Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Interwoven ( Chapter 1 )

IMPORTANT NOTE

This story is undergoing beta reading. If these chapters turn out better then ones after them, it's because they have not been beta read yet. Please bear with me until the entire story is done.

Thank you~

A/N: Alright, here's the actual first chapter of Sacrifice. Thank you all so much for your kind reviews. It's people like you all who make writing here a joy. I have to warn you, this story is going to be long, so I hope that you all will stick through it with me. I guarantee you, it will be interesting.

Oh, and before I forget, here is some other information pieces for you all, just so you know what you're getting yourselves into.

Genre: Angst, Psychological, Drama, Romance, slight Humor, Action/Adventure, Horror, Supernatural, Fantasy.

Warnings:

Shounen-ai: There are a couple of shounen-ai couples and if this offends you, then do not read and flame me. You have been warned. There are two shounen-ai couples – the rest are hetero.

Shoujo-ai: If girlXgirl offends you, then you should probably not read this. It's nothing horrible or anything, but there are words exchanged and it probably will go as far as a make-out session.

Violence: There will be descriptive violence but it does not go outside of the T rating.

Cursing and Sexual Innuendo: There are very sexual actions, dress and language amongst these characters. Please be ready for it, and if you're not mature enough to handle it, then don't come back, because I'll be the first to advise you as an author – This is a very corrupt series.

Angst and Dark Themes: This piece will deal with subjects that some people may not feel comfortable with like suicide, sadism, masochism, deceit and the guilt and pain that each character suffers. It starts off decent as far as being a light hearted series goes, but it gets VERY dark and even horror-based at times.

Vampires, Angels, God and Lucifer- Yes, this touches on religion but it doesn't go into it with great detail. There are angels, vampires and other spiritual beings in here. They are all depicted with great accuracy and I have done my research, so I don't want any hate mail regarding the truth behind these beings.

With that being said…Enjoy!

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Sacrifice

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 1: Interwoven

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She walked as if she were the living dead. Her hollow eyes were transfixed on the two feathers clenched tightly in her ivory hands. The only thing that could be heard was an eerie silence as she made her way through the now bustling town…far away from her nostalgic place.

'He came back…' The girl thought absent-mindedly as she remained transfixed on the feathers. She ignored the sounds of the copious amounts of people around her, carrying on idle conversation of daily events in their lives. Their voices mixed together like blurred white noise. 'I should be happy about seeing him again…But at the same time, I wonder why exactly he came back.'

Amidst her thoughts a loud, young, male voice chimed her name in happiness. She instantly recognized the one who had projected such a chipper tone and turned to see his form speeding towards hers.

"Undine-chan!" The voice sing-songed as she was hugged and tackled from behind by a tall, lanky form. This caused the two teens to fall to the ground in a crumpled heap. The blue haired girl, now addressed as Undine let out a small gasp in surprise as she felt herself fall. It seemed like time had passed in an instant and all that could be seen was a sky of pure blue that was sparsely clouded and two feathers of light and dark danced in the breeze.

Still her dull slate blue eyes held a trance-like transfixion on the two objects.

"Oh…Fife," she recognized the cheerful voice.

"How are you, Undine-chan?" Fife’s voice sounded all too happy for his own good. The navy-haired boy always seemed too happy for the situation, no matter what the circumstances were. When she thought about it, Undine had not seen him sad too often. She often wondered how someone could retain one expression as often as the boy did. In truth, she was fascinated by him.

"Feathers," was her only reply as the youth glanced up and saw the two aforementioned objects dance around in front of his face. His navy eyes gazed upon them for a while before his hand reached out to grasp the fragile feathers and restrain them from fluttering away.

"Oh these?" Fife smiled. "Where did you get the black one? I haven't seen that one before."

He had always known that Undine possessed the white feather, but the black one was news to him. They were very odd little keepsakes of hers, and he wondered where exactly she acquired the oddities and why she kept them with her.

The dark blue-clad girl lying beneath him gave a faint smile as her cold eyes softened upon his form.

Fife was an odd one. He was hardly compared to a guy and most often mistaken for a girl. The male was extremely feminine and had long hair that shone like silk sheets. Its length ran to mid back and he always had it tied back with a lavender ribbon. He also had a large lavender bow on the side of his head, pinning back some of his loose, shorter hair around his face. The pale skinned boy's long bangs were wispy and looked feather light. It was only one of his many feminine qualities. His skin was milky white and one would make fun of him for being anorexic if not knowing his habit of eating too much food at times. His legs were long and elegant and he was fashioned in simple black flares; shiny black dress shoes and a long sleeved white shirt that shown off a small portion of his midriff with a neck hole so large that hung over one shoulder.

"I just found it," Undine told him the truth. Just like the white one, she happened to come upon it and kept it ever since.

"This is interesting," the older human said in a childish and inquisitive tone. "These feathers are from the same animal. Where did you find these?"

"In the abandon part of town, I found the black one stuck in the back of a dead child," the girl replied, as if it didn't bother her to have found it in such a morbid place. Undine was used to the atmosphere. She often visited the ghostly side of town.

"Hm?" The amused voice responded, an ever-present casual kindness clinging to it. Fife had always seemed far too innocent for being nineteen years old. At first glance, someone would think of him as a pure angelic being. That pleasant smile could multiply like a virus through a crowd of unsuspecting people.

"I've had the white one since I was five…when I met the winged boy," Undine admitted the true method of how she obtained the object.

"Winged boy?" Fife had never heard of a winged human before.

Surely the only ones that existed were angels and demons of sorts, but he wasn't sure what the credibility was that one of those beings existed on a physical plain. The last thing that Fife had heard was not many people could even see such divine beings and those who could were either not believed or labeled as crazy.

"You don't know about him?" The girl cocked her head mechanically as a slight glint of intrigue crossed her before fading off into a dark abyss. She had not come across many who had not heard of the legend, so it was definitely interesting when she stumbled across someone like Fife.

"No, should I?" Fife wondered if this was something that was supposed to be common knowledge. A part of him felt stupid not really knowing about this said topic when his friend did.

"He's a very prominent legend here. Everyone knows him," Undine was actually a little shocked that he didn’t know about it. The winged boy was a wide spread tale, and for him to miss it meant he did a good job of keeping himself in the dark.

"Everyone except me," Fife teased as he slid off of the diminutive girl, sitting a few feet away from her in a traditional Japanese tea drinking position with his arms hanging down to either side that ever pleasant look plastered onto his face.

Undine sat up in a similar position. The only difference was that her hands were placed peacefully in her lap. They stared at each other for a moment in silence before Fife's sights shifted back to the feathers, and scanned over them as if they came to some sort of deduction. "These are far too large to be any type of bird's feathers…Even a bird of prey. I can only imagine the wingspan of a bird this big."

"He came back," the girl spoke n a cryptic tone. Her voice sounded as if she was prophesying something.

"The boy?" Fife looked to her in question.

She replied with an affirmative as she slowly arose. Her body barely managed to stand, as if it held next to no life within its hull. Fife arose a few moments afterward and handed his friend her possessions as he dusted any debris that gathered from the ground on to his pitch jeans.

"I've only been here a month and no one's seemed to mention this legend." It was more than odd that hardly anyone in a town of legend seemed to even speak of such a thing. Perhaps there was a reason that everyone remained silent regarding the matter. Was it a bad legend that people didn’t want to talk about?

"They won't talk about it. They'd rather forget about it," Undine informed him on any silent questions that he had regarding the subject. If he was going to look for answers from those who lived there, then he wasn’t going to get any. Those who stayed in the village kept their lips sealed.

.

"Too bad, huh?" Fife really wanted to see how many people had different versions of this story. He never liked going off of one version of it. Now he wasn’t going to get anything answered. What a bother.

"The legend isn't a good one…He's infamous not famous." No one spoke of him because of that reason. If anyone caught sight of the winged boy, it was far from a good thing. He was a legend that they would rather forget.

"Hey, how about we go to the abandon part of town?" Fife suggested. He felt like doing some exploring, and maybe they could talk more in depth about the legend there.

"Eh?" It was the small, almost non-existent noise that escaped from her mouth as she looked to the feminine male in bewilderment. Why would he want to go to that part of town, knowing that the legend that stemmed from it was so dangerous?

"I've never seen it, but I've heard so much about it," the blue-haired boy commented. It intrigued him, and he just wanted to be there for a little while. It’s not like he was going to vandalize it or anything.

"Well, I…." Undine trailed off slowly looking down.

"Something wrong?" Her friend blinked, turning his full attention to her.

"He's there," Undine hoped that topic would deter her friend, but she didn’t think it would.

"Hm…I see," Fife noted. "So we'd have to risk it. I think before we go in there. I should learn a little about this legend." After all, the boy wanted to be prepared for anything, since they would be dealing with a potentially dangerous being, if he was what the legends said.

At that moment a gentle wind blew, causing their hair and ribbons to dance around in the currents. The feathers in the petite girl's hands waved around hauntingly dancing to a rhythm only they knew as black and white intertwined.

"I know the legend by heart. I can tell you what you need to know," Undine had heard the legend told in many ways, but she knew both generic and truthful versions. If Fife was still inquisitive on the subject, she would be able to shine some light on it for him.

"Do tell?" He was amused peaceful in tone.

"Long ago, when I was young…there lived a demon boy. No one knew who he was or where he came from. He had two wings that were reminiscent of angel's on his back. But these wings were very different from any angels. One was of the purest white-like the heaven's above and the other more pitch then the darkest starless night. No one knew what to make of this boy. For the longest time no one knew he even existed. It was rumored that when he was playing with his friends he took his shirt off to go swimming his wings were revealed," Undine began to tell the legend but was interrupted by the ever optimistic Fife.

"Well, that's odd," he seemed happier with the fact that it was unique, than suspicious of the fact that it was so misplaced.

"Hm?" Undine didn't see what was so odd about the legend at all.

"If the boy knew he was different, why would he do something like that in public?" It didn't make sense for someone who blatantly knew that they were not like everyone else to go out in public. It was like asking for immediate humiliation and prejudice.

"Maybe he didn't know," his friend tried to come up with a reason for that notion.

"Is it possible that something or someone hid it from him?" Fife wondered. It made more sense if something either hidden it from him, or made him think that it was normal to look the way that he did. That way if he walked into public, he would simply think that he belonged there.

"I don't know…"

"Seems like there are a lot of loopholes in this legend," Fife was a bit skeptical. Some parts of it didn't really seem to make any sense at all. He wondered why no one bothered to question it before.

"Most everyone believes it though…" Undine told him.

"It lacks credibility in places," the boy looked contemplative on the subject.

"The boy was said to be a demon from hell and all who were affiliated with him were regarded as evil. They were to be destroyed," Undine shed some light on the legend. A dark edge was laced into her voice at that statement; enough to send chills up anyone's spine, but Fife took it as laid-back as ever and seemed to brush off the matter.

"Was there a specific reason as to why they thought that?"

"The boy often snuck out and killed villagers in the night. He was an ominous and murderous being. They tried to execute him many times…but he got away. He vowed to come back to this town to have his revenge," she paused before finishing, "but no one has seen him in years."

As the two began to advance to the desolate part of the village, there was a small but old picket fence around the front of it with a large sign reading "Unauthorized Area" scribbled on it in large kanji symbols. Two sets of eyes in different shades of blue cast gaze to it, but didn't take heed to its warning as the two teens hopped the old wooden fence with ease, taking great care not to break any of the rotten wooden steaks.

Once inside, the two walked down a path the size of a one-lane street and glanced around at the haunting scenery. The houses which were abandoned, condemned, and looked dreary aligned this dirt road. Every once and again they would come upon one which had collapsed in on itself or was simply destroyed. Years of neglect left them in a shambled state and many fell into disrepair.

To Fife it looked to be nothing more than a bad area of the town. He glanced at the ground. There was no grass. Not even birds would dare to fly over this area but despite those factors; there should have been no reason that an area such as that – no matter how horrific it may have looked, it should have been off limits to anyone who lived there.

"You'd figure a part of town like this wouldn't be off limits to citizens," he occasionally turned his head upon the discovery of a new object. There was a lot to take in visually, and even on their way back, Fife was certain he’d see more sights.

"Maybe they're afraid that he'll come back," Undine speculated. She would leave the village too if something catastrophic happened and the person who caused it was still alive. There was too much potential that it could happen again.

The young man looked to the fifteen year old girl, bewilderment crossed his face, "but why would he come back to a part of town he's already destroyed?" If it was destroyed, then obviously the legend had done it for a reason. Also, if the legend himself destroyed the town, then there was nothing there that he truly desired, or at least, that was Fife's conclusion.

"Maybe there are reasons that we don't know about that anyone can enter that part of town," Undine wasn’t going to let Fife jump to a conclusion so hastily. They needed to find out more clues. There could have also been the possibility that the legend had unfinished business that he would one day come back to as well.

"Is this it?" Fife saw the sign and the distinct making point where the town became inaccessible. The land on the other side was barren and the houses were mostly destroyed. It was a grim skeleton of the past and he was staring right into it.

"Yes," Undine nodded.

The lanky boy stood still for a moment feeling the gentle breeze chill his hot skin and cause his hair to dance in the winds. "This is definitely not like the rest of the town," the boy stated evidently. "Whatever's done this completely annihilated an entire sector of it."

"Every once in a while, there are guards who patrol this area- so be careful," Undine warned. The guards would kick them out forcibly if they saw them in that sector’s parameters, and she wasn’t about to let herself become their captive.

"Right," it was the happy agreement made as a child ran past Fife, looking as if the dismal surroundings were ordinary. He gazed at the boy in deep contemplation. "There are children here?" The boy questioned his voice contradictory to what he actually felt.

"Yes, the brave, mischievous, and adventurous come here. They say that those who have died here,” Undine looked up to the sky, "have not been removed." That was another reason police protected the demolished sector of the city. They wanted to keep curious children from getting hurt.

Fife thought about this a moment. It had almost seemed like the girl was casting some sort of premonition upon the child. "It's taking this long to recover corpses?" He was slightly amused with the concept of other's incompetence.

"No…" Undine shot down his theory. "They've stopped trying because everyone who's gone in there to take the bodies out has been killed." No doubt the legend had still been killing people even to that day. There were a lot of bizarre anomalies that occurred in that section of town. She couldn’t tell if it was just the legend or someone else trying to keep the mythos alive. It was odd, nonetheless.

The teen fell silent as the mechanical girl glanced back to her feathers. Fife continued to walk casually with his hands in his back pockets to the center of town. Upon walking under a warped shadow, he stopped and his eyes fell upon a ghastly scene. There was no shock held within his eyes, only sympathy for the situation.

"Do many children disappear here?" Fife’s voice deviated from its usual at ease self and turning 360 degrees into something grave.

"Some do," the girl paid him no mind, only focusing on the feathers.

"Are they ever found?" Fife continued to press the subject.

"Very few are," it was a rarity that Undine heard a survival case. Most of the children they did find were dead.

"I think I've found an officer hanging around," the feminine male’s voice reverted back in its usual cheerful mode.

This grabbed Undine's attention. What exactly did he mean by that? Was that some kind of morbid joke?

"Huh?" The girl looked to the sight before her. She was back at the old hanging post and swinging from its once vacant noose was a police officer.

The man had no signs of torture or flesh wounds of any kind. His body swung back and forth in a hypnotic manner as it dangled in the air. His face still held an untold horror story upon its features-frozen for all time. He had been killed recently, blood still dripping from his shoes onto the loamy soil below. In that moment, everything in time seemed to stand still.

"That wasn't there before," she had only been there an hour before, and the noose was barren. This meant that whatever was in the area was definitely not happy about a number of things, and they could be next.

This wasn't a good sign.

They weren’t alone.

"Do you think some killer is trying to use the legend as a cover up?" Fife finally asked after thinking a while gazing into the twisted, tormented face of the corpse. "You know, stir up suspicion and get away with his killings."

"No. I'm most certain it's him," Undine examined the body further and the specific way this individual had been killed was very reminiscent of the legend. No one could leave wounds like that on someone unless it was him.

"So this legend is real?" Fife was beginning to believe that there was more to this than there seemed.

"Yes…I've met him before," his friend reminded him about the story of the white feather.

"Most interesting," Fife was intrigued, 'and I have a feeling that it will only continue to build…'

"Hey! There they are!" A gruff male voice yelled out. The two turned their heads simultaneously to see a group of police officers standing a few feet away from them. They all wore serious and stern expressions upon their visages. One of them was standing at the front of the group and was pointing to them.

This looked particularly irritating.

"Get them!" Another commanded as the group began to charge at them.

"Run!" Fife yelled taking initiative; he grabbed his friend's wrist firmly as he pulled her away from the police. The two took off as they were pursued by the many authority figures. They could hear many footsteps jumble as they tried desperately to escape. Behind them, the officers kept them in sight as their combined footsteps morphed into a stampede. If one of them so much as fell or tripped, they would be caught by the swarm.

"I wonder if they think we did that," Undine glanced over her shoulder, back at the hanging post, which was now a silhouette of its former self. They were gaining ground quickly, but that wouldn’t be enough to completely out run them.

"Well, we were at the scene of the grim," Fife reasoned with a smile; as if running from authority figures was a giant game of catch me if you can. "Logic would say that we killed him." He knew what they thought it looked like, and there was no denying that the two of them looked pretty guilty. The fact that they decided to take off running was another matter entirely and only helped to make them look even worse than before.

"What if they catch us?" Undine's voice held a small amount of concern. Even if they managed to catch them, they had no evidence that either one of them committed the crime. They hadn’t touched the body, so they had no blood on their hands. They also had no weapons on them, and that could possibly negate them from taking blame.

"Hopefully, that won't happen," her friend chimed as he hastily darted around the corner, Undine’s small body had no choice but to follow in suit. Fife was thin and fast, he could turn on a dime. The girl was pulled to and fro behind him like a doll.

"Do you know where we're going?" Undine inquired.

"Not really, I figure you'd lead me in the right direction." Fife was really just playing it by ear and hoping for the best.

"I haven't been this deep into the abandon sector of town before," looking around; Undine could tell that the houses were less and less. Piles of rubble where houses used to be lined the streets and the view around them became more and more dark and depressing. Ruin soon outweighed everything as they continued to run into what she could only guess was the center of impact.

"Not good!" the feminine boy almost sing-songed.

"You're always so happy at the most inopportune times,” Undine frowned heavily as they turned yet another corner and nearly became one with one of the few standing walls. Fife slid to a stop just in time.

"Really not good," the familiar sing-song voice rang, but this time it was nervous.

Anxiety infected Undine as her eyes darted around for escape but she could only see authority figures closing in on her. "What do we do now?"

"Get arrested it looks like," Fife again stated the obvious as his friend hid behind him. She rested a pale hand gently on his shoulder and peered from around his side shyly. Undine’s face held dread in it as she watched the hopeless situation play out before them. Soon they would be arrested for a crime they didn’t commit, and even if they were proven innocent, the fact of the matter remained that they weren’t supposed to be in the restricted area.

"How comforting…" Undine muttered.

"There's no escape!" One of the rookies, a dark-headed cop spoke as he lunged forward and grabbed the girl's wrist harshly.

"Fife!" she called out, her small voice gaining a little strength with the fear and uncertainty she felt. The man’s hand was rough and calloused, and his grip on her was firm. There was no way that she would escape him even if she struggled her hardest.

"Looks like this will be the last excursion we take through this part of town," Fife acted as if he found the situation ironic.

But just at that moment when defeat seemed inevitable, the police officer who held the petite girl's arm received a flying kick to the face. The force of the blow was so hard that he stumbled back and released her arm. The slate haired girl turned to see who it was. Her eyes widened slightly upon the realization hitting her in the face.

The one who delivered the kick was a young male in his mid-teens. He was slender and a foot taller than she was. He had semi-long spiky, disheveled hair and what seemed to be an extremely long ponytail, sectioned off with hair ties only a couple of inches apart, making it look like a long, and forest green rope. The boy was oddly dressed, his clothes being a mix of punk and skate boarder. The pieces unique as if he had either made them himself or got them especially made by a tailor or fashion designer. The boy wore a white wife-beater shirt, with a longer shirt underneath of it. This shirt had a large neck hole, much like Fife's, but with no black trim. There was no right arm on this shirt and the left one was long and slightly flared at the end. Their mysterious hero’s pants were slightly baggy blue jeans and on his bicep muscle, he wore a dog collar of sorts, wrapped around it tightly. The hand on his right side wore a black glove, covering its entirety. It too had a dog collar binding his wrist.

The teen's large, oval shaped eyes caught her glance has he landed on the ground upon one knee, his movements fluid and graceful.

Then from behind her, she could hear a thunderous, wild voice yell "let's rock and roll" as the sound of bad guitar chords rang through the air. She turned to see another police officer lying on the ground after being bashed in the head with a guitar.

A few feet over, an odd-looking white haired woman delivered a spin kick to another authority figure, making them fly a great distance, hitting nearby stone wall.

"Hey there," the blue eyed girl said and gave the two a sociable wink.

Undine's eyes widened slightly. Who were these people? Why were they helping them, and what was in store for them now? They had just gotten away from the police, but who knew what was going to happen once they came into contact with these strangely dressed teenagers.

"Well, that was interesting," Fife said after the entire fight was over, his happy façade was unfazed by the events which took place around him.

Everyone but Fife fell at his awkward response.

"What the hell is this guy?" The white haired woman wondered aloud.

Undine looked to the other female. This teen stood out from her counterparts, with long snow white hair and on either side of the top of her head, two short, powder-puff like ponytails was found. She had large, friendly blue eyes and average skin color. She wore red lipstick and a dark pink almost red eye shadow. She was tall and busty, her shirt accenting her "gift" being spaghetti strapped and black. Her skirt was teasingly short with horizontal green and black stripes. She had arm warmers of sorts extending from mid-bicep to the tips of her fingers and thigh high socks, which also held the same pattern. Her shoes were black Mary Janes, similar to her own but of a higher shine quality.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything," Fife broke the silence, "but who are you and why are you in this part of town?"

"We're Sub-72!" The blonde, buff one of the three said as if he were introducing some type of important group. This man was reminiscent of a surfer having long, blonde hair, clear, blue eyes and a nice tan.

"Like they honestly know what that is," the white haired frowned and shot sarcastically.

"Yes," Fife agreed kindly, "I was wondering what it was, myself."

"We're a small-time band trying to make it big," the taller girl further explained who they were.

"Yeah," the blonde nodded. "We were traveling to this village to perform a gig at the Rose Hip Club this afternoon but I guess this place is pretty desolate. Funny though," he scratched his head in puzzlement, "they said this place had a pretty good crowd."

"Maybe something happened," the white haired girl she looked around at the destruction with a sympathetic expression. This place looked awful and she only could have imagined how much death and destruction took place there.

"But this place looks like it's been dead for a while."

The green haired boy said nothing, just quietly observed the situation and thought to himself. If there was anything that gave him feelings of dread, it was definitely this town. 'There's a weird feeling hanging in the air around here…'

"Oh! This town does have people in it!" Fife pointed a finger in the air matter-of-factly.

"Where?" The older teen girl looked around, "I don't see anyone."

The green haired boy scanned the area, but found nothing.

"This is an abandon section of town. It has to do with a legend or something. My friend Undine could tell you," Fife held out a hand to the girl, offering her services.

"Yes," she nodded in affirmation.

"Hm?" Forest eyes looked toward her.

'That's one creepy looking girl. She looks like she stepped right out of a gothic painting.' Ko thought to herself.

"Hey, this place is Saesugawa, right?" Chichiri looked at Fife and Undine.

"Oh!" Chichiri then exclaimed happily. "I know where we are now!" He put a hand under his chin and flashed a radiant, toothy smile.

"Really, where?" Ko shot sarcastically.

"This is the part of the town that the legend appeared in." There was no doubt about it, that’s exactly where they were.

"You mean the one about the winged boy?" Ko asked.

"The very same."

Keiji was still silent as he looked to his two friends, and listened to their conversation.

"This section wasn't rebuilt for whatever reason. I've heard a lot of them. It's not authorized to come here and they'll enforce the law if they see you here," he further warned the group about the law enforcement in that sector of town.

"Great…" Ko sighed in exasperation, recalling the events which just befell them. The last thing she wanted to do was give the band a criminal name. "We haven't been here an hour and we've already got in bad with the cops."

Chichiri let out a sigh. "What a great first impression…but I guess it can't be helped."

"So what are you two?" The spunky female looked to Fife and Undine, waiting for them to produce some kind of answer that would kill the mystery, "fugitives or something?"

"No…It was a misunderstanding," Undine tried to explain.

"They thought we killed someone," Fife smiled.

Keiji stared at him. Why the hell was Fife smiling about that? Didn’t he understand that he was being accused of a crime that was punishable by death? Did he even want to know how they came up with that accusation in the first place? Someone needed to do some explaining.

"Really?" The white haired girl was kind of amazed that anyone would really suspect them of doing such a thing, since both of them really looked harmless. Then again, it wasn't to say that a killer had to look deadly.

"It's not uncommon that people die in this area. People say that this land is cursed," Undine informed them.

"It's funny how even after the myth is gone superstition still continues to grow." Chichiri thought it was strange how much legends spread through word of mouth, and even more how many people believed them.

Fife held a look of inquisitiveness as his eyes locked onto the green-haired boy. 'He's a peculiar one, yes? I can see that he's not one to talk…The man of mystery. He even seems the cold type.'

Noticing a dark gaze upon him the silent teen turned to Fife, cold, dark green eyes pierced his gaze. "What?"

Fife put an arm behind his head as a drop of sweat ran down his forehead. "Oh! Forgive me, I zoned out for a bit." It was a bad habit of his. There were moments that Fife just tended to get really spacey.

"We should leave before something else happens," he spoke in monotone ignoring Fife completely. He wasn’t really in the mood to be fooled around with by some happy idiot.

The group began to make their way out of the abandon part of town. For a while, they each walked in silence not really knowing what to say to people they hadn't met before. Each of them felt a little awkward with their situation. After all, they had only just met each other and had been shoved together by terrible circumstances. It wasn’t like they had bonded previously and had a plethora of subjects to discuss.

Ko finally broke the silence as her face lit up in realization. "Oh! I almost forgot! We never formally introduced ourselves."

"And we haven't thanked you for what you've done," Fife felt a little rude, not giving faceless strangers a proper thank you for saving his life.

"Nah!" Chichiri in dismissal. "You really don't have to. By the way, I'm Chichiri, main guitarist and male vocalist for Sub-72."

"I'm Hotohori Urashima, but everyone calls me Ko," the white haired woman gave a proper introduction.

"Hotohori seems odd for a girl," Fife noted. Usually, the ones he saw with that name were all male. It even would have made more sense if Ko looked more male than female, but she didn’t. The white-haired girl was very feminine.

"My parents wanted a boy," Ko deadpanned. That was the usual response she was given when she was faced with that inquiry. There was a reason she preferred Ko as a name.

"Oh,” sweat ran down Fife’s head yet again. Sometimes, it was better not to ask, and this was one of the cases where he should have kept his mouth shut.

"My name is Undine," the small girl introduced herself.

"Undine," Ko was thoughtful, "that's a unique name…It sounds whimsical."

"My name is Fife Amaratsu," Fife smiled and turned his gaze to the green haired teen, "and who's this shy one over there?" He pointed to the adolescent and teased.

"My name is Keiji," the green-haired boy’s frosty voice projected, "and I'm not shy."

"Well," Fife beamed. "It’s nice to make your acquaintance, Keiji-kun!"

"Don't call me kun," Keiji was defensive about the suffix. He didn't want anyone getting close to him, much less a boy who looked as if he should be a girl.

"Hm?" Fife paused at his remark and stood still as Keiji walked past him. He was only trying to be friendly and he had no idea that the other male could be so cold to someone he had just saved. In a way, he wondered why he saved him in the first place since he didn’t seem to care much.

"Don't be so cold," Chichiri scolded him. "He's only trying to be your friend."

Chichiri looked back to Fife, who was standing with his back turned to everyone, grabbing one of his arms behind his back and looking down. He seemed sad to Chichiri and what Keiji was about to say didn't help the situation.

"That's a guy? Looked like some bubbly fangirl to me," Keiji offended. It was obvious in some ways that Fife was male, but he didn’t care. It was never in his intentions to make friends with Fife, or even be close to him.

After a few moments of pause, Fife whirled around with a bright smile on his face. "It's alright; people mistake me for a girl a lot."

"He didn't mean anything by it…Uh-" Chichiri paused. Fife’s sudden burst made him forget the rest of his sentence. Chichiri was caught off guard by his happy response.

"Fife," the blue-haired one stated his own name, guessing that he'd forgotten it by now.

"Yeah, sorry I'm bad with names," Chichiri felt embarrassed. He hated not being able to place names to faces well.

"Hey, would you guys like to come to the Rose Hip Club and watch us perform?" Ko invited the two strangers. "We could use the publicity." There was nothing wrong with gaining a few new fans along the way. Besides, they were out to get publicity and she may as well have taken advantage of the situation.

"Is now really a time for self-promotion?" Keiji was a little irritated with the fact that the girl was using these people as a publicity gain. Honestly, what the hell was wrong with her? He hardly doubted these people wanted to become their fans just because they saved their lives.

"Now's as good a time as any," Ko was confident they’d come. Besides, it was good for business.

"I'd love to!" Undine smiled. "I've never been to a concert before." There was nothing wrong with enjoying a little concert from this band. Who knew? Maybe they were good.

"Kid, you don't know what you've been missing," red lips smiled to the darkly dressed girl.

"It might be a little loud but it'll definitely be a blast," Chichiri chimed. The thought of a crowd's excitement was making him antsy. He couldn't wait to be before all of those people, performing in that pub. It was an adrenaline rush every time he was on stage. He lived for moments like those.

"I can't wait!" Fife had never been invited to a concert in all nineteen years of his life, so he was much in the same boat as Undine. The thought of trying something new always brought a smile to his face.

"Then be at the Rose Hip Club at six-thirty," Ko educated the two on when and where the concert would be. "I'll give you some directions..."

Ko began to explain the exact location of the club as the group disappeared from the hanging post, going back into the depths of the town to get ready for their concert.

Two glassy blue eyes, haunting and seeming to stand out amongst the darkened sky watched them fade off into the distance. This figure was perched atop of the hanging post; a long bastard sword was swung over his shoulder.

"It's been a while," the deep voice of this figure spoke as the dead body of the cop swung back and forth below him. "Killing in this area would just delusion them into further thinking this ground is cursed."

Standing on a nearby steeple of one of the building was another male; this one was of the same build as Fife. He had the same type of hair, shaggy in front and pulled back into a short ponytail, except this man's hair was a blonde color and shone with divine radiance. He was dressed in a long-sleeved black shirt that buttoned up the front and hung long, more like a coat like than a shirt. The cuffs of the sleeves were white and each had a single black cross by the wrist. His pants were semi-tight and flared at the bottom. This being had belts around his thighs, biceps and near his wrists. He also wore two belts that crossed in an X shape loosely over his hips. His hair and black shoes being the only thing that shone in the dark.

This blonde man held the same facial features as Fife, lazy eyes that were of a different shade of blue; more reminiscent of the heaven's above then the night sky and holding a chained sorrow within them. His nose, mouth and facial structure were almost the same as Fife's, but this man was very dark and held more masculinity. Hair pulled back with a simple black ribbon. This figure had large, bird-like wings of a dull black color. They seemed like the wings of a crow in structure and color and had shackles near the base and on the other side of the wing's bend. A chain extended from one to the other, but they weren't the only shackles on this man. There were shackles on his wrists and biceps and on his ankles, each with chains that seemed to connect them together.

"It's odd that you'd return at a time like this," glassy blue eyes looked to the other form.

"I made a promise long ago," the male had fulfillments to make.

"Hiro-kun," the crow-winged being pivoted slightly and took in his form.

The one perched upon the hanging post was majestic. His form was tall, even when sitting it could not be mistaken. The being was lean and had long muscles made for endurance as opposed to pure strength. His hair was short a spiky on top but with a simple rat-tail hanging from it, bound back by a white band of sorts. His eyes were narrow and cat-like and his features were stern and manly. His clothes were elaborate, seeming like something from the Feudal Era of Japan. He wore a long cape and had a long plate of armor tied around his neck. He wore black pants and a black, sleeveless shirt; both were form-fitting and showed off his defined muscles. This being also wore belts in the same X formation around his waist and had arm warmers that buttoned up the side, extending from his elbow to his knuckles and had the same shiny black shoes on as the crow winged man.

"And I intend to keep it," the deep-voiced man stretched as a malicious smile formed upon his features and from behind his cape, his wings stretched out which made him look more intimidating than before. They were unlike his counterpart’s, long and slender in appearance. There were four of them, two atop that pointed upwards and two below that pointed downward, which were a few feet shorter than the top pair.

On both sides, the feathers were different in coloration. His left wings were the purest form of white, while his right wings were the darkest shade of black.

"Yes," the crow winged man agreed and smiled placidly at the other. "This should prove interesting. It seems that the final judgment," his voice was calm, "shall be made here."

…To Be Continued…

A/N: That took me two days to write. Not to say that length is unusual for me. My chapters are usually this long and longer, but won't go past 20 pages on MS Word. Sorry for any mistakes, I'll probably go and correct it sometime next week.

Thank you for all of your lovely reviews! I'm so surprised that so many of you reviewed me!

If you have any questions or want to show a character some love, then feel free to review me. Also, do tell me what you think about characters and which ones you love or hate. I like hearing what people think about them.

Oh, and I update weekly so due come back and I should have a new chapter.

If you want to check out my other works, I have two. One is called Into The Void and the other is called To Wish Upon The Sea, they aren't as well-written because they are older works, but I still will update them.

EDITING COMPLETE