Emergency Contact

"Gerhard. I'm so sorry, I only realized last minute that he was coming to you. He was prepared and blocked my attempts to warn you. I'm already looking into where he has gone. Please accept my apologies." Andromeda's voice slowly subsides but the connection is still there.

Gerhard can hear that she is being genuine when she apologizes.

"Andromeda."

Gerhard's jaw is clenched, relaxing only to spit the word out into the air, surprising his friends where they sit around their table. His hands are balled into fists under the table, knuckles white from his rage, from the panic that is now setting in as he looks at the empty chair next to him.

"We had a deal."

"Our deal was for me to stop Mister directly interfering with you. He never intended to do anything to you, thus I never sensed a reason to stop him."

There is long pause.

"He's angry about what we did. He never gets angry about anything. It's very out of character for him, it makes him unpredictable. Gerhard, you must understand, we Infinite don't act out of character, the last time it happened was... Father."

Gerhard gets to his feet, his eyes locked on the place where she had sat just moments before. His hands are balled at his side, the tendons in his arms straining to hold them steady. "And this doesn't count as directly interfering?"

He breathes in through his nose, trying to calm the panic, the unending feeling that he has to go, that he has to chase after her. The Call is in his hand, and his bag is back at his side.

"Then maybe they belong together. Maybe I'll Call up Mister now and offer him a trade. Your precious Father for Orianna."

"That would be incredibly unwise Gerhard. There is no guarantee that he wouldn't just take Father and keep Orianna, or worse: kill her to prove a point. Your desire to chase after her is good Gerhard, it will help you find her, it will make the Staircase easier to control. But what happens when you get there and have to fight Mister? He'd kill you with a snap of his fingers. You are not ready for that, but the plan I told you will make you stronger. You need to focus what you are feeling into the power you need to stop him. This is the greatest mistake Mister could have made, if you use it correctly. Don't let your emotions blind you, this is not the time for rash action."

Andromeda's words serve to slow his rapidly beating heart, his hands relaxing slightly in their grip.

Without an immediate action, without something to focus all of his rapidly building willpower, he starts to lose his grip. The scene swims - the chair in front of his eyes wobbles, as though viewed through a thin, silver fog.

"Then where is he" comes Gerhard's murmured reply. He raises his head to the heavens, eyes fixed on where Selûne would reside, where Andromeda may be found. "Where DID HE TAKE HER" The frustration, complete and total, is released with a guttural cry. "TELL ME, and I will shackle your dear Father and spread Mister's ashes across the Cosmos."

"I am putting all of my resources into finding him as we speak. Both Copernicus and Lamel have already mobilized to search his usual residences... however, Mister knows how to hide in the Staircase if he wants to. But, so do I, and I will find him."

His legs give out, and Gerhard sits back down, his knees shaky as the horror of what has transpired sets in. He holds onto the anger, the rage, tight; afraid of what might follow if he lets himself fall into the knowledge that she is gone, and he cannot find her.

"So." His voice is ragged, his eyes on the verge of tears, but still he holds onto the rage. "So I just wait then? I have to do something. I have to find her. Tell me where to look, I'll open a Door, I'll travel with Copernicus. Please. Andromeda."

"I'm afraid I cannot ask that of you Gerhard, you are far too important to have wondering around. It would be too easy for Mister to ambush you. If you stay where you are, I can protect you best; you in turn must protect Father, this is most important, Mister can't get his hands on him as well. I'm sorry for having to make you wait but that is all we can do at this moment"

"Fine." The word escapes his lips in a hoarse whisper. He's spent - the man who would walk the planes, tear down the Cosmos to find her, sits beaten under the shade of the Acer tree. In his place is a new man, one who's rage has disappeared to be replaced with guilt, hot and fresh and familiar.

He can barely spit the words, but he needs to know one last thing. "Is she... Will she... The Staircase, does it... call to her? Is she under its spell? Can I... can I save her?"

"Take comfort in the fact that I cannot sense her, the Staircase has no hold on her for now. He seems to have need of her without the influence of the Staircase, though the reason for this I do not know."

His words leave him, now, finally, and all he can manage in reply is a single thought.