Chapter Five: A Broken Hourglass Pt. 2

"Hey kid, mind waking up yet? You're kind of laying on my cat." A man stood upon the unconscious Diablo. "Guess not okay then." As the man seemed to turn to walk away he quickly turned around and shoved the heel of his boot into Diablo's face.

*GASP* I felt the familiar flavor of Oxygen as my lungs were filled with it once again. It was truly refreshing, way better than Mountain Dew but to be honest I was thirsty for a savory drink. A painful sting then emerged in my face.

"Ow!!" The pain seemed somewhat familiar. "What happened?"

"Beats me Kid, get thrown out or something?" A tough looking man stood in front of me holding a cat that then hissed at me. He wore a leather trench jacket, and goatee that somehow looked pretty good on him.

"Sorry, Mochi is a bit scarce of strange beings that happen to fall on top of them and pass out. Well I'm gonna get going." The man then began to walk away.

"Hey, wait! Please." The man stood in place and slightly tilted his head back towards me.

"What do you want, kid?"

"I don't know where I am, or exactly who I am at that and I do believe I kinda need a place to stay for a while."

"Well, I could take you in but it'd be for a price."

"Okay, I'm in!"

"Hey now kid. You didn't even let me finish!"

"I take you up on your deal."

"God, you're helpless. Fine! Let's just go."

"Okay Mister!"

. . .

The man led me into an abandoned warehouse where vines had seemed to have clinged to every wall.

"I just bought this place out today as a matter of fact. And it's even better now that I even got hired help to clean this place out as well. Ain't I just lucky?"

"You seem very lucky indeed, Sir." I encouraged him even though the place was cheap and trash.

"Great! Like the enthusiasm Kid!" The man then handed me a bucket and mop.

"What's this fo-"

"Now get to it!" The man then sat down in a chair and opened a beer bottle.

"What? You expect me to clean this whole place?"

"You said you needed a place to stay, didn't you? And I told you there'd be a price."

I threw the bucket and mop down.

"This is pointless, I'll just go find somewhere else to live."

"With what cash? And how exactly are people going to take you in if you don't even know your own name?" I knew he was right, but for god's sake why should I have to clean? Especially a whole damn warehouse.

"Fine." I said grinding my teeth.

"That's the spirit, Kiddo!"

I then spent the next five hours cutting vines, sweeping, mopping, picking up trash, sorting items found everywhere. And unclogged some ten year old rusty toilets!

"I finished, Sir." I said drenched in sweat, dripping blood, and out of breath.

"Great!" He then handed me three one hundred dollar bills.

"Wait, seriously?!"

"Well you are going to need some money to support yourself."

"Thank you!"

"Each week I'll give you another hundred. Maybe more depending on how much of a good job of cleaning you do. Now let's talk about you, like first of all your name."

"Yeah, thanks." I said with a smile. "But I do not know my name."

"It's okay Kid. We'll figure it out together. Do you know anything at all? Anything at all would be a help."

"Well.." I tried to remember what had happened but didn't have much luck. I leaned back in my chair and got a small shock from the metal and just then I felt something come to me. I saw a girl, she seemed to be surrounded by flames, she had vibrant purple hair, and he said the word or name "Diablo.."

I saw blood everywhere and that's when I noticed she wasn't the one surrounded by flames, I was. I was surrounded devouring flames of death with only the top half of my body, it then all went dark and silent.

"Hey Kid! Wake up! Kid!"

. . .

I woke up once again with an ice pack on my forehead.

"Crap.." I woke to an empty building. The one man with the goatee was missing but the one cat he had called "mochi" jumped off of me as I sat up.

I got off the couch I was laying upon and began to snoop around. I searched around at one of his desk cabinets and seemed to find nothing besides screws, paper clips, and some questionable magazines.

He had a little mirror on his desk as well, and out of the corner of the mirror I saw a hidden shape way of a door. I turned around and looked at it for a while, then as my curiosity spiked I began to creep closer unto the door.

A mysterious light poured from the creases, my heart pounded hard with a faster pace every step. I went to reach out for the door.

"Hey Kid, finally up I see." He said with a smile, holding a paper bag filled with groceries. My stomach rumbled loudly soon after.

"Heh. Don't worry I'll whip something up in a bit." He turned around and began to walk to the lab area where he made food. I couldn't seem to quite remember what it was called. A photo was in his back pocket as I watched it fall onto the ground a blow away in the wind.

I followed it for a while and picked it up once it came near the entrance.

"Hey mister!! you dropped something-" I looked at the photo and in it stood a woman, the mister I cleaned for and a little girl.

The woman had flowing white hair covering half her face. She wore a sun hat and a blue dress. Next to her stood the mister in a maroon colored tux. But out of everything what stuck to me was the sight of the little girl who stood between them.

I felt something spark in me, for I knew this girl. She had purple hair and heterochromatic eyes. One purple; one black.