The Past isn't always the Past

[Bryan]

Michael ran into the control room of the TARDIS followed closely by Seren and Twilight. He gripped the communicator tightly, his frantic behavior betraying his calm disposition.


"We can't just leave him Michael!" Seren yelled at the swordsman.


"Lucifer is a resourceful time lord." Michael countered trying to calm the young blonde. "He's far exceeded my expectations I set all those months ago when we met. As have you."


"That's no excuse to abandon him to those vampires!" She exclaimed, extremely worried for Lucifer's wellbeing.


"Believe me Seren there's nothing I want to do more than decapitate those undead bloodsuckers, but we can't afford to miss this opportunity." Michael and his friends have been tracking down a rouge elf from Michael's past. He was setting supernatural monsters upon their group in order to distract them from his real purposes which had yet to make themselves known.


Michael started fiddling with the knobs on the TARDIS control panel, trying to lock onto Lucifer's position. A routine scouting mission gone awry. Lucifer had been investigating a nest of vampires who were conspiring with demons when he was jumped and his beacon went offline. Michael was always a little cautious when it came to scouting and installed a second one in between the third and fourth finger on their left hand. Virtually impossible to find, it was connected to Lucifer's nervous system allowing Michael to broadcast directly into his mind via morse code. Impossible to detect unless they were monitoring his brainwaves.


"I got a lock on his location Michael." Twilight said without looking up. "I'm breaking into the cctv system right now."


"Good, now see Seren he's tied up but other than that he's fine." Michael directed her gaze to the monitor which showed Lucifer's position. The monitor showed two vampires, one in front of Lucifer and one off to the side. It seems like they were talking until Lucifer decided to spit in the face of the one in front of him. This prompted the one off to the side to hit him in the ribs.


Michae chuckled, "Cheeky bastard." He than began to send a message to Lucifer via the implant asking him to try and get any info he can within 20 minutes, because after that we are coming in guns hot to get you.

 

[GossipLink]

Sometime after Lucifer's interrogation seen, he escaped. With the details of where Malkiovich was going, the team reassembled, preparing to continue the chase. Only this time, they were about to go somewhere Lucifer and Seren have never been before...something unique Michael and Twilight bring to the table.


Michael was standing at the console, awaiting Lucifer. As requested after some, 'unfortunate', mishap, Lucifer must always be present when Michael is piloting the Tardis. With the exception of emergencies of course. Finally, the Time-Lord walked onto the main platform, giving Michael a slight nod in approval. Lucifer started intently at the swordsman, following every move.


"What in the world are you doing?" Lucifer asked. There was no criticism in his voice this time, just genuine confusion. "These controls...where are you taking us?" It was certainly nothing Lucifer knew of.


"Following Malkiovich..." Was all Michael stated, as he kept his attention on the large span of controls. Finally the engines kicked on, slowly revering up speed at they entered the Time Vortex. usually by now you wouldn't need to put in anymore commands, but Michael didn't stop.


"Seriously, where are you going?! There is no place that exists at these coordinates...to be fair I'm not even sure if they ARE coordinates." Lucifer exclaimed, still following Michael's moves.


"You aren't wrong. These coordinates don't exist..." Michael kept at it, not stopping for a second. A few moments later, he finally turned to Lucifer. "Not here anyways." He finished, pulling and slamming down the final lever for effect.


The Tardis was normal for a few minutes, leaving Lucifer immensely confused. But then, the entire time machine began shaking wildly. Barely having enough time to react, Lucifer clung to the safety railing. He realized just now that Michael has been holding on for a while. Whatever was happening, it was for a reason. Lucifer began to ask a question, but it was drowned out but the sudden noise. It was louder then anything Lucifer had ever heard, but Michael seemed to take a rather casual approach to it.


Nearly bleeding from his ears, Lucifer fell to the ground when it all stopped.


Thank you, whoever stopped that terrible sound!


"You are most certainly welcome." Guardian spoke inside Lucifer's head. The sudden voice caused him to bolt off the ground in panic, but he quickly calmed down, remembering the rather creepy demon that 'lived' in Michael's head.


"How do you cope with that thing?" Lucifer asked, slowly rubbing his temples.


"Rude." The Guardian replied, making Lucifer jump a little bit again.


"Eh...eventually you get used to it. Anyways, I believe we are here." Michael responded rather loudly, still deafened a bit by the noise from earlier.


Seren and Twilight came walking out, Twilight supporting Seren who seemed rather airy. "You scared the poor girl half to death!" Twilight yelled out.


"Not my problem, you should have prepared her." Michael retorted. Lucifer was about to remark Micheal's own warning, which was none, but his own curiosity take the cake.


"Okay, hold on. Where are we exactly?" Lucifer asked Michael.


"Go and see your self." He told Lucifer. Before the Time-Lord did anything, he gazed at Seren, a worried look in his eyes. Twilight must have caught is, because she waved her hand dismissively at Lucifer.


Finally figuring it was okay to leave his most well known companion, Lucifer walked over to the main doors. Taking a deep breath, he opened the doors and walked out. Lucy stopped dead. He didn't know what to say. Instantly, thought how he could tell is unknown, he knew this was all wrong. This was not normal whatsoever. Closing his eyes, he walked forward into this strange place. After a few steps, he opened his eyes, but it all was there. A looming building in front of him caught most of Lucy's attention. But something was seriously off about this place. Everything oddly felt different. The air, the sky, the ground even. Nothing seemed normal, but not completely different either. He turned back to the Tardis, and met Michael's gaze. He had been watching Lucifer intently.


"Where, are, we?" Lucifer demanded, getting frustrated at the mere sight of the slightly smug bastered.

 

[Bryan]

Michael was waiting for Lucifer to give him the signal to pilot the TARDIS. This mainly came from the fact that Lucifer became so ticked off with the way that Michael used the machine, that after one too many incidents of him failing to use it correctly, Lucifer instituted a rule that Michael can't pilot the TARDIS without him present, except under extreme duress. Seeing the slight nod that Lucifer gave him Michael activated the TARDIS and brought them into the time vortex, which makes this next part easier to accomplish. He then engaged what he refers to as, 'the universal dive' function.


Lucifer out of curiosity asked, "What in the world are you doing? These controls," he paused for a moment before continuing,"Where are you taking us?"


This next part required Michael's utmost attention and so he replied simply,"Following Malkiovich." As Michael inputted seemingly random bits of numbers and letters the engines sped up.


Lucifer took notice to this and questioned, "Seriously, where are you going?! There is no place that exists at these coordinates... To be fair I'm not even sure if they ARE coordinates." Lucifer exclaimed, eyeing Michael's movements carefully.


"You're not wrong. These coordinates don't exist." He stated while continuing to input commands. "Not here anyways." He finished by slamming a lever down harder than necessary. He did so just to be dramatic.


The TARDIS became eerily quiet for a few minutes until suddenly it picked speed. Everything was shaking even more viciously than ever before. Michael had turned and grabbed the railing to stabilize himself.


He then turned his thoughts inward toward the demonic entity that resided inside his mind. 'Guardian,' he thought, 'go and take Lucifer's mind off what's about to happen. You know what it does to first timers.' The entity merely grumbled in response.


As the tremors increased in strength Lucifer found himself gripping the rail next to Michael. Soon afterwards the noise became apparent. After hearing it for so often Michael had grown use to it, able to tune it out, so to speak. After a few seconds Lucifer dropped to the ground clutching his head. No sooner as he had fallen the sound had stopped.


'I told you to take his mind off of it.' Michael conveyed the thought to Guardian with a steeled undertone. Feeling his presence leave he thought to himself, 'Wow he's an asshole.'


Lucifer picked himself up off the floor, slowly rubbing his temples he asked, "How do you cope with that thing."


Seeing as he jumped as soon as he said that, Michael figured he was talking about Gaurdian. "Eh...you get use to it. Anyways I believe we are here." Michael responded somewhat loudly. Okay maybe he still gets a little deafened by it. No sooner as he said that Twilight was walking out supporting Seren.


"You scared the poor girl half to death!" Twilight yelled.


"Not my problem. You should have prepared her." Ouch that came out harsher than he meant it to be. But still Twilight should have known to prep her.


"Okay, hold on. Where are we exactly?" Lucifer asked seemingly recovered.


"Go and see for yourself." Michael replied.


As Lucifer turned to look at Seren, he was waved off by Twilight. He then turned and walked towards the Main doors. Pausing for a minute to steady himself he opened up and immediately slumped. Micharl noticed that he was genuinely getting both confused and angry, it made him smirk, knowing that after all the things Lucifer had experienced with Michael he could still have this effect upon the time lord. Lucifer turned back to face him.


"Where, are, we?" Lucifer demanded to know.


"Shut the doors and come look at the monitor." Michael motioned for Seren to join him. Doing as they were told Michael pulled up a visual representation of the known universe onto the TARDIS'S monitor. "I'm going to assume that both of you know that this is a map of the universe." Michael joked. "Well anytime that you were to view this map it would show a 'you are here' symbol, indicating where we were. Now tell me if you can find it."


He watched as Lucifer's face went from confused to one of slight annoyance. While Seren's face just remained at confusion.


Lucifer opened his mouth to speak, but Seren beat him to the punch. "It must be some sort of bug right?"


"Nope. This system is practically flawless." Michael replied, crossing his arms and leaning back against the guard rail.


"Is this some kind of joke then?" Lucifer spoke up, not caring to hide the annoyance in his voice.


Michael turned his gaze towards Twilight, a smirk adorning his features. "No it is not a joke." He winked at Twilight who rolled her eyes at the gesture.

 

[GossipLink]

The four looked at one another. Lucifer's annoyance started turning into a realization, but he kept his face as it was. "Are you saying...that we..."


Michael's expression was rolling into excitement, but he seemed a tad off put by Lucifer's annoyance, "That we are in another-" Michael tried saying before Lucifer hushed him. Lucy walked off the platform, contemplating things.


Another universe? No! This can't...but it's so different...and the monitor...could Michael have really done it?


While Lucy paced around a bit, Seren looked at Twilight and Michael with nothing but a dumbfounded look on her face. "Can someone please explain what's going on?" She asked.


"Well you see, we just did something that Lucifer doesn't believe in. We traveled into another universe." Michael explained, and Seren's face began to light up.


"Are we actually?!" She exclaimed, to which Michael nodded. Twilight was rather amused by Seren's reaction.


"But we can't be! The Time-Lords sealed everything up!" Lucifer nearly yelled in frustration.


"Look," Michael said, walking down to Lucy, "The Time-Lords...more or less did. But the multiverse is limitless, they couldn't seal everything. Just their little neck of the woods." Lucifer was nodding along, surprising Michael a bit at Lucifer's openness to his explanation. "So not every universe is sealed, right? But even if, over the course of many years, I've perfected the way into sealed universes as well."


"Okay...what you're saying makes sense...it's still...unbelievable. Multi=versel travel. How did you find a way through sealed universes?" Lucifer asked, his face now brightening up too, but still guarded.


"If you don't mind, can we wait a bit on that? I can just get you the blueprints and stuff...but we have to let this baby cool down first. Let's head out, and I'll kick on the vents." With Michael's request, the other three left the Tardis.


Lucifer didn't realize it, but he must have been in the midst of the 'safe zone' the Tardis emits the first time he went outside. Now that he was outside of it, he suddenly felt lighter. He tried jumping, and went much higher then he normally would have. Seren attempted a similar experiment, and the outcome was the same. Looking back he didn't see Michael to explain, but Lucy came to the conclusion on his own.


This planets gravity is much lower then what Seren and I were being trained with.


As much as the two were having fun messing with the gravity difference, Lucifer couldn't help but feel all the differences of this universe get pointed out to him. The sun was unique, the atmosphere was much different, partially due to the gravity, the grass was oddly greener, all these things kept flooding to him.


Is this what Time-Lords used to see in other universes before they closed it all down?


After questioning Seren a bit, she didn't notice anything very different, so the idea of Time-Lords being unique to this was beginning to seem even more likely to Lucifer. Twilight laughed a bit at Lucifer and Seren's antics, but didn't partake in it herself. After all, though this universe was new to her, the general experience of other universes was not. Regardless, eventually they both stopped. Lucifer took notice that they weren't even sweating yet, and they used what should have been a fair amount of energy.


"That's the beauty of it isn't it? When you go into a place with lower gravity then what you are used to, you are much lighter, stronger, and more adept then in any other setting...gravity speaking." Michael explained. It was a bit scatterbrained of a response, but Lucifer and Seren got the idea.


"Alright. Anyways, where exactly are we though? Obviously it's another universe, but which one?" Seren asked, taking the words right out of Lucy's mouth.


"To be honest...I don't know. I've never been here before. If you want, once we get there and figure the way of things out, you can do some research." Michael offered. Seren nodded in understanding, but Lucifer was pointing at something in the distance.


"As an educated guess, I'd say this is a human world. Given the design of the area and all. And over there," Lucifer pointed to a small ship, "is a rather advanced plane...I'd say these people are rather advanced in technology. I can't wait to figure all this out! There history, culture..." Lucifer trailed off in his own head, thinking of the different things he could discover.


"Well Michael, Twilight. You two have the most experience with these things. Take the lead." Seren told them, slinking back to walk side by side with Lucifer. Both of them had a large gleam in there eye's, ready to experience something they would never have on their own.

 

[Bryan]

"Take the lead." Seren told Michael as she slipped back towards Lucifer's side.


Michael instantly spotted a tower that rose above the clouds. "Yeah I think the best thing for us to do is get a little bit of info on where we are at." Michael suggested. "Twilight, why don't you take Lucifer and look for some libraries or something. Just find out some general history and background info."


Twilight opened her mouth to reply but Lucifer beat her to the punch. "Okay but what are you and Seren gonna do?"


Michael gave lucifer a questioning look that slowly formed into a grin. "Why, Lucifer, I'm surprised you have to ask. We are gonna raise a little hell." Michael's grin fell when he saw that lucifer was still looking at him in confusion. "We are just gonna snoop around a little bit."


Lucifer sighed and responded, "Alright but be careful." There was no reason to be worried. She would probably be the safest with Michael anyway. He couldn't shake the feeling that something bad would happen while they were split.


"We'all be fine." Michael waved him off. "So meet back here in around four hours. And watch out for any trouble. No telling how long Malkiovich has been here."


They each said their respective goodbyes and took off to explore this new city. Seren and Michael walked around for a relatively short amount of time before coming across a newsstand.


"Huh so they do have those here." Seeing that it was quite busy Michael quickly went over and retrieved a paper and returned to where Seren was waiting.


"Wha-did you steal that?" Seren whispered loudly.


"Meh, like they'll miss one paper." Michael looked over the front page, which contained a picture of what appeared to be a big, black wolf and the title read "Grimm: Are the hunters able to stand against the threat?"


'What the fuck!' Michael thought in his head. This caught Guardian's attention. He turned to the page that had the article and read. It mentioned nothing of what the Grimm actually are, but instead mentioned the locations in which the attacks became more frequent. 'Guardian, I need you to tell twilight that she needs to look up anything she can on the Grimm and hunters. It might come in handy if we ever have to encounter one of these creatures.'


Guardian merely grunted in acknowledgement, as is his usual response. Not even a few seconds later he said, 'She said she'll look into it. By the way I meant to ask if you felt that ominous presence once we landed? Because if you didn't then we need to start training that asap.'


Michael had indeed sensed a terrible entity when he left the TARDIS. He however neglected to mention anything about it as to not worry Lucifer and Seren. Speaking of Seren he'd best distract her while he aquired more information. Can't have her freaking out over anything yet. "So Seren...anything going on between you and our dear Time lord."


Immediately she went bright red and started playing with her fingers. "O-of course not Michael. Wh-why would you ask me something like that?"


Michael's smile went from a small smirk to a full blown shit eating grin. "Well if nothing is going on between you two then I guess you wouldn't mind flirting with some strangers then."


Seren merely stated at him trying to formulate a response. "I..what...why..Excuse me?!"


Michael scratched the back of his head, his grin turning into a more light hearted smile. "Hehe chill out a little bit Seren. I was just joking."


Seren quit playing with her fingers and instead pointed one in Michael's face, "You shouldn't joke about things like that! What if twilight started flirting with people behind your back?" She accused.


"Behind my back? Hell I ask her to do it right in front of me. When you need information, flirting is one of the easiest routes to go." This caused Seren's blush to redecorate her features.


"You're not serious right?" Seren questioned, not believing the fierce warrior would be okay with his partner flirt with other people.


"Well why not. Most of the times she does it it's because I've asked her to. Hell even I've done it on occasion. It doesn't mean anything when we do it." Michael reasoned. Truly believing his words.


"That just doesn't seem right." Seren crossed her arms, seemingly pouting.


"Hey now, look I'm sorry if I've offended you or anything. How about we look around for a little while longer and then we can grab something to eat. Bet they've got some good food around here." Michael suggested ready to drop the subject and find out more about the mysterious Grimm he saw in the picture.


Seren sighed and lowered her arms. She'll probably never understand Michael and how he works. "Yeah I guess. I wonder how Lucifer and Twilight are doing right now?"

 

[GossipLink]

After saying their goodbyes, Michael and Seren went left, and Lucifer and Twilight went right. There weren't to many words shared between the two, mostly because Lucifer was taking in the sites. He was simply awed by the city, the people, etc. But all the while, he was sticking the 'mission', find a library. That was what Luci was most excited about, reading.


Who knows what this place has to offer? It's a completely different universe, not even just a different planet!





They walked rather aimlessly for a while, just trying to mind their own business. Finally however, after their efforts brought no fruit, Lucifer got to fed up. He walked over to a random stranger.


"Hey...uh, I was wondering where the nearest library was." Rather...smoothly...Lucifer asked the stranger.


"You don't know? Almost everyone around here knows the library! Are you from out of town?" The man asked the two, curious.


"Yeah," Twilight looked around, trying to find something to improvise with. Finally, she just went with, "Another city."


"Traveling hasn't been to common for people. Are you guys students?" The man pursued.


"Not quite." Lucifer intervened, hoping to cut this short. The guy seemed rather typical, so it wasn't like they could learn anymore from him then a genuine library.


"Okay...well nice seeing you guys anyways! Hope I helped a bit." The man finally decided on, and kept walking.


"He never did tell us where-" Twilight tried saying, before the guy yelled out to them.


"Oh! It's over there by the way, can't miss it!" He yelled, pointing down the road they were on. Lucifer could see a rather impressive building, made out of some white stone, standing much taller then the other buildings. At least four, if not five stories high.


"Well...that settles that. Let's go read." Twilight responded, beginning to head to the building. Lucifer caught up easily, still eyeing the architecture of the surrounding buildings.


They walked in silence, even as they entered the building. Twilight finally broke it when they came to the front desk. No librarians were there currently, but they could hear the hushed voices, and turning of pages. "I just got a message from Guardian. Michael want's us to look up Hunters, and Grimm. So I'll hit the right side, you take the left. Stay on this floor...no fiction."


With the law set, Luci nodded in agreement. The pair ventured off in their own directions.


(Time lapse.)


Lucifer read the first book entitled, "Humans, Grimm, and the law of understanding one another."





In typical Time-Lord fashion, Luci flipped through the book in just a couple seconds...then dropped the book. Stunned beyond belief, he slowly began to fret. It got to the point where he was practically hyperventilating, trying to wrap his mind around what he just read.


GRIMM?! WHAT THE F**K?!


He was making a lot of noise, and it wasn't going unnoticed. A person just on the other side of the row Luci was in, was at first attempting to shush him. Now she was seeming more concerned, as Luci began having trouble to breath.


I need to calm down! I shouldn't be reacting like this...something is actually wrong with me right now!


The young lady rushed around to his aisle, crouching down in front of him. "Hey! Hey what's wrong?"


Luci looked at her, confused. Do I know her?...No...ugh!


"I-I don't know...aahh it hurts!" Lucifer grabbed his throbbing head, but everything was spinning. It felt like his brain itself was attempting suicide.


"What hurts?" The young brunette asked, her little bow quivering a bit.


"Do me a favor! Head but me!" Lucifer yelled, his head exploding in pain. He was wreathing, grabbing at anything nearby, just trying to do something, when he couldn't do anything. This was the only idea that came to him, and he wasn't sure if it would work, or back fire horribly.


"H-head but you?" She stammered, trying to understand the situation. To her this must be absolutely bizarre. Hell, this is bizarre even to Lucifer.


"Look...Argh!...I apologize in advance!" Luci yelled. Using the last of his strength, he focused for just a minute. Just long enough to grab the girl by the shoulders, and slam their heads together. The girl flew back into the shelves behind her, yelling in pain. Lucifer didn't do anything.


Upon impact, Lucifer initiated one of the Time-Lord's powers he never really liked. A...memory swap kind of deal. In that instant, both of the two shared their memories with each other. In the end, it worked. The random pain Luci was enduring went away, and was replaced with understanding and curiosity. He now knew this girl. Blake Belladonna. She was a faunas, previously a member of the White Fang...now an aspiring student, becoming a huntress.


Gazing upon the girl with new, and much needed information, Lucifer understood much more then what books would tell him. At least to a certain extent...Wait a minute...the memory share works both ways...


Looking back on her, the girl held an expression of...everything. Her face was blank, but showed understanding, grief, confusion, awe...horror, and many other things. Having a new outlook on her, Luci could almost tell what she was thinking...was she the same way with him now? After a few moments passed, Lucifer finally worked up the courage to speak.


"How..how much did you see?" He asked, not knowing what else to say.


"Y-you...this can't be real." The girl got up, and walked off. Not saying another word, but she did cast a glance back at him. Lucifer just sat there, not knowing what to say. His attention got caught be Twilight, rushing over to him.


"You won't believe what I found! It's...hey wait, are you okay?" The magic user asked, at first excited, now concerned.


"I got something to tell you too..."


(Time lapse.)


"This is...this is bad, isn't it?" Lucifer asked Twilight. She was silent...Luci just explained the situation. How after reading the book, his body got wrecked, the girl...Blake. How they shared memories in Lucifer's desperation and all. He didn't get around to sharing what her memories were, and he didn't plan on it. It felt wrong that he knew, let alone for him to start sharing it.


"I never expected something like this to happen...but what's done is done." Twilight finally broke the silence between them. She was sitting across from him now.


"I expected you to be mad honestly." Lucifer replied, letting out a sigh of relief.


"Oh no. No I'm furious right now. Event the most novice person knows not to go around doing stupid shit like that!" Twilight told him, keeping a cold, steely look. Her tone was quite, and livid.


I wish she would've yelled...I don't like this...


"Even still, you did what you had to do I guess...but now that girl is a loose end that might come back to bite us. Look...we got a lot of info, but not enough. These Grimm are...evil. And vary diverse from what I can tell. And there's much more to discover...let's keep reading." Twilight told him, and without waiting for a response, she walked away. Further down the aisle she picked out a few book and began reading.


After thinking hard about what happened, and what Twilight said, Lucifer joined in. No sense in worrying about what MIGHT happen, right?


(Time lapse.)


After reading nearly an entire aisle of books, Lucifer though it was about time to retire. It was around four hours...and that's when Michael wanted to meet back up. "Hey Twilight! Should we go?"


"Yeah...there's a lot more to learn from this place, but it's already past the meet up time. Let's go." Twilight said, putting back the last of the books. The two didn't say much till they left the building.


(Time lapse.)


At first all they talked about was small details. They both figured they would save the big stuff for when they all met back up. Explain everything one time, versus twice. But the two egg heads couldn't keep quite about all this stuff, so they started talking about it.


"Honestly, it's just nice to have someone who shares an interest in books as much as I do!" Twilight was saying to Luci, she had gotten over what happened earlier in the library at this point.


"Same here! I never expected to meet-" Lucifer was trying to say, but a familiar voice cut them off.


"About time!" Michael was yelling from down the street. The two pairs met up in the middle, near a little noodle shop.


"Yeah, sorry about that...some stuff happened. I'll explain in a bit." Lucifer told him. Michael gave Twilight a curious look, but she didn't say anything. She was going to let Luci tell the story.


(Time lapse. Because I don't want to be writing the same stuff over again.)


They had eaten some rather delicious noodles, and talked about what happened on both their parts. Lucifer couldn't tell what Michael thought about the incident with Blake. After bringing it up, Michael just dropped it...regardless, they still talked about everything else.


"So Grimm are bad ass, but hunters are even more so." Michael chimed in, he received small nods of agreement from the others.


"Yes. But that aside, I think we should discuss what to do next." Seren replied, finishing the last of her noodles.


"Agreed. I think we should check out Beacon." Luci told the others. "It would be a great place to not only learn more about this place, but see if Mal has been up to anything there. If he has...it could be disastrous!"

 

[Bryan]

"I'm hungry are you hungry?" Michael asked holding his stomach.


"Dude we literally just-" Seren was cut off by Michael's stomach growling. "Jesus man you eat a full course meal like every hour!" Seren exclaimed.


This caused Michael to nearly fall down from laughing. Seren became increasingly aware that they were being watched by the people around them. Not wanting the attention of a crowd she forged ahead, leaving Michael, still giggling, on the ground behind her.


After getting away from the crowd, Seren slowed down and studied her surroundings. She had been walking for quite awhile and had gotten lost amongst the many streets and waves of people. Having been turned around more times than she could count, Seren could no longer backtrack. Instead she took a breath, steeled her nerves, and walked towards one of the vendors.


By the time she had approached the person behind the stand everything she had thought of to say flew right out of her mind she became mute. After standing there muddling through her thoughts for what seemed like an hour the guy behind the counter noticed and began to question her.


"Hey there young lady. Can I help you?" The man said in a gruff although not irritated accent.


Seren continued to stand there blank faced with nothing to say. However on the outside her thoughts ran wild. 'How do those guys do it?' She thought. 'God Michael makes this kind of stuff look so easy.' She complained to herself. 'You know what, fuck it.'


"He-ell-llo." 'Nice one Seren' she thought to herself. Managing the best smile she could she continued, "You wouldn't happen to have a map of the city or anything?"


"No. Do I look like I sell maps here? No of course not. This is a meat cart! Not a map cart." The man all but shouted at Seren. It was like she was the person who had ran over his dog and he can't take any legal action so he lets her know what she's done by the tone of his voice.


Seren was visibly shaken up by the way this guy said these things. She turned away with her head and shoulders down. She was both embarrassed and pissed at the way he had spoken to her. 'I mean it's not my fault I don't know where I'm at!' She yelled internally. 'The least you could do is help a girl out damn.' Seren was too busy with her thoughts to see that someone had their foot outstretched to trip her. She felt a pair of arms stop her from falling. Lifting her up back on her feet she didn't even turn around to face the person. Just mumbled a small "Thanks." As she continued on her path, she felt a strong grip on her shoulder. This only heightened her sense of embarrassment and anger.


"Hey I just wanted to say I'm sorry for running into you like that." Seren turned to look at the man who had grabbed her. He was a tall man who dressed in a dark attire. "By the way, I couldn't help but to hear you asking that impolite gentleman over there for a map. And I happened to hear his unkind response. Now it's your lucky day pretty girl. Me and my boys would love to show you a good time." He said all of this with a smile so warm you would be hard pressed to say no.


However no matter how much he smiled, every word this guy said just made her more uncomfortable. "Umm as much as I -I appreciate that, I'm going to have t-to say no thanks." As much as she was trying to smile to the guy, she kept thinking, 'Good lord this guy is going to kidnap me. I should be scared but I'm pissed.'


The warm smile disappeared after hearing this reply. He motioned with his head for the three guys behind to encircle Seren. "Hey come on now little lady. We're trying to be nice upstanding citizens here." He took a step forward prompting Seren to step back.


"No really. I was actually just looking for my friend hehe." She chuckled nervously. She kept walking backwards until her back hit something solid. Turning around and seeing another man of equal stature, she was frozen in place staring at the man she had ran into. The person who was speaking to her before grabbed both of her shoulders harshly. Seren flinched and immidiatly ducked out of the guys grip and sprinted down an alleyway to her right.


Every sound was overshadowed by her heartbeat and the blood pumping through her veins. She didn't even hear the guy shout that the alley was a dead end. After sprinting 50 or so feet the alley cut to the right. Taking the turn she looked back to see if she was being followed and ran directly into a wall not 15 feet after the turn. She landed on her back with the breath knocked out of her. When she got around to opening her eyes she was gazing at the faces of the four men who had forced her into the alley.


"I'm gonna cut to the chase. I just got out of a very long, depressing, and sexless relationship. So I'm gonna take my time with you." The man who had tripped her said.


——————————————————


'Okay now I'm getting a little impatient.' Michael complained to Guardian. 'Like seriously, where does she get off on just leaving me in the middle of a group of people huh?' Guardian merely grumbled in his response. 'Jesus man sometimes I can't get you to shut up and others you're fuckin mute. I swear you need to stop with the mood swings.'


'How about this,' A deep voice rumbled, 'Seren is behind assaulted right now and is too paralyzed with fear to do anything to stop them.' He whispered in Michael's head.


"What the fuck!?" Michael yelled out loud, startling the people around him. 'Where is she at?' He questioned the demon.


'26 blocks east, if you hurry maybe you can catch them with their pants down. Literally.' Guardian chuckled at his own dark humor.


Michae was already 6 blocks closer by the time Guardian had finished his sentence. 'You know I bet it would be easier if you dropped from a rooftop.'


'Yeah yeah I'm way ahead of you.' With that Michael had already scaled six stories and started leaping from rooftop to rooftop. He was looking down at Seren who had just run into the wall, not watching where she was running. He saw the four guys coming around the corner after her. They weren't anything too special. Just somewhat tall. Guardian was getting ready to tear into these assholes when Michael had an idea.


'I'm gonna let her deal with these guys.' Michael told Guardian.


'What? I'm sorry I'm not following. You said that you wanted her to deal with these goons?' Guardian asked genuinely concerned for Michael's sanity.


'Yeah think about it man. Seren NEEDS a confidence boost.' Michael responded grinning.


'Yeah well don't you think it could come in a slightly different form?'


'Dude what's a bigger confidence booster than kicking the asses of four potential rapists?' Michael was toying with the notion of actually helping Seren out but that would be too easy. With the amount of training Seren had been through she would be able to wipe the floor with these guys. Yet she's almost always scared out of her wits when it's just her.


'Don't dude me. Look if I think something's a bad idea it usually is. Listen to the demon Michael. For once please.' Guardian wasn't begging, he never begged. He just didn't want to see Seren's almost nonexistent confidence crumble into nothingness.


'Hmm while I think about it why don't you suggest to her to punch that dude who's grabbing at her top to punch him in the throat. Hard as fuck. And then when reaches up to grab it kick him in the stomach. Also hard as fuck.'


Guardian sighed, 'I worry about you sometimes kid.'


——————————————————


Seren was freaking out in her head as she was being roughly pushed up against the wall. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't make her body resist at all. Then she felt a little tightness in the base of her skull. And then a gruff voice spoke to her.


'Hey Michael wants you to punch this dick in the throat. Hard. And once he raises his hands kick him in the stomach.'


To Seren it seemed like her body was on autopilot. Performing a throat jab followed by a nicely executed kick to the abdomen put the guy on his ass. Then the memories of her training came flooding back to her. It's like she had been rebooted.


Seeing their friend on the ground in pain the other three glanced at each other. Two of them approached Seren who got in a stance, while the other knelt down to help up his friend. When they were close enough to grab her Seren used the wall to her advantage. As they both reached out for her she jumped and using the wall behind her as a place to put her feet, she rocketed off into the arms of the guy on the left. Not expecting the sudden offensive attack he fell backwards and was knocked out cold by a heavy handed blow that cause his head to bounce off the pavement.


Getting off of the guy she glanced backwards to goon number two she saw him fumble around with something in his pocket. Fearing it could be a knife she dove into a forward roll coming up close to the two farthest from the edge of the wall. Seeing the first dude she punched in the throat still on the ground she kneed the guy helping him up in the chin so hard it cracked. He started screaming even before his back was on the floor. Seeing the man in dark attire try and get up she laid him out with a swift kick to the temple. Seeing goon number two held up his hands defensively, dropping whatever was in them.


"Look in sorry. I don't even like these guys just please let me go." He begged, nearly in tears.


Seren thought for a second and then sidestepped, allowing him to walk past her. He took the opportunity, however just as his back was shown she grabbed his left arm, forced it behind his back, and put him against the wall of the alley.


"If I ever see or hear about you four doing anything like this again next time I won't stop." She hissed in his ear. She pressed his arm farther up his back, making him since in pain.


——————————————————


If smirking was a superpower then Michael would be superman. This couldn't have gone any better than if he was down there himself. Seeing Seren strut out of the alley like a badass made Michael feel good. For once he had made the right decision.


'I will throw us off this building if you keep that smile up.' Guardian said, seemingly aggravated.


'Already ahead of you dude.' Michael replied smugly and jumped off the building. Falling down he landed next to Seren who immediately tried to deck him in the throat. "Whoa there Seren it's just me." He put his hands up.


"Michael what the hell took you so long!" Seren exclaimed putting her hands on her hips.


"Don't worry," he said trying to placate the girl. "I was watching the whole time."


This earned him a humph and a smack on the cheek. However as soon as she hit him she collapsed. Luckily Michael was expecting this and caught her.


"Did your heart feel like it just stopped?" Michael asked.


Seren nodded with her head down.


"Yeah do you know what confidence is? It's adrenaline. Because no matter if how scared you get you're still gonna produce it. But sometimes we just need a little kick in the rear to get going." Michael explained, but he knew that she wasn't really listening. She was exhausted. "Here lets just find somewhere to sit down for a little while."


——————————————————


Michael's ears perked, hearing twilights voice. He stood up and yelled, "About time!" He waved the two over near a middle stand where him and Seren were resting.


"Yeah sorry about that...some stuff happened I'll explain in a bit." Lucifer told him.


Michael glanced over at twilight who just shook her head slightly.


'Five bucks says he fucked up.' Michael suggested to Guardian.


'What do you think I would do with money asshole?' Guardian asked. 'Make it ten.' Michael grinned at this.


"So what did you guys find out?"


——————————————————


'THAT FUCKING IDIOT!'


'Michael calm down.'


'Shut the fuck up. He probably just cost me my job!'


'Michael seriously calm down. He didn't know any better.'


This eased Michael's anger a bit.


'It doesn't fucking matter. My boss is gonna have my ass.'


——————————————————


After several awkward moments following the revelation Michael replied, "So these Grimm are badass, but the hunters even more so." Both twilight and lucifer nodded in agreement.


"Yes. But that aside. I think we should discuss what to do next." Seren replied, seemingly recovered.


"Agreed. I think we should check out Beacon." Lucifer suggested. "It would be a great place to not only learn more about this place, but see if mal is up to anything there. If he has...it could be disastrous."


"Yeah I'll see if I can't find us a way in." Michael said. "However," he started grinning, "Seren had a little 'experience' today that I think she might want to share with you two. And while she does that I'm gonna go grab the TARDIS." With that Michael got up and started on down the street.


'Jeez man what am I gonna do.' He thought to himself worriedly. 'How the hell are we gonna find this Blake?'


'The damage is done. What are you going to do eve in you found here?' Guardian questioned.


'Ugh I don't know. The only thing I do know is that Meredith is going to literally kill me.'


As he entered the doors to the TARDIS, Michael saw there was a recorded message on the monitor. It read REPORT IN AGENT MICHAEL.


"Fuck."