Bittersweet, it was, to walk these grounds where his followers and friends lay for all eternity, forgotten in a world that was slowly fading into the night.

He watched the gravestones as he passed them by, a soft sigh of reverence for each of them that he had lost. With each and every death, he felt a part of him fade away, but just a part. With the near eternity stretching out before him, he knew that he would have to go on, to train the followers.

He came to a set of headstones, situated in the far corner, and knelt beside them, sighing once again as he looked over the names. Slowly, he ran his fingertips over the names etched in marble.

Joseph Walker, beloved father, husband, friend. He had the fleur-de-lis engraved on his stone, the mark of MSI.

Michael Lacroix, friend and brother. The young man, never married...but he too held the mark of a Mendecant, for her had been her partner. He had been an investigator, and one of the best. A dear friend, indeed.

And then he came to her grave and no longer knelt, but sat beside it, his legs crossed as he looked at the stone, just as endearingly as he had once looked at her.

Muriel Lacroix Walker.

A mother, a wife, a sister, a friend...An investigator of the highest rank...And a lover. For just one night, one blessed union...For her, it had been revenge, for the child born of wedlock that Joseph had revealed. To Muriel, it had been an escape, but to Antony, it had been heaven.

He sighed as he traced the letters of her name lovingly, shaking his head. "She's beautiful, you know...Your daughter. So much like you, with that undying fire...but so unique, so calm, so loving. I've wanted to tell her time and time again, but you made me swear it. Muriel, it grows harder and harder every day...Mine that I cannot claim."

Closing his eyes, Antony cleared his throat, then whispered, "Oh, how I miss you..." He bowed his head, his hand splayed across her tombstone, and for some time, he sat there. Silent. Reflective.

Renegade entered the graveyard trailed by shadows and clutching a boquet of flowers in her hands. She had decided to forgive her mother, exhaulting her as a brave, passionate woman who had lain with the man she loved though she was married to another man and then gave her daughter to the forces of magic so that she would forever be raised around those like her. Though Ren realized that she might be overplaying her mother, pushing her into a fantasy role, that was quite alright, it helped her cope.

She hardly noticed the other man in the Cemetary, her footsteps were sure and steady as she walked around loose stones and bumps to prevent her climsiness. This was important, she couldn't fall. As she stood in front of her mother's headstone she reached down and gently placed the flowers in front of it, straightening as her shadow wound it's way around her body.

The shadow from the other night sensed her there and rushed towards her squeaking apologies left and right and after a slightly chuckle she let it settled around her feet as she bent over and rubbed some dirt off of her mother's name.

"So...yeah...thanks," she said softly to it as she straightened. She stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to say or do, she'd forgiven her mother, was something spetacular supposed to happen now? Renegade highly doubted that her mother's ghost would pop up and confess the whole sordid story. She turned to the shadow from the other grave stone and walked to it. The name had worn awy, it was quite old, the grass around it was dead and dry. As an afterthought Renegade went to her mother's boquet and plucked a few flowers from the lot and put them onto the worn grave stone in front of her.

She crouched in front of it, staring at the worn indentations in the stone, her fingers gently tracing the strange symbols and letters. With a sigh she reached out and pet the grave's shadow, crooning softly to it and listening as it related it's day. Soon other shadows had joined her and she was nraptured by the stories the shadow had to tell, for it mingled with the lightpost and became one...

She quite lost track of where she was and the fact that she was certianly not alone.

Pressing a kiss to his own fingertips, Antony laid his hand against Muriel's headstone, a forlorn look in his eyes.

"Adieu mon chere..." he whispered and rose, halting all other movements and slowly turning his head as another voice rose up amid the silent graves.

He caught sight of her, and soon, it appeared as thought darkness lingered around her. Surely he was mistaken...And then promptly chuckled at the thought.

All the things he had seen in his lengthened years and he could not believe a young woman had the power to tame the shadows of the world. Digging through the recesses of his mind, he pegged her as the only possible thing she could be- a unique sort of avatar...

Tilting he head, he watched the gentle motions, the oblivion to the world around her, and a sad smile took his face. It seemed to everyone that the marble markers had a hypnotic effect of their own.

Renegade became increasingly aware that someone was watching her. It started innocently enough, a slight shiver along her spine, leading up to the gentle paranoia prodding her mind, followed by the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. She stood quickly and wobbled for a moment, her balance threatening to collapse upon her.

"Um I'm sorry!" she immediatly spit out thinking that she had disturbed this man in some way, and by the look he was giving her, he had seen the vast array of shadows that surrounded her. "I didn't mean to bother you...uh...sir I was just uh..." her voice trailed off.

"Sorry..." she muttered again as the shadows draped around and over her. They had sensed her distress and attempted to comfort her, they were truely good friends.

"I didn't mean to bother you...uh...sir I was just uh...Sorry..."

He had startled her and in Antony's mind, intuition and perception were fading blessings. Raising a hand to silence her, he shook his head only slightly, then met her gaze again. "Nonsense, child...You've nothing to apologize for."

He walked closer to her, seeing as how the gates that lead from Neptonia Cemetary were just beyond her.

Glancing at her once more, he saw how the shadows congregated and a slow smile took his face. He had thought, for a moment, that this was unique, but then, he remembered a stormy night... Years ago, he had encountered one like her, a powerful avatar that sought only to become a normal among society. She had too, if he recalled correctly.

This young woman, for all her might, controlled the air, the wind, and when none was watching, she spoke to the shadows in the night.

"Shadow Master..." he whispered as it finally dawned on him, somewhat in awe. Only the second he had ever seen.

"Shadow Master..." A whisper that would have normally gone unheard was loud as a shout in the quiet cemetary. Renegade stiffened immediatly, eyes going wide in shock.

"You know...what I am?" Though the term "Shadow Master" had never been applied to her, she got the feeling that he knew what he was talking about. The Shadow Shifter slowly sized him up, calculating if he were a friend or foe, wondering how he had come to his conclusion so quickly.

Most assumed she was an avatar, that assumption was correct, though a "unique" avatar was usually what they ended up saying. No one had ever exactly used the term Shadow - anything in terms of her before.

As he took a step forward she took one back, her foot catching on a loose stone and her balance was lost. "I don't wanna fall!" was the thought that briefly passed through her mind as she fell backwards...and kept falling, in fact she really didn't even feel herself stop. When she opened her eyes she discovered that she was in a dark hole, looking up at the sky. Her first instinct was that she had fallen into an open grave and she began to shriek.

"Hey mister help me!" she screamed to the unknown man she had been speaking to just minutes before. She ran to the edge of the hole and grabed the grass just above her reach and began to climb out, that is, till the ground beneath her shifted and pushed her out of the hole and sent her sprawling on the grass.

When Ren looked behind her she only saw the shadows there, no hole. She didn't realize it because she had been on the recieving end but the shadows had created a hole and cushioned her fall and then let her back out again when she paniced. This of course was relaid to her by the shadows as she got up and dusted herself off.

"Holy crap, did you see what happened?" She turned and looked at the gentlemen next to her. She was sure that he would be confused and maybe even scared so she prepared to pull up a shield if necessary...

"You know...what I am?"

He gave a slow nod, debating on what to tell her exactly. From the way she looked, the thoughts that displayed themselves so prominently on her face, he had some explaining to do, but it was moreso of his own character, rather than answer questions about her being.

"Hey mister help me!"

Before she had cried out, he had rushed to help her, perhaps catch her, stopping only when he saw her catapulted once more onto the ground before him. Raising a brow, he looked to the shadows that had once been an open grave, and then to her, Apparently, her shadows had her covered. No pun intended, of course.

"Holy crap, did you see what happened?"

"I did..." he affirmed, looking at her with undeniable curiosity as a slight smile graced his prominent features. "You're a lucky one...I'd give anything to have the shadows around when I made my bumbles and missteps."

Everyone tripped...and he had, in a way, been the cause of hers. Turning to face her, he met her eyes, the sight of them eerily famiiar. "Are you alright?" he asked, knowing no harm had come to her, but the proper thing to do would be inquire just the same.

"That's never happened before!" she blurted out before she could stop herself. She had to admit that she was a tad shaken, every time she had discovered something new about herself it always happened unexpectedly. Her wide eyes darted from his to the shadows and she finally took a deep calming breath, remembering what Master Tristan had told her.

"Sorry, I mean...yeah...that's never happened to me before. But um....you said something about Shadow Master?" she inquired. She could probably be considered blunt and flighty since she was now asking about the earlier comment and totally ignoring the fact that the shadows were trying to apologize by wrapping themselves around her in a consolitory way. Her hands were clutched together in front of her a hopeful glint in her eyes, though she knew what she was and how she came to be she thirsted to know more about herself, to know more about these strange powers she had that made her different from everyone else.

As he looked over her, checking to see if she was alright, he finally realized she was speaking to him and glanced up to regard her once again.

"Sorry, I mean...yeah...that's never happened to me before. But um....you said something about Shadow Master?"

"Yes...I knew one, years ago, A Shadow Master..." he began, a hand reaching up, rubbing his chin as he traipsed back through his memories, conjuring the one of the woman from years and years before. "She was something to behold...Her abilities, her strength...But even then, I don't recall her being quite as gifted as you."

Antony had only a smidgen of Danae's curiosity and he wondered if he should go to her with this newfound talent that this young woman possessed. Surely, she would find something out that could aide the girl in her questions.

"Wow...a Shadow Master..." Renegade murmured in appreciation. "Do you know if she's still around?" she asked suddenly. "I mean I have so many questions about my abilites and I mean I even talked to Drake Morpheus but I couldn't figure out anything..." she started talking again.

"And I looked in all the books I could find and I talked to all the old shadows to see if they knew anything but of course they didn't..." she trailed off. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be asking you this, I mean you're at a cemetary for gosh sakes," she turned a deep shade of red in embaressment.

Waving away her concern for interrupting him, Antony placed a hand under his chin, attempting to recall the last whispers he had heard of the Shadow Master as the girl laid her plight before him.

"Few will know of your talent because very, very few possess it. Even less will understand it because it is possible that those who hold power over the shadows are not even aware of it. While talking to Drake Morpheus was a wise choice, my dear, he cannot tell you of things he does not know. Granted, he knows more than any living being...but I digress...."

Leaning back against a marble headstone, Antony glanced upwards toward the sky and wondered where he could gather such information for such a powerful being that stood before him. Normally, Antony would not even consider taking another back to MSI, but by now, the alliances had proven true, allowing all genuine avatars and dreamwalkers to enter.

Pushing himself off from the headstone and placing his hands within the pockets of the coat he wore, Antony began the walk back toward the great gates of the cemetary, motioning with his head for her to follow. "Come, child...Let's see what we can find of the Shadow Master."