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Description

[Grievous Heart]

They all agreed to gag Cryak as soon as they had him chained up, not wanting to waste time on arguments or pointless defenses. Ecchs and Kyo agreed to stand watch while their mother went to look in on Rin, meanwhile Clyde had volunteered to sow up Rio’s body, allow him some form of dignity before his rotting corpse could terrify his daughter. He collected some tools, a fishing hook and some line, and a bucket to hold some water to clean his hands. Belix followed him upstairs, agreeing to help but found herself a bit surplus to requirement and wound up leaning against the nearest wall while he reset bone and stitched flesh back together.

“So why don’t you use the spiders to wrap him up?” she asked.

“The threads fade after a day or so,” Clyde explained, “And they stretch, and I don’t want his guts popping open when it’s least convenient.”

“Fair…” Belix shrugged, “So I guess… job done then right, we can leave, get back to…”

“I think Kyo killed his father,” Clyde responded bluntly.

“...that…” Belix let out a scoff, “I mean… that’s… Where are you even getting that?”

“Well, that baggie he pulled didn’t come from the front pocket, he didn’t find it until I looked away, he actually let it slip that he was drinking while his father was getting killed, and, in all the confusion,” he leaned down on Rio’s chest, snapping a rib back into place and sowing it down, “Everyone forgot about whatever the Hell was in his chest that got stolen.”

“You… well, I mean, you’re not wrong, but does that mean…”

“Exactly,” Clyde mentioned as he finished his work and buttoned Rio’s shirt over the wound, “I got nothing solid, if I had stood up and said anything, they would’ve thrown my ass down in the cellar, or we’d still be arguing about it.”

“And, because they’ve already resolved the situation, what, you expect them to let their guard down?”

“Yes,” Clyde nodded, washing his hands in the bucket and then carrying it to the kitchen, to empty it in the sink, “I’m gonna check the cellar, then his rooms, see if I can find anything.”

“You’re really committed to pissing on this hornet’s nest aren’t you?”

“Look, if I find nothing then there’s nothing I can do, but…”

“That wasn’t a criticism,” Belix mentioned, “Just an observation.”

“So… so you’re going to help me?”

“Of course,” Belix approached him, placing a hand on his arm, “We’re in this together.”

“That’s… great,” he commented, “So, do you want to split up?”

“I’ll rifle through Ecchs’ stuff, you go through Kyo’s room?”

“If, that works,” Clyd backed away nervously, “So, we’ll… um, let’s get started.”

He turned away and walked out, leaving Belix standing in the kitchen with her arms folded.

“One day,” she muttered before leaving, “One day…”

Belix went upstairs, even though she had arrived here as Ecchs’ potential fiance, they had given the both of them separate rooms. In fact, if Belix could hazard a guess, she would have said that he was sleeping in his old room, the one he had as a boy. A strange sense of unease overtook her, like she was violating his privacy, but quickly pushed past it. After rummaging around in his drawers, she checked under the bed, then started searching for hiding spots.

Coming up with nothing, she did her best to tidy up and then sat down on the bed, trying to think of any spot she might’ve overlooked. She heard the footsteps coming before he arrived, and jumped up before she realized that acting suspicious might wind up getting her caught. So she stood and she waited, a few seconds later, Ecchs came slouching in, his head in his hands. When he finally noticed Belix in the room, he barely even bothered to acknowledge her.

“So…” he grunted, collapsing on the bed, “What brings ya?”

“You actually,” Belix reminded him.

“Yeah, I’m… I thought it would’ve been a…” he sighed, laying on the bed and staring at the ceiling, “I’m sorry, alright, I… I’m sorry…”

Overcome with sympathy, she walked over, kicking off her shoes, she lay beside him and wrapped her arm around his neck.

“Why?” she asked.

“Why what?”

“Don’t even play that with me, why’d you do it man, why am I even here?”

“Because…” he sighed, sitting up and groaning, “You know I had a lie about this, I was…” rubbing his face he let out a long frustrated groan, “I was going to slip my ...my uncle some, some aphrodisiacs, he’d do something and then, and then I could finally do something…”

“Yeah, but why me?” Belix asked sincerely, “Just buy a hooker, or go talk to one of your other girlfriends.”

“I don’t have any other girlfriends,” Ecchs admitted sadly, turning his back on her, “I, look, I get around, I’m not a monk, but, they’re one-night stands, they don’t mean anything to me, they… you, I’m in love with you, always have been.”

Belix didn’t sit up, but she was stricken silent by the confession, unable to move for several seconds.

“Well,” Ecchs sighed, “That’s encouraging.”

“I don’t mean to put you out but,” she shrugged, “It’s just a lot take in.”

Ecchs started to snicker and Belix glared at him.

“What?!” she demanded.

“That’s not the first time you’ve said that to me.”

“Yeah, when I was drunk,” she scoffed.

A silence stretched between them, Ecchs bowed his head.

“Did it… did any of it mean something to you?”

“… it was fun,” was all Belix could think to say.

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do,” he whispered to her, “Nothing I wouldn’t give, if you would just…”

“I know,” Belix agreed, finally sitting up, “I… frankly, I’m in the same boat, what I wouldn’t give to just hear those three little words.”

“But not from me?” Ecchs nodded, his head hanging lower, before finally turning to face her, “So… him? Really?”

“I used you,” she whispered, leaning closer, “I was… you could have anyone you want, why me?”

“True enough,” Ecchs reached out and caressed her face, “Aren’t you even a little tempted?”

“I’m not a good fit…”

“Fuck the Council!” Ecchs declared, squeezing her hand, “I am the leader of this family now, my word, my order, I can do whatever I want.”

“And that’s appealing to you.”

“Not for you?”

“That wasn’t a question, it was a statement,” Belix pulled away, “I like you Ecchs, deep down, I honestly think you’re a good guy, but you’re also the manipulative little shit who tried to drug me before dragging me in here.”

“I… had the best intentions,” Ecchs winced.

“No you didn’t!” Greta’s voice snapped at them from the doorway, shaking, her arms wrapped around herself as she shivered.

Belix and Ecchs looked back at her in surprise. Eventually, Ecchs smiled, trying to be charming.

“I thought you were still sleeping?”

“Is it true?” Greta demanded.

“Is…” Belix stood from the bed, approaching the other woman cautiously, “Is what true?”

“Did...did you…” tears started rolling down her cheeks as her words slurred together becoming unintelligible.

“Greta, calm down,” Belix whispered.

“DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!!” Greta shrieked, but quickly deflated, backing away from the door, “You killed him…” she wept, stepping away, “You… I know you did…”

“Greta, listen to me!” Ecchs insisted.

“Stay Away From Me!” Greta sobbed, running away, “Don’t touch me!”

Ecchs stared at the floor, and Belix leered at him curiously.

“Something you want to share?” Belix demanded.

“Not… particularly…” Ecchs muttered.

Belix circled the room, heading towards the exit.

“Clyde tried to kill you,” she mentioned, stopping at the door.

She waited for Ecchs to respond, but he said nothing and she stepped outside, searching for Greta.

Sometime earlier, Clyde made his way down to the cellar just as Ecchs made his exit. They passed each other on the stairs, shared a glance, but made no comment. At the bottom, he found Kyo, alone, pacing a circle around Cryak’s prone, chained, body.

“Guess the boss doesn’t take his job too seriously,” Clyde tried to joke, getting Kyo’s attention.

“It’s his prerogative,” Kyo nodded politely, “Privileges of Power, what’re you doing here?”

“Thirsty,” he pointed towards the liquor cabinet, “Wanted a night-cap.”

“Well, you are a guest,” Kyo scoffed, and let him by, “You’re welcome to it.”

Clyde smiled appreciatively, then walked through the room, examining the shelves, taking special note of the gaps and missing bottles, eventually spotting a single clean space among a cloud of dust.

“What was here?” he asked.

“Prevalcia’s Brew,” Kyo explained, “A one-thousand year old brandy, my father favored it for special occasions.”

“So where is it?”

“...I’d… check his study,” Kyo shrugged, “He may have been preparing a drop for Ecchs, to celebrate his big day.”

“I don’t think so,” Clyde mentioned, “The spot’s too clean, this was moved recently, within a day or so.”

“So?”

“So your dad spent the day kicking the crap out of Ecchs, he wouldn’t have been pouring him a drink.”

“Well, you say that, but you didn’t really know my father, did you?”

“I suppose not,” Clyde shrugged, “Was just thinking we might’ve found our smoking gun is all,” he stepped back and headed towards the stairs, “I’m gonna check his room, see if I can find the bottle, maybe we can all drink a toast?”

“Well, if it’s poisoned then…”

“Why poison the booze when you can poison the cup,” Clyde shrugged, then turned to leave, “I’ll give it a look-see, tell you what I find.”

Rather than going upstairs, Clyde found himself a quiet nook to hide in and watched Kyo go stomping away a few moments later.

“Bad policy,” Clyde muttered, slipping back into the cellar and kneeling down next to Cryak’s unconscious body.

He let out a sigh, checked Cryak’s wound, and then violently slapped the man in the face, waking him up. Before Cryak could start to struggle and scream, Clyde leaned down, and put a hand over his already gagged mouth.

“Stop,” he said warningly, “If you scream I am going to put you back to sleep,” Cryak scoffed in his face, and Clyde rolled his eyes, “Someone will, now, do you want to stay down here and die, or do you want me to help you live?”

Cryak mumbled and cursed loudly, but then nodded his head. Seeing his agreement, Clyde reached down and untied the gag from around the captive’s head.

“Thanks for that you little…”

“Just answer the questions or I’ll shove it down your throat,” Clyde insisted, “Now, what was taken from Rio?”

“My brother?” Cryak looked at him curiously, “What do you care about that?”

“Because that’s the real smoking gun, booze can be drained, bottles can be broken, but this is something Kyo would’ve kept close by, not something he’d give up easily, and It’d be nice to know what it looks like.”

“Believe me,” Cryak scoffed, “You’ll know it when you see it.”

“That’s not an answer!”

“It’s a n orb,” Cryak insisted, “A little gemstone, fits right in the palm of our hand, and you’ll know it, because of the fire.”

“The what?”

“It will be surrounded by energy and flame, it’s the crystallized soul of our first ancestor, Yatsuo.”

“Kind of hard to hide something like that,” Clyde mused.

“Right,” Cryak laughed at him, “If he’s smart it’s not on him, it’s at the bottom of the lake?”

“Why?”

“Water opposes flame,” Cryak shrugged, making the observation sound painfully obvious, “The lake water’d snuff it out…”

“So what if he used a jar?” Clyde asked, “Filled that with water and used it to contain the orb?”

“...oh…” Cryak blinked in surprise, “I… yeah, I suppose that might work.”

“Thank you,” Clyde nodded, and then pulled the gag over his mouth again even as Cryak began to protest.

With his curiosity satisfied, Clyde wandered back through the mansion, circling around until he found the wing with Kyo’s rooms in it. He could hear something in the distance, at first he mistook it for someone rifling through papers, rummaging around in a closet maybe, and it drew him closer until he realized it was Drucilla. She was leaning, collapsed, yet somehow still standing against a nearby suit of armor as she quietly wept. Clyde didn’t know what to say or do, this seemed a private moment, and one he didn’t want to intrude upon, so he started to double-back, find another way to approach the rooms.

“...It was…” Dru sniffed, tears still rolling freely down her cheeks, it took a second for him to realize that she was crying blood, “I was… I was trying to check in on Greta,” she insisted, and Clyde found himself actually hoping she wasn’t talking to him, “And I ...I couldn’t go… any… more…”

Clyde wanted to disappear, fade into the shadows and vanish. Wincing, he stepped forward instead and offered her his hand.

“There’s a bathroom nearby,” he whispered, “You can get yourself cleaned up…”

“Th-thank you,” she whimpered, grabbing fist fulls of his sleeve and leaning on him now to the point he nearly needed to carry her down the hall and past the rooms he was intent on investigating.

Together in the bathroom, he watched as she soaked a damp cloth and tried to clean the red stripes off of her cheeks. Once again, he tried his best to leave only to witness her shout in frustration, throwing the rag across the room and collapsing onto the floor.

“Stupid, fucking, eyes!” she complained pathetically, burying her face in her hands, “I can’t even tell… I don’t know…”

Clyde took a deep breath and then collected the rag, soaked it in the sink, then knelt beside Drucilla. Gently, he pushed her hand aside and cleaned her face for her.

“I’m so pathetic,” she grumbled, shaking her head.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Clyde insisted.

“Oh? And what would you say?” Drucilla demanded, then shook her head, trying to push him away, “It doesn’t matter, it’s not…”

“You’re worried about your daughter?” Clyde asked, and persisted in cleaning her as another bloody tear rolled down her cheek, “I would be too.”

“...do you have children?”

“No,” he admitted, “At least, I don’t think so…”

“Smart answer,” she scoffed, seemingly amused, then after a moment, reached out to him, “Hold still.”

Silently, her fingers traced the edges of his jaw, then the contours of his cheeks, she felt the outlines of his lips, the shape of his nose, and then his eyes.

“So young,” she breathed, then smiled, “You… you don’t sound young.”

“… have you… if you don’t mind my asking?” Clyde mentioned, still cleaning her face.

“No, I wasn’t always blind,” she admitted, “Once I was… I was his confidant, then I saw something I shouldn’t have, he gave me a choice, my life, or my eyes, and my life… it’s such a fleeting thing, only a fraction of his, but, if I could spend even a moment longer, by his side…”

She started weeping again and buried her face in her hands. Clyde moved away to clean the rag in the sink.

“He never took another bride?” Clyde asked, still trying to squeeze the red out of the cloth.

“What kind…” she sniffed loudly, “Of question is that?!”

“It’s been said a lot around here, ‘the first wife’, it means he’s supposed to marry others, breeding partners and…”

“He would have, eventually, he would have…”

“I don’t think so ma’am,” Clyde insisted, kneeling down again to clean her up, “I think he loved you very much, I think… I think you meant the world to him.”

“You’re an idiot, and a stranger, and you...you’re…” she whined, shaking her head, “Thank you…”

“It was just a thought ma’am,” he tried to clean her again, but she pulled the rag out of his hand.

“I can do this,” she insisted, “Go about your business, let me have my dignity, what’s left of it.”

“As you wish, Good Lady,” Clyde bowed before leaving.

In the back of his mind, he was regretting what he was about to do, that this family didn’t deserve to be harmed any worse than it already had been, but there was an unquestionable drive that overrode it. A man had been killed, another would be punished in place of the murderer, and he could not allow that to happen. Slipping into Kyo’s room, he spent several minutes searching it before he heard the explosion.

Minutes before, Belix was chasing Greta down the hall.

“Stop following me!” Greta snapped, her tears nearly dried, her sorrow replaced, almost completely by a barely restrained rage.

“Yeah, not gonna do that,” Belix admitted, still rushing to catch up, “Can you just talk to me?”

“Why?” Greta snapped, “So you can run back to your boyfriend, tell him how I broke down and wept? Trust me, he’s seen it before!”

“Clyde?” Belix wondered, then corrected herself, “Oh, you meant Ecchs, it’s… look, it’s not what you think…”

“I don’t care!” Greta shouted back, “You’re either fucking him or working for him, either way, I’ve got nothing to say to you, and YOU need to get the fuck away from me!”

“Greta,” Belix finally managed to overtake her and tried to block her path, “Stop, please, Please, just talk to me, let me help.”

“You don’t get it,” Greta insisted, shoving her aside, “He’s in charge now, he can do whatever he wants, to us… to me…”

“I’m sorry,” Belix insisted and, finally, Greta stopped running, head hung low, she stared at the floor, but Belix didn’t dare approach, “I really am… If I’d known…”

“Run away,” Greta told her, approaching an open door and slowly leaning in, “Take Rin, and get the Hell out of this house.”

“What?”

“It won’t be standing for much longer,” Greta finished, rushing into the room.

Belix quickly followed, but not quick enough. She leaned around the door just in time to see Greta reach into a water filled jar and pull out a small red orb. The minute the orb touched the air, it ignited, turning into a blazing orb of roiling flame that noticeably scorched Greta’s skin. Belix tried to rush in, but Greta threw the jar at her feet, making her back away. With tears in her eyes, turning to smoke as she raised the gemstone to her mouth, Greta swallowed the gemstone and her body burst into fire, shattering the room with its sheer presence, and all the while, her body started to change.

Description

[Grievous Heart]

They all agreed to gag Cryak as soon as they had him chained up, not wanting to waste time on arguments or pointless defenses. Ecchs and Kyo agreed to stand watch while their mother went to look in on Rin, meanwhile Clyde had volunteered to sow up Rio’s body, allow him some form of dignity before his rotting corpse could terrify his daughter. He collected some tools, a fishing hook and some line, and a bucket to hold some water to clean his hands. Belix followed him upstairs, agreeing to help but found herself a bit surplus to requirement and wound up leaning against the nearest wall while he reset bone and stitched flesh back together.

“So why don’t you use the spiders to wrap him up?” she asked.

“The threads fade after a day or so,” Clyde explained, “And they stretch, and I don’t want his guts popping open when it’s least convenient.”

“Fair…” Belix shrugged, “So I guess… job done then right, we can leave, get back to…”

“I think Kyo killed his father,” Clyde responded bluntly.

“...that…” Belix let out a scoff, “I mean… that’s… Where are you even getting that?”

“Well, that baggie he pulled didn’t come from the front pocket, he didn’t find it until I looked away, he actually let it slip that he was drinking while his father was getting killed, and, in all the confusion,” he leaned down on Rio’s chest, snapping a rib back into place and sowing it down, “Everyone forgot about whatever the Hell was in his chest that got stolen.”

“You… well, I mean, you’re not wrong, but does that mean…”

“Exactly,” Clyde mentioned as he finished his work and buttoned Rio’s shirt over the wound, “I got nothing solid, if I had stood up and said anything, they would’ve thrown my ass down in the cellar, or we’d still be arguing about it.”

“And, because they’ve already resolved the situation, what, you expect them to let their guard down?”

“Yes,” Clyde nodded, washing his hands in the bucket and then carrying it to the kitchen, to empty it in the sink, “I’m gonna check the cellar, then his rooms, see if I can find anything.”

“You’re really committed to pissing on this hornet’s nest aren’t you?”

“Look, if I find nothing then there’s nothing I can do, but…”

“That wasn’t a criticism,” Belix mentioned, “Just an observation.”

“So… so you’re going to help me?”

“Of course,” Belix approached him, placing a hand on his arm, “We’re in this together.”

“That’s… great,” he commented, “So, do you want to split up?”

“I’ll rifle through Ecchs’ stuff, you go through Kyo’s room?”

“If, that works,” Clyd backed away nervously, “So, we’ll… um, let’s get started.”

He turned away and walked out, leaving Belix standing in the kitchen with her arms folded.

“One day,” she muttered before leaving, “One day…”

Belix went upstairs, even though she had arrived here as Ecchs’ potential fiance, they had given the both of them separate rooms. In fact, if Belix could hazard a guess, she would have said that he was sleeping in his old room, the one he had as a boy. A strange sense of unease overtook her, like she was violating his privacy, but quickly pushed past it. After rummaging around in his drawers, she checked under the bed, then started searching for hiding spots.

Coming up with nothing, she did her best to tidy up and then sat down on the bed, trying to think of any spot she might’ve overlooked. She heard the footsteps coming before he arrived, and jumped up before she realized that acting suspicious might wind up getting her caught. So she stood and she waited, a few seconds later, Ecchs came slouching in, his head in his hands. When he finally noticed Belix in the room, he barely even bothered to acknowledge her.

“So…” he grunted, collapsing on the bed, “What brings ya?”

“You actually,” Belix reminded him.

“Yeah, I’m… I thought it would’ve been a…” he sighed, laying on the bed and staring at the ceiling, “I’m sorry, alright, I… I’m sorry…”

Overcome with sympathy, she walked over, kicking off her shoes, she lay beside him and wrapped her arm around his neck.

“Why?” she asked.

“Why what?”

“Don’t even play that with me, why’d you do it man, why am I even here?”

“Because…” he sighed, sitting up and groaning, “You know I had a lie about this, I was…” rubbing his face he let out a long frustrated groan, “I was going to slip my ...my uncle some, some aphrodisiacs, he’d do something and then, and then I could finally do something…”

“Yeah, but why me?” Belix asked sincerely, “Just buy a hooker, or go talk to one of your other girlfriends.”

“I don’t have any other girlfriends,” Ecchs admitted sadly, turning his back on her, “I, look, I get around, I’m not a monk, but, they’re one-night stands, they don’t mean anything to me, they… you, I’m in love with you, always have been.”

Belix didn’t sit up, but she was stricken silent by the confession, unable to move for several seconds.

“Well,” Ecchs sighed, “That’s encouraging.”

“I don’t mean to put you out but,” she shrugged, “It’s just a lot take in.”

Ecchs started to snicker and Belix glared at him.

“What?!” she demanded.

“That’s not the first time you’ve said that to me.”

“Yeah, when I was drunk,” she scoffed.

A silence stretched between them, Ecchs bowed his head.

“Did it… did any of it mean something to you?”

“… it was fun,” was all Belix could think to say.

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do,” he whispered to her, “Nothing I wouldn’t give, if you would just…”

“I know,” Belix agreed, finally sitting up, “I… frankly, I’m in the same boat, what I wouldn’t give to just hear those three little words.”

“But not from me?” Ecchs nodded, his head hanging lower, before finally turning to face her, “So… him? Really?”

“I used you,” she whispered, leaning closer, “I was… you could have anyone you want, why me?”

“True enough,” Ecchs reached out and caressed her face, “Aren’t you even a little tempted?”

“I’m not a good fit…”

“Fuck the Council!” Ecchs declared, squeezing her hand, “I am the leader of this family now, my word, my order, I can do whatever I want.”

“And that’s appealing to you.”

“Not for you?”

“That wasn’t a question, it was a statement,” Belix pulled away, “I like you Ecchs, deep down, I honestly think you’re a good guy, but you’re also the manipulative little shit who tried to drug me before dragging me in here.”

“I… had the best intentions,” Ecchs winced.

“No you didn’t!” Greta’s voice snapped at them from the doorway, shaking, her arms wrapped around herself as she shivered.

Belix and Ecchs looked back at her in surprise. Eventually, Ecchs smiled, trying to be charming.

“I thought you were still sleeping?”

“Is it true?” Greta demanded.

“Is…” Belix stood from the bed, approaching the other woman cautiously, “Is what true?”

“Did...did you…” tears started rolling down her cheeks as her words slurred together becoming unintelligible.

“Greta, calm down,” Belix whispered.

“DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!!” Greta shrieked, but quickly deflated, backing away from the door, “You killed him…” she wept, stepping away, “You… I know you did…”

“Greta, listen to me!” Ecchs insisted.

“Stay Away From Me!” Greta sobbed, running away, “Don’t touch me!”

Ecchs stared at the floor, and Belix leered at him curiously.

“Something you want to share?” Belix demanded.

“Not… particularly…” Ecchs muttered.

Belix circled the room, heading towards the exit.

“Clyde tried to kill you,” she mentioned, stopping at the door.

She waited for Ecchs to respond, but he said nothing and she stepped outside, searching for Greta.

Sometime earlier, Clyde made his way down to the cellar just as Ecchs made his exit. They passed each other on the stairs, shared a glance, but made no comment. At the bottom, he found Kyo, alone, pacing a circle around Cryak’s prone, chained, body.

“Guess the boss doesn’t take his job too seriously,” Clyde tried to joke, getting Kyo’s attention.

“It’s his prerogative,” Kyo nodded politely, “Privileges of Power, what’re you doing here?”

“Thirsty,” he pointed towards the liquor cabinet, “Wanted a night-cap.”

“Well, you are a guest,” Kyo scoffed, and let him by, “You’re welcome to it.”

Clyde smiled appreciatively, then walked through the room, examining the shelves, taking special note of the gaps and missing bottles, eventually spotting a single clean space among a cloud of dust.

“What was here?” he asked.

“Prevalcia’s Brew,” Kyo explained, “A one-thousand year old brandy, my father favored it for special occasions.”

“So where is it?”

“...I’d… check his study,” Kyo shrugged, “He may have been preparing a drop for Ecchs, to celebrate his big day.”

“I don’t think so,” Clyde mentioned, “The spot’s too clean, this was moved recently, within a day or so.”

“So?”

“So your dad spent the day kicking the crap out of Ecchs, he wouldn’t have been pouring him a drink.”

“Well, you say that, but you didn’t really know my father, did you?”

“I suppose not,” Clyde shrugged, “Was just thinking we might’ve found our smoking gun is all,” he stepped back and headed towards the stairs, “I’m gonna check his room, see if I can find the bottle, maybe we can all drink a toast?”

“Well, if it’s poisoned then…”

“Why poison the booze when you can poison the cup,” Clyde shrugged, then turned to leave, “I’ll give it a look-see, tell you what I find.”

Rather than going upstairs, Clyde found himself a quiet nook to hide in and watched Kyo go stomping away a few moments later.

“Bad policy,” Clyde muttered, slipping back into the cellar and kneeling down next to Cryak’s unconscious body.

He let out a sigh, checked Cryak’s wound, and then violently slapped the man in the face, waking him up. Before Cryak could start to struggle and scream, Clyde leaned down, and put a hand over his already gagged mouth.

“Stop,” he said warningly, “If you scream I am going to put you back to sleep,” Cryak scoffed in his face, and Clyde rolled his eyes, “Someone will, now, do you want to stay down here and die, or do you want me to help you live?”

Cryak mumbled and cursed loudly, but then nodded his head. Seeing his agreement, Clyde reached down and untied the gag from around the captive’s head.

“Thanks for that you little…”

“Just answer the questions or I’ll shove it down your throat,” Clyde insisted, “Now, what was taken from Rio?”

“My brother?” Cryak looked at him curiously, “What do you care about that?”

“Because that’s the real smoking gun, booze can be drained, bottles can be broken, but this is something Kyo would’ve kept close by, not something he’d give up easily, and It’d be nice to know what it looks like.”

“Believe me,” Cryak scoffed, “You’ll know it when you see it.”

“That’s not an answer!”

“It’s a n orb,” Cryak insisted, “A little gemstone, fits right in the palm of our hand, and you’ll know it, because of the fire.”

“The what?”

“It will be surrounded by energy and flame, it’s the crystallized soul of our first ancestor, Yatsuo.”

“Kind of hard to hide something like that,” Clyde mused.

“Right,” Cryak laughed at him, “If he’s smart it’s not on him, it’s at the bottom of the lake?”

“Why?”

“Water opposes flame,” Cryak shrugged, making the observation sound painfully obvious, “The lake water’d snuff it out…”

“So what if he used a jar?” Clyde asked, “Filled that with water and used it to contain the orb?”

“...oh…” Cryak blinked in surprise, “I… yeah, I suppose that might work.”

“Thank you,” Clyde nodded, and then pulled the gag over his mouth again even as Cryak began to protest.

With his curiosity satisfied, Clyde wandered back through the mansion, circling around until he found the wing with Kyo’s rooms in it. He could hear something in the distance, at first he mistook it for someone rifling through papers, rummaging around in a closet maybe, and it drew him closer until he realized it was Drucilla. She was leaning, collapsed, yet somehow still standing against a nearby suit of armor as she quietly wept. Clyde didn’t know what to say or do, this seemed a private moment, and one he didn’t want to intrude upon, so he started to double-back, find another way to approach the rooms.

“...It was…” Dru sniffed, tears still rolling freely down her cheeks, it took a second for him to realize that she was crying blood, “I was… I was trying to check in on Greta,” she insisted, and Clyde found himself actually hoping she wasn’t talking to him, “And I ...I couldn’t go… any… more…”

Clyde wanted to disappear, fade into the shadows and vanish. Wincing, he stepped forward instead and offered her his hand.

“There’s a bathroom nearby,” he whispered, “You can get yourself cleaned up…”

“Th-thank you,” she whimpered, grabbing fist fulls of his sleeve and leaning on him now to the point he nearly needed to carry her down the hall and past the rooms he was intent on investigating.

Together in the bathroom, he watched as she soaked a damp cloth and tried to clean the red stripes off of her cheeks. Once again, he tried his best to leave only to witness her shout in frustration, throwing the rag across the room and collapsing onto the floor.

“Stupid, fucking, eyes!” she complained pathetically, burying her face in her hands, “I can’t even tell… I don’t know…”

Clyde took a deep breath and then collected the rag, soaked it in the sink, then knelt beside Drucilla. Gently, he pushed her hand aside and cleaned her face for her.

“I’m so pathetic,” she grumbled, shaking her head.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Clyde insisted.

“Oh? And what would you say?” Drucilla demanded, then shook her head, trying to push him away, “It doesn’t matter, it’s not…”

“You’re worried about your daughter?” Clyde asked, and persisted in cleaning her as another bloody tear rolled down her cheek, “I would be too.”

“...do you have children?”

“No,” he admitted, “At least, I don’t think so…”

“Smart answer,” she scoffed, seemingly amused, then after a moment, reached out to him, “Hold still.”

Silently, her fingers traced the edges of his jaw, then the contours of his cheeks, she felt the outlines of his lips, the shape of his nose, and then his eyes.

“So young,” she breathed, then smiled, “You… you don’t sound young.”

“… have you… if you don’t mind my asking?” Clyde mentioned, still cleaning her face.

“No, I wasn’t always blind,” she admitted, “Once I was… I was his confidant, then I saw something I shouldn’t have, he gave me a choice, my life, or my eyes, and my life… it’s such a fleeting thing, only a fraction of his, but, if I could spend even a moment longer, by his side…”

She started weeping again and buried her face in her hands. Clyde moved away to clean the rag in the sink.

“He never took another bride?” Clyde asked, still trying to squeeze the red out of the cloth.

“What kind…” she sniffed loudly, “Of question is that?!”

“It’s been said a lot around here, ‘the first wife’, it means he’s supposed to marry others, breeding partners and…”

“He would have, eventually, he would have…”

“I don’t think so ma’am,” Clyde insisted, kneeling down again to clean her up, “I think he loved you very much, I think… I think you meant the world to him.”

“You’re an idiot, and a stranger, and you...you’re…” she whined, shaking her head, “Thank you…”

“It was just a thought ma’am,” he tried to clean her again, but she pulled the rag out of his hand.

“I can do this,” she insisted, “Go about your business, let me have my dignity, what’s left of it.”

“As you wish, Good Lady,” Clyde bowed before leaving.

In the back of his mind, he was regretting what he was about to do, that this family didn’t deserve to be harmed any worse than it already had been, but there was an unquestionable drive that overrode it. A man had been killed, another would be punished in place of the murderer, and he could not allow that to happen. Slipping into Kyo’s room, he spent several minutes searching it before he heard the explosion.

Minutes before, Belix was chasing Greta down the hall.

“Stop following me!” Greta snapped, her tears nearly dried, her sorrow replaced, almost completely by a barely restrained rage.

“Yeah, not gonna do that,” Belix admitted, still rushing to catch up, “Can you just talk to me?”

“Why?” Greta snapped, “So you can run back to your boyfriend, tell him how I broke down and wept? Trust me, he’s seen it before!”

“Clyde?” Belix wondered, then corrected herself, “Oh, you meant Ecchs, it’s… look, it’s not what you think…”

“I don’t care!” Greta shouted back, “You’re either fucking him or working for him, either way, I’ve got nothing to say to you, and YOU need to get the fuck away from me!”

“Greta,” Belix finally managed to overtake her and tried to block her path, “Stop, please, Please, just talk to me, let me help.”

“You don’t get it,” Greta insisted, shoving her aside, “He’s in charge now, he can do whatever he wants, to us… to me…”

“I’m sorry,” Belix insisted and, finally, Greta stopped running, head hung low, she stared at the floor, but Belix didn’t dare approach, “I really am… If I’d known…”

“Run away,” Greta told her, approaching an open door and slowly leaning in, “Take Rin, and get the Hell out of this house.”

“What?”

“It won’t be standing for much longer,” Greta finished, rushing into the room.

Belix quickly followed, but not quick enough. She leaned around the door just in time to see Greta reach into a water filled jar and pull out a small red orb. The minute the orb touched the air, it ignited, turning into a blazing orb of roiling flame that noticeably scorched Greta’s skin. Belix tried to rush in, but Greta threw the jar at her feet, making her back away. With tears in her eyes, turning to smoke as she raised the gemstone to her mouth, Greta swallowed the gemstone and her body burst into fire, shattering the room with its sheer presence, and all the while, her body started to change.