greeted the man with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, but the man pretended not to notice it.

“It is definitely the universe telling me that I should talk to you today.” The man said, as he asked for a chair to the waiter.

“Perhaps we should then schedule something for this afternoon?” Melinda suggested, not wanting to irritate Professor Peichstein, but she really wanted to talk with the young woman, Yor Briar.

“I’m afraid the energy will not be good after noon.” Professor Peichstein said as he pulled some papers from his bag. There was a lot of numbers and lines that appeared to cross two circles. “See? Mercury in retrograde here will complicate communication and learning.”

“Oh! I just remembered I promised to pick up something in the mail office. I better get going.” Yor said with a smile, seeing how flustered was Melinda with the situation. “Thanks a lot for the tea, it was delicious.”

“We should totally have tea again together.” Melinda responded as she looked into her large bag for her agenda.

“Now, now, Melinda, what did I just tell you? The energies are not good today for appointments or new encounters. I suggest for you to leave it to the universe.” Professor Peichstein said as he rubbed his belly with his hands. Things were going well, he couldn’t have another leech coming after his golden egg goose.

Melinda didn’t say anything else, just waved goodbye to the young woman. She was sure they’d meet again and it wasn’t their first encounter, so it didn’t matter what Professor Peichstein had said. Things would surely be fine, Melinda herself had read the star map the day she had met Yor and had concluded it was a fortuitous event.

Yor felt a little discouraged after the events that had happened. She had received the looks of people like Professor Peichstein a lot of times, as if telling her that she didn’t belong there. And Yor knew it, Yor knew that she didn’t belong in that fancy restaurant with all the marble and ivory and gold, but it always made her remember that she didn’t belong anywhere. She knew she didn’t even belong in Garden, Shopkeeper was always testing her, as if confirming that she was still loyal to them. But how can you still be loyal when you have never been? She had always wished for a place that she could call home, but she knew she would probably never find it.

“Woah, there!” A red haired woman interjected as she pulled Yor away when she was about to walk into an open drain.

“Oh my!” Yor exclaimed regaining her balance and thanking profusely to the woman for saving her.

“Are you okay? You looked quite distracted.” The woman was older than Yor, she was elegantly dressed and also wore round glasses. Yor thought that woman was gorgeous.

“Yes, I’m fine, I was just spinning my wheels…” Yor responded a little ashamed. “Thank you very much.”

The woman sighed and took her by the arm. “You don’t look okay, come, let’s have something warm to drink.” She pulled her into a nearby coffee. It was mainly a bar and two small tables. A lot of men in suit entered and left while they were in there, but no one was really paying attention to them. Or at least that was what Yor thought, seeing the endless parade of men in suit.

“Here.” The woman said, bringing a cup of black coffee. “Nothing like the bitterness of coffee to exile bitter useless thoughts.”

“Thanks.” Yor replied with a smile, however when she drank she couldn’t avoid making a face, it was really bitter and hot.

“Hahaha! You’re like a child!” The woman laughed happily as she smelled the aroma of her own cup and drank slowly, enjoying the flavor.

“I’m more used to tea.” Yor explained.

“Tea is comforting, bur coffee is what I need.” The red haired woman said with a sad smile. “Now, tell me what is going in that pretty head of yours that has you almost sinking in that crap?”

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it!” Yor said covering her face with her hands to hide her embarrassment. She was supposed to be an elite member of Garden. What would Director McMahon say if he heard of her falling into an open drain? “S-someone said I was a bad encounter…” She then proceeded to explain in a few words what had just happened to her, but she didn’t mention any of the names of the people involved. Wuppertal was a small place, maybe this woman was related to the other two somehow.

“Horoscopes are even bigger crap.” The red haired woman exclaimed as she finished her cup of coffee. Then instead of going to the bar for another, she just waved to the barista, who approached hastily to pour some more coffee on her cup. “Let me tell you something, if that man that can read the stars is soo good at reading them, why is he here in Wuppertal to start with?” Despite all that Twilight thought of her, Sylvia wasn’t a fool and knew that there was something odd with her guests. She had tried to approach Yor Briar as Mrs. Hudson, to understand what she was actually doing in Wuppertal, but Yor Briar was such a kind person that always got flustered when Mrs. Hudson asked her anything about her past. Sylvia thought that it was because Yor didn’t want to concern Mrs. Hudson with whatever problems she had. But an unknown woman on the street? Sylvia knew too well that sometimes unloading with a stranger was easier. So when she saw Yor Briar that morning, she decided this was her chance to get some information on what she and the others were doing in there. And to try to dig into whatever was happening between the young woman and Twilight. Sylvia had been waiting for weeks to get a report from Twilight regarding the new guests, but the man never had anything, despite spending every little free time with Yor Briar.

“Uh… I thought a lot of people comes to Wuppertal, I even had to wait a day to get a ticket on the train because it was full.” Yor said, remembering that they couldn’t leave when they wanted originally.

“Well, that is true, but you don’t look like someone who will work on the mines. Are you a clerk perhaps?” Sylvia asked thinking that she personally knew of two dirty old men who would happily hire someone like Yor just to have another pair of legs to look at.

“Are you a detective? I’m indeed a clerk, well, better said, I was a clerk.” Yor quickly clarified, since they didn’t know for how long they would be in Wuppertal, she had had to take an unpaid leave at her work in Berlint. She had trusted in Shopkeeper to arrange everything once the finished their business in Wuppertal so she could get her job back, but now she wasn’t so sure. It was as if Shopkeeper had vanished and left them on their own. Yor was surprised at how easy it was to talk with this woman, she learned her name was Sylvia and she was a widow. Yor was completely speechless when Sylvia told her she worked at WISE.

“Hahahaha, we’re an accounting firm.” Sylvia explained when she noticed the surprise on Yor’s face.

“Such a strange name for an accounting firm.” Yor reflected, although it had also been a weird name for the brothel.

“Williams, Ives, Smith and Eads. The last names of the original associates. We’re currently working with the DMC since they have some problematic reports but I cannot tell you too much about it.” Sylvia said as if nothing, although internally she was wondering how is that Yor knew about WISE. It was a made up accounting buffet that no one outside of Wuppertal had ever heard about. Not even the people from Wuppertal knew too much about it. She needed to learn more about the young woman and her motivations. “Do you want to come? We could always use an extra hand around there and people will get mad at me if I don’t show up today.” After Yor agreed to go with her, Sylvia guided her two blocks away, to the unmarked building that worked as their offices. It wasn’t lost on her the anxious pair of eyes that had been watching them since the cafe. Sylvia sighed, she was going to have to scold Twilight for wasting too much time.

Twilight had been trying to understand the whole morning what was Yor doing in WISE. It made no sense to start with that Sylvia had been talking to her as Sylvia in the cafe. Then Sylvia had brought her to their offices, and had taken her to one of the rooms they used for secret communications. To the one room that was completely isolated from outside. He had been pacing the whole morning, waiting for a signal, something. Finally just before noon Yor was out of the building and Twilight hurried towards Sylvia’s office. The woman looked at him with incredulous eyes and just told him to close the door.

“What was all that about?” Twilight asked quickly, even before sitting on the place that Sylvia pointed to him.

“I decided it was about time to get some more information on our guests.” Sylvia responded coldly. “I thought you were going to be doing that since the second day, but I have not heard anything from you.”

“I told you they’re just a bunch of weirdos.” Twilight replied trying to calm himself down. Sylvia would chew him alive if he showed any lack of control of his emotions.

“I agree with that.” Sylvia agreed and then remained silent, on purpose to see the reaction from Twilight.

“And well, what did you find?” Twilight asked, seeing that Sylvia was not going to give him the information willingly.

“Yor Briar is here looking for someone who disappeared.” Sylvia told him, studying carefully the reactions of the man. She dissimulated a smile as she drank from her cup. Everybody at WISE could call him the best spy from WISE, but Sylvia knew better than anyone all his weak points. She enjoyed his reaction. “A distinguished gentleman, as far as I could understand. She spoke very fondly of him, I’m afraid is one of those cases were you don’t understand your own feelings until it’s too late.”

Anya arrived happily to her new home. It was the first afternoon that she went on her own to the school, since Miss Yor had been out all morning so she had to use the afternoon to complete her chores around the guest house. School hadn’t been as fun as when Miss Yor was in there, but it had still been interesting. Somehow Professor Henderson had ended talking about other languages and they had discovered that Anya had somehow some knowledge about classical language. Anya couldn’t really explain how she knew about it, but it turned out she wasn’t the only one. The other children also knew a couple of words that according to Professor Henderson wasn’t actually something common for children to the east. Anya knew that the head of Professor Henderson had filled of ideas and that he was very excited to investigate about it and had promised the children to have at least half an hour daily dedicated to the classical language. Anya was happy about that, because it made her feel good to know something when there were so many things she didn’t know. She wanted to tell all about it to Miss Yor and to Twilight, wondering what faces they would made. However as soon as she entered the kitchen, she felt she was inside a dream she had seen before. Miss Yor reading the newspaper, sighing while Scruffy Hair was trying to put together again something that he had disassembled. Anya saw how Scruffy Hair ruffled his own hair with his hands in a sign of desperation and then asked Miss Yor if there was anything interesting in the newspaper of that morning. Twilight bought it, as every morning, but it was unusual for him to leave it laying around.

“Not really, I was just reading my horoscope.” Yor responded, her eyes still trying to process what those little lines said.

“Do you believe in that stuff?” Franky asked making a face that meant he thought she was wasting her time.

“Not really… but today… See, it says that today is a good day for fortuitous encounters with distinguished seniors. And I did happen to meet not one distinguised woman, but two of them.” Yor explained.

“A broken clock is still right at least twice a day.” Franky shrugged and turned to greet Anya, however he moved his hands exaggeratedly as he usually did, throwing away from the table several screws and springs. He quickly stood up trying to gather all of them, but it didn’t matter how much he searched, he was still missing one.

“Look up in the rosemary.” Anya said, remembering that in her dream Miss Yor had found the missing piece in there.

“Hey! How did you…?” Franky stopped his question mid track seeing the distressed face of Anya. “Is something wrong?”

Anya was crying, huge tears rolled down her cheeks as she crouched on the floor. Yor quickly hugged her asking her if something hurt, but Anya denied moving her head. She felt like a fool for not understanding the extend of the effects that the full moon had on the green eyed monster. She knew that the green eyed monster could see the future, she had read its mind several times. She also knew that that sight was in the short term future, things that would happen at most in the next hour. And it was usually related to things that were close to the green eyed monster. Anya had thought that with the full moon, the green eyed monster made everybody to have nightmares, but no, that wasn’t it, it was able to see further away in the future, and was most likely searching for Anya because the green eyed monster knew that she could understand him. He wasn’t giving her nightmares, he was showing her the future. A future where Twilight was trapped and would die. But how could she explain all of that to Miss Yor and Franky and then what if everybody thought she was a freak and she would be returned to the laboratory to be studied?

“Did something happened at school today?” Yor asked the girl as she patted her back, trying to calm her down. It was almost like last night. “Did you remember the nightmare?” Yor asked, confirming that she was right about it because of the reaction of the girl.

“Nightmare?” Franky asked.

“I-I dreamed that h-he was hurt.” Anya responded sniffing.

“Him? Oh, you mean Tw… Loid!” Franky quickly corrected himself. “You don’t have to worry about that guy, he is very resourceful.” Franky tried to cheered her up by telling her some stories that he considered he could share. “Once I saw him fishing with nothing else than a button from his shirt.”

Yor put Anya to bed that night, since Loid hadn’t returned. Yor could notice that the girl was still upset about the nightmare and wished that Loid would have returned earlier that day, but the clock kept advancing and it was already past midnight and there was no sight of him. Yor went to look through the window that looked at the street, but there was nothing in there, only darkness. She paced around the little room, she felt upset because what was Loid thinking? She stopped, she had heard some very light footsteps and she caught Anya trying to sneak outside. She interrogated the girl, who finally admitted she was worried because in her nightmare Loid was injured and it looked bad. She wanted to find him to help him. Yor didn’t know what to tell her. Yor still believed she was going to find Loid in the brothel, surrounded by voluptuous women.

“I’ll search for him, but you have to promise me to stay in here. It’s late and too dangerous for you to be outside.” Yor told to the girl, who reticently accepted. So Yor went to get dressed, since she already was in her pajamas and took Anya to her own room, telling her to go knock next door if she got another nightmare. She would talk with Gympie before leaving to search for Loid.

Anya nodded, pretending to agree with everything. But she knew she had to go to help, it didn’t matter how many times she said to Miss Yor about the place where she could find Twilight, Miss Yor kept thinking of some place called brothel.

Twilight looked at the starry sky above him and wondered once again how he had ended in that situation. There had been too many reports of people disappearing reaching his ears, he told to himself, that’s why he had decided to finally conduct a small investigation on the topic. It had particularly nothing to do with the fact that Yor was looking for someone who had disappeared. It had definitely nothing to do with the fact that Yor would leave Wuppertal once Twilight would figure out what had happened with the distinguished gentleman that Yor was looking for. Yor leaving Wuppertal meant that she would be safe of whatever dangers where hidden in the mines. He would ask Yor to take Anya with her and start a new life next with that distinguished gentleman.

But he had failed completely, he told to himself feeling how his body was starting to complain about the weird position he was locked in. When he realized he had step into a place he shouldn’t, it was already too late. His ankles were deep into that sticky viscous substance. He tried to release himself, but the more he moved, the more he got trapped, now he was covered up to his knees. He quickly stopped, trying to calm himself down and remember what to do in such circumstances. He knew he would just continue sinking, he had to spread out his body to try to keep on the surface, so he just let his body fall flat on that thing. He regretted immediately the action. Yes, he was no longer sinking but he hadn’t really thought of how to fall, he should had tried to lie on his side, so at least he would have an arm free. But no, he was just now stuck by the back and there was absolutely nothing he could do, so he looked once again at the stars above him, wondering how long it would take him to die like that.

Chapter Text

In the nearby forest a man looked annoyed at his hand, he had been trying to dig for at least half an hour, but the shovel kept resisting whenever it hit the ground. The man had never thought that the fingers were that useful, but now he found himself struggling to even hold a beer or a spoon. He looked at the body of the dead man he was trying to bury and mumbled to himself that there were easier ways to get rid of it, for example throwing him into that pool of the black thing they had just poured a couple of kilometers away. He mumbled something else. His boss would not be happy. His boss wasn’t a nice man, and since he had lost those fingers he had been punishing him by making him do things that he could no longer do. Last time the boss had been mad at him he had made him fold napkins. Now the boss had sent him to bury the man he had just killed. The boss wasn’t happy with him. It wasn’t that the boss didn’t want the man dead, the boss was angry because he had killed him too fast, before he could asked what he wanted to know. So the boss was punishing him by making him dig a grave for the poor bastard while the boss went to have fun at the brothel. The man groaned and decided to just dump the body in the black pool. It wasn’t fair that he did all the hard work and the boss got to play with those women. Although the boss wasn’t that bad of a boss, he usually let him had his way with those women afterwards. With that idea he started trotting happily as he carried the cadaver of the other man. It was going to be a fun night.

In one of the many dark streets of Wuppertal, Yor found herself completely lost. She had intended to go to the brothel, but as she was about to turn towards the street that lead to there, she heard someone calling her. And not by her civil name, but as Thorn Princess. She turned quickly but all she could see was a greenish light that was moving into some unknown streets. Yor couldn’t let it go, she was sure it hadn’t been the voice of Director McMahon, because to be honest, it had sounded like a childish voice. But now she was wondering if it had been her imagination, because how would a child know that she was the Thorn Princess? She was trying to find her way back to the streets she was familiar with, but she had had no luck so far. She decided that if walking down the streets didn’t work out for her, she would cut through the roofs, so she nimbly jumped until she reached the roof of the house next to where she had been standing on the street. She still had no idea of where she was, but at least she could see the more illuminated area at her left, she just had to go there. She was about to jump when she heard something below, she turned her eyes towards the source of the noise and froze. It wasn’t possible, but she could have sworn she had just seen Miss Anya riding on some weird looking thing. Yor shook her head, was she hallucinating? There was nothing in sight anymore. It must had been an illusion, Miss Anya had promised to stay at Mrs. Hudson’s. Yor jumped once again down. Miss Anya had been too worried about Loid, if there was the minimum chance of Miss Anya wandering the streets looking for Loid, Yor couldn’t pretend she hadn’t seen her. So she resumed her search, stopping to listen carefully for any lead. She quickly heard the light steps walking away from her and from the brothel, towards the forest. Such a dangerous place for a small girl, so she hurried to follow them.

The silence in the streets was unbearable, if it wasn’t because the green eyed monster knew all the little right places to walk without making any noise, they would had been caught almost immediately. Anya was amazed at how silent Miss Yor was. The only thing she could hear was her thoughts coming closer at every second. The green eyed monster stopped, Anya wondered if something had happened, but then she received his thoughts, someone else was nearby. The nightmare the green eyed monster showed her changed once again that night. Now, instead of Twilight disappearing unconscious in that black thing, there was a man that was hitting him in the head with a wooden branch. Twilight was fighting desperately, trying to avoid the hit, but he couldn't do a thing and he stopped moving as the black thing kept pulling him inside its depths. Anya knew they had to hurry and told so to the green eye monster, who huffed and disappeared into a hidden tunnel.

Anya couldn’t see a thing while they were walking inside that tunnel, she just hoped that Miss Yor wouldn’t follow them in there because it was going to be very difficult to hide from her in such a small place, but quickly she felt how the thoughts of Miss Yor became quiet. When she could see something again, she could feel as well the fresh air indicating they were outside of the tunnel. Her eyes noticed a lot of things in the dark forest. She wanted to ask Professor Henderson why she could see now better than while she was in the city. Maybe it was because of the moon and the stars, she thought as she looked up. Suddenly a large shadow appeared in front of her.

“Uh? What’s that?” The voice of a man asked. He was carrying someone who wasn’t thinking on his shoulders.

Anya didn’t answer and tried to make herself very small. The green eyed monster had been carrying some rags that she had used to cover herself while they were walking in Wuppertal, but now all her instincts where screaming at her that she couldn’t let that man see her. The man was carrying a lantern and he tried to point it towards them, but the green eyed monster quickly hide behind some bushes. The man dropped the lantern, which made him said a word that Anya had been told not to repeat. Anya heard how he mumbled about his missing fingers and she knew who he was. He was the evil man that had hurt Twilight. Anya felt how the fear took hold of her. She couldn’t let that man get to Twilight because then he would kill him for sure.

“S-stop!” She commanded, trying to make her voice sound raspy. The green eyed monster followed her through and started a low howl, to distort even more the sound.

“Uh? It talks.” The man said while scratching his head with one of his remaining finger. “I never heard of the green eyed monster talking.”

“Give us the man and leave this place.” Anya commanded.

“Uh? The green eyed monster eats cadavers?” The man asked, trying to see where the green eyed monster was. He could see something was moving behind the bushes. He didn’t know why they called it the green eyed monster, you couldn’t see its eyes in the darkness. He dropped the dead man and prepared his weapon. He had had to add a chain to it, since he kept dropping it since losing his fingers, but he had got better at throwing it. He wasn’t afraid of any monster, he was himself one, so he knew that monsters could also bleed and die. He didn’t say anything else and only threw the hook. One side was incredible sharp, the other side clung into the objective’s body reaping it apart. He intended to cut through the green eyed monster, he didn’t think there was any information to get from it. He saw how the green eyed monster split in two, the upper part falling to the ground and then it started moving in the opposite direction from the lower part. His eyes opened wide, it was indeed a monster, a different kind of monster, something he had never seen before. And for the second time in a short period of time he felt fear. He tried to threw his weapon once again towards one of the halves but it felt from his hand, he didn't know if it was because of the missing fingers or because of the fear. He then saw the greenish glow appearing in the darkness and decided he had no business there and started running away.

Yor paid attention, she thought she had heard something to the west. She hesitated for a moment, but the noise that was ahead of her told her that she needed to hurry towards there. She had heard that kind of noise before, when she was a child and she used to go into the forest to get some food for Yuri and her. One day after a heavy rain she had found a mama boar and its piglets stuck in some mud. It took her a while but she had managed to free all of them almost uninjured. But she didn’t have any grievance against mama boar, she had been scared for her piglets. Yor wondered what kind of animal she would find this time, but she stopped. She couldn’t see anything, the ground was dark, very dark and it had a smell that she didn’t recognize as something from the forest. She was just about to continue walking when the voice she heard made her heart drop.

“Don’t come! It’s dangerous!” Twilight yelled from his precarious position. He couldn’t see who was in there, but he had guessed it was a person.

“Loid!?” Yor yelled his name, hesitating between advancing or following his advice. She looked around, searching for something that could tell her what was happening.

“Yor!? Don’t come!” Twilight freaked out at the voice he heard. What was she doing there? “There is some sort of tar around here and I’m trapped in it.” He explained as he tried to control his breathing. Her presence had agitated him and he could feel how the tar started pulling him down once again.

“Is this dark thing the tar?” Yor asked, finally noticing the edge between the bare dirt and that dark substance. “What is it?”

“I don’t know.” Twilight said, for a moment he had considered he had actually fallen into a tar pit, but it made no sense. Those things didn’t appeared from nowhere and they were supposed to smell and he would have probably burned his skin by now. But besides the uncomfortable sticky sensation, he couldn’t say he was in any kind of pain. “Probably a byproduct of whatever they’re refining near the mines.” He thought that Franky would know better what it was. “Franky! Bring Franky, he will know what to do!” He told to Yor. Franky might not be strong or brave or adaptable or resilient, but if there was something that he had, it was ingenuity. Franky would find a way to get him out of that substance. Twilight remained in there for what appeared to be a long time, any sound that came to him made him think that Yor and Franky had returned, and every time he would find his hopes crashing when it was just some leaves falling down the trees. Finally he heard voices and was able to see some light coming from nearby. They were there, he let out the breath that he had been holding for too long and allowed himself a second to feel relief.

Franky put a rope on his waist and tied the other side to a large tree that was far enough from that tar thing. He approached it and touched it with a small branch he had taken from the ground. He tried to grab a sample with the branch, but he wasn’t the athletic type, just as he bend over he was about to face plant on the tar when a hand grabbed him by the collar and pulled him away. He heard a small laughter at his back. He was about to bicker back to whoever had laughed at him when he saw that weird woman named Gympie approaching the tar as if anything and grabbed something with a spoon that she had on her. She got the sample she wanted easily and returned to Franky and Yor, showing them what she had collected.

“It’s not going to be easy.” Gympie said looking at the consistency of the tar and the weird position the dummy blonde man held in the middle of the black pool. “It could be a dilatant fluid, the more we pull, the harder it becomes.”

“Can we dilute it with water?” Yor asked looking at the things they had brought from Mrs. Hudson’s house. She didn’t think they had enough water to dilute the whole pool, but maybe enough to free Loid.

“It will not work.” Franky said moving his head. “It will just become more watery but will behave exactly the same. We need a claw.” He said as he quickly looked into the little steam engine he had brought and his tool box and started building a pulley system, directing Yor on where to put them on some of the larger trees.

“Where is your claw?” Gympie asked with interest, seeing how everything was in place but they were missing the main part. They hadn’t brought anything that could remotely be called a claw. “Are you going to build one?” She looked at the trees around, it would take them some time to build something like that.

“I’m afraid it will break, I was thinking of a human claw.” Franky said with a smug smile. He thought it was a brilliant idea.

“And who is going to be that claw? Surely not me or Yor.” Gympie asked skeptically. She didn’t picture herself jumping to grab the annoying blonde man.

“I don’t want to hug him.” Franky responded looking at how dirty Twilight looked in the middle of that black pool. “What if we get stuck to each other? It had to be any of you girls.”

“Yor is the only one strong enough to pull him out from there.” Gympie pointed, pulleys or not, she didn’t have any kind of strength. “And look how small my arms and legs are, I cannot do it.” She moved her hands in front of him. She wasn’t going to be able to hold such a large man as Mr. Blonde there.

Reluctantly, Franky allowed the girls to tie several more ropes around him and to be lifted with the pulleys. Yor was handling the ropes while Gympie directed her, telling her how much rope to drop and if she needed to turn the large piece of wood they were using as the arm of the claw. Franky complained all the time, until it was the last stage of the operation and everybody was silently hearing the indications from Gympie.

“Five more centimeters.” Gympie told to Thorn Princess who kept a steady hold on the ropes. “Scruffy man, start expanding your arms and legs, you need to form an “x” with your body.”

“It’s easier to say it than to do it.” Franky muttered as he tried to maintain the form he was requested. But Franky was no athlete, his core couldn’t keep with what he was trying to do and quickly his legs were hanging down and the arm of the claw lost stability.

“I’m going to pull you up, Franky!” Yor said as she felt how the wooden arm appeared to be on the verge of start rotating out of control. The last thing they needed was someone else trapped on the tar.

“Now what?” Gympie asked amused as she looked into her pockets if she had anything to chew into.

“I’ll do it.” Yor said with confidence. “Loid, are you okay? Please hold on a little longer.” The woman quickly put the ropes around her and jumped to action.

Franky and Gympie were pulling the rope, trying to exercise the same fine control that Yor had on it, but they were failing. Franky was complaining that Gympie was letting him do all the job while Gympie was complaining that Franky was too close. Then it happened, Gympie saw a little light flying ahead of them and despite knowing she shouldn’t do it, she did it and let the rope go trying to catch the little firefly. It could be a specimen she had never seen. Franky was surprised by the sudden release, which showed him that Gympie was actually carrying part of the weight. It was so sudden that he saw helplessly how the rope slipped from his hands sending Yor into a free fall, with only a useless Twilight as a safety net. Yor didn’t scream, she quickly scanned her surroundings to see if there was something that she could hold onto, but the closest trees were not at a reachable distance, that’s why they were using that large trunk as an arm for the claw. Yor doubted for a second, she didn’t want Loid or Franky to see her weapons, but she had no choice, she thought, and as she was about to pull one of them from under her clothes, she fell that her fall had stopped. There was something large and dirty that had caught the rope and was pulling it, trying to keep her above the tar. The sudden stop made her weapon to fall from its hidden place and to her surprise she saw how it sunk quickly under the dark surface. Hadn’t Gympie said that it worked the other way around? She then had an idea and used her second weapon to break the wooden arm by the half, she pulled the rope to bring a half towards to her and threw with all her strength against the dark pool, using it to break the tension that was trapping Loid and at the same time she used it as a step to reach Loid and swing away from the tar with him in arms.

“Ah, I see, so it was shear thinning…” Gympie said as she clapped at the rescue. “Sorry, Chemistry is not my forte.”

“I think that’s Physics.” Franky said looking at her with disbelief. He had never expected for someone like Gympie to know about shear thinning.

“Well, I’m not good at all at Physics, so not surprise then that I confused shear thickening with shear thinning. Either way, you’re safe now Loid Forger, you can let go of her.” Gympie told to the pathetic blonde man who was clinging to Thorn Princess still.

“We’re glued together.” Yor said blushing. She hadn’t expected for that black thing to become so sticky. It was really bad because she hadn’t thought about the possibility and now poor Loid’s head was stuck in her chest. She was worried he couldn’t breath like that, but when she asked him she thought he mumbled something about being fine.

“Not fair!” Franky exclaimed stomping his feet onto the ground. He thought that if someone deserved to be stuck in that position it was him.

“Should we cut the clothes then? I should have some hand pruners with me.” Gympie said as she started looking into her pockets. She always carried them.

“No!” Yor said utter embarrassed. She wasn’t going to walk half naked all the way to Mrs. Hudson’s Guest House.

“Fine.” Gympie said sighing, people always liked to go the complicated way. “I have an idea of how to get rid of that tar thing, but I’m going to need your help.” She told to Franky as they finished to gather all they had brought and were about to start the walk back when they saw the furry thing wasn’t following them.

“Come with us, you also need a good bath.” Yor told to the large dog that had saved her from falling into the tar. It wasn’t unusual for dogs to be abandoned during those times, but that poor thing looked as if he had knots on the knots on its hair, without saying anything about some stones that were glued to it with something that looked suspiciously as the same tar. It must be very uncomfortable she thought, as the dog yapped and went with them.

No one slept at Mrs. Hudson’s Guest House that night. It didn’t matter how much they tried to convince Anya to go back to bed, once she saw that everybody had returned she ran towards Yor and Loid, getting glued as well to them. The girl kept laughing and saying that it was too fun.

“Imagine that all of us get stuck like that?” Franky said as he finished to assemble the device Gympie had requested.

“No thanks.” Gympie said as she brought the stash she had on her room.

“Peanuts!” The eyes of Anya opened wide and she tried to get to them.

“Sorry, we need them.” Gympie said as she started to peel the peanuts and put the seeds on the machine that would mix them until they looked like butter. “This will help to remove that thing, I think… but I don’t have enough for all of you. I still think it would be better to just cut the clothes.” That useless man of Loid Forger said something that she couldn’t understand. “What did he say?” She asked to Thorn Princess.

“He says to just cut the clothes.” Yor responded.

“But you didn’t want to…” Gympie said, unsure on how to proceed.

“Oh, I didn’t want to be naked on the street, just bring me something from my room and we can cut all these clothes away.” Yor explained a little ashamed of not clarifying that earlier, it could had avoided many troubles for Franky and Gympie.

“That’s okay, we will still use this to remove what is left on your skin and hair.” Gympie said as she went to look some clothes for Thorn Princess. “Don’t eat it.” She told to the dog who was sniffing the peanut butter. Gympie didn't consider herself a dog person, but she still felt bad for the poor thing. Who knows for how long it had been living on the streets. She hurried to return, the sooner they finished, the sooner she would go to sleep. So once she had the scissors on her hands she started clipping non stop, until she heard the blonde man mumbling something again, for someone who needed help so desperately he was complaining a lot, she thought, as she put away the scissors and asked once again to Thorn Princess to translate what that useless blonde man was saying.

“What is it this time?” Gympie asked annoyed. Franky had been sent away to give Yor some privacy and Mrs. Hudson was busy cleaning up the dirty dog. Anya was busy eating peanut butter. 

“I-I don’t think you need to cut his underwear Gympie…” Yor responded red as a tomato. Gympie had decided to start cutting the clothes from Loid, something that she had not foreseen. “I-I think I can free my arms from his back if you just cut his shirt.”

“That was cut a long time ago. I thought you two just liked being like that.” Gympie said as she looked how quickly Thorn Princess pushed the man away just to run after him to check that he was okay after the way he crashed against the wall. Gympie felt something moving inside of her. She would be lying to herself if she said that she hadn’t noticed it before, but since those three witches had appeared on her door she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She had been so happy to finally be part of the team. She usually worked alone, away from the rest, just providing stuff. But this time, she had had finally a chance to spend time with them and that man… than man… Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the sticky hand of the Anya girl reaching for hers. That small hand reminded her of her own, many years ago, looking for comfort. “You owe me a bunch of peanuts.” She finally told to the blonde man and decided to go help with the dog. She wondered where Hemlock was.

In the middle of the red district, there was the only brothel of Wuppertal. However, the street in front of it was full of girls and boys who offered their services mainly to the men who worked in the mines, although any day it was possible to see as well several of the clerks who worked at Desmond Mining Co. The owner of the brothel did not live in Wuppertal, he only went there once every two months to collect his money. He really didn’t care how the brothel ran as long as he was getting his part. But that didn’t mean he was ignorant to what was happening in there, he knew they had a powerful customer with very strange kinks, so he got the nastiest girls he could find. He was surprised with the results, it turned out that many of the men around Wuppertal liked to be dominated. The girls were healthier, the money kept going and everybody looked happier, and yet, he would had preferred for Lotan Leichenberg to never step into his business.

Lotan Leicherberg was a small man, short, skinny and with a greenish skin. He always wore a clear blue suit that was a pain to clean and used a cane since one of his legs was slightly shorter than the other, probably because of the same disease that he had suffered as a child that gave him that sickly look. He was a frequent customer of the brothel, although the girls only entertained him by singing or dancing. For other stuff he preferred to hire the girls on the street. Which had had him upset the previous nights, since there had been no new girls on the street. He knew very well he couldn’t do a thing to the girls of the brothel, they were well known around Wuppertal and if any of them went missing, people would start asking questions. The girls outside were other thing, as long as they were just passing by Wuppertal they were fair game. And he and his men had been bored for a while, since they hadn’t had a chance to go hunting. He was hoping to pick up one or two tonight, so his disappointment had been huge when he saw there was no one new. However that disappointment disappeared when he saw the young man in the brothel. What a magnificent piece. He wanted him, he thought as his tongue traveled through his teeth, seeing how the long hair of the young man danced as he walked gloriously carrying drinks around the salon. And Lotan Leicherberg always got what he desired.

Chapter Text

Damian Desmond looked boredly through the window, he missed his friends Ewen and Emile. He had actually written to them, inviting them to visit him, but the two of them had said that their families didn’t allow them to travel to Wuppertal. Instead they offered to host the youngest Desmond during the winter break if the Desmond Family intended to stay in Wuppertal past new year. His lessons with Professor Henderson had already finished for the day, and since the man started with his extra lessons in the local school he spent less and less time with Damian. Something that at the beginning the boy had really liked, but as the days went by, Damian found it bothersome that if his father was paying Professor Henderson, he wasn’t getting his full attention. He decided that he would let Professor Henderson know a thing or two about how inappropriate it was of him to take advantage of the generosity of his father. Still, manners were important so he knocked on the door of the room that was used as the office of Professor Henderson. His voice invited him to come in and he did so. He looked at the large map that Professor Henderson had hanged on one of the walls and the large amount of books opened on his desk.

“What is it Mister Desmond?” Professor Henderson asked, putting down the book he had on his hands. It seemed he had been drawing something on a large sheet of onion skin paper that was over the map. There were several of those notations.

“What is that?” Damian asked, he could read some of the notations but couldn’t really understand what it was about.

“Oh, this is for my afternoon lessons. That young group of minds is very inquisitive about the surrounding area.” Professor Henderson explained.

“I thought you were teaching them to read and write.” Damian said as he approached the map. It was a very detailed geographical map and the notations of Professor Henderson made it even more detailed. Damian quickly found the entrance to the mines and the “base camp” where the DMC engineers and his father spent most of their time.

“That’s a very important part of the lessons, but to keep them interested I ask about what they’d like to know. It sounds as if most of them live with some older children that are always talking about the forest and the mines, so naturally they want to know more about it. I must admit that there is quite an unexpected folklore in this place.” Professor Henderson said to Damian, telling him about the legends aimed to explain the disappearance of people. “Would you be interested in joining us?” Professor Henderson invited him once again, offering to talk to his Mother to obtain permission.

But Damian rejected the invitation once again. He however asked Professor Henderson if he could stay while he prepared the lesson, so he could read his notes. Professor Henderson agreed and when it was time, he put everything on his briefcase and left the mansion to go to the school. Damian left his office as well. He was very interested in all that stuff that Professor Henderson had been telling him. He had overheard once to his father saying that the local legends were important to determine the location of certain minerals in the mines. Damian had spent a good amount of time of his stay in Wuppertal daydreaming that he would find what his father and mother were looking for, and that then both of them would be proud of him. The problem was that he was basically a prisoner in the mansion. He wasn’t allowed to put a foot outside if it wasn’t in one of their cars and with Jeeves or with some other bodyguard. He had heard from them that the people in Wuppertal were basically savages and that there was a lot of animosity against his father in those regions, so they didn’t want to risk anything. Which Damian understood, or so he thought.

He really didn’t think what he was about to do when he chose to put one of the gardeners hat on his head and walk hiding between some bushes. He knew Jeeves always had an eye on him, but he had just seen him busy talking with someone, probably some vegetable provider from town. Damian thought that if he hurried he could caught up with Professor Henderson and go with him, but as he approached the main entrance he understood that it was impossible to go through there. There were guards in there, just as back in their house in Berlint. He sighed disappointed.

“I wonder if they’ve already repaired the broken eastern wall.” A tanned gardener said at his back. “It’s a small crack, but I’m sure a kid could fit through there. There is a small road paved with rocks that goes to the building that it’s being used as school. If I was that Professor I’d like to know there is a shorter way to get to there instead of the large detour he takes everyday.” A smile adorned his face and then he just turned to continue pruning one of the bushes that was growing under a window.

Damian hesitated for a second, but looking towards Jeeves he understood once again that it was now or never and ran towards the place the gardener had said. He just had to move some large yarrow and he found the crack on the wall. It certainly wasn’t big enough for a grown man to go through there, but for a child it was easy to go inside or in this case outside. Damian stood up, cleaning up his knees and hands since he had crawled through the hole. He took a moment to look at the large wall that was now at his back. He hesitated once again, if his parents heard about this little escapade they would be mad at him. He would be punished, maybe he would be sent back to Berlint. That thought made him took the decision and he looked around, finding the stone road the man had mentioned and started walking down it, his heart beating with excitement thinking of the faces of Ewen and Emile when he told them about this adventure. He followed the road and just as he finished to climb a small hill he could see a building that looked like a small church. Professor Henderson had mentioned the school looked like that. Damian felt how the wind played with his hair, how the sun warmed his skin and he decided he would not spent the rest of the day inside with a bunch of silly babies. He would make the most of his recently found freedom and without further hesitation he turned around and decided to go and explore a different area. He knew very well that if Professor Henderson saw him it would be the last time he would put a foot outside of the mansion.

Anya yawned despite the disapproving eyes of Professor Henderson. She couldn’t avoid it, she had been awake until very late with all the excitement of rescuing Twilight. They had let her slept more in the morning, but Twilight was ruthless regarding skipping school. A big no no. She could hear the sleepy thoughts of Miss Yor next to her as well. She was also tired and was making a big effort to not fall sleep in the middle of the lesson, but that only made Anya more sleepy. She wished the boring part would be over fast so the could go to the interesting part. She knew everybody was waiting for the moment when Professor Henderson would hang on the big map because that meant it was time for the cookies that Twilight baked and for the tea from Professor Henderson to come out and everybody would eat while they hear about the naked lady that used to bath in the chilly waters of the river nearby, or about the fat guy who one night burst into flames after eating too much Brussels sprouts. She wanted to tell them about the green eye monster and how it turned out to be nothing more than a dog and that now it was living with them, although Twilight had asked her not to say anything for the time being. So she would just tell them that she had a dog now. She also wanted to ask Professor Henderson about those stones that shone with a green light that had been stuck in the doggy hair. She wanted to ask him about that dark thing that was sticky and she also wanted to ask him about a tea that goes well with peanut butter so they could have a tea party back at home.

After a couple of hours, the lessons were over, but unlike the first days the children stayed a little longer, looking at the map and pointing places that they knew about and asked about other stuff to Professor Henderson. The man smiled, possibly it meant nothing for anybody but him, but to see how the curiosity appeared on those young minds made him believe once again that education was basic for the human being. He had been afraid that those children would abandon the lessons the first time he saw them appearing at the door, all skin and bones, clothes too big for them. But as the days passed he noticed they were more alert, actually learning from what he was telling them and their clothes appeared to fit better. He heard from the children themselves that one Mr. Forger had been fixing their clothes and giving them food. He didn’t want to appear too judgmental so he had avoided asking directly to Miss Briar about her relationship with this Mr. Forger. Although unusual for an unmarried couple to stay unmarried after having children, it wasn’t an impossible situation. At the end, they lived in hard times and he didn’t know about their circumstances. Perhaps there was a previous marriage that prevented a new one, or the opposition of the family, or just plain bad luck, something that he knew very well. He approached Miss Briar who was looking carefully to the map.

“I’ve heard you had some difficulties last night.” Professor Henderson said to the woman, recognizing immediately the area she was looking at. “The whole area is safeguarded now, the Desmond Mining Company assigned some people to guard the area to prevent another accident.”

“It’s good to hear that, I was worried about the children that lived in town.” Yor said still looking at the map. There was something that she couldn’t understand.

“I’ve heard as well that there is a whole team of investigators coming from the state capital to look into the topic of the disappearances and if it might be related to that… basin.” The man stopped to see how far away the children were, to confirm they could not hear him. “I heard this morning that they had already found the body of a man who was missing since last week.”

“Is that so?” Yor asked, trembling against her will, thinking that they could be retrieving Loid’s body if it wasn’t because of the nightmare from Anya. Then her heart sunk with sadness thinking if they would find Director McMahon in there as well. But she refused to believe that, she shook her head to make those thoughts go away. “Professor Henderson, do you really think it’s possible that is the reason behind the disappearances?”

“Why do you ask?” Professor Henderson looked at the determination in the young woman. Very rarely she expressed another expression that the deep fondness she undoubtedly had for the girl.

“Because to start with, that thing is not really far away from town, you’d think that the people from here would know to avoid such dangerous place.” Yor expressed her thoughts. She had been thinking it was very strange for someone as careful as Loid to be trapped there. She hadn’t talked to him that morning since he had left very early to go notify the local authorities about that place.

“I see your point, so perhaps it cannot explain all of the disappearances but it’s possible for people… under the influence of alcohol to forget about such thing. If I’m not wrong most of the people have gone missing after a night of drinking.” Professor Henderson offered as explanation. “But of course, that brings up the next question, when did that substance appear there and how is that nobody noticed it before?”

“It must be very recent, right?” Yor said, remembering the weird noise she had heard the other night. “Do you think that it could be something coming out because of the excavations they’re doing in the mines?”

“I didn’t get a chance to get close to the place.” Professor Henderson had of course gone there before coming to the school, he wanted to see with his own eyes what he had heard about that morning, but he wasn’t allowed with the excuse that it wasn’t safe. “But if my understanding of the excavations is correct, there is nothing that is being drilled in that area.” Professor Henderson offered some other ideas but he noticed that there was something fixed on the young woman’s mind that she wasn’t telling him. “At the end, I can only offer unfounded theories based on what I’ve heard. I’m afraid my opinion will not be really useful.”

“P-Professor Henderson, if you have some time, would you like to see that substance? We collected quite a bit last night a-and I think your opinion is very valuable!” Yor asked to the older gentleman who looked quite surprised at her request and agreed to go with them.

Professor Henderson couldn’t avoid smiling when he saw the young woman walking by the hand with the girl. He remembered his own youth and his own daughter, it was such a pity that his wife had died so young stealing their daughter of those precious memories. Henry Henderson regretted many things, not being a more involved parent was one that was particularly heavy on his heart. If only one could go back in time, how many things that he had not dared to do he would do without hesitation. At least he could try to offer that advice to his young pupils, so they wouldn’t find themselves full of regrets later in live. They arrived to a very plain house, just like any other in town, but as soon as the door opened he was greeted with a livelihood he only remembered like a dream. Loud voices coming from what appeared to be the common room that also worked as dining room. Anya jumping to greet a large dog that approached happily to the girl. A young blonde man he recognized although they had never spoken.

“Ah!” Twilight said surprised to see Professor Henderson there. “Very nice to finally meet you. Loid Forger at your service.”

“Henry Henderson.” The man responded shaking the offered hand.

“I invited Professor Henderson since he was interested in our samples from last night.” Yor explained to Loid.

“I see. I’m afraid he is going to have to share with Gympie and Franky. Those two are going bonkers trying to figure out what it is.” Loid said guiding them to the dining room, where the large table was full of all kind of funny looking devices and glass jars full with what was left of the tar on their clothes. “We had a visit from the police and what is left is the only thing they managed to hide.”

“I assume police was worried about the safety of the substance.” Professor Henderson offered as explanation as he was introduced.

“If it was unsafe we would already know it, considering the surface and time of exposure.” Gympie said as she dropped a coin in the substance. Gympie was puzzled because the behavior of that substance was different from what they had seen last night. Perhaps it required a bigger amount to support heavier things?

“We tried to explain that to those so called investigators, but they didn’t believe us.” Franky added. “I bet they’re just trying to do damage control.”

“Censorship from our current government? Surely you jest.” Professor Henderson said with sarcasm. He knew better than anyone the kind of control the government had been trying to impose during the last decades. A soft smile appeared on his lips at the surprised looks of the people around him. It didn’t surprised him, he was used to people thinking that given his age and position he would have a pro government stance.

When Henry Henderson returned to the Desmond Mansion he felt oddly satisfied. That simple dinner felt like a small act of rebellion as he exchanged strong opinions with those two youngsters. They had come to the conclusion that the origin of that substance was artificial, probably product of whatever had happened in the mines a couple of nights ago. The guests at Mrs. Hudson’s house were very perceptive as they had noticed something weird that they attributed to something happening inside the mines. Henry Henderson couldn’t say that he had noticed something that night, but he had noticed something the morning after, more activity than usual around the Desmond Mansion. He thought that it had been very irresponsible of whoever was behind that to just dump an unknown substance so close of the town, people used those paths frequently. Now he was questioning himself how much of the actions of that day were to just cover up and not to protect the population of Wuppertal. There was a time when he thought that he could ask those questions to the man himself, after all he had been one of his students in his younger years. But he had changed, Donovan Desmond had changed. Henry Henderson look at his reflection on one of the many windows as he walked across the Mansion. They all had changed, no one could live through a war and remain the same.

The brothel was busier than usual, it was one of those nights were the miners changed shifts, meaning that some of them would spend their hard earned dalcs in those few nights they were on the surface. That also attracted more girls and boys on the streets coming from neighboring towns, so you could even find some of the office clerks that worked for the DMC looking for some fun. Twilight usually went to the red district those nights, because they also attracted to Leicherberg and his people. But after last night, he had been ordered by Sylvia to stay and rest at least a couple of days until they could effectively assess there was no side effect at having been stuck in that unknown tar. So it was only Nightfall looking bitterly at her drink on the bar and the large amount of people at the other side of the brothel.

“Don’t be sad, Miss Frost, it happens to the best of us.” A mocking Camilla said taking the seat at her right.

“We get it, it’s very disappointing when you have been so long after a wallet, just for it to be snatched away by a newcomer.” Sharon said at her left.

“Well, at least you can say to yourself that you don’t have the equipment to beat him, unless you know how to grow one of those.” Millie chimed in happily.

Nightfall didn’t respond, to talk with those women was to waste her time. However, they were certain. The frustration she felt was immeasurable. She had spent months after Leicherberg and that newcomer had just snatched him away. He looked at the young man with the same disdain the young man looked at everybody around him. He had appeared the afternoon before demanding for a job, something that he had been given almost immediately. She had to use some contacts of WISE to get her position, and this guy could just walk in and demand something. And not only that, Leicherberg had immediately attached to him just like a fly. To see Leicherberg two nights in a row in the brothel was not something usual, but here he was, entertaining the stupid little show that this Hemlock guy was putting with a baton that he used to keep the rest of the men at a distance.

She knew she didn’t have a chance with Leicherberg, perhaps when she informed of this to Twilight he would decide to take matters on his own hands and come to work to the brothel as well. Nightfall couldn’t accept that, she knew better than anyone the versatility and adaptability of Twilight to any situation, she had no doubts he would succeed to seduce Leicherberg. The thought made her shiver, but above all, it would to admit her own failures to not notice before the preferences of Leicherberg. She bit her thumb nail, she needed to befriend Hemlock and use him to extract the information they wanted from Leicherberg, it was the only way to redeem herself at the eyes of Twilight, or so she thought. But Hemlock was a hateful guy, incredibly proud and so weird that she had no idea how to approach him. Hemlock didn’t seem too interested in women either, so she couldn’t seduce him. Money didn’t seem to be a motivation for him, after all he had rejected the money from Leicherberg the night before. Nightfall cursed to herself, she could see it clearly now, the way to get to Leicherberg, something that only increased her frustration because it should had been easy, but she had completely flunked.

Hemlock looked with disdain to all those disgusting men and women that looked at him with debauchery. He knew of the degeneracy of the human race, because he had been warned by his grandfather and the Shopkeeper to not let his blood lust to carry him away. Lust is lust, they said, and Garden was an institution, there was no room for blood lust in there. But still, all he wanted was to slice those throats and pierce those hearts because they were plainly disgusting. The worst spectacle he had ever witnessed. He smiled to himself, he would do it, he would paint that place with their blood and their screams creating the legend of a new monster in Wuppertal. Besides, he would be cleaning up Ostania by getting rid of those perverts. His thoughts got interrupted when he sensed something in the multitude around him. It was as if he had gotten a glimpse of a snake, but now it was gone, hiding right in front of him. The most dangerous type of snake. He took a deep breath, he needed to calm down, he was here to figure out what had happened to McMahon so they could finally return to Berlint. But once he found what had happened with the old man he was going to kill all and every one of the people gathered in that room.

His thoughts stopped once again as he started to sweat, he had no idea of how to look for McMahon. He couldn’t straight ask to everybody around him if anybody had seen him. Besides, it didn’t matter what the Shopkeeper had told them, since the night before he was sure there was no way that McMahon had put a foot inside that place. The old man was married and as a member of Garden he would never betray his wedding vows, not even if ordered by the Shopkeeper. He cursed once again Thorn Princess, it should be her the one in the middle of this mess. After all he had returned this morning to find her indulging herself in degenerate activities involving cutting their own clothes with that blonde man that lived in the same house. Worst was that she was corrupting Gympie, making her witness that dissolute spectacle that for sure was something that the people around him paid to see. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the hand approaching his back until a little too late, with fury he turned and was about to get his hidden sword out of the baton he was wielding to punish the perpetrator, but instead he found someone had stopped that old fart first.

“Hey, no touching! Rules are clear!” Camilla snapped at the old guy while she pointed to a frame hanging from a nearby wall where you could read the rules of the brothel. There was a strict policy of no touching the staff in common areas.

“If you cannot read, perhaps this is not the place for you.” Millie added.

“Come on, you’re just a bunch of jealous bitches.” The man muttered upset.

“That’s it, get out of here!” Sharon yelled to the guy who quickly was surrounded by the rest of the staff and escorted outside of the brothel.

“And never return!” Millie shouted as the man was trying to offer some money as compensation.

“As if he could ever had enough money to touch any of us.” Camilla said annoyed.

“Everybody, the house is closed for tonight, you can thank your old pal there!” Sharon announced as a chorus of disappointed customers erupted in the room.

“You all know the rules, we reserve the right to close if we don’t feel safe. And we certainly don’t feel safe if you allow those conducts that are clearly breaking the rules of the establishment.” Camilla explained for everybody once again. They were all responsible for any unruly customer. That helped the brothel to keep extra eyes on everybody, the regular customers didn’t like to have their fun interrupted, so they quickly stopped any not allowed activity. In nights like this one, it was common for those incidents to occur, so they were extra careful.

“You don’t have to worry about anything while we’re around!” Millie told to a speechless Hemlock, who just nodded.

Leicherberg walked outside without complaining, he understood the rules. Normally he would have done something to avoid having the night cut short, but this night he wanted to see if he could confirm his theory regarding this Hemlock boy. He was still unsure, his reaction at the incident hadn’t been what Leicherberg would have expected if Hemlock was who he suspected he was. He would need to test the pretty boy a little more. He looked around the street, trying to find his men. He didn’t see them, so he decided to return, most likely they had got a new girl to play with.

Chapter Text

It was a usual Sunday morning at Mrs. Hudson’s Guest House, or at least that was what Twilight had initially thought. He had noticed that their other guest, Mr. Jones had become even more reclusive after he started working at night. He had a good idea of where he was working at, but he had had no chance to go and talk with Nightfall. There was still a week ahead before their scheduled encounter, he didn’t want to move it forwards to avoid rising suspicions. He as the customer of Mr. Frost was not someone who could afford to see her more frequently. He couldn’t ask either to Yor or Gympie about Jones' whereabouts, it would confirm to them that he suspected the three of them where in cahoots. However the real nature of their association remained a mystery to him. He had convinced himself that if he found the distinguished gentleman that Yor was looking for, everything would be revealed. Most likely that man was the link between the three of them, because there was no other reason for them to arrive at the same time to Wuppertal. He finished to cook breakfast and went outside to pick up the Sunday edition of the newspaper. Other than the newspaper, the only correspondence that arrived were the letters from the brother of Yor, so this morning it was very unusual to find two letters addressed to the woman. One came from Berlint, it had the postmark of the Berlint office, however Twilight noticed something odd in it. Could it be that Yor’s brother wasn’t in Berlint? But why would he pretend to be in there if he was actually in other place and why would he try to hide his actual location? More importantly, how were her letters reaching him if he wasn’t at his usual address? He looked once again at the postmark, he knew the SSS had a copy of the stamps that they used, however they had very small differences that they used to mark any correspondence they considered should be investigated or for their internal communication. He needed to examine that with a magnifier glass to confirm his suspicions. He decided he still had some time to inspect the postmark before Yor woke up and was going for his magnifier glass when the second envelope stopped all his thoughts.

Unlike the first one, this one did not had a postmark and the paper was very high quality. There was no sender, only the name of Yor in a very elegant cursive. Twilight wasn’t a fool, he could easily deduce that that letter had been personally delivered to their address. He also knew who used that paper, he had inspected several business's communication that used the same type when pretending to audit the DMC. Now he had another question to add to the mystery that was Yor Briar. What was her relationship to the DMC upper management? Surprisingly he didn’t have to wait too much before learning the answer, once he gave Yor her correspondence she also looked at that letter without apparently knowing what it was about, so she opened the envelope and quickly read the letter. Twilight saw how her face softened, but still remained a little hesitant, so he decided to ask about it.

“That’s some fancy paper.” He said, as he poured himself some coffee, trying to hide his expressions with the cup.

“Erm… Loid, could you help me with something?” Yor asked to the man after reading the invitation she had just received. She had noticed that the man was like a chameleon, he never looked out of place. So she thought he was her best option. In a few words she told him that she had received an invitation for a tea party from Melinda Desmond, but she didn’t think any of her clothes would be appropriated.

Twilight almost spit out his coffee when Yor mentioned knowing Melinda Desmond. He remembered that Yor had saved the woman on her first day in Wuppertal, but after the way Melinda left he thought that nothing had come of that encounter. He had never considered the option of approaching Melinda, it was of public knowledge that she had a strained relationship with Donovan. Without accounting for her other rather questionable associations. Maybe that was the reason behind her crumbling marriage. However, it would be irresponsible from him to not use that chance to learn a little more about Melinda. He drank from his coffee once again, trying to think of how to use Yor for this purpose. His voice came out sounding almost cheerful, but his eyes remained cold. “Of course, it would be my chance to thank you for your help. If I remember correctly there is going to be a special sale today, I’m sure we can find something in there.” He said as he went through the newspaper, looking for the advertisement. He found it quickly and showed it to Yor, whose face beamed with a smile. He almost felt guilty, almost, when he looked at her and told her: “It’s a date then.”

Yor was pacing in her bedroom, her three nicest dresses on the bed. Gympie was standing next to it, more interested in the mumbling monologue Thorn Princess was stuck in.

“I guess I cannot use the black one, it’s more for a formal party than for a d-d-d-d-d-day out!” She said exhaling. “And I haven’t had a chance to clean all the mud from the blue one…” Yor lamented, looking at the mud stains.

“Then the red one.” Gympie said, she didn’t understand the hesitation. It was a simple matter of discarding what was not usable.

“But isn’t it too plain?” Yor said looking at the simple Victoria dress. It’s only feature was the auburn color of the fabric. “Is it really something that you use on a d-d-d-d-day out?”

“That’s why I never go shopping.” Gympie said, opening a paper bag with some roasted chestnuts that she started eating. “Way better to go with old Aunty Spidey to get my clothes done.”

“Do you mean Madame Spidert?” Yor asked tilting her head. She had stopped going with that seamstress once she started working at City Hall in Berlint, realizing that although the woman was a very competent seamstress, her sense of fashion was very outdated. And it wasn’t as if Yor wanted to dress all flashy, but she also didn’t want to get the looks she received when she wore the clothes Madame Spidert made.

“Besides, you said that it was a date, right? This day out. Shouldn’t you be more worried about your underwear?” Gympie continued munching on the chestnuts.

“W-why would I have to be worried about my underwear!?” Yor exclaimed nervously.

“Because it’s a date, and dates end with sex.” Gympie affirmed.

“S-s-s-sex!? W-w-w-w-who told you that!?” Yor was starting to freak out. She had never had a date before, so of course she didn’t know what was expected of one.

“Oh, I’ve read about it, a lot!” Gympie said proudly. “You’ll go out and start awkwardly talking to each other, not knowing what to say. Then you’ll get to a crowded area where you’ll be shoved into your date;s arms who will take you by the hand so you don’t get separated. You'll find your eyes meeting each other every now and then. Then you’ll go for something to eat and after that your date will suggest a stroll around town to take you to some special place where they will look into your eyes with desire and then I guess it depends on the guy, if he is too horny he will take you right there.” Gympie said as she moved her head, remembering just the last chapter she had read from her reference book. 

“Take me where!?” Yor felt as if she was going to faint, she didn't really want to know the answer. 

“Uh? I-I don’t know… in my research material they always use the back door.” Gympie hesitated for a moment, maybe she needed to broaden her the scope of her material. 

“B-b-b-back door?” Yor decided she was going to use some pants on top of other pants, so no one could access her back door.

Twilight noticed that Yor was extremely tense once they went to the place of the special sale. She responded in monosyllables to any attempt he made to start a conversation. That didn’t work for him, he had been thinking that if her brother was involved with the SSS, then there was a high chance that Yor was involved as well. The same went for Gympie and Jones. That would make more sense than all of them traveling to Wuppertal just to find someone who had gone missing. Specially when it didn’t seem as if they were actively looking for this missing person. Perhaps it was only a code or cover that the SSS had provided. At the end of the day, it was very suspicious that Yor had apparently known in advance about WISE. Only the SSS would know about WISE and it sounded as if she had a very good lead about the existence of the organization. So he would use his invincible weapon, his charm. There was no one like him when it came to honey traps. He always got the information he wanted. This time wasn’t going to be the exception.

They arrived at the place of the sale and to his surprise it was packed. He had no idea so many young women lived in Wuppertal, but then he realized there were many that had come from neighboring towns. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence that they get a chance to look at what was trending in Berlint. There were mainly groups of young women looking around the place, exclaiming about how pretty the clothes were and retreating after hearing the prices. Although they were really good prices, it was still more expensive than what they must be used to. One seller was telling them about how resistant was the fabric and that it would last them longer, most of the women seem dubious of what they were hearing.

“Why would I want a dress that lasts forever?” Millie joked towards Camilla and Sharon. “I want to have a new dress every month! And a boyfriend that pays for it!”

“That’s the dream, isn’t it?” Sharon said looking at the stand of a different seller. They had mainly fabrics and some patterns. “Oh, this feels very nice.” She said with regards to one of the fabrics and started to negotiate a price. “I’m sure Camilla will make something nice with this.”

“Hey, don’t count me in yet! Let me see that before you buy anything.” Camilla complained as she started to inspect the fabric. One of her many hobbies was to seam dresses. Many of the girls of the brothel wore her designs, because of the same she was very picky regarding the materials, she didn’t want anything that was difficult to work with.

“Hey Camilla, what do you think of this one?” Millie said, showing her another piece of fabric that looked heavier and in a dark gray color.

“That’s so not you.” Camilla responded, but she still went and checked the textile. “I thought you wanted a boyfriend that buys you things, not the other way around.” She said realizing who Millie was thinking of.

“He would look very handsome in a suit this color, right?” Millie said smiling, picturing the awkward Hemlock. They were very busy chatting that they didn’t see the couple that was awkwardly smiling at each other as they passed next to them.

“I think that you won’t have enough time to request something from a seamstress.” Loid told to Yor as they passed next to a stand that had a large selection of fabrics and quite the amount of people. “It’s better if we go to that section where they have the dresses ready.”

“O-ok.” Yor nodded, still nervous. She had found herself putting her hands covering her derriere at any minor movement that Loid made. She was ashamed, she shouldn’t had talked with Gympie, she had only filled her head with crazy ideas. It wasn’t as if any of the two of them had any experience at all. And if at the end it turned out that Loid wanted t-t-t-to take her right there, maybe it was for the best. She had come to Wuppertal to work as a prostitute. Some prior experience would be good for her. Or so she tried to tell herself. She was so distracted on her thoughts that she didn’t see the mannequin she was about to crash into, however a hand on her waist directed her out of the path of collision.

“Careful there.” Loid said with a smile, gently removing his hand from her waist and taking her hand instead. “I think I just saw a name I recognize over there.” He pointed towards a corner that had almost no people. He wasn’t lying, it was from a very known store in Berlint. They weren’t cheap, but he knew it was the best shoot they would had to find something that would fit into that little tea party with Melinda Desmond.

An old man looked with indifference to the people that had gathered at the sale. He had come because he had been requested by Melinda Desmond, but he had stopped by the Mansion the day before. He didn’t think he was going to make any sale that day until he saw the man with the perfectly fitted suit approaching him and he knew he was in front of a connoisseur. He couldn’t say the same about the girl next to him, based on her clothes but a quick glance told him that she was a jewel waiting to be polished. He stood up and greeted them and in after a quick exchange he told them he had exactly what they needed.

“Many people make the mistake of going for a white dress, thinking that it’s what Mrs. Desmond expects of them, but she had told me many times that so much white clashes with her energy.” The man showed them a dark purple fabric. “She just selected a dress made of this fabric, so I’d suggest something that matches the vibe. For you dear, let me see, I should have a couple of options that would require minimum adjustments.” He muttered after glancing at Yor and making a quick guess about her measurements. He was that good that he brought a dark red dress, almost the color of blood. He had a small fitting room where Yor went to change, she was very surprised at how well the dress fitted. It was a little loose on the waist, but the man was right that it was a quick fix.

She went out to look at the mirror, and while Loid and the seller were saying how well she looked, she felt that she was looking at Thorn Princess and not at her, if that made sense. She didn’t know when she had started thinking of Thorn Princess as someone different from her.

“Maybe you have something in other color?” Loid asked to the seller. “I remember I saw a feature in the newspaper about some new designs you tried to introduce earlier this year.”

“Oh! I indeed have something!” The seller exclaimed happily. That collection hadn’t been received warmly by the people from Berlint, which he thought was silly of them. So he returned happily after hanging the dress in the changing room.

Yor went in there and looked at the dark navy color. It looked like the night sky, specially because it had a pattern of a brighter blue that when she looked carefully at it she recognized the small blooming roses. She told to herself that she should go and visit the store of this man in Berlint once she was back. She would order a new dress for Thorn Princess with a similar fabric. She put the dress on, the fabric felt light, she could move easier than with the other dress. And this one fit like a glove. Without noticing it she smiled and walked straight towards the mirror, the fabric danced beautifully with each turn. The small roses remain hidden until the right light hit on them, it was as if the dress changed in front of their eyes. She looked at Loid through the mirror, realizing that the small roses were the same color as his eyes. What had Gympie said about the eyes? Maybe Yor was the horny one, because she couldn’t stop looking at him.

“It was a very expensive dress, let me at least pay for the half of it!” Yor kept begging Loid over the early dinner they were having once they wrapped up the shopping.

“Nonsense, you saved my life. There is no way a simple dress can pay you back for that.” Loid said as he asked the waiter for another bottle of wine. “Besides you’re always taking care of Anya, there is really so much I need to thank you about.”

“I really like Anya, there is nothing to thank in there.” Yor replied, she would never feel she needed to be paid for taking care of the girl. She saw how Loid filled her glass once again. She wasn’t sure how many glasses she had drunk by now.

“Well, then at least let me thank you for saving me.” Loid smiled as he drank from his glass. He had noticed that after finding the dress Yor had relaxed. And the alcohol was relaxing her even more. It wasn’t his preferred method, but if it worked, it worked. “Any news about your brother?”

“Yuri? No, just his usual letter asking me to go back to Berlint.” Yor said, trying to remember if there was anything else on the new one that had just arrived. “Oh, he said he will be traveling for work for a bit, so the mail can be delayed.”

“Did he tell you where he is going?”

“I think he said Hugaria… He has been there in the past, it sounds it’s common for him to go there because of his job at the Ministry of Exterior.” Yor said smiling happily. She was very proud of Yuri, she was always happy bragging about what he did and where he was going.

“That’s great.” Twilight responded, convinced that Yuri Briar was working with the SSS. Hugaria and the Ministry of Exterior were commons deceptions for people working with the SSS. Now the issue was to figure out how much about it Yor knew. Could she really not know anything about what her brother was doing? He decided it was time to move to a more private setting.

“Why don’t we go out for a walk?” Yor beat him to it.

Anya was bored and upset, because how it was that Twilight and Miss Yor had planned a day out without her? She had spent the whole morning just strolling to town with the green eyed monster, since he knew where to find people that would give them something to snack on. When she decided she had had enough she had gone back to the house, only to find out she had been left out of the fun. So now she was just drawing in the dirt on a small park that there was next to some buildings that no body used. She liked to go there because it was a quiet place, specially on the Sundays where most people of town were outside doing something. She would get overwhelmed in crowded places, people’s minds were always too noisy and some of the thoughts were not nice thoughts, so she preferred to stay away of multitudes. She was however surprised by two voices that she perceived from where she was. She put attention to what they were thinking, one was complaining of having to come to  work on a Sunday while the other was very excited to be there, thinking that he was finally going to see the lost treasure. That got her attention, she knew everybody was looking for a treasure, so she decided to follow up the voices. She quickly found the men, there was an old one and a young one, the young one was the grumpy one, thinking that he would prefer to go to a nearby lake.

“Just don’t tell anyone I told you about this, Professor Helmut.” The young man said while he looked around to double check there was no one else around. Since Anya was very small and she was hiding behind some bushes, he didn’t see her.

“I’m no longer a Professor, Ian. I really thank you for telling me about this, I’ve been really upset about the whole thing for a long time.” The old man responded moving his head while the young man used a key to open a locked door. Then both men entered. Anya hesitated if she should follow them or not, the door had made a huge noise when it was opened, so she guessed it would be the same if she tried now. She still could hear their thoughts, so she just decided to keep on listening. The young guy was complaining of the dust and the darkness and opened a small window that was at ground level. Anya guessed they had gone then into some kind of basement, she decided to approach the window once the thoughts of the men had become a little more distant. She looked at the window, yes, it was small, but she was smaller, so she decided to go in. She just had to know if the treasure everybody was looking was in there. She was lucky enough that there was a desk just below the window, otherwise the distance to the floor would had been too dangerous for her. She hesitated a bit, she didn’t think she could go out on her own, but after hearing the excited voice of the old man she decided she would worry about that later and went in deeper to investigate.

She got frustrated as there were only boxes and more boxes. Some cardboard, most of them wood, so they were heavy and she couldn’t move them around or even open them. She then heard that the men were coming back, they had listened to some noise and were now scared of having been found out, so they were leaving as fast as they could. Anya remained hidden, looking with hope at the window that they had forgotten to close as she heard the noise of the door once again. Then she heard with horror how the door opened again and the young man said: “I almost forgot about the damn window!” and closed it to leave afterwards. Anya wanted to cry, she was locked down in a basement and no one knew she was there.

Twilight made another calculation aimed to correct what went wrong in his previous calculation. He had planned to go through the market and buy some flowers for Yor and then suggest something more private. But when he gave the flowers to Yor she ate one of them saying that Gympie had told her they were good for digestion and somehow he ended eating another one. Bitter, was all he could think of. Now they were going in circles around the main plaza, since every time he was about to suggest some place Yor suddenly said she wanted to see something at the other side of the plaza. She had already done that four times. She probably knew what he wanted, but if that was the case she could easily just ask to go back to the guest house. But if she relied on that, he would start with the protocol sad puppy, nothing like good old manipulation through guilt.

“Is something wrong Yor? Would you prefer for us to go back already?” He asked with a defeated tone and his best impersonation of a sad puppy.

“N-n-no! It’s just that I-I-I… I’m not ready for this date to end.” Yor said using once again her hands to cover her rear. But maybe the problem was because she was just following up what Loid said. Maybe she needed to take the initiative and be the one to take Loid right there, although she wasn’t sure how that was going to work. She tried to remember what Gympie had told her, almost everything she said had already happened, the awkward conversation, Yor shoved into his arms, he taking her hand, he taking her for dinner... they were just missing the special place and then it would be time for s-s-s-s-sex. Yor hadn’t lived enough time in Wuppertal to have a special place. Or maybe she had? She asked Loid to walk a little more with her until they ended in the same street where they had met.

“Ah! This is…” Loid said remembering immediately the scene from that day.

“This is where I met you and Anya. I’m sorry I don’t have a better place to show you.” Yor apologized, realizing that it was something very lame. It was just a street that Loid probably walked daily. “We should probably go back now.” She had lost the wind out of her sails.

“Would you stay with me a little longer?” He asked and then he took her to an empty park. The trees had already lost their leaves and it just looked like a desolated place with a lot of the machinery that was being used to construct the railway parked on it. Twilight saw the confused look in Yor’s face, of course she wouldn’t understand what it meant for him. He didn’t even knew why he had brought her here. Maybe to match her. “This is where I met Anya.” He explained as he pointed to what was left of some broken playground. “I think she still comes around here.” He didn’t say anything else, they both knew that Anya was a lonely girl.

“Perhaps we could put some flowers around here.” Yor told him realizing that despite everything, there was no trash or dangerous stuff around. Loid was probably going there daily to clean up, to ensure it was safe for Anya.

“She would like that.” Twilight responded as he started to walk around, double checking that there was nothing new that could be dangerous for the girl and the dog.

Yor drifted apart a bit, thinking that she could ask Franky to fix the broken playground. She was sure not only Anya, but the other children of Wuppertal would like to have that playground fixed. And she would ask Gympie about what flowers were safe and could grow there. As she was thinking about this, she noticed some scribbles on the dirt. She knew those scribbles, she saw them on every lesson when Anya was taking notes. So the girl had been there, or was she still nearby? She looked around but she didn’t see anyone. She approached the scribbles, trying to decipher what Anya had sketched. It was a weird symbol, she would had assumed it was only a circle if it wasn’t because she had seen one of those before, a snake eating its own tail. She was trying to remember where she had seen it when she felt his presence at her back, she kicked without thinking.

“Eeeek!” She screamed while she covered her butt once again. She was definitely not ready for sex, she would need to talk with Gympie about something to knock out any customer. Then she reacted, Loid was only asking about what she was seeing, so she ran after him. She had send him flying very very far away and through the wall of a nearby building. “Loid! Are you okay!?” She asked afraid that she might had killed him. It was a weird building, it was like a tall empty warehouse, and instead everything was underground. She looked around from her vantage point and found the path of destroyed boxes where Loid had landed. She hurried towards him, she was surprised to see she wasn’t the only one. “Anya!” She exclaimed as the girl hugged her very tightly and started to cry. She took the girl on her arms and hurried towards Loid. Somehow he was not only very alive but still conscious. “I’m so so so sorry.” Yor apologized, but Loid seemed more interested on what was inside the broken boxes.

“This is incredible!” He said as he extracted some weird looking stones from the box next to him as he hurriedly jumped out of the place where he had landed and quickly checked if he had damaged anything, luckily he hadn’t. The pieces were well protected inside those wooden boxes. He then showed them the stones, the perfectly shape of a leave of a plant that existed millions of years ago. He continued looking the contents of box after box, explaining what those were part of a valuable collection of a museum that used to exist in Wuppertal. He showed them carefully the pieces explaining what kind of animals lived there, how the vegetation was. Anya quickly joined him in his excitement, forgetting how scared she had been thinking that she would be trapped in there until she died.

Yor couldn’t describe what she was feeling seeing that excitement in Loid’s eyes and voice and how Anya mirrored it. It was so warm that she wanted to cry.