Bane jumped to the front and said “looks like you can drive it or it has an autopilot…to the old part of the upper level” Iris poked her head out and said “we need the closer location. The boss won’t last like this for long”

Midnight was shaking, her wound starting to bleed again. Dante shut to the steps and the coach and said “take us the upper level. It’s closer. It’s probably her house” bane nodded and hit the autopilot and the horse started to move, faster then they would have thought for a horse.

The inertia from the sudden movement nearly hurled Matias over his seat, though his legs got quite the stretch. He let out a yelp as he gripped the lower edge of the seat, attempting to stabilize himself.

"This thing's fast," he huffed, patting his feet on the ground.

It was then that he noticed Midnight bleeding once again. He had a good reach on her, so he took one hand and gently pressed it on the wound, over the fabric of her shirt. The dampness under his palm grew with time, but he didn't move for even a second.

"Deep breaths," he muttered, looking forwardd now.

Midnight looked at him and said “thank you…” Iris was working on a bandage with medication on it. “Just breath boss. Look at Matias. Try not to pass out till we get there”

Bane was watching the route, making sure there wasn’t anyone following. Iris looked at Dante and said “you alright? Did you get hit?” Dante looked over and shook his head. Midnight flinched again and her hand found Matias’s other one and held it.

The more the carriage rattled along, the wetter Matias's palm got. Still, he didn't move. His hand pressed a tad harder onto the wound to try and contain the flow.

"You almost done with that?" Matias asked Iris. "I'm not sure if I can hold the blood for any lo–?"

There was a sudden, shaky warmth at his free hand, making him jolt. He looked down and saw a pale hand gripping at it weakly. He would have yanked himself away had he not seen who the hand was attached to. Well, he probably would have anyway, but the boss was quite literally dying at this point. Some tact would be nice.

So he gripped it right back, running his thumb along the middle knuckle.

"We're almost there. I hope."

Iris nodded and moved over, lifting Matias hand enough to switch out the bandage with the new skin with medicine and laid it on the wound. Midnight gasped in pain and the shadows in the coach moved with her pain.

Bane cursed as the whole coach moved and yelled “we are almost there! What is going on in there”

Matias swore and jumped, his knees shooting up to his chest as he anticipated a fall. The innards of the carriage creaked with each shift in movement.

"Those things," he yelled, pointing vaguely at the blurry black figures. "The shadow things! They're freaking out!"

His sight focused on Midnight now, who looked in serious pain. With both hands now free he laid them atop her upper side and rubbed her softly.

"¿Que pasas? Just hold on for a little longer, we're almost there..."

He then looked forwards, doubt clouding his head.

Bane cursed and said “we are almost there hold on…” Iris was sealing the wound and said “I got it. Just get us there Bane!” Dante was holding Midnight’s shoulders as they suddenly turned and pulled to a stop.

Bane jumped down and opens the door. They came out to a old school manor. It was nice but not over done. Dante jumped out and said “nice place. A lot like her office” Iris kicked Dante out of the way and said “Matias can you carry her out?”

Matias could see the shadows relaxing from the corner of his eye, although his main focus was making sure Midnight couldn't agitate them again. There was a sudden twist that threatened to toss him off his seat, but he remained as glued as he could. His breathing was slightly labored by the time they arrived.

"Huh?"

He looked from his seat. It was Iris.

"Uh... Sure."

As gingerly as he could, he shimmied Midnight's body into his arms.

"Ven."

Now that he was cradling her, he slowly took himself off his seat and stepped out of the carriage with slow and gentle footing. Once his boots met the floor, he looked up at the manor. It was nice. At least it wasn't eye-bleedingly gold.

"Mija," he said, looking down at Midnight, "you got keys or something so we can go inside?"

Midnight flinched then said weakly “door code…the year of the last war…” Iris heard her and moved to the door, punching it in and the doors opened. When they walked inside the lights turned on and a cyber wolf appeared at the top of the stairs. It moved his head to follow him and Bane said “holy crap she built the horse…”

Iris moved up the stairs, midnight barely staying awake in matias’s arms.

Do elevators just not exist for these people? Aren't they supposed to be rich?

Thankfully, Matias's legs were rested enough that he was confident about being able to make the flight. He climbed slowly, his legs only mildly complaining. One he reached the top, he was about to follow the group, but he stopped and looked down at Midnight. His blood ran cold for a moment when he saw that her eyes were barely open.

"Hey," he whispered, rocking her softly. "Wake up. I need to ask you something."

He looked left and right and then down.

"Where's your room?"

Midnight flinched again then said “down the hall…the last door…it has the big window…” Iris was looking around as Bane went to make sure the house was secure. Dante moved next to Matias and said “I’ll get the doors. Come on”

The pair took the boss down the hallway and Dante opened the door. The room was nice, but like everything else not to the level of upper level. More of a old school comfort. Dante moved to the window and hit the switch for the shades, raising them up. The bed was a queen and in the middle of the wall next to the huge wall of windows that faced the sunset. Fitting for a shadow elemental.

Dante moved to get the blankets back, which looked like the bed hadn’t been slept in for a while. Midnight gasped as they laid her down and Dante added “I think we lost the doctor. I’ll go get her” he vanished out of the room, leaving the pair alone.

Matias looked down the hall and followed Dante inside the room. The floorboards underneath his feet creaked softly with every step he took. He was blinded for just a moment as the shades went up, the sun in close range to the window. Once his vision returned, he looked towards the bed, envious that it wasn't his. It was stripped by Dante and pressed upon by Midnight's body being gently laid on top. The creak from her weight was barely audible.

"Let me know if you need anything," Matias said, I'll be here waiting for the others."

He perched himself by the window, looking out. From here he could see a bit of the city bustling in all its golden obnoxiousness. On occasion he looked back at Midnight to see how she was doing, but he remained where he sat.

Midnight was trying to take deep breathes as she looked over at Matias. “I’m sorry for all of this…telling me about the notes you’ve been finding? I need to keep talking or I will pass out again…”

The door opened and Iris came in with Dante and rushed to the bed to start up working again.

The sound of Midnight's quivering voice made Matias look back with a dull albeit concerned expression. He raised an eyebrow at her question.

"The notes? Not sure why you want to talk about that now of all times, but..."

He turned around, pulling one leg up to his lap.

"I found another one this morning. It had a different set of coordinates. I have it... Uh..."

He dug in his jacket pocket, swearing under his breath when he realized it wasn't there anymore. Dante's entrance, however, clued him in on its current location.

"Hey," he called over to Dante, "do you still have that note I gave you this morning?"

Dante nodded and pulled it out, handing it back to him and said “ya we haven’t had a chance to take it to lab” Iris looked over but kept working on the wound before her.

“It’s bad but we have gotten ahead of it. I can fix this better now. Just hang in there for me boss…”

Matias took a moment to open the note and read it to himself. There really wasn't much to read, but it was much to think about.

"𝙳𝙾 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙹𝙾𝙱," it screamed for all eternity.

Seemingly following the note's orders, he opened a web browser on his phone and painstakingly typed every character of the given coordinates. It was only so because his memory was admittedly poor, but he managed. It was seemingly for naught, however, because his search engine mapped said coordinates seemingly in the middle of nowhere. No businesses or even roads covered the area for miles.

"Freaking weirdo," he grumbled under his breath, putting his phone away.

"I think I gave you the first note I got," he said, directing his words at Midnight now. "If you manage to get better, we can run that one by the lab too..."

He let out a soft huff.

"I just... hope you get better."

Midnight smiled weakly and said “I will be alright…this isn’t the worse to happen to me…” Iris nodded and moved back. “She will make it. But I mean it when I say no more fighting until this is healed. You have to recover. No shadow work, none of it got it?”

Midnight nodded and said “the other note is in the study downstairs at the end of the hall…on my desk…”

Matias pointed a finger at Iris after she made her request, raising an eyebrow.

"Escúchala," he said in a teasing tone, his lips struggling not to crack a smile. "Because I don't want to have to come back here a second time for the same reason."

He sat back as Midnight spoke, folding his arms. His legs seemed to groan upon her saying the word "downstairs", but he ignored them. He got to his feet, gave her a nod, and commenced his journey. Once he reached the staircase, he looked around to ensure no one was looking before hopping atop the hand rail and sliding down it. He leaped off with a "huhp" and traversed down the hall. The study was relatively easy to find given its dark wood finish and books neatly organized in their shelves. The work table was also quite dark, almost ebony. There were papers stacked atop it, among them a small sheet of paper sitting on its own. Matias approached it cautiously and scooped it up.

"𝟾𝟹.𝟼𝟿𝟻𝟹𝟹, -𝟷𝟺𝟾.𝟿𝟾𝟽𝟾𝟾

𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴 𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙻 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴𝚂"

That was it alright. Same handwriting and everything. He stuffed it in his jacket pocket along with the second note and left the room. Approaching the staircase was tiring to his legs as is. Just thinking about climbing it was enough of a chore, too. With a sigh, he settled his butt down on the very first step, pensive on all the homework he had to do now.

There was a ding and a hidden doorway opened up and Dante stepped out of the lift. He looked at him and said “Midnight said there was a lift…you okay?” He walked over and sat next to him.

Well that was embarrassing.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just tired."

He shuffled in place. Both hands were now meeting his knees as he took a deep breath to sigh deeply.

"I don't know why I just can't feel safe in my own damn house. I bet I'm gonna go home tonight and find another stupid note. I'm so tired of it. Wish whoever was doing this would show themselves so I can make sure they can't even write anymore."

Steam escaped his nostrils.

"I already have my suspicions, but I'll leave that for lab day. Is the boss getting any better?"