Lies in Deceptive Shadows

[Amara<3]

And the entourage welcomed them both graciously as they walked out both in one piece. Keera's enthusiastic mood had dropped a little, knowing now that she had to get back down to business on Earth, then take care of some in Hell. Thinking about it that way made her think she should be the reaper.

"One obstacle down," Sora said with an airy smile as she floated toward Keera and Darryl. "Only about ten more to go," she finished and Keera put her head down with a laugh. Michi still didn't look pleased, but she didn't look terribly upset either. The only one who remotely looked happy besides Keera was Kaminari, but there situation was only a little bit better than it had been. True, they would have been lost without Darryl, and Keera would have been lost, but there was still no gaurantee that they wouldn't lose either of them yet.

"Let's get out of here," Keera said and put her head back up to look at everyone. Soon the white halls disappeared and they were back in Keera's apartment. Without straying in thought very long, Keera instantly disappeared inside her bedroom, the door clicking closed only moments after they were back.

"Keera?" Michi asked, finally out of sync with Keera, as was Kaminari. Both of them stood looking oddly confused at each other, and there was no noise in the other room. There was movement, but not much of anything else.

In the room Keera was all over the room, getting ready for work. She was dressed and her hair was mostly up, except the stylish few strands coming out of her ponytail. Her hair was much too long to put in a tight bun. At the same time there was a knock on the apartment door, and Sora started moving toward it but Keera had re-entered the room, sporting her bullet proof vest. Not that she needed it, but she had to in order to do her job.

"I've got it," Keera said and Sora paused in mid air. As Keera moved past her, she hovered down to the floor, barely touching down in time for the door to open. "Can I help you?" Keera asked, moving to the side just a little against the door. It was enough, however, for the group to see the girl standing in the hall. She was obviously hispanic by her face shape, though her skin was slightly lighter, her hair nearly black. She looked, on first glance, to be dressed well. On second glance you would notice the studs on her shoes and her belt, her earrings also studded. She had blue eyes, which made one question whether she really was Spanish, but when she spoke she had the accent.

"Lo siento, I was just wondering if you would like to donate to my father's charity," she started, and Keera's po;ice like visage all but melted away as she stared at the girl. "He's also holding a fundraiser tomorrow night at the dance hall downtown, if you're interested. It's for helping people affected by violence." Keera raised her eyebrow at the last word. "Like war, abuse, bullying, everything that is considered violence of any sort."

Keera looked back at the girls, who shrugged, and then she looked at Darryl.

[skyacezero]

"Well whatever sort of violence, it sounds like a good cause," Darryl said and wandered into the girl in the doorway's veiw. "I'm sure....we...could...," his voice trailed off when he set eyes on her.Wait a second. Isn't that....? Darryl thought.

(Not sure where this could go. Just to make sure, that girl in the door way is Marcelina, right?)

[Amara<3]

((Yeah, I don't know where either, but she could bring in like a sub plot or get caught up in the fight somehow... or both lol. And yes, it is Marcelina. I'm not sure whether to make her a bigger part later, like remembering her former self or Darryl, or whether it's just a coincidence that they met at Keera's doorway.))

The girl looked at Darryl and paused when he started slowing his speech. At first she thought maybe he just liked her or something, but the closer she looked at him, she could have sworn... "Do I know you?" she asked.

"I doubt it," Sora said quietly and the other girls smiled, as did Keera. They all knew that wasn't possible, but then of course they didn't know anything of Darryl's personal past, only how he became the way he currently was.

"How much is an average donation?" Keera asked, there was no way she wouldn't be able to afford it. Living forever had it's perks, which included money. Though she hadn't really started worrying about it until she needed an address on land. Giving underwater coordinates as a pace of residence didn't go over well with humans. Usually they just didn't believe you, the odd sucker that actually looked at the spot however would start to wonder if there really was something that deep below the surface of the ocean. No human could get there, after all.

"Oh, well," the girl said, immersed in thought. "They range anywhere from twenty to a thousand dollars really. However I can't collect it," she added, and Keera smiled. Of course she couldn't. She was still a teenager. "We're taking the donations at the door of the event this time. Usually we don't go around asking, but we wanted to do something special this time."

"That's a good thought," Keera said and smiled, looking at Darryl again who (I'm assuming) looked shocked and out of words. "You alright?" Everyone's attention was on Darryl, the only male in the apartment, and the girl in the doorway also returned her gaze to him.

[skyacezero]

(Sorry if this is a bother, but I doubt I could fit the whole thing in the c-box. It's been two years since Darryl fused with Necrolon and following the V-3's detonation, the U.S. gov. sought out Darryl and his friends. Needless to say, theey didn't find Darryl, but they found his friends and altered/erased their memories of him and the events he was involved in to cover up the V-3
s launch method, details of that would be in Death and Rebirth if we ever get around to it.)

"Your name's Marcelina, right?" Darryl asked. Darryl approached her. "Wait, it is you. Marcelina, it's me, Darryl and..." a new thought came to him. "Wait, what are you doing out in Japan?" Darryl asked, although Marcelina could ask him the same thing.

(Oh, and in case you were wondering, Necrolon was floating around in the sea of Japan near crush depth for those two years until he was fished out, along with a school of tuna by a Japanese fishing boat, hence how he ended up in Japan.)

[Amara<3]

"Umm, yes, it is," Marcelina said with a smile. "I," she started and took a moment to process things, remembering something else. "How did you know my name?" she asked, thinking about his other question, she added, "We moved here about a year ago... why?"

((Awesome, thanks. It should be about two weeks from now and I'll be able to reply to all the rps we are in together. School is coming to a close and I really need to focus on that.))

[skyacezero]

"Wait, last......year?" Darryl asked, astounded. "Hold the phone, hold the phone," Darryl said trying to process what he just heard and turned to Keera. "Uh, Keera, what year is it?" he asked, know ing full well it seemed like a stupid question, but he had to know for sure.

(I'll send you the list and locations if you want. BTW in this thread the year is 2008. And sorry for my three-day absence, I've been dwelling on a few things.)

[Amara<3]

"Two thousand and eight," Michi said before Keera could even open her mouth. "Why?"

"Darryl, is.. something... wrong?" Keera asked slowly, watching his expressions carefully, glancing from him to Marcelina every so often. Marcelina looked just as confused as the other girls felt.

"Um, well, I sort of have to go," Marcelina said and took a step back from them. "I have a lot more people to talk to." On the contrary, she just felt that this was extremely weird and wanted to leave the building as soon as possible. "I'm really sorry, I think there was just a misunderstanding of some sort."

((Yeah, lists and locations sounds great, thanks for updating me.))

[skyacezero]

"Two thousand and eight?" Darryl repeated. "T-Two years?!" Darryl said. he walked over to the couch and sat down. "I thought that maybe it had been a couple days or something, it was two thousand and six last I remember, and.....oh man I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this," he said.

[Amara<3]

"Where have you been?" Marcelina asked. "Two years is a long time to just miss."

"Agreed," Keera added, and motioned Marcelina to come in. She hesitated but in the end, she ket Keera close the door behind her. Apparently this girl had something to do with his recent past, but she knew nothing of it.

[skyacezero]

(Sorry this took so long, the last half of this post, I hyad to research a bit so I could be as accurate as possible.)

"I-I-I don't....I don't know," was all Darryl could say. "The last thing I remember was blowing that reaper off the warhead, and then the first thing I saw when I woke up was Kaori when that Darkhunter and Marionette attacked us," he recalled. "Wait, Marcelina, you were on that helicarrier with me, don't tell me you forgot about that," he said looking to Marcelina.

A dark portal opened at a dead end of a gorge and out stepped Lilith and Lucifer. Lilith sighed at the sight of the ending passage. "Are you sure this is the place?" she asked in a bit of an irritated tone. "Yeah, like I said the entrance is here, only it's sealed behind that boulder," Lucifer gestured to a massive boulder that was at the end of the gorge. "Look, I told you a god put that there, so it's gonna be a real bastard to get out of the way," Lucifer explained and while he did so, Lilith's right arm morphed into a wicked claw. "You forget who your talking to," she said and with one sweep of her claw, demolished the boulder, exposing the entrance to a cavern. Lucifer suddenly looked nervous. "Lilith you DO know where that leads, right?" he asked nervously. "Of course," she said and started in. "A-and you're also aware of who's in there?!" heasked in the same tone. "Yes! I know!" Lilith's irritated voice echoed back to the entrance.

[Amara<3]

"Uhm, no," Marcelina said with a confused look and a smile that said she really had no idea, and she probably thought he was crazy. "I don't remember anything like that."

"So there's two ways this goes," Kaminari began.

"Yeah, either the girl's memory has been wiped, or our Darryl here really is crazy," Michi finished and everyone looked at her.

"I'm better on the first idea," Keera said and leaned against the wall. "I have to go to work, you're all welcome to stay and chat, but if you all leave, lock the door would you?" she asked and walked out of the apartment waving good bye before walking down the hall.

Keera sighed and walked to the station, trying to clear her head. The less she knew the better, because of Lamia, but it was hard not knowing the details or the plans of the most important parts. She needed to know how to get rid of the hosts, possibly including her own, without causing death to the people who lie unconscious in wait of rescue. Or killing herself. Once she got to the police station, she was no closer to cracking the riddle than when she started the walk, but now she had to stop thinking of that. Now she was needed to do her job. "What's going on? Why did we all need to be here?"

[skyacezero]

Lilith created a ball of light in her left hand so she could see where she was going. The air in the cavern was heavy, the familar air of a literal hellhole. Something grabbed her ankle. She looked down to see a rotting figure holding onto her and deathcroaking. She gave it a firm kick and it let go of her. "Next time you do that, I'll kill you again," she threatened and it disappeared behind a rock. She ventured even further in until she reached the antechamber, or at least what she presumed was the antechamber and there was a clacking sound in the chamber, like knuckles or bones creaking.

"How did you get in here?" a dry voice came from the darkness. "The entrance was sealed...." it continued. Lilith smirked. "You'll be glad to know that that seal was aged well enough to break, the entrance isn't sealed anymore," she said and the voice made a gasping sound. "To the business at hand, sice I've freed you, in a sense, would you be willing to listen to a small proposition I have?" Lilith continued. The cracking noise came again. "I'm listening..." the voice said. "I know you've been living down here for a while now, and it probably hasn't helped you're complexion much, but my master will most likely be more than willing to give you a means to leave this place and look your best while out of here," Lilith said. "Your master can do that?" the voice asked. "Yes, he can. All we ask is that you give us a bit of a helping hand in eliminating a certain someone," she said. "Those are the terms," she finished. The voice made a sighing sound and was silent for a while. "I will agree to these terms if you agree to mine," the voice said. "That once I've fulfilled my end of the bargain, you bring my brother to me," the voice said.

"Mermory wipe?" Darryl said. He looked at Marcelina and asked her a question to test something out. "Marcelina, the city governer's daughter, Karora. Do you remember how she died?" he asked.

"Oh, Keera, you're here," Cheif Nasaki said. Every office in the precint was gathered. "You're all aware of the recent schoolgirl murders that have been going on these last few months, well we finally have a lead on the suspect's whereabouts," he explained and brought up a picture on a projector. "Michiro Kurosawa, male, aged thrity-four," Nasaki went on. "This guy has been identified as the prime suspect in these killings and we have the greenlight to go after him," he said.

(Just to straighten a few things out: Karora was Darryl's girlfriend in Death and Rebirth. Lilith killed her, albeit accidentally, Lilith was aiming for Darryl and Karora took the blow for him. The way Marcelina's rewritten memory remembers is that she was killed in the crossfire on a gang shootout.)

[Amara<3]

"Wrong place wrong time," Marcleina said, staring at him. "She died in crossfire from a gang fight." The other girls simply watched as the two talked, Darryl trying to get the teen girl to remember something. "Governer was never the same after that."

Keera nodded as she walked in, and listened, taking in the picture on the screen. She took a deep breath, and let it out slow. "Do we have any idea where to begin looking for him?" she asked, before anyone could even think of a question. She rarely had to think to speak anymore, it just came out, and usually well said.

[skyacezero]

"Very well, but why don't you speak to my master regarding our terms," Lilith said to the voice and a vortex opened behind her and Maltheus exited. "You may want to turn away, Lilith," Maltheus commanded and Lilith obeyed and turned her back to Maltheus and the direction that the voice was coming from. "I'm afraid that your brother, or should I say your...former husband, has been a bit difficult to track," Maltheus said to the voice. "Then why should I agree to your terms if you cannot deliver on mine?!" the voice spat. "It's simple..." Maltheus went closer to the voice and came upon a silhouette. It's form was well hidden by the shadows, until Maltheus set the ground on fire, revealing it. The thing let out a screech so bad, even Lilith covered her ears to drown it out. Maltheus pulled his own hood back and the screeching stopped. "We are not that different you and I....." Maltheus said and his hood covered his head and face again. "But if you cooperate, I can assure you that your brother will show up sooner or later, in doing so, you might also accomplish my end of the agreement," Maltheus said and the thing cocked it's head rigidly. "You want me to kill someone for you am I correct?" it said. "Yes, a human boy named Darryl Dandridge," Maltheus said.

"Are you so weak that you cannot kill a human child?!" the thing said almost amused. "No, he has the ability to turn into a fallen demon lord and on top of that, he has had an uncomfortably long streak of luck," Maltheus said. A shadowy claw reached out to the thing and it reeled slighly. "Don't," Maltheus said andthe claw touched the thing on the cheeck. Almost immediatly, it transformed into a beautiful woman with long hair as black as the night sky and the claw retracted back into Maltheus' robe. The woman touched the side of her face and let out small gasps as she was feeling skin for the first time in eons and looked at Maltheus bewildered. "This I give to you, if you can get rid of Darryl," Maltheus said. White robes began to weave themselves over the woman and she smiled. "I will, but in return, find my brother," she said and went through the vortex Maltheus left open. "I guess that went better than you thought?" Lilith said after the woman had left.

"No, no that's not right," Darryl said getting up. "Your memory really was wiped..." Darryl murmured. " I guess I have to show you then, see if that helps," Darrly said and went to the blinds to close them and saw something he had never seen before. "Uhh, guys?" he said to Keera's entourage. "What is that?" he said and opened the blinds further, revealing a stationary black and red tornado in the middle of the city.

"We have his address, we know he's there, so all we have to do is-" Chief Nasaki's radio started buzzing wildly. "]Chief! Chief come in! We have a really weird problem!" the voice on the radio said. "Go ahead," Nasaki answered. "I don't know what's oning on, but there's a-" the voice stopped and several shots were heard. "NO! GET BACK! GODAMN MONSTER!"


(That thing/woman that Maltheus made a deal with is Izanami from Shinto mythology. She's been stuck in Yomi for quite a while and you can imagine that she is not in the best of moods)

[Amara<3]

"What? Monster?" Keera asked the other officers started looking at each other, but not sure what to do. She didn't wait for orders. She took a step back, using that motion to swing herself around and she was like a shot out of the station. Maybe it was a good thing she'd come to the future, unless this was something going on because of her. She looked around and saw a red and black tornado not far from her. She had to assume the source of trouble was near there. Tornadoes didn't stick around, and they certainly weren't black and red. She didn't even think of hiding herself this time as she jumped up on top of a building and launched herself from the ledge.

Everyone in the apartment moved swiftly to the windows. Half their mouths dropped, except Michi and Kaminari. They became stationary, absolutely froze. The only thing moving was their eyes, and their minds. They were thinking of something or someone, and Michi's lips pursed. She had no idea. "Keera's probably already there," was all she said. No one else said anything after that, so she continued, "I think we should go there. Whatever it is, it's not good."