Rise of the Night/Run of Night

“Shadow we need to talk now” Nightmare moon's voice echoed in his mind while he was asleep.

“What is it? Assassins? The water and food was poisoned?” Shadow thought back to her.

“No I can't hear them anymore. The other fragments have gone silent.” she said.

“Ok and that's supposed to to be important … wait what do you mean the other fragments?” he thought back in a slight panic. He only had one fragment of Nightmare Moon so how is it that she can hear the other fragments?

It seems that you have forgotten that I am connected to the other fragments. However they have all gone silent. Something has happened to the other fragments and I can't tell what.” she answered.

“Wait you been talking to the other fragments this whole time? Why the fuck haven't I ever heard of them in my head then?” he asked.

“Because I didn't want to bother a lowly subject with my talks” she thought back.

“Well you seem to forget that this lowly subject is the only reason you can walk around or interact with anyone so it would be wise to not piss me off.” he thought back to her.

“And why is that? What can you possibly do to me? Put me back in my cage? Try to remove me? Last time I check all of the other test subjects that had their fragments removed before death went insane or died.” she thought back. She was right. All of them had either went insane or died during the operation.

“So what is it you want me to do?” he asked her.

“There was one thought that kept repeating before they vanished. The council has us. My guess is that's the reason why the council has been after you. They want me for some kind of experiment or to clean up a mess that wasn't meant to be successful. Well it would seem our chat is to be cut short.” she said. He wondered what she meant and that's when he felt he was being woken up.

“Shadow? You okay?” Lyla asked with her hand on his cheek. He was surprised to see her here and not bound like a prisoner like he was. But he couldn't deny that he was happy to see her. Even with his hands bound he managed to sit up and wrap his arms around her.

“I thought Congo told you not to be reckless?” he jokingly asked her.

“Kinda hard not to when you decide to play hero a lot.” she said wrapping her arms around him. He removed his arms and looked back to Wildcard.

“So why is he here? Is he an inside man for Congo?” he asked.

“No, he's an old friend of mine. Long story that I might tell you one day.” she answered as she pulled the knife out and cut the rope binding his hands. He flexed and massaged his wrist.

“Old friend? Like after I left or before that?” he asked a little more concerned about who this guy was.

“Before she come to the Diamond Dongs. But how she fell for someone like you I will never know.” Wildcard answered for her, taunting him.

“Well maybe it's because I'm better looking.” Shadow answered taking a step closer to Wildcard.

“Enough the last thing I need is for you two playing 'whose got the bigger dick'.” Lyla said as she stepped between them. Shadow and Wild both chuckled as one of Wild's men came inside the cell.

“Hey boss phone call from the Diamond Dongs. They are asking for aid in tracking down two of their members who might be lost in the desert.” he said holding out a phone in his hand.

“Alright I'll talk to them.” he said before leaving the room with the man.

“Just so you know I'm punishing you for scaring me like that.” Lyla said wrapping her arms around him once again.

“How did I scare you?” he asked holding her close to him.

“The body at the train wreak. I thought it was you.” she whispered.

“It wasn't. It was that fucking traitor 'Kit'. Also I should punish you for for letting him join in the first place.” he whispered back before kissing her forehead.

She gasped. “Why are you punishing me? I didn't know he was a traitor. You can't hold this against me.” she said.

“Sure I can. Your holding the fact that I saved you from something worse then you could imagine against me so I can hold this against you.” he said. Wild walked back into the room.

“Ok so Congo is going to drop by tomorrow after they get things sorted out. Seems like with the recent event he is going through all the members, making sure they are who they claim they are. Which means I guess your my guess for the night. So let me show you around my lovely abode.” Wild said leading them out into camp.

The camp was build in the ruins of a town. However the holes and torn down buildings where either patched up with wood or was covered in tarp. He showed them around to several of the buildings. They had a saloon, barber, a small armory, and a storage for supplies. However they looked low on supplies.

“Where are all of your supplies? If your robbing trains you should have this building at least half full.” Shadow asked looking over the supplies.

“Well there hasn't been a supply train in over several months. We barely got any supplies from last nights train that you were on.” he answered.

“Hey Lyla, Congo has a lot of supplies that we took from Manehatten right? So we should be able to give some to these guys.” Shadow asked.

“We probably can spare some rations and water.” Lyla said.

“Why are you trying to help us?” Wild asked.

“Because I see it as bad faith to note lead a helping hand to someone who saved me from the desert.” Shadow answered as they left the supply shack. They spent the next few hours exploring the camp and looking at all the various clothing they wore. Lyla tried on several outfits before fore she decided to keep one. She didn't show Shadow what it was only that she had sworn that he would like it and that she picked one out for him. Hours passed as night time finally came and Wild showed them to a ruined building with wooden planks for a wall.

“Don't worry about privacy. I'll tell the men to steer clear of this one for the night. Take care you two” Wild said chuckling to himself.