PART TWO: Underground

Okay, it was official, Rose was evil. Why is it that the Beautiful ones have to be so mean, making You carry something that felt like it weighed 500 pounds in the rain, "Speed Up." Rose said as You struggled to follow through the last parts of the woods, You huffed out several non-existent breaths, every couple of moments Your eyes would fix on Rose's round posterior, a small prize for Your struggles "Stop staring at my Ass." Or not...

Rose had been acting strange, every so often she would glance at You, The Usual Icy blue of her eyes was crimson again "What are You thinking about?" You wandered as she quickly looked away continuing, Her steps becoming slower and less planned. after another half an hour of walking, Rose was downright stumbling, ignoring Your worried calls until she paused her body wobbling for a moment before Her legs buckled.

Moving at a reactive breakneck speed, Your legs burst forward, Your heel digging into the soil to stop as You smoothly caught Rose in Your free arm.

Rose stared up at You, Her breaths weak as they were before, She looked even paler than usual "Shit, You still need rest." She winced as She clutched at her stomach "I am... fine, Help me up." Shaking Your head, You slung the heavy Purse over Your shoulder, reaching down and picking up Rose in both arms "Nope, I can carry You." She frowned "Put me down." She said, her anger cut off by another pain in her stomach "Just be quiet and stay still, You can yell at me when we get there." Rose pressed Her lips together, Her eyes fleeing from Yours, Your hand was on her thigh, the skin soft on Your fingers as Her dress was beginning to hike up "Stop That." She commanded weakly pushing her dress back down her legs "Stop what I wasn't even doing anything!" She rolled her eyes, pushing away one of her long hairs as the two of You continued.

After walking for a time You came to spot just a way off from the Manor's grounds... Back when You were a kid, You used to come here all the time, Lightning had struck at a large Oak and it had opened up like a blossomed flower, allowing You to sit in and have quiet time away from Roman, Diana, all the Au-pairs You went through, it was a place of escape, even from here You enjoyed looking down the hill to see Your home, tall and grand, but the Drake manor that sat at the bottom of this Hill was wounded, torn and ripped apart, barely standing by the looks of it. Your heart sank, this was what was left of Your old Life: tatters and yet... "not long now" You continued a faint smile on Your face, You were going to rebuild everything, rebuild it to be stronger, harder, You would Build something powerful for Yourself and snuff out Your enemies.

Getting down the hill was always something that You had found difficult as a kid and yet, even with 500 pounds and a fully grown woman on Your person the path down was a breeze, after easily clearing the 12-foot perimeter wall in a single bound, You approached Your wounded Home.

Drake Manor was a truly amazing home, Your Mom and Dad had designed it themselves, that is probably why it saddened You so much to see the Scared building before You, holes blown in the walls, roof half ripped off, rubble and dust coating everything. You walked through the ruins of the hall, You could still smell the dried blood from Valerica's blood sport, though all of the bodies were gone. Around the ripped apart staircase, through the heavily battered grey kitchen and through to the back yard.

walking across the smashed deck, over to the patio, the pretty marble cracked into gravel and over to the corner.

Here You found a set of large double trap doors, the Grey of the Steel shone against the weak starlight above and You grinned, happy to see that at least one thing lay untarnished, You stepped forward spotting the security lock, the 6 pin keypad on the front shining a subtle blue, confirming to You that it still had power "Good, I won't have to break through"

Rose stirred a little, You hadn't realized that she was resting Her eyes, too consumed with the state of Your home, She yawned before looking at You "Are we here?" strange, How You could slightly feel her breath, it wasn't completely false like Yours a hint of life was behind it "Yeah, I just need to put in the Code. Can you sit for a moment?"

"Of... course I can." She said wincing as she awkwardly let herself fall to the ground, You sighed leaning down and punching in the Code "311099" You smiled as the lock buzzed and lit up green, "What... is the code?" turning to her with Your sad grin, You look at her with sincerity "Same as anything of my dad's that needed a password, My Birthday." You pushed open the door and quickly picked Rose back up before she could protest "C'mon, I wanna get out of this rain."