Vincent looks up at the man that brought him here. It is impossible for Vincent to suppress any sort of emotion now. He begins sobbing uncontrollably and raises his voice.

"Okay, what the hell was all of that??!!!"

There is a brief pause. The stranger takes too long to answer. He just stands there with insensitive eyes.

"What happened to her?! To Rosa, or whatever her name really is?! And why in the world were those people trying to kill me?! What the hell have I ever done to any of these people?! And the building! Oh my god my mom is going to kill me!"

Vincent begins to take long angry strides toward the stranger, fists at the ready.

"Enough!" the stranger cuts in. Vincent's body freezes. "That is where I am going to take you"

"Oh no!" gasps the flickering amber light that has become Lalaina, "Please no Hery, he isn't ready for that!"

"It's too late" he chastises the little glowing girl, "because of your mishap, he is completely exposed. It's not safe here and the boy is going to need answers now that you've thrown him into this!"

"Then let me help. You are right. I've caused all of this"

Vincent grows tired of being a helpless third party. "What is going on?!"

After a quick glance at the flickering girl, the stranger walks towards Vincent and puts out his hand.

"Call me Hery. I believe we have some business to discuss, but not here. We need some place quieter. Lalaina, please"

She then too, also appears next to Vincent's side.

"Sure thing" It feels as though she turns and faces Vincent directly. He feels a gentle squeeze on his hand. "I know a lot has happened today, and I'm very sorry for causing you pain, but now you are about to face even more today than most people have had to face their entire lives" she pauses "Don't be scared".

A moment later Vincent hears the tribal drums beating in the continuous rhythm from the first meeting. Hery's eyes change to the same tone of amber of Lalaina's light source. A similar network of roots enter his body, but this time they are a bright gold and do not leave Vincent completely paralyzed. He is instead lulled to sleep by Lalaina's musical abilities and the last thing he feels before his slumber are Hery's muscular arms carrying him and Lalaina's gentle invisible touch stroking his curls.

Vincent starts regaining consciousness little by little. His blurry vision can barely make out his surroundings, but they seem vaguely familiar. Vincent is able to spot the same worn down shanties from the scene where he first met Hery and Lalaina. However, Vincent doesn't have the slightest clue why any important information about his parents would be in the slums. This is the second time in his life that Vincent has been to this neighborhood. Was Rosa trying to keep him out of here for a reason?

Hery moves carefully at a gentle walk instead of his usual superhuman sprint in an attempt to keep Vincent asleep. Vincent decides to keep up this charade and quickly, but softly he closes his eyes. He hears Lalaina's voice again, but this time her reassuring nature vanishes and is replaced by unexplainable nervousness.

"Hery, I...I can't keep this up much longer..."

This concerns Vincent dearly. He attempts to discreetly locate Lalaina out of the corner of his eye. Her golden flickering light grows weaker and weaker. She is now gradually fading and glowing in small bursts, like the glow of a lighthouse in the distance. Vincent wants to stare longer and figure out what exactly he can do to help Lalaina, but he must shut his eyes again so that they won't notice his eavesdropping. He slows his breathing down to make his phony slumber more believable and listens.

"Are you sure? I'm going to need you for the explanation. I am unable to do this by myself. You have information that I do not possess."

"I know, but it's either I help you get there or I help you explain. I can't do both Hery. I've used so much energy already! I need my rest."

"But you'll be exposed Lalaina! And I cannot protect you while he is here."

"I know Hery, but we need him. We need him now more than ever and he needs you more than he needs me at this point. Trust me."

"No! I won't let you do this!"

"It's my choice Hery! You are almost where you need to be. It's going to be okay! I am going to rest now for a short while. Call me back when you need my help with the explanation. I promise I'll return to you Hery" There is a short pause and a tender moment of what appears to be intimacy. Vincent thinks he detects a gentle, loving pressure being applied to the strong arms that are cradling him. "But after that, you know what you have to do."

Vincent hears light sniffles above him. It is obvious that Hery is trying to suppress his grief, but a few small tears manage to escape. The trickle down his aged cheeks and eventually land on Vincent's forehead. Hery laughs despite the emotional pain.

"Alright Lalaina, just don't be gone for too long, and please don't go looking for any trouble this time."

She cheers in return. "Don't worry about it, Captain"

Vincent feels a warm sensation surrounding him and Hery, embracing them tightly and melting into their own body heat. Slowly this warmth fades away, until finally Vincent and Hery are left completely in the cold. Vincent opens his eyes just a tad to take in everything that's happening.

Without another word uttered, her light goes out.

Minutes pass by for what seem like decades. Without Lalaina's presence to guide them, Hery and Vincent behave as if they are fumbling around in the dark. Vincent eventually falls back asleep in Hery's arms, but after a while he awakes to a falling sensation, a loud thud, and a sharp pain in his tailbone. Vincent lands on solid cement.

After the initial shock fades, Vincent springs to his feet, fully alert. He looks up at his muscular but aging escort with frustration.

"What on earth was that for?"

"We are here now. Look."

Vincent obeys and takes his eyes about a turn of the area. His assumption earlier proves to be extremely correct. They are indeed back in that neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, but it is not the same. Vincent and Hery are submerged even deeper into slums. They stand in the middle of a road, which consists more of potholes and worn out gravel than actual pavement. All of the houses on the street are boarded up and pieced together with flimsy plywood. Some of the small houses that are fortunate enough to have lawns suffer from a complete lack of care, so much so that the vegetation has transformed into miniature jungles. In some cases, vines engulf the siding and slowly consume the entire structure of the buildings from the outside in. After observing all of this, Vincent spots a dull red light fading and reappearing in the building to his right. Could this be where Lalaina went?

"Do you recognize it?" asked Hery.

"What do you mean?"

"Look a little bit longer"

Vincent stares back at the building with the glowing red light. It is unbelievably in the worst shape out of all the homes in sight. One would assume that the light would be able to be seen through some sort of cracked window or crack in the door, but no. Vincent sees the light through the giant gaping hole in the roof.

"I have no idea what you are talking about!"

Hery replies with disappointment in his voice, "That's very unfortunate" and a slight pause, "because this is your home"

Vincent continues to stare at Hery, dumbfounded, and with his mouth wide open. Hery continues on without noticing Vincent's reaction.

"This is where your mother and father lived. In fact, you were born and lived here as well for the first years of your life. They must have made you forget all of this."

"I don't understand, Hery. What's happened here?"

"Not here. Let's go inside"

Hery takes the first step towards the condemned house. Vincent carefully follows. Rusty, bent iron bars serve as the screen door, but they refuse to budge.

"Can you open it?" asked Hery.

Vincent looks back at Hery with an annoyed expression. He can't believe that this old man actually asked him to break open a door that is obviously locked and braced like a jail cell. However, in an attempt to entertain him anyway, Vincent grabs the bars and prays that he doesn't contract some disease.

He pulls, tugs, and yanks at the bars with all of his might and with some luck, he managed to jiggle one of them loose just a tad. Vincent then decides to glance back at Hery for some sort of approval, but immediately gets shut down with the same exact annoyed look from Hery.

"What? Well then how about you give it a go then?"

With a small friendly huff, Hery pulls out a small contraption from his back pocket. It is sleek, metallic, and golden. With a flick of his finger, Hery removes the top cap off of the device. A small, powerful, bright flame dances from the inside of the tube shaped trinket. Hery uses it to heat the rusted iron bars to the point in which they are malleable. He then pushes them aside and makes a gap large enough for the two of them to walk through. Vincent grumbles under his breath.

"Vincent, you should learn to be more resourceful when trying to solve problems"

"How was I supposed to...?"

How hot is his enhanced lighter? Even with the amount of damage done to the bars, the flame has to be extremely hot in order to bend the metal. No common lighter can do this. However, Vincent realizes that arguing with a man who can move faster than a bullet probably isn't his best option. So he chooses to remain the silly fool in this scenario.

"You have a lighter in your pocket don't you Vincent?"

"Yeah...yeah..." Vincent's struggle is difficult to suppress.

Vincent reaches his arm through the newly created gap and grabs at the door knob. He twists, and it's locked.

"Well now what do we do?" He asked Hery with one of the worst attitudes possible.

Hery then nudges Vincent out of the way. He then reaches for the same door knob and tightens his grip drastically. His dark thick arms flex and turn into solid stumps of flesh. Veins emerge like snakes from his forearm down to his fingers. With a slight lunge, Hery pushes the door off of its worn out hinges and tosses it aside. The fragile wood cracks immediately once it makes contact with the wall.

"See? Easy"

Vincent shakes his head. "What happened to resourcefulness?"

"I figured that I would try things your way this time."

With that Hery slid through the gap and went inside the shanty house. Vincent pauses to blow off some steam, but once he recovers, he follows Hery into his former home.