“Next stop, Ace Street. Next stop, Ace Street. Please exit to the left.” I waited for the doors to open and exited the trains. The entire station was empty… figures. This isn’t really the place where you’d want to go to be safe, but it’s a place I’m forced to call “home”. Lets just find her and get this over with… I walked up the station's staircase and there it was. My old childhood home, abandoned and slowly decaying. Sometimes I come here every now and then just to look back on the memories, maybe see some of the things my mom did in her lab… but that's just a hollow memory. I walked towards it and reached forward, touching the walls with chipping paint… but then I heard the sound of a whoosh. I turn around… there’s nothing there. That feeling returned… from when I was in the park… quickly I summoned Orobas and got on guard.
“Who’s there?!” I yell as the street lights flicker off, leaving me in darkness. I suddenly hear the laugh of a man who seems to be having way too much fun.
“Now now…” The voice speaks from a distance. “It’s not wise to reveal your trump card in the beginning.” A street light turns on to reveal a dark silhouette facing away from me. “You might be wondering to yourself… ‘who is this handsome man?’” He waves his arm up in a strange motion like it was a stage play and clenches his fist, causing the street light above him to turn off. Another light turns on behind me as I turn around, with him striking a very… odd pose? “‘Is he the one following me this entire time?’” the lights turn off again and suddenly I feel someone tapping my shoulder. “‘Is he a friend? Or a foe?’” I turn around and see a smiling face behind me before quickly disappearing in the darkness. “Never fear, my dear fellow!” The voice continues, “For I am here to clear the air of that fog of questioning in your head!” The stoplights turn on one by one as the lights lead to the figure. “It is I! The one! The only!” The man slides into the lights on his knees (Which must hurt a lot) revealing himself. “Hugo Leblanc! The White Rabbit Himself!” he says with his hands up, waiting for a round of applause… Oh great. A dumbass entered the field. He looks around left and right before waving his hands again for a response. “...Ta da!” Nope. Not even going to humor that. Annoyed, he got up from the ground and adjusted his tie. “Yeesh. Tough crowd today. Usually I’d get an ‘oh my god, it’s him!’ or a ‘can I get your autograph?’ but I guess you’re just not in the mood today.”

“I uh- I don’t even know who you are…” I say looking around awkwardly. Is he supposed to be someone important? In response to this, Hugo smiles and points a finger upwards, standing up straight.
“Ah, but that's the thing, Matt! I don’t know who you are, and you don’t know who I am! This is the first time we’ve actually met in person!” He says with his arm outstretched. I was about to respond with a really good joke that you’ll never hear but then I realized…
“Wait if you don’t know me, how did you know my name?” The response was followed by loud laughter as he leans backwards with a hand covering his eyes. He struggles to catch his breath and starts to calm down.
“Ahh… whew… Must have been a slip of a tongue! Silly me!” He says spinning around and striking another pose. “I’ve heard many stories about you, my dear fellow! Stories of wonder and joy!” He clenches his fist dramatically and raises it in the air. “Hopes and dreams, crushed, only to be rebuilt!” He turns around and leans backwards, putting the back of his hand “Drama and romance, the stories keep getting better!” He goes back to a normal position and continues speaking, adjusting his tie once again. “Eri won’t ever stop talking about you! She keeps asking me, ‘When can I see Matt again?’ whenever you appear on the television!” Eri! Now that's a name I haven’t heard in a while… Eri. a bundle of joy I met through Eren. Apparently those two are cousins somehow but I never really questioned it. She always wanted to be a part of the Street Crashers even before I founded it properly to the point where she’d call me “leader” or “captain”. “Ah! I see that name has lowered your guard! So you two do know each other!” He says putting a finger to his temple. “Personally, I thought she was doing that thing where she was making up knowing a famous celebrity… one time she told me she knew Tom Brady. She doesn’t even watch football!” he says, holding his hands up in the air to express how big his disbelief is… or something like that. Personally I have no idea what to make of this man. But then he quickly moves back to a neutral position and continues speaking… Geez this guy isn’t giving me a chance to respond… “Now you may be wondering, how exactly do I know this Eri? Well let me tell you, I know her very well! For I! Hugo Leblanc…” He yells out, holding his hands up. “...Am her Father!” Wow. He actually managed to make himself look cool. Wait no- Damn it Matt get it together!

“Too shocked for words, I see, my dear fellow! Me and her are the same flesh and blood! The tree and the apple! The…” He trails off and waving his hands around, trying to figure out another comparison… until he snaps his fingers and confidently points upwards. “The chip off the old block!” He says before turning back to me as I just stood there. “Now… Do you have any questions for me?” Finally! Now I can actually say something… Let's start simple…
“Why are you here? What good does coming to me do for you?” I ask as he adjusts his glasses and spins around.
“Why I’m here… is because of a common enemy we both have, Matt.” He says striking another pose. “You see… I’m just a thief, and something that was mine was stolen from me! From that strange yellow figure you call the King!” …What? Hold on, I need to get more info from this guy.
“You saw the King and didn’t get stabbed?” I say with a hand on my chin, trying to think about why he wasn’t attacked. “Usually it attacks everyone nearby and makes them commit suicide… so why weren’t you affected?” He scratched the back of his head and looked behind me.
“I just evaded the attacks! I’m more agile than I look, you see…” he says trailing off but then snapping his fingers and pointing at me. “Now then, my dear fellow! Question time is over! It’s time for you to head on to your dear mother, Ophelia!” …You know what? I’m not even going to question why he knows her name… I can just ask her later. I brush past him and start walking the streets as he follows me… for some reason.
“What? Not going to use that grappling hook?” I say as a joke to break the tension. He just laughs a bit and responds with a light hearted tone.
“Hey, it took me way too long to get here! I’m exhausted!” The two of us made it down an alleyway, with rats scattering once they heard our footsteps. On the sides was a door with the words “Closed” on the front of it.
“Don’t worry. Once she knows it’s me, she’ll open up.” I say ringing the doorbell and waiting for a response… Suddenly Ophelia, half asleep, walks down the stairs with her Pjs. Her cat was laying on top of her head like a hat as she opened the door. She unlocks the door and faces me and Hugo.
“Pardon, but the sign clearly says that it’s clo-” She falls silent for a couple seconds before her eyes widen. She ran back upstairs, and then ran back down with her labcoat on and opened the door wide for the two of us. “Matthew! Take a seat!” She says happily and sits in her chair.

Hugo walks in and waves a hand as she suddenly turns into a more professional expression. “Oh no… why are you here? Did you run out of your prescription already?”
“Yeah… sorry…” He says as he sits down. Ophelia grabs a key and opens a cabinet, taking out a bottle of pills and tossing it to Hugo. She then turns to me and takes out a clipboard.
“So what's your business here, love?” She says tilting her head. “It’s not like you to visit me. I’m assuming you need something from me… or are you just here out of the kindness of your heart?” She says with a soft smile. “Is this about your execution coming up? I’ll do whatever I can to find the cure to death for you.” She says laughing but then softening up. “...but seriously, don’t let it bother you. You still have time left.” I took a sigh… it was always like her to watch out for me from afar. But now wasn’t the time to be comforted. Now was the time for action.
“I need medical supplies.” I say, fidgeting with my hands. “You’re the only one who actually knows how to help people medically, and you’ve been doing it for years.” I suddenly hear her start laughing once again.
“Oh please, hon. You think of me too highly.” She says putting down her notebook and walking up to me. She puts a hand on my cheek and stares me in the eye. “But thank you for those words of praise.” She says getting her clipboard again and continues to speak. “So how's Eren and your gang of misfits? Getting into trouble?” I laughed and put a hand on my knee as I leaned forward.
“Oh you know it! Eren is in her hibernation phase, Violet is taking care of the kids, Spark is… in the hospital…” I trail off remembering what is at stake. Ophelia notices and pours me a cup of tea and slides it towards me on the table. I took a sip to calm myself down and exhale softly. “...and Mercury is uh… Mercury. Personally she still scares me, I don’t even want to approach her.” Ophelia giggles slightly and puts her clipboard down on the table.
“Well it seems you've been through hell and back” Yeah no kidding… “Well I should be getting your stuff now… Give me a second.” she says about to head upstairs but half way up, she turns to me and smiles. “It was great to see you Matt. I missed you dearly.” She walks upstairs and closes the door behind her as I wait patiently for her to return. I turn to my side and see Hugo asleep with his arms crossed. I nudge him at his shoulder as he falls off of the couch.

He quickly jumps back up and takes out a dagger and points it at me.
“Hey! I was napping! Do you just tip people over while they’re catching some z’s?” He says putting his dagger back in his coat. He sits back down with his hand crossed and continues. “Not my fault this couch is so dang comfy.” …well I have to agree with him there… but there’s still a question on my mind I had to ask him.
“Hey uh… what were those pills she gave you?” It didn’t seem like any type of pill I’ve seen. It looked like it was custom made… but Hugo laughs and moves his hands upwards in a shrug.
“Oh no! I’m not ready to talk about that yet!” Touchy subject… got it. We waited there for a while until Hugo suddenly went serious. “Something’s off.” he says to me and turns to the door Ophelia went to. “She usually takes about 2 minutes to get everything she needs. She’s a very organized person as you know.”
“Yeah, I’ve known her for so many years at this point.” I add on. “Just look at this place. Every file and cabinet is alphabeticalized. And the tea is right next to the sink and oven so she can make it in a flash- Wait what are you proposing?” I say suddenly getting worried. Hugo and I turn to each other as we both nod. Practically, leaping out of the couch, we ran upstairs as I kicked down the door… and what I saw was… it was just horrific. We caught the King mid act, stabbing Ophelia through the chest as she weakly turned to me. The King continues to dig the blade deeper as it turns to me and speaks.
“You two again…” I take out Orobas and get ready to attack but the King simply dodges out of the way with Ophelia still hanging on the edge of its blade. “Barbarians… You always expect to fight and never appreciate the time you have left. Why don’t you just give up and run away? Just like that thief over there…” I turned to Hugo, who doesn’t look like he’s denying anything said to him, but he takes off one of his gloves to reveal a chain sticking out of his wrist like it was stabbed inside him. He’s about to yank it but the King acknowledges his attempt. “Go ahead. Do it. Are you brave enough?” Hugo, drenched in sweat, trembled slightly before taking his hand off the chain and putting the glove back on. The King finally pulled the sword out of Ophelia’s chest as she fell to the ground unconscious. “I will only say this because I’m having fun, you have twenty four hours before the shadow kills her. Prepare yourself…” it says as it disappears from view…

I ran to quickly catch it but tripped and barely regained my balance. Staring down at Ophelia’s unconscious body, I can feel something within my boil. I have to save her… here and now. I reach forward towards Ophelia, but an arm stops me from moving and further.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Hugo says with a firm grip.
“Stay out of my way, Hugo.” I say, glaring at him, but he shoots back with a fierce stare.
“...Put the hand down, Matt.” He says sternly. Put my hand down? Why should I?! Ophelia was going to die if I didn’t act! So why is he stopping me! I lean forward even more to try to make contact but he grabs me by the face and makes me look at him. “Hey! Look at me! Look! At! Me! You have people that can help you with this! You go in there alone, and you’re going to do something you regret! I can tell with those eyes of yours! Those are the eyes of a murderer! So calm the hell down!” He yelled at me as I took a deep breath to calm myself down. The feeling slowly dies down as I regain my composure. He lets go of me and I grip my head in a daze… God it hurts like hell…
“Thanks for that…” I say as he smiles. I check my watch… if I can catch the next train I can probably make it back before dawn. “Alright lets get back to the park. Are you coming?”
“Wha- me?” He says, pointing at himself, surprised, but he waves his hand and strikes a pose. “You can count on me to do what I can.” Well that's a start. We need all the help I could get… I’m not sure how good he is at combat but I’ll see what happens when I get there…

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