The group of now 4 lies in pairs. The white on one side and the colored on the other side of the hellwater-fire.
Racism is not really an issue in these ages. It has been worn down with the numerous wars. Snowen knows much of this. During his 6 months in this world he has participated in 3 wars, and 45 cases of genocide. Fuchsann was an icon for one of the groups of people Snowen erased, even Falcon witnessed that event. But it's first now that Snowen realizes that he killed people, not just targets, objectives or preventors of an action. He gazes into the fire. He can almost see the burning wreckages he has left behind. He can almost hear several of his victims pleading for their life again. He can feel Wekka lying snuggled up close behind him, happy for his company. But beyond Wekka's joy for a companion, lies a deep pain. Something is not right. Something is moving in her abdomen. She has an idea of what it might be, and now her thoughts swirl around the solution. To do, or not...
Fuchsann lies gazing into the fire as well. Thinking of the things she has just experienced, and how she suddenly went from a life with no friends to one with 3, one of them more “appreciated” than the others. That certain friend being kept close, with his arms around her. He also has things on his mind. But they are ignored, Falcon is more interested in how many bugs has actually found their way into his pants... And if they actually plan on getting out...
“Maybe I can flush them out with my powers...” He thinks, but just gets up and shakes his clothes. He sits down next to Fuchsann and tries to savor the moment, before the bugs return that is...
Wekka grabs for her abdomen and gets on her feet.
“What's wrong, Wekka?” Falcon asks. Wekka shakes her head. “I'm not sure what it is... Girl-stuff... You know...”
Falcon feels her lie, but stays put. Wekka proceeds into the bushes, deep into the bushes. She lights a flare on the way. “They'd never understand it anyway. A spawn of hell setting children to earth, with me! Why me?!” Her thoughts flame. So does her conscience. She produces the Glock 69 from her pocket and etches a symbol into a tree with it.
Wekka stands against the tree and points the gun's muzzle to her swollen abdomen. "So long son of Satan..." She shoots several rounds then moves the gun to her head. Tears of pain trickle down to her wound. A green liquid runs out alongside her blood. "I'll miss you, Snowen..." Is her final thought before she hears her final gunshot. Blood splatters onto the tree's trunk and slowly runs down across a fresh carving. A heart with “W+S” in it...
From atop a tree, Falcon had been viewing her final actions. Choosing not to interfere, knowing he holds a cure for capital wounds. He leaps down to check the corpse. He has the chance to revive her... But it doesn't feel right... Not in this case at least... Falcon can feel she was bearing a child. One not wanted if one knows what's good for the rest of the world.
Snowen eventually arrives at the scene. Falcon tries to keep him from looking, but is only thrown aside by a muscular, white arm. Snowen is shocked to see her in that condition. Full of holes, with a flare in one hand and gun in the other.
He turns to Falcon, with tears building up. “Revive her, Falcon...”
Falcon shakes his sad face. Snowen takes a hold of Falcon's shirt. “Stop fooling around! Revive her!” Falcon's response is still the same. Snowen lifts him as high as he can lift him. “REVIVE HER!!!” He yells desperately. Again, Falcon just shakes his head. The teary-eyed Snowen slams Falcon to the ground and buries his fist into Falcon's spine. Then he vacates the area, after breaking an enormous tree in one blow of his fist. Falcon lies immobilized.
“I'm really disappointed in you...” A soft, female voice sounds beside him. Falcon manages to roll onto his back. It's Star, come to help, Falcon hopes.
“My bets were on you reviving her, then letting her die because you were occupied fighting her daughter. She was going to give birth to a “queen of blades” you know...” Star says. “Sounds... painful...” Falcon hisses, wracked in extreme pain. “That's how I got into this business you know. Some demon caught me off guard and snared me into his web of illusions. At the time of my child's birth, it ripped and tore at my body, making my death long and painful. Come to think of it... Oh yeah, I gave birth to a “king of pain”. Ezekiel, I think...”
“Speaking of pain... Help?” “Oh, right. Your spine...”
A light shines from Star, and Falcon feels much better.
“What do you want from me now then, Star?” Falcon asks sarcastically.
“Actually. This will be a treat for us both... I want you to collect some artifacts for me, but before you go bring them to me, I've noticed a demonic force stalking you.” “Yeah... Something called Ezekiel,”
Star looks a bit angry. “That son of a... That motherf... That bastard! You could have been the ultimate weapon against demons and undead on this planet,”
“Do you mean the stones of divinity make me untouchable to “evil” forces?”
“Your onto something, Joon. But the shape-shifter stone was corrupted, and has been balanced out with the other stones. Your in the middle of something BIG! Though I can't tell you to stay on heavens side, nor can I tell you to go to hell's team. You need to find your own path, whether it goes the high road or the low road.” Falcon gets up. “You're wasting my time. I feel that I should try to talk to Snowen,” Star just smiles. “Time is relative... I froze it on my entry, so Snowen is not far away,” Falcon smiles back.
“But anyhow... About those artifacts... Is it okay for you to take the assignment?” “Yeah, I'll do it for you.” “Great! I already have one of the artifacts, so you'll just need to retrieve one item,”
She presents him a silver ring. “This is “the shackle of the eternal companion”,” “Looks like an ordinary ring... Why call it a shackle?”
“Once you put it on, it will make sure the next person you tell you love never leaves you. A hideous curse if used wrong, 'cause getting it off costs an eye,” Falcon nods and looks wondrously at the ring. “You'll need to find the other shackle, “the shackle of eternal life”. It holds the most painful curse of all...”
Falcon looks Star in her eyes. “I thought life was the greatest gift of all... Why is it suddenly a curse?” “You obviously don't remember how it is in the afterlife... And you obviously haven't experienced enough of life to see the curse. Ehmmm... The ring, keeps the body and soul together, while the body still follows it's natural path. The body rots and decays over time, and soon you'll only be bones with a soul attached. Only a demon can undo the curse, but as long as you haven't worn the ring for more than 24 hours, you can still take it off. But the price for getting it off after it's stuck will be whatever the demon wishes... It's usually to convert your soul to his cause, but with demons you'll never know...
I'm not boring you with this, am I?” Falcon pulls at his furry chin. “Not too much... But I'm a bit worried how I'm gonna talk to Snowen again, without him thrashing me again...” “Tell him from me that he'll see Kit again soon enough, it's written in the stars. Same goes for Xeni.”
“But... Fuchsann's not dead...” “Ach... It's tough to keep the future a secret... Especially for someone who has as much paperwork as she does with you...”
Star looks shamefully at her feet. “Come to think of it, I got to go to court for your future actions in a short while,”
Falcon looks confused at her. “Why must you go to court? Am I that bad?”
“No...” She replies. “You are in many ways better than us angels... But it's more about you traveling to our realm,” She looks at her wrist. “I'm going to leave you now. And don't worry too much about Zaz, he'll forgive you. Bye...”
Star vanishes into the night. Falcon squats down at Wekka's hand and pries the gun from it. He then runs towards camp.
Fuchsann sits by the fire, a bit confused. “Where are they all going? And why did they leave me?” She feels alone. The slightest rustle in the leaves makes her nervous. Falcon stumbles through the bushes, panting with exhaustion. “Where's Zaz, I mean Snowen?” “I-ehh... I thought he was with you...” “Shit!”
He departs as abruptly as he had arrived, still carrying a Glock 69, and a Desert Gryphon in his belt. He hears repeated shooting and follows the sound. As he comes closer to the sound, more sounds appear, growling, barking and Snowen telling something off. Even closer, Falcon hears several feet thumping and rustling. From behind a tree, he sees Snowen engaged in combat with a pack of... poodles? Giant, razor clawed, long-haired poodles...
Snowen jumps and rolls to avoid further damage, even kicks the poodles out cold occasionally. His gun has jammed. He's beginning to look exhausted from all the running, jumping and close combat. Falcon steps into the “arena” as well, with his gun drawn. He runs around and hands Snowen the Glock as he passes him. They both start shooting at the rabid dogs, but they just keep coming. Fuchsann comes along, carrying another 20-13-unit. Snowen sees her with it, extracts his unit and throws it at her. “Catch!”
Confused, Fuchsann suddenly holds a unit in each hand. “Override Wekka,” Snowen shouts “Wekka and Snowen co-command holder!” Both 20-13s bleeps.
“Fists!” Snowen shouts while fighting of the vicious masses. The units melt onto Fuchsann's hands and arms, like gloves. “Start hitting the bastards!” He orders.
Falcon's eyes start to give of red flames, and his gun almost seems to fire bolts of ice. Fuchsann gracefully starts to kick-flip poodles, and punch their heads of in mid-air. Snowen trips on one of the heads and immediately becomes covered by poodles. Falcon seems to scare off “his” poodles with his fiery body, then he sees Snowen beneath a pile of fur and bloody fountains. He is in great pain. Great forces have amassed in him. He raises his hand and the fire moves into his hand. A great bolt of blue shoots out, freezing all the poodles in Snowen's proximity. Big chunks of frozen poodle scatter about, as Snowen blasts his way through the life-like sculptures. Fuchsann seems to have complete control of her situation. Elegantly dodging pounces, smoothly putting her fists through the beasts. Several trails of blood shows that many had retreated, though some still remained. Either struck or shot to death, there were no more poodles. What a mess... So there they stood... An untouched wolf, a bruised and cut fox, and a bloody vixen, watching over the bodies of mangled, maimed and shattered poodles... Snowen looks up at Falcon. “I forgive you...” “What?” Falcon asks. “For Wekka, you know... One shouldn't really have to live if you don't want to...” “What?!” Fuchsann interrupts “She's dead?!”
Falcon sadly sighs. “I saw her blow her guts out, then her brain...” “Bu-but why?” “She was bearing offspring... A demons offspring...”
Everyone’s lips are sealed the next few moments. Either in disbelief or not knowing what to say. Snowen looks at the others, feeling rather helpless.
“Why mourn?” He suddenly says “We need to move on... And for starters; Am I the only one who is hungry?”
Fuchsann looks quizzically at him. “Well... What's on the menu?”
“To hell with that!” Falcon bursts out “I haven't eaten anything but lead since my abduction!” “I was thinking of roasting a poodle,” Snowen says and grabs the front legs of a headless corpse.
A trail of blood follows them back to their camp, and in a pile close by you'll find the entrails. Crackling on a spit, the remains of the poodle are exposed to the open fire.
“Is it done yet?” Fuchsann asks “This actually looks good!”
“Jeez... What have you been living on the past 6 months?” Falcon asks her, not really caring too much for the chunk of meat.
“Let me think...” Fuchsann says sarcastically “Vegetables, Gem\xFCse, fruit and Obst... A fucking veggie-diet! Not to mention that those Aschlochs owe me a lot of money...” “Too bad, really...” Snowen cuts in “I think I erased the lot of them, but why did they owe you money?” “I did a lot of modeling for people who hired me. It was a great job really... But they always kept me at gunpoint, or stored me in a rat-infested jail. I ate rats because of their feeding-habits... It was terrible! And I kept waiting for my payment so I maybe could buy myself out... Sometimes they would even show me off at some sort of convention or something, dressing me in these strange outfits... or even nude! God, that was degrading!” She looks down at her feet, and then up at the meat. “So...? Is it done yet?” She smiles. Snowen cuts a big piece off it and hands it to her. “Maybe this will shut you up,” He smirks. Fuchsann immediately sinks her teeth into the tough meat. Snowen cuts the rest of the meat in two and gives one half to Falcon. “We can't stay here for too long,” He says. Fuchsann pauses in her savage feeding. “Why?” “With all the dead bodies lying around, poodles will come from miles away to get a meal,” Falcon studies the strange meat, then looks up. “So we'll have to find ANOTHER “safe” place to get some rest?”
“Exactly,” Snowen replies. “And where are we supposed to go now then? The sewers?” Falcon laughs. “The sewers are far too poisonous. But... Fuchsann, where is the box you found the 20-13-unit in?” Snowen says. “It landed in the fire... I barely got one of these thingies out with a stick,” Fuchsann says and wipes her mouth “Good poodle by the way...”
Falcon takes a bite of his poodle. It tastes like bitter almonds... But still, it's food. Snowen looks at Fuchsann's hands. “Now that your hands are free... Dig about the fire and see if you can find a small, metal cube...”
“Ehm...” Fuchsann says nervously “I trust these things are fire-proof?” She holds up her metal-covered hands. Snowen nods.
Fuchsann starts poking the fire a bit, and finds it doesn’t burn her at all. She rummages about for a few seconds and picks out a red-hot cube, then throws it by Snowen’s feet. He orders the 20-13s to return to him and they run like water to get to him. The two merge and create an ever bigger version, and then they consume the cube. Snowen picks up the blob and throws it over his shoulder, and it makes something like a pauldron of itself, then blends in with his clothes.
Snowen quickly chews and swallows his meat, while Falcon tries to savor the bad taste of bitter almonds, sweaty shoe-soles or whatever the poodles REALLY were. “Are we ready to travel?” Snowen asks. Falcon throws the shoe-sole aside “Ready,”
“I'm ready,” Fuchsann says “But where are we going?”
Snowen produces the metallic liquid from his tank-top “I will tell you all you need to know on the way,” He sticks his hand into the ball of metal.
A small beam creates a big, blue portal. “Step through the warp-rift and we're on our way,”
Though unfamiliar to this way of travel, the trio steps through the rift.
The blue portal stands alone...
From out of the fire, a dark shadow crawls through the rift.
The portal fades away...