The end is near

Terrence. According to Sal, we're getting close to whatever endgame the big guy has planned.

We got in a fight against a couple of other servants earlier today. Apparently, they also specialize in explosives. I can't really detail the entire fight, but these fuckers had strapped some C4 to the top of one of the buildings (somehow) and set it off. This caused several chunks of wall to fall down toward us. I thought we were fucked for maybe a second and a half, but then Sal didn't something we weren't expecting.

As if on instinct, he raised a hand into the air, and all the larger chunks that could've actually killed us froze in place. We were pelted with a few harmless bits of rubble, but nothing serious. He then turned his attention to the servants we were fighting. With a motion of his hand, the chunks of rubble were sent flying, ramming right into those guys, killing them instantly.

Sal stood there for a few seconds, panting. He had a horrified look on his face, and seemed to be processing what he had just done. He started whispering something to himself, over and over again.

"Are you okay?" Justin asked.

"This isn't my home," Sal whispered, a it louder this time. "This isn't my home. I shouldn't have any power here."

He suddenly shifted into anger, and raised his voice, shouting out loudly.

"This is not my home!" he exclaimed.

The ground beneath us trembled, and a large crack violently appeared on the wall behind us. Sal turned to it, looking scared.

"No, no no no no no...," he said.

Then he just vanished.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"He just needs time," Justin said. "Which we don't have much of right now..."

"What do you mean?" I asked, turning to him.

My question was pretty much answered as soon as I looked at him. In the chaos, I had failed to notice that he was kneeling next to Algeria, applying pressure to a wound on her stomach. I kneeled down beside them, unsure how I could help.

"How did this happen?" I asked, panicking a bit.

"Sal didn't stop all the rubble," Justin said. "She got hit with a jagged shard of it."

"What do we do?" I asked. "We can get her to a hospital, right?"

"I don't think there's time for that," Algeria said. "Losing a lot of blood here..."

"The last hospital we saw was a ways back," Justin said. "We'd never get her there in time, especially with Sal taking off on us like that."

"Well, what can we do?" I asked. "We don't have Ciel with us, and I don't know how to stop-"

Justin wordlessly placed a hand on Algeria's forehead. For a second, I thought he wasn't reassuring her, but then he smashed her head into the wall, knocking her out.

"Dude!" I exclaimed. "What the fuck?"

"Well, now she's unconscious," he said. "Which means she's out of the tournament. Which means she'll be sent back to the normal world, where she can get some proper fucking medical attention."

"Still, though," I said.

"Well, sorry for making a split second decision that may have just saved your girlfriend's life," he replied.

"She's not my... you could have knocked her out gently or something...," I said.

"Gently isn't something I'm good at," Justin said.

One of the card people showed up. She had on a mask bearing the ace of diamonds symbol. She took a look at the damage that had been done to the terrain and shouted "What the fuck did you do!"

I immediately pointed over at our dead opponent's and said "They did it!"

She snarled angrily.

"I don't get paid enough for this bullshit...," she said.

"Can you get our friend here to a hospital or something?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she replied. "Like I don't have enough shit to deal with..."

A bunch of other diamond masked people showed up, and the ace started issuing orders to them.

"You two, get these bodies out of here," she snapped. "You, deal with the unconscious chick. And you two, help me clean this shit up."

They got to work. Two of them took the bodies of our opponent's and disappeared with them. Another one took Algeria and vanished as well. The ace and the remaining two diamonds began making some hand motions, causing all the rubble to float up off the ground and move back into place. The cracks began melding together, and in a couple of minutes, all the damage that had been done to the building was repaired, as if the C4 had never detonated at all. Then they all vanished. I'm pretty sure the ace shot us a dirty look before leaving. Hard to tell with the mask, but she definitely gave off that feeling.

"I don't feel very good about this," I said.

"Hey, we got her help," Justin said. "There's no point dwelling on this."

"Not what I meant," I said, raising up Algeria's gun and her little case of special bullets. "I mean I feel bad about stealing her shit after you knocked her out."

Justin cracked up at that.

"She is *not* gonna give you any action after that stunt, bro," he chuckled.

"She's not my girlfriend," I said.

"Whatever, man," Justin said. "Let's go try and find Sal. We're on our own until we do."

So today went to shit.

This is Ciel again. Fuck you.

Julia and I have been train Keran for a while now. She's sort of getting the hang of her weird powers, but she has a ways to go. We've been training in this old junkyard, where no one'll disturb us.

So, naturally, someone disturbed us.

A group of Oathbreakers showed up. Their leader was an Asian man wearing a white lab coat with one of the sleeves torn off. The other three were dressed in street clothes with oathbreaker symbol on them. Ripped-off-sleeve-man stepped forward and addressed me.

"Ciel Potomac, I take it?" he asked.

"Fuck you, who wants to know?" I demanded.

He ignored me, and continued talking.

"You and your friends caused a great deal of casualties to the oahbreakers," he said.

"Hey, I sat that fight out, asshole," I said. "That Oceana prick you guys sided with put me out of commission."

He sighed.

"Regardless, you have established yourself as an enemy of the Plague Doctor," he said. "I'm going to offer you a chance to come quietly."

"Get fucked!" I snapped at him.

He sighed again, and raised his ton-sleeve hand into the air. As his hand and fingers moved, they made a sound like creaking branches, and when he snapped his fingers, it sounded like a twig breaking underfoot.

"Detain her," he demanded the others.

One of the oathbreakers drew a syringe out and began walking toward me. Keran stepped forward, angrily.

"Leave her alone!" she demanded.

The man kept walking, and Keran turned to me nervously.

"What should I...?" she asked.

"Popsicle," I said.

She nodded, and turned back to the man, raising both her hands and unleashing a blast of cold at him. He slowed down and fell o his knees, shivering as ice began forming on his clothing.

"I did it!" Keran exclaimed excitedly.

"Don't celebrate just yet," Julia said.

Torn-sleeve-guy looked at his chilled-out lackey.

"Curious," he said. "Girl, what exactly are you?"

"Fuck you," I said.

He shrugged.

"Fine," he said. "If you won't give us answers, we'll just take you as well. The Doctor can figure out what you are."

"You won't be taking anyone," Julia said, as a red talon grew over her left index finger.

"Ah, yes," the man said. "Julia. You were also involved in Oceana's fight, weren't you? Unfortunately, while I was asked to capture Ciel, my orders concerning you are a bit different."

He snapped his fingers again.

"Kill the Descendant," he commanded the others.

The remaining two oathbreakers charged at us. I ran forward to stop one of them, slashing at his wrist to disarm the syringe in his hand, before burrowing my knife in his throat.

As I did so, Julia began fighting off the other guy with her claw, managing to slash him a few times.

Then the guy I was fighting threw me off, smacked me upside the head, and went to help his friend fight Julia.

"Keran!" I snapped, trying to regain my balance. "Do something!"

Keran raised a hand, and flames erupted from her palm, missing the guy I had been fighting, but hitting Julia's opponent in the face. Julia quickly slit his throat before turning to defend against the next guy. I quickly threw my knife at the guy, hitting him in the kidney. He somehow shrugged that off to, and kept charging at Julia. She slashed him in the chest, but he ignored it and pushed her down.

Then a guy appeared out of no where and sliced the oathbreaker diagonally in two. As the two pieces of body hit the ground, I realized it was the same guy I'd seen in the diner, with the strawberry fucking sundae.

"Davey?" Julia asked.

"Hey, cuz," he said. "How's things?"

"Who the fuck are you!?" I demanded.

"Oh, I just popped in to lend a hand," he said.

"Oh, I see," I said. "Knight in shining armor here to rescue the damsels?"

"Hey, don't go making this sexist, alright," he said defensively. "This half-dude here was about to kill my little cousin. Of course I'm gonna step in."

"Ciel, Davey, both of you shut up," Julia said, getting to her feet. "We're not done here."

The torn-sleeve-guy began slowly clapping. We all turned to look at him.

"Not bad," he said. "Not bad at all. I was hoping we'd be done by now, but this new arrival has me quite intrigued."

"I just cleaved one of your friends in two," Davey said. "And you're just casually clapping? Do you even give a shit about your friend here?"

"Friends?" the guy replied. "Hardly. They're help lended to me by the Game Master."

"Still," Keran said. "You should have some sympathy for your fellow oathbreakers."

"You have the wrong idea," he said, flexing his finger, resulting in more creaking noises. "I'm no oathbreaker."

Davey stepped forward, raising an eyebrow.

"Who are you?" Davey asked.

"My name is Ren," the man said.

Davey turned to me, dumbfounded.

"Holy fuck!" he exclaimed. "How badly did you piss the Plague Doctor off that he sent this guy after you?"

Ren snapped his finger again, and the bodies of his lackeys started moving. Thorns burst out of the skin of the frozen guy and the guy with the burnt face, and they rose to their feet. The guy who was split in two had gnarled branches sprout from around his wounds, hat pulled his two pieces together and reattached them, before he too got to his feet, turning toward us with dead eyes. These guys were definitely dead, but whatever plant bullshit was happening in their bodies was forcing them to act anyway.

"Incapacitate the swordsman first," Ren said. "Then deal with the other three."

All of them charged at Davey, who smiled for a second as they closed in. After that was jus a blur of red light and movement.

After it was over, Davey was standing over a pile of burning human/plant chunks, his sword glowing with a fierce red light. He panted for a few seconds as a similar red light faded from his eyes, and a smoke that seemed to be coming off his body faded away.

Ren just observed us for a minute before turning away.

"What's the matter?" Davey asked. "Wussing out?"

"I'm not currently equip to deal with such an a opponent," Rd Said. "So, in a manner of speaking, I am 'wussing out'. But I prefer the term 'tactical retreat'. We'll meet again."

He then opened a portal to the Crumble Castle and vanished through it.

"Fuck you!" I called after him, before turning to Davey. "And what the fuck is your deal?"

"I'll explain some other time," he said. "I have to go see a guy about a thing. Look after my cuz for me, alright?"

And then he disappeared too. Fucking asshole...

Smoke Break

Ran into somebody today. He was just leaning against a building, having a smoke. Terrence and Rachel recognized him immediately.

"That's that dude we met earlier," Terrence said. "The guy who was investigating the fight between the Enhanced and the Crimson Knight."

"We should probably keep some distance," Rachel said. "If what that Card told us about him is true, he could be dangerous. We should come up with a plan before approaching him."

Ignoring both of them, I walked right up to him and casually leaned against the wall next to him.

"Bum one off ya?" I asked.

He pulled his pack of cigarettes out and handed me one, along with a lighter. I lit it up while Terrence and Rachel just watched, dumbfounded. After a few moments, I spoke up.

"It's been a while, Anthony," I said.

"Sure has," he replied.

"Wait, you know this guy?" Terrence asked.

"Anthony Helioson," he said, introducing himself. "Head of Solar Progeny."

"The Fear Detective?" Rachel asked.

"My reputation precedes me," he replied. "Justin and I were friends once. A long time ago."

"Before I got caught up with the Timberwolves," I explained. "We haven't exactly talked since then."

"You sort of just up and left after Daniel's funeral," he said.

"I'd just killed a bunch of Proxies," I said. "Wasn't safe to stick around any longer than I needed to."

"You coulda stay a bit longer, what with me impeding the investigation and all," he said.

I blinked a couple times, confused.

"You did what now?" I asked.

"You heard me," he said. "Wasn't easy, but I managed to through the police off your trail. At least temporarily."

I let that sink in for a few seconds.

"You helped me?" I asked.

"No shit," he said. "Just cause you fucked up and started running with a cult doesn't mean I stopped giving a shit about you."

"Wow," I said. "Thanks."

"So, Daniel isn't handling the stress of being here well, is he?" he asked.

"You've been keeping up with my blog?" I asked.

"Duh," he said. "I read all the blogs. Helps shed insight on what I'm up against."

"I see," I said. "Well, no, Daniel's not doing so great. Have you... uh... heard from him yourself?"

"I've seen him in my dreams a couple times since coming here, but other than that, no," he said. "I think your weird dream bond of yours is stronger than it is with everyone else on the Board right now. I'm guessing it's because he died trying to save you."

"Speaking of the Board, why exactly are you here?" I asked. "The Game Master invited you, right? Why accept?"

"Research," Anthony said. "Duh."

He finished his cigarette and stamped it out.

"I should head off soon," he said.

"You gonna be alright on your own?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Besides, you're motley crew here seems to have enough members. Two Timberwolves, a Thoughtborn, an SMSC agent, and a renegade Card. Get yourselves a talking dog, and you might make some half-decent detective rivals for me."

He started walking off, but then he paused and turned back to me.

"You know, you should really get back in tough with your family," he said. "Do you have any idea how often your sister calls my office asking if I've heard from you?"

Terrence turned to me in surprise.

"You have a sister!?" he asked.

"No," I replied. "I'm an only child who was raised in a zoo by a pack of lynxes."

"I'll see you later," Anthony said. "Try not to die in the finals."

"You too," I said.

"Oh, I don't plan on makin' it that far," he said. "I'm gonna try and get knocked out before than. I can handle myself just fine, but I don't think I'm cut out for whatever the big guy has planned for the finale."

And then he left. So, yeah. That was our encounter. Nice catching up.

Bubbles

Saw Daniel in my dreams again. There seemed to be a few less of those dream bubbles floating around. Daniel was kneeling on he ground, holding one of them and staring into it intensely. Well, I say "holding", but he wasn't actually making contact with it. It was sort of just hovering between his hands.

"Hey, man," I said. "Watcha lookin' at?"

He glanced at me briefly before returning his gaze to the bubble.

"This person," he said. "You know him, but you have no idea who he is. What he dreams about..."

"Wait, is that... the Hooded Guy?" I asked. "Where is he?"

"I can't say," Daniel said.

"Well, what's so interesting about his dreams?" I asked.

"I can't tell you," Daniel said. "This kind of knowledge can be dangerous or rewarding and it's impossible to tell which one until it's too late."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"look, dude," He said. "I'm stressed out right now. I haven't slept in weeks, and these visions of... these dreams of his aren't making it any easier. And neither are all your questions."

"Sorry," I said.

One of the nearby bubbles vanished. Daniel winced as it happened.

"Another one bites the friggin' dust," he muttered.

"Did that person just die?" I asked.

Daniel laughed.

"OH, yeah he fucking did!" He said. "And I can feel I every time! You know what it's like being connected to all these minds?1? I fuckin' SUCKS!"

That last word seemed to reverberate through the empty space we were in.

"I'm sorry, man," I said. "I promise this'll be over soon. Once I regroup with Hooded Guy, I'm gonna find a way out of-"

"There is no way out," Daniel said. "You have to either win or lose. No other options are available. Your in the Game Maser's game, and now you have to play. You have to either win or lose, and I'm stuck here until you do."

And then I woke up.

So, yeah. Daniel. Not doing so good...

Roots

So, we were on the move when Rachel decided to questions me a bit more.

"So why'd you become a Timberwolf?" she asked me.

"What?" I asked.

"You must have a reason?" she asked.

"Well," I said, putting on my best asshole smile, "Some guy pulled up to me in a windowless van and offered me candy and I was like 'Fuck yeah! Candy!' Next thing I know, I'm in a cult."

"Very funny," she said dryly. I sighed.

"Guy called Rillek sweet talked me into signing on," I said. "Didn't tell me what the Timberwolves were all about at first. Then a friend of mine got caught in the crossfires of our fight with the Slender Proxies. Nowhere to go from here but deeper down he rabbit hole."

Rachel let that sink in for a minute before continuing.

"So a friend of yours got killed by your stupid mistake," she said. "And you figured the best choice was to keep going down that path?"

"Well, when you put it like that, it makes me sound like a shitty person," I said.

"Look, Justin and I are practically brothers," Terrence said. "Of course he and I are gonna stick together."

"So what's your excuse?" Rachel asked. "Why'd you join them?"

"Hey, Terrence doesn't have to tell you a damned thing," I said. "His backstory is none of your-"

"My mom was raped," Terrence said.

Holy たわごと

Oh, hey V. Mind letting me finish?

ごめんなさい

I just wasn't expecting それ

Yeah, well, neither were we. May I continue?

はい

ごめんなさい

Yeah, yeah. Gomen fuckin' nasai.

I'm learning random Japanese words from a chick living in my computer...

Anyway, we all turned to Terrence, surprised that he had let little nugget of information drop. I mean, I already knew, but it's weird hearing him open up about it.

"That's the reason I'm here," he continued. "Guy took off after doing it. Mom never bother finding him again. Me, though... Once I turned 18, I had a DNA test done so I could find out who he was. I tracked him down..."

A smile formed on his lips as he remembered the event.

"I threw my first ever Molotov cocktail through that bastard's window and watched his life go up in flames."

Rachel stared at him, stunned.

"You killed your own father?" she asked.

He glared back at her, before taking a deep breath and answering.

"I don't have a father," he said.

He let out a deep sigh.

"I managed to slip under the cops radar," he said. "But not Rillek. He found me. Told me I had potential. The Timberwolves have been my family since then."

Terrence started walking again, getting ahead of us.

"Come on," he said. "Let's keep moving."

Sal walked up to Rachel.

"You can hate servants all you want for siding with the Fears," he said. "Bu I've met enough of them to know that they all have a story. Their own roots. A reason they started down their respective roads."

So yeah. That was a conversation we had. I was honestly unsure if I should actually post it, but... fuck it. I'm sure the topic of Terrence's past would've come up eventually.

Still there, V?

はい

Okay. Did you check up on that thing?

はい

I'll keep you 掲示される

Also, tell Terrence he has a shitty お父さん