The Fallen Cities

Taking her eyes off the smiling like worm Koko answered,
"He's right, once the patrol that that man was on discovers he's missing they will look for him and if we are still standing here when they find him then we all are as good as dead."

Turning away she started down the alley back to where the hair pin turn was and called over her shoulder
"Are you guys coming or what?" and continued forward the little worm following her happily.

Masamune turned to look at ember
"Are you and the other worm coming too?" seeing him nod Masamune gave a small smile then followed after the bloodthirsty girl.

Ember picked up Rozen and adjusted him in his arms then trotted after the other two calling behind him to the young scholar

"You might wanna hurry up or you will be left behind again."

Zei nodded and with a burst of speed followed behind the small group they had somehow formed within the labyrinthine alleys they had escaped to.

Zei huffed a bit as he tried to keep up with the others, after awhile he asked them while keeping a somewhat steady pace behind them "So, exactly where are we going?".

Ember turned around adjusting Rozen as he went.
"As far from here as we can, probably to either Masamune's house or that girls Im not sure to be honest but as long as its as far from here then it will do. Besides it will get dark in a few hours and its almost the full moon." he gave a knowing look then turned around and kept walking

Rozen crawled up to the top of his masters head and got comfortable, while still keeping an eye on the younger worm who decided that it liked the monochrome colored girl and followed her. Rozen had no complaints, he just had a full meal and now he had a comfortable place to rest for the time being, as long as the other worm didn't cause trouble then he had no reason to become viscous. Making sure that he would not fall off Rozen closed its tiny eyes and went to sleep.

Masamune overheard the stork asking where they were going and grinned to himself at his brother's mention of his house or Koko's, his house wasnt that far from here and Koko's house was even farther, weighting his options he made a decision and tapped Koko on the shoulder and murmmered
"We should move to either your house or the kids house cause you both live farther then we do from the dead guard" he paused letting the information sink in before continuing
"We need to stay away from there for the mean time until this mostly blows over and I know your first changing will happen in a couple of days since it takes awhile to transform"

He finished his little speech then stepped to her side to walk beside her to gauge her reaction.

She could hear the others talking lowly behind her as she made her way further and further away from the pile of bones. A sudden tap of her shoulder got her attention, it was Masamune
"We should move to either your house or the kids house cause you both live farther then we do from the dead guard" he paused letting her think over what he was saying before continuing
"We need to stay away from there for the mean time until this mostly blows over and I know your first changing will happen in a couple of days since it takes awhile to transform"
She could feel the color drain out of her face as she just remember that it was her first transformation and it was going to be a long and painful one from what others and scrolls have told her, she quietly cursed herself for forgetting that it started in a couple of days.
Looking to her side,seeing her teal haired friend she answered
"What about Zei's house?" seeing his confused look she explained "If the guards come knocking at my door it may well look suspicious but if they knock at his door it will look like he was tutoring us in something since I know his house if full of scrolls and other scholarly things that I couldnt care for."

Turning around Masamune called back "Hey kid! Lead us to your house, your having company." he finished with a grin, while Koko held a hand over her mouth to stop the laughing but you could see it in her eyes. Ember was looking fairly amused and the other worm contently followed the girl happily still.

Zei stared at them all for a moment before finally shrugging and jogging towards the front of the group to lead them to his house.

Unfortunately it became readily apparent that unlike everyone else that seemed to fill the group; Zei had no idea which alleyway lead where; it took awhile but they finally, after many dead ends and sharp encounters with guards, found the way out and to one of the many main streets that lead through their small world.

Now that they had found their way out it only took a short amount of time to find the direction of his house and lead them to it.

Minutes passed and finally they found themselves at his front doorstep; it was getting dark quickly and though many guards had given up the search there were still many keeping a vigil eye open to anything.

As the door opened Zei gestured to the slightly...more than slightly cluttered house. "You guys can come i-" he was interrupted as the others rushed in and started making a racket about one thing or another, probably how many books that filled the house, "-n" he finished blankly before closing the door and walking in the center of the room "GUYS! Not to interrupt anything but I do want to point out that there are only two other rooms besides mine, you guys will have to figure out where you want to sleep" he closed before huffing, rolling his eyes, and finding a good book to read while the others nattered on between each other.

It felt like hours before,they reached Zei's house, and those few close call with the guard weren't helping anyone's nerves. She swore that the next guard she saw that stopped them she would rip their head off in anxiety. Finally his little hidey hole came into view, as soon as the door opened she bolted inside to relieve some stress. Quickly spotting her favorite corner when she came over she grabbed the book she was reading the last time she was there and plopped into the corner and began to read.

Suddenly her book was yanked out of her hands by Masamune and his cheesy grin, giving off a warning growl she asked politely "Moonie, give back that book" Instead of answering he held the book higher out of her reach. "Why read when you can party?" Not wanting her anger to grow anymore out of hand she stood up and placed a well aimed kick to Masamune's crotch, grabbing her book as he went down for the count then stormed off to the bigger of the two rooms slamming the door shut in the process.

Ember saw the door open and rushed inside along with the other two,taking Rozen from his head he placed the slightly bigger worm on the ground then went to look at the little scrolls that were placed here and there and the odd nick knack or two. Occasionally picking one up and leafing through it before putting it back, Ember turned around in time to see the girl kick his brother where the sun doesn't shine before taking a book back from him and storming off into one of the rooms slamming it behind her right in the worm that had taken a liking to her's face. It sat in front of the door letting out a slightly pitiful whine and scratching at the door with its little stub like legs.

Giving a sigh Ember walked over to his brother and helped him up but not before cuffing him upside the head for his actions "You dumb idiot! You don't treat women that way." Shaking his head in disappointment. Masamune whined "I was only teasing her." Giving another sigh he replied "Look moron her first transformation is only days if not hours away and you want to tease her? You are more of an idiot then Rozen here" Hearing that he saw Masamune's face pale at what he had just done "Oh crap...." he trailed off leaving the 'what have I done?' implied. Giving his brother another rough cuff upside the head he grabbed his arm and picked up Rozen then headed to the last free room passing the still whining worm on the way.

Zei looked up from his book, he hadn't been paying too much attention to the others but it certainly seemed that something was happening, it looked like Koko had locked herself in one of his rooms and one of the guys was scolding the other. Zei tried to ignore it but after a moment he rolled his eyes and put the book down to ask what was up.

Getting over towards the door he looked at the two of them, one seemed to be a bit, or maybe quite a bit, angry though he wasn't quite sure; the other seemed ashamed of something, moving towards the two Zei asked the question on his mind "What's going on?"

The Worm was getting on her final nerve as well, with its constant scratching and whining. Heaving herself up off the bed and cracking open the door a tiny bit she let  the worm happily scuttle in letting out a hiss and a slightly glowing eyes at the three men standing in the hallway before disappearing back behind the door a slight headache building. Glancing at the worm now content to lay curled up near the book she set down, she really looked at it. In an odd way it was sorta cute the way it acted like a dog when it actually was a little blood thirsty monster. Reaching out she began to pet it, maybe it wasn't so bad after all with that in mind she curled up placed the happy worm in her lap and continued reading.

Ember turned and looked at the owner of the house they were in, yanked his brother around before answering.

"This idiot.." he punctuated the word idiot with another hard cuff to the head before continuing "made her mad and I could already see her mood shifting around with her transformation coming near, so she kicked him in the family jewels and left."

Koko's door opened a crack to let the worm in before a seemingly glowing silver eye made itself known and a sinister hiss floated out before the door shut again. Ember gulped then looked back at the stork like boy "See what I mean?"  Giving a slight shudder he turned around and dragged his brother back to the room left and peered in "Oh you have got to be kidding me." Inside was a what looked like a bed that could hold a single person and a writing desk and you guessed it more books and scrolls.

Throwing Masamune on the floor he perched on the edge of the bed "Moonie your on the floor as punishment" Masamune whined like the worm earlier.


Masamune felt like a rag doll with the amount oh times he was getting hit and almost thrown around. Still looking remorseful he sat through another round of insults at him while telling the other what happened then the door opened and the worm went inside and she hissed at him with a glowing eye then shut the door again and once again he was yanked.

Hearing his brother complain he looked in and wanted to jump on the bed and claim it but instead he was shoved to the floor while his brother sat on the bed with his own worm. "Moonie your on the floor as punishment" hearing that he started whining like an infant until a look from his brother shut him up.

Zei's eye twitched slightly as he watched the others, Koko peering out slightly to give everyone the stink eye and let in that small worm, he watched as they walked into their room and decided he probably didn't want to deal with the situation beyond what was already going on so he strolled over to a piece of paper, wrote a small note saying "GOOD NIGHT. If I happen to wake up before any of you there will be some sandwiches on the table while I get some supplies to stock the fridge and possibly anything else of importance on the way." He stuck the note to Koko's door and headed inside his own room to get a bit of rest before day comes, turning off any lights on the way.

Koko heard something moving just outside the door, frowning a bit she shifted the worm aside and got up to see who or what it was. Cracking the door open a little once more a small piece of paper fluttered down inside the room, bending over to pick it up she read its contents. Giving a small smile she knew she couldn't be mad at Zei, after all he didn't make her mad and neither did ember and Rozen. Turning around, headed back for the bed and book a sharp pain shot through her lower body making her gasp sharply in pain falling to the floor in the process. Curling up in a ball she vaguely heard the door open again and a shout of her name, a faint nudging at her side was all she could really feel besides the blood curdling pain running through now her whole body. Her body, mainly her mind couldn't take the pain anymore and shut down, the last thing she could her was Masamune calling her name.

Masamune was almost asleep when a small gasp of pain followed by a loud thump floated through the thin walls. Sitting up on the hard floor he gave a hard shove to Ember who was sleeping on the bed and made his way to the other room. Opening the door he saw Koko curled into a ball on the floor in pain. "Koko!" he shouted alerting his brother to the situation. Knowing what was happening he picked her up bridal style ignoring the worm nudging her, and turned around "Ember we need to get to an isolated dock now." He followed Ember out into the hallway and back to the front of the house.


Ember was woken up with a hard shove to his side, looking up he saw his brother leave the room heading next door. Rolling his eyes he turned over to go back to sleep but hearing his brother shout shot him up and out of the bed and into the next room in seconds. Seeing the dark humored girl on the ground being picked up he knew what was going on, "Ember we need to get to an isolated dock now." he didn't need to be told twice, he bolted towards the front door and almost ran over their host along the way with the other two right on his tail "Zei, we need to find a dock right now, her transformation is starting!"

Zei sighed and opened his door, following behind the three for a moment, his eyes following their form before it struck him.

"Oi! You're going the wrong way!" He shouted at them before pointing the opposite direction and heading towards the closest of docks. "Follow me!" He shouted at them again as he led them to the sealed dock entrance.

Cursing Masamune quickly wheeled about and followed the shorter boy down the other way with his brother right on his heels. He remembered when it was the painful first transformation, but he didn't have anyone to help him through it like Koko did now. Recalling all her mood swings today he figured she would transform into a predator of some sort but what exactly he wasn't sure of, maybe an Orca like himself or possibly a shark, or one of those freaky killing fish eating fish. He hoped it was an Orca or a shark cause those fish were freaky.

Nearing the gate that led to the isolation pods for the first timers he almost ran into the guards if he hadn't skidded into a stop almost throwing her into the guards. He felt Ember almost run into him as well, "Hey guys I need to get her into one of the isolation pods, her first transformation is starting and I think she may be a predator."


Ember charged after his brother and the girl trusting the other to know where to go. His mind was running with the possibilities of what her tail would be, he hoped it would be something genteal like himself but if worse comes to worse he knew Masamune could handle it with him being a predator himself. Not paying attention he almost ran into them both before his stopped himself inches from their backs. Calmly he listened to Masamune explain to the guards what was happening then stopped short, Masamune thought she was going to be a predator, lovely, well he was out, being a koi fish and all.

Zei watched from the side as they escorted Koko; if this is what was happening then she was definitely a predator, seeing as the containment pods were reserved for predators only.

He sighed slightly and turned around, he wasn't going to be of any help if she was going to be a predator, and it was certain that if she broke out he'd be in the way as everyone tried to restrain her bestial rage. With that in mind he headed to the market to see if he could get some supplies for the full moon coming ahead soon.

Hopefully the market would be open even with the events of yesterday.

After being escorted down to the pods and setting her inside, Masamune decided to stick around to help, he could already feel his teeth start to ache with the want to kill or do something like that. Giving a sigh Masamune sat down to wait, from where he was sitting Koko's shirt had ridden up slightly enough that he could see her skin around there starting to turn a grayish color, well orca was out, they were black and white so that left a shark or a killer fish, and possibly even on the small side a dolphin.

Unfortunately since there were no female guards nor was there another female in their group, he was looking like the one who had to remove her pants so that her tail could fully transform, but for now only her skin color and possible texture was changing, if she was a shark then the texture would rip her pants to pieces and he was pretty sure she would need them once this was over. Giving another sigh he got up and sauntered over to her pod and opened it grimacing at the thought of undressing her, before reaching in and removing her pants. He was right on the color and texture, her legs were a rough sandpaper like texture as well as a dark silver, a swirling design was faintly appearing as well.

Averting his eyes her took her shirt and underclothes as well before shutting the pod once more and sitting with his back facing the pod folding her clothes into a neat stack beside him, he sympathized with her, he could remember his first transformation almost three years ago, the pain and loosing your mind to the animal instincts then coming back to the realization that you possible killed someone or something while your were in a rage. Shuddering he hoped that her could help her as much as possible not to succumb to the rage most predators had.

Ember turned away and started to follow the other member of their party seeing as he was useless to his brother at the moment. "So where and what are we going to go get?" he asked casually placing his hands behind his head.

Zei turned his head to answer Ember while he walked to the market.

"Oh, just some supplies to use while we're out during the full moon; I'll probably get some nets, a chainmail shirt for myself, as well as a dagger, I'm tempted to see if they have anything else that we can grab and use while we're out. As well as that I'll grab some supplies for my house, my stores are getting low and I don't quite want to run out of anything while I'm in need."

"Sooooooooo in other words your getting stuff to keep you from being Shark food..." Ember stated flatly, while slowly bringing his arms back down to his sides slightly swinging them as they continues to walk. His Crimson eyes spotted the market before Zei, he finally learned his name from hearing her say it once or twice, and sped off leaving the poor scholar behind to catch up.

Ember was like a child who was seeing the place for the first time, moving from one stall to another poking and prodding at things then moving off to another stall to do the same once again.  While flitting about a small leather sheath made for a dagger caught his eye, zooming over his ruby eyes eyed it critically, it needed to last if it was going under water with him once a cycle. The sheath was of a simple design made of tanned leather with swirling vine like designs seared into the hide with small opals placed here and there giving it a upscale look compared to the other plain ones that were on display next to it. A matching belt hung along side it also caught his eye, grinning Ember got the merchant's attention  "Excuse me, I'd like to see that sheath please."  

Finally noticing that Zei wasn't with him anymore Ember trotted back to the entrance and waited, his new sheath clenched around his waist holding his ordinate dagger, both glittering in the torchlight.

Zei's eyes glanced over the products of each stall that he passed; occasionally he picked up a fruit, or a miscellaneous object, and would haggle with the owner for a deal.

After finishing a majority of dealing he began to look around for ember, but after a moment he realized that he was left behind.

Sighing slightly he looked around for the last two things on his list, a weapon, and a chain shirt.

Walking up to one of the metallurgist's stalls he looked over the wares before finally picking up and bartering for a fine chain shirt and a curved dagger with an added sheath for it.

Finally he headed back to the entrance where Koko was housed.

Scanning the crowd for the little scholar as he waited his lithe fingers ran absentmindedly over the sheath now hanging from his waist, the pearl inlays cool against his finger tips. Spotting the little guy Ember pushed off against the post he was leaning against and made his way over the Zei, silently following him back the way they came. "Did you get everything you needed?" he asked the shorter male out of the blue.

Back at the docks Masamune sat bored out of his mind, he had already teethed through the small piece of plastic he kept in his jacket pocket when it came near the full moon. Gashing his teeth together once more his rifled through his clothing once more to see if he had anything he could gnaw on to distract him from the aching of his teeth. Finding nothing he slumped back against his friends pod this was gonna be a long transformation. Inside he could start to hear her legs moving slightly in irritation to the new skin, every now and then he would hear a thump as her foot made contact with the wall sometimes even right where his head was resting. The fifth time he was kicked in the head he turned around ready to yell at her but stopped, he face was visible even with her hair floating around her, sharp predators eyes were looking right at him lusting for blood, a sharp pointed grin made its way onto her face before disappearing into nothing like she never did open her eyes. Stunned he stared for a little while longer to see if she would do it again, when nothing happened he leaned against her pod once more and continued to wait hoping his brother brought him something to chew on.

Zei flinched and whirled around wide-eyed before noticing that the person speaking to him was Ember, with a sigh of relief he answered Ember while unconsciously scratching his neck with the sheathed blade of his new dagger.

"Y-yeah, I got what I needed. Some fruit to fill my stock, some meat, a few b-bibs and bobs here and there as well as a chain shirt-" he stopped scratched his neck long enough to gesture to a chain shirt that was slung over his shoulder with his dagger "- and a dagger with a sheath." After explaining that he stood there awkwardly with his sheathed dagger sitting along his neck for piping up slightly.

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully Ember looked to the metal dome that kept them from being homeless. "Got anything that my brother can chew on? Knowing him he probably already chewed through whatever he brought to chew on while waiting." he inquired while standing next to the shuddering teen. Then as just remembering something he held out the pearl inlaid sheath "By the way I got this pretty sheath to house that dagger of mine" a sly grin on his face thinking of Masamune's reaction to such a beautiful holder.

Back at the docks Masamune's mind was running a mile a minute in frantic circles at what ad just been seen with his own eyes. 'That bloodlust' he thought cringing at the memory 'she really will be a predator, if those eyes were an inkling to judge by'  The other thing was the mouth full of sharp teeth if anything those were a sharks teeth. "god help us" he muttered staring at the ground