Crossover Together ~クロスオーバ 一緒に~

"Alright. You can do this, Yugure. Maybe this can work."

Managing to isolate herself away from England for a while, Twilight was back at it with her alchemy. Methods, for the most part, had been rather slow as the days came and went, and in a way, she really was just training alone like her letter had said. Her alchemy book in hand this time for the alchemy practice, this little alchemist decided to try some other types, since fire alchemy just seemingly didn't work for her despite the much practice she had done with it. This also meant a different symbol was being used over the other fire type she'd been using. On some new gloves, she made a different alchemist mark onto it, this time looking less like the star symbol and more like a diamond symbol instead. She clapped her hands together, and took a glance at the book to be sure she was doing it correctly. Her target this time, taking it with her, was the same candle she had in her room which she placed on a rock as a stand. Some reason it became her target of practice as of late, though this time she wasn't trying to light the candle.

"Here it goes," Twilight thought, taking a deep breath, and putting in her full concentration on the target. If fire wouldn't work, maybe she can try on something else. After full concentration, she brought her arms forward, took a step in front, and both hands were around the candle again. All was quiet at first, and Twilight tried her absolute best to light the candle, or something to it. This wasn't fire alchemy, so who knows what'll happen to this candle now? ...

"Come on ... please ..."

After about five seconds of focus, Twilight began to get excited when she started to see some sort of glow coming from the area where her hands were. Twilight moved them out of the way, and she found that something did happen to the candle this time. It was actually lit up, but not in the typical red flames. In fact, it wasn't even flames for that matter, but instead it looked more like a glowing aura. Strong, bright, and deeply colored in shades of blue and purple dancing in a hue. Not the fire Twilight was used to, but it was very interesting, and very exciting for the girl to see, as she picked the candle up. She moved her hand around the aura, and found that it wasn't even hot like fire, but functioned in a same way as candle light.

"Yes. YES! Finally I got one right," Twilight said to herself, in pure glee and joy. She tried many times before to find it, and now she finally got an Alchemy correct as it was supposed to. It's a start, anyway.

.......

"YUGURE?!"

Not again! Twilight quickly turned herself around, her eyes suddenly looking around as much as she could. THAT voice she knew a little too well, and it gave her shivers almost instantly.

"Where are you?" Twilight asked.

"Everywhere."

"Oh no ... I-I don't know anything! Nothing at all, I-I swear!" Twilight stated during her worrying. The girl kept her eyes scanning her surroundings. However, the thing that troubled her was that she didn't see anyone anywhere that could've spoke to her. The trees were quiet, the wind blew softly around, the book sat there unmoved, and Twilight couldn't see a source of the trouble anywhere, at any point. Was he really everywhere? That possibility made Twilight even more on edge, her eyes darting around, and she quickly got her alchemy book up from the ground just in case. Twilight continued looking around a bit more, until her ears picked up the sounds of movement just behind her. One turn around, and her nerves went into overdrive.
There he was. Hellgar. Coming right up to her.

"AAHH!"

"I haven't asked you anything yet," Hellgar stated, calm yet threatening as he continued his advances. Twilight started to back up, trying to keep some distance away from the hellhound. Hellgar could see the fear and obvious guilt Twilight had on her face. For each one step Twilight made was two of Hellgar's, the hound getting closer and closer.

"I still don't know!" Twilight insisted.

"I know you don't. You didn't tell me about the Ball," Hellgar growled. Twilight was a bit more legitimate when it comes to the confusion here.

"What ball?"

"The Royal Ball your friends scouted for demons last night," Hellgar growled, barring his teeth, and giving them a lick so they glean in the light. Twilight knew that Hellgar wasn't going to go easy on her this time, especially after his previous warning. Twilight's heart raced as Hellgar prepared to jump her, teeth barred and smoke steaming from his jaws. Twilight knew she was on the ropes, but she literally had nothing here. In the end, she only got one solution. ...

Run.

"Think you can get away?!" Hellgar roared, immediately giving chase. Twilight got a head start on her running, running over back towards the town. But despite the head start, Hellgar soon caught up with her, and tackled her down to the ground easily. The tackle hit her right in the back, the blow hard and forceful enough to knock the book out of her hand, the alchemy book landing about two feet away. Hellgar snarled harshly at his spy, hot saliva dripping down onto Twilight's body, as smoke was puffed down at her in huffs, making Twilight cough a bit.

"You're working on my last nerve, Yugure! I did not, repeat, DID NOT let you live so you can screw around!" Hellgar roared, his jaws inches from Twilight's ear.

"I know you didn't!"

"DO YOU?"

"I DO, BUT -" Hellgar slammed his paw over her mouth on her outburst. Twilight couldn't even breathe at first, Hellgar's paw in her mouth and her nose sucking in his smoke. Hellgar leaned in, eyes locked to hers.

"You miserable, creeping worm. ..."

Bizarrely, he took a step off of the girl, and moved over to one of the trees. Twilight recovered and got up to her feet, but by the time she did, Hellgar had already managed to cut down one of the branches from the nearby tree, tossing it down in front of Twilight. Hellgar had enough with his typical threats, and decided to amp up the steaks this time around. Obviously Twilight's own life wasn't working.

"I'll make this simple for you. Say this is your friends. If I come across you again, and you don't have anything for me ..."

The implications by what he did next was enough to make it clear. Hellgar looked down to the large branch he grabbed, inhaled, and blasted a powerful fiery flamethrower straight at it. Twilight quickly backed up from the hellhound, the flames close to scorching her! All that was left from the hellhound's blaze was nothing but ash. Twilight got the idea very quickly, leaving her extremely terrified.

"... no ... You wouldn't ..."

Hellgar gave Twilight a menacing grin with his muzzle, teeth gleaning as he even went in towards her again in a fast trot. Twilight shuffled like mad to get to her feet, but Hellgar was right on top of her again. The hellhound even opened his jaws and hovered right over her face. Twilight thought for sure that the creature would tear her head off, but all that happened was excess smoke blasted at her face. Hellgar couldn't help but laugh as Twilight fanned the smoke away before she would suffocate.

"Okay now, Yugure. This is your final warning. So. Meet me tonight near the Victorian Tower, and you better have something for me this time. Do I make myself clear?"

"... Crystal, sir," Twilight said meekly, getting herself off the ground, and picking up her book. She had her own ways to get out of it before, but there was no escaping it this time. Hellgar now had her whole group by their necks, and it was up to her if they'll be safe or not. One more goof, and it'll be six more graves, one which was high society. Hellgar moved over to her, calmer this time, and steadily moved away, his tail gently grazing her side just before he confidently moved away, back from where he came. Twilight was alone again, and now she had a more pressured job to do. With that in mind, she went off away from the location as well, book in hand, and knowing what she had to handle.

For the first time, she was regretting going to her friends.

~~

Back in the big city, things were in an uproar over the events at the Royal Ball. As if the event itself wasn't big enough, this breakdown of the palace's balcony made a bit of a surprise to those who found it during the day. Kinda hard to hide a missing balcony, even with the debris removed and cleaned up thanks to Korosensei's involvement. Try as he might, it wasn't going to be missed when the first passerby saw the wreckage, or even earlier with some curious guests seeing the crash. Whoever saw it, it spread about the place. Lucky for some people, anything supernatural was pushed out of the question in favor of some faulty structuring.

In the palace, with her involvement on the matters last night, Seitenshi was more than quick to get a personal meeting with the queen to order. After all, not only was part of her home destroyed, but these Homunculus did almost kill her granddaughter, so if anyone is to be aware it's going to be her. It only made sense really.
With some navigation on Seitenshi's part, who was being escorted by some England high guards, Seitenshi got herself to the Queen's more personal quarters. The room was fairly big, resembling a throne room with a large seat for the queen herself to sit. A long carpet of violet velvet stretched from the throne down to the door, which Seitenshi kept on as she approached. Large windows lined the room up to the throne, silver curtains lining each and every single one. Some guards were also present there, excluding the ones who escorted Seitenshi, all standing at attention near the queen. Nearby her, Victoria stood at attention as well, a gentle expression presenting to Seitenshi as she came in. Seitenshi presented herself in a formal fashion with a small now of the head in presentation. She may be on equal level, she Seitenshi was on their terms in their own home. The queen herself was the first to speak.

"Seitenshi. A pleasure for you to make it," the queen stated.

"I feel like I need to. Listen, it's about the Royal Ball last night, it -"

"The destroyed balcony. Yes, and my granddaughter did mention something about some demonic hooligans," the queen said. Seitenshi was a little humbled, but continued anyway.

"Yes, they were there. You also know that we need to figure out a course of action against these creatures. We can't allow these to continue being a threat to the citizens," Seitenshi made clear. A suggestion any leader would consider for his or her people in such situations like these. The queen nodded in agreement.

"Considering how they managed to destroy my property with relative ease, I quite agree. But how to proceed? If the local population learn about this kind of activity. ..." The queen trailed off on that thought, but her point was clear. Local panic would be immediate if they find demons attacking the highest of elites.

"We can always try to call the king of Amestris. I must say, it's been a long time," Victoria suggested. But the queen shook her head.

"There's no need to bring other countries involved in this matter so soon, dear. We don't know how dangerous the matter even is yet," the queen brought up. Victoria looked slightly disappointed but had to agree with her on that.

"The threat level is pretty high by what happened. They nearly killed me, Victoria, and a number of other guests last night in one attempt, not to mention destroyed apart of your house in one move," Seitenshi informed, remembering her experience.

"Speaking of which, where are those 'guests'? Haven't heard much of them since our little get together last night," Victoria wondered, slightly interested in them a bit. That group seemed to know a bit more than they do, anyway. Before any of them could answer however, there was another visitor to the palace, who a guard also escorted to the throne room. It was no stranger exactly, but instead it was Ciel Phantomhive. The kid had arrived with similar intentions as Seitenshi had.

"I assure you, they're alright now," Ciel started.

"Phantomhive. A bit unexpected," the queen stated.

"And without your butler," added Victoria. Seitenshi watched Ciel invite himself in, heading right up and standing alongside Seitenshi. The queen didn’t tell him to leave, and allowed him in.

"He’s currently busy at the moment," Ciel stated just before he stopped. When Seitenshi took a closer look at Ciel’s face, she did begin to sense a bit of an odd sense of Deja Vu from him. Did she see him somewhere before? Ciel kept his formal attitude in front of the queen.

"I can see both of you are alright after last night’s excursion," Ciel stated, referring to Seitenshi and Victoria personally. Victoria smiled warmly to Ciel (or it looked warmly anyway).

"And I see you’re not enjoying your own crossdressing, Phantomhive."

NOT something Ciel wanted to just get blabbered on about. Still, Ciel tried to keep a straight face, despite a crimson color forming on his cheeks. Seitenshi stayed quiet, but she was starting to figure out why Ciel looked familiar now. ...

"I-I wouldn’t call it as such."

"Then how would you consider it? Gender-swapping perhaps?" Victoria teased.

"Some other time you two, we have other matters to attend," the queen said, ending their chat before it could escalate, much to Ciel’s relief. This was not the time for two kids to argue about crossdressing, especially when they both were nearly killed last night. Seitenshi cleared her throat to get their attention now.

"Whatever decision is going to be made, I believe it can’t be limited to just London alone: I’ve been getting reports of activities like these back in Tokyo. I have a feeling something bigger is going on here," Seitenshi informed, remembering the reports over in Tokyo about hellhounds, Jizos, and other matters of such. If demonic activity was happening in both spots like this, then it couldn’t be just a coincidence at this point. The queen thought on this revelation, and soon started to turn over to Ciel.

"Phantomhive. Anything about that task I've given you?" the queen asked.

"Unfortunately no. Dozens had gone missing since I’ve started, including my own butler, but I’ve yet to figure out where they’ve gone to. ... My apologies."

"Don’t be. In fact, it’s best you told me anyway. ..."

The room was quiet for a moment, Ciel, Seitenshi, and Victoria waiting on the queen’s word on what should be done. They can suggest whatever they want, but it came down to the queen on final conclusions. Eventually, the queen finally got the idea hatched in her head.

"Protection."

"Huh?"

"Seems clear that these forces are becoming more frequent, and if so, then the public is all at high risk. Seitenshi. How does a protection agreement sound to you? With combined efforts from the UK and Japanese forces, perhaps both sides can have a better chance in keeping such threats at bay. I’m sure, with some proper training and explanation, then any demons that would appear in London, Tokyo, or otherwise would have more than enough trouble when facing our forces."

"I couldn’t think of anything better. But we should keep it from the public."

"Oh, of course. We’ll keep this in military services, between us, and not beyond that. ... With the exception of this group of guests. As Victoria here has told me, it seems that those normal kids have a deeper involvement than either of us would anticipate," the queen hypothesized. With the Homunculus’s behavior towards those kids, she might have a point.
The decision did feel a little bit mixed for Ciel. Him, being an owner of a demon butler, and being acquaintances with a witch, and Magi. Then again, it really depends on where the agreement goes from there. Either way, Seitenshi concealed the agreement in a handshake with the queen, Ciel and Victoria watching from afar.

"I’ll start preparations the minute I return home. Thank you."

"And thank you for your cooperation. It might take some convincing, but it sounds to me it’ll be easier back in your corner of the world."

Once the decision was made, she then turned over to Ciel standing nearby.

"Phantomhive, you try and inform those other guests about the matter. See what you can figure out with them."

"Assuredly, my lord," Ciel replied, and started to walk off out of the room. With this protection agreement starting to come underway, it will only be a matter of time before they will see how much it will effect both countries.

~~

Three days came and went since this was decided. With the information about this protection agreement now official to both sides of the military call, things were starting to get interesting for many a soldier, guard, or otherwise involved with the situation. Seitenshi stayed with the queen for working out the details in said operation from the palace. Just because an agreement was met, doesn’t mean everything was sorted out, and that was something both London and Tokyo needed to consider one way or another. As for Ciel, the time gave him time to explain the situation back to Nagisa, and his friends (Twilight being the only exception to that). A sort of mixed reaction did come from hearing such news, in particular the fact that a set of strong rulers of the human world were aware of the demon activity now, but they did relax when Ciel said they’ll keep it quiet from public hearing which was something they REALLY wanted to avoid. With their friend missing, hysteria in the community wouldn’t make things any better. Any Demon, Homunculus, or whichever would need to watch it from here on out.
Aladdin and Nagisa both took the time to go out for a while, and leave the others back at the hotel for some extra time to look around for Twilight. Nagisa honestly had been the most troubled ever since Twilight first left, and he’d been looking around more than the others had been. Since he was his closest pal since coming to the human world, Aladdin too had been looking around alongside him, for the sake of helping his friend.
At the moment, the duo went farther away from the more populated areas of London, and towards the outskirts of the place. They’ve been checking up and down the more common areas already, so what other spots to even go out and check? Not as many people were out here, and just as well, this left Nagisa and Aladdin some more freedom in their search.

"Aladdin? ... Do you really think we’ll ever find her?" Nagisa finally asked, after a bit of silence.

"Of course we will, she couldn’t have wandered off too far," Aladdin assured, as he glanced down an alleyway in between the resident buildings, only to find no one. Nagisa was starting to wonder if Aladdin was just saying that or not.

"We hadn’t seen her in weeks now. I’m starting to think something might’ve happen to her."

"Didn’t that creepy Undertaker say she’s still alive?"

"Who said she was dead, Aladdin? She could be lost, or even captured for all we know. She would never just run off on anyone like this. ... Never. ..." Nagisa stayed quiet after he got that out. The thought of one of his old friends captured by some horrid demon scum gave him shivers. The things they’d do if they had her in custody. Aladdin started to worry himself too on what they would do, but he tried to stay optimistic about it, resting a hand on Nagisa’s shoulder.

"Nagisa Shiota. I promise, we’ll find her. She’ll be safe and sound, and we’ll bring her right back the minute we find her, okay?" Aladdin promised, trying to cheer Nagisa up. If there was one thing Aladdin was good at, is cheering up his friends with some good-hearted words. Nagisa smiled to him, and Aladdin looked on ahead. ...

"Yugure. ..."

"Yes, that's -"

"No. Nagisa, look!"

Nagisa, although a little hushed, sounded a bit excited in his tone, and Nagisa went on to look ahead. The path up ahead didn’t look much different from the rest of the sidewalk they’ve been going down, but up ahead both Nagisa and Aladdin met up in what they see. The sidewalk ahead of them lead past one of the consignment shops, and someone began to head out, coming into view. The figure looked a bit scruffy, a different outfit from the norm, but the second they saw her purple hair and eyes, there was no mistaking her.

"... Twi ... Twilight?" Nagisa quietly stated. Aladdin just managed to hear Nagisa state that name, but before Aladdin could say anything, Nagisa was already heading straight for her. She looked right over to them, and sure enough, she quickly recognized them too.

"Nagisa?"

"Twilight! It's you!" Nagisa beamed, hugging his old friend. Nagisa couldn't thank the gods enough for finally finding her. Aladdin couldn't be happier too, seeing Nagisa happy for the first time in weeks.

"Twilight, I thought I'd never see that face again. Where've you been?" Nagisa asked, overjoyed as he could ever be. However, when he saw Twilight's face, her reaction to seeing him and Aladdin were ... more mixed, to say the least.

"I've been practicing alchemy. D-Didn't that note tell you?" Twilight got out, acting like it wasn't that big of a deal. Nagisa felt a little humbled that this note was ACTUALLY right after all, but he was just glad that Twilight was still okay all the same. Nagisa regained himself, and released Twilight from the hug.

"Oh ... that was really what you were doing."

"Uh. Yeah."

"Who's Twilight? I thought we're looking for Yugure." Aladdin suddenly cut in. Only then did Nagisa realize what he called out at this point. Nagisa just stayed quiet, embarrassed that he just blabbered that nickname out like that.

"Uh ... It uh ..."

"It's a special nickname. I let people close to me call me that," Twilight said, humbled herself. She may have not expected them to find her, but she was glad to see some familiar faces again after such a long time.

.......

"YUGURE!!!!! YOU'RE ALIVE!!!!!"

AND the reaction back at the hotel was a bit more overboard. Pinkie Pie cried tears of joy, hugging Twilight tightly to the point Twilight felt like her eyes would pop out. Least Twilight can say that they missed her too, and VERY good they all weren't hugging her with Pinkie. Karma and Blair were happy too.

"Nice. To see. You too," Twilight choked out. Luckily Blair got Pinkie's attention, and the gal loosened her grip on Twilight, the purple girl falling backwards onto the bed, trying to regain her breath. As she did that, Aladdin sat down next to her.

"It's great to see you back. Hey, you said you were practicing alchemy, right? What did you learn?" Aladdin asked, very interested.

"Yeah, show us what you can do," Blair added. Nice that they decided to take on that subject right away instead of going deeper into why she left. With her book in hand, she turned the pages to the one, and at this point, only successful magic she managed to pull off. She got up, and it took her a bit to get her act together, putting on the gloves with the new diamond symbols. Since she did it on a candle though, she really didn't know how to handle it directly, but she clapped her hands anyway as she did before ...

Then they started to glow.

"Whoa, wait a minute, not yet," Twilight said, worried that it would wreck her gloves. Instead, when her hands separated, a violet sphere floated in between her hands. This one was more purple than her first try, but the non-heated light floating in her hands still got the others interested, Aladdin especially. It was unintended, but at least nothing got destroyed this time around.

"WHOOOOA, you made a glow thingy!" Pinkie commented, eyes sparkling with stars.

"It's a aura orb!" Aladdin said, equally excited about it. Twilight held it in her hands, keeping it at a steady level so nothing would go wrong with it.

"Weeks of disappearing, and you only managed to make that?"

"I just got this right this morning, give me a break. I've been fiddling with the others, but this was the only one I got right," Twilight explained. The others were glad Twilight finally was getting somewhere, but Karma obviously found this a bit suspicious. Weeks on end and that is what she got to show for it? Karma went right up to her, hand on her shoulder.

"OK, Yugure, enough with that," Karma stated, Twilight stopping her magic show right then and there. Karma leaned in at her side, so he was eye-level with her.

"So, what have you been really up to?"

"Really? Up to?"

"Yugure, be real: you've been gone for weeks, ISOLATING yourself, and none of us had heard a damn word out of your mouth. Not to mention it happened not too long after our little game when Ciel got himself captured like a little damsel. ..."

Well, Twilight didn't know what to do now. They all waited for what she had to say, but Twilight didn't know if she should tell them straight out or not, especially after Hellgar's sickening warning. Any mess up now, and her friends were all on the chopping block ...

"What really happened?" Karma repeated. Twilight looked around at every face in the room, each one waiting for Twilight to answer. She could feel the pressure around her. She'd been away for far too long for that white lie to work. ...

"I WAS CONNED!" Twilight shouted, surprising everyone in the room.

"Conned?"

"Another demon found me after we saved Ciel. He tried to get me to spy on you, so I had to keep away from everyone! That way when he found me I wouldn't know anything and I couldn't betray anyone! It was awful. ..."

Now it was out. Twilight finally got the actual situation out to the rest of the group around her. Well, that explains everything far as they were concern, Twilight going out into tears about the whole thing. Admitting the problem just reminded her of the many threats that Hellgar shoved into her head, and it began to show in the tears forming on her face. That just made the others feel a little rough themselves.

"Oh, Yugure. ... Don't worry, you're safe now," Nagisa said.

"We'll keep you safe from this demon," Aladdin agreed.

"YES-indeedie! That meanie won't mess with you anymore!" Pinkie added in. Twilight was quiet, but a smile did show up on her face despite the tears coming down. At least she had her friends now, unlike before, even if Hellgar would show up again. ... Show up again ...

"Wait, what am I thinking of? He told me to meet him at the Victorian Tower tonight. If I don't show up, we know where he'll come to look for me," Twilight brought up. Better to have them aware of the danger than to just leave it on that kind of note. The others took a moment, looking back and forth to one another. ...

"Then let him come."

~~

*crash*

Another sound of yet another dish being splattered on the floor back at Phantomhive manor. Things honestly hadn't gone very smoothly there since Sebastian had been up and gone, and the evidence shows time and time again. Ciel was honestly taking it rather hard. Being a young earl and all, most actions around the manor were done with pure efficiency by his butler, but with him gone things had been put a little bit slower, not to mention more troublesome. Just hearing the noises, and pleads from the other people just outside his office made Ciel stressed out more than anything. At least with Sebastian around, he could lend them a hand and clean things up, but with him absent, well, the results were unpleasing. In his office, Ciel tried to calm himself down when Tanaka stepped in, tea cup in hand as per usual and a tray of something else for Ciel.

"Please tell me that wasn't another dish I just heard," Ciel groaned, at this point hoping that it really was him just hearing things.

"My apologies my lord. Mey-Rin and Grell are cleaning it up as we speak," said Tanaka. The young child groaned again, his head now on the table. Tanaka took a few steps into the office, and stood by Ciel's side, similar to how Sebastian would.

"I do apologize for Sebastian's absence."

"Where did that pathetic butler go? This is unheard of for Sebastian," Ciel wondered allowed. Never before had Sebastian just went off on him in such a way like this. Not a single hint, clue, or whatever, just gone.

"There, there my young lord. I'm more than sure Sebastian will come back around one of these days. I don't blame you for worrying over -"

"I'm not worrying over him!" Ciel suddenly protested. Tanaka quickly regained himself as Ciel also regained.

"Things went a lot smoother while he was here. I'm going to give him a good telling off the second he steps through that door," Ciel said, sounding angry. With how much trouble was going on, even excluding the trouble with the other servants in the manor, stress was understandable on the young lord, Tanaka seeing that easily with Ciel here. He still was a kid all the same, in spite of his maturity and all. Still, Tanaka did bring something else in for him, and presented some desserts for Ciel.

"I thought some of your favorite sweets would calm your nerves, my young lord," Tanaka said. With that, he quietly walked off on his way to help the others out with their trouble, leaving Ciel to nibble on some of the cookies left for him. A nice little snack, but it didn't help the issue aside from some stress eating on Ciel's part. He only got through about five of the dozen of cookies when ...

"ACK!"

"Now what?" Ciel said, almost in a stressed growl. The young earl got up from his seat, and went right on outside his office, following the sounds of strained chokes over to the next room, only to find Grell. ... Well, finding Grell in a noose, that is.

"What're you doing now?" Ciel asked, Mey-Rin, Tanaka, and Bardroy coming in behind him to see Grell up there.

"I do believe I'm in the process of dying, master Ciel," Grell choked out. Normally this would panic anyone, but this was Grell, and Ciel had grown a little too used to this.

"Get him down, somebody," Ciel instructed, the others scrambling to get him down before his neck would break. He was going through enough trouble, a suicide attempt was not going to fix anything for him.
As they were busy with that, Ciel took a walk out of his manor and to the front garden. He had a lot on his plate: Sebastian missing, the protection agreement, and these involvements with Nagisa's group and the Homunculus. That alone was a bit rough, even with Sebastian for company, but with him away he was left more alone than he'd like, despite the other servants inside the manor helping him out as much as they could. These days had been rather messy, to say the least.

"... Sebastian. ..."

~~

And now, it was nightfall. Things seemed awfully quiet for the hotel, not a sound to be heard anywhere in the room. The night may be cloudy, but moonlight still found its way to creep into the room. Laying on the bed, sound asleep it seemed, Twilight went on to rest her mind in one of the beds. Strange though, the rest of the room felt oddly quiet, not another soul in there. Not in the second bed, nor by her own. Just her there, with only the company of the night wind and distant sounds of London. Resting soundly, alchemy book by her side, as if she was back at the other hotel at the outskirts. Truth be told, Twilight was anticipating what would be going on, and once more she wasn't alone.

"Yugure."

"Here we go," Twilight thought. Twilight opened one eye to check her surroundings, but couldn't see anything anywhere. She glanced by her bed, over by the window, over by the door, but no sign anywhere. Regardless though, her nerves were up.

Then came the saliva.

Looking up from the bed, her midnight visitor began to reveal himself, slowly crawling out from what looked like some pocket portal in the wall. His eyes burned with a red hue, steaming saliva dripping from his sharp, serrated teeth. Hellgar had arrived, and this hellhound was NOT pleased at all. Twilight stayed still, with Hellgar moving in more and more until he was fully into the room. Even with the dim light, Hellgar wasn't by any means invisible to Twilight's eyes. The girl sat up in bed to face Hellgar again.

"So, my dear, dear Twilight. I didn't see you at the Victorian Tower. ... That, and here you are, hiding."

"No. No," Twilight quietly said, Hellgar leaning in.

"I should warn you: a Houndoom's bite is beyond lethal. Once my species attacks hit and tear, the wounds will never heal. One bite out of you, and all that will be left of you is a pool of blood. ... That is, if you actually have anything for me this time. ..."

"... Yes. Yes I do," Twilight stated. Hellgar smiled wickedly, and sat down on the bed, on Twilight's legs.

"Well then? It's about time you came around. Now, what. Do. You. Have?"

It all happened rather quick now: Twilight suddenly gave a good and strong whistle, one that Hellgar immediately jumped to. And he wasn't the only one either; the rest of her friends charged at him, appearing from the shadows! Hellgar didn't have time to even comprehend when they jumped him, Pinkie tackling the demon hound off the bed first. Hellgar came alive in a fit of barks, snarls, and thrashes as the others tried to keep him still. Pinkie gripped hard on his shoulders, but Karma really made a difference when he gripped Hellgar's neck to keep his head still, holding him down in a manor like a gator angler would to a crocodile. Soon enough, Karma and Pinkie both were sitting on top of the demon dog, Karma keeping his hands firm on the back of Hellgar's neck.
When the lights came back on in the room they all got the better picture, Nagisa helping Twilight up. Hellgar tried to get them off, but he was just stuck under them altogether.

"Damn it, damn it. Get your fat asses off of me!" Hellgar demanded.

"Hey, my booty's awesome, thank you!" Pinkie snapped.

"Yeah, not a chance hellhound," Karma said. After a while, Hellgar decided to reserve his energy and stop thrashing around for now. Aladdin, Nagisa, Twilight and Blair have him a good look over.

"Is this him, Yugure?" Nagisa asked.

"Oh yeah, you got him. Thanks guys for the help," Twilight replied. Hellgar snarled at them again, but as he looked each one of them over, his eyes then drifted over to Blair, who felt uneasy the whole time on seeing him. Could be her being a cat and him being a dog, but worth mentioning. ...

"YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DESTROYED MY HOUSE!" Blair revealed, an accusing finger aimed directly at the hound in question. A rather unexpected surprise, as Hellgar snapped his jaws at Blair, but not reaching her.

"Still pissed off about that, are you?" Hellgar growled.

"Careful hound, we're armed up," Karma warned, though Hellgar wasn't so easily intimidated.

"You pathetic slugs think you can even scratch me? I'd rather be at the manor than deal with any of you right now!"

"The hell are you talking about?" Karma questioned. Hellgar tried to look back as best he could.

"Like I need to tell you."

"TALK, BITCH."

Instead of actually complying, the hellhound finally found his feet, and with a powerful push, Karma and Pinkie both were tossed off of him, landing down onto the floor. Hellgar was more mobile now, but Aladdin got a shield up just fast enough to avoid any attack from the hellhound. It was just enough to block off Hellgar from the others, and Hellgar wasn't strong enough to take that out of the way.

"You humans can't listen to anything, can you? Yugure, you just had ONE job, and I'd left you alone, and you can't even get that right!" Hellgar scolded, pressing his front paws against the surface of their shield. The hellhound was especially ticked off now, and they all can see it.

"She doesn't have to listen to you! Why'd you pick her anyway?" Nagisa questioned.

"Just following orders, scum. If I had the choice I'd kill you all right now!"

"Who's orders?" Questioned Aladdin. Hellgar paused there, and quickly got himself together. A screw up on his part, to be sure. After a quick shake of the head, Hellgar stepped back.

"I'm not telling you anything. I don't need to. But one of you better give me something to work with before I scorch you!" Hellgar roared, embers blasting out for good measure. None of them wanted to say a thing to this guy, and the shield easily deflected the embers launched at them. Basically they were captive: the second Aladdin's shield goes down, Hellgar would make them into nothing but ashes. Something like this was what Twilight wanted to avoid the most, with her friends in danger thanks to Hellgar. What to do? ...

"Okie dokie, how about a trade?" Said a familiar voice. All of them, Hellgar included, turned to Pinkie Pie the second she said that. Of course Hellgar wasn't buying it for a second.

"A trade?"

"Yep! We got questions too: you tell us we'll tell you, deal?"

"WHAA?!" The others gasped. Was Pinkie serious?! Here they were, almost getting roasted, and she was willing to tell him everything. Still, Hellgar found this interesting.

"You go first. Depending on what you say, maybe I'll get mine out." Hellgar said.

Before anyone could stop her ...

"Okie-dokie-lokie: my friend got this fancy show in a dream and we got here to London, and we all had a super time at the Royal Ball where mean Homunculus tried to kill us, and president of Tokyo plus the queen granddaughter, and they gave a protecto agreement for any future meanies to pop up like you. Just like that."

Her chat ended with a big smile on her face, most of her friends freaked out on what she just blabbered on about. Hellgar paused for a bit to take it in, especially that last part. Eventually he grew a devilish grin on his face.

"See Yugure, it's not THAT hard. Now, if you excuse me -"

"Nah ah ah! Your turn doggy," Pinkie cut in. Hellgar though was already over at the window.

"Really? You really think I'd actually follow - AH!"

And Pinkie jumped him again. This time she suddenly stepped on his tail, and pulled it hard until it was in front of his eyes. Pinkie still had her smile on her face, which made the sudden assault a little more unsettling. Hellgar tried to blast fire at her, but Pinkie quickly wrapped his own tail around his mouth like a noose. Smoke bellowed out of his nostrils and lips as he tried to get it loose. With his paw, he actually went as far as to slice his tail off!

"I don't like people who lie to me. It's not nice," Pinkie said, still smile on her face.

"What just happened?" Twilight whispered.

"You should've seen her at the ball," commented Nagisa.

"MMMMM mmmMM!" Hellgar gagged, words unable to figure out normally. Pinkie somehow understood, and loosened the tail around his muzzle.

"You're damn lucky I can regrow my tail."

"Now your deal, please? Pretty please?" Pinkie said, sounding innocent enough. Hellgar rolled his eyes, and just groaned.

"Fine. ... My boss's name is King Sombra, current ruler of Tartarus. He's the one who tasked me here. ... Happy now, bitch?" Hellgar growled. Not too much information, but it was safe enough far as Hellgar was concern. After all, they never met him face to face far as he knew. Apparently that was enough for them, and Pinkie got the tail off of him. It made more sense than what Pinkie's own words were.
But Hellgar wasn't done here. Soon as he got more freedom, he used it to tackle Pinkie, his horns ramming her right in her stomach, and slamming the girl harshly into the wall!

"PINKIE!" Gasped Aladdin, as Pinkie fell to the ground. Hellgar grabbed Pinkie and threw her at the others, the girl landing on Twilight and Karma, just before bolting out the window. None of the others could catch him, the hellhound moved that fast, and by the time Nagisa and Aladdin got to the window, Hellgar was gone completely.

And just in time. ...

"Is everything okay in there?" called a voice from the otherside of their door, sound a little frazzled. After a quick hide-away on Blair and Aladdin's part, in came a passing room attendant of the hotel, only coming in to find Pinkie bruised, and on the floor. The others didn't know what to say to this person.

"Oh my god, what happened?!" the attendant gasped, helping Pinkie up to her feet. How were they supposed to tell him what really happened in here, especially with such a cracked up mess on the wall. Lucky for them, fast-thinking Karma and planning Twilight already had a pre-plan in case the encounter ended up getting attention.

"A robber got into our room from the window. We drove him off, but that bastard slammed our friend before we could," explained Karma, as Twilight helped Pinkie Pie up to her feet. The pink girl was sore, a bit dazed, but nothing too serious apart from blunt force itself to her stomach. The attendant helped Pinkie Pie as well, and Pinkie was put over onto the bed. The attendant looked over to the wall, freaked out from seeing that. What kind of thief had THAT kind of strength?! Well, as they handled Pinkie Pie, Nagisa glanced outside to the window where Hellgar had jumped out.

"Sombra, huh?"