The Next Adventure...

Night One Hundred And Fourteen

Age 1991

The Void...

"Labby? Labby where you at?" Ken yelled now standing in that familiar red void that was all around her.

She had come back to this hated place of darkness only to find him no longer here... She had felt strange ever since she woke up in Emma's arms and had her fight with Shelly. She knew something was off.

"Labby?"

"He won't be coming." A familiar voice said.

"Hero?" Ken asked in alarm. She turned around and she saw him... He looked like Hero but right away she knew he wasn't... He had the same hair and eyes, but his look was darker... Crueler... "Who are you!" She asked alarmed.

"Row Law... Pleasurer to meet you cutie..." Row announced giving her a mocking bow. "Of course you can just call me God."

"No..." Ken shook her head frowning. "Sorry but I only believe in one God." She reached up placing her hands around her necklace. "Now... Who the hell are you, why are you here, and where the hell is the annoying lab coat! I had a question for him!"

"I told you I'm Row Law, I'm here because I'm bored and want a fun dream, and I killed Labby."

"What!?"

Row gave her a half smirk as he leaned forward. "Let's start with a simple explanation. I'm the real Row, and Hero is a fake. There is a realm known as the Void, that people like Alexander Gates can reach with his Equation, I too can reach this Void, with my Dreamer Crest as it is where I rest when I'm dreaming, and as it turns out you Seraphins are also connected to this realm. That's how we're talking..."

"Wait so you're like in my head? You're not going to look through my mind, or take my body over are you!" Ken asked in a panic.

"I can't do that..." Row said flatly. "I'm not actually in your mind and even if I killed this version of you, you'd just wake up like dying in a dream. I was only able to get rid of that Labby fellow because he was also a Dream. You see my Crest allows me to make Dreams a reality but there are limits to what can be dreamed up... A dream means to create not to destroy... Truthfully I can't do anything while I'm trapped in here."

"Trapped..." Ken asked frowning slightly.

"My... Let's call him other Half is keeping me asleep..."

"Hero..."

"Yes... He's trying to stop me from waking up. He won't be able to though... Bit by bit I'll wake up. Every time he fights I get a little closer... That's who I am you know." He smirked.

"Well if Hero wants to keep you suppressed than I'm sure he has a good reason." Ken huffed. "So if you're going to ask me for help than the answer is no."

"I wasn't." Row laughed. "I'll get out myself. Why don't you ask your friend what happens when I do to. I'm sure he'll love to tell you."

"Well than why the hell are you here you creep!"

Row gave a small smile as he leaned even closer. The space around them seemed to bend and twist and Ken suddenly found her back pressed to a wall with Row looking down at her. "I told you... I'm bored. And my body is the same as Hero's so how about we-"

"Ew gross!" Ken hissed grabbing Row's wrist and nearly snapping it making him let out a hiss of his own and jump back. "No way in hell mister... I keep telling Irene, and I'll tell you too, I am not in love with Hero, but even if I was, no way in hell I would ever do anything with you! Besides you have to get married first! And I'm only doing that with my true love, my soulmate."

"I figured as much." Row chuckled. "It was worth a shot though. You have no idea how bored I am. The real reason I was waiting for you to show up was to give you a bit of a warning."

"Are you threatening me..." Ken asked her eyes narrowing.

"Heavens no. I don't threaten people." Row said a glint in his eyes as the void seemed to shake for a moment as a small portion of his power seemed to seep out making every hair on Ken's body stand up, and a shiver went down her spine. "I only make promises that I keep... But that's not why I'm here this time. Rather I've come to warn you about your power... The reason you blacked out is simple... You evolved..."

"I what?"

"Evolved." Row said throwing his head back and letting out a yawn. "I'm starting to fade so allow me to speak quickly. A Seraphin looks like a human but has the power of a Bestia Macht, and are always Viscount level the second weakest level of a Bestia Macht, however when their power is high enough they can evolve into an Earl state gaining more beast like features but at a cost of sanity. You went mad and started devouring that woman, and you even jumped past Earl to the next level. A few more hours and you'd have jumped up again. Careful with where you go from here Ken... It's only a matter of time before your madness makes you devour the wrong person..."

"I..." Ken was silent as she stared down at her hands. "I didn't..."

Row let out a small laugh as his body seemed to be covered in green light and he simply faded away getting dimmer and dimmer till nothing was left...

***

Meanwhile Back At The Squad Six Recruits Room...

"Ahh much better!" Irene announced stepping outside of the shower room, and back into the dorm room, she shared with the other four recruits. "All clean." She said running a towel through her hair. "That reminds me... Hero I was wondering if-"

"Not here." Kitsune said cutting her off.

"What?" Irene looked up finding Ken was asleep in her bed, Kitsune was watching t.v, and Light was at the table working on his gun which was smoking and looked kind of busted up ever since his battle with Viper. Hero was nowhere to be seen. 'Where is he?"

"On a date." Kitsune shrugged.

"What!" Irene yelled.

"Yeah that creepy emotionless girl, Lucy showed up, and asked if he wanted to go on a date, and Hero said he didn't have anything better to do, so he went with her." Kitsune shrugged.

"Oh..." Irene gritted her teeth for a moment as she clenched her left hand into a fist since she couldn't do it anymore with her right... "Did he now..."

"Yep... I'm sure it's only a matter of time before a girl comes to ask me out!" Kitsune announced.

"I don't see that happening..." Light murmured letting out a sigh when the barrel of his gun fell off. "I don't remember what I did but I royally screwed up my weapon... Thankfully the Equation inside is fine..."

"What does Hero have that I don't!" Kitsune yelled throwing his arms in the air.

"Big Brother is handsome, strong, smart, kind, cleans, goes out of his way to help others, has a nice personality, and is the main character in a webnovel..."

"We don't do meta jokes anymore!" Kitsune shook his head as he let out a sigh. "It's just not fair... I mean I'm handsome... I'm a Noble. I got money? Where's my Harem God damn it! Just because he has sexy snow white hair that flows in the wind just right, or pretty dazzling ruby red eyes that sparkle in the right lighting, or a nice glow, and an amazing ass, all the chicks are drawn to him!"

"...Kitsune... Why are you-"

"Yaoi bait!"

"Okay..."

Kitsune nodded his head for a moment. "Irene! Let's go on a date!"

Irene still had an eye twitched for a moment as she let out a hum. "No..."

"Why!"

Irene let out another hum as she got an evil grin on her face. "But that does give me an idea..." She said letting out an evil laugh.

***

Somewhere In The City...

"You uh... You really thought this out a lot haven't you..." Hero laughed sheepishly as Lucy held a massive book on notes for what she claimed would be the perfect date.

"Indeed." She nodded. "Being prepared is only natural. As humans we exist to find a mate who meets the perfect evolutionary standard, and will thus be able to make the perfect off spring. As such in order to claim you as the perfect mate for myself I must make you mine and mark my territory so no other rivals may try and claim you themselves. Thus in the future we will be able to produce the perfect offspring that will be in the next stage of evolution."

"I... I think I under stood that... You're saying you want kids already..." Hero asked with wide eyes.

"Indeed..."

"With me?"

"Indeed."

"Why?"

"Do you really care?"

Hero thought for a moment letting out a small hum. "Not really... But I think that's way to early! I mean I'm still just an Enforcer recruit! I'm not ready to be a dad yet! Also the point of a date is to see if your compatible with the person? And if you're going off of genes and things like that wouldn't a Noble be better? I mean I'm sure Kitsune would- Why the hell am I trying to convince you to sleep with Kitsune? The hell is wrong with me?"

"There they are!" A voice announced making Lucy frown as she peaked over Hero's shoulder.

"Oh deer... I was unsuccessful at marking you in time..."

Hero turned and stared with wide eyes when he saw who was in the street. Ken, Kitsune, Light, Irene, Emma, Sera, Max, Shiki, Arthur, Shelly, Tsun, and Alice, the two girls they had talked to at the restaurant that one time, and Reine, the Noble Girl Irene had met, as well as the two boys who had been with her Shuncong, the nervous one, and Schutz.

"Why is everyone here..." Hero asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I figured that just like last time why don't we all go out as a group to a restaurant in order to celebrate the last mission." Irene said a kind smile on her face but a pair of eyes that were glaring at the blank expression of Lucy. "That isn't bad right? I invited everyone and these are all who showed up."

"I mean Lucy and I were-"

"It is fine." Lucy nodded wrapping her arms around Hero's own arm. "I do not mind."

"Great!" Shelly announced. "Because there is this great ice cream restaurant in this restaurant I wanted to check out."

"Ice cream!" Ken asked with stars in her eyes. "What are we waiting for! Let's go!"

***

The Restaurant...

'I can't help but fell like I've done something horribly wrong...' Hero thought noticing the glares from Lucy and Irene that fired back and forth between them. Currently the large group was at the restaurant. It was an old timey place with one of those machines that played music from the Age 1000, and it currently only had them. They took up several booths, each booth having two seats that could fit three people each. Hero was in the center of a booth with Irene on one side, and Lucy on the other, and across from him was Shelly and Ken. The third seat was empty as everyone refused to sit next to the two bickering girls who in no time at all were fighting over each others ice cream both wanting a taste... Everyone all had wild flavors expect for Hero who who just went with plain vanilla like a weirdo...

"You know..." Kitsune commented from his booth. Max, and Shiki were on either side of him, while Sera, Emma, and Arthur were seated across from him. "I don't feel jealous of Hero anymore..." He grinned.

"Hero Law is strong..." Arthur nodded his head.

"You look familiar..." Max noted letting out a hum.

"Oh you fought me in the Enforcers Try-outs." Arthur nodded. "I was saved by Hero."

"Ahh I remember now." Max nodded. "That sounds about right. Speaking of fights. What do you say we have a spar one day Nine? Street rat versus Noble, lava, versus fire? I think that'd be one hell of a match."

"No thanks." Kitsune said taking a sip of his milkshake. "I don't fight Hero's sloppy seconds."

"Ahh shucks." Max grinned looking across the table. "How bout you Aka? You're the younger sister of the freaking Empresses, and your mother also used to be the Empress. Wanna go a few rounds."

"Is fighting all you think about?" Sera asked rolling her eyes.

"I want to get stronger..." Max noted. "Strong enough the beat everyone... Strong enough to show the world... I have no last name, and come from the streets. I'll show them all you don't need royal blood to be strong. I'm going to be the next Emperor!"

Sera let out a small snort. "Sure you are."

"Hey Sera that reminds me." Kitsune noted. "So your Grand dad? Does he talk a weird way?"

"Yeah why?"

"Oh cool that was my Master." Kitsune laughed. "I figured since you had the same last name as that crazy old guy."

"My Gramps is weird..." Sera sighed shaking her head.

Shiki let out a small growl as he opened his mouth and chugged his ice cream. "Hurt." He noted rubbing his skull.

"Well either way..." Max smirked taking a bite of his ice cream. "I'm sure we'll meet up at the arena... It's only a few more months away. Pretty soon the Squads are gonna just focus on training. I'll crush you all then."

"You mean try." Emma nodded.

"No... I don't." Max grinned.

Over at the last table Light rested with the last five people, Reine, Schutz, Shuncong, Alice, and that Tsun girl.

"Ahh what's wrong Snipes." Tsun laughed slapping Light on the back as he had a sad look on his face.

"I wanted to be next to big brother... Those girls are hogging him..."

"Snow hair?" Tsun asked raising an eyebrow. "Meh. I'm more interested in that Max boy. Now he's someone I wouldn't mind having some fun with."

"My do all commoners talk like this?" Reine asked.

"Well little miss Noble who would you pick then?" Tsun asked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me."

Reine's cheeks flashed for a moment until she let out a sigh. "Well as a Noble I would have to choose someone of a high upper class such as myself so naturally I would either have to pick Kitsune Nine, Arthur Pendragon, or Sera Aka. Though I am leaning more to Pendragon."

"Knight boy right?" Tsun asked peaking over the table at Arthur. "...Yeah... Yeah I can see that. He'd be one of those kind gentlemen type people." She hummed. "Well what about you Alice?"

"M... Me?" Alice squeaked. "W... We... Well..." She tapped her fingers together and quickly took her glasses off cleaning them. "I... I don't know-"

"You have to tell." Reine frowned. "Even I a high upper class Noble told my answer."

"Oh I get it." Tsun grinned. "I bet it's someone at this table. Let me guess it's snipes here right!" She laughed.

"Than I have bad news for her." Light said casually as he sipped his milkshake.

"Or maybe it's the heroic body guard of Reine here?" Tsun grinned. "Imagine her body guard who sneaks off with another woman-"

"I would never-" Schutz began but was shushed by Reine.

"Go on." The Noble nodded. "Paint me this picture."

"Or maybe it's the other nervous and shy person?" Tsun asked as everyone turned to look over at Shuncong who's face flashed red as he shrunk down. "Or who knows, maybe it's me, or the Noble? Who is it Alice."

Alice's face flushed a brighter shade of red and her eyes slowly drifted to Shuncong, making him even redder. She let out a quiet 'epp' sound as she vanished.

"Whoa where did she go!" Tsun asked.

"Relax." Schutz said rolling his eyes as he placed his hand on the spot where Alice had been. "She's still here. Alice here has a Transformation Type Equation in her flesh that allows her flesh to bend and twist light around her making her invisible."

"Nice." Tsun grinned. "I wish my Equation was that cool."

"What's yours?" Light asked.

"I'm one of those few Transformation Types who can affect their entire body..." Tsun said standing up. "Check this out." Her body glowed as she jumped at Reine wrapping her arms around the Noble and making the girl let out a yelp. Tsun's body morphed around it as she became a new set of clothes around Reine. She was a pair of pants, a jacket, gloves, and boots, as well as goggles. "Pretty cool right!" Tsun asked her voice coming out of the clothing. "While someone is wearing me their speed, strength, and power is nearly doubled."

"This feels weird..." Reine shivered.

"What's wrong Noble, don't like being in another gi-"

"Please stop..."

The clothing glowed once again as Tsun appeared now sitting in Reine's lap. "Ahh you're no fun." She laughed. "How about you guard?"

"Me?" Schutz asked raising an eyebrow. "I'm also a Transformation Type..." He raised his left arm up as his hand morphed and shifted into a large battle axe. attached to his wrist.

"Nice." Tsun said still in Reine's lap much to the Noble's annoyance. "I know what Snipes does, how bout you shy boy."

"W... Well... I... I can..." Shuncong shrink down grabbing a small paint brush on his ear and pulling it off. "E... Equip... Type and I..." He ran the paintbrush on the table and despite not having any pain on it, it left a black line and he drew a small cat which suddenly appeared on the table. "S... See..."

"Shuncong is a weird one." Schutz sighed. "You see anything he paints will become real, but it's only the size of however it is in the painting, and he only has so much ink, and power... So if he were to draw a car, he'd have to make the picture as big as a car, but once he does, it becomes real..."

"Cool..."

"I... It's really not... I... I'm not that good..." Shuncong muttered shrinking back down.

"Can you get out of my lap now?" Reine asked.

"Yeah, yeah..."

Over with Hero he quietly finished his ice cream and set in awkward silence as Irene and Lucy were still glaring back at one another.

Ken finished her ice cream off finally letting out a sad hum when she finished it. "Aw... That was all my money to so I can't buy more..."

"I'll give you some of mine if you beg for it." Shelly grinned.

"No way."

"Fine suit yourself." Shelly laughed taking a spoonful out and placing it in her mouth. Ken's eye twitched as she watched the equally small pink haired girl. She muttered something under her breath that was to quiet to hear. "What was that I couldn't hear you?"

"I said can I please have some ice cream..." Ken said through gritted teeth.

"I suppose so." Shelly nodded getting a spoonful. "Say ahh!"

Ken rolled her eyes but opened her mouth. "Ahh... Wow that's good!" She said with wide eyes once she got a taste of it.

"I'm not sure what I just watched..." Hero noted. "Speaking of watches..." He stared down at his wrist for a moment. "I'm gonna go get some fresh air." He announced ducking down through the booth and sliding under all the chairs standing up and walking outside.

The table was quiet before...

"Can I please have another bite?"

Hero let out a sigh as he stepped outside of the ice cream place. He rested his arms on the railing to the side walk as he shook his head. "Man... It's so hard pretending like everything is fine..." He muttered his eyes glancing down at his right hand.

'Well how about I let you in on a secret Hero... Row didn't wake up. That was him beginning to but he's not up yet... Because when he does wake up, when he is finally up, the dream ends. No more Hero Law. That's right. Much like when an Equation loses it's master, all your memories, thoughts, feelings, they'll all disappear. Row might not want to wake up but he's starting to... The longer you fight the closer he gets... It could be years, months, weeks, days, hours, minuets, or even seconds, but he's going to wake up. And you'll go away forever! Even if he remakes you that Hero won't remember any of this! Yes I love that look! That despairing look on your face! I love I so much! A Dream doesn't get an after life!'

Those had been the words that vile woman had told him.

"I wonder... Just how much longer do I have..." Hero sighed shaking his head. "I can feel it... Even now... I know he's there..."

'That's right... I am...'

Hero snapped his head to the side when he heard the voice but nobody was there...

"H... Hero?" A voice said from behind him.

Hero turned around finding Irene. "Irene? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted some fresh air to..." She sighed. "Ken started begging Shelly for more Ice Cream and those two got back to yelling again. I swear I can't tell if they really love each other, or just hate each other."

"Who say's it can't be both." Hero joked. His smile faded as he went silent.

"Hero..."

"Yeah?"

"Who's Row..."

"I wish I knew... I wish I knew..." Hero was silent before his grin came back. "Let's go back in side. It's cold out here. Besides I want to spend more time with you... All of you..."