Nothing But Requiem

Chapter Four: [Music Never Leaves Me] #1

Even from the stage, Ario and Seere immediately stood out to Leila as they mingled with the audience. Ario's crimson dress and Seere's dark suit were the fashion of nobles, far from that of a favela dweller. After a few moments of eye contact with Leila, Ario came to her senses and looked back in hopes that she had lost her pursuers in the crowd.

Leila looked beyond Ario's gaze. She noticed the thugs, whom she had previously seen at Neo Casablanca, pushing their way into the crowd, clearly in hot pursuit. 

Those kids are being chased!  Leila realized it instantly. She connected the next song and called another DJ who was waiting backstage. "I have to take care of something real quick. Do you think you can hold this down for me?" The other DJ nodded silently. As they swapped spots, Leila left the stage.

× × ×

Ario gripped Seere's small hand tightly and pushed forward through the sea of people. But once they got to the row in front of the stage, they found that there was no way out.

"We're trapped, Ario—we have to fight!"

"Wait, what?!"

Seere's words were drowned out by the music and the bustling crowd. It was impossible to hear him, but from his weary expression, Ario could tell that he was trying to activate the twilight realm.

I guess we have no choice, thought Ario. With a feeling of resignation, she outstretched her hand to draw her gun—and instead found it being gripped by another hand. When she looked upto see who it belonged to, she saw the beautiful DJ who was just onstage standing there with a serious look on her face.

"Come on!" Leila urged, bending her tall frame to whisper in Ario's ear.

"Huh? But—" Ario panicked, looking back and forth in confusion.

"Just do it!"

"Let's go, Ario. There's nowhere else to run," Seere said as he pushed on Ario's back towards Leila. Leila took Ario's hand and led them around to the area behind the stage. Several simple tents had been set up and were being used as dressing rooms.

"I don't know why they're after you, but just wait here for now," Leila said as she ushered Ario and Seere into one of the tents. At the same time, a few of Don Nicolas's thugs forced their way backstage. Leila stood in front of the men with an impassive look on her face.

"Can I help you?"

"M-Miss Leila!" The men who were chasing Ario looked bewildered by her sudden appearance.

"You guys seem like you're in an awful hurry. What's up?"

"Don Nicolas gave us strict orders to bring back one of his employees, as well as the girl who has kidnapped them."

"So?"

"So? So..." At Leila's seemingly uninterested response, the man looked puzzled as he searched for a follow up. "...So we saw a little girl and a brat who matched Zeb's description running this way... So we came after them."

"Uh huh..." Leila replied indifferently, as if this was neither her business nor her problem.

"Anyway, the girl that took off with that boy... David was chasing them, but she blasted his face off—"

"Wait, David's dead?!" Leila's disinterested façade broke instantly at this unexpected news.

"Yeah. It looks like he was shot in the head. Zeb said the girl had a magically armed gun. She must be the one who did it..."