The Land of Chaos: Part III

Batsu felt bad about the way he'd treated Saionna. It hadn't been right, and the fact that he'd been a bit infected with madness was no excuse. "I'm sorry," he said even though she'd nodded to understanding. He looked to Alice. "Don't go to far," he called to her. He didn't want another incident like the one with DK to occur. In fact he didn't need something like that to occur when Alice was under his watch. He didn't care for the fact that she was under Cross's guardianship, he cared that she was Silence's daughter. That scared him more than anything. He looked to Fara. "So little one, do you miss Boreas yet?" He asked. He waited for he asked the next question. "Do you think he'll win the bet?"

Saionna only shrugged at his apology, since she couldn't tell him not to apologize. Well, she probably could, she just...didn't quite feel it was worth the effort it took her to try and remember what words and sounds to say. Instead she just watched as Alice nodded in understanding and yell "Okay!" in response to Batsu's warning. Fara, on the other hand, remained sitting on the red haired male's shoulder, and nodded a bit when she was asked if she missed Boreas. She always missed being away from him. He was her best friend. She giggled silently, grinning with confidence when Batsu asked if she thought he'd win the bet. She nodded without hesitation. It wasn't that she doubted DK's abilities, it was just that while they'd been stuck in the Unknown, Jasper had often let Boreas hunt just for the fun of it, since neither of them had to eat. So she'd witnessed Boreas hunting first hand. It was both scary and fascinating at the same time. Fascinating because it was obviously a passion of his, something he enjoyed doing above all else, and scary because of how ruthless and animalistic he could be.

Batsu decided to leave Saionna alive and laughed when Fara nodded to his questions. "Ah, so you think Boreas is going to win. I guess I shall vote for DK then," he joked lightly. "Either way I hope they bring something big back. I'm starving." Batsu couldn't remember the last time he'd actually had a chance to eat. If anyone had noticed, Batsu ate nothing but meat. He was no doubt, a carnivore. Just the thought of food made him hungry at this point in time. The red haired man decided to push hunger to the back of his mind an watched Alice run around.

Fara gave a silent giggle when Batsu said he should vote for DK, then wagged her finger back and forth. Standing up, she flew over to Alice and got the girl's attention, making big motions and signs while the white haired girl was looking at her. Alice giggled and turned to Batsu. "She says no way, Boreas is going to win. He'll bring back a really big deer." She then nodded in agreement with the red haired male. "I'm hungry too." She started skipping again, smiling as she went. They were almost at the house, so they could play hide and go seek pretty soon~!

Batsu smirked when Fara went over and spoke with Alice so the white haired girl could relay the message. "Ah, well, if he brings back a bigger dear than DK then I'll do whatever you ask of me for a day," he said with a small smile. When they got to the house Batsu stretched his wings as though he were going to fly. He knew that was not going to happen, but stretching always felt good. "Alright, time to play hide and go seek, unless you want to wait for the others to come back first so that we can eat. It's up to you."

Once they got to the house, Alice ran happily towards it, with Fara flying back to Batsu's shoulder to avoid her hyperness. "Let's play until they get back," she suggested. "And then we can eat~. If we sit around doing nothing, we'll just be bored and hungry, and then we'll feel even more hungry," she giggled. Once they got close enough to the house, however, Saionna went and sat on the porch, not really understanding what Alice meant by playing. Aside from that, thanks to what had happened earlier, she wasn't much in the mood for anything other than sitting around. For some reason, she still felt like she was in trouble.

Batsu glanced at Saionna. He wasn't sure what else to say to her. After all, that little stunt she'd pulled early still had him worrying about whether she was worth keeping around or not. He didn't want to put the others in danger. "Alright Alice, you all hide and I'll find you," he said. "Try not to stray too far." He then went over to the side of the post and began to count. He liked Alice's logic about sitting around and becoming hungrier. She was a fairly silly child.

Alice nodded and excitedly ran off into the wheat field behind the house, and Fara flew off as well, but in a different direction. Alice tried not to giggle as she ran. This was going to be so much fun, and the wheat was soooo much taller than her! Not too far into the wheat, she felt something familiar and started towards it, only to run into a giant. Literally, the creature was nearly three times her height and held a giant sword in one hand, its head covered by a black metal helmet that hid all of its face, with the exception of its purple eyes, which shown through the visor. The creature looked down at Alice, but didn't move or make a single noise. Its sword, Alice noticed, was covered in blood, as well as most of its front, but it didn't look like it was from the creature at all. "Hello there," Alice said with a smile. She knew this feeling. This creature was sick too, like the others. But for some reason, it wasn't attacking her. "Would you like some help?" she asked, tilting her head and holding out her hand to the creature. Its hands were roughly five times larger than her own, but it looked at hers hesitantly before reaching out its own. Alice smiled and gave a giggle, letting the creature's sickness flow into her own body. She wanted to help these creatures like Batsu and Boreas and Cross did. Cross didn't like her to do this, but she knew she could handle it, because she'd done it before.

Batsu was done counting and had started to search for the others. He ended up heading in Fara's direction first without really knowing it. He wondered where they would all hide at. As he searched he ended up heading towards Alice's direction when he picked up the Madness. His heart skipped a beat and he looked around, trying to pinpoint the exact location. If only he still had his wings. Breaking into a run he searched for the source, only to find himself lost in the wheat. Batsu's eyes narrowed and he allowed his senses to focus on the Madness and the Madness alone. It was only when he picked up the scent of blood did his focus shatter. Please don't let anything have happened to her, he thought frantically. Batsu continued moving until he saw a large black creature covered in blood. The grey eyed male froze. "Alice," he breathe before he saw the little girl.

When the wheat rustled near them, the giant of a creature tore its gaze away from the little white haired girl and turned towards the sound hostilely. Its hand also came away from Alice, and the creature held its sword in front of it with both hands, the tip pointed towards the new arrival. Still, no sounds came from it. Alice's eyes widened when its hand tore away to go to the sword, and she quickly reached up and put both her hands on the larger ones. "Hey, hold on," she said quickly. "It's okay," she promised, glancing to Batsu. The promise was to both of them, and while the creature glanced at her, it didn't lower its sword, so she kept taking its sickness anyways.

Batsu didn't even blink when he saw Alice, though shock pulsed through him like the blood running through his veins. "Step back, Alice." The red haired male moved towards the creature, his eyes glowing with hostility. He then looked to the creature, his half wings catching aflame. He didn't know where this thing had come from or who's blood it had on it, but it wasn't going to be spilling anymore blood on his watch. Honestly he didn't want to fight anymore, but he'd be dead if he didn't get this thing away from Alice.

"It's okay Batsu," she promised again. "He won't hurt me." She tried to make the creature lower its hands so that it wouldn't be so hostile. For a moment, it seemed to be working, and it looked at Alice before it began lowering its weapon. However, the first second Batsu showed his own signs of hostility, it brought the blade back up, yanking its hands away from Alice. In fact, instead of turning on her, it stepped in front of her, getting in between her and Batsu. Surprisingly enough, it didn't strike first, but stood as stationary as a statue as it waited for Batsu's attack.

Batsu wasn't running, no he was moving at a fairly slow pace. His eyes were narrowed as he moved forward, but he stopped as the thing moved in front of Alice. For a moment he wasn't quite sure what to do. He was a bit confused to be honest. Was it protecting Alice? Batsu shook his head. Could something infected with madness protect someone else? He knew the answer, but he didn't want to consider it in this case. Something inside of him was saying fight, but logic was an overwhelming force. He started for the creature at a walking pace. The flames on his wings disappearing. He was going to test something out.

The creature held its ground, not moving as Batsu slowly closed the gap between them. Once the signs of hostility were gone, it relaxed only a little bit, but took a step back to that it was closer to Alice. Or rather, so that Alice was closer to its back. The white haired girl had her hand on its arm. The constant contact allowed her to make sure she could pull on the Madness. She was glad neither of the two had moved to attack yet. Alice thought it was rather strange though, that this creature was so docile, yet sick, and that even though she was sure most of its Madness was gone, it wasn't changing shape like the others.

Batsu could sense the Madness was fading, but how was beyond him. Once he was close enough he placed his hand on the creature and began to pull the remaining Madness from it. What was happening the reason it had already been losing it. Part of him was sure it had something to do with Alice. He remember before when Cross had gained so much Madness that he'd nearly been too consumed to fight off Oblivion. Alice had come to him for help and he'd helped her without any hesitation. He frowned lightly and peered behind the creature to look at her. "What's going on," he asked. "Cross will have my head if he knew what was happening here, you understand that, right?"

Even when Batsu placed a hand on it, the creature didn't move, but its violet eyes were clearly watching the red haired male from behind the visor. Up close, the pupils of the eyes resembled those of a cat's. Alice kept her hand on the creature's arm, her eyes on it. The only thing that changed about the creature was not any actual part of its body, but rather, its sword. The large, crude black sword was becoming slimmer, more refined. At the end, it looked just as if it was a normal long sword with black metal as the blade. Its height didn't change, nor its violet eyes. However, when all the Madness was gone, it lowered its weapon and straightened up. It towered over both Batsu and Alice alike, but did nothing but look at the two noiselessly. Alice looked to the red haired male when he asked what was going on. She didn't really understand what he'd meant by that, so she tilted her head. "What do you mean..? If he knew what was happening here?" She wasn't playing dumb like most children would. She honestly had no idea what Batsu was talking about.

"You and the creature," he said as he removed his hand. The thing was huge. Ridiculously huge actually. Then again, he had witnessed creatures in the Unknown that were fairly large before Madness had infected them. He shook his head. "How did you remove the Madness from it and why didn't you get help before approaching it. You and I both know that Cross doesn't exactly take well to seeing you in danger." He wouldn't add on that this thing could have killed her if it had been as vicious as the rest.

Alice blinked and looked at the creature and then back to Batsu. "I dunno. I was always able to do it," she said with a small, confused frown. "And I didn't get help because it didn't attack me." She looked up at the creature again, then back to Batsu. "But he's not seeing me in danger. He's not here." Sometimes Batsu really confused her. She looked back to her side when the large creature knelt down next to her, laying its sword on the ground. It held its hand open palmed towards Alice, to which the small white haired girl giggled and put her hand on top of one of its fingers. "See, he's okay," she told Batsu. "He wouldn't have attacked me."

She was always able to withdraw the madness from them. Maybe that was what Cross had been upset about that day. Batsu shook his head as Alice said that it wouldn't hurt her. He could see that now, but hee was sure the others wouldn't see it that way. "Let's get him back to the Unknown, okay?" Personally he didn't want to take this thing back there until Cross was out. What if the guy saw Alice in this things hand. He shook his head. He was sure it would be wise than fighting off madness. "Come on, we need to find Fara." He turned slowly and began to walk away, very much aware that there was the scent of blood in the air.

"Okay," Alice said with a happy nod, motioning for the creature to get up. "What's your name?" she asked, looking up to it. Before getting up, it leaned closer to the white haired girl, as if it were going to whisper something in her ear, but no sound came out. Regardless, Alice smiled big. "My name's Alice," she told him, shaking his large hand lightly before he rose to his feet. "We're going to take you to the Unknown now, okay?" When the creature nodded, Alice reached up and took its hand. It knelt down slightly so that the young girl wouldn't have to stand on her toes, then looked to Batsu, as if knowing he would lead the way.

Batsu found this relationship to be even odder than the one with Cross. He sighed lightly as the two seemed to exchange names and then started off at a slow pace. "You wouldn't happen to know where Fara went, do you?" When they stopped at the house, Batsu called to Saionna. "We're going to the Unknown, care to come with?"

Alice shook her head at Batsu's question. "Nopes. We can call her and tell her that we found a sick creature and we have to take him back," she suggested, her head tilted. The white haired girl looked to Saionna when they stopped at the house, the orange haired girl looking over to them. Her blue eyes blinked at the sight of the large creature, and she stood up, and walked over to it. Just as soon as she did, a large handed patted her head, to which Saionna responded by batting it away with a red face. She puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms, turning her head to the side. Alice giggled and looked to Batsu. "I think they've met before," she told him with a small laugh.

Batsu nodded at the suggestion. "Works for me." The grey eyed male watched Saionna get up and go to the creature. He blinked and then shook his head. "I suppose they do," he said with a nod. It looked like everyone knew this thing but him. He was still bothered by the blood. He glanced at the creature and then called for Fara. "Hey little fairy, we've got to take another back to the Unknown," he called out. "We'll finish playing when we get back." He turned to the new group. "Alice, can you ask him where that blood came from?" He didn't want to come across a slaughtered family or something of the sort.

As soon as Fara heard what was going on, she flew out of the wheat field, her eyes widening when she saw how large the creature was. It had to be a hundred times bigger than her! Flying over to Batsu, she landed on his shoulder and hid behind his neck partways. Alice looked up to the creature, who bent down to her on one knee to answer the question. She then looked to Batsu. "He says sheep. There was a farm he passed by, umm..." she looked around, then to the creature, who stood back up and pointed across the wheat field. "That way. It wasn't people." At that, Saionna, with her arms still crossed, leaned on one leg and raised an eyebrow while looking at the creature skeptically, as if she was saying "Yeah right."

For once he understood what Saionna was meaning to say. He too doubted that the creature was covered in sheep's blood. Batsu shook his head lightly. "Let's just go," he said as he started off. His grey eyes glanced to Fara. "Don't worry, he won't hurt you."

DK walked back with a fairly large catch in his hand. "Boreas will never win," he said with a grin. His purple eyes were glowing brightly as be walked about with the deer in his grasp. It was hard dragging it this way, but the was fine by him. He could turn into a dragon, but he didn't want to take a chunk out by accident.