West Blue: A Kingdom at War

There was a moment of relief and shock when the stranger revealed himself to have survived the enslaught.  It wasn't long before the situation became significantly less one-sided.  Her eyebrows raised in surprise at the sight of the figure morphing into sand.  Was this yet another logia?  How coincidental.  Soon enough things started getting...  frightening.  The bounty hunters fell to some sort of move that changed their appearances into a ghastly husk.  Diana felt sick to her stomach at the sight.  Even after they were afflicted one after another, she was rooted to her current position.  Whether it was because of fear, shock, or both she wasn't entirely sure.  What she did know was that she wanted nothing to do with the sand.  As a sand storm began to brew, Diana immediately reached out towards Gale in an attempt to pull him close and formed a dome of ice to surround the two of them.

When the storm subsided, the ice construct that surrounded them crumbled and fell to the ground.  The moment it did Diana bolted towards the nearest fallen figure and collapsed beside it.  She couldn't even tell who it was, and it certainly didn't look like something that could be recovered from.  Her head drooped when the realization hit her.  The man acted in self defense, but this had to be a bit overkill.  Probably the most shocking part was the two remaining bounty hunters.  Surely they had seen the others turned to sand in the wind, yet they were still going on about the payout.  Some people were just hopeless.  She shot a frigid look of disappointment in their direction.  This situation was confusing enough as it was.  It was nearly impossible for her to form words at the time, and she simply sat there with a panicked, lost expression.  Who was she to believe?

Gale was left dumbfounded, thunderstruck by the fact that not only that opponent had survived every of the multiple attacks directed towards him, but he had devastated the battlefield with his ability. He (Gale) was certainly immobilized, and he wasn't dumb enough to go in to defend all of those other bounty hunters as a supposed hero. When the figure whipped the sandstorm, he let Diana pull him close to her and surround them by the ice dome. He squinted in her direction, preoccupied. What was this guy up to?

The other two mercenaries were encouraging them to kill this guy that was in front of them... After they had seen all of his deeds, the bloodbath that had taken place before them. What was left of the other bounty hunters... Gale couldn't even call it human... not even dead. What the figure said, though, about the other King lying to them and carrying out terrible acts instead of just trials, it made sense to the chef. The other bounty hunters didn't even seem to care, but Gale cared most of the time. Now he was curious, and for some reason, he was ignoring the fact that this man in front of them had killed all of the other mercenaries. He slowly approached him, with both of his hands up in a sign of peace after patting Diana on the shoulder.

"Well, tell me more about this."- Gale said. He knew that this guy was a logia user, and it scared him that he would now how to decipher his own defenses, since he seemed much more advanced in his devil fruit mastery. - "It is true that I fail to understand the deepest details of this business. And if what you are asking is for us to be righteous, convince me that your side of the fight is the right one, for I know nothing of the battle going on."

He looked over his own shoulder to check on Diana, he hoped that she didnt find him reckless. He just wanted to get to the bottom of this problem. He, as probably she had done too, had found this whole missions suspicious. And it was even worse that he didn't know why this ex-King was being persecuted so fiercely.

Dante watched the two men stand several meters from his location. Dante was about to walk over to the boy and man but he heard a third voice originating from some decent distance. Those must have been the two individuals that the the man called 'honeys'. But what surprised Dante wasn't that there was two other people; what surprised Dante was that one of them wanted to know the truth. The other one seemed to be on his/her knees. Dante couldn't tell the sex yet, but that person looked.. either defeated or traumatized, Dante couldn't tell the difference at this stage and distance. The third man, whom asked about the truth, cracked a smile through Dante's otherwise cold expression.

"The ex-king decided to decline an offer by the marines; in exchange for the marine's full cooperation in the war of the three kingdoms the marines would 'share power' with the king in the island. The now ex-king refused which infuriated his son, whom wanted nothing more then the conquest of the nation. The ex-king wanted peace. The son grabbed a handful of knights and barricaded his room attempting to assassinate him while sending the other knights away. After the ex-king narrowly escaped his name was ruined by the son, whom claimed that the father wanted to start a war with the other two kingdoms. His name was sullied, and the kingdoms are looking for him. Lucky for him he knew contacts in this city to get him in; but it seems like those same contacts sold the intel to the kingdom."

Dante, by this point, had his arms crossed while he explained everything. The child, Spyro, cocked out his flamethrower mid-way through the fight and ran towards Gale. Dante wasn't stopping him. "If you're listening to this crap it means you're against us!!" Spyro aimed at Gale and pressed his trigger, this sent a 20 foot flame stream at his opponent, Gale. He didn't care if he hit Diana. Dye was looking at Dante, he didn't seem to react to the attack. In fact, Dante was still talking.

"The ex-king is innocent of all of his 'crimes'; the marines just want the full cooperation of the best farmers in the west blue, and some of the best warriors in one kingdom in the west blue." The flame that shot out of the flamethrower didn't seem to faze him.

Diana remained rooted in place as her mind tried to process what was being said, staring through the ground in front of her.  Gale's brief gesture was unexpectedly considerate and she snapped out of her entirely baffled state.  Even if this entire thing had turned out to be a lie, she still intended to keep her word.  They had agreed to work together.  The money meant little to her, but being in the right mattered.  Which side was just, however, wasn't entirely clear to her quite yet.  This sand fellow didn't sit entirely right with her instincts.  She had just sat at a table with this other bounty hunters, and they were either grains of sand or unrecognizable after what he had done.  Yes, he was attacked.  Probably would have died if he was a normal individual.  No, definitely would have died.  But...  still.

She looked at him with a relentlessly frigid stare.  There wasn't any reason for him to lie about such a thing, was there?  His claims certainly didn't seem entirely untrue, but part of her didn't want to believe such a thing.  The shady invitation, trying to kill them right off the bat with those soldiers, a ridiculous price for some former ruler's head...  If he was in the right, it wouldn't make sense to do such things.  Not only would the current ruler have lied to the bounty hunters he employed, but an entire kingdom.  Her stern gaze was broken by Spyro's sudden interjection.  The last thing she expected was pillar of flame erupting from the boy's weapon.  It was aimed directly at Gale, and by extension, herself.  

"Calotte Galciaire," Diana mumbled under her breath.  A dense wall of ice rose from the ground until it was ten feet from top to bottom and a foot thick.  Standing between Gale and Spyro, it was wide enough to protect both herself and her partner from direct harm.  Even then, it was rather toasty to her dismay.  There was an audible sizzle when the flame licked across the frosty surface.  It wasn't a permanent solution.  The first couple of inches from the part of the wall that took the brunt of the heat had already vanished entirely.   Before long enough the rest would follow.  She stood at the ready in preparation.  Any of the three other men could strike for all she knew.

Gale listened serenely. Since he was just reflecting on it, he looked as if he was staring blankly at Dante. It had to come back to the marines... It always did. Despite the way in which they professed that their labor was to keep the seas under control, to Gale it seemed like they also caused a lot of trouble. The World Government, the big shadow behind the marines and other corporations that worked against Piracy and Revolutions, was, if you asked Gale, extremely corrupt.

Then again, although the man's story sounded plausible, there were a few points that Gale felt uncomfortable with. What was this man doing with him? And why did he believe so fervently in a story that, for what Gale knew, could be biased by the ex-King in order to prove his point? If these guys were against the island's system... would that make anyone that cooperated with them enemies of the World Government as well? Especially taking into account the fact that the Marines were so interested on the island.

Suddenly, a burst of flames streamed towards him. It was one of the two bounty hunters that were left, openly targeting him as a foe. This got Gale really mad. His curiosity to hear about the story behind the mission they had engaged wasn't a good enough excuse to attempt to take him down. Spyro probably was still focused only on the money, and if Gale wanted to turn on them, then he was a threat to his profit.

Gale was going to raise a wall of clay immediately, but Diana interfered hastily and rose a structure of ice in the path of the fire. This, of course, melted under the fire, but it did manage to fend it off. He glanced back at Diana and said: "Thanks!" Taking advantage of the ice blocking sight of his opponent, Gale dug his hands into the surface of the ground and pushed a stream of clay into it, which mixed with the preexisting clay in the soil. This concealed the movement of his clay underground.

Gale ran right of the ice structure as if he was going to cast an attack from this direction, and at the same time he used his Nendo Nendo no Cloud technique from the ground around Spyro, directed at him from the back and the sides, in order to attempt to catch him within it.

Dante continued to talk, "The king will probably kill anyone that brings back the king. However, I can't prove that until tomorrow.. I have important business to take care off today." Dante looked at the two groups fighting each other now; he was used too seeing violence in every island he visits. He was a revolutionary, after all. It was his duty to rid the world of corruption; and that's what he'll try to do. Dante continued to speak, even through the chaos. "You'll have to trust me today; but know that if I wanted all of you dead, I would have done it by now."

Spyro aimed his flamethrower at the group once again; this time Gale was running the other way. Dye ran past Spyro, with his superior speed, and ran in the direction of Gale. Spyro hurriedly aimed back at Diana and continued to shoot fire until the ice wall was completely gone; Spyro then continued to shoot flames at Diana hoping to trap her in the house behind her. Once she's inside he'll use the remainder of the flames in the building hoping to build the building down with her. Dye, in the other hand, ran towards Gale and attempted to cut off one of his legs with the scissors in his hands. The scissors were about a foot long each; they were more like small blades then scissors. These blades were made of iron. Spyro, in the other hand, had three other rubes on his back. This meant two other containers with the highly flammable gas Spyro was using.

Shortly after Spyro emptied his tank clay shot from the ground and attempted to grab him; Spyro quickly attahed the tube to the back of the second tank before the clay completely took over his body. Once he was trapped he barely moved his finger and activated the trigger. The fire burst through the gun, which cracked the clay do to the excess of heat it produced. Pyro got out of the clay, but his body had second degree burns; blisters showed around his body. He wasn't going to fall for it again; Pyro aimed his fire gun at Gale and shot his flame thrower; Dye heard the sound of the trigger and immediately sidestepped towards Diana. Last minute changes were made in the plan.

Diana's thoughts were rather preoccupied at the moment, by the flame throwers and over-sized scissors attempting to end her.  She felt a sliver of guilt to not give the man's his fair share of attentiveness for such a speech.  His claim that he could have ended them all by this point didn't go unnoticed however.  He seemed quite confident.  Or unphased by the violent outburst in front of him.  Potentially both.  The youngest one with the flame thrower seemed to be the only one remotely enjoying himself.  Heat was just one of those things Diana wasn't fond of.  Violence, particularly against younger individuals, wasn't something she wanted to do either.  He was just a kid!  A rather obnoxious one by the sound of things, but still a kid.  She was careful to stay out of range and sidestep the fire aimed in her direction.  Eventually she ended up with her back against a wall, yet again.  A house to be specific.  As the flames drew too close for comfort she rammed the front door open with a forceful blow from her shoulder and found temporary respite a few steps inside.  

A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she took the moment to wipe the heat-induced sweat from her brow.  It soon turned into a gasp as fire began to crawl up the wooden walls of the home she had so rudely invaded.  This would not do.  Ice shot from her fingertips towards the wall and smothered the flames it could.  After her work was done a sizable hole was in the wall, but at least the flames that remained had cooled to a slow burn.  It was at least manageable at this point.  She would have continued if the other bounty hunter hadn't turned her way.  The fellow had attempted to strike Gale moments earlier, and appeared to have his sights on her next.    That was enough reason for her to start getting a bit aggressive.  As he approached she bolted forward and grabbed at his forearm with a frosted hand in hopes of catching him off guard.

15/15

The words the cloaked guy spat out dug deep into Gale's mind... But he had to focus on the fight. Rather hard-boiled, Gale frowned as he saw Spyro empty his flamethrower in Diana's direction, but she seemed to move away from it. So he used his Clay Hand technique and produced a yoga ball-sized fist that hastily dashed towards his oncoming attacker from behind, attempting to smash him. Dye's attack towards him didn't go unnoticed. He let the scissors cut through his legs as if it was butter.

That should have given Dye a crack of relief, to which Gale's leg just reconstructed instants later. When the blade cut through it, it had turned into soft clay. Gale hoped that this distraction allowed him to hit him from behind. Gale noticed Diana inside of the flaming building. He was preocuppied for a second, but she seemed to have dealt with it pretty well. Gale then spun around to look at Spyro, who was already preparing a flame burst towards him.

Gale created another Clay Hand in front of him. He had already seen the clay that had originally trapped Spyro cracked by the heat, so he made this one rather soft. He used it in the form of a palm to block the stream of flames that had been directed towards him. With a certain elation, Gale grinned as he changed the palm into a hand with two extended fingers that quickly flew towards Spyro.

Dante was about to continue his speech, but then he silenced himself and a long pause roamed through the group. He bit his tongue. Dante seemed a little agitated, mostly because his tongue quickly turned to sand. The pain came suddenly, since he hadn't turned his tongue into sand at that moment.. this is what he gets for deciding to be lazy and leaving out his mouth from his intangible powers. Blood started to circle his mouth and he got angry for no reason. He wiped the blood from his mouth and watched the fight. He hadn't noticed them until now, probably because he was dozing off to try and remember everything he had memorized. The small piece of paper in his pocket found its way out and rode with the wind towards Diana and Gale. Whoever found it would see the entire speech Dante had word by word. Dante was embarrassed, only the best of leaders could make speeches on the spot.

Meanwhile, the fight of the two seemed to end quickly. The child used his entire flamethrower on the hand coming his way. The fingers hit his left arm and he came down on the ground, crying. The flamethrower fell on the ground. Dye dodged the first attack by using his scissors as balancing objects when he saw the surprise strike coming; he did this by sheer luck when he turned around after hitting Gale. He had to strike Diana too. Dye tried to cut off one of her limbs; the one that wasn't trying to grab him. Because he was trying to harm her he didn't focus too much on his defense, so her hand ended up grabbing his left arm. Suddenly the entire arm froze and Dye was screaming in pain. He fell on the ground trying his best not to do any pressure to it.. he didn't know what he should do.

"Please spare us!!", Dye was holding on to his frozen arm trying not to lose it. He didn't know what to do, but he couldn't fight with one arm.. not when the woman had this weird power. Spyro was on the ground crying, he was a kid still. "I'm sorry mister, please don't kill us. I only wanted to prove I was a man." Dante watched this unfold and walked towards the four bounty hunters.

"I have something important to attend too.. but I think we can trust these men, they've lose their will to fight. But let me tell you this.. if you were to bring the king to the kingdom, or his head, you will get killed before even reaching the front gate." Dante didn't know this for certain, but it would make sense for the king to do this. In the entire time he's been in the kingdom he's been trying to figure out everything the king could do to kill the exking. That's a lot of days and time for planning.

As Diana noticed the over-sized scissor blades attempt to off her limb, she hastily formed a barrier of ice to cover the exterior of her bicep and forearm.  The blades bounced off harmlessly with a definitive clang.  She held onto Dye's arm just long enough for it to freeze from the shoulder down.  Even though her expression was as stone cold as the air that surrounded her, there was an ounce of pity underneath.  His outcry didn't fall onto deaf ears.  Poor thing didn't know what he was getting into.  Granted neither did she, but being able to regrow limbs and the like definitely had its perks.

"Let it thaw out, carefully.  As long as it's done promptly your arm will remain intact."  For good measure, Diana casually walked over to the flame thrower and placed her foot on it.  Ice expanded from where the metal met her heel and froze it through entirely.  With a gentle push downwards she smashed it to bits.  Good riddance.  What kind of kid gets a hold of a flamethrower, anyways?  This was for his safety, and her own peace of mind.  It was then she noticed a slip of paper make its way out of the other man's pocket and into the breeze.

She reached out and snagged the scrap of paper out of the air as it drifted by.  Even after it was in her grasp she made no action to read what was on it.  Curiosity itched at the back of her mind, but it didn't belong to her.  Diana walked up to the man of sand and held it out in front of him.  He seemed bothered when it slipped out of his pocket anyways.  That was the most acknowledgement she gave to him for the time being as she immediately turned back to Gale without a second thought.  There would be some business they had to take care of.

"I think there is at least some truth in what the man said.  It was the right thing to do, but..."  Diana paused apprehensively as she recalled the false king's words at the table.  Abandonment would make them enemies of the state; something she wasn't too keen on.  "They're going to find out we didn't finish the job soon enough."  After she said this a trouble expression slipped onto her face.  It was likely they would be hunted down, and it was doubtful they could leave without being ambushed.  This entire walled city was a massive rat trap with platoons of soldiers that probably knew both their names, abilities and faces.  Something told her this would be a tiring night.

They were finally done with their foes. Spyro was just a kid... but he had been so determined as a bounty hunter. Perseverance was something that Gale admired in people, as he considered it an essential skill in life. The chef was relieved that Diana was intact and doing pretty well after the attacks that had headed towards her. He nodded to himself, as a reminder of how strong she really was. Although Gale agreed with Dante in the matter of their opponents having given up, he wasn't very sure that letting them go would be the best of ideas.

"What if we let them go and they run back to the King and tell them about us?" - The chef asked, mostly directed to Diana, but implying that it should interest Dante as well. If they went back to the King, they could hand information about the type of skills that the cloaked man had, and the fact that he was disseminating information about what had really happened. He looked back at Diana to respond to her concerns.- "If they go back and turn on us, it might make them find out that we didn't finish the job sooner than what it could take without them. We wouldn't want our beauty to be burnt down, would we, now?"

Gale was smiling softly at Diana, thought for a second and turned back to the cloaked man.

"Although they would kill them as well if they returned with empty hands, wouldnt they?" - Gale had easily changed his opinion on the matters concerning the hunt of the ex-King. He tried to be a just person, balanced in his way of thinking and acting. - "And on a separate note... Who are you anyways, what's your name? Why do the old King's problem concern you? "

Dante heard Diana's response, then Gale's. Diana seemed concerned about the aftereffects of becoming rebels against the kingdom. It was understandable for her to fear the power of the empire in this island. Even the marines seemed interested in the might of the soldiers; having one king rule over the island would be beneficiary to their cause in the West Blue. Gale's concern was to letting the two men go; it would be easy for them to come back and tell the king this information. Towards the end Gale mentioned that they could also get killed; he seemed more open minded then originally thought.

Dante waited for both of them to finish, then he spoke, "You're right. If we let them go there is always the chance they'd tell the king.. however, they wouldn't get anything out of it, and there's the chance they'd get killed just for showing up. Those gates have archers, and they are each trained in special long distance fighting. The ones in the front gate are likely to be the better of the hundred or so archers on top of the wall surrounding the city. They wouldn't get close enough to report to the king; they probably wouldn't get close enough to see the archers on top of the walls." Dante thought about this for a moment, and it all made sense. The part about corruption is making sure everyone that knows about the situation is either completely under control or 'taken care off'. Bounty hunters are definitely not controlled, and they played a key role in grabbing and/or killing the king. The next step was obvious to Dante, those men that showed up will get killed before the people even see them return. The farmers that watched it happen will get a made up excuse and the cycle continues.

Dante heard Diana's response as well and stopped for a moment, his eyes looked down. Dante the suddenly shot his glare are Diana. "You're terrified of your own life? Thousands of people will die in a meaningless war unless we stop that man behind the throne. This isn't about one life, or two, or even three HUNDRED. This is about me.. us, doing something for the TENS of thousands of lives we will save." Dante looked at the two in front of him for a moment and turned around; he was making his way towards the bar. "If you feel the same as me then come inside; I will not fail any of your expectations. If it's gold you seek I can give both of you a fair amount. But this all comes down to the final question. Would you join a Rebellion.. against the world? " Spyro and Dye watched Dante walk away. They looked frustrated, and they were. Both were defeated so easily by the two men in front of them. All of them had weird powers, but how would those three be able to win the war against an empire? Spyro and Dye knew they couldn't return, and they couldn't leave without being spotted leaving the city. That meant they only had one place to go. Dye put his hair in a pony tail and walked inside and past all of the corpses of his comrades. Some of them looked like they were breathing still, but not for long. Spyro followed and tried to walk inside. Dye's left arm was still frozen; he'll have to go inside and check that.

Dante spoke so Gale and Diana could hear. "I'm Dante Gato. This kingdom concerns me because it concerns the people." Dante walked through the doors and held them open to make sure anybody that chose to come in could just worry about walking.

"I will not watch a kingdom burn to the ground because of corruption."

Furrowed brows and a mildly pained expression appeared on Diana's face as Dante made his directed remarks. That wasn't what she said. Yes, she was concerned about her own life to a small extent; probably not as much as she should be. Gale had already taken damage from the earlier fights and he seemed keen on helping as well. He was certainly capable, if not more than herself, but nobody was invincible. She could still watch his back, but what if that wasn't enough? Not only that but there would be more blood, and fighting, then people dying. If there was one thing she feared for, it wasn't her own life. It was ending those which belonged to others.

This was something she wasn't worried about until she left home some time ago. That was before being able to freeze people to death if they got a bit too close or she wasn't careful enough. There was a brief moment where she was tempted sock the man flat in his mouth for being so presumptive, and her fist tensed in preparation. No, she had to focus. It would be counter productive to do such a thing. She didn't take kindly to being referred as such, but there were things more important than her own feelings for the time being. There was a corrupt king that needed to be dealt with.

The hurt that flared in her eyes vanished as soon as it appeared. They remained fixated straight ahead as she walked past Dante who held the door. Something to the effect of a hastily mumbled "thank you" escaped her lips as she passed. There were other things she was tempted to say but she refrained. Instead Diana made her way to the corner of the room to silently wait for the next course of action. Her mind was meddled by the recent happenings and wrestled coming to terms with it all. Physically present, but not there mentally.

Concerning the first lines that Dante spoke in response to their preoccupations, Gale nodded. He even felt slightly satisfied with with himself as he heard that if the two remaining bounty hunters went back to the Kingdom, they would get killed by the archers. He looked at Dye and at Spyro and get even felt sorry for them; now they were stuck in this problem and they had no other choice but to cooperate or be killed trying to escape. The cloaked man seemed to be a little bit hard on Diana... Something Gale didn't appreciates, but it helped him develop the importance of the mission he served. Thousands of people... It wasn't fair that a tyrant king could end so many lives and go into war just to kill his own father.

Gale detected the glance of hate on Diana' s face for a little while. She was definitely hurt inside someway or another, and she now seemed to be lost in her thoughts. Dante's speech was pretty inspiring, and Gale was captivated. He started to think about to the rebellion, but was distracted when the cloaked man mentioned his name.

"Gator you say...!?!?" - The chef's mind was transported back in time, to a dingy arriving to an island... To an island full of wild animals and to a tournament he had never joined. Jack Blue Gato, otherwise referred to as 'Cat' had been his traveling companion for a while. - "Would you happen to be Cat's- I'm sorry, Jack's relative? He disappeared a while ago... I have no idea where he is?"

Gale inquired for answers as he walked into the bar, looking, as well, at the distant Diana. He wasn't too keen on the rotting living human bodies that were left on the ground, but there was nothing he could do about it. Furthermore, Dante's reasons to be concerned not only seemed pretty valid, but also seemed pretty idealistic. Gale was curious to know more, to do something about it.

Dante looked closely at the faces of the bounty hunters that walked inside the bar. Dante pointed at the hallway that appeared on the right side of the door; that hallway had a bathroom the first door on the left. They'd be able to see the sign and the door slightly open. Dye and Spyro walked down the hall for a bit wondering why Dante pointed at it; once they found the bathroom it took them a few minutes to open the door and walk inside.

The other bounty hunter, the woman, walked in the room shortly after. She was quiet since Dante spoke about her apparently neglectfulness towards helping the people of this island. However, her choosing to listen to his speech and walking through the door instead of attempting to leave the island was enough to show Dante that he had made a grave error in his speech. She looked.. distraught. Dante looked back at what he said and tried to compare it to a person that would be sitting in the room; but he couldn't draw any links. Dante sighed, he hoped he'd change her mind with his speech, but a person that's very cautious, like he assumed she was, wouldn't be caught dead in this situation.

Gale then told Dante about Jack, his brother. Dante opened his eyes and looked at Gale, "You know my brother?! You haven't seen him in awhile then?.. We'll have to talk about that another time, but now I know you have to be a good person to know Jack. Unless.. you were an enemy of his. But that's not likely, judging from your personality so far." Dante could have rambled on for a good ten minutes, but he stopped himself before his attention diverted from his current objective. Dante waited for Gale to walk inside the building and closed the door. Dante then locked it and stood on the only actual door leading to the way outside. The room was made of wood; every step could be heard like an echo through the almost perfectly crafted steps on the floor. From the outside it looked like a bar, but it's been deserted for many years.

Dante sighed, now he can relax. Diana sat on one of the tables with many chairs around it. Dante decided to stand a distance from her. "Alright, now that we're done with that.. Here's the plan, tomorrow we're heading to the kingdom, face to face. They won't suspect anything if it's less then twenty-four hours. We will leave tomorrow early in the morning. The two guys you defeated will stay here. If you both want to help I'll be fighting the kingdom. As of right now nobody can reach the castle walls without 1. Going through the sewers, or 2. Walking straight to the wall. I'm walking towards the wall. Both of you will take the sewers." Dante smirked a little, he knew the passage to the castle would be grotesque if done through the sewers, but it was also the most tactical way of walking inside the city. Dante will cause a comotion while they sneak by and get the job done.. but he'll have to explain this part of the plan as well.

"Unfortunately, we can't have the ex-king's son alive.. a father always cares for his son, even if the father won't admit it he'd never kill his son.. no matter how awful he has turned out. Both of your jobs are to go directly to the king and kill him. The current ex-king will hate us, but it will save the people of the kingdom." Dante then scratched his nose and looked away while he spoke again, this matter already seemed completely different from the battle plan. "Also.. sorry about earlier. I don't know your name, madam, but it was rude of me to assume that you were a coward. Now that I see you here, in front of me, I see that you have more honor then I could have imagined. Please forgive me." Dante tried to sound sincere, but then an overwhelming urge kicked in. It's been at least ten hours since.. the important business he had to take off.

Dante then suddenly started to pace quickly towards a door located beside the counter filled with booze. "I'm going upstairs to take care of some urgent business. If you decide to come with me then rest today, but don't sleep yet. You have to enjoy today like it were your last day, because it might." Dante then ran up the stairs. "Your living quarters are up here!" Dante didn't bother showing them around the bar. He rn to the fourth door on the right when walking up into the long hallway of rooms. The bar used to be an inn as well. Dante walked inside, rook off his clothes, turned on the hose like machine that put out water, and laid in the bathrub. A sigh of relax swiped through his face. Dante had finally taken care of his urgent business, bathing.

"Almost ten hours.. must be some kind of record.."

Diana's brow rose in curiosity at Gale's comment. The ocean's size was beyond her imagination, yet Gale had run into two people from the same family. Stranger things had happened, she supposed. She wondered if they were alike in any way. Her thoughts nearly drifted to her own relatives but she quickly shooed them away. As Gale and the others entered the room, Dante revealed his plan. Having to go through a sewer was not her definition of being... well thought through. Or fun. She had an involuntary shudder. It wasn't until he suggested that Gale and herself took to the sewers while he will be keeping the kingdom busy that she was filled with concern and uncertainty.

What exactly was Dante planning to do faced with an entire kingdom worth of soldiers? Shouldn't he be the one going straight for the king? She was rather hesitant about this whole master plan of his. First they were sent to dispose of a former king, now they're being sent after the head of a corrupt one. If he was willing to send a pair of people he just met to do such an important task he must have trusted them. Or he was very possibly mad. Potentially a combination of both. Then what she didn't expect was an apology for his previous statement about her cowardice. She would admit after the initial sting from the comment had worn off, she probably was a coward when it came to most things. A lot of typically un-frightening things. Like being complimented out of the blue, apparently.

Her cheekbones flushed in the faintest. A simple apology would have sufficed, he didn't have to go that far. Wide-eyed and blinking, Diana was at a loss for words being put on the spot like that. Any words that came to mind were a jumbled mess. Only after he mentioned some business to tend to and left for the upper floors of the building, she was able to snap out of her speechless state. There was an audible smack as she brought her palm to her forehead. Well done. That was pure brilliance. Diana flopped onto the nearest chair with a sigh of defeat. To think she didn't have this much trouble being inside of a burning building. Or attacked on multiple occasions. She needed to take her mind off things. Food and something to drink sounded like a good start, but first she wanted to sulk for a bit and stare at her feet.

Gale was surprised to find out that Dante was actually Cat's brother. For a second he thought this could be a step closer to reuniting with his old companion, but by the Sandman's tone, he could tell that he had no idea where Jack was either. He wanted to continue talking about this, and he opened his mouth to add something, but Dante cut him off by saying that they should chat about this in another moment... Of course, he had to explain the plan they were going to follow. At least he could tell that now this man trusted him, and that he was quite the intelligent person, as he, forsooth, hadn't been Jack's enemy. Sometimes he wondered what would've been of that man if he didn't make food for both of them in that time... And that is why he was deeply preoccupied.

Having thrown the plan at them, Gale agreed that Dante would be the most appropriate of them to wreak havoc around the entrance while they scurried through the sewers and into the castle. He had a couple of doubts... These included that they didn't know their way around those sewers, that the King's fortress might just be full of guards and... Maybe even that scary Black knight they had seen earlier. And finally, he didn't really agree on having to dispose of the monarch, as it was, despite his actions, another human life that he felt should be respected... Although... Maybe this one didn't deserve his pity. But they sure could find a way of making his life hell somewhere far away from this Kingdoms instead of executing him.

Although he didn't go into any more detail, Dante did apologize to Diana for what he had said out of the bar... Gale felt that she deserved that apology. Just with these few events, he could break apart a good part of Dante's personality. He seemed to have a strong sense of justice, and even some fervor in it, which lead him to be a very impulsive person... Or at least that's what he could tell from his recent actions. But he was a good person, he could tell it. And Gale appreciated that he acknowledged the fact that Gale was one too.

As he dashed out of the room after brief explanations of the bar and their rooms, excusing himself because of something he had to take care off -which made Gale's mind go to places that he didn't want to touch in this moment- Gale took a sit besides Diana, who seemed a little bit shocked by the apology she had received from the guy. They sure hadn't had time to get to know each other very we'll, and it seemed like tomorrow they would have to stick around for a while, so he figured he might as well start by adding a little bit of information about himself. He kind of ignored that she was sulking in a corner of her own soul...

"Ehh... Well, it seems like tomorrow we'll be together for a while, so it might as well be useful to know a little bit about each other."-he started, giving a careful thought to every word he said. It was a little bit awkward for him... - "My name is Gale Senter, I'm a logia I fruit user, as you already know... I am also a chef, although I haven't had much chance to improve my skills or practice in a long while... Especially due to the life in the seas, if you know what I mean. I come from the South Blue... So it's been a loooong journey..."

He paused, waiting for her to take the word.

Ikari paced along the back wall of her cell.  Moving her hand lightly against the black wall, Ikari looked around, sighing lightly.  The same old darkness, the same cramped room.  Ikari began to dust herself off.  She was in her usual work attire that she had been wearing for some great deal of time.  Her goggles where resting on her forehead as usual until she took them off.  Wiping her hands over the lenses, Ikari noted that while she may be living in a dark cell, there was still an abundance of dust.  Placing the goggles back onto her head, she slowly leaned down and picked up a small stone off the floor.  Scratching another line into the wall, Ikari would count the lines she had already scratched in the past.  Twenty eight.  Almost an entire month since she had been locked up here.  She sighed heavily and slammed her back against the wall.  Being patient turned out to be one of the most boring things ever.  As Ikari sat at the back of her cell, she began to think of why she was here in the first place;

---

One Month Earlier
Ikari run off of the boat that she was stowed away on.  Running quickly through the docks, Ikari made sure to put as much distance between herself and the boat while staying on the docks.  She had been spotted while trying to hide from one of the crew.  Who would have guessed that a fairly heavy cyborg couldn't be sneaky?  As Ikari began to think at the fastest pace she could handle while slowing down her pace.  She needed to stay on the docks, preferably far away from the island for some amount of time.  The likely place to look for her was on the island.  As such, Ikari would stay on the docks for a day, possibly two.  Or until the ship leaves.  Ikari slowed down to a halt for a small moment of time and looked around.  Where exactly was she?  It didn't look like anywhere she had been in the South Blue.  A sudden realisation washed over Ikari as she began to think more.  The length of the voyage was far too long for a normal delivery.  She probably wasn't in the South Blue;
"Damnit!"

Ikari continued to walk along the docks until she saw five people conversing.  Standing there, Ikari noticed that it was definitely two groups that were talking to each other, given by the uniforms that they were wearing.  One of the uniforms, the group that had the majority of the people in, Ikari did not recognise.  Ikari continued to walk towards them, just going to walk past.  As she drew closer, she saw the second group's uniform.  Marines.  Damnit, did this have to get any worse?  First she was being chased by merchants and now there are marines on the island?  Ikari sighed as she began to draw closer to the group.  Looking at the group with three of the people, Ikari could see that this group was also divided.  One man, the man who seemed to be doing almost all of the talking, was wearing better kept armour and had some sort of animal on their chest and shield.  The other two men seemed to have less armour and a less impressive looking sword.  Scratching her chin a bit, Ikari saw that the higher-ranked looking man was pointing at her.  The rest of the people looked at her.  Ikari looked behind her, but nothing.  Four men began to run towards her.  Oh great, it got worse.

Ikari looked towards the oncoming rush.  Readying herself, Ikari rolled up her sleeves and entered her normal fighting stance.  As the first marine ran straight towards her, Ikari punched towards his face.  The marine had no time to dodge.  Ikari used the man's own momentum to increase the power of the attack and she could feel the nose snap and break as her fist slowly went into the man's head.  With the man falling to the ground, Ikari went to punch one of the Soldiers with her left hand.  The man barely dodged the attack, but twisted behind Ikari, pulling her hand back with him as he did.  The other Soldier grabbed Ikari's right arm, forcing both of Ikari's arms to become immobilised. Ikari thought for a moment.  This could be her ticket back to her home island.  Jiko wanted her alive to punish her.  Perhaps banishing her was only the first part of his punishment.  She wouldn't fight back for now, hoping that the Marines would take her home.  The higher-ranked Soldier slowly walked over, beginning to speak to the other people;
"She's seen too much.  We'll take her to the cells for now."
The man would quickly hit Ikari's temple with his fist.  Ikari would slowly drift into unconsciousness as the man dragged her away.

Waking up, Ikari would rub her temple while feeling the ground with her other hand.  Cold and hard.  Slowly standing up, Ikari tried to look around to get some understanding of where she was.  It was too dark to see a great lot of detail, but she could tell that she was in a fairly small cell.  Straw on the ground for a bed and a bucket for...waste material.  Sighing, Ikari picked up a small stone from the floor that had obviously either fallen from the wall or roof.  Making a single scratch mark on the wall, Ikari would slump down on her straw bed, holding her head in her hands.  Ikari was not a patient woman.  Hopefully, she wouldn't have to wait for too long.

One Week Later
Ikari would wake up to someone hitting the bars to her cell.  Rubbing her left eye, Ikari would make sure to wipe away any form of sleep left in her eyelids.  After doing so, Ikari would shuffle over to the bars, picking up her first meal of the day.  Bread and some water.  The tore into the bread extremely quickly, wolfing down every morsel that she could.  She took her time with the water, trying to make it last for a long time.  After finishing her water, Ikari would place the cup outside the bars.  Looking down both sides of the hallways, Ikari couldn't see that far down.  However, the snoring from the guard echoed down to her cell.  Pulling her flask out of her pocket, Ikari would move her back to a wall and take a small sip from her flask.  The little amount of coffee helped keep her in check.  Putting the flask back into her pocket, Ikari would mumble to herself;
"Stupid guards can't even empty pockets properly."

After some amount of time, a man, walking in the hallway, moved past Ikari's cell, stopping a few cells down.  The man was obviously not one of the guards.  Even while in the darkness of the cells, it was clear that the man wasn't wearing any of the guard uniforms.  Ikari watched the man with interested.  Was he a visitor?  Were visitors even allowed to come down to the cells?  Ikari scratched her chin lightly as she studied the man.  It was fairly clear that he was taller than Ikari, though she could not tell how strong the man was from looks alone.  He was probably smart if he managed to get into the cells without being noticed.  Then again, the majority of the guards could probably be placed under the "idiotic" category.  Looking back to the man, he seemed to be looking around at the people in the cells.  The man spoke with a clear and slightly deep voice.  His voice carried far enough for a few cells beyond Ikari to hear, but not far enough for the guards to hear;
"Who here believes in a revolution?"

Ikari smirked slightly as the man spoke.  She quickly stood up and moved straight to the bars, sticking her hand out of the cell, waving it.  Hoping the man could see her hand, she continued to wave her hand frantically.  She didn't trust herself to speak.  She tended to be fairly loud if she couldn't speak at a normal level of volume.  The other prisoners shrunk away from the man, though a few continued to look at him oddly.  The man peered around, looking for any other hands or listening for any other voices.  As he began to walk towards Ikari, Ikari moved her hand back into the cell.  She hoped that this was not some sort of trick.  She knew that she shouldn't be so open about her hatred towards the marines or corrupt individuals, but she couldn't help but voice her beliefs.  The man stopped in front of her cell and looked at her, as if examining her;
"Looks like you're the only one."
Ikari smirked, nodding slightly as she looked up at the man;
"Tends to be that way.  So, why did you come here asking?"
The man nodded, picking up the pace of his speech slightly;
"There is corruption on this island.  Keeping a long story short, the current King has allied himself with the Marines so that he can invade and control all three kingdoms.  The Marines would share power with the King, but the King has agreed and is finding the correct time to strike.  What I need is help to take down the King before he can start his invasion."
Ikari scratched her chin lightly, taking in all the information that the man had given.  Nodding as she went over the information again and again, Ikari would look up towards the man once again and begin to speak with a soft voice;
"Okay, and I'm guessing that any help is good help.  That would be why you came into the cells.  What would my plan of action be?"
"You would have to escape from your cell and make your way through the castle to find me and anyone else that I have with me.  Sorry, but I'll be to pre-occupied to help you when the plan starts so you will have to find some way out here by yourself."
Ikari smirks as the man talks, tapping her chest lightly;
"Don't you worry about me, I have a few explosive surprises up my wrist.  Before we make this official what is your name?"
The man moves away from the bars ever so slightly, speaking quickly;
"You can call me The Sand Spirit.  The signal will be a Blood Red Hawk flying over the city, but given that you don't have any way to view the sky, you'll hear some men shouting about how it's a good day.  That will be your signal.  The plan could begin from any time next week to next year.  Be patient."
Ikari would sigh slightly at the name but not at the man as he explained the signal;
"Since we're doing that, you can call me The Steel Martyr.  Oh, and if the Marines come to collect me before you begin with your revolution plan, I'm heading with the Marines.  They might take me home and that place also needs some good, old revolution."
The man would walk away after nodding at Ikari, walking back down the hallway the same way that he had arrived.  Now all Ikari had to do was wait.  Either for shouting men or Marines.  Hopefully either of them would come quickly.

---

Current Time
Ikari flopped into her straw bed, looking up towards the roof.  After a month of the darkness, the sun was going to burn her left eye.  Ikari couldn't wait to see the sun once again.  It had been too long since she felt the rays of light on her skin and seen the colours of the outside world.  Moving into a comfy position to sleep for the night, Ikari would sigh softly to herself, tapping the ground that was underneath the straw.  Ikari would close her eyes, opening her mouth to mumble words softly to herself;
"Hurry up, Sandy.  My patience is beginning to wear thin."

Dante thought about the reaction the woman had when he apologized to her. She seemed awestruck.. although he didn't know why. Dante sighed and continued to relax in the bathtub. The hot water seemed to drain away his fatigue. He put his hand on his back to try and scrub himself and felt every scar on his back. There were many scars that he could feel in his reach.. every time he scrubs himself it brings up his past. Dante sighed, he felt much cleaner at least. He could feel the filth he's accumulated in ten hours wash away from his body. Dante's black hair fell to his chin height. He had the sides of his head completely shaven, so it looked like he was wearing a high-quality wig on his bald head that wouldn't come off. His hair looked spiky as it came down, even when it was wet the ends naturally separated themselves from the others; it looked untamed even when he bathed.

Dante thought about the forces he managed to get together a month ago, when he arrived in the island for the first time. He managed to get around fifty people to accompany him, but one seemed like the most capable. She went to prison for a reason Dante didn't know, but she believed in the revolution.. which was enough for him to believe in her. Dante sneaked through the guards that day while wearing nothing but a hooded cloak. It was easy when he figured out their patterns. One of them was always asleep during night shifts, and only four were awake at night. Dante walked through the halls and found a woman that agreed with his beliefs, and that day he told her to wait for what would happen tomorrow. Dante had the hawk downstairs painted red and ready to go. The second he opens the cage it will fly to the kingdom of the ex-king and the rebels will wait for the chaos of the city to start so they can run towards the king. They all believed in the old king and believed Dante when he confronted them and told them the truth. Handing out posters to shady individuals who didn't believe in the kingdom's laws seemed necessary for this. It only took one of those shady individuals to get a secret meeting together, and that's what happened. Dante sighed, all of the work he had to go through in this city for a rebellion. It took him an entire month, but it was worth it. The Steel Matyr, the woman he met in prison, should be able to assist the revolution. Hopefully it will be enough with Diana and Gale.

Dante would have stayed up there for the rest of the night, even slept inside the bathrub, but he had other business to take care off. After five minutes Dante decided to get up from the bathtub and walk through the door. He put his hand in the bathrub to absorb all of the water inside, it only left the bubbles. Dante opened the hose and washed away the remainder of the soap. He walked out of the room with a towel around his waist. He walked inside his room and grabbed his next pair of clothes. The ones he just wore he put inside a bag. He'd have to clean those later. His new clothes looked like desert clothes. A long black robe stretched down to the floor. The pants were noticeably black and baggy. His shoes looked like sandals but closed in the front; they were pointy in the front (not weapons, the shoes just look pointy and curved upwards). Dante left the turban that he is supposed to wear on his head around his neck and walked down the stairs. The last thing he wanted was to confuse the people downstairs and make them think he was an intruder with a masked face and head.

He didn't pay much attention to Gale and Diana, even if they were in the middle of a conversation. He picked up a Bass, located on the edge of the room along with many other instruments, and started playing. He wanted to at least help the two in front of him before the battle tomorrow. Dante smiled as he picked up the large instrument and started to play. An open booklet was laid in front of him on a stick, dust collected on this piece but it was the last thing this bar played before ending its life. Ironic that Dante played this instrument the day prior to leaving as well to never return again.

Diana nodded slowly as she listened to what Gale had to say. While she normally wasn't keen on talking about herself, it was only fair. Plus the ominous comment Dante made about this potentially being their last night alive still lingered in her thoughts. Gale seemed like a nice individual, anyways. At least she could actually talk to him like a normal person to an extent which was more than she could say for the majority of people she attempts to converse with. It didn't help she also felt a bit sorry for the fella, since she was really the only person around to talk with at the moment. Diana would have been just fine spending time alone with her thoughts until they left for their task. Maybe it wasn't a terrible idea to try something else for a change. It shouldn't hurt to attempt some simple conversation.

"I would like to hear about some of your journey, if you're willing," she responded with interest. Diana had never done much travelling herself, so stories of this sort intrigued her. She had barely left her home in North Blue, and this had been her first stop in this particular ocean. Potentially her only one if the follow day goes sour. As this thought crossed her mind she laid down her head onto her arms and rested on the table in front of them. A rather disheartened sigh escaped her lips. "I don't really know what I am at this point, or if I have any skills of note... Probably never will, after tomorrow."

Gale sighed softly, relieved that Diana was actually showing interest in the conversation. He didnt mind, and even more, probably didn't want to know her reasons behind it; he just decided that he would enjoy this moment, because it was moments like these that make you realize how much you've gone through, how much you've lived, and how much you want to hold on to life. He hastily checked below the bar and found a bottle of pretty good whisky. He used a piece of cloth he always kept with him to clean the dirt off it.

"What about this, I'll tell you about my journey while we have a drink!?" -he withdrew two glasses from the stands. - "It's a pity we dont have any ice..."

He placed the surprisingly clean glasses in front of both of them, a little bit overconfident. He smiled at her and started speaking.

"Well, a while ago I met Dante's brother, Cat." -Gale's eyes seemed to stare into the universe. -"Wr fought a couple of marines together, and after that we fled the island in a dingy..."

He was just getting started.

Thankfully Gale started telling some of his tale.  She appreciated getting her mind off the current not so happy thoughts she was having.  As he cleaned off some of the glasses, Diana took a seat at one of the creaky bar stools at the counter.  It was rare for her to drink, but there wasn't much for her to lose at this point.  There was probably little else that was potable to begin with, so why not.  When he mentioned the pitiable lack of ice, Diana obliged and created cubes of ice out of thin air that landed into each glass with an audible 'clink'.  Sometimes having that sort of ability came in handy with occasions like these.  

"That's a strange name for someone to have..."  Diana tried to imagine what Dante's brother might be like.  Maybe they looked similar, but the one named Cat had some sort of devils fruit that made him cat-like.  Or maybe he was a cat.  The last part of his statement caught her attention in particular.  Her eyes widened in surprise.  Gale didn't seem like the type of person to break the law.  She wasn't about to judge him heavily for it, but it was definitely something she didn't expect to hear.  Of course he was vague about that part, but mentioned sailing in a dinghy.  That sounded absolutely ridiculous to her ears.  She leaned forward in her stool, giving Gale a look of curious disbelief.  "Eeeh, you fought marines?  And how does one sail an ocean with a dinghy?"

"Perfect! -he said when the ice appeared in the glasses, he stared serving- Oh.. Well, his name is actually Jack and not Cat." -Gale pointed out, trying to picture his closest companion before his current voyage. - "Cat was just the alias he used. Mostly based on his fighting style... and his lazy personality... haha...'

Diana seemed to be interested in hearing more details about that event in particular, so Gale had to go back to ancient memories, and dust them off as if they were old books. What had happened back then was a almost bloodbath... Gale had shut it in the back of his mind, because he felt sort of guilty sometimes.

"These marines appeared and tried to attack us, because the party I had just recently met had people with a bounty. -he paused for a second- It was a job we had to finish fast... I dont really want to go into much detail. Funny enough, it wasnt just the difficulty of sailing the oceans... It was four people inside that freaking dingy. Cat, me, an outsider guy called Emilio and a cyborg... what was her name.... Ikari!"

His mind then drifted off to the island of the beasts. That hadnt gone too well, that was the last time he saw Emilio and Ikari. He didnt know what happened to them after that.

"In that dingy we arrived to an island that was full of wild beasts. To be honest, the hunger and thirst that we went through there were sufficient to trigger madness in most of us. I remember having to look for coffee beans... But in the end I escaped the island solely with Jack 'Cat' Blue Gato, Dante's brother." - That had been a pretty stressful experience... now that he thought about it, he had been from bad situation into other bad situations. He took a long, copious sip of whisky. Maybe it was because of the situation, but it seemed pretty good to him. - "Then I travelled with him for a while. Nothing noteworthy, except for the last time I saw him. We ended up in an island full of marines, we had to hide because we both had bounties. We wanted to join a tournament... but we never did, and I lost track of him; and I decided to start bounty hunting."

He nodded to himself.

"What about you?" -Gale asked. - "Where do you come from, how did you end up here?"

The tale that Gale had told left an expression of awe on Diana's face.  It sounded like he had much more he could tell her, and she would be intrigued to listen.  Stories of this sort appealed to her.  While she did have a curiosity to see the world, plenty of it was rather frightening to her.  Islands filled with beasts and fighting legions of marines sounded exciting, but she would much rather hear tales of it being told to her instead of experiencing them herself.  For the most part.  The way he spoke of his happenings gave Diana the slight desire to be more adventurous herself.  Cyborgs and sailing the sea in a dinghy, how intriguing.  She also took note that the Cat fellow was not an actual cat, but it was simply a given nickname.  That was ever so slightly disappointing.  Diana's face went back to its neutral state when Gale inquired about her own past.

"I lived on an unimportant island in North Blue my entire life.  I had left only recently..."  she paused and took a sip of her drink.  Talking about herself was one of those things she was dreadful at.  Particularly if it included the whole scenario of leaving her family's house in frozen shambles then running away.  Her slender brows furrowed in the slightest as the thought of it came to mind.  It was doubtful she would ever forgive herself entirely for leaving her family in such a state, but there wasn't anything she could do about it now.  "Not long after I decided to hunt bounties on the side to make ends meet.  Otherwise I've been wandering.  I would still be traveling in North Blue, but I received that message informing me of a job here."  

Soon after she gave her (incredibly) brief story, she noticed Dante come back down the stairs.  He gave Gale and herself little acknowledgement and instead walked over to a part of the room she hadn't looked at before.  Something sparked in her eyes as she spotted the instruments Dante took interest in.  Any investment she had telling her story vanished instantly.  Leaving her drink on the counter she immediately stood up and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of Dante had set up the dusty bass instrument.  It had been a while since she had heard someone play so fluidly.  She was brought back to the cello performances her father played for her family at home.  Silently and reverently she listened to each individual note with care.  Every once in a while a series of notes would send a chill up the length of her spine.  The final flourish reverberated through the room with a marvelous tone.  An uncharacteristically warm and blissful smile dawned on Diana's face, a rare occurrence from her.  Only after a time of savory silence had passed and the ending sank in, she spoke.

"That was..."  Diana's voice drifted to a place of no return before she could finish her statement.  She had always found it difficult to form words at times, but music was one of the few earthly things she wholly and fully appreciated.  With a deep exhale, Diana leaned backwards and laid with her back on the floor.  Her eyes shut, simply listening to her thoughts and steady breathing.

Gale felt comfortable as he told his story. The fact that someone was listening to it with genuine interest instead of as a courtesy captivated him, and even re-assured his self-steem. Thinking about this, he wondered how small details like that one could have such a complicated effect on a human being. This was partly the reason why he shut out some of his memories, because he didn't want to be consumed by them. Those igenous memories... They were rock created from eruptions of madness, hiding in the threshold of what he could actually remember and the false memories he had to recreate in order to comprehend them.

Gale realized that he was zoning out, but he managed to pay attention to Diana's short, blunt statements about where she came from. It appeared to him that it bothered her slightly to talk about her origins... Gale didn't inquire any further; he didn't think it would make her very comfortable. She had decided to bounty hunt... And then she had received the message of the job in this island. It had pretty much been the same for him... Really weird. Why would the King call for Bounty Hunters from so far away... Some of them unknown, like herself, and some of them with bounties on their heads. It intrigued him. Gale had listened to Diana carefully, trying to nod his head at the right times to show interest.

Dante descended to the first floor again and started looking for an instrument. Gale noticed that he had changed his clothes, which made him think that he might be waiting for someone or something... Gale's thoughts faded off towards Jack again. Simultaneously, Dante started playing the bass. The combination of both currents of feelings triggered internally and externally, respectively, was truly mesmerizing. The sad, deep tones of the song seemed like a prelude of what he could expect of their mission. At the same time, it generated uncertainty about whatever had been of his old companion. He was visibly worried, grabbing one hand with the other and rubbing his fingers. Despite this, he managed to enjoy the music.

Diana seemed to be enjoying it even more than he did. She was wordless.

"You're a really good musician..."- Gale pointed out, clapping his hands. Since he was the only one doing so, it was pretty monotonous.