"What is this?" The bearded vulture scoffed, eyeing a measly pouch on the edge of her desk before returning to her papers. "Have you come to ask for treats?"

Kirill laughed, a hearty boom that sounded to her almost like a screech. "It's your lucky day, Verity. I'm here to give you some."

She cast a distasteful glance in his direction, eyes narrowed with doubt. A brief once-over was enough for her to conclude that the headmaster had come to boast or to sneer, which was what vultures tended to do—even amongst their own kind. She waited.

"Aren't you curious, my dear?"

She snorted, unwilling to raise her gaze. "Unfortunately not."

"What a pity," Kirill sighed falsely, pretending to reach for the leather pouch. "I thought you'd like a couple more Jokers in our little game."

Her attention snapped towards him upon the word; sharp and eager. Although she considered him unsightly and far too traditional for her tastes, V regarded the man as a necessary ally—unworthy of her attention unless there was something he could offer. She gathered her papers and placed them aside, fingers steepling as she leaned against the backrest of her armchair.

"Why, for the headmaster himself to leave his cosy nest and seek my opinion!" She laughed. "How...delightful."

"Indeed."

She folded her arms, fingers in a slow drum. "You have my attention."

Kirill found that he did not particularly like the tone she was using to speak to him and because he assumed the upper hand in the current play, he decided to go about this quite differently.

"I didn't ask for your attention, Verity," he pretended to frown, stowing the pouch back under his coat. "In fact, I doubt it is necessary."

Her patience was running thin. "Then explain your presence," the bearded vulture scoffed, raising a brow. "Leave if you have not come to strike a deal or do any business. I don't entertain your kind."

V rose from her seat to show him out but the latter raised a hand to stop her from proceeding. "You're no fun at all, Verity. It is no surprise Wint didn't like you as his predator."

"Last I checked, he didn't like you either." Her snap was sharp and final, putting an end to a conversation that did not hold any distinct purpose. "Speak. What do you want?"

Again, Kirill produced the drawstring pouch but this time, held it out for her to receive. The Himalayan vulture waited. With the smile of a devil, he did. Verity untied the knot of the bag and pulled its mouth apart, peering in.

"Duplicates?"

Inside, were at least a dozen Mark of Prey with the exact same identity.

"And what do you suggest we do with this?" She pulled on the strings and knotted their ends together, returning it to its original place.

"For the sparrow to draw his Mark, of course!" Kirill began after a timely pause. "Surely, you know what that means?"

Her Avian screeched from across the room, akin to laughter. "Allowing Iolani Tori a guaranteed draw of the Joker? You must have lost your mind—not that you had a proper one in the first place, Kirill, I assure you."

"You might as well hand the boy a trophy!" Verity returned to her papers, unentertained by the other's antics. "Those unsightly...friends of his would be the easy victors of this competition if you so handed him the Joker."

His response, in turn, was a foul chortle; so vile that its putrid stench reached her eyes and burned them with a sting. Verity's lips drew thin and her eyes searched for a purpose hidden beneath the shadows. Careful.

"Well, Verity." The headmaster seemed to regard their entire conversation a joke; some sort of amusement to pass the time he felt bitterly long and slow. "Birds of a feather can't always flock together."

_________________________

Iolani Tori found himself staring into many pairs of soulless eyes all at once and they stared back—unblinking. The last he saw of Pipa and Vijay were their heads, in a distance, bobbing amidst a crowd of other prey, making their way across the grounds. He couldn't bring himself to see the expression on Luka's face, and so he didn't. He walked on. The official had one of her guides bring him to the Hearts that he was to join, just in case he lost his way, and here he was.

Staring into the drop.

"Iolani," Reux appeared pleasantly surprised, as though he hadn't expected to see the sparrow at all. "What are you doing here?"

He turned away, declining to speak. The creature within paced in circles around its cage, thinking why. Thinking how.

His gaze met another. And it was only because Io had spent so much time with Vaughn over the past couple of weeks that he could recognize the shock written on his features; subtle but present. How ironic it must have been, to him the vulture, that the one he was meant to surprise turned on him, instead, in the worst way possible.

Mere hours before present time, he had learnt about Io's draw—again, the Joker—from Jing. The phoenix didn't seem very anxious, or perhaps she had complete faith in Io and the miracles that he somehow seemed to stir every minute. Every corner.

Having him start the games at a gate filled with hunters of his own kind was forcing the boy to walk the path of a dead end. Vaughn was sane enough to know this, but sane enough to remain silent in the face of an overbearing darkness.

"You're on their team, right?" The sparrow addressed him, peering up. "Have you made new friends?"

Vaughn could not fathom the lack of sanity that Io seemed to possess. Nothing! None at all.

Everyone was looking at them. "Yes, I am."

He had made obvious his attempt to brush aside the latter question. 'Making new friends' simply didn't seem to fit the image that most of the island had associated with him, the black vulture. Reux was not going to let this slip unnoticed.

"You don't seem very surprised that a friend of yours has abandoned you, Iolani."

Io turned to the shrike, a curious look in his eyes.

"True, Vaughn is very independent. He's never been on anyone's side but his own," he said unblinkingly. It was unnerving, the tenacity of a human so young and small—even then, not fragile at all.

Vaughn found himself close to chanting a prayer in his mind that begged the foolish sparrow not to say another word or he would be driven to the brink of madness and Reux would only be further riled by his spark. Neither of the two consequences were favourable. At the rate Io was speaking, Vaughn would not be surprised if he were to let slip (at worst!) his identity as the Joker—

"No point keeping this a secret," said Io as he promptly dangled his charm in front of their very eyes.

The vulture almost lost his mind. Enough for him to almost express concern and scream it at the sparrow himself! Indeed, Vaughn had lost his mind. There was no turning back.

"Is this a challenge, Iolani?" Reux broke into a smirk so sincere, it was frightening. The raven beside him had her eyes wide at the sight of his charm that was blank.

She had never seen it. Not once in her life.

"You seem confident," she observed, resisting the urge to snatch the choker right out of his hands. "There is no reason for you to be."

Io was curious. He was about to point out that they weren't (at all) half as intimidating as the previous Hearts were (of course, referring to the time when he'd never spoken to them) when the Avian of a crow announced her presence with a call. Heads turned, just in time to see the Avian shift right before her feet touched the ground.

By the looks of it, he was one of the officials.

"Bag check," he announced shortly after, seeming to direct this at Io more than the rest who shared his starting point. The sparrow obliged with a shrug, handing his bag of rations over. It suddenly occurred to him that he should have brought the bow from Luka along with him, just in case he needed it for a good whacking. After all, he didn't exactly have any arrows to make the weapon work as one would on an ordinary circumstance.

And by some unfortunate turn, the official produced a packet of sunflower seeds, fished out from Io's bag of rations, deeming it a prohibited item. The response he garnered was fairly surprising—all except Vaughn who was short of snapping 'ridiculous!' in the other's face.

"What's this?"

"Sunflower seeds," Io replied as though he was stating the obvious (which he was, really). He even pointed to the words on the brown packaging.

"You don't need them," the official concluded without a second thought, returning the rest of the rations save the delightful snack.

Io sighed, having had enough of arguing and trying to explain the simplest things to the most thick-headed humans. In fact, he found that many humans have a particularly thick skull and it wasn't his latest discovery.

The shrike made an attempt to ask, at the very least, about his decision. The other seemed partly disinterested and continued gazing at the choker in his fist. Vaughn was trying hard not to care.

"Why those?" Reux, Io thought, would have been very attractive if he kicked his habit of being unusually creepy and concerned with his every act. He would even have looked friendly if the whole world had on a pair of earplugs.

"Luka gave them to me," the sparrow replied, no longer careful with his every word. There was no purpose in crafting a story of lies and Io was the kind to make Truth his weapon. "And I like sunflower seeds."

It happened all at once.

"Luka?" Reux latched onto the name like a predator on its prey. "Luka? The eagle?"

"Yes."

His interest piqued. It was reflected in his eyes—dark. Within him, one could see a greed condensed; an unforgiving desire that clouded all sight and prevented the filtering of any light. The shrike had a sky within that was narrow and low, one that he often found he could touch as long as he stretched, just a little. A dark, dark sky.

"Is he important to you?"

The question made its arrival as soon as he saw it coming, and Io was not prepared. He made a mistake he thought, initially, to be trifling in nature and it was to pause.

"No, not at all."

Thought.

Thought was his very mistake and what the boy had considered to be unimportant before was now—and as he'd come to realize, for the rest of his life—his greatest weakness. The beginning of his fall was registered in an instant: the gazing into abyss. The darkest sky.

"Really?" Reux turned to the official. "Then, give it back to him. What he brought, return it."

His smile was different from before.

In his skies,

there was no room for the Light.

No room

For the moon.

_______________________

Dmitri had been resisting the urge to steal a glance over his shoulder for the past couple of minutes—and he finally failed. The falcon turned to confront Luka only to see that the latter was occupied with thoughts of his own.

"Sullivan. Hey, you listening?" He waved a hand before the eagle's eyes. "Look, I know things are looking down and we're kinda in a bad shape but—"

Lucienne practically rammed her elbow into his ribs and Dmitri had to pause for a couple of seconds to fully contain the pain before getting back to Luka.

"But, you know, this could all be part of the plan to bring us down. Io will be fine," Dmitri looked around for help and spotted Jeremiah. "Right, Jerry?"

Jeremiah didn't appear very inclined to agree with the falcon's optimism. After all, none of them could say for sure that they knew what the council and the order were planning. This was quite a turn indeed.

"He's right. Io's strong," Abigail said, knowing exactly which string she should be pulling to convince the eagle that everything would go as planned. "All we have to do is find them before they reach the exit with Io—we'll win. Hands down we will."

No one expected Slayne to agree. He was the sort to mind his own business and keep his thoughts to himself, especially during the season games which he often deemed as a waste of his time.

"As long as we get to him before they end the game, none of them will qualify as his predator," he rephrased carefully. "Iolani will be safe."

The eagle stared; then looked away. He knew the owl meant well but the problem he raised constituted a mere portion of his concerns and it was not enough to quell his demon within. It began to ache.

"You're thinking too much, Sullivan."

Even Lucienne stepped in, and by this point it was perhaps safe to assume that the hearts were sincere about their faith in Io.

"I've always thought you were the last one who wouldn't trust him completely."

"Yeah, Io's the smartest little devil I've ever seen," Dmitri clapped him on the back, thinking nothing of the term 'devil' because, well, Io was definitely not from the world of humans. "He'll think of something."

There seemed to be a general consensus across the group, and the repeated assurance that Io was going to fine or that he was independent enough to get through this on his own only furthered the ghost of unease haunting his cage.

"Io's got the strongest mind, seriously." Meryl nodded along, and so did the rest. The first rays of sunlight had begun to break the horizon with its flare.

But Luka wasn't worried about his mind,

He was worried about his heart.

______________________

The weak creature within breathed a shudder as it watched the gates, stone and rock, open with a roll, the carvings that spelled out 'fly' and 'die' alternating in and out of his sight. Fly. Die. Fly Die. Fly—

"Ready?"

There was only one person who could be addressing him, and Io did not wish to satisfy the shrike by giving him his attention.

"What does it mean to be ready?" He returned instead, beginning to feel the onslaught of anger and despair creep into his cage. "To know what lies ahead? Haha, that alone will not prepare one for anything at all."

If Luka was to die, then was he ready to accept that which he already knew? The answer was obvious. There was simply no way he could come to terms with something so hideous and frightening. Death of oneself—fine, fine; but to live with the falling of another? So important to him?

His heart recoiled as though it had fired a shot of its own.

*

The air in the Box carried with it a foul stench of flesh. Io didn't recall the forest being so unsightly; dirt and soil plaguing the bottom of his shoes with every step he took, venturing deeper and deeper into its jaws.

A low mist had gathered and settled near their starting point and it wasn't clear where or what he was stepping on.

Well, at least he was stepping on something. All chatter from the previous hour had ceased with the beginning of the end and every cricket and brush of the wind felt oddly familiar to the boy with the Joker. All except for the collective breathing of the company by his side that only served to further the prevailing unease.

At this rate, he'd rather be alone.

But what of Pipa and the rest? Nash, Vijay—the latter experiencing his very first time in the Box as a Mark, a true display of where he stood as prey. Surely, he would encounter some difficulty at the beginning.

Was there any chance of an escape? He looked to his right and found himself committing a tragic mistake. Reux caught his eye and turned to run a finger under the sparrow's chin, musing to himself.

Io jerked backwards at the contact, discomfort rising at the back of his throat in the form of bile. He was beginning to think about those who'd once caught the shrike's eye—all the prey before him—and just what they had been put through. The fact that he could not speak to question Reux and ask for an explanation which he could reason through furthered the dull entrapment imposed on his being.

No chance of an escape. If only he could ensure that Pipa was safe, that she wasn't starving, alone without anyone to help her. If only now, he could talk to Luka. He wanted him to be present. By his side.

Yes, the only way to prevent his death was to have him by his side—of course. Perhaps only then, Io could personally ensure a twist of fate and he'd better do it soon. Distance was not an option; Luka had to be close.

Io began to search his rucksack for the bag of sunflower seeds and upon his finding of the snack, opened it at once. The raven on his left stared, and so did the sea eagle beside her. He was huge. To Io, he looked very much like a brick—hard and rectangular.

The former stared back, holding out the opened bag of roasted seeds whilst shelling one for himself. It appeared to him as though they had declined his offer by turning away when he realized that Reux must have said something through the predator's Link, causing the rest to shun Io.

Io didn't like that very much. He felt that Reux was treating his own teammates rather unfairly and so expressed this by refusing the shrike a sunflower seed when the latter reached out to ask for one.

Within a minute, Io had finished ten seeds and kept every shell.

*

I know Jeremiah said that we should split up to comb the Box but he didn't exactly consider that our Links might break when we're further apart, Shri thought with a sigh, part wondering why she had to be stuck with Slayne out of everyone else. The white eye of his current form was slightly unnerving without an eye patch which he would wear as a human.

What matters more is speed, the owl responded simply, disturbed by the fact that they were flying too low for comfort. The sun was testing his ability to remain focused in flight, and it was disadvantageous to gain altitude since it would reveal their position. Finding Iolani is priority. At least we know which general direction the others are at.

Shri banked left as she heard this, flying lower to prepare for a landing. I don't know. Separating might just make it easier for those fakes to bring us down one by one.

Not the clearing. Wait a little, the owl advised before brushing aside her concerns. You're thinking too highly of them—focus on our priority.

Together, they cut through the canopy and shifted soundlessly before touching down on damp earth, a stray branch cracking underneath the pressure of feet. Shri waved a hand in front of his face, asking why he had stopped here, specifically.

Looks like this place had quite a mist in the morning. And what's with the smell? The osprey reached up to pinch her nose, unable to stand the putrid stench. Hey! Don't leave me behind.

Slayne had moved on in a general northwest direction, quiet. His eyes were fixed on the forest floor, as though searching for something beneath his feet.

At least tell me what you're looking for so that I can do something, Shri sighed, hurrying to fall into step with the owl. Then, she paused. Hold on...there's a stench but I think I—

It's Sullivan's scent. And that's impossible because he went in the opposite direction from us, so the only other person who would smell like him would be... Slayne stopped short.

He had seen one of them but he wasn't too sure if it was a mere coincidence or his just mind leading on and on in circles. Shri pointed out another just meters away, by a large root creeping above the soil. The drew closer, and saw another, northwest.

The shell of a sunflower seed.

There was no saying how their attention was drawn—out of the entire forest and the undergrowth that came along with it—to a mere shell the size of an insect. But perhaps it helped to have favorable circumstances for his eye to function accordingly, although having to overwork his vision just a little, since the canopies provided sufficient shade and the day had only just begun; and of course, a little help from a sparrow.

You should tell the others to come. I'll follow the trail, instructed Slayne to the osprey. After all, there was no time to waste.

________________________

A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry for the late update but yay stuff finally happening and I'm sorry I didn't leave an A/N last chapter hahaha the cliffy was too good not to resist. Also,  next week I'll be writing some backstory so it won't be a plot chapter :') But it'll be Slayne and Jiro's origin story. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Sigh, I've been having a tough time these past two weeks. Just emotionally. I'm so so tired but I've got a long way to go. See you soon! ^^

-Cuppie