With the short notice that the kitchen had been given, food turned out to be rather middling. Nobody had told them of the master's situation either, explaining the large fish filet that Maria was served, by a maid whose face was deathly pale at the first sight of her new superior. She quickly hurried back into the kitchen, muttering apology after apology, and her loud screeching voice was still audible through the heavy doors.

Maria did her best to ignore it and sat down, with Elaine staying at her side and cutting the fish into appropriate pieces for her. On the other side of the table Sin had taken a seat, a large stack of newspapers in her hand that she started to sift through while her master ate. It was a quiet, sombre atmosphere, Maria felt quite small in the large hall, at a table meant for a large gathering, all to herself.

With her meal properly prepared, she began to eat. In between bites, she looked up to Sin, who pulled out pages, tore out minor articles, placing the presentable material on one pile, and the rest on another. The servants eyes were racing across the lines. "Anything good?" Without anyone watching her that could have an opinion, Maria was voraciously devouring her meal, taking in the next bite before having fully swallowed the last.

"It would seem that lady Merlayne has quite the hand, or means, more than I expected, that is." Sin picked up the finished stack of paper and slid it across the table. "I believe you would enjoy it more by seeing for yourself, my master."

The very first article had her choke on her food. Just the sight of Samdel on the title picture was enough to unnerve her. It showed him in the company of a few other man, dwarfed in comparison to the titan of a man, all with surprisingly foreign faces. The headline read "True mastermind revealed: The story behind the new wave of foreign terrorism."

The article linked Samdel not only to the skirmishes in front of Paris, but also to her uncle that she had murdered, to Aranville that had been burned by her beast, as well as a series of smaller terrorist attacks that had flared up in national news over the last years. It was yellow journalism at it's peak, harping on about his citizenship, ownership of land in north Africa, and a laundry list of other things that even Maria could hardly believe to be true.

"Nobody is going to believe this." She shook her head, looking back at Sin, who was grinning. "That article was from two days ago, my master. You should look at the other ones." The next article showed a few heroes that Maria could recognise, in handcuffs and pushed into police vans.

"The biggest lie of the century, ties between hero agencies and international terrorism?" With every line Maria read her eyes widened further. The article was claiming that Aranville had been such a disaster due to collusion between Samdel and prominent hero agencies, in a 'disgusting' show of bribery and 'callous' desire to be seen as saviours in the last minute.

Even Maria knew the name of the newspaper, in her class it had often been used as a source to discuss national politics, she even vaguely recalled the name of the journalist that had written the piece. "But they, they didn't." Without looking up she put the article aside, to read the last, it had been published just earlier today. Her face dominated the front page. Seeing herself, afraid yet unharmed, made her stomach churn. "Innocent girl caught in repulsive web of lies, how heroes have been abusing our trust."

Maria swore to remember the name of the journalist, a certain Jean Adnet. He spoke of heroes with a vitriol she had only ever found in the very fringe newsletters Maria had subscribed to in her teenage years, the ones she had always hidden from her father to not concern him about his daughter 'drifting to extremism', as a teacher had once put it. It portrayed her as an innocent victim that had been framed by this shadowy circle surrounding Samdel, stylising her as a saintly martyr that the country should weep for.

"The people are terrified, my master. A great hero is killed, the very next days a massive city is laid to ash, a few days later the capital itself is attacked? And where are the heroes, all they talk about is how they are "going to" help, the media only sees them fail or show no results. Then you add a little xenophobia, and the toxin is ready." Sin leaned back in her seat, crossing her legs. "You have a great taste in women, my master."

Maria was nodding along to her servant, the rhetoric of Jean had captivated her completely. In her eyes sparked the glee of a child, burning insects. She did not see how Sin's face grew pale as she turned the page, eager to read more. At the look of the next picture, the smile faded. She could not hear Sin's voice, nor did she notice how she was getting up, hurriedly walking over to her.

Her arms were trembling as she stared at the picture of her home, a burned out ruin. The trampled garden, the cherry tree cut down. She could only stare, she felt nothing as Sin wrapped her arms around her. Her eyes darted around the text, hard to make out threw her tears. She wanted names, and she found them. Found that her father had died in the flames. The perpetrator was a young father who had lost family in Aranville, and acted alone in the cover of night, the police caught him quickly after, he was still in custody.

Maria got up, her vision even more impaired by her tears. "Get Menagerie." Sin could say no word under authority, and left the room. Her ears were ringing, deafened by a rage that she had not felt before. She began to pace, up and down the table, four times before Sin returned with her sister. At the sight of their master, both looked pale. Maria grabbed the article and pushed it against Menagerie's chest.

"Find him. Find everyone he knows; his friends, his co workers, his parents, grandparents, siblings, children, pets, everyone." Her fingers clenched against the beasts chest. "Hurt them. Hurt all of them. Tear them apart, break every last piece of their body, twist them into the worst most miserable creatures you can, I don't care. Show him what you did, and then kill him too." She stared back up at Menagerie. "Make it hurt. And don't come back until you did."

Three times Menagerie bowed on her way out of the room, leaving her alone with Sin and Elaine. "My master." Sin spoke up, her voice shaky. "It would perhaps be best to leave him to lady Merlayne, he could be a very useful asset to-"

"I don't CARE!" The force of her voice pushed both beasts on their knees. "What will they do, put him in a cell, where he has to live? He does not GET to live, he took everything from me, everything I still had!" Her voice was a screech, breaking over her sobs again and again.

"So I am going to take everything from him as well! I would have him and his entire damn family impaled on the walls of my home here if I could, I'd strangle him with my own fucking hands if I still had them, dad is gone, my home is gone and it is ALL MY FAULT!"

Maria slammed her hand on the table, and she ran out of the room. Nobody went after her, nobody dared looking at her as she ran up the stairs to her chambers, and threw herself on the bed.

It took an hour for her authority to simmer down enough to allow Sin and Elaine to move again. When they opened the door to their master's chamber, they found it as devastated as the crippled girl had been capable of.

Pillows and blankets laid around the room, showing signs of Maria having tried to tear them apart, but lacking the strength to do so. The master herself laid on the now empty bed, curled up in a fetal position, coddling Sir Screech in her arms. All that she still had left.

"Leave." Her voice was so weak they could barely hear, and while no authority was within it, they obeyed nonetheless. In silence they sat on the other side of the door. The sun rose, moved and finally set, all the while Maria was laying there, unmoving.

Here she was, royalty.

Living in a massive mansion, a small army of armed guards, with demonic near immortal creatures at her beck and call, and she could not stop a single, pathetic commoner. She stared into the dark corner of the room, praying for some shadow to appear, some merciless being to tear her apart for her failures.

She would not even scream, she would be too busy being thankful, thankful that it would make the pain stop. "They killed mom because of me, they killed dad because of me." The bed was stained with tears near her head, they just would not stop. With nightfall came the cold, but she could still not bring herself to stand up. Her eyes flashed to the dagger on her nightstand. Just a single prick on her fingers, and it would all be over.

But even for that she could not get up. Her energy all but gone, her eyes fell shut. It took another hour before Sin dared to open the door. Her footsteps produced no sound as she picked up the blanket and pillows, tidying up the bed for her master.

When she tried to pick her up, Maria grasped for her hand, muttering sobbing apologies. For another hour Sin staid in place, until her master released her, as she began to twist and turn, holding onto the plush for dear life. Sin could not imagine the visions that were plaguing her master, that she was helpless to combat.

She finished making the bed, resting a pillow under Maria's head and pulling the blanket over her. For a moment she considered to stay, but her orders were still in affect, and despite the lack of authority, she could not bring herself not to obey.

With a last passing glance Sin closed the door, and wrapped her arms around Elaine. "Make sure nobody disturbs our master, dear sister. But do check on her every once and then, just in case."

"And where will you be going, great sister?" Sin did not turn her head as she walked off. "I will go down in the basement. I've not seen as much combat in recent days, I feel I require a bit of training."

"But you have not trained in a hundred years, you always said it's beneath you." Elaine was tilting her head to the side. Sin did not answer and disappeared into the dark.