Location: Kurokami village
Time and date: 2:50 pm, 3/12/20xx

Ink sighed as he looked at the small village in front of him. He really had missed this calm place.

It was quite the opposite of Oaksbridge, a very big and loud city luckily not the biggest on this continent. Loud traffic and many people bothered Ink, so he lived rather outside of Oaksbridge.

Sighing, the detective began to make his way from the little train station outside the village, towards the little shopping street Kurokami had. There wasn't much special aside from a restaurant, a bookstore and a tailor shop, wich all had to do with the traditions and culture of the area from the coast to the end of the Moonshine Forest.

Even if it was a Japanese colony once, the culture obviously wasn't the same. Japan is way too far away to control everything, so the emperor gave it to a loyal Japanese admiral, to watch over their colony.

No one knows exactly why the culture wasn't adapted completely, some say it might have something to do with the stubbornness of the people back then. Others think that it had something to do with the circumstances Japan got the colony in the first place. It was a present from Britain for something publicly unknown.

Being deep in his thoughts, Ink didn't realize that he was about to bump into someone, until it was too late. He yelped in surprise and quickly apologized. He bowed a few times, without looking at the other, since it was seen as polite here. "I'm terribly sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"That's totally fine, Ink!" The person he bumped into interrupted him. The skeleton recognized the voice immediately and looked up. "Hello there! How are you doing? Haven't talked for while now, haven't we darling?"

In front of Ink stood Mettafell, a human-alike robot with four arms and eyes. His hair was black, with shimmers of yellow and red. His design all in all seemed pretty edgy, but Mettafell didn't act like that for most of the time. Mostly to rude customers in the tailor shop he owned.

"I'm fine! How about you?" The skeleton replied smiling. "Nothing unusual has happened here since the last time you visited... well I finally have an employee for my shop, so I don't have to run everything on my own anymore!"  The robot explained proudly. "Oh that's great!" Ink exclaimed.

"So what exactly brings you here?" Mettafell asked. "Let's say Lucy 'invited' me to see how Cross was doing. I also wanted to ask him a few questions, because I'm really interested in the story behind him freezing nearly to dead!" For a second, the taller male seemed to be worried, but he quickly covered it with a smile. "Ya in a detective mood like always huh! Let's hope it's not getting you into trouble soon!" He laughed, yet the last part seemed to have a stern undertone. Ink didn't notice.

The two chatted a bit more, before saying goodbye. Ink sure had missed talking with everyone he knew here. Especially the 'seven shrine siblings'. They're basically just Lucy and the six people she called her, well, siblings. Mettafell was one of them. The shrine part came, obviously, from the fact that they're living with the 'priestess' in the holy shrine.

This city sure loved their religion. A lot of it was already there before the time as a colony, some things were just added from the Japanese to their own culture, especially the style of clothes and buildings.

After greeting a few people he recognized, he finally stood in front of the shrine. Or in front of the stairs that led to the shrine to be precise. Sighing, Ink made his way up the 21 stairs. The detective wasn't sure why he knew that it were exactly 21 stairs, he just did. Normally he'd forget stuff like that, but for some reason it didn't happen this time.

When he nearly reached the shrine, he noticed someone stomping down the opposite way of himself very annoyed. The skeleton knew them just too well. Sven or Swapfell, a skeleton as well, was one of the shrine siblings and with 26 years, agewise, right in the middle. He'd often be on journeys, so the detective had luck to meet him!

"Hey Swapfell!" Ink exclaimed, making the other sighed annoyed. "What?!", he grumbled, not even trying to hide his annoyance. "Nothing, I just thought it was nice ta see ya again, so I greeted ya!", Ink snorted, earning a 'seriously' face from the other skeleton, before just continuing his way down.

The skeleton with mismatched eyes giggled, beginning to climb up the stairs again. As he finally reached the top, he could already see Lucy. She was talking to someone, who's back was facing Ink.

The female skeleton saw Ink approaching and spoke "So, thank you for your interest, but it's really not the best time to discuss this! How about you come back tomorrow!" The unknown person nodded and turned to leave.

The detective was able to make out the others face. He was a skeleton, with dark bones and tear-alike stripes going down his face. He was wearing a black coat with a blue scarf. Something about him seemed familiar, but he couldn't recall what.

When the other turned away to walk down the stairs, Ink realized that they've been staring at each other.

"Wow now THAT looked like it came right out of a cheesy romance movie." Lucy's comment came immediately when the stranger was out of sight.

"Excuse me?!" The female snickered at the others reaction and opened the door to the shrine. "How about you come in? It's still winter y'know."

Ink rolled his eyes, but walked in, hearing talking nearby, as he and Lucy took of their shoes. The two did a little chitchat while Lucy dragged him to her room, giving Ink only a bit time to greet Carrot, Fell and Geno who were the ones Ink heard talking.

As they arrived in Lucy's room, Cross already sat there, probably waiting for them. He was wearing a simple white hoodie and black pants, he probably got them from Geno, since they were about the same size.

"Cross! This is Ink! He was a big help when you collapsed at our cafe! Ink, this is Cross or Chris!" Lucy introduced. The monochrome skeleton seemed to look at him skeptically for a moment, before smiling and saying "Thank you so much! I owe you and the people here my life! But I got to know! Did you tell anyone about this?"

The detective was confused, but also a bit suspicious. "No, I don't think so. Why-" Cross interrupted him, hissing "What do you mean 'you don't think so'?!"

"S-sorry! I don't have the best memory!" Ink explained, surprised at the sudden mood change of the other. "Why is that important anyways?" Lucy asked.

"I-I... the reason I fainted in the cafe is because I was fleeing from someone... I'm still surprised they haven't found me yet..." the skeleton with mismatched eyes explained bitterly.

"Who were you fleeing from? I could help you! I'm a detective! I also have a good relationship with the police!" Ink exclaimed. Cross looked at him skeptically. "The police? I doubt they can do anything against them... I'm sure they aren't even aware that they exist like most people... the dark family... they're similar to a mafia just much more terrifying and difficult to hunt down..."

A knock interrupted the tension in the room. After a short silence, Geno's voiced asked from the other side "Can I come in?" "Y-yes of course!" Lucy exclaimed quickly.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything!" The 'priestess' said as he entered the room. "I just wanted to say that you three will be alone for a bit! Carrot, Fell and Life will get a few things for me while I have to take care of a few arrangements in Oaksbridge!"

Geno looked at the three, each of them giving him a nod and he smiled. "I'll see you later then!" The smile didn't feel genuinely happy, but more sad. While Ink wasn't particularly the best at reading emotions, he could sense that Geno seemed sad for some reason. Not only the way he smile but also the look in the skeletons one good eye when he closed the door seemed to be full of pain and regret.

Ink wasn't the only one who noticed. Cross also did. They shared a glance that felt like a full conversation for them. This whole situation was strange for them. Why would Cross, who didn't want anyone to know about him, trust a stranger like Ink? And why did Ink feel this weird connection to him?

Lucy, who was observing everything, suddenly cleared her throat and said "I just remembered that I wanted to show you guys something! So how about we forget the whole 'dark family' thing and go explore the Kurokami shrine a bit!"

The two skeletons with mismatched eyes looked at each other again. They knew they wouldn't forget this. They knew that forgetting this wouldn't get them far, but they also knew that stressing it too much, when it was supposed to be a fun afternoon, wasn't good either. They both nodded and followed the female out.

What they didn't know though is that, somewhere else, people were preparing themselves. Friend or enemy both were preparing for this night.

~meanwhile~

Location: a bar called 'the blue caterpillar' in Oaksbridge
Time and date: 3 pm, 3/12/20xx

Two figures, both skeleton, sat next to each other, talking lowly. "Do yer 'ave tae remind meh of that? Why'd yer think 'm 'ere?! Sureley not tae get reminded that we 'ave tae go back there!" One of them hissed. They wore a blue coat, wich was a bit ripped, with fur on hood and sleeves. Their hood covered a large hole in their head, but not the fact that only one of his blood red eyes was working correctly.

The other sighed "I know, do you think I feel different? We both had to suffer a lot back then... I was just saying, that maybe it'd be a good chance to finally take our fucking revenge!" Their clothes consisted of a simple blue jacket with grey hood and black trousers. Their eyes were probably the most interesting about them. One pupil was just red, while the other was a mixture of red and blue, giving it a purple undertone.

"Good way tae think 'bout it... tis damn place deserves tae be burned down... 'specially dis focking shrine..."

"Hm... I think one person in particular needs punishment... it's one thing to break up with someone for something they didn't fucking do, but it's another thing to try to fucking kill them because of that!"

"Dust, What'd I tell just ya?"

"Sorry... I hope that I have more luck with Blue..." Dust said, taking a sip of the beer he had been waiting to drink the whole time.

"Hope so too, looks innocent but..."

"I know, I know! He's with us for a reason that Nightmare doesn't want us to know!"

"Rott'n tae de core..."

"And that's what I fucking love about him!"

"Jesus, Dust! Yer givin' me Lust vibes 'ver 'ere!"

"I'm not thaaaat fucking crazy! So don't throw me into a category with that bastard!"

"Yer sure, yer don't want tae get a good therapy?" The one with the hole said it in a very joking fashion. The other replied in a similar more over dramatic way. "How dare you questioning my sanity!"

The two laughed, knowing it'd be the last laughter before it would get serious. They knew they could die if they failed, but for them it was worth it. It was worth living a dangerous live in the dark family.

~at the same time~

Location: unknown
Time and date: unknown

The inky creature just sat there, in front of a city. Next to them the human child. They both didn't seem to move an inch, mediating, how it seemed. Then the human child spoke "How many trapped souls did you find?"

The creature's hands showed him eight fingers.

"So they're all here..."

The living ink nodded, putting his forehead onto the others. It seemed as if they were showing the other something through that contact, since the child said "Thanks! Now I think we can take care of the little rose! Their soul's completely trapped here! Tonight, when the ritual plays out, we'll bring them back!"

The inky creature seemed to be concerned.

"His body? Don't worry team B found it while looking for 'Shiva'. They just have to find a way to get it close to the portal without something happening to it... maybe we could even get the doppelgänger exposed... that'd be the chance to finally arrest her!"

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(Hi, just wanted to say that I rewrote most of this chapter, because it was bad, also sorry for not updating for so long, I don't feel motivated right now ;-;)