Dyss paused, majorly confused at what had just happened. And at how he had seen the world in a way that... He still could. It was much more limiting that what he was used to, and yet... He could feel when he saw that way, it seemed. Normally, the splendor of light was all he could really feel...

However, he had much more important things to worry about. Briefly checking on Attis to confirm he still had the scythe (not that he had any idea what that other person was doing), he looked to find Izumi and the rest, and continue with the plan he had used before he was interrupted...

But when Dyss went to search for Izumi again, he'd find a significant problem with his plan: Izumi was gone. It seemed Milos, Toushikyo, Recheov, and the Legionnaire were also gone.

Their group had split up. Recheov went off (alone) in one direction and Toushikyo had made for the opposite direction. Off perpendicular to Recheov and Toushikyo's split, though, was the Legionnaire and Milos. They'd gone together to the center of town, where they both were stopped in conversation just before a drinking establishment near the center of Hillcrest's small collection of commercial establishments, all near the middle of town. Milos looked worried about something, but seemed mildly reassured whenever the Legionnaire spoke.

Recheov was currently making his way up a tall hill near the backside of the village, a ways behind the local clinic. It was a tall hill, from which one could see the entirety of Hillcrest. Conversely, Toushikyo seemed to idle near Mayako's house, the girl Milos saved earlier.

There was no sign of Izumi anywhere, though.

The small turquoise bird continued to sing in the trees, now closer to Dyss than before. Her song had become tone-deaf once again.

Dyss cast a quick look about for Izumi, finding her now missing entirely, and began moving towards the city. He was leery of the bird, perhaps, as oddly familiar as it had seemed. He didn't want to have another flash to a time and person he didn't know at all...

If Izumi wasn't there, at least they had split up. He could find and talk to Recheov, while the Legionnaire was busy. With that in mind, he would run as quickly as he could to meet Recheov, climbing the hill he had climbed, with the intention of getting him back to the right side. He wouldn't say anything until he saw how his friend reacted to his (clumsy) presence...

All but one side of the hill seemed to be a gradual, but lengthy incline. The side that overlooked Hillcrest, however, was almost a vertical drop. Falling from it was a guaranteed serious injury. Recheov sat with his legs dangling over the near vertical drop. He was leaning forward and propped himself up with his elbows against his knees. A cigarette idly hung between his lips and a flask of liquor lay in the grass next to him. Dyss would smell something odd by the time he was half-way up the hillside, though-- or, rather, it was what he wouldn't smell that would seem so off about the situation.

The flask was unopened. There was no smell of liquor, not on Recheov's clothes or in his breath. The man was completely sober.

Sober for the first time since he entered this world.



Dyss would experience another flash as he climbed the hill, though. This one was much different than the last one. It seemed . . . expedited. As if it happened all at once. As if the memory was his own and he was just becoming aware of it-- a strict impossibility, however, as Dyss seemed absent from this, too . . .

Lit in the same muted colors from before, two men stood at the top of the hill, overlooking the village of Hillcrest as the sun prepared to set. Dyss would recognize both men. One was the teenager from before. He appeared much less prepared for a journey, though. He sat, staring out into the village, contemplating. By his side stood an even more familiar man. This one, Dyss would be able to name.

Recheov.

He wore a tattered tarp over his body and stood with his arms folded over his chest. He was without cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol in their entirety.

"You know wot you gotta do now, kid," Recheov said. He seemed as downtrodden to say it as the boy was to hear it. "Illorex ain't comin' back. Means you only got one option 'ere, if she really matters to ya . . ."

The boy appeared to speak, but Dyss would be unable to comprehend what he was saying.

"Why?" Recheov asked, then shrugged his shoulders. "Inevitability, kid. It governs our loives 'til the day we die. oI got every reason to bash your skull in, but that just ain't wot oI do. Inevitably, oI 'elp your sorry ass out. Way oI figure it, we moight as well skip the fuckin' melodrama, an' get this show on the road . . ."



Though Recheov-- alone, sitting at the top of the hill --didn't seem to look back to Dyss, he called out to him with the utmost familiarity.

"Oi. Thought you got lost."

Dyss had an awful lot to be confused about. Recheov's soberness was not quite as disturbing as the realistic but improbably flash of memory... But close. Nothing seemed quite right... And there was, of course, the disturbing implication of Illorex' death, and Recheov helping someone he regretted helping...

"I'm lost!? Where the hell were you!? I trusted you to protect Izumi and Illorex, and you're here helping the Legionnaire!? What is wrong with you!? And where are they!?"

Dyss wasted no time in letting his anger be known. All the frustration he had felt upon seeing Recheov, and then Izumi with the Legionnaire expressed itself at once. Dyss still held the sword, across his arms in a non-threatening manner. Angry though he may be, he wasn't going to physically threaten his friend...

Recheov smirked.

"Ton'o questions there, bud," Recheov replied.

A ton of questions that Recheov didn't much feel like addressing all at once. Which was odd. On most days, he was all for this sort of thing. Any amount of chaos was the man's forte. Be it a bar-brawl or a slew of questions practically tossed around at random. He'd probably respond with a quip. A question. Maybe even an argument, simply for the hell of starting an argument. But here and now, the man seemed outright docile.

"Why don't y'try askin' one atta toime, huh?" He said as he looked away from Dyss again, "Startin' with the most important one, o'course."

"If you're going to act like this, don't call me 'Bud'."

Dyss was so angry, his voice came out as little more than a growl. Dyss was normally rather mild-tempered. He was more likely to become quiet and withdrawn than loudly angry. Simmering anger was more his style, but one he was less likely to use on his friends. Except in this case...

"Where are Izumi and Illorex? I know everything else I need to know."

Realistically, Dyss hadn't written off Recheov entirely, but for the moment, he had no interest in being toyed with. And if that meant losing a good friend... Well, he hadn't started it. Recheov had. Dyss wasn't going to attack Recheov physically, whatever it came to...

Recheov lips curled into a sad smile.

"Y'know," he paused at length, "Somehow, oI knew you were gonna say that."

He sighed and leaned forward. His whole casual demeanor fell apart at the seams. His sad smile curled back until he looked over Hillcrest with an expression of total indifference.

"Sorry," he shook his head, then, "Ain't got a clue where either went. Ain't seen Illorex since 'zumi an' oI lost 'im. Ain't seen 'zumi since she went off with Tou. oI take it you ain't seen 'im, either."

That, in part, was what got to him. Everything Dyss said seemed to tear away at a part of him, but none of that effect came from what Recheov's fellow Memory intentionally said. It was everything unintentional that pit Recheov with ill feelings.

"Why so int'rested in the humie, anyways?" That was a term Recheov used a lot. Humie. It was like some way of consciously distinguishing himself from human beings.

Dyss was of course not happy, especially since he had lost track of Izumi but seen Toushikyo... He'd lost valuable time. And Recheov... Was disappointing, for sure. He didn't seem to care that he'd discharged his responsibilities, no matter the situation with the Legionnaire. Dyss was perhaps incapable of explaining what this particular humie meant to him, but he was sure not going to explain himself right now to Recheov.

"Izumi. Her name is Izumi. And it doesn't really matter. If I cared about a used tissue, and you promised to look after it, I would have trusted you to do it! Instead, you didn't take care of Izumi or one of our own! Two people who would have taken care of you without a second thought!"

The situation was odd, of course. If Recheov was busting his ass to find them again, or doing whatever he could, it would be different. Dyss could respect his actions, then. Instead, he casually sat here and... Did nothing? Dyss wasn't really concerned.

"I'm going to catch up with her."

Dyss turned and walked away from Recheov without another word. He didn't care about Recheov's situation at the moment, nor did he want to make up with his friend, or even offer him a chance at penance. Unless Recheov had something compelling to do or say, that would be it...

Dyss's metaphor-- that of a used tissue --felt pretty accurate to Recheov, but not quite in the way that Dyss originally intended. He took it not as a metaphor for responsibility, but of humanity as a whole: nothin' more than used tissues. A human's uses didn't extend much further than an already used tissue, after all . . .



Recheov glanced over his shoulder. He watched the blue bird depart from the tree at the base of the hill. It flew away from Recheov and Dyss both-- and if Dyss paid close enough attention, it seemed to make its way back to the path between Hillcrest and Galaens, where it seemed to land next to and idle beside of a body that Dyss might not have previously noticed. It was one he'd have trouble recognizing from this distance, however.

Finally, Recheov stood up, but only half turned to Dyss, who was all but half-way down the hill by that point.

"Wot's so great 'bout that humie, anyway?" Recheov called out gruffly, "She's just as lousy an' temp'arary as the 'ole fuckin' bunch of 'em."

Dyss paused for just a second, listening to Recheov's parting statement. After all this, Recheov didn't even care in the slightest? Rather than apologize, offer even the slightest bit of useful advice, or just keeping his god damn mouth shut, he wanted to insult both Izumi and by extension, Dyss?

"Recheov... If you were really my friend, I would expect you to at least respect my wishes. If you're not going to even try to make this right..."

Dyss didn't finish his thoughts. He didn't want to argue or listen any more. Summoning forth what strength he could from his haggard body, he started to run. Dyss didn't know Toushikyo very well, but he did know he didn't want Izumi around him, and he wanted to catch up and get her away. Illorex would be the next focus of his attention, if Recheov could no longer be trusted. The pain of betrayal, at least, would be abated if he kept busy...

As Dyss reached the bottom of the hill, long since out of range to hear Recheov, Recheov looked away-- out into Hillcrest once more.

"Heh, well . . ." he frowned, "Circ'mstances changed, bud."

Recheov set upon the hill again and dangled his legs over the vertical drop. He seemed as disappointed right now as Dyss did--but for very different reasons.

Toushikyo stood just beyond Mayako's house. He'd long since ceased his idle glancing through the home's windows and started onward, instead. He was only part-way into the woods, and seemed to be searching for something-- but not in any extraordinarily interested way. It almost seemed like an idle fancy, something he didn't care about in the slightest. He'd neither love nor hate for it. It was just a means of passing the time.

This was common for Toushikyo-- excepting times he was given reason to hate. Only then did he ever seem passionate about anything in particular. He was remarkably overdressed for this moderate summer evening, donning a blue scarf and a thick winter coat.

Dyss didn't even look back at Recheov. He ran towards Toushikyo as quick as his worn-out body could manage, trying his best to not think or worry about what had just happened. Recheov was... Not himself. That had to be it. It was just unfortunate that this Recheov was so similar to the real one...

"Toushikyo! Where is Izumi?"

Dyss didn't really hope for a positive outcome. Toushikyo was unlikely to help him, even if he wasn't working against Dyss. However, Dyss held the sword in his hand, though still wrapped in cloth and laying across his other arm. Unlike Recheov, Dyss wasn't really afraid of hurting Toushikyo...

Dew had long since collected upon the thin grass. The small droplets of water froze at Toushikyo's feet, painting silver over green and leaving brittle stems behind. The weeds just past him could no longer remain tall, and the tall stalks leaned over in a state of near death.

Toushikyo stood with his back to Dyss, personally surveying the forest spread out before him. The brush piles and overgrowth that marked the tree-line weren't as plentiful on this edge of the village, making it an easy route into the forest--if one so wished to venture that far.

Dyss would feel Toushikyo's presence as he closed in on him. Even without the ability to perceive light as he did (and now with an extra "filter" of sorts), he'd know Toushikyo was near. It was like stepping from summer directly into winter. A distance of three feet meant a different of ten degrees of warmth sucked from the air. Were Dyss to perceive light in the same muted way that he had in the two visions before, he'd actually see his own breath. If Dyss stood within ten feet of Toushikyo, the cold would be utterly unbearable.

Toushikyo glanced back, but showed only his profile. He stared at Dyss from the corner of his eyes, but only temporarily. He looked away once more.

"I was told you'd be here," he remarked, "I was told you'd be searching for her."

The young man's voice was distant and cold, devoid of tone or even the slightest indication of feeling.

"But I'm yet to see how this validates the Legionnaire's prophecies," Toushikyo uttered aloud, "He could just as well have put you up to this himself. This proves nothing."

Dyss stayed a fair distance from Toushikyo, wary of the cold that surrounded him. The cold was irritating to Dyss, who was growing to majorly dislike almost anything that reminded him of Purgatory. Not to mention, his haggard body seemed especially sensitive to it at the moment...

"I don't give a damn about the Legionnaire, or his prophecies. Or what you want to do. Recheov was... I don't care. About any of it. I want Izumi, I want Milos, and if you know where he is, I want Illorex..."

Dyss wasn't a particularly threatening person. He had neither height nor bulk to back up his threats. However, he was serious by nature, and at the moment, he was even more serious than usual...