Familiar Ground?

Mika stirred and slightly groaned in her sleep; feeling something tap against her face. After a bit she awoke, because the feeling got more intense. Opening her eyes in confusion, she blinked and tried to rub away the sleepiness from her eyes. After her eyes focused and she saw who woke her up, Mika sat up in the bed.

"H-Huh...? What is it, Spark?" Mika yawned out. "We need to go." Spark said in an urgent, hushed tone.

Mika's brain was still processing everything, and she slowly took in his words, her eyes widening a bit afterwards; a puzzled expression appearing on her face. "Leave? Why? And where are we going?"

"I'm not sure yet, but we aren't safe here! I saw Bianh meet Leopold down in the basement... I don't know how, but he killed someone, and he wants Bianh to get rid of me next as well!"

Mika was wide awake now, and looked terrified. She trusted Spark, so she immediately got up to grab what clothes she could fit into her bag.

Spark kept watch from their slightly ajar bedroom door, while Mika quickly got changed into better clothes for the outdoors' conditions.

When Mika finished, Spark listened extra carefully for any indication that Bianh and Leopold were returning from outside. When there was none, Spark stopped Mika and whispered up to her his idea before they try to leave the room. She nodded and followed his instructions. Carefully folding and setting up the pillows on the bed and from the dresser drawers, Mika tried to make a dummy of herself and covered it up by the blanket. Hopefully it would at least buy them a bit more time in case they were checked up on. It now looked like a figure around her size was curled up under the blankets, so she stopped there.

As soon as Mika was finished, the two snuck downstairs, getting ready to run in case Bianh and Leopold came back inside. First, they stopped by the kitchen to grab whatever food they could to take with them. It wouldn't last that long, but it was something. They didn't have access to the freezer right now anyway, and they needed to move faster if they didn't want to get caught. Making sure her bag was tightly closed, Mika was about to head for the backdoor, but the knob turned.

Mika and Spark quickly ducked behind the closest piece of furniture and tried their best to not move whatsoever. It was silent besides the door creaking and being locked after closing shut. Along with the footsteps that started to fade away after a while. Spark gestured for Mika to carefully follow him, and they headed towards the backdoor again. Mika was sweating like crazy from silently panicking, but tried to keep her cool, and quietly unlock the door.

--clack--

Mika cringed at the loud noise from the mechanism that echoed through the halls, and she could hear the footsteps coming back their way. Mika quickly decided to leave it untouched and hide again, behind the big chair next to one of the windows. Her sudden idea seemed to work, because she could hear Bianh curse softly under his breath and go outside, thinking she escaped. Mika waited for a while, scared to move, but knew she had to at some point. They got up and saw that the door seemed to be left slightly open in a panic, so they started to leave out that same way.

Suddenly, Mika stopped in her tracks and jumped once she heard Spark yowl. Turning around, she saw Bianh holding him up by the scruff of his neck, so he couldn't really do much but make noise. "Let him go!!" Bianh took out a knife and held it close to Spark, even though he looked like he really didn't want to. "Don't step closer, please... I'm just... Trying to help us, and do what Mr. White says."

"Help? What do you mean??? How is this helping anything!?" Mika said shakily, already tearing up. She was afraid for what could happen to Spark. Mika slightly shrieked when two sets of hands were placed on her shoulders, and she looked up to see Leopold gazing down at her.

He had a fully black hair, no wrinkles now, and seemed perfectly fine with this situation. "We won't hurt you, Mika. Truly. We just don't want you to be lead astray by him. You're both safest here, with me."

"No, no, no! He's my best friend!"

"Not anymore! Not after all that time he spent with Séthyan." His grip got painfully tighter while he gritted his teeth, as he seemed to recall many things in his head. "How do you-?"

"He can read everything about us, Mika-!" Spark cried out before being squeezed tighter in an attempt to try and silence him. "She never took it so easy on me... And you deserve punishment after dragging Mika into all this too and trying to take her away! They're special, and I won't let them get hurt anymore!"

Bianh looked completely scared, and his arms were shaking.

"Do it, Bianh. And then we can all get some rest."

Bianh looked like he was contemplating something and then after a long while, dropped the knife.

"What are you doing, boy?"

"...No. I can't hurt anyone else. It's not for our safety. Spark went through the same trouble as Mika, yet you want to hurt him just because of your own selfish reasons! You lied to me... You can't pick and choose like this! Mika's right, this isn't helping anything!"

Bianh dropped Spark and started crying from realizing all he's done, and was going to do.

Mika got out of Leopold's hold and dropped down to hug Spark tightly. Suddenly, a gust of wind whisked by the two and Bianh's strangled cry was heard. Leopold was in front of him, holding him up to his eye level by the neck. "Did Séthyan change you as well!? Because if so, I won't hesitate to be rid of you. No matter how long you've been here."

Bianh tried removing his vice-like grip from around his neck, but ultimately failed. Deep down, he knew he couldn't stop him, and then just thought that he deserved this for all he's done anyway; accepting his fate. Mika and Spark now witnessed what Leopold was truly like physically. His jaw unhinged, much like Séthyan's back then, Mika realized in horror. His eyes and the inside of his mouth glowing a mixture of a bright white and blue, while he started to suck a mist-like aura from Bianh.

Something snapped in Mika, and she suddenly shot up and grabbed the knife, hopping up with all her might and smashing the blade down into Leopold's shoulder blade; holding onto it and letting her full weight bring it down faster while falling down, so it jaggedly sliced down his back. He let out a loud, sickening screech, his jaw cracking again while he twitched and tried to grab Mika, letting Bianh go. He had a coughing fit and groaned after he hit the ground, but tried his best to recover as quickly as he could. He saw Mika was just out of his reach, and she wasn't letting go, especially since Spark got his legs, trying to help her.

Once Bianh saw he was weaker than he once thought, and was able to get up, he tackled Leopold as hard as he could.

"Get him!" He closed his eyes and shrank back in defense, seeing Leopold was going to try and strike again, but Mika was already back up and stabbed the knife straight into his right eye, stopping him. He was still shrieking and convulsing, so Mika kept stabbing, blood getting all over the two kids. Once his eyes were basically gone, Mika kept stabbing, harder and harder, anything that she could hit. She was tarting to sob and scream loudly, letting out all her built up emotions, until Bianh pulled her back after a while.

"HE'S DEAD, HE'S DEAD!" Bianh cried loudly to her, still holding her back and trying to snap her out of it.

Mika slowly stopped swinging, shaking heavily and still sobbing; dropping the knife. He sat there with her until she could barely cry anymore, and her throat got hoarse. Spark sat with her as well, feeling terrible even after things got quieter. But then got rightfully angry, starting to growl at Bianh.

"Get. Back." He said lowly to Bianh. He listened and got up to step back. "I can't even begin to say how sorry I am... I was wrong, all this time... I even tried to kill you, and yes, I-I don't deserve forgiveness..."

"Damn right!!"

"I don't want to hurt you... Either of you... I still feel so confused, but I'll try to help you as best I can, and to give you both the answers you want, before I get out of your lives for good." Bianh said, sounding broken.

Spark looked at Mika, staying in a defensive pose in front of her, and then back up at Bianh. He obviously still didn't trust him after what he did, but didn't want to make Mika go into a worse state. "Let's get her inside at least..." Spark sighed out, trying to put away his extreme feelings of anger for now; the adrenaline dying down. And then you start talking."