(A/N):
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....
Three days passed.... Then four.... Then five....
Los Angeles slowly returned to its usual rhythm.
Traffic once again clogged the highways from morning until midnight.
News channels moved on to newer stories, police departments buried old reports beneath fresh paperwork, and ordinary people continued living their lives, completely unaware of how close the city had come to becoming the birthplace of something far more terrifying.
For Jojo...
Those five days were anything but relaxing.
Every morning began the same way.
He would wake up, make himself a cup of coffee, and immediately begin reviewing the reports Sara had gathered overnight.
Hospital admissions.
Police investigations.
Missing person reports.
Emergency calls.
Fire department records.
Coroner's reports.
Anything that even remotely resembled parasitic behavior was forwarded directly to him.
The first morning alone produced nearly two hundred suspicious reports.
By lunchtime...
One hundred and ninety-three had already been ruled out.
Food poisoning.
Drug overdoses.
Gang violence.
Psychological breakdowns.
Ordinary murders.
The remaining seven were personally investigated by DMC contractors stationed across California.
Every one of them turned out to be unrelated.
The second day... Nothing.
The third... Still nothing.
Not a single report matched the biological pattern of the parasite.
No mysterious infestations.
No corpses walking again.
No families suddenly reporting impossible behavior.
Nothing.
Leah eventually leaned back in her chair after finishing another stack of reports.
"I hate saying this..."
She tossed the folder onto the hotel table.
"...but I think we've officially run out of things to investigate."
Lorraine looked up from her laptop.
"I've checked every contractor report from Southern California."
"Nothing."
She sighed before closing the screen.
"It's like the parasite disappeared."
Jojo remained quiet.
He didn't like it.
Not one bit.
Creatures like that didn't simply vanish.
They adapted. They waited.
Which somehow made the silence even more unsettling.
On the evening of the sixth day, Sara's holographic figure appeared above Jojo's laptop once again.
"I've completed another full comparison."
Jojo looked up.
"Results?"
"No confirmed supernatural incidents matching the parasitic behavioral profile."
She enlarged a digital map of California.
Every monitored location remained green.
"No new DMC emergency requests."
"No unexplained biological clusters."
"No matching deaths."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"My confidence estimate is eighty-nine percent that the surviving parasite has either left the state..."
"...or has entered a prolonged dormant state."
Jojo slowly closed the laptop.
"We're done here."
Leah looked relieved.
"So we're finally heading home?"
Jojo nodded.
"For now."
Lorraine stretched her arms above her head.
"I was beginning to miss Forks."
Leah immediately laughed.
"I never thought I'd hear someone say they missed constant rain."
Lorraine shrugged with a smile.
"After living in Los Angeles traffic for nearly a week..."
"...I'll happily take rain."
The three checked out of the hotel later that afternoon.
Their luggage wasn't particularly heavy.
Most of what they carried consisted of investigation notes, photographs, the repaired cassette recorder, and the carefully wrapped leather-bound book.
Jojo had personally sealed the book inside multiple protective layers, each reinforced with infernal runes to ensure it couldn't influence anyone who happened to come near it.
Before leaving for the airport, Leah suddenly stopped walking.
She looked toward the opposite side of the street.
"I'm starving."
Lorraine looked at her watch.
"We skipped breakfast. And lunch."
Jojo quietly nodded.
"Let's eat first."
None of them objected.
A few minutes later they entered a quiet family restaurant a few blocks away.
The place wasn't particularly fancy.
Just a comfortable neighborhood restaurant filled with warm lighting, polished wooden furniture, and the comforting aroma of freshly cooked food.
Soft music played in the background while waiters moved between tables carrying steaming dishes.
Compared to the horrors of the previous week...
It felt strangely peaceful.
They chose a table near one of the large windows overlooking the rain-damp street outside.
Leah immediately reached for the menu.
"I'm ordering everything."
Lorraine raised an eyebrow.
"You say that every time."
"And every time I mean it."
Jojo simply smiled faintly while taking his seat.
For the first time in days...
His shoulders actually relaxed.
Maybe...
Just maybe...
They would get one peaceful meal before heading back to Forks.
The waiter had just left to prepare their order when Jojo suddenly felt something brush lightly against his ankle.
He ignored it at first.
Probably someone's bag.
Or maybe the edge of the tablecloth.
Then it moved again.
Slower this time.
Crawling.
Jojo frowned feeling it.
His gaze slowly dropped beneath the table.
For exactly one second...
His mind went completely blank.
"...."
A massive black scorpion was calmly climbing over his boot.
Its glossy exoskeleton reflected the restaurant lights.
Its thick tail arched high above its body, the venomous stinger swaying only a few inches from his leg.
"..."
Jojo stared.
The scorpion stared back.
Then instinct took over.
His chair scraped violently across the floor as he shot to his feet in one explosive movement.
Everyone in the restaurant turned in surprise.
Without thinking, Jojo grabbed the heavy wooden chair beside him and raised it high above his head.
Years of fighting monsters had conditioned his body to eliminate dangerous creatures before they could strike.
His muscles moved long before his brain had finished processing the situation.
The chair was already beginning its downward swing.
Then—
"STOP!"
A clear, calm voice cut through the restaurant.
Jojo froze.
"...."
The chair remained suspended in midair.
The scorpion had already crawled harmlessly onto the floor.
For a brief moment the entire restaurant became silent.
Jojo slowly turned toward the source of the voice.
Standing several tables away was a girl around sixteen years old.
She had long black hair parted neatly into two braids.
Her expression remained perfectly emotionless despite the chaos that had just unfolded.
Dark clothing.
Dark eyes.
A pale face that somehow looked permanently unimpressed by the existence of humanity itself.
Beside her stood a tall man with an elegant mustache wearing a pinstriped suit, his arm wrapped affectionately around an equally elegant woman dressed in black.
Nearby stood a broad-shouldered bald man whose mischievous grin somehow made him look more dangerous than comforting.
And beside the girl...
A cheerful young boy looked between Jojo and the scorpion with open curiosity.
Jojo blinked once.
Then twice.
"...Wednesday?"
The girl tilted her head almost imperceptibly.
Standing before him was none other than Wednesday Addams.
And behind her...
The rest of the Addams Family.
The restaurant had fallen into complete silence.
Every customer had stopped eating.
Some were staring at the overturned chair.
Others were staring at the unusually large scorpion calmly crawling across the polished wooden floor as though it owned the place.
The waiters didn't know whether they should remove the insect or simply pretend nothing had happened.
Jojo, however, wasn't paying attention to any of them.
His eyes remained fixed on the pale girl standing a few tables away.
"...Wednesday?"
The words escaped him almost involuntarily.
For the first time since Jojo had noticed her, Wednesday's expression changed.
It wasn't dramatic.
Most people in the restaurant probably wouldn't have noticed it at all.
But the corners of her lips moved upward by the smallest fraction.
A smile.
Tiny.
Almost imperceptible.
Yet on Wednesday Addams...
It was the equivalent of someone bursting into laughter.
She began walking toward him.
Her pace was unhurried.
Measured.
Every step carried the same eerie confidence as though the entire restaurant had ceased to exist, leaving only the two of them.
Jojo instinctively took a careful step backward.
Not because he feared her.
Rather...
Because she was looking at him in a way that made even seasoned supernatural hunters uncomfortable.
Wednesday stopped less than an arm's length away.
She said nothing at first.
Instead...
She slowly looked him up and down.
Starting from the top of his head.
Her gaze lingered on his eyes.
His shoulders. His hands.
The faint scars visible near his wrist.
Then lower.
His jacket. His belt. His boots.
Before calmly returning to meet his eyes again.
It wasn't the look of someone admiring another person.
It was the look of someone memorizing every single detail.
As though she intended to remember his appearance down to the last centimeter.
Leah leaned slightly toward Lorraine and whispered,
"...Is she examining him or preparing an autopsy?"
Lorraine quietly replied,
"Knowing the Addams Family..."
"...possibly both."
Wednesday finally broke the silence.
"You knew my name."
Her voice remained perfectly calm.
"You were surprised to see me."
She tilted her head ever so slightly she acted as if she never knew him.
"But I'm certain we've never met."
Another brief pause followed.
"So..."
"How do you know who I am?"
Jojo looked at her for several seconds.
There were countless answers he could give.
Almost none of them would sound remotely believable.
"I..."
He reached into the inner pocket of his coat.
Leah raised an eyebrow.
"Seriously?"
Instead of answering, Jojo pulled out a black business card.
He extended it toward Wednesday.
She accepted it without hesitation.
Her dark eyes calmly scanned the card.
Jojo
Devil May Cry
Supernatural Investigation & Containment Division
A phone number.
An encrypted email.
Nothing more.
No unnecessary decoration.
No exaggerated title.
Wednesday slowly looked back at him.
"You investigate the supernatural."
"I do."
"And that's supposed to explain how you know me?"
Jojo scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Not exactly."
"I've... heard about your family."
Wednesday continued staring at him.
She wasn't convinced.
Not even slightly.
Behind her, the elegantly dressed couple exchanged curious glances.
The woman, beautiful and graceful in an elegant black dress, gently rested her hand upon her husband's arm.
Her eyes carried unmistakable curiosity.
"So..."
She spoke warmly.
"You know our daughter?"
The tall, mustached gentleman beside her smiled with effortless charm.
He extended a hand toward Jojo.
"Gomez Addams."
His voice carried the enthusiasm of someone meeting a potential lifelong friend rather than a complete stranger.
"A pleasure."
Jojo shook his hand politely.
"Jojo."
Morticia observed him quietly.
Unlike Gomez's open friendliness, her gaze was far more perceptive.
She had noticed something unusual.
Not fear. Not nervousness.
Recognition.
The young man had genuinely recognized Wednesday the instant he saw her.
Yet Wednesday herself had clearly never met him before.
Morticia slowly looked toward Gomez.
Their eyes met briefly.
Neither spoke.
They didn't need to.
Years of marriage had made silent conversations second nature.
'Could it be...?'
Gomez seemed to arrive at the exact same thought.
His smile grew just a little wider.
Wednesday continued holding the business card between two fingers.
"I still haven't received an answer."
Jojo sighed inwardly.
"I know."
Wednesday waited.
"I've come across... information involving unusual families over the years."
He chose each word carefully.
"Yours happened to be one of them."
Wednesday remained expressionless.
"So... You researched us."
"Something like that."
She looked down at the card again. Then back at Jojo.
"Interesting."
Only one word.
Yet somehow it sounded more like the beginning of an investigation than the end of a conversation.
Behind Wednesday, the broad-shouldered bald man suddenly burst into booming laughter.
"Ha! I like this fellow already!"
He walked forward and enthusiastically slapped Jojo on the shoulder with enough force that an ordinary person would probably have fallen over.
"My name's Fester."
He grinned broadly.
"Most people run away after meeting Wednesday."
"You went backward."
"That's commitment."
Jojo smiled helplessly.
"It was mostly instinct."
"Excellent instinct!"
Fester declared proudly.
The young boy standing beside Morticia stepped closer with open curiosity.
"So..."
He looked up at Jojo.
"...were you really going to hit Nero?"
Jojo blinked hearing him.
"Nero?"
The boy pointed toward the scorpion, which had calmly climbed onto Wednesday's shoe and was now resting there as comfortably as a pet cat.
"That's Nero."
Jojo stared at the scorpion.
Then at Wednesday.
Then back at the scorpion.
"...You named it?"
Wednesday calmly crouched, allowing the scorpion to crawl onto her gloved hand.
"He has excellent manners."
A brief pause.
"He only stings people who deserve it."
Leah quietly muttered under her breath,
"...I'm not sure whether that's comforting or terrifying."
Lorraine smiled.
"Probably both."
As Wednesday gently stroked the scorpion's back with one finger, she looked at Jojo once again.
This time...
Her tiny smile returned.
"You reacted faster than most people."
She slipped his business card into the pocket of her coat.
"I have a feeling..."
Her eyes lingered on him for another long second.
"...this won't be our last meeting."
For reasons he couldn't quite explain...
Jojo found himself agreeing with her.
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(Author's POV)
(A/N):
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