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For some time we were just two random individuals sharing a bench, and in the silence, I took the time to admire all the completed stalls and venues that had only barely begun assembly during my last visit.

“Looks like your event is coming along quite nicely,” I remarked.

“Yes, indeed,” He said with the most subtlest look of admiration on his face. “I aim for it to be the most festive time this city has ever seen. After undergoing such a cataclysmic event as the one we had, it will do us much good to have some levity and happiness, if only for a while.”

When it came to cataclysmic events, there was only one that immediately comes to mind. Obviously, he was referring to the Blightfall.

“Didn’t think you cared,” I muttered. “What with your line of business and all.”

“And just why would my line of business so suddenly strip me of the ability to feel compassion? You really have quite the warped impression of me, don’t you?”

.....

“Not unwarranted.”

It was his turn to sigh now. “I suppose not, no...” then he looked back at me, staring with the same subtle look in his eyes. “then, on the other side of the spectrum, my impression of you has only been getting better with every passing day.”

A compliment? And a genuine one at that? From him of all people? I could hardly believe my ears.

“Yeah?” I raised a brow at him. “How do you figure?”

“Please, the same day I clarified the existence of impossibly mythical beings with you at the focal point, a rain of blood begins to engulf the entire town,” He then paused briefly to stare again. “Then, just as things were seeming to be at their bleakest, it slowly began to recede, slowly began to vanish, as if nothing had happened. Hundreds in an unending sleep, abruptly waking again. The entire world witnessing the impossible unfolding. Why, there are only so many conclusions I can draw as to why things went the way they did. Actually, why don’t you go ahead and just clarify things for me again?”

Wasn’t in the mood much to relive past endeavors, so I opted to summarize it, answering simply with, “I had some help.”

Yet all that accomplished was getting him to peer at me even more so than he already was. Seriously, with a stare like that, how people appointed him as the right and only man to endow Christmas cheer to everyone is beyond me. Maybe they just confused Santa with Satan, innocent mistake.

“When it comes to your line of business, I must admit that I am just as blind and foolish as you were to mine,” He said. “But I know that look in your eye, and I know you’ve gone to great lengths, perhaps too great even... you’ve suffered, you’ve bore a burden, and now it’s as if you’ve got the entire world on your shoulders.”

“And you must be psychic,” I said, hunching down, a hand propping my chin. “You got all that from just looking at me? How do you know exactly that you’re on the mark with your assessment there?”

That’s when I noticed he was still stroking his limp leg, slowly rubbing and pinching his thigh, and if it was hurting, then his smile never showed, still as stoic as ever.

“I know,” He simply said. “I just know.”

I veered my eyes elsewhere, and for a while, it was the ambiance of the vicinity that filled in the silence between us. He followed, watching along with me the ebb and flow of the meandering crowd in front of us, and for some strange reason, the sight of it was amusing him.

“Now that I think about it, they don’t know it, but this city and by extension the world owes you quite a great debt, don’t they?” He glanced back at me. “And so do I.”

“Nobody owes me anything,” I quietly muttered.

“Forever the unsung hero, then. How humble of you,” He shook his head. “But be that as it may, I won’t let your actions just go forgotten. I’ll always remember what you’ve done for this city... what you’ve done for me. You are turning out to be much more than what you’ve originally impressed upon me... and suffice it to say, never have I been more glad to be proven wrong about somebody.”

“All very kind words, but seriously, I don’t need the-”

“And so if you are ever in desperate need of anything, an item, a resource, an ally,” He continued on. “Then do not be afraid to seek me out. You have my word, I will provide.”

Again, I had every intention of deflecting. Deflect, deflect, deflect. All compliments, all gestures, all attempts at reciprocation. I don’t want it. But something stopped me from finishing the rest of my sentence. A random thought, a sudden idea...

A worry, if you would.

After all, Irene, as capable and competent an individual as she was, at the end of the day, she was just one person... combing through every single nook and cranny of a state brimming with countless hundred-thousands. And while I had complete and total faith in her skills regardless, it wouldn’t hurt at all to have a contingency in place... y’know, another pair of eyes scouring around in the places that were way beyond her reach.

Aw man, I remember telling myself that I was never going to make a deal with any more shady men... and now here I was, actually contemplating asking something from somebody who was the very embodiment of shady.

Either I was every bit as blind and foolish as he says, or perhaps there really was honor among thieves, after all. In any case, I bit the bullet.

“How many eyes do you have in this city?”

He snorted out a breath, amused. “More than I am comfortably confiding with you, that’s for certain.”

“Then if any of those eyes happen to witness any more impossible things from my line of business, do me a favor,” I stood up from the bench, my eyes meeting his. “Let me know about it, won’t you?”

I got a knowing smile back in return. “Consider it done.”

Forging allies with mob bosses to hunt down dangerous mythical threats belonging from another world... seriously, just what kind of fucking batshit movie synopsis has my life truly become?

I nodded back at him, and within a second, I began whisking myself in the opposite direction.

“Have somewhere to be?” He called out to me.

“I didn’t come alone,” I responded back. “Came with a friend. She’s taking too long. I’m going to go look for her.”

“It’s not Ash, is it?”

At the sound of her name in his voice, I felt my blood grow cold, and I had to keep my body from physically shuddering... for in a past long ago and not mine, I distinctly can recall another intimidating, commanding sort of fellow that spoke and carried himself in the same way he did.

“Leon mentioned to me you two are close, closer than when I last saw you both together,” He continued, the lax smile on his face coming off as more threatening than anything else. “I believe she might appreciate the coming festivities starting soon. You could bring her here then, perhaps. For you, I will see to it that all services will be provided for free. Enticed?”

“Maybe,” I said, continuing to walk off. “We’ll see.”

Then from the corner of my eye, I saw him raising his hand to a slight wave, echoing words and sentiments that I couldn’t quite share.

“It’s a pleasure meeting with you again.”

I swear, it’s like seeing Wilvur reincarnated being within his presence. His inflection, his demeanor. All his appearance managed to do was remind me of another worry, another dilemma, just waiting for me back at home to unravel.

I wonder if Ash was awake already...

It wasn’t long before my search for Sera had led me astray off the beaten path, and into the clutter of the forests, because if she was nowhere to be seen admiring all the glitz and glamor of winter, then of course, where the hell else could she be but somewhere far alone?

The wind was blowing strong and I was really starting to feel the chill. I admit, the blistering weather has got me petty enough to actually leave her at the mercy of public transportation after all, but I powered through the temptation, and bent through enough naked branches to finally reach her usual haunting grounds. Now, it was only a manner of spotting the deep violet among all the shriveled gold and red of fallen leaves.

Easy peasy.

“Sera?” I stamped across the crinkling bed of leaves. “C’mon, let’s go. We’ve been gone long enough already.”

I waited for a grunt, a hum, to answer me back, but instead, all I was met with was the slap from the wind, blowing a stray leaf over my eyes... which was nice.

It was only after the wind had died, the rustling of whippy branches had stopped, that I then heard a sound calling back. Not a grunt, not a whisper, not even a growl...

I pried the leaf from my face and heard it again...

A meow.

I froze.

Just ahead of me, a mound of leaves had sprouted a tail. Large, poofy, and white.

Snowy-white.

Then small, frail, and very dead... Mrs. White squirmed her way loose, and instantly turned her perked ears towards my direction. She quickly turned, and I saw her eyes.

And immediately I found myself only able to look down at my feet. It was more than compulsion, more than just aversion... I straight-up just didn’t want to look at her.

She let another faint meow-and it was just as hollow as the first, just as empty, just as dead.

Just like Lenora.

Her eyes.

Her color.

Her sound.

After what I’ve seen, what I’ve dreamed... seeing Mrs. White felt like a punch to the gut. Dead, but not really. Alive, but not really. Here, but not really...

Was this how she felt? Ash, clutching her sister’s corpse, denying the reality before her. No, it had to be worse, it had to be unimaginable... and so long... so long she had to live with that reality.

Something brushed up against my ankle. Suddenly Mrs. White was passing between my legs, rubbing her face affectionately against my jeans, meowing again at me...

I remembered when I first saw her in this state... how outraged I become... swallowing my fear and letting my anger take hold... but yet slowly over time, I started becoming lax to it, willingly went and turned a blind eye to it. Grit my teeth and accepted that is just how things are supposed to be now.

But it seems that I just can’t accept it after all.

This wasn’t right.

Once again, I gritted my teeth. Once more, I looked away again. I shuffled forward, resuming my search for the violet Arbiter of the dead.

It was time I made things right.