Slam!

A door slamming could be heard as two figures could be seen walking out of a house. The shorter figure seemed sad, while the taller one strolled in thought.

"So," Klaus broke the silence Grandold had imposed upon them earlier, "We learned that old men like to talk about irrelevant stuff huh?"

"Don't be so mean Klaus! His entire family died! How would you feel?!"

"Well, that wasn't what we went to discuss to begin with, so it's fair."

Emma agreed with Klaus and remained silent. "Let's sit down here," Klaus said, sitting down on a bench on the brink of breaking. Emma's face had severe doubt, but she decided to trust Klaus and sit down.

"That mark he had… a Binding Order, right? I always wondered why people just listened to them and weren't bellicose."

"It all makes sense now, right?" Emma replied with a hint of hopefulness.

"Grandold's mark was the T, maybe for truth." Emma theorized.

"Well, we know that, but you mean the letter on the mark corresponds with the effect?"

"Maybe, I mean– when we caught a glimpse of that one crowd of people that one time…"

"Right, most had L's extensively on their body…labor?" Klaus looked curiously at Emma.

"I mean, that seems right, but we don't know their conditions."

Klaus mouthed 'oh' and threw himself back as if he had just heard something revolutionary.

"Besides, if there were conditions, they would have to be super specific–you know, forcing people to labor for you seems hard," Emma concluded her thoughts and looked to Klaus for more information.

"Considering the Reapers' powers though, can't they just take over without them? Wait, but the marks make it so much easier…"

Klaus's voice lowered as he realized his stupidity. He was just questioning the existence of the Binding Orders to begin with; not that he was wrong to ask, but, put, neither of them knew enough concerning the mark.

"What do you think about his family dying? Does that not strike a chord Klaus?" Emma's sincerity cut through his banter.

Klaus shrugged, attempting to mask his unease. "Mm, it's sad, I guess. Seeing your whole family die like that...can't imagine that. But people are complicated Emma. Grandold here probably had more on his mind than just his daughter."

"Yeah, they only died because he didn't love her..."

"It wasn't that." Klaus interjected. Emma looked in disbelief.

"Listen, at that moment, even that old man must've known that he was going to kill them anyways. Besides, he never said he had the mark at that time, so who knows."

Emma's eyes widened, frustration bubbling over. "But he cried Klaus! He really cried!"

"Yeah, but maybe for all the wrong reasons. Who knows? Just because his wife had an affair, doesn't mean that he doesn't love his daughter..." Klaus replied, sighing.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think he had the mark at that time. What guilted him the most was that he knew himself that even if he did, the result would have been the same."

Emma gasped and looked down solemnly. "His strength would have left anyway...that's...so sad... A sniffle escaped Emma's nose.

As Klaus laid back, he noticed the tension in the air.

"Anywho, I'm still curious about this 'Joshua' they have here. I think he's the guy I saw carving a name in that house." Klaus pointed at a house in front of them. This house was decrepit like the others, except it had windows and a door. "Ah, why does that house have windows?" Emma asked.

Klaus put his hands on his knees and jumped up, "Well, that's what we're going to find out! Oh, jolly house, here I come!"

"Are you sure you don't want to get Annie? We left her there to comfort Grandold, but I think even a squirrel would get worn out from that weeping too. Also, we still haven't taken care of that shoulder wound!" Emma said pleadingly.

Klaus waved her off and said, "Don't go around acting like I'm friends with that rat. You can go help her if you want. Don't worry about me. If you get any more information out of Grandold, tell me!" Emma thanked Klaus and began to run back.

"Wait!" Klaus shouted.

Emma halted and looked back since it had only been a few seconds.

"Ask him more about that 'man' who killed his family. He seems powerful."

Emma nodded and continued to run back.

"Alright, let's get to cracking, 'Joshua'," Klaus whispered as he slowly walked towards the house.

As he walked, he flipped his eyes, seemingly aware of another nearby presence. He wasn't sure, though, since all he saw were sad families stumbling each step on the dirt ground.

"Should I really be doing this? Eh, it's Boon." Klaus thought as he approached the house.

"Wahaha! Joshua!"

Boom!

Klaus kicked down the dirt door hinged by rope and then said in a dark, deep voice, "I've come for your soul." No response... Klaus stood awkwardly between the light of the sun and the darkness of the house. He felt as if he had actually broken into someone's house, and guilt began to set in.

"This was the only house with a door, and I kicked it down? That's not nice…" Klaus thought as he stood there. However, before the guilt got to him, he heard a slight creak from upstairs. Klaus's hair perked up, and he looked to the side, where he assumed the stairs were on.

Creak…

The house's floorboards creaked as Klaus made his way to the stairs. Despite it being daytime, the interior was incredibly dark, and Klaus was not sure why. The creaking floorboards deepened; nearly breaking on some as Klaus walked over them. The smell of the house was one akin to straight booty (it was bad).

He made out the shadows of a kitchen to the left of the stairs and a living room to the right, at least by his standards. In Boon's standards, a living room was merely a couch and even their definition of a couch was absurd. A large container could count as a couch.

In this case, inside the living room was an actual white couch and some plants as decorations.

Like Grandold, the kitchen had large steel buckets of water lined up on the counter. The only key difference here was the cabinets, which looked brand new; white porcelain lined with black. This fact surprised Klaus the most, and he widened his eyes at the sight.

"They…they look so much better than Grandold's…" Klaus thought as he rubbed the cover of the cabinet. He opened it to reveal nothing inside other than a scent of fresh wood. "Smells good…" Klaus thought as he leisurely closed the cabinet and turned his attention to the stairs.

As Klaus stealthily walked up the stairs, the sound became louder (note, sound had been ongoing while Klaus was exploring). When he reached the top, he heard creaking noises from the bed. "No way, these guys have beds too?!" Klaus thought, astonished.

The sound of creaking intensified as he approached the right room, and when he peeked inside, he saw the back of a man.

"What's he doing?" Klaus thought, however, as he continued to observe, a suspicion grew. The bed was the only one making any noise.

He peeked a little longer. Then, his suspicion, better said, curiosity, hit its peak, and he decided to sneak his way into the room. Klaus began to tread lightly and entered the room languidly. He managed to sneak his way behind the man.

"Boo!"

The man's body jumped in shock, spinning around to meet Klaus.

"Ah–ah–ah–AHHHHH!!!!"

The man before him was not a man, but a startled teenager, shaking as he hurriedly scurried into the right corner of the room, knocking down a wood desk.

"Who-who are you?! And why are you here?!!"

Klaus burst into laughter and said, "That's one way to put the 'fun' in dysfunctional! Turns out there is stuff you can do in this town! Nice doll."

The boy's eyes widened in disbelief etched across his face as he stammered for a response.

"U-um..."