With every promise she's broken

With every lie she's spoken

Her enemy's not far behind

It's your time  

Across The Line, Linkin' Park

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A somber quiet filled the arena as every capable Reaper came in fidgeting with the meager packs they had been given for the crossover.

Sathariel was in the middle with his eyes closed and a hand on the lodestone as if saying his earnest prayers. Behind him, stood Belial, Levi and Luci, heads bowed while muttering altogether under their breaths.

Soon, the surface of the lodestone underneath Sathariel's palm began to glow. The infectious light spread quickly, reaching the top before travelling down the three bases of the Triangle. In a few seconds, what once were spires made of dead rock were transformed into giant luminescent crystals, the conjoined tips of which piercing through the soot-colored clouds that rolled menacingly low overhead. Around the vertex of the Triangle, the clouds shimmered and began to gyrate slowly like a whirlpool of light being born.

A portal, I thought.

"Let me give you a quick rundown of this mission," Sathariel announced.

We were grouped into three. No one wanted to talk. None of us were too excited about this mission. Nonetheless, everybody came closer to listen.

"Vincent, Aramis and Alexis: your job is to deal with Legion. Avoid combat if possible, just until we find the Grimoire. Vlad, take your cabal and find Cairo. I'd already made contact with Pilgrim and he's willing to lend two of his familiars to aid the search. We find Cairo, we find the Grimoire. Hector and the rest of his brothers will be waiting in Halo. Once the Grimoire's in their hands, they'd start casting the barrier around the abyss."

Hector raised a hand, grinning, eyes wild as if he was about to dissect a kitten. "That's the easy part, eh? The million dollar question is, can we actually chock Legion into the abyss before we finish the barrier?"

Everyone seemed expectant of the answer, but Sathariel took his time.

"It's up to those three," he replied, alternating his gaze between Vincent, Alex and me.

Automatically, all pairs of eyes in the room were on us.

Belial came to me, carrying a wooden bowl which contained what looked to me like blood. Without warning, she withdrew a brush from her robes, dipped it into the bowl and reached for my left hand.

"It ain't human blood, if that's what you're thinkin'."

She painted something on the back of my hand—an inverted triangle—while murmuring something. As soon as it started glowing, Belial wiped the blood off. Still, the red triangle remained on my skin.

"What is it?" I asked.

"A sigil. Worn by the offerer as a pledge to Eldest," she answered. "Won't come off unless you finish the ritual."

"And if I don't?"

One corner of her lips actually pulled up. Her dark eyes roamed the arena.

"Then, I sure hope you like it here, Hun. 'Cause you'll be changing your permanent address if you screw this one up."

With that, she left me mulling about my options.

To be honest, it wasn't explained to me in detail how we were supposed to defeat Adrianna in the first place. All I knew was one: Adrianna wanted something from me. Whatever that was, I still didn't know. Two: she wanted Vincent on her side. No way in hell I was going to let that happen. And three: I had to make some sort of sacrifice. Sounded kind of grim, but I agreed anyway. Otherwise, I had no chance of saving Dad.

What troubled me most was that Vincent and Vladimir still weren't talking. In the end, I had managed to drag Vincent near his brother.

"Ah, this girl's driving me insane," Vincent growled. He flicked me on the forehead, remembering to give me his deadliest scowl. "D'you have a death wish?"

Rubbing my forehead, I lightly nudged him on the side and cocked my head to Vladimir who was standing right beside him. Ignoring my elaborate gestures and meaningful looks, Vincent just pocketed his hands and averted his gaze.

"I know I don't have to tell you this," Vladimir spoke—to my relief—without even looking at Vincent. "But, take care of yourself out there, you hear me?"

"Psshh..." Vincent kicked the air in front of him. "You're the one who should be careful... I'll disown you if you lose to Cairo."

Vladimir let out a "Hump!" and started to leave.

"Vlad, wait. What I'm really trying to say is..." Vincent swallowed. "Don't get dead."

The boy nodded without looking back. As his cabal began to follow him, he motioned for Amyr to stay with us. Scratching the back of his head, the guy fell out of the group.

"I guess that means I'm all yours," Amyr told Vincent, sighing. "Does the boss think I'm some kind of bodyguard?"

Alex finally joined us, carrying a large duffel bag and looking like he was trying to solve global warming and poverty altogether in his head.

As the edges of the portal began to part, violent winds awakened, spiraling like a vacuum, whipping at us. The four Haljan leaders went to the sidelines, Sathariel giving Vincent a squeeze on the shoulder as he did.

"When all this is over, come home safe," he said through the howling wind. "Eldest bless you!"

Vincent, Alex, Amyr and I approached the lodestone in the middle of the arena and began to climb to the top using the crystal protrusions as our footrests. I watched Alex and Amyr disappear into the whirlpool of light, squinting through the angry wind and dust that blinded my eyes.

Wordlessly, Vincent who was a few feet above me reached down for my hand and pulled me up in one swift motion. He slung my arm over his shoulder. He slid his hand behind my waist before reaching up at the vertex.

The world spun around us as the vertical cylinder of light coming from the vertex sucked us in, threatening to rip our bodies apart. The next thing I knew was the explosion of pain as my head bounced on the ground. I went blind for two seconds, then the pain disappeared as quickly as it came. A concussion healing in an instant.

Right then, I knew I wasn't in Halja anymore.

I was about to get up when Vincent appeared and fell right over me. He let out a groan as his forehead collided with the tip of my shoulder. For two whole seconds, I stared at the cloudless morning sky, unable to move or breathe.

"Link," he gasped. "Link now."

Blinking, I reconnected our Transference link. But then, I remembered this wasn't Halja. Frantically, I slipped my hands under his chest and rolled him onto his back.

Catching my breath, I scrambled to my feet. As I was patting the dirt off of my clothes, Amyr stepped in front of me, shaking his head with that smirky grin.

"Seriously," he said. "How'd you expect me and Alex to leave you two alone like that? I say we finish the job first, and once this is all over, you two can get lovey-dovey all you want."

A leather satchel suddenly flew to Amyr's face. It did nothing to wipe the smirk off his face as he caught it.

"Thanks, Boss!" he told Vincent, waving the satchel in the most annoying way possible. "I thought I dropped this somewhere."

Alex offered Vincent a hand and stood him up.

"In the meantime, you should not worry about tainting anyone, Aramis," the Seventh said, kneeling on the ground to rummage his duffel bag. "Thanks to Hector's research we were able to delay your soul from turning. Hopefully, we will have enough time to perform a soul offering and vanquish legion before the aftereffects kick in."

"After effects?" Vincent sounded edgy. "And you never thought that was something you should've mentioned?"

"Doesn't matter," I said. "We can worry about that if—when we get through this alive."

I looked around. A narrow grassy lawn stretched on both sides were we stood, separating the river in front of us from the street. From a distance, near the bridge crossing the river were two Jeep Rubicons—one red and the other, black.

"Where are we, anyway?" I asked.

"Danville," Amyr answered. "A few miles away from Centralia. Mr. S figured it ain't smart showing up there and risk getting ambushed."

"I know the place," I told him. "I had been around here when I was a kid."

After half a minute of throwing things over his shoulder, Alex handed us each a wristwatch and a Diviner's earring.

"You will be hearing from me exactly every four hours," he instructed. "If I do not hear from you, I will automatically assume that you are in trouble. Aramis, can you summon your scythe for me?"

Mechanically, I touched the Bind mark on my neck and waited for the staff to form in my hand. Once completed, I pummeled the butt into the ground. The crescent moon black glass blade swung out.

Alex walked over to me. "See that crack? Your scythe is an ectoplasmic extension. It is only as strong as your soul and your master's Bind on you. We may have managed to mend you temporarily, but that does not mean you can go full-power. I suggest you limit using your scythe not more the thrice. The same goes for you, Vincent. Don't use your abilities unless necessary. Once you lose control—"

"I know, I know," Vincent waved the thought away, rolling his eyeballs.

I cleared my throat. "Uhm, not that I'm going to but what's going to happen if I use my scythe more than three times?"

"Most likely, it will shatter," Alex answered bluntly. "So will your soul. And your Bind. You will perish into Oblivion."

"Okay," I swallowed. "Too much information."

Alex slung the duffel bag over his shoulder. "While you work on the offering ritual, Amyr and I will scout Centralia. Track Legion's movements—"

Vincent raised a brow. "How sure are we that Legion's in there?"

"Father has been sending sentries to hotspots all over the globe these last few weeks," Alex answered, his expression becoming bleak. "Legion can only last so long outside Halo without continuous supply of life-force."

Vincent crossed his arms over his chest. "And where else on earth can Legion get huge amounts of life-force without breaking a sweat than the hotspots? Makes sense."

"An all-you-can-eat buffet of Strays," Amyr agreed.

Alexis nodded, fiddling with the hem of his tweed jacket. "Of all the sentries, only those who went to Centralia did not come back. The only plausible explanation is that they had encountered Legion there and were wiped out. Having said that, we have to plan our next move seeing as our enemy is not one to be overcome by mere brute force."

I let out a long, deep sigh. "Okay, so how exactly does this soul offering help us defeat Legion?"

"I'll tell you about it on the way," Vincent sighed.

"To where?"

"To someone you know."

His answer confused me, but I trusted he would explain everything in due time so I didn't probe further.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, it's going to be a race to save Aramis' Dad, the world and maybe not get dead while doin it from now on. Will A and Vince have time for love?