Like a tidal wave, the slime girl surged forward and tackled the gaunt man, her arms elongating as they wrapped around his slender body multiple times.

"Silver, I can't believe it! How are you here?! You're supposed to be dead."

She spun in a circle as she rambled, swinging around the poor man like he was nothing more than a ragdoll. Eventually she unravelled her arms from around him, letting him stumble as he landed back on his feet, pressing his hand against the side of his head in an attempt to stave off the dizziness.

"It's good to see you too, Cynthia. I could honestly say the same thing about you, I mean the last time I saw you you were being splattered across the street. How did you survive?"

She laughed softly, giving herself a firm smack in the chest which just made her gelatinous body jiggle as she stuck out her chest valiantly.

"Turns out it takes a lot more than that to kill me. I'm like the T1000, managed to pull myself back together. But by then the bird was gone, Sirius said that you lost your arm and then- Holy crap your arm!"

Clutching his stump, Cynthia started to thoroughly examine it. Lifting his what was left of his arm and running her hand over the severed limb. She didn't seem to care that they had an audience as she fawned over this strange young man like she was his doting mother.

When it had gone on for far too long, to the point that everyone, especially the one being doted over, had become uncomfortable Astra felt that it was only right to put an end to it.

Clearing her throat loudly, she tried to get the attention of their slime scout, but failed miserably as her repeated attempts were drowned out by Cynthia's endless rambling. After a few more unsuccessful attempts, she simply resorted to giving the girl a gentle zap in the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

Her head whipped around 180 degrees whilst her body remained in the same position, an exaggerated angry expression on her face which quickly melted away once she met Astra's stone cold glare.

"Don't you think he would be more comfortable having a quiet, private conversation? It sounds like you have some important things to catch up on."

"Oh uh… Right, of course. I'm sorry Ma'am."

Taking a hold of the man's remaining hand, Cynthia dragged him back the way he had come so that they could have their little reunion away from prying eyes.

The last thing Astra heard before they disappeared out of sight was the one armed man asking a question in a not so quiet whisper.

"Wait… What did you mean by I'm supposed to be dead?"

Astra sighed and shook her head, rubbing her temples as she imagined what the conversation must be like. Although she didn't have all the details, she knew enough. After all, they had been together for a few weeks and had shared plenty of stories around the campfire.

Plus, no matter how long you spent at the 'sanctuary', be it a week, a day or a single damned second, there was no chance you wouldn't know that story. Sirius loved to tell it as often as he could. The way he told it, the walking dead man over there should have been dead without a doubt. Whilst Sirius had fought the beast alone, comparing himself to Heracles or other legends of old, his companion could only sit by the side-lines, cradling his missing arm and cheering on his valiant hero.

He would talk on length, regaling the tale of how he defeated it alone after fighting tooth and nail all whilst defending a helpless man, only to find out once the beast was dead that his ward had been killed by a stray attack, pierced through the heart by one of the creatures feathers.

Clearly, as evidenced by the fact his so-called friend wasn't dead, that story was nothing more than a steaming pile of horse-shit. Honestly, there was a part of Astra that was happy that he turned out to be a liar.

There was no better feeling than the vindication of being proven right about someone you hated, especially if others loved them. Sure, he was all smiles and friendship, but she didn't buy it for a single second.

'Come to think of it… Some of his hunting party died last week too. That motherfucker! Don't tell me he did something to them too.'

Her knuckles turned white as she clenched her trembling fist, sparks dancing in her eyes and arcing a few centimetres off her body as all sorts of thoughts ran through her head. She couldn't help but imagine those poor people being left to die out of cowardice or tossed to the wolves as a distraction.

A pressure on her shoulder dragged her out of her spiralling thoughts, causing her to glance down at the gloved hand resting where the sparks had been flying.

It took a second for her brain to process what was happening, but as soon as she understood Astra recoiled as if the touch had burned her. She looked behind her, at the cloaked stranger who had touched her, with sheer gut wrenching horror. Dozens of scenarios running through her mind as she was about to call for someone's help.

Yet despite her expectations, he simply stood there with his head tilted slightly, an unknowable expression hidden behind the beaked mask he wore.

"How did you… I thought…"

Blinking a few times, her mind short circuiting as it failed to understand what had happened, or more accurately, what hadn't happened. She stared at his hand, which he now held out for a handshake, as if he had just told her that he was the Grand Poobah of the frog kingdom before leaping into space, instead of simply touching her shoulder.

She hesitated for a few seconds, still worried about the touch killing him, before she tenderly took his hand and shook it.

"Corvus."

"...What?"

"Corvus. My name."

Too caught up in the familiar, yet recently foreign, sensation of an honest to god handshake she had missed what he had said the first time.

When he spoke, it was coarse and rough, but unlike sand it didn't get everywhere. Instead it was barely more than a whisper. Although he only spoke a few words, each one grunted out and sounded like he had forced every word against his body's protests.

"Corvus? Oh duh, cos of the bird. Right, you're one of those…"

It seemed this time it was his turn to be confused, tilting his head like a puppy, as they kept awkwardly shaking hands.

"What? You thought you were the only one who 'shed the shackles of their mortal life' and took a new name?"

She finally released his hand, just so that she could cover her mouth to hold in her laughter.

"I mean we even have a guy who insisted on calling himself Thanatos, you know like the God of Death? Can you imagine having a name as lame as that?"

***

Retracting his mind back from the puppet dressed in his armour, Sephtis 'Seth' Quinn let out a low groan at the conversation his other half was having and once again cursed his brainwashed mother for giving him such a dreadful name.

Since he hadn't had anyone but Bob and Omelette to talk to, he hadn't practiced his ventriloquism much lately. The best he could manage was those few grunted words and even those required most of his concentration and willpower. But it seemed, if he was going to stay as the puppet master behind the curtain, that he was going to have to practice it a lot more to pull off the double act.

'Maybe I should have just dressed Bob up instead, that would have definitely been easier… but who knows what kind of insane things he might say. No, it's best I keep control of this one.'

A quick smack across the back of his head knocked him out of his thoughts. Rubbing the back of his head, he glared up at Cynthia as she stood with her hands on her hips while he sat on a fallen tree.

"What was that for?"

"Are you even listening Silver? Sirius betrayed you. Aren't you mad? I thought you'd be… I don't know, punching trees or shouting or showing any reaction. Not just sitting there spacing out."

"Well you're doing all of that enough for the both of us."

He plainly pointed out, going back to staring at the ground as he clenched and unclenched his fist, only getting a sigh and an eye roll in response.

"Plus, I never said I wasn't angry. Don't mistake silence for acceptance. I want to rip out his lying tongue and stuff it down his throat. It's taking everything inside me right now to control that anger, because right now it's useless to me.

I have so many things I need to focus on; I need to keep these puppets under control, I need to improve myself, I need to help you and the others stay alive. I need to figure out how to find my family and keep them safe.

There are so many things more important than petty revenge. But don't think that means I'm not angry. Because I'm fucking furious."

"So… What are you going to do about it then?"

He lifted his head, his black and silver eyes holding an icy gaze despite the raging fire burning within.

"I don't know. I could say I'll do a lot of things, but when I see him I might punch him or I might not. All depends on how I feel when I see his smug face. Right now though… punching sounds good."

"Well, whatever you do, I'm sure by now you'll have maxed out at least one of your stats. So that'll make it easier."

She gave him a pat on the shoulder, turning to walk away thinking that the conversation was over.

"Wait, what do you mean maxed out?"