Aetius may be a skulking, thin, beady-eyed, bird-nosed man, and Jaeger's muscles twitch a little, but this doesn't stop him from questioning the leader of the SHO's intentions. He gulps back a lump in his throat.

"And what do you mean by that?"

Aetius carefully paces around him, every stride taken with intent. "Oh, a smart boy like you. I think you know what I mean." Jaeger's eyes divert away from his face and he shifts on his feet, twiddling his thumbs further and further.

"You already kill for a living. What's so different about this girl, eh? She's someone you love, yet all the akuma you have killed…well, they were once innocent cheya, you know. How do you think they came about? Did they just magically erupt into the Underworld with every intention of wreaking havoc?" He backs away from Aetius, and feels like he's been punched in the stomach. The akuma are still cheya after all, even if they are cheya who have been consumed by Darkness, and he has killed a few in his career as an assassin.

"So, this girl should be no different," he says. He steps towards Jaeger and forces his chin up with his index finger. "She is no cheya, she is no akuma, but her existence is still an abomination." He instantly flicks his head back and jerks away from Aetius. He does not like physical touch.

"Because you hate mixed breeds," he says.

"No. Because of the blood she carries – it isn't just any old cheya or human blood. She also has magic in her blood, and I would advise you not to forget that." Jaeger frowns at him.

"You know who this woman is?" he continues, fishing out a small photograph and holding it out for Jaeger to see.

"Uh, yeah," he replies, casually fiddling with the earrings on his left ear. "It's Freya."

"Fae Lesauvage," Aetius says. "We wouldn't usually have cared for someone like her, but she was of human descent. A human with mixed ancestry. A witch who could transform into a wolf. She died because of her. And she was killed, there's no denying that. And it's her fault. Do you know who killed her?" He shakes his head, frowning.

"Adolphus Hellock," Aetius hisses the name like it's pure poison, the spit spraying from his lips, causing Jaeger to grimace and crinkle up his nose. "An akuma who is near impossible to annihilate and whose whereabouts are unknown as no one can trace him, who an inexperienced assassin like you could never hope to kill. You'd better realise that."

"She ain't a threat," he snaps, the spit almost spraying from his lips. "She's just a normal teenager, just like I am, just like a lot of us in the SHO are." Aetius turns his back on him, slipping the photo back into his pocket, walking away briefly before abruptly spinning back around, whirling towards the wide-eyed boy and gripping him by the shoulders with such potent fury that it is impossible for Jaeger to break free. His thumbs twiddle by his sides, the hairs on his skin prickle and his heart thunders in his chest.

"Well let me tell you something," Aetius says through gritted teeth. "If you do not carry out the task I have set you, I will place a large sum on your head so prodigious that no other assassin or hunter in this world would hesitate to plunge a knife in you, bludgeon you with a hammer, impale you with a lance or splatter you with a bullet. You know the reasons she must be killed, so stop acting like you do not. It is either her life or yours." Aetius roughly let's go of him and he rubs his shoulders, staring after Aetius and taking a few deep breathes to calm himself as the pompous man marches back up to what he likes to call his 'throne' in the overly large, round room with golden walls and a white marble floor. He doesn't like him. He does not like him at all. He reminds him of his father, and Jaeger is glad to be away from that man.

While Aetius's back is turned, Jaeger's eyes dart towards a left-over chocolate in one of the dishes ontop of a pillar. With a devilish smirk he quickly creeps towards it and pockets it into his jacket.

Gotta do what you have to do to survive, he reassures himself, as the door to the room automatically lifts up for him to go through.

"Jaeger! Did you get in trouble with Aetius?" Harper says, looking at him while nibbling her lip. He barely glances at her, but throws her the chocolate without looking at her. He doesn't actually like chocolate himself, but knows it would piss him off. Aetius likes chocolate, after all. But then again, Aetius likes anything that benefits him.

"Jaeger, did you-" He spins around and presses a finger to his lips, his eyes narrowed in warning at her.

"Seriously, it's none of your business," he says, marching on. Harper begins to run after him, but Emily Carruthers – the somewhat plain, mousy-haired and heavily-armoured girl – gently places a hand on her shoulder.

"Listen, just give him a break. He needs time on his own, so we shouldn't pester him. Besides, you know he'll come around eventually." Jaeger glances at them for a split second, his eyes dull, before marching on. He can't drag them into this; it wouldn't be right, and he would be putting their lives in danger. Besides, he doesn't need anyone else but himself.

"Just me and you against the world, ain't that right, Sadie?" he says as he unties her leash from the pole he had left her at. Sadie yelps and hovers close to her master's heels.

"We're out of here, girl. I don't abide by what people say," he says. "I have to find my own path, stay down, and be independent. You can't trust anyone in this world. Look at them all." His eyes dart around multiple people as they pass him, some with dogs like rottweilers, bulldogs and even mastiffs. Lots of them snap and snarl at Sadie, who shies away from them. She's the odd one out among the other dogs. She's only part dog after all.

"They will kill you if you betray the SHO. They will easily turn on each other if one of them had a bounty placed on their head for defiance," he says, and laughs. "Let them." Sadie whimpers and trots closely by his side as the two stroll out of the building.

"Let them get me. Of course they'll have to find me first," he says, glancing back at the building with a crafty smirk, and he holds his arms out wide before getting the Hellrider back home, his legs somewhat wobbling beneath him.

Now, he'll have to formulate a plan. He knows who's after Poppy, but just who will pay him to kill him – after all, Jaeger will still need to bring in an income, and he doesn't want to lose his decent wages. Furthermore, can he really evade those who will try to get him?

Still, he will carry on his parents' work before they came crumbling down. After all, he was born to be an assassin, and an assassin he will be.

•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸

Poppy

Poppy sifts through her things, thinking about some of the things that Jaeger said. She squeezes her eyes shut tight at how he outright called her selfish, and how he yelled at her like he did.

You know it's true though, a voice in her head tells her. She shakes it off and, as she is packing, comes across an old fairy tale mum read her as a child, and instantly recoils from it. It was Snow White, something that they don't have here.

"Mum," she says out loud, her eyelashes dampening. "How can they lie to children? How can they reassure them that life will be perfect? Look what's happened." With newfound strength, she roughly seizes hold of the abhorrent piece of work and tears it to shreds, letting them flutter all around her on the carpet. She's finished packing now. She has everything she needs.

People fear it, she recounts Jaeger's words from his visit. Loneliness. He was talking about loneliness. And it's true. No matter how much Poppy's snide comments and fiery nature attempt to belie it. And it's just like how cheya and humans fear each other. It can either lead to bravery to try and understand one another, or to hatred.

And it's going to hatred, Poppy tells herself. Like I don't hate anyone. She can't talk.

Jaeger had the strength to speak pretty much most people's thoughts. And it's the truth. Poppy has always known him for an honest person – Jaeger doesn't dress anything up, so to speak. Unlike her, the lying toad.

Grabbing her broken jewellery box, She drags herself downstairs, thinking to herself, what the hell's gunna happen now? I'll never see Jaeger again, or dad, or Blaez….

She tries to think about what she truly wants, what she wants more than anything in the world. She knows what she doesn't want. She doesn't want to be shoved off to a new place where she will the outsider at some new crummy school which she won't even like, and she doesn't want to leave her family behind to die. She'll be apart from Blaez and dad, and she might never see them again once this war is over.

Part of her wants to run away, somewhere close by where she can out of dad's clutches and power and gain that independence she so desperately desires, yet at the same time to be close to him to ensure his survival, and to be the mother that Blaez deserves. It's like the other night with Logan: she wanted to have sex with him, and, kind of did, but didn't because she was too depressed and preoccupied with thoughts of the war, her mum, her family and their survival at the same time. And now she's done it with a boy she might never see again, hell, he might even end up dead. Will she regret it? Doesn't she regret it already?

She thrusts the jewellery box to dad in the living room. The fireplace is lit, causing plumes of smoke to waft around the room. The floor is wooden with just one rug partially covering it. Houses aren't like ones back in the Earth realm; rather they are wilder, more exotic, and more eco-friendly. While they have electricity – the part of Kaniy where they are in is occupied by humans who built these houses – dad made their home so that it has an Earthly, cheya feel to it. There is no central heating either. Poppy feels like she's stuck in limbo between the two worlds most of the time.

What is weirder, is how her room is foreign to most of her friends, apart from Emily. Emily, like her, is the only one with a TV or a heater or a games console of the sort.

"Dad, can you do me a favour?" she says somewhat gently, still maintaining distance between them. Dad looks up at her and frowns.

"A broken jewellery box, eh?" he says almost teasingly. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"I want you to fix it, maybe?" she says in an obviously tone with a raised eyebrow. "…Please?" She knows he's still sensitive about what she said, and feels he hates her. She doesn't blame him. She would too, if she were him.

"You broke it yourself, didn't you?" She looks at him, and replies with an abrupt, "No." Her muscles tense up and she feels her face warm up, but her determined gaze never falters.

"So it just grew legs and jumped off of your dressing table on its own accord, did it?" he says, shaking his head and stifling back laughter. "Next joke please." She's tired of this. She wants him to be her dad – just this once.

"I knocked it off by mistake, it was an accident!" she insists, knowing all too well the truth.

With a suspicious look, he rises above her and looks his nose down at her. "Why should I, with the way you've treated me these past few days?" She frowns at him and crosses her arms over her chest.

"This is nothing new," she says matter-of-factly, before tossing back her hair. "And you've always been so willing to do so before."

"Well I'm saying no this time," he says, walking away from her and shaking his head in disgust. "You're a damn fool if you think you can win me around that easily; remember this for future reference." With a huff she storms up behind him and has a sudden urge to kick him, but nonetheless refrains from doing so.

"You never ever help me with anything!" she says. "You don't care about me, and I hate you." He turns away from her, hand on hip rests his head in his hand.

"We're not playing that game again, Poppy. You know damn well that's not it," he says, turning to her, his face red and his breath beginning to quicken. "If you are referring to the fact I want you to go, well, it's for your own damn good, Poppy!" She jumps a little on her toes, and stares up at him, her eyes shining.

"It's not about that!" she yells back him, sulkily turning away from him. "I just wanted you to fix this, God."

"If you care so much about it why don't you fix it yourself?" he says before marching away from her and into the garden. With a growl, she dumps the box on the sofa and marches outside for some fresh air. Outsider of their house, a rotting deer carcass is hung up on a line, freshly killed and dripping blood. It isn't uncommon for other cheya to come along and steal kills, so they have to careful – especially as it's for the supermarket.

Supermarkets aren't like the ones back in the Earth realm – indoors, with tills and aisles. They're still a human custom Queen Lupa brought in, but instead dad has his own stall there – like everyone else who works there – and kills animals to make a living. However, a lot of the humans have farms where they breed pigs, chickens and cows for that purpose and sell them, whereas the cheya often hunt for themselves in the nearby woods. However, a lot of cheya have grown accustomed to buying from the supermarket, especially during the winter months like now when food is scarce, and making kills are rarer than ever. Dad has often come home without making a kill, and sometimes he has even come home injured – once he had his leg broken when a bison had kicked him hard, and Poppy had to help him get home.

The ones who don't like it are the ones who are traditionalists – the ones who believe firmly in survival of the fittest. They complain that Lupa is destroying cheya tradition. Poppy doesn't agree, but that's because she's grown up in a world for the majority of her life where there is help around for people. Here, it's dog eat dog. They're tenacious, those bison are, and are often fatal. It's not uncommon to hear about wolf cheya have their skulls smashed by them – foxes and coyotes and such-like won't go near them.

And as said previously, dad fixes cars as well, because he has a car business back in the human world. He switches between worlds, because he didn't want to lose his human friends. The side that he's fighting on may be for Lupa, but it isn't against the innocent. They will eliminate the bad humans, as well as any akuma that cause trouble.

As Poppy trails along, she sees Logan cross the street towards her. She ignores him completely, unable to look him in the eye. He rushes over to her, and she tries to run, but he catches up quickly. She tries dodging past him, but his moves are quicker and agiler than hers, and every step she takes, he takes too.

"Why are you running, Poppy? Why are you always running away from everything?" His attempts to stare her down are thwarted by her glare.

"What the bloody hell do you want to talk about, anyway?" she says. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Oh, there is plenty to talk about." She huffs and crosses her arms over her chest, waiting. Her feet want to turn her around and dash round the corner and out of sight, never to be seen again, but her frozen heart roots her to the stop, the gnawing feeling thawing it from within.

"Go on then," she says. "Tell me. I want to know, because whatever it is will have to convince me otherwise."

"You don't really want to run away," he starts. "And what you did the other night, well, it hurt me, Pops." The gnawing feeling in her heart and gut obstinately tears away inside of her. She peers worriedly at him before glancing away. She knows she hurt him, and she sees the flames in his eyes, threatening to engulf her, and his whole composure is tense.

"Because it's not like I didn't know that," she mutters, keeping her arms rigid around her torso. She saw his face, and the gnawing intensifies at the thought. He frowns at her.

"You don't care about anything or anyone, do you, Poppy?"

"It's not my fault how I feel."

"No, it's not your fault, but you just did that, and then just left," he says. "You're not the only one with feelings, you know, you selfish bitch." Poppy's head snaps at him and her eyes penetrate him, and she begins to growl.

"Don't you think I know that?" she begins, stepping towards him. "Don't you think I know what this feels like, the pain, the sadness? I bloody do, Logan. Why the hell else do you think I left the other night?"

"I wanted to spend my last night with you, Poppy, with you, before I possibly go off and die, and you blew it," he growls. "Do you realise what that meant to me? I thought that's what you wanted!"

"Of course that was what I wanted!" she says. "But don't you see, this isn't about what we want, this is war. What if I lose you? Now I've given myself to you, I will never be able to do it again with another if I lose you. I've already lost one, so just go." She begins to walk away from him, but she senses he's still behind her, still there, still refusing to just get the hell away.

"So you don't feel that pain again? Is that what you're afraid of? Would you rather be alone?!" She spins around at that moment.

"No, I don't want to be alone! That's why I wanted you, Logan, I truly wanted you, but then I thought of losing you, and I just, I just"- She clenches her fists tight as her throat tightens up, and she turns away from him to squeeze her eyes shut tight. No. No, she can't lose it here. She can't drop her hard act here, not in public. Yet she still can't run away from this. She slowly turns around to face him, her eyes leaping to his, over that one, confusing muddle mess that she has been struggling with for days.

"I want to protect you and everyone I care about! That's why I am going to stay!" she says, stamping her foot down. "Nothing will make me go away." She wants so desperately to believe her words, but even she doubts them. Maybe if she's good, dad will let her stay – stay and fight by his side?

At the same time, it's the thought of fighting humans. That's partly why she wanted to go. She doesn't truly want to turn on the race she has co-existed with for so long; people like Emily are examples of humans who care. Unfortunately, not all the humans here are from Calen. And they're the ones that are causing half of the problems.

It's not just them. Lots of the cheya are just as bad, and they hurl racist insults at humans such as Emily who have done nothing wrong and mean no harm. They generalise out of fear, which stems from ignorance.

Even she can never be truly accepted no matter how much she starves to be, because of what she is.

Logan shakes his head at her.

"You're crazy, Poppy. You know that won't happen."

"It's the just thing to do!" she says. "I won't run away so I'll fight here!" He chuckles at her.

"If you believe that you are crazier than I already thought you were. You know that won't happen. You will be torn away like we all will be, and you won't get any choice in the matter." She hates him for saying that, and her incense seethes through her heaving breath and clenched jaw. If you want anything in this world you've got to fight for it, so why can't she fight for what she wants?

"Look at the bigger picture Poppy. Life isn't fair, and war is certainly not just. A civil war, well, that's just a whole dilemma on Rylva's hands. Whose side are you picking, Poppy? Because your dad's side ain't one of them." Queen Lupa's…or the cheya that are trying to kill her? Or, the humans that are trying to kill the cheya – the very people that Lupa want in this country?

Logan takes a threatening step towards her, leans close to her and nestles his face into her hair, his lips pricking her ear.

"Queen Lupa is a traitor to this country and you know it. She lets humans rampage around thinking they own the place, well they don't, Poppy, they can fuck right off. And I know you aren't the cheya everyone thinks you are, because you have human in you, too." And, as if he's taking glee in her horrified reaction, pulls back and smiles at her. "Do you know what? I'm glad we stopped fucking, because I've picked my side. They were right, they were right all along." He steps back from her and smirks at her, arms folded across his chest. Poppy's eyes narrow at him and her lips part in disbelief.

"What? Who? Who the hell are you talking about? Emily's our friend, isn't she?!"

"She's not mine," he says. "And she certainly isn't Celia's, either. Why do you think we let her in, as well as the witch Clarissa?" The school they go to is a mixed school, with humans, magical humans (witches and wizards) and such-like there. Of course they would never have been able to outright say no, because they would have been accused of being racist!

Poppy takes a step back in realisation.

"You mean…"

"Yes. We don't really like those ratlegs, Poppy. And you, well, you're nothing. Ever since the news we heard this morning, I realised." Poppy's stomach twists like she's just been punched, and her eyes widen at the racial slur he's just used. He's never used words like that before. Poppy's stomach twists even more and begins to knot itself at the thought of the news, and her body trembles.

"…What news?"

"A cheya got killed last night…by humans. It's happening, Poppy, and don't deny it. It's come here, too." Poppy stubbornly shakes her head, her body still trembling, trying to block out the horrific mental images from last night. She briefly bites her lip.

"You're just saying that because you're scared, scared they'll kill more"-

"Yes, and they won't stop!" he roars. He steps towards her and her feet freeze to the spot. "They won't stop until we're extinct and the land is theirs, got it? They fear our kind, and want our land."

"Yes, because Emily's certainly murderous." And for once, Poppy confidently puts forward the truth in her words. You can't generalise to all humans.

"They will do, but of course you'll stick up for them. You're a traitor as well, Pops, because you're happy to live with those ratlegs!"

Her blood runs cold. She glances at the unshaking ground, before shaking her head with one stamp of her foot and yelling at him, "Fuck you, Logan! You're not one of those people I want to protect, anyway! We're through, Logan, we're through! You've chosen your side, and I'm choosing mine!" But if she fights alongside dad….

Scowling at the passer-byes who are all jaw-dropping at her, Poppy rushes off home with burning red cheeks. She can't believe she ever let him touch her, and worst of all, she can't believe how easily he is swayed into believing racist propaganda. She bursts through the front door and immediately goes to confront dad in the living room.

"Dad, I want to stay here," she says, putting her foot down. She doesn't even give him a chance to look at her before rushing up the stairs, but when she sees Blaez on the top of the stairs she stops. She kneels down to his level, and pulls him forward into a cuddle. "I won't leave you Blaez, I won't." How can she? He needs her. He nestles his head into her chest and she picks him up and carries him into his room, where she plays Lego with him. She knows he loves the games she plays, making Lego forests and Lego houses and imaginative Lego worlds. Lego is one of the few luxuries they brought over from the Earth realm.

After a couple of minutes, voices are heard downstairs, and Poppy hears dad thunder, "No, she's not here." She hears crashes and thuds, and puts a reassuring hand on Blaez's shoulder before charging downstairs, and then halting in awe, her eyes wide.

Three warrior cheya stand erect, one female and two male. They're scantily clad in dark blue colours, none of them look like as if they have shaved in a fortnight, and like most Rylvans, possess variations to some degree of their typical features: long noses, sharp canine eyes, detached ear lobes and tall and lean body builds, not naturally big built or big boned at all, but are still muscular. One of the men and the woman is paler, while the other is a dark olive-skin colour; Rylvans mostly tend to be pale skinned, but like Poppy's family, can be dark or even black, or can be red-haired with freckles if they're foxes. They have delicate, black, swirly tattoos emblazoned up their arms, and on the backs of their hands all bear the same symbol: a small, snarling blue wolf head made up of flames and swirls.

"Rylvan warriors?" she says, carefully taking her time to go downstairs, in awe of their power and might. This might be it! This might be her chance to show dad he can't control her, and she might be able to fight to protect her family?!

"Yes, but you're not going with them," dad says through a clenched jaw, fists clenched by his side, sweat dripping from his forehead and hair, his face red, and his shoulder bruised, like they had shoved their way in here.

The woman takes out a scroll, and says: "Forty-eight year old Poppy Lesauvage, your time has come. We require your aid in the fight against the cheya that are trying to overthrow queen Lupa, and the few Baliean humans that are trying to topple this country." As previously stated, it's not all humans. Most of them are peaceful – the ones from Calen – and want to exist with their kind, but the Balineans have taken advantage of Queen Lupa's generosity and have come here to reap their revenge and rip this land to shreds and shed innocent Rylvan blood everywhere. These humans are the ones that they will take care of, not only that but they will also deal the cheya that are trying to overthrow queen Lupa, simultaneously protecting innocent humans' and innocent cheyas' lives. Like the cheya that don't like her, they want to hunt down and eliminate the human terrorists who are killing their native people, but unlike them, don't want to kill all humans. Not the innocent ones. All Queen Lupa wants is for them all to live peacefully, and as long as they eradicate the ones that are causing the problems they will be in harmony once more.

"Wait, what about dad?" she says. "I mean, he's fighting, too."

"Yes, but he's fighting alongside Queen Lupa. You will not be doing the same, but you will still be fighting for her. I'm sorry, but we have to take you." Poppy takes a step back, shaking her head vigorously.

"No, I am staying and fighting alongside my dad." Dad looks down at her disapprovingly.

"No, you will be going to Solilica tomorrow," he says. His eyes are dull and frosted over, and his whole figure slumps.

"She will be coming with us. She can't got to Solilica, I'm afraid," one of the men says with the hint of a wicked smile.

"I can't! I will fight but I must stay with dad!" she says. Even if it means…fighting against her friends, her former boyfriend, and she trembles at the thought. However, she has her family to think about, and she can't lose them. He shakes his head at her, grunting.

"One thing you will learn to do young lady, is to follow commands, or you will be a corpse lying among thousands. Just another statistic." And everything happens so fast. He is smashed against the wall fast and a pair of large hands compress his throat, the man's eyes nearly bulging out.

"I won't have it!" dad roars. "She is my daughter, someone who has barely begun to sprout from her seed, yet is someone who has already felt the berating cruelty of life! I would crush the very life out of you right now if it wasn't for the fact that you are warriors!" Poppy hides behind the kitchen door, barely peeking out. Sure, they both have their wild tempers, but seeing dad like this just makes her want to scream and run like hell away from there, away from everything, away from all the pain in her life.

"He is one of Prince Marius's warriors," the woman says. She takes a step towards him, before saying, "Or do you want to be arrested for treason?" Prince Marius – Queen Lupa's elder son – the commander of Rylva's army of warriors.

"Dad!"

Dad relents and releases the gasping man, before turning his attention to the woman. "I don't give a damn about treason! It is immoral, outrageous! How can you send a mere pup into battle?"

"I am not a pup!" Poppy says, stamping her foot down. "I will fight, but alongside you." Dad shakes his head.

"You know damn well they won't allow it, but I'm not having you out there, either!"

"She is coming with us!"

"Over my dead body!" Dad starts snarling at the man, and before Poppy knows it the other has her arms gripped tightly around her back. Poppy squirms and wriggles, growling in contempt.

"Get the bloody hell off me! What am I, a criminal?!" The woman stares at her with a smirk, and Poppy glares back at her, before sarcastically saying, "Because that isn't insulting."

"War is not about what you want, it is about what you must do, sweetie," she says, making Poppy hate her further. She strokes her cheek, bops her on the nose, and says, "Come along boys!" Poppy's fingers itch to reach out and claw the smile off her cheek with one stroke of her long index fingernail.

They begin to drag the wrestling girl away like a ragdoll, as her strength is diminutive against theirs. Her eyes grow wide, and she begins sweating like hell, but she refuses to give up the struggle. One of them flinches as a bit of dark magic strays from her the long nail on her left hand and leaves a long red mark on his forearm, the same dark magic that her mum could practice, and what her family practiced – to a much greater extent. "Please, dad, don't let them take me away! I'll do whatever you say, as long as you let me stay!"

He glares at the warriors, and what happens next blows her away; before she knows it both men are knocked out on their backs, and the woman is winded, before dad pulls her back inside the house.

"Dad!" she exclaims, almost impressed. Then, her eyes widen at what he's about to do. "No, no, I can't go there, I haven't even said goodbye to Blaez yet!" He'll miss her, and she'll miss him.

"I can't go, I won't go! I'm staying, please dad, oh please!" Her eyelashes are wet with hints of red, and one bloody tear slyly seeks down, betraying her.

He gazes at her, his eyes empty. His skin feels cold, and the whole atmosphere around them feels cold. She realises it's because the fire's gone out.

"I'm sorry, Poppy." It's too dangerous here now, and SAE's expecting her. Poppy doesn't care though. All she wants is to ensure her family and friend's safety and to never be alone again. "Blaez!" Blaez comes running down the stairs, into the living room and throws his arms around Poppy, and dad hugs all three of them tight together. The warriors charge towards them, but they don't realise there's a portal in their room. There are portals all over the Underworld, but one of them is right in their house.

"No! You will be held in contempt by your fellow aristocrats for this!"

"Damn them! I've got a family to think about!"

Within a shot of blue light, the three of them disappear, before almost immediately appearing in front of a humongous, golden castle.