"....perhaps, yeah." Ryker agreed.

"I'll go do that now." he said, taking off his shoes.

He then stepped further into the house, setting the bag he had down on a nearby small table.

"Smells really good." he told Eke.

"I'll be back down in a jiffy." he finished, before hurrying upstairs.

"Ryker's back?" Aly asked as she stepped into Eke's view from another room.

Aly watched him go, before looking at the bag that Ryker had set down on the small table near the front door.

'...wonder what's in it...?' she thought, noting how small it was.

Meanwhile, Ryker had peeled the wet clothes off of himself, and used a towel to get the rest of the moisture off of his body. He changed into a pair of tattered jeans and a black tee-shirt, before sighing.

"Hope it's good enough." he muttered to himself.

"Guess there's only one way to find out." he finished, before making his way back downstairs.

Aly held his hand in response, and smiled.

"I'm sure he will." she replied.

"All right, what smells so good?" they then heard Ryker call out as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Eke? Aly?" he asked.

"Someone gonna illuminate the dark here for me?"

Aly and Ryker paused as the thunder crashed overhead.

"...wow." Aly said.

"Guess it's getting worse." she commented.

"Looks like I got home just in time." Ryker chimed in, before looking at Eke.

"Yo." he said.

"Y'alright?" he asked him.

".....what...?" Aly muttered.

"What is...?" she started to ask, before she grew silent.

'Is... is this...?' she wondered, as she slowly started to inch closer to Eke.

"Huh?" Ryker mumbled.

"What's...? What's up...?" he asked quietly, noticing Eke's pupils narrow down.

'....something's off, kid.' the demon in his mind told him.

'Feel like somethin' ominous is floatin' about.' it added.

".....no..." Aly whispered, getting close to Eke, kneeling down, and wrapping her arms around him.

'...shit.' Ryker thought, before racing to a window and looking out it, scanning the skies.

"Where?" he growled.

"Are you here?" he asked quietly.

"Show yourself, I DARE you." he then snarled.

"....doomed?" Ryker asked, looking over towards him.

"Why?" he asked.

"How?" he asked further, as Aly returned the hug.

"Eke... what do you mean?" she asked him.

"You're scaring me." she then whispered.

"No..." Aly said quietly, as Ryker cracked his knuckles.

"Then there's only one solution." he said.

"...there's a solution?" Aly asked.

"You two try and find out, or see where the source is coming from, and I'LL engage the thing in combat to distract it and keep it busy." Ryker responded.

"...you'll FIGHT it?" Aly asked quietly.

"Damn straight I will." Ryker replied with a bit of a grin.

Ryker looked over at the cake that Eke brought out, and was silent for a moment, before smiling.

"...I knew you'd remember." he said. "Wasn't sure what all you might do for it, but I did know you would remember." he said further.

"And actually... there's a reason I'm a little later back home than usual." he then added.

"...hm?" Aly mumbled quietly.

Ryker then made his way to the bag he'd brought in, and grabbed it.

"I wasn't sure when to give this, exactly, but... as you said, in light of everything, now's probably the time."

"I know." Ryker replied.

"Hence why I could never forget it, either." he said.

He then placed the bag on the table, and took the paper bag out of it. He then withdrew two small jewelry boxes out of the paper bag, and handed one to Eke.

Inside it was a necklace with a small golden puzzle piece on the end of it. It had a draconic symbol on it. Ryker opened the other one, and it was a necklace of a golden puzzle piece, with a demonic symbol on it.

And the two pieces looked like they'd interlock perfectly.

"Draconic, demonic, we are what we are." Ryker then said.

"But we filled the gaps in the others life that we didn't even know we had." he chuckled lightly.