Vanser was contemplative as he carefully carried Molly’s friend Charlotte back to his hotel room. They’d parted ways with Rixie earlier; she had to rest up for a match in the morning, after all, but not before Charlotte had been able to tell her story.

Most of it was unsurprising to Vanser. She and Lenya had been on the run from him for the same reason he’d been in pursuit of them both. Each had thought the other Titan had meant the humans harm. It was a relief to Vanser, in more ways than one, to learn that Dibilique (or Lenya, in this case) had been trying to help the humans.

Unfortunately, all was not well. Charlotte had continued on to tell him of how she and Molly had gotten separated, which meant there were now more players in the game, and they really were unknown quantities.

“So I decided to trust Molly’s intuition and ask you for help.” Charlotte finished, as Vanser unlocked the door to his room and carried her inside. “Sorry about tripping you, though.”

Vanser chuckled, despite himself. “That’s okay. I’m sure I would have done the same in your place.”

“I’m just glad I’m not on that dirty floor anymore.” Charlotte muttered, fingering the dirty hem of her shirt in disgust. “I hope wherever Molly is she’s managed to get a bath.”

“Is that a hint?” Vanser asked with a smirk.

“Is it working?” Charlotte responded.

In answer, Vanser stepped into the bathroom, set the sink to a mildly warm temperature and then left the faucet running in a gentle spray.

“There.” He said, setting Charlotte down next to a hand towel and a chip of soap. “A makeshift, human sized shower.”

“Oh thank goodness.” Charlotte groaned, eagerly stripping off her shirt, life with Titans having dulled her modesty somewhat.

“I’ll, uh, I’ll just be outside then, if you need something.” Vanser muttered, his face turning red as he left the bathroom. “Just, you know, yell.”

Charlotte giggled and stripped her pants off. Despite only really ‘knowing’ Vanser for a few hours, she found she actually liked him a lot and could see why Molly had trusted him so easily.

Without another thought, however, she threw herself under the stream of hot water and tried to forget everything that had happened to her, at least for a few minutes.

“Ah…”

After thoroughly washing the grime from her body, Charlotte climbed out of the sink and threw herself onto the towel, drying herself off completely. She wrapped the towel around her body and found herself confronted with another issue.

“Um…. Vanser!” Charlotte yelled. A moment later the giant appeared in the doorway, eyes wide in alarm.

“What’s the matter?”

Charlotte shifted her weight from foot to foot apprehensively. “I don’t… I don’t have any clothes and I really would rather not put those back on.” She nodded towards the pile of dirty clothes that she’d been wearing earlier.

“Uh yeah, I wouldn’t think you would.” Vanser relaxed when he realized Charlotte hadn’t been hurt. He reached out to the counter and swept Charlotte’s old clothing into the trash. “Hang on, I still have some of the clothes I got for Molly with me.”

A few minutes later and Charlotte was dressed again, although the clothes she wore felt like they were at least two sizes too small for her.

“Is it okay?” Vanser asked.

“Well…” Charlotte glanced at her reflection in the massive bathroom mirror. “They are a little tight, and my grandmother would have a heart attack if she saw me dressed like this, but it’s much better than being naked. Thank you.”

“Oh, uh, no problem.” Vanser muttered. “I think you look nice.”

“Thank you” Charlotte fingered the hem of the shirt. Suddenly the weight of everything hit her and she felt her lip tremble. Before she could control herself, she fell to her knees and a stream of tears was running down her face.

“Oh…” Vanser stepped closer. “Charlotte… wh-what’s wrong?”

“It’s just… Molly is out there somewhere, with some random titans and I don’t know what they’re doing to her. Are they hurting her? Is she okay or is she in pain? I don’t know! And whatever it is… it’s my fault!”

“It’s not!” Vanser gently cupped his hand against her back. “It’s not your fault they took her, Charlotte.”

“But I ran away!” Charlotte sobbed. “I ran away and left her behind.”

“You were scared.” Vanser responded. “You weren’t thinking right. It happens to all kinds of people when faced with danger. Besides, Molly would have wanted you to escape.”

“At least I’d be with her.” Charlotte muttered, though she was starting to calm. She leaned back against Vanser’s fingers.

“Yes you would.” Vanser agreed, keeping his voice calm. “But this way, you were able to get help. And that means Molly has a chance of being rescued.”

Charlotte sniffed. “That’s true.”

“It is.” Vanser sighed, feeling relieved the outburst was over, at least for the moment. “Are you ready to go tell Lenya you’re okay.”

“Yeah.” Charlotte wiped her eyes. “But don’t call her.” The little human laughed in a way that was only a little evil.

“I have a great idea.”

*.*.*.*

Molly huddled in the corner of the glass enclosure and pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders. The two women who had been keeping her prisoner still hadn’t given Molly her clothes back, but they had agreed that Molly being freezing cold was not a good thing. So, a nice fluffy blanket had been gifted her, which she could at least use to cover up.

The door at the far end of the room opened and the blonde Titan entered. The giant made a beeline for Molly’s cage where she knelt down and peered through the glass with her amber colored eyes.

“Still not talking, huh?” The giant woman’s breath fogged the glass wall for a brief moment. “That’s too bad. No one likes a sad human.”

Molly studiously ignored the titan staring in at her.

“Well…” The woman muttered after a moment. “Maybe some music will cheer you up.”

She walked over to one of the many instruments that lined the walls. The one she chose looked like a cross between a piano keyboard and a harp. Actually, it reminded Molly of a stringed instrument she had once seen someone playing in an upscale restaurant she’d had lunch with a producer at in Chinatown.

Ourellia sat in a chair an balanced the twelve stringed instrument across her knees, before slipping a pair of what looked like metal claws over the tips of her first and third finger.

Despite herself, Molly was intrigued as the giant woman began to pluck the strings with one hand, and adjust the pitch of the resulting sound by sliding the palm of her other hand and pressing down on the strings at various points along the instrument.

The human listened intently as the giant played the strange instrument. Ourellia played competently and Molly found her thoughts drifting back to Earth and life she’d been stolen from.

And least until a discordant note suddenly jarred her back to reality.

“Sorry.” Ourellia muttered sheepishly. “I’m still trying to learn how to play this one.”

“How many instruments do you play?” Molly found herself asking before she remembered she was supposed to be ignoring the giants.

“Nine.” Ourellia said, a smile lighting up her face. She was pleased that she’d gotten a reaction from the human, especially since Caetyr hadn’t managed to. “Unless you count the instruments that are just different versions of each other as being separate.”

“Nine?!” Despite her reticence, Molly was impressed. She could pluck out a few chords on the guitar, but that was as far as it went.

“Yeah, counting the djantó, here.” Ourellia shrugged. “I’ve been learning about music since I was very young, after all.”

The Titan smiled slyly. She rose from her seat at the instrument and stepped towards Molly’s cage, with her hand outstretched. “Do you want to take a closer look?”

Molly’s eyes widened and she backed away, suddenly fearful. “N-No… that’s okay. I can see it just fine from here.”

“Oh.” Ourellia’s eyes darkened with disappointment. She slowly lowered herself back onto the bench by her stringed instrument and casually plucked at one of the strings.

“But… I wouldn’t mind hearing some more of the music.” Molly said, somewhat shyly. “If you don’t mind…”

Ourellia smiled and plucked another string. “I think I can do that for you.”

“It is very nice.” Molly admitted as Ourellia began to play again. “We have instruments that are similar on Earth, where I’m from.”

Another jarring note rang out from the instrument as Ourellia jerked her hand away suddenly.

She turned to Molly, a horrified look on her face. “You’re from WHERE?!”

*.*.*.*

There hadn’t been any sign of either Molly or Charlotte.

The staff had been most apologetic about the fact that they hadn’t been able to find her “pets” but in their defense they did have a ‘no pets’ policy for a reason.

Lenya had stopped listening to the manager at that point. She didn’t need reminding that Molly and Charlotte had trusted them and her own carelessness had caused her to fail them utterly.

She’d tried, in a futile gesture, to try to find them herself, carefully combing every corridor of the hotel- twice- before finally retiring to her room. Once there, she’d collapsed onto the bed and hadn’t moved since.

Her pad beeped. Lenya tried to ignore it but whoever was on the other end refused to leave her in peace. Finally, with a groan of frustration, the red haired Titan slapped at her pad until it finally answered.

“Hello Dibilique this is-“

Lenya, however, never heard who was on the other end because at that moment a loud thumping noise ripped through the room as someone banged rather forcefully on the door to her hotel room.

“I’ll call you back.” She muttered to whoever was on her pad before clicking it off.

Cautiously, Lenya rose from the bed and approached the door. She peeked through the small peep hole and, suddenly the bottom fell out of her stomach.

On the other side of the door stood a tall, broad-shouldered man in a full Imperator uniform and, unfortunately for Lenya, he looked distressingly familiar.

“Lenyalana Dagaramonto!” The imperator intoned forcefully, “This is Imperator-Legatus Vanser Nix, and I require you to open this door immediately.”

Lenya’s heart thundered in her chest and she briefly surveyed her options. She discovered that, other than jumping out of her fourth-floor window and hoping for the best, she really didn’t have any.

So she fell back to her old standby of trying to charm and bluff her way out of trouble. It had worked in the past.

“One moment, Imperator!” She called out cheerily and pretended to struggle with the locks, to buy more time to collect herself. “I’m just having a little trouble with the door!”

“You have until the count of four.” Nix’s voice rumbled from the other side.

Lenya only took to the count of two before flinging the door open.

“There we are!” She said smiling as she looked the Imperator in the face again, only this time without the benefit of her mask to hide behind. “What can I do for you sir?”

Vanser’s face was an inscrutable mask as he pushed past her into the room. “Miss Dagaramonto, did you recently spend any time on Titan Station?”

Lenya blinked and schooled her features into a confused frown. “Recently? I don’t think so… I mean, I haven’t been there in, well years anyway.”

“Uh huh.” Nix’s eyes squinted and seemed to be trying to peer into her soul. “How about Azatlia? Spent any time there recently?”

“No… actually, I don’t believe I’ve ever been there.” Lenya answered. “Really Imperator, what cause do you have to be here?”

Nix nodded. “Of course. It’s just that a woman matching your description has been involved in a number of… incidents over the past few weeks at Titan Station and Azatlia.”

Lenya’s eyes narrowed, there was something else going on here. Nix wasn’t nearly keeping enough hidden from her, he was hiding a slate.

“I don’t… know anything about anything like that.”

“I think you’re lying.” Nix replied, slipping his hand into the pocket of his jacket. “I have a witness who says otherwise.”

Lenya watched his hand cautiously, waiting for a weapon or a restraint to appear from his pocket. “Y-you do?”

“I do.” Nix suddenly raised his hand and opened his fingers, revealing…

“Hey Thunder-thighs!” Charlotte quipped, sitting in the center of Vanser Nix’s hand. “Did you miss me?”

At first, Lenya’s mind couldn’t process what she was seeing. Vanser’s entire demeanor suddenly flipped completely. He was no longer looming over her in a threatening manner. Instead, he had… he had Charlotte held out to Lenya, who raised a trembling palm until it was level with his own.

Charlotte stepped into Lenya’s hand.

“Y-you’re okay…” Lenya whispered quietly, as if afraid the slightest noise would destroy the moment.

“For the most part.” Charlotte smiled. “Thanks to Vanser. Looks… looks like Molly was right about him after all.”

“Molly!” Lenya’s eyes widened and she stood up straight abruptly. “Where is she? You have her too, don’t you?!”

“No.” Charlotte sat down in Lenya’s hand. “She was taken. We don’t know where she is.” She quickly summarized the events that lead to her and Molly being separated.

Suddenly Lenya’s heart, which had been soaring, came crashing down again. She turned and sat on the edge of the bed.

“This is all my fault.” Lenya muttered. “Molly is missing, who knows what kind of trouble she’s in and-”

“Len, you can’t think that way.” Charlotte said emphatically. “I ran from her, Lenya. I left her behind. I’m ashamed that I did, but it was a mistake, just like yours.”

“If you hadn’t we wouldn’t have any idea at all how to find her.” Vanser reminded Charlotte gently. “As it is, we at least have a description to work with.”

“It’s not hopeless.” Charlotte continued.

“Okay.” Lenya sighed, rubbing her eyes. “You’re right. Tomorrow, I’ll let the tournament organizers know I’m dropping out.”

“What?!” Charlotte sputtered.

“The only reason I decided to enter the tournament after freeing you was so I could hide from… well… him.” Lenya chuckled morosely. “That’s not really an issue anymore, unless you’re planning on arresting me, Imperator?”

“No.” Vanser shook his head. “I’m not.”

“Exactly. And now, my first priority has to be finding Molly.” Lenya continued.

“You don’t need to do that.” Charlotte shook her head. “You’re under contract… and you don’t want to disappoint your fans.”

Vanser coughed and looked at his shoes. “Besides, there’s usually a few days between each competitor’s matches. Charlotte and I can search while you’re in a match, and then you can help during your off days.”

“…It just seems wrong…” Lenya muttered skeptically.

“She’d want you to play.” Charlotte told her. “And it’s not like you’re giving up on her. Who knows? Maybe you’ll stumble on a lead. Maybe she’s with one of the other players.”

Lenya shook her head in resignation. “All right, but if she’s mad at me over it later, I’m blaming both of you.”

“Noted.” Vanser chuckled. “All right, well, I need to get some sleep. Goodnight ladies.”

“Hey Vanser!” Charlotte called out to him. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Vanser turned back, his brow creased in confusion. “Like what?”

“Me!” The little human called out. “The only clothes close to fitting me are all in your room.”

“Oh, uh… I guess you have a point.” Vanser muttered, lowering his hand to the human’s level.

Lenya’s eyebrow crooked and she smiled serenely as Charlotte climbed into the young man’s hand. “I’ll meet up with you two tomorrow and we’ll try to figure out or first move.” She said.

“Yeah…” Vanser nodded. “That sounds like a good plan. Good night, Dibilique.”

“Good night Imperator, Charlotte.”

“Night Len.”