After a rather long night of running through the slums to help Matsu Eriko, the group would ultimately disperse to find their own way home around the city. Rei would be left on his lonesome once more, either finding his way back through public transportation or a taxi. The World of Dreams never slept, even at this hour, but they became a bit more uncommon at this hour. As he moved through the streets, filled with heimen who were either returning from their long night shifts or about to begin a long day of work ahead, Rei would catch a glimpse of someone from the crowds.

There were so many faces in the city, maybe just a lookalike, clouded by smoke and the glare of neon lights...Or maybe it was the late hour, after a night spent on his feet, would be enough to play tricks on him. Or maybe, just maybe...

(Roll Investigation (Notice)/Perception, please)

It wasn't just fatigue clouding his senses. It was the city itself. Always dreamlike, it seemed moreso as the hour grew late, the neon lights not quite overcoming the darkness, the various passerbys grey shadows, as formless as memories. It was through this haze that Rei trudged, hands in his jacket pockets, one foot after the other.

And it was there that he caught a glimpse of a dream. Or maybe a nightmare. Once you were awake, what was the difference, except in the vaguely remembered wonder or terror they left lingering in the body. Elixir or poison.

His stride turned without conscious thought, eyes narrowing as he walked closer...

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D9LN - Investigation/Perception, Witchfinder 1k0 | 7k3 ⇒ 20 (TN: ?)

Though the clouds are made possible by the frailty of the human mind, or perhaps the illusion made possible by the city itself...Rei could see someone stand out from among the crowds. There she was, again.


Usagi Yuria

She was dressed in a white dresscoat. Her expression was cautious and uncertain as she looked about her surroundings, seemingly catching everything but Rei looking back at her. Seemingly without any time to discern the little details from the city as a whole, she walked on and turned the corner into the alleyway of two buildings...

Does Rei chase after the past or move on?

Rei felt his mouth go dry. The adrenaline from working the case suddenly came surging back. Jaw tightened. It was her. How long had he been looking? How long since he had stopped?

He closed his eyes. She'd been missing for almost two years. Dream long dead, nightmare almost over. Perhaps he could walk on, and she would fade away like any other illusion. He could wake again to the happiness he'd so recently found.

But he had to know.

His jaw set, Rei followed, turning the same corner, walking into the same alley. His form was tense, ready for anything; it could be a trap. After all, it was his wife, but he didn't really know her.

Rei would easily make his way to where he saw her last, perhaps needed to weave his way through a few confused and tired heimen along the way. He would turn around the corner to be greeted with a rather dark and ominous alleyway. There were a few chain-linked gates that seemed to have been opened that would otherwise restrict others from having access. The lights here are rather dim or burnt out and some of the sewer grates on the ground were wafting with sewer gas.


Usagi Yuria

However, there she was again. Yuria was walking at a brisk pace to the end of the alleyway and it almost looked like it would travel forever with infinite darkness on the other side. Was she running away from Rei or something else?

Day 9, Late Night: Stealth/Agility | 6k3+10 ⇒ 37 (TN: ?)

(Feel free to make an Investigation (Notice)/Perception check.)

If she was running from something else, Rei wasn't aware of it. Was it him? Why? The reason was unclear as why she'd left him in the first place.

"Yuria!" Her name left his lips almost before he was aware he was speaking. Gritting his teeth, Rei began to walk faster, pushing himself. If he caught up, he'd, he'd...

He could almost hear his heart beating, drowning out the answer.

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D9LN - Investigation/Perception vs stealth, Witchfinder 1k0 | 7k3 ⇒ 17 (TN: 37)

As Rei chased after his lost wife, the already-dark alleyway seemed to dim the further he made his way inside. It almost seemed like he was plucked out of reality, lost in time and space, on some plane where it was only his wife and him...

There was something else on the ground as Rei walked on. A hint of it at first and more of it further in. Some sort of dark glinting in the faint light. Blood?


Usagi Yuria

Yuria would finally turn at the voice calling out to her. There was a tired and weary smile from her at first, like someone who had just returned from an odyssey (or from being missing for 2 years). However, her expression soon turned to fear, the sinking dread was very clear in her eyes. "Rei, no!"

Her strength would give out and she collapsed to the ground.

It had been a long two years. Rei had grown to doubt every bit of their relationship, her, her feelings for him... his feelings for her. But the slowly growing unreal dread that built in him turned to remembered worry. And seeing the look of fear on his wife's face, whether he really understood her or not, Rei had to respond.

"Yuria!" Rei dashed forward, moving at a sprint. Deja vu struck him like a sudden wave of vertigo, the mad rush of trying to prevent a loss. Something to sort out later. First, he'd see if she was okay.

Usagi Yuria

Yuria gasped as she fell to the floor but seemed to be intent on still moving away. She didn't move fast enough to escape Rei and he's finally able to catch up to her prone form. Now that she's so close and real to his senses, she could see her white dresscoat and the matching dress she wore underneath dirtied by the alleyway concrete. That wasn't the only side effect of her unfortunate clothing colour choice either, as it seemed obvious that a good amount of red had dampened the coat's material from the side. She was gravely injured and it pained her to move but she seemed determined to move away from Rei as he approached.

"No, no, no..." she sobbed as she looked at Rei...

...or behind him?

Rei had, to some extent, come to terms with the fact that his wife had left him. This was not the same as seeing her sob at his approach, trying to get away from him. Nor was it the same as seeing her blood staining the white fabric of her coat. Both were shocks, both were painful in entirely different ways.

The realization that she was looking at something behind him was an entirely different shock.

Rei spun, jacket swirling about, his pale eyes widening as he caught sight of the inhuman features, the sunken burning eyes. Breath hissed through his teeth, his trained reflexes kicking in. His pistol was in a side holster, and he'd practiced the draw hundreds of times. His hand dove into his jacket, drawing and disengaging the safety in one smooth motion. Light flashed as he discharged his pistol at the thing, whatever it was.

The figure was cloaked in darkness with only a face that was skeletal, sunken and twisted. It nearly seemed inhuman considering how it nearly didn't seem corporeal in the slightest. The shots would strike it in the chest, although there would be no inertia from the hit. It would look at Rei with its grim face, contorting to something of a grin as it regarded both him and his fallen wife as something amusing. Perhaps, trivial or insignificant. Then, it would drop to the ground, like someone embodying an article of clothing as suddenly teleported away. There would be no trace of the thing.


Usagi Yuria

Yuria would see the thing disappear completely and perhaps only now able to catch her breath. However, there is guilt on her face as the damage had been done.

Rei stood there, breathing heavily for several long moments, his chest heaving. He stared at the place where it once was. Then, slowly, he turned to look at Yuria. His wife, whom he once loved.

Eyes took in the guilty look. A confusing swirl of emotions passed over Rei's features. Too many feelings. He was tired. His head hurt. His heart hurt.

He swallowed. "How bad is your wound?" Rei finally asked, his voice rough.

Usagi Yuria

Yuria seemed at a loss of where to go from here and what to say. There were so many words owed, although not exactly something she wanted to share. She weakly placed a hand inside her coat to put pressure on the wound as she cast her gaze downwards. "...I'm hurt, Rei. I need a healer, please."

Her gaze remained on the ground and she felt compelled to finally add in. "...You shouldn't have followed me."

Rei hesitated, one hand reaching towards his communicator, the other towards her. Both hands clenched, then relaxed. "Can you walk if I help you, or do you need someone brought here?"

The whispered statement brought a sharp look, Rei responding to a sudden twinge. "Now, or ever?" He asked, voice strained, jaw clenched. A moment passed, then he sighed. "Why?"

Usagi Yuria

"I can walk." She said after swallowing a breath, although it was clear that she needed someone to help her stand up. It was also clear that she heard him but her eyes fail to even look at him as she didn't even answer the questions.

Slowly, Rei nodded, swallowing. "Alright." He knelt, offering his arm.

"If you need to, put your arm over my shoulder. I'll support you." Rei said, his expression neutral. "I know someone who can heal you... or is there somewhere I should take you?" His pale eyes looked at her.

Usagi Yuria

Yuria winced at the pain at her side as she tried to move but slowly returned to her feet after she took his arm. Her gaze looked at him a bit reluctantly, unsure and a bit cautious but she put her arm around his shoulder to help herself stand up. She breathed shallowly, mustering a bit of strength to speak. Her eyes looked at Rei pleadingly as she shook her head. "No hospitals...No magistrates, please..."

Rei reached up to secure her arm around his shoulder, his other arm slipping around her waist to support her, body to body. It was both extremely familiar and extremely unfamiliar at once.

"Right." He sighed. "I have a friend who can heal. I trust her. If that's alright." Koyuki would help, he knew.

He began helping her along, step by step, back down the alley. For a while, Rei said nothing. Then- "Are you going to tell me something?" He asked. He tried to keep his voice steady, but it was hard. Once stung, twice shy, he'd said. He didn't quite realize that the first stinger was still embedded so deep.

Usagi Yuria

It seemed the both of them were approaching this in the same manner, they know each other but they weren't exactly comfortable with each other. It had been two years and the situation was complicated enough that Yuria was either at a loss of how to explain it or rather intent on keeping the whole story away from him.

"...Thank you..." she would say with regards to the friend. Private help, that was good.

She still wouldn't quite look at him and that was true while the talked with her gaze on the ground. Even at the question, she was rather silent. After a moment, she would eventually say something.

"I did it to protect myself. Protect us."

"Of course." Rei breathed, managing a brief smile as she thanked him.

But the explanation. Rei grimaced visibly at that, tension running through his lean form, tangible to Yuria as he supported her. "Yuria..." He said, throat tight. After a moment he shook his head.

A few more steps, then he managed again. "Can you elaborate? Does it have something to do with that thing back there?" He bit his lip before the few questions turned into a flood.