" it's bad, feeling lost?" Venezia explained while stirring the teaspoon in a cup placed on a floral China plate. "It's like I'm walking in a dark room, I sure know how to walk but I don't know which way to go. The constant feeling of living in oblivion and doing what you, never wanted to do... And then I think.. am I the only one feeling this way? Why is this supposed to happen to me? What am I going to do with it? I don't even know what I'm fighting for." Her voice raised gradually with each question she uttered from her mouth while ranting and thumping the corner table with her hand, making the tea inside the delicate cups shiver. She realized, glancing at it, and turned around holding the two cups of tea placed on a platter. One, giving it to her best friend Daisy. Walking towards her, she sat next to another armchair that directly faced the large glass window inside Venezia's room. It was heavily raining outside and her room was lit with nothing but candles. The aura was obnoxiously beautiful.

"I remember whenever you felt this way, you used to play around with your sword." Daisy tried to comfort her by providing a solution.

Venezia immediately replied. "Believe me, I've been doing that every single day and nothing seems to work. It's a constant feeling now which I have gotten used to it but certainly don't want to."

They sipped the tea in a confining and uncomfortable silence. Venezia just wanted to let it all out and Daisy has always been that one person since the time when she felt alone in the monastery. She kept staring at the thundering rain outside with the eyes full of sadness and pain. She continued in a low whisper, her voice struggling to communicate. " I see him everywhere, this rain outside reminds me of him when he held me close for the first time outside the Tavern. It was raining then, it's raining now. It's a constant craving for affection from the person you hate the most. It's so annoying that it almost eats you from inside. I know the deeds he is doing now is crazy, and that I should probably hate him but I am unable to."

She turned her head towards Daisy in entire desperation for her to understand, at least someone to understand. "You must be thinking what am I saying, I know it's wrong and that I shouldn't be feeling this way towards a person who has now become a serial killer." It was now desperation in her voice too. " Please believe me Daisy, I know he is suffering. He is suffering so much from inside that along with killing everyone around in his life, one day he will kill himself, And, I can't even blame him. He can never run away from himself."

Daisy saw the aggravation in her eyes when her eyes almost watered. She was desperate to get near to him and save him.

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"Leaving so soon?" Venezia asked standing under a dark shadow covering half of her appearance. That same night, Venezia have already figured out who his next victim could be but reached a bit late than expected. The crime has already been committed but she didn't let the perpetrator go out of her hands. It was Rio, of course, who has barged into a Royal building, completing his next mission of cut-throat, finishing the king and quietly escaping out like he always does. Except, this was different. He left shreds of evidence, many evidences and making it obvious that the king has been murdered. It was surprising for Venezia herself but she didn't let that show on her face. She was confident and observant at this hour. Her intentions were clear.

Rio was almost sitting on the windowpane, desiring to escape the mess quickly when he heard a strange but crisp female voice behind him. He didn't want to be bothered by her at this stressful time but an uncanny doubt and curiosity led him to stay a little while longer.

Venezia took some step forward, out of the dark veil of shadowed corner, and continued to mock him out of her sarcasm. "Won't you do your little cleaning spree this time?". She was dressed in a tight suit like a warrior, it was filled with belts and pockets around every nook and corner of her body. Each pocket was a container for some suspicious weapons and daggers and her mighty sword was already in her hand, ready to perform. Her hair was tightly braided, and her face half-covered, which gave a clear indication that she came well prepared.

Rio was intimidated, which was a rare moment in his life but more than that he really wanted to know her identity. He suspected something out of her, he was just waiting for the confirmation. And for that, he had to face her.

Within a smooth second, Venezia attacked first unleashing her sword and swinging it in the air, which was quickly blocked by Rio's small but murderous dagger. It took her some time to digest that she had a equally strong opponent in front of her but she didn't loose hope. Rio's right leg was supporting his posture on the windowpane until he pushed her back and immediately unleashed his own sword.

Both being inherently suspicious with each other's identity, asked the same question in sync. "Who are you?" retaliating with another pair of attack. Venezia scoffed with the irony of the situation and mocked him again. "I was sure, Mark would hire many pawns like you to do his dirty work. He never had the guts to shed any of his sweat and blood." she then took a whole turnaround, attacking downwards on his legs, taking the advantage of this intelligent distraction. It was dodged with a jump, apparently. Seems like her opponent doesn't have much of a ego. Within a flip of a second, Rio pushed her back with a kick on her shoulder which made her to almost fall back on the ground. It was an unharmed attack, because it was never his intention to harm her. Only if he could remove her veil, because he recognized the eyes very well. 

When Venezia was about to return to another attack, Rio pushed his sword back to it's sheath and left Venezia questionable. She retracted but now got more alert than before, something was fishy. She tightened her grip on the sword and made out a welcoming posture to fight. Rio distracted her with a quick move on one side with his dagger that made her eye flinch and then, he strikes back from the other side, removing the veil from her face that created a cut on her cheekbones making it bleed. It was the first time someone has made her bleed. She stood relaxed now with her exposed face, taking a pinch of her blood on her fingers and looking at it with an amused expression. She looked down and then up at Rio, squinting her eyes and asking an obvious question "Why would you do that?"

"To see who dared to fight me.." Rio deep husky voice entered. 

"Oh, really?" she asked, putting up her sword again in the air, this time holding it with both of her hands and giving a powerful pressure. "And who are you exactly?" She twisted her arms when it got blocked with a small dagger. The pressure was difficult to mediate with just a dagger, so he  decided to pull it down with whatever energy was left within him. "Follow me to the floating city and you may find"

Such a major clue, left Venezia stunned and taken aback. she was easily pushed back by Rio. He saw the opportunity and escaped out from that same window, he was escaping from before.