Sarette's Reve De Mort: And Other Stories Of Not Quite Magical Realism

Chapter 1

Kaira was making breakfast, and the girls were still asleep in their beds. For a moment, she paused when she was doing, asking her crow to keep an eye on the frying pan over the coal burning stove. It was a feeling she had ever since arriving here, something that remained even as she made herself get used to the fact that she would need to do one more job to take care of her charge. Better than being a thief, a runner that was at large. Or an alley cat in the streets, foraging. In her well worn boots.

But this house was different, as she never felt anything like it before. It was not the odd lighting, as she was used to doing most of her things in the darkness -- that never lit till she was done. It was something else about this house, but she could not quite put her finger on what it was.

Wondering if her best friend, the rat, was still sleeping -- she walked abruptly to the door of her bedroom. Their aunt peg had decided on letting her borrow that room, as many of the other rooms were full of stuff from the old marriage. She walked inside, and then closing the door. "So you mentioned that it was politics as usual, can you go into more details?" But the rat human hybrid animal thing was still sleeping, and for a moment there was no peeping from the large rodent that was the size of a small dog, snoring on her bed. And then he raised up his head, and then smiled. "Come on, it's time to get up." She picked up the rat by his tail. "Speak up, or I will throw you out back into the cold."

"The king has be replaced," the rat said, scurrying it's "legs ma'dam intermediary." And then she tossed the rodent back upon the bed. "Can you be a little bit more gentle, for my tail has started to become weaker from my old age." And then he propped himself up, "We think we might need your help."

"When I said I retired --" Kaira began to say, but was interrupted.

"Your have quite on us? But who else will we find?" the rat said, then reclined back onto the bed as if to fall back asleep as if it were somehow still night. "I'm not sure that we can find anyone else, the skeleton king son has implanted a special virus that makes it so the skeleton king can not even call for help. -- Your the only one that we know of that --"

"Let them solve their own problems." Kaira had quit the game of the Little Torie, ever sense she had that failed run -- just a week ago. The situation could not be helped, for she had over calculated the response. Let out and overzealous measure against the feed. Little Tories were a special sort of Clack, that had evolved from a different sort of code. One that could be mostly undetectable from it's original attack -- that was protected by a special binary force field. "I want to live my life as a normal woman."

"So what are you doing here, this isn't your habitat?"

"Believe it or not, that was my habitat before I met you guys little rat."

"Say, that's not a very nice thing to call me."

"Whatever, I need to finish breakfast."

"For whom m'lady?"

"Stop with the formalities, its for the girls." The rat was surprised this field of work would even appeal to her, after all, it was Kaira that to him seemed like the least likely person to even want to raise kids, let only take care of them for someone else -- but maybe he just got the wrong impression.

"So your a nanny now?"

"For one last time."

"What till Balec gets --"

"If you tell him, I'm crushing you under a ladder."

"Chillax please, it's a joke."

It was an hour later that breakfast was done, so Kaira walked into the room to wake the girls up. Walking into the room, the light flickered upon the window class that could be seen through the loose weave of the window curtains. And then she slowly raised them up, causing Fina and Nina to blink for just a short second, and then push themselves up from out of their sheets. "Once again, woken up early." Fina said, though her fairly invisible smile that she tried to hide indicated that she was glad that the night was over. "What's that wonderful smell in the kitchen Ms. Kaira?"

Chapter 2

While Bernina, Lucas, and Aunt Peg were out of town, Kaira took out her umbrella and flew her into the city to go visit her old boyfriend, who kept a fairly messy apartment flat -- it was a struggle to find a floor, because the walkway was completely covered in steam-powered circuit boards, and other devices that could use for building different types of analog computer with different processing speeds. Walking over through the pile of rubble, Kaira walked over to see him, but it was not for a hug or a kiss. A sensation that she would not miss. Instead it was a mere business visit. "I have heard that the skeleton king has been replaced, can you give me the scoop. I don't have all day." Balec was typing away at his analog computer, himself writing Little Tories. "Are you going to be at that all day? I guess it was a wasted visit."

"No wait," Balec turned around. "sorry I'm almost done, so are you this fine evening?" he said, with that sort of small talk friendliness leave me alone stare -- that sort of beneath the speech code language that would would only recognize if she had dated him for about a month. "The skeleton king is currently no longer on his thrown, he is instead replaced by his son. ... Let me take a moment to look up his name." Kaira was running out of patience, so she brushed him off. Then turned her back.

"I don't need to know his name, only to know if the rumor was true. You just can not trust my little friend the rat sometimes, even if he can be trusted at other times." The rat was relaxing, drinking himself one of the beers that Balec had let him borrow. At least the brew is good, the rat thought. Fina and Nina were standing up behind the analog computer pile by the old model that the current resident had tried to build. "So what is this pile of junk right here?" Fina asked, not really be very sure she wanted to know. She was eyeing it very carefully so as to make sure that it would not fall on top of her and Nina.

"Thats not a hunk of junk, that's chunk of funk." Balec said, confusing Kaira, the crow, the rat, and both of the two girls. "Or rather that latest model of my Ferstell 97." Fina turned around to Nina, and spun her finger around her ear, and her sister nodded her head in a yes motion.

"So what's it suppose to it, still sounds like a hunk of junk." the rat said.

"It's not a hunk of junk I tell you!, I can let up various location in a analog second!" he said, then began typing his Little Tories again. "Is that all you needed to know Kaira?" He turned around peering.

"To you that is Ms. Kaira, yes that will be all."

And then she flew the rat and the two girls with her umbrella, with the crow perched upon her shoulder. "Is there any reason why I should not be flying?" the crow said, while they were flying. Kaira gave him a cross look, and then he quickly shut himself up.

"We need to keep a low profile."

"A low profile?"

"Why yes, you don't remember the run?"

"Oh yes the run."

Kaira landed upon the porch, and not so much the porch. But rather the roof the porch, "You girls can jump down into the grass can you?" she said, closing up her umbrella. "Here watch me go!" And then she jumped down, and crouched down. "Now both of you, hop down into the grass -- and do your chores.

Fina looked at Nina. "But it's to high!" she said.

"So jump down, remembering to crouch."

"Excellent job Kaira, you got them stuck on the roof."

So they slept all night on the roof. Actually Kaira flew back up to the roof of the porch, and then grabbed ahold of them. And then flew them down, "One of these days, I gotta teach you how to jump from a roof." And then they walked inside, and because it was getting to late they had to do double the chores the next morning.

Actually it was Kaira that did most of it.

And then the next day arrived. The rat that was supposedly Kaira best friend, slept on the couch that night, while everyone else slept in their rooms. Figuring that the roof has to be more comforting than the floor, the rat climbed onto it through the hole in the wall. And then he slept more soundly, as the moon shined into his face.

"Rise and shine!" Kaira said to Fina, through the crack in the door. She then stomped her boot onto the floor. "It's time to get up. Fina you trim the hedge brushes I left behind for you to do. Nina, you just go read your picture book."

"Why does Nina get to read her picture book?"

"Because it takes a while for the shelves to get dusty again. And of course your way to old to be playing with wooden trains my dear." She then directed Fina into the kitchen, and they both shared the work of making French Toast. Fina had never learned how to make French Toast before, as Bernina never kept bread around. "Are you enjoying cooking, you should only cook what you enjoy cooking."

"I'm enjoying it, just never cooked with bread before." Actually when she visited her aunts before, she did actually have bread once. But that was a long time ago. "Nina, it's almost time for breakfast. By the way, what about the hedge brushes?"

"I have been forgetting to have you eat first." Kaira said.

And you just now figured that out, Fina did not like how her tummy grumbled while she was trying to trim the hedge brush in the pouring cold snow. "So what did that strange man mean by the skeleton King?" Fina asked.

"It does not matter, forget the whole thing."

Whatever, Fina thought.

#

It was a cold morning, a cloudy sky stormed.

Fina trimmed the branches from the tree, not being sure if it would even need to have its twigs removed. As they lived in an area where there were not many trees to be trimmed. Though it wasn't like they did not have other chores.

"Get out of the there," Fina said, dropping her scissors waiting for the rat to exit the jostling branches. "I know it was you who pretended to be a ghost last time." Although in truth she was not real real sure, as it had also been rather windy over the last three days. The rat like thing, that was a mixture of human and rat, jumped out of the tree, and then walked into the yard. The rat began to run off, as he had something he had been meaning to clear up. "Who was pretending?" he asked, and then he ran further reaching the road. Fina began to start running after the rat, to see what he was up to.

As the rat reached the side of the road, he kept running. Fina followed the rat until he reached closer to the entrance into the city. Meanwhile, Kaira was keeping an eye on Nina as she carefully dusted the shelves that needed to be cleaned. At this point, Fina had been running long enough for her to regret leaving home. But it was far to distant to turn back around. The rat turned around, "Hey, looked who followed me. ... What are you doing here? This place isn't for punks like you." The rat shrugged her off, and then walked along the city sidewalk. "Go back home."

"But home is so far away." Fina said, stomping her wooden soled boots through the snow. "And I want to see what you do when your not with Kaira." It was with this, that the rat paused it's clawing step. And then turned around.

"Buzz off kid, I have work to do."

So she tried to walked home, but found it to be a very long walk through the snow. The torrent of white fluff stormed overhead, making the walk unbearable -- and her walk shuffled in it's step. Until eventually she could move no further. The rat, who had recently finished his business trip with Mamolech, happened to be crossing by at the right moment. And then sniffed on her hair, "Hey kid, wake up."

"I thought you had work to do."

"You do lose track of time out here," the rat walked forward slow enough for Fina to catch up with it's clawing footstep. "in the middle of nowhere." But despite the reassurances he made that he would take her home, more because he did not want to upset his best friend Kaira, the eldest sister of Nina still was not listening to him. "So you do ever listen your mother?"

She walked forward slowly. "Mother went away, never came back." It was that expression on her face, that the rat recognized, from his own parents -- long ago. And then he stared into the torrent for a very long time, walking onwards.

"Let's get you home," the rat snapped his fingers. And then they arrived in the living room, "Hey Kaira, can we talk for a minute?" The rat was not sure whether she was home, and then he saw the door slowly open. It was that timing, that made him think -- she knew he was there. And then she walked into the living room, of Aunt Peg's house. "Did you know Fina left?"

"Did she go with you?" Kaira said.

"She followed me, I told her to buzz off." the rat said.

"And you did not make sure she got home?"

"I did after work, what about you?"

"I wasn't watching her."

"Really now." He snapped out.

"Fina, don't wander off like that again." And they both looked at each other fairly sheepishly, and if it were a situation where there was no clear fault. "It's getting cold inside, I'll find another chore for you to -- and then I'll make you and your sister hot cocoa." When she sat by the fire, with her hot cocoa -- Kaira looked at her in order to speak.

"Me and the rat, we have been friends."

"He's friendly enough."

"That's not what I mean."

"Then what do you mean?"

"We are business partners, he has business in the city." She sipped her own hot cocoa. "But you have no business following him." Nina was playing with her toy trains, and she was not listening to the conversation -- she was to lost entertaining herself by the warm fire. "Do you realize you could have froze to death out there? And I would have had to go find you." It was a struggle to retrain a teardrop.

Fina was not sure whether to believe it.

Kaira only ever assigned them chore.

For her it was the snores, of a lack of passion. And as she stared into her face, there was a darting gaze of drifting thoughts. "Promise me you won't do that again." Fine reclined in her seat, and then struggled to formulate the words for a second.

"I promise." And the words felt easier said, once they were away from her moving lips. Likes words floating on air. She then stared at Nina, he stared at Fina. "And what are you looking at little mutchkin?" The picture in Fina's eye, turned her into not just any mutchkin, but a large boulder sized green goblin mutchkin.

"At least she did not run off." Based on the events that transpired, Kaira was not looking forward to tonight's dance, of flicking lights on her pocket watch. Those games she would play, that simulated analog networks. It was time to get rid of her quirks. "So what do you want for dinner tonight?" she said, changing the subject.

"Just whatever."

"OK Whatever it is."

Chapter 3

Kaira flew down with the girls, with her pet crow perched on her shoulder. And then as a group, a carefully placed sidewalk landing. For despite the transgression that the maid felt for Fina running away, and thus ignoring her duty to trim the branches off of the tress, it was still her responsibility to make sure that she and her youngest sister would not be injured. Though if you asked her, she wasn't going to lie. There was something about Nina that she cared more about, despite her tendency to pout. Kaira kept the umbrella up until the reached upon a market place that was selling umbrellas. She directed them into the store, and then they picked out the colors that they wanted to protect from the snow.

Fina picked for herself a dark purple, and Nina picked for herself a dark green. Either of them probably wanted a matching colored dress, though due to their families financial situation, all they could afford was the dark grey, almost black rags that they wore day in day out. It was an expense simply to clean their dresses. As soon the girls picked their colors, as a group they walked up to the counter. Kaira took their umbrellas from them, and purchased them for the evening. As she was walking out with them, "Remember to put them up, though you may need to fly yourselves home."

After walking along the sidewalk, they then came upon a restaurant. It was dimly lit, and Kaira had not eaten here ever since the previous week. "I would advise you both to go in first, but this place gives me the creeps. Probably as much as it does you. Keep your umbrella's up, I'm going in first." And then she lowered her umbrella, and walked inside. The temperature was not significantly different from the cold outside, and she wanted if they had a wood burning stove inside. "Is anyone here?" Suddenly, a man that was about her height but slightly thinner, walked into the main part of the diner. "We don't have much, but are you going to leave those two our in the cold winter night?"

"Get a wood burning stove burning in here." She walked outside, told the girls to lower their umbrellas, that were already becoming lightly decorated by the snow, and gently directed them inside -- and then they sat at a table. "So what do you serve here?" Kaira said, not expecting much of an answer other than the typical I'll find you a menu.

"We have our special today, potato soup?" the waiter said.

"That sounds good thank you," she said to the waiter. Then looking at the girls, "and you two?" And then she waved her hand in order to speak a little bit faster, for she had to have them at home by about nine o'clock. As even if the girls were home schooled, it was good to have a steady schedule.

"Yea that will be fine." Fina said, wrinkling her nose. She hoped that the potatoes here, were better than the potatoes that her mother Bernina used to serve. On some level she knew that was no assurance, as the winter was long, the cold unbearable -- and in this sort of weather you never know when you were going to get a good potato to be eaten. Nina nodded as well, then placed her head on the wall.

"Try to eat as much as you can, but don't eat beyond the point that your full." Kaira said, and then looked out into the window lit by the old lamp streetlight. "Sorry I could not find a better place, but --" she was going to say, but was interrupted.

"You must be loaded to get to dine out."

"I'm not real loaded, though I guess I do have money." And it was at this moment, that she was taken back when she was also poor, and she had no money. It wasn't always she could eat out whenever she wanted to, though she was taken out of her thought -- by the waiter, in his white button up, serving the soup for the three of them that night.

"Anything else?"

"Water please."

"Yes ma'am."

They flew back to the cottage of their aunts. She directed the girls inside, and then went to go have a pot of water boiling for the coming night. "I want to read something." Fina said, as she was jelouse of the fact that Nina still had her picture book. She wanted her own book of fairy tales to take the night away, something to keep her mind off the lighting of the cottage -- that still made her feel uneasy.

"I can take you to buy a book tomorrow." Kaira said.

Fina and Nina were to tired to complain.

And the night became quieter when they slept. Until her best friend The Rat arrived, to give the young maid news about the progression of the events regarding the skeleton king and his son who had taken his thrown analogically. "Where is the skeleton king now?" she asked The Rat.

"He is being held captive by his sons minions."

"Did you manage to grab a map?"

"I guess I know the area enough I don't need one."

"But I might, I don't go everywhere."

"Are you sure this place doesn't have one?"

"Lazy good for nothing.:

"No I'm serious, be right back." He crawled through the hole in the wall, climbed up the stair case that he had carved for himself, and then arrived in his room. "I knew I had a good place for it." The Rat took the map from his wooden closet, and then climbed back out of the whole, careful so as not to rip the map -- and least not to much for her read.

"I guess I was wrong."

"I guess you were."

"Shut up you." And then settled for bed.

The night came without a peep, except for the rat.

He was reading his own book of fairy tales.

Chapter 4

The rat had wanted to get some fresh air, as it was becoming slightly stuffy in the crawlspace of which he made his home. So he decided to crawl out, while the others were still sleeping. He crawled through the hole into the living room, he made sure nobody was peeping. And then he walked through the window, that was let open during the night. He then walked along the windows ledge, and then hopped into the tree. Carefully he climbed down the branches, and went down into the grass below. It was a cold winter chill, that even the rat was shivering from the depths of it's chillness.

He walked along the road, until he reached the city entrance. Where the oil lamp lights were still lit, because some people still worked late during the night. It was not something that they were able to fight, it was simply as natural to them, as getting up early and going for work is to everybody else. Balec was actually one of the night owls, which was largely would caused his and Kaira's split. The rat came to visit him in his apartment, careful to watch out for any alley cats that crawled around during the night. It was as he crawled into the room, he saw that Balec was bound up. He was struggling to, because he had a cloth in his mouth. The rat chewed away carefully at the rope, and then took out the cloth gagger.

"Who did this to you Balec?" the rat said.

"It was them, they came for my analogy computer." Balec said.

"But don't they have a computer of their own?"

"There is always a use for used parts."

So the rat looked over on the floor, and noticed that even some of his used computer parts were missing. It was if they came solely for his stuff, not come there to also have a huff. To extract information from about things that make help them better build a defense against Little Torie viruses they have fought before, almost as if they already have someone defending them. Has their back. The rat had no reason to suspect Kaira of any ill, although he knew that there was a time she worked for both sides. She simply dismissed this as an ill informed choice when she was eighteen. Maybe this informs his distrust to this day.

"Do you know where they went?" The rat said.

"How should I know, and if they did they would probably kill me."

The rat had never seen Balec completely terrified before, it was almost as if the young man had seen some sort of ghost. Though he was not one to believe in the supernatural per say, he knew that the further underground you went, you may just find a special top secret organized crime ring -- that could take a ghost from the air. And then uploaded it's data-forms to a database. They called it a ghost track, though he had long suspected that they had other uses for them. But what exactly?

"I'm going to go out, and look for them." the rat said.

"Wait don't, they will kill you." Balec said.

"I haven't had a life, since my old mate died."

And then the rat was off. He walked along the sidewalk, trying to infer from places he had been to before over his life, where their head quarters might be. As he walked, he stumbled upon the voices of laughter. From the men that were studying some of the hardware that Balec was modifying. How did he know? Well it had the same name as his own computer model. Or least that is what he could remember. So the rat walked into the building, but things did not go according to plan.

One of the skeleton kings sons men, picked him up by his tail.

And the rat felt more vulnerable, than he had since.

But he did not want to remember anything from then. Meanwhile, it was beginning to become morning. Kaira was about to give the girls their chores after breakfast -- when she recieved a strange phone call. How did they manage to get the number Kaira thought, she certainly never gave it out to anybody. Then the thing that make be the cause came to her attention. Hey, I wonder where the rat is? She answered the phone, and then she heard a voice on the other end.

"Is this Kaira's residence?"

"How did you find the number?"

"Your rat friend carried a piece of paper."

She covered her hand, and thought carefully. Fina and Nine must know nothing about what was going in, and she did not want Bernina and their Aunt to find out about the fact that someone else had their number, because of one of her own stupid mistakes. "I need the rat back, can you forget the number?"

"Oh I'm afraid it's to late for that." Laughter on the other end. "If you want to see your rat friend again, you need to give in the certain demands we have -- meet us at the 'butcher shop'" The voice of the other man on the other end trailed off.

"I'm not sure what your wanting but."

"We don't want them, we want your hardware."

But what hardware might Kaira have?

Was it the pocket watch? "I will bring the pocket watch."

"Good girl, don't be late now." He hung up.

What am I going to do, I can't leave the girls here. And then she decided, she was going to try to find a way to possibly reschedule the meeting, in or out of the skeleton kings songs control. She needed to do this, for her jobs sake. And for a moment she wondered, why did I bother to take this care taking job in the first place?

Please my good rat, just a bit more time.

Chapter 5

Kaira was not sure what to do about her with her friend that rat, but Fina and Nina did not need to know that anything was going on. First she considered calling her old boyfriend Mamolech, and having him take care of the girls. Then decided that was probably not the best idea, after all he enjoys watching analog eighteen eighties movies. Of course little did she know, that the Grim Reaper's minions had taken his hardware to.

She also considered going ahead and calling back up, and asking if they could possibly meet sometime in the afternoon, so she could take the girls somewhere else -- while she solve her issue. She had a friend just down the road, who used to be a care taker herself. Though she wasn't sure whether she would end up blabbing on her. She knew that they were friends, but they had not talked to each other in about a month.

Kaira spoke to the crow. "What do you think I should do?" The crow that was perched on her shoulder, was eating the bird treat that she fed him earlier, and at first seemed to content to really care about what was going on. But then as soon as he finished it, he spoke up. "Do you still talk to that friend of yours?" The crow had only met the woman once before, though that wasn't exactly on the best of terms. She still would have rather taken care of a cat than a bird, and because of this Kaira wondered how many cat she owned.

"I think I'll go call her." Kaira said.

She walked over to the dial up phone, and then caller her friend Julienne -- a name that reminded her of a caretaker with a great big whip. But it was either take the care taker with the whip, or watch goofy analog movies. "Who is it?" Julienne answered on the other end, her blond hair pulled back into a pony tail with a red bandanna. She then quieted down her tools for a split second, to give the caller time to answer the them self. Though she was busy putting together her own special analog computer set.

"Hey it's Kaira." Kaira said.

"Oh! Long time no see, what's up?"

"Nothing much, UH can you do me a favor?"

"It's not regarding your failed run is it?"

"Of course not."

"Then what is it?"

"Can we meet for lunch today?"

"Well sure, I guess -- what's the occasion. And the time?"

"Can we meet at 12? I'll explain later."

"Sure thing." She hung up the phone. And said on the other end of the line, Stupid bitch, does not talk to me for a month. And then expects me to go out to her with her for lunch as if we were still best buddies." She then proceed to code her own special Little Tories.

"Alright crow, done deal."

"How did it go?"

"As well as you might expect."

"So what's going on?"

"Our best friend, that was has been captured."

"Your taking the girls right?"

"Well yes, that's why I'm meeting with Julienne."

"Sorry I asked."

So it was the next afternoon that decided to eat lunch, that they had a munch on a similar meal that Kaira and the girls ended up having the night before. Partially because Kaira was cheap. And of course her friend was cheap was well. "So you are basically telling me, that the Grim Reaper is wanting your pocket watch?" What kind of shit is this lady smoking? "What exactly did you pilfer this time?"

"I did not pilfer it! I just found it unattended." She then leaned forward, cleaning her pocket watch to keep it from having smudge all over it. "He wants to have his pocket watch back, but I may have discovered a passage to to the supernatural world." Kaira said.

Julienne smiled like she was especially curious about what she was smoking. "You better give it back Kaira. I don't want you or --" Julienne said. And then took the bite from the potato soup, placing it the spoon into her mouth.

"Oh trust me, they are not in any danger. I just need to last long enough to make sure I take care of them safely. None of them need to know about any of this." Kaira said.

"Kaira, they are right beside you." Julienne said.

"Did you mention demons!" Fina said.

"Can you two go play at the arcade?" Kaira said.

"Sure." Fina said.

"You do know how much trouble I could get in, with the skeleton king because I'm aiding someone who pilfered one of his things. ... I already have a drug history, and a hardware record to boot." She then finished her soup, "Make your mission quick, and take the kids off my hands as soon as you can."

"Thanks Julienne."

"Sure thing."

And then eventually Kaira reached the office building where the rat was being held for that part of the morning, that was a cold cold chilling breeze. "Come on Rat, be here." And then she walked into the building, and then paused her boot step to see -- that her pet rat was being held in a cage. "Hey well I guess it's better than having your nails ripped out." Kaira said.

"Not by much bitch." the rat said.

"Who goes there! Oh it's you Kaira, long time no see." There was a disembodied voice in the dark hallway. Eventually she heard boot steps that were becoming louder and louder. And there was, the Grim Reaper. The skeleton kings son. "So about that pocket watch you were going to give us." he said.

"I will give you my watch, if you release my BF first."

"Your a tricky little bitch aren't you?" He placed her hands tenderly and lovingly upon the iron metal barred cage, that held her best friend the rat. "How about we make a deal?" And then he got out a pair of electrocuting torture devices. Meanwhile at Julienne's place, the girls read a picture book.

Meanwhile at the butcher shop, "Do we have a deal Kaira." She then starting walking toward the rat, as if toe release the furry rodent creature herself. "Hold on a minute, any step closer and I'm going to electrocute you little rodent friend right here."

"Why are you wanting my pocket watch anyway?"

"When you stole that watch, we left a special part of the tech."

"That's how I can fly, I'm not going to give that up."

"Oh will you not Ms. Kaira." the Grim Reaper said.

"Kaira, just give it up. We can find a new one."

"Not this one."

"Kaira no, don't let me fry!"

The Grim Reaper was laying on the flying in a fetal position. Because he's never been kicked a whole lot harder than he has just now right in the nuts. We are the maid crew, we play with fire, we use electrocution, to fry up Grim Reaper Kaira thought. And then she took the device from the desk, and then not so gently fried him into he turned into a charcoal color. But his long spiky blond hair remained a nice pretty blond color.

"Come on Mr. Rat, let's go."

"Wait, we have hardware for sell."

Kaira looked at the familiar hardware.

"Sell it back to Balec, I'm going home." And then she looked at the slip of paper, took out her dagger. And then poked him in the neck. "Now tell me, where exactly are you keeping your father?" There was a look on her face, that indicated to him he should probably tell her -- he's in my office in the middle of the city, one of my servants can take you there."

"Good," She opened her portable analog phone. "Hey Balec, I'm hoping I can arrange a deal where I can have them ship your hardware to you."

"Don't be so eager to trust them Kaira." Balec said.

"Oh I know," she then hung up. And walked the way to Julienne's place, and then picked up the girls for the last part of the day. Thanked her friend, and left. "As for the two of you, it's getting late -- and we haven't even start chores yet."

Chapter 6

It was after the night had fallen, and the girls were bed and her pet crow sleeping in his cage, that she finally had time to think about herself. What the rat said was true, she was indeed the one least likely to want to raise kids, even if they were not her own. Though she still remained awake enough to make sure that there we no intruders, Kaira felt herself drifting. And remembered when her father worked for a licensing company, that he was hardly ever home. Always the one treated like the baby, this was what did her in. As she was never able to form a connection with her siblings daughters. An adult, yet a child. A particular sensation, a flavor that was a very mild -- it burnt down to her very core.

And then she dreamed of dreamful dreams. One of her first girlfriends was actually not Julienne, but someone who simply wanted her friends to call her Nora. She was the type that, if you were ever in trouble -- she would come to help, or that was what she thought at the time. Although the illusion was far different, it was a hallucination that was hard to break.

It was that moment after her first classes at the Uni, her soul began to break. She digressed, her soul a shake. Her family moved out of state the next week, nothing left for them here -- but hangers on for the old life. Nora did not tell her she had a month to live, did not tell her she was beginning to calcify. Her body was the pit, and began to malignafi.

And that was when she started dating boys, no farewell letter. Only the sound of the beating hooves of Pegasus, flying the morning sky.

Then she met Balec, who had long brown hair -- sort of looked like a male version. And his large blue eyes she could stare into, that was like that of an ocean sunset, an orange that could take you places. Then that did not work out, when he developed a hoarding problem. Began to work as a maid, after their break up. Got a book on British Goblins, and then never put the book down sense. She never has seen a fairy, always wanted to -- wanted to be a fairy.

But she didn't believe in fairies anymore.

The next morning she was making breakfast for the girls, and the girls had to do their daily chores. But today would be a little bit different. "Hey lets go outside together, I will go get my coats. And then each of us can take turns trimming the trees --" And then she interrupted herself with a thought, "Actually let's do something else, those branches probably don't need to be trimmed.

So they all took turns wiping down the shelf. And because there were doing the job, it was less likely to be as much of a chore. And Kaira was simply ready for the cleaning to be over. After they cleared off the shelf, Kaira read Nina her picture book. And this was one the last normal days that horse would have, while she worked for their Aunt as their care taker. As there was something going on within the mechanics of her pocket watch. And it would break wide open.

There was a phone call. She answered.

"You still haven't returned it," the voice said. "But I might be able to agree to a deal, if your wiling to put outside our differences for just a little while." The Grim Reaper was hesitant speak again, but was forced to respond by her question.

"Why should I trust you?" Kaira said.

"Because you don't know what can happen with that watch."

"What can happen with it?"

"Its best neither of us find out."

"And if I refuse?"

"That thing captured ghosts."

"Ghost you say," she said, walked into the restroom. And then stared into the mirror for a long time, in a way that indicated a loneliness sense her early university days. "What kind of ghosts can it capture Mr. Grim Reaper?" And then laughed defeatistly.

"Don't get any idea Kaira, it's very unstable."

"I will take my chances."

And then she hung up the phone. Interesting, I wonder if I could. But Kaira quickly tried to put the thought out of her mind, while getting ready to end her morning. "Alright girls, anyone want to help make breakfast?"

Meanwhile, at the Grim Reaper's "thrown."

"She has still refused to hand over our pocket watch, Namtello. Do you know what could happen if that device awakens?" The Grim Reaper made an expression, that indicated an emotion of fear for the first time.

"We don't know what would happen, if it activates."

"That thing is simply to dangerously to be allowed to remain active." And then the now reigning king looked at his father, whose mind was locked inside of an analog computer, his own life cycles lopping forever and ever till the end of time.

"If she has it, she could free your father."

"And that's exactly what I don't want." Namtello thought it was strange that the crime lord could say such a thing with a straight face. But at this point he simply came to realize, you know what that's just Grim.

"Your going to tell me what I need to know father, or I will shut down your uploaded brain forever and ever till the end of time." Grim snapped his fingers, viciously. "You will not be even merely a blip on a screen."

"Come on, I will let you have your thrown, if you let me free." the skeleton king said.

Grim's vision faded to black, while he relaxed.

"Just shut up old man, I lost my soul long ago."

"We all have a soul my son."

"Have you forgotten? I'm Grim."

"You say that, like you need reassurance."

"Alright, I'm shutting down your brain."

Chapter 7

It was the next morning that Kaira got up, the same as always as if to get the girls to do their chores for the early morning, before the sun rose high into the sky. So as not to scare them, she slowly opened the door and whispered to both of the girls. But it was loud enough for both of the girls to get up as quickly as they could in order to avoid a quick lecture from her. For although she was not the type to give lectures, it was always a certain fear that they had. A far that Fina and Nina had to resist. After they got dressed, Kaira turned around after finishing her tea. "This morning is going to be a little different," she then looked at her pocket watch, and then eye-balled it carefully. "We are going to go on a picnic."

They had arrived at the snowy ground, placing their cloth upon it so as to avoid getting wet. But as they tried to eat, their food had begun to freeze from the overbearing cold air, that somehow the multiple layers of clothing that they war did not prevent the chill. Kaira went ahead, and then opened her pocket watch. "So what are you up to Kaira?" Fina said, watching her carefully as she was pressing buttons into the miniature portable computer device on a chain. She then jumped back and rolled.

A wave form enveloped the picnic area, and they saw various floating images that they had never seen before. "Oop, sorry made the screen a little large. Let me shrink that. And then she lowered the resolution of the waveform, and then climbed on a nature environmental software she found -- but there were drawbacks that she had not foreseen. Both Fina and Nina saw two little girls there age. They wore peasant rags, and two little wooden shoes. And they had tender fluttering wings. "Hey sis, look who it is -- why it's a human child." She turned, and then smiled. And waved.

There was a certain feeling in the children that did not give Kaira a good feeling. Though for whatever reason they did not display any significant ill will to the girls. But one has to be careful not to trust just anybody, even if they were simply children. "Fina and Nina, we need to talk." Kaira pulled them to the side so the two simulated girls did not notice they had left -- or so it seemed at the time.

"So those girls don't give you any sort of creepy feeling?" Kaira said.

"Of course not Ms. Kaira, why would they."

But the young maid felt that her heart inexplicably race. But before she could do anything about the issue, one of the girls walked over, and hugged Fina tightly. "Hey! Hows it going! You must be Fina," the girl turned around, "and you must be Nina. Me and my sister Addie know all about you."

"Girls girls, it's tome to go now."

"Relax lady, we mean you no harm."

"Your not the one we are after."

"Right." And they warped out."

Kaira tried to turn off the device, but instead she inexplicably could not turn it off. So she just let the device remain on, figuring that it was merely a bug issue that could be fixed at a later date. But when they got back home, she found that she could not turn the pocket watch analog off. Instead it seemed to stay on forever and ever into the darkness of the night. And it was that night, that Fina had a dream. Yet how it actually a dream, if two people shared the same hallucination of the mind?

The girls were running through a flower garden, with the other fairy girls. And they were playing peacefully in the field. And then eventually the night came way to morning. The two girls Addie and Mina told Fina and Nina that they would be back in a minute, but the two girls never came back for the night. The two girls that were generated within the matrix of the pocket watch that never was turned off, traveled through the cities wire connections.

And then they clacked into the computer system of the hospital, scrolled through the database finding the specific man that they were looking for. The Grim Reaper had made it where Namtello was being barely kept alive in a life support valve. Well no more, because it was him who killed their parents. They wanted to dance and play with the breath, into the eternity of the sensation of death.

They blew up his heart.

They then went back into the dreams of the girls, and they reunited with their friends, even if the era of peace would only last for a short while. And then as the girls drifted further and further and further into the waking world, the dead had been done.

Kaira let the girls sleep until noon.

After chores, they went into the city. Kaira wanted to go shopping with the girls on one of the last days that she would take care of them. She wanted the moment to last with a good memory of her taking care of them. Then she purchased the girls some ice cream, and they enjoyed it very much. But even the girls could feel something was different.

Something had changed in the city.

A darkness that never left, since the broken pocket watch. Which enveloped the city of a northern darkness that still has not left.

They relied on the clock to tell the time.

But the analog clock began to run backwards.

And now they simply read the stars. But even with this, there was still a moment of peace. But this era of tranquility would not last.

Kaira could feel it in her bones.

She sang herself a lullaby:

Goodbye little children,

Floating in the sky at night,

Goodbye little children,

Drifting eternally into the night.

Chapter 8

It was the next morning, when Addie and Mina left their dream altogether. For they had become bored, and wanted something different to do. Mina asked her sister Addie when they were going to try to take revenge on mankind who wronged them, locked them in that cage -- that was made from something of the strongest casted bronze you'll ever see. And there they were locked away for all eternity, or rather for the last ten years. Because the Grim Reaper had killed their parents, and needed something to do with the little fairy children. Death assumed that when he sealed them in the pocket watch, they would simply just go away.

Addie and Mina had no physical bodies, and so they were not limited by the normal constraints of the mortal mind or body, being something sort of like an imprinted code. When they flew into the city, they infiltrated various electronics that the city had found crucial to their survival. The water was out, the plumbing with clogged, and many other things that would make life miserable for the coming month, as soon as they found a way to fix the computer that ran on code that would fix the analog issue.

Then on their next stop, both of the children went into the Grim Reaper office But they had no real time or inclination to get even with him -- though they could probably do so easily. But they decided upon something that was far more permanent. Grim had not wanted to set his father free, because he knew that as a ghost he could be captured -- manipulated, and used. So they uploaded them self into the computer that were containing him as a prisoner for all of this particular eternity.

Addie and Mina had different temperaments. Addie was fine with staying here as long as she possibly needed to, to convince the old man that it would be better for him if he escaped to the living world with them.

"You will enjoy it, I promise. You can leave this world behind." The offer itself sounded pleasant enough, though there was a certain inflection that made the skeleton king not completely trust them. For the skeleton king had also heard about the death of Namtello in the hospital, how they could not find a doner heart in the right among of time before he died. He wondered, what it would be liketo live without a heart.

"Why should I trust you won't explode my heart?"

"Because your dead my friend, just like us."

"Your don't have a heart." Mina said, and then manifested an apple in the world that had merged with the fairy tale realms, and the real diesel incorporated world of stink and fifth. "You loop like an imprint for all of eternity. And there is nothing left for you here."

"Give it some thought old man --" Addie said.

"Trust me, you will enjoy it."

Plus you can explode peoples hearts. But the skeleton king, despite his dissapointment in his son, was not the type to explode peoples hearts. Instead he thought simply an eternity (or life in prison) would suffice for that purpose. And besides, those chemicals. He's shot up enough drugs to build a resistance. "I will think on it, but tell me this, who has set you free?"

"It was your friend Kaira, sire king."

And it was with that, he came to realize the fragility of technology. And the fragility of the human heart and mind. He was the only one that Kaira had been willing to tell him, about how she had never been the same sence her first girlfriend Nora had died. "I will think on it."

And they moved on to other computer system in the city.

They then could read his thoughts, and knew what they must do.

"Oh Mr. Grim Reaper, I won't you to beat us up."

"We want you to show us the darkness in your heart."

But the Grim Reaper was more intellegent than to simply impulsively be open for an attack. But it did not matter at all for the young crime lord, for he hovered in the air by the invisible magic of Addie's palm. "It's been nice knowing you dude." And Addie killed him, made him fall leap. And his eyes were staring into infinity, and then he faded into nothingness ... for a time.

For now, the girls had won. But they forgot about ...

The pocket watch.

Kaira was about to get ready to have the girls do their chores for the day, when one of the Grim Reaper's minions had decided to call her. "Ms. Kaira, the skeleton king. And his son. They are both no longer with us." Kaira stared outside into the dark sky for a very long time.

"It's not like I feel empathy for Grim Reaper, but the skeleton king."

"There is now no more chance to find him, his mainstream is blown up."

"But who?" She stared into the city, hesitantly.

"By those fairy blond twins."

Kaira had nothing to say, but had a feeling.

So she took the girls into the city, carrying her pocket watch. And then she saw the many of the electronics had been destroyed. Yet her pocket watch had somehow survived the onslaught of the revenge against technology. "Where are you twins."

"We are right here Ms. Pocket Watch."

"Your have something that we want."

"Why do you want it."

The girls waved to them, but they ignored them. For young Addie and Mina the twins were lost in their own personal fury, and they had no real time for anything else. "Your mankind has sealed us." And then Mina reached out her hand, exposing her palm.

"No problem," Kaira was guessing as to whether it would work, but it was better than nothing. She threw it to the ground, "There, how about that." Then she saw that both of the twin girls were smiling.

"You have helped us?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"We simply wanted to destroy it."

And they faded, smiling in a garden.

Reuniting with their parents.

Two cops looked at the seen.

"I wonder what computer forensics person will find?"

"I guess we will just have to see."

"Hey this is Kaira." she walked over. "Those twins are gone now."

"What do you mean?" she said.

"They are free, no more analog problems."

Both of the cops smiled pleasantly, and walked off.

"I wonder if she's still doing drugs." one said.

"I heard that! And no sir."

"Good."

The next morning, Bernina, Lucas, and Aunt Peggy arrived at home. "Are you sure you don't want to hang out with us any longer? The girls seem to love you." Bernina said, and then hammered her cane on the ground.

"I appreciate the offer," Kaira, said still wondering why she had not had a chance to try to bring back her girlfriend Nora. But then realized, that the machine was a ghost capturing device, not an analog necromancer. "but I want to get into other work again."

"You had another job at one point?"

"Yea, for a very short amount of time."

"Well you welcome at our place at any time."

"I appreciate it."

At home she wanted to find another pocket watch. So she walked to the store, and then had a new walking fashion piece. While she could not fly, she felt free. Finally she could have another means to work again. But then later that night, when she was at home. The new pocket watch was activated.

And the fairy children re-imprinted themselves into her new pocket watch, looping forever and ever. Smiling in the flower field of the analog operating system. Running and playing. When she went to find work, she found she could fly.

Chapter 9

Balec had a hard time getting the buzz out of his head.

"How could she have done this to me," he said, as he was typing away at his keypad trying to remember what it was that made her leave. He had known her for about three months, and he knew there was something that had been bothering her, as she never seemed to care about his problems. It was always her problems. "I guess its no use worrying about it now." Balec had a hunch that he was just about on the winning click to get his computer back, when his dialing phone rang in the kitchen.

He walked to go pick it up.

"Yea who is it?" he said. First there was a heavy breathing on the other end -- like somebody had snorted some sort of powder and died -- yet the breath of which he heard gradually became louder and louder. "Is that you? I still haven't gotten my hardware back." The breathing on the other end, reduced to the sound of a hyaenas snicker that reverbated into his ear.

"Oh we will have it for you in an hour," the voice said, as it was blurred its speech back into a heaving heavy breath. "one of our connections -- because we had them, or least we did before the leader died -- is coming on his way." Balec had wanted the guy to promise this, as he did not want to take his spring gun, and go through the process over and over again. For the young man did not remember how many floors he had to walk through, just to get to the top. Even if the leader was dead, there was still the many many room.

Balec hung up the phone, did not like the man's tone. If he were here, he would take his phone, and get rid of that snarly tone permanently. How does that dial up phone taste, you son of a bitch thought Balec. He had begun to feel his own heart beating, in an angry movement. Like the moment of a beating drum, that steadily grew faster and faster until each individual beat was imperceptibly different from the other. As the young man, who was about twenty five, sat in his chair -- an old fake leather cushion, with an analog keypad to raise the seat -- he gradually breathed steadily, and felt himself dream. ... the moment was abruptly squelched.

"Delivery for Balec McNan." said the mail man, who knocked in a rhythm that made him feel uneasy -- and began to raise his heart rate up again. "Should I leave it here, or keep knocking?"

"Just leave it at the door, thanks." Balec did not know how many times he had to tell the guy to simply not knock the door like that, that repetitive movement made him want to take the mailman's head, and then make it go splat -- against the pavement. "Here, have a chocolate cookie mother fucker." he said under his breath. And then he walked to the door after the mail man left.

He opened the door, and got his delivery. Rather than going the simple route, calling a friend over even though he did not have many, he decided to take the more complicated route because at this point ... he was not sure whether he could trust anyone since the torture he went through a week ago. He could still feel the burn in his throat from the choke. "Won't happen to me again, not this bloke." And then he closed the door, and slowly put the analog computer back together -- loop by loop, nut by nut, making sure that everything fit together accordingly to the paper plan.

Balec looked closely, at the paper man checking to make sure that he had put all the right pieces together in the right order. "Alright good to -- wait a minute, where is my mouse?" He noticed that they had forgot the mouse for the analog computer. "God damn it, not that shit again. Well looks like I'll have to walk into those room after room after rooms again." he said, as if it were happening to the bloke again -- picturing himself running as fast as he could, trying to make sure that the guards would not catch back up with him.

"Maybe I will just buy a new mouse." he sad, looking at his shelf.

Then he noticed, he still had a spair.

They pulled out his hair, gave him a scare.

Yet forgot the mouse spairs. So he took the spair, made sure it still had the analog batteries. And then placed them carefully into the mouse. "Lets see what's going in the oil chamber." he said, moving his mouse across the green screen. At long last, this was the break. A chance to take his breath away, by finishing the game that he had started. He clicked. Clicked for old times sake, the chance to make something of himself. Since the time Kaira had decided to leave.

This is his weave.

It was about an hour later, he decided to go to the store. Because he had found an updated model for the other side of the line. He could have a toast by his new computer, take a glass and drink some wine -- while he browsed on the net, because there would be no need for an analog monitor. He walked along the sidewalk, looked at ladies passing by with his sunglasses. If it were a month earlier, he would have smiled. Instead the memory of his old woman he wanted to be his wife, made his expression have a very mild sorrow. Yet he tried to smile, in a indication a lack of interest as he walked inside.

The light buzzed in and out.

And then walked into the room in the back.

"You have that new model for me?" Balec said.

"Back here sonny." said the owner.

"Moldy oats!"

"Its back here."

Chapter 10

The young man heaved, then paused.

Balec entered into the back room, seeing his old friend who had been working tirelessly on the new model, maintaining it so that it does not have any major glitches in the system. And then the slightly older man, who had an early grey scalp, and a pair of eyes the color of aquamarine, turned around to face him -- as if to give him silent greeting with his lightly tinted sunglasses. He was kneeling on one boot, stabling himself with his right leg as he was fine tuning it. "Have you come for the new system? Its almost ready, I just need to put in a final tuning into the mainframe."

"Yea I'm here for it, hey that thing looks awesome." Balec said, walking closer up to it. But staying far enough away from it so as to make sure that it does not fall onto the floor. "So how long is the fine tuning going to take Hanson?" Then took a small cigarette, as if to smoke in the building. The fine tuning man turned around, sawing him take a light.

"If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if --"

"Fine, I have been trying to quite." But in truth he made not greater effort to do so, even since his break up with his old girlfriend. "So what is it about this device that makes it different?" he said, as he was waving the small fag to put the smoke out.

"This computer does not need a monitor." the shop owner said, carefully making sure he had the right words coming out of his mouth in a careful steady movement -- that sounded more like anabot than a human being. "But there are of course drawbacks, I'll go get you the paper to see if you think it would be worth it to you my good friend." Hanson walked into the back, and then got himself the papers his desk. That was lit by the glow from the window fragments covered in the thin curtains.

"What kind of drawbacks?" Balec said.

"Here are the papers."

The new model enabled you to plug in directly into your brain. The problem was, if you were to be on the analog net for to long, there was not assurance that you could go back. It was sort of like a out of body spaceship, there was no fine tuning of any computer, no cargo you had to carry. It was only the solitude of the drifting ocean sea. "So is there a reason I can't stay on for more than hour?" Balec said, as he placed it back on the desk. "Is there not a more stable system? Besides it would be useful to have as little hardware as possible, so to prevent me from losing my mouse again."

"It mentions its like a spiritual spaceship. But it is also something else -- for there is a rumor mill that solve have actually gone to another universe with it, and those who make it back. ... Well lets just say the food that we have here will never satisfy them. So they take the portal, go back, and never come back." Hanson smiled with his golden toothed grill. "So did you bring the money?"

"Yes, it's right here." Balec handed Hanson over a analog type card. A credit system so they don't have to use the cash system of the present government, that had increasing interest rates by the year. "So when will I be able to retrieve it?"

"Tonight if you think your ready."

"I've been ready my man."

"Just don't --"

"Stay on for more than an hour, got it. Moldy Oats!"

"Moldy Oats."

Balec arrived at home, plugged himself into the other side of the line. There was no feeling of malign, only the receding depths of the ocean-sea. Got himself on to the main screen, warped into a room that offered a massively multi-player mind fuck to play. "This is going to be fun." And then gradually he began to feel a little bit fussy, like his head was about to explode. And then there was a sudden black out. ... A few moments later, his vision eased back into normal. But he was somewhere else. It was a land of tall mushrooms forests, large forest creatures, and also two fairy like girls stared at him.

Both of the fare folk looked at them, and then at each other.

"It's a human." one said.

"Let's go tell the queen."

"Wait, you two. Where are you going?"

As he caught up with them, careful not to run into the mushrooms -- he felt himself becoming extremely light headed, more than usual than even when he was on the powder. And then he tried to walk into the village with him, a forcefield knocked him backwards -- and he flew into a mushroom stalk. The force of the blow is what knocked him out.

Pairs of blue eyes had a vague resemblance to the other sea, and for a moment the pain from his aching head began to fade away by the tinder winged woman's smile. If he were a mushroom, she would probably eat him in a salad, or so he hoped. And then he saw her wooden shoes, just like the other girls were wearing. "Why do you wear those things, does not the whole piece make your --" Balec said.

"Some places we walk, are unable to be passed by bare feet." the fairy woman said, her expression reminding him of a slight grimace of discomfort.

"I guess I haven't been there yet. Random encounters!" Balec said, smiling from his joke -- though wondering if the A.I. would get the reference. At least he assumed at first this was merely a realistic A.I simulation.

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind."

"Ahhhh!"

"What's wrong?"

"My head, it's my head."

"Your head."

"I can't breath."

Chapter 11

It was a cold and dark room, and his head was going zoom. Not from the shove into a flee,but for the plug in for glee. Burning head, melting brain. He felt like he was hardly able to breath, but relaxed when he saw his face in a sheath strapped on his face, to keep him alive. An existence derived from the air to breath. Sensation returning, melting disectiom. The queen entered the small room, that was a small abode, yet a comfortable room lit by a firefly lamp, a subtle glow that lit up the early morning.

"It sure is dark in here," Balec said, ss he was admiring his gift of bread. And then he saw rippling purple water in cacoon glass. Dipped his finger into it, and then placed it on his tongue.

"You should eat, for you must be hungry." the fairy queen said, and he appreciated the gesture, rubbing his tummy. But he wondered what would happen if he swallowed the egg and the bread. For he wanted good satisfaction, no turning head.

"So where did you come from human, the continent to the east?"

He had his answer, tried his best. "No I come from another universe."

"Ah so the eastern continent."

"Uh no," Balec said, shaking his head.

"I come from the west."

"But this is the west."

"That's not what I mean."

And then he ate his food, felt a satisfaction he never had before. But before he could finish it, had a snore.

"I'll save it for later."

When he got up out of the bed, he thank the fairy queen, asked her her name. "Not yet human, for you are not yet tame." He never been disobeyed, by same a dame.

"Oh my window is buzzing."

"What do you mean?"

"I will be right back."

"Then be right back."

He than walked outside of the cocoon like building, opened a window screen, and then got himself a pack of cigarettes to smoke. For her wanted to be a non agitated bloke, so he decided to splurge with a smoke. And then he pressed his button upon the window, and was greeted by the face of the shop owner.

"Did not I say not to stay on for more than an hour?"

"You don't want me to have fun, and be sour?"

"Refrain from the wit, you piece of shit."

"Is that a way to treat your --"

"Can it for now, thats for later. You need to exit this universe, do a force restart. Don't wait to long to exit, or don't blame me if you fart." And then the shop owner exited the call, and he closed up the window screen. And then he began to feel like his head was buzzing, and then the pain of fuzzing was beginning to make his level of alertness fade away into the depths of the ocean-sea. And then he decided it was time, to close out the game. For at that point he still that it was time to play. Not a real universe, a game to play. And so he had not clue of what was to come, many events to unfold that would make him glum.

He walked back into the cocoon, and asked if he could take the food for later. "Where are you going human, for we had not yet made you tame?" the fairy queen said, who he had not decided to simply refer to her as his dame in his mind. For she had been a way better dame than Kaira had been, many of times who has kicked him in the shin.

"I need to go back to my universe now?"

"But you need a ship." the fairy queen said.

"I'm don't, your not real. Or maybe I'm not real. I'm not sure at this point." And then he opened up the screen, and tried to float to the force restart button. But he found that it was hidden under multiple and multiples of rooms. "I only wish that you can come with me, but I shall be back for another game to play." But he could not find a button, to step onto.

And then he warped back.

"What magic is this?"

"It's not magic, it's computing."

"Computing?"

And then he snuck out during the night, letting her rest alone by the firefly light. He ran up to the gate of the pink caverns, seeing the mushroom forest ahead of him. But he could here voices in the caverns, "Human human, where are you going? We have not yet made you tame?" the familiar voices, where from the sound of fairy guards women. And then he tried to jump over the gate, "Your not going anywhere human."

And then he tripped them, knocked them out.

"Well that was easy, I need to email the game makers." And then he kneeled down, found what looked like a miniature cocoon key, and then he placed it into the slot of the door. Finally he warped into the mushroom forest. The guards woman he woken up, when they heard the queen see him walked away in the distance.

"Go retrieve them, or both your heads will be on pikes."

"Yes ma'am." both of the fairy guards women said in unison.

But as they warped out, both young women could not reach him. As he had already began to warp in a window screen that had mutated into a pink-ocean sea scape. They tried to run toward him. He warped out.

Both of the guards came back.

"So did you retrieve him?" Neither had an answer, the fairy queen swung her sword. One of the fairy woman guards head, fell to the floor. Blood spatter. "Go get him, or your next." And she chased after her with her sword.

"Word man, that fairy queen is the pits." Balec said.

He saw the blade flash, another guards woman head falls off. And then he relaxed, and enjoyed the show in an inactive mode. And he walked off, he saw the reflection in the fairy guard woman's eyes, before it eventually faded. A hint of life.

He unplugged to warp out.

Back in the fairy universe, "Get up, and pick up your heads."

"They got up, and placed their heads back on their bodies."

"What are you waiting for," she then placed her palm in the air, to act like sort of a necromancer for the fairies.

"I'm not going to let good guards die."

Chapter 12

When Balec warped back into his room, he felt mentally drained -- and his ankle was sprained. He rubbed his sprained ankle, and then reclined in his seat while waiting for the buzz to gradually go away; It was an almost indescribable feeling, though it could be compared to the skull buzzing, and the brain buzzing -- acting like diesel car around a track. He synapses were going zoom zoom zoom in overload. He walked to the kitchen to go have a beer, and then realized that he was out.

A knowledge that one was in no shape to go out was obtained, and so he simply tried to make do with what he could make himself do without drugs to make him fall asleep for the night. Balec remembered when Hanson said that those who venture to said realms, if they tried the food -- then no earhtly food could satisfy them any longer, though he wondered what would happen if he got some food out of the fridge. He grabbed himself some bread, and then munched on some of that, while having a glass of water to see if that would tide him over. His mind was still buzzing, and his hunger could not be filled.

So he tried to sleep, he had dreams. After being chased by guards from before, who had wanted to extract knowledge from him about where the pocket watch was that -- apparently -- his girlfriend had stolen from him on her failed run. Funny, he never really took her for being the type to do that. Balec simply took her as some sort of small town girl. He guessed not. But then his dreamed switch, over to the forest of the mushrooms. He developed a sort of graving for the fungus. though he was not quite sure why. Wondered what they tasted like.

The next morning, he walked into town. Arrived at the shop, and he was beginning to feel like his mind and body was melting. His vision was beginning to blue, and he was beginning to have hunger pains. He walked through the door, and was about to pass out when -- he saw Hanson look at him through the door, "Hey what's wrong with you buddy. Like I said, you should have not eaten the food -- or stayed there. Not what exactly am I going to do?" And then he caught him, as he began to fall. Balec's vision faded to black.

His vision was alerted, when he felt like he was being emersed in a liquid. Wondered if he was alive in the preservation tanks, use him for spare parts in the clinic -- his organs given to a lucky patient. But if there were the case, why was he still alive? Why am I being send here fully concious. Then he saw Hansons face staring at his own. "Oh good, your own alive. Your very lucky. Your body had began to deteriorate rapidly. You'll need another day to recover back to normal."

And then Hanson exited the room.

Balec was hungry for the fungus, wanted a mushroom. Somehow he knew that what he craved, could only be grown in the fairy universe, where many many many of them could be found. He will have to deal with his hunger pains for just a while longer.

Meanwhile in the fairy universe, the two guards-women had just placed their heads back on their necks, for they were once again decapitated because of the fairy queens temper. They warped into the city, treated as if they had reached some sort of sacred realm. They were worshiping the streets at peoples footsteps. Greeted peoples as if they were guards, and asked for directions on what they could find Balec. But there was only a few who knew him in any sort of way. Mostly in the old skeleton kings district.

Eventually they had a lucky guess, their fairy sense was tingling.

They saw Hanson through the door, and he let them inside.

"You two better be careful, after all -- we humans don't want your kind here," he said, as he walked fine tuning another computer model, that was of the same model that he had given Balec -- who was still in the recovering tanks. "well I mean the government does not." Offered to shake one of their hands, they didn't know what to do with his hand. "Then again I'm not really one to go by what the government wants." He then directed them to the back.

"Balec, you have visitors." Hanson said.

"There he is." Haina said.

"Yes, there there he is. We would like to take him home." Kaidra said.

"I'm sorry, but his home is here. Though did he by any chance."

"Hey you remember his reaction to the food Haina?" Kaidra said.

"Yea, loved it did not he?" Haina said.

"I thought so." Hanson said, as he was eye balling them very carefully to make sure that both of the girls were not doing anything stupid that they might regret.

One said to the other in a whisper, "Lets not die here, the queen can't bring us back here."

"I suppose we can try, though might be out of our control."

This caused Hanson to snicker a little bit. "You ladies are going to have to modernize a little bit by the way, if your going to want to live here until your queen gets here. ... If of course she ever does."

She would not abandon us like that Haina thought.

I really really hope this was not a suicide mission, Kaidra thought.

"How much for his release?" Haina said, as she was looking over at Kaidra very carefully to make sure that she remained as calm as she could be.

"Have you lost your --" Kaidra said, interrupted

"We have our ways of forming deals."

Then Hanson began to see Balec's hand move slightly. At that very moment, Hanson was humming to himself in his brain:

Oh there once a fungus stalk,

Oh how I crave the flavor of the chalk,

Chalk was flavorful stalk,

Chapter 13

Haina arranged a deal with Hanson, at Kaidra's behest. It was the first time, that their queen had abandoned anybody of note. They were not used to writing letter, or any sort of exchange besides fairy telepathy. In their world, nobody -- except the queen -- wrote. This was something the both took note, as they were giving their services to Hanson, in exchange for Balec -- who was just about able to pop open the lid of the recovery tank that had kept him alive for so long. So long fair queen, even though you cut out heads off, we never thought you were very mean.

At that moment, they gave up.

Gave up their telepathy, they could not reach others thought.

Instead they layed down and dead a mental death, a moment that made the white matter grim reaper take his breath, an entity that had never died even after the human worlds Grim Reaper had had his heart blown up by one of their own. Haina had not seen Addie and Mina for solong, wondered how they had been. Knew that they had only been part of the spirit world for so long. She wanted to be with them, felt like she was their sister -- even though they had only met once.

"It's time Haina." Hanson said.

She could only groan. "For what Hanson?"

"To see your new man, he is out of the tank."

Haina directed her and her younger sister into the room. And there they saw, a man that was part human and part fairy spirit. He had the wings and corpereality of the flesh, yet he had a certain solid sort of like to him. Causeing her to wonder if he could go through walls. They were unable to escape despite this, because even if they could go through walls -- they could not establish a mental connection, with the other side. Where their loving queen lives. "Are you ready to come out Balec?"

He stepped out of the tank.

Out of the tank he stank.

The green fluid poured of the tan. And then he looked over the guard women. "Haven't I seen you two before? Yet I don't remember learning either of your names." Balec said, as he was taking a breath of fresh air for the first time in days. "How is the queen?"

"Me nor Kaidra know."

"I'm craving a mushroom."

"But this is the human world."

"Lets go get some mushrooms."

So him and the guards-woman walked to Balec's place. And then they arrived at the door, where Balec directed them to the couch. "Go ahead and relax, I'll establish a connection. ... Wait, how are you two going to go back home?" Balec thought, that made him very distraught. "I may need to get you guys a surgery so you can plug yourself in to the other side of the line."

Both of the fairy women looked at each other.

Then looked at him with confusion.

He plugged in, and hummed:

Oh there was once was a fungus stalk.

Oh how I crave the flavor of the chalk.

Chalk was a flavorful stalk.

And then he plugged in -- was not sure when he was going to get the two women the surgery they needed, to see their queen again. But also knew that for whatever reason the queen had wanted him badly enough, and he was curious about what she might want to see him again. Part of him was cynical, maybe that kept humans as slaves. Kept them as slaves to build their coccoons, however it is they build those. They must use some sort of bee-sheep.

Balec arrived, used the clearance he borrowed from the two guards-woman, for at the moment they did not need it. And he he arrived back at the fairy world, where he was walked by the queen and her welcoming party. "And just where exactly have you been?" But Balec did not have an answer to give her, other than ...

"Do you have mushrooms?"

"Yes, we certainly have mushrooms."

"Give me some mushrooms."

"But you will need to work."

"For how long, your fairy guards women --"

"They can fend for themselves. You ... nice chest."

Meanwhile, back outside of the new model computer. Kaidra and Haina were back at Hanson's place, for they had wanted to thank him for fulfilling his promise to them. But as soon as they had walked out, they were chased by diesel-powered analog robots. And then they were hand cuffed with anti-spirit restrainers, so they could be taken to a laboratory to have studied done upon them. To see what the non-physical other-verse were made out of.

On the other side of the city, Kaira had been taking care of charge every since she has been allowed a permanent resident by Bernina, so she could essentially become like Fina and Nina's mother. Along with the regular chores, that she had been having them do -- she has also allowed them to play with their fairy friends. Things were different now for fairies, so she said they could not tell any of their friends they were playing with them. The fare folk were viewed as a threat ever sense Addie and Mina had attacked the hospital, even though technically speaking nobody that was really innocent was murdered.

Still, she felt funny about letting the girls play with them.

"Just a few more minutes in the garden, then I'm taking it back. Besides don't you have homework you need to be doing?" Kaira said. Both Lucas and Bernina had found late night jobs, and so it was left to her to make sure they had their school work done.

"We only have a few more problems."

"I'm not sure why she has make sure you do it." Kaira said, looking longingly at the stars, wondering what it would be like to be one of them. "It's been years since I have done any sort of algebraic notations."

"I'm doing multiplication." Nina said.

"I guess I could help with that."

"Awesome, how so?"

"How many rats does it take to settle a foundation?"

"I don't know, how many?"

"One times how many holes he's bitten through."

"How many holes has he bitten through?"

"Lets solve for twenty seven."

It was later that night, that Kaira went to bed. The rat had come back from a meeting he was having in the city, he had also come in contact with Hanson. Who has told them that their friend Balec has gone missing.

"So do they knew where he is?" Kaira said.

"Thats why they call it missing." the rat said.

"I mean is he dead?"

"You ask like you still care about him."

"Shut up, and go to sleep."

Chapter 14

The young maid, now a member of the family, asked Bernina to take care of the two girls while she walked into the city to go investigate the situation that the rat had told her about the night before.

When Kaira arrived at the shop, where Balec was last seen she talked to Hanson about where he might be. As even if they were no longer dating, there was still that sort of attachment that she had to him. Maybe that was part of why she was concerned where he had gone. "Have you seen Balec," she said, as she was walking through the door being illuminated by the light, that was buzzing in, out, in, and out. "I haven't even received a call from him over the last day."

"He has has re-jacked into the matrix," Hanson said, as he was tuning up another computer of a similar model that Balec had plugged his brain into. "He had gone back to that other universe, because had found that human food did not satisfy him." Hanson was not sure whether Kaira would believe what he was saying, as they had only known each other briefly before the failed run.

"Is there anyway you know of, of how to get him back." She then walked closer to the computer, studying to see what it was that he was working on. "And what is this other universe that your talking about?" Kaira had not yet been introduced to the new computer model, in fact she had largely chosen to be offline -- because she was still concerned about whether her presence would be tracked online, for she had not yet found out about other social networks that could give her more privacy.

"I had introduced Balec to a monitor less system."

"A monitor less system? How does the computer display?"

"There is a plug in, that plugs directly into your brain." Hanson said. For a moment Kaira pictured in her brain how this might work, but decided she would ask for a demonstration instead. "How exactly would that work, you plug it in your ear?" She struggled to restrain a snicker, picturing Hanson plug the device into his ear. And then watching him be electrocuted.

Hanson tilted his head forward.

And then she saw the small hole that would fit one of the trodes. "This is the new current model system, a bio-machine connection model to the other analog system." And then he lifted his head back to where it was. "And so if you got yourself one of these, you would be able to go for a sort of ... out of body spaceship joy ride. Experience the oasis system like you never have before."

"How do you get one of them?" Kaira said.

"Well you need to have money for surgery," Hanson said, as he went back to tuning the new model. "And also because it's not exactly Health Jolly Ding approved, you will probably need to have it done by an underground clinic, a body shop. How resistant are you to pain?"

And then she walked backwards, not only for what he pain could be. But also what her old boyfriend must have experienced. "Is it going to hurt a lot, if I decide and go ahead to have the surgery? I'd really like to see him again."

"Then you will have to take the pain."

Kaira was laying down upon the hospital bed, while Bernina was taking care of the two girls in her absence. For she had decided to go ahead and give her a break for the day, as she had been taking care of the two for the last week since the incident in the city. She could here voices, but the room was only illuminated by the glow of a small light by the surgeons table. "We can give you whiskey if you want, but you will have to take a little bit of pain.

After the sounds of drills, the event was over sooner than she expected. And then she head a slight head ache while she waited on the bed. The head ache was a pain that was not so painful she could not pay attention to Bernina, walking into the room. "What kind of shit did you just get yourself into?" Bernina said, seemingly not caring whether Kaira was actually one of her daughters or not.

"I got myself a jack-in, I have a job I need to do again."

"Your job is to take care of these girls?"

"What makes you think I can't do that too?"

"And what's this job?"

"One of my friends went missing."

"Ma'am we would like you to let our patient rest."

"Yes sorry, I will be leaving." Bernina walked through the door, then closed it behind her. And then she said to the girls outside. "We need to go? Our little Maid ... needs her rest I guess." She then slammed her cane onto the floor.

And they hopped to it.

After the two days of rest, she was back in working order. Got herself her pocket watch back, and then put her regular clothes back. She then picked up her umbrella to leave, forgetting to finish her breakfast at the clinic. She walked to Balec's apartment, and picked the lock. And then walked inside, seeing Balec resting in his push button chair. Looking further at him, she noticed that he had been zonked out.

"Whatever did you in, really put you out."

She pulled the couch forward, and put the jack in her own jack in. And then reclined, and she dreamed. Kaira had to get used to a new operating system, as she had not even been using the standard mouse to monitor system. A pass code screen hovered along the shore, and so she took a moment to get used to the system. And then used her problem solving solutions to roughly guess what the pass code may have been.

She then saw rooms, for the first time.

Was distracted by Addie and Nina, they had a message for her. But Kaira did not have time at the moment to respond to it. And then her head was buzzing, similarly to how Balec buzzed once before. Then she blacked out.

And woke up, in a mushroom forest.

Chapter 15

Kaira warped into the mushroom forest, expecting to arrive in an operating system of sorts. Instead she find her physical person in an actual location, and wondered if what Hanson said was right. It took her a minute to adjust, for the air was vile -- and burned in her lungs. She then walked through the forest, until she saw two fairy girls. Both of them looked similarly like Addie and Mina, though they were not Addie or Mina. For those girls were playing within her pocket watch. These girls were a little bit taller. "You have someone that we want," the fairy girl said to Kaira. "you have trapped them, and we want them back."

"I'll give you what you want," Kaira was, making her presence known and walking forward slowly. "when you give me what I want. I want to see Balec -- where is he." And this caused both of the fairy women to fly off quickly. Kaira ran after the two girls, prompting Addie to speak.

"Don't worry about it," Addie saw, warping into the operating system of the pocket watch, that Kaira was still carrying around at the time. "both me and Mina know you mean us no harm." Her voice was faint, but present within the network.

"But do they knew, I want this to go as smoothly as possible." Kaira exited the chat abruptly, and then ran as far as she could. Until eventually she arrived to the opening at the cave. She looked inside, and saw a small settlement. But when she touched the screen, it pushed her back. But Addie and Mina kept her from flying into a mushroom stalk.

Addie appeared as a hologram within the network.

She turned around briefly, and then got out small artifact. Placed it through the slot on the sidewalk of the entrance of the cave, "There we should be able to go inside now," Addie said, eyeballing Kaira carefully. "We need to be on our guard, I will try to convince the queen." Kaira wondered for a moment why dead people needed to have queens. Then put the thought out of her mind. They walked down through the cave, and then were greeted by two guards-women.

"Are you here for --"

"Where is Balec."

"So that's his name."

"Just show me where he is."

Addie opened the chat, "Relax, we have this covered.

"Oh I see Kaira, you may proceed."

"What did you do" Kaira said in a whisper."

"Will tell you later."

The group arrived in a small room, where the Queen greeted her at a table. "Sit sit human, I here you want to meet with my servant." the fairy queen said, sharping her small single handed sword. "Can I not meet with you myself, why with such a lowly being such as him." And then placed the sword on the table.

"You were wanting to know where Addie and Mina are?" Kaira took out her pocket watch, and spoke through the mike. "What exactly are you wanting to do?" Kaira said to the face upon the chat screen.

"Let me speak with the queen." Mina warped out.

"Where is Addie," Kaira said, with her hand in he face as she sat at the table. She was not sure how they planned to handle the situation.

"Sleeping in the flowers." Addie said, turning to face the queen.

"Where have you been?" the queen said, staring irritably.

"Having fun in living world land."

"You were there way to long."

"We had things to do."

The queen was about to slap Addie, but instead was restrained by Kaira. "Now then, now that you have the girls -- do you mind telling me where Balec is?" The queen forcefully removed herself from her grip.

"You may seem him, but he may not want to see you." the queen said, resisting a snarly laughter.

"What do you mean?"

"Balec -- so that's your name -- take them away."

He walked through the door. "Yes M'lady." What has she done to you man, your not the Balec that I know of. He was staring at Addie and Kaira, "Oh is this one of your new charge your taking care of?"

"Back to work Balec."

The guards took them into a cell, then had all three of them bound in chains. The queens walked into the cell, the only light coming from the door. "You two, I expected you to know better. For you, wrong place at the wrong time -- eh?" The guards came into the wrong, with a device that Kaira did not understand the workings of.

"Now will you please tell me what you were up to."

Kaira wondered if this was some sort of CP tool.

No matter what, she couldn't give in.

But she had a plan. "Queen, don't you hate humans anyway?" She did not know this for sure, but this was something she wanted to run with. "Wouldn't you love to actually destroy the human race? I know what they were up to, but you will have to let me out. I can lovingly extract the information from them."

"Why do you think I'd trust you?"

"Because you hate humans."

"Kaira no, don't --"

"Quiet, I have a plan."

"What's that?"

"They killed a human."

"Oh really!? That is all? Alright let's go."

The fairy let Kaira out of the chains, but this was her mistake. Instead Kaira used the pocket watch, to show Balec a taste of the real world again -- remind him of where he came from. Balec came to his senses, throttled the queen by the throat. And then Balec broke Addie and Mina out of the chains.

They warped back to the real world.

"Sure you don't want to go back there?" Kaira asked.

"Why do you think we would?"

"She's your mom like figure."

Addie looked at Mina, then both stared at Kaira.

"Just because we look thirteen," Mina said, placing her palm over her head expressing a touch of irritation. "does not me we are." And then she took it off her face. "So where are the girls?" she said, noticing they were gone.

"Bernina is taking care of them for the day."

"Can we go play with them!"

"Uhuh right, not thirteen."

"Shut up." Addie said, but sensed something. "We need to manifest just a bit longer, I'm sensing someone of our own here." Kaira was not quite sure what she meant, and decided not to question it. Kaira got back to Bernina's place, and greeted the girls that next evening.

"Did you take care of everything you needed to?" Bernina said.

"Yea, I just to go rescue a friend." Kaira said.

"Yep, I have had to do that a bunch."