What Goes Around, Comes Around

Vargus Littner was a fortunate man. He had known many hardships in life, and had not come through unscathed. He had set forth into the world, all those years ago, into a world he was not truly prepared for. Loss, pain, sorrow.... were all things he was intimately familiar with. Still, while his experiences changed him, he'd held firm to his principles, and to his 'light'. His inner focus, his reason for being. He was not the man he used to be, but he could still look back and be proud of his choices in life. Well... most of them. It was impossible to go through life without any regrets. And strangely enough, the choice he most regretted in life was tied strongly to the choice he was most proud of; one could not be without the other.

He paused in his reading, glancing down at the shock of red nestled against his chest. Both of his adopted daughters, Karin and Ignis, were asleep against him, each leaning into either side of him, his arms around them, book held up just a bit over Ignis' head with one hand. He idly played with Karin's hair with his free hand, smiling. These two... they meant everything to him. He regretted every day that he had not listened to his instincts about their birth father, about Aldran. If he had, then they would have been raised by their mother. Which led directly to the choice he was most proud of; adopting them as his own. If he could turn back time, give them back their mother, even if it meant they would not view him as their father, he would do it. The thought of that hurt deeply, but they deserved to have their mother, to know her. If only that had been possible.

Vargus sighed, laying his head back. He wondered if it was strange, that he could think about that so clearly. That he knew he would make such a choice. Surely, it would make more sense to be selfish, to want to keep them as his daughters, even if the chance to change things came up. But he couldn't be selfish, even in this. He wondered if that made him a bad father, that he'd so willingly give them up, even if it was to their birth mother. He blinked, and shook his head. There was no point in thinking about it. There was no going back, even if his thoughts went back so often. If he was honest, he wished things could go both ways. That he could be their father, but they could also have their mother. It was part of why he wished he could have met a good woman when they were younger, to give them a mother figure. Of course, this line of thought only led him to his second greatest regret; not telling Atsuko of his feelings for her.

Of course, he had no way of knowing if it would have changed anything. She simply disappeared one day, as if she'd never been there. He didn't know, to this day, if she was alive or dead. Still, he wondered. If he hadn't been so stubborn, if he'd ignored the age difference, and his own fears, and just told her how he felt... maybe she would still be here. With him, and his daughters. 'She would have been a good mother... though I fear the kinds of pranksters these two would have grown up to be... they can already be devious as hell... especially Ignis...' He let out another sigh, closing his eyes for a moment. Why were his thoughts going back to the past so much lately? There were many reasons, he supposed, but he couldn't exactly pinpoint the exact one here.

He looked back down at his sleeping daughters, and felt the heavy weight of his thoughts lift a bit. '...It hardly matters. So long as I have these two, I'm happy. I just wish...' He shook his head again. It was time to get back to his book, and push these thoughts aside before he started going in circles again.

And then he sensed a certain Nosferatu approaching the house, and felt an odd sensation. As if something important was about to happen. And yet he also felt a small bit of... dread. Why? Why did he feel apprehension at the thought of talking to his old friend? 'What are you about to get me into, my old friend?'

Levante knocked on the door and waited, along with Enma and Victoria. Not just him but all of them wanted answers of some kind and this was apparently the best way to get them. He had never talked to Vargus about Rua, and he never recalled Victoria bringing her up in conversation in regards to Vargus either. That would explain, if their clue was true why Vargus hadn't said anything.

It may have answered one thing, but many other questions came to the corners of his mind.

Vargus found, before long, that getting up was a difficult proposition. Well, if he wanted to do so without waking his daughters. After a moment, he sighed, calling out. "Just come on in, I can't get up at the moment." When Ignis and Karin were like this, nothing short of a bomb going off or him dumping them on the floor would wake them. Victoria responded to his call by almost throwing the door open, storming in. She glanced at Vargus, raising a brow... and went for the liquor cabinet. Enma walked in calmly after her, taking a seat in a chair.

"Vargus, it's good to see you again."

"It's been awhile. Any reason Victoria is stealing my whisky?"

"I would assume because she wants to drink."

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed that."

"She's absolutely unpredictable, that one." Enma went silent then, and Vargus looked to Levante.

"So... something tells me you have something important to talk about. Don't mind these two, they'll sleep through just about anything like this."

Levante paid no attention to Victoria's antics as he was more then used to it. As long as she didn't break the door or anything. "It's been a interesting night the other day. We've ran into..a aquatience I suppose you could call it," He wasn't sure the word friends was anywhere near the dictionary for them. "And they told us you may have the information we're looking for."

After that, he began to explain what happened.

Vargus was surprised, to say the least. The instant he'd heard the name Rua, his entire body had tensed. When Levante finished, Vargus let out a long breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "Levante... all three of you.... I do know what happened to Rua. During her time with Ariadne, as well as after. But... you are not going to like what I have to say, and this story doesn't have a happy ending, you must understand that. As far as I know, the only good that may come of telling you this is that Ariadne will get what she deserves. Other than that... I suppose closure. Are you sure you want to know what I have to tell you?" 

Through out his two hundred years of life on this earth, Levante only had the same feeling in the pit of his stomach as he did before he heard news of his father passing away or friends he had known through the years. It was the same exact feeling.

..But yet, even if that was the case some part of him didn't think Rua was dead or was at least in deniel. After all he hadn't actually heard the story.

"I want to know. We want to know," Levante said. "For better or worse..its best we know."

Vargus nodded a bit. "It was about thirty years ago... I was nineteen at the time, and I was partnered with another young Hunter by the name of Aldran. We were old friends, though things could get tense between us, as he was a bit bigoted. He didn't care for non-humans. Didn't hate them, but clearly didn't like them. Still, we both fought for the sake of others, so it wasn't so bad. We were traveling through London when we got a tip of possible hostile supernatural activity. Apparently someone had witnessed a bit of domestic abuse, except that the aggressor seemed to have superhuman strength. When we went in to check it out... well, we saw a young red-headed woman and what appeared to be a noblewoman. Found out later their names were Rua and Ariadne. Ariadne was screaming at Rua, who was just sitting in a chair with her head down. I can't even remember what she was screaming about, but when she grabbed Rua by the throat, baring her fangs in anger, we stepped in."

"At the time, due to how... docile, Rua seemed to be, we just came to the conclusion that she was human. She didn't try to defend herself at all, just let Ariadne do as she pleased. There wasn't anything that called her out as being a Farian, as she showed no signs of anything. Ariadne fled pretty quickly once we went after her. She seemed fed up, really, told us to keep 'the useless bitch'. Aldran wanted to go after her, but I convinced him to stay; I felt it better to look after Rua, who seemed just... withdrawn. Like she didn't care one way or another what happened. We took her with us after that, until we were able to get to a place that could more easily watch out for her. A few days in, she started talking to us. Told us her name, and that Ariadne was her wife. It took awhile, but we got the full story out of her. Here, I can explain to you something you were likely wondering about. Rua didn't choose to marry Ariadne. Ariadne chose Rua, and pulled strings with the nobility. Rua's father, as I'm sure you already knew, worked as a servant for a noble. Rua was basically sold to Ariadne, and Rua was forced to go along with it because the price paid for her was an insurance policy. If Rua refused, or told anyone what was happening, her father would be killed. If that happened, the money paid would be the reparations owed by Ariadne for killing another noble's 'property'. Otherwise, it was just a nice bonus for the man."

Levante didn't react outwardly too much though he did clinch his fist almost tightly enough to draw a bit of blood. Other then that, oddly he didn't react too much as he listened intently to what Vargus had to say.

Vargus noted the reaction, and sighed. It was going to get worse. "Rua eventually told us about the abuse she'd been through. It was.... sickening. Ariadne is a sadist, of that much I'm certain. Worse was that Rua never defended herself. She simply let Ariadne do as she pleased. The one thing she wouldn't allow, was in the later years of the marriage. Ariadne became bored, and wanted to use Rua to 'entertain' her friends. Rua made it clear that she would die before she let that happen, and would 'drag Ariadne to hell with her' if she tried to make her. Even though we thought her human, we certainly believed she would find a way to kill Ariadne. In those early days, I wasn't sure who she was speaking of... but she would mention not being able to ever look 'them' in the eyes again if she'd allowed herself to be used in that way." He was certain, now, that she'd been speaking of the three vampires sitting in his home.

"After she opened up to us, things progressed pretty simply. She became more talkative, more friendly. She started to become what I can only assume was her old self, before Ariadne. And, as is the nature of things, she and Aldran became close. A year after we met her, they were married, a child on the way. I felt it was a bit sudden... and if I'm honest, I think the only reason they married was because of the baby, and Rua wanting a stable family. Still, things seemed alright. And then... and then things just.... went so wrong..." Vargus looked away then. His internal guilt over not protecting Rua was amplified. Not only had Ignis and Karin lost a mother, but Levante had lost an old friend... an old love, if he read Levante's actions right.

"Aldran's brother died while hunting a demon of some kind, and Aldran's dislike of non-humans became worse, to the point that Rua became increasingly terrified of how he'd react if he found out about her. She'd lived life as if human all that time, but she never knew if something might happen to expose her. Or if her newborn might expose them. That was when she came to me. She knew that I, at least, had no ill will toward non-humans, and had even seen me get into arguments with Aldran over it. When she told me..." He shook his head. "I knew I had to help her. She was adamant about trying to make things work... so I sealed the Farian blood in her child, to hide that they were not human. But Aldran's hate for non-humans was becoming worse and worse as the years went. And then Rua became pregnant again. It took time to prepare the sealing for the child, and by now, I was urging Rua to take the children and leave. He was becoming unstable, and suspicious of other people, even of me. Of bloodlines and other such things. And then... I'm not sure what happened. I lived next door at the time, and I... I'd simply gone out to get the materials for the sealing, and when I came back, their house was on fire, half of it collapsed inward, police and the fire department everywhere." Vargus paused, closing his eyes.

"I found out from the police that Rua and the kids had been taken to the hospital, Aldran was missing. Rua was in intensive care, Aldran had stabbed her several times... she'd been trying to protect their children from him... I waited with the kids... I felt like it was my fault... that I should have done more... and... then Aldran came to the hospital. He'd completely lost his mind. He was ranting about killing his own children, killing everyone that tried to stop him. When he came after them, I managed to drive him off. He was always more skilled than me back then, and it was all I could do to keep them safe... and... so he went after Rua instead. I don't know what happened in that hospital room, just that the nurse tending to her was killed, Rua's bed was soaked with blood, and Rua and Aldran were nowhere to be found. It wasn't until two years later that news reached me of a serial killer, murdering non-human women and their children, traveling around the world. The few descriptions from witnesses told me it was Aldran. I've helped try and hunt him down, but nobody has managed to find him. He kills, and then disappears again..." He paused for a long moment, taking a deep breath.

"I don't... know if Rua is alive or not. A body was never found, but she lost so much blood, and the doctors were not sure she'd survive that first attack, let alone a second. I... want to believe she's alive, but even I'm not that optimistic..." He went silent, before looking down at Ignis and Karin, sleeping peacefully still. "That's all I know... but... I can give you a small comfort, I guess... Ignis, and Karin... they are Rua's daughters. Adopting them... it was the least I could do, after my failures to protect their mother... I can only hope she'd be proud of how I raised them..."

It was silent after that. Enma, who had been silently brooding the entire time, did not speak. He simply stood, and walked over to the window, looking out at the sky. His eyes were hard, jaw set. But as he passed Levante, he had placed a hand on the man's shoulder, squeezing lightly. Enma was not a hugger, never had been. The only exception to that was his exuberant daughter, Niya, and that was only because she gave him no choice in the matter. That squeeze of Levante's shoulder was the closest to a hug Enma would give; it had always been that way between them.

The silence was briefly broken by a sound from Victoria, and the shattering of a whiskey bottle, crushed under her fist. Ignis and Karin stirred, but didn't wake. Victoria said nothing, just sat there, shaking a bit as she tried to control her emotions. She would not cry. She would not! She refused to cry, and yet the damnable tears stained her dress anyway.

When it was all said and done, Levante just stood there. He didn't want to believe Rua was dead but as the details carried on he became less and less sure before things reached a head. If Aldran was hell bent on killing her, and he was alive then it stood to reason he'd finish the job. No matter how much he wanted to deny.

Victoria's grief and Enma's rolled over him like a wave due to his empath abilties which was the final crack in the dam he had been trying to hold back on. After having sit down, he put his face into his hand as he started to cry.

Only a few times in Levante's entire life had he cried before today.

Seeing Levante like this... was painful. He didn't know what to say, what to do. All he could do was sit there in silence, letting the three mourn in their own ways. Once they started to pull themselves together a bit more, Vargus spoke. "Nothing I say or do can ease this pain for you... but at the very least, I know how you think, Levante, so I know that you will want to be involved in this.... based on his pattern... it seems as though within a week.... Aldran may be in the area. I was going to try and track him down. I'll assume you three will be joining me?"

Levante stood up, regaining himself a bit as his face turned to pure resolve. "Of course. All you have to do is name the time when ready."

That wasn't even a question. There wasn't going to be a speck of dust for demons of hell to toture when he was done with the bastard.

Vargus nodded, glancing over at Enma and Victoria. Victoria simply nodded, firmly. Enma turned away from the window. "I just got done tracking down one rodent, why not another? And when we find him... we'll make sure he tells us where Rua is. She deserves a proper burial, and a place of honor... somewhere that those who love her can visit her."

"...Agreed. I may not have the same history with her that you three had, but she was a close friend just the same. Aldran betrayed her, and their children. That's not something I'll tolerate. I'll inform you all when I hear news. I expect three days at the earliest, five at the latest. I doubt he will be in the area long, so we will have to move fast... and don't underestimate him. I can only imagine he's gotten more dangerous over the past decade."

Levante merely nodded. But to him, Aldran was a dead man no matter how long he trained and how much stronger he had gotten. Nothing would keep him safe from him.

"Don't worry, I won't," Levante stood up. "I'll leave you to Karin and Ignis. I'm going to be heading out for now." He didn't know where he would be going after this, but who knows.

Vargus watched him leave, noticing faintly that Enma and Victoria left as well, each going their own way. He looked down at his sleeping daughters, and smiled grimly. "We're going to avenge your mother, girls... and we'll find her, so you two can visit her... it's not much, but... I suppose it's something..." He of course couldn't let them know, not yet. While he was confident that Aldran wouldn't be too much trouble for himself, Levante, Victoria, and Enma, the problem was that Aldran, when focused on a single target, was extremely dangerous, even for them. And if Ignis or Karin was there, his focus would be absolute. He couldn't risk them getting hurt. He sighed, closing his eyes. First, of course, he'd have to find Aldran, before he left the area again... or hurt someone else.

~~~~~

Unknown to any of them, Aldran's pattern of travel wasn't random. He was tracking someone; someone that was trying to evade him, yet also set a trap. Aldran was a bit too cunning for that, it seemed, and too dangerous for direct confrontation. She couldn't die yet. Not until she was sure Aldran was dead.

Rua wrapped her cloak around herself, pulling up the hood as she stepped out of the hotel room she'd been staying in the past few days. The cloak was specially made to hide her from most forms of tracking; the only one she couldn't shake was the tracking seal that Aldran had placed on her, long ago. The best the cloak could do was disrupt the seal a bit; he could follow her, but couldn't pinpoint her exact location unless she remained there for too long. That was enough; she was always running, but had a bit more time to work with on figuring out a way to deal with him.

Over twenty years of this demented game of cat and mouse... she truly hoped she could end it soon.

She had no idea that the town that she would soon reach, was where Vargus and her daughters had moved to. Or that her old friends were there. Or that her life would change drastically there, in just a few days.

Levante was silent as he walked with Enma and Victoria, but he had a air of deep thought about him and a mix of other emotions. Victoria would be able to pick them up the most(along with Enma) due to her empath powers, though given she had known them her entire life there were other signs she could have looked for to pick up.

On their way, he witnesses a woman with a cloak. That wasn't too strange considering the nature of the place but something seemed..familar about them. He couldn't place it.

Rua stiffened when she saw them. The idea that she would see them here, now, was... impossible, and yet here they were. Her first urge was to go to them. To run to them and grab them, hold them, never let them go. 'No... I can't... not until Aldran is dead...' She looked over at them for a moment longer, then walked away, feeling the pain in her chest growing with every step.

When Levante arrived at the Brunel mansion, the place was empty and quite. Garnet didn't seem to be around at the moment. The elder vampire headed to one of the rooms to get some sleep; everyone else was of course free to go where ever they wanted. The sheer irony was the person they were thinking of the most completely passed them by without any of them knowing for that night.

* *

Around the next morning, there was a knock on the door. It was Kamaury, oddly enough. One had to wonder why she was there in the first place, and more importantly why.

It was odd for him to get visitors so soon after arriving in town. Levante or Victoria wouldn't have bothered knocking, and Vargus tended to ring doorbells to avoid knocking a hole in the door. The man had big hands. So when Enma opened the door to find Kamaury there, he was quite surprised. After a moment, he stepped aside. "Well, feel free to come in, Kamaury, make yourself at home. Can I get you anything? I'm not sure if you need to eat or drink, but if you need something, don't be afraid to ask." He wasn't sure why she was here, but he felt it was important, and Enma made it a point to be a generous host anyway.

Kamaury came in, looking around. "I do not require substance, but I apperciate the intended offer."

This was a rather big mansion, she wasn't sure if it belonged to him or not didn't care either way. She had been through many places like this and others from previous masters in the past. Either kings and queens who wanted power, all the way to mages who needed a proper bodyguard. She had lived and been through them all.

"I came because I seek advice," The golem began. "I am at loss of how to proceed from here. I have been merely walking around and keeping my head low so I do not gander attention. I do not think it would be wise of someone of my power being noticed. The only thing of note is rescuing a young boy from bullies. Sei, I think their name was."

Enma nodded a bit at that, motioning for her to take a seat once he led her to one of the sitting rooms, taking a seat himself. "I see. Please, elaborate on what happened with this 'Sei'. Call me curious."

Kamaury had a seat, silent for a moment. "I was walking along the city when I witnessed a young boy being bullied. They were chasing them, Sei had apparently done something to anger them. I wasn't sure of the situation, but I interferred. I am not sure why, it was not my problem and I didn't know what was happening."

Here, she shrugged slightly. "I did not fight the bullies, but intimidated them a bit. They then proceeded to run, that's when I talked to the young boy and walked him home. When he got there, I then left since I felt I was done. Still not sure why I did what I did. They seemed to have Rynat blood in them, his mother more so from what I felt before I left."

Enma leaned back in his seat, eyes closed as if thinking. "Well, when you saw him being chased, what crossed your mind? What thoughts were in your mind, if I may ask?"

"..I don't know." Kamaury paused for a long while. "Perhaps..its because I felt something to compell me to help them. It may be because they seemed scared."

Enma nodded. "So you felt the need to protect them. Someone that you had no obligation to help. Nobody ordered you to protect the boy, yet you chose to do so anyway, because of some other, unknown compulsion. Do you know what that compulsion was? You seem to be rather intelligent, so I'm sure you do, even if you don't believe you could have such a compulsion."