Alright, here's the deal. I know I kinda disappeared for... a long time, but yeah. You should expect that with me. xD

Anyway, I thought about writing this chapter in Nikko's POV too, but I thought I might have a bit more fun with it instead and write it as Halloween. Don't worry, it fits into the story so it's okay. He might seem a tad OOC though. I think I did a pretty good job with his character, considering he's my favorite, but yeah. Your opinion counts, not mine. So, drop a line and tell me what you think. Any comments, questions, or changes will be looked at. Thanks for the support.

Bodies. Pain. Suffering. Bloodshed. It was the same over and over again with nothing changing except for the quantities of how much: constantly increasing. He always loved it. Joy danced through his veins as the sun dances through the sky at the sight of it all. To Halloween, there was nothing more pleasing than the carnage of the battlefield. His smile was wide, blood rushed with delight as he stood amongst it all. He wasn't alone though.

There for work rather than the same pleasure he swam in, Nikko tread through the corpses. There wasn't one member of the Chess Knights who didn't know about the girl with sherbet orange hair that healed instead of fought. Saved instead of killed. Slightly curious, Halloween watched as she shifted among the injured with an indifferent gaze. Would he ever earn that gaze on his death bed? No, not likely. No one was able to stop him anyway, and if they could, they certainly didn't. Who should want to get in between a madman and his fun, after all?

Shifting back to observing, he noted how the girl always played the same role: increase our numbers, decrease theirs. Needless to say, the Rook performed the task without question or error. It almost annoyed him. Almost. Halloween watched as she walked on the rubble and debris beneath her shoes that was once was stood between the front lines and the Cross Guard. He followed her gaze as she scanned over the injured bodies and mangled corpses searching for one trait: a Chess earring. Halloween silently chuckled at the irony of such an item. That which once represented status and power was now nothing more than a body tag. He knew the rules of the aftermath. That Pawns were to be left to die unless they could stand on their own. It was cruel, but those were the rules. Nikko did not question them, Halloween treasured them. It was more killing for him if the Pawns attempted to crawl and beg for rescue from the clutches of death.

His smile widened with each step the Rook took, passing desperate pleas for help, the sounds of life just before death thus preserved. Then the corners of his mouth dropped a bit from behind his mask. Nikko had stopped and knelt down to heal someone. Healing. Pfft. If they were weak enough to be so injured then they should have been condemned to die there. A pop echoed through the silence of the scene, bringing Halloween's curl of the lips back again. He listened to the sound of bones being pulled and forced back into place, the crack of breaks being repaired, and the sear of flesh being hastened to heal. If all healing was like that, perhaps it wasn't so bad. After all, such experiences must have hurt more than they relieved.

Halloween had had his fill studying the remains of the day's battle though. Perhaps he would come back later to watch the corpses rot, to see the crows peck at the barely living and listen while they could only scream. Just the thought of it sent a chill of ecstasy through him. He turned away, ready to go back to Lestava when two cold words cut through his morbid daydreams.

"Let go," Nikko demanded, a tinge of impatience in her voice. The Chess with raven black hair that was gripping her ankle with rough fingers chuckled briefly before cringing. It made Halloween chuckle in response. The girl's strength had yet to actually catch up with her body. How foolish, but delightful.

"Not until," she wheezed, him barely catching it under the wonderful strain of her throat, "I get a name... I hate unpaid debts."

Halloween's mouth pressed into a fine line. An honor code of sorts? What was the need of such a thing? There was a pause for a short time, but time stretched it to seem like an eternity. "Nikko," the Rook answered, straight to the point.

He was unable to see the expression made by the Chess that stayed laying half on the body of an enemy, half on the rough rock. "Nikko-kun, eh?" the black haired girl said before going limp with unconsciousness. Her hand fell too. Halloween was tempted to laugh at how this one had also attached a masculine formality to the girl's name. Perhaps it was just a curse of hers? Who knew.

Nikko's cold eyes remained on the Chess's unconscious form before she turned away. "Not to you," she whispered before continuing her survey of the survivors. Halloween briefly raised an eyebrow of question before turning away and actually going back to Lestava via Andata this time. It didn't concern him.

He stood silently in the main entrance hall of the castle for a brief moment, considering what to do next. Most of the Chess were out creating chaos on MAR Heaven and wouldn't be back until much later. He would have been the same, but they overestimated the residences of Mishan. They were all weak old men who reminisced on the past of war, dreaming of their glory days without knowing that those days meant nothing. When they faced with true power, they all fell. There was a minimum loss of Chess, but that's what the girl out there was to fix, wasn't it?

Back to the original question though: What to do now? He could go to the dungeon and have some fun there, but he didn't want to exhaust the thrill of blood. Too much too often left not enough pleasure in it for the next time. God forbid making people suffer ever got boring, but he didn't like to take that chance. How about the last time he slept? When was that? A while ago, no doubt about that. With an unseen shrug, Halloween sauntered off to his room that was so rarely used in the west wing of the castle. He almost wished something interesting would happen along the way, and as luck would have it, nothing happened. It was peaceful within the walls of Lestava castle, something he was not used to, but he would adjust. That's what everyone needs to do sometime, right? Adjust and make changes. He would torture himself before he let go of his morbid ways though. That was just the life he chose to live.

I know it was short, okay REALLY short, but it'll all play out later, don't worry. Anyway, thanks again for the wait and tell me how I did.