Welcome to Gaia! ::

As Riot turned and walked away his father the man pulled his attention from the garden and looked over his shoulder. Mournful eyes took in what he had created through his negligence.

“I am sorry Rudolf… “ He spoke somberly. His dreary eyes remained on Riot a moment longer before turning back to the garden. It was than he saw two figures, one with its intent plain on its eerie white mask and the second a colossal shadow behind the first. With a surprising speed for one in his condition he sprang from the chair, causing it to rock back and hit the floor. *uch*

The knife made a muffled thud as struck. The blade’s blood covered end could be seen protruding from his back as he stood protectively between his son and the attacker, which vanished in a lingering puff of black fog. The man’s staggered to keep himself upright, even as the threat vanished

The Dad blinked as he drew a gurgled gasp for air. A feeble hand moved to his son’s as he looked upward. Breaths grew few and far in-between. He began to fall into a near dream like state, completely forgetting the shadowy attacker as he looked at his son. His free hand moved to the hilt of the dagger protruding from his gut and slowly struggled to remove it. All the while determined to make things right.

“R-rudolf…” He croaked. “L-let me… h-have the honor… of… c-calling you… m-my son… “

His fleeting gaze looked up to Riot’s one blue eyes in his last moments, a smile formed on his trembling lips as he remembered his first time seeing his little boy. How much he resembled himself. “My boy… you will go far… you are meant for great things…..I… am…. proud…. of…. you…”

The ‘you’ trailed off into one last long drawn out breath before the man’s muscles completely relaxed. All of his light weight fell to the young man holding him. His feeble grip on the lad’s hand released completely as did his grip on the dagger.

“Rudolf Whitebane, what have you cast upon your family?” Came a demonic voice from just above the balcony. The doors to the parent’s room suddenly slid shut. A black fog begun to encircle the balcony before a white mask appeared just over the railing. A mask that seemed to mock every bit of torment the young mad was feeling. It drew amusement in his pain and only wished to fuel it further.

“You are right to assume I will not stop at just your parents little man… but you are mistaken to think that you would be next in line, second born.”

“Your ‘parents’ stood accused of neglect and child abuse and therefore must and were punished. Is it not canny how one only feels remorse during their last moments?” The Judge laughed. The dark cackling only intensified at the sight of him withdrawing the blade. “Oh yes, Nicodemus Whitebane is but an unnatural entity and must be removed from this world. His crime is being an abomination to the natural order of things.”

The masked figure held its ground on the other side of the balcony, watching Riot’s every move closely with a twisted satisfaction.

“One would think you to be proud to be the only standing Whitebane. Unless... you would be willing to bargain for his life, to come to his defence?”

The judge didn’t even move to dodge the attack as the blade shifted through her as if it were sliding through air. She chuckled at the attempt.

“Anything? Such a vague word boy."

She continued to muse at the lad's misfortune.

"Would you even give up contact with him? For the rest of your days on this earth, you will not confess what truely happened here. You will remain silent to him?”

Just like the blade, Riot's hand simply passed through the black fog earning another dark chuckle from the Judge.

"Than we have a deal. You cannot inform anyone of what has taken place here, especially your brother. In exchange I will not end his life... and to seal this little deal you will take that very blade and carve a cross upon your brother's cheek as proof you understand fully."

A clawed hand appeared and made a cross in the air before the hand vanished behind the eyeshadow cloak.

"How fortunate you are he is on his way back now... "

Though it was not conveyed verbally, the tone in her voice suggested a severe punishment if his end of the bargen was not upheld.

The Judge's eyes flashed with amusement as the black fog around them begun to disappear. Just as mysteriously as she had appeared she was gone without a trace. The only hint that the being had been there was the dagger firmly grasped in Riot's hand and the corpse of his father shoved aside previously as Riot had gotten up to defend himself.

It was than that the loud crash of several china dishes cracking could be heard from just behind Riot. With the butler's uncanny timing he had managed to come back just as the god had vanished, but in time to see Riot's hand firmly on a weapon while his father lay cast aside on the floor.

His eyes widened as he backed away from the balcony. "Y-youn master!" He gasped in disbelief. "What have you done?"

The butler was too shocked to even move. He simply stood there and followed Riot's every movement with his eyes. The young master didn't deny anything, he murdered his father in cold blood!

When Riot entered the bathroom to wash himself off Jarvis turned on his heels and fled the room. Once gone a loud crashing sound shook the entire house, knocking bits of the ceiling down. Shrieks from the maids could be heard down the halls. Another loud crash shook the house. This time another of the maids begun to scream 'fire fire'.

The entire estate was thrown into chaos. Panic seethed from the very atmosphere of the Whitebane manner. Black smoke billowed from the tops of the east wing as a terrible fire begun to consume the house.

Riot would only see death along the way out of the estate. Each servant he passed glared endlessly in an eternal state of shock and terror plastered on their face. A strange wind carried the fire further along the estate, kindling the fire and intensifying its heat.

Nicodemus had finally gotten word by some strange mix-up by one of the scientists keeping messages from him. Within minutes he was unhooked from any equipment and out the door. By the sound his mothers funeral was merely days go.

His eyes widened as he looked upon the black smoke billowing from the mansion. Foot kissed the ground of the transport vehicle as he speed toward the house. Riot, was Riot alight? He had to have been out, not at home. Nicodemus constantly assured himself Riot was not there... he was not home.