"You ..." Cirra said to the just-appeared Seong-un. "Who are you?"

"I'm Seong-un Kong, Queen Cirra," Seong-un said introductively.

"No, I mean, 'Who are you?' in the sense of 'Why do you remind me so much of someone else?'. Tell me, tell me of your heritage."

"I can't remember. I was adopted when I was only a baby, and I don't remember my birth parents in the slightest. I couldn't even find the adoption agency that my parents got me from."

"Was there anything you were found with?" Cirra questioned.

"Just this ring." Seong-un removed his ring and showed it to Cirra. Skeptically, she looked over the jewels in it. Her face paled. "What, is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," lied Queen Cirra. "It's just that..."

"Just that what?" Seong-un queried.

"I know your heritage. It's here."

Seong-un went reeling. Here? A country above the clouds?

"You're the prince of Altus. You fell out of a vehicle when you were a baby. We thought we had lost you."

"I... I'm a prince?"

"Yes. You're Crown Prince Nebule. And I'm your sister."

"Then how come you didn't come looking for me?"

"We tried. We looked, and looked. We couldn't find you at all. Your adoptive parents must have found you before we were able to start the search. Our sister was so distraught by it..."

"I see."

"These jewels, the ones in your ring ... they're part of the Altian crown jewels. You were playing with them when you fell out of the vehicle. It's a miracle you managed to hold on to them."

"I don't know what to say."

"Don't worry. The kingdom will rejoice. What was lost more than twenty years ago has been found. Once this is all brought to a halt, we'll re-initiate you into the Royal Family. There will be a giant feast. Everyone will be invited."

"That's a nice offer, but I can't accept it just yet. I need to think about it. And there's the issue with the Horsemen, and all that. We have to resolve that before I can even consider knowing the family I lost."

"I understand," Cirra murmured. "Well, I hope that when the time comes to choose, that you'll choose right."

"Thank you ... sister." The word was hard for Seong-un to say, as it always is the first time if you're just getting to know someone. "I'm sure I will. Now, I need to bring this issue to its proper end. Could I have my ring back, please? I'll return the jewels eventually."

"Of course."

Cirra returned Seong-un's ring to him. While rubbing the jewels on the ring, Seong-un wished: Bring me to the site of the final battle!

Space and time ripped once more, and Seong-un disappeared into Null again.

----

Rasheed stared blankly at the settling rubble before him. The collapse of the pyramid had sent a furious cloud of dust kicking up into the air, the granules of sandstone dancing about the desert's bitterly cold night air. Rasheed's piercing eyes surveyed the wreckage, the pupils wavering ever so slightly, wide with amazement. It only took a few minutes for him to register this upon his mind, and then he erupted.

"You have got to be kidding me! We can't lose the altar now!" His vicious eyes turned to Tracy. He sneered. "This is all your fault!" He lunged at her, grabbing the girl by her collar and hoisting her off the ground. Dio made an attempt to intervene, but her movements were too slow. The Mystic shook Tracy violently, exuding all his anger upon her person. She grabbed his arms, trying to break free, but what Tracy possessed in the powers of the mind, she greatly lacked in physical strength. It was only upon summoning the power of PSI into her hands that she found the solution. Charging her fist with volatile energy, Tracy slugged Rasheed right in the nose. The PSI-imbued attack caught the mystic off guard, and he let go of the girl. He tumbled to the ground with a small yelp.

Tracy brushed herself off and eyed the fallen man disdainfully. "You're pathetic. Picking on little girls." She muttered before spitting on him. Rasheed, who has now propped himself up on his elbows, growled in response. His nose was horribly askew and undoubtedly broken. He cringed in pain, tears forming at the corners of his coal-like eyes.

"You kids should play nice, otherwise you'll need a time-out." Dio frowned, gazing into the haze created by sand swept up in the night's winds. A figure on horseback slowly trotted into view, the horse snorting viciously. As the shadow passed through the desert's mist, the figure's clarity sharpened, until an impressive sight stood before the three. A woman in full armor was perched upon a skeletal steed, her purple cape fluttering behind her. Her pure white hair danced in the wind, and her violet eyes shone through the darkness, glowing eerily. Her face was chalk white -- the cheeks and eye sockets were sunken, creating a weathered expression. In a swift motion, the woman dismounted her ride, and approached.

Each step she took seemed to shake the very earth she trod on as her massive boots bound with the fur of an animal pounded against the sands. She wore gauntlets on each arm, skulls adorning her hands. She held a massive sword, hoisted over her shoulder, the hilt decorated with the same stylized skull insignia, the blade itself gleaming with an eerie blue glow. The words Diu Ero, engraved in the blade, were visible upon the chance moonlight. A bitter smile hung on the woman's thin lips, and she quirked an eyebrow.

"Rasheed, Dio, Tracy." She paused between each name, nodding to the three respectively. After waiting for them to drink this in, she continued. "Hell sends its greetings. I am Death Knight Neo, representative of Hell's Legions, and I come to aid you."

Dio blinked once, twice, and then her jaw dropped. "...You!" She exclaimed at last. "I remember you! From the bar that one night!" Neo nodded.

"That I am." Her eerie gaze turned to the pyramid rubble. "I see you're having a little trouble. Things not going as planned?" She left out a soft chuckle. "That's what I'm here for." She let the monstrous sword fall off her shoulder. It hit the ground with a loud metallic clang, and a shockwave of blue energy exploded from the point of contact. The ground began to rumble, a crack running across the earth where the tip of the sword struck, travelling through the bedrock in a beeline for the fallen altar. Upon contact with the rubble, the crack lanced out in two directions, travelling the base of the ruined pyramid until it encircled it. Then, with a thunderclap, the debris about the foundation began to rattle. Slowly, a massive platform rose out of the remains, high above the four below, and stopped at a twenty foot elevation. Stairs led up the side to the top where the altar was positioned. Four pillars lined the corners of the pedestal. Neo motioned to the new structure.

"What are you stalling for? Hell's Legions await you."

----

Raltise stepped through the underbrush that opened upon the massive jail structure. "Guards! Free them." He bellowed. The natives turned toward the Jingle Jail, only to discover it shockingly empty. A panic swept them. Raltise growled, but a movement on the other side of the Jingle Jail caught his eye. The thirteen people inside were quickly escaping through the broken bars, taking pieces of the candy cane for souvenirs. Raltise smacked his forehead. "I know I should've put them in the actually strong one."

It was at this moment that Talus and Luna emerged from the forest, both of them blushing ever so slightly. They caught sight of the rest of the group almost immediately. "Wait!" Talus cried. "It's okay! I've got things under control." The group, which had tensed upon hearing Talus's command, eased suddenly. Ness was the first to turn around, and he let loose a sigh of relief.

"It's a good thing, too. I thought we'd never get out of here. So what's the story?" He approached Talus warily, the scene from the beach still in his mind. Talus, however, seemed to be a lot more relaxed than before.

"Well, Raltise is back under control, as you can see. He's the one that engineered all of this. Apparently this is a sect of his cult. That might prove useful." His gaze turned to the Nightmare Demon, who was busy trying to slip off into the shadows. Talus crossed the ground in a blink of an eye, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him back. Raltise let out a pathetic whimper and flopped on the ground, sitting cross-legged and folding his arms. Seong-un, meanwhile, had rematerialized inconspicuously and blended in with the group of individuals. Venus, too, exited from the forest and joined the crowd that had formed near Talus and Raltise.

"Alright, Raltise. We need a way off this island and we need it now. I'm assuming that your flunkies have some form of transportation to get us off of this rock. So I'd appreciate it if you'd ask, and ask quickly." Talus folded his arms across his chest and glared at the pouting figure of Raltise, who spoke after a few seconds, albeit reluctantly.

"Young Master, contact with this cult may, in fact, benefit us greatly. You see, they have access to a Demon Gate within this very village, and we can use it to travel to Hell." He stated wearily, climbing to his feet. Talus frowned.

"Why would we want to go there?" Raltise exhaled loudly.

"We need to get my watch back, remember? It has undoubtedly fallen into the hands of Lord Golgothas by now. We must retrieve it if we want any chance of sealing the rift that will be created between the worlds."

"That's all well and good," Chase chimed in, "But don't we need to be headed for Scaraba? I'm sure they've started the ritual by now. We need to stop them before it's too late." Many in the group nodded in approval of this.

"Quite so! But I may be able to help with that as well. Any demon center of worship possesses a fledgling amount of power that cultists can harness. Yes...but this may benefit myself as well, as I am currently powerless. But all is not lost! No, not at all!" Raltise waved his hand wildly in the air. "No, no...you see, I may harness this power myself in order to summon my latent demon energies, and thereby provide a passage to Scaraba for you. The power, of course, is situated around the demon gate...mmm hmm, quite so...I suggest we convene there."

Ness nodded. "You heard him. Let's go."

A short walk through the village later, and the group of seventeen people stood before the Demon Gate. The structure pulsed with a terrible energy, and eddies of red swirled about in a vortex within. One could almost make out what appeared to be souls swimming in the abyss. Talus placed his hands on his hips, letting a silent 'wow' escape his lips. Then, he was all business once again.

"Alright, we need to split up if we want to stand an equal chance of facing whatever's waiting us at both places. I'm going to go to Scaraba and see what I can do. Raltise, you should head to Hell, since it is your watch. And you're familiar with the terrain." Raltise nodded in reply. "Alright!" Talus exclaimed. "Who's going where?"

Luna approached Talus from the side, blushing. "I'll go to Scaraba too." She looked down. Ness inhaled sharply.

"She's my sister. I should confront her. Paula, are you coming too?" Paula, who had her back to Ness and her arms folded, shook her head sharply.

"No, Ness, I'd rather go to Hell." Ness frowned.

"Oookay. This is awkward." There was silence for a few seconds before Venus broke it.

"I'll go with you, Luna. You've watched over me far too long. I can't just abandon a friend." Chase stepped forward.

"I'll go with you as well. I'd like to see this to the end." Indigo raised her hand shyly.

"If you don't mind, I think I'll go with the others to Hell." Amber chimed in at this moment.

"I'll go as well. It should be exciting!" King trotted up beside her. She looked down at him. "Oh...and I guess King's coming with me." Teddy took the opportunity to step forward.

"Me an' Jimmy are going there too. We'll show those demons a thing or two, right buddy!?" He turned and gave Jimmy a high five.

"Yeah!" Jimmy shouted. "That's teamwork!"

Dan shuddered. "I think I'll stick with the Scaraba group here. Hell sounds just a little too dangerous for my liking." Paithan and Eric, who were nearby, expressed the same sentiment and agreed to go with the Scaraba group.

Skulryk stepped forward, grinning and holding his camera. "If I didn't get footage of Hell, I'd regret it forever. Just think of how much the tabloids would pay for this!" Seong-un, who had been in the background all this time, stoically took a step forward.

"I believe I shall journey to the Underworld as well. My assistance may be necessary." Talus nodded.

"Alright, that's everyone. Raltise?" The youth cocked his head toward the unearthly one and raised an eyebrow. The Nightmare Demon nodded.

"Of course, Young Master...yes, of course. Allow me." Not another word escaped Raltise's lips as he closed his eyes, seeming to struggle with something in his head. He extended his left hand, pointing two fingers at the open air before him, and a small speck of light seemed to materialize. He grinned.

"Quite so...yes! Step back!" He cried, raising his right hand this time and bringing the palms of both hands together. With a swift motion, he drew them apart, and in that instant a bright blue rift opened before him. He grinned at it with satisfaction. "There is your passage. A mind rift to Scaraba. Go quickly!" Talus leapt through the rift, followed by Ness and Luna. The remaining five quickly followed. Mere seconds after Eric, the last individual stepped through, the rift closed with a snap. Raltise now turned his attention to the remaining eight. Paula glared warily at him, unsure of what to expect now that Talus was gone. For all she knew, Raltise could double-cross them. However, the Nightmare Demon merely motioned toward the gate.

"Come, let us depart."

----

"Good God...this is horrible." Ness whispered. Scaraba was in ruins. The population was decimated. Blood ran in the streets like a river. Buildings crumbled all around them. Worst of all, there was complete silence. No busy vending from the marketplace, not even the cries of animals. The only sound to be heard was the bitter wind whipping around them. Chase leaned against a building, bending over, the sight making him physically sick. Luna embraced Talus, and he cradled her, his teeth set rigidly as he gazed at all the devastation.

"This has to be stopped. Dio and Rasheed have gone too far this time." He muttered, pointing to a spire of dark energy in the distance that spiraled into the clouded sky above.

"That has to be it." Dan murmured. "That has to be where they are. Let's go." Turning a blind eye to the grotesque remnants of the town, the eight individuals set out toward the pyramids.

----

"Ah, home sweet home!" Raltise bellowed as they stepped onto the other side of the gate. Hell was more volatile than ever -- the moans of the condemned echoed throughout the endless cavern, and the smell of brimstone assaulted the nostrils. Pits of fire leapt up everywhere, and the scent of burning flesh was hinted at in the distinct Hellish aroma.

Skulryk blanched. "I don't know how you can call this home." He muttered. He quickly hoisted his camera and began recording. "Amazing, still..." he whispered. They were now before the famed River of Flame, where the tormented souls floundered helplessly in the fiery current.

"So..." Indigo ventured. "How do we get across?"

-----

Tracy gazed into the dark, cloudy sky above. She was doing exactly as told -- lying on the altar, focussing her power so that Dio could manipulate it. The mystic was beside her, her eyes closed, hands extended a few inches above Tracy's body, and she was chanting in an ancient, cryptic tongue. Tracy's power was being channeled into the current of darkness, creating the spire of blackness that singed the sky. Rasheed was beside them, tapping his foot impatiently. Death Knight Neo surveyed the sands below them with a cautious eye.

"They're here." She called out, raising a hand. "Rasheed, nothing must interrupt the summoning. You and I will see to it." Rasheed growled.

"I know this, Death Knight. Are you sure that your legions could not send more than just you? We could have used an army." Neo turned to him, grinning fiendishly.

"Mystic, you had better hold your tongue. Hell's Legions will provide the necessary army in time. But I am more than enough for the present." She turned back to the sands, where a group of about eight people had halted at the base of the structure. "Well! I guess we should give them a warm welcome." Neo began descending the steps.

"Careful. I've never seen her before." Ness whispered. "She might cause us trouble." Chase nodded.

"Yes. Everyone, stay alert." Of course, Chase didn't have to remind anyone. Every person's nerves were tensed, waiting for the inevitable. Death Knight Neo reached the bottom of the steps.

"Well! A hapless group of adventurers, come to stop what is destiny. Are you that confident that you can make a difference?" Luna looked curiously at the Death Knight, then at Talus. A visible change seemed to have come over him. He looked at her briefly, then strode forward. He pressed forward to the front, despite Ness's protestations, and he simply stared at Neo wordlessly.

The situation took a few minutes to register in Neo's mind before she reacted. Her response was a wry grin spreading across her thin lips. "Ah..." she whispered. "I thought I'd meet you here..." The statement was no more than a murmur between her and Talus. The youth nodded. Neo leveled her sword her sword straight at Talus. In a flash, a bolt of energy lanced out from the hilt, travelling across the blade and searing the smoky air. The energy traveled right past Talus's right ear, and into the crowd of people behind him. The seven other individuals saw this attack coming and quickly scattered, throwing themselves in all directions. The bolt struck the ground, creating a massive explosion that sent sand and debris everywhere.

"Rasheed! Take care of things!" Neo yelled upward before she and Talus took off in a sprint over the dunes.

"What, all by myself!?" Rasheed snarled. He sighed wearily. "Fine. It's a good thing I still have some of this 'borrowed power' left." So saying, he extended his hands. "Fellow mystics! Arise from your rest and aid us!" The sands below began to shift as hundreds of skeletal figures arose from underground, bearing the robes and crest of the ancient cult of mystics to which Dio and Rasheed belonged. They circled the group of seven.

"...this is bad, isn't it?" Paithan murmured.

Over a dune a few hundred yards away, Talus and Neo stood facing each other, ten paces apart. In her left hand, Neo held her sword, the blade resting gently against the ground. The winds blew her soft white hair in disarray. Talus merely watched her, his arms folded, his head cocked to the side and an amused grin dancing on his lips.

The Death Knight was the first to speak. "I knew you'd show up. I'm glad, too." Talus quirked an eyebrow.

"And why's that?"

"I was hoping for a challenge. Those others over there don't pose any real competition. But you...well, you know, I've always wanted to test the mettle of one of your kind. Even though Lord Golgothas expressly forbade us Death Knights from engaging you in conflict."

Talus chuckled. "Well, I can see how that would upset things, but I agree. It can hardly be avoided. You and I are of a dying breed of warriors, so it's only natural."

Neo nodded, raising her sword and leveling it at him. "I can understand that you didn't want any of them to see, but we're alone now. Don't you think you should ready yourself?" Talus pursed his lips in a smirk. Neo scowled. "Well? Arm yourself!"

"Calm down!" Talus cried. "I'm blind in one eye, but I'm not deaf." He extended his hands, the air about him shimmering. "Simple energy-to-matter conversion. Piece of cake." Light enveloped his hands in that instant, and two shafts of energy formed in them. The light quickly subsided, and in both hands the young man now held a stylized warblade. The blade allowed for a grip in the center, but above and below the grip were very large and very deadly blades. An insignia emblazoned the area where the grip was...a familiar, red swirling image. The blades themselves pulsed with a dark aura, almost as if they were enveloped in shadow. Neo quirked an eyebrow.

"Cute. Shall we get started?" Talus crouched, bending his legs, and he held the shadowblades before him.

"Ladies first."

----

Simon drove up to Altus in a smooth new white sports car. He hopped up and approached his crew. "So, how is it?"

Raven fronted with surprise on hearing Simon's voice approaching, but Jakob and Jack were completely nonchalant. "It's tricky," Jack replied without turning around. "We got the cat into the box, but he's getting restless."

Simon tapped his shades down his nose to get a good look at the giant box that held Amber's father back. He could make out the glowing eyes through the breathing hole. The rest of the animal was hidden in the darkness by the thick metal. Simon brushed back the sides of his new white trenchcoat, putting his hands on his hips. "Is he okay in there?"

"Okay enough," Jack said. "But if he really wants to get out, it isn't gonna stop him. He knows that." He glanced at Simon, then turned back to the box. "We should've just killed him off when we had the chance."

Simon sighed. "Jack, I think the only reason I let you be my friend is because I don't want you to be my enemy. If this cat dies, he goes to Hell, and then he's pretty much immortal. And it'll only be a matter of time before some stupid demon gets drunk on power and sends him forth to bust something up."

"What do I care?"

"You're right; you don't. But some of us have to live here."

Jack turned around to glare at Simon, who glared back. Raven looked back and forth at the two of them, his eyebrows furrowed with worry. He finally decided to break the silence. "Simon, did you bring any smokes?"

Simon took a moment more to glare before addressing Raven. "You shouldn't smoke. Makes you unattractive to the ladies."

"Darn the ladies!" Raven exclaimed, smiling slightly. He always had this argument with Simon, who was now reaching into the trenchcoat, tossing Raven the unopened carton. "Ooh," Raven hummed in appreciation. "Fourside Smooth!"

Simon turned his attention back to the cat. "Now what do we do with you..." he mused idly.

"You should probably do a meld or something," Jakob suggested.

"Righto." Simon shook his arms, stretching them behind his back, then stood in a ready stance directly in front of the box, the cat's eyes fixing themselves on him. He held his left arm up, pointing his hand towards the eyes, slowly pulling back his fingers until only the index and pinky were extended, one pointing to each eye. From there, he brought his right hand up, touching two fingers to his nose. He stayed there for almost a minute before suddenly breaking away and turning his back on the box.

"He's uneasy. There's something going on with Amber that he doesn't like. And I think he thinks he's the incarnation of god himself."

Jakob raised a questioning hand. "Now, when you say that, you mean that he would think that if he wasn't completely off his case?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Simon half-shrugged apologetically. "There's a lot of confusion. I can't tell anything clearly. But there's definitely a lot of ill feeling in there, and he'll probably act on it sooner or later."

A loud metallic CRACK! punctuated the end of Simon's sentence. Simon immediately dove for cover behind a Zen rock garden. "Okay, so is 'sooner' okay with everyone?"

Another few cracks exploded through the air, and then the box fell to pieces around the cat, who ran straight forward before disappearing in a red mist. In his haste, he crushed the Chevy under one of his paws.

"Dude," Raven said when the smoke cleared. "He crushed my car."

Simon turned on him and regarded him suspiciously. "Your car?"

Whoops, thought Raven, scratching his head sheepishly. "Um, yeah, well, y'know, I drove it a lot and stuff, and it's a real smooth ride, you know..."

"Whatever. Where the hell did he go now?"

"Funny you should put it that way." Chartreuse strode up to the group, stepping lightly around the larger chunks of metal. "We just saw one of our own depart for the final battle. I think Amber will be there, and her father will probably follow her. There's only one place where he would feel the need to protect her badly enough to break loose from that box."

"Oh, great," Jack muttered. "I always knew we were going to Hell. I just thought we'd be dead first."

"Meet you guys there?" Jakob asked, disappearing as soon as Simon nodded. Simon turned to the Altian king. "Hey, Char, you got a handbasket we can borrow?"

"You bet," said Chartreuse, calling over a passing gardener and borrowing her wicker basket.

"Thanks." Simon propped up the basket so that the opening was facing towards the sports car, then hurried to follow his comrades to the vehicle.

"Hey, sorry about your Chevy," Chartreuse called out. "Is that car gonna be okay?"

"Should be fine," Simon shouted back. "I stole it from Fourside." He buckled his belt and revved the engine. "Buckle your seatbelts, guys, and think small."

He slammed on the gas, sending the car straight towards the basket. At the last second, the entire thing shrunk to an infinitesimal size and slipped through the gateway to Hell that is woven into the bottom of every handbasket. Lost socks and rotten fruit circled around the car as it hurtled down a tunnel between the fabrics of regular space before crashing into a red-tinted cavern smelling of brimstone. "Oh goody, we're in Norfair," Raven quipped. "Where do you think they keep the Hi-Jump Boots?"

Simon leapt out of the car, walked up to a group of people who were looking over the River of Flame, and tapped a red-haired girl on the shoulder. She spun around, shouted his name, and practically leapt into his arms.

Amber was overjoyed. Now that Simon was back, she knew, she just knew, that everything was alright, even though she'd only met him once before. "I can't believe you're here! Can you believe this? We're actually in Hell and we're gonna finish this all and everything will be fine again..." She went on like this, but Simon was ignoring her. Over Amber's shoulder, he had caught the eye of someone he hadn't been expecting to ever see again.

When Amber finally let him go, he stepped around her. Indigo stepped forward out of the group. They faced each other awkwardly. "Hey there," Simon finally said.

"Hi," Indigo managed to say. Their eyes roved around the scene as each of them tried to think of something worth saying to get away from this dreaded conversation.

"What's going on?" Amber asked out loud to nobody in particular.

"Simon used to go with Indigo a few years back, then he dumped her," Jack explained tactlessly.

Simon spun at the speed of sound and backhanded Jack to the ground. "You dipstick! You know that's not true at all!" Shaking with rage, he stormed down the riverbank.

Amber watched him with disbelief. Simon was capable of doing something like that? She looked at the others. Jakob turned away from her, seemingly embarrassed. Indigo watched Simon for a moment, then suddenly turned and walked in the opposite direction he had gone. Jack picked himself up off the floor and looked to see Simon disappear around a bend. He hmph'ed self-righteously.

Raven took Amber's arm gently and led her away from everyone, seating her on a cushionlike mushroom and taking the seat opposite, a round boulder. "Don't listen to Jack, okay? He's not the most reliable source around here."

Amber stared at the ground. "I thought he was better than that," she whispered.

"He is better," Raven insisted. "Listen. About five years ago, Simon and Indigo hit it off at a party. They were together for something like a year and a half, trippin' around, doing stuff. See, Simon and Jakob were starting up their own business that they called the Regime, and they figured Indigo could join them.

"So at one point Simon goes out to do this job, right? And he says it's really important and that he's gotta do it alone. Well, Jakob respects that, and Indigo make him promise that he'll be right back, so it's all good. Some jobs can get pretty long, but Simon was sure that this would be a quick one. It really should've been, too.

"Long story short, though, Simon got beaten down by some bandits and ended up tied to a cactus in Death Valley. Now, desert bandits are real scum; they like to prolong suffering, so they leave these little devices that keep people alive longer. So by the time I find Simon, he's been there for a year. The first thing he says to me is 'The guy who did this has a black cape and a nasty scar on his nose.' For an entire year the only thing he kept on his mind was who his target was. I don't know about you, but I call that dedication.

"The only problem was that Jakob had hired Jack in the meantime. So when we got back, Jack had filled Indigo head with the idea that Simon had probably moved out with some hussy and was sucking back pina coladas on a beach someplace, which was totally false. So when Simon walks in the door, he has to walk right back out again cuz there's a chair coming at him. And he doesn't get a chance to tell Indigo what happened cuz for once in her life she can't stop yelling at him. So he says to himself, 'I've got this job to do, and I've got this girl who doesn't understand, and to top it all off I've been tied to a cactus for the last twelve months - what am I supposed to do?' So he did the only thing he could do. He said to her, 'I don't have time for this, so you can do what you like.' And he turned around and walked out of her life.

"She went back to Altus, and he spent every day for the next year trying to forget about her. And exactly one year to the day they split, he went back and found that cactus he was tied to and he stuck his last picture of her to it and he burned the whole thing to the ground. And he never said a single word about her ever again. And now it's come full circle and it bit him on the pants - what's he supposed to do? Huh?"

Raven stood up, lighting a cigarette on the exhaust from an overhead heat vent. "If you think for one second that you can't trust him... you're as hopeless as she is." He left Amber sitting on the mushroom and went to rejoin the group at the car.

Amber thought about this. What was the message here? Did Simon care about her as some kind of "objective," or as an actual person? She'd only met him once, even if it probably wasn't really by chance...

She stood up. Simon didn't matter. If he was here then her father would probably be here too. She looked up towards the river. Yes, there he was, on the other side of the flames, growling furiously at the group.

She stepped up to the edge of the river. Wordlessly, she reached into the pocket of the black trenchcoat and took out the Rallets Gem. She couldn't keep the thought of King biting Jimmy out of her head. And the Horsemen... she knew what had happened there, or at least she thought she knew. Perhaps it would work this time, and perhaps she would get it.

She held up the gem, gazing through it. It turned the spitting flames into tall green trees if she caught the light correctly. She glanced up at her father. He wasn't roaring any more; instead, he was looking curiously at her, as though he knew what she was about to do.

Even though she didn't really know herself.

She looked at the gem again, and then at her father. Then at the gem, and then again at her father. Yeah, she really didn't have a clue what she had to do. Her father waited, patiently it seemed. She smiled at him.

That was it.

The love in Amber's heart for her father flew out of her body through her smile, some of it pushing back watchful demons, some of it falling into the River of Flames and quelling fiery swells, and some of it going through the Rallets Gem where it amplified and burst forth in a stream of light to her father. As it hit him, his body glowed, his paws tensing and untensing, pushing him back until his whole being was coiled like a spring. With one swift movement his body and soul bounced back. He leapt clean over the river, landing beyond the group, and then transforming from a cat into a human with a long, dark beard covering his face.

"Dad!" Amber cried out, running towards her father and embracing him. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"Don't say a word," he said, holding up a hand. "I want to apologize for the way I've been acting since your mother died. I should have kept my temper for your sake and I didn't. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, dad." Amber smiled at her father. "I know what's going on now, and I can help you now. It's all gonna be okay."

They hugged again, truly happy to be together again. "How very touching," Raltise grumbled sarcastically, quite disgusted by the whole thing.

Amber's father explained his plans to his daughter. "Listen, Amber. If you think you can use your power to control me, then I can stay in my cat-form and get you and your friends over the river. Then we'll go find those Horsemen and show them a thing or two, okay?" He laughed gently, a dramatic difference from the insane beast he'd been moments before.

Amber smiled again. "Let's go for it!" She knew that her love was far more powerful than all the hatred in Hell and out of it, and that she and her father would help finish this.

With Amber on his feline-morphed back to keep him in check, the giant cat quickly transported the rest of the group two at a time over the river - except for Jakob, who was revealing himself to be quite adept at going places when he felt like it. There was some slight distress at the disappearances of Simon and Indigo, but the consensus was that they couldn't be waited for and could probably take care of themselves anyway. A passageway led towards a widened chamber lit with torches which the group headed towards.

As they headed towards the chamber, however, a shadowy flitted past them, giving them pause. Another one whooshed through the air behind them.

Jakob frowned. "Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Get your guns."

Another shadow soared overhead. The hallway erupted in bullet fire. Jack had pulled out two MP5s and was spraying bullets at a horde of demons that had been trying to follow the group. Raven leapt off the wall, blasting away with a Colt Magnum, exploding various underworld dwellers into showers of green blood. Jakob stood back and fired some type of ray-gun into the melee, which seemed to repel the creatures. "We'll deal with these guys," he yelled over his shoulder. "You keep going!"

As the group ran onward to the chamber, they could just hear Jack's ever-so-slightly deranged cackling.