Danny was walking with a considerable bounce in her step, looking at everything as if it was brand new to her. She smiled broadly as she bounced circles around Skylar and Arianna.

“Listen, it’s not that I’m not happy to be out of that stuffy old house, but babysitting isn’t exactly my thing,” Skylar said, doing her best to seem annoyed at her situation. Danny’s smile widened as she realized she knew better, Skylar was amused by her antics. Though, it was in part true. Skylar had something else she wanted to do, and the anticipation and hope of it was like an electrical current flowing off Skylar.

She had to have it.

“Well then, if you could be doing something else, what would you be doing?” Danny asked, spinning to face Skylar, giving her a faux-innocent smile. Suspicion and amusement flowed from Skylar to Danny as their attentions connected to one another. Danny barely suppressed a giggle at how easy it was.

“Well kiddo, before I found you beaten half to death, I was on patrol. We’d been warned by another branch of some nasties that had found their way to our city.” Skylar sighed, brief images of violence and desire flashed across her mind. Danny flinched in reflex, jumping backwards with a start. “You alright? Don’t trip.”

“Yeah… I’m fine.” Danny turned around, severing the connection between them. That had been way more than what she’d bargained for. Although, what did she expect when she connected to a Demon Hunter? Noted for future reference: Skylar may need therapy. Danny cleared her throat, sidling up to Arianna. “What about you? Anything you want while we’re out?”

Arianna’s eyes flitted to Danny for just a moment, and for only a moment they were connected. “No, I’m just happy to be out.” ‘I just wish you were back to yourself.’ Clear as day it rang into Danny. The sadness, the disappointment, the sense of loss. Her smile fell as she stopped in her tracks. This was the second time since she’d woken up that Arianna had pressed her like this, bringing her identity to question. She didn’t even pay attention when everyone else stopped a few feet ahead of her. She ignored their questions and thoughts, focusing on the sense of emptiness inside of herself.

A hand laid itself on Danny’s shoulder, breaking her from her reverie. She looked up with wide eyes at the form of Babel smiling down at her. There was a sense of peace, direction, as if she could feel her worth in Babel’s gaze. She watched Babel slowly point down a street, and a strange scent wafted down the street and wrapped itself around Danny. “Go, be who you are.”

She didn’t blink, didn’t hesitate. It was as if her soul was ahead of her body and she was racing to keep up. She didn’t even know what it was she followed, through back alleys and through the streets she traced it. She could feel as everyone watched her dance through traffic, many screaming obscenities after her and others admiring her. It wasn’t enough to fill the emptiness inside of her, but it was enough to push her onwards.

Had she been running for minutes or hours? It was hard to tell. Everything seemed to dilate around the spot she found herself running to, as if everything in her perception was funneling her down to a specific point. Her eyes barely caught a sign as she passed it.

‘Come see the Imp•ostors live at Bowery Ballroom! Tickets available for purchase online or at-the-door for as long as there are still tickets! The Imp•ostors will be featuring songs from the Divisive album, by Disturbed!’

The scent of need was pungent, permeating the air all around the venue. Something had happened, something had gone wrong. Whatever had happened, she could sense that the anticipation was quickly souring into disappointment.

“Hey, read the sign, you can’t get in without a ticket,” the bouncer said, holding a hand out to stop Danny from entering. She turned to the bouncer and brushed some stray hair behind her ear and gave a small, nervous smile.

“I know how this usually works, but I really do need to get in there,” Danny said, doing her best to sound sweet.

“Listen up Elf, because I’m only going to tell you one more time: No ticket, no entrance.”

Danny blinked as she listened to the man repeat himself, but she was more taken aback that he had confused her for an Elf. She wasn’t sure why, but that left a bad taste in her mouth.

“Excuse me?” Danny’s stance changed as she folded her arms and looked up into the mud-brown eyes of the bouncer. “What did you just call me?”

“An Elf. I figured because of your ears-”

“Fuck my ears, how dare you! Look at me more closely, I’m a Demon! Not some fucking fey.” Danny’s irritation caught her off guard, less like she was feeling it but mirroring it. “And I guess you’re just some golem?”

The bouncer bristled at that, stooping down to stare her in the eyes. “I’m an Ogre, you fucking gnat.” His voice was growly, and the smell of liquor rolled over Danny as he exhaled. “And you better show me some respect, Demon or no Demon, I’ll crush you into paste and sell your leftovers for glue.”

“I need to get past you, someone in there is in need,” Danny said, her voice still sharp.

“I would really like to see you try,” the bouncer replied, a chuckle in his voice. “Go ahead, give me your best shot, I fucking dare you.”

Danny felt like a fire built up in her veins, turning her bones to cast iron as she took in the energy he threw at her. She wasn’t sure if he’d meant to, or even knew that he had, but out of every scenario that bolted through his mind like a projector put in fast forward, there were a few background, lingering doubts. Some part of him actually wanted to see if she could lay him out.

She felt as if her whole body was weighed down, and yet it didn’t impact her speed at all. In fact, even her speed caught her off guard. It was over before she even understood what she did. Her fist connected in the crook between his jaw and neck and she felt the bone seemingly liquefy under her touch. He stumbled backward, his jaw hanging limply on one side and damn near formless on the other.

The bouncer stumbled and fell to a seated position on the wall behind him. His eyes were glassy, unfocused, his breathing was ragged and sporadic. Danny poked him gently in the chest, almost sure she had killed him until he blinked. He grabbed the limp side of his jaw, and with a violent crack reset it. He cracked a half-smile, his eyes lit up with a fire behind them. He was impressed, excited, and more importantly-

“Fucking hell, kid! Cars have hit me and done less damage. Out-fucking-standing. Fine, get your ass in there and enjoy the show,” the bouncer said as he stood back up to his full height, cracking his neck.

“You’re not mad?” Danny asked, honestly surprised.

“Mad? Hell no! You have a pair of stones on you. It’s not every day some Fairy child can put an Ogre in their place!” He laughed again, patting Danny heavily on her shoulder before pushing her towards the door. “Get your pointy ass in there before I change my mind.”

Danny gave him the finger as she went through the door. “I’m a fucking Demon, asshole.”

“Keep telling yourself that, kid.”

**

They had seen Danny take off down the streets, following her as best they could. Arianna was doing her best to ignore Skylar’s bitching, not really having the emotional bandwidth to be dealing with it at the moment. Besides, she had her attention occupied with the various things she was yelling at Babel mentally. She had heard what Babel said before Danny took off, and even though she couldn’t really blame Babel for her running off… she certainly seemed to want her to.

Skylar held a hand over her earpiece as she listened to the various chatter, her face a bright red from the shame of losing her ward. “Yes, I’m aware that her running off is bad.” Angry talking that Arianna couldn’t understand. “We’re currently looking for her.” More sternness. “I promise we will find her, and when we do we'll bring her straight back to the safehouse where we can determine if she’s a threat or not.”

“She’s not a threat,” Arianna began, “She’s cooped up, she’s scared, and her feelings were probably hurt. She probably has a lot of tension she needs to get out of her system.”

“Then tell me, where would she go to blow off steam? She wouldn’t go to your place, she ran away from you!” Skylar said irritably. Arianna would argue against that, but she was right. She had been indirectly accusatory…

“She’s a music geek, she’d either go home to jam on the drums or someplace with lots of loud music,” Arianna said, pinching the bridge of her nose while she thought.

“Wait… like… a club or something?”

“That’s not really her scene, but I guess. Maybe if she felt desperate she’d go to one. Why?”

“Well,” Skylar ran her fingers through her hair, “Thing is before I found Danny being beaten I’d already purchased tickets to go see a band, the Imp•ostors. They’re a cover-band, pretty damn good too.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Arianna asked, annoyance seeping into her words.

“Cool your jets. It’s just that they were due to play at the Bowery Ballroom today. I was going to go see them then I got stuck babysitting.” Arianna’s eyes lit up as Skylar mentioned the location. It was a fair distance away from where they were, but it was right in the direction Danny ran off towards.

“It’s our best bet.”

“Our only bet.”

“You two could have just asked me. I’m still connected to her, I know where she is and what she wants,” Babel said, finally breaking her silence.

“I’d rather you didn’t talk, which is why I didn’t ask you,” Arianna fired back. “I’m afraid that if I keep thinking about you I’m going to attack you.”

“Fair enough, my silence will continue.”

**

Danny waded through the crowd, listening to the various ‘Boo’s and angry slow-clapping. Something had happened and the band wasn’t even set up yet, she could smell the bandmates' desperation. She smiled as she got to the door to go backstage, and was once again interrupted by another bouncer. This one though, held a warm smile on her face as she regarded Danny.

“Well, they finally sent a cute one back here!” the woman said, her eyes twinkling ever so slightly. The woman’s greenish hue and tusks gave her away as an Orc. Danny had never actually run into one before, but admittedly the surprise encounter was soured by her need to continue onwards. “Though, I am sorry to tell you, that no amount of harassing the band will get the issue resolved faster.”

“I’m not here to harass anyone! I’m actually here to lend my services, if possible.” Danny reflected the polite Orc-woman’s smile and demeanor. “I’m something of a professional helper.”

“Are you some other bands’ roadie?” the Orc woman asked, looking Danny over. “You look well enough the part. I’ll tell you what, give me a name to give the band and what your price is, and I’ll let them decide.”

“Oh… um… they can call me Sticks,” Danny replied, admittedly shyly as she’d never introduced herself in that way before. “And my price is simple: Let me play the drums on the first song. If the problem is technical, I’ll need to get a feel for the system.”

“Styx?” The Orc woman asked, nodding her approval. “I like it. How do you plan on fixing the problem?”

Danny smiled, exposing her fangs and feeling quite proud of herself. “Let’s just call it… Legerdemain.”

**

Arianna had raced in behind Skylar who flashed the ticket at the bouncer. The Ogre hadn’t even checked to see if there was more than one ticket, but he hurried them along anyhow. The crowd was in an uproar of cheers and bouncing in excitement as the band was introduced, not that Arianna cared over much.

“Great, she’s here somewhere and this crowd is huge. How are we going to find her?” Arianna asked, practically hissing through her teeth with disapproval.

‘No more defending the lies, behind the never ending war~’ the singer belted out. Skylar’s hand pointed past Arianna and towards the stage.

“Somehow… easily.” Arianna turned to look where Skylar was pointing, only to freeze when she caught sight of Danny up on the stage playing the drums. Danny was playing her heart out with her eyes closed in concentration. “How the fuck did she pull that off exactly?”

“It doesn’t matter, at least we found her.” Arianna sighed, not entirely out of relief. Arianna was irate, but she was also worried about the state of Danny’s mental well being. She’s never been prone to just running off before.

**

She felt them, the three of them staring at her. Anger, confusion, amusement, worry… such a complicated mix. Danny barely knew what it was she was doing right now, how was she supposed to explain the draw this place had on her? She opened her eyes, flitting between Arianna and Skylar, before finally resting on Skylar and giving her a wry smile. Without missing a beat of the drums, she did a flourish and a nod to point.

The being that she had pointed at, some beady-eyed elf, was throwing off intense energies. The violence that permeated him seemed to ooze off of him like a miasma. He was a killer… a very prolific one. She didn’t know how she knew, but she did, and she wanted Skylar to know he was there.

As if someone had shown a spotlight down directly onto the man, Skylar spun in place, and the feeling from both of them became electric. They had seen one another, and a fast but spectacular fight broke out. Danny had never seen someone move so quickly, but then again she’d never watched two people try to kill each other with brutal efficiency before.

A warmth crept into her, flowing over her stomach and chest, wrapping itself over her shoulders. She shivered as a smile crept over her face. It had come from Skylar, the wave of warmth and energy. She had given Skylar something she wanted, and she had been able to leech strength and energy for her part in the give and take. She chuckled to herself, scanning the crowd before finding another person who was oozing the same vitriol as the last one, and repeated her flourish and nod.

From her playing and listening, she knew where the problem was in the system, she could almost see it without even being near it. Yet as she played, focused on the issue, she willed it to work. The more of her direct thought she put into it the more the sound quality of the band improved, not that it had been horrible before, but she even began finding other problems that the band didn’t even know about.

All of this took no more than a few minutes, and by the end of the promised song the crowd was cheering and the band was revved up. “What a fucking opening! Come on you Tricksters, let’s have ourselves a concert! Though, before she leaves, everyone, give a hand to our friend Styx, the metalhead with the magic hands who fixed our shit.”

Danny smiled widely out at the crowd, feeling the same creeping warmth washing over her, but thousands of times stronger than when she’d pointed the people out to Skylar. ‘I just wish you were back to yourself.’ The thought rang out clear as day once again, as an echo of a wish. Now she knew why she’d come here, why she’d been so desperate to gain all that energy.

Danny once again closed her eyes as pain speared her behind the eyes, like a bolt of flaming lightning. She didn’t cry out, but she would have if she hadn’t been reliving everything over the course of the next few seconds. Her confusion and muddled memories seemed to solidify, revealing to Danny the truth of what had happened. All at once the pain ceased, and when she opened her eyes there was a strange sort of calmness…

**

A rage filled calmness. Babel could sense the unshakable anger flowing out of Danny. She watched with a broken heart as Danny stood up from the drum set, gave a bow and a smile to the crowd, but then looked at Babel with such naked odium. Babel turned to Arianna, her head bowed.

“You have Danny back…” Babel said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“What did it cost?” Arianna asked, clearly afraid Danny had to pay some obtuse price for her memories.

“My daughter.” Babel quietly left the club, allowing herself to become less corporeal, desiring to be alone for the rest of what time there was.