It isn't often that Marie is late. And when she is, it's for a good reason.

Today is one of those days.

She had stayed up far too late, binge watching a tv show of hers. Then, her alarm didn't go off. And on top of that she may have stumbled upon another article about The Rabbit Hole that sucked her in, and by the time she realized how late it was she had missed her bus.

There had been three items in the article that had captured her attention. One, The Rabbit Hole used to be a family restaurant. Two, the kid in the last article had been kidnapped at that version of the bar. And the third was that the kids last name was Ann-Glosca.

That's as far as she'd gotten before realizing the time and dashed out of her apartment.

Now, as she stepped out of her cab, the last name wouldn't stop bugging her. There was something familiar about it. Wasn't Glosca Mike's last name? Would that mean that he has, or had, a connection with this kid? It wasn't entirely impossible, as the kidnapping had been about twenty years ago. How old would that put Mike at? And would he even be connected if the kids last name had Ann in it?

Marie shakes her head as she walks into the bar.

The chances of her theory being true were very limited. She was just throwing connections and dots out there, hoping for something. But why? She'd only gone looking for anything about The Rabbit Hole to learn about it before accepting the job offer. So why were events from the past popping up now? And why was she so keen on wanting to know more?

"Good morning, Marie."

Marie stops and blinks. The bar is empty besides Mike being at the counter and wiping glass of their water spots.

"Oh. Hello."

"Something on your mind?"

She bites her lip. Should she tell Mike about the article? About her theories? Surely even if he isn't connected with the kid he must know the past of this place. "When you bought this place, did you know about everything that happened here?"

He looks confused for a moment before a shadow passes over his face. He turns away from her. His polishing becoming harsher. "I did."

"So why buy the place? Did you have any guarantee that you would get customers after that?" She slides closer to the bar.

He turns back to her. The shadow wiped from his face. "That was twenty years ago, Marie. How could it possibly affect business now?"

Oh. He does have a point there. She rubs her hands together. "I didn't think about that. I just saw this article and got thinking about how you and the kid had similar last names and-"

Mikes eyes flash gold. "Don't go digging for things you don't understand, Marie." There's a grit to his voice that wasn't there before.

She takes a step back as she sucks in a breath. "I didn't go searching-"

He scoffs. "Sure. Just, just go practice. We're done here." He turns away from her, placing the cup down as he does.

Marie crosses her arms before stalking off to the practice rooms.

Why was he getting so worked up over something if it didn't matter to him? Unless... unless he really did have a connection to the kid and is just lying about it. But why lie? What does he gain from lying about something like that?

Marie sighs as she finds the common space empty. After her encounter with Mike she wasn't really wanting to face anyone else. And, if her partner continues with his trend she won't see him either. Which, for once, is a relief.

But the moment she opens the door to their practice room she can tell right away that he's there. For one, she's hit with the smell of cologne, which is never around. For another thing she's greeted by her partner's singing voice. She can't catch the words though as when she opens the door all the way he stops. They stare at each other for a moment. Neither of them saying anything.

"You're here," Marie says at the same that he says;

"Good morning partner." A smirk on his face.

They stare at each other some more. Marie doesn't move from the door. She doesn't know what to do. Not when the space that had been hers for the past few days now has someone else in it. Who she's supposed to actually share the room with.

"Come in." He laughs and places the guitar he's holding down. "There's no need to look like a deer caught in headlights."

That gets Marie moving. She steps into the room and lets the door slam behind her. "I am not a deer!"

He just laughs, only infuriating Marie more.

"I wasn't implying you were. I just said you looked like one." His green eyes light up with amusement.

Maries face reddens. "Fine. Whatever. Let's just practice since you're here for once." She places her bag down at her vanity - where she still hasn't left her own mark. Then she takes her jacket off and drapes it on the back of the chair.

"Let's. I didn't think you were going to show." He smirks and leans back against the couch, spreading his legs wide. "Thought for once that I wasn't going to be the only one to get in trouble for being a no-show."

Marie rolls her eyes. "Unlike you I actually need this job and like to show up so I can practice." She takes her seat at the music stand.

He ignores her comment besides for a quick scoff and a muttered comment that Marie doesn't catch.

She can already tell that she won't like today. That it won't get any better like she had hoped it would. She sighs. "So, what song are we practicing then?"

Roan stands up and passes her a single piece of sheet music. She takes it from him and turns it to look at the back. "It's only one sided?" She turns it back around "But it's so short?"

Roan shrugs. "It's a good song though. Our audience loves it."

Marie scans the paper, looking at the words. "It's a lullaby." She drops the paper to her lap. "You can't seriously expect me to sing a lullaby."

The lights start to flicker.

Roan glances at them uneasily. "I am expecting you to."

Marie scoffs. "I'm not singing this."

The lights flicker faster.

Marie eyes them. "What's wrong with the lights?" She looks back to Roan who now looks panicked. His eyes are wide and his breathing is coming faster.

"I promise you that the song will be a hit! You'll even sing most of it! Just, just give it a try!"

Marie eyes the paper with a suspicious look. But eventually she sighs and starts to sing. The words are choppy as she starts, but the more she sings the smoother they start to come out. And the farther into the song she gets the less the lights flicker until they're completely calm and shining brightly.

Marie finishes the song. She isn't left breathless but somewhere in her she finds more peace. She sighs and reluctantly turns to Roan. "Okay... so maybe the song isn't that bad."

He grins a little shakily. "I'm glad you think so. Shall we practice some mor-"

A scream breaks through the room.

"Not again!" Marie moans as she jumps up.

"That sounded like Finn!" Roan jumps off the couch and springs for the door. He throws it open.

Marie follows, a little hesitantly. She doesn't want to see another site like Nayoko.

But what's out there this time is much much worse.

Marie's hands fly to her mouth.

"Finn!" Roan cries. He springs to grab the fire extinguisher that hangs off the wall.

Finn runs around the room screaming as the lower half of his body is engulfed by orange and red.

"Stop, drop and roll!" Marie yells. Her gaze snaps to Roan who struggles to get the extinguisher off the wall.

But Finn must not hear her. He continues to run around the room. His panicked cries filling the air. His arms fly wildly around him.

Marie runs over to Roan and pushes him out of the way. She struggles to unlatch the fire extinguisher from the wall with her shaky fingers.

"Stop, drop and roll Finn!" Roan yells, repeating Marie.

But Finn doesn't hear him either.

Roans fingers grab the extinguisher, holding it steady as Marie finally unlatches it from the wall. She steps back just as he swings it and pulls the trigger. White gush explodes out of it, heading straight for Finn.

Marie watches as the man's eyes widen right before he's covered from head to toe in white. Roan doesn't stop spraying it until there's no sign of fire at all.

Marie makes her way over to Finn who wipes his face, trying and failing to get the foam off his face. She grabs his arm and guides him to the couches.

"You stay here and I'll go find some towels, okay?"

Finn nods.

"I'll stay here with him," Roan says. He hangs the extinguisher back up.

Marie nods. "I'll try to be quick." She dashes out to the main part of the bar. When she reaches it a figure dashes behind the bar.

Marie blinks and jumps off the stage. "Is someone there?" she asks. She makes her way over to the bar.

Could it be another performer? Or Mike? But then, why would they hide? Could it possibly be the person who could have started the fire?

But when she makes it to the bar, jumping around to catch the figure, no one is there.

How is that possible?

She shortly forgets about the figure as she remembers Finn. She searches behind the bar and finds some cloths under the sink. These'll have to do. She then heads back to the common room and hands some to Roan and the rest to Finn. The men help to clean Finn up.

"We'll have to call 911 to get those burns treated," Marie says as she pulls her phone out.

"No!"

Marie jumps.

Roan looks up at her. "We can't involve them in this."

"Why not?" she asks. Her eyes narrow.

"Because they won't understand." His eyes are wide and frantic.

Marie turns around as Mike enters the room.

"He's getting worse." Mike sighs.

"I know why this time," Roan says.

When Marie turns back around she finds Roan and Finn looking up at her.

"Me?" she asks, pointing at herself. "What did I do?" She turns back to Mike. "And who's he?" This was the second time she's heard about some mysterious guy. Did it have to do with the figure she saw?

Mike nods.

Marie furrows her brows right as something sharp hits her head and the world spins to black around her.

Chapter WC: 1,776

Total WC: 9,505