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Ear twitching in the way that so many elves did when they heard something, Eri’s eyes opened as he saw the blonde beauty being set down in his presence. Losing all contact with the vassal, he soon was standing up, moving around the desk to kneel beside the elf, “Well now… Looks like you really did get him…” Touching his hair, Eri was smiling softly; the loving expression almost terrifying on the face of someone that was so… bad. He shook his head again as he leaned down, kissing Kalore’s forehead. “It’s only been a few days, but it’s good to have him back where he belongs…”

Chuckling some, the man looked up at the other, beginning to stand up as he watched Sin. “Rave and Gambler are now separated, as you should know,” He didn’t expect Sin to be someone that twiddled his thumbs, waiting for a call. “He will be taken care of soon, but I will admit that I don’t know how this is going to go…” Some people were just too unpredictable.

Rave tried to move so that he could get to Gambler again, feeling almost like some obsessive male that was losing out on a prize. But Gambler was no prize and he wasn’t obsessed; she was his love and he loved her more than anything that kept him alive. To have her torn away from him like this… he couldn’t do it. Moving to follow her once again, the either plead with her or die, Rave began his travel before someone was behind him, yanking at his mid back hair. Gasping in surprise, he had a brief moment of wondering how he didn’t hear them before he knew why.

Head tilted back to a painful angle, Rave was soon looking into the obsidian eyes, surrounded by a pale face that only belonged to one person. His blood ran cold as he was face to face with the one person that he had never been able to get over, had never been able to get away from in his dreams, his nightmares. A smirk appeared on the face of the man as a flick of his wrist as Rave immobile, using his own fear as the anchor for his power. “My lovely, Rave…”

A low chuckle came from the man as he was kneeling down, forcing the dark haired elf down with him as he continued to smirk at him, “My, my, Nael… you’ve fallen for a beautiful woman… I only got to see her in passing for a moment… Don’t tell me that you’ve replaced me?” he leaned down, kissing Rave softly and laughing as the man tried to fight against him, tried to move away from him. Another person that was meant to be dead was there… with him… Something was going on, something was ruining them. But Rave ignored the words from Lucien. He wasn’t the child that he had been before, he wasn’t the same weak being that he had allowed himself to be. Kyin was a bad man, a very bad man, but he had taught him something good. Now if only he could get past this and use it!

Eri chuckled softly as he nodded some, standing up to be the respectful host and moved to be able to show him to the door. “I will keep Rave occupied for as long as I can, but…” He sighed softly before his eyes snapped open wide. Frowning some, he soon was closing his eyes as he concentrated. Rave was beginning to pull from the control that Lucien had and a growl came from his own lips, mirrored by Lucien’s own. He wasn’t going to lose to this. “I need to get to work.” The door was closed, Kalore placed in a bed as he set the IV into his arm. This drug was similar to the one from before but different at the same time. Eri wasn’t going to chance losing Kalore again because he remembered the demon. He wanted those memories gone.

As Rave fought against Lucien, he hadn’t been able to get away before the pure blood royal had worked at him just a bit. Parts of him torn and bruised, it had taken too long for Rave to get through the puppet and to where he could attack him completely. Anger taking him over and allowing him strength enough to get through the bondage that he had been forced onto, he felt the metaphysical bonds shattering around him as he snapped his fingers. The shadows of the alley surrounded them both and Rave was gone while the puppet was being ripped. How did he know that it was a puppet? Rave had seen Lucien and who he was more fully than anyone else had. He knew things that no one should know.

Body covered once again, he soon was using the shadows to get to Monty’s home; not for the demon but for the elf that was there. He had to know what was going on and maybe he could speak with Gambler, get her to at least listen. Rave could stand being away from her, banned from her lands, but now there was a threat around and it had to be gone. To have Gambler hurt…

As he came closer, however, a scent overcame him and he faltered for just a moment. Was that smoke? Eyes widening, the man was at a sprint as he soon was near the home, coming to a dead stop as he saw just what it was that was giving out that smell. Walking slowly to the ruins of the home, he was watching the wreckage and soon he found a head of red… but there was no blonde.

“Monty.” Walking closer to the demon, his eyes weren’t narrowed and there was no look of him that was hostile; in fact, Rave looked weaker than he had since any of Gambler’s group had known him. His clothes were torn, his face bruised, his arms and body beaten and bloodied from not even an hour’s of abuse. Lucien, even something close to him, was quick in his work and efficient. But he was cocky, much like some other people that Rave knew. But none of this was going on through his mind as he stepped into the wreckage, not bothering to ask what had happened because the evidence was around him, but… “Kalore isn’t here.” His voice was soft as the hole in his heart was deepening. Not Kalore… Dear Goddess, not Kalore.

The words registered in the man's mind in bits and pieces; it was as if he couldn't fathom something like that happening. Sadness, rage, bitterness, and pain all fought for his attention but he shook his head slowly, beginning to walk the wreckage that was the old home. "No..." Kalore couldn't be gone. That was something that he just couldn't allow but at the same time... he didn't have much choice if it was real. Shaking his head again, he soon was standing in front of Monty, fighting the urge to grab him by the throat and demand what it was that he had done.

But Monty hadn't done this.

It was hard for Rave to believe this but as he stood in his own brutally attacked state, he knew that even Monty, in his grief, would be able to smell the blood on him and know that something else had happened. He didn't know why it was that he was still there. If something had happened to Kalore, and to him... would something happen to Dusk? To Eldin? To Kyoshi? To Joker? To Kit? He didn't know but as he stood there, slowly shaking his head, his mind was beginning to go into that numb state that so many killers and generals had. Funny how the words rang true for him on both counts.

"What happened, Monty?" He knew that there had been a fire, that he could see, but what was Monty's story on this? He had to have something but he wasn't sure what it was. Rave didn't kneel down to be with him but instead watched him with careful consideration. "Kalore... Where did they take his body?" He could trust Monty to tell him the truth, but Rave couldn't allow someone else to be dead that truly wasn't. Then again, Isabelle... he knew her blood, he had seen the remains, he had been to the funeral... All of this that was now coming to him, all of these things happening at once; something was up. He couldn't go to Gambler to tell her what was going on, but maybe... Maybe they could do something with each other, figure things out. Hopefully before the hour was up.

And someone was beginning to figure out that Joker was missing. Leaning against the counter of her new apartment, Kit frowned a bit as she heard the voicemail of Joker. Why was it on voicemail? The man always answered when she was the one that called… even if he was at work. She could remember one of the nurses having to answer his phone for him when he was in the middle of a surgery; Kit had ended up laughing so hard that she didn’t think she’d be able to laugh again for a while. The memory had her smiling but there was some worry. She wanted to tell him about the new apartment, the new job… but he wasn’t answering. What was going on?

Listening to the words, the man soon knelt down beside the other as he nodded slowly, “I see…” Something wasn’t right about any of this as he continued, risking a touch onto the man’s shoulder as he spoke softly, “Monty… Are you sure that it was Kalore?” He prepared his body for a strike, for something from the demon. Neither were very stable, but maybe he would look up in his fury and notice that something was off with Rave. Even after a battle, the man always took enough time and energy to make sure that he looked unscathed, unhurt, in front of those that he worked with. He had to in order to make sure that no one worried about him. Rave had taken no time to conceal his wounds. There hadn’t been any time.

“We need to go to the hospital, Monty… see the body and make sure.” He didn’t want to see it, especially if it was Kalore, but there was something that had to be done. “I don’t think that this fire was caused naturally. I was attacked by… Lucien… and to find that your home, where only a few knew Kalore was, has been attacked…” He knew that Kalore had told Monty about Lucien. He didn’t know how much, and he hoped that he hadn’t been told about just what Lucien was to Rave, but he knew that Monty knew that the man had been killed; twice, now three times if the puppet counted and he actually killed it. He hoped he did.

Frowning some more, it didn’t take long for Kit to get up and begin pacing. Something was wrong… She didn’t know what it was but there was something in her mind that was causing her to believe that something was wrong. She didn’t know if she was right or not, but soon she donned on a pair of jeans, a jacket, and her shoes and she was gone in the direction of Joker’s office. Some people there knew her, having either heard of her from Joker when she would call but a lot of people didn’t. Getting to the hospital was the easy part, though. Would they let her in? She really didn’t know. Biting her lip some, she tugged on the hat tighter down past her ears, not wanting to be singled out quite yet.

Taking in another breath, she smiled a bit as she came to the front desk. How exactly did this work? Kit had never been in a hospital, at least not a human one… But she smiled the charming smile that she used when she wanted something, the one that no one could resist. Face shining brightly and the blonde hair and smile giving her the innocent appearance, she spoke, “Hi there... I’m here to see…” Would he go by the name Joker here? She tried to remember his name and then a bigger smile was on her features, “Dr. Buckingham. Is he here today? He promised to meet with me today…”

Rave closed his eyes as he took in a breath, shaking his head some, “He’s supposed to be…” Whispering his words, the elf sat back on his haunches as he wondered just how much it was that he could tell the demon. But… who else was he going to tell? Taking in a slow, almost shaky breath, he recounted everything that had happened in the past hour or so, telling him about Isabelle, the fact that she was dead, that she had just shown up, that he had talked to Gambler, tried to speak with her, her threat, the pain that he felt in it, then meeting up with Lucien when he had tried to speak with her again, the fight that they had… He left out the rape, the majority of the abuse... he didn’t need to know that.

“Something’s wrong, Monty. I told you that I’d rip my own heart out before I harmed Gambler and I wasn’t lying. Someone’s doing something. I don’t think Kalore’s dead because… well…” He sighed and then continued. “Once he came back… Just so that we’d know where he went when he ran off…” Rave ran a hand through his hair. “He’s got a tracker on him now… and my shadow didn’t come back to me. Again I ask; are you completely positive that the charred body was Kalore? Lucien was a puppet of some sorts and I know that Isabelle had to have been as well…” This was all a long shot for someone who didn’t understand their lifestyle, but he was praying that Monty was still warrior enough to understand that something just wasn’t right. Dear Goddess he hoped so; otherwise there was no time for him to go to someone else. His hour was up in just minutes.

Rave sighed softly as he nodded some, “I know that the thing with Gambler can’t take precedence at the moment but…” it would be hard for him to put that aside. “We need to see Kalore, then. My shadows haven’t come back to me so I don’t believe that it was him. Why don’t we check it?” He watched him as he took another step back, his mind still frazzled with the events that had come onto him. For some reason he felt even worse to find that he had been… harmed… by someone that wasn’t even Lucien himself. Why was this happening? Sighing softly, he shook his head just a bit as he watched him closely, unable to stop flashbacks from coming over him.

The man groaned as he ran another hand through his hair, slowly concentrating so that the shadows mended his clothes, hid the wounds, hid the evidence… he didn’t want to remember the hell again so he would simply do what he always did; just hid behind his shadows. “Let us get to Kalore and then we’ll go from there… if it is Kalore then I don’t know what to do and my method has failed. But… if it’s not then I will track him down.” He didn’t want to think of what it would do if he used the shadows to track him and it turned out that they were still with Kalore. That would.. he didn’t need any more hell from things like this. Really, he didn’t need it. “Which hospital, Monty?”

Kit’s smile never wavered, “Kitanasa. I only recently called so I’m not too sure on if I’ll be in the book or not.” She continued to smile but her mind was already reeling. If she couldn’t get in like this… then she’ll just find the office and get to Joker that way. Well, she’d call him again… just to make sure she wasn’t overreacting… but still.

Back to normal, Rave watched the man carefully as he nodded some, “Then we’ll go there. Walk, drive, shift…?” He raised a brow at the other, curious on if he would mind him using his shadows to get there or not. For some reason he normally wouldn’t use the method at the moment, knowing that it was something that wasn’t really needed all the time, but shadows were familiar, constant, home. They were what made him and had him comfortable all the time. It was better than walking where he wasn’t completely sure on if he was going to run into a Lucien again or not. Unpractical, yes, but paranoia had a bad habit of ignoring what was practical and what wasn’t’.

A twitch was beginning to form under Kit’s eye as she wasn’t completely sure on what to think about this place. Joker had offered to have her visit sometime, but apparently he hadn’t prepared for it… but of course he wouldn’t. It wasn’t like they were dating… right? Sighing some, her shoulders slumped just a bit before a nurse came to her and she soon was blinking, smiling softly at the woman. “I’m Kit, yeah.” She didn’t know about ‘princess’ though… Giggling at the term, she nodded and was following the nurse. “That’d be great. What’s your name Miss…?”

She couldn’t help but tug the hat down just a bit more onto her, making sure to hide her ears. Something felt off… really off… But it wasn’t the nurse so much as just the environment. Was something wrong? Possibly… Quite possibly. She hoped not, though.

Smiling at Mrs. Cook, Kit nodded before giggling a bit more, “I’d like to go see Joker, actually. Um… What does beau mean?” She blinked just a bit, not completely sure on what it was that the other was talking about, but she had a feeling that it had something to do with Joker… but other than that, who knew? Blinking more, her green eyes looked even brighter as they went into the elevator, looking a bit surprised at the amount of floors that the place had. “There are a lot of really tall buildings here…” She smiled some more, looking over at Mrs. Cook. “Are most cities like this? My area isn’t quite this… bustling…”

It took Rave a moment or two to realize just what it was that the man was talking about before he chuckled softly. “Don’t worry… I don’t want anyone knowing about this either…” he sighed some before he had to take a step towards the demon, reluctantly touching his shoulder. “it’s going to feel like you’re being suffocated at first… and then as if you’re being compressed all around. If you feel odd or feel like you’re beginning to slide away from me, then just grab onto me, preferably an arm.” He sighed some and soon the shadows overtook them. After the abuse and scare from before, they weren’t as gentle as they were with Gambler, but maybe that was also Rave’s dislike of the man… possibly. But soon they were near the hospital, rave gripping Monty’s shoulder just a bit tighter as they ‘landed’, not wanting him to end up meeting the pavement that was below them.