What just happened? -Open-

Bart pulled a chair out from under the table, and sat on it as he sipped the cold liquid. He stared forward in a contemplative manner as he did so, through the window of the living room. Bart rolled his fingers along the rim of the table, nervously taking a quick look at the clock every now and then. He seemed to do that repetitively, before setting his gaze onto the table reluctantly. He let out a heavy sigh, before turning his eyes to Shadow.
"What were you doing before you teleported here?" he asked.

Shadow turned her ice blue gaze to Bart, her mind coming out of her imagination.
"I was visiting another dimension to secure a trading deal," She said, "My ambassadors will take care of it now." She sighed, looking down at her water. How on earth had she managed to screw up on this scale? She mentally shook her head. It wasn't the time to think about that. It was time to think about how on earth she was going to get back again.

Bart nodded as Shadow spoke, grazing his lips over the edge of the glass. Bart jumped on his chair as he heard the door open, and his eyes widened. He placed the glass on the table, quickly standing up and staring into the hall. As he had thought, it was the Kraferrin, wet from the rain that had recently started to fall.
Her chestnut hair had turned dark, nearly black with the water, and her clothing stuck to her body. She shivered slightly, curling her thin arms around her body before she turned her head to look at Bart. She dropped the bag she had on her shoulder, letting it to the ground, and dashed to Bart, hugging him closely.
Bart flinched, lifting one eyebrow at her. "Hey, hey, you're gonna get me soaked," he murmured.
"But you're warm," Dominique answered as an excuse.
"Yeah, well the water in the shower's too," Bart answered quickly, pulling himself gently away and flattening his hands on her shoulders. "C'mon, you don't want to catch a cold or anything." Bart led Dominique to the shower, but before they managed to the door, the Kraferrin noticed another woman, standing in the living room. She tilted herself as to get a better look, before her face brightened and a smile stretched across her face.
"Shadow!" she called out, ripping away from Bart's grasp and leaping towards Shadow. She stopped at the edge of the table, seeming as if she had forgotten about her hair and clothing being wet and dripping.

Shadow glanced round as she heard the door open, but turned her gaze out towards the city again until she heard a familiar voice. She smiled slightly before turning round, facing the soaking wet Kraferrin.
"Hello Dominique, sorry about dropping in on you like this..." The demoness said before frowning a little. "You look cold," She observed, stepping towards the Kraferrin, unclipping her cloak from around her shoulders and hanging it around the other woman's shoulders.

"No, no, it's fine!" Dominique quickly answered, thanking Shadow with a small nod. Dominique curled her arms around herself under the cloak before speaking again. "We haven't seen you for quite a while now... What brings you here?" she asked, lifting her head, her eyes glinting in interest. Bart followed Dominique to the table before standing by her side, and answering himself.
"She was visiting another dimension, then she messed up her teleportation to appear here in her human form, she met this sinister guy called Teran who's completely bent on killing her, except he cannot do it for she is not a demon right now. Or half-demon, if you prefer," he explained briefly.

Shadow nervously pushed her coal-black hair behind her ear.
"Yeah, that round about sums up why I'm here." She said before sighing. "Teran's father was Karthragan's right hand demon. Had Karthragan died first, then Teran's father would have made sure that Teran got the throne. As you can tell, he's a little sore. The whole dementius clan now bears a grudge against the Roths and, by extension, the Mercians and the Von Neckrarks. That's a long story short."
Shadow looked down at her hands, twisting a band of silvery metal around her ring finger. She wondered if her guard would be able to find her in her human form. She bit her lip. Teran could always be just around the corner, willing to break the Aspherin laws, and he could easily overpower both her and he two Kraferrs.

"Yup," Bart muttered under his breath, "sounds a lot like the kraferric problems in the past. Y'know, wanting to shred each other to bits, from one clan to another... A lot of tension between most of the clans... The Kraferrs never really were able to trust each other."
Bart slumped against the chair, mumbling something under his breath. It was clearly audible to the experimented ear that the low words said 'and now they're all dead'. Dominique looked down at the ground, and pulled a chair from under the table, before sitting on it.
"We've always had clan wars," she admitted, "but that's what proves our worth. It's the same for you humans, no?"
Bart rolled his eyes, tracing the edge of the empty glass with his finger. "Yes, there is nothing more right," he murmured, "our constant battles are senseless and unreasonable. Nobody really cares how they started. It's as if we just enjoy hating each other's guts to prove we're just more powerful than the other." Bart went silent, before standing up. "And that's how the great cycle of life walks in its own steps. Well, that's it for now, and that's how it will be for the next thousand years. Instead of ranting on like this, I think it would be more wise to get Shadow out of here. We're not far from the other city, Shadow. Teran will easily be able to know where you are, human or not."

Shadow looked down at her ring, smiling a little to herself. The band of whitish metal, studded with four tiny gems. An amethyst, a saphire, an onyx and a diamond. A reminder that he would protect her for the rest of her life. She looked up at Bart and Dominique. She gritted her teeth.
"I don't know how long his patience will last before he breaks the Aspherin law," She said quietly. "But I know that no matter how far I run, he'll always be just one step behind."

"Fine, if he's going to be a stalker, then he'll just have to meet a few obstacles before getting to you," Bart growled, becoming reckless again. "And I'll make sure that the shortcut through these obstacles will be a Sisyphus task."
Bart's hand clenched into a fist on the table. It twinged painfully, but his eyes did not move away from Shadow's. "You'll stay hidden for as long as you need until you get out of your human form. Then you'll need to get protection from Aspheri. As long as that guy roams, you won't be safe anywhere. As if you were safe at any point of the globe anyway, but you get my point."

Shadow nodded.
"Thanks for this Bart..." She murmured, locking gazes with the Kraferr.

The door was nearly thrown off its hinges as a blast of nearly white magic blasted it out of the way. A man strode into the flat, sword drawn, confronting the two Kraferr after pushing Shadow to the side. He growled something in another language, seemingly challenging Bart and Dominique.

Bart, at the sound of the door crashing against the wall, only had the time to swipe Dominique out of the way and kick the table off its feet. He skidded backwards, pulling the Kraferrin behind him and letting the table fall down, surface towards Shadow as the unknown person dove into the flat. Bart snapped the silver bracelets off his wrists, throwing them aside before pointing his black, long claws back at the man. Electricity crackled at Bart's feet in in his palm, twirling around his arm as the fur became violet. His eyes split, each of them scowling at the man.
With closer inspection, the Kraferr noticed that the man was not Teran. But he did not relax for that. Bart preferred to keep the small bit of serenity he had left within his mind.

Shadow picked herself up from the floor, holding her broken arm to her stomach. She grabbed the man's arm.
"Ilrune! It's ok! They're friends! They're friends." She said hurridly, holding his arm. The man, Ilrune, seemed to relax a little, dropping his sword and wrapping the demoness in a tender hug.
Once they broke apart, Shadow introduced the other part demon properly.
"Bart, Domonique, this is soon-to-be-Prince Ilrune..."

Bart seemed to drop as well at Shadow's last words. His fingers twitched, and so did his right eye. He tensed and then stood straight, relaxing his fingers on both of his temples, the electricity disappearing from the ground and coiling into his hair, making it coil slightly. Dominique also lifted one eyebrow, but seemed a bit less surprised than Bart.
"Waitwaitwait, what?" he asked quickly, "Is it my mind just jumping to conclusions, or did I hear you say that he's the soon-to-be-prince of Aspheri?" Bart, as he spoke, gesticulated his hand in a confused manner.

Shadow did something she rarely did. She blushed. Ilrune stood next to the princess, his arm wrapped gently around her waist.
"You were right, Bart," Shadow said, "Ilrune is going to become the Prince of Aspheri." She said. Ilrune bowed a little to the Kraferrs.
"I apologise for the sudden attack," He said in a deep voice. "Shadow warned me of the threat posed by Teran, and I was not sure of your intentions."

Bart tilted his head slightly, still confused by the sudden intervention and what he had just heard. He shook his head, scratching the back of his head. He opened his mouth to start a sentence a few times, before sighing deeply, and turning his head to the door. He then flicked his red eyes back to the man, before staring back at the door.
"Um, can you fix that door? It's the only way to keep people out, and if the owner sees this mess, he'll destroy us."

Ilrune looked at the door, walking over to it calmly. He cast an eye over the damage before holding his hand towards the wood, letting his whitish magi c seep into the wood, reconnecting fibers in shattered wood and reshaping bent metal. Once he had finished, he took up his place next to Shadow again, looking a little paler. Shadow frowned at him, but said nothing.

Bart tapped his fingers on the table he had put back into place after Ilrune had fixed the door. Bart placed the chairs under the table again, and flicked his fingers. The black magic which soared into the air dove to the broken glass on the ground, slowly reconnecting the pieces and placing it on the wooden surface. Bart had not noticed the new pallor that Ilrune had adopted. He grabbed a chair and slumped onto it, inspecting Ilrune closely with the eyes he had for so long experimented with and had discovered various capacities which could help him. He still had to train on his reflexes, though. They were slightly better than a sprinter's, but they needed to be as precise as a cat's in order to use his eyes correctly. Bart grabbed the two silver bracelets and slapped them onto his wrist, tightening the strings around them. His fur changed back to its normal brown color, and his eyes merged back together as the claws retracted. Bart's tail flicked nervously at the wood of the table.
What she does in her life has naught to do with me, he thought calmly. His fingers tapped on the wooden surface of the table, his kraferric appearance fading away to be replaced with his normal human state.
"Hm," he finally mused aloud, "Well, I guess all is fine which finished fine, no? Now that you are here," he said, indicating the man, "aren't you able to teleport Shadow back to safety, and keep her away from Teran?"

"Teran has been near you here?" Ilrune said urgently, looking Shadow directly in the eyes, his hands gripping her shoulders. The soon-to-be-Prince's face showed only concern and anger.
Shadow wriggled a little in his grip.
"It's ok Ilrune, he hasn't hurt me. Just a couple of threats, that's all." The princess said, trying to calm the part demon down.
"We cannot be sure. I must attempt to get you back to safety!"
"You can't, you and I both know that!"

"And why can't he?" Bart asked bluntly, a shadowy aura seeping into his stare. He tilted his head questioningly. Dominique shifted nervously on her feet, before approaching Bart and standing next to him. Bart stood up from the chair, sighing, before lifting his dirty blue eyes to Shadow's. "I mean, I don't know much about demonic magic even though after a few years of training, but I think I should know that you can teleport with a human. Or a kraferr. Or with almost anything you wish. Would there be something, or someone you want to hide from in Aspheri?" he asked doubtfully.

Shadow gritted her teeth, torn between telling Bart the full truth or just a part of it. She looked at the floor for a moment before locking gazes with the Kraferr, trying not to let on that she was only telling a part of the truth, and not a lot of the truth either.
"Ilrune's teleporation... is not really... up to scratch..." She said slowly, rubbing the scar along her cheekbone. Ilrune glanced at her, his expression a little confused.

((Should not be here... lol))

"I don't think anyone's even near my level of teleportation," Bart replied, crossing his arms, "you're lying, and that only makes things seem to be worse. So I guess it is really unlike I expected, huh? Shall you tell me or will I have to slowly find out myself this... Slippery slope you're on?" Bart continued. His voice was harsh and sharp, although he had not meant it like that. Just recent tension on over-activity had fatigued him and his body, and led to the state he was in right now - miffed.

Shadow's eyes narrowed dangerously. Her hand rested gently on the hilt of the dagger up her sleeve. She had never thought of Bart being problematic to her, but it would seem that she had been mistaken. Ilrune, noticing her discreet movements, carefully placed a hand on her shoulder, murmuring something in Synari. Shadow shrugged his hand off her shoulder, her narrowed eyes fixed on Bart. She said nothing, but her actions gave a clear action. She wasn't going to tell the Kraferrs the problem.

Bart waited a few seconds before scoffing and shaking his head. "Fine then," he murmured quietly under his breath, "keep it to yourself. I won't ask any more questions. You may stay here if you wish, along with Ilrune, or you may depart with Ilrune and I will leave you be. I have nothing more to say." With that, Bart turned on his heels and calmly walked away to one of the windows of the living room and staying there, gazing outside. Dominique hesitantly shifted her gaze from Bart to Shadow then back, before making an excusing and polite gesture towards Shadow and heading for Bart.

Shadow made a move as if to follow Bart, but Ilrune stepped behind her and gently wrapped his arms around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides. He sang something quietly into her ear. Shadow closed her eyes, relaxing a little. The blade that had been gripped in her hand clattered onto the ground. Ilrune fixed his gaze on the Kraferr, his eyes seeming to disapprove of him.

Bart stared out of the window, staying silent until Dominique came to join him. He turned his head to Dominique. She wrapped her arms around his stomach, nestling closer to him.
"What's wrong?" she asked quietly, sounding slightly concerned.
Bart lowered his voice and his head. He knew that Shadow would perfectly be capable of reading his lips, so he had to hide them.
"She's hiding something. Something really bad. Kraferric feeling, I think you notice it too," he murmured.
"Yes, I do," Dominique whispered back, "but I do not worry nor carry it as a burden, there is nothing you can do about it until she willingly reveals it herself."
"Yes, I can't do anything until she does," Bart answered, "although that would say that if anything happens to her-"
"If anythings happens to her, it's not your fault," Dominique murmured. "She kept it to herself. Trust Ilrune."
"So you're saying if something just happens to her, just let it go?" Bart snapped. "Every time I saw her, every time she's here, she's always in some kind of... Fatal problem!"
"Well then just act as if it's completely normal," Dominique answered quietly, "Ilrune isn't shifty. You shouldn't be neither."