Part Three: The Plan.

Andrew united his hands, in a manner of someone praying, and rested his chin on them.
"Tell me again, this plan of yours. Supposedly, we heard what Jack said. Supposedly, we'll listen to him. But I have come to trust you. And you know that. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here. So tell me. What is your own, clear and undistorted opinion on this matter, Anna's."
Close to his ear, so much that he could hear his breath, was Solidus, who was never there, but once he was, he had always been. And he was now behind him, lowered to speak right in Andrew's ear.
"Are you... Sure... About this?" Solidus said, smiling deviously. Andrew could nearly hear that smile. He simply nodded.
"Young one, where we've come, we haven't done so because we were what passes for "good" all the time. You know, as I know that there have been... Dark... Times. As you know, we regret nothing. Everything happens for a reason. And Sometimes, it is inevitable, that, if you want to save someone you love, you have to hurt them."
"Therefore, my plan is simple. Short. And you don't have to like it. Not upon the first time of hearing it, anyway. What I think is best to do, is something usual, and perfectly normal, given a tiny little twist..." Solidus's smile turned into a grin, and although Andrew did not turn around, he could swear he saw his eyes glowing a demonic red. He was now speaking against Andrew's other ear.
"Tell her the truth. Not one word held untold. Tell her. Answer Whatever she asks with the complete and utter truth. Be remorseless. Show no mercy. They say mercy is for the weak. I never believed in this seriously, but in our case, it will be a million times better not to show mercy."
"Show her her faults. Show her where she was wrong. Point out the things that she has ruined, and the things she never got good at. Pick on her, if you may call it that. But. Know, that because you were the one who told her, and because (as she says) she has feelings for you, because of that, she will understand. Her sorrow will soon come to an end, and she will try to improve at everything she was told she was not good at. Making sure good things stay as they are, and lesser things become better."
Andrew nodded, separated his hands, and turned to look at where Solidus was.
There was no one there.
"Thank you, Solidus. As always, you have been a great help. I shall take into consideration Jack's words, and merge them with your advice to come up with the most profitable use of both, I assure you."
Solidus smiled, and made a short bow.
"I am always here, when you require my aid. And to be quite honest, young one, I am always here, even if you do not require my aid, nor if i do not require yours. I am just.. Always here"
Andrew smiled at the empty room.

Part Two: Decision.

Solidus opened the briefcase. Once he did, a strange, eerie melody filled the room, very much like an instrumental piece frequently used in Victorian England, whenever a ball was held.
The music grew louder and louder, and quite oddly moved its focus from here to there, giving the audience the sensation that the orchestra playing the tune was moving fast from one corner of the room to the other.
From the wall right in front of all of them, a figure seemed to materialize, while walking towards them, it head lowered and its steps determined and unstoppable.
His eyes were concealed from his black top hat with a red ribbon surrounding it, instead of the usual black. He wore a full formal Victorian costume, complete with a cape and a walking stick with a leaden skull at the end.
He stopped in the middle of the room, his gaze still lowered, and with a voice that could bend mortals to his will, would he wish so, said:
"You know you don't have to do that every time to summon me, my good Solidus.. You know how i die, every time i hear that song..." he was grinning.
"I know. but still, not a lot talented artists exist nowadays. I'd rather listen to this.." he showed the room with his hands "..Than those pitiful humans' songs." Solidus said with a smile.
The stranger, now fully materialized, burst out in laughter, tilting his head back and revealing his face fully now:
He had round-beard, like Solidus, he had long, curly black hair, and as he laughed, he, like Chris, seemed to have some certain teeth in a much bigger size than an average person's.
"Master! Oh master! They had to call you, didn't they! Oh, I told them! I told them! But did they listen to me? Nay! Oh thee, the protector of all that's-"
"I see that my young Chris is with you as well..." Chris was still rambling, ignoring everything around him, waving his hands, and falling on his knees and getting up again.
The Stranger looked at fox.
"Ah... and my little Shadowless is here as well?"
Fox made a small bow.
The Stranger walked towards the chair where Andrew was. He put his hands on Andrews shoulders, he looked him in the eye, and then he placed his hands on Andrew's cheeks, lowering the latter's head. Then he kissed Andrew's forehead and he stood back.
Andrew said nothing, but he was still looking in the eyes the one who seemed to welcome his presence in a room where he shouldn't have been in the first place.
"Mister Jack, we're in a quite difficult situation here.. I assure you, were not things serious, we would have not called you." Fox said, as Solidus took a piece of paper and a pen out of the briefcase, and then closed it. He put the pen and paper down, he crossed his fingers and listened to the discussion.
"My child, you know that what is your business, is mine as well." Jack smiled, as the pen in front of Solidus moved with a will of its own, writing down on the paper exactly what Jack had just said.
"Speak. Tell me of this.. situation you are in..."
"We will take part in summoning Ignatius's spirit, and we are curious of whether the ritual will be successful, and whether he will be willing enough to enlighten us with answers we have not.." Fox said.
"Trust me, child, the words that will come out of my old friend will be true.. I will be there with you, as you four already know, and I will intervene when i will. Worry not about such petty things such as the summoning failing. It will undoubtedly not fail, should you put some effort to it. Next problem, if you please. I was rather enjoying where I was before you brought me here. Not that I have trouble with your company, but.. You understand."
They all nodded at the same time, expect Chris, how was still saying what he thought were prayers, or sentences that made perfect sense.
"Next, is the matter of our once beloved Anna" Solidus announced. Fox leaned his head forward.
"Aah.. Princess Anna.. How is she, these young and confused days?" Jack asked, a smile on his face.
"She denies maturity with every chance she gets. And that, being something he have tolerated for log, is starting to disturb us beyond comprehension.." Fox said.
"I can't stand her, sometimes, you know. I mean, I understand that she is two years younger than me in this world, but still... It seems as if she is not able to make a decision." Andrew said, still looking at Jack in the eye.
Jack raised an eyebrow, tilted his walking cane a bit, and then sat on air, as if a comfortable chair was really what was that Jack had sat on.
"My dear Andreas.. You know. You know, but you neglect the facts. You too, were like this. and worse. I understand that at your age, you are looking for maturity, and the ability to make things easier than they are, and making decisions like a grown man or woman can make.. But really, do you not remember yourself when you were at her age? Do you not remember you did not have us, as we did not have you?"
"I do, Jack." at the sound of Andrew pronouncing Jacks name without the words "mister", "lord", or "sir" in front, they all looked a bit surprised. Even Chris, who looked at Andrew for a small moment, then continued his incoherent talk.
"I do. I was young, naive, a mere idiot in the hands of some.. I understand this. But her? We've put all our trust in her, and this is how she repays us? By being insolent towards us, and especially Quetzalcoatl?"
Jack raised an index finger, and his eyebrow even more, smiling.
"Aah... But this is not a matter of whether she repays your trust.. It is Clearly a matter of your own foolishness to put so much trust in her. Trust her, surely. But do not overdo it, or suffer the consequences..As for Quetzalcoatl, I think that his mind is slowly coming to realize how to do things properly, both concerning Princess Anna and the other matters that inexorably draw us deeper into this world of darkness.." He said.
Andrew nodded, for what was in his mind, right there, on the tip of his tongue, what he could not pronounce, but only keep where it has always been, that which was always there, had been given a name. He did not learn what he just heard. He remembered.
"I believe this is all. Thank you for our meeting this evening. I bid thee fare well." Jack stood up, took his top hat in his right hand, and made a bow. Then he replaced the hat. He turned, walked towards the wall where he first appeared, and when he reached it, he vanished into thin air.
Chris's babbling stopped as suddenly as their visitor was gone. He looked at everyone's faces and said with a grin:
"Ho there, my fellow chaps! Why are we gathered here, this fine evening?" He pretended he held a stick in his hand, and imitated the move Jack made with the hat when we went away.
Fox laughed silently.
Andrew laughed as well.
Solidus Picked up the pen and paper and put it back in the black briefcase, which, strangely made no sound when he opened it to put the tools back in.
Chris slouched, and placed his hands on his cheeks, theatrically. Then in a shriek he said:
"When shall we three meet again, in thunder! Lightning! or in rain?! when the hurlyburly's done!! When the battle's! Lost and won!! Yaaah hah hahahahaaaaah!"
His laughter brought a chill to the other three's spines.

The Begining.

Solidus grinned.
"Think.. What I am planning, I am doing so with our best interest in mind..."
He was a tall, middle-aged man, with long, sliced back black hair that was over the years turning gray, a well-preserved and frequently shaved circle-beard, dressed in a formal black costume, with the top button of the shirt undone, to show a pendant worn on his neck, depicting what looked like an eight-side pentacle star with a grim skull in the center.
He was standing in front of the person with whom he spoke, holding his chin and forcing him to pay attention to his words.
Andrew nodded.
"I understand.. Though your plan seems... Very weird..."
Andrew was a sixteen year-old boy, although his appearance often showed quite the opposite. He hadn't shaved in a long time, so long that he couldn't remember. His hair was middle-length, black, and really messy.
How did I come to this, Andrew thought. I once looked like this guy..
His clothes where casual, all black jeans and shirt, that unwillingly showed the weight he has never been able (or willing enough, for that matter) to shake off. It wasn't that he was fat, in the past he has seen many worse days when it came to weight. He just didn't care enough about his appearance.
He was sitting on an old fashioned wooden chair, and half of his own will, he was looking at Solidus, nearly unable to look anywhere else.
"Don't push the kid that much, Solidus. Damn."
The one who spoke was Fox, sitting legs-crossed near the two, where he could have a clear view.
He was a young man, in his twenties, with long dark brown hair tied half in a pony-tail and the rest hanging free. He too, like Andrew, hadn't shaved in a long time. Only, he hadn't shaved longer, so he made the hair on his chin into a goatee of shorts. He was wearing an old-fashioned leather coat, with a white shirt inside, a pair of ordinary pants, and black leather boots.
"What do you mean, don't push him? Have you forgotten how we've come this far?!" Solidus roared.
Fox let a low sigh, shaking his head. After that, he said:
"I remember, my friend. But all work and know play, makes jack-"
"Jack can take play and shove it where the sun doesn't shine!" Solidus yelled, breaking his calm and formal appearance, and becoming what seemed a beast in fancy clothing.
He swept his forehead, looking up, trying to calm down again, and then broke the silence.
"Look. I know. I know. Alright? I know, that we shouldn't put all our effort in something, save it for when it is time, blah, blah, blah. But what? Stop acting? Planning? Dreaming? Forging the present? No. We must keep fighting. And trust me, somethings are worth doing, exactly because of their consequen-"
"-Harsh language summons me!!! Yie heh heh hehee!!!!" They all looked at the direction of the noise.
"Oh, great. Just what we needed" Solidus said, rolling his eyes.
The man that had just entered the room (which, strangely, had no doors, but had many giant windows, through which you could see the nightlife of the city below them, Athens), was really the simplest of the group: He only wore dark green baggy-pants, and large, goggle-like sunglasses. his skin was pale, untouched by hair, save for his head, the hairstyle of which was short, and just inexplicable.
He grinned, and his teeth had a certain four of them over-sized.
"The night calls me, brethren! What is this special occasion That gathers..." He stopped to count, for the first time paying attention to the group that was staring at him "..Us three in this gods-forsaken place?"Chris asked.
(Chris never counted himself, when counting anything else. To him he was plainly not one of them. For instance, there could never be four people including him in a room. There could only be "Three of them guys and me, therefore three").
Andrew let his tired head fall, as he was set free from Solidus holding him from the chin.
"This gods-forsaken place happens to be your Haven, and our meeting place, every time, Since we shifted into existence." Solidus said. Andrew, his head still down, gave a little grin.
Chris looked around, amazement in his face.
"Is it? And I couldn't stop thinking that I've seen this place before..." He scratched his chin, and then clapped his hands once, grinning.
"But mister Death has not answered the question the voices in my head posed..."
Solidus opened his mouth, but Fox spoke first.
"We're in a middle of a discussion about what to do with certain individuals, such as Anna, and Ignatius. -" Fox started.
"It has come to our attention that things have either changed-" Solidus continued.
"Or that they have always been like this, something that declares our weakness in our faces." Andrew concluded.
"Ahhh, that. Yes, informance has come to us. I suggest that we take drastic measures of psychology, and dire methods of internal judging! Nothing must be overlooked! The threat is due to come in a few nights' time!" then, he vanished, and the only things that showed he was still there, was his maniacal laughter and his steps, as he heavily ran in circles around them.
"Psycho-boy is right. We make our moves. now." Solidus said, and went to a small desk to open a black briefcase.
Fox nodded.
Andrew's grin grew wider.
Chris's laughter turned into a silent babble, with the only recognizable words being "death captor master comes"
The three watched Solidus, their hearts pounding faster, with the sole exception of Chris.

To be continued...