Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It's late on a bitter cold night, and Katana's getting ready to head to bed. He's put away the chickens to keep out any potential frostbite, and he's just about ready to head to bed.

But a few hours later, he's in for a rude awakening — quite literally.
Katana is shaken awake by a thud and a couple of panicked squawks. He gets up and gets himself dressed, skulking out of the back door to get a closer look at the damage - but there doesn't seem to be any.
Yes, there is a fox in the hen house, but that "fox" doesn't look like anything besides a sad red lump on the ground at this angle.

"Hm? What's this..?"
Katana tries to get a better look at whatever made its way in so unceremoniously. His arm is also fairly effective in getting the seramas to stop pecking at it; now, they're just pecking at him .

When he places a hand on the lump, he quickly realizes that it's cold to the touch. Cold to the touch and breathing , swift and shallow; was it trying to find shelter from the nighttime freeze?
Katana tries to pick it up, and he quickly realizes that it – no, they are a fledgling, using the last of their energy to meagerly flail in his arms.
The poor thing starts to slow down after just one or two flips, causing the endpoint of a short horn to dig into his chest for a moment; while not nearly as sharp as it could've been, it still must've been uncomfortable for both of them. He adjusts the way he's carrying them, trying not to bother them too much as he heads back inside.
The chickens seem to go about their lives like nothing ever happened after the fact… well, most of them do.
One of the creatures roosting there follows him out - whether or not it's a chicken is up for debate.

Katana's tail curls around the rest of his body as he sits down, having wrapped the little stowaway in a blanket in an attempt to help them warm back up. They seem like they're doing a little better, but it's hard to tell; and now that he's able to get a proper look at them, he's even more worried than he was before.
There's a bloodstained blindfold where their eyes should be and crimson tears running down their cheeks. Some of the blood looks fresher than it should, and Katana isn't sure what to do.
The rest of his little flock is likely fast asleep, and he doesn't want to give them a rude awakening.

A few hours later, Katana hears a knock on his door.
"...Come in."

When the door swings open, another geardemon steps through.
"Hey, did you leave the lights on?" she asks, clueless to Katana's curious cargo; for a moment, at least.
"Or did you have trouble sleeping again–"
And then she picks up on what's going on. "Goodness, is that- why didn't you tell anyone earlier?!"

Katana lowers his head. "It happened long into the night," he mutters. "I didn't want to cause too much of a scene..."

"Hm. So you've been keeping tabs on them the whole morning?" The other geardemon asks, flicking the lightswitch down with a somewhat stiff claw.

"Yes… they've been unconscious since I found them. I was surprised they were even breathing."
As Katana speaks, they shift around in his arms a little bit – a small ember of life from the fledgling is more than enough to keep him motivated.

"Well, they're still alive, so that's good." The other party steps forward, kneeling down to get a better look at this new face.
As she expected, they seem nervous and… out of it, to be frank.
"Hey, can you hear us?" She asks. "How are you feeling?"

They flail around a little more, trying to steady themselves as they try to unwrap the blanket they're swaddled in.
"Mmmfgh… y-yeahhh, I'm okay…"
Goodness, they sound tired. It's not hard to figure out why that is. Their mind starts to even out a little and they tilt their head, confused.
"...w-wait… wha–w-who are you?"

"Well, my name is Vine Staff," she chirps, "and that's Katana."
The woman makes sure to speak as clearly as she can.
"Okay, I want to ask you a couple questions. Answer them as honestly as you can, alright?"

The younger demon nods, but… they seem to hesitate a little.
"A-alright."

Vine Staff pulls up a chair so she can sit down a little more comfortably. "Hm, where to start… Oh, what's your name? Or gear. Either works."

"Uhm… it's L-Lilith. That's… that's m-my name."
She sits up a little more, and the cabochons on her sleeves spin and faintly clatter as she adjusts. It's clear from her body language and the tone of her voice that she's pretty nervous.

"Lilith… That's a nice name." Vine Staff nods. "Now, from what Katana told me earlier, you must've had a lot of trouble with the cold snap last night… I don't see any signs of frostbite, so that's good, but I'm still a little worried."
She taps her chin a few times. "Do you remember what you were doing before you collapsed last night?"

Lilith rubs her face with her hand, trying to jog her memory. "Urgh, it's…"
Some of what she fishes up is especially unpleasant. "It's a-a lot."

"Take your time," Vine Staff coos, ruffling Lilith's hair a little with one hand. "You don't have to explain everything if you don't want to, okay?"

"Uhm… okay…"
Lilith's used to not explaining everything. There's some things in her life that she'd rather hide away, after all. "I know I-I woke up somewhere I… shouldn't have."
Somewhere she shouldn't have? What does that mean?
"Everything hurt… I think I fell w-when I… was t-trying to figure out where I was..?"

" Everything hurt?" Vine Staff furrows her brow. "Are you still in any pain?"

"N… no, don't think so…"
This, of course, is a lie.
There's always a dull pain in Lilith's stomach - sometimes it even crawls up into her lungs. But no one needs to know about that just yet, do they?
These people are still strangers to her, after all. She can't just spill everything out in front of them.

"That's good to hear," Vine Staff responds, cupping her hands together with a smile on her face. "Do you know where that pain might have come from, though?"

"..."
If Lilith still had eyes, they'd be wide open and filled with sorrow. She knows exactly what happened last night before she woke up.
She remembers every awful sound she heard, every awful thing she felt; the splintering mirror, the pang of glass stabbing through her chest, and the horrific feelings that staticky thing gave her - deep in her mind, her body and even her soul - the moment she tried to fight back.
She can't possibly explain all of that so easily, though.
"L-like I said… a lot happened last night. Makes my head hurt just… thinking about it…"

"I'm sorry to hear that…"
Vine Staff doesn't know it yet, but Lilith's brought a friend along. Multiple friends, even. The creature that followed Katana into his house earlier ends up climbing onto her shoulder– "Op–" and then jumping off to greet Lilith.
"Hm, is this a friend of yours?"

The creature is covered in black and gray feathers, but its wings are more like a bat's than anything. Its beady red eyes stare into Vine's, and it curls up in Lilith's lap like some manner of weird cat.
Speaking of Lilith, she nods in response to the friend thing. "Yeah, this is Inky!"
She sounds a bit more energetic now; the creature's presence seems to have put her at ease.

"Inky, huh…" Vine Staff nods along. "Interesting. I've never seen anything like it before - do you know where it came from?"

There is an uncomfortably long stretch of silence after she asks that question, and Lilith isn't the one to break it.
"You must be tired after everything you've been through."
It's Katana, speaking in a gruff, but warm and sympathetic tone. "Would you like to rest here for the day?"

"Uhh… sure."
Lilith seems hesitant, but less than she was before; this 'Katana' guy (at least, she's pretty sure that's what his name is) seems nice enough. 

"Sounds like a plan to me."
Vine Staff steadies herself with her gear as she stands back up, taking a moment to stretch. "I'm sure the rest of the flock will get along with her just fine, but it might not be the best idea to say hello right away…"

Katana nods in agreement. "Mmhm. Those two are quite… energetic , after all."

Vine Staff chuckles a little at Katana's comment, picking up all her supplies. "Alright, I'm gonna head back home now and check in with Shuri and Sling… Let me know if you two need anything, okay?"

'You two' is a bit… strange for Katana to hear. Usually, he's the one talking to a bigger crowd, after all.
"Alright. Take care of yourself."
He bows his head towards Vine Staff as she walks out the door. When she's gone, he glances back down at Lilith. She's doing much better, but there's still something off about her that he can't quite decipher.

Lilith clearly isn't from around here; Katana knows that much. As far as he can tell, she just showed up that night - clueless and disheveled, nothing but the clothes on her back and what must be her gear alongside her. Something about this 'Inky' creature is complicating things, though; sure, she looks close enough to a geardemon, but something about those looks don't add up.
And what's someone as young as her doing with so much blood on her face, anyways? She must've been through quite a lot.
He tries not to think about it too much once he realizes Lilith's turned to face him.
"A-ah. Is there something you need?"

Lilith shakes her head. "No… s-still kinda sleepy, though."
She yawns and stretches like a cat, curling up next to the geardemon.

"I see. Take all the time you need."

Meanwhile, in Blackrock, something is amiss.

Static seems to leap from one monitor to another, following a man carrying a rifle through a corridor and puzzling a few passersby in the moment. Maybe something's gone awry with the background wiring, but the way the monitors fizzle in and out is discomforting; is there a vengeful ghost in this hall or is it just a coincidence?
The figure it's following pays no mind to the phenomenon, twirling a keyring in their hands.
They unlock the door in front of them, swinging it open and gently pulling it closed. 

Moments of perfect silence like this are rare for them. There's no one to be bothered by aside from the cat rubbing against their leg - a more than welcome annoyance when they compare it to the people they deal with on a daily basis.

"Easy now, little guy. Let me cool off for a bit."
The cat hops onto the arm of a chair in the room as they slip a helmet off their face. Sure, the ventilation in that thing is nice, but it's even nicer to finally have some time alone.

They step into the bathroom, wash their face and look at themselves in the mirror - for some reason, the one they just got for their own room broke after just a few days, so they've had to make do with this until they get a replacement. There's a small scratch under one of their eyes - they might have gotten that when they were throwing out the broken mirror's frame?

Suddenly, they hear a voice from somewhere behind them.
"...Hyperlaser…"
It's an unfamiliar one. How does it know his name?
He brushes it off as nothing major; probably just a Biograft that wants his attention for whatever reason.
And then it starts to get… aggressive. 
"Hyperlaser. HYPERLASER. "
Ugh, is this another call from his boss–
Hang on a second. That voice doesn't sound like him. But who else could be so insistent about seeing him?
Sighing, he picks the helmet back up and walks into the living room of his apartment—

—only to be greeted by some horrific thing.
"YOU BELLIGERENT FOOL ."
The… thing's very presence strains his eyes, with a body made of static tethered to the TV in the room by something that looks like an umbilical cord. Bright white eyes of its own stare him down, and a wing swooshes at Hyperlaser's hand out of nowhere to keep him from shielding his . 

"Belligerent?" Hyperlaser hisses under his breath, trying to make himself look less afraid than he actually is. "I s-simply didn't know who you were."

"THAT IS NO EXCUSE, CONDOTTIERE," the monster growls, wings seamlessly tucked into the rest of its body. That word, Condottiere — Hyperlaser can't tell if it's using it as a simple moniker or a vitriolic insult. "I AM HERE BECAUSE OF THE SINS THAT HAVE FOLLOWED YOUR EVERY MOVE."

"Sins? What s—"

It allows him no time to say what's on his mind.
"THEY SEEPED INTO YOU THROUGH YOUR BLOOD, THROUGH YOUR VEINS. THEY LURK DEEP WITHIN YOUR LUNGS. YOUR STOMACH. YOUR HEART ."

Shuddering a little, Hyperlaser tries to speak again.
"A-and what am I supposed to do about that?"

"YOU ARE INDEBTED TO GOD HIMSELF ," it beckons. "YOU MAY EITHER REPAY HIM, OR SUFFER ."

"...Suffer how?"
Hyperlaser remains defiant against all odds. He's dealt with this kind of thing before; surely this isn't anything different?
But it is. Oh, God, it is.

Suddenly, his back is pinned to a wall by the evangelical ghost. He's a prisoner in his own home, forced to pray to a false deity.
Its voice rings through his ears in the worst way it possibly could.
"SO YOU CHOOSE TO BASK IN SIN AND NOTHING ELSE?"
He struggles to hold back his tears. Can anyone else hear its incessant yelling, or is there a reason no one else has tried to open the door yet?
"THAT CHOICE WILL MEAN DEATH FOR YOU."

There's one last thing that he hears before he suddenly collapses.
"WHEN I RETURN, YOU WILL KNOW YOUR TRUE PLACE, AS A SERAPHIM GUARDING HEAVEN'S GATES."

Hours later, he wakes up with dull static buzzing in the back of his head. He's not sure what's going on, but he knows that thing is gone. His cat is laying down on his chest; maybe it was worried about him, maybe the little guy was just hungry. Probably the latter; Hyperlaser did forget to feed it with how... preoccupied he was the night before.
He sighs and helps himself back up. The first thing he decides to do is to look into the mirror again, and he notices that the scar under his eye has gotten larger.

…hey, wait, is it even a scar at all?

Chapter Text

Lilith is following Vine Staff like a little lost duckling.
Usually, befriending your patients is a bit of a taboo, but Vine's made a few exceptions; most of the other Phighters are quite the fun crowd, after all, even if she doesn't quite click with them… and of course, there's Lilith.
She's only been around for a day or two by now, but the two have become fast friends; there's a lot about this world that's new to the fledgling, and Vine Staff is more than willing to help her navigate it all.

"Alright, they're a little… boisterous. If you need a moment to yourself, let me know, okay?" Vine pauses in front of a door, letting go of Lilith's hand. "I'll let you chill out in my room for a bit."

Lilith nods, tucking her hands behind her back while Vine Staff carefully pulls the door open.

"Hey, you're back!" An unfamiliar voice chirps, hopping out of their seat to greet the other geardemon. It takes them a second to realize she has someone accompanying her. "Oh, didja bring a friend along?"

Vine Staff nods with a smile on her face. "Yep! She's been living with Katana the past few days… I figured it'd be a good idea to introduce her to you guys."

"Oh, we've got a new neighbor? And you didn't tell us?!" He seems utterly flabbergasted by this news. "Name's Slingshot! Nice to meetcha." He kneels down and offers Lilith a hand with a big grin on his face.

Lilith tilts her head. "...hi?"
It's clear to see from her body language that she's not entirely sure what's going on. She appreciates the warm welcome, though, and wishes she could show that a little better.

"Come on in, you two!" Slingshot ushers Vine Staff and Lilith into the house. There's a candle filling the air with the smell of wood smoke and flower petals, and a third geardemon sitting on the backrest of the couch.

Said geardemon turns to face the others right as they walk in.
"You brought someone else along?"

Vine Staff nods.
"Mmhm. Shuriken, this is Lilith," she replies, gesturing to the youngster in question. "She's… a little shy. And we s-still don't know too much about her yet, so be careful, okay?"

"You… don't know much about her?" Shuriken furrows his brow. He's got a slight lisp because of the "fangs" in his mouth, but it's not too difficult to parse. "Whatcha mean by that?"

Vine Staff crosses her arms and closes her eyes, pondering. How is she supposed to explain this?
"Well, erm…"
A pause.
"She…"
And then another. She's struggling to sort out her words.
"I don't think she's from around here," she whispers to the others.

Slingshot's expression quickly turns to a look of concern. Not from around here? What could that mean..?

All remains quiet until Shuriken speaks back up.
"Really, now."
His comment is fairly lighthearted and a little sarcastic, but… it wasn't worded quite right – there might not have even been a good way to word it in the first place.
Vine Staff quickly shushes him, but Lilith doesn't seem to mind.

The room is still and silent for a few minutes more, until Slingshot breaks it.
"So, uhh, L-Lilith…" He asks, still a little tense. "Do you need anything? I'm sure we've got whatever you need."

"I-I'm fine." Lilith shakes her head, starting to fidget with her jacket again. "I think I just need to sit down for a bit…"

"Alright. Take all the time you need," Slingshot purrs in reply.

Lilith silently nods, cozying up on the couch. It's hard to tell just by looking at her, but she's… starting to feel a little off.

At some point in the past few minutes, Vine Staff has shuffled into another room. She's talking to someone on the phone; from what any potential eavesdroppers can tell, it's probably about Lilith.
"Yeah, she just showed up out of nowhere… I think it'd be a good idea to do an exam and run a couple tests. What do you say?"
The voice on the other end must have agreed with this sentiment.
"Alright, sounds good. I'll be there as quick as I can around then."
She nods along while the other party gets ready to hang up. If she knows anything about this guy, she knows he's got a pretty busy day ahead of him…
Nevertheless, Vine hops back up from her seat to greet the others once again.
"Sorry, there was something I needed to handle. How's everyone doing?"

"Not too shabby." Shuriken fidgets with a small coin in his hands, turning to face Vine Staff. "What about you?"

"Not half bad!" Vine Staff replies. The smile on her face seems to fade a little after she glances around the room, though, sitting next to Lilith.
"...You okay?"

Lilith doesn't give a proper answer; she just sighs and lays down, propping her head up on Vine's knee.

"...hm."
Vine sighs, wrapping her arm around Lilith. Thank goodness she scheduled that doctor's appointment when she did… but there's going to be a long couple of days leading up to it.
She notices an odd, writhing feeling near her hip. Must've been Lilith moving around a little… right?
Probably best not to worry about it; she'll start imagining problems that aren't there…

When Zuka isn't ferrying phighters to the arena and back, he runs a quaint little pawn shop. He knows the value of plenty of things very well; jewelry, tech and his own life are only the tip of the iceberg, and he's got plenty more stacked on the shelves or laid out in glass cases.
Occasionally, geardemons will bring their own wares to part with; whether they don't have the space or just want a quick buck isn't his problem. He'll always find a good deal to strike.
Sometimes, however, there are some… strange things that slip through the doors.

An odd-looking geardemon with backswept horns and a shackle around his wrist waltzes into Zuka's shop, dragging something in behind him. 
"Heyyyyaaaa!" He says with a permanent grin plastered on his face.

To say that Zuka is familiar with this man would be a severe understatement.
"...What do you have for me this time, Broker?" He groans. He's been through this song and dance before, but something about this time seems off.

To tell the truth, the Broker has always been a fairly off-putting man. An enigmatic criminal, constantly slipping out of the hands of the Warden on his own whim. 
But there's something else amiss about him today; perhaps it's the way his bad eye is starting to melt a little, or how his cargo is cloaked by a curtain?
"Found somethin' you might wanna keep around!" He chirps in his usual way of speech, dancing around specifics despite certainly knowing too much about whatever it is he's carrying with him. 
Once he lugs it up to the counter, he pulls off the curtain, revealing… a mirror? Why would he have to cover something like this?
"Take a peek, won'tcha?"

The moment Zuka looks up at the mirror, he's forced to pull his head right back down. Something about it must've struck a nerve.
"Urgh… why the hell'd you bring something like that in… tch. Just cover it up again and I'll put it in the back room."

Broker nods. By the time Zuka looks up again, his reflection isn't looking back at him anymore; all he can see is that curtain.
"Whew… now would you help me carry this in?"
Thankfully, it's a fairly quiet day at the pawn shop; he doesn't have to worry about any confused customers trying to pry into this nonsense. While he carries the mirror into the back with the Broker's help, he can't help but wonder – where did he even get this thing? And why did his heart start beating so fast - why did a pit form in his stomach - why did he feel so, so, awful - just by looking into the glass?
Despite all the questions, one thing is clear to Zuka:
This is not a normal mirror… if it even is one at all.

At the very least, it's not much of a problem for him anymore; the mirror's glass is covered, and the only thing he can see in it now is his boots near its edge.
There is one small issue, though; there shouldn't be nearly as much light in the room as there is— hey, wait, what's that noise? Is that… TV static?

When he turns around, the Broker is staring at an old TV that's been in the back room for a while; another one of his unusual finds. Zuka decides not to intervene, but he is a little concerned; he swore that TV was completely non-functional when Broker brought it in… it couldn't even blare static the way that it is now.

Speaking of the Broker, he's muttering something strange under his breath; and while it's hard to tell from this angle, there seems to be something… dripping from his bad eye.
"...I will greatly multiply your sorrow and conception… "

Zuka isn't sure what that means. He knows for certain that something is wrong, though -- more wrong than it usually is when the Broker is involved.

Chapter Text

A bus skids to a stop at the edge of a little town in Lost Temple, the scorching heat of the badlands just barely broken by a cool breeze drifting past.

"You need some help, Lilith?" Vine Staff asks, offering the aforementioned demon a helping hand.

Lilith doesn't budge, barely even murmuring in reply. Anything she might have said is incomprehensible… and her grumbling almost sounds pained. It's not easy to notice, but it seems like she's been degrading over the course of this little trip; as Vine Staff picks her up in her free arm, she tries to fight it off, but quickly gives in.

"Not a fan of long drives either, huh?" Vine asks.
Her expression shifts when she realizes that the writhing feeling from the day before has returned; possibly a little more extreme than it was then. That's concerning enough on its own, but even worse when she takes how exhausted Lilith must be into account.
"D-don't worry, we're almost there..." 

Thankfully, it's just a short walk from this little town to the duo's destination; a doctor's office on the edge of civilization and the badlands. This is an odd place for something like this to be, no doubt, but it's a great help for the nearby townsfolk - and there's a reason its only patron chose the place that he did to set up shop.

Windchimes jingle overhead as Vine Staff swings the door open. The noise grabs a certain geardemon's attention, causing light to splinter across his crystal-glazed horns when he swivels around to face her.
"Ah, that must be Lilith."

"Sure is. How's your day been, Medkit?" Vine Staff asks, setting Lilith down close by. The latter struggles to steady herself for a few moments, but quickly regroups.

"Nothing interesting so far," Medkit replies, "but I feel like that's about to change."

"Really? What makes you think that?" Vine Staff asks somewhat sarcastically.

"Well, she… doesn't look quite like I thought she would. I know you said she wasn't from the Den, but… hm…"
The jade-horned geardemon puts a hand to his chin before his remaining eye glances back at his newest patient.
"And what's with the blindfold? They seem fairly young… it'd take a lot to cause enough damage to warrant something like that ."
The way he speaks - and the eyepatch on his face - imply that he knows this from experience.

Vine Staff sighs. "That's the thing. We don't know what happened to her before she got here, or what her deal is."
While she talks, Lilith sits down with her knees high up and her arms crossed over her stomach. It doesn't seem like Vine notices this, as she keeps talking like nothing ever happened.
"Yesterday I noticed that she was starting to… deteriorate, too. I'm glad I decided to schedule when I did…"

"Well, hopefully we can get to the bottom of this little mystery today," Medkit quips as he prepares a clipboard and a pen. "Would you be kind enough to help her fill out this little chart?"

Vine Staff blinks. It looks like she spaced out for a second, and Medkit's request must've gotten her to snap back to reality.
"O-of course, sir," she stammers, taking the clipboard in her hands and waltzing over to the seat next to Lilith's.

Once the clipboard is back in Medkit's grasp and he skims through Lilith's answers, his expression sours. Chronic chest and stomach pain. That isn't normal for someone her age.
It isn't normal for anyone, to be frank.

There's something missing, too…
"Hm… does Lilith have a last name? I don't see one mentioned here." Medkit asks, scrutinizing the clipboard as he does.

"Does… does she?"
Vine Staff's expression shows a mix of worry and confusion. She turns to face Lilith as if she's trying to ask them personally, to which they shake their head. 
"...Should we just put her under Katana's? She's been living with him."

"Hm. I suppose it won't hurt anybody."
The fact that they're essentially forging records here doesn't seem to be an issue to Medkit. He's got bigger problems to worry about, after all… but the true scope of things isn't in his sights quite yet.
He kneels down and places a hand on Lilith's shoulder, causing her to flinch a bit. "I… er…"
Shit. He's never been great with kids. How's he going to convince one he's not utterly terrifying? Pulling his hand back toward himself, he sighs.

Lilith seems more confused than anything. "You… what?"

Medkit steps back a little. "N-nevermind that. Just... cooperate with me, okay?"
Lilith simply nods in reply. Little victories, Medkit. Little victories.

Lilith doesn't fully understand what's going on, but she does try to play along as best she can. It seems easy enough; just answering a couple questions and following his lead.
Some of the tests make her a little nervous… but it's for the best, right?

"Alright, that should be everything. Let me look over all of this…"
Medkit clutches a pile of papers in his claws; of course, no one else in the room can see them, but it's imagery from the few scans that he'd done on Lilith.
Just one look at one of her X-rays is enough to make him jump a little.
"Gah– is this…"
His expression sours. Tumor shadows near her ribs… that must be the source of her discomfort.

Lilith looks up, concerned. She can hear Medkit muttering under his breath; most of it is just panicked swearing with the occasional prayer peppered in.
Something bad must've happened. All she can do is hope, but deep down, she knows exactly what Medkit is worried about.

Once Medkit calms back down, he turns to face Lilith again. Of course, she can't tell, but the bags under his eyes have gotten darker.
"A-alright… there's some concerning things on your X-ray. I'm worried they might be tumor shadows… unfortunately, I don't have the tools to deal with them at the moment."
He frowns; he really wishes he could do something more here. This child's life is on the line.
"The least I can do is have a follow-up appointment arranged… Are you alright with that?"

Lilith pauses for a second before she hesitantly nods.
"...yeah."

Medkit stares her down and sighs.
"Alright. I'll let Vine Staff know."
A little while later, Vine Staff is sitting in the lobby next to Lilith.
"So that's what was going on? That… can't be good. I'm glad you're pulling through, though."

Lilith isn't sure how to reply. If anything, this kind of perseverance is just a part of her.
"...I-It could always be worse, right?"

Vine Staff blinks. She didn't just say that, did she? About tumors?
But… she supposes Lilith has a point.
"I guess you're right about that, kiddo."
A short pause. There's tension in the air that she isn't quite sure how to break.
"...You wanna grab a treat before we head home?"

"S-sounds good!"
Lilith's face lights up a little, and she eagerly nods. The food here is nice - nicer than anything she can remember having, that's for certain - so it probably wouldn't hurt to grab a bite.

"Sounds good to me, too."
Vine Staff smiles, helping Lilith up while she stands. "Make sure to go easy on yourself, okay?"

"...okay."
Lilith still wobbles a little whenever she tries to steady herself. Maybe it's nervous jitters?

Sitting up, Zuka puts a hand on the ground. It's soft - not like the blankets he was just under or the rough fuzziness of old carpets. It's more like… grass than anything?
Either way, he isn't sure what's going on. Looking up, he sees leaves and branches towering above him. Trees, no doubt; trees unlike any of the foliage he's seen before. They're behemoths, with roots hanging over his head.

He stands up and starts walking around, trying to figure out his surroundings. Just in front of him stands a small silhouette - a child, no doubt - staring into the endless nothing with their back facing him.
Zuka rushes forward. He feels as if he hardly has control over his own actions, trying to pull himself back to no avail.

Words escape his mouth when he isn't even trying to speak.
"Hey, kid. Are you alright?"
Instinctively, he covers his mouth; he didn't mean to interfere with… whatever they're up to.
It's much too late to change things now, though. He's sick to his stomach as the figure slowly turns around, trying to approach him. Something interferes with their movements, though, and he doesn't realize this until it's too late.

In a fleeting moment, a strange dream warps into a nightmare.
It's as if the trees know Zuka's there, and they're trying to kill him. Rapid overgrowth strangles the forest; trees wrapping around other trees, new life growing wherever and however it can at any cost. He sees twigs cover the figure in front of him, forming patterns resembling bone and sinew; when he tries to rescue them, though, the trees seem to notice this and their branches cut off his movements.

The winding woodwork petrifies the poor old man.
Thorns pierce through layers of flesh and bone, and he can feel his chest tightening. Try as he might, he doesn't have a way out of this. He can't move, can't speak, and can only barely think; all he can do is suffer in silence with the child who he was trying to help.
Even if he were to cry for help, it'd be drowned by the sound of snapping wood; heaven knows it's the only thing he can hear right now.

It is here where Zuka bolts awake in a cold sweat.
It's just a nightmare. Thank God.
He wouldn't know what to do with himself if it was real. Still feeling that awful pit in his stomach, he gets up to splash his face with some cold water.

It's just barely sunrise; he can see the dull glow of the sun over the horizon from the bathroom window, and it fills him with a much-needed warmth.
He's not ready for any more night terrors. Hopefully, this one is just a one-off… but all he can do about it, for better or for worse, is pray .

Chapter Text

As the daylight hours draw to a close over the Thieves' Den, a very tired Lilith stretches and yawns before falling flat on her stomach. Soon enough, she'll be dead asleep, chin resting on a pillow.

With their claws clicking on a creaking door, a familiar face steps into the room. Katana.
"Lilith, do you need anything before you go to bed?" He asks, a touch more concerned than he's been the last couple days. She's been a little more… agitated than usual today, but still hasn't been doing much. Maybe she just hasn't been feeling well?

"mmm… I dunno…"
Lilith's response is a little muffled by the pillow she's resting on - and her overall drowsiness. There's a dull pain in her stomach that she's almost certain shouldn't be there; she's got food in her belly and hasn't been in any sort of scrap in a long while.
Maybe God's just not too fond of her lately. They wouldn't be surprised; they've heard that He doesn't like demons very much.
"...Don't feel so good… but I can p-probably just… sleep it off."

Katana nods, ruffling Lilith's hair with one hand.
"Mm… Do let me know if you start feeling any worse, okay?" coos the geardemon, taking a few steps back. He waits until Lilith confirms this with a nod to properly leave the room, letting her settle down as the lights in the room flicker off.
"Goodnight, Lilith."

Lilith curls up in a ball, shaking wildly and trying not to scream. Somehow, the pain's gotten so much worse in just a few minutes; and the still-buzzing static in the back of her head isn't helping much, either. She's tired enough to fall asleep just fine, but it's hard to focus on anything else. Sure, they could just pretend it isn't there and hope that makes it better… but things like this just can't be ignored.

And even if she did ignore them, they'd still start trying to tear a hole in her flesh anyways.

Eventually, deep into the night, something stirs Katana awake. Usually, he's a heavy sleeper; if something manages to wake a person like him, it's almost always deeply wrong.
And it just so happens that something is deeply wrong.

He feels a sort of premonition in his bones, bitter like poison, and all too familiar to a certain feeling he hasn't had in years; the one that he felt near that horrific corruption.
As he walks through the hall, the premonition strengthens, and sours any hope he may have had. His primary worry is its source; it can't possibly be his chickens, and there's no one else in the house besides Lilith. How someone so young could succumb to something so awful… is beyond him.

When he nearly steps on a bloodstain, his woes are all but confirmed. It's closer to Lilith's room than anything else in the house, leading him to believe that something very, very bad happened to her. 

"Lilith?"
Katana calls out her name… and receives no response. He's trying to keep a level head, but the panic is starting to get to him.
Strangely enough, her room is empty - maybe she wandered off somewhere else before her injuries got the better of her?

Suddenly, he hears something flailing before a soft thud. There's no doubt that it came from close by, so he immediately starts searching; though he doesn't have to look in many places to find its source.

He sees Lilith curled into a ball with Inky close by, and immediately kneels down to help them out.
"Lilith? Are you okay?"

"Mmhfgh… I'm f-fiine…"
Lilith tries to push herself up with her arms. She fails. Tries to push herself up again. Fails again. It doesn't seem like Lilith is doing even half as well as she says she is. A girl who was just fine, not even a full day earlier, now unable to sit up on her own - what happened?

"Are you sure? You seem much weaker than usual."
Katana tries to pick her up in both hands, but she squirms away at a moment's notice. Her movements scare another creature out of the shadows; oddly similar to 'Inky' in appearance. Katana tries not to pay much mind to it; he's more focused on making sure Lilith is alright.

And, well, to make a long story short, she isn't.
Once Katana's finally got her in his arms, he notices a gaping wound in her side.
"Oh… that can't be good. Let's get that patched up, okay?"

Lilith growls a little, but she can't do much other than comply in the state she's in. Normally, wounds like these close up fine on their own, but maybe having something covering it for once would be useful.
As far as she can tell, Katana hasn't put the pieces together yet. And for her, that's a good thing.

The process of dressing the wound goes easily enough. She can move with the bandages on just fine, but she's still woozy and struggling to come to her senses properly.
Katana sets her down on the couch and sits close by. It's not quite as far from sunset as it was when he first found her, but it's still a good few hours away.
"Get all the rest you need," he mutters as she lays her head down in his lap.

In the silence of the night, Katana lowers his head and looks down at the younger demon. There must be some form of sorrow in her eyes - or whatever may be left of them - under that blindfold, although he's not in the mood to try and see that for himself.
All he really cares about right now is making sure Lilith doesn't die; something that he's honestly doing a good job of right now. Inky (and the other creature that looks suspiciously similar to Inky) land close by, keeping watchful eyes on their apparent patron. It seems almost as if they've been through this song and dance before. 
Eventually, Lilith falls back asleep, and Katana does too… the former knows her fate all too well, but the latter can only hope things get better.

"So you're saying that you saw some… THING and grew a third eye?!"
Medkit puts a hand to his face; something he can see out the corner of his eye, in the reflection of Hyperlaser's helmet. He raises his hand and starts to speak again - "I want to believe you - you don't seem like the sort of person to lie to my face… But I need to know you aren't joking. I've never heard of anything like this happening before, after all."

Hyperlaser sighs, placing a hand behind his neck. A lock clicks and he wraps his hands around his helmet, carefully slipping it off of his head and revealing the gnarled face and shattered horns underneath.
It's clear from the somber expression on his face - something that rarely changes - that doing this is something he's deeply embarrassed by, but Medkit doesn't seem to mind it.

"Well… I wasn't expecting you to believe me," Hyperlaser replies. "But it's… well… see for yourself."
On the right side of his face, covered in old scars and claw marks, harbors a small eye under his own; he even blinks a couple times to help verify its presence.

Medkit is, understandably, taken aback by this discovery.
"That's a… unique problem, for certain," he comments as he jots down a note. Patient spontaneously developed a third eye.
"But, erm… Hyperlaser," he continues, as if nothing happened, "have you been experiencing any other… odd symptoms?" To be frank, he's not expecting a proper answer, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

His expression turns from discontent to surprise when Hyperlaser quickly answers: "Back pain. Back pain and… hallucinations? Is that the word?"

Medkit nods, concerned. "Hallucinations, yes," he confirms in a shaky tone. "What kind, i-if I may ask? Have you been hearing things…?"

"Yes," Hyperlaser replies. "A voice. It's telling me… urgh, something about being corrupted by sin. Bullshit, if you ask me."

"Agreed," Medkit replies with an uneasy chuckle. "I'm glad you're fighting it off, at least." After putting his pen to his chin for a moment, he writes down a few more notes. Auditory hallucinations – possibly religious in nature. Something about that doesn't add up - Medkit never thought of Hyperlaser as a zealot… so what's got the heavens on his brain?
Trying to figure out any evidence, he accidentally thinks back to his mention of back pain. Another symptom to tackle.
"You… said you were feeling pain in your back," Medkit mutters. "Would you say it's… focused anywhere in particular?"

Hyperlaser nods. "Somewhere between my hips n' my waist, I guess."

"I… see," Medkit replies. His uncertainty grows further, clear in the constant tapping of his pen against a clipboard. "Do you think we should get a better look at that? We're likely going to need to get some imaging done to find the root of the problem, but… hopefully a physical exam will tell us something."
He sighs. "I… understand that you must not be the biggest fan of more invasive procedures, after all. You've been through enough as is."

Hyperlaser nods again. He's a little nervous, but he knows this is for the best.
"Mmhm. I-I do hope it's not something on the inside."

He sits up and turns around, pulling up part of his suit – but it does seem to get caught on something.
"Urk– t-that's odd."

Medkit squints a little. Is his pain getting worse?
"L-let me help you out there…" he murmurs, grabbing onto part of the suit and trying to pry it away from whatever it got caught on.

Once it's pulled off, Hyperlaser breathes a sigh of relief.
Medkit, however, stands in stunned silence when he realizes what's in front of his eye. Tiny feathers fall to the ground, dancing around the two demons.
"H-Hyperlaser, s-sir…" Medkit stammers. How does he explain this?

Hyperlaser sighs, keeping his head turned away. "What's wrong?"

Still shivering like a wet dog, Medkit takes a deep breath in.
"You… didn't always have tiny wings, did you?"

Chapter Text

Medkit buries his head in his arms, just barely looking over at the papers scattered in front of them. He's had a long week.
First, there was Lilith; the mysterious girl who quite literally just showed up one day, and remains indecipherable. The first time he saw her, the poor thing had tumors in her; now that she'd come back for a follow-up appointment a few days later, they were completely gone. Normally, that'd be a miracle, but the severe damage he found alongside this breakthrough would say otherwise.

And then Hyperlaser came along, with some equally bizarre problems; voices in his head somehow being the least of them. He had sprouted a third eye and a set of vestigial wings the last time Medkit had seen him – who knows what other malformations could appear behind the doctor's back?

He knows they can't possibly be tied together, but the circumstances were just too strange to perish the thought. Two incredibly bizarre cases, one after another - frankly, it's what he's been hoping for since he had to flee Blackrock, but it's still rather unfortunate. It'll likely be weeks – maybe even months – before he can formulate a proper diagnosis for either of them.

Medkit sighs and picks his head back up, mulling over the papers laid down on his desk. Most of it is charts and notes; a couple pictures of various scans and injuries, too. He's not sure what to make of it all; is whatever's wrong with the two connected in some way?
It's a far-fetched theory, but he doesn't have any evidence to disprove it yet. He'll have to press on and discover the truth himself, whatever that may be.

A blade-wielding geardemon steps into Medkit's office. "Hey, Med!" He chirps, dropping a canvas bag from his shoulder onto a coffee table in the lobby. "I, uh, got some more info on the whole Illumina thing. Let me know when you're ready for it!"

Medkit hoists himself up, taking one more glance at all the papers scattered on his desk before putting them all back in order and filing them away. "Come in," he replies; "I don't have anything better to do."
He seems relieved to have something else to focus on for a moment.

Sword picks the bag back up and carries it into the office, glancing at Medkit with a wide smile. There's a few strange markings under his eyes that certainly weren't there before, and they seem to be… glowing? Goodness, so many things have been happening lately.
He's in good spirits, nevertheless, carefully setting the bag down on Medkit's desk. "Dad– um, my mentor said it's treatable with enough effort, so that's good. There should be some stuff you might wanna take a look at in here…" He gestures to the bag.

Medkit nods and rummages through the bag a little, picking out some slips of paper and a few odd-looking trinkets. "Hm. Seems like one of these has to be a treatment plan… aha. Bingo."
Said treatment plan seems all too simple to be true. "All it says is to avoid any potential stressors… I guess that means no proper phighting for you for a while, then," Medkit snarks, looking at Sword with a tiny, smug grin. 

Sword frowns for a second, but quickly perks back up. "Hmm… I don't mind. Gives me an excuse to do some training!"
For better or for worse, he finds comfort in the art of the blade; after all, if he didn't have his sword, well… he wouldn't be Sword. 

Medkit nods, rolling his eye a little. "Do be sure to go easy on yourself when you do…"
He sighs and looks back down at his desk. Sword is as bold as ever, whether he likes it or not.

"Sure will! I'll let you know if any weird stuff happens, okay?"
And just like that, Sword's grabbed all his things and is off on another trek. Medkit turns back toward his desk and lowers his head, with no other choice but to go back to mulling over the mystery that was unceremoniously left in his hands.

It's a few hours later, and Sword is hiking in the woods around Thieves' Den. The bag he was carrying with him is now slung across his body, shut tight to keep whatever goodies are inside safe. It seems like he's been traveling for a while, and it just so happens that he spots an odd face just as he looks for a good place to rest for a bit…

To say the least, he wasn't expecting to see a child out here; nor was he expecting the strange chirping he's been hearing to be from something that was so very clearly not a bird.
"Inky, stay close!" He overhears, and the creature perches on the kid's shoulder promptly afterwards. The two must share a pretty strong bond…

Curiosity (and concern) getting the better of him, Sword steps forward.
"H-hey, are you alright?" The geardemon asks. He folds his arms together and flicks his tail; the knife-like tip of which scratches at the wood of a fallen trunk nearby.
"I, uh… d-don't see other folks around here very often, and you seem pretty young. Did y-you get lost or something?"
While Sword maintains a stoic appearance on the battlefield, he seems to falter a little in more overtly social situations.

The girl turns around.
"Oh? No, I'm fine. I know my way home from here."
She knows that Katana's house shouldn't be too far from this spot; if her memory serves her right, she hasn't been walking that long at all.
And… man, being able to say she remembers how to get home is a strange feeling. The only "home" she's ever known before this was one that she knew was never truly hers. 

Sword nods. "Well… that's good to hear."
He's still confused as to what a little kid is doing out in the middle of the woods. Maybe she lives close by?
…Probably best not to prod too much. He continues to go along his merry way, failing to notice the flutter and trot following his footsteps for an absurdly long time.

He only realizes he's being followed when he hears a voice from behind him.
"...Where are you going?"
It's the kid he saw earlier; she's confused, but still doesn't seem very lost. Sword wonders why she's following him…

Nevertheless, he clears his throat and prepares to explain himself.
"Oh, me? I was just heading off to hone my skills a little bit. You can come along if you want… just make sure not to stay too close, alright?"
By the time he starts moving again, he realizes that the footsteps treading behind his own are a little further away than before. Guess she took that to heart…

After a bit more walking, Sword stops at a familiar spot; a little clearing walled off by the mountains on one side and plenty of foliage on the other. He turns back to face the girl again, and something crosses his mind.
"Oh, uhh… did I ever get your name? Don't think I did. I'm Sword, and you are..?"

She pauses. 
"Um…"
Stranger danger and all that; to her, it's probably best not to say anything.
"Maybe I'll tell you later."
It's coded language; she is not going to tell him her name anytime soon.

Sword… thinks this is a little strange, but acknowledges it anyway. "Take as much time as you need, kid."
Right after he speaks, he lunges forward. His gear cuts a chunk out of the bark of a long-dead, gnarled tree – the multiple other scratches and notches in its trunk are a clear indicator that he's been here before.

Swiping away at the scarred tree a few more times, he pulls himself back. The girl who followed him has done the same; likely more out of fear or confusion than anything.

Taking a deep breath in, Sword's horns flare up with a vibrant red glow. "Prepare yourself!" He shouts, throwing his sword forward. As it stabs into the tree, an odd, almost ticking sound can be heard; one, two, three… BOOM!
The sword explodes, leaving both the tree and the grass surrounding it covered in burn marks. The leftover embers - both from the explosion and his horns - quickly fade away, and his blade returns to his side.
"Whew."
A sigh of relief escapes the geardemon. He turns around at the sound of a few quiet squeaks; that same creature from earlier is preening itself, cleaning soot off its face with tiny claws.
"...huh?"
What an odd little thing. He's never seen anything like it before. 

The girl quickly scoops the critter up in her arms once the aftermath's cleared, helping it brush off the rest of the ash.
"There you go… remember not to look too closely… okay..?"

Sword takes a few steps back, putting a hand to his chin as he looks at her. "Hm, that must be a friend of yours, then? I've never seen anything that looks like it before."

She looks up at Sword, tilting her head. "O-oh yeah. It, uh…"
Another creature, similar to the first, pokes its head out from behind her shoulders. Once she realizes this, her expression starts to shift to one of discontent.
"It's… i-its name is Inky."
Their tone makes Sword feel like they're trying to dance around an uncomfortable topic. A little strange… but he doesn't mind.

He just met this kid, after all. No need to pry into her every secret.
"Inky, huh? That's a nice name," he replies. "Does your other friend there have one?"

The girl shakes her head in response. Must be a no.

Sword's tail flicks as he nods along. "Well, if I see you again, I'll be sure to ask if you've come up with anything…"

She nods back, but quickly changes the topic.
"U-uhm, uhh… I heard a boom earlier and now… everything smells like smoke. What happened..?"

"Oh, that? That was just a Phinisher! I wasn't trying to hurt you or anything, don't worry."
Of course they can't see it, but he does give the kid a wink.
"I've just been practicing out here. Med– uh, my doctor told me to stay off the battlefield for a bit, but I can't let myself get rusty…"

The girl tilts their head again as Sword catches himself on his misspeak.
She doesn't have much of any opportunity to ask questions, though, as Sword pipes right back up to pop one of his own.
"You wanna try your hand at it? I think I'm just about done here, so I'll let you have a shot if you'd like."

She isn't sure how to react. It's been a while since she's stretched her fighting muscles, though…
"I-I guess it… wouldn't hurt?"
She silently approaches the tree, gesturing for one of her companions to come forward. Inky practically leaps out of her arms at the command, fluttering in the air with its gaze locked onto its assumed target; that, of course, being the scarred tree.

Keeping a safe distance between himself, the kid, and the tree, Sword watches on.
"Hm… this should be interesting."
Theories already race through his mind. Are these creatures her gear..? But… she doesn't look like any geardemon he's seen before.
Looks can be deceiving, though. Making assumptions isn't the best idea.

The girl steels herself, hands folded on her chest. Her little buddy seems to be charging something up…
"Ready?" She asks, receiving no response. Deep down, she knows that's just what she needs.
She points towards the tree, with no words besides a simple "go."

The sound of a loud blast and visual of a bright red laser cause Sword to shriek and stumble back; something uncharacteristic for him, considering the sort of stoic demeanor he's kept up this whole time. 
"W-woah, how did– what the–"
He sighs and takes a moment to regroup. It's not a good idea to stress himself out so much when he has something so harrowing hanging over him, like the sword of Damocles hanging by a horse's hair.
"That… w-was actually pretty cool!"

The girl merely nods along as her companion returns to her side, unsure of how to react.
"Um… thanks," she mutters, ambiently tapping a hoof on the ground. "I-I, uhh, should… probably get going, though…"

"Oh, okay. Catch you la–"
Before Sword can even finish his sentence, she's already gone. Maybe he won't be seeing them again anytime soon…

"Oh, Lilith. You're back."
Katana turns to face her as she steps through the door. "You're… a little later than I thought you would be. Did something happen?"

Lilith sits down next to Katana, curling up in a ball shortly after.
"Well, uhm… I-I guess I got distracted. Saw… someone i-in the woods…"
She pauses, taking a deep breath in.
"I think they were, u-uhh… practicing something? F-fight stuff."

Katana folds his hands in his lap, nodding along. "You… saw someone practicing in the woods..? That sounds like…"
He thinks for a moment. "Sword?"

Lilith nods. "Yeah, I… think that was his name."

"He's an alright fellow," Katana comments. "Always looking out for those around him…"

"Y-yeah, he seemed nice.. but…" Lilith thinks for a moment, flexing and unflexing her hand in a distinct pattern like a cat splaying out its claws. "What was that word again? Fff… phi… phin–"

"Phinisher?" Katana's eyes widen a little.
"You mean… that power… hm. I suppose you may have… witnessed it in action."

He sighs. Lilith starts to lean into him a little, but he pays no mind to this. "It can be rather destructive. I'm glad you seem unscathed."

Lilith replies with a quiet "...mhm" and rolls onto her back. Shortly after, a yawn escapes her mouth.

Katana's noticed this. "Hm. You seem tired. Do you need some time to yourself?"

Lilith shakes her head. "Nah… I think I-I'm okay…" She's sleepy, but doesn't want to be alone.

"...I see," Katana replies with a nod. He picks up Lilith and sets her down a little farther away, but only just; she's got something else besides his own body to prop her head up on now, at least. 

Lilith doesn't mind much; likely just a bit too tired for her to be bothered by it.
Come to think of it, it's felt like she's… sort of been tired all the time lately. That's not normal, is it? Doesn't seem like it would be.
Things are starting to pile up, and she's not sure how to feel about it - maybe there's a little more weight to all the bad dreams she's been having lately than she thought..?

Chapter Text

Rain pitter patters over the roof on a gloomy day, somewhere at the turning point between morning and midday. Lilith's newest companion, small and scraggly, perches on Katana's shoulder while he works around the house.
The rain hasn't stopped since either of them woke up; Katana is starting to worry about a potential flood. 

Footsteps, accompanied by a sleepy grumble, echo through the hall.
"Mmghh… morning…" Lilith mutters, pausing to stretch near the hallway's end. Eventually, she sits down, leaning her arms on a table and resting her head in her hands. 

"Morning? It's almost noon…" Katana replies, though he doesn't seem all that mad about Lilith's oversleeping. "At least you slept well. I was a little worried about you last night."

"N-not really." Lilith whimpers, sitting up and swatting some hair out of her face for one reason or another. They start fidgeting with a small, light rock on the table almost immediately afterwards.
"I-I had… another nightmare…"

" Another nightmare?" Katana furrows his brow, hands pausing mid-motion. "Was it the same one you've been having, or…"

Lilith frowns, taking her jacket off and letting it rest on her shoulders. "I don't think so. Don't remember much of it… but I think it made my head hurt a lot."

Putting down whatever he was working with, Katana walks up to Lilith and kneels down. "A headache? That doesn't sound good."
He wraps an arm around her, causing the demon to lean into him a little. "Get a little more rest if you need to," he coos. 

"I d-don't… wanna have another bad dream…" Lilith replies, sniffling a little. "A-and I'll… probably be… fine anyways."

"Hm… alright, then," Katana replies. "I believe Vine Staff had plans for today. Though… the rain might complicate things…"

As if on queue, the doorbell rings. A pair of geardemons have showed up in front of Katana's home, huddled under the house's awnings.
He raises his voice, but tries not to be too aggressive. "Come in."

Vine Staff steps in first, dusting herself off a bit. "Oof, the rain's really picked up now… have you seen how dark it's gotten out there?"

Slingshot follows shortly after his sibling. Rather than his gear, he sets an umbrella down by the door. "Vine's right. Sky looks a little… funny , too, don'tcha think?"

"Hm? What do you mean by that?"
Looking out the window as far as he can from his seat, Katana realizes that the darkening sky does seem to be tinted an odd shade of green.
"...Could that be the brunt of the storm passing through?"

"No clue," Vine Staff replies. "It happened pretty suddenly - when I walked in, it looked like you two hadn't even noticed yet." She places a hand on her hip.

"...what happened..?" Lilith tilts her head, trying to piece things together from what little info she's given. 

Slingshot turns to look out the window for a moment. "Sky's green," he replies, turning back around to face the others.

"...green, huh."
Lilith's never heard of that before, but she knows that her friends back 'home' associate "green" with certain things. Things that aren't pleasant to dwell on; decay… sickness… poison… pestilence.
She hopes it's just weird weather, but deep down, they have a paranoid hunch that it's anything but.

Hands now folded in front of her, Vine Staff looks up at the ceiling. "So… what do you think we should do while we ride out the storm?"

Slingshot thinks for a moment before looking at his sorta-sister. "You sure we have to?" He asks, tail flicking ambiently. "I'm sure there'll still be a bus or two headed for Crossroads today. It's… probs early enough that the roads aren't that bad."

"Fair point, but…"
Vine rests one arm on her chest, putting that hand to her chin. "How are we going to get back home if we leave now?"

Sling blanks out a little. He's been checkmated.
"...Y-you have a point, but… uhh.."
He's trying to think of a follow up, but is very obviously failing.
"...b-better… now… than later..?"

"Mmm… I guess you have a point."
Slingshot sighs in relief at Vine's reply. He's surprised she's even playing along at all.
Turning to face Lilith and kneeling down, Vine Staff starts to speak again; "Lilith, you okay with heading out in the rain for a bit?"

Lilith thinks for a moment.
"Um… sure," they answer; "b-but why..?"

"Well… Slingshot wanted to tour you around Crossroads," Vine Staff chirps. "I figured I'd come along in case you need anything - and maybe we can grab something to eat?"

"...sure."
While the group conversates, Lilith's companions poke out from what seems like nowhere. They're piled up on each other on the table, likely just as tired as Lilith is.

"Oh, hey there, li'l guys!" Slingshot scoops Inky into his arms. The other critter clings onto him shortly after.
At this point, there still isn't anyone who's entirely sure what the deal with these things is; but Slingshot clearly thinks they're cute enough to make up for it. Inky eventually slips out of the geardemon's grip and climbs onto his shoulder, staring back at Lilith.

"Hm…" Vine thinks for a moment. "We should probably get going. C'mon."

Lilith nods and stands up, following after the demonic duo. She hovers around Slingshot like a fly, keeping her head under the umbrella he's toting for as long as she can.
Vine Staff seems to be enjoying the rain - enjoying it as much as she can, at least. She's always liked going outside in gloomy weather like this, but the webs of lightning occasionally veining overhead make her a little nervous.
"How's everyone holding up?" Vine Staff asks, keeping her eyes on the sky.

"Hm… not too shabby so far," Slingshot replies. "How about you, Lilith?"

"Uhm…"
Lilith thinks for a moment. She doesn't reply with much else besides a shrug and the words "I guess so, too."

"Come on, chin up a little!" Slingshot chirps, offering Lilith his free hand so it's a little easier for her to keep up. She carefully grabs a hold of it and the trio continues on their walk, stopping at a bench.

"Whew… always glad that we live close to a bus stop," Vine Staff comments. "Always nice to have a place to rest up…"
The entire time they've been walking, she's been hovering in and out of the cover of Sling's umbrella. The most obvious evidence of this is the splotches of pale green on her cursed arm; something that happens a lot when it's exposed to water.

Sitting down, Vine Staff crosses her arms and places them under her chest. She notices one of Lilith's horns digging into her side; small, sure, but definitely not blunt. It's like a dagger, maybe, grazing across her skin.
She pushes the youngster; just enough to keep her out of anyone's way, but being very careful not to disturb her.

Lilith barely minds. It doesn't seem like she has the energy to. She got so tired so quickly… what the hell happened?
Best not to think about it too much. The bus doesn't take long to arrive, skidding to a halt in front of the bench; she can nap during the drive, and should hopefully have a lot more pep in her step by then. 

Vine Staff scoops her up in her arm. "C'mon, guys. Let's get going."

The bus ride, thankfully, isn't too long or arduous. It doesn't feel that way, at least.
Lilith does seem to be a little less drowsy than she was when they got on, so that's good.
"Seems like Lilith's doing a lot better, eh?" Slingshot's already caught on. 

"...This doesn't seem natural," Vine Staff suddenly blurts out.
Surprisingly, the rainstorm stretches out into the center of Crossroads; and it seems like not a single quadrant of the city is untouched by it, either.
Unsurprisingly, things seem quieter than usual.

"Ya think?" Slingshot quips, playfully nudging his shoulder into Vine's. He shakes his usual demeanor when he realizes - "H-hey, doesn't seem like Zuka's truck is around here…"

Vine Staff furrows her brow and thinks for a moment. "Hm… Probably at the pawn shop he runs, then?" She comments. "Can't imagine him wanting to be sitting out in the rain for so long. I'm guessing you wanna check in on 'em, Sling?"

"Mhm! If Lilith's gonna get used to things 'round here, she might as well meet some of the locals." Slingshot chuckles, restlessly twirling his umbrella in his hands. "Ain't that right, kid?"

Lilith perks up a little at the mention of her name, head tilted to face Sling. "Y-yeah. Sounds good."

"Alright, let's get going!" Tapping his foot on the ground, Slingshot looks like he's raring to go. "I'll even race ya the–"

He's quickly cut off by Vine Staff placing a hand on his shoulder and grabbing his jacket. "Hey, now."
She doesn't seem all that mad, but there's a sort of threatening look to the wide smile stretching across her face.
"Show a little courtesy to our new friend, okay?"

"U-uhh… yeah, okay."
Once Vine Staff lets go of him, Slingshot starts heading off in the direction of Zuka's pawn shop. He knows Vine Staff means business, so he's trying not to give himself too much of a lead - constantly checking over his shoulder for the others. Thankfully, they're not too far behind.

Eventually, bells clatter atop a swinging glass door. A tired-looking geardemon, certainly older than the others, perks up at the sound.
"You're the first customers I've had all day," he comments in a gruff voice, "but I doubt you're here to make any trades."
Noticing the fledgling sandwiched in between the two battlefield regulars, he tilts his head a little bit. "So…" He not-so-subtly gestures to Lilith as he speaks, implying he already knows the answer to the question he's about to ask – "what is the reason you're 'round here at a time like this?"

Slingshot cups his hands together. "Good to see you, Zuka! We're… just showin' the rookie around," he nonchalantly answers.

"Hm…" Zuka furrows his brow, head leaning into his hand. It still seems like he's more focused on Lilith than anyone else in the flock.
"And who's this 'rookie' you've got with ya, huh?" He asks, failing to notice the presence of an Incubus on his shoulder.

"O-oh, uhm…"
Lilith realizes she's probably the rookie they're talking about, pointing her head upward and trotting up to the counter; she's putting some real effort into making sure her head pokes up over the top of it.
"M-m'name's… Lilith…" she mutters, in a sort of strained tone. It's not hard to see where that strain is coming from.

Noticing this, Zuka sits up from his chair and circles around the front desk. "Over here, kiddo," he coos, kneeling down to meet "eye" level with Lilith - or as close as he can get. "No need to stress yourself out… Lilith?" He pauses for a second.

When he sees Lilith nod along, Zuka picks up where he left off - "Nice to meet you, kid. Most folks 'round here just call me Zuka…"

"O-okay. Nice t-to meet you, too, Zuka."
Hands folded behind her back, Lilith tries to keep up appearances. Most of the names she's heard in the past are a little more formal than his, but she doesn't mind. 

It's at this point that Zuka hears a chirp, finally clued in on the creature perched on his shoulder.
"Eh? The hell's this?" He asks, as it pokes its head right into Zuka's vision. "Doesn't look like anything I've seen in m'life, and I've seen a lot."
Funnily enough, there's a blotch on its face that resembles the Thieves' Den dagger. Zuka tries to rub it off with his thumb, but it doesn't do anything besides acting as a head-pat for the little beastie. So that wasn't painted on… what an odd coincidence.

Slingshot puts a hand to his chin, watching the creature pester Zuka - that pestering seems to be in good faith, at least. It's curiously smacking his face with its little claws.
"Wow… didn't know there were two of those lil' guys," the catlike geardemon comments. "One of them's… Inky? I think? I dunno, haven't seen em' in a while."

"There's… two? " Zuka asks. Before he knows it, the Inky in question is staring right back at him. "Ah, there's the other one. I'm guessing these are friends of yours, Lilith?"

Lilith's suddenly put on edge, but the presence of the other demons seems to calm her nerves. "Uhm… yeah. Inky and… uh… uhmm…"
She draws a blank. They never did come up with a good name for the other one, did they?
"I'll… figure out a name for them later…"

"Well, alright then…" Zuka stands back up. "Let me know when you do come up with somethin', okay, kid?"

"Mmhm." Lilith nods.

For the duration of this entire conversation, Vine Staff's been looking out the window of the pawn shop. Somehow, things outside have only gotten gloomier.
"...W-we should probably start heading home," she whispers. "I'm not sure if I like the look of things–"
She's interrupted by thunder roaring overhead. Oh dear.

Lilith squeals, clinging to Zuka like a startled lap-dog; though that's likely only because he was the person closest to her. The echo of the storm seems to have sent her into a bit of a frenzy.

"E-easy now, kid…" Zuka wraps his arm around the demon. He's dealt with scared kids before; it's not a surprise that Lilith is already starting to calm down a little. Her companions use his body as a perch; one keeping its eyes on the sky while the other focuses on Lilith.
"You'll be alright. Storm's not gonna hurt ya."

Lilith slowly but surely pries herself out of Zuka's embrace, shaking herself off.
"...Y-yeah. Thanks."
Grateful for the reassurance, she seems to have loosened up a bit. They wipe something away with their blindfold, still sniffling every now and then.

Vine Staff smiles, albeit not as much as she usually does. "I'm glad you could help her out. We… really should get going, though."

Zuka nods. "Y'think you'll need a ride? I can drive you if ya do."

"O-oh, no, I'm sure we'll be fine," Vine Staff replies.
As she speaks, everyone in the store fails to notice the mysterious shadow creeping across one of its windows.
In what must be intrigue, it halts at the corner of one window. A small grin crosses its face.

Slingshot feels a chill run down his spine. He turns around, only to see… nothing.
That shadow is gone just as quickly as it arrived. He chalks it up to him getting riled up over nothing and turns back around to face the others.
"Y-yeah, we haven't been out here that long. I'm sure we can still catch a bus ride back."

"Well, let me know if ya can't," Zuka replies with a chuckle. "I'm always willin' to lend a hand."

"Can do! See ya later!"
With Slingshot's final reply, the trio of demons are on their way back to Thieves' Den from the big city. The rain has certainly picked up since they entered the shop, and lightning cracks the sky every now and then.

"Goodness, what a storm…" Vine Staff mutters.
Lilith clings to her for dear life, trying her best not to seem even half as startled as she is.

On the other side of the world, it's business as usual in Blackrock. Well… it's a bit of a quiet day, actually.
The storm stretches distressingly far, seeping into the faction's edge; Hyperlaser's been tasked with keeping his eyes on the borders for anything suspicious, so he's certainly picked up on the bad weather.

A small swarm of Biografts has joined him at this outpost tonight. Most of them are sheltering from the rain, shivering comically like scared animals. He wonders if they've forgotten whether or not they're waterproof.
One of the Biografts, however, has basically been hovering around him this whole time. It appears to be a prototype; a bit smaller and flimsier than its counterparts, with its body lights constantly flickering in and out like a fleeting conscience. Other than that, though, the unit doesn't show any external damage.

 The wind whistles past as Hyperlaser stands atop an observation tower. He's preparing to make a call when the Biograft pokes its head out from under his arm.
"Eh? Find something?"
A three-digit number is etched into the machine's hull, just barely visible under its own arm; 189 . Not an unusual place for its identification to be, but… a triple-digit Biograft, especially with a number so low?
That's odd. Usually, these low-numbered Biografts are either discarded or rarely allowed off the laboratory campus.

Kzzrrt.
"Hey, this is Hyperlaser. Yeah, there's a storm rolling in from the south."
A short pause. "Y-yes. And… Subspace, sir, did you mean to leave Biograft number 189 at this outpost? No? That's odd. They've been pestering me all day, and I think they might have some faulty wires. Lights flickering in and out like crazy."
Another brief pause.
"Well… yeah, I'm keeping an eye on it. I'll let you know if anything happens to 'em."

Once he hangs up the call, Hyperlaser notices that 189 has been staring directly at him. This entire time, 189 has been looking him dead in the eyes.
He doesn't know how it managed something like that, but he knows he won't get an answer.
At least, he thinks he won't.

Suddenly, he hears the screech of static and starts sweating bullets. Oh God, not this again.
The Biograft's lights dim down before fading back into that unstable greyscale. It's shaking just as much as he is, and it seems like it's trying to say something.
"HHH… HHY… PERR… LASER…."
His name. Oh dear.

"Y-yes? What do you want?"
His stoic demeanor is quickly fading, but he's trying so hard to keep appearances that it's almost a little sad.

"R-REPENT… THERE… THEREFORE… AND TURN… A-AGAIN…"
Eyes flooded with static, there's a whir under 189's voice. It seems like the poor thing is starting to overheat - this could go sour quickly. It doesn't help that it looks like it's trying to find any weapon it can make use of.

"I don't want to have to do this, but… urgh."
Hyperlaser pins the machine to the wall with the mouth of his gun. It freezes in place. He feels like it's staring right back at him. He knows it can see the fear in his eyes beneath the black glass of his helmet.
But he also knows that the Biograft underneath - the real 189 - can only be just as afraid as he is.

When he thinks about it deep enough, his rifle lowers to the ground. The static fizzles out, permeating the air around him. The Biograft's head still points at his as it slides down the wall.
Him and the machine are in the same boat; the involuntary preachers of a God no one else knows.

189's lights slowly fade back to normal, and it sits there - still staring at Hyperlaser, still saying sorry as much as it can without a single word.
He accepts this apology, toting his rifle on his shoulder and offering it a hand. It slowly rises, head and horns tilted back; it's like it's actively trying not to hurt him, something rare for a Biograft unit.

"I won't let that happen to you again," Hyperlaser coos. "At least… I'll try not to."

Chapter Text

Quiet and sterile. That's the best way to describe Medkit's office on a day like this.
He hasn't had much to do today, but it still feels like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. He's worried sick about Hyperlaser - he hasn't heard a peep from him in weeks - and he's still just as concerned about Lilith as ever. He desperately hopes he won't have anything else on his plate tonight - but the tip-tap-tap that he hears close by isn't helping the doctor's case. 

Eugh - he looks away for five seconds and someone's already tampering with his things? How rude. Though… no one else is around. He's alone, isn't he? And there's no way any pests could've found their way in here - last he checked, there wasn't a single crack in the walls. Maybe the sheer amount of overthinking he's done the past couple days is making him go stir-crazy. 

Sick to his stomach from stress, Medkit paces around the room. The sound of his footsteps mingle with the intruder's, forming a sort of unsteady harmony; dancing to a rhythm that doesn't exist, one that changes almost every beat.
He freezes in his tracks when he sees a figure waltz in front of him - and they do the same once they're directly in front of the healer.

"Evening, Doctor," the Broker chirps as he stands in front of the doorway. What little light that peters out from the hall forms a halo around him, barely touching Medkit's face - if at all.
He's holding something in his hands – is it some kind of creature? It's tiny, and it's got glowing red eyes; besides that, Medkit can't possibly make out any other details. And… eugh, looking the other geardemon in the eyes is enough to make him nauseous, which… actually isn't something he could've said about him before.

But… for one reason or another, Medkit just can't look away.
"T-the hell are you here for?" He roars, taking a few steps back. Straying further from the Light. "I've got to start closing up shop. Don't waste my time at a moment like this."

The Broker leans forward in response.
"Ohh, nothin' much! Just wanted t'see what you were up to."
As he moves, he pushes his hand up to Medkit's face. The creature he's holding leans forward, too, sniffing at Medkit like a mouse scouting its surroundings. "And, well, I couldn't figure out a good time, so I thought I'd just pop in when you were done with all your patients!" 

Thrashing away from the Broker, Medkit lands on his knees and uneasily plants a hand on his gun. "Don't stick your dirty hands into my business. I know you're plotting something."
There's a stillness in the air and a shiver in his voice. The crystal hovering over his head sparks and fizzles with aggression and anxiety, its glow flickering in and out like candlelight against his glimmering horns.
He tries to steady himself, slowly standing up. 
"Now then… leave, now, or I'll— AAUGH! "

With almost catlike reflexes, Broker slides his foot across the ground and trips Medkit. The resulting fall hurts like hell, and the pain lingers longer than it should.
"Don'tcha get it, Meddy? "
Ugh, he fucking hates that nickname. It leaves a bad taste in his mouth.
"You're helping a sinner . You've doomed yourself in the process!"

"Urk…" Medkit slowly looks up, clutching his chest with one hand and his gun in the other. "Sinner? What's t-that supposed to mean…" he murmurs, looking up at the Broker with resentment in his eyes.

"That girl's a tickin' time-bomb."
As vague as he usually is, there's something about the Broker's words that seems much more blunt this time. The entire time he's been speaking, he's had one hand folded behind his back and the other held in front of him, so as not to crush the odd little beast held in his hands.
"And my friend here is a big reason why! Isn't that right?"
He tries to shake an answer out of it, but it hardly looks like it knows what's going on at all.

Medkit isn't entirely convinced… but he's got a hunch.
"That… t-that girl…"
He's got a bad feeling about this; that pit in his stomach is back, and much deeper than before. "You don't mean L-"

" The Harlot? " Broker nonchalantly interrupts. His tone and expression barely change, despite his words growing more and more sinister. "Of course! Who else could I be talking about~?"
A chuckle escapes his mouth, and the static dripping from his bad eye seems to intensify. "Who knows what'll happen the next time you see her… maybe they'll be a whole new person! A reflection of everything they–"

Before he can finish speaking, a fluorescent gunshot rings through the air and hits him in his shoulder. The Broker hisses and sputters as he, too, falls to the ground, the light that he blocked out now splintering across the floor in front of him. 
" Get out of my fucking sight. " Medkit's voice cuts through the silence like a knife. His gun is still raised high, pointed right at the Broker's face now that they're at the same level.

"Aha… ahaha… okie-dokie!"
The Broker gets up like nothing happened, his little companion notably out of the picture. "I'll be back soon! Tell me if anythin' fun happens~!"

Medkit sighs as he watches him trot off, trying to steady himself so he can stand up and hopefully cool off a little. That fall was pretty awful, though… it's easier said than done.
At the very least, he's able to sit himself down in an actual chair. His leg's giving him a terrible time right now, but he won't have to put too much weight on it for at least a little while.

While staring at his desk, he notices something in the corner of his eye – "Hm?"
It's the creature the Broker had with him before, and it's… lonely? That's his best guess. It's absolutely tiny , laying its head on his arm and looking up at him with a sad look in its eyes.
"Ah. You're stuck here?" He asks, letting it grab onto him as he raises his arm up a little bit. "Well… hm, I'll let you stay here a while."
Medkit lets the creature climb onto his shoulder, where it comfortably stays as he skims over some papers strewn about his desk. It seems like some of Lilith's charts got scattered in that brief moment of conflict; how ironic…
But this little coincidence makes him think. Maybe he's thinking a bit too hard, but… he's got plenty of reason to worry about Lilith already. Is it too far-fetched to think the Broker was right?

He pulls out his phone and lets it ring for a while.
"...Medkit? It's so late… what's going on?"

"I'm not sure," the doctor replies. "Someone broke into my office right before closing and started spouting nonsense at me… I'm worried that some of it might be about Lilith."

"Really? What makes you think they knew about her?"

"Said something about "that girl" being a "ticking time bomb." And… if I'm being honest, I'm not sure if Lilith's condition is improving or not."

"You've got a point. She's been acting kind of strange lately–"

Medkit interrupts.
"Strange? Is she… declining ?"

"I'm not sure. Been low energy, though, and that… worries me."

"Urgh… That's not a good sign. If she gets any worse… take her here. I'll have her stay the night."

"S-stay the night? Why would she—"

"I have to get to the bottom of this, Vine. I'm sure you want to do the same."

There's nothing but silence on the other end for an uncomfortably long time.
"...a-alright, then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."
After that, he hangs up. Finally, some peace and quiet — it's been an exhausting night.

Chapter Text

Midday in Thieves' Den. Vine Staff is hanging out with Lilith; the two haven't been doing much, just relaxing and playing games every now and then.
As far as Vine Staff can tell, things are just fine; nothing's wrong!

…well, for the most part.
Lately, Lilith's started to… decline . She's been slower, quieter, and a little more tired; Vine can tell by her body language that she's already a bit too tired to think straight.
"Are you alright, kiddo? Need some rest?" She asks.

"..."
Lilith doesn't respond properly, just lowering their head. Not a good sign.

"L-Lilith? C'mon…"
Vine Staff picks her up in one arm. Within a split second, they're almost totally limp. "O-oh goodness, what happened?"
They're already starting to crash. "Ohhh nonono…"

Lilith gives no real response… but she does seem to tense up a little in Vine's arms. Her breathing is quick and shallow — something's wrong.

The muffled sounds of panic echo through the halls as Vine lays Lilith down in her own bed. 
It's here, in this very moment, that Vine Staff remembers something. That phone call.
Keeping a close eye on Lilith, she makes another call…

…and when Lilith wakes back up, she's somewhere entirely different.
A different room. A different voice… but something about it is familiar.

"Ah… Lilith, are you awake?" Medkit asks, walking up to Lilith's bed. He's still got a limp from his last encounter, sitting back down as soon as he can.
"It's good that you're conscious, at least. I've been worried sick since you got here."

"Huhh? Wh… what's going on..?"
Trying to lift themselves up, Lilith's stopped by two things; a sharp jolt of pain and one of Medkit's arms. A pathetic gweh escapes her as she wriggles around, not necessarily… capable of doing much else at the moment.

"Don't overexert yourself," Medkit scoffs, quickly letting go. "You've still got a giant wound on your stomach to worry about."
…Shit. He probably should've told her earlier… or been a little less blunt… or both.
Whatever. It doesn't matter now; the cat's out of the bag.

Lilith's mood is… hard for Medkit to decipher. Displeased? Nervous? Whatever it is, she's not feeling that great – and it almost looks like she… might know what's going on.
"R-really..? Is, uh… is that why I'm h-here..?" She asks. Her hands are shaking as she holds them in front of her chest, sitting up as much as she can with the amount of pain she's in.

Medkit sighs. "Sort of. You… collapsed… right in front of someone's eyes. T-that's the best way I can word it." He crosses his legs and folds his hands in his lap.
"You've been here for… a f-few hours? I've been monitoring you since you got here, a-and... I…"
He pauses, taking another cursory glance at Lilith.
"...I don't remember your injuries being this bad when you arrived."

"Oh… That sounds bad…"
Something about Lilith's tone - dry, yet frantic - makes Medkit think she knows more about this than she's letting on. With not much else to do in the state she's in, she fidgets with her hands, quickly realizing there's something connected to her arm.
"...e-ehh?"

Her first instinct is to try and pry it off, but Medkit quickly stops her again. "Hey, that's here to help you," he coos. He's frankly shocked his patience hasn't run thin yet — but that's probably just because he already tolerated her beforehand. "Don't touch it."

Lilith seems confused. Help? At a time like this?
That sounds like trouble to her. "If i-it's so helpful, t-then… what i-is it...?"

"I-it…"
Medkit takes a deep breath in, trying to keep his cool. No use melting down at a time like this — that's what he's always told himself. "It's an IV. It'll keep you from getting dehydrated… you can't really do much in the state you're in, after all."

Lilith is still unsure of how to react… but they'll take his word for it.
"Uh… o-okay."

"Now then… a few more things." Medkit switches his gloves out for a clean pair. "As soon as you came in, I did some imaging; and I… saw those tumor shadows again."
Far from the news he wanted to give.
"That means you're… definitely going to have to stay the night here. If they're as temporary as they were the last time, I'm sure I can figure out a solution… hopefully something more permanent than just waiting it out."

The frown on Lilith's face widens and she tilts her head. "...b-but–"

"No buts. I want to help you. By now, the only way I can do that is by getting to the bottom of this."
While they talked (although it was mostly one-sided,) Medkit's prepared a toolkit of supplies. Most of which are surgical; sutures, forceps, a scalpel, bandages… it's not hard to hazard a guess as to what he's going to try and do.
"And… the only way I can do that seems to be a more… invasive procedure."

"I-invasive?" What a scary word; Lilith doesn't like the sound of that. Not one bit. "What d-do you… mean..?"

"Surgery, Lilith."
He's quite blunt – the only way he knows how to go about it, in all honesty. "Not something I've had to do in a while. Needless to say, I'm worried about… l-let's just say… messing up."

"...uhm…"
Lilith struggles to take this all in. Messing up? Does he mean… No. She can't let that happen. Neither of them will; she knows that much.
"...I'm sure it won't— hrk— g-get that bad."
As she speaks, her entire body starts to freeze up. 

Medkit notices this. He can't delay any longer.
"I'll have to move you to another room if this is how we're going about this…"
His plans are quickly cut short when he tries to pick up Lilith, first hand intercepted by… a claw?
"H-hang on… what's this..?"
It's not Lilith's hand. It's not Lilith.
But it is. There's… somet hing poking out of that wound.
Holding back his panic, he tries to divert his attention to whatever's going on here.

Lilith tries to sit up a little more, but she doesn't seem all too successful. Everything is too much for her right now. She's in a lot of pain… and it seems like even the slightest noise is making her snappy because of it.

"C-calm down… I'm trying to h-help…"
Medkit's voice is soft and shaky; he's trying to be reassuring, but is just as terrified as Lilith must be. Struggling to pry his arm away, he realizes that whatever's clung to him has clung on tight . "Urgh… hold still for me, okay?"

He didn't have to ask; Lilith is already still as a statue. Whether or not she wants to be is up in the air.

As he slowly raises his arm higher into the air, a wing effortlessly cuts through the girl's flesh.
Oh FUCK.
It's barely been twenty minutes, but it's felt like hours; maybe even days, as Medkit struggles to comprehend what's going on. Even with everything he's been through, he's never seen anything quite as awful as this. Is it… some kind of parasite?
If it is, it's one clever bastard with how well it's slipped under the radar until—

His thoughts are cut short by a deafening screech.
Something's thrown into the air, and Medkit finally manages to pull his arm away.
He stumbles until his back is pinned to a wall, stunned in silence.
"..."
He can feel his throat closing up; he's choking on his own words.
Somehow, he manages to cough up a sentence as he stares at his now-bloodied hand.
"W-what… the hell ..?"

Lilith doesn't seem to be taking this very well either. She's curled up into a ball, desperately trying to minimize whatever pain she must be in.

It doesn't take long for Medkit to notice this. He carefully steps forward, still trying to keep his cool. "E-easy now… I'll take c-care of your wounds, okay?"
He pauses for a moment to steady his hands; sloppy work will only make things worse. Taking a closer look at the wound in question… oh goodness, somehow it's even worse than he thought. Or remembered, for that matter; something's very wrong here.

It takes… another forty or so minutes and an absurd amount of care, but Medkit manages to patch up Lilith's injuries. It was hard to keep her from flinching the whole time, but well worth the effort.
"I would've stitched it closed, but… anesthesia seems risky right now." Explaining himself, it's still a struggle for him to keep his cool.

"It's… o-okay…"
Either way, Lilith looks – and sounds – like she just wants to take a nap. One of the odd critters that's constantly by her side has already nudged itself under one of her arms.

 Medkit sits in silence close by, hands folded in his lap. "Lilith, are you alright? You're… shaking."

"Huh? Y-yeah, I'm alright. Just… tired…" Lilith mumbles.

"Well, if you're tired, you should probably get some rest, okay?" Medkit replies, shuffling some papers in his hands. "You've… erm… certainly been through a lot today."

A short pause; it seems that it takes Lilith a few seconds to register what Medkit just said.
They suddenly snap out of it, nodding along. "Y-yeah."

"Alright… I'll check back in on you soon. Don't be shocked if I wake you up while you're sleeping," Medkit snarks, preparing to head off and log everything that happened.

Everything.

Chapter Text

"I must thank you for everything you've done," Katana says in a somewhat husky tone. "But… how did something like this even happen?"
He's holding Lilith in one arm, and towers over just about everyone else in the room. A tail swishes on the ground behind him, stark black and tipped with a tuft of deep red fur; if it weren't moving (and connected to his body, for that matter,) one could mistake it for a giant's paintbrush. 

"I'm not sure myself," Medkit replies. He stands up, hands folded behind his back; though it's clear from his body language that he's putting a lot more of his weight on one leg than the other. "I was just trying to prepare for a surgery, and next thing you know…"
Medkit's face scrunches up; "E- Eugh. " Just thinking about it makes his skin crawl as he reels back in disgust.
He quickly regroups, though. "It's not the circumstances of her condition that worry me the most… it's how quickly they changed. She was doing just fine a week or two earlier, wasn't she?"

"I… believe so." Katana lowers his head. As he does, an Incubus climbs onto the back of his neck; it must think he's an excellent perch. "Something similar may have happened sometime before all this..."

Medkit suddenly freezes in place at the mention of a similar occurrence.
"Y-you're serious?" He hobbles a little, adjusting his footing so he's facing the scarred warrior properly. "How s-similar are you talking?"

"A-at home… One night, I saw her nearly unconscious, bleeding profusely. Somehow she s-stumbled out of bed and ended up on the floor."
Katana? Stuttering? Absolutely absurd. If his stoic demeanor is starting to flounder, something's very wrong.

"Were there any wounds? Or…" Medkit plants a hand on his face, scrunching the skin between his eyes. "...urgh, what am I saying? Of course there had to be a wound."

Katana nods. There's a solemnity to his body language that wasn't there before — or not quite as obvious, at least. "...yes, there was." He overhears a whimper from Lilith, setting her down and letting her readjust. Almost immediately after he does, the girl darts away into another room.
"It looked a lot like the one you showed me," he continues, with an Incubus still crawling around on his body. 

Medkit's next question is… a little stranger than the last.
"Forgive me if this is out of nowhere, but… that creature you have with you, I know for a fact there's more of them. How many of those did you see around before that incident happened?"

"...Just one." Judging by that pause, it took Katana a second to jog his memory.

"...And how many were there after the fact?"

Another moment of uncomfortable silence. Katana clears his throat, somehow making things more disquieting.
"...two," he replies, largely unaware of the weight of his answer.

Medkit plants a hand on his face, rubbing the scrunched-up skin between his eyes. "Ugh, that's… good to know, but…"
He folds his arms and turns his head to the side, glancing somberly at the ground beneath his feet before he looks back up at his desk.
"It's t-terrible. This is chronic. "

"Chronic?" Katana furrows his metaphorical brow; that mask is still tethered to his face, as it's been for most of his life. "That doesn't sound good, but–"

Medkit is… starting to break.
"B-but WHAT? They're PARASITES, Katana."
Just a little bit.
"I've s-seen it for myself… if this keeps up, I'm worried she won't be able to."

"You really think this will kill her?" Katana's tail thumps on the ground. "She's bounced back twice already… what makes you think she won't do it a third time?"

"...I guess you have a point." Medkit sighs, visibly struggling to recollect himself. "B-but– I need to know if things get worse. As far as I'm concerned, even the slightest change could spell disaster for her."
He clicks his claws on the armrest of his chair, nervously swiveling just enough to be noticeable; although he's still facing Katana, he struggles to make eye contact.

"I understand," Katana replies. "Do you have any other advice, sir?"

"Well, your guess is as good as mine… I don't know how to treat something like this and… who knows if I ever will?"
Medkit sighs, hands now folded in his lap. He seems unusually restless.
"...well, maybe if there was another case of this, but… It seems nigh impossible. This girl showed up out of nowhere and they're sick with something nobody here has ever heard of. It's frankly absurd… and rather sad, too, isn't it?"

"It… is tragic. Pulled away from her old life so suddenly… that has to be stressful." Katana stands up, hands folded together in front of him. "Do you suppose that's why she is the way she is?"

For… about a minute or so, the only thing that breaks the silence is Medkit occasionally stumbling over his own words.
"I-it– well… urgh…"
Him coughing up a coherent sentence is nothing short of a miracle with all the stress he must be under.
"I don't think that's our answer. It doesn't seem psychological at all to me."

"...I see," Katana humbly infers. "Though… I should check in on her, shouldn't I… do excuse me."
He stands up, tail swishing again.

Medkit nods. "R-right. She stormed off pretty quick once you let go of her… must've been upset."

"Keep in touch with me," he coos as Katana slowly walks away.

Katana careens down the hallway, stopping once he reaches what must be the building's lobby. He doesn't notice Lilith anywhere until the Incubus accompanying promptly jumps off his shoulder, darting towards - and clueing him into - her whereabouts. 
"Oh? –Ah, there you are."

Lilith is curled up in a ball on a chair, though it doesn't seem like she's in much of any pain. Their head quickly perks up when they realize Katana's talking to them.
"Hi," she chirps, offering a haphazard wave. "Are you done talking to Medkit..?"

"Mostly," Katana replies. "He seemed very… worried about you. Talking in ways I've never seen him speak on the battlefield."

Lilith easily brushes off any mention of Medkit's concern, but her head snaps a little further up at the mention of a battlefield.
"...the… what?"
There's a spark in her voice that wasn't really there before; an expression of intrigue, no doubt.

"...Ah."
Katana sits down close by, hands folded in his lap.
"I… never did tell you about Phighting, did I? It's…"
It's an odd thing, this conversation. Phighting is a big-name thing, and difficult to explain to someone who somehow doesn't know about it.
"Think of it as combat sports. You form teams, and those teams battle with their gear."

Lilith leans her head on Katana's shoulder. Her curiosity about the subject seems like it's pulling her out of her shell a little bit.
"Gear, huh..? What's that?" She asks, grabbing Katana's arm with one hand and trying to prop herself up a bit with the other.

Katana turns to face Lilith. The sheer disbelief on his face seems to cut through his mask.
"You… you don't know what gear is?" He's trying his best to be understanding - she's still very new to the world, after all - but something about this just dumbfounds him.
"It's… a weapon, a trinket, something thrust into your hands the moment you're born. That cherished object… that piece of your soul – it sticks with you for the rest of your life."

"Oh…"
A pause. Lilith thinks about some of her old acquaintances; surely they had something like this, too? Maggy's heart, Bethany's book… gosh, so much to comb through in their head.
"...cool."
They miss everyone. A lot
She hopes they're doing okay.

Katana notices a slight shift in Lilith's body language, and he adjusts a little to compensate. "Mmhm… And if you had a gear, I suppose it'd be…"
He ponders his own statement for a moment, his gaze shifting to the peculiar lockbox set down where Lilith was sitting a few minutes earlier. She's barely gone a mile without it in tow; in that way, she treats it like he'd treat his own blade.
"That box of yours. Does that sound right to you, too

Lilith tilts her head down a bit. "Guess so. Helped me fight stuff back… home." The way she speaks - hesitating before she says the word 'home' - makes Katana wonder if she really even thinks of it that way.

"You've… got combat skills, too?" Katana seems a little surprised. "You're quite young… I wouldn't expect you to be very skilled."

"Mmm… I kinda have to be," Lilith mumbles in reply, starting to lean a little further into Katana. She's trying to lie down in his arms, but the position she's in is making it hard to do that – or figure out that that's what she's trying to do in the first place. "Life used to be… so dangerous… it's a little weird now."

Katana wraps his tail around the other demon.
"Hm? What's so… 'weird' about it?" He sighs. "I can only assume things are much calmer for you, now."

"Yeah… n' that's why it's weird." It's almost painfully clear from their tone and body language that Lilith is struggling to decompress. "I like… n-not havin' to fight for m'life all the time, but… I still miss everyone."
She frowns.

Katana seems taken aback by her words. The ruff of fur on his neck sticks up a little, but he tries to give Lilith a bit of benefit of the doubt.
"Well… maybe your friends will end up here, too," he coos in reply. "We still don't know why you're here, after all."

"I guess you're right," Lilith murmurs. "But… I dunno if I want them to go through all that."

"Hm? Why not?" Katana tilts his head. He doesn't seem confused - more curious than anything. "Do you think something bad happened before you woke up here?"

Lilith isn't sure how to respond. 
She doesn't even know what happened in-between then and now. All she knows is that she's felt… strange lately. Strange in a way that's new – and all too familiar – at the same time.
"...maybe," she replies, with an oddly low growl to her voice.

"...hm. I see."
Katana sighs. He carefully stands up and quickly realizes that Lilith is now clinging onto his shoulder.
"The bus back to Thieves' Den should be here soon. Let us go."

Chapter Text

Lilith rolls onto her back, getting right back up after a few seconds. This is the most energy she's had in a long while; bouncing around like a baby deer and restless enough to match.

"Hey, you're not so bad!" A voice bellows out from the branches of a nearby tree - Shuriken's. The notches scratched into the bark indicate that he's been here a time or two before today. "I thought it'd take a while for you to get used to all this, but… It's like water rollin' off a duck's back; easy-peasy!"

"Heh, thanks…" A smile crosses Lilith's face. A shuriken slips past her neck - just barely grazing her as she swivels on her hooves and hops out of the way. "I guess I'm kinda used to it…"
An Incubus hovers in the air just above her, staring Shuriken dead in the eyes. Maybe it's plotting something.

Shuriken jumps down when a bullet is thrust toward his own face. "Ooh, nice dodge!" He replies, chuckling a little. "And you know how to counterattack too, huh… it really does seem like y'know your stuff."
He grins. It sounds like he's really into this whole 'phighting' thing.

Lilith hesitates for a fleeting moment before she lunges forward, gesturing for her Incubus to go for another attack. 
Neither her nor Shuriken have gotten a hit in just yet, but they're still having fun; and it's always good to let off some steam, too.

A cool breeze drifts past Lilith, and the sound of ringing windchimes is followed by a few footsteps.
"You guys having fun out here?" Slingshot asks with a wide grin on his face, poking his head out from the door. 

"Ayy, Sling!" Shuriken bounds forward to greet his sibling.
"Yep, just getting some practice in. Lilith's a natural…"
As her name is mentioned, Lilith starts to listen intently. Her? A natural-born fighter?
…They could be talking about her in a worse light. They'll take it.

Slingshot nods along. Leaves dance across the porch as his tail curls, kicking up debris in the process.
"Good to hear," he purrs, hands now resting on his hips.

Lilith steps up to say hello, hands tucked towards her chest. "Do you need anything?"
She's eerily still, but it doesn't seem like that's on purpose; for one reason or another, she always tries to make herself look a little more formal when she's approached.

"Eh?" This doesn't go unnoticed by Slingshot. "Loosen up a little, I'm just checking in!" He tugs on Lilith's shoulders a little, causing her to teeter on her hooves a bit. "No need to be so uptight."

Once she's steady again, Lilith looks up at Sling, snapped back into that same pose like nothing ever happened.
"...ok."

Shuriken swivels on his heels, unable to hold himself still for long. "So, uh… what now? Should we get back to trainin'?"

"If you're up for it, yeah!"
Sling nods, putting a hand up to his face. The rest of his body leans against the backdoor.
"Vine won't be home for a while - I think Medkit needed to talk about somethin' with her - but I'll be here all day if you need something."

"Got it!" Shuriken seems excited to get back in the groove. "Lilith, you ready for more?"

"Um… I think I'm good for now."
Lilith stretches, her arms sort of forming a ring around her head.

Shuriken nods. From his stance, it seems like he's getting ready to go right back to training.
"Well, alright, then."
He does seem a little dejected over not having anyone to train with, though… but knowing him, it won't take long for him to get over it.

Slingshot ushers Lilith back into the house, where she promptly curls up in one of the corners of the couch. She's got an odd, almost empty expression on her face - why that is is anyone's guess, but she does have a habit of zoning out.
Eventually, her jaws gape into a yawn as she starts to drift to sleep…

…and when she's next awake, she notices that someone else has nestled in beside her.
Whoever it is, it's much too big to be an Incubus. Puzzled, she raises her head up a little, and is quickly greeted by an unfamiliar voice.

"...o-oh, sorry, didn't see you there."
They sound just as confused as Lilith is, scooting over a little to give her some extra room. "Uh… Vine? Do y'know who this is?"

Vine Staff's head pokes out from behind a high counter. "Hm? Oh, that's just Lilith," she replies. "Did she just wake up?"

"Yeah, think so," the house guest responds. "They do seem pretty… out of it, and… u-uhh… "
They turn to face her properly; a glossy black visor parallels the girl's blindfold, and the stranger's expression rapidly shifts as their upbeat tone fades into a stutter and they realize what they're looking at.
"Y-you good, kid?"

Lilith nods. She knows exactly what they're talking about, and it rolls off her like water to a duck's back.
"Yeah, I'm fine… It happened a while ago. I got used to it."
She's waking up pretty quickly, too.

"I-if you say so…"
The stranger - the only geardemon in the room aside from Vine Staff? - lets out a huffy sigh. "Lilith, right? Name's Boombox."
Seeming reassured by the fact that Lilith isn't feeling terrible, he finally introduces himself.

Lilith, now a little more content, sits up from the sort of loafing position she was in before. "Nice to meet you."

"Heh, you too!" Boombox chirps, easing up even more.
He quickly realizes that… well, Lilith doesn't seem nearly as talkative as he is. Sure, short answers for short questions, but she still sounds pretty damn nervous - and Boombox tends to struggle with that sort of thing… Maybe a few icebreakers will help?
"So, uh, Lilith…" To tell the truth, he's not great at introductions, either - with the other phighters, he's never really felt a need for them.
"What kinda music do you like?"
It's the same question he asks... everyone, but it's still good to know.

"Um…" Lilith ponders this for a moment. "I dunno. I guess I just… listen to whatever everyone else does..?"
Her shoulders tense up, as if she's nervous about her own answer. 

"Hey, I feel ya! I'll listen to just about anything, too."
A wide grin crosses Boombox's face as his hands fall behind his neck.

"...C-cool."
Come to think of it, Lilith hasn't heard a peep from Shuriken or Slingshot since she woke back up. "...where'd everyone else go..?" they wonder out loud, stretching - and unknowingly mimicking Boombox in the process.

Vine Staff's head perks back up, and she swerves around the counter to respond to Lilith's question.
"Oh, uhh – Slingshot had to cover a shift at the café he works at. I think someone called in sick?"
She takes a moment to regroup, nodding to herself.
"And Shuriken…" A short pause. "Urgh, I don't think anyone ever knows what he's getting up to." Her shoulders briefly tense into a shrug.

"O-oh."

Lilith tenses up, too, at the mention of Shuriken's whereabouts (or lack thereof.) She seems… especially worried about him all of a sudden; people don't just dart off in a rush unless something's really wrong, right?

Likely out of anxiety, she ends up leaning on Boombox. He takes swift notice of this when he looks down and notices her hair brushing against his stomach.
"Oh… you ok?"
It's here that he makes two observations.
One: this kid is pretty damn fluffy; and two: now that something's drawn his attention to it, he's realized that… his stomach hurts. And he has no idea when it started hurting.
Eh… it's just a stomachache. It'll go away eventually.

Lilith's head slowly sinks into his lap. "Yeah… I'm fine."
Trying to calm herself down, she paws at the open air. "Just… w-worried."

"Worried about Shuriken?" Vine Staff infers. "I'm sure he's doing fine. If he gets himself hurt, I'll patch him right back up, okay? He's my brother, after all–"

Lilith suddenly freezes up – not out of fear, but out of intrigue. "Y-you… have a brother, too..?" She asks. If she still had her eyes, they'd be all glittery from excitement.

"O-oh, yeah!" Vine Staff smiles. "Shuriken and I are siblings. He's a bit of a handful, but… I couldn't have asked for a better little bro." She seems very genuine. "How about yours? What's he like?"

"Um… his name's Azazel. Big wings, missing a horn… a little hard to keep track of…"
Lilith still doesn't really move much. "I-I hope he's doin' okay… haven't heard or found him since I got h-here."

"Oh… that sucks." Boombox chips in, having been listening to the conversation this whole time. "Hope ya find him soon."

"Me too…" Vine Staff, downcast, bows her head. "I'm sure he'll be okay, though."

Lilith nods. "Yeah… he's good a-at fightin'. He'll probably be fine."

Vine Staff taps her foot on the ground and crosses her arms. "That's nice, at least…"

Lilith yawns and sits back up, but she's still leaning on Boombox. He doesn't seem to mind, piping right back up when he gets a chance to.
"Uhh… I know Sling ain't here, but I might stay a little longer."

"Hm?" Vine turns to face him, perplexed. "Why's that?"

Boombox says it like it is:
"I-I'm… n-not doin' so hot." Staying idle enough that he doesn't bother Lilith, he rubs the back of his neck. "I think I just need some extra rest…"

"Well, take all the time you need," Vine replies in a calm, reassuring tone. "Don't pressure yourself too much."

"T-thanks, man."
Boombox awkwardly smiles, crossing one leg over the other and wrapping his arms around his waist. "I-I'll letcha know if I need anything else."

Lilith slinks out of Beebee's personal space and back into her own. Vine Staff walks off to grab something from the kitchen, leaving the other two demons to talk amongst themselves for a bit.
"Mm… how long have you been hangin' out with these guys?" Boombox asks.

"Like… how long I've… known them?"
Lilith tilts her head. The three incubi that shadow her movements have neatly stacked on top of each other, and only one of them seems to be so much as half-awake.
"Uhm… couple weeks. Maybe a month."

"Oh, you're a greenhorn, eh?" The irony of this comment doesn't fly over Boombox's head, as indicated by the wide grin on his face. He's noticed the incubi, but hasn't mentioned them yet. "How are you likin' the Den?"

A confused expression returns to Lilith's face. "The… Den?"

Vine Staff walks back to the couch, smiling and holding an empty bowl in one arm. " Thieves' Den, you silly goose," she replies with a cheeky grin. "That's where we are right now!"

"O-oh, okay." Lilith's mouth quickly snaps back to a resting position - though the permanent frown on their face makes it difficult to parse how their mood changes and when. "It's cozy. I like it."

Vine Staff lets out a laugh, but Boombox seems unusually silent for a moment. "Uhh… Vine, what's the bowl for–"

His question is almost instantly answered. "Don't act like I can't see the way you're sitting... are you nauseous or anything?" Vine replies, smile quickly fading.

Boombox's expression is much more distant, too. "Uh… yeah, I have a stomach bug, but I don't think it's that b–"

Vine Staff snaps into another, more hesitant smile; "Well, if you've gotta spit something up, do it in here."
Her expression conveys a tad of worry as she sets the bowl down close to where Boombox and Lilith are sitting.
"A-again…" Her anxiety starts to show through the smile, much more than it already was. "Let me know i-if something happens."

Boombox and Lilith are equally perplexed. She's… usually not that nervous about this kind of thing.
"...uh, okay," Boombox replies, sitting up a little bit further than he was beforehand.

There's an uncomfortable amount of silence in the room for a few minutes before Vine Staff quietly excuses herself and walks out.
Lilith considers following suit, but she decides to stay put – it'd be rude to leave a houseguest to their own devices, especially if it seems like they aren't doing well… right?

Chapter Text

Ugh. It's dark outside. Boombox's vision is blurry when he wakes up, slowly refocusing as he blinks at the empty air in front of him. He tries to stand...
...but he's unsuccessful; he wobbles on his feet and eventually falls right back onto the couch he was just leaning his head on the arm of. The pillow he was using seems to have fallen to the floor when he woke up.

He looks around, arms already wrapped in a chokehold around his stomach as if he's anticipating something. For some reason, Lilith is still curled up next to him. It looks like she's out like a light, but Boombox rustling around might have been enough to wake her up; she kneads her hands on the fabric and sinks into a stretch, a tiny yawn escaping her as she does.

"...Boombox? Is that you?" She asks. "Are you ok?"

Boombox jolts a little in shock. "U-uhm, yeah… just woke up early…" His shoulders tense as he speaks. It's unusual for someone like him; he's a happy go lucky guy, and far from the type of person to let anything knock him down a peg… whatever his problem is right now must be a big one.
"I think I m-might have come down with somethin'—"

As soon as Lilith hears this, her tail flicks and her head perks up a little further. "Got sick…? Maybe… I can help…"
Furrowing her metaphorical brow, she tries to weigh her options. She doesn't know where anything would be in the house, but she doesn't wanna wake up Vine or Sling or–

" ACK– "
There it is.
Boombox hisses and sputters, lurching into a forward lean as the grip he has on himself somehow tightens. The pain is back — but something about it doesn't sit right with him.
Before he went to bed, it was more like a gradient; it started off nearly unnoticeable and got stronger as time went on, up to the point where he went to bed, where it was nearly unmanageable… but he could still sleep it off.
"Ghhh…"
This is more like a stab to the gut from a glowing-hot knife; sudden, sharp and concentrated at first and slowly, but surely starting to spread. It starts to feel like his insides caught on fire; like someone got him to swallow a bomb in his sleep and it just went off.
He tries to take a deep breath in, then out… but only ends up dry-heaving.

Lilith catches onto his retching almost immediately. It's uncomfortably familiar to her – could it be… No. There's no way that could happen here.
But at the same time, their mind is running wild. She's got to calm it somehow…
"Whh–what's wrong?!"

Boombox gives her a cursory glance, struggling to keep his composure. Is he seriously trying to stand up again?
"I-I'm alright, kiddo…" he replies, voice unusually raspy. "It's j-just another stomachache–"
Even more wobbly than he was before, he can barely find his footing before nearly falling straight to the ground. He just barely manages to catch himself; clutching the armrest in one hand and a cushion in the other, he musters up the strength he has left to push himself back onto his spot on the couch.

Lilith is unconvinced.
" Just a stomachache..?" She gets up and starts pacing around, hooves hollowly tapping on the wooden floor. Even if she can't take a look at him, she can still tell that Boombox isn't in as good spirits as he claims to be.
Eventually, her foot catches on something soft, and she ends up with the pillow in her outstretched arms, offering it to Boombox:
"Here. Take this. I think you need it."

"Oh, t–t-thanks… L-Lilith…"
He takes the pillow and wedges it in-between himself and the end of the couch. He starts to lean into it almost immediately after it's placed; even if it's only by a little, it still helps to repress the pain.

"You're welcome." Lilith curls up beside him again. She seems worried - understandably so - but it also seems like they know more than they're letting on.
Her unusually calm tone starts to stifle a little - a clear sign of uncertainty.
"Do y-you need anything else..?"

"I'll be… f-fine…" Boombox replies, trying to let himself ease up a little, but it doesn't work too well. The pangs are so strong that he can barely move… and it feels like each one that comes on is somehow even worse…
He tries to shift a little to lay down on his belly, but Lilith quickly stops him by grabbing his arm when she notices the shift in his posture.
"E-ehh? What's up..?"

 "D-don't lay down l-like that yet," she answers.
Lilith absolutely knows what's going on now; that, or she's got a hunch as to what it could be.
And she doesn't want to be right. 
She huffs, trying to figure out how to word her advice… if she can really even call it that. It's just stuff she knows from experience. "Just, uh… I-I think the spot y-you– were in earlier- is fine…"
Now she's five times more shaky than she already was, which is saying a lot.

Boombox nods along weakly, feeling around to see if there's a blanket he can wrap himself in. Thankfully, it doesn't take long… but this is still gonna be a really long night.
"You're… r-real worried 'bout all this… hhhuh."
The expression on his visor conveys a half-conscious, almost sickly look with one "eye" much lower-lidded than the other.
Occasionally, it glitches a bit - like it's struggling to parse whatever he's feeling - before it flickers back to normal. 

Lilith, still shivering, curls up next to Boombox again. She's nervous, but thankful that things seem to be calming down.

Except they aren't.

Suddenly, Boombox makes some sort of awful noise - a stifled scream? - and hunches over himself.
There's tears welling up underneath an empty visor, a panicked girl sitting next to him, and then there's the elephant in the room: the stab he just felt in his gut.
The burning knife is back, and now the metal is hot enough that it's almost reached its melting point.

Lilith shrieks, too, almost instantly leaping down. "W-what happened?! D-don't move… I'll g-g-go get h-help…" she whimpers, bounding towards the hallway.

She doesn't have to search for long, though - it seems like all the commotion in the living room has woken someone up. 
"Urgh, that didn't sound– wait… Lilith?"
Vine Staff freezes where she stands, turning to face Lilith.
"You look like a wreck… what's going on out there?"
Lilith doesn't respond verbally, just grabbing Vine's hand and dragging her out to see Boombox.
"O-oh, goodness…" she mutters under her breath.

Boombox's voice is… incredibly quiet, especially when you compare it to how he usually acts. 
"V-Vine?"
His visor isn't blank anymore, but it still isn't looking too good; constantly glitching and flickering with barely visible, weary eyes. 
"S-sorry if I woke you up…"

"No need to apologize," Vine Staff coos before she puts one hand on her hip and the other to her chin. "You look - and sound - like you're in a lot of pain… is your stomach still bothering you?"

The trio trade concerned glances, and Boombox nods in response to Vine's question. "Yeah… it feels like– hrk– "
The awful sensation returns as he speaks. "F-feels like I just got stabbed… "

Vine Staff's expression sours. "Yikes… That doesn't sound good. And I don't think I heard any intruders make their way in, either." Turning to face Lilith, she pops a question:
"Lilypad, sweetie… it seems like you've been up for a while. Have you been trying to help him out?"

Lilith quickly nods, still largely nonverbal. 

"That's very brave of you," Vine comments, giving her a pat on the back. "I'm not sure what's going on… Do you have any ideas?"

When Lilith manages to speak again, her words are a bit of a mess. "I– uhm– I dunno– It, uhh, it– it hap-happened so fast—"
A sharp inhale as she tries to calm down.
"Maybe… c-check for w-wounds..?"

Vine Staff nods. "Hm, makes sense… Boombox, can you lift your shirt up for me?"

"Y-yeah, just… give me a s-second."
Boombox pulls the blanket off his shoulders and slowly pulls up part of his shirt. There's something that looks like a tiny puncture wound on the side of his belly that definitely wasn't there before… and it looks like something's poking out if it?

Vine Staff is, understandably, concerned.
"Hmm… I-it doesn't look that bad, but we need to get whatever's stuck in there out before we can clean it up. I wish I had some better tools, but maybe I can just–"
When she tries to grab onto the object lodged in Boombox's abdomen, it's uncomfortably… squishy to the touch.
It feels like flesh.
"O-oh, that's… new… "

Lilith frowns at Vine's hesitation, slowly backing away. Her suspicions are… being confirmed? But that isn't possible— but… what if it is..?
"U-uhm–uhh– don't… poke at it too much… If i-it's what… I think it is…"
Constantly tripping on her own words, she suddenly… stops. All that comes out when Vine tries to pry at her further is a terrified stutter, and she constantly tries to lean on Vine's side only to be pushed away instantly.

"I-I'm sorry, sweets, b-but I need some room to work wi–"
Before Vine can finish her sentence, she notices that… whatever's stuck in Boombox is trying to pry itself out through that wound.
Oh no.
Even she's struggling to keep her composure now - something about this doesn't add up. She thinks back to a conversation she had with Medkit; she'd been told a few… strange things about Lilith's condition by him, and this sounded uncomfortably familiar to what she'd gone through.
Deciding to heed Lilith's advice, she decides to leave the wound alone for a few moments.
"O-okay… Boombox, I'll leave you alone to rest for a bit until we can patch that wound up."

Boombox tilts his head, puzzled. "Uhh… o-okay? It doesn't… s-seem like it'd be too hard to pull it out of there, though…"
He whimpers a little as he prods at the injury himself. This… was a bad idea; he ends up retching again and feels… something grab onto his arm?

"B-Beebee, don't— do that… "
Vine grabs the blanket Boombox was using and sighs, resting it on his shoulders. "Here… I know it sucks, but it m-might… suck a little less if you can't get a good look at it."

Boombox sighs and nods along, wrapping the blanket around his body again. He quickly notices Lilith leaning on him again, with an almost… apologetic look on her face. "L-Lilith..?" he murmurs. "S-somethin' wrong?"

"..."
Lilith sniffles, trying to find her words again.
"I… I…" Their whole body's shaking, and she looks like a nervous wreck…
"I think… I-I know what's wrong… a-and I wish I d-didn't…"

Vine Staff grimaces. There's a solemn, understanding look in her eyes.
"...Don't worry, Lilypad. E-Everything's gonna be alright."
She ruffles Lilith's hair with one hand. "I want both of you to get some rest… and I'll keep an eye out for you, okay?"

"...okay." Lilith whimpers, lowering her head onto Boombox's knee.

He doesn't seem to mind… but there's something else that's starting to tick him off.
Claws digging into his belly, then his arm… he can't tell if the feeling is real or not and it's driving him mad. If there is something stuck in that wound, it's definitely starting to come loose, but he's not entirely sure how or why that is.
All he knows is that it hurts like hell as it breaches his skin… God, it's like he hasn't felt anything besides pain since he woke up.

As the claws creep up his chest, something pokes its head out from the blanket with a very distinct squeak.
It's… tiny, pale, and covered in dull, dry splotches of green.
"E-ehh..?"
The ruff of fur – or maybe feathers – around its neck is stuck together in all sorts of places, likely because of whatever it's coated in, and… well, it seems to like Boombox a whole lot.

He looks up at Vine Staff.
Vine Staff looks like she saw a ghost.

"S-somethin' wrong..?" Boombox asks. He's still… mildly delirious, but it's clear that he's worried about her; maybe more than he is about himsel
His pain finally seems like it's started to go away. Maybe telling her that will help?

But Vine's concern is somewhere else.
She knew right as she saw that little creature show itself. Those splotches decorating its body are all blood; Boombox's blood; and for all she knows, that beast's flesh could be his, too.
There's no easy way for her to break the news, but… she can't just lug him onto a bus without a word.

"W-we need to take you to  Medkit," Vine Staff stammers. "He knows how to handle this better than I do."

"B–but–"

"No buts," Vine replies. It sounds more like an order than her usual, snarky comebacks. "I'm sure he'll understand, and I'll tell the others what's up as soon as they're awake… come on. We need to go."
The way Boombox stands makes it seem like he barely can; he leans on Vine Staff as soon as she's close enough for him to do it.

This is the weakest she's ever seen him… she'll lug him there and back in one goddamn arm if she has to.

Chapter Text

Lilith slowly rises to her knees, groggy and distant. Somehow, it's darker than it usually is for her.
She presses a hand up to the bridge of her nose, trying to shake herself awake when she realizes— her blindfold is missing, and she can't find it anywhere in the vicinity.
Great… the one thing she could never go without, gone without a warning. 

And then comes the snap of her bones.
She hears it before she feels it; fragments, needles , puncturing her lungs, stifling her breathing; but, oh God, when the feeling hits, it hits.
She hisses in pain, feeling something pull away what's left of her bones and flail about in her chest with no regard for the remnants. Shards pierce the flesh of her stomach, too, and she can't react to it with much else but agonized gurgling with how much blood must be filling her lungs. 

She's utterly powerless as the pain crescendos; left with no choice besides helplessly whimpering in the emptiness. Writhing in pain, she tries to wrap herself in a hug, but one of her arms sinks into her own flesh.
Desperately trying to keep this new, empty pit open, Lilith tries to scream; but a pathetic whimper is all that comes out, as—

"Lilith?"
She wakes up, laying on her side. Katana - the one who just called her name - is sitting down beside her. "Are you alright? It sounds like you had another nightmare."

"..."
Lilith whimpers. "Y-yeahh… I had another nightmare, b-but it's–"
Their feathers bristle when they feel a hand press against their back. "...fffine." The girl props herself up weakly.

"I heard about what happened last night." The hand is only Katana's, and he runs his fingers through the feathers on Lilith's back in an attempt to calm her down. "It must've done a number on you, too."

"Uh-huh… it was s-scary…"
Leaning further into the much larger geardemon, Lilith eventually plants her head firmly on his lap. "Whatever happened to h-him… was kinda… weird, too…"

Katana's tail thumps on Lilith's mattress, stopping eventually as it curls around her body. "And what exactly do you mean by "weird," Lilith?"

"Uhm… sounded like s-somethin' that happened to me," she replies. "A-A lot like it."

Katana tilts his head.
"And that would be..?"

"..."
Lilith sits back up and lifts up her shirt, seeming to gesture at the bandages - and likely the scarring - underneath. "Y'know… this..? I-I think i-it was like th-t-that…" she whimpers, struggling to keep herself calm.
"I j-just hope… he's doing o-o-okay…"

Katana pauses, too. He thinks back to the reason those bandages are even there. Someone else having to deal with such a blight - the mere thought concerns him.
Nonetheless, he tries to reassure Lilith.
"I'm sure he'll be alright," he coos to the fledgling. His fledgling, at this point.

Lilith, now sitting with her knees tucked to her chest, nods along in silence.

Medkit snips the remaining thread away from a suturing needle and looks down at the geardemon splayed out on the table. "That should be all his wounds. Won't be too long before he starts talking our ears off again."

Vine Staff nods, giggling a little at Medkit's comment. "T-thanks for all your help, sir."

"Mm, I'm just doing my job." He washes off and sanitizes all the tools he used, placing a sample of Boombox's blood in a tiny vial in the process. "And you said you were… concerned about him suffering from the same condition Lilith does? What makes you think that?"

"Well, he was complaining about a lot of stomach pain last night, and… there was a strange thing that poked out from—"
As if on queue, the little beastie in question looks at Medkit from atop Vine Staff's shoulder.
"O-oh, there it is…"

Almost instantly after he sees it, Medkit's eyes widen in shock. "Ack… it does look a little bit like him," he infers. "Those bright green horns…"

"They look just like his, don't they?"

"Indeed."
Medkit tries to coax the creature into his arms. The fluffball hesitates for a moment before leaping forward - overestimating the strength of its jump and flopping onto the nearby ground. He shudders a little at the sound it makes when it falls, but quickly picks it up so he can assess it.
"Now then, let's see what your deal is."

It looks… kind of like a baby Geardemon normally would, but there's a few things that don't add up.
The creature is, most notably, missing its legs; a trait it shares with the creatures that follow Lilith around.
He nudges the claws attached to one of its chubby arms with a finger. They're sharp, but not quite sharp enough to draw blood… perhaps it would use these to cling to a host.
And then, of course, there's the big problem. The one that makes him absolutely certain that this is not a geardemon: the fact that, as far as he can tell, it has no gear whatsoever.

"Hm…"
Medkit ponders, for a moment, the purpose of a beast as strange as this. He thinks back to the wounds he just closed, and much further back to the ones that he couldn't. If the prior incident with Lilith was any indication, this is a parasite in many senses; something that tore its way out from the inside, and integrated with the world in a way that made its true nature difficult to comprehend. 
But if this is a parasite, then where did it come from? And… if it looks so much like Boombox…

"Hang on, I'm taking a biopsy," Medkit blurts out after a period of uncomfortable silence. Firmly grasping the beast in one hand, he carefully procures a punch biopsy kit from the other; holding it still and puncturing a little hole in its flesh so he has something to work with.
It definitely isn't pleased about this, but has nothing it can really do besides play along. When he loosens his grip on it, it writhes around in displeasure.
"There, that should be enough." Medkit dusts off his hands as he seals the sample away. "Now we can give you a bath."

Slowly, Boombox wakes up and tries to push himself into a sitting position. His entire body still aches; thankfully, there's a wall he can lean on close by.
Huff, huff. H e tries to regulate his breathing, looking Vine Staff in the eyes before his gaze shifts towards Medkit.

"Oh, you're awake? That was faster than I thought it'd be."
Medkit turns to face Beebee proper. "I was hoping I could get a tissue sample from you beforehand, but it is still a good idea to ask."

"Gwuh… huh??" Boombox is… still in a state of delirium. "O-oh, yeah, I'm okay with that…"

"Good. Now, hold still
Boombox is much larger than the critter he was just handling; it's going to take a little more effort on his side to get him stable. He does comply, though; a little more willingly than he usually does, which is odd; he's usually quite restless. 

A fresh punch kit clicks into Boombox's skin, and he flinches in reaction. Thankfully, there's nothing odd about the wound it leaves; nothing either of them can pick up on, at least.

"Alright, that's everything I needed from you," Medkit firmly states as he stores Boombox's biopsy sample. He notices him open his mouth to speak, and quickly cuts him off:
"No need to thank me for everything I've done. You getting some rest is thanks enough… no phights for a few days, okay?"

Boombox nods. "...Right. Sounds easy enough."
No phights… sounds like a bit of a bummer, but it's nothing he can't handle. He's got plenty of other things to bother himself with - and that isn't even taking the new mouth he has to feed into account.

"Take good care of your new… friend ." Nowadays, Medkit is rather disillusioned with the idea of keeping these things around his office; they're just as uncomfortable to look at as they must be to have… inside of you. And the way they'll tear you in half when they're ready to leave is…
Eugh, no, he has to distract himself with something else .
"...There is a Phestival soon, yes? Hopefully you'll recover in time for that."

"I-I'm sure I'll be fine!" Boombox sits up and starts to ambiently kick his feet in the air. "I've got p-plenty of time to relax before things start out. Y-you got a team in mind?"

Medkit sits on the question. "Hrk…" The noise he makes is odd. Maybe an indication of discontent? "It's a bit of an odd theme. Choosing your fate… "
Possessed by a ghost, or bitten by a zombie? Neither seem pleasant to him.
"I'd say… possessed if I had to. It'd be much easier to fight it off."

"Good call, doc." It's not hard to notice that Boombox's voice is lower and more gravelly than usual, and he's still quite… spacey.
"I still ain't too s-sure myself…"

"Plenty of time left to decide," Medkit comments. "Anything else you want to pester me with before you head home?"

Boombox thinks for a moment.
"...Don't think so."

"How unusual. If you still need help getting around, I'm sure Vine Staff is willing to guide you."
Medkit sets his things on the counter and folds his hands behind his back. Vine nods when her name is mentioned.

"Nah, I- I think I'm good–"
Boombox presses his hand against the wall and carefully stands up. His legs feel like jelly, but… he's sure he can handle it…

"Are you sure?" Vine Staff furrows her brow. "You're r-really wobbly… here, I'll help you out–"

Boombox pushes her away when she tries to give him a hand. There's a dismissive, kind of blissfully ignorant look on his face. "N-nah, I swear– I'm o-okay—"
A tiny stumble causes him to topple over and nearly fall flat on his face. He manages to catch himself with his hands, and one of Vine Staff's wraps around his arm. "O-okay, maybe I… d-do… "

Vine Staff frowns, clearly disgruntled.
"I'll let go once you're home safe and can sit down," she growls.

"O-okay, okay, if you say so."
Boombox weakly nods. There's bags under his eyes, somehow visible beneath his trusty visor. Vine Staff chaperones him outside of the doctor's office, and the hot sun drips onto their backs as they wait for a ride back home.

Banland. Nearly every geardemon's worst nightmare.
Funnily enough, a small chunk of this nightmarish place is cleared for use as an arena among Phighters. It's held in some manner of cage and a mighty statue of its Warden is smack dab in the middle of it all.

Something splinters the ground in front of that statue.
"AHAHAHA! If they're afraid of that hunk of metal, just wait 'till they see me in the flesh…"
Ban Hammer is in over his head. In just a few short days, with the arrival of the Phestival, he'll be among the geardemons that battle in this chamber, too; no small feat for most, all but a cakewalk for someone like him.
He thinks it'll be a cakewalk, at least. All he needs is a little more practice…

Unlike Lilith's, the blindfold on his face isn't hiding anything besides four piercing eyes. The cocky bastard thinks he's too good for these weaklings; surely he won't even need to see to curbstomp them!
Just a few more swings to cap off today's training and- "Eh?"
Ech, he just stepped on something. He lifts up his blindfold and looks down at whatever it was, and it turns out to be… a card?
A card, face down on the ground, directly underfoot with an odd pattern on the back. He picks it up and flips it over, revealing… The Emperor, reversed. 

"The hell's this supposed to mean?"
He frankly doesn't know enough about tarot to care, and nearly casts the card aside until he takes a closer look at the illustration on its front. It seems to be a depiction of… him , sitting limp on a throne with what seems like deep violet blood dripping down his face.
"Hrmph. What a sick joke."
His dismissive attitude remains, but he stashes the card in his pocket. If this is a threat, whoever ushered it will swiftly pay.

Banhammer's feet slam against the rocky ground, barely feeling the weight of his gear against his body as he carries it in his hands. He can hear footsteps that aren't his own, but he can't find their source…
Suspicions creeping up on him, he amasses a much more threatening posture.
"OI, SCRAM BACK TO YOUR CELL!" He shouts. The whole world seems to pause when his voice echoes through the air. "YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT'S COMIN' TO YA IF YA DON'T, UNDERSTOOD?!"

He receives no response.
"Hrgh… If ya wanna play that way, fine. It's been a while since our last little game of hide and seek, hasn't it?"
If the way he speaks doesn't show it already, Banhammer has a feeling he knows who he's talking to. The master escape artist, the thorn in his side, the high priest of the True Eye…

"Ahaha, I knew ya missed me!"
The Broker.
His voice is sickeningly sweet and utterly grating to listen to, as per usual. "How's it hangin'?" Something is wrong, though, which is saying a lot. He isn't bothering to hide who he is, so what's with the filter over his voice?

Banhammer instinctively swings in front of himself. He doesn't hear a slam, not into the ground nor the flesh of another geardemon; rather, a wave of loud static crashes in his ears and he freezes in place.
"Hrgh…" In a fit of rage— "GRAAHH!" The behemoth of a geardemon blindly lunges forward.

As he thrashes, he grips something in his hand with a hiss. Bingo — he pulls up his blindfold — and is almost instantly hit with a headache?
No matter. He's got the bastard right where he wants him… all that's left is to make them pay.
"THE JIG'S UP!" Banhammer screeches, looking the ever-smiling Broker directly in the eyes. "Any last words before you're locked up for good?!"

The reason for the warden's headache becomes clear when the Broker's trademark smile twists into a sinister grin and static floods his bad eye.
"Oh, I've got plenty to say to ya..." They laugh, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. "I've seen what you are under th' mask, y'know!"

Banhammer's patience is already running thin. He tries to tighten his grip on the Broker, but to no avail; a hand firmly plants itself on his face, forcefully grabbing his trusty blindfold. He reels back, trying to get the hand out of his sight with the mess of tangles that are his and the Broker's arms.

It doesn't work.
All he can see is that damn static eye and a tiny glimpse of the Broker's face. He didn't think he'd ever be scared of him, but…
"You're not half the man you present yourself to be–"
He blinks. The Broker remains, continuing right where he left off.
"–in fact, I don't think you'll ever be him!"
Banhammer blinks again. The next time he opens his eyes, he sees a twisted reflection of himself; deep purple blood streaming down his cheeks and eyes that look like hollow pits.
"After all, if justice is blind… "
The reflection cracks in spiderwebs. It speaks in the Broker's voice.
Blink.
"...then what use is your sight ? "

With the sound of fizzling static and shattered glass, Banhammer's vision returns to normal and a fight breaks out.
Claws tear into flesh. Screams and laughter ring through the empty air.

A grand swing ends in another, grand miss.
He's had enough.
Just like the mirror he saw before, he breaks.
"Hrargh… GUILTY! GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY!! "
Banhammer's horns flare up with a vibrant, orchid-colored light as he grabs the Broker with a single arm. The other geardemon freezes, now limp in place - right where he wants him - as he carefully places both hands on his hammer—

And swings.
Uncharacteristic for him, he too falls limp as the Broker is flung into the distance. He shudders, having pulled the blindfold off and holding it in his hands, trying to dry off his wounds with the cloth.
His body? Hardly scratched - but his face is a different story. Blood streams from the gashes on his face like violet tears. He hesitates for a moment, sniffling a little; but why is he even crying? He's stronger than this. The child of a Blade, crying over a couple tiny scratches…

But he saw himself, bleeding just like this, only a few minutes earlier.
Was it a reflection of the future or a reflection of something within him?
How did he let this happen?
Did he let his bravado get the best of him? Did his overconfidence finally get to his head?

And… and why was his vision slowly going black?

Chapter Text

…
Beep. Beep.
Click.
"Hello? Yes, this is Medkit. You're very brave, you know, smuggling… anything my hands have touched into a Blackrock lab."

…
"You called about the samples? Good, good. What do you have to say about them? Got any results?"

"...hm? What do you mean they're "almost exactly the same?" That isn't possible; I sent you two samples from two very different things. One's a parasite and the other is a Geardemon. They should be labeled. I didn't forget to label them, did they?"

"And you tested both? "

"Oh. Oh no. This shouldn't be happening, let alone possible. We have to rule out everything first. You cleaned your equipment properly between tests? Followed all the instructions? Oh no, no, no… "

"You keep this to yourself. I don't want anything, and I mean ANYTHING about this disease getting in the wrong hands."

"...T-thank you. I'll keep researching on my end… and I'll let you know what I find."

"Lilith, don't forget to ask me if you need anything, okay?"
It's been pretty quiet all day - mainly because Slingshot is the only adult at home. It's his day off, Vine has to meet up with Medkit again, and… lord knows what Shuri and Katana are doing.

Lilith's keeping him company - it'd probably be a bad idea to leave her alone for too long, after all - and she seems rather content.
She nods in response to Slingshot's meowing, voice picking up. "I know, I know."
It seems like they've come out of their shell a little more lately.

Slingshot chuckles at Lilith's reply, quietly setting a freshly-washed plate down on a rack beside him. "You're getting real fierce, aren't you?"

"G-guess so." Lilith shivers a bit at Slingshot's comment – it must've stung a bit more than Sling meant for it to. Despite that, she brushes it off pretty quickly, resting her head on the arm of the couch.

It seems like Slingshot's just about done with the dishes. After one last clink against the rack, his footsteps chime against the floor.
"Whew… glad that's over with. How are you holding up?" He balls a hand on his hip, eventually sitting down next to Lilith and inadvertently wrapping his tail around her.

Lilith, quite literally, leans into this. She lays her head on Slingshot's lifted knee and flops onto her back, acting like a sunbathing reptile.
"Could be better," she mutters in response to the other demon's question. 

"Well, I'm sure things'll turn out fine! Now seems like a good time to take a break, doesn't it?"
Sling stretches, arms reaching behind his shoulders. A frown strides his face when he realizes his words don't seem to be doing much to help Lilith's attitude.
"...c'mon, chin up a little. We can talk it out if you wanna."
She doesn't respond. Whatever's weighing her down must be one hell of a bummer…

And then it clicks in his head.
"Y-you're still worried about Boombox, huh?"
Of course, he didn't see what happened, but he's definitely heard the news. Maybe he knows more about it than he thinks, too; he lowers his head and starts pondering…

A day or two prior, Slingshot went out for a couple rounds of phights; Boombox and Skateboard were there, too, of course. Things seemed pretty chill for most of the time they were out there. They were having fun, enjoying some friendly competition… and then things got weird.
Boombox started complaining. He said he felt off, but told the others that he was fine, that one more round wouldn't hurt… but after that round, just existing strained every muscle in his body.
It was really weird. The bad kind of weird.

The trio agreed to put a pause on things after that; grab a bite to eat and try to enjoy the rest of their day together; but Boombox was still acting… really weird. He barely talked and lagged behind everyone else. The contrast between this and his usual vivacity was so painfully stark that it actually hurt.

Having dwelled on all this long enough, Slingshot's head snaps up a bit. 
"Don't worry about him too much." It seems like he's trying to comfort himself just as much as he's trying to comfort Lilith. "I'm sure he'll be okay."

Lilith tenses up a bit before stretching, somehow ending up splayed out on her stomach. "Mmhm."

There's an uneasy feeling carried in the now-quiet air. The whispers of the wind drift on chimes, ringing with the sound of dim stars in a way that's more uncomfortable than it should be.

Slingshot's head swivels around. He's trying to figure out what to say.
"...Tell you what, baby bird— I think a little fresh air would do you some good… how about I show you around Crossroads? We can get somethin' to eat when we're done, maybe meet some of the locals… how's that sound to you?"

Lilith silently nods, fidgeting with her hands. Slingshot nods back, clearing his throat to speak again.
"Sounds good. Let's get going."

"Lilith? C'mon, wake up… we're here, I don't want you missin' out!" Slingshot playfully rustles a hand through her hair.

The fledgling jumps awake in shock, head worriedly bobbing around before she's swept off the bus by a cat's-paw motion. Her hand now rests in Slingshot's, who's acting as a guide for her in a few more ways than one.
This isn't her first time in the Crossroads, but it might as well be with how poorly-timed their actual first foray was. She can't hear the sound of heavy rain today; it's been replaced by the hustle and bustle of the city and quiet buzz of artificial lights.

The pair stop at a nearby table, letting Lilith regain her composure.
"How are ya holding up so far?" Slingshot asks, spinning his hand in the air like he's holding a drink stirrer. His tail lashes behind him in a similar, swirling manner; he seems restless as ever. The faint sound of footsteps clatters all around him.

"Um… I'm okay."
Lilith's head drops into her arms, facing Slingshot. "A l-little overwhelmed, but… it's fine."
A little overwhelmed seems like an understatement; she's visibly tense, picking up on something that Slingshot hasn't caught onto quite yet. A faint clank-clank-clank coming from somewhere nearby… and it's getting closer…

"I can see why." Slingshot looks over his shoulder as he speaks, watching a few civilians pass by - a presence blurs past him in a way it shouldn't have, but he wouldn't know that just yet. "It's a lot busier than it was the last time you were here, ain't it?"
Lilith nods, and Slingshot slightly turns his head to face her in response. Initially, he looks down at the table, but he perks back up when he becomes conscious of that same clank-clank-CLANK—
"—Hey, is that… wait a sec, what the HELL?"

"H-huh? What's wrong..?"
Lilith whimpers. She can tell that something's going on, but the gravity of the situation hasn't dawned on her quite yet.
She hesitates for a second, jumping to her feet— and abruptly freezing in fear.

There's someone here, towering over whatever may be in their path. A weapon, no doubt, drags behind them, and something has them in quite the sour mood.
Ban Hammer doesn't seem particularly keen on divulging what that something is, though. He simply carries along as if his presence hasn't been noticed; unusual, considering the scene he's already developed a habit of making when he's around…

"L-Lilith, c'mon."
Having stood up from his seat, Slingshot tugs on Lilith's sleeve. The tension in the air is palpable; it feels like hackles he doesn't even have are standing on end. (He's pretty sure he doesn't have them, at least.)
Lilith is still frozen solid. She tenses up even further at every touch, and Slingshot struggles to keep them from practically shattering from self-imposed pressur
"Come on… d-don't just stand there…"

She barely reacts, only turning her head up a bit to face Banhammer. In this one moment, she looks absurdly frail; something about her usual demeanor in contrast to this doesn't sit right with the other Thief… practically her brother at this point - in his eyes, at least.
Lilith suddenly lets out a growl; it's utterly pathetic, but it's the best she can muster.

The sound catches Banhammer's attention, and the frown plastered on his face snaps into a shaky grin. "Well, well, well…"
Finally, something else to bother himself with. "What do we have here?"
He chuckles, turning to face the source of the sound. Slingshot uneasily backs away when he realizes he's caught on, trying to pull Lilith back in the process – but she still doesn't budge.

Lilith stammers. Whatever she's trying to say isn't coming out right - if at all.
Deep-seated anxiety and bitter loneliness make the ever-present pit in her stomach feel so, so much deeper. She's afraid; she knows she's afraid and that fact alone is making everything ten times worse.

"Oh, you poor thing," Banhammer sarcastically remarks. "What's up with you?"

Finally, Slingshot manages to pull Lilith away. His brow furrows for a moment before he starts to freeze up in the same way Lilith did. He manages to keep a straight face, though, looking up at Banhammer with determined eyes.
"W-what are you doing here, of all places?"

"Oh, nothing… Just taking a little sightseeing trip."
There's something about Banhammer's tone - specifically the way he says "sightseeing" - that feels as if it's insinuating something; it feels like something bad happened, and he's desperately trying to cover it up.
"Ya know any important landmarks? Interesting faces?"

Slingshot's tail sweeps against the ground. "We're… standing right under one…" 

"Ah… I see." No one else in the Crossroads knows it yet, but this is an obvious lie.

Lilith slowly pokes her head out from behind Slingshot and almost immediately retreats, still intimidated by the other Geardemon's mere presence to the point that she's completely nonverbal.
Her chest hurts, her stomach hurts, she's lonely and she wants to go home… she doesn't even realize one of her incubi is hovering around Banhammer for one reason or another.

Eventually, it lands on his shoulder. He can feel its presence - the light weight of its body against his - and isn't super happy about it; even something as small as this was still an unwelcome invasion of his personal space.
When he tries to grab it, he's greeted by the sensation of tiny claws interlocking with his own—
"ACK—"
—and a cold splash of water on his face? "Urgh, what a nuisance…"

The series of tiny, aggravated chirps that follow this quickly clues Lilith into what's going on. "Is… is…"
If only she could find her words again. She fumbles for a few more seconds before she can cough up something even remotely coherent. "Is i-it trying to– he–help– him..?"
She knows incubi like the back of her hand; the reaction he's gotten out of it can only really mean one thing…
"M-mister, a-are you… okay..?"
It seems she's had a bit of a change of heart; she's still apprehensive, barely even moving towards him… but there is a hint of sympathy in her tone.

"E-eh?"
This is not a question Banhammer is prepared to answer right now. His next lie is just as blunt as the last; "I'm fine. Worry about yourself."
The Incubus refuses to leave his side, even while he maintains this facade.

Slingshot's noticed, too.
"You sure? That little critter on your shoulder… looks to me like it just tried to give you a little dose of reality." He chuckles at his own remark.

The grip Banhammer has on his gear tightens as soon as Slingshot mentions that embarrassing scuffle.
"...Tch. You–"
A sudden pause, like the lid of a music box snapping shut. Something's weighing heavy on his mind all of a sudden, making it hard for him to choose his words. He's never felt it before, and frankly thinks he should never feel it again; he's the Warden of Hell, dammit! He's been stronger than this, and he needs to stay that way!

…

"You're one to talk," Banhammer tuts. He instinctively places a hand on his blindfold, just about to pull it away from his eyes— and then he remembers.
He remembers what happened between him and the Broker, and he suddenly hesitates. His whole body freezes up, and Slingshot watches in confusion. Banhammer slowly drags his hand away from his face— wait, is- is he crying?

There's genuine concern in the catlike geardemon's voice – "A-are you alright? What's wrong..?"

Banhammer whimpers and turns away, trying - and failing - to calm his tears; "I said I'm fine, you little…"
The rest of his sentence is muttered too faintly for the others to hear. He doesn't need the help of these peons; and if he does, he'll deny it to the bitter end. Without another word, he walks off.

Drops of deep purple have fallen to the ground where Banhammer once was; they shimmer and stain just like blood.
Transfixed as he may be, Slingshot can't stand the sight of it for long; he raises his head after a few minutes, turning back towards Lilith. "You deserve a treat after all that," he purrs; "I know a place you might like that isn't too far from here…"

"R-really?" Lilith still hasn't fully recovered from that whole mess; her voice came back to her, sure, but Sling can still see her shuddering. 

"O-of course!" Sling replies. He has an awkward-looking smile on his face and shaky, but genuine happiness in his voice. "I'm not the kinda guy to lie to people's faces, right?"

Lilith nods, and the two begin their little romp around Crossroads proper. When Slingshot notices her lagging behind, he pauses to offer her a hand; he doesn't want to leave her in the dust, after all!

It takes a little longer than he thought it would've, but the two arrive at a certain café in crossroads.
"Here we are," Slingshot chirps. It seems surprisingly quiet in this part of town today, but that's probably a good thing. He sits Lilith down at a table by the counter; "Stay here, alright? I know something you'd love, but… it ain't on the menu."

Lilith seems confused, but she plays along, fidgeting at her table with not much else to do but eavesdrop; and eavesdrop she does, intentionally or otherwise. She overhears some civilians talking to each other— "Y'know any Brokers?" "Nope, don't think so—" and a puzzled expression crosses her face. One of them sounds oddly familiar…

Before she can really piece things together, though, Slingshot comes back and carefully sets a drink on Lilith's table. "Here ya go, baby bird! Hope you like it…"

"Mm… thanks." Lilith's feathers ruffle a little as she feels around for the cup, getting a grip on it pretty quickly and taking a few small sips. It's a bit of an odd taste - sour and something else she can't quite describe - but she appreciates the gesture nonetheless. Judging by the look on her face, though, she likes it a lot. "What is it..?"

"Ah, nothin' too special. Club soda, lime syrup and a little cardamom," Slingshot explains. "Good on their own, but better together… kinda like you and your little buddies, right?"

"…yeah, guess so," Lilith replies.

Slingshot chuckles a little in response; he's glad she got the memo… even though he doesn't even know what he meant all the way. He gets up out of his seat when he hears a few more geardemons filter into the cafe; looks like business is starting to pick up.
He gets up out of his seat and sighs, practically pulling Lilith out of her seat by the arm. "Alright, let's bounce before I stop having a day off…" he says with another giggle before chaperoning her out of the establishment.

Chapter Text

"So this is where it happened?"
Venomshank peers over his apprentice's shoulder, scanning his surroundings with a keen eye. There are windows here, dotting the walls like spiracles; when he looks into them, he sees only peculiar illustrations, nothing visible behind them despite the reddish tint of the light filtering through.

"Y-yes." Sword nods, pondering the meanings of the stained glass windows. He sees familiar faces in each and every one, wincing as he turns his head and sees them warped beyond repair on the other side. His footsteps echo through the hall much farther than they should, and he's forced to keep his head down — static starts to fill his ears as soon as he looks up.
This place… this hallway… it brings back terrible memories he shouldn't even have.

Venomshank's talons graze the air beside him, guiding his eyes.
"Hm. I don't believe this room was here before," he infers. "How did you find it?"

"I-I dunno," Sword admits. "I saw this weird key, and I didn't think much of it until I put my hand against the wall and… well… you know the rest already, heh..!" His voice awkwardly cracks throughout his sentence, tone shifting side-to-side like a seesaw. It's clear from her body language that no part of this discovery was wanted - or intentional, for that matter.

"Fret not, young dove."
Venomshank guides Sword down the hallway, examining each and every shard of stained glass.
These windows… the figures look like the other Phighters he's observed in the past, but there's one in particular that catches his eye; on the left, a girl, blindfolded and holding something in her hands. On the right side of the hall, no sign of the blindfold remains — three empty pits are left behind in its place.

"Hm…"
It doesn't sicken him as much as it sickens Sword, but it still leaves a sour taste in his mouth.
"This will come to pass," he reassures. "I'll solve this little mystery and cure you of what it caused."

"...thanks, d-dad– I mean Venomshank."
Sword is uncomfortably quiet as the two geardemons reach the end of the mysterious hall. There's a frame where something once was, and the evidence of what it was for is scattered across the nearby ground; glass shards. Colorless ones, with thin lines of silver beneath them.
This was a mirror once.

Venomshank carefully picks up one of the shards. What little remains of his reflection is unchanged. "What's all this doing here?"

"It's… I-I don't know how to explain it. Just watch." Sword tenses up, and Venomshank lowers his arm in response. The smaller geardemon winces as he picks up a shard of the mirror, and Venomshank's eyes widen beneath the mask when the light of her face is caught by the glass.

What he can see of the face in the shard is definitely Sword, but it also… isn't.
It's warped - changed - wrong - in the same way those stained glass windows are. He looks like he's seen a ghost— no, become one.
"His" empty expression would be worrisome enough on its own, but on a face freckled with runes… on a face beneath altered horns… on a face that normally never frowns, it's a cause for deep concern.

"I shall tell the other Blades as soon as I can," Venomshank somberly states. "Lock the doors after we leave—" 

"There's no need for that, Venomshank…"
Drenched in black ichor, Darkheart suddenly rises from Sword's shadow— "We've been eavesdropping. Word spreads fast, you know…"
He's carrying a handful of little paper scraps. Is there something drawn on them?

Sword teeters a little, shocked by Darkheart's sudden arrival. "U-uhhh, hi, Darkheart… how's it g-going?"

"We found something you might make use of," he replies. The way he moves is uncanny, and his silhouette is like a mural on the wall - intangible, blotting out anything beneath it.
His hand juts out from the wall to offer Sword the papers, which the latter swiftly takes. Before she can thank him, he vanishes into the darkness.

"...weird."
Sword briefly scans the papers he's been given. They're… covered in scribbles of an uncomfortably familiar girl, each one more disheveled-looking than the last; and they look like a child drew them, too.
Who drew these? How did someone so young find out about whatever's going on here? Sword can't stomach the thought… but she has to if she wants to get anywhere near solving this mystery.

Sword huffs and turns towards Venomshank. There's a mix of discomfort and determination in his eyes, and the faint runes on his cheeks glow brighter than they did before.
"...We should go," Sword replies, uncharacteristically quiet. "I-I don't like being in here."

Venomshank nods, taking Sword's hand and ushering him out of the hall. Her steps seem clumsier than usual - what caused that?
No matter, though. They're out of the hall now… and Sword quickly disappears from Venomshank's sight. The last thing he sees him doing is stuffing the paper scraps into one of his bag's front pockets and storming off.

"Goodness, it's so quiet in here…"
Vine Staff walks into Medkit's office, immediately noticing the eerie silence of the lobby and the low lights. "Medkit? A-are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine…" Medkit steps into the lobby, hands folded behind his back. "I've just been busy. Very busy."

"Are you sure? You look like you have a lot on your mind." Vine Staff sits down at a nearby coffee table, encouraging Medkit to do the same. "A-and there has to be a good reason you wanted me to come here, right?"

Medkit sighs. "I guess so." He doesn't sit down, but does step a little closer.
"Is there… anyone else with you?"

"No."

"Why not?" Medkit raises a brow in concern.

"Boombox's still recovering, last time I talked to him." Vine Staff grabs onto her shoulder with her other hand, head hanging low. "And Katana… he said Lilith isn't feeling well today. I-I'm not sure what's going on… I hope it's nothing major."

"Maybe it's best that it's just you and me," Medkit replies. "Heaven knows how the others would react…"

Vine Staff's expression goes blank in shock.
"React to what?"

Medkit silently ushers for Vine Staff to follow him into another room. This must be where he keeps all his records - there's folders upon folders here, each one labeled with a name and a couple color-coded stickers. The ones he's not actively working with - everyone but Boombox and Lilith, it seems - are neatly sorted by last name, A to Z.

Fighting her curiosity, Vine Staff keeps everything where it is… for now. On the whiteboard in front of her, scribbled in black and red, there's a diagram of one of Lilith's companions paired with notes about the creature's potential capabilities. From what she's gleaned, Medkit seems dead set on the parasite theory - and she can understand why.

In a blink, Medkit waltzes up to the whiteboard, now standing right where Vine Staff can see him. "I'm sure you got the memo already, but… I've made some discoveries regarding these creatures lately."

"What do you mean by… discoveries, Med?" An uncomfortable expression crosses Vine's face. "Is it better than we thought? W-worse?"

Medkit lowers his head. "M-much worse, as far as I'm concerned," he mutters in a vaguely pained tone. Vine Staff can see his eyes glide towards Boombox's chart while he talks.

Against her better judgment, she decides to butt in — "Are you alright? You seem like you're distracted by something."

"No, no, it's— it's related, I suppose. It's about Boombox. He has the same condition Lilith does, I'm sure of it." The doctor's dead-set demeanor is only emphasized by the look on his face - but is it from determination… or discomfort?

"And his, erm, little friend… it looks a little bit like her companions do, doesn't it?" Vine inquires. She can see a picture or two of the creature in question on his desk - maybe those fell out of a folder and he forgot to put them back.

"Yes, yes."
Medkit's tone shifts into a mix of annoyance and... something else.
"That… thing. I don't know what else to call it. It's given me a whole new mess of problems to sort through."

Vine's concern crescendos - "How could something so small do that? It's just… one little creature. It–"

"You remember when I took a biopsy, didn't you? It came back last night."

"Hopefully it turned out—"

"It didn't. It couldn't have. That monster somehow has his DNA."

Any warmth that was left on Vine Staff's face is completely gone, replaced by ghostly paleness. She stifles back a few gasps, a few tears, and the terror she's been thrust into.
"I… I… "
There's no way that was real.
"T-that doesn't make any sense–"

Medkit cuts her off again, tears welling in his eye; "NOTHING'S made sense lately! I– I've been TRYING t-to solve this, I really have, b-but—" To say he's frustrated would be an understatement— "E-everything I learn just makes it harder to solve…" 
He freezes in place for a moment. The crystal between his horns flickers like a dying lightbulb. 
"It's a m-maze with no exits— I've… I-I've tried– everything I could d-do– and it hasn't done shit – and- a-and—"

Whatever was supposed to come out of his mouth is completely gone when Vine Staff gently places a hand on his shoulder. 
"You'll be fine, Med," she coos. "Don't focus so hard on finding answers right away… If you give em' all the help you can give, they'll come our way eventually. Just—"

FWOOSH— The door swings open. The bedraggled silhouette of a geardemon, outlined by pale light, bursts through the seams, and Medkit nearly falls to the floor in shock when it does.
"M-Medkit!" There's urgency in Sword's voice that competes with apologia as his gear clinks against the wall.

Medkit takes a few shallow breaths in an attempt to calm himself down. On the surface, he looks calm and collected in a matter of minutes, but the shakiness of his voice says otherwise.
"S-Sword? I didn't think you'd be here today…"
He can tell by her urgency that something's wrong - very wrong. "What's got you all riled up?"

"It's, uhh, k-kind of hard to e-explain…" Sword murmurs, feathers standing on end as he rummages through his bag. "Dar— uhh, I– f-found something- I don't think- it's g-good news—"

"Show me already," Medkit asserts. "We can't dawdle on this for long if it's as bad as you're making it sound."

With shaky hands - and without another word, Sword sets a stack of tiny papers on the table. "It's, uh, a-a little silly, but… I'm scared."

Medkit quickly takes the scraps off the table, unamused by Sword's display.
"Scared? Of these? Come on, it can't be that bad—"
He goes silent. His eyes start to widen; first in shock, then with the distinct look of fear, flipping through the sketches and constantly wondering: who drew these?
The childlike style of the drawings worries him. And they look… familiar, too familiar… almost like…
"...Lilith? These l-look like Lilith."

"L-Lilith? Uhh, who's that..?" Sword tilts his head a little. The fact there could be a name related to that face — and that it's even a real face at all — worries him to the point of near-sickness.

"Not hard t-to spot in a crowd," Medkit replies. "Black feathers, fluffy red hair–"

Sword perks up right away. "O-oh, I think I've seen her! W-when I was, uhh, p-practicing in Thieves' Den…" It takes a while for her to jog her memory, but it comes back pretty fast; it's hard to forget a laser coming from the mouth of… whatever that tiny thing following her around was.
"Didn't know that was her name, though… heh…"

Vine Staff, listening intently, raises her head and begins to speak. She hasn't seen what's on the papers herself, but she knows it must be bad news - especially considering the familiar face that's apparently on them.
"I-is there anything you need us to do now that you have your hands on these..?"

Medkit bristles. The tension in the room is thick enough to cut with a knife.
"...You two are free to go," he growls; "I'll keep these somewhere safe. I don't want them in the wrong hands."

"Uhh… okay…" The runes on Sword's cheeks seem brighter than they've been before. "B-but–"

" No buts. Don't tell a SINGLE other soul."

"...a-alright."
Sword's voice drops to an uncomfortably soft stammer, and Vine Staff silently gestures for him to follow her out the door.

The discomforting silence that follows after doesn't last for long - and Vine Staff is the first to break it.
"He didn't seem like he was handling that… discovery too well," she chirps. "I hope he'll be alright."

Sword nods. "U-um, yeah, I'm– r-really worried about him now…" His weight awkwardly shifts from one leg to the other while he walks and talks, voice dropping back to a whisper; "Y'think you could help me put a present together for him? Like… a-a get well soon basket, maybe…"

Vine stops in her tracks before quickly continuing on. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. You probably know what he likes better than I would, though… you've known him longer!"

"Uhh… yeah… I guess– b-but you're good at making stuff look all fancy, right? I'd get the presents and you'd put them together— a-and– and make i-it pretty."

"That sounds good to me. I'd better start heading home, but… give me a call when you need me, okay?"

"O-okay! Thanks!"