"You're gonna have to pay for this! I can't just allow anyone to come by and destroy the roof of my restaurant and expect to get away with it!"

Toshi sighed. He was in trouble with authorities over his destructive impulses. . .again.

"Hey, it's okay pops! Calm down!" Toshi offered to the owner of the restaurant he had accidentally damaged.

"It's not okay! I want compensation for this now or I'm going to call the city guards!"

"Umm, well, I don't have that much money. . .can you guys help me out here?" Toshi said while looking behind him to where Kleo, Zelgadis, and Sierra stood. All three shook their heads.

"Oh, c'mon! We're all pals, right? Can't you lend me just a little? I'll pay you back,"

"It looks like they don't want to pay, son," the restaurant owner observed, "I'll make you a deal. I'll forget the whole incident if you work here for a while."

"What? But, I need to be somewhere!"

"Then would you like me to call the city guard?"

Toshi sighed again; he didn't see much choice in the matter.

"Fine, I'll work. . ." he muttered while looking back at the others and giving them a nasty glare.

The restaurant owner pointed to Sierra. "I want you to work too,"

"What? Why? I had no part in this!" Sierra asked in surprise.

"You're a pretty cute lady; cute waitresses bring good business,"

Sierra didn't seem impressed by the flattery.

"Besides," the owner continued, "it wouldn't be right of you to abandon your fiancé."

"Fiancé?!" Sierra asked in disbelief, "Him?!"

"That's right. Come along now, I have work for you two,"

"What? Wait! This isn't right!" Sierra protested as the owner dragged her. Toshi followed a few steps behind them. He looked back at Kleo and Zelgadis. They shrugged simultaneously.

"You two go on ahead of me. I'll meet you at the shrine," Toshi said as a farewell.

"Of all the goddammed times to be humiliated. . ."

"Oh? What's so humiliating? I think this waiter's outfit is pretty suave," Toshi said admiring the tuxedo-like uniform he wore.

"Do you have to wear this?" Sierra asked. Toshi looked at her a moment.

"Okay, I see your point," he admitted upon viewing Sierra's outfit. Apparently the waitress's uniform consisted mainly of blouse and a mini-skirt. Sierra constantly was attempting to pull the skirt down further.

"Anyway," Toshi continued while trying to change the topic, "Why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, oh dear 'fiancé,'" Sierra mockingly stated.

"I wasn't referring to that," Toshi replied, "I meant, why are you in this town?"

"That's none of your business!" Sierra snapped back.

"So you still hate me?" Toshi mused, "Oh well, at least you haven't killed me like you claimed you would."

Sierra was about to reply when Toshi left the kitchen. She sat down in a chair for a moment, but then realizing that sitting with a mini-skirt was even more embarrassing than standing, she stood again.

"You're not happy?" a voice from the other side of the kitchen asked.

Sierra spun around to see Terra standing with her cloak wrapped tightly around her.

"Oh, Terra! It's you!"

"You're not happy?" Terra repeated.

"Why the hell should I be?"

"I thought it might be an experience to take your mind off of matters for a little bit,"

"What? You mean you're the one who told the owner I was Toshi's fiancée?"

Terra nodded. Sierra seemed rather pissed.

"Oh come on now. It's not that bad is it?" Terra said with a chuckle.

Sierra said nothing but still seemed very unhappy.

"I'm going to continue. I'll wait for you at the shrine," Terra said while walking towards the back exit.

"Wait, Terra!"

Terra looked back at Sierra and shook her head.

"My sanity weakens. It's only a matter of time until the Ruby-Eye regains control over my mind. I need to keep moving if I don't want to lose who I am,"

Sierra's anger melted away to concern. After a moment's pause Sierra answered, "Alright. I'll meet up with you later."

Terra nodded and was about to leave until Sierra made one last statement.

"You still haven't really told me why you decided to say that Toshi was my fiancé,"

Terra looked back at Sierra and for once smiled.

"You don't seriously--" Sierra asked in astonishment.

Terra just smiled some more and left. Sierra sighed and left the kitchen to start working.

"Man, I'm beat. I never knew a waiter's life was so much work," Toshi complained to Sierra as he slumped down into a chair. It was a bit past midnight; all the restaurant's patrons had left and the only people left in the building were the owner, Toshi, and Sierra.

"You got it easy," Sierra accused him.

"Easy? How did I do any less work than you?"

"I never said you did less work, I just said you got it easier than I did. You didn't have men at the bar pinching your butt all night long,"

"Oh, that," Toshi chuckled, "But you have to admit, you do look really cute in that getup."

"Did you just say something?" Sierra asked dangerously while walking over to the chair where Toshi sat.

"Me? No, n-nothing! Nothing at all!" Toshi smiled nervously at his rather annoyed companion.

"Did I tell you what happened to those men who touched me?" Sierra continued while leaning over Toshi with a dangerous smile on her face.

"Umm, no, you didn't. . ."

Sierra didn't say anything but she rubbed a bruise on the knuckles of her right hand.

"Ahh. . ." Toshi replied sagely. That explained all the commotion that he heard from the bar when he was washing dishes.

There was a long silence as Sierra left the room to change back into her normal clothes. Toshi just sat in the chair a moment long while pondering. After a while when Sierra finally returned wearing her normal outfit Toshi chanced a question.

"Sierra," he began, "do you remember when we first met?"

"Yeah," she replied, "It was only a few weeks ago."

"No. When we first met," Toshi repeated while putting emphasis on the word "first."

"That was when we first met,"

Toshi shook his head. Sierra looked quizzically at him.

"At least fifteen years ago, probably a bit more, a woman who looked somewhat like you took me off the streets and into her home. She had a child; a little girl with blue hair. That little girl introduced herself to me as 'Sierra' though I never said my own name. The father of the family returned to the home with a sense of urgency. Within minutes the family had left, but not after giving me some food and the cape I now wear to use as a blanket,"

Toshi paused and looked at Sierra who was listening intently. "You don't recall any of this?" he asked.

Sierra shook her head. Toshi sighed and leaned forward in his chair to prop his chin on his hands.

"Though what you say about my family being on the run is correct," Sierra commented. Toshi looked up at her.

"My parents were always cautious of something that they wouldn't explain to me. We eventually came to live at the Shrine of Rekos where we hoped we would be safe. One day when I was in my early teens I returned to my family's quarters to find both my parents lying on the floor. I touched them and they were deathly cold, like they had been murdered days ago even though I had seen them earlier that day,"

"I'm sorry to hear that," Toshi offered.

"Just recently I discovered who their murdered was," Sierra continued, "It was that Mazoku priest. . .Xellos. . ."

"Xellos. . ." Toshi pondered aloud, "Kleo mentioned him."

"And you tried to kill him," Sierra said as though reminding him.

Toshi nodded his head. "Kleo told me that also, but I have no memory of it."

"Perhaps your story of ignorance has some truth to it," Sierra stated, "I'm sorry for what I said to you earlier. I. . .I just didn't know what to do. For years the only family I had was Terra and then--"

"It's okay, I understand," Toshi hushed her.

There was an awkward pause, then Toshi changed the subject.

"So why are you here?"

"I'm going back to the Shrine of Rekos. This was just a stop along the way. Why are you here?"

"I'm going to the shrine also. I've been having these weird dreams lately. I have a feeling that the shrine will hold the answers to those dreams,"

"I see. I'll tag along with you then. . .if you don't mind that is," Sierra said.

"No. Not at all," Toshi replied. Sierra smiled.

A knocking at the kitchen door stopped the conversation cold.

"That you, Mr. Owner sir?" Toshi half-mockingly asked.

The kitchen door opened to reveal a woman standing in the threshold. She wore white and green robes. A white cloth covered half her face so that only her left eye was visible. The iris of the other eye was black.

"Toshi Yokutsu?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, that's me. What do you need?"

"Your death," the woman flatly answered.

"What?!" Toshi stood up suddenly and backed away a few steps. Sierra did the same.

"Amusing. Are you scared of me?" the woman asked.

"No, just cautious," Toshi assured her.

"You should remember me, Toshi. It's your fault I am what I am now. You did this to me," she accused Toshi. She lifted one of her hands from out of her robes. The hand was grotesquely disfigured. It had only three fingers and long claws extended out of each one. The hand grabbed a fold of the white and green robes and pulled the top layer off.

Sierra gasped as she saw what was beneath. Toshi merely stared in shock. The woman's other arm looked perfectly human, but it was twisted in such a way that there was no question as to whether or not it was broken. The right side of her face was horribly scarred and her right eye was sealed shut. Two skeletal wings sprouted from her back.

"You did this to me!" she continued to accuse, "Now I, Elayne, shall taste your blood. That is the sweetest revenge,"