[h3]Henry[/h3]

Any second now, Henry expected a lethal overdose of projectiles to fly his way and spell his premature end.  He did not fear death, but to perish here would mean that his dream would be only partially fulfilled.  How much better it would have been to kick the bucket fighting for the Shepherds, rather than against some nameless foe in an unknown land!  The dark mage watched Denys appear, seemingly intent on distracting the Marine by engaging him in combat, but by now he felt positive that his adversary would ignore the other threat to mercilessly finish Henry off.  However, the fact that the Marine had yet to pull the trigger was a ray of hope, after all.  His teeth clenched together in smile which through pain seemed devilish, he closed his fingers around the tome Nosferatu, his ticket for victory.  Candy Cane began to speak just as he began to slide the sorcerous book out of his robe.

Though he didn't know the words she employed, she certainly seemed annoyed.  Henry, thinking that she might be one of those pacifist types, cast a look of pity and annoyance her way.  Still, he produced his tome, and which fell open and came alive with pages turning of their own accord, wreathed in foul energies.  As he chuckled at her comments, he winced from the waves of pain surging up from his annihilated hand.  [color=d8bfd8]”Nyeheh...you must not know me very well.”[/color]  She made an extremely poor case for the two soldiers, wound up as they were, to not continue murdering one another.  Reason was a seed that couldn't be planted in toxic soil.  When the Kaiser concurred with her out of nowhere, Henry raised an eyebrow of disappointment his way.  [color=d8bfd8]”Ah?  Weren't we all buddy-buddy a minute ago, and now you're leaving me out to dry?”[/color]  All the same, the Marine hadn't attacked yet, and neither had Henry.  Why might that be?  Perhaps his wound troubled him so much that he had to make a concentrated effort to pull off this final spell.

Magic hit him a moment later.  Henry, always attuned to the arcane arts, could sense it before it touched him and even tell from whom it came.  That soothing, rejuvenating warmth corresponded to healing magic, but the dark mage was taken aback to see his enemy surrounded in the same life-giving glow.  A sensation from his destroyed hand distracted him from immediately casting his dark magic, and a look confirmed that its regrowth.  The sticky, sickly-sweet smell of vital fluids intoxicated Henry, coming close to satisfying his bloodlust against the Marine, but there was no question that he would not be happy until his enemy was a puddle of goo.  Still..the atmosphere had calmed down somewhat.  Perhaps it could wait.

A cawing noise caught his attention, and Henry beamed to see a raven swooping down to land on his shoulder.  Just like that, the situation defused, with the sound of his tome snapping shut serving as aggression's death knell.  Delightedly the dark mage stroked the black bird's lustrous plumage, and he said, [color=d8bfd8]”Aw, I'm glad I didn't die, too.  Well of course you're my friend, little guy!”[/color]  The raven croaked in his face, and Henry seemingly replied, [color=d8bfd8]”Yeah, right now's good.  Call 'em over!”[/color]  He turned his back on the others and walked toward a nearby bench.  The sound of numerous wings beating the air became apparent, and a whole conspiracy of ravens flocked toward him.  They surrounded him, constantly making noise, like a little black tornado.

[h3]Birdie[/h3]

Birdie didn't pay much attention to the two women as he left, though one did direct at him a somewhat inane question.  [color=yellow]”Uh, the town?”[/color] he told Bayonetta before taking his leave with Red not far behind.  The scaffolding-esque structure brought the trio down to ground level expediently, and from there they could go in any direction.  Birdie set off down the street, hands jammed in his vest pockets.

Before long, Birdie quickly became aware that he might have made a bad choice.  Sections of Castle Town seemed, for lack of a better term, [i]wrong[/i].  An intact main street lured him into a false sense of security, but when he dodged into a sidestreet to set his nerves at ease, he was shocked to find himself on the brink of what looked to be a warzone.  On the edge of normality there lay just about an inch of blurred fuzziness, and after that loomed a section of town completely destroyed.  When Birdie turned his eyes on the sky, he was baffled to see the night sky directly above but an ominous purple haze through the distorted zone.  Scared but curious, the huge man leaned over and grabbed a pot that stood on the cobblestones a few feet away before tossing it into the other world.  It crashed against the ruined ground noisily but ordinarily, with no trace of any kind of trap or malignant effect.  Furthermore, Birdie espied some sort of glinting green jewel in the wrecked shards of the pot.  Grinning widely at his good fortune, he gingerly crossed the line and bent down.  After snagging the gem, he quickly retreated back to the un-damaged zone to study his find.

As tall as his middle finger and about half as thick as it was tall, the precious stone gleamed beautifully.  Figuring that it must be emerald or something similar, Birdie almost salivated to imagine how rich it would make him.  With that kind of money, he fondly thought, he wouldn’t have to work for months!  The truth that he was already unemployed didn’t concern him too much.  Still, this bizarre divide and the somewhat nightmarish version of the town on the other side creeped him out, and Birdie left after only a few more moments.  Luckily the main street seemed clear of skeletons, though a couple shattered bones lay here and there, and the freeloader made his way deeper into town.