NoGift

His long black hair was tied in a high ponytail.  Both his ears were studded with piercings.  The upper half of his face was covered by a fox mask.  The only part that could be seen on his face was his lips which was painted with a dark purple tint.  

Even with a different mask, this young man was, in no doubt, one of the Pope"s Apostles.  One that belonged to the crazy lot.  Not that any of them were really right in the brain.  But this one was at least at the very top.

If Harlequin was at the right state of mind right now, he"d be wondering what this guy was doing here.  After all, the Pope didn"t invite any of the Apostles except Limos.  Even the presence of the twins here - Solis and Luna - was just a coincident.  But sadly, his mind right now was riddled with pain.

"Isn"t this Harley?  It"s been a while since I"ve seen your face without the mask.  Why do you look like you"re decomposing?" he asked, his voice full of curiousity.  He bent down and poked Harlequin"s forehead.  "Heyyy~ are you still alive there?"

If he could, Harlequin really wanted to slap that hand away.  But he had no strength now.  Heck, he couldn"t even move a finger.  "S-shut up!  Go and bring me to a h-healer."

"What if I don"t want to?" he said in a sing-song voice.  "I"m actually more interested in who did this to you."  

"I"m gonna die, you s.h.i.+t.  If I die here and the Pope found out you did nothing to save me when you clearly could, what do you think he will do to you?" he shouted in one breath.  Then he was attacked again by severe pain.  The feeling of your skin slowly being peeled, it was that kind of pain.

The young man became silent for a moment, as if seriously contemplating what he said.  "Well, Luce will really be mad at me if I just let you die.  But bringing you to a healer is such a waste of time.  I don"t want to leave the forest yet.  I still haven"t even met those naughty tresspa.s.sers messing with Luce.  Hmm... what shall I do?" he said, looking seriously conflicted.  "Ah, right, I almost forgot.  Riri also came here with me.  I"ll just call her, okay?  I"m sure she"ll be here in no time."

After that, the young man turned around and really just left Harlequin there.

"Kazumi!!!" Harlequin bellowed, letting out all his dissatisfaction.  He just ended up groaning because of too much pain.  

He knew that guy was not reliable.  He just hoped Ripley would come here sooner.  Or else, he"d probably really die here.  

----------

"Do you want me to hold her?" Lynx asked.

They were running in the forest, towards the nearest exit.  The duke was just beside him, holding his unconcious mother in his arms.  Seeing the height of the d.u.c.h.ess, she"s definitely not that light.  But the duke was carrying her while running as if she didn"t weigh anything at all.  Showing his good training.

Lynx" role right now was to make sure that the mother and son pair would get out of this city safely.  Viper"s job, on the other hand, was to stop the Pope from preventing them to leave.  Lynx was not worried about Viper.  He was sure he could handle himself against the Pope.  At least, he"s certain he wouldn"t die that easy. 

Argent also had the same sentiment.  Viper was a top cla.s.s a.s.sa.s.sin.  With his ability, he could definitely hold his own against that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Pope.  The only thing he was worried about was that he wouldn"t know when to stop.  He"s kind of reckless that way.  Though she did believe he wouldn"t be stupid enough to do anything that could endanger him. 

"No need," Argent answered Lynx" question.

She turned her head slightly towards the direction of the Holy Temple.  Dark clouds gathered there, thunder and lightning flashed.  It"s probably even raining hard there.  Lei Feng was probably at the middle of those dark clouds, being her personal special effects guy.  Somehow, the image she conjured inside her mind of the general surrounded by clouds and lightning with that overly serious face of his made her chuckled.    

By now, that Holy Temple was already gone.  She wondered if Winter managed to do what she asked.  Her sister called him "popsicle" and frankly, he truly did personify that nickname.  Considering his perpetual cold face, it would be kind of hard to act out what she asked him to.  But if he did somehow succeed, then it would be nothing but advantageous for him.  

Now, all Argent needed to do was meet up with Aurum and Clay.  Maybe Lei Feng as well.  Wait for Viper if they could.  Then leave this place together.

They continued on their way, then two boys suddenly jumped down from a tree in front.  They looked to be both nine or ten years old.  One of them had golden brown hair and eyes with sun kissed skin.  The other one had pale blond hair and gray eyes, his skin was sickly white.

Argent frowned.  What were these two kids doing here?

"I saw them at the Apostolic Palace when I took that elf," Lynx said in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

At the Apostolic Palace?  Then Argent suddenly remembered what her sister told her about that kid Clay saved and then was later put at the Healing Center.  When they went to visit him to see if he really was who he claimed to be - an abused child who needed help.  But by the time they arrived at the Healing Center, he already disappeared, as if he hadn"t been there in the first place.  This showed that the kid was most likely pretending and had some kind of ulterior motive for what he did.  

She looked at the boy with golden brown hair and eyes.  He certainly fit the description Aurum gave her.  The probably of him being that same boy was extremely high.

Hearing Lynx said that he saw these two kids at the Apostolic Palace and now seeing them appearing here, she"s almost certain of their connection to the Pope.  But in what capacity?

"Brother, isn"t that the sleeping woman Limos was taking care of?" the golden brown haired kid said to the other boy.  Then he turned his attention to them.  "Who are you?  Did you take her without Luc"s permission?"

Luc?  Did he mean Lucern Faust?  Just by this way of calling, anyone could tell that they were close to the Pope.

"Argent Blackbourne," the kid with pale blond hair said while looking deeply at Argent.

"Argent Blackbourne?  The one who made sPhone?" the other kid suddenly asked.

"That"s him," the pale boy simply said, raising his chin a little towards their direction.

The golden brown haired boy sharply turned to Argent, his eyes suddenly s.h.i.+ned brightly.  "I love your sPhones!  Can you make other interesting gadgets?  Can you make one for me?"

"He"s Luc"s enemy," the pale kid said with no ups and downs in his voice.

"Really, Brother?" the golden brown haired boy said as if that was the first time he heard of it.  "Should we take him back and ask Luc if he could make him our toy?  Then I can make him do all the gadgets I wanted!" he added, talking as if it was already a sure thing.

Argent"s brows wrinkled, just by those words she could already tell that the kid was not normal, most likely the other kid as well.

"Should we kill them?" Lynx asked Argent.  And he was quite serious.  He had a feeling that these two kids were probably Apostles.  It"s better to kill them now if that was the case.

Argent glanced down at Lynx.  Here came another one who didn"t have a normal brain circuit.  But then again, neither did she, really.

Before she could answer, another figure suddenly appeared, coming from their right side.  It was a slender young man with a fox mask covering the upper half of his face.

His purple tinted lips tilted upwards.  "What do we have here?"