sorry fr the delay. here's the next chapter. i hope you enjoy.

“Master!” Allen screamed shrilly as he rounded the corner to the patio where Cross was making up for lost time sober and rapidly drinking himself into oblivion. “There’s a dead girl in the room!”

Cross raised an eyebrow as his apprentice grabbed his coat sleeve. “Hmm…”

The boy slowed; he looked as though he’d seen a ghost. “There’s a girl in your bed… a dead one.” the General wondered if he should even respond. It was pretty funny to watch the boy try and explain the severity of the situation. “She’s in your bed… DEAD. Why are you laughing?!” tiny hands wrinkled the edge of his sleeve. “We have to do something… she’s dead!”

“Dead you say?” Cross was glad he was already drunk. He was already feeling much better. Sobriety made him do stupid things.

“Yes.” Allen glanced to the number of empty bottles on the ground and table; he carefully enunciated every word, speaking slowly as if the man was stupid. “There is a girl in your bed… a dead one.”

“In my bed…” Cross echoed, before breaking into a miserable laugh. “Good, that’s right where I left her… I’d be worried if she was off being dead somewhere else…”

“Wait… you know she’s dead…” relief washed over his pale face as he realized there was no way he could be blamed for the out of place dead body. “Did she die in the room? Is someone coming to get her? You already knew she was dead though?”

“Of course I know she’s dead.” Cross ignored him and grinned humorlessly. “She was dead when I brought her here.”

Allen’s face was priceless. It almost made everything worth it. “Wait… what?” Cross could practically see the cogs in his mind trying to rationalize what was said. “So…” he tried. “She died outside and you brought her in?”

“Oh… no, she’s been dead for years. She was dead when I dug her up, dead when I brought her here, dead when I fell asleep by her and still dead when I woke up this morning.”

“Wait… what?” Allen stepped back abruptly and started to wipe the hand he had used to grab Cross’ sleeve on his shirt. “Master… you’re just fooling with me right…” he looked green. “You didn’t really…”

Cross threw his head back and finished his bottle of cheap rum in three gulps. He didn’t have to answer to the idiot. It was too shameful to say out loud anyways.

“Oh my God…”

“God has nothing to do with what I did.” He mumbled.

“She’s got no arm…” Allen slowly walked backwards in horror. “And…. She’s dead.”

“I’m working on the arm thing… go down to the market and see if the doll maker’s shop has finished my order.”

“What are you doing… with a dead girl in your bed?” there was disgust in the boy’s voice.

It made something in Cross snap. In a heartbeat he was up and before he’d even realized it had slammed Allen against the wall and held him pinned. The boy screamed at the sudden and violent movement. Cross didn’t care; that little bastard had no right to judge him. If he got hurt, it was his own fault. He frowned at the struggling figure; now that he had him trapped, he had no plans of what to do next. He dropped the boy and stepped away. “Go see if my order is ready… we start training with her tomorrow whether she has both arms or not…”

Allen looked distinctly sick as he scampered backwards and out of Cross’ reach. The General smiled as he started back to his room. That had been pretty funny.

Maria was just as he’d left her, one arm under her head like a pillow. If she wasn’t so still she could have been just sleeping there. “Songbird?”

“Yes, Marian?” it answered immediately with out moving. It made his skin crawl. It made a sound like laughter; it was what he would have expected her to do. “You are right… the boy is fun to mess with. I didn’t move at all and he was so worried.” It changed the pitch of its voice and sounded surprisingly like Allen. “Miss? Miss, are you ok?’ he touched my shoulder before he realized that this sleeve is empty. ‘Miss?! Oh my God! Oh… shit. Shit! Shit! Did her arm fall off?!’ then he checked under the bed for my arm… ‘oh shit… he’s gonna blame me for this…’ and then he ran off.” It sat up and tried to fix its hair. “It was really… cute.”

“Don’t get any ideas…” Cross chuckled despite himself. It really was much easier to face her with more alcohol in his veins than blood. “I know what type of boy you like and you’ve already got me… you’re too dead to try and break in another.” He sat on the bed beside her and patted her thigh. “You can play with him though. I need to know what you can do… where your strengths are, how much you can still do… how I can use you to fight better and smarter than our opponents.” He sank back on the bed, sickly thrilled when Maria’s body followed and curled around him. “No weird things… you can’t do anything like the things we used to do. None of that ‘yes means yes, no means yes and sherbet means no’ stuff. He’s too young.”

“You’re protective of him.”

Cross frowned. Am I? “He’s my apprentice. It would look bad if he died.” He smirked. “I didn’t say you can’t hurt him; that might even be funny… just no… no adult stuff.” The body next to him hummed thoughtfully. “Up…” he commanded. “Bath time, Songbird.”

The body moved, standing with a liquid stretch like she did in life. The empty shirt sleeve trailed behind gracefully with the movement. Its hips swayed as it walked to the bathroom, enticing bare legs that were as cold as marble. Cross had stripped it of her ball gown the moment they had arrived at the room. He sent it to be cleaned; the fabric smelled of damp earth and death. The body wore one of his shirts in the meantime. Cross was determined to burn that shirt as soon as the dress was back.

This would be the second bath. Cross had been too sober to do it properly last night, too concerned with just trying to warm the icy flesh before letting it between the covers with him. It had been warm when he fell asleep. Fingers had combed through his hair. It did what Maria would have done. It sang. There were no words just a low vibration in its chest; it mimicked a soothing heartbeat. Like a child, Cross had fallen asleep to it.

He hated how pathetic that sounded. Now that sweet booze was flowing through him he felt much better. This bath had to be a bit more through. So far he had ignored the gaping hole in its shoulder, as much as something that severe could be ignored. He needed to clean it so the replacement doll’s part could be attached. He brought a knife with him the bathroom.

“After we get you put back together and dressed up…” He found himself telling the body as it awkwardly disrobed and slid into the tub. “I’ll let you get settled in your new bed and practice summoning you. I’m going to be really pissed if it takes a lot of magic to do that…”

“It shouldn’t be too much of a strain.” It replied thoughtfully. “Should I get my shoulder wet dear or do you just want to hack at it as is?”

“Let me try as is…” he knelt by the tub and examined the gaping hole. “Not too bad…” he mumbled. It really wasn’t; it was a dry wound. This is a shell… he reminded himself. This is not Maria… Keeping that in mind helped as he cleared the shoulder socket of any remaining extra tissue. The ball joint he had specified to the doll maker this morning should fit fine. It would function as the original would. That was all part of the magic that moved the body.

He was still in the bathroom scrubbing the body when the idiot returned. “Master?” the boy’s head poked around the corner. “I went to the shop like you asked… It was expensive for getting it done so fast. We owe them money…”

“No…” Cross countered. “You owe them money. Bring it in here if you have it.” Allen set the doll’s arm on the floor and slid it over to him, not wanting to come any nearer the body. The General couldn’t really blame him for that. “Up.” He commanded the body. Without sound it stood, water cascading down a cold but still perfectly beautiful figure; the boy at the door made an odd noise. “What?” Cross drawled. “You want to see her?”

“No!” Allen said far to fast to be believable. “Why is it moving?!”

“Magic.” Cross started to laugh. “Don’t tell me… you’ve never seen a naked woman before. What kind of boy are you?” he pinched the lifeless flesh, earning a light giggle from the body. “Well, come in here idiot. Maria won’t mind… will you Songbird?”

“I’ve seen girls before…” the boy mumbled and made Cross raise an eyebrow. “Maddie was… I saw her.” He was bright red.

“You can touch…” the body offered. “It’s fine if you’re curious. Boys your age are always curious. Come here dear…” when the boy didn’t move, it started to sing. Cross smiled. He knew this song; it was soft and gentle, persuasive, meant to sooth. Allen knew nothing of Maria’s abilities. It pulled him gently forward; his eyes were wide and panicked though. The body stepped from the bath, bare in all its glory.

“No thank you…” he managed weakly through Maria’s control. “I don’t want to… I know.” He swallowed hard, visibly fighting the song moving him. “I know what girls feel like… Maddie let me. Maddie loves me and I love her too; she’s my mum, so it was ok…” he choked as the corpse touched his face. “Dead! Don’t touch me!” It traced his chin to still his objections and one handedly unbuttoned his shirt and slid it down his shoulder.

Cross had the sudden thought that he should do something. Allen was making pained little sounds, fighting its control. He remembered trying the same thing years ago when she was training him; fighting Maria’s control was painful.

“Stop!” Allen found his voice and shrieked. “I don’t love you! I don’t want to touch you! Don’t touch me!” he collapsed suddenly as Maria’s hold on him broke. He would never admit it but Cross was impressed. It was a weak song and the idiot broke out. Maria didn’t let him go, he actually broke free. That wasn’t an easy feat.

If anything the corpse looked surprised. Cross grinned at it but he knew he needed to stop things from getting any weirder. Reaching down he grabbed his idiot apprentice by the loose ends of his shirt and dragged him back into the main room. “Breath…” he told the little body. “You’re ok. It didn’t do anything to you.”

Allen looked up at him from the floor. “That was horrible.” He breathed. “This is wrong… that thing in there is wrong…” the boy laid there and gradually flexed his fingers, his arms and the rest of his body experimentally. Cross ignored his movement and went to sit on the edge of the bed. Maria would wait; she had all the time in the world and he had something else fun to look into.

“Whose been biting you?” Cross grinned manically. Allen flushed deep red and tried to pull his shirt tight over his neck and shoulders. His thin arms didn’t seem to be working right and with a sigh he gave up and covered his face instead. “Don’t be shy boy… what sweet and soft brown skinned kitten has been gnawing on you?” he already had a pretty good idea of who was marking up the little idiot.

“It was an accident…” the boy lied. They look on his face clearly showed that he didn’t expect to convince anyone.

“Right… you accidentally got a hickey.” He lit a cigarette and drew a deep lungful of smoke. “You didn’t seem interested in Maria… Is it that boy?”

“What do you care?” Allen snapped back. “That thing in there is dead… I don’t want to be around it is all.” His voice went soft and miserable. “And these were an accident. He won’t do it again… just got carried away.” He shuddered and curled in on himself.

“Damn it…” Cross hissed and stubbed out his smoke. All the potential fun and entertainment had just fled the scene. He had been looking forward to teasing the boy’s blossoming romance, but it was too clearly a one sided affair. “You don’t like what he’s doing, do you?”

“Narein is my friend.”

“That doesn’t make you obligated to put up with shit you don’t want to do.” He leaned back against the headboard. “You can say no… you know that right.”

Allen sat up to stare at him. “What do you possibly care?”

“Within the past couple of days I have single handedly violated every law of God and nature… I have no reason to possibly give a shit about anything or anyone but myself at this point.” He didn’t really know why he cared himself. “I don’t care about you… but if you’re really that weak, that you’ll let someone take advantage of you like that, it will make me look like I a made a poor choice in taking you as an apprentice. You will make me look bad.”

“It’s all about you huh?”

“Of course it is… so, basically if it comes down to it… I will stop you from making a fool of me. As my apprentice your worthless body belongs to me, I won’t let anyone else mess it up.”

“I don’t like that stuff… the stuff Narein wants to do.” Allen admitted, suddenly candid. “It doesn’t feel right.”

“Then tell him to stop.” He smiled. “And you are training with Maria tomorrow.” The boy on the floor groaned.