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"The abandon toy factory", the female said. Male one nodded and began to drive that way. "You know the abandon toy factory reminds me of the Joker", Male two said to his companions who just nodded in agreement. "To bad none of them is Batman", the female responded. "I don"t know maybe Henry Griffin could pull some Batman moves", male one said as he pulled into the parking lot of the abandon factory. The dragged the gang into the factory and tied them to chairs in the middle of the room and waited for their five captives to wake up in the shadows. Two hours passed before Henry began to stir and soon the rest followed. "I feel like I got hit by a train", Amber said before opening her eyes. "Does anyone know where we"re at", Henry asked. "Well judging by the broken toys scattered about. I would say an abandon toy factory", Jasper said looking around the room. "Very observent Bartlett", a female voice said from the shadows. "Who the hell are you and what the hell do you want", Cali screamed at the shadows. "We are members of a secret organization called "Order of the Dragon" and we want to take over the American government and turn it into an anarchy which we will be the rulers", a male voice said. "I think she ment what do you want with us", Maggie told them. "That"s easy we want Vlad the Impaler"s sword back", a different male voice said. When he finished talking all three figures stepped out of the shadows. the gang gasped because they knew these people. I"m sorry it"s so short -_- Can any one guess who the people in black are and can any one guess where I got Order of the Dragon from? Remember reviews=love=updates I still don"t own Unnatural History "Dannie, Ace? I thought you guys were my friends", Jasper said when he saw the two male stepped out of the shadows. "We were until you became friends with these two", Ace gestured to Amber and Cali. "No wonder your behind this Mia", Maggie spat out when she saw the other person. "Yes, Hating you guys made it easier for me to attack you guys", Mia laughed. "We"re going to leave for about half an hour to let you guys discuss among yourselves about what your going to do", Dannie told them. Dannie, Ace, and Mia left the gang alone "So can anyone get out of the ropes", Cali asked while tugging against the rope trying to get out but only receive rope burns on her wrist. Henry tugged at his ropes and was able to get free and went to free the others. "Does anyone have a phone on them". Amber asked as she checked her pockets. Everyone checked their pockets turning up nothing. "So we don"t have phones and we don"t know anything about the area we"re in", Jasper said pointing out the negativity. "Then I guess we stay here and wait for them to return", Henry said trying to make a plan in his head. "What kind of plan is that", Maggie asked "We could over power them and get there phones and call the cops", Henry told them. "Well I"m game", Amber told him. "You know I really hate those plans of yours", Jasper sighed looking at Henry. "That"s because your not a very good fighter", Maggie said to Jasper. "Well your not much better", Jasper replied to her taunt. "Well it"s good that Henry and Amber are good fighters cause I"m not all that great but I can hold my own for a while", Cali told them. The rest of the time was spent making plan on how to take on their kidnappers. Henry and Amber were hidden in the shadows by the door while Maggie, Cali, and Jasper were only partly hidden in the shadows in different parts of the room. Mia walked in followed by an older man that was in his late twenties with a buzz cut and brown eyes. Dannie and Ace followed shortly after. "So where are the kids with the sword", the man asked. "I don"t know, they were here when we left", Mia told him looking into the shadows. "One of them is right there", Ace said pointing toward Jasper. "There"s another right there", Dannie pointed at Maggie. "There a third", Mia pointed at Cali. "How did they get out and where are the other two", the man asked. "It must have been Henry Griffin", Mia told him. At this point there backs were pointed toward Henry and Amber. Henry nodded to Amber and they snuck up on them. Amber punched Ace while Henry kicked Dannie. Maggie came out from her spot to hit Mia but Mia dogged it and Jasper and Cali took on the other guy. The fight only took a few minuets since the other side wasn"t very good at fighting. Cali took Mia"s phone and called 911 and told them they had been kidnapped, taken to an abandon toy factory, and had managed to subdue their kidnappers. "So who are you", Amber asked the new guy. "My names Matt and we may have failed but others will come and take up where we left off", Matt told them. "I don"t think so cause now the cops know of your plan and are on the look out for other people like you", Maggie told him. Matt laughed like the crazed man. The cops came in wit their gun blazing. The leader of them told them to stand down and walked to Jasper who told them what happened to them since they woke up from being knocked out at school. The cop thanked them and told them they would be called in for statement tomorrow about what had been happening the past few weeks and they would go by Cali and Amber"s place to pick up Vlad the Impaler"s sword later today. "So this turned out to be a fun filled day", Jasper sighed as they sat at the table in his house. Cali was sitting next to him holding his hand. "Well this was better than making a movie", Cali smiled. "Yeah cause in the end we have real friends and boyfriends and not the fake ones that end when the movie ends", Amber laid her head on Henry shoulder. "You know it would be amazing if this turned out to be a movie", Maggie smiled with a wishful look on her face. "It would be amazing if there was a show about our adventures", Henry smiled. Well that"s the end! Love it? Hate it? Tell me. Once again don"t own Unnatural History or the people from the show Amber and Cali were getting ready for school. "Cali can you hurry up", Amber yelled as she finished her breakfast. "I can"t decide what to wear", Cali screamed as clothes got thrown into the hallway. "Well it"s not that hard to pick out an outfit. I mean look at mine", Amber said as she picked her way through the clothes. Cali looked over at her best friend whom made it into her room. Amber was wearing black converse, camo cargo pants, a black shirt that said "Go Green" in green and black arm warmers. "Cute now you should help me pick out something to wear while I do my make-up", Cali replied going over to her vanity. "Fine I"ll find something", Amber replied going over ta an unopened chest. Amber opened the chest and gasped. "Uh Cali when did you get an exact replica of Vlad the Impaler"s sword made", Amber asked picking up the sword."Uh never cali replied looking over with eyeliner in her hand. "OK so someone put it into your chest so whatever, we"ll figure who"s it is when we get back from school", Amber said laying the sword on the floor. Amber began to dig into the chest looking for something for Cali. She grabbed a short black ruffle skirt and a form fitting light blue button up shirt and a silver cami to go under it. "Perfect! Now can you go find me some shoes to go with it? Please", Cali asked with puppy dog eyes. "Fine", Amber sighed as she looked through the shoes and grabbed silver strappy heels and handed them to Cali. Amber grabbed both their bags, went to the kitchen grabbed poptarts and a for Cali to have for breakfast. "Come on Cali. We need to leave now before we"re late for our first day of school", Amber yelled at Cali as she grabbed the keys and headed toword the Lamborghini and threw the bags in the back and started the car. "You better have grabbed me some food", Cali said as she closed her door."Yep! Here ya go", Amber replied handing Cali the poptarts and . "Have I ever told you how much I love you lately", Cali asked as she opened the poptarts. "No, but its nice to be told", Amber replied pulling out on to the road. "And you grabbed the blueberry with sprinkles on them. Those are my favorite poptarts", Cali said with a huge grin on her face. "Duh why else would I grab them", Amber replied as she turned up the radio because "I love the Way you lie" by Eminem and Rhianna was on. It only took fifteen minuets before they pulled into the parking lot and find a spot. "I have office aid first. What about you", Cali asked getting out of the car."Band", Amber replied with a goofy grin on her face. "You and your music", Cali said shaking her head. "Yep it"s my life", Amber replied while smiling ," so shall we face our first day of school, my lady", Amber ended in a lavish bow. "Yes we shall my god lady", Cali replied. "Then lets go", Amber said skipping to the front of the school. "Where do you get your energy from", Cali asked. "Like I know", Amber said as she did a flip. A few minuets later the bell rang for first period to begin. "Later", Amber yelled as she practically ran to her first class. Amber walked into the band hall and was amazed by all the lockers a long the wall, all the chairs that were set up in an arc around a podium, plus all the teens just milling around. "Hi. you must be new seeing as I"ve never seen you here before", a girl with midnight black hair, pale skin, and grey eyes. She was wearing blue jeans that had some patches on them and a black shirt that had vampire fangs dripping some blood and said "Bite Me". "Yeah, my names Amber", Amber replied holding out her hand. "Cool! Mines Crystil", Crystil replied shaking Amber"s hand. "You want to meet some of my friends", Crystil asked. "Sure why not", Amber replied with a shrug. Crystil led Amber to a group of kids who were standing and talking next to some lockers. "Hey guys this is Amber", Crystil told the group of kids."Hi, I"m Misty", a blond hair blue eye girl shaking Amber"s hand ,"And I play the trumpet and since I"m guessing Crystil didn"t say what she playe like always. Anyways she plays the flute." "I"m Ace and i play the tuba", a guy with brown hair blue eyes said. "I"m Dannie and I play in the percussion", a black hair green eyed guy said. "I"m Max and I play the trombone", a girl with brown hair with blond highlights and brown almost black eyes. "And I"m Jasper", A guy with brown hair and brown eyes, "And I play the saxophone." "What do you play", Max asked. "Uh... this is my first time as a school but I"m hoping to play the bass clarinet", Amber replied. "So your one of the famous people that"s going to this school now", Crystil stated."Uh-huh the other one is Cali", Amber replied. That"s so cool so your her stunt double right", Dannie asked.The director came out of his office and started to yell at everyone to get ready for class. "Guess I need to go talk to him", Amber said before heading toward the head band director. "Um excuse me. I"m uh new here and I uh need a um instrument ta play", Amber said. "So I see. I"m and what instrument do you play", he said with a smile on his face. "Well I was hoping to play the bass clarinet", Amber replied."Well your in luck we just happen to have an extra bass clarinet", he replied before going to some stairs and into a room. After a few minuets he came out caring a long black case with 85500 written in white. "Well here you go", said handing her the case. Amber walked over to three people that had same instrument as her and got hers out and put together. It was boring as band practices went and the bell didn"t come soon enough foe some people. "How can you live without eating meat", Cali asked the black hair brown eyed girl next to her. "Easy I just eat other food in its place", the girl responded. "Whateve. So who are you waitin" for again", Cali asked. "His name is Jasper and who are you waiting for", the girl asked. "Amber", Cali replied, "And there she is", She continued when she saw a familiar red head talking to a brunette male next to her. Amber looked over to where Cali was and made her over with the guy behind her. "Hey Am, how was band", Cali asked."Awesome!", Amber replied smiling, "and I made some new friends." "That"s great when do I get to torch... um meet your new friends", Cali asked with an evil smile on her face. "Well this is Jasper", Amber gestured to the male brunette that is now talking to Maggie her new best friend."So how was being an office aid", Amber asked. "Couldn"t ask for another class more perfect for me", Cali replied, "And I also made a new friend." "Wow! You made a new friend! Who is it", Amber spoke rapidly jumping up and down. "The girl Jasper is talking to and her name is Maggie", Cali replied with a smirk. "So this is the famous Cali", a girl with black hair and grey eyes asked from behind Amber. "Yep! The one and only", Cali replied with a smirk still on her face."Hey Crystil", Amber said. Crystal smiled,"I"ve seen all of your movies." Cali smiled "flattered" "They all sucked", Crystil added."How"d do you like your pretty little nose redone?" "Ah theirs that famous temper," she smiled. Cali snorted. "You two. You two. Behave." Amber broke them apart. Just then the bell rang. "Um I have a bird thing", Cali said. "Calculus", Amber retorted. Cali waved goodbye and ran off down the hallway in her strappy heels. "Guess I"m coming with you", Crystil smiled. Henry shall be in the next one. Most of the story is going to from the girls POV. The story is slowly developing into the adventure. Reviews=happy writer and happy writer=more updates Once again I dont own Unnatural History "What do you have against Cali", Amber wrote down and slid to Crystil, while the teacher was going on about some theorem. "Nothing really. Just don"t like actresses, stuck up little snobs if u ask me", C "Cali isn"t stuck up, Drama queen, yes, and a bit... (lot), self centered, but she"s really down to earth",A. Crystil gave her an as if look and began taking notes on the theorem the teacher was talking about. Amber thought about what Cali and sighed when she saw that she was redoing her make-up and filing her nails rather than taking notes. "She"s gonna be coping them from me again", Amber thought before taking really good notes. The class seemed to drag on forever before the bell rang. Amber waited near the door for Cali. "Whats your next class Cal", Amber asked as she adjusted the strap of her Transformers messenger bag. "Art and what about you", Cali asked her friend. "Same thing", Amber replied with a small smile on her face. "Coolness! That means I can copy the notes from calculus", Cali said while clapping her hands. "How did you even get into that class", Amber asked before entering the room. "I don"t know. Apparently the people here think I"m suppose to be really smart", Cali said before taking a seat and setting her red. black and yellow plaid purse on the ground. "Or maybe cause you copied off me", Amber replied taking a seat next to Cali at the table. Amber and Cali heard bickering coming from the door and saw Jasper and Maggie arguing about something. After they looked up and saw Amber and Cali sitting at a table the began to head toward them. Amber saw a guy with blond hair, tan skin, and grey eyes follow them. "Wow he"s a sexy beast", Cali thought when she finally saw him. "Hey Amber", Jasper said sitting across from her. "Hey Cali", Maggie said sitting next to Cali. Cali smiled a sweet innocent smile while Amber gave a huge goofy grin. "Hi I"m Henry", the blond guy said sitting next to Amber and held out his hand for her to shake."Amber and that"s Cali. Nice ta meet ya", Amber replied with her southern accent coming out while shaking his hand. At that point the bell rand and the teacher walked in and began to talk about the history of art. "So are you new here", Henry whispered to Amber. "Yeah. We just moved here from LA", replied Amber. "Where"s LA", Henry asked. "It"s in California, on the other side of the country", replied Amber with a weird look on her face. "Oh, sorry my parent are anthropologist and I traveled the world with them", Henry replied with a sheepish grin on his face. "That sounds exciting", replied Amber. "It was now I live here with my cousin and uncle", Henry replied with a sad tone. "It can"t be that bad", Amber replied. Henry was about to reply when the teacher stopped talking and got out some papers and started to hand them out the papers. "I will choose your partner and you have to do a report on the artist that I give you", he said out loud as he finished handing out the papers ,"Starting with our two new students. Amber Light will be paired with Henry Griffin and Cali Black will be partnered with Jasper Bartlett", after that he went on with all the other students in the class. "Sorry you got pared with with Mia",Jasper said to Maggie. "It could e worse I guess", Maggie sighed putting her head on the table. "I don"t see how you and Mia hate each other", Jasper said putting his arm around Maggie"s shoulder trying to comfort her. "Your not helping", Maggie replied looking over at Mia whom was talking to the teacher who kept shaking his head to everything Mia was asking him. "Look on the bright side the faster you get your work done the less time y"all have to spend together", Amber said."Thats true", Henry agreed with a nod. "Or you can do all the work", Mia said from behind Maggie. "I don"t think so because will know if I do all the work", Maggie replied. "OK so why don"t half and half", Amber suggested which she got weird looks for. "She means why don"t y"all split the work in half then one person puts it all together", Cali simplified. "That sounds like it could work", Mia said before walking off with her brown hair with pink highlights swishing behind her hitting Henry in the head. For the rest of the class they talked and got to know each other a bit more and were becoming really good friends. As everyone existed the room handed on person from each paring a piece of paper with their person written on it. "how about we work at mine and Henrys house today", Jasper asked as they headed to lunch. "Sounds fine to me", Cali replied as everyone got in line except Amber. "I"m gonna find a table", she said before walking off. "Why isn"t she eating", Henry asked. "She probly packed her lunch", Cali replied with a shrug. The line seemed to drag on forever but in reailty it was only a couple of minuets. During lunch Henry was telling Amber and Cali about the time he spent in Nigeria. Amber was listening and watching as his eyes lit up as he would talk about getting in and out of trouble. While Cali was only thinking about how hott he looked and how she was going to make him hers. As Henry was getting to how he found the missing villagers there the bell rang. "You"ll have to finsh telling that story", Amber said getting up. "How about when you come over for the project", Henry said as he grabbed his bag and threw his trash away. "Sweet but you or Jasper need to give either Cali or me y"all address", Amber said as she walked next to Henry seeing as they had the same class. The teacher was standing outside his room shaking the hands of the students and greeted them as they entered the room. He had a firm hand shake and looked inti her eyes as he greeted her warmly. As she took a seat next to Henry the bell rang. The teacher in and came to her desk and introduced himself as Frank Honey but she could call him Frank. "OK today"s we"re going to do a trust excise. I"m going to hang this hula hoop from the celling. It"s the port hole on a ship and the ship is sinking. You have to get everybody across safely and you can"t pull the hula hoop down or of the rope or you"ll have to start over again", Frank said before going and taking attendance. When he finished talking everybody began to talk at once about their idea but nothing was getting down. Amber sighed knowing that they weren"t going to accomplish anything if they didn"t shut-up and talked one at a time. "OK everyone listen up! We"re not going to get anything down if everyone is talking at once", Amber said loudly to get everyones attention. They all looked at her as if she were crazy. "I"m sure everybody as a good idea but talking ain"t enough and no one else is listening", she continued. "OK so what"s your idea", a guy in a red shirt asked. "We have two people hold the hoop still and have the two strongest guys get people through the hoop safely and the last guy jumps through", she said. "That"s a good idea", a girl with dread locks said. They did this idea over and over till the had the best time- 2.5s The rest of the day went threw a blur and soon Amber and Cali were outside waiting on Maggie because they were giving her a lift to Jasper"s. Maggie walked out with Jasper and Henry and guess what... the weren"t arguing about anything! "So everyone ready to go", Cali asked a little bitch because a guy was hitting on her and wouldn"t take no for an answer. "What crawled up your butt and died", Maggie questioned. "His name is Alex and he won"t take a hike", Cali scowled. "OK so who"s ready to leave school", Amber asked. "I think everyone is", Jasper said with a light laugh. They headed th their cars which just happened to be sitting next to each other.

"I don"t understand why this anything to do with me since I"m already working on a serial killer case," Halo told him pointing to the clutter of papers all over her desk. "I"m putting you on this one as wheel because you are the best agent we have that has detective skills," Zane told her in a stern voice. Halo knew this voice meant it wasn"t up for discussion. Halo sighed as Zane left her office and she went back to her desk and began flipping through the folder that Zane had given her. She glanced through the information that they had him and all the crimes he had committed. There was nothing there to give her a lead on who it was except they had to smart and loaded with money. Halo set the folder aside and gathered the papers on the serial killer and went to her partners office. "Hey Derek I think we may have a lead on the serial killer," Halo said as she walked into his office. Derek had brilliant green eyes and sandy blond hair. He looked up from his computer that he was most likely play a game on instead of work. "And what would that be," he got up and walked over to his partner. "Well you know our suspect Kris Young right," Halo asked him while looking down at the files. "Yeah he said he was in hotel and Paris," Derek gave her a confused look. "Well the description of the guy using the credit card and the man in the security tape didn"t match him," Halo smirked. "We"ve got that bastard now," Derek grinned grabbing his coat. "A good thing to because Zane put us on the Green Hornet case," Halo told him making Derek"s jaw drop. "That"s fucking great because we are probably the only ones that can do it but we already have a case that hasn"t officially been solved yet and he gives one that we may not solve and we could lose our jobs," Derek was not happy to here this at all. "I know what you mean but lets get Young and put him behind bars before we worry about the Hornet," Halo told them as the elevator door opened. "Special Agent Storm someone is here to see you," a young blond told her in a high pitch voice. "Tell Brit I"ll come over to his place after we arrest Young OK Sarah," Halo told her. Letting Sarah run off to tell her best friend that she"ll see him later after she was done working. "Nice. You put off your rich best friend to be with me," Derek put his arm around Halo. Halo removed his arm as the walked out of the elevator into the lobby area of their FBI building. "No I just want to go to his place and relax because you make me tense," Halo laughed at his face. They went to Halo"s black camero and left to go to arrest Kris Young. When they got to the place it was surround by cops. "Your not permitted in this area," an officer with a brown mustache and eyes told them. Halo flashed her FBI badge and he let them through. They went into the house and a stank of decomposing flesh. "Looks like someone got to him before us," Derek joked. Halo saw a card with a green hornet on it and picked it with a glove. "Looks like it was the Green Hornet," Halo held up the card. "He doesn"t usually kill people," Derek stated. Halo"s mind began to race with different thoughts like if this was the Green Hornets doing or if someone else was putting them blame on him. Reviews=love=updates If my friend sends me them lemon I"m goa put it asa one-shot for those who want to read it! Halo woke up to the smell of delicious food being prepared and a grin came to her face. Kato was gentle last night and she went to sleep with a pictures of a future with him. She threw off the covers and grabbed some clothes before going to the bathroom. She put on black lacy bra and underwear before pulling on brown baggy pants and a white long sleeved shirt. She brushed her black tangled hair till it became tamed and brushed her teeth. Halo walked into the kitchen to pulled into a kiss from Kato. "I can really get used to this," Halo grinned looking into his brown eye. Her hand were wrapped around his neck and were playing with his hair. Kato chuckled and kissed her again before leading her to the table he set full of food. "I having a felling Britt will be dropping by this morning so I made food for him," he explained the amount of food. "You could have let him starve," Halo grinned as her front door open. they turned to see who came in and saw Britt holding up a key. "Hey Halo I found the spare key you gave me two years ago," he rubbed the back of his head. Halo groaned and sat down at the table. Britt grabbed a plate and loaded it with food. "Both of you cooking is so amazing I can"t tell the difference between them," he grinned. "What do you want Britt," Halo asked filling her plate up. Britt"s face turned serious and it scared Halo a bit. She never seen Britt serious before. "There"s a new drug dealer in town and the Green Hornet needs to take care of them but I also got wind that the FBI know this as well and want to set up a trap," Britt told them. "So you and Kato go in and take down the drug dealers and you want me to trick the FBI to go set the trap else where, right," Halo asked with her detective skills kicking. Britt nodded because his mouth was full of bacon. Halo lost what was left of her appetite watch Britt eat so went and cleaned it and went to her room and grabbed socks and shoes and put them on before going back out there. "I"m going to go to work and see what there plan is and how badly I can mess it up," Halo grinned pulling on her jacket. Kato got up and kissed her before she left. In the corner of her eye she saw Britt making fake gaging face and grabbed a stuffed animal and threw it at him. Kato laughed when he saw the shocked look on Britt"s face and the stuffed animal at his feet. Halo walked out of her house before Britt could get his revenge and got in her black camaro. Halo turned up the radio when Tonight (I"m loving you) by Enrique Iglesias came on. . She pulled into the closest parking spot she could find and got out of her car and walked into the building. She stopped and looked at the mad house before as people ran by and paper flew. ""Bout time you show up partner," Derek walked up to her. "Yeah I sleeped late after my night with Kato," Halo told him as they walked to the elevator. "You two so had sex last night! so how was it," Derek asked as the elevator doors closed in front of them. "I thought my partner was a man not a gossip girl," Halo said as she watched the numbers go up. "Well I"m both because you don"t have any female friends and this is first guy you"ve been really interested in," Derek grinned and followed Halo out of the elevator. "Fine. The first night he took me to a dojo and we spared with me tricking him and winning," Halo had a grin on her face think about that night. "So what about last night," Derek was starting to get giddy. "He came over and ate the supper last night and them we went to my room and made love and he was very gentle and that"s all your gonna get from me," Halo grinned at the disbelief look on her partners face. "But I want all the details," Derek moaned when Halo finished telling him what happened. "How "bout no and was is it such a mad house today," Halo asked. "Oh yeah we find out that there"s a new drug dealer in town and we know the Green Hornet"s going to meet with him so we"re trying to set up a trap for both of them and Zane put you in charge of it," Derek told her. Halo groaned and fell back onto her chair and Derek left. Halo made a quick call to Britt to make a plan so she could make a plan that the FBI would believe and Britt and Kato can go free without hurting her reputation. Review and send me ideas cause my brain is fried right now! Sorry it took me so long and that it"s short! Halo sat at a table in her house looking at a map of L.A with Britt and Kato as they marked down everything that they needed to pull off his and Kato"s great escape from their meeting with the FBI. Halo had made a 3D model of the house they need to escape along with a blue print of it and they marked all of the exists that they could use but she had to have the FBI at each of them. So they were staring at the table trying to think of an alternate route that they could take to escape the house without having to kill anyone. That"s when Kato noticed that the basement was so big that it ran into the yard over and that it had an exit there. Britt cheered and slapped poor Kato"s back making him stubble as he walked over to Halo. Halo glared at Britt making him take a step gave Kato a quick kiss before going to work because she had to tell her team. She had to tell them the plan and hope Britt and Kato could escape with her team doing their job. She grabbed maps and blue prints out of the back of her before walking into the building. Derek opened the door for when he saw everything in her arms. "You got the plan ready" he asked her as they walked to the elevator."Yep. I was just putting on the final touches of it this morning cause I fell asleep at the table last night," Halo told him when the elevator stopped at the fourth floor where they were holding the meeting. Derek walked ahead of her and opened the door for her. She laid everything out and pulled and computer to her and pulled up a PowerPoint. She was going to use so they could see what she was talking about. The meeting lasted a couple of house and by the time everyone left they felt goo about the plan and were ready for Thursday to come around so they could put the plan in action. Halo had a smile on her face as she walked out. "You feel very confident about this don"t you," Derek asked her from the side of the door. "I do but hey you never know what happens when your in the field," Halo shrugged as she walked into her office. "Well for some reason I think you want them to get away but I can"t think of any reason except that you like them because their bring the crimerate down or hold on I thought of another one. Your Kato is the same one that"s the Green Hornets partner," Derek had shut the door behind him. "Well I don"t know if the Kato"s are one in the same but even if I did do you think I would tell you," asked her partner. "Well no but I wish you would. Don"t worry if I figure out that they are I won"t tell anyone," Derek left her office. Halo sighed when he left. She didn"t think her lazy partner was paying so much attention to her that he would figure this out. She sat down and called Britt, she didn"t want to leave any kind of trail but she thought she should tell him about her partner. She and Britt decided to meet at the same cafe that she had gone to lunch with them before and talk about her partner and had to proceed with him. Halo wish she could tell him but it wasn"t her secret to tell and she didn"t want to drag him with her if this ever went south. She sighed and logged on to her computer and e-mailed Zane her plan along with the PowerPointas an attachment and went through some of her paper work before leaving work for her lunch break. She walked passed Derek"s office and saw him looking over the Green Hornet"s profile and everything they had on him. She paused for a second and he looked up at her before going back to the information before him. She was surprised she saw him doing actual work because he normally leaves that to her. She knew he wanted to find out if the Kato"s were the same but there was nothing there to help him figure it out. She went to the elevator and went down to the first floor. She walked out of the building and to the cafe. She saw Britt and Kato walk in to the building and she walked faster to meet up with the two. I"m starting to run out of ideas so tell me what you want to see happen in the next chapter in your review! Sorry its been forever and it;s not that lnog. I am unable to come up with ideas at this point and I"m sorry. Halo was getting into a black SUV because the time to put the plan to catch the Green Hornet in action. She sighed hoping her two friends can get out before they were caught. It would look really bad if the were caught because Britt was her best friend and she was in love with Kato. She looked over her gun one more time and put a new magazine looked over at her partner before starting the car. She was going to tell Derek the truth when this was over . Britt thought he could be trusted because he was Halo"s partner. Kato on the other hand was thrilled by the idea but had agreed any way because he saw how much this ment to Halo. They turned on there lights and sped the way to the house this whole thing was going down. The light in the neighborhood had been broken leaving the place shadowed by blackness. A chill went up Halo"s spine as she stopped in front of the house. The rest pulled up around her seeing as she was in the lead. The house was white with broken windows and the door looked as though it was about to fall off its hinges. Halo grabbed her gun from its holster and slowly crept up to the door and kicked it door. "FBI," she yelled when the door blew open. Her team passed her and went into the house checking all the rooms. An echo of all clear came back to her as all of the rooms had been checked and nothing had been found. She went up to the door she knew lead to the basement and nodded to her partner who was going to kick it kicked the door right open and she ran in holding her gun in front off her. She walked slowly looking right to left making sure there were no spots where someone could hide and shoot them from behind. She got to the bottom and had to hold back a laugh. "What the hell," Derek yelled looking at the scene in front of him. The drug dealers were tied up in there underwear and were blind folded. "Looks like the Green Hornet didn"t want to stick around his new partners," Derek said watching as each of the five guys were lead out of the basement. "Well looks like we get another go around," Halo sighed following the last guy out. She hadn"t heard anyone yell that the black beauty was leaving so that ment that they hadn"t made the escape like they had planned but was able to hid from them well enough that they wouldn"t be seen. Halo walked out the door and most of the cars were gone and a crowed had surrounded the house. The people kept their mouths shut around here but once the flashing lights showed up at a house everyone came out and watched. These people made Halo"s stomach churn. Halo got in the car and headed to the office to grab her car and go home. She hoped Kato would be there to greet her but she really doubt it seeing as they were still planning on burning down the house that she had just left Please review it makes my day! I wan to thank Blackbeautystealer13 and Phelpslover87 because they reviewed and reviews give me ideas so this chapter is for them. Kato knew it was late when he arrived at Halo"s house but he hadn"t seen nor talked to her all day today and he missed her. He pulled out a key that she had given him the day before. He looked around when he felt a chill go down his back making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He saw nothing but that didn"t shake the feeling away so he quickly unlocked the door and went in. He made sure to lock the door behind him. He didn"t want whatever was watching him outside to enter the house while he and Halo were asleep. He quietly made his way to the bedroom where he shed all of his clothes but his boxers. He crawled under the blankets making sure not to wake Halo up. At soon as he laid down Halo turned and curled up next to him using his chest as a pillow. He grinned to himself and played with her hair making her smile in her sleep. He soon fell asleep with his hand resting on her head while the other one was on her waist keeping close to him. His dreams were full of things that made him smile but he didn"t remember once he woke up. He opened his brown eye and saw Halo"s baby blue ones staring at him. Her hair tickled his chest each time at moved. He pulled her head down and kissed her. He grinned when he pulled away looking at the happiness that covered Halo"s face. "I really could get use to wake up like this," Halo got up and went to her closet and started to pull of clothes of the rack. She grabbed a blue dress shirt and a pair of black drees pants. Kato watched her as she got dressed with a goofy grin on his face. Kato got up and walked over to her "Do you really have to go," Kato asked wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck. "As tempting as staying here with you is, I really have to get to work and write up the report for last night," Halo turned around and kissed him before leaving. Kato sighed and went back to her bed and went back to sleep dreaming about his angel who is protecting him and the guy that is like his brother even if it meant losing her job and possibly her freedom if they could prove that she had known who he and Britt really were. What did he do to deserve a women like Halo? Halo walked into her office and saw Zane who looked like steam would start coming out of his ears at any second. "What happened last night," he demanded once he saw her. "Well we got the drug dealers but there was no sign of the Green Hornet or his partner," Halo told him. "Agent Storm I know he was there so what do you mean there was no proof," Zane was losing his temper and quick. "What I mean is he wasn"t there when we got there," Halo told him comely. "That"s not acceptable! He set the house on fire soon after your team left," Zane"s voice had gotten soft. "He may have bee watching it, sir," Halo didn"t like how mad Zane was getting. Zane left without saying another word because he didn"t want to do something he would regret later. Halo sighed and went to her office and saw her partner was sitting in her chair. "So are you going to tell me now or later," he asked standing up. "Better to get it over with now," Halo closed the door and locked. "So was I right," Derek asked. "Yes, and if you tell anyone your head is mine," Halo threatened. "Don"t worry. Your like my sister so any secret of yours is mine," Derek told her seriously. "So you like the dangerous bad guy type huh," Derek grinned. "Get out of her," Halo"s face was bright red. Derek left with a laugh barley dodging the soft animal that Halo had thrown at him leaving Halo alone to do the report and day dream about her other half: Kato. Please review and tell me what ya think! Halo gazed up at the ceiling in her room with Kato sleeping next to her. She was afraid that someone may have heard her and Derek earlier that day when they were talking about Kato. She knew Derek would have her back no matter what but the plaguing feeling wouldn"t leave her alone. She knew she was being stupid but all her years being in the FBI taught her not to ignore the feeling. She looked over at Kato and wonder what she had done in her life to get such a wonderful man. She pulled the blankets off her and went into her bathroom and jumped into the shower since she didn"t have any clothes on and washed off. She was lost in her thoughts until she felt a body push up against her back and arms wrapped around her. "What"s bothering you," Kato whispered into her ear sending shivers down her back even though the bathroom was full of steam from their shower. "I don"t know. It"s just a bad feeling that I can"t seem to shake," Halo turned around and wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down and kissed him. Kato pushed her up against the wall of the bathroom and let his hand roam her body. She moaned into the kiss. His mouth moved to her jaw line and down her neck making her gasp. Kato pulled back and gently kissed before they continued with their shower. Kato and Halo stepped out of the shower while dripping wet and grab towels and dried each other off before going back into the bedroom. Halo grabbed clothes and got dressed while Kato watched her. "I wish I could tell you that this feeling is nothing but even I know not to ignore it. Britt is the only person I know that would ignore the feeling if he didn"t know where it was coming from," Kato told her from the bed. "I know. I hope it turns up to be nothing but I don"t want to take a chance," Halo kissed him before leaving. She went to work where she knew was the source of this feeling. The building was on fire and no one seemed to notice or care. She pulled out her cell phone and called 911. She couldn"t believe her ears when she heard someone yelling for help from in the building. Without a second thought she ran into the building and went to the stairs and made it to the third floor and started to kick down doors looking for the source of pleas. On the last room on the floor she saw on of her team mates from the night before and she had passed out from the smoke. She grabbed Sarah and carried her out as fast a she could. When she got out of the building the cool wind rushed to greet her. Paramedics rushed over to her and took Sarah out of her arms and led her to an ambulance to take her to the hospital to treat the burns she had gotten from the fire and to treat her for carbon dioxide poison. She thought about whom have done this and why before she passed out.

"Because he"s Cali"s stocker", Amber waved her hand as if it were no big deal. Crystil nodded her head and thought that her new friend was weird. "Can we see the sword", Jasper asked when everybody finished eating and Crystil was gone. "Sure let me go get it", Amber set her drink down."Hey, can we see your room", Maggie asked out of the blue. Amber turned around and gave her a weird look. "I"m curious to see what it looks like", Maggie shrugged as if it were no big deal. "Sure. Follow me", Amber said going up the stairs. After passing two white doors the came to a black and red one. "It"s this one", she indicated with a hand gesture, "I"m gonna go get the sword from Cali"s room." Amber came back a few seconds to see Maggie and Jasper were looking at her books and Henry was playing tag-a-war with Sunny. Tink came in behind Amber and grabbed a toy and went to Sunny"s bed. Amber sat on her bed with the sword in hand. "That"s a weird looking sword", Henry said sitting on her chest."Well Vlad was a strange man", Amber smiled over at Henry while handing him the sword. "It" heavy", Henry said lifting it up. Amber gave him a "no duh" look as Maggie sat down next to her and Jasper brought over her chair. "It also appears to be sharp", Jasper said as he examined it. "Unfortunately that"s why Cali loves it so much", Amber sighed as she thought of the day before when Cali was playing with it. "Why would anyone want to steal it", Maggie asked."Who knows maybe they thought it would help them become a vampire", Amber shrugged. Henry gave her a "WTF" look. "Dracula was based off of Vlad the Impaler Amber clarified for him. He gave her an "O" face. Amber got up and put the sword in her closet. "Hey Ambre", Cali walked in wearing baggy pants and a baggy shirt, "Have you seen the sword." "She looks hot in anything", Jasper thought with a sigh when he saw Cali. "Yeah. It"s in my closet because I don"t trust you with it", Amber replied. Cali was about to say something when she noticed Henry and blushed before leaving. Jasper, Henry, and Maggie soon left because they had school tomorrow and Cali had already fallen asleep Still don"t own Unnatural History Monday had started like any other day. Amber was up and making breakfast while Cali was just getting up. "Cali hurry up your eggs are getting cold", Amber yelled. "Shit! I can"t find any of my homework", Cali yelled back. Amber sighed and put her dirty plate and cup in the sink and went up stairs. Cali"s room looked like a tornado went through it. Clothes were everywhere and papers were slowly falling on to the ground. "I"ll find your homework now go eat", Amber pointed out the door. "Thank you so much", Cali hugged amber and went down to eat. Amber went to Cali"s closet and picked up the bag of shoes that Cali had bought the day before and lookie what she found. All of Cali"s homework. "You would think shewould look before throwing her bags into the closet", Amber thought with a shake of her head. She grabbed Cali"s purse from her bed and shoved her homework into it and slowly walked down to the kitchen. "Yay! You found them", Cali shouted when she saw Amber walking down the stairs. "It wasn"t that hard", Amber handed Cali her purse and grabbed her bag of the floor. "Well were where they", Cali asked. "Under the bags of shoes you bought", Amber replied tossing the keys to Cali. Cali caught the keys and dragged herself to the car cause she really didn"t;t want to go to school. Amber watched the houses as the flew by since Cali was speeding like normal. "I"m waiting for you to get a ticket", Amber said slowly getting out the car. "Then keep waiting cause all I have to do is show more cleavage", Cali smirked at her naive friend. "Yeah, your so boobalicious", Amber broke out laughing. "I love that word, boobalicious", Cali started to laugh as well. "Whats so funny", Jasper asked as Henry, Maggie, and himself joined the laughing two. "The word boobalicious", Amber replied before continuing to laugh. This caused everyone eles to laugh. "I swear you two are the weirdest people I know besides Henry", Maggie got out between fits of laughter. "We try", Amber smiled when she finished laughing. The bell rang for school to start causing them to go their separate ways. Nothing exciting happened till they got to art class... their projects were do. "Maggie and Mia will come up and present their report first", said before taking a seat behind his desk. Maggie got up and stood next to Mia and cleared her throat and held up the piece of paper. "Our person was Raphael Sanzio. His life was from April 6 or March 28, 1483 to April 6, 1520", Maggie said. she continued on and spoke about his most known work "School of Athens.' "Very good young lady"s. Next up is Jasper and Cali", said. They walked up there together and Cali strokea pose. "We had Donatello di Bardi. His life was from some time in 1386 till December 13, 1466", Jasper said, "His most known works are "Tumb of Giananni" and the "Ciburiun.' The only thing Cali said was that he didn"t care about who know pf his homosexuality. Everyone else in the class had went now for the final group. "The last group is Amber and Henry", called them up. Amber grabbed her laptop and hooked it up to the projector. "Mr. Finn can I see the remote to the projector", she asked. looking interested in their report handed it to her. She opened up PowerPoint. Henry read what the PowerPoint said and Amber elaborated on it. The first slide read "Michelanglo Buonarroti- March 6, 1475 till February 18, 1564. Two other slides showed pictures of his famous works "Piete" and "David.' "That was the best report", said as Amber handed him their written report. Henry smiled while Amber had a huge grin on her face. The bell rang for lunch and everyone rushed out because it was chicken wrap day and Maggie was hungry for her salad. About half-way through lunch the gang decided they wanted to go outside for fresh air. They were walking down an empty hallway when three figures walked out of an empty classroom. "I think we should run", Maggie said taking a step back. "Or we could take them on", Amber said taking a step forward. "Now"s not the time", Henry said grabbing her arm and pulled her back. Everyone turned around a ran and of course the three in black gave chase. Amber in the lead opened an empty classrooms door and ducked in with everyone else following. Maggie shut the door. "How can you run in those", Maggie asked pointing to Cali"s high heels. Cali shrugged and sat down on the desk. "I think a more important question is why were we being chased", Jasper said sitting in a chair backwards. "Well I think they were the same people that chased me and Amber last week", Henry said from the floor next to Amber. "This makes no since. Attacking us at school", Maggie said right before the bell rang. Maggie opened the door and everyone dispersed into the hallway. Henry and Amber learned that they will get to go on a trip if they pay fifteen dollars and if they got their permission slips sighed. School seemed to go by in a flash because Amber was beyond excited about the trip. "hey Amber have you about the party this weekend", Cali asked running up to Amber. "No. but we"re going aren"t we Amber asked. "Hell ya", Cali yelled. "Whats got her happy", Maggie asked. "We"re going to the party Friday", Cali replied for herself. "Cool we"re going to", Jasper gestured to Henry, Maggie, and himself. Maggie didn"t seemed to thrilled about it but kept her mouth shut and Henry seemed clueless as ever. No one looked at the black car who"s windows were so tinted that you couldn"t see through them. Soon they left and went home. Amber did her homework which Cali took it and copied it. They stayed up late playing different games with each other and surprisingly no one was watching them. This chapter isn"t one of my favorite but the next one is and I can"t for y"all to read it! Remember reviews=love=updated faster I still don"t own Unnatural History even though that would be cool. The rest of the school week passed uneventfully until Friday night. Cali wore a black mini skirt with a purple halter top that showed her flat tone stomach and thigh high black boots. Amber on the other hand wore black baggy pants with two belts and a white three quarters sleeve shirt that showed a little bit of stomach, black fingerless gloves and her black converse."Ready to go", Cali asked grabbing a small black purse with purple spots."As I will ever be", Amber sighed and grabbed the keys. Cali followed her going on and on about all the hot guys that would be there and how she"s going to impress Henry. "It"s going to be a long party not to mention night", Amber thought as she turned the radio up as she drove. The drive soon came to an end when the party was being hosted at came in to sight. People were everywhere and the music was blaring. Amber and Cali walked up to the house and were soon enveloped by people wanting to talked to them. Cali was animated as she talked to people as Amber managed to slip out of the crowed "It"s good to see that you managed to get out alive", Crystil said holding a cup of punch."I know right! I thought I was going to be eatinalive", Amber laughed taking Crystil"s drink away and took a sip before giving it back."Gee thanks", Crystil said before dumping her cup and throwing it away."I"m just loving this party!" Cali came up and swung her arm on to Amber shoulders, Crystil looked at Cali disgusted before walking away."Um Cali what have you had since we got here",Amber asked. Cali was putting most of her weight on Amber."Some punch", Cali giggled. Amber sighed, "Cali had sugar and is now happy/hyper.' Cali had a sill grin on her face as she dragged Amber to a clear spot and started to dance. Amber groaned as "Shake It" by Metro Station started to play. Amber spun Cali as they danced and at the end Cali did a back bend and Amber did a flip over her. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and had watched them and had started clapping when they had finished dancing. "Wow I didn"t think we were that good", Amber thought as she was breathing heavily. Cali was soaking up the attention she was getting. "This is what I live for", Cali thought as sweat started to drip off her face."You two done showing off", Maggie asked from behind them. Amber and Cali turned around and saw her and Jasper and Henry on either side of her. Amber walked over as Cali was still caught up in the attention she was getting."She loves attention", Amber said as she joined her friends."Apparently very much", Jasper said with a sad sigh."At lest her boyfriend, when she gets one, has an easy job", Amber said mostly to Jasper."What do you mean", Henry asked handing her his punch. Amber said a small thank you before taking two sips."Well all he has to do is compliment her adoringly and give her his undivided attention", Amber said giving Jasper a hint. A couple of days ago Amber noticed Jasper looking at Cali adoringly and even though Cali had her sights on Henry she was hoping she would see that Jasper was the best one for her. Amber gave a small smile and began to think of a way to show Cali what a good guy Jasper was. "So are we gonna sit here like a bump on a log or any one gonna dance", Amber asked. Henry being Henry took it as a challenge."How about a dance off", he said challenging Amber."Sure, so how about Jasper goes first",Amber replied. Jasper began shaking his head and waving his arms in protest."Just get over it cause the sooner you do the sooner Maggie gets to dance", Amber smirked and crossed arms. Jasper sighed in defeat and began to dance to Nickelback"s "Afternoon.' Jasper dancing had Amber clutching her stomach with tears falling from her eyes as she laughed to munch. Maggie was trying to keep herself from becoming like Amber. Henry was nodding his head to the music as a few chuckles escaped his mouth. "Come on Amber my dancing isn"t that bad", Jasper said when the song finished."It wasn"t but the look on your face was funny as hell", Amber said when she managed to stop laughing."Go on Mag"s it"s your turn", Jasper said pushing Maggie in front of them. Maggie glared at them so hard Amber started to rub her arm because it felt like it was song "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga was playing while Maggie was dancing. Amber started to fall asleep and Henry tried not to yawn but wasn"t able to secede and Jasper was starting were Cali was dancing with a couple of guys. Maggie walked over and pushed Amber over. She fell back and landed on her butt."I didn"t eat the last cookie", Amber said automatically when she fully awaken. Maggie stifled a laugh, Jasper fell from were he was sitting because he was laughing so hard, and Henry had a huge smile on his face as he helped her up. "I"m not going to ever ask";, Maggie said taking Jasper"s seat. Unlike the other two Henry didn"t need any began to dance to "Right Round" by Flo Rida. Amber watched as his body moved to the music, and she wasn"t the only one. Cali watched him from the corner of her eye as she danced. "Jasper"s moves would have matched mine better", Cali thought as she looked over to were Jasper was sitting and her heart filled with longing to be next to him."I"m impressed ", Amber said as the song finished and Henry came back over."Now lets see if you can impress me", Henry said with a grin on his face. Amber went and started to dance as "New Divide" by Linkin Park came on. A few people stopped and watched her dance. The song quickly came to an end."So did I impress you", Amber asked as sweat started to drip off of her face. Henry had a huge smile on his face causing Amber to have a huge grin of her own."Well it"s a toss up between Amber and Henry", Jasper said with Maggie nodding in agreement."Works for me", Amber shrugged."Wanna dance", Henry held out his hand out for Amber. Amber grabbed his hand as he lead her to the center of the dancing area."Don"t Matter" by Akon came on as they danced together. As the song came to an end, someone screamed. Amber and Henry heads snapped to where the screaming came from. Crystil was in the pool covered in the water with Cali standing above her. Amber and Henry shared a look before running and jumping into the pool. Jasper and Maggie joined them moments later then everyone else joined them. Amber climbed out of the water and sat in a lounge chair and stared at the stars above them. Henry sat right next to her as Maggie sat at their feet with Cali and Jasper in the one next to them."Well this has been one interesting party", Amber said as a shooting star passed above them.Yeah it"s really cool of Dannie to throw a party Jasper said.It"s always amazing to see a meteor shower,Henry said looking at the night sky as meteor came blazing by. Henry grabbed Amber"s hand they both had a small smile on their faces and Jasper had his arm around Cali as Cali leaned into him. They too had small smiles on their faces. Maggie smiled at her friends contentment with each other. "Now only if I can get a guy of my own", Maggie sighed as a cute guy walked by and winked at her. Amber nudged Maggie with her foot and motioned to the guy who walked by. Maggie got the hint and went after the guy. Amber watched as she started to flirt with the guy and played with her hair. Maggie looked over at her and smiled. Amber gave her a smiled back and leaned on Henry"s shoulder and sighed in content before looking back into the night sky. I don"t know when I"m gonna be able to update next cause Cali is writing most of it and she"s not exactly reliable sometimes but I"ll do my best to update soon! Remember reviews=love=update sooner I still don"t own Unnatural History. Which is probably good for man kind cause who knows what kind of mayhem i could cause with that kind of power over people. Saturday morning Amber woke up early and started to cough and sneeze. "Damn I think I have a cold from jumping into that pool last night.' Amber decided to get up and make breakfast because Cali would assume she already ate and wouldn"t make her any food. Amber made herself chocolate chip pancakes and hot coco. Cali came down the stairs when Amber was drinking some cold medicine. "So you caught the could", Cali asked making herself a bowl of cereal. "Unfortunately" Amber sneezed cause her to groan. "So I have the house to myself today", Cali took a bite of cereal. "For the most part. Now I"m going back to bed", Amber went back upstairs. Cali watched as she went up the stairs and began to brainstorm of things she could do. "Hmmm maybe I need a relaxing spa day. No Amber always made them more fun and I don"t wanna go shopping by myself", Cali thought. "I got it! I can hang out with Jasper today", Cali said to herself. Cali ran upstairs and texted Jasper as she grabbed a pair of black sweat pants and a blue long sleeve shirt. Cali was putting on her make-up when Jasper texted her that he would meet up with her at the mall. Cali slipped an socks and shoes and put her blond hair in a messy bun before running down stairs and grabbing her wallet and keys. In no time Cali was at the mall waiting in the food court waiting on Jasper. Cali was starting to wonder if Jasper was coming when she saw him looking around for her, She waved her hand in the air to get his attention. A smile came to his face when he saw her. "His smile is contagious" Cali thought as a smile came to her face. "Well your stunning as always", Jasper took as seat next to her. "I do try", Cali giggled as her smile turned into a grin. "So where are we off to first", Jasper asked. "Hmmm how about Hot Topic", Cali got up and pushed her chair in. "Sounds good to me", Jasper followed Cali as she led the way to one of her favorite stores. Cali ran over to a purple plaid mini skirt and a matching top and grabbed them. She walked over to the accessories where and grabbed black lacy gloves and a purple rose hair clip. Jasper just watched as she walked around and grabbed whatever she liked. "Well at lest you"ll never run out of clothes", Jasper said as he walked out with three bags full of things she bought there. "Yep, now we get to go to Game Stop", Cali grinned and turned to where the store was at. Like the last store she began to pull stuff of the shelves. The games ranged from Sims to Zelda to Call of Duty. This continued until they hit all the stores and both of their arms where filled with bags. "Hey lets get food before we leave", Cali once again lead the way to where they were going. "Thanks for buying me some ITune cards", Jasper said before taking a huge bite of his pizza. "No problem", Cali was eating her food from Panda express. "So uh Cali I was uh wondering if you um would like to uh go on a uh date with me uh tomorrow night", Jasper"s face was red as a Cherri. Cali"s face lit up with a huge smile before practically yelling yes. Jasper sighed in relief while Cali was texting someone who he assumed to be Amber. They held hands as they walked to Cali"s car. They threw all of Cali"s bags into the back and were standing outside the car, "I had a lot of fun today", Cali said as she leaned back on her car. "So did - bang- what the hell", Jasper and Cali ducked down and hid beside her car. "Jasper get in the car", Cali was already opening the drivers door. Jasper looked at her as if she were crazy but followed her advice and jumped into the back seat. Cali started the car and drove like the manic that she is. "Fuck we"re being followed", Cali said as she made a sharp turn and got onto the highway. "I think we lost them", Cali told Jasper a she pulled into a gas station parking lot. "Awesome can we go back and get my car", Jasper asked from the back sear where you could see fear written all over in his eyes. "Sure, come on up to the front seat cause I fell like I"m driving a taxi with you back there", Cali said as she forced herself to calm down. The drive back was quiet and they held hands as Cali drive at the speed limit for once. "Were did you park", Cali asked when they got to the mall. "In the back where the food court is", Jasper sighed in relief when he saw his car unharmed. "Night Jasper", Cali kissed his cheek before he got out of the car. Jasper whispered good night and had this huge goofy grin on his face as he went to his car. Cali sped all the way home and dumped all her bags on the white couch in the living room before heading upstairs and getting ready for bed. Cali was having trouble getting to sleep because she was so excited and couldn"t wait to tell Amber what had happened today. When Cali finally drifted off to sleep a figure out on the sidewalk smiled. I"m sorry it""s short my writer"s block is coming back and Cali didn"t write any cause she hasn"t seen much of the show. Well anyways reviews=love=updates I still don"t own Unnatural History. Amber woke up to the smell of food."Cali is up and making breakfast", Amber thought as she got out of bed and cautiously walked down stairs."You feeling better", Cali asked as she handed Amber her food."Yes, but by any chance am I in another universe", Amber was poking her food."That"s awesome! And sadly no nothing cool like that has happened to you. I"m just beyond happy", Cali chugged her milk."So whats got you so happy", Amber asked as she ate her scrambled eggs."Jasper asked me out on date for tonight and I said yes", Cali squealed as she put her dished in the sink."You"ve got to tell me what happened yesterday", Amber said as she too put her dishes in the sink."Sure, but lets go through the thing I bought yesterday", Cali sat on the black couch. Amber sat on the white one across from her. Cali told her everything that happened the day before as they sorted out the stuff Cali bought while out with Jasper."So do you know who shot the gun", Amber asked as she put in outfit together from what Cali had bought her."Unfortunately no", Cali was looking at the clothes trying to find something for tonight."Was Alex there", Amber asked as she picked out baggy khaki cargo shorts and a black star wars shirt."Yeah, I saw him at Spencer"s looking at fluffy hand cuffs",Cali shivered at what he could be planning to use them for."Do you think he could be one of the people who keep attacking us", Amber grabbed a pair of snow goggles and put them in the pile of clothes for the day."I don"t know but we could ask him tomorrow at school", Cali said picking up a purple and red dress. Cali tossed it and picked up a teal dress looked at it and nodded. She looked at the accessories and picked out a teal butterfly necklace and three silver bracelets. Cali"s phone went off and Cali had to go through the piles of stuff on the floor to find it. "Jasper wants to know if you would like to go on a double date with us", Cali told Amber after she read the message."Well... I would but I have no one to go with", Amber started to go through the games."You would be going with Henry duh", Cali was looking at make-up and trying to decide what to wear tonight."Fine, but what are we doing", Amber asked."Uh movie then dinner then I don"t know", Cali told Amber. Amber found a black wrap skirt and a green button up shirt and a black cami to go under it."Nice! But what are we going to do the rest of the day", Cali asked. "Well I"m gonna read Saiyuki", Amber gabbed her stuff and went up to her room."Guess I"m gonna get caught up with the Maximum Ride series", Cali sighed as she grabbed her stuff and went up stairs. The two spent the rest of the day doing this except to eat food, use the bathroom, and putting their stuff away. "Amber it"s six we need to star getting ready", Cali yelled from her room. Amber sighed and went to her bathroom to take a quick shower. Cali took her shower earlier and was now getting ready. She put on teal eye shadow, eyeliner,and lip gloss and was now trying to figure out how to put her hair up."Hey Cali do you have a small hair clip that I can use", Amber asked as she walked in with just a towel on."Yeah, but sit down I"m gonna do your make-up", Cali pointed to the chair in front of her vanity. "I didn"t even want make-up on", Amber sighed as she complied to Cali"s demand. Cali put dark green eye shadow, eyeliner, and lip gloss on Amber. "All done and here you go",Cali handed Amber a small hair clip that had a dragonfly on it."Thank you", Amber dashed to her room because she only had twenty minuets left. Amber pulled her hair back and slipped her clothes on and grabbed her black flats. She put on a dragonfly necklace and a green studded bracelet."Amber I need help with my hair", Cali walked to Cali"s room and began to think of ways to put her hair up."Hmmm how about you put all of it up in a clip except your bangs",Amber suggested when the door bell rang. "I"ll get the door while you finish getting ready", Amber ran downstairs, She opened the door and she almost dropped her jaw when she saw Henry.He was wearing black slacks with a grey button up shirt with it sleeves rolled up and converse."You look stunning", Henry smiled when he saw her."Well I do aim to please", Amber waved them in with a smile on her face. Cali was at the foot of the stairs and smiled when she saw Jasper. Jasper had on black slacks with a white button up shirt and black dress shoes."Wow", Jasper"s jaw dropped when he saw Cali."Hey, Jasper your gonna catch flys like that", Amber said from behind him. Jasper was flustered causing Cali to giggle."So who"s ready to go see Karate Kid", Henry asked."I can"t wait", Amber had a huge grin on her face as she grabbed Henry"s hand."Well my smart car can"t hold everybody", Jasper said."Well you did say you wanted to drive our car", Cali said holding out the keys. Jasper grabbed them. "Uh whats up with the bat bear", he asked."Well Batman is awesome so I bought it at six flags while we where in Texas", Amber told him."So lets get going so we don"t miss our movie", Cali said as she grabbed Jasper"s ride there flew by because everyone was excited. Jasper and Henry paid for everything being the gentlemen they were."Are you guys on a date", Crystil asked as they waited in line to get food and drinks."Yep", Amber said with a smile. Crystil nodded and walked away cause she didn"t feel like being the fifth wheel. They got their seats just as the movie was starting. Henry was telling Amber all about China and the different fight styles that where there and Amber made comments here and there. Jasper and Cali were quietly watching the movie till Jasper got hit in the head with popcorn. He looked over to were Amber and Henry were sitting and glared at them, Amber snickered and Henry had a smile on his face. Jasper turned his head back to the movie only to be hit in the head with popcorn. Jasper silently declared war on them. He whispered something to Cali who got an evil smile on her face. Thus a popcorn war had begun. Thankfully they were sitting in the back and hardly anyone was there. "Man I love a good popcorn War", Amber said as they walked out of the theater. "Yeah but I feel bad about the people who have to clean it up now", Jasper said."Well they do get paid to do it", Cali said with a shrug."So where does everyone want to eat", Henry asked."How about the Cheesecake Factory? Mine and Cali"s treat", Amber said from the back seat of the car. After much protesting from the guys they finally agreed. Amber ordered a hamburger, Cali ordered the same thing, Jasper ordered ribs, and Henry ordered a seafood plate. They talked about the movie till they got their food and then they focused more on the food then conversation. For desert Amber ordered the snickers cheesecake. Cali ordered the Reese"s, Jasper ordered the vanilla bean, and Henry ordered turtle cheesecake. They were talking about the mystery that they have yet to figure out. Soon they got off topic and were laughing by the time the cheesecake got there. Amber picked up a piece of her cake and shoved it in Henry"s face and giggled till he did it to her."And this is why we can"t take you two in public", Cali said with a giggle. Amber grabbed a piece of Cali"s cake and threw it at her causing Jasper to laugh and Cali shoved cake into his face. They were all laughing as they finished their cake and cleaned their face before leaving."So were to now", Jasper asked."How about the park", Amber suggested. Henry and Cali both agreed was jumping up and down in her seat."Jeez calm down Amber", Henry laughed and put his arm around her and pulled her close."We"re here, now let that bubble of energy out", Cali said as the car came to a stop. Amber jumped out of the car and ran to the play scape with Henry close behind. Jasper and Cali laughed as the joined them, In a matter of minuets they were all laying on the ground gazing up at the stars."Cali will you be my girlfriend", Jasper asked as he turned over and looked over at her. Cali moved over to him and kissed him. "Is that a yes", he asked.Cali giggled,"Of course it"s a yes." Amber smiled as she heard Cali giggled.Henry sighed, "Amber care to go for a walk." Amber nodded and got up. They walked back to the play scape and Amber sat on the slide and looked up at Henry. "Uh Amber will you be my girlfriend", Henry asked with a blush."I would love to be", Amber said before getting up and wrapping her arms around his neck. Henry leaned in a kissed her."Come on we got to get going", Cali yelled. Amber sighed and grabbed Henry"s hand and ran to the car. "Why must we have school", Cali asked looking up at the heavens.

"Well I doubt she"s going to wake up without you here," Britt stated. "How do you know," Kato questioned him. "Because she told me that she was head over heels in love with you and that she never wanted to be without you," Britt told his friend. "That sounds like her," Kato grinned. "Well come on! I"m wasting away here," Derek held onto his stomach. Kato and Britt laughed as they headed out missing the twitch and Halo"s hand. Should she wake up in the next one? Should it when their gone? Should they get a lead and go "investagate?" Review and let me know what you think!If you review I "may" update faster because then I know someone wants to read it. This story is kind of writing itself because it"s gone it"s own way. They had gone to the cafe where Derek had met Kato. He never thaought that this guy could steal his partners heart like he did. In truth Derek had a small crush on his partner and he now saw why it would never work. Halo always went to the guys the could keep up with her in every way and he himself couldn"t. He knew Halo"s history but he wasn"t with her through the rough patches of it like Britt had. Halo"s father had died of lung cancer shortly after she had turned 13 and her mom had a mental breakdown that she had to be hospitalized a year later due to grief. Britt had to persuade his father to let her stay with them since her parents were only children and their parents past away a few years before. A deal was made that allowed Halo to live with them was that Halo had to keep a GPA of 3.5 to 4.0 and attend a college that he approved of. The college she ended going to was Yale while Britt stayed home. Derek felt vibrations coming from his front right pocket. HE pulled it out and saw that it was one of the agents that Halo had put on flittering through all the young women that could be the partner of the fake Green Hornet. "Agent Walker here," he answered his phone getting a weird look from Britt and Kato. "Agent Stark here and we think we may have a lead on whom the women is with the fake Green Hornet," her soft voice came from the phone. "Well lay it on me beautiful," he grinned. "Well handsome, her name is Samantha Aster, she"s 26. Her eyes are a natural violet color and she always wears wigs because she has recently went through CEMO and lost all her hair," she sighed. "Does she have any man in her life that matches her partner," he asked. "We don"t know yet. We haven"t gotten that far yet, but when we know I"ll let you know," she hung up the phone. "Looks like we got a lead," Derek grinned at Britt and Kato. "So we gathered," Kato said dryly. "Her name is Samantha Aster and I"m going to go question her," Derek stated getting up. Britt nodded knowing that Derek will call him and tell him what he got from her. Kato just watched as he left before turning to Britt. "I think I"m going to go back and see how Halo"s doing," Kato got up and left Britt there with the whole bill. Britt sighed and waved the waitress over and paid the bill with one of his credit cards. Kato walked into Halo"s room and went to clean up all the files of paper that they had gone over earlier. He turned his head when he heard movement coming from the bed and saw that Halo was starting to wake up. He went to the chair and grabbed her hand both of his. "Afternoon beautiful," Kato whispered as her eye"s flicker open. Halo grinned and tried to say something but her throat was to sore for her to talk. Kato smiled and kissed her softly before the doctor came in to check on her. Reviews=love=updates. I "ll update when I can. Kato texted both Derek and Britt that Halo had woken up and Britt was on his way and Derek would be as soon as he intervewed Samatha Aster. Halo smiled up at Kato still unable to talk but he knew that she wanted to say I love you. "I love you too," Kato whispered into her ear making her shiver from the sound of his voice. Her hands were bandage and so was part of her face from second degree burns she had gotten from the fire. her throut was still slightly burned fron the hot air as well as her lungs. Kato looked up as Britt walked in with a huge vase with flowers and a giant stuffed wolf. Kato shook his head at him and Halo just stared at him as if he were an alien. "What I thought you would appreceate some color in this room," Britt defended himself. Halo gave him a grin which Britt was more than happy to return. "She can"t talk right now because it hurts her to much right now. The doctor said she can be released if she stayed at friends for three days because of the burns on her hands don"t let her move them or really touch anything," Kato explaned to Britt befoore he asked could ask a stupid why she wasn"t talking to him. Britt opened his mouth but his phone went off making him hold up one finger. Halo rolled her eyes at him. "Hello," Britt answered the phone. "I just got down with interviewing Samatha Aster," Derek told him while staring his car. "What did she say," Britt questioned him. "She"s playing innocet but I think she"s hidding something," Derek replied. "So do you want me and Kato to ask her a few questions of our own," Britt asked him. "I think that would be best. The write a letter to the FBI for me telling me what you get because other wise I can"t do anything," Derek rpied before hanging up. He saw that Halo was giving him a confused look and Kato was looking to him to tell him what they will be doing tonight. "We may have a lead on who did this and who the fake Green Hornet and his partner is and me and Kato will go see if it is anything or if your partner is just to suspious for his own good," Britt told them both. Anyone have ideas because I"m like brain dead and can"t think of nything right now. Anyways please review! Hmm well this story has a mind of its own. Oh and review and tell me what you think should happen. Reviews make me what to update. Halo laid in the uncomfortable bed waiting to hear from someone on how well the "interview" went. All she could think of was all the ways it could go wrong and it filled her with worry. She looked at the clock and watched the seconds go by with no word. After two hours had gone by her heart seemed to drop and her worry escalated. Thankfully she was able to keep herself calm as not to set off the machines that were motoring her vital signs. Another hour had gone by and she was having trouble keeping herself calm. She was getting ready to get up and find them herself when a man came in looking like the Green Hornet. "Hello my dear," he said with a slight British accent. "Who are you and what do you want," she demanded though she had an idea. "Why I"m the second Green Hornet and as for what I want. It"s for you to turn in the real one or you will find yourself in a lot of pain," he sat down next to her. "Go to hell," she told him with a glare. "Such a poor choice," he pulled out a hand cuffs and cuffed her to her bed before pulling out a knife and slashing her legs and arms. He was careful enough to stay away from any main artery or vein and left without any blood on him No one noticed him come in or leave. Halo"s blood pressure dropped dramatically and the doctors and nurses rushed in and saw her once white bed was cover in her blood and it was starting to pool on the floor. They managed to get the cuffs of her and got her into surgery where they gave her three blood transfusions. They had barely saved her life. Kato walked in to the hallway where his girlfriend was when all the doctors and nurses rushed into her room. He ran over their but two nurses dragged him away before he could see what was wrong with her. They wheeled her bloody bed with her bloody body on it. She looked as though she was already dead. Kato broke down crying as a nurse tried to comfort him tell him that they will the best they could do to save her. Kato clenched his fist and swore revenge on the one that had done this to her. I heart reviews! Thanks to everyone who reviewed this chapter is for you! Halo dropped her partner off at the office before going off to Brit"s place. I so need to relax after a day like thisHalo thought as she drove through the open gates. She parked her car in front of the door before walking up to the door. She rang the door bell and tapped her foot because she was impatient because shes had a long day at the office and thanks to the Green Hornet killing off the serial killer she was after. After a few minuets door was open by someone other than Brit. The door open to reveal an Asian man wearing a red turtle neck sweater and black pants. "May I help you," he asked. "Uh yeah, can you tell the idiot Brit that lives here that Halo is here," She asked him after looking him over. He smiled at her insult of Brit. "No need Kato. I already heard her," Brit said from behind the door. Halo"s eye"s widenwhen the door opened a little wider and she saw her best friends face that had a smirk on it. "So why couldn"t you talk to me at the office when I dropped by," he asked her looking down at her because she was around Kato"s size. "Well I was off to arrest someone when you dropped by," Halo told him as she walked by Kato who let her in. "Well then your here awfully fast," he put his arm around her pulling her close. "Well it looks like the Green Hornet killed him before we we"re able to," Halo said moving out of Brits grip. Kato and Brit looked at each other quickly before going back to Halo. "So who did he kill now," Kato asked before Brit could interrupt him like he normally does. "Kris Young he was wanted for serial killings but honestly this doesn"t fit the Green Hornets profile. Halo sighed as she sat down on the couch. "Well cheer up beautiful! it"s one less bad guy on the streets," Brit told her. Halo glared at him through her hair that fell on her face when she laid down on the couch. Brit laughed and moved her hair behind her ears. "Well thanks to him I have more paper work to do and I was already behind because I was to focused on catching the guy and he ends up dead when we try to," Halo was releasing her pent up frustrations out on Brit. "See this is what stress does to you," Brit told Kato who grinned. Halo grabbed the pillow that she was laying on and hit him in the head. "And he"s a prime example of what to much drinking to much does to your brain," Halo said before jumping away from the pillow Brit had swung at her but he ended up hitting Kato Halo giggled as Kato started chasing him. "Hey man shes the one that started it," Brit yelled making Kato stop and think before going after Halo. Halo took off running after Brit as she ran away from Kato. Brit tripped over a rug and slid on the carpet. Halo barley had time to jump over him and landed on a couch. Kato jumped over him and flipped over the couch. "Brit you know you normally hang out with hot chicks but hanging out with a hot guy and one that is amazing is a nice change for once," Halo looked down at her friend. "But I thought I was your favorite guy," Brit asked in a hurt voice. "You were but I think Kato may have you beat know," Halo grinned at him. "But we were going to get married and have kids," Brit sounded hurt. Halo gave him a confused look as Brit grinned and tackled started tickling her till she couldn"t breath. "Well it"s to bad you hate coffee or I would have you try this little devil"s because it"s amazing," Brit told her when Kato came back with two cups of coffee. Halo shrugged as they drank their coffee. "So what"s your new case," Brit asked her since she always was on a case. "He put me on the Green Hornet but honestly I don"t see why they want to catch him so bad because crime has gone down a lot since he"s shown up," Halo told them. Kato flashed a concern look at Brit. He didn"t want her to find out because she was an FBI agent and she could have them thrown in jail. Brit saw the look Kato gave him but he didn"t think Halo would turn them in because they have been friends a long time and she was only of the few people he trusted completely. "Well I guess I should be going because tomorrow is my day to do all my paper work and the Green Hornet my strike tonight," Halo got up and walked to the door with the guys following her. "Brit I don"t like her being so close to us," Kato told when the door shut behind Halo. "It"s better that shes on the case and not someone else because she won"t turn us in," Brit told him before he walked away. "I hope your right," Kato whisperer to himself. I"m addicted to reviews so please review! I"m so sorry these had gotten so short but I lost my muse for this story a while back and there"s only about two more chapters till the end so I will finish it! Enjoy~ Britt sat in the chair next to Halo while Kato left to vent some steam off. Some one had cam and hurt Halo while they were away, they weren"t going to take a chance again. Someone was going to be in this room with Halo no matter what. Britt had taken off as well as giving Kato the time off and as much as Derek would love to take off they had a feeling it was the fake Green Hornet that did this to her wile they were questing his partner. They were sure she was the other half and now all they had to do was wait for Derek"s team to figure out who the male could possibly. Britt looked up when he heard the click of the door knob being turned. He watched as Kato walked in with a box of pizza for the three of them, well it will be three in a few minuets when Derek walked through the door. Kato sat the pizza on the little rolling table a grabbed a slice before sitting on the couch in the window. "So has anything changed," Kato looked at Britt with hope in his brown eyes. "Sorry bro, but no. The doctor still doesn"t know when she"ll wake up but if she doesn"t wake up soon he doesn"t think she ever will," Britt saw his eyes dim a little at the news. Britt hated seeing Kato like this, he seemed to close up a little bit more. He hoped that Halo, who was like his little sister, would wake up soon because he didn"t want to lose Kato to. The door slammed opened and Derek came walking in with a grin on his face and a paper in his hand. "We got a lead," he grinned has he hand both Britt and Kato each a copy of the papers he was holding. "James Cross: 28 years old, from Britain. He has grey eyes and blond hair," Britt read the top before looking at the picture. Cold grey eyes stared at him under a mop of blond hair. "He knows Samantha from the CEMO therapy because his younger sister had cancer but was unlucky and had died killing him inside," Kato read. "I"m questing him tomorrow so he"s all yours tomorrow night and maybe the faster we get this over the faster Halo will wake up, like in all those movies," Derek grinned. This brought light to Kato"s eyes as his hope returned. Review and let me know what you think please and I will update faster if you do! The last chapter :( Enjoy~ The real Green Hornet and Kato stood outside of James"s house taking a moment to watch as he enter acted with Samantha they watched as they kissed but he slapped her away and yelling that this wasn"t the time for that. This man made Britt and Kato sick to their stomachs. They glanced at each other before walking up to the door. Britt steped aside and let Kato knock it down. They saw a girl with long light pink hair on the ground with tears streaming down her face. Britt requinized her as Samantha before looking up at James and he felt a chill run through his body at the coldness in the mans eyes. "Did you really think that we would find you," the Green Hornet asked. "No, I was looking forward to meeting you two and so far you haven"t disappointed me,' James said with no hint of emotion. "There are only two options for you. The first is you stop pretending to be me and get out of my city or the second which isn"t very pleasent, I"ll let Kato her beat the shit ooout of you till you can"t even remember your own name," Britt smirked hoping the man would choose the second one. Kato was already poping his knockles and loosing up his muscles. "I think I will pick the second one because who wants the easy way out," he shrugged his shoulders. the Green Hornet nodded to Kato who walked forward before swing his leg up to kick James in the head but James ducked down. Britt didn"t pay attenticen while his friend beat the shit out of the man who hurt Halo. Britt watched Samantha as the tears stopped flowing as she watched the two men fight. It was creepy that she seemed excited from their fight. Her hand moved under her shirt and grabbed something. Britt turned his eyes to the matched and saw Kato was winning and his eyes darted to Samantha who was holding a gun that was pointed at Kato. Britt moved quickly and pushed himself and Kato to the ground as she pulled the triger. The bullet just missed grazing Britt and it his James square in the chest. Samantha gasp and went to James and cried over his dead body. She grabbed the gun an held it to her head and pulled the trigger. Both Britt and Kato were to stunned to do anything but watch. The sirens stirred the two out of their dazzed state and they ran outside to the Black Beauty. They went to Britt"s place and changed, cleaned up, and changed cars before going to the hospital. Amazingly Derek was already there sitting next to her bed. "What are you doing here already," Bitt asked. "It sees as though Samantha killed him and herself so theirs nothing to investigate there," Derek smirked. Kato looked over Halo and noticed that her eyes were fluttering open. He ran to her side and held her hand. "Who are you? Who am I?" Halo asked once who eyes opened and she looked around at them. Kato felt his heart shatter at those words. A crappy ending. Oh well makes you wonder what"s going to happen Thanks that added this story to something and to everyone who reviewed Halo slowly opened her eyes and looked at the object that had woken her up. The offending objects screen was lit up and was blaring one of her favorite songs. She reached over to it grabbed it looking at the screen- Incoming call: Zane. Damn what does he want at this ungodly hour of nightHalo thought as she answered her phone. "what do you need, Sir," Halo asked still have asleep. "For you to get your ass downtown because the Green Hornet struck," he yelled into the phone before hanging up. Halo sighed throwing the covers off of her. She made her way to her her closet and grabbed the first things she saw that matched. She pulled on her cargo black pants and a red sweater and grabbed her white running shoes and put them on as she walked to her door almost falling as she did so. She grabbed her keys from the table that was by the door and made her way to her camero. She was cursing the Green Hornet in her head making her get up so early. She drove the relative quiet streets to where her boss told her to go. She was at a stop light when a black car with green headlights that also had HORNET for its licence plates. It"s the Black Beauty! I should probably give chase...Nah Halo thought while waiting for the light to turn green. A few turns later she was standing in front of a burning building. "we should go look for the Black Beauty," a cop said in front of her watching as the firefighters put out the fire. "No use. I saw it on my way here. It"s long gone," Halo walked past them. "And you didn"t chase it," one of the others asked. "I personally like my car," Halo turned to look at them making them scowl. "ID ma"am," an older officer asked her. She flashed her badge to him before going up to the now bunt house. Nothing really was left but ashes..She walked into the ashes seeing if anything of value to the investigation remained. After seeing nothing she sighed and went to the officer in charge. "Officer Tate if you find anything of importance can you have a copy of it sent to my office at the Bureau," Halo asked him not wanting to stick around longer. "Sure thing Miss," he nodded to her going back to watching what everyone was doing so they wouldn"t mess up. Halo sighed before going to her car heading to her office to get ahead start on her paper work so she could hopefully go home early. Maybe I should text Brit and ask him he and Kato want to go out and get lunch togethershe mused as she parked her car. She sent a text to Brit knowing she wouldn"t be getting one back for a couple of hours. With that she walked into the building and went straight to lounge and made herself some hot cocoa before making her way to the elevator "Morning Halo," a bouncy red head said getting into the elevator with her, "Morning Sami," Halo said unenthusiastically Sami just shook her head and got off the floor below Halo"s. Halo groaned looking at the stack of paper work next to her desk that she had to finish before going home for the night Reviews=love=updates Kinda sad that my last chapter didn"t get any reviews but I thought I would write another one anyways. Derek walked into Halo"s office carrying a box full of glazed donuts. Halo looked up from her paper work which she has barley made a dent in it even though she had been working for four hours. "Heard you got called in early because of the Green Hornet and though some donuts would cheer you up," Derek smiled.

"we should go look for the Black Beauty," a cop said in front of her watching as the firefighters put out the fire. "No use. I saw it on my way here. It"s long gone," Halo walked past them. "And you didn"t chase it," one of the others asked. "I personally like my car," Halo turned to look at them making them scowl. "ID ma"am," an older officer asked her. She flashed her badge to him before going up to the now bunt house. Nothing really was left but ashes..She walked into the ashes seeing if anything of value to the investigation remained. After seeing nothing she sighed and went to the officer in charge. "Officer Tate if you find anything of importance can you have a copy of it sent to my office at the Bureau," Halo asked him not wanting to stick around longer. "Sure thing Miss," he nodded to her going back to watching what everyone was doing so they wouldn"t mess up. Halo sighed before going to her car heading to her office to get ahead start on her paper work so she could hopefully go home early. Maybe I should text Brit and ask him he and Kato want to go out and get lunch togethershe mused as she parked her car. She sent a text to Brit knowing she wouldn"t be getting one back for a couple of hours. With that she walked into the building and went straight to lounge and made herself some hot cocoa before making her way to the elevator "Morning Halo," a bouncy red head said getting into the elevator with her, "Morning Sami," Halo said unenthusiastically Sami just shook her head and got off the floor below Halo"s. Halo groaned looking at the stack of paper work next to her desk that she had to finish before going home for the night Reviews=love=updates Kinda sad that my last chapter didn"t get any reviews but I thought I would write another one anyways. Derek walked into Halo"s office carrying a box full of glazed donuts. Halo looked up from her paper work which she has barley made a dent in it even though she had been working for four hours. "Heard you got called in early because of the Green Hornet and though some donuts would cheer you up," Derek smiled. "It wouldn"t hurt but some help with all this paper work would be nice," Halo hinted because half of it was her partners. Derek was about to say something when her phone went off. She grabbed it to see who had text her hoping it was Brit. Some higher power heard her pleas and answered it.Sure! Me and Kato would love to go out to eat with you. Where will we meet up? Brit texted making Halo"s face lit up. "So who"s the guy," Derek asked sitting in the chair in front of Halo"s desk. Halo"s cheeks flushed red from the comment. "It"s just Brit and his friend," Halo told him trying to play it off as nothing. "Ah! So you have the hots for Brit"s friend," Derek was smirking at her now. "Do not! I only think that he is sexy," Halo snapped at him. She quickly covered her mouth when she realized what she had said. "So what"s his name," Derek wore a triumphant smirk on his face. "Kato," Halo sighed in defeat. "Huh that"s funny cause that"s what the Green Hornet calls his partner," Derek rubbed his chin. "But I"m sure it"s just a coincidence," Derek got up in left. "I"m not sure if it is or isn"t" Halo thought as she grabbed a donut before replying to Brit. Now having something to look forward to-even though it was still another two hours away- Halo went faster through her paperwork then she had the four hours before. "Dang girl! You go through paper work faster when you have a guy," Derek said when he came to check up on his partner. Halo was now three-fourths of the way done and it was the beginning of her lunch break. "Well I had something more interesting to look forward to then more work," Halo smirked at him as she grabbed her jacket and walked out of her office. "Can I join you because I really want to meet this guy," Derek pushed the button for the elevator. "Fine," Halo sighed giving in because if she didn"t then he would bug her till she did. Derek grinned as they walked a couple o blocks to the cafe that she and Brit had agreed on. They walked in through the door and she saw Brit and Kato sitting in a corner in the back while Derek was looking at all the pretty waitress. She grabbed Derek"s arm and dragged him away from the waitress he was flirting with and pulled him to the table that Brit and Kato were sitting at."Hey Brit," Derek greeted him pulling a chair to him. Brit nodded to him while flashing a smile at a blond that passed by. "Why do they both have to flirts," Halo asked taking a seat next to Kato. "Kato flirts when he thinks no one is watching," Brit winked at her."I"m sure he does," Halo said as a blond with huge boobs that Halo was disgusted by them came over with their drinks. "Why hello gorgeous," Brit"s flirting smile was on his face. The blond giggled at the treatment she was receiving from Brit. Halo made fake gagging noise earning a chuckle from Kato. The blond glared at them before stalking off. "So Halo have you heard about the killer party this weekend," Brit asked taking a drink of his beer. "How can I not? Moron over there wont stop talking about it," Halo nodded toward Derek. Derek had a mock hurt face on. "So does that mean your going," Brit asked since Halo hardly ever went to a party. "Hell no! Derek would make me his driver so could get wasted," Halo told him before taking a drink of her water. "Come on! I"m even dragging Kato," Brit said making Kato"s head snap toward him. "No your not," Kato didn"t like being surround by so many people especially ones he didn"t know. "Brit you drag Kato and I"ll drag Halo," Derek made a pact with Brit. "This is going to be a long weekend," Halo put her head in her hands. "We could always hide before they find us," Kato whispered to her. Kato and Halo were making plans to hide from the other two so they wouldn"t have to suffer at a party. "What are you two doing," Brit asked from right next to Halo"s ear making her jump and bump into Kato. "God Brit don"t scare me," Halo blushed and threw a piece of ice at Brit. "Sorry but you two were in your own world and weren"t talking back yo us. Wait a minuet...you have a crush a Kato," Brit declared pointing at her then Kato. "Do not," Halo tried to defend herself only to make Brit and Derek laugh at her. Kato had a small smile on his face because Halo interested him. Halo was saved when the food arrived. Review and let me know what you think otherwise I won"t be able to improve it! Kato seemes a little out of charcter to me in this chapter. Oh well enjoy! The Green Hornet didn"t make any more appearance to Halo"s relief. It was now Friday and Halo was waiting for Kato to come get her before Derek dragged her to the party that she really didn"t want to go to. Halo sat on her black couch watching the latest news when she heard the sound of a bike coming her way. She went to her door knowing it was Kato. She walked down steps as Kato took off his helmet. "Ready to go to bowling," Kato asked Halo looking her up and down. "Yeah," Halo took the extra helmet Kato handed her his extra helmet. Halo put it on and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Be sure to hold on tight," Kato took to off making Halo wrapped her arms tighter around him making him chuckle. They saw Brit"s limo pass them by and Brit rolled down his window and yelled something. Kato sped up before Brit got a chance to chase them. They both grinned and even though they couldn"t see the other they knew they were grinning. They both loved to make Brit"s life hell every once in a while. They passed the building that was having the party and they heard the pulsating music. Kato stopped in front it and looked back at Halo who shook her head. The party just starts and it was already out of control. He took off again and soon they were at the bowling alley Kato payed for everything with the card let him borrow without knowing. "Brit is going to pissed when he finds out," Halo grinned as she put on the shoes they gave her. "That"s only if he finds it missing," Kato replied grabbing a ball and rolling it down the lain. He turned around before the ball hit the pins making the strike look even more amazing. Halo clapped when the ball hit the pins making Kato turn around. "It"s not that amazing," Kato sat down by her. "To me it is," Halo smiled at him before going to bowel. She knocked down five pins and that"s it. "I can help you next time," Kato offered to get closer to her which Halo excepted without a second thought. Kato went to bowl and got another strike. He stayed up there and when a Halo came up to bowl he went behind her and grabbed her arm and lead her through the motion and she got a strike. She turned around and threw her arms around Kato and hugged him. Kato stiffened at first but hugged back. "Thanks," Halo kissed his cheek before going to take a seat. Kato held his cheek and watched her walk. A grinned formed on his face because Brit wouldn"t be able to try and take her from him. The only problem was that she was suppose to hunt down the Green Hornet and his partner and put them behind bars. He and Halo traded funny Brit stories and trying to decided who"s was funniest. Naturally Halo won because she talked Brit into doing stupid stuff which he got blamed for because everyone thought Halo was an angel. "I"m starting to feel sorry for Brit for having a best friend like you growing up," Kato laughed. "Hey! You"ve only heard the bad stuff. If you ask Brit he"ll tell you what a good influence I was on him," Halo defended herself. "I"m sure you are," Kato raised his hands in surrender. Halo huffed and crossed her arms. "We should go check on the party because who knows how much trouble Brit and Derek could get in," Kato grabbed his jacket and lead Halo back to his bike. They sped the entire way to the party and red and blue lights were flashing. "Uh I do believe this party got busted," Halo mumbled from behind him getting off his bike. Kato turned to look at to find out what she was going to do. "We should check and see if Brit or Derek got in trouble," Halo told him before walking up to the house. "Hold it right there you two. No one one aloud to enter the house," a over weight cop told them. Halo flash her badge and continued to the house with Kato right behind her. "Do you carry that thing were ever you go," Kato asked when they entered the house. "You never know when it will come in hand," Halo flashed him a grin. Inside were blood splatters on the wall and a couple of bodies on the floor. In one of the rooms she saw her partner and Brit giving a female cop details of what happened. "Derek what happened," Halo asked him when he finished telling the cop what happened. "Looks like theirs a fake Green Hornet running round now," Derek"s face was grim. "He came in here and demand money and the people that didn"t have any got shot," Brit added. "Looks like we have one hell of a mess on our hands now," Halo sighed. She and Derek knew Zane was going to give it to them because even though this guy was a fake he was still going by Green Hornet. "How did you know it was a fake," Kato asked Derek because he knew hoe Brit knew. "He had a red headed female for a partner and the real Green Hornet has a male Asian as a partner," Derek replied as the left the house. Kato gave Halo a lift home and he kissed her cheek before leaving her. If Brit seems out charater to you is because I"m mixing it with the TV show because I did"n"t like how they made him seem stupid and not a food fighter in the movie. Well anyways you should thank ottoslittlefangirl13 and Rakuen91 for this chapter cause thay reviewd. So pleasr review! Another chapter tonight ^-^ The next morning Halo found herself at the office looking through the folders of information they had on the original Green Hornet. She pulled out a picture they had gotten but the quality of it was so bad that Kato didn"t feel the need to destroy it. Halo wanted to put her mind at rest because it was trying to tell her that Kato- Brit"s friend- and Kato -the Green Hornet"s partner- were the one in the same. Halo couldn"t bring herself to believe it because that makes Brit the Green Hornet and she was sure Brit would of told her because she could make false leads and they wouldn"t get caught. "Then again Brit wouldn"t think that far ahead"Halo thought as she put the picture back into the folder she got it from and and pulled out the one on the fake Green Hornet. They had a clear picture of both of the people in it. The women looked like someone Brit would date and the guy gave her the creeps. His eye were a cold grey and his hair was sopale blond that it was almost white. His partner had bright blond hair and her eyes were a violet color."This pair should be easy to spot because their appearance is not normal"Halo thought when Brit walked in leave Kato outside. "So what did you do to Kato cause he freezes up every time I ask him what you two do last night," Brit sat on her desk. "We went bowling and naturally he beat cause I suck at bowling," Halo replied pulling a piece of paper from under his butt. "I want the juicy details," Brit stared her down. "He helped me bowel, I hugged him, he hugged back, I kissed his cheek, then he kissed my cheek when he dropped me off at home," Blaze said rapidly hoping Brit wouldn"t understand what she had said. Brit stared at her for a moment taking in what she said before a grin covered his face. "You like Kato and he likes you back," Brit went to go get Kato before Halo could stop him. "You two need to go on an actual date," Brit demanded making Halo blush and Kato speechless. Brit always wanted Halo to get a good guy in her life besides him andwho better then his best friend Kato. "Brit, if you don"t leave me and Kato alone I will hunt you down and skin you alive," Halo"s voice was soft and low. "Hey, I"m just trying to help," Brit put his hands up in defense. Halo"s blue eyes narrowed and a couple of strands of her black hair fell into her face making Brit run out of the office. "I wouldn"t mind going out on a date with you," Katowent to move the strands behind her ears. His hand stayed on her cheek and they stared into each other eyes and they started to leave forward. She felt his warm breath caress her cheeks when her door swung open. They jumped a part and saw Derek pulling Brit by the collar of his shirt. "Halo tell Brit your not going to kill him for whatever he did to make you mad it him," Derek said pointing to Brit cowing in a corner. "Brit I"m not going to kill because your my best friend and who else is going to help me get rid of the dead bodies when I decide to go on a killing spree," Halo told Brit. Brit came our of the corner and dusted himself off. "Well me and Kato gotta get going," Brit walked out with Kato but Kato stopped at the door. "How does Saturday night at seven sound," Kato asked. "Sounds great," Halo smiled at him before he left. "You two have date plans," Derek asked. "Yes. Now make yourself useful and tell everyone to look foe people matching this description," Halo handed him a piece of paper with the description of the fake Green Hornet and his partner. "Your better give me all the details on Monday," Derek said walking out of her office. Halo sighed and fell back into her seat but a smile came to her face. She was looking forward to tomorrow night with Kato. Zane walked into the office ruining her happiness. He stared down at her with his dull grey eyes. "Why is Brit and his friend keep coming here," he demanded. "Like I know and no one wants to tell him he can"t be here because they don"t want to get bad press," Halo shrugged picking up a random folder nd started to through the papers. "I don"t like he coming and going as he likes but I have to agree that we don"t need any bad press right now," Zane sighed before leaving. Halo closed the door after him and went back to her desk and pulled out the picture and scanned it into her computer. She pulled the picture up and began to enhance at to were she could make out who was in it. She gasped when she saw Brit"s and Kato"s eyes staring back at her. Her best friend didn"t tell her his biggest secret not she was going to hold against him. She deleted the picture for her hard drive. She didn"t know how to tell Brit that she knew his and Kato"s secret and what she was going to do. Her best friend and the guy she was falling for were the guys she is assigned to catch and put behind jail. She wasn"t sure what she was going to do. What"s Halo gonna do? Well review and you may find out! I"m sad because I won"t ne able to update for like a week because school and my sister is having the baby the day between them. anyways on a bright note I so wanna be Halo in this chapter! Halo stared into her closet trying to decide what to wear on her date with Kato that night. Brit had said he was going to do something original meaning she need to wear something comfortable and that she could easily move it. She grabbed black dress pants that were flexible she could easily move in them and a black tank top with a green button up to go over. With her clothes she went to the bathroom and took a shower. The hot water pounding on her back relaxed her tense muscles that she had gotten over the past couple of days. The room was full of steam when she finally turned of the water. she grabbed a towel and dried off her body before she twisted it in her hair. after dressing quickly she existed the bathroom and grabbed socks and her small heeled boots and put them on. Grabbing her favorite coat she went to the front and answered the door as someone knocked on opened the door to see Kato standing there wearing pants just like hers and a loose fitting shirt. "You clean up nicely," Kato told her. "Well I decided you were worth the effort, and you don"t look half bad yourself," Halo took the arm he offered her making him give her a small smile. They took his bike and ended up at the local Martial Arts gym. "Brit told me how you liked to spar with other fighters to form a sort of bond with them and I thought you would like to spar with me," Kato looked at her with a questioningly He wasn"t sure if she would like this as a first date or not but he wanted to be original and stand out from the rest. "I would love to! You"ll probably beat me though," Halo smiled at him. All the other guys shes tried to start a relationship didn"t like the idea of her fighting so they all ended badly to where they won"t even talk to her. Kato grinned and opened the door for. She gave him a small thank you because not many guys hold the door open for women anymore. They walked over to the mat and took out everything out of their pockets and laid them next to their shoe, helmets, and jackets. Halo took of the button up shirt and tossed it to the side. They bowed to each other and got in their stants and watched one another. Kato was the first to move allowing Halo to predict his move from the movement of his body. Halo was on defense the whole time hoping to wear down Kato before he got her down but he was a whole lot better than her pinning her to the ground. Halo brought her head up and kissed his nose distracting Kato to were she could flip him. "I like this position better," she grinned as sweat dripped from her hair and face. "That was a mean trick," Kato told her when she sat back allowing him to sit up. "Your the one that got distracted," she told him. Kato got closer to her and pulled her to him and caressed her face leaning closer to her till his lips were against hers. She kissed him back opening her mouth slightly to let him in. His tongue entered her mouth and played with hers. He pulled away and rested his forehead on hers. "I hope you don"t do with all of your sparing partners," he whispered to her. "No, your the only one," Halo kissed him again before they got up. A vibrating noise interrupted the silence that surrounded them. Halo looked over at their clothes and saw her shirt moving. She went to see who was calling- Incoming call: Brit. Blaze sighed before answering. "What do you want Brit," Halo was irritated with him for interrupting her date with Kato. "I was wondering if Kato was with you cause its getting late and I was worrying about him," Brit"s voice held a tint of worry in it. "Yes Brit. He was about to take me home when you called," Halo told him. "What! He hasn"t even taken you home," Brit yelled making Halo remove the phone from her ear. "Not yet," Halo was getting annoyed with Brit. "Tell him he"s staying at your place then," Brit said hanging before she could argue. She looked at her phone dumbly before telling Kato what Brit had said. "Brit says your staying with me tonight," Halo looked away from her phone and at him. "Why? I have my own place," he was just as confused as she was. "I don"t have a clue. It"s Brit we"re talking about," Halo shrugged as they walked out of the building. "Well I guess your stuck with me the rest of the night," Kato replied. "Man that means we"re stuck sharing a bed," Halo frowned because she was a bed hog. "Why is that a bad thing," He asked her after putting his helmet on.

"Hell yes", Cali yelled from her room. Amber put hot water with oil and salt on the stove and put a lid over it and went to talk to Cali while she waited for the water to boil. Amber stepped into Cali"s room and observed her surrounding. Cali had dark purple walls with black trimming. She had had a cherry wood dresser and bookshelf. Her vanity was covered in black and purple duct tape. Her bed had a black canopy and black and purple bed spread on it. Her flat screen plasma TV was mounted on the wall. Her chest was at the end of her bed with sword on it and a bed near the door for her Tink. "Love my room", Cali smirked. "Yeah but my room is better", Amber gave her a smirk of her own. Amber"s room had dark red walls that were covered in different posters and had silver trimming. She ha a mahogany dresser and two bookshelf"s. Her bed had neon green canopy and black and red bedding. She had a chest at the end of her bed and stuff toys all around her room. A small bed between the bookshelves for sunny and chew toys scattered around the room. She also had kites hanging from the ceiling and a TV just like Cali on her wall. "So what do you think of our new friends", Amber leaned against the black door frame. "Maggie is cool, Jasper"s cute, and Henry is smoken. What about you", Cali said laying on stomach on the bed. "Maggie is smart and caring, Jasper is smart and sweet, and Henry is... unique", Amber replied. "I"m gonna play Sims three", Cali said pulling her Mac laptop off of her dresser. Amber nodded and went back inti the kitchen. In a few minuets she was in her room watching Deadliest Warrior and eating mac and cheese. Amber started to get bored watching TV and decided to read Relic. It was about a best killing people in a museum and a Sergent, journalist, and an FBI agent had to stop it, but it"s hide was so think that bullets wouldn"t hurt it and it"s super fast. "I"m so glade this book isn"t real or I would be to afraid to go back to school", Amber thought as she finished it and decided it was time to go to sleep. Cali was so asorbed in the game that she almost forgot to eat. When she finally decided to go to sleep, she was so tired that she didn"t notice a strange car in front of the house or the three figures that were watching the house. Still don"t own Unnatural History A week has passed and Amber and Crystil were hanging out in Amber"s room while Cali had gone out shoe shopping "How can you stand living with that she demon", Crystil asked. "She"s not that bad if your her friend", Amber sighed. Crystil just laughed and shook her head. Amber threw a red rubber ball at Crystil hitting her in the head. "Hey", Crystil shouted. Amber clutched her stomach because she was laughing so hard. "I"ll be right back", Crystil said leaving the room. Crystil went in the kitchen and grabbed a purple bucket and filled it with ice and water. She put it above Cali"s door so when she opened it it would fall on her causing her to become dripping wet. "I can"t wait till she gets home", Crystil thought with an evil laugh before going back to Amber"s room. Amber was playing her black DS in her red saucer chair. "What are you playing", Crystil asked as she jumped on to Amber"s bed. "Pokemon Emerald", Amber replied. Crystil laughed and rolled on to her back and grabbed Amber"s sidekick and went on Facebook. "What are you doing", Amber asked seeing that Crystil had her cell phone. "Playing on Facebook", Crystil replied. Amber shook her head. Ten minuets passed and both Amber and Crystil were becoming bored. "Can I invite Jasper, Henry, and Maggie over", Crystil sat up looking over at Amber. Amber nodded her head and put her DS on one of her book cases and sat down net to Crystil on her bed. "Their on their way", Crystil said habding Amber her phone. "Want something to eat", Amber asked getting up."Sure why not", Crystil joined Amber as she headed to the kitchen. Amber grabber two pizzas, one peperoni and the other a vegi. "In case Maggie wants some", Amber answered the unasked question. Crystil sat on one of the counters while Amber went searching in the fridge and pulled out two drinks. She handed the to Crystil and kept the Pepsi for herself. Amber sighed and thought "Why can" she and Cali get along? They have so much incomin.' In twenty-five minuets the pizzas were done and Jasper, Henry and ,Maggie had arrived. Everyone was sitting at the glass table eating pizza when Cali came in caring bags that everyone thought contained a number of shoes. Cali nodded to everyone and went up to her room. "AHHHH", came from Cali causing everyone to jump up. Cali came storming down down the stairs dripping wet and shivering, If looks could kill everyone would be six feet under."OK wh-wh-wh-who di-di-did is", Cali managed to get out threw chattering teeth. Amber came back with two towels. "Uh when did you leave", Crystil asked who was sitting next to Amber and didn"t even notice she had left. "When I saw Cali shivering", Amber said in a duh tone of voice. "You", Cali said in dangerous low voice while staring right at Crystil, "Will pay for this", she finished off even more menacingly. At this point everyone started to laugh except Amber and Cali. Cali stormed off and went to her bathroom. "Well as much as I love pissing Cali off, I might want to leave before she gets her revenge on me," Crystil said getting up and heading to the door. "Uh why is Alex starring in your windows", Crystil asked Amber.. "Because he"s Cali"s stocker", Amber waved her hand as if it were no big deal. Crystil nodded her head and thought that her new friend was weird. "Can we see the sword", Jasper asked when everybody finished eating and Crystil was gone. "Sure let me go get it", Amber set her drink down."Hey, can we see your room", Maggie asked out of the blue. Amber turned around and gave her a weird look. "I"m curious to see what it looks like", Maggie shrugged as if it were no big deal. "Sure. Follow me", Amber said going up the stairs. After passing two white doors the came to a black and red one. "It"s this one", she indicated with a hand gesture, "I"m gonna go get the sword from Cali"s room." Amber came back a few seconds to see Maggie and Jasper were looking at her books and Henry was playing tag-a-war with Sunny. Tink came in behind Amber and grabbed a toy and went to Sunny"s bed. Amber sat on her bed with the sword in hand. "That"s a weird looking sword", Henry said sitting on her chest."Well Vlad was a strange man", Amber smiled over at Henry while handing him the sword. "It" heavy", Henry said lifting it up. Amber gave him a "no duh" look as Maggie sat down next to her and Jasper brought over her chair. "It also appears to be sharp", Jasper said as he examined it. "Unfortunately that"s why Cali loves it so much", Amber sighed as she thought of the day before when Cali was playing with it. "Why would anyone want to steal it", Maggie asked."Who knows maybe they thought it would help them become a vampire", Amber shrugged. Henry gave her a "WTF" look. "Dracula was based off of Vlad the Impaler Amber clarified for him. He gave her an "O" face. Amber got up and put the sword in her closet. "Hey Ambre", Cali walked in wearing baggy pants and a baggy shirt, "Have you seen the sword." "She looks hot in anything", Jasper thought with a sigh when he saw Cali. "Yeah. It"s in my closet because I don"t trust you with it", Amber replied. Cali was about to say something when she noticed Henry and blushed before leaving. Jasper, Henry, and Maggie soon left because they had school tomorrow and Cali had already fallen asleep Still don"t own Unnatural History Monday had started like any other day. Amber was up and making breakfast while Cali was just getting up. "Cali hurry up your eggs are getting cold", Amber yelled. "Shit! I can"t find any of my homework", Cali yelled back. Amber sighed and put her dirty plate and cup in the sink and went up stairs. Cali"s room looked like a tornado went through it. Clothes were everywhere and papers were slowly falling on to the ground. "I"ll find your homework now go eat", Amber pointed out the door. "Thank you so much", Cali hugged amber and went down to eat. Amber went to Cali"s closet and picked up the bag of shoes that Cali had bought the day before and lookie what she found. All of Cali"s homework. "You would think shewould look before throwing her bags into the closet", Amber thought with a shake of her head. She grabbed Cali"s purse from her bed and shoved her homework into it and slowly walked down to the kitchen. "Yay! You found them", Cali shouted when she saw Amber walking down the stairs. "It wasn"t that hard", Amber handed Cali her purse and grabbed her bag of the floor. "Well were where they", Cali asked. "Under the bags of shoes you bought", Amber replied tossing the keys to Cali. Cali caught the keys and dragged herself to the car cause she really didn"t;t want to go to school. Amber watched the houses as the flew by since Cali was speeding like normal. "I"m waiting for you to get a ticket", Amber said slowly getting out the car. "Then keep waiting cause all I have to do is show more cleavage", Cali smirked at her naive friend. "Yeah, your so boobalicious", Amber broke out laughing. "I love that word, boobalicious", Cali started to laugh as well. "Whats so funny", Jasper asked as Henry, Maggie, and himself joined the laughing two. "The word boobalicious", Amber replied before continuing to laugh. This caused everyone eles to laugh. "I swear you two are the weirdest people I know besides Henry", Maggie got out between fits of laughter. "We try", Amber smiled when she finished laughing. The bell rang for school to start causing them to go their separate ways. Nothing exciting happened till they got to art class... their projects were do. "Maggie and Mia will come up and present their report first", said before taking a seat behind his desk. Maggie got up and stood next to Mia and cleared her throat and held up the piece of paper. "Our person was Raphael Sanzio. His life was from April 6 or March 28, 1483 to April 6, 1520", Maggie said. she continued on and spoke about his most known work "School of Athens.' "Very good young lady"s. Next up is Jasper and Cali", said. They walked up there together and Cali strokea pose. "We had Donatello di Bardi. His life was from some time in 1386 till December 13, 1466", Jasper said, "His most known works are "Tumb of Giananni" and the "Ciburiun.' The only thing Cali said was that he didn"t care about who know pf his homosexuality. Everyone else in the class had went now for the final group. "The last group is Amber and Henry", called them up. Amber grabbed her laptop and hooked it up to the projector. "Mr. Finn can I see the remote to the projector", she asked. looking interested in their report handed it to her. She opened up PowerPoint. Henry read what the PowerPoint said and Amber elaborated on it. The first slide read "Michelanglo Buonarroti- March 6, 1475 till February 18, 1564. Two other slides showed pictures of his famous works "Piete" and "David.' "That was the best report", said as Amber handed him their written report. Henry smiled while Amber had a huge grin on her face. The bell rang for lunch and everyone rushed out because it was chicken wrap day and Maggie was hungry for her salad. About half-way through lunch the gang decided they wanted to go outside for fresh air. They were walking down an empty hallway when three figures walked out of an empty classroom. "I think we should run", Maggie said taking a step back. "Or we could take them on", Amber said taking a step forward. "Now"s not the time", Henry said grabbing her arm and pulled her back. Everyone turned around a ran and of course the three in black gave chase. Amber in the lead opened an empty classrooms door and ducked in with everyone else following. Maggie shut the door. "How can you run in those", Maggie asked pointing to Cali"s high heels. Cali shrugged and sat down on the desk. "I think a more important question is why were we being chased", Jasper said sitting in a chair backwards. "Well I think they were the same people that chased me and Amber last week", Henry said from the floor next to Amber. "This makes no since. Attacking us at school", Maggie said right before the bell rang. Maggie opened the door and everyone dispersed into the hallway. Henry and Amber learned that they will get to go on a trip if they pay fifteen dollars and if they got their permission slips sighed. School seemed to go by in a flash because Amber was beyond excited about the trip. "hey Amber have you about the party this weekend", Cali asked running up to Amber. "No. but we"re going aren"t we Amber asked. "Hell ya", Cali yelled. "Whats got her happy", Maggie asked. "We"re going to the party Friday", Cali replied for herself. "Cool we"re going to", Jasper gestured to Henry, Maggie, and himself. Maggie didn"t seemed to thrilled about it but kept her mouth shut and Henry seemed clueless as ever. No one looked at the black car who"s windows were so tinted that you couldn"t see through them. Soon they left and went home. Amber did her homework which Cali took it and copied it. They stayed up late playing different games with each other and surprisingly no one was watching them. This chapter isn"t one of my favorite but the next one is and I can"t for y"all to read it! Remember reviews=love=updated faster I still don"t own Unnatural History even though that would be cool. The rest of the school week passed uneventfully until Friday night. Cali wore a black mini skirt with a purple halter top that showed her flat tone stomach and thigh high black boots. Amber on the other hand wore black baggy pants with two belts and a white three quarters sleeve shirt that showed a little bit of stomach, black fingerless gloves and her black converse."Ready to go", Cali asked grabbing a small black purse with purple spots."As I will ever be", Amber sighed and grabbed the keys. Cali followed her going on and on about all the hot guys that would be there and how she"s going to impress Henry. "It"s going to be a long party not to mention night", Amber thought as she turned the radio up as she drove. The drive soon came to an end when the party was being hosted at came in to sight. People were everywhere and the music was blaring. Amber and Cali walked up to the house and were soon enveloped by people wanting to talked to them. Cali was animated as she talked to people as Amber managed to slip out of the crowed "It"s good to see that you managed to get out alive", Crystil said holding a cup of punch."I know right! I thought I was going to be eatinalive", Amber laughed taking Crystil"s drink away and took a sip before giving it back."Gee thanks", Crystil said before dumping her cup and throwing it away."I"m just loving this party!" Cali came up and swung her arm on to Amber shoulders, Crystil looked at Cali disgusted before walking away."Um Cali what have you had since we got here",Amber asked. Cali was putting most of her weight on Amber."Some punch", Cali giggled. Amber sighed, "Cali had sugar and is now happy/hyper.' Cali had a sill grin on her face as she dragged Amber to a clear spot and started to dance. Amber groaned as "Shake It" by Metro Station started to play. Amber spun Cali as they danced and at the end Cali did a back bend and Amber did a flip over her. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and had watched them and had started clapping when they had finished dancing. "Wow I didn"t think we were that good", Amber thought as she was breathing heavily. Cali was soaking up the attention she was getting. "This is what I live for", Cali thought as sweat started to drip off her face."You two done showing off", Maggie asked from behind them. Amber and Cali turned around and saw her and Jasper and Henry on either side of her. Amber walked over as Cali was still caught up in the attention she was getting."She loves attention", Amber said as she joined her friends."Apparently very much", Jasper said with a sad sigh."At lest her boyfriend, when she gets one, has an easy job", Amber said mostly to Jasper."What do you mean", Henry asked handing her his punch. Amber said a small thank you before taking two sips."Well all he has to do is compliment her adoringly and give her his undivided attention", Amber said giving Jasper a hint. A couple of days ago Amber noticed Jasper looking at Cali adoringly and even though Cali had her sights on Henry she was hoping she would see that Jasper was the best one for her. Amber gave a small smile and began to think of a way to show Cali what a good guy Jasper was. "So are we gonna sit here like a bump on a log or any one gonna dance", Amber asked. Henry being Henry took it as a challenge."How about a dance off", he said challenging Amber."Sure, so how about Jasper goes first",Amber replied. Jasper began shaking his head and waving his arms in protest."Just get over it cause the sooner you do the sooner Maggie gets to dance", Amber smirked and crossed arms. Jasper sighed in defeat and began to dance to Nickelback"s "Afternoon.' Jasper dancing had Amber clutching her stomach with tears falling from her eyes as she laughed to munch. Maggie was trying to keep herself from becoming like Amber. Henry was nodding his head to the music as a few chuckles escaped his mouth. "Come on Amber my dancing isn"t that bad", Jasper said when the song finished."It wasn"t but the look on your face was funny as hell", Amber said when she managed to stop laughing."Go on Mag"s it"s your turn", Jasper said pushing Maggie in front of them. Maggie glared at them so hard Amber started to rub her arm because it felt like it was song "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga was playing while Maggie was dancing. Amber started to fall asleep and Henry tried not to yawn but wasn"t able to secede and Jasper was starting were Cali was dancing with a couple of guys. Maggie walked over and pushed Amber over. She fell back and landed on her butt."I didn"t eat the last cookie", Amber said automatically when she fully awaken. Maggie stifled a laugh, Jasper fell from were he was sitting because he was laughing so hard, and Henry had a huge smile on his face as he helped her up. "I"m not going to ever ask";, Maggie said taking Jasper"s seat. Unlike the other two Henry didn"t need any began to dance to "Right Round" by Flo Rida. Amber watched as his body moved to the music, and she wasn"t the only one. Cali watched him from the corner of her eye as she danced. "Jasper"s moves would have matched mine better", Cali thought as she looked over to were Jasper was sitting and her heart filled with longing to be next to him."I"m impressed ", Amber said as the song finished and Henry came back over."Now lets see if you can impress me", Henry said with a grin on his face. Amber went and started to dance as "New Divide" by Linkin Park came on. A few people stopped and watched her dance. The song quickly came to an end."So did I impress you", Amber asked as sweat started to drip off of her face. Henry had a huge smile on his face causing Amber to have a huge grin of her own."Well it"s a toss up between Amber and Henry", Jasper said with Maggie nodding in agreement."Works for me", Amber shrugged."Wanna dance", Henry held out his hand out for Amber. Amber grabbed his hand as he lead her to the center of the dancing area."Don"t Matter" by Akon came on as they danced together. As the song came to an end, someone screamed. Amber and Henry heads snapped to where the screaming came from. Crystil was in the pool covered in the water with Cali standing above her. Amber and Henry shared a look before running and jumping into the pool. Jasper and Maggie joined them moments later then everyone else joined them. Amber climbed out of the water and sat in a lounge chair and stared at the stars above them. Henry sat right next to her as Maggie sat at their feet with Cali and Jasper in the one next to them."Well this has been one interesting party", Amber said as a shooting star passed above them.Yeah it"s really cool of Dannie to throw a party Jasper said.It"s always amazing to see a meteor shower,Henry said looking at the night sky as meteor came blazing by. Henry grabbed Amber"s hand they both had a small smile on their faces and Jasper had his arm around Cali as Cali leaned into him. They too had small smiles on their faces. Maggie smiled at her friends contentment with each other. "Now only if I can get a guy of my own", Maggie sighed as a cute guy walked by and winked at her. Amber nudged Maggie with her foot and motioned to the guy who walked by. Maggie got the hint and went after the guy. Amber watched as she started to flirt with the guy and played with her hair. Maggie looked over at her and smiled. Amber gave her a smiled back and leaned on Henry"s shoulder and sighed in content before looking back into the night sky. I don"t know when I"m gonna be able to update next cause Cali is writing most of it and she"s not exactly reliable sometimes but I"ll do my best to update soon! Remember reviews=love=update sooner

She observed herself in the huge mirror over the sink. In her regular old ripped jeans and oversized sweatshirts she would"ve sworn on a stack of Stephen King novels that her figure was far more "stick" than "8". But the thigh skimming royal blue tube dress Donna lent her hugged curves she didn"t even know existed. It"s crazy how clothes worked that way. Combined with the hooker hair and hooker makeup, it was all such a remarkable difference from her normal, low maintenance look that it was jarring. It was weird. "Really fucking weird." Kimberly mumbled to herself. How had she even gotten to this point? A week ago she was sharing chili cheese fries with Eddie and Grace and moving through the halls of Seaford High as an invisible entity. A week ago she was sports bras and mangled cuticles and split ends. But then the incident had occurred and paradigms shifted. "Jesus Christ!" Kimberly exclaimed, squeezing her eyes shut tightly as a deep throbbing pain exploded in her frontal sinus. She was just rounding the corner when some Miley wannabe really did come in like a goddamn wrecking ball. Her papers scattered everywhere, his books went flying, student bystanders laughed. It was all very 90"s sitcom. "Uuugh!" She pressed a hand to her forehead, squeezing her brown eyes shut,"Walk much fuckface?" "Hey gimme a break you think I did that shit on purpose?" And that voice was all it took to keep her eyes wide open. "Jack...?!" Kimberly studied her fresh manicure, frowning slightly at the memory. She had stuttered out something awkward as he helped her gather her worksheets. And when their hands brushed she could"ve sworn she was in some crappy romantic comedy. For a second she wholly believed they"d make the kind of eye contact that bore souls. But no. In reality he just gave her the papers and said "Sorry again." with one of those smirky smiles that instantly makes her throat as dry as the Sahara. In her imagination he whispered "Kim" like he"d been searching for her his whole life and kissed her like she was his only means of survival. She absolutely loved it when he said her name. They"d been paired up for a history project last year and actually gotten along for the duration. She always assumed he was just a cocky football jock, drunk on his own popularity. And he was. But he was also charming, witty, and sarcastic. And when he said "Kim" it softened her spine and pooled her at his feet. Somewhere between Hitler and the Polio vaccine, she"d fallen harder than she cared to admit. He was out of her league even for real-lie, non-sitcom standards. After the project was over she barely even got a "Hey" or a "What"s up" in the hallway. That is....until they collided in the hallway. Donna and Mika had seen the awkward run in and were not about to pass up the opportunity to show off their generosity. That and giving makeovers was their own brand of heroine. According to them, stripper heels and a pretty little vapid head were like teenaged boy bait. If Kimberly had been in her right mind she would"ve blatantly refused. But she wasn"t in her right mind because, when they proposed the idea, he"d just touched her fingertips and gently rendered her senseless with that smirk not 5 minutes before. Eddie and Grace were pissed. There was really no way to gently ditch your bestfriends for shopping trips and girl lessons. And no Hallmark cards acknowledged such an occasion either. But she absolutely NEEDED to hear him say her name, to have his romantic attention. So she"d stuttered an apology and retreated down the hallway, their wounded gazes boring into her shoulder blades. And here she was, a week later, brand new. The party at Jerry Martinez"s house was in full swing when she showed up with the girls. And, overwhelmed by noise and lights, Kim had scurried upstairs to the nearest bathroom before anyone could even see her new look. Turning slightly in the mirror, even she had to admit that she looked smoking hot, like possibly the classiest hooker you"ve ever seen. But it seemed to come with this nagging insecurity that she never felt in her oversized Laker"s sweater. It"s crazy how clothes worked that way. She stared at the version of herself that the queen bee"s had unearthed. Her brown eyes, normally bold and determined, now burned bronze underneath layers of shadow and mascara. The usual flatness of her blonde hair was gone, replaced by a combination of bounce and body that cascaded from scalp to middle back. And the lipstick: blood red and inviting. If he didn"t notice her tonight, she was definitely giving up. For real this time. "It"s about time Quinn!" Mika shouted over the deafening beat of something dubsteppy. Kim only unfolded her arms half way to give a little wave. She was so over telling the ditzy brunette that her name was not fucking Quinn! "Hey!" Kimberly walked up to the girls, smiling from many miles outside of her comfort zone. "You know Jack right?" Donna feigned ignorance and tapped the guy behind her. He turned around and, sure enough, it was the boy to whom she"d dedicated several awful tattoo ideas. It was creepy and weird but it was strictly in the guilty pleasure section of Kimberly"s obsessive imagination. Still, she rubbed the real life ink on her inner bicep with a self-conscious thumb; as if he could look at the "February 3, 2007" printed on her skin and immediately know that she dreamt of getting "Jack" on the other arm. That way she"d have the day her father died, and life as she knew it ended, on one side and the name of her first love, her new beginning, on the other. They made eye contact and it happened. Kimberly watched his eyes light up and immediately felt transported into some kind of cheesy love story. It was that instantaneous connection she"d wanted in the hallway only 4 days ago. Her heart lurched. "Hi." She knew she was speaking too softly to be heard. "Holy red lipstick!" Jack grinned, allowing his gaze to travel downward. Kimberly felt herself loving and hating his gorgeous brown eyes as they peeled back every thin layer she wore. She tried to focus on him and not squirm under that relentless stare. His shoulder length hair hung in a way that always seemed the optimum ratio of styled to messy. She really wanted to touch it and even felt her fingertips tingle at the thought. "So uh...a house party while Jerry"s parents are out of town huh?!" She began, needing to reel her thoughts back in. Standing there looking at each other all night wouldn"t get them any closer to boyfriend-girlfriend status. His gaze was even darker, the color of fertile soil, as it suddenly jumped from her chest to her eyes. She rubbed the tattoo faster as he simply stared for a second. By the time he spoke again that adorable smirk had spread luxuriously across his face and Kim was practically swiping a thumb-sized rut into her arm. Jack slowly brought a beer to his lips, "Well, as horny, liquor-craving, drug-addicted teens we felt obligated to reinforce the stereotype!" The only thing Kimberly wanted to be more than the rim of that beer bottle was the actual beer flowing across it and ultimately into Jack Brewer"s undoubtedly sexy bloodstream. But instead of saying that, thank God, she tried to be witty, "How very cliché of you!" He winked and she shuddered involuntarily. There was a very noticeable lapse in the conversation as Donna and Mika watched, celebrating wildly in their heads. Jack couldn"t keep his eyes off of their handiwork, and undivided male attention definitely spelled success. Jack"s guy friends had been watching Kimberly"s ripe strawberry lips with vivid imagination. "Hey you wanna go somewhere and talk?" he asked casually before finishing the luckiest Budweiser in Seaford and putting it on a nearby coffee table. "Are you shitting m-! I mean uh..." Kimberly recalled her femme lessons from a few days prior and unfolded her arms. She arched her back veeeeery subtly so her breasts sat even higher than the push up bra already held them. Biting her bottom lip, Kimberly went full on girl and flipped a golden handful of her hair over one shoulder. Now to reel him in, she thought as her head tilted down a little and she looked up at him through her long, thick eyelashes. "Sure." her voice brushed up against Jack"s eardrums low, quiet, and sexy. He took her hand with no hesitation. She relished in how icy cold the beer bottle had made his fingers. Who knew the old big-boobed airhead routine worked in real life!? Around Jerry"s crowded living room, the eyes that weren"t too low or bleary from a weed-vodka combo were envious and observant. Girls who"d always laughed at her careless style now scoffed at Kimberly"s flawless attire. Girls who"d already been wrapped around Jack Brewer"s skillful fingers before wanted to be her again, if only for 26 minutes, a discarded condom, and nothing more. But Kimberly couldn"t see that, she was too busy memorizing the way his chestnut brown hair swung as they walked, the way his back muscles flexed inconspicuously as he led her to the staircase. "Be my prince charming?" she whispered to their intertwined fingers, embarrassed of this desire for something beautiful and unreal. Her heart thumped, anticipating a romance she could get behind, waiting for him to call her Kim and send her soaring. They made their way upstairs, finally finding an empty room after interrupting multiple make out sessions, some more heated than others. "I never realized these high school parties were so raunchy." she laughed, stepping deeper into the bedroom as Jack closed and locked the door behind them. "How come I never see you at any of these raunchy high school parties?" He leaned against the door, arms folded, watching her. She moved around the room slowly with her back to him. Jack didn"t think it was possible but the ridiculous lava lamps that were glowing made her look even sexier. Something about the iridescent blue shading her tanned skin sent a jolt of appreciation between his legs. "Well the Ultimate Fighter usually comes on Saturday nights and-" "Oh yeah that"s mixed martial arts stuff right? You"re into that?" he was a little taken aback. Kimberly closed her eyes for a second. She"d told him about her basic obsession with all things UFC during their history project. The fact that he completely forgot stung like lemonade in a paper cut. She turned to face him, forcing a smile. Maybe it was best that he forgot. Total knock-outs and brutal take-downs weren"t part of the new persona. "Me? Uh no not really I just uh I like to watch hot guys in spandex." she could barely believe the words as they came out of her mouth. "Sooo what I"m hearing is that you like hot guys?" Jack let his head tilt to the side, his voice drop to a spine tingling rasp, and his eyes roam territorially. "Whaaaat? Are you kidding?" Kimberly quickly swallowed to steady her nervous tone, "I"m ALL about the hot guys and the cute clothes a-and uh...make uuuup and...etcetera..." she trailed off as the most intense heat of humiliation ascended within her. Fortunately Jack hadn"t turned on the lights when they came in and 3 juvenile lava lamps weren"t bright enough to reveal the depths of her blush. There was his smirk again. Jack was enjoying her nervousness. A majority of the girls he"d been with knew they were sexy as hell and were eager to impress him. But every now and then he"d get a shy one and that was a nice change of pace sometimes. Kimberly bit her bottom lip and tried to regain some sense of composure. Jack would never like her if she morphed into Awkward Girl with the super power to make every situation super uncomfortable. "Um...is this Jerry"s room?" she pointed a thumb over her shoulder at some of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit pages plastered on the wall. Jack couldn"t care less whose room they were in. If he had to seduce this girl in his best friend"s bedroom, on his best friend"s bed then Jerry would just have to take one for the team. He pushed off the door and slowly moved toward her, looking every bit the prowling tiger. "How come I didn"t see this side of you during our science project last year?" his voice was almost like a warm, masculine touch all its own and Kimberly felt every inch of her skin rejoice in goosebumps. She could barely find the courage to reply let alone remind him it was a history project, not science... "Uuuh I-I don"t know just decided to change up my look recently. Very recently." She breathed. He was standing barely half an inch in front of her. Their body heat mingled, their noses touched, and Kimberly felt like she was about to fucking lose it, SERIOUSLY. "Well it"s a huge improvement." his lips brushed hers as they spoke. He gave her one more heart stopping smirk, "I like it." And then they were kissing like kisses were going out of business. Kimberly, with what little of her rational mind was left, wasn"t sure if she should be offended by the "huge improvement" thing. She couldn"t have looked that bad before- She gasped against his mouth when strong hands grabbed her waist and yanked her closer. Kimberly wrapped her arms around his neck for some kind of stability. She was not about to faint in front of Jack Brewer just because her dumb legs wanted to be more Jell-O than human flesh. What she didn"t know, though, was that Jack"s more sensitive area just happened to be the back of his neck. Once the nude colored acrylic of her manicure scratched against his taut skin, he released a low groan that surprised her. A good surprise that caused a burst of tingles between her thighs. His tongue forced it"s way between her ruby red lips. One lazy swipe from it and she felt a shiver start from her abdomen and roll up to her collarbone. Jack ground into her mercilessly. The semi-hard bulge beneath his zipper pressed heatedly against her super-sensitivity. Unable to speak, to sigh, to end such pleasurable torture, Kimberly let all of her body"s tension do whatever felt right. She found herself wrapping her arms around to cradle his head, pulling herself closer to him and frowning beautifully in tender satisfaction. Jack"s hands migrated to her ass, then a quick detour to her thighs, kneading the soft flesh there. Thank the almighty entity Donna-Mika for forcing her to shave her legs before the party. Another bout of slow, full-frontal friction and a moan rushed up Kimberly"s throat without permission. But she didn"t have the mental capacity to be embarrassed about it. He was occupying all 5 of her senses: taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. Shit, if she had the 6th one she"d probably be sensing the ghost of Jack"s virginity because that thing"s obviously been gone for a loooong time. He began to walk backwards, pulling her with him. Before she could even understand her position in time and space, Kimberly was on her back on Jerry Martinez"s bed, Jack was on top of her, and the kiss was broken. It surprised her how hard she was breathing. Somewhere in the fuzziness of her brain she remembered an old Cosmo magazine cover saying something about kissing and burning calories. Or maybe it was sex. "Sssss..." she heard herself hissing as Jack sucked a soft spot on her neck and his hand found an even softer spot below her waist. Hoooly shit it was really happening. Kissing country was disappearing in the rear view while she and Jack did 90 to Fuck-ville. She found some semblance of a voice just as his thumb skimmed the extreme tip of her throbbing clit. "Jack..." His name pushed itself across her lips in a low, slow whisper that sounded like an important proclamation, like she wanted to breathe that name until she couldn"t anymore. Infinitely more turned on by it, Jack almost missed the fact that she was trying to get his attention more than encourage his actions. It took a good amount of concentration to will his body still. He froze over her, one hand supporting his weight and the other tense and waiting in her panties. "What"s wrong?" he panted. "I just..." But Kimberly wasn"t sure what she just. Jack, her crush for the past year, the only guy she had ever considered giving a glimpse into her heart, was hovering over her with wild hair, lustful eyes, and red lipstick smeared around his mouth. All of it, even the lipstick part, made her want him more. Kim struggled to find the right words. "It just seems like we"re moving really really REALLY crazy super fucking fast and I-I don"t know we don"t even really know each other." "Sure we do." he licked his lips and gave her the most convincing smile he could, considering his dick was pressing painfully against the front of his jeans. He needed to diffuse the situation ASAP. "I"m Jack Brewer..." his lips met with her clavicle on the left side, "I like football..." a sweet kiss half an inch above her areola, "I"m 18 years old and..." Tongue and lips against her neck, then that mischievous thumb pressing against the bundle of nerves in her purple thong. Her body shuddered, sending out a quiet moan of submission to bounce off of the walls. Jack"s amused eyes were the last things she saw before hers closed of their own accord. "...and I love making you do that." he rasped. "Holy hell"! Kimberly shouted in her mind. "Could he be any sexier!? Is it even legal for him to be THIS sexy!?' He moved his thumb in slow circles, shooting fireworks behind her eyelids. "And I also know that you like the hot guys of the UFC." he whispered, placing a kiss between her breasts. Kimberly"s eyes popped open. "You"re all about makeup and clothes." he kissed dangerously close to her nipple again. "W-..." she couldn"t say "wait" because Jack"s relentless thumb was suddenly sending sharp tingles shooting up through her belly. He grinned at her, "And you"re great at science projects." "B-b-but Ja..." was all she managed to moan through the shock waves as they brought her closer and closer to something huge. "And you are," he kissed her lips gently, "the most beautiful girl I"ve ever seen." His thumb stopped just as she reached the edge but his words still threatened to push her over. Her heart swelled to fill her chest and Kimberly sighed, unsure if the tremors she felt just then were orgasmic or of sudden realization. No guy had ever called her beautiful before. Ever. She kissed him. Something took over and wouldn"t allow her to be nervous in that moment. All she really needed then was for him to call her Kim, to be his Kim. Jack unzipped his jeans and pulled the elastic waistband of his boxers down to rest just below his erection. And all while kissing Kimberly senseless. He reached over and grabbed a condom from Jerry"s nightstand stash. The sexiest girl at the party softly brushed her tongue across his bottom lip as he rolled the latex down. By the time he had their lips free and her breath stolen, Jack was more than ready. Kimberly gasped for the millionth time that night as he pushed inside of her slowly. A lifetime of TV had prepared her for pain but not the weird, sharp but aching sensation penetrating her guts. She winced and groaned despite her best efforts. "Shit." Jack mumbled, pushing up to the hilt. She was so much tighter than he was used to it slowly, torturously blew his mind. The friction between them, her nails digging into his shoulders, he began to thrust a little faster. Kimberly tried to keep her eyes open. This was kind of a big deal after all. But the pain was almost too much and Jack wasn"t looking at her anyway. He had his head thrown back, staring at the wall or the ceiling or the headboard. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and tried to catch her breath because, Jesus Christ, the pain was NOT letting up! Still, her heart continued to hammer out of affection more than anything. She knew that, once she was officially his Kim and he was her Jack, they"d have time to practice, to fall deeper, and do all that other mushy stuff she secretly longed for. "Fuck." Jack whispered, increasing speed, "God you feel so good Quinn." Her eyes flew open. "W-what?" she grimaced as he hit a particularly painful spot. "Shit, Quinn. You feel so fucking good." He groaned again. Kim barely had time to fully register what was said when the very muscle fibers of her heart abruptly ripped in half. She gasped in agonizing surprise, which prompted Jack to bury his face in her neck and litter it with empty kisses. What the fuck was happening? Had he heard Mika say "Quinn" earlier that night? Did he really just call her "Quinn" when she"d been yearning, YEARNING with every cell in her body, with all the boundlessness of her imagination for the past YEAR, to watch his full lips and hear his velvet voice call her..."Kim"? The flimsy rags of her heart tore again and she cried out in disbelief. There was so much he didn"t know about her. He didn"t know that she was definitely NOT all about clothes and hot guys. He didn"t know that she was hopelessly in love with him. He didn"t even know that she was allergic to peanuts. He didn"t know that she was a virgin 12 minutes ago. He didn"t know that her dad died in a car crash when she was 10 years old. Kimberly was giving her most intimate possessions, her heart and her body, to a guy who didn"t even really know her name. Jack continued to push into her with a thumping pace that seemed to match the pounding beat downstairs. He panted and grunted like a vicious predator conquering his prey. Once again saved by the room"s eerie darkness, Kimberly pressed the side of her face into the pillow and, for the first time since February 3rd, 2007, she cried. The end. I adore feedback.

"Really fucking weird." Lacey mumbled in response to her inner thoughts. How did she even get o this point? A week ago she was sharing chili cheese fries with Rico and Jo and moving through the halls of Green Grove High as an invisible entity. A week ago she was sports bras and mangled cuticles and split ends. But then the incident had occurred and paradigms shifted. "Jesus Christ!" Lacey exclaimed, squeezing her eyes shut tightly as a deep throbbing pain exploded in her frontal sinus. It"s almost like the God"s knew she was trying to rush to the bathroom before first bell and decided they didn"t like that plan at all. She was just rounding the corner when some Miley wannabe really did come in like a goddamn wrecking ball. Her papers scattered everywhere, his books went flying, student bystanders laughed. It was all very 90"s sitcom. "Uuugh!" She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead, "Walk much fuckface?" Her brown eyes tried to focus on the human sledgehammer but the pan intensified and shut them tightly instead. "Hey gimme a break you think I did this shit on purpose?" And that voice was all it took to keep her eyes wide open. "Oh! Hiiii Danny..." Lacey studied her fresh manicure, frowning slightly at the memory. She had stuttered out something awkward as he helped her gather her worksheets. And when their hands brushed she could"ve sworn she was in some crappy romantic comedy. For a second she wholly believed they"d make the kind of eye contact that bore souls. But no. In reality he just gave her the papers and said "Sorry again." with one of those smirky smiles that instantly makes her throat as dry as the Sahara. In her imagination he whispered "Lace" like he"d been searching for her his whole life and kissed her like she was his only means of survival. She absolutely loved it when he called her Lace. Not that it happened anymore. They"d been paired up for a history project last year and actually gotten along for the duration. She always assumed he was just a cocky soccer jock, drunk on his own popularity. And he was. But he was also charming, witty, and sarcastic. And he called her Lace. Somewhere between Hitler and the Polio vaccine, she"d fallen harder than she cared to admit. He was out of her league even for real-lie, non-sitcom standards. After the project was over she got a "Hey" or a "What"s up" in the hallway every once in a while. That was it. Until they collided in the hallway. Sarita and Phoebe had seen their awkward run in and were not about to pass up the opportunity to show just how charitable they could be to the popularity-challenged. That and the fact that giving makeovers was their own brand of heroine. According to them, stripper heels and a pretty little vapid head were like teenaged boy bait. If Lacey had been in her right mind she would"ve blatantly refused. But she wasn"t in her right mind because he"d just touched her fingertips and gently rendered her senseless with that smile not 5 minutes before. Ditching Rico and Jo the rest of the week for shopping trips and girl lessons all culminated in the ultimate final exam that weekend. The party at Archie Yates" house was in full swing when she showed up with the girl. Noise and unfamiliarity immediately drove her upstairs to the nearest bathroom before anyone could even see her new look. She even had to admit that she looked smoking hot, like possibly the classiest hooker you"ve ever seen. But it came with this crippling insecurity that she never felt in her oversized New York Giants sweater and this increasing introversion that didn"t start until the queens deemed her black nose ring "way too goth". It"s crazy how clothes worked that way. She looked at herself in the mirror again. Her brown eyes seemed to burn gold underneath sexy layers of shadow and mascara. If he didn"t notice her tonight, she was giving up. For real this time. "It"s about time Stacy!" Phoebe shouted over the deafening beat of something dubsteppy. Lacey only unfolded her arms half way to give a little wave. She was over telling the ditzy brunette that her name was not fucking Stacy! "Hey!" Lacey walked up to the girls, smiling from many miles outside of her comfort zone. "You know Danny right?" Sarita feigned ignorance and tapped the guy behind her. He turned around and, sure enough, it was the boy to whom she"d dedicated several awful tattoo ideas. It was creepy and weird but it was strictly in the guilty pleasure section of Lacey"s obsessive imagination. Still, she rubbed the seemingly arbitrary month, day, and year tattooed on her inner bicep with a self conscious thumb; as if he could look at the "February 3, 2007" on her skin and immediately know that she dreamt of getting "Danny" on the other arm. That way she"d have the day Judy Porter died, and life as Lacey knew it ended, on one side and the name of her first love, her new beginning, on the other. They made eye contact and it happened. Lacey watched his eyes light up and immediately felt transported into some kind of Katherine Heigl, Julia Roberts, Sleepless in Seattle while a Pretty Woman wears 27 Dresses and teaches Miss Congeniality How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days type of alternate universe. It was the instantaneous connection she"d wanted in the hallway only 4 days ago. "Hi." She knew she was speaking too softly to be heard. "Holy red lipstick!" Danny grinned, allowing his gaze to travel downward. Lacey felt herself loving and hating his gorgeous brown eyes as they peeled back every thin layer she wore. She tried to focus on him and not squirm under that relentless stare. His shoulder length hair was pulled into this loose bun hat always seemed to be the optimum ratio of styled to messy. All of his hair was flawless actually. His moderate goatee-stache combo looked so fitting she was almost convinced he came out of the womb with it and spent the last 18 years sculpting to perfection. "So uh...house party while Archie"s parents are out of town huh?!" She began, needing to reel her thoughts back in. Standing there looking at each other all night wouldn"t get them any closer to boyfriend-girlfriend status. His gaze was even darker, the color of fertile soil, as it suddenly jumped from her chest to her eyes. She rubbed the tattoo faster as he simply stared for a second. By the time he spoke again that adorable smirk had spread luxuriously across his face and Lacey was practically swiping a thumb-sized rut into her arm. Danny slowly brought a beer to his lips, "Well, as horny, liquor-craving, drug-addicted teens we felt obligated to reinforce the stereotype." The only thing Lacey wanted to be more than the rim of that beer bottle was the actual beer flowing across it and ultimately into Danny Desai"s undoubtedly sexy bloodstream. But instead of saying that, thank God, she tried to be witty, "How very "Can"t Hardly Wait", "House Party 4" of you!" He winked and, if her dimples sank any deeper, they"d become permanent. There was a very noticeable lapse in the conversation as their audience watched. Sarita and Phoebe were celebrating wildly in their heads. Danny couldn"t keep his eyes off of their handiwork, and undivided male attention definitely spelled success. Danny"s guy friends had been watching Lacey"s ripe strawberry lips with vivid imagination, but the words coming out of it were of no consequence. It was probably all curling irons and nail polish anyway. "Hey you wanna go somewhere and talk?" he asked casually before finishing the luckiest Budweiser in Green Grove and putting it on a nearby coffee table. "Are you shitting m-! I mean uh..." Lacey recalled Sari-be"s (Sarita and Phoebe"s) femme lessons from a few days prior and stood up straight. She arched her back veeeeery subtly so her breasts sat even higher than the push up bra was already holding them. Biting her bottom lip, Lacey went full on girl and flipped a dark handful of her curly hair over one shoulder. Now to reel him in, she thought as her head tilted down a little and she looked up at him through her long, thick eyelashes. "Sure." her voice brushed up against Danny"s eardrums low, quite, and sexy. He took her hand with no hesitation. She relished in how icy cold the beer bottle had made his fingers. Who knew the old big-boobed airhead routine worked off the big screen!? Around Archie"s crowded living room, the eyes that weren"t too low or bleary from a weed-vodka combo were envious and observant. Girls who"d always laughed at her careless style now scoffed at Lacey"s flawless attire. Girls who"d already been wrapped around Danny Desai"s skillful fingers before wanted to be her again, if only for 26 minutes, a discarded condom, and nothing more. But Lacey couldn"t see that, she was too busy memorizing the way those rebellious strands of hair curved along the nape of his neck, the way his back muscles flexed inconspicuously as he led her to the staircase. "Be my James Dean?" she whispered to their intertwined fingers. Her heart thumped, anticipating a romance she could get behind, waiting for him to call her Lace and send her soaring. They made their way upstairs, finally finding an empty room after interrupting multiple make out sessions, some more heated than others. "I never realized these high school parties were so cliché." Lacey laughed, stepping deeper into the bedroom as Danny closed and locked the door behind them. "How come I never see you at any of these cliché high school parties?" He leaned against the door, arms folded, watching her. She moved around the room slowly with her back to him. Danny didn"t think it was possible but the ridiculous lava lamps that were glowing made her look even sexier. Something about the iridescent blue shading her mocha skin sent a jolt of appreciation between his legs. "Well the Ultimate Fighter usually comes on Saturday nights and-" "Oh yeah that"s mixed martial arts stuff right? You"re into that?" he was a little taken aback. Lacey closed her eyes for a second. She"d told him about her basic obsession with all things UFC during their history project. The fact that he completely forgot stung like lemonade in a paper cut. She turned to face him, forcing a smile. Maybe it was best that he forgot. Total knock-outs and brutal take-downs weren"t part of the new persona. "Me? Uh no not really I just uh I like to watch hot guys in spandex." she could barely believe the words as they came out of her mouth. "Sooo what I"m hearing is that you like hot guys?" Danny let his head tilt to the side, his voice drop to a spine tingling rasp, and his eyes roam territorially. "Whaaaat? Are you kidding?" Lacey quickly swallowed to steady her nervous tone, "I"m ALL about the hot guys and the cute clothes a-and uh...make uuuup and...etcetera..." she trailed off as the most intense heat of humiliation ascended within her. The only saving grace? Danny hadn"t turned on the lights when they came in and the juvenile lava lamps weren"t bright enough to reveal just how much she was blushing. There was the smirk again. Danny was enjoying her nervousness. A majority of the girls he"d been with knew they were sexy as hell and were eager to impress him.. But every now and then he"d get a shy one and that was a nice change of pace sometimes. Lacey bit her bottom lip and tried to regain some sense of composure. Danny would never like her if she morphed into Awkward Girl with the power to make every situation super uncomfortable. "Um...is this Archie"s room?" she pointed a thumb over her shoulder at some of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit pages plastered on the wall. Danny couldn"t care less who"s room they were in. If he had to seduce this girl in his best friend"s bedroom, on his best friend"s bed then Archie would just have to take one for the team. He pushed off the door and slowly moved toward her, looking every bit the prowling tiger. "How come I didn"t see this side of you during our science project last year?" his voice was almost like a warm, masculine touch all its own and Lacey felt every inch of her skin rejoice in goosebumps. She could barely find the courage to reply let alone remind him it was a history project. "Uuuh I-I don"t know just decided to change up my look recently. Very recently." She breathed. He was standing barely an inch in front of her. Their body heat mingled and Lacey felt like she was about to fucking lose it, seriously. "Well it"s a huge improvement." his lips brushed hers as they pursed on the "pro" in "improvement". He gave her one more heart stopping smirk, "I like it." And then they were kissing like kisses were going out of business and they needed to stock up ASAP. Lacey, with what little of her rational mind was left, wasn"t sure if she should be offended by the "huge improvement" thing. She couldn"t have looked that bad bef- She gasped against his mouth when those strong hands grabbed her waist and yanked her closer. Lacey wrapped her arms around his neck for some kind of stability. She was not about to faint in front of Danny Desai just because her dumb legs didn"t know the difference between human flesh and Jell-O. What she didn"t know, though, was that Danny"s more sensitive area just happened to be the back of his neck. Once the nude colored acrylic of her manicure scratched against his taut skin, he released a low groan that surprised her. A good surprise that caused a burst of tingles between her thighs. His tongue forced it"s way between her ruby red lips. One lazy swipe from it and she felt a shiver start from her abdomen and roll up to her collarbone. Danny ground into her mercilessly. The semi-hard bulge beneath his zipper pressed heatedly against her super-sensitivity. Unable to speak, to sigh, to end such pleasurable torture, Lacey let all of her body"s tension do whatever felt right. She found herself wrapping her arms around to cradle his head, pulling herself closer to him and frowning beautifully in tender satisfaction. Danny"s hands migrated to her ass, then a quick detour to her thighs, kneading the soft flesh there. Thank the almighty Sari-be for forcing her to shave her legs before the party. Another bout of slow, full-frontal friction and a moan rushed up Lacey"s throat without permission. But she didn"t have the mental capacity to be embarrassed about it. He was occupying all 5 of her senses: taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. Shit, if she had the 6th one she"d probably be sensing the ghost of Danny"s virginity because that thing"s obviously been gone for a loooong time. He began to walk backwards, pulling her with him. Before she could even understand her position in time and space, Lacey was on her back on Archie Yates" bed, Danny was on top of her, and the kiss was broken. It surprised her how hard she was breathing. Somewhere in the fuzziness of her brain she remembered an old Cosmo magazine cover saying something about kissing and burning calories. Or maybe it was sex. "Sssss..." she heard herself hissing as Danny sucked a soft spot on her neck and his hand found an even softer spot below her waist. Hoooly shit it was really happening. Kissing country was disappearing in the rear view while she and Danny did 90 to Fuck-ville. She found some semblance of a voice just as his thumb skimmed the extreme tip of her throbbing clit. "Danny..." His name pushed itself across her lips in a low, slow whisper that sounded like a important proclamation, like she wanted to breathe that name until she couldn"t anymore. Infinitely more turned on by it, Danny almost missed the fact that she was trying to get his attention more than encourage his actions. It took a good amount of concentration to will his body still. He froze over her, one hand supporting his weight and the other tense and waiting in her panties. "What"s wrong?" he panted. "I just..." But Lacey wasn"t sure what she just. Danny, her crush for the past year, the only guy she had ever considered giving a glimpse into her heart, was hovering over her with wild hair, lustful eyes, and red lipstick smeared around his mouth. All of it, yes even the lipstick part, made her want him more. And rather than wonder what that suggested about her sexuality, Lacey struggled to find the right words. "It just seems like we"re moving really really REALLY crazy super fucking fast and I-I don"t know we don"t even really know each other." "Sure we do." he licked his lips and gave her the most convincing smile he could, considering his dick was pressing painfully against the front of his jeans. He needed to diffuse the situation ASAP. "I"m Danny..." his lips met with her clavicle on the left side, "I like soccer..." a sweet kiss half an inch above her areola, "I"m 18 years old and..." Tongue and lips against her neck, then that mischievous thumb pressing against the bundle of nerves in her purple thong. Her body shuddered, sending out a quiet moan of submission to bounce off of the walls. Danny"s amused eyes were the last things she saw before hers closed of their own accord. "...I love making you do that." he rasped. "Holy hell"! Lacey shouted in her mind. "Could her be any sexier!? Is it even legal for him to be THIS sexy already!?' He moved his thumb in slow circles, shooting fireworks behind her eyelids. "And I also know that you like the hot guys of the UFC." he whispered, placing a kiss between her breasts. Lacey"s eyes popped open. "You"re all abou makeup and clothes." he kissed dangerously close to her nipple again. "W-..." she couldn"t say "wait" because Danny"s relentless thumb was suddenly sending sharp tingles shooting up through her belly. He grinned at her, "And you"re great at science projects." "B-b-but Dan...ny..." was all she managed to moan through the shock waves as they brought her closer and closer to something huge. "And you are," he kissed her lips gently, "the most beautiful girl I"ve ever seen." His thumb stopped just as she reached the edge but his words still threatened to push her over. Her heart swelled to fill her chest and Lacey sighed, unsure if the tremors she felt just then were orgasmic or of sudden realization. No guy had ever called her beautiful before. Ever. She kissed him. Something took over and wouldn"t allow her to be nervous in that moment. All she really needed then was for him to call her Lace, to be his Lace. Danny unzipped his jeans and pulled the elastic waistband of his boxers down to rest just below his erection. And all while kissing Lacey senseless. He reached over and grabbed a condom from Archie"s nightstand stash. The sexiest girl at the party softly brushed her tongue across his bottom lip as he rolled the latex down. By the time he had their lips free and her breath stolen, Danny was more than ready. Lacey gasped for the millionth time that night as he pushed inside of her slowly. A lifetime of TV had prepared her for pain but not the weird, sharp but aching sensation penetrating her guts. She winced and groaned despite her best efforts. "Shit." Danny mumbled, pushing up to the hilt. She was so much tighter than he was used to it slowly, torturously blew his mind. The friction between them, her nails digging into his shoulders, he began to thrust a little faster. Lacey tried to keep her eyes open. This was kind of a big deal after all. But the pain was almost too much and Danny wasn"t looking at her anyway. He had his head thrown back, staring at the wall or the ceiling or the headboard. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and tried to catch her breath because, Jesus Christ, the pain was NOT letting up! Still, her heart continue to hammer out of affection more than anything. She knew that, once she was officially his Lace and he was her Danny, they"d have time to practice, to fall deeper, and do all that other mushy stuff she secretly longed for. "Fuck." Danny whispered, increasing speed, "God you feel so good Stace." Her eyes flew open. "W-what?" she grimaced as he hit a particularly painful spot. "Shit, Stacy. You feel so fucking good." He groaned again. Lacey barely had time to fully register what was said when the very muscle fibers of her heart abruptly ripped apart. She gasped in agonizing surprise, which prompted Danny to bury his face in her neck and litter it with empty kisses. What the fuck was happening? Had he heard Phoebe say "Stacy" earlier that night? Did he really just call her "Stace" when she"d been yearning, YEARNING with every cell in her body, with all the boundlessness of her imagination for the past YEAR, to watch his full lips and hear his velvet voice call her..."Lace"? The flimsy rags of her heart ripped again and she cried out in disbelief. There was so much he didn"t know about her. He didn"t know that she was definitely NOT all about clothes and hot guys. He didn"t know that she was hopelessly in love with him. He didn"t know that she was allergic to peanuts. He didn"t know that she was a virgin 12 minutes ago. He didn"t know that her mom died in a car crash when she was 10 years old. Lacey was giving her most intimate possessions, her heart and her body, to a guy who didn"t even really know her name anymore. Danny continued to push into her with a thumping pace that seemed to match the pounding beat downstairs. He panted and grunted like a vicious predator conquering his prey. Once again saved by the room"s eerie darkness, Lacey pressed the side of her face into the pillow and, for the first time since February 3rd, 2007, she cried.

"Wasawf yakun ladayk lilttahaqquq min dhlk." ""Afham." If he runs my name in the database I should pop up I hope that I no longer appear as the dead Alice Kruger because that would make sure they lockdown this whole facility. I didn"t even think about that until this very second. "Sawf takun qadiraan ealaa ruyat liha. laqad shakhs sayurafiquk laha fi lahza." Out from the corner is Fatima and it"s so nice to see a familiar face. "Hello to you two and welcome to the Jordanian Embassy. I will take you to see her now." I just walk behind Fatima and Kurt just walks beside me and says nothing. He is probably trying to figure out the angle of why we would be here. Fatima leaves us after she takes us to the door. I look up at Kurt and he is still confused but knows its something serious. I open the door and see Amal and two men who look definitely military. I don"t know if I know them from the past or not. "Welcome to the Jordanian Embassy Assistant Director Weller. We have much to discuss." The relief I feel in Amal"s voice is like a swimming in the dead sea. "Jane, what"s going on? What is this?" When he looks at me like that it"s like there"s no one else in the room. "Kurt remember when I told you about my past life of being Alice Kruger?" "Yeah but what"s that have to do with a liaison for Interpol?!" "I feel it would be better if I showed you some things and have Commander Iordanou speak to you..." "Jane what have you gotten into?" He doesn"t sound mad more like frustrated. "I believe it"s what I put her through. This news will be better served with a meal because it will take a while. This is an official briefing between two nations right now." "Did you take an international terrorist from the FBI under false pretenses?" Kurt looks at her with a fury and I realize who knows her under a different name and I urge him to calm down and just put my hands over his and to my shock he grips my hand. I don"t move it I don"t want to spook him and I like it. I know Amal has picked up on it because she is sharper than a tack out the box. "No she didn"t Kurt her name is Commander Amal Sabine ibn Ghazal Iordanou. She is incredibly classified and can"t go around using her name. Her real self is a ghost to the world with good reason. She is one of the most important intelligence officers for the Jordanian government and her focus is running a counterterrorism unit." "If you are so classified why am I being debriefed on your identity?" "Your co-operation is crucial for Alice." He looks at me and it"s just silence as we look into each others eyes and he nods in understanding. "All right tell me what I need to know." We have dinner served and it smells really good. "I had them make what used to be your favorite Alice I don"t know if you will still like it but I thought it might be something you would enjoy." We make our way to the eating area and I see it is a ravioli and I think to myself simple ravioli can"t smell this good. Kurt and I sit close and Amal sits on the other side. "I should start from the beginning. Since Jane cannot remember all of her past I will try to connect the dots as best as I can." "Please call me Alice... Amal it feels right when you call me that. I may not be ready for everyone to call me Alice but you are like a connector to my old life and it feels right when you call me Alice." "All right I will continue to call you Alice. I only want you to feel your most comfortable. That"s all I ever wanted for you then and now." "shukraan jazilaan." "dayimaan. I met Alice Kruger during a fleet week in San Diego. It is less often we actually have an international fleet week that actually coincides with various foreign ships. Governments next to never like it because the money used for the resources are always great especially in these times. Alice was based in San Diego for a while and as intelligence officers for the Royal Navy we were actually debriefing the NCIS field office about a case after our ship was docked. I met Alice in a bar and she was sitting by herself. The Navy or any division of the armed forces can be isolating and lonely for women so I decided we could be alone in company. We talked about our experiences and I couldn"t help but examine her. I felt she was hiding something but I didn"t know what it was but we became friends. I didn"t pester her about her secrets because we all have them and the last thing any woman wants is for it spilling out into work. It only takes one time to be discredited as a distraction. It"s unfair but a reality for women around the world. I told Alice she could speak with me day or night when she had the time. I wasn"t going to be deployed on missions like she was. I run central command so while I would be busy I am for the most part available. One day she calls me hysterical and asks me would it be possible to work as a liaison for me in exchange for citizenship and I told her our King doesn"t trust non-Jordanians especially those who are not even West Asian knowing Jordanian intelligence. I did extreme vetting and I find out Alice wasn"t even American because her alias had holes in it and I couldn"t believe the American military system didn"t catch it. I told Alice if she wanted any help from me I wanted to know why the hell doesn"t she exist and why is she using fake aliases to be a naval officer. That"s when she told me about what you call Sandstorm. We refer to it as zawjat alshshaytan. In Arabic it means devil"s wife and that name came to be because they were in league with al-Qaeda and Daesh. It scared Alice when she realized the ideals of zawjat alshshaytan were not her own. A bombing of a school in Iraq shook her because Shepherd sold the explosives to Daesh. This was the first time children were a casualty of death for this terrorist group. Alice confronted Shepherd and Shepherd told her that sacrifices must be made even those we may not like and agree with must be done in order for a better future. 167 children died that day and Alice decided she could not be in league with an organization that tries to justify the murder of teachers and children. The school was an all-girls school. It"s the mission of many terrorist organizations to target girls schools to further cement their dominance over women and impose Sharia law. From that day Alice has been working for the GID. Lieutenant Alice Amina Kruger is under my command. I ask you to keep what has been said to you in the utmost secrecy. I have only told you these things because Alice has said that this is something you need to know as well as Alice may die." "What?! Is Sandstorm making threats again?" Amal shoots me a look and I just shrug a little. I can tell she knows what Kurt means to me at least actually see what he means to me and what I mean to him contrary to what his words say. "No this actually has nothing to do with Sandstorm. I did something incredibly reckless and many people may end up dead because of it..." "Is there going to be a terror attack here?" Kurt sometimes for someone so smart you can be really obtuse. "No at least not that I know of right now... I am an intelligence officer for a foreign government. Since I have been enmeshed in the FBI I have been privy to private information that I should have never had access too. It could cause an international incident that could land Jordan in the crosshairs with the U.S. government and people. The optics of this is bad... "Jordanian spy infiltrates government agency of an ally"." "What can we do Jane doesn"t belong back in a black site or worse..." "I have spoken to my superior you will be coming with Jane and I to Washington D.C. tomorrow. Take a sick day I don"t care but no one can know where you are going." Kurt looks at me and I don"t know what he is thinking. Maybe he realizes I need him once again and will leave me out to dry. I just stare at my food this plan still hinges on a lot and I could still be killed by Sandstorm. "What can I do to help her?" His eyes are still on me and I close my eyes and let out a breath. I feel a range of things but the strongest of them all is the little bit of hope that"s shining in the darkness. "You will give an assessment tomorrow on how Alice has contributed to your team." "That"s it? Shouldn"t we be doing more." "You leave that to me and my boss now let"s finish this dinner." I look at Amal and I hope whatever she has up her sleeve actually works. I can"t outrun Sandstorm forever I will need as much protection as I can get. Whoever Amal ends up taking us too I hope they are trustworthy. I have no clue who or how many people Sandstorm has in the government. We can"t walk into a trap we just can"t. Hi Everyone, just wanted to thank you guys for reading this story. I got into Blindspot for the most part at the end of the season and now I am just a fan. This story has a different take on Jane"s past and how it connects to the present day and possibly for her future. All grammatical errors are my own I have no proofreader. I do try to sweep my chapters as much as I can so bear with them please. "Thank you for listening..." I feel better about my footing with Kurt. I don"t know if it will make him hate me less. I doubt anything could do that but maybe I have a chance after all of this is done to stay alive "I can"t even begin to fathom this..." He pinches the bridge of his nose. I feel everything is in hyperfocus again. He brought me to my home and after the awkward silence I break it with the only thing I can. I don"t know what to say in this situation. Its weird because he looks so tense and for the first time in a long time I am relaxed. "I can"t either. I still don"t remember much of my previous life but I remember some things" I don"t really know why I said the last part. I need to check myself in check. If I have to speak to anyone it will be too Amal or Fatima. "What do you remember?" That isn"t what I expect to hear. I am under no illusion Kurt wants to speak outside the parameters of any cases. "What?!" "I want to know what you remember?" I am coming to hate this confused face he is making. "Why?!" I am getting defensive "Because I want to know... So tell me what do you remember?" "You told me if it doesn"t pertain to the case you don"t want to know the ins and outs of my life." Stop confusing me! "Fuck!" He gets up from my couch and starts pacing. Incredibly quiet but you can feel the tension radiating from him. I let him be because he is concentrating not getting mad. "This is so hard Jane! So fucking hard... you don"t know what I am wrestling with right now." Now I am angry! Why do I get to be so discounted? Like nothing I feel matters! "What you are wrestling with?! Are you kidding me right now Kurt? How about what the fuck I am wrestling with? My life is like three different land mines and I don"t know how to navigate my life right now. If I make one wrong move I"ll be killed by Sandstorm or Nas will classify me as obsolete and the CIA will be after me. I may be responsible for an international incident if Amal can"t bail me out. And on top of that I can barely remember who I am. I am marked for death sorry if I don"t care about what you are feeling right now." I am freaking furious if it were possible to have fumes coming out of me I would. I get up from the couch and I just go to the window. I can"t sit down but I also can"t do anything else. I feel so awkward and upset and clueless on what to do. "Jane... I"m sorry I have no right to be like that with you. I"ve been holding onto so much anger even stuff that has nothing to do with you. I dumped it all on you Jane and I am so sorry. I am just so sorry for all of the crap I put you through. All of this information is just so confusing and makes the water even murkier. I"m still just trying to process Mayfair"s murder and everytime I look at you I think of you being the reason she"s gone. Knowing more of the facts Mayfair was always going to die no matter what. Sandstorm pinned Carter on her and they were going to kill her to tie up loose ends. Everyone involved in Daylight was going to die Sandstorm made sure of it." "I still feel responsible. I am responsible for goodness sake. I was the reason they even were able to frame her for murder. In her final moments I could feel her pure hate when she figured it out. I wanted to explain that I was on her side but Oscar killed her." Just because Kurt knows more about me doesn"t mean anything. He may not completely hate me but I still am responsible for Mayfair getting murdered. "Jane I am still mad as hell about everything that happened with Mayfair. I am still angry with you and I am sure you are angry with me and that"s completely justified. After everything you have been through from all sides you have every right to feel betrayed by everyone especially me. When the CIA took you I should have done more to get you back. I should have fought like hell to get you back." My heart beats faster when he says the last part. I have gone through hell and it doesn"t make up for anything but this is the most where I felt he was sorry. "I can"t change what happened. I just need you to believe me when I say I want to take down Sandstorm. Shepherd has taken everything away from me. She had me fooled most of my life and I woke up to it. I must have slowly realized I was not being an agent of justice or retribution but a law and order dispensed based on someone else"s ideals. She has my brother and not just afraid for me in all of this. I"m just afraid for him. Kurt he"s passionate about what he believes and he has been fed lies almost his whole life. The only reason I could break away was because Shepherd made me go undercover. She didn"t realize that was the biggest flaw in her plan. I just... You should go home Kurt. I forgot you needed to go home." It felt so great to be able to just talk about things but then I realized Kurt knows enough he can leave now. "I can"t apologize enough for making you feel like you can"t come to me. Through all of this anger I have thrown at you. I knew you would just take it because it"s me. It wasn"t fair of me. Even when I was trying to hate you I should have just paid you no mind instead of actively trying to make you feel hurt. I was being petty and through all the lies I could tell how much it affected you. I wanted you to feel as hurt and betrayed as I felt. The irony of it all is you have been more hurt than anyone in this. You were tortured by them physically and mentally. Only to escape and then captured by me only to get emotionally tortured. You have every right to pummel me into the ground." I don"t even know what to say to this right now. Kurt expressing this is more than I could have ever imagined or hoped for. It just helps validating me in feeling utterly betrayed and broken. "I can"t pummel you into the ground yet. I still need you to look presentable tomorrow. Whoever Amal has us meeting tomorrow has to be important enough that you can"t walk in with black eyes." I try to lessen the tenseness with some levity. I am not so used to speaking about my feelings so this is the most uncomfortable I have felt in a long time. "How much do you know about Amal? Well I should say how much can you remember?" "Kurt if you are asking me if I can trust her..." "I am asking can we trust her..." That makes me go a little off kilter but then again he has to protect his time he is no longer just a senior agent. He is the Deputy Director the whole NYC branch. He has many people in his command. "Yes Kurt, we can trust her. The little I can remember of my past life I know for sure I trust her more than anything or anyone. When I found out about Roman and Shepherd I knew they weren"t lying to me but I didn"t have the overwhelming sense of real trust from them or in my heart. When I saw Amal at the office it was for at most a third of second. I had this funny feeling in my heart and in my gut. I felt like I knew her even when I couldn"t remember her. It was a good kind of remembering looking back on it because I stayed relaxed. When I met Shepherd even when I met Roman I didn"t feel that way. I felt absolute dread when I found out Shepherd is my mother. I know for sure Shepherd picked up on it and that"s why she doesn"t really trust me because she knows I don"t really trust her. I may not remember most of my past life but I definitely remember that I trust her as my friend and as my commander. " "If you are telling me your instincts say trust her then I promise I will trust her. Is there anything you can really remember from your past life? It doesn"t have to pertain to a plan but maybe talking about it can be an outlet for you..." This is something Borden would say well in more a therapist like manner but this is nice. "Umm.. Well let"s see what I can remember. I remember finding out about the attack on the girls" school by chance. My brother let that slip when I was meeting with him. He would find creative ways to meet me when I was in the Navy. When we were younger he was the more human of the two of us. I can"t remember much about my birth parents but I remember my mother being the planner and my father being the heart. Roman was the heart and I was planner. When he found me he freaked out when Sandstorm sold weapons to Daesh. The bombing of the girls" school was a tipping point. I guess internally after bin Laden had been killed the underlying tension came to the surface. Daesh didn"t want to take commands from a central network and went rogue and bombed the school. Daesh committed an egregious error. Al-Qaeda didn"t sanction the action and they didn"t take kindly to the freelancing. They struck while the iron was hot when bin Laden was killed to make a statement. Daesh called that act their divorce. Shepherd sold those weapons to Daesh. Before that incident we never knew that Shepherd had surrogates dealing with al-Qaeda. At most I knew about eco-terrorists but this is a whole other league. Roman confronted her when he overheard her speaking with someone. She berated him telling him how did we think we got the money to fund our missions. She always touted having contacts in private military contractors who worked with us. It was the first time Roman or I discovered she was dealing with terrorists. It freaked me out so much... everything for me came crashing down when I realized what I was truly in. Roman was equally freaked out about the prospect of us dealing with people like that. We didn"t know what we could do because Shepherd wouldn"t hesitate to kill us. Nothing gets in the way of her mission not even us. I don"t know if it were Kismet or what but I met Amal only by chance. I remembered she was a senior level official for another military and I told her everything. The Jordanians have been fighting both of them longer than anyone else. I thought if I am one step away from death it didn"t matter if I told her. To say she was livid would be an absolute understatement. The Jordanian ambassador to Iraq and a Colonel were stationed in al-Anbar at the time. Their daughters were students at that girls" school. It was the first time Haditha was severely rocked by terrorism in a long time. Iraqi forces somehow were always able to keep the city from falling into Daesh"s hands. I inadvertently gave Amal the info she wanted to know. Her sources had told her al-Qaeda wasn"t properly funding Daesh"s ambitions with weapons so they found a way to get some instead. I was valuable to the Jordanians because they could get intel about the organization that fed the beasts in the region. I told Amal I would get as much intel as possible on Sandstorm and their allies if they would give me and my brother citizenship and immunity. I still have holes in my memory but I remember the most important parts of my motivations." "I don"t know what to say Jane... This is a lot for me to process. I"ll tell you this though I am glad you are starting to remember who you are. It seems to me you were always trying to fight for what was right. It took you a little time away from Shepherd to realize what that was. Your conviction in your ideals never wavered just a shift in focus. We"re on the same side and I"m on your side Jane. Whatever Amal has us doing tomorrow I"ll do my best for you." "Kurt... that"s means a lot to me thank you. I am so glad I could convince you to hear me out. I"m getting a little tired you should go home. I don"t want to keep you out too long I know you wanted to get home." "I can stay if you like Jane..." The sentiment is really sweet but I just want to think for a little bit then get rest. "Its okay Kurt you can go home. I promise I"ll be fine." "All right Jane I"ll go but I have some rules that you cannot fight me on." "Okay shoot old man." He cracks a smile at me and it"s nice to see that again. "First of all I"m not old! Second from here on out nothing at the office can change all right. All of this happening right now only furthers the proof that this needs to stay between us. We can"t suddenly change in the office it will cause red flags and I do not trust Nas at all Jane. I need you to be the same as it were before okay. In the office I won"t actively try to hurt you but I will have to be curt."

Dante and Sofia leave me be and I get my work done and sent to my boss and I feel the tension in my shoulders evaporate. I feel like I could just fall in my bed and sleep forever after finishing the article. It is one of the more important articles because with summer issues we see a spike in readership. Hopefully they will want to subscribe instead of just grabbing an issue on the stands. My phone vibrates and its a text alert. Its Britt asking if I am free today. She wants to do something after she gets off of work. I tell her we should watch a movie at my apartment. The baby is obviously not old enough to go and enjoy a movie outdoors and while Britt and I watch a movie Ben and Sofia can play in their playpen. Sure we can watch a movie or binge watch a show on Netflix. What time are you done today? -Maxie I get off at 2 today and Spencer has a piano lesson and nerd stuff so Ben and I are going to be doing nothing for like three hours.- Britt I just finished my stuff for work so I am good. Once you drop off Spencer just come to my apartment and bring some food with you. -Maxie All right I will let you know when I am close. I will get us some good burgers and Lay"s Salt and Vinegar chips. -Britt I love those chips! Ooh I hope she brings a big bag. I look up from my phone and Sofia is perched up on Dante"s lap just eating the food while looking at him. She isn"t making no mess at all and I narrow my eyes. What is so special about Dante that she doesn"t even dream about making a mess but she"s ready to put pureed peas and drool on my hair? This baby is more calculating than anyone gives her credit for. I take in the scene and Sofia notices and turns her head at me and it causes Dante to follow suit. "Maxie come over here and eat." I begrudgingly join the two on the couch and eat my food which tastes amazing. Sofia taps on Dante"s arm he resumes feeding her and "Dante"s little Miss" uses her chubby arms to move his cheek away from my direction and back to hers. Is this baby serious?! I could care less because this food taste incredible I wonder where Dante got this it isn"t my normal takeout. I don"t look up from the plate until I am done. When I finish I realize I am still in my pajamas. Its 1:30 in the afternoon and I am still in my pajamas. "Dante I need to take a shower can you watch her?" "Yeah its no problem we can watch some TV isn"t that right Sofia?" Sofia just does her nod like she actually knows what she is agreeing too. He could say let"s go into a burning building and she would just nod and giggle. I go to my bedroom and make a beeline for the bathroom. I take my shower and wash my hair. I take my time because this is time I can"t for myself. I start to think about what I have to do this week and the meeting with the judge is the most important thing. I do have work to be done but the most pressing thing is the custody hearing. I could potentially have my little girl back with me and Sofia could have her sister by her side. The judge has it in for me but I am doing well for myself and can provide a great home for my child. Not that Spinelli cannot but I can provide a home as well too. I don"t like having Georgie across the country and I don"t even know how that would work yet. Spinelli has been vague about future custody arrangements but he is adamant that I have physical custody of Georgie. I towel dry my hair until its just damp. I decide on a 60s inspired mod tunic and some black leggings. My hair is the longest its been in quite some time I could totally give myself a complete 60s look but nah too much work. I come back to the living room and Dante is lying down on the couch watching TV with Sofia on lying on top of him sleeping. Its unbelievably cute that I want to take a picture of it. So I tip-toe to my phone and take a picture neither notice. "What are you going to do today?" Dante finally acknowledges my presence when the commercial appears. "Watch a movie with Britt while let Sofia and Ben have a play date what about you?" I am curious what does Dante do... "Well I am going to spend time with my brothers. They are slowly trying to repair their bond and trying to forget the curse that is Kiki Jerome. Morgan is working through his issues. My cousin Molly may tag along as well. So I guess its a mini family reunion." That is awesome that they can spend time together. I want that for Dante most of his life he was an only child and now he gets to experience the power of love that comes with siblings. Its a beautiful bond like no other. I want everyone to be able to experience that. "That"s awesome Dante you should definitely have family time amongst your siblings and cousin. It is nice to have that relationship especially growing up as an only child." "I"m sorry does it offend you when I talk about hanging out with my brothers. I totally forgot about Georgie. I wasn"t trying to be insensitive to you." "Can you stop apologizing Dante?! I love the fact that you have what you always wanted and its beautiful that you can spend time with them now. I relish all the memories of Georgie and no one can take them away from me ever. I don"t feel offended because I want you to have what I had with her. A bond unlike any other. Most times in life family are your first best friends. BJ and Georgie were for me and I am glad you get the opportunity to have that even if its late in life. Don"t forget Robin is my cousin and my surrogate sister. Don"t apologize for getting a chance to have what you want. Its hurts no one and if they say it does they are assholes. I know Italian people are all about family Mexicans are too so I understand. Dante its time for you to allow yourself to be completely happy without wondering how it affects others. It will only give you more wrinkles and you simply can"t afford that." "Must you continue to insult my worry lines? They are there because I worry I"m a cop its my job to always have a furrowed face. I should get ready to go soon we all planned to meet up around 3:30 get some lunch and go play some pool." "That sounds good when do you want to leave?" Dante mumbles something but I can"t hear what he said but it makes Sofia smile but I can feel the calm before the storm rapidly approaching. She is okay for now but Dante gets up and walks to the door and hands her over to me to put on his coat. Cue the ear piercing scream and of course she does this when she mouth is next to my ears. She always does this and it always gets old! He reaches over and he starts talking to her and telling her he will be back and she calms down. She doesn"t really know how to kiss yet so she brings her lips to his cheek and presses them. The two are back in their own world and soon enough Dante is closing the door and its just me and the little one. "We are going to have fun today. Guess who"s coming to play with you? Its Benjamin! He is coming to play with you isn"t that great Sofia?" I go to put her in her play pen and text Britt. She texts back saying she just dropped off Spencer and is ordering the food now. Ugh I can"t wait to have my Salt and Vinegar chips. I get my Netflix ready. My locks are sliding open please God let this be Britt being Britt and not someone else. "You are supposed to knock you know. You can only use for the key for emergencies!" "Maxie shut up it was an emergency. I didn"t feel like waiting for you to take five years to open a door when I have lots of crap and Ben. So get up and take some bags or you get nothing." "Ugh!" "Whatever you love me so save the grunts when you are fucking Dante..." "Oh my goodness I am not fucking... I mean I am not having sex with him." "You might as well be come on you know you want too." "Dante just got a divorce I doubt he is looking for anybody and we are just friends and it would look weird as hell for us to be an item considering months ago he sued me. Also his ex-wife is my former best friend." I couldn"t imagine what she would say. "As weird as me being with a real prince so what!? I can tell he likes you and you like him so go for it. Lulu should be a non-factor. Why allow her any control over your life? You said you aren"t friends and it sucks to prioritize your happiness over someone who is a jerk. Maxie you don"t have to be lonely because you think so. If you don"t like Dante then we won"t ever have this conversation again. But don"t come crying if he dates someone else." "I can"t think about stuff like that. I have my custody case coming up for Georgie and I have work and Sofia to think of. Dante doesn"t fit in my set of priorities so its no use." I have so much on my plate I don"t want to be sucked into a relationship. Britt goes over and puts Ben in the playpen and picks up Sofia and sniffs her. I thought maybe she would be nice enough to change her if she is ripe. "So that"s why the baby smells like him? You are already in a pseudo-relationship with him the only things you guys don"t do is fuck." Is she really cursing with the baby right next to her I give her a face. "Whatever Maxie they don"t know what that means you are just like Nik he does the same thing. But seriously think about it... Hey Sofia, don"t you just love Dante?" Sofia eyes get bigger and giggles at the mention of Dante. It doesn"t count she always does that. Or maybe it does count since she always does that. Britt puts her back in the playpen. Am I in a pseudo-relationship? "I have to focus on getting Georgie back and on my work. Dante doesn"t fit into my life right now no one does." Can we just drop the subject. "Dante already fits quite comfortably in your life. Don"t make this an excuse to try to hold back now it will disrupt the flow. It will assuredly make Sofia pissed at you and I am pretty sure she will make you notice. About the Georgie thing I can speak on your behalf on the kind of mother you are and I am sure would do the same for you." "I will cross that bridge when it comes to it and it would be great to have character witnesses. Hopefully the judge doesn"t make it hard for me to get her back or I will appeal the decision. I am getting tired of people having any control over me." "Ditto! Let"s just enjoy eating and watching the movie while the little one play with their toys." I start in on my burger and try to focus on the movie but all I can focus on is Dante and his presence in my life. It was wanted and probably needed but I was oblivious to the effect it would have on Sofia and Dante. I want Dante but that"s Lulu"s ex-husband. That kind of decision will have to wait until I get this custody thing out of the way. When Maxie asks the question "... so when do you have to leave?" and Dante mumbles "hopefully never" but only Sofia was able to hear it. Who knows if she can decipher what that means but both characters like the relationship they have and don"t want it to stop. Maxie is unsure of how she should proceed because she is worrying about Lulu"s feeling which shows she still cares. But something will have to give sooner or later right? Ring ring pick up pick up... This plays over and over and its Britt"s voice. Its her ringtone when she calls. Its gotta be early but Britt wouldn"t call me this early if she didn"t need me. "Hello?Britt its so early." I wait for Britt to respond but she doesn"t say anything but I can hear her breathing over the phone. And I think to myself maybe someone is holding her captive and she doesn"t know that she called me. I am thinking to myself I need to call the police. "Maxie." Over the phone Britt"s voice sounds hoarse like she"s been crying and I wonder what could have possibly happened in such a short amount of time. "Britt, hon calm down and tell me what you need right now." "Please pick me up I am at the park near Main street." "I"ll be right there. Okay let me just call Dante to watch Sofia and I"ll be right over." "Okay..." She sounds so quiet and then she hangs up I look for Dante"s number in my phone and I hear the rings and it feels like the longest call. "Maxie... its too early what do you need?" "Dante, I know its your day off but I need you to come over please and watch Sofia?" I know I sound frantic but Britt didn"t sound too good. "Baby slow down I"m coming now but tell me what"s going on?" Dante sounds panicked and I would be too because I know sound like a crazy lady. "It"s Britt... She just called me... I don"t think she is doing good... I know I sound crazy but please come now." "Sweetheart I"m already out the door. I"ll be there in less than 10 minutes okay." "Okay, I"ll be waiting." The line disconnects and shit I have to remind myself to tell Dante that Sofia needs to be fed soon. I hope she isn"t anxious that I am gone. Maybe I shouldn"t leave her. Maybe I should take her with me. NO MAXIE! Don"t be dumb you can"t tend to your friend"s needs and Sofia at the same time. I think logically Dante is the best option. Next thing I now I hear the front door being closed shut and Dante is standing there with his shirt inside out and eye boogers still present. "Baby you scared me over the phone. What do you mean Britt is in trouble? Do I need to be a cop right now or what?" "No, I mean emotionally she needs me as a friend right now. She"s at the park right now." "But its too early to be at the park." "Dante I don"t know why but she needs me." "Okay I won"t keep you any longer. Sofia will be up and fed by the time you get back. But you need to calm down if you are going to be of any use to Britt okay." Normally when people tell me to calm down it makes me want to get even more hysterical but Dante is right and he wraps me in a hug and I just rest my head on his chest. I go to give him a goodbye kiss like its the most natural thing in the world. It takes one minute and fifteen seconds for me to notice and I stop and look at Dante with big eyes. And I want to run but he knows better and holds my forearms. He"s telling me its okay we can talk about us later and pecks my lips one last time. "Okay..." I don"t know what else to say right now. "Okay." Dante"s smiles reassures me that whatever going on between us is really okay. I grab my keys and purse and he ushers me out the door with his hand on the small of my back. It makes me shiver all over but I snap out of it. Britt needs me and I can"t stop shuddering like the mistress from a Lifetime movie. I tell Dante bye one more time before I truly close my door. I don"t even bother taking the elevator because I am way too hype right now. I run down the stairs and past the door to the parking lot. Its early so not many cars are out. I text Britt to see where she is in the park but she doesn"t respond and that makes me worried. I decide maybe its best I first check our usual spot that we use for our babies" playdates. I see Britt with her should hunched so far she looks like the hunchback of Notre Dame but I am definitely not going to say that. "Britt... Britt... Hey I"m here honey its okay. Whatever it is we can make it okay." "I"m supposed to take Spencer to school right now." She"s right this is the time that I get annoying texts so early in the morning even before Sofia cries for breakfast. "Why aren"t you taking Spencer to school Britt?" I am scared for the answer "Nik broke up with me last night and I think it is for good. And its really fucking me up inside because all I can think about is mundane things like I can"t let my appointments run late because I have to pick up Spencer but I"m not going to pick up Spencer. We were a family and now its broken! Spencer loved Ben like his brother. He even called me mama on the sly. He never let Nikolas hear because he was scared but he called me his mama and I felt like it. It hurts like something I never experienced. I can"t compare it to anything. I feel hollow like someone took my heart and they"re taunting me with the pain. Nikolas was talking about adopting Ben formally and Ben would wear his name like any child with a Russian father. He was going to be Ben"s father and know I am in a fucking park and Spencer probably thinks I abandoned him and took his brother like a thief in the night!" Whoa why would Nikolas breakup with her... they love each other to a sickening degree. There is more to this story. "Britt, why did he call it quits?" "He kept badgering me about Ben"s true father and I thought we dropped the issue but all of a sudden he just was relentless and wouldn"t take no for an answer and I couldn"t tell him the truth Maxie. I just couldn"t!" "Britt I told you months ago you should tell Nikolas about Ben"s dad! If it was out in the open he would be able to protect you and Ben better! You shouldn"t have put yourself in this situation in the first place. I know all about withholding the truth it only festers doubt and worry." "Don"t fucking scream at me! Damn you are making me too loud and Ben might wake up! I was going to tell him but I didn"t tell you what happened later that night after I signed off Skype. My mom was watching me when I was talking to you. She had remote access to my computer when I was talking to you! She made me promise not to tell Nik or she would take Ben. She was even joking about giving Ben to Jerry Jacks because a baby raised by me and Nik would be too soft, "too American". That"s why she is still here in Port Charles to keep an eye on me. I wanted my boring predictable life but its gone and I am alone again. I feel so trapped Maxie all the time. Its been a long time since I was so happy feeling like I had family and its been decimated right before my eyes. I begged him not to ask me that. I told him it was better if he didn"t and he wouldn"t listen to me. He wouldn"t even have asked me if it weren"t for Elizabeth. She has been sniffing my ass to see if my shit stinks the second Nik looked at me even as a friend. I swear to God I hate the woman. She has no right to interfere in my life but she got what she wanted a single Nik for the taking. I am fucking homeless right now I have to go to the Metro Court until I can find a place." Fuck! To hear this is so saddening to me. Britt has become my best friend and it hurts to see her hurt and confused. I want to cry with her because she finally got her happy ending with a real-life prince and a family. "No stay with me! The Metro Court will be a ton of money and people might complain about the screaming baby when he cries for anything. Britt I have a second bedroom and I have an extra crib and some baby stuff for Ben until you can find a permanent home." I want her to stay with me. She is in a bad place and I want to help support her! "Maxie that is too much too ask for!" "You didn"t ask Britt I offered! It is something I definitely don"t mind we are best friends huh? Ben and Sofia are practically married so it works out perfectly! Come on I don"t want you or Ben to catch a chill." "Speaking of Sofia why isn"t she here with you?" We start walking and I notice her car is still there and I don"t think she is in a good state of mind to drive. I tell her we will pick up her car later. "Sofia is with Dante. I called him because I was so worried about you and I didn"t want to wake her up yet because she would be so cranky and the crying won"t stop until she lets it be known to not mess with her sleepy time." "Yeah she is a little bitchy sometimes." Britt says with a little laugh. "Hey that"s my baby you are talking about." But she is right Sofia"s hissy fits have already become legendary. "Come on let"s go home!" I drive us back to my apartment and Dante is not even surprised in the least to see Britt and Ben. I come home to him feeding my baby and he gives her attention like a limited edition Hermes handbag and I couldn"t relish the sight any more. Britt and Dante have some small talk and it looks as if they are more than acquaintances and for that I am glad. I suggest Britt have some rest and if Ben wakes I will take care of him until she has had enough sleep. I am so glad I decided to be vain and get two cribs because now it proves to be useful. "Is everything going to be okay with her?" "Not right now but hopefully soon her situation will start looking up." "I hope so Britt is nice when she wants to be and she is a good friend to you so I wish her only the best." He grabs my hand with his free one and gives it a gentle squeeze and then kisses it and I can only gasp. "Maxie, I don"t know if it is the right to time to say but I think it is obvious from my end that I want us to be more than platonic. You and Sofia have grown so much importance in my life. Coming here is the saving grace to my bad days and the highlight to my good days and I"m selfish baby because I want everything but only if you want everything too." The doubts in my head tell me to run because I shouldn"t be a cop"s girlfriend! Not for a third time it would just be dumb of me to take that leap yet again. But my heart remembers the love of Jesse and his words still ring within my head. He only wanted me to be happy and I start crying because Dante makes me so happy and if I were to throw that away it would hurt more than anything. I"m going to listen to Jesse and just be happy.

Betty plugged in the table and gave her part-time employee a quick lesson in the basics of the game. "This actually is sort of fun," Garrett admitted, a moment before he scored a point against his boss. "Oh wow!" "Hey, pretty good. Not to many can get a goal against Betty," she said, referring to herself in third person as was her habit...right before Garrett scored again. "Of course, Betty is out of practice," she said with a slight frown. "I"m actually good at this!" Garrett"s face wore a wide grin. He"d never been particularly athletic. And while he was not without talent, his skills weren"t of the type that were appreciated by many of his peers (his four best friends being noted exceptions). So finding a new activity that came easily to him was a welcome surprise. A few more minutes of playing made it clear that Garrett was a natural at the game...and Betty was indeed out of practice. But while she was miffed at being shown up by a beginner, the fact that Garrett was enjoying the game so much served at proof that her instincts were correct when she bought the table. The high school students that made up the majority of her customers would enjoy the game and this spend more time...and money...in Rumble Juice. ******'****** As it turned out, the game was a pretty solid hit with patrons. Not everyone, of course. Some teens felt they were too cool to play something so "old-school", but many more enjoyed it, including most of Garrett"s friends. They all spent a fair amount of time (and quarters) on the game after school during Rumble Juice"s business hours, except for Jasmine. "How come you never give it a try?" Betty asked the Asian-American fashionista one afternoon. "You might like it." "Oh, I know I would," Jasmine replied with an oddly knowing smile. "But look at them." Betty turned her gaze over to the table and watched Garrett and another teen engaged in a very intense air hockey duel, with a group of excited spectators gathered around them. "All I see is a bunch of your friends enjoying themselves," Betty commented. "Yes, but look at Garrett and his challenger," Jasmine continued. "See the mussed hair? The sweat?" "Oh...Betty gets it," the older female said. You don"t want to look less than perfect in public." "I don"t do things halfway," Jasmine replied. "But I can"t play at my best and look my best at the same time." She paused to smile as Garrett defeated his opponent and soaked up the cheers of his friends. "Besides...this is Garrett"s thing." ******'****** In just a few weeks it became obvious that air hockey was indeed "Garrett"s thing". Almost none of his classmates could match his skill. Unfortunately, one of the exceptions to that rule was an absolute jerk. "HAH!" Myron Travis exclaimed triumphantly as he scored the winning goal. "I am supreme!" Garrett frowned even as his friends cast sympathetic looks in his direction. "You"ll get him next time," Logan said as he patted his best friend on the back. "Ah, it"s okay," Garrett replied. "It"s only one game." The victor however, was treating his win as a monumental achievement. His gloating took on an insulting tone. "All hail the mighty Myron," he called out dramatically. "Champion of champions! Destroyer of dweebs!" "Oh give it a rest, Myron," Lindy said dismissively. "You won by one point." "And if you really are the destroyer of dweebs," Delia added. "Wouldn"t you have to destroy yourself?" Jasmine and Logan chuckled. "Just ignore him Deals," Garrett advised Delia. "Like I said, it"s only one game." His expression hardened as he turned towards Myron. "And it won"t happen again." "Big talk, Dweeb," Myron retorted. "Care to make a gentlemanly wager then?" "He might," Jasmine spoke up. "Do you know a gentleman he could make the such a wager with?" She then high-fived Garrett while the rest of their friends laughed. "How very droll," Myron said sarcastically. "Not that I"d expect you to have the guts to accept my challenge." "What"s your challenge, Myron?" Garrett asked with an annoyed sigh. His unpleasant air hockey rival responded by pointing to a handmade poster that had only recently been hung on Rumble Juice"s wall. A poster about an air hockey tournament that was scheduled for the coming weekend. "I intend to win that tournament," Myron declared. "Well, that"s going the be difficult," Garrett replied. "Since I"ll be winning that tournament." ******'****** The wager was quickly worked out though not without numerous insults being exchanged. Almost none of the insults actually came from Garrett himself though...as his friends were more than happy to step up and trade barbs with Myron. In the end, the exact terms were written down to avoid any arguments. If Myron won the tournament, Garrett would act as his personal servant for one month. If Garrett won, Myron would be his servant. Some limits were placed to ensure that the winner couldn"t interfere with their servant"s school or job obligations...but other than that, the loser would be in for a very hard and humiliating time. A fact that was not lost on Garrett. He began to have second thoughts almost as soon as Myron had left Rumble Juice, but his friends were quick to reassure him. Though he appreciated all their encouragement, his worries didn"t entirely subside until Jasmine placed a hand on his shoulder and told him... "There"s no way you"ll ever be Myron"s servant." And then, when none of the rest of their friends were looking, she leaned close to whisper in his ear and quickly added... "I won"t let that happen." ******'****** Betty was pleased the day of the tournament, even though she was extra busy. There was a good crowd for the event, and she was working alone since she"d given Garrett the day off so he could concentrate on nothing but winning at air hockey. Despite a sizable field of entrants and some exciting matches, it became clear early on that the finals would come down to Garrett and Myron. Both seemed pretty equal in all areas of their game...except for their cheering sections. In that respect Garrett was clearly far ahead, for Lindy, Logan, Jasmine and Delia were quite vocal in supporting their friend. Little did they suspect that Myron had a supporter in the crowd as well. One who was silent...but who would prove to have a significant impact on the championship round. Garrett was up by two points...but there was still plenty of time left in the match. "Go Garrett!" Logan cheered. "You got this!" Jasmine leaned against her boyfriend and seconded his comments. "Yeah! Go Garrett!" Lindy and Delia shouted similar comments...but then another spectator rushed the table and knocked Garrett to the floor. Commotion broke out as the attacker raced out the door. Logan started to give chase as Lindy, Jasmine and Delia all rushed to help Garrett back to his feet. "What"s going on here?" Betty said forcefully as she left the counter and moved over to join her young friends. "Oh the tragedy of it all," Myron said in an unconvincing tone. "An epic competition marred by random violence." "Did you have something to do with this, Myron?" Delia said as she advanced on him with a menacing look in her eyes. "Of course not," he said quickly as he backed away from the petite but surprisingly intimidating girl. "I swear. And I defy anyone to prove otherwise." Logan returned at that moment. "That guy lost me," he said in a slightly winded voice. "Did anyone see who he was? I didn"t recognize him." None of the others present could identify him either, though Garrett and his friends didn"t miss the smug expression on Myron"s face. "You did have something to do with this," Lindy accused. "I did not," he insisted. "And you can"t prove I did." Lindy glared angrily before turning to her twin brother. "Logan," she said. Who do you think can throw Myron farther? You or me?" "I don"t know," he replied. "Let"s find out." "Hold on! Hold on!" Betty shouted. "No more violence!" Then in a softer voice she told Lindy and Logan that she didn"t want them to get in trouble. Meanwhile, Jasmine was concentrating on Garrett. "Are you okay?" "My wrist hurts," he answered as he held it tenderly. He flinched when Jasmine touched him, even though she made every effort to be gentle. "It might be sprained," she said. "I can"t finish the game." "What"s that?" Myron cut in. "It looks like we have a forfeit." Oh shut up, you little weasel," Betty snapped. "You can"t let him get away with this," Lindy said to the shop owner. "I don"t want to, Betty replied. "But-" "Wait," Jasmine interrupted. "Under the circumstances, Garrett should be allowed a substitute to finish the game for him." "That sounds fair," Betty agreed. None of Garrett"s other friends seemed overjoyed at Jasmine"s suggestion however. None of them had the skill to beat Myron. "Who"s going to play for you, Garrett?" The injured teen exchanged a look with Jasmine. She nodded, and then Garrett turned to answer Betty"s question. "Jas." Betty raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" The rest of their friends...and everyone else in the crowd looked equally surprised. Garrett simply smiled as Jasmine took off her jacket. "Okay," Betty said with a shrug. "For the final match we now have Myron Travis versus Jasmine Kang." As Jasmine stepped up to the table she shot a withering glare towards Myron as she spoke. "But you can call me Kang...the Conqueror!" ******'****** To be continued... Lindy, Logan and Delia did not understand what was going on. They didn"t understand why Garrett had chosen Jasmine to play for him. Nor did they understand the confident looks on both their faces. Jasmine had never played a single game of air hockey before. Not One. To their knowledge. So when Jas scored her first point on Myron in less than two seconds they were shocked...though they supposed that surprise, mixed with overconfidence on Myron"s part, could explain it. That was not a sufficient explanation for the next ten unanswered points she scored. As a result, every single person in Rumble Juice was as slack-jawed as Myron when Jasmine was declared the winner and undisputed air hockey champion. Every single person except for Garrett and Jasmine. Surprising as it was though. Lindy, Logan and Delia were still overjoyed at the victory. They overcame their shock after a few moments to rush forward and offer congratulations. "Babe," Logan said as he embraced Jasmine. "You have mad skills!" "How did you do that?" Delia asked. Her expression then turned suspicious. "Wait...are you actually Jasmine? Or an alien imposter who"s taken her form to infiltrate humanity in order to conquer the Earth?" Jasmine rolled her eyes. "How about I answer that after I go to the ladies" room and make myself presentable again?" Lindy laughed. "That"s the Jas we know. Definitely not an alien." "Unless she"s an alien who"s done her homework to make her impersonation more convincing," Delia countered. The three girls went off to the restroom as Logan moved to his best friend"s side. The two of them did a little justified gloating at Myron"s expense until the unpleasant young man stormed off. Once they were alone, the topic of conversation changed. "So when did Jasmine learn to play air hockey so well?" Logan asked. "She"s a natural," Garrett answered. "Way more than me even." "Yeah. She was awesome." Logan was silent for a few moments after that. While he was a young man with a lot of good qualities, one thing he was not known for was swiftness of mind. Still, in this instance, even he didn"t overlook an obvious question. "How did you know she was so good?" Garrett began to answer, but that was the moment that the three girls returned...and Jasmine gave Logan a hug and quick kiss on the cheek. "Miss me?" she asked. "You know it," Logan answered. The five friends made their way to their favorite seats and were quickly set up with some victory smoothies from Betty. At first conversation was focused on the kinds of tasks that Garrett should subject Myron to for the next month...but it wasn"t long until the question of Jasmine"s hidden skills came up again. "Well, I always thought the game looked fun," she explained. "But I didn"t want to have anyone see me sweat in public." "So I suggested she come by on nights after the shop was closed and I was cleaning up," Garrett added. "I enjoyed the game and wanted any excuse to practice. But we quickly found out who the better player was." "Is that why you volunteered for all the closing shifts?" Betty asked. "Yes, but we didn"t play any games until after I clocked out," Garrett assured her. "I just did my homework here while Garrett cleaned up," Jas added. "Then we played when he was done. We didn"t think you"d mind." "Nah...it"s all good," the store owner replied. "I trust you two." Unfortunately, while trust was not an issue with Betty in this case, the same could not be said of everyone. ******'****** "Jas?" "Yes, Logan?" "Yesterday when you played for Garrett and beat Myron...you called yourself "Kang the Conqueror"." "Right," she said, wondering why her boyfriend had brought the nickname up. "Did you know that"s the name of -" "A comic book villain," she answered before he could finish the question. "Yeah...he fights the Avengers." "How did you know that?" her boyfriend asked. "You"re not into comics." "Garrett told me," she replied. "He gave me the nickname and told me where it came from." "You...talked about comic books...with Garrett?" "Oh not really. He just explained the nickname." She smiled. "I like it. I figured you"d like it too...since you"re into comics." "Yeah," he replied, even as he thought about how his girlfriend had never had any interest in discussing comic books with him. ******'****** "So you two do this...every night?" Delia asked. "Pretty much," Garrett answered. "Any night the rest of you are busy. And since you"re rehearsing for the school musical and Lindy is volunteering at the animal shelter and Logan is exhausted from basketball practice...well, it works out great." "I suppose." Garrett noted the somewhat pensive look on his friend"s face. "Deals? What"s wrong?" "Um...nothing I guess." He looked at her again. "Deals?" "Don"t you think it"s a little odd?" He responded with a genuinely puzzled look. "Why? It"s not always all five of us hanging out. We"ve all spent time together when the others are busy." He laughed. "What do you think you and I are doing right now?" "Well, no. There"s nothing odd about any of us hanging out together," she agreed. Garrett grinned, confident that he"d answered whatever worry was playing at his friend"s mind. But the grin faded with her next question. "But don"t you think it"s weird that you and Jas were spending so much time together for weeks...and kept it secret from the rest of us?" ******'****** "We were not keeping it secret," Jasmine huffed. "But none of us knew that you guys-" Lindy began. "YOU NEVER ASKED!" After the outburst Jasmine took a moment to try and compose herself. It wasn"t easy. "Garrett and I never thought anything about it. He never minded that I was better than him at air hockey, but since I never intended to play in public, and I knew it was fun for him to have everyone think there was something he was the best at...there was no need to bring it up." "Sweetie," the blonde began only to be cut off again. "Linds, you"re my best friend," Jasmine said. "We"re practically sisters. And you"re making me feel like I did something wrong just by spending time with a guy we"ve both known for as long as we"ve known each other." "I didn"t mean to," Lindy said sincerely. "It"s just...I think it"s bothering Logan." "You think I don"t know that?" She sniffed as she fought back some tears. "He"s been so distant. And he barely talks to Garrett anymore." She paused. "It"s not right." ******'****** "It"s not right at all!" Usually Garrett was not one for confrontations...especially with other males. So the fact that he was now yelling at the closest male friend he"d ever had was making him sick to his stomach. "You know what"s not right?" Logan shouted back. "My best friend and my girlfriend sneaking around behind my back!" Once those words were uttered, a new look of shock came to Garrett"s face. Shock so great that it temporarily replaced the anger in his eyes. Yes, he had already known the issue that was upsetting Logan, and apparently most of his other friends...but to hear it spoken aloud...in those words...in that tone. "I don"t know what sickens me more," he finally said in a tone so hard it actually made Logan take a half step backwards. "That you don"t trust me...or that you don"t trust Jasmine." He turned to leave but then stopped. He didn"t turn back around...as he was not going to let Logan see the tears that he couldn"t hold back anymore. Instead he put all his effort into keeping his voice steady as he spoke. "If my friendship means nothing to you...then...then...fine. But if you think so little of Jas, then you don"t deserve her." With that, Garrett left...without turning back. So he never knew that he wasn"t the only one with tears in his eyes. ******'****** "Yes, we tricked you all here," Lindy said. "But get over it!" "The doors and windows are locked," Delia added. "Nobody leaves until we have this out." The expressions on Jasmine"s, Logan"s and Garrett"s faces were all equal parts anger and sadness. "Guys," Lindy pleaded. "This can"t be the end of us." There was nothing but silence after that for a long while. Silence and a lot of avoidance of eye contact...until Jasmine stood to face Logan. "Let me make a few things clear," She paused, clearly hesitant to continue. Finally she pushed on. "I love Garrett." Lindsay and Delia both gasped. "And Garrett loves me." Tears began falling from her eyes. "But I"m in love with you, Logan...and the fact that the man I love doesn"t trust me..." Her words dissolved into incoherent sobs. "Jas, I"m sorry!" He grabbed her into a desperate hug as he began sobbing himself. "I"m so sorry! I was an idiot! You know me, I"m always an idiot!" After a moment, Garrett spoke up. "Logan, you need to know you can trust Jasmine. You should never doubt her. And I wish you"d never doubt me. Because here"s how it is...I do love Jas, And I love Deals. And I love you, man." He paused. "But when it comes to being in love..." Jasmine"s sobbing suddenly lessened and she turned her head quickly to the young man currently speaking. "Garrett...are you sure you want-" He cut her off. "It"s okay, Things we didn"t say are ripping our group apart. Now maybe I"ll say this and we"ll still fall apart...but at least I"ll have finally gotten it out." He took a deep breath. "Like I said, I love Jas." He turned to Lindy. "But I"m in love with you." Lindy"s mouth opened but no words came out. Her brother had a similar look of surprise on his face. Delia"s surprise was just as great but there was a smile on her face as she blurted out "Ohmigod!" There was no surprise on Jasmine"s face...she just studied her best friend"s eyes hoping to see a positive reaction there. For Garrett"s sake. "I don"t expect you to feel the same," the dark-haired young man continued. "And if this makes you too uncomfortable for us to be friends...I understand." He almost managed to keep his voice from catching. Lindy just stared at him without speaking. Her expression still too full of shock to reveal any other feelings. Slowly she turned her gaze from Garrett to Jasmine. "You...knew..." "Garrett knew how I felt about Logan before any of the rest of you," she replied. "And yeah...I"ve known for a while how he feels about you." She swallowed. "But I don"t know how you feel about him. As your best friend though, can I tell you something?" She smiled as a glimmer of hope came to her eyes. "You deserve a guy like him." Lindy"s gaze went back to Garrett, and finally an emotion other than shock appeared on her face. "I don"t know," she said as she closed the distance between Garrett and herself and looked into his eyes. "You might be too good for me." "There"s no man on Earth that"s too good for you," he said, his voice barely a whisper. Lindy kissed him. Delia cheered. With tears of joy in her eyes, Jasmine turned her face back to boyfriend, only to be kissed herself. "Please forgive me," Logan said when their kiss ended. "I promise I will always trust you. And Garrett too. Oh!" He looked over to Garrett. "Dude, I totally trust you. Okay? But you and my sister...um...you hurt her and I"ll have to pound you. You cool with that?" Garrett, still giddy that he"d just been kissed by the girl of his dreams, laughed as he answered. "I"m cool. Oh!" He paused. "Look, I know I"m not her brother...but if you hurt Jas...I"ll pound you. Or at least I"ll hire a larger, stronger guy to pound you. Cool?" "Totally!" "And Garrett," Jasmine added in a loving tone. "You got one thing wrong there. You ARE my brother." Lindy looked to Jasmine and added. "And you"re my sister." Delia spoke. "And I"m the eccentric cousin that you all have to put up with at the holidays even when I don"t call ahead and let you know I"ll be staying for a month or more!" "That goes without saying, Deals," Garrett replied. The rest of the group nodded in agreement. The End.

Indeed, the way that Jack was demolishing Molach did stagger the imagination. An ancient evil spirit that had preyed on humanity for eons...who had watched civilizations rise and fall...was being pummeled by a teenager. The creature, despite being unable to defend against Jack"s rage-fueled attacks still attempted to roar defiance. Not that it was easy, since Jack"s fists and feet were smashing into Molach"s face repeatedly. As Alex observed the one-sided and much deserved beating, she couldn"t help but think about various things she"d heard about Jack and his friends over the past month. Kim has fought this guy to a draw in sparring matches? she thought. And Rudy beat him easily in a tournament? Geez, I"ve joined a dojo with three freaking superheroes! As enjoyable as it was to watch Molach get his just desserts at Jack"s hands, Alex did realize she needed to be more than a mere spectator. Her original plan had been to pull Molach out of Jack"s body and then imprison him in some harmless object. However once the demon was removed from Jack, it might be able to jump into another nearby body, or perhaps even manifest physically. If it did so, it could distract or disrupt the meditation of the other Wasabi Warriors...which would rob Alex of her magic and leave her unable to do anything to Molach. So defeating the creature outside of Jack"s body was no longer an option. Molach needed to be dealt with here and now. It was no longer a matter of imprisonment. The beast had to be destroyed. Alex steadied herself and began concentrating.******'****** If there was one thing that Jack had been taught over the years, it was to keep his anger in check. It was a testament to his character that he was able to do so, even now. Oh, the rage he was feeling was far beyond anything he"d ever felt before. Far beyond what he"d ever imagined he could feel. Yet he remained focused. His anger didn"t control him, he controlled it. He focused it...and let it out with each and every strike against the monster that had tortured him. Despite that, it was not vengeance driving him...though he desired vengeance. Nor was it justice, though he wished for that as well. There was something else he wished for even more however. His greatest desire, despite all the pain he"d been subjected to, was not to hurt...but to protect. To protect Kim. So while rage was fueling his attacks, it was love that was driving them. As a result, every blow he struck shook Molach to the monster"s very core. The beast was incapable of putting up even a token show of resistance as Jack drew back his fist for one final attack. Alex could sense the moment was right. Jack punched straight into the center of the monster"s chest, ripping through the beast"s hide as if it were tissue paper. His fist closed around the dark, black lump that served as Molach"s heart and ripped it from his body. Alex let loose with beam of blinding white light that enveloped Jacks hand even as he crushed the heart into powder. The body of the beast dissolved into nothingness as a pitiful hissing wail sounded before fading into silence. "Is ir over?" Jack asked as Alex came to his side. "It is," she replied with a relieved smile. "You were awesome." He was weary as he turned to her, but managed a smile of his own. "You"re not Kim." Alex gasped, forgetting she hadn"t removed her illusionary disguise. "No, sorry." Her from shifted to her true appearance. "How did you know?" "You screamed and ran when Molach came after you. Kim would have attacked." He paused. "Still, seeing him threatening Kim...even when I knew it wasn"t her...it was what I needed. It was enough." "I wouldn"t have done it if I could have thought of something else," Alex explained. "You"ve got nothing to apologize for." He took hold of her hands. "I owe you." "Hey, I couldn"t have done it without you...or your friends." She paused. "So, you ready to go back to the real world?" "I can"t wait to get back there." ******'****** It happened at almost the same moment, Alex and Jack"s still bodies started to move again just as all the others in the room opened their eyes and ceased their chanting. "Jack?" Kim asked hopefully as she looked toward him. He didn"t have time to reply, for she could tell it was truly him just by looking at his eyes. "JACK!" she cried out as she ran forward and embraced him. Alex found herself in a hug as well an instant later as Harper grabbed her from behind. "Is Molach-" the redhead started to ask. "He"s history," Alex announced. "Everything"s fine." The rest of the group surrounded them, relief on their faces and grateful sentiments on their lips. There were only two slight shadows on the happy mood. First, was the moment when Jack took a long look at the swollen black eye on Kim"s face. He pulled back from her then, feeling heartsick at the thought that his hand had been the instrument that had caused such damage. The next moment was when Alex called everyone to attention. "Guys, you were amazing," she said. "But I need some more help. Can you meditate and gather your chi again?" "Is something wrong?" Rudy asked. "Nothing for you to worry about. You"re all safe here," she explained. "I just need some magic for a few seconds more. I need to transport myself to the Wizard World and check on things." "Can I come with you?" Harper asked. Alex"s answer came swiftly. "No." She paused and looked almost apologetic. "I can"t bring you there unless I know it"s safe first." "Alex, if there"s some trouble-" Jack began. "We"ll go with you," Kim finished. "If we can." "Whatever you need," Rudy added. The young wizard appreciated the offer, but she ready to tell them she had to go alone. Before she could get any words out however, an odd feeling of dizziness overtook her. She would have fallen over if Harper hadn"t caught her. "What"s wrong?" the redhead asked in alarm. The moment of disorientation passed quickly. Alex"s eyes widened in understanding. "The magic lockdown is over!" She said. "I just felt it lift." Quickly she made her wand appear in her hand. She attempted a simple spell of communication to reach out to her brother...only to feel a sudden unexpected headache. "Oh no!" she sputtered angrily. "Are you kidding me? NOW?!" "What is it, Alex?" Harper asked. "The magic is back," the brunette explained. "But I can"t use it!" Kim spoke up. "Why not?" Alex"s expression was flustered and angry. "I have a magic hangover! This hasn"t happened since I was a kid! This can"t happen now!" The others, even Harper, looked at her in confusion. She calmed down enough to provide a further explanation. "When wizards in training use too much power too quickly, they can get a magic hangover. They can"t use anymore spells until they get few hours sleep. That never happens once a wizard comes into their full power though!" She paused, still fuming with anger. "The strain of pulling magic from your chi...and using so much of it to destroy Molach...it"s left me helpless...AGAIN!" "But only for a little while, right?" Harper replied. "Yes...but what if Justin needs help right now?" Before anyone else could respond, Alex"s cellphone began ringing. "Dad?" she said as she answered, having recognized the ringtone. "Alex, the lockdown is over! Is Molach-" "I took care of him already," she interrupted. "But what about Justin? What happened?" Her father"s tone became noticeably lighter as he answered. Now that he"d heard Molach was dealt with, a great deal of worry had vanished. "Justin is fine. The fighting"s over." More questions and explanations followed. The evil wizards had been rounded up to the last man. Justin and Juliet were being hailed as heroes, along with Felix and his Monster Hunters. There had been casualties of course, but thankfully few. In turn, Alex detailed how Molach had been destroyed. "I am so proud of you, sweetheart," Jerry Russo finally said. "And don"t worry about your magic. A good night"s sleep and everything will be back to normal." After that, Alex"s father asked her to put him on speaker phone so he could speak to Harper as well. After repeating how relieved he was that both girls were safe, he bid them goodbye. ******'****** Roughly twenty minutes had passed since Molach"s destruction and the end of the magic lockdown. Everyone was still in the dojo, trying to recover from all the drama of the evening. Jack had taken the opportunity to shower and change into some clean clothes, but he was still uncomfortable as he sat with his friends. A fact that was not lost on Kim. "Stop that," the young blonde said after Jack had avoided eye contact with her yet again. "I"m sorry," he said quietly. "It"s just that..." His words trailed off as he looked at her black eye once more. "You did not do this," she said forcefully. "It"s not your fault." "It was my hand," he countered. Kim repeated that Jack was not responsible. The rest of the group voiced their agreement. Rudy moved to sit next to his star student. Jack was the only one present who had not heard the tragic story of the sensei"s late sister, so Rudy gave his an abbreviated recounting of the tale. "God...Rudy," Jack said after hearing the details. "I had no idea." "It"s okay," the older man replied. "I told you so you"ll understand that if you were in any way responsible for attacking Kim, I would not stand for it." He paused. "But you aren"t. You"re blameless in this. You understand me?" "Molach is the one who hit Kim," Alex chimed in. "And you saw to it that he"ll never hurt her or anyone else again." "You had something to do with that," he responded. Alex rolled her eyes. "Let"s not argue over credit again. This was a group effort." "So stop feeling guilty," Kim said as she put her arms around Jack. He remained tense for a second but then relaxed in the embrace. "That"s more like it," the blonde said before kissing Jack"s cheek. "Get a room already," Jerry joked. Milton clucked his tongue, adding to the levity. "You two shut up," Kim warned, though she smiled as she did so. "Now come on guys," Alex said. "We just defeated an ancient evil. Let"s get some pizza." "Sounds good," an unexpected voice sounded. "Room for one more?" Alex turned in surprise to see...her boyfriend. "MASON?!" Alex ran to the handsome young Englishman as everyone else looked on in total confusion, save Harper who was only partially confused. "How did you get here?" Alex asked after a brief but passionate kiss. "I had just stopped by your parents" and got the news about the crisis being over. Your father let me use the I.P.P. to teleport here to see you." "I.P.P.?" Milton asked. "It"s a magic device that even non-wizards can use," Harper offered. "The Inter-Wizard People Porter." She shrugged before adding, "Don"t look at me. I didn"t name it." Alex and Harper then took time to make proper introductions between Mason and their new friends. Once that was taken care of, they all made ready to head out and get some food. As they were leaving however, Rudy"s office phone rang. "I"ll see who that is," the sensei said. "You guys go on and I"ll catch up in a minute." They rest of the group headed out. Harper walked next to Alex, who was arm in arm with Mason. As a result, she overheard a brief bit of conversation between the lovebirds. "I"ve been going out of my mind not being able to see you," Mason confessed to the beautiful wizard. "Aw, I"ve missed you too," Alex replied. "Oh, but don"t get too excitable tonight, okay? I can"t use any magic right now...so you have to stay on your best behavior." "No problem, Luv." Harper slowed her pace then. For despite Mason"s words, suddenly all the redhead could think about was a potentially serious problem. ******'****** Rudy only needed a few minutes to take care of the phone call. It was merely Joan, the mall security officer asking about reports of loud noises that had been coming from the dojo earlier. As Joan was a longtime friend of both Rudy and his students, he was able to smooth things over with minimal difficulty. However, after the call ended and he made his exit, he was surprised to find Harper waiting for him. "What are you doing here by yourself?" he asked. "I told the others I"d come back so you didn"t have walk to the restaurant alone." "You didn"t have to do that," Rudy replied. "That"s what I told them," she explained in a slightly troubled tone. "The truth is, I wanted to talk to you alone." He studied her expression. "Is something wrong?" Harper hesitated. "I don"t know. Maybe. It"s...complicated." Rudy turned back towards his dojo and invited the young woman inside. To be continued... author"s note: What"s this? A complication? Oh no! Please review. Alex and Harper both held their breath in anticipation and dread. Both expected some sort of monstrous creature to appear before them any second. So it was somewhat surprising when they eventually had to stop holding their breath and gasp for air...because nothing of the sort occurred. "Well, that"s anti-climactic," Harper said before turning her gaze to her best friend. "What"s going on?" "I don"t know," Alex answered. While she was happy that they weren"t facing any demon, she was still upset by her lack of magic. "None of this makes sense." Both girls were on edge...and Harper was startled when she thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. But when she turned she saw nothing but the karate students and their teacher...still frozen by Alex"s earlier spell. Or were they? "Oh no," Alex said as she joined Harper in looking at the group. "My spell is wearing off." Indeed, the five martial artists seemed to be unfeezing in starts and stops. An arm would raise, then go still again. A fist would start to clench, freeze, and then complete the clench a few long moments later. "We have to get out of here before they see us!" The two made a hasty exit just in time. For just as the front doors of the dojo closed behind them, the time freeze spell ended entirely. ******'****** Jack stopped his kata and looked toward his sensei with confusion. "Something wrong?" Rudy asked. "I don"t know," he said hesitantly. "Did you feel...it was like something weird just happened." The rest of the class stopped their practice and chimed in. All of them did have a sense of something being off somehow, but the feeling faded quickly. "Everyone take a break," Rudy said. He turned and began to walk over to where his water bottle was sitting, when he caught sight of something amiss near the shelves in the corner. "Hey, who did this?" he called out as he crouched over and began picking up pieces of the shattered amulet. "Did what?" Kim asked, even as she and the rest of the class began moving closer to see what was going on. Milton was the closest "It looks like something fell off one of the shelves," the thin teen answered. "Were any of you messing around over here?" Rudy asked. As he spoke, his eyes (along with most of his students" eyes) all turned to Jerry. "Hey," the young man said defensively. "I"m innocent." The rest of the group remained skeptical. Jerry was much loved by them all...but when something went wrong, he was often involved. Though in fairness, each of the rest of them had also caused plenty of mishaps in the past. "Maybe none of us did it," Milton offered. "It could have been a small tremor." Everyone found this a reasonable enough explanation. All of them had experienced several earthquakes over the years, though fortunately only a few minor ones...their hometown of Seaford was in one of the more geologically stable parts of California. "That could have been the weird feeling we had before," Jack offered. "Yes, a micro-tremor," Milton continued. "One too small for us to really notice...but still enough to shake something off the shelf." "Well, it was just a cheap trinket anyway," Rudy said. "I shouldn"t have thrown any accusations around." He threw the trinket pieces in the garbage as his students went back to their break. ******'****** Outside the dojo, Alex was still upset and unsure what was going on, when her cellphone started ringing. It was her father. "Alex, are you alright?" he said in a worried tone the instant she answered the call. "Dad, I can"t do magic!" she answered. "Wait...you knew something was wrong. What"s going on?" "I"ll explain everything," he replied. But first tell me you"re okay. And where"s the amulet?" The young wizard recounted how she"d found the amulet in a karate dojo and was about to send it off to Justin when she"d suddenly felt weak and disoriented...and then her magic was gone. "The amulet broke," she went one. "And we were scared that some monster was going to appear...but nothing happened." Back in New York, Jerry Russo was glad that his daughter couldn"t see his face. From what she"d just told him, he could tell the timing of what had just happened was disastrous. But at least Alex and Harper weren"t hurt. "Honey," he finally said. "I got a quick message from Justin right before...well, it would have arrived just a moment before you felt something was wrong. He had to initiate a total magic lockdown." "WHAT?!" Alex"s face went white even as she yelled out the question. Which was quite understandable...since her father had just told her that the Wizard World had gone to their equivalent of DEFCON ONE. In other words, total war was imminent. Harper was frightened just by seeing the look on her best friend"s face. Alex didn"t scare easily, so Harper knew something very serious must be happening. "What"s wrong?" the redhead asked. Alex told her father that she was putting him on speaker so that Harper could hear him as well. Then she asked him to explain everything. What he told them did not put their minds at ease. The evil wizards that Justin and his allies had been hunting, it had all been a distraction. The real plot had been for the Wizard Council to gather all these dangerous artifacts in one place...and then the leaders of the bad guys would strike...grabbing all the artifacts at once and attacking the Council right in the center of their seat of power. Thankfully, their true plans had been discovered in time for Justin and others to make some hasty preparations...which included the magic lockdown. "The Wizard World has been sealed off," Alex"s father said in a heavy tone. "That means none of the fighting can spread to Earth...and none of the bad guys can escape to Earth or any other dimension. The final battle will be contained in Wizard World, but until it"s over, no Wizards on Earth can access their magic." "But is there any way for me to get there?" Alex asked. "If Justin needs help-" "You know you can"t," her father answered. "No magic. No access." "Is Justin going to be okay?" Harper asked in a tone that made it clear she was as concerned as Alex. Jerry Russo took a deep breath. "I"m not going to lie to you. This is serious. But remember...the bad guys" plan was designed to be a surprise. Justin and the rest removed that advantage. He"s got the rest of the Council on his side...and Juliet. Plus all the Monster Hunters...and don"t forget, that includes Felix." Alex considered this. That was a lot of firepower backing Justin up...the entire Council, plus Juliet, Justin"s vampire fiancee. Heck, Felix alone was more than a match for at least a dozen evil wizards...since the wand he wielded was the Wizard World"s version of Excalibur. Furthermore, his loyalty to the Russos was unquestioned, seeing as how Justin had tutored the hulking young man in wizardry...and both Justin and Alex had helped Felix claim his legendary wand. That combination of power and loyalty had made Felix the obvious choice rebuild the previously devastated Monster Hunter organization. Thus, Alex had no doubt that Felix and all his hunters would defend Justin fiercely. Still, she wished she could be there herself. "I know how you feel, honey," her father said. "Just have faith that the god guys are going to win this one. Our side has the advantage." His tone managed to sound fairly upbeat...as what he was saying was true, Though, that didn"t mean there wouldn"t be casualties...which was a fact that he, Alex and Harper couldn"t keep from their minds. Nonetheless, there were more immediate matters at hand. "Alex, all you can do now is find out where Molach is." "The spirit in the amulet?" she replied. "He never appeared. And the amulet is in pieces." "Yes...when the lockdown activated it would have weakened, if not outright destroyed any wizard spells active at Earth." "So that"s why my time freeze spell wore off so quickly," Alex said. "Yes, and I want to talk to you about that," her father replied. "How many people were in the dojo? And do you know which ones were closest to the amulet when it broke?" He paused and an extra note of worry crept into his tone. "Were you or Harper the closest?" "No, we were more in the waiting area," Harper spoke up to answer. "There were only five other people there. Four students and their teacher." "Only five...good. That narrows it down." "Dad, what are you talking about?" "Molach didn"t appear when the amulet broke. Now that"s good news...because it means he"s been trapped for so many centureis that his power has dwindled to almost nothing."

The librarians were a team of paranormal investigators. Usually their assignments appeared in a magic book. Jacob checked the book, there was nothing new. That was not good since their primary means of transportation was a door that could be set to any time or place- key word being "set.' She had no idea how or when to set the clock, luckily their leader Jenkins emerged, being an immortal knight his body did not require sleep. "Cassandra what brings you to the door?" the tall man asked. "I had a vision," she said as she brought up her mental matrix. It was her gift, to see a scene from all angles. She visualized the man"s cloths; he appeared to be a blacksmith. His blonde hair was wavy and long but caked with soot. His ruggedly handsome face with high cheekbones and blonde facial hair- was so innocent and sad. "A Viking?" she said to herself. That didn"t really narrow down a time period since Vikings existed from 789 AD all the way up to 1066. She tried to remember more; the water, the beach, the angle of the sun, the trees, the boats in the water- "Southern Coastal Norway- 921 AD." Her hands moved to set the door; it flew open revealing the mystery man"s humble shack. He looked at her with his light blue eyes, glowing in the light of the moon. Cassandra walked towards him as if in a trance, crossing through the door. "Cas!" Jacob shouted, running after her. The door slammed shut behind them, waking the other two members of the team: Ezekiel a young Asian-Australian man who"s was the tech and master thief of the group and Eve, their field leader. She was beautiful but at six feet tall with a military background she was not to be messed with. "Jenkins what the hell happened?" Eve asked. "I honestly have no clue," he replied. The book suddenly opened. "We have a new case?" Ezekiel asked. "It appears so- at some place called "Charm City"," Jenkins pointed out. Cassandra held the man in her arms she could tell he was tired since it was night but he was also in a great deal of physical pain. "What"s your name?" she asked in English. He answered in a voice that sounded Scottish or perhaps Welsh. "I am Erik, son of Buliwyf. Are you a seer?" "Uh yeah, sure," she answered "Seer" was strange word for a Viking to use. Of course it was also strange that the man spoke near perfect English. "I"m Cassandra." "Do you have visions? Do you see the world in a graph of stars? My mother told me it was a gift," he said through tears. "It"s why I was able to learn how to forge; how to create molds and cast swords all by feel. She was always so proud of me." "Was?" Cassandra asked. "She died of fever not long ago," he said, while lying down on the dirt floor. "Ever since her death I"ve been plagued with visions of a different kind." He held his head in pain. "Where did you learn how to forge?" Jacob asked, from the description of his visions it was possible he was self taught. "From my mother herself," he explained. "She was brought to this land as a slave; she built this place with her own two hands." "That"s why you live near the beach; to forage for food and water?" Jacob asked. He took a pot and a large blade and went to gather some supplies to create a means of boiling sea water. Jacob was the historian of the group. He knew it was common for the poor to contract typhoid due to lack of drinkable water. Cassandra held Erik. "Where is your father?" "Headed north from the Baltic Sea," he explained. "My father is Varangian- destined to rule his people.- Don"t ask me how I know that. If I say those words out loud..." he flinched, touching his shoulder. He needed to sit up: the wounds on his back were too infected. "People think you"re a witch?" Cassandra assumed. "But if he"s Russian why do you live in Norway?" "I already told you; my mother was a slave; although she loved him he could never take her as his wife." He sat with his legs pulled to his chest. "Where do you come from? And who is the man you travel with?" It was then Jacob returned and used Erik"s forge to boil the sea water, he made a tent out of leaves, instead of plastic to distill out the salt. "I come from a place that is unknown to you and the man I travel with- he is my guardian," she explained. "You come from the place beyond the sea." Erik lay on his stomach already aware of what was to come. "Cas I need to cauterize his wounds," Jacob instructed. She held the man"s hand. "This will only hurt for a short time." "I know," he was already in pain; this was nothing he couldn"t handle, "fy mhlentyn." "Was that Welsh?" Cassandra asked. Those words meant "my child.' As Jacob poured the water, Erik started to bleed badly. "Please hold me," Erik said to Cassandra as he held her hand, squeezing hard. "I know I can trust you- we need to head north to these coordinates." Instead of saying them out loud he touched Cassandra"s cheek shooting images in to her head. "Do you have a horse?" she asked. "I have a boat," he replied. "And you think we can make it to that location before your father"s party and defeat the demon destined to kill him?" she asked. "Come closer," Erik said, motioning for her to lay beside him. Cassandra laid down in the dirt, she touched his face. He was burning with fever. He kissed her lips, breathing in her energy. "You"re telepathic." Cas pulled away, "But I can"t change the future." Erik smiled. "How do you know?" he released her hand, his fever was so severe, he could barely keep his eyes open. Ezekiel and Eve stepped through the door, landing in an office building. "You must be the new hires," the tall blonde woman said, "I"m Jackie." The name of the building was Wayne Security, both Eve and Ezekiel questioned as to why the book would send them to seemly normal office space. "Who"s here for the lab tech position and who"s here for janitorial?" Jackie asked. Ezekiel volunteered to go to the lab. Jackie instructed him to find supervisor Emily. "You can"t miss her- she"s the one who acts like a kid lining up to try out for American Idol." Jackie showed Eve to the janitor"s closet. "Wayne security, in an effort to be a greener company now exclusively uses Atlantis water," she explained. "Atlantis water," Eve didn"t like the sound of that. Her team had dealt with Atlantian crystal- a compound that disabled a military base and nearly cost a member of her team his life. Jackie grabbed a spray bottle. "Yup, courtesy of our partnership with the Atlantian local government." "So it"s a cleaner?" Eve asked. "As well as a power source due to its extremely high boiling point, and a vital chemical in our labs due to its low freezing point," Jackie answered in a deadpan voice despite the fact that her description made the water seem like a life changing miracle. Meanwhile at the lab- Emily, the project manager, who appeared to be no older than twenty gave her own explanation to Ezekiel. The water was used as a solvent to clean chemicals but it also could be combined to create new compounds. "And it sparkles," she explained ending with a smile. Emily was beautiful; she was bi-racial; Hispanic and something else. Ezekiel didn"t care he just knew he was in love. "It"s really a miracle product," she said, handing him sample. "I guess you can do everything but drink it," he said, looking at the strange liquid. "You totally can, it"s like a protein shake," she said enthusiastically. Ezekiel took a sip it tasted sweet, slightly salty. He didn"t want to use those exact words. "It tastes like shrimp on the Barbie," he said. "Teddy, Ron and Wendy- this is Ezekiel the new intern," Emily announced. Teddy was a tall thin man in his late twenties, he appeared to be of Indian decent but spoke like a California tech nerd. "Did you seriously drink it?" he asked. Ezekiel looked to Emily. "She just said it was edible." "She also compared it to a protein shake," said Ron, a shorter African American man who was laughing so hard he had to sit down. "The joke is- it tastes like a certain male bodily fluid," clarified Wendy, a plain looking Caucasian woman with glasses and chubby cheeks. "Well you wouldn"t know that unless you already tried it yourself," Ezekiel pointed out. "Oh burn!" Ron exclaimed, laughing even harder. "So when you"re not hazing the intern what exactly do you do here?" Ezekiel asked. Emily stepped forward. "All joking aside our current project is a spray able shield." She took out what appeared to be an aerosol can and attempted to demonstrate by spraying the area in front of her as if painting a wall. Ezekiel could already see the problem. "Wouldn"t it work better with a spray bottle?" The stream of liquid was much too thin to make for a useful shield. Wendy grabbed the container "Then you sacrifice the speed for density." "But you need density to create a legitimate shield," he pointed out. "And I"m not talking about a normal spray bottle; maybe something along the lines of a water gun, or a nerf gun." "You mean the kind that you have to pump?" Emily asked. She looked to her team. "That could be kind of cool," Teddy replied. Eve approached Ezekiel. "Grab a spray bottle sample and meet me in the unisex restroom." "Miss Emily- I need to use the loo," he said quickly following Eve. "What is it?" he asked as Eve locked the door. "Cross the streams," Eve instructed. "Like Ghostbusters?" he asked. "You have a spray bottle, I have a spray bottle," Eve grabbed his bottle and demonstrated; for a brief second the waters created a portal. Ezekiel was in shock. "Did I just see Cassandra and Jacob?" "Yes you did, and if my calculations are correct they"re on a Viking boat, accompanied by a Selkie," she added. Ezekiel took his bottle back. "Aren"t Selkies female?" Eve sighed. "A Selikie is a siren; a master of seduction- they can be entire gender." "So is Cassandra in danger?" he asked. Eve looked in the mirror fixing her hair, "I can"t tell- all I know for certain is that the water isn"t the reason we"re here: the water is just a means of bringing something or someone into our timeline. We just need to play our parts and find out as much as we can- the real battle is on Cassandra and Jacob"s end." "Did you drink it?" Ezekiel asked. "Why would I drink it?" she asked back. "A few people in the office have consumed it," he said looking out at the floor of cubicles. Eve unscrewed the spray bottle. "Bottom"s up." She took a long thirty second swig and when she was done she felt very different. She heard a pidgin at a window then as she turned she shot a blast of wind from her hand. "I clearly didn"t take a long enough drink," Ezekiel took a thirty second swig. He looked at his hands, he started to rub them together. They felt warm. He placed his palms together as if in prayer. What came out of his hands felt like energy. "Fire powers!" he should excitedly, slapping Eve on the shoulder. "Ouch! Yes, I can confirm you have fire powers," she said as they made their way out of the restroom. "I wonder who else has powers?" she asked. Ezekiel looked out at the sea of cubicles. "That is a good question." Erik"s boat was a small wooden vessel capable of holding the three of them plus enough supplies to last for about a week. But after three days at sea one thing was certain Erik"s illness was only getting worse. "It"s defiantly typhoid," Jacob said to Cassandra as she prepared charcoal infused tea to try to ease some of the pain. "There are rashes all over his skin." The further they drifted north the weaker he became. "What if he"s a Selkie," Cas suggested, as she maintained a small fire inside of one of Erik"s handmade shields. "Did you find any evidence of seal fur?" Jacob asked. The myth of Selkies was they appeared as beautiful men or women but in taking human form they lost their seal pelt which was often hidden somewhere on the property. "I didn"t exactly have a chance to check!" Cas whispered. "Clearly he"s not human and there is no way he"s going to survive the journey to the northern territories." "What does that equate to?" Jacob asked holding his head in pain. They were screwed; trapped thousands of years in the past, on an impossible mission, with a psychic, telepathic blacksmith Selkie who appeared to be dying. Cas stroked Erik"s face as he slept. "He was never meant to leave that beach. So you have to kill it." "Kill what?" Jacob asked. Cas shrugged. "Kill whatever creature is destined to kill his father." She gently shook Erik awake. "Erik I need you to drink this. It"s going to help with your fever. The charcoal is going to detoxify your stomach and the clean water will help with the bacteria that are making you sick." His eyes opened slowly. He struggled to take a breath. Cassandra lifted his head, holding him in her arms as he took slow sips of the bitter tea. He looked her in the eyes, "I am grateful for your kindness, daughter." "Thanks, you"re sweet," Cas replied with her usual happy demeanor, "But why do you call me that?" "Please help me sit up," he said putting his weight on her shoulder. He leaned over the side of the boat touching his fingers to the gentle waves. "I hear voices, I hear my mother. But when I close my eyes, I hear so much more." Cassandra was smiling. "Your parents, when you were sick they called you crazy," he said with tears in his eyes. "They didn"t realize you come from a long line of crazy." Cassandra laughed. Jacob looked worried. "You"re my blood, that"s why I was able to contact you," Erik explained as he caressed her cheek, moving his hand down her neck to her collar bone. "Hold my hand." As their hands touched he felt Cassandra"s magic, the powers she wielded as a result of a mission where she took on the traits of the fabled Merlin. "Will you hold me dear daughter, will you share your magic?" he asked. "Cassandra!" Jacob shouted. He had a dislike of using magic, on the grounds that magic always had consequences. Cassandra ignored him. Erik needed her. "Here," she took his hand and placed it over her heart. Her chest glowed white with healing energy. Erik, kissed her neck, she could feel him drawing out her energy. Cassandra watched as the rashes started to vanish, but he still had a bad fever. "I need to go in the water," Erik said. He had been wearing leather pants and boots with no shirt all while sleeping under a thin blanket. He started to undress. "Should we look for land?" Cas asked. "No," Erik whispered. "Trust in me, my daughter. Only you truly know my pain." Erik moaned sexually as he slid in to the ocean, all while holding her hand. Cassandra touched his beautiful face, his sun-kissed hair that floated on the waves like foam. She held her hand to his chest, then his abs, his hips, his thighs as he disappeared under the waves. His beauty was uncanny. "I love you Cassandra." Cassandra cupped her hands over her mouth. "Well okay then- that just happened." "So we continue towards the north?" Jacob asked. Cassandra was worried. "Yeah I guess; as far north as we can with what little supplies we have." What if she was wrong? Yes there was the possibility he was a Selkie, but what if he wasn"t? What if the fever had driven him mad? What if she just allowed him to commit suicide? "Why didn"t I stop him?' she asked only in her mind. "Do you even know where we"re going?" Jacob asked. "I know what the destination looks like!" she said, getting emotional. "You know me! You know what I can do- if I say I know where to go I know where to go." "Look- I"m sorry," Jacob said, as he attempted to steer the boat. "You didn"t act this way when I kissed the vampire princess- or maybe you"re just not jealous when I kiss girls," she cried. Jacob rolled his eyes. "Do I have a reason to be jealous?" Cassandra shook her head. "Maybe- he understands me. Unlike you he"s not afraid of magic!" She stomped to the opposite side of the boat, which put only ten feet of space in between them. "You don"t even love me! You treat me like your baby sister- like I"m this fragile thing who can"t be trusted to run her own life." "I can"t love you because everyone I love dies!" he shouted. "Everyone I care about leaves me; I can"t lose you Cas- I just can"t!" She knew what he meant, but she still didn"t forgive him; she wasn"t "everyone" she needed him to trust her, to be her partner. "Set the sails to catch the incoming wind, we need to head 30 degrees west then follow the coastline for another day or so," she instructed before lying down on Erik"s blankets. "Cas, you"re going to get sick," he said offering her clean blankets. "I"m not eating the blankets!" she shouted. "I need to feel him. I want to know love. If you can"t love me then I"ll take whatever I can get." Three days had passed with no news. Eve kept working as a janitor using the water to create portals to look in on Cas and Jacob, while back in the lab Ezekiel helped the team advance the spray able shield idea. The young intern stood before the team with some schematics drawn on a dry erase board. "What we need is not a pump but an aerosol source powered by heat." "But that would be incredibly large, not to mention expensive," Emily pointed out. "Not if the source is the water," Ezekiel erased the board and drew a diagram of a confined area where the water would have no choice but to serve as a power source via compression. Ezekiel"s theory was that due to the nature of the water it could not stand to be compressed for a prolonged period of time. "How long would it take for you to make a prototype?" Emily asked. Ezekiel looked at the board. "On my own? Maybe a week, I guess." Wendy gave him a strange look. "No we would all help- you look like a nice enough kid. And we all love epic failing for hours on end until we reach a working prototype." "We usually order pizza," Teddy added. Emily laughed. "What made you think we would expect you to make a prototype on your own?" "Where I come from-I"m usually left to do the majority of the inventing while the other members of my team..." He stopped himself before he said something that would give him away, "...never mind." "You"re a college student right?" Wendy asked. "That"s what I meant- group projects," he said with a shrug. "I"m always left to do the majority of the work while the rest of the group is out having adventures." Suddenly an alarm went off; the building was going into lock down. Teddy groaned. "That"s just Jack-o-lantern, the friendly neighborhood super villain." "So no pizza," said Wendy. All of the windows were locking, but just as the last one did Ezekiel felt a gust of air. Suddenly the group heard a series of grunts and screams. And the man known as Jack-o-lantern, a masked flying creep who went around shooting red lazers, was suddenly slammed into the thankfully unbreakable windows. Eve appeared outside the window riding a mini tornado, carrying 5 pizzas. "Goku has got nothing on me." "You"ve heard of Goku?" Ezekiel asked as he opened the window to let her in. Eve sighed. "Japanese superman- yes I"ve heard of Goku. Enjoy your pizzas and get the prototype finished. I"m going to head out, see if there"s anything I can bring back that might move things along." "What"s your relationship with the janitor?" Wendy asked. Ezekiel knew he needed to choose his words carefully, because Wendy was clearly a gossip. "She"s my foster mom." Emily came in for a hug. "We didn"t mean any disrespect." "I know," Ezekiel said, "Now let me show you what I can do." He cocked his head and suddenly wings of fire erupted from his back. Since they were made of his energy they didn"t burn through his clothing. Emily jumped back. "This is a surprise." Ezekiel nodded. "Apparently drinking the water gives you super powers." "But no one here has super powers," Teddy said, mainly looking at Emily. "They don"t appear right away, at least for me they didn"t," Ezekiel explained. "Let me cut to the point- I think I can use my powers to take the water past"s its boiling point." "That"s not possible- its boiling point is around a thousand degrees Fahrenheit," Teddy explained. "Let me try- just for the prototype," Ezekiel looked to Emily. "I need you to believe in me." She shrugged. "Sure why not- so what do you need from us?" Emily asked. "I need the team to design a canister that is not going to explode once I get the water into a vapor form, and I need a supply of water like gallons of it that I can use- like you all said it"s probably not going to work on the first try." "Okay," Teddy replied. "I, Ron and Wendy will start work on the canister. Emily will get you access to all the Atlantis water you could ever want." "Really?" Ezekiel asked. "Come with me," Emily said, making her way to the elevator. "Do I need to bring a bucket?" he asked. "No, we have plenty of containers on the storage floor," she said. They made their way to the basement. She slid him a large metal container, roughly the size of a car. "Fill this up, using the access tube on that wall, it"s a direct line to the primary source of the water. Then you can practice your fire bending down here so you don"t destroy my lab." Next Emily slid over a smaller container roughly the size of a barrel. "This container is made of an alloy that can contain nuclear waste. If you manage to vaporize the water, this container will be able to hold it."

"Are you serious?" "That way we can both shine." "What about the judges?" she asked. Are you fucking serious? "You pulled together a party of people to fondle my dick I"m sure you can round up three of our friends to serve as judges." "True," Alice said with a smile. "What"s the timeframe?" "Tomorrow night, you fucking cunt." Ryo got out of the bath. "You do not speak to me in that manner!" Ryo grabbed a towel. "I will speak to you any way I fucking want! Tomorrow I"m going to the seminar with Megumi. The other two judges are of your choosing." Ryo went inside, he locked himself in Alice"s closet. With his knees pulled to his chest as he eventually fell asleep. The next day Ryo met up with Megumi at the entrance to the American food society. He knew to get there early since only the first forty kids would be let in. The line was massive but Ryo was well within the first forty. Megumi looked at the massive line. "I can"t believe there are so many Alton Brown fans." Ryo took her hand. "That"s why I saved you a spot." A few students in the line groaned. "No cutting!" Erina appeared. She grabbed Ryo and Megumi by the shoulders, escorting them inside. "Graduating seniors get first priority!" she shouted at the line. Megumi was blushing nervously. "Miss Erina you didn"t have to do that. Just because we"re graduating doesn"t make us any more important." "Like hell, it doesn"t," Erina laughed. "We all worked our asses off to get to where we are. And you two are two of my best friends." Ryo smiled. "That"s so sweet of you to say." Erina patted him on the shoulder. "I mean it. Ryo, you"re a star, you really came into your own during your time at the academy." She turned to Megumi, "And Megumi, do you remember Stagiaire?" "Yeah," Megumi wiped tears from her eyes. "You work so hard at everything you do- you are going to shine like a diamond in San Francisco. Anyway, do you two want to meet Alton Brown?" "Oh hell yes!" Megumi squealed. The middle-aged man emerged, he was holding a notebook still considering what to present for the content of his lecture. "Hello, you must friends of Erina, Congratulation on graduating from the academy." "Yes, Mr. Brown this is Ryo Kurokiba and Megumi Tadokoro." "The king and queen of seafood," the man said. "Youtube is chalk full of footage of your cooking battles." Megumi was so excited she could barely breathe."Oh my God Alton Brown knows who I am!" "Yes, all of the 92nd generation- with what you all endured to make it to graduation. There have been hundreds of videos of all of your food battles over the years. " "Yeah," Erina added. "Haven"t you ever googled your own name?" "No," Megumi said in a shy voice. "I felt the need to." Seeing how nervous Megumi was getting the man turned his attention to Ryo "Ryo, if it"s not too personal, what"s the history behind your bandana?" "It belonged to my father." Megumi looked at Ryo, she instinctively took his hand. He had told her the real story in confidence. Aboard the cargo ship carrying children from all over Russia mainly from the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk a city that used to be co-owned by both Russia and Japan, the crew wanted to play a little game. A group of very drunk men gathered the children. They singled out a little girl and started to tear her clothes off. Ryo offered himself instead. He got in his knees begging the men to beat him. They accepted and began to whip the boy with cables and chains used to secure the shipping containers. Ryo"s back was torn up so bad he eventually passed out from the blood loss. The last thing he heard was a man shouting at the group. "WHAT DO YOU IDIOTS THINK YOU"RE DOING!" Ryo awoke in the kitchen. A large man stood over the stove cooking all manner of seafood. Upon hearing Ryo try to walk off he turned around. He offered Ryo some vodka for the pain. Ryo noticed the man had bandaged his back. But on Ryo"s wrist was a flame-patterned bandana. He didn"t ask the man to teach him how to cook. Ryo"s father was a fisherman and his mother worked in the market. He knew how to cook. But the man offered anyway. He was a cruel teacher but when Ryo excelled, when he improved a dish to the point the cook was genuinely impressed the cook would reward the children with extra servings of food. But if he failed Ryo would be punished. It was the reason why Ryo"s fire, his warrior spirit, was ignited by the bandana. Megumi kissed Ryo"s hand. "Let"s grab a workspace before they let others in." During the class Alton Brown demoed his most famous dish, a crawfish boil. All while talking about his decades of work as a television star, but also how he chose to become a chef because he wanted to entertain. He was thirty-five years old with a successful career in film. But his dreams were bigger than just being behind a camera. He ended his lecture with, "It"s never too late to choose your own destiny." The students were free to recreate their own versions of a crawfish boil, to be tasted and critiqued by the celebrity chef. "Why did you stay at the party?" Ryo asked as he chopped vegetables using his uninjured arm. Megumi cheeks were flushed. "Two reasons..." He looked up at her. "Ok." "When we first arrived Alice tried to claim you were asleep, I knew she was lying. You were shivering..." "You wanted to protect me?" "Yeah. And ...this is so embarrassing..." She shrugged. "...I"ve always thought you were really hot." Ryo laughed. "What? You"re one of my best friends." "Yeah- you know what screw it we graduate in a few weeks. I think you are beautiful, sexy, and who you are is inspiring." She pulled down a stock pot. "But I know why you stay with Alice. In addition to tuition, we have to pay for our own ingredients. Her family is the reason you can afford to cook at the level that you do. You deserve to have access to the best ingredients because you are that skilled- that worthy." Ryo put down his knife. There were tears in his eyes. "I had it really rough as a kid. Then Alice"s family adopted me. If fate hadn"t brought her into my life I don"t know where I would be. She"s the reason I made it to the Academy, the reason I"m going be a chef. I owe her everything. I guess that"s why I let her do whatever she wants; whip me, drug me, choke me with a belt." Megumi dropped her knife. "You don"t owe her your body. And she sure as hell isn"t the reason you are going to be a chef! You have amazing talent. And I can"t believe she treats you like that. If you were my boyfriend I would-" "You would what?" he asked. Despite their difference in height, Megumi"s lips moved to his ear, "I would worship you: I would lie next to you in bed and watch you touch yourself. After I saw how you liked to be touched I would use lotions and oils..." Ryo struggled to breathe. "Would you like to judge a food battle?" "You versus Alice- in response to what she did to you?" "You might say that. Will you come to support me?" "Sure," Megumi said as she poured out a bag of mussels. "Should we add some monkfish?" Ryo asked. "That"s not really traditionally American." "But it"s the specialty of your village." Megumi smiled. "I remember the first time I prepared monkfish at the Academy." "...freshman year finals. You were so terrified." Megumi nodded. "But you with your cognac infused lobster, you presented it to the panel like the king that you are." "I can"t believe we"re going to graduate. Alice and I are going to work for her dad"s company in Copenhagen." "You don"t have to always follow her. I"m headed to San Francisco, even though my boyfriend is headed to London." "Soma is going to England?!" "I would have preferred we traveled together. But our dreams diverged. Would you like some gum? It"s Peach-Cola flavored." "Sure." Ryo held out his hand. Megumi took out a tin with a Japanese label. She poured a few pieces, placing one directly into Ryo"s mouth. "My mother sent them." She tossed the remaining pieces into her mouth, smacking her lips. Ryo gazed longing at her innocent pout. He glided his finger to her cheek, brushing a piece of hair over her ear. "That tickles." Megumi picked up her knife, caressing the rounded handle. "I shouldn"t have said that thing about if you were my boyfriend." "You don"t have to be embarrassed, we"re like family." "I"m not embarrassed." She was stroking the length of the knife handle, with her thumb rubbing the top. "I have an image stuck in my head; your naked body in my bed, my lips on your neck while I massage your chest with warm lavender oil. Working my way down your abs to your..." Ryo gasped. Maggie turned to see the boy leaning on the prep table. "Ryo! Are you alright? Is it your arm?" "I-I need to use the restroom," he said in a whisper. Megumi bit her lip. "I think I do too." They discreetly exited the classroom, once in the hall they ran to the women"s restroom. After making sure they were alone Megumi locked the door. Ryo kissed Megumi, their mouths joined together as he lifted her onto the sink. Megumi"s hands went for his belt. "Put on the bandana." "Alice doesn"t even let me wear the bandana, not after the first time." Ryo carried her to the back wall. He moved the girl"s panties, slipping two fingers inside her. It was clear how badly she wanted him. He rubbed his cock to get ready, but that wouldn"t be necessary. As Megumi grabbed the bandana, securing it on his head, in one quick motion. Ryo"s cock was raging. Megumi to keep herself from screaming as Ryo pounded her hard. She struggled to keep her legs around Ryo. Ryo loved fucking her, her innocent face, the expression she was making- if he didn"t climax soon he would be tempted to tear her clothes off. Oh God, here it comes. An explosion of cum filled her pussy, oozing down her thighs. Ryo tore off her panties and kept fucking her pussy until every last drop of cum was freed from his balls. There was a knock at the door. "Other people need to use the bathroom!" Erina shouted. Megumi and Ryo struggled to fix their clothing. Erina opened the Erina opened the door with a master key. "What? My grandfather is the principal." "Please don"t tell Soma." "That you fucked Ryo in the women"s restroom? Last night he fucked Alice, so I think you"re even. But yeah I"ll keep your secret on one condition. Did i hear something about a food battle going down at Alice"s mansion?" Ryo smiled. "You"ve invited, the more the merrier." After the class, Ryo hung out with Erina and Megumi for the rest of the day. The friends had coffee and talked about the good old days. Ryo did not ask Erina about her post-graduation plans, nor did it come up in conversation. At five pm they made their way to Alice"s mansion. The group entered the kitchen to the sound of moaning. Alice was on her hands and knees. She was sucking off Soma who sat in a chair. Akira was fucking her doggy style, with his hands on her hips. "You like that? You fucking whore. Do you like my big thick Indian cock?" Soma gripped her hair. "I bet you like mine, especially when I ram it down your throat." Ryo and Megumi were ready to back out of the room quietly, but not Erina. The girl bit her lip. She strutted over to Soma and kissed his lips. "Hey Soma, I can finish you off if you like." Alice pulled back, releasing Soma"s cock. "Excuse you!" "I have an idea," Megumi said, drawing attention to her and Ryo"s presence. "I think Alice should battle Soma." Akira finished in Alice"s pussy. "That could be interesting. You"ve never actually beaten Soma." Alice pulled up her panties, allowing Soma to finish in Erina"s mouth. "How about this," Soma offered. "If you win I will be your bitch until graduation. You can tie me up, whip me whatever your sick little mind desires. But if I win you have to treat Ryo with some dignity and Akira get to fuck you as much as he wants." Alice shrugged. The last thing she wanted was to come off as a coward. "I guess that could work." Erina swallowed Soma"s cum. She fixed her skirt to look as ladylike as possible. "You should know Akira is the master of tantric sex," Erina added. Her lips brushed Akira"s. "I remember that night like it was yesterday. Your body layout on my bed, covered in sweat." Akira unbuttoned his shirt; it makes me hot just thinking about it. God, I wish it was me going with you to..." Erina elbowed him in the ribs. "My travel plans are forever changing. How about we just get things started. Ryo do you have any wine?" "May I, mistress?" he asked Alice. "Sure why not." "What does this do?" Soma pressed a button on a device that shot a blast of air from a small tube. "You break it you buy it!" Alice barked. "Most of my equipment, you will never be able to afford without selling every hole in your body." Soma rolled his eyes looked to the Sous Vide machine. "I"ll just use this. And maybe the freeze griddle." "Are you seriously going to London after graduation?" Ryo asked. "Just for a year," Soma replied. He loaded the Sous Vide machine with three bags, one with steak one with shrimp and another with egg whites. "Hey Ryo, do you remember your first year Autumn Finals dish?" Ryo smiled. "Let me guess, you"re going to make it better." "Nah, just switch it up a little as a surf and turf." Akira pulled something from his pocket. "Alice, babe do you mind if I smoke?" "Smoke what?" she asked. "Something that will make your dish taste a whole lot better." "Sure, why not," Alice muttered. Akira pulled a joint from his pant pocket. He took a sniff before lighting up. "Hey Megumi, want a hit?" "No thanks." Akira put his arm around the small girl. "Don"t you want to have a little fun?" "She said no!" Ryo barked. The room froze. "Yeah Akira, have some respect," Soma muttered. Alice finished first. "This is my version of chicken pot pie." Erina looked at her plate. "It looks like a series of wafers held together by dots of cream." "Because it is," Alice explained. "There is a freeze-dried disk of potato, and then carrot, followed by a disk of chicken puree, all topped with a thin cracker that is meant to represent the top crust." "Oh! I get it." Megumi said. "When you break into a chicken pot pie the crust is the best part! You created a version that is all crust but with the same flavors." Erina chuckled. "Tastes like Styrofoam." Next Soma presented a round ball, dusted with freeze-dried toppings. Akira poked the ball with his chopstick, revealing the hidden soup. "Unexpected." Megumi took a taste of the soup, mixing it with the colorful garnish. "It"s beautiful. The spiciness of the broth, the sweetness of the shellfish..." "My vote goes to Soma," Akira declared. "Although Alice"s textures and idea were innovative what matters most is flavor." "Of course it does..." Alice muttered. Megumi nodded. "I vote for Soma as well." Erina kicked her feet up onto Akira"s lap "Sorry, Alice, he"s just better than you." "Would you like to taste my dish, Alice? I made one for you." Alice took the bowl she poked the ball releasing the soup. "I would hardly qualify this as molecular gastronomy." "I used the sous vous machine to par-cook the beef then I added thin slices to a seafood broth along with shrimp and strands of egg white (because I seriously didn"t feel like breaking down a fish) but instead of tying all of the ingredients in to a bag I created gelatin bubbles using your glorified helium tank.- I call it- West Lake soup ball." Alice took a sip. She hurled the bowl to the wall shattering it, before slapping Soma across his face. "Know your place, worthless dog!" Alice stomped to the bedroom, slamming the door. Akria laughed. "I think we all saw that coming a mile away. I"m heading home." "Yeah, me too," Soma added. His face showed visible concern for Ryo. "She"s going to make you clean all this up, isn"t she?" Ryo stood up to stretch his back. "Most likely." Erina stood up. "Megumi, I can walk Soma back to Polar Star if you want to stay and help out." "Yeah, sure," she nodded her eyes locked with Ryo"s. She waited until she heard the door close. "Any thoughts on the massage we discussed earlier?" "With me naked on your bed?" "Perhaps we can start with just a shoulder massage." Ryo shrugged. He pulled up a chair. Sitting backward he removed his shirt. Megumi gasped at the sight of his scars. "Did Alice do this?" "Not all of it. Alice has a game she likes to play. She"ll sit in a chair while I go down on her." "She whips you if you do a bad job?" "She whips me regardless. But the deeper scars are...let"s just say I"ve been a slave for most of my life." Megumi kissed his shoulder. "I remember the first day of school. I couldn"t take my eyes off of you." She took a tube of lotion from her purse, applying some to his skin. "During orientation, you were standing with Alice, with your head down. But when we got the chance to cook you suddenly had the most vibrant smile. I thought to myself, "If that boy was mine, he would always smile.'" "Who gave you permission to touch him!?" Alice shouted from the doorway. She had changed into a nightgown. "You need to stop this bullshit!" Megumi cried. "Soma beat you! You have to treat Ryo like a human being!" "But Soma didn"t stick around to make sure I actually abided by the terms of the food battle. And seriously, I stood no chance. Not with Erina and Akira on the panel." Ryo stood up. "Maggie, you should probably go." Megumi nodded. "I understand." After Megumi left Alice grabbed Ryo by his hair. "It"s time for bed." Ryo slept next to Alice, spooning her back. "What would you say if I didn"t want to go back to Copenhagen?" Alice laughed. "You honestly think you can make it on your own?" "You"re right," he sighed. "Do you want to fuck?" "You can"t be serious," she muttered. As he closed his eyes, Ryo felt her lips on his bare skin- she wanted him. And he had a plan. Ryo licked her earlobe. "Mistress, I beg of you. Let me fuck you, with my disgusting, low class, uncut cock." "Fine, I will allow it." Ryo"s eyes lit up. This was the first time he had initiated sex with Alice. Things were going better than expected. Perhaps deep down she wanted to be the submissive. "Mistress, may we try something new?" Ryo reached under her nightgown fingering her perfectly shaved pussy. Was she thinking of Soma? Akira? It didn"t matter. He took her hand, placing it on his bulging cock. "I want to make you experience something you have never experienced before." "Fine, just get it over with." Her voice was angry, but Ryo knew better. He had her right where he wanted her. Ryo left the room, returning with the pair of handcuffs hidden in his back pocket. His pants were open, revealing his hips. With one swift motion, he put her hands above her head and shackled her to the bed frame. Alice let out a gasp. "What is the meaning of this you filthy mutt!" Ryo placed a finger to her lips, "shh.." From his back pocket, he pulled out a stainless steel knife with gold details in the handle. "Is that one of the knives I bought you?" Ryo held the blade to her neck as he kissed her. "Yes, Mistress I keep them nice and sharp." He grabbed at the fabric of her nightgown and started to cut the silk dress off of her body. "Just fuck me already!" "Not until you admit you love my cooking," he said as he cut off her panties. "I tolerate your low-class pub-fare." Ryo shook his head. Erina had called him a star. And Megumi she saw him as someone with worth. His life was worth more than this- More than being Alice"s dog. "You know how I said I wanted you to experience something?" He put his lips to her ear. "I"m- leaving- you." "No, you"re not!" Ryo stuffed Alice"s panties in her mouth. "Consider yourself fucked." Alice spat them out and shouted, "I"m telling my mother!" "You mother loves me!" Ryo shouted back. He knew in his heart Leonora Nakiri would support his decision. She was not his master she was his friend. Ryo grabbed his duffel bag to collect the gifts Alice had given him over the years; designer clothes, expensive kitchen tools. "We graduate in a little over a week. I don"t need your money! But, hey, don"t get yourself too worked up. I"m sure Akira will be by eventually to claim his prize." Ryo slammed the door and ran outside. He looked up at the clear night sky. A single tear sparkled down his cheek as he smiled. "I really did it." It was a thirty-minute walk to the Polar Star. "I"m free. I"m free?" Ryo kept walking, he dared not look back. His mind was overcome with a strange emotion. Not anger nor was it sadness. For the first time in over a decade, he was free. And he was afraid of just what that entailed. "Snap out of it," he said out loud, reaching for his bandana. "You"re a warrior, a soldier. You"re not a puppy you"re a lone wolf!" He took a moment to rest. Ryo put down his duffle bag and pulled out a bottle of Cognac. "But being a puppy did have its perks." "You fucking loser," a ghostly figure appeared. It resembled Ryo in his competition, wearing the bandana. But this figure also had devil horns and wings made of fire. "You need to get up! Keep walking! Fuck graduation! Fuck this school! Keep walking to the pawn shop, sell off all of this crap and buy a ticket back to Denmark! Reclaim your restaurant!" "Or keep walking to Polar Star," said a second figure. This one resembled Ryo in capsular attire and had a halo and normal angel wings.

Ezekiel knew he needed to choose his words carefully, because Wendy was clearly a gossip. "She"s my foster mom." Emily came in for a hug. "We didn"t mean any disrespect." "I know," Ezekiel said, "Now let me show you what I can do." He cocked his head and suddenly wings of fire erupted from his back. Since they were made of his energy they didn"t burn through his clothing. Emily jumped back. "This is a surprise." Ezekiel nodded. "Apparently drinking the water gives you super powers." "But no one here has super powers," Teddy said, mainly looking at Emily. "They don"t appear right away, at least for me they didn"t," Ezekiel explained. "Let me cut to the point- I think I can use my powers to take the water past"s its boiling point." "That"s not possible- its boiling point is around a thousand degrees Fahrenheit," Teddy explained. "Let me try- just for the prototype," Ezekiel looked to Emily. "I need you to believe in me." She shrugged. "Sure why not- so what do you need from us?" Emily asked. "I need the team to design a canister that is not going to explode once I get the water into a vapor form, and I need a supply of water like gallons of it that I can use- like you all said it"s probably not going to work on the first try." "Okay," Teddy replied. "I, Ron and Wendy will start work on the canister. Emily will get you access to all the Atlantis water you could ever want." "Really?" Ezekiel asked. "Come with me," Emily said, making her way to the elevator. "Do I need to bring a bucket?" he asked. "No, we have plenty of containers on the storage floor," she said. They made their way to the basement. She slid him a large metal container, roughly the size of a car. "Fill this up, using the access tube on that wall, it"s a direct line to the primary source of the water. Then you can practice your fire bending down here so you don"t destroy my lab." Next Emily slid over a smaller container roughly the size of a barrel. "This container is made of an alloy that can contain nuclear waste. If you manage to vaporize the water, this container will be able to hold it." "Will I be able to carry it?" he asked. "There should be a motorized lift around here somewhere," Emily offered. "When you do come back to the main floor and my team will have built a rig to hold the compressed water. But of course we won"t be able to test any of them until we have your water vapor." "So you believe in me?" he asked. Emily laughed. "Why wouldn"t I? You have wings of fire. And your mom brought us pizza." "It"s just that since I"m so young a lot of people tend to disregard my ideas," Ezekiel said. "Are you a super-villain?" she asked. "No," he answered, confused. "Are you a henchman?" she asked, coming closer. "No, defiantly not," he said. "Then yes I do believe in you," Emily"s said as her lips touched his. "And I know what it"s like to be too young to be taken seriously." Ezekiel smiled. "You"re really beautiful." Emily blushed. "And you are all kinds of awesome." She stepped back in the elevator. "See you in a little while, I"ll try to make sure the team saves you some pizza." Cassandra and Jacob pulled on to a beach. It was around midnight, so the vision was not the same as the one Erik had placed in her mind but there was no doubt this was the place. They saw a group of what appeared to be natives; people in body paint, with torches. They spoke in a language that sounded like animal noises. Jacob spoke nearly every language known to man but this was a strange one; they were like a cult. "Cas can you get a read on them?" "I"ll give it my best shot," she replied. She used her powers to communicate telepathically. She suddenly screamed. "Erik!" The tribe had Erik"s body wrapped in a blanket. He slowly stood up, still nude. The native each took a turn touching his skin transferring what looked to be ash or body paint. A little girl stepped forward. "He needs to return to his mother," she said in her native language. "His mother is dead," Cassandra pointed out. "No, his mother is the Wendol queen," she said happily. "Come with us!" "Sure," Cas said. Suddenly the group pointed their weapons at Cas and Jacob. "No weapons?" Cas asked, referring to the swords they took from Erik"s shop. "Your weapons and armor will be safe," the girl said. "Will you follow me? "Of course," Cas answered. "But can I ask you a question?" The girl nodded, "within reason." "What is Erik?" Cassandra asked as she motioned for Jacob to abandon their weapons. "He is a prince," the girl answered. Jacob stood behind Cassandra. "What is she saying?" "We need to follow her," Cas said in a stoic voice. Erik suddenly fell unconscious as if under a spell. The natives carried Erik"s body to what appeared to be a waterfall, disappearing below the waves. "Can you swim?" the girl asked. "Yes, of course," Cassandra replied. "We"re following them in to the water," she explained to Jacob, in case he wanted to undress. "What? Why?" Jacob asked. "Because that"s where they took Erik!" she cried. Cas jumped into the waterfall fully clothed and Jacob followed suit. They emerged in a cave system. Erik was standing at the queen"s side; his body was covered in ash and black paint, he appeared to be in a trance. He wore armor made of bone and clothing made of, what Cas hoped was leather. The Wendol queen looked like a woman wearing too much eye makeup. She was pretty, if she wasn"t in an animalistic pose covered in bone jewelry and black ash she might even look approachable. "He was not meant to save his father," she said to Cassandra. "You"re not his mother," Cas replied. She glared at Cassandra; she clapped her hands above her head releasing a wave of energy. "Now your guardian will hear me the way you do." Jacob gripped his head in pain. He thought about ways to kill her; there were weapons in the room, he would only need to subdue her. "I am Erik"s mother, a slave, a worthless whore who fell for a Viking prince, for that I shall die- I must die," she roared, "but my son must live." Jacob kicked her in the chest, reaching for a bone sword above what appeared to be her throne. Erik grabbed him by his neck. He was taller and stronger then Jacob. Jacob kicked him in the stomach and grabbed the sword. He punched Erik in the head, before pressing the sword to the queen"s throat.' "Drop it!" Cas shouted. She ran to Erik holding him. "Do you offer us safe passage?" she asked the queen. "What are you doing Cas?" Jacob asked. "I do- keep your guardian under control and you have my protection," the woman offered. "You may have taken our weapons but there is a squadron of warriors coming to kill you," Jacob pointed out. "But not you," she said. "I will not die this day." She snapped her fingers and Erik regained consciousness. He fell to his knees in pain. "Cassandra, please stay with me," he pleaded. As she held him Erik silently mouthed the words, "Kill her.' "Keep him with you, keep him safe, and find his bride," the queen instructed. "And if it"s any comfort his bride is not your re-haired witch," the woman said only to Jacob. "Then who is it?" Jacob asked. "You"ll know soon enough," she replied. Suddenly a man with a bone helmet approached. "No!" Cassandra screamed. She knew who he had come to kill Erik. "The man you protect is a bastard," the warrior shouted. "Screw you," Cas said as she shot an energy blast at the Wendol king. A different group of warriors appeared. "You are lucky I value your magic," he said to his queen. "Put them in a cell- and keep them separated!" "You"ll take him over my dead body!" Cassandra used her magic to throw up a shield over her and Erik. The warriors all ten of them went after Jacob. "You will watch your lover die," the King said. "He"s not my lover!" Cassandra shouted. The King laughed. "The moment you drop that shield my wife will likely give you safe passage to the Viking village. But will you truly abandon your friend?" With that he left. Cas dropped the shield holding Erik in her arms. The Queen turned to them, "Dive back in to the waterfall take a right at the beach and run." Cas took the opportunity to leave. She and Erik hid in the cave system. "Is the Wendol Queen your mother?" she asked. "Sort of; my mother was a nymph, an artist, a healer," he explained as he located a torch. "She never scolded me or punished me. In fact to everyone who crossed her path she only ever showed kindness. Even to the people who were not kind to her. So in death her anger manifested into an un-dead creature that apparently this tribe of cannibals have taken as their queen." "Did you say cannibals?" Cas asked. "Yes and the King looks to kill me, because of what I am," he answered. "Because you"re her son, the prince of the cannibals?" she asked. Erik laughed. "I"m not the prince of the cannibals, my rightful kingdom is someplace a lot nicer then this." "Okay," Cas leaned back, making herself comfortable against the rock wall. "How do I kill a ghost and rescue my guardian and keep you safe?" Erik caressed her face. "Your magic; who you are." He leaned in close. "But first we need to make it back to the beach and retrieve a very sacred sword from my boat." Eve went back to the library; she needed to retrieve the Atlantis crystal. "Jenkins, where is it!" she shouted. As usual the library was a mix of random rooms that were in a constant state of reorganization. "If you"re talking about the Thaumatite stone it is way too dangerous," he shouted back as he emerged from a side room. Eve shook her head. "It"s the only thing that can save Cas and Jacob." "You"re wrong, there are other alloys that can contain the power of the water," he said. "Show me- because right now the crew of Charm City is working on a way to contain the water," she explained. "Their goal is to make an aerosol shield- I already know for a fact using a spray bottle can open a portal. If we can get the spray able shield to work we can bring Cas and Jacob back to our timeline." She took out her two spray bottles to give him a demonstration. "Where"s Jacob?" she asked out loud. The image showed only Cassandra and the mystery man held up in a cave. "Who"s the Selkie?" Jenkins asked. "The artifact, the target," she replied. "He might be Altantian." The portal closed. "Now show me an alloy that can contain compressed Atlantian water." Jenkins led her to a room full of underwater creatures. One tank held a large golden flatfish. Like a traditional flatfish it was bottom dweller with two eyes on one side of its body. "The molted skin of this Atlantian flatfish can withstand up to a million pounds of pressure," he explained. "How much do you have?" she asked. "Enough to line about a hundred spray bottles," he answered. "I usually keep it around for making armor." He opened a drawer and handed a fabric bolt to Eve. "Can it be manufactured?" she asked: even after they saved Cas and Jacob there was still the matter of helping bring the spray able shields to market; they could save a lot of lives. He nodded. "It can be grown by growing any flatfish in Atlantian water, but that process takes up to five years. I assume since the office is being supplied with Atlantian water..." "They could ask for a supply of actual Atlantian flat fish skin for a production run!" Eve exclaimed. Jenkins set the door for Eve to make it back to Charm City. "How we doing team?" she asked as she tumbled through the door. The fabric was deceptively heavy. "A lot of explosions," Teddy explained. "I think I found the answer, if someone would be so kind as to help me with this." "What is that, leather?" Teddy asked. "It"s Atlantian fish leather- don"t ask. Well actually do ask your Atlantian water people because if this works you"ll need a lot more," she explained. "What are you currently making the canisters out of?" "Magnetically enhanced iron," Wendy said. "It"s mold-able but it"s a pain in the butt to fill and actually attach to the prototype." "And the goal of the project is for the consumer to only have to buy refill cartridges, " Ron added. "Like a Soda Stream for self-defense." "Can you make them out of steel?" Eve asked. "They all exploded," Teddy pointed out, motioning to a pile of metal chips, behind a wall of safety glass. "But not if you lined the canisters with this fabric," she added. Emily sighed, "Worth a try." The prototype looked like a cross between a water pistol and a nerf gun. With it"s natural adhesive properties the fabric easily melded to the metal. Teddy used robotic hands, assembling the cartridge behind the glass then attempting to fill it with the water vapor. "So far so good, now the seal," he said out loud. "Now we are at the same place as were were with the magnetically enhanced iron- will this attach to the prototype?" The cartridge sucked itself into place as if it had a mind of it"s own. "Wow, that was lucky," remarked Wendy. "Should we test it out here?" "Since it"s already behind safety glass I think we should leave it be," Emily instructed. Behind the glass Teddy pulled the trigger and sure enough the gun produced a large shield that stayed up for well over a minute, enough time for a would be victim to run away or seek shelter. Eve was ecstatic. "Now we just need to make a second one." "Why do we need a second one?" Teddy asked. "There"s something I need to show all of you," Eve pulled out the two spray bottles. She performed her portal trick. The portal showed Cassandra and the blonde haired man retrieving a sword from a boat. "What exactly are we looking at?" Teddy asked as the image vanished. "A friend of ours is trapped in the past," Ezekiel explained. "Eve thinks that if we cross the streams using two shields we might open a portal big enough to bring them here." "Is your friend the red-head or the hot blonde guy?" Wendy asked. "The red-head, plus one other person who is currently missing," Eve explained. "But the blonde guy seems to be what the portal is locking in on, so no matter what you will get the chance to meet him. " She was addressing the entire group but only Wendy and Emily looked excited. Teddy rolled his eyes. "Well lets get to work on a second prototype to save your friends and bring a hot blonde guy into the lab." Since they already had the molds and materials it was a simple process to make a second gun. Once they had the second gun Eve and Ezekiel attempted to put their theory to the test. They crossed the streams and a sizable portal opened, only it wasn"t a portal, it was only a window. Wendy groaned. "Okay, I guess the question is will making a third or even a fourth gun cause an actual portal?" "One problem, we"re out of water vapor," Emily said. "We can"t make any more cartridges until Ezekiel refills the container." Eve sighed, "I"ll be back with more pizza." Cassandra and Erik located the swords. Cassandra"s attention was drawn to a plain weapon that appeared to be made of steel which was oxidized and chipping. Erik handed her the sword. "That one is made of Altantian gold. " Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Seriously?" He laughed. "I know it looks cheap that was how I kept it hidden from thieves." Erik looked at the sword with noticeable admiration. "This was my mother"s sword, you were meant to wield it. And when the moment is right, it will reveal its true beauty." Cassandra held out her hands. As she gripped the ugly sword she felt a deep connection. "So this sword can kill the Wendol queen?" she asked, as she held the handle. She could make out images of seals and fish carved into the metal. She resisted the urge to touch the rusted blade itself. "It"s her soul," he replied. "She will guide your hand, while I rescue your guardian." "What"s the catch?" Cassandra asked as she practiced her swing. "You need to kill the queen as quickly as possible. If she or her soldiers make contact with me I"ll back under her influence- and there"s no telling what I can or will do." Erik started to laugh, "And by that I mean I will fight your guardian, but - the odds of me killing him before he knocks me on my ass- not very high." Cassandra smiled. "I wanted to see your smile, daughter," he said as he handed her a shield. Cassandra and Erik suddenly saw a flash of light. It was a window, a portal to what appeared to be an office space. "Eve?" Cassandra said. "Cassandra can you hear me!" Eve shouted, before the window vanished. "What was that?" Erik asked. "I think the other members of my team are trying to find me." "To bring you back to your own time?" he asked. "I guess," she replied. "We need to get going." If Eve was successful in opening a portal they would need to have Jacob with them. Cassandra came back to the queen"s room. The creepy woman appeared to not have moved in hours. "Where"s Erik?" the queen asked. "He"s safe- where is my guardian?" Cassandra asked, to play dumb. Erik would rescue Jacob and meet her, but she needed the queen to believe her priorities had shifted. "Where is my son!" the woman screamed. Cassandra closed her eyes and held the sword forward as the woman lunged at her. When she opened her eyes the woman"s body was impaled on the sword. As if she had been magnetically drawn to the blade. The queen turned to ash, vanishing. From the ashes, a beautiful tall blonde woman appeared. "Thank you," she said. "No problem," Cassandra replied, relived. She had been in sword fights before, but clearly, this was not meant to be a fight, this was her destiny. "A gift," the woman added. Her spirit walked into Cassandra"s body, their powers melding. Cassandra"s hands were glowing light blue. She could hear the woman"s voice. "Next time your leader opens the portal you will be able to pass through." Meanwhile, Erik knew exactly where Jacob was being held. But cells made of metal and bones were often not very difficult to escape from. Jacob held a bone sword to Erik"s neck. "Why did she come back?" "Why wouldn"t she?" Erik asked. "She needs you, she loves you." They fought their way back to the queen"s room. Cassandra was sitting on the throne, glowing with energy. "Now what?" she asked. "Block the door," Erik instructed. He bowed before Cassandra. "I assume you possess her power?" "Yup," she said, giving a thumbs up. "Now it is all up to the rest of your team," Erik said he dumped a satchel on to the floor. It contained weapons and the remainder of the food from the boat. Back at the lab, the team finished the squirt guns, "Just out of curiosity, when these go into production you people have a way of making more water vapor, right?" Ezekiel asked. Using his newfound fire power was proving exhausting. "This is "Wayne Co"- as in Bruce Wayne- Batman," Teddy stated as he assembled the last of the guns behind the safety barrier. "Management will figure it out, plus there are literally dozens of superheroes in this city- one of them is bound to have fire powers." Ezekiel yawned. "So you seriously think more power on our end is going to allow them to cross over?" "It"s all we have," Eve replied. "Let"s do this," Emily shouted with her usual level of enthusiasm. Ron, Wendy, Teddy, and Emily made a circle with Eve and Ezekiel. "On my count," Eve said, "1, 2, and -3!" They crossed the streams creating a 3-dimensional window. A portal opened a massive ten-foot hole in the fabric of the universe. Erik, Cassandra, and Jacob looked back at the team. "Run!" Eve shouted. Cassandra couldn"t hear her. She charged at the portal, it was still a window. She took a breath and channeled her newfound powers. "Can you hear me Eve?" she asked. No answer. Cassandra focused harder. "Hold her hand," Erik said to Jacob. "Your devotion gives her strength." Emily"s team struggled to keep the portal open since the carriages were only meant to last for around a minute. Jacob gripped Cassandra"s hand. "You can do this." Cassandra, Jacob, and Erik fell through in a blast of blinding light. "Ouch!" Cassandra landed hard on her shoulder. "So, who"s the naked supermodel?" Wendy asked. "This is Erik," Cassandra said looking around. "Emily," Erik whispered. He didn"t know how he knew the girl"s name. He held her hand. "I know you; I"ve known you for a thousand years." Emily looked away. "Oh, holy crap you"re gorgeous." "And you are my princess," Erik declared. He kissed her lips and as he did her water powers unleashed wrapping her body in her water bending power. When the water dissipated Emily clothing had transformed to a sparkling light blue gown. The sparkling beads hung off her body like beads of water. "Of course," Ezekiel groaned. "Anyway, team this Jake and Cassandra, the other members of my team: or rather Eve"s team." Erik turned to Eve and Ezekiel. "You knew this was the way this fairy tale was meant to end," he said. "Both of you: the orphan and the soldier- were blessed with instinct and vision." He shook Eve"s hand. "Please take care of my daughter." "Thank you, I will," Eve said. Suddenly the main door to the office flew open. "I guess that"s our cue to leave for our next adventure." Cassandra gave Erik one last hug. "I"ll never forget you." Jacob patted a still irritated Ezekiel on the shoulder. "All"s well that ends well." "Easy for you to say. At least you got to keep your princess."

Alice was fidgeting with the cuffs. She grabbed Soma"s wrist, but Soma managed to spin Alice, reversing the hold, locking the cuffs onto Alice"s wrist. Using his body weight, Soma forced her to her knees. "Hey Akira, you want in on this?" As usual, Akria was in the corner with his cinnamon. "Why not. Let"s give the little control freak a taste of her own medicine." Soma opened his fly revealing his already hard cock. "Why don"t you tell me what my cum taste like?" Akira came back with a paring knife, twirling it in his hand. "Can we cut her clothes off? The ball-busting bitch always did have a nice set of tits." Megumi laughed, "Soma, baby, you have fun...make sure she doesn"t bite anything off." She knew what Soma was doing was not out of love or even lust. He hated Alice. As did Akira, especially after her year 1 Moon Festival bullshit where she nearly got both Ryo and Akira expelled. "Good point, Megumi," Soma said. "Akira help me get her on the table." With Alice distracted, and the partygoers out of the bed. The beautifully innocent girl went Ryo"s side. She loosed the blankets to be able to cover Ryo"s shivering body. Megumi spooned Ryo"s back, she hoped her body heat would keep him warm. She gave no thought to the fact that with the sticky residue on Ryo"s body she was messing up Alice"s linins. Ryo opened his eyes. Without his bandana, the young man"s large eyes were so gentle and kind. "Hey, Maggie," he said as he turned himself to face her. Megumi smiled. "I"ve always loved that nickname." "Will you stay with me? J-just hold me for a while." "Of course," she said as she put her arms around him. Megumi kissed his forehead as she lovingly stroked his back. "Soma may or may not be having sex with Alice while Akira jerks off on her tits. At least I think that"s what"s happening, a crowd is forming so I can"t really see too well." Ryo smiled. "You"re funny." "Are you ok with that?" "Alice getting fucked by Soma and Akira?" Technically he should help her but Soma and Akira were two of his closest friends, neither one of them had a malicious bone in their bodies. And knowing Alice she was probably enjoying it. "Why wouldn"t I be?" "If you love her..." "After what you just witnessed, it"s pretty clear where I stand." Megumi took a breath, eager to change the subject. "Are you and Alice going to the workshop at the American food society? It"s hosted by Alton Brown from that show Good Eats, where he makes classic dishes but also shows the science behind ingredients and techniques." "Alice hates that show," Ryo could not help but laugh. "She says his science is akin to Sesame Street. But that"s the point right?- to break down food science in ways people can understand. Not everyone can cook with an understanding of food science, at Alice"s level, but everyone who wants to learn should have the opportunity." "Yeah," Megumi nodded, "I couldn"t agree more." Soma tapped Megumi in the shoulder. He was zipping up his pants. "I need to get back to Polar Star to take a shower." "Soma did her up the ass!" Ryoko shouted. "It was awesome. Are you sure we can"t stay to watch Akira?" "No- As it is Fumio is going to kill all of us for staying out this late," Soma turned to Ryo. "Will you be ok? If you ever need a place to stay you can always crash at Polar Star." "Thank you, Soma. You"ve always been a good friend. Goodbye Megumi, see you tomorrow." Megumi kissed his hand. "Yeah, see you tomorrow. You get some rest." Ryo closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. "Mother, Mother is that you?" Eight years earlier- Ten-year-old Ryo lay in bed sick with fever, the virus was in his stomach resulting in horrible pain in the boy"s chest. Leonora Nakiri spoke with the doctor, "The stomach virus is treatable however the fever is very severe. As your personal physician, I would be willing to check in on him start a course of antibiotics, but I strongly recommend hospitalization." "Thank you, Doctor I will take that under consideration." The doctor left. The tall blonde woman entered Ryo"s room and sat on his bed. "How are you doing? I"ll have one of the maids being you some tea." "Mother," Ryo cried. "Mother, please stay with me. I"m so cold. Father is gone. His boat is still missing, he"s never coming home." Ryo was trembling so badly. Leonora"s heart was breaking. "You poor innocent little angel, I"ll draw you a warm bath." Ryo"s body was so frail she could easily carry him in her arms. She removed only his shirt, leaving his lower body covered. She knew there were plenty of robes in the linen closet. The thick cotton fabric would be warmer than the boy"s pajamas. She laid his body in the bathtub. As she turned on the faucet to fill the tub she made sure to place a warm washcloth on Ryo"s forehead. "Mother, I beg of you please hold me." The woman"s hand touched Ryo"s back. He was covered in scars, the result of years of physical abuse. There was no doubt in her mind or her heart, this poor child needed her love and affection. Leonora was wearing a low cut gown that exposed her soft supple breasts. She put her arms around him allowing the little boy rested his head against her chest. She could feel his tears on her skin. "You"re safe here. I promise I will take care of you. I will love you like my own: my precious son." Alice walked. "What is the meaning of this?" "Alice, if you please," Leonora was motioning for the girl to leave. "Poor Ryo is very sick. If you require assistance ask one of the servants." Alice paused as she noticed the mother said "ask one of the servants,' as opposed to "ask one of the OTHER servants.' She raised her head, her eyes were slits. "Yes mother, as you wish." Present day- Remy buried his face in Alice"s breasts. This cock was deep inside her as they fucked in the hot tub. He had made sure to wash off Akira"s cum before taking his mouth to her tits. This, of course, got him slapped. But Alice wanted him to suck on her breasts more then she wanted him to punish him. As Alice reached her climax she sank her nails into Ryo"s scarred back. "Oh, Soma..." she moaned. Ryo rolled his eyes. He knew she was just trying to screw with him. "Mistress, I challenge you to a food battle." Alice laughed. "With what stakes?" "Stakes?" he asked. In the past, they never had anything at stake other than bragging rights. "Ok if you want to go there- winner gets to live out their fantasy." "Theme?" she asked. "Molecular gastronomy..." "Are you serious?" "That way we can both shine." "What about the judges?" she asked. Are you fucking serious? "You pulled together a party of people to fondle my dick I"m sure you can round up three of our friends to serve as judges." "True," Alice said with a smile. "What"s the timeframe?" "Tomorrow night, you fucking cunt." Ryo got out of the bath. "You do not speak to me in that manner!" Ryo grabbed a towel. "I will speak to you any way I fucking want! Tomorrow I"m going to the seminar with Megumi. The other two judges are of your choosing." Ryo went inside, he locked himself in Alice"s closet. With his knees pulled to his chest as he eventually fell asleep. The next day Ryo met up with Megumi at the entrance to the American food society. He knew to get there early since only the first forty kids would be let in. The line was massive but Ryo was well within the first forty. Megumi looked at the massive line. "I can"t believe there are so many Alton Brown fans." Ryo took her hand. "That"s why I saved you a spot." A few students in the line groaned. "No cutting!" Erina appeared. She grabbed Ryo and Megumi by the shoulders, escorting them inside. "Graduating seniors get first priority!" she shouted at the line. Megumi was blushing nervously. "Miss Erina you didn"t have to do that. Just because we"re graduating doesn"t make us any more important." "Like hell, it doesn"t," Erina laughed. "We all worked our asses off to get to where we are. And you two are two of my best friends." Ryo smiled. "That"s so sweet of you to say." Erina patted him on the shoulder. "I mean it. Ryo, you"re a star, you really came into your own during your time at the academy." She turned to Megumi, "And Megumi, do you remember Stagiaire?" "Yeah," Megumi wiped tears from her eyes. "You work so hard at everything you do- you are going to shine like a diamond in San Francisco. Anyway, do you two want to meet Alton Brown?" "Oh hell yes!" Megumi squealed. The middle-aged man emerged, he was holding a notebook still considering what to present for the content of his lecture. "Hello, you must friends of Erina, Congratulation on graduating from the academy." "Yes, Mr. Brown this is Ryo Kurokiba and Megumi Tadokoro." "The king and queen of seafood," the man said. "Youtube is chalk full of footage of your cooking battles." Megumi was so excited she could barely breathe."Oh my God Alton Brown knows who I am!" "Yes, all of the 92nd generation- with what you all endured to make it to graduation. There have been hundreds of videos of all of your food battles over the years. " "Yeah," Erina added. "Haven"t you ever googled your own name?" "No," Megumi said in a shy voice. "I felt the need to." Seeing how nervous Megumi was getting the man turned his attention to Ryo "Ryo, if it"s not too personal, what"s the history behind your bandana?" "It belonged to my father." Megumi looked at Ryo, she instinctively took his hand. He had told her the real story in confidence. Aboard the cargo ship carrying children from all over Russia mainly from the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk a city that used to be co-owned by both Russia and Japan, the crew wanted to play a little game. A group of very drunk men gathered the children. They singled out a little girl and started to tear her clothes off. Ryo offered himself instead. He got in his knees begging the men to beat him. They accepted and began to whip the boy with cables and chains used to secure the shipping containers. Ryo"s back was torn up so bad he eventually passed out from the blood loss. The last thing he heard was a man shouting at the group. "WHAT DO YOU IDIOTS THINK YOU"RE DOING!" Ryo awoke in the kitchen. A large man stood over the stove cooking all manner of seafood. Upon hearing Ryo try to walk off he turned around. He offered Ryo some vodka for the pain. Ryo noticed the man had bandaged his back. But on Ryo"s wrist was a flame-patterned bandana. He didn"t ask the man to teach him how to cook. Ryo"s father was a fisherman and his mother worked in the market. He knew how to cook. But the man offered anyway. He was a cruel teacher but when Ryo excelled, when he improved a dish to the point the cook was genuinely impressed the cook would reward the children with extra servings of food. But if he failed Ryo would be punished. It was the reason why Ryo"s fire, his warrior spirit, was ignited by the bandana. Megumi kissed Ryo"s hand. "Let"s grab a workspace before they let others in." During the class Alton Brown demoed his most famous dish, a crawfish boil. All while talking about his decades of work as a television star, but also how he chose to become a chef because he wanted to entertain. He was thirty-five years old with a successful career in film. But his dreams were bigger than just being behind a camera. He ended his lecture with, "It"s never too late to choose your own destiny." The students were free to recreate their own versions of a crawfish boil, to be tasted and critiqued by the celebrity chef. "Why did you stay at the party?" Ryo asked as he chopped vegetables using his uninjured arm. Megumi cheeks were flushed. "Two reasons..." He looked up at her. "Ok." "When we first arrived Alice tried to claim you were asleep, I knew she was lying. You were shivering..." "You wanted to protect me?" "Yeah. And ...this is so embarrassing..." She shrugged. "...I"ve always thought you were really hot." Ryo laughed. "What? You"re one of my best friends." "Yeah- you know what screw it we graduate in a few weeks. I think you are beautiful, sexy, and who you are is inspiring." She pulled down a stock pot. "But I know why you stay with Alice. In addition to tuition, we have to pay for our own ingredients. Her family is the reason you can afford to cook at the level that you do. You deserve to have access to the best ingredients because you are that skilled- that worthy." Ryo put down his knife. There were tears in his eyes. "I had it really rough as a kid. Then Alice"s family adopted me. If fate hadn"t brought her into my life I don"t know where I would be. She"s the reason I made it to the Academy, the reason I"m going be a chef. I owe her everything. I guess that"s why I let her do whatever she wants; whip me, drug me, choke me with a belt." Megumi dropped her knife. "You don"t owe her your body. And she sure as hell isn"t the reason you are going to be a chef! You have amazing talent. And I can"t believe she treats you like that. If you were my boyfriend I would-" "You would what?" he asked. Despite their difference in height, Megumi"s lips moved to his ear, "I would worship you: I would lie next to you in bed and watch you touch yourself. After I saw how you liked to be touched I would use lotions and oils..." Ryo struggled to breathe. "Would you like to judge a food battle?" "You versus Alice- in response to what she did to you?" "You might say that. Will you come to support me?" "Sure," Megumi said as she poured out a bag of mussels. "Should we add some monkfish?" Ryo asked. "That"s not really traditionally American." "But it"s the specialty of your village." Megumi smiled. "I remember the first time I prepared monkfish at the Academy." "...freshman year finals. You were so terrified." Megumi nodded. "But you with your cognac infused lobster, you presented it to the panel like the king that you are." "I can"t believe we"re going to graduate. Alice and I are going to work for her dad"s company in Copenhagen." "You don"t have to always follow her. I"m headed to San Francisco, even though my boyfriend is headed to London." "Soma is going to England?!" "I would have preferred we traveled together. But our dreams diverged. Would you like some gum? It"s Peach-Cola flavored." "Sure." Ryo held out his hand. Megumi took out a tin with a Japanese label. She poured a few pieces, placing one directly into Ryo"s mouth. "My mother sent them." She tossed the remaining pieces into her mouth, smacking her lips. Ryo gazed longing at her innocent pout. He glided his finger to her cheek, brushing a piece of hair over her ear. "That tickles." Megumi picked up her knife, caressing the rounded handle. "I shouldn"t have said that thing about if you were my boyfriend." "You don"t have to be embarrassed, we"re like family." "I"m not embarrassed." She was stroking the length of the knife handle, with her thumb rubbing the top. "I have an image stuck in my head; your naked body in my bed, my lips on your neck while I massage your chest with warm lavender oil. Working my way down your abs to your..." Ryo gasped. Maggie turned to see the boy leaning on the prep table. "Ryo! Are you alright? Is it your arm?" "I-I need to use the restroom," he said in a whisper. Megumi bit her lip. "I think I do too." They discreetly exited the classroom, once in the hall they ran to the women"s restroom. After making sure they were alone Megumi locked the door. Ryo kissed Megumi, their mouths joined together as he lifted her onto the sink. Megumi"s hands went for his belt. "Put on the bandana." "Alice doesn"t even let me wear the bandana, not after the first time." Ryo carried her to the back wall. He moved the girl"s panties, slipping two fingers inside her. It was clear how badly she wanted him. He rubbed his cock to get ready, but that wouldn"t be necessary. As Megumi grabbed the bandana, securing it on his head, in one quick motion. Ryo"s cock was raging. Megumi to keep herself from screaming as Ryo pounded her hard. She struggled to keep her legs around Ryo. Ryo loved fucking her, her innocent face, the expression she was making- if he didn"t climax soon he would be tempted to tear her clothes off. Oh God, here it comes. An explosion of cum filled her pussy, oozing down her thighs. Ryo tore off her panties and kept fucking her pussy until every last drop of cum was freed from his balls. There was a knock at the door. "Other people need to use the bathroom!" Erina shouted. Megumi and Ryo struggled to fix their clothing. Erina opened the Erina opened the door with a master key. "What? My grandfather is the principal." "Please don"t tell Soma." "That you fucked Ryo in the women"s restroom? Last night he fucked Alice, so I think you"re even. But yeah I"ll keep your secret on one condition. Did i hear something about a food battle going down at Alice"s mansion?" Ryo smiled. "You"ve invited, the more the merrier." After the class, Ryo hung out with Erina and Megumi for the rest of the day. The friends had coffee and talked about the good old days. Ryo did not ask Erina about her post-graduation plans, nor did it come up in conversation. At five pm they made their way to Alice"s mansion. The group entered the kitchen to the sound of moaning. Alice was on her hands and knees. She was sucking off Soma who sat in a chair. Akira was fucking her doggy style, with his hands on her hips. "You like that? You fucking whore. Do you like my big thick Indian cock?" Soma gripped her hair. "I bet you like mine, especially when I ram it down your throat." Ryo and Megumi were ready to back out of the room quietly, but not Erina. The girl bit her lip. She strutted over to Soma and kissed his lips. "Hey Soma, I can finish you off if you like." Alice pulled back, releasing Soma"s cock. "Excuse you!" "I have an idea," Megumi said, drawing attention to her and Ryo"s presence. "I think Alice should battle Soma." Akira finished in Alice"s pussy. "That could be interesting. You"ve never actually beaten Soma." Alice pulled up her panties, allowing Soma to finish in Erina"s mouth. "How about this," Soma offered. "If you win I will be your bitch until graduation. You can tie me up, whip me whatever your sick little mind desires. But if I win you have to treat Ryo with some dignity and Akira get to fuck you as much as he wants." Alice shrugged. The last thing she wanted was to come off as a coward. "I guess that could work." Erina swallowed Soma"s cum. She fixed her skirt to look as ladylike as possible. "You should know Akira is the master of tantric sex," Erina added. Her lips brushed Akira"s. "I remember that night like it was yesterday. Your body layout on my bed, covered in sweat." Akira unbuttoned his shirt; it makes me hot just thinking about it. God, I wish it was me going with you to..." Erina elbowed him in the ribs. "My travel plans are forever changing. How about we just get things started. Ryo do you have any wine?" "May I, mistress?" he asked Alice. "Sure why not." "What does this do?" Soma pressed a button on a device that shot a blast of air from a small tube. "You break it you buy it!" Alice barked. "Most of my equipment, you will never be able to afford without selling every hole in your body." Soma rolled his eyes looked to the Sous Vide machine. "I"ll just use this. And maybe the freeze griddle." "Are you seriously going to London after graduation?" Ryo asked. "Just for a year," Soma replied. He loaded the Sous Vide machine with three bags, one with steak one with shrimp and another with egg whites. "Hey Ryo, do you remember your first year Autumn Finals dish?" Ryo smiled. "Let me guess, you"re going to make it better." "Nah, just switch it up a little as a surf and turf." Akira pulled something from his pocket. "Alice, babe do you mind if I smoke?" "Smoke what?" she asked. "Something that will make your dish taste a whole lot better." "Sure, why not," Alice muttered. Akira pulled a joint from his pant pocket. He took a sniff before lighting up. "Hey Megumi, want a hit?" "No thanks." Akira put his arm around the small girl. "Don"t you want to have a little fun?" "She said no!" Ryo barked. The room froze. "Yeah Akira, have some respect," Soma muttered. Alice finished first. "This is my version of chicken pot pie." Erina looked at her plate. "It looks like a series of wafers held together by dots of cream." "Because it is," Alice explained. "There is a freeze-dried disk of potato, and then carrot, followed by a disk of chicken puree, all topped with a thin cracker that is meant to represent the top crust." "Oh! I get it." Megumi said. "When you break into a chicken pot pie the crust is the best part! You created a version that is all crust but with the same flavors." Erina chuckled. "Tastes like Styrofoam." Next Soma presented a round ball, dusted with freeze-dried toppings. Akira poked the ball with his chopstick, revealing the hidden soup. "Unexpected." Megumi took a taste of the soup, mixing it with the colorful garnish. "It"s beautiful. The spiciness of the broth, the sweetness of the shellfish..." "My vote goes to Soma," Akira declared. "Although Alice"s textures and idea were innovative what matters most is flavor." "Of course it does..." Alice muttered. Megumi nodded. "I vote for Soma as well." Erina kicked her feet up onto Akira"s lap "Sorry, Alice, he"s just better than you."

"Loved", Amy corrected her. "And now, I love someone else. Ricky just needs to accept it, and give me a freakin" divorce!" "What do you mean divorce? You and Ricky are still married?", Lauren asked in disbelief, still in shock over the first bombshell her friend had dropped. "That was kind of one of the things that I needed to take care of", she admitted. "But he won"t sign the papers, so I don"t know what I"m going to do." Lauren shook her head. "Girl, I hate to tell you this. But there is no way Ricky is going to let you leave once he finds out about all of this." "Lauren, please don"t say anything!", Amy pleaded, remembering how her best friends" big mouths had exposed her pregnancy to their entire school all those years ago. "Fine. But you know what they say. Secrets have a way of coming out." A/N: So, there"s no Amy or Ricky in this chapter, but it"s a significant one. And you"ll see why later on. Also, I just started back to school, so it may be a little bit longer before I can update again. But I will try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. The sun was shining on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The carnival was in town. Adrian Lee made her way through the crowd with her best friend at her side. Adrian held her daughter"s hand, as she kept trying to run off. But she was having an easier time than Grace. Her friend was pushing a stroller while trying to keep track of her own daughter. Not to mention, the poor girl was eight months pregnant. No, Adrian did not envy her. "Mama, Mama!", Trinity yelled, the Grace lookalike tugging on her mother"s arm. "Can I go ride the bears?" "Yay! The bears!", Brooklyn repeated excitedly, taking the cue of the older child. Grace breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed an empty bench in front of the ride that the girls wanted to ride. "Okay. Just be careful. We"ll be waiting right here." "Brook, hold Trinity"s hand", Adrian instructed her daughter. Once they saw that the girls were safely getting on the ride, they sat down on the bench. "Oh, my feet hurt", Grace complained as her two-year-old started to get fussy in his stroller. She groaned. "Here, I got him", Adrian said, taking JJ into her arms. "Come here, cutie. Are you trying to give mama a hard time?" "I don"t know how I"m going to do it when this one gets here", she sighed, looking down at her stomach. "I can barely handle Trinity and JJ. And Jack works so much, so he isn"t really any help." "Aw, don"t worry about it. You"ll be great. Don"t you think mama will be great, JJ?", Adrian cooed, kissing the little boy"s sandy brown hair. "You know, I"ve considered talking to Ricky about us having a baby. I would kind of like for us to be married first though." "Then, why don"t y"all get married? You"ve done this on-again, off-again thing for as long as I can remember." Adrian let out a dry laugh. "You"re not going to believe this, but Ricky is still legally married to Amy Juergens." Grace"s eyes widened in shock. "What? But that was in high school. I thought they got divorced after she lost the baby." "That"s what I thought too. And then, she showed up at the house a few days ago saying that she"s getting married, and that they need to get the divorce finalized." "That"s crazy", Grace breathed. "So, did they not know that it hadn"t been taken care of or what?" Adrian shrugged. "Ricky didn"t really want to talk about it. He"s probably still in shock that he"s been married all this time." "Yeah, maybe." The two women were distracted by the sight of their daughters waving to them from the ride. Both of them waved back. "That"s a cute little boy", Grace noted of the boy sitting next to Trinity. "I"ve never seen him before. I mean, I know every little kid in Trinity"s class." "He might be a little older than her", Adrian remarked. "But yeah, he"s a cute kid." Ashley Juergens scanned the fairgrounds in boredom. The carnival had never really been her thing. But at least, her nephew was having a good time. She was trying to help Amy out as much as she could. Her sister was a total complete mess, worrying about how she was going to get her divorce when Ricky wouldn"t sign the papers. She just hoped poor John wouldn"t get put in the middle of it. Ashley had understood Amy"s motivation for not telling Ricky about their son when she was fifteen. But she wasn"t sure it was the best idea now. She couldn"t shake the feeling that this secret was going to come out sooner rather than later. Especially if Ricky started hanging around trying to get Amy to change her mind about the divorce. If he got one good look at John, he would figure it out. Suddenly, taking the little boy to the carnival didn"t seem like the best idea. "Aunt Ashley!", John yelled excitedly, running up to her. "Can we ride the ferris wheel next?" She ruffled his hair. "I think we need to be getting home, kid. Your mama is gonna be worried. She probably didn"t expect us to be gone this long." "But can"t we just ride one more ride, Aunt Ashley? Please..." "One more", Ashley relented, holding up her index finger. "And then, I don"t want to hear any complaining." "Yes ma"am." "The ferris wheel, mama! Please!", Trinity pleaded. "Baby, I can"t take JJ on the ferris wheel", Grace tried to reason with her daughter. "And you know I don"t like heights." "I"ll ride with them. I think I can handle the teacups", Adrian laughed. Grace shot her a playful glare. "Hey, if I remember correctly, you couldn"t be persuaded to get on the merry-go-round when you were pregnant." "Because it made me sick. Not because I was scared." "Mama, let"s go", Brooklyn said, tugging on her arm. Adrian sighed, and grabbed hold of the two girls" hands as they walked to the ferris wheel. Grace propped herself up against the metal fence, and waved to them. Thankful that she didn"t have to ride the stupid thing. "We can fit a few more", the ride operator said, motioning for Adrian and the girls to get in one of the teacups. "Yay!", Trinity exclaimed. "We don"t have to wait in line, Aunt Adrian!" "No line! No line!", Brooklyn chanted happily. Adrian lifted the girls into the cart before settling herself in between them. "Adrian?", she heard a voice utter in surprise. She looked up to see Amy"s sister sitting in front of them with the boy that the kids had been sitting with on the last ride. A look of confusion crossed her face. "Ashley, right?" Ashley nodded, all too conscious of the fact that Ricky"s girlfriend had two or three minutes to figure out that John was his son. And there was nothing that she could do about it. "John, you like the ferris wheel too?", Trinity asked. "This is my favorite ride." "Mine too", he agreed. "So, are you babysitting?", Adrian wondered, her eyes focused on John. There was something so familiar about this kid. She just couldn"t place it. "Yeah", Ashley answered. "Aunt Ashley said that we had to go home after this ride", John informed them with a disappointed look on his face. Ashley felt like crawling into a hole. She had managed to screw up everything for her sister. Adrian narrowed her eyes. "Aunt Ashley?" She looked at the kid. "Is your mama"s name Amy by any chance?" "That is none of your business", Ashley snapped. "Mama, why"s the lady being mean?", Brooklyn asked. John looked at his aunt in confusion. "I"d like to know the same thing", Adrian muttered. "Um, yes ma"am. That"s my mama"s name", John informed her, still not understanding of what his aunt was trying to do. Adrian looked at Ashley, and then back at John. She was utterly confused. Did Amy adopt a kid or something? Unless she got pregnant right after she left town. This didn"t make any sense! And why did the kid look so much like Ricky? Amy miscarried their baby. This kid couldn"t be Ricky"s. But that was what was so familiar about him. He was a miniature version of her boyfriend. "What"s your daddy"s name?", she asked, though she wasn"t sure that she wanted to know the answer. Ashley was livid at this point. "How dare you?" "Why are you being so mean, Aunt Ashley?", John questioned. He turned back to Adrian. "I don"t have a daddy. Well, I guess I do. But I don"t know who he is." "But every kid"s supposed to have a daddy", Trinity pointed out. "I don"t", Brooklyn chimed in. "But I have mama and my Uncle Ricky." Ashley glared at Adrian. The things that she would say if there weren"t three kids around. Thankfully, the ride stopped, and they started to empty the teacups. She couldn"t wait to get out of there. Adrian couldn"t stop herself from staring at the little boy. He looked too much like Ricky to not be Ricky"s son. Amy couldn"t have lied about having a miscarriage, could she? And the baby was a girl, not a boy. She couldn"t put the pieces together. Unless Ricky got Amy pregnant again before she left. Somehow, she doubted that. They had been on the outs after the miscarriage...big time. The operator finally let them out, and Ashley practically bolted with the kid. Panic struck Adrian. Somehow or another, Amy had Ricky"s son. She was sure of it now. And Adrian wasn"t sure if she should divulge this information or not. Please review! A/N: So, school has been just as chaotic as expected. But I did manage to get this chapter ready, without taking too terribly long. Hope you guys like it! Ashley drove home as quickly as she could. She walked into the living room to find Amy on the phone. While John scampered off, Ashley waited patiently for her sister to get off the phone. Though she was not in a patient mood. "Yeah, it might be a few days longer than I expected", Amy was informing someone. More than likely her fiance, Ashley decided. "I know, I miss you too...Okay, I"ll call you later...Love you too", she said as she hung up the phone. "One thing I don"t miss about home. There is no privacy." "You don"t have time to be worrying about privacy. I took John to the carnival, and we ran into Adrian", Ashley said bluntly, not bothering to beat around the bush. Amy"s jaw dropped in disbelief. "You took John to the carnival! Why would you do that?" "I was taking him to get something to eat, and we passed by the carnival. He really wanted to go, so I said okay. It didn"t occur to me that Adrian would be there." "Adrian has a little kid, Ashley!", she exclaimed. "Little kids like carnivals! I was worried enough about you taking John out to eat! I certainly didn"t think you would take him to a place where half of the town was hanging around!" "I didn"t think about it, okay! This was the last thing that I expected to happen!", Ashley said defensively. Amy buried her head in her hands. "This is not happening right now. How suspicious was she? What did you tell her?" "Very and I told her nothing. But that doesn"t matter anyway because you are going to find Ricky and tell him everything." She looked at Ashley like she was crazy. "Why would I do that?" "Because this has gone too far", Ashley said firmly. "I"m tired of having to cover up your lies, and I"m not gonna do it anymore. Ricky"s not perfect. He"s made mistakes just like you have. But he deserves to know that he has a kid. And if you don"t tell him, Adrian will." Amy sighed. Maybe Ashley was right. If Ricky had to find out, it would be better if she told him. But how was she supposed to look him in the eye after all these years and tell him this? He was going to be furious. But it had to come from her. Not Adrian. She grabbed her car keys. "You"ll watch John?" Ashley nodded. "Hurry. Adrian"s probably on her way now." Amy complied, and rushed out the door. "Mama, why did we have to leave the fair so soon?", Brooklyn asked, disappointment in her voice. Adrian glanced at her daughter through the rearview mirror. "Something came up, baby. Something that couldn"t wait." She had to tell Ricky. There was no other option. If he found out that she knew about this and she didn"t say anything, they would be over. Just like that. And she wasn"t about to lose him. Her foot pressed down harder on the pedal, causing the car to speed up. She was about a mile away from the house when she felt the tire begin to go flat. "Dammit!", she cursed. "Ooohh. Mama, you said a bad word." "I know. I"m sorry", she muttered as she pulled out her cell phone. "No cell phone service. That"s just great." "What are we gonna do?", Brooklyn wondered, looking at her mother. A determined look crept onto Adrian"s face. "Get out of the car, Brook. We"re gonna walk." "All the way home?" "It"s not that far", she assured the child. There was no way a little car trouble was going to stop her. There was a very real possibility that Amy would be heading to tell Ricky herself. But it would score major points with Ricky if Adrian was the one that did it. After a few minutes, Amy parked the car in Ricky"s driveway, glancing around to see if Adrian"s was there. It wasn"t. As calmly as she could, she made her way to the front door, and rapped on it. A few moments later, Ricky opened it. He gave her a smile. "Amy. Did you reconsider the divorce?" She shook her head, not quite knowing what to say. "No. I"m uh...I"m not here about that. I need to talk to you." It felt as if someone else was saying the words that were coming out of her mouth. She felt almost numb. Like if she let any emotion into her voice, there was no way she would be able to do this. "Okay. Do you wanna come in?", Ricky asked, motioning inside the house. Slowly, she nodded, and followed him inside. She looked down at the floor, unable to face him. He tilted her head up to look at him. "Hey, what"s wrong?" "You"re going to hate me", she said quietly. "What? Come on. I could never hate you." Amy sighed. "You will when you find out what I"ve done." "Mama, I"m hot. And my feet hurt", Brooklyn complained, gazing up at Adrian. "Okay, come here", Adrian uttered. She stopped for a brief moment, and picked the child up. The little girl wrapped her arms tightly around her mother"s neck. "I"m still hot." "It"s just a little bit further, see. There"s the house", she said, pointing as they got closer to the driveway. She was almost there. Ricky looked at Amy in concern. "What are you talking about? What have you done?" Amy bit her lip. She didn"t know how to do this. Her eyes locked with his. "I didn"t do it to hurt you. Please know that", she said in a near-whisper. "I was just doing what I thought was right." "Amy, you"re scaring me a little bit", he admitted, brushing a stray tear from her cheek. "Look, there is nothing in this world that you could do to make me hate you. I mean, after everything that I"ve done to hurt you? Who would I be to judge?" She shook her head. "This is different. This isn"t just something that you can forgive and forget. But you have to understand. I was a kid, Ricky. I wasn"t thinking clearly. I was scared of getting hurt again. And I had already been hurt so much." Ricky rested his hands on her shoulders. "I know I hurt you. And I am trying with everything in me to make up for that. But I need a chance, Amy. Please just give me a chance." Amy pushed him away. "No, you don"t! You don"t want another chance with me! I was selfish and stupid!" "So was I! I promise, I was a lot more stupid than you were!" She couldn"t stand listening to him talk like she was an innocent party. Maybe she was at first. But not now. She really had thought she was doing the right thing at the time. But she was beginning to realize that the reason she had kept quiet all these years was partly to avoid this exact conversation. She threw her hands up in the air as the front door opened. "Ricky, you have a son!", two voices rang out in unison. His eyes grew large. Amy turned to look at Adrian, who glared at her in return. Ricky looked from Amy to Adrian and then back to Amy. "What?" Amy stared into his eyes, blinking back tears. "Ricky, we have a son." Sooo...let me know what you think! A/N: As always, thanks to everyone for the awesome reviews! Here is the confrontation chapter! This was actually one of the hardest chapters for me to write so far, and it turned out a little shorter than I wanted. But hopefully, you guys won"t be disappointed! "Brook, can you go to your room?", Adrian asked quietly, still glaring at Amy. The little girl complied, disappearing down the hallway. Ricky was still trying to understand what Amy was talking about. "I know I owe you an explanation", she stated. "Oh, you owe him a lot more than that", Adrian remarked as she approached them. Amy turned to the other woman. "Adrian, can you please give me and Ricky some time alone? This is nothing to you." "I beg to differ!" "Okay, Amy, what did you mean when you said we had a son?", Ricky asked, interrupting the catfight before it had a chance to begin. "Because we both know that"s not possible." She drew in a deep breath. "Except it is." He looked at Amy, his concern for her evident. He pressed his hand lightly to her forehead. "Are you feeling okay? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?" Adrian rolled her eyes. "She"s telling the truth now. Eight years after the fact." Ricky"s glance shifted from one girl to the other. "Honestly, I"m not sure which one of you is freaking me out more right now." "Look, I"ll tell you everything", Amy stated. "But it needs to be just you and me." Ricky sighed. "Adrian..." She waved her hand, not even bothering to argue. "I get it. Little miss perfect wants to tell you her deep, dark secret without me around. I"ll just be taking a shower. God knows I need one." Amy watched her disappear from the room. She turned back to Ricky. "I probably should"ve told you a long time ago. It wasn"t fair for me to keep something like this a secret. I get that now. And I know that you"re probably going to be really mad at me, and I deserve it..." "Amy", he cut her off. "I"m not mad at you. I"m worried about you. Especially if you really believe that we have a son." "I know we do. He"s with my sister right now. His name"s John. He"s seven. He looks just like you", she said softly. Ricky placed his hands squarely on her shoulders. "Amy, we never slept together after you lost Faith. There is no way that we could"ve had another child." "He"s Faith"s twin!", Amy exclaimed, desperate to prove that she wasn"t crazy. Her admission left him reeling. "Faith didn"t have a twin!", he insisted, more to himself than anyone. There is no way that he could have had a son, and not known about it. She fished around in her purse, finally finding what she was looking for. She held the picture in front of him. "This is him, see. This is our son. Tell me that he doesn"t look just like you." Slowly, Ricky took the picture from her hand. If he hadn"t known better, he would"ve sworn that the picture was him as a child. This couldn"t really be happening. Could Amy actually be telling the truth? That he had a kid? That he was somebody"s father? He collapsed into the nearest chair, fearing his legs were about to give out on him. "I know that you"re probably in a lot of shock right now..." Ricky looked up at her. "I have a son? This is really happening?" Amy nodded. Then, it hit him. "He"s seven years old. My son is seven years old. Why am I just finding out about this now?" Inside, she was praying for the best, but expecting the worst. "I didn"t find out that I was still pregnant until after I had got to New York. I just wanted to leave my past behind me, you know? Start over. I was still so hurt from everything that had happened with you and me and Adrian. I didn"t want to go back to that." Anger swirled with hurt inside of him. He stood up to face her. "So, you thought that it was okay that I never find out about my own kid? How could you do something like that?" "I was fifteen!", she reminded him. "And I know that"s no excuse, but I was scared and stupid. And I was tired of you hurting me, and I just wanted it to stop!" "That doesn"t give you the right to keep me away from my son! I was still hurting over Faith too! Do you have any idea how long it took me to be able to look at myself in the mirror knowing that my daughter might still be here if it wasn"t for me?" "I"m sorry!", she cried, fighting back tears. "I know I was wrong, and I was selfish! I was just trying to do what I thought was right! And that"s what seemed right at the time!" Ricky shook his head, unable to wrap his head around this whole situation. "I would"ve been there for you. I would"ve even came to New York if that"s what you wanted! I was your husband! I"m still your husband! God, Amy! We"ve been best friends since we were kids! How could you not tell me this?" "I don"t know!", Amy sobbed. She wanted desperately for him to just take her into his arms, and tell her that he understood. That he forgave her. He paced the room for a few moments. It was taking every ounce of self-restraint that he had to not completely go off on her. At least, any more than he already had. That wouldn"t accomplish anything at this point. All that mattered was that he had a little boy. They had a little boy. It seemed so surreal. "Please say something, Ricky", she pleaded. He looked at her. "I want to see my son. Now." She nodded, wiping a tear out of the corner of her eye. "Okay." Please review :)

"Jason?" A grateful smile formed on his face. She wasn"t Elizabeth, but he was pretty damn happy to see her. "Hey, Robin." "Oh my God. Jason!", she cried, throwing herself into his arms. She held on to him for several more moments before she pulled back. "You"re really back! I thought my husband had gone completely crazy, but you"re really here. Wait, how are you here? How did you survive, Jason? You were shot and you drowned...at least you were supposed to have drowned." "Look, it"s a long story. There"s parts I don"t even know. But it"s really good to see you", he said sincerely. Robin grinned and hugged him again. "You too. Here, come in!" He obediently walked through the door, and she shut it behind him. "Where is Elizabeth?", he asked casually. She waved her hand. "She said she had something she needed to do, so I came over to watch the boys. Which is the least I can do considering how great she"s been with Emma." "Emma...how is she?", Jason wondered. "She is amazing", Robin answered. Then, she shook her head. "Wow. You"re really here. God, this is so crazy. Do you realize how unlikely it is that someone could survive everything you went through?" "Pretty unlikely?", he guessed, prompting a smile from his friend. "Jason!" "You came back!" Jason turned to see Cam and Aiden running towards him, huge smiles on their faces. "Hey guys", he smiled at them. The older child wrapped his arms around his waist and the younger one leapt into his arms. Then, he noticed the girl standing back a bit who bore an uncanny resemblance to Robin. "And this must be Emma", he said, offering a smile to the little girl. "Yeah", Robin replied. "It"s crazy how fast they grow. You remember Jason, baby? Mommy"s friend?" "Jason, you wanna play Madden?", Cameron asked excitedly. "Mom got me the new one." "Sure, I"d love to", he said genuinely. He figured it wouldn"t hurt for him to hang around for a little while. He had missed these kids. And he wanted to catch up with Robin. Elizabeth would probably be back soon anyway. Cam went to get the game set up, and Jason looked back at Robin. "You don"t mind if I wait here with you, do you?" "What? No, of course not. And I"m sure Elizabeth would be disappointed if she missed you." "Can we go play video games too, mommy?", Emma asked, looking up at her mom. "Sure, if Jason and Cam don"t mind. I"ll be in there in a second. I"m just going to call your dad first. I think I might owe him an apology." Jason just smiled back at her before following Emma to the couch, where Cameron was setting up the video game. "I wonder what"s keeping Jason", Sam remarked as she took a sip of her glass of water. Elizabeth shrugged. "Like you said, he"s got a lot of people he needs to see." An awkward silence passed before Sam spoke again. "You sure you don"t want something to drink? I can get you something." "Oh, that"s okay." Somehow, she didn"t feel all too comfortable with the idea of Sam fixing anything that was going to end up in her body. Another awkward silence. Okay, that was enough of this. "You know, I should probably go", she said, standing up with her nearly overflowing purse in her hand. "I promised Cam I would take him out for pizza after he made an A on his math test." "That"s great. He"s a smart kid." "Yeah, he is. So, if you could just tell Jason I dropped by..." Sam nodded. "I can do that." "Thanks", she said as she opened the door to leave. Only to see Maxie and Spinelli standing on the other side of it. "Uh, hi guys." "Is it true?", Spinelli asked, looking from her to Sam. "Is Jason really alive? Is he here?" "He isn"t here right now. But yes, he"s alive", Sam informed them, smiling as Maxie ran to hug her. "That"s so wonderful!", the blonde gushed. "I"m so happy for you. But how did he survive? I mean, I know Jason"s like indestructible and everything but...that"s kinda pushing it, even for him." "I can"t believe he"s really alive", Spinelli said quietly. Elizabeth nodded. "It"s pretty incredible. But wait, how did you guys find out if you haven"t seen him?" "Maxie"s mother called us." She raised an eyebrow. "Felicia? How would she know?" He shrugged. "I don"t think Maxie asked for details. We dropped Georgie off with them and came straight over here." Oh, God. She could only imagine the look on Jason"s face when he found out Spinelli and Maxie had a baby. He was never going to see that coming. She glanced at the two women who were deeply engaged in conversation at this point. Then, she looked back at Spinelli. "Well, I should really get home to the boys. But I"m sure Jason will be thrilled to see you, Spinelli." He smiled. "I"m sure he"ll be thrilled to see you too." She smiled back and then proceeded to let herself out. "Yes! Russell Wilson scores again!", Cam exclaimed, throwing his hands up in celebration. He had already built a two touchdown lead and his quarterback sneak pretty much cemented the game. Robin laughed as she bounced Aiden on her knees. "I don"t know much about football, Jason. But I"m pretty sure you just got demolished." Sure he did. It wasn"t like he was actually going to try to beat Cam. He enjoyed seeing how happy the kid got when he won way too much. Though he was starting to realize the Cardinals were not as good as he remembered and the Seahawks were a hell of a lot better than he remembered. "I guess Cam is just that good", Jason said with a fake sigh. "It"s okay, you"re nowhere near as bad as Aiden or Emma", Cameron assured him. "Hey!", Emma said, crossing her arms. "I"m not that bad." Elizabeth opened the door to the sight of them all crowded in front of the living room TV. A smile instantly appeared on her face. Since they didn"t seem to hear her come in, she approached them. She knew she would have to be overtly thrilled to see Jason, for Robin"s benefit. That wasn"t going to be hard. Especially since Sam was nowhere around. "Jason", she uttered, capturing everyone"s attention. He stood up and met her halfway. "Hey", he said softly, taking her into his arms. She held on tightly to him, feeling so safe in his embrace. The sound of kids giggling interrupted the moment. She slowly pulled away, feeling a bit of embarrassment. It was just a hug. What were they all giggling for? "Well, me and Emma should be getting home", Robin said, hiding her own smile. "Okay. Thank you so much for watching the boys. I hope they weren"t too rowdy", Elizabeth said. "Oh, no. They were fine", Robin assured her, hugging Elizabeth and then Jason. "I"m so glad you"re home. Don"t you dare be a stranger, okay? I missed you." "Never", he promised. She smiled and then prodded her daughter out the door. Elizabeth offered him a small smile. It was strange how she had been waiting on him at the penthouse while he had been here at her own house. "So...it looks like all of Port Charles knows you"re alive by now", she said casually as they walked a few feet away from the boys and the loud TV. He shook his head. "No, just you guys and Sam...Sonny and Carly...Monica...Tracy...", he reeled off names, realizing that the news of his reappearance had indeed probably spread all over town by now. "Spinelli and Maxie know too", she informed him. "They came to the penthouse to see you, but you were obviously here so..." Jason"s expression changed to one of surprise. "You were at the penthouse?" Her gaze strayed from him. "Well, I thought Sam might get suspicious if I didn"t drop by since I "know" you"re alive now. But you don"t have to worry", she said quickly as he started to groan. "We didn"t kill each other or anything. It was a little awkward sure, but it wasn"t awful." "Nothing"s changed for me", he said after a moment. "I still don"t remember being married to Sam. And I don"t think I ever will. And I still feel the same way about you." Elizabeth sighed and glanced at her boys, perfectly content with the video game. Then, she looked back at him. "Come with me." She quietly led him out onto the front porch and closed the door behind her. "Now, why don"t you think you"ll remember being married to Sam?" He really didn"t want to go into detail with her about that. He didn"t want her to imagine him in that state, for her to worry about what Helena had done to him. He was worried enough about that for the both of them. "I just think I would"ve remembered by now", he finally said. "But I do remember you. I love you, Elizabeth. I know you"re afraid that it won"t last, but it will. I will always love you." She briefly closed her eyes, feeling the cold wind blow through her hair. Then, she looked up at him again. It was like a magnetic force between the two of them. She didn"t know if she could stop it, no matter how much she tried. "Why are you doing this?", Elizabeth asked softly. "Why can"t you just be my friend? Why do you want to be more than that now? Now when you have a wife and a son. Damn it, Jason. Why now?" Jason slowly took her hand into his own, the contact instantly warming both of them. "I don"t want to hurt you. That"s the last thing I want." "This is hurting me", she whispered. "I love you too, okay? But I can"t afford to put myself in the position to be hurt again. I can"t put my kids in that position. These feelings that you have aren"t permanent. I know they feel that way to you, but they"re not. You could wake up in the morning and have all of those memories back. And then, you"ll be glad that I stopped us both from making a big mistake." "We will never be a mistake." Before she could even think, his lips had collided passionately with hers. It made her mind go completely blank, but her body was on fire. All she could think was of how much she had missed this. How right it felt. Like coming home. It took several moments before she finally brought herself to break away. And she suddenly found herself raging with fury because that was the last thing she needed. "Why did you do that?", she demanded. "I can"t do this, Jason. Don"t you understand? I can"t do this!" "Elizabeth-" "I need you to go!", Elizabeth said, her voice cracking with emotion. "Please. Just go." Jason frowned as he watched a tear slide down her cheek. He wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms and tell her how sorry he was. Even without the slightest intention, he seemed to hurt her. "Can I say goodbye to the boys?", he asked quietly. She nodded, wiping the edges of both of her eyes. He looked at her one more time before going into the house. She leaned over the porch railing, grasping it tightly with her fingers. She was stronger than this. She had to be. Even though, truth be told, she wanted that kiss to last forever. Sam checked her watch for what had to be the tenth time, wondering what was taking Jason so long to get home. She glanced at Maxie and Spinelli, who were playing with Danny in front of the fireplace. They would end up back together soon enough, she was certain. Her eyes moved to the picture of her and Jason, both of them looking so happy. She wanted that Jason back. This one acted like he could barely tolerate her. The man she married loved her more than anything. And she would do whatever it took to make him love her again. That was when she spotted a piece of folded up paper on the floor. Curiously, she bent down to pick it up and then proceeded to unfold it. Her eyes widened with every word on the sheet of paper. A mixture of anger and disbelief coursed through her. "Oh, you wanna play?", she said to herself, crumbling up the piece of paper. "Lets play." Dun dun dun. What do you think Sam found? And how about that kiss? :) A/N: Hey guys! Thank you for all the reviews! Here"s the next chapter! Jason went back to the penthouse feeling like the lowest of the low. He couldn"t get Elizabeth out of his head. He could still taste her kiss on his lips. And he could still see the look of utter heartbreak in her eyes afterwards. This was too damn hard! Pretending like he was in love with one woman when he was really in love with another. Seeing the one that he did love hurting, and only making it worse. The kiss was on impulse; he didn"t think it through. He didn"t stop to consider that it would only hurt her more. God, why couldn"t he just remember? He was growing more and more convinced that Helena had done something to mess with his memory and as a consequence- his future. He stood outside the door to his penthouse for a moment, wondering what would happen if he just didn"t go in there. Sam would be hurt. He would look like a bad husband and father to the whole town. And he didn"t want to do that. Really, he didn"t. He had obviously married Sam, even if it was for reasons that he still didn"t understand. He couldn"t just leave her like that. But he owed her the truth too, didn"t he? What kind of woman would want to be with a man who was in love with someone else? On the other hand, he wasn"t sure if that would matter to her. With a sigh, he twisted the doorknob and walked inside. "Stone Cold?", Spinelli blurted out, looking shocked because he probably couldn"t convince himself to believe that the rumors were actually true. He slowly approached him. "Is it really you?" Jason gave him a faint smile. "Yeah. It"s me, Spinelli." A wide smile crossed the kid"s face, and he pulled Jason into a hug. He couldn"t suppress a smile and patted Spinelli on the back. "I can"t believe you"re really alive", Maxie piped up, a little bit of shakiness detectable in her voice. "Me either", Spinelli breathed, drawing back. "How did you- you- were shot...the water...I don"t understand." "I don"t either", Jason admitted. "But I"m here now, and that"s all that matters. It"s good to see you, Spinelli." "It"s good to see you too", Spinelli said quietly. Sam watched the scene for awhile before deciding to speak up. "I think we"re all just very grateful to have Jason back. Yes, he"s missed out on a lot of things while he"s been gone. But we can"t live in the past", she said firmly, looking directly at him. "We have to move on and learn to live in the present. Even if it"s different from what we remember." He caught the hint of bitterness in her tone that Spinelli and Maxie would take as simply a resolve to move forward. She was angry. About what he wasn"t certain. The fact that her husband didn"t remember being with her? The fact that he was shutting her out? He didn"t know. But he had a feeling it wasn"t going to bode well for anyone. Or maybe Maxie did catch something in Sam"s voice considering she gave Spinelli an uncomfortable look. "Um, maybe we should go and give you guys some alone time. You probably haven"t had a whole lot of that." "Oh, you don"t have to go", Jason protested, as he wasn"t in the particular mood to be left alone with Sam. "Well, we still have to go pick Georgie up and I don"t want to be that late getting home", the blonde insisted. Jason scratched his head in confusion. "Wait, Georgie?" "Our daughter", Spinelli clarified before adding quietly, "It"s kind of a long story." He looked from Spinelli to Maxie in disbelief. "You two have a baby?" "Yep. You should come see her sometime", Maxie said as she grabbed Spinelli"s hand and pulled him to the door. "It"s been really great seeing you, Jason. I"m very glad you"re not dead." "Uh, thanks?" "Hey, Jason?", Spinelli said before they walked outside. "It"s great to have you home." "Thank you, Spinelli", Jason said with a small smile. Then as they walked away, he closed the door. "Why were you in such a hurry to leave?', Spinelli asked as he and Maxie walked away from the penthouse. "You didn"t see Sam in there?", the blonde remarked, dramatically pointing in the direction of which they had came. "She had this crazy look in her eyes. I don"t know how to explain it. She almost didn"t even look like herself for a minute. You really didn"t notice?" Surprised, he shook his head. "No." "Well, I noticed. Something strange is up with her and Jason, Spinelli. I could see it." "Where"s Danny?", Jason asked casually in an attempt to get Sam to stop looking at him that way. It was like half-anger, half-determination. And that was a bad combination of emotions, especially in Sam. "He"s asleep", she answered. "And we need to talk." You know what? Maybe that wasn"t such a bad idea. He needed to just tell her the truth. That he was still in love with Elizabeth. This shit had gone on long enough. He was tired of lying. He was tired of pretending. "I think that"s a good idea", he agreed, sitting on the couch next to her. But he wasn"t expecting what happened next. She started to cry. "Sam-", he sighed. She shook her head as she wiped the edges of her eyes. "Jason, you have to hear what I need to say." She took a shaky breath and looked at him. "We went through so much to get to the place we were when you supposedly died. We fought so hard for that happiness. And when you "died", I fell apart. I didn"t know how to go on without you. But I had to for Danny"s sake. Then, he got sick and I was scared I was gonna lose him too. Then, my father came into my life. Jason, it"s been one thing after another for me. I just want that life that we used to have back. When everything was so simple. And like I said, I know that we can"t go back to the past but we are married. You are my husband. I"m trying so hard to understand what you"re going through. I know you can"t remember, and that"s not your fault. But I need you to at least make an effort here." "Listen, I"m sorry for everything you"ve had to go through. Really, I am-" "I don"t want your sympathy, Jason!", Sam cried. "I just want you!" "I"m sorry", Jason said. "I know you didn"t ask for any of this. Neither did I. But I can"t help the way I feel, Sam." "What about how I feel, huh? We made vows to each other. You promised me that we would be together forever- for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health. Do those vows mean anything to you?" Could she lay on the guilt trip any more? How could those vows mean anything to him? He didn"t remember making them! "Just give me a chance", she pleaded. "Don"t shut me out. We can get through this together; I promise we can. You and me and Danny. Think about your son, Jason! He"s been without you for all this time. He needs his father!" "And I"m going to be there for him. But I need you to stop pushing me! In fact, I think it"s best if I just get a hotel room until we figure something else out." "You"re just going to walk out on me?", Sam said, disbelieving of what she just heard. "All the time that I grieved for you. All the hurt that I went through when I thought you died. And you"re just going to leave me?" Jason walked out the door, slamming it behind him as she continued to cry. He had a feeling he should have felt more guilt than he actually did. And he did understand where she was coming from. But he couldn"t keep staying there with her. She wanted the Jason that he didn"t remember being. He just wanted Elizabeth. Elizabeth was huddled up under a blanket on the couch, watching TV. She wasn"t really paying attention to anything though. She had already gotten the boys to sleep. But she knew she wouldn"t be able to sleep herself. Every time she closed her eyes, she was out on that porch looking up into Jason"s bright blue eyes. His lips pressed against hers. Why did he have to do this to her? Why couldn"t he just remember Sam and quit torturing her? That was how it was going to end up anyway. She wasn"t foolish enough to ignore history. Maybe that was why she always ended up in such bad situations. Somehow, she would think that it would come out different. That fate couldn"t possibly be cruel enough to punish her yet again. She"d figured out by now that fate was the cruelest creature on the planet. But how much punishment could one person take? Her eyes strayed from the TV to the fireplace, which was adorned with family pictures. Cameron who was getting so big. She felt like he was constantly needing new shoes or clothes because he kept outgrowing them. She knew his childhood would be over before long. Time kept flashing by, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Only pray that it would slow down and let her enjoy him for a little while longer. Then there was Jake, her sweet angel that she would give anything to hold in her arms one more time. Sometimes, she would wake up and hope that it had all been some kind of cruel dream. That she would walk into his room and he would be there in his bed, safe and sound. He was such a special little boy. She would swear that literally nothing scared him. He was so brave, yet so caring. It broke her heart when she thought about the amazing future he could have- should have- had. Then Aiden, the youngest. He was still her baby for the time being. He would still let her hold him in her arms for as long as she wanted without saying, "Mom, not in front of my friends!" like Cam did. She felt so special because she knew that she was the most important person in the world in his eyes. But just like his brother, he would have to grow up eventually. And that thought saddened her. But even in the single picture with all four of them, she couldn"t help but feel like something was missing. And she knew instantly what that something was. Jason. How? Because everything always comes back to Jason.

"Maybe - maybe I was wrong, then," Kate sounds shaken. "Maybe he"s not what he seems. He could have been helping me after all." Max frowns, her stomach lurching at Kate"s distress. "No, Kate, don"t doubt yourself like that -" "Yeah, and remember this afternoon," Chloe growls, pacing around the room. "If he had nothing to hide, why did he bring a gun to threaten me with? Does that seem like the action of an innocent person to you?" "Whoa, whoa, what gun?" Warren breaks in, looking shocked and Max remembers he"s still not heard any of this part of the story yet. "What exactly went down this afternoon?" They recount the meeting with Nathan, and Warren"s frown gets deeper and deeper as they go on. "- and I"m pretty sure that"s what he was about to threaten me over downstairs," Max finishes, twisting her fingers together agitatedly. "Over the meeting this afternoon, and for knowing about the gun. And I suppose for reporting him to the Principal for having the gun, and for drugging Kate." She meets Warren"s gaze and he looks about as sick as she feels. What does it say about me - about us - that we have someone like that for a soulmate? Kate is the one to break the silence that has fallen between them. "Either way, this doesn"t have to change anything, does it?" she says hesitantly. "We"re still investigating what happened - and on the subject of Nathan, well," she falters a little, then presses on. "Innocent until proven guilty, I suppose?" "He looks pretty fucking guilty from where I"m standing," Chloe mutters, even as she twines her fingers with Max"s and gives her hand a gentle squeeze, clearly able to feel her distress. "But hell yeah, we"re keeping going with the investigation." "There"s a small problem with that though." Warren speaks up, frowning a little. "Unless you guys have missed out some details, wasn"t Nathan our only lead?" There"s a beat of silence. "Fuck," Chloe summarises. It"s then that Max remembers what she"d originally gathered her friends to tell them about, something that she"d totally forgotten in the unexpected shock of finding out that it was Nathan Prescott"s words she had inked across her upper arm. "Actually guys," she says hesitantly. "You know that thing I wanted to tell you about earlier? I think it might help us get more leads..." It"s official. Chloe has the coolest soulmate in the world. Not only is Max a superhero, she"s a time-travelling superhero, which is totally fucking awesome. I mean sure, Max needed to demonstrate a few times first, but that"s a reasonable response to your best friend claiming she can rewind time, right? ("...Okay, you"re not crazy, but you are on something, right? You"ve not got a contact high from being near Prescott have you? That guy is doped up to fuck all the time -" "Chloe! No, I"m not high, here, let me show you -") Of course, Warren is even more excited than Chloe, overflowing with eagerness about the prospect of a real life superpower. "Why do you think it happened? How does it work? Oh man, this so cool," he enthuses, and Max laughs, bright happiness blooming from her for the first time in this entire shitty day. Kate, on the other hand, looks oddly pensive after Max proves her abilities are the real deal. "Maybe God has blessed you, with something out of the ordinary," she says finally, her eyes brightening. "Maybe it"s to help bring whoever is hurting people to justice." Chloe"s never been much of a believer in religion of any sort, but bringing people to justice is the kind of sentiment she can get behind. "Amen to that," she agrees, grinning. "And regardless of whether it"s science or God or magical bullshit, you"re right Max - we can totally use your new power to find out the truth about what happened to Kate and Rachel!" The exhilaration that races through her makes her want to jump and run and whoop, but then Warren speaks. "Rachel Amber?" he questions, and Chloe suddenly remembers he doesn"t actually know this part of the story. She"d shared it with Kate yesterday, but she"d neglected to mention it when they were filling Warren in. "Isn"t that the girl who vanished from campus last year?" Chloe exchanges a look with Max, before taking a deep breath and stepping forward. "She was my soulmate too," she says proudly, defiantly, as she bares her arm. Warren makes a sound of shock at the sight of the silver-white words looped around her wrist; a Faded mark is not often displayed. "She was one of my best friends, and I loved her, and no matter what the police said, her death was not an accident. That I am hella fucking sure of." Warren stares at her like he"s seeing an entirely different person, and after a moment, Chloe feels a little self-consciousness creeping in. She straightens up, and looks away, acting nonchalant even as she feels like she should be shaking from the depth of her emotion. "That"s what we have to prove anyway." After that, they settle into a serious brainstorming session, and several hours fly past before Chloe finally kicks them out at 10pm. "This is my dorm, Chloe, you can"t just kick people out," Max says, amusement and exasperation bubbling through the bond in equal measure. "You thank me when you get you get your beauty sleep," Chloe tells her, grinning. "See you dweebs tomorrow at eight!" she calls after Kate and Warren, before shutting the door. "I can"t believe you"re excited about getting up early," Max says laughing as she gets ready for bed. "Hey, even I can get excited about an early start if it"s because we"re testing out our soulmate"s supercool superpowers!" It"s no time at all before they"re curled up together in dark, nestled comfortably in Max"s sea of pillows. Chloe"s on the verge of drifting off to sleep, when she feels a tremor in Max, feels the slide of her emotions towards something trembling and raw. She comes fully awake again when she hears Max make a little gasping sob and feels what is unmistakably a tear splash on her hand. "Max?" she asks, concerned, moving to pull her soulmate closer. "Sorry," Max whispers back, embarrassed even as she accepts the embrace, tucking her head under Chloe"s chin. "It"s just - it"s just I saw you get shot today, Chloe. I know I undid it...but it still happened for me. I nearly lost you." Chloe"s arms tighten convulsively around Max. Yeah, that had been an unpleasant surprise when Max had shared that bit of information earlier, but as far as Chloe was concerned, it was something that had never come to pass. She is far more worried about the effect of seeing her fatally wounded had had on Max. "I know," Chloe says, her stomach clenching at the thought of her words on Max turning silver, like Rachel"s had for her. "But I"m here. I"m real." Here, in the cosy darkness of Max"s bedroom, it"s safe to let herself relax, away from judging eyes. It"s safe to let her affection and love flow outwards, with only a hint of embarrassment for being so mushy. And it"s entirely worth it for the way Max sighs and relaxes so quickly it"s like she"s suddenly melted, curled bonelessly against Chloe"s chest. "It"s like you"re hugging my feelings," she slurs sleepily and Chloe can"t help but laugh. "You sound completely stoned," she teases and Max just hums in response, eyes closing as she curls in even closer. It doesn"t take Chloe long to fall asleep after that either, slipping contently into sleep with her soulmate in her arms. The darkness is vast and overwhelming and it feels like terror and drowning, like tar filling her lungs and eyes and nose and ears and mouth and she can"t breathe can"tbreathecan"tbreathecan"tbreathecan"tbreathe - "Max!" Chloe"s terrified cry is what breaks through the rending darkness, and suddenly Max is squinting against blinding light. A second later, her eyes adjust and she sees Chloe hovering beside her, an uncharacteristically frightened expression on her face. "Max, are you okay? That must have been one hell of a nightmare you were having." Chloe"s tone is a shaky attempt at bravado, but Max can"t focus on it, because she"s still feeling it, feeling that overwhelming terror and it"s not her own. It"s not Chloe either, her bond is warm and familiar, even if it"s radiating fright and concern in equal measure right now - this is something else, someone else - Her phone suddenly buzzes, vibrating with an incoming call, and Max startles so badly she nearly knocks Chloe off the bed. Her nerves feel absolutely shot, and she reaches for the phone with a shaking hand, but Chloe beats her to the punch, scooping it up and scowling down at the screen. "Warren? What the fuck is he doing, calling at two in the fucking morning?" "Let me answer," Max says, feeling a sudden sense of foreboding. Chloe glances at her, but doesn"t say anything, placing it in her hand. Max taps accept and holds it to her ear. "Warren?" "Max, oh thank God you picked up." He sounds as shaken as she feels and there"s something like a sob in his voice as he speaks. "You"re the only person I know apart from Kate with an empathic bond and I think - I think -" "You just developed a bond with Nathan Prescott," she finishes, her mind racing ahead of the conversation to snap the final connections into place. "What?" His voice is startled. "How do you know that?" "Because," she says grimly, even as Chloe tenses beside her, shock and disbelief radiating across their bond. "I think I just did too." A/N: You know that estimate I made in chapter one about this being about four or five chapters? Well, that was clearly wrong, forget I ever said anything. xD Hopefully you guys enjoyed Nathan"s debut and the Warren POV on the situation - some Nathan POV next time and that means all our principal cast will have had a turn. xD Thanks again for reading guys, I appreciate the time you take and the comments you make, it encourages me so much! P.S. Also, I meant to say at the end of last chapter, even as I was writing this I noticed how much the butterfly effect came into play just by introducing the concept of soulmates, even with things I never intended - the biggest one so far being that Nathan never drugs Chloe. Max stays in contact with Chloe/is planning to return to Arcadia Bay even before Rachel dies, so Chloe"s need to escape isn"t so overwhelming, so she doesn"t borrow money from Frank to do major overhauls to her truck (plus she"s on much better terms with Frank on account of being Rachel"s other soulmate and knowing about it). This has the knock on effect of Chloe not needing to swindle cash out of Nathan, and therefore she never ends up drugged in his room! There"s still a confrontation with him on account of the Kate situation, but it"s obviously for different reasons this time. A/N: Ahh, I"m sorry this is so late! I was ill for more than a week, and I"ve busy with job applications too, so I (ironically) didn"t have much time to work on this fic. I hope you enjoy despite the lateness (again). We Are Forged In Fire (We Will Never Fall) Chapter Five: The Shape of Things to Come "I can"t believe we"re sneaking into the boys" dormitories to comfort Nathan fucking Prescott of all people..." Chloe grumbles under her breath as they make their way quietly downstairs. "Well, it"s for mine and Warren"s benefit too, if that makes you feel any better," Max points out distractedly. Most of her concentration is currently taken up by running through the repeating patterns of one of Dr Williams" calming exercises, trying to simultaneously settle her own emotional state and gain a little distance from the newly formed bond with Nathan. "That"s the only reason I"m on board with this shitty plan," Chloe huffs. Max knows she feels at least a little sympathy for the amount of terror Nathan is suffering, but it"s largely overshadowed by her own feelings towards him, in addition to the fact she seems bizarrely offended by the idea that he has an empathic bond with Max too. They make it downstairs and Warren"s waiting to let them into the male half of the dorms. He looks a little worse for wear, his expression somewhere between shell-shocked and freaked out. "I"m so glad you guys are here," he says, running a hand through his hair in agitation. "How do you deal with this all the time?" "You"ve had a pretty shitty introduction to the subject," Max admits. "But essentially, practise. A lot of empathic bonds form because of trauma or emotional upheaval though on the part of one or both soulmates -" "Including ours technically," Chloe cuts in as they start climbing the stairs. "That was the cherry on the shit sundae of that particular day." Max grimaces a little. "True." She catches Warren"s confused look and explains, "Our bond was triggered when Chloe got the news of her dad"s death. We both saw a doctor afterwards, one that specialised in empathic bonds, because of the problems that can come about because of them. Not least of which is something called "the bounce effect", which sounds way cuter than it actually is. It"s basically caused by negative emotions being bounced back and forth along the bond, with the emotion being strengthened and amplified by each successive pass. It kinda creates a vicious cycle and it can only be broken if one or both of the soulmates makes an effort to bring their emotions under control - and to that effect, we were taught calming exercises by our doctors, ways to draw our focus back to our own minds and emotions, to regulate and try to distance ourselves from the bond a little." Max pauses, catching the anxious expression on Warren"s face. "Don"t worry, Warren," she encourages. "It"s not all bad. When you"re both happy, for example, it"s the best feeling in the world, since that kind of cycle works in reverse as well. "Although we"re advised to rein in that sort of shit too," Chloe says, rolling her eyes. "In case you like break your brain with endorphins or something." Max elbows her in the side, before turning to smile at Warren again as she pushes open the door to his floor. "Don"t worry, we can teach you the exercises, and once you let your parents know, they might send you to see a doctor too. But first..." she trails off, looking down the corridor towards Nathan"s door. She won"t deny she"s a little bit frightened - the encounter from this afternoon (was it only this afternoon?) is still fresh in her mind. Nathan"s aggression hadn"t left her unaffected, and the dark, roiling sea of his current emotions isn"t any more encouraging. But he is in pain and she can"t just go back to sleep and ignore it - and even if she could, she wouldn"t. He"s a scary prick and I don"t think I like him all that much - not to mention he was might have been involved in Kate"s drugging and kidnapping - but I can"t ignore someone who"s suffering. I can"t. Max takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders, pulling courage from the way Chloe"s hand slips into hers, giving it a quick, encouraging squeeze. "Let"s go speak to Nathan." "Hello?" His voice echoes in the darkening landscape around him. The air is deep blue, the half-light of rapidly fading twilight, and snow is falling softly on the towering, dark hedges surrounding him. It"s absolutely silent, apart from the thin, frail sound of his own voice. "Hello?" There is no response, and Nathan"s pulse quickens as some nameless fear crawls over his skin. He doesn"t know why he"s frightened, why there"s an awful sense of dread curdling his stomach; there"s no signs of life anywhere, but the hush feels less like peaceful silence and more like an indrawn breath, like a sense of waiting, of terrible anticipation. He doesn"t hang around to see what it"s waiting for. Breaking into a sprint, he runs through the maze (of course, it"s a maze, it"s not hedges, it"s always been a maze) but no matter how many twists and turns he takes, he never seems to get anywhere and his legs feel as heavy as lead, like he"s struggling for every stride - Then there is a flicker of movement up ahead, and he slides to a halt. Dread rises in him, so thick it"s almost choking, and he doesn"t know why - Rachel steps out from behind the corner. "Rachel," he says, hardly able to believe his eyes (why? why I am surprised?). The giddy delight is almost overwhelming in contrast to his previous dread and he steps forward, smiling in relief, ignoring the unease still tugging at him (something"s wrong, something"s wrong, something"s wrong). "Rachel, what are you doing here?" Rachel smiles and laughs as she steps forward too. "Why? Surprised to see me? You should be." Her head tilts playfully, but there is something wrong, something wavers in the air and she is still gliding forward but her clothes are caked in earth, her pale skin is greenish and her eyes are sunken black pits, black pits boring into his eyes as she stalks forward, her fingers lengthening and curling into claws - "After all, you did kill me." He stumbles back with a choked, horrified cry and suddenly she is no longer Rachel, suddenly it is his father looming over him, grabbing him by his collar. "What is wrong with you?" comes the hiss. Sean Prescott"s face is a mask of rage and disbelief as he shakes Nathan hard enough that his teeth rattle in his head. "How can someone like you possibly be a Prescott? What did I do deserve such a useless fucked-up mess for a son -" His father lets go in disgust and Nathan crashes to the ground, shaking uncontrollably. He looks up and it is no longer his father standing over him, but Kate Marsh instead. Her face is streaked with tears but she is glaring at him, furious. Silver duct tape is still wound around her wrists, jaggedly torn, and she takes a step towards him, small fists clenched. "This is your fault, Nathan Prescott, your fault, YOUR FAULT -" And suddenly it is no longer tears running down her cheeks, but blood, blood splashing down and staining her spotless white blouse, splashing over the golden cross hanging about her neck - Then Kate Marsh is gone, and it"s Jefferson who is standing over him. He smiles, and crouches down, bringing his camera up and the flash blinds Nathan momentarily. "That"s what I"m talking about Nathan, that lovely look of vulnerability - but you"ll never understand if you don"t pay attention, why am I even wasting my time with you -" And there is duct tape around Nathan"s wrists and ankles now, tightening to the point of pain, and now it is around his throat and he is drowning in panic and terror, making high keening noises as it winds tighter - Tighter - Tighter - Nathan jerks awake with a cry that is nearly a scream. He thrashes desperately, trying to fight his way free of the blanket that has somehow twisted itself around his neck as he slept, and he falls right out of the bed onto the floor. He is aware of the ugly sobs tearing from his throat, of his skin wet with tears and sweat, of the terror is so strong he can almost taste it. His emotions feel even more scattered and jumbled than normal, like they"re bouncing at him from multiple different places, and he is shaking so hard he knocks over the bottle of pills when he reaches for it. "Shit, fuck, fucking hell -" His voice cracks, and he sobs again, fury welling up hot and fast as he gropes for the pill bottle and can"t find it, where the fuck is it stupid useless piece of shit - Nathan"s fingers finally close around it and he downs a couple in quick succession. He leans back against the wall and closes his eyes, still trembling uncontrollably. A spark of bright pain draws his attention to his left hand and he looks down to sees his fist clenched so hard that his nails are drawing blood, bright and shining in the dim light of his room. He curses and reaches for a tissue - There is a knock at the door. It"s not especially loud, but in the middle of the night any noise sounds thunderous, and he freezes, staring at his door in surprise. It comes again, and he lurches to his feet, padding warily over to the door. If this is Logan or Zach playing some kind of stupid joke... His heart is still beating too quickly from residual terror and he"s still shaking a little as he opens the slightly - to the last people he expected to see on his doorstep at two in the morning. "Graham? Caulfield?" They both look sleep-ruffled and rumpled, with matching apprehensive expressions. "Hi Nathan," Caulfield says quietly. "Uh, you probably weren"t expecting us..." "Yeah, no shit." He automatically falls back on his default general irritation with the world at large, mostly to cover the overwhelming bafflement he"s feeling right now, although there"s plenty of room for annoyance too. "What the fuck are you losers even doing here?" He gives a smirk he doesn"t feel as he gestures across the corridor. "Are you fucking lost or something? Your room"s right there, Gayram. You losers have fun with each other." Graham"s face flushes bright red and he starts spluttering. Caulfield"s cheeks gain a slight pink tint too, but she tips her chin up and stares at him determinedly. "We"re not together like that, Nathan," she says firmly. "And we"re here for you." The directness of both her words and her stare unnerves Nathan a little, which in turns sparks a disproportionate rush of fury at his own lack of self-control. His smirk becomes brittle and edged with anger, and he leans towards her, attempting to intimidate her with his larger frame and proximity. "Well, that"s a nice offer, Caulfield." He makes sure to look her over, in a way that can"t be mistaken for anything else, before he says, "But you"re not my usual type. If you"re offering though - "

A/N: Hey guys. xD Finally got back to working on this story, after a super long time - major apologies for the delay. :( If anyone"s still reading, I hope you enjoy. (Also, thanks to BigCatChuck19 for the gentle nudging to work on my UD fic again - check out their stories too guys! Their own ghost!Beth AU helped kickstart my creative processes again. xD) An Inextinguishable Light Chapter Three: My Words Fall on Deaf Ears It took Beth an embarrassingly long time to work out what Josh was up to. She spent several weeks shadowing her brother, trailing after him all over the lodge and its grounds, keeping up a steady stream of mocking commentary and insulting remarks about everything from his appearance to his general intelligence. "What the fuck are you doing here, Josh? What"s with the tape measures and the wiring and shit? If you"re trying to renovate this place, you"re doing a fucking awful job. Let me guess, Dad"s selling the lodge? You"d make a mint flogging it as a haunted house, by the way, it wouldn"t even be bullshit -" (She"s torn between absolute terror for his life, and overwhelming happiness at seeing him again, even if he can"t see her, and naturally this clash of emotions manifests outwardly as heavy sarcasm - because that was her default response to most things when she was alive and she"s not about to change now.) She asked Jack, once, hesitantly, if it was possible to set up the lodge like the sanatorium, with the runes that allowed her to become visible and audible. Something like sympathy had flickered briefly over Jack"s face, before he shook his grizzled head. "Afraid not. It has to be a place I have a strong connection with for it to work, and preferably somewhere with a decent amount of spiritual energy too." "Spiritual energy? You mean like you meditate here and shit?" Beth asked, trying to distract herself from the crushing disappointment. She was pretty sure she knew what he was actually talking about; the sanatorium buzzed and crackled like a static charge to her senses, oddly vibrant in a way that contrasted completely with its physically ruined state. The hunter had barked a mirthless laugh. "Ha! No, I mean people have lived - and more importantly died - in this building for years on end. That sort of thing tends to leave an impression." "Huh." Beth frowned. "I wonder why I haven"t seen any other ghosts around then." "Probably because human bodies aren"t the only things the wendigos consume," Jack replied and Beth"s eyes widened as she abruptly remembered the way the wendigo spirit inhabiting Hannah"s body had lunged for her, had ripped holes in her immaterial form. "Shit," she breathed. "That"s just not fucking fair." Jack had laughed at her, a rusty, disused sound, and she"d scowled and made a dig at his receding hairline - and naturally after that the conversation had dissolved into an exchange of (relatively) good-natured jabs and bickering. Regardless, Beth didn"t clock exactly what Josh was doing until he was nearly ready to start his god-awful excuse for a plan - aka, when he started carting fucking pig corpses up in the cable car and pinning up fake body diagrams in the weird workshop-type area he"d set up for himself in the ruined part of the old hotel under the lodge. "Jack!" She burst through the wall of the chapel, skidding to a halt in the middle of the room. "Jack, my brother"s a fucking idiot!" "So you"ve been saying, for quite some time now." The hunter didn"t look up from where he was weaving together another of the talismans used to ward off the wendigos. "What"s different today?" "What"s different is I"ve finally worked out why he"s here, why he keeps making trips up and down the mountain," Beth fumed, pacing in a tight circle. "He"s put together some stupid fucking prank of all things, and is inviting everyone who was involved in what went down last year back to the Blackwood, to get revenge for mine and Hannah"s deaths - and don"t get me wrong, I"m fucking pissed myself, especially at Mike and Jess and Emily, but pretending to be a serial killer is a pretty fucking extreme response, and not to mention, there are fucking wendigos on the mountain that could actually murder them -" "Hold on," Jack interrupted gruffly, a scowl forming on his face. "Start again. Did you say he"s pretending to be a serial killer?" Several hours and a great deal of swearing later, they had some semblance of a plan hammered out and Beth was once more wandering the upper slopes of the mountain in an effort to calm down (Jack"s preferred method being to retreat into his favourite armchair and irritably smoke one of his prized cigars). I knew Josh was in a bad way, but fuck. God, I hope we can help him. Actually, fuck that. We are going to help him, and we"re going to get everyone off this cursed fucking mountain. No one else is going to die. Two days later, Beth watched the cable car station rumble into life and couldn"t help but wonder if she"d maybe be a little bit too optimistic. It didn"t take a genius to see the fractures and fault lines running through their previously tight-knit group, the way that hurt and tension and words left unspoken sang through the air between them. (A small, unkind part of her is glad, glad that they haven"t just gone on with their lives, glad to see that underneath petty cruelty and ill-considered alcohol-fuelled actions, they care enough to feel grief and guilt over her and Hannah"s deaths.) Then she saw Sam and the rest of world seemed to fade into the background. The blonde was as beautiful as ever as she talked to Chris, but Beth could see the tiredness under her cheerful demeanour, how much being back at Blackwood was wearing on her. (It hurt like fire, seeing her again, with the ghosts of could-have-beens hovering around them both, but she was glad too - a year was long time to go without seeing the woman you were pretty sure you were in love with, even if you had never admitted it even to yourself, even if your untimely death had killed any chance of it ever going anywhere. She was still glad.) Beth couldn"t help but stick close to Sam, shadowing her footsteps even as she tried to keep an eye on the rest of the group. She could sense Jack somewhere off to her left, the faint buzz of the runes he always carried on his person helping her to keep tabs on him, even as he kept tabs on her friends. As they approached the lodge, she could feel little pockets of energy where Jack had placed what talismans he had on hand in a loose ring around the perimeter of the building, anchoring them firmly to the ground. Apparently they were next to useless indoors, but outside they were enough to make the wendigos at least shy away. (Which, really, explained why Jack felt comfortable enough to actually fall asleep on this cursed mountain. Although the talismans around the sanatorium wouldn"t do him any good if the wendigos locked up in the basement somehow got out - although she supposed that was what flamethrowers were for.) It took approximately two point three seconds for Emily and Jessica to start bitching when everyone made it inside and Beth could only wait it out, rolling her ghostly eyes as hard as she could. She was even less pleased a minute later when Josh used it as an excuse to send Mike and Jess away from the relative safety of the lodge. "What the hell, Josh," she complained at him, her words falling on deaf ears as the group moved around her intangible form. "You better fucking hope Jack is on the ball." I"m pissed at Mike and Jess, but I don"t want them to be fucking eaten.Involuntarily, the image of her body"s pale arm with chunks of flesh missing from it flashed in her mind"s eye and she forced it away with a shudder. Get your shit together, Beth. Of course, that was when Emily decided to kick up a fuss about a fucking bag of all things and Beth was forced to watch another pair of idiots trail back out into the cold and the dark, and she was suddenly too busy being pissed off to be upset. "Fuck me, Emily, are your panties really that fucking important?!" she bellowed from the doorway as they turned down the path, snow swirling around them. "Fuck"s sake." She couldn"t leave though, couldn"t follow them, because she managed to read a decent amount of Josh"s plans when he left his notebook lying open on his desk and she knew her best chance at actively derailing this whole thing before it properly began was going to happen fairly soon. Sure enough, Josh sent himself and the three remaining members of the group scrambling through the lodge on a miniature scavenger hunt and when they reconvened (Sam bowed out to go and take a bath, and it took all of Beth"s self-control not to follow her like an overprotective shadow), she watched with eager anticipation as Chris lifted the spirit board out of its box. She could feel a shiver of something around the board, a faint buzz of energy that gave her hope that the board might actually function as advertised. This had better fucking work, she thought, half-curse, half-prayer. I can"t think of another way to get through to Josh, short of Jack bodily dragging him off the mountain - which would a) probably result in Jack getting arrested, and b) would not actually solve any of the emotional or mental issues. Plus, he might just come right back again. Chris, Josh and Ashley settled themselves around the little table and even despite the knots in her stomach, Beth took a moment to be amused that Josh"s dramatic ass hadn"t bothered to put the lights on and had filled the area with candles instead. It was decided that Ashley would be the medium and she looked more than a little nervous at the prospect as she began to speak. "Ok. Um... hello? Is anyone there? Will you reveal yourself to us...if you"re there?" As if her words had flipped an invisible switch, Beth felt something in the currents of energy around her shift and the fuzzy potential around the spirit board suddenly sharpened into crystal-like clarity. Somehow, instinctively, she knew even as she lunged for the pointer that picking up the object would work perfectly, no fumbled attempts at holding on - and it did. "Yes," she hissed in triumph, as she grasped the pointer with fingers that almost felt solid. "Fucking finally!" Beth pulled the pointer across the board with a speed born of deep and long-held frustration, ignoring the startled cries of the other three people with their fingers on the triangle of wood. "Woah!" Chris cried, sounding more excited than freaked out. "It"s moving, it"s moving!" "Guys, what -?!" Josh"s tone was deeply unnerved and Beth couldn"t help the spark of grim satisfaction at the sound as she shunted the pointer around. Nope, sorry Josh. You"re not in control here. "It"s spelling something!" Ashley sounded a little panicked. "Omigosh, it"s actually spelling something!" "Read it, Ash, you"re the medium," Chris urged. Ashley looked like she was deeply regretting ever agreeing to a séance, letting alone being the medium but she swallowed hard and starting reading. "Um, that was an S - T -O -P, and then um, a Y, then a O - U - R - G - A - M - E - J - O -" She fell silent, as did the other two as the words slowly formed out of the individual letters. "Stop your game, Josh," Ashley narrated uncertainly. "People will get hurt." "What?" Josh croaked out, but Beth didn"t pause to look at him, too intent on getting her message across now that she could finally speak. "L - E - A - V - E, leave," Ashley"s eyes were enormous and scared, her voice faltering, but she kept reading faithfully, "All in danger-" Beth paused to check if Josh was taking this in and the sight of him caused her to halt the pointer, completely stunned. His face was bone-white, entirely without colour. The black smudges under his lashes stood out like deep bruises and his eyes glittered, huge and dark in the candlelight. But his expression was what pierced her right to the core - absolute shock, underlain with a terrible, gaping, self-destructive grief... and the barest glimmer of desperate, painful hope. And with that, Beth"s anger fell away like the early morning fog burned off by the sun and she closed her eyes, ashamed. This wasn"t Josh"s fault; he was hurting deeply from their deaths. Those files she had found suggested that he was more ill than he"d ever let her know, or had deteriorated badly since last year. And he didn"t know about the wendigos. And then he spoke and her heart clenched so hard that she felt the burning pressure in her eyes that told her she would be crying if she could. "Beth?" he whispered, voice so thin it was barely audible. "Han? Is that you?" Beth breathed deeply, unnecessarily and then placed a hand on the pointer again. It only shook slightly as she gently glided it across the board, first to "yes" and then to "no". "Beth?" he asked, voice breaking mid-way through her name. Ashley and Chris were utterly silent and Beth couldn"t look away from her brother"s face long enough to see what their expressions were like. She moved the pointer again, drawing their index fingers with her, and stopped over "yes". Josh made a sound like a strangled sob and jerked his head away from the table, hiding his expression. "I - I -" he rasped, voice thick with tears. "I"m so sorry, Beth, I"m so sorry, please, please, I didn"t, please -" Beth"s heart broke at his agonised apologies. "No, Josh, no," she murmured pointlessly, before grabbing the pointer in frustration again. "Not your fault." Ashley"s voice wavered, frail with shock, but still carrying out her appointed task as the wooden triangle whisked across the board. "Don"t blame you. Love you, idiot. Buck up, Joshie." The agonised noise that tore out of Josh at the familiar sound of Hannah and Beth"s childhood nickname for him was utterly raw with grief and love in equal measure, wavering with a thread of hysterical laughter. Beth let go of the pointer, watching and aching at the sight of the tears running down her brother"s face, and wishing fiercely, pointlessly that she could wrap him up in a hug. Silence reigned over the séance apart from the sound of Josh"s crying and Beth finally turned to look at Chris and Ashley. Shell-shocked was probably the best word to describe their faces, along with grief and guilt of their own. "Is...is she finished speaking?" Ashley whispered, her gaze darting around the room. "I don"t know." Chris shared a look with her, and then they glanced at Josh, clearly wanting to say something but unsure as to what. "Josh, bro..." Chris stretched out his free hand and placed it gently on his best friend"s shoulder. "Is okay if we let go?" From the look on Chris" face, he clearly wanted to be able to move around the table and freely comfort Josh, but her brother"s head snapped up so suddenly it was startling. "No!" The vehemence of his shout was shocking and Chris and Ashley flinched away. "No, she can"t go, not yet - !" "Josh, I"m sure Beth will wait around for a bit, if you still want to talk to her," Ashley squeaked, clearly unnerved by the wild look in his eyes. "At least, I think she will?" she added uncertainly. Beth wasted no time in reaching out and guiding the pointer to "yes" and Ashley managed a smile at the sight. "See, Josh? Beth isn"t going anywhere. Why don"t we move to the sofa for now?" "C"mon Josh," Chris added coaxingly, "You"ve had a shock, bro. We can come back to the board in a bit." Chris and Ashley"s joint efforts got Josh to lift his finger, with great reluctance, from the pointer and as they simultaneously removed their hands, Beth felt the current of energy snap. The vibrating clarity around the board drained away and it was once again just a piece of wood, faintly lit with potential energy. The two managed to get Josh situated on the sofa, curled up between them, and exchanged glances over Josh"s bowed head, clearly at a loss. He was still crying, although quieter now and muttering wetly under his breath, and Beth ached at the sight, feeling utterly useless. "What do you think?" Ashley broke the silence first. Her voice was trembling and nervous, her eyelashes wet with tears of her own. "Do - do you think it really was -?" she darted an anxious glance at Josh, still hunched over on himself. Chris blew out a shaky breath and ran a hand through his hair, his own eyes suspiciously bright. "I - I don"t know Ash. Normally I"d say that"s impossible, that ghosts don"t exist - but I don"t know," he ended helplessly. "What else could it have been? Unless you...?" he darted a glance at her. Ashley recoiled in horror. "No!" she cried, forgetting to keep her voice down in her shock. "No, I didn"t do it! Why would I?" "...What?" Ashley blanched as she suddenly found herself looking into the dark brown eyes of Josh Washington. Bloodshot, wet with tears, more than a little lost - and rapidly focusing as dark grief bled into darker rage. "You were - you were pretending?" "What? No!" Ashley yelped, hastily shuffling along the sofa until her back hit the armrest. "No, Josh, I swear I wasn"t!" Her pleading fell on deaf ears as Josh shot to his feet, gripping his hair in agitation. "No, no, no, no," he snarled, knuckles whitening. "This can"t be - it can"t be -" "Hey, bro, it"s okay," Chris stood up too, attempting to soothe his best friend. "It wasn"t Ashley, I was just being stupid man, you know how I feel about the supernatural - I can"t believe evidence even when it"s right in front of my face." Josh didn"t even seem to notice Chris" strained, joking attempt at diffusing the situation and Beth watched with rapidly increasing alarm as her brother squeezed his eyes shut, digging his fingers into his scalp with a cry of pain. Then his eyes snapped open and he wheeled on Ashley, roaring "How could you?!" Then he lunged and Ashley screamed - Beth and Chris both yelled "No!" and there was a confused flurry of movement than ended with Josh"s clenched fist meeting Chris" head as the latter put himself between the former and Ashley. Chris dropped to the floor, out like a light, and Ashley kept screaming, horrified and terrified all at once, and then Josh"s fist silenced her too. A/N: Thanks for reading and apologies again for the delay; if you enjoyed, please leave a comment and let me know. ^_^ A/N: Hey guys, I"m so glad you"re still interested in this fic! ^_^ Thanks for letting me know, and I"m glad you"re enjoying it. :) An Inextinguishable Light Chapter Four: The Courage of Mice "Josh!" Beth cried out, completely aghast and completely unheard, as Josh stood, panting, between the unconscious bodies of two of his friends, the light of overwhelming rage slowly draining from his eyes. "Why?" he muttered, screwing up his face as he talked to himself. Pain leaked into his voice and he scrubbed furiously at his eyes. "Why would she do that? Why?" The bewilderment bled into pain, bled into anger. "Why?" he roared again, glaring at Ashley"s unconscious form. "No, Josh, God no," Beth muttered, tugging at her own hair in anguish. "I"m here, Josh, I"m real! Go back to the spirit board!" Josh ignored her inaudible plea, instead pacing and muttering darkly. Then seemingly coming to a decision, he grabbed Chris and hoisted him up in a fireman"s carry, before setting off down the stairs, trailed by a furious, anguished, impotent ghost. "The show must go on," he whispered faintly, unsteadily, and Beth"s heart broke all over again at the thread of instability in his voice, at the widening cracks so apparent in his façade. "The show must go on." Watching Josh deposit Chris and Ashley in one of the guest bedrooms, Beth was forced to conclude she may have accidently made things worse. "Oh shit, Josh, no," she muttered, pacing agitatedly around her brother as he bound the two to chairs with plastic zip ties, first their wrists and then their ankles. "Josh, I"m here, I swear." I was so close, Beth thought furiously, helplessly, following her brother out the door. He locked it behind him and set off down the stairs. I was so goddamn close to helping him, and everyone else. I didn"t even get to mention the fucking wendigos! Although that would have been admittedly a harder sell than the existence of ghosts, Beth acknowledged to herself as she trailed after Josh down the main staircase, given that they weren"t a very well-known supernatural entity and she didn"t have any proof, other than the fact that she herself existed. "What the fuck are you doing now, Josh?" Beth muttered as her brother entered the basement. You"ve clearly given up on the Chris-and-Ashley part of the prank, although I don"t know whether that"s because I"ve given away too much - they"re not stupid and they"ll figure it out from what I said at the séance if your psycho clown makes an appearance now - or if it"s because I derailed you and you"re just - skipping ahead. Like a scratched CD, her mind supplied helpfully and Beth had to tamp down on the feeling of intense guilt. "I"m sorry, Josh," she murmured as her brother went into his workshop, banging the door closed behind him. She glided through the wood after him, watching as he jerkily pulled on pieces of his psycho costume. "What you"re doing isn"t the answer, but I didn"t mean to make you worse. I was trying to help - you and everyone else."

"Yeah?" He pulls back a little and Jess" mouth tugs up in a fond smile at his pleased, cocky smirk, and underneath that, the shadow of real concern and the man that tragedy revealed Mike to truly be. "Yeah," Jess returns, smile broadening as she wipes away her tears. "Don"t let it go to your head." Mike huffs good-naturedly. "Me? Never." His smirk softens into a smile. "Now, Miss Jessica, if you"d point me in the direction of your bags, we should probably get moving before we freeze to death. After all, we have a party to attend." He winks, completely unaware that the bottom has just fallen out of Jess" stomach - it"s all she can do to keep it from showing on her face. Shit. Shit, shit and more shit. Mike sticks close to her on the way up the mountain, clearly sensing she isn"t in the mood to talk but wants him close by regardless. Her mind is too busy turning over in panic and barely-suppressed terror and oh God, this can"t happen again, it can"t, it can"t - She couldn"t warn anyone, for obvious reasons. They"d think she was crazy, or trying to pull a prank, and wouldn"t leave regardless. At most, she"d be able to get herself and Mike off the mountain, if she feigned illness. She hadn"t been sure before but she had the measure of him now - the-night-that-wasn"t had showed the kind of man he was under pressure. The others would stay though, and although the thought of being on this mountain a minute longer than necessary makes her hands tremble uncontrollably with fear, she has to try and save their lives. If she leaves now, knowing the danger they are in...she"d be the worst kind of coward. Firmly resolved, Jess steps over the threshold of the Washington lodge and tries to ignore the bitter taste of fear in her mouth. "Oh my God, that is so gross." Emily"s disdainful drawl echoed across the lodge"s living room and Jess startles a little at the familiar words. She is curled into Mike"s side and they"re sitting in comfortable silence, listening to the banter between Chris and Josh as the two guys struggle to light a fire. Mike"s fingers are tracing absent patterns across the back of Jess" left hand where it is oh-so-casually draped across his chest, conveniently directly over his heart, and she"s slightly concerned she might be starting to obsess over that, but not enough to stop. The sound of Emily"s voice jerks her out of her comfortable state though and she raises her head to look her at her ex-best friend. Matt tries to intervene, voice soothing, but Emily runs right over the top of him. "Seriously, can she be any more obvious? No one wants in on your territory, honey; you don"t need to drape yourself all over him." The lash of Emily"s acidic tongue has become familiar but unwelcome since she and Mike got together and normally it churns her gut in the worst way, anger and guilt and grief all mixed up together - but right now, the only thing she can feel is the same awful horror and anguish when Ashley said "The lodge exploded - and Emily - Emily didn"t make it out." Emily must have suffered horrendous agony in her last moments and Jess can"t summon anything but grief and regret as she looks into her former friend"s sharp features. She settles back against Mike"s side and says quietly, "It"s good to see you again, Emily." More than anything else she could have said, this completely throws the brunette. She glares, to cover her confusion, and then straightens haughtily before striding away, and Jess doesn"t know whether to laugh or cry when she realises she has finally succeeded in rendering Em speechless. Josh offers Mike the key to the guest cabin even without the fight between Emily and Jess to prompt it and Jess suddenly remembers the other complication to this night that Ashley had filled her in on. Shit. Double shit, she manages to not say aloud and surreptitiously looks Josh over. She sees what she didn"t see the first time, the dark circles under his eyes, the slight edge to his manner, and feels her guilt redouble. It is so completely, undeniably her fault - Mike and Emily took the idea and ran with it but the prank had been instigated at her suggestion - and while Josh"s own prank was undeniably an equally shitty way of getting back at them, he didn"t deserve to be dragged off and eaten by a wendigo for it. She fights the urge to laugh hysterically at this added complication and then Mike speaks, surprising her. "Nah, Josh. Thanks for the offer, man, but Jess is feeling pretty bad. I think we"re just going to hang out here for a bit." The warm glow of - love, she can say love now, even if it"s only to herself now, right? - takes her by surprise and Jess has to fight the smile that threatens to spread across her face, even as she chides herself for being surprised. Mike"s not an idiot - anything that"s enough to make her cry is pretty serious and he"s concerned enough to forgo the opportunity for them to cuddle up in a cozy, secluded cabin. Josh looks taken aback but recovers with genial smile and a "Sure, man. It"s cool." Then, unexpectedly Emily steps forward. "We"ll take it," she says with biting distain, holding out a well-manicured hand. "Anything to not have to see those two all over each other." Josh hands her the key and Matt follows in her wake and Jess is helpless to stop them. Mike misreads the sudden tension in her body and turns an encouraging smile on her. "Don"t worry, babe, you know what she"s like." "I know," Jess murmurs, trying to relax and ignore her sudden terror. She and Mike had made it to the cabin fine before, hadn"t they? Please God, let Matt and Emily be lucky too. Then Josh recruits Sam and Ashley and Chris and they scatter through the lodge, hunting up hot water and spirit boards. Jess rests on the sofa at Mike"s insistence, due to her being "ill", and watches him pull all the dust sheets off the furniture and pile them into a big heap in the corner, keeping up as light-hearted a conversation as she can manage. Then he tries and fails to start the same fire Josh had been working at, and she laughs, sliding off the sofa to join him, much to his protests. He is astonished and she is just a little smug when she gets a fire going in under five minutes with a little pyramid of paper and sticks. "My aunt has a coal fire," she explains as she carefully feeds the flames, growing them gradually, and when they end up swapping fire-related stories from their childhoods, she is completely unsurprised to hear that Mike and his cousin once nearly set themselves alight with a Catherine wheel. "Pyro," she teases and he snorts. "You"re one to talk," he says playfully back, and she laughs, unable to deny it with the fire now roaring in the hearth. "Guilty as charged," she says, stretching out on the rug. Mike lies down beside her, rolling onto his side, and propping his head on his hand. She can see the flames reflected in his warm brown eyes, and then Ashley"s voice echoes in her head- they blew the lodge up when they were still inside - and Jess has to force herself not to tense up again. Something must still show on her face because his expression grows serious again. "Hey," he says softly. "You know you can tell me anything, right? I mean it, Jess. If something"s bothering you, you can talk to me." Jess blinks away her tears and manages a smile. "I know. Thanks, Mike." "Hey guys! We found the spirit board if you want to join us!" Chris" triumphant voice shatters the moment and Jess smothers a smile as Mike groans quietly. "Chris, man, you have no sense of timing," he calls back as he pushes himself to his feet and offers Jess a hand up. She accepts, with a sense of dread, ignoring Chris" mock protests at the slander to his timing. Ashley didn"t tell her any minute details but she has a feeling this séance isn"t going to go well. It doesn"t. After Josh storms off, they all head to the library on the advice of a fake ghost to find fake evidence and Jess is trying her best to remember the exact order of events that Ashley had explained to her. It didn"t help that she"d been grieving and in shock - not exactly in the best frame of mind for remembering details. Then Ashley is yanked into the kitchen and they hear her screams abruptly cut off and no amount of battering will make the kitchen door open. "Ashley!" Chris screams, beside himself with panic and fear and Jess wishes she could tell him that redhead is in no real danger. "He must have barricaded the door!" Mike yells. "This way!" He grabs Jess" hand and runs out of the hall, Chris sprinting after them - Jess has the presence of mind to snatch up a poker from the fireplace as they run through the living room. They barrel outside through one of the side doors and circle around through the snow to the door behind the kitchen, leaping up the wooden steps two at a time, only to find that that the door is gaping wide open. Blood glistens wetly on the floor; Mike curses, Chris lets out a low cry of despair and Jess is utterly disquieted, hoping that Josh hasn"t actually cut Ashley to make her "abduction" more believable. They follow the blood trail through the snow to one of the outbuildings and despite knowing it"s a setup, Jess" heartrate spikes in distress at the sight of Ashley and Josh chained to a wall, as a sawblade whirs to life. "Hello my special little subjects..." As the deep, electronically altered voice crackles over hidden speakers, Jess is jolted into action. Turning, she runs out of the shed, ignoring Mike"s worried cry of "Jessica!" She"s been out this way on previous visits to Blackwood and she knows there is more than one door into the outbuilding - and while they are likely locked, the doors themselves are old and weak. Poker in hand, she uses it to punch through the weak, rotted wood surrounding the lock on the first door she comes to. Mike catches up to her as she enters the outbuilding. "God, Jess, what are you doing?" She shoots him a fierce look over her shoulder but doesn"t stop moving. "Saving our friends" lives! Are you coming or what?" Mike looks momentarily taken aback. Then he grins as he sprints after her, even though it"s still touched with worry and fear. "That"s my girl." His hand finds hers and she squeezes it tight as they push past a pile of boxes and stumble out into chaos. Ashley and Josh are screaming and Chris is shouting on the other side of the fence, frantically pleading with the unseen "psycho" to stop what he"s doing, his voice cracking with fear and horror. The sound is breaking Jess" heart and she abandons her original plan to make a show of trying to untie Josh and Ash, before "discovering" Josh"s real body. Instead she lets go of Mike"s hand to sprint for what is clearly the control panel, barely visible in the shadows behind where Josh and Ashley are tied up. Ignoring Mike"s startled shout, and the glimpse she catches of Josh"s real body behind the board he"s "chained" to, she reaches up and immediately slams down the lever marked "Saw 1". Thank God Josh is so OCD about labelling stuff. The sound of the sawblade dies away, and the air is filled with sound of Ashley"s sobbing and Chris" broken voice saying, "Oh thank God, thank God -" Then Mike"s arms close around her in a fierce hug and she barely curbs the urge to lash out with the poker. Instead she relaxes and apologies before he can speak. "I"m sorry," she murmurs. "I had to stop it." Mike lets out a deep breath. "I know. I - I just - the guy who did this still has to be around here somewhere." "I know." Jess looks over his shoulder, in time to see Josh drop down from the box he was standing on so he could put his head through the hole in the board. He turns to face her and she meets his furious, dark gaze, edged with more than a hint of instability. "And I think I know who did it." It doesn"t take long for the others to work it out for themselves and the air is soon thick with angry shouting and furious accusations. Jess is quite sure she is Josh Washington"s least favourite person in the world right now, and his black glares make Mike plant himself squarely in front of her, glowering right back at him. Even Chris is incensed at Josh, for what essentially amounts to emotional torture, and eventually Josh"s reasons and plans come spilling out of him in a flood of ugly, jagged shards of truth and festering pain. However, Jess can"t bring herself to be anything but glad she has cut his grand plan short at the first opportunity. Even if Josh can"t see it, the longer his scheme was allowed to play out, the more it would hurt him and everyone around him. And more importantly, now Jess is now free to worry about the real threat; not that she has any idea how actually deal with a wendigo, short of making like a statue or blowing up a house. The group that returns to the lodge is a mostly silent one, although the air crackles with tension and bad feeling all round. Mike draws Jess away to sit on the sofa furthest from Josh, eyeing him warily and with no small amount of anger. "If he"d done that to you, I would have fucking killed him," Mike promises quietly, in a tone no less deadly for it. Jess follows his gaze to where Ashley is still trembling and hugging her knees to her chest, Chris at her side, awkwardly attempting to comfort her. Josh stands at the window, glaring out into the night, and Jess shakes her head. "I don"t think he"s all there, Mike," she says quietly. "Look how erratic he is. He"s clearly ill." Mike takes in Josh"s hands, clenching and unclenching spasmodically, and frowns but says nothing. As Jess" gaze drifts around the room"s occupants, she suddenly realises who is missing, other than Matt and Emily. "Sam!" she blurts, frantically wracking her brains. She is sure Chris had said something earlier but it seemed like so long ago... "Where"s Sam?!" Chris looked up, startled. "Um...she went for a bath? It was a while ago now though." Mike glares suspiciously at Josh but Jess nearly laughs with relief. Sam is notorious for the amount of time she spends in the bath - hopefully she"s still there, undisturbed by the events of the night. Jess and Ashley set off to retrieve their blonde friend, with Mike hovering behind them like an unusually protective shadow. Sam is indeed unaware, and utterly startled by the other two girls knocking on the bathroom door. She"s even more shocked when she"s filled in on exactly what"s she missed, and she"s soon dressed and down in the living room with everyone else. No one seems to know exactly what to do now, although it"s safe to say the party atmosphere is well and truly dead. Jess hopes desperately that this is it, that Emily and Matt will stay safely in the guest cabin until the sun rises and they can all get off this accursed mountain in the safety of the light and never return - which is, of course, when there comes a thunderous knocking at the door. Everyone jumps to their feet, nervy and on edge after the night they"ve been having, and Chris and Mike insist on being the ones to answer the door. They are all shocked by the sight that greets them; Matt, unconscious and slung over the shoulder of a complete stranger, who is also holding some kind of bizarre gun-like weapon attached to metal canisters on his back, and behind them both, Emily, looking unusually shaken and clutching a shotgun in both hands. "Move," the old guy says impatiently, brushing past Chris and Mike, and while Jess has never seen him before but she knows immediately who he is, thanks to Ashley"s description. The wendigo hunter carries Matt inside, with Emily close on his heels, and Mike shuts the door, before everyone except Josh crowds around, asking frantic questions. The hunter pushes past them and deposits Matt on the sofa nearest the fire and turns around to glare at the teenagers. "Shut up. You"re all gonna listen to me, and I don"t care if you believe me or not, but I"m gonna say my piece regardless. You all need to get off this here mountain, and never come back - I don"t know why you did, after last year." Of course, this prompts another round of questions and outright accusations in regards to Beth and Hannah"s disappearance; Josh says nothing but Jess sees the sudden wildness in his dark eyes and prays he doesn"t attack the hunter out of hand. The old guy cuts across them all, and in blunt, harsh words tells them about the true threat on the mountain. Silence follows, long and filled with disbelief, but before anyone can voice this, Emily speaks for the first time since she entered the lodge. "It"s true," she says and it"s her tone that changes the mood in the room. Emily never shows weakness but right now her words are raw and utterly shell-shocked; she still meets each of their gazes in turn, straight-backed and proud, but there"s something haunted and hunted that wasn"t there before in her eyes. "It chased us through the woods - I thought I was going to die and then Matt fell and hit his head -" She breaks off, looking away and taking a deep breath. "He saved our lives." She glances at the wendigo hunter, a rare and grudging respect in her eyes. Jess decides it"s about time she threw in her two cents and speaks up. "I believe you," she says to the old guy, although her eyes are firmly on her former best friend. "If Emily says it"s true, then I believe you." Emily"s gaze snaps to her, shocked, and the others murmur uncertainly, torn between believing and not wanting to believe. The hunter"s eyes seem to linger on her for moment, oddly assessing. "What should we do then?" It"s Mike who speaks up and Jess has to fight back her smile that wants to escape. He"s unsure but he still has her back and the knowledge fills her with warmth. "Get down to the basement," the old hunter says gruffly. "Find a room with a door that locks and no windows and wait until morning. I"ll come back and escort you to the cable car station and then you"ll stay off this goddamn mountain." The others nod and, looking around at them all, Jess tries not to acknowledge the fragile hope blossoming in her heart. It"s a long five hours until dawn. During that time a disorientated Matt wakes up, much to Emily"s relief, although the signs are so subtle probably only Jess can tell they"re there. They give him water to drink and once he"s woke up properly, he reconfirms that the hunter is telling the truth and to Jess" relief, she feels the sense of belief strengthen in the room now that two people they trust are telling the same story. Mike sticks close by her the entire time and at precisely 7am, they make their way back up to the living room. True to his word, the hunter is waiting and they set off through the snow with their bags and their lives. Jess wants to weep with relief when the cable car station comes into view and she can"t believe it, can"t believe that they"re all here and in one piece, and she squeezes Mike"s hand, utterly overcome with emotion. They"re waiting for the cable car to arrive (Josh had sent it halfway down the mountain as part of his prank) when the wendigo hunter"s gaze catches her"s and he beckons to her. "Not you," he says as Mike makes to accompany her. "Just the girl." Mike"s frown deepens and he opens his mouth to argue but Jess squeezes his hand again, forestalling the argument. "It"s okay," she says, giving him a smile. "It"ll just be a minute. Right?" She looks at the hunter and he nods. They withdraw a short distance, just out of earshot, and Jess can still feel Mike"s worried, protective gaze on her back. "What is it?" she says, looking up into the hunter"s grizzled face. He gazes back at her contemplatively and then the last thing Jess expects comes out of his mouth. "This isn"t the first time you lived this night, is it, girl." It"s less a question than a statement and Jess feels her eyes widen in shock, all but confirming his words. He nods, looking satisfied. "How -?" she asks, bewildered. "It"s this mountain. I don"t know if you picked up on it, but it ain"t exactly normal." His tone is dry. "Sometimes it interferes, sometimes it doesn"t. But you have the look of the butterfly-touched. What happened on your first time around?" Jess thinks of the-night-that-wasn"t and of dark tunnels and claws scraping over rock and the agony in her chest and of sitting huddled in a police station with another blood-stained girl as they waited for their sole remaining friend to finish talking to the police - and some of it must have shown on her face, because the hunter just nods. "Fair enough." In the distance the cable car clanks into the station, accompanied by several whoops of joy, and the old guy looks at her levelly. "This is a gift. Don"t waste it." Jess glances back at her friends, all of her friends, silhouetted by the light of the rising sun, and then looks back at him, clear resolution in her eyes. "I won"t." He nods and then turns and melts into the treeline; Jess re-joins Mike on the edge of the group and he looks at her, questioning and worried. "You okay, Jess?" She smiles up at him as they step into the crowded cable car and wraps her arms around him, the tight knot of fear in her chest unravelling completely for the first time since she woke up here again. "I will be now." A/N: Thank you again for reading - if you enjoyed, please let me know. :)

The way that two such utterly unacceptable soulmates had just casually meandered into her life, upsetting her mindset and destroying her neatly ordered plans for the future, made her want to scream and claw out someone"s eyes. Preferably theirs. Nathan had listened with a sympathetic ear they smoked weed together, curled up on her bed as she bitched about the unfairness of life. "Forget those losers, Victoria. Who needs fucking soulmates? It"s not like they actually make life any fucking better." There had been something strange in his tone, almost lost in the usual tidal wave of bitterness. (He"d never quite forgiven his sister for fucking off to join the Peace Corps and her soulmate, "doing the work they were destined for". Victoria can still remember the look on his face when he"d gotten that phone call.) Still, she"d adopted an offended tone, nudging him with her leg. "Excuse me, I am your soulmate, and I am pretty fucking amazing." He"d rolled his eyes at her, from where he was languidly sprawled across her duvet covers. He never looked as relaxed as he did when he was high, when the drugs smoothed out all the stress from his face. "I am so sorry, your highness, whatever I can I do to earn your forgiveness?" he"d deadpanned mockingly. Naturally, she then stole the joint in retaliation, leading to an unexpectedly hilarious wobbly and off-balance tussle for the weed, which had ended with them both on the floor, cackling with laughter despite themselves. In the end, however, Courtney had ultimately, and unexpectedly, been the one to end her rampage. Despite the fact she and Taylor had received the brunt of Victoria"s rage - more due to proximity than anything else - the other girl had timidly spoken up while they sitting together outside the dorms, checking their Twitter feeds before class. "Maybe you"re thinking about this the wrong way, Victoria," she had said, biting her lip. "Maybe your soulmates aren"t as uncool as they seem. They have to be worthy to be your soulmates, right? So maybe they don"t totally suck, like, deep down?" Victoria had stared at her for so long after that daring comment that the other girl had grown very visibly nervous and had already began babbling apologies, when Victoria cut her off with a snapped, "Shut up, Courtney. You don"t know what the fuck you"re talking about." Despite her dismissive words, something about Courtney"s comment had made her pause. A tiny voice had whispered, What if? She had begun watching them, her would-be soulmates, with a critical and judging eye, just waiting to be disappointed. And naturally, she was. Caulfield was a self-absorbed poser, always taking selfies like her tragic fashion sense and nearly non-existent make-up actually made for good pictures. (She doesn"t care what other people think about her - when was last time you walked out the door without giving a shit about what you wearing?) And Kate Marsh was a pious goody-two shoes, a relic from the eighteenth century with her "no-sex-until-marriage" crap, and so sickeningly sweet that it made Victoria want to vomit. (She"s kind, even to people who aren"t kind to her, and she"s got a backbone of steel when it comes to the things the things she believes in. That stare down she gave Logan, when he mocked her church group...) Then, as the days passed, Victoria had begun to notice something. It had started like a quiet humming just on the edge of hearing, and she"d been convinced she was going crazy for a few days. Then the feelings had started trickling through - a flash of annoyance here, a twinge of anxiety there, but overall, a radiating sense of contentment and happiness. She"d known who it was; it hadn"t taken much observation to pinpoint which of the two losers matched up to the fluctuating emotions she was feeling. (Every morning, the happiness had soared with the rising notes of a violin, the sweet, bright sound floating down the hall of the dormitory.) It had become a constant accompaniment to Victoria"s days, a happy golden hum, like a colony of honeybees busy about their work. Despite her steadfast disregard (if I don"t acknowledge it, maybe it"ll go away), it was with her everywhere she went. The hard edge of Victoria"s constant anxiety (everything has to be fucking perfect, it has to be) melted away ever so slightly. She found herself snapping less frequently at Taylor and Courtney, found that she was less inclined to make biting remarks about her social inferiors. And then the Vortex Club party had happened. Victoria stares down at the phone in her hand. At the utterly damning video that she could upload to the internet at the touch of a button. She should be feeling smug right about now - she knew sweet, innocent Kate Marsh was too good to be true. No one was that fucking naïve and virginal and pure. And she has been proved right. But instead of very justified smugness, all she feels is...a thoroughly baffling anger. Victoria narrows her eyes at her phone, perplexed and not a little irritated with herself, as the sunlight creeps in through her blinds and the sound of the dorms waking up around her for the start of Monday morning classes fills the air. What the fuck is wrong with me? (The night before last she"d been too high and wasted to notice much of anything, but yesterday afternoon, when she"d woken up, it"d had been the first thing she"d noticed. The absolute silence from the bond, such complete and utter nothingness that it had filled her with terror like she"d never experienced before. The same terror had sent her scrambling to throw back her covers and check her ankle, check that the words written there still as black as fresh ink. They were - and as her fear faded, her heartrate slowing down again, confusion and anger had bloomed in equal measure. Nonsensical words from old fairytales tumbled through her tired mind, the voice of her grandmother murmuring, And the princess will fall into a sleep like death, so deep that even a soulbond will fall silent, and only true love"s kiss can break the spell - Then, as time crawled past in her dorm room, she became aware of the echo of Kate"s emotions again, as though they were returning from someplace far away, surfacing from the depths of the ocean, or rising from the centre of the earth. And they had been black, black with fear and confusion and creeping dread, a horrible shivering sensation that scraped over Victoria"s nerves like a knife on piano wires, so far from her usual state that it almost didn"t even feel like Kate at the other end of the bond.) And no wonder. Victoria glares down at the phone, cradled in her perfectly manicured hands. What a slut Kate Marsh has turned out to be after all. I should upload this video right now and let everyone see what a fucking hypocrite she is. Before she can tap the button though, something in her twinges, and she hesitates. The memory of the happy golden hum that has been her constant companion for the last few weeks fills her mind, and she gives a growl of frustration, hand clenching convulsively around the phone. Then Victoria stands, and throwing open her door, marches down the corridor and raps sharply on Kate"s door. There"s about twenty seconds of no response, but just as Victoria"s getting impatient, the door opens a crack. Kate peers out and Victoria, despite knowing full well how she"s feeling, is still somewhat taken aback by her appearance. The sharp, wild, jagged emotions from last night have levelled out into a dull kind of misery, one that radiates out from Kate like a miasma, and her reddened, bloodshot eyes and dishevelled appearance reflect that. Her eyes widen when she sees Victoria on her doorstep, and Victoria is thoroughly astonished to feel something like happiness flare through the other girl for a brief instant. Then it"s gone again, like a beam of sunlight swallowed up by rainclouds. "Um, hi, Victoria." Kate looks like she has no idea how to react to finding Blackwell"s queen bee at her door at 8am on a Monday morning, standing there as if this is a regular occurrence. "Can I help you?" Victoria manages to regain some of her usual poise, pushing past Kate into her room. "Yes, actually." It"s dark with the blinds still drawn, and she strides over to open them, letting the light flood in. She turns back to Kate, who looks and feels bewildered (anything is better than that blank misery) and holds her phone out towards her. "I want to you to take a look at this. And I want to know what the fuck you"re playing at. Close the door," she adds, as Kate"s confusion deepens. "I doubt you want an audience for this." Kate does as she asks, closing the door and taking the phone, before pressing play on the video. The whining buzz of incredibly loud club music comes through the phone"s speakers, but the sound isn"t what"s really important. "You know, if you want to pick an image for yourself, you should really stick to it," Victoria says pointedly, examining her nails. "I mean, ultra-religious-church-girl is a weird one to choose, considering we live in the 21st century, but you should at least try to have some consistency. If you actually prefer to party -" She glances up, just in time to see Kate"s face go absolutely bone-white as she stares at the screen, and the blast of utter horror that hits Victoria a second later nearly sends her to her knees. Only pride keeps her standing, albeit shakily, and it makes her snarl bad-temperedly, "What the fuck, Marsh, don"t pretend like you didn"t know -" "No." Kate"s quiet, devastated whisper is somehow impossibly loud in the small room. "No, no, no, no, no, no..." she shakes her head, her horrified gaze still locked on the screen. "No, this isn"t me, it can"t be-" "Newsflash, Marsh, it"s fucking you," Victoria snaps. "Unless you have a secret - and convenient - evil twin stashed in your closet who"s the real party fiend -" "No, you don"t understand!" The words burst from Kate, a loud, pained cry as she shoots to her feet. Overwhelming pain and horror and shame roll over Victoria like a tidal wave, as the other girl stares at her, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "I was drugged at that party, Victoria, I don"t remember anything! I went, hoping to get the chance to talk to you, and I had a sip of a glass of wine and I barely remember anything else that happened! Then I woke up in my room yesterday evening -" Her voice cracks, and she gives a pained sob, dropping back down to sit on the bed, with her hands over her eyes. All Victoria can do is stare. She"s not sure what has stunned her more; the revelation that Kate went to the party hoping to speak to her, or the complete and utter sincerity rolling across the bond from the other girl. She absolutely believes everything she"s saying is true. God, she really is that sweet and naïve after all. Fuck. And then, as Victoria"s brain abruptly starts shifting gears; I bet she didn"t even think to guard her drink. She really is a naïve fucking idiot. (My naïve fucking idiot, a part of her brain says, which she promptly ignores.) Victoria crouches beside Kate and holds out a hand. "My phone," she says, in a tone that is more or less a command. Shakily, Kate returns the phone. Victoria holds it at an angle at which the other girl can easily see the screen, before tapping the delete button - and just like that the video is gone, never to see the light of day. Victoria meets Kate"s stunned gaze levelly. "Now, if you"re very lucky, no else will have filmed you - I think I was the least wasted of everyone there, but I"ll make discreet enquiries just in case." "W-why -?" Kate stutters, her shock washing over Victoria. "Why would you help me? I thought you hated the idea of me being your soulmate?" Victoria fights the urge to grimace, her conscience twinging as she remembers exactly what words she left permanently etched somewhere on Kate"s skin. "Let"s just say, it"s come to my attention it might not completely suck, having you as a soulmate," she sniffs. "And besides, we have an empathic bond. I can"t go the rest of my life feeling you moping around like a wet weekend; I"ll go crazy. And break out in terrible acne or something." With those parting words, she sweeps out of the room, leaving Kate staring after her, open-mouthed in shock. (There is a faint flutter of something that curls through the bond towards Victoria as she walks back to her room; a weak golden warmth that hums in the distance, like the first notes coaxed from a violin.) [10/07 8.31am Chloe]: Don"t think if you ignore me I"ll go away, Prescott. Where the fuck are you? [10/07 12.59pm UNKNOWN NUMBER]: You don"t know what the fuck you"re talking about, you stupid punk bitch. [10/07 1.03pm Chloe]: Actually, I fucking do, you asshole. You drugged Kate Marsh at that party, and guess what? I know another person who had something awful happen to them after a Vortex Club party. Care to guess who that was? [10/07 1.19pm Chloe]: Well, Prescott? Hiding and crying like a little girl? [10/07 1.26pm UNKNOWN NUMBER]: Meet me in the disused classroom on the second floor at 4pm. Don"t be late, bitch. A/N: Oh my God, this chapter ended up being way longer than I expected! xD Victoria especially ran away with me at the end there, her POV ended up being unexpectedly fun to write from. Also apologies - Nathan has sort of showed up, but only through memories and text messages. Proper appearance for him in the next chapter for sure, along with Warren"s reaction. xD Thanks again for reading guys, if you liked it, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought! :) I really appreciated hearing your thoughts/comments on the first two chapters, thanks for that. ^_^ A/N: Sorry that this is later than the other chapters guys! I had a busy weekend and literally only finished this the now. Hopefully you"ll still enjoy it. We Are Forged In Fire (We Will Never Fall) Chapter Four: Fierce Words, Fiercer Weapons [10/07 1.31pm Chloe]: Hey hippie, Prescott"s agreed to talk to us [10/07 1.31pm Chloe]: And by agree, I mean I threatened his entitled ass until he stopped ignoring me and started threatening me back [10/07 1.32pm Max]: Chloe, are you sure that was a good idea? [10/07 1.33pm Chloe]: What? It got us a result, didn"t it? And threats are the only language that dick understands [10/07 1.34pm Chloe]: Well, that, and elitist asshole, but I don"t speak that [10/07 1.35pm Chloe]: Regardless, we"re meeting him in the spare classroom on the 2nd floor, after class finishes at 4pm - let"s get some fucking answers [10/07 1.36pm Max]: Definitely "Alfred Hitchcock famously called film "little pieces of time", but he could be talking about photography, as he likely was -" Max isn"t sure she"s ever been this nervous in Mr Jefferson"s class. I mean, of course, I"ve been nervous in his class before, but that"s mostly because I"m worried about looking stupid in front of him because I don"t know the right answers. Or being so shy and nervous that I wind up looking stupid regardless. This time it"s because she"s well aware of the confrontation that she, Kate and Chloe are going to have with Nathan Prescott is in less than fifteen minutes time and for once, she"s finding it next to impossible to actually focus on Mr Jefferson"s lecture, no matter how interesting it is. Max glances across at Kate, who"s looking a lot more composed than Max feels. Only the fingers of her left hand, nervously worrying at the hem of her skirt, give away her unease. After a long argument, they had decided to hang off reporting Nathan to the Principal and the police until they"d spoken to him themselves. (In the end, it had been Kate who"d decided the argument. "I want to speak to him," she had said quietly, her voice threaded with rarely-seen steel, despite her trembling hands. "I want to look him in the eyes and ask him if he hurt me." There had been no more disagreement after that.) Max had also been astonished to hear of Victoria"s visit to Kate this morning. The video was a horrible surprise (both in its distressing contents, and that it existed in the first place), but the revelation that Victoria actually cared, in her own backhanded, awful-at-expressing-it way, was almost equally shocking. Max had hoped that Victoria might eventually come around, but her sudden act of kindness - even disguised with a show of bitchiness and bad temper - had thrown her for a loop. Kate on the other hand, had looked the happiest Max had seen since the night of the party. "She cares, Max," she had said, hand finding her cross necklace instinctively, clasping it tight. "She"s awful at showing it, but she does care, deep down. And we have an empathic bond," she adds, something like wonder creeping into her tired eyes. "I don"t know - I mean I think, with hindsight, I felt a little of it over the last couple of weeks - but it"s unmistakeable now." This revelation leaves Max pondering empathic bonds too. She did a ton of research after she and Chloe developed their own, but it"s far from an exact science. No one can even agree if soulbonds themselves are biological, spiritual, or some combination of both - and naturally everyone has their own, sometimes very vocal, opinion on the subject. Empathic bonds are largely agreed to form over long periods of time between soulmates with extremely close relationships, or sometimes as the result of trauma, or intense emotional upheaval, for one or more of the soulmates involved in the bond. And sometimes, Max thinks, contemplating some of the weirder examples she"d found in both the history and social science textbooks, it just seems to happen for no reason at all. Law of averages, I guess? "Max? What about you? Can you tell us?" Max jolts in her seat at the sound of Mr Jefferson"s voice saying her name, and looks up. She is immediately horrified to realise both he and the entire class are looking at her expectantly. Oh shit! He must have asked me a question! Fuck! "Um, I"m sorry, Mr Jefferson, I don"t know," she says hesitantly, feeling a hot flush of shame. I don"t even know what the question was. He sighs and she kind of wants to fold up and disappear at his clear disappointment. "Make sure you"re keeping up to date with your reading, Max. Does anyone else know?" He turns his attention away from her, and Max catches Kate"s sympathetic look as she sinks into her seat in embarrassment. God, he must think I"m a loser. Way to impress one of your idols, Max. "It was the Daguerreian Process that gave birth to the first self-portraits, which was invented by Louis Daguerre. It gave portraits a sharp reflective style, like a mirror." Max glances over at Victoria as she answers Mr Jefferson, and her embarrassment fades into surprise at the realisation that Victoria is looking back at her. Instead of mocking however, her expression is oddly contemplative, like she can"t figure something out. "Very good Victoria! The Daguerreian Process brought out fine detail in people"s faces..." Mr Jefferson continues, but Max"s attention is immediately drawn away again by the quiet buzz of her phone. [10/07 3.55pm Chloe]: Hey, got out of class slightly early - gonna go scope out the classroom, see you there Max stiffens in her seat, alarmed at the thought of Chloe going ahead alone. [10/07 3.55pm Max]: No wait we"ll be out in 2 mins She types hurriedly under the desk, hastily hitting send before Mr Jefferson turns around. To her increasing concern, there"s no reply, and she spends the last few minutes of class tapping her foot with increasing agitation. She can"t feel much of anything from Chloe, except the low-key impatience and anger she"s been emitting for most of the day, but it"s not terribly reassuring. The minute the bell rings, she shoots out of her seat, pausing only to snag Kate"s arm on the way to the door. Max thinks she hears Mr Jefferson call her name but pretends she doesn"t over the general clamour of scraping chairs and raised voices, hurrying herself and Kate out the door as fast as possible without actually running. It makes her feels guilty but not enough to stop - Chloe is her priority right now and she has an awful feeling of dread curdling in the pit of her stomach. "What"s wrong?" Kate says as they take the stairs two at a time. "Chloe"s went ahead on her own," Max says. Suddenly Chloe"s emotions spike sharply, a ripple of rage and suspicion, and she is running now, pelting down the corridor, her heart in her mouth and Chloe"s name a drumbeat in her head - She arrives at the door to the disused classroom, Kate at her side, in time to hear Chloe"s voice rise in familiar anger. "Bullshit! You drugged Kate, you fucker, and I bet you had something to do with Rachel too - did you think no one would notice shit happened to them both at your stupid little rich kid club parties?" Almost in slow motion, Max sees Chloe stalk forward aggressively, crowding Nathan, even as his own face contorts in rage. "You don"t know what the fuck you"re talking about, you stupid dyke, you have no idea -" "Oh, I think I have plenty of ideas about what you"re doing. You"re a sick fuck, you know that Prescott? You"re going to tell me what happened to Rachel, and you"re going to tell me right now -"

"Well, Belly, you waited almost an entire day to tell me," she said, pretending to be angry, just for a second. "I think you"ve already made your decision. I"m not offended. It just means you"re growing up." I sighed in relief, feeling guilty that I had waited so long but just glad that she didn"t think we had gone insane. "Conrad called me this morning. He sounded... happy. The happiest I"d heard him in a long time." I looked up to see myself smiling in the mirror. I touched the delicate seashell necklace against my collarbone. "I think he is." I could hear my mom smiling on the other line. There was no doubt she loved Conrad like her own son. For a second I tried to imagine Susannah"s face, breaking into a glorious smile, upon finding out that Conrad and I were moving in together. I stifled the knot that threatened to form in my throat. My mom was thoughtful on the other line. "I think so, too." After dinner with the girls, I met Conrad back at the beach house. He saw me walking up the steps and greeted me at the door, smiling like a boy on Christmas morning. It was impossible to resist; I felt myself mirror it immediately. I was reminded of how rare it was to see Conrad like this - Conrad, who was always so serious - and elated that I was now the cause of it. "Hey," he said. "Hi." I felt butterflies erupt in my stomach, catapulting me back to the days when Conrad would show up for the weekend, after having driven for five hours from Boston. He leaned in to kiss me, and he smelled like soap and seawater. We kissed for a minute, and I was sure my knees would have given out had they not locked in for my own safety, before we pulled away, and went inside. It was a nice night, so we had a beer out on the balcony, laying out on our backs and watching the stars. They were like metallic clusters in the sky, and Conrad, who had always loved astronomy, showed me which stars were which. I could feel his fingers grazing against mine, like wind weaving around wind chimes. We talked for hours, just like old times, laughing and reminiscing. But as much as we were about the past, we didn"t linger much on what used to be. This was us now. Belly and Conrad. "How did Taylor take the news?" he asked, taking a sip of his beer. "With some resistance. You know Taylor." I traced the lip of my beer bottle, relishing the feel of the breeze in my hair. I tried to think of a better feeling than this, lying out underneath the stars at the beach house, with the boy I had loved since I could remember. I could think of very few. "She"s always resented how much attention I gave you," I laughed. "She doesn"t hate me, does she?" he said sheepishly, but his smirk gave him away. He brushed his knuckles against mine. "You know, before the wedding... she sat me down and gave me a talk. Told me to stop fucking around. Which I pretty much deserved." He glanced at me, chuckling. I leaned my head back, smiling a little to myself. She had never told me about this, but for some reason, I wasn"t surprised. "She"s a good friend." He nodded. "She is." We sat there for a few minutes, saying nothing. I thought of how, with some people, silence strikes a certain fear, or panic - a sudden feeling of paranoia and need to know what the other person is thinking, and if they are thinking about you. I have never felt that with Conrad. With Conrad, silence came naturally, and comfortably. Maybe that was a sign you were meant to be, in a way: when you can be perfectly content just being near each other, without having to say much at all. Suddenly, I asked the question neither of us was willing to ask. "Should we tell Jeremiah?" I said, my voice quiet. I watched the silvery tide crash on the sand, scattering like thousands of tiny liquid marbles, before getting sucked back in. "I mean... are we?" Conrad was silent for a second, thinking. "I"ve been trying to answer that, too." Then he looked at me, his face earnest. I could tell he was still worried about how this might affect Jeremiah. "But I think that it has to come from me. Is that okay?" I nodded. I knew that Conrad was especially careful about his relationship with Jere, now that it was slowly back on the mend. He loved his brother and I couldn"t find any dispute with that. "Of course." He sighed, leaning his head back. I felt the fingers of his free hand entwine with mine. They were warm and rough. "Sometimes I think about everything that happened," he confessed, "and I try to figure out where I went wrong, and if I had done that one thing differently, how things might have ended up. If I had just told you that night at the hotel. But I can"t. I knew myself back then, and I don"t know that if I had just been honest, if we would be here right now, like this." I stared at him, the glorious outline of his face. I wanted to kiss him. Always, I wanted to kiss him - but especially when he was deep in thought, and so serious. As I watched him I could no longer see a trace of young Conrad, pouring over his encyclopedias, thirsty for knowledge. He was older now. He knew more, and he had seen too much. "It"s just hard to tell sometimes, that"s all - what was the right thing to do." I wanted to tell him that I understood, and that maybe sometimes what was right and what was wrong wasn"t black and white. As much as I had hated him for letting me go - even when he wanted me - I understood why he thought he had to, and when he had told me why, it made sense. It made sense in the way I most feared it would, because Conrad, as much as he had played the part of the jerk in the past, always had a reason. "It made sense at the time," he said, his eyes hard and focused on the sky. "But I"ll never forgive myself for the way I treated you." I set my beer down, reaching out to trace his jaw line with my fingers, trying to ease away the tension that had gathered up there. He turned to me, his eyes softening, and we kissed. We stumbled back into the beach house, kissing, his hands tangling themselves in my hair. We hadn"t done much the night before, aside from kissing and talking, but I had a feeling about tonight. We went up to his old room and settled on his bed, slowly slipping off our clothes, and just as we were getting intense, he pulled back for a second, looking at me. He asked me if I was okay, and if this was what I wanted. I told him yes, a million times over. I"d always imagined how it would be like to be with Conrad, and being with him was exactly how I thought it would be. He was gentle but strong, perched above me, kissing me while I moaned. I swung my legs around him and I could feel his sheets crinkling up against us, his ancient bed frame quietly rattling with his thrusts. I felt like I was just drinking him in, like your first cold drink after a long summer"s day, and I couldn"t possibly have enough. We kept at it until we were too exhausted to, collapsing beside each other, moist with each other"s sweat, breathless and laughing. "I love you, Belly," he whispered to me, his voice warm and deep. I loved the slow-burning desperation I heard behind it. I loved it because I felt it, too. "I love you more," I said, feeling my heart swell in my chest. The room was dark but out there was a full moon, and a little ghostly beam of light was spilling from his window, cutting right across his chest. My hair had fallen in front of my face, and he swept it away, tucking it behind my ear. "Impossible," he said. We lay there afterwards; fighting sleep, slowly noticing as the moonlight began to disappear, blending in with the lightening sky. I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of his breathing, and how perfectly it seemed to synchronize with the crashing of the waves. It was one of those moments where you are almost tempted to ask time to stop, just so that you could stay here, and feel this way for as long as the universe would possibly let you. "At my graduation," he said to me, his deep yet quiet voice vibrating from his chest, "I saw you, in the crowd. I went looking for you afterwards, but you weren"t there. So I convinced myself that I"d just imagined it all." The way he said this let me know that he knew better now, even without me having to tell him. I smiled against his chest. "And here I thought that it was impossible that you"d notice - me in such a big crowd." I remembered his graduation. Like every memory of Conrad, it never lost its hold. I remembered every detail, and every crushing pang of emotion. "The weird thing is that I started to have this habit, of looking for you everywhere I went. Even when I knew you wouldn"t be. I looked for you anyway." I closed my eyes. I imagined Conrad Fisher, entering a crowded bar, or a neighborhood supermarket, subconsciously-but-still-consciously looking for me. I began to drift off. "I"m here now," I mumbled. "Yeah," he said, his voice slowly fading. I could hear contentment in his voice. "You are." I fell asleep thinking of how, for once, we were both at the right place at the right time. Such a crucial combination, and when you happened upon it, you had - as impossible as it sounds - utter perfection. And it was. Perfect. Conrad was known to be an early riser, but this time I"d managed to wake up ahead of him. I silently crept out of bed, not wanting to disturb him, slipping on a shirt and some underwear. I quietly searched the cupboards and pantry, finally settling on making pancakes and bacon for breakfast. I looked at the time. Or brunch. As I thought about last night, my senses tingled and my mind fogged over with joy. I could hardly concentrate on the eggs, which ended up slightly burnt on one side. I knew Conrad would tease me about it later, but I slid them onto a plate anyway, saving them for myself. I suddenly had the image of my mom, scolding me for wasting food: waste not, want not. I was in the middle of frying bacon when I heard Conrad. "Good morning," he said, kissing the back of my neck. He had taken a quick shower before coming down, and his hair was still damp. "Or afternoon," he mended, having glanced at the clock. He looked skeptically at the sizzling pan on the stove. "You"re making breakfast. I was worried you"d do that." "Shut up," I said. Conrad had always made fun of my cooking. Not only my cooking, but my eating - he was convinced that I had some kind of alien gene. He"d told me once that with my eating habits, I should not be weighing any less than 200 pounds, and the fact that I did so was a miracle. "You burned the eggs," he pointed out, impishly. He poured himself a cup of coffee. "New rule: when we live together, you"re not allowed to cook. Ever." "I don"t know what you"re talking about. They"re perfectly fine - they"re just singed. It adds flavor," I said adamantly. "The flavor of being burnt." I turned back around to hide my grin, pretending to be annoyed. "I can"t stand you." His right eyebrow shot up his forehead, before his eyes glittered playfully. "Is that so, Isabel Conklin?" "Absolutely. Definitely. Incomprehensibly." He set down his coffee mug, coming towards me, a smirk playing on the very corner of his lips. Suddenly, he turned me around, kissing me urgently. I felt the soft cotton of his t-shirt against my fingertips, his arms wrapping around my waist. He lifted me up, setting me on the counter, never once breaking our kiss. "Wait," I said, pulling away, breathing heavily. My eyes were still closed. "The bacon. It"ll get burnt." "Good. It can match the eggs," he said huskily, already lifting up the edges of my shirt. By the time we were done, the bacon had been burnt to indistinguishable black coals and needed to be tossed out. Conrad was in his boxers, standing on a chair, trying to air out the smoke surrounding the fire alarm, which had begun to screech shrilly. We were both laughing so hard we could barely talk. Eventually I had to leave to come back to the apartment and pack up the rest of my things. Conrad walked me out to my car and we kissed for twenty whole minutes, pressed up against my car, before I pulled away, my lips singing and swollen. "Okay. I really have to go. For real, this time." He smiled, relenting, kissing me on the forehead. "If you say so." I opened my car door, knowing that if I didn"t leave now, I would never be able to. Suddenly I was having doubts about us living together. If it was this hard to separate now - if only for a few hours - how could we ever get anything done in California? I smiled at the thought. I started the engine, looking up at him. His face was drawn down, serious. "I"m telling him today," he said. "Jere." I nodded, the feelings of elation and pleasure ebbing away. They were replaced with concern and trepidation. "Okay. Good luck." "Thanks," he said, and we said good-bye, before I backed out of the driveway. As I drove away I could still see him standing there, looking after me. Anika was standing my doorway, staring at me, scrutinizing. "What?" I said, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Had I put my shirt on inside-out? Had Conrad given me a hickey and I hadn"t noticed? I had made sure to inspect myself in my car mirror before I headed out, not wanting to be too obvious about our night"s activities. I was not like Taylor, who felt the need to indulge us every time she and Brent had amazing sex. "You have that odd glow about you," she said. "That I-had-sex-all-night-and-barely-slept-but-it-was-totally-worth-it glow." I felt myself blush bright red, opening my mouth to protest. But what could I say? She was right. I only hoped this "glow" would go away before Taylor got off work, or else I would be subject to probing and incessant detail-begging for the rest of the day. Anika seemed satisfied when I closed my mouth and instead ignored her, preoccupying myself with neatly folding my clothes into my suitcase. "Was it good?" she asked, but didn"t allow me to answer. Not that I would have, anyway. "Of course it was! If it wasn"t you"d have come creeping in at 2 in the morning, instead of 3 in the afternoon." She came in, sitting down on the edge of my bed. She took a pile of clothes and began to help me fold them. "I can"t believe you"re leaving me here with Taylor. That"s cold-hearted, Iz. You were the perfect mediator between her and me trying to choke her out." I laughed at her. "You guys love each other. Admit it." She only smiled. "Tay and I talked and we decided we"re giving you a three month respite - three months for you to realize you hate it in California and come back, and three months before we start looking for a new roommate." "That sounds fair. Thank you." She stood up again. "Just so you know, I hate Conrad just a little bit, too. Just because he"s taking you away from us. So tell him the icy reception is nothing personal. Just territorial." And with that, Anika disappeared back down the hall, into her room. I happened to get most of my packing done by the time Taylor got home. We ate dinner together - Chinese leftovers - before she dragged her sleeping bag into my room. "I don"t care if you think I"m being childish," she said, before I could say anything. "I"m your best friend. I"m allowed to every now and then." So, for old times" sake, we had a sleepover. We watched Pretty Woman and she recited Richard Gere"s lines while I mimicked Julia Roberts" until we had to stop from laughing so much. I had a feeling that Anika knew what was going on but never once came in. I think she knew what this meant to Taylor, and she respected that. When the movie ended, we both retired to our beds, talking randomly - about anything and everything that came to mind. Our childhood, what we were going to do with the rest of our lives, and even if Anika would ever finally give into Brad from the Fourth Floor"s attempts to take her out on a date. We had both settled that we thought Anika eventually would. Anika was always resistant to boys that blatantly liked her, but if they held out long enough, she always found their determination somewhat admirable, and said yes. "I"m happy for you, Belly," I heard Taylor say. "You and Conrad. After all you guys have been through. . . . there"s a nice justice to it, that"s all. You guys were meant to be." Her words echoed in my mind. Meant to be. Even though I had thought that, many times about Conrad, it was the first time I had ever really analyzed the weight and ambiguity of those words. Meant to be. Meant to be. I certainly wanted it to be meant to be - us. And it felt as if it could, sometimes. "I hope so," I breathed. "Trust me," she only said. "You are." Taylor and Anika dropped Conrad and I off at the airport. We"d had dinner with Steven and my mom the night before, taking the whole evening to say our goodbyes. My mom held me close, reminding me to call her if I needed anything. Steven also gave me a big bear hug, warning me not to get all "earthy-crunchy, Whole Foods, organic-food-obsessed like everybody in California." He also vowed to come visit. "You"re both taking me to Disneyland," he said, pointing to both Conrad and I. "I hope you know." I looked at Conrad, who was laughing. Even now, I could sense Steven"s jealousy that Conrad was taking me back with him to California, and not him. But that didn"t stop him from pulling Conrad aside with a very serious face, telling us women to give them a minute. My mom and I watched them from a distance. "I believe," she said, amused, "that your brother is threatening Conrad." "Better that we not mention how ridiculous this looks," I said, smiling. "Look at Con, trying so hard to take him seriously." She wrapped an arm around me, giving me a kiss on the forehead. I breathed her in, her signature cinnamon smell, and felt something warm prickle my eyes. "If you ever forget how lucky you are, my dear Isabel Conklin," she said to me, "all you need to do is look at everybody who loves you." Anika handed me my other suitcase, promising to send me the rest of the boxes. Conrad politely excused himself to the bathroom, giving us a few moments to say goodbye. Taylor leapt at the opportunity. "It"s not too late, you know," she said, chewing on the straw of her mocha frap. "To back out. Just say the word, Belly, and we can grab your shit and just peal on out of here." I shook my head, laughing. "I think I"m okay. Honestly." "You sure?" Anika asked. Great. Even she had joined in. "Because Tay"s right. And Tay"s hardly ever right." "I mean, are you even going to like California? Stanford? What if everybody"s mean and Conrad ends up having these hot, hippie, nude colonist neighbors?" I seriously considered the case that Taylor was presenting. She watched my face tentatively, as if waiting for me to admit my doubts. "If things don"t work out," I admitted, "I will be back. I promise." "Remember, Iz, three months," Anika said, and for a minute we all just stood there, looking at each other, and as I sighed heavily, I felt myself get choked up, just a little. "For God"s sake, just hug me already," I said, and they both rushed in, hugging me at the same time. I closed my eyes, not caring how ridiculous this might look to any onlookers. They pulled back at the same time, with Taylor sniffling. Always prepared for any occasion, she slipped on her Chanel sunglasses. "I love you guys," I said. "I promise not to replace you with an Eva Mendes lookalike." "You better not," Taylor said. Her face prettily crumpled. "I hate goodbyes." "Me too," said Anika. She gave me one last hug. "Call us anytime. Often is good, so you can check if I"ve killed Taylor yet." And with that, they both began to walk away, just in time for Conrad to come back from his supposed trip to the bathroom. He wrapped an arm around me, pressing his lips against the top of my head. "They"re right, you know," he said. "It"s not too late for you to back out." I looked at him, confused at how he could have possibly known they"d try to talk me out of going with him. Then I remembered that he knew Taylor. He knew that she wasn"t going to let me go that easily. "When I said I was in, I meant it." I grabbed my suitcases, and he picked one up, slinging it over his shoulder with ease. I glanced at his profile, smiling victoriously. "Don"t tell me you"ve changed your mind about me coming with you," I said. "Me? Changing my mind, about you?" We walked towards the security line. Overhead, electronic airport announcements were being played. He looked at me. It was that look that had the enormous capacity to end things or start them. I knew what it meant this time. That look. The beginning of everything. "Never. You and me, Belly, we"re soul-mates. You remember that, don"t you? We"re bound to each other, whether we like it or not." I thought of the infinity necklace. Conrad always had a way of knowing things before they happened. Maybe he"d known about California, too. Or maybe not. We boarded the plane and stuffed our carry-ons in the overhead compartment. I had the window seat and he had the middle seat, holding my hand as the plane lifted off of the ground. As we reached higher elevation, I closed my eyes, feeling the faint motion of his finger against my open palm, light but sure, tracing a sideways eight. The End Thanks for reading and please review!

Today I was determined to finally catch a squirrel with my squirrel trap. It had proven to be a good distraction, but I was growing hopeless. What hope did I have of surviving in the woods without the boys if I couldn"t catch my own food? I didn"t want to rely on them forever. We set my finished squirrel trap over by a large tree and walked some distance away to wait. Sam took a nap while I flipped through my fairy book. Fortunately, I happened upon an entry in Cecilia"s diary. My brother has returned from his trip! A bit unexpectedly, too. We had expected for him to be gone at least another week, but his knights had sent word that they accomplished their mission earlier than expected. Only Mother, Sir Stephan, and Char"s most loyal knights knew what the real mission had been - to find the girl Char had been searching for. Father and the rest of the court had been told they were simply going on a trip to survey the lands that had been affected during the heavy rains. That part had been Mother"s idea in an effort to shield Char from gossip, as well as the skeptical eye of Father and his royal advisor. I"ll admit I only managed to know the full details by pestering Mother with questions until she finally relented. I told Mother I had never known Char could be so romantic - searching our kingdom far and wide for a maiden who had captured his heart. Mother only laughed. "You"d be surprised, my dearest daughter, how much being in love changes the anatomy of your being," she said. I was returning from my languages session when I saw Char and his knights riding into the castle gates. I ran ahead and greeted them, eager to be the first to hear the news. "What news from the kingdom, brother?" I asked. Char only smiled and playfully brushed the bottom of my chin with his thumb. I could tell from his face that he was exhausted. There were dark shadows under his eyes. But I could also tell those shadows were not solely caused by fatigue and lack of sleep. My spirits dampened when I realized from his expression that he had not come back with good news, after all. I stole a glance at Sir Stephan, who only nodded at me somberly, as if to confirm my disappointment. "The flooded lands are recovering smoothly. I have made sure to let the farmers know they have our support and that they can come to us if they need further help replanting their crops. I"ll have the full report tonight." He gently rested his palm on my cheek. His hands were rough and callused. "It"s good to see you, dear sister." I watched as Char and his knights headed into the castle, no doubt looking forward to a nice bath and some rest. I had a million questions I knew I could not ask my brother. Had he found her? Had she not wanted to marry him after all? Who exactly was this maiden who had managed to capture his heart and yet eluded his affections? I ran into the castle to find Mother. I knew Char would want to clean himself up before presenting himself to her. I found her in the master chambers with Grinilda tending to her hair and told her that I feared Char"s broken heart had not been mended as we had hoped. Mother smiled sympathetically at me and held my hand. "I am sorry to hear that. Perhaps Char will be able to give me more detail tonight, if his pride allows. But Char is a good man, Cecilia. I have hope that his heart will find its equal, sooner or later." Mother is an eternal optimist. How I wish I had inherited that from her too. I cannot convey how disappointed I am that my brother did not return with the one he loves. Even in his absence, Father has been quietly scheming with his advisors on how to get him married off. Char has been vocal and firm that he would never marry without love, but I also know that if circumstances were dire and his kingdom depended on his being wed, he would do so without complaint. I sighed as I leaned back and closed my eyes, hugging the fairy book to my chest. I was glad to know Char had at least returned home safely. I longed to know more - to see an image of his face, or see an entry in his writing - even though I was not entirely sure my heart could take it. I could only imagine what he would write about me now that he had heard from my own mouth that it had all been a lie. And yet... he hadn"t asked me why. I had been afraid he would order me to tell him the truth about why I had lied, but he hadn"t. Instead he had collapsed inwards and believed that I had lied and run away to save him from the rejection of his unreturned love. And as for me, I had no choice but to let him. After Cecilia"s journal entry, I flipped through a few more pages and only managed to find the week"s menu drafted by the castle"s royal cook. I was not surprised to see it bore no mention of roasted squirrel. I quietly closed the book and leaned my head back against the tree. The image of Char"s face the night of the Sing flickered through my mind. It made the tender parts of my heart wince. Then, suddenly, I heard it - the loud snap of my squirrel trap. I stood up, looking over to where we had placed it. There was something wriggling in the net. I squealed and began running over. "Sam!" I called out, behind me. "Sam, I think I"ve caught something!" James had been nearby and had also heard the trap. He met me there and helped me get the trap down. We both stared at the helpless little squirrel trapped in the net, frantically trying to get out. James smiled at me. "Looks like we"ve finally got a winner." Worry not, fair readers, for this is not the last we"ve seen of Prince Charmont! But, admittedly, it"ll be a few chapters before we see him again. Hang in there! Please review if you feel so inclined! Having been a cook"s helper did have one advantage: fairly extensive knowledge of herbs and spices. I managed to buy some rosemary and other spices when we"d happened to pass by one of the smaller towns, and stunned the boys by stuffing the pigeon they"d caught for supper with rosemary before roasting it over the fire. They were delighted by the idea that merely sprinkling some spice and herbs on their food could make a world of difference. "James," Sam said, an awed expression on his face after having had his share of rosemary-stuffed pigeon. "I think Ella"s a witch. How else could she make pigeon taste this delicious with just a weed?" James and the others laughed. "Perhaps she is. She does carry around an air of mystery and a pocketful of secrets she refuses to share with anyone." Surrounded by the boys, stomachs full and laughing, I was delighted at how happy it made me feel to be in their group. It soothed the pang of loneliness I had felt for much of my life. I hadn"t known I"d missed genuine camaraderie until I was able to experience it again. "You jest, but it"s no laughing matter. Sometimes mystery is all a maiden can rightfully possess in this world," I said. When I looked up, James"s eyes were on me. They were pleased, but there was something else in them that I couldn"t read. "Witch or not," James said, turning back to the group, "we welcome her culinary embellishments to our meals, do we not, lads?" "Aye aye!" they all cheered. I awoke that night to the sound of shuffling and footsteps. I sat up, blinking through the darkness. The scant light from the moon was obscured by the trees, and all I could see were shadowed figures. "Who"s there?" "It"s just us, Ella," somebody whispered. I relaxed, recognizing Tom"s voice. "Tom? Where did you go?" "James spotted a carriage traveling through the night on the main road earlier," Tom answered. I could hear him trying to make himself comfortable on the threadbare cot laid out on the ground. "Managed to plunder some bread and money." I looked around for their leader. "James?" His voice came from a few paces away from me. "Now you"ve done it, boys. You"ve upset the lady by divulging to her the petty crimes we stoop to in order to survive." I stood up. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness now, and I could make out their forms. Their faces were still obscured, but at least I could spot James. He was easy to find. He was taller, his shoulders were broader, and his posture was different from the other boys. Straighter, more polished. It even almost reminded me of some of the men I"d seen in court, years ago. I walked over to James. "I need a moment with you, please," I whispered harshly. The boys started to snicker from their cots. James, himself, also seemed amused. This did nothing to quell my annoyance. I walked with James further into the wood until I was sure the boys couldn"t hear us. "You stole? In the middle of the night?" His tone was far too humored for my current mood. "Yes. You see, under the cover of night is the ideal time for a bandit to strike. Was that not part of the curriculum at finishing school?" "What if someone had gotten hurt?" I hissed. "No one did. In fact, it rarely happens. We don"t do what we do blindly, Ella. I make sure there are no surprises. The boys are well-trained in what to do in case something unexpected comes up. We"ve been doing this a long time." His voice was steady and certain. He was trying to comfort me. I could also feel how close he was, even in the darkness - I could faintly feel the puffs of his breath against my face. "Have you ever killed anyone?" James took a moment. "Wounded, under extreme duress. Never killed. We"re bandits, Ella. Not murderers." "But you can see how the two could easily collide," I snapped. "All it takes is one... unfortunate accident. Or a concealed weapon you didn"t foresee. If you were ever caught, they"d cut your hands off in the town square!" I was fuming. It still left me incredulous, how reckless James could be. These boys looked up to him and he willingly led them to a life of crime. I hated the thought of any one of them getting hurt. If they were ever recognized by one of their victims and arrested, their fates would be sealed. Maiming or death, depending on the degree of their theft. But nothing less. "It"s just odd," he said, quietly. Even in the absence of light I could sense that he was looking at me oddly. "I"m not used to anyone else worrying about these boys except for me." "Someone should. You"re worth worrying about. If you"d give this up, you"d see how warmly people would welcome you." He softly scoffed. "What a very rosy image of the world you"ve painted for us, Ella," he said. "It"s comforting. But it"s not real." "If they told you they wanted to stop and just live and work in town, would you let them?" "I"ve told them time and time again that they are free to go as they please. They aren"t my servants or prisoners. No one"s holding them to this life." I shook my head. "You are. They look to you. You"re the only person in their life who watches over them, who cares. Of course they"d follow you. They"d follow you to the ends of the earth if you asked them to." James was silent for a moment, as if absorbing what I"d said. "Like I said: they"re free to go as they please. As are you, Ella of Frell. If you find that being amongst us disturbs you so, perhaps this is the time to amicably part ways." Shocked, I stared at the outline of his shadowed face. I could feel his eyes on me, intense and waiting. Watching. I admit their company - and their resourcefulness with trapping food - had helped me a great deal. I had gotten to know them and now regarded them as friends. Although it prickled my conscience to know what they resorted to doing in order to stay unattached to civilization, I knew that I would miss them too much if we parted ways now. "Or perhaps," James said, before I could answer, "the pair of us could aim to be our better selves and strike a compromise." I was partly relieved. "What sort of compromise?" "From now on, we"ll refrain from pulling our usual schemes while we"re in your company. However, if we find that circumstances have become dire..." I nodded. This I could live with. It was just temporary, after all. I wouldn"t be traveling with the bandits forever. Perhaps I could even convince some of the boys to leave this way of living while I was with them and take them with me to look for work in town. "Very well then. I accept." I held my hand out, and he shook it firmly. We held on for a moment and then let go. "The sun will be up soon," James said, hesitantly stepping away from me. The heat between us dissipated. "We ought to get some sleep." We were passing along the town of Edessa after sundown when we heard music. Since it had been a few days since we"d passed any towns or villages, James decided it would do no harm if we all went to join the festivities for a little while. There were musicians playing on a stage with a crowd of couples dancing in the square. Young, old, and every age in between. Ale was flowing, faces were flushed, and heads were thrown back in spirited laughter. The boys, energized by the people and music, instantly joined in. I could see how much fun they were having, linking arms and dancing to the best of their abilities. I laughed when they clumsily bumped into each other and still continued to revel in the mob. Beside me, James was also enjoying himself, watching the festivities. "Are you not going to join your family of rowdy misfits?" I asked him, shouting above the music. "They"re doing just fine humiliating themselves on their own, from the looks of it," James said, leaning near my ear so that I could hear. "I"d hate to smother them." Two young girls suddenly squeezed between us, running out to join the dancing. "Could it be true? A bandit so afraid to look silly that he"ll abstain from actually enjoying himself?" I teased. "Afraid?" he scoffed. "No one said anything about being afraid." "You"re right. Not afraid," I said. "Terrified." I laughed at the sudden look of challenge that dawned on his face. He held his hand out to me, and I stiffened. He then bowed, as they often did at the balls I used to attend. I was surprised at how smoothly he did so, with the grace of someone who had been born in relative wealth. "Well?" he said. "Ella of Frell, would you be so kind as to honor a lowly, unscrupulous bandit with a dance?" I was surprised at his offer. I also found myself immensely glad that he"d asked, rather than unintentionally ordered - as he was wont to do. Seeing no harm in it, I placed my hand in his. "I suppose I can silence my conscience for a dance, just tonight." Grinning, James pulled me out to a spot in the crowd. They had just begun a lively quadrille, and I quickly became breathless with laughter as we linked arms and danced with the other couples in our group, clapping and spinning as we went. Strangely enough, it felt good to dance. It had been so long since I"d danced that it had been all too easy to forget how fun it could be. The last time I had danced was at Char"s homecoming ball years ago, when I had pretended to be Lady Lela for three glorious nights - only to quietly slip away on the last night and transform back into Ella of Frell. And just like that, Lady Lela of Bast was erased from the world forever. After the quadrille, we danced another. And then another. My face ached from so much laughing and smiling. James had appeared to undergo a change, as well. As we danced, I couldn"t help but notice how widely he smiled, and how pleasant he looked when he did so. His dark hair fell across the forehead in tendrils, nearly matted with sweat. Even in all of the movement, I found myself observing the flirtatious gazes of several maidens landing on James, who seemed to not notice in the slightest bit. We decided to take a break after the third dance to catch our breath. James brought us back some ale, and we sat down together in a corner to watch the crowd while we sipped to cool our parched mouths. I took one generous gulp before wiping my mouth on my sleeve. "You dance like a..." "God?" James cheekily suggested. "Nobleman," I finished. "A sprightly nobleman. Where"d you learn how to dance like that?" James"s easy smile wavered, just a little. "Long story," he answered, fixing his eyes on the crowd, which had now formed in two lines for another country dance. "And as it is, unsuited for a jovial night such as this." I looked at him questioningly, but he only continued to drink his ale. I decided not to push it, and instead relished the silence so that I could quench my thirst. After we finished our drinks, James went off to tend to check up on the boys - or, rather, in his words, "Herd them like wayward cattle." I explored the town square and mingled with the locals. It was getting late into the night, however. Some children were still about, but most had gone home to bed. The men and women were getting sloppy and drunk, and many were beginning to stumble as they made their way through the town center. I tried to look for James and the boys, but I couldn"t find them. I kept walking, searching for them. Suddenly, a man bumped into me and spilled his ale all over the front of my dress. I stepped back, grimacing at the sight of my only good dress ruined, before I looked up. A shudder went through me at the expression on the man"s ragged face. Behind him were several other men, also looking very drunk and menacing. "What a pretty sight you are," the man purred. "Even better with a man"s hard-earned ale all over your bosom." He grabbed me by the waist and I stepped back, trying to get away, but his other hand suddenly had my arm in a vice grip, pulling me to him. "Come on lassie, let"s not make a fuss. Me and my men here just want to have a nice talk with you." "We"ll talk with her, all right," one of the men behind him shouted, making the hair on my neck stand up. The drunk man pulled me in closer and I dug my heel into his foot with all my might. He released me and howled in pain, and I spun around to try to get away - before one of his men caught me, grabbing me yet again by the waist from behind. I struggled and elbowed him in the ribs, but his reaction was quick and he grabbed my hair instead, pulling it back in one forceful tug and making me yelp. "Stop resisting, you little wench. We may have to teach you a lesson," the man growled. "And keep your mouth shut, or we"ll rip your tongue out." Suddenly, my body went lax. My eyes widened in horror when I realized that he had just ordered me into submission. The men were momentarily surprised by my sudden silence, but not for long. "That"s a good lass for ya. We promise we"ll try and be gentle," he grinned. I wanted to spit in his face. Inside my chest, my heart felt like it was beating itself bloody, fear coursing through my veins like ice. One of the men picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. I did my best to resist the curse, but my limbs swung uselessly underneath me and my lips were clamped shut. I watched the ground below as they began to walk away from the crowd with my body like a ragdoll. Suddenly, I heard a voice through the crowd. "Ella?" I tried to move my head towards the voice. It was James! The voice was closer the second time around. "Ella! You ugly bastards, put her down!" The man carrying me halted and turned around. James had caught up to them. My heart rejoiced... and then fell with dread when I realized these were five, hefty men compared to James. James was cunning and quick, but he was no match compared to these boulders. "Put the maiden down and nobody gets hurt," James said calmly. His voice was crystal clear and authoritative, but the men took one look at him and laughed anyway. "I could sneeze on you and break your arm like a twig," the man boomed, still laughing. "Walk away and we"ll let you leave with your liver still inside your body." They began to turn around again. "I mean it," James said loudly. "You have three seconds to put her down before you experience the greatest agony known to man." They all laughed again. "One," James began counting, warningly. "Two... Three!" Just then, I heard something sharply whistling through air, and then the sound of something hard smacking bone. The man carrying me staggered back, and then before I knew it, he was falling to the ground. I managed to jump off before he fell, landing painfully on my hands and knees. Now that the order had expired, my muscles tingled with adrenaline. James helped me up, and I stood up to view the scene: all five men were unconscious on the ground. They all had deep bruises forming on their foreheads, some with blood dripping down their hairline. There were several large rocks scattered around, not far from the men"s bodies. Then there was the sound of running feet. The boys came around, whooping at their victory, bending to gather their rocks. They all had slingshots in their hands. "Lucky they"re blessed with good aim," James said under his breath. He turned to me, his mouth drawing down into an angry scowl. His eyes flashed. "And you! What in God"s name were you doing, just lying there?" My face burned. I felt faint imagining what would have happened to me had James and the boys not seen me in time. Another shudder went through me, along with a familiar flash of self-hatred for myself and my curse.

James helped me down as many Ayorthaians greeted us and smiled. "I believe this is where we leave you, Ella of Frell," he said. I nodded and untied my belongings from his. "Where will you go?" I asked. He smiled, as if pleased I was concerned. "Around, I"m sure. We"ll be back for you." I thanked them for accompanying me, which appeared to further please him. Tom, Fred, Sam and John said goodbye. Fred pretended to tip a hat to me, smiling, before they rode off and I found myself lost in the crowd, alone. I began to walk and ask around, looking for Areida and her family. Sometimes I could not dispute my luck. Just an hour after asking around, a gentle woman pointed me over to where Areida and her family"s inn were. My heart began to pound, my limbs suddenly wobbly with nervousness, as I approached their inn. There was a decorative wooden sign above their door: Golden Horse Inn. Inside I could see a few guests, coming and going. I approached the woman at the desk. She had dark hair with graying streaks, and cinnamon-brown skin, with features that looked vaguely familiar. She greeted me with a warm smile. "Hello there," she said to me in Kyrrian. I suddenly remembered that I didn"t exactly blend in with the Ayorthaians. "Did you want to book a room?" "Actually," I said, "I"m looking for my friend Areida. I was told this was her family"s inn." Her eyes brightened in recognition. "But of course! I am her mother, Antonia. Let me get her for you." She disappeared then, going through a door behind her, and a few moments later, Areida emerged. She was much taller now, and her hair had grown almost past her waist. When she saw me, her hands flew up to her mouth with wide eyes. "Ella? Is that you?" she gasped. I was smiling so hard it began to hurt. As I nodded, she came around and smothered me in a fierce hug. "It"s been so long! I thought. . . well, I have been dying to know what happened to you since you ran away from finishing school!" Her mother, Antonia, raised her eyebrows. "So this is the plucky lass that ran away from finishing school?" "Yes, Mama," Areida said, beaming. "And my only friend there." She took my hands. "We must talk. I have imagined many scenarios your life might have taken, and I am desperate to know which ones I was right about." Areida took me to the small garden behind their inn. It was empty, save for the gardener, who tipped his hat to us before leaving to trim a far corner. We strolled around for hours as we talked. She told me about how she had finished finishing school, but did not make any friends after I had left. At that I felt some guilt, but I knew leaving was a superior choice than ending my friendship with her. If I left, it meant I could always come back. If I ended things, there was no way of mending them again. I told Areida of my adventures, reluctantly leaving out Char and his proposal. I wanted desperately to tell her - to tell anyone - but something kept me from telling. I finished with telling her about Father"s plan of marrying me off, and how I had run away and met a company of bandits that helped me escape from ogres. Areida was shocked and pleased. "Oh, Ella! Your life seems like such an adventure! I"ve imagined many things, but bandits? Ogres? Never could I have even dreamed!" I asked her if I could stay at the inn for awhile. I didn"t have money, but I would gladly work. I reminded her that I had been a cook"s helper for most of my life. She reassured me, "Ella, you would be doing me a favor if you stayed. Please don"t trouble yourself, my family would be honored." She paused, smiling. "Speaking of my family, come. You must meet them. I have told them all about you, and they will be just as excited to meet the maiden daring enough to escape from the dreadfulness that is finishing school." The night was full of festivities. I became well-acquainted with Areida and her family. Her father, Anoth, was a soft-spoken man who smiled with his eyes; her two older brothers Zolar and Tomas who ran the inn with her father, were diplomatic when it called for but playful and hilarious; as well as her two sisters Aretha and Anitha, who followed Areida"s every step. They got along so well, laughing and talking, that I began to think of how much they differed from my family at home. "Ella has run away from her scheming father," Areida said, as we all gathered to eat in her family"s private quarters at the hind of the inn. "He is trying to marry her off to a balding sire with missing teeth." "But perhaps he has a gentle disposition?" asked her mother. "My father does not deal with such men," I said. "At least, not recently." "Areida said you have met bandits!" Anitha exclaimed, with grape juice dripping from her chin. "Were they not terrible?" "Not at all!" I laughed. "To my shock, they were a friendly group of boys." I told them about their odd philosophy when it came to thieving, and the family listened on, captivated. "What a strange breed of bandits, indeed!" Tomas said, shaking his head in disbelief. "You must consider yourself lucky, Ella, that you happened upon their kind and not the other." I smiled and nodded. I was grateful for my luck so far on this journey, that much was undeniable. I wondered where James and the boys could be now. I sincerely hoped nothing would come to harm them. They picked and chose their victims, but what would happen if they just happened to choose the wrong traveling nobleman to plunder? At the end of the night, Areida led me to where I would be staying. They lent me a room in their inn, just across the hall from hers. She bid me good night and gave me one last hug. "I"m so glad you came to see me, Ella," she whispered. I was exhausted. I slowly crept into the bed, sighing with contentment as I felt the soft feather mattress - it had been so long since I had slept on a real bed! After days of sleeping on piles of leaves and an unforgiving dirt floor, my aching back was thankful. I took my fairy book from my knapsack and opened it, my fingers fumbling with the pages as I remembered the last entry I had read. I quickly skimmed through a story about a hunter that had fallen in love with a maiden, who ended up keeping her hostage as revenge against the king of their land, who had also fallen for her. I read the words but they did not register. After the story, I finally found a letter from Mandy. Lady! The Prince stopped by today, along with his knights. They demanded to talk to your father and everyone in the household, me included. The Prince questioned your father about you, and your father told him that you had run away just over a week ago. The Prince regarded all of this with a very serious face. He looks so much older than he did two years ago, sweet. He has become quite a man, if I say so myself. Then he took me aside, and said, "I know that Ella was very fond of you, and you of her. Thus I know you must be privy to knowledge that no one else in this house knows.' Then his eyes softened. "Do you know where she went?' I told him I didn"t, and that you had left early in the morning without my knowing. He nodded. I could see that he was disappointed. Then he graciously thanked me, bowed, and left with his knights. He still loves you, Lady. He wouldn"t have come if he didn"t. I heard Hattie chatting away this morning about her conversation at the ball with the Prince. Your name came up. I assume you must know why, and why he paid us a visit this morning. I hope you are safe, wherever you are. There isn"t a day that goes by when I don"t miss you. Your cook, Mandy. I closed the fairy book, my heart stricken with confusing emotions. Gladness that he still loved me, joy that he was worried - but also fear that he would find me, and anxiety that I might have to break his heart a second time. I silently begged him to stay in Frell, that one of his knights might convince him that it would be a fruitless journey to look for me. I even hoped one of them might be courageous enough to say, "Look how far she goes to avoid you!" And, his pride injured, he might listen and convince himself that I am happy without him, and that away from him was where I intended to be. I was not aware that I had begun to cry. I was exhausted - but content - but miserable - and it led me to a foreign place: numbness. I stared up at the blurry ceiling and eventually slipped into a dreamless sleep. Over the next few days, the fairy book did not reveal anything more about Char. I attempted to busy myself by helping Areida with her duties around the inn: helping the cooks, talking to the guests, cleaning, going to the market, updating the inn records. She educated me more about Ayortha and taught me more Ayorthaian, including some songs, and we giggled over the silent flirtation she was having with a fisherman"s son. In all of these tasks I sought to lose myself: to be content with my situation, to enjoy Areida"s company, to relish the comfortable situation I had such luck to find. I slept in a bed every night, I had plenty of food, and gone were the constant threat of ogres. It was beyond what I had ever expected. It was one night that I was having dinner with her family that her mother spoke up. Antonia, who ran the inn with her husband and two sons, was the social butterfly of the family. She often went around town to do business, as well as catch up on kingdom gossip. "Word has it that the prince is searching the country far and wide for a lass," she said with a smile. I stiffened, but kept eating to seem indifferent. My ears burned to hear more. "Must be a great beauty," Tomas remarked, and I inwardly laughed. Oh, but if only they knew! Areida spoke up. "I don"t believe Prince Charmont to be a man that would focus solely on looks, Tomas," she said dryly. "I am mistaken," he smirked. "Obviously you know much more about Prince Charmont than we do." Beside him, Zolar snickered. "Not me," Areida said, before suddenly turning to me. "But Ella. Ella"s friends with the Prince. He and knights saved her from some ogres a few years ago. He even captured a centaur for her." "Ella saved from ogres by a prince!" Anitha said, giddy with pleasure. "What a fairytale you must live in!" They all looked at me, and I confirmed. "He"s a perfect gentleman." "Perfect?" echoed Tomas, chuckling. "Then Prince Charmont must defy all laws of nature with his perfection." "Unless Ella can vouch that he has at least one insignificant flaw," said Zolar. "What about it, Ella? Is his smile crooked? Does he snort when he laughs? Does he slurp his soup?" They all looked at me expectantly. I thought of Char - no, he wasn"t perfect. He had once confessed to me that he was too proud, but it was his humbleness that put him in an even better light. Who was perfect, really? And what did perfection mean, exactly, when there was no single definition that everybody prescribed to? I smiled faintly, remembering my journey with Sir Stephan. It had been long ago, but I still remember what he"d said. "He"s much too serious for a lad his age," I repeated. "He doesn"t play and laugh as much as he should." "Yes, I did get that feeling from him when he stayed here, at the inn," Antonia mused. "Wise beyond his years, but not exactly the type to laugh and joke like all other lads his age." "Being royalty is a matter of complete seriousness," Tomas said, smiling. "Nothing laughable about it." "Even their bedpans," quipped Zolar. "I"ve heard they"re made of gold." "Very serious gold." They grinned at each other, and Areida rolled her eyes. "Do you know where he"s looking?" I asked Antonia. "Not the slightest idea," she answered. "Frell first, I suppose. Then here." A/N: Very very late update! A thousand apologies but a thousand hugs and kisses to those of you who have story alerted this baby and have returned! MWAH! I flipped through my fairy book, my eyes hurriedly scanning every page for any news of Char planning to come to Ayortha. I knew that Antonia was right - if Char really was searching far and wide for me, he would surely come to Ayortha - but I was desperate for some proof. A page in his diary, a look at his map, a note to his knights, a letter to his parents or Cecilia - anything. Once I had gone through the entire book without any luck on finding even one mention of Char, I leaned back against the bed frame, sighing, and drew my knees up to my chest. I could feel my eyes hotly blur at the situation that loomed over me like an ominous dark cloud. If Char was coming here, that meant I had to leave Areida and her family. I would go back to being a nomad, drifting from place to place, sleeping on beds of leaves in forests, easily vulnerable to ogre attacks and bandits of an even lesser-scrupulous nature. I silently agonized over losing the comfort I had settled into, especially the comfort of pleasant company. What would I tell Areida? It would mean lying to her again. It meant lying, always, to anyone I cared about. The door creaked open. I quickly wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "Ella? Are you all right?" "I"m fine," I said, plastering on a smile. She didn"t look entirely convinced, but nodded anyway. "My family and I are going to an Enoye. It"s a special custom for Ayorthaians. Would you like to come?" "Of course." I stood up, sliding my fairy book back under my pillow, and followed Areida outside of the inn. We trailed behind her family, who had gone ahead. As we made our way to the river, I asked Areida what it was, since I had never heard of an Enoye before. She smiled and told me that it would be better for me to see for myself. "It"s quite beautiful. Describing it in words alone would do it no justice." Eventually the cobblestones of the main path leveled out into flat dirt, and I could see the rest of the townspeople gathered up on the bank of the river. It was dark, with only the distant stars and the light of the waning moon to guide us, but as we came closer I could make out little white lights drifting along the water, bobbing up and down in the gentle current. Soon there were many of them, some in clusters and some alone, illuminating the length of river. I gasped, sweeping aside some hanging leaves of a tree. Beside me, Areida smiled at my awe. "It"s extraordinary, is it not? Even now, it takes my breath away." "What is it?" I asked, watching a few of the townspeople setting the lights down at the mouth of the river, setting them free. "It"s an ancient Ayorthaian tradition. Once a year when the air is warm and the North wind passes through, some of the townspeople write letters on waxed parchment paper. They address them to those who are no longer with them - dead loved ones or even those who are still living, but by some hand dealt by fate, cannot be with them." At this, Areida"s gaze flickered somberly towards me, and I blushed as I moved my eyes back to the floating lights. "Then they fold the letters up into little paper boats and put a candle inside to guide the way. Some people believe that on this single day of the year, the river becomes a portal for destiny and takes your letter to them." I watched with a sad pang in my heart as an old woman in front of us crouched and set her own letter-boat on the river. "What sort of letters?" I asked softly. "Some write to say goodbye. Some write to keep the memory of them alive. Some write to tell unsaid truths." "Have you ever written one?" "Once," she replied, and I caught her eyes as they quickly glanced at Elior, the fisherman"s son. I hid my smile behind my hand just as a woman came to us with a basket of parchment and quills, asking us if we wanted to write a letter. I hesitated, not quite sure, when Areida said she would and the woman handed her a parchment and something to write with, tied together with a piece of string, before quickly moving onto the people next to us. "Here." Areida pressed the bundle into my hands. "Write." "But Areida-" I began to protest, even though the spell was already making my hands fidget. "But nothing," she said firmly. "Ella of Frell, I know there are details of your life you keep from me. I"m not a fool - and I don"t resent you for it. But I can tell something is weighing heavily on your heart, and I think this can do some good for you. So will you do it - for me?" The way Areida was looking at me, so pleadingly, made me nod and tell her that I would. She let go of my hands. "You can sit over there by the tree while you write," she told me. "I"ll be close by. I"ll come find you after." And with a reassuring smile, Areida was gone, lost in the crowd of people oohing and ahhing over the multiplying lights in the river. I sighed silently to myself, clutching the bundle of parchment and ink to my chest, as I turned and settled myself against the firm trunk of the tree. I untied the string and dipped the quill into ink, thinking. I thought of writing to Mandy to let her know I was all right, and to tell her about the bandits and Areida"s family. But the image of Char at the manor, questioning all of the servants about me, hovered in my heart. It would have been amazing, I thought to myself, to see him in all his royalty, tall and dignified and kind, against the bleak backdrop of the manor walls I had spent years cleaning. I wonder if, by the simple act of walking into the manor, he had made it beautiful again. I allowed myself the pleasure of imagining how the servants whispered and wondered about why the Prince of Kyrria would be asking about me, Ella of Frell, who had practically been more a servant than she was a Lady. And the look on Hattie"s, Olive"s, and Mum Olga"s face. . . I shook it away, pulling myself back from the wiles of my imagination. Finally, I pressed the quill onto the parchment and watched the ink bleed a little before writing. Char, I love you. A thousand times and more. Please don"t come and find me. Ella I wiped off the quill on the edge of my skirt and began folding the parchment into the boats I had seen on the river. The same woman who had been handing out the bundles handed me a small candle as I stood on the river mouth, mesmerized by the lights. Then, finally, with trembling hands, I bent down on my knees and, setting it on the river, let it go. I watched as it quickly joined dozens of others, becoming lost. I didn"t know whether I believed in Areida"s story or not - whether these letter boats ever reached the people they were meant for. Perhaps it wasn"t about whether they were ever received. Perhaps it was just the comfort of sending them - of writing them down, and sending them away. Giving them up to destiny. As I stepped back, I felt Areida appear by my side. I"d had a feeling she had been watching me from afar and had been waiting for me, but I didn"t say a word. Instead, Areida comfortingly squeezed my hand and we began to head back to the inn. Over the next few nights, I waited for news of Char from my book and kept my ears attuned to any talk that surrounded him. Since the Prince had never before showed any particular interest in any woman, rumors swirled spectacularly about his recent mission and this lady he sought. They conjured up fantastic scenarios in which the Prince might have met this maiden - was she a princess, or a commoner? Some said she was half-fairy and beguiled him with magic. Some said she didn"t even exist at all, and that this was just a royal cover for another conquest. Finally, one night, I came across a diary entry from Cecilia. It seems the rumors have finally reached my parents. I overheard Mother and Char talking today while I was supposed to be off studying my languages. My windows were open and Char and Mother were taking stroll in the gardens to bask in the warm weather. She told him that she wasn"t one to invest in rumors and gossip, since that was unbecoming for anyone in the royal family, but admitted it had her curiosity piqued. Was there any truth? she asked. Are you in love with a maiden, my noble son? My brother took a moment to answer. I wish I could have seen his face, but I think it was one of somber thought and contemplation. He would never lie to Mother. Char is too good that way. He confessed to her that he was, and that he had been, for a length of time. Even before he had gone to court in Ayortha, and even before he had gone with his knights on the peace negotiations mission. I wondered if this shocked Mother, but her reaction was not one of ignorance, as if he was simply confirming her quiet suspicions. "I seek your counsel, Mother, for you are far wiser in the ways of love than I could ever be," he said, and his voice was soft, although inlaid with frustration. "Perhaps it was unwise of me for have waited for so long, but for a time I thought it was hopeless. Now recent events have shown me that there are things that don"t match up, and I find myself wanting to find a real answer. I struggle with the thought of never completely knowing and I torture myself with questions and possibilities." I could not disagree there. Though my brother has tried his best to be polite and engaging since his homecoming ball, Char is not gifted with the ability to hide his true feelings well. He has been spending a lot of time by himself in the garden and at the menagerie, standing by the birds and the centaurs.

"Belly," she said, her voice getting a little more serious. She was looking down at her ice cream bowl. "I know I give you a hard time about Conrad. I"ve never told you this before, but you guys were kind of it for me. It wasn"t Beauty and the Beast, or Ariel and Prince Eric. It was my best friend, and the hot guy she spent her summers with." She smiled. "So I hope it works out, for both of you. Because if you aren"t meant to be, then. . ." she trailed off. "Then I don"t know who is." I put my hand over hers. "Tay. . ." She looked up at me, smirking. "But I mean, if he pulls something asshole-y again, all bets are off. I mean it, Belly. One wrong move and all of the tires to his car are flat. Okay?" These were the moments I was awfully glad to have ended up with Taylor Jewel as my best friend. I couldn"t imagine being this close with anyone else. "You promise?" I said. That mischievous glint in her eyes returned. She held out her pinky, and we both pinky-promised, just like we used to. Thanks for reading and reviewing! - Part Seven - It was Steven who told me that Mr. Fisher had cheated on Susannah, not my mom - even though she was the front woman for the Dump Adam Fisher"s Ass campaign. My mom had never given us any of the details about how Mr. Fisher had cheated on her, and how Susannah - kind, lovely Susannah - took him back afterwards. When we were younger, my mom was pretty tight-lipped about the grown-up things. Things that she said had "nothing to do" with us. One night my mom and I were on the couch, watching some made-for-TV movie. In the beginning the main character"s husband seemed really sweet, only to find out later that he was a cheater, and not a very good person at all. Usually my mom hated these kinds of movies, but there was nothing else on, so she stayed with me until the end. "But he cheated on her," I said, when it rolled to the credits. "Like a thousand times. Even with the nanny! Why does she still love him?" My mom looked at me. "Because we can"t help who we love, Belly. Even when we find out they aren"t who we thought they were." She patted my hand and started to get up, and I could tell her mind was already somewhere else. She called out good night to me before I heard her footsteps going up the stairs. That night, as I thought about what she"d said, I knew she"d been talking about Mr. Fisher and Susannah. I knew that Susannah loved Mr. Fisher more than anything, which was why she always wore emerald green when she went on her date nights with him - because she knew that was his favorite color on her. She even got him his favorite cookies every time she went to the grocery store without him having to ask. My mom used to do that, too, but she would have never worn my dad"s favorite color just because he liked it on her. I had always thought that was one of the reasons my parents never stayed together. Little things like that. What my mom said that night was a universal truth, but it came to mean more to me than anything. For as long as I could remember, I had never had a choice in loving Conrad Fisher. It wasn"t like I decided overnight that he would be the boy that stood out from all boys, that he would be the one worthy of all the years of bated breaths and silent hoping. Somehow, he just was, and I had completely no say in the matter. It was never up to me to love Conrad Fisher. But it was up to me to decide what to do with it. See, the worst part about loving someone is that love isn"t a reward system. You don"t love someone because they deserve it. You love someone because - somehow, some way - you just do. The universe had decided for you, and you had absolutely no choice, even when they hurt you. You couldn"t choose to unlove them, because you never chose to love them in the first place. But you could choose to live without them, to break free from that impossible hold the only way you could, and hope for the best. You just had to mean it. The night before graduation, Taylor slept over so that we could all get ready together. This was upon her insistence, so with an eye-roll from Anika, Taylor had dropped her designer overnight bag in my room and I moved my pillows over to my side of the bed. When I woke up, I found Taylor already awake, with large hair curlers in her hair, rifling through my closet. "I told you," I grumbled. "I"m wearing that black dress I bought. Remember?" She wrinkled her nose at me. I could hear the plastic hangers slapping against each other. "But it"s cotton. Besides," she said, taking out a pale blue dress from my closet and hanging it on my dresser, along with two others she had already picked out, "need I emphasize the fact that we all have to look good today? Because we"re graduating?" She closed my closet door, turning around. She put her hands on her hips, barely able to contain her smile. And then she began to squeal, clapping her hands, jumping on my bed. "Graduating, Belly! Graduating!" "I heard you the first time," I said, trying to pull the covers over my face. "Let"s go make some pancakes," she said, then, and I felt her get off my bed. A second later, I felt her tickling my feet from under the covers. "Rise and shine!" After making pancakes - one of Taylor"s specialties was her chocolate chip pancakes, which she had learned from her aunt - all of us began to get ready. My mom had already called to let me know they were on their way, and I ended up choosing one of the three dresses Taylor had laid out for me. It was a pale blue dress I had bought last year, which I couldn"t remember wearing more than once. When I put it on, Taylor"s eyes lit up in the mirror, and I couldn"t remember why I"d never worn it again. She was right. It was perfect. "Oh Belly," she said, touching her fingers to her collarbone. "That"s it. That"s the dress." She clapped her hands again. "I done good, girl!" I felt my face flush. "It"s not like anyone"s going to see, anyway. We"ll all be wearing our grad gowns." She only batted her eyelashes at me, before returning to putting on her make-up. As I looked at myself in the mirror, running my fingers through my hair, I couldn"t help but think of how Susannah would have loved this dress. It cinched in at the perfect spot on the waist, and drew out in a flattering, full skirt. She would have said that it reminded her of the way the women used to dress in the Old Hollywood films we loved, but in a good way. I wandered over to my jewelry box. I didn"t have much, but I lingered on the shell necklace from Conrad. I was torn between wearing it and hiding it away, mostly for symbolic reasons. Was today the first day of a new beginning, or the last day of the end? And did it matter? "Wear it if you want to," I heard Taylor say. She was applying mascara. "Like you said, it"ll be underneath the gown anyway." She dropped her arm, blinking in the mirror. "Is he coming today?" I fiddled with the necklace. "No. I mean, I don"t know. Probably not." I liked to think that my mom would have told me in advance if she"d known that Conrad was coming. I doubted he even knew I was graduating today. How could he? I hadn"t written back in months. It was wrong to expect it, so I tried not to. But expectations always work against you in that way. There was a thin line between hoping and expecting -and in the end, the distinction wasn"t always clear. You end up disappointed, either way. I ended up wearing the necklace. It looked best with the dress. As I waited in the living room, cleaning up the apartment a little before we began to head out, Anika came out. She was wearing a black dress with a white flower in her hair, and she was wearing make-up. "Anika," I said, once I saw her. "Wow. You look like a completely different person!" She rolled her eyes, but couldn"t keep back her smile. "I know, I know. But my entire family"s coming today. My nana, too, and I haven"t seen her in years. It"s lame, I know." "No," I said, shaking my head. "I get it. You have to look good for Nana. That"s important." "You look nice, too," Anika said, squeezing in behind me to put something in the cupboard. "Like, hot. Really. But hot in an elegant way. A perfectly appropriate level of hotness for graduation." I tried to curtsy to her and she laughed. "You can thank Taylor. She"s the one who was going through my closet at seven in the morning because she disapproved of the one I had originally chosen." Anika nodded. "Tay"s crazy. Oh, by the way, this is yours. It got wedged in between the pages of this month"s issue of the New Yorker, and I only got to it last night, so." I looked up, drying my hands off. She set down a letter on the kitchen counter, and I felt my heart rise to my throat. I picked it up. I looked at the front of the envelope, staring at my name. Perfectly familiar. Perfectly the same. I carefully tore the flap open, taking a seat down on a stool, and began to read. "Okay. Truth or dare." I looked at him expectantly beside me, laying on the hood of his car. I watched him as he popped some Trail Mix into his mouth, while I grabbed another handful from the bag. I already couldn"t wait to tell Taylor. She"d been texting me like crazy, but I turned my phone on silent. It could wait until tomorrow. Still, I could already imagine her face when I told her that I had spent my night - the night I was supposed to be studying for our dreaded Gov final - laying on the hood of Conrad Fisher"s car, eating Trail Mix, looking at the stars and playing Truth or Dare. Taylor would pretend to be repulsed, and she"d say something like, "What, he couldn"t even take you out to a movie?" Even though she would know better. I wasn"t high maintenance like Taylor. She"d know it was perfect, for me. Of course it was. It was Conrad. "Dare." It was childish, but I kept hoping that if I kept choosing dare, he would dare me to kiss him. I really wanted to, and I wanted him to want me to, too. Even though I knew better. Conrad wasn"t the kind of guy to dare a girl to kiss him. He was in college, for Pete"s sake. "I dare you. . ." he paused for a moment, thinking. "To do an Irish jig." I rolled my eyes. "An Irish jig? Seriously?" "Come on," he said, smiling, and already I was convinced. Conrad Fisher"s smile could convince a man to eat a bucket of lard. "Like we taught you. Do you still remember?" "Vaguely," I said, but I was already getting off the hood of his car. Steven, Jeremiah and Conrad had taught me how to do an Irish jig for fun. They said all the cool girls knew how to do an Irish jig, so naturally, I was dying to learn. It was only later, when they were all laughing so hard that they were rolling on the floor and crying, that I realized it was all one big joke. The rest of that week they called me Belly O"Malley. I stood in front of the car and did a jig. Conrad threw his head back and laughed. I hated it, and I knew I looked like an idiot, but I loved the way Conrad sounded when he laughed. He laughed so rarely now, so I even threw in a turn, which made him laugh even harder. He told me once that no girl could ever make him laugh like I did, and I was incredibly proud of that honor. I would have done anything to make Conrad laugh. He looked so carefree when he did - like young Conrad, before his parents got divorced, before his mom got sick. I missed that Conrad, and I loved that I saw that Conrad most often when it was just us two, alone, together. Me and him. Because when a person laughed - really laughed - it meant they were happy. Even if it was just for a second. He was wiping his eyes when I scrambled back on the hood. He was still smiling, and my breath caught. I wanted to kiss him so badly, and I didn"t know whether I wanted him to be able to tell. Would that be so embarrassing? "Okay. My turn. Truth," he said, exhaling. I thought hard, resting my face on the palm of my hand. I felt something tug on the ends of my hair, and I looked down. Conrad was running his fingers through the ends of it. I felt myself shiver. "Have you ever loved a girl before?" He didn"t stop running his hands through my hair, but his smile disappeared. Even so, I could feel my heart erratically dancing inside my chest, waiting for his answer. "No," he said, not looking up from my hair. "But you"ve had girlfriends," I said. "I know I have," he said. "But not everybody you"re going to be with you"re going to love. You know that, don"t you, Belly?" The air around us changed instantly. His voice got sharp, like he was frustrated with me. Like I didn"t know anything. Like I was just a kid. "I know that," I said defensively, feeling a little stung. I immediately regretted asking my question. I collapsed back on my back, glaring up at the sky. I missed carefree, laughing Conrad already. Now he was back to Hot and Cold Conrad. The Conrad that was pulling you in one second and then pushing you away the next. We were silent for a second. He sighed. "I"m sorry," he said quietly. "I shouldn"t have said it like that. But no. I"ve never loved a girl before. At least, I don"t think I have." As I lay there, I had the urge to ask him if he loved me. Or, at least, if he thought he could. I bit the inside of my lip. Would that be childish, too? "How come?" I asked, instead. I wondered what kind of girl would be worthy of his love. How she would have to look, what kind of books she would have to read, if she wouldn"t like sweets just like Conrad, or what clubs she would be president of. One thing I knew for sure: she would have to be able to make him laugh. Bitterly, I hoped she was as funny as a pothole in the middle of the road. "I don"t know," he answered. "Maybe it"s because you can"t choose who you love." "But if you could, would you have?" "No." He went back to playing with my hair. "No, I guess not." He didn"t look up at me. "What about you? Did you ever love Cam Cameron?" I relished the slightest hint of jealousy in his voice. I smiled. "You can"t ask me. I haven"t chosen yet." "Fine. Truth or dare?" "Truth," I said, and he asked again. "No," I said truthfully. "I didn"t." He looked at me. "Good. You"re too young, anyway. Love is a big deal. You shouldn"t even be thinking about it yet." Then he started to get off the car. "Too young? You think I"m too young for love?" I scoffed, but my throat hurt when I did. It felt like a slap in the face. Was this his way of telling me I shouldn"t love him? "Yes." I hopped off the car angrily. "What are you, some kind of Love Expert? You haven"t even ever loved anyone before, so I don"t think you should be telling me how old I should or shouldn"t be to love someone. And I"m sixteen, Conrad. Almost seventeen." "In six months," he corrected me, and I got even madder. He took the blanket from the hood of the car, and I grabbed my bag of Trail Mix. I was so mad that I held the bag tightly, feeling the sharp plastic corners digging into my hand. He didn"t even bother folding the blanket, unlike the old Conrad I knew. He just rolled it up into a ball and tossed it into the backseat. I stood there, glaring at him as he went around to the driver"s seat and got in. He put on his seat belt and waited for me in the car. I wanted to sit down there, in the dirt, and just wait. I knew what he would say if I did that. He would say that I was throwing one of my tantrums, and for me to grow up, to stop acting like a child. Eventually, I got into the passenger"s side, not speaking one word to him. I hugged the bag of Trail Mix close to my chest as he began to drive, wanting to cry. The perfect night, gone to waste. "You should call your mom," he said to me. "Let her know that we"re heading back." "No," I said, and when I said that, my voice cracked a little. "She"s an adult. She can deal." He didn"t say anything after that. He just kept his eyes on the road. Even when he dropped me home, he didn"t walk me to my door like he usually did, to say goodbye to my mom. He just sat in the car, like a statue. I thought of that as I walked to the door alone. What a perfect description of him. Stoic, cold, unfeeling, totally incapable of love. Conrad the Statue, with passerby who came to admire him, while he did absolutely nothing in return. I was surprised that he was still parked on our street when I had reached my bedroom. I watched him from the window, sitting there, with his hands on the wheel. His lights were still on and his engine was still running. Then, a minute later, he drove away. I saw him even before it was my turn to cross the stage. I"d been surveying the crowd from the platform, looking for my mom and Steven in the sea of faces. After a few minutes, I finally found them, sitting in the middle row. My mom waved, and Steven gave me a thumbs up. Even my dad was there, wearing his brown blazer with the suede elbow patches that he only wore out on special occasions. That"s when I saw him. He was sitting behind Steven, wearing a navy blue, long-sleeved button down. Our eyes met, and I instantly turned away. I steadied myself, trying to calm my pulse, as the girl in front of me headed across the stage. I watched her, putting on a smile, and they called my name. After the ceremony, I went to find my family. I squeezed through people, all smiling and laughing, while my palms began to sweat. For a second, I closed my eyes tightly. He had shown up. He was here. For me. Conrad Fisher had actually shown up, for me. When I finally found them, I found myself immediately crushed into a big bear hug from Steven. He smelled like cologne and toothpaste. Then it was my mom, who whispered how proud she was of me, and my dad. "Nice jacket, Dad," I said, as I hugged him tight. "You know me. Gotta look good for my daughter"s big day," he said. His eyes looked a little red. From behind him, Steven was miming to let me know that my dad had definitely been crying, which made me hold him even tighter. When we pulled back, Conrad was behind him, waiting. He was smiling at me. When I looked at him, my heart felt so full it hurt. Everything rushed back to me. Old Belly, loving him blindly and passionately, no matter what - the only possible way you could love the first person you ever loved. And the new Belly, older now, knowing better, freshly graduated from college. Two different versions of me, combined, yet however they were different, there was one thing they had in common: they still loved Conrad Fisher. Both in the new and old way. "Hi," I said, letting out a breath. "Hey," he said back. A/N: One last chapter after this! Please review! A/N: Officially in the home-stretch! This is the last chapter! Thanks for reading, everyone! I"m re-posting this chapter - I wasn"t satisfied with the shortness of it, originally, so I added some stuff in. - Part Eight - After the ceremony, we all went out to eat. I took them to the Golden Cricket, where Steven ended up devouring one plate of duck and another of crispy noodle all by himself. I noticed that my mom was smiling and laughing a lot more, and I wondered if she"d known that Conrad was going to come - or if he had surprised her, too. Even Steven seemed like he"d had no idea. He kept giving Conrad man-hugs, or claps on the back, telling him how good it was to see him. "Seriously, though, Con," Steven said, shoveling fried rice into his mouth. "How"d you get a ticket?" My mom, Steven, and I all looked at Conrad. My dad, who wasn"t as in the loop as the rest of my family, was busy scraping more chow mein onto his plate. "I mean," Steven said, "you don"t just buy grad tickets at the gate. You get them ahead of time." My mom dabbed her lips with a napkin, and I could have sworn I saw her try to hide a smile. Conrad shrugged, putting down his glass. "I got lucky," was all he said. Steven nodded, but winked at him. Then he turned to my mom and asked her to pass the chicken. "Steven, the amount of food you"re eating could feed a small village in Africa," I said. In front of me, Conrad chuckled. "For a week." "What? I didn"t eat breakfast this morning," he said. "Plus, Sash"s got me on this diet thing with her. I haven"t had Chinese food in, like, three months." "A diet? Steven Conklin," I said, smirking, "I do believe you are whipped." This time, my mom laughed. So was Conrad, bowing his head down, his body shaking with laughter. He rolled his eyes at me. "Shut up, Belly. It might be your big graduation day, but I"ll still give you a noogie," he said. And then he winked at me. Steven had never winked this much before. Maybe it was something he had picked up from his boss, Adam Greenfeld. After lunch, my mom invited everybody over to the house for drinks, especially Conrad. I silently watched her as she hugged him in the parking lot. She hugged him for a long time, the way a mom hugs a son she hasn"t seen in years. "Are you sure you don"t want to come back to the house with us?" she said, when she pulled back. She looked him straight in the eyes. "Maybe I"ll swing by a little later," he said. "It"s good seeing you, Laure." The way Conrad said this, I knew he meant it. He had that kind of tenderness in his voice, and it was also on his face. When Conrad Fisher really meant something, you knew it, because you could not only see it - but you could feel it, too.

I hadn"t realized I"d closed my eyes until I had to open them back up again, startled. I looked up, feeling the lingering effects of my most vivid memories start to ebb away. Javier was in the doorway with a plate of food, still dressed in his white chef"s jacket. He smiled at my belated acknowledgment and walked into my room, stepping out into the balcony with me. He handed me the plate as he fell down into the seat beside me, taking in the nighttime scenery. "Thanks," I told him, setting the plate on the little table beside me. In my other hand, I tucked away the letter, running my fingers over the smooth paper, checking to see if it was really real, really there. That it wasn"t something I had dreamed up and was going to suddenly vanish into a cloud of nothingness once I opened my eyes. "Are you thinking about your boyfriend?" he asked me. Underneath us, I could hear footsteps and quiet whispers in the same deep Spanish accent as Javier"s. "I told you, Javier," I told him. "I don"t have a boyfriend." "But you were thinking about someone," he said, giving me a side-glance. "You forget, Isabel, that I have three sisters. I know what those looks mean." I sat in thought, watching the lights in the windows of the other buildings. Javier was quiet for a moment, too. "Do you love him?" I continued to look out and said nothing. "You don"t have to answer, you know," he said, shrugging. "I already know." "Oh you do, do you?" I said, and he nodded, giving me a wry grin. "Then why ask?" "Because," he said, leaning back. "I wanted to see if you would admit it." I sighed. Suddenly, I felt little flutters in my stomach, like little butterflies in a jar. I thought I had outgrown this feeling. I was twenty now - twenty-one, in a few months" time - and I thought I had left all the painful relics of my past behind. For now, at least, while I was in this amazing new place, completely foreign to me, living with a host family that oohed and aahed over the few pictures I had taken with me - of my mom and dad, of Steven, of Susannah, and the Fisher boys. Here, I was Isabel Conklin, the American student studying abroad. I was not Belly, or Belly Button, or the girl that had torn the Fisher brothers apart. I had been relishing my clean slate. That is, until today, when a letter came for me. When I"d first seen it on my bed, I just thought it was just another letter from my mom. Taylor never wrote; she preferred email or chat. Steven was also another one that had been swallowed up by the digital age, preferring email and texting over anything else. But it was my mom, the old soul, that still sent hand-written letters. She wrote to me regularly, and I wrote her back as often as I could, telling her about all about my experience living in Granada. But as soon as I picked up the letter, I knew it was different. With some things, you just know. Subconsciously, it"s like a wheel turns and things click into place and you suddenly just know. I just had that feeling. And the truth is, I hadn"t had that feeling in a very long time. "I do love him," I said quietly. "I"ve loved him for a very long time." How could I possibly tell him that I had loved him for so long that I felt like if I didn"t, if I just suddenly stopped, I would be lost? And wasn"t it just the damndest thing? For so long I had hated that part of me, that part that couldn"t stop loving him, no matter how inconvenient and irrational and destructive me loving him became. It was like a rotten, good for nothing limb that I just wanted gone. Buried, or burned, or thrown in a ditch. Just as long as it wasn"t a part of me anymore. But I had already gone down that road. I"d hurt a lot of people in the process of getting rid of something that I was now sure I could never really forget. "So why aren"t you with him?" "It"s complicated." Javier shook his head and chuckled under his breath. "Women. They always say that." "Maybe they say that because it"s true," I told him. "Maybe," he said, shrugging his broad shoulders. He brushed his dark, curly hair from his eyes. "But usually it is less complicated than they say it is. Look, all I"m saying is that just because it"s complicated doesn"t mean it isn"t mean to be." He got up, brushing off his hands on his dark pants. He smiled down on me. "Good night, Isabel." "Night Javier," I said to him. "Thanks for the food. You really didn"t have to, you know." "I"ll stop bringing it when you stop taking it," he said, winking, before stepping back inside. When he was gone, I brought the letter back out. It was in a plain white envelope, nothing extraordinary. But then I looked at his neat writing, flawless and calculated, spelling out my name: Isabel Conklin. My eyes scrolled up to the left corner, tracing the just-as-neat curves and ridges in the letters of his name. C. Fisher. I hope you don"t mind, I got your address from Laurel. I waited for my mom to tell me that she had given my host home"s address to Conrad, but part of me already knew I was waiting in vain. My mom had never been that kind of person. Susannah used to say that my mother"s mouth was like a metal clamp when it came to secrets. She was never going to tell me unless I asked. The night I bought a new phone card, I waited until she was home from work to call. She picked up on the first ring, and I could hear the TV faintly on in the background. Miles and miles away, I was back out in the balcony, sitting down. We talked for a little about Steven, how things were at her job, and how things were going with me. I told her about the gypsies that put a curse on you if you didn"t pay them, and how Javier always brought me home food from the restaurant and told me stories about the guys he worked with. But the more we talked about me, the more I kept thinking about Conrad"s letter. She was on speakerphone. I listened along as she rinsed something in the sink. "Hey, mom?" It took her a second to respond. "Mm-hm?" I opened my mouth, trying to plan out the words. I don"t know if you already know this, but Conrad wrote to me, or Guess who I got a letter from the other day? You won"t believe it: Conrad. Either way, none of them sounded right. I didn"t even know how I felt about it, so how could I expect to go to her yet? "I have to go," I said, instead. "I"ve got a lot of homework to do." After I hung up, I leaned over the railing, sighing. I closed my eyes. Down the street I could hear the street band starting up their session, filling the air with their strong guitars and soaring trumpets, faintly making their way over to me. One year after mine and Jeremiah"s almost-wedding was Conrad"s graduation. For once, my mom had given me an option: I could go, if I wanted, but she wouldn"t force me. After all, Jeremiah would be there. Things had smoothed over between him and me, but not completely. When we saw each other, we exchanged a too-polite Hey or a weak smile, but nothing ever beyond that. Taylor said this was just the natural way of things after a break-up, so I listened to her. "You have to know that there is a possibility that you and Jeremiah can be good friends again," she"d said to me one day, over cupcakes and frappuchinos. "But I"m going to be real with you here, Belly: that won"t be for a long, long time." And it was Conrad. At school, it was Jeremiah and I, and even then you could cut the tension with a knife. How was it going to be with the three of us there, all together? The last I had heard about Jeremiah and Conrad, they hadn"t been on speaking terms yet. Maybe things were better now, and if they were, I wasn"t going to mess it up. I would do anything to get the Fisher brothers back together again, even if it meant staying out of the picture. The morning of the graduation, Steven knocked on my door. He was already dressed in a casual, long-sleeved button-up and nice jeans. His hair was clean and short - a requirement for his new job, now that he had officially sold his soul to Corporate. "Belly, you coming?" he asked. But I could tell from the way he examined the ratty pajamas I was still in and the stack of borrowed DVDs next to my bed that he already knew the answer. "No, but tell him congrats for me, will you?" He nodded. "Will do." And then, just as he was turning away, he stopped. He grabbed a post-it from my desk and a pen, scribbling something down. "Here. Just in case you change your mind." And then with a jingle of his car keys, he was gone. I heard his footsteps descending the stairs and then my mom yelling up to let me know they were going, before the decisive click of the closed door. I sat there for a minute. I knew what he had written even before I had gotten up and slowly walked over, turning the post-it pad to face me. It was the address to Conrad"s graduation ceremony. I didn"t know whether I would make it on time. I had left almost half an hour after Steven and my mom, and had been stuck in traffic for another half-hour. Parking was another disaster, so I ended up having to park nearly half a mile away, having to resort to running and power-walking the rest of the way to the ceremony. From the back I could see Brown"s school colors displayed all over the arena: seal brown, cardinal red, and white. I searched the sea of turned heads for Steven and my mom, maybe even Mr. Fisher and Jeremiah, but there were so many people, it was impossible to spot them. I did end up getting there on time. A few minutes later, Conrad"s name was called, and he crossed the stage, smiling, shaking his professor"s hand and taking his diploma. Amongst the polite clapping I could hear cheering from some students, and one recognizable whoop from all the rest that was unmistakably Steven. Conrad was wearing the gold sash that the honor students wore. I hadn"t seen him since the day of the wedding. As I stood there, watching him walk across, smiling and happy, I felt my heart get filled and then break all over again. Even from far away, even with him having no idea that I had come after all, Conrad could still make me feel this heartbreaking jumble of so many different things, of simultaneous highs and lows, of shuddering inhales and painful exhales. He looked out into the crowd for the briefest of moments, and I froze in my spot. I thought he saw me but I knew it was impossible. There were so many people there that day, and I was just one. Me. Belly. I left early so that I wouldn"t have any chance of accidentally running into them afterwards. Numbly, I walked back to my car. When I got inside, I sat in the driver"s seat, putting my hands on the wheel, as if ready to drive off. But I didn"t. Instead I laid my forehead against the wheel and I cried. Conrad"s letters were hard to explain. This was the main reason I told myself why I hadn"t told Taylor about them yet. The first one was as out of the blue as you could get, but the next month, another one came. He told me about med school and his job interning at a lab, after his professor had handpicked him out of two hundred students for the job. It didn"t pay great, but he loved it, and if he did well, it was promising. He also told me about his dad, forever trying to pull him into working for him, to be the Father-Son duo that he"d always dreamed they"d be. But Conrad had never shared Mr. Fisher"s love for money, which was why I had always somehow known Conrad would have made a terrible banker. He asked me how I was doing, but I never wrote back. He asked me about Granada, too, but even then I had a feeling he knew it would take more than that to get a response. So he filled up his letters with funny yet introspective details about his days, and memories. Memories about Cousins, memories about me, memories about Susannah, memories about my mom. Memories about all of us, sometimes together, sometimes apart. But in all of that, he never mentioned why he started writing to me. Why, all of a sudden, it became something that mattered to him. Or maybe he had. Maybe it was in the very last line of the second letter. It was written hastily, smudged a little, a dangling afterthought. I miss you. The old Belly felt that she had to write back. This was Conrad, her Conrad. But this was also Conrad, pull-and-push Conrad, the Conrad that had told her too many times that he"d wanted her and then that he didn"t. I remembered that night, out on the beach, when he had told me that he still loved me, always had, and always would - I"d played it back in my mind, over and over again, for the past year and a half. But with Conrad, he toed the line between perfect and worst timing. Maybe he, just like with so many other things, was just the master at being able to combine the two, at the same time. "Can you believe it?" Rachel was saying to me, as we walked to the club. Her heels clicked against the stone street and she"d dressed in a slinky black dress, just for the occasion. As for me, I had opted for some practical flats and a casual cotton dress that I had found underneath all my luggage, thrown in as a last-minute addition. "Tomorrow afternoon, we"ll be going back home, bidding farewell to the Spanish sun." "I think what you really mean is the Spanish men," I said to her, and she turned to me, sighing wistfully. "That I do, Isabel. That I really do." It was officially our last night in Granada as part of the studying abroad program, and all of us had decided to celebrate by heading out to the local club that came highly recommended by Javier. Inside, the club was crowded and everywhere people were dancing, drinking, or both. Rachel spotted the rest of our group, huddled in a corner with beers, and we pushed our way towards them. "About fucking time you ladies got here," Eric said to us. "Sam got you your beers. Now time for a toast!" Sam came back with our beers, handing them over to us. As he handed me mine he gave me a small smile. "Glad to see you came, Conklin." Rachel waggled her eyebrows at me. "You"re welcome," she said to him, thirstily chugging her beer. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "I made her promise, but you"re welcome." "To our last night!" Eric said, above the pulsating music and the conversations going on around us. The people around us barely noticed, but everybody raised their beers and we toasted, clinking our bottles with as many people as we could, before taking a hearty swig. "Now let"s see some asses shaking!" Tom said, in a true frat boy manner. Tom was in the rival fraternity that Jeremiah was in, but he was nice. Earlier on in the trip, he had made a joke about my broken engagement, but then later apologized, with the corners of his ears all pink. Rachel seemed to agree with this, and she grabbed him by his t-shirt, with a smile as big as a wildcat, dragging him out to the dance floor. "Hold my beer," she called out to me. Most of the group dispersed, heading out to the dance floor. Soon it was only Sam and I left standing, watching the others as they disappeared into the mob of gyrating bodies. "So," Sam said, moving closer to me, "you ready to go home yet?" "Yes and no," I answered, as another girl from our group, Beth, pushed us aside and headed towards the exit. She was on her cell phone, trying to yell above the music. "I"ll miss it here but I miss home, too." "Same here," he said, nodding. The song ended and then changed into another body-grinder. I took another sip of my beer, wondering what time it was. I"d promised Rachel I"d come, not that I"d stay. "Wanna dance?" he asked me, looking hopeful. I looked at him, and I had known that he"d had a little crush on me since the trip started. Even if I hadn"t noticed it for myself, Rachel was more than willing in that department, always pushing me to start something with him. "Even just for the trip," she"d said. "That"s what being young is for, right?" Rachel was right. And Sam was obviously good-looking - just in the past twenty minutes of being in the club alone, I had already seen numerous girls eyeing him from the distance. I set our beers on the table, nodding. He smiled and took my hand, leading us to a spot on the floor. As we began to move along to the music, I couldn"t help but wonder what Conrad was going, thousands of miles away. If he, too, would be spending the night dancing with a girl, while spending his waking hours writing letters to me, the girl who claimed that would love him forever, and then disappeared. I left before Rachel did. I made my way over to her as she was giggling and talking to Tom, tapping her on the shoulder and letting her know that I was going home. Her eyes jumped to something behind me. "Is Sam going to go with you?" she asked, and I shook my head. Then she nodded and said okay. As I exited the club, relishing the escape from the stuffy, hot room, I was surprised to see Javier standing outside with his friends, smoking and drinking. "Isabel!" he called out to me. "I thought that was you! Why are you going home so early?" "I"m pretty tired, Javier," I answered in Spanish, not wanting to be rude to his friends, who were watching us. I said hello to them, too, and they nodded, smiling. "Then let me walk you home, at least," he said. "No, no, really, you should stay with your friends," I insisted, but he was already putting out his cigarette and setting his beer bottle on the ground. He shook his head, "No, it"ll only take a minute." He turned to his friends and told them he"d be back, and they nodded, continuing their conversation as Javier walked over to me. Their house was only a few blocks away, and I had some pepper spray in my purse. He still walked with me, asking me how I liked the club and if I was happy to be going home. "I try to be a gentleman to all the study abroad students staying with us," he said to me, as we neared the house. "But I like you, Isabel. I think it is because you remind me of my little sister." He paused in thought for a second, before continuing on. A boy on a moped sped by. "Promise me something. Promise me that someday, some day before you die, or get married, you will talk to that boy. That way, no matter what happens, you will have no regrets, and you will live a happy life." We were in front of the door. I turned to him and looked him in the eye. He was right. He was looking at me in exactly the same way a brother would look at his sister - with love. "Of course," I said to him. "Anything for you, Chef Javier." For my homecoming, Anika and Taylor took me out to our favorite Chinese restaurant: The Golden Cricket. It was a little hole in the wall we"d discovered one day and often came to when our funds were running low and we had a massive craving for orange chicken and platefuls of fried rice. "All right, since Belly"s told us all about her Spanish adventure-" "And her super hot host brother," Taylor interrupted. She had gone through my camera earlier and gawked at Javier, whom she claimed looked just like Johnny Depp, but less wimpy. "-it"s time for our traditional fortune cookie fortune read aloud," Anika finished. "I"ll go first." She cracked her fortune cookie in half, holding up the paper fortune to her face. ""You will be coming upon a great treasure,'" she read aloud, amused. "Right. Like that"s the first time I"ve heard this kind of bull from you, fortune cookie." Taylor was next. She sipped her diet coke as she broke her cookie in half. ""You are an intelligent being with a bright future.'" Anika guffawed and Taylor frowned. She turned to her. "I would rather get the phony treasure. Wanna trade?" Anika ignored her and looked at me. "Your turn." "Okay." I placed half of the cookie in my mouth, unscrolling the strip of paper. ""Your soul mate awaits you.'" Anika"s eyebrows jumped up her forehead. "Interesting." "Who writes this stuff, anyway?" Taylor said, checking her lip gloss in her compact. "Even I could write better fortunes than this. They"re always so lame." As Anika rolled her eyes and challenged Taylor"s proclamation of superior fortune cookie fortune-writing skills, I stared at my fortune. Your soul mate awaits you. At the bottom, as always, were my lucky numbers. While they passively bickered, I folded it in half and slipped the fortune into my pocket, and then asked for the check. Anika and I headed back to our apartment, and Taylor went back to hers. As Anika drove, she put on some new album she bought while I was away. It was sad and exactly the kind of music I could see someone listening to as they lay in a bath tub, the bath water murky and bubbles all gone, staring sadly into nothing. "Do you believe in soul mates?" I asked her. She kept her eyes on the road as we slowed down for a yellow light. "I believe it"s a nice idea," she answered. "Just like true love and heaven and Santa Clause." "So then that"s a no." "I"m still trying to figure it out for myself," she said, looking at me. The light changed to green and it was faintly reflected on her face. "So it"s a maybe." It had been one of those rare moments when Conrad and I were alone in the beach house. Steven and Jeremiah had gone out to the boardwalk and my mom and Susannah had also gone out for the day, claiming that they were just going to go out to look for new curtains. Conrad had said that he didn"t want to go and then just went into his room and locked the door, probably to learn a new song on his guitar. I had been invited to the boardwalk, too, but I"d said no - partially because I liked swimming when no one was around, and partially because Conrad wasn"t going.

"Join you!" I exclaimed in a whisper, careful not to raise my voice. "A company of bandits! Why don"t I just march to the town square and ask to be hung!" I shook away the proposition. "I have my own agenda, thanks." He rolled his eyes. "We will accompany you to Ayortha. That"s what I meant. Imagine you as a bandit!" Then he stopped. "Actually, it"s not a bad picture." "I don"t trust you," I told him. I was determined to make this journey on my own. "Why not? We untied you, we left your things alone, and I even fed your donkey!" "Why are you so eager to follow me? Don"t you have wealthy travelers to rob, and other maidens to keep hostage?" His persistence was really becoming quite irritating - and inconvenient. He laughed. Behind him, Tom began to sleepily sit up. "Perhaps we have some business in Ayortha ourselves." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Since when?" "Since I decided, this morning." He smirked. "We"re going with you, Ella. The road is much too treacherous for you to go alone. Imagine encountering bandits with even less scruples than us - or worse, ogres! It"s settled," he said. "Now have some breakfast." Thanks for reading and reviewing! They traveled with me on horseback. I imagined it to be an odd sight - five boys on horseback, towering over the single maiden, riding on a donkey. Nevertheless, they proved to be entertaining company. They were all good-spirited and cheerful, always finding something to laugh about. I admired their spirit. From our earlier conversation I could guess their background in poverty, but they did not mention anything about their former lives again. As we rested to have lunch, I asked them a question. "Last night," I said, "the Prince"s carriage was riding by, but you didn"t ambush him. Why not?" "Perhaps your vision isn"t so well," Fred said, "but the Prince had six knights with him. We wouldn"t dare to stir that kind of trouble." I nodded, seeing their clear logic. I did, however, cast a glance at James. He was quiet, eating his apple. His demeanor changed when I brought up Char, but only subtly so. As we rode on, I learned things about them. Sam was colorblind. Fred was ridiculously afraid of cats. Only a few of them were able to read, and even fewer could write. Tom had been arranged to marry a distant cousin, and he had run away the day after he had seen her for the first time. The story of how they all came to be so intricately connected in a bandit group was the most interesting - as if by a certain string of random events, they all found each other. But they were also vastly interested in my own history. I told them about Mandy and my mother, about running away from finishing school, and Mum Olga and her dreadful daughters. I mentioned my association with the Prince, but only in passing - I didn"t want them to prod or pry, in case they began to discover they had an advantage. "No wonder you ran away from home," Fred solemnly remarked, after I told them about Hattie and Olive. "A servant in your own house!" At nightfall they built another fire. We"d had a long day, so they fell asleep not too long after they"d had supper. I stayed up to look through my fairy book, oddly comforted by their chorus of snores. I found a letter from Mandy. Dear Ella, I hope you are well. I"ll admit you are too much of a brave chit for your own good, but I cannot deny that I understand your choice. I presented your father with your letter, and he was furious. He looked for you all around town, but you were long gone. I wish you could see how beautiful it is here with the Prince"s soon coming arrival. Everybody is in high spirits, Lady. I believe you would have found it refreshing from the usual dreariness. Drink your Tonic. We all miss you dearly. On the next page, I found a short entry from Char"s journal. We are on our way back to Kyrria. I"ve been disguised as a knight to mislead any wandering thieves, and Sir Stephan has taken to be my decoy in the carriage. I have reason to believe that he is liking the pretense quite much. Though I am excited to see my family, I feel unsettled at the thought of being there again. Even though I know she"s long uprooted from Frell, I am nervous. There are knots in my stomach. I can"t decide if it would be the greatest dream or an agonizing nightmare if I were to encounter her again. I closed my eyes, feeling my breath hitch at the thought of him. I laid down and cried silently until I finally fell asleep. The next day, we were all thrilled to come upon a little lake. The five quickly undressed to their undergarments and jumped in, whooping and splashing each other. I stayed on the bank. I was tempted to join them, but I blushed at the thought of stripping down to my undergarments in front of five boys. If I had been twelve, no problem. But I was eighteen now and thus had to take precautions I wasn"t very happy about. Luckily, they asked me to join them, and had not ordered. I was able to politely decline. As they were swimming, I ventured off and found a connecting river. I scanned my surroundings, still able to hear their faint laughter, and slipped out of my dress. As I waded into the cold water, it felt like something short of heaven. Chilly, yes, but liberating - especially after not having bathed for four days. Refreshed, I joined them again at the lake, and we all continued with our journey. "Why aren"t you married?" James asked. We had just passed one of the landmarks the business man had told me about - a giant charcoal oak tree - and I was thrilled that we were closer to Ayortha. "I mean, you"re old enough," he said. I smiled bitterly, thinking of Char"s old letters. Are you still too young to marry? "What he means to say is, you"re too pretty of a lass to have gone without suitors," Fred cheekily said. "Maybe she"s a terrible nag," suggested Sam. "Perhaps she"s got a wooden leg." "Or fake teeth." "Or scales underneath her dress." They all exploded with laughter, but afterwards quieted down to hear my answer. "Is there any appropriate reason for a maiden to remain unmarried?" I wondered aloud. I imagined their reactions if I were to tell them that I could have been their princess. I doubted they would have believed me, even though they proved to have an extravagant imagination. "You could say you just aren"t in love," said Tom. I liked that. "Then I say that I"m just not in love." Fred scoffed. "What"s love compared to dinner cakes and riches? I bet you had lines of noblemen fighting for your hand." I blushed at their generosity, but I dismantled the myth. "If there were lines, then they were invisible." James was looking at me. "Or perhaps that"s why you"re running away - from an old, toothless fiancé!" He laughed heartily. "You forgot sinfully rich," Fred said. "Right. From an old, toothless, sinfully rich fiancé," he mended. Even I found myself laughing. Oh, how I could distance myself away from that reality - a reality that had been so close to being mine - so comfortably now. "Nearly, but no." Despite the joyous distractions, I was distant that day. It was the 15th, the day of Char"s homecoming ball. Every break we took, I discreetly hid away and stole a few moments to look through my fairy book. All I found were notes from the royal organizers about what platters they were going to serve, and a picture of Hattie admiring herself in the mirror in a plum-purple satin dress. As night began to fall, my stomach felt more and more unsettled. I couldn"t eat. As I looked over at the distant lights of Kyrria, I wondered how Char looked. Dashing and unbearably handsome, as usual. Which maiden would he dance with first? Would he be happy? Could tonight be the night he fell in love with somebody else? More and more, I wished I was there. I allowed myself the luxury of imagining what would have happened, if I had gone. I would have worn a pretty dress - one of Mother"s old ones that Father had kept from Mum Olga and her daughters, in hopes of selling it. The one with the crystal beading at the neckline and the royal blue train. It had always been my favorite amongst her gowns. She always looked so radiant in it, and I had always hoped I could someday wear it and, if I were lucky, look half as lovely as she did. At first I would slip into the crowd unnoticed, but Char and I would meet eyes from across the room. He would rush to me immediately, ignoring the flocks of girls that batted their eyes at him. And before I could have had a chance to explain, he would have kissed me. It would have been a glorious kiss, the kind of kiss stored away for two hopeful years, with volcanic passion. The kiss of true love. "You look distracted," James said, as the other boys began to dance and play-fight. I had been keeping my eyes on the fire, watching its changing form. "And I heard you cry last night. Do you miss home?" "A little," I admitted. I missed Mandy. The manor had stopped being my home a very long time ago. "Don"t you?" He shrugged, whittling a piece of wood in his hands with a short and sharp paring knife. "You"re away from home long enough, the idea takes a vague shape. Soon you realize you just miss the idea of home - someplace you belong, someplace you can never outgrow - and not home itself." I looked at him then. Took in his serious countenance as the light of the fire played against it. He looked up and caught me looking at him, and I quickly looked away. "Without you, they"d be lost, wouldn"t they?" I said, nodding to the boys. "They would have eventually found their way," he answered. "Before, they had no purpose. Now they do." I scoffed. "Living on the road and stealing from the wealthy - you call that a purpose?" He stopped whittling and looked at me. "And what, pray, do you consider a purpose?" "Striving for a better way of being," I answered with fire. "Helping people. Liberating a land." Now it was his turn to scoff. "And what about you, Ella of Frell? Which of the three are you hoping to accomplish in your immediate future, hmm?" "The first, if I"m lucky." "That," he said intensely, his eyes going dark, "is the difference between you and us. You, Ella, who were born of privilege with a cook and a merchant father. You have the luxury of free time to contemplate your life and the many different ways you can endeavor upon it. Sam, Fred, Tom, John and I - we were born with no such time. We were born knowing the urgency of survival, of the importance of having enough food to remain hungry but not to starve. And you - you live with time as a friend and comfort, don"t you? Just waiting, chatting away with your cook, for a wealthy old bag to come and whisk you away from your terrible life. "No, we know only one way to live life - and that is to survive." Then, with a look of disgust, he stood and walked away, towards the other end of the forest. Some of the boys stopped and called after him as he left, before giving me a curious glance. I pretended to busy myself with my things, feeling warm and flustered with shame. "James gets a little hot-headed from time to time," Sam said. "Especially if someone argues with him." "And nobody"s done that for quite a long time," added Tom. Later on that night, I awoke. The fire was dying down, but still provided me with some light. Making sure everyone around me was sound asleep - James included, who had returned some time after I had drifted off to sleep - I opened my fairy book. There was an entry from Char"s journal. Tonight was the homecoming ball at Kyrria, and just as I suspected: nothing has changed. The same lasses in the same overflowing yards of fabric with the same antics of persuasion. I spent all night denying myself the urge to look for her on the off chance that she dared to show up. Ella"s horrific stepsister, Hattie, managed to corner me for a dance. She blathered on and on, all the while stepping on my toes the entire session, until I finally asked about Ella. I asked how she thought Ella might be liking the married life. Hattie suddenly turned red - almost purple, even - and threw her head back and laughed. "Ella!' she said. "Married? Well, isn"t that the silliest thing ever said!' I felt as if my heart had frozen over. I had to stop dancing or else I knew that I would have fumbled all the steps. I asked her to explain herself, and she said that Ella had never been and isn"t married. "She"s been lying to you, Prince Charmont,' she cooed. "Besides, who would ever want Ella, that scrawny old thing?' My thoughts swirled somewhere around my head. She talked on and the last thing I caught was that Ella had run away just days ago, and that she was nowhere to be found. I do not know what to make of this. I hastily ended my dance with Hattie and headed out to the private gardens to collect my thoughts, but nothing made sense. So Ella wasn"t married? Then what reason did she have to lie to me? At first I suspected her stepsister of deception, but it was obvious she had no part in it. And furthermore, why had Ella run away just days before my arriving home? Could it possible that Ella had constructed such an intricate lie in a way to avoid injuring my pride? I know Ella. That is not in her character. My thoughts are restless. The rest of the evening went by in an indistinguishable blur. I know that I shouldn"t, but I have to find her. And with that, the fire suddenly died out. That morning I awoke to a frenzy. I was shaken awake. "Quickly, Ella. Ogres are near." I could swear I almost leapt up. James, who had been the one to wake me, shoved my belongings to me and helped me on my donkey. All of the other boys had packed up expediently, already on their horses, before we quickly - but as silently as possible - rode out of the forest and into the main road. "How did you know?" I asked over the noise of the horses" hooves. "I was, erm, doing a bit of business when I saw them in the distance," Fred said, getting a bit pink in the face. Then he glanced back. "Faster!" I looked behind us and we could see the ogres running quickly to catch up, a cloud of dust gathering around them. There were four, each with glinting red eyes and razored teeth, and I willed Elmer to go faster. They were far enough that their words couldn"t enchant us, but I knew they would soon gain on us. "Sing, as loud as you can!" I said to them. "If you give them any chance to talk, they"ll bewitch you into breakfast!" Without a moment"s pause, all six of us began to sing different songs at once. It surprised me to see that Sam was a Soprano. More often than not, their voices cracked. The more we rode at such a quickly pace, the more I fell behind. Farmers" donkeys were not made for escaping ogres, that much was apparent. I could see James looking at me with wide eyes, but I yelled over the songs. "I"m fine! The ogres are still a good distance away!" Except they weren"t. They were gaining on us - on me, at least. "Get on my horse, Ella!" James called out to me. "Leave the donkey!" "I can"t!" I felt nauseous at the thought of leaving another donkey to become an ogre"s feast, but soon the curse began to take its effect on me. I began to fidget. He was too far - how could I get on? James" swears went unheard underneath the cacophony of songs. I panicked as Elmer began to slow down into a fast trot; I could sense he was exhausted. His poor little heart was beating too fast. Suddenly, I could hear the ogres, and as I was about to pass out from refusing the curse, their slimy speak crept past my song. "Why do you run away from your friends? Stop and talk with us for awhile." I stopped Elmer, and began to turn towards the ogres. The curse relented. Suddenly they became radiant with light, and their filthy faces became inviting and friendly. Why had I ever thought they wanted to hurt me? Their pace quickened, and I could not wait to receive them. "Ella, get on!" Suddenly, I was snatched up by the arms. I gasped as I found myself behind James, glancing at Sam beside him, who had helped. Both were still singing as loudly as they could, and soon we were galloping away, leaving an exhausted Elmer. I cried out as the cloud of dust soon overtook him. The last thing I saw, before I heard the tearing of flesh and Elmer"s last cry, were his inky black eyes, watching me as we got away. I dug my face into James" back, stifling a sob. We kept singing until our voices were hoarse and the ogres were no longer visible, and we caught up to the other three boys, who had slowed down to wait. We didn"t stop but cautiously rode along, making sure to look behind us every now and then. "We shouldn"t see them for awhile," James said. "They should be content." His voice was serious, and a little sad. He didn"t look at me. By noon, we were only a few miles away from Ayortha. From where we rested on the hillside I could see the tiny homes and the lush green of their crops. I drank some water and ate an apple in silence as the other boys quietly talked amongst themselves. I thought about Char - would he really look for me? But thoughts about James and our argument last night also occupied my mind. Besides Char, I had never seen anyone else have such passion when they spoke. I felt compelled to apologize, but my pride hindered me from doing so. He was right about some things, yes; but he didn"t know my life. How could he assume my privileged life had been no different from any other, yet insist that I was no ordinary runaway maiden? "How are you feeling?" I looked up to see James, holding a half-eaten apple. I bit into mine. "Better, thanks." He stood there for a few moments, as if waiting to make more conversation, but I kept my gaze on the nearby land of Ayortha. "It"s very unbecoming of a lass to refuse gratitude to a man that saved her life," he announced. I met his eyes for a moment. "I"m grateful." Then I turned my gaze back to where I had been looking. "I won"t accept it unless you mean it." He tossed the apple around in his hands. "You are certainly a great deal more dimwitted than I thought if you"re upset. Elmer was a noble donkey, Ella, but it would have been suicide to stay with him." "I"m not upset about Elmer," I snapped at him. "At least, not entirely." He raised his eyebrows in intrigue, waiting for me to go on. "You were right, last night. But you were also wrong. Don"t assume you know everything about my life," I said to him, seriously. "Privileged or not." "And don"t you," he said, sitting down next to me, "lecture us on how to be." I sighed. "Fine." Then we sat in silence, listening to the crunch of our apples as we ate. "Why do you have such a vendetta against people of privilege?" I finally asked him, curious. "You mean aside from the fact that they leech from the labors of the poor and show no mercy to those that make them rich?" he scoffed. "I"m afraid it"ll be a long story, Ella of Frell, and as it is, we must get going." He tossed the apple core down the hill and then offered me a hand. I took it, and we headed back to the rest of the lads to continue our way to Ayortha. I have to admit I spent some of the way wondering. I was wildly curious. But after a few hours, we finally reached Ayortha"s borders and I felt restless with excitement as I squirmed behind James on his horse. Ayortha looked a lot like Frell, but they were a business town - lots of trading and dealing - and the buildings were all squeezed together on the cobblestone streets, stacked taller than they were wide. Frell, on the other hand, stretched over vast acres of land, as its main focus was agriculture. Ayortha had its own share of crops, but nowhere near the variety and abundance of Frell. I had never been to Ayortha. I looked up at its gray buildings, decorated with stone ivies and gargoyles, and felt a tingle down my spine. James helped me down as many Ayorthaians greeted us and smiled. "I believe this is where we leave you, Ella of Frell," he said. I nodded and untied my belongings from his. "Where will you go?" I asked. He smiled, as if pleased I was concerned. "Around, I"m sure. We"ll be back for you." I thanked them for accompanying me, which appeared to further please him. Tom, Fred, Sam and John said goodbye. Fred pretended to tip a hat to me, smiling, before they rode off and I found myself lost in the crowd, alone. I began to walk and ask around, looking for Areida and her family. Sometimes I could not dispute my luck. Just an hour after asking around, a gentle woman pointed me over to where Areida and her family"s inn were. My heart began to pound, my limbs suddenly wobbly with nervousness, as I approached their inn. There was a decorative wooden sign above their door: Golden Horse Inn. Inside I could see a few guests, coming and going. I approached the woman at the desk. She had dark hair with graying streaks, and cinnamon-brown skin, with features that looked vaguely familiar. She greeted me with a warm smile. "Hello there," she said to me in Kyrrian. I suddenly remembered that I didn"t exactly blend in with the Ayorthaians. "Did you want to book a room?" "Actually," I said, "I"m looking for my friend Areida. I was told this was her family"s inn." Her eyes brightened in recognition. "But of course! I am her mother, Antonia. Let me get her for you." She disappeared then, going through a door behind her, and a few moments later, Areida emerged. She was much taller now, and her hair had grown almost past her waist. When she saw me, her hands flew up to her mouth with wide eyes.

"So, what now?" I questioned, wanting to let Jen set the pace. After all the chasing I had done I needed her to be on the same page as me this time around. "Do you fancy a swim?" Jen asked, inclining her head out to the water. I wrinkled up my nose. "What, in there?" I said incredulously. I could feel the goosebumps rising on my arm at just the thought of it. We might be in the middle of a heatwave, but the water temperature would hardly have changed that much. "Well..." Jen grinned mischievously at me as she stood up. "...if you"re too chicken." She unbuttoned the top button from her shirt as she backed away from me, kicking off her flip flops as she turned and sprinted down the sand. Her shirt followed shortly after, floating across the the beach as she tossed it away with abandon. I stared after her in shock for a few seconds, before a slow smile spread across my face. "Ok...Miss Gilmore has a little wild streak.' I suppose I already knew that. Though here, she looked like that carefree woman I had met months ago. The one that pushed my buttons and made me a little crazy. The one that swept me away to the beach and kissed me so impetuously on the sand. She was so different back in Hollyoaks, more the responsible person that being a teacher required and deep down I understood why she had to be that way. But, I"d been searching for glimpses of my Jen ever since. Down by the shore Jen squealed as she waded into the shallows and the cold water hit her bare legs. "Fuck! That"s cold." She cried, determinedly pushing deeper. I laughed and called out to her. "Then come out." Jen turned, covering her chest with her arms. "No. You come in." "Out." "In." Jen crooked her finger. "Out!" "Shake it all about?" "If you like." I dared, raising my eyebrows. "Cheeky!" Jen laughed. "Then you definitely have to come in for that." I looked at Jen, trying to gauge how serious she was. After a few seconds, I realised that it didn"t matter whether she was serious or not, there was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity. I dumped my bag on the sand and sprinted down to the sea. Jen laughed at me when I shrieked as I entered the water. She dropped one hand from her chest, using it to scoop up some of the water and spray it towards me. "Might as well get really wet now." She smirked and turned, diving in head first and swimming away from me. "You"re going to pay for that." I spluttered, wiping the drops from my eyes. Jen carried on swimming and called brightly over her shoulder. "I"m counting on it." I grinned stupidly. God, I"d really missed her. We rushed back up the sand to our stuff, shivering from the coldness of the water. Jen rummaged around in her oversized bag, pulled out a towel and handed it to me before reaching back in to grab another one for herself. "Oh, Tilly. You"re freezing!" Jen said when she straightened up and looked at me. "O...Of course I a...am." I stammered, trying to stop my teeth from chattering. "That w..water was c..cold." Jen stepped closer and pulled the edges of my towel tighter around me before rubbing her hands swiftly up and down my arms. "Shit, I"m sorry." She said with a frown. "Don"t be. I"m not...and I"m definitely getting warmer now." I waited until Jen"s eyes met mine and then waggled my eyebrows suggestively. Jen"s hands stilled, she dropped her eyes and cleared her throat. I worried for a moment that she was regretting this already, that it was time for another, "Tilly, we can"t do this.' speech, but she simply tugged at the towel and wrapped her arms around me. "How about now?" The words were said quietly in my ear. I dropped my head onto her shoulder and brought my hands up to her towel covered waist. "Mmmm...even better." I sighed. We were stretched out on the sand, Jen with her back resting up against a sand dune and me by her side, my head nestled on her shoulder. "Tilly?" Jen tapped me gently on the side of the head and I glanced up. "Thanks, for today." She said, looking down at me with a wide smile. It dimmed a little as something seemed to occur to her. "Oh...do you have anywhere you need to be? I don"t want to keep you from your friends." I thought about the guys back at the house. It was getting on into the afternoon now. Would they be missing me yet? Wondering where I"d got to? Maddie probably would. I knew that I would have to face a grilling from the blonde when I eventually showed up, but I couldn"t bring myself to leave just yet. I didn"t want to lose this feeling. I hadn"t been this happy in weeks. Hell, I"d never been this happy. I shrugged off Jen"s question with a grin. "Nope. Nowhere to be." "Good." "Good?" I asked hopefully. "I wasn"t ready to let you go just yet." Jen replied. I closed my eyes and sighed contentedly, settling my head back onto Jen"s shoulder. She began gently stroking her fingers through my hair and I let myself relax into the touch. "It could always be like this, you know." I kept my eyes closed for a second, only carefully opening one eyelid when Jen remained quiet. She seemed lost in thought, her eyes focused somewhere out on the water. I reached up and let my fingers graze her wrist while it rested by the side of my head. The light touch brought her back from wherever her thoughts had taken her and Jen smiled down at me fondly. "Well, I suspect we"ll have to wear clothes again at some point..." She murmured, lifting her hand and brushing her thumb gently over the furrow that had formed between my eyes at her words. "...but I see what you mean." She conceded. "We would have to be so careful though, Tilly." "Careful, is my middle name." I said seriously, sitting up and turning to face her. Jen arched an eyebrow skeptically. "Ok, obviously it"s not." I admitted somewhat pointlessly, causing Jen to roll her eyes and laugh. "But, it might as well be. I"m super careful. More careful than the carefullest thing in the careful shop." Jen shook her head and laughed. "You"re crazy." "I"m careful." I corrected as I lay back down, grinning widely along with her. Jen dropped me at the corner a few hundreds yards from the house so that there was less chance of us being seen together; she kept the roof up on the jeep to give us that extra privacy as we sat for a few minutes saying goodbye. "Can I see you later?" Jen asked shyly, her eyes not quite meeting mine. I loved this side to her. It wasn"t something she let others see too often, I don"t think she let herself be vulnerable around people. It just made it even more special when she showed this side of herself to me. I had purposefully not brought up the subject of when we were going to see each other again. In all the time we had been apart I"d realised that every time I pushed Jen or she felt cornered, she ran like hell in the opposite direction. It was her default setting. I knew Jen wanted to be with me, she had done and said more than enough for me to be certain of that, turning up in Abersoch being a prime example, but she was still struggling with herself. I may have spilled my heart out a little earlier when I told her what it felt like to kiss her, but I could only put myself out on the line so much. The only real way to make sure Jen didn"t have any regrets later was to let her set the pace from here. "I"d like that." I said as casually as I could. "What did you have in mind?" "Oh...er nothing much. I"m staying at a hotel in town. I...I thought maybe you could come over?" Jen glanced over at me, her fingers flexing anxiously on the steering wheel. I smiled at the uncharacteristic behaviour. "Are you blushing?" I asked knowingly. "No." Jen denied, her eyes dropping. I twisted in my seat so that I was facing her and leant back against the door. "I think you are." "I am not." Jen brought her hands up to her cheeks. "It"s the heat." I bit the inside of my cheek and made a point of looking sideways at the air conditioning, which was running full blast. "Okey dokey then." I said, my tone making it clear that I didn"t believe a word she said. "Shut up." Jen muttered, but she was smiling I grinned back and after only a second of indecision, reached across and lifted her hand from the steering wheel, pulling it into my lap. "I"d love to come over." I answered her earlier question. Jen"s smile grew and she nodded, her fingers tightening reflexively around mine. "I should go." I said regretfully, hating the thought. Jen nodded once more, pulling her hand back and using it to tuck a strand of hair behind her ears. "Ok. I"ll text you later...about tonight." "Ok." I leaned over to reach into the back seat and retrieve my bag, the action bringing me closer to Jen. As I pulled back Jen lifted a hand and cupped my cheek, letting her thumb trace slowly across my lips and I had to resist the urge to fling myself across the seat and kiss her senseless, whether we were in public or not. I settled for placing a quick kiss on her thumb as it grazed my lower lip, smiling in satisfaction as Jen"s breathing hitched at the soft contact. "See you later, Tilly." She breathed as she let her hand fall away. "Bye." I forced myself to open the door and step out onto the street with a sigh. Holy fuck, that woman did things to me. I grinned to myself, thinking that if I played my cards right tonight...I might get to do things to her too. With one last smile and a wave, I watched from behind my sunglasses as Jen pulled away from the curb before setting off. I swung my bag in my hand, grinning stupidly as I walked the short distance back to the house. I"d hoped that I could make it quietly to my room to freshen up before I faced everyone but the second I pushed open the front door I knew that was out of the question. Three heads swivelled in my direction. "Where the bloody hell have you been?" Maddie said in place of a greeting. She stood alone in the kitchen, one hand on her hip and a very pissed off expression on her face. "Erm...hi Mads." I stalled, trying to assess just how much covering this was going to take. Judging from the daggers I could feel coming from Sinead in the living room, I reckoned quite a bit. "I just did a bit of exploring, spent some time walking around...er...didn"t you get the note?" Maddie brushed the question aside with a swipe of her hand. "You walked around? All day? Alone?" Maddie"s eyes narrowed as she watched me intently. I shrugged casually, or what I hoped looked casually. "Yeah." "Fucks sake, Tilly." Maddie swore and started to pace. "Even Bart was worried." Bart glanced up in surprise, his dark, enlarged pupils making it pretty obvious that he didn"t really care much about anything at the moment. "Er...yeah. Totally shitting ourselves." He muttered, wincing painfully as Sinead leaned across from her chair and smacked him around the back of his head. "Fucking hell, Sinead. What did you do that for?" He whined, rubbing the spot vigorously. Sinead sat back and crossed her arms, levelling him with her best glare. "Because it"s not funny, Bart. Anything could have happened to her." Sinead replied sharply, swivelling her head so that her dark look was now settled firmly on me. "We nearly called the police." "Oh, come on!' I wanted to laugh. I was only gone for a few hours, hardly a reason to call out the police dogs. I opened my mouth to speak but Bart saved me from answering, jumping in sarcastically, "Oh yeah? And tell them what? Help! me friends gone off for the day and left a note telling us that"s exactly what she was doing!' Bart flicked imaginary hair over his shoulder as he finished what was actually a pretty good impression of Sinead"s accent. "That would have gone down really well, wouldn"t it?" A quick look at Sinead"s face confirmed that it was time for me to take control the conversation, she had turned a disturbing shade of red and even Bart had the good sense to move further down the sofa out of range. "Guys...I"m sorry you were worried, but I did leave a note and you know...you could have called." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and held it up. Maddie"s expression hardened even more as Sinead scoffed mirthlessly, clapping her hands together. "Well, why didn"t we think of that, ey? What a brilliant fuckin idea!" I looked at the phone and bit my lip in embarrassment as I read the display. 12 missed calls. "Oh...oops." I laughed sheepishly. "Must have had it on silent." "I really am sorry." I said remorsefully, crossing the kitchen and standing in front of Maddie. "Maybe she just wanted to get away for a bit, have some space." Bart grumbled, not needing to add the words we could all tell he was thinking. "From you two.' "Oh yeah? That what you want to do is it, Bart?" Sinead stood up. "Well, you can have all the space you need. Cos you ain"t sleeping in our room tonight." She turned quickly with a flick of her hair and stormed off down the corridor. Bart wasn"t far behind, apologising as he trailed at her heels. "Aww come on. That"s not what I meant babe." I winced as a door slammed down the hall. "Maddie...I"m sorry." I started, turning to my friend. Maddie waved away the apology, all of her anger seeming to have dissipated. "I was worried about you, Tills." She said quietly, pulling me into a hug. I felt awful. But what could I say? Any excuses I gave her now would just be more lies and I would have to tell enough of those in the coming weeks as it was. I hugged Maddie a little tighter, choosing simply to stick with the facts. "I"m fine, honestly." Maddie gave me one last squeeze and let me go. "Then that"s all that matters." An hour or so later I was curled up on the sofa, mindlessly watching a quiz show when my phone beeped in my pocket. I fished it out, smiling when I saw the name attached to the text. "I know it"s only been a couple of hours...but I miss you. Looking forward to tonight. xx" "Oh Jen.' You really go straight for the heart, don"t you? Before I could type in a reply Maddie wandered into the living room and hopped onto the sofa. I carefully put my phone away, mindful of Maddie"s tendency to be nosy. I would have to text Jen back later. "Is Sinead still mad at Bart?" I frowned and nodded down the hall. Maddie smirked. "Sinead"s always mad at Bart about something, Tills. It"s like a constant of the universe." That was true. Barely a day went by without Sinead wanting to kill him over something. But, I still felt terrible that I was the one they were fighting about. Maddie gave my knee a gentle squeeze, picking up on how I was feeling. "Seriously...don"t worry. Today it"s you, tomorrow it"ll be because he forgot to pick up his pants." She said, trying to reassure me. I smiled back, but I still felt the weight of my guilt. Even more so now that Maddie trying to console me. I felt awful about having to lie to her about where I had been all day, though I knew it was the price I had to pay for a chance at a real relationship with Jen. Maddie didn"t trust easily. She was all sharp edges and thorns to keep people at a distance. I"d seen her in action enough times to know that she pushed and she pushed until most people walked away. It was a defence mechanism; if you don"t let anyone close they can"t hurt you, right? Can"t tune out, like her parents had. I knew that a secret like this would be hard for her to forgive. Nevertheless, it was one I had to keep. I smiled weakly. "Thanks, Maddie." "Think nothing of it." Maddie sighed with a dramatic flair and then bumped my shoulder with a grin. "So what"s the plan for tonight?" "Oh...er..I dunno, Mads." I shrugged. "I"m actually pretty tired. I was just going to stay in, have an early night. You guy"s go on without me." "Oh no, no way!" Maddie cried and I jumped slightly at the sudden outburst. "We came here to have a good time, not sit round in our pajama"s watching University fucking Challenge!" Maddie stood up and crossed the room, angrily jabbing at the off button on the tv. Part of me wanted to tell her that she had been sitting next to the remote but I guessed that it wouldn"t have been the smartest move right now. Maddie was on a roll. "You"ve been missing for the whole day.." Maddie poked one finger in my direction and again, I held my tongue when I could have pointed out that I hadn"t been "missing" at all. I knew exactly where I was the whole time. "With Jen.' Just the thought of her brought a smile to my lips and I quickly smothered it with my hand. The last thing I wanted was Maddie to think that I was laughing at her, I was in enough trouble. But I needn"t have worried, Maddie was still checking off her list of all the things that had gone wrong on this holiday. "...those two have been fighting since the second we got here. And don"t even get me started on the fact that Esther somehow got herself invited on this trip." Maddie threw up her hands. "The whole thing is turning into a nightmare." "Come on, Maddie. It"s not that bad." I tried to appease her. "We have plenty of time, you know. We only got here yesterday." "Fine. Stay in." Maddie said calmly, instantly making me wary. Maddie didn"t back down, not this easily anyway. What was going on in that pretty little head of hers? "In fact, we"ll all stay in." She plucked her phone from her pocket. "I"ll invite some people round and we"ll have a party." Well that answered that question. "Maddie." My voice was suspiciously close to a whine. "A party?" Maddie shook her head. "We"re doing this. It"s not like you have anywhere else to be, is it?" She had a point there. As far as she was concerned I didn"t have anywhere to be. There was no way that I would be able to play off disappearing for the night, the others were already suspicious from earlier. I rubbed at my temple. As much as I hated the thought, I would have to to rearrange my plans with Jen. "Fine." I grumbled, heading off towards my room. I tugged my phone out of my pocket as I went, intending on calling Jen to cancel. Maddie caught up with me in the hall, plucking the device out of my hands as I scrolled through the phonebook. "And no phones. This party is a no phone zone." Maddie said decisively. "What? No." I spluttered, reaching to get it back. "Maddie, be serious." Maddie held it behind her back, fending off my hands as I tried to retrieve it. "I mean it, Tilly. You, me, Bart and Sinead, none of us are going to spend the night tapping away on our phones." Maddie turned her back on me, fiddling with my phone. She swung back a few seconds later and handed it back to me, minus the battery. "We"re gonna meet some new people...and you..." She tapped the end of my nose with the battery, pulling it back swiftly when I made a grab for it. "Ah ah...you my darling, are actually going to talk to some of them. Maybe even a girl." She finished in a stage whisper. I stared at her in disbelief. "You"ll thank me for this later." She assured me with a sly half grin as she opened the door to her room. I recovered my powers of speech too late and could only call out ineffectually to the closed door. "Don"t bet on it, Maddie!" "What just happened?' I stared down at the useless phone clutched tightly in my hand. Five minutes ago I was on top of the world, looking forward to a night with Jen...and now. I wandered through the house to the back door and stepped out onto the deck. I thought of Jen, alone in a hotel room somewhere, in my head wearing not much more than a smile and waiting for me. I wanted to scream. "Ah well, sometimes you should just go with your instincts" I thought, tipping my head back and yelling out at the cloudless sky. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" A middle aged woman walking her small dog across the sand stopped in her tracks and glared up at me. "Tsk...well I never!" She complained haughtily, and even the dog looked disgusted with me. "No...I bet you haven"t." I shot back, in no mood to be polite. The woman huffed, offended, and yanked the dogs lead, dragging it off down the beach. "Ok...think, think.' I tried frantically to come up with a solution. No mobile phone, ok, that"s not the end of the world. People communicated before they were invented, it"s not that hard. What did they use? Smoke signals? Carrier pigeon? Payphone! Of course. I"ll just find a payphone, call Jen and explain. That will work. "Crap!' I sighed. If I"d memorised Jen"s number...that would totally work. Jen was just starting to come around and we"d made so much progress today. What would happen to all of that if I didn"t show up tonight? It"s not like I could sneak out of the party either and go to her, I had no clue where Jen was staying. She was going to text me with the details later. Somehow, I don"t think it would go down too well if I just wandered around town screaming her name at the top of my lungs. I sat down on one of the sun loungers dotted around the deck and scrubbed my face with both hands. This was how it was going to be from now on wasn"t it? Lying to the people I care about, living a double life and getting myself into stupid predicaments like this. Was it really worth it for a relationship that for the foreseeable future, would have stay in the shadows? I thought about the day I"d just spent with Jen, how fucking amazing it felt to be with her. "Yeah...totally worth it.' I thought with a huge smile. Now if I could just figure out a way to let her know about tonight...life would be perfect.

"Maybe he"s a tight arse!" Dad grouched as they moved into the living room and he shut the door behind them. "Alright girls?" He greeted Sian and me with a nod of his head, rubbing his hands together to warm them up. "Kevin!" Mum scolded as she took off her coat and hung it over the banister at the bottom of the stairs. "Gail likes him. And yes, she may not have had the best of luck with men..." "Best of luck?" Dad interrupted cheekily. "Er, Killer, fraudster..." He counted off Gail"s past dating disasters on his fingers. "Tight arse." Sian helpfully supplied, earning her a grin from Dad, and a disapproving frown from Mum. Sian tugged firmly on my sleeve and pulled me in front of her as a human shield. "Sorry Sally." She mumbled contritely from behind my shoulder. "Oh." Mum sighed and faced Dad again "You just don"t want to like him." She turned on her heel and headed for the kitchen to put the kettle on. "I do want to like him." Dad disagreed, following her to the counter. He cheekily swiped the packet of biscuits Mum had taken out of the cupboard from her hands and held them just out of her reach as she tried to grab them back. "I just want a pint an"all." He plucked a few biscuits from the pack before handing it back to Mum, who snatched at them with a scowl. "Well tough. Because I told Gail we would go out for a meal with them next week." Mum"s grimace transformed into a smug grin at the crestfallen look on Dad"s face. "Sally." Dad whined. "He"ll probably develop that bladder problem again when the bill turns up." Dad curled his lip and lifted his fingers to use sarcastic air quotes. "Kevin." Mum"s voice dropped warningly. Dad grudgingly nodded his head and munched noisily on his stolen biscuits. It would have been useless to fight, we all knew the conversation was over. "That was impressive." Sian whispered into my ear from directly behind me, still using me as a buffer between her and my Mum. "Yeah." I agreed under my breath. "So just keep your wits about you ok? Or she"ll have you straight and out dating a lad before the conversation is even over." "Not gonna happen." Sian rubbed my back reassuringly. "I"m here for you Soph." She stopped and then amended her statement. "I might be hiding behind you...but I"m staying right here. Alright?" "Alright." I tilted my head, wanting to get a glimpse of her to strengthen my resolve. "Are you ready?" "Yep." Sian nodded boldly. "Okay then." I muttered, trying to mentally prepare myself for all the ways this could go to fuck. "Mum, Dad...Can we talk to you for a minute?" Chapter 17. Dad sat on the far side of the two seater settee as we waited for Mum to join us in the living room. He smiled easily at us, tilting his head towards the kitchen, where Mum was still fussing over the drinks, and rolled his eyes. He looked the picture of a man perfectly at home, with his legs casually outstretched, his head reclining back onto the grey upholstery of the sofa. I smiled weakly in return before pulling my eyes away. For some reason his easy, relaxed demeanour only served to increase my nervousness all the more. Perhaps, because I knew that in a few minutes that carefree, happy man would probably be gone. Sian was perched on the side of the armchair I was sitting on, her arm propped against the seat back behind my head. I glanced up at her and our eyes met briefly. Sian gave me a small intimate smile, her fingers ghosting lightly across my shoulder before she set her face back into a neutral expression. The private look had been meant to reassure, to let me know that she was right there with me, but despite her cool appearance I could feel the apprehension radiating from Sian in waves. Her upper body had become rigid, the fingers of the hand resting on her leg were twisted tightly around the fabric of her loose jeans, the knuckles turned white from the pressure. Mum finally made her way into the living room, her hands full with a tray loaded up with everything you would need to make tea for the whole street. Dad"s eyes lit up immediately at the sight of some biscuits sat precariously on the top of the pile. "Now then. Who wants what?" Mum perched on the edge of the sofa with a sigh and glanced around expectantly. "Sian love? "Mum." I jumped in, not wanting to wait for another half an hour while she fiddled around with the drinks order. "Could we talk first, please?" At Mum"s crestfallen expression I quickly added, "...and then enjoy the tea?" Mum smiled widely and I knew I"d said the right thing. "Of course Sophie love." She agreed as she settled back onto the settee. The smile dimmed a little as a thought seemed to occur to her. "You"re not in any kind of trouble, are you?" "No!...No, not trouble." I replied hastily, hoping fervently that we didn"t have radically different ideas about what it meant to be in trouble. I was pretty sure that in Mum"s vocabulary "in trouble", meant getting pregnant with some local chav"s kid and quitting uni. I prayed that she didn"t consider what I was going to tell her to be worse. "The thing is..." I began slowly. "The reason I wanted to talk to you is..." "The thing is..." I stalled again trying to find the right words. "Oh, come on Sophie." Mum laughed, leaning forward. "Spit it out love." "I...I..." My gaze flicked between the three expectant faces, the anxiety ramping itself up to new level. Part of me wanted to mop what I was sure would be my sweaty brow. "Jesus!' No wonder people confessed to things they didn"t do, the pressure of people watching you, waiting for you to speak, is almost unbearable. Trouble is, I"m not sure I"m ready to say it yet. I thought I was. Half an hour ago I thought I was sure this was what I wanted. But, half an hour ago I was still on a high from having Rosie so accepting. Now, I wasn"t so sure that my luck would hold enough to get that reaction from my parents as well. I cleared my suddenly dry throat. "I just wanted..." Sian leaned forward and placed her hand on my shoulder as she jumped into the conversation, "We just wanted to ask if it would be alright if Sophie came down to London to visit me again next weekend?" Shocked, I turned abruptly in the chair to look up at Sian, ready to question her. A sad smile and a barely visible shake of her head kept my mouth shut. "Sophie?" Mum questioned, her keen eyes not missing the silent interaction going on between us. "Was that all you wanted to say?" "Was it?' I turned to face my Mum and Dad who were both looking at me expectantly and then back up at Sian, who simply stared down at her own hands making it impossible for me to read her expression. I swung back around to my parents and opened my mouth to answer. For probably the first time in my life, I had no idea what was going to come out. "Yes." I breathed. I ran my hand shakily through my hair and then wrapped both arms around my stomach. "That"s all." I finished after a few seconds, hoping my voice sounded a little stronger. I heard Sian release a long, slow breath behind me but I didn"t dare turn around and face her, too afraid to see the disappointment I was sure would be in her eyes. "Well, I don"t know girls." Mum said, considering the idea. "I"m still not sure I like the idea of you down there. Look how ill you were when you came home last time, Sophie." "Yeah well, realising you"re in love with your best friend will do that to you.' I scoffed wordlessly. "There"s so many untrustworthy people about these days." Mum continued, wringing her hands together worriedly. I thought for a brief moment that she was going to make Sian watch "Oliver" like I had to, or at the very least burst into "You"ve got to pick a pocket or two" from the settee. Outwardly I said nothing and thankfully, I didn"t need to, as Dad chose that moment to join the discussion. "Oh come on, Sally. We"ve all had a bad hangover in our time." He stated diplomatically, one eye still on the biscuits. He turned his full attention back on my mother and delivered the killer blow. "They"re not kids anymore and we brought our Sophie up to be a responsible girl, didn"t we?" Dad knew that Mum wouldn"t be able to object now. She might win in an out and out fight, but Dad still had some tricks up his sleeve. Part of me wanted to applaud his tactics but again, I kept quiet. I didn"t feel particularly responsible. I couldn"t even take responsibility for my own feelings for fucks sake. "I suppose you"re right." Mum said slowly, obviously still a little dubious. She looked as if she knew she had been played, but couldn"t quite figure out how it had happened. "That"s settled then." Dad jumped in quickly. "Hows about that tea then, love?" He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Mum regained her composure quickly at that. "Oh yes." She said, scooting forward to the coffee table. "None for me thanks, Sally." Sian said quietly, speaking for the first time since she had given me the chance to back out of telling my parents. "I"m just gonna go to bed if that"s alright?" She stood up from the chair arm and moved towards the bottom of the stairs. "Sian..." I started to get up too, wanting to follow her. Sian put out a hand, anticipating the move. "You stay and have some tea, Soph. I"m just a bit tired that"s all. Busy week. "She smiled over at my Mum and Dad, who nodded in response, but I could see that it didn"t quite reach her eyes. "Night Sian." Mum and Dad echoed each other as Sian gave them a halfhearted wave before heading up. I watched her go, every nerve in my body willing me to go after her. But I didn"t. Instead I pasted on a smile and nodded when Mum held up the teapot inquiringly. "Fuck!' I scrubbed my hands over my face. This wasn"t how I wanted the night to go. I didn"t want Sian to believe I was having doubts. And I most certainly didn"t want Sian to start having doubts about me. I thought back over our friendship, back to when Sian had lived with her Dad and how scared of his reactions she had been. A couple of years ago this might have been the other way round. Sian might have been the one hiding away. But, she wasn"t. I was. What she had said earlier in the night about her father just went to show how far she had come, how much she had grown into herself and found her own strength. I had to admit that right now, I was more than a little bit jealous of that. I drummed my fingers restlessly on my thigh as Mum took her time arranging the tray of drinks on the table. "Seriously, who does that?' I thought. Even the queen doesn"t piss about this much with tea. The minutes stretched on interminably until Mum finally settled down next to Dad, apparently now completely satisfied with the order of the teacups, and the rigid positioning of the sugar bowl. He patted her knee affectionately as she leaned back against the cushions. Mum gave him a bright smile in return and I couldn"t help but echo it a little. I suppose you really have to love someone to find their obsessive quirks that adorable. I thought about the girl upstairs, how I adored everything she did and it all made a tiny bit more sense. Me loving her was just like Dad loving Mum. Dad could sit and watch Mum faffing around with teacups for ten minutes with an fond smile on his face. I knew that I could sit and watch Sian counting all the hairpins in Audrey"s salon and be totally happy. It was exactly the same. All I needed now was to get Mum and Dad to understand that. "Easier said than done.' Said a disquieting voice in my head. I shook it off. Nothing good is ever easy. I sat up straighter in the chair, coming to a decision. "So...I"m just gonna go to bed too then." "Oh." Mum looked up, disappointed. "What about your tea?" Mum nodded towards my still full cup. "I"m gonna leave it, Mum." I shook my head slowly and tried to think of a plausible excuse. "Don"t want to be up all night, do I?" Mum relaxed back into the cushions again seemingly appeased, as Dad nodded his head wisely in understanding. I made my way upstairs, shaking my head in wonder at my parents. "Must be true what they say about middle aged people and their bladders then.' I concluded silently, reaching the landing. I stood for a minute or two, out of view of my parents but not close enough to my room to alert Sian to my presence. I just needed a few minutes to get myself together before I faced her. "Sian?" I asked as I carefully opened the door to my room, not entirely sure what reception to expect. The room was dark except for the faint glow from my bedside lamp and Sian stood silhouetted by the window, her back towards me as I fully entered the room. "Sian?" I whispered, the stillness and half light of the room seemingly demanding the softer tone. I wasn"t sure she had heard me until she glanced over her shoulder, her eyes meeting mine cautiously. "I"m sorry." I said, hoping that Sian could hear how much I meant it. She turned to face me and that was all I needed to carry on. "I was going to tell them. I was. I just couldn"t think of the words...once I"d started...I just didn"t have the words." I looked deeply into Sian"s eyes, silently begging her to understand. "Sophie. You"re not ready." Sian cupped my face and smiled bravely. "And that"s ok. No one said you had to tell everyone in one night, you know?" I knew every one of Sian"s smiles, knew the one she gave when she was just being polite, knew the wide grin that meant something had really tickled her, mostly directed at Rosie"s latest antics. I knew the shy, private smile that made you feel like you were the only person in the world, the one that made you feel like you could fly. I knew this one too. Knew it well enough to see right through, to the sadness behind it. "But..." I struggled to find the right words. Words to tell her how perfect she was, how much I cared. But, anything I told her now would be under the shadow of what happened downstairs. No matter how much I knew it wasn"t true, no matter how much Sian would deny it, I could see in Sian"s eyes that some part of her believed that I was ashamed of her. Ashamed of what we had. And nothing that I said tonight would be able to take that belief away. Words meant nothing when your actions said the opposite. Sian dropped her hands and stepped backwards. "Soph, lets just get some sleep, ok?" She sighed. "I really am tired." "Ok." I could only agree. What right did I have to make her stay awake and talk this through. We lay in my small bed, as far apart as it was possible for two people to be and I almost laughed at the contrast between how I expected this night to go, and the reality. I was in bed with the girl I loved, but I didn"t have the butterflies that I normally did whenever I was close to her. Instead my stomach was swarming with anxiety and guilt, and lying in the dark listening to Sian"s steady breathing, sleep was hard to come by. Breakfast so far had been a quiet affair, both Sian and I were still a little tentative around each other after the night before, a few uncertain glances the most we had been able to summon up. Mum and Dad for their part, simply seemed content to eat in the relative silence. When I had woken up earlier, the other half of the bed had been empty and cold, Sian long gone. After a few brief moments of panic I had spotted her bag still sitting in front of the wardrobe where she had left it, her coat still slung casually over the back of my chair and I collapsed back onto the bed in relief. I"d dressed quickly and hurried downstairs, finding Sian already at the table with my parents, quietly discussing her course and uni life with my Mum over toast. She had looked up as I"d walked into the kitchen. Well, more like skidded to a halt in front of the table, earning me a scowl from my mother. I quickly looked down, making sure I hadn"t put my shirt on inside out or anything in my haste to find Sian. When I looked back up Sian rolled her eyes with a grin, shaking her head and making it clear that she knew exactly what I had been up to. I blushed self consciously as I dropped into the chair opposite her, mumbling something about tea that had Mum scurrying off into the kitchen to put on a fresh pot. After that we had retreated back into silence as we ate. The quiet eventually broken as Rosie bustled into the kitchen with all of her usual flair. She kissed Dad and Mum on the cheek as she passed, gave Sian a saucy wink that had the blonde dropping her head quickly to hide her blush and pushed my hair from the back, up and over my face so that I resembled "Cousin It" from the Addams family. Rosie moved to the kitchen after her lap of the dining table and started pulling food out of the cupboards, flailing her arms flamboyantly as she launched straight into a tale about her promotions job the night before. Her latest "absolute end of the world" story faded quietly into the back of my consciousness as I leaned back in my chair and surveyed my family. These were the people that my life revolved around. These were the people that saw me at my best and my worst, and trust me, first thing in a morning that was most definitely my worst. They were the people who hugged me goodbye and the people I came home to. How long could I keep them in the dark about something that was a part of who I am? I could no more deny the way I felt about Sian than I could deny the colour of my eyes, sometimes I felt it must be written on my face every time I looked at her. And I wanted it to be that way. I didn"t want to hide this amazing thing that had happened to me. I didn"t want to deny her. What was it I had thought the night before? Words meant nothing when your actions said the opposite. Well, it was time to put it right. Time that my words and my actions were the same. Time to be me. "Mum? Dad?" I put down my knife, waiting until I had their attention. I could feel Sian staring at me questioningly from across the table, no doubt wondering where I was going with this, but I purposefully ignored her gaze. This was something that I had to do by myself. Rosie stopped chopping the mango she had been butchering and met my gaze over the back of Mum"s head, her eyes widening in realisation as she saw the determination shining from mine. She nodded her head, giving me a small smile that was all the reassurance I needed. "What"s up, Sophie?" Dad asked, his eyes clouded with concern. I took one more deep breath, surprised at how calm I felt, especially in comparison to the night before. Funny how everything is less scary when the darkness fades away. "Mum, Dad." I said with a relieved smile. "I"m gay." Chapter 18 Mum bustled around the kitchen, wiping counters that were already clean and straightening objects that were already in the right place. She tried once again to get around Rosie, who quickly held her arms protectively around the wooden chopping board in front of her. "I"m still not done, Mum." Rosie peered suspiciously at Mum over her shoulder, her body tilted to one side, ready to defend her mango from any attack. This had been the scene for the last five minutes. After I had blurted out to my parents that I was gay, Mum had sat opened mouthed for a few seconds, then shot up out of her seat without a word and began frantically tidying the kitchen. Dad simply looked shell shocked, his gaze following Mum around the room just like the rest of us. Mum had already tried twice, unsuccessfully, to clear away the breakfast that Rosie had been preparing for herself, and Rosie still looked on edge every time Mum passed too close to her. "Mum?" I sighed deeply, running my hand through my hair. "Oh, why is everything all over the place this morning?" Mum brushed off the question, choosing instead to bury her head in the cupboard, tutting at its apparent state. I met Sian"s sympathetic gaze briefly before turning to my Dad, silently pleading for him to help me. Dad put down the knife he had been using to butter his toast and covered my hand with his. I turned my hand over and lightly squeezed his, hugely grateful for the small sign of affection. He nodded and tried gently to get Mum"s attention. "Sally love." Mum, once again, carried on as if she hadn"t heard. "I"ll have to give this place a good clean through." She murmured to herself. "Oh for Gods sake!" Rosie threw one hand onto her hip, momentarily abandoning her fruit salad protection scheme. "So Sophie"s a lesbian. So what? It"s not like you"ve never seen one before, Mum. Those two old biddies on Rosamund Street have been at it since the war!" Rosie swung one arm in that general direction. "And you"re quite happy to natter away with them and Rita in the Kabin." Rosie began throwing the pieces of fruit that she had cut up into a bowl with a little more force than was necessary. "I mean...so what if Sophie likes girls?..." She stalked over and dropped into a chair, rattling the bowl on the surface of the table as she did so. "...so what if she"s going out with Sian? What"s the big deal?" Rosie picked over the fruit, searching for the perfect morsel, completely oblivious to the collective gasp her last statement had produced. When she finally found what she was looking for, she popped the chunk into her mouth and looked up, her eyes bouncing around the table at our open mouths.

"Yeah, I know!" I said a little harsher than I intended. Sian"s hand clutched mine a little tighter and I got the message. It wasn"t Rosie"s fault that the thought of Mum finding us like that terrified me. She was just telling the truth. A truth I wasn"t ready to face. "I know, Rosie." I softened my tone, making Sian smile. "This is just still new, and we"re still figuring everything out with each other." "Okay, okay." Rosie held up her hands with a smile. "But, you should think about telling them. This stealth thing isn"t really working for you is it?" "That"s an understatement.' I thought wryly. Practically the first time we messed around we got caught, it didn"t exactly bode well for keeping the relationship a secret long term. Maybe Rosie was right, maybe it would be better to be honest. "So..." I began a little uncertainly. "Are you really ok with this, Rosie?" "With what?" Rosie"s brow furrowed in confusion. "With the recession." Sian answered with a completely straight face. At Rosie"s blank look she rolled her eyes at me in amazement and held up our joined hands. "With us." "Oh.." Rosie shrugged indifferently. "Well...we"ve all gone a bit Katy Perry in our time haven"t we?" "Rosie." I sighed, trying to think of a way to explain that she would understand. "We weren"t just messing around cos we can"t find boyfriends, you know?" "Oh please." Rosie scoffed, throwing one hand on her hip and looking a little offended. "Give me some credit will you. I"m just saying that loads of people try it these days. So you two figured out that it"s part of who you are...big deal." She shrugged and gestured between me and Sian. "And...You found someone that makes you happy. As far as I can see that makes you lucky." Rosie"s eyes turned serious. "You"re my sister Sophie." Sian and I sat in stunned silence for a few seconds, neither of us quite sure what to say in the face of such unflinching loyalty. From Rosie of all people. Just when you think you know someone, just when you think you"ve got them figured out and labelled away in your head, they up and amaze you. In the best possible way. "Now if you"ll excuse me, I have to go home and wash my eyes out." Rosie stood up from her chair and pulled her coat on as if what she"d just said wasn"t a big deal. "There are some things a sister should never have to witness." "Yeah, I know." I cleared my suddenly choked throat and shuddered dramatically, more than a little happy to be back to our normal teasing. "It"s never stopped you though has it? I mean...what are you wearing?" Rosie pulled open the lapels of her coat with both hands and inspected her scantily clad body. "What, this? It"s for a promotions job." "Promoting prostitution these days are they?" Sian asked with a smirk, her shining blue eyes making it clear she was joking. Rosie laughed and jiggled her assets. "Flash a little boob and people will buy anything. But you know all about that...don"t you darling?" Rosie gave Sian a saucy wink and blew her a kiss, making Sian flush with embarrassment. Rosie gathered up her purse and headed for the door, pausing just long enough to reach over the table and ruffle my hair affectionately. "Ciao girls." She called over her shoulder, leaving the room in a waft of perfume. "Your sister is mental." Sian grinned and shook her head, turning sideways in her seat to face me, one arm resting casually on the back of the chair. "She is." I smiled back, twisting so that my legs framed hers in the space between our chairs. I placed my both hands on Sian"s knees, smiling softly when hers immediately covered mine. "She"s right too. It could have been Mum walking in on us." I said, watching her thumbs rub warmly across my knuckles. "Sophie." Sian ducked her head in an effort to catch my eye. "It"s ok if you"re not ready to tell them yet. You don"t have to rush this." "I know. But, I"m going to have to tell them sooner or later aren"t I?" I sighed. "Either I tell them, or they find out like Rosie did...which I can"t even imagine." Sian shuddered. "Me neither." I let go of Sian"s hands and rubbed tiredly at my eyes. "Or Norris tells them cos he caught us snogging behind The Kabin." I paused and considered those options. "I"m not sure which one Mum would hate more." "Excuse me!" Sian exclaimed, bringing her hand up to her chest pretending to be scandalised. "I"m a lady. I don"t go snogging behind The Kabin!" "It"s behind The Rovers or nothing." She declared confidently, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Ooh...an upmarket girl ey?" I asked with a grin. I just loved how much of a dork she could be sometimes, and how much of a dork I could be when I was with her. It had always been that way between us. But, it seemed even stronger now that we were together, as if the additional intimacy complemented our existing friendship perfectly. "That"s me." Sian winked and pulled me in for a quick kiss. When our lips parted I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hugged her tightly, revelling in the peaceful sensation that washed over me, and came to a decision. "I think I"m going to tell them." I said quietly, as I leaned back from the embrace and watched Sian carefully for her reaction. I was barely able to believe the words myself. "Ok." Sian shrugged. "Ok?" I asked sceptically, dropping my arms from around her back. "That"s it? Just...Ok?" "Yep." She nodded. "That"s it." Sian scooted her chair closer to mine and grasped both of my hands in hers once more. "I want to be with you." She said openly. "And you want to be with me..." Sian raised one eyebrow and grinned smugly. "...because let"s face it, who wouldn"t?" "Well, exactly." I agreed with a smile. "Exactly, so that"s it." Sian said decisively, her smile growing. "And it would be nice not having to sneak about all the time, wouldn"t it?" "What if they go mad?" I asked weakly, suddenly terrified again. Sian tugged me forward into another hug, her fingers tangling comfortingly in my hair. "Then we"ll deal with it." She murmured confidently in my ear. "Together." "But, what about your Dad?" I asked uncertainly, pulling back far enough to see her face. I didn"t want Sian to have any regrets if we went through with this. "My Dad..." Sian laughed disdainfully. "...will blow his top whenever and however he finds out. I"m not a kid anymore Soph." Sian lowered her voice, her eyes flashing defiantly. "I won"t be bullied by him." Sian. My beautiful, brave Sian. The faint echo of my parent"s voices sounded in the street outside signalling their imminent return and we gradually extricated ourselves from the embrace. I let my fingers linger briefly across Sian"s lips, trying to silently express all that I was feeling to her as we parted. I smiled softly as she clasped my wrist and held my hand in place, kissing each finger gently in response. Sian pushed her chair fully away from mine when the garbled jumble of voices got increasingly louder as they approached the front door, making it possible to make out some of their conversation. "No, I"m just saying...every time it was his round he conveniently disappeared to the toilet that"s all." Dad"s low voice rumbled in the front hall. "Maybe he has bladder trouble." Mum countered diplomatically "Maybe he"s a tight arse!" Dad grouched as they moved into the living room and he shut the door behind them. "Alright girls?" He greeted Sian and me with a nod of his head, rubbing his hands together to warm them up. "Kevin!" Mum scolded as she took off her coat and hung it over the banister at the bottom of the stairs. "Gail likes him. And yes, she may not have had the best of luck with men..." "Best of luck?" Dad interrupted cheekily. "Er, Killer, fraudster..." He counted off Gail"s past dating disasters on his fingers. "Tight arse." Sian helpfully supplied, earning her a grin from Dad, and a disapproving frown from Mum. Sian tugged firmly on my sleeve and pulled me in front of her as a human shield. "Sorry Sally." She mumbled contritely from behind my shoulder. "Oh." Mum sighed and faced Dad again "You just don"t want to like him." She turned on her heel and headed for the kitchen to put the kettle on. "I do want to like him." Dad disagreed, following her to the counter. He cheekily swiped the packet of biscuits Mum had taken out of the cupboard from her hands and held them just out of her reach as she tried to grab them back. "I just want a pint an"all." He plucked a few biscuits from the pack before handing it back to Mum, who snatched at them with a scowl. "Well tough. Because I told Gail we would go out for a meal with them next week." Mum"s grimace transformed into a smug grin at the crestfallen look on Dad"s face. "Sally." Dad whined. "He"ll probably develop that bladder problem again when the bill turns up." Dad curled his lip and lifted his fingers to use sarcastic air quotes. "Kevin." Mum"s voice dropped warningly. Dad grudgingly nodded his head and munched noisily on his stolen biscuits. It would have been useless to fight, we all knew the conversation was over. "That was impressive." Sian whispered into my ear from directly behind me, still using me as a buffer between her and my Mum. "Yeah." I agreed under my breath. "So just keep your wits about you ok? Or she"ll have you straight and out dating a lad before the conversation is even over." "Not gonna happen." Sian rubbed my back reassuringly. "I"m here for you Soph." She stopped and then amended her statement. "I might be hiding behind you...but I"m staying right here. Alright?" "Alright." I tilted my head, wanting to get a glimpse of her to strengthen my resolve. "Are you ready?" "Yep." Sian nodded boldly. "Okay then." I muttered, trying to mentally prepare myself for all the ways this could go to fuck. "Mum, Dad...Can we talk to you for a minute?" Chapter 17. Dad sat on the far side of the two seater settee as we waited for Mum to join us in the living room. He smiled easily at us, tilting his head towards the kitchen, where Mum was still fussing over the drinks, and rolled his eyes. He looked the picture of a man perfectly at home, with his legs casually outstretched, his head reclining back onto the grey upholstery of the sofa. I smiled weakly in return before pulling my eyes away. For some reason his easy, relaxed demeanour only served to increase my nervousness all the more. Perhaps, because I knew that in a few minutes that carefree, happy man would probably be gone. Sian was perched on the side of the armchair I was sitting on, her arm propped against the seat back behind my head. I glanced up at her and our eyes met briefly. Sian gave me a small intimate smile, her fingers ghosting lightly across my shoulder before she set her face back into a neutral expression. The private look had been meant to reassure, to let me know that she was right there with me, but despite her cool appearance I could feel the apprehension radiating from Sian in waves. Her upper body had become rigid, the fingers of the hand resting on her leg were twisted tightly around the fabric of her loose jeans, the knuckles turned white from the pressure. Mum finally made her way into the living room, her hands full with a tray loaded up with everything you would need to make tea for the whole street. Dad"s eyes lit up immediately at the sight of some biscuits sat precariously on the top of the pile. "Now then. Who wants what?" Mum perched on the edge of the sofa with a sigh and glanced around expectantly. "Sian love? "Mum." I jumped in, not wanting to wait for another half an hour while she fiddled around with the drinks order. "Could we talk first, please?" At Mum"s crestfallen expression I quickly added, "...and then enjoy the tea?" Mum smiled widely and I knew I"d said the right thing. "Of course Sophie love." She agreed as she settled back onto the settee. The smile dimmed a little as a thought seemed to occur to her. "You"re not in any kind of trouble, are you?" "No!...No, not trouble." I replied hastily, hoping fervently that we didn"t have radically different ideas about what it meant to be in trouble. I was pretty sure that in Mum"s vocabulary "in trouble", meant getting pregnant with some local chav"s kid and quitting uni. I prayed that she didn"t consider what I was going to tell her to be worse. "The thing is..." I began slowly. "The reason I wanted to talk to you is..." "The thing is..." I stalled again trying to find the right words. "Oh, come on Sophie." Mum laughed, leaning forward. "Spit it out love." "I...I..." My gaze flicked between the three expectant faces, the anxiety ramping itself up to new level. Part of me wanted to mop what I was sure would be my sweaty brow. "Jesus!' No wonder people confessed to things they didn"t do, the pressure of people watching you, waiting for you to speak, is almost unbearable. Trouble is, I"m not sure I"m ready to say it yet. I thought I was. Half an hour ago I thought I was sure this was what I wanted. But, half an hour ago I was still on a high from having Rosie so accepting. Now, I wasn"t so sure that my luck would hold enough to get that reaction from my parents as well. I cleared my suddenly dry throat. "I just wanted..." Sian leaned forward and placed her hand on my shoulder as she jumped into the conversation, "We just wanted to ask if it would be alright if Sophie came down to London to visit me again next weekend?" Shocked, I turned abruptly in the chair to look up at Sian, ready to question her. A sad smile and a barely visible shake of her head kept my mouth shut. "Sophie?" Mum questioned, her keen eyes not missing the silent interaction going on between us. "Was that all you wanted to say?" "Was it?' I turned to face my Mum and Dad who were both looking at me expectantly and then back up at Sian, who simply stared down at her own hands making it impossible for me to read her expression. I swung back around to my parents and opened my mouth to answer. For probably the first time in my life, I had no idea what was going to come out. "Yes." I breathed. I ran my hand shakily through my hair and then wrapped both arms around my stomach. "That"s all." I finished after a few seconds, hoping my voice sounded a little stronger. I heard Sian release a long, slow breath behind me but I didn"t dare turn around and face her, too afraid to see the disappointment I was sure would be in her eyes. "Well, I don"t know girls." Mum said, considering the idea. "I"m still not sure I like the idea of you down there. Look how ill you were when you came home last time, Sophie." "Yeah well, realising you"re in love with your best friend will do that to you.' I scoffed wordlessly. "There"s so many untrustworthy people about these days." Mum continued, wringing her hands together worriedly. I thought for a brief moment that she was going to make Sian watch "Oliver" like I had to, or at the very least burst into "You"ve got to pick a pocket or two" from the settee. Outwardly I said nothing and thankfully, I didn"t need to, as Dad chose that moment to join the discussion. "Oh come on, Sally. We"ve all had a bad hangover in our time." He stated diplomatically, one eye still on the biscuits. He turned his full attention back on my mother and delivered the killer blow. "They"re not kids anymore and we brought our Sophie up to be a responsible girl, didn"t we?" Dad knew that Mum wouldn"t be able to object now. She might win in an out and out fight, but Dad still had some tricks up his sleeve. Part of me wanted to applaud his tactics but again, I kept quiet. I didn"t feel particularly responsible. I couldn"t even take responsibility for my own feelings for fucks sake. "I suppose you"re right." Mum said slowly, obviously still a little dubious. She looked as if she knew she had been played, but couldn"t quite figure out how it had happened. "That"s settled then." Dad jumped in quickly. "Hows about that tea then, love?" He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Mum regained her composure quickly at that. "Oh yes." She said, scooting forward to the coffee table. "None for me thanks, Sally." Sian said quietly, speaking for the first time since she had given me the chance to back out of telling my parents. "I"m just gonna go to bed if that"s alright?" She stood up from the chair arm and moved towards the bottom of the stairs. "Sian..." I started to get up too, wanting to follow her. Sian put out a hand, anticipating the move. "You stay and have some tea, Soph. I"m just a bit tired that"s all. Busy week. "She smiled over at my Mum and Dad, who nodded in response, but I could see that it didn"t quite reach her eyes. "Night Sian." Mum and Dad echoed each other as Sian gave them a halfhearted wave before heading up. I watched her go, every nerve in my body willing me to go after her. But I didn"t. Instead I pasted on a smile and nodded when Mum held up the teapot inquiringly. "Fuck!' I scrubbed my hands over my face. This wasn"t how I wanted the night to go. I didn"t want Sian to believe I was having doubts. And I most certainly didn"t want Sian to start having doubts about me. I thought back over our friendship, back to when Sian had lived with her Dad and how scared of his reactions she had been. A couple of years ago this might have been the other way round. Sian might have been the one hiding away. But, she wasn"t. I was. What she had said earlier in the night about her father just went to show how far she had come, how much she had grown into herself and found her own strength. I had to admit that right now, I was more than a little bit jealous of that. I drummed my fingers restlessly on my thigh as Mum took her time arranging the tray of drinks on the table. "Seriously, who does that?' I thought. Even the queen doesn"t piss about this much with tea. The minutes stretched on interminably until Mum finally settled down next to Dad, apparently now completely satisfied with the order of the teacups, and the rigid positioning of the sugar bowl. He patted her knee affectionately as she leaned back against the cushions. Mum gave him a bright smile in return and I couldn"t help but echo it a little. I suppose you really have to love someone to find their obsessive quirks that adorable. I thought about the girl upstairs, how I adored everything she did and it all made a tiny bit more sense. Me loving her was just like Dad loving Mum. Dad could sit and watch Mum faffing around with teacups for ten minutes with an fond smile on his face. I knew that I could sit and watch Sian counting all the hairpins in Audrey"s salon and be totally happy. It was exactly the same. All I needed now was to get Mum and Dad to understand that. "Easier said than done.' Said a disquieting voice in my head. I shook it off. Nothing good is ever easy. I sat up straighter in the chair, coming to a decision. "So...I"m just gonna go to bed too then." "Oh." Mum looked up, disappointed. "What about your tea?" Mum nodded towards my still full cup. "I"m gonna leave it, Mum." I shook my head slowly and tried to think of a plausible excuse. "Don"t want to be up all night, do I?" Mum relaxed back into the cushions again seemingly appeased, as Dad nodded his head wisely in understanding. I made my way upstairs, shaking my head in wonder at my parents. "Must be true what they say about middle aged people and their bladders then.' I concluded silently, reaching the landing. I stood for a minute or two, out of view of my parents but not close enough to my room to alert Sian to my presence. I just needed a few minutes to get myself together before I faced her. "Sian?" I asked as I carefully opened the door to my room, not entirely sure what reception to expect. The room was dark except for the faint glow from my bedside lamp and Sian stood silhouetted by the window, her back towards me as I fully entered the room. "Sian?" I whispered, the stillness and half light of the room seemingly demanding the softer tone. I wasn"t sure she had heard me until she glanced over her shoulder, her eyes meeting mine cautiously. "I"m sorry." I said, hoping that Sian could hear how much I meant it. She turned to face me and that was all I needed to carry on. "I was going to tell them. I was. I just couldn"t think of the words...once I"d started...I just didn"t have the words." I looked deeply into Sian"s eyes, silently begging her to understand. "Sophie. You"re not ready." Sian cupped my face and smiled bravely. "And that"s ok. No one said you had to tell everyone in one night, you know?" I knew every one of Sian"s smiles, knew the one she gave when she was just being polite, knew the wide grin that meant something had really tickled her, mostly directed at Rosie"s latest antics. I knew the shy, private smile that made you feel like you were the only person in the world, the one that made you feel like you could fly. I knew this one too. Knew it well enough to see right through, to the sadness behind it. "But..." I struggled to find the right words. Words to tell her how perfect she was, how much I cared. But, anything I told her now would be under the shadow of what happened downstairs. No matter how much I knew it wasn"t true, no matter how much Sian would deny it, I could see in Sian"s eyes that some part of her believed that I was ashamed of her. Ashamed of what we had. And nothing that I said tonight would be able to take that belief away.

"Because it"s like exhilaration and chaos...and then just pure fucking stillness all at the same time..." The words just tumbled out now as I gained momentum. I really had nothing to lose. "...and if you feel even half of what I feel when we kiss..." The next thing I knew Jen"s hand slid around the back of my neck, pulling me into a searing kiss that stole the words from my throat, muffling them against her demanding lips. I pulled back from the kiss a little, leaving my hand still cupped loosely on Jen"s neck, my thumb stroking softly over her jaw. I wasn"t ready to lose contact just yet. "Because?" I asked when my breathing returned to normal. Jen grinned. "Because, you talk too much." "Oh." I pulled her forward until her forehead rested against mine. "Good reason." We walked past the edge of town, out to where the dunes rose up and hid the beach until the very last second when you crested over them. It was far enough away to keep the number of visitors to a minimum, and right now we had the place to ourselves. "So, what now?" I questioned, wanting to let Jen set the pace. After all the chasing I had done I needed her to be on the same page as me this time around. "Do you fancy a swim?" Jen asked, inclining her head out to the water. I wrinkled up my nose. "What, in there?" I said incredulously. I could feel the goosebumps rising on my arm at just the thought of it. We might be in the middle of a heatwave, but the water temperature would hardly have changed that much. "Well..." Jen grinned mischievously at me as she stood up. "...if you"re too chicken." She unbuttoned the top button from her shirt as she backed away from me, kicking off her flip flops as she turned and sprinted down the sand. Her shirt followed shortly after, floating across the the beach as she tossed it away with abandon. I stared after her in shock for a few seconds, before a slow smile spread across my face. "Ok...Miss Gilmore has a little wild streak.' I suppose I already knew that. Though here, she looked like that carefree woman I had met months ago. The one that pushed my buttons and made me a little crazy. The one that swept me away to the beach and kissed me so impetuously on the sand. She was so different back in Hollyoaks, more the responsible person that being a teacher required and deep down I understood why she had to be that way. But, I"d been searching for glimpses of my Jen ever since. Down by the shore Jen squealed as she waded into the shallows and the cold water hit her bare legs. "Fuck! That"s cold." She cried, determinedly pushing deeper. I laughed and called out to her. "Then come out." Jen turned, covering her chest with her arms. "No. You come in." "Out." "In." Jen crooked her finger. "Out!" "Shake it all about?" "If you like." I dared, raising my eyebrows. "Cheeky!" Jen laughed. "Then you definitely have to come in for that." I looked at Jen, trying to gauge how serious she was. After a few seconds, I realised that it didn"t matter whether she was serious or not, there was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity. I dumped my bag on the sand and sprinted down to the sea. Jen laughed at me when I shrieked as I entered the water. She dropped one hand from her chest, using it to scoop up some of the water and spray it towards me. "Might as well get really wet now." She smirked and turned, diving in head first and swimming away from me. "You"re going to pay for that." I spluttered, wiping the drops from my eyes. Jen carried on swimming and called brightly over her shoulder. "I"m counting on it." I grinned stupidly. God, I"d really missed her. We rushed back up the sand to our stuff, shivering from the coldness of the water. Jen rummaged around in her oversized bag, pulled out a towel and handed it to me before reaching back in to grab another one for herself. "Oh, Tilly. You"re freezing!" Jen said when she straightened up and looked at me. "O...Of course I a...am." I stammered, trying to stop my teeth from chattering. "That w..water was c..cold." Jen stepped closer and pulled the edges of my towel tighter around me before rubbing her hands swiftly up and down my arms. "Shit, I"m sorry." She said with a frown. "Don"t be. I"m not...and I"m definitely getting warmer now." I waited until Jen"s eyes met mine and then waggled my eyebrows suggestively. Jen"s hands stilled, she dropped her eyes and cleared her throat. I worried for a moment that she was regretting this already, that it was time for another, "Tilly, we can"t do this.' speech, but she simply tugged at the towel and wrapped her arms around me. "How about now?" The words were said quietly in my ear. I dropped my head onto her shoulder and brought my hands up to her towel covered waist. "Mmmm...even better." I sighed. We were stretched out on the sand, Jen with her back resting up against a sand dune and me by her side, my head nestled on her shoulder. "Tilly?" Jen tapped me gently on the side of the head and I glanced up. "Thanks, for today." She said, looking down at me with a wide smile. It dimmed a little as something seemed to occur to her. "Oh...do you have anywhere you need to be? I don"t want to keep you from your friends." I thought about the guys back at the house. It was getting on into the afternoon now. Would they be missing me yet? Wondering where I"d got to? Maddie probably would. I knew that I would have to face a grilling from the blonde when I eventually showed up, but I couldn"t bring myself to leave just yet. I didn"t want to lose this feeling. I hadn"t been this happy in weeks. Hell, I"d never been this happy. I shrugged off Jen"s question with a grin. "Nope. Nowhere to be." "Good." "Good?" I asked hopefully. "I wasn"t ready to let you go just yet." Jen replied. I closed my eyes and sighed contentedly, settling my head back onto Jen"s shoulder. She began gently stroking her fingers through my hair and I let myself relax into the touch. "It could always be like this, you know." I kept my eyes closed for a second, only carefully opening one eyelid when Jen remained quiet. She seemed lost in thought, her eyes focused somewhere out on the water. I reached up and let my fingers graze her wrist while it rested by the side of my head. The light touch brought her back from wherever her thoughts had taken her and Jen smiled down at me fondly. "Well, I suspect we"ll have to wear clothes again at some point..." She murmured, lifting her hand and brushing her thumb gently over the furrow that had formed between my eyes at her words. "...but I see what you mean." She conceded. "We would have to be so careful though, Tilly." "Careful, is my middle name." I said seriously, sitting up and turning to face her. Jen arched an eyebrow skeptically. "Ok, obviously it"s not." I admitted somewhat pointlessly, causing Jen to roll her eyes and laugh. "But, it might as well be. I"m super careful. More careful than the carefullest thing in the careful shop." Jen shook her head and laughed. "You"re crazy." "I"m careful." I corrected as I lay back down, grinning widely along with her. Jen dropped me at the corner a few hundreds yards from the house so that there was less chance of us being seen together; she kept the roof up on the jeep to give us that extra privacy as we sat for a few minutes saying goodbye. "Can I see you later?" Jen asked shyly, her eyes not quite meeting mine. I loved this side to her. It wasn"t something she let others see too often, I don"t think she let herself be vulnerable around people. It just made it even more special when she showed this side of herself to me. I had purposefully not brought up the subject of when we were going to see each other again. In all the time we had been apart I"d realised that every time I pushed Jen or she felt cornered, she ran like hell in the opposite direction. It was her default setting. I knew Jen wanted to be with me, she had done and said more than enough for me to be certain of that, turning up in Abersoch being a prime example, but she was still struggling with herself. I may have spilled my heart out a little earlier when I told her what it felt like to kiss her, but I could only put myself out on the line so much. The only real way to make sure Jen didn"t have any regrets later was to let her set the pace from here. "I"d like that." I said as casually as I could. "What did you have in mind?" "Oh...er nothing much. I"m staying at a hotel in town. I...I thought maybe you could come over?" Jen glanced over at me, her fingers flexing anxiously on the steering wheel. I smiled at the uncharacteristic behaviour. "Are you blushing?" I asked knowingly. "No." Jen denied, her eyes dropping. I twisted in my seat so that I was facing her and leant back against the door. "I think you are." "I am not." Jen brought her hands up to her cheeks. "It"s the heat." I bit the inside of my cheek and made a point of looking sideways at the air conditioning, which was running full blast. "Okey dokey then." I said, my tone making it clear that I didn"t believe a word she said. "Shut up." Jen muttered, but she was smiling I grinned back and after only a second of indecision, reached across and lifted her hand from the steering wheel, pulling it into my lap. "I"d love to come over." I answered her earlier question. Jen"s smile grew and she nodded, her fingers tightening reflexively around mine. "I should go." I said regretfully, hating the thought. Jen nodded once more, pulling her hand back and using it to tuck a strand of hair behind her ears. "Ok. I"ll text you later...about tonight." "Ok." I leaned over to reach into the back seat and retrieve my bag, the action bringing me closer to Jen. As I pulled back Jen lifted a hand and cupped my cheek, letting her thumb trace slowly across my lips and I had to resist the urge to fling myself across the seat and kiss her senseless, whether we were in public or not. I settled for placing a quick kiss on her thumb as it grazed my lower lip, smiling in satisfaction as Jen"s breathing hitched at the soft contact. "See you later, Tilly." She breathed as she let her hand fall away. "Bye." I forced myself to open the door and step out onto the street with a sigh. Holy fuck, that woman did things to me. I grinned to myself, thinking that if I played my cards right tonight...I might get to do things to her too. With one last smile and a wave, I watched from behind my sunglasses as Jen pulled away from the curb before setting off. I swung my bag in my hand, grinning stupidly as I walked the short distance back to the house. I"d hoped that I could make it quietly to my room to freshen up before I faced everyone but the second I pushed open the front door I knew that was out of the question. Three heads swivelled in my direction. "Where the bloody hell have you been?" Maddie said in place of a greeting. She stood alone in the kitchen, one hand on her hip and a very pissed off expression on her face. "Erm...hi Mads." I stalled, trying to assess just how much covering this was going to take. Judging from the daggers I could feel coming from Sinead in the living room, I reckoned quite a bit. "I just did a bit of exploring, spent some time walking around...er...didn"t you get the note?" Maddie brushed the question aside with a swipe of her hand. "You walked around? All day? Alone?" Maddie"s eyes narrowed as she watched me intently. I shrugged casually, or what I hoped looked casually. "Yeah." "Fucks sake, Tilly." Maddie swore and started to pace. "Even Bart was worried." Bart glanced up in surprise, his dark, enlarged pupils making it pretty obvious that he didn"t really care much about anything at the moment. "Er...yeah. Totally shitting ourselves." He muttered, wincing painfully as Sinead leaned across from her chair and smacked him around the back of his head. "Fucking hell, Sinead. What did you do that for?" He whined, rubbing the spot vigorously. Sinead sat back and crossed her arms, levelling him with her best glare. "Because it"s not funny, Bart. Anything could have happened to her." Sinead replied sharply, swivelling her head so that her dark look was now settled firmly on me. "We nearly called the police." "Oh, come on!' I wanted to laugh. I was only gone for a few hours, hardly a reason to call out the police dogs. I opened my mouth to speak but Bart saved me from answering, jumping in sarcastically, "Oh yeah? And tell them what? Help! me friends gone off for the day and left a note telling us that"s exactly what she was doing!' Bart flicked imaginary hair over his shoulder as he finished what was actually a pretty good impression of Sinead"s accent. "That would have gone down really well, wouldn"t it?" A quick look at Sinead"s face confirmed that it was time for me to take control the conversation, she had turned a disturbing shade of red and even Bart had the good sense to move further down the sofa out of range. "Guys...I"m sorry you were worried, but I did leave a note and you know...you could have called." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and held it up. Maddie"s expression hardened even more as Sinead scoffed mirthlessly, clapping her hands together. "Well, why didn"t we think of that, ey? What a brilliant fuckin idea!" I looked at the phone and bit my lip in embarrassment as I read the display. 12 missed calls. "Oh...oops." I laughed sheepishly. "Must have had it on silent." "I really am sorry." I said remorsefully, crossing the kitchen and standing in front of Maddie. "Maybe she just wanted to get away for a bit, have some space." Bart grumbled, not needing to add the words we could all tell he was thinking. "From you two.' "Oh yeah? That what you want to do is it, Bart?" Sinead stood up. "Well, you can have all the space you need. Cos you ain"t sleeping in our room tonight." She turned quickly with a flick of her hair and stormed off down the corridor. Bart wasn"t far behind, apologising as he trailed at her heels. "Aww come on. That"s not what I meant babe." I winced as a door slammed down the hall. "Maddie...I"m sorry." I started, turning to my friend. Maddie waved away the apology, all of her anger seeming to have dissipated. "I was worried about you, Tills." She said quietly, pulling me into a hug. I felt awful. But what could I say? Any excuses I gave her now would just be more lies and I would have to tell enough of those in the coming weeks as it was. I hugged Maddie a little tighter, choosing simply to stick with the facts. "I"m fine, honestly." Maddie gave me one last squeeze and let me go. "Then that"s all that matters." An hour or so later I was curled up on the sofa, mindlessly watching a quiz show when my phone beeped in my pocket. I fished it out, smiling when I saw the name attached to the text. "I know it"s only been a couple of hours...but I miss you. Looking forward to tonight. xx" "Oh Jen.' You really go straight for the heart, don"t you? Before I could type in a reply Maddie wandered into the living room and hopped onto the sofa. I carefully put my phone away, mindful of Maddie"s tendency to be nosy. I would have to text Jen back later. "Is Sinead still mad at Bart?" I frowned and nodded down the hall. Maddie smirked. "Sinead"s always mad at Bart about something, Tills. It"s like a constant of the universe." That was true. Barely a day went by without Sinead wanting to kill him over something. But, I still felt terrible that I was the one they were fighting about. Maddie gave my knee a gentle squeeze, picking up on how I was feeling. "Seriously...don"t worry. Today it"s you, tomorrow it"ll be because he forgot to pick up his pants." She said, trying to reassure me. I smiled back, but I still felt the weight of my guilt. Even more so now that Maddie trying to console me. I felt awful about having to lie to her about where I had been all day, though I knew it was the price I had to pay for a chance at a real relationship with Jen. Maddie didn"t trust easily. She was all sharp edges and thorns to keep people at a distance. I"d seen her in action enough times to know that she pushed and she pushed until most people walked away. It was a defence mechanism; if you don"t let anyone close they can"t hurt you, right? Can"t tune out, like her parents had. I knew that a secret like this would be hard for her to forgive. Nevertheless, it was one I had to keep. I smiled weakly. "Thanks, Maddie." "Think nothing of it." Maddie sighed with a dramatic flair and then bumped my shoulder with a grin. "So what"s the plan for tonight?" "Oh...er..I dunno, Mads." I shrugged. "I"m actually pretty tired. I was just going to stay in, have an early night. You guy"s go on without me." "Oh no, no way!" Maddie cried and I jumped slightly at the sudden outburst. "We came here to have a good time, not sit round in our pajama"s watching University fucking Challenge!" Maddie stood up and crossed the room, angrily jabbing at the off button on the tv. Part of me wanted to tell her that she had been sitting next to the remote but I guessed that it wouldn"t have been the smartest move right now. Maddie was on a roll. "You"ve been missing for the whole day.." Maddie poked one finger in my direction and again, I held my tongue when I could have pointed out that I hadn"t been "missing" at all. I knew exactly where I was the whole time. "With Jen.' Just the thought of her brought a smile to my lips and I quickly smothered it with my hand. The last thing I wanted was Maddie to think that I was laughing at her, I was in enough trouble. But I needn"t have worried, Maddie was still checking off her list of all the things that had gone wrong on this holiday. "...those two have been fighting since the second we got here. And don"t even get me started on the fact that Esther somehow got herself invited on this trip." Maddie threw up her hands. "The whole thing is turning into a nightmare." "Come on, Maddie. It"s not that bad." I tried to appease her. "We have plenty of time, you know. We only got here yesterday." "Fine. Stay in." Maddie said calmly, instantly making me wary. Maddie didn"t back down, not this easily anyway. What was going on in that pretty little head of hers? "In fact, we"ll all stay in." She plucked her phone from her pocket. "I"ll invite some people round and we"ll have a party." Well that answered that question. "Maddie." My voice was suspiciously close to a whine. "A party?" Maddie shook her head. "We"re doing this. It"s not like you have anywhere else to be, is it?" She had a point there. As far as she was concerned I didn"t have anywhere to be. There was no way that I would be able to play off disappearing for the night, the others were already suspicious from earlier. I rubbed at my temple. As much as I hated the thought, I would have to to rearrange my plans with Jen. "Fine." I grumbled, heading off towards my room. I tugged my phone out of my pocket as I went, intending on calling Jen to cancel. Maddie caught up with me in the hall, plucking the device out of my hands as I scrolled through the phonebook. "And no phones. This party is a no phone zone." Maddie said decisively. "What? No." I spluttered, reaching to get it back. "Maddie, be serious." Maddie held it behind her back, fending off my hands as I tried to retrieve it. "I mean it, Tilly. You, me, Bart and Sinead, none of us are going to spend the night tapping away on our phones." Maddie turned her back on me, fiddling with my phone. She swung back a few seconds later and handed it back to me, minus the battery. "We"re gonna meet some new people...and you..." She tapped the end of my nose with the battery, pulling it back swiftly when I made a grab for it. "Ah ah...you my darling, are actually going to talk to some of them. Maybe even a girl." She finished in a stage whisper. I stared at her in disbelief. "You"ll thank me for this later." She assured me with a sly half grin as she opened the door to her room. I recovered my powers of speech too late and could only call out ineffectually to the closed door. "Don"t bet on it, Maddie!" "What just happened?' I stared down at the useless phone clutched tightly in my hand. Five minutes ago I was on top of the world, looking forward to a night with Jen...and now. I wandered through the house to the back door and stepped out onto the deck. I thought of Jen, alone in a hotel room somewhere, in my head wearing not much more than a smile and waiting for me. I wanted to scream. "Ah well, sometimes you should just go with your instincts" I thought, tipping my head back and yelling out at the cloudless sky. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" A middle aged woman walking her small dog across the sand stopped in her tracks and glared up at me. "Tsk...well I never!" She complained haughtily, and even the dog looked disgusted with me. "No...I bet you haven"t." I shot back, in no mood to be polite. The woman huffed, offended, and yanked the dogs lead, dragging it off down the beach. "Ok...think, think.' I tried frantically to come up with a solution. No mobile phone, ok, that"s not the end of the world. People communicated before they were invented, it"s not that hard. What did they use? Smoke signals? Carrier pigeon? Payphone! Of course. I"ll just find a payphone, call Jen and explain. That will work.

"Williams?" Treisa asked looking in. From what she could see, Williams looked like he was checking on Jamie. "Stay down." Williams whispered harshly, "Yes Sergeant?" Williams asked backing away from the other. "What are you doing in here?" "I brought some food in for the boy. If I"m right, he hasn"t eaten for a few hours. When I came in he didn"t respond so I decided to see what was wrong with him." "And?" "He"s depressed." "Oh. Leave the food and follow me. I have some things I want you to take care of." "Yes, ma"am!" He picked the tray up, walked over to where Eagle still lay on the ground, and set it down next to him. He leaned over and whispered, "Don"t make a move till I talk to you again, got it?" "Why?" "Because I don"t want to have to tell your dad why we"re both dead." "What?" But Williams was already up and heading out the door. As the door closed Eagle looked up and wondered what he meant by that, then berated himself on not just throttling the guy and leaving like he"d planned. He decided he needed to try and talk to Jamie again. Keemew2: Well, here you have it. What did you think? Please tell me, okay? IT would be very nice to know what you think. Keemew2: A tad selfish with the plushie"s there aren"t we Yoyo? Gohan is the only normal DBZ char on the show. Anyway thanks for the review. I"m glad you"re enjoying this LiL PriNCeSs Me, I write for enjoyment. Well, enjoy this chapie you guys, and tell me what you guys think. Also...sorry it took so long to get out. Zoids Ch. 11- Loveless, Conclusions, and odd circumstances. PG-13 General, Drama When Harry and Bit entered the briefing room they saw Leena was talking to her father about the box. Touros was looking at it skeptically, not sure whether or not to let his hopes up too much about finding Jamie that easily. "Are you sure it does what you say it does Leena?" "I don"t know. Harry said it did. He"s usually pretty reliable about these things." "Yes, well, it"s just that it seems a little...." "Too good to be true?" Leena finished. "Yes. That"s it. I don"t want to give Oscars hopes up about being able to find Jamie and coming up empty handed. We put together this incredible plan to rescue him, but we have to be able to find him first." "Everything I said about that device is true Dr. Touros." Harry said stepping up. "What are you doing here Harry?" Leena demanded. "Helping. That is what I came here to do Leena." Harry replied resolutely. Leena looked at Harry skeptically then left the room. "Give it time Harry." Bit murmured to him, "She"ll come around eventually." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jamie swung on the swing, enjoying every single minute he had to do so. He watched his mother and father talk and laugh then noticed his mother crying for some reason. He saw his father comfort her, then they were laughing again. "She"s depressed, remember?" Jamie looked up quickly to see Eagle on the swing next to him. "Go away." Jamie muttered, looking at the ground. "I don"t want to play with you." "Come on kid. Snap out of it. Janille is sick!" "Mommy is not sick!" He cried, swinging his head to look at Eagle furiously. "She"s just sad about something! Daddy makes her happier and so do I!" "You need a heavy dose of reality, ya know that?" Jamie jumped off mid swing and ran over to the jungle gym. Eagle rolled his eyes and looked over at Janille and Oscar. He smiled a little sad smile, then turned back over to Jamie. He saw another little boy, older then Jamie by a few years, on the jungle gym as well. He looked familiar, but couldn"t place why. It was obviously a memory of Jamie"s, but who was it? Eagle walked over to the jungle gym and Jamie popped up in an attempt to scare him. Eagle didn"t flinch. Jamie glared at him and turned to the other boy. "Come on Tomy, he doesn"t know how to play nice. He"s mean." "Tomy?" Eagle asked. He looked at the other boy who just shrugged. He didn"t seem to object about the friendship though. "Yeah, he"s my new friend! Got a problem with that? His daddy is talking to my daddy now." Eagle looked over at Oscar and saw another familiar figure. One that had died six years ago, when Jamie was only ten. Eagle quickly looked back over to Jamie and watched as him and Tomy played. Recognition slowly came back after years of not needing to remember. Finally, realization slowly dawned on him. Tomy was the soldier that he spoke to just a moment ago! But why is he here? Or there. Whatever. One thing was for sure. He didn"t have to talk to Jamie anymore. Now he just had to figure out how to bring the stupid kid to his senses! The only way to do that would be to find out what it was that they did exactly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Williams loooked at Lt. Treisa out of the corner of his eye. She was a strong woman, but annoying. She pretended to be friendly with him, but he knew she was just watching him for Marker. And what was it that she wanted that was so urgent anyway? Didn"t it look like he was busy checking on Jamie? Even though he wasn"t, but still. He rolled his eyes upwards and stifled the urge to sigh in exasperation while Treisa continued to lead him. He noticed that they were in a part of the ship he hadn"t really been before. It seemed rather...nice. For one, it was roomier. The doors weren"t solid metal. They had a glass window on each one. A guard came crashing out of a room two doors down looking quite exhausted. "No more!" He cried when he saw Treisa and Williams, "That child is insane!" "Did I give you permission to leave?" Treisa asked the guard. He blanched when he heard her. "I can"t handle it anymore. The crying, the whining, the screaming, that thing throws toys at me whenever it can!" Treisa waved the complaint off with her hand. "No need to worry, you don"t have to watch the kid any longer. I was just on my way to relieve you." "Thank you." He cried, then regaining his composure he saluted and ran off. Williams turned to Treisa questioningly. She smiled and walked over to the open door, motioning him to follow. He walked over to the door and looked in. A young girl sat down reading a book. She looked perfectly harmless. A red ribbon held long raven black hair in a high ponytail. A little piece of her hair came out of the ponytail at the middle of her forehead and stuck out in a curve. She wore a cute red shirt with a pink heart on it and black shorts. On her feet were black high tops. She was probably eight years old at the most. She looked up and screwed her face into a scowl when she saw Treisa, something akin to disgust in her eyes. "Where"s Vegy?" She demanded. Keemew2: I know, I know. I didn"t have to end it there. You can all probably guess who the girl is and all, but I just wanted to! :) Anyway! Yeah, things are getting a bit bad where Jamie is concerned and all, but I can"t help it! I mean, from what I gather, Jamie is only half a personality. I go from there. (grabs Jamie plushie) I WUVVLES MY WITTLE JAMIE-CHAN!!! Keemew2: I am soooooooo sorry about how late this is. It"s not entirely my fault though. My net was turned off for awhile, so I couldn"t do anything. Sorry guys. SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY!!!!!!! Batter yet, Gomen nasei!!! I use Japanese apology for Japanese story line!!! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapie. Yoyo! I"M SO HAPPY!!!!!! You thought enough of my wittle story to read FIVE times!!! I feel so luvd!!!!! Oh, and just ta let ya no.....Gohan is so on my top bishies list, but I prefer Kura-chan from Yu Yu Hakushou and Q-chan from Gundam wing. They are numero uno for me. But he is on the list. Like so many other wishtheywerereal bisheis!!!!! ~_~ The list just keeps growing and growing as I watch more and more new shows...eeeeeee!!! (huggles newest addition to top Anime bishies list, Belmont plushie and squeals) I can"t believe how much he reminds me of Q-chan!!! Yes, I know, I"m biased. And LiL PriNCeSs Me.... yes I ended it there. I hope this chapie makes up for my bad drop. Or not. Well, hope ya guys like. Once again, Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry........I"m sure you get the point. The library here only let"s you have ONE hour to do stuff. I don"t even get to go much and my e-mail has priority over certain stuff since I have online friends in other countries and stuff. Sorry it took so long, blame my mom! She turned it off; it was her plan to turn it off so the family would spend more time with each other! JEEZE It"s my SISTER that spends twenty four seven on the NET NOT me!!!! Why do I have to suffer cause of her!?! Oh, well. I"m here now!!!! ^_~ Zoids Ch. 12- Worries are not just for family. PG-13 General, Drama ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ "Vegie?" Williams asked. "My brother!" The girl yelled, eyeing Treisa with more then a little bit of scorn. "Williams, this is Ravine Marianne Obscura, the younger sister of Vega Obscura, our pilot of the Berserk Fury." "I thought Vega was in the custody of-." "No longer." She said, cutting Williams off. "We took the liberty to relieve young Vega from the ZBC"s foster care facility. His talents were being wasted. They wanted him to live like a child his age should." "Why is she here?" He asked, indicating Ravine. Treisa smiled at the girl who just glared back and glanced at Williams. Quietly she replied. "Vega wouldn"t come with us. He said he was happy there with his sister. So,we took the liberty to take her with us. Naturally he followed without complaint." Williams went cold inside, but kept his outward composure. "So...in other words...you kidnapped her and used her as bait to get to Vega?" He asked in a hushed voice. "Yes." She replied simply. More loudly, so the girl could hear, she added, "Vega is in the lab. He is going to meet with Shasta, so I was told. You can see him later Ravine." Instead of replying, Ravine threw her book at Treisa who dodged it and went to the door. "Williams, your new task is to watch her. From what we have seen you are more useful as a daycare worker then a soldier." She left, closing the door behind her. Williams turned back to Ravine and swallowed a little. The girl was looking at him sweetly, but he could tell that she had dark intentions hidden behind her innocent looking little eyes. "You have to be kidding me." He murmured as the little girl stood up to meet her new nanny. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ Eagle paced his cell quickly, aggravation pulling him in several different directions. What was taking so long? What ever that lady wanted with Tom she should be done by now! He really needed to talk to him now. Eagle stopped and looked at the cell door quickly as keys played with the lock. Eagle hurried to a sitting position that look real enough to suit his needs. He put his back to the wall, pulled his knees to his chest, arms over the knees and head in arms. He then set his mind into a mid-conscious state, his face taking on a depressed look. The door opened. "Hey kid." A female voice entered the room. It was the same voice, belonging to the woman who took Tom away. Eagle didn"t move. The voice sighed. "Jamie Hemeros?" She asked as if he was waiting for a proper call. When he still didn"t respond she sighed again. "Stay by the door. If he moves, shoot him with a trank." "Yes, ma"am." Eagle inwardly growled in annoyance as he heard the second voice reply. She wasn"t stupid. He heard her footsteps coming closer and felt her hand on his arm. "Hemeros? What"s wrong, kid?" She shook his arm slightly and Eagle felt his relaxed limb fall to the side. She quickly lifted Eagles head and looked at his face. Eagle saw slight concern in her eyes as she looked at him. "Oh, crap. It looks like he"s in a depressive state! I heard his mom committed suicide because of depression. Her father did the same. Chronic depression tends to run in the genes." She turned her head to the door and out of the corner of his eye, Eagle saw two men standing in the door way. "Parker, I want you to go tell Marker about this development. I heard his last communications call with his "partner" and it wasn"t pleasant. Our mysterious other boss thinks that making the kid think no one cares is a bad thing. I think they are right." As if on an after thought added, "Don"t tell Marker I said that." "Yes, ma"am!" he saluted, then turned and hurried away. "Treisa, I"m a little worried." The second man said. "What if he gets worse! We can"t take him to a hospital, and we don"t have a doctor on this ship. Our small group is all that"s left of the Backdraft group and it was never really part of it in the first place!" "Oh, shut up and stop worrying so much Hank!" Treisa replied "If you remember right, we are the backbone of the Backdraft. Our agendas weren"t even known to the supposed leaders, remember?" "Yeah." "Then knock off the "oh, what do we do" routine." "Alright." Treisa took a small flashlight out of her belt and, turning back to Eagle, and opened one of his eyes wider. She shined the light in his eye and moved it around a little. Eagle didn"t even register it. He was thinking about everything he had heard. This information could be useful later on. "Unresponsive." He heard her muttered. She let his head slump back into his knees and stood up. Eagle heard her footsteps fade away. "We should go. We have work to do. And if I hear you say anymore bull crap about being worried overt the future, I"m gonna have to slap you." "Very funny Triesa. Let"s go." The door closed and locked and eagle lifted his head up. "Now what?" He cried in exasperation as he slumped his head into his hands. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ Brad walked into the dinning room and heard cooking in the kitchen. Momentarily forgetting what had transpired the last few hours, he reflexively called out to Jamie. "Hey Jamie, what"cha cooking?" Then, remembering what had happened, he berated himself and hoped for dear life it wasn"t Oscar in the kitchen. To his surprise, Sanders popped his head out with a confused look on his face. "Excuse me?" "Sorry, reflex. I"m kind of tired. What are you doing in there?" "Oh. Well, Dr. Touros said to make ourselves at home right now. I was a little hungry, I haven"t eaten in two days, so I decided to make...Peirces favorite meal." Brad noticed a slight hesitation on her name. "You miss her, don"t you?" "Yeah." Sanders went back inside the kitchen and Brad followed. He took a coffee cup down and poured himself a cup, then turned to look at Sanders. He stood there for a few minutes silently, drinking his coffee. Sanders continued mixing different ingredients into a big bowl. The end result was an orange mess of rice, cooked hamburger and other whatnots inside. "It"s called enchilada casserole. " Sanders said when he noticed Brad giving the mess a grotesque face. "The orange coloring is enchilada sauce. It"s very good, actually. Very spicy too, if you do it right. She had...has...a talent for making anything spicy." Sanders said. He seemed to be holding the spoon a little too tight while stirring. "I"m sure she"s okay." Brad said reassuringly. Sanders stopped stirring and pulled a bowl of torn up tortilla shells to him, then reached for a nearby casserole dish. "I would really like to believe that." He murmured. "But If I know anything about enemies...they usually kill those who know to much. They would have to have a very good reason to keep her alive." "Maybe that mysterious Zoid she mentioned might give a reason for her to live." "What?" "Well, didn"t you mention she said something about a zoid in trouble?" "Yeah. She did. You really think that?" "Hey, it could happen. Think positive. It works for Bit." Sanders grinned at the mention of the overly enthusiastic young man. But, it was true. He was pretty optimistic about things. "You"re right." Sanders murmured, absently putting the shells in the pan. "I should probably take notes." He joked. Brad shook his head, a slight chuckle coming out. "Oh, no. That would leave us with two Bit Clouds. One is enough for me, thank you very much." The two laughed and Sanders continued his work of putting the torn tortillas in the pan. Then he took a dipper and poured some of the gunk in it. Cheese was added after that, then another layer of tortillas, gunk, and cheese. After the second layer of cheese was put on, he turned to Brad and put his hand out in a "ta-daa" fashion. "That, is Enchilada casserole." Brad looked at it skeptically and Sanders smiled again. "It needs to bake." He took the dish and stuck it in the oven, then took a piece of tortilla and put a tad bit of gunk on it followed by cheese and held it in a cupped fashion so it wouldn"t spill. "Even raw, it"s really good. Here, try it." Brad backed up a little into the counter he was leaning against and put his hands up. "Uh, thanks, but..." "No, really! It"s good, trust me." Brad looked at it a moment, then took it. He closed his eyes and put it in his mouth. At first he stood there with his cheeks puffed up, like a kid would do with cough syrup, then opened his eyes with a curious expression. He swallowed and looked at Sanders. "How long does it have to cook?" "Too long for my liking." "Hurry." ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ Shasta was led down the hall stiffly by Marker, then down another hall and stopped at the end. A door with the letters LAB printed big and wide were there. He opened the door and reveled a large room with a lot of equipment in it. Two men in white coats seemed to be trying to pull something into view. Shasta stepped in and saw Vega struggling with the men. Her eyes grew wide and she looked quickly at Marker who snapped his fingers. The men abruptly stopped what they were doing and stood at attention. "Sir!" They said in unison. "Is he giving you all trouble?" "A little Sir." The man on the right said. Vega crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Marker. "Where is Ravine?" He demanded. Marker smirked and glanced at Shasta. "I believe you two have something in common my dear." He murmured to Shasta. Vega"s face softened when he saw her. "Shasta?" He asked, "What are you doing here?" "What do you think?" She asked. She turned to Marker and glared at him. "What is he doing here? I thought he was in foster care. Under the protection of the ZBC!" "Not very good protection as you can see. We were able to snag him and his little sister easily." "You jerk. It"s one thing kidnapping a fifteen year old, but kidnapping an eight year old is a whole nother story! I don"t get it! Why are you doing all this?" "I do believe it"s about time you learned our little secret." Marker murmured. "In truth the Backdraft group was not just a place of unauthorized fighting. That was just a ruse. We used that as an excuse to test our machines, though certain members didn"t know that. Those that are in jail as we speak are the ones who thought they were in control. However, it was to their disappointment, of course. Me and mine were always the ones in true control. This one little cargo carrier. A simple plan really. Find enough of the weapon X machines and use them to our advantage. Anyway we can." "I won"t be used by anyone." Vega said defiantly. Marker smirked and looked at him. "Oh, really. Does that mean you don"t care what happens to your sister then?" "What has she got to do with anything?" Vega asked in suspicious confusion. "Insurance." "Insurance?" His eyes widened in realization and he looked quickly at Shasta. She turned her head so she didn"t have to look at him and he looked back at the smirking Marker. "You...you wouldn"t! She"s just a child! She"s only eight for goodness sakes! What kind of person are you?" "A monster." Shasta ground out. "A monster that doesn"t give a care about anyone. A monster that would poison a boy just to keep his father and friends at bay and then make said boy believe they didn"t want him. A monster that would hold a little girls life over her brother. A monster that gets joy out of hurting people. One that enjoys others suffering. That"s what kind of person he is." She looked at Marker again, sending her glare full force at him. She straitened herself up to a prideful length and looked him strait in the face. "So. What is your true purpose Marker?" She asked stiffly. "Your agenda"s are obviously of high standards that you don"t want to risk anything. What are they?" "Oh, nothing. Nothing really. Nothing but world domination." "What?" Vega and Shasta asked in unison. Both of them looked at him incredulously. I mean, of all the stupid ideas! "You"re kidding, right?" Shasta asked, "That ideal went out the window over a hundred years ago! I mean, it"s been done so often and failed!" "Yes. However, my plan is working so far. I have the Hemeros boy under my control, I have the granddaughter of a master mind at my mercy, and now I have Vega. All I need now is to find some way to get Bit Cloud and Leon Touros and I"ll be a happy man." "What has Touros" son got to do with anything?" Shasta asked "The Zoid he found in the desert wasn"t an ordinary wild one. As rare as those are nowadays, his red is quite rare indeed. I had been tracking it for sometime before he stumbled on it. Amazingly, his is a recent member of the X family, just as yours is one of the oldest. How is a mystery I intend to find out."

"What?" Sara cried "Flint!" Merlock cried, "This isn"t like fighting Petra Fina! This man is serious! Just do as he says!" The man"s smile grew and he stroked his chin softly. "Yes, the whelp is correct. This isn"t some silly game you have played before." With out the man noticing Pteri had made his way to Tony and Merlock. He had tied a rope to the banister and put it in Tony"s hand and was in the process of gnawing the ropes binding him away. "Petra Fina is an immature princess who is taken away with the simplest of sweet talking. She"s much too emotional and acts way to violently when she doesn"t get her own way. A princess." "And your point is?" Flint asked. "My point is, that is, if you want Tony back, follow my demands." "What about Merlock?" Sara asked in confusion. The man seemed to think on that one, cocking his head to the side slightly. "Oh, yes. Merlock. No. He"s mine." "Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgh!!!" The man turned at the cry and saw Tony hanging by the rope. He was in the process of climbing, as Merlock"s own ropes were chewed threw and he swung to the banister as well, only he didn"t scream as he fell upright. "No!" He cried as he saw his prize getting away. "Stop them!" He shouted to his men. Merlock broke the nearest window and grabbed Tony, jumping out. Sara"s eyes flew wide and she rushed out the door to run to the back where Tony and Merlock would have landed. Flint smirked and looked at his father. "Wanna have some fun dad?" He asked "It"s about time!" Rocky cried. And with that, the duo began wrecking havoc. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ "I"m glad to see things turned out well in the end." Jillian murmured as Flint bounced around the room happily. "Not really Ms. Grey." Merlock replied irritably, "He got away." "That isn"t the point." "Yes it is!" Merlock shouted, startling all the occupants of the room. Flint immediately stopped bouncing and stared at the normally calm teen. "The whole point was to get him! He committed a crime, escaped from prison, stole a time pass to the early 2030"s, and not only took me captive, but Tony as well, and then he escaped again when Flint took the initiative! That mad man has to be taken back into custody as soon as possible!" "Yes, I know that Merlock." Ms Grey replied calmly. "Then why am I back here and not going after him? Why did you call me back when I was preparing to search for him?" "Because henceforth you are no longer on the case." Merlock stared at her in shock. "What?" "You seem to be in as much danger from this man as the time stream itself." "Your point is?" Merlock didn"t seem to care about that. He only cared about getting that man behind bars again. "I cannot allow you to be part of a case that seems personal. It could be very disastrous Merlock. You know the possibilities of personal vendettas. You"re a good detective, to good to be stupid. Besides, I don"t want to call your mother up and tell her I let you get yourself killed." "What has my mother got to do with anything?" Merlock asked cautiously. "I already sent word to your clan you"ll be returning home soon so you better start packing now." She replied calmly. Merlock"s jaw dropped, then worked as he tried to talk. "But...but...you can"t do this!" Merlock cried. "I can and I did. Do you want me to suspend you?" "But...." At first, Merlock could only stare at her in shock, then his eyes narrowed in a glare. He slammed his fist into Ms. Grey"s desk and turned sharply on his heel, leaving the room without a proper goodbye to anyone including Sara. "What was that all about Ms. Grey?" Sara asked "I"m not really too sure." Jillian murmured ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ Merlock watched the rain patter against his window as he gazed outside. As the droplets splattered against the glass triklets of water slid down to the sill, lines of moisture streaking behind to trace it"s path. Merlock couldn"t help but think about the day"s events. After he jumped out the window with Tony he had, as usual, landed on his head. But instead of pretending it didn"t happen, he sat there for several minutes, trying to keep his temper in check. Sara had come then, worried about both him and her brother. Merlock, though, had been furious. Jillian had told the twins not to come on this mission, for he had asked Jillian to tell them not to. They came anyway, as they always would. He had yelled at both Sara and Tony, neither one to happy about it. Tony yelled back, but Sara looked at him with a hurt expression. That had hurt him more then anything. The building collapsed then and the man they were after had gotten away. Merlock had wanted to pursue him, but Jillian had called him to a halt. When they had returned he went straight to Jillian"s office to demand why he had been pulled back. He had found the others already there. "Merlock?" Bindi asked hesitantly, "Are you okay?" "Yes, I"m fine Bindi." "Are you sure? I really am sorry, I didn"t mean for that to happen." Merlock sighed. That was the sixth time Bindi apologized for something that wasn"t entirely her fault to begin with. She had insisted it was. She felt she was the reason he had been captured in the first place. He had told her to be quiet, but she refused. She continued to pester him about his obsession with Sara. The next thing Merlock knew, thugs surrounded them and he was knocked unconscious trying to get away. Luckily, he had managed to let Bindi escape. She had found Flint, telling him what happened. He wasn"t sure how Tony got grabbed, but he was furious when he saw Tony there instead of safely back at the bureau. He knew that if Tony was there, Sara was sure to be somewhere close. "It isn"t your fault Bindi." Merlock murmured, "I told you that already. They were waiting for me." "Waiting for you? Oh, you mean expecting an officer to show up?" "It doesn"t matter right now." Merlock murmured. He got up and looked at his bed where his suitcase was. He had packed what little he needed and was ready. All he had to wait for was his...escort. Jillian didn"t trust him very well. Even though she had good reason not to, he was still hurt. Oh well. It would be nice to see his family again nonetheless. It had been almost two years since he saw them last. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ "I don"t get it." Tony mumbled as he and Sara set the dinner table. "Don"t get what?" Sara asked "Merlock." Tony growled "What do you mean?" Sara set the last plate down and looked at her brother curiously. "Well, today was different." Tony murmured, "Usually he would have left me to jump out on my own. He would have instantly gone to your side, trying to get you to safety. Instead, he grabbed me and jumped out the window with me. He even made sure I didn"t get hurt when we landed, though I can"t say the same about him. Then, instead of lunging up and saying something stupid he sat there until you came out. HE looked like he was trying not to get mad, but when he saw you...he seemed to lose it. That was when he yelled at both of us." "Yeah, I remember." Sara murmured. She had never seen Merlock so upset before. He demanded to know what they were doing there, why they hadn"t stayed behind like they were told. He had specifically asked Ms. Grey to tell us to stay behind. That"s what really puzzled her. And then, when he yelled at her, she felt bad. It was almost as if Uncle Bernie was yelling at her. It was uncharacteristic for both him and Merlock to do that. And that meant that Merlock was very worried and had just cause to feel this way. This had been personal for him. "I mean, it wasn"t even my fault I got captured!" Tony was saying. She realized that she hadn"t been listening to him and mentally berated herself. "It was a fluke!" he continued, "I got separated from you guys and got lost! It"s not like it hasn"t happened before, right?" "I really don"t think that"s the point." Sara replied. "Yeah, well, he still didn"t have to yell at us like we were a couple"a kids." "But we are a couple of kids." "I"m twelve! I"m not a kid!" "Merlock is sixteen. To him, we are kids." "That"s another thing! Why is he so bent on liking you when you"re so much younger then him anyway?" "Liking me?" Sara shrugged. "You know I never gave it much thought. I know he"s to old for me." Yet, in the back of her mind she couldn"t" get over the look in his eyes. The anger she saw there. Or, better yet, the fear induced anger. Maybe, just maybe.... Keemew2: Umm...I really didn"t expect so many reviews so fast on this. How nice. I wasn"t really gonna update too often cause I thought this was a slow fic selection. Cool, the number of reviews just keep on growing!!! Umm don"t worry guys, I will try to update this like I do with G-Wing Gen. and Ptera&Shasta, but...oh, well. Anyway. I want to thank each of you individually, in order of review. Rhiannon: Thank you for the compliment; it"s greatly appreciated. I love typing stories; it"s so much fun to torture a fave char every now and then. ^-^ . Also...for some reason your name sounds bit familiar. Have you reviewed some of my other works? Or did I just happen to see your name floating around in a mutual reviewed fic? Dark Child of Earth: I"m glad you liked it. And as to writing good stuff...I dunno about that. I just think of good ways to torture my fave char emotionally (sometimes physically, check out my digi stories ~_~;;) and make them look really good. Then I always add an element of fantasy. That is my passion. My mom loves Lifetime, so I have been cursed a real dramatic streak. All my works have drama in them; it"s annoying! But good. Then there is also the fact that I have a disease call Attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder. AKA ADHD. It uhh...I day dream constantly unless on medication. I"m also overly "m also overly hyperactive. So...yeah. I better shut up now. James Birdsong: A fantastic work of creation? Thanks! And sorry, but being good just isn"t my style and I always try to write well. As for it being a "Perfect ending" I KNOW!!!! (maniacal giggling) Oh, crap. I got Happy happy joy joy stuck in my head. I HATE REN AND STIMPY!!!!! Umm, yeah. If you guys want, I can e-mail you when I update, just leave you addresses and I"ll contact you when chapter three is up. Thanks for the reviews, and have fun reading this. Oh, I should warn you though, I don"t just like character torture, I love character torture. It"s so much fun! And there is a very big surprise in here. Silease: I"m glad you like the beginning and hope you like the rest. dragon88: I"m glad you like Merlock too. I find he is the most intriguing char personally. I mean, he"s one of those "mysterious" char, but yet he has a whole comic relief persona. I enjoy that. And just to let ya know...the Kawii-ness doesn"t stop here. But you might wan to be forewarned, as I mentioned to James Birdsong , char torture is one of my faves. Well, I hope you continue to "love" this fic and keep reading! And sorry it took so long to get it out, I have been having some...problems getting my attention straight Show: Flint the Time Detective Chapter: 2. Baby-sitters and Family Reunions. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ "So, that"s what happened." Tony explained to his uncle as he took a bite of his food and thought about the last mission. It sounded too odd to go unnoticed. Merlock has never yelled at anyone like that before. It would be like he himself yelling at Jillian! Which he just might end up doing if he didn"t get an appropriate answer to his inquiry. Ding, dong "I"ll be right back." Dr. Goodman said to the kids as he got up to get the door. When he opened the door, he found a surprise waiting for him. Merlock was standing there with a suitcase in his hand. "Merlock? What are you doing here?" He asked "I"m here to ask you to watch Bindi for me." Merlock replied, "It wouldn"t be a good idea for her to come with me." Bernie looked around but didn"t see Bindi. "Well, where is she?" Merlock set his suit case down, opened it, and out popped Bindi. Dr. Goodman stepped back in surprise. "How did you know I was there?" She asked Merlock. "I told you Bindi, you can"t come." Merlock replied, ignoring her question. "It"s no use stowing away." Bindi crossed her arms in annoyance and glared at Merlock. "Then what am I supposed to do? Just wait patiently for you to return? How long will you be gone for?" Merlock smiled and shrugged. "I do not know Bindi. It"s up to Ms. Grey on that matter, she is the one who suspended me." The last part was said with slight bitterness and Goodman pondered this thought as he watched Merlock close his suit case again. "Are you alright Merlock?" he asked "I"m fine." But Merlock"s words were cold. "I must leave now, tell Sara I said goodbye and I hope to see her soon." Merlock turned and left, leaving Bindi and Goodman staring at him as he reached his escort car and left. Jillian has some answering to do. Goodman thought to himself. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ The lord of time paced back and fourth with his cloud chair as the time shifters watched on. His agitation was making them nervous. "Getalong!" He snapped. Getalong jumped in surprise at the sudden mention of her name. "Go to the Dark Lord and give him a message for me please. I need to see him. We have a few problems that he needs to learn about." Getalong nodded and left quickly. The time lord had thought about this long and hard. He still wasn"t sure if he could trust the boy, but at the moment he needed to. Both the Dark world and the land of time were at risk. But mostly...the earth and the time stream itself were. And this time, the time shifters had nothing to do with it. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ "Jillian, could you please tell me about this man that you have almost every time detective on the alert for? In almost every time period?" Dr. Goodman asked the giant form of Ms. Grey on the screen. "We are still on formal terms Dr. Goodman." "I don"t really care Jillian." Dr. Goodman growled in slight annoyance, catching Jillian off guard. "Are you alright Dr. Goodman?" She asked in slight concern. "No, I am far beyond alright." He replied, "I just got done with a very interesting conversation with my niece and nephew about a rather interesting turn in events after this latest mission. Then Merlock stopped by and left Bindi with us. I know you had told Tony and Sara it would be safer for them to stay behind, but considering they had gone on dangerous missions before it didn"t seem practical. But for some reason, this mission had very unusual results. Like Merlock being suspended for instance." "Yes, well, I am not to sure about the details myself Dr. Goodman. But I will answer your question. The man Flint was sent to locate goes by the name of Mr. Reizen Fuji. I know absolutely nothing about him except that he was arrested ten years ago. In Merlock"s home town to be precise. The details are very cloudy. Form what I know Merlock"s people are very secretive and refused to disclose any information about what Fuji was after. All we know is he was willing to kill to get it. And he did. Fortunately, he didn"t succeed in attaining his objective. To Merlock, this is personal. I had received a message from his elders just before Merlock became a full detective. They had asked me to make sure I keep an eye on him. He is the first member of their clan to leave in centuries. And they are hoping he"s the last. But the said if anything involving Reizen ever comes up again that I am to suspend him and send him home. They didn"t exactly ask me either." She murmured in a rather unnerving tone. Goodman pondered this for a few minutes, thinking it through. This was getting highly suspicious. What was so important that this man would want to kill for? And who was it that he killed that Merlock felt this was personal? And why did he want Merlock anyway? But more importantly...will he try to attain his objective once again? "You do realize," Goodman started slowly, "if he were after something there, he would most likely go after it again, don"t you?" "The thought had crossed my mind. I sent a few men to watch the place just in case, but they came back with a very unpleasant message." "What"s that?" "Unannounced visitors are considered hostile enemies." "Were they okay?" Goodman asked quickly "Yes, quite fine. They were just warned to stay away. Apparently, it is a well known fact that they don"t like visitors. Unfortunately, I was one of the few who didn"t know that." "Well, thank you Jillian, you answered my question. Unfortunately I"m still confused, not to mention worried." "Yes, well, since this is no longer a matter of just retrieving time shifters, I think it wise to keep Tony and Sara away from the action. This man is dangerous, and nothing like Petra Fina." "I agree. I don"t want Tony and Sara involved with this either. In fact, I would rather Flint weren"t involved either! But, that is not my call. It"s up to him and his own father." "Yes, and I already know the answer." The two looked at each other for a long time before shutting the screen off. Dr. Goodman still stared at it after she had gone. Things were getting a lot more complicated. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ "Get your dirty hands off me right now you cretins!" Miss. Iknow aka Petra Fina screamed as she was drug into a room, "If you do not release me this instant you will be more sorry then you have ever been in your whole life, you understand?" "That will be quite enough princess." Petra stopped struggling at the sound of the voice speaking her title. Reizen stepped into view and regarded her with little tolerance. "Your voice annoys me." She sputtered indignantly at the man. He smirked and reached into his coat, pulling a gun out. "Yes, yes, I know." Petra"s eyes widened as he pointed the weapon at her and she looked at him in disbelief. "Now, if you please, there is something you know that I need." "Y-you...you wouldn"t dare shoot me!" She cried in a gasp. Reizen seemed to think that thought through and shrugged. "I care nothing about family ties sweet niece. If you were so worried about such idiocies, maybe you should not have run away." "But...Uncle Reizen! I"m your younger brothers only child!" Reizen rolled his eyes and gave her a piercing look. "Look here princess. I never cared a wit about my "perfect" brother." He spat out bitterly, "In fact, I laughed with irony when you were reported kidnapped instead of as a runaway. Now, you know the location of a particular item I need. If you do not disclose that information, I will shoot you. Or would you rather I shoot one of your cold blooded friends? Hmm?" Petra watched as Dino and Mite were ushered into the room, "Yes," Reizen murmured as Petra"s eyes widened even more, "You care for these idiots, don"t you? That was the sole reason you rescued them from that research lab. Tell me the royal secret I wish to know and I won"t kill you. I"ll just send you home to your parents and let them deal with you." "You are such a jerk!" Petra screamed suddenly, "You used to be so nice! What happened?" He scoffed at her. "That was just a front. If you had been old enough to understand you would have noticed that all the times I was nice to you were secret threats to your devoted father! I always had a trump card, and you were always part of it! Now, the location of the key! Now!" Petra sighed and shook her head. "I...I"m not sure...I remember." "Well, then. I"ll just give you some time to think about it sweet niece." ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ Merlock sighed as he walked threw the grassy field. It was a very nice day now that the rain had stopped. Or was it still raining over at the Bureau? At least it was nice here. Then, again, it usually was. Merlock smiled at the fond memories he had as a child, growing up with his clan in the village they lived in. When he reached the small forest that lay close to his village he stopped and looked at it. Faint memories from long ago came to his mind as he stood there. Laughter at first, then a scream and gunshots. Something horrible had happened there that he longed to forget, and...in a way...he did. He wasn"t sure how long he stood there, but a hand on his shoulder made him jump. He turned around quickly and saw periwinkle eyes looking back at him. "Memories of a past long forgotten?" the tall woman asked him. He looked at her with wide eyes, shocked that he didn"t hear her come up to him at all. The woman had light blue skin like him, only her hair was more pinkish then purple and it traveled to her waist in wispy curls while her bangs flew around in wisps like his. "Tris, don"t do that!" He cried as his nerves calmed. "And I thought you were working on your own skills while you were gone." She murmured, "Have you lost track of your training little one?" At the name "little one" Merlock growled with annoyance. "I"m not a child anymore, don"t call me that!" "You"ll always be my little one baby brother." She murmured as she ruffled his hair. The sixteen year old vampire slapped her hand away glared at her. "Come on Tris, this isn"t my day!" "So I heard. Come on, you have a welcome home committee. Everyone is so relieved your back. Do you realize how worried the elders have been? They swore that you would be found out and taken...what ever they mean by that. "

"Because I got information I wasn"t supposed to have before I quit." "What?" "Never mind." "Excuse me, not to ruin a perfect touchy feely moment or anything, but would somebody mind telling me what"s going on?" One of the other men asked, "Sorry, but your sudden appearance has got a lot of people freaked. What with your current condition of course." He gestured to Pierce. "Are they all here for the same reason?" Pierce asked the girl "Yeah. Um, they have all gone now, well except for him." She pointed to Jamie who was still staring wide eyed at Pierce, "He just got here several hours ago and also just woke up. I guess they drugged him or something." Pierce looked at Jamie for a second, then recognition flared. "Oh! It"s you!" This seemed to snap Jamie back to reality. "Huh? What?" "Calm down. I thought you looked familiar. You"re that Wild Eagle kid. You look a little different." "My name is Jamie. Not Wild Eagle." "Okay, Jamie." "You met him before?" Shasta asked "Yeah. He"s one of the reasons I quit the Backdraft group. Though I still gotta pay him back for shooting me down. And calling me little lady." She giggled a little at that. "Little Lady?" Jamie asked, frowning. "Yeah, don"t" you remember." "NO!" "Sheesh, don"t bite my head off." "Sorry." He mumbled irritatedly "Here, let me clean you up some." Shasta said turning back to Pierce. Jamie turned away from them and stood up. He wasn"t sure when he stood up last, but he was stiff. Then a hand appeared on his shoulder. He turned to see Jany looking at him strangely. "You okay?" "Not really. This has to be the worst day of my life. No, check that. The worst day of my life was when my dad said I wasn"t going to come home like he promised. This just ties with it." He said bitterly. "You don"t live with your dad?" "No." "Oh geeze. That sucks." "Well, it isn"t that bad. In a way, I have an older sister now. A crazy one, but one nonetheless. Not to mention Brothers. I consider the Blitz team my family now. Even though they don"t really know that." "That"s cute. So..." She wasn"t sure how to bring up the topic she wanted to discuss, the mere mention of it made the kid cringe, "Do you think your ready to try the Zoid?" As she suspected, he cringed. "I"m not sure." He said, "What am I supposed to do out there? And how do they now the person who gets the Zoid to fly isn"t going to get away?" "We all ask that Question. Their answer? You"d find out. That"s all they say. Though, no one ever gets to find out. Personally the curiosity is getting to me." "What about her?" Jamie said pointing to Shasta "Well, the answer I got was that she wasn"t flying it." "She wasn"t?" "No. It was on auto pilot. She swears up and down that the Zoid flies her around. Don"t bother asking. She gives out the same answer all the time. "I ain"t talkin" and I believe her. She"s as stubborn as a mule." "You know, the more you talk about it, the more interested I am. It"s different then the Liger Zero." "How do you mean?" She was interested in the whole weapon X thing or whatever it was called. "Well, when we got the Lyger no one could pilot it. In fact, the Zoid went crazy anytime someone tried to fly it." "Huh. This one doesn"t go crazy. It just does weird things." "Huh?" "You"ll find out." Jamie thought about that and two sides formed. 1) He wanted more than anything to fly it. 2) He wanted to run as fast he could the other direction. Keemew2: Okay. I know this chapter sucked big time! Don"t worry, I promise the next one will be better. In fact, Jamie will actually be flying next time. All right? Oh and how do you like my plot twists? I now have more than enough to work with. I am going to go out on a limb and ask for suggestions. I don"t usually do this, but...Why not. Now I just want your opinion on what I should do next. I am starting immediately on the next one. It should be up in maybe (and hopefully) two or three days. So...REVIEW!!!! Better yet, e-mail me with your new suggestions. Keemew2@yahoo.com : Well, here"s four. Hope you like it. And sorry for it being a day late. I know I said hopefully in 3 days, but four ain"t that bad, is it? Oh, by the way, I don"t swear so there won"t be any in my fic unless I"m really into it and it"s really heated, so if you see some slang feel free to replace it with a swear word. It looks better if you swear. I just have a problem doing it thanks to my mom. Zoids Ptera&Shasta Ch. 4: The Zoid and More Questions G Jamie sat and watched everyone in the room. It was kind of crowded. Didn"t they have anymore cells? They had big enough Whalekings for it. Why were all these people still here anyway? Things just kept getting more darned complicated! He thought about everything that happened since he woke up. There were a number of air type warriors here. They had all gone already, why weren"t they being released? And what was going on with Pierce? What was so important that they beat her up so badly? And wasn"t she staying with those other two ex-Backdraft warriors? Last, he seen of them was at the royal cup match. They had all three congratulated Bit. Jamie looked over at Pierce. She was talking to Shasta. Who"da thought she had a little sister? Shasta had finished bandaging Pierce and now they were having a slightly heated argument. Several of the other warriors were watching them. Others were talking to each other. Suddenly Jamie heard footsteps outside again. All conversations were stopped as they heard the keys rattle in the hinge. The door opened quickly, letting bright light flow into the dimmed cell. A shadowed figure stood in the doorway. You couldn"t see him very well because he was standing in front of the bright light. Two soldiers appeared next to him, blocking the rest of the light. "Grab "em." The first man ordered the soldiers. "Hey! Wait a minute!" Jany said standing up, "What are you doing? What"s with the guns? You don"t usually have two soldiers with guns!" "Shut up wench. We got our reasons." One of the soldiers replied. "Don"t insult such a beautiful woman." The first man said smoothly, "My apologies miss, but like my friend here said. We have our reasons; we are here for more than one person this time. Also, don"t expect to see them again any time soon." With that, the soldiers entered the area. The first soldier brushed past Jany and walked right up to Jamie. Grabbing him by the arm, he started pulling Jamie towards the cell door. Jamie started to struggle a bit but he felt the cold barrel of the gun stick into his back. "No time for games kid." He whispered to Jamie. The other soldier looked around till he saw Pierce and Shasta and walked over to them. Shasta stood up immediately and stood in front of her sister. You aren"t touching her." She said defiantly. The soldier smirked at her. "Never even thought about it." He grabbed her by the wrist instead, attempting to take her out of the cell. Instead, he wound up on the floor. Shasta having twisted her wrist around and kicking him in the face. "I ain"t goin anywhere with you guys!" she said "You don"t have a choice." The smooth talker said. "And why not?" "Because, we now know for sure that our...Ex, comrade," he looked at Pierce with a sneer, "is your sister. As long as you cooperate, we will let her live that much longer." Shasta glared at the man. You could practically see the hate rising thriugh her. Then she looked at her sister. Pierce gave her a little shake, as if to say not to do it. Shasta looked away again. She looked at Jamie who looked like he was about to have a heart attack, then the other people in the cell. Out of the six other women in the cell, four wore shocked expressions. Jany and Pierce were just glaring as well as the eight men. With a last glance at her sister Shasta dropped her shoulders and sighed. She looked up at the man and glared again. "Fine! But I ain"t talking!" The guy walked over to her and leaned in. "Who said you had a choice?" Oscar Hemeros walked through the Blitz base. He was thinking about Jamie and the reasons he sent him to live with Steve. He had thought that Steve would have been the safest person to send Jamie to. He had never thought that this would happen. He knew he wasn"t the best father in the world, but that didn"t mean he didn"t love his son. "Oscar." Oscar turned to see Toros standing in the doorway of the kitchen. "Oh, hi Steve." "Oscar, it isn"t your fault. They have no idea. That isn"t the reason they got him." "Yeah, I know, but what if they somehow found out?" "I"m sure that didn"t happen. I"m sure it won"t happen. They don"t know your real name." "I guess your right. Has the ZBC contacted you yet?" "Not yet." "Darn. You"d think that after everything, the least they would do was send some word on their progress!" "Hear, I just made some fresh coffee." He said handing him a cup. "Thanks." Bit was sitting on the couch when the radar started to go off. He went over to the screen to see what was out there and saw two Zoids on the perimeter. One was the Elephander. "Doc!" Bit yelled through the com., "We got a problem!" "What is it?" Toros crackled from the other end "Two Zoids on the perimeter. Ones the Elephander." "I"m on my way." Bit looked at the screen again. The Zoids didn"t look like they were looking for a fight, but better safe than sorry. He started to run towards the Launching bay when the screen flashed on and Stoller"s face appeared. "Bit Cloud?" "Stoller. What do you want." "To talk." "Talk?" "Yes." Just then, Toros and Oscar entered the room. When Oscar saw the face on the screen, he paled somewhat and stepped back through the door frame. Stoller saw him anyway. "Dereck?" Oscar cursed himself and stepped through the door once more. "Hello Stoller. Long time no see." Stoller smiled. "Yes, it is a pleasure to see you again. I take it Dereck isn"t you real name?" "No." Stoller looked back to Toros. "I would like to ask to see you in private." "Why?" "I have some information that I"m sure you can get to the ZBC. Pierce was on her way there, but she disappeared enroute. Several days ago." "Are you no longer with the Backdraft or are you trying to trick us?" Bit interrupted. "Well, if I was trying to trick you I wouldn"t tell now would I?" Stoller replied "Good point. So how are we supposed to trust you?" "You don"t have to. It is us who need to be able to trust you." Jamie cringed a little as the barrel of the gun pressed up against his back. He looked over at Shasta who looked like she was ready to start a fight. She reminded him an awful lot of Leena. Strange coincidences seemed to be happening all over today. They were led to a hanger and Jamie saw all sorts of Zoids, but one in particular grabbed his attention. It looked weird. It had the body build of a Storm Sworder, minus the jet pack type thrusters on the back, instead having a single thruster in it"s place. The wings were set more to the back, and had a pair of small arms in the front, and a single forward facing 40 mm canon sat on both wings, instead of dual 40 mm canons. The tail was twice the normal length. Its neck was longer, of about the same size of the body, maybe a foot smaller. And as for the head, it seemed to have a more canine resemblance. It was a reddish color with black under tones. The man noticed Jamie looking at the Zoid. "Ah, I see you"ve noticed the mysterious Zoid." Jamie looked at him, then back at the Zoid. "What kind of Zoid is that?" He breathed. "No one knows. Some think it"s from the same design specs as a Storm Sworder, for obvious reasons that is." "Your ignorance is amazing." Shasta spoke up. "I don"t believe I was talking to you Miss." He sneered at Shasta. "Does it really look like I care?" She asked sarcastically. The man walked over to her and slapped her in the face hard. "I have had just about enough of your mouth." He said in a low deadly growl, "This is your last warning. Speak only when you"re spoken to or else. Got it?" Shasta looked at him for a moment. A look of pure hatred on her face. At first she didn"t do or say anything, but after a minute, she slowly nodded her head. "I understand." He smirked in satisfaction, "I understand that you"re a big Bafoon that doesn"t know twice two." She spat out suddenly, trying to hide a smile. She knew she was in trouble. Then, unable to contain her laughter, she started laughing at what she just said. The man"s face went dark and he backhanded her hard enough to send her sprawling on the floor. She looked back at him holding her cheek. "As I said. Your last warning. Another word from you and you"ll get worse." She just sat there holding her cheek, glaring painful death at him. The other soldier stepped closer to her and pointed his gun at her, letting her continue to sit, but not giving her leeway for escape. The man turned back to Jamie who had been watching the whole thing with a gun stuck up to his face in warning not to help her. Not that he could do anything anyway. He felt pretty helpless right now. Not to mention angry with this guy. "Time for your test flight." He grabbed Jamie roughly by the arm and drug him over to the Zoid. As soon as they got close to it, the Zoids eyes started to come to life. The reddish color glowing faintly. It turned its head in there direction. "Don"t worry, it does that all the time." The man said as Jamie stepped back a little. The hatch popped off by itself. "How"d that happen?" Jamie asked. "Our guess is the Zoid got tired of us prying it open. It pretty much complies with us but we don"t have any real control over it. We think that the only reason it hasn"t gone off by itself is because of the girl. That relationship is still in the dark." He looked over his shoulder at Shasta. "But we will bring some light to it soon." He smirked a little, then turned back to Jamie. "Get in." The guy took a gun out of his coat to emphasize his point. "No choice." Jamie looked from him to the Zoid and back again. He turned to the Zoid and headed to the cockpit. There was a latter to get up to it, so he could get in. Once inside the Zoid the lid closed. At first, Jamie felt frightened, but a sort of calmness spread over him. He felt like he was in the presence of an old friend, or a close family member. He never felt like this with his Reynos or Pteras, even though they were the only Zoids he ever felt connected to. He looked at the strange controls. At first he couldn"t make heads or tails of them, then a flashing button came to view. He took a chance and pressed it. Everything came on. "Okay, now what?" He said to himself. Suddenly he got a feeling inside. Kind of, like a mental brush. Similar to someone brushing a hand across your face. The Zoid itself screeched when he felt the mental brush. It was a high shriek with a growlish undertone. It was almost as though some one had spoken to him. He somehow knew what the controls did. "Maybe this is what Bit feels when the Lyger talks to him." Jamie said to himself. The Zoid screeched again in reply. He actually did understand it. It was amazing. "Well, lets see what you can do, shall we?" Jamie took the controls and the hanger door opened. As he took the Zoid out, he thought about his options. Escape was his first thought, but then he saw the other Zoids blocking his path. There were a lot of them. Mostly Zabats. A couple of Storm Sworders too. He clicked on the weapons system and saw the arsenal he had to work with. It wasn"t much at all. He had the single canons on each wing plus a 30 mm canon stationed on the under belly. It was hidden and came out only when used. He saw a particular piece of weaponry that didn"t look right. It was a small particle canon. Uncharged. But it was stationed in the neck so it could shoot out from the mouth. He wasn"t sure how that could be there, yet still have maneuverability there. There wasn"t much else. The claws and talons were made of a high strength allow, with hardened allow wing cutters. In other words, the wings were just about the same as the Storm Sworder. Almost. The Zoid was highly adaptable to the surrounding terrain and took a 2AAA power cell, same as the Sworder. It could reach speeds of about 2.8. Slower then a Reynos and Storm Sworder, but just as fast as a Zabat. "Looks like you were designed after the Sworders. Or perhaps they were designed after you huh?" He received a confirmation screech from the Zoid. Jamie looked at the surrounding Zoids. The com. crackled on and the smooth talking jerk came on screen. "Your job is to try and escape. Don"t worry, you won"t be able to, it is just a test. That is if you. can get the Zoid to cooperate." The guy chuckled a little as he broke communications. Jamie looked at the other Zoids and saw them start to maneuver. Suddenly a barrage of bullets from behind him hit him. He hadn"t even seen the enemy there. The Zoid screeched in response. "I know, I know." Jamie said to the Zoid, "That was pretty stupid." He turned the radar on and saw how many enemies he had. There were quite a few, maybe 20 or so. They started attacking him and he maneuvered out of range, just enough to be able to turn around and go head on. He wasn"t sure why exactly, but it seemed like a good Idea. He shot at some of the enemy while going head on and got two Zabats. Another group of Zabats headed his way and he started to turn left, but instead of veering left his hands somehow went right. "What the...?" He realized that that was the best way to go because a Storm Sworder he hadn"t noticed had just started firing at him. He suddenly got a rush of emotion run through him. It was a mixture of excitement, and anger. "What is going on?" He whispered to himself. Jamie shook off his questions as he took another barrage of ammo to his side. Suddenly he noticed something. The remaining Zabats had tried to form a ring around him. And the four Sworders were above him. He thought about his choices and saw an opening he could use. They had tried to box him in, unfortunately for them, they had forgotten to take account of the bottom. Jamie sped downwards fast and was about to pull up when he was shot again, only this time he was sent out of control. He tried desperately to gain control again but was failing miserably. Suddenly Jamie"s line of sight started to darken and he felt detached. Then darkness spilled in. The man was watching the scene before him. He turned to Shasta. "You might want to see this." He said, "Your Zoid seems to have found it"s new friend." She looked up at him curiously. She was still sitting there on the floor, only now she was fiddling with her sandal straps absently. She got up and walked over to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, the Zoid had yet to mess anything up for the kid in the cockpit. He had even shot down two Zabats. Still, the Zoid wasn"t performing to full capacity. Something was missing. Suddenly she saw the Zoid careen to the ground, out of control. The guy saw this as well. "Well, guess that"s that. Pity, I thought that this boy was someone else. If he were who I thought he was, he would"ve been able to get out of that. Oh well." He started to turn when he saw the Zoid suddenly lurch upward. It made a complete loop and turned on its attackers. It easily shot down two Zoids. A crazy cackle came from the comm. "Hahahahaha! No one can keep the Wild Eagle leashed!" With that three more Zoids came down "Change of plans everyone!" The guy shouted, "This is who we were expecting." He turned to Shasta with a satisfied look on his face. "I"m sure you and your Zoid friend never even noticed this little device." He said showing a small box; "I took the liberty to install a remote device that will completely shut down that Zoid from here. I knew it would be the only way to stop that Zoid. If the right pilot was in the cock pit that is." Shasta looked at him incredulously, then shock as he pushed the button on the box while the Zoid was still in mid air. As Jamie blacked out the Wild Eagle took over. "Geeze! What is this all about! I actually had to fight to get some control! That never happens!" Suddenly he let go of the controls. "Okay. Where am I? The only thing I remember is the wrong moves." The Zoid screeched and he stared in shock as he understood it. His shock was temporary. "Hey, did you keep me from gaining control?" He asked the Zoid who gave a confirming screech. "Well don"t do that again! Do me a favor though. Let"s give these guys a head ache, shall we?" He asked as he shot down two Zoids and turned on the comm. "Hahahahaha! No one can keep the Wild Eagle leashed!" He turned the comm. Off and shot tree more enemy Zabats. "Let"s shoot em down!" Just as he targeted some of the other Zabats, the system started to go awry. "Hey! What"s going on?" The Zoid let out an awful screech and the system blacked out. The Wild Eagle tried vainly to pull up out of the super dive and just barley pulled up as the Zoid made a crash landing on the ground close to the base. Some enemy troops already on the way. The wild eagle got out of the Zoid slowly, slightly dazed, and landed next to it. He stumbled a little as he started to walk away, then he felt the darkness close in.

"What do you mean insurance?" Sara asked as she came into the building. Merlock"s eyes grew wide as he saw Sara and struggled to get out of the ropes. "I told you to stay outside Sara!" Flint cried. "Insurance that you don"t do anything stupid like making the building fall." The man said as he descended the rest of the stairs. "Now, please contact Ms. Grey so I can give her my demands. I"m sure Jillian would like to know what they are." "And why would I do that?" Flint demanded "Because, I"m sure Tony wants to see his next birthday. He can"t do that if I take his life now, can I?" "What?" Sara cried "Flint!" Merlock cried, "This isn"t like fighting Petra Fina! This man is serious! Just do as he says!" The man"s smile grew and he stroked his chin softly. "Yes, the whelp is correct. This isn"t some silly game you have played before." With out the man noticing Pteri had made his way to Tony and Merlock. He had tied a rope to the banister and put it in Tony"s hand and was in the process of gnawing the ropes binding him away. "Petra Fina is an immature princess who is taken away with the simplest of sweet talking. She"s much too emotional and acts way to violently when she doesn"t get her own way. A princess." "And your point is?" Flint asked. "My point is, that is, if you want Tony back, follow my demands." "What about Merlock?" Sara asked in confusion. The man seemed to think on that one, cocking his head to the side slightly. "Oh, yes. Merlock. No. He"s mine." "Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgh!!!" The man turned at the cry and saw Tony hanging by the rope. He was in the process of climbing, as Merlock"s own ropes were chewed threw and he swung to the banister as well, only he didn"t scream as he fell upright. "No!" He cried as he saw his prize getting away. "Stop them!" He shouted to his men. Merlock broke the nearest window and grabbed Tony, jumping out. Sara"s eyes flew wide and she rushed out the door to run to the back where Tony and Merlock would have landed. Flint smirked and looked at his father. "Wanna have some fun dad?" He asked "It"s about time!" Rocky cried. And with that, the duo began wrecking havoc. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ "I"m glad to see things turned out well in the end." Jillian murmured as Flint bounced around the room happily. "Not really Ms. Grey." Merlock replied irritably, "He got away." "That isn"t the point." "Yes it is!" Merlock shouted, startling all the occupants of the room. Flint immediately stopped bouncing and stared at the normally calm teen. "The whole point was to get him! He committed a crime, escaped from prison, stole a time pass to the early 2030"s, and not only took me captive, but Tony as well, and then he escaped again when Flint took the initiative! That mad man has to be taken back into custody as soon as possible!" "Yes, I know that Merlock." Ms Grey replied calmly. "Then why am I back here and not going after him? Why did you call me back when I was preparing to search for him?" "Because henceforth you are no longer on the case." Merlock stared at her in shock. "What?" "You seem to be in as much danger from this man as the time stream itself." "Your point is?" Merlock didn"t seem to care about that. He only cared about getting that man behind bars again. "I cannot allow you to be part of a case that seems personal. It could be very disastrous Merlock. You know the possibilities of personal vendettas. You"re a good detective, to good to be stupid. Besides, I don"t want to call your mother up and tell her I let you get yourself killed." "What has my mother got to do with anything?" Merlock asked cautiously. "I already sent word to your clan you"ll be returning home soon so you better start packing now." She replied calmly. Merlock"s jaw dropped, then worked as he tried to talk. "But...but...you can"t do this!" Merlock cried. "I can and I did. Do you want me to suspend you?" "But...." At first, Merlock could only stare at her in shock, then his eyes narrowed in a glare. He slammed his fist into Ms. Grey"s desk and turned sharply on his heel, leaving the room without a proper goodbye to anyone including Sara. "What was that all about Ms. Grey?" Sara asked "I"m not really too sure." Jillian murmured ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ Merlock watched the rain patter against his window as he gazed outside. As the droplets splattered against the glass triklets of water slid down to the sill, lines of moisture streaking behind to trace it"s path. Merlock couldn"t help but think about the day"s events. After he jumped out the window with Tony he had, as usual, landed on his head. But instead of pretending it didn"t happen, he sat there for several minutes, trying to keep his temper in check. Sara had come then, worried about both him and her brother. Merlock, though, had been furious. Jillian had told the twins not to come on this mission, for he had asked Jillian to tell them not to. They came anyway, as they always would. He had yelled at both Sara and Tony, neither one to happy about it. Tony yelled back, but Sara looked at him with a hurt expression. That had hurt him more then anything. The building collapsed then and the man they were after had gotten away. Merlock had wanted to pursue him, but Jillian had called him to a halt. When they had returned he went straight to Jillian"s office to demand why he had been pulled back. He had found the others already there. "Merlock?" Bindi asked hesitantly, "Are you okay?" "Yes, I"m fine Bindi." "Are you sure? I really am sorry, I didn"t mean for that to happen." Merlock sighed. That was the sixth time Bindi apologized for something that wasn"t entirely her fault to begin with. She had insisted it was. She felt she was the reason he had been captured in the first place. He had told her to be quiet, but she refused. She continued to pester him about his obsession with Sara. The next thing Merlock knew, thugs surrounded them and he was knocked unconscious trying to get away. Luckily, he had managed to let Bindi escape. She had found Flint, telling him what happened. He wasn"t sure how Tony got grabbed, but he was furious when he saw Tony there instead of safely back at the bureau. He knew that if Tony was there, Sara was sure to be somewhere close. "It isn"t your fault Bindi." Merlock murmured, "I told you that already. They were waiting for me." "Waiting for you? Oh, you mean expecting an officer to show up?" "It doesn"t matter right now." Merlock murmured. He got up and looked at his bed where his suitcase was. He had packed what little he needed and was ready. All he had to wait for was his...escort. Jillian didn"t trust him very well. Even though she had good reason not to, he was still hurt. Oh well. It would be nice to see his family again nonetheless. It had been almost two years since he saw them last. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ "I don"t get it." Tony mumbled as he and Sara set the dinner table. "Don"t get what?" Sara asked "Merlock." Tony growled "What do you mean?" Sara set the last plate down and looked at her brother curiously. "Well, today was different." Tony murmured, "Usually he would have left me to jump out on my own. He would have instantly gone to your side, trying to get you to safety. Instead, he grabbed me and jumped out the window with me. He even made sure I didn"t get hurt when we landed, though I can"t say the same about him. Then, instead of lunging up and saying something stupid he sat there until you came out. HE looked like he was trying not to get mad, but when he saw you...he seemed to lose it. That was when he yelled at both of us." "Yeah, I remember." Sara murmured. She had never seen Merlock so upset before. He demanded to know what they were doing there, why they hadn"t stayed behind like they were told. He had specifically asked Ms. Grey to tell us to stay behind. That"s what really puzzled her. And then, when he yelled at her, she felt bad. It was almost as if Uncle Bernie was yelling at her. It was uncharacteristic for both him and Merlock to do that. And that meant that Merlock was very worried and had just cause to feel this way. This had been personal for him. "I mean, it wasn"t even my fault I got captured!" Tony was saying. She realized that she hadn"t been listening to him and mentally berated herself. "It was a fluke!" he continued, "I got separated from you guys and got lost! It"s not like it hasn"t happened before, right?" "I really don"t think that"s the point." Sara replied. "Yeah, well, he still didn"t have to yell at us like we were a couple"a kids." "But we are a couple of kids." "I"m twelve! I"m not a kid!" "Merlock is sixteen. To him, we are kids." "That"s another thing! Why is he so bent on liking you when you"re so much younger then him anyway?" "Liking me?" Sara shrugged. "You know I never gave it much thought. I know he"s to old for me." Yet, in the back of her mind she couldn"t" get over the look in his eyes. The anger she saw there. Or, better yet, the fear induced anger. Maybe, just maybe.... Keemew2: Umm...I really didn"t expect so many reviews so fast on this. How nice. I wasn"t really gonna update too often cause I thought this was a slow fic selection. Cool, the number of reviews just keep on growing!!! Umm don"t worry guys, I will try to update this like I do with G-Wing Gen. and Ptera&Shasta, but...oh, well. Anyway. I want to thank each of you individually, in order of review. Rhiannon: Thank you for the compliment; it"s greatly appreciated. I love typing stories; it"s so much fun to torture a fave char every now and then. ^-^ . Also...for some reason your name sounds bit familiar. Have you reviewed some of my other works? Or did I just happen to see your name floating around in a mutual reviewed fic? Dark Child of Earth: I"m glad you liked it. And as to writing good stuff...I dunno about that. I just think of good ways to torture my fave char emotionally (sometimes physically, check out my digi stories ~_~;;) and make them look really good. Then I always add an element of fantasy. That is my passion. My mom loves Lifetime, so I have been cursed a real dramatic streak. All my works have drama in them; it"s annoying! But good. Then there is also the fact that I have a disease call Attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder. AKA ADHD. It uhh...I day dream constantly unless on medication. I"m also overly "m also overly hyperactive. So...yeah. I better shut up now. James Birdsong: A fantastic work of creation? Thanks! And sorry, but being good just isn"t my style and I always try to write well. As for it being a "Perfect ending" I KNOW!!!! (maniacal giggling) Oh, crap. I got Happy happy joy joy stuck in my head. I HATE REN AND STIMPY!!!!! Umm, yeah. If you guys want, I can e-mail you when I update, just leave you addresses and I"ll contact you when chapter three is up. Thanks for the reviews, and have fun reading this. Oh, I should warn you though, I don"t just like character torture, I love character torture. It"s so much fun! And there is a very big surprise in here. Silease: I"m glad you like the beginning and hope you like the rest. dragon88: I"m glad you like Merlock too. I find he is the most intriguing char personally. I mean, he"s one of those "mysterious" char, but yet he has a whole comic relief persona. I enjoy that. And just to let ya know...the Kawii-ness doesn"t stop here. But you might wan to be forewarned, as I mentioned to James Birdsong , char torture is one of my faves. Well, I hope you continue to "love" this fic and keep reading! And sorry it took so long to get it out, I have been having some...problems getting my attention straight Show: Flint the Time Detective Chapter: 2. Baby-sitters and Family Reunions. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ "So, that"s what happened." Tony explained to his uncle as he took a bite of his food and thought about the last mission. It sounded too odd to go unnoticed. Merlock has never yelled at anyone like that before. It would be like he himself yelling at Jillian! Which he just might end up doing if he didn"t get an appropriate answer to his inquiry. Ding, dong "I"ll be right back." Dr. Goodman said to the kids as he got up to get the door. When he opened the door, he found a surprise waiting for him. Merlock was standing there with a suitcase in his hand. "Merlock? What are you doing here?" He asked "I"m here to ask you to watch Bindi for me." Merlock replied, "It wouldn"t be a good idea for her to come with me." Bernie looked around but didn"t see Bindi. "Well, where is she?" Merlock set his suit case down, opened it, and out popped Bindi. Dr. Goodman stepped back in surprise. "How did you know I was there?" She asked Merlock. "I told you Bindi, you can"t come." Merlock replied, ignoring her question. "It"s no use stowing away." Bindi crossed her arms in annoyance and glared at Merlock. "Then what am I supposed to do? Just wait patiently for you to return? How long will you be gone for?" Merlock smiled and shrugged. "I do not know Bindi. It"s up to Ms. Grey on that matter, she is the one who suspended me." The last part was said with slight bitterness and Goodman pondered this thought as he watched Merlock close his suit case again. "Are you alright Merlock?" he asked "I"m fine." But Merlock"s words were cold. "I must leave now, tell Sara I said goodbye and I hope to see her soon." Merlock turned and left, leaving Bindi and Goodman staring at him as he reached his escort car and left. Jillian has some answering to do. Goodman thought to himself. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ The lord of time paced back and fourth with his cloud chair as the time shifters watched on. His agitation was making them nervous. "Getalong!" He snapped. Getalong jumped in surprise at the sudden mention of her name. "Go to the Dark Lord and give him a message for me please. I need to see him. We have a few problems that he needs to learn about." Getalong nodded and left quickly. The time lord had thought about this long and hard. He still wasn"t sure if he could trust the boy, but at the moment he needed to. Both the Dark world and the land of time were at risk. But mostly...the earth and the time stream itself were. And this time, the time shifters had nothing to do with it. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ "Jillian, could you please tell me about this man that you have almost every time detective on the alert for? In almost every time period?" Dr. Goodman asked the giant form of Ms. Grey on the screen. "We are still on formal terms Dr. Goodman." "I don"t really care Jillian." Dr. Goodman growled in slight annoyance, catching Jillian off guard. "Are you alright Dr. Goodman?" She asked in slight concern. "No, I am far beyond alright." He replied, "I just got done with a very interesting conversation with my niece and nephew about a rather interesting turn in events after this latest mission. Then Merlock stopped by and left Bindi with us. I know you had told Tony and Sara it would be safer for them to stay behind, but considering they had gone on dangerous missions before it didn"t seem practical. But for some reason, this mission had very unusual results. Like Merlock being suspended for instance." "Yes, well, I am not to sure about the details myself Dr. Goodman. But I will answer your question. The man Flint was sent to locate goes by the name of Mr. Reizen Fuji. I know absolutely nothing about him except that he was arrested ten years ago. In Merlock"s home town to be precise. The details are very cloudy. Form what I know Merlock"s people are very secretive and refused to disclose any information about what Fuji was after. All we know is he was willing to kill to get it. And he did. Fortunately, he didn"t succeed in attaining his objective. To Merlock, this is personal. I had received a message from his elders just before Merlock became a full detective. They had asked me to make sure I keep an eye on him. He is the first member of their clan to leave in centuries. And they are hoping he"s the last. But the said if anything involving Reizen ever comes up again that I am to suspend him and send him home. They didn"t exactly ask me either." She murmured in a rather unnerving tone. Goodman pondered this for a few minutes, thinking it through. This was getting highly suspicious. What was so important that this man would want to kill for? And who was it that he killed that Merlock felt this was personal? And why did he want Merlock anyway? But more importantly...will he try to attain his objective once again? "You do realize," Goodman started slowly, "if he were after something there, he would most likely go after it again, don"t you?" "The thought had crossed my mind. I sent a few men to watch the place just in case, but they came back with a very unpleasant message." "What"s that?" "Unannounced visitors are considered hostile enemies." "Were they okay?" Goodman asked quickly "Yes, quite fine. They were just warned to stay away. Apparently, it is a well known fact that they don"t like visitors. Unfortunately, I was one of the few who didn"t know that." "Well, thank you Jillian, you answered my question. Unfortunately I"m still confused, not to mention worried." "Yes, well, since this is no longer a matter of just retrieving time shifters, I think it wise to keep Tony and Sara away from the action. This man is dangerous, and nothing like Petra Fina." "I agree. I don"t want Tony and Sara involved with this either. In fact, I would rather Flint weren"t involved either! But, that is not my call. It"s up to him and his own father." "Yes, and I already know the answer." The two looked at each other for a long time before shutting the screen off. Dr. Goodman still stared at it after she had gone. Things were getting a lot more complicated. ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ "Get your dirty hands off me right now you cretins!" Miss. Iknow aka Petra Fina screamed as she was drug into a room, "If you do not release me this instant you will be more sorry then you have ever been in your whole life, you understand?" "That will be quite enough princess." Petra stopped struggling at the sound of the voice speaking her title. Reizen stepped into view and regarded her with little tolerance. "Your voice annoys me." She sputtered indignantly at the man. He smirked and reached into his coat, pulling a gun out. "Yes, yes, I know." Petra"s eyes widened as he pointed the weapon at her and she looked at him in disbelief. "Now, if you please, there is something you know that I need." "Y-you...you wouldn"t dare shoot me!" She cried in a gasp. Reizen seemed to think that thought through and shrugged. "I care nothing about family ties sweet niece. If you were so worried about such idiocies, maybe you should not have run away." "But...Uncle Reizen! I"m your younger brothers only child!" Reizen rolled his eyes and gave her a piercing look. "Look here princess. I never cared a wit about my "perfect" brother." He spat out bitterly, "In fact, I laughed with irony when you were reported kidnapped instead of as a runaway. Now, you know the location of a particular item I need. If you do not disclose that information, I will shoot you. Or would you rather I shoot one of your cold blooded friends? Hmm?" Petra watched as Dino and Mite were ushered into the room, "Yes," Reizen murmured as Petra"s eyes widened even more, "You care for these idiots, don"t you? That was the sole reason you rescued them from that research lab. Tell me the royal secret I wish to know and I won"t kill you. I"ll just send you home to your parents and let them deal with you." "You are such a jerk!" Petra screamed suddenly, "You used to be so nice! What happened?" He scoffed at her. "That was just a front. If you had been old enough to understand you would have noticed that all the times I was nice to you were secret threats to your devoted father! I always had a trump card, and you were always part of it! Now, the location of the key! Now!" Petra sighed and shook her head. "I...I"m not sure...I remember." "Well, then. I"ll just give you some time to think about it sweet niece." ~~~~~*~~*~~*~~~~~ Merlock sighed as he walked threw the grassy field. It was a very nice day now that the rain had stopped. Or was it still raining over at the Bureau? At least it was nice here. Then, again, it usually was. Merlock smiled at the fond memories he had as a child, growing up with his clan in the village they lived in. When he reached the small forest that lay close to his village he stopped and looked at it. Faint memories from long ago came to his mind as he stood there. Laughter at first, then a scream and gunshots. Something horrible had happened there that he longed to forget, and...in a way...he did. He wasn"t sure how long he stood there, but a hand on his shoulder made him jump. He turned around quickly and saw periwinkle eyes looking back at him. "Memories of a past long forgotten?" the tall woman asked him. He looked at her with wide eyes, shocked that he didn"t hear her come up to him at all. The woman had light blue skin like him, only her hair was more pinkish then purple and it traveled to her waist in wispy curls while her bangs flew around in wisps like his. "Tris, don"t do that!" He cried as his nerves calmed. "And I thought you were working on your own skills while you were gone." She murmured, "Have you lost track of your training little one?" At the name "little one" Merlock growled with annoyance.

"Kara." said the little girl. I smiled. "Kara, I"m Suze and this is my boyfriend Jesse." I took Jesse by the hand. "Yuck! You have a boyfriend?" Kara asked sticking her tongue out. "I don"t understand this century." said Jesse. Kara laughed. "He seems old." She said. I looked at Jesse just to see if this hurt him, but Jesse laughed and said, "You have no idea little one." Then Jesse turned to me. "You should tell Father Dominic about this. He"ll know what to do." He said. I rolled my eyes. "Like I don"t?" I asked. "She"s very young. This may be harder for her than others." said Jesse. His brown eyes made me melt when I looked at them for a few seconds. "We just have to help her move on." I said. "She may not understand that yet." said Jesse. "Well, we need to do this in a more private place." I said. I looked down at Kara. "Would you like to come with us?" I asked. Kara nodded. "Well, I don"t see my mom anymore and she can"t even see me, so yes, even though I"m not allowed to talk to strangers." Kara had long light brown hair and light brown eyes with long thick eye lashes. She was adorable and not even that bad for a ghost. I took Kara by her hand and walked with her and Jesse to the nearest exit. "How old are you?" "Almost seven." She said. I nodded. "But you"ll look six forever or at least for as long as you"re here." I said. "Why?" asked Kara. "Ghost look the way they did when they died. Do you know how you died?" Jesse, Kara and I left the mall. Kara thought. "I know a car hit me and then my mom and dad were crying and not listening to me every time I called for them." She said. We were nearing Jesse"s car, well Father Dominic"s car in the parking lot. Once we were next to the car. Kara made a face. "Yuck! You drive an old people"s car." She said to Jesse. Jesse laughed. "Well, you did call me old." He said. Kara looked at me. "Suze, right?" asked Kara and I nodded my head. "You"re dating an old man. You need a new boyfriend." said Kara. "I don"t think so." I said shaking my head. Jesse, Kara and I got into the car. Kara sat in the back seat and fasted her seat belt, which was funny, because she could just sit on the roof top easily and fall off since she was already dead, but at least she was showing a good example for Mediators her age, not that six year old Mediators know they"re Mediators or shifters, but they could still see their peer fastening their seat belt in the back of a car. Sitting on a roof top on the other hand, while a car in motion, not a good example, so I didn"t let Kara know this. Besides, one day she"ll realize this for her, but hopefully she"ll be where she belongs by then, which Heaven, Hell, her next life is or whatever. We drove to my house and then Kara looked up at it in amazing eyes as she stepped out. I answered her question without her evening asking. "It used to be a boarding house." I said. I looked at Jesse. "Well, I"ll call you Querida." He said. "You"re not coming inside?" I asked. Jesse shook his head. "Father Dominic wants the car back at a certain time." said Jesse. Kara looked up at us. "Who is this father Dominic?" She asked. "A priest." I said. "Oh." said Kara. Then I looked at Jesse. "Well, then don"t forget to call." I said and leaned over to give him a kiss. As Jesse and I were kissing, Kara said, "Yuck!" Then Jesse got into his or father Dominic"s car and drove away. I let Kara into my house. My mom and Andy were in the living room watching a movie. "I like your house." said Kara. "Thanks." I said. Then my mom and Andy looked at me. So I smiled to them. "Thanks for liking Jesse." "Oh, your welcome." My mom said. "I just don"t get why what happened on Sunday bothers him so much." "I don"t know." I said. "See you." But before I could go up to my room with Kara my mom said, "Paul called." "How many boyfriends do you have?" asked Kara. "Are you cheating on the old man?" "You haven"t even met the old man." I whispered down to her thinking of father Dominic. "You mean there"s more boy?" asked Kara. "No." I said. "Is everything okay?" asked my mom confused. "Suzie did Paul and you have a fight? Do you not want to talk to him?" "No." I said. "I"ll call him." I walked up the stairs and Kara followed me. "Who"s Paul?" she asked me. "Tell me! Tell me! Is he younger than Jesse? You do need a new man." I walked into my room and Kara stopped behind me. "I like your room." She said. "Where are your dolls?" "I"m seventeen." I said. "A decade older than you!" "Oh." said Kara disappointed. "Then you are old. Remember, I can"t tell time." "I know." I said reaching for the phone and lying down on my bed. "So how many boyfriends do you have?" asked Kara looking out my bay window. "Just one, Jesse and I love him." I said. I dialed Paul"s number. "Then who"s Paul?" asked Kara. "Another Shifter." I said. "How many shifters are there?" asked Kara was confused eyes. "There are so far five other than myself that I know of." I said. Then I frowned. "All men." I heard Paul"s voice. "Paul." I said. "My mom said you called." "Yeah Suze." said Paul. "You need to come over." "Why?" I asked. "So you could try to get your tongue in my throat. Paul, you"re with Kelly and I"m with Jesse, when are you going to-." Paul interrupted me, "-we made an agreement a long time ago, why do you even think I"m still interested in you, oh it"s because you want me to be." "That is not true!" I yelled. "Then stop bringing it up." said Paul. "It"s about Shifting." I thought for a second. "Tell me there"s not more than we already know." I said. "Oh, there is." said Paul. "I found other one of my grandfather"s articles. I thought of you Suze, because you"re going to like this one." I thought for another second. "What is it?" I asked. "You have to come over." said Paul. I looked at Kara, who was still on my bay window watching amazingly. "Can it get rid of a six year old ghost?" I asked. Kara put her hands on her hips. "Sorry." I said to her. "What!" asked Paul. "I"ll come over, but not alone." I said. "Oh, please Suze, you don"t have to bring your precious Jesse." said Paul. "I won"t." I said. "I"m bringing my new friend Kara." Kara smiled at me and put up two thumbs up. A/N: Another Cliff hanger, I know...I know, please don"t hate me, but review! Thanks! Summary: Its Suze"s first Christmas with the Ackerman"s and with Jesse of course. Suze doesn"t want that much for Christmas except for Jesse or to see her father who has moved on again. But what happens when Suze learns there"s even more to the whole Mediator thing? Like being able to see someone who has moved on for one day? Not only that, Suze"s plans for Christmas are basically spoiled, when she and Jesse come across a six year old ghost who got hit by a car. Will they travel to the past to save her or was the little girl meant to die in the first place? Spotted Mistakes: Some typo"s appeared in the last chapter, just ignore them. A/N: My documents haven"t been working for a few days and it has been driving me insane, but everything"s better now, so here"s the next chapter. Chapter Three "She better be hot." said Paul. "She"s only six." I said. "Oh, Suze." said Paul. "We"ll be there in ten minutes. I just have to ask my mom if I can borrow her car, so if I"m not there in ten minutes, it means I can"t go." I said. "Uh, Suze, sneak out and it"s not like your mom can see the six year old." "Whatever. See ya." I hung up the phone and looked at Kara. "We"re going to Paul"s." I said. "Is he cooler than Jesse?" asked Kara excited. "Um...no." I said. "But he"ll be able to see me right?" asked Kara. I nodded. "He"s a shifter." Whatever he wants should be important. I asked my mom if I could borrow her car and go to Paul"s. She agreed just as long as I was back by dinner. Andy had this rule that everyone else should be at the dinner table by dinner time, or else excused. This was going to be an interrupted dinner, because of Kara, she might not even know that she can"t eat anymore, and we were having Andy"s best Salmon, mashed potatoes and some asparagus. I drove to Paul"s house and Kara was even more amazed by his house than my own. "Is he a rich boy?" asked Kara. Then she saw Paul"s car in the drive way. "At least he doesn"t drive an old person"s car, so I suppose he"s rich, right?" "Yes, he"s rich." I said. Kara and I headed to Paul"s door, but before I got the chance to ring the bell, Paul opened the door and looked straight down at Kara. "Well, she"s not hot, but she"s a pretty little thing." said Paul. Kara breathed in some air and touched her heart. "Just like in the movies." She said. I rolled my eyes and Paul welcomed us in. We headed upstairs. "So what"s this new shifter discovery, Paul?" I asked. Kara and I followed Paul down the hall way to his room. We passed Dr. Slaski"s room, which by the way, he was in worse condition then ever. He was going to die soon, sad, but now every time I thought of it, Paul is only seventeen, wouldn"t he have to move back home if his grand father died? On the other hand, Dr. Slaski would be a ghost, so he could still watch over the law, but yet again, no one knows that Paul is a mediator or shifter, therefore if Dr. Slaski died, Paul is out my life. I always kept that to myself. Paul would totally fight back if I mentioned any of by theory on what would happen to him, if his grandfather died, Paul would have to go back to his parents, but with Christmas only a few days away, I didn"t want to think about this. Kara and I walked into Paul"s room. "You"re room is so cool. Maybe even cooler than Suze"s." said Kara. "Now Simon, where did you get this one from?" asked Paul looking at Kara as she explored his room. "The mall." I said. "She got hit by a car a few days ago. She didn"t even know she was dead, until I told her." Paul looked at Kara. "She reminds me of Jack. Why can"t Jack just take care of her?" he asked. "Jack is a little older than her, so that would make them peers, he wouldn"t be able to kick her ass if she did something stupid, would he?" I asked. "Well, I can send her right now." said Paul. "Let her figure out why she"s here first." I said. "Maybe we can prevent her from dying." "Maybe." said Paul. "But, we better not, because it"s true, we would end up like my grandfather." I looked at Paul. "Is that what you just discovered?" I asked. "No." said Paul shaking his head. Paul sat down on his bed. I sat down too. It"s not like he can do anything to me with Kara here, well unless he decides to send Kara to the great beyond, but I won"t let him. "Well, then what did you find out?" I asked. "How would you feel if you could see your father again?" asked Paul. "What?" I asked. "It appears that shifters can bring back someone from the dead for one day once in a lifetime." Well, it would be nice if I could see my dad for Christmas, but it would be even better if I could have him for my wedding day. This was going to be hard. I miss my dad. I actually sometimes wish that he still was stuck around. I just asked, "Can I see every ghost at least once, not just pick one?" Paul nodded. There were a few ghost that I wouldn"t want to see again, Maria de Silva and her Diego guy. But with Paul, you never know, he might bring them back to kill Jesse, but then again, I can always bring Jesse to life, by going back in time, but not that again, that really scared me, when I thought Jesse would die, but on the other hand, wouldn"t he be a ghost? But then again, which ghost the one from centuries ago, or my Jesse? I shook my head. I"m glad that"s over. I just hoped Paul wouldn"t have ideas like those. So just like with my thought about his grandfather, I kept quiet. "Oh." I said. "That"s actually pretty cool." I nodded. I looked from Paul and noticed that Kara was not around. "Kara!" I yelled. "Maybe she decided to move on." said Paul. "Like she knows how to do that?" I asked rushing to the hall way. I looked into every room with Paul, but the only room that held Kara"s sweet little voice, was Dr. Slaski who was there with his attendant who took care of him. "Hello Susan." said Dr. Slaski"s attendant. Then he looked at Paul. "You"re grandfather seems to be talking to himself. He never talks to anyone; it"s amazing how he can talk, after thinking that he might die on us any day, maybe some miracle is about to strike." "He can see me too?" asked Kara pointing at Dr. Slaski. "So he can talk and see the dead." Then Kara pointed at Dr. Slaski"s attendant. "He can"t see me! I can make fun of him!" "There"s nothing to make fun off." I said. Dr. Slaski"s attendant looked at me. "It"s for other people. They shouldn"t make fun of this. This is serious." I said. Dr. Slaski looked at his attendant. You all think I"m stupid." He said. The attendant held his heart. "I think I"m going to have a heart attack. The only time he ever spoke to me was when he wanted a beer." He said. "Now, can you please leave me alone for a few minuets?" asked Dr. Slaski. "Yes, sir." The attendant said and left the room. "Close the door, Paul." said Dr. Slaski and Paul did so. "Now who is she?" "I"m Kara." said Kara. "Is this the Father Dominic you talked about?" I shook my head. "This is Dr. Slaski. Paul"s grandfather." "Oh." said Kara. "I want to see my grandparents." "Okay, Kara." I said. "Now which one of you is responsible for this ghost?" asked Dr. Slaski. Paul pointed to me. "Keep an eye on little ones. They come out of no where and scare me." said Dr. Slaski. "I"m sorry." I said. "Well, you guys run along now. The Price is Right is about to come on." said Dr. Slaski. Paul, Kara, who hasn"t discovered that she can walk through doors, she needs to watch more ghost movies, and I walked out of Dr. Slaski"s room. His attendant looked at us, well except for Kara, who he couldn"t see. "Did he talk to you?" he asked. Paul nodded. "Yeah, but now he doesn"t understand a thing." He said. "Hmmm." said the attendant. "He only has a few weeks to live. It would be a huge miracle if he all of a sudden recovered." "Yes." said Paul nodding. "Now who is this guy?" asked Kara pointing to him. "Dr. Slaski"s attendant." I answered. Dr. Slaski"s attendant looked at me. "Yes, Susan?" he asked. "Um." I said. "How many more weeks is Dr. Slaski actually going to live for?" Dr. Slaski"s attendant shrugged. "We really don"t know." He said. "Oh." I said. "Okay." "Thank you." said Paul. The attendant nodded and headed back for the room. "I better make sure he"s okay." He said. Paul nodded. "Yes, thank you." The attendant returned to Dr. Slaski"s room and Paul just smiled. "If my grandfather dies, it makes no difference, we"ll still see him." "Can I go now?" I asked. "Well, don"t you want to know how to bring your father home for Christmas?" asked Paul. "I don"t know Paul." I said. "I"ll call you if I plan on seeing him. I have to return the car to my mom." "Well, don"t you rather know now than later?" asked Paul. I looked down at Kara who was just watching Paul and I talk. "I don"t know." I said. "Find out if this affects our health first, because really..." I looked at Dr. Slaski"s closed bedroom door. "I rather stay alive than risk my life." I took Kara by the hand and began to walk down the hall way. Paul stopped us. "Not for your father? I mean if this was Jesse, you would want to know everything." He said. "Jesse"s alive." I said. "Not if I kill him." "Paul, we made a deal." I said. "I was only kidding, Simon." "This isn"t funny. I"ll give you a call if I change my mind; right now I just need my break. Christmas is only five days away." Paul smiled. "Merry Christmas Suze and the little one." I continued to walk down the hall. "Merry Christmas." said Kara waving good bye to Paul. As I got into the car with Kara I was thankful that the Juniperro Serra Mission had a two weekend break, because I really didn"t feel like seeing Paul"s face tomorrow, or for a while. Paul is stupid. I thought. He won"t kill Jesse. He has a dying grandfather. He can"t do much. He"s only seventeen, but I felt scared as I drove Kara and myself home. I parked my mom"s car out front and as I walked in, this time instead of saying that Paul called, my mom told me that Jesse called. I was so glad as I called Jesse back upstairs in my room and Kara sat down on my bay window as usual. I guess she"s not going any where for a while, so I should get used to her. "Hello." answered Father Dominic. Jesse still lived in the rectory and Father Dominic found an apartment for Jesse to live in, but he needed two more pay checks to move in. "Hi, Father D." I said. "It"s Suze." "I know who you are. You"re lucky that every time you call Jesse, I pick up. Besides who else calls me Father D or Father Dom?" asked Father Dominic. "If it"s not you, then I always hang up." I said. "And always call back." said Father Dominic. "I heard that Jesse and you met a little girl today. Kara right?" "Yes." I said. "And she got hit by a car?" "Yes and she didn"t know that she was dead." I looked over at Kara. "Is she with you all the time?" "Yes." "Don"t let her out of sight. Young ghost are hard to deal with." "I know." I didn"t tell Father Dominic about Kara"s escape to Dr. Slaski. It"s too embarrassing to admit that I already let her out of eye sight. "Well, I guess I"ll let you talk to Jesse." said Father Dominic. "Thank you Father D." I said. A few seconds later, my boyfriend"s voice was on the other end, "Susannah." He said. "I called you, but your mother said that you were at Slater"s house." "Yes." I said. "Oh, Jesse." I sat down on my bed and looked at Kara who was rolling her eyes. "Paul said that he found a way that he can bring a ghost back for one day." "You"re thinking about Diego, aren"t you?" asked Jesse. "Well, not only him." "Maria?" "My dad." "What"s wrong with bringing him back for a day?" "I don"t know. I just don"t trust Paul. This could be a trap." "Oh, Susannah." said Jesse. "Don"t you cry for me." I said. Jesse laughed. "Querida, Don"t worry about Paul Slater. He"ll never change. No matter what deal you make with him." "I know, Jesse. I just thought this all was over. I just wish this was all over and now my Christmas is going to be ruined and I have five days to decide if I want to see my dad for Christmas." I said. "Well, do you really miss him?" asked Jesse. "Since the second he left." "Well, then go for it, Querida. Find out more." "If Paul"s telling the truth, but I don"t know if I want to see my dad. I"ll always miss him and now I know how my mom feels or felt. I mean I could miss him in ten years and regret seeing him on Christmas." "Querida, follow your heart." "I will." I said sighing. "Tell Father Dominic about this. I have something else to worry about." I looked over at Kara who was looking out the window. "Like sleeping arrangements." "How is she?" asked Jesse. Breaking the rule that I have to have an eye on Kara all the time, I walked into the bathroom. "At Paul"s, she ran away to Dr. Slaski." I said. "Why?" asked Jesse. "I don"t know to explore the house. I"m just scared what"s going to happen at Dinner. I wonder if she knows yet that she can"t eat. I"m surprised she didn"t know she was dead. I mean when did she get hit by a car? I know a few days ago, but I just don"t know." I walked out of the bathroom and thankfully Kara was still on sitting on the bay window. She looked at me. "Find out where she lived, so you can talk to her parents." said Jesse. "And tell them what?" I asked. "That I can speak and see-." "-yes." Interrupted Jesse, because he knew that I was going to say Kara and she was right there in front of me. "Jesse, you do it, because it never works with me." I said. "Susannah." said Jesse. My life is kind of annoying. Instead of talking on the phone with my boyfriend like a normal person about what we"re going to do next, celebrities, the weather or school, Jesse and I get to talk about Mediating or Shifting, or whatever and the ghost we run into. It really isn"t fair. I seriously need a vacation. Over the spring, when my best-friend Gina from New York was visiting, I had to deal with four teen ghosts and a nerd. Over the summer, I met Paul and he almost sent Jesse to the great beyond. Now it"s Winter Break and instead of getting a break, Kara shows up. Maybe I should just let Father Dominic have her or maybe I should just act like Paul and sent her to the great beyond myself. "Maybe I should just do what Paul does and sent her where she belongs?" I said to Jesse. Kara looked at me. "Are you talking about me?" she asked. I nodded. "Why?" she asked. "Where do I belong?" "In heaven or your next life." I said. I very doubt that innocent Kara was going to end up in hell. "Heaven?" asked Kara. "That sounds so nice. That"s where the Angels live right? Can you see them?" "No." I shook my head. "I can"t see them." Then I remembered that Jesse was on the other line. "I"ll call you tomorrow." I said. "I"ll call you. Have a nice dinner, Querida. I"ll work on getting a cell phone." said Jesse. "Me too." I said. "Just get your own place first." "I will Querida at Carmel apartments." "Bye." I said. "Bye." I hung up and sat the phone down. Then I sat down next to Kara on the bay window. "I don"t know where you go from here, but I think it"s a good place, so don"t worry about it. You have to go eventually." I said.

Joey looked at Ginger. "But if it doesn"t work out and we end up hating each other?" asked Joey. "I"ll try to as long as you don"t give me a reason too. " Ginger smiled. "I"m in for this relationship." Joey smiled back. Then he said, "Michelle asked me a couple a days ago to adopt her." "Really?" asked Ginger in shock. "Yes." said Joey. "Now I have a reason to. We"ll figure this out." "Yes, we will. My mom is here to help." said Ginger. "Yes, she helped me a lot." Ginger smiled again. She and Joey heard foot steps on the stairs. "I"m going to go find Steve." said DJ heading to the living room, but checking the fridge first to see if there is any evidence if he took anything out. She would know because the fridge immediately would be empty if Steve ate anything, since the Katsopolis liked the fridge stocked. To DJ"s surprise, the fridge was full, so DJ headed to the living room. Ginger and Joey stood up. "So I guess we need family counseling." said Michelle and Melanie at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed. "Wow, I needed that." said Michelle. "Girls." said Ginger looking at Michelle and Melanie, then at Joey. "Joey and I would like to continue dating, if its okay with you two." "Of course." said the girls. "We"ll figure out a way to work it all. It"ll be okay." said Joey. "Dad." said Michelle. Joey looked at Michelle startled. Michelle gave Joey a hug. Joey was used to Michelle giving him hugs once a while, but this time he knew it was coming from his daughter. "Yeah, dad." said Melanie hugging Joey too. Before they knew it, all four of the people standing in the kitchen were hugging. The truth was out and everyone knew, but there was yet for one person to found out.\ A/N: I just want to point out that at the same time that Vicky was dumping Danny, DJ, Michelle and Melanie were in the basement talking and Joey and Ginger were talking in the kitchen. That is why it took a few lines before DJ, Michelle, and Melanie came into the kitchen. I hope you enjoyed. Please Review! Thanks! A/\N: I will have chapter nineteen finally up sometime this week. Chapter Two Danny Tanner arrived at his girlfriend"s Vicky"s house. He stepped out of the car and took a deep breath. He headed over right to her door and rang the bell. Vicky opened the door ten seconds later wearing a long blue dress. "Danny." She said. Her brown curly hair was pulled up. "Did I miss one of our anniversary"s are something?" "No. Can"t a man take the woman he loves out somewhere different?" asked Danny. Vicky nodded. "I guess he can. I"ll be right out." Danny waited for Vicky for about two minutes until she stepped right out of her house. Danny and Vicky walked over to Danny"s car. Once they were inside, Danny started the car and backed out of Vicky"s driveway. They talked about their days while they drove for fifteen minutes. When they arrived at the restaurant, a valet took Danny"s car to park it for him. "A valet? Now Danny how expensive is this restaurant?" asked Vicky. The restaurant was actually inside a five start hotel. Danny took Vicky"s hand and the two headed inside the hotel. To the right was the restaurant. Danny and Vicky approached the hostess stand. "Two please." said Danny as the Valet parker returned with his keys. "Name?" asked the hostess who was a girl with blond hair probably around DJ"s age. "Danny Tanner." "It"s going to be twenty minutes." said the hostess handing Danny his ticket. Danny and Vicky went back to the front lobby. Vicky sat down and Danny told her he"d be right back. He made a quick call to make sure he had a violin player approach their table before he was to propose. "My name is Danny Tanner. I"m with a woman with a long blue dress. We"ll be sitting at a two top and I"m going to propose to her tonight." He said to the pay phone he was using. "I"ll ask the hostess if I can"t find you." said the man he was talking to on the other line. "What time do you want me to send the violin player?" "Right before our dessert arrives." answered Danny. "All right; it taken care of." said the man. "Thank you." Danny hung up and returned to Vicky. He sat down next to her. Vicky was already figuring out what everything was about, but she didn"t want to be wrong about it. Danny asked her to marry him before during a fireworks display. Why would he go all out this time? The couple waited the twenty minutes and then was sited by the hostess. They started to look through the menus they were handed. "Everything looks so expensive. Danny, are you sure about this place?" asked Vicky. "It"s not like we eat in these types of places every weekend Vicky." said Danny. Vicky nodded. A young man with dark hair approached them. "Hello, my name is Richard and I"ll be your waiter for the night. May I start you off with some drinks and appetizers?" He took out a pen and note pad. "I"d like your best red wine, two glasses please, and a glass of water." said Danny. "I"ll have a glass of water too." said Vicky. "I think I"ll past on the appetizer." said Danny. "Can I have the clow slaw salad?" asked Vicky. "Coming right up and would like some wheat bread with that?" asked Richard. "Vicky?" asked Danny. Vicky nodded. "I"ll be right back." said Richard leaving Danny"s and Vicky"s table. Vicky looked around the restaurant. "These people look really rich." She said. "Don"t worry about them." said Danny. Richard appeared with their drinks, wheat bread and Vicky"s salad. "I"ll be back to take your meal orders." Danny poured wine for himself and Vicky. He handed Vicky her glass, and the both of them lifted their glasses. "To us at this amazing restaurant." He said. "To us." said Vicky and they clicked their glasses. Joey arrived nervous and a little late to Ginger"s house. He stopped by the store to get a bouquet of flowers for Ginger and a box of chocolate for Melanie. Then he got a flat tire and had to wait to get that changed, but luckily he had a spear tire and made sure to give Ginger a call. Ginger opened the door as soon as Joey arrived. "These are for you." said Joey handing Ginger her flowers. "Thank you." said Ginger smiling and taking the flowers from Joey. She closed the door behind him. This was Joeys first time in Ginger"s and Melanie"s home. "I"m going to find a vase for these flowers while you go ahead to the dinning room." said Ginger. Joey walked into the dinning room. The Katsopolis didn"t have a dining room therefore everyone always ate in the kitchen. The dining room was a lot smaller than the Katsopolis living room and kitchen. It had pink carpet and smelled like perfume. There was no food yet on the dining room table. The table was just set for three people. Ginger returned with the flowers that Joey gave her and set them in a yellow vase right on the table. "I also have this box of chocolates for Melanie." said Joey holding up the box of chocolate. "That"s so nice of you and also it was nice of you to give me a call that you"d be late. Thank you." said Ginger. "I"ll call down Melanie as soon as the food is settled. What would you like to drink?" "Do you have any orange juice?" asked Joey placing the box of chocolate on the table. "Yes." said Ginger. The kitchen was across the hall from the dining room and visible too. The kitchen was the same size as the dining room, painted a sun flower yellow and had white cabinets, as well as an Island for breakfast. Ginger returned with three glasses and a cartoon of orange juice. "Here you go. So how did you get the flat tire?" she asked going back to the kitchen. "I have no idea. I was just driving and the front right side of car felt like it was sinking." said Joey pouring himself some orange juice into his glass. Ginger returned with a bowl of mashed potatoes. "It happens." She said. Then she went back to the kitchen to get the gravy. "But did you have spear tire?" "Yeah, thankfully." said Joey taking a sip of his orange juice. "Well, if you only had one, I recommend you go and buy another one." said Ginger coming with the gravy. "Do you need any help?" asked Joey. "You"re our guest. If I needed help, I"d get Melanie. I just have three more things to grab anyway." said Ginger going back to the kitchen. "All right." said Joey taking another sip of his orange juice. Melanie returned with a salad bowl and asparagus. "Everything looks good." said Joey. "Thank you." said Ginger. As Ginger was in the kitchen getting the carrots, she yelled, "Melanie! Come down here!" Ginger returned back to the dining room and Joey stood up with the box of chocolate. There was no sound of Melanie coming. "Melanie!" yelled Ginger again. Still there were no foot steps. "I"m coming!" yelled Melanie. There was something in the way that Melanie said, "I"m coming" that reminded Joey of Michelle. Joey and Ginger could hear the sound of Melanie coming down the stairs and her feet against the stair"s carpet. Joey took a deep breathe and when Melanie walked into the dining room. Joey could not believe what he saw. A/N: Cliff hanger, I know, but it"s pretty easy to guess, thanks to the summary, what Joey might"ve seen. Please Review. A/N: I would like to apologize for taking so long to update this fan fiction. Chapter Three "Joey, this is Melanie. Melanie, this is Joey." said Ginger. Joey hesitated to shake Melanie"s hand. Melanie was like a clone of Michelle. Joey was speechless too. "Hi." said Melanie. That same voice killed Joey the most. "Hi." Joey forced to say out of his mouth. "Well, how about we began?" asked Ginger sitting down across from Joey. Melanie also sat down. Melanie looked down at the table. "Mom, what about the chicken cordon blue?" she asked with the Michelle voice again. "Um, yes the chicken cordon blue." said Ginger smiling. "I forgot." She stood up and ran to the kitchen. Joey looked at Ginger, but it was so hard to look at her since she looked so much like Michelle. When Ginger returned from the kitchen with a plate filled with three chicken cordons blue, it hit Joey why Melanie looked so much like Michelle. "So, Melanie, when"s your birthday?" he asked. Melanie answered. Her birthday was the same day as Michelle"s. "What are your hobbies?" asked Joey grabbing a chicken cordon blue to put on his plate. "I like shopping and horse back riding." said Melanie. Joey couldn"t believe his ears since Michelle liked shopping and horse back riding too. "Joey lives with a fifteen year old girl." said Ginger filling her plate with a chicken cordon blue as well. Ginger turned to Joey. "Maybe we could take the girls somewhere with us." She said. "Maybe." said Joey looking at Melanie again. Melanie took a chicken cordon blue and in silence all three of them filled their plates up. Joey kept asking Melanie questions through out dinner. Everything about her looks and ways of doing things were very similar to Michelle. Melanie was adopted and identical to Michelle. Melanie had to be the girl that Danny put up for adoption after Pam"s death. It was clear that Melanie and Michelle were twin sisters. Richard cleared Danny and Vicky"s dinner plates. "I"ll be right back to take your dessert order." said Richard. "Thank you." said Vicky and Richard left. "That was probably the best dinner I had in years." said Vicky. "I"m glad." said Danny. He reached across the table and put his hand over hers. "I love you." "I love you too." said Vicky smiling. Richard returned. "Okay, what would you like?" he asked taking out his note pad. "Chocolate cake." said Danny. "I"ll have the strawberry mousse." said Vicky. "Okay." said Richard leaving the table again. Danny noticed a violin player behind a fake palm tree. It must be his violin player. Danny began to feel nervous again. His palms began to sweat. The violin player approached Danny and Vicky"s table and began to play. Everyone in the nearby tables looked. Danny"s palms started sweating even more. "Vicky, you mean the world to me." said Danny. Vicky, who was looking at the violin player, looked at Danny. Danny stood up. "I want to wake up next to you for the rest of my life. I want to be there for you forever." Danny kneeled down before Vicky. "Danny." said Vicky softly. "Vicky, will you marry?" asked Danny. Vicky felt a few tears drop down her face. "Yes." She said. The two of them hugged, and everyone, and the violin player who stopped playing, clapped. When Vicky and Danny stopped hugging, everyone returned to their food on their tables and the violin player congratulated them and left their table. "I"m not going to leave you for New York ever again." said Vicky. "This time I promise I won"t leave you. I love you." Danny reached across the table and put his hand over Vicky"s again. "How about after dessert we get ourselves a hotel room?" asked Danny. Vicky nodded and hers and Danny"s desserts arrived. At Ginger"s house, it was time for dessert. "How about we have the dessert in the living room?" asked Ginger. "I made some apple pie." "It"s the best." said Melanie. Michelle thinks the same thing about Becky"s apple pie. Joey thought to himself. "Okay." He said. "Would you like some coffee with your pie?" asked Ginger getting up. "I"ve became best friends with the orange juice tonight." said Joey getting up. Ginger began to clear the table and Joey began to help her. "Joey I have a daughter." said Ginger looking at Melanie who was finishing the lasts of her carrots. Melanie looked up at Joey and at her mom. "Don"t worry Joey. I"ll help my mom clean the rest." She said. "See?" asked Ginger. "Now you go and sit down in the living room. We"ll be right there." "Okay." said Joey pouring himself more orange juice and heading across the hall to the living room. Joey walked into the living room. The living room was a bit larger than the dining room and kitchen. It had the same pink carpet as the dining room, but a different kind of smell, a smell like oranges. The walls in the living room were a shade of red. There was a decent sized TV in the living room. A couple of book shelves and couches with flower designs on them. Joey sat down on one of the couches. The coffee table in front of him had a clear bowl with weird orange shapes inside them. Next to the bowl were two remotes. Joey then noticed pictures all over the living room. Most of them were pictures of Melanie and they looked exactly like Michelle. Ginger and Melanie walked in. Ginger was holding a tray with three plates, and a plate of apple pie on it, as well as a knife next to the pie. Ginger set the tray down and sat down next to Joey. Melanie sat down across from them. Joey looked at the bowl in front of him again. "What"s in there?" he asked. "It"s the stuff that makes this room smell orange." said Melanie. "Oh." said Joey. "We"re actually thinking of making the walls in this room orange, that"s why we got the scent to see how it goes with us." said Ginger. Joey looked at Ginger. He never heard of anyone buying a scent to see how it goes with them. "Well, it"s a good thing I decided to stick with my orange juice." He said. Joey was holding his glass the whole time. "Yes." said Ginger nodding her head. Joey looked across the table at Melanie. What is he going to do? Michelle"s twin is his girlfriend"s daughter. "I know that also we have a lot of pictures in this room. Would you like to see more?" asked Ginger. "Sure." Joey nodded his head and Ginger got up to get a photo album. "So who is the fifteen year old you live with?" asked Melanie. "My friend"s daughter." said Joey. "And why does she live with you?" Melanie raised an eye brow. "It"s a long story." said Joey. It"s a story that he can"t tell Melanie because she"ll realize that the Tanner"s are her family. Ginger sat down next to Joey and handed him the photo album. Joey put his glass down. Then Ginger began to cut the apple pie into pieces. Joey opened the photo album. On the first page was a birth certificate, then a copy of an adoption paper. Joey flipped a page and saw a photo of Ginger holding Melanie. He looked closely at Melanie. She looked like a copy of Michelle. On every photo, he basically saw baby Michelle. Joey finished looking at the photo album and handed it back to Ginger. Then he had one piece of pie. Melanie was finishing her piece up. "I"ll be in my room." She said getting up from the couch and leaving the living room. "Do you want some wine?" asked Ginger. "Do you have orange wine?" joked Joey. "Oh, Joey." "I think one glass won"t hurt." "Okay." said Ginger getting up. Joey got up to stretch. He had no idea what he was going to do about Michelle and Melanie. How is he going to keep them apart? He can"t break Ginger"s heart by taking her daughter away by returning her to Danny. On Other hand, Melanie would never forgive Danny for what he did. Should he tell Ginger? Should he break up with Ginger? But Joey really does like Ginger. Joey smiled when Ginger returned with wine and two glasses. Joey opened the bottle and poured the wine for him and Ginger. "To a long relationship." said Ginger. Ginger and Joey clicked their glasses. A/N: I hope you all liked it. Please Review. A/N: I would like to thank everyone who has already reviewed my story. You guys rock! Chapter Four Michelle Tanner woke up from a long sleep. She kept wondering if her dad was engaged to Vicky or not. Danny didn"t call Michelle and she couldn"t wait to found out. Michelle got out of bed kicking her green bed sheets to the side. She stood up and stretched. Her alarm clock read 10 am. Michelle ran quickly for the stairs. In the kitchen were only Becky and Will. Becky was feeding Will some cereal at the table. "Good morning, Michelle." said Becky as soon as she saw her niece appear in the kitchen with her red pajama pants and white long tee-shirt on. "Is dad up?" asked Michelle grabbing a seat next to her little cousin. "Surprisingly, no." said Becky. "That"s so unlike him; wouldn"t he be excited to tell us the good news?" Michelle then frowned. "It must be bad then." Becky shrugged. "But if she rejected his proposal than he would be up cleaning." She said. Michelle nodded her head as Will ate the last of his cereal. Nicky and Alex came downstairs. "Good morning." said Becky. "Good morning." replied the twins. They sat down reaching for the cereal, bowls and milk on the table. While the twins were filling up their bowls, Danny burst through the kitchen door holding Vicky"s hand. "We"re engaged and we already set a date!" yelled Danny. "Oh, dad." said Michelle running up to her father and giving him a hug. Then she hugged Vicky too. "Congratulations." "Did you call the church?" asked Becky. "We will right now." said Danny reaching for the phone. It was the month of April and Danny wanted to marry Vicky as soon as possible. It wasn"t because he was afraid that she"d leave and take a job somewhere, it was that he and Vicky waited so long. Danny took the phone upstairs. Nicky looked up from his cereal. "Are Uncle Danny and Michelle going to move out now?" he asked. Becky shrugged and quickly looked at Vicky and Michelle, who didn"t know the answer. "What time did Danny stop by this morning?" asked Becky. Vicky pulled out a chair and blushed. "Actually, he never really stopped by." said Vicky. Becky nodded her head. "I see." Michelle reached for the cereal, milk and a bowl in front of her. Jesse and Joey came downstairs. "Break time." said Jesse. Joey looked at Michelle. He was 100 positive that Melanie is Michelle"s twin sister. It"s the only thing that makes sense. "How is everyone this morning?" asked Jesse. Vicky waved her hand in the air to get Jesse to notice her ring. "Congratulations, Vicky." said Jesse. Danny came back downstairs and everyone who wasn"t eating yet, started to help themselves with breakfast. "I set a date for the first week of October." said Danny. He gave Vicky a kiss. "What about the place for the reception?" asked Becky. "The backyard." said Danny. "If it"s okay with you." Becky and Jesse smiled at each other. "This is your home too Danny." said Becky. "Thank you." said Danny. Later that day, Michelle came up to Joey"s attic to ask him about his meeting with Melanie. "It was okay." said Joey who couldn"t even look at Michelle, because she looked so much like Melanie. "Details." said Michelle sitting down on Joey"s green bean bag. "Well, um, you two would have nothing in common if that"s what you"re wondering." lied Joey. "Well, I wasn"t wondering that. I mean yes I was wondering if maybe I could be friends with her, but I wasn"t wondering what and what we don"t have in common. I mean look at Denise; she despises horse back riding, but loves tennis, while I on the other hand, feel the opposite way about the two things." said Michelle. "But we both love shopping!" "What if you don"t have anything in common?" asked Joey sitting down on his blue couch. "I don"t know, so tell me, you walk through the front door and..." "It was just Ginger, but the girl came downstairs later." "Okay." Michelle nodded her head. "How did she look like?" Joey looked at Michelle. It was so hard looking at her. He wondered if he could maybe tell her the truth. He wanted to say, "She looks exactly like you", but instead he said. "She looks nothing like you." "Okay." laughed Michelle. "Well, I didn"t expect her to be my sister or anything."

It all comes to a head when they arrest Ari. They got Sarkissian on murder and drug trafficking and a bunch of other charges, and Logan decided that it was time to finally get Ari off the streets as well. Of course, it doesn"t go smoothly. When does it ever? "I go down, you go down too," Ari tells Briggs, spitting in his face and clearly not at all intimidated by the fact that there are two guns trained at him. "Don"t think you can walk away from this, guy." Briggs says something, but Mike can"t hear him over the roaring in his ears, loud as the sea on a stormy day. Mike sees him reaching for the handcuffs and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows that once Briggs actually makes the arrest, he"s finished. Ari will go to trial and Briggs will take the heat for what he"s done while he was undercover. What Logan sent him to do. There"s no hesitation. Mike lifts the gun and pulls the trigger. The sound echoes through the night, deafening. Ari goes down like a puppet whose strings have been cut. It takes a moment until the blood starts pooling around him. The shock written all over Briggs" face is almost comical. "Jesus, Mike." Funny, because Briggs was the one who had the idea in the first place, right at the beginning of the assignment, when things had already gone sideways but not catastrophically so. Back then, Mike tried to talk him out of it when he should really have asked, How can I help? "What the hell did you do that for?" Mike shrugs. "He shouldn"t have resisted arrest." There"s something in the way Briggs looks at him that makes his hackles rise. "Don"t start," he says, and the anger is adding to the pounding headache he can"t shake. Briggs is the last person who has the right to pass judgement, even if it wasn"t for the fact that Mike did it to protect him. Briggs raises his hands in a placatory gesture. "I wasn"t saying anything." Doesn"t mean he"s not thinking it. Mike clenches his teeth and calls it in. Another arrest gone wrong, another body bag. Same old, same old. Moving on. No big deal. He doesn"t lose any sleep over it. Maybe he should. He shot an unarmed man point-blank for no other reason than to cover up Briggs" part in several other people"s deaths. He remembers when he first came to Graceland, fresh out of the academy, with a firm set of morals and a clear idea where to draw the line between right and wrong. The line has been blurred so much that it"s become all but invisible, stained with the blood of those whose lives they took a gamble on and lost. The Mike who came to California - the one who was adamant to bring down Briggs for being Odin Rossi - would have been horrified, but there"s virtually nothing left of that man. The world"s not going to miss Ari Adamian. A lot of better people have died in those two years since Mike"s been here. Juan. Lena. Colby. Mike"s accepted his responsibility in their deaths and managed to move on. Compared to them, Ari isn"t even a blip on the fucking radar. He visits Bello in prison. It surprises him that Bello is willing to see him, after everything. He didn"t think Bello had anything left to say to him. Then again, maybe Bello isn"t quite done telling him that he"s the worst. An officer leads Bello into the room in handcuffs and sits him down at the small table opposite Mike. He seems fine, so whatever threat the Kaza cartel posed to him seems to have been neutralized. Mike makes a mental note to ask Briggs about it. Bello looks him up and down. "You look like shit, Michael." It"s one hell of a conversation opener. Mike laughs quietly and runs a tired hand over his face. "Trust me, I look better than I feel." Bello"s lip curls. "I would say something about karma, but something tells me it is nothing you"re not thinking yourself." It"s a little scary how well he"s still able to read Mike. "I also assume you know better than to come here fishing for information because I will not tell you a thing. Which makes me wonder why you wanted to see me." Why did he, exactly? Perhaps he didn"t entirely think this through. Perhaps this has been a terrible idea. Then again, what"s one more in the long string of terrible choices he"s made since he left Quantico. He forces himself not to avert his eyes and presses on. "Did you ever tell yourself you were a good guy? I know you have no illusions about yourself now, but was there ever a time when you did?" "Of course I did. Don"t we all start that way?" From the amusement swinging in Bello"s voice and the use of the plural pronoun, suggesting they"re alike, it"s obvious that he"s figured out where Mike"s questions were going to lead "You tell yourself that as long as you have good reasons for what you do, it justifies your actions. It is a slippery slope." His accent curves around vowels, almost but not quite taking the harshness out of his words. It feels strangely safe talking about this with Bello here, behind plexiglass fronts and steel bars. He"s under no illusion that, if Bello ever gets out, he"s going to come after Mike. Judging from the way he"s handled disloyalty among his people before, Mike could call himself lucky if he dies quickly. But now, here, he can almost believe that Bello is something like a friend, someone to confide his darkest secrets in and ask for advice. "How do you live with yourself? How can you look in the mirror knowing how many innocent people died because of something you did?" It sounds more accusing than he meant it to. He didn"t come here to pass judgement, or to tell Bello that however much he liked him personally, he finds what he did despicable. Bello leans back, folding his hands. The handcuffs rattle. "You could say that it all comes down to loyalty, in the end. As long as I believe that what I do helps the people I care for, I can accept whatever bad consequences my actions have. That"s why I was prepared to give up Odin Rossi to protect you. Of course, that was before I found out that you were the last person deserving of my loyalty. Who are you loyal to, Michael? Your precious Bureau? Your superiors, those men in ill-fitting suits who sit in fancy offices and give you orders?" Mike snorts, both at the idea of being loyal to the Bureau and at the reminder that a huge part of his assignment with Bello had been about chasing a phantom. Odin fucking Rossi. It all comes down to Briggs, every damn time. He wonders how Bello would react if he knew that the man he"d been protecting was FBI. He"d be at equal parts furious and amused, most likely. Mike"s fury has burnt itself out by now, muddled by the tangled mess of emotions Briggs keeps leaving in his wake. The line of thought brings a certain clarity along, because the mere fact that the knowledge of who Odin really was is confined to a bunch of people in Graceland speaks volumes about where Mike"s loyalties lie. "Loyalty is what lead me down this path in the first place," Mike admits. "So maybe, like you, I"ve placed my loyalty in the wrong people." He isn"t entirely sure if he means Briggs or the FBI, or both, nor does he know at which point exactly the two became altogether different - if not opposing - forces. There"s a speculative expression in the way Bello looks at him that makes Mike want to squirm in his seat and he has to force himself to sit still. "Maybe so. But once you have passed a certain point, there is no turning back. You should know that." Mike did, he does, but there"s a certain finality in hearing it from Bello. It"s unsettling and liberating at once. Briggs" eyes are following him around the house. The weight of his stare is heavy, unsettling, and omnipresent, from when he walks into the kitchen in the morning to late nights at the beach, sitting around the bonfire with the others. It"s like an itch Mike can"t scratch away. "What"s going on with you two?" Johnny asks one morning, after breakfast. Mike is glad it"s not Charlie, who knows Mike and Briggs and their secrets a bit too well to be pacified with a shrug and a casual, "Nothing, man. Just itching for a new case." As soon as Johnny"s out of earshot, Mike confronts Briggs. "If you have something to say, why don"t you say it?" It"s frustration, not anger that makes his voice shake. Sometimes Briggs acts like he has a monopoly on blurring the lines and he forgets that they"re all capable of terrible things. Mike, Paige, Johnny, Jakes... even Charlie. Briggs shuts the door to Mike"s room between himself and the others. "I"m just trying to figure out why you did it." And really, Briggs can"t be that clueless. Mike knows he isn"t. "Come on, you know why I did it." Briggs sits down on the bed, frowning up at him. "Yeah, I know, I just don"t get why. You were sent to Graceland to investigate me. But whenever you actually have some shit on me, you don"t use it and you"re doing your damnest to protect me. Charlie kept sitting on that tape because she was having my baby, but you? I don"t get why you weren"t handing in that fucking thing first chance you got. And Ari... You shot the guy to keep me out of prison. I brought this on myself, Mikey, and I know I"m going to go down for it eventually. I don"t want to pull you under with me." One of the reasons Briggs is such a good undercover agent is because he buys into his own lies. Doesn"t mean Mike has to. "The self-sacrificing act would be more believable if your first course of action when you thought I had the tape hadn"t been to have me killed during that bank job." It"s clear from the look of Briggs" face that he didn"t think Mike knew about that. Mike rolls his eyes. "What? I"m not stupid, okay?" Briggs" frown deepens. "How can you forgive me for that? How can you live in a house where two people tried to have you killed, and joke around with us at dinner, and fucking trust us with your life out there?" "You forget the part where you saved my life, what, three times so far?" He shrugs. It"s deflection. He doesn"t really believe that it balances each other out, saving someone"s life and trying to kill them. If he did, he would feel a hell of a lot less guilty about Bello, because then the tally would be firmly in his favor. The truth is, the two people who tried to have him killed also happen to be the ones he cares most about - and not just within the house. Bello is only half-right. It"s not just about loyalty, it"s also about love. "And that makes it alright?" "Maybe. Maybe not. I don"t know, man. You act like I have all the answers, but I don"t, okay? I didn"t exactly sit down and calmly think about how to handle the situation with Ari, make a list of pros and cons and sleep on it. He said he was going to bring you down, and I know he could, and I just reacted. I didn"t have a plan, it was just instincts." Mike can"t quite stand the way Briggs looks at him, like he blames himself for corrupting Mike, turning him into a person whose first instinct is to pull a gun and shoot a guy. He quickly changes the subject. "What happened during debriefing? Did Logan give you any trouble?" Briggs shrugs. "He didn"t say anything. Maybe they bought it. Or maybe they"ll send some green hotshot into the house to investigate all of us." "Because that worked so well the last time they tried it?" Mike means it as a joke, but Briggs grows serious. "I"m sorry, man. I know this wasn"t how you envisioned your career to go. Fast-track to Washington and all." What"s a cushy job when you can trade it in for getting shot, a drug addiction and friends who set you up to be killed? Mike"s smile hurts his face. "Don"t worry about it." Sometimes the pain still cuts through Mike like a white-hot knife, hitting him in the middle of the night until all he can do is clutch his side and squeeze his eyes shut and pray it"ll pass. Sometimes he wants nothing more than to pop some oxy and ride that high out until the end, wherever it takes him. Sometimes he locks himself in the bathroom and holds his head underwater until his lungs feel as if they"re going to burst. Sometimes he takes a drink too many, floors the gas a fraction too long when he goes into a curve, takes stupid risks on an assignment, and he wonders if he looks into the abyss for long enough, will something look back at him? Sometimes he goes to AA meetings and talks about his childhood. Sometimes he sits in the kitchen with the others, sauce night for once uninterrupted, Johnny"s jokes making him smile, and Briggs is a warm, steadying presence next to him. Sometimes he"s almost alright. The night after Charlie gives birth, when the nurses have chased them from the hospital so the happy but exhausted new mom can get some rest, Mike finds Briggs down at the beach. He"s sitting propped up against a piece of rock next to the fire with his back to the shore, facing the ocean. Even from a distance, Mike spots the bottle in Briggs" hands, and how tightly he"s clutching it, as if it was the only thing holding him up. When Mike gets closer, he turns his head. "Careful, Mikey. I shot the last guy who approached me when I was on the beach getting drunk." Mike"s step falters. The flames are throwing strange shadows on Briggs" face, making it impossible to read him. It"s hard to gauge his mood when he"s like this, and Mike"s not sure if he"s bring threatened or joked around with. ""course, he was also wearing a mask and pretending to be a sociopathic Mexican hitman, so I guess you"re safe." When Briggs offers him a sharp grin and hands him the bottle, Mike relaxes. So that"s what happened with Juan. Listening to the tape, Mike had guessed that what got Badillo killed had been a volatile situation of his own making. Briggs" explanation makes him wonder how the man could have been so monumentally stupid, especially if he already thought that Briggs was dangerous. "I promise I come in peace." Mike brings the bottle to his lips, the rim of the glass still warm and slick from Briggs" mouth. The alcohol burns down his throat. He winces. Tequila. Not his drink of choice. It tends to make him sick before the buzz really hits, so if Briggs is planning to get them drunk, he"d better be prepared to get puke on his shoes. Next to him, Briggs is staring into the fire, eyes clouded. "I have a kid, Mikey. I have a little baby boy." Mike smiles. "I know. I was there today at the hospital, remember?" "I"m not fit to be a dad." He takes the tequila back from Mike, their hands brushing on the bottle. "I"m a mess. Everything I touch turns to shit. I keep getting people killed. Before you met me, you were a righteous, innocent guy with a bright future. Now you don"t even blink when you kill people, you can"t look at an oxy delivery without starting to shake, and you"ll never make AD in your lifetime." Briggs isn"t completely off in his harsh assessment of Mike"s situation, but it still hurts to hear it being laid out so plainly. Mike swallows the lump in his throat, fighting down the rush of self-pity and anger. "I don"t think you can take full credit for what a mess I made of my life, Briggs." "Can"t I? Are you saying I didn"t corrupt you? Because it sure looks that way from where I"m standing." He"s about to take another swig of tequila and Mike thinks maybe he"s had enough, so he reaches over to snatch the bottle from Briggs" hands. It"s almost empty; it doesn"t take much to finish it off. Wiping his mouth, Mike drops it, and it hits the sand next to the fire without a sound. "Look, man. It"s not the same thing," he says. "You"ll love your kid. You"ll do whatever it takes to protect him." Briggs laughs, but there"s no mirth in it; it"s a terrible, harsh sound that clutches Mike"s heart tight like a fist and threatens to rip it out. "Fuck, Mike. If you think loving someone stops me from dragging them down with me, think again." He comes at Mike so violently that Mike expects a punch. In the flickering orange light of the fire, he looks angry, and Mike wonders what brought it on, can"t remember having said or done anything to deserve it. Mike flinches back when Briggs reaches for him, but the alcohol in his system has slowed his reflexes down too much to evade him. Briggs" hand tangles in his hair, pulling him closer, and Mike only realizes how much he misjudged the situation when Briggs" mouth is on his. Briggs kisses like he does everything else: all in, no holds barred, sink or swim. His fingers are rough in Mike"s hair, his stubble burns Mike"s skin and his teeth are drawing blood. Mike lets him wash over him like the tide, stunned into motionlessness by the force of the kiss. It"s over too soon. Briggs steps back. He looks more scared than Mike has ever seen him, all wide-eyed shock like he can"t believe he"s done this, like it"s the worst kind of mistake. Mike can already see Briggs" mind spinning, twisting this into yet another way he corrupted Mike, giving himself once again a hell of a lot more credit than he deserves for all the bad choices the people around him make. Fuck it, Mike thinks. He moves in until he"s crowding Briggs against the rock, close enough that he can see the fight-or-flight reflex flashing in Briggs" eyes. The air smells of smoke and the ocean, and he hasn"t felt this high since he"s been off oxy. His grin is probably a little on the maniac side, but he doesn"t care. He"s been wanting this for so long. He"ll be damned if he lets Briggs kill his buzz. "We doing this or what?" He swallows whatever protest Briggs is about to give with a kiss, every bit as vicious and brutal and relentless as the first one, giving himself a chance to savor the sharp metallic tang of tequila and blood. Morning hits him like a fright train. His head feels too sizes too big and the cotton-wool sensation in his mouth makes him scrunch up his face. It"s half past six. Sunshine filters through the window. Out on the shore, the seagulls are crying. From outside his door, he can hear Jakes and Johnny bickering. Next to him, Briggs is snoring softly. In his sleep, he looks more relaxed than Mike has seen him in months, like the demons raging inside of him are quiet for once. Mike feels almost guilty for disturbing him, but it"s only a matter of time before one of the others comes knocking at the door. His touches Briggs" shoulder and give him a gentle shake. "Hey." Briggs groans and sits up. Mike doesn"t particularly care to see the moment when realization hits Briggs, so he allows himself to be distracted by the way the sheets slip down, revealing tanned skin and toned muscles and pale scars. He can"t stop himself from reaching out and letting his fingers trail down the path of soft hair below Briggs" belly button. Briggs catches his hand, his hold on Mike"s wrist a little too tight. The pain should be a kill the arousal, not make it sky-rocket, but Mike has long since made peace with the way Briggs got all his wires crossed. "Mike." Briggs" voice is firm. "If we do this, we can"t blame it on the tequila anymore." Mike offers a wry half-smile. "Wasn"t really planning to." There"s a long moment when Briggs just looks at him, searching his face for... something. Mike holds his gaze, trying to telegraph that this isn"t something he"s unsure about. Finally, Briggs loosens his grip, not letting go but giving Mike a little tug instead, pulling him in. Still, he"s not quite run out of protests yet, even if the unforgiving edge in his tone is wavering. "This is a bad idea," he say. Mike laughs because, really, what else is new? "Of all the bad ideas we"ve had, this is probably one of the least terrible ones. We"re gonna be okay." For the first time since he woke up in the hospital to the sight of frantic doctors and Briggs" worried face and the beeping sound of machines, he says those words and means them. "So." Jakes slides onto the couch next to him. "You and Briggs, huh?" Mike turns around and looks at him sharply. When he realizes that Jakes isn"t fishing, that he actually knows, he offers a resigned shrug. Yeah, well, what can you do? Jakes snorts. "Wish I could say I"m surprised, man." Even though he"s curious, Mike isn"t sure if he wants to ask how Jakes figured it out, why he"s not more surprised when not even Mike really saw it coming. Then again, perhaps Mike wasted so much time obsessing over whether he could trust Briggs and if he could trust himself around Briggs that he was blind to the obvious. "This house already has too many secrets. I mean, I get it, they"re part of the job. The lies are your life, and all that bullshit. But as soon as we keep stuff from each other, things go to shit. There"s a reason we fucked up pretty much every single case since the whole mess with Jangles and Odin Rossi." Mike tries not to give anything away. He"s an undercover agent - his life depends on his ability to mask his tells. But when Jakes mentions Odin, he can"t help it; he twitches. Jakes zeroes in on it like a hawk. "He told you?" This time at least, Jakes seems surprised. "Good for you. Maybe there"s hope for you two after all." "Yeah. Maybe." He looks away. He wonders what Jakes would say if he knew that Briggs didn"t exactly tell him, and what Briggs" knee-jerk reaction had been when he found out Mike knew. If Jakes would still say there was hope for them, or if he"d think they should both be locked away for their own good.

Connor snorts. "I don"t doubt it, but that"s a little more altruism than I"m prepared to offer. Or masochism, for that matter." With a wide grin on her face, Natalie walks backwards away from him, down to where the next patient is waiting. "Think of something else then. Maybe with less violence involved." Easier said than done. Connor is reasonably sure that Nat meant for him to invite Will out for a drink and get him to open up, provide an open ear and a figurative shoulder to cry on. Perhaps that sort of offer would work, coming from Natalie, but it"s not what he and Will are like, not even at their best moments. The day after Will found out that Jennifer Baker was on a placebo, after Connor had bodily stopped him from wrecking his career any more than he already had, they"d found themselves at Molly"s, nursing their drinks in silence. There was no sharing, no exchange of heartfelt sympathies and stories to establish some common ground. Some of the tension between them had eased after that, but it was a tentative truce at best. Still, when he runs into Will at the reception, bowed over a patient"s file, on hour fourteen of their shift, he says the first thing that comes to mind. "I know you told me to mind my own business, but I have a spare room with a couch." He can see that Will"s ready to argue. Judging by the thin, hard line of his mouth and the frown creasing his forehead, the window of opportunity to get through to him is closing fast, so Connor holds up his hands in a placatory gesture. "I"m just offering. No strings attached, take it or leave it. But we both know that the moment Goodwin finds out you"re sleeping at the hospital, you"ll be in a world of trouble." Will opens his mouth, probably about to tell Connor to shove it. He"s saved by Maggie, calling him into treatment two where Mrs. Winterstein, 84, is going into cardiac arrest following trauma from a car crash. Then it"s all compressions and defibrillation and epi, life or death, and Will"s living situation is the furthest thing from his mind. He doesn"t see Will before his shift ends and he quickly scrubs down and catches the train home, bone-tired and exhausted. It"s been a long fucking day. Mrs. Winterstein didn"t make it. Cara, the kid from the hit-and-run accident is looking stable. You win some, you lose some, but the ones that end badly never stop smarting. It"s 3 pm on Saturday afternoon - Connor"s first free day in a fortnight - when his doorbell rings. Standing on his doorstep with his bags at his feet, Will looks chagrined, like he wants to be anywhere else but here. He clears his throat and doesn"t meet Connor"s eyes. "So. Does that offer still stand?" Connor can"t help wondering if Will"s here by choice or if that choice was made for him by Goodwin catching him making himself at home in the on-call room. It"s a scene all too easy to envision - and not a pretty one, at that. If their situations were reversed, Connor"s certain that Will would make him work for it. He"d make sure to rub it in and not let him forget that he"s been a total dick. But that"s not who Connor is. From where he stands, there"s little point in deliberately antagonizing Will, no matter how perfect the opening to get in a little dig or two might be. He wordlessly steps aside and motions Will inside. "You know, this isn"t how I imagined your place," Will casually says over Thai take-out because of course he can"t stop himself from raising what he considers to be a silver spoon upbringing at every opportunity. Connor rolls his eyes at him and tells himself that it would be immature to throw a noodle at Will"s face. He allows his voice to drip with honey-thick sarcasm, though. "Yeah? Sorry I can"t provide a castle-sized loft with marble flooring and golden faucets. I know I must be a terrible disappointment to you." To his surprise, Will doesn"t take offense. Instead, the quip only startles a choked laugh from Will"s throat, and genuine amusement lights up his face. "Not what I meant, but I like the idea. No, I wasn"t actually - I wasn"t giving you shit, okay. I like the place. It"s... comfy. And you don"t seem like the kind of guy who goes for comfy, you know." At Connor"s incredulous expression, he shakes his head and a pale flush rises up his cheeks. "Fuck you, man, you know what I mean." "I have absolutely no clue," Connor deadpans. His lips twitch. "But it sounds suspiciously like a compliment, so I"ll take it." Will flips him off and flings a noodle at him. Unlike Connor, appearances of maturity are clearly not something he"s terribly concerned with. Connor hasn"t had a roommate since he came back to Chicago. He never particularly enjoyed sharing his space with someone before, but for all their differences, Will is surprisingly easy to live with. He cleans up after himself, he doesn"t mess with Connor"s system of sorting his record collection, and he doesn"t steal Connor"s smoothies from the fridge. They argue over baseball (because of course Will is a White Sox fan, proud South Side boy that he is) and about who gets to use the shower first on mornings where they"re both due at the hospital for the early shift - but given the frequency of their clashes at work, it"s astonishingly companionable. It"s nice to have someone to come home to after a long day. Especially on the bad days, when losing a patient hits Connor hard and he doesn"t want to be alone but has no interest in talking either, it"s good to have someone there who understands what it"s like, holding a life in your hand and watching it slip through your fingers. When Will was virtually homeless and Connor offered, it was meant to be a temporary fix. But whenever he walks in on Will scanning the morning paper for a place of his own he can afford or perhaps someone looking for a permanent roommate, he feels weirdly disappointed. He bites his tongue and swallows the urge to tell Will to stop looking, that he"s free to stay as long as he likes. It"s a ratty couch that"s probably hell on Will"s back and a tiny 150 square feet room - of course Will is looking for something better. But reasonable or not, the idea still sits uncomfortably with Connor, his abandonment issues rearing their ugly head. Dr Charles would have a field day - not that Connor ever intends on discussing it with him. It"s bad enough that Sarah"s not-so-stealthily profiling everyone in the hospital and Will"s relentless about poking at his family shit; he doesn"t need anyone else dissecting his issues. The week before Christmas, there"s some charity event meant to attract sponsors for the hospital. Technically, attendance is optional, but Goodwin"s made it clear that in this particular case, the definition of the term was "all of you"d better be there under the pain of death, unemployment or the full force of my disappointment". Connor"s caught up in the O.R., literally holding someone"s heart in his hands, and doesn"t make it until the party is already in full gear, the charity part well out of the way and alcohol raising everyone"s spirits. Dodging a few of his father"s business partners and hoping that his old man isn"t actually here himself, Connor unconsciously scouts the room for Will. He finds him at the far back, caught up in a conversation with Maggie and Nat. When Connor approaches, Will offers a smile that"s just a little too relaxed and open for him to be sober, and his hand settles firmly on Connor"s shoulder. "Connor, my man! So glad you"re here to save me. Those two are badgering me to come out with them and hit a karaoke bar." Connor raises an eyebrow at Maggie, who shrugs unapologetically. "I"m just saying. Jeff and Noah are already in. You"d make a mean boy band." Nat laughs out loud, missing the flash of jealousy and resentment on Will"s face at the mention of Jeff. As much as Connor would love to see Will make an ass of himself finding his inner Backstreet Boy, he has an inkling that it might end in a competitive clusterfuck at best and a fistfight at worst. "Sorry, ladies, I"ve heard this guy sing in the shower, and I think it"s against the Convention of Human Rights to subject other people to that kind of torture." Will lightly punches him in the side with an indignant "hey!", while Maggie raises an eyebrow at them and asks, "You shower together a lot?" and Connor feels his face heat up. "On that note, I think we"re leaving before your overactive imagination gets the better of you," he says, well aware that he"s probably making things worse. Next to him, Will won"t stop chuckling, but he"s not protesting as Connor steers him from the room, offering an apologetic gesture to Goodwin who glares at them from where she"s talking to some Wall Street guy. In the lift, Will leans back and slouches against the back wall, the dopey half-smirk still playing around his mouth. Tipsy and relaxed is a good look on him. He cleans up well, too, wearing a sleek grey pinstripe suit with a familiar dark blue tie that gives Connor pause. The stab of possessiveness he feels at the sight of Will wearing it is both inappropriate and unwelcome, but Connor can"t shake it. It had been more of an in-joke than a genuine gift, and he"s surprised that Will kept it, let alone actually decided to wear it to an event like this. Before he can stop himself, he"s stepped into Will"s personal space, brushing a finger along the silky blue fabric. He"s the sober one, he should have better impulse control than this. But Will isn"t backing away from the touch, and his eyes are dark and heavy on Connor, pupils blown so wide that they"re swallowing the brown of his eyes. "I take it you liked the tie, then?" Will"s grin becomes wider. "Maybe it was just the only one I had," he suggests, playing up the beaten old working class boy shtick, and Connor"s still trying to come up with a good response when Will"s fingers wrap around Connor"s own tie, thoroughly rumpling it as he pulls him down. He tastes like cheese and champagne, and the scent of his aftershave makes Connor lightheaded. The kiss is sloppy and insistent, an adrenaline rush that hits him low in the stomach like a sucker punch. It"s not like he hasn"t thought about it. Those early weeks in the E.D. when Will wouldn"t stop questioning his authority. In the hospital elevator, with Will pressed against the wall and Connor struggling to hold him in place. At home, watching Will walk into the kitchen shower-wet, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. But it was a bad idea then, and it"s a worse idea now. They barely get along, and Will"s hung up on Natalie. Add alcohol to the mix, and it"s bound to end up something they regret. Will lets go of his tie, hand trailing suggestively down his chest, and Connor knows that if he doesn"t put a stop to it now, he won"t. He takes a step backwards. "I don"t think we should be doing this, Will." His voice is shot to hell, all raw and wrecked like he"s had half a bottle of whiskey for dinner. He feels that way too, light-headed and unsteady, trying hard to resist the gravity pull back towards Will, who"s clearly set on not letting Connor get away with the half-assed attempt to push him away. "No offense, man, but you"re full of shit. If anything, we should have done it ages ago." "I"m not Natalie." It"s a shitty thing to say, but Connor"s counting on Will"s quick-fire anger to flare up, sobering him more effectively than any rational argument could. Apparently, he miscalculated, because instead of making Will mad, all his words accomplish is bringing out a mischievous smile. "Yeah? Damn, I really hadn"t realized." He reaches down, fingers firmly cupping Connor thorough his pants. His treacherous cock twitches in Will"s grip. "You"re right, you"re really not Natalie." Reaching around Connor, Will hits the stop button. The elevator grinds to a halt with a screeching sound, and before Connor can protest, he finds himself pushed with his back against the wall and Will"s sinking to his knees in front of him, hands fumbling with the buttons of his pants. It"s a hell of a rush, watching Will - proud, competitive Will, who refuses to let him have the upper hand in anything ever - kneel before him, his suit getting crumpled and soiled on the dirty floor. It effectively kills any willpower to protest Connor had left. Clever long fingers are opening the zipper and pushing down his boxers, freeing his aching cock from the confines of his clothing. Will looks up at him with a victorious smirk, like Connor"s state of obvious arousal somehow negates his objections and proves Will right. Even about this, Will"s being a smartass - it definitely shouldn"t be as hot as it is. But when he swallows Connor down, Connor lets his head drop back against the wall, closes his eyes and stops caring about anything but the warm, wet heat engulfing him. In the morning, waking up naked and tangled in Connor"s bedroom, Will is tight-lipped and sullen, barely looking at Connor as he slides out of bed and disappears into the bathroom. There"s a headache drumming behind Connor"s forehead and a queasy, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, like he"s had too much to drink even though he hadn"t in fact touched any alcohol last night. "I told you it was a bad idea," Connor says quietly when Will steps into the kitchen half an hour later, freshly showered but no less surly than before. "Jesus, you never let a chance for an "I told you so" pass, do you?" The amount of bitterness and resentment in Will"s voice makes Connor wince. "Trust me, in this case, I wish I hadn"t been right." Will rolls his eyes and walks over to him. Connor doesn"t know what to expect when Will reaches out and steals Connor"s cup from right under his nose, downing his coffee like it"s a whiskey shot. Any other morning, Connor would be bitching at him to get his own damn coffee - the pod"s right over there, for fuck"s sake - but the events of the past night have shaken up the status quo thoroughly. Setting down the empty cup in front of Connor again, Will offers a smile that"s a little more like a grimace. "Yeah, well, you weren"t. I"m having the mother of all hangovers, I drunkenly promised April to let Noah accompany me on ward rounds next week, and I"m due for a double shift in less than an hour. Trust me when I say that blowing you in the Ritz Carlton"s elevator is pretty damn low on my list of regrets this morning. Even though the best suit I own is probably ruined beyond saving." Will"s casual nonchalance throws Connor off. It seems genuine enough, though, and Connor tentatively aims for a joke. "I"d offer to buy you a new one, but you"d just rant at me for rubbing in my wealth." "Hell, no! It"s your fault the suit"s all messed up. You should definitely buy me a new one." Will angles a sharp grin at him and saunters out of the room, but not before grabbing Connor"s toast from his plate, taking a bite. Connor glares at his disappearing back. All things considered, this went better than he expected. Even if he has to get himself some new breakfast. Nat finds Connor on the rooftop enjoying a coffee and some quiet before the haunting, high-pitched beep of his pager will doubtlessly have him rushing down to the E.D. again. She settles against the railing next to him, gloved hands cradling a steaming Styrofoam cup. "So. You and Will," she says. It"s not really a question. Connor snorts. "I see the rumor mill has worked its magic again." Nat"s lip twitches. "You were wearing his hoodie the other day. The White Sox one? I know for a fact that you"re not a fan." "He"s living with me. Maybe I just grabbed the wrong thing from the dryer." "You also have a hickey... right there." She pokes at the neckline of his scrubs with gleeful amusement, and Connor remembers this morning in the bathroom, Will crowding him against the shower wall, hips lazily rocking against Connor"s while his lips trailed down Connor"s neck, fastening at the juncture of his shoulder like a goddamn vampire. Connor would have objected, but between the slick slide of their cocks against each other and Will"s teeth worrying the sensitive skin, it had felt too damn good. He flushes at the memory. "Circumstantial evidence at best. Anyone could have given me that," he argues. "Sure. But Will was the one who was all over you at the party, and also, you"re not exactly denying it, so I call bullshit on your poor attempts at deflection." She"s got a point. Nat knows both of them too well to try and lead her on. Besides, she"s a friend. Connor doesn"t mind if she knows. It"s not like it"s meant to be a secret to begin with, but it"s hard to be open about a relationship when you don"t really know where you stand or where it"s going. If it"s even meant to go anywhere. Connor casts a frown into his coffee, as if the rapidly cooling dark liquid held all the answers. Unsurprisingly, it doesn"t. "I don"t know what the fuck we"re doing," he admits, and his chest instantly feels a little lighter now that he"s actually voiced the thing that"s been eating him up for weeks, ever since the charity event and the way he and Will have since been sliding into what feels like a fragile truce that happens to include regular orgasms. "Sometimes I think he can barely stand me." "Oh, Connor," Natalie says with feeling - but it"s hard to tell whether the emotion behind it is pity or exasperation. Perhaps figuring out other people"s feelings is just not something Connor excels in. He"s good with hearts, but only when they"re on an operating table in front of him. "Have you seen Will around someone he truly doesn"t like? He gets all cool and quiet and painstakingly polite. That push and pull, when he keeps blowing up in your face over nothing, the way he"s been treating you right from the start? That means he cares." She smiles a private little smile. "I"m afraid he"s kinda stuck in the pulling pigtails phase the average boy grows out of when they reach puberty." Connor snorts because, yeah, he can see it. "You make him sound like a total catch." "Why do you think him and me never happened? I like him, but I don"t have patience for that sort of thing. He pushes and pushes, and it just upsets me. You keep pushing back. I think he needs that." Natalie crumples her coffee cup. "Don"t worry too much. I"m sure you guys can figure things out." She gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before making her way back to the staircase. Right on time, Connor"s beeper goes off, like the universe telling him to get out of his head and back to work. Dr. Iris Mahone is their new oncology resident, a confident dark-haired 29-year-old with striking blue eyes who starts hitting on Will the moment they were introduced. Connor wants to like her because she"s smart and a good doctor and she has a way with patients, especially kids. But it"s hard not to feel the tug of jealousy whenever Will smiles at her, and for the first time he understands Will"s initial hostility towards Jeff. He tries to stay out of her way when he can, especially when she"s working with Will, so when he rounds the corner and finds them talking in treatment five, he doesn"t mean to eavesdrop. He only catches the tail end of their conversation. "- flattered, but I"m kinda seeing someone," Will says. Amusement is swinging in Mahone"s voice. "Kinda? That doesn"t sound like you"re sure." It instantly makes Connor"s hackles rise, but Will just laughs. "I- No. I am sure. I"m seeing someone. Sorry," he says, and that tight, unpleasant feeling in the pit of Connor"s stomach that he"s been carrying around finally eases. From the doorway, he clears his throat, making his presence known. The sight of the instant flush on Will"s cheeks when he looks up and realizes that their convention was overheard is strangely rewarding. "Sorry, Dr. Mahone, I need to borrow Dr. Halstead here for a second," Connor says, not sounding the slightest bit sorry at all. "Never mind. I was ready to head out anyway." She offers a brief, polite smile. "Dr. Rhodes. Will." He waits until she"s out of earshot before he turns to Will. He doesn"t quite manage to keep the smug grin from his face. "So, you"re kinda seeing someone? Anything serious?" "Eh, I don"t know. He"s pretty hot, but he"s also an arrogant prick. I haven"t really decided if he"s worth all the trouble." But even as he"s talking, he"s grabbing Connor by the front of his scrubs, pulling him further into the room and quickly drawing the curtains closed behind them. Before Connor can think of a snarky comeback, Will"s lips are on his. Connor groans softly into the kiss. Their shift ended twenty minutes ago. It"s not like anyone"s gonna come looking for them, and yet - "We"re going to be in so much trouble if Maggie finds us." He hates to put a stop to this, but someone has to be the grown-up person in this relationship, and it"s clearly not going to be Will. Laughing, Will pulls them towards the empty gurney. "Pretty sure I saw her giving me a thumbs up when I pulled the curtain." His fingers brush the waistline of Connor"s pants as he angles his head up and deepens the kiss, and Connor decides to take Natalie"s advice and stop worrying for a while.

"Then I saw you," Mike said, and he knew that Briggs would think Mike meant at the hospital, that Mike opened his eyes and saw Briggs standing over him, frantic worry written all over his face. That"s not what he meant at all. He can"t shake it. It"s hard enough to make sense of the numbers and the birds without his mind constantly racing trying to figure out what Briggs" presence might have meant. It all comes to a head when they arrest Ari. They got Sarkissian on murder and drug trafficking and a bunch of other charges, and Logan decided that it was time to finally get Ari off the streets as well. Of course, it doesn"t go smoothly. When does it ever? "I go down, you go down too," Ari tells Briggs, spitting in his face and clearly not at all intimidated by the fact that there are two guns trained at him. "Don"t think you can walk away from this, guy." Briggs says something, but Mike can"t hear him over the roaring in his ears, loud as the sea on a stormy day. Mike sees him reaching for the handcuffs and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows that once Briggs actually makes the arrest, he"s finished. Ari will go to trial and Briggs will take the heat for what he"s done while he was undercover. What Logan sent him to do. There"s no hesitation. Mike lifts the gun and pulls the trigger. The sound echoes through the night, deafening. Ari goes down like a puppet whose strings have been cut. It takes a moment until the blood starts pooling around him. The shock written all over Briggs" face is almost comical. "Jesus, Mike." Funny, because Briggs was the one who had the idea in the first place, right at the beginning of the assignment, when things had already gone sideways but not catastrophically so. Back then, Mike tried to talk him out of it when he should really have asked, How can I help? "What the hell did you do that for?" Mike shrugs. "He shouldn"t have resisted arrest." There"s something in the way Briggs looks at him that makes his hackles rise. "Don"t start," he says, and the anger is adding to the pounding headache he can"t shake. Briggs is the last person who has the right to pass judgement, even if it wasn"t for the fact that Mike did it to protect him. Briggs raises his hands in a placatory gesture. "I wasn"t saying anything." Doesn"t mean he"s not thinking it. Mike clenches his teeth and calls it in. Another arrest gone wrong, another body bag. Same old, same old. Moving on. No big deal. He doesn"t lose any sleep over it. Maybe he should. He shot an unarmed man point-blank for no other reason than to cover up Briggs" part in several other people"s deaths. He remembers when he first came to Graceland, fresh out of the academy, with a firm set of morals and a clear idea where to draw the line between right and wrong. The line has been blurred so much that it"s become all but invisible, stained with the blood of those whose lives they took a gamble on and lost. The Mike who came to California - the one who was adamant to bring down Briggs for being Odin Rossi - would have been horrified, but there"s virtually nothing left of that man. The world"s not going to miss Ari Adamian. A lot of better people have died in those two years since Mike"s been here. Juan. Lena. Colby. Mike"s accepted his responsibility in their deaths and managed to move on. Compared to them, Ari isn"t even a blip on the fucking radar. He visits Bello in prison. It surprises him that Bello is willing to see him, after everything. He didn"t think Bello had anything left to say to him. Then again, maybe Bello isn"t quite done telling him that he"s the worst. An officer leads Bello into the room in handcuffs and sits him down at the small table opposite Mike. He seems fine, so whatever threat the Kaza cartel posed to him seems to have been neutralized. Mike makes a mental note to ask Briggs about it. Bello looks him up and down. "You look like shit, Michael." It"s one hell of a conversation opener. Mike laughs quietly and runs a tired hand over his face. "Trust me, I look better than I feel." Bello"s lip curls. "I would say something about karma, but something tells me it is nothing you"re not thinking yourself." It"s a little scary how well he"s still able to read Mike. "I also assume you know better than to come here fishing for information because I will not tell you a thing. Which makes me wonder why you wanted to see me." Why did he, exactly? Perhaps he didn"t entirely think this through. Perhaps this has been a terrible idea. Then again, what"s one more in the long string of terrible choices he"s made since he left Quantico. He forces himself not to avert his eyes and presses on. "Did you ever tell yourself you were a good guy? I know you have no illusions about yourself now, but was there ever a time when you did?" "Of course I did. Don"t we all start that way?" From the amusement swinging in Bello"s voice and the use of the plural pronoun, suggesting they"re alike, it"s obvious that he"s figured out where Mike"s questions were going to lead "You tell yourself that as long as you have good reasons for what you do, it justifies your actions. It is a slippery slope." His accent curves around vowels, almost but not quite taking the harshness out of his words. It feels strangely safe talking about this with Bello here, behind plexiglass fronts and steel bars. He"s under no illusion that, if Bello ever gets out, he"s going to come after Mike. Judging from the way he"s handled disloyalty among his people before, Mike could call himself lucky if he dies quickly. But now, here, he can almost believe that Bello is something like a friend, someone to confide his darkest secrets in and ask for advice. "How do you live with yourself? How can you look in the mirror knowing how many innocent people died because of something you did?" It sounds more accusing than he meant it to. He didn"t come here to pass judgement, or to tell Bello that however much he liked him personally, he finds what he did despicable. Bello leans back, folding his hands. The handcuffs rattle. "You could say that it all comes down to loyalty, in the end. As long as I believe that what I do helps the people I care for, I can accept whatever bad consequences my actions have. That"s why I was prepared to give up Odin Rossi to protect you. Of course, that was before I found out that you were the last person deserving of my loyalty. Who are you loyal to, Michael? Your precious Bureau? Your superiors, those men in ill-fitting suits who sit in fancy offices and give you orders?" Mike snorts, both at the idea of being loyal to the Bureau and at the reminder that a huge part of his assignment with Bello had been about chasing a phantom. Odin fucking Rossi. It all comes down to Briggs, every damn time. He wonders how Bello would react if he knew that the man he"d been protecting was FBI. He"d be at equal parts furious and amused, most likely. Mike"s fury has burnt itself out by now, muddled by the tangled mess of emotions Briggs keeps leaving in his wake. The line of thought brings a certain clarity along, because the mere fact that the knowledge of who Odin really was is confined to a bunch of people in Graceland speaks volumes about where Mike"s loyalties lie. "Loyalty is what lead me down this path in the first place," Mike admits. "So maybe, like you, I"ve placed my loyalty in the wrong people." He isn"t entirely sure if he means Briggs or the FBI, or both, nor does he know at which point exactly the two became altogether different - if not opposing - forces. There"s a speculative expression in the way Bello looks at him that makes Mike want to squirm in his seat and he has to force himself to sit still. "Maybe so. But once you have passed a certain point, there is no turning back. You should know that." Mike did, he does, but there"s a certain finality in hearing it from Bello. It"s unsettling and liberating at once. Briggs" eyes are following him around the house. The weight of his stare is heavy, unsettling, and omnipresent, from when he walks into the kitchen in the morning to late nights at the beach, sitting around the bonfire with the others. It"s like an itch Mike can"t scratch away. "What"s going on with you two?" Johnny asks one morning, after breakfast. Mike is glad it"s not Charlie, who knows Mike and Briggs and their secrets a bit too well to be pacified with a shrug and a casual, "Nothing, man. Just itching for a new case." As soon as Johnny"s out of earshot, Mike confronts Briggs. "If you have something to say, why don"t you say it?" It"s frustration, not anger that makes his voice shake. Sometimes Briggs acts like he has a monopoly on blurring the lines and he forgets that they"re all capable of terrible things. Mike, Paige, Johnny, Jakes... even Charlie. Briggs shuts the door to Mike"s room between himself and the others. "I"m just trying to figure out why you did it." And really, Briggs can"t be that clueless. Mike knows he isn"t. "Come on, you know why I did it." Briggs sits down on the bed, frowning up at him. "Yeah, I know, I just don"t get why. You were sent to Graceland to investigate me. But whenever you actually have some shit on me, you don"t use it and you"re doing your damnest to protect me. Charlie kept sitting on that tape because she was having my baby, but you? I don"t get why you weren"t handing in that fucking thing first chance you got. And Ari... You shot the guy to keep me out of prison. I brought this on myself, Mikey, and I know I"m going to go down for it eventually. I don"t want to pull you under with me." One of the reasons Briggs is such a good undercover agent is because he buys into his own lies. Doesn"t mean Mike has to. "The self-sacrificing act would be more believable if your first course of action when you thought I had the tape hadn"t been to have me killed during that bank job." It"s clear from the look of Briggs" face that he didn"t think Mike knew about that. Mike rolls his eyes. "What? I"m not stupid, okay?" Briggs" frown deepens. "How can you forgive me for that? How can you live in a house where two people tried to have you killed, and joke around with us at dinner, and fucking trust us with your life out there?" "You forget the part where you saved my life, what, three times so far?" He shrugs. It"s deflection. He doesn"t really believe that it balances each other out, saving someone"s life and trying to kill them. If he did, he would feel a hell of a lot less guilty about Bello, because then the tally would be firmly in his favor. The truth is, the two people who tried to have him killed also happen to be the ones he cares most about - and not just within the house. Bello is only half-right. It"s not just about loyalty, it"s also about love. "And that makes it alright?" "Maybe. Maybe not. I don"t know, man. You act like I have all the answers, but I don"t, okay? I didn"t exactly sit down and calmly think about how to handle the situation with Ari, make a list of pros and cons and sleep on it. He said he was going to bring you down, and I know he could, and I just reacted. I didn"t have a plan, it was just instincts." Mike can"t quite stand the way Briggs looks at him, like he blames himself for corrupting Mike, turning him into a person whose first instinct is to pull a gun and shoot a guy. He quickly changes the subject. "What happened during debriefing? Did Logan give you any trouble?" Briggs shrugs. "He didn"t say anything. Maybe they bought it. Or maybe they"ll send some green hotshot into the house to investigate all of us." "Because that worked so well the last time they tried it?" Mike means it as a joke, but Briggs grows serious. "I"m sorry, man. I know this wasn"t how you envisioned your career to go. Fast-track to Washington and all." What"s a cushy job when you can trade it in for getting shot, a drug addiction and friends who set you up to be killed? Mike"s smile hurts his face. "Don"t worry about it." Sometimes the pain still cuts through Mike like a white-hot knife, hitting him in the middle of the night until all he can do is clutch his side and squeeze his eyes shut and pray it"ll pass. Sometimes he wants nothing more than to pop some oxy and ride that high out until the end, wherever it takes him. Sometimes he locks himself in the bathroom and holds his head underwater until his lungs feel as if they"re going to burst. Sometimes he takes a drink too many, floors the gas a fraction too long when he goes into a curve, takes stupid risks on an assignment, and he wonders if he looks into the abyss for long enough, will something look back at him? Sometimes he goes to AA meetings and talks about his childhood. Sometimes he sits in the kitchen with the others, sauce night for once uninterrupted, Johnny"s jokes making him smile, and Briggs is a warm, steadying presence next to him. Sometimes he"s almost alright. The night after Charlie gives birth, when the nurses have chased them from the hospital so the happy but exhausted new mom can get some rest, Mike finds Briggs down at the beach. He"s sitting propped up against a piece of rock next to the fire with his back to the shore, facing the ocean. Even from a distance, Mike spots the bottle in Briggs" hands, and how tightly he"s clutching it, as if it was the only thing holding him up. When Mike gets closer, he turns his head. "Careful, Mikey. I shot the last guy who approached me when I was on the beach getting drunk." Mike"s step falters. The flames are throwing strange shadows on Briggs" face, making it impossible to read him. It"s hard to gauge his mood when he"s like this, and Mike"s not sure if he"s bring threatened or joked around with. ""course, he was also wearing a mask and pretending to be a sociopathic Mexican hitman, so I guess you"re safe." When Briggs offers him a sharp grin and hands him the bottle, Mike relaxes. So that"s what happened with Juan. Listening to the tape, Mike had guessed that what got Badillo killed had been a volatile situation of his own making. Briggs" explanation makes him wonder how the man could have been so monumentally stupid, especially if he already thought that Briggs was dangerous. "I promise I come in peace." Mike brings the bottle to his lips, the rim of the glass still warm and slick from Briggs" mouth. The alcohol burns down his throat. He winces. Tequila. Not his drink of choice. It tends to make him sick before the buzz really hits, so if Briggs is planning to get them drunk, he"d better be prepared to get puke on his shoes. Next to him, Briggs is staring into the fire, eyes clouded. "I have a kid, Mikey. I have a little baby boy." Mike smiles. "I know. I was there today at the hospital, remember?" "I"m not fit to be a dad." He takes the tequila back from Mike, their hands brushing on the bottle. "I"m a mess. Everything I touch turns to shit. I keep getting people killed. Before you met me, you were a righteous, innocent guy with a bright future. Now you don"t even blink when you kill people, you can"t look at an oxy delivery without starting to shake, and you"ll never make AD in your lifetime." Briggs isn"t completely off in his harsh assessment of Mike"s situation, but it still hurts to hear it being laid out so plainly. Mike swallows the lump in his throat, fighting down the rush of self-pity and anger. "I don"t think you can take full credit for what a mess I made of my life, Briggs." "Can"t I? Are you saying I didn"t corrupt you? Because it sure looks that way from where I"m standing." He"s about to take another swig of tequila and Mike thinks maybe he"s had enough, so he reaches over to snatch the bottle from Briggs" hands. It"s almost empty; it doesn"t take much to finish it off. Wiping his mouth, Mike drops it, and it hits the sand next to the fire without a sound. "Look, man. It"s not the same thing," he says. "You"ll love your kid. You"ll do whatever it takes to protect him." Briggs laughs, but there"s no mirth in it; it"s a terrible, harsh sound that clutches Mike"s heart tight like a fist and threatens to rip it out. "Fuck, Mike. If you think loving someone stops me from dragging them down with me, think again." He comes at Mike so violently that Mike expects a punch. In the flickering orange light of the fire, he looks angry, and Mike wonders what brought it on, can"t remember having said or done anything to deserve it. Mike flinches back when Briggs reaches for him, but the alcohol in his system has slowed his reflexes down too much to evade him. Briggs" hand tangles in his hair, pulling him closer, and Mike only realizes how much he misjudged the situation when Briggs" mouth is on his. Briggs kisses like he does everything else: all in, no holds barred, sink or swim. His fingers are rough in Mike"s hair, his stubble burns Mike"s skin and his teeth are drawing blood. Mike lets him wash over him like the tide, stunned into motionlessness by the force of the kiss. It"s over too soon. Briggs steps back. He looks more scared than Mike has ever seen him, all wide-eyed shock like he can"t believe he"s done this, like it"s the worst kind of mistake. Mike can already see Briggs" mind spinning, twisting this into yet another way he corrupted Mike, giving himself once again a hell of a lot more credit than he deserves for all the bad choices the people around him make. Fuck it, Mike thinks. He moves in until he"s crowding Briggs against the rock, close enough that he can see the fight-or-flight reflex flashing in Briggs" eyes. The air smells of smoke and the ocean, and he hasn"t felt this high since he"s been off oxy. His grin is probably a little on the maniac side, but he doesn"t care. He"s been wanting this for so long. He"ll be damned if he lets Briggs kill his buzz. "We doing this or what?" He swallows whatever protest Briggs is about to give with a kiss, every bit as vicious and brutal and relentless as the first one, giving himself a chance to savor the sharp metallic tang of tequila and blood. Morning hits him like a fright train. His head feels too sizes too big and the cotton-wool sensation in his mouth makes him scrunch up his face. It"s half past six. Sunshine filters through the window. Out on the shore, the seagulls are crying. From outside his door, he can hear Jakes and Johnny bickering. Next to him, Briggs is snoring softly. In his sleep, he looks more relaxed than Mike has seen him in months, like the demons raging inside of him are quiet for once. Mike feels almost guilty for disturbing him, but it"s only a matter of time before one of the others comes knocking at the door. His touches Briggs" shoulder and give him a gentle shake. "Hey." Briggs groans and sits up. Mike doesn"t particularly care to see the moment when realization hits Briggs, so he allows himself to be distracted by the way the sheets slip down, revealing tanned skin and toned muscles and pale scars. He can"t stop himself from reaching out and letting his fingers trail down the path of soft hair below Briggs" belly button. Briggs catches his hand, his hold on Mike"s wrist a little too tight. The pain should be a kill the arousal, not make it sky-rocket, but Mike has long since made peace with the way Briggs got all his wires crossed. "Mike." Briggs" voice is firm. "If we do this, we can"t blame it on the tequila anymore." Mike offers a wry half-smile. "Wasn"t really planning to." There"s a long moment when Briggs just looks at him, searching his face for... something. Mike holds his gaze, trying to telegraph that this isn"t something he"s unsure about. Finally, Briggs loosens his grip, not letting go but giving Mike a little tug instead, pulling him in. Still, he"s not quite run out of protests yet, even if the unforgiving edge in his tone is wavering. "This is a bad idea," he say. Mike laughs because, really, what else is new? "Of all the bad ideas we"ve had, this is probably one of the least terrible ones. We"re gonna be okay." For the first time since he woke up in the hospital to the sight of frantic doctors and Briggs" worried face and the beeping sound of machines, he says those words and means them. "So." Jakes slides onto the couch next to him. "You and Briggs, huh?" Mike turns around and looks at him sharply. When he realizes that Jakes isn"t fishing, that he actually knows, he offers a resigned shrug. Yeah, well, what can you do? Jakes snorts. "Wish I could say I"m surprised, man." Even though he"s curious, Mike isn"t sure if he wants to ask how Jakes figured it out, why he"s not more surprised when not even Mike really saw it coming. Then again, perhaps Mike wasted so much time obsessing over whether he could trust Briggs and if he could trust himself around Briggs that he was blind to the obvious. "This house already has too many secrets. I mean, I get it, they"re part of the job. The lies are your life, and all that bullshit. But as soon as we keep stuff from each other, things go to shit. There"s a reason we fucked up pretty much every single case since the whole mess with Jangles and Odin Rossi." Mike tries not to give anything away. He"s an undercover agent - his life depends on his ability to mask his tells. But when Jakes mentions Odin, he can"t help it; he twitches. Jakes zeroes in on it like a hawk.

Nat"s smile is small and private, the one that says that she thinks he"s being an idiot. "Will"s very good at building those walls around himself. Something tells me you"re stubborn enough to tear them down." "That sounds like a great plan if I wanted to get punched in the face." Nat laughs at his sour expression. "I"m sure that would make Will feel better, too." Connor snorts. "I don"t doubt it, but that"s a little more altruism than I"m prepared to offer. Or masochism, for that matter." With a wide grin on her face, Natalie walks backwards away from him, down to where the next patient is waiting. "Think of something else then. Maybe with less violence involved." Easier said than done. Connor is reasonably sure that Nat meant for him to invite Will out for a drink and get him to open up, provide an open ear and a figurative shoulder to cry on. Perhaps that sort of offer would work, coming from Natalie, but it"s not what he and Will are like, not even at their best moments. The day after Will found out that Jennifer Baker was on a placebo, after Connor had bodily stopped him from wrecking his career any more than he already had, they"d found themselves at Molly"s, nursing their drinks in silence. There was no sharing, no exchange of heartfelt sympathies and stories to establish some common ground. Some of the tension between them had eased after that, but it was a tentative truce at best. Still, when he runs into Will at the reception, bowed over a patient"s file, on hour fourteen of their shift, he says the first thing that comes to mind. "I know you told me to mind my own business, but I have a spare room with a couch." He can see that Will"s ready to argue. Judging by the thin, hard line of his mouth and the frown creasing his forehead, the window of opportunity to get through to him is closing fast, so Connor holds up his hands in a placatory gesture. "I"m just offering. No strings attached, take it or leave it. But we both know that the moment Goodwin finds out you"re sleeping at the hospital, you"ll be in a world of trouble." Will opens his mouth, probably about to tell Connor to shove it. He"s saved by Maggie, calling him into treatment two where Mrs. Winterstein, 84, is going into cardiac arrest following trauma from a car crash. Then it"s all compressions and defibrillation and epi, life or death, and Will"s living situation is the furthest thing from his mind. He doesn"t see Will before his shift ends and he quickly scrubs down and catches the train home, bone-tired and exhausted. It"s been a long fucking day. Mrs. Winterstein didn"t make it. Cara, the kid from the hit-and-run accident is looking stable. You win some, you lose some, but the ones that end badly never stop smarting. It"s 3 pm on Saturday afternoon - Connor"s first free day in a fortnight - when his doorbell rings. Standing on his doorstep with his bags at his feet, Will looks chagrined, like he wants to be anywhere else but here. He clears his throat and doesn"t meet Connor"s eyes. "So. Does that offer still stand?" Connor can"t help wondering if Will"s here by choice or if that choice was made for him by Goodwin catching him making himself at home in the on-call room. It"s a scene all too easy to envision - and not a pretty one, at that. If their situations were reversed, Connor"s certain that Will would make him work for it. He"d make sure to rub it in and not let him forget that he"s been a total dick. But that"s not who Connor is. From where he stands, there"s little point in deliberately antagonizing Will, no matter how perfect the opening to get in a little dig or two might be. He wordlessly steps aside and motions Will inside. "You know, this isn"t how I imagined your place," Will casually says over Thai take-out because of course he can"t stop himself from raising what he considers to be a silver spoon upbringing at every opportunity. Connor rolls his eyes at him and tells himself that it would be immature to throw a noodle at Will"s face. He allows his voice to drip with honey-thick sarcasm, though. "Yeah? Sorry I can"t provide a castle-sized loft with marble flooring and golden faucets. I know I must be a terrible disappointment to you." To his surprise, Will doesn"t take offense. Instead, the quip only startles a choked laugh from Will"s throat, and genuine amusement lights up his face. "Not what I meant, but I like the idea. No, I wasn"t actually - I wasn"t giving you shit, okay. I like the place. It"s... comfy. And you don"t seem like the kind of guy who goes for comfy, you know." At Connor"s incredulous expression, he shakes his head and a pale flush rises up his cheeks. "Fuck you, man, you know what I mean." "I have absolutely no clue," Connor deadpans. His lips twitch. "But it sounds suspiciously like a compliment, so I"ll take it." Will flips him off and flings a noodle at him. Unlike Connor, appearances of maturity are clearly not something he"s terribly concerned with. Connor hasn"t had a roommate since he came back to Chicago. He never particularly enjoyed sharing his space with someone before, but for all their differences, Will is surprisingly easy to live with. He cleans up after himself, he doesn"t mess with Connor"s system of sorting his record collection, and he doesn"t steal Connor"s smoothies from the fridge. They argue over baseball (because of course Will is a White Sox fan, proud South Side boy that he is) and about who gets to use the shower first on mornings where they"re both due at the hospital for the early shift - but given the frequency of their clashes at work, it"s astonishingly companionable. It"s nice to have someone to come home to after a long day. Especially on the bad days, when losing a patient hits Connor hard and he doesn"t want to be alone but has no interest in talking either, it"s good to have someone there who understands what it"s like, holding a life in your hand and watching it slip through your fingers. When Will was virtually homeless and Connor offered, it was meant to be a temporary fix. But whenever he walks in on Will scanning the morning paper for a place of his own he can afford or perhaps someone looking for a permanent roommate, he feels weirdly disappointed. He bites his tongue and swallows the urge to tell Will to stop looking, that he"s free to stay as long as he likes. It"s a ratty couch that"s probably hell on Will"s back and a tiny 150 square feet room - of course Will is looking for something better. But reasonable or not, the idea still sits uncomfortably with Connor, his abandonment issues rearing their ugly head. Dr Charles would have a field day - not that Connor ever intends on discussing it with him. It"s bad enough that Sarah"s not-so-stealthily profiling everyone in the hospital and Will"s relentless about poking at his family shit; he doesn"t need anyone else dissecting his issues. The week before Christmas, there"s some charity event meant to attract sponsors for the hospital. Technically, attendance is optional, but Goodwin"s made it clear that in this particular case, the definition of the term was "all of you"d better be there under the pain of death, unemployment or the full force of my disappointment". Connor"s caught up in the O.R., literally holding someone"s heart in his hands, and doesn"t make it until the party is already in full gear, the charity part well out of the way and alcohol raising everyone"s spirits. Dodging a few of his father"s business partners and hoping that his old man isn"t actually here himself, Connor unconsciously scouts the room for Will. He finds him at the far back, caught up in a conversation with Maggie and Nat. When Connor approaches, Will offers a smile that"s just a little too relaxed and open for him to be sober, and his hand settles firmly on Connor"s shoulder. "Connor, my man! So glad you"re here to save me. Those two are badgering me to come out with them and hit a karaoke bar." Connor raises an eyebrow at Maggie, who shrugs unapologetically. "I"m just saying. Jeff and Noah are already in. You"d make a mean boy band." Nat laughs out loud, missing the flash of jealousy and resentment on Will"s face at the mention of Jeff. As much as Connor would love to see Will make an ass of himself finding his inner Backstreet Boy, he has an inkling that it might end in a competitive clusterfuck at best and a fistfight at worst. "Sorry, ladies, I"ve heard this guy sing in the shower, and I think it"s against the Convention of Human Rights to subject other people to that kind of torture." Will lightly punches him in the side with an indignant "hey!", while Maggie raises an eyebrow at them and asks, "You shower together a lot?" and Connor feels his face heat up. "On that note, I think we"re leaving before your overactive imagination gets the better of you," he says, well aware that he"s probably making things worse. Next to him, Will won"t stop chuckling, but he"s not protesting as Connor steers him from the room, offering an apologetic gesture to Goodwin who glares at them from where she"s talking to some Wall Street guy. In the lift, Will leans back and slouches against the back wall, the dopey half-smirk still playing around his mouth. Tipsy and relaxed is a good look on him. He cleans up well, too, wearing a sleek grey pinstripe suit with a familiar dark blue tie that gives Connor pause. The stab of possessiveness he feels at the sight of Will wearing it is both inappropriate and unwelcome, but Connor can"t shake it. It had been more of an in-joke than a genuine gift, and he"s surprised that Will kept it, let alone actually decided to wear it to an event like this. Before he can stop himself, he"s stepped into Will"s personal space, brushing a finger along the silky blue fabric. He"s the sober one, he should have better impulse control than this. But Will isn"t backing away from the touch, and his eyes are dark and heavy on Connor, pupils blown so wide that they"re swallowing the brown of his eyes. "I take it you liked the tie, then?" Will"s grin becomes wider. "Maybe it was just the only one I had," he suggests, playing up the beaten old working class boy shtick, and Connor"s still trying to come up with a good response when Will"s fingers wrap around Connor"s own tie, thoroughly rumpling it as he pulls him down. He tastes like cheese and champagne, and the scent of his aftershave makes Connor lightheaded. The kiss is sloppy and insistent, an adrenaline rush that hits him low in the stomach like a sucker punch. It"s not like he hasn"t thought about it. Those early weeks in the E.D. when Will wouldn"t stop questioning his authority. In the hospital elevator, with Will pressed against the wall and Connor struggling to hold him in place. At home, watching Will walk into the kitchen shower-wet, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. But it was a bad idea then, and it"s a worse idea now. They barely get along, and Will"s hung up on Natalie. Add alcohol to the mix, and it"s bound to end up something they regret. Will lets go of his tie, hand trailing suggestively down his chest, and Connor knows that if he doesn"t put a stop to it now, he won"t. He takes a step backwards. "I don"t think we should be doing this, Will." His voice is shot to hell, all raw and wrecked like he"s had half a bottle of whiskey for dinner. He feels that way too, light-headed and unsteady, trying hard to resist the gravity pull back towards Will, who"s clearly set on not letting Connor get away with the half-assed attempt to push him away. "No offense, man, but you"re full of shit. If anything, we should have done it ages ago." "I"m not Natalie." It"s a shitty thing to say, but Connor"s counting on Will"s quick-fire anger to flare up, sobering him more effectively than any rational argument could. Apparently, he miscalculated, because instead of making Will mad, all his words accomplish is bringing out a mischievous smile. "Yeah? Damn, I really hadn"t realized." He reaches down, fingers firmly cupping Connor thorough his pants. His treacherous cock twitches in Will"s grip. "You"re right, you"re really not Natalie." Reaching around Connor, Will hits the stop button. The elevator grinds to a halt with a screeching sound, and before Connor can protest, he finds himself pushed with his back against the wall and Will"s sinking to his knees in front of him, hands fumbling with the buttons of his pants. It"s a hell of a rush, watching Will - proud, competitive Will, who refuses to let him have the upper hand in anything ever - kneel before him, his suit getting crumpled and soiled on the dirty floor. It effectively kills any willpower to protest Connor had left. Clever long fingers are opening the zipper and pushing down his boxers, freeing his aching cock from the confines of his clothing. Will looks up at him with a victorious smirk, like Connor"s state of obvious arousal somehow negates his objections and proves Will right. Even about this, Will"s being a smartass - it definitely shouldn"t be as hot as it is. But when he swallows Connor down, Connor lets his head drop back against the wall, closes his eyes and stops caring about anything but the warm, wet heat engulfing him. In the morning, waking up naked and tangled in Connor"s bedroom, Will is tight-lipped and sullen, barely looking at Connor as he slides out of bed and disappears into the bathroom. There"s a headache drumming behind Connor"s forehead and a queasy, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, like he"s had too much to drink even though he hadn"t in fact touched any alcohol last night. "I told you it was a bad idea," Connor says quietly when Will steps into the kitchen half an hour later, freshly showered but no less surly than before. "Jesus, you never let a chance for an "I told you so" pass, do you?" The amount of bitterness and resentment in Will"s voice makes Connor wince. "Trust me, in this case, I wish I hadn"t been right." Will rolls his eyes and walks over to him. Connor doesn"t know what to expect when Will reaches out and steals Connor"s cup from right under his nose, downing his coffee like it"s a whiskey shot. Any other morning, Connor would be bitching at him to get his own damn coffee - the pod"s right over there, for fuck"s sake - but the events of the past night have shaken up the status quo thoroughly. Setting down the empty cup in front of Connor again, Will offers a smile that"s a little more like a grimace. "Yeah, well, you weren"t. I"m having the mother of all hangovers, I drunkenly promised April to let Noah accompany me on ward rounds next week, and I"m due for a double shift in less than an hour. Trust me when I say that blowing you in the Ritz Carlton"s elevator is pretty damn low on my list of regrets this morning. Even though the best suit I own is probably ruined beyond saving." Will"s casual nonchalance throws Connor off. It seems genuine enough, though, and Connor tentatively aims for a joke. "I"d offer to buy you a new one, but you"d just rant at me for rubbing in my wealth." "Hell, no! It"s your fault the suit"s all messed up. You should definitely buy me a new one." Will angles a sharp grin at him and saunters out of the room, but not before grabbing Connor"s toast from his plate, taking a bite. Connor glares at his disappearing back. All things considered, this went better than he expected. Even if he has to get himself some new breakfast. Nat finds Connor on the rooftop enjoying a coffee and some quiet before the haunting, high-pitched beep of his pager will doubtlessly have him rushing down to the E.D. again. She settles against the railing next to him, gloved hands cradling a steaming Styrofoam cup. "So. You and Will," she says. It"s not really a question. Connor snorts. "I see the rumor mill has worked its magic again." Nat"s lip twitches. "You were wearing his hoodie the other day. The White Sox one? I know for a fact that you"re not a fan." "He"s living with me. Maybe I just grabbed the wrong thing from the dryer." "You also have a hickey... right there." She pokes at the neckline of his scrubs with gleeful amusement, and Connor remembers this morning in the bathroom, Will crowding him against the shower wall, hips lazily rocking against Connor"s while his lips trailed down Connor"s neck, fastening at the juncture of his shoulder like a goddamn vampire. Connor would have objected, but between the slick slide of their cocks against each other and Will"s teeth worrying the sensitive skin, it had felt too damn good. He flushes at the memory. "Circumstantial evidence at best. Anyone could have given me that," he argues. "Sure. But Will was the one who was all over you at the party, and also, you"re not exactly denying it, so I call bullshit on your poor attempts at deflection." She"s got a point. Nat knows both of them too well to try and lead her on. Besides, she"s a friend. Connor doesn"t mind if she knows. It"s not like it"s meant to be a secret to begin with, but it"s hard to be open about a relationship when you don"t really know where you stand or where it"s going. If it"s even meant to go anywhere. Connor casts a frown into his coffee, as if the rapidly cooling dark liquid held all the answers. Unsurprisingly, it doesn"t. "I don"t know what the fuck we"re doing," he admits, and his chest instantly feels a little lighter now that he"s actually voiced the thing that"s been eating him up for weeks, ever since the charity event and the way he and Will have since been sliding into what feels like a fragile truce that happens to include regular orgasms. "Sometimes I think he can barely stand me." "Oh, Connor," Natalie says with feeling - but it"s hard to tell whether the emotion behind it is pity or exasperation. Perhaps figuring out other people"s feelings is just not something Connor excels in. He"s good with hearts, but only when they"re on an operating table in front of him. "Have you seen Will around someone he truly doesn"t like? He gets all cool and quiet and painstakingly polite. That push and pull, when he keeps blowing up in your face over nothing, the way he"s been treating you right from the start? That means he cares." She smiles a private little smile. "I"m afraid he"s kinda stuck in the pulling pigtails phase the average boy grows out of when they reach puberty." Connor snorts because, yeah, he can see it. "You make him sound like a total catch." "Why do you think him and me never happened? I like him, but I don"t have patience for that sort of thing. He pushes and pushes, and it just upsets me. You keep pushing back. I think he needs that." Natalie crumples her coffee cup. "Don"t worry too much. I"m sure you guys can figure things out." She gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before making her way back to the staircase. Right on time, Connor"s beeper goes off, like the universe telling him to get out of his head and back to work. Dr. Iris Mahone is their new oncology resident, a confident dark-haired 29-year-old with striking blue eyes who starts hitting on Will the moment they were introduced. Connor wants to like her because she"s smart and a good doctor and she has a way with patients, especially kids. But it"s hard not to feel the tug of jealousy whenever Will smiles at her, and for the first time he understands Will"s initial hostility towards Jeff. He tries to stay out of her way when he can, especially when she"s working with Will, so when he rounds the corner and finds them talking in treatment five, he doesn"t mean to eavesdrop. He only catches the tail end of their conversation. "- flattered, but I"m kinda seeing someone," Will says. Amusement is swinging in Mahone"s voice. "Kinda? That doesn"t sound like you"re sure." It instantly makes Connor"s hackles rise, but Will just laughs. "I- No. I am sure. I"m seeing someone. Sorry," he says, and that tight, unpleasant feeling in the pit of Connor"s stomach that he"s been carrying around finally eases. From the doorway, he clears his throat, making his presence known. The sight of the instant flush on Will"s cheeks when he looks up and realizes that their convention was overheard is strangely rewarding. "Sorry, Dr. Mahone, I need to borrow Dr. Halstead here for a second," Connor says, not sounding the slightest bit sorry at all. "Never mind. I was ready to head out anyway." She offers a brief, polite smile. "Dr. Rhodes. Will." He waits until she"s out of earshot before he turns to Will. He doesn"t quite manage to keep the smug grin from his face. "So, you"re kinda seeing someone? Anything serious?" "Eh, I don"t know. He"s pretty hot, but he"s also an arrogant prick. I haven"t really decided if he"s worth all the trouble." But even as he"s talking, he"s grabbing Connor by the front of his scrubs, pulling him further into the room and quickly drawing the curtains closed behind them. Before Connor can think of a snarky comeback, Will"s lips are on his. Connor groans softly into the kiss. Their shift ended twenty minutes ago. It"s not like anyone"s gonna come looking for them, and yet - "We"re going to be in so much trouble if Maggie finds us." He hates to put a stop to this, but someone has to be the grown-up person in this relationship, and it"s clearly not going to be Will.

Connor snorts. "I don"t doubt it, but that"s a little more altruism than I"m prepared to offer. Or masochism, for that matter." With a wide grin on her face, Natalie walks backwards away from him, down to where the next patient is waiting. "Think of something else then. Maybe with less violence involved." Easier said than done. Connor is reasonably sure that Nat meant for him to invite Will out for a drink and get him to open up, provide an open ear and a figurative shoulder to cry on. Perhaps that sort of offer would work, coming from Natalie, but it"s not what he and Will are like, not even at their best moments. The day after Will found out that Jennifer Baker was on a placebo, after Connor had bodily stopped him from wrecking his career any more than he already had, they"d found themselves at Molly"s, nursing their drinks in silence. There was no sharing, no exchange of heartfelt sympathies and stories to establish some common ground. Some of the tension between them had eased after that, but it was a tentative truce at best. Still, when he runs into Will at the reception, bowed over a patient"s file, on hour fourteen of their shift, he says the first thing that comes to mind. "I know you told me to mind my own business, but I have a spare room with a couch." He can see that Will"s ready to argue. Judging by the thin, hard line of his mouth and the frown creasing his forehead, the window of opportunity to get through to him is closing fast, so Connor holds up his hands in a placatory gesture. "I"m just offering. No strings attached, take it or leave it. But we both know that the moment Goodwin finds out you"re sleeping at the hospital, you"ll be in a world of trouble." Will opens his mouth, probably about to tell Connor to shove it. He"s saved by Maggie, calling him into treatment two where Mrs. Winterstein, 84, is going into cardiac arrest following trauma from a car crash. Then it"s all compressions and defibrillation and epi, life or death, and Will"s living situation is the furthest thing from his mind. He doesn"t see Will before his shift ends and he quickly scrubs down and catches the train home, bone-tired and exhausted. It"s been a long fucking day. Mrs. Winterstein didn"t make it. Cara, the kid from the hit-and-run accident is looking stable. You win some, you lose some, but the ones that end badly never stop smarting. It"s 3 pm on Saturday afternoon - Connor"s first free day in a fortnight - when his doorbell rings. Standing on his doorstep with his bags at his feet, Will looks chagrined, like he wants to be anywhere else but here. He clears his throat and doesn"t meet Connor"s eyes. "So. Does that offer still stand?" Connor can"t help wondering if Will"s here by choice or if that choice was made for him by Goodwin catching him making himself at home in the on-call room. It"s a scene all too easy to envision - and not a pretty one, at that. If their situations were reversed, Connor"s certain that Will would make him work for it. He"d make sure to rub it in and not let him forget that he"s been a total dick. But that"s not who Connor is. From where he stands, there"s little point in deliberately antagonizing Will, no matter how perfect the opening to get in a little dig or two might be. He wordlessly steps aside and motions Will inside. "You know, this isn"t how I imagined your place," Will casually says over Thai take-out because of course he can"t stop himself from raising what he considers to be a silver spoon upbringing at every opportunity. Connor rolls his eyes at him and tells himself that it would be immature to throw a noodle at Will"s face. He allows his voice to drip with honey-thick sarcasm, though. "Yeah? Sorry I can"t provide a castle-sized loft with marble flooring and golden faucets. I know I must be a terrible disappointment to you." To his surprise, Will doesn"t take offense. Instead, the quip only startles a choked laugh from Will"s throat, and genuine amusement lights up his face. "Not what I meant, but I like the idea. No, I wasn"t actually - I wasn"t giving you shit, okay. I like the place. It"s... comfy. And you don"t seem like the kind of guy who goes for comfy, you know." At Connor"s incredulous expression, he shakes his head and a pale flush rises up his cheeks. "Fuck you, man, you know what I mean." "I have absolutely no clue," Connor deadpans. His lips twitch. "But it sounds suspiciously like a compliment, so I"ll take it." Will flips him off and flings a noodle at him. Unlike Connor, appearances of maturity are clearly not something he"s terribly concerned with. Connor hasn"t had a roommate since he came back to Chicago. He never particularly enjoyed sharing his space with someone before, but for all their differences, Will is surprisingly easy to live with. He cleans up after himself, he doesn"t mess with Connor"s system of sorting his record collection, and he doesn"t steal Connor"s smoothies from the fridge. They argue over baseball (because of course Will is a White Sox fan, proud South Side boy that he is) and about who gets to use the shower first on mornings where they"re both due at the hospital for the early shift - but given the frequency of their clashes at work, it"s astonishingly companionable. It"s nice to have someone to come home to after a long day. Especially on the bad days, when losing a patient hits Connor hard and he doesn"t want to be alone but has no interest in talking either, it"s good to have someone there who understands what it"s like, holding a life in your hand and watching it slip through your fingers. When Will was virtually homeless and Connor offered, it was meant to be a temporary fix. But whenever he walks in on Will scanning the morning paper for a place of his own he can afford or perhaps someone looking for a permanent roommate, he feels weirdly disappointed. He bites his tongue and swallows the urge to tell Will to stop looking, that he"s free to stay as long as he likes. It"s a ratty couch that"s probably hell on Will"s back and a tiny 150 square feet room - of course Will is looking for something better. But reasonable or not, the idea still sits uncomfortably with Connor, his abandonment issues rearing their ugly head. Dr Charles would have a field day - not that Connor ever intends on discussing it with him. It"s bad enough that Sarah"s not-so-stealthily profiling everyone in the hospital and Will"s relentless about poking at his family shit; he doesn"t need anyone else dissecting his issues. The week before Christmas, there"s some charity event meant to attract sponsors for the hospital. Technically, attendance is optional, but Goodwin"s made it clear that in this particular case, the definition of the term was "all of you"d better be there under the pain of death, unemployment or the full force of my disappointment". Connor"s caught up in the O.R., literally holding someone"s heart in his hands, and doesn"t make it until the party is already in full gear, the charity part well out of the way and alcohol raising everyone"s spirits. Dodging a few of his father"s business partners and hoping that his old man isn"t actually here himself, Connor unconsciously scouts the room for Will. He finds him at the far back, caught up in a conversation with Maggie and Nat. When Connor approaches, Will offers a smile that"s just a little too relaxed and open for him to be sober, and his hand settles firmly on Connor"s shoulder. "Connor, my man! So glad you"re here to save me. Those two are badgering me to come out with them and hit a karaoke bar." Connor raises an eyebrow at Maggie, who shrugs unapologetically. "I"m just saying. Jeff and Noah are already in. You"d make a mean boy band." Nat laughs out loud, missing the flash of jealousy and resentment on Will"s face at the mention of Jeff. As much as Connor would love to see Will make an ass of himself finding his inner Backstreet Boy, he has an inkling that it might end in a competitive clusterfuck at best and a fistfight at worst. "Sorry, ladies, I"ve heard this guy sing in the shower, and I think it"s against the Convention of Human Rights to subject other people to that kind of torture." Will lightly punches him in the side with an indignant "hey!", while Maggie raises an eyebrow at them and asks, "You shower together a lot?" and Connor feels his face heat up. "On that note, I think we"re leaving before your overactive imagination gets the better of you," he says, well aware that he"s probably making things worse. Next to him, Will won"t stop chuckling, but he"s not protesting as Connor steers him from the room, offering an apologetic gesture to Goodwin who glares at them from where she"s talking to some Wall Street guy. In the lift, Will leans back and slouches against the back wall, the dopey half-smirk still playing around his mouth. Tipsy and relaxed is a good look on him. He cleans up well, too, wearing a sleek grey pinstripe suit with a familiar dark blue tie that gives Connor pause. The stab of possessiveness he feels at the sight of Will wearing it is both inappropriate and unwelcome, but Connor can"t shake it. It had been more of an in-joke than a genuine gift, and he"s surprised that Will kept it, let alone actually decided to wear it to an event like this. Before he can stop himself, he"s stepped into Will"s personal space, brushing a finger along the silky blue fabric. He"s the sober one, he should have better impulse control than this. But Will isn"t backing away from the touch, and his eyes are dark and heavy on Connor, pupils blown so wide that they"re swallowing the brown of his eyes. "I take it you liked the tie, then?" Will"s grin becomes wider. "Maybe it was just the only one I had," he suggests, playing up the beaten old working class boy shtick, and Connor"s still trying to come up with a good response when Will"s fingers wrap around Connor"s own tie, thoroughly rumpling it as he pulls him down. He tastes like cheese and champagne, and the scent of his aftershave makes Connor lightheaded. The kiss is sloppy and insistent, an adrenaline rush that hits him low in the stomach like a sucker punch. It"s not like he hasn"t thought about it. Those early weeks in the E.D. when Will wouldn"t stop questioning his authority. In the hospital elevator, with Will pressed against the wall and Connor struggling to hold him in place. At home, watching Will walk into the kitchen shower-wet, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. But it was a bad idea then, and it"s a worse idea now. They barely get along, and Will"s hung up on Natalie. Add alcohol to the mix, and it"s bound to end up something they regret. Will lets go of his tie, hand trailing suggestively down his chest, and Connor knows that if he doesn"t put a stop to it now, he won"t. He takes a step backwards. "I don"t think we should be doing this, Will." His voice is shot to hell, all raw and wrecked like he"s had half a bottle of whiskey for dinner. He feels that way too, light-headed and unsteady, trying hard to resist the gravity pull back towards Will, who"s clearly set on not letting Connor get away with the half-assed attempt to push him away. "No offense, man, but you"re full of shit. If anything, we should have done it ages ago." "I"m not Natalie." It"s a shitty thing to say, but Connor"s counting on Will"s quick-fire anger to flare up, sobering him more effectively than any rational argument could. Apparently, he miscalculated, because instead of making Will mad, all his words accomplish is bringing out a mischievous smile. "Yeah? Damn, I really hadn"t realized." He reaches down, fingers firmly cupping Connor thorough his pants. His treacherous cock twitches in Will"s grip. "You"re right, you"re really not Natalie." Reaching around Connor, Will hits the stop button. The elevator grinds to a halt with a screeching sound, and before Connor can protest, he finds himself pushed with his back against the wall and Will"s sinking to his knees in front of him, hands fumbling with the buttons of his pants. It"s a hell of a rush, watching Will - proud, competitive Will, who refuses to let him have the upper hand in anything ever - kneel before him, his suit getting crumpled and soiled on the dirty floor. It effectively kills any willpower to protest Connor had left. Clever long fingers are opening the zipper and pushing down his boxers, freeing his aching cock from the confines of his clothing. Will looks up at him with a victorious smirk, like Connor"s state of obvious arousal somehow negates his objections and proves Will right. Even about this, Will"s being a smartass - it definitely shouldn"t be as hot as it is. But when he swallows Connor down, Connor lets his head drop back against the wall, closes his eyes and stops caring about anything but the warm, wet heat engulfing him. In the morning, waking up naked and tangled in Connor"s bedroom, Will is tight-lipped and sullen, barely looking at Connor as he slides out of bed and disappears into the bathroom. There"s a headache drumming behind Connor"s forehead and a queasy, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, like he"s had too much to drink even though he hadn"t in fact touched any alcohol last night. "I told you it was a bad idea," Connor says quietly when Will steps into the kitchen half an hour later, freshly showered but no less surly than before. "Jesus, you never let a chance for an "I told you so" pass, do you?" The amount of bitterness and resentment in Will"s voice makes Connor wince. "Trust me, in this case, I wish I hadn"t been right." Will rolls his eyes and walks over to him. Connor doesn"t know what to expect when Will reaches out and steals Connor"s cup from right under his nose, downing his coffee like it"s a whiskey shot. Any other morning, Connor would be bitching at him to get his own damn coffee - the pod"s right over there, for fuck"s sake - but the events of the past night have shaken up the status quo thoroughly. Setting down the empty cup in front of Connor again, Will offers a smile that"s a little more like a grimace. "Yeah, well, you weren"t. I"m having the mother of all hangovers, I drunkenly promised April to let Noah accompany me on ward rounds next week, and I"m due for a double shift in less than an hour. Trust me when I say that blowing you in the Ritz Carlton"s elevator is pretty damn low on my list of regrets this morning. Even though the best suit I own is probably ruined beyond saving." Will"s casual nonchalance throws Connor off. It seems genuine enough, though, and Connor tentatively aims for a joke. "I"d offer to buy you a new one, but you"d just rant at me for rubbing in my wealth." "Hell, no! It"s your fault the suit"s all messed up. You should definitely buy me a new one." Will angles a sharp grin at him and saunters out of the room, but not before grabbing Connor"s toast from his plate, taking a bite. Connor glares at his disappearing back. All things considered, this went better than he expected. Even if he has to get himself some new breakfast. Nat finds Connor on the rooftop enjoying a coffee and some quiet before the haunting, high-pitched beep of his pager will doubtlessly have him rushing down to the E.D. again. She settles against the railing next to him, gloved hands cradling a steaming Styrofoam cup. "So. You and Will," she says. It"s not really a question. Connor snorts. "I see the rumor mill has worked its magic again." Nat"s lip twitches. "You were wearing his hoodie the other day. The White Sox one? I know for a fact that you"re not a fan." "He"s living with me. Maybe I just grabbed the wrong thing from the dryer." "You also have a hickey... right there." She pokes at the neckline of his scrubs with gleeful amusement, and Connor remembers this morning in the bathroom, Will crowding him against the shower wall, hips lazily rocking against Connor"s while his lips trailed down Connor"s neck, fastening at the juncture of his shoulder like a goddamn vampire. Connor would have objected, but between the slick slide of their cocks against each other and Will"s teeth worrying the sensitive skin, it had felt too damn good. He flushes at the memory. "Circumstantial evidence at best. Anyone could have given me that," he argues. "Sure. But Will was the one who was all over you at the party, and also, you"re not exactly denying it, so I call bullshit on your poor attempts at deflection." She"s got a point. Nat knows both of them too well to try and lead her on. Besides, she"s a friend. Connor doesn"t mind if she knows. It"s not like it"s meant to be a secret to begin with, but it"s hard to be open about a relationship when you don"t really know where you stand or where it"s going. If it"s even meant to go anywhere. Connor casts a frown into his coffee, as if the rapidly cooling dark liquid held all the answers. Unsurprisingly, it doesn"t. "I don"t know what the fuck we"re doing," he admits, and his chest instantly feels a little lighter now that he"s actually voiced the thing that"s been eating him up for weeks, ever since the charity event and the way he and Will have since been sliding into what feels like a fragile truce that happens to include regular orgasms. "Sometimes I think he can barely stand me." "Oh, Connor," Natalie says with feeling - but it"s hard to tell whether the emotion behind it is pity or exasperation. Perhaps figuring out other people"s feelings is just not something Connor excels in. He"s good with hearts, but only when they"re on an operating table in front of him. "Have you seen Will around someone he truly doesn"t like? He gets all cool and quiet and painstakingly polite. That push and pull, when he keeps blowing up in your face over nothing, the way he"s been treating you right from the start? That means he cares." She smiles a private little smile. "I"m afraid he"s kinda stuck in the pulling pigtails phase the average boy grows out of when they reach puberty." Connor snorts because, yeah, he can see it. "You make him sound like a total catch." "Why do you think him and me never happened? I like him, but I don"t have patience for that sort of thing. He pushes and pushes, and it just upsets me. You keep pushing back. I think he needs that." Natalie crumples her coffee cup. "Don"t worry too much. I"m sure you guys can figure things out." She gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before making her way back to the staircase. Right on time, Connor"s beeper goes off, like the universe telling him to get out of his head and back to work. Dr. Iris Mahone is their new oncology resident, a confident dark-haired 29-year-old with striking blue eyes who starts hitting on Will the moment they were introduced. Connor wants to like her because she"s smart and a good doctor and she has a way with patients, especially kids. But it"s hard not to feel the tug of jealousy whenever Will smiles at her, and for the first time he understands Will"s initial hostility towards Jeff. He tries to stay out of her way when he can, especially when she"s working with Will, so when he rounds the corner and finds them talking in treatment five, he doesn"t mean to eavesdrop. He only catches the tail end of their conversation. "- flattered, but I"m kinda seeing someone," Will says. Amusement is swinging in Mahone"s voice. "Kinda? That doesn"t sound like you"re sure." It instantly makes Connor"s hackles rise, but Will just laughs. "I- No. I am sure. I"m seeing someone. Sorry," he says, and that tight, unpleasant feeling in the pit of Connor"s stomach that he"s been carrying around finally eases. From the doorway, he clears his throat, making his presence known. The sight of the instant flush on Will"s cheeks when he looks up and realizes that their convention was overheard is strangely rewarding. "Sorry, Dr. Mahone, I need to borrow Dr. Halstead here for a second," Connor says, not sounding the slightest bit sorry at all. "Never mind. I was ready to head out anyway." She offers a brief, polite smile. "Dr. Rhodes. Will." He waits until she"s out of earshot before he turns to Will. He doesn"t quite manage to keep the smug grin from his face. "So, you"re kinda seeing someone? Anything serious?" "Eh, I don"t know. He"s pretty hot, but he"s also an arrogant prick. I haven"t really decided if he"s worth all the trouble." But even as he"s talking, he"s grabbing Connor by the front of his scrubs, pulling him further into the room and quickly drawing the curtains closed behind them. Before Connor can think of a snarky comeback, Will"s lips are on his. Connor groans softly into the kiss. Their shift ended twenty minutes ago. It"s not like anyone"s gonna come looking for them, and yet - "We"re going to be in so much trouble if Maggie finds us." He hates to put a stop to this, but someone has to be the grown-up person in this relationship, and it"s clearly not going to be Will. Laughing, Will pulls them towards the empty gurney. "Pretty sure I saw her giving me a thumbs up when I pulled the curtain." His fingers brush the waistline of Connor"s pants as he angles his head up and deepens the kiss, and Connor decides to take Natalie"s advice and stop worrying for a while. End.

Mike lifts the gun and pulls the trigger. The sound echoes through the night, deafening. Ari goes down like a puppet whose strings have been cut. It takes a moment until the blood starts pooling around him. The shock written all over Briggs" face is almost comical. "Jesus, Mike." Funny, because Briggs was the one who had the idea in the first place, right at the beginning of the assignment, when things had already gone sideways but not catastrophically so. Back then, Mike tried to talk him out of it when he should really have asked, How can I help? "What the hell did you do that for?" Mike shrugs. "He shouldn"t have resisted arrest." There"s something in the way Briggs looks at him that makes his hackles rise. "Don"t start," he says, and the anger is adding to the pounding headache he can"t shake. Briggs is the last person who has the right to pass judgement, even if it wasn"t for the fact that Mike did it to protect him. Briggs raises his hands in a placatory gesture. "I wasn"t saying anything." Doesn"t mean he"s not thinking it. Mike clenches his teeth and calls it in. Another arrest gone wrong, another body bag. Same old, same old. Moving on. No big deal. He doesn"t lose any sleep over it. Maybe he should. He shot an unarmed man point-blank for no other reason than to cover up Briggs" part in several other people"s deaths. He remembers when he first came to Graceland, fresh out of the academy, with a firm set of morals and a clear idea where to draw the line between right and wrong. The line has been blurred so much that it"s become all but invisible, stained with the blood of those whose lives they took a gamble on and lost. The Mike who came to California - the one who was adamant to bring down Briggs for being Odin Rossi - would have been horrified, but there"s virtually nothing left of that man. The world"s not going to miss Ari Adamian. A lot of better people have died in those two years since Mike"s been here. Juan. Lena. Colby. Mike"s accepted his responsibility in their deaths and managed to move on. Compared to them, Ari isn"t even a blip on the fucking radar. He visits Bello in prison. It surprises him that Bello is willing to see him, after everything. He didn"t think Bello had anything left to say to him. Then again, maybe Bello isn"t quite done telling him that he"s the worst. An officer leads Bello into the room in handcuffs and sits him down at the small table opposite Mike. He seems fine, so whatever threat the Kaza cartel posed to him seems to have been neutralized. Mike makes a mental note to ask Briggs about it. Bello looks him up and down. "You look like shit, Michael." It"s one hell of a conversation opener. Mike laughs quietly and runs a tired hand over his face. "Trust me, I look better than I feel." Bello"s lip curls. "I would say something about karma, but something tells me it is nothing you"re not thinking yourself." It"s a little scary how well he"s still able to read Mike. "I also assume you know better than to come here fishing for information because I will not tell you a thing. Which makes me wonder why you wanted to see me." Why did he, exactly? Perhaps he didn"t entirely think this through. Perhaps this has been a terrible idea. Then again, what"s one more in the long string of terrible choices he"s made since he left Quantico. He forces himself not to avert his eyes and presses on. "Did you ever tell yourself you were a good guy? I know you have no illusions about yourself now, but was there ever a time when you did?" "Of course I did. Don"t we all start that way?" From the amusement swinging in Bello"s voice and the use of the plural pronoun, suggesting they"re alike, it"s obvious that he"s figured out where Mike"s questions were going to lead "You tell yourself that as long as you have good reasons for what you do, it justifies your actions. It is a slippery slope." His accent curves around vowels, almost but not quite taking the harshness out of his words. It feels strangely safe talking about this with Bello here, behind plexiglass fronts and steel bars. He"s under no illusion that, if Bello ever gets out, he"s going to come after Mike. Judging from the way he"s handled disloyalty among his people before, Mike could call himself lucky if he dies quickly. But now, here, he can almost believe that Bello is something like a friend, someone to confide his darkest secrets in and ask for advice. "How do you live with yourself? How can you look in the mirror knowing how many innocent people died because of something you did?" It sounds more accusing than he meant it to. He didn"t come here to pass judgement, or to tell Bello that however much he liked him personally, he finds what he did despicable. Bello leans back, folding his hands. The handcuffs rattle. "You could say that it all comes down to loyalty, in the end. As long as I believe that what I do helps the people I care for, I can accept whatever bad consequences my actions have. That"s why I was prepared to give up Odin Rossi to protect you. Of course, that was before I found out that you were the last person deserving of my loyalty. Who are you loyal to, Michael? Your precious Bureau? Your superiors, those men in ill-fitting suits who sit in fancy offices and give you orders?" Mike snorts, both at the idea of being loyal to the Bureau and at the reminder that a huge part of his assignment with Bello had been about chasing a phantom. Odin fucking Rossi. It all comes down to Briggs, every damn time. He wonders how Bello would react if he knew that the man he"d been protecting was FBI. He"d be at equal parts furious and amused, most likely. Mike"s fury has burnt itself out by now, muddled by the tangled mess of emotions Briggs keeps leaving in his wake. The line of thought brings a certain clarity along, because the mere fact that the knowledge of who Odin really was is confined to a bunch of people in Graceland speaks volumes about where Mike"s loyalties lie. "Loyalty is what lead me down this path in the first place," Mike admits. "So maybe, like you, I"ve placed my loyalty in the wrong people." He isn"t entirely sure if he means Briggs or the FBI, or both, nor does he know at which point exactly the two became altogether different - if not opposing - forces. There"s a speculative expression in the way Bello looks at him that makes Mike want to squirm in his seat and he has to force himself to sit still. "Maybe so. But once you have passed a certain point, there is no turning back. You should know that." Mike did, he does, but there"s a certain finality in hearing it from Bello. It"s unsettling and liberating at once. Briggs" eyes are following him around the house. The weight of his stare is heavy, unsettling, and omnipresent, from when he walks into the kitchen in the morning to late nights at the beach, sitting around the bonfire with the others. It"s like an itch Mike can"t scratch away. "What"s going on with you two?" Johnny asks one morning, after breakfast. Mike is glad it"s not Charlie, who knows Mike and Briggs and their secrets a bit too well to be pacified with a shrug and a casual, "Nothing, man. Just itching for a new case." As soon as Johnny"s out of earshot, Mike confronts Briggs. "If you have something to say, why don"t you say it?" It"s frustration, not anger that makes his voice shake. Sometimes Briggs acts like he has a monopoly on blurring the lines and he forgets that they"re all capable of terrible things. Mike, Paige, Johnny, Jakes... even Charlie. Briggs shuts the door to Mike"s room between himself and the others. "I"m just trying to figure out why you did it." And really, Briggs can"t be that clueless. Mike knows he isn"t. "Come on, you know why I did it." Briggs sits down on the bed, frowning up at him. "Yeah, I know, I just don"t get why. You were sent to Graceland to investigate me. But whenever you actually have some shit on me, you don"t use it and you"re doing your damnest to protect me. Charlie kept sitting on that tape because she was having my baby, but you? I don"t get why you weren"t handing in that fucking thing first chance you got. And Ari... You shot the guy to keep me out of prison. I brought this on myself, Mikey, and I know I"m going to go down for it eventually. I don"t want to pull you under with me." One of the reasons Briggs is such a good undercover agent is because he buys into his own lies. Doesn"t mean Mike has to. "The self-sacrificing act would be more believable if your first course of action when you thought I had the tape hadn"t been to have me killed during that bank job." It"s clear from the look of Briggs" face that he didn"t think Mike knew about that. Mike rolls his eyes. "What? I"m not stupid, okay?" Briggs" frown deepens. "How can you forgive me for that? How can you live in a house where two people tried to have you killed, and joke around with us at dinner, and fucking trust us with your life out there?" "You forget the part where you saved my life, what, three times so far?" He shrugs. It"s deflection. He doesn"t really believe that it balances each other out, saving someone"s life and trying to kill them. If he did, he would feel a hell of a lot less guilty about Bello, because then the tally would be firmly in his favor. The truth is, the two people who tried to have him killed also happen to be the ones he cares most about - and not just within the house. Bello is only half-right. It"s not just about loyalty, it"s also about love. "And that makes it alright?" "Maybe. Maybe not. I don"t know, man. You act like I have all the answers, but I don"t, okay? I didn"t exactly sit down and calmly think about how to handle the situation with Ari, make a list of pros and cons and sleep on it. He said he was going to bring you down, and I know he could, and I just reacted. I didn"t have a plan, it was just instincts." Mike can"t quite stand the way Briggs looks at him, like he blames himself for corrupting Mike, turning him into a person whose first instinct is to pull a gun and shoot a guy. He quickly changes the subject. "What happened during debriefing? Did Logan give you any trouble?" Briggs shrugs. "He didn"t say anything. Maybe they bought it. Or maybe they"ll send some green hotshot into the house to investigate all of us." "Because that worked so well the last time they tried it?" Mike means it as a joke, but Briggs grows serious. "I"m sorry, man. I know this wasn"t how you envisioned your career to go. Fast-track to Washington and all." What"s a cushy job when you can trade it in for getting shot, a drug addiction and friends who set you up to be killed? Mike"s smile hurts his face. "Don"t worry about it." Sometimes the pain still cuts through Mike like a white-hot knife, hitting him in the middle of the night until all he can do is clutch his side and squeeze his eyes shut and pray it"ll pass. Sometimes he wants nothing more than to pop some oxy and ride that high out until the end, wherever it takes him. Sometimes he locks himself in the bathroom and holds his head underwater until his lungs feel as if they"re going to burst. Sometimes he takes a drink too many, floors the gas a fraction too long when he goes into a curve, takes stupid risks on an assignment, and he wonders if he looks into the abyss for long enough, will something look back at him? Sometimes he goes to AA meetings and talks about his childhood. Sometimes he sits in the kitchen with the others, sauce night for once uninterrupted, Johnny"s jokes making him smile, and Briggs is a warm, steadying presence next to him. Sometimes he"s almost alright. The night after Charlie gives birth, when the nurses have chased them from the hospital so the happy but exhausted new mom can get some rest, Mike finds Briggs down at the beach. He"s sitting propped up against a piece of rock next to the fire with his back to the shore, facing the ocean. Even from a distance, Mike spots the bottle in Briggs" hands, and how tightly he"s clutching it, as if it was the only thing holding him up. When Mike gets closer, he turns his head. "Careful, Mikey. I shot the last guy who approached me when I was on the beach getting drunk." Mike"s step falters. The flames are throwing strange shadows on Briggs" face, making it impossible to read him. It"s hard to gauge his mood when he"s like this, and Mike"s not sure if he"s bring threatened or joked around with. ""course, he was also wearing a mask and pretending to be a sociopathic Mexican hitman, so I guess you"re safe." When Briggs offers him a sharp grin and hands him the bottle, Mike relaxes. So that"s what happened with Juan. Listening to the tape, Mike had guessed that what got Badillo killed had been a volatile situation of his own making. Briggs" explanation makes him wonder how the man could have been so monumentally stupid, especially if he already thought that Briggs was dangerous. "I promise I come in peace." Mike brings the bottle to his lips, the rim of the glass still warm and slick from Briggs" mouth. The alcohol burns down his throat. He winces. Tequila. Not his drink of choice. It tends to make him sick before the buzz really hits, so if Briggs is planning to get them drunk, he"d better be prepared to get puke on his shoes. Next to him, Briggs is staring into the fire, eyes clouded. "I have a kid, Mikey. I have a little baby boy." Mike smiles. "I know. I was there today at the hospital, remember?" "I"m not fit to be a dad." He takes the tequila back from Mike, their hands brushing on the bottle. "I"m a mess. Everything I touch turns to shit. I keep getting people killed. Before you met me, you were a righteous, innocent guy with a bright future. Now you don"t even blink when you kill people, you can"t look at an oxy delivery without starting to shake, and you"ll never make AD in your lifetime." Briggs isn"t completely off in his harsh assessment of Mike"s situation, but it still hurts to hear it being laid out so plainly. Mike swallows the lump in his throat, fighting down the rush of self-pity and anger. "I don"t think you can take full credit for what a mess I made of my life, Briggs." "Can"t I? Are you saying I didn"t corrupt you? Because it sure looks that way from where I"m standing." He"s about to take another swig of tequila and Mike thinks maybe he"s had enough, so he reaches over to snatch the bottle from Briggs" hands. It"s almost empty; it doesn"t take much to finish it off. Wiping his mouth, Mike drops it, and it hits the sand next to the fire without a sound. "Look, man. It"s not the same thing," he says. "You"ll love your kid. You"ll do whatever it takes to protect him." Briggs laughs, but there"s no mirth in it; it"s a terrible, harsh sound that clutches Mike"s heart tight like a fist and threatens to rip it out. "Fuck, Mike. If you think loving someone stops me from dragging them down with me, think again." He comes at Mike so violently that Mike expects a punch. In the flickering orange light of the fire, he looks angry, and Mike wonders what brought it on, can"t remember having said or done anything to deserve it. Mike flinches back when Briggs reaches for him, but the alcohol in his system has slowed his reflexes down too much to evade him. Briggs" hand tangles in his hair, pulling him closer, and Mike only realizes how much he misjudged the situation when Briggs" mouth is on his. Briggs kisses like he does everything else: all in, no holds barred, sink or swim. His fingers are rough in Mike"s hair, his stubble burns Mike"s skin and his teeth are drawing blood. Mike lets him wash over him like the tide, stunned into motionlessness by the force of the kiss. It"s over too soon. Briggs steps back. He looks more scared than Mike has ever seen him, all wide-eyed shock like he can"t believe he"s done this, like it"s the worst kind of mistake. Mike can already see Briggs" mind spinning, twisting this into yet another way he corrupted Mike, giving himself once again a hell of a lot more credit than he deserves for all the bad choices the people around him make. Fuck it, Mike thinks. He moves in until he"s crowding Briggs against the rock, close enough that he can see the fight-or-flight reflex flashing in Briggs" eyes. The air smells of smoke and the ocean, and he hasn"t felt this high since he"s been off oxy. His grin is probably a little on the maniac side, but he doesn"t care. He"s been wanting this for so long. He"ll be damned if he lets Briggs kill his buzz. "We doing this or what?" He swallows whatever protest Briggs is about to give with a kiss, every bit as vicious and brutal and relentless as the first one, giving himself a chance to savor the sharp metallic tang of tequila and blood. Morning hits him like a fright train. His head feels too sizes too big and the cotton-wool sensation in his mouth makes him scrunch up his face. It"s half past six. Sunshine filters through the window. Out on the shore, the seagulls are crying. From outside his door, he can hear Jakes and Johnny bickering. Next to him, Briggs is snoring softly. In his sleep, he looks more relaxed than Mike has seen him in months, like the demons raging inside of him are quiet for once. Mike feels almost guilty for disturbing him, but it"s only a matter of time before one of the others comes knocking at the door. His touches Briggs" shoulder and give him a gentle shake. "Hey." Briggs groans and sits up. Mike doesn"t particularly care to see the moment when realization hits Briggs, so he allows himself to be distracted by the way the sheets slip down, revealing tanned skin and toned muscles and pale scars. He can"t stop himself from reaching out and letting his fingers trail down the path of soft hair below Briggs" belly button. Briggs catches his hand, his hold on Mike"s wrist a little too tight. The pain should be a kill the arousal, not make it sky-rocket, but Mike has long since made peace with the way Briggs got all his wires crossed. "Mike." Briggs" voice is firm. "If we do this, we can"t blame it on the tequila anymore." Mike offers a wry half-smile. "Wasn"t really planning to." There"s a long moment when Briggs just looks at him, searching his face for... something. Mike holds his gaze, trying to telegraph that this isn"t something he"s unsure about. Finally, Briggs loosens his grip, not letting go but giving Mike a little tug instead, pulling him in. Still, he"s not quite run out of protests yet, even if the unforgiving edge in his tone is wavering. "This is a bad idea," he say. Mike laughs because, really, what else is new? "Of all the bad ideas we"ve had, this is probably one of the least terrible ones. We"re gonna be okay." For the first time since he woke up in the hospital to the sight of frantic doctors and Briggs" worried face and the beeping sound of machines, he says those words and means them. "So." Jakes slides onto the couch next to him. "You and Briggs, huh?" Mike turns around and looks at him sharply. When he realizes that Jakes isn"t fishing, that he actually knows, he offers a resigned shrug. Yeah, well, what can you do? Jakes snorts. "Wish I could say I"m surprised, man." Even though he"s curious, Mike isn"t sure if he wants to ask how Jakes figured it out, why he"s not more surprised when not even Mike really saw it coming. Then again, perhaps Mike wasted so much time obsessing over whether he could trust Briggs and if he could trust himself around Briggs that he was blind to the obvious. "This house already has too many secrets. I mean, I get it, they"re part of the job. The lies are your life, and all that bullshit. But as soon as we keep stuff from each other, things go to shit. There"s a reason we fucked up pretty much every single case since the whole mess with Jangles and Odin Rossi." Mike tries not to give anything away. He"s an undercover agent - his life depends on his ability to mask his tells. But when Jakes mentions Odin, he can"t help it; he twitches. Jakes zeroes in on it like a hawk. "He told you?" This time at least, Jakes seems surprised. "Good for you. Maybe there"s hope for you two after all." "Yeah. Maybe." He looks away. He wonders what Jakes would say if he knew that Briggs didn"t exactly tell him, and what Briggs" knee-jerk reaction had been when he found out Mike knew. If Jakes would still say there was hope for them, or if he"d think they should both be locked away for their own good. Mike is saved from fixating any more on the matter, or from any further rants from Jakes about the dangers of keeping secrets when they"re interrupted. "What are you two whispering about?" Johnny comes skipping down the stairs, Briggs and Paige in his wake. He squeezes himself between Mike and Jakes on the couch and flops down, the cushions bouncing. "Nothing, man," Mike says, aware of three pairs of curious eyes on him. On the other end of the couch, Jakes chuckles under his breath. The irony isn"t lost on Mike. That"s the thing about lying: it becomes a habit you can"t shake. His eyes meet Briggs" across the coffee table. Briggs raises an eyebrow at him inquisitively, but Mike only shakes his head and smiles. "Nothing at all." End. Comments are very much appreciated!

But, the soldiers and...Even the Marduks kept chasing after them. Though, they were already worn out, they had to keep on running or else it will be their end To the dark alleys was their last resort... Just ahead was their hideout. Before they left, there were a good number of comrades left. They have to warn them that it was a trap. Then, there were gunshots... The Marduks spotted them again. It was heard to their left... Somebody must distract them... Then without thinking, Atlas faced Shay... "OK... No more objections. Shay, you have to go ahead and warn everybody about what we learned... I"ll go in front the Marduks to distract them and..." "What!? Are you crazy!?" Shay demanded. "Atlas... That"s like committing suicide!" "Shay, this is the only way! Somebody must distract them and the other must go ahead to warn the others..." Atlas said as he held her hands. "But, Atlas... You might die... Everybody we have known is gone... You"re the only one left... Please stay with me..." Her tears flowed from her eyes like eternal rain. She was shaking and cold. It was evident that she was scared... "Shay... Please listen to me... This Revolution thing was fault... I shouldn"t have forced you into this..." His voice bore shame and atonement... Shay had stared at him even the situation was against them... He was back... The funny, loving, and caring person whom she had known all her life... His raging anger had vanished... It was replaced by the tenderness and warm nature... "But, Atlas..." Her voice was weak from all her sobbing but he had to interrupt her again. "Shay..." He touched one side of face, wiping off her tears, "I promise I will not die... For you..." Shay had to close her eyes... Never had she had been given the chance to decide for herself... She stared deeply into his eyes... She can tell he was scared, too... Scared for her... She nodded slowly. And Atlas took her rifle so that he can use both rifles to defend himself... With that, she dashed towards the hideout with all her strength... Just then... She heard two gunshots and a cry of pain... The voice... It was Atlas!!! "No..." She was about to head back when an outburst of gunshots was heard. Atlas was OK... But how...? She didn"t know... Bravely fighting off her doubt, she ran towards the hideout again. Then there was the hideout, she entered hastily... She needs to save Atlas fast... "Guys! Guys! I have to say something! Atlas is in da-" She screamed... Right before her was her comrades... slain by guns... dead... lifeless... Not a single soul was left alive... "No..." Her face was filled with tears once again. "No...No..." All of a sudden, she heard a noise... She peeked from a small hole... It was a bulldozer! It was going to destroy the hideout! Panickingly, she left the hideout... Leaving her dead friends alone to be buried in the rubbles... She rushed to where she and Atlas parted... And there was the trail of blood... The rest was now covered with snow... - This is it... - She thought. - I"m all alone... - She went down on her knees, exhausted, physically and emotionally... She was alone... If only Atlas didn"t have to go... If only... She too had died... And she went on to weep, mourning for all the friends she had lost as she stayed by the blood stained patch of snow... - - - - - (000) - - - - - "Whoa! Whoa! Stop!" Andy freaked out. "This is too much! You mean the military is behind all this!" "So, that"s why my brother was angry at the military... He assigned a new general, too." Becka said. "And guys, that was a painful story... I think we better stop..." Tinnette suggested. "No, wait... "Atlas said. "We are already OK... Right Shay...?" The said girl nodded with a smile. All sighed... They might be okay...but... - - - - - (000) - - - - - As soon as he showed himself to the Marduks, he was shot two times at his left sides. He howled in pain and fell to ground. His blood staining the snow... - Dammit! Shay might come back... - "Damn... you!!!" He shot at the two Marduks that had been following them. Both Marduks fell down dead. And Atlas stood up to catch up with Shay... Then suddenly, a gunshot hit his left arm... And he fell again. He looked up. There was another Marduk. He looked at his right arm... It was Shay"s rifle... With all of his strength, he shot the lone Marduk at the forehead... He fell... dead instantly... Atlas got rid of his rifle since it didn"t have any more bullets... He walked towards a hospital... Then he saw a boy... -Oh yeah, the Japanese kid...- "Atlas! What happened?" He asked. "It... It was a trap! They tricked us..." He writhed in pain. Then, he fell in the snow. He couldn"t move anymore... Then he saw fading images of the Japanese kid, the girl, the detective... Then, there was Rock... and Duke Red. They didn"t recognize him since he looks like one of the dead... Moments later, he heard voices... "Tinnette, Andy, look... Someone"s down! Let"s help him!" He closed his eyes... This was it... - I"m sorry... Shay... everyone... - At that point, he felt being carried to someplace... but he didn"t care... He was too weak to know what was going on as Becka, Tinnette and Andy rushed him inside the hospital... His world was dark and void. He heard sounds... But it wasn"t clear to him... Then a white light came to his vision... But he didn"t feel calm and peaceful. In fact, he felt heavy and the pain that he felt in his left sides and his left arm was still there... He opened his eyes and gasped... He was in a hospital. But who would want to even care about him...? "Hi..." A voice caught his attention. It was a blonde-haired girl. She was wearing sunglasses. "W-who are you...? You brought me here...?" Atlas asked. "Yes... Me and my two other friends... My name is Tinnette... Then, three days after, the director of hospital scolded the brunette nurse for bringing a criminal in the hospital. So, the three decided to place him in the Resistance Center. The other people didn"t like him either. So, he stayed in his flat alone... Still blaming himself in the chaos he has created... - - - - - (000) - - - - - Shay heard about the rumor that those who started the Revolution... were killed. The weather control tower has been fixed and the snow was cleared away... Shay was alone as she feared... Living in the streets again... struggling to survive... But she taught her heart to pull itself together. She was convinced that Atlas was still alive... Because he never broke a promise... Ever... Even in the fall of Ziggurat, she still searched for him... She had asked all the hospitals in the main Zone. She would show them of his picture but... each time... The reply was always a no... Even if it was hard, she still kept on searching... Even though, the Ziggurat had fallen, she was still searching... Until, she was there on the last hospital... She was about to ask again when she heard two nurses gossiping... "Hey, guess what? Nurse Becka Goldhart"s brother is now the new president..." "What!? No way!" The other nurse remarked. "Well, I couldn"t believe it myself... That Goldhart is a total weirdo. Why in the world did she let that Revolution leader Atlas enter our hospital... Hmph... Glad the director kicked him off..." "Hmph... Yeah! But he couldn"t keep Goldhart out coz she"s the First Sister... Where was Atlas staying now, again?" "I heard he"s in Goldhart"s place... the Resistance Center..." Her eyes widened... With that, she dashed towards the so-called Resistance Center... Leaving two nurses with their eyebrows up... - - - - - (000) - - - - - But, it took about 5 days for Shay since the Ziggurat"s fall to get back to Zone-1. The zone transporters were destroyed and she had to wait until it was being repaired. The rest, of course, was history... Shay finally made it to the Resistance Center and found Atlas, alive and well... (Not that well, though...) "You are such a brave and a courageous girl, Shay... I don"t think I haven"t been able to endure all that hardship..." Tinnette complimented... "Well, that"s Shay... She may be crying here and there... But, she"s stronger than I am... Look, she traveled across the Metropolis looking for me!" Atlas said. "Well... Because... it was for "you"..." Andy teased... making the couple blush for the second time... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - That night, Andy went outside to stretch up a bit. It was tough fixing robots, alright. He was about to go back to his lab when he saw a lone figure sitting on one of the benches by the gate. It took the scientist a split second to realize that lone figure was... Kenichi... He went near the boy... "Hey, Kenichi! Looking down... That"s a surprise..." "Oh... Hi, Andy..." The boy answered without energy at all. "What"s the matter? You miss being in Japan or something?" He sat beside him... "Well, I miss Japan, alright. But, I miss Tima even more..." He replied. "Relax, kid... I"m doing everything I can to fix her..." Andy reassured him. "Soon, you"ll both wind up like Atlas and Shay did just awhile ago... Just don"t give up... Like Shay did..." "Yeah... I guess you"re right..." Soon, both have resorted to go back to their flats to sleep... Acts of determination and endurance might be the key... Where was the general...? Is he still on the prowl? And what is he going to do now...? But, if a woman with only a picture with her found him at last... What more can a simple act of willpower do to change the city...? Don"t give up... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (KAWAII HANA 08)- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - AUTHOR ALREADY UPDATED! KAWAII HANA: Okay... another chapter updated. Kind of a sad tragic story, huh? Which brings me to another Original Character... Shay! SHAY: Ehehehehe... Hi, everyone... KAWAII HANA: Alrighty... My plan has coming to order... Ahehehe... (Rubs hands greedily...) (All characters sweat drop...) KAWAII HANA: Oh well... Puh-lease... Review! I want some reviews! I"m craving for reviews...ok... Please... Just choose the "Submit a Review" and press the "Go" button. .. Just say if it"s good or not... Or else... And to those who reviewed: Kairi Uzeniba and Wija-chan!!! Arigato Gozaimasu!!! Would you mind persuading some to review... you know...? "Using force". Just kidding! Anyways, thank you for reading... Don"t forget to review... And, of course... SAYONARA! -Kawaii Hana- NOTE TO READERS: -- Italic -- Thoughts of the person (Italic) Small commentary from me Italic - a flashback passage Bold Emphasized words Bold Italic - Introduction/Ending statements of the chapter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Chapter 4 That Special Night... Despite the long separation, they"d always end up together again... Could there be a greater meaning behind their reunion... Will that spark something new...? Becka admired Shay... from every aspect. The black-haired girl stayed loyal with Atlas despite his sudden change of personality... She endured the hardships of being alone... And even though, she cried most of the time, deep within lays a brave soul... Becka never would have thought that such person had outstood those trials. The first time the nurse saw her was that she was crying... trembling...shivering... And was probably about to faint from the extreme fatigue... But now, Shay was smiling... She was relaxed... She looked peaceful; satisfied to know her best friend was finally by her side... "Uh...Hello? Becka? Are you still there...?" A voice from the telephone caught the nurse"s attention once again... "Huh? Oh! Oh yes! I"m fine, Rock... What were you saying again...?" She asked, continuing their conversation... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Andy got out of their building again to stretch up. "Ohhh... This is my life... You repair this and that... these and those... and voila! You find another one to repair..." He sat by the bench. Slowly, he took off his spectacles to wipe its lenses. He carefully placed it on his nose and something caught his eye... - Man... They"re inseparable... They have been talking the whole day... - The young scientist noted with a witty smile. And it was obvious who he was talking about... It was Atlas and Shay, of course, holding hands as if they never ever wanted to be apart from each other... (Well, they were separated once...) And here they call themselves "best friends"... And here they blush when something else was mentioned... And here when nobody else is watching... They get together... hand in hand... Andy would love to see their blushing faces again... But, he has still a lot of work to do... So, for once, he just let the unsuspecting couple alone as they were... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "You know..." Atlas began again. "If the other guys were still here... They can all fit in this huge compound complex. It has bathrooms, kitchens, and water supply for everybody... That is, if Tinnette and the rest agree to that..." Shay nodded. "So what are we going to do after you recovered?" "Umm... Let"s find a job... Or maybe ask Tinnette for that part. That way we can start anew!" Atlas replied. Shay has never seen him this optimistic... "What?" "Oh, nothing... It"s just that... You changed a bit... You looked too happy..." The young lady couldn"t find a word to describe his change. They have been sticky-like-glue since that reunion. Most people stare at them, but this time, not death glares... They were all smiling... And for once, the people weren"t scared of Atlas anymore. Shay loved the Resistance Center. Everyone was so nice, warm and caring - especially Tinnette and the rest. She has never met people this kind as she lived around people rejected by high-status society. "Hey, Shay." Atlas said. "Did you remember the time when we stole a sack of cement from a construction site?" The young lady smiled. "Uh-huh... We were like... about 15 years old. We just love to play around..." Atlas and Shay laughed at their good memories both happy and sad. "Do you remember what we did to that sack of cement?" Atlas inquired again. "Duh... We stole some cement so that we could fill a hole in the secret hiding place... But you couldn"t wait to dry up!" Shay recalled laughing. "Yup... I took a stick and wrote..." "Shay and Atlas... Together Forever..." Both said it out loud and smiled at each other. Apparently, what they just said had come true despite everything that had transpired. "I never thought... that engraving meant... so much promise..." The young woman managed to utter. "I mean ... we have always been together..." Atlas agreed. "Yeah, me too... And now... that engraving is nothing but a stack of ruins." He retorted sadly, reminding him of their destroyed homes... the slums. "It"s just sad... that nobody we know is here... is with us..." Her eyes looked towards the night sky. "But, I know that they"re around there somewhere... watching over us... Happy that we"re together again..." "Yeah..." Atlas agreed. And then without warning, Atlas suddenly held both Shay"s hands. "Atlas...? What"s wrong...?" "Something I always wanted to tell you, Shay..." His eyes were as sincere as sudden change of tone in his voice. The wind suddenly picked up and blew on the couple... gently... And Shay was puzzled. "Something? What"s that?" He let go of her hands first. She saw him digging for something in his pockets. After a few moments, he finally stopped and released his hand from the pocket. Shay couldn"t figure out what was what Atlas had in his hand. His big hand covered it perfectly. Her heart was throbbing in suspense. "What is it, Atlas?" She asked, almost in a whisper. "This..." She saw a jewelry case. And it looked really... expensive. "Atlas did you-" "Nope... It"s 100 not stolen. Bought it around... well... a year ago, I think..." Atlas replied. "But..." Shay began. "How did you get the money?" "Remember the day when I found a wallet with a load of money and I decided to return it?" "Yeah... Everyone was protesting against that. Saying it was sent from heaven or something like that." "Well..." Atlas said. "I did return it." "Yeah... I remember..." "But, I didn"t tell anyone that he was actually giving a reward or something. In fact, I didn"t know there was a reward...!" "What... really!? So you bought that with the money?" Shay asked in a surprised voice. Atlas opened the case. Shay stepped a little closer in order to see what was inside it. It revealed a necklace... a golden one. Carefully and eagerly at the same time, the young man took the jewelry and hung it from his left hand for Shay to see clearly. "Atlas... It"s... it"s beautiful." His best friend said in awe for she had never seen anything so delicate and precious. Indeed, it was an explicit charm. It was made out of pure gold. Though it looked like some kind of a half piece of a heart, there carved into the golden material was the letter S. Shay saw this and was once again puzzled. "Atlas... Where"s the other half?" Answering her question, Atlas"s free hand took out the said necklace from his shirt. It was found dangling on his neck all along. He gently clasped the necklace onto her and held her shoulders in order to face her. "Shay... That heart necklace is... kinda like mine... A part of it is for you... forever... Because..." He breathed in for some air. "It"s because I love you... I always have... And, I always will..." In moments, tears fell from Shay"s face. "Shay... I"m sorry..." He began wiping her tears. "I didn"t mean to upset you... I just wanted to tell you something that I have kept for so long. And seeing that I almost lost you without telling, I thought this was it... And I-" "Ssssh..." Shay placed a finger on his frantic lips. "I thought this day wouldn"t come either. I didn"t care if I get anything in return. All I wanted was too see you alive through out this whole ordeal... But, I guess that doesn"t matter anymore. Atlas... I love you, too... I always have... I always will..." Not sure if it was reflex or something related to it. But when Atlas wiped out the last tear; his face got a little closer to hers. And in a flash, they shared their very first kiss... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hand in hand, Atlas led Shay to their building. It was getting late. Despite having the most wonderful night together now by being more than just best friends, they knew that it"s time to settle down and get some rest. "Atlas..." Shay suddenly spoke. "Do you think we should let the other"s know about us...?" Atlas thought for a moment. "I doubt they"ll be surprised, you know." Shay shrugged in agreement. Then as Atlas opened the front door of the building, they were suddenly warmly greeted by a... "CONGRATULATIONS!!!" Both Atlas and Shay were taken aback. Now, they were the ones who were surprised. Even though it was clearly after midnight, the people from the building greeted the two - while still in their nightclothes. There were best friends Tinnette and Becka, the kid from Japan Kenichi and that crazy scientist Andy all seated in the stairs. They were waiting for them all along. "See... Told you so..." Atlas whispered to Shay who in turn merely sweatdropped at the presence of all her roommates despite their sleepy and tired looks. "Umm... How"d you guys know?" That was all Atlas could ask. "I think that was my fault." It was none other than the scientist who spotted them first. Sure, he did say he"ll just let them be the last time. But as he saw where this was heading to, he hurriedly woke up the three other tenants of the building and they all witnessed the confession as clear as crystal. "One of these days, I"m going to kill you Andy..." Atlas threatened as a familiar tinge of red appeared on his face to which Andy scratched his head regrettably. "Uhhh... gee, Atlas. That was a good line..." Becka complimented. "What line?" The four people looked at each other. All together, they recited: "I love you... I always have... I always will..." And they broke into laughter. Not that they were making fun of it, Atlas and Shay could tell they were happy about the confession. "Well." Tinnette finally stood up. "Congrats again! If there is anything you both need, don"t hesitate to ask." The couple nodded while their eyebrows had to be raised a little for the leader of Center was still wearing her sunglasses despite the late hour. It was then decided that they should cut the celebration for the next day as Kenichi yawned complaining why they had to confess during midnight. Atlas replied he planned it on midnight because he wanted only him and Shay alone. But the young man was beginning to think it was not just the people in their building that saw the whole thing. Maybe everyone in the compound is going to congratulate them first thing in the morning. - Just great...- Atlas thought - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Finally, at long last, Atlas and Shay were inside their bedroom... asleep. They were finally together... in a new light. Shay finally gets to rest after the tiring search with her beloved arms around her as they slumber.

No, she doesn"t love just because he"s the Tokiya Mikagami of Nashikiri High school... She had fallen for this guy because she saw the man beneath that Tokiya Mikagami heart throb exterior... She loves him because he was... her Mi-chan. In him, she found a human someone that can be mightily strong and someone that has been deeply hurt... This birthday is the only way... To say "I love you"... Before it was too late... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Woot! Fuuko in love.... That"s why she wants to make a party.... How!? Tokiya"s going off somewhere!!!! Oh well... Next chapter... UNEXPECTED SURPRISES... -Kawaii Hana- I, Kawaii Hana, do not own anything from Flame of Recca, whether it is the anime or manga. I am just one of the gazillion deranged fans who just happened to have a fan fiction writing account. A/N: You guys might find it hard for these certain characters to be major OOC but yeah... Oh well... Oh yeah, I did say this based from the anime. Well, there" some part there that I got from the manga. You know, to stay true to their background... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CHAPTER 3: Beyond the Façade [LoVe SeaLeD in IcE... Tokiya made a deep sigh... With Fuuko home, he headed straight to his home and landed on the couch... This week has been tough. Schoolwork, reviews, applications... There"s so much to do that he barely sees the gang in just this week alone. OK... Recap! Did he just think about the group of primates just now...? A year ago, he never thought that he would be with them... Considering they were one of the weirdest people of Japanese society. That is because all they did was to fight... (Beat me, I"ll be Your Ninja Crap...) It was the post-UBS days that he got to know this group a little better... Like, who would have thought the Domon gorilla would be as sensitive as his mother"s flowers... That was certainly one way to change Tokiya"s perspective in people... Recca can be smart if he just... ermm... concentrate more on his studies other than Yanagi or ninja-related stuff. But, the silver haired bishounen knows that there are many things that are more important than intelligence such as the flame master"s undying loyalty and courage... And then, there was Fuuko... ... ... ... ... There were a lot of people that said she was this and she was that. But Tokiya knew that Fuuko Kirisawa was more than all those gossips put together. As Tokiya sat on his couch, he tried to remember that faint sensation. The time when they were rejoicing for their UBS victory, he can see every face cheering, laughing and smiling... Even he was glad that this was finally over... Yet deep inside, Tokiya could not feel it... The world was rejoicing and here he was, as gloomy as ever... Why? Because he still haven"t done his revenge... He still haven"t done his promise... Damn it! He is such a useless little brother... But then, in a flash, all those emotions vanished when he felt a pair of warm hands on him. He was stunned. That warmth was just like... He looked down. It was Fuuko, stunned as he was... Both were frozen on the spot amidst the rejoicing crowd. Acting upon impulse, he hugged her back. "Well, c-congratulations... to us all.." Was all that he can say... Then, she turned after a nod. To this day, Tokiya will never forget that... The warmth... felt so familiar. The ice King actually regretted letting go...(OMG!) But on that final day of the UBS, Tokiya thought that would be just the first and the last... just a whim. And that"s where he is terribly mistaken... Because there was more to come... much, much more... Like for instance, when he found out that he lived three homes away from the Kirisawas. And of all people, it had to be... her... Fuuko was one hell of a weird person... She was loud, easily annoyed and well... reacts to every little thing. As much as he wants to avoid her all while going to and fro school, there was no choice. The "monkey" would always find him as if she had a personal "Tokiya" detector... For a time, Tokiya hated it. While going to school, there they are... the "Hokage" gang greeting him and force him to go to places they want to go. And since, he was the sempai, he was forced to answer their questions about their homework and such. And worse, he went as far as "officially" becoming Fuuko"s tutor in... almost every subject! Apparently, he was forced to because he needed some money... But just like training, you"ll eventually get used to it. Though he could never admit it to himself, Tokiya actually enjoyed teaching Fuuko about this and that. It sort of makes you proud when you pass along some little info and tips here and there... (Especially when you"re being paid...) And most of all, surprisingly, Fuuko was very much willing to learn... That is why whenever Fuuko gets an achievement, he is secretly proud of her.... Little by little, Tokiya soon find it comfortable to mingle and be with the group. He was also aware of their schoolmates" prying eyes and whispers. But he didn"t care. This is his life... The closest person he is with in the gang is... (duh!) Fuuko Kirisawa. Even as an introverted, stoic, ultra-serious young man as he is... Tokiya cannot help but become attracted in her presence. Her liveliness, her spirit... as free as the wind that she can control... That aura resembles exactly like... Mifuyu, his late sister.... Tokiya winced at that thought. The mere name of her still reopens the deep scars within his well-buried heart. That is because... He was the reason why she had to die... It was all his fault... If only, he didn"t run... If only, he didn"t lie there frozen... If only, he had fought back... Then maybe "It"s not your fault..." OK.... He should stop that. He should move on... That"s what she said...He remembered every word she said during that late night by the beach. It was not his fault... Mifuyu died because of love... So, there was never any reason for revenge... "The least you can do to repay her... is to be grateful!" Those were her words. It made such a deep impression. And he wondered why? Is it because she knew what it meant to be an older sister? No... It was something different... It was something... special... Such a queer feeling, that he wanted her to sleep on his shoulder just to make sure... Thankfully, she did like to sleep by the quiet waves... For Tokiya, that night was, though he felt awkward all throughout, was the most memorable and the most blissfull... But it was that point that Tokiya realized, where he and Fuuko have become more that just the tutor and the student. They have become best friends... where they can confide each other"s feelings...(Not all feelings, though...) "So... All along, you"ve been blaming yourself!?" A day after that vacation. They were both in the park. The gang held a picnic. While the others were playing, they were left behind in the shade. Fuuko has been deep in thought... "..." "You know.... It would have helped if you talked about it to someone..." "I... I... didn"t want to..." "Hm...?" "Because............ I was tired of crying..." "Well, you had a load of tears back at the beach..." "Y-Yeah... F-Fuuko? You"re crying!?" "Hm? Oh... Well, sorry, can"t help myself..." "Hey... wait..." He rummaged thorugh his pocket to find his hankerchief "It"s hard, isn"t it...?" "Huh?" "Evryone thinks you"re strong... Everyone thinks you"re just nothing but an ice block..." "..." "But, in reality, you"re just hiding the pain...You just didn"t want anyone to know... You just strayed yourself away... coz you didn"t want to be hurt anymore... right?" She said that in tears... and eerily, every word that uttered was right. He didn"t know why she had to cry over it. Could it be...? Gently, Fuuko began to wipe her tears... "Hehe... Sorry, I"m getting girly and all that..." "You seem to know what it means to hide..." "..." "Why?" "Back in the junior high, I used to be... bullied... heh! All I did was cry,cry,cry... So I decided to be tough!" "And became the Fuuko that everyone will know... is that why you"ve been trying to beat Recca? To prove you"re strong..." "Y-Yeah... Well, that"s not what strength really is... It"s something..." "Deeper..." Fuuko nodded. "Did... something happen to Maya...?" He couldn"t help but ask. Maya was Fuuko"s only friend in junior high. But she migrated to other country years ago... "No! Nothing happened to her.... She just sent a letter for me... Damn! I miss her..." Tokiya gave an itty-bitty smile... Beep! Beep! His mind went back to the present. His cellphone was ringing. Instantly, he picked it up and looked at the small screen. A text message... Hey calling all seniors for this year! Congratulations on your career orientation seminar! I hope this experience will you on your way to college! Kagarazaki Matsuo -Nashikiri High school Principal - Tokiya felt his insides began to rumble... It will be mere months away... Till he finally says goodbye... Tokiya Mikagami had never felt this scared or worried before. He had learned to conceal these emotions with pride knowing that he can do it on his own. He never asked anyone for help. He never depended on others... ever since that day... Bur now, it felt different... It felt weird... But it felt like it should that way... He finally admitted that he was scared... That he"s not going to see them again... (OMG) Of course! Who wouldn"t miss this lovable group? They make you laugh(particularly us). They make you feel part in their battles. They make you understand the pain from their pasts. And... they make you understand the meaning of their friendship.... Even when they were initially and completely mismatched... That was what Tokiya felt with them. It is in this group where he found his "heart" again. It is in here.... That he has learned.... To love... (OMG! OMG! Ahem...) The one that brought him out of the cold depths of his icy inner kingdom... was Fuuko... She was the woman that took his breath away like that of a Wind Goddess. She taught him more important things than he did to her... No... He didn"t love her just because she resembles his older sister"s voice, words and warmth... He loved this woman because that"s what he really felt... There was no denying there... If only he could say it... The only thing is... He hasn"t told anything to her... yet... Now, this is the tricky part. Tokiya Mikagami was anything BUT hesitant. He says things straight to the point. He does things because he believes it was the right thing to do... But when it comes to this "I love you" part, Tokiya would... literally, literally get... tongue-tied. Thankfully, Fuuko never noticed because he has always been the silent type. To think that even if he told her his "feelings" and the outcome would be much favorable, there would only be such a short time for them to be together... So... which would he choose...? Tell the truth and risk rejection? Or would he stay silent and... lonely forever...? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Kyaahh.... Poor Tokiya"s confused... I wonder what he"ll do...? (Well, it"s sorta obvious...) Oh well, the final chapter is next!!! UNEXPECTED SURPRISES... -Kawaii Hana- I, Kawaii Hana, do not own anything from Flame of Recca, whether it is the anime or manga. I am just one of the gazillion deranged fans who just happened to have a fan fiction writing account. A/N: Oh well, the final chapter... Lots of major OOC in here...! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CHAPTER 4: Surprise him or Be surprised...? "Well, is the food all ready?" "Yup! All set!" "What about the balloons...? And damn, the cake!? Where"s the cake...? "Uhh..." "What!? The most important thing is not yet here!!!?" "Oi, Fuuko-chan! Calm down... I carried it here..." "Oh! Whew! Thanks. Domon, you"re the best!" "Heh! "Ne, Fuuko-nee? That was the 7th time you did a double check today... We have everything... Why don"t you stop?" "Yeah, Ganko"s right... It seems we have everything ready. After all, we have been planning this for two whole weeks!" "... Okay... I should relax..." "The only problem now is... where is the birthday boy? I sure we didn"t waste our time for this..." "Pft! Now you guys should relax. Don"t worry, the ice king"s gonna be here soon..." That was what a certain purple head said in a supposedly empty home... But where has the owner of the house gone to by the way...? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In the cementary... There, in the wee early hours of the morning, among the dark gray gravestones, stands a tall figure in the form of Tokiya Mikagami. Ever year, at the same day, he would be here staring at a single block of stone where engraved words may mean so much more... Mikagami Mifuyu"s gravestone... In the past years, Tokiya had always felt down and sorrowful, it was in this day that he always refresh that tragic day of her death 8 years ago. It was by this gravestone did he seek out revenge. But now... It was different... There was no longer sorrow.... There was no longer bitternesss... There was no longer the hatred that filled his vengeful stare.... Now, it was filled with peace and of happiness... "Nee-chan... I found her... She always happens to be close by all along..." His soft words were left unanswered. "Nee-chan... If only you were here, you could have met this wonderful person. She acts just like you, Nee-chan. She is just as warm as you...." The young man continued to speak in the calm silent breeze... "I"m sorry I wasted my life for just mere revenge, nee-chan... But, thanks to her... maybe..." A deep silence filled the entire surroundings... "Nee-chan... I"m not going to let her go... And that"s that..." His words seemed final and blinked with determination. His face featured a hint of a smile. Tokiya Mikagami now bids his sister a more peaceful farewell. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - He made another sigh. "Ok... it"s good that I got eager and I"m ready to tell her everything but... what is this weird feeling lately...?" It was not Tokiya think so much. But, he had a feeling that something"s going to happen today. He just doesn"t know what it really is... He was finally at home. What a relief today! There is no schoolwork, no reviews, no classes... Even a genius such as himself sought out holidays like we normal (or subnormal) students, too. Then, something hit him like a flash of lightning. What was that smell? He did not cook anything before he left the house... He just took off something from th fridge for the breakfast this morning. That was strange. Has Tokiya already been suffering short term memory loss...? And why does he have the feeling that he wasn"t alone in the house...!? As he was going upstairs to his room through the living room, he turned on one light bulb... and... "SURPRISE!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" His eyes widened at the scene, His mouth agape, literally rendered speechless. His body frozen at the spot... at what he"s seeing right now... There was Recca, Yanagi, Domon, Ganko and Kaoru. Before them was a long table that looked exactly like his dining table. All covered with food, drinks, plates, utensils and a huge cake in the center. Each person from the group had a smile on their face and a gift with them as well... "Well..."Her voice rang to his as she appeared by his side. "Surprised? Leaving your "back door" open while you"re gone huh? What an advantage... It was perfect..." He turned to Fuuko. "I can"t show it... But you guys can definitely see it, right?" "Yeah!!!" Each and everyone of them answered. "Tokiya-niichan! Tokiya-niichan!" Ganko came closer excitedly. "I have a gift for you!!!" Here!" And the girl handed her a tiny teddy blue bear. Its back has been embroidered with his name. "Umm..." Kaoru came next. "Here." It was a brand new silver watch. How he was able to afford one was mystery to him now. But, he"ll just ask later anyway... "My turn!" Recca said, handing Tokiya a shuriken-shaped key chain for the cell phone. Tokiya made a small smile. This guy is really a ninja addict, alright... "Hey, as you can see, I brought all the flowers here.... You can give some to your sister, if you want..." Domon suggested as he scratched his head in embarrassment. "Thank you..." "Heh! Well, don"t expect more from Yanagi, either... She did all the cooking, even baking this cake..." Fuuko said proudly. "She did all these in one night!?" The ice king asked. And they laughed... "Ano..." Fuuko began to speak suddenly. "Sorry.... I couldn"t give a gift to you. I"ve been soo busy with the planning. I totally forgot about it... "Ehh...!? But, this was all Fuuko-neesan"s idea. She did all the planning and the scheming and all that..." Ganko said as matter-of-factly. What....? She would do these for me...? Why...? He let out a huge sigh... I guess this where you got the right moment, Tokiya... He cleared his throat, gathering attention from his friends. "I... Thank you for doing all this for me... It"s... been a long time since I had a birthday celebration..." Each person made a smile; clearly they were so proud of themselves. "Before I came here, I visited to her grave... As I always do every year. This morning, I told her that I"m not going to blame myself anymore and try to start all over again..." "That"s weird..." Domon interrupted. "You did start all over again ever since you became a part of us..." "Yeah!!!" "But... "Tokiya continued. " I also told her something else..." Each person listened even more closely... "I said... that I have found her... The girl I"m going to love forever..." And the reaction went on like wildfire... "Really?" "Who!? Who!?" "Uh, I"m still too young for this but... who is this girl...?" Ganko spoke last... Tokiya made a smile and turned his head casually to the woman who had been standing by his side. "It"s you, Fuuko..." And the group became gasped in surprise. (Geez, karma works fast here...) "Eh?" Her eyes glittered in joy... "I have always loved you, Fuuko. I just couldn"t tell you because I got scared that you"ll reject me. But just this morning, I gave nee-chan a new promise... That I won"t let you go..." Everyone was dead silent but each with a smile on their face even Domon himself. He had long moved on from this so-called puppy love. "So, Fuuko, will you acce-" "Yes!" "Eh...?" Her glittering eyes were filling up with tears again... "Baka! I have been waiting, too... I just couldn"t believe that you-" Her sentence was cut short as Tokiya placed a gentle kiss of her soft lips. The sensation was magical - more magical than their unexpected hug from the final UBS day... Then, their lips touched again. A union of love was finally reached out last! "Oi, stop it! Mother will kill me when she findsout I saw you two doing mushy-mushy stuff!" The moment was interrupted by the whining and already hungry Ganko... And all laughed. Well, that was an awkward moment. "Wow, Mikagami.... Now, I don"t who was the most surprised... You or us.... Hmmm..." "This day was indeed full of surprises!!!" Yanagi exclaimed. "Speaking off, let"s set up the fireworks to, uh, make some neighbors sorta "surprised"?" Recca suggested as he revealed his bag of fireworks...." "Yeah, let"s go outside!!!" Each person went out to the Mikagami backyard awaiting another explosive show of fireworks ... Fuuko was about to go along when she was stopped by Tokiya. She turned around with a smile... "We still haven"t formally said it yet... Fuuko, I love you..." "And I love you too... my Mi-chan!" And their faces went closer again to seal a more private kiss. "Happy Birthday..." She whispered softly... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Kyaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!! Happy birthday, Tokiya!!!! Ahermm... So what do you guys think? Please review!!! KAWAII HANA

"On one condition. You take Sheena with you. She wants some exercise, but I"ve got to do some part modifying to do today." Larry went with them to the porch, and only Brass remained. She quietly spoke to herself. "But what if I wanted to run around with you...?" Erika, Ikki, Metabee and Sheena walked off down the street to their school. They were unaware however, of the four pairs of eyes watching them from a roof. "So Seaslug, you"re sure this plan will work?" "Don"t sweat it Shrimplips, I"ve seen it on enough movies. Larry and Sheera, or whatever her name is, are too strong to take on physically. But, we must strike at their mental weaknesses." "But Seaslug, don"t the heroes usually rescue the girl after beating the bad guys to a bloody pulp?" "It won"t happen here. Squidguts, Gillgirl, ready?" They nodded, and the next moment, a huge fishing net landed on Erika. Before Ikki or the two Medabots could do something, the net was hoisted up and loaded onto Rumblejet, a flying Medabot. As they wanted to run after him, two other Rumblejets blocked their way. Rumblejet Jet Type Medabot Medafighter: RubberRobo Gang Speciality: Flying The four RubberRobos dropped down in front of them. "Uh-uh-uh, no following the jet. Hey you, where"s your Medafighter?" "That"s none of your business. Now bring Erika back!" Ikki stepped closer, and began to prepare himself for the inevitable battle that lay ahead. "Why did you take her?" "Easy. To get at Larry. We"ll swap him his girlfriend for his Melded Medal." "How"d you know about that? I only found out this morning!" "By bugging him. You should"ve seen their first kiss, it was so romantic. Well, while we"re here, we might as well take your Rare Medal. She can go, because we need her to tell Larry about the ransom." Sheena"s emotions boiled over and she shook her fist at the RubberRobos. "You no-good-cheating-lying bags of dirt! First you cheat at robattles, and now you turn to kidnap? You take them on, you"ll have to fight me as well." "That"s great. We"ll just pound on you for a while, and then finish Metabee." Ikki crouched next to Sheena. "Can you robattle without Larry?" "Yes, but not to the best of my abilities. I"ve sent a distress signal to his Medawatch, and with any luck he"ll be here in a few minutes..." Larry was crouched over a workbench in the garage of his house. With sweat dripping down the sides of his face, he soldered the last part down. He lifted the Medapart off the bench and examined it carefully. He had made some adjustments to Sheena"s left Laser Cannon, and it was now able to fire EMP pellets. This would come in useful with disrupting any Seeker type weapons. Brass was sitting on the seat of his motorcycle and staring at the arm. Earlier, she had grilled him about what had happened the previous night, and he told her. She was finally happy and started taking an interest in his building. Larry held the part out to her. "Want to try it?" "Me?" "Yeah, don"t be shy. Sheena"s parts should fit in well with yours." Larry quickly transported the part and Brass fired a few rounds at the targets lying around. With some reluctance, she let Larry take it back. He then tried some other parts on her. Their testing was interrupted by Larry"s Medawatch. One look at the message, and his face went grave. "What is it?" "Ikki, Sheena and Metabee are in trouble. They"ve been attacked by the RubberRobos. Ever ride a motorbike before?" "No." "Well, it"s time to learn. Let"s go." Larry grabbed Brass by her arm and put her on the back of his bike. He then opened the door and raced to the origin of Sheena"s signal... "They"re too fast. Our shots aren"t hitting them, and the seekers are too slow." Ikki looked on as Sheena and Metabee were being outmanoeuvred by the Rumblejets. Suddenly, the two launched huge volleys of missiles at the two Metabees. Neither could get out of the way fast enough, and Ikki grimaced as the explosion rocked the ground. "Warning. Metabee- Left arm 80% damage. Sheena- Body 75% damage." "Sheena! Friendly fire manoeuvre!" Larry and Brass came skidding down the hill, and Sheena was never gladder to see Larry. "Gotcha! Okay you flying tin cans, try and catch me!" Sheena rushed forward and dodged the second volley of missiles. She reached the two Rumblejets and leapt in between them. One fired, but Sheena was already out of harms way. Instead, his comrade got a taste of missiles and crashed to the ground. Seaslug and Shrimplips" faces fell as part of their plan started going down the tubes. Ikki saw that the other Rumblejet was preoccupied with trying to hit Sheena. "Metabee, use your Seekers before he sees you." "Booya! Missile Launch!" Two missiles launched from Metabee"s launchers and struck the Rumblejet. It fell to the ground and its medal ejected as well. The RubberRobos ran away, but Seaslug shouted these last words. "You"ve won this round kid, but we"ll have the last laugh." Larry crouched next to Sheena and checked her damage. "Hmm, you"ve been through worse than this. You"ll survive. Umm, Ikki, where"s Erika?" "They took her!" "WHAT!? Those freaks took her! Why?" Sheena knocked him on the head with her fist. "How you get ninety percent at school, I"ll never know. They want to swap her for my medal. If you don"t hand it over in the next twenty-four hours...They"ll kill her." Brass only heard snatches of the conversation, but the last part was clear enough for her. But why involve her in all of this? No, it can"t be because... Her eyes bore into Larry"s back, and she felt the closest thing to anger and hate that a Medabot could feel. Larry rested his head against an old Oak tree next to the road. Within his mind, a tug of war of emotions was taking place. Either he gave away his best friend"s soul, or he lost the girl who meant the world to him, even though they had known each other only two days. "No. No. No. NO!" With each word, he pounded harder on the tree. With his final "NO!" his fist crashed into the tree. Even though it was more than four meters in diameter, it shook visibly and sent the nesting birds into the air. Then, he sank down to the ground, his back to the tree. Metabee tried cheering him up. "Yo dude, come on! Those bozos can"t be serious." Ikki joined in. "Yeah. They"ve tried lot"s of things before, but they won"t stoop to murder." A rustle of bushes to their left made them look up. A RubberRobo jumped out and laughed. "Oh, we will. The leader wants that medal, and he will do ANYTHING to get it. In fact, she"s been crying for you all the way." Larry sprang up faster than anyone could see, and in a split second he had the RubberRobo pinned to the tree. "Be glad that I"m a pacifist at heart. But my Medabot here isn"t." Sheena stuck her laser cannon into his neck. "That"s right pal. I"m mentally unstable because Larry and me are big Bruce Willis fans. So, yippee-ki-yay MotherF..." "No please! Don"t hurt me! I"m only a messenger." Larry calmed down slightly and loosened his grip on the RubberRobo"s neck, only to hang him in one of the branches. "Fine. Give me the message, before I let her loose on you." "You have to go to the abandoned field that"s ten miles out of town. Go there tomorrow night at eight o"clock." Larry pulled him down and threw him over the wall nearby. A vicious barking and growling was then heard from inside. As Larry turned around, Brass pushed Sheena and Metabee out of the way. She was shaking as her words came out. "You. You got her involved in this! This is your fault." Metabee tried to calm her down by placing his hand on her shoulder. She grabbed it and with strength she had never revealed before, chucked him into the tree. "Hey! Your problem is with me, not with Metabee. And what should I have done?" "Stayed in your own country. You should never have come here, or gotten near her. I hate you. I HATE YOU!!" Brass lifted her cannons and fired three rounds at Larry in pure rage. They would have met their target, but Sheena wasn"t about to let Larry get hurt by a rabid female Medabot. She threw herself in front of him and the bullets ricocheted off her armour. She stood up and pointed both her laser cannons at Brass. "Hold it right there Sailor Venus. Take one more shot and I will beat you to the ground!" Larry said nothing, and only stared hard at Brass. Brass and Sheena were now pointing their weapons at each other. Ikki and Metabee looked on nervously. Larry finally pushed Sheena out of the way. Then, he crouched in front Brass and lifted her laser cannon. Without flinching, he placed it on his forehead. "There. If you still need to do it, who"s stopping you? Sheena won"t make it in time. Stay put Sheena!" Sheena had started moving towards the two. Now she stopped and looked on in horror. Brass held her gun there for another second, and then let it fall. "I can"t do it. But I still hate you." "You do that. Just don"t act like you"re the only one who lost someone. I"ll admit that it"s partly my fault, but I"m not ashamed of what I did." Larry turned to Sheena and slapped her sharply on the back. "Thanks Sheena. If Ikki can put you up for the night, I"d appreciate it." Ikki nodded. "Sure. I still owe her for giving me a place to sleep last night. I only have one request." "Name it." "Can I see the medal that all this fuss is about?" "Okay. Sheena, mind if I deactivate you for a while?" "Yeah. Just remember, they can look, but not touch." Larry shut her down and pulled out the medal. He carefully handed it to Ikki. Ikki was amazed. He had never seen a medal like it. The top of the medal was like Metabee"s, a Hercules Beetle. But the bottom part belonged to a Mermaid medal. The back of the medal was scratched and looked like acid had been poured over it. He handed it back to Larry, who reactivated Sheena. Then, he got on his motorbike and left... Brass felt completely stupid because of her outburst. "Sheena..." "What do you want?" "Where did he go? I want to go apologise to him." "How do I know you won"t try to knock him out without me around?" "Because I had the chance and I didn"t. I understand that he feels like I do about losing Erika, maybe even worse. Please." "Fine. He"s at the Medabot Corporation." Sheena told her where to find it and watched as Brass ran off. "C"mon Bee boy. I need some training, and you and your friend don"t have anything else to do. You just might learn some new tricks." She stepped off on the direction of Ikki"s house. Metabee was shaking his fist at her retreating back. "I don"t need any tricks! Hey, don"t you turn your back on me! Ooh, she steams my circuits!" "That"s because you"ve met one of the few people who can match you on attitude. Not only is she the same model, she"s a girl." "Quit your yapping! Let"s go show her what Robattling"s all about!" Larry looked out over the rooftops of Japan being bathed in the reddish glow of the afternoon sun. As the sun sank lower, the huge emblem of the Medabot Corporation cast a shadow over the ledge where he was sitting. The roof was one of the few places he felt completely at ease, probably because no one knew he was up here. So it came as a huge surprise when he heard someone calling his name from the other end of the roof. He looked around the corner of the ledge he was sitting on, and spotted Brass. He gave a low whistle, and called her over. "Who told you where to find me? No wait, nevermind. Remind me to tell Sheena the meaning of secret when I get home." "Listen, I"m really sorry about what happened before. I know you would never let anything happen to Erika." "And I don"t intend to. If there"s no other way...I"ll hand over Sheena"s medal." "I hope it won"t come to that. Larry, I want to ask you a favour." "Okay, name it." "Teach me how to fight properly. Erika never fights Robattles unless she has to, so I"m pretty inexperienced." "Well, I"ve got a whole day and Sheena"s over at Ikki"s place, so why not?" "Thanks. Friends?" "Yeah." Today"s Robattle: Ikki and Larry defeat the RubberRobos, but will they have what it takes when it comes to crunch time? What has happened to Erika? And what is the secret behind the Melded Medal? "Come on, stop squirming!" "Let me go. I swear that if I get out of here, I will..." A slap echoed through the empty cell, and Erika was thrown inside on the cold stone floor. "You"ll what? You"d better hope your boyfriend coughs up his medal, or you"ll never see the end of tonight." The door slammed shut and a key turned in the lock. Erika sat shivering in the corner, pulling her knees to her chin. "Ikki, Brass, Larry...Where are you?" Silent tears poured down her cheeks as she watched the sun set through the window. Larry and Brass marched to the field where Larry was going to meet the leader of the RubberRobos. As he got there, he found not only Sheena, but also Space Medafighter X and Arcbeetle, Ikki and Metabee, Karin and Neutronurse, Koji and Sumillidon, Samantha and Peppercat, Sloan and Terminator, Spike and Proctordog, Rintaro and Kantaroth, and standing near a tree was Rokusho and Baton. Sheena looked at him with what could be called anticipation or fear in her eyes. "Well Larry, I brought the cavalry if we need them." "Sheena, they didn"t need to get involved. If there"s no other way, I"ll have to give them your medal." "Hey, I don"t know you! If this was the Larry I knew, he would be thinking of a plan, not thinking of defeat." "Look, there"s no way I can change the stakes. He"s holding all the cards." "Not all of them. Larry, I have the perfect plan worked out." Space Medafighter X stepped forward. "Rokusho, me and Ikki have rare medals. Even though the melded medal will be chief in his mind, he won"t be able to resist the temptation to get ours as well. All of us will robattle him. If he wins, he will get all of our medals. If we win, we get Erika back and you get to keep your medal." "But what about them?" Larry pointed his thumb at The Screws, Rintaro, Karin and Koji. "They are here only for the show. Your reputation proceeds you." Rintaro made himself heard from the back. "Yeah, you"re awesome dude! If it wasn"t for that one match, you"d be number one!" "You know about that match?" "Sure dude. I know everything about just about every single thing that has happened in the world of robattling." The Screws mostly were silent, but Samantha spoke for all three. "You"d better make this a good one. I won"t be happy if two-thirds of our World Cup team lose their medals." Koji and Sumillidon stood up and gave their support as well. "You can"t lose your medal. You owe me a rematch at the world championship." Karin, much to the amazement of everyone, gave Larry a quick peck on the lips. "That"s for good luck. Erika is my best friend, get her out." "Okay X. Who"s battling?" You, Ikki, Rokusho and myself." "Rokusho, are you willing to give up your medal?" "No I"m not. But I"m confident that we will win." The small group made their way towards the open field. "My my, what rabble is this?" The leader of the RubberRobos was there in person. Doctor Medaevil sat in a chair next to Erika. Erika was tied to her chair, and several sharp knives stuck out at several intervals along her arms. Space Medafighter X looked down on the short man, his eyes burning behind his mask. "I have a proposition for you." "Oh, you think you have the power to bargain?" "How about getting the melded medal, plus three rare medals thrown in?" "Hmm, tempting. Just what do I have to do to get them?" "You shall robattle Ikki, Larry, Rokusho and myself. If you win, the medals are yours. If we win, you let Erika go." Doctor Medaevil let out a grating laugh that scared the non-fighters back a few steps. "Very well. It shall give me the opportunity to test out my new Medabot. However, I have one more rule to add. You will notice the knives located near her arms. Well, for every Medabot you lose...a knife will cut into her skin. When the last Medabot falls and I don"t get my medals, the final knife cuts right through her wrist. She will bleed to death within minutes." Larry shook visibly with rage, but tried to keep his voice calm and level. "Alright. Bring out your Medabots. And you"d better keep your part of the deal." "Oh, I"ll need only one. Prepare to meet your end at the hands of my finest creation yet!" From the sky, the whirl of helicopter blades became audible. As it flew over the field, a large object was dropped, and it hurtled closer to the ground. It landed with a crash that made the entire field shake. The group looked up in horror at the thirty foot Medabot before them. Two huge Gatling cannons protruded from its arms, while two missile packs on both its thighs and shoulders glinted in the evening light. No eyes were visible, only a thin red line near its helmet. Omega Emperor Weapon Type Medabot Medafighter: Doctor Medaevil Speciality: Annihilation Sheena and Metabee, though daunted, stood ready. "This guy"s huge!" "Don"t bail on me now Sheena. Remember what they say about big bots." "Yeah. The bigger they are, the harder they punch." "That"s not it!" "But it is true. Well Bee boy, it"s crunch time. Either we beat this tank, or we lose our medals trying." "Too true. This is the kinda fight I like. No rules..." "No turning back. It"s all or nothing!" Rokusho took off his cloak and told Baton to wait for him with the others. Space Medafighter X told the others to stay back before him and Arcbeetle got ready as well. Larry turned to doctor Medaevil, his face set with grim determination. "Whenever you"re ready." "Very well. Omega Emperor...Destroy them!" The huge Medabot gave two strides forward, before sweeping the ground before him with Gatling fire. The four Medabots scarcely got out of the way, before four volleys of missiles were sent at them. Sheena, Metabee and Rokusho dodged, but Arcbeetle got caught in one of the blasts. "Warning. Body 50% damage." Suddenly, four different coloured auras lit up the field. Sheena stood framed in blue, next to Metabee in green, Rokusho in purple and Arcbeetle in red. Koji watched in triumph from the other end of the field. "Yes, this is it! All four have summoned the Medaforce. Nothing will survive that." All four Medabots stared at Omega Emperor, the energy crackling around them. "You do not mess with my friends. It"s time...to kiss your bot goodbye! Medaforce!" Metabee brought his Laser cannon down and a blast of green energy issued from it. "Nobody kidnaps my Medafighter"s girlfriend. Yippee-ki-yay! Medaforce!" Sheena did the same as Metabee, and a stream of blue energy blasted from her cannon. "You took away my life, now I will return the favour. Medaforce!" Rokusho swept his Transpara Sword along the ground and a wave of purple energy flew at Omega Emperor. "This is for those missiles! Medaforce!" A ball of red energy formed between Arcbeetle"s horns and he discharged it at Omega Emperor. All four attacks struck at the same time, and an explosion threw up dirt in front of the Medabots. Larry looked on, with hope starting to return. "Did we do it?" Harsh laughter from behind the dirt made him cringe. "If you think that was enough to destroy my Omega Emperor, you are sorely mistaken. Now, your Medabots are drained, and you will pay for challenging me. Omega Emperor, annihilate them with extreme prejudice!" The huge Medabot emerged unscathed from the dust, moving at high speed towards the drained Medabots. "Annihilate...Destroy." Two mortars launched from its back. Sheena pushed Metabee out of the way, before jumping out of the line of fire herself. But Rokusho and Arcbeetle got the brunt of the blast. Rokusho struggled to get up, but failed. "Warning. Arcbeetle- Weapons offline, all Medaparts 93% damage." "Sheena! Get those two out of the firing line. They can"t fight anymore." "But what about Metabee?" Ikki and Metabee were still dodging missiles and Larry made up his mind. "They"re doing fine, get Arcbeetle and Rokusho to safety..." Larry was interrupted by a loud scream rending the air. He slowly turned and stared in distress at Erika. The first two knives had sliced into her upper arm and near her elbow. A small pool of crimson blood was forming on the floor. "Erika! I"m going to rip you apart Medaevil!" Forgetting the robattle, Larry rushed the old man. However, he was knocked back by a vicious uppercut from the good doctor. Shaking off the dizziness, he saw that Medaevil had a Hammer Claw attached to his arm. "What the...? That"s a boxing medapart, how did you...?" "Larry...He"s a Medabot!" Erika"s voice was coming out slightly cracked, and Larry made a fist. His nails started digging into the skin of his palm. "I will make you regret this." "How? You"ve lost two Medabots, and yours is off taking them away. Your friend is about to be crushed." Metabee was starting to wear out. He had caught a few Gatling bullets, and his legs were starting to give in. "C"mon you big tin can! That all you got?" Rockets pounded the ground behind him, knocking him off balance. Before he could recover, a hail of Gatling fire smashed his leg parts. "Warning. Leg parts 100% damage. Function ceased." Omega Emperor stopped in front of Metabee. "Annihilate. Total Destruction Missile!" Two huge cylinders emerged from its hips and two puffs of smoke marked the launch of the missiles. Ikki closed his eyes and waited for the end.

"I...I didn"t mean..." "Get out." She said almost inaudibly, her head bowed. "Just leave me alone, you bastard." It was going to be no use trying to talk to her again. So, I did as she asked and left the room, closing the door behind me. Out in the hall, I breathed out a sigh of annoyance. Don"t get me wrong, I wasn"t annoyed at her, but at myself. Why did I have to go and lose my temper? I mean, I couldn"t understand for one second what she was going through. I resolved then to try my best and make her stay as comfortable as possible. Feeling sorry for myself wasn"t exactly helping me, so I went to my room and read for four hours. I didn"t have to worry about Eve getting out. The windows wouldn"t help her, because we were on the tenth floor. The door was locked by a combination code only I knew, and it would take a lot to knock it down, because it was three inches of stainless steel, and secured to the wall with titanium hinges. She couldn"t phone for help, because the phone was voice activated, responding only to my voice. She could try screaming for help, but the walls were soundproofed. All-in-all, the modifications to this place must have easily cost me twenty grand, but it had been worth it. Escape wasn"t an option. Ten past seven, I was ready to go. I had taken a quick shower and changed the dressing on the gunshot wound. I was dressed in what I usually wear: Jeans, leather jacket and a blue or black shirt (In this case, it was blue). I knocked on Eve"s door and when I didn"t receive a reply, went in anyway. She was lying on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. She briefly looked at me, before returning to stare at the ceiling. "I"m heading out for a while. Anything you need?" "..." I made an exasperated noise. "Whether we like it or not, we"re going to be stuck with each other for a good few days. I"m trying my best to make it easier for you. So is there anything I could get you?" Eve sat up. "Anything?" "You have my word, anything." "Then give me the code for the door lock." I laughed, but my laugh abruptly turned into a yell as my body suddenly went up in flames. As I looked up, Eve was off the bed and standing in front of me, her face knotted in concentration. Tevani"s file had included a report on Eve"s "Parasite Energy", her ability to manipulate mitochondrial energy. It had stated that Eve"s abilities had started fading since the end of the Shelter incident, and today it was doubted if she could even light a match. Man, was the guy who wrote that ever wrong. "Give me the code," Eve said, in a voice that tried to be commanding, but I could hear the shakiness. She didn"t want to do this, I could tell. Her powers probably frightened her as much as they were scaring me at the moment. "I can"t do that, Eve." I replied, gritting my teeth as the heat began to reach searing levels. The fire all over my body wasn"t the source of the heat, but it seemed to be coming from inside me. I was getting incinerated from the inside out! "I don"t want to kill you, but if you don"t give it to me, I will." "You can"t kill me," The pain was now reaching unbearable levels, and I barely suppressed a yell before I continued. "You"re too scared." Her determined expression faltered momentarily, and so did the fire. I seized upon it, knowing that psychological warfare might be my last hope. I pulled the Desert Eagle from my belt and levelled it against her forehead. She drew back, her face shocked. This time, the flames flickered out even longer. "The gloves are off now. Look into my eyes, little girl," I hissed, keeping my voice as menacing as I could. "I"ve killed a couple of people in my career. Never anyone as young as you and certainly not a girl, but where my life is at stake, I"m not squeamish. And my client doesn"t need you breathing, just so you know." "You"ll never get a shot off," She replied, but her voice sounded uncertain. "Want to risk that?" I cocked the gun, hearing it clearly even above the roar of the fire. She seemed to believe my bluff, but reacted in completely the opposite way I expected. I saw the sudden shift in her eyes, and knew what was going to happen about a second before it did. The fire barely had a chance to reach the scorching temperature I knew Eve was planning to crank it up to, when I fired. I was never planning to kill her, even if things got really desperate. So, my aim had shifted very subtly so I was aiming only an inch or so to the side of her temple. Still, having a large calibre handgun go off a few inches from your face isn"t an experience most people would be able to ignore, and she instinctively recoiled backwards. The heat died, and I put my plan into action. I jumped forward, jamming the Desert Eagle back into my belt and seized her arm. With one sharp movement I tugged her towards me, before spinning around to her rear and striking the back of her neck with the side of my hand. She instantly went limp, and I caught her before she hit the floor. I gently picked her up and placed her back on the bed, trying to ignore the bruise that was starting to form on her neck. With my hands shoved into the pockets of my jeans, I looked down at the unconscious girl and felt such a deep sense of self-loathing that seemed to just make my stomach want to lose the last four or five meals I had had. Was this what I had been reduced to, knocking out girls half my size? I had done some things in my career, things I"m sure as hell not proud of, but nothing compared to this. I looked at my watch, and was startled to see I had spent ten minutes just staring at her and running through my thoughts. Well, standing around wasn"t accomplishing anything. Instead, I turned my thoughts to the task before me. Tom Cornwall was about to learn that you don"t step on Dante"s toes. I pulled up in front of the Ace of Spades, which was buried deep in the heart of the red light district. A faded neon sign flashed on and off, advertising the establishment"s qualities (All tastes catered to, and we mean ALL tastes) and I knew that Tom was as cheap in his hobbies as he was in his business. Inside was possibly even worse than outside. I guessed the wallpaper and carpeting had last been replaced roundabout the time Hoover was president. An intoxicating perfume of alcohol, vomit and other fluids I was too scared to identify hit me the moment I went two feet inside. Sounds that, frankly, would give any normal person the heebie-jeebies, floated down from upstairs. The girl at the front desk looked about nineteen, but the heavy layers of makeup made her look twenty years older. She put down a dog-eared magazine and looked me up and down as I walked up to her. "Well, hello there, sweet thing. You know, you look a little too young to be here, but for a few dollars extra, we could forget about it." "I"m looking for someone..." I replied. "Isn"t everyone? Listen kid, if you"re not going to be paying..." I took out the Desert Eagle and tapped it calmly on the counter. "Now, look here, missy," I said as her eyes took in the large handgun in front of her. "The guy I"m looking for pissed me off pretty badly, so just try to humour me. Now, I"m going to describe him, and you"ll tell me what room he"s in. I know he"s here, so don"t try to lie about it, but I also know he"s smart enough to be using an assumed name. We fine on that?" She nodded. I proceeded to describe Tom. "Short, bald guy. His face is red like a brick. High voice with a British accent. He usually wears plaid shirts so loud, they"d give you flash burns if you looked at them too long. They"re always buttoned open to his stomach, so you can see a big-ass gold medallion." She jerked her thumb at he curtain behind her. "He"s in room four, with Yvonne and Rachel. He"s been in there for the last hour, so I feel sorry for you if you walk in on anything." The door was locked, but it didn"t seem that the trio was up to anything, as it was silent beyond. I drew my gun and calmly kicked the door open. The lock wasn"t really strong and it came as no surprise when it gave in, but what did surprise me was when the whole door blew out of its frame and struck the wall on the other side. It seemed the hinges weren"t all that strong either. I must have looked pretty scary to the two girls, stepping through the wreckage of the door, gun pointed in front of me. Tom was already halfway to his own gun on the nightstand, but I was able to cut him off with a shot that hit the wall an inch in front of his grasping hand. He withdrew it quickly, as if it had been burnt. "Ladies," I said, saluting the two girls who were dressed in cowboy hats and not much else. "Tommy here has some business to take care of. He"s done for tonight." As they scrambled out and got dressed, I kept my eye on Tom. He was even redder than usual, possibly due to the exertions of the past hour. His eyes told me that he hadn"t been expecting me, that I should either be unaware of his connection to Igor and Nikolai, or dead. I kept my ears alert for any panic from my shooting, but it was quiet. I guess in this neighbourhood, guns going off were the norm. Finally, it was just the two of us. I sat down in a rickety chair opposite the bed and gave him my best shark-smile. "Tom, it"s a shame we have to meet again under these circumstances. I was hoping we"d never have to meet again at all. I"m curious, about how you managed to find out about the girl." Tom laughed, trying to act casual. "Dante. I don"t have the faintest idea what you"re talking about. The only girls I"ve seen all day are the two you chased out. I can understand that you"re not fond of me, but to just come in here and interrupt my leisure time..." "Cut the bullshit, Tom!" I said quietly enough, but he instantly shut up. "I nearly ended up dead as result of your interfering, as did Eve. Where did you hear about the job?" "I"ll tell you, seeing as how I"m not going to leave you alive after tonight. There"s a leak inside one of your contractor"s companies. They told me about their boss, who was willing to pay a hell of a price for a girl. I"m a busy man, so I got those two Russians to kidnap her. I also knew that you were working on it, but I decided that the reward would be adequate compensation for the money you cost me with your meddling in my affairs. We were planning to take her in after two days. But, you had to go and screw it all up. I"ll make sure they take care of you." I suddenly had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Why two days?" Tom must have seen my horrified look, because he grinned at me. "Ahh, yes. She is an attractive girl, no? I was hoping to have a little fun with her, then give her to the brothers so they could have their entertainment. They told me that they would give me their part of the reward for that privilege." Tom"s mocking tone suddenly disappeared entirely as I pulled back the hammer on the Desert Eagle. I could feel the rage burning my face, and Tom saw it as well. I slowly let the hammer drop back. He didn"t look so confident when I got up to leave. "Tom, I"m only going to tell you once. Keep away from me and from Eve, or you"ll end up regretting it. And, just by the by, the Russians are currently occupying freezer numbers fifty-eight and fifty-nine at the New York morgue." He must have thought he had gotten off scot-free. His voice rose again. "Fuck her once good for me, eh Dante?" I whipped around and, the gun crashed in my hand and Tom screamed as a bullet buried itself in the mattress between his legs and about an inch from his...Well, I guess you can work out for yourself. Replacing the gun, I spoke one final sentence before leaving. "That was your last warning. Next time, I"ll make sure I hit you somewhere that would end your visits to this fine establishment." Mitochondrial Showdown Written by Asuka"s Knight Chapter 3 - Bullets And Breakfast I drove back to my apartment on autopilot, just listening to the music blasting from my radio. All of a sudden, I looked out my window and saw I was driving past Aya and Eve"s house. The lights were off, and I guessed Aya must be at the office, using every possible resource to try and find her sister. It suddenly struck me that Eve was going to be at my apartment for a while, but she didn"t have any clothes, other than the things she was wearing today. Since I was here, I decided I might as well grab some of Eve"s things. I was expecting something a little more secure, considering I was breaking into the house of an FBI agent, but one of the side windows were open. I climbed inside and found that I was having some good luck for a change. The window had led me straight into Eve"s bedroom. It looked ordinary enough. Blue wallpaper, white duvet on the bed. A few posters up on the walls and a writing desk in the corner, housing a PC. I went over to her closet and began piling some clothes into the rucksack I had brought along. I had probably grabbed enough clean clothes for a week, and if she had to stay longer, well that was why I had a washing machine. Hoisting the bag up onto my shoulder, I was just about to leave when I spotted something on the bed. In the weak light flooding in from the street, I could see it was a rather battered teddy bear that seemed to be missing one eye. Even though it looked like something you"d get from a Salvation Army store, I was able to see that it was well loved. It might not make her like me, but at least it could show her I wasn"t as evil as she thought. As I reached for it, I heard something that made my blood run cold. Voices, from somewhere in the house. I quickly ran over the blueprint of the house in my head and realised that I had been really stupid. The windows that faced the street, which gave me the impression that the house was empty, were Eve"s bedroom, and the kitchen. If Aya had just had her sister kidnapped, she definitely wouldn"t be hungry, and why would Eve"s room"s light be on if she weren"t here? But, the living room and Aya"s room were both in the rear of the house. The one voice grew louder, and I heard it was a woman"s voice. "I"ll be there now, Rupert. I just want to make sure I closed the window in Eve"s room." Oh geez, this was going to be bad. There was nowhere to hide, and I was pretty much caught, red-handed. The light in the hall went on, and a second later, a shape loomed up in the doorway. We both stared at each other for a second, and then she demanded "Who are you?" I realised that she couldn"t see my face, as the light from the doorway didn"t stretch too far into the room, and the only other light came from the window at my back. But her hand was already on the way to the light switch, and if she had another second, the room would be flooded in light. I did the only thing I could do. I gripped my gun and dropped to one knee, before firing. The explosion of the gun echoed throughout the quiet house, as sparks began jumping from the smashed light switch. Aya didn"t seem the least bit jarred by the gunshot, but pulled an M93R handgun from a shoulder holster beneath the jacket she was wearing and ducked out into the hall. I could now hear footsteps pounding down the hall. "Aya?" Aya replied, her voice cold. "It"s him, the one who took Eve, I"m sure of it." "Did you see him?" "No," She sounded bitter. "He blasted the light switch before I could turn it on. He"s no amateur, that one." "Well, he"s trapped now. Listen, whoever you are. My name is Rupert Broderick, I"m the head of the MIST department. You are wanted for the kidnapping of Eve Brea. Toss the gun and come out." My heart was thudding along at a mile a minute. I was ducking behind the bed, and looking up, I saw that both Aya and her guest, a tall bald man, had the window covered. I wasn"t getting out as easily as I did in. Ignoring Rupert"s second order to come out, I peered below the bed and saw something that was possibly my ticket out of this mess. If I tried to stick my head over the top, I"d risk getting my brain ventilated. But from my vantage point below the bed, I could see two pairs of shoes standing in the doorway. Carefully, I took aim and squeezed off three shots. Two splintered the wooden floor near a pair highly polished leather shoes, that I guessed belonged to Rupert. He jumped back into cover immediately. The third bullet buried itself an inch from the toe of a slightly faded brown cowboy boot. It also retracted into the safety of the hall. Now was my chance. I had to hope that there were enough bullets for me to lay down cover fire, so I could get my ass out the window. I simply fired blindly into the hallway, blowing the absolute hell of the wall, but ensuring neither of the two FBI agents was going to be sticking their heads out anytime soon. I managed to get about four shots off, before I heard a dry click as the hammer fell on nothing but an empty chamber. I covered the last foot of the distance to the window in a desperate twist and dive, as I heard a gun being cocked behind me. "Freeze!" I hit the lawn below Eve"s window with a thump, a split-second before a gunshot even louder than my Deagle blasted through the vicinity. It seemed Rupert was using a Mongoose, a long-barrelled Magnum revolver. If that thing hit me, it was over. I sprinted back to my car, waiting for another gunshot. Chancing a look behind me, I saw that neither of the two were even at the window. Instead, as I reached the driver"s side, the front door flew open and I saw Aya come running out at me, Rupert on her heels. "Hold it!" She yelled as I got in behind the wheel. "Or I"m going to shoot!" I started the engine, just in time to see her brace herself in a classic shooter"s stance and take aim. Her shot hit the back window, but it only cracked slightly. I had had bulletproof glass installed when I"d started out, and it was looking to have been a smart decision. But then Rupert joined her in her shooting, and that Mongoose caved in my rear windscreen, sending shards of glass all over my backseat. That was the last I heard, because the next moment I shoved the car into drive and took off. I looked back in the rear-view mirror to see Rupert already speaking to someone on a cellphone, no doubt putting out an APB on my car. Luckily, I had enough spare plates back at my place to make sure they couldn"t find me that way. The only thing that might give me away was the fact that my entire back window had been blown out. But that was something I"d worry about tomorrow. When I got back to my apartment, I parked my car with the back to the wall. I didn"t want my neighbours to get too curious about what Dante got up to in his spare time. It was quiet when I got back inside. Everything was the way I had left it earlier, which made it obvious that Eve hadn"t left her room since I had gone. Making sure the door was locked, I turned off the lounge lights and headed down the hall to my room, but stopped when I passed the spare room. Eve was breathing deeply, showing me that she was actually sleeping, and not still unconscious. Quietly, I walked over to the bed, left the bag of clothes next to the nightstand, and took the bear from the inside of my jacket. I looked at it for a moment, before gently slipping it under her arm. I left, shutting the door behind me. My bed was warm, and sleep overcame me the moment my head hit the pillow. The next morning, I sleepily opened my eyes, only to have to shield them from the bright morning sunshine that was pouring in from the window. It was very seldom that I overslept, and the watch on the bedside table announced that it was past eleven. Yawning, I rolled over and nearly fell asleep again. That was, until I saw who was standing in my doorway. It was Eve. It seemed like she had been awake for quite some time. Her blonde hair was still damp from a shower that I hadn"t heard her take and was absent-mindedly tied into a ponytail. Since the only bathroom was attached to my room, she was either more quiet than I had thought, or last night had tired me out pretty badly. She was wearing different clothes too, it seemed she had found my little present. Her eyes rested on me, but I was unable to read her expression. Please God, I don"t have the strength for this now, My sleep-fogged mind thought disjointedly. Have her hold off on frying me until I"ve had my first cup of coffee. "Morning," I said, slightly warily. "Good morning," She replied, her voice like ice. I guess that clubbing her across the head and knocking her unconscious for a few hours hadn"t exactly improved her opinion of me. "I see you visited my house last night." "Yeah, I met your sister too," I said and kicked the covers off, before swinging out of bed. "She seems like a lovely person, even if she did try to air out my skull. Now, if you don"t mind, I"d like to go take a shower." Still, Eve stood there, staring at me. I wonder if she thought that she was making me feel uncomfortable. Then again, I wonder if she knew that my sense of humour had a screwy side to it. If she did, she would have gotten out when I had asked her to. "Well, Eve, if that"s the way you want it, I"m not shy." Her icy look turned to one of shock as I dropped the boxers I had slept in. I"m pretty sure that in my whole life I"ve never seen anyone go red as quickly as that girl did. Consequently, I don"t think I"ve ever seen anyone bolt out of a room faster than she did.

"Naturally. Now, get your butt in gear, we"ve got some robattles to win." "Huh?" Sheena sighed. "Hello, anyone there? You do still want to make it to that provincial tournament, don"t you?" "Oh, that. I checked the standings last night. So far, we"re sixth in Gauteng. But, only the top two qualify, so let"s get going." "That"s more like it," She replied as the two left the house. "Forget the past, focus on the present. That"s what I always say." Two days later, the two had chalked up a number of victories without any losses or having to resort to the Medaforce. They had qualified for the Nationals, but only barely, winning the last fight that pushed them up to second. Larry was out jogging when the phone rang. Sheena got up from the couch and answered it. "Hello, Linford residence" "Hello? Who is this? Where"s Larry" It was a woman. "Whoa, aren"t you just the nosy one. Larry"s out, so do you want to leave a message?" "Excuse me? Listen, I want to know who you are..." Sheena was starting to get slightly annoyed. "That"s none of your business, but since we are playing "Twenty Questions", how about you give me your name?" The woman"s voice was cold as she replied. "My name is Zelda Linford. I"m Larry"s mother." That was enough to silence Sheena, and she mentally kicked herself. Oh, brilliant going, Sheena. Just go and insult the person who is, for all intents and purposes, your medafighter"s boss. That"s a sure-fire way of ending up back at the scrap heap. "Not so talkative now, are you, missy? So, where is my son? I told him about bringing girls home." "Hold it, Mrs. Linford, we"re not exactly on the same page here. Let me start from the beginning..." "Good. Name?" "My nickname, or manufacturer name?" "What?" "I"m Metabee, serial number: MCMTB 004560, but Larry just calls me Sheena. I"m not a girl in the traditional sense of the word, I"m a Medabot." Larry"s mom"s voice suddenly warmed up. "Oh, really? So that"s what the message was about. He told me he needed two aeroplane tickets to Cape Town, but didn"t say what they were for. I guess he"s going to some sort of competition involving you Medabots, right?" "Yeah. We succeeded in qualifying for the Nationals, but I didn"t know we were flying down." "Well, ask him to phone me when he gets back. It was a pleasure meeting you, Sheena." "You too, Mrs. L. Bye." Sheena replaced the phone and jumped up into the air. "Yes! I"m going flying!" Larry came home at that exact moment, and caught her sentence. "Exactly where are you flying to?" Sheena lost her balance mid-jump and crashed painfully to the floor. She picked herself up and jumped onto him, locking him in a bearhug. Larry staggered back into the wall and fell down. Over Sheena"s cries of "We"re flying, we"re flying!" he tried to point out that she was crushing his trachea. She eventually let him go and told him the story, though he had to make her start over a few times because she was babbling on at a pace that made it difficult to understand what she was saying. When she was finished, he immediately got on the phone with his mother. They spoke for about ten minutes, and judging by Larry"s laughter, he was being told the particulars of their conversation earlier. Larry came into the hall and spoke to her. "My mom"s already booked a second ticket for you. We"re both flying business class, so you"d better behave yourself." "Of course," Sheena replied, batting her eyes innocently. "I don"t even know why you"re telling me that." "Yeah right," Larry said as they mounted the stairs to his room. "I"d better go pack, we"re flying the day after tomorrow. Wanna help, or are you scared I might seduce you like I do to all girls?" Sheena giggled. "You shall make no assault on my honour, young man, or I will phone your mother." When Larry and Sheena disembarked from the flight that had taken them to Cape Town a day later, neither of them was in the best of moods. Larry was mumbling underneath his breath, while Sheena merely stared ahead, not saying a word. As they crossed the runway into the terminal, Sheena finally said something. "Why didn"t you just give me the barf bag when I asked for it?" "Because," Larry replied, his voice barely audible. "I thought you were messing around. If I had known Medabots were capable of getting airsick, I would have done so." "I"m just saying this so you don"t go blaming me, because you look sort of cheesed off." "Oh, I only LOOK cheesed off?" Larry stopped dead in his tracks and glared down at Sheena. "I AM cheesed off! You kicked up a racket in the aeroplane when we hit turbulence, then you started on about the barf bag. And, to crown it all off...YOU VOMITED ALL OVER ME!" Sheena glared back. "IT"S ONLY COOLANT FLUID!" "WELL, I STILL HAD TO SIT THROUGH THE ENTIRE FLIGHT SMELLING LIKE SOME REDNECK MECHANIC!" "IF YOU HAD JUST BELIEVED ME..." Both were now yelling at the top of their voices. Larry interrupted her. "WELL, YOU DIDN"T HELP WHEN YOU OVEREACTED TO A LITTLE TURBULENCE." His voice took on a pretty good imitation of Sheena. ""We"re going to crash! I"m too young to die!' NOW TELL ME THAT I SHOULD HAVE BELIEVED YOU WERE AIRSICK AFTER THAT LITTLE PERFORMANCE!" Sheena took a step towards Larry and raised her fist. "ONE MORE WORD OUT OF YOU..." "AND WHAT THEN? LISTEN TO ME, SHORT STUFF..." Both abruptly looked up to see that all of the activity in the arrivals terminal had ceased, and most people were now staring openly at them. A small child of six was pointing at Sheena and telling his mother "Look at the funny man and his robot, mommy! They look kind of dumb." Larry turned away from Sheena to the child"s mother. "Ma"am, I think you"d better teach your child that if he wants to insult other people, he should perhaps take his finger out of his nose first." The woman looked affronted. "Well, I never! My child did no such thing." Larry was about to reply, when Sheena pre-empted him. "Look lady. When I was watching him, he seemed to be getting ready to perform a lobotomy on himself." "You two are rude, and unmannered! First you stand and bicker for all the world to hear, and then you have the cheek to insult my son. Really!" She stormed off in a huff, dragging her son behind her. Larry stared after her and shook his head, laughing. Sheena tried to maintain her look of anger, but eventually, she too dissolved into laughter. The people who had been staring at them lost interest and began moving to their destinations again, leaving only the young man and his Medabot, who were still laughing. They finally stopped, and the two glanced at each other. "Well," Larry said and shrugged. "I guess it is only coolant." Sheena punched him in the side. "Forget about it. We"ve got more important things to worry about. So, how is this tournament going to work?" Larry explained in the taxi on the way to their hotel. The tournament was going to be fought in an elimination bracket. Each province provided two medafighters, which meant there were eighteen medafighters who were going to be battling it out. But there was more at stake here than just being the national champion. These championships would also determine who would be in the team South Africa sent to the World Robattle Championship. Even though it was still eighteen months until the WRC would be held, the team needed time to prepare. "I don"t want to put too much pressure on you, Sheena," Larry said as they entered the hotel. "But I"m planning to be on that team." "Don"t worry," She said as he checked them in. "If it"s the last thing I do, I"ll make sure we get there." Larry stood on the balcony overlooking the busy street below and about half a kilometre further, was the ocean, sparkling like a huge sapphire in the midday sun. Sheena was lazing around on the bed, watching TV. He knew they should probably be preparing for the tournament, but he felt even less like doing anything constructive than she did. He guessed it must be the sea air. "Sheena, I"m heading down to the pool. You want to come with?" His Medabot turned her head slowly towards him, and then back at the TV. "No thanks, this is a really good movie. You go and check out some girls, I"ll stay here." "Fine," Larry said as he opened their door. "But just remember that we have a tournament starting tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow morning we are going to run drills like crazy, so prepare yourself." Dressed in a pair of sandals, blue boardshorts and an open neck Hawaiian shirt, Larry got into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. As the doors were about to close, he heard a voice yelling "Hold the elevator, please!". He grabbed the doors and held them open for the girl who came jogging in. If it hadn"t been for the fact that Larry had recognised her voice, he never would have known who it was. "Alexis, is that you?" The girl glanced up at him and her eyes widened in surprise. "Larry, what are you doing here?" Larry looked at her in dumbfounded silence. Of the stuffy rich girl he had last seen at Jane"s workshop, there was very little left. Now, she had her red hair hanging loose and it spilled down her shoulders in crimson waves. Her face, which had been slightly pale the last time he saw her, was now lightly tanned from the summer sun and made her green eyes shimmer even more than usual. She was dressed in a white blouse and a pair of white shorts that accented her long legs, which were also turning brown now. "I"m here for the tournament," He finally replied. "My record isn"t as impressive as yours, miss Number One, but I did qualify." "You"re the other medafighter from Gauteng? I never even checked after I knew I had qualified. You don"t know how glad I am you made it, I was scared Hank or Jeff would have made it and my relationship with the pair of them isn"t the best at the moment." "Forget them," Larry made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Hanging out with them any longer probably would have dropped your IQ below zero. You look like you"re enjoying yourself." "I am," She replied, smiling. "I was actually on my way to have a look at the stadium where they"re planning to hold the tournament. It"s only a five minute walk from here, so do you feel like joining me?" "Sure. It beats hanging around here all day." "I just have one question," She said, and looked at him. "Your surname is Linford, right?" "Last time I checked," Larry replied. "Why?" "Are you by any chance related to Pierre Linford?" Larry laughed. He wondered how long it would be before she had figured that out. Pierre was his cousin, and had been robattling a whole lot longer than Larry had, a whole year longer in fact. Even though no "official" national rankings had yet been taken, Larry would easily place his cousin as one of the best, and he told Alexis this. "His stats prove your point," Alexis replied, her eyes distant. "Number one Medafighter from the Eastern Cape, one of highest "win/robattles fought" percentages. Do you know if he"s here?" "I suspect so. Knowing how into his robattling he is, he"s probably scoping out the venue already." "What"s he like?" Alexis"s question tried to come out casually, but Larry could hear a competitive edge to her voice. "Sorry, Alexis, but I"m keeping that info to myself. With pros like you and my cousin here, I"m going to need every advantage I can get." "Oh, you"re no fun. And, Larry, you can call em Alex if you want." "Alex it is, then." Larry looked at her and grinned, and she smiled too. This was going to be an interesting competition, to say the least. When they arrived at the arena, a small, informal match was already going on outside. One of the medafighters was a girl of about sixteen. Larry took one glance at her face and saw that it didn"t look as if she was prepared for the beating that her opponent was giving her. Alex took him by the arm and led them past the crowd so they could see what was happening. The girl"s Medabot was lying on the ground, struggling to get up. The enemy Medabot was standing a few feet away, waiting for a command from its medafighter. The Medabot was silver-grey in colour, with black stripes running down its arms and legs. It had no visible weapons, but its arms and legs looked toughened, showing it was built for close combat. "Riptide, let"s finish this. Spear attack!" The medafighter shouted. Larry"s head swung towards the medafighter so fast, Alex thought he might have hurt himself from the whiplash. She looked at him and didn"t see anything strange about him, unless you counted the fact that he was about four years younger than the girl he was fighting. She looked to his Medabot, which had hunched over, hands on his knees. It seemed to be waiting for the opposing Medabot to get up. It did, completely facing the wrong way and not noticing the Medabot stalking it. At that precise moment, the waiting Medabot sprang forward, rushing its opponent. The girl"s Medabot turned around a second before it was taken down by a hard tackle to the body. It struck the ground, its head slamming into the ground so hard that it bounced once. The young boy had clearly won the battle, and she wanted to tell Larry something, but he was already walking towards the winner. The boy glanced at Larry for a second, before he did a double-take, staring at Larry with his mouth open. Larry smiled, and said something that she couldn"t hear. The boy grinned and held out his hand. Larry took it and they shook, before Larry pulled the boy closer and placed him in a headlock. Now, she could hear his shout. "Hey, I thought you were more mature than this, Larry. Owww!" Larry grinned as he gave the boy a noogie. "You"ve gone soft without me around, pal. You used to be able to get out of one of these without any problem." "I"ve grown up, something that you obviously haven"t done," The boy said as he shoved Larry off him. When he did, he glanced in Alex"s direction. "Then again, what you lack in maturity you make up for in taste. Who"s your girlfriend?" Alex raised her eyebrow in annoyance. "Excuse me? Just who do you think you are?" He grinned cockily at her. "Ooh, feisty. Well babe, you"re talking to the most skilled medafighter in the Eastern Cape, if not the entire country." Seeing Alex"s face shift from annoyed to flat-out amazement, Larry leaned on the boy"s shoulder and grinned as well. " Alex, meet my cousin, Pierre Linford." "So, when did you become such an expert?" Pierre asked his cousin. The three of them were sitting in the coffee shop inside the stadium. Pierre"s Medabot, Riptide, had gone off somewhere, and the three medafighters were now discussing the tournament. "Heh, would you believe I"ve had Sheena less than a month?" "No way," Pierre said, his slice of chocolate cake hovering half-way to his mouth. "You can"t be serious? I"ve been robattling almost a year and here you come along with a month"s worth of experience and squeeze into the number two spot. How"d you do it?" "Well, with my natural talent, of course." Larry smiled, and nodded in Alex"s direction. "If it will make you feel any better, Gauteng"s not exactly packed to the rafters with skilled medafighters. The lady here is the exception of course." At this remark, Alex blushed slightly. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Larry. But Pierre, I had no idea you were so..." "Good looking? Yeah, I know it stuns the girls sometimes, but hey." "Actually, I meant to say I wasn"t expecting you to be so young," She replied dryly. "And you should watch that mouth of yours. One day, you might run into a girl who isn"t as forgiving as I am." The boy flashed her his cocky smile again, and he and Larry started talking about family matters. She didn"t particularly feel left out, as it gave her time to compare the two cousins. Larry had told her that the two of them were more closely related than most cousins (Their fathers were brothers and their mothers sisters) which would probably explain the bond the two of them had. However, as she looked at the two of them now, she didn"t really see a family resemblance. While both of them were tall for their respective ages, Larry had a more stout build, whereas Pierre was quite skinny. Larry"s hair was such a dark shade of brown, it could almost be seen as black, and it was as thick a prairie hedge. Pierre"s hair was a sandy, light-brown colour and quite thin. Larry had dark blue eyes and Pierre had light-brown ones. "...Fellyne?" "Huh?" Alex"s thinking was interrupted by a question from Larry. "I said, where"s Fellyne? I didn"t see her anywhere in the hotel." "I left her in my room. And speaking of which, where"s that loudmouth Medabot of yours?" "She thought that the marathon of John Wayne movies was more entertaining than hanging out with me." "It must be harsh, being ditched for an old cowboy." "Like you wouldn"t believe Their conversation was interrupted by the Public Announce system. "Will the following medafighters please report to the Security Office: Alexis Adams, Larry Linford and Pierre Linford. Your Medabots are currently impounded there." Alex looked at Larry, who looked at Pierre. "What are they talking about?" Alex asked. "Both Sheena and Fellyne are at our hotel, and besides, they can"t know your Medabot, can they?" Pierre shrugged. "Weirder things have happened to Riptide. Anyway, we"d better go get them. Can"t enter a Medabot tournament with no Medabot." "...And next time, don"t leave your Medabot unattended. You got that, son?" The aged security guard"s lecture finally ended, and Larry was pretty thankful for it. "Yes, sir. Come on, Sheena, we"re going." His Medabot, who was still pretty angry that she had been locked in a cage for the past ten minutes, merely nodded and walked out with him. It was already late, and the sun was setting as they walked out of the arena. Since the stadium was only a few blocks from the hotel, he decided they would walk back. It would also give him time to get the story from Sheena. Alex and Pierre had gotten their Medabots back without any trouble. Riptide did look slightly dented when he left with Pierre, and Fellyne had seemed as irate as Sheena had been when he went to collect her. But, according to the guard, since Sheena started the fight, her medafighter needed a good talking to. And that"s exactly what he got. Twenty minutes worth, actually. "Sheena, you mind telling me what happened back there? First off, how did you get here? Secondly, how did you meet up with Fellyne, and thirdly, exactly why would the two of you try to beat up Riptide?" And Larry got the whole story, the entire, very strange story. Apparently, Sheena had run into Fellyne at the hotel when she had gone down to the pool area to find him, unaware of the fact that he had gone with Alex to the tournament stadium. Once there, she had spotted the cat-shaped Medabot practising by the pool. And naturally enough, had gone over to mess with her a bit. After they had exchanged one or two insults (Larry guessed that this was the closest the two Medabots would ever come to making casual chit-chat ) Fellyne told Sheena that she had seen both their medafighters leave the hotel and that she had a pretty good idea where they were headed. Since the John Wayne marathon was over, Sheena decided she might as well go along with Fellyne. They had arrived easily enough, and were strolling through the stadium whilst looking for their medafighters. That was, until Riptide had shown up. When Pierre had first wrote to Larry about his new Medabot (Pierre was a technology freak, and so had imported Riptide about two months after the release of Medabots in Japan), he had mentioned a slightly strange trait. It seems Riptide was a bit of a skirt-chaser, strange as that might sound. Any female Medabot that came within a mile of him could pretty much count on being hit on. Riptide must have thought he had hit the jackpot when he saw the two female Medabots walking around unattended. Poor guy didn"t know what he was letting himself in for, as he soon found out. When his suave flirtatious banter failed to impress Fellyne, he tried to on Sheena, who told him in no uncertain terms into which of his sockets he could shove his offer of a romantic evening. Next was when made his fatal mistake. "Alright ladies," He had said and walked past them. "If you want it that way, it"s fine." And had swatted both of the lady Medabots firmly on the behind. Sheena had to stop her story at this point, because Larry finally couldn"t keep his laughter inside anymore and had to lean against a tree while he tried to catch his breath. Glaring at him when he finally stopped, she asked "Are you done?" "Yeah, sure." Larry said and sniggered one last time. "Carry on." It turns out there wasn"t a lot more to the story. Obviously, these two girls weren"t going to take this lying down and proceeded to beat the absolute hell out of Riptide, who was too surprised to even try and defend himself, leaving him to Sheena and Fellyne"s mercy until the security guards finally showed up. When they got back to the hotel, Larry glanced at his watch and felt a slight drop in his stomach. There was less than fifteen hours until the national tournament started.

snort from the end of the line and saw the girl from before trying to stop laughing. The next guy was a Chinese bloke. " This is Chi-Fen. His code is HengkyGun. Can diffuse any explosive known, or unknown. He also was a member of ' The PO8 is not crap ' movement. You can probably guess what his sidearm is." DKB now moved onto the 2nd last guy. A muscular redhead. " That"s Sean. He"s our source of income. He likes heavy things, so his favourite gun is the M249." " How"s he you"re source of income? " Aya asked " He used to be an accountant, and now he diverts some money our way. That"s why his codename is lyingbastard." He moved onto the last person, the girl. " Meet the best electrician in the world and the second in command of Philantropy, Rebecca. We all just call her by her code: Karpah. She prefers the M93R. " While DKB had spoken about his other men, he looked proud while he spoke. When talking to Karpah, something changed. " Look, it"s nice to meet you, but could someone tell me what"s going on? " Aya asked impatiently. " Sure, after I introduce myself. As you know my code is DKB. I am the leader of Philantropy, and the combat instructor. You may call me Larry. Now I"ll tell you what has happened.... " Larry took off his baseball cap and Aya could see his face for the first time. He looked a bit like Kyle, except with brown hair. " I think you"d better sit down. Well, let"s start with you. What year is this? " " Well, it"s obvious-" she said. " it"s 2004. " " Wrong, this is the year 2025. " he said looking at her. " Lemme start at the beginning. Official records say you went missing the night of 26th of December 2004. That"s a load of bull. You were abducted from you"re home by members of the Mishima Corporation, a giant in the genetics industry. " " But, why? " She was getting really confused " Ryusei can explain better than me. Take it away " the computer guy started talking. " Well, as you"re aware humans live for a relatively short time. Anywhere between 70 to 100 years. There are of course exceptions but that"s generally how it is. Now, if you remember correctly ANMC"s were people who wanted to gain eternal youth by letting their Mitochondria take over. We all know the outcome of that. After the Shelter incident, the Mishima Corporation gained possession of the experiment records. They saw the prize of eternal youth, and the massive profits that would go with it. They sought out the only person who could live in harmony with evolved mitochondria. You. They kidnapped you and put you in stasis so they could experiment. DKB knows the rest. " " Thanks Gilbert. Well, one night the lab where the Mitos were being kept blew up. All the mitochondria went flying into the atmosphere. It was a few days after that, that the **** hit the fan. All around the world people started mutating into ANMCs. The governments of the world were thrown into chaos. The armies were no match for the ANMCs so the governments were pressured into dropping nukes on the cities. Of course they wouldn"t agree. One day the White House was ambushed by a right wing military group. They broke into the war-room and fired the nukes on every major city in the world. This didn"t work. The nuclear fission mutated the Mitos further creating a SNMC (Super Neo-Mitochondria creature) you saw one of them, the Gondaliers. Most of the citizens were killed. There is no more order in the world. Only 2 stable countries are left. South Africa and Australia. " " That"s it, in a nutshell. Any questions? " Aya was so astonished by this news, she couldn"t think of anything to say. Then she got her mouth working. " Could you tell me what happened to Kyle and Eve? " " I knew you were going to ask that. I"m warning you though; it"s not pretty. Kyle is dead. The Mishima"s hired thugs killed him when he tried to stop them. As for Eve.. " Here he broke off and looked uncomfortable. ".. I"m afraid Eve is the ruler of this world. " " WHAT!!, " Aya screamed. " that"s not possible! " " I"m afraid it is. Her mitochondria rebelled again after the lab explosion. Parasite Eve is back." He sounded sorry. Aya felt her head going berserk. Kyle dead, Eve dictator of the planet. " You"re lying!! You are trying to trick me! " She directed with all her might a blast of pyrokinesis at him. The other people dived for cover, while he just stood there. The blast of fire hit him and it then disappeared into his body. Aya stared in disbelief. That blast should have melted him like a candle. She fell unconscious to the floor, drained of energy... So tired... Aya could faintly hear someone far away talking. " Is she gonna be alright? " " She"ll be fine. She"s just drained at the moment. " " She looks peaceful when she"s asleep. Hard to imagine she attacked you Larry." "I don"t blame her. Having found out her husband is dead and her sister taken over by nuclear enhanced mitochondria. She"s taking it pretty well." Aya didn"t get the rest of the conversation. She drifted off into a sleep filled with images of Kyle being shot and Eve ruling the world. She woke up a little later. " Glad to see you"re awake. " She turned and saw DKB wearing jeans and a black T-shirt. He reminded her even more of Kyle. " Talk about Deja Vu. That"s what you said when we first met. Look, I"m sorry about trying to turn you into melted flesh, but I still fell like this is a bad dream. " " I understand, don"t worry I didn"t even get a scratch. " " You also have the same kind of mitochondria, " she said " I saw you use Parasite Energy, how can you do that? " " I honestly don"t have a clue, " he said, shrugging his shoulders. " I woke up one morning and found I could communicate with my Mitos. C"mon we"re late for breakfast." He stood up and walked out the door, with Aya following behind. She found the big conference room had been converted to a dining hall. " So, who"s cooking? " Larry asked. " It"s HeavenKnight"s turn. " Said Ryusei, not exactly looking forward to the idea. " Oh boy, well let"s eat. We gotta discuss today"s program." The blonde haired guy came walking out carrying a big stew pot. " Bon appetit guys. It"s breakfast time. " He lifted up the lid and some kind of stew was inside. Aya tasted some and found it was quite good. Soon everyone was tucking in and quite enjoying it. At the end lyingbastard asked what it was. " Ah, it"s an authentic Scottish recipe, Haggis. " Suddenly everyone ran for the toilets, except her, Larry and Matt. " I don"t know what their problem is. It seems you enjoyed it. " " What is haggis? " Aya asked. " Oh, it"s the heart, lungs and kidneys of a sheep, boiled in an onion stew. " Aya suddenly sprinted for the bathrooms, clapping her hands to her mouth. DKB turned to HeavenKnight. " No one appreciates good food these days. " And they both started laughing. Ten minutes later... " Alright, briefing for today. " After everyone had returned from the bathrooms, the daily briefing began. " First we will..." Ryusei began, but his speech was drowned out by a sudden alarm. Larry jumped up. "Perimeter breech. Everyone, grab you"re guns. Karpah lend Aya a P229, Gilbert on screen!" Computer guy ran to his PC and began punching in keys. The forward screen showed about 200 SNMCs approaching. The rebel"s faces were grim. DKB said, what could be the last words they ever heard.. " This is bad. " ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- The usual, I don"t own any PE characters. All other people are my pals from the PE2 board. I"m not saying this again. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------ The members of Philantropy watched the army of SNMCs draw closer. " How the hell did they find us? " HengkyGun asked. " The reason"s behind you Hengky. " DKB said. Everyone turned and looked at Aya. " Me? " " Yes, you. I was an idiot for not realising they"d put a tracker device on you. " " I"m so sorry. " " No prob. Look we"ve got 10 minutes before they get here. I"ve got an idea. Matt, Rebecca follow me. " DKB ran out the door followed by Karpah and HeavenKnight. " Are they gonna be OK? " Aya asked. " Yeah, we"ve been through worse. " Lyingbastard said. Meanwhile, outside the base.... " So, Larry what is you"re plan? " " You"ll see. Ok here"s the place." DKB opened the rucksack he was carrying, and pulled out some C4. " Ok, I"ll plant this, you guys cover me. " " Sure! " Back inside the base... The rest of them watched the progress on the monitor. " What is he doing? " " He"s planting C4 to blow them sky high. " Back outside... " Ok, done. Let"s head back in. " And not a minute too soon. They saw the army coming nearer. Suddenly a scream filled the air. Larry and Matt turned around and saw Karpah being held hostage by a strange man. " Hey you bastard, let her go! " The man looked similar to a man DKB had seen on file, No.9. Except this one had an even bigger Gunblade and advanced armor. " Mwa-ha-ha, sorry kiddies I can"t let you go. " The man had a mocking tone in his voice. HeavenKnight pulled out his M4A1 and took aim. " I wouldn"t do that. You might puncture you"re pretty lady friend here. " " Lemme go, or I swear I"ll castrate you with a rusty pen knife!! " Karpah had gotten over the surprise and started kicking and thrashing. " Ooh, I like "em feisty. " The man was clearly enjoying this. DKB stepped forward. " Are you that no.9 guy I read about? " " Close, bucko. I"m No.10! I"ve been sent by Queen Eve to stop you meddling rebels. But, I also have a personal score to settle with you. You should remember me as wwf2000." " No, it can"t be... " DKB looked shocked. " Oh, but it is. After you left me to rot, Eve found me. As you can see she gave me a new lease on life. Now, I will kill you and all my former friends. Mwa-ha-hamwa-ha-ha. " " No, you won"t! " What makes you think you can stop me! " " Check you"re pants. " No.10 turned around and saw his pants were on fire. Promptly, he dropped Karpah. The army was almost upon them. " Matt-Karpah, move. I"ll take care of it. " They both hurtled to the bunker entrance. No.10 stepped forward. " A noble sacrifice, too bad it will be in vain. " " Is that so. You know hat this is? " He holds the detonator up. " You"re death certificate. " He sneered " Wrong, your life. " He pressed the detonator and every thing blew up with the 2 tons of C4 buried beneath the ground. Inside the base they felt the tremor of the explosion. " Did DKB get clear of the blast?" SMOLDAR asked. Ryusei remained silent. Aya walked up to him. " Well!? " " I"m afraid there are no life signs within the immediate vicinity. " The entire group remained silent... The people inside the base kept staring, disbelieving at the screen. " Damn, why the hell did he go and do that? " Aya asked. " He"s always been like that. Stubborn, but nice at the same time..." Aya didn"t hear the rest of the words. She kept staring at the screen. That man... It brought back memories of the shelter incident, and that unholy laugh was just the same. He had to be a copy; the real No. 9 was swallowed up in the Shelter. She broke off her train of thought to hear Barra say: "... well Karpah, as the new leader what do you want us to do first? " Karpah was sitting in a corner staring out in front of her. It didn"t look as if she heard Phil. " Karpah! Snap out of it. You"re the leader, so lead. " She stood up. " Fine, go look for any sign of DKB. If you find anything, bring it back. I"m going to my room. " The meeting broke up. Ryusei went to his computer, while the rest of them headed to the surface, leaving Aya alone. Computer guy didn"t look like scintillating conversation, so Aya went looking for Karpah. She found the girl staring at a picture of the entire team that must have been taken two to three years ago. She knocked on the door. " Mind if I come in? " She looked startled and then smiled. " Yeah, sure. " " What were you looking at? " " Oh, just a picture of us. " " Hmm, must be great being the only girl amongst these guys. " Aya smiled mischievously. " Oh, please. They"re more like brothers than anything else." " Mind if I see that picture? " " No, not at all. " She handed Aya the picture. Aya recognised Matt, Phil and all the rest except there was one guy there who she didn"t recognise. She asked Karpah who it was. " Oh, that"s WWF2000. "The name sounded familiar. " Didn"t that guy who captured you say his name was WWF2000? " " Yeah, he used to be a member of Philantropy until he went MIA. " " He seems to hold a vendetta against Larry. " " Yeah Larry was on the mission with him, when he went missing. I don"t know what happened. " Suddenly the intercom sounded. Karpah answered it. " Yeah? " SMOLDARS voice sounded over the intercom. " Sorry boss, we couldn"t find a trace of him. " Karpah went pale against the black shirt she was wearing. " OK, you guys can grab a bite, then go to sleep. " She shut off the intercom. " Well, I"m gonna try to get some sleep. Goodnight Aya. Later that evening.... Suddenly the loudest alarm in the place went off. The alarm meant someone had broken into the leader"s room in the bunker. In three seconds everyone was up and had their guns with them. They stood outside the door to DKB"s room. " OK, everybody. On three. One. Two. Three!!" They kicked open the door and rushed inside.... " Ok, you guys go in. Aya and me will cover you. " " Sure thing Karpah. " HeavenKnight readied his M4A1 (Bayonet attachment) and said: " Ok, one-two- THREE! " All the guys burst through the door while Aya and Karpah waited outside. " Yaaagh!! " Suddenly all of the guys were blasted back out and lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. Karpah turned to Aya. " Let"s go! " They burst in and the light of Aya"s MP5A5 fell on a figure standing by the bed. " What the hell, can"t a guy get a decent night sleep any more? " DKB was standing by the bed dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. Aya stared open mouthed while Karpah talked. " Larry, you"re alive! " " Yeah, I am. So who told those bozos outside to break and enter? " " The alarm went off. " " I had to force my way in, my pass card burned away with my clothes. " " Oh. " " Look, let"s all get to bed, I"ll tell you the whole story in the morning. " Aya regained speech control. " What did you do to them? " " Don"t worry, they should be waking up soon. I only blasted them with level 1 Plasma. Good thing I recognised SMOLDAR"s voice, or I would have used Inferno. Now, let"s all go to bed " Out in the hall, a few groans became audible. DKB smiled. Aya and Karpah went back to their rooms, passing the conked out guys in the hall. Aya slept for a few hours. When she woke up, she found that Karpah was gone. Meanwhile in the kitchen... " OK peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some Coke and a slice of pizza. Who said breakfast is the most important meal? It"s the midnight snacks that count. " While DKB was eating his snack, he heard a scuffle behind him. On instinct he pulled out his PA3. " Who goes there? " " You know, for a leader you"re really paranoid. " Karpah stood in the doorway. DKB lowered his PA3. " It"s the only way to stay alive these days. " " I guess you"re right. " " So, can"t sleep either? " " I keep thinking about how I would be leader if you didn"t come back. " " Not fun, is it? " " How did you survive that explosion? " " I"ll tell you tomorrow. Would you like a snack? There"s still some of HeavenKnight"s haggis left. " She pulled a face. " Just joking. Have some pizza instead... " Next morning.... Everyone was up early. Even Phil, who usually had to be dragged out of bed. They were all sitting around when Larry entered. " Ok, I trust all the bruises are healed? You probably want to know how I survived that explosion. Well, after I pressed the detonator, I used my mitochondria to form a shield around me. The majority of the force was absorbed, but there was still enough to wind me. " Ryusei interrupted at this point. " But, we didn"t read any life signs on the computer afterwards. " " I"m getting to that. After the explosion, No. 10 headed towards me. I used the last of my PE to stop my heart, so it appeared I was dead. He went away and I waited till nightfall to sneak back in. My clothes had burned away along with the key to my room. I blew open the lock and went inside to sleep. That"s when you lot came in. Any questions? " HengkyGun stood up. " I got a question. Was dead reckoning ever alive? " " I"m not even gonna answer that. " Ryusei came running from his computer. " D, I got a transmission for us. " " Put it on. " Suddenly a women of about twenty appeared. Aya was shocked. It was Eve. She was older now and looked like Maya when Aya confronted her. " Greetings rebels. " " What do you want, you overgrown insect. " " Ooh, insolent aren"t we. Well, that"s fine. I have a message for you. I want you and Aya to give yourselves up. " " Why would we do that? " " Oh, I have ways and means. " The screen changed to show Karpah and a man Aya recognised as Rupert trapped in a cell. " It"s a trap. Barra go check Karpah"s room. " " I already did there"s no one there. " " Damn! " " You see. Give yourselves up within Twenty-Four hours, or they die! Ha-Ha- Ha. " The screen went blank... DKB stared at the screen long after the image had disappeared. The other guys were talking, actually gabbling was more the word. " What"ll we do? " Ryusei asked. " Get that giant slime ball on screen again. " Ryusei played around on his computer. Eve"s image popped back on screen. " Hmm, isn"t this nice? " " Cut it. I"ll make you a deal. Aya and me will give ourselves up, " here Eve started smiling. " next week. " " Oh no. We"re not negotiating here. You come within twenty-four hours or they die. " " Look, if we don"t show up and you kill them, your only ace is gone. I won"t let one of my friends die, so you know I"ll come within one week. " Eve had a considering look on her face. " Fine, even if you try something it won"t do you much good. I look forward to meeting you in person. " The screen went dead. DKB turned to the crowd. " Emergency meeting! I hate to say this but there"s a traitor here. " " That can"t be right. " Hengky said. " Oh yeah, then how did they smuggle Karpah out without setting off the alarm? Look, it"s been a long day. Have some dinner and go to sleep. I"m going to my room to work out some plans. " Here everyone broke up. Aya had her dinner (Leftovers from the pizza) and then went to the room she shared with Karpah. It was too quiet so she went to see what Larry was up to. She found him sitting at his desk, looking haggard and tired. He looked up as she came in. " Hey. " " Hey, what are you looking at? " " Nah, just a picture. " " Can I see? " " Yah, sure. " It was a picture of him, Karpah and HeavenKnight. " Are you and Karpah close? " " Kind of. " seeing the look in her eye, he hastily back-pedalled. " Not like that. She saved my life once, that"s why. Ever played MGS2? We"re kinda like Fortune and Vamp. " Meanwhile in Eve"s base.... Eve was staring at her communicator, watching her faithful spy make his report. " They seem to be planning a massive offensive against the base. " " Massive? Puh-leese. What kinda attack can they plan? " " It would be wise not to underestimate them, my lady. " " Yes, well I don"t actually care what you think. Just do your job. " " Yes queen. " The screen went dead, while eve chuckled to herself. " Next week I"ll become a mommy. Mwa-Ha-Ha. Down in the basement... " Damn, I"m gonna kill that lousy lying scum bag. " Karpah had woken up out of her drugged sleep. " Glad to see I"ve got company. " A man stepped out of the shadows, and Karpah recognised him as Rupert. " Why are we here? " She asked. " To act as bait, to lure you"re friends here. " " I thought you died in the explosion of the MIST headquarters. " " Nope, they preserved me like Aya in a stasis chamber. " " We gotta get out. " Karpah began ransacking her brain trying to think of a solution.... Back at Philantropy HQ- six days later... " OK, we plan a diversionary operation. Me and Aya will go in and rescue Karpah, under the guise of surrendering while you guys also break in to search for Karpah in case we fail. Now, Barra and HeavenKnight are our demolitions team. You guys plant C4 under the base and detonate it when we"re out. If any of us aren"t out within 12 hours you will be assumed KIA and the place will be blown up. " HengkyGun put up his hand. " Then who"s the diversionary team? " " I left that as a surprise. Ryusei, on screen. " Ryusei switched on the screen and two very familiar faces popped up. DKB smiled... Everyone recognised the two guys who came up on screen " Morning P1r4t8r, hey Pyst. How are the preparations going? " " Everything"s OK. We"ve given everyone their weapons, now we"re just waiting for the package. " " It"ll be there tomorrow, until then keep training. " the screen went blank. Everyone stared surprised. " What you just saw was the Philantropy reserve team. 2000 members all with combat experience. " Everyone looked surprised except Hengky. He looked furious to say the least. " Why didn"t you tell us? " He exploded. " Cause it was classified. Now cool down before I put you in a corner " Aya broke in: " What did he mean by the package? " " That"s the other surprise. Hey, old man you can come out now. " An old

After the hospital visit (Mom was staying one more night to get her energy back and to keep an eye on Speed), Rex had begged Pops to get a baby monitor for his room. Pops had been a little perplexed by the request, but ultimately caved in and bought his son a baby monitor. He installed it that day, and the second monitor was placed in Rex"s room. The ten-year-old was ecstatic to have the little walkie-talkie in his room, now reassured that the baby would be safe. He wouldn"t have to wait long for it to be put to use. It was the dead of night, and everyone was sleeping, until Speed"s cries came over the monitor. While Pops and Mom took a bit more time to wake up (they had gone through this sort of thing before, obviously), Rex was out the door. The moment he heard his brother"s cries, he had jumped out of bed and threw his door open without a second thought. He ran into Speed"s room and over to the bassinet, finding the babe crying. Carefully, Rex picked up the baby and held him in his arms, finding it a little difficult. He maneuvered the infant around so that it would be easier to hold him. The infant hadn"t stopped crying. "It"s okay Speed," Rex said comfortingly, patting the baby"s back. "It"s okay. Big brother Rex is here for you." The baby didn"t stop crying. He continued to wail loudly, scaring the ten-year-old. He tried rocking the babe, always gentle with his motions because he knew how small the child was, but the baby continued to cry. Rex felt like crying, but he kept his emotions in check and instead tried to figure out what was wrong with his baby brother. Had he suffered a nightmare? Could babies even have nightmares? Was he scared? Did he somehow get hurt without Rex noticing? He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a throat being cleared. He turned and looked over at the source, and found his mother smiling knowingly at him. Involuntarily, he clutched little Speed closer to him. "He won"t stop crying," Rex informed his mother. "Of course he won"t," she replied, stepping into the room and walking over to her sons. "He"s hungry." "He"s hungry?" Rex asked, handing Speed over when his mother held out her hands. "Yes," Mom replied, walking over to the chair that had been placed in the room and taking a seat on it. "Infants are very hungry children. You used to wake up at odd hours of the night for food." "What does he eat?" "He can"t eat anything yet. He has no teeth," his mother answered, picking up a blanket that was nearby and throwing it over her shoulder. She moved a little underneath the blanket, but Rex couldn"t tell what she was doing. "He drinks milk." Rex frowned a little. Although he was still confused on what his mother meant, he understood one thing: he was not capable of providing for the infant. That thought alone made Rex"s frown deepen further. How was he supposed to be a good big brother if he couldn"t provide or comfort his little brother? Mom moved the blanket away from her body and laid a now sleeping Speed in his basinet. She turned her attention to her eldest son, a little surprised to see the contemplative look upon his face. Thinking he was upset about Rex"s crying, she walked over and ruffled his hair. "Don"t worry," Mom said comfortingly. "You"ll get used to the crying." Rex blinked up at his mother, coming out of his thoughts. He looked at his mother in confusion for a few seconds before looking at his sleeping brother. A look of determination appeared on his face, surprising his mother. Don"t worry Speed, I"ll learn everything there is to taking care of an infant, so I can take care of you, Rex vowed in his head. I"ll take care of you. I"m so sorry that it"s been almost four months since I"ve updated this story. School got rough between January and May, and I had also begun another story that took up my time. With school finished and done with, I"m hoping to get back into this. Please enjoy the chapter! Everyone was prone to nightmares; children typically more than adults. When an adult experienced a nightmare, it was usually brought on by a fear. Typically, after experiencing the nightmare, the adult would rationalize with them self that everything would be fine and they would go back to sleep. When a child experienced a nightmare, it was usually brought on by their imagination. Children had hyperactive imaginations that made simple household items turn into sharp-teethed monsters. Typically, after experiencing the nightmare, the child would scream bloody murder and rush to their parents for safety. Speed Racer was no exception. Mom Racer was awoken from her sleep by the cry of her four-year-old son, Speed. She didn"t wake up in a panic since a crying son was not new to her. She was well prepared for this day. Having experienced nightmares with Rex Racer, Mom waited for her young child to come to her. The Racer men had a certain pride that they were all born with, and a mother rushing to her son"s room after said son suffered a nightmare was considered damage to their pride. She quickly learned to just let the child come to her for safety and reassurance. So, while her husband slept next to her, Mom Racer waited for her young boy to come to their room to see the comfort of his parents. This would be Speed"s first nightmare. She heard her young son"s door open, followed by the pitter-patter that belong to the child. She waited patiently for his to open their door and to rush in with fear in his eyes, but her door didn"t open. The room had fallen silent, confusing her. Wasn"t her son headed for the room? Worried that he might have hurt himself (how that was possible wasn"t something she would know offhand, but her son always found trouble so it wasn"t impossible), she got out of bed and moved out of her and her husband"s room, beginning her investigation. The hallway was empty, and so she made her way for his room, but stopped when she passed by Rex"s room and heard murmuring from inside. Rex always slept with his door open; he didn"t like his door to be closed while he slept. Because of this, she was able to peek her head inside and found a very surprising but also heartwarming sight. Sitting on Rex"s twin-sized bed were her two sons. Speed had tears in his eyes, and he was babbling at a mile a minute about the nightmare he had just experienced. Rex was sitting and watching his distressed brother with a reassuring smile, listening patiently and letting Speed vent out his nightmare. His nightmare was nothing new to her in terms of originality; Speed had experienced a monster chasing after him that was very big and very scary. When Speed finished retelling the experience, his older brother wrapped him in a hug and reassured him that he was safe and sound. "The monster can"t get you now, and it won"t ever get you," Rex reassured his little brother, patting his back in an attempt to calm him. "It"ll have to get through me first if it wants to get to you." "Can you really fight off the monster?" Speed asked with awe. Rex grinned widely and ruffled the boy"s hair. "I"m your big brother," he stated. "No monster in the world can beat me when it comes to protecting my little brother." Speed grinned up at his big brother, his fears regarding the nightmare gone away with Rex"s reassurance. "Can I stay here tonight?" the boy asked, and his answer was a nod. The two brothers crawled under the covers, getting themselves settled in the small bed. Mom Racer stepped away from the door and leaned against the wall, smiling to herself. Walking back to her waiting bed, she couldn"t help but reflect that she had two of the best boys a mother could ask for. I"m so sorry! I know it must have looked like I went missing in action there, for a bit. I swear, I didn"t give up on this story. I was hoping to have more time to write my stories in June and July, but things got busy. Don"t worry though; I promise to finish this story, no matter how long it takes me to do so. Days like these were rare. Time was short, for the older Racer boy. He was a prodigy on the race track and found that whatever time he wasn"t spending in school was spent honing his skills on the race track. It was tiring work, but he worked diligently without complaint. He did, however, note how little time he spent with his little brother. They spent time in the garage working on the race car with Pops, and Speed went to every one of Rex"s races, but they didn"t actually spend time together like they used to. So, in an effort to make his brother feel better, Rex took a day off from working on the car and pulled Speed outside to play a few games. Pops was, at first, against his son taking a "day off," but a firm talking to from Mom set the man straight. She had seen the occasional disappointed looks from Speed anytime his brother had to blow off them playing out in the yard, and it tore her heart. She knew Rex didn"t mean to hurt his brother (he"d never do it intentionally, and he even looked upset anytime he had to turn down the requests), but that didn"t stop the look of sadness in Speed"s eyes every time it happened. She may be a Racer, but she was a mother first; her sons" comforts came first for her. Speed had been enthralled when Rex appeared at his bedroom door on a Saturday morning and told him they"d be spending the day together, playing games. To an outsider, some would find it strange that a teenager with a future in racing would spend his time playing with his kid brother. Thankfully, Rex and Speed never needed anyone"s approval and didn"t care what people thought of them. So, that was how Rex found himself in the backyard, attempting to stop Speed from kicking the soccer ball into their makeshift goal. Soccer was an activity the two enjoyed since they were younger. It helped them stay active and have great foot coordination. It also helped with quick decision making for the two of them. Speed pulled back his foot and gave the checkered ball a good kick. Rex jumped for the ball, but he didn"t put a lot of effort into it. He was taller and bigger, and so he knew that he could be his brother time and time again in these games. However, beating his brother wasn"t his goal. He wanted to enjoy his time with his little brother and connect with him. So, from time to time, Rex would put effort into the games and beat his little brother; other times, he"d let Speed win. This was the case for the latter. The ball made it into the goal, and Speed won their game five to four (they always played to five points). "I won! I won!" Speed cheered, hopping around and pumping his fists in the air. Rex grinned at his little brother and picked up the child, throwing him in the air a couple of times before catching him again. Speed just squealed in delight each time he was thrown into the air. "Congrats little bro. You"re getting better at this," he congratulated. "I had to really work hard this game." "Hehehe," Speed chuckled, wrapping his arms around his big brother"s neck. "Next time, I"ll beat you so bad! I won"t even let you score a goal!" Rex smirked at the challenge. "Is that so?" he teased. Speed grinned back, completely confident in his skills as a player. Rex probably would have offered another round, just to see if Speed could do what he said he"d do, but they were interrupted by their mother, who called for them from the sliding door. "Boys! Lunch is ready!" Mom called. "Coming!" Speed and Rex shouted in return, walking over to him. "Race yah to the table!" Speed challenged, grinning cheekily at his big brother. Rex"s smirk widened and he placed his little brother down. "You"re on," Rex said. Speed"s grin widened before he took off running, not bothering to count off. Rex watched his brother run off, his smirk turning into a smile. He really did value the times he got to spend with his little brother. He wanted to spend more time, but he knew he had other responsibilities to handle, which made him treasure the moments he did get to spend with his brother even more. After counting to five, Rex followed after him. We"re reaching the end of this series, and it"s going to get a little angsty, especially the next chapter. Please enjoy! Ever since Speed had been born, Rex had vowed to watch over and protect the young boy. When he had seen the child for the first time, Speed had been a small thing, so weak and helpless. But time flew by, and soon, Speed was a fearless, hyperactive child. The young boy"s mind was on nothing but racing; such was the lifestyle of the Racer lineage. It was so bad that the kid would make car noises in his sleep. What made Rex admire the child was how upbeat he was. Rex was aware that he had no friends in class and that he was having difficulties in school. Their mother was constantly going to the school to have a conversation with the principal about Speed"s inability to focus in class. Despite these setbacks, Speed had a skip in his step and was always in the garage, looking over the parts and helping out their father whenever he got the chance. Rex would teach Speed everything he knew about not only racing, but about the car he was driving. To Rex, the car was a living, breathing machine, and it deserved to be respected and understood. The older Racer wanted his little brother to understand the concept at his young age. If everyone considered Rex to be talented in racing, then Rex considered Speed to be a prodigy. The kid had a knack for racing; a raw talent that simply needed to be honed. Rex wanted to help Speed train that talent and make him the best racer in history. Hopefully, he"d get that chance. Lately, the racing business was getting to him. Back when he had been a rookie, very few companies paid him mind. It was only when he proved himself a formidable racer that people were starting to notice him. Some companies had approached him with the intent to start a contract, but Rex refused everytime. He was a driver for Racer Motors and he"d always be a driver for Racer Motors. The companies had accepted his rejections with understanding, and life had continued on. But lately, there was one person that continued to hound after him. Beneli had been attempting to get a contract with him for almost a year now, and the man refused to accept no as an answer. Races were getting more dangerous thanks to the drivers from the Unicron Team, but Rex always managed to get out of it injury free and on top. He never said a thing to any of his family; though he had an idea his father was catching on. The way Pops would look at one of the Unicron Team drivers after the race was one of scrutiny, like he knew something was up but couldn"t figure out what. Rex wanted to keep his family in the dark; he refused to let them get hurt. Which was why he was so worried about Speed. Speed was wide-eyed and innocent. He had a romantic version of what racing was, and Rex wanted to protect him from the horrors of what racing had become. If Speed ever found out about how racing was no longer honorable and like what he had envisioned, he"d be crushed. His whole life was racing; Rex had made a promise to protect Speed no matter what, and that included protecting his dreams. He would help his brother become the greatest driver in history, and he would not let Beneli and people like him corrupt his little brother. Because Speed deserved nothing less. This takes place during the movie. The day had finally come. In the back of his mind, he always knew this day would come, though he didn"t believe it would come so soon; or maybe, he wished it hadn"t come so soon. He was leaving. Rex Racer was officially leaving the Racer Motors team, and the Racer home. Rex always knew that one day it would happen, at least when it came to the latter. He would eventually leave the home once he was old enough to sustain a life of his own. He had been prepared for the day when he would leave on his terms, but today was not that day. Today was the exact opposite. Rex was being forced to leave not because of his parents, but because of Beneli. The man had gone too far earlier that day, and Rex was now forced to leave his home and family behind. He had been able to tolerate Beneli"s scares and threats when they had been directed at himself. No one in the family knew about any of it (though he had a sneaky suspicion that Pops knew), and that"s how Rex wanted to keep it. However, Beneli decided to target the one family member who could get Rex to do just about anything: Speed. The boy had returned home with a guest, giving Pops a package and describing one of Beneli"s shady men. Rex had freaked and gone into action immediately upon hearing the news, and no more than a few seconds later, a giant fireball was in the street. Beneli had crossed the line, and it was no longer about Rex. Beneli was targeting his family and would continue to do so until Rex gave in. For the sake of his family, he did. They struck a deal. Rex would race for Beneli and his Unicron team, so long as Beneli stayed away from his family. He wouldn"t harm his family members, he wouldn"t mess with their business, and if Pops ended up with a new driver before Speed could take over the family business, Beneli was never to do anything underhanded to that driver. Beneli agreed almost instantly; he knew full well he could control Rex so long as he never touched the family. Beneli had no interest in Racer Motors outside of Rex anyways. With the deal done, all Rex had to do was pack. Beneli would put him up in an apartment close to his company"s facility, and would provide him with his own racing car. So, all there was to do was pack his clothing and wait for one of Beneli"s men to retrieve him. It was storming outside, which was funny since it had been bright and sunny earlier in the day. It seemed the weather was matching his emotions. Rex hadn"t consulted his parents about leaving; he probably should, but they"d try and talk him out of it. They wouldn"t understand that this was the only route he could take to keep all of them safe. It wasn"t a great choice, but it was his only one. He was almost complete with his packing when Speed stepped inside his room. The boy looked smaller than he normally was, quietly asking to come along with Rex. Rex"s heart broke because this would be the last time he saw his brother. He was leaving his brother; the one thing he had promised he"d never do. Rex finished packing and pulled Speed into a hug, hoping that Speed wouldn"t come to hate him. He was breaking his promise to stay by Speed"s side by leaving, and it was killing him inside. He was Speed"s older brother; it was his job to protect and guide the boy into an upstanding young man. How could he do that now? He was going to do terrible things that would ruin his name, and everyone he ever knew would turn away from him. He would no longer be the role model he set himself to be when Speed had been an infant. The realization of his failure killed the man inside, and when he left his room, he felt cold and numb to the world. Rex hardly acknowledged his father in the living room. He should have known the older man would be waiting for him; leaving the Racer household wasn"t going to be an easy task. Heated words were exchanged, but they did nothing to Rex that he hadn"t already done to himself. He was already on the path to Hell, and there was no turning back. With a firm shut of the house"s door, Rex Racer was gone... forever. We"ve come to the end, everyone. Thank you for reading. It was many years later, when Racer X thought about Speed. The Racer family had always been on his mind, at the very back of it. It was them that had pushed him to shed his skin as Rex Racer, and become the most feared man in the racing industry, Racer X. On late nights, when he was alone with himself and his memories, he would think back to his time with his family, and he would long for them. He did, however, stay away from them. He couldn"t return to them; not as Rex, and not as Racer X. Encountering them would bring unwanted attention onto them, and they may be hurt as a way to cripple Racer X. For their sake, he stayed away. He keeps updated on them, though, and so he sees Speed"s crowning moment, when he wins the race at their local race track. His younger brother had almost beaten his race time, but he had been a couple seconds off. Still, despite not beating the score, he had shown off how amazingly talented he was. And that terrified him. Racer X had always known Speed would be an amazing driver; he had known this since Speed was in diapers. It was in Speed"s blood, and he had the natural talent to be the best with very little effort. Seeing that talent broadcasted worldwide is what terrified Racer X the most, because Speed was inadvertently following in his big brother"s footsteps. Soon, wealthy and corrupt men would be after Speed, and when they don"t get what they want, they will come after the Racer family; just like they did with him. He was worried for his brother"s sake, because Speed was oblivious to the evils that occupied his sport. Seeing his brother"s happy face in Victory Lane resolved everything for Racer X once more. No matter what he did, no matter what it would take, he would protect his brother from the corrupted men that ruled the sport. Everyone had better get out of his way.

Monroe sat in the shade on the dock; eyeing the Reaper as Death provided missions for the soldiers (Monroe liked to call them fighters because thinking of teenagers as soldiers was too much to stomach, even for a dog). He barely recognized the Candy Pirates that were standing around, waiting for some sort of adventure that Monroe doubted would come. His focus was on Grim, who seemed to hate Monroe almost immediately. Monroe could respect that; he was a dog, and dog"s naturally chewed on bones, which was what Grim was made of. Knowing Grim hated him didn"t make the temptation to run off with a bony foot any less strong. Some afternoons, when he wasn"t giving magical lessons to wide-eyed magic users, he"d plan out how he"d be able to grab a foot and run. The robe Death wore was rather long, and hid his body parts well. Maybe he should have just gone with June to Nowhere like she had offered. Another dog was there, from what she wrote to him, and the two could get along well. Anything was better than sitting next to walking talking bones. Although this wasn"t exactly a contest entry, I was challenged to make it, so this is where I am placing it. This story is set in the CN Social RP universe, which takes place 5 years after the invasion seen in the game. Holden belongs to Zerowing21 Selena belongs to Blueyedemoness Random waiter is a red shirt, so don"t worry about him. Holden wasn"t exactly sure how he was forced into the Southern Italian (1), dining with Demongo and Mandy. Really, he needed a play-by-play to figure out how he came to that point. He had been sitting in the Utonium living room, watching some news special on Dexlab"s new energy project, when there was a knock at the door. No one else was present - Professor Utonium and Blossom had gone to check out the unveiling of the project, Bubbles was volunteering at the animal shelter with DeeDee and Kuki, and Buttercup was lifting weights with Ben and Rex - so Holden answered the door. Selena was on the other side, and beside her was her boyfriend Demongo (2). In Holden"s opinion, they were the strangest couple he had ever come across, but he wasn"t one to state his opinion outright. Selena asked him if she could leave Demongo with him for the day since she and her uncle were doing something family related. Selena and Holden weren"t friends; they were more like acquaintances, but Holden decided to help her out and agreed. No more than an hour after being given the job of babysitting - and Holden began to wonder if Demongo was screwed up when he had been created because there were a few screw loses in the flame-head"s mind - Mandy had appeared. Mandy and Holden only knew each other through school, and nothing more. They got along as well as one could with the cold-hearted woman, but they weren"t best friends. Plus, she was dating a Rowdyruff (3), specifically the one who"s attempted to kill Holden time and time again. Mandy and Demongo knew each other, which was both surprising and unsurprising. Mandy had been forced by Billy to go to dinner that night, but the idiot backed out at the last minute, and told her his good friend Demongo would go in his place (4). Demongo argued that he couldn"t leave Holden because that was what Selena ordered of him, and so, that"s how Holden ended up sitting at their circular table, looking at the pasta menu. Demongo had his upside down, and no matter how many times Holden tried to correct the demon on it, Demongo would ignore it and continue to hum a song from a popular web series (5). "Hurry up idiots," Mandy told them in a bored tone. "The waiter"s on his way." "I"ve got my order," Holden responded to the blond. "Demongo?" "Hmmm...Demo has chosen his meal," Demongo responded, slamming down his menu. Mandy scoffed around her glass of water. Holden bit back a response and waitied patiently for the waiter, who looked more than a little nervous. The boy had every right to be; he was about to serve for a demon, a man who was dating a Powerpuff as well as having powers of his own, and a woman who could kill him with a look, as well as dating a Rowdyruff. Holden took a chug of his water after five minutes of the demon arguing with the waiter about what he could and couldn"t have. He hailed down a passing waiter and asked for another glass of water this was going to be a long dinner. (1) The Southern Italian is a restaurant we made in the RP. (2) In the RP, Demongo is dating the half-demoness princess Selena. Her uncle is Kilroy Green. (3) In the RP, Mandy is dating Butch. (4) The story behind this is that Demongo took over Grim"s job for a week, so him and Billy became friends. (5) "Red Like Roses" from RWBY. So this isn"t really an entry for a contest, but it was a bit of a challenge for me, so I"m placing it with the other entries. Please enjoy. There wasn"t really any other way to describe it; he was trapped. Not from a villain, or even grounded in his room from his parents, or stuck in detention from his teachers. He was trapped by his image. When he was revealed to the public, he had been apprehensive. Would people willingly accept a teenager with aliens? They surprisingly did, but it came at a price. He was now constantly being watched. For the first couple weeks, he enjoyed the attention he was deprived as a ten year old when he was saving the Earth on a weekly basis. It felt good to be recognized for all the good he was doing. However, after a month, it was getting old and repetitive. The reporters were constantly on his tail, fans were sending him letters, some of them cute, some of them down right creepy, and even his teachers were treating him differently. They weren"t treating him like he was Ben; they were treating him like he was some superhero. The idea was a major ego boost for the teenager, but it was also disturbing to know that he wasn"t being treated as himself; he was being treated as the image of him. FusionMod RP has started up another character contest for 2014, this time in drabble form, so we"re allowed to write something between 100 and 150 words. My first one is Heather Orion, an OC for the RP. It wasn"t a secret that Heather Orion was a Nanophobic, especially since she requested her concert goers to not release their Nanos while she played. So it came to a surprise to passer-byers at Sunken Mall when they saw Heather screaming in anger, not fear, at a poor Nano. "You little monster!" she shouted, grasping a Nano Mandark around its tiny neck. "How dare you touch it! How dare you break it!" Laying behind her was a broken keyboard; not just any keyboard. This keyboard was Heather"s most prized possession; the only thing that could possibly make her get over her fear and instead turn her homicidal towards the thing. It was a stray Nano from Dexlabs that had accidentally found its way to the mall and knocked down Heather"s keyboard, which she had been using for an impromptu concert. Needless to say, the Nano was as good as dead. Another one completed for the 2014 Drabble Contest. This one is for Rolf. He uses a line that was used in Red vs Blue by Sarge, but it was changed a little to match Rolf. The Fusion Monsters that littered Peach Creek Commons had made the awful mistake of getting too close to Rolf"s house. They were attempting to break into his cages and steal the farm animals inside, and Rolf wasn"t about to let them get away with it. With a large bass fish as his weapon, he stood off against the Fusions that dared to mess with the Son of a Shepard"s farm with Victor assisting in fighting them off. "Haha!" Rolf cried in victory after he beat a Fusion Monster into Fusion Matter. "You have just been Rolf"d, foul creatures!" The Fusion Monsters had made a grave mistake in messing with Rolf"s house, and the Son of a Shepard was all too happy to make them realize it. Nova Dragonborn is owned by Nove Dragonwreckage. Nova laughed to himself as he watched the training dummy burst into flames. The dummy hadn"t stood a chance. "Are you so weak you fight dummies, and not actual people?" Nova whirled around to face the owner of the voice. Leaning against the doorway was Amber, who"s arms were crossed. She wasn"t a very emotional person, but he could clearly see the disapproval on her face. Sneering at the older EVO, he turned away from her. "I"m way stronger than you give me credit for. Heck, I"m better at my fire powers than you"ll ever be," Nova responded arrogantly. "Oh really?" Amber challenges as she moves away from the doorway. "Let"s see how good you are then. You and me." Nova scoffed and nodded. "Let"s have it out then," he said. "Not afraid to hit a teen though?" The twenty-year-old scoffed. "Age doesn"t bother me. Now let"s go." "Fine by me!" Nova said as he ran at her. As he ran at her, he formed a sword made of complete fire and swung it at her. Amber sighed and raised her hand. As the tip was nearing her, ready to strike her in the shoulder, the tip bended. Nova stared at it in surprise. "What the-" "You still have a lot to learn," Amber sighed as she flung the sword from her. Nova found himself flying with his sword. He quickly got rid of the weapon before he could be flung into the wall and landed on the ground on one knee. Looking up, he found a fire ball heading towards him. He quickly rolled away from the hit. He looked up and found her walking towards him, though not in a hurry. It was like a leisurely-stroll through the park. Angry that she wasn"t taking him seriously, he allowed his body to be consumed by fire and he shot himself at her. Before she could recognize what he was doing, he had already gripped her arms, transferring his fire to her. Amber sighed and grabbed his neck, throwing him off her. Nova rolled on his back and looked up at her in shock. There were no burns on her body; nothing. "What...How!? That should have affected you!" Nova shouted. "You still have a lot to learn," Amber said. "You never use your strongest powers first; that"s a rookie mistake." "No way! You"re cheating!" Nova accused. "You"re an idiot," Amber responded. "You took on an enemy that you had no clue on. You had no idea my attacks, my strengths, my weaknesses. Do you even know my powers?" "Fire," Nova responded. "You"re a fire EVO like me. We should have been matched!" "Like I said, you"re an idiot," Amber responded. "I"m a fire EVO, which means I can"t be harmed by your attacks. In fact, I can manipulate your fire to my will if I feel so inclined." "That"s not fair!" "It"s part of my skills," Amber defended. "Now stop acting like such a child." "I saved an entire kingdom!" Nova shouted. "And I care why? So you saved a kingdom? It had nothing to do with skill; probably luck," Amber reasoned. Nova huffed and looked away. Amber shook her head. She turned and walked for the door. "If you want to learn, you can come find me," Amber responded. "But as long as you"re here reside here in Providence, I don"t want to hear crap from you on how you"re the strongest fire EVO." Nova didn"t respond, letting her leave him in the training room. One of my shortest drabbles ever. Cheese didn"t like to be contained for too long; he enjoyed the freedom, and so he ran away from the Home. It was why Hero"s Hollow was the ideal place for the child-like Friend; it was open and free and full of great toys. He didn"t mind that there were explosions happening; he liked fireworks. Green things were trying to capture him, but Cheese managed to avoid their grasps, running around like a maniac while screaming at the top of his lungs. The toys watched him run before they were hit by the green thing"s goo. Cheese continued to run and cry before a toy grabbed him and moved him away from the gooey things, taking him to a place where they trapped him. The cell didn"t hold Cheese long, and when he emerged, the green things and the toys were gone, or the green things were broken. Cheese walked until he found a nice place to rest, near fire, and sat down, feeling the heat from the flame. "Chocolate milk," Cheese says to nobody. An entry from the first Random Character contest I participated in. His name is Bobo Haha, and he hates sewers. When Rex had brought him along for another "disappear from Providence" act, Bobo had assumed they"d go somewhere far. He did not expect to be stuck in the sewer located under Townsville Park. It had happened so fast, that Bobo wasn"t exactly sure how it had happened in the first place. One minute they were escaping Providence, the next, Bobo was wandering around the sewer, lost, and battling against the Fusion Monsters that inhabited the place. Rex had gone one way while he went another, ending up with Bobo cornered. The upside was that he was away from the Monsters that undoubtingly wanted him dead. The downside was that his communicator no longer worked, meaning he couldn"t call for back-up. He hadn"t seen Rex in what felt like hours and was unsure if the teen EVO was going to come find him or if he had already left the sewer. On top of that, his "babies" had lost ammunition, leaving him defenseless. For a while, Bobo thought this was all a trick set up by Rex and Noah, but threw the though away; Noah was the prankster king, he wouldn"t resort to something so low and less imaginative as this. That only left the option that Rex was hiding in the sewers away from Six. Yes, the agent was a bit overbearing, but it was to make sure the teen didn"t do something stupid (and Bobo was going to forever categorize hiding in the sewers as a stupid thing to do). And if Rex thought he was going to win this little game with Six, he was sorely mistaken; Six always wins. Just as Bobo was deciding to take a nap, he heard a pair of footsteps heading his way. He quickly stood up and pulled out his guns; even if they were empty, he could probably scare the thing with them, right? As he readied himself to make a run for it, he was stopped when he saw a 13-year-old male teen staring at him with a raised eyebrow. In his hand was a weapon specially designed by Dexlabs for the fight with Fuse. "You"re Bobo?" the teen questioned. "Yeah? What of it?" Bobo questioned back. The teen shrugged. "I was expecting someone less grouchy looking," the teen remarked offhandedly. Bobo narrowed his eyes at the teen. Spend an hour in the sewers with no defense and then we"ll see if you"re not grouchy, he thought bitterly in the teen"s direction. "Well c"mon. Gotta take you back to the surface," the teen said, waving the hand with the gun. "It"s about time," Bobo stated, wanting to get the last word in as he followed the teen. Another of the contest entries for the first contest. This one is for Count Spankulot. Warning: This contains some attacks on Twilight. I do not care for the book (and before you give me crap, I did read the first book and part of the second, so I have read it). If you do like the book, please do not come on here and attack me for making fun of it (well... I won"t really be making fun of it). You have been warned. Count Spankulot was a fan of anything to do with vampires, which wasn"t very surprising. He had old copies of books like The Vampyre and Dracula. So when he heard about a book called Twilight, he became interested and bought the book to read. He hadn"t gotten the chance to read it, however, because his job had him out spanking young children. Nearly a year after the book came out, he was able to sit down and read the book, feeling anxious and excited to read another vampire book. He was not a happy camper throughout the book. "What is this girl whining about?" Spankulot questioned midway. "If she were any younger I would have spanked her! "And what is with this Edward person? We vampires do not sparkle!" Spankulot said with a dignified sniff. "And we are most certainly not at war with wolves! We"re they"re masters!" By time he reached the end of the book, he was ready to throw it in the fire. Considering he spent nearly 15 dollars on the blasted thing, he simply threw the book to the side. "Obviously this Stephene Meyers has not done any of her research," Spankulot said, pouting slightly. "John William Polidori must be turning in his grave." He slumped in his chair, feeling dejected that the new generation believed vampires to be nothing but good-looking people that everyone wanted to fall in love with (while this was true in the original books, the newer generation"s version made the vampires less feared and more desired). He settled on flipping the TV on, hoping to find a decent channel to make him forget what he had just seen. Unfortunately, his channel turned on to Channel 5, the CW. Currently playing was a vampire show that looked like another teenage fantasy come true. He released a frustrating cry and sent the book flying into the TV, destroying the device. He got up from his chair and dragged himself to bed, muttering that it"d be best if he stayed away from the TV and kept to his books. Another of the contest entries from the first contest. This one is for Wilt. (I love Wilt!) Wilt was an imaginary friend. That was a pretty simple statement. He was the kindest creature anyone could meet, as well as the most polite. He had headed down to the Cul-de-Sac to offer better help in the war and to balance out Eddy"s selfish motives. He missed his friends immensely, but his needs were put in the backseat of the need to assist in the war. He counted himself extremely lucky to meet new friends in the war. He enjoyed spending time with the fighters and sent them on missions, often apologizing because he believed they were too dangerous (none of the fighters said that they were dangerous and all made it back in one piece). He was very surprised when word came out that there was a Fusion copy of himself, who was being very unkind and impolite. This did not bode well with Wilt, and with an apology to the occupants of the Cul-de-Sac, he left for the Pokey Oaks Jr. High School, determined to stop Fusion Wilt. There was only a problem, he had realized when he made it into the Fusion"s lair; he forgot to bring a weapon with him. He hadn"t thought about it on his trip to the lair and only thought about it when he entered. There was not much he could do, so he continued on. The underground lair was empty of the Fusion alien monsters so Wilt was able to snoop around the lair, looking for his counterpart. Using his height to his ability, he was looking over a stalagmite formation when he felt a cool piece of metal against the back of his neck. He gulped and slowly turned. Standing behind him was his Fusion counterpart, glaring at him with one mechanical eye and the other natural. Wilt slowly stood up while the Fusion watched his every movement and both came to a standstill. Wilt went over everything he could do to survive the situation and come out the victor. As if sensing what was about to happen, Wilt ducked just as Fusion Wilt shot at his real counterpart. Wilt, acting on instinct to survive, quickly swept Fusion Wilt"s feet off the ground. Fusion Wilt hit the ground heavily, causing his cannon arm-piece to fall off. Wilt, surprised because he thought the thing was more connected to the Fusion, grabbed the item and aimed it at Fusion Wilt. The Fusion growled in anger. "I"m sorry about this, but you"re just too mean and dangerous," Wilt said. The Fusion released a feral snarl that was drowned out, moments later, but his cry of pain as he was shot repeatedly by the Imaginary Friend. Fusion Wilt turned into Fusion Matter, swirled in the air, and formed into Nano Wilt, surprising Wilt. "Whoa," the Nano said in awe at seeing Wilt. "You"re tall. You should play basketball." Another entry for the second Random Character Contest. This is short and sweet. Adam sat in his living room, watching the news. Ever since the war started, the KNN had been running the news segments since all the other networks were down. He spent most of his days like this, sitting in front of the tv screen or heading to the zoo to spend time with his friends. Middle school was cancelled. At first it was great, but there wasn"t much left to do during wartime. Signing up wasn"t an option. Adam was only a year under the sign ups, though he found it unfair that ten-year-olds that were part of the KND could. Of course that was the argument; they were part of the KND, so they were trained for combat, whereas Adam was raised in a suburban home with no combat training to speak of. This left the twelve-year-old to spend his time inside watching from the news, learning info from the internet, or just hanging out with his friends. The latter was getting more and more dangerous with the onslaught of newer and more powerful Fusion Monsters appearing. It had gotten so bad to the point that his parents forbade him from leaving. This really isn"t fair, he thought to himself as he listened to the heroics of the day. I"m just a few months off. Can"t they just let it slide this once? He turned off the TV, unable to listen to it more, and headed up to his room where he immediately got on the computer. With no school and his video games all tired out, he had taken the time to study the war so that he could be of better use to the effort. He had been contact with someone known as "mandarknotsusanrulez96", who had been accepting his suggestions and forwarding them to a "less intelligent mind that had enough time on his hands to listen to advice" (in the other internet user"s words). Every time Adam sent an email out, he felt giddy about how useful he was to the cause.

(4) The story behind this is that Demongo took over Grim"s job for a week, so him and Billy became friends. (5) "Red Like Roses" from RWBY. So this isn"t really an entry for a contest, but it was a bit of a challenge for me, so I"m placing it with the other entries. Please enjoy. There wasn"t really any other way to describe it; he was trapped. Not from a villain, or even grounded in his room from his parents, or stuck in detention from his teachers. He was trapped by his image. When he was revealed to the public, he had been apprehensive. Would people willingly accept a teenager with aliens? They surprisingly did, but it came at a price. He was now constantly being watched. For the first couple weeks, he enjoyed the attention he was deprived as a ten year old when he was saving the Earth on a weekly basis. It felt good to be recognized for all the good he was doing. However, after a month, it was getting old and repetitive. The reporters were constantly on his tail, fans were sending him letters, some of them cute, some of them down right creepy, and even his teachers were treating him differently. They weren"t treating him like he was Ben; they were treating him like he was some superhero. The idea was a major ego boost for the teenager, but it was also disturbing to know that he wasn"t being treated as himself; he was being treated as the image of him. FusionMod RP has started up another character contest for 2014, this time in drabble form, so we"re allowed to write something between 100 and 150 words. My first one is Heather Orion, an OC for the RP. It wasn"t a secret that Heather Orion was a Nanophobic, especially since she requested her concert goers to not release their Nanos while she played. So it came to a surprise to passer-byers at Sunken Mall when they saw Heather screaming in anger, not fear, at a poor Nano. "You little monster!" she shouted, grasping a Nano Mandark around its tiny neck. "How dare you touch it! How dare you break it!" Laying behind her was a broken keyboard; not just any keyboard. This keyboard was Heather"s most prized possession; the only thing that could possibly make her get over her fear and instead turn her homicidal towards the thing. It was a stray Nano from Dexlabs that had accidentally found its way to the mall and knocked down Heather"s keyboard, which she had been using for an impromptu concert. Needless to say, the Nano was as good as dead. Another one completed for the 2014 Drabble Contest. This one is for Rolf. He uses a line that was used in Red vs Blue by Sarge, but it was changed a little to match Rolf. The Fusion Monsters that littered Peach Creek Commons had made the awful mistake of getting too close to Rolf"s house. They were attempting to break into his cages and steal the farm animals inside, and Rolf wasn"t about to let them get away with it. With a large bass fish as his weapon, he stood off against the Fusions that dared to mess with the Son of a Shepard"s farm with Victor assisting in fighting them off. "Haha!" Rolf cried in victory after he beat a Fusion Monster into Fusion Matter. "You have just been Rolf"d, foul creatures!" The Fusion Monsters had made a grave mistake in messing with Rolf"s house, and the Son of a Shepard was all too happy to make them realize it. Nova Dragonborn is owned by Nove Dragonwreckage. Nova laughed to himself as he watched the training dummy burst into flames. The dummy hadn"t stood a chance. "Are you so weak you fight dummies, and not actual people?" Nova whirled around to face the owner of the voice. Leaning against the doorway was Amber, who"s arms were crossed. She wasn"t a very emotional person, but he could clearly see the disapproval on her face. Sneering at the older EVO, he turned away from her. "I"m way stronger than you give me credit for. Heck, I"m better at my fire powers than you"ll ever be," Nova responded arrogantly. "Oh really?" Amber challenges as she moves away from the doorway. "Let"s see how good you are then. You and me." Nova scoffed and nodded. "Let"s have it out then," he said. "Not afraid to hit a teen though?" The twenty-year-old scoffed. "Age doesn"t bother me. Now let"s go." "Fine by me!" Nova said as he ran at her. As he ran at her, he formed a sword made of complete fire and swung it at her. Amber sighed and raised her hand. As the tip was nearing her, ready to strike her in the shoulder, the tip bended. Nova stared at it in surprise. "What the-" "You still have a lot to learn," Amber sighed as she flung the sword from her. Nova found himself flying with his sword. He quickly got rid of the weapon before he could be flung into the wall and landed on the ground on one knee. Looking up, he found a fire ball heading towards him. He quickly rolled away from the hit. He looked up and found her walking towards him, though not in a hurry. It was like a leisurely-stroll through the park. Angry that she wasn"t taking him seriously, he allowed his body to be consumed by fire and he shot himself at her. Before she could recognize what he was doing, he had already gripped her arms, transferring his fire to her. Amber sighed and grabbed his neck, throwing him off her. Nova rolled on his back and looked up at her in shock. There were no burns on her body; nothing. "What...How!? That should have affected you!" Nova shouted. "You still have a lot to learn," Amber said. "You never use your strongest powers first; that"s a rookie mistake." "No way! You"re cheating!" Nova accused. "You"re an idiot," Amber responded. "You took on an enemy that you had no clue on. You had no idea my attacks, my strengths, my weaknesses. Do you even know my powers?" "Fire," Nova responded. "You"re a fire EVO like me. We should have been matched!" "Like I said, you"re an idiot," Amber responded. "I"m a fire EVO, which means I can"t be harmed by your attacks. In fact, I can manipulate your fire to my will if I feel so inclined." "That"s not fair!" "It"s part of my skills," Amber defended. "Now stop acting like such a child." "I saved an entire kingdom!" Nova shouted. "And I care why? So you saved a kingdom? It had nothing to do with skill; probably luck," Amber reasoned. Nova huffed and looked away. Amber shook her head. She turned and walked for the door. "If you want to learn, you can come find me," Amber responded. "But as long as you"re here reside here in Providence, I don"t want to hear crap from you on how you"re the strongest fire EVO." Nova didn"t respond, letting her leave him in the training room. One of my shortest drabbles ever. Cheese didn"t like to be contained for too long; he enjoyed the freedom, and so he ran away from the Home. It was why Hero"s Hollow was the ideal place for the child-like Friend; it was open and free and full of great toys. He didn"t mind that there were explosions happening; he liked fireworks. Green things were trying to capture him, but Cheese managed to avoid their grasps, running around like a maniac while screaming at the top of his lungs. The toys watched him run before they were hit by the green thing"s goo. Cheese continued to run and cry before a toy grabbed him and moved him away from the gooey things, taking him to a place where they trapped him. The cell didn"t hold Cheese long, and when he emerged, the green things and the toys were gone, or the green things were broken. Cheese walked until he found a nice place to rest, near fire, and sat down, feeling the heat from the flame. "Chocolate milk," Cheese says to nobody. An entry from the first Random Character contest I participated in. His name is Bobo Haha, and he hates sewers. When Rex had brought him along for another "disappear from Providence" act, Bobo had assumed they"d go somewhere far. He did not expect to be stuck in the sewer located under Townsville Park. It had happened so fast, that Bobo wasn"t exactly sure how it had happened in the first place. One minute they were escaping Providence, the next, Bobo was wandering around the sewer, lost, and battling against the Fusion Monsters that inhabited the place. Rex had gone one way while he went another, ending up with Bobo cornered. The upside was that he was away from the Monsters that undoubtingly wanted him dead. The downside was that his communicator no longer worked, meaning he couldn"t call for back-up. He hadn"t seen Rex in what felt like hours and was unsure if the teen EVO was going to come find him or if he had already left the sewer. On top of that, his "babies" had lost ammunition, leaving him defenseless. For a while, Bobo thought this was all a trick set up by Rex and Noah, but threw the though away; Noah was the prankster king, he wouldn"t resort to something so low and less imaginative as this. That only left the option that Rex was hiding in the sewers away from Six. Yes, the agent was a bit overbearing, but it was to make sure the teen didn"t do something stupid (and Bobo was going to forever categorize hiding in the sewers as a stupid thing to do). And if Rex thought he was going to win this little game with Six, he was sorely mistaken; Six always wins. Just as Bobo was deciding to take a nap, he heard a pair of footsteps heading his way. He quickly stood up and pulled out his guns; even if they were empty, he could probably scare the thing with them, right? As he readied himself to make a run for it, he was stopped when he saw a 13-year-old male teen staring at him with a raised eyebrow. In his hand was a weapon specially designed by Dexlabs for the fight with Fuse. "You"re Bobo?" the teen questioned. "Yeah? What of it?" Bobo questioned back. The teen shrugged. "I was expecting someone less grouchy looking," the teen remarked offhandedly. Bobo narrowed his eyes at the teen. Spend an hour in the sewers with no defense and then we"ll see if you"re not grouchy, he thought bitterly in the teen"s direction. "Well c"mon. Gotta take you back to the surface," the teen said, waving the hand with the gun. "It"s about time," Bobo stated, wanting to get the last word in as he followed the teen. Another of the contest entries for the first contest. This one is for Count Spankulot. Warning: This contains some attacks on Twilight. I do not care for the book (and before you give me crap, I did read the first book and part of the second, so I have read it). If you do like the book, please do not come on here and attack me for making fun of it (well... I won"t really be making fun of it). You have been warned. Count Spankulot was a fan of anything to do with vampires, which wasn"t very surprising. He had old copies of books like The Vampyre and Dracula. So when he heard about a book called Twilight, he became interested and bought the book to read. He hadn"t gotten the chance to read it, however, because his job had him out spanking young children. Nearly a year after the book came out, he was able to sit down and read the book, feeling anxious and excited to read another vampire book. He was not a happy camper throughout the book. "What is this girl whining about?" Spankulot questioned midway. "If she were any younger I would have spanked her! "And what is with this Edward person? We vampires do not sparkle!" Spankulot said with a dignified sniff. "And we are most certainly not at war with wolves! We"re they"re masters!" By time he reached the end of the book, he was ready to throw it in the fire. Considering he spent nearly 15 dollars on the blasted thing, he simply threw the book to the side. "Obviously this Stephene Meyers has not done any of her research," Spankulot said, pouting slightly. "John William Polidori must be turning in his grave." He slumped in his chair, feeling dejected that the new generation believed vampires to be nothing but good-looking people that everyone wanted to fall in love with (while this was true in the original books, the newer generation"s version made the vampires less feared and more desired). He settled on flipping the TV on, hoping to find a decent channel to make him forget what he had just seen. Unfortunately, his channel turned on to Channel 5, the CW. Currently playing was a vampire show that looked like another teenage fantasy come true. He released a frustrating cry and sent the book flying into the TV, destroying the device. He got up from his chair and dragged himself to bed, muttering that it"d be best if he stayed away from the TV and kept to his books. Another of the contest entries from the first contest. This one is for Wilt. (I love Wilt!) Wilt was an imaginary friend. That was a pretty simple statement. He was the kindest creature anyone could meet, as well as the most polite. He had headed down to the Cul-de-Sac to offer better help in the war and to balance out Eddy"s selfish motives. He missed his friends immensely, but his needs were put in the backseat of the need to assist in the war. He counted himself extremely lucky to meet new friends in the war. He enjoyed spending time with the fighters and sent them on missions, often apologizing because he believed they were too dangerous (none of the fighters said that they were dangerous and all made it back in one piece). He was very surprised when word came out that there was a Fusion copy of himself, who was being very unkind and impolite. This did not bode well with Wilt, and with an apology to the occupants of the Cul-de-Sac, he left for the Pokey Oaks Jr. High School, determined to stop Fusion Wilt. There was only a problem, he had realized when he made it into the Fusion"s lair; he forgot to bring a weapon with him. He hadn"t thought about it on his trip to the lair and only thought about it when he entered. There was not much he could do, so he continued on. The underground lair was empty of the Fusion alien monsters so Wilt was able to snoop around the lair, looking for his counterpart. Using his height to his ability, he was looking over a stalagmite formation when he felt a cool piece of metal against the back of his neck. He gulped and slowly turned. Standing behind him was his Fusion counterpart, glaring at him with one mechanical eye and the other natural. Wilt slowly stood up while the Fusion watched his every movement and both came to a standstill. Wilt went over everything he could do to survive the situation and come out the victor. As if sensing what was about to happen, Wilt ducked just as Fusion Wilt shot at his real counterpart. Wilt, acting on instinct to survive, quickly swept Fusion Wilt"s feet off the ground. Fusion Wilt hit the ground heavily, causing his cannon arm-piece to fall off. Wilt, surprised because he thought the thing was more connected to the Fusion, grabbed the item and aimed it at Fusion Wilt. The Fusion growled in anger. "I"m sorry about this, but you"re just too mean and dangerous," Wilt said. The Fusion released a feral snarl that was drowned out, moments later, but his cry of pain as he was shot repeatedly by the Imaginary Friend. Fusion Wilt turned into Fusion Matter, swirled in the air, and formed into Nano Wilt, surprising Wilt. "Whoa," the Nano said in awe at seeing Wilt. "You"re tall. You should play basketball." Another entry for the second Random Character Contest. This is short and sweet. Adam sat in his living room, watching the news. Ever since the war started, the KNN had been running the news segments since all the other networks were down. He spent most of his days like this, sitting in front of the tv screen or heading to the zoo to spend time with his friends. Middle school was cancelled. At first it was great, but there wasn"t much left to do during wartime. Signing up wasn"t an option. Adam was only a year under the sign ups, though he found it unfair that ten-year-olds that were part of the KND could. Of course that was the argument; they were part of the KND, so they were trained for combat, whereas Adam was raised in a suburban home with no combat training to speak of. This left the twelve-year-old to spend his time inside watching from the news, learning info from the internet, or just hanging out with his friends. The latter was getting more and more dangerous with the onslaught of newer and more powerful Fusion Monsters appearing. It had gotten so bad to the point that his parents forbade him from leaving. This really isn"t fair, he thought to himself as he listened to the heroics of the day. I"m just a few months off. Can"t they just let it slide this once? He turned off the TV, unable to listen to it more, and headed up to his room where he immediately got on the computer. With no school and his video games all tired out, he had taken the time to study the war so that he could be of better use to the effort. He had been contact with someone known as "mandarknotsusanrulez96", who had been accepting his suggestions and forwarding them to a "less intelligent mind that had enough time on his hands to listen to advice" (in the other internet user"s words). Every time Adam sent an email out, he felt giddy about how useful he was to the cause. Vicariously, he was fighting the evil Fuse. Another entry for the second Random Character Contest. I had Octus, which was tricky for me since I"ve never seen Sym-Bionic Titan. I did my best though. Like the last one, this is short and sweet. Octus sat before the mini-pond of Fusion Matter that acted as a small barrier to keep all sorts of creatures away from the mecha known as Megas. It was dangerous for Octus to be this close to Fusion Matter, especially given its quantity within the Infected Zone. Fusion Matter was especially dangerous to those of the metallic type, as evident by the future technology standing before the alien intelligence. However, Octus was willing to take the risk, if only to see Megas. When Fuse attacked, all the electrical equipment across the world went buggy. Octus was affected, and sent into a stasis for three months, before he was healed on Mt. Neverest, a safe haven away from Fusion Matter. He stayed at the last place of the academy for another three months, allowing himself to recover. There were still damages to his mainframe, but he was well enough to provide his assistance to the war. While on Mt. Neverest, the alien A.I. had heard news about the mecha known as Megas. The "leaders" (now referred to as guides by some of the fighters) of the war had gathered to talk about how to progress in the war. It was brought to their attention that Megas, perhaps the only weapon in the entire war that could give Fuse a run for his money, was out of use, covered by so much Fusion Matter that Coop, the driver of the machine, couldn"t even open the door to get in. Plans had been made to break him out of his prison, but by the next week, Dexter had thrown up a containment field around the area Megas was trapped in, practically leaving Megas to rot. Perhaps it was because Octus felt a sort of kinship to Megas that it caused a sort of obsession within the A.I. to help free Megas. The war was already reaching its anniversary date, and Earth was hardly making a dent. With Megas" help, Octus theorized, the war would be won within no time. He didn"t bother others with his ideals; he didn"t want to bother people and pull them away from their positions. He didn"t even tell Lance and Ilana of his plans, though they had some idea of where he was running off to. Only Coop and a few fighters who took up missions from Coop knew of Octus" plans, and they were behind him 100%. As it was, Octus (and the combined forces of Coop and some fighters) had only gotten as far as opening the doors to the car that piloted Megas (seeing that design had been quite a shocker to Octus). He wasn"t determined to give up, however. The war was not lost, and Megas would help win it for them. So spending day after day, planning and scheming, was well worth it for the outcome. It was only logical. Another entry into the Random Character II contest. This is my actual last entry for it. Warning: Mentions of bullying. Pud"n released a pitiful whine as he hung on a tree branch by the rim of his underwear. Even with a war going on, he was still plagued with these acts of bullying. The culprits were easy to identify. They were done by the Bully Squad. The Squad consisted of: Terrence (the self-proclaimed leader), Mitch Mitchelson, Sperg, and Bull Sharkowski. The three humans had met at afterschool detention that they all shared. Almost instantly, they had made a connection. Since then, they began terrorizing the weaklings while fighting the war at the same time. They had met Bull on one of their run outs, and the shark demanded to be let into the group. After demonstrating his bullying abilities (on Pud"n, no less), he was accepted into the group. Pud"n was usually their target. In fact, Pud"n was usually tormented by this group on a daily basis. To them, he was the weakest, and therefore, it was easier to pick on him than others. Adam Lyon was another person who was usually bullied just as many times as him, though Pud"n still held the rank as top bullied. But Pud"n was bidding his time. These bullies would soon rue the day they messed with him. Soon, he"d be able to enact his revenge the Squad justly deserved... ...right after he got out of the tree.

"Oh please. You"ve been knocked off your feet by an enemy just as many times as we have," Tributon piped in, scoffing at Lydendor. "You"re practically like pipsqueak over there." "Guys, come on," Bravenwolf tried again. "That"s it," the green Knight said in frustration. "I quit." "Me too," the yellow Knight stated. "What?!" the leader gasped in shock. "Ya know, that sounds like a great idea. I quit this stupid thing too," the blue Knight added. "It"s not like you haven"t already tried to quit before," the yellow Knight snarked. "Maybe this time you"ll actually mean it." "Wait, guys. We can"t just disband like this," Bravenwolf said, frantic at the way his friends were acting. "Actually, we can, cause we just did!" Tributon shot to his friend, the first time since the beginning of the battle that Bravenwolf was acknowledged. Bravenwolf watched in despair as the three other Knights walked away. Mr. White watched the portal brighten and then dimmed, bringing the boys back from Quarton. He hadn"t been watching their battle, and so he had no clue about the decision they came to on the other planet, though he could tell by the tensed atmosphere around the boys. That and how Chooki, Toxsa, and Ceylan looked angry while Guren looked worried. "C"mon guys, you didn"t really mean what you said back there," Guren spoke up. "This is all just a misunderstanding. We"ve had them before. We"ll work through this, and then we"ll be good as new." "You don"t listen very well, do you Guren?" Ceylan demanded harshly. "He is a goody-two-shoes," Toxsa commented snidely. Guren flinched from the personal attacks, but pushed away the hurt that they - his friends - would say such things to him and focused once more. "I"m serious guys," Guren argued. "And so are we," Chooki responded. "We quit. End of story. No more Tenkai Knights. Quarton can fight their own battles from now on, because I"m out of here." "Me too. I"m done busting my hide for those guys," Toxsa commented, heading for the door like Chooki was. "I gotta life to live," Ceylan added as he made his way towards the door. "If you were smart Guren, you"d do the same." "Guys!" Guren called, but his three friends - ex friends? - continued out the door, slamming it shut behind them. Guren"s shoulders fell when he heard the slam, hurt immediately taking place on his face. Mr. White stared at the door in alarm, before looking back at the boy. He looked so crushed and defeated, that it panged the older man to see him so sad. "I"m guessing what happened on Quarton wasn"t something good," Mr. White commented to the boy. "The Tenkai Knights just split," Guren answered, sounding so sad and hurt. "I"m sure whatever has gotten to them will be gone with by tomorrow," Mr. White, trying to be optimistic about the situation, said. He walked over to the boy and patted him on the shoulder. "You boys have just been doing the same thing over and over again, and so they were probably letting off some steam." Guren"s eyes brightened with hope. "You really think so Mr. White?" Guren asked. Mr. White smiled in reassurance and nodded. "I"m sure it will. Why don"t you go home now and rest up," Mr. White suggested. "You"ve had quite the intense day, and winding down is the best thing to do." "Yeah, you"re right," Guren agreed. "Thanks Mr. White. Hopefully everything will be better in the morning." The young leader of the (disbanded) Tenkai Knights walked for the exit, giving the aging man a final farewell as he exited the basement. The smile that had been on Mr. White"s face fell after the door had closed, and in its place was a worried frown. "This isn"t good," he commented to himself out loud. "If the boys don"t reunite tomorrow, the universe may be in trouble; not just Quarton. I hope they can overcome what has overtaken them quickly, or I fear we will not be alive for much longer." Chapter Two is here now. I"m hoping my fight scene isn"t lame, but I"ll let you all be the judge of that. Also, the boys may seem out of character for this chapter, but I promise it"ll be explained next chapter. Still working on Mr. White"s riddles/sayings, but I feel I"m making a breakthrough by giving him a riddle/saying for the chapter. Guren arrived at the school early the next day, hopeful for his friends to be better and make up. He hadn"t talked to them yesterday because he wanted them to have some space and time to think about what had happened and to come to the decision on their own without him pushing them towards it. He was anxious though, and was practically bouncing out of his seat waiting for Ceylan to show up. When the blue-haired teen made it in, Guren smiled at him. "Hey Ceylan," Guren greeted. The teen just made a noise in his throat and flopped into his seat, crossing his arms. Guren felt the corner of his lips tip downward a little, but he kept up the smile and tried again. "How are you today?" he asked. Ceylan ignored the other boy, keeping his eyes focused on the front, waiting for class to begin. Guren felt his entire body deflate at receiving the cold shoulder from his best friend. He turned his own attention to his desk. He kept silent, not able to focus as the teacher walked into the classroom. Maybe things won"t turn out for the better, he thought sadly. Guren had felt too depressed to focus on the lesson in class. He had been hopeful that everything would be under the bridge and they could move on being friends, but Ceylan"s behavior only proved that things were still heavy. Guren was pulled out of his depressing thoughts by the sound of the bell ringing, indicating that class was over. Ceylan was up and out of his seat without another word, leaving the room without Guren. Guren closed his eyes with a sigh and slowly got his things ready. "Trouble, Guren?" Gen asked from behind the boy, surprising him. Guren looked up, finding Gen staring at him with his typical aloofness. Guren placed on a fake smile, trying to not let his personal sadness be revealed. "Oh, hey Gen," Guren greeted kindly. "No, I"m okay. I just spaced out a little." "Really now? It sure seemed like you and Jones had some tension between you," Gen responded, his voice indicating he didn"t believe a word Guren said. Guren felt a shiver run through his body, wondering why he was getting defensive. The way Gen was able to see through the lie spooked Guren. Shouldering his backpack, Guren made his smile wider. "Nah, he just had a bad morning," Guren lied. "I"m sure he"ll be fine later today." "If you say so," Gen responded, his voice still indicating that he knew Guren was lying. He turned and exited the classroom, leaving Guren behind. The teenager sighed to himself and made his way out of the classroom, dreading the rest of the day if the other two boys were just going to be like Ceylan. School was over, and as Guren exited the school, he saw his other three friends walking out of the school as well. Mustering up some courage and forcing on another smile, he jogged up to them. "Hey guys! Want to come to my place to do homework?" Guren asked. He knew it wasn"t the best thing to ask, but he needed something. The three boys stopped. They looked over their shoulder at him, and then looked at each other. A glare appeared on their face, and they began to walk away. "I"m busy with track," Chooksi responded. "Wakamei"s making me help her in the diner," Toxsa answered. "My dad wants me to help out around the house," Ceylan replied. Guren watched them walk away, feeling his smile falter before he looked down at his pocket and noticed it glowing. He quickly pulled out his core brick, and held it up. "Hey guys, we"re being summoned!" Guren called after his retreating three friends. "We"re not knights anymore, remember!?" the three shouted back, continuing their walk. "But guys!" Guren began to protest, but the three continued to leave, heading off in their own direction. Guren clenched his fists in a sign of aggravation and shouted, "Fine! Then I"ll just go myself." "Hello Guren," Mr. White greeted when he saw the young leader jog into his shop. "What can I do for you?" "Quarton"s calling," Guren responded, heading for the basement. Mr. White followed, noting a lack of three bodies. "What of the other boys? Are they on their way?" the elderly man asked. "Off doing other things," Guren replied. "And no, they"re not." "You"re going by yourself?" Mr. White asked in obvious concern. "Quarton needs me," Guren responded simply as they entered the basement. "It"s dangerous to go it alone though," Mr. White protested. "A single wall cannot hold up a house." "Mr. White, I"ll try and figure out your riddle later, but right now, I need to get to Quarton. The guys may not want to help the planet out, but I"m still in this," Guren replied to the elderly man, a fire of determination burning in his eyes. Mr. White held in his next comment, reluctantly nodding in agreement. He didn"t like sending Guren off alone, but Quarton was still in need. The elderly man released a defeated sigh and nodded his consent. "Very well, but be extremely cautious," Mr. White advised, expressing his worry with his tone of voice. Guren smiled in reassurance and he nodded, making his way to the portal. "I will Mr. White, don"t worry," he responded, stepping onto the portal. Mr. White watched grimly as the young boy entered the portal, leaving for Quarton as Bravenwolf. In the pit of the elderly man"s stomach, he felt dread build up and hoped that it wasn"t a premonition but simply a feeling produced by anxiety. "Greetings Bravenwolf sir!" Beag greeted when the white-and-red Tenkai Knight came into view. "You came just in time sir. May I inquire where the rest of the Knights are?" "Oh, they"re uhm...busy with other things right now," Bravenwolf lied, wishing he had thought of a better one before arriving. "Anyways, what"s the damage?" "Dromus and Venetta attacked one of our mining groups," Beag informed. "Our men as still under seige by the two and the Corrupted, but they"re holding their own!" "Okay, I"ll deal with Dromus and Venetta," Bravenwolf responded. "Time to Titan up!" Bravenwolf turned into his Titan form, and then flew off with Beag and the Corekai following after. This would be the first time he would face the enemy alone without his friends backing him up, but Beag and the other Corekai would be there for him, and he already knew how deep their devotion to the Knights were, so there was no way Beag and his men would leave Bravenwolf to die. With the thoughts in mind, Bravenwolf sped faster for the mine, hearing the laser-firing before he saw it. When he came further into view of the battlefield, he spotted Dromus and Venetta on the other side. Time to draw their attention away, the Knight thought to himself as he drew his sword. Dromus spotted Bravenwolf heading for them, bypassing the Corekai soldiers and rushing straight towards them. Dromus rose his own sword up, watching from the corner of his optics as Venetta readied her own weapons. She was already informed of the situation concerning the Knights, and she was more thrilled then he to be battling the lone Knight. Their plan was simple: kill Bravenwolf. The other three were no longer taking part in the war effort, so there was no need to worry about them; Bravenwolf, on the other hand, was quite dangerous since he was a stubborn fellow who would die trying, which was the ideal outcome for the two agents of Vilius. "Ready?" Dromus asked his companion. "Do you even need to ask?" Venetta questioned, her voice expressing her excitment. "Let"s go and meet him already." "You"re certainly impatient," Dromus commented, going into Titan mode. "And you"re slow," Venetta responded, rushing off to meet Bravenwolf. Dromus followed after her, watching as Bravenwolf veered off, taking the three away from the battlefield. That was fine with Dromus; they could kill Bravenwolf anywhere he wished. Venetta was quick on the lone Knight"s tail, shooting her energy webs at him in an effort to trap him. He had gotten smarter than the last time they fought and managed to dodge all her shots. That was fine with Venetta; she was in the mood to have some fun before striking at her prey. "I can do this all day, Tenkai Knight," Venetta commented aloud. "Funny, I was just about to say the same thing to you," the Knight responded back, turning around to face his opponents once he felt they were far enough away from the soldiers. "You"re not very bright," Dromus commented as he arrived. "It"s two on one." "Well then maybe you need to grab a few more guys to make this an even match," Bravenwolf responded cheekily. "Arrogance will be your downfall," Dromus commented, raising his sword and swinging it at the red-and-white Knight. Bravenwolf rose his sword in defense, letting the two blades clash. He pushed against Dromus" sword, but had to pull back when he saw Venetta attempting to impale him with her twin daggers. He managed to move away in time before she could do any damage, but he kept moving backwards when she chased after him; while he may be stronger, she was obviously faster. "Where are you running to?" the female bot questioned. "I"m not running anywhere," Bravenwolf replied. "I"m just avoiding your daggers." "Maybe you shouldn"t be so concerned with my daggers," Venetta responded cryptically. "What"s that supposed to-GAHHHHH!" Bravenwolf was caught off guard by the sword slashing him on his side, sending Bravenwolf to the ground. "You seemed to have forgotten me," Dromus mocked, kicking Bravenwolf in the side before he could get up. "That was your second mistake." "And what can I ask was my first?" Bravenwolf questioned, rolling out of the way before Dromus could land another blow. "Coming to Quarton alone," Dromus responded, raising his sword and bringing it down. Bravenwolf used his sword to help him to his feet, and used the shield to block against Dromus" attack once more. He was fighting hard to keep Dromus" blade from hitting him, but wasn"t prepared for the stab in his side that came from Venetta"s dagger. He pulled the dagger out of his side and went to slash at Venetta, but the female bot had already jumped backwards before he could strike her, and Dromus used the distraction to knock Bravenwolf back to the ground with the hilt of his sword. Bravenwolf readied his sword to help him up, but Dromus stepped on the Knight"s arm, applying pressure and stopping him from doing so. Gaaahh, Bravenwolf thought, feeling pain shoot through his right arm. This isn"t good. They"re beating me up pretty good. "You should have just left Quarton to suffer," Dromus mocked the Knight, applying even more pressure to the arm below his foot. "Trying to play the hero only gets you killed." "Who"s playing?" Bravenwolf questioned, swiping his shield at Dromus" legs and forcing the other bot off of him. He then used his jets to get him off the ground and placed some distnace between them. He held his injured arm, willing it to work. It wasn"t broken, thankfully, but it still hurt. Thankfully, the adrenaline was getting to him, and the pain was slowly ebbing. The grey bot stumbled back from the momentum, but he regained his composure just as Venetta appeared at his side, drawing her daggars for another hit. "I"ve had enough toying around with you. Time to end this once and for all," Dromus stated as he prepared his Dark Energy Cannon. Bravenwolf rose his shield and readied himself to defend against the energy attack, but was caught off guard by three purple energy webs wrapping around him, forcing his arms to his sides. "What the-" he was cut off by the energy blast hitting him at full blast. "AHHHHHHHHH!" When the energy blast dissipated, Bravenwolf fell to the ground, feeling absolute pain from the blast he had just been dealt with. He was too weak to move, not even bothering to roll away when Dromus placed the blade of his energy sword up to Bravenwolf"s neck. "It was fun, Bravenwolf. But you"re in my way," Dromus said readying the weapon for attack. Before Dromus could slice off Bravenwolf"s head, several energy shots came at him, forcing him to back off and use his shield in defense. Looking over the edge of the shield, he watched as the Corekai army ran towards the three of them, firing off their weapons in an attempt to protect Bravenwolf from further damage. "Hm," Dromus said, stepping away from the fallen Knight. "Today"s your lucky day. You"ve managed to survive death...for now. Venetta, let"s go." "Right," Venetta replied, following after her partner swiftly. "That"s right you cowards!" Beag shouted, before kneeling beside the fallen leader. "Bravenwolf sir, can you stand?" "Just...Just give me a moment," Bravenwolf responded, breathing heavily as the pain racked his body. "I just...need a moment." "Of course sir," the Corekai leader said in understanding. "I am very glad you survived Dromus" powerful blast." "You and me both," Bravenwolf commented lightly. Mr. White"s not going to be happy, Bravenwolf thought to himself grimly. Mr. White had been watching Guren"s fight after the teenager left for Quarton, so he was at the portal, waiting for Guren to arrive, nerves frazzled at nearly watching the young boy die at Dromus" hands. When the light faded from the portal, signaling the boy"s return, Mr. White quickly grabbed his shoulders, keeping him balanced. Guren flinched, not from the pain, but from seeing the look in Mr. White"s eyes. He already expected a lecture from the elderly man. Instead of getting yelled at immediately, Mr. White guided him over to a chair by the flat screen, sitting him down carefully. Guren accepted the seat, happy to be off his feet, and gripped his upper arm. The adrenaline from before had kept most of the pain away, but now it was back, aching along with the rest of his body. He looked up at Mr. White, who looked to be both upset and very concerned. "I told you to be careful," the man began, his voice firm. "I know," Guren responded, lowering his head a little in submission. "You could have been killed. Had Beag and his men not fought off the Corrupted sooner, they never would have gotten to you in time," Mr. White continued. "I know, and I"ve already expressed my gratitude to Beag for getting there in time," Guren replied. Mr. White looked over the boy, trying to find any physical damage aside from the arm, but it was mostly bruises and a weakened state that Guren was suffering from. The old man released a sigh, feeling his pent up nerves slowly drain away. Scolding Guren while the teen was already in pain would get neither of them anywhere. Guren made it out alive, thankfully, and that was all they could ask for. "I suggest you go home and rest, Guren," Mr. White advised. "You will need a lot of rest after what you went through." "Yeah," Guren agreed, smiling a little. "Luckily dad won"t be home until later tonight, so he shouldn"t question my appearance." "Will you be alright getting home?" Mr. White asked. "Yeah," Guren replied with a nod. "I should be fine. My house isn"t too far away." "Alright, but be careful and don"t over work yourself," Mr. White warned. "I promise," the teenager promised, getting out of the chair. Mr. White walked Guren out of the shop, keeping a sharp eye on him and making sure the boy wouldn"t suddenly collapse. He watched the young leader walk through the mall, still keeping a close eye on him until he was out of sight. Those boys need to figure out their differences quickly and become a team again, Mr. White thought, heading back into his shop. Guren almost died, and he is sure to get himself killed with his stubbornness. I can only hope that Quarton doesn"t need the Knights tomorrow. Wow this chapter is nearly double the others. I"m happy to have it done though; now that it"s out of my head, I can use the open space for other things like school...hopefully. Sounds like my fight last chapter wasn"t too bad, so let"s hope this chapter"s fight scene is good enough. Also, I don"t know why I beat up on Guren. I love him so much, but for some reason, I enjoy writing chapters that make the characters go through physical pain like this. If I hadn"t expressed it already, I want to thank you all for your support on the story! I"m really happy this story was enjoyable for you all! Here"s to our last and final chapter! Ceylan arrived at school rather late, hoping to avoid speaking with Guren. It wasn"t like the blue-haired teen hated Guren or something; he was actually feeling guilt for the past two days. He hadn"t meant to be so harsh to Guren; his harsh words had been mostly in the heat of the moment. Oh sure, he did mean that Guren was a goody-two shoes, but not in a mean way. Guren was too nice, far too nice for his own good. He was always finding the best in people, and trying to bring that out in others. When Ceylan entered the classroom, he was a little shocked to see that Guren"s seat was empty. Normally the other boy would be at school early, hence on why Ceylan opted to arrive later than usual. A quick feeling of dread filled Ceylan"s body as he wondered if something bad had happened on Quarton, but just as quickly, he shrugged off the feeling. Guren was a big boy and was pretty strong when he was Bravenwolf, so he was sure Guren was fine. The other teen was probably just at home taking the day off.

"Creed & Kevin? I think I"m going to be sick." Pam said holding on to her stomach and scrunching up her face a little in disgust. "Yep." Jim said nodding in agreement and tapping on her reception desk before heading back to his own. Dwight [to the camera]: My first choice?! Angela. No doubt about it. She"s sexy, smart, hardworking, strong willed. Plus she is the only woman in this office that doesn"t annoy me. Toby [to the camera]: I really don"t want to answer that. Jim [to the camera]: Of course it"s Pam. Always has been...always will be. Pam makes selling paper exciting. Dunder Mufflin has a way of sucking out your soul. [Laughs nervously] I don"t know, maybe I"ve been here too long... But I know if I wouldn"t have lasted all these years if it wasn"t for Pam. Stanley [to the camera]: I am not answering this! Can I get back to my Sudoku now? Pam [to the camera]: Does Roy count? I mean, he works in the warehouse downstairs after all. Oh, he doesn"t count. So it has to be within this office? I don"t know why you are asking me this then..when I am engaged to Roy. I mean, there"s no point me even answering when I can"t pick my own fiancée. Who else am I meant to pick? Cameraman: What about Jim?Jim... [laughs nervously] Jim is cute... But we are just friends. He is like a brother to me. I don"t think I"ve ever thought of him in any other way apart from that. Michael [to the camera]:That"s easy! [Laughs cheekily and in a funny voice of his] Pam-ell-a Miss Pamella Beesly! She is cute. I can see why Jim is obsessed with her. Cameraman: What about Jan? How do you know about Jan? Has Toby said something to you about this? Oh, he hasn"t...well I didn"t know that I could include Jan... You asked me who my first choice in the office was, so I thought Jan was not included. Hmmmmmm lalalalalalalalalalalalala ... I"m sticking with Pam... Jan can be my second choice. Toby [to the camera]: We really shouldn"t be answering questions like these... This kind of stuff could get us all in trouble with Corporate. Meredith [to the camera]: Michael. I find him insanely hot! He"s weird...VERY WEIRD, don"t get me wrong... But I still would go there. Apparently I stripped for him in his office one year... I don"t really remember doing that though. Oscar [to the camera]:Well, I"m gay but you already know that, so I can"t figure out why you are still asking me. I don"t find anyone at work attractive. I prefer to keep my love life separate to my work life anyway. So even if I did like someone, I would never act on it. I"d never date someone I work with...Not to mention that they are all straight. If I was however a straight man, I would probably choose Angela. Yes, she"s short-tempered and extremely moody at times but she is neat, clean, organised and presentable. Pretty much all the gay qualities that I love in men she possesses so yeah, I would pick her. Phyllis [to the camera]: I don"t have a first choice... I"m engaged. I like my fiance a lot... So I would say Bob Vance. Oh, I can"t pick him? I"m not really interested in anyone else then. The only people my age are Michael and Stanley. Stanley is married and Michael is immature. Creed is too old for me and really weird. Everyone else is younger, so if I can"t say Bob, I don"t have a pick. Angela [to the camera]: Dwight. [smiles slightly] Kelly [to the camera]: Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan [to the camera]: Pam. She"s beautiful and nice to talk to... Camera man: what about Kelly? Isn"t she your girlfriend? Obviously I like her too... I mean she drives me insane 99% of the time... Yes, she"s adorable and loveable... But she"s so clingy and she does not shut up- ever! Pam would be my first choice, if I wasn"t with Kelly. Who did Pam pick? Kelly [to the camera]: RYAN! RYAN! RYAN! RYAN! RYAN! RYAN! He"s so hot! He"s the love of my life! I can"t wait to marry him and have lots of babies! [asks the camera man] Did he pick me? Pam [to the camera]: Wow, Michael said me? I thought he would pick Jan... Oh, he said Jan as his second pick? Still weird... Jim [to the camera]: Am I surprised that everyone is picking Pam? No. I mean, look at her. She"s gorgeous...it"s kind of hard to go past her. Author"s Note: Short chapter, but I am not expecting too many people to read this. If you by chance like it and want me to continue...please review.I have a few more chapters that I can upload depending on the response I get. Paris xoox "Kevin, did you do these?" Angela Martin asked furiously, holding up a bunch of paperwork. "I don"t think so." He said lying quickly. "Why?" "Why?" she asked sarcastically. "Because they are all wrong, Kevin! That"s why. Did you even use a calculator?" "I think so. I mean, I don"t think they were mine Angela..." he said changing his story. "Maybe Oscar did them...it definitely wasn"t me." "Oscar wasn"t here yesterday and you"ve signed them Kevin Malone. Dammit, Kevin! Now I have to re-do all of these! Do you know how long that takes? And all because you"re too lazy to do things right the first time!" Kevin shook his head. "Do you want me to fix them up?" "And have the same mistakes happen again? I don"t think so. I"ll do them. Just use a calculator from now on. Mathematics clearly is not something you are good at! It seriously beats me how you are actually an accountant!" "Angela!" Oscar exclaimed, jumping into Kevin"s defensive and shaking his head at his colleague, to tell her that she was out of line. "What?" she snapped angrily. "He has set me back a day because he is dumb. Do you want to do it?" "I have to go to the bathroom." Kevin said standing up quickly and walking out of the room. "He is not dumb, Angela and now you"ve hurt his feelings. You should apologise to him." "For what? Saying the truth? Oscar, every day I have to fix up his mistakes! It"s not something that happens once off, it"s a constant thing! It"s annoying and I don"t have time to be proof-checking his work like he is still in grade school! He is not good at maths, fine, but he can use a calculator! It will give him the correct answers and it would solve all our problems! You must agree with me, right? I"m sure you fix up his mistakes as well." "I"m going to check on Kevin." Oscar said, walking away and ignoring her question. Angela sighed heavily. She was stressed and annoyed. There was only one thing that would make her feel better in this kind of situation. She got up from her desk, straightened her shirt and played with her hair quickly, before heading towards Dwight"s desk. "Warehouse." She whispered quietly as she passed and headed out of the office, without another word or glance at anyone else. "Okay, everybody gather round." Michael said when he stepped out of his office. "This is important." "Is it something from Corporate?" Phyllis asked quickly. "Because I think you should wait until everyone is back." "No, it"s not from Corporate, Phyllis." Michael said mocking her in the best imitation of her voice that he could do. "It"s a funny joke from Packer." Almost everyone in the office groaned loudly, and turned back to their work a little annoyed. "Hey," Michael said trying to get their attention. "Look, I"m your boss and this is something that I want to share with you. It will only take a minute and I figured you could use a break. Alright, so everybody focus here. Pamela that means you too." "The phone is ringing." She said, ready to pick it up. "Leave it. Let it go to voicemail." "It could be important." "Never mind it. Okay, so is ready everyone? How do you blow up an Indian?" "Excuse me?" Kelly Kapoor said defensively. "Shhh." Ryan, said cutting off his girlfriend. "How?" "You press their red button." Michael said pushing an index finger between his eyebrows, and laughing loudly. "WOAH, that"s racist man." Kelly said shaking her head disapprovingly. "And really offensive." "Michael, that"s not a good joke." Pam said shaking her head in agreement with Kelly. "Oh, yeah Pam? Well you say a better one. Besides, it"s not my joke...its Packer"s. So if you don"t like it, blame him." "Michael, this is the sort of stuff that can get you in trouble with Corporate." Toby said, grimacing a little. "You know what, Toby? You"re annoying and a kill joy. Nobody here likes you, so your opinion is irrelevant." "Workplace bullying can also get you in trouble." He mumbled quietly, but Michael did not hear that. "Oh, I get it..." Kevin said finally. "...because the red button on their face is like the bomb button!" "Kevin..." Oscar said shaking his head at his friend. "What? It"s funny. I like it." "Thank you, Kevin!" Michael said beaming. "It"s not funny to everyone and it hurt Kelly"s feelings." Oscar said, spelling it out for his friend. "It"s because you are Indian, Kelly. If you weren"t you would find it hilarious like the rest of us." Kevin said, before walking back to his seat. "Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam. Oh, hi Jan. Sorry, the phone is working....why did it go to voicemail twice when you called? Michael had us in a meeting...sure, I"ll put him through to you now." She said putting the phone on hold. "Michael, Jan line two. If she asks we were in a meeting and that"s why I couldn"t answer the phone. Oh and Michael, don"t tell her your joke." "Now that Dwight is gone, I wanted to fill you in on my next prank." Jim said leaning over the reception desk. "What is it?" Pam asked excitedly. "I was thinking last night how I need to up my pranks on him...you know because in the past, they have been kind of soft. So this envelope is going to be the best prank that I"ve played on him all year!" "What"s in the envelope?" "A fake note. Its instructions from the C.I.A" he said opening the fake letter and reading it out loud. "Dwight K Schrute, you have caught our attention and we require your special services. We are constantly watching you and we have eyes everywhere. We will be in contact shortly, to see how you can fulfil your duty of serving and protecting our country. Do not show this letter to anyone. Do not discuss the information that this envelope contains. This is a private and confidential matter and you have been chosen for a reason. We will be in touch. Destroy this note after you have read this" "Oh my goodness, this is going to be hilarious!" Pam squealed. "Do you think he will fall for it?" "I hope so." He said running a hand through his hair nervously. "I"ve spent so much time invested in this prank. But I need your help for this one." "Sure. What do you need me to do?" "When the time comes, I need you to text this burner phone from this one." He said holding up two phones. "I"ll email you what to say. I"ve got everything ready. " "I can do that." "Great, but first, I need you to write in our sign in book." "Why do you need it?" Pam asked, passing it over. "Dwight is not dumb. He will more than likely want to see you sent him the envelope and the burner phone. So I"m going to pretend that someone dropped it off for him. Here you go." He said passing back the book. "You"re so clever, Jim. You think of everything." "Preparation makes perfect, Miss Beesly." He said winking at her quickly. "Now, I"m going to plant the envelope before he comes back. I"ll see you for lunch at one?" Pam nodded in agreement and bit down on her bottom lip to contain her laughter. "Michael, this is serious! You need to be more careful what you say in the workplace." Jan said a little annoyed. "If David gets any wind of this, he will be beyond furious." "It was just a joke, Jan. Sue me." "I won"t, but Kelly Kapoor might." "Kelly"s my friend. She won"t sue me." "You can never be too sure. Race and religion are very sensitive topics and they should stay out of the workplace altogether. You need to develop a little discretion if you want to continue being a Dunder Mifflin Manager. I"d hate to see you lose your job because of something silly that you said that results in a lawsuit against you." "I am not going to lose my job, Jan relax! I don"t see why you are so mad with me anyways. It was Packer"s joke." "I know Packer is like your best friend, Michael and I am not saying this to hurt your feelings, but the guy is an idiot. I do not like him. He is a troublemaker. He was fired for a reason. Now, you have to be extremely careful what you repeat when it comes to anything he says. What"s funny to you, might be offensive to others and hold serious consequences. I am only saying this because I care about you and I don"t want to see you get hurt." "Look Jan, just because you are my girlfriend now doesn"t mean you can attack my best friend. Packer is not an idiot. I don"t know why you would put down someone you hardly know. It sounds like you are jealous." [Meredith to the camera]: Yeah, I found Michael"s joke hilarious. If you didn"t then you"re just a prude and you have no sense of humour. [Phyllis to the camera]: I thought it was very offensive and uncalled for. [Ryan to the camera]: I liked it. Kelly obviously hated it because she thought it was racist or something. I don"t get why she hasn"t shut up about it. She"s been doing my head in. [Oscar to the camera]: It was insensitive, offensive and racist. My heart felt for Kelly, having been on the opposite side of Michael"s racist remarks before. I know exactly how she must be feeling. I hope that she is ok. [Kevin to the camera]: Am I mad that Angela called me dumb? No. Because I know that I am not. So, I don"t use a calculator and I make mistakes...blah, blah... Big deal. Anybody can make a mistake...it"s not that hard. I bet she makes mistakes too... It"s not like I make them every day and she always have to fix up my work! [Cameraman: I asked you if you found Michael"s joke funny] YES! I thought it was by far, one of the funniest jokes that I have heard in a while... Todd Packer is so funny! I don"t see why everyone hated it though... "Dwight." Angela said pushing him away quickly. "I didn"t call you down here for sex. I need to talk to you." "But Monkey, the warehouse is only for sex...the staircase is where we go to talk." He said, trying to kiss her again. "Dwight...come on...I really need someone to talk to right now." She said trying her hardest to fight him off. "Well then, you should have used the staircase." "Dwight! I"m being serious!" she snapped angrily. "FINE!" he snapped back. "You could have told me that no sex was involved before I took off most my clothes." "I"m sorry. I did want to have sex at first, but I am so mad now, that I really just need a shoulder to lean on." "What"s wrong?" he asked pulling up his trousers. "It"s not about one of your cats, right? Because I"ve told you already cats are useless. You should just put them out of their misery and get a real pet like a cow or a bull...something that is actually useful." "Dwight!" "Okay, sorry. What"s wrong, Monkey?" "It"s about Kevin." "Kevin? You called me down here to talk about that idiot? " "Oscar is mad with me because I called him dumb and he got hurt." "But he is dumb." "I know." "Don"t worry Monkey, you did the right thing. It"s for the best." "Then why do I feel so bad? I mean, I don"t regret getting mad with him. Every day I have to re-do his accounts because he is too lazy to work things out properly or even use a calculator...but maybe calling him dumb was going too far. What do you think? Should I apologize?" Dwight scoffed loudly. "Should Germany apologize for invading countries and starting world war two? No. They were just doing what they thought was right and you did the same thing." Angela sighed heavily. "I think I have to apologize." "Whatever. Don"t listen to me then, but I don"t get why you would drag me down here, get me all excited for sex and then talk about the office idiot and not take my advice afterwards. This was a waste of time. In future, let"s keep to our previous arrangements...warehouse for sex and the staircase for chats..." "I think you"re right." She said running her hand along his arm delicately. "Since we are down here, what do you say about doing what we both came here for?" she said seductively. "YES! Finally!" Dwight said in reply, crushing his lips against hers. Every day that Toby Flenderson woke up, got dressed and headed to work was a struggle. He hated his job more than he hated his ex-wife. And yet five days a week without fail, he went to the only place where hell was on earth; because other than the Church, Dunder Mufflin was all he knew. Almost every day he dreaded how Michael was going to treat him that day; whether he was going to be singled out in meetings and made fun of, whether he was going to be yelled at again or have things thrown at his head for no reason at all. Toby dreaded work more than anything else in his life. Despite always trying so hard to connect to Michael in so many different ways- and he had tried everything in the book- nothing ever seemed to work. He had no idea when Michael"s hatred for him had started; the only thing he knew was it seemed to grow stronger with each passing day. Sometimes Toby wondered if leaving the Church was the biggest mistake he had made in his life... was this God"s way of punishing him? The worst thing about Michael"s constant ridicule and hurtful mistreatment of him was that he was the Human Resources representative. Toby knew that speaking to David Wallace, or Corporate would just reflect poorly on his own job and the way he handed conflict resolution within the office. So he always kept quiet. There were times that the prospect of losing his job whether by being fired from Corporate or by quitting seemed so enticing; but then Toby remembered his daughter. He needed this job in order to look good in front of the judges, in the hope that he next time he tried for soul custody of his daughter from his ex-wife, he may be granted it on the basis of being able to provide a steady income for himself and Sasha. This is what kept him motivated and employed at the worst job in all of Scranton. This is what gave him the strength to face Michael every day. Today, this was the thought he kept in mind as he knocked on Michael"s office door. "Come in." Michael chirped happily, as Toby turned the door knob. Okay, breathe Toby, he seems like he is in a good mood today. He thought as he walked in Michael"s office. "Oh it"s you!" Michael said as his face dropped "No, no go away vulture!" he said shaking his head in disgust. "Michael can I please have a word?" Toby asked civilly. "No. I"m busy, I don"t have time for you or your boring chats." Michael said, picking up a pile of paperwork and pretending to be busy. "Michael this is a very important issue that you need to be aware of." "Email me it, so I don"t have to see your face." Michael said mumbling, without looking up at Toby. "This is actually something that we should be speaking about one-on-one in person Michael. It"s very important and essential that we handle this before it blows up and corporate get any wind of it." "Is this about my relationship with Jan?" Michael whispered softly, lowering his paper, to finally look at him. "No. But-" "Good." He said quickly cutting him off midsentence. "Regarding your relationship with Jan though, Michael you need to-" "Hey pervert, its none of your business, okay?" "Michael, you will need to sign a relationship disclosure form now that you are dating Jan. You need to do this before Corporate finds out and gets you both into a lot of trouble. There are serious consequences to keeping something this big from them." "What are they going to do? Fire me? Oh Toby, please help me, I"m so scared!" Michael said sarcastically. "Actually, they can. Michael, this is a very serious matter. You and Jan both signed a document when you started working at Dunder Mifflin, stating that you would disclose any work-place relationships that you may start over the period of your employment here. Now, if they find out that you two are somehow dating without having signed the proper documentation, the can take out a lawsuit against you both." "I signed a document when I started? I don"t remember that." Michael mumbled quietly. "You better not be lying to me Flenderson, or else I swear to God that I will call my lawyer and sue you for everything you can think of... Annoyance. Deceit. Disturbing the peace." He said naming a few. "Michael, I can I find the form and show if you want. So you will believe me." "Fine, go and show me this document...if there is one." "Okay, before I go and get it, we still need to talk about the other issue-" "Don"t you think that you have bored me enough today, Toby?" Michael snapped quickly. "Go away now, we can talk later." He said shooing him away with his hands. "Michael, please-" "Do you want me to fire you, Flenderson?" Toby quickly counted to ten silently in his head and thought of Sasha. He would just have to talk to Michael later in the day. He couldn"t afford to be fired, not when he was doing this all for his daughter. "Fine, Michael. We will talk later." He said before exiting his office and closing the door behind him. "What is this?" Dwight asked when he sat back down and picked up the envelope on his desk. "I don"t know." Jim said lying quickly. "It looks like a letter, buddy." Dwight ripped open the envelope and read the letter quickly. He gasped loudly and flipped the note over quickly, before examining the envelope.

Author"s Note: I do not own the characters from The Mindy Project. If I did, Mindy and Danny would be making sweet, adorable babies right now. This is my first Danny x Mindy fic. I really hope you enjoy it. If you like it, please review. I love getting reviews! P.S. The Italics are Mindy"s internal thoughts. Paris xoxo "So that was pretty much the crappiest pizza that I"ve evertasted." Mindy said laughing hysterically and shaking her head in disgust. "Geez Danny, thanks so much for sharing!" "Hey, I told you so." He said nudging her gently. "You were warned." They were walking back towards Mindy"s apartment. It was 11:37pm on a Thursday night and as much as Mindy had wished that the long night would be over already; it was still very much Valentine"s Day. Valentine"s Day, Mindy thought sighing heavily, or FOREVER ALONE DAY as she liked to call it, was her least favourite day of the year! There was always something so depressing about stalking the Empire State Building foyer, searching through the crowd of hopeless romantics for a love that she knew would never be there waiting for her. Not to mention that this year, security had come down hard on her a couple of days before. Were they even allowed to interrogate her like that? That was a question she would save for her next lawyer... Oh Damn, she needed to get a new lawyer now that cheating Josh was out of the picture... "Do you think they"ve left?" Danny asked bringing her out of her thoughts. "Ugggghhh I hope so. There"s nothing worsethan a loved-up couple on Valentine"s Day." She grimaced, scrunching her face up in disgust. "Be careful Lahiri, you"re starting to sound as grumpy as me." "I"m always grumpy on Valentine"s Day." "You weren"t too grumpy, like four hours ago." "Four hours ago, I had a boyfriend...you know, Jaime? The hot Latin teacher that dumped me on Valentine"s Day, because he suddenly realised that he loved his best friend of fifteen years? Ugh." "The story sounds familiar. Don"t worry it gets better." Danny said patting her gently on her arm. "What the hell? You did NOT just pat me like a dog, Danny!" Mindy snapped, shaking her head in disbelief. "I got dumped on Valentine"s Day, big deal. Lucy might not have been your girlfriend, but she was your dateso technically, so did you. We are both losers tonight. Not just me. Losers who got dumped on Valentine"s Day." "I don"t think you"re a loser." Danny said quickly. "Neither of us are actually. She was too complicated for me anyways and he was a jerk, if you ask me. He had fifteen years to figure out his feelings and he never did it sooner. What a stupid jerk!" "It"s not his fault, it"s probably mine. Nothing like making a guy realise that he should be with someone else, right? Argh what"s wrong with me, Danny? Why do I always have the WORST track record with men? Tom left me for bagel girl, Josh made me the other woman and Jaime couldn"t even date me for a week without realising that I was not the one for him!" "None of those guys are right for you, Min." he said taking his hand into his and squeezing it gently. "Trust me, you deserve much better than all of them." "But I really liked him." Mindy said blinking back the tears. "He even took me to the Empire State Building and I thought "finally, it"s happening.' Then he realised that he loved Lucy and made me look like an idiot in front of a billion people in line. It was so traumatising and humiliating Danny, I seriously wanted to die!" "You really need to get over that sleepless in Manhattan movie-" "-Seattle!" Mindy said correcting him. "I know, I know. You"ve only made me watch it a billion times at work." He said dryly, rolling his eyes at her. "I"ll take you to the Empire State Building." "What?" she sang out loudly. " You, Danny Castellano will take me to the Empire State building? Yeah right." "If you want to go, we can go now." He said shrugging. "I don"t want to go to the Empire State Building with you! Ewww. No offense. Sure, I want to have my Meg Ryan moment; but I want it with someone who is crazy about me...not someone who feels sorry for me." Danny bit down hard on his tongue to stop him from saying something that he would regret. Usually he would fight it out with Mindy; he never gave up this easily, but there was something about tonight and the importance it seemed to hold in her life; that he didn"t want to be his usually jerky self. Not tonight. He would give her one jerk-free Danny Castellano night and tonight he was going to try to be as nice as possible, despite how much it went against everything he believed in. "I don"t feel sorry for you." he said through clenched teeth. "You"re acting weird." She said looking at him funny. "Jesus Mindy! Usually I"m the "handsome jerk" and when I try to be nice... I"m weird?" he asked groaning loudly and throwing his hands up in the air. He could never win with her. "Wait a minute! Who told you that you were the "handsome jerk"?" Mindy asked quickly, her eyes widening in embarrassment. "Gwen. Why?" he asked shrugging casually. "What? When?" she blurted out in shock. "She told me in the cab, when I was taking her to the hospital...when you were minding her daughter...when she broke her arm on the cheap bunk bed you brought." Danny said trying to re-trigger something in her memory. "It wasn"t cheap. It was from Ikea. I spent a lot of money on that thing until you broke it." "For the hundredth time...Morgan put some of it together and I never tested the strength in its foundation-" "-Sure blame Morgan again for your mistake!" Mindy said loudly, cutting Danny off. "Can I just say," a blonde lady walking two poodles said cutting off their fight. "if my husband and I fought like this, we would still be married. Happy Valentine"s Day." "What? Oh no, we are not together." Mindy said calling out after her, but she was already half way down the street. "Can you believe the nerve of her?" "Gwen said that you have unresolved feelings for me." Danny said ignoring her question. "What the hell, man? Is there anything else that you haven"t told me? What else did you guys talk about in the cab?" "No, this was a few days ago actually." "WHAT?" Mindy exclaimed loudly. "You"re talking to my best friend now? Why? WHY?" "I was checking on her arm-" Danny said shrugging casually. "I could have told you how she was doing!" "She was a patient of mine." "Did you treat her?" "No, but-" "There"s no "buts" Danny! She is not your patient! She"s my friend...get your own!" She was going to kill Gwen! "And it"s Jeremy." Mindy said softly. "What about him?" Danny asked feeling instantly jealous. "The "handsome jerk"is Jeremy, not you." Mindy said hotly. Danny was about to tell her that he knew Jeremy was the "British guy" that Gwen had referred to; but just knowing that Mindy was only lying for the sake of covering up her embarrassment, made him smile contently at himself. Though she would never admit it out loud; he knew she fancied him. Danny was the handsome jerk, and while Jeremy to a hell of a lot more girls was the charmer, the stud...to Mindy, he was not the one she noticed anymore. This made him feel relieved, because there was a time that Jeremy had been his biggest competition. Danny was not shy to the fact that Jeremy and Mindy had in the past, a sort of friends with benefits situation. When Jeremy had confined in him this information, he had wanted to head-butt the British twat. It took him a long time to put his differences aside and maintain a work place relationship with Jeremy after that. He had always seen him as the only person able to make him feel less like a man. The fact that Mindy had chosen to get involved with Jeremy, like all the other women that had fallen for him before her; made him think that he had not known her as well as he thought and made him certain that Mindy would never in a million years ever like him. But their friends with benefits relationship was long over now and for the first time in a long time, Danny finally felt like he stood a real chance with Mindy. "You do realise that-" Mindy said before cutting herself off quickly and trying to clear her throat. Oh no Mindy, shut up! DANGER! DANGER! "What?" Danny asked smirking at her. He realised that Mindy had stopped herself mid-sentence deliberately for fear of saying something embarrassing. "Never mind." She mumbled quietly, her cheeks reddening as she pushed a strand of her long dark hair out of her face. "No, no, no." Danny said stepping in front of her, to block her way. "You are trying to change the subject. This was getting interesting, Mindy! Do continue Dr Lahiri..." Mindy groaned loudly under her breath. She hated whenever he did that. Danny always had a way of knowing exactly what she was thinking. Like just then when she was trying to change the subject...because she was on the verge of embarrassing herself! How the hell did he know? It was something that she figured came from working alongside each other for so long. Damn work place relationships! She thought before Danny snapped her back to reality. He had placed both of his hands on her shoulders and was now staring directly at her. Under the slight glow coming from the small street light above, he looked almost handsome. "Fine!" she exhaled loudly, throwing her hands in the air dramatically. "I was saying that you realise, that this was kind of a..." she said closing her eyes and dreading the next words that were about to come out of her mouth, "...first date? Danny, it was kind of our first date..." Danny laughed heartedly and her body became overcome with intense anger and hatred. She was going to slap him really hard in a second if he didn"t stop laughing soon. Three...two...one... She mentally counted down the slap in her head but stopped when the hyena-like laughter had stopped. "Mindy, did you want it to be a date?"Danny asked seriously. "God Danny, no!" Mindy said opening her eyes and shaking her head at him. "Good." "Good?" she asked mocking his relieved voice. "Why is it good,Danny? Please do tell me why you sound so relieved?!" "Because we are just- you know- friends..." he said almost choking out the words. "Plus you are not my type." "Woah!" Mindy said blinking back her anger that was starting to converge throughout her whole body. "I"m not your type? I didn"t realise that Forty year old divorcee"s had a type!" "I"m not Forty." Danny said crossing his hands over his chest. "I"m sorry, you"re what. Thirty-eight and a half? My bad." She said rolling her eyes. "You"re not my type either, so whatever. I would never go there!" "As if! I don"t believe you. I"m sure you think about us being together all the time in your little romantic head of yours!" Danny said smirking hotly. "Never." "Bull." He said laughing loudly. "Excuse me?" "I"m calling you out, Mindy." "There"s nothing to call out. You"re not my type. I don"t like you. I barely tolerate you at work." "I"m sorry but "Handsome jerk" would suggest otherwise!" "Argh I"m going to kill Gwen!" Mindy exclaimed loudly. "Look, it"s late and I don"t want to argue anymore. I"m five blocks from my apartment. I"ll just see myself home, okay? Good night Castellamo." "Are you kidding me? It"s almost midnight. I"m not letting you roam the streets alone. I"m walking you home." "Stop trying to be a gentleman. You suck at it." Mindy said storming off quickly. "Slow down! I"m surprized you can actually walk in those heels." Danny said when he had caught up to her. "Stalk me, much?" "Did I ever tell you that you are so immature?" "Well one of us has to stay young, grandpa." "I do love our flirty banter, Mindy. Please continue to make me feel old... I"m what, five years older than you?" Danny asked raising an eyebrow at her. "Just leave me alone." She muttered and they walked the rest of the way in silence. "Okay, I made it home in one piece...such a gentleman!" she said sarcastically, as she fumbled through her keys. "You can leave now. Goodnight." "I left some of my stuff in your apartment." Danny said following Mindy through the wooden doors to the downstairs entrance. "I can bring it to work tomorrow." She said trying to push him out of the doors. "Goodnight Danny." "I"ll just get them now. It will save you the hassle tomorrow." He said pushing his way back inside her apartment complex. "Fine. Whatever, you are so annoying." She said walking over to the lifts and pressing the button. "You don"t want to take the stairs?" Danny asked walking towards the staircase. "Are you kidding me? Its seven floors! My feet are seriously dead. Like, these shoes are so tight that I"m sure my toes will be detached from my body when I take these stupid things off." "Argh the things girls do to impress guys." "Firstly, this dress..." Mindy said pointing up and down towards her outfit. "was your idea. I wanted to wear the red one, remember? These are the only shoes that give me the height to pull off this dress that you picked out genius. So please do me a favour and keep your smart-arse comments to yourself." "The dress you were going to wear looked like something out of "The Sound of Music" so I did you a favour." Danny said following Mindy into the lift and pressing the seventh floor. "The dress was amazing...I never should have changed. I was going for sexy librarian... Instead thanks to you I got-" "-hot seductress." Danny said finishing her sentence. Mindy opened and closed her mouth; for once in her life Danny Castellano had made her speechless and she didn"t know what to say back. A small smile played on her lips. Hot seductress? That was a compliment, right? Danny Castellano had actually paid her a compliment! She thought, trying her hardest to fight the overwhelming urge to jump up and down like an idiot in the lift. She could wait to go home and write this in her journal. He thinks you look hot. Her head sang over and over in a repetitious melody. Stop it Mindy! This is Danny that you are talking about! He"s old and weird. She thought mentally scolding herself. The elevator stopped abruptly, opening the doors to the seventh floor and they two of them took the corner towards Mindy"s apartment in an awkward silence. Mindy fumbled with her keys, she did it deliberately to stall Danny at the door. She wasn"t too sure what she was going to do once they were inside her apartment. Danny had been acting weird all night. Plus he had called her a "hot seductress". This was something she was not used to. Usually Danny would tell her to lose about ten to fifteen pounds; but tonight he was telling her that she looked hot? What was up with that? Argh man, this was too confusing! She thought biting down onto her bottom lip. "Dammit Mindy, it"s almost midnight!" Danny said snapping her out of her thoughts and unlocking the front door to her apartment with her key. "I still need to go home and sleep...unless you plan on letting me crash here tonight." "And why would I do that?" Mindy asked hotly, rubbing her sore neck as she followed him into her apartment. "You tell me, it just felt like you were lingering at the door." Mindy rolled her eyes, took off her coat and hung it into the closet by the front door. "Get your things and go home. I"m going to try and revive my feet." She said walking into her room and closing the door behind her. She threw herself down onto her bed and kicked off her shoes quickly. Her feet were so numb, that she couldn"t even feel them anymore. She reached into her bedside table for some cream, when Danny knocked at her bedroom door. "Go away Danny, I"m naked." She called out. The bedroom door opened, and Danny walked inside holding a bottle of wine and two glasses. "Dude, what the HELL?! What if I was really naked?" she asked sitting up on her bed. "Not cool." "Who do you think is more disappointed by this situation?" he asked before Mindy threw a pillow at his head. "Ouch." He said sarcastically, as he sat down next to her on the bed. "Hey, Danny...are you planning on going home at alltonight?" she asked taking a sip of the wine he had just poured for her. "Hmmm this would have gone lovely with your crappy pizza earlier." "Its 11:53, you have a full seven minutes, give or take a couple of seconds left of Valentine"s Day...what do you want to do?" "Sleep." She said moaning. "You"re lying." "I"m not. I want to get into bed, forget that my toes may or may not ever regain their consciousness and sleep off this horrible night where I got dumped." Danny took the wine out of Mindy"s hand and placed it on top the bedside table next to his and the bottle. He rolled up his sleeves and took the coconut cream off her bed and started to massage her feet. "Oh God." Mindy said squirming under his magical touch. Danny laughed and continued to massage the cream into her tired and sore feet. Mindy wanted to moan again in delight. It took all of her strength to contain herself. She bit down hard on her lip and tried to think of something to distract her. "You know you don"t have to do this." Mindy said lying. "I don"t mind." Danny said still working at her left foot. "Okay then, do this foot now." She said passing him her right foot to be massaged. Danny laughed and started to work his way through all the tension on her right foot. Mindy closed her eyes again, biting down hard onto her lip and savouring the moment. "Thanks Danny." she said through closed eyes and Danny smiled. Nobody had ever given her a foot massage before. It was something that she had always wanted. Something that she knew was intimate and special. Had somebody told her that Danny Castellano would be the one to finally give her one of her most played out fantasies- she would have laughed so hard in their face. She never thought it possible! "That was amazing." She said when Danny had finished. "I can actually feel my toes again. Thank you, Danny." "I should get going." He said standing up and walking towards the door. "You"re leaving?" Mindy asked jumping quickly onto her feet. "Yeah, I should. I still have to walk home and I need some sleep. I have this big C-section booked for tomorrow." "You can crash here if you want." Mindy said shrugging. "Mindy, you don"t want me crashing on your couch." "Who said anything about the couch?" Mindy said stepping in closer towards Danny to close the gap between them. "I still have that bunk bed that you ruined somewhere-" Danny"s lips came crashing down onto Mindy"s and she moaned loudly. Instantaneously she wrapped her hands around his neck and deepened the kiss. Danny let out a low groan that sounded like he was enjoying the kiss and cupped her face with his hands. They pulled apart for air, neither saying a word to each other, just searching for some kind of a reaction with their pleading eyes. Mindy pulled at Danny"s collar and his lips came crashing down on hers for round two. The kiss was like nothing she had ever experienced. There was a time that she had thought that Tom was the best kisser she had ever met; but Danny had long surpassed that feeling in the first minute his lips found hers. Mindy moaned excitedly as Danny"s tongue found hers, drawing small circles around it. She almost bit down hard onto his lip, in an attempt to contain her excitement. She opened her mouth a little wider, allowing Danny to continue to explore her mouth and tongue. She wanted him so badly. It must have been the wine, she reasoned as she pushed him onto her bed. Danny laughed as he pulled her down with him. Mindy positioned herself so she was straddling him. "Min, wait a minute. Are you sure, you want to do this?" he asked hoarsely, as he pulled away from her for a second. "Yes." She moaned a little too loudly, the sleeping beast in her suddenly awakened, before she kissed him again, this time more passionately. "Happy Valentine"s Day, Mindy." Danny said switching the position on the bed, until he was now on top of her and straddling her with his hips. "I"ve been thinking about doing this to you all night." Mindy smiled and bit down hard onto her lip. "Even when you saw my "Sound of Music" dress?" she teased, against his lips. "Especially when I saw that ugly dress. Mindy, you look amazing in anything." He said as he started giving her quick kisses along her jaw and neck. "And I bet you look amazing when you"re not wearing anything. These clothes need to come off now" She said as she started tugging at buttons from his shirt, before reaching up to pull him closer for another passionate kiss. Mindy couldn"t wait to write a journal entry about this amazing night. Yep, it was pretty much the best Valentine"s Day ever. She thought as she savoured every kiss Danny planted on her bare skin. Author"s Note: Hey guys, so there you go. I hope you enjoyed it. That was my first Mindy and Danny story! I just love them so much and I will ship them in the afterlife! Please let me know if it"s good/bad whatever. I like creative criticism. Also, I was going to make this a One-Shot but if you guys want me to continue, just let me know...I have some ideas how to make this a full story, so it"s really up to the reviews I get. Thanks for reading! Paris xoxo

is. He"s got what"s coming to him." Gemma doubled up again, as the other two laughed even harder. Slater sat down, more relaxed now he seemed to have been accepted. "Anyway, I"ve seen you around sometime. You don"t go to Bayside, though, do you?" Nick looked up. "Naw, none of us do. I live near-by, real close, and we noticed there was a party here tonight, what with the flyers put up around my school. Weird thing was, I even got a flyer through my door. I mean, I didn"t even know who you were, and it seemed like someone wanted me to come." Slater smiled nervously. "I guess my friends just put flyers through random doors. Hey, maybe you know one of them?" Nick shook his head, as he scratched one eyebrow. "Don"t think so. I don"t really know anyone at Bayside." Slater smiled. He"d thought Nick wouldn"t really know anyone he himself went to school with, but it was good to get some confirmation. If something did happen with Nick, and then Nick told someone, hopefully the number of people it would have to go through before it got back to Bayside would ensure the story would be completely unbelievable. Not that it already wouldn"t be. A.C Slater, the wrestling champ, involved in some extra-curricular wrestling of a different sort? Anyone who told that story would be laughed off the school grounds, or worse, beaten to a pulp and kicked off. Now he just had to figure out whether or not Nick was interested, which would be the tricky part. And Slater didn"t think that asking "So, do you like boys?' would be the right way to do that. "Hey, does anyone want another drink?" Andy stood up and stretched. "I"m feeling the need to get pretty wasted, and I"m only a little of the way there." Slater and Nick both nodded, and Gemma sighed. "You"ll need a hand with those, Andy. I"ll come with you." Andy looked at her. "Gemma, I can carry four drinks, jeez! I"m not a total dumbass." "Yeah, you can carry four drinks. But who"s gonna help you get through to them and then bring them back? Have you seen the crush around the keg any time recently?" Andy opened his mouth, hesitated, then shut it again. He looked at Nick and Slater. "I"m going for a walk. I may be some time." Slater laughed. "I like Andy. He"s funny." Nick smiled at him. "I know what you mean. He"s got a sense of humour that could kill. He"s always the guy pulling pranks and making jokes. But he"s a genius as well. He wins the school chess championship every year. Last year, he did it while reading The Lord Of The Rings, too." Slater laughed. "What about Gemma? She seems really nice." "Yeah, she is. Makes up for the fact that she"s a bit ditzy. No, Gemma and Andy are almost totally different, but they"ve been best friends forever. Sometimes I still feel like the new guy." "The new guy?" Slater frowned. "How do you mean?" Nick shrugged. "Well, I"ve known them for years, just as long as they"ve known each other, but they"ve always had a deeper connection. Around them, I feel like a third wheel, and they"re not even in a relationship or anything. Sometimes I wish I could find someone who"ll be like that with me." He looked off into the distance for a second, then laughed. "Sorry. I"ve known you for what, five minutes? And already I"m pouring my heart out to you." Slater blinked. He"d been getting lost in Nick"s words. "No, don"t worry about it. I"m like the new guy in the gang at my school, and I know what you mean, sort of." He hesitated, then looked away from Nick, trying to imitate his far-away look. "They have all this history, you know, and -" Behind him, Nick suddenly swore. Slater"s head spun around so fast he felt vertebrae click. "What"s up?" Nick scrambled to his feet. "I"m not drinking beer tonight, and I bet you anything Andy won"t remember. Hang on, I"ll be right back." As he raced off, Slater felt the anticlimax hit him like a brick wall. "Oh...okay." "1-2-3 HAH! I win again!" Gemma crossed her arms and pouted. "I swear you"re cheating at this game. No way can anyone win eight games in a row!" "Gemma, I"ve told you this before. You can"t cheat at Rock Paper Scissors. The only reason I keep beating you is because you keep doing rock, paper, then scissors. It"s a pretty simple pattern." Andy sighed. "Look, shall we play Noughts and Crosses instead?" "Nuh-uh! You cheat at that too!" Gemma crossed her arms. "You cheat at all the games we play! Else how else would I always lose?" Andy dropped his head, and rubbed his eyes. "You lose because you suck at all of them, Gemma. All of them. When we played Risk, you put all your men on Madagascar because you said they "needed a tan", when we played Monopoly, you spent all your money in the first round, then got too distracted to play, when we played chess, you insisted on having the queen as the most important piece, and then pushed her in front of my attack. I"m sorry Gemma, I love you, but I"m never ever playing games with you again." Nick raced around the corner, then screeched to a halt as he spotted the two sitting on the floor, the pen and paper between them. "Ooooh, trying to play Noughts and Crosses again? I thought the last time was enough to stop you from trying again?" "Well, it would have been, except for that we needed something to do while you move in on that guy." Nick grinned. "I was worried you wouldn"t remember the signal. The scratching the eyebrow thing works, so long as one of you is looking at me." "Remember the signal? You use it almost every time we go out! I mean, we don"t mind, anyone who"s interested in you isn"t really what either of us are looking for, but come on. What are we supposed to do?" Nick spread his palms. "Anything! It"s a party, guys! Go have fun. If I"m not back in fifteen minutes, then do whatever you want. I"ll tell you how it went in the morning." He winked, and walked back around the corner to Slater. Gemma looked at Andy, eyes wide. ""Do whatever we want"? But...we always hang out..." "Come on Gemma, it"s easy...we just need to find something else to do." Despite Andy"s confident words, he was nervous. Whenever they all went out, Nick would usually just ask them to leave him and his target alone for a couple of minutes. That was usually enough to have the guy entranced for the rest of the night, until Nick either got bored, or went home with him. If Nick was going to spend all night with this guy, he must be very special...or very fragile. "But what? Nick always decides. He"s like, the leader." Gemma started to bite her lip. "Should we...go get a drink?" Andy scratched his head. "Isn"t that what Nick usually does at parties? Should we see if we can find some?" Andy got up, and held a hand out to Gemma, who took it and pulled herself up. As he turned away, Gemma held onto his hand. Andy looked back at her, and she shrugged. "I...don"t want to get lost, you know?" Andy smiled, and squeezed her hand back. "I won"t let you go, don"t worry. We"ll be fine." I"ve been researching Saved By The Bell, and actually according to Wikipedia, there are so many continuity errors that you can play quiz games about them! So, from henceforth, any errors in the past/present/future are simply me sticking to the traditions of Saved By The Bell! Hurrah! As Nick ran back up to Slater, he smiled to himself. If his plan went off without a hitch, it would be one of the best conquests he"d ever had. Right up there with when he"d seduced the guy who"d beaten him up in tenth grade for beng a fag, and the day he"d finally crossed the last of the school football team off his list. AC Slater was a state legend. Even though he"d only been living in Florida for a few years, already he"d got a reputation scary enough to make his opponents quiver or, less often, burst into tears upon hearing they were fighting him. One of Nick"s more serious boyfriends (one that had lasted more than a week) had been a wrestler, and he"d gone up against Slater once. Nick had dumped him after the fight, after the doctor had said the guy would have to be in plaster for up to six weeks. The bout had only lasted fifteen seconds as well, if that. If Nick could get Bayside"s champion wrestler into bed...well, it had the potential to be one of the proudest moments of Nick"s life. That was why Nick had come along tonight. As soon as he"d read the flyer that had been pushed through his door, he"d been texting Andy while running to Gemma"s house. He"d not gone to school that Friday, staying at home choosing his best outfit instead. He"d effectively scripted the night in his head, making educated guesses as to when they"d arrive, what Gemma and Andy would laugh at and how loudly, what he"d say to Slater and when they"d start making out. It was all planned out, right down to pretending not to know who the tall dark gorgeous boy who"d come up to them apologetically was. He dropped down next to Slater, who jumped, shocked out of his own little moment. "Sorry. Managed to catch Andy before he"d started to go through the crowd. So...you were talking. Sorry I ran off." He gave him a smile. Slater grinned back. "No worries, I was just talking about stuff. Nothing important." "Cool. Oh, I"m Nick, by the way. Just suddenly figured we"d not been introduced." "I know." About a millisecond after he"d said that, Slater realised it was stupid, impolite, wierd, creepy, and stupid. Nick raised an eyebrow at him, and he desperately tried to salvage the situation. "I think I heard one of your friends call you it?" Nick furrowed his brow. He couldn"t remember either Gemma or Andy calling him ' Nick" that night, but then again..."Oh, okay. Well, that"s not a proper introduction." He held out a hand. "Hi there. I"m Nick!" Smiling, Slater took his hand. "AC Slater. Nice to meet you." Nick mentally crossed off stage one of his plan, and was just planning the next step when he suddenly felt agonising pain. "Jeeeeeeeeeeeesus H!" Slater jumped up. "Omigodomigodomigod I"m sorry! Did I squeeze too hard?" "Uh, yeah, KINDA! Were you trying to break every bone, or was that just a perk? I don"t think I can feel my fingers..." Nick cradled his hand against his chest, trying to rub some feeling back into it. "I"m sorry..." Slater looked down at him, and Nick would have sworn the boy was almost crying. He sighed. "No, it"s alright. I just wasn"t expecting it." He managed a small smile. "Wish I"d remembered you were a wrestler. I was trying to remember where I"d heard the name before a second ago, you just reminded me." Slater visibly relaxed, and sat back down. "Sometimes I don"t remember that I"m not in the ring all the time. Like, a couple of years ago, we went to see my grandma for Thanksgiving, and I gave her a hug. She couldn"t move the whole week we were there after that." Nick laughed, and Slater looked at him. "What"s funny?" "You are! Was your grandma okay?" Slater nodded. "Then it"s funny!" Slater looked at Nick for a second, then grinned. "Yeah, it is, kinda. Speaking of okay though, is your hand gonna be alright?" Nick looked down at it as though he"d forgotten it was even injured. "Oh, yeah, I bounce back pretty good. Although I don"t think I"ll be moving it for at least half an hour." Slater stopped himself from saying "Well, so long as you can move it later" just in time, and instead just said "Yeah...so anyway, if you"re okay, tell me some stuff about you." "Well, there"s not THAT much to tell..." As Nick began a heavily edited version of his life, Slater sat back, and thought about how sexy Nick"s voice was... Zack didn"t know how it had happened, but for some reason word had spread that he had a bottle of JD on his person, and the hordes were getting closer. He knew there was no way he survive alone. Grabbing two relatively sober-looking folk, he dragged them along with him to the garage, where he locked the door and mentally prepared himself for the hardship that was to come; getting through the crowds to find Kelly. He shed a tear for his fallen comrades, before wrapping a red bandana around his head and steeling his nerves. Behind him, Gemma leant over to Andy. "I"m scared, Andy. Like, not "Cherry Falls" scared, or even like, "Saw" scared, I"m talking "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" scared." Andy stared at her. "I"ve never even SEEN half those films. Use similies I understand, Gem!" "Simi-what-what?" "Never mind." Andy rolled his eyes, and turned back to Zack, who had started looking for weapons in Slater"s toolbox. "Erm, sorry to disturb you, Completely Normal Person, but...who ARE you?" Zack squinted, trying to judge how much damage a sharpish screwdriver would do. "I am the Defender of the Beer Keg, Ally of Slater, Friend of She Of The Mace. I am...Zack..." Andy opened his mouth, before looking back at Gemma. She widened her eyes, and mimed a chainsaw through the air. Andy gulped, and motioned towards the door. Before he could even begin to start creeping over, though, Zack turned around. "Okay, I"m calming down. You two are going to help me get THIS," as he pointed at the new barrel, "back through THEM. The fate of Mankind rests on our shoulders, men." Gemma raised a hand, and Zack shrugged. "And women. Sexism is bad, and that. Now, choose your weapon!" Gemma grabbed a wrench, and Zack nodded his approval. Suddenly, Andy snapped. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!? AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO DOESN"T THINK THIS ISN"T CRAZY?!? WE DON"T EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!! ALL I WANTED WAS A BEER AND I ENDED UP BEING DRAGGED INTO A GARAGE WITH A POTENTIAL PSYCHOPATHIC KILLER AND NOW HE WANTS ME TO FIGHT?!? WHAT!!! THE!!! HELL!!!" As he gasped for air, Zack leant towards him. "Erm..."doesn"t think this isn"t crazy" uses a double negative. I"m just saying." Andy stared at him for a second in shock, before shaking his head and grabbing Gemma by the wrench. "Come on, Gemma, let"s go. I"m creeped out." "Awwww, but Andeeeee, it"s starting to get "Land Of The Dead" scary. I wanna find out what happens in the end!" Before they could make it to the door, though, Zack blocked their way. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Please. Hang on. I"ll calm down. I do actually need some help. I"m trying to find my friend, and someone"s started a rumour that I am the Bringer of Blessed Alcohol, which makes me the equivalent of a wounded gazelle in a nature documentary entitled "Big Cats: Nature"s Biggest And Most Violent Killers". I"m just looking for some sane people to help me." Andy folded his arms. "Oh, so NOW you make sense. Well, Mr Defender Of Slater And Mace, or whatever you called yourself, first we need a name that makes sense. One that can be given to the police without them laughing at us, should anything bad happen." Zack smiled. "Oh, you"re clever, aren"t you? I think I like you. Okee-dokee then, I"m Zack. I go to Bayside, I am currently unattached and I"m on a mission to find a brown haired girl called Kelly. Now...who are you?" "I"m Gemma, and this is Andy!" Gemma beamed, before catching sight of Andy"s face. Her smile vanished. "What?" "You gave him our real names?!? A minute ago you were saying you were "Evil Dead" scared of him or something - " ""Land Of The Dead"" " - Whatever. You were scared, and now it"s "Happy Fun Time With Zack"?" Zack and Gemma stared at him, before Gemma raised a hand. "Erm...there"s no such film as "Happy Fun - " "I KNOW!!!" "Well, look, if it matters that much..." Gemma turned back to Zack. "Hi. I"m Superwoman, and this is Smedrick." "Smedrick?" Zack looked over at Andy, who had by now curled into a foetal ball on the floor. "Are you two not friends?" "Not when he"s being like this, no. And besides, what"s wrong with the name "Smedrick"?" "Look, he already knows our names, Gem. Let"s just...help him, and get it over with." Andy stood up. "Now...what would tidy up a bunch of drunks pretty good? Hey, is anyone going to use this baseball bat?" Zack grinned. "Knock yourself out." "Thanks, but I"d rather knock THEM out, if it"s all the same to you." Kelly opened the door of the General"s study, and peered round it into the room. Screech was sat in front of the computer, disassembling the mouse. "Hey Screech. Whatchadoin?" "Oh, hiya Kelly. I"m on guard duty. I have to stop people from coming in here and and doing things that would make Jessie have to hurt them on the General"s Persian rug. So I"m just building a plasma gun to blast them into a bazillion tiny radioactive particles." Kelly squinted. "Erm...Screech?" He looked up. "Oh, don"t worry, I"ll reassemble the mouse in the morning. And I"ll make sure to calibrate the inter-crystum links so as not to harm anything but living organic material. And as for cleaning, well, a bazillion radioactive particles probably won"t show up, but I"ll vacuum it in the morning. Kay?" "...So little of that made sense, and I"m still scared." Kelly moved into the room, and shut the door behind her. "Hey, Screech, could I see the CCTV for tonight? Like, as in what would be being recorded if you hadn"t looped it?" Screech glanced down at the desk. "Erm...well, it would be, had I not smashed the mouse up. Hang on, the General might have another one." He disappeared under the desk, and Kelly heard drawers opening. "Any particular reason why, or just plain old curiousity?" Kelly shrugged, then realised Screech couldn"t see her. "I"m just wondering what the gang are up to, and I"m tired of having to push my way through the crowd. It smells like booze. And I don"t really like booze so much." "As good a reason as any. Here we go. Thank Haysus for scary obsessive compulsive men and their need to have two mice...mouses...meeces...whatever." Screech fiddled around with cables for a second, before stepping back. "There we go. Here, if you just open this here, you can watch all the footage as it"s coming, before it"s covered over by the loop. Ground floor cameras start with a "1", second floor with a "2" and so on. Outside, there are less cameras, so not everywhere is covered, but there are a couple. Those are the ones that start with an "0". Got it?" "Press buttons, see people. Goody." Screech stepped back. "Awesome. Well, see you in a bit, then!" He headed for the door. "Wait, where are you going? Aren"t you taking your...laser?" "I"m just going to see if I can find a positronic brain in Slater"s basement. Otherwise, I"ll have to re-route the energy fields past one another with some kind of barrier that can stand up to high temperatures, and I don"t really want to have to use too much adamantium in the construction. I mean, once it"s been cast, there"s no uncasting it, am I right?" Screech giggled to himself, before leaving the room still muttering "uncast...what a laugh" under his breath. Kelly suddenly understood why the physics professor cried when Screech was talking, before disregarding it, and scrolling through the screens, all of which were showing various amounts of drunk people. She spotted Jessie trying to make her way through the crowds from the backyard, Lisa macing people round the keg in the kitchen, Zack...moving towards the General"s study. Uh-oh. Kelly didn"t want to be found. She wasn"t sure what was going on but, whatever it was, Jessie, and that meant Zack too, was trying to keep her from finding out about it. She jumped up, and ran to the door. She opened it a crack, and spotted Zack about ten metres away, through the crush of people. Thinking quick, she leant out, and said loudly "Hey, isn"t that blond guy the one who said he could do more shots of JD than anyone here?" She slammed the door shut again, and dashed back to the computer. As she"d thought, the herd had...heard, and had moved towards him like the undead, forcing him to run. Another couple of minutes to herself, thank Goodness. Another couple of minutes to find out what she wanted from the CCTV. She had to work quickly. As the keg ran dry, Lisa pouted. "Hmm...I"d better go get another one...but I might break a nail if I do. I could get some drunk boys to do it...but then they"d know where the beer is. Is there something else alcoholic that I could serve round here? I wonder if I could whip up some kind of punch..." A boy tapped her on the shoulder. Very slowly, Lisa turned her head to give him the full force of her glare. His eyes widened, and he put his hands up. "I was just wondering if there was some beer left...?" Lisa smiled sweetly. "Oh, a beer? Why, I"m sure I could find - " Before she could finish her sentence, the boy suddenly gulped. "Oh, no, sorry to bother you, I"ll be going over here. Far over here, bye!" And he disappeared into the crowd. Lisa thumped the countertop in frustration. "Damn, he must have recognised me! But now he"s getting away, after he TOUCHED me. Awwww...I have the WORST luck!" She looked back at the empty barrel, and wished she didn"t have to stay to keep an eye on...it...empty. Hang on. Lisa looked back across the crowds of people in the room, and gave an evil smile as she tightened one hand around a fresh can. No-one tapped Lisa Turtle on the shoulder and lived for any longer than an hour without either asking her out on a date or experiencing deep emotionally scarring pain. And she was SO hoping he"d not want to ask her out. Oh my god. Is this gasp FINALLY AN UPDATE?!? Hayzeus! Maybe I might actually start another one this year! Oh, and by the way, I"m hopefully the only one who might be slightly bugged by this, but Jessie actually appears to be omnipotent in this chapter and the last two. If anyone asks, she"s been using shortcuts she found while Slater"s girlfriend. I dunno, windows "n" shit. YimonXXX

refused to think about his family. Instead he turned his mind back to Justin. Only that morning they"d been together, on this bed. Mom had changed the sheets already, probably more than twice, but he could still smell the other boy, if only in his mind. Feel his skin, the warmth coming off him, body heat being the only thing keeping him warm, since the sheets had been kicked off the end of the bed already. Andrew remembered Justins skin under his fingers, his hair being tousled by a soft hand, the sensation of his mouth around Justins... Andrew reached down, pushing his hand into his jeans. Eyes shut, he gently rubbed his hand across the length inside, imagining Justin underneath his fingers. He was the submissive one in the relationship, always the one on his knees, so to speak. He rolled his tongue in his mouth, almost physically feeling Justin still inside him. With the dreaming, and the fact the memories were still fresh in his mind, the moment was coming quick. Moaning quietly, he writhed, leaving rumples on the bedsheet from his legs. Slowly he spread them, trying to imagine what Justin would feel like between them, actually being in him. They"d not been all the way yet, but it was something that they were working up to. Until then, Andrew could dream, and he did. Regularly. "...and that"s basically what happened this morning. And last night, I suppose as well. I told you about what happened then as well, didn"t I?" Justin looked around at the shocked, awed, disgusted and confused faces, and decided he must have done. And that was just Susan. "So...heh...you know the whole story now, huh? What do you think? I mean, not about Andrew and me. Advice on what I should do there probably isn"t your area of expertise. I know one of your stepfathers was gay, Susan, but it still doesn"t give you the best viewpoint. Maybe one of your sons is gay, Mrs Scavo?" Just stop, just stop, why won"t my mouth just stop? "You have about a one in three chance of one of them being that way, although I"ve heard people say that if you were on the pill before coming off it and then getting pregnant it increases the likelihood of one of them being a queen, because it"s something about extra female hormones being present when the child is developing, and that"s what the Pill does, creates an overdose of oestrogen, yeah, I"m learning about it in Biology-" Gabrielle kicked him in the crotch. As he keeled over, gasping, she looked down on him with pity. "Sorry, Justin. Desperate times, right? It was the only one I could think of that would shut you up quickly enough." "But...gasp...couldn"t you just have said stop?" "It had got past that point, Justin. And besides, I think Lynette was about to go for them too. At least this way you still have a chance of having kids." She made her wire thin smile. "Though I guess that"s a little obslete, huh?" Susan looked at Lynette in confusion, who shrugged. "Don"t look at me. I"m still stuck on the fact that Bree"s family isn"t perfect. Well, not so much stuck on as still mentally gloating over." Susan opened her mouth, then shut it again. "Okay, so am I. That doesn"t make it right." John sat amongst the confusion throwing back the last of his margherita. Justin looked up at him from the floor. "What you doing?" "I"m trying to escape fcrom this entire subject, and getting smashed looks like the one option still available to me. Other than suicide." Gabrielle looked around at the assembled, and sighed. "There should have been more vodka in the drink. I never put enough vodka in the drink..." she muttered. She glared at Justin. "Come on. Get back up. No need to spend all of your time on your knees, much as you may enjoy it." He crawled to his feet. "For your information, I"m usually the dominant one," he muttered. She looked around, the eyebrow almost disappearing into her hairline. "Erm. Ew?" Turning back, she clapped her hands once. "Ahem. Attention please?" Slowly order restored, and Gabrielle looked at the other two wives. "So...you know why we brought you here tonight. Now we should really discuss-" "Actually, Gabrielle...you"ve not once mentioned why you actually want us here. You started by saying something about Bree, and what was happening to her recently, then we got a lecture about how not to let our children grow up. Well, alright, one about...the blonde, but I got a lot of stuff from that about what not to let Parker, or any of the others, ever, ever do." Lynette looked at Susan, who"s eyes were still darting back and forth in confusion. Gabrielle sighed, and threw her arms down by sides in frustration. "Okaaay, so I credit you with a little too much speed. We have to help Bree." "We know that, Gabrielle. But, like we"ve seen, we can"t do anything-" "But he can." Gabrielle interrupted. "Justin can. She"ll let him in. No one else, only him. Since...since Rex passed away, we"ve tried to give her the support, but we can"t get her the help she needs. However, as we hear, Justin can. Or rather, he is the help she needs. We"re going to back him up, give him stuff to use. We don"t know what she"ll need, or what he"ll need to help her. But we"re going to do it, and we"re going to do it right." The two other housewives looked at each other with apprehension in their eyes. Susan sighed. "Bree would do the same for us, I suppose." Lynette rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like we"ll ever be in the same situation." Susan reached over and gave her a gentle slap on the arm. Lynette sighed. "But sure, I guess we could help. Give the kid a hand." She gave Justin a distracted smile, while Susan still furrowed her brow. Out of confusion rather than annoyance or anything else, though. Justin looked over at Gabrielle. The woman had a triumphant look in her eyes, and as he gazed, she glanced at him, and raised her glass in salute. "Happy hunting, Justin" she whispered across the room. Psychiatrists notes - Bree Van De Kamp We made very little progress this week. Bree"s defenses were at an all time high. We spoke extensively about knitting, bedsheets, gardening, a range of subjects. None of which so much as touched upon the subject of Bree"s husband, children, or anything that could have possibly set off one of the admittedly uncommon moments in which Bree"s shell cracks. I feel that there must be something that triggers this now, although at the same time I get the impression that Bree is becoming more cunning in avoiding these triggers. I have a plan which I think I will have to test next time, as I feel that it could be a deciding factor in my analysis of what has caused Bree to retreat into this state. Andrew paced back and forth. He"d been awake until one in the morning waiting for Justin to call, and had woken up early too, to check his phone for messages, but nothing. "How does he think he can just go all cold suddenly? What is wrong with him? What is wrong with me? After everything I"ve done for that boy, all the sacrifices I"ve made-" "All the blowjobs you"ve given him..." R-J muttered. The boy was sat on the edge of the swimming pool, while Andrew paced behind him. Since Paul Young had left, and Zack had disappeared soon after him, Andrew spent a lot of time in the pool out back of their house. He"d even cleaned it out himself a couple of times, and he was starting to think of it as his own. No one had moved into the Young house, and Andrew wasn"t even sure if it was even up for sale. Certainly Edie Britt hadn"t been around with any new faces. He turned back to the other boy. He didn"t really like R-J, but he smoked dope too, and they"d both been on the swim team at high school. R-J hadn"t ever gone on to college, and they mostly just hung out for the sake of having someone else to talk to. Andrew had told him about him and Justin, although not the whole story, for the sake of having someone to bounce stuff off concerning the relationship. Truth be told, it was a great arrangement. R-J was too stoned most of the time to remember things he was told five minutes after, so there was no chance that anyone else would find out anything. Andrew was quite proud of that bit of cunning. "Don"t be crude. Why would he not call? What would he have been doing last night that meant he couldn"t call? He always calls! For the last month or two, he"s called every night, he wouldn"t just stop!" Andrew kicked a pebble into the still water, sending ripples across it and onto R-J"s legs. R-J carefully rolled a joint, his second of the day. "Maybe..." R-J let the word just hang in the air as he lit and inhaled. Andrew watched, tapping a foot on the floor as the other boy sank back onto the sun warmed paving stones with his eyes closed. "Well? Maybe what?" Andrew spat, once he thought R-J had had enough time to speak. R-J opened a single eye. "Huh?" Andrew sighed. "You just said "maybe...'. Then you left it. What were you going to say?" R-J scratched his chest. "Uh...I dunno now." Andrew wanted to kick him, which must have shown in his eyes, as the other boy tried to scramble up to his feet, getting about halfway before the drugs took over and he gave up. "Sorry, sorry. I remember. Maybe your boy found another fag to screw, I was going to say. I mean, the dude musta been looking for someone else. I"ve seen Queer As Folk. These gayboys are like rabbits." "Hey, shit for brains. I"m one of those fags." "And so my point is proven." Andrew snarled, and went for R-J again, trying to force him into the pool. The other boy had spent ages cultivating the strain of weed he was smoking, however, and it was some of the most powerful stuff about. R-J simply lay there like a rock, before Andrew finally gave up and sat, arms around his knees, with his back to the low wall surrounding the pool. "It doesn"t make any sense. It was all going fine last night, I thought. We messed around all night, and he seemed normal." "Did you, like, even actually talk to him? Or did you just, as usual, grab for it the moment he came in?" Andrew glowered. "That"s what always happens. Our relationship is based on sex. Comfortable sex. We can just mess around with each other, and we both know it"s only for the night." He didn"t mention the fact Justin sometimes only wanted to sleep with him, without doing anything, or to cuddle. He also didn"t mention the fact that he enjoyed it almost as much as he suspected Justin did. R-J shrugged, and blew a smoke ring. Andrew took this to mean the end of the conversation and put his head in his hands. R-J had given words to what Andrew had suspected, that Justin had another boyfriend, or girlfriend, or whatever. Just that he was getting some elsewhere than just from Andrew, and this was not a situation Andrew was wanting to accept. Especially considering the worrying attachment the younger boy felt towards the older one. "Big faggot better not have abandoned me" he muttered, trying to hide his feelings behind the insult. He wasn"t sure who he was trying to hide them from, but he had a sneaking suspicion it was himself. "Thanks for coming with me, Julie. I"m...I"m not sure I could have handled this by myself. I"ve never liked cemeteries." Julie refrained from saying, who does? Mainly because she could see Danielle was pretty much on the verge of breaking already. It was not the time to joke. Not the time to make fun. Just, not the time. They were walking through the enormous cemetery that had always in living memory served as the final resting place of every Wisteria Lane resident who had kicked the proverbial bucket. All around them, the gravestones stuck up, row upon row of them, the pattern occasionally broken by the odd walk-in tomb. Julie spotted the Solis monstrosity in the distance, the flowers even at that length looking dead. "Just like everything else in this creepy place" thought Julie, as she followed Danielle in the direction of her fathers plot. "There it is." Julie looked past Danielle. The grave she pointed at was looking distinctly bare, the eight stones surrounding it lain with flowers and notes and toys, creating a colourful circle around the slab of black stone. The effect was wierd, and Julie shuddered as she realised Mr Van Der Kamps headstone was the only one in at least a five hundred metre circle not to be adorned with something. Danielle clutched the bunch of lilies she"d brought her dad. It felt like a poor offering. She"d never found out what her fathers favourite flowers were. It wasn"t the kind of thing they"d talked about. Whenever there had been bouquets in the house, they"d either been bought by Mom, or her father had bought the traditional. Red roses for love, or apologies, the amount corresponding exactly. He"d been broken in by her mother, ever since he"d picked up a random amount and she"s seperated them into a bunch of twelve, one of six, and then four single roses. She"d even sniffed as she stepped back to look at them. "There"s nothing that"s really said by twenty roses, especially" she"d muttered. Danielle was six at the time, and it was one of her most vivid memories. That was the first time she saw her mother might be turning into something...else. She looked back at Julie, who had hung back at the headstone in front of her father. "I"ll just be a minute. I want to say some stuff to him." Julie nodded, and walked a respectful distance away. Danielle knelt down, and rested the flowers against the base of the stone. Rocking back on her heels, she stared at the engraved writing. Only seconds ago, she"d have said anything, everything to her dad. Her and John, Andrew, her mother, the fact that she was really confused about the entirety of her life right now, at that very moment. But then, suddenly, seeing the chiselled marks that were the only testament to her daddy"s life, that one day would disappear, leaving nothing left of the one person who could make her feel better whenever, the one who never let her down, she started to realise he was gone. The only person, in the whole world, who she"d loved. Her mother, John, her brother, she liked them, they could make her feel safe, but she couldn"t say with any conviction that she loved them. Not the way she"d loved her dad. It could have been the fact he was gone now, the fact that he wasn"t here with all his minor faults, that she only remembered him being perfect. She"d disregarded all the times he"d not turned up for a school concert, hadn"t been as supportive as he could have been with all her club joining, and only remembered getting the perfect Christmas present from him, the smile on his face when she learned to ride a bike from him, the way he"d hugged her when she"d been injured. He"d always been the emotion oin the family, with her and Andrew, the one who got passionate about subjects he cared about, the one who gave hugs with meaning, who smiled properly, rather than just strech the sides of his mouth up like her mother. Mom was the logic, Dad the emotion. Both together were supposed to make the perfect parent. Clearly that hadn"t worked out. "Hi Daddy. I hope you"re okay..." Where was she supposed to go from here? Danielle"s eyes suddenly welled up with tears. "I"m really sorry I haven"t been to visit yet, but my life"s been really complicated recently..." one teardrop fell onto the ground, "and I don"t see why I"m making excuses to a slab of marble." She sucked in a breath, but it caught in her throat and made her choke. Sobbing and gasping at the same time, anguished noises coming out of her throat like birds, she slowly leant forward, feeling the breath flow easier from her lungs until her forehead touched the grass, the cut marks still visible from where it had been pulled off then rolled back into place, hiding the unsightly scar of earth on the ground. "I"m...so sorry, Daddy. Don"t be disappointed in me." Danielle whispered into the sod, before closing her eyes and squeezing the last of the water from her eyes. She felt a warm hand in the small of her back, and pulled herself back up into a sitting position. Julie looked at her face with worry. "Don"t worry. I"m fine. All part of the grieving process, you know." Danielle streched her face into a watery grin, which disappeared as soon as Julie roughly grabbed her and pulled her into a strong hug. "Don"t hide from me, Danni. We know each other too well for this. Talk to me." Danielle felt fresh tears well up in her eyes, but these weren"t ones of sadness this time. She pushed them back, and closed her arms around Julie, returning the hug. "That"s all I wanted to hear. Come on. I"m fine." They both got up and, with Julie"s arm around Danielles waist supporting her, slowly made their way to the graveyard entrance. Gabrielle drummed her finders on the steering wheel, as she stared across the street at the big white building on the other side of the road. There was no way in Hell anyone could mistake it for a school, despite the green gardens and elegant stonework. The bars on the windows and the buzzing fence were slight giveaways, although Gabrielle personally would have put them on in a school. No, it was the air of darkness around the place, and the fact that even in this blazing sunlight the grounds were empty, not even birds twittering. The prison was still a prison, no matter how much the outside was dressed up. Carlos was in there with all the other local Fairview criminals, mostly white collar embezzelers, con artists and the like, screwing old people and the stupid out of their nest egg, and a couple of high class drug dealers. Gabrielle didn"t go in there much, as she always imagined that, as she walked past, all the men were undressing her with their eyes, she was driving them into a frenzy of lust, it was only those flimsy bars that kept them from her. She smiled mischieviously. If she went more often, it wouldn"t feel as good when she imagined it. That"s why she was wearing the teeny-weeny black skirt. Although that was as much a present for Carlos as it was for the other inmates. She slipped out of the hatchback, and tugged at her hem. Slowly she strutted across the parking lot, then the street. As the glass doors slid noiselessly apart in front of her, she felt the gust of cool, air-conditioned breeze that ran through the entire prison. This wasn"t some blue-collar craphole (she mentally grimaced at using a word like that). This was one of the cushiest, classiest, most expensive places in the state. Now Carlos had accepted the plea-bargain, she had access to the bank accounts, as well as the hospital settlement, so they were no longer in money trouble. Gabrielle had still had to consider whether to let Carlos fry in the state penitentiary, though. She thought he deserved to feel some punishment. Morally challenged though she could be, she knew slavery was wrong, and not even a pair of leather Gucci stillettos handcrafted by a deft two year old Vietnamese kid could change her mind. Still, Gabrielle had "enrolled" Carlos here. She wanted to punish him, but she"d heard what could happen in less up-market state prisons. She"d loved Carlos once, maybe still loved him. She didn"t want any red-neck Bubbas or Billy Bobs turning his ass into a windsocket. Not while she owned it, anyway. The clerk behind the desk looked up and smiled as she approached the desk, and Gabrielle shuddered inwardly. It was one of those clerks. The kind that are always bright and cheerful, no matter what they"re telling you you can"t do, right up until you just want to gouge out their eyes. She fixed a plastic smile onto her own face, and stepped forward. " I"m here to see my husband. Carlos Solis? I have a private visit with him." The clerk nodded, and turned to his computer screen for a moment, tapping something in. He furrowed his brow, and bit his bottom lip. "Mrs Solis, is that right?" She nodded, and the clerk gave her a sympathetic smile. "I"m afraid we won"t be able to allow you to see your husband today. He was engaged in some illegal activity yesterday night, and the guards took away his visiting rights for today. You could make another appointment, if you wish?" Gabrielle felt her grin droop slightly, before she holstered it back up. Years of dealing with uncooperative people had taught her to fight dirty in situations like this, so long as she got what she wanted. "I"m afraid that would be impossible, you see, I only occaisionally get the opportunity to drive out here. My family commitments keep me busy, and I couldn"t leave my...son alone for too long." She laughed silently. It was probably wrong to invent children, but she wouldn"t have to pay for it for a long time, she didn"t think... "You have a child? That"s not programmed into the system. But still. I"m unable to allow you see your husband. I suggest you find someone to look after your child on another day." Gabrielle heard the slightly steely note enter the clerks voice, but decided to risk pushing it. She leant forward onto the sill of the desk, brushing her coat out of the way, and squeezed her arms together, like Marilyn Monroe, emphasising her already quite impressive cleavage. She flashed the clerk another, more dangerous smile, while reading the name off his tag. "Oh no, I wouldn"t want to offend anyone...David. What an attractive name! Are you sure that you couldn"t DO anything for ME right now? I wouldn"t tell anyone." She winked. She was a professional model. Using her body to get what she wanted was second nature. And there was no way anyone could

Oh dear. Lightning and Deiru have made it to the final round, but now they have to fight Uried! In a Chaos Infusion! Can they defeat him and get the dress for the play? Find out... next chapter! Please review If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I"m just kidding... or am I?) Author"s Note: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII-2 or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners. Notice: Ready... set... DYNAMIC ENTRY! (flies in through the wall with kick, flames sprouting behind me) Hello to one and all! This is Deiru Tamashi, bringing the next chapter of Strings Unraveled. Sorry for the lateness; I can"t really offer any reason other than schoolwork (the evil, evil thing). And so, I bring it to you all now, along with the next set of replies! Gundam-Knight-Chris: I"m glad about it as well. Gry18: Really? That"s weird. All of the chapters have the same minimum length of 3000 words. Maybe I"m just making the paragraphs longer. I don"t know, but in any case here"s a nice longer-than usual one for you. Rsdk525: It will be difficult, but I have decided on a music for the fight. Hope you enjoy. SolidSamurai223: Thank you for the kinds words. Excited Reader: Aw, thanks you. The idea that my story inspired someone to play the rest of the series makes me feel awesome. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Devil-l"Cie: Ask and ye shall receive. And now, let us begin! Ch.19 Legend of the Savior (Begin Music: Kingdom Hearts BBS: Dismiss) Uried grinned manically before rushing forward, double-ended scythe held high. I switched to my Utsusemi garb and blocked with Thirteen Nights. Lightning moved away and cast various debuffing spells. Only Deprotect and Debrave stuck, but it was enough to make him grimace. Uried disengaged and held out his hand. "Take this!" he called, and cast Toxic Aerora. The natural winds of the Chaos Infusion increased it powers, slamming into us with a wave of polluted wind. I held my mouth shut and cast my own Aerora spell, the two spells canceling each other. Lightning changed to Cold Rebellion and held up Death Herald before casting Blizzard three times. Three sharps spikes of ice shot at Uried. He smirked and spun his scythe in a windmill fashion, shattering the spikes before they could hit. I charged in and swung at Uried"s ankles, hoping to cut the tendons in them. But he stopped spinning his scythe and blocked me, before trying to swing so that the blade on the other end impaled me. Lightning saw this and cast Thunder, shooting a bolt of electricity. Uried was forced to disengage and move back to avoid it. He smirked. "Impressive. Even with the power of the Chaos Infusion increasing my speed, you"re still able to keep up. Kudos to you," he said. But then black electricity started crackling along his body, and he stood straighter. "But can you keep up... with this?" he asked, before extending his hand again. "Atrophy!" he called. An rob of dark green energy formed in his hand before shooting forward. Lighting and I split apart to dodge it, and the ground the orb hit began bubbling and melting. Uried shot forward and pointing at both of us, calling "Elementa!" Both hands glowed before firing a ball of ice, a spike of ice, a bolt of lightning and a gust of wind all at once. I frowned and held up my shield, using Steelguard and weathering the attacks. Lightning did the same and grunted, but then Uried targeted her and shot forward. "Take this! Icestorm!" he said. A wave of wind carrying tiny shards of ice flew at Lightning. She leaped vertically upwards and avoided the spell, but then Uried jumped up with her and cast Flamespark. A ball of electric fire hit her in the chest, both burning her and zapping her at the same time. "Light!" I called, and I changed to my Velvet Bouncer garb before leaping into the air swinging my spear. Uried spun around as he fell and blacked, but then I channeled a Ruin spell through Endless Paradox. Once it reached the end I released it, and the blast sent Uried hurtling back down to the ground. He frowned and flipped over, but Lightning was there, in her Dark Samurai garb with the Buster Blade in-hand. She ran forward and smirked, calling "Electric Blitz!" Her blade began sparking before she hit Uried in the back with hit. The blade left a huge cut while the heat of the electricity instantly cauterized it, creating untold amounts of pain. Uried screamed in agony and glared at Lightning, his rage unleashed. "Cursed savior...!" he yelled, before creating another orb of power, only this one was red. "Taste fear!" he yelled before throwing it. I recognized the Fearful Defense spell and cast Fire from the side. The two spells collided and were knocked off course, hitting the arena wall and exploding. I charged at Uried and used a regular Blitz, putting him on the defensive. Lightning used Passion Rogue to reapply Deprotect, Deshell, Defaith and Debrave, while I switched to Dark Muse and cast Curse. Uried growled ferally and leaped at me, bringing his scythe down with two hands. I blocked it but gritted my teeth- the Chaos Infusion was increasing Uried"s already high strength. The inhuman being grinned, and he was about to reach forward and tear into my shoulder with his fangs when Lightning called "Overclock!" Uried stopped and turned to see Lightning, but she was already gone. She reappeared behind him and struck so fast that, to her, we had to be moving in slow motion. Lightning hit him with four cuts that tore through his armor and left cuts on his back, before cutting the back of both knees and stabbing him in the left foot. She ended it with a kick that knocked his scythe out of his hands. I caught it, but immediately I could her the sounds of moans, roars and wails of pain resounding in my heads. I looked down at the scythe in horror. Or more specifically, the shards of bone that made up the two blades. Were the souls of those who the bone shards once belonged to... contained inside the scythe? I let go of it in revulsion, and it vanished in a burst of shadows before appearing in Uried"s hand. He smirked and used it to block the Buster Sword, shoving lightning away and cast Ruinga. The energy burst outwards and sent us both skidding back. I glared at him. "Uried... what is that thing made of?" I demanded, pointing at the scythe. His grin grew wider. "Ah, so you felt it. Yes, the bone shards that make up the blades of this scythe were each taken from a monster or human as they were dying- each one in excruciating pain. Because I used the Chaos to forge this weapon, their individual souls are trapped inside each shard, remaining in agony. Before you ask why I would do that, it is because having their souls contained in the scythe increases its power," he explained. My hatred for Uried reached new levels at that. This bastard was willingly letting people not even find peace in death, subjecting them to endless torment...just to give his weapon a power boost?!Within me I could feel Etro"s hatred and disgust as well. "Unbelievable. Deiru, what do you say to making this fool suffer?' she suggested. I nodded, replying "Let"s.' Etro nodded as well and sent her power through me, filling my veins and causing both of my eyes to turn golden. "URIED!" I yelled, and vanished from sight. Uried blinked before flying upwards, having been hit in the stomach with Endless Paradox by me. Lightning jumped up and swung at him, and he blocked. But that left him open to me, and I switched to Utsusemi before drawing my sword. "Come on, then!" I yelled, and I leaped as well before using Divine Fury to enhance my strength. I reached behind Uried and swung down, tearing through his armor and leaving a deep cut, from his left shoulder to right hip. Uried roared and conjured a Dark Firaga. "Take this!" he yelled, and released it at point-blank range. All three of us ere consumed by the surprise move, and Lightning and I fell back to the ground. Etro"s power surged and I held up my hand. "White Wind," I said. A burst of white-colored mist enveloped both of us, healing our injuries. It did nothing to take care of the energy we had spent in the fight though, and both of us were panting. Uried dropped back to the ground, also having a few burns from the spell. Lightning and I were about to charge once more when he held up his hand. "Stop!" he called. We narrowed our eyes but did, and he grinned. "I can see that this fight is going nowhere. At least, not without half of Yusnaan being leveled from our attacks during a full-out fight. And I can"t have that. If half of Yusnaan were to die, that wouldn"t give the Chaos more time to grow. So, I hereby surrender to you both... this time. The next time we fight though, it will be in a place where we can fight much more savagely," he said. Both of us blinked, but before we could say or do anything Uried was gone, enveloped in a cloud of darkness that dispersed to show that he had vanished. (End Music) The Chaos Infusion surrounding us disappeared as well, allowing us to hear and see the crowd once more. They were quiet, stunned that the fight had ended so abruptly, but slowly began cheering. Within seconds they reached a volume that it could be felt in the ground beneath us. Zoe was back on the loudspeaker, saying "What an incredible match! Lightning and Deiru have managed to force our defending champion to flee! They are the winners of the tournament!" The crowd roared in approval, and a few roses were actually thrown at us. Smirking at the cliché, I released Etro"s power and bowed extravagantly. "Thank you! It"s always a pleasure to fight for such adoring fans!" I said. That just made the crowd cheer louder, and Lightning chuckled. "Had to feed them, didn"t you?" she asked. I stood straight and shrugged. "We rarely get to have fun anymore, so why not take a little where it can taken?" I pointed out. Lightning simply hummed at that, and we sheathed our weapons before walking out. Zoe was back at the front, and she had a smile on her face. "I applaud you. Before an adoring audience, you were able to prove your true mettle. You the two of you can face a stage such as that, you might indeed having the makings of an actor and actress. Become the Savior and Protector you were meant to be. Give me a line!" she said. Lightning groaned. "Do I have to?" she asked, which made me chuckle. Zoe nodded, and she sighed. "Yes. Thank of it as a last test. Both of you, now!" she said. I smirked. "To ensure the survival of the Savior, I would give all that I am," I said confidently. Despite it being only a line, it was still true. Lightning glanced at me and smiled, before saying "To save the people of this world, I would give my life." Zoe"s smile grew. "Ah, so many memories. Your delivery was full of uncertainty, but that"s what gives it its realism. You"ve convinced me. I will entrust you both both the dress and the role," she said. I raised and eyebrow. "The role? You mean the one as the Savior? ...That once belonged to you, didn"t it?" I asked, realizing the truth. Zoe laughed. "That it did. That show holds the dreams of this city. A true actress is so perfect that she can only be found within a dream. A play lasts only one night, yet that night can live forever in the minds of the people, becoming a thing of hope and inspiration- in the form of a beautiful memory. Now, your audience awaits you. Go! Give them a show they will never forget!" she said, reaching under the counter and pulling out a white box. Lightning took the box, and inside was a maroon dress of stunning beauty. The garb Midnight Mauve. At the same time an orb of light emerged from Zoe"s body and entered Lightning"s- another soul saved. We thanked Zoe and walked away, and Hope appeared on the comm link. "That"s a dress that will surely shine on stage. I think you should try it on," he said. Lightning raised an eyebrow. "And what about Deiru? What will he be wearing?" she asked. I smirked and snapped my fingers, changing into my Velvet Bouncer garb, only this one was colored like a regular tuxedo. She stared. "So we had to go through all of that, to get my outfit, but you could get yours with a simple snap?" she asked incredulously. I shrugged. "Your dress is more important; everyone pays more attention to the Savior than the Protector," I said simply. Lightning stared a second longer before rolling her eyes and groaning, walking into a clothing store and changing. When she came back out a stared for a moment, transfixed. In that dress, Lightning looked... fantastic. I mean, she was always beautiful to me, but the Midnight Mauve outfit only enhanced it. The maroon color complimented her pink hair, the dress hugged her curves in a way that was mesmerizing, and my eyes slowly traveled up to- "NO! Bad Deiru! You look, and she"ll castrate you!' I yelled in my head, Lightning smirked at my starstruck and asked "So, you like it?" She added a small spin to her question, and I gaped like a fish. After a second I managed to pull myself together, and said "Not even a goddess could compare to you." "Hey!' Etro yelled indignantly in my mind. "Sorry, but it"s true,' I replied, still focused on Lightning. Said pinkette laughed and said "Well, you don"t look too bad in a suit." I smiled at that, and linked my arms through hers. "Well then, madame, shall I escort thee to the play?" I asked playfully. Lightning rolled her eyes before smiled all the same, and didn"t move away. I smiled wider and began walking with her at my side. Yeah, having Lightning as a girlfriend put me on cloud nine. Once we had made it the Augur"s Quarter, we opened the gates and looked at the stage. The stage we would soon be on. "If it were any other night, it would have been nice to just enjoy the revels," Hope stated. I nodded. "It would have been, yeah. But his time, we"ve got a Patron to take care of," I said. "I wonder what the people think of Snow these days. At first, he was their benefactor, but now..." he said, trailing off. Lightning looked at the palace. "People are supposed to change. Not changing after hundreds of years is unnatural. But Snow, I didn"t want to believe his change. The man who had believed in the future with unwavering optimism, the man feared no pain to protect those he cared about..." she began. I looked as well. "Snow... could even you have fallen into despair?" I finished. We both needed to know. We needed to know what Snow went through while we weren"t there. "Wait for us," Lightning whispered. With that we kept going and approached Sarzhak. "Well, hell there. You"re both looking pretty nice. Are you ready to go? We"re already prepping the stage. It"s almost time for the big show. Break a leg," he said. "One last thing. I"m going to need all of your people to evacuate. There can"t be anyone backstage. And the same goes for you. It"s going to be one hell of a bang," Lightning told him. Sarzhak sighed. "Yeah, that"s true. After all, you"ve put enough firepower in there to blow apart the theater, right?" he asked, his expression serious. My eyes widened by a minuscule fraction, and Lightning"s gaze became stoic. "So, you noticed," she said, not even trying to hiding. Sarzhak nodded. "Listen, this is my theater you"re talking about. Of course I knew in an instant what would happen if we upped the fireworks like you wanted. Actors, I could replace, but you were going to take out the whole audience as well! I can"t let you do that," he told us. I sighed. "So, we"ve been wasting our entire time?" I asked. Sarzhak leaned his, his smile returning. "No, no, that"s not what I meant. I just think you went a little overboard. So I made a few adjustments. That stage won;t survive the night, but no one will get hurt," he said. Now he had both of us staring. "You don"t mind?" we both asked. Sarzhak shook his head. "Look, I get bored spitless doing the same play over and over and over again," he said. He raised his arms above his head. "The people want something new! And lady and gentleman, I"m counting on you to give them exactly what they want!" he declared. Lightning smiled. "I can act when I have to," she said. "Good to hear, "cause it"s about time for your cue," he said, before laughing. "How many decades has it been since I looked forward to a show this much? You two are my stars. Now get out there and act me a Savior and Protector beyond anything I"ve ever imagined!" Sarzhak "ordered". I looked back at him. "Well, we won;t need to act. If it"s the Savior and Protector you want..." I said. Lightning looked as well. "You"ve got them," she said. Sarzhak"s face slackened in shock, realizing the truth. In his play, the roles of Savior and Protector were about to be filled by the real deal. Sarzhak slowly overcame his shock as we left, and looked towards the stage. "Well, it"s official. This will be my most memorable play yet," he said. Unseen to anyone, even him, his own soul rose forth and flew towards Lightning. At 3 A.M. The play was just beginning, and I could see it. The people who had managed to sneak into the Augur"s Quarter were lined all along the rooftops, the area"s real residents were all in seat in front of the stage, and there was even an increased amount of guards in case the "evil Savior" tried to interrupt the show. That caused me to smirk. Too late for them. At the strike of 3 the stage darkened and the crowds clapped before going silent. Dancers were moving to the music within artificial mist. A deep male voice pierced through the music, saying "Chosen one, become my blade. Cast aside all that you are! Throw down your life for the sake of my new world!" The dancers raised their hands towards the main stage, which lit up. Lightning was kneeling there in her dress, holding the sword Femme Fatale, while I was right beside her with Omnes. "To save the people of this world, I would give everything I am," she recited, standing up. I rose after her, holding up my sword. "With God as my witness, I will be the shield that protects the blade!" I said. Inside me, Etro was holding back her distaste at a play involving her father, but kept silent so as to not blow things. "Hear our prayers, God. Rain your blessings down upon us," Lightning said. The same voice portraying Bhunivelze spoke again. "Yea, you are the true Savior and Protector. Lead my people, and become a beacon of salvation!" he said. Lightning held her sword with it pointed towards the ground, while her left hand began glowing with flames. "In the name of radiant God, I bear aloft this light and banish the darkness!" she said. She held her hand to the blade and ran along the length of it, coating Femme Fatale in fire. I did the same, only my fire was silver. She held the tip of one torch while I followed her lad, and all six of them burst into red and silver fire. The crowds cheered as the hovering mechanisms activated, rising the stage into the air. The fireworks began going off at the same time, much to the crowd"s awe and delight. Mirroring each other"s actions, Lightning and I held ours swords up high and grabbed each other"s hands, spinning twice across the stage. The first stage neared the second one in midair, and we separated to step onto the second stage. "It is time, my servant. Let the flames of devotion consume you!" the voice called. Lightning lit her blade afire again. "Yeah. I"ll shot you a real fire. Let"s see how you burn!" she said, and placed the tip of Femme Fatale again the top of one of the torches. As all six were lit the boosters on the bottom of the stages activated, causing the stage to rise and circle the statue. However, the first stage was a collision course with one of the statue"s wings, and slammed into it. The dancers below scattered as the stage and rubble came crashing down. More and more fireworks were let off, exploding in the air with detonating force. The crowd cheered louder, though some of the more intelligent ones gained a concerned look at the amount of explosives. "Come, Savior, Protector! Return to my side!" the actor for Bhunivelze called. We did as said and leaped off the second stage, which crashed into the side of third stage, our swords held high. The ring of the stage itself was aflame. "Rise to the heavens, and receive the blessings of almighty God!" the voice beckoned. I stepped back and let Lightning take the lead. With precise skill she spun around and around, until she reached the front of the stage and swung, slicing off one of the torches while crouching. She stood back up and pointed Femme Fatale at the sky. A wave of fireworks went off behind us and all around the statue. Thought I could hear the statue start to groan from the force of the blasts, the crowd still cheered. I stepped forward and looked at Lightning. She smirked, and I did the same. Time to end this. Lightning looked forward. "I am the true Savior. I was made to serve God," she announced. At that the crowds began pausing in shock. Unperturbed, I spun Omnes in my hand slowly. "And I am her true Protector. I have made the pledge to lay down my life for her own safety," I said. Now the crowds were almost silent. Lightning spun around and faced the Bhunivelze statue. "But if that God lies to me..." she began. We both rushed forward and jumped off the the final stage, landing on top of Bhunivelze"s head. "Then he dies!" we both called, and stabbed our sword into the head. The face of Bhunivelze collapsed and fell off. The rest of the entire set was in flames.

The Rook smiled and crossed his arms. Rather than taking his cloak off like a regular person would, he simply flexed his muscles and the entire thing was torn to shreds, leaving him in just a set of blue pants and black boots and revealing appearance to the world. He was truly a mountain of a man, standing at over seven feet tall and possessing enough muscles to put most bodybuilders to shame. His complexion was light and his head was bald save for a single lock of curly blond hair just above his forehead. His eyebrows also had no hair, and he sported a thick blonde handlebar mustache that accentuated his cleft chin. To go with all this were his blue eyes and unusually long eyelashes, contrasting with the rather menacing look the rest of his appearance gave him. This man was none other than Alex Louis Armstrong, alchemist and Rook within Deiru"s peerage. Alex clapped his hands-which were covered by spiked metal gauntlets-together. "Alright, it"s time to begin! Witness the alchemic power that has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!" he roared, and slammed one fist into the ground. Not a moment later, the ground burst apart and erupted in a series of spikes that formed in a line leading from him to the gymnasium. When the spikes reached the gym, the entire building began shaking and cracks began to appear along the walls. Then he punched the ground with his other fist, creating another wave of earth spikes that, once they reached the building, caused it to shake even further and the cracks to spread faster. A few seconds later, the building groaned before collapsing inwards, having been destroyed at the foundations and force to collapse into nothing but a pile of debris. Alex smiled. "And that is how you collapse a building, my dear Lucy!" he called, striking a pose that showed off his biceps. Interestingly enough, the action also caused a series of sparkles to surround him. Lucy had to refrain from rolling her eyes, and said "Whatever. Let"s just get back." Then she walked away, and Alex struck a few more poses before catching up to her. Riser stared out the window of the Main School Building, watching in shock as the entire Gym was forced to collapse while the two members of Deiru"s peerage responsible walked away, completely unscathed. He had previously taken his opponent lightly, thinking that he was just another weak devil with a peerage full of weak Evil Pieces. As if to mock his previous thoughts, Grayfia chose that moment to talk over the loudspeaker, calling "Two of Riser-sama"s Pawns,one of Riser-sama"s Rooks and one Riser-sama"s Bishops have been retired." But now, after seeing this? He needed to rethink his plans. Reaching to the communicator in his ear, he activated it and spoke up. "Yubelluna, fall back. Return to headquarters and stand guard in case anymore of this trash"s peerage shows up," he ordered. On the end of the line, he could he his Queen reply. "Of course, Riser-sama. I"ll be right back immedia- AAAH!" he heard, jumping to his feet when he heard her scream in pain. "What happened?! What"s going on?!" he demanded. When all he got was static, his eyes widened. "Yubelluna!" he yelled. With Yubelluna... The Bomb Queen winced in pain as she managed to catch herself before she hit the ground. She didn"t know what had happened. One moment she was hovering the air near the Gynasium, ready to unleash an explosion large enough to take both Lucy and Alex out of the game. Then Riser-sama came on the line, telling her to retreat. She didn"t have a problem with that, seeing as she would always do what Riser wished. But just as she had turned to begin heading back, she felt as if a freight train had smashed into her back and sent her downwards, barely able to stop herself from creating a crater in the shape of herself in the ground. Yubelluna looked back up to where she had been, and saw no one there. But she did hear a voice, one that cackled loudly and said "Oh, that too good! The look on your face when I got you? Now that was funny!" She glared up at the sky. What was it with this peerage and the invisible attacks? "Show yourselves!" she called. There was a moment of silence, and then her unseen foe chose to reveal himself. His appearance was somewhat humanoid, with a very thin build, gray-blue skin and spiky black hair. His lips were dark blue and exposed his pointed teeth, while his eyes with large and round with yellow sclera and red irises. To top it off, his limbs were unusually long and each finger ended in sharps nails. Ryuk grinned and gave her a mock-salute, saying "You called? I am the Shinigami Ryuk, and Deiru"s other Rook." Before Yubelluna could reply, she heard another voice say "And I am his Knight." Then she saw Hannah descend from above behind her. She looked between both of them, and frowned. Given how much that hit to her back was still hurting, she could guess that Ryuk was more than strong enough to stop her if she tried to escape. And even if she wasn"t, there was no telling yet how fast this Hannah woman was. Therefore, if she wanted to obey Riser"s order and return to his side, she"d need to get rid of them both to keep going. With that in mind, she raised her staff and smiled at them, though said smile was anything but sweet. "I see. It"s a pleasure to meet you both. And now, I"ll be able to remember your names after I blow you to pieces," she said. Hannah returned her smile and began reaching for her mouth. "Oh, I wouldn"t be so sure about that," she said, before shoving her hand down her throat. Yubelluna reared back, repulsed at the sight, before shock accompanied her disgust when Hannah began pulling a sword, of all things, out of her throat. "Holy shit..." Issei muttered, staring at the screen. The other were similarly shocked, having seen just two members of Deiru"s peerage annihilate an entire quarter of Riser"s and also demolish an entire building with just two hits. Then, his other Rook hit Riser"s Queen hard enough to nearly knock her out of the air. Even the others were just as shocked. Kiba"s shock grew when he saw Hannah pull that sword out of her, recognizing it immediately. "That sword! It"s the blade Lævateinn!" he called. Issei blinked, confused. "Huh? What"s Lævateinn?" he asked. The others looked to Kiba as well, knowing that he was the most knowledgeable on famous swords out of any of them. Continuing to watch the match, Kiba explained "Lævateinn is an ancient and cursed sword, which is said to be "cloaked in eternal darkness". Whether or not that"s true, I don"t know. But I do know that it is a sword that can cut through the very soul of a devil, and any soul pierced by it can be destroyed completely. It"s supposed to require a living person to act as its sheathe, but I guess now we know who that is." The others looked at Hannah and her sword at that, while Rias performed a mental checklist in her head. A mutant, an alchemist, a Shinigami, and now the living sheathe of an ancient sword. Just the hell was Deiru going to reveal next? Within the Underworld, Grayfia stood next to her husband, Sirzechs Lucifer, as they both watched the Rating Game with great interest. For Sirzechs, it was not only because of the fact that this Deiru Ouroboros was a new player on the scene, but also because the fate of his beloved Ria-tan was dependent on this fight. If Deiru lost, then his precious little sister"s destiny was sealed. Even so, he chuckled at seeing everything that had occurred so far. "Well, this certainly seems to have turned out better than we thought. Isn"t that right, Father?" he asked, looking over at the two seats on his right. The one closer to him was occupied by a middle-aged looking man with bright blue eyes and long hair that was just as crimson as Sirzechs with a short stubble. This was Zeoticus Gremory, head of the House of Gremory and his and Rias"s father. Zeoticus nodded, smiling pleasantly. "Yes, this Deiru child is proving to be much more formidable than we initially expected. If what we saw from this first encounter repeats itself, he could very well win," he commented. A grunt from next to him had him turning his gaze to the occupant of the other chair. He was a man of similar age to Zeoticus, though his hair was blonde, only reached his chin and spiked in the back. Also, his eyes were of a lighter shade of blue. This was Riser"s father, Lord Phenex. Currently, he was glaring at the screen and looking none too pleased by the events unfolding. If it had been Rias holding her own against his son, that would be one thing, and he"d even commend her for it. But for someone like to just show up out of the blue, challenge a member of his family and have already made a spectacle of it in the first match? Not even someone as humble as him could swallow that pill right away. And so, he said "I"m withholding judgement until after we"ve seen everything. For all we know, this could be the extent of his strength. If so, then he still will lose to my son soon enough." Deiru smirked as he sensed Hannah and Ryuk begin engaging Riser"s Queen in the skies above. Now that she was being taken care of, he considered what to do with his remaining servants. His thoughts were cut off when he heard Grayfia once more, calling "Three of Riser-sama Pawns, one of Riser-sama"s Knights and three of Deiru-sama"s Pawns have been retired." He frowned at that. He had sent the Triplets off to patrol the surrounding forests and intercept any enemy who tried to come close, and looks like they had indeed found some enemies. He had thought that the three of them together would be enough to take on any of Riser"s Pawns, but apparently adding a Knight to the match had evened it out. Pity. And he was going to have those three switch to investigating the track field for anyone stationed there. "Well, that simply won"t do,' he thought, before looking down at the map. Between here and the Main Building was a lot of open space, which had been divided up by baseball, football and track fields. None of those places had a lot of cover, so any attempt to get to there would likely end in a brawl. At that, he smirked. Well, if a brawl was needed, then a brawl would be given. And he knew two servants who perfect for combat in wide-open areas. Looking at one of them, he said "Izuna," and got her attention. Izuna was a young girl with dark purple hair held back with a yellow headband and chestnut eyes, though the pupils were slit like a cat"s. Also, rather than a normal set of ears, she possessed to large foxlike ears covered in fur with the same color as her hair, and sprouting from the small of her back was a fluffy tail, also of the same color. She wore a short white kimono that was tied shut with a large red bow, and over that was large beige robe with a red border. On her feet were a pair of sandals and white socks. She was another of Deiru"s Pawns. Pointing at the map, Deiru said "Now that we"ve leveled the Gym, our next target will be the baseball field. You and Patchouli are to head there and pick off any opponents that you find. If it turns out that you need any help, notify me and I"ll send assistance," he said. Patchouli closed her book and stood. "We will have this taken care of quickly," she said. Izuna nodded. "Yeah. We won"t lose to those losers, thank you!" she declared. As they left, Deiru stood. Now was what he considered to be his favorite part of the plan-the part where he took the fight directly to Riser. "Prepare yourself, Phenex. Now you face a dragon," he said, and gathered the rest of his peerage before moving out. And that"s that. Ordinally, I had planned to write the whole Rating Game in this one chapter, but that ended up not happening. Oh, well. Now I have inspiration for the next one! And here"s the updated peerage so far: King: Deiru Ouroboros Queen: ? Bishop 1: Patchouli Knowledge (Touhou Project) Bishop 2: ? Knight 1: Hannah Annafellows (Kuroshitsuji) Knight 2: Walter C. Dornez (Hellsing) Rook 1: Ryuk (Death Note) Rook 2: Alex Louis Armstrong (Full Metal Alchemist) Pawn 1: Canterbury (Kuroshitsuji) Pawn 2: Thompson (Kuroshitsuji) Pawn 3: Timber (Kuroshitsuji) Pawn 4: Mittelt (DxD) Pawn 5: ? Pawn 6: ? Pawn 7: Izuna Hatsuse (No Game No Life) Pawn 8 (Mutated Pawn): Kaede/Lucy/Nyu (Elfen Lied) And before any of you start saying how neither Alex or Izuna died in their respective series, I did say that I would be breaking my only-dead-characters for a few peerage members. Those are two of them. And I already have the rest of the peerage figured out, so don"t worry about that. Also, before we get to harems, I have an announcement in regards to the harem declarations from last chapter. I don"t know how it got past me, but I ended up putting the wrong girl as the fourth member of Issei"s harem. Somehow, I had written down that it would be Mittelt who would be the fourth girl for Issei, when I actually meant to put Ravel in that spot. Like I said, I don"t know how I missed that, but it happened. So, yeah. Mittelt is not is Issei"s harem. Ravel is. Also, considering that we just had a tie breaker between Rossweisse and Akeno last chapter, I deliberately did not count the votes for Rossweisse this time around. Will I count them for the fifth spot? Absolutely. But not this time. So, fourth member of Deiru"s peerage had been voted to be... The Mascot Rook, Koneko Toujou! To be frank, I was honestly not expecting Koneko to make it in. A surprisingly number of people want Deiru to paired with Seekvaira Agares for some reason, enough that she was only two votes behind Koneko. She might make it in for the last spot, but who knows? That all depends on you guys and who you vote for in the review box. And the fifth and final member of Issei"s harem will be... The Cheerful Witch, Le Fay Pendragon! So that"s it. I expect the Rating Game will concluded next chapter, and following that is the fallout from these events and, after that, the start of Season 2. Stay tuned! Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I"m just kidding... or am?) Author"s Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners. And we are here! Rather than do homework like I should have, I spent all day today and yesterday working on this chapter just to get it out to you guys earlier than I had planned, and it looks like it paid off. Today we will have the conclusion to the Rating Game, more peerage debuts, and all the fun stuff in between. But first, replies! Gundam 09: Oh, don"t you worry. Riser"s fear will definitely still be there. And Deiru will go his own way eventually, but not before trying to carry out the task he was born for. AcclaimingTR, nightmaster000, Cf96, HelpfulNudge, desdelor97, Guest #4: Thank you for your kind words. King0fP0wers: Yeah, I thought that having Armstrong would be a good yet funny choice. I always considered him to be both. Hellspam: Lilith? Now that is a good question. I hadn"t even thought about how he would react to Lilith until I read your review. But now... *grins* oh, the ideas. Charli J Lee: While I"m not so sure about something very surprising, I did like writing the scenes nonetheless. GodX and Fire Dragon King: Your votes have been tallied. Monekyman9835: And thus is there an update. Piemaster981: Kudos to you then, for correctly guessing so soon. Akuma-Heika: The reason I didn"t have Ophis consider on gods was more of a choice on my part than anything else. I knew going in that I wanted Deiru"s other parent to be a devil (so that he could have a peerage) but I also knew that I wanted that Devil to be one of strongest beings in existence. And since Sirzechs was on the Top 10, that made him a prime candidate in my mind. Guest #1: I actually just started watching Seven Deadly Sins last week. I"m only two episodes in, but I"m liking what I"ve seen so far. Guest #2: Ask and ye shall receive. Guest #3: You are right, up until this point Deiru wanted to keep a lower profile. It"s one of the reasons why he keeps so much of his power restrained. But if he were to ever unleash all of his power and fight at full strength, you"d be right in your predictions. YeTianshi: I"m am planning on something smilar when the truth does come out. And yes, Mittelt can still use her light abilities. And EH-01: How indeed? Heh heh. And now, the show goes on! Chapter 7: Dragon vs Phoenix Patchouli and Izuna stepped onto the baseball field, looking around. Although there appeared to be no initial signs of Riser or his peerage, that didn"t mean that they weren"t there. They were just hiding. "How do you think we should go about this? They might be hiding in the trees, so should I use one my fire spells to burn them away? Or should I use a water spell to create a flood and flush them out?" Patchouli asked. She really had no problem with either. Izuna response was to step forward and look towards the "sky". "Hey, you scaredy-ass chickens! Come out and fight, please!" she yelled. Behind her, Patchouli"s eyebrow twitched. Despite both her and Hannah"s efforts, they had not yet been able to make Izuna understand that adding "please" or "thank you" to a sentence did not automatically make it polite. Nonetheless, the young girl"s shouting had some effect, as they heard a woman"s voice laughing. In a blur of speed, said woman appeared a short distance away from them. She had light brown hair and green eyes, and was wearing silver armor that was a strange mix between a European knight"s and a Japanese samurai"s. There was a chestplate, gauntlets, greaves and hip plates and shoulder guards. She also had a headband that went across her forehead. "My name is Karlamine, a Knight who has pledged to serve Riser-sama. To be honest, I"m not sure whether to be more concerned or insulted that a child has been sent to face me. But if you wish for a fight, far be from me to deny you!" the now-named Karlamine declared, drawing her broadsword from its place on her left hip. Izuna looked back at Patchouli, who merely shrugged. Nodding, the dog-eared girl looked back at their foe. "My name is Izuna, a Pawn that Deiru recruited because he thought I was strong. I looking forward to fighting you, so thanks," she said, spreading her feet apart and crouching low. The nails on her hands abruptly sharped, and her tail swayed from side-to-side in anticipation. Karlamine nodded. "You"re welcome. Now, allez!" she called, and shot forward. Izuna also pounced, both of them swinging. Sparks flew as, to Karlamine"s shock, Izuna to was able to block her blade with just her claws. She decided to up the ante up surrounding her sword in flames. Izuna let go of the sword but swung her leg beneath her guard. Although Izuna was too short for the kick to have connected, her sandal did come off and fly right into Karlamine"s stomach. Quickly, Karlamine pulled back and shot a crescent-shaped wave of fire at the girl, who ducked under it and charged at her. Avoiding the burning blade, she looked at the Knight"s legs. "What was it that Deiru said? Oh yeah. Take out a Knight"s ability to run and they"re open,' she thought. With that in mind, she lunged and tried to gain a hit on the unarmored section of Karlamine"s right leg. But apparently, the woman anticipated that, and countered with a rising knee that would have caught Izuna right in the chin if she hadn"t stopped herself. But that left her open to getting her own stomach injury, this one from Karlamine"s armored boot. As Patchouli watched the two of them duke it out, she idly conjured a barrier behind her. A fireball the size of a buffalo slammed into it, pushing against the barrier for a moment before fizzling out. Turning around, she regarded the ones who would be her opponents. The first one she noticed was the one responsible for the fireball, a young girl with brown hair and yellow eyes, who was wearing a formal kimono colored in layers of orange, purple and pink. Then there another woman with shorter hair and gray eyes, though half of her face was covered by a plain white mask. She was also wearing off-jeans and a jacket, exposing her midriff, cleavage and her right thigh. Last were the two cat-girls with green and red hair respectively, both dressed in skimpy sailor uniforms. The kimono-clad girl smiled at her kindly, as if they weren"t enemies. "I"m impressed that you could block my attack, though maybe I shouldn"t be. After all, we"re both Bishops. My name is Mihae and, although I"d prefer not to, Riser-sama has ordered me to fight you," she said, bowing. Patchouli wondered whether or not to bow back, and decided to do so. However, when she did, she conjured another barrier when the busty girl with the mask tried to attack her from above. She grunted and moved back. "While I have the same orders as my comrade, I am nowhere nearly as unwilling. My name is Isbaela, and I will destroy you!" she declared, before going into a flurry of punches and kicks. Each one bounded off Patchouli"s barrier with no visible effect, though it did force the witch to keep her focus on maintaining it. That let the cat-girls, Ni and Li, come around from the side and try to attack her in her blind spot.

Ophis looked at each of them were eye that were glowing gray, and for the briefest of moments, an image of a truly massive dragon was superimposed over her. Then it faded, and Ophis asked in a voice that seemed to boom and yet was a whisper at the same time. "...Do you three truly believe that I would need to resort to trickery on three lower beings such as yourselves?" she asked. The triplets actually trembled at the power that Ophis was exuding, even as they tried to force their own bodies to stop shaking. She held their gaze for a moment longer before dismissing her power. The glow in her eyes, the swirling wind and the aura of supreme might all vanished, and she asked "Now... are you going to follow me and see for yourselves that Hannah lives? Or will you stay here and continue to wallow in misery?" Without even waiting for an answer, she swung her arm and ripped open another void in space that would lead back to the manor. As she walked through, the triplets looked at each other. "That chick is scary," Canterbury stated. "Almost as scary as if we actually made Miss Hannah mad at us," Thompson said. "I say we follow her," Timber told them. Without another word, they scrambled to their feet and rushed through the portal before it could close on them. And that ends this second chapter of Infinite Legacy. Hopefully, with this out of my head and my flash drives recovered, I can finally update the rest of my stories at a more regular pace than what has been. Considering that I start college in a few weeks, however, I am not 100% sure on that one. Either way, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and know that the beginning of the canon and Kuoh Academy will be in the next chapter! Also, the votes have been tallied, and the first girl for each harem has been decided! The first girl for Deiru"s harem has been determined to be... The Sexy Two-Tails, Kuroka! And the first girl for Issei"s harem will be... ...Actually, this one was a tie. A four-way tie, actually. An equal number of votes were made for Issei to be with Rias, Akeno, Asia or Irina. Which means that this tie will be broken next chapter, with both it and the second girl being announced! Know that I will announce one more girl with each chapter that comes, and while I will start the harems with five girls, there is the chance that they will expand depending on how the plot develops and if I feel ready enough to make the attempt to accurately portray more than five different relationships. So keep voting, stay tuned, and look out for more! (And yes, you can vote for the same person again. I will count it.) Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I"m just kidding... or am I?) Author"s Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners. Author"s Note: Well, I"m certainly back earlier than I expected. Perhaps the fact that I am back in school has encouraged me to actually get off my lazy ass and be productive once more.*Adopts a thinking pose* This merits investigation. Either way, this next chapter is here, and I hope you all enjoy both it and the review replies! DogOfTheApocolypse: Glad that you like Kuroka as well; something about neko-girls just gets me. Maybe because I have a cat of my own... Maybe. Either way, thank you. The Ultimate Dragon Lord, Deathrod12, RogeRalde, Cf96 and Guest: Thank you for your kind words. DeadMenPlaying, atchoum35, Renzo337, UltimateKING, gundam 09, JOlBoltz, AlchemistPhill, Grim Repaer, Loup Garou10, FallenANGEL, Rafael66, NicoWhite, Brune Fly, XSamael, ALvin20 and AngelicIncubus: Your votes have been tallied. Johnsontaiwo57: I sent my reply to your review in a PM (since it was too long to fit here). ReaperX01: I will try to update as often as my other fics and outside life allow. King0fP0wers: Honestly, I am unsure as to whether or not to give Deiru the Power of Destruction at all. His abilities from his devil and dragon blood already place him on such a high level, I fear that giving him that kind of ability would make him too OP. And yes, Hannah is his Knight. And while I have personally not seen any of the anime that you listed (except for Soul Eater, which I just started) I will at least take look at the characters you suggested. LastEncore: I can take a look at the characters you listed. What anime are each of them from? GodX: Yeah, I noticed that there were not a lot of OC fanfictions for DxD, or at least not in the categories that I"ve been looking. Glad to see what I brought forth caught your eye. PikaMew1288: Ophis would not have a child with Great Red since she had a child specifically to defeat him, so there is no way he would agree to that. Though if Great Red had been Deiru"s father... I shudder to think of the power. DarkShadow481: Ophis had a child because she considered that child to be her best ally to defeating Great Red, since she does not have the power to do it alone. Either way, your votes are tallied. DevilSalyer486: Indeed, there is the facet in that devils would be attracted to beings of great power, which is similar to Kuroka"s desire to have Deiru"s child due to his genes. As for the family component, that would make things more complicated, I agree. Wacko12: I actually was going to do a human originally, but I scrapped that idea later in favor of a devil. Devin sands: Deiru will not be qualified as a "good guy" nor is he an antagonist like the Hero Faction or Qlippoth. His only goal (for now, at least) is that which he was born for: to defeat Great Red and return his mother to the Dimensional Gap. IzanamiGio: Your analysis of Deiru so far is correct RadioPoisoning: I will give it my best effort not to. Chu: While I will not have Crom Cruach as his only Pawn or Erza Scarlet as his other Knight, I will consider having Valerie Tepes as his other Bishop. It does sound like an intriguing thought. And AIsack: Your votes have been taken into account, same as with your suggestions of the peerage. Valerie in partcilular caught my eye; I am giving it generous thought. And now, let the chapter begin! Chapter 3: A New Student 6 years later (One month before the start of canon) ... Now at the age of eighteen, Deiru stood proudly in front of the gates of Kuoh Academy. His features were similar to what they were in his younger years, only now they had matured and his hair had lengthened long enough for him to pull in back into an immaculate ponytail. That reached between his shoulder blades. He was also dressed in the male Academy uniform, pressed and folded until it fitted to him perfectly. It would not do to start his first day looking like a slob. As he stood there, admiring the architecture of the building, several of the others students passed by him with whispers and some stares. Questions as to who the new guy was, which class he was in, why his eyes were two different colors. And, amongst the female student specifically, of hos dashing he looked. Finally snapping out of his trance, he looked over at one of the students. "Excuse me, ma"am?" he said, approaching her. The girl herself was tall with blue, shoulder length hair and matching eyes, with something of a tomboyish appearance and a face charactering the term bishounen. She raised an eyebrow once he came close. "Yes, can I help you?" she asked. Deiru took a moment to bow formally, as he was taught. "Greetings and salutations, madam. My name is Deiru Ouroboros, and I am a new student at this Academy. I was told that, in order to obtain my class schedule, I would have to see the Student Council President. Would you be so kind as to point me in the right direction?" he asked, causing some of the nearby girls to giggle at his gentlemanly performance. As it, the girl simply smiled. "Actually, I"m member of the Student Council, so I can take you there. My name is Tsubasa Yura, by the way," she said. Deiru smiled and nodded. "Then, by all means, lead the way, Yura-san," he said. Tsubasa nodded and began walking towards the building, while Deiru followed close behind. As he was guided to the location of the Council, he reflected upon his reason for being at this school. Flashback: Begin Deiru kneeled in front of his mother, his peerage behind him following suit. Ophis had called for him so that he may receive his first mission as a member of Khaos Brigade, and move out along with his peerage. "...Deiru Ouroboros. You have been called here to receive details about your first mission. Are you willing to obtain these details?" Ophis asked. Deiru nodded without hesitation. "I am, Mother," he responded. In reply, Ophis held up her hand and generated a swirl of colors in midair. Those colors then came together to form three images. The first was of Kuoh Academy, the second being the crests of the Gremory and Sitri families. "Our intelligence... has gathered that the heiresses to two of the strongest devil clans-the House of Sitri and the House of Gremory-are attending a school in the human world. Both houses possess immense power, and can be great boons to our cause if they were to be recruited. However, if they become our enemies, then they will be great burdens instead," she explained. Getting an idea, Deiru said "And so you wish for me to infiltrate this Academy and speak with them?" Ophis shrugged. "...In essence, yes. You will be posing as a student of the Academy and enroll there, where you will keep an eye on the two heiresses and their activities. Should an opportunity for you to bring them into the Khaos Brigade arise, you are to take it. Until then, however, you will keep your existence as anything but a normal human concealed, along with your peerage." "Should you be forced to reveal your devil status, however, you must still hide your dragon heritage along with your connection to the Khaos Brigade. At that point, your objective will be to obtain a high enough ranking in devil society that you will be able to act as the Brigade"s voice in Underworld. Do you understand this?" Ophis explained. Deiru nodded again. Play the role of student, enter the school, and keep an eye on the two heiresses until they could be recruited. Failing that, reveal his devil blood and become a devil of high-enough ranking that he can act for the Khaos Brigade from within. Simple enough to understand, even if he had no doubts there were going to be complications. "I understand, Mother, and I accept the mission given to me. When will I begin?" he asked. Ophis waved her hand and generated a portal. "Immediately. Our other agents have already gathered the paperwork necessary to enroll you as a student. You will have a week to familiarize yourself with the city. From there, your undercover mission as a student will begin." Flashback: End And now, Deiru was here, walking to the Student Council room to get his schedule. As a precaution against having their powers sensed, Deiru"s peerage was staying nearby at the mansion unless ordered to go somewhere else while Deiru himself had an array of seals hidden along his body, locking away sections of his power until such time as he needed to release them. At that exact moment, should any inhuman beings try to get a lock on his power level, they"d find that he was no stronger than any other human. Deiru refocused on the present when Tsubasa stopped in front of a set of double doors. Smiling, she said "This is where the Student Council is. Have a good day, Deiru-san." With that, she walked away, presumably to go to her own class. Deiru waited for a moment before knocking firmly on the doors. Not a moment later, he heard a female voice say "Enter" and he pushed the doors open. The room behind was spacious but not overtly so, with a table large enough to hold sixteen people situated in the center and off to the side. The carpet was a deep maroon and complimented the light-colored wallpaper and dark curtains covering the two windows on the far wall. In front of said windows was a desk covered in a light amount of paperwork. And sitting at that desk was a young woman. That woman was in her late teens and possessed a slim, attractive figure with black styled in a short bob cut, vibrant violet eyes, a yellow clip in her hair and spectacles. She wore the Kuoh Academy uniform and, while it was not to say that the other female students did not wear theirs with pride, Deiru could tell this girl took even more care towards her professional image than all the others. Said girl looked up from her paperwork and rose an eyebrow at him. Taking the hint, Deiru bowed. "Good morning, Student Council President. My name is Deiru Ouroboros, a new student beginning this year. I was told that you would be the one to get my schedule from," he said smoothly. The woman nodded and began looking through her files. "I see. Just give me one moment. It is good to meet you, by the way, Deiru-san. May name is Sona. Sona Shitori," she said. Deiru hid a smirk at that. Even if he hadn"t read the intelligence reports, he could easily see now for who this girl really was. Sona Sitri, sister of Serafall Leviathan and, more importantly, heiress to the Sitri House. One of his the hair and eye color hadn"t been an indicator already, the last name was as well. Going from "Sitri" to "Shitori"? Really? Then again, he mused, it could be argued that he wasn"t much of one to talk on that point either. Refocusing on the present, Deiru watched as Sona pulled out a file with his name. Talking a glance through it, she said "Everything seems to be in place. You"ve been cleared to enter the Academy as a third year student, but do not think that means your time here will be easy. Kuoh prides itself on the high level of performance it obtains from its students. I expect nothing less from you." With that, she handed him his file, saying "That said, I do hope you enjoy your time here. Have a nice day, Deiru-san." Deiru smiled and bowed once more. "And a good day to you as well, Sona-kaicho," he replied, before walking away. Making sure that he spoke loud enough to be heard, he said "Now, if only I could find someone who"s actually decent at chess..." Behind him, Sona heard that and straightened. "I beg your pardon?" she asked. Deiru stopped and looked back. "Ah, it seems I spoke too loud. Well, Kaicho, I have been a player of chess for several years and fancy myself as being skilled in the art. It was my hope that there would be someone at this school that is good enough to be a challenge for me," he explained. Now he knew he had Sona interested. He had heard a little tidbit that Sona had in fact been engaged to be married several years ago, but had broken it by beating her fiancée in a game of chess. When he lost-and lost badly-she declared that she would never marry someone who was not smarter than her. As expected, the insinuation that Deiru made of him being a better chess player pricked at her pride. Not that Sona let it show, and simply smiled. "Actually, I do believe I know someone who would be a great match for you. Would you mind returning here during lunch?" she requested. Deiru inclined his head. "I would consider it a privilege. Until then, Sona-san," he said, and walked out of the room. Once he was out, Deiru pulled out his schedule and walked towards where his first class was slated to take place. Unfortunately, in his attempts to find it, he arrived at class late by one minute. The teacher had already begun by the time he walked in, forcing him to stop what he was talking about. "Oh? And who might you be, young man? A new student?" he asked. Deiru nodded and held out his folder, letting the teacher check it. Satisfied, the teacher directed him to an empty seat and resumed his lecture. As he sat down, Deiru took this chance to observe several of the other students around him. None of them were particularly impressive, meaning there were little to no third-years students of any supernatural origin at the Academy besides the two heiresses and their Queens. How disappointing. Ignoring the teacher"s lecture about the phases of cellular mitosis, Deiru pulled out a copy of Bram Stoker"s Dracula (so he had something for fiction novels, sue him) and set to reading. However, ten minutes later, he blinked when he felt a piece of chalk impact his head and heard the teacher call out "Since this lesson is apparently so boring, young man, why don"t you explain for the class what this means?" The teacher punctuated this with a wave at the diagram on the blackboard. Some of the ruder students chuckled at seeing the new guy put in his place, while others held back to see what he would do. Unperturbed and taking a glance at the board, Deiru said "In addition to cytokinesis, mitosis is a process of nuclear division where one parent cell divides into two daughter cells, both of whom are identical to the original and further split apart themselves, resulting an exponential growth in cell count so long as the process repeats itself with each new daughter cell." Then he sat back down and resumed reading. The same students that laughed before now did so again at the dumbfounded look on the teacher"s face, obviously having not expected Deiru to be able to answer the question. Silently fuming, he resumed the lesson while making sure to ignore Deiru for the rest of the session. Later, it was with no small amount of curiosity that Deiru walked into the Student Council Room when it came to be time for lunch. Just who had Sona chosen to pit against Deiru in a game of chess? He received his answer when he saw Sona sitting at her desk, only with two new people flanking her. Both of them were wearing the female Academy uniform with long black hair. However, the similarities ended there. The first had her hair straight and down to her knees with split bangs. Her eyes were light brown and she wore blue semi-rimmed glasses with square lenses. The other young woman had an extremely voluptuous figure with her hair reaching all the way down to her legs despite being in a ponytail with an orange ribbon, as well as two strands sticking out from the top. Her eyes were a violet color that had equal parts seduction and elegance. Curious, Deiru directed his gaze at Sona, who cleared her throat. "Deiru-san, I have found two opponents for you to combat in chess today. This is Tsubaki Shinra, Vice-President of the Student Council and third-best chess player in the entire school..." she said, waving a hand at the girl with glasses. Tsubaki bowed but said nothing, merely looking at Deiru with a serious and somewhat calculating gaze. "And Akeno Himejima, Vice-President of the Occult Research Club and fourth-best at chess in the school." Akeno giggled and bowed as well before standing, the action causing her massive breasts to bounce somewhat. Deiru had to avoid staring. How in the hell did they get that large-they had to be bigger than Kuroka"s! Sona spoke again, forcing him to refocus. "Since you have made the claim to being an exceptional chess player, it is my wish that you will play the both of them in separate games to determine whether or not what you say is true," she stated. Deiru raised an eyebrow and looked at him both. Two of the four best chess players in the entire Academy. He had to resist grinning. Now this was challenge he might actually enjoy. Looking over at one of the couches in the room, Deiru saw that two of them had been positioned to face each other with a small table and chess set between them. Sitting on one side, he smiled and said "Then I believe the first move would be to you, Akeno-san." Akeno smiled demurely and sat down across from him. "My, my, what such good manners for such a young man. You might actually sweep some of the girls here off their feet, Deiru-san," she told him. That caused Deiru to blink, not expecting the sudden flirting, but he got over it quickly enough when he glanced down at the board and saw that she had already moved one of her pawns forward two squares. Deiru shook his head. "She"s trying to distract you, to throw you off your game. Do not let her,' he told himself, before copying her move with one of his pawns. Both Sona and Tsubaki watched the game intently, curious as to how he would fare. A few moves later, Akeno moved her Queen forward and Deiru responded by castling his King and Rook. Then Akeno moved a Knight forward and to the left, but that Knight was then captured by one of his Bishops. Akeno blinked in surprise and Deiru let himself smile. First blood had been drawn. Let it be seen who remained at the end. Precisely thirty minutes later, Akeno was down to just her King and Queen while Deiru had his King, Knight, Rook and one Pawn. While both of them had hardly let their emotions show, one could now see that Akeno was unsettled at the fact that she was on the losing side in a match that did not involve Tsubaki, Rias or Sona playing against her. Then she lost her Queen piece after barely managing to take out the Knight and Rook. Instead, it was some new student that she had only today heard of, and he was handing her ass over to her!

Uried stood straight again. "Ah, yes, Your plan was for me to be a fail-safe if Deiru were to ever die. If he was, I"d take control and save his ass, and then I was supposed to give that control back, right? Too bad I liked having a body of my own," he said. Etro growled and flung out her hand, calling "Heaven"s Wrath!" and firing a trio of massive red, yellow and blue lightning bolts. But Uried simply muttered "Black Blizzaga," and a wall of black ice erupted around him, blocking both the lightning bolts and I strike from me with Omnes. I glared through the ice, knowing he could hear me, and yelled "Tell us what you want, or Etro and I can make sure you don"t leave this place!" Uried mock-sighed and waved his land, lowering the ice until it vanished into the ground. "What I wanted to do was, an I speak the truth, congratulate you on your saving of Noel"s soul," he said. At that we both blinked, and I lowered Omnes while Etro leaned back. "What do you mean?" we both asked. Uried chuckled. "Okay, quick question. Exactly who do you think made that Oracle Drive that Noel was obsessing over?" he asked. I raised an eyebrow. "You?" I questioned, and he shook his head. "No, it was Lumina. She underestimated Noel though- she didn"t expect his thoughts of what Yeul desired to overcome his own desire to bring her back. I tried warning her, but she"s as headstrong as Lightning herself. That"s why just stuck to manipulating the cultists," he said. "Why did you do that, by that way? I find it hard to believe that you would go through all that trouble just to destroy the Order?" Etro inquired. Grinning fiendishly, Uried nodded. "Sharp as ever, my lady. You"re only half-right though. I did go manipulate the Children of Etro to destroy the Order of Salvation, but it wasn"t the Order"s destruction I was after. I wanted the hatred felt by those affected," he replied. I frowned. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, the Chaos itself feeds on negativity. Emotions like anger, despair, bloodlust- both the Chaos and I find them simply... delectable," he said, suppressing a shudder at the mere thought. While we were both giving him looks of disgust, he continued "And the anger the Children of Etro felt was perfect source. All they wanted to do was hold onto their beliefs without being persecuted. The Order wouldn"t allow that, trying to cram their beliefs about Bhunivelze down their throats. "And so, I stepped into the scene. Humans like you are, by nature, a very violent bunch. All it took was a few fancy words, and I managed to stir the cultists into a frenzy, ready to take up arms against the Order to protect what they believed. And if the Children by some small chance managed to take down the Order, just imagine the pandemonium that would come from it. Even places like the Dead Dunes and the Wildlands have been affected by the Order, and they have their own branch in Yusnaan. If the Order were to be destroyed, the ripples outwards would spread and hit everything with the force of a tidal wave. And I would be there to revel in it all," Uried said. Then his smile faded. "But not only did you and Lightning manage to stop that plan in its tracks, but you managed to even make the Children"s idol, the Shadow Hunter, into a Mr Goofy-Two-Shoes. I was understandably pissed,"he added. "Our hearts bleed for you, monster," Etro said sarcastically. Uried rolled his eyes, and said "But I"m getting off track. That Oracle Drive was nothing more than an illusion, something pretty that Lumina made. Kind of like this Bhunivelze fellow. He seems all-powerful and omnipresent, but he has no more power than you, me, or Etro. I wonder how he would react if he learned you were holding the soul of his least favorite child?" I chuckled at that. "Dumbass, he already knows. And he"s willing to look past that to let me help Lightning," I said. Uried looked surprised at that, before scoffing. "Of course. He"d do anything to make sure his precious pawn of a "Savior" stays alive and completes her mission," he said. I gritted my teeth, and yelled "Lightning is nobody"s pawn, you piece of shit!" Uried raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Well, I"ll let you just believe that. Other pawns never like to admit that they"re also being controlled," he said. At that I yelled and swung at Uried again, but then he disintegrated in a burst of black smoke. It drifted away until it vanished, and when it did the landscape of my mind around me did as well. When the darkness faded I was in the Ark again, Lightning standing next to me. Her expression was just as aggravated as mine, so asked "You just talked with Lumina, didn"t you?" She nodded. "And you? Did Uried talk with you?" she asked. I nodded back, and she asked "What did he say?" "Some shit about us being pawns. I don"t believe a word of it. What about Lumina?" Lightning shrugged. "She was talking about how God can"t see everything. She irritates me," she said. I was silent for a moment, before I said "Well, let"s not worry about them for now. We have a job to do." Lightning nodded, and we walked towards the edge of the platform near Yggdrasil. Lightning held her hand to her chest and it glowed, before a bright sphere containing all the souls we had saved that day emerged. It flew forward and entered the flower at the top of Yggdrasil, and a new flower gray from the trunk. "There..." she said. I grunted. The Second Day was over. Once we left the Ark, it was time for the Third to begin. Hope looked over from his monitors. "Nice job Light, Deiru. It"s good to see you again," he said. "Same here, Hope," I said, and Lightning nodded. Then she stepped forward, and said "If the prophecy from the Oracle Drive is true, then maybe I should have died. That would be best, if it brings out the best possible future for everyone." I blinked. Didn"t she just talk with Lumina. Before I could ask, Hope replied "I"m not so sure about that. The moment you two die, you"ll have failed in your missions as Savior and Protector. And that, in turn, means you could not save Noel"s soul. What would happen to him then?" Lightning frowned. "You"re saying those images in the Oracle Drive weren"t real. Those scenes here everyone looked so happy, so safe... they were no more than just a "pretty fake"," she said. Now I understood. Lightning was playing dumb to see if what Lumina said checked out. I listened more closely now, and Hope nodded. "They were just pictures- there"s no way to see into the hearts of the people you saw in them," he said. So Uried and Lumina were telling the truth. But if a future where everyone was happy was fake, then what was real? Deciding to put it to the side for future though, I listened again to what Hope was saying. "Vanille and Fang turned into a giant crystal pillar and together, they held up entire world. "We were all supposed to be in it together, but in the end, the entire burden fell on their shoulders. So you see, they have to be helped- we don"t have any choice. We owe them," he said. "Right you are. And we can do that by giving them the future they worked so hard to protect," I said. Hope smiled. "I"m glad we agree. Here, this is a gift," he said, and waved his hand. A treasure sphere appeared, and inside were the garbs Black Mage and White Mage. Lightning and I readjusted our schemata, purchased a set of new items from Hope and, once everything was taken care of, we stepped onto the teleporter. Just a few more hours, and then we could sneak into the Augur"s Quarter and enter the Patron"s Palace. Again, I"m really sorry for having not updated. I promise not to let it get this bad again! On another note, the mystery has grown. Vanille must gather all the souls for their salvation, Uried is leaving behind some vexing words, and the Sneaking-In Special is soon to begin! Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I"m just kidding... or am I?) Author"s Note: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII-2 or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners. Notice: Yeah, I"ve really already said this. School work, no time, unable write, yada-yada. Still true, but that"s the reason why I haven"t been able to post. But now I have, thankfully enough, and have brought the latest chapter and set of replies to you all! Enjoy! Rsdk525: Nice job on picking that up, and as for what it meant... heh heh heh. SolidSamurai223: Really? The only one? Man, I"m Sorry that I haven"t posted sooner than. But thank you, and the confrontation will be before too long. Devil-l"Cie: Yes, I do hate. So very much. But thank you for the kind words, and I hope this chapter doesn"t let you down. TempoTechStudios: Your are most welcome, but I",m sorry to say that I will not be doing any crossing over. And Guest: The answer is up above. And now, let us begin! Ch.15 Sneaking-In Special Once 6 P.M. came near Lightning and I used our teleport abilities to appear at the Yusnaan station, startling more than a few civilians. We ignored them though, and made haste for the industrial area. We made it to the gate with exactly minute to spare, and Hope chose that moment to say "Glad to see you two made it in time. Had you not, the Sneaking-In Special would probably have gone on without you." I grunted. "Well, that"s not happening. We"re getting into the Augur"s Quarter, no if"s, and"s or but"s about it," I replied. Lightning nodded in agreement, and we approached the gatekeeper. "Welcome! Welcome to the famous Sneaking-In Special!" he said through his mask. Lightning merely handed him her ticket, and I followed suite. "Very good, madam and sir! In you go!" he said, hammering a fist against the gate. It slid open with a groan, and he turned to the rest of the tourists. "Now listen up and let me explain the rules! Participation in the tour is strictly at your own risk. Whatever happens ain"t our problem. And... that"s it! Got it?" The tourists all made various replies of confirmation, and Lightning and I passed through. With that we entered the actual industrial area, where Hope spoke up again. "Okay, there"s a fal"Cie called Pandemonium that labors away in this area. It is the last one of its kind in the world," he told me. I raised an eyebrow. "Can we reach it?" I asked. "I wouldn"t try. That fal"Cie is guarded more heavily than even Snow or Vanille. Everything depends on it. It is the source of all the supplies that the world depends on. Humanity wouldn"t last long without it," he explained. We both nodded and jumped over a gap in the metal catwalk before climbing a ladder. Once we reached the top of it we could see the uppermost parts of the castle over the industrial wall. I gazed at it, blue and gold eyes stony. "It"s unbelievable, isn"t it? The whole world is withering away, with Yusnaan no different, and yet it still puts up the face of gallantry and prosperity. Remarkable," I said. Lightning chuckled humorlessly. "Vanity will do wonders. The fools are probably bleeding themselves dry for their "glittering city"," she told me. I chuckled back with just as little humor, and we left. We had to find a way into the tracks- that was the entire point of the Sneaking-In Special. The Tour Guide could only so us so much. We passed by the spot where Pandemonium should have been, even though we couldn"t see it, and a thought struck me. "Um, Hope? If Pandemonium is the world"s primary source of food... then how does it make that food?" I asked. "Every day, it manufactures tons of food and goods, which are distributed around the world. It produces useful goods from nothing- or so it appears. The truth is that it seems to use the Chaos as its raw materials," he told me. At that both Lightning"s eyes and my own widened. "So the food that the people eats comes directly from the Chaos? They put it right in their bodies?" she asked. I paled. "Then... all the food we tried before because of Gordon Gourmet... all of it..." I said, almost puking at the end. Vessel of the Time Goddess be damned, I had fucking eaten Chaos! "What the fuck?!" I yelled. Lightning looked sick too, and Hope must have sensed this somehow, because he quickly added "Before you both vomit, remember that the world itself is dying. The only place left in Nova Chrysalia that farming is even done anymore is in the Wildlands, and that alone is not enough to sustain the remaining population. What must be done to survive must be done." I swallowed hard before nodding, still grossed out. The idea of actually taking a substance which could consume goddesses and destroy and putting inside one"s body? Swallowing again, I stood straight and said "Okay, let"s forget about that and go." Lightning nodded, and we moved forward again. Once we made it onto the tracks we picked up the pace, knowing that it wouldn"t be long before we reached the Augur"s Quarter. As we walked along though, I could feel my senses picking up something- a huge mass of Chaos ahead. Looking over I could see that Lightning sensed it to, and as we both we readied. I changed into my Velvet Bouncer garb- an all-black tuxedo with my Death Herald ax in hand- while Lightning changed to armor she had worn in Valhalla, complete with her Overture gunblade. There weren"t a whole lot of other options. We didn"t want to miss the big bash. The farther we went the stronger the presence grew, until Hope appeared on the link. "Light, Deiru, this is bad. The Chaos just keeps spreading. It"s almost as it gets stronger the more people come to revels. But why would it?" he wondered aloud. "Chaos feeds on despair, right? These people come to the revels because they know their world is ending. That much hopelessness- it"s no wonder that the Chaos is attracted to it," Lightning told him. We climbed another ladder and watched as a single firework went up into the sky, followed by another and another. "Those fireworks signal that the performance is about to begin. Like every other day, the shows about to start in the Upper city," I stated. Within my head I could hear Etro sigh, which caused me to raise an eyebrow. "Putting on plays for the world even while the Chaos creeps in? It"s as if they no longer care," she said. At that I sighed sadly. She had a point. With that happy thought in mind we entered and open area that contained a handful of other tourists. But when Lightning and I walked forward, we heard a very familiar giggling and spun around. Lumina was there, skipping merrily as she moved in front of us. "I found you. Miss me?" she asked. I grunted and swung Omnes at her, but she simply leaned back to avoid and leaped back. Both of us glared at her, and she placed her hands behind her back while tilting her head to the side. "You sure this is a good place for you to be? You can see it, can"t you? This place is going to be Chaos city soon," she announced. "Lumina..." Lightning said tiredly, putting a hand on her hip. The younger pinkette grinned. "The see of Chaos that laps at your heels- it"s one of Yusnaan"s biggest sights. It"s like a part of the show," she said, before turning around and jumping unto the rail. Looking out below, she continued "Wow! Would you just look at it? The Chaos is going to swallow everyone up! I think our Savior and her Protector need to do something. Since it doesn"t seem our Patron is doing much locked up in his palace." I frowned and turned away, muttering "The hell is he thinking?" Lumina heard me though, and jumped down to the floor. "Oh, he"s not. At least, not about the city. He"s just thrown his arms up and given it all up," she told me, throwing her own arms up for emphasis. "He"s just pacing back and forth in that little room of his, waiting for the world to end. You know why, right?" Lumina asked. We both had a pretty good idea, but still shook our heads. "It"s all because of you-know-who. She"s the reason he"s dead inside," she replied. Lightning narrowed her eyes. "You mean Serah," she said. Lumina smiled widely. "That"s it! You aren"t so dumb after all. Of course it"s Serah. Snow"s never been able to let go of her. Do you know how many years" she"s been dead now? Even so, he goes on pining and dreaming and wishing... He basically wore every bit of himself away. And now there"s nothing of Snow left inside," she explained. I gritted my teeth and hung my head. I knew Snow hadn"t been able to forget Serah, but this? If I had just managed to do my job and prevent that event from happening... "So, sis, how about letting Snow free already? For his own sake. If you ask me, it"s time he got out from under all the gloom and memories," she said. All of a sudden the Chaos around us spiked, and Lumina flung her hand towards the sky. A massive pillar of red energy exploded behind her, crackling and sparking with Chaos and electricity. The other tourists all screamed in fear and scattered, quickly leaving the area. From that pillar emerged a Cyclops. Its skin and single eye were both red, and while it had no mouth it did have a massive spiked mace in its right hand. It lowered its head to the ground and Lumina petted it, almost like it was a puppy. "Because otherwise, the only thing he has left to look forward to is the end of everything," she finished. Then she pointed at the both of us, and the Cyclops charged forward. It swung its mace and we both ducked, before Lightning charged forward and began casting Blizzard. I hung back and did the same with Thunder, the two of us battering the monster with ice and lightning. Although it wince it didn"t stop, and instead used Evil Eye. Its eye glowed before it fired a laser that carved a semicircle into the ground, that line then exploding. I held Omnes in front of me and weathered the blow, while Lightning jumped into the air and avoided it entirely. She dropped down and gave the Cyclops a long slash along its left, causing its eye to bulge in pain. It roared before raising its mace and trying to use Squash, but Lightning guarded against the blow. I cast Blizzara and shot a large chunk of ice forward, but the Cyclops batted it away like a baseball. Lightning cast Fira and hit the beast with a ball of fire, creating a small explosion. The beast roared and its body suddenly gained golden colors, and it used Stomp. A shockwave blasted outwards and almost knocked me over, while Lightning guarded against the hit. Then she held up her sword and called "Overclock!" Time itself suddenly slowed to a crawl, with everything going in slow motion except for Lightning. She charged at the Cyclops and dealt a trio of clashes before jumping on its right arm and casting Thunder twice on its head, before swiftly turning around and stabbing her sword into its hand holding the mace. With that Lightning jumped off and landed on the ground just as the Overclock ended, and the Cyclops howled in pain. It dropped its mace and glared at us, before picking it up with its other hand and charging. Once it came close it used Rampage, swinging its mace wildly. I blocked it but one of the spikes cut me across my right arm, while Lightning wasn"t quick enough to fully block the hit. She managed to turn it into a glancing blow though, and took a few steps back to regain her balance. Then the beast raised its foot to use Stomp again, and I charged forward. My palms glowed with a golden Eye of Etro, and I activated my own ability. "Divine Fury!" Both my marks and my golden eye glowed, and I could feel Etro"s power running through me before it was converted to raw physical strength. I ran up the Cyclops and jumped, landing s solid punch to the sole of the foot it was about to stomp down. The blow knocked the beast off-balance and I followed it up with an empowered spinning kick. Cyclops to roar before it fell over, dropping its mace. Lightning and I both charged, and while I jumped onto its chest we took her time in deal with score of hits to its legs. I clasped my fists together before dealing a hammer blow to the center of the Cyclops"s chest, where I heard a sickening crack. It roared before rolling to the side knocking me off, but I landed on my feet and jumped into the air. I could feel the Divine Fury effect ending, so I channeled all of my power into this hit and flew forward with one foot aimed at the Cyclops"s eye. The jump kick worked and I kicked he beast in the eye, the power behind the blood actually causing it to rupture with a spray of blood. The beast howled and blindly reached for me, swinging a punch hard enough that it caused a crater in the ground. It stood back and manged to give Lightning a lucky kick to the chest, sending her skidding back across the ground with a dent in the front of her armor. It reached for where its club had been and picked it up, charging wildly. The move would have been easy to dodge, but at that exact moment the Divine Fury spell ended and my body dropped to one knee, temporally unable to act from the strain of the ability. As such, the Cyclops swung at me and I could not even block, taking the hit full-on. "Deiru!" Lightning called. It sailed back and managed to regain enough control and land on my feet, but dropped back down afterwards. The Cyclops turned in my general direction and came closer, but behind it Lightning"s eyes were blazing in fury.

Also, I again sincerely thank all of you for your suggestions about the peerage members in the review box. I read all of them, looked up each character, and have now made a solid decision as to who each peerage member will be (which is why none of them are listed as "Undecided" anymore). I know I mentioned that all of them would be characters that were dead, written off or never technically "alive" but I will be breaking that rule for three of the peerage members, Patchouli being one of them. So look forward to seeing them! And now, for the third member of each of the harems! For Issei, it shall be... The Durandal Master, Xenovia Quarta! And for Deiru, it shall be... Okay, now we have another tie, but this time it"s on Deiru"s side, and between just two people. An equal number of votes have been cast for both Akeno and Rossweisse, meaning that we are now stuck. Unless this tie is broken (or a different character pulls ahead of them) then the third spot of Deiru"s harem is left open. So, continue to vote and do so for one of these two OR, if you don"t want either of them, vote for someone else (there were a couple other characters that were just barely behind these two!). And now, we have come to a close on this chapter. What shall happen in the next one? We shall find out then! Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I"m just kidding... or am I?) Author"s Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners. Ah, the joy of having finished a scene in a fic that you"ve been picturing since the beginning. The latter half of this chapter is one that I"ve been looking forward to writing for a long while now, and I"d glad to say that I am pleased with the way it translated from my head to paper. So, here"s the next chapter and latest set of reviews! Nightmaster000: Yeah, the decision to add Mittelt was kind of a last-minute thing. I had originally intended to have her head back to the Grigori and be forgiven, but changed my mind and did this instead. Wacko12: What anime is Accelerator from? RedBurningDragon, Piermaster981, gundam 09, San, japs.p9, Lord Bael, Lord-Hadrian-of-Darkness, Argorok, Fire Dragon King, Isaiah and lone. fallen. wolf.: I have read your suggestions for the peerage and used them to help make my final decisions. Also, all of your votes for the harems have been tallied as well. War historian: If and when Deiru"s true heritage does get out, yeah, I can imagine the amount of fear that knowledge will generate. Absolute Mirage, Cf96, Pedro52 and Acclaiming TR: Thank you for your kind words. RT: As long as the members of the various factions obey Ophis and follow through with her goal (having them help her defeat Great Red) then Deiru will not have an issue with them. However, the moment any of them betray his mother or try to use the Khaos Brigade for any other purpose, then they will have earned his wrath. GodX: When you say "dumbass spoiled tomato" are you talking about Rias? Sandman001: Good point. Hellspam: Your prediction on Deiru"s loyalty to his mother is very accurate, though I am not sure of he will ally with Issei as much as his mother will (if I even have Ophis still do that). And your votes have been counted. T-B-R: I"m deliberately keeping the poll numbers undisclosed so that my readers will vote based solely on who they want, rather than who is in the lead. And now, let the next chapter begin! Chapter 5: A Challenge is Issued In an alley near Kuoh Academy, a golden magic circle appeared before Deiru stepped out of it. He stood there for a moment, making sure that there were no creases in his uniform before snapping his fingers. Then, once he was satisfied, he exited the alley, he joined with the sea of other students making their way through the gates. As he did, he could hear the cries of several of his fangirls at seeing him, along with the accompanying declarations of affection and eternal love. "Really, what do they see about me? I might well-mannered, mature and slightly better-looking that the average person, but that"s all they see,' he thought, before shaking his head. The thought processes of fangirls were something he wasn"t even sure he wanted to decipher; he wasn"t going to start now. He did take note of a mass of blonde hair in the corner of his vision and looked over. It was Asia Argento, Rias"s new Bishop, only now she was dressed in the Kuoh Academy girl"s uniform instead of her sisterly attire. Did Rias get her admitted to the school that quickly? What was more, she was walking right next to Issei, and looked like she was resisting the urge to hold his arm as they walked towards class. Curiouser and curiouser. Later, once lunch time had come around, he entered the main room of the Old Schoolhouse, intent on having his scheduled chess match with the Crimson Princess herself. Only to find her sitting at her desk and staring off into space. "Odd. She didn"t even notice my arrival,' he thought, also aware that Akeno was not present like she normally would be. The sound of him clearing his throat broke Rias from her stupor and she looked over at him, surprised. "Oh, Deiru-san. Good afternoon. What are you doing here?" she asked. That generated a raised eyebrow from Deiru. "If my memory serves true, then you and I are scheduled for a chess match today. Not only that, but this is also my first day as a member of the Occult Research Club. Or am I wrong?" he stated. He could see Rias"s eyes widen as she was reminded of both facts. Okay, now he definitely knew that she wasn"t being herself. There was no way someone as punctual and competitive as Rias would forget about this. As it was, he kept himself from commenting on that and merely said "I can return at a later date if you are indisposed right now." But she shook her head, saying "No, it"s fine. Let me just get the board out and we can begin." She pulled the board and pieces from a drawer in the desk and walked over to set it on the small table in the middle of the room. Deiru sat across from her and helped her set the pieces on the board up before letting her make the first move. As they began their game, though, Deiru noticed that she was beginning to lose focus on the match in favor of her thoughts. Somewhat perturbed, he captured one of her Pawns and she refocused. "Oops. It seems I let my imagination take away my focus. My apologies," she said before he could speak, and moved to counter his offense. But Deiru was not appeased, and instead narrowed his eyes. "Is this marriage ordeal Ryuk told me about causing you such distress that you can"t even focus?' he thought, before going on the offensive once again and capturing one of her Rooks and Knights each. Rias tried to counter his offensive, but he could tell that her mind was elsewhere. Even with the match on the line. Thus, it came as no great shock to him when he managed to eliminate every single one of her pieces and use what was left of his to back her into a corner. "Checkmate, Rias," he said. Looking down at the board, Rias sighed before giving him a defeated smile. "Well, then I guess we know who"s the better chess player after all. Well done, Deiru," she said, before rising from her seat and walking away. As he watched her leave the room to get back to class, Deiru looked between her and the board. Then, once she was gone, he let his anger show on his face and gritted his teeth. He had won, but this victory brought him no satisfaction or joy. None at all. After school, Deiru entered the manor and instantly began walking towards the outer garden, hoping to clear his mind of this useless frustration he was feeling. He arrived and was greeted by the image of a large square pond, with moss-covered rocks sitting along the sides and a tiny waterfall in one of the corners. Also, on an island in the center of the pond was a large cheery tree, which dropped its petals onto the water below and left them floating on the surface. A walkway made of stones led to the tree island. To cap it all off, several trees other trees bearing different types of fruit surrounded the entire scene and a slight wind caused their leave to rustle. It was a picturesque image of nature and tranquility, which was its exact intention when he ordered several of his servants to make it. They had truly outdone themselves, and it was now his favorite place to relax when he needed to. With that in mind, he walked towards the cheery tree and sat down against it. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, also waving his hand and causing the stone pathway to lower into the water. Then he blocked out all other sensations except for the light breeze and the rustling leaves, and simply sat there. He stayed that way for what must have been half an hour, because he was finally taken from his pseudo-meditation by the voice of one of his servants. "Master Deiru?" Cracking open one eye, his leveled his gaze at his other Knight and said "What is it, Walter?" The man standing before Deiru looked almost like the perfect English butler. His appearance was that of a tall and thin elderly man in his late 60"s, with ebon black hair that was pulled back into ponytail and blue eyes. He wore black skinny jeans, a white dress shirt with a purple tie, a purple vest and black gloves. Walter bowed deeply before standing straight. "I apologize for interrupting, but I just received a message from your mother. I thought you might like to have it," he said, pulling a letter out of his pocket. "A message from mother? What on earth could she want?' he thought, before sighing as he realized that his relaxation time was over. Standing, he willed the stone pathway to rose back up and walked back onto the wooden floor, where he took the letter from his butler"s hands. "Thank you, Walter. Also, please tell Hannah that I"ll be having dinner in my study," he requested. Bowing once more, Walter said "At once, my lord," and walked away. Taking the letter and heading into his study, he sat down at his desk. Using a minute charge of energy to lengthen his fingernail, he neatly sliced through the enveloped and pulled out the letter even as the nail returned to its original length. Rather than a written message, there was a seal inked onto the paper, one that glowed when he channeled energy to it. Instantly a holographic, six-inch tall version of Ophis appeared on his desk, looking at him with her usual blank stare. Then, sounding as if it were the genuine version in front of his, the copy spoke. "Deiru," she began, making him frown. If she was addressing him by name instead of simply calling him "son", then she was speaking to him not as his mother, but as the leader of the Khaos Brigade. And that meant that this was serious. "I... am sending you this message to serve as both a reminder and a warning," she said. "I sent you to Kuoh with a week to acclimate yourself and prepare for your mission to recruit Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri into the Khaos Brigade. It has now been more than a month since that time has passed, and I have set to receive word of any progress you have made with either heiress." "This lack... of information leaves me with no choice but to assume that no progress has in fact been made. While this may simply be due to a lack of report of your or Kuroka"s part, the fact remains that this lack of progress is disturbing, and not something I would expect given the high standards of performance set for you by both yourself and I. "You are skilled, Deiru... and one would be a fool to not recognize that. As such, I will not have your efforts expended on something that is only an exercise in futility. In summation, I expect to hear from you shortly in a report stating what progress you have made towards your mission. If the level of progress you have made is not satisfactory, then I will have no choice but to deem your mission and failure and order your return to the Khaos Brigade." Then her features softened, and she added "I believe... that you can do this, my son, and I don"t want that faith to be misplaced. Prove to me that it is not." Then the hologram faded away, as did the glow from the seal on the paper. Deiru stared at the spot on his desk where the hologram had been. He stared for another moment, then another, and then one more. Then, slowly, a thunderous expression came onto his face. He leaned forward and laid his arms on his desk, trying his best to keep from shaking in rage. All the agitation that he had felt earlier came back in full force, and with twice the heat it had previously. Long story short, his mother was telling him to hurry up with his mission, or she"d pull the plug on it. She was far less blunt in saying it, but that was the point she had meant to send across. He clenched his first and glared at the surface of his desk, eyes glowing their respective colors as his power reacted to his anger. He didn"t even notice when the letter burst into flames in his hand, having been aflame by the aura now surrounding him. However, Hannah, who was just then walking in his with dinner on a tray, did notice. "Is something the matter, Master?" she asked. Deiru looked up and, while he kept himself from glaring daggers at his maid, she could still see how aggravated he was. "I guess you could say that, Hannah," he said, also doing his best to keep his anger from affecting his tone. It worked... somewhat. Knowing that, Hannah placed the tray on a side-table and walked behind Deiru, before placing her hands on his shoulders. Feeling the tension in them, she slowly began to massage them to try and work that tension out. Try as he might, Deiru knew that he would fold if she kept that up, and thus leaned forward to stop it. Hannah frowned and, deciding to try another approach, she moved to get down on her knees next to him. "Will you at least tell me what it is that is bothering you?" she asked. Sighing, Deiru nodded and looked forward. "Quite a bit, actually. I"ve been given a mission to recruit two teenage girls that, on top of being the younger siblings to two of the Four Great Satans, are also the heirs to their respective houses. That alone presents its own difficulties, especially considering how loyal the both of them are to their families and the Underworld in general." "But it doesn"t stop there. One of the is engaged to be married-has been since birth-and that engagement is to someone from none other than another of the 72 Pillars, the House of Phenex. That member of the Phenex House also is one of the sons of Lord Phenex, and is a high-class devil who has only ever lost two Rating Games in his life, both of which he did as political favors for whoever he was fighting!" he said, starting to lose himself and begin yelling. "And now Rias plans to actually challenge him to-lo and behold, a Rating Game-with the prize for her being the dissolution of the contract itself. It"s a valiant move on his Rias"s part, I"ll admit, but I do not hold out much hope of her succeeding. Sure, she may have several rather unique servants amongst her peerage that could put up a good fight, especially if she managed to convince her anti-social Bishop to literally come out of his box!" "But even then, I very much doubt that she"ll be able to defeat a full sixteen-person peerage headed by a King with a near-perfect victory streak! In summation, Rias could give it her all, but it won"t be enough! And now, Hannah, for the feather in the cap. Even with all that, I"ve been told that I need to work faster to finish recruiting her! As if there wasn"t enough trouble without that hanging over our heads!" he finished. Deiru took a deep breath, having run out of air at the end of his rant, and slumped back in his chair. It was very, very rare for him to have an outburst like that, especially considering the effort he put into maintaining a calm and controlled disposition. Hannah, who had been silent during the entire event, now stood and moved to where she stood before and began massaging his shoulders again. This time, like she predicted, Deiru let her. Releasing a long and drawn-out sigh, he said "I"m sorry, Hannah. That was completely uncalled for; I should not have used yelling at you as an outlet for my anger." But Hannah shook her head, stating "I understand and, while I do not consider your apology to be needed, I accept it all the same. But what will you do now?" Deiru shrugged. "To be honest, I"m not sure. I mean, it"s not as if I can just waltz in there and break the marriage contract myse-" he began, before freezing. Hannah paused as well, asking "Master?" But Deiru did not hear her. The beginnings of an idea had begun forming in his mind. A dastardly, risky and completely brazen idea, but an idea all the same. And if he could pull it off, then it would provide him all that he needed and more. Sitting up, he yelled "Ryuk!" and watched as, a few minutes later, said Shikigami phased through the wall to his left. Looking at him, Deiru bluntly asked "Where is Rias right now?" Ryuk shrugged. "Last I checked, she was going to take that pervert and the nun to go get their familiars, but got stopped since that other girl-Sona, was it?-wanted to do the same thing with her peerage. That was all I learned before I came back," he said, before grabbing an apple from the dinner tray and eating the entire thing in one bite. Nodding, Deiru rose to his feet and began walking towards the door. Looking back, he said "You can finish setting up my dinner and then retire for the night, Hannah. I have something to look up." Then without waiting for a response, he walked out of the study. After passing through several hallways that were designed to look exactly alike (a safeguard if anyone unfamiliar with the place got in), he reached a large set of wooden double doors that looked very out of place in a Japanese manor like this one. Waving his hand to disengage the lock on it, he walked inside and was greeted by the largest room in the entire manor: the library. Aisles upon aisles of bookcases, holding hundreds upon hundreds of books, filled the area and extended far into the distance, with books related to just about every subject under the sun and many having been magically transported from libraries all around the world. Perfect for a bookworm like Patchouli, who he instantly began searching for. He found her in the sections dedicated to science-specifically chemistry and alchemy-and she was reading a book describing the process of transmutation. "Patchouli," he said, getting her attention. "I need you to gather every book we have on the laws of Underworld, the 72 Pillars in general and the Houses of Gremory and Phenex in particular," he instructed. The female witch looked around for a moment, and then back at him. "That"s going to be a lot of books. A lot of them. What are you even looking for?" she asked. Deiru smirked in response. "Something that, if it can be done, will kill three birds with one stone and in a single throw. Once you"ve found all the books, have them brought to my study. And do so quickly, please," he said, before walking back off to leave the library. That set off further questions in her head. It was not often that her King became this excited over something. That meant that he was planning something that was either completely brilliant... or completely stupid. She sincerely hoped that it wasn"t the latter. One week later... Issei groaned as he fell forward onto the floor of his bedroom. There he was, deliberately taking God"s name in vain as he prayed to protect Asia from his own perverseness. Then, even though it wasn"t a real prayer, he still felt like someone had stuck a hot knife into his head. Seriously, what the hell?! His thoughts were shifted away from that by the appearance of a magic circle, through which Rias herself appeared. Her face was set in one of both sadness and intensity. "Shit. She must have heard that I got caught in the bathroom with Asia,' he thought. "Rias, wait. It"s not what you think. I didn"t even look at all!" he said, actually telling the truth. Only for her to not respond and simply walk towards him. "Issei, please..." she said, before grabbing his shoulders and shoving him to the floor. "You have to take me!" she declared. Issei stared. He was not clueless to what she meant, but even so... "Uh, what?" he asked. Looking him straight in the eye, Rias said, in no uncertain terms "I need you to take my virginity. And I need you to do it now!" Issei wasn"t sure what happened after that, but the next thing he remembered was sitting on his bed without a shirt and with the lights off. Even so, the moonlight from outside let him see that Rias had already discarded her skirt and was starting to do the same with the rest of her clothes. "Okay, this is really happening. She wants her first time to be with me? Wait, is this one of those times I"m supposed to say no?' he thought. As if she could hear his thoughts, Rias took of her shirt and stood there in her set of white bra and panties. "Am I not good enough? Do you not want me?" she asked.

Once back outside we waited yet again, and Zoe walked out to face us. "So, you made it through the second round as well, despite that monster gaining some extra size and strength. Good job," she complimented. I smiled. "Thanks for that. So, does that mean you think we"re strong enough to face this champion?" I asked. Zoe shrugged. "Well, I"ll admit that you are the best up-and-comers we"ve seen in years," she said, before sighing. "Fine, I guess you two have made it. A word of advice though- don"t mess around with this guy. If you do, your lives are forfeit," Zoe warned us. Lightning crossed her arms. "We"ve fought our fair share of battles. We won"t just lose like that. Let us fight," she said firmly. Zoe smirked. "That"s the spirit. Go on, I"ll give a good burial if you die. Trust me," she said. We both snorted at that. The two of us had faced fal"Cie, Eidolons, and an immortal man that knew the entire course of history. Whoever this guy was, we could face him. Zoe left again, and we waited. As we waited though, the air temperature began dropping, until we could actually see our breath fogging in front of us. At the same time, Hope came onto the comm link. "Guys, you need to be careful. The Chaos readings in the Slaughterhouse suddenly jumped higher than all of Yusnaan except for the palace. Whoever this guy you"re going to fight is, be careful," he advised. We both nodded, and the crowd soon began cheering again as the gates opened. We walked inside, and Zoe talked on the loudspeaker. "And now, blood-sport fans, the match you"ve been waiting for. Our newest challengers, Deiru and Lightning, versus our defending champion!" she said. The crowd roared in anticipation, while I gripped Thirteen Nights harder in its sheathe. The gate on the other end rose up and a single tall figure walked through. His body was covered by a black cloak that also concealed his face. The closer he walked to us the higher we could feel the Chaos around rise, as if he was literally releasing it from his body. Lightning and I tensed, and the figure laughed. "I knew you"d come sooner, Deiru, Lightning," he said. Lightning"s eyes narrowed. "So, you already knew who we were. Who are you, then?" she demanded. The figure chuckled, the sound sharp and glacial. My eyes widened; I recognized that laugh. The figure raised a hand to his hood and pulled it off, revealing the face of Uried. The manifestation of Chaos grinned, showing off his sharp teeth. "Me? Oh nobody important. Just your opponent for that wonderful dress you both need," he said. I growled. "Uried. Exactly what are you up to this time?" I demanded. Uried chuckled again. "It"s really quite simple, Deiru. I"m here to keep you from winning that dress. Without the dress, you can"t get into the play. If you can"t join the play, you can"t get to Snow. And if you can"t get to Snow... Yusnaan"s finished and fair game for the Chaos and me," he said smugly. I glared at him, my hatred for this abomination renewed. "If that"s the case, we"ll defeat you. We will save that blockhead, no matter the cost," I said. Uried"s grin grew wider and more fiendish. He grasped his cloak and threw it off, revealing his armor. "Is that so? Well, then I guess we"re at a conflict. One that I intend to resolve," he said He raised his hand and his scythe appeared with a burst of darkness. All three of us moved into a battle stance, and Uried held up his hand. "Oh, one more thing..." he said. Suddenly his left hand began crackling with electricity, and he shouted before smashing it into the ground. The energy exploded in the form of a dome of dark energy that expanded outwards, covering the arena. My eyes widened. "A Chaos Infusion?!" I said. Uried laughed loudly. "That right. Now, prepare to die!" he yelled, charging. Oh dear. Lightning and Deiru have made it to the final round, but now they have to fight Uried! In a Chaos Infusion! Can they defeat him and get the dress for the play? Find out... next chapter! Please review If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I"m just kidding... or am I?) Author"s Note: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII-2 or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners. Notice: Ready... set... DYNAMIC ENTRY! (flies in through the wall with kick, flames sprouting behind me) Hello to one and all! This is Deiru Tamashi, bringing the next chapter of Strings Unraveled. Sorry for the lateness; I can"t really offer any reason other than schoolwork (the evil, evil thing). And so, I bring it to you all now, along with the next set of replies! Gundam-Knight-Chris: I"m glad about it as well. Gry18: Really? That"s weird. All of the chapters have the same minimum length of 3000 words. Maybe I"m just making the paragraphs longer. I don"t know, but in any case here"s a nice longer-than usual one for you. Rsdk525: It will be difficult, but I have decided on a music for the fight. Hope you enjoy. SolidSamurai223: Thank you for the kinds words. Excited Reader: Aw, thanks you. The idea that my story inspired someone to play the rest of the series makes me feel awesome. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Devil-l"Cie: Ask and ye shall receive. And now, let us begin! Ch.19 Legend of the Savior (Begin Music: Kingdom Hearts BBS: Dismiss) Uried grinned manically before rushing forward, double-ended scythe held high. I switched to my Utsusemi garb and blocked with Thirteen Nights. Lightning moved away and cast various debuffing spells. Only Deprotect and Debrave stuck, but it was enough to make him grimace. Uried disengaged and held out his hand. "Take this!" he called, and cast Toxic Aerora. The natural winds of the Chaos Infusion increased it powers, slamming into us with a wave of polluted wind. I held my mouth shut and cast my own Aerora spell, the two spells canceling each other. Lightning changed to Cold Rebellion and held up Death Herald before casting Blizzard three times. Three sharps spikes of ice shot at Uried. He smirked and spun his scythe in a windmill fashion, shattering the spikes before they could hit. I charged in and swung at Uried"s ankles, hoping to cut the tendons in them. But he stopped spinning his scythe and blocked me, before trying to swing so that the blade on the other end impaled me. Lightning saw this and cast Thunder, shooting a bolt of electricity. Uried was forced to disengage and move back to avoid it. He smirked. "Impressive. Even with the power of the Chaos Infusion increasing my speed, you"re still able to keep up. Kudos to you," he said. But then black electricity started crackling along his body, and he stood straighter. "But can you keep up... with this?" he asked, before extending his hand again. "Atrophy!" he called. An rob of dark green energy formed in his hand before shooting forward. Lighting and I split apart to dodge it, and the ground the orb hit began bubbling and melting. Uried shot forward and pointing at both of us, calling "Elementa!" Both hands glowed before firing a ball of ice, a spike of ice, a bolt of lightning and a gust of wind all at once. I frowned and held up my shield, using Steelguard and weathering the attacks. Lightning did the same and grunted, but then Uried targeted her and shot forward. "Take this! Icestorm!" he said. A wave of wind carrying tiny shards of ice flew at Lightning. She leaped vertically upwards and avoided the spell, but then Uried jumped up with her and cast Flamespark. A ball of electric fire hit her in the chest, both burning her and zapping her at the same time. "Light!" I called, and I changed to my Velvet Bouncer garb before leaping into the air swinging my spear. Uried spun around as he fell and blacked, but then I channeled a Ruin spell through Endless Paradox. Once it reached the end I released it, and the blast sent Uried hurtling back down to the ground. He frowned and flipped over, but Lightning was there, in her Dark Samurai garb with the Buster Blade in-hand. She ran forward and smirked, calling "Electric Blitz!" Her blade began sparking before she hit Uried in the back with hit. The blade left a huge cut while the heat of the electricity instantly cauterized it, creating untold amounts of pain. Uried screamed in agony and glared at Lightning, his rage unleashed. "Cursed savior...!" he yelled, before creating another orb of power, only this one was red. "Taste fear!" he yelled before throwing it. I recognized the Fearful Defense spell and cast Fire from the side. The two spells collided and were knocked off course, hitting the arena wall and exploding. I charged at Uried and used a regular Blitz, putting him on the defensive. Lightning used Passion Rogue to reapply Deprotect, Deshell, Defaith and Debrave, while I switched to Dark Muse and cast Curse. Uried growled ferally and leaped at me, bringing his scythe down with two hands. I blocked it but gritted my teeth- the Chaos Infusion was increasing Uried"s already high strength. The inhuman being grinned, and he was about to reach forward and tear into my shoulder with his fangs when Lightning called "Overclock!" Uried stopped and turned to see Lightning, but she was already gone. She reappeared behind him and struck so fast that, to her, we had to be moving in slow motion. Lightning hit him with four cuts that tore through his armor and left cuts on his back, before cutting the back of both knees and stabbing him in the left foot. She ended it with a kick that knocked his scythe out of his hands. I caught it, but immediately I could her the sounds of moans, roars and wails of pain resounding in my heads. I looked down at the scythe in horror. Or more specifically, the shards of bone that made up the two blades. Were the souls of those who the bone shards once belonged to... contained inside the scythe? I let go of it in revulsion, and it vanished in a burst of shadows before appearing in Uried"s hand. He smirked and used it to block the Buster Sword, shoving lightning away and cast Ruinga. The energy burst outwards and sent us both skidding back. I glared at him. "Uried... what is that thing made of?" I demanded, pointing at the scythe. His grin grew wider. "Ah, so you felt it. Yes, the bone shards that make up the blades of this scythe were each taken from a monster or human as they were dying- each one in excruciating pain. Because I used the Chaos to forge this weapon, their individual souls are trapped inside each shard, remaining in agony. Before you ask why I would do that, it is because having their souls contained in the scythe increases its power," he explained. My hatred for Uried reached new levels at that. This bastard was willingly letting people not even find peace in death, subjecting them to endless torment...just to give his weapon a power boost?!Within me I could feel Etro"s hatred and disgust as well. "Unbelievable. Deiru, what do you say to making this fool suffer?' she suggested. I nodded, replying "Let"s.' Etro nodded as well and sent her power through me, filling my veins and causing both of my eyes to turn golden. "URIED!" I yelled, and vanished from sight. Uried blinked before flying upwards, having been hit in the stomach with Endless Paradox by me. Lightning jumped up and swung at him, and he blocked. But that left him open to me, and I switched to Utsusemi before drawing my sword. "Come on, then!" I yelled, and I leaped as well before using Divine Fury to enhance my strength. I reached behind Uried and swung down, tearing through his armor and leaving a deep cut, from his left shoulder to right hip. Uried roared and conjured a Dark Firaga. "Take this!" he yelled, and released it at point-blank range. All three of us ere consumed by the surprise move, and Lightning and I fell back to the ground. Etro"s power surged and I held up my hand. "White Wind," I said. A burst of white-colored mist enveloped both of us, healing our injuries. It did nothing to take care of the energy we had spent in the fight though, and both of us were panting. Uried dropped back to the ground, also having a few burns from the spell. Lightning and I were about to charge once more when he held up his hand. "Stop!" he called. We narrowed our eyes but did, and he grinned. "I can see that this fight is going nowhere. At least, not without half of Yusnaan being leveled from our attacks during a full-out fight. And I can"t have that. If half of Yusnaan were to die, that wouldn"t give the Chaos more time to grow. So, I hereby surrender to you both... this time. The next time we fight though, it will be in a place where we can fight much more savagely," he said. Both of us blinked, but before we could say or do anything Uried was gone, enveloped in a cloud of darkness that dispersed to show that he had vanished. (End Music) The Chaos Infusion surrounding us disappeared as well, allowing us to hear and see the crowd once more. They were quiet, stunned that the fight had ended so abruptly, but slowly began cheering. Within seconds they reached a volume that it could be felt in the ground beneath us. Zoe was back on the loudspeaker, saying "What an incredible match! Lightning and Deiru have managed to force our defending champion to flee! They are the winners of the tournament!" The crowd roared in approval, and a few roses were actually thrown at us. Smirking at the cliché, I released Etro"s power and bowed extravagantly. "Thank you! It"s always a pleasure to fight for such adoring fans!" I said. That just made the crowd cheer louder, and Lightning chuckled. "Had to feed them, didn"t you?" she asked. I stood straight and shrugged. "We rarely get to have fun anymore, so why not take a little where it can taken?" I pointed out. Lightning simply hummed at that, and we sheathed our weapons before walking out. Zoe was back at the front, and she had a smile on her face. "I applaud you. Before an adoring audience, you were able to prove your true mettle. You the two of you can face a stage such as that, you might indeed having the makings of an actor and actress. Become the Savior and Protector you were meant to be. Give me a line!" she said. Lightning groaned. "Do I have to?" she asked, which made me chuckle. Zoe nodded, and she sighed. "Yes. Thank of it as a last test. Both of you, now!" she said. I smirked. "To ensure the survival of the Savior, I would give all that I am," I said confidently. Despite it being only a line, it was still true. Lightning glanced at me and smiled, before saying "To save the people of this world, I would give my life." Zoe"s smile grew. "Ah, so many memories. Your delivery was full of uncertainty, but that"s what gives it its realism. You"ve convinced me. I will entrust you both both the dress and the role," she said. I raised and eyebrow. "The role? You mean the one as the Savior? ...That once belonged to you, didn"t it?" I asked, realizing the truth. Zoe laughed. "That it did. That show holds the dreams of this city. A true actress is so perfect that she can only be found within a dream. A play lasts only one night, yet that night can live forever in the minds of the people, becoming a thing of hope and inspiration- in the form of a beautiful memory. Now, your audience awaits you. Go! Give them a show they will never forget!" she said, reaching under the counter and pulling out a white box. Lightning took the box, and inside was a maroon dress of stunning beauty. The garb Midnight Mauve. At the same time an orb of light emerged from Zoe"s body and entered Lightning"s- another soul saved. We thanked Zoe and walked away, and Hope appeared on the comm link. "That"s a dress that will surely shine on stage. I think you should try it on," he said. Lightning raised an eyebrow. "And what about Deiru? What will he be wearing?" she asked. I smirked and snapped my fingers, changing into my Velvet Bouncer garb, only this one was colored like a regular tuxedo. She stared. "So we had to go through all of that, to get my outfit, but you could get yours with a simple snap?" she asked incredulously. I shrugged. "Your dress is more important; everyone pays more attention to the Savior than the Protector," I said simply. Lightning stared a second longer before rolling her eyes and groaning, walking into a clothing store and changing. When she came back out a stared for a moment, transfixed. In that dress, Lightning looked... fantastic. I mean, she was always beautiful to me, but the Midnight Mauve outfit only enhanced it. The maroon color complimented her pink hair, the dress hugged her curves in a way that was mesmerizing, and my eyes slowly traveled up to- "NO! Bad Deiru! You look, and she"ll castrate you!' I yelled in my head, Lightning smirked at my starstruck and asked "So, you like it?" She added a small spin to her question, and I gaped like a fish. After a second I managed to pull myself together, and said "Not even a goddess could compare to you." "Hey!' Etro yelled indignantly in my mind. "Sorry, but it"s true,' I replied, still focused on Lightning. Said pinkette laughed and said "Well, you don"t look too bad in a suit." I smiled at that, and linked my arms through hers. "Well then, madame, shall I escort thee to the play?" I asked playfully. Lightning rolled her eyes before smiled all the same, and didn"t move away. I smiled wider and began walking with her at my side. Yeah, having Lightning as a girlfriend put me on cloud nine. Once we had made it the Augur"s Quarter, we opened the gates and looked at the stage. The stage we would soon be on. "If it were any other night, it would have been nice to just enjoy the revels," Hope stated. I nodded. "It would have been, yeah. But his time, we"ve got a Patron to take care of," I said. "I wonder what the people think of Snow these days. At first, he was their benefactor, but now..." he said, trailing off. Lightning looked at the palace. "People are supposed to change. Not changing after hundreds of years is unnatural. But Snow, I didn"t want to believe his change. The man who had believed in the future with unwavering optimism, the man feared no pain to protect those he cared about..." she began. I looked as well. "Snow... could even you have fallen into despair?" I finished. We both needed to know. We needed to know what Snow went through while we weren"t there. "Wait for us," Lightning whispered. With that we kept going and approached Sarzhak. "Well, hell there. You"re both looking pretty nice. Are you ready to go? We"re already prepping the stage. It"s almost time for the big show. Break a leg," he said. "One last thing. I"m going to need all of your people to evacuate. There can"t be anyone backstage. And the same goes for you. It"s going to be one hell of a bang," Lightning told him. Sarzhak sighed. "Yeah, that"s true. After all, you"ve put enough firepower in there to blow apart the theater, right?" he asked, his expression serious. My eyes widened by a minuscule fraction, and Lightning"s gaze became stoic. "So, you noticed," she said, not even trying to hiding. Sarzhak nodded. "Listen, this is my theater you"re talking about. Of course I knew in an instant what would happen if we upped the fireworks like you wanted. Actors, I could replace, but you were going to take out the whole audience as well! I can"t let you do that," he told us. I sighed. "So, we"ve been wasting our entire time?" I asked. Sarzhak leaned his, his smile returning. "No, no, that"s not what I meant. I just think you went a little overboard. So I made a few adjustments. That stage won;t survive the night, but no one will get hurt," he said. Now he had both of us staring. "You don"t mind?" we both asked. Sarzhak shook his head. "Look, I get bored spitless doing the same play over and over and over again," he said. He raised his arms above his head. "The people want something new! And lady and gentleman, I"m counting on you to give them exactly what they want!" he declared. Lightning smiled. "I can act when I have to," she said. "Good to hear, "cause it"s about time for your cue," he said, before laughing. "How many decades has it been since I looked forward to a show this much? You two are my stars. Now get out there and act me a Savior and Protector beyond anything I"ve ever imagined!" Sarzhak "ordered". I looked back at him. "Well, we won;t need to act. If it"s the Savior and Protector you want..." I said. Lightning looked as well. "You"ve got them," she said. Sarzhak"s face slackened in shock, realizing the truth. In his play, the roles of Savior and Protector were about to be filled by the real deal. Sarzhak slowly overcame his shock as we left, and looked towards the stage. "Well, it"s official. This will be my most memorable play yet," he said. Unseen to anyone, even him, his own soul rose forth and flew towards Lightning. At 3 A.M. The play was just beginning, and I could see it. The people who had managed to sneak into the Augur"s Quarter were lined all along the rooftops, the area"s real residents were all in seat in front of the stage, and there was even an increased amount of guards in case the "evil Savior" tried to interrupt the show. That caused me to smirk. Too late for them. At the strike of 3 the stage darkened and the crowds clapped before going silent. Dancers were moving to the music within artificial mist. A deep male voice pierced through the music, saying "Chosen one, become my blade. Cast aside all that you are! Throw down your life for the sake of my new world!"

Snow faltered and glanced at both of us. Then his eyes glowed brighter and he actually roared, his voice becoming even more warped and distorted. "Depths of Despair!" he said. His body became enveloped in Chaos and his dress shirt tore apart. The crystal of his arm grew even larger and more jagged, and spread across his chest and the entire left side of his face (Snow Villiers++ Form). I gritted my teeth at the sight of him becoming even more power. Then he cast Armor of Chaos on himself, bestowing Protect and Veil. Lightning switched to Passion Rogue and began casting Dispel, but the veil itself made the spells less likely to take effect. Meanwhile, Snow charged at me and used pulled back his regular fist, which was glowing. He swung at me with Fist of Destruction and I ducked under it, instantly switching to Dark Muse and grasping my daggers. Snow swung at kick at me but I moved around it, stabbing into his uplifted leg with my right dagger while swinging with my left. Snow moved away and took my lodged-in dagger with him, making him grimace when he tried to pour weight on it. He reached down and yanked it out with a grunt, the Protect spell having lessened the depth it could have gone. But then Lightning came in while he was holding the dagger, and cast Dispel once more for jabbing with Femme Fatale. He clumsily deflected it with my dagger but she moved under it, stabbing Snow right between the ribs on his left side. Snow snarled and dropped my dagger, jumping away. Abruptly he began using Chaos Charge, and finished before we could stop him. Then, once Faith and Bravery were equipped, the crystal on his "arm" grew even larger and the red eye began shining brightly. My eyes widened and I yelled "Light! Guard!" She took my advice and did just as he slammed his arm into the ground, yelling "Annihilation!" Several larger-than-average geysers of Chaos erupted from the ground beneath us, dealing enough damage to break apart the ground and also deal damage despite guarding. But Snow kept it going, pouring more and more power into the attack. I tried to hold on under the onslaught but failed, sent flying and battered by energy. "Deiru!" Lightning called, but was unable to help without being hit even harder as well. After a few seconds Snow finally let up on the attack, and his Bravery and Faith faded away. I landed on my back and cried out from the impact, stars flashing into my vision from my head bouncing off the floor. Snow didn"t want to let me get up and cast Blizzaga. A white sphere of power shot at me and I had to roll to the side away. Once it hit the ground it exploded into several frigid spikes of ice, nearly impaling me. Lightning charged at Snow while tossing me a Potion, which I caught and drank gratefully. Lightning changed to Dark Samurai again and sued Electric Blitz. Snow blocked with his "arm", but she was expected that and stabbed the Buster Blade at the red crystal in the center. Snow saw it and just barely managed to move so her strike would miss, and he jumped back and yelled "Come on!" Lightning swung with an overhead blow and he dodged, saying "Not good enough" and smashing into her with Cross-Counter. There was a crunch a rib was broken, and Snow broke another when he tackled her. I grabbed my fallen dagger and swung at him with an X, making him turn and dodge. But I kept it up and he tried to hit me with Chaos Geyser, but I avoided it and stabbed both of my daggers into his stomach. Snow roared and shoved me away, yanking them both out and getting ready to use Chaos Charge again. But Lightning saw it coming and changed to Midnight Mauve, lasting him with Fira. He fell back and was inflicted with Parched, then Deprotect and Deshell. I added Curse onto the list of status ailments. Then both of us came closer, moving in a zigzag pattern so he couldn"t counter. Then once we were close enough we swung from either side, me with Masamune and her with Death Herald. Snow blocked me but Lightning"s hit went through, tearing a large gaping wound into his side with her ax. He roared his loudest yet, and I could see that he was finally wearing down. Once more good hit and we could end this. I glanced at Lightning and she did the same, both of us having the same thoughts. So I changed to Velvet Bouncer and jumped into the air, using my javelin as a pole vault. As expected, Snow looked up at me and cast Blizzaga, hoping to hit while I was in the air. But then I smirked and swung Endless Paradox like a baseball bat. I hit the Blizzaga spell and actually knocked it off-course before it could go off. Then Lightning held up Death Herald and the Blizzaga spell hit it, actually absorbing into the blade at the same moment that she channeled a Fira spell through it. As a result the unstable spell was changed into a Firaga one, and the axe burst into flames. Snow"s shock registered on his face, and when Lightning moved in front of him he couldn"t pull up his guard quickly enough. "It"s over!" she yelled, and slammed Death Herald against his chest. The flames blasted in all directions and enveloped Snow in light and heat. He howled in agony as his regular skin was burned and the crystal on his body was scorched black. We both stood there, watching with hope that the attack finally brought him down. The flames died down and the smoke slowly cleared, showing that Snow was still on his feet. However, that lasted only seconds though, as he dropped to his knees. Both of us let out small exhales of relief, but then we noticed something. The dark mist around the room was beginning to disperse. "The Chaos... it"s disappearing," Lightning said. Suddenly there was a spiral of light from behind Snow, and none other than Lumina appeared from within it. "Snow really is something, huh? He swallowed up all that Chaos and left it at bay. He sacrificed himself to keep the city safe," she said. Then she moved in front of Snow and placed a hand on his shoulder. He didn"t even notice, panting as trying to gather enough strength to attack again. Only to fail. "How about you do him a favor? Do as he asked. That thing"s not even him anymore," she suggested, gesturing to his Cie"th transformation. "It"d be kinder to put it out of its misery," she added. I glared at her, both Etro and myself feeling the same anger. "Snow is not an "it"!" we yelled, even if she only heard me. Lumina shook her head. "Come on; Snow"s gone. And you know what? The only hope for his soul lies in death," she told us. I glared at her even harder. Goddess, sometimes this girl pushed my buttons even more than Uried. Then she gasped, smiling as she raised a hand to her chin. "So that"s it! Oh, that is good. I bet he became a Cie"th right now because he wanted the two of you to kill him!" she realized. Lightning said nothing and walked past her. Once she in front of Snow, she raised her hand held out... Serah"s pendant. "You know nothing about Snow," she said. Then she pulled it back into her hand, curled that hand into a fist... and punched Snow in the face. All she got was a warped grunt, and she punched him again, this time in the chest. "Come back! Snow!" Lightning exclaimed, shaking his shoulders. I came in and gave punch up my own to the top of his head. "Get it together! Don"t give in!" I yelled. Lumina watched with amusement instead of sorrow. "Who knows nothing about Snow now? You said you understood his pain, didn"t you? Like you know what the past five hundred years were like: every day blaming himself for Serah, trying to fix the world," she said. I turned around and was ready to punch her too, but then she said something that stopped me. "He"s been fighting to protect people while you two snoozed away in a dream world!" I froze at that, my strength fading as I slowly turned to Snow, seeing him still there, as unresponsive as ever. Lightning was in front of him, on her knees as well. I fell down as well, sorrow and guilt filling me. Lumina walked around us, continuing. "I bet he really was relieved that you decided to wake up and get back to the world of the living. I bet he thought he could finally put an end to his misery. He drew on every last bit of strength and threw himself into the darkness. So why don"t you free him already? Don"t you think that"s what Serah would want?" she asked. Then she vanished in the same spiral of light that she came, leaving just the two of us with Snow. "I want to..." Lightning began, and I looked at her. "I want to save you, to make you free. But... I just don"t know how..." she said, weakly punching him again and bowing her head. I shook my head. "Serah would know, wouldn"t she? I know it. If she were here, she"d find a way to reach him and bring him back," I said, my won guilt over being unable to prevent Serah"s death resurfacing. There a moment of silence, but then I heard Snow let out a mangled growl. We both looked up, when he suddenly stood and swung his "arm" wildly. I moved back and Lightning was sent flying, landing away. I tried to stop him but he did the same to me, my exhaustion from the battle slowing me down. Not even possessing a thought of stopping, he slowly lumbered towards us. Lightning crawled forward, grabbing Serah"s pendant from where it had fallen. I managed to stand and wrap my arms around his waist, stopping him. He still tried to reach out to Lightning, but then copied my actions, only around his torso. "But she"s not here! No matter how much I wish she was. And I can"t be what she was! Snow, the only thing I can do is what you asked of me," she told him. He struggled and tried to break out of our grip, but I held on tighter. Lightning placed her fist against his chest. "But please, don"t let you feelings for Serah disappear into the Chaos. She never stopped believing in you. "No matter how far away your journey took you, or how long you were apart, she thought she would be with you again. I know she still believes it now!" she implored. Snow roared and lost his strength, falling back to his knees. I glared up at him. "Even in death, she stills dream of being with you again, you dumbass! If you aren"t going to be here, then what"s she supposed to come home to?!" I shouted. "Snow... I"m begging you. You have to live," Lightning said. Her hand, or at least the pendant it was holding, began shining at that. "We need you, Snow... to bring Serah back," Lightning begged. The light grew brighter and blinded us, taking away sound as well. It eventually faded, and when I did I could hear Snow chuckle... in a normal voice. Then he reached up and grasped the pendant with his hands... both hands. We both gasped and looked. All the crystal appendages were gone, reverted to normal. Not only that, but his eyes were no longer glowing red. They were the same blue as before. "You know, for a second, I thought the two of you cared," he said tiredly. Then he sighed and fell forward, but I caught him and held him up. "You only want me here to bring Serah back? What, my god looks and charm aren"t enough?" he asked jokingly. I snorted. "What charm?" I countered. Lightning added her own bit. "Yeah, right. With that hair?" she replied. Snow chuckled. "Dammit, Light, Deiru. You always were a pair of hard cases- no wonder you two love each other. I"ve spent how many centuries watching the world slip away from me... And even when I give everything I got to protect it, I don"t get a single thanks. So I finally say enough is enough, and look for a good place to die... And then you ruin that, too," he said. He managed to move so I didn"t need to hold him. Now that my hands were free, I rubbed the back of my head. "Sorry about that. You had to hold down the fort for a long while," I said, Lightning nodded in agreement. "It"s our fault," she added. Snow smirked. "You gonna make it up to me?" he asked. Lightning scoffed and stood, stepping back. "Don"t get too cocky," she said. Snow"s expression became one of mock despair, and I patted him on the shoulder before standing. Then Lightning"s expression turned serious. "Listen, Snow. The world is ending- and soon. There"s no way for any of us to stop it. But don"t give up. You"ve got to believe- believe that when this world is over, a new one will be born from the ashes. That"s where we"ll find hope again," she explained. I nodded, crossing my arms. "Hope itself isn"t going to die with this world. We"ll make sure of that. Trust me," I said resolutely. Snow managed to stand. "I just need more time. I need you to-" Lightning started. But then he interrupted her, saying "I know, I know. You need me to save the day, right? I"m on it, sis. I"m still the Patron of Yusnaan, right? You sure are hard on your friends, you know that? What if either of you killed me? Who"d have trouble facing Serah then?" My eyebrow twitched and I restrained wiping that grin off his face, old annoyance at him coming back. Lightning snorted in amusement. "I knew you could take it. You"re too stubborn to die," she said, punching him in the chest. He laughed and looked at me. "And what about you, Deiru? What were you thinking when you hit me?" he asked. In response I kicked him in the knee, making him issuing a cry of pain. "I knew that after all the things we had to do to even get in this palace, I was going to kick your ass. So I did," I said plainly. At that he laughed, and saw that Lightning was holding out Serah"s pendant. He calmed down and held out his hand, letting it pool into his palm. He gripped it tightly. "Take care of Serah. Please, help her find a way back. Stay strong. Someday, you"ll be all she has," Lightning told him. With that she turned and began to leave, and I followed. "Well, when you put it like that, guess I got no choice but to do what I can," he said after us. We opened the door and left. To himself though, he said "I don"t know what I can really do... Sure, Lightning and Deiru say to bring you back, but would you even want to come me? I"m the guy who couldn"t keep a single promise. Do you still want me?" Then he held the pendant in front of him and smiled. "Not like you can answer me. So do I just wait? No, I"ll bring you back, Like a real hero," he declared. With that his body began glowing, and Snow"s soul rose out of his body and passed through the door, entering Lightning. Saved at last. Outside we saw a Ghostly Hood, which I picked up and put away. At that moment the clock finally struck 6 A.M. and we were transported back to the Ark. Snow has been saved! Yay! That brings an end to Day 3, so what will occur next chapter? Where will ours heroes go in their divine quest? Stay on board to find out? Please review! If you flame me Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I"m just kidding... or am I?) Author"s Note: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII-2 or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners. Notice: The time for the third main quest has begun- the Wildlands! One of my favorite places in the game, and I hope you all enjoy both this chapter to start it, along with the latest replies! Gry18: Well, I can promise that fight against Caius will be epic. Especially consider the (spoiler) plot twist I have involved. Rsdk525: Yes, I did think that the choice of music for that fight was great. And it will be to ground zero that they go. SolidSamurai223: I"m glad that you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope this one is good as well. ImReallyShort: Yep, he"s saved. But the real question is whether Lighting and Deiru can save the next person. And Guest: That is EXACTLY the idea I had previously envisioned when imagining this arc. Nice work and I"m glad that great minds think alike. And now, the let the games begin! Ch.22 The Wildlands When Lightning and I were transported back to the Ark, I expected to see Hope sitting at the computer monitors. But instead, the room was empty. I was about to look around when I heard a giggle and chuckle. We both turned around to see both Lumina and Uried standing there. "Putting wishes in the mouths of the dead? That"s pretty low," Lumina commented. Uried nodded, but grinned fiendishly. "Not that it"s something I wouldn"t do myself. Nice work," he commented. I glared heavily at the both of them. Lightning herself was about to make some sort of scathing reply, but then Lumina cut her off. "You can"t say what Serah would want, even if she weren"t dead. Yet you go making up handy lies. "She would have wanted you to do this.' "No, she wouldn"t want you to do that". That"s just plain dishonest," she said, walking in front of Lightning and facing her. Lightning crossed her arms. "You want me to apologize? Are you saying that Serah wouldn"t have wanted me to save Snow from that... from that hell? You told us to do it in the first place," she stated. Uried chuckled vanished in a warp of Chaos, reappearing behind Lumina. "Sorry, but the rules don"t apply to either her or me. We"re... how did you phrase it?" he asked, looking at Lumina. She shrugged. "Special," she replied. Uried nodded. "Yes, we"re special, you see? And it"s not like Serah"s dead in any case," he added. Now Lumina nodded. "And we"re not talking about that sweet "Oh, she"s still alive in everyone"s hearts" garbage. You know?" she finished. I scoffed. "We don"t need you to tell us that. We know she isn"t gone. I know her soul is here. I can feel it even with the two of you here," I told them. "Isn"t that what you just want to believe? How do you know you"re not just too scared to face the truth, clinging to some idea of hope?" Lumina asked. I began "Now, you just wait a-" But then Uried interrupted me. "You, the two of you are a lot weaker than I thought. I see no further reason to stay," he said, and dispersed into smoke. Lumina waved childishly, and said "See ya, Deiru, "sis"!" Then she teleported away as well. I glared at where they had been enough to slice through steel, while also wishing that looks could kill. Lightning composed herself and walked towards Yggdrasil, and placed a hand over her chest. It shined with greater light than usual because of Snow"s soul, and she released the gathered Eradia to the tree. The flower glowed before another bud grew from the trunk, totaling three. "Good to see you again," we heard Hope say, and looked to see him standing by his chair as if nothing had happened. I sighed, and nodded. "Yes, and we managed to save Snow," I told him. Hope nodded. "I still remember when he and I first met. It didn"t go well. Mother was with me. There was a battle going on. She joined Snow, to protect me... and then she was killed. I saw it happen- and I blamed Snow," he recalled. I tilted my head back, remembering the same times as Hope. Times when we were all l"Cie, times where it was pretty much us against the world. Compared to now, our journey to resolve our Focus had been so much simpler. "Yeah, you were one angry kid. You made it your mission to kill him- "Operation Nora"," I said. Hope nodded. "But then you saved me, Lightning, Deiru. You showed me a way out of my anger. Looking back on it now... it"s like it happened to someone else. I remember being angry- but I have no idea how I felt. Perhaps it"s been too long," he said. I frowned at that. That hadn"t been the first time that he spoke of not remembering emotions. And now that I think about it, Hope had indeed been a lot colder than he had been in times past. And then the fact that everything heard was passed straight on to Bhunivelze. I hummed in thought and concern. Hope, just what had happened to you before we got there? I was brought out of my thought process by Hope waving his hand, and a treasure sphere appeared. "A gift. Take it," he said simply. We nodded and Lightning waved her hand over the sphere. It glowed and vanished, leaving behind the Black Mage and White Mage garbs. We took them and also bought a few Bravery Potions and Phoenix Downs from Hope. Lightning set her schemata to be Primavera, Black Mage and Miqo"te Dress. That last one had taken a lot of convincing, and the only reason Lightning agreed to equip it was because of the Mediguard and Magic Clash abilities. Primavera would be her default. I myself had equipped a male version of the White Mage garb- the only difference was it switched out the white skirt for pants- along with a black version of Paladin and the Sohei Savior outfit as my default. Once we had out outfits and weapons set up, stepped onto the teleporting platform, and warped to Luxerion"s Northern Station. Day 4 When we appeared in the North Station it was done so in a blinding flash of light, startling more than a few passerby. But Lightning and I ignored them and left, heading for the South Station. "So, we"ve taken care of two of the massive Chaos readings in Nova Chrysalia. The other three are in either the Wildlands or the Dead Dunes. Which ones should we go after first?" I asked. Lightning placed a hand to her chin, thinking. Eventually, she said "The Wildlands. There were two readings in that area instead of one. If we take care of that area first, then we can get it done faster," she reasoned. I nodded, smiling. Sounded like a plan.

Akeno looked behind her, obviously flummoxed by Deiru"s appearance and having to fight to maintain her composure. "Well... I suppose that it would be alright. Don"t be too long, though, we"re expecting others to arrive shortly," she eventually said. "Of course. This should only take a moment," he assured her, even going so far as to bow once more. Akeno nodded. "Just a moment, then," she said, and shut the door. Deiru could hear the sounds of muted conversation on the other side of the door, and waited to be called in. After another few minutes, he heard Rias call "You can come in, Deiru," and opened the door. On the other side was Rias, who was sitting at her desk and was drying her hair off with a towel, making him assume that she had just gotten out of the shower. Seeing him, she smiled and handed the towel to Akeno before leaning forward, hands clasped on her desk. "Well, Deiru, I"ll admit that I wasn"t expecting you to show up, especially considering that our next match isn"t until tomorrow. What brings you here?" she asked kindly. Pulling up a chair across her desk, Deiru sat and smiled back just as kindly. "Well, Rias, if it isn"t too much of a bother, I would like you to consider a request of mine," he began. When Rias gave him a raised eyebrow in reply, he paused to take a breath. Then, leaving no room for misinterpretation, he spoke. "I would like to join the Occult Research Club." Rias"s eyes widened, as did Akeno"s. A beat passed before either of them were able to respond, and then Rias said "You want to what?" Mentally, Deiru both frowned and smirked. Frowning at the need for him to repeat himself, and smirking at having so thoroughly caught her off-guard. He repeated "I would like to join the Occult Research Club. Would that be acceptable?" Still trying to shake off her shock, Rias refocused on him. "Perhaps. But why would you want to join this particular club?" she asked. Could it be that he knew about her peerage? Deiru lowered his head. "Well, to be honest, I have always had a fascination with the paranormal. Perhaps it is due to having read so many fantasy novels, but I wish to investigate the world around me, to see that which exists beyond the natural order established by humans. It has been a point of interest for me for a long time, and, therefore, I wish to be a part of the club that does just that," he said, spinning a rather convincing tale. In truth, he knew that the entire club itself was just a cover that Rias used for her peerage. Granted, Rias did do some digging into the various Youkai in the area in order to maintain the club, but there was no real research done beyond that. Why do that when you were part of the supernatural to begin with? Yet, should Rias accept, then this would be the perfect chance for him to get that next step closer to recruiting her for the Khaos Brigade. And if she refused, he could always see about joining the Student Council. While Deiru was thinking about this, Rias considered the pros and cons of accepting. One on hand, having someone who was outside her peerage in the club could complicate things if she ever needed to gather her peerage together for something, since she would need to make sure that Deiru was kept unaware. Also, there was a much greater chance of having said peerage exposed with Deiru so close. Yet, if that truth were to get out, then she could try using one of her remaining Knight or Rook pieces to bring him into the fold. Not only that, but if she were to have Deiru become a member of her peerage, the sharp intellect that he commonly displayed could work to her advantage, especially when planning battle strategies for real battles or Rating Games. Granted, she had sensed no special energy coming from him, so he had no Sacred Gear like Issei or special traits like Koneko, but that didn"t mean that he couldn"t become stronger with some training. And, lastly, there was the fact that the time when her marriage with Riser would need to occur was coming closer. If she wanted any chance of stopping it, she knew that she would need all the help that she can get. Coming back out of her thoughts, she saw that Deiru was still there and waiting patiently. Her mind made up, Rias said "Very well. I see no problem with you joining our club; you start tomorrow." Smiling widely, Deiru stood and bowed lower than usual, projecting an image of gratefulness. "Then you have my sincere thanks and gratitude, Rias. I shall see you tomorrow, then," he replied, and walked out. The same moment that he left the building was when Koneko, followed by Issei and Kiba, were walking in. Issei looked at him for a moment in curiosity, but by then they were already inside and the door was shut. Now in the open, Deiru let his victorious grin spread across his face. Yes, that had gone perfectly. Now he just needed to wait until Rias either revealed her devil status to him, or he came up with a viable excuse as to how he could have "figured it out" on his own. Things were swiftly going his way. Those were the thoughts running through his head were he suddenly felt the presence of Ryuk behind him, and stopped. "If you"re seeking me out in the middle of the day, I will assume it"s for something important," he whispered. The invisible Shikigami nodded. "Yeah. I was doing a bit more poking around, and I found out something about the red-headed chick. She"s engaged to be married," he revealed. Deiru raised both eyebrows. "I"m listening..." he said, and began walking as Ryuk told him about the engagement. The more he listened, the wider the grin as his face grew. This... this presented opportunity. "Come on, try harder," Deiru instructed. Currently, he was standing in the middle of an open field located directly behind the manor, wearing a simple set of black sweatpants and a white T-shirt. On the other side of the field was both Patchouli and the Triplets, all of whom were in the middle of training. The training at the moment was to test how well his Pieces were working together in combat, which involved the four of them sparring against him. The Triplets glared at Deiru before rushing forward. While Canterbury and Timber split off to either side of him, Thompson jumped into the air. All three of them were holding spears that glowed slightly with unholy energy, and they were looking to force him into moving back. Deciding to do so, Deiru leaped backwards only to see several golden magic circles bearing the Ouroboros crest surrounding him. He looked past the Triplets to where Patchouli was standing, and saw her with her arms raised to the sky and her spell book floating in front of her. Not a moment later, blasts of blue lightning fired from each of the circles and converged upon him, leaving no room for escape. Nodding in approval, Deiru clapped his hands together and conjured a translucent yellow barrier around him, which took the hits from the lightning bolts and still held fast. However, the attack did create a large smokescreen, which cleared to show that the triplets standing around him in a triangle formation while Patchouli was hovering a large spike of ice over his head. "Well, your teamwork has certainly improved. But don"t think for a moment that this tactic will work on me," he said. He crossed his arms over his chest and called "Power Restriction Release: Level 3." At that, a tattoo of a dragon biting its own tail in a circle appeared on the palm of his left hand. The tattoo glowed before fading away, and an aura of golden energy began to surround Deiru"s body. The others grimaced as they realized that meant. Deiru focused and the energy glowed brighter around his legs before he shot forward, moving at such speeds that his movements were a blur. The first one to see him was Timber, who he appeared in front of and hit with a hard uppercut, sending him skyward. Thompson tried charging at him only for Deiru to grab the spear and yank it away from him, before smacking him on the forehead with it. Then, while Thompson was dazed, he spun in a circle and threw the spear at Canterbury. The Pawn barely had any time to deflect it before Deiru was on him, grabbing him by the collar and throwing him into Thompson. They collapsed onto the ground just as Timber landed on them, which kicked up cloud of dust from the impact. With the three of them momentarily occupied, Patchouli channeled more of her energy and created four circles on the ground around herself. As Deiru rushed towards her, she called "Earth Sign: Emerald City." The four circles glowed green before causing four walls of green crystal to burst from the ground, forming a shield on all sides. Deiru"s fist impacted against the front wall and sent out a small shockwave... but the wall itself suffered only a small crack. He smirked. "Well, it looks like your spells are improving in power as well. Are you perhaps feeling better this time?" he asked. On the other side of the wall, Patchouli gave him a very small smile and nodded. "Yes, the transfusions of your blood that I have been getting have been immensely helpful," she said. Deiru nodded. After doing some research he had found that dragons, and indeed most other supernatural beings, did not actually possess what humans called a "blood type". And so, devils were actually able to freely offer transfusions of their blood to other devils if they were so inclined, though it was uncommon due to the fear that the one receiving the blood would also gain the donor"s genetic abilities. Even if that didn"t happen, it was confirmed that, if a being of high enough power gave their blood to a lower level being, that lower being"s power could possibly be enhanced because of it. For this reason, Deiru had been giving Patchouli regular transfusions of his own blood, which had revitalized her body enough for her to be able to fight with being hindered by her anemia or Vitamin A deficiency. Her asthma was still providing her some problems, but that will likely change over time. Patchouli proved as much when she spread her arms out to her sides and a magic circle appeared over each hand. "Fire and Earth Sign: Lava Cromlech," she called, and lowered the emerald walls. Cursing, Deiru moved back as a storm of flaming rocks erupted from the circles, sending pieces of burning debris in all directions. He was forced to channel further energy to his legs in order to run faster. "If only I hadn"t limited myself to Level 3. Oh, well,' he thought, before sidestepping a literal wave of magma that tried to swallow him. By now the Triplets had gotten back on their feet, and were also dodging the chaotic shots while taking their spears and combining them into one massive weapon. Then, together, they threw the larger spear at Deiru with their combined strength. He grimaced. At the speed it was going and the power level he was at, he wouldn"t be able to catch it while still dodging Patchouli"s attacks. And if he tried to avoid the spear, then he was putting himself in the path of those same projectiles. Therefore, with no other option available, he raised his hand and willed a magic circle of his own to appear. From it, he fired several spears of his own energy, all of them aimed at the spear coming at him. Several of them were caught by flaming rocks that came by, but a few hit the spear and knocked it off course, landing point-first in the ground several meters away. But Patchouli still didn"t let up, and continued to unleash flaming mayhem all over the training field. Deiru frowned. Alright, that had to stop. Now. He sprinted forward and Patchouli saw him. She aimed both hands at him and focused all of the debris to fire in that direction, but then the glow around his legs dimmed while the one around his arms grew. "Enough of this!" he called, and smashed right through the rocks that came at him. The Triplets couldn"t stop him due to having to dodge any stray shots on the way to their fallen spear, and soon enough he punched right through one of the circles and stood right in front of Patchouli. Seeing that, the witch sighed and stopped the spell, knowing for a fact that close combat was her weak point. "You win," she declared. Deiru nodded, before looking around at the field. Much of the grass that had been on it was completely incinerated, and it was peppered with pieces of still-burning rocks all over. He sighed; maybe he could get his other Rook to fix this. Looking at Patchouli and the Triplets, he said "We"ll end our spar here for today. You"ve all improved greatly, as have the rest of this peerage. When the time comes that we will make ourselves know to the rest of the world, we shall be ready. Now, go and rest up." Patchouli nodded and used the magic circle one more time to warp directly to the library, while the Triplets all bowed before walking back to the manor. After a moment, he did the same. Two days later... Observing the chaos before him, Deiru had to admit that Rias was nothing if not resourceful. By officially scolding Issei and telling him to not interfere with the Fallen Angels and the nun girl they had at their side, she removed any legal blame on her part for any conflict between the him and that group. Yet if Issei and her other pieces were to act on their own free will and start a fight, then so long as she punished them afterwards then she could remove the Fallen Angels" presence from Kuoh without creating an inter-factional incident. Her reputation might take a hit, but not to same degree as if she had just let Issei act without saying a thing. Furthermore, if she played her cards right, the redhead could in fact end up with a new servant if the Fallen Angels succeeded in killing the nun. Yes, Rias was cunning, he could see that now. He stood still by a hole in the roof of the abandoned church and was enshrouded in a small spell that rendered him perfectly invisible so long as he didn"t move. Through the hole, he could see Issei had managed to get the girl-Asia, he believed that was her name-away from Raynare and her small army of exorcists in the basement. However, he had not been able to do so before her Sacred Gear was extracted, leading to her slowly but surely dying. "Asia, just hang on. Once we get out of here, you"ll be free," he urged her. Asia tried raising her hand and Issei caught it, holding tight. But then she weakly said "I know it wasn"t for very long, but I feel blessed to have made a friend like you." Issei shook his head. "Stop; it"s not over, alright? We"re going to be friend for a lot longer than this. We"ll go sing karaoke, or I"ll teach you bowling. You can"t give up, dammit!" he said, his tears beginning to fall near the end. Deiru would have sighed if it wouldn"t have given him away. The boy"s agony was real, but so was the truth. Extraction of a Sacred Gear-something that was tied to person"s very life force-from a human was one-hundred percent fatal. No exceptions. Knowing that as well, Asia said "I wish it could have been different. It would have been great to live here, to go to your school and have met you sooner." "You still can. And school will be a lot more fun with you there," he started, but stopped when Asia moved her hand to try and wipe away his tears. "Of all things... I never wanted to be the one that made you cry. Issei... I"m sorry. Goodbye," she said, smiling happily before her hand fell to her side. Listening to Issei yell at the sky and God to give her back, Deiru thought "And so ends the life of Asia Argento, the holy nun. Truly, it is an injustice to have someone so pure die because of another"s lust for power.' Refocusing when he saw a flash of red light from below, Deiru looked and saw that Issei was standing across from Raynare. A red gauntlet appeared on part of his left arm, accompanied by a deep voice that called "Dragon Boost!" Deiru raised both eyebrows in surprise. So Issei did possess a Longinus after all. And it was the Booster Gear nonetheless. Impressive. Issei roared and charged at Raynare with a wide swing which she easily flew over. When he tried it again, she dodged and conjured a pair of light spears that pierced him in each leg. But despite that, he grabbed them both and pulled them out without flinching. Raynare lowered back down to the ground. "Hmph. A Low-Class Devil making it this far? That power of yours is something to be reckoned with," she said, unknowingly causing Deiru to nod in agreement. However, even he was shocked when Issei, after making a prayer to Satan for help, was actually able to stand. Each step he made forward caused Raynare to take one back. When asked how he was able to do move, he said "Don"t get me wrong, it doesn"t tickle. Even now, I feel like I"m going to pass out. But I"ll fight through it if it means I can take you down!" At that, the Boosted Gear glowed again and enveloped the rest of his hand and arm in gleaming red armor as well, and the glow from its crystal intensified. "Explosion!" called the same voice, which Deiru guessed was that of the Red Heavenly Dragon. Starting to panic, Raynare threw another light spear but it shattered harmlessly against the gauntlet. She turned to flee but Issei, whose speed had increased as well, managed to grab her arm. "This one for ASIA!" he yelled, and slammed his armored fist into her stomach hard enough to send her flying towards and through the stained glass window above the front door. Then, Deiru watched as she was dragged back inside by Koneko and used her guise as "Yuuma" to make one last plea for her life to be spared. Only for Issei to walk away and let Rias use her Power of Destruction to blast Raynare to dust. "And then, by Issei"s plea and Rias"s hand, so begins the life of Asia Argento, the devil. Well done, Rias,' he said, mentally congratulating his fellow devil in getting a new Bishop. He then released the invisibility spell and used his devil wings to fly away. Once he was high enough in the air, he changed course and began flying towards the forest. If he was to just let this whole incident pass by unhindered, then it was only fair that he got something out of it too. Landing in the middle of a clearing in the forest, Deiru took a look around. In the center of the clearing was a large pile of black feathers that looked as if they had been swept together, and a few of them still dotted the grass here and there. Also, next to the pile was a sign that read "The forest was molting." At that, he couldn"t help but sweat drop. "Really, Akeno?' he thought. Putting the thought to the side, he clapped his hands together and a circle bearing the Ouroboros crest appeared, glowing brightly. In a flash, the Triplets appeared from that circle and looked around, surprised at being summoned. "What the-? Where the heck are we now?" Thompson asked. "Looks like... a forest," Canterbury stated. Timber gave him a flat look. "No shit, dumbass. But why are we here?" he said. Deiru answered that, saying "I summoned you three." They looked at him, and he waved a hand at the field around them and at the feather pile. "These feathers all came from Fallen Angels. I want you three to take all of these feathers and separate into three piles based on the size of the feathers. And please be swift about it; the less time this takes, the less likely we are of being detected by someone," he instructed. Although surprised and somewhat confused by the order, the three Pawns obeyed and set to work. In a matter of minutes, they gathered the feathers according to his specifications. With that out of the way, Deiru considered which Fallen Angel he"d rather deal with based on the information he had gotten. The woman, Kalawarner, was said to be very loyal to Azazel and thus unlikely to even listen to what he had to say. Odds are, she"d turn and flee the moment she was given the chance. The man, Dohnaseek, had shown himself to be more reasonable, but was also highly arrogant and, according to the report, somewhat of a battle maniac. He already had one of those in his peerage, thank you very much. But the girl, Mittelt, there had not been much on her. Aside from being a rather cynical and cruel Fallen Angel, there had been nothing else on her battle prowess, level of loyalty, anything. By the same token, however, that also meant that she was the most likely out of three that would be equal parts likely to listen and someone he wanted to actually speak with. His mind made up, he held out his hand and another circle appeared around the pile of smallest feathers. What he was about to do was actually an ability that came from a style of magic that he had designed himself and based off of his devil and dragon abilities, aptly called "Infinity Magic". The entire style rested on three foundational pillars: infinity, continuity and possibility. By using the second branch, continuity, he could actually affect the continued state of any person, place or thing, provided he had the magic reserves to do so and it was within his line of sight. By affecting the continuity of something, he could leave it as it was, cause its natural progression to accelerate (such as forcing a person to rapidly age), freeze it in its current state (like causing an object in mid-motion to stop moving) or even reverse its continuity.

Pawn 7: Izuna Hatsuse (No Game No Life) Pawn 8 (Mutated Pawn): Kaede/Lucy/Nyu (Elfen Lied) I had originally intended to introduce all but the Queen this chapter, but that turned to not happen. So, I"ll introduce the last Pawn next chapter. The Queen, however, is something I"m keeping hidden until we get to the events of the Kuoh Treaty (the Faction Meeting, as it might otherwise be known). However, I will be giving out a total of 4 hints as to who the Queen is, and if anyone guesses right, I"ll contact you via PM to let them know. So, here you go: Hint 1: Deiru"s Queen is female. Hint 2: Deiru"s Queen is a character who has died. Hint 3: Deiru"s Queen is not now, nor has she ever been, human. Hint 4: Rather than come from a popular anime/TV series/etc. Deiru"s Queen is a character from a popular trading card game. Which one, I will not say, but I will say that is one of most successful TCG in the world, and has been for over a decade. And, lastly, we have the harems. Issei"s harems was concluded last chapter, so this chapter will have just the final member of Deiru"s harem. And since I know at least one person"s going to ask, I may (emphasis on the "may") increase it from being a max of five girls later on in the story, but that is a really big "may" and will depend both on how the story develops and I feel up to doing it. Moving along, the voted member of Deiru"s harem has been voted to be... The 100-Yen Shop Valkyrie, Rossweisse! Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku (I"m just kidding... or am I?). Author"s Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners. Heeeeere"s Johnny! And by Johnny, I mean me. Good to see you guys again, and I thank you for waiting this long. My muse is a fickle bitch often times, and this time around she was being even more fickle than usual. But nonetheless, I finally was able to write down this chapter, and I hope you enjoy it. But first, replies! Gundam 09: Well, ye net not wait any longer. Hellspam: Ddraig does not yet know that Deiru is part-dragon, as he has been keep those powers sealed. But when he stops doing so, yes, he will able to identify him. Ad for Vali, you"re not wrong. Ushiromiya: The idea of proxies did come to at one point in time, but since this is Deiru"s first mission for the Khaos Brigade, I figured it would be better if he actually tried it himself. Though I do like your idea about trying to recruit actual Gods to the Khaos Brigade. I might do something like that in the future. Pedro52, HelpfulNudge, Cf96, Darth56 and : Thank you for your kind words. Davycrockett100: Nice guess, but no, it"s not Reinforce. GodX: While Sona will not being the harem for this DxD story, I hope the singular pairing with Sona in my other one doe satisfy you. RangerElk76: Really? An entire hour? Damn, I must have made it harder than I thought. Either way, thank you for trying. 1C: I was thinking the same thing. Writing five working relationships with the level of depth I want to give them will be hard enough; adding more girls would just propagate that. Deathslayer1996: I will probably do something like that in future. Neonwolf423: We already discussed your guess via PM. But don"t stop trying; you were doing good. Neonlyphe: No, it"s not Tiamat. Nor did I plan on having her be his familiar, though I am considering the idea now. Blazeb79: I really just felt like giving Issei a harem since he already had one in canon and, although my version of his harem is different from the canon version, I didn"t see any reason for him to not have one. Kuroyasha Shinozaki: Well, that is your opinion, and your choice whether to read to not. I"m not going to force you. JumpingToaster: Hmm, you do make a good point. And I am keeping a list of the number of people who voted for a Rias/Deiru pairing to happen versus those who voted for it to not happen. If the "not happen" section ends up becoming greater, I will probably change the pairing. And to all those who asked whether or Deiru"s Queen is a character from Yu-Gi-Oh, I will say this: No, she is not from Yu-Gi-Oh. And now, let us begin! Chapter 8: A New Assignment When Deiru returned to the main room of the Occult Research Club, the first thing he became aware of was a blur of red shooting towards him. On reflex, he began to draw on his powers, but stopped when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and someone try to bury their head into his chest. "Thank you... Thank you!" Deiru blinked and looked down. The blur was none other than Rias, who was currently hugging him as if her life depended on it. Behind her, the rest of her peerage was smiling, happy to see Rias finally get what she had wanted for so long. Even if Issei was simultaneously crying about the Ouroboros heir being the one to get hugged. He had to fight to keep himself from grinning as well. The Rating Game had turned out to be more fun than he had thought, even if he had let himself get carried away during the fight. In truth, he hadn"t planned on releasing any more of his power than Level 3. The higher the level of his power he released, the less often he needed to do so, and thus the less practice he had in controlling himself at those upper levels. Well, at least Riser hadn"t pushed him to going to Level 5 or above. Rating Game or not, Deiru knew himself well enough to believe that he would have killed Riser if he had. But, that neither here nor there. Refocusing on the present, Deiru hugged Rias back and slowly ran one hand through her hair, an act he had been told comforted people. After a few moments, it seemed to work, as Rias"s cries died down and were replaced by ragged breathing. At that point, he asked "Better now?" Rias nodded and pulled back, smiling up at him brightly. "You did what I was afraid I couldn"t. You defeated Riser and got me out of that marriage contract. I can"t thank you enough," she said, even going so far as to formally bow to him. Deiru chuckled. "There"s no need to bow to me, Rias. After all, I"m still a member of the ORC. We have to look after each other, right?" he pointed out. Rias stared at him in surprise for a moment, and then her smile grew even wider. She began to nod when she noticed that Deiru"s peerage was behind him. Blinking, she said "Oh, I don"t think your peerage and mine have had a proper introduction." Looking behind him, Deiru nodded. "Indeed we haven"t. In that case, I"ll go first," he said. Moving to stand beside his servants, he waved his hand. "Allow to first introduce my two Bishops, Kikyo and Patchouli Knowledge." The two women stepped closer, though Patchouli was moving gingerly due to her still-healing burns, and Kikyo was carrying Izuna in her arms. "Patchouli is a witch who is skilled in several forms of elemental magic, while Kikyo is a former Shinto priestess with skills is archery, healing and purification, amongst other things." The two of them backed away, and the next two came forward. "These are my Knights. Hannah Annafellows is my personal maid and, as you saw during the match, the current sheathe for Lævateinn. Walter Dornez is the oldest of my servants, and has been in my service for the second-longest time out of all of them. He"s also a vampire." Issei jumped. "Whoa, a real vampire. As in, blood-sucking, garlic-fearing, stab-with-piece of wood vampire?" he blurted out. Rias stiffened, aware that vampires could have a great deal of pride, and that what her Pawn just said could be considered extremely rude. She looked towards Walter to see if he had been offended. However, if the amused smile he had was anything to go by, he wasn"t offended at all. "While the garlic and the wooden stake would work on lesser vampires, young man, they don"t have much effect on someone like me. Though you are right about the blood sucking," he said, before grinning in such a way as to show off his sharpened teeth. Issei paled at the obvious implication and hid behind Asia. Or tried to, really, as Asia was currently trying to hide behind him. Deiru fought keep his laughter inside, and began to introduce the next two. Before he could even start, however, Alex stepped forward and, again, ripped his top of just by flexing his nucles. "And a warm welcome to you all, peerage members of Rias Gremory. My name is Major Alex Louis Armstrong, of the illustrious Armstrong line! I serve as Master Deiru"s Rook and military advisor!" he said, striking a pose. Koneko stared at the huge man. "I haven"t seen that many muscles since Mil-tan,' she thought. Suddenly, her mind conjured an image of the two men together, Mil-tan providing the magical girl outfitd while Alex provided the real-life sparkles. She shuddered. The other Rook gave them a lazy wave. "And I"m Ryuk, and a Shinigami, but you already knew that. By the way, now that the fight"s over, I"m leaving to go get some apples," he said. And he did just that, by abruptly turning invisible and then flying out the open window. Deiru sweatdropped. "I swear, sometimes my Rooks are the strangest people out of my peerage at times,' he thought. "And lastly are my Pawns. We have the triplets, Canterbury, Thompson and Timber..." Said triplets all nodded. "Rize Kamishiro, a ghoul..." Rize smiled at them while wiping something that looked suspiciously like blood from the corner of her mouth. "The one Kikyo is carrying is Izuna Hatsuse, a Werebeast. Then there"s Lucy, a member of a mutant species called the Diclonius..." Lucy merely stared at them. Deiru was just about to introduce the next one when Rias"s peerage took note of just who it was. "Mittelt!" Rias called, quickly calling forth her Powers of Destruction. Before any of the others could move, a red orb of energy was already being fired at the Fallen Angel. Mittelt"s eyes widened, and she froze in fear. As if time had slowed down, she could see as the orb approached her, an orb of the same damnable Power that had spelled her end the first time around. "Oh dear God, am I going to die again just like-' she thought, before a golden barrier suddenly sprung into existence in front of her. The orb hit the barrier and exploded, releasing a shockwave of energy that nearly knocked her over. Deiru had his arm outstretched, and all of his previous cheer was gone. "Rias, it would wise if you didn"t do that again. Mittelt is now my servant, and I take exception to having my servants attacked," he warned. Rias looked at him. "But that Fallen, she-" "Settled whatever feud she had with you with her death. It was my choice to give her a second life, and you have no say in that," he said, cutting her off. Rias gritted her teeth. There was a tense moment of silence as the two Kings stared at one another, neither giving any ground. Eventually, however, Akeno broke it, asking "But how did you manage to revive her in first place? Rias"s Power of Destruction made sure that there was nothing of her or the others left. Only feathers." Deiru glanced over at her. "That is correct. However, you"re assuming that there exists no power that can reverse that kind of devastation. My magic is one such power," he said. At seeing Akeno about to retort, he added "And no, I did not revive any of the other Fallen Angels. Just Mittelt." At that, Rias sighed and slowly nodded. Deiru nodded in reply, and dismissed the barrier. "Now, with that taken care of, meet the last member of my peerage." The last member was a young girl, who looked to be about Asia"s age, with pale skin, long light purple hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a short light brown checkered skirt, a white sweatshirt with dark blue sleeves, dark and light purple stockings and white shoes. Around her left leg was a belt, and she was currently sucking on what appeared to be a lollipop. "This is Mizore Shirayuki, a Yuki-Onna and my last Pawn." Mizore inclined her head, saying "It"s very nice to meet you all." Rias nodded. "Likewise. And now, it"s my turn. This Akeno Himejima, my Queen and the Priestess of Thunder. Kiba Yuuto, my Knight and the holder of the Sword Birth Sacred Gear. Asia Argento, a former nun of the Christian Church, my Bishop and the holder of Twilight Healing. And Issei Hyoudou, my sole Pawn and wielder of the Longinus Boosted Gear," she said, indicating each member in turn. When the last of them were introduced, Deiru bowed in greeting. "Despite having gone to same school, it"s nice to actually talk with all of you, with both sides knowing we"re Devils," he commented. The other chuckled in response to that, but then Issei raised his hand. "Um, I have a question. You said to Riser that you had a full peerage, but I don"t see your Queen anywhere. Why"s that?" he asked. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Behind Deiru, the members of his peerage had various reactions. Kikyo and Walter frowned, their lips drawn back into thin lines. Patchouli, Hannah, Alex and Rize all shivered if they had been hit with a cold breeze. The triplets huddled together and began whispering amongst themselves-unintentionally trapping Mittelt between them-and Mizore nearly swallowed her lollipop. The only ones to not react were Izuna, due to being unconscious, and Lucy, who didn"t seem bothered at all. Deiru stiffened and his eyes widened. "My Queen?" he asked. When Issei hesitantly nodded, the half-dragon replied "My Queen has some... issues... interacting with others, and can be prone to fits of violence. Not only that, but she has enough raw power to defeat anyone in my peerage besides myself, which was why I made her my Queen in the first place. So, I tend to keep her away from social gatherings or Rating Games, since killing is supposed to be avoided there." That statement alone had Rias reeling. She had just seen firsthand how strong Deiru and his peerage could be, and he was saying that, out of all of them, he was the only one that could beat this unknown woman? The thought alone terrified her. "But we"re getting off topic. Now that introductions have been made, I plan on returning home to rest up. I"ll see you at school tomorrow, Rias," Deiru said. Rias nodded mutely, waving as he created a large magic circle and transported himself and his peerage away. Once they were gone, she couldn"t help but mutter "Something tells me things are about to get a lot crazier." Deiru sat in a circle with the other members of the ORC. Apparently, the Old Schoolhouse was having its annual "Spring Cleaning" today, so Rias had decided that they would be using Issei"s house as the place to meet up instead. Since the meeting was really to discuss the progress of Rias"s peerage-and now that Rias knew that he was aware of that-he had been invited to attend as well. Sitting on the edge of Issei"s bed and holding her tea in her lap, Rias looked at them. "Now, then, let"s get this meeting underway. This month"s contract numbers are in. Akeno made a total of eleven contracts, Koneko made ten, Kiba made eight, Asia made three..." she said, causing Deiru to raise an eyebrow. A Devil for little more than a month and she was already making multiple contracts? Impressive. "And Issei..." The brown-haired pervert looked at her. Rias sipped her tea. "...You made zero." Issei rubbed the back of his head. "Man, this is embarrassing," he muttered. "You know, unless you start making contracts, you"ll never have the chance to become a High-Class Devil. And if that never happens, you"ll never get that harem you"ve always wanted," Rias reminded him. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he said, before clenching his fist. "That"s why, next month, I"ll do everything I need to reach first place!" Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and it opened to show Issei"s mother. "Hey there, kids. I made you all some snacks for your little club!" she said, holding up a platter full of said snacks. Akeno stood up and accepted them, saying "That"s very kind of you, Hyoudou-san. Thank you." The woman smiled. "Oh, you"re such a polite young woman. In fact, I brought something that might help give your club some inspiration!" she said, holding up what looked like photo albums. Ones that specifically said "Issei"s Baby Pictures". Issei blanched. "Mom! Don"t show them those!" he protested, reaching for the albums. But his mother was faster, and quickly began showing them to the female club members. "See, this one is from when Issei was seven years old. Ever since then, he"s always spent his time chasing after girls and their bottoms," she said. "Oh, this one is so cute!" Asia squeaked, pointing to one of a naked toddler Issei running around the house. "The bare-naked truth about Issei"s tiny past," Koneko added. Deiru refrained from looking and contented himself with watching Issei. With each picture that was shown, a little more color drained from his face, until he looked as pale as a sheet. "My balls are getting busted by my own mother. Someone please kill me..." he heard him mutter, and Deiru chuckled. "She seems like a nice woman to me," he said. Issei glared at him. "Like you"d know, ass-hat!" he yelled. Before Deiru to reply, they both heard Kiba say "Yeah, must be nice to have a family." Both boys looked at him. "Wait. You mean... you don"t have a family?" Issei asked. Rather than respond, Kiba turned the page in one of the photo albums, and his smile immediately faded. "Hey, Issei. This picture..." he said, pointing "Oh, that one? That kid used to live down the street from me, so we played together a lot. But then one of his parents got a job overseas, so they had to move. I can"t quite remember his name though..." Issei said, thinking hard. Curious, Deiru looked over Kiba"s shoulder, and nearly had a heart-attack. In the picture was a child Issei-one that was fully clothed, thankfully-playing with another kind with light brown hair and purple eyes. But that wasn"t what caught his attention. What did catch his attention was that, mounted on the wall behind them, was a Holy Sword. Apparently, that was what caught Kiba"s attention too, as he asked, "This sword, do you remember it?" "Not really. I was five," he replied. "I see. Well, thanks. Great pictures," he said, closing the book and plastering a smile on his face. However, even Issei seemed to suspect that the smile was fake. Deiru sat back. So Kiba had recognized the sword in the picture as a Holy Sword as well. That alone shouldn"t have been surprising, considering his familiarity with swords, but the blonde"s reaction to it was unusual. It was brief, hardly there long enough to be noticed, but he had caught a flicker of hate in Kiba"s eyes. As if he had come face to face with his worst enemy. "Exactly why would that be? Does Kiba have some history with Holy Swords?' he wondered. This was worth investigating. One week later... Deiru rose out of bed with a groan, feeling refreshed and ready to start the day. Things had been progressing rather nicely. Rias had become much more affectionate towards him after he had helped her, which meant that the odds of her joining the Khaos Brigade were now higher. Furthermore, ever since the Rating Game had taken place, he was getting positively flooded by reporters from the Underworld. The brand-new Devil from an unknown house thrashing a member of the 72 Pillars was a great headline, and one that he was glad to supplement. Every media article made about him only served to boost his status in Devil society, which had been the entire point. Now, it was only a matter of time before he was officially recognized as a High-Class Devil, and he could truly start manipulating events in favor of the cause. It was also much more gratifying to not have to hide his Devil heritage anymore, even if he still had to keep his status as being half-dragon under wraps. For now, at least. After stepping out of the shower and seeing his uniform laid out on his bed by Hannah, he made sure to get ready. Even though he would like to be going out and doing other things to make a name for himself, he still had appearances to keep. And that meant going to school. However, once he stepped out of his room, he saw Walter standing there in wait. "Master, forgive the interruption, but you have a guest," he said, bowing. Deiru raised an eyebrow. "A guest? What, is Kuroka here to try and seduce me again?" he asked. The aged vampire shook his head. "On the contrary, the guest is none other than your mother. She"s waiting for you in the dining room." What? Only a week had passed, and Ophis was already here? What could this possibly be about? Still, he didn"t let his surprise show on his face, and nodded. "Very well. I"ll see her at once," he said, and began walking towards the dining room. His mother was there, sitting at table and nibbling on what appeared to be a large cookie while in her Lolita form. If it wasn"t for the fact that she was his mother, as well as a Dragon God eons old and had more power than even the Biblical God, he might have considered the image cute. As it was, he dropped to one knee once she noticed his arrival, and bowed his head. "Mother, it is good to see you again," he said.

I shrugged. "I"m not sure how much luck we"ll have on that. Even she doesn"t seem to have full control. If we want to keep this Chaos in check, the only thing to do might be doing what she wants. And what Yeul wants is for Caius to be saved," I pointed out. Lightning nodded, and we left the hallway to enter the final room in the temple- the Altar of the Goddess. (End Music) The area matched the way that the altar was left when Lightning went to sleep- no ceiling, broken pillars lying all around, and an open area before the throne. Sitting on the crystal throne- the original Throne of the Goddess- was Caius. We walked down the steps to the area before him, and he looked up. "In this dying world, nothing is more precious than time. Why do you waste it on me? Does my victory still sting you? Do you seek vindication?" he asked. Lighting glared at him. "I"m not here to fight you. That won"t erase the past," she said. "So you"re here as the savior, to offer me salvation," he mused, almost mockingly. "It"s for Yeul"s sake. She asked us," I told him. Caius seemed to make something between a snort and a chuckle, before standing. "I refuse," he said. Lightning frowned. "I"m not asking for permission. The Chaos here needs to be brought under control. I"m going do what Yeul asks," she said, walking forward. Caius looked at us, and his stance tensed for a moment before he shot at us. We both drew our weapons while he swung Chaos"s Revenge at us. We dodged and jumped back, but then he moved forward and held it against Lightning"s neck. "You think he know what she wants. Even if one Yeul prays for my salvation, another demands the opposite," he said. We both stared hard at him, regardless. Eventually he smirked. "Very well. Do your best, hunter of souls and vessel of the goddess. Cleave the evil from me, and save me- if you can," he said, pulling his sword away. He took a step back and moved into fighting stance. We did the same, Lightning holding up Blazefire Saber while I raised Death Herald. "If you wish to have my soul... you must take it by force," he stated, and shot at us again. This time I blocked him, sending spars from where we clashed, before disengaging again. Both sides stared at each other for a moment before, as one, all of us charged. Caius"s body glowed red as he entered Commando Mode, and he cast Eye of Bahamut at Lightning. She guarded against it and retaliated with Blizzara, knocking him back with a large chunk of ice. I followed it up by hitting the ice chunk with Aerora, shattering it and creating a swirl of ice shards to cut Caius all over. He glared at me and cast three shots of Graviton, before following it up with Giga-Graviton. I ducked and weaved around the first three spells, but the last one slammed me against the ground. Caius jumped into air to follow it up with Inferno, but Lighting jumped up with him and cast Firaga. The two fire-elemental spells clashed against each other for a second, before mutually detonating and sending out waves of heat and ashes. Caius dropped back down and stabbed his sword into the ground, casting Blast Wave. Bands of energy tore through the stone on the ground and spread out, but I guarded against it before cast Debrave and Ruinga. The first spell lowered his physical power while the second hit him with his own blast of energy, which he weathered through and charged at me. He swung at me once, twice, thrice, four times, the last of which was an upwards slash designed to launch me into the air. Luckily I was able to hold firm by using Heavy Guard, but then he cast Pulsar Burst and let loose a barrage of small blasts. Lightning came at him and cast Poison several times, though it was only the last time that managed to stick. Caius grimaced and cast Body and Soul, curing himself before bestowing Bravery, Faith, Protect, Shell, and Haste. Then he switched to Ravager Mode and cast Frostburna at Lightning, and Thunderstorma at me. Light blocked against a combined Fira and Blizzara attack, while did the same against a combination of Thundara and Blizzara. The Haste status increased his speed enough to immediately attack afterwards, and he hit us both with Icestorma and Flamesparka. The spells were also strengthened, and I gritted my teeth as I tried to hold back the assault. Lightning was facing similar difficulties, and tried to distract it with Elementa. It worked long enough for me to switch to White mage and begin casting Dispel. I removed Haste and Shell statuses before Caius stopped me with Aeroga, blasting me back and nearly picking me off my feet. I managed to remain grounded and also removed his Protect buff, which Lightning took advantage of by switching to Primavera and hitting him with Area Sweep. The blow was able to knock him off-balance and she cast Deprotect before quickly switching to Guardian Corps and casting Deshell. Then she finally donned her Miqo"te Dress, and begun swinging over over with Magic Slash. The dual properties of the attack along with the dual status ailments Caius had multiplied the damage, and Lightning left him series of cuts all over his body. I smirked in the belief that Caius would be feeling the pain, but then he smirked back and called "Ready!" Then he stabbed Chaos"s Revenge into the ground and called "Chill!" Ice-white energy drifted off of him, and we had just enough time to raise our shields before before an storm of ice and freezing winds went out in all directions. Both of us held off against the highest-level ice spell possible, and once it was done we lowered our shields. Only to see a massive fireball in midair, and hearing Caius called "Flare!" The fireball released more power than both the Inferno and Firaga did, and I shouted in pain as a wave of fire hit me in the arms, burning them. But even when that spell ended, Caius didn"t let up and said "Tornado!" As the name implied, a twister dwarfing that of the one made by Aeroga spawn in the center of the fighting area, spreading outwards and hitting us with its cutting winds. Then, just to top it off, he said "Surge!" and lightning bolts began raining all over the area, cutting through stone and one hitting Lightning on the upper back. She gritted her teeth but still couldn"t stop a groan of pain from coming out. Finally, Caius let up on the attack and pulled his blade from the ground. Even he looked winded from casting that many powerful spells in succession, and he switched back to Commando Mode. Lightning cast Poison and Elementa while reapplying Deprotect. Once it stuck she activated Overclock and shot at him, dealing a flurry of blows with Endless Paradox. Caius tried to keep up, but compared to her temporary boost, he might as well have been moving through syrup. Wanting to help, I called upon Etro and channeled her power to use Divine Fury. But then, suddenly... something went wrong. Sure, I felt the raw power of the goddess flowing through me, but suddenly the Chaos began rising from out of nowhere and surrounding me. I cried out, though the sound as muffled, and both Caius and Lightning stopped. "Deiru!" she called, and ran towards me. But then I could feel a sort of presence within my mind. It wasn"t Etro or Uried, both of whom had been either past or present occupants of my head. This presence was reminicent of Etro"s but it felt even more ancient, eldritch, powerful. The Chaos completely turned black and I could vaguely see a figure reminiscent of Etro"s or Yeul"s. One had been based off the other, so it was hard to tell. The figure reached towards me and its hand passed through my chest. Outside, Lightning had just reached the edge of the Chaos surrounding me when it exploded outwards, sending her flying. She flipped through air and landed on her feet. But when the Chaos faded away I was back in my Equilibrium garb, Omnes in hand. Slowly I opened my eyes, and she gasped. My eyes were no longer blue or gold, but a solid pewter gray that covered my irises, pupils, and even sclera. It was then that she knew- this wasn"t me in control. It wasn"t even Etro. And, that"s where I"ll end this chapter. Ha ha! But what is going on with Deiru? Who was that figure? Can they beat Caius? Stay tuned to find out! Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I"m just kidding... or am I?) Author"s Note: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII-2 or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners. Author"s Note: I"M NOT DEAD! This is Deiru Tamashi, back with the next chapter. I apologize for the extended wait, but my family is currently moving, and thus all the time I normally spend writing is instead spent packing up stuff in boxes. The house we"ll be moving in to will be better than our current one though, so that will be nice enough. But no more about me. It"s time to get on with the latest chapter and replies! Gry19: What exactly is happening will not be revealed yet, though I can tell you that it is not Yeul. Rsdk525: You"re not wrong. Chaos is an unpredictable force, and is neither good nor evil. As for Mwynn... heh heh heh. SolidSamurai223: Yeah, I try to do cliffhangers well enough. And ye need not wait any longer. Devil-l"Cie: Glad to see that you are enjoying the story, and know that the answers to your questions lie therein. Guest #1: Well, it"s certainly not bad. And Guest #2: yeah, I was moving. But it"s alright for now. And now, let the story go on! Ch.32 Divine Clash For a moment no one moved, as Deiru slowly took in his surroundings. Or at least, the being that had currently possessed him. I was instantly on guard once I saw his eyes. Personal experience with Uried has shown me that a possessed Deiru is generally not a good thing. There was that one time with Etro, but that did little to lessen my instincts. Not-Deiru slowly held up their hand that wasn"t holding Omnes, looking at it as if they had never seen a hand before. Eventually they spoke, but rather than Deiru"s voice it was that of several people at once, young and old, high and low, making it hard to distinguish. One thing the voices all had in common though, was that they sounded female. "So, I been appeared in the flesh of a human. Interesting," they said. Then Not-Deiru looked around at both Caius and myself, and rose an eyebrow. "Though not nearly as interesting as the company present," they added. Then they looked at me. "Once an ordinary human, then turned l"Cie to fulfill the focus given to you by perceived gods. Once that task was fulfilled, you were made human once more. But then you were touched by Chaos and by Etro, and made the goddess"s champion," they said. My breath caught. Whoever this was, they were able to tell all that about me with just a look? Not-Deiru continued "And after centuries of this fate, you were made her champion no more when Etro fell, and instead given a task by her father- to become the Savior, a ferrywoman of souls." Then they looked over at Caius. "And you, also a human, but then a l"Cie made to serve the human with Etro"s Eyes. And you gave your life for that duty, becoming an incarnate summoning for Bahamut," they stated. Caius narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" he questioned. The person ignored him, going on. "But you were revived by Etro by being given her own Heart, to fulfill a wish you made. But then that Heart was killed alongside with this world, and now you stand a living corpse. Pitiful." Caius growled and cast Flamestorma, sending both a mid-sized fireball and wave of wind flying forward. To Lightning"s shock, Not-Deiru simply held up their hand, and a pane of transparent glass-like energy appeared in front of them. The spell hit the barrier and exploded, creating a cloud of smoke. For a second Lightning felt a flicker of strength, of power so old and massive that it made even her knees tremble for a second. Then the presence of power was muted, and the dust cleared to show that there was hardly even a smudge on the glass. Not-Deiru scoffed. "That was your attempt at magic? Pitiful indeed," they said. Caius glared at them and unleashed Thundaga, Blizzaga and Pulsar Burst. Bolts of lightning, spikes of ice and blasts of energy all hit the pane of energy, but it was hardly damaged in the slightest. His anger getting the best of him, Caius jumped up into the air and cast both Giga-Graviton and Inferno. Two massive explosions hit the barrier and a crack formed in it, before the crack glowed and was repaired. Still Caius didn"t give up, unleashing Elementaga, Blast Wave and even Megaflare- all further enhanced with Body and Soul. Such devastation would have left Lightning and Deiru on their knees, but the barrier still held strong, if it looked about three-fourths broken. Not-Deiru sighed. "It is a shame that this body cannot handle much more energy output, even if it had been human, l"Cie, divine champion and even Protector at some time or another," they sighed. Then they looked forward. "I suppose I must end this then," they said, and curled their hand into a fist. The barrier shattered into dozens of shards of glass, which then all fired at Caius with blinding speed. He tried to block them all or blast them away, but failed and was pierced by several in his arms, legs, and a one larger shard on the right side of his ribs. Not-Deiru flipped over Omnes and stabbed it into the ground, releasing a pulse of energy. The ground rumbled for a moment before chains of alternating gold-and-silver links burst from the stone, shooting at Caius. He grunted and swung wide with his sword, knocking them away before he jumped back as more came after him. Lightning was amazed at the display of magical prowess being shown, and could only stare as one chain wrapped around Caius left leg and swiftly began glowing as it tried to sap away at his energy. Caius shattered it with a burst of Chaos and used Blast Wave again, sending all the chains coming at him flying. Before they could attack again Caius charged at Not-Deiru, casting Absolution on himself. But just as he came close, Not-Deiru placed their hands on the hilt of Omnes and pushed, muttering "Crystal Barrier..." Instantly a dome-shaped barrier of energy, similar to the pane of energy from before, appeared. Caius swung at the barrier but barely made a dent. "I will not fall!" he roared, and cast Body and Soul as well. With both buffing spells enhancing him, he cast Ultima, and successfully destroyed the barrier. Not-Deiru was unharmed though, and simply pulled Omnes out of the ground to hold it at his side. Seeing her chance to help, Lightning ran in and hit him with Area Sweep. Caius moved to dodge her but left himself open for a rapid slash from Not-Deiru. Moving sot that his sword was able to block both, he held for a moment before they disengaged and jumped away. Lightning and Not-Deiru landed next to each other, prompting Lightning to look at them. "Not to sound ungrateful, but who the hell are you?" she asked. Not-Deiru grunted. "Someone who is no longer important. Bhunivelze is now your primary concern, long-term. Short-term, what is important is defeating this man before us. Now, will you do so, Savior?" they asked. Lightning frowned from the roundabout answer, but could say not more due to Caius charging again and swinging at them vertically. The attack forced them to separate and Lightning cast Elememta, while Not-Deiru fired Ruinga. Caius countered with Giga-Graviton and Icesparka. The flurry of spells released a cacophony of blasts that literally broke, leaving cracked, burnt or frozen pieces of stone where they hit. Eventually Caius cast Absolution on himself before he began charging energy. Knowing that he was preparing for another round of maximum-level spells, Lightning began casting Poison, Deprotect and Deshell. Not-Deiru breathed in massive intake of air, before calling "Breath!" Then they released a massive glare of black-green smoke in Caius"s direction. His eyes widened and he quickly closed his mouth. However, rather than let it disperse, Lightning cast Aeroga and gathered the toxic gas into a twister around Caius. Try as he might, his natural instincts to breath eventually overrode his mental commands to not, and he was forced to gasp in a small amount of the poison. Immediately his free hand clutched his throat, coughing and spluttering. The Breath attack inflicted him with Imperil, Curse, Poison, Debrave and Defaith. Caius gritted his teeth and managed to stand while Lightning released the Aeroga spell, having seen it serve its purpose. Caius tried to cast Body and Soul to get rid of the debuffs, but before he could, Not-Deiru attacked with a wide swing which he ducked under to avoid. In reply, he swung at Not-Deiru"s legs, who jumped over it. But Caius held onto his sword with one hand, using the other to punch him in the stomach. Not-Deiru fell back, grunting in surprise. But he quickly recovered and flipped over, while Lightning charged in and swung with Blazefire Saber. Caius blocked it but Lightning charged a Blizzaga spell through the blade, causing spikes of ice to erupt along its length. One of these spikes nearly pierced Caius in the face, but he leaned back to avoid it. He replies with a short burst of Graviton that had Lightning skidding back across the ground. But she held on and switched to her Miqo"te garb, attacking with Magic Slash and her Endless Paradox spear. The two clashed and pushed against each other for a second, at least until Not-Deiru swung thrice and released a wave of energy with each swing. Lightning backed away while Caius side-stepped one arc, though he had to block the other two. Then finally they began charging energy, and Not-Deiru called "Keep him distracted!" Lightning nodded and cast Poison and Elementa, blasting him with a second-level spell of each element while also reapplying the debuff. Caius countered with Blast Wave, before taking a stance, showing that he too was almost ready to unleash his greatest attack. Lightning tried to stop him with Blizzaga, Firaga, Thundaga and Aeroga. But none of it worked, Caius called "Ready!" and stabbed Chaos"s Revenge into the ground. He started with Tornado and created a twister whose winds were so powerful that they pulled Lightning and Not-Deiru off their feet, before setting that tornado aflame with Flare. Lightning gritted her teeth and cast Curaga to heal her burns, but then Caius froze them stiff with Chill, and then they were blasted by bolts of lightning from Surge. Then, just to end it all, Caisu added Ultima to the barrage, hitting them with a single massive blast as the air around them turned to pure energy. Lightning fell to one knee, panting. Caisu smirked and stepped forward, ready to end it. But then Not-Deiru called "It"s over. Grudge!" They flung their hand out and fired an orb of dark energy, which moved too fast for Caius to dodge. It passed into his chest and he began shouting in pain, clutching his heart as slashes appeared all over his body, as if cut by some invisible sword. More and more cuts began appearing, accompanied by burns, claw marks, everything. Not-Deiru looked on impassively. "Grudge will inflict more pain and damage upon you for every enemy you have ever killed. And considering how long you have lived, Caius Ballad, I have no doubt that the number of foes you have killed is great," they said. True enough, more and more injuries kept appearing over Caius, ranging from a black eyes to cracked ribs to a broken ankle. Lightning watched as Caius was literally given back every injury he had ever dealt, until finally it was over. Eventually, he looked up at Lightning. "You are the hunter of souls. But you cannot claim mine. Behold!" he declared. He raised his sword and tossed it into the other, Lightning and Not-Deiru following its path. It spun end over end, flew back down... and pierced Caius straight in the chest. Both of them gasped, but then Chaos began enveloping him. Some of that Caius came out of Deiru"s body, and he groaned before falling to one knee. Instantly Lightning was by his side. "Deiru, are you okay? What happened?" she asked. I shook his head, before clutching it. "Not sure. I tried calling on Etro"s power, but when it did the Chaos wrapped around me and I felt... something... awaken inside me," I said. Lightning frowned. Did that mean that the Chaos had possessed Deiru? No, the power she felt wasn"t as dark, it was more divine, more ancient. But what had happened then? They were forced to refocus on Caius due to a bright light shining through the Chaos. It dispersed to show that Caius was completely unharmed, Chaos"s Revenge in hand and all injuries gone. "Even if one Yeul desires my salvation, another demands my rebirth," he said. We looked around at all the Chaos in the area, feeling its presence and Yeul"s mixed desires. Waving his hand through the dark mist, Caius continued "With each death and life, Yeul"s soul was splintered anew, the divided fragments melting into the ocean of Chaos. She is one and many, contradiction. When Yeul pleads for my salvation, she speaks the truth. But at the same time, Yeul cannot let me go. She must keep me here."

Author"s Note: This is my Christmas present to all of my fans! Love you guys and I hope you enjoy Distant Dream. Today was a day like any other. He came by every afternoon after work around five fifteen sharp to see her, his sister. She resided on floor three room 307 B, and she was dying unless she was given a heart transplant in the next few months. The odds of that happening in three months were slim since she had been placed on a waiting list nine months long. "Hello Mr. Oswald how are you this afternoon?" the well groomed female nurse named Rita greeted him as usual just like every day he visited. She was tall and slender with wavy brown hair and painted red lips. She had piercing cerulean eyes and looked like she"d stepped out of Vogue. "I"m well and you?" he replied back courteously trying to sound as pleasant as possible. He knew where this was going. Rita asked him out at least once a week. "Just fine, my shift ends in a couple of hours, and I was wondering if you might want to get a cup of coffee or something?" She stated invitingly as she twirled a strand of hair flirtingly. "No thanks. You know that I"m only here for one reason." He chided ignoring her completely and walking towards the elevator. It wasn"t uncommon for him to be asked out. He was a very attractive man with a tall physique, broad shoulders, muscular build, and silvery white hair. He pushed the button for the third floor and waited for the ride. Leon hadn"t been in a relationship that he could recount. He"d never really taken the time for them since his life revolved around her. She was his sister and the only family he had left. They had been inseparable since childhood. He remembered of being a boy of only five and seeing her for the first time. Flashback "What"s her name?" asked the little boy gazing over his mother"s shoulder. "Her name is Sophie. Would you like to hold your new baby sister Leon? "His mother asked lovingly holding out the tiny baby in a pink blanket. Leon nodded softly and held out his arms carefully. His mother gingerly handed him the bundle, and he took her carefully into his arms. He gazed into her soft blue eyes in wonderment as she peered up at him, smiling. "Sophie." He said tenderly as he cradled her gently. She cooed as she fisted a strand of his silvery hair, creating a bond between them instantly. Flashback End Sophie had always had a feeble heart, but she had presently outlived what the doctors had expected. She was only supposed to live to see her twelfth birthday, but she was now eighteen and had already beaten the odds of her condition. Leon walked into the dimly lit fluorescent room to see her enraptured in a book. He knocked lightly on the door almost causing her to drop the hardback. "Leon you almost gave me a heart attack!" she squealed. "Could you not have chosen a better choice of wording?" he cringed at her unpleasant humor. "Sorry." She apologized for being desensitized by her ailment. "It"s all right." He responded having a seat in the chair beside her bed. "So which nurse asked you out today?" she teased. "Rita." He said rolling his eyes. "She"s the pretty one, what did you say?" she prodded. "no." he said wryly. "You"re such a meanie butt! One day there"s going to be someone you really like, and she"s going to turn you down!" she shot at him. "I doubt it." He smiled one of those smiles only she ever got to see. "I think I"m right." She stated proudly. "And why is that?" he sneered. "Because I"m always right." She smirked, resulting in a flood of laughter. Visiting hours were soon over as he walked into the dark parking garage to his car. He saw the most unusual thing as he approached his car. There stood a girl fishing for her keys with a coat hanger. "Stupid short arms!" she cursed under her breath as she tried effortlessly to retrieve her keys. Leon stood there for a moment watching this amusing scene right before his eyes. The girl was about five foot two with obsolete cherry colored hair. She looked to be around eighteen with a very plan anatomy, nothing that he would gawk at or cause him to do a double take in public. "May I help you miss?" Leon found himself saying. He had no idea why he was helping this stranger. It was no concern of his. The girl looked up at him vigilantly. "I"ve locked my keys in my car and have no way to get home. Could you give me a ride? I don"t live far." She said cautiously. "Sure." Leon shrugged pointing in the direction of his car. The girl hopped in on the passenger side and immediately buckled up. "Where do you live?" he asked starting the car. "I live in Rose Creek apartments about a mile from here." She told him. Leon looked at her rather surprised, "It"s rather funny that we live in the same apartment complex." "You live in Rose Creek apartments too?" she questioned. "Yes but I"ve never seen you there before." He commented as he changed lanes. "I just moved in a couple of weeks ago." She responded. "Well then where are you from?" he asked not sure why he was phishing for information from this girl. "I"m from the area, but I moved closer because my grandmother is in the hospital." She informed him. "I see." He said pulling into the apartment complex. They walked up two flights of stairs until the girl confirmed that they were at her apartment. Leon watched as she emptied her pockets searching for her keys. "I must have lost them." She sighed quietly staring at the floor. "It"s no big deal, why don"t you come over to my place. I"ll let you use the phone." He offered. "Thanks but I don"t want to trouble you. I"ll just sleep outside my apartment tonight." She retorted as she curled in a ball beside the door. "That"s nonsense, you will stay with me tonight!" he blurted out regretting it. Her eyes lit up as she stood up and smiled at him like he"d just given her the greatest gift in the world, "Really?" "Yes I insist." He replied shoving his foot in his mouth again, leading her to his apartment and unlocking it. "Thank you so much! I will pay you back for sure!" she chirped. "That won"t be necessary. You may sleep on the couch. There are clean linens in the closet, and I"ll fetch you some clothes. You look to be about my sisters size." He said curtly. "You have a sister...What"s her name?" she queried mystically looking at him with sincere brown eyes. "Sophie." He simply stated as he fetched her pair of pajamas. He came back to see her admiring his paintings hanging on the wall. "How do you like my work?" he questioned startling her. "You painted these?" she asked in admiration. "Yes I did." He replied smiling faintly. "They"re wonderful!" she beamed. "Thank you." He replied as he handed her the pajamas. "Bathrooms down the hall for you to change in and use as you please. I will call someone to come unlock your car in the morning." He retorted before walking off. "Sora." She said loud enough for him to hear. "What?" he inquired turning around. "My name is Sora, Sora Naegino. I forgot to introduce myself earlier." She stammered nervously. "Leon Oswald." He stated before retiring to his bedroom, wondering why she"d played upon his thoughts the entire night. The following morning he awoke to a delightful aroma wafting into his bedroom. He rubbed his tired eyes and looked at the clock. It was five thirty in the morning. He could"ve slept another hour but decided to get up and investigate. He threw on a pair of blue jeans and a wife beater and headed towards the kitchen. He walked in to find loads of food occupying the table from crepes, buttered toast, sausage, bacon, biscuits, and an assortment of fruit. "You"re up!" smiled Sora frying an egg. "What"s all this and where did this food come from?" he demanded. "I went shopping this morning and this is thank you for yesterday. You clearly never have a nice hot breakfast very much according to your food supply." She retorted pointing to his bare cupboards. "I live alone, so I don"t need much food." He remarked. "Have a seat and partake of this spread!" she commanded scooting a chair under him and pushing him up to the table. "Um thank you." He cleared his throat, eyeing all the delicacies. Leon found himself loading his plate with food and wondering why the whole time. He had only met this girl yesterday and now she was cooking him breakfast! "Would you like some orange juice?" she offered "Sure." He said civilly as she filled his glass. "Aren"t you going to eat?" he probed. "Of course I am!" she laughed filling her plate higher than his and finishing before he even took his first bite. He was appalled at how much one tiny girl could eat. "Is it good?" she questioned. "Delicious." He nodded. Leon eyed the clock to see that it read six thirty, "I have to start getting ready for work but thanks for breakfast." "You"re welcome!" she chimed gathering up the dishes to wash. "That"s really unnecessary." He objected. "Someone has to clean up." She replied. "I"ll do it after I get off work." He stated. "I really see that happening." She giggled as she began to gather up the dishes. Leon shrugged and went off to start a shower. He wasn"t used to all this hospitality. Why had he bumped into her the previous night in the parking garage? There had to be some reason. He couldn"t figure out why he was so drawn to her. She was plain compared to most women that hit on him. He was almost sad to let her go, but he would never admit it. They drove in silence back to the parking garage to find that her car was gone, "Where"s your car?" he questioned. "Oh it"s all right I"ve already taken care of it." She stated. "Okay well where will you go from here?" he inquired. "I"m going to visit grandmother, she"s on the fourth floor and I usually spend time with her every day." She explained. "Okay well be careful." He said bidding her goodbye. He could"ve swore when he drove off that he could see only a glimmer of light where she stood. Had it all been a dream? He felt like he was in a daze the rest of the day as he organized files and graded papers. He was an art teacher at a local high school in town. He didn"t favor teaching all that much because he would rather work from home and paint but things had gotten a lot tighter with Sophie in the hospital. He had taken the job to bring in the extra income to help out with her medical bills. The students he taught had either taken the class for two reasons, they needed an elective to fill in the gap so they could graduate, or they had failed algebra and needed a quick filler so that they could pass for the year. Leon was very anal about grades and didn"t pass anyone with an A unless they deserved it which would result in a few angry parents every semester lecturing him about how their precious son or daughter had never made less than an A in any course. Leon didn"t care for politics and refused to pass a freeloader. Leon walked into the hospital after a long day of work. It was Friday thankfully which meant he wouldn"t have to see any hormonal adolescents for two days. Rita didn"t greet him today; instead she snubbed her nose at him. It was a relief not to draw any attention to himself. He was just about to walk into the elevator when Sora walked out. "I didn"t expect to see you here." She said startled by his entrance. "I come here every afternoon." He retorted. "Well I was just about to head home." She replied about to leave, but he stopped her abruptly. "Why don"t you come over around seven, and I"ll make dinner for you." He found himself requesting. "You cook?" she quizzed. "A few dishes." He retorted. "All right I"ll see you at seven then." She said cheerfully prancing off. Had he just asked her out? He couldn"t believe what he"d just done. He had never dated anyone in his life and for some reason he didn"t want to mess this one up. He sauntered off towards Sophie"s room wondering what in the world he was going to do now. Sophie was knitting some pink baby booties when he walked in. One of her favorite things to do was to make baby booties for all the newborns in the birthing wing. She claimed it helped her relax and take her mind off herself. Sophie was always cheerful and never down no matter how sick she was. She was always thinking of ways to help others. "How are you today brother?" she greeted him sunnily. "I"m fine." He responded without drawing any further details about his encounter with Sora. "You seem different." She commented as she put her knitting away. "I"m the same old Leon." He told her but she could see through his façade. "What"s her name?" she pressed. "Sora..." he whispered to where she couldn"t hear. "What"s that? You"re going to have to speak louder!" she exclaimed. "Her name is Sora! Why does it matter!" he protested. "Because you"re my brother." She smiled. "Do you have fun torturing me?" he bellyached. "Any chance I get." She snickered as she picked back up her knitting. Leon had decided that he would make something simple but satisfactory. He was not a man of gourmet meals, and he knew if he"d tried to make one that it would end in a fiasco, so he settled on spaghetti. Who could go wrong with spaghetti? Leon had the table set, a candle lit, and soft music playing by six forty-five. He took out a bottle of champagne from his chateau and set it in the middle of the table. Did she even drink or was she even old enough to drink? He was suddenly greeted by a soft knock. He went to the door and opened it to reveal her standing there with her hair pulled back, wearing a dark crimson dress that came to her knees, with diamond studs in her ears. She wore black heels and carried a black handbag. "Wow you look stunning." He complimented unable to stop staring. "Thank you." She blushed. "I had no idea what I should wear, so I dressed up." She told him. "Well you look amazing. Why don"t you step into my kitchen?" he invited. "I"d love to!" she smiled walking into the kitchen. "It looks lovely and smells good!" she expressed. "Let"s just hope it tastes good!" Leon remarked as he pulled a chair out for her. "What a gentleman you are Mr. Oswald!" she applauded as he sat down across from her. "I try." He replied as he uncorked the champagne bottle. "Would you like some?" he offered. "I"d love some!" she smiled holding out her glass. He filled her glass as it bubbled and fizzed leaving a mauve froth on the sides of the glass. "Would you like a toast?" he queried. "Yes to a long happy and healthy life!" she said raising her glass into the air. "To a long happy and healthy life!" he repeated clacking his glass against hers. They ate dinner peacefully as she chatted away about her life and all the places she"d been. She told him how she was hoping to settle down here and make a life for herself and that she hated moving from place to place. "You know you really can cook!" she complimented as she took another bite of spaghetti. He noticed a little sauce on her upper lip; he immediately took his napkin and wiped her lip gently. "Sorry sometimes my mouth tends to run a little faster than I can chew." She blushed. "That"s all right. I"m just glad you like my cooking." He chuckled. "So do you have any family that lives around here?" she queried. "I have one sister who stays in the same hospital as your grandmother, her name is Sophie." He replied taking a sip of his champagne, eyes darkening. "I"m very sorry." She said softly touching his hand gently. He was quiet startled by her gesture and did what he felt like doing all night. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the chair, with one hand placed on the small of her back, he dipped her back into a mesmerizing kiss. She fell smoothly into his arms as he pulled at the tie in her hair as it fell fluidly around her shoulders. He carried her bridal style into the bedroom and placed her gently on the bed, leaving soft trails of kisses down her neck. He stopped and looked deeply into her russet colored eyes. She said nothing but her eyes said everything and that was the only confirmation he needed. She never had to say anything to tell him that she was his, he knew by every gentle kiss and touch she imparted. He was like a thirsty deer that panted for a drink, and she was his brook. The love they made that night felt like a cleansing rain to his soul washing away the pain he felt. He knew for one night that he could cast away all his cares of tomorrow and just let love in. He awoke the following morning to his blaring alarm clock. He hit it with his fist attempting to shut it off. He reached out to touch her supple skin, but he only felt air. He opened his eyes to see that she wasn"t there so he immediately jumped up to hunt for her. He searched every nook and cranny of his apartment, but she was nowhere to be found. He noticed she"d left her black purse lying on the couch. He knew he shouldn"t be nosey but why would she leave her purse? He looked inside to find a dead cellphone, a set of car keys, a broken mirror, an empty tube of lipstick and a wallet. He opened the wallet to find a small calendar that was more than three years old, old pictures of her and an expired driver"s license. Why did she have all this junk in her purse for? It made no sense. He grabbed his keys and started his car and headed to the hospital. He ran into the front lobby and looked Rita in the eye. "Rita how many older patients do you have on the fourth floor?" he demanded. "There are lots Mr. Oswald, why?" she questioned rather baffled by his sudden entrance. "I"m looking for an older woman with a granddaughter that comes by to visit every day!" He replied hastily. "That describes many of our patients Mr. Oswald." She remarked. "Rita her granddaughter has unusual cherry colored hair." He described. "What"s her name?" Rita inquired sifting through some files. "Sora Naegino." He spat out. "Mr. Oswald the only Sora Naegino I know in this hospital is a patient here." She stated. "What do you mean!" he countered. "Sora started visiting her grandmother in the hospital about four years ago. She was very cheerful and the entire staff adored her. Her grandmother was a cancer patient here, and Sora was on her way here one afternoon after school as always. She was crossing the street and was hit head on by a car. She has been in a coma ever since. The doctors aren"t sure if she will ever wake up." Rita explained. Leon felt as if he"d been shot in the head and remembered it. "Mr. Oswald are you okay?" Rita asked. "Yes I had the wrong person. Sorry..." He said shaking it off and walking towards the double doors. "Wait Mr. Oswald!" Rita yelled catching up to him. He spun around to look at her, "I"m not really sure what"s going on here but if you"re interested, the Sora Naegino I was referring to is in room 208 A. She doesn"t get many visitors and I"m sure would love some company." She informed him. "We"ll see." He said before walking out into the crisp cold air. He needed to clear his head and figure out if he was crazy or if this was anything short of a miracle. He didn"t believe in miracles. He didn"t visit Sophie in over a week. He just couldn"t bring himself to walk into that phantom dwelling. Had the beautiful lively girl he had made love to been an apparition? One day he could take it no longer and knew he could not run from her forever. He walked quietly into room 208 to see a girl hooked up to dozens of monitors and wires. He walked to her bedside and examined her features. Her hair was cherry red and very long. She had long finger nails and soft porcelain skin. He retch out to touch her face gently, stroking her cheek lightly. It was her. Leon didn"t try to figure it out, he just went with it. He began visiting her often, reading to her, and talking to her hoping that one day she would wake up and one day she did. He walked in one day to see her sitting up in bed looking out the window. "Sora..." he breathed. She turned around to face him with her hands in her lap. He longed to run to her and throw his arms around her, but he didn"t want to frighten her. "You"re the man from my dreams." She breathed. "It wasn"t a dream." He smiled walking to her and gently touching her hand. "What a peaceful dream I"ve been having. Is this a dream?" she asked in wonderment. "No this is real." He replied feeling tears roll down his cheeks. "I feel like I"ve had a really long nap." She retorted. "Something like that." He smiled The next few weeks Sora was required to learn to walk again and relearn the simple things she had forgotten. She had no living family left it turned out and no place to go, so he moved her in with him immediately. "Come on Leon let"s go see Sophie!" Sora said impatiently. "I"m coming." He reported as he put his coat on. "I"m so glad they found a donor for her." she said happily. "Me too and you know what else?" Leon reverberated. "What?" she inquired. "I"m glad I found you." He told her kissing her lips softly. "Me too." She smiled as they both walked outside arm and arm. It had begun to snow rebirthing a new life for all of them. The End A/AN: You may find this story to be a bit unusual but if you"ve seen the movie Charlie St. Cloud you would totally understand. I hope you all have enjoyed this story. I have especially loved writing it. I hope you all very Merry Christmas!

"Who"s there!?" gasped Miki startled. Suddenly a man appeared out of the shadows and Miki thought her heart had stopped. The man was very tall and guess what he looked just like Yuu. He had the exact same features. Every little detail was like Yuu"s even his accent. "Yuu...?" whispered Miki under her breath as Tenshi began to squirm restlessly in her arms. "Come on let me walk you home." replied the stranger. She didn"t know this man or were he had came from but something inside her trusted him. The man stuck his hand out towards Miki"s. "You coming?" he asked politely. "Sure..." she replied. She placed her hand in his. She thought she had touched those same hands before. I mean Yuu was dead this was not Yuu! He lifted her up as she held Tenshi close to her to keep her warm. "Here take my coat." he replied as he draped it across her shoulders. This man she"d just met was being very polite to her and she didn"t even know a thing about him. "Cute kid." he replied as he admired a sleeping Tenshi. "Thanks... She"s my daughter. I just had her last night." she replied as she looked down at the little baby that"s head barely peeped out of the blankets. "Then what are you doing all the way out here on such a snowy night." replied the man. "Nothing... Got lost." she said as she made up something quickly not wanting to go into major detail of what had happened earlier. "Were"s your husband?" replied the man. "He died a month ago." she replied as she looked down. "I"m sorry to hear that." he said as he looked down. The rest of the walk was silent. "This your house?" he asked as he pointed at her house. "Yes... How did you know?" she questioned him. "Lucky guess." he replied giving her sarcastic smile that almost reminded her of Yuu"s smile. He walked her to the door. She smiled. "Thanks." she replied. "Anytime." he replied as he walked off. "Hey what"s your name!?" yelled out Miki. "Oh you know me very well Miki Matsuura." he replied with a gleam in his eye and when she turned her head back around he was nowhere in sight. How weird and how did he know her name!? She walked inside and put Tenshi to bed in her little cradle Yuu had made for her himself. She then noticed Meiko had left a million messages on her answering machine but she"d call her tomorrow because it was getting late. She lied down in bed and kept wondering who that strange guy who looked so much like Yuu could be and then she fell asleep wondering about this great mystery. "It was just so weird Meiko the guy looked so much like Yuu..." replied Miki into the receiver as she sat in her comfortable fetal position on the couch. "Well you can"t trust everyone Miki-chan..." replied Meiko in a concerned tone. "I mean this guy could be some kind of rapist or something." proclaimed Meiko. "I don"t know but when he held my hand it felt like it was Yuu"s." replied Miki as she sighed passionately as she let his name escape her lips. "Just be careful Miki-chan... You have a baby now and it"s high time you start thinking of Tenshi-chan"s well being along with your own. Yuu would"ve wanted it that way." proclaimed Meiko. "Ok..." replied Miki as she sighed. "Miki-Chan I have to go to work ,but if you need anything just call me on my cell." replied Meiko. "Alright I will." replied Miki. "Ok I love you Miki-chan." replied Meiko. "Love you to Meiko." replied Miki as she hung up the phone. Miki sighed as she decided to check on Tenshi. She tiptoed quietly up the stairs and peeped in on her little one. She looked over in the crib as she seen Tenshi curled up in a little ball as she clutched the little blanket to her chest as if she was protecting it. She smiled and lightly kissed her forehead affectionately. She quietly tiptoed out of the room and quietly closed the door. Miki then decided she might go outside for a while so she quickly bundled up and walked outside. She took in the frost bit air and she then softly gazed at the mist of air in front of her. She then looked upon the white vast wonderland in her back yard. Suddenly as she had decided that the experience with that guy was probably just a dream. Yuu was dead and he wasn"t coming back and she was foolish to think that he was. "Hey what are you doing just standing there?" said a voice that cut right through Miki"s soul. The voice of Yuu and when she looked out there was the guy she"d met the night before skating on her pond. "Hey what are you doing on my property!?" demanded Miki furiously as she placed her hands on her hips. "Well no one seemed to have been taking advantage of this very nice skating spot so I didn"t think you"d mind. Care to join me?" he replied as he grinned. His grin reminded her so much of Yuu"s grin and before she even thought about skating with this guy something inside her made her reply. "Yes let me go get my skates." she quickly came out of the house and darted onto the ice and began to slip and slide and the mysterious man grabbed her hands and pulled her forward. "Hey gotta be careful." he replied in a concerned tone. "Yeah sorry I"m such a klutz." she said laughing and blushing. "Here let me show you." he replied as he began to lead her step by step in a slow motion. Then memories of Yuu flooded back into her mind. Her and Yuu would always skate on their little pond every winter. :::Flash Back::: "Come on you can do it." replied Yuu as he led Miki in a gently waltz along the ice. "Whoa! I"m gonna fall!" yelled out Miki sacredly as she began to slip and slide. "Hey just take it easy." replied Yuu as he grabbed onto her and showed her how. "Wow I"m doing it!" replied Miki very proud of herself as she skated on the ice firmly holding her balance and then she was caught off guard and fell onto the ice. "Man Miki your such a klutz." laughed Yuu as he skated around her. "Oh is that so?" replied Miki as she grabbed Yuu before he could say anything he had fallen beside Miki. "Whose the klutz now?" laughed Miki. "Were both klutzes aren"t we?" he laughed. "Yeah we are." laughed Miki as Yuu held her close to him. "I love you Miki-chan" replied Yuu. "I love you to Yuu." replied Miki as she snuggled into him as the snow fell. :::End of Flashback::: "Hey you ok?" replied the mysterious guy. "Yeah I"m fine." she replied as he led her once again on the ice. Soon she felt him drawing her closer and before she knew it he was kissing her. This kiss was Yuu"s kiss. The moment seemed to last forever as she let him kiss her and when she felt him draw away she opened her eyes. He was gone. The only thing that remained was falling snow. Maybe it had all been a dream... She didn"t know. She looked up into the now grey sky as the snow fell hanging by a moment. Time flowed by freely and Miki never seen the beloved face of the mysterious man that was identical to Yuu for nearly three whole years. She had put it behind her and had went on with her life. Right now she sat on the couch going through the bills and suddenly the sound of a little girl of about three filled the room. "Mommy look!" yelled out the brown pig-tailed toddler as she waddled into the room holding up a scribbled piece of paper very proud of her creation like it was a work of art. Miki put down the bill she was holding and adjusted her glasses as she scooped the child into her arms and let her set comfortably onto her leg. "What have you got here?" added Miki. "It"s a rainbow!" she said excitedly as she fidgeted on her leg. Miki very content with herself at the moment studied the picture carefully. There was a rainbow and under it stood three people. One which she knew was herself the other her daughter and then her eyes caught a glimpse of the man beside Tenshi. She traced her eyes very carefully over it. "Who"s this dear?" she asked as she pointed to the male figure. "That"s daddy!" said Tenshi happily. Tenshi had a picture of her daddy that Miki had given to her because she would always take it off the table and look at it so Miki just gave to her after she seen how much she adored it. She kept under her pillow for safe keeping and would always look at it until she fell asleep. Miki thought she was going to cry as she put the picture down and let tears escape her eyes as tiny beads of water dotted the picture. "Why you cry mommy?" asked Tenshi innocently as she looked at Miki in a confused manner. "It"s just I miss daddy so much." said Miki as she wrapped her arms around Tenshi"s small body and hugged her tightly. Soon Miki ended the hug and Tenshi looked up at her with big brown eyes. "But Daddy is here!" said Tenshi. Miki starred at her very puzzled. "What are you talking about sweetie?" asked Miki as she looked down at Tenshi. She probably figured this was another one of her silly childish games she had made up to try and jumble her brain with. "Daddy"s alive." replied Tenshi. "He"s dead sweetie and he"s never coming back." replied Miki bitterly as she gazed at Tenshi coldly. She felt pain and agony feel her heart. Tenshi looked at her innocently. "Daddy"s alive!" yelled Tenshi. "No he"s not Tenshi! You"re daddy"s dead and he"s never coming back! Do you understand me!?" replied Miki as she shook Tenshi violently. Tenshi"s eyes began to water as she began to cry. "You"re mean mommy!" cried out Tenshi as she jumped out of Miki"s arms and ran out of the living room and a few moments later she heard a door slam and Tenshi"s loud sobs fill the air. Miki felt herself crying as she fell down on her knees crying uncontrollably. So she was mean... Since Yuu had left emotions from all those years were left bottled up inside her soul ,and on occasions like this she would release many of those emotions on the people she loved. Sometimes she would even become violet and abusive ,and it was all Yuu"s fault... He had left her and when he had left part of her heart had went with him. "You know a pretty girl like you shouldn"t cry." replied a familiar voice. "Yuu..." Miki breathed silently to herself. She opened her tears gazed eyes as her vision became blurred as she knew she seen Yuu leaning up against a wall gazing at her. "Who are you!?" Miki stammered as she got up and almost fell backwards. "I wonder Miki... Who am I?" he said as he curled a smile. She gazed at him as he came closer to her and tilted her chin up towards his brown eyes. "It"s me Yuu." he replied as he looked her straight in the eyes and then she thought she would scream. Her emotions began to run wild in all directions...Was she going crazy? Could this be Yuu!? Was Yuu back from the dead!? He just smiled at her and embraced her body in his arms as he eloped her in a deep heart-warming kiss. She thought her heart had melted and would seep through her skin at any moment as he kissed her. This was Yuu and no one else ,and he had come back for her. Suddenly she opened her eyes and their eyes locked as well as their hearts. Her heart had fallen in love with him all over again. Yuu was back and she wasn"t letting her leave him again. :::Later that Night::: Miki slept soundly in her bed as Yuu gently kissed her forehead softly. He gazed at her for a long moment as she slept peacefully and his heart cried out to her because he didn"t want to leave her like this again ,but he knew he had to because his time on Earth had been cut short and he"d already had spent a long time here to start with. To long actually. He was lucky he was even allowed to get to see Miki. He had already broken who knows how many rules by doing this ,but he didn"t care. He missed Miki. She had been his life and he wanted her to be apart of his new life to ,but he knew it wasn"t her time. Maybe soon enough , but he knew she had a daughter to think about and that would be selfish of him to want her to be with him now. Maybe soon ,but not now. Miki deserved to live life to the fullest until it was time. It wouldn"t be to much longer now. The day would soon come when they would never be apart again ,but just what day was that? Yuu didn"t know and he wasn"t going to batter his brain by trying to figure it out either. He walked over to her bedside and gently whispered in her ear. "Miki please be strong and take care of our baby... Please do it for me. I love you both and someday we"ll be together again. I promise but for now please be happy and take care of Tenshi... If you do it for anybody do it for me ,and remember I love you both and I"m always with you." he replied as he moved away from her bed and gazed at her one last time before disappearing into the moonlight. OCC: Spooky eh? Well no more happy parts for awhile. I hope you liked this chapter and stay in tune for the next one. ~Anjyu Miki woke up the next morning to hear the sound of the phone ringing. She then yelled out to no one in particular. "I"m coming...I"m coming! Just hold on!" she yelled out in a very annoyed tone. She walked down the hallway and tiredly picked up the phone. "Hello?" she replied tiredly into the phone. "Miki... It"s Meiko..." replied a frantic and scared sounding Meiko into the phone. "What is it Meiko-chan?" asked Miki very worriedly. "Miki... Miwa has-" her voice then broke off as she choked out in sobs. "He"s what Meiko-chan?" asked Miki in a now very concerned tone. "He"s had a heart attack..." she said as she began to bawl madly. "Oh...Don"t worry Meiko-chan I"ll be right over..." replied Miki as she hurriedly let Meiko go and tried to get dressed. Suddenly she noticed that Yuu was gone... Her heart filled with so much agony and hurt but she didn"t have time to worry about that... She had to get to Meiko"s very quickly. Miki went to the bathroom and attempted to very quickly brush the frizz and rats out of her hair but that attempt didn"t go so well. She brushed her teeth quickly and frantically. She dabbed no makeup on her face ,nor did she take anymore time to primp. She ran to her bedroom and took out some red sweat pants and a green sweater not caring if she matched or not. She then walked upstairs and opened Tenshi"s door to see that her daughter was still sound asleep and it was way to early to wake her so she decided to call a neighbor to come over and watch her for a while until she could come home and tend to her herself. So she quickly called the neighbor and made plans with them , and they said they"d be over shortly. She grabbed her keys and her purse and headed out the door and got in her car and quickly drove off to meet Meiko. ~*~ Miki sat with a bawling Meiko in the waiting room of the hospital where she had not visited in nearly three years since she had Tenshi. She didn"t like it much either because it had to many painful and foul memories of Yuu in it... Plus the grieving pain of having a fatherless child. Miki tried to calm Meiko by patting her back gently and repeating the phrase "Shh.....It"s gonna be ok." over and over. Meiko then began to talk between cries. "They said he was stressing himself way to hard at work and I knew he was but I didn"t even try or consider stopping him from doing what he loved... because he took so much pride in it and it seemed wrong to tell him to ease up and break himself from it a while... ,but maybe if I had this wouldn"t have happened...It"s all my fault." she said as she broke down crying again. "Shh...Hush up Meiko you"re being silly...It"s not your fault that any of this happened! You had no idea he was stressing himself out so much..." she replied tilting Meiko"s chin up to meet her eyes. Meiko tried to push back the tears as she looked at Miki very sadly. "But-" Meiko tried to cut in but Miki stopped her. "But nothing...Miwa is going to be fine... He"s always been fine." replied Miki as she looked sternly into the eyes of her best friend. "You"re right Miki-chan... I can"t lose hope." proclaimed Meiko as she smiled through all her tears. "That"s the old Meiko I know." replied Miki as she gently hugged her friend and suddenly the door opened and there stood a tall middle-aged man with slightly graying hair in a white coat. "Is there anyone here by the name of Meiko?" replied the doctor and Meiko then jumped up excitedly as her lips quivered and then replied. "I"m her!" she exclaimed nervously. "Well we have your husbands results and they are quiet well..." announced the doctor as Meikos heart filled with relief. "Well is he going to be ok!?" questioned Meiko. "Yes he"s perfectly fine... It was only a mild heart attack...He should be his old self in a couple of weeks but he will have to be put on proper medication and rest up..." replied the doctor. "May I see him!?" she questioned excitedly. "Why yes of course..." replied the doctor. "Follow me..." he announced but suddenly a nurse looked at Miki and called to her. "Miss Matsuura you have a call on line one." replied the nurse. "Ok just hold on." she announced and then she turned to Meiko. "Meiko-chan I will be there in a few minutes I have a phone call." she explained to her friend. "Ok that"s fine just take your time.." replied Meiko as she followed the doctor down the hall to her husbands room. Suddenly Miki approached the desk and the nurse handed her the phone and she spoke in the receiver. "Hello?" she replied into the phone. "Miki...This is your neighbor Mrs. Yoshino... When I got here this morning about thirty minutes after you called... I went up to your daughters room to check on her but she was gone...I"ve looked everywhere... She"s nowhere to be found." replied the neighbor as she broke out in tears. "Just stay there I"ll be right over!" she replied and quickly hung up the phone in much shock and worriment. "Please tell Meiko there"s an emergency at home and tell her I"ll call her later but I have to go!" she explained to the nurse as she rushed out of the Hospital. Miki drove up into her small vacant driveway as she jumped out of the car to see two police cars parked outside her house. She quickly ran past the flashing blockade of red ,and blue lights as she opened the front door to see Miss.Yoshino setting at her small table choking out random words in between sobs while she talked to the police. She suddenly looked at the two policeman who"s eyes met her own ,and suddenly one looked very familiar... It was Ginta! "Miki is that you?" questioned the tall muscular black haired man as his eyes met Miki"s. "Yes! Is that you Ginta!?" questioned Miki as her heart started to beat with excitement as she looked upon his familiar face. "Yea it is..." he replied as gentle blue eyes played upon her face. "Hey...We"ll talk later Miki ,but for now we need to talk about this ,and straighten out the facts."he added. "Ok..." replied Miki as she sat down beside Ms. Yoshino. "What time did you leave the house this morning?" asked Ginta. "Umm about 6:30 I believe." answered Miki. "Did you call this woman to come to your house?" he said asking a second question. "Yes..." replied Miki. "Mam what time did you reach the house?" asked Ginta Wearily. "7:00..." replied Miss. Yoshino. "Did you see anyone suspicious looking lurking around the premises before you left Miki?" asked Ginta. "No...I wasn"t really paying attention ,because I was in a hurry." she answered while sighing. "Alright...Well I believe that"s all we need to ask you...We"ll take this investigation further momentarily... Miss.Yoshino it"s probably best if you go back home...Miki you need to come with us. There"s no use for us to be looking around here anymore. We"ll find her...Indeed we will ,because there"s no way a three year old could"ve gotten very far." added Ginta as we soon got to work on finding my little Tenshi... "Mommy hates me...I just know she does..." replied a little girl as she stumbled through the wood as she fell in a pile of brush to weak to go on anymore. She then began to shiver as the sun started to set. "I"m so cold...If only I could be home in my warm blankie..." she replied as she wearily closed her eyes to meet a restless dreamless sleep. "I must stay warm..." she sighed to herself mumbling useless nothings while trying to fight sleep. Suddenly to warm loving arms embraced her tiny body. "Shh... It"s ok daddy"s got you..." replied the tall muscular figure. "Dada is that you?" asked Tenshi. "Yea it"s me...Daddy"s got you ,and he"s going to keep you warm." replied Yuu as he cradled her in his arms. "I love you dada..." added the little girl as she soon started to doze off to sleep while he rocked her in his arms. "Tenshi!" called out Miki into the darkness as Ginta followed not to far behind her. "Hey Miki maybe we should resume our search in the morning...It"s nearly 11:30 ,and we"ve been looking all day..." suggested Ginta. "No not until we find my baby!" yelled out Miki with determination. "Ok Miki ,but you look tired...." added Ginta. "No! You just don"t understand Ginta! She"s my only one... I lost Yuu ,and I"m not going to lose her!" yelled out Miki back to Ginta. "Actually I do..." replied Ginta in a quiet tone. "How can you possibly understand what I"ve been through these past three years!?" cried out Miki with tears rolling down her cheeks. "Don"t forget Miki I feel in love to...I had a son ,and I lost them both in a car crash..." replied Ginta sadly. "Arimi"s dead!?" asked a shocked Miki as her heart nearly beat out of her chest.

"Do you have an appointment?" She asks. "Um. Not really. I didn"t really think I could uh, explain my situation over the phone." Aria responds. "Well, you"re in luck because we have an opening. Let me tell Vicki and then you can go on in." She says. "What"s your name?" She asks. "Aria." She says. The goth girl nods before disappearing behind the doorway. Aria looks around the office a bit before the goth girl comes to get her. "Coreen, tells me that you have interesting situation." The woman Aria presumes to be Vicki states. Coreen. That must be goth girl"s name, she thinks. "Uh, yes." She answers. "Want to tell me what this is about?" Vicki says. Aria sighs. "I"m being followed. Stalked, if you will. I get pictures, hang up phone calls, the works." She starts off. "Okay, have you contacted the police about this?" Vicki asks looking up from her notepad. "I can"t go to the police." Aria says. "And uh, why is that exactly?" Vicki asks taking off her glasses looking at her potential client. "This is more of supernatural case." Aria says. "Supernatural how exactly?" Vicki responds "Supernatural in the fact that I"m a Witchess or as some like to call a Witch." Aria states. "This stalker has been an enemy of mine for over hundreds of years. He is a Warlock, more powerful then I, due to the fact that he"s killed thousands of our kind and draining their powers for his gain. He finally has more power then myself and he will use that to kill me. Mrs. Nelson, please I need your help." She says. "Aria, I want to help you, I do, but I"m sure how you expect me to help you stop a powerful Warlock, if you can"t stop him yourself." Vicki says. Aria sighs. "Maybe not you specifically." She starts off. "But rumor has it that you have a resource that I could certainly use." "Which is?" Vicki says still not following. "Me." Henry interrupts walking into the office. Aria looks behind her to the man that she hasn"t seen in years. "Hello, Henry." She says. "You two know each other?" Vicki asks pointing between the two of them. The way that both of Aria and Henry were staring at one another answered Vicki"s question quicker then spoken words could. "We go way back." Henry says. "Way back." Aria adds. "Why am I not surprised?" Vicki mumbles, of course neither of them hears. "Well, anyway, can we stick to the task at hand? Like me getting the details about this case?" Vicki says. "Right, go ahead." Henry says sitting in the chair next to Aria. "I have enough to cover a few weeks of your time, but I would hope it doesn"t take that long. I can"t hide from him anymore, so the sooner we can figure out how to beat him, the better." Aria says taking out huge envelope from her bag. "Okay, We"ll look into, but I can"t promise you anything." Vicki says. "I know you"re probably thinking that I"ve lived long enough, that why does it matter if I die, but this isn"t about my life. It"s about what will happen if I die and he gains my power. He will cause great havoc on Earth and many people will die." Aria says standing up before walking out of the office. Henry follows her and grabs her arm. "Aria." He says. Aria looks up at him. "I"ve missed you." He whispers. She smiles placing her hand on his cheek. "And I you." She whispers. "But I need to go." She says. "Let me go with you." He says. "Walk you home." He says. "I can"t let you do that. If he sees you with me, it won"t end well." She says leaning up to kiss his cheek. "I"ll see later." She whispers before vanishing before his eyes. Henry sighs before walking back in Vicki"s office. "So, what"s the story with her?" Vicki asks when he walks in. "We grew up together. Her father was a nobleman and her mother a lady of the queen. Before I met Christina, Aria and her mother left suddenly, rumor was that her mother was of the devil"s spirit and took Aria with her, when her mother was set for trial. I never heard from her again until after I was turned. She was walking down the streets of France, when I saw her. That is when she told me what she was and why she had to leave. She knew what I was and we were together, lovers for quite a few years, but I made her leave to save her from Christina. She came into my territory and I was afraid that she would cause harm. I told Aria, I didn"t love her anymore, that it was time for me to move on and so should she. That I was only carrying on our relationship because she reminded me of who I used to be." Henry says looking out the window. "I ran into her again in the 1800"s, we had an affair for a few nights before she was taken, suspected of witchcraft. She was able to escape and I had never heard from her again, until now." He whispers. "That"s quite a story." Vicki says. "It"s our story." He says. "Which is why we need to save her. I know the Warlock she"s talking about. It"s her father." Henry says. "He"s extremely dangerous and that is why she had to leave court with her mother. He was after their power and their lives. He has already taken her mother"s life centuries ago and he will not stop until he has hers." It was the next night and Henry found a knocking on his door. When he went to answer, he could already sense her. He opens the door letting her in. "I thought you said it wouldn"t be good for you to be seen with me?" Henry says. "If we"re inside, we"re not really seen are we?" Aria says taking off her coat. "I assume after I left, Vicki interrogated you about our past?" She says walking around his apartment, looking at his sketches. "She did." Henry says walking over to her, watching her. "I"ve seen your work. Your graphic novels." She says. "I"ve also seen that I make quite bit of an appearance in them as well." She adds. "I"ve never forgot about you." He says. "Well, what about now?" Aria says turning her body towards to him to look at him. "There"s something going on with you and Ms. Nelson." She says. "We"re friends. Work partners. That"s it." Henry says. "But you want it to be more." She states. "There was a time that I did, yes. I drank from her in a time of need, the connection from that stays with me, but I"ve moved on. It would never work between us anyway." Henry says. "It never worked between us either, but we still keep coming back to each other." She whispers walking over to Henry. "It was never us that didn"t work. It was circumstances beyond our control that didn"t work with us." He whispers. "You told me you didn"t love me." Aria whispers getting closer to Henry. "I lied." Henry says. "And how do I know that"s not a lie?" She whispers. He doesn"t answer, he just takes her face in his hands and kisses her. She responds to the kiss immediately wrapping her arms around his neck. They were frantically making their way towards Henry"s bedroom, when they were interrupted by a knock. Henry sighs placing his head on her shoulder. "It"s Vicki." He sighs. Aria nods kissing Henry again quickly. "You should get the door, while I find my shirt." She smirks. He gets up from the bed and heads to the door, opening it. "I"ve been trying to call you." Vicki says walking in. "I"m fine, Vicki, how are you? What don"t you come right in?" Henry says before Aria emerges from the bedroom. "Oh, so that"s why you were ignoring my calls." Vicki says. "I didn"t hear my phone, so I wasn"t intentionally ignoring your calls." Henry says. "Yeah, I highly doubt those vamp ears of yours couldn"t hear your phone." Vicki says. "Are you going to continue talking about the lack of answering your calls, or get to why you came over here in the first place?" Henry says. "I take it would be about the case?" He says. "It is actually." Vicki says looking over at Aria. "So, what is it?" Aria says. "We need to head into the office." Vicki says. "Coreen as all the information there." "Let me go first. If he"s following me, he"ll be gone by the time you two head out." Aria says grabbing her coat. "Be safe." Henry says. Aria gives him a small smile before heading out. "So, while I"m looking into this case for you, you"re sleeping with the client?" Vicki says. "Nothing happened, thanks to you." Henry says walking over to grab a shirt and his coat. "Look, this case is nothing like we"ve experienced before. I might know a little bit about the supernatural world, but this whole witchcraft thing and a powerful warlock, is new territory. I need you focused about the case and not her." Vicki says. "Me being focused on her is what will save her. My love for her is what will push me to make sure her father is destroyed once and for all." Henry says. "Now, shall we head to the office?" Henry says pointing to the door. Vicki looks at him, shaking her head, then walking out, with Henry following behind her. Aria walks into the office meeting Coreen. "I can"t believe that I"m actually meeting a Witch. This is so cool." She says. "You"re very enthusiastic about these sort of things aren"t you." Aria says. "It"s very intriguing. I"ve always been interesting in the supernatural, but I never knew that it was real until now. Now, I want to know everything I can about it." Coreen says. "Curiosity killed the cat. Our world is more dangerous then not, Coreen. Better be careful on what you learn." Aria says. "You sound just like Henry." She says grabbing the book she had been reading all night. "Because we both have seen the dangerous and dark parts of our world. It"s not something to play around with." Aria says. "Vicki said that you had information?" She says changing the subject. "I do. I found out the ritual that the Warlock must be using to track down others of your kind and killing him." Coreen says. "A simple tracking spell is all he would need. We can also sense others around, just like Henry can sense you and others." Aria says. "I figured that, but if all of the people he killed knew he was coming, how did he get to them?" Coreen says. "So, I dug a little deeper and found that he has to be doing a scared ritual. It not only tracks others, but it slowly drains them of their powers AND draws them to him, so he can finish the draining and the killing." She says. "How could you not know something like this?" Coreen says. "My mother trained me. She wasn"t into dark magic and never wanted me to be either. She skipped those lessons, although there have been many times where I"ve had to teach myself in order to save my life." Aria says taking the book from Coreen. "There is much more to magic then spells, and rituals. There is much more to learn then our many lifetimes can cover. That"s why to become powerful, we must drain the magic from others. All of their power and knowledge then become our own. It becomes part of us and we get stronger." Aria says. "Have you ever killed another?" Coreen asks. "I have." Aria asks. "Any more questions?" "Uh, not right now." Coreen says noticing Vicki walking in. "Questions about what?" Vicki asks. "I was just filling in Coreen here on some knowledge of my people." Aria asks. "Right." Vicki says. "So, Coreen, what is it that we have to do." "I have to play my father"s game." Aria says. "I have to think like him. According to this book, he"s using a tracking and draining ritual. He"s using it slowly suck the power out of us and using it as a way to get those he"s after to come to him, which means that he"ll probably be doing the same to me soon, if he hasn"t already." Aria says. "Okay, so what does this mean? You get your magic wand and say bippity bop pity boo?" Vicki asks. "I"m afraid it"s much more complicated then that." Henry says. "Aria, are you sure you want to do this?" He says. "I have too. If not for me, then for all the lives he"s already taken, or for those he will take in the future if he gets to me. For my mother." Aria says. Henry sighs placing his fingers on the bridge of his nose. Aria sighs. "I must warn you. This is very dangerous for you. For all of you." She says glancing to Henry. "I"ll understand if you decide to walk away." Aria says. "No way. I"m totally in." Coreen says. "Eager aren"t we." Aria says. "Look, you hired me and I never quit a case. I"ve been through demon summoning, getting marked by a demon, and a whole lot of other weird, supernaturalness things, We"re good." Vicki says. Aria sighs. "You don"t know what you were agreeing too." She says. "Neither do you." Henry says. "This involves Dark Magic. Something you barely know anything about." He says. "I know enough." Aria says. "But you don"t. Your mother would never approve of this." Henry says frustrated. "My mother is dead, god rest her soul, because of HIM. She would want me to fight! Do everything in my power to stop him." She says. "And what happens if you can"t." Henry says. "Then I die and he wins, but at least I tried." Aria says. "She would want me to try." She says. "I won"t let you do this. We"ll find another way." Henry says. "There isn"t another way, Henry." Aria says. "I need to get everything for the ritual. I"ll see you later." She says before leaving. "Why did you show her that?" Henry says to Coreen. "Why didn"t you wait till we were here?" He says pacing back and forth. "I didn"t think it was a big deal. I was shocked she knew nothing about the ritual in the first place." Coreen says. "What"s the big deal? She"s a Witch, what"s so bad about the ritual?" Vicki says. "And come to think about it. I thought you hated magic in the first place, so how do you keep going back to her." Vicki says. "Aria, doesn"t involve her self in the dark arts. I do hate magic, but she doesn"t use hers for evil. Besides, I"ve known her my whole life. For centuries, that doesn"t just disappear because I found out who she really is." He says. "Okay, you still didn"t answer the reasoning behind why you don"t want her to do the ritual." Vicki says. "Because she doesn"t know the cost of it." Henry says. "Like I said before she doesn"t practice the dark arts of magic, which means that she"s not trained well enough to know how they work, how to know the consequences." He says. "If she succeeds with this ritual, she will then take upon all of her father"s power and knowledge. Because he is so powerful, he could easily take over her body and live through her." Henry says. "This will kill his body, but not his soul. Not his power." Henry says. "It"s almost sunrise. Find another way." He says looking at Coreen before heading home. Vicki sighs. "Well, that was interesting." She sighs. "Can"t we just have one case. One case that doesn"t involve magic, warlocks, demons, or some other supernatural aspect." She says. "Look, it"s getting late, or early, why don"t we take a break. Get a few hours of a sleep and come back to this." Vicki says. "Are you okay?" Coreen asks. "I"m fine. Why wouldn"t I be?" Vicki asks. "Because ever since you found out that Aria and Henry have history, you"ve been on edge." Coreen points out. "Only because I know how Henry can be. He"ll do anything to protect and save those close to him. I don"t want him risking himself or getting hurt because of her." Vicki says. "He"s Henry. He"ll be fine. You don"t live 5 centuries by making rash decisions." Coreen says packing up. "I"ll come back by 5." She says. "But I"m taking these with me, to do some research myself." She says. "Goodnight." She says. Vicki nods before heading into her office. She sighs sitting at her desk. One of her many talents that made her job easier was being able to read people. She couldn"t read Aria and that was frustrating her. She did see how her being here as affected Henry. She"s never seen him like this and that worried her. She felt as if there were more to their story, but she couldn"t quite put her finger on it. She watches the sunrise before heading to her little futon on the office and taking a quick nap. "Have you noticed that this woman in Henry"s graphic novels look a lot like Aria?" Coreen says as she flips through the pages of the newest edition of Blood Price. Vicki grabs the book from Coreen taking a glance before throwing the book on the desk. "We have work to do." Vicki says grabbing herself another helping of the Chinese they ordered. "Right." Coreen says flipping through the pages of an unmarked book. "Do we have Aria"s address?" Vicki asks. "I think so why?" Coreen says looking up from the book and at Vicki. "I think I"m going to go snoop around, maybe see if I can see this father of her lurking around." Vicki says grabbing her leather jacket. "Would this snooping around might also including sneaking into her apartment?" Coreen smirks. "I need to know everything I can about my clients. If that means I need to snoop around her living quarters, then so be it." Vicki says. Coreen just smirks shaking her head as Vicki heads out. "Let me know if you find anything." Vicki calls back. Vicki hailed a cab and gave the driver the address written down on the small piece of paper Coreen had given her. Once the cab stops, she pays for the meter before getting out. She looks around the area looking for any specious male figures, but doesn"t see much of anything. She stands outside by the corner of the entrance door to the apartment and waits for Aria to leave. "Good evening James." Aria smiles to the doorman. "Good Evening, Ms. Aria." He smiles back. "Is a cab on it"s way?" He asks. "No. I"m walking tonight. Fresh air will do me well." She says. "Well, have a good one." He says. She smiles nodding to him and heading in the opposite direction of Vicki. Henry"s door was already unlocked and opened before she had the chance to knock. "Well, hello there." Aria laughs. "I could never sneak up on you, even when we were kids, before you had the super vamp senses. "She says. He smiles a bit before heading back into his apartment. Aria sighs following him in. "Are you really going to be like this?" She asks. "There is no other way Henry. Believe me, I wish there was, but there isn"t." She says. "You don"t know that! You don"t know what this ritual will do to you." He says. Aria walks over to him. "Dark magic is not something to mess around with. Especially, when you"re not familiar with it." He says. "Fine. I will not do the ritual, as long as we find another way to stop him." Aria says. "I will find another way." Henry whispers. "There has to be another way." He says. "You look tired." Aria says placing her hands on his cheeks. "You haven"t fed yet." She notices. "I"ve had a lot on my mind." He says. "Well, I"m here now." Aria whispers. "I think we both deserve to get away from reality for a bit." She says looking up at him. "It has been, what, over 200 years." She whispers. Henry"s eyes go black and his fangs appear. He places his hands on her waist, pulling her closer to him. He moves her flowing blond hair to the side before sinking his teeth in the side of her neck. Aria gasps gripping on to his arm and closing her eyes. Henry removes himself from her neck, wiping his mouth, and looks at her. Saying nothing, she takes his hand and pulls him into his bedroom. She climbs onto the bed and he follows her. "Expecting any interruptions tonight?" She whispers as she unbuttons his shirt. He shakes his head smirking down at her. "Good. Then we have the whole night." She whispers before kissing him while pulling his shirt down his arms. It didn"t take long for all clothing materials to be removed and for Henry"s lips to be touching every inch of her body. With every moan coming from Aria"s lips, Henry would smirk before making his way back up her body, kissing her neck, whispering sweet and dirty nothings in her ear. Henry brought their tangled hands above her head and slowly pushed himself into her. Aria throws her head back in passion. Henry looks down at her, watching her, as they move together before leaning down and biting her neck once more. Henry had always been in love with Aria. I mean how he could not. They grew up together. Played together as children. He was heartbroken when she disappeared with her mother, without saying goodbye. Then he met Christina. She was there to pick up the pieces and for someone to love, someone there to also love him back. He had thought he lost Aria forever the last time they had met and he wasn"t going to let anything happen to her now. He wasn"t going to lose her, he"s lost her plenty of times in his many lifetimes, but now, she wasn"t going anywhere. Vicki was finally able to sneak in past the doorman and up to the floor Aria was staying on. She found the door number, picking the lock, and letting herself inside. She takes out her flashlight as she looks around. She sees a few sketches on the walls, some copies of Blood Price on the tables. She walks into the bedroom snooping around, going through drawers, not finding much of anything useful. Vicki sighs walking over to a bookcase. She looks around and notices book with a symbol on the spine. She grabs it and starts looking through it. She sees births and deaths, names, photographs. "Family history?" She mumbles to herself. She looks in the section under the 1500"s."On this day, it is to be known that Aria Elizabeth Stuart is betrothed to be married to Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond at the age of 16." Vicki reads out loud. "Betrothed. Marriage." Vicki mumbles to herself. She takes out her phone to take pictures of a few of the pages before placing the book back on the shelf. She heads towards the door, when she feels someone behind her.

"Say that you"ll take me back... that you will be my wife one day... please Chica... I need you... I love you so much it hurts... and I never wanted Destiny she is my past you are my present and my future... please Chica..." I look into Kiara"s eyes lookin" for an answer and I notice my eyes are fillin" up with tears... then the next thing I know Kiara is closin" the space between us and kissin" me... I wrap my arms around her waist and pick her up and press her against my body... I fell her tougue slide against my bottom lip demanding enterance so we can share our germs... suddenly I feel Kiara pull away needing air... I hope. We look into each other"s eyes she pressed against each other. "So.. um Kiara... are we back together." "yes but there are a couple of conditions." "andd..." "First... you have to call me Chica... and no talking about Destiny or any other girl... and no punching random people in clubs." "Ok... I don"t ever plan on talkin" about that one girl or any other girl and for the last condition I have a condition of my own." She looks up at me through her eye lashes... "and what would that be." "That you don"t ever dance with any other guy... let him touch you in places only I"M allowed to touch and don"t EVER kiss another guy again and then you won"t have to worry about me punchin" anybody." She laughes... "Ok... and Carlos." "yeah Chica." "That guy Mitch he"s gay... I was using him to make you jealous but I didn"t think you would punch him." "Well gay or not no guy will ever have their hands on you with out get punched." "Ok whatever Carlos... lets go dance." We walk into the club and that Carry out song is on I see Alex and Brit dancin" and we walk towards them... I"m behind Kiara with my hands around her waist not lettin" go of her from the rest of the night. "So... Bro I take it that yall made up." "Yeah.." I say as I kissed Kiara"s neck. Kiara turns around and puts her arms around my neck and I place my arms around her waist and I pull her close and we start dancin" with the beat of the music. Kiara looks me in the eyes as our hips sway together... I lean down and kiss her "I love you, Chica." "I love you too Carlos." and we dance for the rest of the night... Carlos and Me and Alex and Brit head toward the parking lot after hours of dancing... we get to Brit"s beemer and Alex"s carlo that are conviently parked right next to each other. Alex went to talk to Carlos while Brit came over to talk to me. "Alex is giving Carlos his car so you guys can go back over to my apartment and we are going to take my car back to Alex"s." "Oh Brit.. you don"t have to do that I can just go home." suddenly I feel arms around my waist. "Oh no Chica... I"m not lettin" you get away that easily." "Carlos, I don"t want to put Brit out of her apartment." "Kiara... remember our little talk the other day about certain rules in the apartment... it"s completley fine besides here in a few weeks it will be our apartment." "See chica... Brit is fine with it besides I"m pretty sure they just want me out of the apartment so they can do what I plan on doin" with you if you let me." I turn around." And what would that be." "Oh you"ll just have to wait and see, chica." he says with a smirk. By now Brit already got in her car where Alex was already in the driver"s seat we waved them goodbye and Carlos led me to Alex"s car and opened the door for me. We reached Brit"s apartment and before I could even open the door after unlocking it Carlos already had us inside... him kissing me and shutting the door with his foot. I pull away and laugh at his face as I walk to the kitchen. He follows me and insists on wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing my neck. "Carlos... what are you doing I"m trying to fix something to eat..." "Why?" "Because I"m hungry duh.." "Well I"m hungry too but it"s not food I"m wantin"" I turn around and wrap my arms around his neck and grind my hips against Carlos"s and he lets out moan. "Well you"re just going to have to wait because I do want food." I push Carlos away so I can finish fixing my sandwich. "I guess... I might as well eat food since I have to wait for my non food." He sighs. I just laugh. I have finished eating my sandwich and go over to Carlos. "I"m going to the bathroom and I will be right back." "Then can show you what I want to do with you." He says his face looking hopeful. "Maybe." I laugh as he looks annoyed. I love when I have that power over him. I go into my room of the apartment... I haven"t officially moved in yet, but I have occasionally moved some of my stuff in and I go find one of the nighties that I bought when me and Brit went shopping. It"s a deep purple that"s see through and has matching underwear to wear underneath... but no bra and it comes a little less mid thigh. I put in on along with the underwear that are also somewhat see through and still feel a little naked seeing as how my perky privates are clearly visible even through the purple fabric... but I know Carlos will love it and he will make me feel beautiful in it like he always does with anything I wear. "Chica... you okay in there." I hear Carlos yell from the other room. I put all my self conscious thoughts aside and walk into the kitchen where Carlos is. "Yeah Carlos I"m perfect... now what is this that you were going to show me." I try and say in a sexy voice. Carlos looks up and his mouth just falls open and I can see the lust and love in his eyes. AN: my friend helped with this chapter and the next chapter and told me I should say they;re M due to the sexual content "Chica... you okay in there." What is takin" her so long she"s been in there for like 10 minutes and Im done with my sandwich and my drink and she is takin" for ever... hopefully her maybe was just to get a reaction and wasn"t serious. "Yeah Carlos I"m perfect... now what is this that you were going to show me." I hear her say as I am puttin" the dishes in the sink I smile and turn around but then my smile turns into somethin" else... shock... Shock because of what she is wearin"... I never thought she... my noiva... my chica... my Kiara would ever wear somethin" like that... shock because I instantly became hard... shock because I think of all the things I wanna do with this beautiful sexy... caltiente mamacita standin" right in front of me. "Well, Carlos." I shake me head of the thoughts and walk closer to her to get a better look of her. "w-wel-l w-what-t." I gulp because my jeans have pretty much cut off any circulation from my waist down due to how hard my certain perky private has become. "What do you think of my pj"s." She turns arounds givin" me the full affect. What do I think? I think she looks amazin" I mean for one her chichis are only covered by a flismy piece of fabric but you can see everything ... her white flesh and her pink peaks and her stomach and her legs just thinkin of this just wants to me to take it off her and remove my pants and take her right then and there in the kitchen. "I-I l-love them chica." I see her blush. I take her face in my hands and kiss her. She melts in my embrace and her arms wrap around my neck and mine grab her ass and lift her up to where she is leaning down to kiss me... her legs wrap around my waist and I walk us to the bed. When I feel the back of my legs hit the bed Kiara pulls away from the kiss and jumps out of my embrace and pushes me onto the bed. She climbs on top of me her hair fallin" down on both sides of my head and we just look at each other. I reach up to push some of her hair out of her face . "I love you." "I love you too Carlos." She starts unbuttoing my shirt and I lean up once she"s done and take it off while she goes to undo my belt and unbutton my pants She slides them off along with my boxers. I can already feel my breath becoming uneasy at her touch. I see Kiara climb back on top of me her leg rubbed up against my perky private. I moan and close my eyes. I can feel her lips touching my skin on my lower stomach and she keeps kissin up my chest and licks both of my nipples like she did the first night we made love. She licks my neck and her lips touch mine again. Wait a minute?.. here I am completey naked my eagerness out for the world to see and she still has that damn nighty on. "Chica... this isn"t completely fair I"m naked and you aren"t." She smirks. "Haven"t you heard life isn"t fair." she whispers seductivly in my ear. "Welll chica when it comes to you bein" naked I"m sure as hell goin" to make sure its fair." She just smiles and straddles me and puts her arms up in the air. I take that as a sign and slowly take off her top and then she stands up so I can take her underwear off. "Satifisfied." She looks down at me still standing over me. "Hell yeah. Chica." I smirk. She lays back down and her lips touch mine and I graze my tougue on her bottom lip and she opens her month and are tougues meet. I take her head in my hands and and try and change our position to wear I am above her but she stops me. "I don"t think so Carlos... I"m not givin" in that fast." "Chica... what are you talkin" about." She blushes. "I was going to try something new." I gulp."W-what-t." "Lay back and you"ll see." I do what she says and wait for whatever she is going to do. She moves to her side and starts rubbing my chest and suddenly her hand starts moving lower and lower and I gasp. She is givin" me a hand job. My hips buck into her hands. "Kiara." She removes her hand and blushes. " S-s-orry.. I-I thought y-you would like it." I grab her hand and place it back to where it was. "I do like it... don"t stop." She contuines and I close my eyes it feels so damn good but then I feel something warm and wet on Mr. Perky and I look down and Kiara has her mouth around me and using her hand to pump what she can"t fit into her mouth. I moan. I can"t believe she is doing this... I have never had this done by a girl they just always insisted on having sex... which never bothered me but the feeling from this is different... but then again it could because the love of my life is doing this. "C-Chica... I think I"m goin" to come." She sucks a few more seconds then just her hand is do the pumpin". "KIARA.!.!.!." i moan as I come into her hand. Once my breathin" is somewhat back to normal Kiara comes back and lays beside me her head hovering over mine. "So umm.. I take you liked that."I kiss her "Hell yeah I did... now lay down so I can return the favor." I grab her and flip her on her back and she just smiles and laughs. I just gave Carlos a hand and Blow job never thought I would do that but Love makes you do things you wouldn"t normally do. I feel Carlos"s mouth as he takes my right nipple and starts sucking as he massages my left. I moan. I feel him smile Once he goes over to my left he just looks at me "Carlos... Why are you looking at me like that." He smirks. "Oh.. you"ll see." I feel him put two fingers in me and I arch up as he moves them in a "come hiter" motion. then I feel him take my little nub into his mouth and suck on it... "More... Carlos... More." His tougue and fingers trade places... Then one hand moves up to my breasts. Carlos is all over me... his tougue is in me... is finger on my swollen nub and his hand cupping and massaging my breasts... '"Carloss... I think I"mm ugh...unn." His trades his fingers and tougue and I buck into his hand and... "CARLOS" I moan as i come He hovers over me as my breathing slows from my orgasm. "Well Chica... how was payback." "Amazing... but." He looks worried. "But what." "I need you in me." He smiles. " I was about to say the same thing." I reach into the drawer and grab a condom and put in on Carlos. We start sharing out germs when I feel him in me . We move as one person... we start out slow.. both of us whimpering at how good it feels... "Faster...Carlos.. Faster..." He starts thrusting faster... I moan as he takes one of my nipples in his mouth again and he puts a finger on my swollen nub again. "Harder... Carlos... Hard-err." I moan suddenly he wraps his arms around my back making us closer as I wrap my legs around his waist... I meet him thrust for thrust... When we both feel on the egde of coming we slow down so we can savor the moment. "Chica... I... can"t... wait...any... longer..." "Me... either..." We thrust harder and faster and finally I feel my walls contract Carlos "KIARA."CARLOS" we moan each others names at the same time as we have blended orgasms. We are still one as we stare at each other as our breathing becomes normal again. "I love you... Carlos." "I love you too.. Chica." Carlos pulls out I take the condom off and throw it in the waste basket and we cuddle up. "Goodnight, Babe" I hear Carlos laugh. "Goodnight, Mamacita." I wake up with Kiara laying on my chest and my arms are around her... I think about last night and wonderful it was I mean for one we had the most amazing make up sex but My novia.. forgave me and took me back. I feel her stir in my arms and I smile... as much as I like where I am I have to piss... so I try and get up without waking her... which is a success... after I take care of that I put on my boxers and go to the kitchen to start breakfast. I look in the fridge and the pantry and It looks like I can make breakfast burritos... I get the tortillas, the eggs, the sausage, and the potatos out and I start makin them. Once I get everythin" started I go over to my jacket and pull out the ring. I get it out and hope with all my heart that Kiara still wants to marry me. I hear the shower start to run so I put the ring on the counter and continue making breakfast. I hear the shower turn off and then Kiara comes out in short pj shorts and one of my wife beater tank tops and her hair is down. I go to her and kiss her. "Good morning... beautiful" She smiles. "Good morning... I see you"re making breakfast again." "Si.. chica.. care to repeat the last time I made breakfast." I say with a smirk. "Nah... I"m hungry... maybe later." "Fine." She laughs at the expression I give her. "So need any help." "You can get the plates and stuff out." She walks pass me and I smack her butt. She turns around. "Hey" I give her the I didn"t do it look. She punches my arm and I just smirk. She sets the table and I get the burritos and set them on the table she pours her milk and me orange juice and we sit down. We eat in slience for a little until "You know Chica... I really loved wakin" up with you this morning... and I wanna wake up with you every day for the rest of my life... I wanna eat breakfast and dinner and I have little ninos and ninas runnin" around... so I was wonderin if you still wanted to marry me." I get up and show her the ring in the palm of my hand. I look in to her eyes. "Carlos..." crap she doesn"t she is probably still bitter about the whole you know who thing. I close my hand around the ring and start to get up but then she grabs my arm. "Carlos... I want to marry you and I want to do all those things with you and I love that you want me to be the one you experience those with... " "so is that a yes." She stands up and I look in to her eyes. "Carlos... there is never going to be another guy or person that I want in my life more than you and it hurt when I took your ring off because I thought you would be out of my life forever... I want to be you wife ... yes I will, still, and always want to marry you." I slide the ring back onto her left ring finger and I touch my lips to hers. "I"ll never take this off again... I promise Carlos" "And I will never give you a reason to take it off... I promise you that." I"m the happiest guy ever. "I love you with all my heart Kiara." "I love you with all my heart too Carlos." I"m so glad everything is right between us. Kiara"s family is throwing me a going away party at their house. I used to live there but after the shooting mi"ama and my little brother Luis moved to Colorado from Meixco and now I live with them. I"m sittin" in the my old room, still that same damn yellow color on the walls, I start thinking about what if I never came to Colorado and moved in with the Westfords. I know I probably would have never met or been with Kiara and I never wanna go back to a life without her. As I"m thinkin I hear a knock on the door and then it opens... Its my novia, Kiara. "Hey, Carlos, Can I come in?" "Of course chica." She comes in but i notice that she is a little hesitant so i get up and pull her to the bed to sit next to me. I take her hand in mine and look at her, she looks as if she is about to cry. I cup her face in my hand. "Kiara, whats wrong?" She turns her head away from me making my hand drop. "N-nothing." I make her look at me. "Chica, if nothin" was wrong then you wouldn"t be lookin" like you"re "bout to cry, you wouldn"t turn away from me and you sure as hell wouldn"t be stuttering, now tell me what"s wrong." As I say this I look deep into her eyes and find my self tear up because soon her eyes, her face, her body and, her voice will just be in my heart. "I-I-I d-don"t w-want you to leave." I was about to say somethin" but she looked as if she wanted to say more so i stayed slient. "I love you more than anything Carlos, and we have spent everyday with each other since that night you were in the hospital and I can"t take spending one hour or one day without you much less weeks and months without you." I notice a tear escape and she goes to wipe it but i grab her arm and kiss the tear and then kiss her lips. Our foreheads are touching and I look into her eyes. "Kiara, I love you more than anything in this world, nothing or no one will ever compare to how I feel about you and as much as I don"t wanna leave and can"t stand knowin" that I"m going to be away from you for so long, but I know that by going away I"m makin" myself a better man for you because you deserve more things than I can give now." I notice that she is crying more than before and I sigh. "Chica, why are you crying now." "Because I"m happy, and plus I"m girl you know it"s what we do." I think about what I"m about to say next and a smile creeps on my face. " Oh Trust me Chica, I definitely know your a girl." She punches me in the arm... "God, Carlos way to ruin a moment with your Fuentes ego. " "Chica, you know you love my ego." "You"re right Chico, I do love your ego." "Did you just call me Chico?" She blushes and says. "Yeah, I just figured since you always called me Chica I thought I would call you Chico." "I don"t like chico how about sexy." I smile because I know she wont call me sexy . "How about this I call you babe because I will not call you sexy." "Babe, works for me Chica" As I look at her I notice her eyes move from my eyes to me lips then back to my eyes and she licks her lips why doing this. I lean in to kiss her but my brother Alex is standing at the door and clears his throat. I give him the finger and as I start to get closer to Kiara"s lips Alex says, " Bro, this is your party so you better get your ass away from your novia and out here with the rest of the guests." I pull away from Kiara because I know if gave her just one little kiss I wouldn"t wanna stop so i get up and grab my sweet chica and head for the door. As we pass Alex I hear her say. "You know Alex I may just have to kick your ass at the shop for interrupting us." Alex just looks at her and walks away. I smile. "That"s my mamacita." and I press my lips to hers. AN: Hey guys! I"m so sorry that I haven"t updated in forever. I had major writer"s block AND I was really busy with school and things like that. I"m going to need your help. I NEED IDEAS! I sort of came up with an idea that you will find out in this chapter, but I"m going to need others so I can continue this story until I feel like it is ready to end. Also I want to thank each and everyone of you who have read and reviewed this story. Those who put it on alerts and everything. It means a lot. I never thought that this story would be this liked. Thanks again and here is my new update! The last year has been amazing. School has been great, Carlos and I"s relationship is better than ever and in a couple of days Alex and Brit are getting married. The last week I have been feeling sick, waking up and darting straight to the toiliet, throwing up through out the day etc. Brit keeps telling me that I"m pregant, but I"m sure that"s not it because me and Carlos are ALWAYS covered. I"m on Birth Control and he wears a condom. I"m sure its just the flu. However after two weeks of this, Brittany bought my a test, which brings me here. In two more minutes, my life could change with one word. Carlos and I haven"t really talked about what would happen if we were to get pregnant just because we are always safe. BEEP! Oh Crap! This is it...this is where I find out if I"m pregant. I walk over to the counter and look at the sticks. They all say only one word..."POSITVIE". I break down in tears because this wasn"t supposed to happen. I"m still in college and I"m not even married. Oh shit! how am I going to tell Carlos. Will he leave me because he doesn"t want a kid. Will he tell me to abort so we can stay together? I cry even harder when there"s a knock on the door.

I press my lips to his and he picks me up my legs still straddling him as he grips my butt for support we reach the bed room but neither of us can wait till we get to the bed Carlos pushes me against the wall and he takes of his boxers and kicks them away and we make love once more. I wake up on the bed with Kiara in my arms... we just made love twice. I feel her stirr in my arms so i touch her cheek "Hey beautiful." she leans up and kisses me and we both smile. "hey." She snuggles up closer to me . "I"m sorry we didn"t get to eat the breakfast you cooked this morning." I laugh. "Chica, I don"t care about the damn food because what you gave me for breakfast was much more appetizing." I say with a smirk. She smiles. "So when are you and Alex going to look for apartments?" "I don"t know I haven"t really talked to Alex since I got back... I have been a little occupied." I tell her as i rub circles on her back. she laughes "yeah I guess you have." "but I don"t mind." I see her get up and kneel on the bed the sheet covering her. "Lay on your stomach." "Chica, You"re not goin" to try any of that kinky stuff are ya." She smacks my arm and blushes . "No just do it." I smile again and say "I thought we just did... twice." She punches my arm harder this time so I do as she says. "We"re going to play the letter game." I feel her delicate fingers trace letter"s on my back. "I" I say she writes another. "L" and then another "O" she keeps tracing till she spells "I love you" I turn on my side while she still is kneelin". "I love you too chica." then I get an idea. I get up and wrap the sheet around my waist. "wait here I need to get something." I go to where my jacket i was wearin" last night is and get the engagment ring out. I get back into bed and hide the box and Kiara gives me a look. "ok Chica lie on your stomach so I can do the letter game to you." she lays on her stomach and she closes her eyes. I start tracing on her naked back . "w" I trace anthoer one "I" I smile and keep tracing "L" I keep tracing till I tell her I"m done and she says. "Will you marry me?" she turns to face me with a look in her eye. she sits up as I bring the box out and open to reveal the ring "Kiara, I have loved you since I first saw you and every day that has past I love you even more..." I notice she is holdin" back tears. "and I know every day for the rest of my life will only cause me to love you more and more and I"m not askin to get married now but when we"re both ready... I want you to be my Wife chica, I want to know that you will be mine forever and that I"ll be yours forever... Will you marry me Mamacita?" I take the ring out of the box and look into her crying eyes "Carlos, I love you more than anything... and I loved you since that first day and everyday I find that I love you more and more and I want you to be your wife.. Of course I"ll marry you Carlos." I put the ring on her left ring finger and kiss my future wife. "Chica, you have made me the happiest and luckiest man in the world." I notice that I"m cryin". We keep kissin" and I notice Kiara leans back and whisper in my ear. "Carlos, will you take me again?" She says in her sexy voice I groan and make love with my fiance once more. Carlos and I spent the rest of the weekend together, but when Monday came when had to get back to reality. I"m over Brittany"s apartment while Alex and Carlos went looking for apartments. Before I have a chance to knock on the door. it swings open. "Ok, you have to show me the ring." At first I have no idea what she"s talking about but then she takes my left hand and pulls me into her house. "Oh my goodness, it"s so beautiful." "I know... and the best part is I didn"t know he wanted to marry me." I look at the ring that the love of my life gave me and smile... "Well it looks like we"ll be sisters." "Yeah... which is a good thing because I always wanted a sister especially one that I can talk to when a certain Fuentes brother gets out of line." we both laugh. "Do you want anything to drink." "Yeah water would be nice... Hey Brit." "yeah" "I was thinking of maybe asking Carlos if he would want to get an apartment together... I mean since we"re engaged now... what do you think?" She comes back with two glasses of ice water and it makes me think of that night in the den. "Well... to tell you the truth me and Alex have thought about that with us and we agreed not too." "How come... I mean you guys love each other and are pretty much over each others apartments all the time and you guys are technically engaged... right." "yeah we are and yeah we do, but see we both thought about it and agreed that because we are still so young and we happen to argue about the simplest things... it"s nice to know that we can get away from the situation and go back to our own space and not have to worry about saying or doing something we will regret and could hurt our relationship." "Wow, I never thought of it that way" Even though I wanted me and Carlos to have our own apartment I couldn"t bear losing our relationship because I moved in with one another too soon. "and besides even though me and Alex have been together for almost 3 years our relationship is still new to us." "Yeah same with me and Carlos I mean he had that one relationship with Destiny and I sort of had one with Micheal but nothing I have ever had compares to what I have with Carlos, but I don"t know if this type of relationship is as new to him as it is to me. "Kiara, I can tell you now from what Alex has told me... he has never seen his brother this happy in his whole life then when he is with you... Alex said he wasn"t even close to being this happy with Destiny." "Thanks, Brit... so umm... when should I start moving my things in." "Whenever you want to... I can"t wait for you to move in." We both smile. I should probably ask about rules regarding my sex life with Carlos. "Umm.. Brit can I ask you something." "You can ask me anything." "This is kind of awkward... but is there any rules regarding me and Carlos having sex in the apartment." "Well Kiara, I"m not going to say that you guys can"t have sex because then I would make me hyrocrit with me and Alex... so how about this since Alex and Carlos will have their own apartment and we will have ours ... we can each take turns on when we need alone time with them." "What do you mean by take turns." "Well say that you want to spend time with carlos and you go over to their apartment and you tell Alex to come over here and vice versa with me if I came to see Alex then Carlos would come over here or if Carlos came over here then I would leave or if Alex came then you would leave." "Wow... you sounds like you"ve planned it out." "Well... It"s just i figured since that both of our relationships are sexually active that maybe if were to be in the same apartment... it might be a little awkward and weird knowing someone else is in the house." "Yeah I guess you"re right that would be awkward... I wonder how the guys are doing with apartment hunting." "Probably arguing over each and every one." "yeah... I really don"t see how their going to live with each other." "Me either." I"m back lol I reread PC and ROA in one day lol anyway thanks for all the comments and reviews that I have gotten =] "I can"t believe you bought that crap apartment, Alex." I yell at Alex as we walk into his apartment. "It"s not crap and besides its the only thing that we can afford right now that has two rooms." He did have a point. "Fine, I guess you"re right, I still don"t see why we couldn"t get an apartment in this buliding." ""Cause they are strictly for upper classmen, which means that since I agreed to live with your ass... I can"t live here." "Oh, come on Alex, my bro you know you couldn"t possibly go another year without seein" the smokin" face of this hot mexicano every day." I see Alex roll his eyes. "Carlos, shut the fuck up before you"re head gets so big it won"t fit in the apartment." "I"m pretty sure Brittany says the same thing about you when you say shit like that... face it man it a Fuentes thing." "yeah I guess you"re right." Next thing I know I get a text from my noiva. Hey babe... Me and Brit r goin out 2night... do u n Alex wanna join..~K "Yo, Alex Kiara just texted me sayin her and Brit are goin out and if we wanna join." "Yeah, Brit just texted me the same thing..." "So I guess we"re goin." "What the hell do you think man." "I think I"m goin whether you go or not "cause I"m about to let my novia go out and have guys hit on her." Yeah Chica... I"m comin" and so is Alex~C Kay... see ya 2night... I love you~K I love you too Chica~C I head over to Brittany"s apartment with Alex about an hour later to pick the girls up. Alex walks right in without knockin". "Dude, aren"t you supposed to be a gentleman you know knock before entering." "Dude, it"s called I have a key." Alex says as he shows me. "Well genuis key or not when Kiara and Brit live together you will be knockin" because what if my novia is walkin around in her underwear or naked and you just barge in the door and I will kick you"re ass if you ever see her like that." "Fine, if I have to knock then so do you cause Brit has been known to go around naked all the time." I did not wanna see that image. "Bro, spare me the details cause it"s bad enough knowin you guys have sex, I don"t want to picture it too." "Ditto, for you bro." Alex and I sit on the couch waitin" for the our novia"s to come out. "Yo, Brit are yall almost ready we are supposed to be at the resturant in diez minutos." "You know I love how down to earth, my chica is becaues I know i never I have to wait on her." "yeah, well trust me bro, Brit can take all the time she wants "cause it is definetly worth the wait." Alex said with a smirk obvoisily implying again about his sex life. "Again, bro shut the hell up already." "Ok we"re ready" I hear Brittany say as she came in with a very short mid thigh tight black dress with red heels and kisses Alex as he wraps his arm around her waist. "Ay mamacita you look muy caliente." Before Brittany can respond I clear my throat. "Umm.. where"s Kiara." "Oh she"s just finishing up she should be right out." A few minutes later Kiara comes out of Brittany"s bedroom wearing a sexy short tight blue dress in which show off her shoulders, she is wearin" makeup and her hair is in big curls in a side messy ponytail and she is wearing some sliver high high(supposed to be there twice) heels like 7inchs and is wearing sliver hoops to match. I can"t get over to her quick enough. "Eres Hermosa, chica," I see her blush, "Thanks, Britt said you would like it." "Gracias, Brit," I say without takin my eyes off Kiara and before I lean down to kiss Kiara Alex clears his throat. "Well, I guess we better go or we will be late." "Fine, but me and Kiara get the back seat." I see Kiara blush again. "I don"t think so little bro, Kiara and Brittany in the back and you upfront with me." This should be great... Carlos, Me, Brittany and Alex are going out on a double date. I"m still a litte self conscoius about the outfit Brit picked out for me. A medium blue colored dress that has over the shoulder sleeves and the length is like semi mid thigh but when i sit down it goes up more like to almost no thigh and these heels are sliver and sparkly and like 8 inch heels, but she was right Carlos loved it. We are on our way to the resturant in Alex"s monte carlo. We arrived at the resturant and both Alex and Carlos open the back doors of the car for me and Brit. When I get out Carlos takes my hand and pulls me to him and kisses me. "Chica, I have been wantin to do that since I saw you in that dress." "Well Why didn"t you." I look up through my eye lashes trying to flirt a little. "Because my penjido ass of a brother made us hurry up and leave before I had the chance." I just laugh and grab Carlos"s hand and head into the resturant. Once we order I look over across the table at Carlos and Alex they look so much a like when they are together. Carlos sees me and puts his hand over mine one the table we both smile. "So Kiara, we do you guys have to register for classes." Brittany asks. "Umm... I think it"s next week." Alex this time.." Do you know what you"re going for." "I was thinking about going for a degree in Car machanics.. so I can learn more about cars and stuff." They waiter bring us our food. Before I can even take a bite of nachos Carlos grabs about half of them and puts on his plate. I take my nachos back and say "Umm.. excuse me Babe but what do you think you"re doing." Carlos looks at me and with a mouth full of fajitas and sour cream oozing out of his mouth he said. "come on chica I thought we were goin" to share." "I was going to share with you before you took half my nachos before I even got a chance to eat them." Carlos looks at and gives me the puppy dog eyes and smile. " "Ok here you can have some nachos.." I slid a little over to his plate. " and wipe that crap off your face." "Why don"t you lick it off." Carlos whispers in my ear. I lean closer to him as if was about to lick it off but I throw a napkin at him instead. "You"re a big boy wipe it off yourself." I laugh at the look he gave me. As I eating my chicken nachos I hear some really annoying laughter. I look at Carlos and Alex and their eyes go wide like they reconize it. Carlos turns toward the laugh and his expression changes I follow his gaze and find a very beauftiful Mexican girl and I get self conscious again. "Carlos, is that-". I hear Alex say. "Yeah Alex thats-." Me and Brittany exchange looks because neither of us know what is going on so I decide to break the slience. "Ok CArlos, Alex, who is that." Carlos doesn"t look at me as I say that and it looks has if he isn"t going to answer me then I hear. "It"s Destiny." and I got my answer but It wasn"t from Carlos.. It was from Alex because Carlos was too busy staring at his ex girlfriend... the one he was in love with before he met me. I forget where I am and who I"m with and just stare at the beautiful mamacita that was once in my past. wait a minute, keyword past... I"m in love with Kiara.. I look beside me to where Kiara is sitting, but all I see is a chair. "Where"s Kiara?" Then I notice only Alex is at our table. "She ran out.. Brit went to go check on her." Fuck she ran out because I kept staring at my ex instead of her. "I should go check on her." Alex gives me a look that says you better make things right. I really hope I can. Unfortnately the only way out is passing Destiny crap maybe she wont see me. "Carlos?... is that you." Damn, she saw me. "D-destiny?" I turn and look at her damn she looks better than she did 2 years ago... damnit stop sayin". "How have you been." She says as she hugs me I try not to hug back but I didn"t want to be rude. "I"ve been good, you?" "I"ve been great... What brings you to Colorado I thought you and your familia moved back to mexico." "We did but then we moved up here with Alex, he goes to the University of Colorado." She does"t need the whole story of why I left Mexico. "That"s good, I"m going attending there as well in the fall." great. "Me too, well me and my f- girlfriend will be goin" there too." "Oh that"s really good, so I guess I"ll see you around then." I don"t know why I"m happy about that. "Ya sure." She pulls me into another hug and kisses my cheek. I look over her shoulder and I see Kiara lookin at us with wide bloodshot eyes as if she was cryin" and then she runs out the door again. Fuck.. I run after her "Kiara." she runs faster how she does it in those heels I don"t know "Kiara damnit... will you slow down." next thing I know Kiara falls down from tripping over her heels and her head is in her hands cryin". "Kiara.." I whisper as I kneel down beside her as I place my hand on her back. "Don"t touch me." I pull away. "Kiara.. let me explain." She turns towards me and I see the hurt in her eyes. "E-Explain w-what Carlos... the w-way you l-looked at her... or the f-fact that you didn"t even know that I-I was gone and then you went and talked to her... AND you hugged and kissed her." "Chica," I move closer to her. "D-Don"t C-call me that." The only other time she told me not to call her chica was after the den incident when she was mad at me for pushing her away. "Kiara look seein" Destiny just surprised me and I went to go check on you when I noticed you were gone but then she saw me and we starting talkin" and yes I hugged her but she kissed me on the cheek... that doesn"t really count for anythin"." "Carlos... I saw the way you looked at her it wasn"t just a look of surprise... It was the way you used to look at me." what was she trying to say. "You still love her just say it." I couldn"t believe what she was saying... how could she believe that but was she right was I lookin" at Destiny like that Do I still love her. I mean I love Kiara but things kinda ended bad with Destiny. "I-I can"t b-believe it... you do love her." the truth is I don"t know... but I do know I don"t wanna lose Kiara... but I can"t get my mouth to speak those words. "Kiara," "I take that as a yes, Carlos." I notice that she is starting to get up and she hands me something... her ring. "Kiara, what are you doin"." "Y-you O-obviosly don"t know what you want... so I"m making it easy for you... Goodbye Carlos" wait what I look at the ting "Kiara, no wait." but it"s too late I see her get in a cab with Brittany while Alex comes walkin" toward me. "Bro, you got a lot of explain" to do." As I lay here in Carlo"s arms, i think about that day when I first brought Carlos here and he asked me if i have ever done anything fun... well his idea of fun and one of those was Have Wild Sex on a mountain? as i thought about what me and Carlos just did i laugh and think will I guess i can had that to my list of fun. I didn"t notice that Carlos actually was asleep and my laugh must have woken him. "What"s funny, Chica, don"t you see a man trying to sleep?" I put my chin on his chest and wonder if i should tell him the real reason i"m laughing or just tell him something else. "I was just thinking about the day I first brought you up here?" is all I said i first. "Yea, Chica, I kept stumblin" on rocks and almost fell." he said laughing and smiling... I laugh harder because that isn"t why I was laughing in the first place "I wasn"t laughing at that Carlos, I was laughing because that day you asked if I ever had wild sex on a mountain and I told you, no, but I guess now my answer is different." He starts laughing too... "Yeah, i guess your answer would be different because that sure as hell as some wild sex from you mamacita." he said I slap his arm and put my chin on his chest and look up at him and say." I guess so seein" as how you were the one to fall asleep this time." "Yea, Chica you wore me out." He said looking down at me with smile. " I think we should come up here more often." he said with a wink. "I"ll think about it." I told him. Then Carlos takes my elbows and pulls me on top of him "Why don"t you stop thinkin" and start kissin"" he says before his lips touch mine. We start kissing and sharing our germs as my little brother Brandon calls it and I know we are about to make love again because I feel Carlos getting turned on as it touches my naked stomach. "I love you, Chica." Carlos says as we try and catch our breath. "I love you too, Carlos, more than anything." After I said this I straddled over Carlos and we made love once more on the mountain. I can"t believe I just broke up with Carlos... I can"t believe that he looked at another girl the way he looked at me... I can"t believe he hasn"t even called... he must not really care... he"s probably out with Destiny get reacquainted now that I"m out of the picture. I hear a knock on the door. "Kiara?" it"s Brittany she"s letting me sleep at her apartment and to help me forget about a certain Fuentes Brother. "Yeah?" "Do you want anything." yeah Carlos and for that bitch Destiny to have never came here. "No." I can hear Brittany coming over to the bed where I"m laying. "Kiara, do you want to talk about it." No, but I know I need to tell someone "No, but I need to." she doesn"t say anything letting me start. " I broke up with Carlos because he"s still in love with Destiny." "Kiara, you don"t know that" She"s right I don"t know that but the one person who could reassure me that he didn"t was Carlos and he didn"t say anything. "Yes, I do the way he looked at her said everything... and when I asked him he didn"t say anything." "What... he just stayed slient." I nodded knowing that she understood what I was saying... the fact that Carlos didn"t say anything was him saying that he either did love Destiny and didn"t want to tell me or he didn"t know if he still loved her. "I"m so sorry... Kiara... but you and Carlos are meant to be... just like me and Alex everything will work out." "I"m not sure Brit..." I heard a ringing sound I then I realized it was Brittany"s Cell phone. "It"s Alex... do you mind if I take it." "No... go ahead." Brittany left the room and I just layed on the bed I can hear part of their conversation. "She"s been crying ever since we got back... Carlos really hurt her Alex."

"Neither do you." Henry says. "This involves Dark Magic. Something you barely know anything about." He says. "I know enough." Aria says. "But you don"t. Your mother would never approve of this." Henry says frustrated. "My mother is dead, god rest her soul, because of HIM. She would want me to fight! Do everything in my power to stop him." She says. "And what happens if you can"t." Henry says. "Then I die and he wins, but at least I tried." Aria says. "She would want me to try." She says. "I won"t let you do this. We"ll find another way." Henry says. "There isn"t another way, Henry." Aria says. "I need to get everything for the ritual. I"ll see you later." She says before leaving. "Why did you show her that?" Henry says to Coreen. "Why didn"t you wait till we were here?" He says pacing back and forth. "I didn"t think it was a big deal. I was shocked she knew nothing about the ritual in the first place." Coreen says. "What"s the big deal? She"s a Witch, what"s so bad about the ritual?" Vicki says. "And come to think about it. I thought you hated magic in the first place, so how do you keep going back to her." Vicki says. "Aria, doesn"t involve her self in the dark arts. I do hate magic, but she doesn"t use hers for evil. Besides, I"ve known her my whole life. For centuries, that doesn"t just disappear because I found out who she really is." He says. "Okay, you still didn"t answer the reasoning behind why you don"t want her to do the ritual." Vicki says. "Because she doesn"t know the cost of it." Henry says. "Like I said before she doesn"t practice the dark arts of magic, which means that she"s not trained well enough to know how they work, how to know the consequences." He says. "If she succeeds with this ritual, she will then take upon all of her father"s power and knowledge. Because he is so powerful, he could easily take over her body and live through her." Henry says. "This will kill his body, but not his soul. Not his power." Henry says. "It"s almost sunrise. Find another way." He says looking at Coreen before heading home. Vicki sighs. "Well, that was interesting." She sighs. "Can"t we just have one case. One case that doesn"t involve magic, warlocks, demons, or some other supernatural aspect." She says. "Look, it"s getting late, or early, why don"t we take a break. Get a few hours of a sleep and come back to this." Vicki says. "Are you okay?" Coreen asks. "I"m fine. Why wouldn"t I be?" Vicki asks. "Because ever since you found out that Aria and Henry have history, you"ve been on edge." Coreen points out. "Only because I know how Henry can be. He"ll do anything to protect and save those close to him. I don"t want him risking himself or getting hurt because of her." Vicki says. "He"s Henry. He"ll be fine. You don"t live 5 centuries by making rash decisions." Coreen says packing up. "I"ll come back by 5." She says. "But I"m taking these with me, to do some research myself." She says. "Goodnight." She says. Vicki nods before heading into her office. She sighs sitting at her desk. One of her many talents that made her job easier was being able to read people. She couldn"t read Aria and that was frustrating her. She did see how her being here as affected Henry. She"s never seen him like this and that worried her. She felt as if there were more to their story, but she couldn"t quite put her finger on it. She watches the sunrise before heading to her little futon on the office and taking a quick nap. "Have you noticed that this woman in Henry"s graphic novels look a lot like Aria?" Coreen says as she flips through the pages of the newest edition of Blood Price. Vicki grabs the book from Coreen taking a glance before throwing the book on the desk. "We have work to do." Vicki says grabbing herself another helping of the Chinese they ordered. "Right." Coreen says flipping through the pages of an unmarked book. "Do we have Aria"s address?" Vicki asks. "I think so why?" Coreen says looking up from the book and at Vicki. "I think I"m going to go snoop around, maybe see if I can see this father of her lurking around." Vicki says grabbing her leather jacket. "Would this snooping around might also including sneaking into her apartment?" Coreen smirks. "I need to know everything I can about my clients. If that means I need to snoop around her living quarters, then so be it." Vicki says. Coreen just smirks shaking her head as Vicki heads out. "Let me know if you find anything." Vicki calls back. Vicki hailed a cab and gave the driver the address written down on the small piece of paper Coreen had given her. Once the cab stops, she pays for the meter before getting out. She looks around the area looking for any specious male figures, but doesn"t see much of anything. She stands outside by the corner of the entrance door to the apartment and waits for Aria to leave. "Good evening James." Aria smiles to the doorman. "Good Evening, Ms. Aria." He smiles back. "Is a cab on it"s way?" He asks. "No. I"m walking tonight. Fresh air will do me well." She says. "Well, have a good one." He says. She smiles nodding to him and heading in the opposite direction of Vicki. Henry"s door was already unlocked and opened before she had the chance to knock. "Well, hello there." Aria laughs. "I could never sneak up on you, even when we were kids, before you had the super vamp senses. "She says. He smiles a bit before heading back into his apartment. Aria sighs following him in. "Are you really going to be like this?" She asks. "There is no other way Henry. Believe me, I wish there was, but there isn"t." She says. "You don"t know that! You don"t know what this ritual will do to you." He says. Aria walks over to him. "Dark magic is not something to mess around with. Especially, when you"re not familiar with it." He says. "Fine. I will not do the ritual, as long as we find another way to stop him." Aria says. "I will find another way." Henry whispers. "There has to be another way." He says. "You look tired." Aria says placing her hands on his cheeks. "You haven"t fed yet." She notices. "I"ve had a lot on my mind." He says. "Well, I"m here now." Aria whispers. "I think we both deserve to get away from reality for a bit." She says looking up at him. "It has been, what, over 200 years." She whispers. Henry"s eyes go black and his fangs appear. He places his hands on her waist, pulling her closer to him. He moves her flowing blond hair to the side before sinking his teeth in the side of her neck. Aria gasps gripping on to his arm and closing her eyes. Henry removes himself from her neck, wiping his mouth, and looks at her. Saying nothing, she takes his hand and pulls him into his bedroom. She climbs onto the bed and he follows her. "Expecting any interruptions tonight?" She whispers as she unbuttons his shirt. He shakes his head smirking down at her. "Good. Then we have the whole night." She whispers before kissing him while pulling his shirt down his arms. It didn"t take long for all clothing materials to be removed and for Henry"s lips to be touching every inch of her body. With every moan coming from Aria"s lips, Henry would smirk before making his way back up her body, kissing her neck, whispering sweet and dirty nothings in her ear. Henry brought their tangled hands above her head and slowly pushed himself into her. Aria throws her head back in passion. Henry looks down at her, watching her, as they move together before leaning down and biting her neck once more. Henry had always been in love with Aria. I mean how he could not. They grew up together. Played together as children. He was heartbroken when she disappeared with her mother, without saying goodbye. Then he met Christina. She was there to pick up the pieces and for someone to love, someone there to also love him back. He had thought he lost Aria forever the last time they had met and he wasn"t going to let anything happen to her now. He wasn"t going to lose her, he"s lost her plenty of times in his many lifetimes, but now, she wasn"t going anywhere. Vicki was finally able to sneak in past the doorman and up to the floor Aria was staying on. She found the door number, picking the lock, and letting herself inside. She takes out her flashlight as she looks around. She sees a few sketches on the walls, some copies of Blood Price on the tables. She walks into the bedroom snooping around, going through drawers, not finding much of anything useful. Vicki sighs walking over to a bookcase. She looks around and notices book with a symbol on the spine. She grabs it and starts looking through it. She sees births and deaths, names, photographs. "Family history?" She mumbles to herself. She looks in the section under the 1500"s."On this day, it is to be known that Aria Elizabeth Stuart is betrothed to be married to Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond at the age of 16." Vicki reads out loud. "Betrothed. Marriage." Vicki mumbles to herself. She takes out her phone to take pictures of a few of the pages before placing the book back on the shelf. She heads towards the door, when she feels someone behind her. "Who"s there?" Vicki says. "I believe the real question is who are you and what are you doing in my daughter"s apartment." The man says. Vicki turns around facing the man. "From what I heard, you"re not exactly welcome here either." She states. The laughs. "My daughter and I may not be on the best of terms right now, but we"re more alike then she lets on." He states. "Her mother trained her well, but so did I. Why do you think her mother took her from me?" He says "Because you tried to kill them." Vicki says. "There are three sides to every story and up to you to decide which side to believe." He states. "Remember that Ms. Nelson." He says before disappearing. Vicki stands there for a bit before getting the hell out of there. "Hmm." Aria whispers waking up. "Hi." She whispers when she sees Henry looking down at her, caressing her hair while she rested. "Hello." He smiles a bit before placing his hand on her cheek and kissing her. She deepens the kiss before pulling away smiling. "Do you ever wonder what would have happened with us, if my mother never took me away?" She whispers. "Are you saying, would have I ever met Christina and become a vampire?" He asks. She simply nods to him as she plays with the necklaces around his neck. "Well, I think we would have gotten married and had kids. A family. "He whispers. "But then I would have died at some point. While you and our children still lived." He whispers moving hair from her face. "We wouldn"t be here now." He says. "No, we wouldn"t be." She whispers. "And I like where we are." She smiles straddling over him. He smirks up at her running his hands up and down her naked sides. She leans down to kiss his neck, then his chest, and lower. She smirks when she notices him gripping onto the soft, slick red sheets. She gets up leaning over his face smirking. "What are you doing?" He mumbles. "I think we both know." She whispers. "You can feel that it"s almost sunrise." He groans. "So, you"re just going to leave me?" He says kissing up her neck. "Until tomorrow, my love." She whispers. "I"ll stay with you until sunrise." She says laying down next to him. Henry looks over at her. "I love you." He whispers. "I love you too." She whispers kissing him quickly before he takes his last breath until sunset. "Wait a minute? Betrothed to be married?" Coreen says. "Uh, yeah. That"s what the book said." Vicki says. "I just I don"t understand. Henry never mentioned that before. He"s only ever talked about Christina and a few other acquaintances, but never her and never anything about marriage." She says. "Are you jealous?" Coreen smirks. "Why would I be jealous?" Vicki says. "Henry"s my partner. Friends. Nothing more." She says. "Uh huh." Coreen says. "Can we get back to trying to figure out what her motive might be in coming here?" Vicki says. "Her father mentioned that he also spent time training her and if he"s in the dark magic, then she probably knows more then she leads on and more then Henry knows about." She says. "So, what did her father say exactly?" Coreen asks. "That she"s more like him then she leads on." Vicki says. "Which could mean all sort of things. She could be after him for his power. She could be using us to get to him." She says. "I don"t know." Vicki says taking her glasses off and throwing them on the desk. "But all I know is, if he"s right and she"s like him, then we"re going to have to stop the two of them." "What about Henry?" Coreen says. "What about him?" Vicki says. "We have to tell him." Coreen says. "Which is where I"m headed." Vicki says heading to the door "You coming?" She asks looking back at Coreen. Coreen and Vicki get to Henry"s apartment shortly after sunset. Vicki knocks on the door, which is quickly answered by a shirtless Henry. "Good morning." Vicki smirks walking in. "Do you ever wait to be invited into someone"s home or is it just mine that you invite yourself?" Henry asks. Vicki laughs turning to him. "Just yours." She says. "Do you have any information regarding the case or are you just here to check up on me?" Henry asks. "A little bit both." Vicki says. "Well, I"m obviously fine, so let"s hear about the case." Henry says crossing his arms. "I had a run in with Aria"s father." Vicki says. "He came by the office?" Henry asks concerned. "Not exactly." Coreen mumbles causing Vicki to glare at her. "Okay, so I might have went snooping through her apartment." Vicki says. "You broke into her house and went through her things?" Henry asks. "Why? If you needed to know something, I"m sure she would have told you, have you asked. Same with me." Henry says. "Like how you two were supposed to get married." Vicki says. "That"s the hold that she has over you, isn"t it. Why you keep going back?" Vicki says. "Yes.. and no." Henry sighs. "It"s much more complicated then that." He says. "But yes, if you must know, when my father agreed to recognize me as his son, I became part of court, which meant that I would be put in a marriage that would help my father. Since, Aria"s father was a nobleman, close to the king, our fathers betrothed us. Our wedding was set to happen three days before she disappeared and yes, I loved her. I still do. But how did you find this information?" Henry says looking over at Vicki. "She found Aria"s family history book." Coreen buts in. "Her family"s memoir." Henry corrects. "Find anything else interesting that you would like to question me about, or are you going to get to the part about the run in with her father?" "He told me a few things. Like how he trained her, not just her mother. That she"s more like him then she lets on." Vicki says. "How much do you really know about her, Henry?" She says. "More then you. Aria would never mess with the dark arts unless she absolutely had to and even then she would make sure that was the only way." Henry says. "Until now. She was quite adamant about doing this ritual, that you"re so against, I might add, without looking for another way." Vicki says. "Because she"s scared. She"s a strong woman, Vicki, but she"s terrified. I can sense it. This is her father after all." Henry says. "She"s knows what he"s capable of." "Exactly, he is her father after all. How do you know that she"s not wanting to be like him? How do you know that she"s not trying to kill him for his power, so she can become this almighty powerful witch herself?" Vicki says. "She"s not like that. She"s not like him!" Henry defends. "People change Henry. People grow up, have issues." Vicki says. "Besides, it"s been what over 2 centuries since you"ve seen her last. You don"t know what"s she"s done or what she"s involved herself in since you"ve seen her." She says. "Maybe not, but you"ve known of her for all of two days and you want to tell me that I don"t know her?" Henry says. "What is it about her that you don"t like? The fact that we have history? That I love her. What?" He says. "She"s hiding something, Henry. I know it." She says. "So, that"s why you went to her apartment. It wasn"t about the case at all. Are you even taking this case seriously? Or are you more concerned about her?" Henry says. "She is the case, Henry." Vicki says. "Of course, now if that"s all you came here for.." He says. "I have plans." Henry says. "Let me guess, Dinner with Aria." Vicki says. "Perhaps." He says. "She"ll be arriving soon, so if you could please let yourself out." He nods towards the door. "Goodnight Coreen." He says ignoring Vicki. Aria was 10 minutes shy of running into Vicki and Coreen, when she arrives outside of Henry"s apartment. She let herself in placing her pizza box on the counter. Henry was working on a few of his sketches, when Aria walks over. "Something"s wrong." Aria states. "What makes you think that?" Henry as he continues shading the drawing. "Well, I can sense that you"re tense. Upset." She says. "And someone broke into my apartment. You wouldn"t have any idea who that might have been do you?" She says taking a slice of pizza. He sighs throwing his pen on the desk. "It was Vicki." He says. "She just needed some information." "And she couldn"t have spoken with me about this?" Aria asks. "She as her ways in finding information. She believes that no one is 100% truthful, so she goes sleuthing to fact check." He says. "But she trusts you." Aria says. "She does, yes." Henry nods. "But not about me. She doesn"t trust you, about me." She says walking around the apartment. "In a sense. She thinks my love for you and our history is blinding me from seeing what is truly there." He says. "And what is that exactly?" Aria asks. "What is it that she sees that you don"t?" "She believes you"re hiding something and that feeling of hers didn"t let up anymore after her meeting your father." Henry says. "So, tell me, is there something that you"re hiding from me?" He asks. Aria sighs. Henry appears in front of her. "You will tell me." He tells her in a trance. "You should know me better than that." Aria says pushing him away. "You don"t need to force me into anything. I"ll tell you." Aria says. "The reason I left court was because my father had been training me in the dark arts. My mother could see what he was doing. He was trying to train me to become part of his army. He made it his mission to find others of our kind and drain them of their powers. My mother took me away before he could brainwash me anymore. When we were away, my mother explained to me about my father, who he truly was and what he was about. I hated him. I hated him for trying to use me as a pawn in his game. When my mother died, I had no idea it was him. I went to him for comfort. He was the sweet, caring, loving, father that I had always known. I fell into his trap, into his practices." She sighs. "I became his pawn, something I swore to my mother I would never do. It took me almost an year to realize that he killed my mother and not only did he use her to gain power, but to gain me. He knew that I would be so heartbroken, I would seek my father and he used that to his advantage." Aria says. "I"m not proud of what I did, or who I was during that time. It"s something that I have to live with, but Henry I swear to you, I"m not like him. Not anymore. I don"t want to become him. I want him gone for good. I want to be rid of the hold that he has over me." She whispers to him. "Why didn"t you ever tell me?" Henry whispers. "Because I knew how you felt about magic and the time that we shared after all of this happened, was very limited. I didn"t want to spend that time talking, exactly." She says. "So, why is he after you now?" Henry asks. "Because I"m the only one who knows his plan and who can stop him. He sees me as a threat, so I must be stopped." Aria says. "But I need help. I need help in trapping in. Finding a place where we can hold him, so I can finally fight him." She says. Henry sighs. "I understand if you"re upset and I"m sorry that I never told." Aria says. Henry doesn"t say anything, just stares out the window. "I"ll leave then." Aria whispers grabbing her coat. Before she could place her hand the door, Henry was there in front of her. "Don"t. Don"t go." He whispers. Aria looks up at him. "We both have a past Aria. We can"t change that, but we can learn from it." He whispers before leaning down to kiss her. "He"s not thinking clearly." Vicki sighs. "How do you know that? Henry was right. He"s known her a lot longer then we have." Coreen says. "Exactly. Which means that he"s only focusing on the times that he"s been with her. The her that he"s seen. There have been more years of them apart then together, he doesn"t understand that." Vicki says. "So, basically you"re saying, he"s blinded by love?" Coreen says. "This girl is the only thing linking him back to who he once was. Someone that he was supposed to spend his life with. Someone he was supposed to love. He"s lost her time and time again over his many lifetimes, and now that she"s back, he"s going to do anything to keep her. Regardless of how irrational it is. I mean look at the last decision he made because he was in love." Vicki says. "Henry and love doesn"t end well."

The warrior immediately retracted his hand, "Oops. I"m sorry, Mystique Sonia." "I found her! She"s on the run!" Archer Lee"s voice was heard and sudden sounds of footsteps were heard running towards Archer Lee"s voice. First Squad decided to do the same and chase Archer Lee"s voice, but the shells shifted again and Archer Lee"s voice was heard behind where First Squad was heading towards. "I"m still on her trail!" Husky informed, using his fire breath to light his way. He also could see Qiao running ahead of him guaranteeing him that it was really her. The Liger King then pounced on her and seized her. Qiao let out an ear splitting shriek, only because the pounce startled her. However, the shriek caused Lin Chung to become extremely anxious and he jetted down the shells after that shriek. He found Husky, trying to escape with her, and rammed into him, causing the Liger King to drop Qiao. Lin Chung turned to catch her but Alpha-Girl already picked her up and was outside heading towards the safe zone. Mystique Sonia launched her tongue at Alpha-Girl to prevent her from reaching the safe zone, but Kowloon kicked it away, and their captain reached the safe zone, winning the competition. "Second Squad has won the competition!" Apetrully sang out. "We did it!" Alpha-Girl cheered, "We won! We"re First Squad, now!" "Actually, that bet was nullified when Kowloon said you all wanted to only compete for sport." Woo corrected. "DAMN IT, KOWLOON!" Alpha-Girl raged. The karate master stammered, "I-I didn"t think we"d win." But he then received punches and kicks from his captain. Lin Chung raced up to Qiao, who was dusting her qipao, "Xin, are you alright?" he asked checking for any wounds on her body. She beamed, "Of course." Then laughed, "That was a lot of fun, wasn"t it, Lin Chung?" Her smiling face put him at peace, "Yes. Yes, it was." Apetrully walked up, "I hope all that practice prepared you all for the future." The Squad members seemed puzzled. Woo decided to explain, "You see, we don"t know when or if High Roller will rear his ugly head and try to capture Princess Qiao again. So we prepared you all for such an occasion. Qiao was taught how to escape from being captured, and the rest of the Squad members were taught how to retrieve her. Practice makes perfect and we should try this again soon." Qiao was in awe because she never saw the competition as training. She smiled, "Thank you, Woo the Wise and Commander Apetrully, for preparing us." She bowed. The other members bowed with her and agreed with one another to have a celebratory dinner together. Chapter 23 Swan Castle Months have passed, but Qiao was unable to recruit humans that were willing to fight for Big Green. It was not because they did not want to join Big Green; it was because they lacked the skills of a warrior. Qiao felt discouraged since none of the humans at the castles she has visited were able to join Big Green. Qiao sat in her room staring at her mirror. She already missed Sima Cao. "If he was still here, he"d be able to tell me what to do." She sighed, "Oh, Sima." She had heard news that the new prince was born. Niang named him Xiahou Ren; the surname Xiahou was named after his father. Qiao was glad that Sima Cao was finally in flesh. The alarm blazed again, second time today. She raced out of her room and ran towards the briefing room, where all her comrades were at. Apetrully was held prisoner at Swan Castle, and the heroes rode on the turtle tanks to that castle. Qiao continued to sigh, "Maybe this time I"ll find someone." The heroes arrived at a massive lake and there was a fairy tale castle built in the center of it. A wide bridge connected the castle to the land. From a distance, First Squad was able to see some of the white swans dancing back and forth on the castle walls like dancing post guards. They slowly walked up to the castle gate, and the swans up on the walls started yelling at them as if they were trying to command them to do something. "They said if we want to come inside the castle, we have to dance for them." Jumpy translated. "Dance?" Mighty Ray guffawed. "I"m a great dancer! I"ll do it." Mystique Sonia trotted up towards the castle door. She began to spin around with Yaksha and swing dance with him. However, the Swans laughed at her; obviously, it did not impress them. "I guess I"ll do it then." Mighty Ray said cockily. He strutted up to the gate and started doing the cabbage patch. Before he could continue, one of the swans threw a rock at his head which made his eye balls fall off. The swans honked angrily and said that their eyes were starting to bleed. Everyone in First Squad then faced Qiao, knowing she was the only one in the squad with any kind of elegant dancing skills. "I only know kal choom." She spoke up. "It"s better than nothing." Jumpy shrugged. She took a deep breath and walked up to the castle gate. She pulled out her blades and began spinning and twisting them towards and from her body, gently and carefully spinning around in a rhythmic fashion. Both the swans and First Squad were in awe of how she could spin her swords without cutting herself, but in the end, the swans said that they only allow a specific kind of dance as admittance to the castle. They would let them in, but their king would not be happy about it. First Squad sighed in defeat and had no choice but to make their way towards where the humans of Swan Castle reside. They hoped that the humans there could teach them the kind of dance the swans were obsessed with. Upon arriving, First Squad split up to ask each individual citizen about the dance. None of whom they asked knew the dance but have seen it before. All who were questions continuously mentioned the "Zhang Twins". "Those two are they only ones that know how to dance like the swans." A farmer"s wife explained to Mystique Sonia. "They dance beautifully!" another farmer answered to Lin Chung. "They live in a small hut just down this path." A young village boy pointed the way. First Squad followed the path and they discovered the hut not too far from the rest of the village. When they knocked on the door, no one answered. "I guess they aren"t home." Mighty Ray sighed. "Who are you all looking for?" asked a low voice. The heroes turned to see two women walk up to them. Both were wearing a large thick purple robe that covered their entire body. Seeing that their faces were similar, First Squad assumed they were sisters. One had a beautiful sweet face with pink lips and bright brown eyes. Her hair was lifted into two long pony tails which made her seem like the innocent one. The other, however, had a vixen-like face, but strangely masculine. Her cosmetics made her seem like a woman, but the way her face was shaped made it seem otherwise. Her hair was completely pulled back into one long pony tail. "Are you the Zhang Twins?" Jumpy asked. The two looked at one another. "Is it them?" the sweeter one asked. "Of course! They match the description!" the vixen one answered with glee, "Hurry, just like how we practiced!" The two dramatically removed their large purple cloaks which startled First Squad. The twins twirled their arms in front and landed into a pose: one arm in the air, the other pointing to the back, and their legs crossed. They spun on one leg and then calmly reached for each other"s hands. They then bowed and calmly said, "We are the Zhang Twins." The vixen twin spoke, "My name is Zhang Lu." The sweeter twin added, "I"m Zhang Yan." First Squad members clapped for them. "It"s them, alright." Mighty Ray grinned. "You must be First Squad. We heard that whenever your commander is in trouble, you always come and save him." The twins giggled at each other, "We want to help, too, and maybe join Big Green." Qiao brightened immensely, "Oh, thank you! Thank you!" she held both their hands and continuously thanked them, "It"s wonderful that you two are going to join Big Green. The more help, the merrier." "AH!" Lu squealed and held Qiao"s face, "What a beautiful face! I"m so jealous!" She gazed into her eyes, "Such beautiful eyes! I want them!" "You"re right, brother! She"s so beautiful." Yan awed, touching Qiao"s face. "BROTHER?" First Squad gasped. Lu huffed, "Beauty isn"t just for women. A man can be beautiful, too!" He whipped his hair. They decided to just drop the subject completely, because time was of the essence and their commander was in peril. "The only way into the castle is if you two dance for them. Can you do it?" Lin Chung asked the twins. "Of course! We were trained by the swans when they were still our friends." Yan answered. "It would be such an honor to serve Big Green!" Lu bowed. The newly formed group quickly raced back to Swan Castle. Upon arriving at the gate, the Zhang twins preformed a specific dance routine which made the Swans gasp. After watching them dance, the swans retreated back inside the castle to report to their king. The Swan King knew the human language. "I don"t care if they know the dance! No humans can come inside this castle!" He spat, "They think they know how to truly dance, but they don"t! Swans are the true dancers!" The two swans from the gate returned and told them the bad news. "What?" Yan became offended, "NO ONE MOCKS MY DANCE!" She pulled out claws from her waist and started to break through the wooden door. Lu blushed, "Yan is so proud of her dancing. She goes berserk whenever someone insults her dancing." She broke through the castle gate, and the other members of First Squad just stared at each other frightened of Yan"s rage. Lu quickly grabbed a hold of his sister before she started blindly attacking things. "Yan! Rage is NOT beautiful!" Lu yelled out. She stopped and took a deep breath, "Oh! I"m so embarrassed." She held her face. First Squad stared at each other again, still frightened of Yan and her chaotic moods. The Swan King walked in with a couple of his guards accompanying him. All of his fellow swans were white and grey, but he was the only pink swan, and he had cosmetics on: sea green eye makeup, and red makeup on his beak. "Ugh! What are these ugly, talentless things doing in my castle?" the king spat. "UGLY?" Lu was about to unleash his rage on the king, but his sister talked him out of it. Now First Squad learned that Lu was critical about his beauty and Yan was critical about her dance. "Give us back our commander!" Mystique Sonia yelled out at the king. The king huffed, "He mocked my acceptance dance, and now he"ll stay in my dungeon for the rest of his life." He then sighed, "But you all won"t go away like obedient humans, so let"s make a wager." As expected he said, "We"ll have a dancing competition. I know you twins think you can dance like the big birds, but we"ll see about that." "Alright, if we win you have to release the commander." Yan replied toughly. "And if you lose, you two must never dance again." Swan King smirked. Lu and Yan looked at each other. Yan seemed worried that they will lose, but Lu gave her a confident look, assuring her that they WILL win. The floor cleared. Swan King preformed first and introduced his dance by twirling and leaping across the stage. The twins introduced their routine by tip toeing towards the center and leaped-cross each other, landing in an arched back pose. First Squad and the other swans watched in awe of such an elegant and graceful dance the competitors preformed. They were almost equal in skill, but more eyes were watching the twins than the king. By the end of the dance, the king gave a nasty glare at his people, using his wrath to change their votes. The swans declared that their king was the victor, even though the twins were the ones that should have won. Yan cried onto Lu"s chest, sobbing about not being allowed to dance ever again. The king just laughed and mocked the twins. Mighty Ray would not let the king insult the twins any longer and said, "I want a rematch! This time I"ll dance!" "Mighty Ray, no!" Qiao yelped out. Mighty Ray did the cabbage patch again, and then shifted to the pelvic thrust. The king, the other swans, and the twins" eyes watered and then they held their eyes in pain as they screamed as if children were being slaughtered in front of them. "UGH! STOP STOP STOP!" the king yelled out, "STOP IT!" The man in red hustled and then did "the chicken". Yaksha had to pounce on Mighty Ray and bind him with his arms to make him stop. "Oh my heavens! You poor, talentless creatures!" the king almost sobbed, "This young human has changed my heart. You need my help and guidance!" he caressed Mighty Ray"s head, "I shall join Big Green and teach all of you to dance!" It was not exactly what they hoped for in the end, but First Squad was just as grateful that they finally have the vain Swan King to join them. The swans brought Apetrully from the dungeons to reunite him with the other members of Big Green. "Oh joy!" Apetrully clapped, "Big Green always has room for more members!" "Quickly!" The Swan King yelled out, "I have a lot of classes to teach!" Once they returned to Big Green, Apetrully visited Qiao in her room. He was very proud of her since she managed to find more humans to join their ranks. "Zhang Lu and Zhang Yan are quite the warriors for dancers." Apetrully chuckled, "You have a good eye, my princess." Qiao laughed, "Just two more members, and I will have my own squad." He held out his hand, "Actually, you already had a squad of your own, the moment Zhang Lu and Zhang Yan joined. Now you three can go off on your own and recruit more members to complete your squad." Her face brightened but then dulled, "So, I won"t be going on missions with First Squad?" she asked. "Of course you can! You made quite an impact on First Squad. You will always be able to accompany them on missions; after all, they would be disheartened if you could not." Apetrully assured. Her face brightened again, "Thank you, commander. I promise to work even harder from now on!" "Well, let"s get you acquainted to your new briefing room. Zhang Lu and Zhang Yan are already waiting for you." Apetrully smiled. "Right. A close squad is a strong squad." She nodded and followed Apetrully to Third Squad"s briefing room. Lu and Yan were already ecstatic that they now were a part of such a benevolent organization. "We did it, Yan! We"re squad members now!" Lu giggled. "We"re now part of the cause, brother." Yan added and giggled too. Apetrully walked into the room with Qiao and the twins stood up and saluted. "At ease." Apetrully chuckled, "Your squad only consist of three members for now, but as time goes by you will be complete." He raised his arms, "I now declare you three as active members of Third Squad." All three members squealed like young school girls, bouncing and giddying. They hugged and congratulated one another. "Oh, it brings a tear to my eye to see comrades so happy." Apetrully sniffed, and then threw his arms around the three members of Third Squad. He sobbed, "Oh! I"m so happy for you three! OH HO HO!" he sobbed some more. "Aw, commander." Qiao giggled, "Thank you so much for this." "We"ll be the best we can be!" Yan grinned. "We won"t let you down!" Lu smiled. The commander wiped his tears, and took a deep breath, "You all are very welcome. Now, I shall leave you three alone, so you can get acquainted. Good bye." Third Squad saluted and held their position till Apetrully closed the door behind him. "Ooh! Where to start?" Yan pondered. "How lucky! We get the most beautiful member of First Squad in our squad!" Lu held Qiao"s face again, "What beautiful name goes with this beautiful face?" She blushed, "My name is Liang Qiao." "Aw! It suits you!" Yan giggled. "Liang? Like the former emperor Liang?" Lu asked. Qiao nodded. Yan gasped, "EEEEEE! Our captain is a princess!" she squealed, "This day can"t get any better!" Qiao laughed nervously, "Well, I don"t think I"m made to be a captain." "What are you talking about, princess?" Lu grinned, "We"re the beautiful squad! Our captain has to be the most beautiful member of them all!" Qiao laughed, "You guys are so funny." They spent the rest of the day, talking and getting to know one another. The twins learned Qiao"s history with High Roller, and Qiao learned that Lu was actually heterosexual. "But I"ll only marry a woman that is less beautiful than me. She has to be beautiful, but not more beautiful than me." Lu explained, "Like Yan." "Hey!" Yan pouted, but Lu laughed, telling her that he was just kidding. "Marriage." Qiao smiled and thought, "Maybe one day, I"ll get married too." Then aloud she spoke, "Do you guys know of another person that will be a perfect member of our new squad?" "Hmm, I have heard of a man that lives near the Black Mountains." Lu pondered. "Oh! There"s a legend that says that this man was the greatest and most powerful warrior that ever lived. I think his name is Pan Ah." Yan added. "Right now, he and his son guard an ancient jewel that is said to give the possessor whatever they desire." Lu added, "Maybe we can convince Pan Ah or his son to join us." Qiao smiled, "That"s wonderful! We should tell the commander right away!" Third Squad raced out of the briefing room to inform Apetrully, and a certain fly sitting on the wall of the briefing room scurried through the cracks in the wall and out of Big Green. It traveled back to the East Citadel and landed on the armrest of his emperor, High Roller. "What is Qiao up to now, fly?" the trickster asked. The insect buzzed and gestured what he saw. "So, now there"s a Third Squad." He pondered, "Well, that keeps her away from First Squad, but I have no idea what her new squad members are capable of." The fly buzzed some more. "She"s still recruiting? She"s attempting to recruit a man name Pan Ah?" The fly buzzed again, "A magical gem that gives the possessor whatever he desires?" He grinned, "With only three members in her squad she will be easy to crush and capture, and with the jewel, I will make Qiao my queen." "But Master High Roller, you promised you wouldn"t pursue her." One of the zebra twins spoke up. "I"m not pursuing her." He explained, "I"m pursuing the jewel." He winked. "Ooh." The twins nodded and laughed. "Tomorrow morning, my chameleon tank army and I will set off to the Black Mountains to retrieve the jewel." He declared. "Can we come too?" the zebras asked. "No, you two screwed up enough already." He snapped. The twins whined. Chapter 24 The Legend and the Son Closing in towards the Black Mountains, Third Squad members, Qiao, Lu, and Yan, set offed in search of the legend, Pan Ah. The journey was long, and the squad decided to give the turtle cannons a break by walking with them. They can already see the mountains from afar. "I"ve never been to the Black Mountains." Qiao told her comrades, "I"m so excited. I love seeing new things!" "I"m excited about the jewel." Lu smiled, "I want a more beautiful face." Yan laughed, "I want to dance even better than I do now." She asked Qiao, "What do you want if you had the jewel, Qiao?" The princess pondered, "I want to be stronger, so that I can end this war and return to the East Citadel with my family." She smiled, "And it will happen. I"m sure of it." The twins smiled at her, "That"s our captain." They giggled. Qiao laughed, "Just for now. I"m sure Pan Ah will be a much better captain." The twins giggled again. Upon arriving at the Black Mountains, they found a large home built between two mountains. It was a white house with a red roof and the house was held up in the air by thick, durable wood. There were stairs connecting the ground to the two stories tall house and Third Squad gingerly walked up those stairs towards the front door. Their confidence and excitement suddenly turned to hesitance as Yan timidly knocked on the door and barely any sound came out. "Knock louder." Lu whispered. "What if he"s mean, brother?" Yan bit her lip. "If he doesn"t want to join then he doesn"t have to. We"re just asking him if he would." Lu explained. "Then you knock." Yan quivered. Humorously, Lu also knocked hesitantly where no sound came out. Qiao wanted to giggle, but she, too, was just as nervous. "Hey! What are you three doing?" yelled out a booming voice. The three turned to see a very large man, possibly 6"6", with a massive muscular body. He had an unpleasant, serious face which made him seem very unfriendly. He had furrowed, thick eyebrows, a permanent scowl on his face, and a short pony tail. He seemed younger than assumed by legend, possibly in his early thirties. The man was also wearing a casual yifu and carrying two massive logs over each shoulder. "Are you Pan Ah?" Qiao asked him. "No. I am Pan Yu." He answered and carried the large logs upstairs, "Pan Ah is my mother." "Oopse." Lu grinned in embarrassment, "Guess there was no Papa Pan after all." "So, Pan Yu is the legend." Yan smiled in though then said aloud, "We have a question for you Mr. Pan. May we come in?" He still scowled, "I guess, since you came all this way here. There is no village nearby for miles." He placed the logs with all the others and opened the door for them, "Come in." "We"re from Big Green, sir." Qiao explained, while walking inside his home.

As they ran, they broke off from the group one by one, however, it was clear that Chibita had his sights on the eldest brother, Osomatsu. The third brother, Choromatsu, escaped into a bookstore, the second brother, Karamatsu, hid behind a trashcan, Todomatsu, the youngest, found sanctuary with some house wives at a market, and Jyushimatsu, the fifth brother, threw himself into a shrub. Ichimatsu, the fourth brother, followed an alley which led to a playground. After seeing that the little orphan was not after him, he decided to enjoy himself at the playground before returning home. He slid down the slide, swung on the swings, and even monkeyed on the monkey bars, but despite the fun he had throwing his body around, he felt lonely being away from his brothers. He realized that this was the first time he was by himself. At the very least he would have been paired with one of his identical brothers, but it was just him all alone in the playground. The sudden solitude made him wonder if Chibita had always felt this way, and he started to feel awful. No wonder he had befriended so many animals, when he had no parents or siblings to come home to. Despite the loneliness, that orphan had always managed to pull through, and maybe it was because he had the sextuplets and that con-artist, Iyami, around, even when they constantly bullied and deceived him. Without the eldest around creating a hive mind among the sextuplets, Ichimatsu was able to collect his thoughts and think for himself. He wondered if what he and his brothers were doing to the orphan was actual justice or just plain cruelty. Footsteps were heard as they crunched on the sand, making the fourth brother leap up to his feet. Assuming the worst, he turned with his fists up, ready to fight off the vengeful orphan, but calmed when he saw it was just a little girl. She was much smaller than him, possibly younger as well, and she was covered in warm clothes from a soft fluffy scarf over her face to her fuzzy mittens over her tiny hands. She arrived not noticing the boy already in the empty playground with her wide black eyes glued to her violet boots as she walked along the playground"s sand, heading towards the swings. There was no one else around, and a girl that young and small should have a parent nearby. It was so strange, but to Ichimatsu, this meant he had someone to play with. "Hey! Do you want to play?" he asked, rushing up towards her. Her reaction clearly showed how shy she was, as she took cover behind the metal structure of the swing set. The look of fear in her doll-like eyes was quite alluring to the boy. "Don"t be scared," he said as he tried to calm her, "My name is Ichimatsu! What"s yours?" She remained silent, puzzling the young boy, but the look of fear completely wiped from her face. The boy was relieved to see her move away from her hiding spot, and once she was completely out, she bowed to him. Caught off guard from the suddenly politeness, he bowed back. The girl was so peculiar to him; she would not speak, but would bow to him. Perhaps, she was much younger than what he thought she was. "I didn"t learn your name," he mentioned again, but she stayed silent. "Your name?" he asked again, but there was still no response from her. "N-a-m-e?" he enunciated, but still received nothing from her. Then something clicked in his mind; perhaps she was some sort of animal dressed as a human, like that pig, Hanako. He pulled down the scarf covering her face revealing nothing but a cute little girl with her little nose and cheeks red from the cold. She jerked back covering her freezing face with the scarf again, and the boy learned nothing from this. If she was not an animal, why could she not reply to him? He then thought maybe she was mute. His thoughts were put on hold when she tugged on his coat and pointed at the swing set. Despite her silence, he understood that she wanted to play on the swings with him. It had been a while since he was chased down by the little orphan, and he should get back home to his family. However, there was no one else here for the girl, and it just felt wrong to leave her here. Ichimatsu figured she must have wandered off from her family and ended up here. If his brothers were around, they would have easily decided to leave her behind all alone, and only god knew what would happen to her afterwards. The short time he had to himself gave the initiative to make a conscious, responsible decision: he had to stay for her. Trying to make the best of this situation, he figured spending time with a new face and away from his brothers would be a good change even if it was just for today. They played merrily on the swings as happy as children would be in a playground. Through the joy, the boy heard the girl"s voice as she laughed and cheered on the swing set. She was not a mute at all, but it made no sense. Why could she not respond to him then? A thought came across him when he remembered the orphan"s predicament. He remembered that Chibita was illiterate, and perhaps the girl suffered the same kind of lack of education the orphan boy had. Perhaps it was so severe that she did not even know a single word. That was absolutely tragic, he thought. What kind of family would let their daughter be silent like this? "Since I don"t know your name, and you can"t tell me your name, I"ll just call you "Shizuko"!" he told her. She stared at him as he talked, but through her blank expression, it was clear that she could not understand him. "It"s fun swinging on the swings, isn"t it?" he asked, knowing he would receive nothing but silence. Time had passed quickly as the boy tried to talk to this girl, trying to get her to respond with something, but to his dismay, she still remained silent. His efforts pushed him as far as to teach this girl to speak. His first attempt was to teach her his name. "I"m Ichimatsu," he told her again, "I-chi-ma-tsu." He pointed to himself, repeatedly sounding out his name. Finally, she pointed at him and said, "Ichimatsu," in a child-like tone as if it was her first word. "Yeah! You got it! Great job!" he cheered, which made her giggle and clap. He taught her more words like "yes" and "no", and she caught on rather quickly thanks to his gestures. Through practice, he saw that she easily understood gestures rather than the words, but she now knew how to say three words: his name, "yes", and "no". The fourth brother heard his name called by several familiar voices. His brothers had been searching for him for a while, and they grew upset with him once they learned that he had spent all this time hanging around at a playground. The four escaped brothers were unscathed, but Osomatsu took the full brunt of Chibita"s wrath, looking scruffy and beat-up. The little girl clung onto the fourth brother as the other five arrived. However, she looked astonished to see five other boys with the same face as the boy who kept her company. "What are you doing here? Who"s this?" Choromatsu asked. The fourth brother paused, trying to find a good explanation, "Her name is Shizuko. She"s here all by her lonesome, and I"m staying with her until her parents come for her." "Are you sure it"s not a date?" Karamatsu teased, "I didn"t take you for liking the younger ones!" "That"s not true!" he cried out, blushing out of embarrassment, "I"m just helping her out!" "I think she feels that way!" Jyushimatsu teased as well, pointing out how she clung onto his coat. "H-hey, Shizuko, you"re embarrassing me," he told her, trying to pull away, but she still clung onto him. "It"s not really our problem if she"s lost. We have to get home before we get in trouble," Osomatsu said coldly. "We can"t just leave her here!" he contested. "What are you saying? She"ll be fine!" the eldest consoled, "Nothing happens around here anyway." "You"re so cruel, Osomatsu!" the fourth brother yelled, "Bullying Chibita isn"t enough for you, is it?" All six brothers went silent, surprised to see the reality check that they had been needing. The eldest finally took a moment to think; perhaps, he had been taking the rivalry a bit too far. Worst of all, he had been acting cold towards the little lost girl. The feelings were shared by the other five brothers, realizing the obligation that had snuck upon them by entering the playground. "So, Shizuko, how old are you?" Todomatsu asked, but was puzzled when she would not respond. "She doesn"t understand. She can"t talk much either," he revealed to them, "Shizuko isn"t even her name. I had to give her a name." The other five became solemn, commenting how tragic it was that the little girl lacked the ability to speak. Almost a half hour had passed since their fight with Chibita and no one had come to claim the girl. The idea that she was abandoned became more and more acknowledged. Only awful parents would abandon their child and neglect to teach them to speak and understand, they thought. The atmosphere grew more depressing the more they felt sorry for the girl. "Let"s play a game with her!" Osomatsu exclaimed, breaking the gloomy tension, "It"ll be fun to see if she can guess which one of us is Ichimatsu." There was an obvious attachment between their fourth brother and the lonely girl, and the eldest wanted to test it for fun. This was not a solution at all, but it allowed them more time to spend with her before they had to leave her and go home. Since he was brutalized by the angry orphan, Osomatsu decided to stick by the lost girl as his younger brothers shuffled themselves inside the plastic play-dome, and then came out, one by one. At glance, they were all identical with the same face, same clothes, and the same smile. Any normal person would not be able to identify who was who. "Alright, which one is Ichimatsu?" the eldest asked. As if she knew what was going on, she rushed towards the brothers and clung onto the correct brother, surprising all of them. "You gave her cues, didn"t you, Ichimatsu?" Osomatsu scolded. "I didn"t!" the fourth brother swore. "Okay for the next one, one of you except Ichimatsu has to wave at her," the eldest planned, pulling the girl away as the rest of the brothers retreated into the play-dome. Once they exited, Todomatsu waved and beckoned her to come towards him, trying to trick her into thinking he was Ichimatsu. Immediately, she rushed towards the five brothers again, but clung onto the correct one for the second time in a row. Still in disbelief, Osomatsu could not accept that she was able to differentiate them and demanded one more round. "Ichimatsu! Don"t come out," he ordered, and the five brothers returned to the play-dome and only four emerged. The fourth brother stayed inside the play-dome as the other four brothers beckoned the little girl to come towards them. To their surprise, she ignored them and crawled into the play-dome where Ichimatsu waited. It was unbelievable to the boys. Some random lost little girl could differentiate them better than their parents could. For ten years, they were mistaken for each other which then led to them eventually adapting to a lifestyle of no individuality. Regardless if they were six different people, no one saw them as individuals, just six of the same person, or even worse, just six Osomatsus. The evidence that someone could identify at least one of them as their own person was mind-blowing to them. Perhaps they can stop being the same, and finally be separate people. "So cool!" Jyushimatsu cheered, jumping up and down from excitement. "Wow, good job, Shizuko!" Choromatsu congratulated. "I"m really impressed!" Todomatsu exclaimed sweetly. "Guddo jyobu!" Karamatsu said in English despite his thick accent. Osomatsu grinned, scratching the bottom of his nose, "That was awesome!" Ichimatsu smiled at the little girl clinging onto him, "You did it!" Seeing the cheeriness upon the sextuplets" faces made the little girl feel jubilant. The sadness, the guilt, and the pity were completely washed away by the joy, the fun, and the growth they experienced. The joyous moment could only last so long as it was almost getting late. Their mother should be making dinner by now, and by the time they got back home it should be ready. "We can"t leave her here," one of them spoke up. "What if her parents never show up?" another asked. "It"ll only get colder tonight," another mentioned. Osomatsu then suggested, "Let"s bring her home!" If their elder brother was okay with it, then so were the rest of them. In fact, they were all very delighted. Ichimatsu faced the little wordless girl, and asked her, despite knowing she would not understand, "Aren"t you hungry? Want to come over for dinner?" All six looked at her with bright smiling faces, and as if she could understand, she nodded, "Yes!" "Alright, we"re off!" the brothers cheered, marching in their group with their fourth brother holding the little girl"s hand. They were not even a mile from the playground when a strange man approached them. They had never seen this man before in their small neighborhood, nor had they ever met a man that gave off such an uncomfortable presence. He was a rather large man, in both height and weight, and smelled awful. Like he had not bathed in days and just reeked of sweat and garbage. His wide eyes and toothy smile made the boys shiver, as if the cold weather was not cold enough. It was blatantly obvious that he had his sights on the little girl. "She"s a cutie," he spoke in a low voice mostly through his breath, "Is she your little sister?" "N-no," one of the brothers answered, and kept it brief, "She"s our friend." "We were waiting for her parents to show up," Jyushimatsu revealed, forcing Choromatsu to grab onto him to try to quiet him. "Waiting for her parents? You little boys are way too young to handle that kind of responsibility. Let me take her to the police station. A nice policeman will find her parents," he suggested. "That"s alright. We"ve invited her to our house where our parents are waiting," Ichimatsu stressed. "That"s no good at all. Her parents must be worried sick. You don"t want to keep their daughter away from them, do you?" the man spoke, trying to guilt them into giving her up. The danger signs that the man gave off made even the boys quake. All six looked at one another and agreed that he could not be trusted. They needed to devise a plan to get as far from him as they possibly could, and their words were not enough. The fate of their new friend was at stake, and they needed to remedy this predicament as quickly as possible. "Get away from us!" Karamatsu yelled out, "We don"t trust you at all!" It was sudden but bold and courageous. "If you try anything, we"ll call the police!" Todomatsu joined, mostly bluffing. None of them had any money on them to use a payphone, and such sweet irony it was when there was one just a few feet away. "Don"t think of me like that. I"m not at all what you"re implying!" the strange man tried to console, "But, please, let me take her somewhere safe. She has been away from her parents for a while now." How did he know, they wondered. Had he been watching her? He extended his fat hairy arm towards the little girl. Her eyes were wide, terrified by his presence ever since he showed up. As he reached in closer, she clutched onto Ichimatsu and screamed her lungs out, "NO!". That was their cue, and the five brothers attacked the man, letting their fourth brother run away with the lost girl. Ichimatsu was running too fast for the girl to catch up, and she tripped and fell on the asphalt, scraping her knee. It started to bleed. The brothers in battle fought harder than they had ever fought before, worse than with Chibita, even worse than with each other. Despite the obvious size difference, it was still five against one, and the man was losing. The man could only cover himself as the boys thrashed about like wild animals, punching, kicking, scratching, and biting him. After a good beating, the strange man fled, letting the victorious brothers catch their breath from fighting. "Yeah, you better run, pervert!" Osomatsu yelled, feeling good for winning a fight today. "We better let Mr. Police Officer know about that guy," Choromatsu mentioned, catching his breath. "He won"t be after anymore kids ever again!" Karamatsu posed. "Are you alright?" Ichimatsu asked, looking at her wound. A child her age would be crying from a fall like that, but she did not cry at all. Though it was bleeding, she just dusted herself as if her wound did not even exist. He was deeply impressed by her strength. "Ah! She"s bleeding!" Todomatsu cried out. "I have a band-aid!" Jyushimatsu mentioned, and pulled a single band-aid from his pocket. The fourth brother took the band-aid and fixed the girl"s wounded knee. To their surprise, she hugged the fourth brother with her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, deeply appreciating the care he put into her, someone he just met today. He could not help but to blush, and knew that he was not going to hear the end of it with the rest of his brothers who were snickering. "It"s not like that!" Ichimatsu cried out, but they were still snickering at him, "Cut it out!" The snickering stopped when they heard yelling in the distance. It was the sound of a man, a woman, and an older child. They looked towards the sound and saw a man in a clean suit, a woman in a beautiful dress, and their older daughter in similar outfit as the lost girl. It was obvious who those people were, and it was obvious what had to come next. "Mommy! Daddy!" the little girl shouted calling to their attention. The boys understood her clearly, but she was not speaking Japanese. It was in perfect English, and suddenly everything made sense. She was not abandoned, and she was not uneducated; she was just a lost foreigner. The sextuplet managed to make a connection with a foreigner despite not knowing she was one to begin with. Somehow, they were able to communicate despite that language barrier. The mother, father, and older sister latched on to their lost girl, hugging and kissing her. They spoke English to one another, completely unknown to the boys as they just stood and watched. Despite not being able to understand, they were quite happy that they reunited the girl with her family. It was a joyous sight to a family embrace each other as they did. "Thank you very much!" the mother spoke in Japanese. "Thank you very much!" the father repeated. The accent in their Japanese was thick and almost difficult to understand. Their faces were Japanese, but they spoke their language as if it was not theirs at all. It was a strange sight for the boys to witness, Japanese who could not speak Japanese. The mother rummaged through her purse, and pulled out several ten-thousand-yen bills. The father pulled out his wallet as well, and took out another several ten-thousand-yen bills. They gave them to the brothers, practically shoving them into their hands and begging them to take it for protecting their daughter. None of them considered that the girl"s family was rich. They should have noticed from her warm clothes, but it just never came across their minds. When the brothers counted the money, it was almost three hundred thousand yen! "W-wait! This is way too much!" Choromatsu stammered. The sextuplets had never held this much money before, but this would help their family so much, especially after losing all their clothes. If it were any other time, the boys would have kept the money without a second thought, but it was so overly generous for such a small deed that none of them could accept it without some concern. No matter what the boys said to her parents, the parents could not understand due to the language barrier. Their concerns and humbleness were brushed off. The foreign family only responded in gentle, grateful smiles, and bowed profusely, thanking them again and again before leaving with their found daughter. It felt bittersweet to watch the girl they just met leave. The fun they had at the playground, the individuality they discovered, and the money in their hands made them happy for the moment, but they were losing a friend who helped them obtain this joy. They were never going to see her again. Ichimatsu screamed out, "GOOD-BYE! SHIZUKO!" The little girl turned back and waved, as if she understood them. All six waved back, holding back their tears, and they continued to wave until the family disappeared into the distance. Finally, they returned home. Their parents were shocked that they came into so much money, assuming the worst, but after explaining what happened and convincing them that it was not stolen, their mother and father were quite humbled. "I knew my boys were good," their mother smiled, "We can buy new clothes and maybe even go out to eat!" "Let"s go out in honor of little Shizuko," the father agreed, and the boys cheered and shouted in glee. It had been so long since they went out to eat. "Mom, when we buy new clothes, can I get something in red?" Osomatsu asked. "Oh! I want something in green!" Choromatsu exclaimed. "Yellow! I want something yellow!" Jyushimatsu shouted. "I need something cool, like blue," Karamatsu mentioned. "I"ll go pink! Girls like that!" Todomatsu grinned. "Purple is a good fit for me, mom!" Ichimatsu stated. It was such a small act of kindness, almost nothing at all, just a bunch of brothers keeping a little girl company long enough for her parents to find her. From the bottom of their hearts, the sextuplets hoped that one day they could meet again and still be friends.

"Great. Matsu"s back! Food at last!" Toshiie greedily took the rice balls and ate them. Masamune and many of his troops were surprised when they noticed that the wound the one-eyed dragon had inflicted to the leader of the Maeda clan seemed to heal. "Kojuro..." Masamune called out his right eye and Kojuro frowned. "Forgive me, Lord Masamune. There are also some things this Kojuro cannot understand." Kojuro said as he stared at Toshiie who was happily eating more of Matsu"s rice balls which was being delivered by different soldiers. "Like healing rice balls?" Masamune commented sarcastically. When the final soldier gave the rice balls, Matsu gasped and whispered something to Toshiie"s ear. Toshiie"s eyes widened and he began to pace around as he shouted, "This isn"t good. We run out of rice!" "Ugh." Matsu began to pace as well. The entire Date army could only stare at the couple, as if they were doing a comedy skit. Matsu said with frustration, "I don"t understand how this could happen." The couple stopped right in front of each other and nodded. They clapped their hands together and said in unison, "Alright! Let"s go restock!" With that said, the entire Maeda army ran towards the other side of the gate. The Date army simply stared at the gate for a few minutes. Masamune sheathed his katana and called out, "Kojuro." "Yes, my lord?" Kojuro replied, still staring at the gate. Masamune crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow as he asked, "You think this is a trap?" "I doubt it." Kojuro replied before adding, "They seemed too... nice to use a trap." Masamune sighed and got on his horse as he said, "Well, let"s see what this lovey-dovey couple has in store for us then." The Date army began to advance slowly. When they reached the other side of the gate, they heard laughter coming from the top of the hill. They sounded like the Maeda couple. Masamune had to stare but he could make out the forms of Matsu and Toshiie, sitting on the hill top. Toshiie was happily eating once more as he said happily, "Oh, Matsu. This is great." Matsu offered more bento boxes to her husband as she said, "I"m glad you like it. I made it especially for you." Masamune turned towards Kojuro and said, "Now, I think they"re just rubbing their lovey-dovey-ness in our faces." Kojuro raised an eye brow as he asked, "Does it have an effect on you, my lord?" Masamune rolled his eye as he replied, "Of course not. They"re too damn chipper and happy." "I see. You would prefer it had it been more melancholic yet child-like." Kojuro commented with a straight face. Masamune turned to look at Kojuro and began to speak, "Kojuro... did you just-" "How shall we proceed, Lord Masamune?" Kojuro asked, cutting off Masamune"s question. "Those bases seemed to be storehouses. Let"s take all of them." Masamune ordered and Kojuro nodded. "Understood." "But keep the casualty to a minimum for both sides." Masamune added and Kojuro stared at him. "Is it because of the Maeda clan"s service to the Oda clan?" Kojuro asked bluntly. Masamune smirked as he replied, "If I"m going to rule this land, I have to be able to have competent retainers." Masamune turned to look at the happy couple on top of the hill. With a determined smirk, Masamune asked, "What do you think, Kojuro? Wouldn"t those lovey-dovey couple be a good addition to the land I will rule in?" "I agree although..." Kojuro continued to stare at Masamune blankly as he added, "I cannot help but wonder if that is all there is to it." Masamune turned towards Kojuro and smirked as he said, "Wonder all you want, Kojuro. My decision is final." "This Kojuro is here to serve." Kojuro bowed to Masamune before turning his attention towards the Date army, "All of you! Capture the storehouse but try not to kill anyone if possible!" With that order, the battle of Tetorigawa finally began. Masamune had been in the process of recapturing the third storehouse when the soldier came up to him with an urgent message. Every time they captured a storehouse, the Maeda soldiers would recapture the last storehouse they captured. It would have been easier had they killed the soldiers but, because of Masamune"s order, it seemed like they were going to have an endurance battle. Masamune had been thinking of just riding to the hill camp and fight the Maeda couple but the news that the soldier brought changed everything, "An army is approaching Tetorigawa! They"re from Kanegasaki!" "The Oda remnants?" Kojuro asked loudly before he hit a Maeda soldier with his forehead. Masamune turned towards the soldier and demanded, "Are they pursuing Oichi?" "No, my lord!" The soldier looked shocked as he informed them, "It appears Lady Oichi is leading them here!" Masamune and Kojuro looked at one another. With a resigned sigh, Kojuro said, "Please go, my lord. I shall take care of things here." Masamune grinned and said gratefully, "Thanks, Kojuro. I owe you one." "I am your right eye, my lord. It is my desire to be of use to you." Kojuro explained and turned to face the incoming Maeda soldiers, "Please go now, my lord." "Right!" Masamune guided his horse to a sprint and his horse jumped over the incoming Maeda soldiers. He raced towards the main gate, not paying attention to any of the Maeda soldiers. He reached the main gate in time to see the incoming army. The vanguard was composed of the four soldiers he had ordered to keep Oichi safe, Shibata and Oichi herself. Oichi saw him and her horse began to sprint faster than the others, breaking away from the formation. Masamune guided his horse to move forward. He had to stop the remnants before they entered the battle. They might start killing the Maeda soldiers. When the Maeda soldiers noticed that the Date army wasn"t trying to kill them, they also held back but if the remnants began killing the soldiers then... Just as Oichi"s horse passed him, Masamune"s eye widened when Oichi didn"t bother to stop her horse and jumped off. Shadow hands appeared from the ground and grabbed Oichi before throwing her towards Masamune. Masamune caught her, cradling her in his arms. Oichi sat on Masamune"s lap and wrapped her arms around him tightly as she whispered, "I"m sorry. I"m sorry. Please don"t be angry at me. Please don"t hate me." He was confused at what the woman was saying and he felt her shaking. She continued to whisper, "I"ll be a good girl. I won"t ask for things. I won"t bother you. I"m sorry. I"m sorry." "Oichi." Masamune pried the woman off him as gently as he could and moved her so that they were facing one another. Oichi"s cheeks were wet with tears and Masamune felt guilty for leaving the woman behind. He wiped the tears on her left cheek with his hand as he asked, "What happened, Oichi? Why are you apologizing?" "When I woke up, you already left." Oichi covered her face and cried as she continued, "It"s my fault. I"ve angered you. That"s why you left me." "What? Who told you that?" Masamune asked, looking at the army composed of the Oda remnants and four from his army. "L-Lady Oichi wouldn"t listen to us, boss! We told her you were coming back!" One of his men explained. "I am partly to blame, Lord Masamune." Shibata added, "When I told Lady Oichi that you were here, she wanted to come." "I want to apologize to Lord Dragon." Oichi said as she wrapped her arms around Masamune"s waist and buried her head on Masamune"s chest as she whimpered, "I"m sorry. I promise I won"t be selfish. I"ll sleep alone if that"s what Lord Dragon wants." "Hey, I"m not angry at you because you wanted to sleep next to me." Masamune noticed some of the men who could hear him were surprised at his words, even his men had their jaws slacked in shock, but paid no attention to them. The woman crying on his chest was more important than the misunderstanding those men were certainly having. Masamune caressed Oichi"s hair as he explained, "I was planning on returning to you once the battle is over." Oichi looked up at him and asked, "You"re not angry at me, Lord Dragon?" "Of course not." Masamune smiled at her as he added, "I would never get angry at you, Oichi." "Really?" Oichi asked in a child-like manner. "Really." Masamune replied. "Then... I can sleep next to you tonight?" Oichi looked at him with eyes that were both innocent yet frightened. She still feared that Masamune would not agree. "Of course." Masamune replied immediately. "Lord Masamune!" Kojuro"s stern voice caused Masamune to stiffen. "Shit." Masamune hissed. He didn"t want the older man to hear that. Masamune guided his horse so that he could face Kojuro, who was most probably behind him. He was surprised to see that next to Kojuro was the Maeda couple. How long had he been talking with Oichi? The Maeda couple stared at Oichi and relief washed over their faces. It was Toshiie who spoke first, "Oichi! We"ve been worried about you." Oichi stared at them and Toshiie approached them, "Me, Matsu, Keiji... everyone!" Masamune glanced behind the three and saw that the Maeda soldiers were staring at them as well. Oichi tightened her embrace on Masamune and said softly, "I don"t know you." "Oichi?" Matsu approached them as well. She placed her hand over her chest and asked, "Don"t you remember us, Oichi?" Oichi shook her head and mumbled, "I don"t know you. You"re going to trick me. You"re going to take me away from Lord Dragon." Toshiie turned his attention towards Masamune and Masamune knew that the glare he was receiving from the leader of the Maeda clan was not a good sign. Kojuro moved between Toshiie and Masamune. He stared at Toshiie as he said, "We have many things to discuss, Lord Toshiie... concerning many things." "That may be true." Matsu said reluctantly. She placed a hand on her husband"s shoulder and said, "Toshiie, let"s have a truce for now. We need to know what happened to Oichi." "I..." Toshiie turned and stared at his wife. Matsu nodded and Toshiie looked down for a moment before turning his attention back to Kojuro as he said, "Very well. A truce then, One-eyed dragon." "Fine by me." Masamune shrugged and turned his attention to Oichi, "Oichi. These people are not going to take you away from me." "They"re not?" Oichi asked innocently as she stared at Masamune. Masamune nodded and Oichi tilted her head as she mumbled, "If Lord Dragon says so." Matsu and Toshiie seemed more confused at why Oichi was acting the way she was acting but Matsu was the first one to recover. She smiled at all of them and suggestion, "Why don"t we all eat?" The Date army and the army composed of the Oda remnants ate with the Maeda army. There were many conversations in the air. Many of them were concerning the lone survivor of the Oda family. There were even gossips of her relationship with the boss of Oshu. Fortunately, the people being gossiped did not hear the chatters. Masamune, Kojuro, Oichi, Shibata and the Maeda couple were on the hill top. Toshiie and Matsu was on one side while the other four was on the side facing the Maeda couple. Shibata was sitting behind the three. He was only there because Kojuro thought the Maeda couple would be more hospitable if they saw a familiar face. Kojuro sat on Masamune"s right while Oichi sat on Masamune"s left. Matsu served the rice and she smiled as she handed a pretty white bowl with shades of pink filled with rice to Oichi. She smiled gently at Oichi and asked, "Do you remember, Oichi? This is the bowl you always used when you were staying with us." Oichi stared at the bowl and tilted her head as she commented vacantly, "Such a pretty bowl... White as a cloud..." Matsu"s smile dropped and she backed away, dejected. Toshiie sadly looked at Oichi before turning towards Shibata, "So... she doesn"t really remember any of us?" "She only seems to remember Lord Nobunaga, Lady Nouhime, Ranmaru and..." Shibata"s eyes darkened as he spat the last name, "That traitor Mitsuhide." "That"s just... too sad." Matsu placed her hand on her lips and closed her eyes. Toshiie looked back at Oichi for a moment before turning his head towards Masamune. He bowed lowly, his head hitting the cloth they had placed so that they may sit on the ground, as he begged, "Please, One-eyed dragon! Let us take care of Oichi!" Matsu followed Toshiie"s example and bowed lowly as well, "I am begging you as well!" "Why?" Masamune could only say that one word. "During many of Lord Nobunaga"s campaigns, Lady Oichi stayed with the Maedas." Shibata whispered to Masamune"s ear so that the Maeda couple could not hear him. Shibata"s eyes softened as he continued, "They treat Oichi like a little sister. Maybe even as a daughter..." Shibata moved back once more. Kojuro leaned towards Masamune and suggested, "Perhaps it is for the best if we give Lady Oichi to the Maeda clan." Masamune turned his head towards Kojuro and glared at his right eye as he asked in a warning tone, "Kojuro. Are you serious about that?" Kojuro nodded and reasoned, "The Maedas are honorable people. They have taken care of Lady Oichi for a long time. If Lady Oichi remained with us, her life will be put in danger. You are currently unifying the land, my lord. Everywhere we go, battle will follow us. Lady Oichi may get dragged through those battles sooner or later." Masamune crossed his arms and looked towards the kneeling couple. Their loyalty couldn"t be question and they seemed nice people. A bit too lovey-dovey perhaps but they were good people. Maybe they could help Oichi remember everything she had forgotten. Even... him... "I don"t wish to stay with them." Oichi"s soft voice caused Masamune to turn his head towards the black haired woman. She placed the bowl on the ground and turned her body so that she was facing Masamune. She stared at Masamune as she said, "I wish to stay with Lord Dragon." "Oichi..." Masamune"s eye softened. "Please, Oichi! It will be like as before!" Matsu rushed towards Oichi"s side. The older woman grabbed Oichi"s hands and said with tears in her eyes, "Remember? Everything tastes delicious in summer. In autumn, we always eat pumpkin pie. We eat pickled daikon in winter. And in spring-" "That"s the past. I cannot return to the past." Oichi pulled away from Matsu"s grip and crawled next to Masamune. Oichi wrapped her arms around Masamune"s arm and mumbled, "I lost so many things in the past. I don"t want to return to the past. I think... I will never remember what it is I have forgotten." Masamune was surprised with her words. He turned his head to look at Oichi and Oichi raised her head to meet Masamune"s stare. She smiled softly as she continued, "But, with Lord Dragon, I think I can receive something more important." "Oichi..." Matsu reached out for Oichi but Toshiie stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder. Matsu looked at Toshiie and Toshiie shook his head. Matsu returned to Toshiie"s side and looked at the ground. "It seems Oichi has spoken." Toshiie stared at Masamune and asked, "One-eyed Dragon. What do you plan to do with Oichi?" "Me?" Masamune asked as he looked at Toshiie. Toshiie nodded and Masamune thought about the question. What did he plan to do with Oichi? Masamune couldn"t find a real answer. All he wanted to do was... "Whatever Oichi wants." Masamune answered. Toshiie seemed confused at his answer and Masamune smirked, "I don"t really have a plan or anything. So I guess my plan is whatever Oichi wants to do with her life." Masamune turned his head to look at Oichi who was still holding his arm. He smiled gently as he asked, "Oichi. What do you want to do?" "I..." Oichi smiled at Masamune innocently as she replied, "I want to stay by Lord Dragon"s side." "Then that"s what we"ll do." Masamune said. He turned his head to look at Kojuro and apologized with a sardonic smile on his face, "Sorry, Kojuro. Oichi has spoken." Kojuro sighed and commented, "It seems you just cannot say no to her, Lord Masamune. Very well, I am here to serve you. If this is your decision then I shall stand by your side, my lord." Masamune nodded and turned his head to look at Shibata. Shibata lowered his head and pledged, "My swords and the swords of the remaining Oda army are yours to command, my lord." "Like I said-" "Yes, we are serving Lady Oichi. Lady Oichi wishes to be by your side and, as such, your orders must be treated as the orders of Lady Oichi." Shibata raised his head slightly as he added, "As long as it does not endanger Lady Oichi." Masamune smirked at Shibata"s last words. He turned his head away from Shibata and said, "Do what you want." "Yes, sir!" Shibata replied as he continued to bow. Masamune turned to face the Maeda couple and said, "Oichi is staying with me." "Alright. We understand." Toshiie nodded and stared at Masamune as he asked, "Tell me, One-eyed dragon. After unifying this land, what do you plan to do?" "Well, for starters, we"ll strengthen this land and make it prosper." Masamune replied as he crossed his arms once more, "Then... we"ll set our sets in the lands beyond the sea." "Sounds like an ambitious plan." Toshiie said with a smile. "I can make it happen." Masamune said with confidence. He smirked as he announced, "For I am the blue dragon of the north. No cloud will darken the sky that this dragon rules." "Then we of the Maeda clan pledge our loyalty to you, One-eyed dragon." Toshiie announced as well. Masamune was surprised at the announcement. He stared at the leader of the Maeda clan and asked, "You do?" "Yes." Toshiie nodded and grinned as he said, "I want to see this land of yours, One-eyed dragon. A strong and prosperous land... and..." Toshiie looked at Oichi and said softly, "You"re the first man Oichi has chosen by her own free will. You must be someone really extraordinary!" Masamune smirked as he commented, "I am beyond ordinary, that"s for sure, but..." Masamune frowned as he added, "Oichi and I do not have that kind of relationship." "Eeeehhhh?" Toshiie leaned forward and asked, "B-But aren"t you two sleeping together?" Matsu leaned forward as well and said sternly, like a mother scolding a child, "You must take responsibility!" Masamune leaned back and said, "We"re not sleeping together!" Oichi looked at him with sad tear-filled eyes and she asked meekly, "We"re not? I"m to sleep alone?" "No. Of course not! That"s not what I meant!" Masamune turned his head towards Oichi and said immediately. "Then I can sleep next to you tonight, Lord Dragon?" Oichi asked softly, staring at Masamune with hope-filled eyes. "Of course." Masamune nodded and smiled at Oichi. "See! You two do have that kind of relationship!" Toshiie shouted, pointing at the two of them. "Man up and take responsibility over your actions, One-eyed dragon!" Matsu shouted as well, glaring at Masamune. "Like I said, it"s not like that!" Masamune turned his head to his right eye as if to ask for support. Kojuro simply shrugged and said, "You did this to yourself, Lord Masamune." A small smirk appeared on the face of the dragon"s right eye and he said, "Please, accept the consequences of your actions." Masamune groaned as the Maeda couple continued to bombard him with questions about his relationship with Oichi and how he should "take responsibility" while Oichi was simply hugging his arm, leaning unto him as she smiled softly. Masamune couldn"t wait to get out of Tetorigawa. NOTE: Shibata Katsuie is a computer-controlled ally in Sengoku Basara 3 (take Oichi"s green route and finish the Incident to Honnoji stage to get him). He"s not a main character here. I just needed someone to explain to Masamune the importance of the Maeda couple to Oichi (it feels weird if Kojuro was the one explaining it). Toshiie"s comment that Masamune is the first man Oichi chosen on her own free will is because Oichi married Nagamasa because the Oda clan wanted to have an alliance with the Azai clan. In the anime (and Nagamasa"s story mode in Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes), it"s revealed that Oichi married Nagamasa to spy on the Azai clan which means there"s a high possibility that Oichi had been ordered by her brother to marry Nagamasa (she fell in love with him later on). Anyway, as usual, post in your reviews to where you guys want Masamune to go next. The next stage decides which route this fanfic will go (green, violet or yellow). I"ll post the last boss of each route in here for those that do not know. Oh. Picking Yukimura"s stage (Flooding Ueda Castle) would make the next chapter more Masamune-centric while picking Lord Happy"s stage (Cliffs of Mikatagahara) would make the next chapter more Oichi-centric. To be fair, picking Kenshin"s stage (Kawanakajima Tundra) would also make the next chapter more Oichi-centric and would add KeijixMagoichi (aka: KeiMago) in the story (I like the pairing. -grins-). Anyway! Here are the stages you guys can choose from: Decisive Battle: Flooding Ueda Castle (Yukimura Sanada) (with Sasuke Sarutobi) - violet route (final boss: Motochika) Cliffs of Mikatagahara (Ieyasu Tokugawa) (with Tadakatsu Honda) - yellow route (final boss: Motonari) Kawanakajima Tundra (Kenshin Uesugi) (with Kasuga and Keiji Maeda) - green route (final boss: Magoichi) Choose wisely, reviewers. And for those who don"t review, remember that if you don"t review, the winner may not be the one you want to win. -grins sheepishly-

Don"t tease him too much. You might really regret it. Setsuna frowned and mumbled, "I"m not teasing..." Resting his head on the table, Setsuna sighed and closed his eyes. Wouldn"t that be the best? He didn"t need a crazy teacher"s affection. He doesn"t want it. He doesn"t... "Ohhh? You have such beautiful eyes, Shonen." "Shonen! What"s your most favorite thing? I like Gundams!" "Shonen! How about joining me for a while? There"s a new release today and I wanted to check it out. They"re re-releasing Nu Gundam." Setsuna covered his ears. He doesn"t need those! ... right? "You probably have a beautiful smile... Shonen..." "Setsuna F. Seiei." Setsuna opened his eyes and frowned as the first thing that greeted him was an annoyed Tieria Erde wearing their school"s girl uniform. Behind Tieria, Setsuna could see the light peeking in from his window indicating that it was morning. Setsuna closed his eyes once more and got a more strained, "Setsuna F. Seiei." "Go away." Setsuna mumbled. He frowned as he was pulled by Tieria and opened his eyes once more, glaring at Tieria. Tieria returned the glare. "Get up. We"re going to be late." Tieria ordered before throwing Setsuna back to his chair. Setsuna growled once more as Tieria left his room, slamming his door loudly. Setsuna looked at the clock by his bed and frowned as he realized that they only had two hours before class begins. In just a few minutes, Setsuna had took a quick shower and done everything he needed before going down where his family was sitting and eating... plus one invited guest. "Seeing Tieria wearing that uniform really makes my day." "Watch it, Lyle, or I"m going to tell Anew." "Now, now, no threatening while eating. You"ll destroy the heavenly taste of Marina"s cooking." "And that comment just rewarded you another serving, Neil-nii-san." "Thanks, Marina." "What about me?!" Setsuna took his sit quietly as Lyle continued to look pleadingly at Marina. Marina smiled at Setsuna as she gave him his rice bowl. Setsuna looked at the food, "Miso... rice... and fish..." "Don"t forget pickles." Lyle reminded, giving his pickles to Setsuna"s bowl. Setsuna frowned but nonetheless ate the food. "That wasn"t nice, Lyle." Neil said, placing his pickles on Lyle"s bowl. "Ah, "Nii-san!" Lyle whined and was about to return the pickles when another set of pickles was dropped to their bowls by the only woman in the house. "More pickles for both of you." Marina said, a satisfied smile playing on her face, "Now, stop playing and eat." "Yes, mother." Lyle jokily replied, eating his pickles. Marina placed cups of coffee on the table but Setsuna was given a cup of milk. Setsuna did not say anything and ate, drinking the milk when he finished. Once they were done eating, they all walked towards the door. "Now, you guys be good and try not to kill each other." Lyle jokily told Tieria and Setsuna as he sat on Marina"s car. Marina and Lyle worked on the other side of town so they took the same car. Neil, on the other hand, took another car. "Tell that to Setsuna F. Seiei." Tieria growled. "You"re not the one to talk, Tieria Erde." Setsuna growled back. Marina"s car left the driveway, Lyle waving at them. Neil chuckled at Tieria and Setsuna"s silent glaring contest and opened the door to his car. Neil looked at Tieria and Setsuna. "I"ll drive you guys there." Neil said, earning a nod from Tieria and Setsuna. The drive to school was quiet... much to Neil"s disappointment. But that was to be expected from both of the most anti-social persons Neil had ever met. Neil stopped just pass the school gate and both of them got out. Tieria looked back, returning to his beautiful and elegant Miss Tieria Erde façade. "Thank you so much for driving us, Neil. I hope we were not a bother." Tieria said in a sweet soft voice. Neil had to smile. "It was no problem, Tieria. Anything to see this." Neil commented, earning a glare from Tieria that only lasted for a few seconds as students were passing them by, smiling at Tieria. "Good morning, Miss Erde!" Some first year girls greeted as they passed them. Tieria smiled at them. "A pleasant day to all of you as well." Tieria replied, bowing slightly. "And have a pleasant day, Neil." Tieria said and Neil could feel the hidden threat in his words. Neil nodded and turned to Setsuna. "See you later, Setsuna." Neil said which earned a curt nod from Setsuna. Without even waiting for Neil to drive away, Setsuna began to walk towards school, not bothering to wait for Tieria who was waving and smiling softly as Neil drove away. Setsuna managed to enter his classroom without any problems and walked towards his sit when two of his classmates greeted him, "Good morning, Setsuna." "Morning, Setsuna." Setsuna nodded to Saji and Louise before sitting. Louise sighed and propped her head on the palm of her hands, "Same Mr. Anti-Social." "Louise." Saji reprehended. Louise only took her tongue out. A few minutes later and the bell finally rang. All of them sat and waited for their homeroom teacher. And so they waited... And waited... And waited... And wai- "AH!!! Where the hell is Ham-sensei?! First period is about to end!" Louise yelled in annoyance, standing. "Louise..." "Mou! I refuse to be treated like this!" Louise looked at her classmates, "Anyone here volunteering to go to the faculty room?!" "Why should we?" One of the boys asked, "As far as I"m concerned, it would be better if Ham-sensei isn"t here." "You lazy piece of as-" "LOUISE!" Saji reprehended once more, covering Louise"s mouth before she could finish her insult. Of course, Louise did not like it and bit Saji"s hand, "AHH!!!" "Miss Halevy has a point." Tieria said, standing. All of them looked as their school idol smiled at them angelically, "I, for one, think that something must have happened to our teacher. He is not the sort of person that will do such a thing intentionally." "Well... if Miss Erde thinks so..." "Of course, Miss Erde is right..." Setsuna snorted as he heard his classmates" comments. He suddenly felt his entire body warn him as Tieria faced him with that angelic smile that, Setsuna knows, is currently hiding a sadistic smirk, "Seiei-kun, will you be as kind and check what may have befallen our dear teacher." Damn you, Tieria Erde. Setsuna glared at Tieria and refused to answer him. Tieria continued to smile that creepy, for Setsuna, smile, "If you would please, Seiei-kun. I am quite sure you would be the best person to ask of such an important inquiry." Silently, Setsuna knew what Tieria was actually saying... Don"t push me, Setsuna F. Seiei. With an annoyed sigh, Setsuna silently stood and began walking out of the classroom. Tieria bowed and said, "I wish your trip well, Seiei-kun." Setsuna glared at Tieria for a moment before leaving the classroom. The faculty room was on the first floor, the third room on the left of the stairs that Setsuna was using. Setsuna sighed as he opened the door. Before he could say any greeting, Setsuna"s eyes fell on the desk of his History (and Homeroom) teacher. Time stood still. No. Not really... But Setsuna"s eyes widened and his throat suddenly felt dry at what he saw. Amidst the books and papers littered on the table, a man with blond hair was cradling his head with his arms as another man"s face was too close to his. Although the books were covering most of it, Setsuna lost his grasp on the door as he realized what he was seeing. Billy Katagiri... was kissing Graham Aker... And Graham wasn"t resisting... Setsuna did not understand why his chest suddenly started hurting... Then... Louise"s words flashed in his mind once more. Don"t tease him too much. You might really regret it. Billy"s head pulled back and his smile was soft, almost endearing, and it only made Setsuna"s chest ache more painfully. Billy, as if noticing another"s presence, turned and saw Setsuna. Setsuna"s breath hitched and his throat became more painful to control as Billy"s smile turned to him. Before Billy could even talk, Setsuna had run out of the room, not even minding to close the door. Billy blinked before he heard a groan made by the person next to him. Smiling softly, Billy turned towards Graham, "You definitely have a fever, Ham-sensei." Graham"s, otherwise known as Ham-sensei by his students and colleagues alike, face was red but he shook his head and began collecting his books, "Impossible." Billy sighed at his friend"s stubbornness as Graham began to walk out of the room, his steps wobbly and forced, "You should just go to the clinic. I"ll take care of your classes." "No." Graham shook his head before grabbing on the open door, breathing heavily, as he continued, "Shonen... is waiting for me." Billy wanted to retort but remembered how the boy showed up as he was checking Graham"s temperature by placing his forehead against the stubborn Ham-sensei. Graham fell from the door, making Billy comment, "Finally worked? That took long enough..." "Katagiri..." Graham strained, "Why do I... feel sleepy?" Billy smiled once more, walking towards Graham, "I noticed your condition since this morning. Knowing you and your stubbornness, I knew the only way to get you to rest is to force it upon you. So, I slipped a sleeping pill in your tea." "You... drugged me...?" Graham asked, forcing his eyes to stay open as Billy crouched next to him. Billy nodded. "You need the rest. You"re sick." "I"m not... sick..." Graham growled as he began to crawl, "Idiots... don"t... get... sick..." Billy sighed and can"t help but admire his friend"s stubbornness, "Well then, I guess that only means you are not an idiot, Graham." Graham only managed to crawl to the foot of the steps before his consciousness began slipping. Outstretching his hand as if he was reaching out for something, or someone, Billy heard him call out, "Sho... nen..." With that said, Graham finally succumbed to the drug, his hand falling to the first step of the stairs. With a sigh, Billy walked towards Graham and picked him up, "You really are something, Graham." "AH!" Billy shouted as he lost his grasp on Graham, making Graham fall on the floor once more with a loud thud. Billy winced at the sound and laughed sheepishly, "Okay... so I can"t carry you all by myself..." Billy sighed once more and looked around, trying to find someone who may be able to help. Seeing no one on the first floor, Billy looked at Graham apologetically and whispered, "I"m sorry. I"ll try and find help as soon as I can." What was wrong with him? What the hell was wrong with him?! Setsuna placed a hand on his throbbing head, leaning on the wall on the right of the stairs. He had run to the second floor but his feet refused to let him return to his room. It wasn"t like he wanted to return at the moment anyway. His head was throbbing. His throat was dry and painful. And his chest... hurts so much... Setsuna fell on his knees as he tried controlling his breathing. He could hear murmurs coming from downstairs but he couldn"t focus. His mind kept replaying what he saw in the faculty room. It didn"t make any sense! He wanted Graham Aker to stop, right?! Then why does he feel this way?! Why... Why... Why... ... does this have to hurt so bad? As Setsuna"s breathing became more controlled, his mind had begun processing everything. The moment Setsuna could stand once more, he already had the answer. "I... I... don"t want him to stop..." "Ah! Seiei-kun, just the person I need!" Setsuna turned and saw Billy approaching him, smiling. Setsuna"s eyes narrowed and Billy could feel how unwanted he was just from the aura Setsuna was projecting. Billy continued to smile as he said, "I need your help." Instead of answering him, Setsuna started walking away but Billy managed to grab his wrist. Setsuna growled and ordered, "Don"t touch me!" Billy seemed to have known he would react that way and he simply smiled, saying calmly, "I drugged Ham-sensei." It took a moment for Setsuna to process that... "You what?!" Setsuna yelled, losing all of his composure. From that look alone, Billy knew Setsuna had misunderstood what he had said. Chuckling, Billy explained, "Ham-sensei went to work even though he was sick. I took it upon myself to drug him so he could get some rest." Billy smirked and whispered on Setsuna"s ear, "I was checking his temperature when you entered. I wasn"t doing whatever it was you thought I was doing." Setsuna"s cheeks reddened at his words and he yelled, "What makes you think I wa-" Setsuna stiffened as Billy placed his forehead on his, smiling all the while as he said, "I was going like this. From a different angle, it looks like we"re doing something else, right?" Setsuna kept quiet, looking at the floor. Billy blinked and looked at Setsuna, concerned, "Seiei-kun, I believe you also have a fever." "What?" "Although, not as bad as Ham-sensei"s." Billy concluded, straightening, "But I still suggest going to the clinic. It is that time of the year." Setsuna"s eyes widened as Billy took him by the arm and began dragging him downstairs. His protest didn"t manage to leave his lips as he saw the unconscious body of Graham by the end of the stairs. Noticing the look on Setsuna"s face, Billy laughed once more, "As you can see, he still tried to get to your classroom even though the drugs were already working." "Idiot." Setsuna commented offhandedly. Billy took one of Graham"s arms to his shoulder while instructing Setsuna to take the other. Billy thought that Setsuna would say no and Billy was ready to beg when Setsuna quietly took his other arm without so much as a grunt. Billy smiled and they began dragging Graham"s body to the clinic. The clinic was on the other side of the school as it was stationed so that it would only be a walking distance from the gym and field. Billy, finding the silence a bit too much to take, tried to talk with Setsuna. "So... What were you thinking when you saw us?" Billy asked, turning to face Setsuna. Billy smiled as Setsuna seemed to pull Graham closer as if he was using Graham as a human shield against Billy. "I was... nothing..." Setsuna mumbled, earning a merry laugh from Billy. "Let me guess... The way you look back there and then your reaction to me... Hmmm..." Billy mused, "Probably... kiss?" Billy felt a part of Graham tense, most probably because the one carrying that side tensed, which Billy concluded that his allegation was right. With another soft chuckle, Billy said, "You have nothing to worry about, Seiei-kun." He heard Setsuna mumble something that sounds like "rumors" and Billy knew what Setsuna was talking about. Billy opened the door to the clinic as he replied to Setsuna"s mumble, "You mean the one where I and Ham-sensei are more than friends?" Once more, he was answered by another feeling of stiffness. Billy and Setsuna placed Graham on the bed and Billy turned towards the table as Setsuna stayed by Graham"s side, looking intently at Billy. Billy began to fill the necessary forms as the nurse seems to out of sight at the moment, "I"m also going to fill yours, Seiei-kun." "I don"t need it." Setsuna said curtly. "You shouldn"t wave off a fever. It might grow to something more disastrous." Billy said, placing the forms on the table. Billy turned to Setsuna and walked towards him, "Okay, down we go." Setsuna glared at Billy but let him sit him down on the bed next to Graham"s. Taking a pill from the first aid box, Billy turned to Setsuna and placed a plastic cup filled with water and a pill on his hands. Setsuna looked at them warily, earning another chuckle from Billy, "Now, now. That"s for the fever. Don"t make me give you a sleeping pill as well." Setsuna turned to face Billy and Billy knew that the boy still does not trust him. Billy smiled and sat next to Setsuna, "So, about the rumors..." "Not interested." Setsuna replied, popping the pill to his mouth and drinking the contents of the cup. Billy smiled but continued, "Has he ever told you he was an orphan as well?" Setsuna turned to Billy and shook his head. Billy chuckled, "Can"t blame him. It doesn"t really go with his "idiot façade", right?" "He"s orphaned?" Billy nodded, "My uncle, the one who raised me, personally knew his grandfather. I don"t know the details but from what I heard from them, his parents were involved in an accident and no one knew that his grandfather was still alive at that time. He was passed on to different institutions and foster families until his grandfather found him. That"s when I met him." "Why are you telling me this?" Setsuna asked. "Well, the first time I met him, he was you." Billy replied making Setsuna look at him with disbelief in his eyes. Billy chuckled, "It"s not my place to continue that story but..." Billy stood from Setsuna"s bed and made way to Graham"s bed. He stood on the other side and placed his hands on the side of the bed, "We aren"t friends." Setsuna winced as the bed creaked murderously against the floor as Billy began pushing the bed to Setsuna"s side. Billy stopped when the beds were only a few inches away from each other and smiled at Setsuna, "We"re a family." Billy pushed Setsuna to lie on the bed and smiled as he covered both of them with blankets, "Sleep tight, Seiei-kun. And if Graham does something in his sleep, don"t hesitate to punch him." Setsuna could only blankly stare at Billy as he left them alone in the clinic. Frowning, Setsuna turned to his side and saw Graham sleeping peacefully. Graham turned to face him as well but remained asleep, one hand throwing itself to the space that separates Setsuna and Graham. Setsuna stared at the hand as he heard Graham mumble in his sleep, "Shonen..." Biting his bottom lip, Setsuna slowly placed his hand on top of Graham"s hand. The moment his hand had touched Graham"s, Graham"s hand held his hand firmly yet gently. Setsuna turned to face Graham and saw the soft smile on his sleeping face as if he knew whose hand he was holding. A smile found its way to Setsuna"s face as well as he closed his eyes, squeezing Graham"s hand reassuringly. Even though he knew Graham may not hear him, Setsuna whispered, "Don"t stop..." ....... The nurse was in for a surprise when she came back as she noticed the sleeping forms of Setsuna and Graham. Finding the forms on the table, she blinked as she noticed a post-it on it. Written in Billy"s obvious handwriting were Don"t tell anyone... and picture it. -Billy Katagiri Without being said twice, the nurse took a couple of pictures of the sleeping couple. Graham had a smile on his face while Setsuna slept like a kitten, curled to his side, and their hands intertwined against the white sheet. ........... End Notes: Okay, for those unfamiliar with the Drama CDs of Gundam 00, they are entitled Gundam 00 Another Story Mission -2306 and Gundam 00 Another Story Road to 2307. Mission 2306 is a parody cd drama which has a plot very similar to Full Metal Panic as Setsuna was ordered by Sumeragi to transfer to Louise and Saji"s school because terrorists are threatening her family. From that alone, you can probably guess that the drama cd is not really canon (although, at the end they did say that it was only a simulation done through Veda so maybe it is canon... in a way?). In the drama cd, Graham, otherwise known as Ham-sensei, is a teacher at Louise"s school together with Billy and he actually uses his lines from the series to show his affection to Setsuna. (There"s even a part where he declared his feelings as love for Setsuna) Anyway, I suggest listening to it if you can understand Japanese since that"s where Tieria transferred as a female student, Lockon pretended to be Setsuna"s brother to protect Setsuna"s chastity from Graham, Allelujah (actually, more like Hallelujah) becomes the leader of the thugs and Graham becomes a superhero (or at least parodies superheroes... "HAM CHOP-CHOP-CHOP!'). Road to 2307, in the other hand, is more of a serious side track which happened before the Celestial Being made their debut. It includes how Setsuna met the other Meisters and Graham"s back-story. That"s where I got the fact that he was an orphan. So if you love Graham (like me), you"ll probably enjoy Road to 2307 as it really focus more on Graham"s background. My Japanese is not that perfect so I don"t really fully understand the drama CDs, hahaha. "Shonen" - This is how Graham calls Setsuna in the anime. It can be translated as "boy" or "kid". I just like "Shonen" more... -shrugs- Author"s Rants (Don"t mind it): So, I actually took a hiatus without notice because of various reasons (but not excuses) and my brother had taken upon himself to collect all the 1/100 series of Gundam 00. He"s already making 00 (with 0-raiser), and saving Seravee for last, while he already finished the original Gundams of 00, Arios and Cherudim while I download all of the Gundam anime(s) and movies I could find. So, in the spirit of our Gundam obsession at the moment, this fic came to life because of the lack of GrahamxSetsuna fanfics out there. My only regret was being unable to write Allelujah because this story was already too long. Anyway, thank you for reading and if I get some nice reviews, I may make a sequel... or prequel.

But his locket came back to him... And he never knew who placed it inside his hand. Seto stared at the hole leading inside the dam. No matter how confused he was, he could not help but stare at the hole. As absurd as it sounded, he thought that maybe if he kept staring then... Crow would certainly come back. And the older boy did come out after an hour. Seto knew how long Crow was inside because he checked his clock periodically. Every 5 minutes the boy did not come out only made Seto more worried. But Crow did come out. Seto couldn"t see Crow"s face but the boy"s movements were more energetic than when he was descending the pathway. Crow ascended the pathway as hurriedly as he could. He lost his footing more than once but that didn"t faze the black haired boy. He continued to ascend without losing his momentum. It wasn"t long before Seto lost him again but that was expected since the way Crow had been going was the way back home. Seto turned away from the window and leaned back, sighing in relief. Crow was outside the dam. He didn"t get into trouble. That thought alone sent relief all over Seto. He closed his eyes and wondered if he should sleep. As he was drifting off, he heard a door open before he heard hurried footsteps. Was it Crow? Was he back already? The footsteps stopped just outside his door and Seto opened his eyes. He stared at the closed door, wondering if this person was the same one who had been standing on his door everyday without entering. It couldn"t be Crow. Seto just won"t believe it was Crow behind that closed door. Seto heard the door knob move slightly... ...but the person behind the door did not open it today as well. It became a new routine for Seto. Every day, around the afternoon, Seto would stare at his window just as Crow descended the pathway towards the big hole. Seto would watch the older boy descend till he finally entered the hole. Then Seto would read one of his books but he would always glance at the big hole every now and then, waiting for the older boy to return. Watching the older boy every day, Seto saw the gradual changes in the black haired boy"s movements. He began to be more comfortable, nimble and... more of a show-off. He began jumping from one platform to another, rather than just taking the ladder. When he avoided something, he did some acrobatic movements like a cartwheel or something else. Sometimes, the older boy would land on one foot and just stay in that position for a while before continuing. Seto didn"t understand the point of it all but he couldn"t help but admire the older boy"s movements. He found himself excited to see if the black haired boy had any new acrobatic movements he would use for the descent each day. When he did come back from inside the dam, Seto noticed that Crow had two possible movements when ascending the pathway. Some days, Crow would be more energetic. That"s when his acrobatic movements would be more daring and there was never a day when Seto didn"t feel awe at least once whenever Crow ascended the pathway energetically. Other days, he looked dejected, almost as if he was sad. Those were the days when Crow simply ascended. There were no acrobatic movements as all. Those were the days that Seto also felt sad. Seto never knew what Crow did inside. Maybe the older boy was going inside for adventures. Maybe the older boy was trying to find something. Whatever the reason the older boy had for going inside, Seto didn"t have any real chance to think about it for too long. After a few minutes since Crow left his line of vision after ascending the pathway, the footsteps would begin once more. The person never entered his room. Never. One day, Seto realized that Crow hadn"t come back after two hours. The longest the boy had been inside had been an hour and a half. Seto shouldn"t have been worried. Only 30 minutes have passed. Maybe the older boy had set a new record in staying inside. But for some reason, Seto just couldn"t help but be worried. What if Crow had gotten lost? What if he had gotten hurt? What if... Seto covered his ears and shook his head furiously. He didn"t want to think about it but his mind continued to conjure up many dire situations. Seto"s entire body trembled at the thought. Maybe he should tell someone. Maybe he should- Seto covered his mouth immediately as he began to cough. Tears began to fill his eyes as he felt pain course through his body. Not now. Not now- The machines began to beep loudly and Seto rolled to his side, coughing violently. His entire body began to ache. The door opened and his nurse came rushing in. His nurse placed her hands on Seto"s shoulders and called out in a worried voice, "Seto? Seto! Can you hear me?" Seto continued to cough and his vision became blurry. Seto reached out to grab his nurse"s hand. His nurse gripped his hand tightly as she said gently, "I"m here, Seto. You have to calm down. Close your eyes and rest, Seto. Staying awake would only lengthen the attack." Seto forced his lips to form one word. Against the pain and the building desire to sleep, he whispered, "Crow..." When he came to, he found his nurse sitting on the chair next to his bed. His nurse was gripping his hand gently and she smiled when she saw Seto open his eyes. With a tired yet gentle smile, she greeted, "Morning, sleepy-head. Are you hungry?" Seto meekly nodded, unsure if he should try to speak. His nurse nodded and said, "I"ll heat the soup. Shin said you shouldn"t eat anything solid yet. Your throat may still be sore so don"t try to speak too much, "kay?" Seto nodded and his nurse patted his head gently. She stood and whispered, "I"ll be right back." His nurse turned around and walked towards the closed door. She opened it and Seto saw Crow standing on the other side of the door. His nurse seemed to be surprised to find Crow and asked, "How long have you been out here?" Crow backed away from his nurse and Seto noticed he was hiding something behind him. Crow looked at Seto for a moment before turning his head back to Seto"s nurse. He shoved the thing he had been hiding behind him towards her, making her stagger backwards. Crow didn"t waste any time and ran away and his nurse could only shout, "Hey!" His nurse stared at the direction Crow went off to for a moment before sighing. She looked at what Crow had shoved and turned back. She walked towards Seto"s bed and offered the item to Seto. Seto stared at it with a questioning look. "It"s a picture book." She explained, a bit confused if that was what Seto wanted to ask. She placed the book on Seto"s lap and said, "I assume Crow wanted to give it to you." Seto stared at the picture book before he pointed at himself and stared at his nurse with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. His nurse tilted her head and asked, "Are you asking me why he gave you that?" Seto nodded with a look of both confusion and apprehension. "He asked me what you like around the time of your last attack. Not this one though. The one before this..." She clarified and Seto remembered that the attack she was talking about was the one he had when Crow had stolen his locket. She began to walk out of the room as she continued, "Anyway, I said you like books and crystals. I"m guessing he"s giving you his favorite picture book." Seto turned his attention towards his nurse and forced himself to talk, a slight pain pricking his throat, "Why would he do that?" She stopped by the door and mused, "Maybe as a token of friendship?" Seto stared at her as she walked out of the room. He heard her say, "Don"t talk yet and wait for me. I"ll heat your soup then bring it to you." Seto turned his head to look at the picture book on his lap. A token of friendship? But they weren"t friends... Seto opened the book slowly. The book was for kids, not like the ones Seto was use to reading. Even though he was just eleven years old, he was more used to reading novels and science books. These were the books they had in their house. That"s why the picture book on his hand was something new. "Pirate Isle." Seto read the title out loud, his throat still hurt but he could take it. For some reason, he wanted to read the book out loud. He turned the next page and began to read out loud, "Then the young pirate looked down at me and shouted out, "Come on! Didn"t your mom teach you any manners? Gimme your name first.'" Seto flipped to the next page and continued, "I tried to answer but the boy cut me off. "Don"t act like you know me. Listen up. I"m the one asking the question around here. You just answer. Is that clear?' The boy said in a bullying manner." Seto stopped as he realized something weird. The boy pirate in the picture book sounded an awful lot like Crow. Seto continued to read, finishing the book almost immediately and the slight pain in his throat was entirely forgotten. As he read the last page, his chest tightened, "The whistle blew, signaling that it was time to say goodbye. I asked the boy pirate if we"d ever see each other again. At that, he answered, "Yeah, of course we will. Friends always see each other again. And we"re friends now.' And gave a smile." Seto closed the picture book and stared at the cover. The boy pirate in the book reminded Seto of Crow. Had Crow been mimicking the boy pirate in the picture book? Was the whole stealing his locket his way of trying to be friends? If it was then Crow was even more awkward than him and he was the one enclosed in this small room ever since he could remember. That thought made Seto grin. He placed the picture book on top of his lap and looked at the open door. Had Seto been able to run after Crow, maybe their picture book could have had a next page. But, because of the sickness that plagued Seto, their picture book remained in the first page. Maybe Crow had been the one making the footsteps. Maybe he never opened the door because he still felt guilty over what happened. Seto traced the pirate on the cover as he smiled softly. He decided. The next time the footsteps stopped in front of his door, Seto would find out if it was really Crow. Then... he"ll invite Crow inside his small world. Just as he expected, the next day began Seto"s normal routine. When Crow finally left his line of sight after ascending the pathway, Seto turned his head to look at the door. After a few minutes, he heard the footsteps coming closer to his room. The footsteps finally stopped and Seto stared at the door for a few moments before calling out, "Crow?" There was no reply but Seto knew that the person on the other side still hasn"t move since he heard no new footsteps. Seto moved slightly so that he was sitting comfortably as he said, "You can come in, Crow." "I want to..." Seto tightened his embrace on the picture book as he said, "I want to talk to you." The door knob moved slowly and the door creaked as it opened just as slowly. Seto smiled as he saw Crow on the other side. His violet shirt had a few dirty spots here and there and one of the boy"s cheeks had a smudge of black dirt. Crow walked inside slowly, almost as if he was unsure if he could really enter. Seto noticed that the black haired boy was hiding something behind him again. Seto continued to smile as he showed the picture book to Crow, "I read the book." Crow looked at him and asked, "Did you like it?" Seto nodded and said sadly, "I felt a bit sad since they didn"t stay together though. He should have become a pirate too." Crow frowned as he sat on the chair. Seto still couldn"t see what Crow was hiding and could not even ask since Crow asked him, "Why?" "Because they"re friends and shouldn"t friends stay together?" Seto asked as he stared at Crow. "Well, sometimes friends have to go away. But!" Crow smiled as he added, "It"s because they"re friends that, when they meet once more, they can talk about all the adventures they had when they had been apart. Friends always see each other again!" Seto knew that Crow had repeated the boy pirate"s line but he couldn"t help but ask as he stared at Crow, "Really?" Crow nodded and replied, "Really." Seto liked Crow"s answer and he smiled as he added, "And maybe next time, the pirate"s friend could be a pirate too!" Crow laughed and asked with a grin, "You really want them to be together, huh?" Seto looked at the picture book and explained with a sad smile, "I think... friends should stay together. Being alone..." Seto"s grip on the picture book tightened as he continued softly, "... is painful." Crow stared at Seto silently. He rubbed the back of his head and looked away, unsure on what to say. Crow remembered the item he was hiding behind him and grabbed it. He outstretched his hand so that the item was right in front of Seto. Seto raised his head to look at the item in front of him and Seto"s mouth opened slightly as he realized what the item Crow was. It was a transparent jar. Inside the jar were gems of different sizes and colors but the gems only filled half of the jar. Even though the jar was only half-full, Seto couldn"t help but be mesmerized by the myriads of colors. Some glittered against the artificial light of his room while others had a solid color. Seto even recognized some of the gems from the books he had read. The ones with the whitish color that slightly glittered were fluorite. Seto began to turn the jar, trying to see all the gems inside. Crow grinned and puffed his chest out as he proclaimed, "I got all of them by myself." "From the dam?" Seto asked. He wouldn"t be surprised if the gems did come from the dam. The water that filled the dam was connected to a river. The gems could have been washed by the water and traveled towards the dam. Crow"s eyes widened in surprise and he asked, "How did you know?" Seto continued to stare at the gems as his cheeks reddened. He was embarrassed to say that he had been watching the older boy every time he descended the pathway. Seto saw Crow staring at him, waiting for his answer, from within his peripheral vision and said meekly, "My window has a clear view of the service pathway." Seto moved his eyes towards the left as he continued in a shy voice, "I... always watch you when you go in..." "Oh." Crow grinned as he asked eagerly, "Did you see my awesome moves?" Seto turned to face Crow and nodded happily, "They were awesome. But..." Seto looked at Crow with concern in his eyes as he asked, "Isn"t it dangerous?" Crow laughed and said with a toothy grin, "Of course not! That place is like my very own playground!" "Your very own playground..." Seto repeated. It sounded so fun that... Seto couldn"t help but feel jealous about it. "What"s wrong?" Crow asked, staring at Seto with a frown. Crow leaned forward and asked, "Do you feel sick again?" Seto smiled softly and shook his head. He stared at the jar he was holding and said, "I was just thinking how fun it must be to have your very own playground." Crow"s frown grew and he became silent and Seto feared that his words had angered the older boy so he shyly called out, "Crow?" "I got it!" Crow stared at Seto with determination as he said, "It"ll be our secret place instead." "Our secret place?" Seto asked, unsure what Crow meant. "But it"s so big that it"s not just any place. I know!" Crow grinned as he outstretched his hands. His eyes shone brightly as he announced, "It will be our secret isle! The entire dam is our secret isle!" Seto smiled sadly as he corrected, "It"s your secret isle, Crow." Crow shook his head furiously and glared at Seto as he repeated, "Our secret isle." "But-" "I"ll describe every place I went to you. I"ll mark each place with our flag!" "Flag?" Seto"s rebuttal was forgotten when he heard the word. Crow nodded and grinned happily as he said, "Pirates should have a flag, right?" Seto tilted his head as he asked, "We"re pirates?" "Of course!" Crow grinned and covered Seto"s hands with his. He raised the jar Seto was holding and said, "See? These are just some of the treasures I was able to find! I"ll find more and fill this jar! That"s why..." Crow pushed the jar towards Seto"s chest and said, "You better keep them safe, "kay?" "I"ll keep them?" Seto asked, confused at what the older boy wanted from him. Crow nodded and grinned as he said, "You"re my friend and my fellow pirate. All the treasures I have, you"ll keep safe. That"s your job until you get better. Then..." Seto"s eyes widened at Crow"s next words. Crow gave him a smile full of child-like innocence as he continued, "... we"ll visit our secret isle together." Seto stared at Crow and asked sadly, "You think... I can get better?" Crow seemed surprised as the question but he grinned at Seto as he replied, "Of course! Your father is so smart!" "But..." Seto embraced the jar as he looked down, fear gripping his heart and water filled his eyes as he said, "Father has been looking for a cure since I could remember. He still couldn"t-" Tears began to fall from Seto"s eyes and he sniffed, unable to finish his words. Crow began to panic and he sat on Seto"s bed. He placed his hands on Seto"s tear-filled cheeks and said frantically, "Don"t cry! Sis said you"ll have one of those weird coughs if you cry!" Seto knew what Crow was talking about. His attacks always came during a full moon. Any other attacks he experienced had been due to stress or the times he forced his body to do something it wasn"t capable of doing... like moving his legs. Seto felt Crow wipe his tears with his hands and the younger boy tried to stop crying. He did not want to burden the older boy. But no matter how much Seto tried to stop, the tears still continued to fall. "Ahh!" Crow shouted and Seto"s eyes widened when he felt Crow wrapped his arms around Seto"s shoulders. Crow rested his chin on Seto"s shoulder and announced, "If your father can"t make you get better then I"ll help your father make you get better." Seto turned his eyes to look at the back of Crow"s head. Seto let go of the jar and wrapped his arms around Crow"s waist. Seto gripped the fabric of Crow"s shirt as he asked, "You"ll help father try to find a cure?" Crow nodded and explained, "But you"ll have to wait. I have to be smarter than your father so I can help him." Seto chuckled softly as he said, "But father is one of the brightest scientists." "Then I"ll be brighter than him!" Crow announced before he pulled away from Seto. He placed his hands on the younger boy"s shoulders and said, "I"ll study and study and study till I become smarter than your father. Then, I"ll help your father find the cure." "Crow..." Seto stared at Crow"s green cat-like eyes and smiled as he asked, "Why? Why would you do such a thing?" "Because you"re my friend." Crow grinned as he added, "And my fellow pirate!" Crow continued to give Seto a toothy grin as he said, "We"ll find a cure and, when you get better, we"ll visit our secret isle together!" "Wait for it, Seto." Crow said seriously, staring at Seto with eyes filled with the hope of a child yet the determination of an adult, "We"ll find a cure. It may take years but we"ll find a cure." "Promise?" Seto asked. Crow showed him his hand. His fingers were clenched shut except for the pinky and the thumb. Seto smiled and he gripped Crow"s pinky with his pinky. Seto closed his other fingers except his thumb and the pinky currently entwined with Crow"s pinky. They moved their hands up and down as they recited, "With this pinky promise, we take an oath. If I lie, I"ll eat a thousand needles." Seto smiled at Crow while Crow grinned at Seto. They move the hands they used to make the pinky promise so that they were now holding hands. Seto stared at their hands and smiled as he said, "Thank yo-" Seto"s eyes widened when Crow"s lips suddenly descended on his lips. Crow"s lips were soft and tasted like the syrup his nurse would always drizzle on his pancakes. Crow pulled back and Seto backed away as he stuttered, "Wha-wha-what was that for?" Crow stared at him with a grin as he said, "Friends kiss each other. I read that in a book." "Tha-that"s not-" Did friends kiss each other? Seto remembered reading a custom of some countries where they kiss one another as a sort of greeting. Maybe there was a country where friends do kiss one another? "Seto?" Crow called out, frowning once more. "That was..." Seto looked down as he said meekly, "That was my first kiss." Crow grinned as he announced, "Then that means I"m your number one friend. Your best friend!" "My best friend..." Seto repeated and stared at Crow. The older boy"s grin made Seto smile. He nodded and said, "Yeah. You"re my best friend, Crow." "And you"re my best friend, Seto." Crow leaned in and Seto closed his eyes. He felt Crow"s lips on his once more. Crow leaned back and grinned at Seto again. Seto returned his grin with a smile of his own. His small fragile world seemed to grow. Although it may just be a dream, Seto couldn"t help but feel comfortable with the idea that, one day, he could walk and visit their secret isle, holding hands with his best friend. Author"s End Notes: That"s the end of it but if you guys want a sequel, maybe I"ll write it. The sequel would be definitely be CrowxSeto, not just hints. -grins-

They had stayed for the day in the ruins of Kanegasaki. Many of the remnants had run during the afternoon while Masamune was asleep. Those that remained had been adamant that they wish to serve the last Oda. The remnants were led by a man named Katsuie Shibata. While he still had doubts about those that remained, he had been impressed by Shibata"s determination and had decided to let Kojuro handle their assimilation to the Date army. That left him with nothing to do but practice his swordsmanship at the top of the fortress. The sun had begun to rise once more when he heard soft footsteps from behind him. He sheathed his katana and turned, his one eye meeting a pair of black eyes. "Hey." Masamune greeted with a smirk. "Good morning, Lord Dragon." Oichi greeted in a soft voice as she slowly walked towards him. She placed a hand by her chest and looked at the ground as she asked, "Did I bother you?" "No. I was just about finish." Masamune replied and met the young woman halfway. They stopped right in front of each other and Masamune asked, "Did you sleep well?" Oichi had been asleep ever since Masamune"s declaration. He had placed her in one of the covered area in the ruins and ordered four of his most trusted soldiers to guard her. While the four could be a hand full, Masamune had always thought that they were capable enough. That"s why he had been surprised when Oichi shook her head. Masamune raised an eyebrow and asked, "Where the four guys too noisy?" "The four boys were very nice." Oichi replied in a soft, almost trance-like, voice. She turned her head to look at Masamune and explained in a sad voice, "But I don"t like sleeping alone." "Oh." Masamune frowned and crossed his arms. They had no women to sleep next to her. The first female Masamune thought to ask help from was Itsuki and they weren"t close enough for him to just ask the white haired villager to go with them and stay with Oichi. Magoichi Saika was closer though. Maybe he could offer the Saika faction an agreement and make the boss lady accompany the black haired woman in front of him. Then he imagined Magoichi glaring at him and calling him a "turkey" while pointing her pistol at his head. Guess Magoichi is out of the picture then. He felt a hand grip the hem of his sleeve and he noticed that Oichi was looking at him innocently yet her face also held a sense of sadness and fear. With a soft, almost as if she was afraid that Masamune would get angry, voice, Oichi asked, "Can I... sleep next to you next time?" The question had caught him off guard. He knew he should say "no". Even if he said "yes", Kojuro would definitely not agree or, at least, would scold him. But, for some reason, the single word he had to say would not form on his lips. He continued to stare at the pleading black eyes of the woman in front of him. It was as if those eyes were casting a spell on him and, before he knew what he was doing, his lips had moved to form one word, "Sure." Masamune"s eye widened as he realized what he had said but he could not even take his word back because of the smile the black haired woman gave him. Oichi smiled so happily at him and said, "Thank you, Lord Dragon." Masamune opened his mouth to say he did not mean it and that it would be highly inappropriate for them to sleep in the same bed, even if what they would be doing was just sleeping... which Masamune hope so. Although, there was a part of him that did- Masamune hit his face with his right hand at the thought. Oichi looked at him worriedly and asked, "Does your right eye hurt, Lord Dragon?" "Huh?" Masamune removed his hand from his face, not noticing that his right hand had instinctively covered the right side of his face, and saw that Oichi was looking at him worriedly. She placed her hands on Masamune"s cheeks and asked softly, "Can I do anything to ease the pain?" Masamune closed his eye as he felt the warmth of Oichi"s hands on his cheeks. With a smile, Masamune said, "I"m fine. Thank you for worrying." "Really?" Oichi asked in a child-like tone and Masamune opened his eye to look at the remaining Oda in front of him. "Really." Masamune replied and Oichi nodded, staring at him with that vacant expression she usually had. Masamune placed his right hand on top of Oichi"s left hand. Her touch was innocent and it brought peace in Masamune"s mind. He knew that the woman in front of him was broken, maybe too broken that it could never regain its past form, but- "Lord Masamune!" Kojuro"s voice brought Masamune out of his musing. He grabbed both of Oichi"s hands and pulled them away from his face as gently as he could. Oichi looked saddened at the lost of contact and began to look at the ground once more. Masamune let go of Oichi"s hands just as Kojuro appeared from the steps leading to where they were with Shibata behind him. Kojuro noticed that Oichi and Masamune were standing very close to each other and narrowed his eyes as he called out, "Lord Masamune..." Masamune sighed and said with a smirk, "We weren"t doing anything bad." Masamune turned to look at Oichi and asked as he continued to smirk, "Right, Oichi?" Oichi looked at Masamune for a moment before she nodded, "Yes. We have been good. Please don"t be angry, Lord Snappy." Kojuro"s eyes widened at the nickname and he was unable to keep his composure as he repeated, "Lo-Lord Snappy?" Masamune burst laughing. He grinned at Kojuro as he said, "See, Kojuro? That"s because you always have that scary face on." Kojuro cleared his throat and stared at Oichi as he said politely yet sternly, "Lady Oichi. If I have offended you, please forgive me but please do not call me "Lord Snappy"." Oichi tilted her head as she suggested innocently, "Lord Scary?" Masamune laughed once more and Oichi smiled, pleased that she had made Masamune laugh. Kojuro glared at Masamune and called him sternly, "Lord Masamune." Masamune continued to smirk as he nodded, "Fine, fine." Masamune turned to face Oichi and said the woman"s name softly, "Oichi." Oichi turned to face Masamune and asked innocently, "Yes, Lord Dragon?" Masamune rubbed his chin as he thought of the best way to salvage the situation. He smirked as he said to the black haired woman, "Kojuro"s my right eye. I would like it if you called him something more... well... likeable than Lord Snappy or Lord Scary." Masamune leaned in and whispered to her ear, "Even if he is very scary." "I heard that, my lord." Kojuro told his lord with narrowed eyes. Oichi and Masamune looked at him for a moment before turning to face one another. Masamune grinned as he mouthed the word "scary" to Oichi. Oichi giggled before she turned to face Kojuro and suggested, "Lord Right Eye?" "That..." Kojuro sighed in resignation and said, "That would fine." Oichi smiled and turned to look at Masamune as she said, "Lord Dragon." "Yeah?" Masamune asked with a smirk. Oichi turned to look at Kojuro once more and said, "Lord Right Eye." Kojuro frowned but saw Masamune staring at him intently. The older man sighed and asked, "Yes, Lady Oichi?" Oichi turned to look at Shibata who smiled at her and tilted her head as she asked, "Who are you?" Shibata fell on the floor, feeling rejected. Masamune covered his mouth to stop the laughter that tried to escape his mouth. Even Kojuro was unable to keep the smile from forming in his face. Masamune cleared his throat and looked at Kojuro as serious as he could, although he was still smiling, as he asked, "Well, Kojuro. What"s new?" Kojuro"s face returned to being serious as he explained, "The Maeda clan has moved their troops to Tetorigawa. There is no movement in Kaerikumo Castle though." Masamune crossed his arms and said seriously, "I see. Not really surprise. That Anegakoji old man would most probably just hibernate through the entire thing anyway." "Then we will meet the Maeda clan in Tetorigawa?" Kojuro asked for confirmation although he already knew the answer to that question. "Yeah. Tell everyone. We move in an hour." Masamune ordered. Shibata suddenly stood and said, "If I may be allowed to speak, my lord!" Masamune stared at him for a moment before he said, "You don"t have to treat me like your lord. You serve Oichi, not me." Shibata glanced at the woman next to Masamune. Oichi was already sitting, playing with a shadow hand as she sang the creepy nursery rhyme she liked to sing when she wasn"t doing anything. Shibata stared at Masamune and explained, "Toshiie Maeda was a retainer of Lord Nobunaga together with me. If I may be able to speak with him, it might be possible to get him to surrender." "I doubt it." Masamune sighed and asked bluntly, "Tell me the truth. You think I"m keeping Oichi hostage, aren"t you?" "Well..." Shibata did not meet Masamune"s gaze and Masamune knew that he got his answer. "The Maeda clan might be thinking the same thing. This is a battle of our army, not yours." Masamune explained. "You guys are staying here with Oichi. Your job is to keep Oichi safe and to do what she wishes for you to do. Of course, I"ll make four of my men stay to help you guys." Masamune said with finality. He smirked at Shibata and said, "You should probably tell that to the rest of your forces." "Of course!" Shibata bowed and left the three. "Kojuro." Masamune called out his right eye, the smirk already gone from his face. "Yes, my lord?" Kojuro asked seriously although he already had an idea to what Masamune wanted from him. "Tell Yoshinao and his gang to keep an eye on Shibata and his forces at all time." Masamune turned his attention towards the woman currently preoccupied with playing with the shadow hand. Masamune"s eye darkened as he said, "If they even get a feeling that Shibata and his forces would try to take Oichi away, they are to get Oichi to Tetorigawa as soon as possible." "Understood, my lord." Kojuro bowed but said, "Although..." "Yeah?" Masamune turned his attention back towards his right eye. Kojuro stared at him seriously as he asked, "Why can we not just keep Lady Oichi with us?" "Didn"t you hear Shibata? Toshiie Maeda was a retainer of the Oda clan." Masamune looked away as he said, "She might remember something that would be too painful for her." "Is that truly the reason, my lord?" Kojuro asked as he continued to stare at his lord seriously. Masamune smirked as he asked, "What other reasons would there be?" "How about..." Masamune"s smirk faltered at Kojuro"s next words, "... the possibility she might remember everything and would no longer stay by your side?" "Kojuro..." Masamune couldn"t find any other words to say to the older man. "Forgive me, Lord Masamune. I have said too much." Kojuro bowed as he said, "I shall ready the men." The older man turned around and walked away from Masamune. When Masamune could no longer see Kojuro"s back, Masamune let out a sigh and turned to face Oichi. The young woman seemed oblivious to everything as she continued to play with the shadow hand. After a few minutes, she rubbed her eyes and turned towards Masamune. She stared at Masamune as she asked permission in a soft voice, "Can I sleep, Lord Dragon? I couldn"t sleep well last night." "Sure." Masamune offered his hand towards Oichi and Oichi took it. He guided her down the ruins, the shadow hand she had been playing with disappearing into her shadow. As they descended the stairs, they saw Yoshinao and his gang sitting by the steps. They all stood and greeted, "Hello, boss! Hello, Lady Oichi!" "Hello." Oichi greeted before she tilted her head as she asked, "Who are you?" Masamune smirked as he noticed the sad faces they were all making. Masamune turned to face Oichi and explained, "These four will be your guards, Oichi." "My guards..." Oichi placed her free hand by her lips as she said in a child-like manner, "I don"t need guards. I"m fine on my own." "Please don"t say that, Lady Oichi..." The one with the spiky hair said sadly. "Just let them protect you, Oichi. Do it for me." Masamune said as he stared at the woman next to him. Oichi stared at Masamune for a moment before she nodded, "If it"s for Lord Dragon, I"ll let them protect me." "Thank you." Masamune smiled at Oichi softly. Oichi smiled back and tightened her grip on Masamune"s hand. Masamune turned to face the four and said, "Kojuro had already explained it to you, right?" "Yes, boss!" They all said in unison. "She"ll be sleeping in the one I was sleeping in last night. Be sure that, at least, one of you is with her at all time." Masamune ordered, staring at each of them intently. "Yes, boss!" They all said in unison. Masamune continued to guide the black haired woman towards the small room he had slept in last night. The room was partly covered by the woods that had served as the foundation of the roof when it had been in a more amicable condition. There was a makeshift futon on one end. Masamune guided her towards the futon and let go of her hand. Oichi lied on the futon and curled into a ball. Masamune turned towards the entrance. Outside, the four were peeking from the entrance. Masamune sighed and ordered, "Get my armor and my claws." "Yes, boss!" The four scurried away and Masamune turned back towards the woman lying on the makeshift futon. Oichi stared at him and asked, "Will Lord Dragon sleep too?" Masamune shook his head and said, "Maybe later." "I see." Oichi closed her eyes and said tiredly, "Good night, Lord Dragon." "Good night, Oichi." Masamune whispered. He kneeled next to Oichi and gently brushed the stray strands of black hair that had been by her lips. Masamune stared at her for a moment. When he heard the hurried footsteps, Masamune stood. Masamune turned towards the door and the four returned with his armor and five of his claws. The last claw, he had been holding the entire time. The four placed his armor and his claws near him before leaving the ruined room. Masamune began to change, his back facing Oichi. He hoped the woman was truly asleep. Once or twice, he turned around and saw that the black haired woman was still lying on the futon, breathing deeply. Masamune finished donning his armor and wore his trademark Crescent helmet. He placed his six claws on their proper places and began to walk out of the room. He stopped when he felt something tug his left hand. Masamune stopped and turned to face his left hand. He saw Oichi"s shadow hand holding his left hand, tugging it lightly. Masamune turned to look at Oichi but saw that she was still asleep. Oichi"s shadow hands sometimes looked like they have a mind of their own for Masamune. And, for some reason, Masamune knew what this shadow hand wanted from him. Masamune turned his attention back to the shadow hand and said, "I"ll come back." The shadow hand tugged his hand once more and Masamune said, "I promise I"ll come back to Oichi. Don"t worry." The shadow hand stopped moving for a moment before it finally let go of Masamune"s hand, dissolving in the shadow cast by the ruined roof. Masamune looked at the sleeping woman once more, staring at the peaceful face before finally leaving. Another battle awaits him. There was no need for someone like her to get caught up in his selfish desire. This wasn"t how Masamune thought the battle with the Maeda clan would happen. When they had reached Tetorigawa, the Maeda clan had placed around five camps in the vicinity. When they had reached the entrance, the leader of the Maeda clan was the one who greeted them. He had been standing by a field and he suddenly exclaimed, "The Maeda clan"s rules are guard Matsu, guard Matsu and guard Matsu!" "Who"s Matsu?" Masamune whispered to Kojuro. "Whatever it takes..." Toshiie continued, not hearing the two. "Toshiie Maeda"s wife." Kojuro whispered back. Toshiie readied his trident as he said, "I will make sure that she is kept safe, even if it cause me my life." "I guess the whole "love will conquer all" runs in the family." Masamune sarcastically commented, remembering another Maeda who had a penchant for proclaiming love is all the land need. "We"ve been waiting for you, One-eyed dragon." Toshiie said as he stared at Masamune. Masamune got off his horse and unsheathed one of his six claws. Toshiie grinned happily as he informed the boss of Oshu, "Matsu has come to get some rice, I"ll keep you company till she gets back." "Rice?" Kojuro seemed surprised at Toshiie"s words. Masamune, on the other hand, could only comment at Toshiie"s attitude, "Look at you. You"re just so damn chipper." Without any other warnings, Toshiie charged him. Masamune blocked Toshiie"s incoming trident and side stepped. He slashed diagonally but Toshiie backed away from the range of Masamune"s attack. The clan leader of the Maeda grabbed his gourd and drank. Toshiie breathed out fire which Masamune dodged by rolling forward. He slashed Toshiie"s chest. Toshiie backed away but Masamune"s katana managed to cut Toshiie"s chest. "Lord Toshiie!" One of the Maeda soldiers watching the fight shouted. "It"s nothing. It"s a mere flesh wound." Toshiie said with a grin, "I can still move." "Man, you"re just sunshine and rainbows, aren"t you?" Masamune commented. The cut he had made wasn"t that deep but the blood flowing from the wound was definitely not something a "nothing" should be. Before they could continue their battle, Masamune heard a female voice say, "The Maeda clan"s rules are..." Masamune turned his head towards the gate and saw a brown haired woman wearing green attire and holding a naginata say, "Protect the clan, perfect your skills..." Masamune stared at the new comer as he asked Kojuro, "I"m guessing that"s this chipper"s wife?" "Yes. Lady Matsu." Kojuro confirmed as he stared at the wife of Toshiie Maeda. "And, most importantly..." Matsu continued as she pointed her naginata towards Masamune. "Do they really have to introduce their selves like this?" Masamune asked his right eye. "Unfortunately, that seems to be the case." Kojuro replied frankly. "...protect the clan"s leader!" Matsu finally finished her introduction and ran towards Toshiie immediately. She smiled as she handed three pieces of rice balls to her husband, "Here it is. I got some rice." "Great. Matsu"s back! Food at last!" Toshiie greedily took the rice balls and ate them. Masamune and many of his troops were surprised when they noticed that the wound the one-eyed dragon had inflicted to the leader of the Maeda clan seemed to heal. "Kojuro..." Masamune called out his right eye and Kojuro frowned. "Forgive me, Lord Masamune. There are also some things this Kojuro cannot understand." Kojuro said as he stared at Toshiie who was happily eating more of Matsu"s rice balls which was being delivered by different soldiers. "Like healing rice balls?" Masamune commented sarcastically. When the final soldier gave the rice balls, Matsu gasped and whispered something to Toshiie"s ear. Toshiie"s eyes widened and he began to pace around as he shouted, "This isn"t good. We run out of rice!" "Ugh." Matsu began to pace as well. The entire Date army could only stare at the couple, as if they were doing a comedy skit. Matsu said with frustration, "I don"t understand how this could happen." The couple stopped right in front of each other and nodded. They clapped their hands together and said in unison, "Alright! Let"s go restock!" With that said, the entire Maeda army ran towards the other side of the gate. The Date army simply stared at the gate for a few minutes. Masamune sheathed his katana and called out, "Kojuro." "Yes, my lord?" Kojuro replied, still staring at the gate. Masamune crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow as he asked, "You think this is a trap?" "I doubt it." Kojuro replied before adding, "They seemed too... nice to use a trap." Masamune sighed and got on his horse as he said, "Well, let"s see what this lovey-dovey couple has in store for us then." The Date army began to advance slowly. When they reached the other side of the gate, they heard laughter coming from the top of the hill. They sounded like the Maeda couple. Masamune had to stare but he could make out the forms of Matsu and Toshiie, sitting on the hill top. Toshiie was happily eating once more as he said happily, "Oh, Matsu. This is great." Matsu offered more bento boxes to her husband as she said, "I"m glad you like it. I made it especially for you." Masamune turned towards Kojuro and said, "Now, I think they"re just rubbing their lovey-dovey-ness in our faces." Kojuro raised an eye brow as he asked, "Does it have an effect on you, my lord?" Masamune rolled his eye as he replied, "Of course not. They"re too damn chipper and happy." "I see. You would prefer it had it been more melancholic yet child-like." Kojuro commented with a straight face. Masamune turned to look at Kojuro and began to speak, "Kojuro... did you just-" "How shall we proceed, Lord Masamune?" Kojuro asked, cutting off Masamune"s question. "Those bases seemed to be storehouses. Let"s take all of them." Masamune ordered and Kojuro nodded. "Understood." "But keep the casualty to a minimum for both sides." Masamune added and Kojuro stared at him. "Is it because of the Maeda clan"s service to the Oda clan?" Kojuro asked bluntly.

Katagiri-sensei may be trying to take Ham-sensei away from you at the very moment It"s quite obvious that Ham-sensei is in love with you. Keep it up and he may very well give up, heartbroken and everything! And then Katagiri-sensei would be there to pick up the pieces! Then you"ll be left alone and wondering where you did wrong! And when you realize that Ham-sensei has fallen in love with Katagiri-sensei you would probably just give up and be all emo, right?! Don"t tease him too much. You might really regret it. Setsuna frowned and mumbled, "I"m not teasing..." Resting his head on the table, Setsuna sighed and closed his eyes. Wouldn"t that be the best? He didn"t need a crazy teacher"s affection. He doesn"t want it. He doesn"t... "Ohhh? You have such beautiful eyes, Shonen." "Shonen! What"s your most favorite thing? I like Gundams!" "Shonen! How about joining me for a while? There"s a new release today and I wanted to check it out. They"re re-releasing Nu Gundam." Setsuna covered his ears. He doesn"t need those! ... right? "You probably have a beautiful smile... Shonen..." "Setsuna F. Seiei." Setsuna opened his eyes and frowned as the first thing that greeted him was an annoyed Tieria Erde wearing their school"s girl uniform. Behind Tieria, Setsuna could see the light peeking in from his window indicating that it was morning. Setsuna closed his eyes once more and got a more strained, "Setsuna F. Seiei." "Go away." Setsuna mumbled. He frowned as he was pulled by Tieria and opened his eyes once more, glaring at Tieria. Tieria returned the glare. "Get up. We"re going to be late." Tieria ordered before throwing Setsuna back to his chair. Setsuna growled once more as Tieria left his room, slamming his door loudly. Setsuna looked at the clock by his bed and frowned as he realized that they only had two hours before class begins. In just a few minutes, Setsuna had took a quick shower and done everything he needed before going down where his family was sitting and eating... plus one invited guest. "Seeing Tieria wearing that uniform really makes my day." "Watch it, Lyle, or I"m going to tell Anew." "Now, now, no threatening while eating. You"ll destroy the heavenly taste of Marina"s cooking." "And that comment just rewarded you another serving, Neil-nii-san." "Thanks, Marina." "What about me?!" Setsuna took his sit quietly as Lyle continued to look pleadingly at Marina. Marina smiled at Setsuna as she gave him his rice bowl. Setsuna looked at the food, "Miso... rice... and fish..." "Don"t forget pickles." Lyle reminded, giving his pickles to Setsuna"s bowl. Setsuna frowned but nonetheless ate the food. "That wasn"t nice, Lyle." Neil said, placing his pickles on Lyle"s bowl. "Ah, "Nii-san!" Lyle whined and was about to return the pickles when another set of pickles was dropped to their bowls by the only woman in the house. "More pickles for both of you." Marina said, a satisfied smile playing on her face, "Now, stop playing and eat." "Yes, mother." Lyle jokily replied, eating his pickles. Marina placed cups of coffee on the table but Setsuna was given a cup of milk. Setsuna did not say anything and ate, drinking the milk when he finished. Once they were done eating, they all walked towards the door. "Now, you guys be good and try not to kill each other." Lyle jokily told Tieria and Setsuna as he sat on Marina"s car. Marina and Lyle worked on the other side of town so they took the same car. Neil, on the other hand, took another car. "Tell that to Setsuna F. Seiei." Tieria growled. "You"re not the one to talk, Tieria Erde." Setsuna growled back. Marina"s car left the driveway, Lyle waving at them. Neil chuckled at Tieria and Setsuna"s silent glaring contest and opened the door to his car. Neil looked at Tieria and Setsuna. "I"ll drive you guys there." Neil said, earning a nod from Tieria and Setsuna. The drive to school was quiet... much to Neil"s disappointment. But that was to be expected from both of the most anti-social persons Neil had ever met. Neil stopped just pass the school gate and both of them got out. Tieria looked back, returning to his beautiful and elegant Miss Tieria Erde façade. "Thank you so much for driving us, Neil. I hope we were not a bother." Tieria said in a sweet soft voice. Neil had to smile. "It was no problem, Tieria. Anything to see this." Neil commented, earning a glare from Tieria that only lasted for a few seconds as students were passing them by, smiling at Tieria. "Good morning, Miss Erde!" Some first year girls greeted as they passed them. Tieria smiled at them. "A pleasant day to all of you as well." Tieria replied, bowing slightly. "And have a pleasant day, Neil." Tieria said and Neil could feel the hidden threat in his words. Neil nodded and turned to Setsuna. "See you later, Setsuna." Neil said which earned a curt nod from Setsuna. Without even waiting for Neil to drive away, Setsuna began to walk towards school, not bothering to wait for Tieria who was waving and smiling softly as Neil drove away. Setsuna managed to enter his classroom without any problems and walked towards his sit when two of his classmates greeted him, "Good morning, Setsuna." "Morning, Setsuna." Setsuna nodded to Saji and Louise before sitting. Louise sighed and propped her head on the palm of her hands, "Same Mr. Anti-Social." "Louise." Saji reprehended. Louise only took her tongue out. A few minutes later and the bell finally rang. All of them sat and waited for their homeroom teacher. And so they waited... And waited... And waited... And wai- "AH!!! Where the hell is Ham-sensei?! First period is about to end!" Louise yelled in annoyance, standing. "Louise..." "Mou! I refuse to be treated like this!" Louise looked at her classmates, "Anyone here volunteering to go to the faculty room?!" "Why should we?" One of the boys asked, "As far as I"m concerned, it would be better if Ham-sensei isn"t here." "You lazy piece of as-" "LOUISE!" Saji reprehended once more, covering Louise"s mouth before she could finish her insult. Of course, Louise did not like it and bit Saji"s hand, "AHH!!!" "Miss Halevy has a point." Tieria said, standing. All of them looked as their school idol smiled at them angelically, "I, for one, think that something must have happened to our teacher. He is not the sort of person that will do such a thing intentionally." "Well... if Miss Erde thinks so..." "Of course, Miss Erde is right..." Setsuna snorted as he heard his classmates" comments. He suddenly felt his entire body warn him as Tieria faced him with that angelic smile that, Setsuna knows, is currently hiding a sadistic smirk, "Seiei-kun, will you be as kind and check what may have befallen our dear teacher." Damn you, Tieria Erde. Setsuna glared at Tieria and refused to answer him. Tieria continued to smile that creepy, for Setsuna, smile, "If you would please, Seiei-kun. I am quite sure you would be the best person to ask of such an important inquiry." Silently, Setsuna knew what Tieria was actually saying... Don"t push me, Setsuna F. Seiei. With an annoyed sigh, Setsuna silently stood and began walking out of the classroom. Tieria bowed and said, "I wish your trip well, Seiei-kun." Setsuna glared at Tieria for a moment before leaving the classroom. The faculty room was on the first floor, the third room on the left of the stairs that Setsuna was using. Setsuna sighed as he opened the door. Before he could say any greeting, Setsuna"s eyes fell on the desk of his History (and Homeroom) teacher. Time stood still. No. Not really... But Setsuna"s eyes widened and his throat suddenly felt dry at what he saw. Amidst the books and papers littered on the table, a man with blond hair was cradling his head with his arms as another man"s face was too close to his. Although the books were covering most of it, Setsuna lost his grasp on the door as he realized what he was seeing. Billy Katagiri... was kissing Graham Aker... And Graham wasn"t resisting... Setsuna did not understand why his chest suddenly started hurting... Then... Louise"s words flashed in his mind once more. Don"t tease him too much. You might really regret it. Billy"s head pulled back and his smile was soft, almost endearing, and it only made Setsuna"s chest ache more painfully. Billy, as if noticing another"s presence, turned and saw Setsuna. Setsuna"s breath hitched and his throat became more painful to control as Billy"s smile turned to him. Before Billy could even talk, Setsuna had run out of the room, not even minding to close the door. Billy blinked before he heard a groan made by the person next to him. Smiling softly, Billy turned towards Graham, "You definitely have a fever, Ham-sensei." Graham"s, otherwise known as Ham-sensei by his students and colleagues alike, face was red but he shook his head and began collecting his books, "Impossible." Billy sighed at his friend"s stubbornness as Graham began to walk out of the room, his steps wobbly and forced, "You should just go to the clinic. I"ll take care of your classes." "No." Graham shook his head before grabbing on the open door, breathing heavily, as he continued, "Shonen... is waiting for me." Billy wanted to retort but remembered how the boy showed up as he was checking Graham"s temperature by placing his forehead against the stubborn Ham-sensei. Graham fell from the door, making Billy comment, "Finally worked? That took long enough..." "Katagiri..." Graham strained, "Why do I... feel sleepy?" Billy smiled once more, walking towards Graham, "I noticed your condition since this morning. Knowing you and your stubbornness, I knew the only way to get you to rest is to force it upon you. So, I slipped a sleeping pill in your tea." "You... drugged me...?" Graham asked, forcing his eyes to stay open as Billy crouched next to him. Billy nodded. "You need the rest. You"re sick." "I"m not... sick..." Graham growled as he began to crawl, "Idiots... don"t... get... sick..." Billy sighed and can"t help but admire his friend"s stubbornness, "Well then, I guess that only means you are not an idiot, Graham." Graham only managed to crawl to the foot of the steps before his consciousness began slipping. Outstretching his hand as if he was reaching out for something, or someone, Billy heard him call out, "Sho... nen..." With that said, Graham finally succumbed to the drug, his hand falling to the first step of the stairs. With a sigh, Billy walked towards Graham and picked him up, "You really are something, Graham." "AH!" Billy shouted as he lost his grasp on Graham, making Graham fall on the floor once more with a loud thud. Billy winced at the sound and laughed sheepishly, "Okay... so I can"t carry you all by myself..." Billy sighed once more and looked around, trying to find someone who may be able to help. Seeing no one on the first floor, Billy looked at Graham apologetically and whispered, "I"m sorry. I"ll try and find help as soon as I can." What was wrong with him? What the hell was wrong with him?! Setsuna placed a hand on his throbbing head, leaning on the wall on the right of the stairs. He had run to the second floor but his feet refused to let him return to his room. It wasn"t like he wanted to return at the moment anyway. His head was throbbing. His throat was dry and painful. And his chest... hurts so much... Setsuna fell on his knees as he tried controlling his breathing. He could hear murmurs coming from downstairs but he couldn"t focus. His mind kept replaying what he saw in the faculty room. It didn"t make any sense! He wanted Graham Aker to stop, right?! Then why does he feel this way?! Why... Why... Why... ... does this have to hurt so bad? As Setsuna"s breathing became more controlled, his mind had begun processing everything. The moment Setsuna could stand once more, he already had the answer. "I... I... don"t want him to stop..." "Ah! Seiei-kun, just the person I need!" Setsuna turned and saw Billy approaching him, smiling. Setsuna"s eyes narrowed and Billy could feel how unwanted he was just from the aura Setsuna was projecting. Billy continued to smile as he said, "I need your help." Instead of answering him, Setsuna started walking away but Billy managed to grab his wrist. Setsuna growled and ordered, "Don"t touch me!" Billy seemed to have known he would react that way and he simply smiled, saying calmly, "I drugged Ham-sensei." It took a moment for Setsuna to process that... "You what?!" Setsuna yelled, losing all of his composure. From that look alone, Billy knew Setsuna had misunderstood what he had said. Chuckling, Billy explained, "Ham-sensei went to work even though he was sick. I took it upon myself to drug him so he could get some rest." Billy smirked and whispered on Setsuna"s ear, "I was checking his temperature when you entered. I wasn"t doing whatever it was you thought I was doing." Setsuna"s cheeks reddened at his words and he yelled, "What makes you think I wa-" Setsuna stiffened as Billy placed his forehead on his, smiling all the while as he said, "I was going like this. From a different angle, it looks like we"re doing something else, right?" Setsuna kept quiet, looking at the floor. Billy blinked and looked at Setsuna, concerned, "Seiei-kun, I believe you also have a fever." "What?" "Although, not as bad as Ham-sensei"s." Billy concluded, straightening, "But I still suggest going to the clinic. It is that time of the year." Setsuna"s eyes widened as Billy took him by the arm and began dragging him downstairs. His protest didn"t manage to leave his lips as he saw the unconscious body of Graham by the end of the stairs. Noticing the look on Setsuna"s face, Billy laughed once more, "As you can see, he still tried to get to your classroom even though the drugs were already working." "Idiot." Setsuna commented offhandedly. Billy took one of Graham"s arms to his shoulder while instructing Setsuna to take the other. Billy thought that Setsuna would say no and Billy was ready to beg when Setsuna quietly took his other arm without so much as a grunt. Billy smiled and they began dragging Graham"s body to the clinic. The clinic was on the other side of the school as it was stationed so that it would only be a walking distance from the gym and field. Billy, finding the silence a bit too much to take, tried to talk with Setsuna. "So... What were you thinking when you saw us?" Billy asked, turning to face Setsuna. Billy smiled as Setsuna seemed to pull Graham closer as if he was using Graham as a human shield against Billy. "I was... nothing..." Setsuna mumbled, earning a merry laugh from Billy. "Let me guess... The way you look back there and then your reaction to me... Hmmm..." Billy mused, "Probably... kiss?" Billy felt a part of Graham tense, most probably because the one carrying that side tensed, which Billy concluded that his allegation was right. With another soft chuckle, Billy said, "You have nothing to worry about, Seiei-kun." He heard Setsuna mumble something that sounds like "rumors" and Billy knew what Setsuna was talking about. Billy opened the door to the clinic as he replied to Setsuna"s mumble, "You mean the one where I and Ham-sensei are more than friends?" Once more, he was answered by another feeling of stiffness. Billy and Setsuna placed Graham on the bed and Billy turned towards the table as Setsuna stayed by Graham"s side, looking intently at Billy. Billy began to fill the necessary forms as the nurse seems to out of sight at the moment, "I"m also going to fill yours, Seiei-kun." "I don"t need it." Setsuna said curtly. "You shouldn"t wave off a fever. It might grow to something more disastrous." Billy said, placing the forms on the table. Billy turned to Setsuna and walked towards him, "Okay, down we go." Setsuna glared at Billy but let him sit him down on the bed next to Graham"s. Taking a pill from the first aid box, Billy turned to Setsuna and placed a plastic cup filled with water and a pill on his hands. Setsuna looked at them warily, earning another chuckle from Billy, "Now, now. That"s for the fever. Don"t make me give you a sleeping pill as well." Setsuna turned to face Billy and Billy knew that the boy still does not trust him. Billy smiled and sat next to Setsuna, "So, about the rumors..." "Not interested." Setsuna replied, popping the pill to his mouth and drinking the contents of the cup. Billy smiled but continued, "Has he ever told you he was an orphan as well?" Setsuna turned to Billy and shook his head. Billy chuckled, "Can"t blame him. It doesn"t really go with his "idiot façade", right?" "He"s orphaned?" Billy nodded, "My uncle, the one who raised me, personally knew his grandfather. I don"t know the details but from what I heard from them, his parents were involved in an accident and no one knew that his grandfather was still alive at that time. He was passed on to different institutions and foster families until his grandfather found him. That"s when I met him." "Why are you telling me this?" Setsuna asked. "Well, the first time I met him, he was you." Billy replied making Setsuna look at him with disbelief in his eyes. Billy chuckled, "It"s not my place to continue that story but..." Billy stood from Setsuna"s bed and made way to Graham"s bed. He stood on the other side and placed his hands on the side of the bed, "We aren"t friends." Setsuna winced as the bed creaked murderously against the floor as Billy began pushing the bed to Setsuna"s side. Billy stopped when the beds were only a few inches away from each other and smiled at Setsuna, "We"re a family." Billy pushed Setsuna to lie on the bed and smiled as he covered both of them with blankets, "Sleep tight, Seiei-kun. And if Graham does something in his sleep, don"t hesitate to punch him." Setsuna could only blankly stare at Billy as he left them alone in the clinic. Frowning, Setsuna turned to his side and saw Graham sleeping peacefully. Graham turned to face him as well but remained asleep, one hand throwing itself to the space that separates Setsuna and Graham. Setsuna stared at the hand as he heard Graham mumble in his sleep, "Shonen..." Biting his bottom lip, Setsuna slowly placed his hand on top of Graham"s hand. The moment his hand had touched Graham"s, Graham"s hand held his hand firmly yet gently. Setsuna turned to face Graham and saw the soft smile on his sleeping face as if he knew whose hand he was holding. A smile found its way to Setsuna"s face as well as he closed his eyes, squeezing Graham"s hand reassuringly. Even though he knew Graham may not hear him, Setsuna whispered, "Don"t stop..." ....... The nurse was in for a surprise when she came back as she noticed the sleeping forms of Setsuna and Graham. Finding the forms on the table, she blinked as she noticed a post-it on it. Written in Billy"s obvious handwriting were Don"t tell anyone... and picture it. -Billy Katagiri Without being said twice, the nurse took a couple of pictures of the sleeping couple. Graham had a smile on his face while Setsuna slept like a kitten, curled to his side, and their hands intertwined against the white sheet. ........... End Notes: Okay, for those unfamiliar with the Drama CDs of Gundam 00, they are entitled Gundam 00 Another Story Mission -2306 and Gundam 00 Another Story Road to 2307. Mission 2306 is a parody cd drama which has a plot very similar to Full Metal Panic as Setsuna was ordered by Sumeragi to transfer to Louise and Saji"s school because terrorists are threatening her family. From that alone, you can probably guess that the drama cd is not really canon (although, at the end they did say that it was only a simulation done through Veda so maybe it is canon... in a way?). In the drama cd, Graham, otherwise known as Ham-sensei, is a teacher at Louise"s school together with Billy and he actually uses his lines from the series to show his affection to Setsuna. (There"s even a part where he declared his feelings as love for Setsuna) Anyway, I suggest listening to it if you can understand Japanese since that"s where Tieria transferred as a female student, Lockon pretended to be Setsuna"s brother to protect Setsuna"s chastity from Graham, Allelujah (actually, more like Hallelujah) becomes the leader of the thugs and Graham becomes a superhero (or at least parodies superheroes... "HAM CHOP-CHOP-CHOP!'). Road to 2307, in the other hand, is more of a serious side track which happened before the Celestial Being made their debut. It includes how Setsuna met the other Meisters and Graham"s back-story. That"s where I got the fact that he was an orphan. So if you love Graham (like me), you"ll probably enjoy Road to 2307 as it really focus more on Graham"s background. My Japanese is not that perfect so I don"t really fully understand the drama CDs, hahaha. "Shonen" - This is how Graham calls Setsuna in the anime. It can be translated as "boy" or "kid". I just like "Shonen" more... -shrugs- Author"s Rants (Don"t mind it): So, I actually took a hiatus without notice because of various reasons (but not excuses) and my brother had taken upon himself to collect all the 1/100 series of Gundam 00. He"s already making 00 (with 0-raiser), and saving Seravee for last, while he already finished the original Gundams of 00, Arios and Cherudim while I download all of the Gundam anime(s) and movies I could find. So, in the spirit of our Gundam obsession at the moment, this fic came to life because of the lack of GrahamxSetsuna fanfics out there. My only regret was being unable to write Allelujah because this story was already too long. Anyway, thank you for reading and if I get some nice reviews, I may make a sequel... or prequel.

"...protect the clan"s leader!" Matsu finally finished her introduction and ran towards Toshiie immediately. She smiled as she handed three pieces of rice balls to her husband, "Here it is. I got some rice." "Great. Matsu"s back! Food at last!" Toshiie greedily took the rice balls and ate them. Masamune and many of his troops were surprised when they noticed that the wound the one-eyed dragon had inflicted to the leader of the Maeda clan seemed to heal. "Kojuro..." Masamune called out his right eye and Kojuro frowned. "Forgive me, Lord Masamune. There are also some things this Kojuro cannot understand." Kojuro said as he stared at Toshiie who was happily eating more of Matsu"s rice balls which was being delivered by different soldiers. "Like healing rice balls?" Masamune commented sarcastically. When the final soldier gave the rice balls, Matsu gasped and whispered something to Toshiie"s ear. Toshiie"s eyes widened and he began to pace around as he shouted, "This isn"t good. We run out of rice!" "Ugh." Matsu began to pace as well. The entire Date army could only stare at the couple, as if they were doing a comedy skit. Matsu said with frustration, "I don"t understand how this could happen." The couple stopped right in front of each other and nodded. They clapped their hands together and said in unison, "Alright! Let"s go restock!" With that said, the entire Maeda army ran towards the other side of the gate. The Date army simply stared at the gate for a few minutes. Masamune sheathed his katana and called out, "Kojuro." "Yes, my lord?" Kojuro replied, still staring at the gate. Masamune crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow as he asked, "You think this is a trap?" "I doubt it." Kojuro replied before adding, "They seemed too... nice to use a trap." Masamune sighed and got on his horse as he said, "Well, let"s see what this lovey-dovey couple has in store for us then." The Date army began to advance slowly. When they reached the other side of the gate, they heard laughter coming from the top of the hill. They sounded like the Maeda couple. Masamune had to stare but he could make out the forms of Matsu and Toshiie, sitting on the hill top. Toshiie was happily eating once more as he said happily, "Oh, Matsu. This is great." Matsu offered more bento boxes to her husband as she said, "I"m glad you like it. I made it especially for you." Masamune turned towards Kojuro and said, "Now, I think they"re just rubbing their lovey-dovey-ness in our faces." Kojuro raised an eye brow as he asked, "Does it have an effect on you, my lord?" Masamune rolled his eye as he replied, "Of course not. They"re too damn chipper and happy." "I see. You would prefer it had it been more melancholic yet child-like." Kojuro commented with a straight face. Masamune turned to look at Kojuro and began to speak, "Kojuro... did you just-" "How shall we proceed, Lord Masamune?" Kojuro asked, cutting off Masamune"s question. "Those bases seemed to be storehouses. Let"s take all of them." Masamune ordered and Kojuro nodded. "Understood." "But keep the casualty to a minimum for both sides." Masamune added and Kojuro stared at him. "Is it because of the Maeda clan"s service to the Oda clan?" Kojuro asked bluntly. Masamune smirked as he replied, "If I"m going to rule this land, I have to be able to have competent retainers." Masamune turned to look at the happy couple on top of the hill. With a determined smirk, Masamune asked, "What do you think, Kojuro? Wouldn"t those lovey-dovey couple be a good addition to the land I will rule in?" "I agree although..." Kojuro continued to stare at Masamune blankly as he added, "I cannot help but wonder if that is all there is to it." Masamune turned towards Kojuro and smirked as he said, "Wonder all you want, Kojuro. My decision is final." "This Kojuro is here to serve." Kojuro bowed to Masamune before turning his attention towards the Date army, "All of you! Capture the storehouse but try not to kill anyone if possible!" With that order, the battle of Tetorigawa finally began. Masamune had been in the process of recapturing the third storehouse when the soldier came up to him with an urgent message. Every time they captured a storehouse, the Maeda soldiers would recapture the last storehouse they captured. It would have been easier had they killed the soldiers but, because of Masamune"s order, it seemed like they were going to have an endurance battle. Masamune had been thinking of just riding to the hill camp and fight the Maeda couple but the news that the soldier brought changed everything, "An army is approaching Tetorigawa! They"re from Kanegasaki!" "The Oda remnants?" Kojuro asked loudly before he hit a Maeda soldier with his forehead. Masamune turned towards the soldier and demanded, "Are they pursuing Oichi?" "No, my lord!" The soldier looked shocked as he informed them, "It appears Lady Oichi is leading them here!" Masamune and Kojuro looked at one another. With a resigned sigh, Kojuro said, "Please go, my lord. I shall take care of things here." Masamune grinned and said gratefully, "Thanks, Kojuro. I owe you one." "I am your right eye, my lord. It is my desire to be of use to you." Kojuro explained and turned to face the incoming Maeda soldiers, "Please go now, my lord." "Right!" Masamune guided his horse to a sprint and his horse jumped over the incoming Maeda soldiers. He raced towards the main gate, not paying attention to any of the Maeda soldiers. He reached the main gate in time to see the incoming army. The vanguard was composed of the four soldiers he had ordered to keep Oichi safe, Shibata and Oichi herself. Oichi saw him and her horse began to sprint faster than the others, breaking away from the formation. Masamune guided his horse to move forward. He had to stop the remnants before they entered the battle. They might start killing the Maeda soldiers. When the Maeda soldiers noticed that the Date army wasn"t trying to kill them, they also held back but if the remnants began killing the soldiers then... Just as Oichi"s horse passed him, Masamune"s eye widened when Oichi didn"t bother to stop her horse and jumped off. Shadow hands appeared from the ground and grabbed Oichi before throwing her towards Masamune. Masamune caught her, cradling her in his arms. Oichi sat on Masamune"s lap and wrapped her arms around him tightly as she whispered, "I"m sorry. I"m sorry. Please don"t be angry at me. Please don"t hate me." He was confused at what the woman was saying and he felt her shaking. She continued to whisper, "I"ll be a good girl. I won"t ask for things. I won"t bother you. I"m sorry. I"m sorry." "Oichi." Masamune pried the woman off him as gently as he could and moved her so that they were facing one another. Oichi"s cheeks were wet with tears and Masamune felt guilty for leaving the woman behind. He wiped the tears on her left cheek with his hand as he asked, "What happened, Oichi? Why are you apologizing?" "When I woke up, you already left." Oichi covered her face and cried as she continued, "It"s my fault. I"ve angered you. That"s why you left me." "What? Who told you that?" Masamune asked, looking at the army composed of the Oda remnants and four from his army. "L-Lady Oichi wouldn"t listen to us, boss! We told her you were coming back!" One of his men explained. "I am partly to blame, Lord Masamune." Shibata added, "When I told Lady Oichi that you were here, she wanted to come." "I want to apologize to Lord Dragon." Oichi said as she wrapped her arms around Masamune"s waist and buried her head on Masamune"s chest as she whimpered, "I"m sorry. I promise I won"t be selfish. I"ll sleep alone if that"s what Lord Dragon wants." "Hey, I"m not angry at you because you wanted to sleep next to me." Masamune noticed some of the men who could hear him were surprised at his words, even his men had their jaws slacked in shock, but paid no attention to them. The woman crying on his chest was more important than the misunderstanding those men were certainly having. Masamune caressed Oichi"s hair as he explained, "I was planning on returning to you once the battle is over." Oichi looked up at him and asked, "You"re not angry at me, Lord Dragon?" "Of course not." Masamune smiled at her as he added, "I would never get angry at you, Oichi." "Really?" Oichi asked in a child-like manner. "Really." Masamune replied. "Then... I can sleep next to you tonight?" Oichi looked at him with eyes that were both innocent yet frightened. She still feared that Masamune would not agree. "Of course." Masamune replied immediately. "Lord Masamune!" Kojuro"s stern voice caused Masamune to stiffen. "Shit." Masamune hissed. He didn"t want the older man to hear that. Masamune guided his horse so that he could face Kojuro, who was most probably behind him. He was surprised to see that next to Kojuro was the Maeda couple. How long had he been talking with Oichi? The Maeda couple stared at Oichi and relief washed over their faces. It was Toshiie who spoke first, "Oichi! We"ve been worried about you." Oichi stared at them and Toshiie approached them, "Me, Matsu, Keiji... everyone!" Masamune glanced behind the three and saw that the Maeda soldiers were staring at them as well. Oichi tightened her embrace on Masamune and said softly, "I don"t know you." "Oichi?" Matsu approached them as well. She placed her hand over her chest and asked, "Don"t you remember us, Oichi?" Oichi shook her head and mumbled, "I don"t know you. You"re going to trick me. You"re going to take me away from Lord Dragon." Toshiie turned his attention towards Masamune and Masamune knew that the glare he was receiving from the leader of the Maeda clan was not a good sign. Kojuro moved between Toshiie and Masamune. He stared at Toshiie as he said, "We have many things to discuss, Lord Toshiie... concerning many things." "That may be true." Matsu said reluctantly. She placed a hand on her husband"s shoulder and said, "Toshiie, let"s have a truce for now. We need to know what happened to Oichi." "I..." Toshiie turned and stared at his wife. Matsu nodded and Toshiie looked down for a moment before turning his attention back to Kojuro as he said, "Very well. A truce then, One-eyed dragon." "Fine by me." Masamune shrugged and turned his attention to Oichi, "Oichi. These people are not going to take you away from me." "They"re not?" Oichi asked innocently as she stared at Masamune. Masamune nodded and Oichi tilted her head as she mumbled, "If Lord Dragon says so." Matsu and Toshiie seemed more confused at why Oichi was acting the way she was acting but Matsu was the first one to recover. She smiled at all of them and suggestion, "Why don"t we all eat?" The Date army and the army composed of the Oda remnants ate with the Maeda army. There were many conversations in the air. Many of them were concerning the lone survivor of the Oda family. There were even gossips of her relationship with the boss of Oshu. Fortunately, the people being gossiped did not hear the chatters. Masamune, Kojuro, Oichi, Shibata and the Maeda couple were on the hill top. Toshiie and Matsu was on one side while the other four was on the side facing the Maeda couple. Shibata was sitting behind the three. He was only there because Kojuro thought the Maeda couple would be more hospitable if they saw a familiar face. Kojuro sat on Masamune"s right while Oichi sat on Masamune"s left. Matsu served the rice and she smiled as she handed a pretty white bowl with shades of pink filled with rice to Oichi. She smiled gently at Oichi and asked, "Do you remember, Oichi? This is the bowl you always used when you were staying with us." Oichi stared at the bowl and tilted her head as she commented vacantly, "Such a pretty bowl... White as a cloud..." Matsu"s smile dropped and she backed away, dejected. Toshiie sadly looked at Oichi before turning towards Shibata, "So... she doesn"t really remember any of us?" "She only seems to remember Lord Nobunaga, Lady Nouhime, Ranmaru and..." Shibata"s eyes darkened as he spat the last name, "That traitor Mitsuhide." "That"s just... too sad." Matsu placed her hand on her lips and closed her eyes. Toshiie looked back at Oichi for a moment before turning his head towards Masamune. He bowed lowly, his head hitting the cloth they had placed so that they may sit on the ground, as he begged, "Please, One-eyed dragon! Let us take care of Oichi!" Matsu followed Toshiie"s example and bowed lowly as well, "I am begging you as well!" "Why?" Masamune could only say that one word. "During many of Lord Nobunaga"s campaigns, Lady Oichi stayed with the Maedas." Shibata whispered to Masamune"s ear so that the Maeda couple could not hear him. Shibata"s eyes softened as he continued, "They treat Oichi like a little sister. Maybe even as a daughter..." Shibata moved back once more. Kojuro leaned towards Masamune and suggested, "Perhaps it is for the best if we give Lady Oichi to the Maeda clan." Masamune turned his head towards Kojuro and glared at his right eye as he asked in a warning tone, "Kojuro. Are you serious about that?" Kojuro nodded and reasoned, "The Maedas are honorable people. They have taken care of Lady Oichi for a long time. If Lady Oichi remained with us, her life will be put in danger. You are currently unifying the land, my lord. Everywhere we go, battle will follow us. Lady Oichi may get dragged through those battles sooner or later." Masamune crossed his arms and looked towards the kneeling couple. Their loyalty couldn"t be question and they seemed nice people. A bit too lovey-dovey perhaps but they were good people. Maybe they could help Oichi remember everything she had forgotten. Even... him... "I don"t wish to stay with them." Oichi"s soft voice caused Masamune to turn his head towards the black haired woman. She placed the bowl on the ground and turned her body so that she was facing Masamune. She stared at Masamune as she said, "I wish to stay with Lord Dragon." "Oichi..." Masamune"s eye softened. "Please, Oichi! It will be like as before!" Matsu rushed towards Oichi"s side. The older woman grabbed Oichi"s hands and said with tears in her eyes, "Remember? Everything tastes delicious in summer. In autumn, we always eat pumpkin pie. We eat pickled daikon in winter. And in spring-" "That"s the past. I cannot return to the past." Oichi pulled away from Matsu"s grip and crawled next to Masamune. Oichi wrapped her arms around Masamune"s arm and mumbled, "I lost so many things in the past. I don"t want to return to the past. I think... I will never remember what it is I have forgotten." Masamune was surprised with her words. He turned his head to look at Oichi and Oichi raised her head to meet Masamune"s stare. She smiled softly as she continued, "But, with Lord Dragon, I think I can receive something more important." "Oichi..." Matsu reached out for Oichi but Toshiie stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder. Matsu looked at Toshiie and Toshiie shook his head. Matsu returned to Toshiie"s side and looked at the ground. "It seems Oichi has spoken." Toshiie stared at Masamune and asked, "One-eyed Dragon. What do you plan to do with Oichi?" "Me?" Masamune asked as he looked at Toshiie. Toshiie nodded and Masamune thought about the question. What did he plan to do with Oichi? Masamune couldn"t find a real answer. All he wanted to do was... "Whatever Oichi wants." Masamune answered. Toshiie seemed confused at his answer and Masamune smirked, "I don"t really have a plan or anything. So I guess my plan is whatever Oichi wants to do with her life." Masamune turned his head to look at Oichi who was still holding his arm. He smiled gently as he asked, "Oichi. What do you want to do?" "I..." Oichi smiled at Masamune innocently as she replied, "I want to stay by Lord Dragon"s side." "Then that"s what we"ll do." Masamune said. He turned his head to look at Kojuro and apologized with a sardonic smile on his face, "Sorry, Kojuro. Oichi has spoken." Kojuro sighed and commented, "It seems you just cannot say no to her, Lord Masamune. Very well, I am here to serve you. If this is your decision then I shall stand by your side, my lord." Masamune nodded and turned his head to look at Shibata. Shibata lowered his head and pledged, "My swords and the swords of the remaining Oda army are yours to command, my lord." "Like I said-" "Yes, we are serving Lady Oichi. Lady Oichi wishes to be by your side and, as such, your orders must be treated as the orders of Lady Oichi." Shibata raised his head slightly as he added, "As long as it does not endanger Lady Oichi." Masamune smirked at Shibata"s last words. He turned his head away from Shibata and said, "Do what you want." "Yes, sir!" Shibata replied as he continued to bow. Masamune turned to face the Maeda couple and said, "Oichi is staying with me." "Alright. We understand." Toshiie nodded and stared at Masamune as he asked, "Tell me, One-eyed dragon. After unifying this land, what do you plan to do?" "Well, for starters, we"ll strengthen this land and make it prosper." Masamune replied as he crossed his arms once more, "Then... we"ll set our sets in the lands beyond the sea." "Sounds like an ambitious plan." Toshiie said with a smile. "I can make it happen." Masamune said with confidence. He smirked as he announced, "For I am the blue dragon of the north. No cloud will darken the sky that this dragon rules." "Then we of the Maeda clan pledge our loyalty to you, One-eyed dragon." Toshiie announced as well. Masamune was surprised at the announcement. He stared at the leader of the Maeda clan and asked, "You do?" "Yes." Toshiie nodded and grinned as he said, "I want to see this land of yours, One-eyed dragon. A strong and prosperous land... and..." Toshiie looked at Oichi and said softly, "You"re the first man Oichi has chosen by her own free will. You must be someone really extraordinary!" Masamune smirked as he commented, "I am beyond ordinary, that"s for sure, but..." Masamune frowned as he added, "Oichi and I do not have that kind of relationship." "Eeeehhhh?" Toshiie leaned forward and asked, "B-But aren"t you two sleeping together?" Matsu leaned forward as well and said sternly, like a mother scolding a child, "You must take responsibility!" Masamune leaned back and said, "We"re not sleeping together!" Oichi looked at him with sad tear-filled eyes and she asked meekly, "We"re not? I"m to sleep alone?" "No. Of course not! That"s not what I meant!" Masamune turned his head towards Oichi and said immediately. "Then I can sleep next to you tonight, Lord Dragon?" Oichi asked softly, staring at Masamune with hope-filled eyes. "Of course." Masamune nodded and smiled at Oichi. "See! You two do have that kind of relationship!" Toshiie shouted, pointing at the two of them. "Man up and take responsibility over your actions, One-eyed dragon!" Matsu shouted as well, glaring at Masamune. "Like I said, it"s not like that!" Masamune turned his head to his right eye as if to ask for support. Kojuro simply shrugged and said, "You did this to yourself, Lord Masamune." A small smirk appeared on the face of the dragon"s right eye and he said, "Please, accept the consequences of your actions." Masamune groaned as the Maeda couple continued to bombard him with questions about his relationship with Oichi and how he should "take responsibility" while Oichi was simply hugging his arm, leaning unto him as she smiled softly. Masamune couldn"t wait to get out of Tetorigawa. NOTE: Shibata Katsuie is a computer-controlled ally in Sengoku Basara 3 (take Oichi"s green route and finish the Incident to Honnoji stage to get him). He"s not a main character here. I just needed someone to explain to Masamune the importance of the Maeda couple to Oichi (it feels weird if Kojuro was the one explaining it). Toshiie"s comment that Masamune is the first man Oichi chosen on her own free will is because Oichi married Nagamasa because the Oda clan wanted to have an alliance with the Azai clan. In the anime (and Nagamasa"s story mode in Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes), it"s revealed that Oichi married Nagamasa to spy on the Azai clan which means there"s a high possibility that Oichi had been ordered by her brother to marry Nagamasa (she fell in love with him later on). Anyway, as usual, post in your reviews to where you guys want Masamune to go next. The next stage decides which route this fanfic will go (green, violet or yellow). I"ll post the last boss of each route in here for those that do not know. Oh. Picking Yukimura"s stage (Flooding Ueda Castle) would make the next chapter more Masamune-centric while picking Lord Happy"s stage (Cliffs of Mikatagahara) would make the next chapter more Oichi-centric. To be fair, picking Kenshin"s stage (Kawanakajima Tundra) would also make the next chapter more Oichi-centric and would add KeijixMagoichi (aka: KeiMago) in the story (I like the pairing. -grins-). Anyway! Here are the stages you guys can choose from: Decisive Battle: Flooding Ueda Castle (Yukimura Sanada) (with Sasuke Sarutobi) - violet route (final boss: Motochika) Cliffs of Mikatagahara (Ieyasu Tokugawa) (with Tadakatsu Honda) - yellow route (final boss: Motonari)

Louise gasped and turned towards Setsuna. Louise showed her finger, only her pinky finger was up while the rest lay on her palm. Whispering to Setsuna, she asked, "Are they like this?" Setsuna knew the meaning of motion of the hand and shrugged, not really caring if they are. Neil walked inside the living room and smiled at Setsuna, "Setsuna... Who would this young lady be?" "Louise Halevy, a classmate." Setsuna replied. Louise smiled at Neil and greeted. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Louise bowed in respect. "Oh, a pleasure." Neil nodded, smiling at the girl, "I"m Neil Dylandy, Setsuna"s brother and guardian. This is the first time Setsuna brought a classmate. And a girl..." "Why am I not surprise?" Louise commented but made sure that Setsuna was the only one who heard it. Setsuna glared at Louise. "I didn"t bring her. She came here... uninvited and unwanted." Setsuna replied, hissing the last word. Louise glared back at Setsuna. Neil merely chuckled and offered to Louise, "If you would like, you can stay for dinner." Louise shook her head and laughed merrily, "Oh no. I cannot. My parents must be worried sick where I am. I don"t want to intrude in. My house is just a few blocks away from here, anyway." "Oh, is that so?" Neil nodded in understanding, "Well then, at least let Setsuna walk you towards your house. It"s already dark and a cute young lady should not be walking alone." Louise blushed at Neil"s words while Setsuna narrowed his eyes, not wanting to stay near Louise as much as he could. Louise smiled and nodded, "If you must insist, Mr. Dylandy." "Please, call me Neil. Mr. Dylandy makes me feel so old." Louise and Neil laughed. Neil placed a hand on Setsuna"s shoulder and said, "Now, you take good care of this cute young lady. Okay, Setsuna?" Knowing there was no way out of it, Setsuna sighed and nodded, walking with Louise to take her back home. Unfortunately for him, Louise lost all of her manners the moment they were out of hearing range from the house, pestering Setsuna for information about what she just witnessed. The beautiful and elegant Miss Tieria Erde acting like a housewife for Setsuna F. Seiei"s older brother?! Something was afoot! "My brother and Tieria Erde"s mother are friends. Tieria Erde would spend some nights in our house during the days her mother would not be able to return for the night..." was Setsuna"s answer. It was not a total lie. Leesa Kujo, stage name: Sumeragi Lee Noriega, was Tieria"s adopted mother and was known as a rising star but her occupation causes her to be away quite often. Other than that, Setsuna kept quiet at all of Louise"s questions about what relationship Tieria and Neil may have which earned him more than a few jabs from Louise. Setsuna did not waste any time, walking briskly as they neared her apartment. As Louise grabbed the doorknob that led to her home, a soft smile made its way towards her face making Setsuna uncomfortable as it was the first time he ever saw such a thing from the vicious, in Setsuna"s eyes, girl. Louise sighed in relief and smiled at Setsuna, "Thank you, Setsuna." "For what?" Setsuna asked before he could stop himself making Louise giggle. "Seeing Miss Erde and your brother... it really helped." Louise said, "So... thanks..." "I didn"t do anything. It... just happened that you picked the right time to barge in our house to whine." "You know... you can be so dense. Why not try and read the atmosphere before talking, Setsuna F. Seiei?" "Good night, Louise Halevy." Setsuna began to walk away but stopped as he said, "Saji Crossroad would never break up with you." "Eh?" "He"s too much of an idiot for that." Setsuna concluded earning a giggle from Louise. "True, true." Louise nodded in agreement before saying, "Although... I"m not so sure about Ham-sensei." Setsuna turned to face Louise who looked at him with a relaxed expression, "Ham-sensei may be crazy but they say there"s a fine line between insanity and being a genius." "What"s that suppose to mean?" Setsuna asked. Louise opened the door and said quietly, "Don"t tease him too much. You might really regret it." With those words said, Louise went inside and closed the door before Setsuna could ask once more. Setsuna stared at the closed door for a few minutes before shaking his head and walking back to his home. When he returned, dinner was already served and they were only waiting for him. The moment they were all sitting on the dining table, eating, all hell broke lose. "So, who was the girl, Setsuna?" Neil asked, grinning. "A classmate." Setsuna replied nonchalantly. "Really? Just a friend?" Neil pestered. "Not a friend, a classmate." "Is that true, Tieria?" Neil turned his attention to Tieria who was glaring at him. "As far as I know, Louise Halevy is currently in a relationship with Saji Crossroad." Tieria replied with a hint of annoyance. Neil smiled. "I liked it better when you were pretending to be a girl." Neil commented earning a glare from Tieria. This only made Neil smile, "Yup. Definitely not cute." Setsuna continued to eat quietly as Tieria began shouting at Neil, "Do you really think I want to act and dress like a girl, Neil Dylandy?! My mother did this for her entertainment!" Well... at least, Setsuna got his answer without asking and taking Tieria"s wrath... "Can"t blame her. You look so much like a girl." Neil commented, "A really cute girl. Right, Setsuna?" Setsuna looked at Neil then at the glaring Tieria who looked like he was blushing as well. Instead of replying, Setsuna shrugged and ate in silence. Neil chuckled and ate as well but asked, much to Setsuna"s fear, "So... who"s Ham-sensei?" "Our history and homeroom teacher..." Tieria replied before smirking, "... who seems to be attracted to Setsuna F. Seiei." Setsuna glared at Tieria as Neil looked at Setsuna, "Really?! A teacher?! I didn"t thought you had it in you, Setsuna. So... is she hot?" Tieria"s smirk grew as he replied, "I do not know if he is hot. What do you think, Setsuna?" Setsuna dropped his utensils and got up, "The food was great... especially if you count that it was cooked by Tieria Erde." Tieria growled as Setsuna looked at Neil, "Excuse me, I have yet to finish my assignment." With that said, Setsuna briskly walked away from the dining room, leaving a bewildered Neil and a glaring Tieria. Neil smiled and looked at Tieria, "That wasn"t nice, Tieria." "You don"t seem offended that your younger brother has an admirer from the same sex." Neil shrugged and replied offhandedly, "Hey, it"s not like I"m any better. Right... Tieria?" Tieria"s cheeks suddenly took another hue of red and he looked away, "Hn." Inside his room, Setsuna answered the last question of his assignment when Louise"s words replayed inside his mind. Katagiri-sensei and Ham-sensei... have more than a platonic relationship. Katagiri-sensei may be trying to take Ham-sensei away from you at the very moment It"s quite obvious that Ham-sensei is in love with you. Keep it up and he may very well give up, heartbroken and everything! And then Katagiri-sensei would be there to pick up the pieces! Then you"ll be left alone and wondering where you did wrong! And when you realize that Ham-sensei has fallen in love with Katagiri-sensei you would probably just give up and be all emo, right?! Don"t tease him too much. You might really regret it. Setsuna frowned and mumbled, "I"m not teasing..." Resting his head on the table, Setsuna sighed and closed his eyes. Wouldn"t that be the best? He didn"t need a crazy teacher"s affection. He doesn"t want it. He doesn"t... "Ohhh? You have such beautiful eyes, Shonen." "Shonen! What"s your most favorite thing? I like Gundams!" "Shonen! How about joining me for a while? There"s a new release today and I wanted to check it out. They"re re-releasing Nu Gundam." Setsuna covered his ears. He doesn"t need those! ... right? "You probably have a beautiful smile... Shonen..." "Setsuna F. Seiei." Setsuna opened his eyes and frowned as the first thing that greeted him was an annoyed Tieria Erde wearing their school"s girl uniform. Behind Tieria, Setsuna could see the light peeking in from his window indicating that it was morning. Setsuna closed his eyes once more and got a more strained, "Setsuna F. Seiei." "Go away." Setsuna mumbled. He frowned as he was pulled by Tieria and opened his eyes once more, glaring at Tieria. Tieria returned the glare. "Get up. We"re going to be late." Tieria ordered before throwing Setsuna back to his chair. Setsuna growled once more as Tieria left his room, slamming his door loudly. Setsuna looked at the clock by his bed and frowned as he realized that they only had two hours before class begins. In just a few minutes, Setsuna had took a quick shower and done everything he needed before going down where his family was sitting and eating... plus one invited guest. "Seeing Tieria wearing that uniform really makes my day." "Watch it, Lyle, or I"m going to tell Anew." "Now, now, no threatening while eating. You"ll destroy the heavenly taste of Marina"s cooking." "And that comment just rewarded you another serving, Neil-nii-san." "Thanks, Marina." "What about me?!" Setsuna took his sit quietly as Lyle continued to look pleadingly at Marina. Marina smiled at Setsuna as she gave him his rice bowl. Setsuna looked at the food, "Miso... rice... and fish..." "Don"t forget pickles." Lyle reminded, giving his pickles to Setsuna"s bowl. Setsuna frowned but nonetheless ate the food. "That wasn"t nice, Lyle." Neil said, placing his pickles on Lyle"s bowl. "Ah, "Nii-san!" Lyle whined and was about to return the pickles when another set of pickles was dropped to their bowls by the only woman in the house. "More pickles for both of you." Marina said, a satisfied smile playing on her face, "Now, stop playing and eat." "Yes, mother." Lyle jokily replied, eating his pickles. Marina placed cups of coffee on the table but Setsuna was given a cup of milk. Setsuna did not say anything and ate, drinking the milk when he finished. Once they were done eating, they all walked towards the door. "Now, you guys be good and try not to kill each other." Lyle jokily told Tieria and Setsuna as he sat on Marina"s car. Marina and Lyle worked on the other side of town so they took the same car. Neil, on the other hand, took another car. "Tell that to Setsuna F. Seiei." Tieria growled. "You"re not the one to talk, Tieria Erde." Setsuna growled back. Marina"s car left the driveway, Lyle waving at them. Neil chuckled at Tieria and Setsuna"s silent glaring contest and opened the door to his car. Neil looked at Tieria and Setsuna. "I"ll drive you guys there." Neil said, earning a nod from Tieria and Setsuna. The drive to school was quiet... much to Neil"s disappointment. But that was to be expected from both of the most anti-social persons Neil had ever met. Neil stopped just pass the school gate and both of them got out. Tieria looked back, returning to his beautiful and elegant Miss Tieria Erde façade. "Thank you so much for driving us, Neil. I hope we were not a bother." Tieria said in a sweet soft voice. Neil had to smile. "It was no problem, Tieria. Anything to see this." Neil commented, earning a glare from Tieria that only lasted for a few seconds as students were passing them by, smiling at Tieria. "Good morning, Miss Erde!" Some first year girls greeted as they passed them. Tieria smiled at them. "A pleasant day to all of you as well." Tieria replied, bowing slightly. "And have a pleasant day, Neil." Tieria said and Neil could feel the hidden threat in his words. Neil nodded and turned to Setsuna. "See you later, Setsuna." Neil said which earned a curt nod from Setsuna. Without even waiting for Neil to drive away, Setsuna began to walk towards school, not bothering to wait for Tieria who was waving and smiling softly as Neil drove away. Setsuna managed to enter his classroom without any problems and walked towards his sit when two of his classmates greeted him, "Good morning, Setsuna." "Morning, Setsuna." Setsuna nodded to Saji and Louise before sitting. Louise sighed and propped her head on the palm of her hands, "Same Mr. Anti-Social." "Louise." Saji reprehended. Louise only took her tongue out. A few minutes later and the bell finally rang. All of them sat and waited for their homeroom teacher. And so they waited... And waited... And waited... And wai- "AH!!! Where the hell is Ham-sensei?! First period is about to end!" Louise yelled in annoyance, standing. "Louise..." "Mou! I refuse to be treated like this!" Louise looked at her classmates, "Anyone here volunteering to go to the faculty room?!" "Why should we?" One of the boys asked, "As far as I"m concerned, it would be better if Ham-sensei isn"t here." "You lazy piece of as-" "LOUISE!" Saji reprehended once more, covering Louise"s mouth before she could finish her insult. Of course, Louise did not like it and bit Saji"s hand, "AHH!!!" "Miss Halevy has a point." Tieria said, standing. All of them looked as their school idol smiled at them angelically, "I, for one, think that something must have happened to our teacher. He is not the sort of person that will do such a thing intentionally." "Well... if Miss Erde thinks so..." "Of course, Miss Erde is right..." Setsuna snorted as he heard his classmates" comments. He suddenly felt his entire body warn him as Tieria faced him with that angelic smile that, Setsuna knows, is currently hiding a sadistic smirk, "Seiei-kun, will you be as kind and check what may have befallen our dear teacher." Damn you, Tieria Erde. Setsuna glared at Tieria and refused to answer him. Tieria continued to smile that creepy, for Setsuna, smile, "If you would please, Seiei-kun. I am quite sure you would be the best person to ask of such an important inquiry." Silently, Setsuna knew what Tieria was actually saying... Don"t push me, Setsuna F. Seiei. With an annoyed sigh, Setsuna silently stood and began walking out of the classroom. Tieria bowed and said, "I wish your trip well, Seiei-kun." Setsuna glared at Tieria for a moment before leaving the classroom. The faculty room was on the first floor, the third room on the left of the stairs that Setsuna was using. Setsuna sighed as he opened the door. Before he could say any greeting, Setsuna"s eyes fell on the desk of his History (and Homeroom) teacher. Time stood still. No. Not really... But Setsuna"s eyes widened and his throat suddenly felt dry at what he saw. Amidst the books and papers littered on the table, a man with blond hair was cradling his head with his arms as another man"s face was too close to his. Although the books were covering most of it, Setsuna lost his grasp on the door as he realized what he was seeing. Billy Katagiri... was kissing Graham Aker... And Graham wasn"t resisting... Setsuna did not understand why his chest suddenly started hurting... Then... Louise"s words flashed in his mind once more. Don"t tease him too much. You might really regret it. Billy"s head pulled back and his smile was soft, almost endearing, and it only made Setsuna"s chest ache more painfully. Billy, as if noticing another"s presence, turned and saw Setsuna. Setsuna"s breath hitched and his throat became more painful to control as Billy"s smile turned to him. Before Billy could even talk, Setsuna had run out of the room, not even minding to close the door. Billy blinked before he heard a groan made by the person next to him. Smiling softly, Billy turned towards Graham, "You definitely have a fever, Ham-sensei." Graham"s, otherwise known as Ham-sensei by his students and colleagues alike, face was red but he shook his head and began collecting his books, "Impossible." Billy sighed at his friend"s stubbornness as Graham began to walk out of the room, his steps wobbly and forced, "You should just go to the clinic. I"ll take care of your classes." "No." Graham shook his head before grabbing on the open door, breathing heavily, as he continued, "Shonen... is waiting for me." Billy wanted to retort but remembered how the boy showed up as he was checking Graham"s temperature by placing his forehead against the stubborn Ham-sensei. Graham fell from the door, making Billy comment, "Finally worked? That took long enough..." "Katagiri..." Graham strained, "Why do I... feel sleepy?" Billy smiled once more, walking towards Graham, "I noticed your condition since this morning. Knowing you and your stubbornness, I knew the only way to get you to rest is to force it upon you. So, I slipped a sleeping pill in your tea." "You... drugged me...?" Graham asked, forcing his eyes to stay open as Billy crouched next to him. Billy nodded. "You need the rest. You"re sick." "I"m not... sick..." Graham growled as he began to crawl, "Idiots... don"t... get... sick..." Billy sighed and can"t help but admire his friend"s stubbornness, "Well then, I guess that only means you are not an idiot, Graham." Graham only managed to crawl to the foot of the steps before his consciousness began slipping. Outstretching his hand as if he was reaching out for something, or someone, Billy heard him call out, "Sho... nen..." With that said, Graham finally succumbed to the drug, his hand falling to the first step of the stairs. With a sigh, Billy walked towards Graham and picked him up, "You really are something, Graham." "AH!" Billy shouted as he lost his grasp on Graham, making Graham fall on the floor once more with a loud thud. Billy winced at the sound and laughed sheepishly, "Okay... so I can"t carry you all by myself..." Billy sighed once more and looked around, trying to find someone who may be able to help. Seeing no one on the first floor, Billy looked at Graham apologetically and whispered, "I"m sorry. I"ll try and find help as soon as I can." What was wrong with him? What the hell was wrong with him?! Setsuna placed a hand on his throbbing head, leaning on the wall on the right of the stairs. He had run to the second floor but his feet refused to let him return to his room. It wasn"t like he wanted to return at the moment anyway. His head was throbbing. His throat was dry and painful. And his chest... hurts so much... Setsuna fell on his knees as he tried controlling his breathing. He could hear murmurs coming from downstairs but he couldn"t focus. His mind kept replaying what he saw in the faculty room. It didn"t make any sense! He wanted Graham Aker to stop, right?! Then why does he feel this way?! Why... Why... Why... ... does this have to hurt so bad? As Setsuna"s breathing became more controlled, his mind had begun processing everything. The moment Setsuna could stand once more, he already had the answer. "I... I... don"t want him to stop..." "Ah! Seiei-kun, just the person I need!" Setsuna turned and saw Billy approaching him, smiling. Setsuna"s eyes narrowed and Billy could feel how unwanted he was just from the aura Setsuna was projecting. Billy continued to smile as he said, "I need your help." Instead of answering him, Setsuna started walking away but Billy managed to grab his wrist. Setsuna growled and ordered, "Don"t touch me!" Billy seemed to have known he would react that way and he simply smiled, saying calmly, "I drugged Ham-sensei." It took a moment for Setsuna to process that... "You what?!" Setsuna yelled, losing all of his composure. From that look alone, Billy knew Setsuna had misunderstood what he had said. Chuckling, Billy explained, "Ham-sensei went to work even though he was sick. I took it upon myself to drug him so he could get some rest." Billy smirked and whispered on Setsuna"s ear, "I was checking his temperature when you entered. I wasn"t doing whatever it was you thought I was doing." Setsuna"s cheeks reddened at his words and he yelled, "What makes you think I wa-" Setsuna stiffened as Billy placed his forehead on his, smiling all the while as he said, "I was going like this. From a different angle, it looks like we"re doing something else, right?" Setsuna kept quiet, looking at the floor. Billy blinked and looked at Setsuna, concerned, "Seiei-kun, I believe you also have a fever." "What?" "Although, not as bad as Ham-sensei"s." Billy concluded, straightening, "But I still suggest going to the clinic. It is that time of the year." Setsuna"s eyes widened as Billy took him by the arm and began dragging him downstairs. His protest didn"t manage to leave his lips as he saw the unconscious body of Graham by the end of the stairs. Noticing the look on Setsuna"s face, Billy laughed once more, "As you can see, he still tried to get to your classroom even though the drugs were already working." "Idiot." Setsuna commented offhandedly. Billy took one of Graham"s arms to his shoulder while instructing Setsuna to take the other. Billy thought that Setsuna would say no and Billy was ready to beg when Setsuna quietly took his other arm without so much as a grunt. Billy smiled and they began dragging Graham"s body to the clinic. The clinic was on the other side of the school as it was stationed so that it would only be a walking distance from the gym and field. Billy, finding the silence a bit too much to take, tried to talk with Setsuna. "So... What were you thinking when you saw us?" Billy asked, turning to face Setsuna. Billy smiled as Setsuna seemed to pull Graham closer as if he was using Graham as a human shield against Billy.

"The four boys were very nice." Oichi replied in a soft, almost trance-like, voice. She turned her head to look at Masamune and explained in a sad voice, "But I don"t like sleeping alone." "Oh." Masamune frowned and crossed his arms. They had no women to sleep next to her. The first female Masamune thought to ask help from was Itsuki and they weren"t close enough for him to just ask the white haired villager to go with them and stay with Oichi. Magoichi Saika was closer though. Maybe he could offer the Saika faction an agreement and make the boss lady accompany the black haired woman in front of him. Then he imagined Magoichi glaring at him and calling him a "turkey" while pointing her pistol at his head. Guess Magoichi is out of the picture then. He felt a hand grip the hem of his sleeve and he noticed that Oichi was looking at him innocently yet her face also held a sense of sadness and fear. With a soft, almost as if she was afraid that Masamune would get angry, voice, Oichi asked, "Can I... sleep next to you next time?" The question had caught him off guard. He knew he should say "no". Even if he said "yes", Kojuro would definitely not agree or, at least, would scold him. But, for some reason, the single word he had to say would not form on his lips. He continued to stare at the pleading black eyes of the woman in front of him. It was as if those eyes were casting a spell on him and, before he knew what he was doing, his lips had moved to form one word, "Sure." Masamune"s eye widened as he realized what he had said but he could not even take his word back because of the smile the black haired woman gave him. Oichi smiled so happily at him and said, "Thank you, Lord Dragon." Masamune opened his mouth to say he did not mean it and that it would be highly inappropriate for them to sleep in the same bed, even if what they would be doing was just sleeping... which Masamune hope so. Although, there was a part of him that did- Masamune hit his face with his right hand at the thought. Oichi looked at him worriedly and asked, "Does your right eye hurt, Lord Dragon?" "Huh?" Masamune removed his hand from his face, not noticing that his right hand had instinctively covered the right side of his face, and saw that Oichi was looking at him worriedly. She placed her hands on Masamune"s cheeks and asked softly, "Can I do anything to ease the pain?" Masamune closed his eye as he felt the warmth of Oichi"s hands on his cheeks. With a smile, Masamune said, "I"m fine. Thank you for worrying." "Really?" Oichi asked in a child-like tone and Masamune opened his eye to look at the remaining Oda in front of him. "Really." Masamune replied and Oichi nodded, staring at him with that vacant expression she usually had. Masamune placed his right hand on top of Oichi"s left hand. Her touch was innocent and it brought peace in Masamune"s mind. He knew that the woman in front of him was broken, maybe too broken that it could never regain its past form, but- "Lord Masamune!" Kojuro"s voice brought Masamune out of his musing. He grabbed both of Oichi"s hands and pulled them away from his face as gently as he could. Oichi looked saddened at the lost of contact and began to look at the ground once more. Masamune let go of Oichi"s hands just as Kojuro appeared from the steps leading to where they were with Shibata behind him. Kojuro noticed that Oichi and Masamune were standing very close to each other and narrowed his eyes as he called out, "Lord Masamune..." Masamune sighed and said with a smirk, "We weren"t doing anything bad." Masamune turned to look at Oichi and asked as he continued to smirk, "Right, Oichi?" Oichi looked at Masamune for a moment before she nodded, "Yes. We have been good. Please don"t be angry, Lord Snappy." Kojuro"s eyes widened at the nickname and he was unable to keep his composure as he repeated, "Lo-Lord Snappy?" Masamune burst laughing. He grinned at Kojuro as he said, "See, Kojuro? That"s because you always have that scary face on." Kojuro cleared his throat and stared at Oichi as he said politely yet sternly, "Lady Oichi. If I have offended you, please forgive me but please do not call me "Lord Snappy"." Oichi tilted her head as she suggested innocently, "Lord Scary?" Masamune laughed once more and Oichi smiled, pleased that she had made Masamune laugh. Kojuro glared at Masamune and called him sternly, "Lord Masamune." Masamune continued to smirk as he nodded, "Fine, fine." Masamune turned to face Oichi and said the woman"s name softly, "Oichi." Oichi turned to face Masamune and asked innocently, "Yes, Lord Dragon?" Masamune rubbed his chin as he thought of the best way to salvage the situation. He smirked as he said to the black haired woman, "Kojuro"s my right eye. I would like it if you called him something more... well... likeable than Lord Snappy or Lord Scary." Masamune leaned in and whispered to her ear, "Even if he is very scary." "I heard that, my lord." Kojuro told his lord with narrowed eyes. Oichi and Masamune looked at him for a moment before turning to face one another. Masamune grinned as he mouthed the word "scary" to Oichi. Oichi giggled before she turned to face Kojuro and suggested, "Lord Right Eye?" "That..." Kojuro sighed in resignation and said, "That would fine." Oichi smiled and turned to look at Masamune as she said, "Lord Dragon." "Yeah?" Masamune asked with a smirk. Oichi turned to look at Kojuro once more and said, "Lord Right Eye." Kojuro frowned but saw Masamune staring at him intently. The older man sighed and asked, "Yes, Lady Oichi?" Oichi turned to look at Shibata who smiled at her and tilted her head as she asked, "Who are you?" Shibata fell on the floor, feeling rejected. Masamune covered his mouth to stop the laughter that tried to escape his mouth. Even Kojuro was unable to keep the smile from forming in his face. Masamune cleared his throat and looked at Kojuro as serious as he could, although he was still smiling, as he asked, "Well, Kojuro. What"s new?" Kojuro"s face returned to being serious as he explained, "The Maeda clan has moved their troops to Tetorigawa. There is no movement in Kaerikumo Castle though." Masamune crossed his arms and said seriously, "I see. Not really surprise. That Anegakoji old man would most probably just hibernate through the entire thing anyway." "Then we will meet the Maeda clan in Tetorigawa?" Kojuro asked for confirmation although he already knew the answer to that question. "Yeah. Tell everyone. We move in an hour." Masamune ordered. Shibata suddenly stood and said, "If I may be allowed to speak, my lord!" Masamune stared at him for a moment before he said, "You don"t have to treat me like your lord. You serve Oichi, not me." Shibata glanced at the woman next to Masamune. Oichi was already sitting, playing with a shadow hand as she sang the creepy nursery rhyme she liked to sing when she wasn"t doing anything. Shibata stared at Masamune and explained, "Toshiie Maeda was a retainer of Lord Nobunaga together with me. If I may be able to speak with him, it might be possible to get him to surrender." "I doubt it." Masamune sighed and asked bluntly, "Tell me the truth. You think I"m keeping Oichi hostage, aren"t you?" "Well..." Shibata did not meet Masamune"s gaze and Masamune knew that he got his answer. "The Maeda clan might be thinking the same thing. This is a battle of our army, not yours." Masamune explained. "You guys are staying here with Oichi. Your job is to keep Oichi safe and to do what she wishes for you to do. Of course, I"ll make four of my men stay to help you guys." Masamune said with finality. He smirked at Shibata and said, "You should probably tell that to the rest of your forces." "Of course!" Shibata bowed and left the three. "Kojuro." Masamune called out his right eye, the smirk already gone from his face. "Yes, my lord?" Kojuro asked seriously although he already had an idea to what Masamune wanted from him. "Tell Yoshinao and his gang to keep an eye on Shibata and his forces at all time." Masamune turned his attention towards the woman currently preoccupied with playing with the shadow hand. Masamune"s eye darkened as he said, "If they even get a feeling that Shibata and his forces would try to take Oichi away, they are to get Oichi to Tetorigawa as soon as possible." "Understood, my lord." Kojuro bowed but said, "Although..." "Yeah?" Masamune turned his attention back towards his right eye. Kojuro stared at him seriously as he asked, "Why can we not just keep Lady Oichi with us?" "Didn"t you hear Shibata? Toshiie Maeda was a retainer of the Oda clan." Masamune looked away as he said, "She might remember something that would be too painful for her." "Is that truly the reason, my lord?" Kojuro asked as he continued to stare at his lord seriously. Masamune smirked as he asked, "What other reasons would there be?" "How about..." Masamune"s smirk faltered at Kojuro"s next words, "... the possibility she might remember everything and would no longer stay by your side?" "Kojuro..." Masamune couldn"t find any other words to say to the older man. "Forgive me, Lord Masamune. I have said too much." Kojuro bowed as he said, "I shall ready the men." The older man turned around and walked away from Masamune. When Masamune could no longer see Kojuro"s back, Masamune let out a sigh and turned to face Oichi. The young woman seemed oblivious to everything as she continued to play with the shadow hand. After a few minutes, she rubbed her eyes and turned towards Masamune. She stared at Masamune as she asked permission in a soft voice, "Can I sleep, Lord Dragon? I couldn"t sleep well last night." "Sure." Masamune offered his hand towards Oichi and Oichi took it. He guided her down the ruins, the shadow hand she had been playing with disappearing into her shadow. As they descended the stairs, they saw Yoshinao and his gang sitting by the steps. They all stood and greeted, "Hello, boss! Hello, Lady Oichi!" "Hello." Oichi greeted before she tilted her head as she asked, "Who are you?" Masamune smirked as he noticed the sad faces they were all making. Masamune turned to face Oichi and explained, "These four will be your guards, Oichi." "My guards..." Oichi placed her free hand by her lips as she said in a child-like manner, "I don"t need guards. I"m fine on my own." "Please don"t say that, Lady Oichi..." The one with the spiky hair said sadly. "Just let them protect you, Oichi. Do it for me." Masamune said as he stared at the woman next to him. Oichi stared at Masamune for a moment before she nodded, "If it"s for Lord Dragon, I"ll let them protect me." "Thank you." Masamune smiled at Oichi softly. Oichi smiled back and tightened her grip on Masamune"s hand. Masamune turned to face the four and said, "Kojuro had already explained it to you, right?" "Yes, boss!" They all said in unison. "She"ll be sleeping in the one I was sleeping in last night. Be sure that, at least, one of you is with her at all time." Masamune ordered, staring at each of them intently. "Yes, boss!" They all said in unison. Masamune continued to guide the black haired woman towards the small room he had slept in last night. The room was partly covered by the woods that had served as the foundation of the roof when it had been in a more amicable condition. There was a makeshift futon on one end. Masamune guided her towards the futon and let go of her hand. Oichi lied on the futon and curled into a ball. Masamune turned towards the entrance. Outside, the four were peeking from the entrance. Masamune sighed and ordered, "Get my armor and my claws." "Yes, boss!" The four scurried away and Masamune turned back towards the woman lying on the makeshift futon. Oichi stared at him and asked, "Will Lord Dragon sleep too?" Masamune shook his head and said, "Maybe later." "I see." Oichi closed her eyes and said tiredly, "Good night, Lord Dragon." "Good night, Oichi." Masamune whispered. He kneeled next to Oichi and gently brushed the stray strands of black hair that had been by her lips. Masamune stared at her for a moment. When he heard the hurried footsteps, Masamune stood. Masamune turned towards the door and the four returned with his armor and five of his claws. The last claw, he had been holding the entire time. The four placed his armor and his claws near him before leaving the ruined room. Masamune began to change, his back facing Oichi. He hoped the woman was truly asleep. Once or twice, he turned around and saw that the black haired woman was still lying on the futon, breathing deeply. Masamune finished donning his armor and wore his trademark Crescent helmet. He placed his six claws on their proper places and began to walk out of the room. He stopped when he felt something tug his left hand. Masamune stopped and turned to face his left hand. He saw Oichi"s shadow hand holding his left hand, tugging it lightly. Masamune turned to look at Oichi but saw that she was still asleep. Oichi"s shadow hands sometimes looked like they have a mind of their own for Masamune. And, for some reason, Masamune knew what this shadow hand wanted from him. Masamune turned his attention back to the shadow hand and said, "I"ll come back." The shadow hand tugged his hand once more and Masamune said, "I promise I"ll come back to Oichi. Don"t worry." The shadow hand stopped moving for a moment before it finally let go of Masamune"s hand, dissolving in the shadow cast by the ruined roof. Masamune looked at the sleeping woman once more, staring at the peaceful face before finally leaving. Another battle awaits him. There was no need for someone like her to get caught up in his selfish desire. This wasn"t how Masamune thought the battle with the Maeda clan would happen. When they had reached Tetorigawa, the Maeda clan had placed around five camps in the vicinity. When they had reached the entrance, the leader of the Maeda clan was the one who greeted them. He had been standing by a field and he suddenly exclaimed, "The Maeda clan"s rules are guard Matsu, guard Matsu and guard Matsu!" "Who"s Matsu?" Masamune whispered to Kojuro. "Whatever it takes..." Toshiie continued, not hearing the two. "Toshiie Maeda"s wife." Kojuro whispered back. Toshiie readied his trident as he said, "I will make sure that she is kept safe, even if it cause me my life." "I guess the whole "love will conquer all" runs in the family." Masamune sarcastically commented, remembering another Maeda who had a penchant for proclaiming love is all the land need. "We"ve been waiting for you, One-eyed dragon." Toshiie said as he stared at Masamune. Masamune got off his horse and unsheathed one of his six claws. Toshiie grinned happily as he informed the boss of Oshu, "Matsu has come to get some rice, I"ll keep you company till she gets back." "Rice?" Kojuro seemed surprised at Toshiie"s words. Masamune, on the other hand, could only comment at Toshiie"s attitude, "Look at you. You"re just so damn chipper." Without any other warnings, Toshiie charged him. Masamune blocked Toshiie"s incoming trident and side stepped. He slashed diagonally but Toshiie backed away from the range of Masamune"s attack. The clan leader of the Maeda grabbed his gourd and drank. Toshiie breathed out fire which Masamune dodged by rolling forward. He slashed Toshiie"s chest. Toshiie backed away but Masamune"s katana managed to cut Toshiie"s chest. "Lord Toshiie!" One of the Maeda soldiers watching the fight shouted. "It"s nothing. It"s a mere flesh wound." Toshiie said with a grin, "I can still move." "Man, you"re just sunshine and rainbows, aren"t you?" Masamune commented. The cut he had made wasn"t that deep but the blood flowing from the wound was definitely not something a "nothing" should be. Before they could continue their battle, Masamune heard a female voice say, "The Maeda clan"s rules are..." Masamune turned his head towards the gate and saw a brown haired woman wearing green attire and holding a naginata say, "Protect the clan, perfect your skills..." Masamune stared at the new comer as he asked Kojuro, "I"m guessing that"s this chipper"s wife?" "Yes. Lady Matsu." Kojuro confirmed as he stared at the wife of Toshiie Maeda. "And, most importantly..." Matsu continued as she pointed her naginata towards Masamune. "Do they really have to introduce their selves like this?" Masamune asked his right eye. "Unfortunately, that seems to be the case." Kojuro replied frankly. "...protect the clan"s leader!" Matsu finally finished her introduction and ran towards Toshiie immediately. She smiled as she handed three pieces of rice balls to her husband, "Here it is. I got some rice." "Great. Matsu"s back! Food at last!" Toshiie greedily took the rice balls and ate them. Masamune and many of his troops were surprised when they noticed that the wound the one-eyed dragon had inflicted to the leader of the Maeda clan seemed to heal. "Kojuro..." Masamune called out his right eye and Kojuro frowned. "Forgive me, Lord Masamune. There are also some things this Kojuro cannot understand." Kojuro said as he stared at Toshiie who was happily eating more of Matsu"s rice balls which was being delivered by different soldiers. "Like healing rice balls?" Masamune commented sarcastically. When the final soldier gave the rice balls, Matsu gasped and whispered something to Toshiie"s ear. Toshiie"s eyes widened and he began to pace around as he shouted, "This isn"t good. We run out of rice!" "Ugh." Matsu began to pace as well. The entire Date army could only stare at the couple, as if they were doing a comedy skit. Matsu said with frustration, "I don"t understand how this could happen." The couple stopped right in front of each other and nodded. They clapped their hands together and said in unison, "Alright! Let"s go restock!" With that said, the entire Maeda army ran towards the other side of the gate. The Date army simply stared at the gate for a few minutes. Masamune sheathed his katana and called out, "Kojuro." "Yes, my lord?" Kojuro replied, still staring at the gate. Masamune crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow as he asked, "You think this is a trap?" "I doubt it." Kojuro replied before adding, "They seemed too... nice to use a trap." Masamune sighed and got on his horse as he said, "Well, let"s see what this lovey-dovey couple has in store for us then." The Date army began to advance slowly. When they reached the other side of the gate, they heard laughter coming from the top of the hill. They sounded like the Maeda couple. Masamune had to stare but he could make out the forms of Matsu and Toshiie, sitting on the hill top. Toshiie was happily eating once more as he said happily, "Oh, Matsu. This is great." Matsu offered more bento boxes to her husband as she said, "I"m glad you like it. I made it especially for you." Masamune turned towards Kojuro and said, "Now, I think they"re just rubbing their lovey-dovey-ness in our faces." Kojuro raised an eye brow as he asked, "Does it have an effect on you, my lord?" Masamune rolled his eye as he replied, "Of course not. They"re too damn chipper and happy." "I see. You would prefer it had it been more melancholic yet child-like." Kojuro commented with a straight face. Masamune turned to look at Kojuro and began to speak, "Kojuro... did you just-" "How shall we proceed, Lord Masamune?" Kojuro asked, cutting off Masamune"s question. "Those bases seemed to be storehouses. Let"s take all of them." Masamune ordered and Kojuro nodded. "Understood." "But keep the casualty to a minimum for both sides." Masamune added and Kojuro stared at him. "Is it because of the Maeda clan"s service to the Oda clan?" Kojuro asked bluntly. Masamune smirked as he replied, "If I"m going to rule this land, I have to be able to have competent retainers." Masamune turned to look at the happy couple on top of the hill. With a determined smirk, Masamune asked, "What do you think, Kojuro? Wouldn"t those lovey-dovey couple be a good addition to the land I will rule in?" "I agree although..." Kojuro continued to stare at Masamune blankly as he added, "I cannot help but wonder if that is all there is to it." Masamune turned towards Kojuro and smirked as he said, "Wonder all you want, Kojuro. My decision is final." "This Kojuro is here to serve." Kojuro bowed to Masamune before turning his attention towards the Date army, "All of you! Capture the storehouse but try not to kill anyone if possible!" With that order, the battle of Tetorigawa finally began. Masamune had been in the process of recapturing the third storehouse when the soldier came up to him with an urgent message. Every time they captured a storehouse, the Maeda soldiers would recapture the last storehouse they captured. It would have been easier had they killed the soldiers but, because of Masamune"s order, it seemed like they were going to have an endurance battle. Masamune had been thinking of just riding to the hill camp and fight the Maeda couple but the news that the soldier brought changed everything, "An army is approaching Tetorigawa! They"re from Kanegasaki!" "The Oda remnants?" Kojuro asked loudly before he hit a Maeda soldier with his forehead.

Masamune slashed another hand and came close to her. She looked at him and whispered, "Sing for me. Sing a song you know." The song Masamune remembered was not a song he wanted to remember. It was a lullaby from a mother that had wanted to kill him... Masamune backed away from her and she looked like as if she was sad about his action and she asked, "Why are you running away from me? Do you hate me?" She walked towards him, her hand reaching out to him as the shadow hands began to move more aggressively towards him as well, "Am I not nice enough?" Masamune took three katanas and charged towards her as he announced, "Revolver!" The shadow hands wrapped around her as if to protect her but they were all slashed by Masamune"s three claws. She dropped to the ground and Masamune apologized, "Sorry. I don"t know any songs." She looked at him and a small smile appeared on her face as she said, "That"s okay. I"ll sing for you." Before Masamune could reply, she was dragged into the darkness once more and the door opened. Masamune sheathed two of his katanas as he said, "So you"re deeper inside, huh?" Masamune heard her soft voice singing, "Wander freely, wander far off beneath the Devil"s star..." Masamune smirked and commented, "So you are singing for me? This is the first time a woman sings for me." That wasn"t exactly true but he"d rather not think about the lullaby of the woman who tried to kill him. "In the dark, the girl so bright, got up to see the day by night..." Masamune saw soldiers running towards him with their weapons raised. The banner on one of the men was the crest of the Oda so the rumor that the remnants of Oda"s forces were hiding here was true. Masamune smirked as he said, "Sorry but I"m not in a mood to play with you all." "Her fear in hand, her fear in heart, her fear did tear her soul apart..." "I have a date with her right now." Masamune said as he rushed them. As he cut down one of the soldiers, Kojuro and the rest of the Date army finally arrived. "Lord Masamune! Stop being reckless!" Kojuro reprimanded Masamune but Masamune simply scoffed and looked at him with a smirk. "The white of flesh, the white of bone, the worms will leave your soul alone." "Kojuro! I"ll leave our troops and these guys-" Masamune dodged an incoming blade aimed at his neck and slashed the soldier as he continued, "-to you!" With that said, Masamune ran towards the deeper part of the ruins. Kojuro sighed and shook his head but ordered the soldiers, "The four of you, retrieve the prisoners. The rest of you, follow after our lord! Defeat our enemies but try to get as many prisoners as possible!" Her haunting song resonated all over for Masamune, "On and on the road does go, down into depths below..." "Not a very innocent song." Masamune commented as he dodged a soldier trying to impale him with his spear. He slashed the soldier on the chest and continued to run towards the gate. "Off you went to call the king..." Masamune could see the darkness forming on the other side of the gate, "... you wish to hear the Devil sing..." From the darkness, she emerged with shadow hands supporting her. The soldiers around her backed away in surprise and fear. Even though she was part of the remnants, they were still scared of her. That fact alone made Masamune feel a hint of rage in him. She looked at him blankly and asked, "Where am I? Where is this place?" Masamune was momentarily confused because of her words but managed to evade her shadow hands as he ran to her side. With a smirk, he offered in a joking manner, "If you don"t like this place, why not come with us?" She looked at him and tilted her head slightly as she replied, "I need no one to take me anywhere... because it is here I wish to stay." "Really?" Masamune continued to smirk as he blocked the incoming shadow hands, "Not much of a view though." "Lord Masamune! What are you saying?" Kojuro asked as he cut down the incoming remnants. She looked at Kojuro and shook her head, whimpering as she said, "How cruel you are. To take so much from me." Kojuro backed away as a shadow hand tried to grab him. Masamune rushed towards her and slashed the shadow hands around her, "Hey! Your date is over here!" "Why does the monster hate me? What have I done?" She whimpered and shook her head as she continued to stare at Kojuro. Masamune clicked his tongue and shouted, "Kojuro! Don"t kill anyone!" "I will try my best but-" Kojuro hit one of the remnants with a head butt and explained, "That will be quite hard to do!" "Lord Masamune! Please get to the castle! We can hold our defenses there! She stops once the sun rises!" One of his scouts that had been captured explained. "So the magic stops at daybreak, huh?" Masamune slashed at the shadow hands and shouted, "Hey! Over here!" She finally looked at him and asked softly, "I think I was looking for someone. Wasn"t I?" Masamune stopped as he remembered a man wearing a white and red armor. His eye widened as he saw that she was suddenly in front of him. She stared at him with soft black eyes as she asked, "Are you lonely? If you want, I can be at your side." Masamune slashed at her but her shadow hands kept her from getting hurt as he had anticipated. She began to get drag to the darkness once more and Masamune didn"t reach out this time. He stared at her and smirked, "That"s probably the most romantic thing a woman has ever said to me." "Lord Masamune..." Kojuro said in a reprehending voice. Masamune chuckled as she finally disappeared and ran towards the deeper part of the ruin. "Take care of things, Kojuro!" Masamune shouted without looking back as he raced towards the next camp. She was sure to be there. Just as he expected, the next camp was right on top of the stairs. She was dragged out of the darkness right at the final step of the stairs and she looked at him as she whispered, "Let me sleep. Would somebody please put me to sleep?" "Guess all this ruckus keeps you awake, huh?" Masamune joked as he slashed the incoming shadow hands. She was swaying back and forth, as if she was in a trance, but she would always look at him when she speaks. "Run... run... run..." She repeated as she walked towards him. Masamune chuckled as he slashed the shadow hands while saying, "You say run but you"re the one walking towards me." Masamune stepped to the side and parried an incoming shadow hand. Like last time, she staggered back and gave a moan. Her moan sent a feeling to Masamune. The first time, she had been a bit far from him but, this time, he could clearly hear her moan. If he had to describe the feeling he felt, it felt like fire. Unlike the fire he felt for Sanada Yukimura though, this fire felt more... primal... more... "Shit." Masamune cursed and slashed the shadow hands around her. She looked at him and raised her arms as if to embrace him, "Come here. I wish to give you a hug." "Maybe when you"re not surrounded by those shadows!" Masamune replied as he stepped forward. He noticed her face erupt into a smile and felt her hands around his shoulders. Masamune sliced her across the abdomen and the shadow hands took the blow once more. "I"ve been speaking to my brother lots." She said with a smile as the darkness dragged her down once more. Masamune"s eye grew softer as he stared at her while he said softly, "Sorry but the Demon King is dead." "It"s too painful to move now..." She whimpered before finally disappearing as if she did not hear his last sentence. "You must stand up, Lady Oichi! We are the Demon"s forces!" One of the remnants said and he growled, slashing the soldier who spoke. She appeared to be in pain yet these soldiers just... With another growl, he rushed deeper once more. Her words, her mannerism and her voice... Everything about her caused a fire inside him to grow. Especially that moan... It was wrong. So wrong but... The next camp was right next to the next gate and it was larger than the other camps and Masamune saw her get dragged up by the shadow hands between two soldiers wearing black and had a piece of square clothing in front of their face. "My brother"s dead? What do you mean by that?" She backed away and shook her head, "Why are you telling me lies? I don"t want to listen." "He"s dead so-!" Masamune growled as the flurry of attacks coming from the shadow hands were becoming more aggressive, "-you don"t have to do this anymore!" His words seemed to have registered to her and she whispered as she walked towards him, "You are so beautiful. Would you care to sleep next to me?" Masamune forced a smirk and slashed the incoming shadow hands as he replied, "Okay. I have to ask. Are you coming on to me?" She nodded and Masamune couldn"t help but be surprised at the answer. But he seemed to have gotten the wrong idea as she continued to nod as she swayed, whispering to him, "I see... you are doing this because you"re lonely too..." Masamune smirked and asked jokingly, "Was that a rejection?" He could hear his army shouting as they neared where Masamune was. Masamune rushed towards her and apologized, "Sorry but it seems we have to cut our conversation short!" It may have been a hallucination but it appeared as if she had nodded to his words and he slashed her once more. She began to fall to the darkness and Masamune heard one of his soldiers shout, "You are the Demon"s forces! You"re very existence is a sin!" Someone laughed hysterically and replied, "We serve our Demon Queen!" Masamune clicked his tongue and his grip on his katana tightened. They serve her? That sentence only made him feel anger building inside him. If they truly serve her then they should understand what she truly wanted. The gate opened and Masamune went inside. She was sure to be inside. He could feel it. The stairs were filled with spider lilies on both side and it only made the whole journey up that more eerie. Spider lilies... To never meet again... Lost memories... It suits her perfectly. He saw her staring at the sun as it rose. She fell on her knees and whimpered, "There is it." She placed her hands on her head and shook her head as she whimpered, "I don"t know. I can"t." She looked at him and asked, "Was it you?" Masamune walked towards her slowly and shook his head, "No. What you"re trying to remember isn"t me." The shadow hands helped her up and she whispered, "I can"t remember. Can I sleep now?" She raised her hand towards him and begged softly, "Please let me sleep." "Lord Masamune!" Kojuro"s voice was right behind him. Masamune raised his katana and said to Kojuro in a carefree manner, "That was the best escape attempt I"ve ever seen. Too bad it failed." Masamune rushed towards her and sliced the incoming shadow hands. She backed away but fell down, staring at the ground as she whispered, "My feet hurt. I don"t think I"ll be able to walk any further." "You don"t have to." Masamune raced towards her and shouted, "I"ll destroy the shadows dragging you!" Masamune unsheathed his six claws and shouted, "Magnum Strike!" All of the shadow hands formed in front of her as if to protect her and Masamune"s katana erupted into electricity, destroying all of them. The shadow hands were blasted away from her and she fell down. This time, Masamune caught her and held her. She looked at the sky and whispered, "I knew... I always knew that the hole in this heart can never be filled." His eye softened at her words. Masamune noticed that the darkness was beginning to gather underneath them and he picked her up and jumped back. She looked at him and placed a hand on his cheek, "Will you not let me sleep? I am so tired." "I would but not in the darkness." Masamune replied as he stood, still cradling her in his arms. Behind him, Kojuro and the rest of his army was standing and watching. "I am the blue dragon of the north." Masamune announced as he turned to face them. He saw that some of the remnants were also there, staring at him as he continued, "Old and new alike, I will claim everything in the land and rule it as my own!" Masamune turned to look at the woman in his arms and added softly, "That includes you, Demon Queen. No. Oichi Oda." Oichi"s black eyes glistened with tears as she gripped the fabric of Masamune"s clothing. With a small voice, she asked, "Does that mean I am no longer alone? Can I... truly stay by your side?" "Yes." Masamune nodded and smiled gently, "So rest now. Sleep not in the darkness but in the light ruled by this one-eyed dragon." Oichi gave him a beautiful smile and closed her eyes, nuzzling against Masamune as she whispered, "Thank you, Lord Dragon." When he realized that the woman in his arms was finally asleep, Masamune turned towards Kojuro and said, "I"ve made up by mind, Kojuro." "I can see that, my lord. Well now." Kojuro turned towards the remnants and asked, "What shall we do with them?" "Anyone that tries to take her away from me will have to die." Masamune narrowed his eyes as he hissed, "I will not let you use her for your own gain. Got that?" NOTE: For next chapter, take your pick on which stage I"m going to do: Battle at Tetorigawa (Matsu and Toshiie Maeda) Kaerikumo Castle (Yoritsuna Anegakoji) Yes. This is how this story will work which means you guys get to pick the route I"ll take: green, violet or yellow (I always felt it was weird that Masamune got so many routes when Yukimura only gets three. Lord Happy is the other one who has that much routes... I think). At least three reviews would be sufficient otherwise I might get a tie. -laughs- Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter. It"s a bit hard not making Ichi say "Ichi will be by your side". -grins- Warning: This fanfic is based on the English version of Sengoku Basara 3 (aka Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes) thus this will not have any Japanese suffixes. This fanfic is a "what-if" situation of Masamune"s Green Route and is MasaIchi. Author"s Notes: Battle of Tetorigawa wins by a landslide! Feel bad for tree-man but I like the Maeda couple better anyway. -laughs- This chapter makes use of how the Maeda couple acted towards Ichi in her green/violet route. Unfortunately, I"m writing that part by memory since I"m too lazy to tackle Ichi"s green route in hard mode at the moment. I feel that this chapter is kind of OOC (especially concerning Masamune and the Maeda couple. I just can"t help but think Masamune is the type of person who would be very nice to someone like Ichi if Ichi was on his side. Maybe it"s because of how gentle he acted around Ichi on the drama cd. -shrugs-) Oh! And Yoshinao is the only one of the four Date soldiers in the Basara anime that was named. Green Route, Stage 3: Battle at Tetorigawa They had stayed for the day in the ruins of Kanegasaki. Many of the remnants had run during the afternoon while Masamune was asleep. Those that remained had been adamant that they wish to serve the last Oda. The remnants were led by a man named Katsuie Shibata. While he still had doubts about those that remained, he had been impressed by Shibata"s determination and had decided to let Kojuro handle their assimilation to the Date army. That left him with nothing to do but practice his swordsmanship at the top of the fortress. The sun had begun to rise once more when he heard soft footsteps from behind him. He sheathed his katana and turned, his one eye meeting a pair of black eyes. "Hey." Masamune greeted with a smirk. "Good morning, Lord Dragon." Oichi greeted in a soft voice as she slowly walked towards him. She placed a hand by her chest and looked at the ground as she asked, "Did I bother you?" "No. I was just about finish." Masamune replied and met the young woman halfway. They stopped right in front of each other and Masamune asked, "Did you sleep well?" Oichi had been asleep ever since Masamune"s declaration. He had placed her in one of the covered area in the ruins and ordered four of his most trusted soldiers to guard her. While the four could be a hand full, Masamune had always thought that they were capable enough. That"s why he had been surprised when Oichi shook her head. Masamune raised an eyebrow and asked, "Where the four guys too noisy?" "The four boys were very nice." Oichi replied in a soft, almost trance-like, voice. She turned her head to look at Masamune and explained in a sad voice, "But I don"t like sleeping alone." "Oh." Masamune frowned and crossed his arms. They had no women to sleep next to her. The first female Masamune thought to ask help from was Itsuki and they weren"t close enough for him to just ask the white haired villager to go with them and stay with Oichi. Magoichi Saika was closer though. Maybe he could offer the Saika faction an agreement and make the boss lady accompany the black haired woman in front of him. Then he imagined Magoichi glaring at him and calling him a "turkey" while pointing her pistol at his head. Guess Magoichi is out of the picture then. He felt a hand grip the hem of his sleeve and he noticed that Oichi was looking at him innocently yet her face also held a sense of sadness and fear. With a soft, almost as if she was afraid that Masamune would get angry, voice, Oichi asked, "Can I... sleep next to you next time?" The question had caught him off guard. He knew he should say "no". Even if he said "yes", Kojuro would definitely not agree or, at least, would scold him. But, for some reason, the single word he had to say would not form on his lips. He continued to stare at the pleading black eyes of the woman in front of him. It was as if those eyes were casting a spell on him and, before he knew what he was doing, his lips had moved to form one word, "Sure." Masamune"s eye widened as he realized what he had said but he could not even take his word back because of the smile the black haired woman gave him. Oichi smiled so happily at him and said, "Thank you, Lord Dragon." Masamune opened his mouth to say he did not mean it and that it would be highly inappropriate for them to sleep in the same bed, even if what they would be doing was just sleeping... which Masamune hope so. Although, there was a part of him that did- Masamune hit his face with his right hand at the thought. Oichi looked at him worriedly and asked, "Does your right eye hurt, Lord Dragon?" "Huh?" Masamune removed his hand from his face, not noticing that his right hand had instinctively covered the right side of his face, and saw that Oichi was looking at him worriedly. She placed her hands on Masamune"s cheeks and asked softly, "Can I do anything to ease the pain?" Masamune closed his eye as he felt the warmth of Oichi"s hands on his cheeks. With a smile, Masamune said, "I"m fine. Thank you for worrying." "Really?" Oichi asked in a child-like tone and Masamune opened his eye to look at the remaining Oda in front of him. "Really." Masamune replied and Oichi nodded, staring at him with that vacant expression she usually had. Masamune placed his right hand on top of Oichi"s left hand. Her touch was innocent and it brought peace in Masamune"s mind. He knew that the woman in front of him was broken, maybe too broken that it could never regain its past form, but- "Lord Masamune!" Kojuro"s voice brought Masamune out of his musing. He grabbed both of Oichi"s hands and pulled them away from his face as gently as he could. Oichi looked saddened at the lost of contact and began to look at the ground once more. Masamune let go of Oichi"s hands just as Kojuro appeared from the steps leading to where they were with Shibata behind him. Kojuro noticed that Oichi and Masamune were standing very close to each other and narrowed his eyes as he called out, "Lord Masamune..." Masamune sighed and said with a smirk, "We weren"t doing anything bad." Masamune turned to look at Oichi and asked as he continued to smirk, "Right, Oichi?" Oichi looked at Masamune for a moment before she nodded, "Yes. We have been good. Please don"t be angry, Lord Snappy." Kojuro"s eyes widened at the nickname and he was unable to keep his composure as he repeated, "Lo-Lord Snappy?" Masamune burst laughing. He grinned at Kojuro as he said, "See, Kojuro? That"s because you always have that scary face on." Kojuro cleared his throat and stared at Oichi as he said politely yet sternly, "Lady Oichi. If I have offended you, please forgive me but please do not call me "Lord Snappy"." Oichi tilted her head as she suggested innocently, "Lord Scary?" Masamune laughed once more and Oichi smiled, pleased that she had made Masamune laugh. Kojuro glared at Masamune and called him sternly, "Lord Masamune." Masamune continued to smirk as he nodded, "Fine, fine." Masamune turned to face Oichi and said the woman"s name softly, "Oichi." Oichi turned to face Masamune and asked innocently, "Yes, Lord Dragon?" Masamune rubbed his chin as he thought of the best way to salvage the situation. He smirked as he said to the black haired woman, "Kojuro"s my right eye. I would like it if you called him something more... well... likeable than Lord Snappy or Lord Scary." Masamune leaned in and whispered to her ear, "Even if he is very scary." "I heard that, my lord." Kojuro told his lord with narrowed eyes. Oichi and Masamune looked at him for a moment before turning to face one another. Masamune grinned as he mouthed the word "scary" to Oichi. Oichi giggled before she turned to face Kojuro and suggested, "Lord Right Eye?"

"A classmate." Setsuna replied nonchalantly. "Really? Just a friend?" Neil pestered. "Not a friend, a classmate." "Is that true, Tieria?" Neil turned his attention to Tieria who was glaring at him. "As far as I know, Louise Halevy is currently in a relationship with Saji Crossroad." Tieria replied with a hint of annoyance. Neil smiled. "I liked it better when you were pretending to be a girl." Neil commented earning a glare from Tieria. This only made Neil smile, "Yup. Definitely not cute." Setsuna continued to eat quietly as Tieria began shouting at Neil, "Do you really think I want to act and dress like a girl, Neil Dylandy?! My mother did this for her entertainment!" Well... at least, Setsuna got his answer without asking and taking Tieria"s wrath... "Can"t blame her. You look so much like a girl." Neil commented, "A really cute girl. Right, Setsuna?" Setsuna looked at Neil then at the glaring Tieria who looked like he was blushing as well. Instead of replying, Setsuna shrugged and ate in silence. Neil chuckled and ate as well but asked, much to Setsuna"s fear, "So... who"s Ham-sensei?" "Our history and homeroom teacher..." Tieria replied before smirking, "... who seems to be attracted to Setsuna F. Seiei." Setsuna glared at Tieria as Neil looked at Setsuna, "Really?! A teacher?! I didn"t thought you had it in you, Setsuna. So... is she hot?" Tieria"s smirk grew as he replied, "I do not know if he is hot. What do you think, Setsuna?" Setsuna dropped his utensils and got up, "The food was great... especially if you count that it was cooked by Tieria Erde." Tieria growled as Setsuna looked at Neil, "Excuse me, I have yet to finish my assignment." With that said, Setsuna briskly walked away from the dining room, leaving a bewildered Neil and a glaring Tieria. Neil smiled and looked at Tieria, "That wasn"t nice, Tieria." "You don"t seem offended that your younger brother has an admirer from the same sex." Neil shrugged and replied offhandedly, "Hey, it"s not like I"m any better. Right... Tieria?" Tieria"s cheeks suddenly took another hue of red and he looked away, "Hn." Inside his room, Setsuna answered the last question of his assignment when Louise"s words replayed inside his mind. Katagiri-sensei and Ham-sensei... have more than a platonic relationship. Katagiri-sensei may be trying to take Ham-sensei away from you at the very moment It"s quite obvious that Ham-sensei is in love with you. Keep it up and he may very well give up, heartbroken and everything! And then Katagiri-sensei would be there to pick up the pieces! Then you"ll be left alone and wondering where you did wrong! And when you realize that Ham-sensei has fallen in love with Katagiri-sensei you would probably just give up and be all emo, right?! Don"t tease him too much. You might really regret it. Setsuna frowned and mumbled, "I"m not teasing..." Resting his head on the table, Setsuna sighed and closed his eyes. Wouldn"t that be the best? He didn"t need a crazy teacher"s affection. He doesn"t want it. He doesn"t... "Ohhh? You have such beautiful eyes, Shonen." "Shonen! What"s your most favorite thing? I like Gundams!" "Shonen! How about joining me for a while? There"s a new release today and I wanted to check it out. They"re re-releasing Nu Gundam." Setsuna covered his ears. He doesn"t need those! ... right? "You probably have a beautiful smile... Shonen..." "Setsuna F. Seiei." Setsuna opened his eyes and frowned as the first thing that greeted him was an annoyed Tieria Erde wearing their school"s girl uniform. Behind Tieria, Setsuna could see the light peeking in from his window indicating that it was morning. Setsuna closed his eyes once more and got a more strained, "Setsuna F. Seiei." "Go away." Setsuna mumbled. He frowned as he was pulled by Tieria and opened his eyes once more, glaring at Tieria. Tieria returned the glare. "Get up. We"re going to be late." Tieria ordered before throwing Setsuna back to his chair. Setsuna growled once more as Tieria left his room, slamming his door loudly. Setsuna looked at the clock by his bed and frowned as he realized that they only had two hours before class begins. In just a few minutes, Setsuna had took a quick shower and done everything he needed before going down where his family was sitting and eating... plus one invited guest. "Seeing Tieria wearing that uniform really makes my day." "Watch it, Lyle, or I"m going to tell Anew." "Now, now, no threatening while eating. You"ll destroy the heavenly taste of Marina"s cooking." "And that comment just rewarded you another serving, Neil-nii-san." "Thanks, Marina." "What about me?!" Setsuna took his sit quietly as Lyle continued to look pleadingly at Marina. Marina smiled at Setsuna as she gave him his rice bowl. Setsuna looked at the food, "Miso... rice... and fish..." "Don"t forget pickles." Lyle reminded, giving his pickles to Setsuna"s bowl. Setsuna frowned but nonetheless ate the food. "That wasn"t nice, Lyle." Neil said, placing his pickles on Lyle"s bowl. "Ah, "Nii-san!" Lyle whined and was about to return the pickles when another set of pickles was dropped to their bowls by the only woman in the house. "More pickles for both of you." Marina said, a satisfied smile playing on her face, "Now, stop playing and eat." "Yes, mother." Lyle jokily replied, eating his pickles. Marina placed cups of coffee on the table but Setsuna was given a cup of milk. Setsuna did not say anything and ate, drinking the milk when he finished. Once they were done eating, they all walked towards the door. "Now, you guys be good and try not to kill each other." Lyle jokily told Tieria and Setsuna as he sat on Marina"s car. Marina and Lyle worked on the other side of town so they took the same car. Neil, on the other hand, took another car. "Tell that to Setsuna F. Seiei." Tieria growled. "You"re not the one to talk, Tieria Erde." Setsuna growled back. Marina"s car left the driveway, Lyle waving at them. Neil chuckled at Tieria and Setsuna"s silent glaring contest and opened the door to his car. Neil looked at Tieria and Setsuna. "I"ll drive you guys there." Neil said, earning a nod from Tieria and Setsuna. The drive to school was quiet... much to Neil"s disappointment. But that was to be expected from both of the most anti-social persons Neil had ever met. Neil stopped just pass the school gate and both of them got out. Tieria looked back, returning to his beautiful and elegant Miss Tieria Erde façade. "Thank you so much for driving us, Neil. I hope we were not a bother." Tieria said in a sweet soft voice. Neil had to smile. "It was no problem, Tieria. Anything to see this." Neil commented, earning a glare from Tieria that only lasted for a few seconds as students were passing them by, smiling at Tieria. "Good morning, Miss Erde!" Some first year girls greeted as they passed them. Tieria smiled at them. "A pleasant day to all of you as well." Tieria replied, bowing slightly. "And have a pleasant day, Neil." Tieria said and Neil could feel the hidden threat in his words. Neil nodded and turned to Setsuna. "See you later, Setsuna." Neil said which earned a curt nod from Setsuna. Without even waiting for Neil to drive away, Setsuna began to walk towards school, not bothering to wait for Tieria who was waving and smiling softly as Neil drove away. Setsuna managed to enter his classroom without any problems and walked towards his sit when two of his classmates greeted him, "Good morning, Setsuna." "Morning, Setsuna." Setsuna nodded to Saji and Louise before sitting. Louise sighed and propped her head on the palm of her hands, "Same Mr. Anti-Social." "Louise." Saji reprehended. Louise only took her tongue out. A few minutes later and the bell finally rang. All of them sat and waited for their homeroom teacher. And so they waited... And waited... And waited... And wai- "AH!!! Where the hell is Ham-sensei?! First period is about to end!" Louise yelled in annoyance, standing. "Louise..." "Mou! I refuse to be treated like this!" Louise looked at her classmates, "Anyone here volunteering to go to the faculty room?!" "Why should we?" One of the boys asked, "As far as I"m concerned, it would be better if Ham-sensei isn"t here." "You lazy piece of as-" "LOUISE!" Saji reprehended once more, covering Louise"s mouth before she could finish her insult. Of course, Louise did not like it and bit Saji"s hand, "AHH!!!" "Miss Halevy has a point." Tieria said, standing. All of them looked as their school idol smiled at them angelically, "I, for one, think that something must have happened to our teacher. He is not the sort of person that will do such a thing intentionally." "Well... if Miss Erde thinks so..." "Of course, Miss Erde is right..." Setsuna snorted as he heard his classmates" comments. He suddenly felt his entire body warn him as Tieria faced him with that angelic smile that, Setsuna knows, is currently hiding a sadistic smirk, "Seiei-kun, will you be as kind and check what may have befallen our dear teacher." Damn you, Tieria Erde. Setsuna glared at Tieria and refused to answer him. Tieria continued to smile that creepy, for Setsuna, smile, "If you would please, Seiei-kun. I am quite sure you would be the best person to ask of such an important inquiry." Silently, Setsuna knew what Tieria was actually saying... Don"t push me, Setsuna F. Seiei. With an annoyed sigh, Setsuna silently stood and began walking out of the classroom. Tieria bowed and said, "I wish your trip well, Seiei-kun." Setsuna glared at Tieria for a moment before leaving the classroom. The faculty room was on the first floor, the third room on the left of the stairs that Setsuna was using. Setsuna sighed as he opened the door. Before he could say any greeting, Setsuna"s eyes fell on the desk of his History (and Homeroom) teacher. Time stood still. No. Not really... But Setsuna"s eyes widened and his throat suddenly felt dry at what he saw. Amidst the books and papers littered on the table, a man with blond hair was cradling his head with his arms as another man"s face was too close to his. Although the books were covering most of it, Setsuna lost his grasp on the door as he realized what he was seeing. Billy Katagiri... was kissing Graham Aker... And Graham wasn"t resisting... Setsuna did not understand why his chest suddenly started hurting... Then... Louise"s words flashed in his mind once more. Don"t tease him too much. You might really regret it. Billy"s head pulled back and his smile was soft, almost endearing, and it only made Setsuna"s chest ache more painfully. Billy, as if noticing another"s presence, turned and saw Setsuna. Setsuna"s breath hitched and his throat became more painful to control as Billy"s smile turned to him. Before Billy could even talk, Setsuna had run out of the room, not even minding to close the door. Billy blinked before he heard a groan made by the person next to him. Smiling softly, Billy turned towards Graham, "You definitely have a fever, Ham-sensei." Graham"s, otherwise known as Ham-sensei by his students and colleagues alike, face was red but he shook his head and began collecting his books, "Impossible." Billy sighed at his friend"s stubbornness as Graham began to walk out of the room, his steps wobbly and forced, "You should just go to the clinic. I"ll take care of your classes." "No." Graham shook his head before grabbing on the open door, breathing heavily, as he continued, "Shonen... is waiting for me." Billy wanted to retort but remembered how the boy showed up as he was checking Graham"s temperature by placing his forehead against the stubborn Ham-sensei. Graham fell from the door, making Billy comment, "Finally worked? That took long enough..." "Katagiri..." Graham strained, "Why do I... feel sleepy?" Billy smiled once more, walking towards Graham, "I noticed your condition since this morning. Knowing you and your stubbornness, I knew the only way to get you to rest is to force it upon you. So, I slipped a sleeping pill in your tea." "You... drugged me...?" Graham asked, forcing his eyes to stay open as Billy crouched next to him. Billy nodded. "You need the rest. You"re sick." "I"m not... sick..." Graham growled as he began to crawl, "Idiots... don"t... get... sick..." Billy sighed and can"t help but admire his friend"s stubbornness, "Well then, I guess that only means you are not an idiot, Graham." Graham only managed to crawl to the foot of the steps before his consciousness began slipping. Outstretching his hand as if he was reaching out for something, or someone, Billy heard him call out, "Sho... nen..." With that said, Graham finally succumbed to the drug, his hand falling to the first step of the stairs. With a sigh, Billy walked towards Graham and picked him up, "You really are something, Graham." "AH!" Billy shouted as he lost his grasp on Graham, making Graham fall on the floor once more with a loud thud. Billy winced at the sound and laughed sheepishly, "Okay... so I can"t carry you all by myself..." Billy sighed once more and looked around, trying to find someone who may be able to help. Seeing no one on the first floor, Billy looked at Graham apologetically and whispered, "I"m sorry. I"ll try and find help as soon as I can." What was wrong with him? What the hell was wrong with him?! Setsuna placed a hand on his throbbing head, leaning on the wall on the right of the stairs. He had run to the second floor but his feet refused to let him return to his room. It wasn"t like he wanted to return at the moment anyway. His head was throbbing. His throat was dry and painful. And his chest... hurts so much... Setsuna fell on his knees as he tried controlling his breathing. He could hear murmurs coming from downstairs but he couldn"t focus. His mind kept replaying what he saw in the faculty room. It didn"t make any sense! He wanted Graham Aker to stop, right?! Then why does he feel this way?! Why... Why... Why... ... does this have to hurt so bad? As Setsuna"s breathing became more controlled, his mind had begun processing everything. The moment Setsuna could stand once more, he already had the answer. "I... I... don"t want him to stop..." "Ah! Seiei-kun, just the person I need!" Setsuna turned and saw Billy approaching him, smiling. Setsuna"s eyes narrowed and Billy could feel how unwanted he was just from the aura Setsuna was projecting. Billy continued to smile as he said, "I need your help." Instead of answering him, Setsuna started walking away but Billy managed to grab his wrist. Setsuna growled and ordered, "Don"t touch me!" Billy seemed to have known he would react that way and he simply smiled, saying calmly, "I drugged Ham-sensei." It took a moment for Setsuna to process that... "You what?!" Setsuna yelled, losing all of his composure. From that look alone, Billy knew Setsuna had misunderstood what he had said. Chuckling, Billy explained, "Ham-sensei went to work even though he was sick. I took it upon myself to drug him so he could get some rest." Billy smirked and whispered on Setsuna"s ear, "I was checking his temperature when you entered. I wasn"t doing whatever it was you thought I was doing." Setsuna"s cheeks reddened at his words and he yelled, "What makes you think I wa-" Setsuna stiffened as Billy placed his forehead on his, smiling all the while as he said, "I was going like this. From a different angle, it looks like we"re doing something else, right?" Setsuna kept quiet, looking at the floor. Billy blinked and looked at Setsuna, concerned, "Seiei-kun, I believe you also have a fever." "What?" "Although, not as bad as Ham-sensei"s." Billy concluded, straightening, "But I still suggest going to the clinic. It is that time of the year." Setsuna"s eyes widened as Billy took him by the arm and began dragging him downstairs. His protest didn"t manage to leave his lips as he saw the unconscious body of Graham by the end of the stairs. Noticing the look on Setsuna"s face, Billy laughed once more, "As you can see, he still tried to get to your classroom even though the drugs were already working." "Idiot." Setsuna commented offhandedly. Billy took one of Graham"s arms to his shoulder while instructing Setsuna to take the other. Billy thought that Setsuna would say no and Billy was ready to beg when Setsuna quietly took his other arm without so much as a grunt. Billy smiled and they began dragging Graham"s body to the clinic. The clinic was on the other side of the school as it was stationed so that it would only be a walking distance from the gym and field. Billy, finding the silence a bit too much to take, tried to talk with Setsuna. "So... What were you thinking when you saw us?" Billy asked, turning to face Setsuna. Billy smiled as Setsuna seemed to pull Graham closer as if he was using Graham as a human shield against Billy. "I was... nothing..." Setsuna mumbled, earning a merry laugh from Billy. "Let me guess... The way you look back there and then your reaction to me... Hmmm..." Billy mused, "Probably... kiss?" Billy felt a part of Graham tense, most probably because the one carrying that side tensed, which Billy concluded that his allegation was right. With another soft chuckle, Billy said, "You have nothing to worry about, Seiei-kun." He heard Setsuna mumble something that sounds like "rumors" and Billy knew what Setsuna was talking about. Billy opened the door to the clinic as he replied to Setsuna"s mumble, "You mean the one where I and Ham-sensei are more than friends?" Once more, he was answered by another feeling of stiffness. Billy and Setsuna placed Graham on the bed and Billy turned towards the table as Setsuna stayed by Graham"s side, looking intently at Billy. Billy began to fill the necessary forms as the nurse seems to out of sight at the moment, "I"m also going to fill yours, Seiei-kun." "I don"t need it." Setsuna said curtly. "You shouldn"t wave off a fever. It might grow to something more disastrous." Billy said, placing the forms on the table. Billy turned to Setsuna and walked towards him, "Okay, down we go." Setsuna glared at Billy but let him sit him down on the bed next to Graham"s. Taking a pill from the first aid box, Billy turned to Setsuna and placed a plastic cup filled with water and a pill on his hands. Setsuna looked at them warily, earning another chuckle from Billy, "Now, now. That"s for the fever. Don"t make me give you a sleeping pill as well." Setsuna turned to face Billy and Billy knew that the boy still does not trust him. Billy smiled and sat next to Setsuna, "So, about the rumors..." "Not interested." Setsuna replied, popping the pill to his mouth and drinking the contents of the cup. Billy smiled but continued, "Has he ever told you he was an orphan as well?" Setsuna turned to Billy and shook his head. Billy chuckled, "Can"t blame him. It doesn"t really go with his "idiot façade", right?" "He"s orphaned?" Billy nodded, "My uncle, the one who raised me, personally knew his grandfather. I don"t know the details but from what I heard from them, his parents were involved in an accident and no one knew that his grandfather was still alive at that time. He was passed on to different institutions and foster families until his grandfather found him. That"s when I met him." "Why are you telling me this?" Setsuna asked. "Well, the first time I met him, he was you." Billy replied making Setsuna look at him with disbelief in his eyes. Billy chuckled, "It"s not my place to continue that story but..." Billy stood from Setsuna"s bed and made way to Graham"s bed. He stood on the other side and placed his hands on the side of the bed, "We aren"t friends." Setsuna winced as the bed creaked murderously against the floor as Billy began pushing the bed to Setsuna"s side. Billy stopped when the beds were only a few inches away from each other and smiled at Setsuna, "We"re a family." Billy pushed Setsuna to lie on the bed and smiled as he covered both of them with blankets, "Sleep tight, Seiei-kun. And if Graham does something in his sleep, don"t hesitate to punch him." Setsuna could only blankly stare at Billy as he left them alone in the clinic. Frowning, Setsuna turned to his side and saw Graham sleeping peacefully. Graham turned to face him as well but remained asleep, one hand throwing itself to the space that separates Setsuna and Graham. Setsuna stared at the hand as he heard Graham mumble in his sleep, "Shonen..." Biting his bottom lip, Setsuna slowly placed his hand on top of Graham"s hand. The moment his hand had touched Graham"s, Graham"s hand held his hand firmly yet gently. Setsuna turned to face Graham and saw the soft smile on his sleeping face as if he knew whose hand he was holding. A smile found its way to Setsuna"s face as well as he closed his eyes, squeezing Graham"s hand reassuringly. Even though he knew Graham may not hear him, Setsuna whispered, "Don"t stop..." ....... The nurse was in for a surprise when she came back as she noticed the sleeping forms of Setsuna and Graham. Finding the forms on the table, she blinked as she noticed a post-it on it. Written in Billy"s obvious handwriting were Don"t tell anyone... and picture it. -Billy Katagiri Without being said twice, the nurse took a couple of pictures of the sleeping couple. Graham had a smile on his face while Setsuna slept like a kitten, curled to his side, and their hands intertwined against the white sheet.

Katerine"s eyes were wide with horror, and one of the disembodied hands grasped a note - no doubt a note meant for one of the prisoners for her to be down there in the first place - a note that someone did not wish to reach the intended recipient. Channeling, Egwene brought the note from the dead woman"s hand to her own. She warded it and kept it in her belt pouch. No need for anyone else to know there had been a motive for such a vicious murder. She cast her eyes elsewhere. Felaana Bevaine, the Brown, lay on the floor, her eyes gazing unseeingly above a slit throat. Her leather-bound notebook was nowhere to be seen. Egwene braced herself for the worst as she stepped over Felaana"s immobile body to look into Leane"s cell. The lock seemed undisturbed, which in itself disturbed Egwene. Why would whichever Black sister who committed such a crime leave a witness behind? Egwene channeled through the lock and pushed open the iron latticework gate. Apparently the Black sister hadn"t needed to worry about leaving a witness behind, because Leane was draped over the washstand, the bubbled mirror shattered on the floor around her. Shards of the mirror were splattered with blood, and Leane hardly moved. No matter how "Talented" this Black sister was, there was no way she could have done that from outside the cell. This was self-inflicted. Egwene had to keep the tightest rein on herself of her life to keep from screaming at the top of her lungs. A/N: Dun, dun, DUN!!! It"s a nice way to start off a fic, don"t you think? This is my first Wheel of Time fic, and I"ve never written a fic about a book before, so please be understanding in your reviews if my writing style is not akin to Robert Jordan"s. Which brings me to my last point: REVIEW!!! Gnawing at the roots A Wheel of Time fic by Gigi. Chapter 2: So do I obey A/N: So I noticed after I posted the last chapter that I forgot to mention one thing: Egwene could channel more than just a trickle in this because, since the bodyguards were not there, she did not have her evening dose of forkroot. Egwene channeled through the lock and pushed open the iron latticework gate. Apparently the Black sister hadn"t needed to worry about leaving a witness behind, because Leane was draped over the washstand, the bubbled mirror shattered on the floor around her. Shards of the mirror were splattered with blood, and Leane hardly moved. No matter how "Talented" this Black sister was, there was no way she could have done that from outside the cell. This was self-inflicted. Egwene had to keep the tightest rein on herself of her life to keep from screaming at the top of her lungs. Egwene crept closer to the washstand, intending to use whatever skill she had with Delving to see if Leane could be saved, but there was no need. As soon as she came within two feet of Leane, the woman coughed and started to straighten from the stand. Egwene really did scream then, releasing the weave she had used to conceal herself. When she suddenly popped into view, Leane let out a small shriek of her own. Quicker than she ever had before, Egwene set a ward against eavesdropping around the two and inverted the weaves so nobody could tell it was there. "Leane," Egwene started anxiously, "what happened here? And why were you like that?" Leane was still cleaning herself up. She started calmly picking shards of glass from her sleeves - her face was calm, but her hands were shaking enough to make the task much more difficult than it should have been. "I heard screams coming from the main cellar," she answered in a clipped tone. "They weren"t scared screams. They were horrifying in themselves. The sounds of those having to watch people they know being tortured, and then being tortured themselves." Despite Leane"s best efforts at serenity, she shivered. "You weren"t tortured, were you?" Egwene asked, panicked. She could not afford to have a spooked Leane, too afraid or too weak to be any good. Egwene hated that she"d started thinking of people that way-simply to serve a purpose. Leane shook her head. Her cropped hair had grown out in her time in captivity. It was now down past her shoulders and curled softly at the ends. "No. I figured the only way they wouldn"t would be for them to think someone had already gotten to me." Leane held out her arm, which bore a gash that spanned half her forearm. Blood still dripped from it. "I needed it to be convincing," she said, wincing. "And it wouldn"t have been convincing without blood," Egwene finished for her. "I don"t have too much Talent for Healing, but maybe I could ease the bleeding and some of the pain." She reached to take hold of Leane"s head, but the Aes Sedai first walked around the room, making sure her blood dripped all around it. "I need it to be convincing," she repeated. "Obviously, I cannot be found here. They can think that I was killed and taken to feed the Trollocs that are no doubt gathered on the other side of the Shining Walls." Once Leane had bloodied up the room to her satisfaction, she allowed Egwene to Heal her as much as she could. It seemed that Egwene"s affinity for Healing, although small, had improved a great deal since her last attempt. The wound was closed and healed, and only a small, pink scar remained. "That is all very well, but that means you must walk these halls as a novice. You will disguise yourself using our weaves and ask to be entered into the novice book tomorrow morning. Hopefully, you will not remain a novice long, with your experience." Leane looked at her sideways. "I would not be so sure. I may have experience and years as an Aes Sedai on my side, but my ability to touch the Source was only partly Healed. I stand below most Aes Sedai in power now, save for a few and those who have not yet reached their full potential." Egwene shielded the both of them from sight as they started to make their way out of the open cells. "Just as well. If you advance to Acceptance as quickly as Elayne and I did, they will never let you go, and there is hardly a chance that they won"t detect how you mastered these weaves so long ago that you don"t even think of forming them." Egwene"s eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Perhaps a noblewoman from Arad Doman who wishes to teach novices the art of...persuasion." Leane"s face whipped toward her companion. "The art of persuasion, Mother?" Egwene looked at Leane from the corner of her eye. "Aes Sedai are masters at getting people to come around to their way of thinking, but it takes far too long for them to learn that certain skill. In order to keep the world safe and orderly, the White Tower must start training its students early in persuasion," she explained. "At least, that will be what you tell Elaida when you petition to see her tomorrow." Leane stopped in the middle of the hallway so suddenly that Egwene had proceeded for a few steps before realizing she was alone. When Egwene turned around, she saw that Leane was smiling at her, a proud smile. "Being Amyrlin Seat suits you," she mused. Then she curtsied. "As Mother commands," she started, "so do I obey." 8D Egwene lay on her pallet, staring at the drab, white ceiling. Night had fallen an hour ago, but there was no way she could have slept then. Her mind kept making up plans and discarding them, making up new plans and discarding those. Suddenly, she bolted to a seated position. In all the confusion she had completely forgotten she was supposed to meet the Hall in Tel"aran"rhiod that night. She darted to the small window she had in her room to check the moon"s position in the sky. The night was still young. There was a good chance the meeting hadn"t even started yet. Lying back down on the hard mattress, Egwene went through the practices of putting herself to sleep, just as the Wise Ones had taught her, and before long she was floating, bodiless in the World of Dreams. Envisioning the Little Tower in Salidar, Egwene opened her eyes to see Sheriam looking at her impatiently. "Finally!" her Keeper exclaimed. "We were starting to get worried you weren"t going to come, Mother." "Well, I"m here now," Egwene affirmed calmly. After checking herself-she was in a royal blue dress with silver embroidery along the modestly scooped neck and sleeves-she made the Amyrlin"s stole appear on her shoulders and nodded for Sheriam to begin the ceremony. "She comes," Sheriam began. "Watcher of the Seals, the Flame of Tar Valon, the Amyrlin Seat. She comes." She pounded her Keeper"s staff twice on the wooden floor before stepping aside to let Egwene proceed into the room. Egwene glided across the small common room, eyes straight ahead, to the Amyrlin Seat that was situated in the center of the semicircle of chairs and platforms. Stepping onto the seven-colored platform, Egwene turned and sat down in her chair, commanding silence just by her very demeanor. She spent a moment looking at individual Sitters and letting the silence settle in on each and every one of them before speaking. "Tonight, an event occurred in the open cells that forces us to change our approach, but before I disclose the happenings of the Tower, I ask that this be made a closed meeting of the Hall." Whispers rippled through the sisters as Lelaine hesitantly stood and wove a dome-like ward against eavesdropping over the common room. Egwene cleared her throat softly, but it was enough to capture everyone"s attention once more. "Katerine Alruddin of the Red Ajah was torn apart and nailed to the wall of the open cells while she was attempting to deliver a note to a prisoner," Egwene stated calmly. "Katerine was one of the sisters who allied herself with the Shaido Aiel and aided in the attempt to capture Rand al"Thor." She did not have to say what Rand was. They all knew. "I have suspected Katerine was part of the Black Ajah--" a shiver ran through the room, but everyone had gotten used to saying those two words by now-- "for quite some time, and this confirmed my suspicion." Egwene produced the note from her imagination. She had read it so many times after she left Leane to prepare that she had memorized it. The note was simply for the Sitters. "Its addressee was smeared by the blood from her rather messy death, but the message reads clearly: "I am going to tell the Great Mistress that I no longer wish to serve her. I have long since discovered she will never grant us eternal life and power, but after what she made me do to my sister, I can not afford anymore to hope that someday she will. There is a good chance I will not be able to live past my resignation, and for that reason, I wanted you to know that Elza Penfell will be able to help you finish your assignment concerning your rebel cellmate." The Sitters for the Green Ajah let out a collective gasp at the mention of Elza, one of their own from Andor. And it soothed no pains that the "assignment concerning your rebel cellmate" obviously referred to Leane, who had joined the Green when she could channel once more. "Faiselle," Egwene addressed the Green Sitter, "where is Elza Penfell now?" Faiselle stood slowly on shaky feet. "In Andor, visiting her ailing cousin, Mother." "I think it is safe to say that she is hardly visiting any cousin, wouldn"t you think, Faiselle?" "I think so, Mother," Faiselle agreed faintly. "I do, however, know she was in Andor just yesterday. I got a few pigeons from some of my eyes-and-ears in Andor saying they had seen her go into an inn where already quite a few sisters were staying." "That is very useful information, Faiselle," Egwene approved. "You will need to send a few sisters-not your strongest, but not the weakest either-to Andor to handle her and make sure she comes back to the camp. I want this to be done with by our next meeting in three days." "Yes, Mother," Faiselle bobbed before almost falling back into her seat. Malind Nachenin of the Green Ajah then stood up. "Excuse me, Mother, but if Leane Sharif is in obvious danger, should we not start to plan an escape for her?" "Leane has already been removed from the cells," Egwene assured. "However, she will not be returning to the camp. She will remain disguised in the Tower for a time and give assistance where needed." Lelaine suddenly stood, abandoning all ceremony, and announced, "Someone has just tried to penetrate the warding, and it was inverted. I suggest we adjourn now." Without waiting for an answer, Lelaine popped out of sight, followed closely by Romanda, Kwamesa, Varilin and the other sitters. Egwene stayed. She waited until every last Sitter had gone before calling out, "You may come out Leane." The woman obeyed, stepping out from behind a very large table. "Your timing was impeccable. They did not have time to bicker and discuss your return to the camp, which is all the better. The less argument, the better." "How did the rest of the meeting go?" Leane asked, weaving her own ward against eavesdropping. "Well enough," Egwene answered, eyeing Leane askance. Something was off about her. Her hair was still cropped, as if it had never grown out at all. Without letting the other woman know what she was doing, Egwene readied a weave to cut someone off from the Source and concentrated on Leane"s hand. Something about it was...immaterial. Then she saw it. The color on Leane"s hand suddenly flickered before going back to normal. Pale skin had shown through the illusion of Domani skin. Egwene"s shield slammed in place, as did bands of Air to bind the Black sister. "Hello, Temaile," Egwene said in a sickly sweet voice. "Aren"t you supposed to be in Caemlyn?" Temaile"s fear-filled eyes bobbed up and down as she nodded fervently. "I have a little message I would like you to deliver." What Temaile didn"t know was that the shield blocking her from the True Source was completely and forever impenetrable. It wasn"t a shield. It was a stilling. "I"m sure you"ll put every last ounce of effort you have into making sure it is delivered to the right person, now that you need something to motivate you to stay alive." Later that night, Temaile woke up in her dungeon cell sobbing. A/N: I hope you realize this whole really fast updating thing is not going to last, but I really wanted to get this second installment finished. So please, REVIEW! Gnawing at the roots A Wheel of Time fic by Gigi. Chapter 3: Finding a Purpose A/N: So I"m finally updating this, which is such a relief to me. I"m reading The Gathering Storm bit by bit at my bookstore, because I really don"t want to pay thirty dollars for a book that"s hardback, thus throwing off my entire collection of his books. I need my balance. Anyway, I"m really in a Wheel of Time mood, so I hope you are, too. Enjoy! Leane had spent the night in an inn just outside the Tower grounds, wearing a disguise that only vaguely resembled her true appearance, making it rather difficult to retain. Her hair, instead of her own dark, shoulder-length locks, hung in short ringlets of brown tinged with red and gold. It was a unique color, but her sister had such hair, so it was legitimate enough for a Domani woman. If there were anyone"s example to follow when teaching the art of seduction, it would be her sister, Marlene"s. Almost from her nameday, Marlene"d had suitors tail after her all day. Making her skin darker and her eyes larger, Leane found the weave easier to hold with every passing hour as the lingering effects of her last dose of forkroot before the attack slowly wore away. By the next morning, after going to sleep with a tied-off semblance of her disguise from the day, she"d regained almost all of her strength, especially after eating a hearty meal from the homely innkeeper. As soon as she finished her breakfast, she paid the innkeeper with money from a small account she"d managed to hide in a secret pocket in her dress. Checking her remaining money, she saw she had enough money to buy a new dress. Maintaining a weave on clothing could be sloppy business, as it was very subject to flicker the true garments underneath, and a Domani woman petitioning the Amyrlin to teach the novices very well couldn"t be wearing a dull brown woolen dress. That type of dress would announce to the Tower that, despite her disguised features, Leane was free from the cells. On her way out of the inn, Leane glanced at the clock sitting on the mantelpiece of the common room - clocks may have been considered a luxury in any other city inn, but almost all Tar Valon inns had at least one. She wouldn"t have time to get a dress made, and hardly any store would sell already constructed clothes; that would be wasteful. Leane heaved a deep breath and stepped out into the streets of Tar Valon. Leane walked into the first shop she encountered and quickly scoped out the seamstress herself. The woman was slender, about Leane"s size, which was fortunate, with pale yellow hair that hung down her back in a thick, intricate braid. Her large blue eyes sat well with her small nose and rosebud mouth, which spread into a warm smile upon seeing Leane. "Good morning, my Lady," she greeted. There was a slight hesitation in adding the title, because while Leane"s face and carriage conveyed nobility, her drab woolen dress most certainly did now. Nodding in acceptance, Leane allowed a small smile of her own. "Good morning," she replied. "I am in urgent need of a dress. I am on my way to speak to the Amyrlin, and last night my room was broken into while I was at dinner. So now I am left in my last and rattiest travel dress, and there would be no dignity in addressing her in this." The seamstress nodded thoughtfully, understanding and relief flashing in her eyes at having addressed her correctly. "I hope you can help me. I have no time to get a dress made, you see." Realization made those large blue eyes widen ever so slightly. Buying the dress off a woman"s back was hardly proper, but nevertheless, the woman cocked her head to the side in consideration. "Under normal circumstances, I would never ask such a thing, but I would be more than willing to compensate for your troubles," Leane added. "I can pay you the price of sewing a new dress if you would be so kind as to let me purchase yours." After a few more seconds deliberating the woman finally nodded. "Okay," she affirmed. "Let"s go in the back and see if any alterations need to be made." 8D Egwene had two new Red attendants following her today. Katerine, obviously, was no longer available to watch "that al"Vere girl," from sunup to sundown. What happened to the other Red, the Tairen, Egwene could only imagine, though, out of the two possibilities she had in mind, neither were quite pleasant to think about. When Egwene entered the dining hall, the novices were all abuzz with the news of the disaster in the open cells. Apparently, those who had discovered the scene had very little grasp on the concept of discretion and had allowed it to become common knowledge. Internally, Egwene tsked at the poor handling of the problem. Bigger events had been sealed to the Hall, more catastrophic occurrences had been hidden from the novices, the Accepted and the majority of the sisters in order to prevent a panic. As she passed by the girls all clad in white, she picked up on the air of unease that surrounded every table. A hundred girls, children, in a panic would do absolutely no good to the situation in the Tower. They needed to be handled before the situation progressed to such a state. A novice stood next to Egwene"s usual seat, marked by a battered cushion, holding a tray with Egwene"s breakfast. Egwene smiled in appreciation, moved aside the cushion and took her seat at the wooden table. The novice, Alrenne, set down the tray in front of her and bobbed a curtsy before moving to sit at her own place. She stopped, however, and quietly approached her again. "Mother," she addressed softly, "there has been talk of an attack on some of the sisters down in the open cells." Egwene motioned for the girl to sit. This was not a conversation to be had standing up. One needed support when discussing something so grave as this. "Yes, there was an attack." "Does that mean that the...the Black Ajah really exists?" Alrenne"s voice dropped to a whisper for the last half of her question, as if saying the name would bring a Black sister down on her. "This attack proves nothing, child," Egwene said sternly, "only that everyone should tread more carefully." "Then do you know who was behind it?" Alrenne pressed. This gave Egwene pause as she debated what exactly to tell her. "I have my theories, but I fear the reason behind the attack should be of more concern than the who." "The reason, Mother?" "Any of the rumors that have sprouted because of this will indicate that it was relatively small-scaled, an aimed assault with a purpose," Egwene answered solemnly. "Until we root out that purpose and resolve it, the attacks will not cease, no matter how many of the offenders we catch." Alrenne left soon after to go to her first class, leaving Egwene alone to contemplate her own words. She was right in assuming there would be another attack. She just hoped that others, Elaida and the Hall in particular, would be so wise as to assume the same. A/N: There you go. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, but I really won"t know until you press that pretty button and REVIEW!

a voice in her head whispered to her. Oh, God. Trying to get the thought out of her mind, she squeaked, "Edward"s in the bathroom." Oh, how she hoped he hadn"t noticed how strangled she"d sounded. He had. "Oh," he choked out gruffly, trying to disguise the wanting in his voice with a yawn. "I guess I"ll just wait for him to come out then." He still hadn"t turned around. Sighing in exasperation, or what she hoped passed for exasperation, Nancy flopped onto the bed. "Why won"t you look at me?" she asked bluntly. Again, she was a New Yorker. She thought she saw Robert tighten a little. A slight clenching of the fist; a tension in the shoulders only just increasing; his head sinking just a tad lower into himself. Not something everybody would see. No, only someone who"d known him for five and a half years would know what to look for. What was he hiding? Robert"s eyes clenched shut at her words. So she"d noticed after all. Well, that was one of the reasons he"d started going out with her in the first place, besides the fact she was drop-dead gorgeous and only seemed to grow more so. She was smart. Quick to observe. She could solve a blacksmith"s puzzle in a heartbeat. Not that she"d ever tried. Slowly turning in her direction, Robert unclenched his fists and held his hands up in what he hoped looked like a nonchalant pose. "What do you mean?" Nancy scrutinized him for a few seconds. Those few seconds seemed like and eternity to Robert. Had she figured it out? She seemed to not think it worth it, because after examining him, she shrugged it off. "Never mind." Nothing was said for a full minute, when Edward emerged from the bathroom, all ready for bed. "Sorry for taking so long," he apologized to Robert, who watched as his guest made his way to Nancy and give her a kiss. "You look lovely tonight, darling." Robert tried not to glower as he watched her blush delicately and giggle that she was in her pajamas. Nancy glanced over to her ex-boyfriend and was surprised to see his glare. "The bathroom"s free now," she helpfully pointed out. "Oh, yeah, thanks," he replied absentmindedly, walking into the bathroom. Locking the door behind him, Robert leaned against it and closed his eyes. What was going on? Why was he so jealous of Edward? Why was he suddenly so obsessed with Nancy? Was he falling in love with her again? No. He couldn"t do that to Giselle. He"d already done it once to Nancy, and that hurt look in her eyes didn"t escape his mind for weeks. He would never get Giselle"s big princess eyes out of his head if he hurt her that much. God, why was it so hard for him to choose?If he went back to Nancy, not only would he break two very sweet people"s hearts, but he would be breaking up a marriage. If he went back to Giselle, well, he would never know. He hated not knowing. By the time he"d finished brushing his teeth and flossing, it was almost midnight. It wasn"t until then that he realized he and Giselle had completely forgotten about WIcked! He"d have to make it up to her somehow. Well, he certainly wasn"t doing a good job of it. Robert walked out into the living room with every intention of apologizing to Giselle for being such a sucky boyfriend lately. But he paused as he passed the couch. Edward and Nancy were both fast asleep. She was cradled protectively in his arms, and he clutched her as if she was his lifeline. They truly looked perfect together. This was completely unfair. Why was Nancy so at peace with herself? Even after he told her he"d intended to propose to her? Did he really think that should have made a difference? He was so confused! Robert forgot anybody was there and started to thump his head on the wall repeatedly. Until a voice stopped him. A musical voice. Like chimes in the wind. "Robert?" He spun around at the call, his eyes focusing on Nancy, sitting up on the bed. "Sorry," he stammered. "I didn"t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep." "Robert, what"s wrong?" she queried, her face showing concern even in the darkness. He felt guilty that she still cared enough to worry about him after what he did to her. "Nothing, I just forgot to do something," he excused. "F-for Giselle," he added on belatedly. "Do you want to talk about it?" Nancy asked after a minute. "Whatever it is that"s bothering you...you"ve been acting weird for a while now. Do you want to go to Morgan"s room?" Sighing in defeat, Robert agreed and waited for Nancy to wriggle out of the bed and walk to him. She was right in front of him before he realized he"d been watching her hips sway side to side. He was a confused, sick man. "Won"t Edward be worried if he wakes up to find you not there?" Robert asked, desperately clawing for some form of sensitivity to pay for his perverted mind. Nancy just waved him off. "Eddy sleeps like a log. He won"t notice. I actually slip out for about an hour every night to walk in the gardens and by the pond near the palace. He"s never once woken up." She started making her way through the apartment. She still knew everything about it. That was oddly comforting somehow, for them both. Noticing he wasn"t following her, she paused. "Coming?" Robert stopped staring at her hips again and quickly caught up with Nancy. Once they were situated across from each other on the bed, Nancy quickly jumped to the subject. They hadn"t lit any lamps, not wanting to wake anyone, so their only illumination was the moonlight streaming through the window. "So, spill. What"s up?" Nancy insisted. Her skin was pebbling a little from the chill of the room. Maybe a tank top wasn"t the smartest idea. Not that she"d had any idea they would be talking in the middle of the night. "Or would you like to flesh out your earlier excuse of having forgotten something?" "Well, I really did forget something," he defended. "What, then?" "Giselle and I were supposed to see Wicked tonight. She"d been waiting for weeks for me to have a free night to take her, and, when you two dropped in, it sort of slipped my mind." "W-Wicked?" Nancy repeated, sounding a little shaken, though Robert couldn"t place why. Why was she being so sensitive about this? She shouldn"t be jealous he was taking Giselle to her show! Okay, so it wasn"t technically her show, but she had been a major contributor to designing and constructing most of the costumes. In fact, she was very good friends with the original Elphaba and Galinda. How could he not remember? Granted, it was about five years ago, just after they"d started dating. But all the same, it was one of her greatest achievements and he"dforgotten it! Nancy was shaking, but she hadn"t realized it. Robert thought she was cold, so he moved to warm her arms up with his hands. The shock of those hands finding home once again on her arms jolted Nancy out of her blind fury. She looked up into his eyes and saw genuine concern in them and...relief? She didn"t really spend too much time pondering the relief when he started moving his hands up and down her arms, trying to warm them up. She never tore her eyes away from Robert"s as she felt the familiarity of it all. All the times he"d comforted her just like he was now. He could always tell when she was uneasy. She felt herself sliding back into that time as her eyes started drifting closed. Robert watched her eyes close in comfort. Her eyes acted as sort of a wake up call. As soon as she"d broken eye contact, he"d remembered who this was. His hands paused for the slightest moment before it occurred to him she didn"t know why it would be improper for him to be doing this and he quickly resumed stroking her arms. He hoped she hadn"t noticed. She had. And it had been enough to wake her up as well. Jolting her head upright--it hand ended up on his shoulder somehow. She wasn"t sure when exactly that had happened--her eyes shot open. Trying to recover from her slip up, Nancy cleared her throat and looked clearly into his eyes again. Robert was a little worried when Nancy looked back at him, a glint of determination evident in her eyes even in the dark. "So, aside from taking Giselle to see Wicked, what has been bothering you so much?" she demanded. He hesitated. Then she did. "Do I want to know?" she asked uncertainly. "If it"s a...man...problem, I"m sure Eddy could help you with...that," she stuttered. Wow, she had a sick mind. "Oh,God, no it"s no--" a brilliant idea suddenly sprung into Robert"s mind. It was the perfect way to get out of telling Nancy what (or who) exactly was bothering him--"It"s not that. But it is more of a guy to guy kind of conversation, I guess." Somehow, she couldn"t believe him. Nancy was gripped with the feeling whatever was bothering him had something to do with her. They had had an eventful day. Suddenly it all made sense. "Oh, I know what it is," she admitted. Robert"s face whipped to hers, incredulous. Oh, please don"t let her have found out. "I know we said some...harsh...things to each other today," she began, "but I honestly don"t see how this whole roomies thing is going to work out if we can"t find some way to forgive each other." Relieved, Robert let himself unclench. Then he heard what she had said. "Each other? What did you do to me?" "I kind of threw the fact I was happily married in your face to make you jealous. It was petty and immature and I"m very sorry," Nancy apologized. She really had changed much since moving to Andalasia. But then again, not so much. She still had the New York accent and definitely the stubbornness of a true New Yorker. But she was much gentler now. Not that she"d been a beast. Far from it. She had been as tender as a...he couldn"t think of what to compare her to back then. But now, she was an angel. An angel who was keeping a lot of feelings buried deep down inside of her. He"d heard some of those feelings come up in her apology, not to mention he"d felt them when he was comforting her. "No, you shouldn"t be sorry. You did nothing wrong. What I did was awful. I never meant to hurt you so often and so badly," he replied. Nancy smiled tentatively at their newly reinstated friendship. Robert smiled back and pulled her in for a hug, shocking them both. Almost instinctively, as if out of habit, Nancy"s eyes drifted closed as she inhaled the man"s intoxicating scent. Simultaneously, Robert unconsciously buried his face in her thick black locks, savoring the smell of her fruity shampoo. 8D Just like every morning, Nancy woke up at the crack of dawn. It was a good thing there was no jet lag between New York and Andalasia, otherwise she"d be completely dead to the world. And completely unaware of the compromising position she"d ended up in. It seemed as if she and Robert had fallen asleep in Morgan"s bedroom. She was curled up on her side, with Robert curled around her, clutching her possessively to him. As much as she"d wanted to stay with Robert and indulge in old memories, Nancy was married, and he had a girlfriend. They couldn"t be seen in a position such as this. She thanked God that nobody else was awake in the apartment and tried to slip out of Robert"s protective grip and sidle out of the room as quietly as possible, yet also as quickly as possible. After emerging from Morgan"s room, Nancy decided this would probably be the best time to shower. No one else was around to watch her strip, as she was sure someone had yesterday. Nancy leaned over her gorgeous husband, who was clutching a pillow he thought was his wife and drooling a bit from his open mouth, and smiled. He really was adorable when he was asleep. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek as a morning greeting before grabbing some clothes and heading for the shower. She closed the curtains and turned on the shower, letting the warm water rush over her. Running her hands through her thick hair, she started to work the shampoo into it, getting all the tangles out. Although she wasn"t a queen in this world, it was still important to look her best. Look your best for who? a snide voice whispered in her head. Eddy or Rob? The thought shocked her so much that she hadn"t heard the door open. A/N: So are you guys proud of me? 6 pages! In one day! Along with tons of homework and dance practice and Gilmore Girls. I"d say that"s pretty damn good! Review and tell me what you think! Oh, and don"t forget to vote for your favorite pairings! We Meet Again AnEnchanted fic by Gigi Summary: Nancy is Queen of Andalasia now and happily married to Edward. But what happens when she visits New York and runs into Robert and Giselle? Chapter 5: Shower Scares A/N: So, I"m all about updating this story apparently. I really haven"t updated the others since 2007, which is bad of me, I know. But I"ve been in the best mood for this one, BECAUSE IT CAME OUT ON DVD! The thought shocked her so much that she hadn"t heard the door open. The next thing Nancy knew, the shower curtain was opening. She squealed in embarrassment and grabbed the shower curtain, wrapping it around her body before whoever it was could see her naked. Why? If it"s one of the guys, well, they"ve both seen me naked, she thought. Turning her attention back on the intruder, she felt she should have been more surprised at who it turned out to be. Either way, her voice sounded shaken enough from the cold to be taken for shock. "H-Hey, Robert..." she forced out through shattering teeth, before actually looking at him. Then her eyes started bugging out and shewas in shock. 8D Robert felt his jaw drop when he saw just who was in the shower. He hadn"t realized there was someone in the shower, he was so absorbed in his own thoughts. Well, a snide voice in his head sounded, there"s no chance she didn"t notice me this time! "Hi..." he trailed off, drinking in the sight before him. Nancy, wrapped in a shower curtain, dripping wet with her long hair plastered all over her body. He tried his damnedest to control himself when she started biting her lip, considering it would be a tad difficult to hide his attraction in his current naked state. Oh. My. God. Realization hit him full force. He"d forgotten he"d already undressed for the shower. I"mnaked! Completely stark naked! Letting out a rather girlish scream, Robert lunged for the nearest towel to cover at least his lower half. Nancy could hardly contain her laughter, the giggles fighting to escape her firmly shut mouth. "Stop it," Robert mumbled. "Hello, old friend!" Nancy teased. "Long time no see." "I said stop it," he repeated. "Sorry," Nancy answered, trying to subdue her laughter. "Thank you." "So do you mind telling me why you opened the shower buck naked while I was taking one?" she queried. "I didn"t realize anybody was in there," Robert admitted. "I kinda wasn"t paying attention." "Oh. Okay." Nancy shrugged it off and gestured to the rack behind him. "Would you mind handing me a towel?" Robert complied. "Now would you mind turning around while I dry my hair?" "Why would I need to turn around?" "Because I still don"t like to waste towels, so unless you would like to see me naked for like fifteen minutes while I dry my hair, turn around," Nancy ordered, every bit a queen, except for the whole naked thing, which actually sounded really appealing to Robert right about then. Of course, he didn"t want Nancy knowing that or seeing what would definitely be a problem for him if he watched her, so he gallantly turned his back on his ex-girlfriend. Nancy didn"t realize that Robert could just see her reflection in the mirror from the corner of his eyes. In an extremely disturbing way, Robert was actually proud of himself. He"d managed to peep right in front of her without her noticing. He had to bite his lip--hard--when she bent over to finish towel drying her hair. He didn"t stop biting until he tasted the coppery flavor of blood. Thankfully, by then, she had finished her hair and wrapped herself in the towel. "Thank you for not looking," Nancy smiled. Even without makeup she was gorgeous. All Robert could do was nod weakly. She started making her way out of the room when something...strange was the only word to describe it...caused a floor tile to tilt up ever so slightly. Slight as it was, it was enough to make Nancy trip into Robert. Her momentum carried them out the slightly ajar door, banging it open, and onto the floor, with her on top of him. Robert was struck with an uncanny sense of deja vu when he saw their position. If she had been giggling, it would have been just like last time. Instead, she had buried her face in his chest in mortification. Just like last time? Yeah right. Other than the fact that it was Nancy on top of him instead of finding him, they found, much to their horror, that they couldn"t keep away from each other. Literally. Nancy had tried to get up several times, and it seemed every time, something caused her to slip or her arms to give out and crash back into him. It was almost like they were attracted to each other like magnets. They were literally joined at the hip. Not only that, but they were stuck in that position until Giselle or Edward woke up and helped them up. Oh, crap,both minds thought simultaneously. A/N: Okay, it"s a shortie, but I totally love this twist. What do you think? Review PLEASE! We Meet Again An Enchanted fic by Gigi Summary: Nancy is Queen of Andalasia now and happily married to Edward. But what happens when she visits New York and runs into Robert and Giselle Chapter 6: Caught A/N: So, the plot thickens! I guess this is a Nancy/Robert fic thus far. Who knows? Maybe I"ll zag when you think I"ll zig! Keep those reviews coming! Too mortified to say anything, Nancy kept her face buried in Robert"s chest. This is way too embarrassing, she thought. Thank God my towel didn"t come undone! Indeed, her towel was the only thing between his naked chest and hers, and Nancy couldn"t be more relieved it was between them. That would be even harder to explain! 8D The banging door woke both Giselle and Edward up. Bang! Giselle jolted awake, terrified after a nightmare where Narissa had returned. She"d been having the same nightmare for weeks now and it was starting to fray her nerves. Are my nightmares coming to life? Thankfully, no. But she couldn"t see Robert anywhere in their room. Quickly reaching out to get a robe, Giselle scrambled--gracefully--to get out of the bed and the room. She passed the mussed up couch. So, the lovebirds have awoken, she thought with some bite. She saw Edward standing in the hallway in his pajamas, staring down at something. Giselle joined him and was about to ask what he was doing when she saw what he was staring at--or rather who he was staring at. There, on the ground, was Robert. On top of him was Nancy. They were both in just towels, but only her hair was damp. Giselle felt her eyes starting to water. What was going on? "--please help us! We can"t separate from each other!" Nancy cried with some urgency in her voice. She was scared. But not of being caught. Curious. "What"s going on?" Giselle finally asked. "I was in the shower," Nancy began. "And I was going to take a shower," Robert added. "And then as I was getting out to let him shower, I tripped on something," Nancy amended, but her voice had taken on a confused tone. "Something that wasn"t there." "Anyway," Robert continued, his voice carrying the same tone, "she fell and knocked me down. We can"t get away from each other though. Each time we try, something always stops us from getting away from each other." "So can you both please help us up?" Nancy pleaded. "But don"t separate us!" "What happens if you"re separated?" Edward inquired. "I don"t know exactly what, but it usually ends up being painful," Nancy answered. "It either physically hurts to be apart or something happens to make us come back together in a crash of some sort," Robert clarified. "But enough about that, can you please help us get up and dressed? Morgan will be here any minute!" Mentioning Morgan woke everybody up. They"d all forgotten about the sweet little six year old. Hurriedly, Edward grabbed Nancy gently by the shoulders while Giselle levered her hands underneath Robert"s shoulders. "One," Edward began counting. "Two. Three." Giselle and Edward heaved as they got the two up on their feet. And instantly ran to each other"s arms, clutching their heads. "Headache?" "Yes," both Robert and Nancy answered. "But you were only about a foot apart," Giselle pointed out. "God, I hope it doesn"t last this way forever," Nancy cried into Robert"s shoulder. "And ever," Edward and Giselle finished simultaneously. "So how are we going to do this?" Robert asked. "Do what?" the raven-haired beauty queried. "If we have to be less than a foot apart at a time, how will we do everyday things? Like going to the bathroom, showering, sleeping--" "You, sir, are not sleeping with my wife!" Edward declared gallantly. "The privilege to cuddle up next to this angel falls with the husband. Me!" Robert almost laughed at his misinterpretation of the common misinterpretation. Robert had actually meant sleeping next to Nancy. But that is usually taken as sleeping with as in canoodling with Nancy. But Edward thought it was sleeping next to Nancy. It was a vicious circle of misinterpretation. Quite comical, really. "I"m not saying I want to, Edward," Robert clarified. "I just have to." Nancy"s head whipped around to glare. "So I"m just that painful to lie next to?" Robert realized just what he had said a tad too late. Groaning, he dropped his head onto Nancy"s shoulder, just as she had done with him. "He is right," she said to her husband. "We won"t have any privacy like this. Sorry, sweetie." Edward"s crushed face made Nancy"s heart melt.

Pete and Addison jerked awake when the alarm chirped, signaling it had been disabled. Addison slid off the couch-and Pete-and straightened her dress. "Okay, so how do we get out of here without Dell seeing us?" "Well, for one," Pete started, sitting up, "you don"t wear your heels when you try to sneak out." Addison froze halfway bent over. She had one of her stilettos in her hand. "And secondly, you tiptoe as fast as you can to the stairs." "And what happens if he sees us?" "He"ll smirk and lock us in the Dell Vault again, probably," Pete joked. Addison slapped him on the arm. "Will you stop it? I"m being serious!" she admonished, but Addison couldn"t hide the smile that was working its way on her face. "Look," Pete said, grabbing hold of each of Addison"s arms, "I don"t know what happens if Dell sees us. Just make sure he doesn"t, and then we won"t have a problem." "Okay," Addison agreed. She poked her head out of her office to make sure the coast was clear. Dell still had his back turned toward her, so she and Pete started to walk as quietly as they could through the hallway toward the stairs. "I saw your cars parked outside, you know," Dell declared, still not looking at the two doctors. Addison looked at Pete and saw the same guilt she felt mirrored in his eyes. Brushing her hair out of her face, Addison summoned all the dignity she could muster when she asked, "What?" Dell turned around to face them. "I knew you were here when I saw your cars parked outside." "Well, technically, I drive a motorcycle," Pete clarified. Addison rolled her eyes at him. "I don"t think that"s the main point he"s trying to make right now," she said. Dell took in their mussed up clothes and realized they were the same as from the day before. "Were you here all night?" He had a look in his eye that more than suggested what he was really asking. "We fell asleep in my office," Addison answered, not letting Pete speak. "You had turned the alarm on by the time we woke up, and we didn"t know the code." Pete opened his mouth to chime in, earning him an elbow in the ribs and a warning look from Addison. "So we waited until you came and turned off the alarm, and now we"re on our way home to change." She started nudging Pete toward the elevator. "We"ll be back soon." As soon as the elevator doors closed, Pete started talking again. "What was that?" "What was what?" Addison asked, searching for something in her bag and coming up with a compact mirror. She started to examine her appearance while Pete answered her. "You didn"t let me speak at all!" he said. "You just made it twice as obvious we were up to so--" Addison cut him off with a gasp, slapping one hand to her neck and using the other hand to slap Pete on the arm. "You gave me a hickey!" "Hey, stop hitting me!" Pete took hold of both her hands, keeping them at her side. "And personally, I like the hickey," he stated in a huskier voice. "Why? Because it"s definitely not professional to--" This time, Addison was cut off when Pete kissed her softly. "Because then people know you"re mine," Pete finally said, pressing the STOP button the elevator and kissing her again. A/N: So what did you think? Please review! Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 3: My Own Worst Enemy A/N: This chapter is dedicated to ppplily for telling me to get off my heiney and keep writing! Addison looked at herself in the mirror, trying to steady her nerves. Twelve hours ago, she had been feeling absolutely abysmal because she couldn"t have the man she wanted. Now, while she hadn"t completely forgotten about Noah, she thought she might have completely stopped falling for him. The redhead arched her neck to the right, checking to see that she had successfully hidden the hickey from last night under a few layers of foundation. When she was satisfied, she arched her neck to the left and set to work on the hickey that had bloomed this morning from her and Pete"s make-out session in the elevator. Addison blushed just thinking that they had stayed in that elevator for ten minutes kissing like teenagers, and she prayed that Tilly hadn"t come in for work at that time. XD Addison and Pete arrived to work at the same time, making polite conversation while waiting for the elevator. When the elevator doors opened to reveal an empty cabin, Pete wiggled his eyebrows at Addison, smiling. Laughing at his flirting, Addison declared, "I think I"ll take the stairs this morning." While she was walking away, she could have sworn she heard Pete murmur, "Or else you"ll run out of make-up," under his breath. XD The smile that had been on Addison"s face for most of the morning slid off her face when she became aware of another person in her office. Noah stood when Addison entered her office, watching her happy expression turn into one of apprehension and discomfort. "Addison," he began. "No," Addison forestalled, holding her hand up to keep him from talking anymore. "I can"t do this anymore, Noah," she confessed. She couldn"t bear to look in his eyes, knowing he would be using that lost puppy look her ex-husband had also employed when they were together. "I"m not going to be the woman who breaks up a marriage, who breaks up a family, just because she is lonely. I told you before that I"ve been where you are, and I took that incredibly stupid step. I have regretted taking that step every single day since then. If I hadn"t cheated, my husband would never have gone to Seattle; he never would have fallen in love with someone else, and we would still be married and living in New York. I still would have been in love and he would have had a chance to make up for his own mistakes. I"m the one who screwed up and made my life unhappy for almost two years. I was the culprit." Noah opened his mouth to say something, but Addison cut him off once again. "No, let me finish. I"m not going to let you take that step and ruin all you have going for you, not with me at least. From now on, the only involvement I have in your marriage is delivering your child. Other than that, I"m out." "What changed?" he demanded a few minutes after Addison concluded her speech. "What changed in the time between when we talked and when Morgan came to see you?" "For one, she thought we were sleeping together," Addison snapped, not bothering to go into the details. She just wanted him out of her office. "What?" The heart surgeon looked visibly shaken. "She thought we were sleeping together," she repeated. "Imagine how much pain that must have caused her. My heart wanted to break when I saw the woman who I had gotten so close to over the past few months suddenly look at me with such hurt in her eyes. I hated that you put me in that position." "She...she knows?" Addison wanted to hit him on the head with a medical dictionary. "No!" she yelled. "I didn"t lie to her. I told her I was not sleeping with you, and you have no idea how thankful I am that I didn"t." The OB/GYN thanked her stars that she hadn"t while she walked across her office and held open the door. "Now, if you could please leave, I have patients," she requested softly, still avoiding eye contact. Pete stood in the kitchen, watching Addison open the door and Noah trudge out, defeated. As soon as Noah hit the lobby, Pete darted out of the kitchen and to Addison"s side, enveloping her in a strong hug while she cried silently into his shirt. "That hurt more than I expected it to," she admitted, her cracked voice muffled by Pete"s chest. "I know," Pete comforted, rubbing her back softly. "I couldn"t even look him in the eye. I pretty much called him a horrible person and told him I was glad I never slept with him," Addison cried. She moved her hands from in front of her to around his waist and hugged him even tighter. "I should have let him fall on his own, instead of completely pushing him off the building. It hurts less that way." Pete broke the hug and looked Addison straight in the eye. "If you let him fall on his own, you would have fallen right along with him. You had no reason to fall. He needed that push to realize he"s being an ass to his wife. In a year, he"ll thank you for not letting him make this mistake." Addison nodded and hugged him again, her face resting on his shoulder. "You"re good at the comforting thing, you know?" she whispered. Addison felt Pete"s entire body shake as he laughed and wrapped his arms around her. "I know." XD In the kitchen, Violet was reaching to get some yogurt from the fridge when she saw Pete embrace Addison. She knew they had grown extremely close in the last year, but never had she witnessed a more intimate interaction between the two. They were only hugging, true, but years as a shrink had taught Violet to see the difference between friendly comforting and the other kind of comforting. A/N: So I whipped this out in about an hour, so please tell me what you think? Should I write over more than an hour or was this pretty good quality? REVIEW! Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 4: Here A/N: I really should just have it written in the summary: DEDICATED TO PPPLILY FOR REMINDING ME WHY I WRITE FICS. And for kicking my ass into updating. In the kitchen, Violet was reaching to get some yogurt from the fridge when she saw Pete embrace Addison. She knew they had grown extremely close in the last year, but never had she witnessed a more intimate interaction between the two. They were only hugging, true, but years as a shrink had taught Violet to see the difference between friendly comforting and the other kind of comforting. Violet couldn"t get that hug out of her head. Yesterday, Pete was declaring his love for her, making this grandiose speech about how he"s not a guy who fights but he should have fought for her. Yeah, because that"s how you fight for a girl, she thought bitterly. She knew that wasn"t fair. She remembered that she had been the one who turned him down-she got that. What she didn"t get is how he was able to move on so quickly, and with a woman he"d never been able to start up a relationship with despite many attempts. She knew that wasn"t fair either. One of those attempts had failed because he"d been at Violet"s house having a therapy session. Violet could have been the bigger person back then and told him to confide in Addison instead. That way she"d know they weren"t together just for the sex. But that had also been the night Cooper refused to have meaningless sex with her, and Violet had needed some comforting of her own. Bringing her thoughts back to the current situation, Violet the Idiot turned to her good friend Violet the Therapist and asked for help. Violet the Therapist said that the healthy thing to do would be to accept the relationship and let it go. Violet the Idiot responded with the fact that it had only been a day since he"d said he loved her. Violet the Therapist then pointed out the fact that it had also been a day since she"d eliminated any chance to be with him, so she had no right to feel jealous. Violet the Idiot insisted that it had still only been one day. Violet the Therapist sighed and gave her the cold, hard truth: this relationship had been a year in the making. Both Addison and Pete had some growing up to do before they were ready to actually be together; they had to go through their own pain and heal from older, deeper wounds before they could help heal the other"s newer cuts. Violet the Idiot stormed out of Violet the Therapist"s mind, and Violet the Therapist considered upping her hourly fee. Violet buried her head in her hands. Being pregnant did not help the two Violets in her mind get along. It also made it painfully more obvious that she was one screwed up shrink. 8D When the two separated from their embrace, Addison looked up at Pete through some hair that had fallen in front of her face. She wiped her cheeks of the few tears that had fallen and sniffed. "So what is this?" She gestured between them. "This, us, this?" Pete clarified, rubbing her arms. Addison nodded. Smiling, Pete tucked her hair behind her ear. "We"re together," he stated simply. "Together as in a couple?" the redhead asked hopefully. This time Pete nodded. "Does this mean I get to kiss you in public?" Pete smirked. "As long as you keep it PG," he answered, earning him a fake punch on the chest. "Because I"m always the one who makes it inappropriate," she replied sarcastically. "Very funny." Wiggling his eyebrows like he had that morning, he suggested, "Wanna give it a try?" "What if somebody sees?" Pete looked at Addison exasperatedly, and it took a minute for it to sink in with the board-certified neonatal surgeon. "Oh," she giggled, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his neck. She pecked him softly on the lips and pulled away smiling. "I like that." Pete laughed softly. "You"re cute," he declared. "Well, I aim to please," she bantered. "That"s what I"ve heard." That earned him another punch in the chest, only this one was more real than the last one. "I thought I told you to stop hitting me," he said, catching her tiny fist. "Then stop making me want to," she shot back, fighting for her fist back. Pete, however, made it impossible to extract it from his hand. "Can I have my hand back?" "Do you promise not to hit me again?" "I promise I will not hit you for at least an hour," Addison complied. "That"s the best I can do." Pete sighed, "Fine," and returned Addison"s hand back to its rightful owner. After rubbing it for a little bit, Addison looked pensive, almost worried. "What?" "How are you going to deal with Violet?" "What do you mean?" Addison walked into her office and sat on the couch. "I"m not even worried about how you"re going to tell her," she confessed, "although I probably should be since you told her you loved her yesterday and all. What I"m worried about is what if the baby is yours?" Tears welled up her eyes as she went over their situation more and more in her head. "I see it every day. If the baby is yours, you"re more likely going to want to be with Violet because she"ll be the mother of your child, the one who brought this little human being that"s partly yours into the world. What happens then?" One of Addison"s hands reached up and rested on his arm. "But how do you know? I know we"re nowhere near the "I love you,' stage in our relationship, but I still feel like I"m going to be left in the cold if you do find out you"re the father." "Hey, Violet and I would never work," he repeated sternly, giving Addison a small squeeze. "She doesn"t talk to me, and I end up talking to you more than anyone. The sooner we both admit it, the sooner you"ll be able to see that I"m not going to leave you out in the cold once this baby is born, no matter the paternity." He pulled away just enough so he could look her in the eye. "I"m here. Okay?" Addison"s eyes searched Pete"s face for any indication that he believed what he was saying, and she found it. Smiling bravely, she wiped off the tear streaks from her face and nodded. "Okay." They shared another soft kiss, reassuring them both that it wasn"t going to be like last time. When their faces separated once again, she laughed at herself. "God, you"d think I was pregnant with how much I"m crying today." Pete"s eyes widened in horror. Addison saw the panic in his eyes and quickly amended herself. "There"s no way I could be pregnant, Pete Wilder. We only had sex last night, and besides, I"m all dried up, remember?" she joked, citing the time she melted down in the stairwell after they"d first met. Pete nodded, but he was completely spacing out. He wasn"t afraid of being father. That wasn"t what had him struggling to breathe normally. They hadn"t used any sort of protection. A/N: I feel like I used to when I was writing a bunch of Luke and Lorelai fics. Suddenly, every fic has similar qualities. Addie"s melting down, and now I decide to bring up pregnancy in all my fics haha. It"s probably me just being paranoid, but I don"t know. This was just a short update, again, I"m sorry, but I have a great new idea for a fic called Fun Days. Addisex with maybe a little Paddison thrown in. Look for it! Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 5: If I Told You A/N: Again, ppplily is my reminder. And I totally realized that I accidentally deleted a paragraph in the last chapter, and it went from Addison speaking to Addison speaking again. My bad! It doesn"t really mess up the flow, though, so I"m not going to fix it because I"m way too lazy. Okay, I"ll stop babbling now. Next installment. Pete nodded, but he was completely spacing out. He wasn"t afraid of being a father. That wasn"t what had him struggling to breathe normally. They hadn"t used any sort of protection. That conversation in Addison"s office had been all Pete could think about for the next thirteen days, and now he lay in his bed on a Monday morning, staring at the ceiling and wondering how he could have possibly impregnated two women within the same nine months. Addison had no idea what he was thinking, and he hadn"t thought to burden her with his worries-except that she was one of the women he might have possibly impregnated. Pete"s hands moved to his face, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion. How was the alternative medicine guru supposed to help others with insomnia when he couldn"t even put himself to sleep? He"d thought the hard part was over-telling people, especially Violet. He went to her and said he"d only said what he said because he didn"t want to lose another person in his life, and that he was really glad she"d turned him down because they"d never make it. She had seemed kind of frazzled-okay, she had started muttering to herself, so more than kind of frazzled-but she"d accepted it. But how was she supposed to accept it if she found out that he"d gotten someone else pregnant? If Violet"s baby was his, would he be allowed to be a part of his life or would she say that she didn"t want him to be a bad influence on her son? Pete couldn"t stand it anymore. He had to know. Climbing out of bed, he got dressed and grabbed his wallet and keys with a purpose. 8D Addison was in the middle of doing her hair when her doorbell rang. She looked over at her clock in confusion-7:45 a.m. Who the hell would be ringing her doorbell at 7:45 on a Monday morning? Making her way downstairs with her hair half-straightened and half-curly, she opened the door to find her new boyfriend standing on the porch holding a paper bag and looking nervous as hell. "Hey," she greeted, smiling. She stepped aside and let Pete in, bringing him in for a small morning kiss. "If it had been anyone else at my door, I would have yelled at them for interrupting my routine, but I"ll make an exception for you." Pete smirked as he let his hands rest on the small of her back. "Glad to know I"ve got an in," he declared. When Pete"s hands went around Addison"s waist, the paper bag hit her lightly on her butt. Looking over her shoulder at the bag in his hands, Addison reached behind her and took it from him. "What"s this?" she asked, opening it curiously. Puzzlement etched itself on her face as she took out the home pregnancy test. "A pregnancy test?" The smirk slid off Pete"s face. Time to fess up. "I wanted you to take it," he explained. Addison let out a nervous laugh. "Why? We only had sex once, and that was wee--" Her mouth hung open as she replayed that night in her head. "W-We...We didn"t use a condom, did we?" Pete slowly shook his head, his hands tightening on her waist. Addison"s hands went up to her half-done hair, resulting in her face being half-hidden by the paper bag and box. "And I haven"t been on the pill in a few months." Again, Pete shook his head, but at the same time he was slightly disturbed that he knew that. Sure, they"d been really close friends, but had they been that close? "But, but, but I"m dried up!" she exclaimed in hope that saying it loudly enough would reinforce the diagnosis. "But two eggs doesn"t mean no eggs," Pete insisted. "Right, right," Addison breathed out. She lowered her arms and stood there in Pete"s arms holding the pregnancy test. Staring down at the little box in her hands for a minute, she realized it was still Monday morning. "I can"t take this right now. I-I have to finish getting ready for work." She broke Pete"s embrace and headed up the stairs. "Addison," Pete started, but the redhead turned around on the fifth step to face him. "Pete, I will take the test. Today," she told him, watching the tension escape his shoulders. "But I don"t have time now, and I just need to wrap my head around it." Pete nodded. "Now, I"ll be ready in another twenty minutes. Do you wanna make some breakfast?" 8D Naomi was worried about her best friend. During the morning meeting, Addison kept losing her train of thought and even started stammering. Naomi knew Addison since med school, and she knew that Addison never stammered. Pete was acting awkward, too. His head seemed to be in a completely other place, and Violet actually had to snap her fingers in his face before he finally answered Sam"s questions about a consult.

dropped in, it sort of slipped my mind." "W-Wicked?" Nancy repeated, sounding a little shaken, though Robert couldn"t place why. Why was she being so sensitive about this? She shouldn"t be jealous he was taking Giselle to her show! Okay, so it wasn"t technically her show, but she had been a major contributor to designing and constructing most of the costumes. In fact, she was very good friends with the original Elphaba and Galinda. How could he not remember? Granted, it was about five years ago, just after they"d started dating. But all the same, it was one of her greatest achievements and he"dforgotten it! Nancy was shaking, but she hadn"t realized it. Robert thought she was cold, so he moved to warm her arms up with his hands. The shock of those hands finding home once again on her arms jolted Nancy out of her blind fury. She looked up into his eyes and saw genuine concern in them and...relief? She didn"t really spend too much time pondering the relief when he started moving his hands up and down her arms, trying to warm them up. She never tore her eyes away from Robert"s as she felt the familiarity of it all. All the times he"d comforted her just like he was now. He could always tell when she was uneasy. She felt herself sliding back into that time as her eyes started drifting closed. Robert watched her eyes close in comfort. Her eyes acted as sort of a wake up call. As soon as she"d broken eye contact, he"d remembered who this was. His hands paused for the slightest moment before it occurred to him she didn"t know why it would be improper for him to be doing this and he quickly resumed stroking her arms. He hoped she hadn"t noticed. She had. And it had been enough to wake her up as well. Jolting her head upright--it hand ended up on his shoulder somehow. She wasn"t sure when exactly that had happened--her eyes shot open. Trying to recover from her slip up, Nancy cleared her throat and looked clearly into his eyes again. Robert was a little worried when Nancy looked back at him, a glint of determination evident in her eyes even in the dark. "So, aside from taking Giselle to see Wicked, what has been bothering you so much?" she demanded. He hesitated. Then she did. "Do I want to know?" she asked uncertainly. "If it"s a...man...problem, I"m sure Eddy could help you with...that," she stuttered. Wow, she had a sick mind. "Oh,God, no it"s no--" a brilliant idea suddenly sprung into Robert"s mind. It was the perfect way to get out of telling Nancy what (or who) exactly was bothering him--"It"s not that. But it is more of a guy to guy kind of conversation, I guess." Somehow, she couldn"t believe him. Nancy was gripped with the feeling whatever was bothering him had something to do with her. They had had an eventful day. Suddenly it all made sense. "Oh, I know what it is," she admitted. Robert"s face whipped to hers, incredulous. Oh, please don"t let her have found out. "I know we said some...harsh...things to each other today," she began, "but I honestly don"t see how this whole roomies thing is going to work out if we can"t find some way to forgive each other." Relieved, Robert let himself unclench. Then he heard what she had said. "Each other? What did you do to me?" "I kind of threw the fact I was happily married in your face to make you jealous. It was petty and immature and I"m very sorry," Nancy apologized. She really had changed much since moving to Andalasia. But then again, not so much. She still had the New York accent and definitely the stubbornness of a true New Yorker. But she was much gentler now. Not that she"d been a beast. Far from it. She had been as tender as a...he couldn"t think of what to compare her to back then. But now, she was an angel. An angel who was keeping a lot of feelings buried deep down inside of her. He"d heard some of those feelings come up in her apology, not to mention he"d felt them when he was comforting her. "No, you shouldn"t be sorry. You did nothing wrong. What I did was awful. I never meant to hurt you so often and so badly," he replied. Nancy smiled tentatively at their newly reinstated friendship. Robert smiled back and pulled her in for a hug, shocking them both. Almost instinctively, as if out of habit, Nancy"s eyes drifted closed as she inhaled the man"s intoxicating scent. Simultaneously, Robert unconsciously buried his face in her thick black locks, savoring the smell of her fruity shampoo. 8D Just like every morning, Nancy woke up at the crack of dawn. It was a good thing there was no jet lag between New York and Andalasia, otherwise she"d be completely dead to the world. And completely unaware of the compromising position she"d ended up in. It seemed as if she and Robert had fallen asleep in Morgan"s bedroom. She was curled up on her side, with Robert curled around her, clutching her possessively to him. As much as she"d wanted to stay with Robert and indulge in old memories, Nancy was married, and he had a girlfriend. They couldn"t be seen in a position such as this. She thanked God that nobody else was awake in the apartment and tried to slip out of Robert"s protective grip and sidle out of the room as quietly as possible, yet also as quickly as possible. After emerging from Morgan"s room, Nancy decided this would probably be the best time to shower. No one else was around to watch her strip, as she was sure someone had yesterday. Nancy leaned over her gorgeous husband, who was clutching a pillow he thought was his wife and drooling a bit from his open mouth, and smiled. He really was adorable when he was asleep. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek as a morning greeting before grabbing some clothes and heading for the shower. She closed the curtains and turned on the shower, letting the warm water rush over her. Running her hands through her thick hair, she started to work the shampoo into it, getting all the tangles out. Although she wasn"t a queen in this world, it was still important to look her best. Look your best for who? a snide voice whispered in her head. Eddy or Rob? The thought shocked her so much that she hadn"t heard the door open. A/N: So are you guys proud of me? 6 pages! In one day! Along with tons of homework and dance practice and Gilmore Girls. I"d say that"s pretty damn good! Review and tell me what you think! Oh, and don"t forget to vote for your favorite pairings! We Meet Again AnEnchanted fic by Gigi Summary: Nancy is Queen of Andalasia now and happily married to Edward. But what happens when she visits New York and runs into Robert and Giselle? Chapter 5: Shower Scares A/N: So, I"m all about updating this story apparently. I really haven"t updated the others since 2007, which is bad of me, I know. But I"ve been in the best mood for this one, BECAUSE IT CAME OUT ON DVD! The thought shocked her so much that she hadn"t heard the door open. The next thing Nancy knew, the shower curtain was opening. She squealed in embarrassment and grabbed the shower curtain, wrapping it around her body before whoever it was could see her naked. Why? If it"s one of the guys, well, they"ve both seen me naked, she thought. Turning her attention back on the intruder, she felt she should have been more surprised at who it turned out to be. Either way, her voice sounded shaken enough from the cold to be taken for shock. "H-Hey, Robert..." she forced out through shattering teeth, before actually looking at him. Then her eyes started bugging out and shewas in shock. 8D Robert felt his jaw drop when he saw just who was in the shower. He hadn"t realized there was someone in the shower, he was so absorbed in his own thoughts. Well, a snide voice in his head sounded, there"s no chance she didn"t notice me this time! "Hi..." he trailed off, drinking in the sight before him. Nancy, wrapped in a shower curtain, dripping wet with her long hair plastered all over her body. He tried his damnedest to control himself when she started biting her lip, considering it would be a tad difficult to hide his attraction in his current naked state. Oh. My. God. Realization hit him full force. He"d forgotten he"d already undressed for the shower. I"mnaked! Completely stark naked! Letting out a rather girlish scream, Robert lunged for the nearest towel to cover at least his lower half. Nancy could hardly contain her laughter, the giggles fighting to escape her firmly shut mouth. "Stop it," Robert mumbled. "Hello, old friend!" Nancy teased. "Long time no see." "I said stop it," he repeated. "Sorry," Nancy answered, trying to subdue her laughter. "Thank you." "So do you mind telling me why you opened the shower buck naked while I was taking one?" she queried. "I didn"t realize anybody was in there," Robert admitted. "I kinda wasn"t paying attention." "Oh. Okay." Nancy shrugged it off and gestured to the rack behind him. "Would you mind handing me a towel?" Robert complied. "Now would you mind turning around while I dry my hair?" "Why would I need to turn around?" "Because I still don"t like to waste towels, so unless you would like to see me naked for like fifteen minutes while I dry my hair, turn around," Nancy ordered, every bit a queen, except for the whole naked thing, which actually sounded really appealing to Robert right about then. Of course, he didn"t want Nancy knowing that or seeing what would definitely be a problem for him if he watched her, so he gallantly turned his back on his ex-girlfriend. Nancy didn"t realize that Robert could just see her reflection in the mirror from the corner of his eyes. In an extremely disturbing way, Robert was actually proud of himself. He"d managed to peep right in front of her without her noticing. He had to bite his lip--hard--when she bent over to finish towel drying her hair. He didn"t stop biting until he tasted the coppery flavor of blood. Thankfully, by then, she had finished her hair and wrapped herself in the towel. "Thank you for not looking," Nancy smiled. Even without makeup she was gorgeous. All Robert could do was nod weakly. She started making her way out of the room when something...strange was the only word to describe it...caused a floor tile to tilt up ever so slightly. Slight as it was, it was enough to make Nancy trip into Robert. Her momentum carried them out the slightly ajar door, banging it open, and onto the floor, with her on top of him. Robert was struck with an uncanny sense of deja vu when he saw their position. If she had been giggling, it would have been just like last time. Instead, she had buried her face in his chest in mortification. Just like last time? Yeah right. Other than the fact that it was Nancy on top of him instead of finding him, they found, much to their horror, that they couldn"t keep away from each other. Literally. Nancy had tried to get up several times, and it seemed every time, something caused her to slip or her arms to give out and crash back into him. It was almost like they were attracted to each other like magnets. They were literally joined at the hip. Not only that, but they were stuck in that position until Giselle or Edward woke up and helped them up. Oh, crap,both minds thought simultaneously. A/N: Okay, it"s a shortie, but I totally love this twist. What do you think? Review PLEASE! We Meet Again An Enchanted fic by Gigi Summary: Nancy is Queen of Andalasia now and happily married to Edward. But what happens when she visits New York and runs into Robert and Giselle Chapter 6: Caught A/N: So, the plot thickens! I guess this is a Nancy/Robert fic thus far. Who knows? Maybe I"ll zag when you think I"ll zig! Keep those reviews coming! Too mortified to say anything, Nancy kept her face buried in Robert"s chest. This is way too embarrassing, she thought. Thank God my towel didn"t come undone! Indeed, her towel was the only thing between his naked chest and hers, and Nancy couldn"t be more relieved it was between them. That would be even harder to explain! 8D The banging door woke both Giselle and Edward up. Bang! Giselle jolted awake, terrified after a nightmare where Narissa had returned. She"d been having the same nightmare for weeks now and it was starting to fray her nerves. Are my nightmares coming to life? Thankfully, no. But she couldn"t see Robert anywhere in their room. Quickly reaching out to get a robe, Giselle scrambled--gracefully--to get out of the bed and the room. She passed the mussed up couch. So, the lovebirds have awoken, she thought with some bite. She saw Edward standing in the hallway in his pajamas, staring down at something. Giselle joined him and was about to ask what he was doing when she saw what he was staring at--or rather who he was staring at. There, on the ground, was Robert. On top of him was Nancy. They were both in just towels, but only her hair was damp. Giselle felt her eyes starting to water. What was going on? "--please help us! We can"t separate from each other!" Nancy cried with some urgency in her voice. She was scared. But not of being caught. Curious. "What"s going on?" Giselle finally asked. "I was in the shower," Nancy began. "And I was going to take a shower," Robert added. "And then as I was getting out to let him shower, I tripped on something," Nancy amended, but her voice had taken on a confused tone. "Something that wasn"t there." "Anyway," Robert continued, his voice carrying the same tone, "she fell and knocked me down. We can"t get away from each other though. Each time we try, something always stops us from getting away from each other." "So can you both please help us up?" Nancy pleaded. "But don"t separate us!" "What happens if you"re separated?" Edward inquired. "I don"t know exactly what, but it usually ends up being painful," Nancy answered. "It either physically hurts to be apart or something happens to make us come back together in a crash of some sort," Robert clarified. "But enough about that, can you please help us get up and dressed? Morgan will be here any minute!" Mentioning Morgan woke everybody up. They"d all forgotten about the sweet little six year old. Hurriedly, Edward grabbed Nancy gently by the shoulders while Giselle levered her hands underneath Robert"s shoulders. "One," Edward began counting. "Two. Three." Giselle and Edward heaved as they got the two up on their feet. And instantly ran to each other"s arms, clutching their heads. "Headache?" "Yes," both Robert and Nancy answered. "But you were only about a foot apart," Giselle pointed out. "God, I hope it doesn"t last this way forever," Nancy cried into Robert"s shoulder. "And ever," Edward and Giselle finished simultaneously. "So how are we going to do this?" Robert asked. "Do what?" the raven-haired beauty queried. "If we have to be less than a foot apart at a time, how will we do everyday things? Like going to the bathroom, showering, sleeping--" "You, sir, are not sleeping with my wife!" Edward declared gallantly. "The privilege to cuddle up next to this angel falls with the husband. Me!" Robert almost laughed at his misinterpretation of the common misinterpretation. Robert had actually meant sleeping next to Nancy. But that is usually taken as sleeping with as in canoodling with Nancy. But Edward thought it was sleeping next to Nancy. It was a vicious circle of misinterpretation. Quite comical, really. "I"m not saying I want to, Edward," Robert clarified. "I just have to." Nancy"s head whipped around to glare. "So I"m just that painful to lie next to?" Robert realized just what he had said a tad too late. Groaning, he dropped his head onto Nancy"s shoulder, just as she had done with him. "He is right," she said to her husband. "We won"t have any privacy like this. Sorry, sweetie." Edward"s crushed face made Nancy"s heart melt. This was going to take some getting used to. A/N: Okay, it"s another short chapter but I need my sleep! I haven"t had a proper night"s sleep in about a month and a half and, quite frankly, I"m exhausted. So I hope you liked the chapter and keep the reviews coming! We Meet Again An Enchanted fic by Gigi Summary: Nancy is Queen of Andalasia now and happily married to Edward. But what happens when she visits New York and runs into Robert and Giselle Chapter 7: Barbara Stanwick A/N: You know what I"ve realized? When I didn"t update so quickly, I would get more reviews! Don"t forget to tell your friends about this story and REVIEW because it isn"t fair. I"m putting a lot of energy and effort into writing this fic, and if nobody"s reading it, why should I write it? I hope you understand. Thank you. Back in Robert"s bedroom, Nancy began to feel a little uneasy. Was her marriage going to survive this? Edward might think she was going to ignore him now that she was plastered to another man. The problem was, she had no idea how to smash that notion, because she literally was plastered to another man. She wouldn"t be able to kiss her husband or even hug him without making it awkward for Robert. Robert was thinking the same thing about Giselle. "Ow! Ow! OW!!" the two magnets yelled as they got a little too far apart. Nancy and Robert banged into each other as quickly as possible to make the pain go away. Unfortunately, the impact caused Nancy"s towel to lose its hold around her body and fall to the floor. Squealing, Nancy ducked down and retrieved the towel like lightning and had successfully wrapped it around her form before anyone could blink. When she finally straightened, her face was siren red. "Sorry about that," she squeaked. Neither of them had noticed Giselle appear in the doorway just in time to watch them crash into each other. She couldn"t help but scrutinize the other woman"s body when her towel had fallen. She truly was a beautiful woman. Inside and definitely out. I don"t know if I can compete with that, she bitterly thought to herself. She knew Robert had seen Nancy naked before. Giselle was innocent, but not naive. She knew what went on between a man and a woman. New York had educated her these past six months. Giselle knew they had a long history. She had even asked about it, and Robert had told her straight out that they had had intercourse. It was that honesty she fell in love with. But how would she compare next to a woman who was not only strikingly beautiful and extremely nice, but also one who had ignited such deep feelings of love in Robert? Who was to say she wouldn"t do that again? Giselle doubted she would do it on purpose, though. She was much too good of a person to do that. Nancy would never intentionally betray anyone. Not Edward. Not Robert. Not even Giselle. That much, Giselle knew to be true. If it weren"t for the fact that she and Robert had yet to take that step--she was waiting for marriage--Giselle may not have felt so threatened by Nancy, but she couldn"t help it. However, she also knew Nancy couldn"t help it either. She was stuck with Robert whether or not she liked it. Robert, feeling guilty for his previous peeking escapades, gallantly averted his eyes when Nancy"s towel dropped. He at least had that much self control, although his cheeks reddened with the effort. Did Nancy really have to keep revealing herself to him? Their current predicament would make it hard for him to hide his attraction for her if she kept it up much longer. "So how are we going to do this?" Nancy asked. She seemed to be asking that a lot lately. "Do what?" "I have things set up for upcoming weeks," she explained, "and, last time I checked, it isn"t socially acceptable for someone to show up surgically attached to someone who is in a relationship with another." She gestured to the lack of space between them. "Apparently, we always have to be touching or be less than a foot from each other, which usually leads to touching." "What do you have planned?" "Well, first I would like to visit the studio. I want to see how it"s been kept up. Then you have a dinner you have to go to," she declared. "How did you know about the dinner?" Robert demanded, incredulous. "Don"t forget your week"s plans are posted on a dry erase board in the kitchen," she answered smugly. An idea suddenly popped into her head. "How many people know you and Giselle are together?" "Not that many, actually. She said she wanted to keep things private until she knew enough about New York not to make a fool of herself," he said. "Why?" "Because, the plans said it was you plus one. If it"s important enough to have a guest list, then you probably have to go." "Yeah, I have to go. It"s a state dinner." "A state dinner?" Nancy repeated, bewildered. "Why would a divorce attorney be invited to a state dinner?" "Because I recently handled the divorce of the governor"s daughter well enough that she got pretty much everything. This is to show their gratitude, apparently. Though I don"t see how inviting me to a boring state dinner is a thank you." "Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed. "This is amazing! Not only will you be able to maintain your relationship with the governor, but you"ll be meeting heads of state and affairs! You"ll be making terrific contacts. You never know when you need good law advice from someone you know can keep a secret! What"s more, I can help you with decorum and such." "Decorum?" he asked. "What do you mean? That I"m a slob?" "No, not a slob. Quite the opposite, actually. But you have to realize, you have to act differently around rulers and administrators." "And how would you know how to act?" The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Her questions snapped Naomi out of her daze. "I know this sounds mean and judgmental, but I"m actually sort of relieved it"s Pete." "How is that mean and judgmental?" Addison asked. She realized she"d been rubbing her stomach for the last five minutes and quickly stopped. Naomi stayed silent. "You thought it might have been Noah"s?" She nodded, and Addison cursed her previous history with men. "Nae, I never slept with Noah. It never got that far, and I feel guilty enough with how far I went with him." After a moment, Naomi returned her gaze to the small box in her hands. "So are you going to take the test?" "Yeah, but I"m waiting until lunch. I still don"t know how I feel about it," Addison answered. "Are you going to keep it if it"s positive?" Naomi went to sit beside the OB/GYN. Addison opened her mouth to speak, but then her BlackBerry lit up and started buzzing in her hand. "Hold that thought," she told Naomi. Clicking the green button on her phone, she put it up to her ear. "Dr. Montgomery." "Hey," a husky, manly, sexy voice that Addison would never forget greeted. Addison"s heart stopped. "Mark." A/N: I"m so evil. I apparently can"t write a Private Practice fic without bringing some Grey"s character from Addie"s past down to spice things up. Don"t worry, I"m not going to make this a Mark-Addison-Pete love triangle. I"ll go ahead and tell you it"s going to be more about Addison"s past baby daddy and her maybe-future baby daddy. I can"t believe I just used the term "baby daddy." Twice. REVIEW. Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 6: Once Upon a Time A/N: I remember how excited I was about writing this chapter when I"d finished writing Chapter 5, but I honestly can"t remember what I was going to write. But hopefully, this will be just as good as whatever brilliant idea I had back then. You should probably thank ppplily every time this story gets updated. Seriously. "Are you going to keep it if it"s positive?" Naomi went to sit beside the OB/GYN. Addison opened her mouth to speak, but then her BlackBerry lit up and started buzzing in her hand. "Hold that thought," she told Naomi. Clicking the green button on her phone, she put it up to her ear. "Dr. Montgomery." "Hey," a husky, manly, sexy voice that Addison would never forget greeted. Addison"s heart stopped. "Mark." Addison"s mind went into overdrive. Mark was calling her. Mark. The only man to ever have gotten her pregnant was calling her. One word was lodged in Addison"s mind: shit. "Yep, it"s Mark," he confirmed, satisfied with the shock he heard in the woman"s voice. "I"m in town for a few days doing a consult, and I wondered if I could see you." Naomi was dying to know what was going on. She"d seen the blood drain out of Addison"s face when she said his name in realization. She gestured for Addison to put the call on speakerphone, and Mark"s voice filled the office. "Um..." Addison looked to her best friend for help. She didn"t know if she wanted to see Mark knowing that she might be pregnant again. Naomi shrugged. This was uncharted territory for her. "What did you have in mind?" "I was thinking maybe lunch, if you"re free," Mark suggested. Addison"s eyes flashed toward the box that still rested in Naomi"s hands. She"d promised Pete she would take the test that day, but she couldn"t if she met Mark for lunch. But there was no easy way to tell Mark that she couldn"t meet him because she was peeing on a stick, so she closed her eyes and accepted his offer. "Lunch would be great. How about Sandwich Shop on 6th Street at twelve thirty?" "Great, see you there," he answered, hanging up. Addison pressed the red button on her phone and looked up at Naomi indignantly. "Thanks for all your help, Nae," she said sarcastically. "What the hell could I have done?" Addison groaned and sat down on her couch, burying her face in her hands. "What am I going to do?" "What do you mean?" Naomi sat down next to her. "About the test. I promised Pete I would take it today, and now the lunch plan is out the window because of Mark deciding to drop in," Addison rambled. Naomi looked at her watch. "You still have half an hour until your first patient," she noted. "You could take it now." Addison brought her head up out of her hands. "I could," she agreed, biting her lip. "But I still have no idea what I"ll do if it"s positive. I was going to use the time until lunch to wrap my mind around it." "Sweetie, if it"s positive, you"re going to have a lot to wrap your mind around," Naomi pointed out, "and you"re not always going to have "until lunch" to do that." She had a point. Addison looked at her friend for a few seconds before realizing why she was being so mature about it. "You just want me to take it now so you"ll know," she accused, and judging by Naomi"s guilty expression, she was right on the money. Sighing, she took the box out of the fertility specialist"s hand and muttered, "Fine." 8D Addison sat on the countertop, clutching a timer in her hands. The knob was almost at the zero mark, but there were still twenty seconds left. She still had no idea what she wanted it to turn out as. If it was positive, she would have to go through all the crap she saw in her patients, and she would be twice as paranoid because she knew perfectly well how bad things could go. She also wouldn"t have the world"s best neonatal surgeon and OB/GYN to work on her because...well, because she"d be out of commission trying to force eight pounds of flesh out of her body. But she"d have a baby, a beautiful, bouncing, gurgling, chubby baby. If it was negative, then she wouldn"t have to go through with it ever, because this would probably be the last time she would even have to take the test before that lovely m-word kicked in. Ding! Although the timer finally sounded, Addison made no move to turn her head and look at the pregnancy test sitting on a paper towel on the counter beside her. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, taking deep even breaths and trying to convince herself that it was for the best. The contents of that "it," however, were still pending. Opening her eyes just a sliver, she looked down at the test. 8D Mark"s perfectly chiseled face broke into a huge smile when he saw the familiar redhead enter the Sandwich Shop. Standing up from the table, he enveloped her in a giant bear hug. "I"ve missed you, Addie," he declared. "It"s really great to see you." Addison pulled back from the hug and smiled softly. "I"ve missed you, too," she replied, and she realized that she wasn"t lying. He had been her best friend for a long time, and she hadn"t held up her end of the communication since she"d moved. "How have you been?" she asked, sitting down at the table. "I"ve been pretty good, although I must say it"s not the same when I don"t see any red hair in a day," Mark answered with another goodhearted smile as he sat down across from her. "Aw, so sweet." A little bit later, once they had both gotten their food, Mark stopped eating and examined his companion. Her red hair had gotten lighter with the constant sun, and her skin was tanner. She looked beautiful, as always, but she still looked like something was bothering her. Sensing Mark"s eyes on her, Addison"s pale blue ones flitted up to meet his and she stopped chewing. She laughed awkwardly and wiped her mouth with her napkin. "What?" He scrutinized her a few seconds longer before shaking his head and returning to his food. "Nothing," he excused. "Okay," she said slowly. "So you haven"t told me anything about Seattle. What"s going on in your life?" "I"m seeing someone," he responded automatically. He knew her little game. She always pretended just to ask about his life in general, but years knowing her had taught him that she always meant relationships. He looked up and saw a blindsided Addison. "Really?" A hint of hurt crept into her voice. He openly admitted it to her that he was seeing someone, which implied that he hadn"t cheated on her yet. "How long?" Mark counted in his head. "About two months." Two months. He used to insist that he was still in love with her, and that he would be different the second time around. Two months was all it took for him to sleep with three other women while Addison and he lived together. "Wow," she breathed, shell-shocked. "Who?" Something was wrong. Addison was hurting, he could see that much. "Izzie," he stated. He watched her face break a little bit more, and suddenly it hit him why. He sounded committed to Izzie, and he had never been able to commit to Addison. "Stevens? You"re dating a twelve-year-old, too?" Mark nodded. "She reminds me a lot of you," he explained, hoping that would help dull the pain. "Except younger, blonder and with bigger boobs," Addison retorted, stabbing furiously at her salad. She had no idea why she was getting so upset. She didn"t feel for Mark like that anymore, but she thought he"d still felt that way for her. Turns out, he still went for the hot girls. "You really think that"s the only reason why I"m with her?" Mark asked, incredulous. Addison looked up at him. "She"s just like you, Addison! Only she actually wants me." Addison stopped whatever was going to come out of her mouth, because she realized she had no right to be upset. She turned him down, but Mark kept his promise about being different the second time around, just with Addison 2.0. And she wanted him to be happy. It"s not like she was jealous of Izzie. Damn hormones, she thought to herself. "What did you just say?" Addison"s eyes widened. She didn"t mean for those two words to slip out. She was just thinking them. "Did I say something?" she asked, pathetically groping for an escape. "I thought I heard you say something about hormones," Mark declared, peering into his friend"s eyes. Was she...? No, she couldn"t be. But was she? Addison stared at him for five seconds, trying to find some way she could talk her way out of this. She went through fifty plans a second and discarded them the next second. Sighing in defeat, she dropped her gaze to her lap and fiddled with her napkin. "There"s a chance that I reacted so dramatically just now because of my hormones," Addison mumbled. She was. Mark leaned forward in earnest, needing to hear the words come out of her mouth. "What about your hormones?" Addison looked up and cocked her head to the side. "I"m pregnant, Mark," she said almost inaudibly. Mark sat back in his chair, floored. His eyes remained fixed on Addison"s face as he continued bitterly, "Are you going to keep this one?" Tears came to Addison"s eyes when she saw his gaze grow cold. Slowly, she nodded, biting her lip in anticipation. "I"m not hungry anymore," he announced, standing up and throwing some cash down onto the table. "Mark," Addison began. She reached out to stop him from leaving. "I"ll talk to you later, Addison," he cut her off and walked out of the Sandwich Shop, leaving Addison sitting alone at the table for two. A/N: So this was supposed to have like eight more scenes in it, but I didn"t expect the Mark and Addison scene to be so dramatic. I don"t usually expect what I plan to write to ever actually make it into the story, but it"s good to have goals. Or so I"m told. Okay, now REVIEW! Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 7: I Feel Everything A/N: Wow, it"s been an embarrassingly long time since I"ve updated this story! I"m sorry, guys! Thank cacooly and BandB4ever for reviewing yesterday and making me remember why I loved writing this fic. This one"s a shortie, but enjoy! Addison trudged back to the practice after her disastrous lunch with Mark, still trying to process everything that had gone wrong with that conversation. She felt numb inside. She shouldn"t feel numb. Shouldn"t the fact that she was having a baby keep her happy despite the fact that her best friend and ex-boyfriend almost certainly hated her? Stopping dead in the doorway of her office, Addison gave herself a sizable whack in the forehead. How could she be such an idiot? She hadn"t even told Pete about the test result and yet she"d already spilled it to Mark? A headache was fast approaching, and quite frankly, there was no way Addison could deal with patients at the moment. She glanced at the clock and heaved a great sigh of relief at seeing she had a good hour to kill until her next patient arrived. Deciding to take full advantage of that hour, Addison dropped her bags off next to the couch and promptly plopped down onto it, burying her head in the soft pillows. What she needed right then was a nice, long nap. Too bad she wasn"t going to get it. Naomi burst through the door of Addison"s office literally three seconds after the redhead had shut her eyes in the hopes of some respite. Addison groaned into the pillow, but her best friend was not to be discouraged. "I take it the lunch didn"t go well?" Naomi observed as she walked over to the couch and tugged Addison up by her arm. "No, it did not," Addison mumbled. "What are you doing?" She had given up resisting the woman"s efforts to move her from the couch and now stumbled along out the office and into an examination room. "You, of all people, should know what I"m doing," Naomi replied wryly. She pulled Addison into the room and closed the door behind them, making sure the blinds were closed before she pointed to the table. "Lay down and pull up your shirt." Far too tired even to protest, Addison allowed herself to be hustled onto the table, and before she knew it, Naomi was squirting ice-cold jelly onto her flat stomach. "It was awful, Nae," Addison exhaled, not bothering to twist her head to see the monitor. She trusted Naomi, and she needed to get used to not being the one reading the sonograms or doing anything else with this pregnancy besides pushing out a baby. "Mark is dating a twelve-year-old." The wand in Naomi"s hand froze halfway to Addison"s stomach. "Why does that make for an awful lunch? You"re over him and with Pete," she stressed. "No, no, that"s not what made it so bad," Addison hastened to clarify. "It just started it. I guess I overreacted a little bit, because he said that Izzie Stevens is just like me only she actually wants him, which makes sense I guess. It"s just that I guess I missed when he was still in love and chasing me, I don"t know. All I know is that I accidentally let slip that I was pregnant, and it wasn"t pretty." Naomi"s head whipped away from the monitor at that last sentence. "You told him you"re pregnant?" she repeated in a somewhat strangled voice. "Have you even told Pete yet?" Groaning, Addison brought her hands up to her head, covering her eyes. "No, and I feel terrible about that! And it didn"t help that Mark got all offended that I want to keep this one when I aborted his, or the fact that he stormed off right after I told him," she finished. That headache had finally arrived, and it was taking the express lane on its way to making Addison"s day just a little bit more miserable than it already was. When Naomi didn"t say anything, Addison noticed a lack of movement on her stomach. Peeking out from underneath her hands, she saw her best friend looking apprehensively at the monitor. "What"s wrong?" "It looks like you got Mark upset for nothing," Naomi announced hesitantly. Addison brought down her hands in shock. She couldn"t say anything at first, and even after a few moments all she could say was a quiet, "What?" "It might just be because it"s so early on, but I think you got a false positive on your pregnancy test, Addie," she continued. She turned the monitor so Addison could see it. Addison wasted no time in craning her neck and peering into the screen, praying to see just a glimmer of an embryo, anything to indicate the presence of a future life. "No," the redhead whispered. Tears sprung to her pale blue eyes, making them look like glass. Naomi placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and offered her condolences, "I"m sorry, sweetie. I know how much you wanted this." Seeing the telltale signs of distress in Addison, Naomi quickly lifted her hand and began backing out of the room. "I"m going to go get Pete, okay?" Addison simply nodded in response, stubbornly refusing to let those tears escape her eyes. Those tears remained in her eyes until those eyes fell upon Pete, who entered the examination room slowly and carefully. Judging from his expression, Naomi had filled him in on the gory details relating to the nonexistent pregnancy. He rushed to her side as soon as she let herself break down, hoisting himself up onto the table and cradling her in his arms. "I...actually thought...I thought..." she cried into his chest. Pete simply rubbed her back and tried to calm her down. "I know," he soothed. "I know you did." A/N: Damn, this has been getting more and more emotional with each passing chapter! I miss the light and fluffies, because it"s not as draining to write those. Anyway, I hope this will be enough to tide you over until the next installment. I will not know if it will tide you over, however, unless you do something I would like to call REVIEW! Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 8: Penny A/N: Okay, so I am thoroughly depressed with this fic now. Not because I haven"t been getting enough reviews, and not because I think the story"s anywhere near over. Quite the opposite, actually, because I actually have some idea of where I want this to go. But Addie and Pete broke up in the finale, and it made me really sad. I"d pick Paddie over Saddie any day. Just the couple names alone are enough to tell which one is clearly superior. Anyway, here"s the next chapter, but I may be wrapping this up soon unless Shonda fixes this mess. It had been two weeks since the false positive, two weeks since Addison"s very likely last hope for a baby of her own were dashed. For the first week after it all happened, she walked around the office like a ghost, going through the motions and doing everything mechanically. She saw half as many patients and chose instead to catch up on charting and piled up paperwork. Naomi and Pete both worried about the redheaded surgeon, who would come in with bags under her eyes and her hair tied up in a very short little ponytail, with wisps of red escaping at the nape of her neck. The second week appeared to go smoother for Addison, or at least she put on a more convincing front. Her makeup and hair returned to their previous state of impeccable precision, and she went back to her normal workload. But every now and then, a flash of sadness would flit across those clear blue eyes. Any and all calls made to Mark went unanswered, and Addison hated that he had gone back to Seattle still thinking she was pregnant. But short of actually following him up to set him straight-and thus jumpstart the Seattle Grace Hospital gossip mill to talking about her again-Addison could think of no way to let him know if he wasn"t going to talk to her. Sitting at her desk, Addison twiddled her thumbs while she stared at her phone, willing it to ring. She"d paged Callie ten minutes earlier, and she needed to talk to her if she was going to have any chance of salvaging her friendship with Mark. At long last, the little screen next to the receiver lit up with a blue light and a ringing sound blared throughout the room for less than a second before Addison jerked it up to her ear. "Callie?" "Addison, what"s up?" Callie asked worriedly. "Mark has been one hell of a crabby plastic surgeon since he came back from LA. What happened?" "Mark is really upset with me, Callie," Addison cried. "I"ve tried calling him, but he doesn"t want to talk to me. I can"t just up and follow him there; otherwise he and a few other people will get the wrong idea. I need your help." "Alright, walk me through it," Callie complied. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Mark walking away from the nurses" station without having hit on a single nurse. "You know how I aborted Mark"s baby four years ago?" she began. After hearing Callie"s confirmation, she continued, "And you know how I have fertility issues now?" Once again, Callie affirmed the statement. "Well, Pete and I are together now, and-" "Wait, wait. Is this Stairwell Guy?" Callie interrupted, remembering when Addison had taken her vacation to LA when she still lived in Seattle. "Yeah, Pete"s the Stairwell Guy. He and I got together about a month ago, and the first time we had sex, we didn"t use protection. So two weeks later, Pete shows up at my doorstep with a pregnancy test, and I took it. And that was the day I got the call from Mark wanting to have lunch. Anyway, I was sort of freaked out and kind of blurted that I was pregnant. He got really angry with me because I was going to keep this baby when I didn"t want to keep his and left," Addison relayed. She took a deep breath, and her voice took on a grave tone. "Callie, I need you to tell Mark that I"m not pregnant. The test was a false positive. I was going to keep the baby because I honestly thought all hope was lost of having kids. He needs to realize that I can"t have babies now, and so I jumped at the possibility that I somehow got pregnant. I miss my best friend, Callie."

"Nancy!" Clarie exclaimed as the two entered the studio. Before Nancy knew what happened, Clarie had smothered her in an impossibly tight bear hug. "How are you?" she asked once she had once more allowed Nancy to breathe. "I"m absolutely wonderful," Nancy declared, grinning at the warm welcome. "I take it you got my message?" "Would I be here right now if I hadn"t?" A small cough interrupted the two old friends" reunion. Clarie turned around to the woman who had been staring at them through the window...glaring more like. "Yes?" Clarie prompted. The redhead threw a significant look at Nancy and Robert. "Oh! I can"t believe I forgot. Nancy," she said, turning her attention back to her boss, "this is Berylinn Nightcaster, our new assistant manager. Berylinn, this is the Nancy Tremaine and her beau, Robert Philip." Robert and Nancy chuckled uneasily at the assumption of their relationship status. They had never really told anyone they broke up. Figuring they may as well play the part, Robert slipped his arm around her waist when he saw the woman...Berylinn? Strange name...look him up and down approvingly. "Nice to meet you, Berylinn," Nancy said graciously, surprised at the jealousy flashing in the woman"s eyes when Robert had grabbed her waist. Unconsciously, Nancy placed her hand over his, squeezing it slightly to show her unease. Robert felt the pressure on his hand and knew what it meant. Turning his hand in hers, he squeezed back reassuringly, pulling her a little closer. "Please, call me Beryl or Berry. Everyone else does," the redhead replied smoothly, the jealousy carefully concealed and controlled now. Smiling in her direction, Nancy focused once more on her second-in-command. "So, to business. Robert and I are to attend the State Dinner tonight at the Michelangelo. It is quite a formal affair. I assume you have received my latest designs?" "Of course, I have, and might I say, your royal blue evening gown with the shimmering neck was breathtaking once manufactured," Clarie declared, her eyes going to a far away place as she imagined the dress. "How many of those have you made?" Nancy inquired, hoping it wasn"t too many. She"d always imagined herself wearing that dress. "Only one so far. It"s far more complicated than any of the others," Clarie answered truthfully. "Perfect. There will be no need to make any more for the time being. I would like to wear that for tonight, after which it can be showcased during Fashion Week," Nancy instructed, fully in business mode. Robert had to admit, he"d loved her bossy. "Of course, shall I bring it out now?" "No, no. There will be no need, just have it sent to Robert"s apartment. You still have my measurements on file?" Clarie nodded. "Good, they haven"t changed, so if you could please have Anna Marie make the alterations accordingly. She"s the only seamstress who knows how to work with that type of fabric." "You heard all that?" Clarie directed at Beryl, who nodded solemnly. "Go, then and tell Anna Marie she needs to hop to it right this second." With that, she dismissed her employee. "I apologize for Beryl, she is still quite new. I think she"s just trying to fit in." "It"s perfectly alright," Nancy smiled warmly. A spasm in her calf made her aware that she no longer felt Robert"s arm around her waist. Rolling her eyes, she scanned the store to find Robert wandering around the studio. "Will you excuse me? I"m just going to have a look around before I go. It was wonderful seeing you, Clarie," she said sincerely, hugging her before darting off to Robert. "Stop doing that!" she hissed. "Doing what?" he whispered back, apparently very interested in the spring collection of dresses. "You may not feel the pain, but I sure as hell do," Nancy chided as she bent down to massage her aching calf, giving Robert a nice view for a few seconds. "Come on, I still don"t have a complete wardrobe." "What?" Robert exclaimed. "You were laden with bags yesterday!" "Yeah, and about half of them were for Edward, smart guy." She meandered through the studio, picking up certain outfits and handing them to Robert to hold. "I"m going to be staying for a while, and a fashion designer cannot be left without clothes." Robert was left with no choice but to follow her around the store and into the dressing rooms. She, of course, refused to let him into the cubicle with her. "I think you"ve seen me naked enough for a day," she claimed. Oh she had no idea. "But what about the bond?" "You can just stand really close to the door and so will I. That way, we"re still close to each other." Without saying another word, she disappeared into the cubicle. Not long after she had gone did Robert have another visitor. Beryl came slinking up to him once she saw the coast was clear. "Hey," she breathed out in what she must have thought was a seductive tone. "Hi," Robert said indifferently. "So, how long have you been with "Little Miss Bossy" over there?" she whispered conspiratorially. "Five and a half years, and she"s hardly bossy," he insisted. "Oh really?" Beryl snorted. "Did you see what just went on back there?" "Yes, and it was simply an employer addressing an employee. Nothing more." Robert was really starting to get annoyed at this troublemaker. "Anyway," she recovered, "aren"t you bored with her after all these years?" He shook his head. "I mean, the uptight bi--" she cut off as the object of their whispered conversation opened the door. "What do you think?" Nancy asked, twirling in a knee-length pale pink baby doll with lacy trim over the bodice and finishing with a curtsy, a smile playing across her lips. He grinned at her silliness, but the woman right beside him was getting increasingly closer. He needed to get rid of Beryl. Before he knew what he was doing, Robert reached around her waist, pulling her flush against him. Her hands resting on his chest, he could feel her grip his shirt slightly. "You look beautiful," he whispered in her ear before swooping down to capture her lips with his. Nancy stood stiffly, too stunned to stop his barrage of her mouth. What was going on? Why was he kissing her? Involuntarily, her eyelids fluttered shut as he slipped his tongue in her open mouth. Robert could have almost slumped in relief when she relaxed in his arms, letting him continue to kiss her. He felt her hands grab his shirt a little more now, until there were two fists clutching onto his shirt for dear life. She even started to kiss back...a little. She was hesitant. Beryl watched with a glower on her face, waiting for the couple to come up for air. When they didn"t after the first ten seconds, she stalked off in a huff. She had to lure him away from that rail she had to call boss! When the two finally separated, for lack of air, they stayed in their close embrace. Nancy avoided his eyes for a few moments as she caught her breath. When she looked up at him at last, Robert saw a torrent of conflicting emotions flicker behind her eyes. "What was that for?" she asked in a small voice, thoroughly shaken. "Your new assistant manager was coming on to me," Robert declared calmly. He couldn"t let her know part of him was just looking for an excuse to kiss her. "Trying to, at least. She kept asking me why I wasn"t bored with you, so I decided to show her I wasn"t." "By kissing me?" she clarified. He nodded. "So you just used me to make her go away?" Robert winced at the hurt she was so desperately trying to hide came through in her question. "But I wasn"t lying when I said you looked beautiful," he consoled, "because you really do." "Thanks," Nancy said distantly. She had just kissed Robert. She--a married woman!--had just kissed her ex-almost-fiance--and liked it. What about Edward? What about Edward?a voice crooned in her head. Not her voice. An outside voice. "Ugh," she breathed out and rested her forehead on Robert"s chest, thoroughly exhausted. "What the hell is happening to us?" "I really don"t know," Robert said ruefully, bringing his arms from her waist to her back to envelope her in a comforting hug. 8D Once again, Robert was forced to wait on the opposite side of the door as Nancy proceeded to get ready for the dinner. He still didn"t understand why it had to be so formal. It"s just a dinner! Why did he have to wear a tux? And as if it didn"t taken long enough already for women to get ready without having to dress up in gowns. Nevertheless, when Nancy emerged from the bathroom, he couldn"t help but thank whoever was up there for inviting them to this dinner. The first thing he saw was her eyes. Her emerald eyes were framed by black eyeliner, her eyelashes curled just so to emphasize everything. She had shimmering blue eye shadow on her eyelids. Next he saw her slightly tinted cheeks and shining lips. The shine on her lips and on her eyes went well with her diamond headband, which was set to puff up a little of her hair to frame her face, while the rest cascaded down her back in soft, thick curls. He could just see two diamond studs peeking out from her ears. The white of the diamonds sparkling against her glossy, black hair was enough to make his mouth dry. But of course, that was only her head. When he looked at the rest of Nancy"s body, he wasn"t sure if he had been able to keep his mouth from dropping. She was wearing a royal blue, off-shoulder gown. The upper trim of her sleeve, which swooped gracefully into the neckline before resting on her other arm, shimmered with...something. He couldn"t exactly tell what made the fabric shine. Nestled in the hollow of her collarbone was a small string of diamonds that circled her neck. It was so delicate. It reminded him of frosting. The gown clung to the curves of her slender torso. The fabric...wrapped her somehow. It started at her sleeves and came together at the waist, where the gown flowered out in a fashion very reminiscent of a princess. "Robert?" Nancy waved a hand, which displayed a beautiful diamond ring on her left ring finger and a delicate diamond bracelet resting on her wrist. She smiled when he focused on her again. "What do you think?" "I-I..." Robert was spared the trouble of finding the words when his daughter came into the room. "Wow..." Morgan declared. "You look like a princess." "Morgan!" Nancy squealed as she went to hug the six year old, who, surprisingly, hugged her back with as much fervor. Robert, feeling the slight discomfort of being separated, edged forward so he was right behind Nancy. "Hi, Nancy," she whispered in her ear, making Nancy smile warmly, her eyes twinkling. Picking Morgan up, Nancy stood, positively glowing. "I"ve missed this little one," she told Robert, still grinning. "She"s missed you, too," he replied, truthfully. As happy as Morgan was with Giselle, she had been sad to see Nancy leave. They truly had grown close in the time before Giselle dropped in. She smiled again, this time sadly. She hated having to leave this angel. She looked at the little girl, whose arms were still around her neck, and chuckled as she had fallen asleep from exhaustion. "She must have really had fun at her friend"s house to be this tired," Giselle surmised as she entered the room with Edward. Edward"s heart constricted when he saw his breathtakingly beautiful wife turn around with Morgan in her arms. With Robert right beside her, they looked like the perfect family. "Eddy," Nancy smiled at him, her eyes filled with genuine love and happiness. "How was your day with Giselle?" There was absolutely no irony or jealousy in that question. She really wanted to know. This thing that was going on between Robert and her...it couldn"t be real...she truly loved Edward. She knew that every time he looked at her. "Oh it was great," he answered, walking over to Nancy"s side and smiling at the sleeping child in her arms. "Giselle gave me a tour of the city." Nancy"s face fell a little bit. She had wanted to show him New York. Well, they could walk around the city once this weird bond thing between Robert and her was gone. "Nancy?" Robert broke into the happy couple"s reacquaintance reluctantly. When she leaned forward to look at him, he smiled half-heartedly. "The car is here. We should probably get going." Well. Here goes. A/N: So there you go! I think this was 6 pages long. You"re welcome. BTW, for those who were wondering where I got the idea for the whole bond thing, I got it from Princess Destiny, who came up with it in her Spin the Bottle series. But mine is just a PART of her idea, because I didn"t want to steal it all. Read and Review please! We Meet Again An Enchanted fic by Gigi Summary: Nancy is Queen of Andalasia now and happily married to Edward. But what happens when she visits New York and runs into Robert and Giselle Chapter 9: Arrivals A/N: So this chapter is probably just going to be short and sweet, but it"s to make up for going so long without posting a chapter last time! Love you all! gAlinda: yes I did get the idea of Berylinn from there haha Bonanza and AMC Addict and BabyBlueBubblex: I"ve noticed I"ve mainly focused on Robert and Nancy, and I put in a little scene with Giselle and Robert at the beginning for you. I"ll see if I can make your wish come true Hannah. ) cakesniffer2000: You"re closer than you think! But I can"t really tell you what. But it won"t be exactly what you hope. alinaandalion: thank you so much for coming out of lurkdom for me. I"m glad you think I"m improving. That really makes me feel great. Thanks for your feedback! Giselle sighed as Robert ushered Nancy out of the apartment. She had to admit. Nancy had looked beautiful, and her dress was magnificent. Nobody in the room had been able to take their eyes off of her, not for long. She dressed like a queen would, a snide voice in her head sounded. She dressed like you would have had you been queen. This wasn"t her voice speaking. It was slightly off, as if an imitation. Whatever it was, it was right. Giselle couldn"t deny the fact that she was envious of Nancy. She was beautiful, smart, funny, gentle, caring, and genuinely kind to everyone around her. Unfortunately, that tended to attract a lot of eyes...particularly male eyes. Plumping down on the sofa, Giselle couldn"t help but pout. Nancy had everything! A beautiful kingdom, a wonderful husband, and a special bond with her ex-lover! Whoa...was that what she was upset about? That Nancy and Robert couldn"t separate? It must be a pain...literally. To not be able to be with the one you love...doomed to be with another. That struck a chord with her. Narissa had said those exact words to her six months ago. Giselle"s eyes widened at the revelation. Narissa! "Oh, no," she breathed out. "She"s behind all this!" Giselle was halfway to the door before she stopped. "No, that can"t be it. I saw her fall of the Empire State Building. Nobody could survive that..." Frustrated, she once more slumped onto the couch. 8D Edward just left Morgan"s room, having just tucked her into bed--she giggled at his hair, which Nancy had ruffled right before they left--to see Giselle grab her coat and start for the door before stopping, murmuring to herself, and resuming her seat on the sofa. "You know, they say talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity," he teased good-naturedly. In a heartbeat, Giselle was at his arm. "Please, Edward," she pleaded. "I can"t help but think something"s wrong." "Of course, something"s wrong. If nothing were wrong, we wouldn"t be in this predicament right now. You would have gone to the dinner and I could have stayed here and spent some time with my wife!" Edward"s indignant tone startled the both of them. He was almost at his breaking point. Giselle looked at him knowingly, seeing in his eyes that he was more upset about the bond than he let on. More upset than she, possibly. "What is bothering you so much, Edward?" she asked cautiously. "I"ve already lost one love, and the last thing I need is to lose my true love! Andalasia needs their Queen...I need my Queen." Edward"s eyes lost some of their heat at that last statement. "You miss her, don"t you?" "More than you can imagine..." he let out. Giselle felt another stab of jealousy. Edward was madly in love with Nancy. She"d seen how Robert had looked at her before they left. Nancy had two men trailing after her heels, and Giselle was alone. In her heart, she knew that wasn"t fair. It wasn"t as if Nancy had chosen for this to happen. She had been just as infatuated with Edward as he was with her. Nancy wasn"t trying to seduce Giselle"s boyfriend...she just did it naturally. Sighing in exasperation, Giselle rested her head on Edward"s chest as his arms came around both to offer comfort and to receive it. Oddly enough, there was nothing awkward about the hug. It was just two friends comforting each other. That was all. Their attraction for each other truly had passed. 8D Nancy sat on one side of the car seat, looking out the window, thinking. How awful Edward must be feeling right then? She"d noticed his wistful looks, and couldn"t blame him. He"d agreed to come with her here to spend time with her, not to watch her be with another man. I"m so sorry, Edward, she thought. If I had any say in this, it would be you I was bonded with. She squeezed the hand she was holding--if only to uphold the bond--and imagined it was Eddy"s hand she was holding. Robert had been observing the woman sitting next to him. He watched as the New York City lights reflected off her smooth skin, bouncing off the diamonds and making her sparkle. But she was sad. Her brow was furrowed ever so slightly, the ends of her lips slanted down, and her eyes were thoughtful. She always did that when upset and was trying to solve something. She probably misses her husband! Robert emphasized the "husband" part in his brain, reminding himself he could not fall in love with this woman. Apart from the fact that she was married, he also needed to stay faithful to Giselle, who he had successfully neglected over the past 36 hours. "Sir?" a timid voice called out as the partition rolled down. Robert glanced up toward the front of the car to see a young girl of about 21 in the driver"s seat. Had she looked that young when they first got in? That was a stupid question. He could see the pink on the back of her coat. It was quite a bright shade of pink, as were her flowery earrings. Flower-child? He vaguely recalled her calling herself Hannah. "Yes?" "We"ve reached the Michaelangelo. At what time would you like me to return?" She was professional, he would give her that. "I"ll call you when I need you." Hannah nodded and made to get out of the car. "No, no. It"s fine, I"ll get it." Robert got out on the traffic side of the black limo that had been sent to escort them. Nancy snapped out of her trance when her back suddenly clenched up. She looked to her side to see Robert was no longer there. The imbecile! The muscles spasms continued up her back, getting more and more painful until they suddenly receded. Robert had been halfway around the car when he remembered about the bond and hurried to get to the curbside door, where Nancy was waiting, a sour look on her face. "Sorry," he whispered as he opened the door for her and offered his hand. For the simple sake of propriety, Nancy took his hand. There were paparazzi all around, and her throwing a fit in front of them would hardly make things any better. "Sorry, doesn"t cut it, mister," she hissed through a gracious smile. "Stop hurting me!" She let her gown flow to the carpet-covered ground as she stood up. This state dinner was turning out to be quite the affair. Robert took her hand and placed it in the crook of his arm as he escorted her up the steps and into the Michaelangelo New York. He couldn"t help but grin all the way. He was walking down an aisle of a sorts--the paparazzi made one to let them through--with Nancy sparkling in a beautiful gown on his arm. It was exactly how he"d imagined their wedding...notwithstanding the slight variations. Nancy was painfully aware of all the eyes she was attracting. Yes, she was a well-to-do fashion designer in this world, and yes, people knew who she was, but that had nothing to do with the lustful and hungry looks many of the men were throwing at her. Her dress was not that slutty! STOP STARING AT ME! she yelled at them in her head. As they walked into the dining room, the governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, came to greet them. "Nancy Tremaine?" he asked, impressed. "You landed yourself the hottest designer in New York, Philip?" Seeing Nancy"s appalled expression at such a crude comment, he quickly clarified. "By "hottest" I simply meant the most sought-after. Your designs have been extremely popular these last six months." Spitzer was sweating, worried Nancy had caught his double entendre, which she had. Turning to Robert he continued in a slightly more serious tone, "I fear I may be needing your services once more, Philip. This whole controversy with that girl must go away as soon as possible." Nancy tried concealing a smile, but her eyes twinkled as she watched Robert struggle for an answer. "I really don"t-er-think that falls into my specialty. I"m a divorce lawyer..." This was going to be an interesting night. A/N: Told you it was going to be short. Hopefully you guys liked it. Review please!

"We were so close to this last year, and now it"s our romantic problems with other people that finally got us to this place," Addison laughed. "You"ve gotta love the irony." Pete"s fixed gaze reminded Addison of their current situation, as the smile slowly fell from her face and her eyes darkened. "I don"t think this is the time to comment on irony, Addison," he said wryly. She opened her mouth to agree when Pete silenced her with another kiss. It wasn"t long before Addison"s dress joined Pete"s shirt on the floor. 8D A few hours later, Addison lay upon Pete"s chest, satisfied and smiling. They had gotten dressed again, and now Addison"s head rested directly over his heart. She listened to the rhythmic beats as they collided with the steadiness of his breathing in perfect harmony, lulling her to sleep. 8D It was eight-thirty the next morning when Dell walked into Oceanside Wellness. He disabled the alarm and started going about his routine, sorting through the mail for everybody and pulling up the files on their first patients. Pete and Addison jerked awake when the alarm chirped, signaling it had been disabled. Addison slid off the couch-and Pete-and straightened her dress. "Okay, so how do we get out of here without Dell seeing us?" "Well, for one," Pete started, sitting up, "you don"t wear your heels when you try to sneak out." Addison froze halfway bent over. She had one of her stilettos in her hand. "And secondly, you tiptoe as fast as you can to the stairs." "And what happens if he sees us?" "He"ll smirk and lock us in the Dell Vault again, probably," Pete joked. Addison slapped him on the arm. "Will you stop it? I"m being serious!" she admonished, but Addison couldn"t hide the smile that was working its way on her face. "Look," Pete said, grabbing hold of each of Addison"s arms, "I don"t know what happens if Dell sees us. Just make sure he doesn"t, and then we won"t have a problem." "Okay," Addison agreed. She poked her head out of her office to make sure the coast was clear. Dell still had his back turned toward her, so she and Pete started to walk as quietly as they could through the hallway toward the stairs. "I saw your cars parked outside, you know," Dell declared, still not looking at the two doctors. Addison looked at Pete and saw the same guilt she felt mirrored in his eyes. Brushing her hair out of her face, Addison summoned all the dignity she could muster when she asked, "What?" Dell turned around to face them. "I knew you were here when I saw your cars parked outside." "Well, technically, I drive a motorcycle," Pete clarified. Addison rolled her eyes at him. "I don"t think that"s the main point he"s trying to make right now," she said. Dell took in their mussed up clothes and realized they were the same as from the day before. "Were you here all night?" He had a look in his eye that more than suggested what he was really asking. "We fell asleep in my office," Addison answered, not letting Pete speak. "You had turned the alarm on by the time we woke up, and we didn"t know the code." Pete opened his mouth to chime in, earning him an elbow in the ribs and a warning look from Addison. "So we waited until you came and turned off the alarm, and now we"re on our way home to change." She started nudging Pete toward the elevator. "We"ll be back soon." As soon as the elevator doors closed, Pete started talking again. "What was that?" "What was what?" Addison asked, searching for something in her bag and coming up with a compact mirror. She started to examine her appearance while Pete answered her. "You didn"t let me speak at all!" he said. "You just made it twice as obvious we were up to so--" Addison cut him off with a gasp, slapping one hand to her neck and using the other hand to slap Pete on the arm. "You gave me a hickey!" "Hey, stop hitting me!" Pete took hold of both her hands, keeping them at her side. "And personally, I like the hickey," he stated in a huskier voice. "Why? Because it"s definitely not professional to--" This time, Addison was cut off when Pete kissed her softly. "Because then people know you"re mine," Pete finally said, pressing the STOP button the elevator and kissing her again. A/N: So what did you think? Please review! Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 3: My Own Worst Enemy A/N: This chapter is dedicated to ppplily for telling me to get off my heiney and keep writing! Addison looked at herself in the mirror, trying to steady her nerves. Twelve hours ago, she had been feeling absolutely abysmal because she couldn"t have the man she wanted. Now, while she hadn"t completely forgotten about Noah, she thought she might have completely stopped falling for him. The redhead arched her neck to the right, checking to see that she had successfully hidden the hickey from last night under a few layers of foundation. When she was satisfied, she arched her neck to the left and set to work on the hickey that had bloomed this morning from her and Pete"s make-out session in the elevator. Addison blushed just thinking that they had stayed in that elevator for ten minutes kissing like teenagers, and she prayed that Tilly hadn"t come in for work at that time. XD Addison and Pete arrived to work at the same time, making polite conversation while waiting for the elevator. When the elevator doors opened to reveal an empty cabin, Pete wiggled his eyebrows at Addison, smiling. Laughing at his flirting, Addison declared, "I think I"ll take the stairs this morning." While she was walking away, she could have sworn she heard Pete murmur, "Or else you"ll run out of make-up," under his breath. XD The smile that had been on Addison"s face for most of the morning slid off her face when she became aware of another person in her office. Noah stood when Addison entered her office, watching her happy expression turn into one of apprehension and discomfort. "Addison," he began. "No," Addison forestalled, holding her hand up to keep him from talking anymore. "I can"t do this anymore, Noah," she confessed. She couldn"t bear to look in his eyes, knowing he would be using that lost puppy look her ex-husband had also employed when they were together. "I"m not going to be the woman who breaks up a marriage, who breaks up a family, just because she is lonely. I told you before that I"ve been where you are, and I took that incredibly stupid step. I have regretted taking that step every single day since then. If I hadn"t cheated, my husband would never have gone to Seattle; he never would have fallen in love with someone else, and we would still be married and living in New York. I still would have been in love and he would have had a chance to make up for his own mistakes. I"m the one who screwed up and made my life unhappy for almost two years. I was the culprit." Noah opened his mouth to say something, but Addison cut him off once again. "No, let me finish. I"m not going to let you take that step and ruin all you have going for you, not with me at least. From now on, the only involvement I have in your marriage is delivering your child. Other than that, I"m out." "What changed?" he demanded a few minutes after Addison concluded her speech. "What changed in the time between when we talked and when Morgan came to see you?" "For one, she thought we were sleeping together," Addison snapped, not bothering to go into the details. She just wanted him out of her office. "What?" The heart surgeon looked visibly shaken. "She thought we were sleeping together," she repeated. "Imagine how much pain that must have caused her. My heart wanted to break when I saw the woman who I had gotten so close to over the past few months suddenly look at me with such hurt in her eyes. I hated that you put me in that position." "She...she knows?" Addison wanted to hit him on the head with a medical dictionary. "No!" she yelled. "I didn"t lie to her. I told her I was not sleeping with you, and you have no idea how thankful I am that I didn"t." The OB/GYN thanked her stars that she hadn"t while she walked across her office and held open the door. "Now, if you could please leave, I have patients," she requested softly, still avoiding eye contact. Pete stood in the kitchen, watching Addison open the door and Noah trudge out, defeated. As soon as Noah hit the lobby, Pete darted out of the kitchen and to Addison"s side, enveloping her in a strong hug while she cried silently into his shirt. "That hurt more than I expected it to," she admitted, her cracked voice muffled by Pete"s chest. "I know," Pete comforted, rubbing her back softly. "I couldn"t even look him in the eye. I pretty much called him a horrible person and told him I was glad I never slept with him," Addison cried. She moved her hands from in front of her to around his waist and hugged him even tighter. "I should have let him fall on his own, instead of completely pushing him off the building. It hurts less that way." Pete broke the hug and looked Addison straight in the eye. "If you let him fall on his own, you would have fallen right along with him. You had no reason to fall. He needed that push to realize he"s being an ass to his wife. In a year, he"ll thank you for not letting him make this mistake." Addison nodded and hugged him again, her face resting on his shoulder. "You"re good at the comforting thing, you know?" she whispered. Addison felt Pete"s entire body shake as he laughed and wrapped his arms around her. "I know." XD In the kitchen, Violet was reaching to get some yogurt from the fridge when she saw Pete embrace Addison. She knew they had grown extremely close in the last year, but never had she witnessed a more intimate interaction between the two. They were only hugging, true, but years as a shrink had taught Violet to see the difference between friendly comforting and the other kind of comforting. A/N: So I whipped this out in about an hour, so please tell me what you think? Should I write over more than an hour or was this pretty good quality? REVIEW! Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 4: Here A/N: I really should just have it written in the summary: DEDICATED TO PPPLILY FOR REMINDING ME WHY I WRITE FICS. And for kicking my ass into updating. In the kitchen, Violet was reaching to get some yogurt from the fridge when she saw Pete embrace Addison. She knew they had grown extremely close in the last year, but never had she witnessed a more intimate interaction between the two. They were only hugging, true, but years as a shrink had taught Violet to see the difference between friendly comforting and the other kind of comforting. Violet couldn"t get that hug out of her head. Yesterday, Pete was declaring his love for her, making this grandiose speech about how he"s not a guy who fights but he should have fought for her. Yeah, because that"s how you fight for a girl, she thought bitterly. She knew that wasn"t fair. She remembered that she had been the one who turned him down-she got that. What she didn"t get is how he was able to move on so quickly, and with a woman he"d never been able to start up a relationship with despite many attempts. She knew that wasn"t fair either. One of those attempts had failed because he"d been at Violet"s house having a therapy session. Violet could have been the bigger person back then and told him to confide in Addison instead. That way she"d know they weren"t together just for the sex. But that had also been the night Cooper refused to have meaningless sex with her, and Violet had needed some comforting of her own. Bringing her thoughts back to the current situation, Violet the Idiot turned to her good friend Violet the Therapist and asked for help. Violet the Therapist said that the healthy thing to do would be to accept the relationship and let it go. Violet the Idiot responded with the fact that it had only been a day since he"d said he loved her. Violet the Therapist then pointed out the fact that it had also been a day since she"d eliminated any chance to be with him, so she had no right to feel jealous. Violet the Idiot insisted that it had still only been one day. Violet the Therapist sighed and gave her the cold, hard truth: this relationship had been a year in the making. Both Addison and Pete had some growing up to do before they were ready to actually be together; they had to go through their own pain and heal from older, deeper wounds before they could help heal the other"s newer cuts. Violet the Idiot stormed out of Violet the Therapist"s mind, and Violet the Therapist considered upping her hourly fee. Violet buried her head in her hands. Being pregnant did not help the two Violets in her mind get along. It also made it painfully more obvious that she was one screwed up shrink. 8D When the two separated from their embrace, Addison looked up at Pete through some hair that had fallen in front of her face. She wiped her cheeks of the few tears that had fallen and sniffed. "So what is this?" She gestured between them. "This, us, this?" Pete clarified, rubbing her arms. Addison nodded. Smiling, Pete tucked her hair behind her ear. "We"re together," he stated simply. "Together as in a couple?" the redhead asked hopefully. This time Pete nodded. "Does this mean I get to kiss you in public?" Pete smirked. "As long as you keep it PG," he answered, earning him a fake punch on the chest. "Because I"m always the one who makes it inappropriate," she replied sarcastically. "Very funny." Wiggling his eyebrows like he had that morning, he suggested, "Wanna give it a try?" "What if somebody sees?" Pete looked at Addison exasperatedly, and it took a minute for it to sink in with the board-certified neonatal surgeon. "Oh," she giggled, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his neck. She pecked him softly on the lips and pulled away smiling. "I like that." Pete laughed softly. "You"re cute," he declared. "Well, I aim to please," she bantered. "That"s what I"ve heard." That earned him another punch in the chest, only this one was more real than the last one. "I thought I told you to stop hitting me," he said, catching her tiny fist. "Then stop making me want to," she shot back, fighting for her fist back. Pete, however, made it impossible to extract it from his hand. "Can I have my hand back?" "Do you promise not to hit me again?" "I promise I will not hit you for at least an hour," Addison complied. "That"s the best I can do." Pete sighed, "Fine," and returned Addison"s hand back to its rightful owner. After rubbing it for a little bit, Addison looked pensive, almost worried. "What?" "How are you going to deal with Violet?" "What do you mean?" Addison walked into her office and sat on the couch. "I"m not even worried about how you"re going to tell her," she confessed, "although I probably should be since you told her you loved her yesterday and all. What I"m worried about is what if the baby is yours?" Tears welled up her eyes as she went over their situation more and more in her head. "I see it every day. If the baby is yours, you"re more likely going to want to be with Violet because she"ll be the mother of your child, the one who brought this little human being that"s partly yours into the world. What happens then?" One of Addison"s hands reached up and rested on his arm. "But how do you know? I know we"re nowhere near the "I love you,' stage in our relationship, but I still feel like I"m going to be left in the cold if you do find out you"re the father." "Hey, Violet and I would never work," he repeated sternly, giving Addison a small squeeze. "She doesn"t talk to me, and I end up talking to you more than anyone. The sooner we both admit it, the sooner you"ll be able to see that I"m not going to leave you out in the cold once this baby is born, no matter the paternity." He pulled away just enough so he could look her in the eye. "I"m here. Okay?" Addison"s eyes searched Pete"s face for any indication that he believed what he was saying, and she found it. Smiling bravely, she wiped off the tear streaks from her face and nodded. "Okay." They shared another soft kiss, reassuring them both that it wasn"t going to be like last time. When their faces separated once again, she laughed at herself. "God, you"d think I was pregnant with how much I"m crying today." Pete"s eyes widened in horror. Addison saw the panic in his eyes and quickly amended herself. "There"s no way I could be pregnant, Pete Wilder. We only had sex last night, and besides, I"m all dried up, remember?" she joked, citing the time she melted down in the stairwell after they"d first met. Pete nodded, but he was completely spacing out. He wasn"t afraid of being father. That wasn"t what had him struggling to breathe normally. They hadn"t used any sort of protection. A/N: I feel like I used to when I was writing a bunch of Luke and Lorelai fics. Suddenly, every fic has similar qualities. Addie"s melting down, and now I decide to bring up pregnancy in all my fics haha. It"s probably me just being paranoid, but I don"t know. This was just a short update, again, I"m sorry, but I have a great new idea for a fic called Fun Days. Addisex with maybe a little Paddison thrown in. Look for it! Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 5: If I Told You A/N: Again, ppplily is my reminder. And I totally realized that I accidentally deleted a paragraph in the last chapter, and it went from Addison speaking to Addison speaking again. My bad! It doesn"t really mess up the flow, though, so I"m not going to fix it because I"m way too lazy. Okay, I"ll stop babbling now. Next installment. Pete nodded, but he was completely spacing out. He wasn"t afraid of being a father. That wasn"t what had him struggling to breathe normally. They hadn"t used any sort of protection. That conversation in Addison"s office had been all Pete could think about for the next thirteen days, and now he lay in his bed on a Monday morning, staring at the ceiling and wondering how he could have possibly impregnated two women within the same nine months. Addison had no idea what he was thinking, and he hadn"t thought to burden her with his worries-except that she was one of the women he might have possibly impregnated. Pete"s hands moved to his face, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion. How was the alternative medicine guru supposed to help others with insomnia when he couldn"t even put himself to sleep? He"d thought the hard part was over-telling people, especially Violet. He went to her and said he"d only said what he said because he didn"t want to lose another person in his life, and that he was really glad she"d turned him down because they"d never make it. She had seemed kind of frazzled-okay, she had started muttering to herself, so more than kind of frazzled-but she"d accepted it. But how was she supposed to accept it if she found out that he"d gotten someone else pregnant? If Violet"s baby was his, would he be allowed to be a part of his life or would she say that she didn"t want him to be a bad influence on her son? Pete couldn"t stand it anymore. He had to know. Climbing out of bed, he got dressed and grabbed his wallet and keys with a purpose. 8D Addison was in the middle of doing her hair when her doorbell rang. She looked over at her clock in confusion-7:45 a.m. Who the hell would be ringing her doorbell at 7:45 on a Monday morning? Making her way downstairs with her hair half-straightened and half-curly, she opened the door to find her new boyfriend standing on the porch holding a paper bag and looking nervous as hell. "Hey," she greeted, smiling. She stepped aside and let Pete in, bringing him in for a small morning kiss. "If it had been anyone else at my door, I would have yelled at them for interrupting my routine, but I"ll make an exception for you." Pete smirked as he let his hands rest on the small of her back. "Glad to know I"ve got an in," he declared. When Pete"s hands went around Addison"s waist, the paper bag hit her lightly on her butt. Looking over her shoulder at the bag in his hands, Addison reached behind her and took it from him. "What"s this?" she asked, opening it curiously. Puzzlement etched itself on her face as she took out the home pregnancy test. "A pregnancy test?" The smirk slid off Pete"s face. Time to fess up. "I wanted you to take it," he explained. Addison let out a nervous laugh. "Why? We only had sex once, and that was wee--" Her mouth hung open as she replayed that night in her head. "W-We...We didn"t use a condom, did we?" Pete slowly shook his head, his hands tightening on her waist. Addison"s hands went up to her half-done hair, resulting in her face being half-hidden by the paper bag and box. "And I haven"t been on the pill in a few months." Again, Pete shook his head, but at the same time he was slightly disturbed that he knew that. Sure, they"d been really close friends, but had they been that close? "But, but, but I"m dried up!" she exclaimed in hope that saying it loudly enough would reinforce the diagnosis. "But two eggs doesn"t mean no eggs," Pete insisted. "Right, right," Addison breathed out. She lowered her arms and stood there in Pete"s arms holding the pregnancy test. Staring down at the little box in her hands for a minute, she realized it was still Monday morning. "I can"t take this right now. I-I have to finish getting ready for work." She broke Pete"s embrace and headed up the stairs.

8D The banging door woke both Giselle and Edward up. Bang! Giselle jolted awake, terrified after a nightmare where Narissa had returned. She"d been having the same nightmare for weeks now and it was starting to fray her nerves. Are my nightmares coming to life? Thankfully, no. But she couldn"t see Robert anywhere in their room. Quickly reaching out to get a robe, Giselle scrambled--gracefully--to get out of the bed and the room. She passed the mussed up couch. So, the lovebirds have awoken, she thought with some bite. She saw Edward standing in the hallway in his pajamas, staring down at something. Giselle joined him and was about to ask what he was doing when she saw what he was staring at--or rather who he was staring at. There, on the ground, was Robert. On top of him was Nancy. They were both in just towels, but only her hair was damp. Giselle felt her eyes starting to water. What was going on? "--please help us! We can"t separate from each other!" Nancy cried with some urgency in her voice. She was scared. But not of being caught. Curious. "What"s going on?" Giselle finally asked. "I was in the shower," Nancy began. "And I was going to take a shower," Robert added. "And then as I was getting out to let him shower, I tripped on something," Nancy amended, but her voice had taken on a confused tone. "Something that wasn"t there." "Anyway," Robert continued, his voice carrying the same tone, "she fell and knocked me down. We can"t get away from each other though. Each time we try, something always stops us from getting away from each other." "So can you both please help us up?" Nancy pleaded. "But don"t separate us!" "What happens if you"re separated?" Edward inquired. "I don"t know exactly what, but it usually ends up being painful," Nancy answered. "It either physically hurts to be apart or something happens to make us come back together in a crash of some sort," Robert clarified. "But enough about that, can you please help us get up and dressed? Morgan will be here any minute!" Mentioning Morgan woke everybody up. They"d all forgotten about the sweet little six year old. Hurriedly, Edward grabbed Nancy gently by the shoulders while Giselle levered her hands underneath Robert"s shoulders. "One," Edward began counting. "Two. Three." Giselle and Edward heaved as they got the two up on their feet. And instantly ran to each other"s arms, clutching their heads. "Headache?" "Yes," both Robert and Nancy answered. "But you were only about a foot apart," Giselle pointed out. "God, I hope it doesn"t last this way forever," Nancy cried into Robert"s shoulder. "And ever," Edward and Giselle finished simultaneously. "So how are we going to do this?" Robert asked. "Do what?" the raven-haired beauty queried. "If we have to be less than a foot apart at a time, how will we do everyday things? Like going to the bathroom, showering, sleeping--" "You, sir, are not sleeping with my wife!" Edward declared gallantly. "The privilege to cuddle up next to this angel falls with the husband. Me!" Robert almost laughed at his misinterpretation of the common misinterpretation. Robert had actually meant sleeping next to Nancy. But that is usually taken as sleeping with as in canoodling with Nancy. But Edward thought it was sleeping next to Nancy. It was a vicious circle of misinterpretation. Quite comical, really. "I"m not saying I want to, Edward," Robert clarified. "I just have to." Nancy"s head whipped around to glare. "So I"m just that painful to lie next to?" Robert realized just what he had said a tad too late. Groaning, he dropped his head onto Nancy"s shoulder, just as she had done with him. "He is right," she said to her husband. "We won"t have any privacy like this. Sorry, sweetie." Edward"s crushed face made Nancy"s heart melt. This was going to take some getting used to. A/N: Okay, it"s another short chapter but I need my sleep! I haven"t had a proper night"s sleep in about a month and a half and, quite frankly, I"m exhausted. So I hope you liked the chapter and keep the reviews coming! We Meet Again An Enchanted fic by Gigi Summary: Nancy is Queen of Andalasia now and happily married to Edward. But what happens when she visits New York and runs into Robert and Giselle Chapter 7: Barbara Stanwick A/N: You know what I"ve realized? When I didn"t update so quickly, I would get more reviews! Don"t forget to tell your friends about this story and REVIEW because it isn"t fair. I"m putting a lot of energy and effort into writing this fic, and if nobody"s reading it, why should I write it? I hope you understand. Thank you. Back in Robert"s bedroom, Nancy began to feel a little uneasy. Was her marriage going to survive this? Edward might think she was going to ignore him now that she was plastered to another man. The problem was, she had no idea how to smash that notion, because she literally was plastered to another man. She wouldn"t be able to kiss her husband or even hug him without making it awkward for Robert. Robert was thinking the same thing about Giselle. "Ow! Ow! OW!!" the two magnets yelled as they got a little too far apart. Nancy and Robert banged into each other as quickly as possible to make the pain go away. Unfortunately, the impact caused Nancy"s towel to lose its hold around her body and fall to the floor. Squealing, Nancy ducked down and retrieved the towel like lightning and had successfully wrapped it around her form before anyone could blink. When she finally straightened, her face was siren red. "Sorry about that," she squeaked. Neither of them had noticed Giselle appear in the doorway just in time to watch them crash into each other. She couldn"t help but scrutinize the other woman"s body when her towel had fallen. She truly was a beautiful woman. Inside and definitely out. I don"t know if I can compete with that, she bitterly thought to herself. She knew Robert had seen Nancy naked before. Giselle was innocent, but not naive. She knew what went on between a man and a woman. New York had educated her these past six months. Giselle knew they had a long history. She had even asked about it, and Robert had told her straight out that they had had intercourse. It was that honesty she fell in love with. But how would she compare next to a woman who was not only strikingly beautiful and extremely nice, but also one who had ignited such deep feelings of love in Robert? Who was to say she wouldn"t do that again? Giselle doubted she would do it on purpose, though. She was much too good of a person to do that. Nancy would never intentionally betray anyone. Not Edward. Not Robert. Not even Giselle. That much, Giselle knew to be true. If it weren"t for the fact that she and Robert had yet to take that step--she was waiting for marriage--Giselle may not have felt so threatened by Nancy, but she couldn"t help it. However, she also knew Nancy couldn"t help it either. She was stuck with Robert whether or not she liked it. Robert, feeling guilty for his previous peeking escapades, gallantly averted his eyes when Nancy"s towel dropped. He at least had that much self control, although his cheeks reddened with the effort. Did Nancy really have to keep revealing herself to him? Their current predicament would make it hard for him to hide his attraction for her if she kept it up much longer. "So how are we going to do this?" Nancy asked. She seemed to be asking that a lot lately. "Do what?" "I have things set up for upcoming weeks," she explained, "and, last time I checked, it isn"t socially acceptable for someone to show up surgically attached to someone who is in a relationship with another." She gestured to the lack of space between them. "Apparently, we always have to be touching or be less than a foot from each other, which usually leads to touching." "What do you have planned?" "Well, first I would like to visit the studio. I want to see how it"s been kept up. Then you have a dinner you have to go to," she declared. "How did you know about the dinner?" Robert demanded, incredulous. "Don"t forget your week"s plans are posted on a dry erase board in the kitchen," she answered smugly. An idea suddenly popped into her head. "How many people know you and Giselle are together?" "Not that many, actually. She said she wanted to keep things private until she knew enough about New York not to make a fool of herself," he said. "Why?" "Because, the plans said it was you plus one. If it"s important enough to have a guest list, then you probably have to go." "Yeah, I have to go. It"s a state dinner." "A state dinner?" Nancy repeated, bewildered. "Why would a divorce attorney be invited to a state dinner?" "Because I recently handled the divorce of the governor"s daughter well enough that she got pretty much everything. This is to show their gratitude, apparently. Though I don"t see how inviting me to a boring state dinner is a thank you." "Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed. "This is amazing! Not only will you be able to maintain your relationship with the governor, but you"ll be meeting heads of state and affairs! You"ll be making terrific contacts. You never know when you need good law advice from someone you know can keep a secret! What"s more, I can help you with decorum and such." "Decorum?" he asked. "What do you mean? That I"m a slob?" "No, not a slob. Quite the opposite, actually. But you have to realize, you have to act differently around rulers and administrators." "And how would you know how to act?" The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Nancy paused before answering him, a hurt look flashing in her liquid eyes. "In case you have forgotten," she hissed in a cold voice, "I happen to be a Queen. Besides, this will make it much easier for me to go with you." "What?!" "Well, unless you can think of a way to get us demagnetized in time for your dinner tonight, you"re stuck with me, pal," Nancy shrugged. "We can act like a couple for the time being, until we can figure this thing out." "And what about Giselle and Edward?" Robert argued feebly. Truth to tell, he was afraid it would be far too easy to fall back into their old routine as a couple. "I guess they"re a couple now, too," she replied, her voice suddenly sad, lamenting the loss of her husband to the woman who had taken Robert from her as well. Hey, it could happen again. Robert saw the pain in her eyes at the realization she would not be able to call Edward her husband under the circumstances. He could tell Nancy really loved Edward, much as it killed him to see that. Why wasn"t he more disappointed in losing Giselle for a time? Because I"m with my first true love. Whoa. Where did that come from? Morgan"s mother was his first love. And Giselle was apparently his true love. So why did he feel that was wrong? Why had he just called Nancy his true love? That voice in his head wasn"t even his. It sounded...girly...yet husky at the same time. Like Barbara Stanwick. Great time to be thinking of Barbara Stanwick at a time like this, a voice in his head chided. But why was there a foreign voice in his head? "Robert?" Nancy"s voice came through the haze, snapping him out of his stupor. "Robert? I don"t have anything formal enough for a state dinner," she announced. "So?" Robert replied. "What"s your solution?" "You"re coming to the studio with me," she declared, reaching her arms behind her to zip up a skirt he hadn"t seen her put on. Boy, was he out of it. A/N: So sorry for taking so long after giving you so many chapters in a row! I guess I spoiled you guys! So I finally figured out the resolution to this story, and the couplings and EVERYTHING. Yay! But you shall have to continue reading to find out! REVIEW! We Meet Again An Enchanted fic by Gigi Summary: Nancy is Queen of Andalasia now and happily married to Edward. But what happens when she visits New York and runs into Robert and Giselle Chapter 8: Studio Check A/N: To those of you who don"t feel I should be asking for reviews: I sacrifice a lot of time and energy to write this for your enjoyment, because I enjoy it when people write for me. I always make a point to press that little review button and click a few buttons on a keyboard to let that writer know I appreciate all the effort they devote to writing that story. They spend days and days on one chapter, and they don"t have to. They have absolutely nothing making them post it and letting us enjoy this story. That"s all I ask for. Just a few clicks on a keyboard. It takes less than a minute. Just to show your appreciation or give friendly advice. Either way. Just don"t chastise me for what I believe is a reasonable request. Remember, I don"t have to write this story. Reviews keep me going. Good, bad, and in between. At least then I know it"s actually being read and not just skimmed or a misclick. To those of you who do review regularly (and irregularly), I thank you. You give me what I need to write. On with the story! As Nancy"s studio came into sight, she couldn"t help but smile. It was just the same. They didn"t change everything as soon as she"d left. She"d made a point of that. Of keeping in touch with the manager. A faint pain in her neck popped her out of her reverie. Looking back the way she"d come, Nancy yanked Robert to walk faster. "Are you trying to kill me?" she demanded. "What do you mean?" Robert asked, confused. "You keep separating us, and it hurts!" she retorted. "It does? It hasn"t bothered me since we left the apartment..." he said pensively. Interesting. "What?" Nancy was taken aback. "Why is it only me, then?" "I have no idea...who"s that?" Robert peered into the store. A redhead was staring at them with an oddly twisted mouth. Could mouths do that? Naturally? "Oh, she must be the assistant manager. According to Clarie, she was just hired a few days ago," Nancy answered. "Who is Clarie?" "The manager in my place. She makes sure to receive my designs every month and have them constructed," she stated, resuming her trek to the studio and dragging Robert along with her. "You keep in touch?" Robert questioned, surprised. "How?" "Easy. Ella drops in the first tuesday of every month to give Clarie my designs and receive an update on the studio"s progress." "Ella?" he repeated, his heart dropping. Had she already had a child? No...it hasn"t been long enough...has it? "She"s this adorable little girl, the daughter of one of my Ladies-in-Waiting," Nancy explained, the corners of her lips curving into a smile. "She really reminds me of Morgan, which is why I loved her in the first place...so innocent and caring...Anyway, she"s about to turn seven." "You let a seven year old girl walk the streets of not just another world, but New York completely alone once a month?" Robert demanded, incredulous. "Of course not." Nancy glanced reproachfully at her ex. "I have friends here who take care of her. They make sure the manhole is open and let her stay with them." Nancy could have cried with relief when they finally reached the doors. "Nancy!" Clarie exclaimed as the two entered the studio. Before Nancy knew what happened, Clarie had smothered her in an impossibly tight bear hug. "How are you?" she asked once she had once more allowed Nancy to breathe. "I"m absolutely wonderful," Nancy declared, grinning at the warm welcome. "I take it you got my message?" "Would I be here right now if I hadn"t?" A small cough interrupted the two old friends" reunion. Clarie turned around to the woman who had been staring at them through the window...glaring more like. "Yes?" Clarie prompted. The redhead threw a significant look at Nancy and Robert. "Oh! I can"t believe I forgot. Nancy," she said, turning her attention back to her boss, "this is Berylinn Nightcaster, our new assistant manager. Berylinn, this is the Nancy Tremaine and her beau, Robert Philip." Robert and Nancy chuckled uneasily at the assumption of their relationship status. They had never really told anyone they broke up. Figuring they may as well play the part, Robert slipped his arm around her waist when he saw the woman...Berylinn? Strange name...look him up and down approvingly. "Nice to meet you, Berylinn," Nancy said graciously, surprised at the jealousy flashing in the woman"s eyes when Robert had grabbed her waist. Unconsciously, Nancy placed her hand over his, squeezing it slightly to show her unease. Robert felt the pressure on his hand and knew what it meant. Turning his hand in hers, he squeezed back reassuringly, pulling her a little closer. "Please, call me Beryl or Berry. Everyone else does," the redhead replied smoothly, the jealousy carefully concealed and controlled now. Smiling in her direction, Nancy focused once more on her second-in-command. "So, to business. Robert and I are to attend the State Dinner tonight at the Michelangelo. It is quite a formal affair. I assume you have received my latest designs?" "Of course, I have, and might I say, your royal blue evening gown with the shimmering neck was breathtaking once manufactured," Clarie declared, her eyes going to a far away place as she imagined the dress. "How many of those have you made?" Nancy inquired, hoping it wasn"t too many. She"d always imagined herself wearing that dress. "Only one so far. It"s far more complicated than any of the others," Clarie answered truthfully. "Perfect. There will be no need to make any more for the time being. I would like to wear that for tonight, after which it can be showcased during Fashion Week," Nancy instructed, fully in business mode. Robert had to admit, he"d loved her bossy. "Of course, shall I bring it out now?" "No, no. There will be no need, just have it sent to Robert"s apartment. You still have my measurements on file?" Clarie nodded. "Good, they haven"t changed, so if you could please have Anna Marie make the alterations accordingly. She"s the only seamstress who knows how to work with that type of fabric." "You heard all that?" Clarie directed at Beryl, who nodded solemnly. "Go, then and tell Anna Marie she needs to hop to it right this second." With that, she dismissed her employee. "I apologize for Beryl, she is still quite new. I think she"s just trying to fit in." "It"s perfectly alright," Nancy smiled warmly. A spasm in her calf made her aware that she no longer felt Robert"s arm around her waist. Rolling her eyes, she scanned the store to find Robert wandering around the studio. "Will you excuse me? I"m just going to have a look around before I go. It was wonderful seeing you, Clarie," she said sincerely, hugging her before darting off to Robert. "Stop doing that!" she hissed. "Doing what?" he whispered back, apparently very interested in the spring collection of dresses. "You may not feel the pain, but I sure as hell do," Nancy chided as she bent down to massage her aching calf, giving Robert a nice view for a few seconds. "Come on, I still don"t have a complete wardrobe." "What?" Robert exclaimed. "You were laden with bags yesterday!" "Yeah, and about half of them were for Edward, smart guy." She meandered through the studio, picking up certain outfits and handing them to Robert to hold. "I"m going to be staying for a while, and a fashion designer cannot be left without clothes." Robert was left with no choice but to follow her around the store and into the dressing rooms. She, of course, refused to let him into the cubicle with her. "I think you"ve seen me naked enough for a day," she claimed. Oh she had no idea. "But what about the bond?" "You can just stand really close to the door and so will I. That way, we"re still close to each other." Without saying another word, she disappeared into the cubicle. Not long after she had gone did Robert have another visitor. Beryl came slinking up to him once she saw the coast was clear. "Hey," she breathed out in what she must have thought was a seductive tone. "Hi," Robert said indifferently. "So, how long have you been with "Little Miss Bossy" over there?" she whispered conspiratorially. "Five and a half years, and she"s hardly bossy," he insisted. "Oh really?" Beryl snorted. "Did you see what just went on back there?" "Yes, and it was simply an employer addressing an employee. Nothing more." Robert was really starting to get annoyed at this troublemaker. "Anyway," she recovered, "aren"t you bored with her after all these years?" He shook his head. "I mean, the uptight bi--" she cut off as the object of their whispered conversation opened the door. "What do you think?" Nancy asked, twirling in a knee-length pale pink baby doll with lacy trim over the bodice and finishing with a curtsy, a smile playing across her lips. He grinned at her silliness, but the woman right beside him was getting increasingly closer. He needed to get rid of Beryl. Before he knew what he was doing, Robert reached around her waist, pulling her flush against him. Her hands resting on his chest, he could feel her grip his shirt slightly. "You look beautiful," he whispered in her ear before swooping down to capture her lips with his. Nancy stood stiffly, too stunned to stop his barrage of her mouth. What was going on? Why was he kissing her? Involuntarily, her eyelids fluttered shut as he slipped his tongue in her open mouth.

Not only that, but they were stuck in that position until Giselle or Edward woke up and helped them up. Oh, crap,both minds thought simultaneously. A/N: Okay, it"s a shortie, but I totally love this twist. What do you think? Review PLEASE! We Meet Again An Enchanted fic by Gigi Summary: Nancy is Queen of Andalasia now and happily married to Edward. But what happens when she visits New York and runs into Robert and Giselle Chapter 6: Caught A/N: So, the plot thickens! I guess this is a Nancy/Robert fic thus far. Who knows? Maybe I"ll zag when you think I"ll zig! Keep those reviews coming! Too mortified to say anything, Nancy kept her face buried in Robert"s chest. This is way too embarrassing, she thought. Thank God my towel didn"t come undone! Indeed, her towel was the only thing between his naked chest and hers, and Nancy couldn"t be more relieved it was between them. That would be even harder to explain! 8D The banging door woke both Giselle and Edward up. Bang! Giselle jolted awake, terrified after a nightmare where Narissa had returned. She"d been having the same nightmare for weeks now and it was starting to fray her nerves. Are my nightmares coming to life? Thankfully, no. But she couldn"t see Robert anywhere in their room. Quickly reaching out to get a robe, Giselle scrambled--gracefully--to get out of the bed and the room. She passed the mussed up couch. So, the lovebirds have awoken, she thought with some bite. She saw Edward standing in the hallway in his pajamas, staring down at something. Giselle joined him and was about to ask what he was doing when she saw what he was staring at--or rather who he was staring at. There, on the ground, was Robert. On top of him was Nancy. They were both in just towels, but only her hair was damp. Giselle felt her eyes starting to water. What was going on? "--please help us! We can"t separate from each other!" Nancy cried with some urgency in her voice. She was scared. But not of being caught. Curious. "What"s going on?" Giselle finally asked. "I was in the shower," Nancy began. "And I was going to take a shower," Robert added. "And then as I was getting out to let him shower, I tripped on something," Nancy amended, but her voice had taken on a confused tone. "Something that wasn"t there." "Anyway," Robert continued, his voice carrying the same tone, "she fell and knocked me down. We can"t get away from each other though. Each time we try, something always stops us from getting away from each other." "So can you both please help us up?" Nancy pleaded. "But don"t separate us!" "What happens if you"re separated?" Edward inquired. "I don"t know exactly what, but it usually ends up being painful," Nancy answered. "It either physically hurts to be apart or something happens to make us come back together in a crash of some sort," Robert clarified. "But enough about that, can you please help us get up and dressed? Morgan will be here any minute!" Mentioning Morgan woke everybody up. They"d all forgotten about the sweet little six year old. Hurriedly, Edward grabbed Nancy gently by the shoulders while Giselle levered her hands underneath Robert"s shoulders. "One," Edward began counting. "Two. Three." Giselle and Edward heaved as they got the two up on their feet. And instantly ran to each other"s arms, clutching their heads. "Headache?" "Yes," both Robert and Nancy answered. "But you were only about a foot apart," Giselle pointed out. "God, I hope it doesn"t last this way forever," Nancy cried into Robert"s shoulder. "And ever," Edward and Giselle finished simultaneously. "So how are we going to do this?" Robert asked. "Do what?" the raven-haired beauty queried. "If we have to be less than a foot apart at a time, how will we do everyday things? Like going to the bathroom, showering, sleeping--" "You, sir, are not sleeping with my wife!" Edward declared gallantly. "The privilege to cuddle up next to this angel falls with the husband. Me!" Robert almost laughed at his misinterpretation of the common misinterpretation. Robert had actually meant sleeping next to Nancy. But that is usually taken as sleeping with as in canoodling with Nancy. But Edward thought it was sleeping next to Nancy. It was a vicious circle of misinterpretation. Quite comical, really. "I"m not saying I want to, Edward," Robert clarified. "I just have to." Nancy"s head whipped around to glare. "So I"m just that painful to lie next to?" Robert realized just what he had said a tad too late. Groaning, he dropped his head onto Nancy"s shoulder, just as she had done with him. "He is right," she said to her husband. "We won"t have any privacy like this. Sorry, sweetie." Edward"s crushed face made Nancy"s heart melt. This was going to take some getting used to. A/N: Okay, it"s another short chapter but I need my sleep! I haven"t had a proper night"s sleep in about a month and a half and, quite frankly, I"m exhausted. So I hope you liked the chapter and keep the reviews coming! We Meet Again An Enchanted fic by Gigi Summary: Nancy is Queen of Andalasia now and happily married to Edward. But what happens when she visits New York and runs into Robert and Giselle Chapter 7: Barbara Stanwick A/N: You know what I"ve realized? When I didn"t update so quickly, I would get more reviews! Don"t forget to tell your friends about this story and REVIEW because it isn"t fair. I"m putting a lot of energy and effort into writing this fic, and if nobody"s reading it, why should I write it? I hope you understand. Thank you. Back in Robert"s bedroom, Nancy began to feel a little uneasy. Was her marriage going to survive this? Edward might think she was going to ignore him now that she was plastered to another man. The problem was, she had no idea how to smash that notion, because she literally was plastered to another man. She wouldn"t be able to kiss her husband or even hug him without making it awkward for Robert. Robert was thinking the same thing about Giselle. "Ow! Ow! OW!!" the two magnets yelled as they got a little too far apart. Nancy and Robert banged into each other as quickly as possible to make the pain go away. Unfortunately, the impact caused Nancy"s towel to lose its hold around her body and fall to the floor. Squealing, Nancy ducked down and retrieved the towel like lightning and had successfully wrapped it around her form before anyone could blink. When she finally straightened, her face was siren red. "Sorry about that," she squeaked. Neither of them had noticed Giselle appear in the doorway just in time to watch them crash into each other. She couldn"t help but scrutinize the other woman"s body when her towel had fallen. She truly was a beautiful woman. Inside and definitely out. I don"t know if I can compete with that, she bitterly thought to herself. She knew Robert had seen Nancy naked before. Giselle was innocent, but not naive. She knew what went on between a man and a woman. New York had educated her these past six months. Giselle knew they had a long history. She had even asked about it, and Robert had told her straight out that they had had intercourse. It was that honesty she fell in love with. But how would she compare next to a woman who was not only strikingly beautiful and extremely nice, but also one who had ignited such deep feelings of love in Robert? Who was to say she wouldn"t do that again? Giselle doubted she would do it on purpose, though. She was much too good of a person to do that. Nancy would never intentionally betray anyone. Not Edward. Not Robert. Not even Giselle. That much, Giselle knew to be true. If it weren"t for the fact that she and Robert had yet to take that step--she was waiting for marriage--Giselle may not have felt so threatened by Nancy, but she couldn"t help it. However, she also knew Nancy couldn"t help it either. She was stuck with Robert whether or not she liked it. Robert, feeling guilty for his previous peeking escapades, gallantly averted his eyes when Nancy"s towel dropped. He at least had that much self control, although his cheeks reddened with the effort. Did Nancy really have to keep revealing herself to him? Their current predicament would make it hard for him to hide his attraction for her if she kept it up much longer. "So how are we going to do this?" Nancy asked. She seemed to be asking that a lot lately. "Do what?" "I have things set up for upcoming weeks," she explained, "and, last time I checked, it isn"t socially acceptable for someone to show up surgically attached to someone who is in a relationship with another." She gestured to the lack of space between them. "Apparently, we always have to be touching or be less than a foot from each other, which usually leads to touching." "What do you have planned?" "Well, first I would like to visit the studio. I want to see how it"s been kept up. Then you have a dinner you have to go to," she declared. "How did you know about the dinner?" Robert demanded, incredulous. "Don"t forget your week"s plans are posted on a dry erase board in the kitchen," she answered smugly. An idea suddenly popped into her head. "How many people know you and Giselle are together?" "Not that many, actually. She said she wanted to keep things private until she knew enough about New York not to make a fool of herself," he said. "Why?" "Because, the plans said it was you plus one. If it"s important enough to have a guest list, then you probably have to go." "Yeah, I have to go. It"s a state dinner." "A state dinner?" Nancy repeated, bewildered. "Why would a divorce attorney be invited to a state dinner?" "Because I recently handled the divorce of the governor"s daughter well enough that she got pretty much everything. This is to show their gratitude, apparently. Though I don"t see how inviting me to a boring state dinner is a thank you." "Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed. "This is amazing! Not only will you be able to maintain your relationship with the governor, but you"ll be meeting heads of state and affairs! You"ll be making terrific contacts. You never know when you need good law advice from someone you know can keep a secret! What"s more, I can help you with decorum and such." "Decorum?" he asked. "What do you mean? That I"m a slob?" "No, not a slob. Quite the opposite, actually. But you have to realize, you have to act differently around rulers and administrators." "And how would you know how to act?" The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Nancy paused before answering him, a hurt look flashing in her liquid eyes. "In case you have forgotten," she hissed in a cold voice, "I happen to be a Queen. Besides, this will make it much easier for me to go with you." "What?!" "Well, unless you can think of a way to get us demagnetized in time for your dinner tonight, you"re stuck with me, pal," Nancy shrugged. "We can act like a couple for the time being, until we can figure this thing out." "And what about Giselle and Edward?" Robert argued feebly. Truth to tell, he was afraid it would be far too easy to fall back into their old routine as a couple. "I guess they"re a couple now, too," she replied, her voice suddenly sad, lamenting the loss of her husband to the woman who had taken Robert from her as well. Hey, it could happen again. Robert saw the pain in her eyes at the realization she would not be able to call Edward her husband under the circumstances. He could tell Nancy really loved Edward, much as it killed him to see that. Why wasn"t he more disappointed in losing Giselle for a time? Because I"m with my first true love. Whoa. Where did that come from? Morgan"s mother was his first love. And Giselle was apparently his true love. So why did he feel that was wrong? Why had he just called Nancy his true love? That voice in his head wasn"t even his. It sounded...girly...yet husky at the same time. Like Barbara Stanwick. Great time to be thinking of Barbara Stanwick at a time like this, a voice in his head chided. But why was there a foreign voice in his head? "Robert?" Nancy"s voice came through the haze, snapping him out of his stupor. "Robert? I don"t have anything formal enough for a state dinner," she announced. "So?" Robert replied. "What"s your solution?" "You"re coming to the studio with me," she declared, reaching her arms behind her to zip up a skirt he hadn"t seen her put on. Boy, was he out of it. A/N: So sorry for taking so long after giving you so many chapters in a row! I guess I spoiled you guys! So I finally figured out the resolution to this story, and the couplings and EVERYTHING. Yay! But you shall have to continue reading to find out! REVIEW! We Meet Again An Enchanted fic by Gigi Summary: Nancy is Queen of Andalasia now and happily married to Edward. But what happens when she visits New York and runs into Robert and Giselle Chapter 8: Studio Check A/N: To those of you who don"t feel I should be asking for reviews: I sacrifice a lot of time and energy to write this for your enjoyment, because I enjoy it when people write for me. I always make a point to press that little review button and click a few buttons on a keyboard to let that writer know I appreciate all the effort they devote to writing that story. They spend days and days on one chapter, and they don"t have to. They have absolutely nothing making them post it and letting us enjoy this story. That"s all I ask for. Just a few clicks on a keyboard. It takes less than a minute. Just to show your appreciation or give friendly advice. Either way. Just don"t chastise me for what I believe is a reasonable request. Remember, I don"t have to write this story. Reviews keep me going. Good, bad, and in between. At least then I know it"s actually being read and not just skimmed or a misclick. To those of you who do review regularly (and irregularly), I thank you. You give me what I need to write. On with the story! As Nancy"s studio came into sight, she couldn"t help but smile. It was just the same. They didn"t change everything as soon as she"d left. She"d made a point of that. Of keeping in touch with the manager. A faint pain in her neck popped her out of her reverie. Looking back the way she"d come, Nancy yanked Robert to walk faster. "Are you trying to kill me?" she demanded. "What do you mean?" Robert asked, confused. "You keep separating us, and it hurts!" she retorted. "It does? It hasn"t bothered me since we left the apartment..." he said pensively. Interesting. "What?" Nancy was taken aback. "Why is it only me, then?" "I have no idea...who"s that?" Robert peered into the store. A redhead was staring at them with an oddly twisted mouth. Could mouths do that? Naturally? "Oh, she must be the assistant manager. According to Clarie, she was just hired a few days ago," Nancy answered. "Who is Clarie?" "The manager in my place. She makes sure to receive my designs every month and have them constructed," she stated, resuming her trek to the studio and dragging Robert along with her. "You keep in touch?" Robert questioned, surprised. "How?" "Easy. Ella drops in the first tuesday of every month to give Clarie my designs and receive an update on the studio"s progress." "Ella?" he repeated, his heart dropping. Had she already had a child? No...it hasn"t been long enough...has it? "She"s this adorable little girl, the daughter of one of my Ladies-in-Waiting," Nancy explained, the corners of her lips curving into a smile. "She really reminds me of Morgan, which is why I loved her in the first place...so innocent and caring...Anyway, she"s about to turn seven." "You let a seven year old girl walk the streets of not just another world, but New York completely alone once a month?" Robert demanded, incredulous. "Of course not." Nancy glanced reproachfully at her ex. "I have friends here who take care of her. They make sure the manhole is open and let her stay with them." Nancy could have cried with relief when they finally reached the doors. "Nancy!" Clarie exclaimed as the two entered the studio. Before Nancy knew what happened, Clarie had smothered her in an impossibly tight bear hug. "How are you?" she asked once she had once more allowed Nancy to breathe. "I"m absolutely wonderful," Nancy declared, grinning at the warm welcome. "I take it you got my message?" "Would I be here right now if I hadn"t?" A small cough interrupted the two old friends" reunion. Clarie turned around to the woman who had been staring at them through the window...glaring more like. "Yes?" Clarie prompted. The redhead threw a significant look at Nancy and Robert. "Oh! I can"t believe I forgot. Nancy," she said, turning her attention back to her boss, "this is Berylinn Nightcaster, our new assistant manager. Berylinn, this is the Nancy Tremaine and her beau, Robert Philip." Robert and Nancy chuckled uneasily at the assumption of their relationship status. They had never really told anyone they broke up. Figuring they may as well play the part, Robert slipped his arm around her waist when he saw the woman...Berylinn? Strange name...look him up and down approvingly. "Nice to meet you, Berylinn," Nancy said graciously, surprised at the jealousy flashing in the woman"s eyes when Robert had grabbed her waist. Unconsciously, Nancy placed her hand over his, squeezing it slightly to show her unease. Robert felt the pressure on his hand and knew what it meant. Turning his hand in hers, he squeezed back reassuringly, pulling her a little closer. "Please, call me Beryl or Berry. Everyone else does," the redhead replied smoothly, the jealousy carefully concealed and controlled now. Smiling in her direction, Nancy focused once more on her second-in-command. "So, to business. Robert and I are to attend the State Dinner tonight at the Michelangelo. It is quite a formal affair. I assume you have received my latest designs?" "Of course, I have, and might I say, your royal blue evening gown with the shimmering neck was breathtaking once manufactured," Clarie declared, her eyes going to a far away place as she imagined the dress. "How many of those have you made?" Nancy inquired, hoping it wasn"t too many. She"d always imagined herself wearing that dress. "Only one so far. It"s far more complicated than any of the others," Clarie answered truthfully. "Perfect. There will be no need to make any more for the time being. I would like to wear that for tonight, after which it can be showcased during Fashion Week," Nancy instructed, fully in business mode. Robert had to admit, he"d loved her bossy. "Of course, shall I bring it out now?" "No, no. There will be no need, just have it sent to Robert"s apartment. You still have my measurements on file?" Clarie nodded. "Good, they haven"t changed, so if you could please have Anna Marie make the alterations accordingly. She"s the only seamstress who knows how to work with that type of fabric." "You heard all that?" Clarie directed at Beryl, who nodded solemnly. "Go, then and tell Anna Marie she needs to hop to it right this second." With that, she dismissed her employee. "I apologize for Beryl, she is still quite new. I think she"s just trying to fit in." "It"s perfectly alright," Nancy smiled warmly. A spasm in her calf made her aware that she no longer felt Robert"s arm around her waist. Rolling her eyes, she scanned the store to find Robert wandering around the studio. "Will you excuse me? I"m just going to have a look around before I go. It was wonderful seeing you, Clarie," she said sincerely, hugging her before darting off to Robert. "Stop doing that!" she hissed. "Doing what?" he whispered back, apparently very interested in the spring collection of dresses. "You may not feel the pain, but I sure as hell do," Nancy chided as she bent down to massage her aching calf, giving Robert a nice view for a few seconds. "Come on, I still don"t have a complete wardrobe." "What?" Robert exclaimed. "You were laden with bags yesterday!" "Yeah, and about half of them were for Edward, smart guy." She meandered through the studio, picking up certain outfits and handing them to Robert to hold. "I"m going to be staying for a while, and a fashion designer cannot be left without clothes." Robert was left with no choice but to follow her around the store and into the dressing rooms. She, of course, refused to let him into the cubicle with her. "I think you"ve seen me naked enough for a day," she claimed. Oh she had no idea. "But what about the bond?" "You can just stand really close to the door and so will I. That way, we"re still close to each other." Without saying another word, she disappeared into the cubicle. Not long after she had gone did Robert have another visitor. Beryl came slinking up to him once she saw the coast was clear. "Hey," she breathed out in what she must have thought was a seductive tone. "Hi," Robert said indifferently. "So, how long have you been with "Little Miss Bossy" over there?" she whispered conspiratorially. "Five and a half years, and she"s hardly bossy," he insisted. "Oh really?" Beryl snorted. "Did you see what just went on back there?" "Yes, and it was simply an employer addressing an employee. Nothing more." Robert was really starting to get annoyed at this troublemaker. "Anyway," she recovered, "aren"t you bored with her after all these years?" He shook his head. "I mean, the uptight bi--" she cut off as the object of their whispered conversation opened the door.

"Yeah, but I"m waiting until lunch. I still don"t know how I feel about it," Addison answered. "Are you going to keep it if it"s positive?" Naomi went to sit beside the OB/GYN. Addison opened her mouth to speak, but then her BlackBerry lit up and started buzzing in her hand. "Hold that thought," she told Naomi. Clicking the green button on her phone, she put it up to her ear. "Dr. Montgomery." "Hey," a husky, manly, sexy voice that Addison would never forget greeted. Addison"s heart stopped. "Mark." A/N: I"m so evil. I apparently can"t write a Private Practice fic without bringing some Grey"s character from Addie"s past down to spice things up. Don"t worry, I"m not going to make this a Mark-Addison-Pete love triangle. I"ll go ahead and tell you it"s going to be more about Addison"s past baby daddy and her maybe-future baby daddy. I can"t believe I just used the term "baby daddy." Twice. REVIEW. Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 6: Once Upon a Time A/N: I remember how excited I was about writing this chapter when I"d finished writing Chapter 5, but I honestly can"t remember what I was going to write. But hopefully, this will be just as good as whatever brilliant idea I had back then. You should probably thank ppplily every time this story gets updated. Seriously. "Are you going to keep it if it"s positive?" Naomi went to sit beside the OB/GYN. Addison opened her mouth to speak, but then her BlackBerry lit up and started buzzing in her hand. "Hold that thought," she told Naomi. Clicking the green button on her phone, she put it up to her ear. "Dr. Montgomery." "Hey," a husky, manly, sexy voice that Addison would never forget greeted. Addison"s heart stopped. "Mark." Addison"s mind went into overdrive. Mark was calling her. Mark. The only man to ever have gotten her pregnant was calling her. One word was lodged in Addison"s mind: shit. "Yep, it"s Mark," he confirmed, satisfied with the shock he heard in the woman"s voice. "I"m in town for a few days doing a consult, and I wondered if I could see you." Naomi was dying to know what was going on. She"d seen the blood drain out of Addison"s face when she said his name in realization. She gestured for Addison to put the call on speakerphone, and Mark"s voice filled the office. "Um..." Addison looked to her best friend for help. She didn"t know if she wanted to see Mark knowing that she might be pregnant again. Naomi shrugged. This was uncharted territory for her. "What did you have in mind?" "I was thinking maybe lunch, if you"re free," Mark suggested. Addison"s eyes flashed toward the box that still rested in Naomi"s hands. She"d promised Pete she would take the test that day, but she couldn"t if she met Mark for lunch. But there was no easy way to tell Mark that she couldn"t meet him because she was peeing on a stick, so she closed her eyes and accepted his offer. "Lunch would be great. How about Sandwich Shop on 6th Street at twelve thirty?" "Great, see you there," he answered, hanging up. Addison pressed the red button on her phone and looked up at Naomi indignantly. "Thanks for all your help, Nae," she said sarcastically. "What the hell could I have done?" Addison groaned and sat down on her couch, burying her face in her hands. "What am I going to do?" "What do you mean?" Naomi sat down next to her. "About the test. I promised Pete I would take it today, and now the lunch plan is out the window because of Mark deciding to drop in," Addison rambled. Naomi looked at her watch. "You still have half an hour until your first patient," she noted. "You could take it now." Addison brought her head up out of her hands. "I could," she agreed, biting her lip. "But I still have no idea what I"ll do if it"s positive. I was going to use the time until lunch to wrap my mind around it." "Sweetie, if it"s positive, you"re going to have a lot to wrap your mind around," Naomi pointed out, "and you"re not always going to have "until lunch" to do that." She had a point. Addison looked at her friend for a few seconds before realizing why she was being so mature about it. "You just want me to take it now so you"ll know," she accused, and judging by Naomi"s guilty expression, she was right on the money. Sighing, she took the box out of the fertility specialist"s hand and muttered, "Fine." 8D Addison sat on the countertop, clutching a timer in her hands. The knob was almost at the zero mark, but there were still twenty seconds left. She still had no idea what she wanted it to turn out as. If it was positive, she would have to go through all the crap she saw in her patients, and she would be twice as paranoid because she knew perfectly well how bad things could go. She also wouldn"t have the world"s best neonatal surgeon and OB/GYN to work on her because...well, because she"d be out of commission trying to force eight pounds of flesh out of her body. But she"d have a baby, a beautiful, bouncing, gurgling, chubby baby. If it was negative, then she wouldn"t have to go through with it ever, because this would probably be the last time she would even have to take the test before that lovely m-word kicked in. Ding! Although the timer finally sounded, Addison made no move to turn her head and look at the pregnancy test sitting on a paper towel on the counter beside her. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, taking deep even breaths and trying to convince herself that it was for the best. The contents of that "it," however, were still pending. Opening her eyes just a sliver, she looked down at the test. 8D Mark"s perfectly chiseled face broke into a huge smile when he saw the familiar redhead enter the Sandwich Shop. Standing up from the table, he enveloped her in a giant bear hug. "I"ve missed you, Addie," he declared. "It"s really great to see you." Addison pulled back from the hug and smiled softly. "I"ve missed you, too," she replied, and she realized that she wasn"t lying. He had been her best friend for a long time, and she hadn"t held up her end of the communication since she"d moved. "How have you been?" she asked, sitting down at the table. "I"ve been pretty good, although I must say it"s not the same when I don"t see any red hair in a day," Mark answered with another goodhearted smile as he sat down across from her. "Aw, so sweet." A little bit later, once they had both gotten their food, Mark stopped eating and examined his companion. Her red hair had gotten lighter with the constant sun, and her skin was tanner. She looked beautiful, as always, but she still looked like something was bothering her. Sensing Mark"s eyes on her, Addison"s pale blue ones flitted up to meet his and she stopped chewing. She laughed awkwardly and wiped her mouth with her napkin. "What?" He scrutinized her a few seconds longer before shaking his head and returning to his food. "Nothing," he excused. "Okay," she said slowly. "So you haven"t told me anything about Seattle. What"s going on in your life?" "I"m seeing someone," he responded automatically. He knew her little game. She always pretended just to ask about his life in general, but years knowing her had taught him that she always meant relationships. He looked up and saw a blindsided Addison. "Really?" A hint of hurt crept into her voice. He openly admitted it to her that he was seeing someone, which implied that he hadn"t cheated on her yet. "How long?" Mark counted in his head. "About two months." Two months. He used to insist that he was still in love with her, and that he would be different the second time around. Two months was all it took for him to sleep with three other women while Addison and he lived together. "Wow," she breathed, shell-shocked. "Who?" Something was wrong. Addison was hurting, he could see that much. "Izzie," he stated. He watched her face break a little bit more, and suddenly it hit him why. He sounded committed to Izzie, and he had never been able to commit to Addison. "Stevens? You"re dating a twelve-year-old, too?" Mark nodded. "She reminds me a lot of you," he explained, hoping that would help dull the pain. "Except younger, blonder and with bigger boobs," Addison retorted, stabbing furiously at her salad. She had no idea why she was getting so upset. She didn"t feel for Mark like that anymore, but she thought he"d still felt that way for her. Turns out, he still went for the hot girls. "You really think that"s the only reason why I"m with her?" Mark asked, incredulous. Addison looked up at him. "She"s just like you, Addison! Only she actually wants me." Addison stopped whatever was going to come out of her mouth, because she realized she had no right to be upset. She turned him down, but Mark kept his promise about being different the second time around, just with Addison 2.0. And she wanted him to be happy. It"s not like she was jealous of Izzie. Damn hormones, she thought to herself. "What did you just say?" Addison"s eyes widened. She didn"t mean for those two words to slip out. She was just thinking them. "Did I say something?" she asked, pathetically groping for an escape. "I thought I heard you say something about hormones," Mark declared, peering into his friend"s eyes. Was she...? No, she couldn"t be. But was she? Addison stared at him for five seconds, trying to find some way she could talk her way out of this. She went through fifty plans a second and discarded them the next second. Sighing in defeat, she dropped her gaze to her lap and fiddled with her napkin. "There"s a chance that I reacted so dramatically just now because of my hormones," Addison mumbled. She was. Mark leaned forward in earnest, needing to hear the words come out of her mouth. "What about your hormones?" Addison looked up and cocked her head to the side. "I"m pregnant, Mark," she said almost inaudibly. Mark sat back in his chair, floored. His eyes remained fixed on Addison"s face as he continued bitterly, "Are you going to keep this one?" Tears came to Addison"s eyes when she saw his gaze grow cold. Slowly, she nodded, biting her lip in anticipation. "I"m not hungry anymore," he announced, standing up and throwing some cash down onto the table. "Mark," Addison began. She reached out to stop him from leaving. "I"ll talk to you later, Addison," he cut her off and walked out of the Sandwich Shop, leaving Addison sitting alone at the table for two. A/N: So this was supposed to have like eight more scenes in it, but I didn"t expect the Mark and Addison scene to be so dramatic. I don"t usually expect what I plan to write to ever actually make it into the story, but it"s good to have goals. Or so I"m told. Okay, now REVIEW! Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 7: I Feel Everything A/N: Wow, it"s been an embarrassingly long time since I"ve updated this story! I"m sorry, guys! Thank cacooly and BandB4ever for reviewing yesterday and making me remember why I loved writing this fic. This one"s a shortie, but enjoy! Addison trudged back to the practice after her disastrous lunch with Mark, still trying to process everything that had gone wrong with that conversation. She felt numb inside. She shouldn"t feel numb. Shouldn"t the fact that she was having a baby keep her happy despite the fact that her best friend and ex-boyfriend almost certainly hated her? Stopping dead in the doorway of her office, Addison gave herself a sizable whack in the forehead. How could she be such an idiot? She hadn"t even told Pete about the test result and yet she"d already spilled it to Mark? A headache was fast approaching, and quite frankly, there was no way Addison could deal with patients at the moment. She glanced at the clock and heaved a great sigh of relief at seeing she had a good hour to kill until her next patient arrived. Deciding to take full advantage of that hour, Addison dropped her bags off next to the couch and promptly plopped down onto it, burying her head in the soft pillows. What she needed right then was a nice, long nap. Too bad she wasn"t going to get it. Naomi burst through the door of Addison"s office literally three seconds after the redhead had shut her eyes in the hopes of some respite. Addison groaned into the pillow, but her best friend was not to be discouraged. "I take it the lunch didn"t go well?" Naomi observed as she walked over to the couch and tugged Addison up by her arm. "No, it did not," Addison mumbled. "What are you doing?" She had given up resisting the woman"s efforts to move her from the couch and now stumbled along out the office and into an examination room. "You, of all people, should know what I"m doing," Naomi replied wryly. She pulled Addison into the room and closed the door behind them, making sure the blinds were closed before she pointed to the table. "Lay down and pull up your shirt." Far too tired even to protest, Addison allowed herself to be hustled onto the table, and before she knew it, Naomi was squirting ice-cold jelly onto her flat stomach. "It was awful, Nae," Addison exhaled, not bothering to twist her head to see the monitor. She trusted Naomi, and she needed to get used to not being the one reading the sonograms or doing anything else with this pregnancy besides pushing out a baby. "Mark is dating a twelve-year-old." The wand in Naomi"s hand froze halfway to Addison"s stomach. "Why does that make for an awful lunch? You"re over him and with Pete," she stressed. "No, no, that"s not what made it so bad," Addison hastened to clarify. "It just started it. I guess I overreacted a little bit, because he said that Izzie Stevens is just like me only she actually wants him, which makes sense I guess. It"s just that I guess I missed when he was still in love and chasing me, I don"t know. All I know is that I accidentally let slip that I was pregnant, and it wasn"t pretty." Naomi"s head whipped away from the monitor at that last sentence. "You told him you"re pregnant?" she repeated in a somewhat strangled voice. "Have you even told Pete yet?" Groaning, Addison brought her hands up to her head, covering her eyes. "No, and I feel terrible about that! And it didn"t help that Mark got all offended that I want to keep this one when I aborted his, or the fact that he stormed off right after I told him," she finished. That headache had finally arrived, and it was taking the express lane on its way to making Addison"s day just a little bit more miserable than it already was. When Naomi didn"t say anything, Addison noticed a lack of movement on her stomach. Peeking out from underneath her hands, she saw her best friend looking apprehensively at the monitor. "What"s wrong?" "It looks like you got Mark upset for nothing," Naomi announced hesitantly. Addison brought down her hands in shock. She couldn"t say anything at first, and even after a few moments all she could say was a quiet, "What?" "It might just be because it"s so early on, but I think you got a false positive on your pregnancy test, Addie," she continued. She turned the monitor so Addison could see it. Addison wasted no time in craning her neck and peering into the screen, praying to see just a glimmer of an embryo, anything to indicate the presence of a future life. "No," the redhead whispered. Tears sprung to her pale blue eyes, making them look like glass. Naomi placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and offered her condolences, "I"m sorry, sweetie. I know how much you wanted this." Seeing the telltale signs of distress in Addison, Naomi quickly lifted her hand and began backing out of the room. "I"m going to go get Pete, okay?" Addison simply nodded in response, stubbornly refusing to let those tears escape her eyes. Those tears remained in her eyes until those eyes fell upon Pete, who entered the examination room slowly and carefully. Judging from his expression, Naomi had filled him in on the gory details relating to the nonexistent pregnancy. He rushed to her side as soon as she let herself break down, hoisting himself up onto the table and cradling her in his arms. "I...actually thought...I thought..." she cried into his chest. Pete simply rubbed her back and tried to calm her down. "I know," he soothed. "I know you did." A/N: Damn, this has been getting more and more emotional with each passing chapter! I miss the light and fluffies, because it"s not as draining to write those. Anyway, I hope this will be enough to tide you over until the next installment. I will not know if it will tide you over, however, unless you do something I would like to call REVIEW! Perfume and Promises A Private Practice fic by Gigi Chapter 8: Penny A/N: Okay, so I am thoroughly depressed with this fic now. Not because I haven"t been getting enough reviews, and not because I think the story"s anywhere near over. Quite the opposite, actually, because I actually have some idea of where I want this to go. But Addie and Pete broke up in the finale, and it made me really sad. I"d pick Paddie over Saddie any day. Just the couple names alone are enough to tell which one is clearly superior. Anyway, here"s the next chapter, but I may be wrapping this up soon unless Shonda fixes this mess. It had been two weeks since the false positive, two weeks since Addison"s very likely last hope for a baby of her own were dashed. For the first week after it all happened, she walked around the office like a ghost, going through the motions and doing everything mechanically. She saw half as many patients and chose instead to catch up on charting and piled up paperwork. Naomi and Pete both worried about the redheaded surgeon, who would come in with bags under her eyes and her hair tied up in a very short little ponytail, with wisps of red escaping at the nape of her neck. The second week appeared to go smoother for Addison, or at least she put on a more convincing front. Her makeup and hair returned to their previous state of impeccable precision, and she went back to her normal workload. But every now and then, a flash of sadness would flit across those clear blue eyes. Any and all calls made to Mark went unanswered, and Addison hated that he had gone back to Seattle still thinking she was pregnant. But short of actually following him up to set him straight-and thus jumpstart the Seattle Grace Hospital gossip mill to talking about her again-Addison could think of no way to let him know if he wasn"t going to talk to her. Sitting at her desk, Addison twiddled her thumbs while she stared at her phone, willing it to ring. She"d paged Callie ten minutes earlier, and she needed to talk to her if she was going to have any chance of salvaging her friendship with Mark. At long last, the little screen next to the receiver lit up with a blue light and a ringing sound blared throughout the room for less than a second before Addison jerked it up to her ear. "Callie?" "Addison, what"s up?" Callie asked worriedly. "Mark has been one hell of a crabby plastic surgeon since he came back from LA. What happened?" "Mark is really upset with me, Callie," Addison cried. "I"ve tried calling him, but he doesn"t want to talk to me. I can"t just up and follow him there; otherwise he and a few other people will get the wrong idea. I need your help." "Alright, walk me through it," Callie complied. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Mark walking away from the nurses" station without having hit on a single nurse. "You know how I aborted Mark"s baby four years ago?" she began. After hearing Callie"s confirmation, she continued, "And you know how I have fertility issues now?" Once again, Callie affirmed the statement. "Well, Pete and I are together now, and-" "Wait, wait. Is this Stairwell Guy?" Callie interrupted, remembering when Addison had taken her vacation to LA when she still lived in Seattle. "Yeah, Pete"s the Stairwell Guy. He and I got together about a month ago, and the first time we had sex, we didn"t use protection. So two weeks later, Pete shows up at my doorstep with a pregnancy test, and I took it. And that was the day I got the call from Mark wanting to have lunch. Anyway, I was sort of freaked out and kind of blurted that I was pregnant. He got really angry with me because I was going to keep this baby when I didn"t want to keep his and left," Addison relayed. She took a deep breath, and her voice took on a grave tone. "Callie, I need you to tell Mark that I"m not pregnant. The test was a false positive. I was going to keep the baby because I honestly thought all hope was lost of having kids. He needs to realize that I can"t have babies now, and so I jumped at the possibility that I somehow got pregnant. I miss my best friend, Callie." "Oh, Addie," Callie sighed in sympathy. "I"m so sorry." "It"s okay, Callie," Addison insisted halfheartedly. "I"ve resigned myself to that fact before. I can do it again, but only if Mark forgives me. I can"t bear the thought of him hating me." "Okay, I"ll see what I can do," Callie offered. "Thank you," came the relieved reply. Callie heard someone talking to Addison on the other side and waited patiently for her to return to the conversation. "Callie, I"m sorry but my patient just arrived. I"ve got to go."

Sam looked towards the window, seeing one demon gone, retreating into the sky. The other had his father in a deadlock, shifting him closer and closer to the largest shard of glass remaining in the window frame. Sam held out his hand, but waited. He needed to see this. A piece of the ceiling fell onto a horned skull, not enough to flatten the demon, but enough to confuse it. Mr. Oliver tackled it to the floor, latching his long fingers on either ear before twisting, but it was not enough to break the spine. John seized the nearest piece of glass and sliced so swiftly across the neck that Sam could not see blood for a very long second. Two men in human form remained in the diner. One adjusted his tie, and expressed dismay over the blood on his shoes. The other saw the bodies, knew his part in it, and felt nothing but relief. A nail of doubt scratched away inside his skull somewhere, but Sam didn"t care. He just didn"t care. "One got away, so more will be back," Mr. Oliver noted, then glanced over at his son. Horror entered his expression. "Sam? Are you okay?" "Just bruised," wheezed Sam, massaging his throat. "That"s not what I..." John trailed off, and dropped the hand he had gestured towards Sam"s victim. His son swallowed and winced. "I think I"m better on my own." "Okay," said John and moved over to hug him. He said no more. His tight squeeze spoke volumes. Sam returned the embrace. For a moment. His father released him and darted for the door, which Sam thought was a moot point considering the damage to the side of the diner. Mr. Oliver paused at the door and turned, promising, "I"ll call you, Sam!" "I lost my phone," Sam said hoarsely. "Have mine!" Mr. Oliver"s phone soared then stopped an inch from Sam"s nose. His father"s telekinetic control was a hair better, Sam observed. He stowed the phone in his pocket, then left via a window, stepping delicately over pebbles of glass. His hands searched his pockets, but the gift from his friends was gone. Not bothering to go back for it, he started walking, thumb struck out, temples slamming inwards against his brain. "There is something seriously wrong with me," Sam remarked. The sirens roared closer. Funny. He hadn"t heard them before now. Night had punched out by the time Sam found himself at the bottom of Mrs. Ashwin"s drive. Since the thought of swallowing a cracked tongue down a tortured throat did not appeal, he was very tempted to ask for water and pie and maybe another day off. He didn"t want to push it... Are you kidding me, Sam, seriously? You don"t want to scam a day off from the nice old lady alone in her house there? Huh? You"re right, man. There is something wrong with you. Sam tried to peel his lips of his teeth to smile, but it hurt. Sock, it"s different when your employer isn"t Ted. And since when could Ted make pie? He had barely lifted his knuckles to the door when it opened. He turned the action into a wave, his fingers half-curled, too weak to straighten. "Uh, hey, Mrs. Ashwin. Do you mind if I come in... and have pie... ?" The door seemed to be ripped from the door, and the surprisingly rounded for her six-feet (and half an inch, Mrs. Ashwin always reminded everyone) height hobby farmer appeared, waving him in with full swinging of her arms. The floral dress fell all the way to her thick ankles, unsupported by the white sandals she had opted for. Sam followed her into the kitchen, let her sit him down at a table with a cloth that matched her dress and mechanically alternated between a glass of icy water and a plate with two pieces of pie. Mrs. Ashwin sat opposite him, chin nested in her two palms as she watched him eat. Occasionally, the strung back her shoulder-length black hair, revealing white patches behind her ears. Her eyebrows met in one, shivering line. "This is good pie," Sam said awkwardly, meeting her stare. "It"s positively sinful," agreed Mrs. Ashwin. He pushed away the plate, leaving one piece of pie alone. The feeling in his stomach was back. Sam lifted his eyes to her smooth, unblemished forehead. That didn"t mean anything. He sipped from the water again, half-looking towards the door. "Oh don"t worry, young man," Mrs. Ashwin said, gathering up the plate and turning her back to Sam as she took it to the fridge. "I would never dream of attacking you while you"re eating. Some demons have the worst manners!" Sam did not budge from his seat. He leaned back and propped up his feet on the cushioned chair beside him. "Any reason you"re not attacking me now? I"m kind of finished with my pie." Mrs. Ashwin came back to the table and reclaimed her seat. "I am sorry, Sam," she said with a deep sigh that rattled and hissed, reminding Sam of an ex-girlfriend"s snores. Sam shook his head and gave a smile-tipped grimace in response. "For keeping an eye on me for the Devil? For telling those demons where to find me?" For making them force me to use my powers to kill? "And for giving you drugged beer so I could sneak in and turn your phone on," she added, winding her fingers together on the table. "You did that? That"s really creepy." Mrs. Ashwin sighed again, this time lighter and whistling. "It was a favour to your father. I knew he would be worried about you." "If you"re watching me for the Devil, then how come you put me in touch with my Dad?" Sam demanded, leaning forward onto his forearms on the table. "Oh a lot of reasons. One being that he was so sweet when we were working the same territory a century ago," she began, a broad smile warping her face. "I lost favour with the Devil so I had to promise I"d make sure you stayed here for when you were ripe. My punishment did not say what else I could do until that time. I like you, Sam. You are a lot like your father." "What did you do to piss off the Devil?" "I found out how to trap him in one place for all time - " "What?" Sam demanded. "You - you know how to trap the Devil? Why haven"t you tried this?" Her hair flicked over her face as she shook her head, frowning. "Silly boy. I know how. I did not say I could do it. Only someone trapped by the Devil can trap him. And the Boss isn"t about to let me trap myself, is he?" "What does that even mean?" Sam muttered. "Well, for example, a contracted soul is trapped, aren"t they?" Outside, a horse and its foal moseyed past the window. The mare lowered its nose to the grass and chewed leisurely, while the younger horse snapped its legs together as it bounded around, focused on the joy of movement. Sam"s eyes drifted away from the bright, sunny scene unfolding beyond the glass dividing him from it. Mrs. Ashwin was back at the kitchen bench, wiping a cheery pink cloth over the surfaces and humming to herself. Sam was glad she had not resurrected her favourite mother-goose apron for their meeting. "Will you tell me how to do it?" he asked. She stiffened. "Why, what"s in it for me? I am already in so much trouble as it is with him." "Don"t worry, Mrs. Ashwin," Sam placated, determination darkening his eyes. "If I do this right, then you won"t have any trouble with the Boss." The cloth was hung back over the tap and Mrs. Ashwin straightened it so that equal lengths were on either side. She smiled furtively at him. "Oh, Sam, you are too good to try something like this, aren"t you, sweetheart?" The uncomfortable tweaking on his lips alerted Sam to the fact that he was was actually trying to smile back at her. "That"s kind of the point. It"s for a good reason so it"ll work." "Would you like some more pie?" she offered. "This will take some time to explain." The half-inch-thick wooden door, flimsy enough in a gale, catapulted across the five metres to the other wall and knocked its way clean out of the building. Sam, plastic cup in one hand and toothbrush in the other, threw himself back onto his mattress in case of any other projectiles and emptied his hands, holding them up in a weak imitation of a karate chop. It was the kind of stupid thing he would have done years ago with Sock, but it stilled the panic raising the hairs on his arms. "Sam! What do you think you are doing?" shouted the angry demon in the door way. "Uh, trying to brush my teeth," Sam replied, kneeling down to pick up his toothbrush. "So Mrs. Ashwin really is a good friend of yours, even if she does set your son up for a demon attack." Mr. Oliver"s face was still ashen, but very much human now. He strode over to Sam and hauled him so that he could eyeball his son. "An acquaintance is a little different from a friend. I don"t trust her and wouldn"t trust anything she tells you. Damn it, Sam, we worked so hard to get you our of your deal, especially after what happened with Andi - " "Shut up!" Sam shouted. "Sam, please, just think about what you"re doing," John pressed, hands gripping Sam"s shoulders. "A... a deal with the Devil is something you can"t take back easily. You"ll regret it." "What do you care? I didn"t choose it the first time!" Sam countered, shrugging violently to dislodge his father. "You were selfish and put all this shit on me. At least I"m doing this for a good reason!" Mr. Oliver heaved out a short, sharp breath. "Good reason? There"s never a good reason! It took me all your life to realise that, son." "But you"re a demon. I"m a hybrid. You said the Devil is threatened by me because I can do good work by doing some evil. The contract won"t matter if it"s me agreeing to it! I"m going to take out the ruler of Hell - that"s better for everyone, right? - and I"ll have Andi." Sam turned away and placed the toothbrush and cup on the rough waist-high bedside table that he used for practically everything. It was chipped on one corner. He stayed there, glaring at the uneven wooden slats that still stood in their place as part of the walls. Hesitant footsteps crept up behind him, and again his father settled hands on his shoulders, but it was a gentler touch, the kind Sam had enjoyed as a child. "Sam, please, you have to let her go. Andi would not want you to do this." "How do you know!" Sam exploded, spinning to bodily shove his father away. "It"s your fault she"s dead! If you"d never...never...you screwed me! You screwed her! I get why Mum doesn"t want to see you. I can"t stand the sight of you either." John took several shuffled steps back, his face falling under shadow. Yellowing eyes became disturbingly visible. "Sam..." "Get out!" Sam hurled at him, advancing across the floor, an accusing finger pointed between them. "No." Mr. Oliver"s voice was only half-way to demon, but already sounded deeper and darker than Sam had ever heard it. "I let you get away with a lot of things when you were a kid, but this is where I draw the line. You"re coming home with me. I can protect you there." "I can protect myself!" A jagged piece of the metal roof collapsed on top of Mr. Oliver but he batted it aside. Sam threw out both his hands and his father went flying back through the wall. He marched out after John and jumped down to the grass. Sam looked around quickly, trying to see where his father had gone. A scaled arm hooked around his neck and dragged him backwards. Sam"s still recovering throat sparked with pain and his vision hollowed faster that it had in the diner. Sam closed his eyes and pulled with his mind. Debris hammered onto the body behind him and his father loosened his grip. Sam bolted. He had made it down to the fence at the road by the time John soared after him and landed in his path. The ground suddenly found its way to Sam"s back and he saw stars, then they faded into the outline of the demon above him. Sam rolled away just as his father lunged down and held out his hand. A fence post came obediently to his grasp, chafing a splinter or two into his skin. Sam grabbed his father"s ankle and yanked, putting a telekinetic command behind the action. Holding down the demon with one foot, and his mind, Sam raised the post above his shoulder and - stopped. He was about to stake a human. A human with tears in his eyes. "I love you, son," Mr. Oliver whispered. Sam threw the post away and fell to his knees. Then he was lying beside his father under the unobstructed stars, breathing hard and wondering how the Hell he"d come to this. Finally, Sam responded, "I know, Dad. I know. Please go. I don"t want you in on this too." "Okay," John said. Sam suffered through another long hug and then was alone. He went inside through a hole in one of the walls, brushed his teeth and lay on the mattress. Light touched his face before he even managed to close his eyes. Sam picked up his phone and dialled Mrs. Ashwin"s house. "I"m done. Tell him I"m ready." "Isn"t that a bit too much forewarning for him?" she asked slowly. Please. Like you even care. "No. It"s exactly what he"s expecting anyway." Sam tossed the phone onto his mattress. The bedside table looked out of place in the middle of the floor, just shy of the wet patch directly underneath the gap in the roof. Sam sat on an up-ended milk crate and arranged a second one closer to him by hooking his ankle around one corner and giving a tug. Murky dusk shadows filtered through the holes in the walls and Sam imagined that"s what was making the murmuring noise, rather than the light breeze. Sam thought about his father"s mistrust of Mrs. Ashin and it occurred to him, as he waited in the still warm air, that everything she had done in the past few days had led to this moment, the exact moment when he was vulnerable and very much ready to sell his soul voluntarily. "Yeah, ripe," Sam muttered. A chill drifted in through the two very noticeable craters in the walls. Sam sat up straight. "Love what you"ve done with the place," that familiar voice sounded behind him. "Depressing minimalism. Suits you." The milk crate scraped over the floor as Sam moved around to take in his new visitor. The suit, the blue tie and that tanned smirking face finally made their appearance. Sam stared hard at the Devil and did not bother to say anything in response, though inwardly he agreed. The hut suited him just fine. The Devil, whether he caught Sam"s mood or not, knew exactly where to twist the next barb. "Oh you"re not still hung up on that piece of candy, are you, Sam? She was a terrible reaper." One milk crate fell over as Sam shot to his feet, and the other he propelled out through one of the many artistic exits without even touching it. He snapped, "That wasn"t even her job! She was just supposed to help Gladys with the vessels." "Hey, Sammy, not my fault she decided to be a dart board for you," the Devil said smoothly, walking forward. "That... you"re a dick," Sam rasped, rubbing his throat as though being choked for the third time running. "And I want you to stop messing with me." "Oh kiddo, you just don"t get it." Sam scowled and leaned against the table, crossing his arms. Calm. He had to play this right. "No, I do get it. And I"m not your "kiddo". I know, alright? I know." "Oh, Sam. Shouldn"t someone have told you where babies come from already?" "I"m not your son." "Hey, that hurts." "Whatever," Sam grumbled, directing his gaze at the dented cement underneath his feet. "Look, I don"t know why you think I"m such a big threat down here in Missouri. I"m half-demon, so what? I"m living in a hut without a toilet. I"m happy here. Whatever your beef is, just let it go. Let me go." "Alright," the Devil acknowledged cheerfully, dusting off one of his suit"s cuffs. "Hey, I got nothing on you, man. Oh wait... those little slacker friends of yours. Or maybe just the one. Yeaah. Bert Wysocki. Are you saying he wouldn"t be at least a little bit tempted to cut a deal?" Sam glared up at him. "I hate you. And don"t even pretend that you care." "Then why the meet and greet?" "I want a deal," Sam replied, managing to lighten the lines on his face to pull off a self deprecatory smile. Interest peaked the Devil"s eyebrows. "What have you brought to the table? Your firstborn? Isn"t that how you got into this mess?" "No firstborn. Just me. I will personally work for you for the rest of my godawful life." "And what do you get out of it?" the Devil asked. This time the grin didn"t hurt to display. "I want to be able to go to Hell whenever I want. A portal to Hell. At my command. It will make reaping much easier. And ditto to portals back out if I manage to get knocked down there." The Devil snapped two fingers and a plush rounded seat appeared beside Sam, which he took in one glide. Sam rolled his eyes and retrieved a milk crate. He was used to looking up at the dickwad, so a few more minutes of it was not going to break his neck. Sifting his backside on the sharp webbing of plastic beneath him, Sam rested his left hand on the table, tapping rhythmically. He had to remember to keep at it, because inside his blood pumped no faster than usual. "Surely even you know that you have to be dead before you go to Hell, or you"ll fry like an egg on the sun," the Devil said. "Even if you get to see your girl, I warn you, Sammy, it"s not a pretty sight." Sam let the angle of his lips tip to reflect a smile. "Demons can go to Hell. I"m half-demon. I"ll take my chances." "You know the first taste is free, right? You could try it out first, see how it fits you," the Devil reminded him, leaning forward to study Sam with flinty eyes. "I know what I"m doing. Just let me sign." A pen perched between two fingers on Sam"s hand and his fingers skidded to a stop on the innocuous pale piece of paper that appeared on the table between them. Sam curled one corner of the paper and flattened it back out. It acted the same way that any A4 sheet would. What did he expect? Signing on a rock with liquid magma as ink? The pen, though it appeared to be a standard blue biro, magnetised to the page when it sensed Sam"s hesitation. He curled another corner. This time the tip of the Devil"s finger pressed it back into place. Sam curled his lip instead and grinned. He signed the first letter of his name, followed by his last name. The blue ink burned black, singing the surrounding white spaces on the paper. He waved away the tiny stream of smoke that erupted. Physically, nothing had changed since he"s signed. Inside, he felt... great. This could work. He only had to try it. The paper slid from beneath the pads of his fingers and vanished as the Devil swiped a hand across it. His smile was all teeth and triumph. He shook his head, as though he couldn"t quite believe it. Sam swallowed hard. "And one more thing. I forgive you." "You what?" The Devil eyed him again. "I forgive you, because any sane person in your place would want to keep their grip on Hell. I get that." The broad, tanned face relaxed and that charmingly repulsive grin returned. "Hey, be careful with that F word. Don"t handle the tool if you haven"t read the manual." "No, I"m good. I had to get that bit over and done with." Sam resisted the urge to choke on the furry taste gathering at the back of his mouth. It was necessary. Necessary. His pinky finger twitched and the ghost of his power shot out to wing the Devil, but did nothing. Expected. "Tickles." The Devil smirked and left the table. Right into the spot he need to be. Sam clawed through the air and the mirrors he"d kept on the roof fell through the hole. He closed his eyes and gathered the heat, the power in his palms, forcing the mirrors into a merry-go-round of reflections around his employer. Each panel was curved and fitted together into an unbroken circle. The floor vibrated as they swirled into the wood, then anchored with a protesting scrape-thud-squeal. Sam let out the expired air from his lungs at last, falling back onto his milk crate. It dug into all the wrong places through his jeans, but the thick feeling of ease crept over him. He explained tiredly, "I"m doing it for the right reason and I forgave even you. I"m not completely bad. I"m not. This will work." "And you think that going after your girl makes this alright? " the muffled, and somewhat distracted, voice retorted. "You"re wrong, because I got you! I got you to do this! He won"t have you now! You"re all mine!" Sam spat a laugh in the direction of the trap. "Like that even matters. Heaven put me in this position and I got myself out of it. I was supposed to do it this way." He pushed himself up and snapped his fingers. The door frame sprang up beside him, filled in with roaring flames that welcomed more than they repelled. Sam dipped his fingers through it slowly, then nodded with a toothy grin of his own. Yes. His arm was submerged when the Devil"s next words fled the trap. "I warned you about the girl. It"s not a pretty sight!" "I"m sure I can fix that," Sam said quietly. "I think I was meant to." And it didn"t matter that Mrs. Ashwin had done it all to ripen him, because it has been for a good reason. He stepped through. The door vanished. The room reverberated with a muted chuckle. "Enjoy your path of damnation. I was never able to swing you to it, but you did it all on your own. Congrats, Sammy." AN: I"ll get in first here and say that I do know the different between "peaking" and "piquing". We good? :) I was very hesitant to post this fic because I haven"t had much feedback from those who did give it a look over, so I"m kind of flying blind here. Let me know what you think. :D

"You"d think they"d let us have one day off," she murmured. "The ELE need to stop working the weekends. Alright, give me a sec. I"ll go find Hammer. Is there any reason for this attack? Are they robbing anyone? You don"t know. Okay, fine. Fine. I"ll meet you at that frozen yoghurt place. Bye Johnny. No I don"t care what you wear." Wanda rolled off the sofa and hurried into her bedroom. Two minutes later, the heroine Splendour darted out of the room, adorned in a garish sparkly blue leotard complete with painful green lycra leggings and equally offensive boots (bonus silver glitter sprinkled about the heels). It was kind of cheesy, but the kids loved it. Splendour took root on the window sill, looked down and briefly baulked, then sprang off into the air. Shards of glass and someone"s lacy unmentionables went flying past. Moist spun and ducked as quickly as he could, but felt some nasty pieces of the Coin Wash windows embed themselves in his scalp. Grimacing, he poked his head up and looked frantically around for Penny and Billie. If Dr Horrible ever found out that he"d been unable to protect them like a henchman should... He saw them crouched in the next row of washers. They looked shaken up, but apparently not badly hurt. Briefly, Moist allowed the kind of compacted sigh that would have been far more enjoyable in a longer time than three seconds. He skittered along the floor, nicking the palms of his hands on broken glass as he went, and slumped beside Penny. "So this is new for me," Moist muttered. "Is it new for you?" "Take Billie," Penny instructed. Blinking in confusion, Moist looked down at the toddler now perched in deathly silence on his lap. He wondered, with some despair, how she knew to keep so quiet. Then again, she was the daughter of an evil, mad, powerful, pie-like genius - maybe this wasn"t so new for the girls after all. Moist supposed it was a good thing the media had no idea that Dr Horrible had any sort of progeny...or his enemies, for that matter. Pulling down the sleeves of the stretchy grey shirt that she wore under her dress, Penny wound the fabric through her fingers to protect them as she pulled herself along on her knees to the end of the row. Strands of red hair swung from behind her ears as she peered around the corner to the street beyond. "There"s a lot of people running," she noted. "But I don"t see...I know that Billy wasn"t planning anything - I"m sure he wasn"t." Moist nodded emphatically to no one in particular, knowing anything he said would betray the fact that he knew nothing. The girl on his lap scraped her teeth over her bottom lip as she met his eyes with blue defiance. So she wasn"t scared - that was fine, because Moist was scared enough for all three of them. "Mos," she said, very quietly. Moist injected some bravado into his trembling voice. "Yeah, I"m here and Penny"s here - so we"re all good." "Socky," the girl insisted, louder. "You can have one of mine. You don"t mind if it smells of mould, do you?" The skin around Billie"s forehead creased briefly, then her eyes slid downwards. She tipped one finger against his bloody palms and Moist winced when he saw the dark red smudge smothering her fingerprint. Hurriedly, he grabbed the bottom hem of his shirt and wiped both their hands. "Penny, um, is everything okay?" Moist asked, realising that his friend was crouched almost preternaturally still. He couldn"t be sure from that angle, but he could swear he saw her eyes widen. It was also very easy to see the tears rending her jeans but Moist couldn"t figure out if they were torn from the glass or if it was done on purpose. It was kind of the style. "I..." Penny petered off, slowly sliding backwards along the floor. "I"m...I think we should get out of here." "Well, I don"t think just any laundromat would have a secret exit, Pen." "This one does," she flipped at him without even meeting his eyes. Moist gawked but managed to follow her back-wrenching scuttle along the floor to a grounded dyer tucked exactly into the corner. An out-of-order sign scribbled in permanent marker was splashed across the front. For Moist, the journey was difficult because he had to hold Billie wrapped underneath him to his chest and she was no longer small enough to play any games that involved her using him as her personal monkey bars. Unfortunately, Moist was the sort of monkey bar that made fingers lose their grip entirely. It was torture, trying to keep Billie from slipping and he was losing that battle. Too embarrassed to interrupt Penny while she ripped the sign off the dryer and then began to pry open the door, Moist pulled himself along with one raw hand and then attempted to fall in relief against a washer when he made it - only to slip sloppily sideways, nearly bringing Billie down with him anyway. "Are you okay?" Penny asked, resting a hand on Moist"s shoulder. Moist offered a wobbly smile. "Enough ink to print a month"s supply of newsletter would make it okay. But it"d probably be a good idea if you carried Billie. I"m not the best choice for that." She accepted this with a nod and gathered her daughter in her arms before squeezing herself into the dryer and then into a tunnel in the back that Moist would never have bothered to search for. "Um, am I following or do you want me to hang here?" Penny made a sound that may have been an exasperated laugh. Her shoes shook, at any rate. "Moist, get in here." "Is it far?" Moist asked worriedly. "Okay, I get that this is uncomfortable for you but, trust me, you"ll have a much easier time getting through here with your moisture power." He grimaced. "It"s more of a social problem than a power but um... yeah. I"m following." Flattening his shoulders and ducking his head against his sternum, Moist slapped his palms inside the dryer and heard them squish. His shoulders greased their way in a second or so later. He sighed and scrabbled his fingers ahead a foot or so and pulled himself in after Penny. Maybe this wasn"t so bad, even though the noise was getting closer outside in the street. It could be a riot or something (the ELE was known to host such events to remind everyone that they were continuing to lurk in the shadows), but the occasionally booming sounds that signalled something worse were painfully more clear when echoing inside a metal tube. "Moist?" came Penny"s concerned voice from further down. "Just give me a - aungh!" Strong hands clamped over Moist"s ankles and ripped him from the escape route. Crushed against the floor with pinpricks of glass doing their worst to cushion him, Moist could only stare up in disbelief as his assailant bent almost at the waist to inspect him more closely. Dark, deep eyebrows formed sharp lines that dug into the top rim of small crusted silver goggles with completely black lenses. Thin lips formed an unimpressed parallel line with the tips of the electronic sideburns that footed the scientist"s face. The sweater vest and shirt looked as impeccable as ever, though the tie was tattered and apparently bitten in some places. "Aren"t you kind of dead?" Moist supplied when words finally agreed to come back to him - along with his heartbeat. "Death is an obstacle to which I do not intend to be a party." "Oh. Okay." Moist floundered, wriggling his shoulders against sharp glass. "You look good anyway." His interrogator bared straight, boxy molars in the furthest corners of a fleshy mouth. "Now, where does that tunnel come out?" Moist bit his lip and forced a deep frown. He wanted to give Penny and Billie as long as possible to get out of there, so pretending to stall might actually work as well as stalling. That"s when he caught a whiff of the smell. He gagged and his mouth popped open. Clustered around his position on the floor, moaning and swinging their limbs above him but never touching their creator, the mutant zombies stared through him instead of at him. This was a tiny, bizarre relief because Moist was sure they would do far worse than drool if they really truly saw him. Patches of splintered bone popped from the occasional shoulder or knee, but it was the ghastly colour of the skin that disturbed Moist the most. Dirty, yellowed paper sprang to mind - though Moist would have snatched even the mustiest document to sniff instead of lying in the direct path of the horrid pong of the undead. Moist doubted that the scientist noticed, nor cared, about the state of his minions. "I surmise that you know a good deal less than the Doctor"s whore," Professor Normal intoned. "Never matter. I will make you speak. Not about secret tunnels, perhaps, but you will speak of other things." Panicked, Moist tried to expunge Billie from his mind. So maybe mind reading had never been an officially listed power of Professor Normal"s, but that didn"t mean he couldn"t have picked it up in the afterlife. Then he realised that if Normal knew about Penny, he"d probably know about Billie too - but what if he didn"t? And what if he suddenly did because Moist was thinking about it? Professor Normal"s expression remained frozen. Moist drew a breath through his mouth (the nose option was somewhat out of the question by this point) and rushed it back out. "Sure, what can we talk about? I"m the um...the head of the Henchmen"s Union. We have openings if anyone wants to..." Moist flicked his eyes around the very cramped skyline of zombie faces and silent washers. "It requires a written test. Well, it"s multiple choice but you have to use a pencil and some of you might not...yeah. Maybe not." "I see I should not bother here. Kill him." Rows of needle-teeth shot out of receding gums and they lunged for him. Moist threw up his hands and closed his eyes tight, fearing the onslaught even more than his previous land lady. Moments later, he heard multiple loud, sludgy thumps. A garrotted groan of protest rose so high it shook the glass around his ears. Moist peeled open his eyes and gaped around at the sopping collection of zombies, incapacitated into a heap that could only be described as an undead slushie. This was a little unexpected - slightly more so than the sudden sight of Professor Normal being held up by his throat against a line of dryers that dutifully shook off their brackets from the force of a mighty hammer. Moist did his best to look invisible. "Dammit, Johnny, you said your ice beam wasn"t going to shoot water again," berated a woman. "The cooling unit must be broken," grated a voice that Moist was unfamiliar with, though the excusing tone was one he had once heard often from Billy. Lifting his head to sneak a better view, Moist froze when he saw the back of a dark shirt - it could have been any kind of shirt, except that it was paired with gloves and boots. Stunned that the hero was still alive, and apparently still capable of beating up villains, Moist kept his expression blank and his breathing very shallow. He failed to mask his presence when one of Johnny Snow"s thick ugg boots planted itself on his rib cage. Moist oofed in complaint. The second boot was not an accident. "Innocent bystander, Johnny!" the woman hissed - Moist noticed she was dressed in very bright shades of colour and it hurt to look at her for too long. "Professor Normal!" Captain Hammer said in surprise. "I see your trip to Hades bore unexpected fruit for you, but lucky for me I can squish fruit." A cruel, disturbing grin sliced up either side of Professor Normal"s face. He curled the fingers of both hands into claws and scratched down hard on his attacker. Howling in indignant pain, Hammer dropped him and cowered behind a row of washers. Splendour rolled her eyes and zipped through the air to pounce on top of the recovering Professor, pinning him with a pincer grip on his wrists. "I doubt you are able to squish, as you put it, even a miniscule ant without feeling the agony of human pain rising like a rash between your toes," Normal announced studiously, as though they were all attending a lecture. "Otherwise the question must be asked - why has your hideous visage not been paraded about in the press of late?" "Just because he can feel pain now doesn"t mean a sidekick can"t kick your butt!" Splendour declared. This was news to Moist. It also explained why no one had seen the guy for three years and here he was with a back-up squad. The last time he"d seen Captain Hammer, and also the last time that Moist had ever held a position on the ELE, there had been an audience of screaming mothers and children in Duly Park. And Bil-Dr Horrible had been using that new ray and everyone assumed it didn"t do anything until it flattened Captain Hammer who ran, shouting something incomprehensible... Carried away with his thoughts, and completely missing the greater part of a taunting match between the heroes and Professor Normal (God, wait until Billy heard about that one), Moist let his head sink to one side, somehow unable to hold it up on his neck. He was so tired...so tired...and he needed a drink...wait, why was he thirsty? After he discarded that thought, his gaze lay lazily among the shivering pile of foul-skinned, pock-marked zombies who started to slowly writhe and wriggle. Moist gulped noisily. He gestured towards the zombies that were reviving themselves and piped up towards the heroes, "Um, you might - " "Shut up!" Johnny Snow hurled at him, brandishing his infamous Ice Beam - or a variant of, anyway. "I"m just saying - " The heroine swivelled her head in Moist"s direction but Professor Normal squirmed and slithered a hand out from under her grasp in an attempt to tear at her costume. Her attention thusly stolen, she pounded down hard with her elbows. A weedy chuckle trickled out of the villain"s lips. "Regale me with the true story of how Captain Hammer lost his powers," he invited. "Or are you unaware? It was his fault." "Dr Horrible hurt him - wait, why am I even arguing this?" "MOVE!" Moist shouted and threw himself in front of the grappling pair. He threw up his hands again - just to see if it hadn"t been his imagination the first time - and a torrent of sticky water escaped him, smacking into the horde and flattening them again. Not wholly surprised, Moist blinked. He staggered. He nibbled his parched tongue. He sat down and patted his now very dry arms and legs. He touched his face and found the only moisture there in the form of one tear leaking from his left eye. "I don"t...don"t believe it," he said with a broad, stupid grin. He passed out. AN: Once again, minor crossover is floating about (that would be Wanda Plenn, if anyone"s interested). Also - I certainly won"t be apologising for the nerdastic Latin moment in this chapter. :D But I will apologise for my archaic spelling of "gaolers". :) THE CUMIN SAGA: The Coin Wash Menace Look at me, man. I"m Moist. I mean, at my most badass I make people feel like they want to take a shower. I"m not ELE material.- Moist, Doctor Horrible"s Sing-Along Blog ACT II - A Web of Copper Wiring Moist woke to rain coursing down his forehead, his cheeks, his clavicle, his chest and down down to his toes. He knew what it meant, of course, but he kept his eyes shut and willed away reality for a few more seconds. His tongue flapped about his lips, already wet with tears lost in the flow that had never left him since one night alone with a faulty humidifier. "You"re not in the ELE, are you?" probed the woman"s voice from nearby. "No." I was, he thought defiantly. Even though his seat had long been held by the probably more deserving assassin Gemini (two-headed and two-armed, with neither head claiming a separate identity), and even though he had left with his shoulders pressed by guilt (shared though it had been with Billy), it was a matter of pride. The seat had been wrapped in thick plastic and the floor wiped by aspiring Renfields whenever the moisture had begun to pool around his feet. The ELE catered for its members" little quirks. Real life - not so much. "Henchmen"s Union?" Moist smiled vaguely and opened his eyes to see someone prettier to wake up to than a creator of mutant zombies. Her brown hair was knotted into two bundles either side of her head and her eyes were a warm and deep green but the kind smile she gave him was as false as the cheerful blue fabric still slapped tight to her torso. Moist chose to shrug nonchalantly. "Yeah. Are you Splendour?" "The costume kind of gives it away, huh. So why aren"t you in the ELE with that kind of power?" "It just kind of happened," he replied, baffled, then something more important occurred to him. "Professor Normal! Is he...did he..." Did he escape, wriggle free, run amok, all of the above? Moist was sure anyone would have thought this after the strange few minutes he"d had lying on the floor of the laundromat - which is where he wasn"t, he realised with a jolt. In fact, his back wasn"t throbbing against the coarse-grained glass but snuggled on entirely welcome couch cushions. It was a good deal more comfortable than the scowl that broke through the smile on the woman"s face. "We"ve locked him up in the Heroes Guild"s brig," Splendour allowed. "The police won"t know what to do with him." "Okay," said Moist, unconvinced. "That gives us a head start, I guess." "Head start?" the heroine prompted. Moist sealed his eyelids again and thought about the inevitable phone call he had to make to the Evil League of Evil"s headquarters to give the villains the head start they would need against an extremely put-out Professor Normal. If Moist guessed correctly, it would not be enough for the Professor to take the mantle of leader - he would probably zombify all the current members out of spite. But this meant delivering his report to Dr Horrible. Moist wasn"t sure how to feel about his old friend. Disbelief was a forerunner, but anger and terror surfaced most often. "Henchman, remember," Moist deflected as he focused on the lime green kitchen unit behind Splendour. Moist guessed he wasn"t badass enough to be taken to the Guild along with Professor Normal. Judging by his surrounds, the heroes had taken him back to one of their apartments. No Ice Beams were present, but that didn"t mean anything. His eyes travelled back to Splendour"s face. "Professor Normal is a villain," she was saying. "I figured anyone on your side would have a lot in common. World domination, looting, plundering... murdering children." Moist jerked violently and rolled off the lounge. "Did I touch a nerve?" Splendour asked coldly. "That was three years ago and it wasn"t me, it was Dr Horrible," he gasped into the floor. She crouched beside him, a genuine puzzled frown tweaking her lips into a less angular line. "What are you talking about? You"re just a henchman." Moist gritted his teeth. "I wasn"t then, okay? Am I a prisoner or can I go and..." "Give your precious Doctor a head start?" Splendour supplied. "Well, see I don"t particularly mind where you snivel off to but Johnny wants to interrogate you." "What"s Captain Hammer going to do?" Moist asked curiously. She winced and her eyes went skyward - that was all the answer Moist needed. He"d thought the ray must have humiliated or even stripped powers from Hammer - but never did he expect that it kept him invincible while giving him the due pain to each wound. "Yeah, he"s not looking good these days is he..." Moist mused. "And the thing that upsets him most is losing his groupies." Both laughed, then halted immediately when they realised their companionable moment. "It wasn"t hard for him to lose his groupies when everyone saw him fail to stop Dr Horrible from killing a child," Splendour rejoined, ice shooting from every word. "Duly Park Massacre, anyone?" Since "massacre" would require more than one child, Moist felt indignant but the ache spreading through his left and right ventricles silenced his correction. He sat on the couch and bent over his knees. He once again pined for religion, because praying would have been the next step. Breaths wended their way into his lungs and out again. His inactivity must have bored the heroine - or else she had sensed his pain and wished to scrub salt into it - because she walked away and tapped on a door, asking for her companion. Johnny Snow, all freckles and accountant"s wrinkles though barely older than his supposed archnemesis, stomped over and poked a miniature Ice Beam (more like a pen or a laser pointer) into the tip of Moist"s nose. Moist sighed. "Let me save you guys the trouble. Our side didn"t even know that Professor Normal was alive - or undead, I guess. I"m not really sure. He"s probably a little pissed off." "He"s not the only one," Johnny grated. "What"s so important about you that Normal decided you were numerus unus on his hit list?" Splendour interrupted with a stage whisper, "Numero uno, Johnny. We discussed this." "It"s Roman!" Johnny said hotly. "No it"s La... oh I give up. I"ll be getting a cup of joe for Hammer." Johnny Snow decided to make up for his companion"s exit by flicking the mini-Ice Beam between his long, pianist fingers faster than eyes could follow, then he affected a mean expression on his face. The weedy squeak that escaped him the next moment was fast and barely discernible. "Answer the questions, henchman!"

She stands, pulling me to my feet along with her and gestures for me to follow her. I do, trailing behind her as we head down the hall. She pulls open a door that leads to a small kitchen. Set out on the counter are two steel buckets with wire handles. Diana scoops one up and nods towards the other one. I wrap my hand around the handle and lift the heavy object off the countertop. Its half filled with dead fish submerged in water. As we leave the kitchen I ask, "what are we doing?" "You said you wanted to help," Diana explains, smiling. "Well, the dolphins need to be fed." "Are you sure no one will see me?" I inquire nervously. Diana nods. "The top of the tank isn"t visible form the observation decks, but if it makes you feel better, you can tuck your tail underneath you," she replies. I nod. "Okay then." I glance into the water at the two dolphins swimming in the tank. Diana puts two fingers in her mouth and whistles shrilly. A moment later both dolphins surface. Diana reaches into one of the buckets and holds up a fish by the tail. She tosses it into the gaping beak of one of the sleek grey mammals. A second fish follows, snapped up by the second dolphin. I curl my legs to the side; toes parallel to the side of the tank, and reach into the bucket. I ignore the savory look of the fish as I toss it to one of the dolphins. Both chatter at me excitedly when my fin forms. "Mermaid!" "Come swim with us!" I laugh and shake my head. "I cannot right now, people would see me. Perhaps later." I reply. One of the dolphins snorts, the sound of the air passing sharply through his blow hole sounds like a fart and I giggle. Diana looks between me and the marine clowns. "I"m feeling a little left out of the conversation over here Sirena," she comments. "It nothing, they"re just being silly," I reply. "What is the strange land dweller saying?" the one on the left inquires. "That she feels left out of our conversation. May I know your name?" "Baharin," he replies. "And my brother is Staro. And you are?" "Sirena. If it is alright, I would like to be your friend." Baharin bobs his head and I smile. "Then dive." I smack the bucket beside me with my fin, sending it into the water, spilling its contents through the tank. Both dolphins duck down, descending onto their meal. I laugh. "I hope you intend to get that back," Diana states. "Don"t worry, Baharin will likely fetch it for us," I answer. "Who?" "Baharin is the dolphin who was on the left. His brother"s name is Staro." Diana shakes her head. "I hope you don"t mind if I continue to address them by Jet and James. Those are a little more pronounceable. "I doubt they"ll mind. They don"t really pay much attention to you anyways." "Nice to know." "I didn"t mean it like that," I say. "Dolphins are easily distracted." The door behind us open and a girl roughly my age hurries in. her dark brown hair is tied back in a tight bun on top of her head and her face is flushed. "Dr. Evans," she gasps. "Dr. Williams sent me to find you." "Sarah"s looking for me? Why? I"m sorry what"s your name again?" "Chelsey," the girl replies. "And I was told if I found you I"d either find someone named Sirena or you would know where she is. Do you?" "Hi," I call waving to the girl. "You need me for something?" "Yeah," she replies distractedly, her eyes fixed on my tail. I sigh and steam it dry, standing. "What for?" Chelsey"s eyes have bulged out of her head. "That was really cool," she shakes her head. "Right, sorry. Dr. Williams sent me to tell you that your sister is awake and asking for you." I was going to make this longer and include Aquata"s POV, but I want to update this today and I really should be doing school work at the moment, considering exams are next week. So unfortunately this is all you get at the moment, but I"ll try to update sometime soon after exams... so not next week but probably the one after... so two weeks from now. As always I love your comments and feedback and I"m sorry this chapter was all talk no action. I promise that things will pick up soon. -Mermaid. Sirena"s POV I scurry down the stairs, my hair trailing out behind me. I"m vaguely aware of Diana descending paces behind me, but I pay her no mind as I race towards the room where they"re keeping Aquata. As I near the door Diana catches my arm and forces me to a halt. "Let go," I complain. "Sirena relax," Diana orders firmly, "or you won"t be allowed to go in there. Look at me." I sigh and reluctantly obey her request. "You need to stay calm in there. I"m assuming that the changes," she nods towards my legs, "that you three have undergone are going to be a surprise to your sister and possibly upsetting. Stressing her out is not a good idea, so please don"t rush in there frantically. Calm yourself down so you don"t overexcite her," Diana states. I sigh and take a deep breath, realizing she"s probably right. Aquata isn"t going to like this. "Okay. I"m okay, I promise, I was just excited." Diana nods and releases her grip on my arm. I hesitate before reaching out a yanking the door open. The white tiled room is incredibly bright, illuminated by the overhead light reflecting off of the shiny white surfaces of the room. Sarah stands in the middle of the room, her burgundy hair falling freely down her back, wild and unkept. From the little bit of her face I can see, from my position, I note the inky black circles under her eyes. She doesn"t look as though she"s slept much. She"s bent over the metal table positioned beside her, staring at a thick black band that"s wrapped around Aquata"s wrist. My sister"s head turns at the sound of us entering. Her skin is pale as bleached coral and her blond hair is pulling free from its elaborate design is soft thin wisps. Her blue eyes widen as she sees me and then narrow as they fall to the legs supporting me. "Aquata!" I exclaim, hurrying over before she has the chance to comment. "Are you okay?" I demand. "I"ve been really worried about you." Aquata smiles softly, "I"m alright," she replies. "Besides, I"m more concerned about you what happened Sirena?" My eyes fall and I let my head hang as I avoid her gaze. "Please don"t be upset," I whisper. Aquata"s eyes narrow. "My little sister has just broken some severe rules," she snaps, her head tilting to the side as though she can"t figure out why. "Why wouldn"t I be upset, Sirena?" I open my mouth to reply, but before I can, the door bangs open. My head turns as Nixie and Lyla file into the room, Rita close behind. Rita sits down on a bench in the corner, next to Diana. Nixie and Lyla move beside me. Aquata snorts. "The two of you as well then; I should have guessed." Her eyes fix on Nixie pointedly. "Neither of you have ever been a good influence on Sirena, I should have guessed that you two were to blame." "We did it for the pod," Lyla snaps back, fire dancing in her eyes. "We"re here trying to fix our mistake," Nixie adds. She shakes her head, brown hair flying wildly. "I don"t see why we bother, you all left us behind," her eyes fall to the floor. "We just want to go home." "So you just thought you"d come up here and do what exactly? Other than expose yourselves, which you"ve clearly already done! You know nothing about this place, what were you thinking?" "We"ve been learning," I protest. "Staying with Rita, she"s been helping us." "Rita?" Aquata questions. Rita places both her hands on my shoulders, giving them a soft squeeze. "Is that a problem?" she challenges. "Great! Now you"re all associating with some... what outcast?" Aquata glares at Rita. "I was not banished," Rita replies evenly. "I chose to leave. "but, but why?" she demands, recovering. "Enough," Diana demands, her face stern as she walks over to us. "Whatever decisions were made in the past cannot be altered now so stop getting upset over them," she says, turning to Aquata. "You need to settle down, you"re not helping yourself or your recovery by getting worked up like this. Besides," her tone softens. "You get to see your sister again, be happy about that." Aquata"s eyes lower and her shoulders slump, she chews on her lip, something I haven"t seen her do since we were little. "You"re right," she admits. "I"m sorry Sirena, I shouldn"t have snapped at you, at any of you. I"m just concerned that"s all. I want you to be able to return, but I fear the more rules you break, the less of a chance you"ve got." "Its okay," I whisper. "So why are you here anyways? Has the pod returned?" "No, I"ve been given special permission to return, but I can"t stay, I have leave," she pauses. "Today actually." Sarah snorts, "Umm, Aquata right?, you"re not going anywhere for quite a while. Have you looked at the state of your tail? that table is your home for the next two weeks minimum. I"d say a month before you see water that"s deeper than a meter or two. The ocean is a no-go for quite some time," she decides. Aquata"s eyes widen and she shakes her head. "But I have to-" "No," Sarah interrupts. "The only thing you have to do is recover. I"m sorry, but for the time being, you"re landlocked." Aquata opens her mouth to argue, but closes it soon after, shifting on the table. With a great deal of effort, she twists and manages to role onto her stomach and prop herself up. "Be careful," Sarah warns. I ease closer to my sister, careful to avoid actually touching her. "Are you sure you"re alright?" I inquire. "I"m fine Sirena," Aquata sighs. "But we need to talk." Her gaze drifts around the room. "May I have a moment alone with my sister please." I glance around. the others nod, standing quietly and filing out. Sarah turns to us as she leaves. "A few minutes," she agrees. "Then you need some rest Aquata." She doesn"t wait for a reply as she pulls the door closed behind her. I turn to Aquata expectantly. "This is about why you"re here isn"t it," I guess. She nods. "I"m here to bring you back to the pod," she replies. "I spoke with the council and they"ve agreed to let you return." My heart soars at her words. I feel my eyes widen and, if it were long enough, I"m certain my jaw would resting on the cold tiles of the floor. Excitement spins through me. "Really?" I gasp. "Oh, Lyla and Nixie will be so thrilled. Thank you Aquata." Aquata shakes her head. "No Sirena. The council agreed after I promised I would look after you. I couldn"t promise that for them. Nixie and Lyla cannot return with us." Suddenly my excitement dies, killed by this heart-wrenching piece of news. I get my sister back, but at the price of my new pod, my family. Diana"s POV I lean against the wall and can"t help but wonder at the conversation going on back in the medical room. Sarah presses her back against the wall next to me and rubs at her eyes. "Why don"t you turn in," I suggest to her. "You"ve been up all night." She shakes her head. "Not yet," is her reply. "Not until I"m certain she"s going to sleep and recover. I"m still expecting her to freak out and wind up making her injuries worse... Maybe I should just sedate her for now," she muses. I don"t respond and instead find my gaze drifting over to the three mermaids, they"ve drifted slightly farther down the hall and are speaking amongst each other. "Dr. Evans!" I turn my head to see Alisha scurrying down the hall towards us. her hair pulled up into a tight bun and a clipboard hugged against her chest. I raise an eyebrow and hold her gaze. She blushes , her eyes glancing to the floor. "Sorry... Diana." "Yes?" I ask. "You have... visitors," she answers. "Is it Janice again?" I sigh. "Actually yes, Dr. Taylor is present, but the one who wants to see you is Dr. Hadley Peirce," she replies. My heart jolts in my chest. I wet my lips, stunned. "The Board director? Did he say why he was here?" Alisha shakes her head. "I didn"t ask," she admits. "I was on my way upstairs when he stopped me stopped me in the hall and requested your presence. He"s waiting in the main lobby." "And Janice was with him?" I demand. Alisha nods. "With him or just here?" Sarah asks. :I think with him. She was following him around," Alisha replies. I curse. "Is something wrong," Rita asks, attracted by our conversation. "Yes, I mean no, I-" I sigh and take a deep breath. "I need you to take Lyla, Nixie, and Sirena upstairs to the dorms, pick one and stay there. Janice and my boss are here and I"d prefer they didn"t know you are here," I say. Rita"s expression darkens, but she doesn"t comment as she turns and begins speaking with Lyla and Nixie. "Sarah, inform Aquata, then sedate her. She"s probably the reason they"re here and if that"s the case, as far as anyone"s concerned, she hasn"t woken yet," I order. "And send Sirena out." I turn to Alisha. "Find anyone who worked on Aquata or the others last night, as well as Chelsey. As far as the staff are concerned, the mermaid in there has been unconscious since her arrival and the other four were never here. At most you maybe recognize a name from stories about before the center was destroyed. No one is to breath a word on the subject to our visitors. Anyone who does will find themselves unemployed faster than they could process it," I command. Alisha"s eyes widen and she steps back. "Yes, Dr. Evans," she replies. I don"t bother to correct her as she hurries away. I head towards the main lobby, mentally steeling myself for the storm. Okay, that"s that. Sorry this is late guys, I"ll try to be better next update. So we"re finally going to see some action, because as always, Janice is going to stir up trouble. Sorry if Aquata seemed kind of a jerk in this chapter, I was trying to portray more shock and anger than the show did mainly because she wasn"t told here about the legs seen, so I figured her reaction would be a tad more severe. Anyways, I"m thinking her presence might be a good way to introduce some season two characters, who might come looking for her when she doesn"t return. By the way, did everyone see the ending to the first half of the season that"s on Netflix? Don"t worry, no spoilers if you haven"t, but oh my gosh, my mind was blown. I should have seen it coming, but I didn"t. It was pretty awesome. Okay, done fangirling, back to the point. As always, you"re comments are inspiring so please consider leaving a few, I always love to hear from you all. Until next time. -Mermaid The lobby is barren; the center is closed today, so it isn"t hard to spot Janice and Dr. Peirce. He"s dressed in a dark suit that looks a little tight around his slightly bulging gut. Grey tufts litter his severely balding head. His head turns as I approach; revealing his half narrowed brown eyes behind thick, square, black-rimmed glasses. His lips are pressed into a thin line. Janice stands near him, her long hair, usually loose or pulled into a messy ponytail, is tied back in a thick bun. She"s dressed formally in a long simple black dress with full sleeves, despite the intense heat. "Hello, sir," I greet, offering a hand. "I didn"t know you were coming." He ignores my outstretched hand and straightens his tie instead. I let my arm drop back to my side. "Just a routine inspection, Dr. Evans, you understand," he replies absently as he gazes around. "Of course. Anything I can do to be of assistance?" I ask. Again, I"m ignored as Dr. Peirce wanders further into the lobby. I reluctantly follow, casting a quizzical glance at Janice. She offers no comment, but the corners of her mouth turn upwards into a false smile that makes my neck hair stand on end. "The place looks good," Dr. Peirce comments. "However, I"m concerned about your competence in your new position." I bite back a shocked snort, my eyes widening. After a moment I straighten up, "excuse me?" Dr. Peirce meets my gaze head on. "After the, rather mysterious, events and chaos that occurred around the flood, you were thrust into this potion and Dr. Taylor relocated. You have had no training or experience of any kind, and frankly, you appear to still be in the mindset of your old position. You have had to handle very little paperwork in the past and have never had to manage all the staff, funds, or the building." "Sir, I really don"t understand where this is coming from. Have I done something wrong?" I inquire. "Well..." "I am aware of the suddenness of my position change and my lack of training, but all my paperwork has been completed and filed, you should have proof of that. Is there something wrong with it? I have managed staff before, I"ve had teams in the past. I also used to manage this lace when Dr. Taylor was away. I"ve worked with her a long time and have gotten an idea of how her jobs works as I"m sure she is clear about mine. I have some experience, so where are you going with this?" I challenge before forcing myself to relax before I say something I"ll regret." "I will admit, your work recently has been impressive under the circumstances, but I still have concerns. Firstly, you are far too publically involved. A good manager knows when to stay away; otherwise it will look like we"re so understaffed and underfunded that even the manager has to work the lesser jobs. Also, this place has only been open a couple of weeks and its thriving. As more people are drawn in and work gets heavier, I fear you will find yourself overwhelmed if the workload gets more intense," he pauses for a moment. "I have decided that you require the training and that I"m reappointing Dr. Taylor here." Shock sweeps through me, my eyes widen and my mouth opens slightly. So that"s why she"s so smug. I mentally glare daggers at her. "But, I," my professional tone slips as I stutter. "Relax Dr. Evans, your job remains intact. Dr. Taylor will be with you for a month. She will give you pointers on the job and review your work ethic. She will send weekly reports back to me. Then I will make a final decision on whether or not there needs to be a change in the management office. This is not open for debate." "And who knows," Janice offers. "It might be a good chance to rekindle our friendship." She smiles, her teeth gleaming. My skin prickles at the false words. I know she doesn"t really care. Relax. Relax. Don"t try to kill her in front of your boss. I mentally repeat the sentence like a mantra twice before taking a deep breath and forcing a smile. "Yeah, maybe," I manage. "Well," Dr. Peirce clears his throat and straightens his tie. "There"s another matter I want to discuss." I hold my breath for what I know is coming. "I"ve received information about your rescue yesterday that I want to clarify. I nod. "Certainly, what do you want to know?" His eyes narrow behind his glasses. "I"d actually like to see the creature myself," he replies coldly. "Of course, follow me." I turn on my heel and lead him down the hall. Every loud clack of Janice"s heels winds my nerves tighter as I lead them to Aquata. "Sarah worked through most of the night with her, but she hasn"t woken yet," I lie as we reach the operation room door. I push it open to reveal Sarah leaning against the counter watching her patient. Thick dark circles line her eyes and she blinks long and slow, her exhaustion evident. "Any change?" I ask, pulling her from her daze. "Mhm?" it takes Sarah a moment to properly register us. "Oh, sorry; no. She"s pretty stable and stirred once, but she hasn"t woken," she reports and I mentally thank her for staying awake enough to play along. Dr. Peirce walks over to the observation table for a closer look. Janice steps a little closer too and bends over the mermaid. Aquata remains still, the pain from earlier erased from her features. "I want this closed as quickly as possible," Dr. Peirce orders, his eyes settling on Janice. "I have finally finished cleaning up all the paperwork after the incidents here and then your claims that followed. Keep this on the down low and get rid of it as soon as possible. If either of you do anything that leaves me with another mile long stack of papers on my desk neither of you will ever see employment anywhere again. Am I clear?" "Of course sir," Janice mutters. I nod in agreement and withhold a smirk at the victory against Janice. No mermaid propaganda will be gained from her efforts in placing herself here. My boss straightens his tie and adjusts his glasses. "I will take my leave now. Dr. Taylor, I trust you can set up without issue. I"ll expect your first report early next week. Dr. Evans, I"ll show myself out." I nod. "Okay, have a safe trip home," I answer as I watch him go. "I"m assuming you"ve moved into my office, so I"m going to find a spare one to set up in," Janice states, not bothering to ask. She doesn"t wait for an answer before walking out of the room. I turn to meet Sarah"s wide questioning gaze and begin to wonder what I"ve gotten myself into. Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. This is kind of a sucky filler chapter, but necessary none the less. So Janice is back! Next chapter will be better, I promise. As always, I love feedback, it fuels my inspiration and motivation and I always love to hear from all of you so let me know what you think. On a side note, I"ve been brainstorming the potential of building a time machine to prevent the creation of math... or at least functions. Who"s with me!? :-P -Mermaid

"Human." I whisper. "And I do have a family, they"re probably wondering where I am." "Do they know about..." Linda trails off. I shake my head. "No, they don"t, and truthfully I don"t think I want them too. They would try to find a cure, but I"m not sick, there"s nothing wrong with me." "Well, I o have to contact them, let them know you"re alright. Legally I can"t keep you here without parents" consent. Is there a way for me to get a hold of them?" she inquires. I nod. "You could call my dad"s work number if you want. No one will answer the home phone." I tell her my father"s number and she quickly jots it down. "Alright, I"ll be back in a few minutes." She says leaving the room. I sigh and fiddle with a lock of my hair. A few moments later, Linda reenters the room. She presses a cell phone against her shoulder. "He wants to speak to you. To make sure you"re alright. I didn"t tell him about your tail. Just that you were in an accident, and that you"re here now alright?"" I nod and accept the phone. I press it to my ear. "Hello?" "Bella! Thank the heavens. Are you alright? What happened? You"ve been missing for three days. and then I get a call from a marine biologist saying you"re on her boat and you were in an accident." My father"s exclaims through the phone. "I"m okay dad. Honest. I was exploring some of the caves in the cliffs, and I got caught in the quake or whatever happened. It shook a bunch of rocks loose and I large one landed on my leg, but I don"t think I broke anything, I really am okay." I explain, trying to calm him down. "I knew those caves were a bad idea, what were you thinking, going down there alone?" "I"m sorry." I apologize. "It doesn"t matter, the main thing is you"re okay. Sit tight, I"m going to come pick you up. Hand the phone back to the biologist. Are you sure you"re alright sweetheart?" "I"m fine dad." I assure him, before giving the phone back to Linda. She takes the phone and starts talking with my father. I zone out the conversation, and the next thing I know, Dr. Denman is talking to me. "You are going to have to tell him when he gets here you know that right? It"s not like you can just go to a doctor to get your fin looked at, and I think it"s going to need some attention, especially if you intend to be swimming anytime soon. And I"m going to have to be the one to look at it, if you don"t want a bunch of people knowing, but your father won"t like that without a reasonable explanation." I nod. "I know." I reply "Are you alright though. Does anything hurt or feel numb?" "My legs are stiff, and my ankles and feet are sore, but it"s not too bad." I admit. "What about food? Are you hungry at all, you were down there for a few days." she asks. My stomach growls involuntarily at the thought of food. Linda smiles. "I guess I have my answer. Umm Bella, I don"t really know anything about your digestive system. Can you eat... you know, the same things I can?" I laugh. "Please don"t give me raw fish, that"s just gross. Regular food will be fine." "Alright, if you"re sure." "Positive." I say. "And thank you." "No problem" she states, before leaving. I lean back against the wall, my feet dangling over the bed. I stare at my feet, before trying to rotate my ankles. Pain shoots up my legs, making me wince. Okay so I"m not as fine as I originally thought. I lie down on the cot, suddenly exhausted. I close my eyes and before I know it I"m dozing off. "Bella. Bella wake up." I hear someone say. "Huh?" I groan. "You fell asleep, get up your father"s here." I open my eyes to find Dr. Denman leaning over me. "M"kay, I"m coming." I say sleepily. "No, I"m going to bring him down here, but you have to wake up first." She states. I push myself into a sitting position and rub my eyes, blinking rapidly I clear my vision. "Alright, I"m awake." I confirm. Linda Denman walks out and a moment later she returns with my father close behind. He rushes over and wraps me in a hug. I wince as his leg smacks painfully against my ankle. He pulls back, a concerned look on his face. "What the matter?" he demands. "Nothing, my ankle"s pretty sore that"s all." I reply. He nods, but the worried expression doesn"t leave his face. He turns to Dr. Denman. "Thank you, for rescuing my daughter." "Its not a problem, Mr. ..." "Hartley. Brian Hartley." He introduces. "Now I don"t want to appear rude, but I think I should take my daughter home now, and then to see a doctor." "It"s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Hartley, and I understand your want to take her home, but going to see a doctor might not be the best thing for Bella." Linda says. "What do you mean?" "Well Bella"s not an ordinary girl, but I think I"ll let her tell you about that." Linda states. "Gee thanks." I mutter. "What"s she talking about Bella?" my dad inquires. I sigh. "It"s probably easier to show you than for me to explain." I begin. I grab the bottle of water from the side of the bed and pour water over my wrist. Ten seconds later, my legs become a long golden tail. The area around my fin looks puffy and swollen. There"s a dull throbbing pain in my tail. My father"s eyes widen with shock. For a moment I think he might faint, but then he composes himself. "What kind of trick is this?" he demands. "Mr. Hartley, I assure you that this is no trick..." "Shut up." my father roars, cutting Denman off. "You can"t really expect me to believe that my daughter is a fish." "Dad, it-its true. I wouldn"t lie to you." I say, a guilty feeling worming its way into my gut. The truth is I"ve been lying to him since I was nine, when I didn"t tell him I was a mermaid. "Isabella Hartley, this is not a joking matter." My father warns. "I know." I whisper softly, tears brimming in my eyes. "But I"ve been this way for a long time, long before I met DR. Denman. It"s no trick. Why do you think I"m always avoiding water like the plague? I really am a mermaid dad." His expression softens. "Its true?" he asks. I nod. "Oh Bella, my poor sweet girl don"t worry, we"ll find a way to fix this." He grabs my hand a strokes it gently. "We"ll take you to a doctor or someone who can help. We"ll get you back to normal." "No." I cry, pulling my hand away. "Don"t you get it? I"m not sick; this isn"t a disease or something that can be fixed. It"s who I am. I was nine. I"ve been like this for seven years. You can"t fix this, and I don"t want you to. Please just accept it. Accept me." I beg. Hesitantly he reaches out a hand and places it on my scales. He strokes them softly, as if trying to come to terms with them. He stares at the swollen part sadly. "What do I have to do, what"s the best thing I can do for Bella?" he asks Linda. "Let her stay here. I"m a marine biologist and I"m trained in veterinary medicines. I can help her heal, and then she can go home. Live life the same way she did before the accident." Linda explains. Father turns to me. "Is that what you want." He asks. I hesitate before nodding. "I want to make sure my tail is okay." He winces as I say tail, but I choose to ignore it. "I don"t want the world knowing, I don"t want to be a science experiment. If staying here for a bit means that everything can go back to normal, then I"ll do it." I look at Dr. Denman. "You can do research on me. I know you want to, just please don"t cut me open or expose me or anything." She smiles. "I wouldn"t think of it." '"Alright then, but behave yourself okay?" dad agrees. "And I"ll check in on you every evening when I get off of work." He turns to Linda, as if daring her to object. She doesn"t. "I will, know go back to work, before you get into trouble." I order. "Yes ma"am." He teases, bowing. I laugh, and I can see Linda swallowing a chuckle. Denman leads my father out, probably to work out details. A warm fuzzy feeling settles itself inside me. It was touch and go, but my father accepted who I am. There"s no better feeling in the world. Except maybe swimming. Okay so another chapter done. I hope you like it. Sorry if it was a slow chapter, but it was necessary, I"ll try to make the next one more interesting. Reviews are still loved beyond measure. -Mermaid. Linda"s POV. I smile as I watch Mr. Hartley leave. I can finally do mermaid research, and this time I can finally do it without ruining a life. I"ve come to terms with the fact that I did indeed destroy the lives of Emma, Cleo, and Rikki. I won"t do the same with Bella. She seems pretty cooperative, and I think that we might be able to reach an agreement. I head to the back of the boat, I pull open the door to find Bella sitting up on the bed. "How do you feel?" I ask her. She looks up. "Alright I think." She states. "Well, we"ll be pulling into port soon. I need to pick up my assistant Scarlet. She"s almost ompleted her training as a marine veterinarian. When she gets on board, we"ll get that medical exam out of the way, alright?" Bella nods. "Kay. But is there anything to eat?" "Yeah, I"m sorry, your father got here and it completely slipped my mind." I reply. "I"ll be right back alright?" she nods, and I quickly head to the tiny kitchen on the boat. There"s a plate sitting on the counter. On it is a tuna sandwich, an apple, and a water bottle is sitting beside it. I grab the items and head back to Bella"s bunk. I hand her the food and sit down in a chair. "Okay, I do have questions for you and I would like them to be answered." I inform her. She nods. "I guess I owe you that much..." she mutters. "First off why were you in that cave? How did you even get in there?" she stares at her lap. "I wanted to explore. I pulled myself over the rocks, like you said earlier. How did you get in?" she replies. "There was a second entrance up on the cliffs." I state. "Are there more of you? Mermaids I mean, and don"t worry, they aren"t in any danger, I promise to leave any others alone." Bella shakes her head. "I"m the only one. Which sucks because it"d be cool to have someone to swim with." "Alright last two questions for now. First how long have you been like this, and how did you get a tail in the first place?" I inquire. "I"ve been this way since I was nine. And-" She hesitates. "I can"t tell you how. Please understand... I think that it"s supposed to be private." I sigh. "Alright fair enough. Now I don"t intend to turn you into a lab rat, but would you let me do some research?" I ask. Bella fiddles with the end of her shirt, clearly debating. After a moment. "I suppose as long as-" "I promise you"ll be informed of everything I intend to do, before it happens, and you can call it off at any time. I won"t make the same mistake twice." I vow. Her eyebrows furrow. "What do you mean?" I sigh, realizing I said the last part out loud. "Let"s just say that you aren"t the first mermaid I"ve ever met." I admit. Bella"s face lights up. "You mean I"m not the only one with a tail? There are others? Where? How many?" I hold up my hand silencing her storm of questions. "I met three girls in Australia. They also had tails, and I made a horrible mistake. Got in over my head and carried away. The last time I saw them, they were regular girls. They had given up their powers." I explain, guilt and regret thick on my tongue. "Wait. You mean you can do that, give up being a mermaid? Why would they want to do that? I mean yeah obviously there are some drawbacks, but it can"t compare to the magic." I stare at my own lap. "Let"s just say that it wasn"t something they wanted to do and leave it at that. Like I said. Mistakes were made, that"s it." Bella opens her mouth to say more but seems to decide against it. She takes a bite of her apple, having already polished off the sandwich. "So we"ll be docking soon, when we do, I"ll take you up to the lab and get your...tail...examined, make sure nothing is broken. Alright?" Bella nods in agreement, before yawning. "Get some rest and I"ll wake you when we arrive." She nods. "Okay, thanks." She replies, lying down. I get up and silently leave the room, a bit of triumph leaking into my demeanor. I shove it down. I may have one something for science today, but I still have to leash myself. I will have some respect for Bella. She may be a major scientific discovery but she"s still legally a human being. This time I have to remember that. No matter what the cost. And then maybe one day I can find a way to redeem myself to Emma, Cleo, and maybe even Rikki. I frown at the thought, realizing that that is truly what it was about; getting rid of my guilt. I shake my head. Then I guess that means I haven"t changed. Not truly anyways. I sincerely apologize for the long wait. I had some computer trouble, but I"m back online now. This chapter was a little boring a vague, but I just got over writers block so please cut me some slack. I will try my best to make the next one more interesting. I"d like to thank all my reviewers, favoriters, and followers, you support is greatly appreciated. And a special thanks to Pixiedragon25 for support and suggestions with this chapter. Like always I truly appreciate reviews, and if anyone has any suggestions for this story, please feel free to share them. I"m especially open to suggestions right now. -mermaid "Alright, you can sit up for a minute," Scarlet says. I prop myself up and glance around, the starch white walls have some posters of dolphin skeletons and shark jaws. Dr. Denman and Scarlet are hovering over the X-ray monitor, scanning the images. I shift my feet uncomfortably. "Can I get down now?" I ask. Denman shakes her head. "We still need some images of your tail, it doesn"t look like anything is broken, but I don"t know if there will be any differences in your...other form." I sigh and flop back down. "Fine." Scarlet dumps a glass of cold water over my head. I gasp and push wet hair from my face. "Umm, you know it only takes a drop of water for me to change right? I could have just dipped my fingers in the glass." Scarlet blushes. "Sorry, I"ll remember that next time." Her eyes widen as she watches me change. "That is incredible." "You"ve seen my tail before though," I comment. "Yes, but not the change." Scarlet proceeds to take several X-rays of my tail. The base of it throbs, the pain more intense now that I"m properly awake. "How"s it feel?" Denman inquires. "It hurts more than it does when I"m dry," I admit. "Well there is some intense swelling. Significantly more than on your ankle," she states. "You"ve sprained pretty good. It will be at least a week before you"ll be okay to walk again, a couple before you can swim." I groan. I normally swim at least once every other day, how am I going to survive weeks stuck on land? Scarlet smiles. "A landlocked mermaid. It sounds a little funny." "Its not funny," I protest. "I swim as often as I can. It relaxes me. What am I supposed to do now?" "Long bathes?" Scarlet suggests. I sigh, "yeah I guess." "Sorry, Bella, but I doubt that"s an option to you either," Denman decides. "What?" "Unless your bath is long enough to fit your entire tail inside of it, you won"t be able to take bathes because it"ll cause more damage to your fin to have it dangling over the side if the tub," she clarifies. A pathetic whimper escapes me. "This sucks," I mutter. "Your father won"t like this option, but you could stay here," Dr. Denman suggests. "We"re well equipped to accommodate both your tail length and your injury. You could remain fully submerged in a tank shallow enough for you to breathe without much swimming but long enough to fit you comfortably. If you want, that is." "I don"t know," I reply, scratching at my arm. "You"re right when you say my father won"t like it. Besides, I"m not used to remaining in the water that long. Those two or three days, depending on how long I was down there, were the longest I"ve ever stayed in the water at one time before." "Bella, you won"t be condemned to the water for two weeks. Picture a long and clear tub. No deeper than that. You can get out at any point." "Okay," I agree. "As long as it"s not too much trouble." Linda"s POV (Two weeks later) "How"s it feel?" I inquire.. Bella flexes her ankle experimentally, gently putting her weight down on it. She sighs with relief. "It feels a lot better," she declares happily. Beside me, her father relaxes, running a hand through his hair. "There is one last thing we have to test," I say. "My tail?" Bella guesses. I nod. An uneasy look crosses Brian Hartley"s face, but he doesn"t say anything. "Yes. Up for a swim?" Bella smiles, her teeth gleaming and her eyes shining. "Always." I lead the two of them to a large pool, small ceramic squares stretching out across the floor, fading away to the blue concrete walls of the pool. Bella stares longingly at the glistening water. She glances at me, an eager look on her face. I shrug and nod. She needs no more prompting as she rushes to the edge and dives into the pool. Seconds later she surfaces on her back with her sunset orange tail stretching out in front of her. The water distorted light reflects off her tail, making each individual scale gleam. The sight of it still fills me with awe and steals my breath. Despite being a scientist, magical is the only way I can explain it. Bella flicks her fin a couple times. "Any pain?" I ask her. "No," she calls back, shaking her head. "Swim a couple laps, make sure, just don"t overdo it," I suggest. Bella flips backwards and easily covers the length of the pool with a few strokes. I stare into the water, watching the powerful muscles in her scaly appendage propel her easily and gracefully through the water. She twists around and comes back before going again. As she comes back, Bella moves close to the side and takes off like a rocket. She shoots by us at unimaginable speeds, water roaring up and showering us as she passes. I step back; catching less of the water, though still manage to get soaked. Mr. Hartley"s eyes bulge and he barely seems to register the cold water that"s drenched him. Bella surfaces, coming to a lazy stop. "I think it"s good." "I can see that," I reply, wringing water from the sleeves of my lab coat. "A little warning next time would be nice." "Sorry," she apologizes, drifting over and crossing her arms on the deck. "Guess this pool is a little small to go that fast." Her father takes a dazed step forward and kneels down beside his daughter. "You can really do all that as easily as you can jog around the block?" he asks. Bella snorts. "Doing this is way easier than jogging anywhere," she replies as she drags her tail from the water and wrings her hair out. "Do you have a towel?" she requests. I grab two from a nearby stack and toss them to her. She unravels one and begins to rub at her fin. "Thanks." I step away and pull a pen from my pocket, scribbling down a few last minute things to my report. Mr. Hartley leans over. "Bella?" He asks. "Mhm. I have to file a report on her injury and time here." I look up to see an alarmed look on his face. "Don"t worry, as far as the report knows, your daughter is a young dolphin that was recovering from a tail fluke injury," I explain. He relaxes. "I appreciate everything you"ve done for her. I"d have been at a loss. Still am." "No problem, it was nice to have her." He runs a hand through his hair. "I feel like I should invite you over for dinner or something. Thank you properly and maybe discuss any costs that would be involved with you caring for her." I shake my head. "I offered to have her here while she healed. I wouldn"t charge you. Though if you"re offering, I won"t refuse a nice meal. One can only stand frozen sandwiches for so long." He laughs, "I suppose. Does six work?" I nod. "Yes." I jot down the address as he tells it to me. Bella walks up and leans on her father"s shoulder. "You"re coming over? Great, I"ll cook." "Uh, no," Mr. Hartley states firmly. "I will cook. It would not be nice to give Dr. Denman food poisoning." A hurt look crosses Bella"s face and she places a hand on her chest. "I can"t believe tou"d say something so mean!" She exclaims. Her father puts an arm around her shoulders and pulls her close. "You know I love you," he says. "Just not your cooking." Bella scowls and smacks his forearm. "Fine," she huffs walking away. "But good luck getting home without keys!" She laughs and dangles a keychain in the air before turning on her heel and taking off through the double doors. Mr. Hartley"s hand flies to his sweater pocket and he curses under his breath. "I"m sorry, but I have to chase her down. See you tonight Dr. Denman." He turns after his daughter. "Linda," I call after him, laughing. Teenagers! Oh my gosh. Okay let me start with a huge apology to anyone still reading this. When a fish out of water took off I kind of forgot about this story which is unacceptable. It wasn"tuntil a few days ago when Bella "kindly" reminded me that she still exists. So I went back and refreshed myself on this story to keep writing. I will be continuing this don"t worry, I wont leave it in the dust again. But seeing as I already did, I kinda forgot many of my plans for this, so it"s a blank page at the moment if anyone wants to toss some ideas in. Again I am so very sorry to all of you. I don"t deserve them, but comments are still always appreciated. -Mermaid

"No apology needed," Tommy said, equally at home in his role as the implacable head of a respectable firm. She shook his hand like a man would, with a firm grip. An iron fist in a velvet glove sprang to Tommy"s mind, though her gloves were ivory-tanned kidskin. "My office is just this way." He held out an arm to escort her back to his little glass-walled cell, and, leaving the staff of Shelby Brothers Limited staring slackly at the vision that had just sat down across from their leader"s desk, closed the door behind him, smiled briefly at the rest of the room and pulled the shades. "You might have introduced yourself the other day," Tommy said, sitting down at his own desk and shuffling aside the morning"s paper along with any other pleasantries. She didn"t seem the type to need them. "I wouldn"t have wanted to put you out," Theodora said pleasantly. "I understand you"re a man who doesn"t like surprises, Mr. Shelby. It wouldn"t do, to be introduced to a peer in the street." Her smile curled a little devilishly. "Have you heard a lot about me, then?" Tommy asked, studying this woman and wondering in which of her posh schools she"d learned the art of doing business as he was accustomed to doing it. "I make it a point to know all my neighbors, Mr. Shelby. My landlord, Mr. Wecklin, was most informative. And when so many of our clients at the House make a point of mentioning you, it was only fair that I return the compliment of a call from such a ...respected name." Damn the woman. She had heard a lot about him, to make that comment about surprises, when she"d been trying to surprise him since she walked in the door. "I am glad I am found so," Tommy said, neither confirming nor denying the exact nature of the"respect" given him by the rest of the neighborhood. "Though, I must confess, I was amazed to hear from our residents that a man of your stature has such interest in our little organization." "No more than anyone else on the street, I would think." "But no one else on the street has had a man sitting across the street every day watching our residents and asking questions," Theodora said, her voice sweet and meaning anything but sweetness. Tommy was suddenly strongly and unpleasantly reminded of Aunt Pol. "You insinuated you had something to talk over with me." All business, then. Well, if that was the way she wanted to play. "I"m interested in making a donation to your work." She smiled. "Really? Do tell. What sort of donation? Mischief? Mayhem? Rocks through windows? The harassment of our residents?" So she does know us. He had joked with Finn about getting trouble from the Settlement House, but Tommy was beginning to get the idea he may have underestimated the spinsters, or at least, this one. Well, if she could play dirty, then so could he. "Fifty pounds," he said promptly. That, at least, stopped her, though she was equally good at hiding her surprise. "Most generous of you. I should not have thought philanthropy was in your line." "Oh, we always like to give back to the neighborhood, Miss Carteret, as it"s been so good to us and our business. Though usually, with a donation of that size, we look for...goods and services in kind. A mention of our name here and there." His gaze seized hers and the two of them sat for a moment in silent conversation. If we give you this money, you will dance to the tune we give you. "For such a generous offering, we would be glad to give you a tour of the House, Mr. Shelby." I know what you want, and I will give you the endorsement of respectability if you are seen to endorse us. "Most kind. We like to see where our money goes. Shall we come by on Friday?" I"m afraid Friday would be terribly inconvenient, with the free clinic meeting then. Saturday, perhaps, but no sooner." She rose from the chair without more comment, and gathered up her handbag. "Well, this has been a most wonderful first meeting, Mr. Shelby, but I really must be getting back to the House. Lots to do." Tommy rose and opened the door, clearing his throat at the rather poor imitation of work everyone had sprang back to. The gaze of everyone in the office was pointedly focused on the task at hand, even if money was not moving and pens did not dispense ink, every person oddly silent and straining to hear their lord and master. "My staff and I shall look forward to seeing you on Saturday, then," Miss Carteret said with a smile, holding out a hand again. "We will be very pleased to see the place," Tommy said, for the benefit of the rest of the room. Business concluded, Theodora turned to the rest of the room, smiled politely and nodded to everyone"s silent study of her, and stepped back out into the street, begging the pardon of Aunt Polly, who was just coming in. Tommy, however, had not really seen any of the business at the door. He was too busy considering Theodora"s last words, the way that she had nimbly stepped around his own invitation and replaced it with one of her own. She"d be ready by Thursday, if he said he"d be there Friday, and she"d stay ready if he decided to be late and hold out until Sunday. That last look of hers had been in deadly earnest, the eyes and smile that coldly and ever so seriously said If you think you can run me, Thomas Shelby, you"re wrong. "That woman," Aunt Pol observed knowledgeably, watching Miss Carteret stroll calmly down the lane, "will be trouble." And don"t I know it, Tommy observed to himself. Let me begin by saying that I"m not really sure what I"m doing here. (But do any of us really know what we"re doing, honestly?) I can"t find a history of Birmingham at six different libraries, ditto a good book on organized crime in England, ditto information on urban dwellings in the 20th century West Midlands, ditto a dozen other topics I will need to make this a well-informed story. And I"ve never been to Birmingham, so Mea culpa to the good citizens of that city. But after watching season one of Peaky Blinders, I had this sudden image of this upper-class woman who wanted to try and figure Tommy out, who was just as determined and just as stubborn and who knew a thing or two about having feelings and experiences that you don"t talk about, and then I had to find a way to get her into Small Heath, where she clearly didn"t belong and suddenly, Jane Addams and Hull House surfaced, and Small Heath Settlement House, the perfect way to put a strange fish in stranger water, appeared. So here we are, testing the waters on a story I"m not even sure will work. There"s a two year gap between season one and season two. Say that this happens then. If you enjoyed Theo and Tommy"s little tete-a-tete, feel free to say so in the comments and we"ll see what we can do. Finn inspected the clean-collared, starch-stiffened version of himself in the pier-glass near the kitchen and grimaced. "What are we doing all this for, anyway?" he asked, making a half-hearted gesture to the rest of the room, which was filled with the rest of his family, lounging about the sitting room in similar states of dress, Tommy and Arthur"s shirtfronts impressively white, Aunt Polly"s hat sporting a particularly ostentatious feather and Esme"s little beaded reticule clattering with self-importance as she straightened the children"s collars. "Because Tommy likes to give a nice first impression," Arthur drawled, only half-serious, from the love-seat, exchanging a knowledgeable glance with John, who also grinned, and then busied himself with helping Esme break up a bit of horseplay between two of his offspring, who were perilously close to disrupting their fine Sunday attire. Tommy frowned briefly at both of his brothers and the minor scuffle, and strode over to the glass, standing behind Finn. The boy was getting tall - tall enough to see himself and his brother in the little slip of mirror. When he spoke, it was for Finn"s ears alone, the soft, serious voice that Tommy only used when he was in deadly earnest. "Because her brothers were officers with batsmen and china cups and tailored uniforms, and your brothers fought in the dirt of Flanders - like real men. Her people sent gifts we couldn"t use and empty promises that wouldn"t feed us and got rich off of the suffering of our lot, and now they want to use that wealth to help us. We need to show her we don"t need her kind of help at all." Finn"s eyes were glazed with an emotion he couldn"t name, but he didn"t show the recognition Tommy was seeking to explain. He turned his brother away from the mirror and laid his hands on the youngest Shelby"s shoulders, locking his brother"s gaze in his own. "She"ll look at you and she"ll see Small Heath mud, Finn, even if you"ve got none on you. She thinks she"s better than us," Tommy said strongly, "And I want to prove her wrong." Overcome, Finn nodded vigorously, and turned quickly away so that his brother would not see the quiver in his cheek. But Tommy saw everything, and he allowed himself a private smile before turning on the rest of his family and declaring "Right, we"re off, then!" and leading the charge out the door. Didn"t they make a sight, driving (in two cars, Tommy"s and John"s, else they wouldn"t have fit) down to King Street on a Saturday morning in their Sunday clothes. Small Heath knew the Shelby family to be smart dressers, but Sunday suits on Saturday morning beggared belief. Especially when both cars parked a respectful distance down the street from the Small Heath Settlement House, and walked to the door. Usually, when paying a call, there would be the social niceties like ringing a bell or, as was more usually the case in Small Health, knocking on the door and waiting for an answer on the stoop. But there was no such luck here - the door was already wide open to all comers, with a nicely lettered sign tacked to the door asking for all deliveries to be brought around the back. Arthur, who had lead the group out of the cars, pulled up short, glancing around at the rest of them with momentary confusion, and had to be prompted by Aunt Poll to actually head inside the building before their little parade turned into an unsightly, confused mess on the front steps. The Shelbys were never confused or caught out - the Shelbys always had a plan, and it never involved milling on doorsteps like sheep without a shepherd. The storefront was unrecognizable from the inside. The walls having been given what must have been their first new coat of paint in decades (a nice slate blue, bright but hard-wearing), and the front room was filled with light from the large front window. The counter had been re-stained and waxed to a tremendous shine, and the shelves behind it, once built for dry goods and cans, now held a wide variety of baby goods - bottles, blankets, booties, and several stacks of pamphlets whose titles were not immediately visible. Along another wall of shelves a large variety of books peeked out into the room, several volumes sporting gilt letters along their spines. There was a hum of voices from a back room, and before any of the Shelbys could even think about going to investigate, a young woman emerged from the open doorway, all pleasant smiles. "You must be Mr. Shelby," she said, shaking hands with Tommy, who by now had moved to the front of the group. "I"m Lydia Pritchard, one of the teachers here. Theo said we"d be expecting you this morning. We"re so pleased that you"ve come to see our work." It was not the welcome Tommy was expecting. At the very least he"d expected the short, irate woman from two weeks ago to chivvy them about, or for Miss Carteret herself to be waiting out front, ready to meet them in the road. The pause at the steps, the uncertain emptiness of the front room, and then, like a bolt out of the blue, Lydia Pritchard"s open, helpful smile and enthusiastic handshake, however, were not anticipated. They were treating him like...well, like... Damn that woman again. She"d put out the outrageously cheerful Lydia to treat him like the well-heeled businessman he attempted to be, in the hopes that she"d trip him up or catch him out. Just like her own calculated appearance in the offices of Shelby Brothers Limited, she wanted to test him, judge him, and see how he"d react. "Theo is upstairs in her office, if you"ll wait one moment," Lydia was saying. "If you"ll wait here I can go fe- "No need to fetch me, Lydia, I"m here. I heard them come in." The group turned as one to the tall, aristocratic figure of Theodora Carteret in the doorway, smiling enigmatically. "Mr. Shelby," she said, holding her hand out for another handshake, firm and fair. "And this must be your family," she said, turning to the assembled multitude with a pleased smile. Well, no time to brood now. Introductions were in order and he would not disappoint. "Miss Carteret, allow me to introduce my aunt, Polly Gray." There was another firm handshake for Polly, returned by an equally firm, searching look for Miss Carteret. "My older brother, Arthur Shelby." Arthur received a handshake as well, he who was so used to beautiful women wrapping themselves around the promise of power with groveling and simpering looks momentarily surprised by the woman"s businesslike demeanor and absolutely no interest in catering to any of his whims. "My younger brother, John Shelby, and his wife, Esme, and his children. This is Jack, and Mabel, and Jasper, and the youngest is Martha." The children, well-behaved more on account of the shock and strangeness of being in a new place than anything else, studied Theo with childish calculation, wondering, as their parents did, if this strange woman was friend or foe. Martha, only two, hid behind her stepmother"s skirts and would not budge, but Jack (or John, Junior, when his father was very proud of him) teetered for a moment, and then, in parody of his adult minders, stuck out his hand to be shaken, his face grave. Theo"s face broke into an unpredicted smile and she shook hands with all the gravitas afforded to his uncles. Inspired by their elder brother"s example, Mabel and Jasper both stuck their hands out as well, though Jasper, at four, put his hand out palm up as though expecting a sweet, which detracted a little bit from the mock solemnity. "A very great pleasure to meet you all," Theodora said, her voice oddly genuine. She paused, and then bent down. "Master Jasper, I think you will find something has fallen out of your pocket," she whispered, glancing tellingly at the floor, where one of Jasper"s handkerchiefs, wrapped around a stub of obviously old toffee (judging by the bits of lint and debris attached) had landed as he had pulled his hand out of his pocket. Jasper swiped the handkerchief and its contents off the floor and shoved the whole mess back in his pocket, glancing first at Theo and then at his stepmother, who was glaring at him for doing something so undignified. "And this is my youngest brother, Finn," Tommy finished, trying to move past the undeniable humanity of a four-year old filching sweets. Perhaps it had been a mistake to bring them. "I think we"ve met before," Theodora said, shaking hands with Finn as she had the others. Finn looked a little ashamed, and he colored behind his collar. Good manners prevented Miss Carteret from making any comment, and she breezed on, cool as anything. "Well, we"re so delighted you all could join us today. Shall we?" She ushered them into the back room - a classroom, albeit a very empty one, save for four or five exceptionally small students and their teacher at the front. "This is our nursery school class," Theodora Carteret explained, "All three through five year olds who don"t yet go to the council school, to get them out of their mothers" way for three or four hours a day. They get breakfast here, and playtime, and we begin their reading lessons with them. There"s a lot of wonderful research being done now about how children who are read to from an early age..." And thus began the Shelby family"s lessons on the program of good works at Small Heath Settlement. Tommy had not been an earnest student during his school days, short though they had been. Teachers routinely complained that he was a bright spark, knew his times tables and his grammar and could recite and copy with the best, that he would make a fine clerk someday if he could but settle down, stop running wild with those hooligan Gypsy uncles of his, and actually come to school. It was not that Thomas Shelby didn"t want to learn, only that the topics covered in the local council school did not pique his interest. And why should they, when he could learn all he wanted about biology and physiology by watching his uncles exercise and care for their horses, physics in the weights and pulleys of the dockyards and mathematics problems by the score in the columns and grubby papers of the family betting books? School may have held very little to interest Thomas Shelby as a child, but Small Heath Settlement House, itself one very large, very comprehensive school, held much to interest him now. They were his streets and his people - what should they want for? Apparently, quite a lot. There was the nursery school class and the free milk program, meant to salve the lot of Small Heath"s overburdened mothers, the play groups that would keep their older brothers off the streets, the sewing and cooking circles that would help their older sisters gain employment as cooks and maids or erase deficiencies in their future careers as mothers, the study groups for all children that would fill in the gaps that their council school education left out and their parents could not help with, the reading circles for their fathers and much-older brothers where the social and political topics of the day would be discussed, and the free clinic that would put some distance between the nightmarish outbreaks of diphtheria, typhoid, and that awful "flu. All this from a storefront on King Street, staffed by ten or so women who"d never even played on streets like this and had never known what it was like not to be able to feed your children because milk was too expensive, rationing was in high favor, and Dad (and Dad"s pay envelope) was away at the war. It was astounding. Oh, patronizing, perhaps, for Aunt Polly, who hated to be found wrong in anything she did and who took all of the polite programs of the House as a criticism of her own housekeeping, and painfully domestic for Arthur and John, who spent much of the tour with their daydreams alternating between their pints in the Garrison, the promise of what was for dinner that evening, and (for Arthur) about the fine legs of Miss Carteret. But astounding, absolutely astounding, for Tommy. Here was another person who dared to dream big. And even if he hated to think that his people needed the kind of charity on offer, and Miss Carteret"s officer-class background galled him, the sheer scope of it all was bloody impressive. They ended their tour in the back room, a kind of canteen with long tables and benches where the nursery school breakfast could be served and the reading groups could meet and have tea. The kitchen at the end of the room was pressed into service for the Shelby family tea as a kind of cap to the end of the tour, and everyone settled in with their rummage sale teacups to take a load off their feet and process what they had just seen. Lydia Prichard joined them, as well as several of the other teachers and residents, coming in from their afternoon rounds of the neighborhood, jolly and welcoming and eager, so eager to meet their guests and thank them for coming. Polly, in particular, was in a bad mood, and her eyes kept darting to the end of the room, where her nephew was standing observing the proceedings with his calm, practiced gaze. She"ll have a lot to say when we get home, for she won"t speak here. Let her wait with it. "So." Theo Carteret emerged at his elbow with two cups of strong, murky tea, demanding his attention in her single syllable. "Do we pass your muster, Mr. Shelby?" "It is all very impressive," Tommy admitted, taking a cup from her with no intention of consuming it yet. "But..." Miss Carteret let the single syllable out to taunt him and took a sip of her tea while she waited for his reply. "My aunt was not pleased about some of the items offered by your clinic." A stack of pamphlets by Marie Stopes, somewhat hidden and never alluded to on tour, another pamphlet containing contents well known to veterans of the army"s campaign against VDs, and the box of prophylactics that went with them. "Only for married women, and only when they ask," she said promptly, knowing exactly what he referred to. "And some of our ex-soldiers, when identified by the clinic." Her voice told him this was not a battle Polly"s opinions would win. Tommy went on. "The reading room contained several books of a...reactionary nature." A quick review of the shelves revealed Marx, Engels, and the works of several Fabians that no self-respecting bookstore would stock. Freddie Thorne would be in heaven. "Meant only for healthy public discussion of the issues. Records will be kept of who takes the books out, if the relevant authorities want to know." Theo studied him for a moment, and added judiciously, "The working classes in this country have a right to participate in their political processes and know how they work." Another sip, another calm, daring glance, another battle he would not win.

"Oh," Tina said. "Do you like Chianti?" "Chianti," Evey repeated, trying not to laugh. "No, there"s this winery out in California my dad"s got stock in...We"ve got cases of the stuff at home. It"s pretty good." Tina nodded, not having a comeback to that, because her father probably didn"t own stock in anything, and had probably never seen any wine besides the cheap chianti bottles they put on tables in Italian restaurants to hold candles. "Me and Pitts are working on a hi-fi system. It shouldn"t be that hard to, uh, to put together," Meeks said, trying to impress Gloria and Tina again, but it looked like it was going nowhere fast- apparently they were"t the types that liked boys in glasses with high test scores and bright futures. "Yeah. Uh, I might be going to Yale," Pitts began. "But, I, I might not," He finished lamely. "Don"t you guys miss having girls around here?" Gloria asked, taking a long drag from her cigarette, clearly a girl who"d been around the block before a few times and who was beginning to wonder what sort of nest of nerds she"d walked into. " Yeah," Meeks and Pitts said at the same time, nodding like dummies. Neil wrapped his arm around Evey a little tighter and Evey turned to covertly kiss his ear, blowing softly into it to make him shudder a little. "That"s part of what this club is about," Charlie said. "Regaining the calming influence of women in our turbulent lives. In fact, I"d like to announce I published an article in the school paper, in the name of the Dead Poets." "What?" Cameron asked, horrified. " Demanding girls be admitted to Welton," Charlie summarized, looking pleased with himself. "You didn"t," Pitts said, just as mortified as Cameron. "So we can all stop beating off," Charlie whispered to Meeks. Evey rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Charlie, are you nuts?" she asked. Charlie ignored her, still pleased as punch at the impression he"d made. " How did you do that?" Neil asked, interested and concerned at the same time. "I"m one of the proofers. I slipped the article in," Charlie said with a shrug. "Look, uh, it"s, it"s over now," Meeks said, shaking his head. The gaity of earlier had gone. "Why? Nobody knows who we are," defended Charlie. "Charlie, this is absurd," Evey said. "I don"t care what you think about co-education, I"m all for it, but this-this is the wrong way to do it. I"ll see you guys," she said, disgusted, picking up her coat and leaving the cave. Neil gave Charlie a scathing look and dashed out after Evey. "Evey! Evey, wait up!" "Neil, I can"t believe you are letting them waste their time with those girls!" Evey said once they were far enough away from the cave that the ongoing argument would drown out their own. "They"re old enough to make their own decisions on how to be stupid!" Neil said. "They"re not aware of the fact that those are the kind of girls who eat poor guys like Meeks and spit them out in the trash as broken men!" Evey said. "And I like your friends, Neil! I like them a lot! They"re smart and funny guys who happen to live with a bunch of men all the time and don"t know the ways of women, which I know (from personal use) can be terrible things. And I don"t want to see them get hurt by callous bitches like Gloria and Tina who wear enough make-up to send a whore packing and who don"t know Shakespeare from shit! They are so much better than that!" "Evey, wait," Neil plead. "No, Neil, forget it. I"m going home. I"ll see you at practice when you"ve all sobered up." And she was gone, pedaling into the autumn mist. The poem used in this chapter (aside from Byron and Yeats) is my own; I won a poetry slam with it my Junior Year of High school. Ironically, that is the final copy, so any editing would be to Evey"s discredit. I decided I needed to include this episode after watching DPS again, and suddenly Evey was really pissed off. I have no idea why. So- DRAMA for our dramatic teenagers. Who knew? Reviews, please? passes hat Act Four, Scene One: A cold reception Evey didn"t greet him when practice started. She didn"t step in to save him when Veronica, the girl playing Hermia, started flirting with him again, and she didn"t even respond to him when he asked her from the wings again to listen to him. In fact, it wasn"t until the end of practice that he even got her attention, shouting, "TITANIA!" from the stage in his best Oberon-esque voice. The whole auditorium turned to look at him. Evey was the last to turn, looking coldly at him. Neil swallowed, and began his speech, cobbled together from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which she"d recommended to him for its brilliant comedy. "Not for the world would I leave her aside why, man, she is mine own, my best belovèd!" he declared, pointing to her from the stage. "And I as rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar and the rocks pure gold." He dropped his arm, staring at her, hoping, praying that this would work. "Forgive me that I do not dream on thee," he begged, "because thou see"st me dote upon another. For love, thou know"st, is full of jealousy. Forgive me, tender valentine, if sorrow, Be a sufficient ransom for offence, I tender it here; I do as truly suffer Silence as e"er I did commit." The whole room was silent, and then, out of nowhere, Miss Pevensie was clapping, walking down to where Evey was standing and whispering in her ear. Evey was crying now, and she nodded, furiously, blinking back tears and running down the aisle to hug him, and suddenly, everyone else was clapping. "You butchered that," she said through the tears. "I know," Neil said. "I"m glad you noticed." "When did you do that?" Evey asked, looking at him desperately. "In between worrying about you and worrying about Charlie getting expelled," Neil said. "I had a lot of sorrows to muddle over." Evey gave a very wet laugh and fished a handkerchief from her pocket, blowing her nose. "I"m sure you did, you priceless fool." With the rest of the cast in on the relationship (there were a few who after two weeks had still been in the dark about it) Neil and Evey felt a little bit more free to indulge in the public displays of affection some of the other members of the cast felt no shame in partaking in. "A merrier hour was never wasted there," Neil said aloud to Evey - they were lounging on a stack of cushions backstage, waiting for practice to start; Miss Penvensie had delayed it an hour because her archery team had practice, too. "But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon." He sat up, looking down at her, still lying on the cushions. "And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!" Evey read in a high, singsong voice, handing him back the script so he could take Oberon"s lines. "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania," Neil said, pitching his voice into a lower octave, the effect comic, but enough to maintain the mood. "What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence: I have forsworn his bed and company," Evey declared regally. "You wouldn"t do that to me, would you?" Neil asked. "Forswear my bed and company?" He asked, putting his nose in her face and tickling her side, making her giggle and writhe away. "I"ve already done that, and it wasn"t very much fun. And besides, I"ve never seen your bed, Neil, now come on, play Oberon. You"re stately and ...pissed off that I"m not sleeping with you." Evey explained. "Damn straight," Neil said, sitting back up, book in hand. "Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord?" "Then I must be thy lady," Evey said, langorously seductive. "But I know when thou hast stolen away from fairy land, and in the shape of Corin sat all day, playing on pipes of corn and versing love to amorous Phillida," she accused. Neil had the sense to look appalled at her suggestions. "Why art thou here," she asked, suspicious, sitting up proudly. "Come from the farthest Steppe of India? But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon, your buskin"d mistress and your warrior love, to Theseus must be wedded, and you come to give their bed joy and prosperity," She said unsympathetically, almost threatening him with this knowledge. "Oh, lady, you have me wrong," Neil said, leaning into her, whispering. "How canst thou thus for shame, Titania, Glance at my credit with Hippolyta, Knowing I know thy love to Theseus? Wait," He said, breaking character, "You"re sleeping with Theseus and I"m sleeping with Hippolyta? Who came up with this arrangement?" "Shakespeare did," Evey said, hitting him over the head with her script. "It"s funny. But rest easy, the guy who"s playing Theseus is gay, so I don"t think you have a lot to worry about there." "Really?" Neil asked, curious and confused at the same time. The fellow had given him an off look once or twice during the last few weeks of rehearsal, but he hadn"t thought anything about it. At Welton, such things were swept under doormats and generally denied, though there were a few who chose to partake. "Yeah," Evey said, not concerned. "Really nice guy, Spencer, he"s done a few things here before. Really good actor, too. He would have gotten Oberon, but Greg"s taller and Oberon needs to be tall. Now come on. Keep going. Chastise me," she said in a winsome voice. Neil rolled his eyes and kept going. "Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night from Perigenia, whom he ravished?And make him with fair Aegle break his faith, with Ariadne and Antiopa? Wow, Titania"s really making him sleep around," Neil said. "I"m not sure I want you playing this part." "I"m not sure I want your comments every five seconds, Neil! These are the forgeries of jealousy," Evey went on. "And never, since the middle summer"s spring, met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead, by paved fountain or by rushy brook, or in the beached margent of the sea, to dance our ringlets to the whistling wind," she looked at him suggestively, arching an eyebrow, "But with thy brawls thou hast disturb"d our sport." "I"d disturb all your sports if it meant I got to have you in the end," Neil said, kissing her again. It was a long kiss, with a little tongue- he was getting better at it, with a lot of help from Evelyn. "Mr. Perry, I"ll pretend I didn"t see that," Miss Pevensie said pertly. Apparently she was back from her archery practice. "I need my actors now, and not in dishabille, if you please." Evey got up quickly from the couch and went to her court of fairies, who immediately began whispering and stealing glances at Neil, who blushed a little and went back to his script as Miss Pevensie clapped her hands for Hippolyta and Theseus to began the opening scene. "views, pleases? They make my muse Neil happy. Act Four, Scene Three- The Villian Enters. "Neil, be sure to give this to Mr. Nolan," Miss Pevensie said before leaving. "It"s next week"s tech schedule." "Is it tech week already?" Neil asked, looking at the envelope in his hands. "Yes," said the director, a little harried herself. "That"s why there"s some schedule changes. We"re opening on Saturday night and I think we might go a little later than planned. I just want him to know." "I"ll see he gets it," Neil said, nodding and making for the door, turning his collar up against the cold as he pedaled back to Welton, a light snow falling. "Miss Pevensie thought you should have the schedule for next week, since it"s later than agreed upon," Neil said, handing Mr. Nolan the sealed envelope, proudly bearing the Henley Hall seal in the corner. Mr. Nolan slit the envelope, glancing over the timetable and thinking to himself. "This is very late for you to be staying out with just the bicycle, Neil," he said. "Ten o"clock, ten o"clock, midnight - we can"t have the caretaker stay up that late to watch for you." "I have to go to rehearsal," Neil said. "They"re counting on me to be there all five hours!" Mr. Nolan considered this and said, "Could we count on your honor as a student that you"d be home by twelve? No shenanigans, no...hooliganism?" "Yes, sir!" Neil defended. Mr. Nolan nodded, decidedly. "It"s settled then. On your honor as a student. You"ll be wanting the schedule back, I assume," he said, handing the paper back to Neil. "Thank you, Mr. Nolan, sir," Neil said, taking the steps two at a time back up to his room. What he found there wasn"t quite to his liking. His father was sitting at his desk, looking grim. "Father?" Neil asked, wondering what had brought him here. And suddenly, it was all clear. "Wait a minute," he began, "Before you say anything, please let me ex-" But Mr. Perry wasn"t listening to excuses and explanations. He was a man on a mission, and he"d say what he came to say. "Don"t you dare talk back to me! It"s bad enough that you"ve wasted your time with this... this absurd acting business. But you deliberately deceived me! How, how, how did you expect to get away with this? Answer me. Who put you up to it? Was it this new man? This, uh, Mr. Keating?" "No," defended Neil. "No, nobody-- I thought I"d surprise you. I"ve gotten all As in every class..." But his father wasn"t finished. "Did you think I wasn"t going to find out? "Oh, my niece is in a play with your son," says Mrs. Marks. "No, no, no," I say, "you must be mistaken. My son"s not in a play." You made me a liar of me, Neil!" He took a breath and composed himself. When he spoke again, his voice was cold, deadly. "Now, tomorrow you go to them and you tell them that you"re quitting." "I can"t just drop out, Dad! I have the main part. The performance is next Saturday! That"s not enough time for Laurence Oliver to learn the part, let alone-" " I don"t care if the world comes to an end next Saturday. You are through with that play. Is that clear? Is that clear?" He repeated loudly, looking at his son coldly. "Yes, sir," Neil repeated lifelessly. Mr. Perry turned to leave and then turned back. "I made a great many sacrifices to get you here, Neil, and you will not let me down." He said it more like a threat than a benevolent gift, and Neil responded with a servile, obedient, "No, sir." He stood in the doorway and watched his father leave. There was a hurricane swelling up inside his mouth, an earthquake starting where his heart should be, pounding in his temples, rushing to overwhelm his brain. A car was starting up outside, pulling out of the driveway. His father was leaving him here, abandoning him like he always did. It was too much! Neil pulled his coat back on and bolted for the stairs, the surge of passion overwhelming him. He wanted to kick, scream, shout back, as though he were five again and consumed with a desire for his own way. He"d never felt this way before, felt this overwhelming desire to do what he wanted and flaunt it in the face of his father, and he wanted to tell someone who would listen. Oh, any boy in this hallway would listen, would nod and smile and say "Yeah, I understand. I"ve been there. I know." But they didn"t know - None of them knew! - what it was like to fight back. And he only knew one person who did, who threw caution to the wind and paddled their own canoe against the current and sailed their ship against great odds. He grabbed a bicycle and began pedaling for Henley Hall, his breath heavy, heart heaving in his chest as though it were being tossed between waves on a stormy night at sea. There was a burn in his legs he could not ignore, but it made him feel safe, made him feel alive! Legs pounding, he got off the bike, leaning it haphazardly against the tree, running under the trees to the dormitories on the far side of the main building. She"d be on the top floor, he thought, and if he didn"t find her window, he"d shout until she came to him. "EVEY! EVEY LANGFORD! EVEY!" Three weeks of rehearsals had sharpened his voice- he could throw it to the top of the Welton clock tower if he wanted to and it would still come back to him, booming and full of power. "EVELYN LANGFORD!" Lights were beginning to go on in the dormitories, windows thrown open, questions asked. "Who"s there?" "A boy. He wants to see Evey." "Evey? Always knew she was loose." "I"ve seen him before, he"s in the play." "He"s cute!" "Neil?" called a voice that he knew. Miss Pevensie was leaning out her window on the end of the top floor, looking down, concern on her face. "Neil, what are you doing here?" "I need to talk to Evey!" Neil shouted. Miss Pevensie thought for a moment. "Here, come up the fire escape. We"ll talk for a moment." Neil nodded, dashing over to the fire escape stairs and running up to the top floor- Miss Pevensie had opened the fire escape door and let him onto the landing and into the bright hallway. It was full of curious girls, wondering what sort of extraordinary hero had been let into their virgin temple at ten o clock on a Friday night. "In here," Miss Pevensie said, shooing the girls along and letting Neil into her room. "Evey"s just got in the shower, Neil. We"ll wait for her here. What"s this about?" Miss Pevensie asked. "I just wanted to talk to her about something," Neil said, sitting down in the tiny sitting room. "It couldn"t have waited?" Miss Pevensie asked kindly. Neil shook his head, and she nodded. "That kind of something. Well. I was just making some tea," she offered. "Would you like some?" "No, thanks," said Neil, glancing around the room. There was a fireplace with a mantle cluttered with knickknacks and photographs, some of Miss Pevensie and a young man, and others of just Miss Pevensie herself. There was one, however, a little bigger than all the others. A black-and-white group shot of four children, it was placed in front of all the others, its frame a little bit more ornate. One of the children, Neil could tell, was a much younger version of Miss Pevensie. "I see you"ve found my siblings," she said, coming back with her teacup. She set it down on the table between them and took the picture off the mantle. "That"s my brother Peter, the oldest, and my brother Edmund, and my little sister Lucy," she said, pointing them out to Neil. "Why don"t you have any other pictures of them?" Neil asked. "They died in a train crash when I was nineteen," Miss Pevensie said, "Along with my parents. My brother, Peter, was just about to finish university. A Cambridge man," she added, which impressed Neil. "Edmund was going to be joining him there in the fall. They would have fit in with you at Welton. Especially Peter- he was the type. Ambitious, proud, a good sportsman. He captained the fencing team for two years. You remind me a lot of him," she said, passing her thumb over the picture"s playfully parted hair as if she meant to smooth it to perfection. "But he was also very unaware of his limits sometimes. It made him a good leader, if a little foolhardy. If he hadn"t died young I expect he would have worked himself to death, trying to do everything he didn"t have time for. You"d do well to learn from him, Neil," she said. "...Don"t ride on trains?" Neil asked. Miss Pevensie laughed. "No. Understand that you can"t be everything for everyone, and that sometimes, living a little for yourself is appropriate," Miss Pevensie said with a sad smile. "Well, I expect Evey"s done with her shower. I"ll go and find her so we don"t raise a riot." Neil nodded, sitting back in the chair and then leaning forward again, picking up the picture. It had been taken in front of a small suburban house that had obviously seen the ravages of the last world war- there was little left of the front garden and the paint had smoke damage and shrapnel spotting on it. But they were all smiling- Peter, the eldest, with his arm around his sister and his brother, Miss Pevensie"s hand resting on her younger sister"s shoulder. Neil wished for a moment that he"d had siblings, staring at the picture. Peter and Edmund had the same expressions in some of the pictures Mr. Keating had shown them - full of life and promise, unaware of the fact that they would soon be gone from this life. They both seemed to be saying, "Take chances! Have adventures! Go out and slay your dragons head-on! Carpe Diem! Make your life extraordinary!" as though they themselves had actually done these things themselves. "Neil, what the hell are you doing here?" Evey asked, coming in, her hair still wrapped in a towel turban, wearing a bathrobe and, it seemed, not much else. Neil put the picture back down on the table. "They said you were shouting for me. What"s gotten into you?" "I"m sorry!" Neil said. "It was just my father, and the play, and the Dead Poets is under attack. I wanted to tell someone, and all I could think about was you!" Evey wrapped her bathrobe tighter around herself and glanced towards the door, opened and policed from prying eyes and ears by Miss Pevensie. "What about your father, Neil?" she asked, trying to calm herself. Now was the time to let it all come tumbling out - and tumble out it did."He came to the school because he"d found out about my being in the play, and told me he didn"t want to waste my time with it. He called it absurd. He called Shakespeare absurd!" Neil ranted on. "He"s never wanted me to do what I wanted to do. He just wants me to be like him, a suit man with a nine to five job, with a house and a dog and a white picket fence, and a wife and a son that I can boss around and control just like he"s controlled me!"

Who"s Henry? Tommy hadn"t read anything in Burke"s Peerage about a Henry. There had been a brother, he thought, but not named Henry. Cousin, perhaps? Fiancé? Beaton"s helpful face faded a little. "He might be at his lessons now, Miss. Mrs. Frances hates for him to be disturbed." A child, then. Her child? The prospect was suddenly and strangely interesting to him. Perhaps Theodora Carteret"s past isn"t quite as clean as she"d like. Theo nodded, some of the joy gone from her own face as well. "Yes, I expect she does." But just as she said this, a door opened at the far end of the house, admitting one small, curly-haired boy in a sailor suit and his nursemaid, elegantly clad in black. The child ran into the grassy lawn and, seeing the three of them, pointed and waved. Theodora raised her arm and waved back, her smile radiant as the boy ran as fast as his little legs could carry him, colliding with the woman and nearly knocking her backwards. "Oh, Henry!" Miss Carteret swept the little boy up in her arms and peppered him with theatrical sounding kisses, making him laugh. "How is my big baby boy today?" "Fine," came the squeaking little reply. "Nurse said we could have jam roly-poly for pudding tonight." "Oh, roly-poly! My favorite. Can I come too, do you think?" Her eyes were wide and joyful. "No, Auntie Theo!" Henry said, laughing. "Why not?" Theodora asked with mock indignation. "Because you"ll eat it all!" Henry exclaimed, laughing at his own joke. The whole scene was fascinating to Tommy. Here was a woman he had never seen before - not the schoolmistress, who was kind on principle, and certainly not the stern directress who spoke sternly and was no one"s fool. This was a different woman entirely, a creature who loved, unashamedly. "Now that would be very bad of me, wouldn"t it?" Theodora acknowledged with a smile. She glanced, for a moment, over her shoulder, and the look in her eyes when her gaze met Tommy"s told him she had nearly forgotten he was there. Now that"s a telling thing. In fact, Tommy had practically forgotten he was standing there, so amazed was he by such an open display of affection from the woman that he had never, until this morning, seen without her guard up. "Henry, would you like to meet someone?" she asked, turning and walking ever so slightly towards Tommy, waiting on the lawn. At the promise of a new acquaintance, Henry buried his face in her shoulder and shook his head vigorously. "No!" he exclaimed, most of the sound getting lost in Theo"s shirt. "Oh, but I think you will like him," Theodora promised. "This is my friend Mr. Shelby. Can you not say hello?" She bounced the boy expertly on her hip, as if trying to coax a different answer out. Are we friends? Tommy wanted to ask. Is that the word for what we are? Henry"s eyes darted out of Theodora"s collar for a moment. "H"lo," he managed, mostly, again, to her shirt-front. "Oh, come now, that won"t do at all!" But Henry refused to budge. Theodora considered a moment and tried another line of attack. "Can I let you in on a secret? Mr. Shelby and you have something in common. You are both exceptionally fond of motorcars." Henry unburied his face to look, disbelievingly, at his aunt. "And Mr. Shelby owns three," Theodora revealed, enunciating the three for maximum effect in a whispering tone. "Real ones?" Henry looked amazed, and his aunt nodded with all the gravitas she could muster. "So will you go and say hello properly?" She asked, bending down so she could return him to the ground. Armed with this new enticement to make friends, Henry extricated himself from his aunt"s embrace, turned to look at Tommy and said, with the same gravitas he heard from adults in every lisping syllable, "Very pleased to meet you." "Very pleased to meet you, Henry," Tommy said, politer than his usual children"s greetings. But continued conversation seemed doomed to failure, for at that same moment, another door was opening, and another person - blonde and slim and immaculately dressed - joined the little group on the terrace. She was young, perhaps a few years younger than Miss Carteret, and, at least to Tommy"s eyes, not half as worth paying attention to. Had Arthur been present, or John, there would have been whistles, glances of easy appreciation. But all Tommy saw was a woman as easily ignored as other women - except, perhaps, by Theodora, who stood up a little straighter and clenched her fists a little tighter. "Oh, hello, Frances," she said, her voice conversational and pleasant while every fiber of her body seemed intent on some form of bodily harm. No love lost here, then. "Theo." The blonde"s voice was resonant, pretty - an ornamental thing. On closer inspection, Frances seemed like the kind of woman who was regularly kept (primarily by men of this class) for their ornamental value - perfectly manicured hands, shoes that looked like they had never seen a gravel road, a perfect coiffure and a blank expression to match. Tommy guessed she didn"t regularly shout above a classroom full of eight-year olds or console grieving mothers. In fact, he was willing to bet a lot of money that this Frances didn"t do anything at all. "We weren"t expecting you. Henry, I think that"s enough fresh air for today. You should go back to lessons now." "Shan"t!" The little boy declared, and Frances" face lit up in momentary surprise that she should be so rebuked. This was clearly a woman who was used to having everyone see her side. "Want to stay with Aunt Theo!" Theodora took firm charge of the situation before Frances could get another word in. "Henry, you should listen to your mother. Or there will be no pudding for dinner. Now, give us a kiss and go back to Nurse." Henry looked torn, but he did as he was told, kissing Theodora"s cheek and returning inside to the waiting hand of his nursemaid. "You will spoil that boy, Theo. It"s not good for him," Frances declared. "What, laughing with him? I"ve not spoiled his dinner, Frances. It was just a bit of fun." "I hardly think -" "No, Frances," Theodora spat, "That"s just your problem. You don"t think." The stern headmistress had returned, and for another moment, Tommy quite fancied they had forgotten him again, giving him the perfect opportunity to compare the two women as they stood, toe to toe, gazes locked. On the one hand, Frances, golden and glimmering and immaculate, not a hair out of place, more like a diminutive china shepherdess than a real woman, and on the other, Theodora, towering like an Amazon, dark and dangerous and strong. If he was a betting man, (and he liked to admit he was) his money would be on Theodora, in a heartbeat. Frances looked like she might put on a good show for the first few lengths, but Theodora was ready for a longer run. Frances managed her scowl into a thin line. "I think it would be best if you and your friend didn"t stay for dinner, Theo. It upsets Cook, when there"s more than what I"ve planned for." The Amazon sneered. "Oh, please don"t trouble yourself, Frances, I wouldn"t dream of upsetting your dinner plans." And, just like that, the meeting was closed. Theodora Carteret turned and stalked away from the house, Tommy following in silent pursuit. Looking back, he could see Frances was still on the terrace, arms folded, watching them go as if she were concerned they"d sneak back when she wasn"t looking. There was a long silence as they walked away from the house, keeping company with the wind as they made their way back through the spruce plot, the needles high above their heads giving everything a gray-blue glow. "So," Theodora said with an air of finality. "Now you"ve met my family." "I see why you don"t go home often." It was an honest observation on Tommy"s part, and genuinely meant, though of course he delivered it with the same cutting coldness with which he addressed everything. Theodora smiled in silent agreement. "You know, I envy you, Mr. Shelby." Her words took Tommy by surprise. "Really," he replied with an even tone. "Your family understands you," Theodora said, her own voice bitter with some long-remembered hurt. "And what they don"t understand they let you keep." It was an odd phrase, and Tommy remained silent, taking it in. Does this have something to do with pity? He wondered to himself. "All the country houses in the world can"t make up for that." Fair enough. But there were still unanswered questions fluttering around the house and the people he"d met there, questions he felt he needed answers to if he was to continue an association with this woman who seemed to dance further and further out of his understanding of her the more he learned about her and her past. "Where does Frances fit?" he asked, trying to make conversation and, with the lightest of touches, pry a little bit more of useful information out of the woman herself. "Frances is my sister-in-law. She was married to my brother, Michael. Henry is their son." Not your cleverly disguised bastard, then. Well, at least that"s something. "Doesn"t seem it, though, does it, from the way she acts with him?" Theodora was saying, guessing his thoughts. "She"s not made of mothering material. I don"t know why Michael married her, but I suppose there were stupider women in the world for him to chose. It was very quick, their engagement. They met once or twice and then suddenly they were engaged! Very fashionable to have a quick engagement with him going off to war. Frances is very keen on fashion," she added, as though she could not find anything more despicable. Tommy, remembering when Ada had been that type of girl, silently agreed. "But you seem to have escaped all that." Tommy realized she was talking about him. "John caught it bad enough for all of us," he admitted, though he wasn"t sure why he would. "One of us had to be sensible, and it wasn"t going to be Arthur." Theodora nodded wisely. "He doesn"t strike me as the sensible type." "Do I?" The minute he had asked the question he regretted it, both because it made him seem vulnerable and because (and perhaps this was more frightening) because there was a part of him that really wanted, yearned, even, to know what she thought. Has my mask fooled you, Theodora Carteret? He earnestly wanted to know. She stopped and studied him for a while. It was obvious that she was trying to decide what he had meant by the question, and whether she should give him the answer he wanted (What answer did he want? He wasn"t even sure himself.) or the answer she believed in. "I cannot think of a better word for you, Mr. Shelby," she decided, and, watching her smile, Tommy was not entirely sure if she meant it. "It is one of the things I admire about you." First envy, and now admiration. Tommy wasn"t sure what to do with that. In fact, he was realizing that he wasn"t sure what to do with a lot of what Theodora Carteret was telling him, and the only thing he was sure of was that not knowing was making him very uncomfortable, a feeling that he hoped he could still keep to himself. "Admiration"s a cheap thing," he admitted stiffly. She is the enemy, something inside his head began repeating, she is the enemy and you must be on your guard with her and her great houses and her footmen and fine manners. She does not know anything about you and she cannot be allowed to know. "Is it?" she asked. "Admiration"s...waving flags on street corners and free drinks in pubs," Tommy said dismissively, staring off into the thickening trunks of the spruces, digging in his pocket for a cigarette and his lighter. The air smelled strange here. Admiration"s for the boys who come home clean and neat and say the right things. Admiration"s what they give you when they can"t be bothered to give anything else. Admiration gets you nothing. His thumb snapped ungracefully at the mechanism of his lighter, trying to get the flame to catch. "The thing that bothers me most about Frances," she began again, "is that she will always see the War as two things. My brother in his dress uniform, twirling her about a ballroom, and the telegram we got when he died, calling him a hero. She never saw anything else but that. You"re right. Admiration is a cheap thing." Now, see, she means that, something inside his mind registered. And maybe that also has something to do with pity. "We should be getting back,"she said, checking her wristwatch and the set of the sun, lower now in the afternoon sky. "Can"t let them wonder where we"ve been." Is she laughing at me or testing me? Tommy wondered. They walked for a while back towards the picnickers - from the sound of it, another football game was in progress. "You should stay back a while," Tommy offered, scanning the trees for watching eyes. Had it not been thus leaving Lizzy Starke"s lodgings, looking to make sure no shadow threw out a person who might see, might know? "No," Theodora said. "We"ve done nothing wrong. If we hide it, they"ll think we care." "I don"t if you don"t," Tommy said, thinking, all the while, of what she had said earlier about what other people thought of him. I will not prove her right, he declared to himself. They returned from the woods casually, two people who happened to be enjoying the same space at the same time. Everyone"s eyes were on the football game, and no one noticed. Tommy returned to the edge of the forest and began another cigarette, and Theodora slipped in among her ladies and cheered, loudly, at the next goal, making the others wonder if they simply hadn"t been hearing her before. The rest of the afternoon progressed smoothly enough, and as the sun sank and sank, and the children"s whining grew louder, and some of the smaller children started drifting off to sleep, their mothers began the long and thankless task of packing their picnic things and loading the bus, recalling the children from the shade of the river or the football pitch, demanding that they find their toys and retrieve any lost clothes. Eventually the bus was full, the lawn had been gone over with a fine toothed comb, and the children, sunburnt and satiated with a day out -of-doors, practically lay in their seats, some of them sleeping in the most impossible positions. Theodora returned to Tommy"s car after getting one final headcount, and they returned to the road in silence as the sun continued sinking, turning gold and red over the tops of the fields. By the time they entered the city limits, it was getting quite dark out. There was a small knot of concerned looking fathers waiting on the steps of the Settlement House, their cigarettes glowing against the coming night. As Tommy pulled the car to the kerb, he could just see another car, parked across the street. John. So he survived a day without them, Tommy thought to himself. One by one the children were unloaded from the bus, the mothers thanking Theodora and bullying their children into sleepily doing the same before heading home. Esme, one of the last off, looked surprised when she saw John and the car, but said nothing, a silent gaze passing between the brothers as Esme loaded the kids in. It was hard to tell what expression was on John"s face, but it felt a lot like disapproval. So he"s been listening to Polly, then. A woman cleared her throat on the sidewalk behind him, and Tommy turned to see Theodora Carteret, waiting patiently for his attention. "Thank you, Mr. Shelby, for a very enjoyable afternoon. Your offer to drive was most appreciated." "Happy to be of service," Tommy said. "Will you...would you come up for a drink?" Theo asked, her voice halfway between business and hospitality. "The least I can do for services rendered." Tommy considered thoughtfully for a moment, watching John"s taillights disappear. "What will we be drinking?" "Scotch," Theodora said promptly. Tommy considered it, the offer and the empty street and the Settlement House, quieting as the teachers bundled themselves into their rooms or off to their lodgings. He nodded once, and followed her upstairs. Theodora Carteret"s office seemed different in the dark. Different, perhaps, because of the light, or perhaps because he was here alone. She had pulled the bottle from a cabinet behind her desk and then disappeared upstairs, looking for glasses. Tommy took the opportunity to examine her desk. Papers everywhere, folder upon folder of reports, technical manuals, statistics. Buried underneath all that, the usual paraphernalia - penholder, blotter, the in and out trays that the folders had overrun. And then there were the two picture frames - the only such frames in the room. One was obviously of Theodora, in her VAD uniform, standing behind a man who looked extraordinarily like her, except, of course, that he had captain"s pips on his shoulders - the brother, Michael, obviously. They looked happy together, content in their place. Born to rule and sacrifice, isn"t that what they always said? The other was of a single man, also smiling at the camera with captain"s pips on his coat. He had the kind of eyes that women love to lose themselves in - a poet"s eyes. There was a small noise at the door - Theodora with the glasses. He didn"t bother to hide that he"d been poking around - he almost thought she"d meant to leave him so he could do just that, prove that she had nothing to hide. She laid the glasses down and poured a liberal dram in each, raising her glass to Tommy in a silent toast before drinking. The label on the bottle was a name Tommy had never heard of before, the liquor itself exquisite. Wouldn"t like to think what this costs. He passed it around his mouth once before swallowing, and then turned his attention back to the desk. "Your brother?" he asked. Theodora nodded. "And..." Tommy pointed to the other picture, with his half-drunk glass. "That"s David," Theodora said quietly. "Captain David Bailey-Smythe." He considered the picture again. "Good looking bloke." She looked like she was ready to respond, but her mouth stayed firmly shut. Tommy took another sip of his whisky. "You"re wondering why I left," she asked, moving past the picture with obvious discomfort. "Why anyone in their right mind would give up all of that... for this." She gestured around to the dim office and the desk piled high with paperwork. "It had crossed my mind." "Your family knows what you do, Mr. Shelby. They know, and they approve of it." Not always, he had to admit. "I would have thought they"d love it. Helping all the poor little people and all that." She considered him and his faint sarcasm with a long, wry look. "Wiping noses and teaching times tables isn"t romantic enough for them. My father wants a heroic child he can parade around at social functions. My family would much prefer I were helping orphans in Belgium or... organizing silly little garden parties to raise money for...farm implements for France. Useful help isn"t in fashion." She gave another attempt at a smile. "They"re still disappointed that I came back and Michael didn"t. He was at Lys," she added. "A volunteer, too - 1914. Another seven stupid months and he"d have made it." Tommy"s eyes returned to his glass while he said nothing. There was a lot of that where the officer corps was concerned. What was it about the upper classes and their public school educations that made them so good at getting shot? Maybe it was that they"d never had to keep their heads down before they"d come into the trenches. But us, now...we were good at cowering, he thought triumphantly. But Lys was 1918, and if Michael Carteret had volunteered at the beginning of the war, then maybe he had known a thing or two about keeping his head down. Always more questions with this woman. Tommy felt the burn of the whisky in his throat and eyed the bottle again, considering the gilded label. Strong stuff. He"d have to be careful, or he"d say something he"d regret later. "Thanks for the drink," he said, tossing back the rest of his glass as if it were the cheapest bottle on the Garrison shelf. "It"s good stuff, that." "You can thank my father for it," Theodora said crisply, standing as he stood, her own glass still in hand. "Just about the only thing he"s given me since I started this project, as it happens." She considered the bottle for a moment, lips pursed in the slightest of frowns. "Will you be at the meeting at Cheltenham, next month?" she asked, as if this question were the most logical thing in the world to ask after a conversation like theirs. "I like to go to the local meetings, when it"s convenient," Tommy replied coolly, wondering what she meant by such a question, since she was no devotee of the turf, and certainly not fond (whatever else she might say) about his business on it. "You may just meet him, then," she said with a smile. "He likes to go to the races, when he"s home." Tommy nodded, considering the meeting finished. Theodora, recognizing his silence for what it was, set her glass down and escorted him downstairs, thanking him again, at the door, for driving her. As he drove home, thoughts of what Polly would say fresh in his mind, Tommy realized that even after the trip today, after seeing her house and her family, even after the drink and the long conversation that had gone with it, Theodora Carteret had left him, once again, with more questions than answers.

And she was gone, pedaling into the autumn mist. The poem used in this chapter (aside from Byron and Yeats) is my own; I won a poetry slam with it my Junior Year of High school. Ironically, that is the final copy, so any editing would be to Evey"s discredit. I decided I needed to include this episode after watching DPS again, and suddenly Evey was really pissed off. I have no idea why. So- DRAMA for our dramatic teenagers. Who knew? Reviews, please? passes hat Act Four, Scene One: A cold reception Evey didn"t greet him when practice started. She didn"t step in to save him when Veronica, the girl playing Hermia, started flirting with him again, and she didn"t even respond to him when he asked her from the wings again to listen to him. In fact, it wasn"t until the end of practice that he even got her attention, shouting, "TITANIA!" from the stage in his best Oberon-esque voice. The whole auditorium turned to look at him. Evey was the last to turn, looking coldly at him. Neil swallowed, and began his speech, cobbled together from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which she"d recommended to him for its brilliant comedy. "Not for the world would I leave her aside why, man, she is mine own, my best belovèd!" he declared, pointing to her from the stage. "And I as rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar and the rocks pure gold." He dropped his arm, staring at her, hoping, praying that this would work. "Forgive me that I do not dream on thee," he begged, "because thou see"st me dote upon another. For love, thou know"st, is full of jealousy. Forgive me, tender valentine, if sorrow, Be a sufficient ransom for offence, I tender it here; I do as truly suffer Silence as e"er I did commit." The whole room was silent, and then, out of nowhere, Miss Pevensie was clapping, walking down to where Evey was standing and whispering in her ear. Evey was crying now, and she nodded, furiously, blinking back tears and running down the aisle to hug him, and suddenly, everyone else was clapping. "You butchered that," she said through the tears. "I know," Neil said. "I"m glad you noticed." "When did you do that?" Evey asked, looking at him desperately. "In between worrying about you and worrying about Charlie getting expelled," Neil said. "I had a lot of sorrows to muddle over." Evey gave a very wet laugh and fished a handkerchief from her pocket, blowing her nose. "I"m sure you did, you priceless fool." With the rest of the cast in on the relationship (there were a few who after two weeks had still been in the dark about it) Neil and Evey felt a little bit more free to indulge in the public displays of affection some of the other members of the cast felt no shame in partaking in. "A merrier hour was never wasted there," Neil said aloud to Evey - they were lounging on a stack of cushions backstage, waiting for practice to start; Miss Penvensie had delayed it an hour because her archery team had practice, too. "But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon." He sat up, looking down at her, still lying on the cushions. "And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!" Evey read in a high, singsong voice, handing him back the script so he could take Oberon"s lines. "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania," Neil said, pitching his voice into a lower octave, the effect comic, but enough to maintain the mood. "What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence: I have forsworn his bed and company," Evey declared regally. "You wouldn"t do that to me, would you?" Neil asked. "Forswear my bed and company?" He asked, putting his nose in her face and tickling her side, making her giggle and writhe away. "I"ve already done that, and it wasn"t very much fun. And besides, I"ve never seen your bed, Neil, now come on, play Oberon. You"re stately and ...pissed off that I"m not sleeping with you." Evey explained. "Damn straight," Neil said, sitting back up, book in hand. "Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord?" "Then I must be thy lady," Evey said, langorously seductive. "But I know when thou hast stolen away from fairy land, and in the shape of Corin sat all day, playing on pipes of corn and versing love to amorous Phillida," she accused. Neil had the sense to look appalled at her suggestions. "Why art thou here," she asked, suspicious, sitting up proudly. "Come from the farthest Steppe of India? But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon, your buskin"d mistress and your warrior love, to Theseus must be wedded, and you come to give their bed joy and prosperity," She said unsympathetically, almost threatening him with this knowledge. "Oh, lady, you have me wrong," Neil said, leaning into her, whispering. "How canst thou thus for shame, Titania, Glance at my credit with Hippolyta, Knowing I know thy love to Theseus? Wait," He said, breaking character, "You"re sleeping with Theseus and I"m sleeping with Hippolyta? Who came up with this arrangement?" "Shakespeare did," Evey said, hitting him over the head with her script. "It"s funny. But rest easy, the guy who"s playing Theseus is gay, so I don"t think you have a lot to worry about there." "Really?" Neil asked, curious and confused at the same time. The fellow had given him an off look once or twice during the last few weeks of rehearsal, but he hadn"t thought anything about it. At Welton, such things were swept under doormats and generally denied, though there were a few who chose to partake. "Yeah," Evey said, not concerned. "Really nice guy, Spencer, he"s done a few things here before. Really good actor, too. He would have gotten Oberon, but Greg"s taller and Oberon needs to be tall. Now come on. Keep going. Chastise me," she said in a winsome voice. Neil rolled his eyes and kept going. "Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night from Perigenia, whom he ravished?And make him with fair Aegle break his faith, with Ariadne and Antiopa? Wow, Titania"s really making him sleep around," Neil said. "I"m not sure I want you playing this part." "I"m not sure I want your comments every five seconds, Neil! These are the forgeries of jealousy," Evey went on. "And never, since the middle summer"s spring, met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead, by paved fountain or by rushy brook, or in the beached margent of the sea, to dance our ringlets to the whistling wind," she looked at him suggestively, arching an eyebrow, "But with thy brawls thou hast disturb"d our sport." "I"d disturb all your sports if it meant I got to have you in the end," Neil said, kissing her again. It was a long kiss, with a little tongue- he was getting better at it, with a lot of help from Evelyn. "Mr. Perry, I"ll pretend I didn"t see that," Miss Pevensie said pertly. Apparently she was back from her archery practice. "I need my actors now, and not in dishabille, if you please." Evey got up quickly from the couch and went to her court of fairies, who immediately began whispering and stealing glances at Neil, who blushed a little and went back to his script as Miss Pevensie clapped her hands for Hippolyta and Theseus to began the opening scene. "views, pleases? They make my muse Neil happy. Act Four, Scene Three- The Villian Enters. "Neil, be sure to give this to Mr. Nolan," Miss Pevensie said before leaving. "It"s next week"s tech schedule." "Is it tech week already?" Neil asked, looking at the envelope in his hands. "Yes," said the director, a little harried herself. "That"s why there"s some schedule changes. We"re opening on Saturday night and I think we might go a little later than planned. I just want him to know." "I"ll see he gets it," Neil said, nodding and making for the door, turning his collar up against the cold as he pedaled back to Welton, a light snow falling. "Miss Pevensie thought you should have the schedule for next week, since it"s later than agreed upon," Neil said, handing Mr. Nolan the sealed envelope, proudly bearing the Henley Hall seal in the corner. Mr. Nolan slit the envelope, glancing over the timetable and thinking to himself. "This is very late for you to be staying out with just the bicycle, Neil," he said. "Ten o"clock, ten o"clock, midnight - we can"t have the caretaker stay up that late to watch for you." "I have to go to rehearsal," Neil said. "They"re counting on me to be there all five hours!" Mr. Nolan considered this and said, "Could we count on your honor as a student that you"d be home by twelve? No shenanigans, no...hooliganism?" "Yes, sir!" Neil defended. Mr. Nolan nodded, decidedly. "It"s settled then. On your honor as a student. You"ll be wanting the schedule back, I assume," he said, handing the paper back to Neil. "Thank you, Mr. Nolan, sir," Neil said, taking the steps two at a time back up to his room. What he found there wasn"t quite to his liking. His father was sitting at his desk, looking grim. "Father?" Neil asked, wondering what had brought him here. And suddenly, it was all clear. "Wait a minute," he began, "Before you say anything, please let me ex-" But Mr. Perry wasn"t listening to excuses and explanations. He was a man on a mission, and he"d say what he came to say. "Don"t you dare talk back to me! It"s bad enough that you"ve wasted your time with this... this absurd acting business. But you deliberately deceived me! How, how, how did you expect to get away with this? Answer me. Who put you up to it? Was it this new man? This, uh, Mr. Keating?" "No," defended Neil. "No, nobody-- I thought I"d surprise you. I"ve gotten all As in every class..." But his father wasn"t finished. "Did you think I wasn"t going to find out? "Oh, my niece is in a play with your son," says Mrs. Marks. "No, no, no," I say, "you must be mistaken. My son"s not in a play." You made me a liar of me, Neil!" He took a breath and composed himself. When he spoke again, his voice was cold, deadly. "Now, tomorrow you go to them and you tell them that you"re quitting." "I can"t just drop out, Dad! I have the main part. The performance is next Saturday! That"s not enough time for Laurence Oliver to learn the part, let alone-" " I don"t care if the world comes to an end next Saturday. You are through with that play. Is that clear? Is that clear?" He repeated loudly, looking at his son coldly. "Yes, sir," Neil repeated lifelessly. Mr. Perry turned to leave and then turned back. "I made a great many sacrifices to get you here, Neil, and you will not let me down." He said it more like a threat than a benevolent gift, and Neil responded with a servile, obedient, "No, sir." He stood in the doorway and watched his father leave. There was a hurricane swelling up inside his mouth, an earthquake starting where his heart should be, pounding in his temples, rushing to overwhelm his brain. A car was starting up outside, pulling out of the driveway. His father was leaving him here, abandoning him like he always did. It was too much! Neil pulled his coat back on and bolted for the stairs, the surge of passion overwhelming him. He wanted to kick, scream, shout back, as though he were five again and consumed with a desire for his own way. He"d never felt this way before, felt this overwhelming desire to do what he wanted and flaunt it in the face of his father, and he wanted to tell someone who would listen. Oh, any boy in this hallway would listen, would nod and smile and say "Yeah, I understand. I"ve been there. I know." But they didn"t know - None of them knew! - what it was like to fight back. And he only knew one person who did, who threw caution to the wind and paddled their own canoe against the current and sailed their ship against great odds. He grabbed a bicycle and began pedaling for Henley Hall, his breath heavy, heart heaving in his chest as though it were being tossed between waves on a stormy night at sea. There was a burn in his legs he could not ignore, but it made him feel safe, made him feel alive! Legs pounding, he got off the bike, leaning it haphazardly against the tree, running under the trees to the dormitories on the far side of the main building. She"d be on the top floor, he thought, and if he didn"t find her window, he"d shout until she came to him. "EVEY! EVEY LANGFORD! EVEY!" Three weeks of rehearsals had sharpened his voice- he could throw it to the top of the Welton clock tower if he wanted to and it would still come back to him, booming and full of power. "EVELYN LANGFORD!" Lights were beginning to go on in the dormitories, windows thrown open, questions asked. "Who"s there?" "A boy. He wants to see Evey." "Evey? Always knew she was loose." "I"ve seen him before, he"s in the play." "He"s cute!" "Neil?" called a voice that he knew. Miss Pevensie was leaning out her window on the end of the top floor, looking down, concern on her face. "Neil, what are you doing here?" "I need to talk to Evey!" Neil shouted. Miss Pevensie thought for a moment. "Here, come up the fire escape. We"ll talk for a moment." Neil nodded, dashing over to the fire escape stairs and running up to the top floor- Miss Pevensie had opened the fire escape door and let him onto the landing and into the bright hallway. It was full of curious girls, wondering what sort of extraordinary hero had been let into their virgin temple at ten o clock on a Friday night. "In here," Miss Pevensie said, shooing the girls along and letting Neil into her room. "Evey"s just got in the shower, Neil. We"ll wait for her here. What"s this about?" Miss Pevensie asked. "I just wanted to talk to her about something," Neil said, sitting down in the tiny sitting room. "It couldn"t have waited?" Miss Pevensie asked kindly. Neil shook his head, and she nodded. "That kind of something. Well. I was just making some tea," she offered. "Would you like some?" "No, thanks," said Neil, glancing around the room. There was a fireplace with a mantle cluttered with knickknacks and photographs, some of Miss Pevensie and a young man, and others of just Miss Pevensie herself. There was one, however, a little bigger than all the others. A black-and-white group shot of four children, it was placed in front of all the others, its frame a little bit more ornate. One of the children, Neil could tell, was a much younger version of Miss Pevensie. "I see you"ve found my siblings," she said, coming back with her teacup. She set it down on the table between them and took the picture off the mantle. "That"s my brother Peter, the oldest, and my brother Edmund, and my little sister Lucy," she said, pointing them out to Neil. "Why don"t you have any other pictures of them?" Neil asked. "They died in a train crash when I was nineteen," Miss Pevensie said, "Along with my parents. My brother, Peter, was just about to finish university. A Cambridge man," she added, which impressed Neil. "Edmund was going to be joining him there in the fall. They would have fit in with you at Welton. Especially Peter- he was the type. Ambitious, proud, a good sportsman. He captained the fencing team for two years. You remind me a lot of him," she said, passing her thumb over the picture"s playfully parted hair as if she meant to smooth it to perfection. "But he was also very unaware of his limits sometimes. It made him a good leader, if a little foolhardy. If he hadn"t died young I expect he would have worked himself to death, trying to do everything he didn"t have time for. You"d do well to learn from him, Neil," she said. "...Don"t ride on trains?" Neil asked. Miss Pevensie laughed. "No. Understand that you can"t be everything for everyone, and that sometimes, living a little for yourself is appropriate," Miss Pevensie said with a sad smile. "Well, I expect Evey"s done with her shower. I"ll go and find her so we don"t raise a riot." Neil nodded, sitting back in the chair and then leaning forward again, picking up the picture. It had been taken in front of a small suburban house that had obviously seen the ravages of the last world war- there was little left of the front garden and the paint had smoke damage and shrapnel spotting on it. But they were all smiling- Peter, the eldest, with his arm around his sister and his brother, Miss Pevensie"s hand resting on her younger sister"s shoulder. Neil wished for a moment that he"d had siblings, staring at the picture. Peter and Edmund had the same expressions in some of the pictures Mr. Keating had shown them - full of life and promise, unaware of the fact that they would soon be gone from this life. They both seemed to be saying, "Take chances! Have adventures! Go out and slay your dragons head-on! Carpe Diem! Make your life extraordinary!" as though they themselves had actually done these things themselves. "Neil, what the hell are you doing here?" Evey asked, coming in, her hair still wrapped in a towel turban, wearing a bathrobe and, it seemed, not much else. Neil put the picture back down on the table. "They said you were shouting for me. What"s gotten into you?" "I"m sorry!" Neil said. "It was just my father, and the play, and the Dead Poets is under attack. I wanted to tell someone, and all I could think about was you!" Evey wrapped her bathrobe tighter around herself and glanced towards the door, opened and policed from prying eyes and ears by Miss Pevensie. "What about your father, Neil?" she asked, trying to calm herself. Now was the time to let it all come tumbling out - and tumble out it did."He came to the school because he"d found out about my being in the play, and told me he didn"t want to waste my time with it. He called it absurd. He called Shakespeare absurd!" Neil ranted on. "He"s never wanted me to do what I wanted to do. He just wants me to be like him, a suit man with a nine to five job, with a house and a dog and a white picket fence, and a wife and a son that I can boss around and control just like he"s controlled me!" He was crying now, shouting and crying jibberish, the tears and the sobbing too much for real words to convey. Evey took his head and held it against her shoulder; her bathrobe smelled of sweat and soap and slightly wet cloth, and if he hadn"t been so distraught he might have laughed and joked about how close they were, but he wasn"t thinking about that. He was thinking about how much of his world would collapse right then and there if she hadn"t been there to hold him and she hadn"t been there to say what she was saying. "It"s all right. We"ll be fine. You don"t have to do it if you don"t want to. He can"t make you ruin your life, Neil. He can"t make you. I won"t let him." She stroked his hair and let him cry until her bathrobe was too wet to be of any consolation anymore and he was quite out of tears. "I"m not going to let you ruin your dream, Neil," Evey said. "We"ll get through this together. Okay?" she asked, raising his head off of her chest for a moment. Neil nodded. "Miss Pevensie was right, I guess. I am trying to be everything for everyone," he said, brushing his hair back from his eyes and putting on a brave face again. Evey looked at the coffee table and smiled. "She knows a person back to front before they"ve even said anything. She"s shown you the Terrible Three, hasn"t she? I"ve seen it, too." Neil wiped his eyes on a handkerchief he extracted from his pocket and tried to compose himself while Evey studied the picture. Welton men didn"t show their emotions. Welton men didn"t cry, especially in front of women. They were strong, composed, commanding. Welton men took on the world! "She showed this to me freshman year," Evey said reminiscently. "Told me about her sister, Lucy, when I came in here babbling and crying like a baby about how no one liked me and I didn"t have any friends and I wanted to go home." "You cried?" Neil asked, allowing himself a laugh as he tried not to cry again. "I did," Evey assured him. "And she told me about Lucy"s first year at school, and how she had the heart of a lion through all of it, and I needed one of those to get me through, too. I had a hard time believing a little girl like that was the bravest person she knew, but it tided me over. And obviously I made it through." She set down the picture and looked at Neil. "And we"ll get through this crap with your father come hell or high water. We"ll do it together. Do you hear me? Together. None of this Welton stiff upper lip, man on his own in the world nonsense. We"re a team now." "I really don"t have a choice in this, do I?" Neil asked. "No," Evey assured him. "No, you don"t. you gave up your right to a choice when you came over to my school shouting my name to the entire dormitory and dragged me in head first." "I see," Neil said, laughing and tearing again a little. "So you"ll be all right?" Evey asked again. "You can get yourself home in one piece, no...bike accidents, no suicide attempts?" "I"ll be fine, Evey." Neil said. "See, you say that and I"m unsure," Evey said, and Neil shook his head, laughing again. "I"ll be fine, Evey, really," he said again. "Good, because I think Headmistress will be here soon and it"s curtains on the whole shenanigans if she finds out you were here," Evey said. "You"ll have to go out the way you came," Miss Pevensie said, having shooed the rest of her charges to bed. "You"ll be all right, Neil?"

The count of Tripoli let out a dry laugh. "Can"t a man secret himself away in his own apartment without being attacked?" He asked, looking at Audemande with amusement. The young woman stepped back and slipped the knife back into its hanging sheath, ashamed. "Forgive me, my lord, you startled me," she said. "Startled you? And you come at me with a knife? What a little Amazon! You challenge clerks, tell stories of great battles as though you had lived them, and threaten Princes by knife point. I suppose you handle a sword and ride into battle as well, lady Audemande?" "No, my lord. A sword takes strength, a knife only a quick hand." "And did they teach you that in Vinceaux?" Tiberias asked, amused. "I did not know that until I left Vinceaux, and had been on the pilgrim road for several weeks." Audemande explained by way of apology. "I had not known the ways of men before that." "I see. Well, little Aude, why are you here? It is not generally the business of young women to be in a man"s chambers. Especially when that man is old and powerful, and those women are young and unmarried," Tiberias said suggestively, looking at her as though he were a lion and she only a cub in need of teaching. Aude blushed; she wouldn"t ever dream of doing that with Lord Tiberias. "Sybilla sends this note to you, and wishes you would attend it with all speed." She held out the scroll. "Mmm," Tiberias said, taking the scroll and unrolling it to read the message. "The lady Sybilla tells me you are a student of the written word," he said, holding up the note. "You didn"t read this, did you?" "I would not be so bold as to open a private note, my lord," Audemande said quietly. The Count of Tripoli grunted in acknowledgement and turned his eyes back to the note. "She writes to tell me she"d like to find you a tutor, so you may continue your studies and become her reader. Has she spoken of this plan to you?" "No, my lord, nothing of it!" Aude defended. " She mentioned that she thought I had a good voice, but...nothing else," she finished lamely. "Mmm, well, that may be so, by I doubt there are many teachers in the city who would share her...rather unorthodox views on the education of women. You may tell her that I make no promises, but I shall look into it for her." Aude nodded and dropped a curtsey. "My lord," she said, turning towards the door. "And Aude?" Tiberias said, before she had quite gone through the door. "My lord?" Aude asked, turning back around. "If you continue to go around threatening men at knifepoint I fear your father"s efforts to get your married here will be for naught," the Prince of Galilee said with a faint smile. Aude blushed again and left, hurrying back to Sybilla"s chambers. I"ve noticed there are a few of you who put this story on your favorites list or your alerts list and haven"t reviewed. PLEASE DO. I"d love to hear what you have to say - and it doesn"t have to be very detailed, either. Just your favorite part so far, or maybe what you"d like to see in the future. And this will be a long haul - the printed draft is clocking 91 pages right now... Song of a Peacebringer, Chapter Thirty: Permission Aude followed the servant assigned to escort her, keeping her curiosity in check as she was led into a part of the harem she had never entered, winding through many corridors until Aude was quite sure they were on the other side of the citadel, where the male half of business was conducted, out of sight from the women of the Court. The servant lead her into what was evidently an entertainer"s booth, of sorts, a heavier screen walling off a sizable corner of the courtyard so that musicians, or poets, could perform unseen by their noble audience. The garden beyond was apparently empty, but soon there were footsteps outside, and the sound of men"s voices, deep in conversations Aude only partially understood. Some of them, she gathered, were discussing the treaty with Tripolis. "...young upstart pup who doesn"t know his manners. At least Raymond would listen." "A pity he didn"t learn from his uncle. They say he is very ill, or he would attend himself." "Allah have mercy on him, if that young man"s his heir." "Allah have mercy on us," the second man said before passing out of earshot. Aude smiled to herself. Yes, that was most certainly Remy they were talking about. Suddenly there was a rustle behind Aude, and she turned quickly to see Khazuran easing herself into the entertainer"s booth, a strange instrument in her arms wrapped in cloth. "Where have you been?" Aude asked quietly, wondering if the men outside might be able to hear her. "I"ve been wondering where you"ve been all morning!" "Forgive me, Aude, but I had urgent business," Khazuran said shortly, settling down and arranging her skirts so she could unwrap the instrument and tune its strings. Shaped like half of a great pear, with a neck protruding from one end, the flat surface was inlaid with beautiful tracery in an ivory colored wood, standing out against the honeyed grain of the instrument"s body. Clearly this was a prince"s instrument. "And what is that?" Aude asked, watching Khazuran experimentally pluck the strings, adjusting the tone with the pegs protruding from the end of neck. "It is called an oud. Once, long ago, when I was a little girl, it was determined I should learn to play an instrument, and this was the one chosen for me. I will accompany your recitation." "I"ve never recited with music before!" Aude said, trying to keep her voice as low as possible so the men outside would not hear. "You are the Little Dove of Jerusalem, Audemande, who roosts in royal palaces and sings for kings! You can do this as certainly as you can do anything else. Forget I am even here," Khazuran said, smiling. "A traveler from a distant landcame out of the desert to the king"s right handAnd set before the king a tale of woeOf troubles encountered long agoThat same tale I will now begin-it pertains Khusrow and his bride Shirin," Aude improvised, pausing for breath while Khazuran gave a few artfully chosen notes on the oud. "Khusrow Pariz was an ancient lord,a king of Persia and the Golden Horde.One day he rode to the royal woodand came upon a maiden, fair and good..." Of all the tales told in Ferdowsi"s Book of Kings, Khusrow and Shirin was one of the shorter ones, but that only meant the tale took the better part of an hour to tell in full, how Khusrow saw Shirin while hunting and fell in love, and then sent his huntsman Shapour into the woods to woo her, bidding him to nail his portrait to a tree so that when she came by, she instantly fell in love with his image. She refused to sleep with the King unless he married her, and so Khusrow, enchanted and befuddled with the idea that any woman would refuse him, went off to Constantinople and married the daughter of a Byzantine king, Maryam of the Silver Veil, before returning and finding Shirin once more. Finally he married her, and they were very happy until his death. "When the distant traveler finished thisthe king wished on him unending bliss.For sharing such story with young and oldthe monarch gave the man a pen of goldThat copies of the tale could then repeatand every word he wrote sound just as sweet.And thus my story ends - I wish for yougreat happiness and health in all you do," Aude finished, letting Khazuran add her cascade of music at the end and taking a much needed sip from a water goblet nearby from which she had been taking small sips for the whole performance. No sound came from the other side of the screen, as if the audience were considering how to respond or weighing the consequences of such an action very, very carefully. They had finished their meal some time previously, and had been listening exclusively to her for the last ten minutes of the poem. Then, slowly, came the sound of two hands clapping slowly and deliberately, followed quickly by other hands joining in. When the sound ceased, an older man"s voice said, clearly and distinctly, "Leave us." There was a patter of shoes for a time, a mass of people leaving the courtyard garden, and then the older man spoke again. "The men I choose for councilors," he said, almost as if reflecting on something. "And now I have heard your Singing Dove, Nasir." "Indeed, my lord," Nasir said, choosing his own words carefully. "Pray come out from behind your screen, Lady," the voice commanded. Aude looked around for Rayhana, wondering what bit of etiquette she was breaching now. Was it a test? Were they trying to see if she had learned anything in harem? But there was no one there to censure her. Khazuran, it seemed, was baldly urging her to obey, shoving the air with her hands as she could somehow move Aude likewise. "It is all right, Audemande," Nasir encouraged. "You may come out." "I have no veil, my lords," Aude warned. "We permit you," the older man said. "It is not the custom of your people to appear before men veiled." Aude considered that, standing up and composing herself, twitching her skirt back and brushing a few wayward strands of hair behind her ears. Then she stepped out from behind the screen, and realized who it was her audience had been. Audemande had only seen Saladin once before, and then only from a long ways off - at the Castle of Kerak, the battle-that-could-have-been that cost Baldwin his life, she had seen him on the field below the battlements, conversing with her king. Everything she knew about him came from William, Baldwin, and Raymond. That he was strong, wise, cunning, and a brilliant military and political strategist had always been mentioned. But Aude had never been accustomed to thinking of the venerable man as old. Nearly sixty, she remembered, and still the leader of so much of the world. The sultan"s face was drawn in sharp lines, with high cheek-bones in sharp relief against his skin. There were plenty of wrinkles in his expression, but not deep furrows. Everything about him suggested thinness, a life dedicated to simplicity and denial, uncomplicated by rich food or leisure time. Respectfully, Aude averted her eyes, suddenly feeling very exposed without a veil to hide her face. "My lord," she said, sinking low to the ground. "So this is Nasir"s Singing Dove," the Sultan remarked, looking over Audemande with a philosopher"s piercing gaze, as if trying to see some flaw in the argument as to why she was here. "Yes, my lord," Aude said, unsure what else she was permitted to say in this great man"s presence. "And Baldwin"s Little Dove before that," Salah al-Din added, his gaze still piercing, still judging her ruthlessly. "Yes, my lord," Aude repeated. "Do you know who I am, Aude-the-Dove?" he asked calmly, his eyes never leaving her face. "You are Salah-al-din, Sultan of Syria and Egypt, Defender of the Faith, Leader of the Armies of God, and my lord"s king," Aude said simply. "You taught her well, Nasir," the sultan said, smiling just a little. "She came to me well taught, my lord; it was not all my doing," Nasir amended. Saladin nodded, musing over all of this. "And you bring her before my court singing of Khusrow and Shirin. I think, Nasir, that you have something to tell me," he suggested. "Perhaps, my lord," Nasir said ambiguously, shrugging his shoulders a little. Aude didn"t quite know what to make of this exchange between the two men. Obviously one was leading and the other deferring to the leader, but she felt quite distinctly as though she were an art piece they were talking about, an object that they assumed could not answer. It was unnerving, being talked about in this way. Aude felt very small. "Perhaps?" the Sultan laughed. "You were always a very bad liar, Nasir, even when you were a child, unless you had put it down on paper first. This is not a question of perhaps. This," he pointed one long thin finger at Aude, "is a question of permission." He paused, dropping his arm down and sitting up a little straighter. His very posture seemed kingly, even in his plain dark robes. Some men needed rich garments to make them look the part of kings - obviously the Sultan wasn"t one of them. "You remember, I think, how the story of Khusrow Parviz ends. I know I do," the sultan said, a note of warning in his voice. Aude knew the ending of the story, and she knew, now, why it was Nasir was so specific that she recite it. Khusrow was a Persian king, a Muslim, and his beloved Shirin had been a Christian. The parallel was simple enough. "I have no other wives, and no son to turn against me and steal my widow," Nasir said with a smile. "Ah, yes, but your family will want you to take another wife. Like Shirin she will always be a polluted bowl, unworthy to hold your blood, a source of enmity in your house. She will never be good enough for them." He paused for a moment, collecting more thoughts. Then he turned to Audemande. "I knew your former master, insofar as a man can know his enemy. He was a just man, and given to good judgment among his men, and true to his God. And I knew a little of you, before you ensnared my general and came to my city. I knew you were not a woman as other women among your people are, that you were skilled with words, and gave men council and were judged to be immodest. But I do not always take the judgments of other men on their own. Sometimes I must judge for myself." He rose from his cushions, straightening his robes and turning to Nasir. "I find that now, in my old age, I grow tired of war and hate," he remarked offhandedly, with the air of one addressing the state of the weather. "If you wanted my consent, you have it," he said finally with an enigmatic smile, inclining his head a little towards Audemande in farewell. Aude sank into her deepest curtsey, her eyes lowered to the floor as he swept out of the room, djellebah billowing out behind him. "You planned that on purpose," Aude accused once the king was out of earshot, rising from her curtsey to look at Nasir. "Khazuran came to me very early this morning to tell me of your doubts, and now I have allayed them," Nasir said triumphantly, taking Aude"s hand and bringing it to his lips to kiss it gently. The physical contact took Aude by surprise, and her breath left her own lips in a surprised sigh. "You have the permission of a king now," Aude said, her voice a little lower in pitch than it normally was. "Will you come to me with hunting dogs and brocade tents to take me back to Isfahan and enthrone me in a palace?" "Would you mind that so very much?" Nasir asked, smiling at her in his teasing manner. "Your poet"s heart knows you would not. But I will not steal you away from anyone. I have one more permission to ask." The journey back to Tripolis was a joyful one, as joyful as a week-long ride across the desert can be when the wind blows fiercely and the sand finds its way into your clothing and hair and the crescents under your nails. For the past six years Aude had lived in the world"s holiest places and watched as the world - Jew, Christian, and Muslim - came to her city seeking their God. She had visited many of the same sites, but never as a pilgrim. Now she was making her own pilgrimage to beg a boon not from God, but from her protector. Words danced in her head as the desert stretched out on either side of their path, filling the void in her mind left by the shifting sands. Sometimes, at night when they made camp, Nasir would entertain the men as they sat around their fires, telling fantastic tales from the Shah-nameh, about kings and demons from the very furthest annals of history. One night he even told the tale of Scheherazade, his eyes sparkling in the firelight as he looked at Aude, making the Little Dove"s heart restless with his gaze. When they finally arrived at Tripolis, it was nightfall, the thin sliver of moon that remained in the sky casting a dim glow over the gently lapping waves at the edge of the sea - the city"s gates were closed, opened by a watchman when they announced their business and the watchman determined that ten horsemen, their leader, and a lady with her servant were no real threat to the city. But the Castle of Tripolis was locked and barred, and no one, least of all a night watchman, would let them in. "Tell my lord Raymond the Lady Audemande has come back from Jerusalem," Aude shouted up again, parleying now with yet another guard who didn"t seem to know who she was. Provincial fool, Aude cursed to herself, craning her neck to try and make out some sort of face high up on the battlements, swathed in the light from the torch he carried. "My lady, that"s impossible," The guard shouted back. "Impossible, you impertinent dog?" Aude snapped, letting the men behind her chuckle a little bit and whisper amongst themselves in Arabic. "Impossible to take him a message? Have you no feet to take it yourself, and no tongue with which to convey it?" "No, my lady," The guard stammered. " It"s just that... we"ve got orders..." "Orders? Orders by whom? I dare you to ask any servant in that house to identify me! I am the Lady Audemande of Arcenet, and I demand to be admitted to my house!" Aude shouted, her voice causing her horse to shift underneath her uncomfortably. "Aude, perhaps it would be better if we found an inn for the night," Nasir said quietly over her shoulder. "It would save us the trouble. You are tired, and need rest." "I am not so poor a host that we will stay in an inn because the castle will not admit us," Aude said resolutely. "A quick death to the man who stands in your way," Nasir said admiringly, backing his horse away. But there seemed to be some sort of progress on the battlement - the guard had stepped away from the wall, the circle of his torch leaving the crennelled wall and moving inward. "Oy, you there! You! With the basket! Come up "ere! No, I don"t wanna hurt you..." Apparently he was calling down to the courtyard for a servant. Another figure joined him in the circle of the torch, shorter and slimmer, a young woman. The guard whispered something in the woman"s ear. "That is the Lady Audemande," she said quietly, and even from this far down, Aude strained to recognize Mirrum"s voice. The guard"s shoulders slumped, and he began shouting for the gate to open. Aude glanced triumphantly at Nasir and directed her horse inside the castle gate as it swung inwards, soldiers running to collect their horses as they dismounted. "Mirrum," Aude said, catching the servant a little off-guard as she descended the steps from the battlement. "God will reward you for your good deed this night." The little ghostly Saxon woman nodded, a very thin trace of a smile on her face. "Forgive me, lady, but I must go," she said, glancing towards the upper windows of the castle as if evil eyes were watching her, ready to smite her down if she did not complete her task. "Mirrum, what is the matter here?" Audemande asked. "Why could Tiberias not be called?" "The Count is...my lord is...not doing well." Mirrum said quietly, averting her gaze down to the floor. Aude"s heart fell, and she ordered the maidservant to direct her to the Count"s bedchamber, wondering what she would find there. The count"s haggard face brightened when Aude came into his sickroom, and he just barely lifted his arms off the bedsheet, beckoning her in for an embrace. "Daughter I never had, come here and give your father a kiss," Raymond commanded, his voice unusually soft. Where had the tireless voice that commanded armies and silenced the Haut Cour gone? As she leaned over the bed to take him in her arms, she could hear his breathing in her ear, rough and ragged. "I thought you had left me for good," he accused quietly into their embrace. "You won"t get rid of me that easily, Tiberias," Aude shot back. "I"m not going to let you leave my sight again," the Count decreed. "Sit here and keep an old man..." He stopped mid sentence, coughing viciously. "Keep an old man company," he finished. "This pleurisy doesn"t leave much time for... entertainment. Perhaps you can tell me one of your stories... while we wait." He looked around Aude"s shoulder, catching a glimpse of Nasir at the edge of the room, holding back from what was obviously a very personal scene. "You brought a friend," He observed, smiling a little bit more. "Or something more than a friend, I think." "Oh, Tiberias," the Arab general said, moving to Aude"s side and clasping Raymond"s hand in a gesture of friendship. "Never mind the story," Raymond amended, gazing up at Nasir and Aude. "We"ll take care of this business - " he gestured feebly with his hand, pointing between the two poets, "--now." "Business?" Aude asked softly. "It"s why you"re here, isn"t it?" Raymond asked. "Someone help me up," He asked, fumbling with the bedclothes and struggling to sit up straighter, propping his back against the carved head-board. Aude"s heart broke as she saw how much weight he had lost. I can count my bones, so depleted am I, she thought to herself, quoting the Psalm. "Lord Nasir Imad al Din Aluh al Kitab al Isfahani," he coughed after finishing the name, "I give you permission to marry Audemande of Vinceaux and Jerusalem, Lady of Arcenet, who could have been my daughter."

"We will be very pleased to see the place," Tommy said, for the benefit of the rest of the room. Business concluded, Theodora turned to the rest of the room, smiled politely and nodded to everyone"s silent study of her, and stepped back out into the street, begging the pardon of Aunt Polly, who was just coming in. Tommy, however, had not really seen any of the business at the door. He was too busy considering Theodora"s last words, the way that she had nimbly stepped around his own invitation and replaced it with one of her own. She"d be ready by Thursday, if he said he"d be there Friday, and she"d stay ready if he decided to be late and hold out until Sunday. That last look of hers had been in deadly earnest, the eyes and smile that coldly and ever so seriously said If you think you can run me, Thomas Shelby, you"re wrong. "That woman," Aunt Pol observed knowledgeably, watching Miss Carteret stroll calmly down the lane, "will be trouble." And don"t I know it, Tommy observed to himself. Let me begin by saying that I"m not really sure what I"m doing here. (But do any of us really know what we"re doing, honestly?) I can"t find a history of Birmingham at six different libraries, ditto a good book on organized crime in England, ditto information on urban dwellings in the 20th century West Midlands, ditto a dozen other topics I will need to make this a well-informed story. And I"ve never been to Birmingham, so Mea culpa to the good citizens of that city. But after watching season one of Peaky Blinders, I had this sudden image of this upper-class woman who wanted to try and figure Tommy out, who was just as determined and just as stubborn and who knew a thing or two about having feelings and experiences that you don"t talk about, and then I had to find a way to get her into Small Heath, where she clearly didn"t belong and suddenly, Jane Addams and Hull House surfaced, and Small Heath Settlement House, the perfect way to put a strange fish in stranger water, appeared. So here we are, testing the waters on a story I"m not even sure will work. There"s a two year gap between season one and season two. Say that this happens then. If you enjoyed Theo and Tommy"s little tete-a-tete, feel free to say so in the comments and we"ll see what we can do. Finn inspected the clean-collared, starch-stiffened version of himself in the pier-glass near the kitchen and grimaced. "What are we doing all this for, anyway?" he asked, making a half-hearted gesture to the rest of the room, which was filled with the rest of his family, lounging about the sitting room in similar states of dress, Tommy and Arthur"s shirtfronts impressively white, Aunt Polly"s hat sporting a particularly ostentatious feather and Esme"s little beaded reticule clattering with self-importance as she straightened the children"s collars. "Because Tommy likes to give a nice first impression," Arthur drawled, only half-serious, from the love-seat, exchanging a knowledgeable glance with John, who also grinned, and then busied himself with helping Esme break up a bit of horseplay between two of his offspring, who were perilously close to disrupting their fine Sunday attire. Tommy frowned briefly at both of his brothers and the minor scuffle, and strode over to the glass, standing behind Finn. The boy was getting tall - tall enough to see himself and his brother in the little slip of mirror. When he spoke, it was for Finn"s ears alone, the soft, serious voice that Tommy only used when he was in deadly earnest. "Because her brothers were officers with batsmen and china cups and tailored uniforms, and your brothers fought in the dirt of Flanders - like real men. Her people sent gifts we couldn"t use and empty promises that wouldn"t feed us and got rich off of the suffering of our lot, and now they want to use that wealth to help us. We need to show her we don"t need her kind of help at all." Finn"s eyes were glazed with an emotion he couldn"t name, but he didn"t show the recognition Tommy was seeking to explain. He turned his brother away from the mirror and laid his hands on the youngest Shelby"s shoulders, locking his brother"s gaze in his own. "She"ll look at you and she"ll see Small Heath mud, Finn, even if you"ve got none on you. She thinks she"s better than us," Tommy said strongly, "And I want to prove her wrong." Overcome, Finn nodded vigorously, and turned quickly away so that his brother would not see the quiver in his cheek. But Tommy saw everything, and he allowed himself a private smile before turning on the rest of his family and declaring "Right, we"re off, then!" and leading the charge out the door. Didn"t they make a sight, driving (in two cars, Tommy"s and John"s, else they wouldn"t have fit) down to King Street on a Saturday morning in their Sunday clothes. Small Heath knew the Shelby family to be smart dressers, but Sunday suits on Saturday morning beggared belief. Especially when both cars parked a respectful distance down the street from the Small Heath Settlement House, and walked to the door. Usually, when paying a call, there would be the social niceties like ringing a bell or, as was more usually the case in Small Health, knocking on the door and waiting for an answer on the stoop. But there was no such luck here - the door was already wide open to all comers, with a nicely lettered sign tacked to the door asking for all deliveries to be brought around the back. Arthur, who had lead the group out of the cars, pulled up short, glancing around at the rest of them with momentary confusion, and had to be prompted by Aunt Poll to actually head inside the building before their little parade turned into an unsightly, confused mess on the front steps. The Shelbys were never confused or caught out - the Shelbys always had a plan, and it never involved milling on doorsteps like sheep without a shepherd. The storefront was unrecognizable from the inside. The walls having been given what must have been their first new coat of paint in decades (a nice slate blue, bright but hard-wearing), and the front room was filled with light from the large front window. The counter had been re-stained and waxed to a tremendous shine, and the shelves behind it, once built for dry goods and cans, now held a wide variety of baby goods - bottles, blankets, booties, and several stacks of pamphlets whose titles were not immediately visible. Along another wall of shelves a large variety of books peeked out into the room, several volumes sporting gilt letters along their spines. There was a hum of voices from a back room, and before any of the Shelbys could even think about going to investigate, a young woman emerged from the open doorway, all pleasant smiles. "You must be Mr. Shelby," she said, shaking hands with Tommy, who by now had moved to the front of the group. "I"m Lydia Pritchard, one of the teachers here. Theo said we"d be expecting you this morning. We"re so pleased that you"ve come to see our work." It was not the welcome Tommy was expecting. At the very least he"d expected the short, irate woman from two weeks ago to chivvy them about, or for Miss Carteret herself to be waiting out front, ready to meet them in the road. The pause at the steps, the uncertain emptiness of the front room, and then, like a bolt out of the blue, Lydia Pritchard"s open, helpful smile and enthusiastic handshake, however, were not anticipated. They were treating him like...well, like... Damn that woman again. She"d put out the outrageously cheerful Lydia to treat him like the well-heeled businessman he attempted to be, in the hopes that she"d trip him up or catch him out. Just like her own calculated appearance in the offices of Shelby Brothers Limited, she wanted to test him, judge him, and see how he"d react. "Theo is upstairs in her office, if you"ll wait one moment," Lydia was saying. "If you"ll wait here I can go fe- "No need to fetch me, Lydia, I"m here. I heard them come in." The group turned as one to the tall, aristocratic figure of Theodora Carteret in the doorway, smiling enigmatically. "Mr. Shelby," she said, holding her hand out for another handshake, firm and fair. "And this must be your family," she said, turning to the assembled multitude with a pleased smile. Well, no time to brood now. Introductions were in order and he would not disappoint. "Miss Carteret, allow me to introduce my aunt, Polly Gray." There was another firm handshake for Polly, returned by an equally firm, searching look for Miss Carteret. "My older brother, Arthur Shelby." Arthur received a handshake as well, he who was so used to beautiful women wrapping themselves around the promise of power with groveling and simpering looks momentarily surprised by the woman"s businesslike demeanor and absolutely no interest in catering to any of his whims. "My younger brother, John Shelby, and his wife, Esme, and his children. This is Jack, and Mabel, and Jasper, and the youngest is Martha." The children, well-behaved more on account of the shock and strangeness of being in a new place than anything else, studied Theo with childish calculation, wondering, as their parents did, if this strange woman was friend or foe. Martha, only two, hid behind her stepmother"s skirts and would not budge, but Jack (or John, Junior, when his father was very proud of him) teetered for a moment, and then, in parody of his adult minders, stuck out his hand to be shaken, his face grave. Theo"s face broke into an unpredicted smile and she shook hands with all the gravitas afforded to his uncles. Inspired by their elder brother"s example, Mabel and Jasper both stuck their hands out as well, though Jasper, at four, put his hand out palm up as though expecting a sweet, which detracted a little bit from the mock solemnity. "A very great pleasure to meet you all," Theodora said, her voice oddly genuine. She paused, and then bent down. "Master Jasper, I think you will find something has fallen out of your pocket," she whispered, glancing tellingly at the floor, where one of Jasper"s handkerchiefs, wrapped around a stub of obviously old toffee (judging by the bits of lint and debris attached) had landed as he had pulled his hand out of his pocket. Jasper swiped the handkerchief and its contents off the floor and shoved the whole mess back in his pocket, glancing first at Theo and then at his stepmother, who was glaring at him for doing something so undignified. "And this is my youngest brother, Finn," Tommy finished, trying to move past the undeniable humanity of a four-year old filching sweets. Perhaps it had been a mistake to bring them. "I think we"ve met before," Theodora said, shaking hands with Finn as she had the others. Finn looked a little ashamed, and he colored behind his collar. Good manners prevented Miss Carteret from making any comment, and she breezed on, cool as anything. "Well, we"re so delighted you all could join us today. Shall we?" She ushered them into the back room - a classroom, albeit a very empty one, save for four or five exceptionally small students and their teacher at the front. "This is our nursery school class," Theodora Carteret explained, "All three through five year olds who don"t yet go to the council school, to get them out of their mothers" way for three or four hours a day. They get breakfast here, and playtime, and we begin their reading lessons with them. There"s a lot of wonderful research being done now about how children who are read to from an early age..." And thus began the Shelby family"s lessons on the program of good works at Small Heath Settlement. Tommy had not been an earnest student during his school days, short though they had been. Teachers routinely complained that he was a bright spark, knew his times tables and his grammar and could recite and copy with the best, that he would make a fine clerk someday if he could but settle down, stop running wild with those hooligan Gypsy uncles of his, and actually come to school. It was not that Thomas Shelby didn"t want to learn, only that the topics covered in the local council school did not pique his interest. And why should they, when he could learn all he wanted about biology and physiology by watching his uncles exercise and care for their horses, physics in the weights and pulleys of the dockyards and mathematics problems by the score in the columns and grubby papers of the family betting books? School may have held very little to interest Thomas Shelby as a child, but Small Heath Settlement House, itself one very large, very comprehensive school, held much to interest him now. They were his streets and his people - what should they want for? Apparently, quite a lot. There was the nursery school class and the free milk program, meant to salve the lot of Small Heath"s overburdened mothers, the play groups that would keep their older brothers off the streets, the sewing and cooking circles that would help their older sisters gain employment as cooks and maids or erase deficiencies in their future careers as mothers, the study groups for all children that would fill in the gaps that their council school education left out and their parents could not help with, the reading circles for their fathers and much-older brothers where the social and political topics of the day would be discussed, and the free clinic that would put some distance between the nightmarish outbreaks of diphtheria, typhoid, and that awful "flu. All this from a storefront on King Street, staffed by ten or so women who"d never even played on streets like this and had never known what it was like not to be able to feed your children because milk was too expensive, rationing was in high favor, and Dad (and Dad"s pay envelope) was away at the war. It was astounding. Oh, patronizing, perhaps, for Aunt Polly, who hated to be found wrong in anything she did and who took all of the polite programs of the House as a criticism of her own housekeeping, and painfully domestic for Arthur and John, who spent much of the tour with their daydreams alternating between their pints in the Garrison, the promise of what was for dinner that evening, and (for Arthur) about the fine legs of Miss Carteret. But astounding, absolutely astounding, for Tommy. Here was another person who dared to dream big. And even if he hated to think that his people needed the kind of charity on offer, and Miss Carteret"s officer-class background galled him, the sheer scope of it all was bloody impressive. They ended their tour in the back room, a kind of canteen with long tables and benches where the nursery school breakfast could be served and the reading groups could meet and have tea. The kitchen at the end of the room was pressed into service for the Shelby family tea as a kind of cap to the end of the tour, and everyone settled in with their rummage sale teacups to take a load off their feet and process what they had just seen. Lydia Prichard joined them, as well as several of the other teachers and residents, coming in from their afternoon rounds of the neighborhood, jolly and welcoming and eager, so eager to meet their guests and thank them for coming. Polly, in particular, was in a bad mood, and her eyes kept darting to the end of the room, where her nephew was standing observing the proceedings with his calm, practiced gaze. She"ll have a lot to say when we get home, for she won"t speak here. Let her wait with it. "So." Theo Carteret emerged at his elbow with two cups of strong, murky tea, demanding his attention in her single syllable. "Do we pass your muster, Mr. Shelby?" "It is all very impressive," Tommy admitted, taking a cup from her with no intention of consuming it yet. "But..." Miss Carteret let the single syllable out to taunt him and took a sip of her tea while she waited for his reply. "My aunt was not pleased about some of the items offered by your clinic." A stack of pamphlets by Marie Stopes, somewhat hidden and never alluded to on tour, another pamphlet containing contents well known to veterans of the army"s campaign against VDs, and the box of prophylactics that went with them. "Only for married women, and only when they ask," she said promptly, knowing exactly what he referred to. "And some of our ex-soldiers, when identified by the clinic." Her voice told him this was not a battle Polly"s opinions would win. Tommy went on. "The reading room contained several books of a...reactionary nature." A quick review of the shelves revealed Marx, Engels, and the works of several Fabians that no self-respecting bookstore would stock. Freddie Thorne would be in heaven. "Meant only for healthy public discussion of the issues. Records will be kept of who takes the books out, if the relevant authorities want to know." Theo studied him for a moment, and added judiciously, "The working classes in this country have a right to participate in their political processes and know how they work." Another sip, another calm, daring glance, another battle he would not win. Well, if that was the way she was going to play. He had one more bullet in the chamber, and he meant to use it. "Your friend Miss Skinner seems to take very poorly to the idea of gambling." The teacup came down and the smile became a little more brittle. Finally, a charge she could not deny. Madeline Skinner, the short shrill woman who had shouted at them on that first day out in the street, the sergeant-major to Theo Carteret"s captain among the ranks of the settlement house, had not had very many nice words to say on the subject of gambling and bookmaking. Tommy had been afraid Aunt Polly would slap the younger woman as she went off, in the middle of a perfectly civil discussion about the free clinic and the nursery school breakfast, about how much better off the people of Small Heath would be if they saved their money from the bookies and spent it on their families. It was not an off-hand remark, either - she had known to whom she was speaking and she went in with guns blazing with deliberation. Yes, that had hurt, more than the feeble little faces in the schoolroom. How dare she say that they, Shelby Brothers, Limited, were taking food out of the mouths of innocent children and tempting their mothers, their fathers, their older siblings, away from the primrose path of righteousness and temperance by spending their little free coin on a flutter on the races! How dare she deny them their little bit of fun, their sole bright spark. Betting gave a man hope, gave him something to look forward to at the end of his working week! And if someone made money on his honest fun, well, who were they to judge that man? At least, that was what Tommy told himself sometimes. He wasn"t sure anymore if it was true. But these were the lies, Tommy always reminded himself, that any man in any dubious business told himself. In this, even the war profiteer and the factory owner and, yes, the humble street-corner bookmaker were alike. "I am not sure," Tommy began, taking a well-timed sip of his cooling tea, "that Shelby Brothers, Limited can, in good conscience, support an enterprise that has such views." He let that sink in, and took another leisurely sip for effect. Theodora Carteret"s smile hadn"t moved, though her eyes had clouded up with inward fighting spirit. Now he had her. "Indeed, we might be forced to be very...public about our disappointment in your organization." The directress of Small Heath Settlement House considered the proposition, imagining the consequences of their "public disappointment"...rocks through windows, dung thrown at their newly painted walls. "And if Miss Skinner were to find some way of... quieting her views?" "We might be persuaded." A long, even nod. "Any other requests?" Now - now! - she was in retreat, and Tommy Shelby the soldier was going to let her give up whatever ground she wanted before he lead his last charge and routed her. "No mentions made within these walls of the .... perceived evils of gambling," he began, hiding any obvious smiles at his victory. "No direct harassment or shame for any one of our employees or anyone who frequents them. No mention of temperance or any attempts to make anyone sign the pledge. Bad for the business interests of the neighborhood, you know." Miss Carteret considered all these things, her gaze drifting out across the canteen to the rest of the Shelbys at the far end of the room and her motley crew of teachers and nurses, chattering happily. Was she imagining the consequences of her decision, or was her gaze just following an invisible horizon on the back wall? Tommy drank more of his tea. He was a patient man. He would let her consider all she liked. "Done." Her voice had the sharp finality of an auctioneer"s, and the quickness of her answer and lack of resistance surprised him. Was she really going to make it that simple for him? Had he made it too simple? Was there room for more negotiations? Tommy"s eye was caught by the glint of sunlight on dull gold near the room"s doorway - a list of the Settlement House"s donors in gilt paint. Our Generous Patrons, the title read.

"And this is my youngest brother, Finn," Tommy finished, trying to move past the undeniable humanity of a four-year old filching sweets. Perhaps it had been a mistake to bring them. "I think we"ve met before," Theodora said, shaking hands with Finn as she had the others. Finn looked a little ashamed, and he colored behind his collar. Good manners prevented Miss Carteret from making any comment, and she breezed on, cool as anything. "Well, we"re so delighted you all could join us today. Shall we?" She ushered them into the back room - a classroom, albeit a very empty one, save for four or five exceptionally small students and their teacher at the front. "This is our nursery school class," Theodora Carteret explained, "All three through five year olds who don"t yet go to the council school, to get them out of their mothers" way for three or four hours a day. They get breakfast here, and playtime, and we begin their reading lessons with them. There"s a lot of wonderful research being done now about how children who are read to from an early age..." And thus began the Shelby family"s lessons on the program of good works at Small Heath Settlement. Tommy had not been an earnest student during his school days, short though they had been. Teachers routinely complained that he was a bright spark, knew his times tables and his grammar and could recite and copy with the best, that he would make a fine clerk someday if he could but settle down, stop running wild with those hooligan Gypsy uncles of his, and actually come to school. It was not that Thomas Shelby didn"t want to learn, only that the topics covered in the local council school did not pique his interest. And why should they, when he could learn all he wanted about biology and physiology by watching his uncles exercise and care for their horses, physics in the weights and pulleys of the dockyards and mathematics problems by the score in the columns and grubby papers of the family betting books? School may have held very little to interest Thomas Shelby as a child, but Small Heath Settlement House, itself one very large, very comprehensive school, held much to interest him now. They were his streets and his people - what should they want for? Apparently, quite a lot. There was the nursery school class and the free milk program, meant to salve the lot of Small Heath"s overburdened mothers, the play groups that would keep their older brothers off the streets, the sewing and cooking circles that would help their older sisters gain employment as cooks and maids or erase deficiencies in their future careers as mothers, the study groups for all children that would fill in the gaps that their council school education left out and their parents could not help with, the reading circles for their fathers and much-older brothers where the social and political topics of the day would be discussed, and the free clinic that would put some distance between the nightmarish outbreaks of diphtheria, typhoid, and that awful "flu. All this from a storefront on King Street, staffed by ten or so women who"d never even played on streets like this and had never known what it was like not to be able to feed your children because milk was too expensive, rationing was in high favor, and Dad (and Dad"s pay envelope) was away at the war. It was astounding. Oh, patronizing, perhaps, for Aunt Polly, who hated to be found wrong in anything she did and who took all of the polite programs of the House as a criticism of her own housekeeping, and painfully domestic for Arthur and John, who spent much of the tour with their daydreams alternating between their pints in the Garrison, the promise of what was for dinner that evening, and (for Arthur) about the fine legs of Miss Carteret. But astounding, absolutely astounding, for Tommy. Here was another person who dared to dream big. And even if he hated to think that his people needed the kind of charity on offer, and Miss Carteret"s officer-class background galled him, the sheer scope of it all was bloody impressive. They ended their tour in the back room, a kind of canteen with long tables and benches where the nursery school breakfast could be served and the reading groups could meet and have tea. The kitchen at the end of the room was pressed into service for the Shelby family tea as a kind of cap to the end of the tour, and everyone settled in with their rummage sale teacups to take a load off their feet and process what they had just seen. Lydia Prichard joined them, as well as several of the other teachers and residents, coming in from their afternoon rounds of the neighborhood, jolly and welcoming and eager, so eager to meet their guests and thank them for coming. Polly, in particular, was in a bad mood, and her eyes kept darting to the end of the room, where her nephew was standing observing the proceedings with his calm, practiced gaze. She"ll have a lot to say when we get home, for she won"t speak here. Let her wait with it. "So." Theo Carteret emerged at his elbow with two cups of strong, murky tea, demanding his attention in her single syllable. "Do we pass your muster, Mr. Shelby?" "It is all very impressive," Tommy admitted, taking a cup from her with no intention of consuming it yet. "But..." Miss Carteret let the single syllable out to taunt him and took a sip of her tea while she waited for his reply. "My aunt was not pleased about some of the items offered by your clinic." A stack of pamphlets by Marie Stopes, somewhat hidden and never alluded to on tour, another pamphlet containing contents well known to veterans of the army"s campaign against VDs, and the box of prophylactics that went with them. "Only for married women, and only when they ask," she said promptly, knowing exactly what he referred to. "And some of our ex-soldiers, when identified by the clinic." Her voice told him this was not a battle Polly"s opinions would win. Tommy went on. "The reading room contained several books of a...reactionary nature." A quick review of the shelves revealed Marx, Engels, and the works of several Fabians that no self-respecting bookstore would stock. Freddie Thorne would be in heaven. "Meant only for healthy public discussion of the issues. Records will be kept of who takes the books out, if the relevant authorities want to know." Theo studied him for a moment, and added judiciously, "The working classes in this country have a right to participate in their political processes and know how they work." Another sip, another calm, daring glance, another battle he would not win. Well, if that was the way she was going to play. He had one more bullet in the chamber, and he meant to use it. "Your friend Miss Skinner seems to take very poorly to the idea of gambling." The teacup came down and the smile became a little more brittle. Finally, a charge she could not deny. Madeline Skinner, the short shrill woman who had shouted at them on that first day out in the street, the sergeant-major to Theo Carteret"s captain among the ranks of the settlement house, had not had very many nice words to say on the subject of gambling and bookmaking. Tommy had been afraid Aunt Polly would slap the younger woman as she went off, in the middle of a perfectly civil discussion about the free clinic and the nursery school breakfast, about how much better off the people of Small Heath would be if they saved their money from the bookies and spent it on their families. It was not an off-hand remark, either - she had known to whom she was speaking and she went in with guns blazing with deliberation. Yes, that had hurt, more than the feeble little faces in the schoolroom. How dare she say that they, Shelby Brothers, Limited, were taking food out of the mouths of innocent children and tempting their mothers, their fathers, their older siblings, away from the primrose path of righteousness and temperance by spending their little free coin on a flutter on the races! How dare she deny them their little bit of fun, their sole bright spark. Betting gave a man hope, gave him something to look forward to at the end of his working week! And if someone made money on his honest fun, well, who were they to judge that man? At least, that was what Tommy told himself sometimes. He wasn"t sure anymore if it was true. But these were the lies, Tommy always reminded himself, that any man in any dubious business told himself. In this, even the war profiteer and the factory owner and, yes, the humble street-corner bookmaker were alike. "I am not sure," Tommy began, taking a well-timed sip of his cooling tea, "that Shelby Brothers, Limited can, in good conscience, support an enterprise that has such views." He let that sink in, and took another leisurely sip for effect. Theodora Carteret"s smile hadn"t moved, though her eyes had clouded up with inward fighting spirit. Now he had her. "Indeed, we might be forced to be very...public about our disappointment in your organization." The directress of Small Heath Settlement House considered the proposition, imagining the consequences of their "public disappointment"...rocks through windows, dung thrown at their newly painted walls. "And if Miss Skinner were to find some way of... quieting her views?" "We might be persuaded." A long, even nod. "Any other requests?" Now - now! - she was in retreat, and Tommy Shelby the soldier was going to let her give up whatever ground she wanted before he lead his last charge and routed her. "No mentions made within these walls of the .... perceived evils of gambling," he began, hiding any obvious smiles at his victory. "No direct harassment or shame for any one of our employees or anyone who frequents them. No mention of temperance or any attempts to make anyone sign the pledge. Bad for the business interests of the neighborhood, you know." Miss Carteret considered all these things, her gaze drifting out across the canteen to the rest of the Shelbys at the far end of the room and her motley crew of teachers and nurses, chattering happily. Was she imagining the consequences of her decision, or was her gaze just following an invisible horizon on the back wall? Tommy drank more of his tea. He was a patient man. He would let her consider all she liked. "Done." Her voice had the sharp finality of an auctioneer"s, and the quickness of her answer and lack of resistance surprised him. Was she really going to make it that simple for him? Had he made it too simple? Was there room for more negotiations? Tommy"s eye was caught by the glint of sunlight on dull gold near the room"s doorway - a list of the Settlement House"s donors in gilt paint. Our Generous Patrons, the title read. "We will, of course, be added to the wall?" It was both a statement and a question, just a little bit of defiance to add a little more sting to his victory. The name of a notorious family on the wonderful, morally white walls of her little charity school. She fixed her gaze across the room with the same straight serious look she"d held in place for their entire negotiation. "For a hundred pounds, Mr. Shelby, we might even paint you in at the top of the list." Tommy, after a moment of surprise at her daring, let out a laugh, causing everyone else in the room to turn. Theodora Carteret allowed herself a smile, as though she"d been in the middle of telling a joke. But she hadn"t been joking, and that was why Tommy was laughing. It was, as parting shots go, a very bold one. She"d doubled the price on his bid for respectability without even batting an eyelash, prepared to let it all go up in smoke if he did not match her bet. Had she been planning this whole time to ask for more money, or had that been decided on the spot? Did it matter? Did he care? "Who taught you to gamble, Miss Carteret?" Tommy asked, still chuckling at her cheek. "My father. Though he usually loses," she added. "A great friend to the bookmaker, then. You"ll have to introduce me some day." Now it was Miss Carteret"s turn to laugh. "Only when I am that desperate for your good favor, Mr. Shelby," she said darkly. It was an unguarded remark, the kind one makes to a friend in whose company one feels comfortable and safe. So we are to be friends, then. Or allies. Tommy saved that thought for later. "Your aunt looks like she"d like to murder me," Theodora observed, hiding behind her tea cup once more. "We should probably be going," Tommy agreed. "This has been a most instructive visit, Miss Carteret. We will look forward to a very long and...ah, productive relationship." "It will be instructive for everyone, I am sure." They had reached the end of the room, and the rest of the family was rising from their seats. "Thank you all so much for coming today," Theodora said with her best matron smile firmly in place. "We so enjoyed having you visit." "Yes, it was very interesting," Polly said hastily. "We really should be getting home soon, though, Thomas, the children..." she trailed off, content to leave the exact reasons for their departure vague. "You must bring them along on our next outing, Mrs. Shelby," Theodora offered, directly to Esme, rather than Polly. "We are planning a trip to the countryside in a few months, to give some of our students a bit of fresh air. You would be more than welcome to join us, if you liked. We would be happy to have you." "Yes, we will think about it," Polly said, again speaking for Esme, who looked as though she"d very much like a trip to the country. There was much scraping of chairs and a final glance around before Polly was packing them all out the door, desperate to leave. "You shall be hearing from us directly, Miss Carteret," Tommy promised at the front door as the rest of the family loaded themselves back into the cars, ignoring Jasper"s whines for another biscuit. "One hundred pounds seems a very reasonable gift in these circumstances." "We shall ready the gilt paint," Miss Carteret said with a smile, eliciting an amused smile from Tommy. She smiled with him, and then said, in a voice that seemed much different than the one she had used all morning, "It was very nice to meet your family, Mr. Shelby." Tommy"s face froze for a moment, and he contented himself with one last nod and a touch to his hat brim. Polly, worse luck, had chosen the front seat, the better to bend his ear about whatever long litany of objections she was about to raise. But there were none; the whole ride home was completed in perfect silence from the front seat passenger, though Tommy could feel her beside him bristling with anger. She did not say a word, in fact, until they reached home, and the coats had been hung up and the hats returned to their pegs. Tommy settled himself into his armchair with the afternoon paper and waited for Polly"s patience to wear out. The room emptied; Arthur said something about going to the Garrison, and Finn disappeared upstairs with his latest acquisition from the local two-penny library. When everyone else had gone, Polly spoke. "What were you laughing about, back there?" Tommy paused, letting the paper relax in his hands a little. Of all the questions his aunt might ask, he had not been expecting that one. He hadn"t even thought she"d noticed, while they were standing alone in the back of the canteen with their tea. But trust Aunt Polly to retain her suspicion of her nephew and the power of a pretty face. Was Theodora Carteret pretty? Tommy supposed she was. He"d been too busy trying to guess her game to give it much notice. But that hadn"t been Polly"s question. "She something funny," Tommy said simply, and returned to his paper. The matter was given no more discussion for the rest of the afternoon. So, one of the things that struck me as I was rewatching Season One trying to pull more bits out for this story is that, the first time I watched this show, I was rooting for Grace, for some reason. Young girl, big city, trying to fight for truth, justice, and revenge. Found myself shouting at the TV set telling her not to get involved with Tommy, who was, as far as I was concerned, a very hot mess that did not need to complicate her life. Second time around, I find myself rooting for Tommy. Family guy, just trying to make his world work, just trying to support the various needs and wants of the people in his life. And my reading of his relationship with Grace changed. The first time, I legitimately thought she just found herself in love with him, but the second, I started wondering if she started cultivating the relationship and then she found she loved him despite her best efforts, and just went with it because she was too far in for any real feeling to make a difference. And that, that studied indifference, is why she leaves at the end without Tommy. Anyway, the point of this monologue is that if we, as viewers, can come away from re-playing these events with two different readings, how must it play in Tommy"s head? Here"s a guy who, even before all of this, only really seems to trust his enemies, who at one point seems to know, as we do, that Grace is not really on his team. How must the idea of her keep him up at night? My thought is that Tommy likes Grace because she represents that golden ideal of moving up in the world, an idea that he seems to be striving towards during the first season. He makes a big deal of her posh accent and uses her voice as a cover during their trip to Cheltenham. At the end of episode five, you see the camera pan through the betting shop, with Tommy smiling like a king in the midst of his business. He also has a lot of time and a lot of respect for the careful planners and keen-minded characters of the series, the Aunt Pollys and Campbells, which exist in strong opposition to the characters that he has to mentally carry, like Arthur. Even after her betrayal, I think he still maintains a kind of respect for Grace (if not an outright love) because he recognizes and respects the skill with which she sold him out without him guessing a thing. He was outplayed, and that doesn"t happen often, and a mind like that is attractive to him. The things we love are bad for us, I guess. If his attraction, then, is to intelligence and careful planning, and his respect is given even to those people he stands in opposition to, then we come to the character of Theodora, who exists to explore those concepts and how they play out. Like Grace, Theodora is on the outside of Tommy"s world, and totally different from the other women in his life, except maybe Polly. She represents a totally different standard of life and work that Tommy both despises and longs for at the same time. Now that Shelby Brothers is a legal business, Tommy is looking for a little more middle-class gilding on his life, and philanthropy is going to add that gilt. But Theodora Carteret is going to make him work a little for it. Nothing more was said in the Shelby household about Small Heath Settlement House after their Sunday visit. The cheque, painstakingly filled out on Tommy"s desk, was duly cashed, and the world went on much as it had before. King Street had its own eyes and ears, and they had all taken notice of the Shelbys" visit, and their silence on the subject afterwards. Their approval had been given. And Shelby approval was just as good as law. Tommy did not seek out the fruits of his endeavor. If Theodora Carteret said she would do a thing, then he rather thought she would. The officer class set a high standard on honor in its many forms, and he did not think their idea of honor was exclusive to men only. The changes wrought by the Settlement were imperceivable to an untrained eye - a few less children playing in the streets, a group of boys (and a few girls) walking home in the evening hours, long after school had finished for the day, in deep discussion of some working man"s theme, one less hacking cough echoing from an upper-story window. The neighborhood grew used to the sight of the Settlement"s nursing residents dashing through town with their bags strapped to the back of their bicycles. Thus unencumbered, life went on, with Tommy Shelby looking after his empire and The Honorable Miss Theodora Carteret looking after hers. It did not seem likely their paths would cross often- Tommy was not in the habit of frequenting schoolyards, or back-lane doorsteps, or the homes of the convalescent. Far easier to find him in the Garrison snug, or his uncle"s yards, or his family"s warehouses near the river, or, yes, the factory gates near closing time on a Friday payday to supervise the collecting of the week"s betting slips from the eager factory hands. Even an emperor likes to dirty his hands watching the work every once in a while. And it did make Tommy smile, watching old John Davvey patiently pencil in each entry as the crowd around him clamored to get their bets in before Davvey closed the book and slouched back to Shelby Brothers Limited to deposit his take and record his bettors" names. This was a good pitch, one Tommy hadn"t visited in a while, being just across the street from the Birmingham Small Arms factory. The men who worked here were well paid and well informed on the comings and goings of the racing world - Tommy had good information from a legion of newspaper boys that the Racing Daily was one of the best selling papers on this street. And there was a big race meeting this weekend at Cheltenham. Yes, John Davvey"s take would be a big one.

they call us by number and never by name we"re all of us different and all of us same with a roll of the dice we have entered the game a game that will tease us, and torture, and maim. we"re living to fight and we"re fighting to die we"re waiting to laugh and we"re hoping to cry a voice inside asking, a thousand times, why? if this is called living, then living"s a lie." The cave was stunned. Gloria and Tina looked like they come to the wrong place, and Neil wanted to pull Evey down and kiss her senseless for showing the other girls what for without resorting to violence. Evey sat down, shoving the paper back in her pocket. "It"s still a work in progress," she said, trying to break the silence. "It"s not very good right now, but it"ll get better. Who"s next?" "Well, I compose poetry, too," Charlie said, trying to win back the confidence of his lady friends, who Neil could see (because his eyes weren"t blinded by the mere presence of women) were not the sort of girls Welton men are expected to marry. Lipstick too bright, clothes off the rack at Sears, perfume bought at a drugstore and not the scent counter at Nieman Marcus. Charlie leaned over to Tina, reciting, in a way that made it sound to the untrained ear as if he were making it up, "Shall I compare thee to a summer"s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate." "That"s so sweet," Tina said, clearly not understanding any of it. "I made that up just for you," Charlie assured her. The rest of the group sniggered when Tina said, naively, "You did?" Cameron shook his head and Charlie, undaunted, moved next to Gloria. "I"ll write one for you too, Gloria," He said, thinking for a moment and then moving into one of his tried and true favorites. "She walks in beauty like the night..." he paused, as if trying to think of the next line. Evey shook her head and buried her face in Neil"s shoulder, trying not to laugh. "She walks in beauty like the night, Of cloudless climes and starry skies. All that"s best, dark and bright, Meet in her aspect and her eyes." "That"s beautiful," Gloria said, just as impressed as Tina. "There"s plenty more where that came from," Charlie assured her. "You know, Charlie, I swear I"ve heard that second one before somewhere," Evey said. "Maybe you said something like it to Christine once," she said. "But I don"t know. You hear a lot of things like that nowadays." This was threatening to turn into a catfight even if the majority of the assembled weren"t actually women, and it was making that majority, who didn"t deal with catfights very often, very nervous. "I think we should move on to the real poetry now," Pitts said, glancing at Meeks and then at Cameron, who was still disgusted at the whole turn of events. "How about I go?" he said, opening up the book to a random page and scanning the poem he found there. "Here"s a good one," he said, a little bit too enthusiastically, standing up gingerly with the flashlight in hand and book in the other. "I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree," he began, "And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, and live alone in the bee-loud glade." Gloria yawned, and interrupted Pitts, asking "Is this all you do? Sit around and read poetry?" Pitts stopped and sat down, his rendering of "Innisfree" muffled instantly by the suggestion that their lady friend might be bored. "And what kind of poem is that, anyway?" Tina asking, pulling a bottle of liquor out of her purse. "Who wants to live alone on an island?" "That"s Yeats," Evey said protectively, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "So?" Tina asked, unscrewing the top of the bottle. "He doesn"t know how to live, if you ask me. Go ahead, pass it around," she said, giving the bottle to Neil. Neil glanced at Cameron, who shook his head imperceiveably, and then took a swig anyway, smiling and passing the bottle to Evey. Evey held the bottle up to the light, glanced at the label, and passed it to Cameron. "I"m not much of a whiskey drinker," she said, smiling thinly at Tina. "Wine"s more my thing," she said. "Oh," Tina said. "Do you like Chianti?" "Chianti," Evey repeated, trying not to laugh. "No, there"s this winery out in California my dad"s got stock in...We"ve got cases of the stuff at home. It"s pretty good." Tina nodded, not having a comeback to that, because her father probably didn"t own stock in anything, and had probably never seen any wine besides the cheap chianti bottles they put on tables in Italian restaurants to hold candles. "Me and Pitts are working on a hi-fi system. It shouldn"t be that hard to, uh, to put together," Meeks said, trying to impress Gloria and Tina again, but it looked like it was going nowhere fast- apparently they were"t the types that liked boys in glasses with high test scores and bright futures. "Yeah. Uh, I might be going to Yale," Pitts began. "But, I, I might not," He finished lamely. "Don"t you guys miss having girls around here?" Gloria asked, taking a long drag from her cigarette, clearly a girl who"d been around the block before a few times and who was beginning to wonder what sort of nest of nerds she"d walked into. " Yeah," Meeks and Pitts said at the same time, nodding like dummies. Neil wrapped his arm around Evey a little tighter and Evey turned to covertly kiss his ear, blowing softly into it to make him shudder a little. "That"s part of what this club is about," Charlie said. "Regaining the calming influence of women in our turbulent lives. In fact, I"d like to announce I published an article in the school paper, in the name of the Dead Poets." "What?" Cameron asked, horrified. " Demanding girls be admitted to Welton," Charlie summarized, looking pleased with himself. "You didn"t," Pitts said, just as mortified as Cameron. "So we can all stop beating off," Charlie whispered to Meeks. Evey rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Charlie, are you nuts?" she asked. Charlie ignored her, still pleased as punch at the impression he"d made. " How did you do that?" Neil asked, interested and concerned at the same time. "I"m one of the proofers. I slipped the article in," Charlie said with a shrug. "Look, uh, it"s, it"s over now," Meeks said, shaking his head. The gaity of earlier had gone. "Why? Nobody knows who we are," defended Charlie. "Charlie, this is absurd," Evey said. "I don"t care what you think about co-education, I"m all for it, but this-this is the wrong way to do it. I"ll see you guys," she said, disgusted, picking up her coat and leaving the cave. Neil gave Charlie a scathing look and dashed out after Evey. "Evey! Evey, wait up!" "Neil, I can"t believe you are letting them waste their time with those girls!" Evey said once they were far enough away from the cave that the ongoing argument would drown out their own. "They"re old enough to make their own decisions on how to be stupid!" Neil said. "They"re not aware of the fact that those are the kind of girls who eat poor guys like Meeks and spit them out in the trash as broken men!" Evey said. "And I like your friends, Neil! I like them a lot! They"re smart and funny guys who happen to live with a bunch of men all the time and don"t know the ways of women, which I know (from personal use) can be terrible things. And I don"t want to see them get hurt by callous bitches like Gloria and Tina who wear enough make-up to send a whore packing and who don"t know Shakespeare from shit! They are so much better than that!" "Evey, wait," Neil plead. "No, Neil, forget it. I"m going home. I"ll see you at practice when you"ve all sobered up." And she was gone, pedaling into the autumn mist. The poem used in this chapter (aside from Byron and Yeats) is my own; I won a poetry slam with it my Junior Year of High school. Ironically, that is the final copy, so any editing would be to Evey"s discredit. I decided I needed to include this episode after watching DPS again, and suddenly Evey was really pissed off. I have no idea why. So- DRAMA for our dramatic teenagers. Who knew? Reviews, please? passes hat Act Four, Scene One: A cold reception Evey didn"t greet him when practice started. She didn"t step in to save him when Veronica, the girl playing Hermia, started flirting with him again, and she didn"t even respond to him when he asked her from the wings again to listen to him. In fact, it wasn"t until the end of practice that he even got her attention, shouting, "TITANIA!" from the stage in his best Oberon-esque voice. The whole auditorium turned to look at him. Evey was the last to turn, looking coldly at him. Neil swallowed, and began his speech, cobbled together from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which she"d recommended to him for its brilliant comedy. "Not for the world would I leave her aside why, man, she is mine own, my best belovèd!" he declared, pointing to her from the stage. "And I as rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar and the rocks pure gold." He dropped his arm, staring at her, hoping, praying that this would work. "Forgive me that I do not dream on thee," he begged, "because thou see"st me dote upon another. For love, thou know"st, is full of jealousy. Forgive me, tender valentine, if sorrow, Be a sufficient ransom for offence, I tender it here; I do as truly suffer Silence as e"er I did commit." The whole room was silent, and then, out of nowhere, Miss Pevensie was clapping, walking down to where Evey was standing and whispering in her ear. Evey was crying now, and she nodded, furiously, blinking back tears and running down the aisle to hug him, and suddenly, everyone else was clapping. "You butchered that," she said through the tears. "I know," Neil said. "I"m glad you noticed." "When did you do that?" Evey asked, looking at him desperately. "In between worrying about you and worrying about Charlie getting expelled," Neil said. "I had a lot of sorrows to muddle over." Evey gave a very wet laugh and fished a handkerchief from her pocket, blowing her nose. "I"m sure you did, you priceless fool." With the rest of the cast in on the relationship (there were a few who after two weeks had still been in the dark about it) Neil and Evey felt a little bit more free to indulge in the public displays of affection some of the other members of the cast felt no shame in partaking in. "A merrier hour was never wasted there," Neil said aloud to Evey - they were lounging on a stack of cushions backstage, waiting for practice to start; Miss Penvensie had delayed it an hour because her archery team had practice, too. "But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon." He sat up, looking down at her, still lying on the cushions. "And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!" Evey read in a high, singsong voice, handing him back the script so he could take Oberon"s lines. "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania," Neil said, pitching his voice into a lower octave, the effect comic, but enough to maintain the mood. "What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence: I have forsworn his bed and company," Evey declared regally. "You wouldn"t do that to me, would you?" Neil asked. "Forswear my bed and company?" He asked, putting his nose in her face and tickling her side, making her giggle and writhe away. "I"ve already done that, and it wasn"t very much fun. And besides, I"ve never seen your bed, Neil, now come on, play Oberon. You"re stately and ...pissed off that I"m not sleeping with you." Evey explained. "Damn straight," Neil said, sitting back up, book in hand. "Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord?" "Then I must be thy lady," Evey said, langorously seductive. "But I know when thou hast stolen away from fairy land, and in the shape of Corin sat all day, playing on pipes of corn and versing love to amorous Phillida," she accused. Neil had the sense to look appalled at her suggestions. "Why art thou here," she asked, suspicious, sitting up proudly. "Come from the farthest Steppe of India? But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon, your buskin"d mistress and your warrior love, to Theseus must be wedded, and you come to give their bed joy and prosperity," She said unsympathetically, almost threatening him with this knowledge. "Oh, lady, you have me wrong," Neil said, leaning into her, whispering. "How canst thou thus for shame, Titania, Glance at my credit with Hippolyta, Knowing I know thy love to Theseus? Wait," He said, breaking character, "You"re sleeping with Theseus and I"m sleeping with Hippolyta? Who came up with this arrangement?" "Shakespeare did," Evey said, hitting him over the head with her script. "It"s funny. But rest easy, the guy who"s playing Theseus is gay, so I don"t think you have a lot to worry about there." "Really?" Neil asked, curious and confused at the same time. The fellow had given him an off look once or twice during the last few weeks of rehearsal, but he hadn"t thought anything about it. At Welton, such things were swept under doormats and generally denied, though there were a few who chose to partake. "Yeah," Evey said, not concerned. "Really nice guy, Spencer, he"s done a few things here before. Really good actor, too. He would have gotten Oberon, but Greg"s taller and Oberon needs to be tall. Now come on. Keep going. Chastise me," she said in a winsome voice. Neil rolled his eyes and kept going. "Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night from Perigenia, whom he ravished?And make him with fair Aegle break his faith, with Ariadne and Antiopa? Wow, Titania"s really making him sleep around," Neil said. "I"m not sure I want you playing this part." "I"m not sure I want your comments every five seconds, Neil! These are the forgeries of jealousy," Evey went on. "And never, since the middle summer"s spring, met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead, by paved fountain or by rushy brook, or in the beached margent of the sea, to dance our ringlets to the whistling wind," she looked at him suggestively, arching an eyebrow, "But with thy brawls thou hast disturb"d our sport." "I"d disturb all your sports if it meant I got to have you in the end," Neil said, kissing her again. It was a long kiss, with a little tongue- he was getting better at it, with a lot of help from Evelyn. "Mr. Perry, I"ll pretend I didn"t see that," Miss Pevensie said pertly. Apparently she was back from her archery practice. "I need my actors now, and not in dishabille, if you please." Evey got up quickly from the couch and went to her court of fairies, who immediately began whispering and stealing glances at Neil, who blushed a little and went back to his script as Miss Pevensie clapped her hands for Hippolyta and Theseus to began the opening scene. "views, pleases? They make my muse Neil happy. Act Four, Scene Three- The Villian Enters. "Neil, be sure to give this to Mr. Nolan," Miss Pevensie said before leaving. "It"s next week"s tech schedule." "Is it tech week already?" Neil asked, looking at the envelope in his hands. "Yes," said the director, a little harried herself. "That"s why there"s some schedule changes. We"re opening on Saturday night and I think we might go a little later than planned. I just want him to know." "I"ll see he gets it," Neil said, nodding and making for the door, turning his collar up against the cold as he pedaled back to Welton, a light snow falling. "Miss Pevensie thought you should have the schedule for next week, since it"s later than agreed upon," Neil said, handing Mr. Nolan the sealed envelope, proudly bearing the Henley Hall seal in the corner. Mr. Nolan slit the envelope, glancing over the timetable and thinking to himself. "This is very late for you to be staying out with just the bicycle, Neil," he said. "Ten o"clock, ten o"clock, midnight - we can"t have the caretaker stay up that late to watch for you." "I have to go to rehearsal," Neil said. "They"re counting on me to be there all five hours!" Mr. Nolan considered this and said, "Could we count on your honor as a student that you"d be home by twelve? No shenanigans, no...hooliganism?" "Yes, sir!" Neil defended. Mr. Nolan nodded, decidedly. "It"s settled then. On your honor as a student. You"ll be wanting the schedule back, I assume," he said, handing the paper back to Neil. "Thank you, Mr. Nolan, sir," Neil said, taking the steps two at a time back up to his room. What he found there wasn"t quite to his liking. His father was sitting at his desk, looking grim. "Father?" Neil asked, wondering what had brought him here. And suddenly, it was all clear. "Wait a minute," he began, "Before you say anything, please let me ex-" But Mr. Perry wasn"t listening to excuses and explanations. He was a man on a mission, and he"d say what he came to say. "Don"t you dare talk back to me! It"s bad enough that you"ve wasted your time with this... this absurd acting business. But you deliberately deceived me! How, how, how did you expect to get away with this? Answer me. Who put you up to it? Was it this new man? This, uh, Mr. Keating?" "No," defended Neil. "No, nobody-- I thought I"d surprise you. I"ve gotten all As in every class..." But his father wasn"t finished. "Did you think I wasn"t going to find out? "Oh, my niece is in a play with your son," says Mrs. Marks. "No, no, no," I say, "you must be mistaken. My son"s not in a play." You made me a liar of me, Neil!" He took a breath and composed himself. When he spoke again, his voice was cold, deadly. "Now, tomorrow you go to them and you tell them that you"re quitting." "I can"t just drop out, Dad! I have the main part. The performance is next Saturday! That"s not enough time for Laurence Oliver to learn the part, let alone-" " I don"t care if the world comes to an end next Saturday. You are through with that play. Is that clear? Is that clear?" He repeated loudly, looking at his son coldly. "Yes, sir," Neil repeated lifelessly. Mr. Perry turned to leave and then turned back. "I made a great many sacrifices to get you here, Neil, and you will not let me down." He said it more like a threat than a benevolent gift, and Neil responded with a servile, obedient, "No, sir." He stood in the doorway and watched his father leave. There was a hurricane swelling up inside his mouth, an earthquake starting where his heart should be, pounding in his temples, rushing to overwhelm his brain. A car was starting up outside, pulling out of the driveway. His father was leaving him here, abandoning him like he always did. It was too much! Neil pulled his coat back on and bolted for the stairs, the surge of passion overwhelming him. He wanted to kick, scream, shout back, as though he were five again and consumed with a desire for his own way. He"d never felt this way before, felt this overwhelming desire to do what he wanted and flaunt it in the face of his father, and he wanted to tell someone who would listen. Oh, any boy in this hallway would listen, would nod and smile and say "Yeah, I understand. I"ve been there. I know." But they didn"t know - None of them knew! - what it was like to fight back. And he only knew one person who did, who threw caution to the wind and paddled their own canoe against the current and sailed their ship against great odds. He grabbed a bicycle and began pedaling for Henley Hall, his breath heavy, heart heaving in his chest as though it were being tossed between waves on a stormy night at sea. There was a burn in his legs he could not ignore, but it made him feel safe, made him feel alive! Legs pounding, he got off the bike, leaning it haphazardly against the tree, running under the trees to the dormitories on the far side of the main building. She"d be on the top floor, he thought, and if he didn"t find her window, he"d shout until she came to him. "EVEY! EVEY LANGFORD! EVEY!" Three weeks of rehearsals had sharpened his voice- he could throw it to the top of the Welton clock tower if he wanted to and it would still come back to him, booming and full of power. "EVELYN LANGFORD!" Lights were beginning to go on in the dormitories, windows thrown open, questions asked. "Who"s there?" "A boy. He wants to see Evey." "Evey? Always knew she was loose." "I"ve seen him before, he"s in the play." "He"s cute!" "Neil?" called a voice that he knew. Miss Pevensie was leaning out her window on the end of the top floor, looking down, concern on her face. "Neil, what are you doing here?" "I need to talk to Evey!" Neil shouted. Miss Pevensie thought for a moment. "Here, come up the fire escape. We"ll talk for a moment." Neil nodded, dashing over to the fire escape stairs and running up to the top floor- Miss Pevensie had opened the fire escape door and let him onto the landing and into the bright hallway. It was full of curious girls, wondering what sort of extraordinary hero had been let into their virgin temple at ten o clock on a Friday night. "In here," Miss Pevensie said, shooing the girls along and letting Neil into her room. "Evey"s just got in the shower, Neil. We"ll wait for her here. What"s this about?" Miss Pevensie asked. "I just wanted to talk to her about something," Neil said, sitting down in the tiny sitting room. "It couldn"t have waited?" Miss Pevensie asked kindly. Neil shook his head, and she nodded. "That kind of something. Well. I was just making some tea," she offered. "Would you like some?"

Which waves in every raven tress Or softly lightens o"er her face, Where thoughts serenely sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. And on that cheek and o"er that brow So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent,- A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent," finished Charlie with a little mysterious flourish. The cave was filled with clapping. "I can tell you for a fact her heart is not at all innocent," said Evey matter of factly, taking the volume from Charlie, her breath recovered. She pulled a black beret from her coat pocket and pulled in onto her head, beat-style. "I know she reads novels before she goes to bed at night." "Trashy novels?" Charlie asked, hopeful. "The very trashiest," Evey assured him. "Bodice-rippers." There was a collective sound of appreciation and Evey flipped through the book. "Oh, here"s a good one," she said, standing up carefully and looking around the boys, taking a deep, exhilarating breath and beginning. "I taste a liquor never brewed,From tankards scooped in pearl;Not all the vats upon the RhineYield such an alcohol! Inebriate of air am I,And debauchee of dew,Reeling, through endless summer days,From inns of molten blue. When landlords turn the drunken beeOut of the foxglove"s door,When butterflies renounce their drams,I shall but drink the more!" It was more of a performance than a recitation- she raised her voice and gestured wildly, taking the occasional drunken step this way and that, her eyes flinging exuberance around the cave. "Till seraphs swing their snowy hats,And saints to windows run,To see the little tipplerLeaning against the sun!" She set the volume down and smiled triumphantly. "Let it never be said women writers refused to raise hell. Emily Dickinson, gentlemen, the one and only." There were cat-calls, and Evey sat down, pleased with herself. Even Cameron was impressed, any futher cynical comments stilled on his lips. "How"d I do?" she asked Neil when the meeting was over and the boys began wandering home. "I wouldn"t quite call this a second date," Neil said. "I mean, there were lots of other guys there, and it"s not quite a date when you have to share..." "You just want to see me again," Evey accused, and Neil shrugged. "Would it be a crime?" he asked, watching her retrieve her bicycle. "Never," Evey said, kissing him quickly on the cheek. "We have visiting hours at Henley on Sunday afternoons after church," she said, pedaling off over the snow before Neil could get another word in edgewise. I love surprising Neil. He"s so fun to be spontaneous with. And ooOOoh, visiting hours. Perhaps someone will pay a visit? Act Two, Scene Two- A Meeting. Neil had survived the initial meeting with Dr. Hager about driving him over to Henley on Sunday; he"d even survived the inquest that followed. What he was concerned about surviving now was the front hall, which was a much more daunting prospect than the other two because in about five seconds it was going to be filled with teenage girls. He and Dr. Hager were sitting out in front of Henley in the school car, waiting for chapel to adjourn so that Neil and Hager could go inside and announce that Neil was here for his appointment with Miss Langford. Appointment. That was the word they used. Like Neil was going to a doctor"s office or a visit to the dentist. "There"s the bell," Dr. Hager said, watching the doors of the church. Neil sat forward in his seat a little and watched the girls file out of church, appropriately hated and gloved, eyes downcast, pleasantly chatty as their Sunday shoes shuffled through the leafy path from the chapel to the front doors of Henley Hall. When the last of the girls had gone inside, Dr. Hager got out of the car, walking Neil to the door. There was a receptionist waiting to welcome them there- Neil had to sign a visitor log and then was escorted down the hall, much to the surprise and interest of the other girls still on the ground floor of the Henley building. They were probably wondering why none of them had had callers, and the word was soon passed along that Evey Langford had a visitor in the parlor downstairs. Henley did things the old way, and that involved keeping all male visitors, including family members, confined to the visiting parlor on the ground floor, under the watchful eyes of the girl"s floor matron, the resident teacher in their residence. Evey arrived with a tall dark haired woman in tow, who introduced herself in a soft British voice as Miss Pevensie, confided to both of them that she would be as intrusive as a mouse, and sat down in the corner with her gradebook and did not look their way after that. "I didn"t think you"d come," Evey said as a maid brought in tea, another old fashioned tradition Henley kept up. "I didn"t think you"d come down when they told you I was here," Neil answered back. "You look really nice," he said, gesturing to the skirt and sweater set she was wearing. "So do you," Evey said. There was an awkward silence, and finally Evey said "Did you see that we"re putting on a play in a few months?" "I saw the poster in the hall. A Midsummer Night"s Dream," Neil said. "I think you should try out for it," Evey confided. "I know there"s an actor in you somewhere. And Miss Pevensie"s our director. Miss Pevensie, wouldn"t Neil do well in "Midsummer"? As Lysander, perhaps, or...Oberon!" "Oberon"s a big part, Evey. Could you handle it, Neil?" the teacher asked, looking at Neil. "I"ve never really tried acting before, but I"ve always wanted to," Neil assured her. "Let"s hear you read a little, then," Miss Pevensie said, giving him the copy she had been marking. "Here," she said, opening the book. "Start there." She sat down next to Evey and said, "Whenever you"re ready, Neil." Neil took a deep breath, trying not to let the words swim on the page. Oberon was speaking here, quarreling with Titania and instructing Puck. "Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove Till I torment thee for this injury." He shook his fist at her imaginary retreating back, and Evey giggled. Neil tried to forget her. "My gentle Puck, come hither." He gestured for the fairy sprite, and leaned down to talk to him, trying to invoke the modern aspects of the piece the way Professor Keating had shown them. "Thou rememberestSince once I sat upon a promontory,And heard a mermaid on a dolphin"s backUttering such dulcet and harmonious breathThat the rude sea grew civil at her songAnd certain stars shot madly from their spheres,To hear ...the sea-maid"s music." Neil finished quietly, putting the book down. Miss Pevensie was looking at him with a thoughtful quality in her eyes. "Read for Puck next time, Mr. Perry. I think it would suit you better," she said, going back to her grading. "Do you want the-" Neil held the book out. Miss Pevensie looked at it and shook her head. "You and Evey will want to practice now, I expect? The tryouts are this week," Miss Pevensie said with a smile. Neil went and sat down next to Evey with the book spread out between them. "I"m going to read for Titania," Evey said. "I think it"d be fun to play her." "And have to kiss a donkey? Charlie"s not going to like hearing about this," Neil said. Evey gave him a playful shove. "It also means I"d be your enemy," she said suggestively, pinching his leg. "You"d be far too good as Puck to be anyone else." Yes, my dear readers, you read that right. Pevensie. That"s Susan teaching at Henley Hall- she"ll come up more later. I had a great idea and couldn"t put it down with her. Reviews, pleases? They make Neil very happy. Muses eat reviews like hungry reviewers eat cookies. Act Three, Scene One: Trumpets and Alarums For those of you who aren"t familiar with Shakespeare, Act Three is where the major problem is introduced. Romeo and Juliet get married, Macbeth kills Duncan, Caesar is stabbed. Now I"m introducing the major problem in Neil"s story; I"ll leave it up to you to decide what, or who, that is. Neil arrived home that night full of ideas and bubbling over with excitement, nearly busting the door off its hinges and startling Todd out of his desk chair. " I"ve found it!" he proclaimed, tossing his coat over his chair and the book he"d just checked out from the campus library on his bed. Todd was confused. " Found what?" He asked. "What I want to do! Right now. What is really inside of me. And it"s all Evey"s fault, so you can blame her later when I explode from happiness." He handed Todd the poster he"d stolen from the bulletin board near the front entrance of Henley Hall, nearly hopping up and down with excitement. "A Midsummer Night"s Dream." Todd read aloud. "So what is it?" Neil took the paper and slapped Todd upside the head with it. "A play, dummy." "I know that," Todd said defensively. "But what"s it got to do with you?" "They"re putting it on at Henley Hall. See, open try-outs," Neil pointed to the bottom of the poster. Todd was still perfectly clueless. " So?" he asked, very confused about what this had to do with anything. "So I"m gonna act!" Neil exclaimed. "And Evey"s going to help me! It couldn"t be easier. Ever since I can remember I"ve wanted to try it. Last summer I even tried to go to summer stock auditions but of course my father wouldn"t let me." "And now he will?" asked Todd, still confused. "Hell, no, but that"s not the point. The point is for the first time in my whole goddamned life, I know what I want, and for the first time I"m gonna do it whether my father wants me to or not! I"m going to do this play, I"m going to get my girl, I"m going to do what I want with my life! Carpe diem, goddamn it! The king doth keep his revels here tonight!" he quoted to the room, fists raised as if in victory. Todd shook his head and went back to work as Neil dove into his play, happily humming to himself. Scene Two: The Forest of Athens "Are you ready, Puck?" Evey asked, waltzing out of the audition to where Neil was waiting in the hall, script in hand, marked and ready to do battle. "I don"t know, Titiana. Do you think I"m ready?" Neil consulted. "I think you were born ready," Evey said, kissing him on the nose. "Now go knock her socks off," she said, pushing him inside. Neil went inside the lighted theatre, handing his forms to the girl sitting next to Miss Pevensie and traipsing up onto the stage. There were a few of the stage lights on, and the effect was blinding. "And who will you be reading for, Mister...Perry?" the assistant asked. "I"ll be reading for Puck," Neil said, somewhat unsure of himself now. "If you could start at "Through the forest have I gone," on line 67 of Act two, scene one," Miss Pevensie said. He started speaking, and after that he heard no more. Scene Three: Another part of the Forest Neil stood waiting in the hall as the classrooms emptied out for Henley"s last period of the day. He was skipping study period, but he didn"t care about the demerits- he lived or died by the piece of paper that Miss Pevensie would be putting up shortly. "Is it here yet?" Evey asked, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it tightly. "Not yet," Neil said, glancing around the hallway. They weren"t the only ones waiting for the magical piece of paper; several other girls were hanging around the hallway as their comrades in learning swept on upstairs, ready to dive into another night of homework. Miss Pevensie was just emerging from her classroom, her heels clicking down the hallway as she carried her books, as well as a large sheet of paper, to the bulletin board. The waiting students held back until she was done pinning it up, and then surged towards the paper. There were shouts and cries of joy, sighs and sounds of sadness. Neil waited impatiently until at least one girl moved, then elbowed his way to the front. "Puck!" He cried out. "I"m PUCK! And...and you"re Titania, Evey!" Evey looked surprised, but it was shortlived. When he was out of the crowd he hugged her tightly, then pulled back to look at her. Before he could say "Well done!" she was kissing him, full on the lips, in front of everyone, most of whom were too preoccupied (or too polite?) to notice. "Oh, give me my sin again," she said when he had pulled away, and bent their heads together a second time. Neil was breathless, the first real kiss he"d ever really...what was the line? It was from Romeo and Juliet, he knew, he"d read it as a freshman, just a silly boy... "You kiss by the book," he said finally. "Is there any other way?" Evey asked mischievously. "I"d better stop, otherwise I"ll get demerits for public indecency." "I didn"t think you worried about things like that," Neil accused. "I do now," Evey said. "If I get kicked out of the play, that means I get to spend less time with you. First practice is tomorrow, Robin Goodfellow." Scene Four- A Merry Interlude. "So, do you woo any women in your role as Puck?" Charlie asked as they sat in the common room, lounging on a study break. "No, Puck"s more the narrator of the play. He instigates a lot of people falling in love, including Titania with the donkey-headed Bottom. He"s a troublemaker," Neil said, flipping through his script with fascination. "Not unlike yourself, Mr. Perry," Charlie said, imitating Mr. Nolan. "And you get to hang out with Eee- vee," he said the name in a singsong voice, getting a punch in the shoulder from Neil. "Hey, I"m only saying. It"s a theater, man; There"s lots of dark corners for getting comfy in." There"s one more scene in act three, and then we"ll move on to Act Four! I didn"t want to lift too much text from the movie (which we get a lot of in the next scene) so that"s why there are some abbreviated episodes in this act, like the scene with Neil and Todd stealing homework and Neil coming back to the dorm announcing his victory. Act Three, scene Five- a deserted cave. "I still can"t believe you brought that ugly lamp home," Evey was saying as the gentlemen settled themselves into the old Indian cave, waiting for Charlie to finally decide to show up. "Why on earth did you have that in the scene shop?" Pitts asked, disgusted that something with that much bad taste had ever entered the doors of the sainted Henley Hall. "I think we did a production of "You Can"t Take it With You,' or something like that. It was before my time, anyway," Evey said, "And I decided it was time for it to go." "And I liked it," Neil defended. "Well, are we going to start this shindig? Knox is over at the Danburry"s probably getting sloshed and God only knows where Charlie is." "All right by me," Meeks said. "I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately," They all recited, Evey trying to mouth along with Neil, not remembering the words. "I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to rout all that was not life." Outside, there was the sound of giggles- very feminine giggles. "You didn"t... invite anyone else, did you?" Neil asked Evey. Evey shook her head. "I haven"t even told anyone about it." "Oh, my God!" said Cameron in disgust, alarmed that their male sphere was being invaded once again. "Is this it?" A female voice asked outside. "Yeah, this is it. Go ahead, go on in." It was Charlie. "It"s my cave. Watch your step." " We"re not gonna slip, are we?" Another voice, also female, asked. "Uh-oh." It was the first girl again. Cameron and Pitts, who were carrying the flashlights, shined them over the entranceway, temporarily blinding the first girl who stumbled over the rocks to the cave. She was followed closely behind by another, a very blonde sort. " Hi," the first one said. There was a scramble among the boys to stand up, Pitts hitting his head on the ceiling in the process. Evey contained a laugh at their efforts to impress girls who were clearly townies and watched them all awkwardly introduce themselves. Charlie came scrambling in behind them, beret cocked and ready for poetry. "Hi, you guys. Meet, uh, Gloria and-" he turned to look at the blonde, who looked offended he hadn"t remembered her name. "Tina," she supplied, miffed. "Tina," Charlie repeated, looking around the cave with a mischievous smile. "This is the pledge class of the Dead Poets Society." "Hello. How do you do?" The boys said. Gloria and Tina seemed confused by these boys, who were probably another species compared to the ones they knew- boys who wore shirts with collars and ties and greeted women by standing up and saying "How do you do?' instead of "Hey, baby." "Evelyn," Evey said, holding her hand out to shake. "Nice to meet you," She said, smiling and shaking both girls" hands; the handshakes were limp and the hands clammy. "Guys, move. Move," Charlie urged. "Come on, folks. It"s Friday night. Let"s get on with the meeting. Hurriedly everyone, Evey not included, rushed to stand up and proffer his seat, full of "excuse me"s and "sorry"s. "So, Charlie, did you ever get a chance to call Christine?" Evey asked when Tina and Gloria had sat down. The rest of the boys looked at Charlie, noticing that Evey wasn"t looking very kindly on the new intruders. "No," Charlie said blithely. "No, I didn"t. she didn"t seem too interested in me anyway," He said. "Unlike these two...goddesses," He elaborated, making both girls giggle. "So, do you go to Ridgeway?" Gloria asked, glancing at Evey. "I"ve never seen you there before." "I go to Henley Hall," Evey said with just a little bit of acid in her voice, scooting a little closer to Neil and taking his hand in her own as if to say, "This is my man, you meek, pathetic little thing, and don"t try anything on him or I"ll claw your eyes out.' Neil, noticing this, thought it was rather funny and wrapped his arm around Evey"s shoulders and whispered in her ear as Charlie started speaking, "I think you can put the claws away now." "Guys, I have an announcement to make," Charlie was saying, "In keeping with the spirit of passionate experimentation of the Dead Poets, I"m giving up the name Charlie Dalton. From now on, call me Nuwanda. " Nuwanda?" repeated Pitts, not believing his ears. "Where the hell did that come from, Charlie?" Neil asked. "Who knows, with Charlie," Evey said, a lot of acid still in her voice. Tina took out a tube of very red lipstick and opened it, meaning to brighten the already dazzlingly bright lips. Charlie, however, intercepted it and drew a set of fierce looking arrows on his cheeks, making a barbaric sort of face and then, sitting down, asked, "Well, we gonna have a meeting or what?" "Yeah," said the blonde. "If you don"t have a meeting, how do we know whether we want to join or not?" "Join?" Neil asked, surprised, a sentiment that was echoed by many of the other boys. Charlie looked affronted. "Well, Evey"s a member," Charlie said. "Why should Tina and Gloria be any different?" "Because..." Neil tried to think of a good reason. "Yeah, why should we be different?" Gloria asked, chewing her gum rather loudly. "Well, I"m only a member because I write poetry," Evey explained, not really putting it past these girls to actually write anything worth wasting the paper on. "You are?" Neil asked, quite sure there were a few other reasons why Evey was here and no other women were. "Yes," said Todd, speaking up for the first time in a long time and playing along with her lie. "Good poetry, too." "I don"t believe her," Tina said. "Read some." "Yeah," chimed in Gloria. "Read some." "Well, I"ve got something I"m working on now," Evey said. "Very in tune with the idea of the Dead Poets Society, and sucking the marrow out of life. It"s called "Lie.'" She stood up and took a few sheets of paper out of her pocket, covered in scribbles and crossouts, shuffling them into the right order and then clearing her throat. "We"re living to fight and we"re fighting to die there"s death on my conscience and blood in my eye the breath of existence is only a sigh if this is called living, then living"s a lie." She picked up tempo, her voice on the edge of shouting, despairing for the whole human race as she ranted on. "we"re packing up courage and putting on fears our bread has been buttered by blood and by tears our gods have all left us and lonliness leers- in this we"ll continue for ten thousand years. we"re living to fight and we"re fighting to die we"re building a fortress that"s ten miles high in case of disaster, our people will fly if this is called living, then living"s a lie. they call us by number and never by name we"re all of us different and all of us same with a roll of the dice we have entered the game a game that will tease us, and torture, and maim. we"re living to fight and we"re fighting to die we"re waiting to laugh and we"re hoping to cry a voice inside asking, a thousand times, why? if this is called living, then living"s a lie." The cave was stunned. Gloria and Tina looked like they come to the wrong place, and Neil wanted to pull Evey down and kiss her senseless for showing the other girls what for without resorting to violence. Evey sat down, shoving the paper back in her pocket. "It"s still a work in progress," she said, trying to break the silence. "It"s not very good right now, but it"ll get better. Who"s next?"

"With your company," William said. "Aside from Sybilla, Tiberias and myself, he hardly sees a soul. He may be a king, Audemande, but he is also still a man, and a very young man who needs the company of other young people. Now come - let us liven up his day with a little Catullus." Baldwin"s quarters were dark and the windows hung with gauzy white drapes - The light sometimes hurt his eyes, the Doctor explained. The King was sitting at his desk, perusing several important looking papers with official looking seals on their ends, large fanciful wax impressions over long bits of string. "Your majesty," William said, bowing low. "Your humble servant and physician is here to ask you how you feel today?" "The same as ever, William," Baldwin said, not looking up. "My head hurts, my hand stings, my whole body"s falling to pieces and no one will be here to pick them up when they do finally hit the ground." William coughed discreetly and Baldwin looked up, pausing when he saw Aude. "You"ve brought a friend with you, William. Your student --Sybilla"s little bird. Audemande, correct? Why"s she come here?" "The little bird came to sing, your majesty," Aude said with a tight and meager smile. Baldwin laughed and sat back in his chair, pulling it away from his desk. "Very well then, little bird, sing for the King of Jerusalem. What is your song this afternoon? Not more romances, I hope." Aude thought she saw him wink at her, and she held back a wider smile - he had been listening again the other day. "Aude has prepared a poem from Catullus"s writings, my lord," William said with a slightly testy tone; he did not really approve of Aude"s outside writings, as frivolous as they were. "Ah, Catullus. And how do you find him, Aude?" Baldwin asked, tipping his head to the side, waiting for her answer. Aude looked at William, who nodded for her to go on. "I found him crass, my lord," she said truthfully. "His mind and heart are very fickle." "Yes, that is Catullus," Baldwin admitted. "Very well, continue." Aude glanced down at her paper and cleared her throat, trying to find that voice she used when she was reciting her own poetry. "Is it you, my friend of friends, who come,Dearer to me than a million others,Veranius, home to your hearth and home,The aged mother, the loving brothers?You have come home! O joy - it is well.I shall see you safe, I shall hear you tell(you best know how) of Hiberian races,And the deeds they do, and the storied places.And drawing your neck..." Aude stopped, embarrassed by the next few lines."And drawing your neck in my own for a while,I shall kiss the face and the eyes that smile.Oh! Hearts that are happy are over the rest,Is any so happy as I, or so blest?" It was a poor choice of poems to recite to a man who had few companions, but the king seemed pleased by it. Baldwin clapped his hands together lightly, nodding. "That was well phrased, Aude. You"ve had a good teacher. William, will you stay for chess?" "Alas, my lord, but my manuscript calls me," the older man said, bowing. "But Aude will stay with you, if it is company you desire," He added, glancing at his student, as if to tell her that her mind was already made up on the matter. "You will stay?" Baldwin asked, looking at Aude. The young woman nodded, trying not to be afraid. "Very well then, until tomorrow, William," Baldwin said. "I"ve something else to discuss with you." William nodded, and bowed out, leaving Aude in the dark room with only the King for company, the servants at the fringes of the room, silent and statuesque. "You don"t play, do you?" the young king asked, pointing to the chess set. Aude shook her head. "I do not have the head for it," she admitted sheepishly. "That"s unfortunate," Baldwin sighed. "I was rather hoping for a game today. No matter - we"ll talk then. Sybilla tells me that your lessons go well with the Archbishop of Tyre," Baldwin said simply. "I see that he enjoys them. Is he treating you well? You do not find his instruction too harsh?" "No, my lord, not at all. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn." "Ah, that is good," Baldwin said. "I, too, loved to learn once. Such stories he would show me - Aesop, Ovid, Virgil and Homer. I enjoyed them so." "He often says you had a quick mind, my lord," Aude put in. Baldwin chuckled. "That"s about the only thing that"s quick about me nowadays. This disease has slowed me down considerably. But that is why I must have quick eyes and ears like yours and Sybilla"s around my court, to hear new stories and bring them to my chambers. Have you any new romances today, little Aude? Gossip I should hear? Whispers of what new low levels my vassals are reaching?" "Nothing, sire," Aude said. "I am sorry," she added. She didn"t know anything important enough to be worth the king"s hearing, surely... "You"re not sorry," Baldwin accused. "You"re too meek and too afraid of me to report anything that might anger me. I"ve been caged long enough to know when the birds are not singing because they are afraid the lion will eat them, Audemande." He laughed at Aude"s abjectly surprised look. "And your innocence won"t fool me - Tiberias told me when you first came here how you yelled so ferociously at his clerk it nearly made his ears bleed. Now come, tell me everything." Aude was taken aback - he"d heard of her from Tiberias? She wondered how many people knew about that unfortunate clerk and when she"d live it down. "I...would not know where to begin, my lord," Aude said. "Of all the little birds I know, Audemande of Vinceaux, you"re the only one who doesn"t seem to particularly enjoy singing," the king observed frankly. "I"ll tell Sybilla to start calling you something else. The hawk"s a bird that does not sing. But I think you are no hawk - when you cry it is not bitter. No, more peaceful, softer, like...a dove. The Little Dove - that"s what I"ll call you from now on. Begin with..." he thought about this for a moment. "Begin with what you do. What dusty book does William have your head shoved inside?" Baldwin asked mirthfully. "The Bible. We have just finished Psalms," Aude said. "The Psalms," Baldwin repeated fondly. "Do you have a favorite?" "No, my lord," Aude said. "Do you, my lord?" she asked tentatively. "The fifty-fifth," Baldwin replied without hesitation. "Do you know it?" He asked kindly. "Not by heart, my lord, but if you began it, I might remember," Aude offered. "Listen to my prayer, O God," Baldwin began, "do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked; for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger. My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest- I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm." Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city. Day and night they prowl about on its walls; malice and abuse are within it. Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets. If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him." Baldwin"s voice was gentle, and pleasant to listen to; Aude could imagine him speaking to a great multitude and having all of them listen in awe. But here he paused, and sighed, continuing on with a little more hope in his voice. "But it is you, a man like myself, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God." He turned his face towards Aude"s, and she could imagine him smiling. "There is more, but I generally stop there. It describes my plight exactly, no?" he said. "I see violence and strife in my city, and destructive forces at work within it. Even within my own house," he added bitterly. Aude looked at her lap in shame. "No, not you, dear girl. My sister"s husband, for a start." "He says he goes to Nazareth to pray, but when he comes home, he gives his armor to his squires to clean, and I hear them complaining of the blood they must wash off," Aude put in. Baldwin turned to look at her, interest glittering in his blue eyes. "Now that is what I wish to hear, little dove. Pray continue and delight an infirm young man with sordid details of the court life." She found she had more to talk about than she thought she did - she talked of the other ladies, and who liked whom, the price of grain from Egypt and the state of the livestock, things she"d heard from travelers at the king"s table and from the other ladies themselves. And Baldwin listened, intently, interrupting seldom and saying little. But his questions were discerning, well thought out, intentioned to find the most information in the fewest words. She hardly noticed the time after that, and it was only when Sybilla"s servant came to summon her back to her mistress that she realized she had been talking for nearly two hours. "Go to dinner, little dove. Even birds must eat their meals," Baldwin said, shooing her along. "Shall I...come back tomorrow, my lord?" Aude asked tentatively. "No, I"ll call for you when I wish to speak with you again. In the meantime, you will continue your poetry." Baldwin said. "I will wish to hear more of it when we meet again. It amuses me." "Anything my king wishes is his," Aude said, curtseying and leaving. She found at dinner she had nothing more to discuss with anyone, and ate her meal in nearly perfect silence. "He made good progress in his studies and as time passed he grew up full of hope and developed his natural abilities. He was a good-looking child for his age and more skilled than men who were older than himself in controlling horses and in riding them at a gallop. He had an excellent memory and he loved listening to stories. He was inclined to be thrifty, but he always remembered the good things that people had done for him, and the bad things as well. He was very like his father; not only did they look alike, but they were of similar build. They walked in the same kind of way and their speech patterns were similar. He had a quick understanding, but he had a stammer. Like his father he had a passion for hearing about history, and he paid attention to the good advice he was given." William of Tyre on the young Baldwin IV, from his Chronicle. Quoted in Bernard Hamilton, p.43 Okay, so I"ve gotten to the point where I"ve started keeping a Works Consulted page for this story. I am that hard core, people. And let me tell you, there"s already eight things on it. I"m also considering a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (tentatively for two years down the road) to see some major religious sites in Jerusalem as well as perhaps seeing the Fortress of Tiberias, and parts of Egypt. HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE? Review, please. Share in my excitement. Song of a Peacebringer - Seven - Appointed "So," Sybilla began after dinner. The servants were going around lighting the candles, and the Princess had just returned from her brother"s rooms. "William of Tyre took you to see my brother. And what did you think of the King of Jerusalem, Audemande? Did he frighten you?" she asked frankly. "I had seen him before, my lady," Aude confessed. Sybilla looked at her with a fixed intensity, silently telling her to go on and explain. "When you were in Bethlehem, those months ago, I wandered into his garden where he was playing chess with Count Tiberias. We spoke of poetry," Aude added, as if this might soften the news. "You"ve not done it again, have you? Invaded his personal garden?" Sybilla asked sharply. "No, my lady, not at all. It was a mistake, and one I will not make again," the younger woman apologized. Sybilla sighed. "My brother has few luxuries in this life, and his privacy is only one. I will not have him being disturbed at odd hours by my wandering lady-in-waiting," she pronounced. Aude noticed that the Princess was strangely protective on the subject of her brother - her normally smiling face was drawn into a thin, tightlipped line, the expression she wore when she was cross. "Has he asked to speak with you again?" "He said that he would call for me, if he had need. He said he wished to hear more poems, that they amused him," Aude recounted. Sybilla"s face softened."Did he, now? That"s good." Sybilla rose from her seat and went over to the window, looking out on the courtyard. "He"s only a year younger than me, you know. Twenty-one," she said pensively. "And you are only five years younger than him. Were it not for his sickness, he would be married by now, have a wife and children he could look after. Alas that he has none of that. Forgive me for my shortness, Aude. I am the only thing that he has left, and the only one who will protect him." "Protect him from me, my lady?" "From everyone who might hurt him, Aude, in body or in soul. I do not think you, little bird, are capable of hurting anyone." "I am grateful for my lady"s trust in me," Aude said mournfully, thinking of times when she had hurt, and deeply, too. "But you have Baldwin"s trust as well," Sybilla said. "He would not have asked me to bring you to him after dinner tomorrow otherwise." Aude couldn"t help but let her mouth drop open. Through all that, Sybilla had known all the while that Baldwin wanted to see her? "He has asked for me?" "He talked of little else for the anticipation," Sybilla assured her with a smile. "It will mean very much to him, Aude. Now, to bed with you. We cannot have the little bird tired for tomorrow"s recitation." "Aude, the little dove! You"ve returned to me," Baldwin said. "Little dove?" Sybilla asked, sitting down near her brother and straightening her dress. "That"s a name I haven"t heard before." "Unlike the rest of your birds, Sybilla, this one does not like to sing," Baldwin explained. "And she is peaceful, like the dove. So that is her name now." "Well, she"ll have to learn to like singing if she wishes to stay in my good graces," Sybilla said, looking at Aude with an almost threatening glace. Baldwin, however, didn"t notice. He patted a cushion and beckoned Aude closer. "Come, sit here, on this cushion near me, and tell me a new story." "I have not had time since yesterday to compose one, my lord," Aude apologized. "What, you are not God, that poems simply spring into being at your command?" Baldwin asked with a little jesting sarcasm. "You may read, then. Are you familiar with Ovid?" Sybilla glanced anxiously at Aude, who paused and then smiled. "I have heard of him, my lord, and read a little bit, but I shall try, for you. Please pardon any mistakes that I will make." A servant brought over the book, and Aude stroked the cover, remembering how nearly a year before she"d stumbled through the complex maze of Latin. Now she saw the words and knew exactly what they meant. "All were awestruck nor did they approve of such words,Before everyone Lelex, experienced in mind and age,So said: "The power of the sky is great and has no end,And whatever the gods have wished is accomplished,So that you may doubt less, an oak treeNext to a linden tree on Phrygian hills is surrounded by a modest wall;I myself saw the place; for Pittheus sent me intoPelopeian fields that are ruled by his parent.By no means far from here is a swamp, once habitable land,Now waves, frequented by seagulls and water fowl;Jupiter came here in mortal disguise, andWith his parent came Mercury the caduceus bearer after his wings hadbeen set aside They approached a thousand homes, seeking a place for rest,But locks closed a thousand homes; however one house received them,Small indeed, covered with straw and reeds from the marsh, But the pious old woman Baucis and Philemon of equal ageHave been joined in youthful years in that house..." It was very dark when Aude finally finished reading, a much more polished rendering than the first time she"d seen the story. "Faith follows wishes: they were the guardians of the temple,as long as life was given; weakened by years and old-agewhen by chance they were standing before the sacred steps anddiscussing the place"s downfall, Baucis saw that Philemon was in leaf,old Philemon saw that Baucis was in leaf.And now while the top grew over twin countenanceswhile it is permitted, they returned mutual words and said "farewell,o companion" at once, likewise bark covered concealed mouths:and turned the two to trees." "Ovid"s no small feat of translation," Baldwin said, impressed. "William"s done a good job with you, Aude. I can see the time was not wasted." "I pray that the day will never pass where I waste my lord"s time," Aude said sincerely. "I did not say that reading Ovid was a good use of my time," Baldwin said blatantly, and Aude could not help but laugh, knowing that he meant it as a joke. Baldwin tipped his head again, gazing at her studiously. "You have a pretty laugh, Aude of Vinceaux." "Thank you, my lord," Aude said, looking away shyly. The next day she returned to read more of the Ovid, and the day after that the same. On the fourth day Baldwin gestured to the great-leatherbound Bible and asked her to read from that, and when she was ready to leave entrusted her with a slim volume of poems he wanted her to translate and read next time to discuss with him. On some days he had something in mind, and on others, bade her read or recite whatever came to her mind. It became a game to find a story he hadn"t heard before - Sybilla took her out into the Patriarch"s quarter of the city and, both of them heavily and simply veiled, browsed with her the dim bookshops for new stories, two of Tiberias" men standing behind them for protection. A routine began to fall into place, to listen to anything and everything Baldwin might wish to hear if stories were thin on the ground. She went to the Haut Cour and watched Tiberias, sitting near the clerks and listening to the news -- and the soldiers around her. It was amazing what men would say when they thought no one was listening, and Aude learned plenty. Baldwin grew to depend on her to fill in any gaps in Tiberias" memories of the day"s events, especially if one needed to remember exactly what was said. Tiberias couldn"t hold on to details like how a particular threat or promise had been phrased, but Aude could, and she spent many hours with the two men picking over a sentence for vague intentions and hidden meanings. Even Guy, who tried to notice the King as little as possible, commented that the sovereign seemed more productive, even a little more happy, as the months rolled on. "Well, if Guy has noticed, there must be a change," Baldwin laughed when Aude told him. "How long do you think it will take William to get you through the rest of your Latin lessons?" he asked, changing the subject. " Another several months, my lord. Not until this coming Easter. He"ll be in Tyre after the new year, and is returning when the Pentecost is complete. He says that I am far enough along to manage on my own, and now only need the practice of translating to understand fully." "Oh, that"s time enough," Baldwin nodded, sitting back in his chair. "Sybilla and I," He looked at his sister for support, "Have devised a plan. I"d like to give you an official position - the Court Poet. There would be no change of duties, only that perhaps in the evening, when it is cooler, you could come, with Sybilla, and tell the both of us your little poems. You would compose more, but in my name, with me as your patron." Aude stared at him, taken aback. "I"m told it"s done in Europe," Baldwin said, his eyes searching her face. "Of course, if you do not wish for the attention-" "Your majesty overwhelms me with his generosity," Aude began, but Baldwin silenced her. "Ah, now, it comes with a price," Baldwin said, holding up a finger. "In return for this service, I would reward you with a small dowry...a piece of land should suffice. Perhaps there"s land near Ibelin that I can gift," he thought aloud, looking at his sister. "You are, after a fashion, a ward of Jerusalem, my ward, and thus I am beholden to give something for your marriage." "It is too much for such a little thing!" Aude said quickly. "Knights, lords even, are given land for service in battle, and for honor rendered! I can do no such thing!" "It is your service that you offer me, is it not?" Baldwin pointed out. "You cannot serve me on a battlefield, but in my own house, you are a necessity. You, little Poitevin bird, will keep your king from going mad," he said with a laugh, leaning forward in his chair and fixing her with his blue eyes. Audemande looked at Sybilla, who merely smiled and gave an elegant little shrug; she"d have to decide this one on her own. "Every day?" Aude repeated after a silence. Baldwin eased himself up in his chair. "Every day, even Sundays," he assured her. "Though not before church, of course." One got used to the stillness of Baldwin"s face, Aude reflected, after talking with him. There were ways he showed a person how he was feeling- the mask did not hide everything about him. But still, it was so foreign, and so...strange.

Reviews, please? passes hat Act Four, Scene One: A cold reception Evey didn"t greet him when practice started. She didn"t step in to save him when Veronica, the girl playing Hermia, started flirting with him again, and she didn"t even respond to him when he asked her from the wings again to listen to him. In fact, it wasn"t until the end of practice that he even got her attention, shouting, "TITANIA!" from the stage in his best Oberon-esque voice. The whole auditorium turned to look at him. Evey was the last to turn, looking coldly at him. Neil swallowed, and began his speech, cobbled together from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which she"d recommended to him for its brilliant comedy. "Not for the world would I leave her aside why, man, she is mine own, my best belovèd!" he declared, pointing to her from the stage. "And I as rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar and the rocks pure gold." He dropped his arm, staring at her, hoping, praying that this would work. "Forgive me that I do not dream on thee," he begged, "because thou see"st me dote upon another. For love, thou know"st, is full of jealousy. Forgive me, tender valentine, if sorrow, Be a sufficient ransom for offence, I tender it here; I do as truly suffer Silence as e"er I did commit." The whole room was silent, and then, out of nowhere, Miss Pevensie was clapping, walking down to where Evey was standing and whispering in her ear. Evey was crying now, and she nodded, furiously, blinking back tears and running down the aisle to hug him, and suddenly, everyone else was clapping. "You butchered that," she said through the tears. "I know," Neil said. "I"m glad you noticed." "When did you do that?" Evey asked, looking at him desperately. "In between worrying about you and worrying about Charlie getting expelled," Neil said. "I had a lot of sorrows to muddle over." Evey gave a very wet laugh and fished a handkerchief from her pocket, blowing her nose. "I"m sure you did, you priceless fool." With the rest of the cast in on the relationship (there were a few who after two weeks had still been in the dark about it) Neil and Evey felt a little bit more free to indulge in the public displays of affection some of the other members of the cast felt no shame in partaking in. "A merrier hour was never wasted there," Neil said aloud to Evey - they were lounging on a stack of cushions backstage, waiting for practice to start; Miss Penvensie had delayed it an hour because her archery team had practice, too. "But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon." He sat up, looking down at her, still lying on the cushions. "And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!" Evey read in a high, singsong voice, handing him back the script so he could take Oberon"s lines. "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania," Neil said, pitching his voice into a lower octave, the effect comic, but enough to maintain the mood. "What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence: I have forsworn his bed and company," Evey declared regally. "You wouldn"t do that to me, would you?" Neil asked. "Forswear my bed and company?" He asked, putting his nose in her face and tickling her side, making her giggle and writhe away. "I"ve already done that, and it wasn"t very much fun. And besides, I"ve never seen your bed, Neil, now come on, play Oberon. You"re stately and ...pissed off that I"m not sleeping with you." Evey explained. "Damn straight," Neil said, sitting back up, book in hand. "Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord?" "Then I must be thy lady," Evey said, langorously seductive. "But I know when thou hast stolen away from fairy land, and in the shape of Corin sat all day, playing on pipes of corn and versing love to amorous Phillida," she accused. Neil had the sense to look appalled at her suggestions. "Why art thou here," she asked, suspicious, sitting up proudly. "Come from the farthest Steppe of India? But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon, your buskin"d mistress and your warrior love, to Theseus must be wedded, and you come to give their bed joy and prosperity," She said unsympathetically, almost threatening him with this knowledge. "Oh, lady, you have me wrong," Neil said, leaning into her, whispering. "How canst thou thus for shame, Titania, Glance at my credit with Hippolyta, Knowing I know thy love to Theseus? Wait," He said, breaking character, "You"re sleeping with Theseus and I"m sleeping with Hippolyta? Who came up with this arrangement?" "Shakespeare did," Evey said, hitting him over the head with her script. "It"s funny. But rest easy, the guy who"s playing Theseus is gay, so I don"t think you have a lot to worry about there." "Really?" Neil asked, curious and confused at the same time. The fellow had given him an off look once or twice during the last few weeks of rehearsal, but he hadn"t thought anything about it. At Welton, such things were swept under doormats and generally denied, though there were a few who chose to partake. "Yeah," Evey said, not concerned. "Really nice guy, Spencer, he"s done a few things here before. Really good actor, too. He would have gotten Oberon, but Greg"s taller and Oberon needs to be tall. Now come on. Keep going. Chastise me," she said in a winsome voice. Neil rolled his eyes and kept going. "Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night from Perigenia, whom he ravished?And make him with fair Aegle break his faith, with Ariadne and Antiopa? Wow, Titania"s really making him sleep around," Neil said. "I"m not sure I want you playing this part." "I"m not sure I want your comments every five seconds, Neil! These are the forgeries of jealousy," Evey went on. "And never, since the middle summer"s spring, met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead, by paved fountain or by rushy brook, or in the beached margent of the sea, to dance our ringlets to the whistling wind," she looked at him suggestively, arching an eyebrow, "But with thy brawls thou hast disturb"d our sport." "I"d disturb all your sports if it meant I got to have you in the end," Neil said, kissing her again. It was a long kiss, with a little tongue- he was getting better at it, with a lot of help from Evelyn. "Mr. Perry, I"ll pretend I didn"t see that," Miss Pevensie said pertly. Apparently she was back from her archery practice. "I need my actors now, and not in dishabille, if you please." Evey got up quickly from the couch and went to her court of fairies, who immediately began whispering and stealing glances at Neil, who blushed a little and went back to his script as Miss Pevensie clapped her hands for Hippolyta and Theseus to began the opening scene. "views, pleases? They make my muse Neil happy. Act Four, Scene Three- The Villian Enters. "Neil, be sure to give this to Mr. Nolan," Miss Pevensie said before leaving. "It"s next week"s tech schedule." "Is it tech week already?" Neil asked, looking at the envelope in his hands. "Yes," said the director, a little harried herself. "That"s why there"s some schedule changes. We"re opening on Saturday night and I think we might go a little later than planned. I just want him to know." "I"ll see he gets it," Neil said, nodding and making for the door, turning his collar up against the cold as he pedaled back to Welton, a light snow falling. "Miss Pevensie thought you should have the schedule for next week, since it"s later than agreed upon," Neil said, handing Mr. Nolan the sealed envelope, proudly bearing the Henley Hall seal in the corner. Mr. Nolan slit the envelope, glancing over the timetable and thinking to himself. "This is very late for you to be staying out with just the bicycle, Neil," he said. "Ten o"clock, ten o"clock, midnight - we can"t have the caretaker stay up that late to watch for you." "I have to go to rehearsal," Neil said. "They"re counting on me to be there all five hours!" Mr. Nolan considered this and said, "Could we count on your honor as a student that you"d be home by twelve? No shenanigans, no...hooliganism?" "Yes, sir!" Neil defended. Mr. Nolan nodded, decidedly. "It"s settled then. On your honor as a student. You"ll be wanting the schedule back, I assume," he said, handing the paper back to Neil. "Thank you, Mr. Nolan, sir," Neil said, taking the steps two at a time back up to his room. What he found there wasn"t quite to his liking. His father was sitting at his desk, looking grim. "Father?" Neil asked, wondering what had brought him here. And suddenly, it was all clear. "Wait a minute," he began, "Before you say anything, please let me ex-" But Mr. Perry wasn"t listening to excuses and explanations. He was a man on a mission, and he"d say what he came to say. "Don"t you dare talk back to me! It"s bad enough that you"ve wasted your time with this... this absurd acting business. But you deliberately deceived me! How, how, how did you expect to get away with this? Answer me. Who put you up to it? Was it this new man? This, uh, Mr. Keating?" "No," defended Neil. "No, nobody-- I thought I"d surprise you. I"ve gotten all As in every class..." But his father wasn"t finished. "Did you think I wasn"t going to find out? "Oh, my niece is in a play with your son," says Mrs. Marks. "No, no, no," I say, "you must be mistaken. My son"s not in a play." You made me a liar of me, Neil!" He took a breath and composed himself. When he spoke again, his voice was cold, deadly. "Now, tomorrow you go to them and you tell them that you"re quitting." "I can"t just drop out, Dad! I have the main part. The performance is next Saturday! That"s not enough time for Laurence Oliver to learn the part, let alone-" " I don"t care if the world comes to an end next Saturday. You are through with that play. Is that clear? Is that clear?" He repeated loudly, looking at his son coldly. "Yes, sir," Neil repeated lifelessly. Mr. Perry turned to leave and then turned back. "I made a great many sacrifices to get you here, Neil, and you will not let me down." He said it more like a threat than a benevolent gift, and Neil responded with a servile, obedient, "No, sir." He stood in the doorway and watched his father leave. There was a hurricane swelling up inside his mouth, an earthquake starting where his heart should be, pounding in his temples, rushing to overwhelm his brain. A car was starting up outside, pulling out of the driveway. His father was leaving him here, abandoning him like he always did. It was too much! Neil pulled his coat back on and bolted for the stairs, the surge of passion overwhelming him. He wanted to kick, scream, shout back, as though he were five again and consumed with a desire for his own way. He"d never felt this way before, felt this overwhelming desire to do what he wanted and flaunt it in the face of his father, and he wanted to tell someone who would listen. Oh, any boy in this hallway would listen, would nod and smile and say "Yeah, I understand. I"ve been there. I know." But they didn"t know - None of them knew! - what it was like to fight back. And he only knew one person who did, who threw caution to the wind and paddled their own canoe against the current and sailed their ship against great odds. He grabbed a bicycle and began pedaling for Henley Hall, his breath heavy, heart heaving in his chest as though it were being tossed between waves on a stormy night at sea. There was a burn in his legs he could not ignore, but it made him feel safe, made him feel alive! Legs pounding, he got off the bike, leaning it haphazardly against the tree, running under the trees to the dormitories on the far side of the main building. She"d be on the top floor, he thought, and if he didn"t find her window, he"d shout until she came to him. "EVEY! EVEY LANGFORD! EVEY!" Three weeks of rehearsals had sharpened his voice- he could throw it to the top of the Welton clock tower if he wanted to and it would still come back to him, booming and full of power. "EVELYN LANGFORD!" Lights were beginning to go on in the dormitories, windows thrown open, questions asked. "Who"s there?" "A boy. He wants to see Evey." "Evey? Always knew she was loose." "I"ve seen him before, he"s in the play." "He"s cute!" "Neil?" called a voice that he knew. Miss Pevensie was leaning out her window on the end of the top floor, looking down, concern on her face. "Neil, what are you doing here?" "I need to talk to Evey!" Neil shouted. Miss Pevensie thought for a moment. "Here, come up the fire escape. We"ll talk for a moment." Neil nodded, dashing over to the fire escape stairs and running up to the top floor- Miss Pevensie had opened the fire escape door and let him onto the landing and into the bright hallway. It was full of curious girls, wondering what sort of extraordinary hero had been let into their virgin temple at ten o clock on a Friday night. "In here," Miss Pevensie said, shooing the girls along and letting Neil into her room. "Evey"s just got in the shower, Neil. We"ll wait for her here. What"s this about?" Miss Pevensie asked. "I just wanted to talk to her about something," Neil said, sitting down in the tiny sitting room. "It couldn"t have waited?" Miss Pevensie asked kindly. Neil shook his head, and she nodded. "That kind of something. Well. I was just making some tea," she offered. "Would you like some?" "No, thanks," said Neil, glancing around the room. There was a fireplace with a mantle cluttered with knickknacks and photographs, some of Miss Pevensie and a young man, and others of just Miss Pevensie herself. There was one, however, a little bigger than all the others. A black-and-white group shot of four children, it was placed in front of all the others, its frame a little bit more ornate. One of the children, Neil could tell, was a much younger version of Miss Pevensie. "I see you"ve found my siblings," she said, coming back with her teacup. She set it down on the table between them and took the picture off the mantle. "That"s my brother Peter, the oldest, and my brother Edmund, and my little sister Lucy," she said, pointing them out to Neil. "Why don"t you have any other pictures of them?" Neil asked. "They died in a train crash when I was nineteen," Miss Pevensie said, "Along with my parents. My brother, Peter, was just about to finish university. A Cambridge man," she added, which impressed Neil. "Edmund was going to be joining him there in the fall. They would have fit in with you at Welton. Especially Peter- he was the type. Ambitious, proud, a good sportsman. He captained the fencing team for two years. You remind me a lot of him," she said, passing her thumb over the picture"s playfully parted hair as if she meant to smooth it to perfection. "But he was also very unaware of his limits sometimes. It made him a good leader, if a little foolhardy. If he hadn"t died young I expect he would have worked himself to death, trying to do everything he didn"t have time for. You"d do well to learn from him, Neil," she said. "...Don"t ride on trains?" Neil asked. Miss Pevensie laughed. "No. Understand that you can"t be everything for everyone, and that sometimes, living a little for yourself is appropriate," Miss Pevensie said with a sad smile. "Well, I expect Evey"s done with her shower. I"ll go and find her so we don"t raise a riot." Neil nodded, sitting back in the chair and then leaning forward again, picking up the picture. It had been taken in front of a small suburban house that had obviously seen the ravages of the last world war- there was little left of the front garden and the paint had smoke damage and shrapnel spotting on it. But they were all smiling- Peter, the eldest, with his arm around his sister and his brother, Miss Pevensie"s hand resting on her younger sister"s shoulder. Neil wished for a moment that he"d had siblings, staring at the picture. Peter and Edmund had the same expressions in some of the pictures Mr. Keating had shown them - full of life and promise, unaware of the fact that they would soon be gone from this life. They both seemed to be saying, "Take chances! Have adventures! Go out and slay your dragons head-on! Carpe Diem! Make your life extraordinary!" as though they themselves had actually done these things themselves. "Neil, what the hell are you doing here?" Evey asked, coming in, her hair still wrapped in a towel turban, wearing a bathrobe and, it seemed, not much else. Neil put the picture back down on the table. "They said you were shouting for me. What"s gotten into you?" "I"m sorry!" Neil said. "It was just my father, and the play, and the Dead Poets is under attack. I wanted to tell someone, and all I could think about was you!" Evey wrapped her bathrobe tighter around herself and glanced towards the door, opened and policed from prying eyes and ears by Miss Pevensie. "What about your father, Neil?" she asked, trying to calm herself. Now was the time to let it all come tumbling out - and tumble out it did."He came to the school because he"d found out about my being in the play, and told me he didn"t want to waste my time with it. He called it absurd. He called Shakespeare absurd!" Neil ranted on. "He"s never wanted me to do what I wanted to do. He just wants me to be like him, a suit man with a nine to five job, with a house and a dog and a white picket fence, and a wife and a son that I can boss around and control just like he"s controlled me!" He was crying now, shouting and crying jibberish, the tears and the sobbing too much for real words to convey. Evey took his head and held it against her shoulder; her bathrobe smelled of sweat and soap and slightly wet cloth, and if he hadn"t been so distraught he might have laughed and joked about how close they were, but he wasn"t thinking about that. He was thinking about how much of his world would collapse right then and there if she hadn"t been there to hold him and she hadn"t been there to say what she was saying. "It"s all right. We"ll be fine. You don"t have to do it if you don"t want to. He can"t make you ruin your life, Neil. He can"t make you. I won"t let him." She stroked his hair and let him cry until her bathrobe was too wet to be of any consolation anymore and he was quite out of tears. "I"m not going to let you ruin your dream, Neil," Evey said. "We"ll get through this together. Okay?" she asked, raising his head off of her chest for a moment. Neil nodded. "Miss Pevensie was right, I guess. I am trying to be everything for everyone," he said, brushing his hair back from his eyes and putting on a brave face again. Evey looked at the coffee table and smiled. "She knows a person back to front before they"ve even said anything. She"s shown you the Terrible Three, hasn"t she? I"ve seen it, too." Neil wiped his eyes on a handkerchief he extracted from his pocket and tried to compose himself while Evey studied the picture. Welton men didn"t show their emotions. Welton men didn"t cry, especially in front of women. They were strong, composed, commanding. Welton men took on the world! "She showed this to me freshman year," Evey said reminiscently. "Told me about her sister, Lucy, when I came in here babbling and crying like a baby about how no one liked me and I didn"t have any friends and I wanted to go home." "You cried?" Neil asked, allowing himself a laugh as he tried not to cry again. "I did," Evey assured him. "And she told me about Lucy"s first year at school, and how she had the heart of a lion through all of it, and I needed one of those to get me through, too. I had a hard time believing a little girl like that was the bravest person she knew, but it tided me over. And obviously I made it through." She set down the picture and looked at Neil. "And we"ll get through this crap with your father come hell or high water. We"ll do it together. Do you hear me? Together. None of this Welton stiff upper lip, man on his own in the world nonsense. We"re a team now." "I really don"t have a choice in this, do I?" Neil asked. "No," Evey assured him. "No, you don"t. you gave up your right to a choice when you came over to my school shouting my name to the entire dormitory and dragged me in head first." "I see," Neil said, laughing and tearing again a little. "So you"ll be all right?" Evey asked again. "You can get yourself home in one piece, no...bike accidents, no suicide attempts?" "I"ll be fine, Evey." Neil said. "See, you say that and I"m unsure," Evey said, and Neil shook his head, laughing again. "I"ll be fine, Evey, really," he said again. "Good, because I think Headmistress will be here soon and it"s curtains on the whole shenanigans if she finds out you were here," Evey said. "You"ll have to go out the way you came," Miss Pevensie said, having shooed the rest of her charges to bed. "You"ll be all right, Neil?" "Yes," Neil said for the umpteenth time. "Courage," Miss Pevensie said, her eyes bright with some sort of forgotten fire as she showed him the door. "The boundless wave will roll you shoreward soon." If you can tell me what poet and what poem Miss Pevensie"s last line is from, you"ll get lots of props from me. Hint- He"s famous enough that you"d know his name if you"ve taken an English class covering the 19th century. There"s also a very small reference to a favorite poem of mine by a woman named Sarah K. Bolton, called "Paddle Your Own Canoe." It"s very much in keeping with the Dead Poet"s, so you might want to look it up.

"How did you see me?" Aude asked directly from the top of the stairs, leaning over the balustrade a little to project her voice out to the General. The question needed no real introduction, and she gave none. All she wanted was an answer. "Ah, so you were behind the screen!" Nasir exclaimed, turning his horse about to speak with her. "You mean you didn"t know I was there?" Aude realized. The General laughed, smiling at her as he explained himself. "I had an idea Khazuran would try something like that, and the latticework is something I am familiar with. The best way to reveal a man"s secrets is to make him think you already know them - is that not right? Obviously it works with women, too. Oh, come," he said conciliatorily, drawing his horse nearer to the stairs. "You must remember that Khazuran was a member of my household for many years. I know her tricks exceedingly well. I taught her some of them," he added. "Did you mean what you said?" Aude asked, pushing to the quick of the matter. Nasir"s smile curled mischievously - he meant to make her work for her answer. "I said a great many things I did not mean, my lady. Pray elaborate." "About my... price," Audemande offered, eyes narrowed, just a little annoyed with the General. Nasir"s smile softened. " I would not lie about you, Lady Dove," he assured her. "Go inside - I have left something with Khazuran for you. Until we next meet, Lady," He said, bowing a little as he turned his horse about and spurred through the castle gates, his train following behind him with fluttering banners. Aude watched them leave and then ran back inside, her curiosity overcoming any desire to behave in a ladylike manner. It was early - there was no one to see and no one to chide. This is too important to bear waiting over. "My lady, has he gone already?" Khazuran asked, watching bemusedly as her mistress barreled into the room, braid swinging wildly. "His note! Khazuran, his note! Give it to me, quickly!" Aude exclaimed, snatching the folded paper from her tutor"s hands and opening it so quickly she tore a corner. "My Lady, My Dove, Audemande - You may consider it gross impropriety, my lady, but I must speak of this to you, this fire that has consumed my heart. If it offends you, Lady Dove, then I have done you but a little harm and I am no longer there to press you. But if the feeling is returned, as I hope to heaven it is, send me some token of it so I do not fade away for waiting. I have written of you, dreamed of you - your very voice haunts my every sleeping moment, and all my waking thought. Where there are books, poetry, gardens even, I hear your laughter and it enchants my soul. You who have given me so much poetry, take some now for yourself and know that it was not some long dead beauty from the pages of the past who inspired these lines, but you." Beneath there was a poem, copied out in the same beautiful script. Aude could read it now, and the words made her weak. Come to me, o merchant of my desires, sell to me the secrets of my soul. I have given you my self of selves, I have sold myself to you for laughter and smiles, More precious to me than gold, for without them I am truly poor. My heart is like a book -- you have read it openly and you too have written upon it the sign that it is yours Though the pen was not in your hand, and you did not know you wrote. I will build you a bower of stars and summer winds In the valley of the pale moonlight There, o star of my heart, o best of my beloved, I will gather your charms to myself, clasping you to me. We shall be one flesh, you and I, and only God will part us. Audemande sat back in her chair, the paper heavy in her hands. She could hear his voice saying the words, as if from a distance, and then nearer, as though he were sitting beside her. Where her heart had dropped out last night had not filled in, a great void in her chest with no one to fill it. No one except the man who had made it so. It was infinite, the amount of love she could hold for Nasir. He knew her better than she knew herself -- a heart like a book, what an image that conjured! He knew she loved her books dearly. Suddenly it was all so clear to her, the feelings of the past few days, how she had yearend for his company and how her heart leapt when he said her name and told Remy she was beyond price, beyond buying. And he felt the same way! Merchant of my desires...What have I to sell you? All I have to sell you have given to me! It was the beginning of a poem, and she knew, now, that she must write it down. God would not give her more time, would not allow his gift to her to be wasted any longer. It would be the first poem she had written in months, and it would be for him. Drawing out a clean sheet of paper and sharpening her reed-pen, Aude set it down on the right-hand margin and gently stroked the page, forming the first letters of her answering poem back to Nasir, her Arabic clear and concise. "You come with an empty bowl, asking me to fill it With answers, begging me to feed your hungry heart. With what will I feed you? All I have is yours! All I have to sell you, you have given to me -- It is I who stand in your debt. See the words on this page, It is you who have put them there; you have honeyed my tongue. Prince of Poets! Parades come forth from the gates of a city The conquerors decked in red and in rich jewels ride in the streets. You are the conqueror, I am the city -- With your arrows of fine words you have brought down my walls. Come and take what is yours, what is rightfully due. Within the week a reply came back - a few words, dashed out on paper in a hand that did not have time for beautiful words or elegant calligraphy. "Come to Jerusalem, my Scheherazade. Let us tell stories together, you and I, where no others can see us. I find myself in need of consolation." "Tiberias, I need to go to Jerusalem," Aude announced, entering the Count"s study with purpose and resolve, unstoppable, Nasir"s latest note clenched tight in her fist. "Why, Audemande? Have you some pressing business of the state in the city?" Raymond asked, not a little amused. "Yes," Aude said sincerely. Tiberias gave her a skeptical look. "And no," she admitted, a little bit of her initial bravado gone. Raymond of Tripolis laughed. "Is that fear I see from Audemande the Boldly Tongued? I know a pair of love-lost eyes when I see them, even if a pair hasn"t been directed my way for a goodly number of years. This is about Nasir, isn"t it?" He asked. Audemande couldn"t help but look away, her cheeks coloring a little. The Count chuckled. "Who could refuse you, asking so sweetly with eyes so brazen?" he mused rhetorically, stroking his ward"s cheek. "Oh, Audemande, your husband will be an unlucky man. He"ll have to answer to this face. Remy leaves in a week for more negotiations. It appears the Sultan was not overly satisfied with Nasir"s agreed terms. You"ll go with him, if that is your wish." Aude threw her arms around Raymond"s shoulders, smiling wider than she remembered smiling in a long time. "Oh, Tiberias, thank you! God will reward you," she said happily, pressing her cheek against Raymond"s, feeling the stubble on her skin and the gaunt, stretched flesh beneath it. She kissed him with a daughter"s kiss and left, gathering up her skirts to make the fastest time back to her room and pack. Raymond watched her go, fingering the carving on the arm of his chair and studying the back of his hand - mottled, thin, the veins thick stripes of purple feeding back into his arm. "Ah, if he loves me enough he"ll reward me by making you happy and Eschiva safe when I am gone," the older man murmured to the empty room, his voice no more than a brief flutter through the curtains. The beginning of one good thing, the end of another. Such is life, I suppose. Now, I know this chapter is short, but it"s finals week here and I"m a little swamped. I"m moving out of the dorms next Friday, and the next chapter (which takes place in Jerusalem) is NOWHERE near being done, so you"ll have to wait a while for another update. Mea Culpa. In other news, how cute are they? *points to Aude and Nasir* This chapter is so sappy I ought to be hung. Song of a Peacebringer, Chapter Twenty-Eight - O Jerusalem! "I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD." Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that is built as a city that is compact together." - Psalm 122:1-3 The minute Aude"s horse set foot inside the walls of Jerusalem the Little Dove knew she was not returning home. In fact, she realized, she was not returning anywhere, for this was no longer the city she knew. She was a foreigner in a foreign land. The streets had not changed, and the people who filled them were still remarkably the same; in fact, little had changed at all except the pennants flying over the ramparts, and the soldiers stationed at the gates of the Citadel wore different liveries, red and green instead of gold and blue, the elegant script replacing the five golden crosses. But still something was different, in the air or the dust of the streets or the rush of people moving to the market, something so small it just escaped the usual forms of detection, and Aude could not identify with certainty what it was. And of course, the other difference was Remy, riding ahead of her in his new surcoat with the Tripoli arms on it, the sigil that Aude did not remember Tiberias ever wearing. His duty had always been to Jerusalem, and he had always worn Jerusalem"s arms. Now such shows were meaningless. Jerusalem the Kingdom was no more. And certainly they were getting looks from some of the guards in the street, but Remy had a pass with him, signed in Nasir"s own hand, and the spear banners of Remy"s men were creamy white - flags of truce instead of war. The heat under her veil was stifling, the cloth Khazuran had draped over her nose and mouth heavy and modest - so that no light will pass through, her tutor had explained. "It is the mark of a lady to be veiled so. You must not speak when you are dressed so. Your rank does not permit you - your modesty does not permit it, either." "It is shameful for men to hear my voice, Khazuran? That seems a little extreme," Aude had remarked in camp that morning as her tutor helped her dress. "That is the custom. A woman"s voice is for her husband"s delight alone, or her father"s delight, if she has no husband. The veil is a privilege, Audemande," Khazuran said again, slapping her student"s hand as she tried to move the face-covering a little bit. "It is a mark of royalty and rank. They will know you by it, and respect you in higher degrees." So she had worn the heavy cloth, happy when it blotted some of the sun and pleased when the covering over her mouth protected her from a mouthful of windblown sand. But to not speak? To not be heard at all? Audemande was not accustomed to silencing her tongue. Scaffolding and dozens of workmen surrounded what had once been the Citadel of David, the center of power and royal life for the Holy City. It appeared Saladin was putting his own touches into the city"s rebuilding - carvings and Qu"ranic verses to adorn the facades and the walls of the once-mighty palace, crosses taken down and replaced with other less Christian symbols. Remy spurred his horse boldly on ahead of her, directing the train into the courtyard of the Citadel and waiting (rather pompously, Aude observed silently from inside her swaths of veil) until the man who appeared to be Saladin"s Chamberlain or steward came out, bowing and glancing at the leading Remy for some kind of explanation. Remy held out the pass. "We are here as guests of the lord Imad al Din," Remy announced to the chamberlain, who looked back at him uncomprehendingly. "My lord, I do not speak franj," the man replied, frowning sadly and bowing again. Remy scowled, angry at not having been immediately understood, and repeated himself, louder and more slowly, as if he were speaking to an especially petulant child. The chamberlain gave the same answer, which only annoyed Remy even more. "These people! Audemande, tell this man that we"re here to see Lord Nasir," the young lord demanded, turning his horse to face the Little Dove, who backed her own horse away a step, unsure of what to do. Her protector demanded she speak, the veil (and the territory"s custom) demanded she remain silent. Khazuran stepped in before Aude had a chance to commit a serious breach of protocol, translating quietly for the Chamberlain, her unveiled face a sign she was a servant, and no noblewoman. Her voice was too soft for Aude to hear properly, but she thought she heard several apologies in the midst of the explanation. Finally she turned around, business completed. "My lord Chamberlain bids us welcome in the name of the Lord Imad, and bids us come with him, that we may be shown the guest quarters. Our luggage will follow," she added, as Remy glanced at the pack horses near the end of the rather short train, the look on his face suggesting he was almost perfectly certain the Saracens would rob them blind if the packages were not watched. He left his fears aside for a moment to help Audemande from her horse, escorting her up the steps into the cool shade of the arched stone hallways, out of the heavy sunlight of midday outside. "What was that about, Audemande? Why did you not speak?" Remy asked quietly as they followed the chamberlain. "I looked like a fool!" "They do things differently here. It is considered a sign of modesty for women to remain silent in public. I would not like to be seen as an immoral woman, Remy," Aude said sharply but quietly. She didn"t wait for him to say more after that, silently turning and following the chamberlain down the hall, feeling pleasantly invisible behind her veil, a ghost lesser mortals were not permitted to see. Aude had always speculated that wearing such a garment would be restricting, but somehow, oddly, it made her feel...alluring, as if every person they passed in the corridor was silently wondering what face hid underneath the stranger"s garb. This was a part of the palace she had not often wandered, and the ornament and decoration were all new to her eyes. Remy, of course, out in front of the train, was paying little attention to the artistry. They stopped at another door where the passageway split in two, and the chamberlain asked Remy to remain where he was while he took Aude to the women"s quarters, the harem part of the household. OF course everything needed to be translated over for Remy, who again looked belligerent at the idea that he should be separated from the woman he had been told to protect. "Tell them you"ll be just as safe with me!" He demanded. "Who knows what they"ll do to you if I leave you here?" he muttered. "Uncle will never forgive me," he added, a little too dramatically, as if he were a lover in a girlish poem, the kind of story that involves a kidnapped maiden and a rakish hero. Well, this was no poem, and Aude was decided, firmly and forever, that Remy, for all he wanted to be, would never be a hero in anyone"s poem, least of all hers. Tired of his complaining and tired also of remaining silent to it, she spoke. "Remy, it is tradition," Aude declared with finality. "Tiberias will forgive you; it is something he understands and which you, unfortunately, do not." She gave a curt nod to the chamberlain, asking him in that terse gesture to move onwards, and left Remy in the hall with the rest of his retinue, confused and alone. The doors beyond were guarded from the inside by tall, heavily veiled female servants, though when they opened the doors Aude saw such defenses were quite thick enough to stand on their own against outsiders. The chamberlain left Aude and Khazuran at the entryway with a silent bow, clapping his hands for the grooms carrying their luggage to leave it by the door. Khazuran marched straight inside, unhindered by the curiosity which held Audemande in check behind her, cautiously proceeding forward into the silent, still air of the harem. It was not what Audemande had expected, to say the least. The picture painted by fantastically dreaming minds (male minds, of course, who had never seen a harem and were never likely to) of languid maidens lying about on cushions and delicate tendrils of smoke curling seductively up from unseen censers. Certainly it was not a scene of wild debauchery either - in fact, the only word Aude could summon to describe it was serene. Uncluttered, quiet, calm space, far removed from the tense, martial, male dominated sphere outside the heavy doors. Maidservants came to take Audemande"s veil and cloak, while others, taking their quietly ordered direction from Khazuran, picked up the chests and luggage to move them to the room that had obviously been set aside for the Little Dove. In another corridor Audemande could hear children playing, their mothers gossiping underneath the laughter and shrieking of the children. In her study, her library, in the backrooms of law courts children were always far away, a distant thought for a far distant future. "When will I see my lord, then?" Aude asked, looking around at the room she was now standing and remembering the guards at the door. Here was not a place where she could wander at will. Nasir would have to come to her. And even then, would he be able to see her? She was not of his family, and would probably be required to sit in his presence with Remy, to fulfill the need for a male family member in the room. And how can two lovers meet when one who would have them apart is at the meeting? "Patience, saddiya. He will come," Khazuran assured her, beginning to unpack, trying to find clean clothes so she and Aude might change out of their dusty traveling things. Suddenly there was a ruckus outside the door to their room, which swung open violently to admit a very noble looking woman, tall and with paler skin than Aude was accustomed to seeing among the Muslims. Clearly this was a noblewoman - her complexion had never ventured out into the sun, had never tilled a field or walked beside a plow. But her beauty was overwhelmed at the moment by her monumental anger, anger that had persuaded her to nearly break down the door. "How dare you bring an unwashed heathen into my house!" the woman shouted in a nobly accented Arabic. "How dare you, Khazuran Bint Walu! You had no right!" Khazuran knelt quickly, her forehead touching the floor. Bint Walu...daughter of nothing? That is a cold thing indeed to say to an orphan, even if she is only your servant. "Forgive me, Saddiya Rayhana, I did only as I was bid. They did not know from whence she came. My Lord Nasir bid that they direct her here." Rayhana? That was a name Audemande did not know. And Khazuran used the honorific saddiya with her. This was a woman of considerable rank. The woman glanced at Aude, eyes very nearly flaming. Aude stared straight back, unwilling to admit that she was the unwashed heathen to whom the woman referred. There was something familiar about her face that Aude couldn"t place, as if she had seen it before. "Make certain that she bathes before she is allowed into the rest of the house," the woman said, turning to leave. "Thank you for your hospitality," Aude said to her retreating back. The woman turned around, still seething, and gave a curt nod of acknowledgement. Clearly she hadn"t expected Audemande to have understood her. When she had gone Aude turned to Khazuran with amazement. "Who was that?" she asked, unable to think in anything but French. "That was Nasir"s sister, Rayhana. Apparently he has not told his family about you yet," Khazuran surmised, speaking still in her native tongue. His sister? If that"s what she thinks of me I have a long way to go yet with his family. "You must go bathe, my lady, or she will very likely kill you. It is insult enough that she must house a non-believer at her brother"s wishes." "I would have done that already if she had not admonished me so," Aude defended. "I"m not so barbaric that I"ll refuse a bath." Presently they were joined by what seemed like a small army of maidservants, all trying to usher Aude off to the baths without actually touching her. Apparently unwashed meant possibly carrying the plague and several different types of flesh-eating fleas" here, but Aude was a guest, and as guest, she would do as she was bid, even if that meant being treated a bit like a leper. Audemande was fully expecting to be plunged, perhaps even half-drowned, in a large bucket of ice-water and have that called her bath. She remembered a similar experience after a journey quite longer than the one she had just taken when she had first arrived in Jerusalem. Evidently, however, the Muslim custom was much different from the Frankish one in this regard. First she was stripped of every stitch of clothing she was wearing, showered thoroughly with cold water and then ushered into a little room where she wilted for a quarter of an hour in a cloud of near- blistering steam. after she was done sweating out whatever impurities had been on her skin before, she was rinsed again and given a robe, sitting and waiting patiently while her hair was unbraided, washed, rubbed with rose oil, and braided once more. It was more bath than Aude had ever had in her life, and evidently it wasn"t over.

flinched, finger tightening almost involuntarily on the trigger but I forced myself not to fire as it reached out to Dennis. The ancestors alone knew what it might be doing to him. I was supposed to protect people from that thing and instead I was just standing here my hands tied because no one would believe me if I said the kid was a demon. "My deepest apologies, Dennis, I didn"t know. I had no intention of dredging up painful memories." "No problem" he still sounded shaken "just don"t do it again." "I fear I can"t promise that. I survive by being quick, clever, and by being able to escape using routes my pursuers are either too big or too clumsy to overtake me on. Giving up rooftops would get me killed or worse in depressingly short order." "Then let me help" it was equal parts plea and command but it just shook its head. "Orthopedic surgery. Dennis, this is out of your skill set. I promise if I need help with something that is within your expertise you"ll be the first person I ask. Good day and GET SOME REST!" "Hey" I snapped "I said freeze." It gave me a cocky grin "Why? I"m not threatening anyone, there are no longer warrants out for my arrest. Are you actually going to shoot me for trespassing?" I made a show of centering on him. I could feel Judy and Dennis both staring at me. "Did I wrong you in a former life?" the little demon asked "What do you have against me?" I breathed, "I know what you are" in Vietnamese. Then continued in a firmer voice, "You are one of the Deathless Demons. You are an abomination, an insult to all life, and I will not let you hurt my friends" The howl of its aspect turned into an angry snarl while the demon flinched as if I"d slapped him before lightening crackled out its aura arching and flickering. I fell back a step before regaining my nerve. I should have known this thing would understand Vietnamese. "I am not a demon, an abomination, or an insult to life and I have no intention of harming anyone! " it snapped back its blue eyes swallowed by the agitated energy of his magic lightening. How could Dennis and Judy not see it?! Fear coiled itself around my heart like a constrictor. It might look like an innocent little boy but this was a demon that I couldn"t kill and I had just obviously REALLY pissed off. I fought not to tremble as he glared at me. It had already proven that the empty street between us was no barrier and besides it was a shooter itself, and a killer. I had no doubt even if I hurt him he could kill me right here, right now. What the hell had I been thinking? "Hey" Dennis tried to get to his feet and failed "how about speaking English?" The demon looked down its nose at me in haughty fury as a touch of winter wind fanned its blond hair across its face and remained utterly silent. Even the sound of the wolf ceased and the wind died as it went as motionless as an icy sculpture. My heart was beating so fast all I could hear was the slosh of blood in my veins. I licked my lips. I had to get it to DO something so I would have an excuse to shoot it. I should have known that the stories" claims that just identifying them as demons was often enough to make them flee was too good to be true. "Do you deny you possess the magic lightening?" I didn"t dare ask the question in English. I would be fitted for an "I love me" jacket and I"d heard Judy"s stories about rescuing Hanson from the hell hole of State"s psych ward. "I do." it admitted, in Vietnamese. Northerner, he spoke like a Northerner a wash of anger replaced the fear. "Then how can you say that you aren"t a demon?" "The lightening grants the potential for great longevity, nothing more, nothing less. Like all men, it is what one does with it that separates the meek from the monster. I may fall far short of the heroic ideal your friend wishes to grant me but I am neither a demon nor an abomination. " "That isn"t what the Ancestors say. I have heard that tales. I will not be deceived. You will not fool me as you have fooled my friends." "You certainly do not require any assistance from me to be a fool." the demon retorted dryly, deeply offended but completely unruffled "You"re doing superlatively all on your own." "I won"t stand by and let you kill them." It abruptly switched back to English "Stop thinking like a Vietnamese peasant and kindly recall that you are a police officer in the United States of America where things like evidence, logic, and innocent until proven guilty are supposed to matter." "Harry?" Judy sounded frightened, of me or for me I couldn"t tell but either way I"d done the exact opposite of what I wanted. Dennis was just watching us both as fiercely as he could with one eye swollen shut. "What you"ve done to Dennis is proof." I retorted in Vietnamese "The only thing I did to Dennis was save him from his own folly at risk of burning alive. There is nothing wrong with my ability to feel pain and we endure long past where normal mortals find the surcease of unconsciousness and death" it riposted in the same language. "You tricked him into going in because you wanted rid of the Cook." I accused. "On the contrary I tried to dissuade him. Yes, I wanted rid of the Cook but not at the risk of other lives. I happen consider that life is precious and only to be cut short at the direst of needs." "If you were so eager to keep him out why didn"t you transform and TELL him not to go in?" Its eyes dropped. I had it there. "I said I wasn"t a demon or an abomination, I never said I wasn"t a coward. As much as I dislike the concept of being immolated again I find the notion of being a lab rat even more disconcerting." And now I knew what it feared "Leave or you will be" I threatened. It smiled "It"s 1989, who is going to believe you if I don"t do something to prove your allegations? And it"s a free country, OFFICER. You don"t have the right, the authority, or the power to tell me what to do, where to go, or whom to associate with. I don"t know what stories you"ve heard but don"t judge us all by the actions of a few. I would think you would have learned that racism harms both parties." "It isn"t racism" I"d meant to be firm but tendrils of doubt crept in. The part of me that always had been and always would be Vietnamese didn"t care. It wanted to obey the traditions and the Ancestors and drive this thing away but I"d spent half my life in America becoming a cop and dealing with racism. Every shred of actual evidence argued that this was one of the good guys. Wasn"t the definition of racism judging someone based on a physical attribute? Maybe there were some, what did I call him if it wasn"t Bất Tử Quỷ? That weren"t monsters. Or maybe he was just the most devious of his kind. The crackling lightening had stopped and his aura was once more a slowly swirling vortex of liquid silver light. Calming, seductive. Sneaky little bastard or genuinely caring saint I couldn"t tell. "What about the Game? What about your quest to rule us all?" "It isn"t my quest. And I don"t play. When Hunters come calling I run." "Don"t you mean you"re too little to play?" I challenged. "Kenneth is no bigger than I and he is quite accomplished. Yes, the fact that I was murdered at nine" Murdered at nine. That meant that the stories were wrong, (unless he was lying) that they didn"t simply spring into being full grown. Where they all murder victims? "would make being an active participant more difficult but not impossible. I choose not to play. I choose not to kill except to save the life of another. I choose to run and one day I won"t be fast enough when a Hunter comes for me" he didn"t want to die. I wasn"t sure how to define what was in those timeless eyes. Maybe it simply wasn"t a human emotion at all. "and my long "childhood" will be over." "You aren"t even human" I barked desperate to cling to my anger and yet eager for him to refute the charge as well. "If you cut me I bleed, admittedly I heal faster but I still bleed, tickle me and I laugh just as long and well as any, slap me and it stings. When a friend is ill I fret, if a friend dies I weep, I can marvel over the gossamer wings of a butterfly, I can be awed by the sight of a man on the moon, I can stand on the edge of the sea and dream of distant horizons, I can treasure the camaraderie of a simple meal where love is. In what manner am I less than human?" It took a step forward and without even thinking my finger tightened on the trigger. Judy yelled but Dennis forced my arm just a little to the left so that bullet lodged harmlessly in a heap of old roof tar that had never been removed from the last round of repairs. The whatever it was didn"t even bother to flinch. Dennis had EXPECTED me to shoot. "Drop" he didn"t even have to finish before I was shoving the gun into his hands. I might not know what to do about the whatever it was serenely watching us but I hadn"t MEANT to discharge my firearm. If I was that panicked then I had absolutely no business holding a gun even if it couldn"t be hurt, no that was wrong, the whole premise of the watchmen was that they COULD be hurt, just not killed, did I WANT to blow a hole in him? The part of me that was scared witless did the rest of me was a lot less certain. Maybe it was Dennis" speech, maybe it was his own arguments. I had to at least grant him that much. Dennis absently slid the gun into his right pocket while watching Paul. I could see him trying to add things up and getting nothing that made sense to him. "A tree without roots withers and dies" Paul said in English "but roots without branches swiftly fail as well. Transplanted trees take careful husbandry to provide the proper balance. Don"t let your past swallow your future, Officer Ioki, but cutting yourself off from it will only destroy you. The East has a bad habit of considering anything old to be wise, the West seems to think anything old is perforce wrong. Foolish of anyone to blindly follow either principle. All men are fallible be they ancient beyond imagination or dewy youths. Judge all things by their merits and tree by its fruit, be wary, do not trust easily or swiftly. I think you might find reading The Modern Prometheus surprisingly enlightening." He glanced down, bowed, whirled, and calmly crossed the roof disappearing just as a breathless Penhall joined us followed by Hanson. Fuller"s voice came from further back "Did that shot come from here?" Great, just great. "Yes, but no damage done. It was probably just a misfire" Dennis called back. This guy had been assigned to IAD?? Weren"t they supposed to hunt down and crucify cops for their mistakes? I"d been surprised when he"d let Hanson slide about breaking into his apartment but I was stunned that he was giving me an out about his precious Paul. Would he do that if that thing had somehow captured his will? "Come on, it"s cold out here" he muttered his good eye sliding shut for several breaths "and he"s obviously gone." "Paul was here? And you let him get away again?" Hanson"s voice held just a hint of scorn. "Not now" Judy snapped putting herself between us and them "Move it guys I"m freezing my" significant pause "off." Hanson half turned to Penhall as they swung down onto the steps "So which part of her anatomy" "Finish that thought Hanson and I"ll freeze something that isn"t part of my anatomy" Penhall chuckled at Hanson"s expense. I expected to hear one from Dennis too and turned to check on him when I didn"t. He was sort of listing against the wall. "Just give me a minute." "You need someone to lean on?" I could see "go to hell" on the tip of his tongue but he measured the distance with his eye and muttered "Thanks." Well, Dennis Booker actually COULD think before he spoke. It was a miracle. I looped one arm over my shoulder and keeping all the bruises in mind was as gentle as I could be while taking some of his weight. "Coast is clear" Judy hissed at us as we approached the drop to the stairs. She kept a look out while I gave him a hand down and then took over as his crutch making it look flirty to cover the fact that he was a half inch short of falling on his face. "You three, my office, right now." "Iokage to the principle"s office" Hanson clucked "and Judy too. That"s what happens when good kids start associating with a bad element." I rolled my eyes. I had absolutely no problem with good natured ribbing or Hanson and Dennis" not quite so good natured war which had been very entertaining but there was a time and place for everything and this wasn"t it. Judy leaned a little closer into Dennis as if listening but I knew he hadn"t said a word. Dennis never let a challenge pass unanswered, ever. "Dennis says you"re just jealous" Judy quipped, and he was a good bit more creative than that too. Hanson and Penhall shared a worried look. Hanson might be at "war" with Dennis but he was still a fellow officer. I hoped they weren"t going to follow us into Fuller"s office. I breathed a sigh of relief when door closed with them still on the other side. "You, couch, now." Not even a whisper of an argument from Dennis who promptly closed his eyes with a faint whimper. I felt a flare of anger against the Cook and his cronies for doing it, against Paul for however indirectly leading him into it, and myself most of all for not being there. "Alright somebody start talking." I wasn"t even certain Dennis was still conscious. Judy and I just blinked at each other. "How old are you guys?" Judy started talking when I didn"t. As she filled Fuller in on what had happened I mentally assembled the "evidence", trying to think like a cop and not someone who was scared witless. OK, prior to entering the city he"d been leading a pack of wolves 3 things - first I need to contact the biologists up there and find out if the pack had been in any way aggressive to humans or livestock because if it had it proved he was lying scum like the ancestors said. Second - he had been DRUGGED. Nothing in the stories mentioned the bất tử quỷ being susceptible to sedatives but they clearly must be. That meant that I didn"t necessarily have to shoot the kid. I could drug the wolf and dump him up in the hills instead. No harm, no foul, the Lobo de Oro didn"t belong here anyway. Too bad I hadn"t thought of that before I made an idiot of myself. Third and most troubling, the gang members had essentially kidnapped him but when one of them was hurt he"d saved him. I had NOTHING that unequivocally pointed to Paullus being in the wrong. He was either one slick little snake or Dennis" saint. Great. "Harry" Fuller promted. "Yes?" "The two of you chatted in Vietnamese?" "Yes." "All you have to say is yes? Because I"m still waiting to hear why there was a shot fired." "He speaks better Vietnamese than I do" I paused catching Fuller"s eyes "if you ignore the Northern accent." Instant suspicion, Paullus just went down several notches in Fuller"s estimation. "What did you talk about?" I licked my lips this was going to be touchy I wanted to lie as little as possible without revealing that I knew Paullus to be a supernatural being. "I accused him of belonging to a secret sect known for its brutality." "So that"s what pissed him off" Dennis sounded like he was having a hard time staying awake "then he told you you were full of shit?" "No, he admitted to being a member he just argued that that didn"t make him evil be default." "Hence the judge a tree by its fruit comment just before he left" Dennis muttered "they must be who"s after him because some of them ARE dangerous. That"s why he told us to be wary." He half sat up, the hazel eye that wasn"t swollen shut boring into me "How did you know? How do you recognize them? How many are there?" "I have no idea how many there are and I didn"t know for certain that he was a member until he admitted it." "Then what do you know about them?" Fuller took over as Dennis faltered and slumped back. "Know? As in solid facts? Essentially nothing. If you want legend then they"re the greatest evil to ever walk the face of the earth. Demon is the nicest thing the stories call them." Fuller stared waiting for me to elaborate. I didn"t say a word. "Fine. Whose gun went off?" "Mine" I admitted. "Why?" "I had my finger on the trigger instead of the trigger guard." "Was Paul doing anything that in any way could be construed as threatening?" Fuller asked Judy who shook her head. "Ioki, do you have any idea how much paperwork this department would have had to fill out if you had actually shot Paul? You are on a desk until you complete a remedial fire arm safety class. Give me your gun." I was surprised that Dennis was still awake as he silently held it out. "Your first assignment is to get Mr. Overextended here home and in bed. Then take the rest of the day off to reflect on the wisdom of only pulling a weapon when it is appropriate. Judy why don"t you give them a hand getting down to the car?" Dennis sat up slowly looking like he didn"t want to move for a week. "How could I ever say no to such a dashing escort?" she gave him one of her brightest smiles to which he gave no response "Come on tough guy." He got it together and onto his feet. "I"m going to follow them" she announced. Fuller nodded. She shot Penhall and Hanson a glance but Hanson ducked his head pretending not to see. She rolled her eyes but given the war of wills between the two Hanson couldn"t notice without making Dennis pay for it later so he ignored us while Penhall trailed behind just in case. I don"t think he was awake for more than thirty seconds of the ride to his place. I pulled in as close as I could get to the door. "Dennis" not a twitch, "BOOKER" out for the count and entirely too big for me to be hauling up the steep stairs to his apartment. Judy gave him a peck on the cheek and sighed "What can I say, it must not be true love." "Then there"s still hope for the rest of us" I said only half joking. She smiled "Help me get him out." I wished it was Penhall instead of Judy since Dennis had a good six inches on her but we got him up the stairs without too much additional damage. He never even stirred. She slipped off his shoes and tucked him into bed. If he"d been the shy type this would be absolute gold for ribbing him later but once he was back on his feet he"d shred me. Hanson might hold his own with Penhall for backup but English wasn"t even my first language. Every guy in the Chapel wanted to be tucked in by Judy, figures that when it finally happened the poor sap was unconscious. "Do you think someone should stay?" I watched him breath and shook my head "The doctors did a pretty good work up on him. He just needs rest." Judy still seemed uncertain but followed me out waving at me as she slid into her car. I did my best not to think on the drive home because if I started I"d probably get distracted and rear end someone but once I was in the quiet of my bare, empty apartment there was no ignoring any of it. Oh, I had great stereo equipment but I was alone. Completely, utterly, alone. Back in Vietnam the nguoi gac were respected if I had called Paullus a bất tử quỷ fifty years ago in my grandmother"s village every male for miles would but after him with torches. People would have understood, here I would find myself locked up in State"s psych ward. I hadn"t been this homesick in years, not even after that case with Loc and the Pai-Gow Boys. I couldn"t even walk into Little Saigon any more (not that I ever had). I would never have wished my parents dead but their loss on the beach had given me the opportunity to make what I had hoped was a truly clean break. No ties, no roots, and with my not so little lie about being Harry Ioki instead of Vinh Van Tran not even the stigma of refugee status. Except that it was a lie. I hadn"t just sprung into being the day I stole Harry Ioki" social security number I was still Vinh Van Tran no matter how much I tried to forget him. I missed the smell of joss sticks, the little shrines everywhere, but more than anything I missed family, my family. Grandma Bessie"s kids and grandkids had always been polite but once she died they had made it very clear that I wasn"t one of them. Man if looks could kill her youngest daughter had murdered me in the street when they found out she"d actually left me an equal share of the (small) inheritance. I took dinner out of the microwave thinking about Van Luy"s words about family and food. If I had ever wanted to make a place for myself in the local Vietnamese community being loyal to my job had blown up every bridge except one, the one to my enemies. I"d shot a guy I genuinely liked (despite the fact he was an extortionist) to save my enemy who gave me back the one member of my family who was still alive. It was almost as tangled a knot as my current problem but the bottom line was no one in Little Saigon outside of Van Luy"s people would give me the time of day and I risked a knife in my back every time I went down there. I was overjoyed to be able to write to my Grandmother but I had hoped without even really realizing it for something more, that some cousin, uncle, or aunt had made it out. What I had discovered was that as far as she or I knew we were all that was left, just a couple of shards that were all that was left of a shattered house. I didn"t even like to think about how she must have felt, all alone with everyone death or missing. I at least had the hope (though I wasn"t doing all that hot a job at making it a reality) of finding a mate and starting a new family in my new land. Every

able to set foot back in town as Pal. I was a grade A 200 proof IDIOT! "Jake" April snapped "I"m trying to" a pause and then she was beside me. "Julie" I protested. "Is stable and improving" she retorted. Listening as Bruce and I continued CPR. I didn"t understand why he"d crashed now. "Don"t you dare" I ordered sounding more like a drill sergeant than Dad at his worst "nobody gave you permission to die. You get back here right this instant." Bruce gasped and my fingers tingled as a flicker of what felt like a weak electric current ran through him and he jerked awake eyes wide and terrified. Pulse alternately racing and stopping. "It"s ok" I soothed as he yipped and cringed. Awake wasn"t precisely the right term. He had no clue where he was or who we were, only that there were hands on him and hands usually meant pain. He was so out of it he couldn"t even assemble the thought please don"t hurt me. "It"s ok" I repeated as I caught his head trying to get him to see me but his eyes were glazed and unfocused with pupils dilated so wide the blue was the thinnest of ribbons around the gapping black. He wasn"t capable of seeing anything but he could smell. He recognized my scent as someone he knew even if he couldn"t put a name to it right now and some of the fear bled away as he tried to nuzzle into my hand but had no coordination and missed. "Good boy" April murmured into his ear. There was a quick change of attitude. Pregnant women frighten me. "Nobody"s going to hurt you." He whimpered as his eyes sagged back shut "Oh, no you don"t" I said giving his head the slightest of shakes "you open those eyes back up." Tired came the faintest of thoughts but where my immediate reaction to any order was defiance Pal"s was unquestioning obedience. "We need to warm you back up" his pupils weren"t reacting to light "so we"re going run this tube down your throat so we can get some warm broth into you. Don"t fight us." I didn"t think he"d understood a word I said until a sluggish gastric lavage tumbled back and he tried to turn his head a little to make it easier but he had no control. "Hey, you let us handle everything" I said. "Kay he still didn"t really know who any of us were but he"d recognized all three scents as familiar and relaxed enough to just drift in an exhausted daze. Getting the tube in proved to be a challenge since none of us were vets and I finally ended up sitting on the gurney with Pal half across my lap. Hot he complained as the broth finally started to flow and he whined. April gave his ears a scratch and his tail twitched before she left to check on Julie. He sighed against me eyes starting to sag shut again. "Don"t let him sleep" Bruce insisted but I shrugged the fatigue rolling off him like waves making it tough to hold my own eyes open. "I don"t think we can stop him. He"s pretty done in." "Jake" Bruce wasn"t going to give up "you know better." "Wakey, wakey" I said moving the blow dryer a little so it didn"t scorch his fur. The whine of cold was accompanied by what I knew from recent experience was only the first shiver. About half the broth had drained into him before his head snapped up eyes finally focusing the girl?! He wiggled a little in my arms trying to catch her scent despite the tube, relaxing a little as he recognized April"s voice in the next room assuring her mom that the prognosis looked good even though she wasn"t awake yet. "Welcome back" I said and as those utterly human blue eyes looked up from my lap I wondered how I had ever believed they belonged to a wolf "Didn"t think you were going to make it there for a little while." With the return of awareness came the fear that was beginning to annoy me but I gently stroked his head not letting it show as the shivers increased in virulence and frequency. He burrowed his head into my chest as the burning began. Having just been down this particular road myself I could sympathize with the little whimpers. Apparently being a werewolf didn"t get you off the hook when you essentially froze yourself. "You have anything in there we could give him?" "I"d rather not. I"m not a vet and he"s already crashed once." Not all the shivers were from cold. I didn"t remember my own pain being quite so sharp. "I think it"ll be ok. Now that his coat"s dry he"s warming up fast." I gently tugged the tube out and he sighed with relief since it itched where he couldn"t scratch. One less annoyance in the agony. Bruce considered for a minute and then went fishing in his bag "Use these. SPARINGLY. No more than half a one at a time." He glanced out at the sky "I have to go." But he watched Pal breath for a good minute before actually tearing himself away. I broke a pill in half and offered it to Pal who gratefully gulped it down, further proof that he was no real dog and within a few minutes bone rattling shivers and all he was fast asleep. Now were the hell was Eric? He should have long since been back. Almost as if he"d heard me he came sneaking in looking like the kid caught with one hand in the cookie jar and the other in the liquor cabinet. Not for the first time I wondered if one of us was adopted. And how blind everyone must have been to miss the fact that he was cheating on April. Shmuck. "How is she?" "Not awake yet but all of her vitals look good." I dropped my voice to a stage whisper "Any time you"d like to start talking." "Dad doesn"t know that I took this stuff to give to you and you CAN"T let him know that I did. He threatened to disown GRANDPA if he gave it to you." "But it"s ok for you to know?" I could feel old resentments flaring. "Not really, no. You must be rubbing off on me because I stole it." Eric STOLE something. Maybe we were actually related and some latent genes were finally kicking in. "I couldn"t take all of it, he might have noticed. He still might notice." He passed me the stone which I pocketed and a letter in one of Grandpa"s codes. It had been a while since he"d taught me this one and it took me a couple of minutes to get back into the swing of deciphering them. Hey son, if you"re reading this than I"m dead and you didn"t make it back home before I went. It"s ok. I know how your Dad can be. I wish I"d been able to tell you this in person though you"d likely think I"d been drinking a little too much from my still out back. There"s so much you don"t know. That your father absolutely forbad me from telling you or Eric and that"s partially my fault. I should have worked harder at making him understand. I never should have let him go alone but I"d always loved going to see her and it never occurred to me she would terrify your four year old father witless and, not to be to melodramatic, apparently scar him for life. There"s a lot to be said so best I get to the point. My grandmother was a Kikapu medicine woman. The best they had. How she ended up marrying a white man is quite an adventure. Your dad knows the story, if the stubborn mule has finally given you this get him to tell you. You get your knack with animals from her, so does Johnston though he"s spent his whole life trying to deny it exists. She was also a seer and she made her last prophesy the day she met your dad. Had a stroke screaming about the horrors she"d seen. I don"t know if the war"s come yet or not. Given how your father feels about it all the fact that you"re reading this likely means that the bombs have already been set off. Twenty-three cities have been reduced to rubble, an EMP has knocked out power across most of the US, and Iran and N Korea have been left in smoldering ruins. I froze staring at the page and then at Eric. DAD HAD KNOWN?! It was a damn good thing I was already sitting down and that he wasn"t here. I hope your dad wasn"t an idiot and had things ready but I doubt it. He"s always done his best to forget it, to pretend it wasn"t real or never happened. I"m sure things are ugly and getting uglier by the day. Thing is this is just the beginning. Something even uglier might be coming and that"s where you come in. You"re a Raven Child. Not being born with any "gifts" I"ve never been quite sure precisely what that means. Best I can figure it means you touch and see the world a little different than everyone else and you walk a different path. It"s part of the trouble between you and your dad. He"s scared, son, of you and for you. There"s someone your path is supposed to cross. He"s someone damn important to our family even though none of us have seen him in a few generations. The Kikapu call him Medicine Wolf. Way back when white men weren"t much more than a rumor out here two lawmen showed up in the village with a yellow wolf pup tracking the kind of monster that thinks dumping poison in the well is a cute joke. They caught the sob but not before he had half the tribe at death"s door. Scar Face couldn"t care less and took the prisoner while Long Knife stayed behind to try to help. Problem was the People didn"t believe in his magic, wouldn"t take his medicine not until the wolf became a child with big medicine. The People wanted the wolf to stay with them forever. "Glad to know it wasn"t all bad" I whispered into Pal"s ear as he shivered still deeply asleep against my chest. And I was doubly glad that MY family hadn"t turned on him. But he refused though he came again in times of great hardship bringing supplies in famine, sage advice in both peace and war, and his great healing skill. Without him the Kikapu might have ended up just another "lost" tribe. He saved a lot of lives including my Grandmother"s entire family more than once. From the sound of things you get to be the one to try and pay back the debt. The stroke robbed her of her knowledge of English and slurred her speech so badly that she was almost unintelligible but I could make out this much - it wasn"t seeing the bombs and whatnot that gave her the stroke. There"s something after Medicine Wolf. Something twisted and evil. Something that knows his weaknesses and how to exploit them. An evil that wants to do something worse than kill him. Back in the War I actually ran into Long Knife. His "English" name is Matthew. He"s living in New York right this moment. Still a lawman. You get this before the bombs you look him up, going by the last name of McCormick. One of the best damn men I ever met. Saved my whole squad back in the war. When my grandmother died I went to see him. Told him I knew what he wasn"t a regular human, told him how I knew begged him to tell me what he could about Medicine Wolf. He didn"t want to at first, didn"t half believe me but he knew me and my grandmother when she was young so he finally caved. I remembered that flash I"d gotten from Pal of "Sir Matthew" pale and still after stopping the New York bomb. Had to be the same guy. Pal hadn"t completely given up on him yet. Wasn"t much given to prayer but I breathed one in both their names for a fallen friend. They"re called the Quickened. They stop aging the first time they experience a "little death" meaning something bad enough to kill a normal person quick. They die, they just don"t stay dead. Way I understand it they can survive damn near anything except each other. Damn fools could live forever but about half of them go about hunting each other down and committing bloody murder. But let me tell it in as near to Matt"s exact words as I can remember. I can"t tell you how old Paullus is. Age is equated with power. The older one of us is the more avidly those younger than him will hunt him to take his head and with it his Quickening and power. I"m nearly eight hundred which puts me a bit older than most. Paullus is older maybe a lot older than I am. Child Immortals usually don"t last long. They"re too easy prey for the headhunters. Most don"t survive their first year because they haven"t got a prayer of defending themselves in a no holds barred fight to the death. I only know of two who have ever survived their first decade. Kenneth is about my age though he looks about ten. Nastiest most twisted piece of work you ever want to meet. Kills anything that gets in his way, sneaking, backstabbing little bastard. You meet a ten year old name Kenny with empty eyes don"t turn your back on him because he"ll but a knife in it. He"s a monster but I understand him. I understand why. Kenneth was made into a monster by the hunters. Paullus is an entirely different matter. Most of us aren"t really that different from regular mortals. We live a little longer we get to do a little more but we"re really just people. And like you we have our monsters and our saints. Paullus is one of, if not THE, best of us. In over 750 years of being a "law man" I"ve done a lot of things I"m proud of. Saved a lot of lives. Made things better for a lot of people but little Paullus runs rings around me. If I had to list the three things in eight centuries that I proudest of one of them is that I"ve saved Paullus" life. He"s a damn fine doctor but it"s more than that. Most days when I wake up I"m looking for my woman, my cup of coffee, and a newspaper. When Paullus wakes up he"s looking for a way to make someone else"s day better for pretty much every day of at least the last thousand years. He"s also a true pacifist which when you happen to belong to a race that considers combat a sacred duty is vanishingly rare. Paullus would sooner be burned alive than harm someone. If there"s a vindictive or vengeful molecule in his body I"ve never seen it. Mind you he isn"t perfect and a bundle of contradictions. He manages to be simultaneously the bravest person I"ve ever met and the worst coward. He can and will run out on you in a heartbeat if it means saving his own hide. He can be moody as hell too. Something else you have to remember about Paullus, even though there"s at least a thousand years of life experience behind those baby blues of his - he"s still only nine or maybe even eight. We stop physically aging the first time we don"t die when we should have. For most of us that doesn"t mean too much because we"re physically mature. Paullus isn"t. He never hit puberty, his brain just as much as his body never got a chance to grow up. One minute he will have the wisdom of Solomon and in the next he"ll blindside you with a stunt you wouldn"t expect out of a four year old. Some of the things kids think and do is lack of experience but Paullus has proved to me in spades through the centuries that some of it is fundamental to the fact that their brains are still developing and Paullus is stuck there. Which brings me to the wolf thing. It"s not something all of us can do. Point of fact its something that only three of us have EVER been able to do. For most of us all the Quickening does is make us exceptionally difficult to kill. A handful of us can do some minor tricks. I happen to fall into that category myself and Paullus thinks he falls into that group too. About once a millennia one of us comes along who is a full sorcerer. I suspect if Paullus had had the chance to grow up or even now if he really applied himself he"d discover that there"s a lot more talent there than he thinks there is. Actually it"s one of the things that drives me nuts about him. He sells himself way too short. I can name six CITIES that wouldn"t exist today if it wasn"t for Paullus and if you call him a hero he"ll tell you he was barely involved and give the credit to anyone present so long as it isn"t himself. There are days I could shake him but he"d probably hide from me for the rest of eternity if I did. Nothing wrong with humility but he takes it a couple of miles too far. I don"t know what else I can say that would help you. I don"t know what this thing is that Wiitekoa saw. I would lay my life down for Paullus. You tell your Jake that. Anything he needs to help Paullus that is in my power to give is his. I"m afraid I can"t give you much help either. If my grandmother knew anything about how to fight this thing she never managed to make herself understood. She did convey a few things about the sob that"s after Mahweea. Damn thing doesn"t have a body; it"s some sort of malevolent spirit. Every so many years it targets the best of the Quickened, tempts them, seduces them, threatens them, whatever it takes to get past their guard and twist them up and make them into monsters then feeds off it. Better they were before, the more power this thing gains and the more it can do to everyone else. The 23 US cities destroyed, the EMP, the wiping of two whole nations off the face of the earth is because of this thing taking just ONE of its targets. Little Paullus will be an even bigger prize for it. Unless you figure a way to help him it"s going to take a "boy" whose raison d"etre for over a thousand years has been to brighten up the world and make him into a monster that makes Hitler look like a choir boy. Apparently it"s had the chance before but it"s been waiting for the perfect shot. I know this is a hell of a lot to dump on you and you probably don"t believe half of it. Not sure I believe half of it but I know the stories and I saw Matt come back from the dead once. The Quickened are real. Your great-great grandmother"s gifts were real. Guess it"s not too much of a stretch to believe that evil is real and has a face. Don"t know how to end this. Keep trying to think of some brilliant words of wisdom, something that will help. Never was much for church, just went to please your grandmother but I always like the story of Ester even though I never had much time for the notion of Fate. "Thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this". If there"s Evil, stands to reason that there"s Good too. Don"t know if you"ll find the notion you were chosen for this comforting or as something else to get your dander up about but know this, son, I believe in you and I love you. You can do this. My grandmother saw that he didn"t have a prayer alone. She saw that you might be able save him. You be the hero I"ve always known you were. Don"t make me come back there and kick your ass. I stared at the letter in my hand wondering if I"d completely forgotten Grandpa"s code and misread the entire thing. Wondering if I"d lost my mind. Feeling like someone had just changed all the rules on me and had given me one quarter of the playbook with every third word in Japanese. I looked up at Eric who was frowning down at Pal. "How out of it is he?" "You could run a freight train through and not wake him." He gave a slow nod, swallowed hard twice, dropped his voice to a whisper "It might be best to kill him now." If I wouldn"t have had to dump Pal on the floor to do it I would have knocked him through the damn wall. He actually backed up into wall hands spread, eyes wide, "Just a thought." "Don"t think it" I growled. Somewhere in the stuff Eric hadn"t seen fit to give me were instructions on how to murder Pal, permanently. I needed to know everything. "Eric" He shook his head "No way, Dad"ll kill me." "I need to know." I thought for a second he was going to go through the wall without my assistance. And when Mom popped out of the trauma room I thought he might achieve orbit. Never knew he could jump that high. He probably didn"t know himself. "Julie"s awake and she"s demanding to speak with you alone." I"d been so focused on Eric and Grandpa"s letter I"d somehow missed noticing the hysterical screaming behind me. "Mom, would you mind keeping an eye on Pal?" there was no way in hell I was going to leave him alone with Eric right now. "Sure honey" he didn"t even twitch as I disentangled myself and Mom took my place "That"s my brave boy" she said sinking her fingers into his still river water "scented" coat. I gave Eric one more hard glance of warning before walking through the trauma room door. Julie "I need to talk to Mr. Jake" why was Mom being this way? It was really, really important, the Captain said so. I wasn"t quite sure what had happened except that I"d fallen in the river and died and Jake"s wolf that really wasn"t a wolf "cause he was the cutest boy I"d ever met had saved me and I"d seen things I really shouldn"t have that Mr. Jake had to know about before the funny river where dead people go made me forget. I didn"t want to shout at Mom and throw a temper tantrum but she just wouldn"t listen. And I couldn"t really explain "cause the Captain said to tell no one but Mr. Jake and that bad things might happen if I forgot before I could tell him which meant I had to do it as soon as I woke up. I sighed with relief when Mr. Jake came in. Dr. Greene whispered something to him and led my Mom out. I didn"t really what her to go but I didn"t want the bad man to hurt Mr. Jake"s wolf-boy either. "Hey, how are you feeling?" I shook my head "It"s not important. The Captain says I have to tell you what I saw before the river makes me forget." "OK" Mr. Jake looked very sad and serious and maybe a little afraid. Maybe he"d been there before too. Except he wouldn"t have remembered because of the river. "Lean down so I can whisper." I blinked up at the big cruise ship. Maybe I was dreaming, except if I was dreaming I shouldn"t know I was dreaming should I? And the last thing I remembered was the ice breaking and falling in the water. Was I dead? If I was dead shouldn"t I be in Heaven? Maybe you got to Heaven in a cruise ship? Mom and Dad had gone on a cruise ship last year while I stayed with Gramma and had really liked it. The ship looked much too big for the river. I hugged myself even

let a single statement stand without comment. "You?" She startled me out of watching Pal who never took his eyes off her even as he groomed himself. "What, seen the world? Yeah." I could see that little girl even with my eyes open "Yeah, I just saw all the wrong places." Pal whined, focusing on me for the first time since this morning. He leaned against my leg and enveloped me in that soft comfortable companionship only a dog can offer. "Man, you have got this brooding bad-boy thing down to an art." Pal snarled at her and she flinched. "No offense, but dogs don"t like me and the feeling is pretty much mutual. Is there..." she let the thought trail off. Pal licked my fingers and gave me the most heart melting puppy dog eyes I"d ever seen but dogs are forgiving, women aren"t, at least not at this stage. "Come on Pal, I know the perfect place for you." If he managed to get out of the town jail I would be officially spooked instead just generally a little weirded out by how much smarter Pal was than a normal dog. "Sorry, buddy, in a few months when you"re a little more mature you"ll understand." A laser beam blue glare and a sour "I understand perfectly well now. You could at least have better taste" before his attention turned to considering how to best disrupt the nefarious faux marines plans. I actually stopped in the hall. "Nefarious faux marines"! As a kid I had quickly learned to NOT mention the fact I could pick up things from animals. I had also long ago convinced myself I wasn"t crazy, well at least not in the hearing voices sense and God knows I would never have dreamed up the phrase nefarious faux marines but from what Dad and April said I was willing to bet that Paullus would. If I had had any doubts that the boy and the pup were somehow linked they had just been eliminated. Bizarre kid to teach his wolf to play checkers. I couldn"t imagine doing the same with any dog I had ever owned. I was more than a little disappointed that I wouldn"t be keeping Pal but I couldn"t take some little orphan"s pet. Regardless I couldn"t leave him roaming to stir up trouble so I slipped a hand through his collar and he instantly cringed. "Sorry" but I didn"t let go, I didn"t want him bolting since I suspected he was smart enough to know what the cell was. I got raw indignation and sullen anger in response. "Hormones, put a HALF-way attractive women in the mix and every scrap of good sense vanishes.' He saw the cell and froze. "Come on Pal." He whined "please don"t" and I felt like a grade A jerk. "That wasn"t a request." I sighed "I don"t want you getting yourself shot." He went as limp as a professional non-violent protester and I had to pick him up and put him in. "I"m telling Santa to take you OFF the good list" he grumbled. Angry at myself for being a good bit lower than a dirty dog I unthinkingly snapped "There"s no such thing as Santa." The effect was immediate and electric. He yipped in terror and scuttled into the far corner of the cell. I could have said it was the tone of my voice he was reacting to but I knew that he had made the connection between his thought and my response. Chris had been a huge B5 fan which had led to discussions of what would you do if you met a real telepath. I had my answer for Pal. I wasted a few minutes trying to cajole him to come to me but the longer I talked the more frightened he was. I tapped my fingers on the bars debating if I should just let him loose or try again later after he"d had a chance to calm down. If I let him go now I was never going to see him again. I pocketed the keys and hurried back before Maggie thought I"d lost interest. I watched Maggie"s ass as I held the door to Gracie"s. It had been entirely too long. Iraq hadn"t provided many opportunities, I had had other things on my mind when I got back and the truth was the hope that things would somehow magically work out with Em had kept me from pursuing anything serious. Em might have Roger but she had made it abundantly clear that she wasn"t going to tolerate me dating Heather. Oh, she hadn"t come out and said it but I knew it the same way she always knew when I was lying. If they hadn"t been friends I"d have gone for it but they were and it wasn"t fair to put Heather in middle of our...whatever we had. "You should think about coming back when you get out." I wasn"t certain why I was pushing so hard. "And what would I do here?" "That"s a question we"re all asking ourselves" when there"s a minute to breath between disasters. What was I doing encouraging her to stay when there were moments I wasn"t even certain of my own welcome "but you"re a good fit." Probably a better fit than I was. "You know, before all this started, I might have agreed with you" something in her tone yanked my attention off certain attributes "But...ah...I won"t make it back here." I thought I"d lost her before she came in for a kiss only to back away at the last second. I waited a beat and then gambling that she wouldn"t protest if I claimed a little payment on a full day"s worth of flirting I moved in slowly giving her time to back off. Her breath tickled my lip teasingly, a kiss to start and then well a guy could hope. tMy balls relocated to my shoulder as someone barked "Corporal Mullin!" My hand balled into a fist but since decking her commanding officer wasn"t precisely wise (and people think I ALWAYS do the first thing that pops into y head) I pulled up my hood instead. "Why is your gear not loaded?" "I...ah..." Someone should be filming this. I found myself looking for the candid camera crew. What I wouldn"t give for this whole mess to be some giant joke. "Don"t answer that. We"re heading over to town hall. The mayor wants to express his appreciation. Somebody needs to stay here. You just drew the short straw." He sounded just like my Dad. How many times had I been grounded while the rest of the family was at town hall? Tradition. Some things just never change. "Aye Gunny." Then she looked at me and giggled and it was funny or would be someday, here we were both over thirty and busted like a couple of wayward teens. Since Gunny had ruined the moment "I"m gonna to get the last of the supplies from the sheriff"s office." The instant when the truth of what Pal had been trying to say washed over me vied with being run off the road for fifth worst moment of my life and considering that one was the mushroom cloud, two was shooting a little girl, and three was seeing the friend you refused to help dead (twice) there was some stiff competition. I had sent Stanly to confirm it, gone to Dad hoping he had an explanation, excuse, denial, anything. I had needed them to be Marines. Needed there to be some part of the US government still functional because otherwise we were in the hands of Ravenwood and its parent Jennings and Rall. And after being run off the road and left for dead I had needed to believe that there was still some decency in the world. Needed it so badly I"d locked Pal up rather than accept that he was right. I felt my anger at Maggie flare and ignoring the tank I stormed back to Gracie"s. "How was Dodge City picking up our fireworks?" "We pick up pops and pings all the time." I wanted to shake her, not hit, her not hurt, her just shake some sense into her but contrary to popular belief I have a fairly good hold on my temper. "Don"t. Don"t lie to me." "Hello" STANLEY! "Anyone out there." We both dove for the radio but despite my injuries I was stronger or maybe she didn"t want to hurt me any more than I wanted to hurt her. "Stanley, is that you?" The question was for her sake, I knew exactly who was on the other end. "We found this guy camping out here with this radio. Says he"s with the Marines. I"m gonna bring him back." Now we would try again "Is any of this real?" "The gun"s real." That hurt worse than what happened with the truck. Yes, they had run us off the road and left us to die but they hadn"t spent all day flirting. Dad had said the next few months would be a battle more for our souls than for our survival and he had been so very right. "I"m sorry." Oddly enough I wasn"t scared, I wasn"t even precisely angry anymore all I was was tired and disappointed "You con people out of stale food and enough fuel to get to the next town?" "You don"t know how bad it is out there." "Yeah I do." From here, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and believe me I had seen a whole lot worse but this was HOME. And now for the question I"d wanted answered from the instant I"d realized the truth "How"d you get all this?" "There was a food riot in our refugee camp. Dozen marines never had a chance against 10,000 starving people." I felt my heart sink. She hadn"t seemed like a killer. If my judgment was that far off maybe it was time to become a monk assuming I survived this. "So you killed them?" Please, please say no. She shook her head "They retreated and we took what they left." One tiny piece of my faith in humanity and myself restored, no need for drastic vows. "Tried to get some food in the next town. Worked so well we kept doing it." I took a step toward her "Don"t." "You"re not leaving town with our supplies." No way in hell. "Don"t get yourself killed doing something stupid, Jake. I don"t want that on my conscience." I"d known enough killers to tell when I shone the flashlight in her eyes that she wasn"t, at least not now, not over this, Mother Theresa will kill if pushed into the right corner but this wasn"t Maggie"s..... Eric Stanley and his new toy had long since rumbled off and Dad had vanished into the night but Jake didn"t seem to be doing so well in the soldering on department. I closed my eyes and the sight of him still on the stretcher was overlain with one of him on Gracie"s floor. One body on that floor was enough for a lifetime, more than enough. Was it really less than year ago that I"d been chaffing to get out of town with Mary and actually step out of the extremely long shadow of the Green family? Except I hadn"t had the...what the hell, the balls, to do it. I hadn"t even had the guts to tell April the truth without a kick from Jake. Who finally stopped staring after Maggie. "What?" he asked sounding half defensive half defeated. Defensive I was used to defeated wasn"t supposed to be in Jake"s vocabulary. "She seems like the type that lands on her feet" I offered. A grimace that even after a childhood under the same roof if not precisely together I couldn"t interpret. "They hit you pretty hard" I said "do you need go to the Center?" He started to shake his head and winced a rather unconvincing "No." If he hadn"t been living with town"s only doctor I"d have taken him regardless of his opinion of the matter. I snickered. "What"s so funny" I shook my head. Jake would have to be half dead for me to make him do anything. "You heading home?" "In a minute" he said before heavily limping toward the sheriff"s office. I glanced towards Mary"s wanting to go home myself before following him. "Don"t trust me to go on my own?" there was a thread of resentment in it. "Of course I do. I"m just looking to make brownie points with Mom since I need all I can get right now." "Some things never change" he said in a strange, almost grateful tone. Confused and worried I followed him into the dark office, watching as he lit a lantern and hobbled down to the cell. He sighed shoulders slumping when he saw the gapping door. "What"s wrong?" sometimes getting Jake to talk was like pulling teeth and I was way too tired for it tonight but Jake wasn"t in one of his infamous sullenly silent moods. "He tried to tell me but I wouldn"t listen." On the other hand he wasn"t making much sense either and something knotted in my gut. "I wanted them to be real so badly" he slammed the cell door closed and threw the keys at the holder with sufficient force that they rebounded off the hook and into the empty trash can. "I"m an idiot" he snarled at the darkness in general. I made absolutely no argument. As far as I was concerned it was long past time that Jake figured that out. God knows I"d tried to impress that truth on him often enough when we were kids though I was curious how an empty jail cell finally got through his thick skull what twenty odd years of telling him hadn"t managed. "What happened?" I asked being more diplomatic than I had ever been before he left which was apparently surprising enough to earn me a wary glance. He shrugged "I locked Pal in the cell because he kept trying to warn me about Maggie and I didn"t want to listen" he fished the keys out of the can and put them gently back where they belonged "and now he"s gone." He yanked his hood down "How the hell did he get the door open when I had both of the keys?" After reading through the letter and notes that had been meant for Jake I could sort of answer that, provided I was willing to accept my great-great-grandmother"s beliefs and prophecies though it was admittedly tough even in the face of her unnerving accuracy about the bombs. Easier by far to say strange coincidence than to say that my parents, brother, estranged wife, and unborn child were living with what amounted to a centuries old, undead, pint-sized, werewolf that couldn"t care less about silly things like silver bullets and full moons. I settled for "Weird" as a reply and then couldn"t resist "maybe someone followed in your footsteps and made a spare set we don"t know about." Neither of us believed it. "You don"t know he"s gone. He might be waiting for you at home." "He"s gone" Jake said in that tone that brooked no arguments. Even after a lifetime of trying to copy it from Dad and Grandfather I couldn"t manage it. When I tried people just laughed at me. "Unless he"s coming back it"s late and you look like shit." Jake chuckled softly. "What?" "You, you just can"t cuss" even in the lantern light the smile didn"t make it to his eyes. "Home" I did my best to mimic that tone that every other Green male seemed to have mastered and Jake leaned on me as we hobbled home, but I could tell he was laughing. Some things never change. I didn"t know if I should hope that Jake was right about Paullus being or pray he was wrong because according to the prophecies this was just the beginning and the little werewolf needed Jake just as much as Jake needed him. The little wolf had seemed nice enough and I wouldn"t wish his future if Jake failed him on my worst enemy. 22 \/p> X-Factor: Chapter 6: Rivers Author"s notes: THANK YOU TO ALL MY REVIEWERS!! Sorry this is a bit later than planned. I wrote the second half of the chapter while on vacation in Guatemala and then lost my notebook. I do hope this is intelligible and that you enjoy. Everyone you recognize from Jericho, Ahriman, Methos, and Matthew are not mine. X-Factor: Chapter 6: Rivers Eric I kept a close watch on Jake out of the corner of my eye. He was sullen this morning despite the thaw we were enjoying and experience had taught me that sullen Jake was generally a Jake planning something spectacularly stupid. That he was still sullen on horseback was unprecedented. I"d always had the impression that riding was as close to Zen as Jake got. He might love flying but it wound him up, riding always calmed him down and brightened his entire outlook on the universe except today. The letter and talisman were dragging my inner coat pocket down as if they were made of something far heavier than lead. If Dad realized I"d taken them to give to Jake, I shivered blaming it on the cold. Except Jake had a right to know, it didn"t matter if I believed it or not. So much of both our lives made more sense when you added Dad"s fear and Grandfather"s belief into the equation. Like Grandfather"s insistence that I learn to ride and hunt neither of which I had the slightest interest in. Jake had already carved them out as things he excelled in. By the time I was old enough for guns and horses I"d given up on trying to best Jake on his own ground. Jake was rapidly becoming the "problem child" and I was on a mission to be the "good boy". I had none of Jake"s knack with animals and no desire to prove it but Grandfather had been adamant. Insisting that I would thank him on the day when I couldn"t drive. I"d scoffed until Dad had pointed out that there were plenty of places where a horse was better than truck. When I"d heard about Gray accusing Dad of murder when Mr. Remy died I had been ready to pound him with a baseball bat. Now, I wasn"t so certain Dad wasn"t guilty. We should have been better prepared. Grandfather had kept the shelters meticulously stocked and the info up to date. Granted Dad had had the town hall shelter in good shape but he"d let everything else slide. How many things could have been done differently? A shove that almost took me out of the saddle yanked my attention back to the here and now. Jake had urged Fire ahead before I could return the favor. "This isn"t a pleasure ride" he snarled "pay attention." "He might come back" I said without much conviction to his back. He shouldn"t even be using that ankle but the only person I"d ever met with a prayer of out stubborning Jake was Dad and he had been all for getting him back in the saddle. "No, he won"t" Jake retorted with the Green authority that I just didn"t have. It would be nice to believe that it was an offshoot of the family "magic" but Grandfather hadn"t been able to "hear" animals anymore than I could and he"d had it in spades. I started to reach into my jacket to give Jake what was left of the bag and the coded letter that went with it but my nerve failed, again. Mom and April were already furious with me I didn"t have the guts to rile Dad up too. Besides maybe it was for the best. Yeah, right. It certainly wasn"t for the best for the undead werewolf, probably wasn"t for the best for Jake either. I"d been carrying it around for two days since Pal had vanished and just couldn"t seem to gather the courage to do it. I was a damn coward. Jake suddenly hauled Fire up and around. "What?" I asked yanking my shotgun free. Jake had a nose for trouble that would put the best bloodhound to shame but instead of pulling a gun he pulled his walkie-talkie. "Bill you guys have your ears on?" We were preciously hoarding the few working walkie-talkies and their batteries so even on patrol the talkies weren"t always on. "Something moving?" Bill"s voice in reply. "What"s up?" Stanley"s in the background. He wasn"t supposed to be back out on patrol anymore than Jake. "Have the auxiliary mounted patrol meet me on the river bank near the Millers. And come at a gallop." "Why?" "Trouble" Jake retorted as he kicked the gelding into a flat out run. I gave Chief a quick kick but the big bay I was riding today didn"t have a prayer of keeping up with the quick Thoroughbred / Quarter horse cross. Jake Eric had that look. The "I"ve done something I shouldn"t and I need to confess but someone is going to be pissed at me" look. God, I was not in the mood to deal with one of Eric"s confessions, assuming that he ever gathered the nerve to say something given his phobia of making anyone mad. I considered just point blank asking him since as April had put it sometimes Eric needed a good swift kick in the ass to get him moving. I drew a deep breath trying to find the calm alertness that being on a horse always gave me but I just could not shake the nagging sense that I had SERIOUSLY screwed up somehow. I"d lost dogs and horses I"d had for years and while it had hurt it had never felt as WRONG as Pal being gone. Mom hadn"t wanted me back out and she would be having fits if she knew I was on a horse instead of planted at a checkpoint but Dad had practically pushed me out the door and onto Fire. Granted I"d been a bit snarly but...I noticed that Eric was paying even less attention than I was so I gave him a shove to rattle us both back to reality. The first words out of his mouth rubbed salt in the wound. Was it that obvious? "No, he won"t" I snapped rapping Fire hard enough that he grunted. Feeling like a heel I started to pull up to apologize to both my brother and my horse when a wash of icy cold more brutal than being trapped under the truck washed over me, the sound of a boy yelling, a desperate snap that yielded only a mouthful of frigid water and trailing hair, swirling muddy water. Pal! I snatched at my handheld transceiver. The flash had vanished as quickly as it had come. I"d convinced myself that he"d left town but that crystal clear moment of contact had been SENT as a plea in hopes that I would hear as a desperate call for help. Something ugly had happened at the river involving Pal and kids. I gritted my teeth. Fire was the fastest horse I had ever ridden but a jackhammer would probably give a smoother ride. My ankle would just have to get over it. We cleared a fence and I whited out for a second before a familiar voice calling "Mr. Jake, Mr. Jake, you gotta save "em." pulled me back I had a moment of serious déjà vu when my little friend Lucas from The Day a lot thinner, a little more threadbare, and even more desperate blinked up at me. "What happened?" I demanded wondering how long it would take backup to arrive. "We were ice fishing" What had they been thinking? A week ago everyone had been out but the river had been frozen solid then. The day after the faux marines had left we"d had heavy snow followed by a warm front and rain. The ice would have been pockmarked with weak points and the river raging beneath. "How many?" I demanded.

lights. "I"m kinda new down here." "Almost two weeks" he retorted. I could see suspicion building in his intensely blue eyes, not a child"s eyes, not even a young man"s eyes, wary almost feral and agelessly ancient, I could see how someone could think they belonged to an archangel for they were utterly out of place in his child"s visage. Abruptly the laser glare softened and he swayed. "Paul?!" He pulled the needle out of his arm and the guy"s before rocking back onto his heels just a touch unsteadily. "You really think he"s going to make it?" "If Smith & Jones get down here in time. Meyer"s is almost as good as I am with trauma cases" he shrugged "Give me enough blood and saline and I could have him out of danger right here." "Then why call it in?" "One, I don"t have enough blood or saline and two, that" he pointed to the left leg "is WAY out of my skill set. A kid"s got to know is limitations. If I was the only doctor in town I might as well just take it off, he"d get more use out of a stump than I could give him. I"m one of the best at trauma, disease, malnutrition, and I can certainly play midwife in a pinch but I"m useless on the fancy stuff. About bloody time" he muttered. He started gathering the used supplies into a biohazard bag that he pulled from his pack, then pulled off his surgical gloves. When his blood soaked shirt went into the bag I began to wonder if he hallucinating either from blood loss or cold since he hadn"t been wearing a coat in this frigid night. Then I heard the wail of the siren in the distance. Paul had very good ears or I"d been listening to way too much loud music. Nah, the kid had good ears. And while I was wondering about the mystery that was Paul how had he managed to keep his scarf from getting as bloody as the rest of his clothes? When the ambulance roared into sight he grabbed his pack leaving the biohazard bag behind and me stuck still bagging for the victim. Clever. He gave himself a solid lead and a clear escape route but didn"t leave completely. "Jeeze, kid give us a break this is your fourth disaster today." Smith turned out to be a burly black man a little older than me while Jones was an older, stocky, blond woman. They descended on the victim with the practiced ease of long partnership while holding up a running comfortable conversation with Paul. Paul shrugged "It"s hardly my fault that there is a superfluity of hostility amongst our fellow men today." Jones tossed something at Paul which he snapped out of the air easily. Jones seemed to relax a little seeing him alert as I backed out of the way and toward Paul. Who looked none to happy with the fact that I was now free of my obligations of keeping the victim breathing. "High iron pre-natal vitamins?" "Meyers says if you"re going to keep draining yourself at the clip you"ve been at lately you"re going to need them." "Thanks, now get Breeze in the ambulance and get him out of here." "Not until we see you take one. Meyers orders unless you"d like to come with us" Smith tossed a small bag at him which he also caught. They were checking his reflexes because they were worried about the kid. Likely with good reason. Paul rolled his eyes but dutifully pulled a bottle of juice out of the bag at his feet and took one. He drained the bottle without ever taking those feral eyes off us. He flipped a shirt out of the bag and stuffed his arms into it while speaking "If they can have them get a photo of his left leg before they start working on it. He"s got a partial plate imprinted in it. Full plate LFT 461, black Nova. Maybe if the police can"t be bothered to arrest the Cook on a drug charge they can at least get him on attempted vehicular homicide. Let Blackburn know that I haven"t seen a new case of the disease that is apparently a figment of my overactive juvenile imagination in six days." "You got it, and get some rest kid, you"re looking ragged around the edges. Sure you don"t want to come with us?" Paul shook his head and took a step back but he stayed until they had Breeze safely in the rig. "The Cook?" "Biggest methamphetamine dealer and manufacturer in the city. His main lab is just around the corner and down a bit" those sharp eyes were back on me "if he keeps expanding his operation unopposed this city will shortly become the meth capital of the country." "If you want the cops to do something about it why don"t you tell them?" "I have left a number of anonymous tips" he paused "Officer. I"m afraid I don"t know you"re last name but I"m assuming you"re newly assigned to the Chapel. Officer Hanson "collared"' his lips twisted a little on the word "the villainous rouge that attacked Aaron and the others so why do you linger here? Has Fitzgerald become so desperate that she would risk her brother officers in this midden merely for me? I don"t know if I should be appalled or flattered." "We just have some" the kid bolted. I was not going to pull my gun on this kid. I had a good foot and a half of height on him there was no way Paul could out run me but he"d given himself a good lead and while I was making up ground he knew how to use the terrain to his advantage. This was a kid who had a lot of practice at being chased. I rounded the corner and he was just gone. How the hell? He had to have gone to ground somewhere close. There were several derelict buildings to choose from eenie-meenie-minee-moe that one. I got half way up the stairs when there was a chuff behind me. I whirled, nothing. Grinning at my own attack of nerves I turned back to find myself face to face with a half grown wolf. 15 Author"s notes: The wolf pack in Yosemite is, so far as I know, a complete fabrication on my part (as if the rest of the story isn"t....) since while coyotes are common some biologists are of the opinion that wolves never inhabited the Sierra Nevada even before they were wholesale slaughtered in the rest of the country. I honestly have no idea what the structure of the CDC surveillance system was 1988-89 but I do know that the Provider based sentinel networks weren"t rolled out until 1994. I honestly hope that the scenario I present in this chapter was never a possibility. And a hearty thank you to all my reviewers!! Rubydoo, I"m updating as fast as trying to write 4 fanfic novels and real life will let me.... A Place to Call Home: Chapter 3: ...And Get Hunted Booker I froze, utterly motionless. This was no husky, Penhall"s first instinct of wolf had been absolutely correct. I"d had a girlfriend in high school named Cassie, longest relationship of my life because she"d never stopped talking long enough to ask me to. Great girl, it was a shame we"d moved, I"d probably still be dating her or even married to her by now. She was one of those people who gets intensely into something, researches it to death, and then three weeks later was off on something else. She was the one who"d given me a love for poetry that I did my best to keep hidden. One of her little fetishes had been to own a wolf, or at least a high content wolf-dog. We"d been old enough to drive at the time so we"d trekked out to the breeders. The woman in charge had been brutally honest. Cassie had been charmed and had cried the whole way home when she realized she could never properly keep one in the city. I had put in the best performance of my life because even with a 12 foot electricity reinforced fence between us I had been scared shitless of the alpha male. He hadn"t snarled, or growled, or really done anything but stare. Same stare this half grown pup had. I ransacked my memory for that day eight years ago but mostly I remembered that I"d been the luckiest guy in school since my girlfriend"s parents still believed in free love and her dad had undoubtedly been better at steering me through the shoals of my junior year than mine would have if he could have been bothered to stick around. Delightful as this little jaunt down memory lane was and as annoyed as I was at my mother for moving us yet AGAIN that wasn"t helping me to figure out what to do against White Fang here. I was damn lucky that the pup seemed to have no inclination to take the initiative and was patiently waiting for my move. One thing I remembered very, very clearly was the breeder telling us that per capita wolf-dogs killed more people than any other breed for two reasons, one a wolf"s jaw was fundamentally different that a dog"s, more powerful even than a pit bull"s, because the leverage was much better, and two wolves grow up. According to the breeder dogs were essentially brain damaged wolves with deformed jaws. Most dogs never make a play for being alpha but once a wolf starts to mature as an owner you just might find yourself facing a rebellious teenager that potential outweighs you armed with teeth capable of crushing bones in a single bite. She"d stressed that wolves and wolf-dogs weren"t cruel or vicious by nature, that she"d never had a serious encounter but that it was something one always had to keep in mind. Personally I"d concluded anyone who even considered the idea of wanting to own a wolf was a little nuts (Cassie included, hey, she"d put up with me months longer than any other girl). It had been a full day affair and we"d seen wolves and wolf-dogs of all ages. A pup of this size and age (a mere 70 -90 pound "pre-teen") shouldn"t have the stare and stance of a seasoned alpha. I reminded myself that this monster had been keeping a crippled old woman company without ripping her throat out so he was capable of behaving himself. I licked my chapped lips and soothing said "Hey, Yeller." Absolutely no reaction of any kind but then "Yeller" was just what the old lady had called him. "You do realize you are interfering with a police officer in the execution of his duties? I could have you arrested for that." He arched one golden brow at me and cocked his head to the side. At least the stare was a little less intense. I took a cautious step back and he stayed where he was so I took a second. How far could a half grown pup leap? I actually had a fair idea from that day of what an adult could do (since we"d gotten a demo) but I had no idea for this guy. I was still in range for an adult but maybe I was clear. Slowly and cautiously I started to reach for my gun but paused when he whined. "I"m not going to hurt Paul, swear to God on my mother"s honor, but the kid"s out here without so much as a coat. You might not have noticed under that pelt of yours but it"s fricking freezing" I finished pulling the gun and got an INSTANTANIOUS switch to full submission. The pup knew what a gun was. That was just spooky. He slunk forward on his belly tail tightly tucked ears down. I turned to the side to let him pass feeling like a jerk. I should be glad that the kid had some backup. I started up the stairs only to be yanked off my feet from behind with my gun flying out of my hand as my elbow slammed into the ground. I rolled instinctively protecting my throat and lashed out catching the pup in the ribs. There wasn"t as much force behind the blow as I would have liked but he "offed" and it gave me time to snatch the gun back up. I smacked him in the face with it and he yelped. I scuttled back breathing hard "Back off" I snarled at him and was rewarded with a rapid backpedal. I cocked the gun and pointed it at him. He managed to hunker down even lower and hid his face. I fought to get my breath back as the little (relatively he was still bigger than a full grown lab) wolf trembled with his huge paws hiding his eyes. How could I shoot that? How could I turn my back on him again? Hmm, he and the kid were wearing matching scarves. What was it with Paul and scarves? He"d been wearing one in Penhall"s springtime picture too. "Get OUT of here! GO ON, GET!!" Blue eyes blinked up at me for a second before he took off. The breeder had told us adult wolves could sprint at 40 mph, I think "Yeller" had them beat. I dusted myself off, started to holster my gun when I noticed the blood on it, felt like a jerk again for cracking the poor cub in the mouth, before going up the stairs, slipping through the broken door, and flicking on penlight I had stashed in my pocket. Not exactly the ritz but it was awfully empty and clean. Usually derelict buildings in this part of town rapidly became inhabited by at least a handful of the down and out but there was no sign of that here. Confident that Paul wasn"t in the first room, and let"s face it my scuffle with "Yeller" had probably given him enough time to scoot out the back and be long gone. I frowned I should just get down to the Y before the sun came up on me but I"d had to fight my way in I wanted to see what else was around. I was debating between the basement and the upstairs when I felt the cold pressure of a gun barrel under my ear. "Hey, Boss, look at what I found snooping around." Someone who hadn"t had a shower in a while took the penlight away and with a gun trying to separate my ear from the rest of my head I was not inclined to argue. At least two adults and from the quiet (and not so quiet movement there were others). A door opened and the spill of light was accompanied by a strong whiff of chemicals. Oh, hell, "Yeller" hadn"t been trying to defend Paul; he"d been trying to keep me out of the Cook"s kitchen. This was the meth lab. No back up. No one even knew where I was and who knew when (or if as petrified as he"d looked) Harry was going to show up. It could be hours before anyone missed me. Stupid, stupid, stupid!!! I deserved to be shot for going off alone like this. I was a trained police officer. I was supposed to know better. "What do you want, boy?" "To make a deal. I hear you"re a business man" I packed ever bit of brash bravado I could into my voice. The Cook"s dark eyes flicked to the guy behind me "Has he been checked yet?" "Just found him. Haven"t had a chance." The Cook didn"t move from his position at the bottom of the basement stairs. "Then do it now" exasperation threaded his voice. Must be hard to get good help in this part of town. The Cook was a poster boy for "Geeks Gone Bad". And I don"t think I"d ever seen a better example of Shakespeare"s "lean and hungry" look in my life either. I guess ambition coupled with brains must have been enough to keep him on top of his little band of a dentist"s worst nightmare men. I tried to get a count as I was very thoroughly frisked. Eight, nine, more? It didn"t take them long to find my gun, cuffs, and badge. "Pig!" the one behind me snarled as my own cuffs were snapped around my wrists. "You kill a cop and there isn"t a hole deep enough to hide you" I bragged to the Cook not letting any of the fear knotting my stomach into my voice but the Cook only smiled. "What makes you think they will ever find your body? You should have stuck to your assignment," that was like a kick in the gut. The Cook had someone on the force in his pocket that must be why Paul"s tips had been ignored "tracked down that little thorn in my side, and minded your own business." The Cook sighed "What a waste. Get rid of him." God, I"m only 22, I"m too young to die. Christine might have made me feel worthless but she"d never made me feel suicidal. I LIKED being alive, nightmares and all. I forced myself not to react, not wanting to give them the satisfaction. My only hope was that Paul had noticed and called it in. I prayed the kid didn"t come back and try something heroic primarily because I didn"t want the death of an eight year old to be the last thing I ever saw and because I didn"t think I"d survive the ribbing if he managed it. "Can we have some fun first?" I didn"t like the thought of what that might entail but every second of life was a second in which I might either think up something clever ("cause there"s no such thing as a no win situation) or the cavalry might arrive (embarrassing as hell but preferable to being shot with my own gun which looked to be the direction that things were going). The Cook checked his watch, nodded a bit reluctantly, locked up his lab, and came up the stairs. Was that a touch of sympathy in his dark eyes? If it was it wasn"t enough to save me as I was marched into a windowless inner room and the lights were flicked on. So this building wasn"t half as abandoned as it seemed. They laughed as they took turns holding and punching. Fortunately for me none of them were exactly jocks and for the moment they seemed content just to use their fists so while there was a lot of swinging going on and it wasn"t any fun it was bearable. Until someone decided that kicking might be more effective (with the added bonus that I couldn"t bite anymore that way) and one of them knocked me off my feet. Cowards. I wanted to kill them all as I tried to protect myself with my hands secured behind my back. "Stop" the Cook barked. One last sneaker to my ribs (thank God this wasn"t a country western crowd, those pointy cowboy boots would probably REALLY hurt). "Is that smoke?" "You three, go check it out" I played possum on the floor pretending to be more hurt than I was as a lot more than three left. Meth labs were notoriously flammable it looked like the cockroaches were scurrying for cover. Not that burning to death had much appeal. "Let"s get out of here boss" the greasy git who had gotten the drop on me (and who had decided that my gun was nicer than his own) demanded. "Finish him first and make certain you use his gun." Barrels really do look huge when you"re on the wrong end of them. Hanson should enjoy the irony except the Cook seemed certain I"d never be found, just as well, for all the pomp and circumstance a cops funeral generated there probably wouldn"t be a single real mourner. Hadn"t been close to Mom in years, she"d mourn the little boy I"d been, Brian would mourn what I might have become no one would actually mourn me because no one knew me anymore. I wondered when "the moment" is when you die, just before, in the instant, just after? I"d been hoping to live a little longer before I learned the answer to that question. "You know" I said determined to at least have some last words "With all that money you"re making you could at least get your employees some decent dentures." The Cook"s lip actually twitched and he looked away. In that moment a small form swung down out of the remnants of ceiling above us sending the gun flying and dropping the greasy git like a rock. Paul managed to catch my gun on its way to the floor and brought it around to bear on the Cook before he could react. Not exactly fast on the draw was the Cook. Wouldn"t have lasted a second in one of those old westerns. But then the Cook might not even be packing, unlikely but not impossible. He might have had sympathy for me but he clearly hated Paul "Why can"t you just die?" "You"d be amazed how many times I"ve been asked that" Paul retorted "Now back up." The Cook smirked "You don"t have the guts." I flinched as my gun spoke and blood ran from the Cook"s left ear "Next one goes right between your eyes and if you think I don"t have the nerve ask your pal Jones. Oh, how silly of me to forget. He wouldn"t listen either and look where that got him. He died just fine. Back. Up." The kid"s voice was as cold and cutting as an Antarctic wind. This time he moved "What kind of fool starts a fire in the same building as a meth lab? And I know damn well you know it"s here brat you"ve snitched about it often enough. Do you really think my men will let you get out of here alive?" "Do you really think your men are within a block?" Paul riposted "You don"t pay enough for them to burn alive for you. I called in an officer down before coming in, directly to someone you DON"T own. Units are already rolling, have been for four minutes. Speaking of which" I felt the cuffs come loose as Paul put some distance between himself and all of us "we have 4 minutes 45 seconds plus or minus 10 seconds before the fire hits the lab and this whole building heads for the stratosphere." "Plus or minus 10?" I asked getting to my feet. "There are only so many hours in a day; I focused on medicine not demolitions. I suggest we move. You" he pointed my gun at the Cook "haul Sneezy out of here." "Can I have my gun back?" "Promise not to hit me in the face with it?" the kid was well and truly pissed, at me. So he"d seen me clobber his wolf. "Sorry, I thought he was going to attack." "For the record if he was serious he"d have ripped out your throat before you ever even knew he was there. The next time "Yeller"" you could here the quotation marks around the name "tries to tell you something, do everyone a favor and listen." Interesting that odd slight accent was stronger and his vocabulary was significantly plainer than earlier. "I thought you wanted something done about the lab" I said as I covered the Cook who was dragging the still napping Sneezy. Who was coming up with these names? "I prefer to leave police work to the police" Paul snapped "I fear I lack the stature to make a good vigilante nor am I a pyromaniac by preference. Fire is a fool"s weapon as likely to turn on its user as to destroy the enemy but you didn"t leave me much choice." So far it wasn"t too hard to breath, hell, my favorite strip joint had more smoke than this on a Friday night.

be better for it." Fitzgerald didn"t like it but Ramirez caved to the Captain. Weren"t girls supposed to be MORE understanding? Whatever just as long as I wasn"t sleeping at the Y today. "I want them back out tomorrow night." "They"ll be there." I stayed where I was as the detectives marched out leaving us a handful of files to study. Most of it went with them but I still had a few friends at IAD. By the time I hit the streets again I"d know everything we knew about "Gabriel". "Why don"t you send Hansen in with Ioki?" "Because Hanson"s cover is blown and so is Hoffs"." "What about Ditrick? Or Simpson?" Sometimes I wondered if the Captain even remembered that there were actually more officers here than the Fab Four. "I know you don"t want this case Dennis" Great, first name, why was it people always used your first name before telling you something you never wanted to hear like you have lung cancer? "but we can"t always have what we want. You didn"t want to be in the "nerd frat" and that turned out ok." "Captain" I started but he held up a hand. "I know you think "rules" is a dirty word and that you"re telling yourself that no one is getting hurt. But how do we know that?" "Captain, I"m just not certain this is a good use of resources. We"re already stretched thin from all the budget cuts and now they want us to chase down the only kid in the city who"ll help an old lady across the street without expecting to be paid. That isn"t what I signed on to do." "Hey" Ioki, the worst stickler for law and order I had ever met broke in. "Whoever is behind this kid is a vigilante, end of story." I could have sworn Ioki had been defending the Street Rangers. I guess he must have taken Hanson nearly getting shot harder than I"d realized and picked up some serious anti-vigilante baggage. "Fine, swell, whatever. I"ll see you tomorrow night" because Ioki was going to hunt this kid and I couldn"t leave him out there alone. Quiet. I used to love the quiet of my own place. My little refuge of my, myself, and I, except we weren"t as good company as we used to be. Somewhere along the way something had gone wrong and silence had lost its charm. Something, no, not something Christine. Something inside had cracked when I realized she"d killed Bobby because she thought he was the narc and it had broken completely when she threw herself down that elevator shaft. Everything had been...hollow since then. Maybe it always had been and those kids" deaths had just forced me to notice it. I"d almost cried in the dept shrink"s office. God that was still embarrassing to remember. I had all but begged her to tell me how to fill the yawning void that had opened as the metaphorical ground crumbled beneath my feet only to have her give me some useless psychobabble about needing to get in touch with myself and some mandatory leave time to do it on. I"d given her the right pat answers when I got back, managed to convince my waking mind that Christine had been a ticking time bomb of a head job just waiting to go off and that it wasn"t my fault. I almost believed it until I went to sleep. I gave myself a mental slap. I was NOT going to become as broody as Hanson. I had a reputation to maintain. Besides it didn"t look like much fun and I was all about fun. So shower, call Brian and set up a meeting for tonight, sleep, hopefully, if that damn dream would let me. It had been long enough since I"d been here that I actually had to order my drink instead of my usual just appearing. Maybe it was working out of a defunct chapel but the bottom line was the Jump Street crowd didn"t go in for strip joints. They were more of a pool and pizza crowd. IAD was another story but this one was on the wrong side of town for most of IAD the only reason I"d frequented it was that I"d been dating one of the strippers for a while. I dumped her about the time she"d started pestering me about talking to her. My relationships had a shelf life of about six weeks. I couldn"t decide if the variety was refreshing or depressing. By the time Brian showed up a half hour later there were four empty bottles lined up in front of me and I had the distinct impression that the waitress was trying to think of a way to slow me down without actually flagging me. She might have a point but I wasn"t certain I cared at the moment. Brian looked pissed as he came in, saw my line up and switched to concerned (and still slightly pissed - what had I done? Unlike the temperamental "kiddy kops" the IAD crowd usually had the decency to wait for you to screw up to jump down your throat.) "Want to talk?" I didn"t answer. The natural blond on the platform didn"t look old enough to be up there. She was new at this and it showed. She had the goods for the job but was still rough around the edges. Just like so many of those kids on the street where I"d be going back tomorrow to hunt one of the few people who was getting them off the streets. Because maybe something was fishy. He laid the files on the table "I can"t let you keep these. I barely made it out with them. Something about this has the brass more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs." The fact that I found the comment hilarious meant that I"d had a little too much too fast on an empty stomach. "Dennis please tell me you aren"t too pickled to even read these." Brian was a great guy and I was being an ass. "I"m shorry" that shouldn"t have slurred maybe four was just what was left in front of me. He just sighed "It wasn"t your fault Dennis." Brian had undoubtedly read every single report including Fuller"s and the shrink"s. I shook my head (a mistake) cleared my throat, swallowed a belch, and attempted to speak clearly "Not that. I shouldn"t have asked you to jeopardize your job for me." Brian was old enough to be my dad and he was definitely more reliable. "It"s ok, Dennis. Now are you going to look at the files or her?" "She"s probably prettier" I offered. "Undoubtedly but if you don"t buckled down and at least pretend to look at them I"m going to kick your ass." I pulled the one on the top and had to swallow hard when I realized that it was a photo of the remains of someone"s head. "The East Side Slasher?" "Yes" Brian had ordered us coffee and I took a gulp. My stomach complained but I ignored it "What"s he using? A cannon?" "The ballistic guys think it"s a .24 caliber." "WHAT?!" He shushed me, not that the other patrons were paying the slightest attention to anything but Lisa. I was momentarily distracted by memories - why had I dumped her? "Dennis" Brian both amused and annoyed. So back to what was left of a murdering rapist"s cranium. "No way, no WAY, a bullet that small did...this." Brian took a sip of coffee and focused all of his attention on me. "I put that picture on top for a reason Dennis. The ballistics guys are certain he"s using some sort of explosive ammunition. Something they"ve never seen before. If he nails you in a limb you"re going to lose it if he hits you center man you"re dead. Not on your way to the hospital and they think you"ll pull through, dead, DOA, as in forensics will be scraping bits of you out of the wall. They think it"s a small gun with a longish barrel. If he pulls it on you don"t hesitate because I don"t want to be attending your funeral. I like you kid. You have the makings of a great cop. Don"t screw up by getting killed on me." "He"s been saving cops not killing them" I pointed out as another effect of too much beer too fast made itself known. "Who the hell knows what he"s going to do if you put him in a corner. I don"t care if he really is an eight year old if he pulls that gun on you, You. Put. Him. Down." "I"ll be right back" I got a touch of a head rush as I headed for the little boys room. Lisa glared at me as she finished her routine on my return trip. I ignored her. "I mean it Dennis" Brian was worried. I didn"t know if I should be insulted because he thought I couldn"t handle myself or bah, we weren"t chicks, I settled for being annoyed. Instead of answering I pulled another file. Brian jerked it away. I frowned "I can"t shoot a little kid." A couple of teenagers were ripping me apart I didn"t need to add the "male equivalent of Shirley Temple" to my ghosts. My hand hadn"t even been on the trigger with those kids, how the hell could I live with myself if I was the shooter? "I"m going to find a way to get you off this case Dennis" Brian swore. I should tell him not to, not to interfere because Fuller would probably take it personally, or as an excuse to think even less of me. But I didn"t because I didn"t want this case. Fitzgerald and Ramirez hadn"t been kidding (no pun intended). They had next to nothing on "Gabriel". Penhall had more solid information in a single night than they had a month. I ransacked the files looking for anything dirty. Any sign of anyone other than the kid. I picked up a copy of Penhall"s picture. I considered anyone under fifteen to be avoided like the plague (and honestly I wasn"t real fond of teenagers either) but the kid looked really sweet and cute. There was a fair bit on the people he"d helped and that was only the ones who had been willing to talk or that we knew about. Hm, that was interesting "The notes were written with a QUILL? As in an honest to God bird feather?" "Whoever he is he"s a nut Dennis and you never know what a nut is going to do." I frowned and buried myself in the files. I put the last one back on the pile now stone cold sober and liking the whole thing less by the minute. "Thanks" I clapped Brian on the shoulder as I tossed enough to cover both of us onto the table and walked out into the cold night. Fuller was going to be pissed about me being late. The sun was long down and I doubted he was going believe I"d overslept even if it was true. After a couple of hours of nightmares I"d finally given up and taken something. Just some over the counter stuff but apparently once asleep my body had decided to sleep itself out regardless of alarm clocks. I drew a deep breath in the parking lot pulling my "Officer Booker" persona around myself. A glance in the rear view mirror revealed brash confidence with just the right touch of arrogance. Perfect. I swaggered into the Chapel each footfall announcing that the world was my oyster. Body language shouting there was no mountain I couldn"t climb, no obstacle could possibly get in my way, and nothing could touch me. Not true but image was everything. Hansen looked up, some sixth sense knowing I had just entered "his" territory even from across the building. I changed directions since pushing his buttons was a fundamental part of the character I played here. Truth was it was too easy and I was bored but it had been fun early on and now I was stuck with it or people would ask what was wrong. And who knows I might tell someone the truth. We were both rescued by Fuller"s annoyed "Booker, my office, now." "Shut the door." He just stared at me until I shifted uncomfortably. "You"re late." "I overslept." "I thought you were out of IAD." "I am" I hadn"t meant for it to sound that bitter. Pull it together Booker I mentally hissed to myself. An arch of brows "Then why is your excaptain complaining about my treatment of you?" Huh? I blinked at him Blake hadn"t had the time of day for me. Except Booker probably didn"t KNOW who the captain of IAD was so it was probably Brian who had called not Blake. "The Slasher photos weren"t in the files we were allowed to see and Ioki still hasn"t seen them." I could see in his eyes that he had. He sighed "There seems to be some doubts about your ability to handle this case. That you aren"t able to do what might need to be done. What do you think?" I was suddenly a lot more sympathetic to the rah-rah jocks from a few months ago. I wanted to sit this one out but who wants to admit they belong on the bench? So much for all my advice to Penhall. "Let me run a few scenarios by you. Let"s say the boy is the shooter and he pulls that gun on you. Could you put him down?" "No" I didn"t even have to think "If you"re asking me if I can live with myself if I have to shoot an eight year old to save my own hide then the answer is no. If you"re asking me if I can watch Ioki"s back and do my best to help track the boy down then the answer is yes." "I wasn"t done yet, what if he drew on your partner?" I had to think about that one "Yes". "Not a lot of conviction there Dennis" I shrugged miserably unable to meet his eyes. "And if he were to threaten an innocent bystander?" "Yes" a little quicker this time and with a bit more certainty behind it. Fuller sighed "You don"t belong on this case but I don"t have anyone else to back up Harry right now." "Sorry to disappoint you" the edge I"d put on that surprised me. "I"m not disappointed" he steepled his fingers and looked up at me. "Did you really slash my tires during the strike?" The truth probably wouldn"t hurt anything now "No." "But you took the heat for it and paid for it. Just like you took the fall for Penhall and Hanson"s...misbehavior a few months back." "I didn"t know you knew about that." "I didn"t. Dennis you AREN"T in IAD anymore." "I know that." "I"m not so sure. You came here to play a role with a cover and a character already in place and I don"t think you ever stopped. I think we only get to see the real Dennis Booker on rare occasion and from what I can see he"s a real good guy. Cares about people, gives some damn good advice, and makes pretty speeches. Pity you won"t let anyone meet him." He shifted gears "Dennis why did you become a cop?" "To catch the bad guys." "Didn"t we all. But that means slightly different things for all of us. For some anyone who breaks the law is a bad guy. I don"t think you agree Dennis so who are your bad guys?" "People who hurt other people" that sounded so lame. "And THAT is the reason you don"t belong on this case, not the fact that I suspect you are way more torn up about those kids than even the department shrink thinks. As far as we can tell so far this is a victimless "crime" and maybe it shouldn"t be called a "crime" at all. You let Harry take the lead and just make sure that no "bad guys" take a chunk out of either of you. And Dennis, there"s no shame in admitting that you can"t shoot a kid. I doubt there"s a soul in this building that could do it and walk away. Your work on your last two cases has been exemplary. You"re good at what you do and we ARE making a difference even if it doesn"t seem like it some times. Those kids were a tragedy but don"t let Christine destroy you too." I nodded and walked out to where Harry was waiting impatiently for me. I played with my lighter a little more and let my eyes sweep the streets again. No little blond kids or blue-eyed yellow huskies in sight. I shivered, a cold front had moved in and it was brutal out here. Harry was in deep conversation with a little red head who didn"t look old enough to be in high school yet. How bad could home be that this was better? Maybe we should get social services in on that one except their budget had been cut too. Easy for the Congress on the opposite side of the country with cushy jobs and plenty of everything to decide that federal funding for social projects should be reduced they weren"t out here in the cold looking at the results. Harry looked thoughtful as the kid wandered further down the street. He ambled over to me. "Apparently there"s bad blood between the Mercy ER and "Gabriel"" he blew on his hands. Interesting. No one out here had wanted to talk about the deviant pervert who was beating the crap out of their fellow hustlers but everyone had a story about "Gabriel" usually sixth hand so there was no telling what was and wasn"t true but this was the first I heard of anyone speaking ill of him. "Want to check it out?" "It has to be warmer than out here." We turned and walked out of the "red light" district looking for a cab. "So, what"s the story?" "Red" what an imaginative street name, I rolled my eyes "got a nasty cut on his arm a few weeks back and went to Mercy both to have it stitched up and to have the stitches removed. Apparently five guys were sharing a dive over on 7th and 23rd. They all got sick. Three of them ended up in Mercy"s ER, two refused to go to the hospital and ended up with "Gabriel". "Gabriel" went to the ER while Red was waiting to be seen and asked to speak to one of the doctors. He tried to tell the doctor that the guys didn"t have pneumonia but something else something much nastier that required different treatment. The doctor didn"t take being told what to do very well. It ended up in a screaming match and the doctor called security on "Gabriel". Two weeks later went Red back to get his stitches out and this other guy is bawling in the waiting area so Red buys him a soda. Turns out he"s one of the five guys and he"s just learned that the three in the hospital didn"t make. According to Red he"s the only survivor of the five." "So Gabriel lost one too?" That was a first, every other story had a happy ending. "Sounds like it, if it"s true. The Dr"s name is Walker." We rode the rest of the way in silence. I let Ioki take the lead. Dr. Walker looked more like one of the walking dead than any horror flick character I"d ever seen. His lips were blue, his complexion grey, and his hand limp and icy and he had all the personality of a dead fish. That is until we mentioned that we were cops inquiring about his run in with "Gabriel". The change was astounding. The kid had really, really gotten under this guy"s skin. "Finally someone is going to do something about that little menace to society" he snarled. "The brat had the audacity to march into my ER in my hospital and call me an unqualifiedly incompetent ignoramus who clearly found his medical license in a Cracker Jack box. The unmitigated nerve of that undersized quack, which he also called me, along with moron, idiot, fool, and small minded hypocrite." Clearly Red was right about the fight at least. The doc had gone from grey to florid. "Terrible" Ioki murmured encouragingly not that he really needed any. "I do my job, officer, and I am capable of making a simple diagnosis" from the edge to his voice someone had recently said he wasn"t. Probably a youthful someone with blond ringlets. I really wish I could have seen this fight. It had probably been hysterical, except that four kids might be dead which was a sobering thought. Suddenly it wasn"t funny at all. "without the assistance of pint-sized ankle biters with pretensions that they have the least clue about medicine!!" Ioki had to wipe some flying spit off his face. Fortunately being a little further back I was out of the spray zone. "Do you have any idea what the boy"s real name is or where he lives?" "Of course not, if I did I would have given his parents a piece of my mind and told them to keep that little freak locked in the basement." "Could we possibly speak with the patients you were discussing?" "I"m afraid that doctor patient privilege doesn"t allow that. Why don"t you gentlemen go looking for that juvenile delinquent on the streets? His parents clearly can"t be bothered to discipline the creature and he runs wild at all hours." "So you see him a lot?" Harry asked. "He is a millstone around my neck. My own personal albatross" his eyes flicked to one of the nurses "If you"ll excuse me." No sooner was he out of the room than a very nervous looking nurse with a pile of paperwork slipped in "These are copies of the files you were asking about." "What about dr. patient privilege?" "It doesn"t extend to the deceased. These are everything I could gather on all eight patients they"ve argued about and the one rumor has it "Gabriel" lost along with the statistics on pneumonia deaths for the last five years." "Are you saying that every one of the patients they"ve fought over is dead?" "Yes, they are officer. There"s an all night diner just up the street, Dr. Walker hates the place." I took the files "Thank you." "No problem officer" she looked down at her white shoes "he tried to hit that boy last time he was in here." "He took a swing at the kid?" I knew it was the kid I was supposed to be tracking but I wanted a crack at the doctor. "He missed, the boy"s quick, just ask the security guards though I don"t know how hard they"re actually trying." Harry added his thanks and we headed for the diner. "She"s afraid" he observed as the doors slid shut behind us. "Of losing her job or of whatever killed nine people is the question." Harry shrugged "Could be both. You want to start on the files or the statistics?" "Give me the stats." We ordered some surprisingly good coffee and got down to work. Since I"d had no idea that life on the streets would require a calculator I was stuck doing math long hand with a pencil borrowed from the very world weary waitress. I did the numbers three times, just to be certain. "Harry, "pneumonia" deaths are already triple the 5 year average and we have another month of winter to go." He looked up from the file "You"re kidding me." I shoved my numbers at him. "Walker"s blaming it on HIV related illnesses. Is that in those files of yours?" "Yeh but only two were positive. The one Gabriel lost had full blown AIDS and one of the first three who wasn"t even symptomatic yet." Well, that explained why "Gabriel" had failed, his patient had already had both feet in the grave. I took a drag wrong and coughed my whole chest tightening up "They"re mostly homeless kids who are dying" I sounded strangled.

was just death throes. I wonder a few centuries from now what they will say about your United States." So not an American "Was this like your first Civil War merely a great test or will this be your end? I find it intriguing that he made so accurate a prediction." "How old are you?" A shrug "My guardian insisted on a full Classical education from an extremely young age with an emphasis on history and language. My Latin is superb and my ancient Greek flawless." "Well, that should come in handy" I couldn"t resist commenting. The boy laughed not even shivering in the cold in nothing but jeans and a sweater. "So what prediction?" "At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide" he quoted "Spoken January 27, 1838." "How is that accurate? A bunch of terrorists did this to us." Eyes the same exact shade as Pal"s met mine "Make no mistake, this was an inside job by someone eager to forge a new world to their own liking. Rome killed herself too you know. The barbarians would never have had a chance if she hadn"t gutted herself from within." The kid was nuts but what the hell it was the most interesting conversation I"d had all week "And how does any of this relate to the factory in New Bern?" "I"m afraid I just arrived in town and am not nearly as familiar with local events as I am ancient history but New Bern has a factory and it is operational. This is not an area one thinks of as industrial ergo there must be a reason why New Bern is not a farming town like most of the others in this region." He arched a brow at me. "Soil"s got too much clay in it." A thoughtful nod "From that fact that the factory is still operational I would assume that its machines are old. What did it produce during World War II?" I froze "Mortar rounds." "Fluency in Latin might not be a marketable skill in this brave new world but an intimate knowledge of history is more useful than one might think. When society shatters and food becomes scarce" the boy shrugged "but then you know the men of New Bern better than I. And you are right it is a bit nippy out here I think I should get my coat. I didn"t see the wolf from the roof today but he was working a small herd of white tails in the thicket down off of Washington Street. He didn"t get them all." "That"s practically in town." The boy shrugged and turned to go "Wait, what"s your name?" "Paullus." Gray Anderson the eternal thorn in my side and pain in my ass chose that moment to distract me and Paullus was gone. As annoying as he was even Gray Anderson (probably) wouldn"t approve of a child wandering around in this cold alone. He would, of course demand that someone be found to take him in. I sighed I had been really hoping that the next kid I would have to deal with would be a girl. And it was awfully coincidental that the boy and the wolf-pup had made a nearly symultanious appearance. Damn it all to hell and gone what had the kid really been doing on that roof? Had he been hiding or seeking and for or from whom? I had the distinct impression as I shouldered my gun that I had been played almost as neatly as Pal had played Jake last night. 9 Author"s notes: Thank you to everyone that read and reviewed. Hopefully the characters are still in character in this chapter. Spuffyshipper we have some angsty Jake in this chapter but I plan on giving him a bit of a reprieve after this for a little while but never fear more angst will be coming eventually. I"m not much of an Emily fan either. On the legal side of things Grayson is not mine but has been shamelessly borrowed from Davis/Panzer and will be returned in much better condition than they left him X-Factor: Chapter 4: Confessions Jake The cold woke me. It was like it was radiating from my bones, like my marrow had been turned to ice. I shivered watching the flames flicker and dance. It seemed like the only time I was warm enough was when Pal was curled up with me. April said my temperature was back to normal so it was probably all just in my head. And if it was all in my head then my ass should be up helping because God knew every day brought a new disaster. Except that generally speaking the disasters were outside, in the cold. I sank down deeper in my blankets. I could almost hear Grandpa telling me that the most important thing after a fall is getting back into the saddle. But I"m tired Grandpa and it hurts. I didn"t know if I believed in God, Heaven (and I was less than positive Grandpa would have made it there anyway), or the dead watching over us but I did know I"d been taught better and he would have expected better. So ass off the couch. See that wasn"t so bad. I was halfway to the door when I realized I"d snagged my favorite blanket out of the pile. What the hell was I thinking? God if Stanley was here I would NEVER live it down. Granted showing up to my first day of kindergarten with my blanket had been a mistake that had required a couple of fist fights and several "reckless stunts" to shake the nickname "Linus". At five it was understandable, at nearly thirty-three....at least no one had seen... sometimes you can just FEEL it when some one is looking at you. Favoring my screaming ankle I carefully turned, head high, blanket wrapped defiantly around my shoulders, praying that it wasn"t Dad or Eric, or any guy for that matter. I could feel myself slump a little in relief when I spotted Mom on the stairs looking torn between wanting to smile and scream. It took her a minute to get her lips to stop trying to rebel on her. Mom hadn"t smiled nearly enough lately and if my little lapse back into childhood had brightened her day, well, then I didn"t mind half so much. "Young man, where do you think you"re going?" "Down to town hall to see what needs to be done." Her eyes shone and I felt myself standing straighter as she came down the stairs. "Jake, I can not even begin to tell you how proud of you I am. You have been NOTHING but helpful since you came home" I swallowed as a blaze lit in her eyes "but if you even THINK of going out that door today or tomorrow I will sit on you until your father gets back and then I will have him hogtie you. Are we clear?" "Yes, Mom." She started just a little and a flicker of smile ghosted across her face to be replaced by worry. Once upon a time I would have been all bluster and defiance. I would have been out the door the instant her back was turned. Now, I was grateful for the reprieve and you could hear it in my voice. I tried Grandpa but the CO got me, back to bed, orders you know. She reached out to check my temperature and I forced a chuckle. "I"m O.K. Mom. Just tired. Seems like I"ve done nothing but put out fires for months if you can arrange for nothing to fall apart for a couple of days I will happily laze on the couch. Scout"s honor." "I think it"s high time someone else shouldered a few of the superman duties around here. I don"t care WHAT happens today, tomorrow, or the day after you are going stay on that couch and recover." "Yes, ma"am" I could tell she was surprised that she wasn"t getting an argument but that was the last thing I wanted. "So why are you not going back to the couch?" I wanted to but that same stubborn streak that had gotten me off the couch to begin with refused to concede total defeat. "Mind if I sit in the kitchen for a little while?" "I"ll fix you some soup and tea before I head over to the medical center." I pulled her into a hug before she could turn to go "I love you, Mom" I breathed into the top of her head having to blink hard before giving up an just closing my eyes. I shivered. And all but growled at myself. I was NOT cold. Damn, it wasn"t like I"d never faced death before so why was this time different? Because every other time there had been something I could DO about it. I hadn"t been trapped, just lying there waiting for it as the cold leeched everything out of me knowing that my failure to have Mimi toss me that damn gun before I sent her scampering over the hill had condemned all three of us. My screw up. Again. I"d given up on all of us out there in the cold and every moment after was a gift. Life was too short and too precious to squander in anger. "Then don"t ever worry me like that again" Mom didn"t even bother to hide the tears. I hadn"t meant to make her cry. God knows I"d probably done it enough through the years for several lifetimes. I opened my mouth to promise but she shushed me "I know it wasn"t your fault and I know the world is too crazy now for you to promise that you won"t put yourself in danger. And for better or worse you seem to have come home determined to be a hero, so you promise me this and KEEP it. You won"t go needlessly or recklessly into danger, that you will rest when you can afford to, and you will NEVER give up." That made me wonder just what Dad had told her, but those were promises I could make, promises I should make. It wasn"t fair to make Mom wait for me to come home for five years just to die needlessly. Looking her straight in the eye, "I swear." I settled into the chair with a sigh as Mom tucked a second blanket around me. Generally speaking I made point of protesting being "fussed" over but I had neither the energy nor the will today. Besides it felt nice. I braced myself as I picked up the mug. I hated tea. I liked coffee but every drop was long since gone. I took a generous sip anyway since at least it would be warm "Where did you get honey?" "I found an old, crystallized jar in the back of the pantry." I didn"t like tea and I didn"t like honey "It"s wonderful." Mom patted me on the shoulder. I checked the old antique clock I"d drug out of the attic "Shouldn"t you be at the clinic?" "I"ll be leaving shortly" she said looking to the door. I sighed "Mom, I"m not five, you can leave before Dad gets back. I solemnly swear not to set the house on fire this time." "That"s a relief" she said dryly but she chuckled as she said it. Amazing how the end of the world and twenty years can make a minor disaster look entertaining. We both froze as the door swung open but it was just Pal. "Didn"t anyone ever teach you to knock?" Mom asked. He dropped his head and whined. "And where is Johnston?" He shrugged, after getting trounced at checkers I shouldn"t have been surprised, and yet I was. "Didn"t you two go hunting together this morning?" Pal chuffed and gave us a doggie grin. "What"d"ya get?" I asked hobbling toward the door but he sat so I couldn"t open it. It"s bad when the dog joins in the conspiracy. I settled for peaking out the window. What the hell? "Where did you find pronghorns?!" "What?" "A couple of pronghorns" I repeated "would you mind letting John know to pick them up on your way to the clinic?" She hesitated, worried, "Your father was supposed to be hunting with him." "Mom, wolves can sprint over 40 mph. Dad probably just couldn"t keep up and went down to town hall instead. Why don"t you go check on you way to the clinic and if there is a problem send a runner back." Mom crossed her arms and glared at Pal, "Did you get my husband lost?" Pal made an indignant sounding chuff of denial. He certainly didn"t seem to bark much. Mom kissed me on the head "There"s wood stacked by the fireplace and I"ll set some soup and water by the fire so it"ll stay warm and you get back on the couch soon." "Not five" I reminded her but I smiled to take some of the sting out of it. She tugged on the blanket before leaving. "So" I said looking at Pal "Pronghorns. Do you realize how HARD it is to get a pronghorn hunting permit?" He yawned in reply and looked over at the couch then back at me with the slightest wag of his tail. "In a minute" I"d just gotten up and was exhausted again "Let me finish my tea first." I got a long suspicious look in response before he trotted off. I rose gingerly and set the now empty mug in the sink before hobbling back to the couch were Pal had already made himself cozy. He was better than an electric blanket. I sank my fingers into his surprisingly fine coat. I hadn"t been able to feel my arms much less my fingers the other night, if it hadn"t been for Pal I"d have lost a lot of skin if not fingertips. I love dogs, loyal and faithful through thick and thin. I could always talk to dogs even when I couldn"t seem to talk to anyone else. "Dad doesn"t trust you" a sad, resigned glance from those impossibly blue eyes. I had never, ever seen eyes like this on a dog. I had the strange notion that you could drown or get lost in them forever if you weren"t careful. "Don"t take it too hard though. You were starting from a significant disadvantage. I like you. And apparently the feeling is mutual." I got a blast of minty breath and a quick lick "In Dad"s book that automatically makes you suspect. Now me I just want to know where you have the Scope stashed" I got an "it"s all mine" in reply "some things you just don"t share" "Fine be that way" his tail thumped against my leg. "None of my friends were ever good enough and in the end I wasn"t good enough either." I sighed "Apparently that"s changed, now, I"m back to being good enough, at least until the next time we have a difference of opinion" I paused "It"s not that he doesn"t love me, he does. I know that now but" I blinked up at the ceiling until Pal nudged me with his nose "Sorry, I don"t want you to think my Dad"s a bad guy because he"s not. He"s a great guy but he"s a little ...judgmental. He"s not a racist or anything he just doesn"t like to associate with anyone "lacking in moral character"." Pal made a sound I wasn"t quite certain how to identify. He was certainly vocal but not in a "dog-like" way. I scratched his ears and got a little contented sigh. "Like that huh? As I said you"re starting in the hole. Dad thinks I"m the world"s worst judge of character." I paused again, thinking of all the friends Dad never, ever would have approved of, and granted most of them were in prison or dead but that didn"t make them evil incarnate. Dad would have HATED Freddie but he had saved my ass. Of course my ass wouldn"t have BEEN there if it wasn"t for Freddie. That was another thing Dad hated, not taking the blame, except that I was, generally, willing to take the blame for what I had done. Dad was a little too big on guilt by association for my tastes. Hell, back in "92 I"d ended up spending the night in jail. Dad"s little attempt at "scared straight", my big crime? Treating Jonah Prowse like a human being. I could feel the old anger slinking around the corners of my mind. Pal gave me another nudge with his nose. "Sorry, kind of left you hanging didn"t I?" my turn to sigh "I just think if you"re going to join the family you should know all the baggage you"re signing on for. Of course if the fact that I" I had to pause, swallow hard, force myself to say it again "killed a little girl" Pal licked my chin before gazing at me with those bottomless blue eyes. Angel eyes. Forgiveness, compassion, empathy. No accusations, no condemnation. God, I love dogs. I laid my head against his fighting not to cry and then, what the hell, he wasn"t my Dad or one of the guys. Besides I taken her life the least I could do was shed a few tears as Pal made a crooning sound down in is throat. I wiped my eyes and roughed up his silken pale gold fur. "Still here huh?" he cocked his head and I could almost hear the "of course, where would I go?' "See most people will tell you that I am a chip off of Grandpa"s block but that isn"t quite true. Grandpa was a lot like Dad when it came to snap judgments but Mom...you know up until this fiasco with Eric and April, I would have said there was nothing Mom wouldn"t forgive in a heartbeat." Mom had really surprised me with Eric. Actually both parents had. If I so much as breathed out of line the hammer of Dad was ready to smite me but Mom had been the eye of the storm through everything. Dad wasn"t treating Eric one whit different than he always had while Mom had developed a razor wire tongue overnight. "Mom, Mom almost always sees the best in people. She"s always ready to give almost anyone" except Mary Bailey I thought "a fresh start and a second chance. That"s were Eric and I differ, he"s just like Mom except with Dad"s judgmental streak and I"m just like Grandpa without it." I took a sip of water "I was sixteen, bored, looking for trouble, wanting to REALLY piss Dad off when Mitch suddenly had the sweetest set of" did the wolf just roll his eyes at me? He looked decidedly amused "wheels. I did some asking around found out that Jonah Prowse was running a freight company just outside town. Rumor was he was letting some of the guys use his tools and an empty garage bay to work on their cars. Dad was snapping mad that he hadn"t been able to run him out of town. He didn"t like having an ex-con around since he figured Jonah wasn"t precisely reformed." I sighed "And Dad wasn"t exactly wrong. The chance for a cool car and an annoyed Dad was just way more than I was capable of resisting." Pal arched one deeper gold brown in an almost Spock-like expression "Hey I am only human. I"d been down there just hanging out a couple of times checking out the lay of the land, easing myself in when Eric ratted me out. Dad and the sheriff trumped up some charge to get in, busted everyone for one stinking lousy joint." I snorted ""In this family we don"t take the law into our own hands" bullshit!" Even now more than half a lifetime later part of me was still pissed "Dad figured a night in a cell would teach me "where friends like that were taking me". What it did was turn a skirmish into a war. Dad will tell you Jonah is the devil incarnate but it isn"t true. He"s no saint but he has more decency than Dad would ever believe. Not to mention that he keeps his word better than Dad ever has." God, but that came out even more bitterly than I intended. "And he has a skill that neither Dad nor Grandpa were ever very good at. I have never met anyone that can listen like Jonah can. Well, except maybe you" that got me a tail thump. It wasn"t just flattery either there was a focused interest in his eyes and bearing that dogs generally lacked unless you happened to be holding a steak. "I helped him restore one fine piece of automotive engineering. He taught me as much about cars along the way as Grandpa did about planes." I paused playing with his collar and he went utterly still. There was a flicker of fear in those blue eyes but he didn"t growl or snarl. Someone had hurt him, I could almost taste an old pain and terror. I slowly pull my hands away and showed them to him "No messing with your neck? OK, I"ll remember that. One thing about Jonah though, nothing is ever free. He does you a favor then you owe him one and before I knew it I was in deeper than I had ever planned to go." "If you talk to folk around town they"ll tell you Em is how I got tangled up with Johan but it"s just the opposite. Em"s Mom broke all ties when Chris was born, even changed all their names to her maiden one. Em was only four when Ms. Sullivan tossed him out. She barely remembered her Dad. She certainly had no idea he was in town and her Mom had every intention of keeping it that way. Johan knew she"d never let him get close so he figured he"d lure in some of the teenage guys and pick a messenger from among her classmates. When the car was finished he set the hook. The car in exchange for arranging a meeting with his daughter." I made a sound halfway between a chuckle and a moan. The wolf gave me a comforting nuzzle "I was so jazzed. Em and I had been hanging out together nearly as long as Stanley and I and it had just dawned on my adolescent brain that Em was actually a girl and a hot one at that. I had some delusion that we were going to end up together in some bizarre post-modern happily ever after" I beat the back of my head against the arm of the couch a few times until Pal laid a paw on my chest. I could almost hear the "please stop that". "For a while things were cool. Dad was stewing in his own juice, I actually proposed to Em, I went to flight school and when I got back I started working for Jonah. Em and I had a blast riding the edge without quite going over it. Everything was great until Mitch started riding Chris, going on about how he wasn"t exactly a chip off the old block. How he needed to do a job if he was ever going to be a man. I expected Jonah to shut Mitch down" Damn Mitch, Chris" best friend my ass "but he didn"t. He let Chris do a couple of gravy jobs and they both got this crazy notion that he was actually ready for something bigger. Jonah wanted me to watch his back but it was just, it was too far, I wouldn"t do it. I knew he wasn"t ready. I tried to talk him out of it. I tried to convince Jonah he wasn"t ready when that didn"t work I flat out refused to help" I drew a deep breath "I thought they would abort instead they sent him out with Mitch and Chris, Chris"

didn"t sound like she was going to give me that long. My heart skipped a beat at the thought that she might not be alone. Sean could have easily gotten a transatlantic flight by now. It"s depressing what the thought of a guy magically messing with your mind can do to perfectly good wood. "Give me a minute" I yelled, instantly regretting it. I found my sunglasses first then my pants before heading for the aspirin figuring that now that I"d acknowledged her Judy might be slightly less likely to do something that would cost me my security deposit. I used the stupid little peephole for the first time in my life feeling like a complete dweeb which didn"t stop me from breathing a sigh of relief that Judy was alone. I leaned against the door jam as she stomped past with a box almost as big as she was. "You"re moving in?" I asked trying for salacious but it came out as weary. I fought not to wince at the bang when it nearly took out my rickety coffee table. She huffed "Not even in your wildest dreams which I do NOT want to hear about." I was just glad to be seeing Judy more herself. "I did some checking into what we talked about" I froze wanting to rip into the box, wanting to run from the room. This was Judy. The only person other than Ioki who had given me a fair shake at Jumpstreet. I COULDN"T just walk away. "If you need to talk about this or about yesterday" oddly looking Christine"s mom in the face while I was in the witness box and apologizing for not realizing just how messed her daughter had been seemed to have unknotted something. I certainly wasn"t HAPPY about how things had turned out but I wasn"t as haunted either. Miracle of miracles I wasn"t quite in the doghouse with the brass either. I"d gotten a slap on the wrist for adding a touch here and changing a word there in my prepared speech but even legal had had to admit it sounded better and that Christine"s parents had been mollified enough by it that they"d settled for all officers that had regular contact with teens had to take special training. The guys at Jumpstreet were going to HATE me for that but if it saved even one kid it was worth it. Afterwards I"d had a bit of a celebration, well, given the pounding in my head more than a bit. "I know where to find you" I considered saying something flirty but I owed Judy for this. I had no idea how she had come through so quickly. "Sorry about the racket" she looked a little sheepish now "the box came in first thing this morning." I was impressed having seen first hand just how impatient Judy could be. I was willing to bet she perfected the fine art of slitting gift wrap open so she could check out her Christmas presents with no one the wiser. "Given the kind of night you had I didn"t think you"d be in any mood to get up early." I frowned, I knew exactly who had been carrying tales, even drunk as hell I"d hadn"t had any trouble spotting my tail. I wasn"t blind, I could tell that Judy was "Daddy"s girl" for the Captain, or should that be Wendy to us "Lost Boys"? Either way saying this to Judy wasn"t much different than saying it to Fuller. Should I? Shouldn"t I? I hesitated. My first inclination was to keep my mouth shut. Except... "Darry"s surveillance skills need serious work." "You just don"t like him because he crossed the line." I shook my head "I"m not saying it because he"s a low down dirty scab. He didn"t finish his training and even if he had I"m not sure he"d ever be cut out for undercover work. Not everyone is good at it. No, I don"t like him but I don"t want him dead either" I pause d NOT wanting to continue but knowing I had to "Fuller listens to you. If he goes out like he is he"s going to get someone killed." Judy pursed her lips considering "I"ll pass the word and see what I can do." I looked back at the box that was about to crush my less than sturdy coffee table "Color me impressed. I had no idea you could work this fast." She shrugged "It wasn"t all that hard. Your grandfather was" a quick glance up as she realized the slip. "It"s ok, we were never close. He wasn"t very approachable" now THERE was an understatement. I"d had nightmares about my grandfather. I"d hated even being in the same room with him. Judy"s tongue flickered over her lips. It was a nervous habit but it sent both ends of my spine in a direction that I knew Judy wasn"t comfortable with. I shifted to relieve a little pressure. "I can understand that. He was kind of...infamous." "What are you talking about?" "It"s all in the box." "I"ll make some coffee" I offered. I didn"t actually want to Judy to stick around (well certain parts of my anatomy were very keen to have her stay but I knew they weren"t going to get their wish, at least not today) but I couldn"t very well hustle her out the door when she had gone through all the trouble to unearth whatever was in the box. "Don"t bother on my account. It"s ok, Dennis. I know you don"t want anyone around right now but if you ever want to talk just call." I just blinked at her for a second stunned. Why were none of my girlfriends this understanding? I tried to pack as much sincere gratitude as I could into my "Thank you" before seeing her to the door. My boys were very disappointed to see her go. I took them for a shower instead. I draped the towel over a chair and glared at the box before chuckling - the address read "Officer Milk Carton". God I would pay serious money to have seen that. The smile faded. Why not to Officer Hoffs? I grabbed a knife and carefully slit the tape. I grabbed the cassette labeled "play me first" that was attached to the lid. I settled the headphones over my head, hit play and let a pure unsullied Bronx accent wash over me. "We never met, Donny, but I know when you first smiled at your Nonna, what day you took your first step. I knew more about you than anyone up until the day your dad had us put you and your mother into the witness protection program." I flicked off the tape, stunned, ready to deny it except that Mom"s constant moves and the "sever all ties" policies made sense if we were on the lam. But from who? I flicked the tape back on determined to find out exactly what Mom had been hiding. "My name isn"t important and once you"ve gone through these files and listened to the tapes I urge you to burn it all. I couldn"t believe it when Milk Carton told me what you"re doing for a living. Your grandfather"s got to be spinning in his grave at light speed. Not just a cop but a narc?!" I shifted, tempted to hit the fast forward and wishing the old guy would get to the point. "Your mom undoubtedly thinks she"s doing what"s best for you by keeping you in the dark and maybe if you"d grown up to be an accountant or something ignorance would be bliss but not as a narc. You need to know kid." I practically growled at the tape "Both your dad and your grandfather were made men" I shut off the tape for a minute to let that sink in - my Dad was a mobster? I could believe it of my Grandfather, with his cold, dead eyes but Dad a killer? No way in hell. I ripped off the headphones and tossed the player in the box. Dad had been a good guy. We might have grown apart. Might have lost track of each other but no way was he some murdering wise guy. I glared at the offending pile of manila folders and tapes. It wasn"t until I started to light a cigarette that I noticed that my hands were shaking. That wouldn"t do at all. I drew the smoke deep into my lungs willing myself to relax before going back to the blasted box. "Your grandfather was far more than just a made man, he was a capo of capos, right hand to a godfather for decades. If I"d sent you all our files on him it would take a couple of freight cars. He was cunning as weasel, slick as a snake, cold as ice, the only reason he wasn"t the godfather himself was, well, no offence kid, but he had all the charm and charisma of a maggot ridden warthog" there was a visual I hadn"t needed. Couldn"t really argue with it but still "When your Nonna gave him a son late in life he was determined to mold him into the boss of bosses. If your dad hadn"t grown a conscious and put half the New York mob behind bars you would be the Prince of New York instead of earning an honest living as a cop. Now I could talk all day about it but since I was in charge of surveillance on your family for years I"ll just let your Dad tell you in his own words." There was a moment of silence then a voice I hadn"t heard in years but shot through with a fury and despair I"d never known in it "I know you"re listening. You"re always listening even when you have no business doing it. Meet me at the cemetery in a half an hour bring plenty of tape and the DA." A breath of dead air then a voice I didn"t know. "You expect us to stage the deaths of your wife and son BEFORE you give us a damn thing?" guy sounded pissed. "Damn right I do. You aren"t getting anything from me until I"m confident that they"re clear." "I don"t know why we"re letting this scumbag jerk us around anyway. We don"t need his help." "Oh, you cops" the contempt positively dripped from the word. Crooked cop was the worst thing Dad could call you but I"d always thought he had a lot of respect for the clean ones. "are doing such a bang up job at cleaning up the streets. Do you have any idea junk passes right under your noses every day?! I am offering you a chance to get millions of dollars worth off the street, to put away some heavy hitters, to gut the infrastructure of crime in this city and not so incidentally make all of your careers. What the hell is your problem?" "Maybe it just seems a little too good" the mystery officer that had sent the stuff piped up for the first time "the world is your oyster. You"ve got a shot at being more powerful than the mayor. Why trade it in to be hunted for the rest of your life?" "I love my son" silence from the cops. I rewound and listened to it again. Women always want to hear it, men never want to say it. I"d always understood the latter but never the former. Had I ever heard him say it? Not that I could remember, and not like that. "Kid"s got an innate sense of justice and fair play" "Must have come from his mother"s side" someone else quipped. "Doesn"t matter where it"s from" my Dad shot back "it"s there and Pop wants to put him to work. One way or the other joining the Family will kill him." "Tell your dad to leave the kid alone, he"s nine for God"s sake." My Dad"s response was a bitter chuckle "It doesn"t work like that." "So just cap him, isn"t that what you people do?" Silence thick enough to cut. "That doesn"t clean up the streets." The idiot just did NOT know when to shut up "You"ve been a made man since you were fourteen. Do expect us to buy that you"ve suddenly developed a bleeding heart?" "Do you want what I"m offering or not?" Dad spat back "I have the connections to stage this myself. I don"t need you, you need me. Jesus wept. Do you think I couldn"t stage our deaths and just quietly disappear?" A mirthless chuckle followed by a snarl "Get your ass off that stone." "What"s the matter wise guy? Don"t like me sitting on" a pause "ol" Aurelius." It was the cop who"d sent me the stuff that blasted back "Get hell up O"Neil! That little boy was worth ten of you." "Just you" Dad said "I"ll talk to you. You"re the liaison." A little dead air. "That was how it started" the old cop said "I"ve included some of the highlights of your Dad being the snitch of all snitches. He could harden his heart for himself but he couldn"t stand the thought of you getting your hands dirty and Carmine wouldn"t hear of you not being part of the family business. It"s probably a little selfish of me but your Dad never told you much about Aurelius and from what Milk Carton says the S.O.B. that had Aurely before your Dad rescued him" I sat up on that - Dad had rescued Aurely?! That had never come up when he told me about Aurely. "is still out there, maybe even in your city, from the sound of your Paul. God I wish I was twenty years younger. I"d be on the next damn plane. Your Dad isn"t the only one that owes Aurely. See I was listening that night. I heard it all. When your Dad left I called it in as a NHI" No Humans Involved my mind automatically filled in, pissed that this pompous ass had declared my Dad wasn"t worth saving. He"d been all of fifteen. Who throws a kid away at fifteen?! "Don"t ever do it. Every body leaves someone behind, no matter what kind of scum they are" I bristled, my Dad had NEVER been scum. "It"s haunted me for over thirty years. I have as much blame in Aurely"s death as your Dad and the sac of pus that pulled the trigger. But it wasn"t until thirteen years ago that I learned where Aurely came from. Your Grandfather wanted to ease your Dad into things so he started him off running a brothel which I suppose is every fourteen year old boy"s dream job..." For being in intelligence the guy wasn"t the very good at splicing or maybe the gaps were intentional. Dad began "So you were already listening to us back when Aurely died?" "Yes, yes I was. I was listening that night. I saw him before, before the morgue lost the body" I"d half convinced my head that it was true. That there really were Immortals out there and if there really were Immortals then odds were that the A in A.C. Paullus stood for Aurelius but hearing that Aurely"s body had disappeared from the morgue still sent a shiver up my spine. And it gave a pretty good indication of just how much damage he"d taken for my Dad. According to Ioki if you ripped them up enough they went through a "little death" to heal up. Those punks had crushed Paul"s skull and he"d bounced right back on his feet - how many bullets had he taken for my Dad? "Incompetent asses" Dad muttered around his cigarette. The cop didn"t bother to defend them. "He was a good kid. There is NO justice. I have a favor to ask, for Aurely. You find Master Kim and you bury him." "Master Kim?" "Hell, I thought you guys were listening" Dad"s ire was for the cops now "can"t any of you "civil servants" get a damn thing right?" Apparently it was a rhetorical question because he didn"t give the cop a chance to answer. "Pop and the other capos were out of town that weekend, some big meeting up state, so when the Chink showed up with a handful of girls claiming he was in town to see Tramanti the boys figured he was looking for me." Dad took a long, long drag on his cigarette. Which reminded me of EXACTLY how long it had been since my last one. I closed my eyes imagining the taste and then popped a piece of gum in my mouth. It just was NOT the same. "I"ve met a lot of ugly people in my time. Bad dudes that would have you cops pissing your pants but nothing, NOTHING like that Chink. Evil, real honest to God, Jesus save us, Mary protect us, evil. I expected his damn head to spin. He wanted to open negotiations for bringing in girls and junk. I laughed when he quoted his rates. Told him his goods were nothing special so he gave me a demonstration of what the Root could do." Dad got up to pace, I could hear the footsteps as the pitch rose and fell "So he catches a girl off the street, gives her a couple of drops, and shoves her in my direction. Ten seconds after this stuff is in her and she"s putty. Will do ANYTHING, and I mean anything she"s told." Quietly, shamefully he continued "It was an incredibly good time right up until she went into convulsions and died." I sucked in a breath and paused the tape. Keim Sum was real. The potion that Harry had told me about, the one that stripped men of their will and made them puppets in another"s hands really existed. I glanced over at my silenced phone with its cord wrapped around it. I loved tales of the supernatural. I"d always thought it would be incredibly cool if it was real, to be in one. It was rapidly becoming a lot less cool and apparently I"d been in the middle of one since before I was even born. I also wasn"t real happy to find out that my Dad was a rapist was well as a mobster. I flicked the tape back on. "I stormed back in and the Chink was all over this little blond kid. Sick, really really sick stuff. Some things are just way too far. I stuck my gun in the s.o.b"s ear and he laughed. Told me to pull the trigger all I wanted that he"d just be back and pissed off. I ordered him to give the kid an antidote or I"d put his theory to the test. He just petted the kid and said "There is no antidote. Your kind die and given enough time ours no longer need the Root to be obedient.' He"s petting the kid the whole time like he"s a dog or something. "Master Kim has been wanting the beautiful Aurelius, he will be such a perfect gift when he"s ready.' He started ranting about how Master Kim was the keeper of the Root and how he was going to rule us all." An uncomfortable pause "So I shot him in the arm. All he did was smirk and tell me if I interfered he would bleed my children for a hundred generations." Silence then the cop "So what did you do?" "I emptied my gun in him. Had the boys chain him up and pack him in a drum full of concrete then we dropped him in the deepest part of the Hudson we could find. I don"t care if that sick sack of pus is Dracula himself he ain"t EVER coming back." I clicked off the tape again letting that sink in. I OWED Mom for all those moves. Not because of the mob but because somewhere there was an Immortal sick enough to spook my Dad who"d grown up with the toughest wise guys in New York with VERY good reason to be less than amused with my family. Thank whatever was out there that Dad had staged our deaths first. With any luck by the time the guy got loose everyone who knew we were still alive would be dead. I wondered how long it would take the chains and barrel to rust away and for him to chip through the concrete. I made a note to ask Paul if I saw him again before clicking the tape back on. "I took Aurelius with me. I didn"t know what else to do, I was only fourteen. Ma fell instantly in love with him and by the time Pop got back there was no question of dumping him somewhere. He was so damn sick for days. For awhile I was convinced I"d rescued a vegetable and then one day poof like magic he was fine. But damn it all he wouldn"t TALK, he kept telling me I"d only get myself into trouble if I went after Master Kim. Acted like he was bloody protecting me. HIM protect ME" a sigh "If it hadn"t been for that I might have listened to reason that night. Kid might still be alive. Master Kim"s still out there. Still brewing that poison that robs people of their will. Never could track him down, not with all the resources of the Family. Don"t think you"ll be able to either but now you know and maybe you"ll get lucky. It happens sometimes." I cut the tape again thumbing through the manila folders hoping for more on Keim Sum and the mysterious "Chink" who was hopefully still at the bottom of the Hudson. I nearly choked to death on my gum when I found the picture. Any and all doubts about Dad"s Aurelius and my Paul being one in the same were resoundingly settled. I didn"t know if it was some journalist or a crime scene photographer with a taste for the macabre who had take this. Maybe it was just the fact that I knew the subjects that made it hit like a fist in the gut. I pulled my eyes away from the ruin of Aurely"s chest only to meet his very dead eyes. Dad"s were almost as glassy and glazed as he hugged Aurely to him his right hand still clutching a gun. I got the impression he was rocking and I was willing to bet money he"d had no idea this shot was ever taken. Somewhere between stunned and grief stricken. Dad"s was always so calm, cool, and collected. I could see now why Paul was always wearing something around his neck. According to Harry it was the one place an Immortal could scar. A slave collar had been branded around his throat and I knew just enough Latin to tell that the lettering read property of Alaricus. Alaricus? As in Alaric the Goth? I suppose the Roman name should have been more than a slight tip but this was proof that Harry"s talk of thousands of years was more than just hyperbole. It had been years since I"d seen a picture of my Dad. Move by move they"d slowly vanished. I certainly wouldn"t be framing this one. I tried to imagine what my life would be like if he hadn"t gotten us out. I would have had everything money could buy. I"d have eaten a bullet. I hated the rules. Maybe that"s why Hanson and I were oil and water. Maybe three generations of cop could just sense the mob blood. Hanson was like Fuller only more so. It was all about the rules and regulations for them. It was about doing what was JUST for me and sometimes that was inside the rules and sometimes it wasn"t. "I love you Dad" I said before putting the picture back in its folder. I wondered if he was even alive or dead. Nonna had taken me to Mass but I"d never really believed. I whispered a prayer that wherever he was that he was ok since there was nothing else I could do without making all of his risks in vain. I glanced the box, the player, and the clock debating. If I was going to make my date I needed to get a quick shower and throw something a little more presentable on. It was tempting to go back to the box but I needed some time to let it all settle in. What the hell I had a beautiful woman wanting to buy me dinner and if I played my cards right ready to be dessert. I"d waited half my life the box could wait a few more hours. 15

grabbed the dice and smiled "I never would have dreamed you would ever be upset at the prospect of not getting to chip potatoes out of the frozen ground." "Oh, I certainly don"t mind avoiding the digging. I just haven"t gotten to see Pal in action yet." "I"m certain there will be plenty of time later" Johnston said and sighed as he landed on one of Jake"s many properties. I stared up at the ceiling. I was exhausted and tomorrow was going to be another long day. I NEEDED to sleep but it eluded me. All I could do was lie in my cold, empty bed and think about...everything. The truth was I wasn"t the world"s best doctor. Before the bombs I had been adequate, youngest and most inexperienced of the three of us that manned the clinic. Key word being three. A few months ago if I needed a consultation both of my erstwhile colleagues were ready and eager to help, and County down at Rogue River was just a phone call away. I had had medicines, machines, and a helicopter at my beck and call to take the cases that were beyond my skills, now. I sighed, blinking hard, now I was all the town had and I was alone and pregnant. It was getting so hard. It would be so easy to pull up a bar stool next to Kenchy"s. If that Mary Bailey didn"t have the only bar in town I might even be tempted. I was not going to cry. No more tears. The situation was what it was and I would just have to make it work. Somehow. HOW! I started at the soft chuff. "Come in" I whispered. The light of the waning moon turned Pal"s coat a ghostly silver as he glided silently across the floor. There was just enough moonlight to make out his earnest gaze as he laid a paw on the side of the bed and whined softly. "I"m sorry. I didn"t mean to wake you" this was utterly ridiculous, I was apologizing to a dog for goodness sake. He shook his head before setting his other paw on the bed so that he was sitting up blinking at me. "Jake"s going to wonder where you went." A flicker of an ear and a cock of the head in the correct direction, a moment of listening followed by much quieter imitation of Jake"s snores that even I could hear now that the door was slightly ajar. I gave him a half-hearted smile "I guess I"m not the one that woke you." He whined and laid his head on the covers blinking soulfully up at me. "I"m really grateful for the potatoes but I don"t think you can help this time unless you have a source of medical supplies?" A thoughtful withdraw, long consideration, and a tentative bob of the head. "You can get medical supplies?" I received the same chuff I"d gotten when I"d made a correct move. "What, you have an in with Santa?" He jerked back, then gave me a wide doggie grin tail wagging as he made a little circle before sitting again with his paws on the bed and leaning forward expectantly. "You really want my Christmas wish list?" He gave a muted bark, the first I had ever heard from him and an impatient head bob. It was silly but what could it hurt? I dozed off in the middle of a list of critical supplies we had run out of months ago. Johnston Jake reading. I wanted the camera. I had no idea when or how I would get the film developed but getting him to crack a book in high school had been like pulling teeth. Then I noticed what was missing. "Where"s Pal?" "He went hunting before dawn" Jake said without looking up "I warmed up some water for the oatmeal." I LOATHED oatmeal. At least it was good for me. I restrained a shiver as I debated putting another log on the fire. Not yet. "Did April leave already?" A shake of the head, "I"m worried about her. I"m going to talk to Kenchy again about helping out. It"s too much for one doctor alone" Jake said quietly so that his words didn"t travel upstairs. I sighed. I had had my own little chats with Kenchy. The man was not going to budge. I stirred my oatmeal and Jake snickered. "I don"t recall you being a fan of oatmeal either." "Not in this lifetime." I forced myself to take a bite and be thankful for it as a comfortable silence I had feared was gone forever settled around Jake and I. I was setting my bowl in the sink when Pal made his reappearance dragging a button buck not much bigger than he was. "Is that all you bagged?" I said wincing just a touch at my own belittling tone. I hadn"t actually meant to sound quite so unpleasant. I seemed to be going from lashing out at Jake to bashing his wolf which was not going to win me any points with my firstborn who was blinking at me in surprise that I knew from experience was going to change to anger soon if I didn"t do something. "Let me give you a hand with that" I offered in a less hostile tone. The wolf dropped the little buck and glided back into the snarl of wild rose and honeysuckle strangled shrubbery in the neighbor"s yard that had driven me nuts for years and reemerged with a second slightly larger spike buck as I dumped the first one into the wheelbarrow along with a couple of shovels. "He couldn"t possibly have fit another in there" Jake said dubiously as the little wolf trotted back to the snarl he emerged with what looked to be three or four Jack rabbits held in his jaws like a multi-headed fuzzy bouquet which he presented to Jake. "Should I keep the rabbits as hunters cut since we still have venison from the first buck?" I found myself hoping the weather stayed cool since at this point we had over a week"s worth of meat even giving most of what Pal was bringing in to the rest of the town. "You mind dressing them out for your mother?" I figured he"d be going stir crazy soon. This would give him something useful but fairly quick and easy to do. I"d noted the slight hesitation on the threshold. April might want to keep him in but best he get back it the saddle, just for a few minutes, I didn"t want to risk pneumonia any more than she did. "You ready to dig some potatoes?" I asked the wolf who chuffed an agreement. "Heel" I got an up the nose "who do you think you are?' look before he fell in with a roll of the eyes. I had put up with more than enough of that attitude from Jake, no way in hell this wolf was getting away with it. Once we were safely out of Jake"s sight "Pal" and I were going to have a little talk. About halfway down the block I set the wheelbarrow down and turned to face the wolf pup. "Sit" Well, I couldn"t complain about his obedience only about his attitude. "You and I need to talk." He canted his head to the side, then gave me a wary glance as he looked up and down the street. No one in sight but it gave me pause that he checked for witnesses. I was no deer but I tightened my grip on the stock of the rifle. He sighed wearily. "I know you"ve picked Jake as your master and you have brought in hundreds of pounds of game but you are living under my roof and you will show me the proper respect." "Control freak much?' I did not just hear that. "That look has to go" I grumbled. "No wonder Jake rebelled on you. Did you ever consider therapy?' No animal was going to sass me. I raised my hand and the little wolf followed the move with his eyes giving me a look that made me feel like something that crawled out from under a rock while he quietly waited, not making the slightest aggressive move but not dropping his eyes and accepting my dominance either. I grabbed the handles of the wheelbarrow feeling like a fool and an ass. And like I"d lost some sort of battle. With my sanity. My imagination was working overtime. The sight of Grey Anderson at the butcher"s shop was enough to send a bad day straight into the latrine. Greens had been mayors of Jericho since the founding of the damn town. My Dad had handed the job on to me the same way, his father and grandfather had passed it down, the same way I had planned to hand it on to Eric. It had been over a hundred years since a Green had lost an election and to lose it now, to him. "Johnston" he nodded to me then looked past me at Pal. "I"d shake your hand but" he began and then trailed off as Pal sat and offered him a paw. I had a hard time not smirking as Grey gave the wolf his best ingratiating smile while clearly not even wanting to touch him as he stared at the gaping rents in the little bucks throats. He swallowed hard and wiped his hand on his pant leg. "Not very big" he commented. "Everyone"s a critic" the little wolf sighed "when was the last time you made a contribution beyond "management"?' "He"s put more meat into the pot in the last four days than the rest of the town combined have in three weeks." Grey grunted, not happy about the wolf in general and that a "Green" was showing him up again. "What are the shovels for?" "Pal brought some blue potatoes home last night. Jake claims that the kids used to dump produce Miss Hendricks gave them down along the creek. I"m hoping I can convince him to find a few more." "You want a few of the refugees to help?" "Afraid to get those lily white paws of your own dirty?' the wolf pup snipped. I kept my face calm. It was nothing but my own overactive imagination "That would be fine. Why don"t you come with us?" "I don"t think so. I need to head back to the office." The wolf huffed scornfully. I introduced myself to Peter, Roy, and James all of whom seemed very taken with Pal as he led the way down to the creek and instantly started digging just to the top of a potato and then moved on to start another hole. Blasted ground was frozen solid making it hard going even with Pal starting the holes for us. I wiped the sweat away before it could roll down into my eyes surprised to see that we had nearly filled the oversized contractor"s wheelbarrow. Pal looked up at me, promptly sneezed a half dozen times then whined and threw himself down. "I"m with him" one of the refugees (Roy?) said leaning on his shovel. "The rest can wait for later." "Sissy" I quipped to the wolf. "Hey you didn"t have to chase down a couple of deer and drag them back before all this. I"d like to see you dig a hundred pounds of potatoes after a running a marathon. Actually I"d like to see you chase down a deer.' The wolf seemed to find the idea amusing. I watched the refugees push the wheelbarrow up the hill and then noticed that the damn wolf was gone again. "Pal" I snapped. No sign of that blasted wolf but I did hear a familiar voice prattling away in a language I didn"t recognize. I scanned the street but there was no sign of the boy or the wolf. I looked up and sure enough the kid was on another rooftop. He snapped the cell phone shut as I walked over and tucked it into a case on the strap of a backpack I hadn"t noticed last time. There was a distinct frostiness to his gaze "Mr. Green." "Get down." "No, don"t think so." "That wasn"t a request." "Tart words make no friends; a spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar - Benjamin Franklin" he retorted. Kid certainly had an affinity for quotations. "Don"t make me come up there after you." "No offense, but you aren"t nearly as agile as I am and your daughter-in-law is overwhelm enough without having to treat you for multiple broken bones." I was sorely tempted to climb up there and turn the cocky brat over my knee but three things stopped me, first he was probably right, second if he wasn"t some magic spirit being then he was a little kid with no parents and a dead guardian all alone in this disaster under the circumstances acting out wasn"t surprising, and third if he was a magic spirit, particularly if he was Bat Tu Quy then he was not something I wanted to piss off any more than I already had. He was not Bat Tu Quy, they did NOT exist. They were NOT real. "Please come down." He sighed, thought about it, blue eyes wary as hell before shaking his head. The kid was scared, of me. No "deathless demon" as Van Tran had described them would ever be afraid of a mere mortal. He hadn"t been spooked before so what had changed? "I trotted over to New Bern" he said gazing out across the town. No little boy should have been able to make that round trip so quickly on foot, but a wolf certainly could. "Phil Constantino is saying some rather unflattering things about you." "And you believe him?" I challenged. I"d always hated gossip, it was one of the things that had always annoyed me to no end about Gracie. "Not particularly. Your town is in danger and that bumbling fool they elected" he snorted shaking his head "democracy, by the people, for the people, pity the masses are asses" nobody that young should be that cynical "He will not be able to protect this place when New Bern decides its needs are greater than whatever remains of the better angels of their nature. I don"t think it will take much longer since they are beginning to starve." I hrumphed "We"re starving." Those blue eyes called me a fool. "What are you wearing around your waist?" "A belt." "A leather belt" he corrected "Have you considered eating it yet? No, neither is anyone else in Jericho. More than one family in New Bern is. Jericho is hungry, not starving. Jericho wants, New Bern needs and that is a dangerous situation when you have the advantage of men and weapons, and you don"t...." he le the thought trail off I couldn"t believe I was asking this "And what do you suggest?" "Me? I"m not a warrior. Never have been, never will be. I can"t help you with that." "So you came here to help?' "Why else?" he asked canting his head just like the wolf. "Who were you talking to?" "You." "Who were you talking to on the phone?" the kid was worse than Jake. "How could I possibly have a working cell phone when the EMP knocked out nearly everything with a circuit and the towers in this area were intentionally destroyed, as were most of the civilian communications satellites?" I was utterly confused. Nothing added up. No Bat Tu Quy would ever be afraid. No little boy could have gotten to New Bern and back on his own so quickly. And why would a spirit being of one of the most insular Indian, pardon me Native American, tribes look like a Nordic poster child and prattle away in something Eastern European sounding on a cell phone? And what the hell kind of accent did he have? When in doubt advance, it confused the enemy, except I wasn"t certain the kid was the enemy. New Bern had received aid from Germany. Had the kid come on one of the drops? "Where were you when the bombs went off?" He blinked and swayed a little. I"d seen enough flashbacks to recognize one before he thinly answered "St. Louis". Odd, St. Louis hadn"t been marked as one of cities in Black Jack that had been hit but then there were plenty of ugly things that could happen in this world that had nothing to do the bombs. He"d said his guardian was dead. Poor kid. He hadn"t been shivering in just that admittedly bulky turtle necked blue sweater until I"d opened my big mouth. I made a quick circuit of the house wondering how the blazes he"d gotten up there since there was no ladder and nothing against the walls of the house. When I looked up again he was gone. That was beginning to get more than a little annoying. April I froze on the threshold. Someone was in the pharmacy. I drew a breath to yell for help when a young voice whispered "I would rather you didn"t, Dr. Green, I swear to God on my mother"s honor, I mean absolutely no harm and I"m not here to steal anything." With only emergency power the pharmacy was dim but I could clearly make out blond ringlets. "Paullus? I thought you didn"t have a mother?" "I don"t, at least not that I know of, but that"s a minor technicality. I don"t happen to believe in God either" he shrugged "but I still mean absolutely no harm and I"m not here to steal anything." "Good thing since there isn"t enough left to take." "Noticed that" he stepped into the brighter light of the hall. Johnston had mentioned the pouty lips and ringlets, what he hadn"t mentioned was that the kid was fallen angel beautiful. In a few years he was going to be breaking hearts left, right, and center. And I had the nagging feeling that I had seen him before...somewhere. But where? "What were you doing in there?" "Inventory. Santa says you"re on the nice list but you haven"t sent him a letter yet this year. Terrible over sight on your part." Those blue eyes danced with pure merry mischief, nothing cruel or malicious, and it was extremely infectious. I could feel myself wanting to smile and I certainly didn"t have the heart to tell him Santa wasn"t real and that there would be no Christmas in Jericho this year. "By the way I found an ultrasound machine in the basement that survived the EMP and managed to scavenge enough intact parts to get two of the defibrillators and an EKG working again. The autoclave is touch and go, you won"t be able to do anything fancy with the settings but it should work. I struck out with the hematology analyzer, sorry about that. I pretty sure I can get one of the infusers working again and maybe a centrifuge but it"s going to take hours, they"re all pretty fried. I haven"t even looked at the rest yet. It"s been a busy day." "Yeah right" I said skeptically but he just smiled at me eyes literally twinkling. "Trust me" I wanted to but my faith in everything had worn pretty thin. "April" he made my name something that was half a command so powerful that I couldn"t even dream of looking away and half a gentle caress. Ageless eyes, just like Pal"s "It isn"t an ending you know, it"s a rebirth with all the attendant...discomfort. The only real question is will those who destroyed the old world midwife the new one." "What are you talking about?" "Your world wasn"t slaughtered by a throng of Islamic radicals. The same cabal within your government that was behind the bombs, also set off the EMP, and established a blockade to thwart foreign aid. The Federal Government, though admittedly hamstrung, was functioning up until the EMP. Didn"t you find it odd that just as a statement was about to be made that someone shut out the lights? These people want you desperate, demoralized, ignorant, and scared witless so that they can swoop in and you will be sufficiently confused and grateful to let them have carte blanch." He canted his head Pal-like "Will you let them win?" "I don"t see how I can stop them." God knows I don"t need anymore responsibility and the kid needed a psychiatric help. "History has a habit of remembering the big things, the wars, the battles, the treaties, the kings, emperors, presidents, and princes. Now my tutor would argue till the cows have gone to dust that no man however great or humble has ever or will ever "make" history that you are all just pawns in the hands of Fate. One of the few things we utterly disagree on since I"m just as firmly of the opinion every single one of us matters and that often the moments that change the course of nations occur in dark corners between the forgotten. But that isn"t what I meant. They say that when Pandora opened the box and let all the woes loose that she slammed it shut and trapped hope but that isn"t true. She could have left the box open. Hope is like a bad penny, you don"t get rid of it easily. You hell be damn sure don"t "lose" it like a sock in the dryer. Despair takes work, so, again, are you going to keep rolling over for them? Are you really going to yield so easily? " "Easily!" I snapped angry tears prickling behind my eyes. Kenchy was the one that should be on the receiving end of this. "You do realize that you are better supplied and staffed right now than one quarter of the world"s clinics were on the day before the bombs? Yes, people who could have been saved before the bombs have and will continue to die and you aren"t going to be able to save them all. It"s frustrating and maddening and tragic but this isn"t a sprint or some crisis that is going to resolve itself next week. This is a marathon and if you don"t start pacing yourself you are going to" he paused and nibbled his lower lip for the first time looking childlike. "Going to what?" He shook his head "I might be wrong. You should avail yourself of the ultrasound at the earliest opportunity." My hands flew to my stomach even as my mind scoffed at the fact that this CHILD could possibly have any idea what he was talking about but I still gasped "Wrong about what?" "Placenta previa" he said softly as my heart skipped a beat "It does frequently resolve itself but you need to be careful. If you overextend and go into preterm labor before the placenta migrates away from the cervix the results could be deadly." "I know what it is and I know the risks" I snapped at him. "I was checking for ritodrine, Nifedipine 3 or Indomethacin 4 but you don"t have any. I put them on Santa"s list. And stop selling yourself short, you might never be a "top-flight" surgeon but you"re three times the doctor that twit you were with Vegas will ever be." Of course, the kid that had Veronica so annoyed at the conference. "April, honey, we need you out here" I turned toward Gail"s voice and when I looked back the boy was gone. Gail hadn"t stopped talking about the baby since we left. The baby looked fine but Paullus was right. I had complete placenta previa. It might be fine, it might kill me. Thank God Gail hadn"t noticed or she would hover. If it hadn"t been for the repaired machines I would thought the boy was a figment of my imagination. I wondered if Veronica was still alive. She"d been doing a fellowship in Baltimore on The Day. I tried to not imagine what radiation sickness would have done to her if she had survived the initial blast. "You check on Jake while I start dinner" Gail bustled off and I felt

The changeling didn"t know how the conversation slid from Claire to Barbara, but he understood that the assassin was more than just brute strength like Bular was. He was cunning: calculated, and absolutely would not cow him into stunned silence. Stricklander rose to his full height and the illusion of his human form slipped into place. Even his eyes returned to that of a normal human, and he straightened his jacket, buttoning it. "The longer Jim lives, the more time he has to find the rest of the stones and have a chance at venturing into the Darklands, risking everything I and the Janus Order have done for my kind." he calmly intoned. "I have waited long enough to start seeing results. If anything, you have lost more than I have gained. You no longer possess Skathe-Hrün." "You know nothing of waiting." the assassin flatly spat. "But I will make my move, soon enough. I shall tell you when I am ready. As for Skathe-Hrün, it is an artifact of dark power. The girl will not be able to power it." Strickler frowned. He shouldn"t have lost it in the first place, but he supposed the torment and anger Angor Rot possessed to work the staff was leagues above that of what a teenage girl could feel. His words were reasonable, and said nothing further. He had a conversation to prepare later on. Tobias had apologised to Claire about his accusatory tone at the bike racks. At first, the girl was confused as to why, when a brief glance to Darci confirmed that the unofficial girlfriend had more or less clued the boy in regarding the dreaded "lady week.' - knowing her friend, Darci likely installed the fear of God (or rather, Claire) into him when it is that week for her. He was oddly eager to assist her with anything, and she resisted rolling her eyes. She instead just complained of mild cramps to get him to stop smothering her. "Can you still make it to Trollmarket?" he asked once they got their lunch and sat away from the eavesdropping students. He waved his bitten sandwich at her as he chewed afterwards, awaiting her answer. She cringed a little. Right.. the Trolls would be without their hunter for a day, and anything from seven onwards she"d be required at home. "I have to make it at home by seven." she answered honestly, lifting a single shoulder in an apologetic shrug. "I"ve got to babysit NotEnrique, and that"s the longest my mom can stay for today." "I thought she had the day off..?" Why did Tobias only seem to remember things to catch people out lying..!? "She got a call around the time of our algebra class, turns out one of the councilmen are sick and she"s required." Claire shook her head. "Politics, huh?" "Huh." He chewed his sandwich thoughtfully, though for once did drop the line of questioning without Claire needing to twist his arm. They ate the rest of their lunch in relative silence. Neither of them were permitted to see Jim whilst he still was competing in the Spring Fling, a dance that she"d entirely lost interest in. Even Tobias had ceased mentioning his want to be a duke. The reality of the other world"s problems upon their shoulders were just too much, and the times they did get to be a teenager was often spoilt in some way. Claire tried to imagine what life would"ve been like if Jim had never told her about the other world. She wondered how well he"d be at his duties, and smiled fondly knowing he would be just as capable without her. Even if her thoughts were quick to dismiss that. They all worked better as a team than on their own. A reminder she should heed regarding Angor"s request. Every lie she told now only further dug her grave until the dreaded reveal. She held out hope that she could kill two birds with one stone, or rather, two enemies with one Inferna Copula. Thinking of lies made her contemplate about Strickler. She didn"t know if his genuinity about her studies and History was more lies to shepherd her away from Jim"s side, or if he truly was regretful over the circumstances between them. She let her mind"s eye play out a scenario many years ahead where she did become his adjunct. The amount of books they could translate, or trollish lore they could document.. Best not to think of the what ifs, even as her mind returned back to Angor Rot. Her not-baby brother"s words floated aimlessly. Claire believed she held no sympathy for the assassin, and yet.. she couldn"t imagine the torment it must be like to have one"s will shackled to the ring. A part of her, perhaps the part that liked to see the good in people, believed that maybe once upon a time he wasn"t the sadistic troll assassin he was known. There were hints of a noble hunter underneath. He was patient, he adhered to the rules of a hunt.. It shouldn"t matter what he was before, she thinks. He"s a killer, now. Even if it"s not out of his own free will.. Yet still her thoughts drifted. Maybe if his will was bound to something, or someone that did not have the malicious and devious intents like Strickler did - would he act any different? Would he assist them in turn if he had to answer to someone like her.. ? Food for thought. She slid her untouched lunch towards Tobias, who was more than happy to tuck in. Swinging her bookbag over her shoulder, she left the lunch room. Claire decided to leave Jim"s bike at the racks so when he finished up the competition he had an easier time getting home. She decided walk, wanting to take a hike up to the cliffsides where the view overlooked Arcadia. The sight itself would be far more beautiful at night, but she"d settle for the shepherd"s delight of the pink sky above her as afternoon bled into early evening. It was the same spot she showed her friends when Blinky was cursed as a human. The area was a lot more neater than it had been when she took them. She shuddered, thinking of the glass golems. What was the extent of Angor Rot"s magic? A part of her didn"t want to find out, but, her insatiable nagging curiousity picked at her. The next time they met, she"ll make a note of asking. Perhaps it"d happen a lot sooner than she expected, because the hair on the back of her neck and the fine hairs on her arms stood up on end. She wasn"t alone. At least she was getting better at perceieving the prowling hunter. Stretching her arms, she raised from her recline at the cliff"s edge, tossing a pebble down to the city below before turning to face Angor Rot. Naturally, he stood in the shade of the tree, as further past that was open daylight. Nonchalantly, she reached into her bag and pulled out the staff. His lip curled back in either a smile, or a snarl - either way, it bordered the line between both. It was the first time she did not look upon him in fear, which did not help empower the staff. Adjusting her grip on the metal hilt, she thought of something else. Anger at Strickler for taking her brother. The injustice made against Angor - for he was forced to kill for whomever willed it - and anger at herself, for all the lies she"s told thus far. The staff thrummed in response, the petrified bark as black as the night. She pressed the prongs to the ground, spreading a black shadow of a safe path between the shade of the trees, to the cliffside. It felt odd, to stand in broad daylight, yet feel as if the heat of the evening sun no longer hit her. Angor Rot crossed the path. "Are you no longer afraid, child?" he asked, hand raising, not to strike or reach for his dagger, but to let the tip of his finger barely grace her cheek. The touch was enough to spark the tattoo into life, vocalized by her low hiss of pain as it burned under his tracing. "Perhaps you have grown wantonly arrogant, inviting Strickler to your hut. With arrogance, comes death." "Relax." she simply said, hooking his wrist in the prongs of the staff to yank his claw away from the burning half of her face, an involuntary tear dripping from watered eyes as she weathered the pain of the sigil. He had to commend her brave face, even if it was useless to one who could see through it. "Since you"ve decided to "invite" me to your game, I"ve took it upon myself to play it. I need to learn more about Strickler before I can plan to steal the ring. He"s, as you would say.." She stared at him for a moment, tone dipping in a rare moment of hatefulness. "Curious game." His lips twitched, before laughter spilled forth from him. It was the most sickening sound Claire had ever heard, but also the most genuine hint of emotion that wasn"t guarded. Her brows furrowed, sarcastically mumbling something about his amusement. He calmed down shortly, though his tone, which usually sounded like darkened gravel, was a punch lighter. "An interesting strategem to acquire the ring." he mused, "Unfortunately, you don"t have that kind of time." "Then help me to help you," she testily stated, free hand clenching into a fist as her annoyances with the circumstances trickled out into a frustrated inflection. "For someone who really wants his freedom, you"re being so damn obtuse! Give me a way to break your enchantment over Jim"s mom. Delay Strickler"s orders on hunting Jim and give me more time!" "I"ve already provided all the tools you need to acquire the ring, little huntress." he informed, and Claire found it increasingly taxing how hard it was to determine a troll"s bodylanguage, especially one as old as Angor Rot"s. She didn"t know if he was still amused, or was equally just as angry, or anything. His grin always seemed threatening. "You simply just have to use them. Don"t just act like a hunter. Embody Artemis." "What does that even mean!?" The butt of the staff hit the ground sharply as she intended to lean on it, though the action caused the small pathway she made for Angor to expand tenfold. The dark shadow now cast over the surface of the cliff, allowing the troll free reign around the campsite if he so wished. Claire looked between the staff and the ground, alarmed by such a thing, though it only served to make Angor chuckle lowly. "Look to the tools you already have." That was probably the most helpful bit of information she"d get out of him yet. " - I would avoid your school in the upcoming days. I am bound to provide some progress to my hunt for Strickler. I intend to unsettle my prey." He barely blinked when the prongs of the staff were thrust dangerously close to the stone of his throat, and the look upon Claire"s face were exactly as he thought: the goddess of the hunt incarnate when she became protective of her Orion. "Jim is not your prey." Angor Rot casually pushed the staff aside, stepping away with one sweeping gesture and a final statement before he left, one that sedemented itself in Claire"s mind. "Then beat me to the hunt." Note: Maria and Samuel aren"t Claire"s parent"s real names, but they aren"t specified in the show. So I decided just to give them names for narrative purposes so they aren"t always "Claire"s Father" or "Councilwoman" - Guixi As always, the meeting with Angor Rot left Claire in a sour mood. The deadline was set before she was even offered the chance to circumvent Strickler"s plans. It placed her faith in the ancient creature in a tenuous position. Why all the riddles, the hints and guidance to the right direction instead of simply being forthcoming? Was it wrong of her to even trust him in the first place? She didn"t doubt that he wanted his freedom, or perhaps more specifically his soul back, but his lack of assistance - cryptic or otherwise - was suspicious at best. There had to be bigger forces at play than simply the changeling that bound Angor Rot from being direct. He never struck her as impulsive, or reckless. After all, he was a hunter: with all the intelligence and cunningness it takes to be one. His soul"s prison was not of his own making, not directly. There was something, or someone, more powerful than anything they"d ever faced that had put him in such a position. In any case, she thought, it wouldn"t help her retrieve the Inferna Copula by speculating about Angor"s history. Inviting Strickler was a mistake and a misjudgement of how much time she had. NotEnrique was right: she had been so stressed over recent events that she was grasping at straws to try and protect her friends. Hopefully it was a mistake that wouldn"t bear heavy consequences. The ideal outcome was a simple, if awkward meal with the principal and then move to other plans. Maybe it was time to finally involve Jim. Angor said to avoid the school.. sitting on such information would have her guilt eat her alive. She had to tell Jim. Though she could already imagine the look of hurt on his soft face, or the broken trust he might feel afterwards.. It twisted her gut, made her bite her lip in shame. Not just Jim as well, but Tobias, and even Blinky.. Claire shook her head. Baby steps, what a familiar thought that is. Let"s make this meal with Strickler go as smoothly as possible. The later evening approached to familiar sounds. Councilwoman Nuñez"s voice drifted from the lounge with the quietened television broadcasting of the news. She chatted pointedly into her phone to her secretary. NotEnrique lay "asleep" in her arms, head resting on her shoulder. He may not have needed the amount of sleep a baby required, but he did enjoy the comfort of a soft cardigan and a shoulder for a pillow. Claire"s father, Samuel Nuñez, sat on the sofa attempting to watch the broadcast to no avail. The door bell rang. Claire"s gaze drifted from her homework to the clock, scoffing quietly under her breath at it was dead on seven o"clock. She watched from the dining table her mother finish her call and answer the door. Although she stood in the hallway, blocking sight from Claire, the changeling stood quite a few inches taller than her mother, so she was able to see the glint of green eyes and greying black-peppered-white hair. "Good evening, Mr. Strickler -" was all Maria managed to say before NotEnrique, upon seeing Strickler, began to wail. Loudly. Claire winced as the not-baby"s cries pierced through the entire house, and it was a miracle that Strickler kept his composure to avoid glaring at the traitor. "Oh, goodness, I"m so sorry, he"s usually so well behaved around strangers!" "That"s quite alright, Councilwoman," the principal intoned candidly, voice raising just a touch to be heard over the babe"s screaming. "Whatever drifts through a baby"s mind will always remain an enigma." Claire slid from the dining room table, hastily making her way to her mother, bidding Strickler a courtesy smile before she said; "I"ll take him, madre, I"m sure he just needs changing." she tried not to grimace at the choice of words, especially with the company they were currently in. Maria nodded, carefully exchanging NotEnrique into Claire"s arms. He stopped wailing so loudly, but still sobbed and sniffled, head buried into her jacket. Her face fought off her look of irritability as she knew he was getting all his snot and saliva on her favourite purple jacket. Alas, she made no comment and carried him up to his room. Once in the sanctuary of her baby brother"s room, NotEnrique quietened instantly, and shifted into his troll form, grabbing her shoulders and giving her a rough shake. "Sista", what the HELL were you thinking!? You INVITED him to our home? Are you loco?!" "There was a plan involved." she hissed back, yanking his grip off of her and holding the changeling at arms length. He kicked his little stone legs pitifully, before settling for a concerned glare. A part of her was inwardly touched that through all the hot air of his bark, he did care about her. "But Angor"s made it clear that I don"t have that kind of time. I made a mistake, okay? It happens." "Oh, first name basis with the assassin now, are we? Chattin" to him regularly, your ol" pally Angor?" he slapped at her arms, which made her drop him into his crib. Claire huffed, balled fists placed on her hips in a strikingly similar pose to her mother when she was set on a campaign movement. "Can"t ya see he"s playin" youse for a fool, sis? You"re fallin" hook line and sinker for his whole pity party and he"s gonna stab you when youse least expect it. He"s makin" ya do his dirty work for him!" "It"s not like that." she adamantly denied, rocking the crib furiously as that was the closest thing she would get to throttling the changeling child. NotEnrique hung onto the railing for dear life, before crawling out of the crib to sit upon her desk instead. She turned to face him. "Do you really think I"d fall for something like that if I didn"t think it was true?" "Youse really wanna know what I think? Yea. You would. "Cause you"re soft." He saw the scowl form onto her face and surprisingly, he added in a touch softer tone of voice; " - An" that aint a bad thing, sis", because this world sure as hell could use some softies to stop us tough folk from crackin" our heads doin" stupid stuff." "I am not soft," she said, stepping close enough to the troll to jab him in the chest with her finger. Carefully, as not to hurt herself. The lack of trust her not baby-brother had in her to solve the problem, to know what she was doing stung, and she tried not to let it show."I"m just the only sane one here who can see there"s more to this than meets the eye - " "What others, huh? Have youse included Jimmy-boy "n the others yet? Betcha haven"t." "I"m going to." "Don"t buy it." "NotEnrique!" He launched himself at her, clinging to her jacket, making her stumble back a little and bump into the crib. His small paws pressed at her cheeks, and his eyes twitched when she hissed through her teeth. Even when the sigil wasn"t active, it still clearly hurt her like a bruise when touched. She just wasn"t listening to him and he couldn"t get through to her. He tried, for once, to keep the most level and calm tone in his voice when he spoke. "Forget, about Angor Rot. Forget whatever one sided deal he"s bullied you into keeping and focus on the people that actually matter "n deserve your help. The Trollhunter. Tubby. Blinks "n AAARRRGGHH! n" yourself." Claire didn"t say anything, but from her determined look, NotEnrique knew that she would still continue to uphold her deal to Angor Rot and try to get the Inferna Copula. Her heart was as noble as Jim"s and just as infuriating to deal with, because he knew she believed she had this sense of honour to help him. Especially since she felt as if there was an injustice that had occurred to Angor. The changeling frankly didn"t care how the assassin came to be, he was merely worried for the one person that felt like an actual family to him. Knowing it was pointless, the troll slid from Claire, letting his feet land on the crib"s railings and plop onto the cushions inside. He snorted, sharp teeth peeking past snarled lips. ".. I"m sorry, NotEnrique." she finally said, stepping away and fixing her jacket, only to then grimace from the snot and saliva of the changeling"s earlier performance. She slipped it off and tossed it to the hamper. "But even if Strickler wasn"t an issue, I wouldn"t let this problem with Angor simply rest. I have to get to the bottom of this." NotEnrique waited under the door quietly closed shut before he spoke. "I"m sorry too, sista"." From behind his back, he pulled out her phone, which he"d stolen from her pocket once he"d descended into the crib. He carefully navigated the touchscreen until he came upon Jim"s name in the contacts and pressed call. The meal wasn"t as awkward as Claire thought it would"ve been. She had to attribute that to Strickler"s unnatural social charm, as he made even a man as infallible as her father crack up and laugh, which was a rare feat indeed. He"d cooked a wonderful meal, and the conversation naturally swung between Spanish and English - whenever it was most convenient for Strickler to flex his knowledge and impress them further. She had remained mostly silent, though kept a guarded eye on the changeling as her parents spoke of her A-levels and academic future. It did make her feel as if she wasn"t present, though her mother was notoriously strict when it came to her grades. Anything less than a B+ often had her aghast. She"d almost been pulled out of drama studies and theatre because of such a grade but narrowly avoided it because of how close to the school year"s end it was. She finished her dessert, placing the spoon down, returning a listening ear to the conversation. "... and I must say, history professors are in greater need more than ever. If she had no interest in teaching, I"m sure Claire would be excellent at curating." the principal said, head turning towards the girl in question and offering her a perfect smile. "Have you thought about your career, young miss? With how many promising futures that are laid before you, it would be dreadfully unfortunate to see you not pursue any of them." His words were innocuous, but Claire could tell the hidden agenda behind them. Even now, he still tried to inch her away from Jim by directing her attention to her own future. Something he seemed certain wouldn"t happen if she continued to assist him. Claire"s parents turned to look at her expectantly as well, adding on to the pressure. She handled it with a cool head and a nod. "Ancient history and.. other cultures," that was one way to call the Troll lore. ".. have always been my interest, so a career spent preserving it sounds like something I would want to do."

Day Seven, Col. Jane "Stalker" Kelly, signing out. "What is "Pleb"? Why do you call me this?" I nearly jumped out of my skin when the lancer finally responded to my aimless chatter. I jostled the tray and thankfully my reflexes were still snappy enough that I grabbed the spoon before it clattered to the floor. After the first incident, I wasn"t given any utensils to eat my nice-tasting mush with, but then a few days later since the Hunter"s visit, I had the privilege of a spoon again. Good behaviour, if I had to guess. The routine was interrupted by his question and he lingered in the cell, clearly seeking an answer. I stared at him - eyes squinting. I didn"t think the basic troops of ADVENT were capable of independent thinking, even if the question was benign and common, there was an air of curiosity and exasperation to it. Clearly whatever rumours about the soldiers that floated around XCOM"s avenger were starting to become narrow-minded. Mox had already disproved many of the more outlandish ones. I was starved for conversation, though, so I happily responded instead of defaulting to a spitfire insult; "It"s your name. ADVENT Stun Lancer is a bit of a mouthful." I don"t think he understood what it meant to own something that was his rather than the Coalition"s. I couldn"t tell his expression through the opaque red visor that covered the majority of his face, but his lips were pressed into a thin line of consternation. I regarded him carefully. He must not have been made for the purpose of peacekeeping if the concept of a name (or at least a soldier of his level owning one) escaped him. Or perhaps he was fresh out the Forge. That might work in my favour. "When were you made?" Seeing him tense up, likely the topic wasn"t something the network allowed him to talk about to humans, I added in hopes of loosening his lips; "I know about the Forge. Or.. maybe - ah.. when were you.. activated?" Was I saying it right? It"s not like they were born. "I was activated two months ago." came his hesitant reply. By god. He was a baby. I cracked a grin born entirely out of bitter nerves. ADVENT decided to assign a guard who was relatively fresh from the tubes to XCOM"s Colonel. They were practically begging me to escape. Maybe I"ll take the lancer with me just to spite them. The Skirmishers could always use more members. Mox will get a baby brother. That"s adorable. "Right." I almost managed to laugh. Almost. "It"s an identifier. Take myself as an example - there are multiple Rangers that work for the Resistance. But if you wanted me, specifically, you"d call me by name or unique callsign." Judging from the frown, he didn"t see the need for it. Why would he? All of ADVENT are connected with those damn chips and psionic networking. Poking the reclaimed protein with my spoon, I decided to chance it. Give him a question that"d require his own choice, carefully wording it in such a way. "Would you prefer if I stopped calling you by a name?" "I should not be conversing with you." Don"t avoid the question! "If the Hunter can come here to ask stupid fucking questions about past missions and not get reprimanded, I"m fairly sure you"re fine with speaking to me," I pressed. I don"t even know why frustration bubbled in me; if anything I shouldn"t want to talk to the soldier. But I"m an extravert, I couldn"t survive in isolation and solitude. I needed to socialise. "He is Chosen." He said, like it answered my question and any future ones I may have. I get where he was coming from, but I doubt the Elders have so little time on their hands that they"d rather tell off a low-ranked Lancer for chatting with a prisoner, no matter how infamous my reputation had became amongst ADVENT. I didn"t want to try my luck as much as I already have, so I conceded that point. I think he was expecting further rebuttal, because he lingered for a second longer before leaving me to eat alone. My days were numbered. Any moment now the Warlock would be paying me a visit to wring out every bit of intel he can get out of me. Aside from the isolation, they"ve treated me.. well, not what I"d expect given who I was. Mox certainly didn"t get the same treatment when the Chosen Assassin had kidnapped him. Beaten to a pulp. Dragunov remarked that he was unconscious when they (they being herself, Klaus and Dawn.) busted him out of the cell. From Dawn"s diagnosis, had they been a day later, he would"ve likely died if he continued to refuse the Assassin"s aid in exchange for intel, which no doubt he"d face gloriously. That entire fiasco was a scare for us all - a chilling reminder never to underestimate the Alien forces, no matter how pitiful their soldiers aim tended to be. I concluded that the nicer treatment was part of the plan. The Assassin has her own methods of interrogation, but persuasion through words (and psionics) were just as powerful as violence. The ADVENT Propaganda machine could attest to that. So. Escape plan. Cosying up to the ADVENT Lancer outside my cell is a start. I wore his patience enough that he actually spoke back to me. Unauthorized, no less. Getting him to defect may cost me more time than I have, but it"s the best option I"ve got. The other is steering the Warlock in a direction other than XCOM. His sibling rivalry with his brother and sister was no secret - if it"s something that"s lasted this long, then it had to be of legendary proportions. I could use that to buy myself some time. Several hours pass - I"d spent a couple of them working out, and the other meditating. Something XCOM"s Templar agent, Feng, suggested I should take up. I had no inclination to the physic powers that they did, but it was calming - when Pleb entered to take my tray. At least, that"s what I thought he would be doing. I kept my eyes closed, exhaling slowly, when I was roughly shaken with a bark of an alien command. It was short and sharp, the tone indicated I should comply. I begrudgingly rose. "Come with me." I stalled. Was the Warlock here already? No, that"s impossible. He was the kind that made sure you knew if he arrived. Swallowing thickly, I followed the Lancer out of the cell, eyes greedily sweeping across the areas I"ve yet to see, happy for a change of scenery from the four box walls. I was lead towards an unfamiliar part of the facility and my hands clenched into tight fists on instinct. He stopped at a set of double doors, fingers tapping away at the control and when it peeled back, I was hit with the rush of the wind. Holy shit - Outside. I felt fire in my legs, urging me to just run out, but I didn"t want a stun lance in my gut. My gaze shot to Pleb. He signalled for me to move and I graciously jogged out the doors - I halted immediately when the churning mechanized groans of the heavy turrets spun to face me, activity sparking across their sides. A grimace twisted the features of my face as I eyed each bastion mounted to the high-rise walls. Snipers could be spotted in the bird"s nests at the corners as well. Okay, so, still under restrictive guard. But I was outside. I inhaled generously, exhaling the fresh air before surveying the area. The courtyard seemed to be part of the facility itself as the floor was steel and there were several unmarked crates containing God-knows what stacked near a smaller entrance door to the left side. There was no roof, though. There were no piping or ladders that I could use to scale the great wall, and it was far too big for me to simply climb in any due time. The catwalk on the top of the wall did seem to be connected to a higher tier of the building. It was at least three - maybe four stories high. Another oddity was what appeared to be gym equipment. It was a godsend for me, as there was only so much I could do without gear. It was then I disturbingly wondered if my cell was watched. I"ve never been one for the concept of privacy, but it felt very much breached right now. My stupor ending, I turned to Pleb for explanation. "Do all prisoners get such nice treatment, or are you going soft on me?" "My orders are to ensure that you remain healthy. I am under the belief that humans require outlets to spend excess energy, as well as fresh air and sunlight." I felt no need to correct him, as I was just far too grateful that I was actually outside. Surely there was - some trick to this, right? I don"t believe I was granted this just because Pleb was operating liberally with his given orders. Out of principal, I shouldn"t accept this. I should kick and scream about how they treated Mox in comparison - how they would treat all Skirmishers, or all prisoners of XCOM. I lucked out and got a dud guard. But I was taught not to look a gift-horse in the mouth. "Alright, Pleb. How long have I got?" "One hour." I nod, then gesture to the bench press. "Spot me." I miss Klaus. He was my spotter when we trained together. Damn, I"m getting sentimental but - the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled after I beat my record. Or how he always knew when to intervene and assist my lift. Always giving words of encouragement. He better still be alive by the time I escape, or so help me. Rangers ride together, die together. I poured all my energy and negative thinking into my presses. There hasn"t been a single word or raised alarm that the Resistance was even close to rescuing me. I couldn"t count on them to spring me free. All these thoughts I"ve had before, but they kept coming. Toiling in my mind. I need to stop this repetitive thinking but - for fuck"s sake, it"s all I can think. I paid no attention to the burn of my muscles or the ache of my arms until the hour was up and Pleb was barking at me to finish up the set. I realize I"m homesick, for the Avenger, of all things. Waking up to see the faces of the people I know would always have my back in a fight. Evidently not now, though. Day Fifteen, Col. Jane "Stalker" Kelly, signing out. As I predicted, the arrival of the Warlock was with fanfare. Sort of. Not a literal parade, but the air was different - like static filled it. A brewing of a thunderstorm that hung overhead. It was an unnerving energy, potent enough that even someone like me could feel the psionic power hanging in a haze. It made the tip of my fingers feel numb, my skin feel clammy. A sense of dread mingled with the bile in my stomach unpleasantly, paranoia for something I"m not even sure what for, despite the obvious answer. I tried to pace it out in the small room of my cell, though that only served to further my anxiety. My palms were slick with a cold sweat and I gingerly wiped them on the top of my thighs. A lump formed in the back of my throat that no amount of clearing removed. I don"t think I was being directly assaulted by any mental attack - there was a presence, but not in my mind. It felt pervasive, filling the entire facility. A short, fear-inducing while later, I heard a softer cadence of subharmonic chatter. Priests. Usually troops, soldiers and officers had a rough growl to them - kind of like the stereotypical "angry German" you"d hear from films, but the psionic soldiers were preachers, not peacekeepers. They could be very loud, but the point was to be inviting. Welcoming. I don"t know how they managed to make a speech being screamed soothing, but, they did. The cell door opened to reveal the twin Priests. No Pleb. Left was holding what looked like to be.. bracers? They enclosed around the wrist and a good chunk of my arm. I arch a brow. "I guess you two didn"t get the memo. I"ve been displaying good behaviour. Can we skip, uh, that?" I point at the bracers. I didn"t like the fact it seemed to house a strange alien device in the centre. The twins ignored me, (un)surprisingly and approached. I tensed and slowly yielded my arms after Right gently ordered me to do so in her language. As gently as a hammer felt to your skull. The bracers snapped tight in a snug fit. They were heavy, but when you haul around a shotgun on top of a blade on your back, it was a familiar weight. I could handle it. What I couldn"t, however, was when Left brought out that psionic amp. Purple energy crackled within it and the palm of her hand - and it reacted with the centre device of the bracers. With a sharp jerk of her amp, I struggled to keep my footing as I was yanked forward. She severed the invisible chain, satisfied. Not good. That sense of overbearing, ice-cold dread continue to prickle at the base of my spine as I followed the twins deeper into the facility. My legs felt like lead, desperately wanting to keep me rooted, or at the very least walk the opposite way. But I compelled myself to continue. I could hear my heart pounding in the drums of my ears, thundering to it"s own war-song. A wave of nausea briefly rolled over me once we stopped at a room. Right held the door, Left gestured me inside. I entered the room. It was quickly becoming apparent to me that it must have been an interrogation room. It was harshly lit, with not a dim corner in sight, but it was shaped like a conference room with an elongated table in the centre. Only a single chair remained at the head of it. I purse my lips. A standard room the size of my cell would likely have been too small to house two people, let alone one of them being a Chosen. I hear the doors shut behind me with the twins stationed at either door, blocking my only exit. No sign of the Warlock, though. I exhale slowly, then turn to face the priests. "You can undo these now," I tell them. They had no interest in responding to me, but Left did point to the floor with a soft-spoken command. For once, I truly didn"t understand what she meant. Seeing my confusion, she knelt to the floor, expecting me to do the same. Ah. I get it. I soured immediately. They wanted me to bow in reverence before the oh great and magnificent Chosen. Principals may be damned, but my dignity snarled at the idea of prostrating for that Elder-loving, overstuffed psychic peacock. Right didn"t take too kindly to my refusal and gathered her amp to force me down to the ground instead. I resisted to the best of my ability, straining against the continued added pressure and weight to my arms. My legs quivered, muscles taught as she managed to get me bow-legged in an awkward squat. Sweat beaded on my forehead as the steel only seemed to grow heavier and heavier, wearing me down. Left joined her and I grunted, exertion twisting my face into a pained grimace. I refuse to bow. I refuse. For all the soldiers that had been in this position, for all the resistance members killed in action, or defense. For - Quicker than a sharpshooter"s lightning hands, a whipcrack of energy slammed down on the double force of the priests psionic assault to the device. Fire spread from my torn muscle as the bracers dropped dead to the ground, dislocating my shoulder. I was no stranger to pain, but even still I gasped out, and drew in a sharp intake of air. "Fuck!" It slipped out my mouth before I could stop it, vision going black as I screwed my eyes shut to fight back the sting of involuntary tears from the constant, sudden throb of pain emanating from my dislocated shoulder. I was utterly floored, fell to my side in a fetal position. I tried, desperately, to roll to my knees at least and sit upright, but the constant drag on my burning muscles was rapidly becoming hard to stomach. "At last, XCOM"s most valuable soldier understands her place - kneeling before the Elder"s true Chosen, their vessel of knowledge and power in humbled reverence. As it should be, for you, and the rest of humanity once I claim what is rightfully mine." I defiantly look up, forcing my eyes open to shoot a raw glare into the figure of the Warlock, lilac energy still lingering on his armour from the teleportation; his claw cast in an eerie glow. "Perhaps if you grovel now, I may be merciful." Covert operations with the Templars revealed that the Warlock was known as Dhag-Il Vallinar, which sounds as ugly to say as he looked. They"d taken to nickname him the Mindripper and the Skirmishers call him Vox Zauberer. but I think I"ll stick with the Warlock. What he lacked in his sibling"s height, he made up for mass, built like a Muton - though most of it had to be that ridiculous plate armouring. Same intense purple eyes, glowing far more brightly with his mastery of psionics and a long, billowy set of white hair. It seemed to move with a life of it"s own, reacting with the energy in the air. Similar to an Avatar, actually. He stopped before me, fingers curled towards his palm and the strain on my arms lessened to the point of floatiness, before it began to tug me upward, rather than drag down. I stumbled a little rising to my feet, the muscles in my thighs numb and aching. Once I got to my feet, the connection of psionic energy cut, and I was left bearing the weight alone. I winced openly as it tugged on my bad shoulder. Fucker. Even being able to stand, I still had to crane my head upwards to meet his eyes. "Your infamy precedes you, Jane Kelly." There was an undercurrent of amused mockery in his voice, bearing the same sort of softened rumble that his priests and adjuncts share - yet far more deeper. "We know of your numerous crimes, your spite towards the Elders. You should be honoured that they are eager to speak with you after all the atrocities you have committed." He stalked around me like a puma sizing a kill and the psionic static was causing gooseflesh to rise on my skin. A hundred options ran through my mind - I was never out of them - but as for the correct choice to make.. it continued to elude. I tried to ignore the tense knot in my stomach and settled the bracers upon the table, alleviating some of the effort of holding myself up. The chair was quite tempting to slide into, but my wounded pride denied me. "I should slaughter you where you stand, but the Elders implore compassion." I track him carefully once he"d circled back into view and I would give anything to wipe that smirk off his face. Insufferable must be a trait that ran in the family. "There does not need to be any needless suffering this day. If you give me defiance - I shall force obedience." "Why give me a choice?" I push, voice hoarse from how tightly I"d tried to keep myself quiet from making any noise of pain. I hated how strangled and defeated I sounded, but right now, every word had to be carefully said. "You clearly have the means to get what you want." "Ah," he interrupts wistfully, "If only. I do not expect you to comprehend my powers, but a willing subject always makes the extraction easier. Even so, I am bound to see the Elder"s will through, and they still wish you accept you - and all those who seek to destroy them - into their loving embrace." "The Elders sure wanted to show how much they loved us when they sent you to wipe out the Resistance haven in the New Arctic." I spat full of venom. It was information he wouldn"t have known had he not managed to get inside my head when battling us in a mission in Europe. He"d targeted me with a psionic assault and whilst I resisted the mind control, he breached far enough that I panicked. Ran out of cover and threw a grenade into what I thought was a horde of spectral zombies about to swarm me. "Why would I ever want to be willing to give intel that will only lead to people"s deaths?" "They make their choice." he dismisses it as a non-issue. I knew there was a family in that haven. There were children. Pregnant women. Infirm. All of them dead! "Take heed from it that you do not have to do the same and whilst the Elders will accept you, their patience is not limitless. They do not forget the crimes you have made against them. I certainly have not." He continued without pause, hands accompanying his words in grand gesticulation. I can see where the Priests get it from. "Through your feeble mind, I glimpsed more than just the location of the Resistance haven that day. I"ve seen your thoughts - your wants and desires, your goals and aspirations.." I didn"t like where he was going with this. "... You could be so much more. Under the guidance of my sister, your skills in subterfuge and bladework will surpass any Reaper. You could save millions of lives, become the hero to humanity you so long to be. With such an ascension, no man nor woman would ever deny anything you ask of them. All we require is your compliance." I cared little for my own personal advancement when faced with such dire consequences, so the prospect of studying under the Assassin didn"t entice me. He allowed me a moment to think, because he must have saw the contemplation that begrudgingly worked the muscles of my face. The deaths I could prevent.. for this brief ninety seconds, I thought of it all. XCOM was a joke. Not our movement or cause, but who we are. All of us grizzled, hardened war veterans who spent the past years fighting for a cause that felt lost until we rescued the Commander. If we somehow succeed our mission in booting the aliens off our planet, I don"t think any of us could return to a normal life. It"s what we"ve known for so long. Training how to kill - factions dedicated to this rebellion.

One thing was for certain: if she couldn"t find Angor Rot, she wasn"t going to stay for long. Claire set forth, staff still held and at the ready for any danger she may come across, but the only thing she spotted or heard was the scurry of rats above on the churning pipelines. Low-powered lights lit the tunnels, embedded into the walls that generally cast an eerie dim glow. She also saw some crumpled or trampled litter that had fallen into the drains from the street, but nothing like the eye she was searching for. The silence caved way to let her hear her own controlled breathing and soft patter of her footfall. She could feel that he was here. It was like a presence - the sort of primal instinct towards feeling someone"s eyes on them. She couldn"t quite explain it, but she knew with an acute clarity that defied words. She didn"t know if that was to do with her heightened senses or because of their bond. Probably a mixture of both. Sweat pricked at the back of her neck as her gazed bounced across the same-looking walls and same looking twists and turns. She hadn"t been walking for that long, yet she wouldn"t be able to pinpoint where she was under Arcadia. It was treacherously deceptive in how labyrinth like the network spread; something that took most trolls their extended lifetime to successfully navigate more than once. It was becoming apparent that she wouldn"t find Angor Rot like this. He, would find her. Claire smartly decided to stop at a location where a street grate was overhead. There was a sturdy enough looking pipeline, albeit somewhat rusted tangled above that she could use to grip onto and try and open the heavy metal slab and force daylight into the tunnel. She doubted he"d make her wait until nightfall to making his grand appearance, although she wouldn"t put it past him to turn her advantage into a disadvantage. Thirty minutes pass and she was beginning to feel a little nauseous from the horrible smell. Not enough to get sick, but she was not ignoring the shuddering of her stomach with every measured inhale she took. Another five, and she was about ready to create a portal out of the tunnels when she saw the twin amber glow of eyes. She grew irritated that she hadn"t been able to hear him, but she supposed a troll as old as Angor had managed to silence his steps long ago. "You decided to abandon your school in favour of meeting me." the assassin began, tone bemused. Whilst Claire doubted he enjoyed being tethered to le Fay through the Copula, she figured that he liked it a grand deal more than when Strickler wore the ring. He seemed.. less tense. It wasn"t a constant battle of will as the changeling struggled to keep him in check. Perhaps this was the closest thing to feeling whole he could experience, whereas Strickler was a constant reminder that he was not. "I"m flattered. Truly, I am." he couldn"t have been more sardonic even if he tried. "Continue making wise decisions and you may make a competent witch yet." "I see you"ve got your eye back." she notes sourly, gaze locked to the eye that was now slotted neatly back into it"s socket, as if it never had been misplaced. She heard a low thrumming rumble - momentarily startled to hear that was indeed a bit of laughter. Claire tried to look unperturbed, leaning on the staff. "A useful little magic trick. Your fleshbag blood magic may be powerful, but it"s utility severely limited concerning practical uses." he hums in mock thought. "Perhaps I shall carve out your eye and see if you can animate it much the same. Wouldn"t you like to learn that, little huntress?" "I"ll - I"ll pass." She winced, eyes squinting squeamishly at even the thought of a sharp object near them, let alone performing something as ominous sounding as blood magic. Hopefully something she didn"t have to perform. Angor gestured grandly for her to follow him. " - Come. We begin our lesson." This is.. wrong, Claire thinks as she stalks behind Angor"s form, eyes boring holes into his back as they traversed deeper into the tunnel. She should be fighting him, or at the very least leaving, not following like a duckling to learn whatever foul magic he and his master conjured. It left a bad taste in her mouth, similar to whenever she used the black magic contained within the Shadowstaff. A part of her detested how little protest she put up, but she had a sneaking suspicion that she hadn"t a choice in the matter any more. Fate was not as fickle as it seemed - and hers was determined. Angor Rot served as a teacher and a jailer, then. A guiding hand into the dark path she would tread as well as the executioner"s deliverance if she went astray. Dread pooled at the pit of her stomach and she hugged the staff closer to her as they walked. The sound of her footfalls and his near silent ones was the only thing that echoed and she was getting quite sick of it. So, clearing her throat, she voiced a question. "Have.. you ever killed one of her disciples before?" At first, Claire thought he hadn"t heard her. He remained walking ahead, not even giving her the courtesy of slowing down or glancing over his shoulder. Eventually, a response rumbled out. She supposed this was his conversational tone, if such a thing existed for Rot. " - Yes. Many. Half of which have been on her orders. The other.. hm, self-defence." The teen couldn"t fight the small smile. Maybe she found a bit of a hope spot in the fact that not all of the disciples had been sycophants or fanatics, but perhaps like her - bullied into the position, unwilling and unwanted.. and that they had hated Rot as much as she had. She gained more confidence to pry, if the troll"s mood was pleasant enough that he would actually answer her without the rhetoric"s or ridicule. "What were they like.. ? Who were they?" "You would be long dead before I even finished the first century worth of names." he told, finally now tilting his head to throw a glance over his shoulder, appraising her with burning, orange eyes. She met his gaze briefly, always challenging, before jogging up a little to fall into step beside him instead of behind. He scoffed under his breath, but made no comment on it. "But I suppose I shall feed your curiosity. The disciples before you were anyone. Shopkeepers. Tribe leaders. Feral children. Whatever may benefit le Fay at the time. They do all share one trait with you, however, in that you are all insufferable." "Have there always been just one at a time?" she asks, unaware of Skathe-Hrun"s inky bark bleaching back to white, until it retracted into it"s hilt. She blinked, staring at the staff. Was she really that comfortable in Angor"s presence? In any case, she clipped the hilt back to her belt, though kept her hands ready at her sides in case of a sudden attack. "Not always." he muses and Claire struggled to discern the tone in his voice. It drifted between the familiar gravel of scraping stone and a more smoother reverence. Like a hum of thought between each word - or absentmindedness. "I despise teaching in groups. It stifles learning, having too much conflicting, amateur magic in the air." "What about other wizards or witches? Is le Fay the only living one?" "Human magicians are a dying breed." he notes in what she could only assume was agreement. His lips twisted into a fanged smirk that always sent a shiver up Claire"s spine in it"s raw cruelty. "You are gifted with so much power, so much potential - and yet your fleshy bodies are too weak to sustain it. It"s pitiful. Morgan le Fay is no more alive than I am - nothing more than a husk of her former self, living on borrowed time and magic. But, she continues to exist, if nothing more than out of spite to Myrddin." Angor Rot halted in a small chamber. Claire followed suit, confused, as she looked around. She hadn"t been paying attention to her surroundings as they travelled, though something told her she wasn"t underneath Arcadia anymore. Where, exactly, she couldn"t tell. The troll seemed satisfied over something, and wandered towards the pile of rocks that formed a perfect perch for him to recline against and oversee the rest of the room. "Bring forth your weapon, little huntress." he begins and she complies, retrieving the hilt from her belt and summoning the staff with nothing more than a passing thought. She readies herself, preparing for combat, though when Angor made no move for his dagger, she figured that perhaps it was not a battle he would be training her with. "Skathe-Hrun has been the focus of Morgan le Fay for generations, bequeathed to her head acolytes to shepherd the rest into her shadow. Usually it would take you decades to ascend to such a rank, to be worthy to hold the staff, let alone misuse it as you do. But times have changed." The troll continues and Claire finds herself oddly memorized - beyond that of mere curiosity or sacrifice to learn for the greater good. "You must think of it as extension of yourself. A part of you. Welcome it into your soul - do not fight against it"s suggestions. Power cannot flow if there is an obstruction of will." "Are you suggesting that I allow myself to get corrupted?" she interjected suddenly, having hung on his words, she was frightened by what he asked of her. His smirk twitched, gaze vastly unfeeling. "Letting the power dominate you is corruption, but if you seize it, wield it and make it bend to your will, that is control." Words of disagreement bounced on the tip of her tongue, but she did not voice them, even as Angor gestured above them, to the low-powered lights affixed to the walls. Somehow, she doubted the person who offered his flesh and soul for power was the right person to teach her, and she hated that it took only until now to think that. "Devour the light," he instructs. Swallowing thickly, Claire raised the staff high, prongs pointed at the fixture. She exhaled slowly, letting her thoughts turn sour and bitter to fuel the dark magic. It flickered at first, casting eerie snap shots of shadows to dance across the wall until the light dimmed and diminished. She repeated the action for all of the lights until the chamber was drenched in darkness - save for the bright glow of his eyes. She blinked rapidly, trying to let her eyes adjust to the lack of light before Rot"s next instruction, but it seemed he was all too eager to continue on with the lesson. "Now, create a portal to transport us both into the forest. One that does not require either of us to move." Although Claire was effectively blind, he had perfect vision in the dark and could see the way her face twisted up in confusion. The troll added; "The staff is your focus. Make it do what you will it to." The teen adjusted her grip, both hands wrapped around the metal engraved hilt. She tried to think of a way to envision transporting them both into the nondescript area of Arcadia"s forest. Usually she thought of a gateway or an open door from one place to another, but that proved to do nothing but have the portal magic sit idle in the prongs of the staff. She cleared her mind, refocused, and tried again. Her mind turned to Rot"s words, about allowing the artefact into her soul. She didn"t know quite what he meant by that, but she often ignored the low-hum of barely audible whispers on her mind, like a constant chatter in her ears that always seemed just out of her reach of hearing. She tried not to let the overwhelming sense of dread and pooling fear swallow her whole and drown her in a sea of sadness and sorrow. This time, she let herself be open to it"s suggestion. She gave in and listened. She drew in a sharp intake of air as her mind was barraged by what felt like hundreds of voices speaking at once - the staff quivering in her hands, purple light sparking out from the prongs. Some dispersed into nothingness, whereas others remained, curling around her, circling at her feet. She steadied herself, lest she lost her grip and tried to listen to what they were saying. It wasn"t English, that much she could be certain. Claire could feel that, whatever was being spoken, the tone carried such a great undercurrent of misery and grief that it felt like a weight rested on her heart. She had never faced such pensive melancholia that depressed her and threatened to shake up her will. With it, however, came the power - the fuel, to feed the staff, like a perpetual cycle. The lights grew until there was enough to form a circle around her feet, bathing the entire chamber in a purple hue. A shroud of shadows emerged from the tip of the staff, unlike anything she"d seen before. It was more grey than black, but just as consuming as it swept across the chamber and engulfed both her and Angor Rot. Her vision was blinded and she felt a great tug made at her spine. When the vertigo stopped, she found herself collapsed on the forest floor, gasping for breath and reeling from the dizziness. It was a jarring juxtaposition, from the acrid stench of rotten eggs and moist atmosphere to fresh, open air and soft warmth from the lazy evening. "Good," she vaguely heard Angor Rot, somewhere above her. Her palms pressed heavily into the grass, before slowly rolling to her knees, palming her hair back behind her ear. His blurry claw came into view and she scrutinized it, before slowly accepting the helping hand. The second her fingertips touched the stone skin, she was hauled to her feet and left to balance herself. " - Better than I expected. You might as well have brought the entire chamber with us." "What?" She glanced behind him, blinking owlishly at the sight of the debris from the tunnels. The dizziness had not subsided and she leaned heavily on the white bark of the Shadowstaff. Everything felt like it was spinning, for some reason. Her throat was dry, her legs felt numb and weak. "You"re crying." Claire froze, head slowly angling up to catch sight of Angor"s face, which held a mystifying look. He seemed so much further away than she thought - or maybe she had slipped down from the staff? Either way, she shakily rose a hand to touch at her wet cheeks before roughly wiping at her eyes. Her stomach churned violently, but she forced herself to ignore it. "The staff.." she slurred. ".. When I let it.. speak..? When I listened, it - God, I"ve never heard such.. sufferingand sorrow. It was like a thousand voices crying at once." She paused. Her stomach quavered to the point that she could not resist it any longer. "Oh." she said dumbly. "I"m going to be sick." Whilst she didn"t expect him to hold her hair back, Angor had the courtesy to look away as she retched her guts out in the grass. Angor Rot had decided that they had done enough today, on the account of her "weak fleshbag body.' Always a way with words, she thought grizzly, slugging herself towards the canals of their suburb. Even if moving was the last thing she wanted to do, but the thought of using the staff again and travelling through a portal would upset her already delicate tummy. She had the foresight to pack a bottle of water in her bag, so at least she cleansed her palette. Sinking to the nearby bench and practically melting against the wooden slats, she gingerly eased her phone out of her pocket to check on Tobias. He"d sent two texts, with an hour between (had it really been so long?) to inform her that Blinky had plans.. just not the right plan to spring Jim out of the Darklands. And that if he had to read another troll book without translation he was going to go crazy. She smiled fondly and sent a quick message that she"d be on her way. Ten minutes into her walk, her phone pinged. She checked the notification to see it was from Toby. "How did the showdown with Rot go?' it read. A long frustrated groan escaped her lips as she typed her reply, hoping that with every heavy button press, it truly conveyed her strain. "Wasn"t a showdown TP. Training and it was a success. Learning wise - I feel like death health-wise.' There was a much longer interval between the next message, to the point she was descending the stone steps into the canal when Tobias responded: "Spoke with the Blinkser - he says chocolate energizes you after using dark magic. Chocolate, ginseng, vanilla, rosewater and.. strawberries. Yum.' The last thing she wanted right now was to eat. Her stomach turned even at the thought of it and she stored her phone away in exchange for the key to Trollmarket. The fluorescent lighting of the market"s charged crystals did not soothe her pounding headache in the slightest, tension throbbing in her temple as she squinted and forced her way past throngs of milling trolls. Most of the residents had become known to her face, but even still some were still apprehensive about a human amongst them, especially without their Trollhunter. She made it to Blinky"s library as fast as she could. The sight of the four-armed troll buried nose-deep into three books and one larger codex on supported on the table was a common one. Tobias lying on the ground, sprawled at the feet of the stone statue of AAARRRRGGHH! less so. He was surrounded by several books, all of which seemingly read if she guessed their state of disarray. Claire cleared her throat to announce her presence. " - Any luck?" "Ah, Miss Claire," Two of Blinky"s six eyes spared her a glance before returning to his book, his single free arm gesturing to the stone wall that was littered with chalk drawings. The plans, she assumed. All of which were fiercely annotated or crossed out all together. "As Tobias no doubt already informed you, I surely have no shortage of plans - but the correct one, to spring young Master Jim from his dark prison, is yet to be decided." "On the plus side," Tobias" voice rang out from under the cover of a tome. "The Amulet of Merlin hasn"t called for anyone, so, we know Jimbo"s.. alive, at least. I"ve been sending him some snacks through the fetch." "Speaking of snacks!" announced Blinky, hand outstretching to nab the chocolate bar from Tobias" hands before he could send it into the fetch. He made a noise of protest, though quietened when he handed it to Claire. " - You must keep up your strength, my dear girl. If you truly are set on this.. path and you believe you can control it, then you must ensure that you are always in top condition. Do not fall to it"s influence." She could feel her throat tighten involuntarily at the prospect of eating, even as she peeled back the wrapper. He seemed to sense her reluctance, so he added. "Trust me, Miss Claire, you will feel better. More so than if you simply recovered without the nutrients." Claire took a bite, though instead of rejecting it like she thought her body would, she found herself quite ravenous. The chocolate bar was eaten rather quickly and as Blinky predicted, she did feel better. Her headache cleared bit by bit and she could feel her mood lift enough that she noticed it. Discarding the wrapper in her pocket, she clasped her hands together. "Thanks, I, uh, needed that." she murmured. "Do you have any history books about Killahead? Like, it"s origin and creation. Maybe there"s a way we can open it without a Trollhunter. Or maybe even on the amulet or Merlin itself." "A few Trollish ones, yes." Blinky lowered the books he was reading, tagging the corners as he drifted deeper into the bowels of the library, scouring the shelves, voice sounding distant and absentminded as his mind worked. "All of which I have read three times now and have gotten nowhere with, but I do believe a fresh pair of eyes often sees details often overlooked.." He collected two, stacking them on his bottom left arm, pausing to stop at a shelf closer to the entrance. " - But for the Amulet..? A few mentions in the brief recapitulation.. my brother documented many things, but scarcely did he have chance to study the amulet. A shame, as he mentored the great Deya herself." A pause, his hand rubbing his stony chin in thought as he adds; "Perhaps Morgan le Fay"s spellbook might have made mention of it, if not just to study her former mentor"s magics and contraptions, but, alas, we do not have access to that book any more." "I can ask Angor Rot," Claire pitched in. "I think he stole it from me when we discovered the spell we needed. He either has it, or he gave it back to Strickler." "Either option does not seem favourable." the troll grumbled, tugging a tome from one shelf to add to the pile on his arm. Both he and the teen girl remained unaware to Tobias" wide eyes and slack jaw, nor stammering attempts to grab their attention. " - I abhor the idea of you associating with that troll, let alone asking him questions, Miss Claire. No doubt he will lie, regardless." "Uhh... guys?" "Despite what you think, Blinky, I believe he actually has some kind.. of like, code of honour. It"s a hunter thing. He seems to respect certain rules that go beyond that of the ring"s control over him." she intercepted. The room at this point had begun to tint in a nice, blue glow. "If it"s in his best interest.. he"ll tell the truth." "Guys!" Claire and Blinky snapped towards Tobias, only to catch sight of the amulet floating in mid air, it"s metal clock hands making a full revolution before shooting off - and pinning itself to the chest of AAARRRRGGHH!

... He didn"t deserve her love. One thought was all it took to have her back to square one, lamenting over the same questions, the same vacant answers. This truly was a more difficult test than anything of battle. Being stuck in the same perpetual cycle of anger towards her siblings and rage to her failure was not growth. But that was why she had brought him here - and the fact that Dhag-Il hadn"t immediately threw them out as he knew they were here the moment she teleported them both in proved that he was open to at least talk as well. He did have some wits about him after all. Did humans find it in their heart to forgive those who transgressed them? There would be no word, no meaning behind "enemy" or "rival" if that was the case, surely. Perhaps her focus should move away from forgiving her brothers and instead on those who adored her. ADVENT. One of her first thoughts when unleashed into the wide world was her appreciation towards them over her siblings. But she also made a promise, her first ever, to slaughter those that stand in the way of her work to the Elders. Her honour screamed at the prospect of a broken promise - but her mind begged for mercy. Jax-Mon will forge a blank slate with her siblings this day. A different charter - a new goal. In the end, they all wished for the same thing. If humans found it in themselves, the lesser pitiful creatures that would turn from friend to foe at a given notice - to band together towards a unified objective, then it should be capable of them. The Chosen. The Elders" sons and daughter. Even thieves had loyalty. Pushing past the double doors, the meditation chamber was familiar to her eye, though it had been some time since she sat with her sibling as a student. Her gaze turns to the centrepiece of the room. The wound she had inflicted upon the Warlock had healed, though their flesh was easier to mend than the alien material of their armour. It was strange to see him lack the distinctive, thick regalia on his person but he never once lost any of his intimidation. He regarded them, lacking his air of superiority. No, instead, he had nothing but guarded caution for them. Having one visit him willingly meant they either needed his assistance or to further their own miserable purposes - but both harken to the time of the Elders" call. No such thing had been issued, so this meeting was entirely of their own making. Or, more appropriately, of Jax-Mon"s making. He wasn"t particularly fond of his sister after she sent him at the foot of death"s door, but he put aside his pettiness for vengeance for now to see what she wanted. If only so he may ridicule her desires. Judging from the Hunter"s surprising impatience, he likely shared the same. Imagine that. A mutual thought and feeling with his only brother. Dhag-Mai stalked to the side, taking the meditation mat that was to his elder"s right, whereas the Assassin much preferred the left. He wasn"t much for their zen practices when the time between marking a target and taking his first shot put their few hour long sessions to shame. She did not take her place, however. Instead she remained standing tall in the centre, staring down at her brothers. "You are both a disgrace to the Elders." she announced. Dramatically, the Hunter placed his hand over his heart, acting as if her words cut him deep, unaffected by her narrowed glare that was shot his way. In fact, he took it in stride, meeting her gaze with a taunting smirk. The Warlock sneered, though allowed her to finish. "We have each been tasked to return the Commander. I have steadily been working towards this goal and what have either of you done? Attempted to sabotage my efforts. Either together, or as your own choice. I made a promise that I would slaughter anyone in my way." "Is that the reason you"ve brought us all together, sister?" inquired Dhag-Mai. The prospect of an all-out brawl did appeal to him and he allowed his excitement to show. " - That"s not what our masters would call family-friendly fun, but I approve, nonetheless." "Would you be silent for once in your bloated lifespan, brother?" she snapped, before exhaling softly. Composed. She would get through this composed. No matter how difficult the Hunter was making this for her. " - No. I have not brought you here before our elder sibling to fight. I also do not expect either of you to put aside your differences for us to work as a team as They intended." Her gaze returns to the Warlock, measuring. "But," a pause. "XCOM stands a greater chance with us divided. All I want is the will of the Elders seen through. You of all people, brother, can appreciate that." Dhag-Il makes a non-committal hum, unsatisfied with the fact that he found her words sound. "You have low expectations, assuming that we would not be willing to help each other in need for the greater good of the Elders, sister. Do you really think so little of us?" "No more than what you or Dhag-Mai think of me, I"m sure." His lips thin to a line at her answer. Not even a hint of bitterness in her voice - merely hard fact. "We will never see eye to eye." he agrees shortly. Be that because of their own agendas or competitive nature, he left the reasons open for them to fill in themselves. "But that does not mean that I have thought ill of you, sister. We all work to please our masters - " "Is that so!" the Hunter"s voice piped high, laced with so much incredulity, it almost cracked. His smirk turned wry. It wasn"t that long ago he"d dropped by to involve him in his plot to kill the killer, as it were. He leaned forward from his position, a flaying glare resting at his older sibling as he turned conspiratorially to Jax-Mon. "I wonder how long it took him to perfect lying without so much as a twitch of a muscle to give him away. All those sermons on the Elders" word must have paid off." "How dare you insinuate that the words of the Elders are lies - !" The Assassin vanished from sight, only to reappear at the edge of Dhag-Mai"s vision. His pistol had been drawn, but she anticipated his show of force to egg Dhag-Il into attacking him, standing between her and her elder. She almost chopped his hand off in her fading patience, but settled to ram the pommel of her katana into the back of his hand and loosen his grip enough that she may seize the Darkclaw from him. "Cease your pointless squabbling! If I am capable of looking past your - and Dhag-Il"s - misgivings for a unified future, then you are too." she hissed, emphasizing her words by letting the pistol fall to the ground in a discordant clatter. "Among you both, I have more than enough reason to vilify and distance myself from this family, Elders not withstanding." "All I hear is talk, sister." the Hunter points out with a curl of his lip. "Get to the point of your proposition. Or am I to expect you believe we can act like a real family and hug out our grievances? Have a good cry and be on our way?" She snorts, but pushes away, back towards the centre. Her hand glows a soft lilac; matching the magenta of her eyes as a sphere of psi-energy forms, big enough for her to shape the various quadrants and sectors that made up Earth. The psionic display rotated in place and she circles around to allow an unobstructed view of the constructed globe. "We need to re-establish our territories." she states, swift to continue as Dhag-Mai looked ready to rip into her deal; " - I understand that you had such a thing sorted between yourselves, but nothing has been reaffirmed since my birth into this world. I have facilities under my control that encroach Dhag-Il"s territory. My stronghold borders on your favoured hunting ground." Her gaze drifts between them. "If we are to have any success capturing the Commander, we cannot continue to overlap like this, lest we are shamed once more like the failure at Quadrant-7." "What is there exactly to stop us wandering?" Ever the critique, the Hunter was. He remained a skeptic to her proposal. "If I learn that the Commander is operating in an area that just happened to be yours, I am not going to simply remain idle." "We cover more ground this way." she countered. "You are a master tactician, Dhag-Mai. You can see the value of covering as much ground as possible. We possess vast power - but we cannot be everywhere at once. This ensures that no matter where she goes, one of us will be there to respond. I am sure there are other tasks you can occupy yourself with whilst XCOM is elsewhere." Begrudgingly, that did sound like they were making a genuine, unified effort without any of the issue of working together in each other"s company. He was also the least interested in becoming the planet"s ruler in any kind of way, so he cared little for the competition itself. " - And who is to designate our territories? It was well established before and I will not hemorrhage any of my landmasses to you, sister." the Warlock murmurs. "I certainly would not allow you to pick and decide for us all. I should be the one to - " "Absolutely not." cut in the Hunter. "The last time you were allowed to do that, I ended up with a bunch of useless, tiny islands. Nobody in their right mind would inhabit them - and all that was left were weak, wild animals that provided no sport at all." "A Priest then." Dhag-Il amends with an exasperated sigh. Once more, he was met with his younger brother"s disagreement. "With a bias towards you, brother? I don"t think so." "The ADVENT Speaker will decide for us." The brothers" gazes snapped to Jax-Mon - silent. The Speaker was, as his title implied, the voice of not only ADVENT, but the Network itself, making him the mouthpiece of the Elders" gospel in a way humanity could comprehend over the advanced scripture the Warlock preached. A neutral body, for he provided aid to all three Chosen should they request it and played no favourites. He was incapable of bias. An odd position to be in, both servant and holding authority. But it was in that fine line that allowed for Jax-Mon"s proposal to come into fruition. If the Network defined their territory, they had ADVENT"s backing if one sibling stepped out of line ... and whilst they didn"t have individual strength to topple the Chosen, their seemingly infinite legion would get boring to kill after a while. "Are we in accord?" she patiently asks as they deliberated. Typically, the Hunter merely offered his shrug - which was as close to a "yes" that anyone could get out of him - and the Warlock dipped his head slowly. "Good." Never, in his years of knowing the Chosen, would Ishmael begin to imagine them co-operating. In a perfect world - in the Elders" vision - they stood together harmonically. But the faults of their bloodline, diluted with humanity"s genes rent them impossible of ever achieving that level of symbiotic cohesion. That was why Jax-Mon was so important to Their vision. She was a different creation, entirely of Their own designs. It took years to blueprint her, let alone begin to craft the Chosen from scratch. Here she stood as They intended; in front of her elder siblings. A leader. Still very much in her infancy and he had monitored the bumps along the way as a silent watcher - for if she did stray too far from Their path, he had orders to intervene. The Speaker allowed her to develop and grow and, importantly, learn to think for herself. Let her fail, but let it be a failing of her own making. Her brothers vastly underestimate their masters, both in Their ability to create and to plan. The Ethereals may not be military geniuses - that was why they sought the Commander to solve that weakness - but they knew how to manage the most successful galactic empire and all the various trials and tribulations that came with such a thing. They knew how to shape life to suit Their purposes. This proposition of territories was entirely her own idea. He masked his joy well with his usual, sparkling smile and warm eyes behind the glasses feeding him information directly from the Network - the trial and error to get to this part showed a willingness to exhaust all possibilities. She tried to work with her brothers and they let her down. She tried to face them, match them spite for spite - And now, she worked around their differences, to her advantage. Oh, if only he could let her know how proud the Elders were of her. Their song was one of delight and he desperately wished to pass the message along as was his duty. But They had to remain uninvolved for now whilst They worked on a separate ... project. All in due time he would get include her into the grand design, once she was ready. "The Network already recognizes which sectors are controlled by whom." the Speaker informed, clasping his hands on his desk in front of him. If the office was cramped before when Jax-Mon visited it by herself for her scolding, then it was suffocating with the three Chosen. Unfortunately, like them, the Speaker has yet to master the art of being multiple places at once - and he couldn"t be seen interacting with these god-like figures, lest the humans believe they too were allowed. "However.. it also tracks which areas you have visited most, to least." he reaches under his desk - plainly ignoring the Hunter"s natural habit of resting a hand to the grip of his pistol as his instinct assumed the Speaker must have been aiming for a gun - to bring out a datapad, opening up a more visual representation of his words. "All of the sectors within Quadrant-33 have as low visit rates as zero point fifty seven." he gestures to the chart. To the humans, that particular quadrant was known as the continent of Africa. "Quadrant-27 is criminally unoccupied." Western Europe. The Eastern part was managed by the Hunter and where Jax-Mon"s stronghold rests so closely too. He continued smoothly. " - As there is a prevalent presence of rebel ADVENT known as the Skirmishers operating within Quadrant-33, it is logical to take the continent out of the Warlock"s possession and reassign it under the Assassin"s command." Speaker Ishmael"s settled his gaze on the Hunter, knowing he was going to be the difficult one when he added; "As well as Quadrant-27." "That"s my hunting grounds." Like clockwork. "Yes, well, according to the Network, you have made only ten hunts within the quadrant, compared to fifty six in the more psi-rich lands of the Eastern half. Your efforts are better spent there, so wills the Elders." Dhag-Mai folded his arms and huffed, but could not argue against the will of the Elders. How infuriating. "Then everything is settled." Jax-Mon states, looking more comfortable in the too-small seat than she had the first time she"d visited his office. A strange feeling rested on her chest, like the dawn of something new, the birth of a new star. She could feel the tides of change she had caused and it both riled her anticipation as well as her uncertainty. What was done here had been a first among the Chosen - as she doubted her brothers spent the time together long enough to even decide their territory. They simply took two halves of the world and remained separated. Dhag-Il rose to leave the second Ishmael"s head dipped in a nod and the Hunter wasn"t inclined to stay for much longer either. They actually got through a meeting of a sorts without more than a single attempt at each other"s lives. It was a miracle. Once both her brothers had teleported out, Jax-Mon"s body sagged so visibly when the tenseness left, it made the Speaker chuckle under his breath. "You held yourself well against them, my dear." It wasn"t quite what he wanted to say, but he supposed the Elders wished to give Their praise Themselves than through him. "I will be honest, Speaker." she demurred. "I suppressed the urge to kill them at least five times. Getting blood out of a stone would have been less frustrating than dealing with their insidious nature." She shook her head, rising to leave, only to be stopped by his polite cough. "Before you depart, Chosen." he gestures for her to return to her seat. She does so. " - There is something we must discuss." "This is a waste of my time." The Assassin did not feel embarrassment, yet she could not explain why she felt the need to curb her great height by slipping into a unnecessary battle-ready crouch. The ceiling was high enough to accompany her, but if she was to stand tall then her audience would be at her chest. Her eyes lingered on each piece of unknown equipment in this strange room - curiosity mixed with a need to simply understand and learn make for a particularly volatile mix. Stage lights and cameras, as well as technicians and much wiring snaking across the floor. A photo-shoot, of a kind. "On the contrary," a man spoke, with blue-tinted glasses and data scrolling in a never-ending loop within the left lens. She knew him to be the Speaker; the (not so) human face to the alien logos of ADVENT. A figure of humanity"s own for them to identify with, to associate. Humans are far from being elevated to a higher status if they must require such a person, the Assassin believes " - The world is ready to know that the Elders, blessed they be, have granted us with another of Their Chosen. Your face - your existence - ushers in a sense of peace for humanity. They will see and revere you as a child of the Gods, as it should be!" "Having my face on display to every monitor capable of supporting your propaganda defeats the purpose of being an assassin. I am not supposed to be known to the mortal world." "An assassin? No, no," he soothes, akin to one addressing a young child and Jax-Mon isn"t sure either to cut his tongue first or sever his head. She does neither. "You are not regarded as such a thing. You are a protector, a peacekeeper. They will see you as a guardian angel, forever watching over their lives as you do away with the reckless, sacrilegious terrorists. They will liken you to a Saint." "Your brothers have already partook in this," Hecate informs the Assassin quietly. It seemed like part of the job as her XO was to follow the Chosen everywhere she went that did not involve a mission. Naturally, the Priest would never complain, but she had not been out of the stronghold since she was ordered to wait there and it was difficult not to have her trepidation show. This wasn"t routine for her. That got Jax-Mon"s attention. " - They have? Show me." The Speaker gestures to the large preview screen mounted on the centre, to which the recorded broadcast loads. He hides his surprise well as the Assassin hisses at the sight of her brethren on screen, staring back down at them impassively with the Elders" likeness behind them, as if presenting Their children to the world. To the Assassin, she found this false. She was the favoured child. She was Their perfection. The Elders would never be proud of the two brothers; after all, why would she have been made if They were happy? Better question, where did They find the time to have this photo taken in the first place? Seeing the confusion on the Assassin"s face, the Speaker deterred her attention away; "Ingenious, isn"t it? The Elders have granted us a single image of Their likeness, so that we may create these masterful pieces. All we need is one picture and you will be free to leave." "Doctored," demurred Jax-Mon. That soothes her. Of course. She hands Hecate her shotgun and katana before moving into the shoot, slipping down to a full resting squat, making it easier to be in frame. The lights dimmed, enshrouding the room with a soft glow illuminated from the dimmed monitors and the pinks of her psi-infused eyes. The room brightens when the image is captured and she can see herself in place of her brothers, backed by the praise of the Elders. Jax-Mon drifts back towards Hecate, accepting her returned weaponry. "What do you think?" "It is not my place to think, Chosen." she says. "Only to serve." " - My XO should have the capacity to think, and quickly. To form.. suggestions, that I may deliberate over, or commentary for me to respond to." That wasn"t quite what XO, the man"s, job had him do. She delved a little deeper into those thoughts, though no name other than Central arose. An important enough figure that it stayed relevant within the transfer of the Commander"s battle strategies. Perhaps she should research further into it, once her eternal task of cleaning away the traitorous scum has ended. "In that case," the Priest simpers, "They have indubitably got your best side." The Assassin smirks. Breathe in ... Breathe out ... She is a lotus flower. Her body is aligned with the Earth; her chakras open. With every inhale, life flows into her and upon every exhale, she purges the unclean within. Her mind slips into a state of tranquil bliss; transported beyond the confines of thought. She watches, like a third person in her own mindscape, the battles of first invasion and the simulations the Elders tested this Commander with. They were competent, but not perfection. Why would the Elders adore someone so inherently flawed - so unpredictable? So.. human? She sees the tactical blunders. She sees the fake soldiers die - and the echoes of grief and pained determination this human connected to their vast network felt. The simulated funerals of soldiers that existed in their memory. Yet still, they were considered integral. Necessary. Faultless.

"This next battle is the last match." "On the east side, Kalbi the Butcher!" The announcer pointed at the massive humanoid for a few seconds, before doing the same on his opposite side. "And on the west side, Tatsumi the Blacksmith!" "That"s an interesting cover! Does he know how to strike iron?" Leone asked, her hands grasping the edge of her seat in anticipation of Tatsumi"s new skills being used in the arena. "Not as well as I do," Lubbock admitted proudly while shoving fistfuls of popcorn into his mouth, "but he"s pretty skilled." "It looks like one of them is still a young man." Run observed. Esdese eyed the boy a whole four feet smaller than the towering bull, though she found more interest in her new pedicure done just this morning. "You"re quite small, aren"t you?" Kalbi teased with hands on his sides, trying hard to contain his laughter at what he considered to be a puny runt before him. "Guess I"ll be taking that prize money! I may have been excommunicated, but I"m still a ninth-level master at Koukenji." "What the hell is "Koukenji""? The bull formed fists with his hands, unable to hold in his anger at such a question - such an insult. "How dare you?! I"ll have you know that-" Tatsumi paid no attention to the behemoth"s futile explanation; he just didn"t care. In fact, he began thinking of how he woke up with a puddle of drool laying atop Leone"s breast, which was about to fall out of her cloth since his chin had been pulling down on it the whole night. Tatsumi had left his weapons back in the hideout; he didn"t need them to fight this battle, and Leone would just give them back upon his victory. It would be easier this way since his lack of the infamous Incursio would hide his identity as a member of Night Raid. He would be forced to fight with his hand-to-hand skills, rather than use such a copout. The thought of him winning by pure, human skill alone sent shivers down his spine. He forgot about the sweltering heat and his comrades watching him. He could hear the crowd talking behind him, wondering if he"d win this fight against such a gargantuan foe. " I may have been intimidated in the past, but I"m calm now, aren"t I? Compared to the Three, this is nothing." Kalbi was interrupted by the announcer"s hand rising up from his side. He was about to yell something at him, but the hand immediately swiped down to initiate the duel. "Begin!" The bull instantly blanked on his rant and charged at Tatsumi without hesitation, his knuckles just about ready to blow the boy"s head into oblivion. "Have a full course of my explosive fist!" "I don"t need Incursio for this guy." The bull landed his fist straight into the tiles, shattering them as if they were glass while clouds of dust sprung up from beneath. His target had managed to dodge the attack and leap up into the air, preparing to dropkick him. The bull blocked it, however, and began to send a volley of fists at his target. Each hit, no matter how much effort was put behind it, missed its goal. "He"s too fast!" Balki stretched his arms out too much, leaving him wide open for even the most basic of attacks. Before he could realize this careless mistake, a powerful exertion of force collided with his abdomen; Tatsumi"s fist had made its mark into the behemoth, a mixture of blood and spit flying from his mouth...but it didn"t end there. Tatsumi sent another into the same spot, hearing the satisfying sound of breaking bones and crushed organs from within his opponent"s body. The bull made one last attempt to turn the tables, clasping both hands together to create a giant fist capable of sending this boy"s head down into his own pelvis. Before he could even bring his final attack down, however, Tatsumi lifted himself up on his hands and performed a spin kick into the bull"s ankle, sending him off balance and onto the ground, but not before Tatsumi sprung up and delivered yet another bone-crushing kick into the beast"s face and obliterating his head into a thousand shards of irreplaceable skull fragments. Neither Leone nor Lubbock could hold back their amazement at how easily their friend disposed of his opponent, especially one of such strength. "That young man is outstandingly talented." Run admired, rubbing the side of his chin with his index finger. "Mm...I like this one." Esdese looked to the guard at her right, smiling devilishly. "Have all the winners fight him at once and promise them four times the reward! Let"s see if we can"t draw out even more of that boy"s strength." "Yes, General Esdese!" The guard ran towards the announcer to explain her request. "I look forward to this battle, Run." The General sat up in her chair and offered her undivided attention to the final contender, oblivious to Run"s own expression as he looked at her in wonder. "That"ll be all! The winner is Tatsu-...wait, what? Oh, I see, alright." Tatsumi raised an eyebrow to the blue-haired man in charge, caught off-guard by this sudden turn of events. "General Esdese has decided she wants to see more of Tatsumi the Blacksmith"s fighting style, and has offered any previous winner of their tournament bracket four times the original reward! However, this reward may only be claimed if he is beaten! Whoever lands the felling blow shall win the prize money!" "What?!" Tatsumi looked over at the General in surprise and took notice of her attentive gaze as six of today"s winners made their way onto the ring. He then made sense of the situation, and coming to terms with his rotten luck, mentally prepared himself for the next gruelling battle. "She wants to test me against multiple foes, now? That"s not fair at all! Ahh...can"t I just opt out?!" Still, he couldn"t waste this sudden chance. If the opportunity was there, then it was vital that he impress the Butcher of the North. If he won, there was no telling what events would transpire from this, but he would go along with whatever happened, regardless of whether or not it would separate him from his two friends. The six combatants before him greatly varied both in their appearances and chosen weaponry. Two were at least eight feet tall, with horribly disfigured faces and an unreal amount of muscle on them. Their weapons were of opposing caliber, however; one of them carried a halberd, the other a massive stone hammer that could easily squash Tatsumi if he wasn"t careful. Another was a dark-skinned man with fiery red hair wielding a falchion. This was a devastating curved blade that, if in Tatsumi"s hand, could be easily used to dispatch a majority of these foes. His hand-to-hand skills weren"t as effective if faced with multiple opponents at once, so getting his hands on a blade such as this would improve his chances of winning considerably. The fourth combatant was a woman who"d taken down her opponent in less than ten seconds just this morning. Tatsumi was in awe at her fighting ability, but since he was now facing her in what could only be described as a battle royale, he was quite thankful for having observed the way she finished her duel. Those pretty auburn eyes reflected her malicious intent - she definitely wanted that reward. The fixth combatant was an aging man and wielded a set of chain-blades, which were mostly hidden by a loose-fitting robe that covered him head to toe. Judging by what Tatsumi could see involving the length of the chains, this one would be a devastating opponent if kept out of arm"s reach. He decided to keep his distance from him for the time being, and hopefully deal with this chain-blade wielder sooner rather than later. The sixth and final opponent was Nobunaga, though Tatsumi didn"t even bother paying attention to the man. His fighting style was mediocre at best, and he didn"t even use the katana right - he"d save this fake samurai for last. The announcer brought his hand up as Tatsumi prepared himself for what was about to occur. "I have to beat them...this General will accept nothing less." "Begin!" The first to attack came from the red-haired man, who swung his falchion at Tatsumi but missed by a mile. Before he could check his surroundings to see where the prey had gone, his throat was caved in by an unseen force, ending him before he even hit the ground. The killer casually walked over to his fallen foe and picked up the falchion just as the next opponent (one of the tall brutes) took his place. "One down." Tatsumi ducked under his new attacker"s halberd and swung the falchion effortlessly into his kneecap. He slid it out as the lumbering man screamed in agony, falling on his good knee and unable to move from the spot as Tatsumi struck him through the heart. Where before the crowd had been silent, now they appeared to embrace what was unfolding before them as the air practically vibrated with the force of their cheers. "That"s two." Tatsumi, in less than a minute, had disposed of two combatants without breaking a sweat. He had no time to celebrate, however, for the woman with her unique martial arts style came at him then. She began to dazzle him as she closed in, her strikes flowing perfectly from one to the other. Though she appeared to move like water, the fear and hesitation in his heart told him each blow would be as deadly as the last. He managed to block a majority of her attacks by keeping on his toes, though one slipped through to his wrist and caused him to wince with pain. Unable to work through it for the time being, Tatsumi was forced to let go of the curved blade. He redoubled his efforts to defend against her onslaught, but she came in too fast and the opening from before was too wide. The woman then landed a series of powerful kicks and punches that sent Tatsumi to the floor of the arena. She must have hit a few weak spots, because It felt like an arrow had struck his chest. She was about to give him a few kicks to the gut, but that"s when Tatsumi heard the heavy footsteps of the other brute, his hammer held high above his head. He was quick to dodge the near-inescapable attack, at the cost of the woman"s feet being replaced by a giant steel block, and an unrecognizable pastry of crimson ichor and powdered bone. Tatsumi could taste his meal from this morning reaching up his tongue. He was clearly disturbed by the barbarous nature of his newest opponent, especially the damage dealt to the woman, who was now letting out a bloodcurdling scream. The crowd gasped again at the sight, and a few kids covered their ears or hid their faces in their parent"s shirts. A few even left, if only to get away from those now puking their guts out at the grotesque scene. Tatsumi took this chance to recover the falchion, and just as his enemy lifted the hammer, jabbed the blade through his mouth and out the nape. He fell backwards onto the ground with an exhausted sigh while the victim of his final attack went into shock. "That"s...three." Tatsumi studied the behemoth of a man for but a moment, before his gaze made contact with the broken woman along the floor. Her auburn eyes were glued to Tatsumi as he looked away, unable to hide his regret. "...Four, although she didn"t really deserve that." The robed man approached Tatsumi with chain-blades at the ready, his eyes wild and filled with murderous glee. Nobunaga could be seen cowering in the background, sweating bullets as he prayed that the green-eyed warrior would win the battle and spare him from fighting. Unfortunately for the samurai, Tatsumi couldn"t allow it. He prepared himself for the attacks to come. In all honesty, he was worried of this man. Having never faced this type of ranged style before, there was no telling how he"d be able to overcome it, but he would sure as hell try. His opponent"s chains sailed at Tatsumi almost instantly, and Tatsumi had little time to react. "Too fast!" The blade at the end of the chain made its way through Tatsumi"s shoulder. He could feel both flesh and muscle tearing apart as the blade lodged itself within, only to be retracted back to its owner seconds later. The force of the chain"s pull brought Tatsumi forward, blood oozing out of the newly inflicted wound as his opponent cackled. "This guy"s speed is something else, how can I possibly defeat him like this?" His thinking was interrupted as the other chain made contact with his abdomen. "Shit!" Tatsumi doubled over, hearing the crowd howl in distress at the sudden turn of events. The chain-blade now embedded in his gut was pulled back in an instant, and the wielder of these two devastating weapons now danced around the boy"s kneeling form. "I have to end this quickly," Tatsumi eyed his own blood pouring out like a gallon of spilled wine onto the floor, "I"m losing too much blood, I need to win this now!" Tatsumi struggled to rise up, his opponent raising a brow. Seeing this boy able to get up after receiving such devastating wounds sent a shiver down his spin. He was a lot tougher than anticipated - he had to take this kid seriously and use extreme prejudice. The robed man readied his weapons, once again preparing to make multiple strikes into his target"s body. "What"re you waiting for," Tatsumi spat a mouthful of his own blood out and readied himself for another attack. "hit me with your best!" His adversary wasted no time in sending his chains flying at him with lightning speed. The assassin tried his best to evade them, even managing to duck and strafe away a few times, but his efforts were to no avail as the bloodied steel made its mark into both legs. He was sent back to his knees, the incessant burning within his wounds forcing the boy to let out a sharp cry. "Tatsumi!" Leone cried out, her tight grip on the railing irritating her palms to such an extent that it felt as though they were burning. "There"s no way he can win at this point, he"s sustained too many injuries." Run spoke, eliciting no reply from the icy woman at his side. "Perhaps the decision to have him fight six at once was a bit too much?" "Look closely." "What?" "His eyes, Run. He"s not done yet. Those are the eyes of a true beast, fully prepared to rip and tear at his foes. Particularly," she continued with a smile, "now that his back is against the wall." "How can you be so sure, commander?" "Because," Esdese grinned, never taking her eyes off of the seemingly defenseless boy below, "my father had eyes just like him. And I see those eyes every time I look in a mirror." "I can"t die here." The chains were sent at him once again, prepared to deal the final blow. "I won"t die here!" Tatsumi roared, rising from his knees to meet the attack head on. He didn"t know what possessed him to do it; perhaps out of impulse, out of a sense to protect himself, or just to do something stupid in a hopeless effort to turn the tables, but he put his hands out. The tip of the blades went straight through his palms and out the other side, tearing apart the muscle fibers and fracturing his bone. It felt as though the flames of hell itself were spreading through those awful wounds, but he didn"t stop there. He couldn"t. Leone and Lubbock stared in disbelief at the spectacle before them. Tatsumi wrapped his shaking fingers around the chains and held them in a tight grip, blood oozing onto the blackened steel as he kept his hold firm. The audience roared, unable to avert their gaze at this astounding turn of events. Esdese leaned forward, her eyes filled with a sense of eagerness that she hadn"t felt since her first hunt for Danger Beasts. She"d almost completely risen out of her seat at this point, so enthralled was she by this mystery contestant. "I-impossible!" The owner of the chains declared, trying his damndest to pull the chains back to him. The grip on the other end was unbelievably powerful. Tears welled up in Tatsumi"s eyes, the burning sensation growing stronger with each passing moment. His heels dragged themselves against the ground as he began to pull the chains towards him with all his might. The blades dangled against his forearms while he struggled to bring his enemy to a closer, more personal distance. Sweat poured down the robed man"s face, unable to hide the fear forming his expression as he was involuntarily heaved towards his "captor". Tatsumi then used the remaining strength he possessed to bring forth the frightened figure only inches away from him. The look in his eyes was priceless to Tatsumi, and he couldn"t help but grin as he bashed his forehead against the chain-blade user with all his might. The now dazed man fell to his knees, unable to recover from the unexpected attack as Tatsumi sluggishly took the chains and wrapped them around the soon-to-be defeated man"s neck. He stumbled a few feet away before pulling on the chains as hard as his muscles would allow, blood oozing out of his multiple wounds. The man"s hood fell off, revealing his pale-white skin and brown eyes as the blood-soaked chain imprinted its tracings along his neck. Tatsumi tightened the chain"s hold until he heard the rewarding sound of his throat being crushed by the excessive force. Tatsumi let the chains fall - his eyes narrowed at the final combatant. "One more." "Raaaaaaah!" Nobunaga appeared in the air with his katana held above his head about to slice down on his target. He was suddenly paused in midair, both him and the audience in awe at the scene before them. Tatsumi had caught the blade between his hands, and, with all the strength he could muster, sustained the light samurai and his weapon above the ground for a few more moments. "Wrong move." The blade was already on the verge of shattering. All Tatsumi had to do was snap the blade to the side and break it, causing the samurai to fall towards him. He did just that, relying on the audience"s unknowing of the blade"s dullness for shock value, and as the samurai was a mere inches away, Tatsumi delivered the most powerful punch he could muster into the side of Nobunaga"s face, sending him flying into the ground. Before he could recover from the attack, the samurai was lifted by the hair. Tatsumi held Nobunaga in a headlock and looked the General straight into her eyes with a fiery gaze, a gaze filled with the desire to end this man. The look in his eyes made her shudder. It was a feeling she"d never been given before by someone else, and it was just those eyes alone that brought these hidden emotions up from within. Nobunaga frothed at the mouth, tears streaming down his cheeks and snot blowing out his nostrils. He grabbed hopelessly at Tatsumi"s powerful grip whilst staring up at what he thought to be the most beautiful sky he"d ever seen...the last sky he"d ever see. The savage victor twisted his arms, his eyes never leaving their entranced lock with the General"s as he snapped his defenseless opponent"s neck up and to the side. The crowd cheered at his victory, and Esdese had a grin that split from ear to ear. The crowd continued to cheer and chant the name of the arena"s latest champion, the new face that ended up single-handedly disposing of the six strongest opponents ever to bleed on that sand. "Tats-u-mi! Tats-u-mi! Tats-u-mi! Tats-u-mi!" They cried, fists waving and food soaring into the air as they tossed it all upwards. "Tat...sumi?" Leone was unable to suppress her shock at the scene. "There"s no way..." Lubbock was in disbelief, his popcorn scattered along benches, not even bothering to wipe the butter smeared on his face as Tatsumi let the lifeless man fall face-first into a pool of another opponent"s blood. "T-the w-winner is," the announcer stumbled on his words, "Tatsumi the Blacksmith!" In an instant, the noise level reached impossible new heights, with many in the audience giving him a standing ovation. His two comrades, on the other hand, remained seated - weighed down by their incredulity. He understood their woes, and accepted the shame; he had done something so unlike him, so out of left field, that he couldn"t help but look away from them and back towards his newest objective - General Esdese. "I"m sorry, Leone." "So, General," he called out to the woman a full staircase above him. "I"m sorry, Lubbock." "Have I proved myself worthy of your presence?" He offered her a confident smile and a pair of determined eyes, all too assured that he had most definitely earned it. At that moment, Esdese could feel her entire essence melt. Her heartbeat was inhumanly fast, and her face felt as if it were the surface of the sun itself. An unfamiliar spark made its way in-between her legs, her nails dug into her palms, she bit her lip, and her thoughts went racing. She had more than enough air around her, but somehow, no amount of breathing could ever be enough to satisfy her frantic heart. "We"ve found him." She was barely able to properly speak those words, her hands gripping the arms of her chair. This excitement was unlike anything she had ever felt before. No amount of torture, no number of slain foes could possibly hold a candle to this new feeling. What she wanted most of all had suddenly been delivered to her, wrapped up in a handsome face and sporting an incomparable smile. One who could be her equal. "A candidate for a Teigu user, I presume?" Run didn"t notice his General"s unease, instead observing the victor standing in the ring.

Chapter 8: The Grave of 10,001 Souls "Huh...where am I?" Eren awoke from his slumber, confusion quickly shrouding his mind as he observed his surroundings. He was no longer in the cabin he had found a little while after Annie had passed out - drained from her efforts to save them. He stood atop a hill of tranquil greenery that led down to a vast expanse of grassy meadows and vibrant wildflowers - all overlooked by an endless horizon of cyan. "What is this place...?" Eren began to step forward, reveling in the feel of the soft soil beneath his bare feet as he made his way down the hill before starting to wander aimlessly through the knee-high grass, hoping to pinpoint his current whereabouts. It was strange; there were no signs of civil life for miles. He was in the middle of nowhere. "Heeeeeeelloooooo?!" Eren yelled to the top of his lungs, his voice being drowned out by a sudden gust of invigorating wind. He waited a few moments, hoping that there would be a reply, but to no avail. He let out a sigh and continued walking, only for the pleasant feeling of unsullied earth beneath him to abruptly transmute into a nauseating anthem of squelching meat and snapping bone. "What the hell?!" Eren jumped back, his feet sinking into a surfeit of coagulated, sanguine liquid - flooding what he made out to be the remnants of deceased Legionnaires. It was then that he noticed the meadows were completely replaced by nothing but an ocean of knee-deep blood, littered with the corpses of the Legion and the torn wings of freedom. The once beautiful sky was superseded by a rampart of pitch-black - no moon or stars to illuminate the earth below. His heart rate swelled to the tempo of a charging war-horse - doing everything in his capacity to remain compos mentis. "This isn"t real! This isn"t fucking real!" Eren screwed his eyes shut, hoping to be returned to the tranquil meadow when he opened them. He blinked a number of times. No change. "Eren." He spun around at the familiar voice calling his name. It was Mikasa, and beside her was Armin. Both of their uniforms were saturated in a ludicrous amount of blood, appearing as if they had gone for a leisurely swim in a vat of wine. "Mikasa! Armin! Why are you guys here?! What happened?" He spread his arms out, motioning towards the mutilated bodies around him. Mikasa approached him, ripples forming where her boots sunk in. She was a meter away from him, her emotionless manner throwing Eren off. "You caused this." Her answer made Eren gasp and take a few steps back. "W-what? That"s impossible! I could never let this happen! I-" "It"s true." Armin stated, averting his dulled cobalts from Eren"s shocked gaze. "There"s no way-" "It"s all because of your decision to follow Annie that this happened, Eren." Mikasa"s tonality grew darker. "Because...I followed Annie?" Eren"s mouth hung open, unable to process his sister"s words. He shut his eyes tight again and shook his head. "That"s bullshit! I would never help humanity fall! I joined the Legion to save humanity, not destroy it!" Eren opened his eyes, and he was suddenly in an entirely different location surrounded by large, majestic buildings beside cobblestone streets piled with the mauled corpses of noble men, women, and children. Blood dripped from the rooftops and stained the walls, along with the many skeletons of Titans throughout the area. The boy doubled over - gagging - nearly hurling what little food he had in his stomach onto the cobblestone street at his feet. Mikasa came up from behind him and took a few steps ahead. "Do you know this place?" She asked as he coughed a few times. "Wall Sina. Stohess District." Eren responded through labored breaths. "Come on, Eren." Armin grabbed him by the wrist. "Guys wait! Where are we going? How are we even here?" His two childhood friends ignored his pleas for an explanation and brought him further into the city. All Eren saw around him was death. Bodies littered every nook and cranny the streets had to offer, and it reeked of decay. There wasn"t a building in sight that hadn"t been damaged in some way, shape, or form. "How long ago was this?" Eren questioned, but was given no reply. "Mikasa-" "We"re here." Eren was about to respond when he took notice of his surroundings. They were in a large courtyard; more precisely, the Military Police Headquarters. One of the buildings had become nothing but rubble, which must"ve allowed the Titans to swarm in and devour any units left within the area. To the corner of his eye, he saw the large unicorn statue in the center of the courtyard, somehow still standing in the middle of all the destruction. He could make out the silhouette of someone impaled off the horn of the statue, and went towards it. He didn"t know what possessed him to, since it was probably just some random victim, but there he was, moving up to the side to satisfy his curiosity. He immediately wish he hadn"t. "A-Annie?!" Eren froze in place. She was looking down at him, with that same damned apathetic expression. It was as if she couldn"t care less about the position she was in. "Come to survey the damage you caused?" She inquired. Her tone was flat as usual, and gave no indication as to if she actually gave a shit. What perplexed Eren was the fact that she didn"t appear to be in pain, in both expression and voice. "The damage I caused?!" Eren shot back, his patience thinning. "Yes. This was all your doing, Eren Jaeger." She narrowed her eyes at him while his fists clenched. "Stop fucking with me! I"ve had enough of it!" He took a few steps toward her, looking at both Mikasa and Armin in the process. "Stop blaming me for shit I didn"t do!" "But it was your doing." "Why?! Why would I have done it?!" "Because of me." Annie answered. "Then it"s your fault too!" "You"re such a child, unable to hold the weight of the blame on your own shoulders." Eren ignored her remark. "You did this Annie, not me! I thought you wanted to make change in the Military Police! You were a spy all along! You wanted to end humanity! You killed all these people...all my friends!" "Wouldn"t have happened if you hadn"t trusted me." "Why would I have ever trusted you? You"re mankind"s enemy! My enemy! I would"ve never allowed myself to trust you knowing there"s a chance this would happen!" Annie let out a sigh and closed her eyes for a moment before looking back at him. "No matter how much you defend your fake allegiance, there is no denying the facts. You did this." Her body suddenly began to steam away, her fair skin slowly becoming nothing but fluttering ash and charred bone. "Annie!" Eren reached a hand out to her on instinct, but felt someone grab him by the arm. He turned his head to the side to see his sister holding him back. "Mikasa?!" "What"re you doing? Let that bitch go. She betrayed us all." "B-but..." "You"re contradicting yourself. One minute you blame her for everything and want to kill her, the next you feel bad and attempt to reconcile." Mikasa tightened her grip on his forearm - their eyes locked with intense glares. "You will kill her. Save yourself from this pain, avenge the people who"ve died because of her!" "It"s the right thing to do, Eren." Armin spoke up and walked up beside Mikasa, much to Eren"s surprise. "She"s dying right now! Are you two fucking blind?! Besides, I couldn"t just kill her!" "Why? Do you still think she didn"t do all this? Why are you holding back? Are there special feelings you have for her that prevent you from doing the right thing?" Mikasa inquired. "W-what?" Eren was completely baffled. "Don"t hesitate. Make the right decision; kill her and come back to us." "Shut up." Eren ordered, pulling his arm away from Mikasa. "Kill her, Eren! It"s the only way!" "Kill her!" Armin shouted. "Shut up!" Eren yelled, looking back at Annie whose limbs melted off her body, her mood hauntingly calm. "Ki-" "SHUT UP!" Eren turned around and grabbed Mikasa by the throat, unable to control himself. "E-Eren...? Eren!" Mikasa looked up at him with wide eyes, her pleading expression unable to prevent Eren from loosening his grip as he slowly lifted her up into the air. "I told you to-" "Shut up!" Eren"s eyes shot wide open, taking in the sight of Annie"s ashen face - watching helplessly as his merciless grip around her slender neck began to tighten. She was still too weak to put up any resistance as the last few breaths of air were squeezed out of her windpipe. She used the last of her strength to bring her left hand up to his shoulder, like she did when they had fought in their Titan-forms, her wintry eyes locked with his jades in horror. The gravity of the situation struck Eren as he felt her nails digging into his flesh. His hands were searing hot, and were burning Annie"s neck to the point where steam began to exude from the scalding flesh. As he pulled himself together, all he could focus on was her expression; an expression of panic and agony, accompanied by the fresh tears pouring down her cheeks. Her mouth attempted to form words, but the intense pain prevented her from doing so. The look in her eyes begged for him to stop. "Kill her!" "No!" Eren yelled, attempting to pry his hands away from Annie"s neck. He continued to try, but it felt as if there was another will controlling him. Her hands gave up their futile struggle to push him off of her - lowering to weakly claw at his forearms. He could feel her begin to spasm beneath him - the whites of her eyes turning red as the blood vessels burst, her pupils dilating from the lack of oxygen, and the gradually declining rate of the rising steam. "Annie!" Her body stilled. At that moment, Eren was finally able to release his grip, before he tumbled backwards off of the bed and onto the cold wooden floor below. His heart was racing with adrenaline and his chest was heaving - shocked and horrified at what he just did. "A-Annie?" he nervously questioned. She didn"t respond, not a sound or even a breath - her body remained still. Eren quickly scrambled to his feet - reaching her side in a single heartbeat. His heart jumped into his throat as he observed the extent of the trauma he inflicted. The graceful curve of her neck - once a span of unblemished skin was now ruined with blistering red handprints. Her skin was burned away, exposing the muscles and trachea beneath. Annie"s bloodshot eyes stared blankly into nothing. "Annie?!" Eren yelled frantically. He gripped her shoulders and began to shake - hoping to whatever gods exist in this fucked up world that this was all a twisted nightmare. "Annie! W-wake up!" - Nothing - "Goddammit Annie! Wake the fuck up!" He began to instinctively strike his fist against her sternum - praying that the jolt may jump-start her ceased lungs. First strike. "Come on! Fucking breath!" Second strike. Third strike. "Annie!" Fourth strike. Fifth Strike. Sixth Strike. "I swear if you don"t fucking wake up, I will fucking kill you!" Seventh Strike. Eighth Strike. Eren was abruptly tossed away as Annie"s body violently arced - steam bursting from her devastated neck as her lungs opened to greedily accept precious oxygen. Steam began to rise from her chest where Eren"s repeated, desperate blows had cracked her sternum and her third and fourth ribs. The damage was worth it though, for Annie was now breathing. Despite the steady healing process, her chest and throat would most likely remain black and blue for a few days. "A-Annie...?" Eren gripped the edge of the table behind him as he called her name, though his anxiousness made it sound more like a whisper. She wheezed and retched - her chest rising up and down as she drew in air to the brim of her lung"s capacity. Her diaphragm spasmed - grating coughs fleeing her healing windpipe, causing steam to disperse throughout the room in a balmy haze. A few moments after her cracked sternum and ribs had healed, she lifted herself up slowly - supporting her modest weight on shaky elbows. The bruises painting the pale canvas of her throat compelled Eren to avert his gaze in disgust - angry at himself for committing such a heinous act. He eventually summoned enough nerve to look back at the recovering Shifter who now sat on the edge of the bed, massaging her neck with unsteady hands. Annie"s bloodshot gaze traveled along the contours of Eren"s facial features - his green eyes wide with the corruption of shock and his jaw slack with negation. She studied the cochineal pigmented, dermis-like manifestations protruding from around his eyes and cheekbones - testimony of the reason behind the bloodthirsty, precipitous attack on her life. It all happened so fast; one minute he was sleeping against the wall at the opposite side of the room, and the next he was on top of her - his hands snuffing the air from her throat with a merciless grip. From that moment on it was all a blur. Bits and pieces of what happened wove together in a succession of darting memories; the grip tightening, Eren calling her name desperately, the darkness, the fear. It was clear now. "You were...able to win against it...good." Her broken, raspy voice shook Eren from his stupor. The trauma to her throat was severe - potentially permanent to her vocal chords. Eren brought a hand to his mouth and stared down at his feet, beginning to question her words. "Win against what?" He asked, his voice muffled against his sweaty palm. "Your Titan." She wheezed before coughing again. "Sometimes, when we dream, or especially when we have nightmares, the Titan strands of DNA within battle for dominance. Sleeping is when you"re in your most vulnerable state of mind." Eren shook his head. "I just fucking killed you! I almost wasn"t able to bring you back...I...I...What if I-" "It"s okay, Eren." Her blood-tainted whites reflected the embers of the fire beside them, which had been ignited to life by Eren moments after he brought them there. Eren clenched his fists as tight as he could and smashed one foot onto the creaking, wooden floorboards beneath him. "How the fuck is this okay?!" Annie peered into the dancing flames in an effort to avoid his despairing face. "It wasn"t your fault, you had no control in the situation...it just happened, it"s fine." Her expression betrayed her words. "Fuck you! This is NOT fine!" Eren stomped over and grabbed her by the shoulders - forcing her to look at him. His stomach dropped when he felt her flinch at his touch. "You"re such a shitty liar, Annie." His head sunk low and his grip on her shoulders tightened as his body began to shudder. "I"m sorry...I"m so, so sorry..." Annie"s reply never came as his hands slid down the arms of her sweatshirt, her half-lidded eyes watching his trembling form slowly fall to its knees. "If you happen to lose control again, try not to choke me so hard next time, alright?" She slowly pushed herself off the bed and made her way towards the door, leaving a morose Eren on the floor to deal with his regret. "Thank you for carrying me..." her voice was devoid of emotion - monotone. "Don"t thank me...I don"t deserve it." He said, not bothering to face her. She closed her eyes before grabbing the knob of the entrance and stepping outside. A cool breeze brushed along her chin, nose, and cheeks - her platinum fringe tossing about her face in a playful dance. The morning sun slowly ascended from behind Wall Maria, the shadows of the trees receding as the landscape"s palette changed from the night"s dull blues and greys to the day"s vibrant greens and endless horizon. It was only a matter of time before they had to move again. They were right beside the wall, so there was no point in shifting into a Titan until they met any resistance, which hopefully they didn"t - especially after the last few days. She decided it would be best for Eren to mull over his self-degradation for a while longer before heading into Shiganshina, his home - the place where her mission began. An hour had passed since the harrowing event. Eren, after Annie coerced him to finally get off of his ass, accompanied her through the outskirts of Shiganshina"s gate. He walked beside her, unable to take his eyes off of her bloodshot orbs. "When are you going to stop staring at my face?" Annie questioned, stopping in her tracks. Much to her surprise, Eren got only a breath"s distance apart from her, his thumb and index finger gripped the slender curve of her chin suddenly - forcing her to look at him. He observed her face - in particular, the garnet flares of burst blood vessels in the whites of her eyes. "How long will it take for them to heal?" She froze. His proximity made her feel uncomfortable. She was...scared of him, and rightfully so. Eren being unable to control his power could interfere with both the mission and her own safety. For some reason though, she did nothing about it. If it was anyone other than him, she would"ve thrown them over her shoulder before crushing their jugular with her boot, but he seemed genuinely concerned, so she let it pass. This definitely wasn"t like him, though it was a welcome change from the sullen mood he was in just a while ago. On second thought, she"d rather deal with his bullshit sulking instead of him constantly hounding her for an answer. She knew how bad his temper could get - nothing she couldn"t handle, however, her practically dying earlier this morning by his hands proved the risk she was taking. She was scared. Annie slapped his hand away and walked on ahead of him. "A couple of days probably." She responded, her voice still raspy and strained. That wasn"t the answer Eren was looking for. Her inflamed eyes were a reminder for what he had done. He just wanted that damned red to disappear so his failure to control himself wouldn"t be glaring at him - mocking him. But no, he would have to deal with it a while longer. "Good." Was all he said, trailing behind her as they came up beside the river where his young self was evacuated five years ago, on that unforgettable day - all of that slaughter. Flashes of his mother"s death were brought up in his mind as he observed the large hole providing entrance to Shiganshina, and he remembered everything again; the Armored Titan smashing through the gate and allowing the Titans to be let loose upon the interior of Wall Maria. Eren stopped walking. He knew where they were. The tree at the top of the small hill was lifeless and the vibrant wildflowers that once provided a sense of tranquility were withered away - exposing the cold earth beneath. He remembered laying under that tree in the evenings - just as the sun fell below the wall"s line of sight. Mikasa would come wake him from his dreams, sometimes nightmares before they raced back home just as night settled in. "What is it?" Annie asked roughly as she cocked her head around to face him after noticing the lack of his footsteps. "It"s nothing...just memories." He responded absently before walking ahead of her. She took note of his slow, reluctant footfalls before falling in pace behind him. "Eren, this isn"t going to be easy...I need you to keep yourself together. Got it?" "I"ll be fine, Annie." Not another word was exchanged between the two Shifters as they journeyed further into the grave of ten-thousand souls. The once prominent sky-line was decayed - broken into pieces, scattered across the Titan"s playground. The land had begun to take back the fallen city. Rampant greenery was peeking through the cracks between the fractured cobblestones of the once busy walkway, and untamed vines were threatening to tear down the weakened stucco walls. In the distance, they could see large masses of slow moving flesh - Titans were still in Shinganshina. Eren looked back at Annie who nodded in silent assurance that those Titans were not an immediate threat. They continued on through the wasteland - the air heavy with unbridled tension. "What do you say - What can you say?' He gagged internally when they came across the final resting place of a few unfortunate casualties - their flesh fully decomposed, leaving behind dirty broken bones and muddied frays of cloth. Darker, rust-colored blotches along the ruins were evidence to smears of blood that have long since coagulated and evaporated. He was further sickened when he noticed smaller sets of bones - children...those bones could have been him. Eren began to walk a little quicker - wanting to get as far away as he could from this hellish nightmare. Annie kept her distance, but none-the-less followed his pace. "What could you say?' They continued passed a mammoth skeleton - a Titan slain by a few brave members of the Garrison. The 20-meter set of bones leaned against a crumbling building. Human bones were littered around the vicinity and at the base of the Titan"s spine - it"s feast. A faded beige jacket was snagged in the Titan"s fleshless maw, petals of the roses completely washed out. The land was also laying claim over the old bones. Eren stopped abruptly when they arrived at a gradual incline in the street - the final stretch. He could see where the roof of his home had once been prominently displayed - now replaced by broken rafters and large fragments from the broken wall. The steps leading up the slope were eroded and cracked beyond recognition. This was what was left of his home - the grave of his childhood.

"Yes." Lin Chung nodded, finally remembering. "The picture." Suddenly, even inside the cave, they felt something rush past them. They turned instinctively in that direction, stumbling as the same rush returned. Then...a scream. Both turned to each other, startled, and sprinted out in the other direction. Still holding onto the cloak. Lin Chong held his ground as he looked at the raiders. They may have the advantage in numbers, but he wasn"t going to let that faze him. He held his ground, spear held ready in his hand. His eyes glowed in the dark. The raiders instantly attacked as one. They were well-trained, that he could admit. They moved in synchronisation and speed, and had clearly trained alongside each other with a good instructor. He had used to teach the Imperial Army troops to fight like this as well. He dodged a spear, and struck another down quickly. He dodged another blade, but blocked the third spear, before plunging his spear into the last man. Two down, two to go. The raiders seemed to realise that they weren"t going to win, going from the depressed slump in their shoulders. But they still raised their head high and attacked. They had honour - that he could also admit. He dodged one blow and stabbed at the other. The last one did one final charge...right into Lin Chong"s spear. And he fell too. Lin Chong turned to look at the avalanche of rocks. He sure as anything wasn"t going to be able to get out of this. He had to get out by another way. Entering the inside of the tunnel, he moved quickly and on sure footing, before he finally removed his cloak as the air became too humid for him. He had never been used to such humid weather - he had been raised in the Capital, where the dry north air bit into you viciously. Liangshan had been the same. He ignored the cloak as he continued on, spurred on by the thought of the village, of his brothers at Liangshan...and Hu Sanniang. Chapter 10: Quickly, the two made their way to Huangchun, stopping as they realised that everyone had been gathered in cages. They were surrounded by ghostly warriors, who looked fierce...and furious. Lady Green quickly recognised them as the Outlaws of Liangshan...but how they were here she didn"t know. First and Second Squad, along with the Air Force, had also been forced into cages. But that was not what bothered them. In the middle stood a tall man, whose warriors were guarding the cages. The tall man was holding a rattling box in his hands, and he was smirking at the ghostly person that was currently tied up in the middle. Lady Green sucked in a breath. Hu Sanniang. When Gu Dasao was called down to earth from where she had been residing in Heaven, she had been confused. Such a call hadn"t been made since...since those times when she had fought alongside her husband and her brothers of Liangshan. She had made her way down with the others, she had not expected to find the villagers from the village that had called her down in cages. And she definitely had not been prepared to see Hu Sanniang, one of her closest friends, tied and gagged in the middle. None of them had seen Hu Sanniang ever since her death even though they searched. The same had gone for Lin Chong. She noted the crazed-looking man holding a rattling box. She held up her own blades. "How dare you?!" she lunged forward, but was held back by her husband, who shook his head. She glared at him, but he didn"t back down. They watched as the man announced who he was - a hunter. "And you may ask what I"ve been hunting down all this years?" the hunter smirked. He pointed at Hu Sanniang. "Her, and all of her descendants." "What?" Wang Ying lunged forward. "Why?!" "Oh, I do it all for your sake, Wang Ying." This had confused them all. "What?" Wang Ying demanded. The hunter had laughed, looking at Hu Sanniang, who looked back up at him blankly. "Her children." "You mean...their children." Song Jiang said. The hunter shook his head, still smirking. This clicked into Gu Dasao"s head, but she ignored it for now. For now, one of her closest friends was tied up by a madman. And she would help her, despite if she had cheated on her own husband or not. Wang Ying was glaring at Hu Sanniang now, who held her own glare against him. "How could you?" his voice was deadly quiet. This wasn"t good. When he was mad, he yelled and shouted. Not like this. Not like this. Hu Sanniang glared back at him. "After what you had done to me? What would you have expected me to do?!" "Done what?" Song Jiang interrupted, but Gu Dasao had figured in all out. Looking at Sun Erniang, it was clear that she had figured it out too. "Abuse." Gu Dasao whispered. It had only been a whisper, but everyone around had heard it clearly. Sun Erniang growled at Wang Ying, about to lunge at him, but her husband stopped her in time. Her scream was ear-piercing. "When I get my hands on you, I"ll rip you piece by piece with my own hands and feed you in my buns!" The group from Big Green had asked who their respective heroes were when they had compared the 108 heroes of Liangshan Marsh to Big Green, and it was revealed that Sun Erniang was Mystique Sonia. The heroes looked alarmed as they stared at Mystique Sonia, but she shook her head. Her buns were all vegetarian. "With who?" With just those words, everyone fell quiet again. They looked at the man, who smirked as he held up the rattling box in his hands. "Guess. I"ll give you a hint...it"s a former exiled instructor." Lu Zhishen lunged forward, eyes blazing at the indignity of having had his blood brother suffer his afterlife days trapped in a box, affair easily forgotten as he realised that Hu Sanniang had been abused by Wang Ying. He was held back by Wu Yong and Song Jiang, screaming curse after curse. And, just then, two people emerged from the forest. "Ah." The man grinned. "We have company. And my last prey." They looked alarmed, looking around. It didn"t take an expert to find out what he was talking about. "Lin Chung! Lady Green!" Gu Dasao admired the similarities in both of them and their ancestors, mad as she was. Lady Green held two blades, much like Hu Sanniang, and didn"t look like a damsel in distress. Lin Chung was quiet, but eyes blazed with the same fury that Lin Chong had had whenever he went into battle. "Run!" Both pair of eyes widened as hunters surrounded them. Their weapons were raised, and, before they could blink, Lin Chung had sent one of them sprawling back to the head man, who laughed. "Incredible. To think that you even obtained his skill..." Suddenly, the man raised a blade and flung it at Lin Chung. He had no time to move as the blade pierced his chest. A scream from someone. They didn"t bother finding out who as Lin Chung collapsed, blood oozing out of the wound. The cloak he had been carrying dropped with a thump. Lady Green leapt back, eyes wide. And, just then, the rattling stopped. No one paid any attention. But then, the box rattled again. Fiercely. Caught off-guard, the man dropped the box. Thinking quickly, Gu Dasao flung one of her blades at the lock. It broke open. And then a spirit tackled the head man, eyes blazing. "Lin Chong." Song Jiang whispered, looking at the furious exiled instructor. His appearance had not changed at all from the picture - hair still long, but hat no longer there. Clothed robes, square shoes, tanned skin with the "golden mark" on the left side of his forehead. Hu Sanniang looked at him, calm, even as he lunged forward at the head man. The head man blocked it surprisingly quickly, though he stumbled back at the force. Knowing that he was outmatched, the head man leapt onto a horse. Lin Chong followed, spear in hand. Gu Dasao rushed to Hu Sanniang, releasing her from her bonds. The moment she did, Hu Sanniang sprang to her feet, her twin blades appearing in her hands. The other men looked panicked as Song Jiang released the prisoners. Following their leader"s example, they leapt aboard horses and galloped in his direction. Spearing a warrior and shoving him off, Lin Chong leapt aboard the sprinting horse and disappeared into the forest. Hu Sanniang leapt aboard a spare horse, eyes blazing as the horse, too, disappeared into the forest. Meiren"s heart thudded as she looked at the old senile man, who seemed crazy with fear. The scene seemed all too familiar. Both disappearing into the forests. But, this time, Hu Sanniang was determined to return with Lin Chong...if not, not at all. Lina peered into the room. Lin Chung was sitting there with Grandmother. She wasn"t technically their grandmother, but everyone called her by that and she treated everyone as if they were her own. Her grandmother was talking to Lin Chung, a hand on his face as he looked up at her, eyes blinking. His back was to her, and Lina felt frustrated. She couldn"t see anything now. And she wanted to play with Lin Chung. It was rare that his parents let him out at all except for school, and she wanted to take the opportunity. Then grandmother started talking to Lin Chung in a low voice as Lin Chung wiped his eyes. "Is the light still bothering your eyes?" Lin Chung nodded, frustration evident in his stance. He shifted anxiously, and looked at grandmother. "There isn"t anything wrong with me, is there?" Grandmother"s face darkened. "No, there isn"t. Your mother had no right to do that with you." she then looked up, and caught sight of Lina. "Lina"s here, Lin Chung. Go and play with her." Lina beamed as she opened the door, too elated to feel upset about being caught. But her breath caught when she saw Lin Chung. Instead of the bright purple eyes she had gotten used to seeing, they were now a dull black and white. Instead of the light that was usually in them when they played, it was replaced now by a constant thin film over it. But she could tell that they wouldn"t want her to talk about it. So she kept quiet, and only when she was in her bed did she wonder what happened to those pretty purple eyes that he used to have. Epilogue: Lady Green turned to look at Lin Chung. He still looked pale, but Woo the Wise had reassured them that he would be fine. The poison on the blade had had serious effect. He had only survived due to the healing balm that they had. Woo the Wise"s counterpart, Wu Yong, had helped them with it, having had made it, and had saved the life of the last descendant of both Lin Chong and Hu Sanniang. After waiting for a day, Gu Dasao eventually concluded that they weren"t coming back. Searching for them, they found the dead bodies and the horses waiting patiently for them. After they returned back to Big Green, Lin Chung found a stack of scrolls from Wu Yong that detailed his family history, and all helped him piece back together of what happened to his family. Not long after, things returned to normal - except for the fact that Lin Chung had asked Lady Green out. Surprised, she accepted. Now, about a year later, they were still together, and a couple supported by many. In fact, Woo the Wise had started comparing similarities between Lin Chong and Hu Sanniang"s love to theirs, wondering if they were a reincarnation to give the two spirits a second chance. Speaking of the two spirits, no one ever saw them again, but Lady Green could"ve sworn that she felt their presence when she and Lin Chung first went out. Life settled down quickly in Big Green after the discovery, but it became more chaotic. People started to learn the truth about Liangshan, and more descendants of the Outlaws were being discovered everyday. Those who would"ve liked to be kept in secret sought out Big Green, who guaranteed them the secrecy. Slowly, the ranks amongst Big Green grew. Eventually, they would find the Emperor, the rightful Emperor of East Citadel. They would fight a fearsome battle that would result in victory for the side of Big Green. They would reinstate the Emperor as the rightful ruler of Hidden Kingdom. They would swear absolute loyalty to the Emperor, and to no one else. And, one day, the inhabitants of Hidden Kingdom would welcome the newest child of Lin Chung and Lady Green. Hu Sanniang stood on a cliff not too far from Hidden Kingdom. She smiled as she saw the celebrating people of Hidden Kingdom. This had been what all of them had been fighting for. For the people of China, now Hidden Kingdom, to be free. Free from the reign of Gaoqiu and the ruthless Emperor. Governed by a new Emperor, by a new law, helped by the heroes who had seen it all, who knew how to adjust to fit the people"s expectations and demands. She looked at Lin Chong, who was looking down, his face expressionless. His hair wasn"t tied up - he preferred to keep it down now. He wore his usual black robes, much like her own, but hers were more feminine and red. He held his staff behind him, posture straight and perfect as always. "They look happy." she noted to him, searching for his reaction. He turned to her, letting a smile play on his lips. "Isn"t that what we had been fighting for all this time?" Hu Sanniang smiled at him as she took his hand in hers, and rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. "So, where to next?" "Already? I thought you would"ve wanted to settle." This was said jokingly, but Hu Sanniang sent a mock angry look at him. He chuckled, as he reciprocated, rubbing his thumb over hers. She smiled, anger immediately melting into her shoes. They would be alright. Hu Sanniang smiled tiredly at the small bundle in her arms. Gu Dasao and Sun Erniang leaned forward, both their eyes gleaming with anticipation. Gu Dasao smiled gently, looking at Hu Sanniang. "He"s gorgeous." A wider smile now framed Hu Sanniang"s face as she looked at the child in her arms. His hair was covered thinly with silky dark hair, his face still red as he cried to his heart"s content. However, his body was still, only rattling sometimes as his chest heaved. His eyes were surprisingly large in his small face, and Hu Sanniang knew without a doubt that those were his eyes. She smiled at the child. Sun Erniang leaned over, waving her finger in front of the child"s face. Seeing it, the child instantly quietened, grabbing it and giggling, mood swing suddenly over. "Aw..." Sun Erniang smiled softly, so different from her usual demeanour. Later on, after Hu Sanniang had gone to sleep, Wang Ying would take the baby to the other Outlaws to see. A lot of cooing would go on, all admiring the child, and laughing as the child mimicked their movement, smiling brightly. The baby, in a few days, would be allowed to be handled only by those trusted by his parents. When Wu Yong would look at the baby, he would see something familiar in those large eyes and face, but would say nothing, merely thinking that it must look like either Hu Sanniang or Wang Ying, but he just hadn"t had the opportunity to compare. When Lu Zhishen looked at the baby, he would note that something was indescribably familiar at the way the baby smiled at him, eyes wide and adoring. Hu Sanniang, likewise, would note that the baby seemed extremely comfortable in the hands of the tattooed giant. However, Lu Zhishen shook it off, not wanting to disrespect either Hu Sanniang, Wang Ying, or the third party involved. Because he was sure he knew who the third party was. As he looked between Hu Sanniang and Wang Ying, he realised that his sworn brother-in-blood would only do something like this if allowed to, or if something had happened. Thus, he kept his mouth shut, and stared at the baby every moment he could, drinking in the features of his dead brother-in-arms. But, for now, Hu Sanniang looked tenderly into the baby"s eyes, seeing the large eyes finally fix adoringly on her. Chapter 1: Lady Green sighed, slightly bored with the lack of action recently as she sharpened her blades with a spare piece of rock. She looked up and her eyes lit up as she noticed Lin Chung walking towards her. "Lady Green," he nodded his head courteously, "Commander Apetrully would like you to join us in the briefing room." Lady Green stood up. Maybe it might be something good, to distract her from this seemingly endless boredom. She nodded, giving him a friendly smile. They walked side-by-side, both in comfortable silence as Lin Chung greeted many of the animal rulers and humans that they happened to bump into. When they reached the briefing room of First Squad, she was surprised to find it already full with four members of the Air Force that she was not familiar with, Second Squad, First Squad, Commander Apetrully, and Woo the Wise. Lin Chung silently left her side and went to join First Squad, while Lady Green paused for a moment, wondering where should she stand. At Lin Chung"s barely imperceptible nod, she moved to stand next to Lin Chung, near Commander Apetrully. "Now that we are all here, I will tell you what you are to do." Commander Apetrully declared. Woo the Wise pulled out a map. He unrolled it on the table, and all crowded around it. "There is a village here. Its name is not known, but it was known as Huangchun back then." "Yellow Village." Lin Chung easily translated. Commander Apetrully smiled, delighted. "Yes. It is north to where the East Citadel is, and is near a place which used to house outlaws." "Of Liangshan Marsh?" Lin Chung volunteered again. Woo the Wise nodded. "Yes. 36 "Heavenly Spirits", and 72 "Earthly Fiends". 108 important members in total, with many other bandits and men who served under them." "What"s this got to do with us?" Kowloon asked, impatient. "The people in the village are complaining of odd happenings recently. Not too long ago, a boy found a crystal, one which showed events from the past. We have positively identified two figures from the event as two warriors from Liangshan Marsh." "You want us to investigate?" Alpha Girl asked, sounding bored. "Why all of us then?" Commander Apetrully looked up sternly. "Do not take this lightly, Alpha Girl." He chided. "This is important. It is said that Liangshan Marsh is haunted with the lives of the 108 spirits who were unfairly killed after being granted amnesty from the Emperor." He looked up at each of them, before turning to Lin Chung. "You are familiar with the village?" Lin Chung nodded. "I was raised in one of the neighbouring villages." Lady Green startled. She was unaware that Lin Chung came from a small village, based on what she could see from the land around Huangchun. She would have thought that he had come from somewhere near the East Citadel. But, then again, that would explain his humbleness and modesty to all the great feats he had achieved. She looked up again as Commander Apetrully finished. "I want all of you to go to the village. There is an elder there who has descended from 3 generations. She will know anything about the Outlaws that visited her. The Air Force is to bring you there and remain there until all of you return." There were small nods. Master Chou cleared his throat. "With all due respect, Commander, Lin Chung is the only one who has passed the Parachute test and the Air test." Lady Green felt herself turn slightly nauseous. She was part of the Navy, not the Air Force. "Well then, you have to have the test taken immediately! You are to leave at dawn." For some reason, Lady Green felt a chill go down her spine. She ignored the feeling and focused on the Air Force, who were currently leading the rest to the Hanger. Rosefinch stopped her from following them. "You are a member of the Navy, Lady Green. Your training for all sorts of emergencies and situations qualifies you for flying the planes." Lady Green exchanged a quick smile with Rosefinch. She didn"t know Rosefinch well, and would look forward to knowing her better - she seemed like a strong, independent young woman, and it was rare that Lady Green found another woman in Big Green. She barely knew Alpha Girl, and Mystique Sonia used to hate her. Lady Green jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" "I"m fine." Lady Green smiled, before turning to Lin Chung. "So, tell me more about the village, if you don"t mind." As Hu Sanniang left, she banged into someone, and winced as it hit a bruise near her hip. Lin Chong, curse his sharp eyes, noticed immediately and frowned in concern. "Are you alright?" "I"m fine." She answered calmly, hoping that he believed her and left her. She was not sure how much scrutiny her facade could take before it crumbled down. "You do not seem fine." "Just a bruise. From training." She added quickly. Lin Chong frowned. "Have you not had that looked at?" Hu Sanniang looked down. "I did not have the time to." "Follow me." Lin Chong ordered without preamble and led her to his hut. Hu Sanniang"s heart pounded wildly, wondering what people would think. But then again, he was supposed to work together with her. What was he going to do? He led her inside his hut, and rummaged around in a trunk containing some neatly folded clothes. He took out a jar of a cream of some kind. "Take this." "What is it?" Hu Sanniang asked, knowing that she shouldn"t stall. But, compared to Wang Ying, Lin Chong was welcome company. She tilted her head as she realised what the cream was. "I never knew that you got so injured that you needed this much. A whole personal jar for you?"

"A tree?" Anneliese nodded. "A golden tree. Much like the trees in Hera"s Garden." At Erika"s confused look, Anneliese hastened to add, "from Greek myth." "Ah." Erika said, although it was evident that she didn"t fully understand the reference. Taking pity on her, Dominick hurried to change the subject. "So we"re looking for a tree?" "Not exactly." Anneliese stopped him at a certain page. "According to Greek mythology, the Fountain of Youth took the form of a tree because it was situated in Hera"s Garden." "So it would take the form of an object common enough here?" Dominick guessed. The Princess nodded. "Yes. The only problem is locating it." "Well, that shouldn"t be too hard, should it?" Erika asked, crossing her arms. "I mean, there can"t be that many places to look, would there?" Julian and Anneliese exchanged a sheepish look at that. Erika sighed as she bent down the well, hauling up a bucket of water. She collected some of the water in a tiny glass vial that Anneliese had distributed evenly amongst them, and sighed again. This was ridiculous. She had not been aware that there were so many wells, fountains and trees in the village. At least she had been allocated the wells, one of the least numerous objects. Poor Julian and Dominick were stuck scouring every tree in the village and collecting dirt from its roots and twigs and leaves from its branches. Wiping her forehead with a hand, Erika squinted up at the hot sun. She was done with this one, now she just had...seven more to go. Dominick fought the urge to fidget as he waited for the children to go running off away from the tree that he currently needed dirt from. It was quite strange, really, being this close to villagers and watching the children play. He had never had that luxury when he was a child, being hidden away from the world and barred from the village by a lengthy iron wall. Being able to be so close to the village children and seeing them enjoy themselves was quite a wonder. It was why he loved Erika so much. She brought with her her strong sense of determination, her playful nature and she had taught him that not everything was in black and white. Sometimes, a thief stole to feed his family, who had come to the brink of starvation due to taxes that were imposed by the kingdom. Erika opened his eyes to the suffering of his people, not that he wasn"t already aware of it, but helped him find a compromise that would work for the nobility and that of the lower working classes. Seeing the children run off at the call of their parents, Dominick strode to the tree with purpose and knelt down, quickly retrieving some of the soil. He picked up a couple of fallen leaves and twigs the children had been playing with, and stored it securely in his bag before heading to the next place. Anneliese smiled to the women who passed by her, receiving bright smiles in return. Ever since she had introduced the new form of currency, the villagers had become more open and welcome to her, sometimes inviting her to try their pastries or have a smell of their flowers. She quickly gathered some water from the fountain, sealing it with a cork and then tucking it into her satchel. She sighed at the heat. Her dress had been made for summer, but for inside classes instead of the great outdoors. She looked around, wondering if there was a place where she could get a cold drink. Spotting a vendor nearby, she slipped out a couple of coins and headed in his direction. Julian was making quick work of the section of trees that he had been assigned to. Using a combinations of letters and numbers, he and Anneliese had allocated him and Julian approximately half of the trees in the village. Sure, they could have asked the knights to do it, but they were already spread out thin, what with the bandits at the borders and all, and to be honest, as a man of science? Julian did not trust those guards to properly appreciate the time and effort required in this task. He had just stashed his vial into his satchel when he heard shouting from nearby. Frowning, and seeing people scurry away from the area, he quickly approached it, hand wrapped around the dagger strapped to his belt. To say Bertie was shocked would be an understatement. Madame Carp had whirled into the shop like a hurricane, as if she were still the owner of the dress shop now renamed "Bertie"s Dress Emporium". The old woman had paid no mind to the fleeing customers, saving her wrath for the former worker. But Bertie had grown a spine after Carp had been exiled, and was perfectly alright with holding her own against the fearsome matriarch. "You better let me in, Bertie! This is my shop, and I will sue you for all you are worth-" "Your shop?" Bertie crossed her arms. "This may have been your shop in the past, but it is not property of the kingdom, and the Royal Family have seen fit to leave it in my name. Besides," she added, seeing the older woman huff and open her mouth, ready to protest, "weren"t you banished from the kingdom the last time I saw you?" "You think that anyone listens to the Royal Family?" Carp demanded. "They are just a bunch of stuck up snobby people who happen to have been born in the right place at the right time." "Is that so?" A new voice joined the conversation. Madame Carp and Bertie jumped. In the midst of their conversations, neither one had notice Julian slip in through the slightly ajar door. He was staring at Carp with a look of mild disdain, his arms crossed, and it was clear that he was more offended at the insult to his wife than he was to himself. "Prince Julian!" Bertie"s eyes widened. She dropped into a curtsy. "Please, excuse my behaviour." "I don"t think that it"s your behaviour that"s the problem." Julian stated, a flat look in his eye. "Madame Carp, the Royal Declaration was quite clear: you were to leave the land and never set foot on it again. Failure to obey is worthy of treason, and possibly death." Madame Carp"s eyes flashed slightly from both fear and stubbornness. "This is my shop." She repeated, with slightly less conviction. "No, I am pretty sure that it is Bertie"s." Julian replied. He waved behind him, and guards marched forward. "These gentlemen will escort you to your cell, until the Queen decides what action to next take. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to be going." Sending a brief smile to Bertie, the former Royal Tutor vanished from sight, heading to his next location with more a stride in his walk. Chapter 6: Madame Carp couldn"t believe just how easy it had been to get into the castle. Sure, being brought to the dungeons due to some meddling lucky upstart who happened to be part of the Royal Family hadn"t been a part of it, but it still got her there quickly and within shouting - and more importantly, reaching - distance of the guards. The fools carried a large key-ring with the keys to the various cells, and it was a wonder that no one had escaped yet. Possibly because those caught were equally as dim-witted as those guarding it. Well, it took one to know one. Starting up a barrage of arguments that annoyed the guards but also distracted him, Madame Carp set about waving her hands in the air in indignation. She kept up the act as the guard shoved her into her cell, locking the gate securely and leering at her in triumph. Not at all daunted, the woman marched forward and continued her furious tirade, still waving her hands wildly. Once the guard left, finally sick of her voice, Madame Carp allowed a smirk to grow across her face as she fingered the key that opened the door to her cell. Too easy. Preminger rolled his neck. He was sure that the old crone had gotten the message and had been willing to help, but when and where she decided to do it was a complete mystery to him. He was also still wondering about the supposed black hairs he had found in his brush - no one but himself used it, and the knights didn"t care about their hair enough to use his. Therefore, the only conclusion was that the hair was his. But how has his hair become ebony again? How had that old woman become well again? It was something he had to discover. He wasn"t sure if the Royal Family would be smart enough to sense something wrong - after all, he had been stealing gold under the Queen"s nose for ages - but the daughter was certainly smart enough to think up of something, as past experience had proven to him. He was brought out of his thoughts as someone came storming into the cell, stance rigidly furious. She turned glaring eyes on the same guard who had given her money not so long ago. "YOU!" The mentioned guard jumped in surprise. "Me?" He blinked and narrowed his eyes. "Wait, it"s you again! How did you get in?" "Your security is very lax." Carp rolled her eyes. She adjusted the feathery hat on her head, and then twisted her neck, looking the very image of someone seeking out a fight. "Your idiot cousin broke my things. AGAIN!" She roared. "You"d think he"d have fired those buffoons a long time ago, but no!" "Why did you go back there then?" The guard asked in incredulity. "I wasn"t anywhere near the blasted thing!" Carp bellowed. "He appeared, with his two lackeys, and they tripped over my things, sending them into the pond. Do you think clothes and possessions come out of thin air? Because, my dear fellow, I assure you, they do not." She hissed. The guard swallowed nervously. "I don"t have any more money. At least not until my next paycheck." "I don"t care." Carp said softly, dangerous. "I want my money back now. I don"t want to go around wearing the same dress for the next few days until I find a suitable tailor. So pay me now, or else." "Look, ma"am." His friend finally decided to intervene. "Firstly, you"re not supposed to be down here, regardless of our security. Secondly, how"re we supposed to know if they"d actually destroyed your things? You could be throwing them into the river, for all we know." "Are you calling me a liar?" "Yes." The friend said, standing straighter. Carp marched right up to him, jabbing a finger into his armour. "You listen carefully. I am many things, but I am not a liar. I have never and will never tell a lie in my life." Snorting, Carp rolled her shoulders back. She turned, crashing into the other man, and fell to the ground, a thunderous crash of metal being heard. She scowled. "Are you blind as well as incompetent?" With that, she turned and stormed off with purpose. Behind her, Preminger smirked and quietly opened the door to his cell. Waiting at the entrance of the dungeons and fidgeting like mad, Madame Carp attempted to appear as if she belonged in the castle, minding her own business. Footsteps sounded behind her, and she tensed, ready to run if necessary. It wasn"t. Preminger smugly walked up the stairs, hips sashaying as he allowed the warm light from the chandelier to rain down on his pale skin. Turning, his grin widened at the sight of the woman. "Ah...I don"t believe I"ve caught your name?" "Carp." Carp said in a brusque tone. "Madame Carp." "Well, Madame, I am forever in your debt." Preminger took her hand and kissed it. "I am Preminger." "I know who you are." Carp grumbled. "You"re that advisor that"s been hoarding all that gold." "Hoarding?" Preminger tutted. "I like to think of it as safekeeping." He tilted his head at her disgruntled expression. "And whatever can I do for such a fair lady?" Snorting, the woman rolled her eyes. "Well, for one thing, you could help me get rid of my banishment. Some sort of Royal Order, and now my former worker is treating me like dirt under her shoe. She doesn"t appreciate all that I provided for her, just keeps on saying how the store is hers now." "Ah!" Preminger lit up. "I recall where I"ve heard the name before. Madame Carp"s Dress Emporium, am I right? Your dresses were divine, Madam." Carp puffed with pride. "Of course. The Emporium only selects and shows the best." Smiling, like a cat that ate the canary, Preminger flipped his hair back. "Now, I have to ask. Are you aware of some curse that has been spreading through the kingdom?" Frowning, Carp narrowed her eyes, thinking back to the gossip she had heard at the various pubs she had been to. "Well, now that you mention it, I have heard of some supposedly miraculous recoveries, but I have no idea of what to make of them." "Well, this might bode well for us." Anneliese walked back to the castle, smiling at the guards, who nodded at her. She was quickly followed by Erika, who was holding her satchel carefully, as if afraid that handling it too roughly would result in it being broken. "Hi, Erika. Have you got all the wells?" "Yes." Erika smiled triumphantly. "What about you?" Anneliese held up her own bag, which seemed close to bursting. "We"ll have this figured out in no time." Erika hummed happily, enjoying the long trek back to the castle, now that they were within the safety of the palace gates. She glanced at her friend, who seemed more relaxed than she could remember. "Annelise..." she began haltingly, "there"s been something that Dominick"s been asking about." Anneliese turned in concern. "Is something wrong?" "Well, it"s more of a personal question." Erika hastened to correct. "And, well, it has to do with you." "Me?" Anneliese asked in confusion. "I couldn"t help wondering it myself, though you don"t have to answer if you don"t want to." "I"ll keep that in mind." Anneliese replied slowly. Erika shot her a strained smile, looking down at her satchel. "The thing is, Dominick saw a portrait of your family when we arrived." Anneliese tilted her head, not understanding. "Of your father, too." Anneliese"s mouth opened in a half gasp. "Ah." "And he was wondering about King Radius. I was too, but I know that it was a delicate matter to bring up." Erika sighed. "I just...I don"t know. I shouldn"t have brought it up. In fact, just forget that I said anything." "No, it"s just..." Anneliese struggled for words for the first time in her life. "I"ve never known my father very well." "You don"t?" Erika asked, concern in her tone. Anneliese smiled sadly. "After the scandal, it didn"t take long for him to...pass on." Erika gasped, placing a reassuring hand on her friend"s shoulder. "Anneliese, I"m so sorry-" Shrugging, the Princess smiled distantly, her eyes seeing something that wasn"t there. "I remember that he was kind. He always kept my smiling, and he loved to see my mother laughing. He loved apples as well. Always taught me to eat one everyday. He was a kind man." "A great king." Erika noted. Even if the scandal had almost wrecked the kingdom - even if no one knew what the actual scandal even was - King Radius" reign had brought prosperity on the villagers and their trade with other kingdoms, such as Dominick"s own. "And an even greater father." Anneliese murmured softly as they reached the front doors to the castle. Smiling at the guard who opened them for the girls, they stepped in quickly and headed in the direction of the library. "I wonder if Julian and Dominick are there yet." As it turned out, the two men had also met up at the palace gates. Each was covered with dirt and had the occasional twig or leaf stuck in their clothes and sticking out of their bag, but they appeared satisfied to any passerby. Walking beside the man who was the husband of his own wife"s best friend, Dominick decided to use the walk up as a chance to get to know the man better. "So, how is it like, being married to Anneliese?" Dominick asked. He quickly realised how it sounded, and hastened to correct himself. "She seems like a lovely girl, and you two make a good couple." Julian looked down, the edges of his ears turning slightly red as he thought of the princess, of her warm smile and caring eyes and voice that sounded so melodic when it was calling his name. "She"s wonderful." He admitted. "I"m still not sure if I"m dreaming. I don"t even know what I"ve done that"s got me in such an amazing position." Dominick shot him a mildly chiding look. "You were willing to risk your life for her and saved her - and your - kingdom, from not only Preminger, but also from bankruptcy." "That was Anneliese herself." "Without you, Anneliese would not have learnt half of what she needed to create that new currency." Dominick asserted. "Besides, you were still willing to sacrifice everything to rescue her." "I nearly put Erika in danger." Julian said. Dominick shrugged. "I"m rather thankful. If not for you and Anneliese, I would have never met Erika. We"re a better match than myself and Anneliese, if I say so myself. I"m not a big fan of science, unfortunately." Julian chuckled. "Well, it might appear boring but it is more interesting once you get into the intricacies of whatever you are interested in." "Anneliese has a good tutor." Dominick noted. "Not as well as I thought." Julian murmured, his gaze become unfocused for a moment before he turned to face the young King. "She had forgotten something that we had covered not too long ago." "How odd." Dominick frowned. "Do you think it is part of this Fountain of Youth?" "Possibly." Julian allowed. "I"m worried of its effects. If the myths are true, we will continue to grow younger until we stop it somehow. And if it isn"t the myth, we still have hundreds of other theories to test out and not a lot of time." Dominick placed a hand on his shoulder as they entered the cooling castle. "You and Annelise are the smartest people I know of. If you can"t figure it out, no one can." Julian shot him a worried look. "And what of your kingdom?" Sighing, the King shook his head. "I"m not too sure. If this gets too severe, I might have to inform them. Hopefully, they"ll understand that it is beyond anyone"s control, and trying to tamper or control it would only lead to disaster." "When someone escapes, they traditionally prefer to leave the place of entrapment, not go into the main room and announce it to everyone." Madame Carp hissed. "From what I"ve heard, many of the guards have been sent to deal with the bandits in the north." Preminger answered smoothly, swinging the sword he held in one hand. Madame Carp was holding a candelabra with clenched fingers. "The throne room would be protected, but not as much as the outer part of the castle. Those idiots were too proud to think that anyone could infiltrate them from the inside." Halting outside the unguarded throne room, the sound of voice trailed outside. "We can"t be certain of anything until the men return, mother." Anneliese"s voice said. Preminger perked up. Dominick and Julian were gone? Perfect. With them vulnerable, he needed to strike fast and quick. To be honest, he didn"t really need the Queen other than for her ring, signifying the Royal Family"s status and emblem. He had long since mastered her signature, but he needed the ring in order to pardon himself and Madame Carp. Kicking open the door, Preminger looked in on the stunned women with a smirk. "Good afternoon, ladies." Chapter 7: "Preminger!" The Queen called out in surprise. Preminger examined her critically. She was no longer wearing those blasted glasses of hers, and she had actually let her hair down in a tight braid. How very strange. And she wasn"t squinting at him. She was glaring at him, as if she could see him and his companion perfectly. How odd. Maybe the curse had spread to the castle as well. He paced forward leisurely, swinging the sword idly. Madame Carp followed, looking a little more sure of herself. Erika"s eyes widened in surprise before narrowing again. "Madame Carp." "Girl." Carp sneered. "How lovely." "You"ve been banished, Madame Carp." Anneliese said, her voice steady and unwavering. "I"d be careful what I was saying, my dear." Preminger purred. "You"re unarmed." Quickly looking to the side, Anneliese snatched up a sword from a suit of armour, holding it in a defensive position with both hands. Preminger raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed. But if it came down to it, he could easily best Anneliese in a fight. Just then, there was the sound of running footsteps towards them. Both Madame Carp and Preminger whirled around, eyes wide, the former with shock and the latter with anger. Their luck just had to run out then! Even as they quickly turned back around - a mistake, they would soon learn - Anneliese had positioned herself in front of the Queen and Erika. Erika had taken the opportunity to grab a candelabra from the wall and brandished it at their rivals. With their backs turned, Preminger and Madame Carp were taken by surprise when the door burst open and Julian and Dominick came flying into the room, their sword and dagger, respectively, out and ready to be used. Quickly disarming the two, not that they put up much fight anyway, Anneliese and Erika yanked the rope from the curtains framing the window, handing it over to their husbands to tie the two up and leave them spitting curses on the floor. Once settled, Julian made a beeline straight for Anneliese while Dominick hurried over to support Erika. "Are you three alright?" Julian asked, making sure that Anneliese wasn"t injured. Anneliese smiled as she shook her head. Erika did likewise. "It"s good to see the two of you as well."

"Julian!" Twin cries sounded, and one streak of blue and another of pink came and collided with Dominick and Julian, respectively. "Erika!" Dominick beamed. "Hello, Anneliese." Julian smiled. "You took a long time." Erika said accusingly. "We"re sorry. We had to work." Dominick placated the young girl. "Work?" Anneliese asked, head tilted. "What sort of work?" "Important work. To do with this." Anneliese blinked, clearly confused. "This?" Dominick and Julian shot each other a quick look, also noting Madame Carp and Bertie"s own alarmed looks. Julian was quick to recover before Anneliese could read too deeply into the silence. While she might not have had much social interaction, Annelise had grown up reading people"s nuances, and Julian didn"t want to alarm her. "Yes. It is a new science experiment with equipment from Dominick"s kingdom." "Oooh." Erika looked up at Dominick in something akin to awe. "You"re a Prince?" Dominick cleared his throat, flustered. He had no idea how to sound modest without boasting. Bertie chuckled at the look on his face, interrupting and saving him from Erika"s inquisitive nature. "Yes, Erika. Dominick has his own kingdom." "I thought that he would be a king then." Anneliese said with no little suspicion. Julian cleared his own throat. Anneliese was too observant sometimes. "Well, um, Dominick is soon to inherit the kingdom." "Are your parents passed too?" Erika asked innocently. Dominick"s eyes widened, before they dropped in sadness. "Yes." Erika reached up and held his hand. "It"s ok. They"ll always be with us." It sounded like something she had repeated to herself enough that she now fully believed in it. It was the sort of childish belief that Dominick himself had never had the opportunity to have. Dominick couldn"t help the small smile he gave to the bright look he received. Bertie and Madame Carp, who had previously been tense with fear, now relaxed slowly. It wasn"t a good sign that the princesses were beginning to forget who they were, but at least they were no longer upset. In actuality, Anneliese and Erika had demonstrated themselves to be quite resilient, and both Dominick and Julian were appreciating the deeper insight they were gaining to their wives. While they loved the girls dearly, it was their first time seeing the girls in a different light, and they appreciated the opportunity the situation presented. Bertie smiled in a motherly fashion as stomachs rumbled. "Someone sounds hungry." She teased. All four blushed. "Let"s get dinner!" Erika cheered. Julian smiled and nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." "Can we have cookies and milk?" Anneliese asked shyly. "The warm milk with honey?" "Maybe..." Julian whispered back in a stage whisper. "If you don"t tell anyone else." Anneliese giggled and nodded. "Me too!" Erika piped up cheerfully, clearly having no idea of how to be subtle. Dominick couldn"t help but laugh as Julian and Anneliese jumped at her sudden cry. "All of us, Erika." "Bertie and Madame Carp too?" Erika asked, and Bertie"s heart swelled at the generosity of the little girl, who had lost so much but was still so willing to give everything she had to those she cared about. "Of course." Dominick sent Bertie a wink. "If they want to." "I think that sounds like a splendid idea." Bertie said. "And I"m sure Madame Carp thinks so too." A grunt, but it was more than they would have previously gotten. "I"ve got an idea!" Erika suddenly chirped. "Let"s make the cookies!" Anneliese looked a little unsure, but she nodded, clearly willing to try with her friend. Bertie laughed at the alarmed expressions the two young men had, and decided to intervene. "Madame Carp and I would love to help you, wouldn"t we?" Madame Carp let out an alarmed squawk. "That"s a yes." Bertie mock-whispered to the two girls, who giggled with delight. Erika let go of Dominick"s hand. "Let"s go!" She cheered, Dominick and Julian quickly forgotten. Julian laughed as he set Anneliese down, allowing her to run after Erika. Bertie hitched up her skirts and hurried after them, calling for Madame Carp to join them. Grumbling, the old woman heaved herself up and trudged after them, her actions speaking volumes. "I suppose they have done us a big favour." Dominick laughed. "Let"s try and get through most of the samples before they are finished." Julian suggested. "I get the feeling we will have our hands full now that the girls are almost completely children." "Agreed." Dominick"s laugh mingled together with Julian"s and echoed off the walls around them as they strode to the library, confident that the girls would find them when they were done. There was something undeniably beautiful about a child"s innocence, and Bertie had every intention of appreciating and enjoying it, especially seeing as she would probably never have children again. Sure, she spoiled the two girls slightly by letting them lick off the cookie dough...and anyways, no one (besides Madame Carp) was going to know anyways. Besides, the way the girls beamed at her when she let them was more than enough. "You"re a softie." Madame Carp snorted as she watched the girls playfully throw handfuls of flour at one another between mixing the bowl that had little cookie dough remaining inside it. She was wearing an apron and grimacing at the mess created. "So? They"re adorable." Bertie said quietly, not believing that she was actually telling this to her former employer, who had terrorised her life not several years ago. Madame Carp rolled her eyes as another blob of cookie dough missed Anneliese and hit the previously stainless wall. "I just hope you do realise that I"m not going to be helping you clean this up." Bertie shrugged. "Well, you can clean the girls then." Madame Carp scowled, crossing her arms at the thought and how her words had been twisted against her. Her scowl deepened when she saw that her sleeve was now covered in flour. She tried to shake it out, only to get hit in the side by another blob of cookie dough. Bertie laughed as she walked over to join the girls. "Girls, make sure that there is enough left to actually make cookies!" Chapter 22: Trusting that the girls were in safe hands, Julian started to lead Dominick back to the library. He looked around at the various candles, tables and portraits, noting with slight concern at just how tall everything seems compared to him. He glances at Dominick, wondering if the King is feeling the same way, but Dominick doesn"t seem to notice. Julian frowned as he wondered what would have happened if the portrait had never come up. If the de-aging had never happened. Would Anneliese still have wanted to find out what happened to her father? Would the Queen have been as secretive as she currently was? The thought of the Queen deepened Julian"s frown. Genevieve hadn"t been seen since she had last retreated into her room. Maria was tending to her - the only reason Julian was getting updates on the Queen - but no one else was allowed contact, or even dared. Even the guards at her door could not definitively say if the Queen was still in the room, as only Maria entered and exited. And with what the Queen had done to Anneliese? Julian wasn"t sure if he could easily forgive the Queen. What kind of mother slapped her child, just because said child wanted to know about her other parent? Besides, all of this seemed more like the Queen"s fault, if you asked Julian. "Julian?" And, to be honest, Anneliese was the victim in this, as was her father. The Queen was the evil person in this. "Julian." A hand reached out to his shoulder, and Julian jumped. He shot an apologetic look at Dominick. "Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts." Dominick shot him a kind smile. "It"s alright." And seeing that youthful smile on Dominick"s face gave Julian a chance to debate just how much they had changed. Dominick no longer bore the heavy burden of King that he had when he was older. Everything about Dominick seemed lighter, while, in contrast, everything about Julian seemed older. Heavier, for some reason. Like before he had gotten the job of tutor, and was worrying whether he and his family would make it day to day. "So what are we doing now?" Dominick asked, sending everything a quizzical look. Julian smiled as he sat down at a table, gently turning the knobs of the machine. "I"ve done this before with Anneliese, but I"m not sure if this will work as well." "I"m willing to try anything." Dominick said. "Okay, then." Julian nodded. "So, you can organise the samples to an order of your liking. Afterwards, you will give them to me one by one, and then record any observations I make down. It will be less time-consuming than if I have to stop every so often to write something down." "That works for me." Dominick nodded. He looked around and picked up a clean sheet of parchment and a quill nearby. Making sure there was an inkpot on the table, he grabbed the first sample and examined the smudged writing. He noted it down before handing it to Julian. "This one is from the tree right outside the palace gates." Julian nodded and placed it on the machinery, leaving Dominick to gape at him before Julian started speaking and Dominick started to write. More than three hours later, there was the sound of footsteps, and Julian straightened, stretching several kinks out of his back. He was far too young, physically especially, for this sort of aches, which he was more familiar with as he got older. He turned off the machine, looking up at Dominick. The man was frowning as he finished writing something, carefully placing it next to several other copies of dried parchment. The ink was still glistening on some of them. Julian was admittedly impressed with how well Dominick had kept up with him. "That sounds like trouble." Julian noted with no little amusement. Dominick rubbed his eyes, giving a tired chuckle as he proceeded to wring the cramps out of his writing hand. "How much did we get done?" Julian glanced down at the vials, surprised. "Nearly a quarter of the way through." "While I do not want to seem lazy, I think it"ll be alright to call it a day." Julian nodded in agreement just as the doors flew open. The aroma of freshly baked wafted into the room, and Dominick"s stomach grumbled. The two boys laughed as Anneliese and Erika came flying in, each balancing a plate of steaming chocolate chip cookies. Madame Carp was following behind, scowling at the mess of the library. "Julian!" Anneliese ran straight to him, though she was careful not to let her cookies fall. Erika wasn"t as daring, being more careful to walk towards Dominick. Julian plucked one cookie and blew on it to cool it down. He bit into it, and smiled. "Well done, your highness." Anneliese laughed, delighted as she was offered a mouthful from the same cookie, which she took. Erika laughed, too, as Dominick took two cookies right off the bat and crammed them in his mouth in a surprisingly regal fashion. She was offered one of the cookies, which she took eagerly after setting the plate down. Madame Carp huffed and plopped down on a nearby cushioned seat. As if remembering she was there, Erika gasped and ran towards Carp, handing her another cookie. The woman grumbled out a thanks and bit into the cookie, but it was no secret that she was grinning slightly behind the mouthful. Erika beamed at her, and proceeded to sit down in Dominick"s lap as she started to eat. For once, the room was nearly completely silent as the five occupants finished up the plates, though Erika was sure to leave a few for Bertie. "So, what have you found?" Madame Carp asked roughly. Dominick turned to Julian, who had turned to the parchment notes. He picked one up and read through Dominick"s cramped yet flowing letters. "Well, so far, there seems to be a similarity between those near the wells in the south side of the village." "Isn"t that where the doctor lives?" Anneliese asked. Julian shook his head. "It"s where he collects the herbs he uses." "Oh." Anneliese said, unbothered as she went back to her cookie. But Julian and Dominick suddenly shot each other a look of alarm. Anneliese and Erika seemed to de-age the most in the night, or after a doctor"s appointment. And despite the guards who were now younger, it was entirely possible for someone to sneak into their room. "What is it, Dominick?" Erika asked innocently, frowning. "Don"t worry about it, Erika." Dominick reassured even as he shot Julian an alarmed look. "You need to get a warrant." Madame Carp informed them. Julian nodded. "What"s a warrant, Ju?" Anneliese asked sleepily, now that the day"s excitement was over. "It"s a parchment that allows us to go to someone"s house to look for something." Julian answered distractedly. "Oh." Anneliese said again as her eyes drooped close. Bertie came not too soon after, dressed in a fresh set of clothes and with a night-candle with her. She smiled at the sight of the sleeping princesses, and the prince and King who seemed not too far behind them. Beckoning to Madame Carp, who had noticed her, the older woman let the boys wake up a little and follow the two to their bedrooms. Dominick sleepily thanked her, while Julian did nothing but nod. With a secretive smile, Bertie straightened and allowed the two boys to gently settle the girls into their respective beds before making sure that when they finally collapsed into sleep, it was on their beds and not on the floor. Madame Carp grumbled yet again, but made sure the brightness of the lamps were turned down. The two started to make their way back to the room they had been allocated to. "So, that wasn"t too bad, was it, Carp?" Madame Carp stubbornly crossed her arms. "It was horrible." Bertie chuckled, now used to the fond undercurrent the older woman probably didn"t even know she was using. "I"m sure." "Cookie dough everywhere. I"m telling you, if this was my dress shop, this wouldn"t have happened." "I"m sure." "And the mess they made of the dresses. I won"t be putting much effort into them anymore if they"re going to be carelessly ruined like that." "Of course not." "I didn"t sign up for this. I signed up for making clothes, not babysitting two brats." "I know." "And honestly, how annoying are they when they start to play in the tub? Water splashing everywhere. It"s a miracle none of it hit me." "Mhm." "Children. They"re so frustrating, they"re so annoying, they"re..." "The children you"ve never had?" Bertie asked quietly, a knowing gleam in her eye. Madame Carp gaped at that, and then turned away. But as the two of them entered their room, Bertie noticed that the woman didn"t bother to deny it. Meanwhile, in the darkness of her room, Genevieve looked up at the portrait of Radius, Anneliese and herself. Of the happiness in their eyes as they sat still and allowed the artist to paint them. After the whole incident, she found no reason to continue hiding the portrait, as the only person she was hiding it from was Anneliese, who had naturally already found out. Maria had raised a quizzical eyebrow, but helped Genevieve get the portrait out from behind the tapestry without question. And now, with no one around to hear, not even the guards who were standing out of earshot at her doors, she finally allowed herself vulnerability. "Oh, Radius." She whispered, meeting the eyes in the portrait. "Help me. I don"t know how to help her anymore." AN: To LavernaG - glad you"re liking it! It was about time, in my opinion, since the beginning started out quite slowly. Thanks for reviewing! Chapter 23: Julian got up early the next morning, finding that his back was still stiff. Dominick was already up, reading a book in his nightclothes as he reclined on his bed. His shoes were neatly placed on the floor, and part of the curtains were open to allow him some light. "Good morning." "Good morning." Julian nodded. He frowned as he looked at the ground from his bed. "Have we shrunk even more?" "I believe so." Dominick nodded at a chair nearby that Julian hadn"t originally noticed. "I had had to use it to get back up onto the bed." "Have you checked on the girls?" Anxiousness seized Julian. Dominick nodded, leaving Julian relieved. "They do look a little younger, but not drastically so." He set his book down, expression serious. "Julian, if the doctor really is behind this..." "I don"t know." Julian confessed. "I don"t see why he would want to do this. He has worked for the Royal Family for ages, and he has nothing to gain, really, if this goes on." "Should we tell the Queen?" Dominick asked. Julian sighed, nodding. "She deserves to know. Besides, going straight to her is the fastest way to approve a warrant to look through the doctor"s belongings." "How do we do this?" Dominick asked. "Maybe we can get Bertie or Madame Carp to fake an injury or illness to call upon the doctor." Julian said, frowning thoughtfully. "They can probably hold the doctor there until we have been to his house and back." "Why do we even need to fake an illness?" Dominick asked. "Why not just go right now?" "Because the doctor will hear that we have left by the guards. They"re good friends, the guards would have no reason to suspect anything." Julian said. "Your kingdom"s guards aren"t exactly reliable, are they?" Dominick asked in a combination of exasperation and annoyance. Julian sighed. "We"re working on it. But we are a small kingdom, and we have always been focused more on science and the arts rather than a strong military." Dominick sighed too. "I"m sorry, I didn"t mean for that to come out the way it did." "Don"t worry about it." Julian told him. "Other people have criticised our kingdom for so, at least before we receive the Science awards for the land." Dominick laughed. "I"m beginning to see why Anneliese was so interested in science." Julian laughed, and, getting up together, both of them started getting ready for the day. "Alright then, so how are you going to distract the girls?" Madame Carp asked gruffly. Bertie nodded in agreement, forking another watermelon piece. Julian and Dominick shot each other an alarmed look. "We haven"t quite thought of that." "Are there really no maids to take care of them?" Bertie asked. Julian shook his head. "I spoke to a guard today. Everywhere is understaffed, for some reason. They can"t spare anyone." "What about the Queen?" Madame Carp asked. Julian made a face. "Better her than Preminger." Dominick reminded him. Julian huffed, crossing his arms. "Well, I suppose we can do that while we get the warrant signed." "What about the doctor? When do you want us to call him?" Bertie asked. "Sometime in the afternoon. We"ll come and tell you when the warrant is signed. We can"t risk leaving earlier than the doctor seeing you, or else he"ll know we are suspicious." "Agreed." Bertie nodded. "Do you want us to go with you to the Queen"s?" "No." Julian shook his head, clearly the mastermind behind everything. "If you go to the Queen and someone sees you, they might tell the doctor, and he would think something fishy is going on." "Alright then." Bertie nodded. "We"ll work on some new outfits then. Would you boys have a few minutes to measure? We can make you some rough clothes to go out so no suspicion will fall upon you." "Wait." Madame Carp frowned. "It"s not safe. It would"ve been, if you had still been men able to fight, but now you"re no more dangerous than a kitten." Dominick bristled, but Julian visibly deflated. "Well, there"s really no one else." "Not exactly." Dominick groaned as he caught sight of the glint in Madame Carp"s eyes. Julian frowned. "Who?" "You want to ask me, the great Preminger, to follow you into the disgusting murk that is the village?" Preminger snorted in disdain. "Well, you"ve been in prison. There really isn"t anything else worse than that." Julian pointed out sensibly. Preminger raised his nose against the boy. "That is not the point." "It sort of is." Dominick frowned. "Look, just come with us." "What makes you think I won"t escape?" Preminger tried. "Because you were best friends with King Radius, and I think that since he loved his daughter very much, so would you. And so, to keep her from de-aging into oblivion, you would follow us and find the problem so we can find a cure." Julian said. Preminger growled as he considered the pretty valid argument. "Fine. When are we going?" "Your Highness?" A polite knock on the door. Genevieve fixed her purple skirt and nodded at the door. "Come in!" Julian and Dominick walked in, closely followed by Anneliese and Erika. Anneliese was looking a little hesitant, but Erika and Julian were each holding one of her hands and kindly urging her forward. Dominick bent down and whispered something to the two girls, pointing to a far corner. Nodding obediently, the girls ran in that direction. "Boys?" Genevieve asked, confused. Julian unrolled a scroll of parchment. "We have a warrant. We think we know who it is." "Who?" Genevieve asked as she scanned the document. "The doctor." This brought Genevieve up short. "You can"t really think that the doctor is behind this." "We don"t know what to think, your highness. But time is running out for the girls, and we found a similarity between things at the south. We"re going to have a quick look. If nothing peculiar comes up, we"ll go back to the others. But if this is something, it is better if we pursue it now than when the doctor becomes suspicious."

"Oh, I do it all for your sake, Wang Ying." This had confused them all. "What?" Wang Ying demanded. The hunter had laughed, looking at Hu Sanniang, who looked back up at him blankly. "Her children." "You mean...their children." Song Jiang said. The hunter shook his head, still smirking. This clicked into Gu Dasao"s head, but she ignored it for now. For now, one of her closest friends was tied up by a madman. And she would help her, despite if she had cheated on her own husband or not. Wang Ying was glaring at Hu Sanniang now, who held her own glare against him. "How could you?" his voice was deadly quiet. This wasn"t good. When he was mad, he yelled and shouted. Not like this. Not like this. Hu Sanniang glared back at him. "After what you had done to me? What would you have expected me to do?!" "Done what?" Song Jiang interrupted, but Gu Dasao had figured in all out. Looking at Sun Erniang, it was clear that she had figured it out too. "Abuse." Gu Dasao whispered. It had only been a whisper, but everyone around had heard it clearly. Sun Erniang growled at Wang Ying, about to lunge at him, but her husband stopped her in time. Her scream was ear-piercing. "When I get my hands on you, I"ll rip you piece by piece with my own hands and feed you in my buns!" The group from Big Green had asked who their respective heroes were when they had compared the 108 heroes of Liangshan Marsh to Big Green, and it was revealed that Sun Erniang was Mystique Sonia. The heroes looked alarmed as they stared at Mystique Sonia, but she shook her head. Her buns were all vegetarian. "With who?" With just those words, everyone fell quiet again. They looked at the man, who smirked as he held up the rattling box in his hands. "Guess. I"ll give you a hint...it"s a former exiled instructor." Lu Zhishen lunged forward, eyes blazing at the indignity of having had his blood brother suffer his afterlife days trapped in a box, affair easily forgotten as he realised that Hu Sanniang had been abused by Wang Ying. He was held back by Wu Yong and Song Jiang, screaming curse after curse. And, just then, two people emerged from the forest. "Ah." The man grinned. "We have company. And my last prey." They looked alarmed, looking around. It didn"t take an expert to find out what he was talking about. "Lin Chung! Lady Green!" Gu Dasao admired the similarities in both of them and their ancestors, mad as she was. Lady Green held two blades, much like Hu Sanniang, and didn"t look like a damsel in distress. Lin Chung was quiet, but eyes blazed with the same fury that Lin Chong had had whenever he went into battle. "Run!" Both pair of eyes widened as hunters surrounded them. Their weapons were raised, and, before they could blink, Lin Chung had sent one of them sprawling back to the head man, who laughed. "Incredible. To think that you even obtained his skill..." Suddenly, the man raised a blade and flung it at Lin Chung. He had no time to move as the blade pierced his chest. A scream from someone. They didn"t bother finding out who as Lin Chung collapsed, blood oozing out of the wound. The cloak he had been carrying dropped with a thump. Lady Green leapt back, eyes wide. And, just then, the rattling stopped. No one paid any attention. But then, the box rattled again. Fiercely. Caught off-guard, the man dropped the box. Thinking quickly, Gu Dasao flung one of her blades at the lock. It broke open. And then a spirit tackled the head man, eyes blazing. "Lin Chong." Song Jiang whispered, looking at the furious exiled instructor. His appearance had not changed at all from the picture - hair still long, but hat no longer there. Clothed robes, square shoes, tanned skin with the "golden mark" on the left side of his forehead. Hu Sanniang looked at him, calm, even as he lunged forward at the head man. The head man blocked it surprisingly quickly, though he stumbled back at the force. Knowing that he was outmatched, the head man leapt onto a horse. Lin Chong followed, spear in hand. Gu Dasao rushed to Hu Sanniang, releasing her from her bonds. The moment she did, Hu Sanniang sprang to her feet, her twin blades appearing in her hands. The other men looked panicked as Song Jiang released the prisoners. Following their leader"s example, they leapt aboard horses and galloped in his direction. Spearing a warrior and shoving him off, Lin Chong leapt aboard the sprinting horse and disappeared into the forest. Hu Sanniang leapt aboard a spare horse, eyes blazing as the horse, too, disappeared into the forest. Meiren"s heart thudded as she looked at the old senile man, who seemed crazy with fear. The scene seemed all too familiar. Both disappearing into the forests. But, this time, Hu Sanniang was determined to return with Lin Chong...if not, not at all. Lina peered into the room. Lin Chung was sitting there with Grandmother. She wasn"t technically their grandmother, but everyone called her by that and she treated everyone as if they were her own. Her grandmother was talking to Lin Chung, a hand on his face as he looked up at her, eyes blinking. His back was to her, and Lina felt frustrated. She couldn"t see anything now. And she wanted to play with Lin Chung. It was rare that his parents let him out at all except for school, and she wanted to take the opportunity. Then grandmother started talking to Lin Chung in a low voice as Lin Chung wiped his eyes. "Is the light still bothering your eyes?" Lin Chung nodded, frustration evident in his stance. He shifted anxiously, and looked at grandmother. "There isn"t anything wrong with me, is there?" Grandmother"s face darkened. "No, there isn"t. Your mother had no right to do that with you." she then looked up, and caught sight of Lina. "Lina"s here, Lin Chung. Go and play with her." Lina beamed as she opened the door, too elated to feel upset about being caught. But her breath caught when she saw Lin Chung. Instead of the bright purple eyes she had gotten used to seeing, they were now a dull black and white. Instead of the light that was usually in them when they played, it was replaced now by a constant thin film over it. But she could tell that they wouldn"t want her to talk about it. So she kept quiet, and only when she was in her bed did she wonder what happened to those pretty purple eyes that he used to have. Epilogue: Lady Green turned to look at Lin Chung. He still looked pale, but Woo the Wise had reassured them that he would be fine. The poison on the blade had had serious effect. He had only survived due to the healing balm that they had. Woo the Wise"s counterpart, Wu Yong, had helped them with it, having had made it, and had saved the life of the last descendant of both Lin Chong and Hu Sanniang. After waiting for a day, Gu Dasao eventually concluded that they weren"t coming back. Searching for them, they found the dead bodies and the horses waiting patiently for them. After they returned back to Big Green, Lin Chung found a stack of scrolls from Wu Yong that detailed his family history, and all helped him piece back together of what happened to his family. Not long after, things returned to normal - except for the fact that Lin Chung had asked Lady Green out. Surprised, she accepted. Now, about a year later, they were still together, and a couple supported by many. In fact, Woo the Wise had started comparing similarities between Lin Chong and Hu Sanniang"s love to theirs, wondering if they were a reincarnation to give the two spirits a second chance. Speaking of the two spirits, no one ever saw them again, but Lady Green could"ve sworn that she felt their presence when she and Lin Chung first went out. Life settled down quickly in Big Green after the discovery, but it became more chaotic. People started to learn the truth about Liangshan, and more descendants of the Outlaws were being discovered everyday. Those who would"ve liked to be kept in secret sought out Big Green, who guaranteed them the secrecy. Slowly, the ranks amongst Big Green grew. Eventually, they would find the Emperor, the rightful Emperor of East Citadel. They would fight a fearsome battle that would result in victory for the side of Big Green. They would reinstate the Emperor as the rightful ruler of Hidden Kingdom. They would swear absolute loyalty to the Emperor, and to no one else. And, one day, the inhabitants of Hidden Kingdom would welcome the newest child of Lin Chung and Lady Green. Hu Sanniang stood on a cliff not too far from Hidden Kingdom. She smiled as she saw the celebrating people of Hidden Kingdom. This had been what all of them had been fighting for. For the people of China, now Hidden Kingdom, to be free. Free from the reign of Gaoqiu and the ruthless Emperor. Governed by a new Emperor, by a new law, helped by the heroes who had seen it all, who knew how to adjust to fit the people"s expectations and demands. She looked at Lin Chong, who was looking down, his face expressionless. His hair wasn"t tied up - he preferred to keep it down now. He wore his usual black robes, much like her own, but hers were more feminine and red. He held his staff behind him, posture straight and perfect as always. "They look happy." she noted to him, searching for his reaction. He turned to her, letting a smile play on his lips. "Isn"t that what we had been fighting for all this time?" Hu Sanniang smiled at him as she took his hand in hers, and rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. "So, where to next?" "Already? I thought you would"ve wanted to settle." This was said jokingly, but Hu Sanniang sent a mock angry look at him. He chuckled, as he reciprocated, rubbing his thumb over hers. She smiled, anger immediately melting into her shoes. They would be alright. Hu Sanniang smiled tiredly at the small bundle in her arms. Gu Dasao and Sun Erniang leaned forward, both their eyes gleaming with anticipation. Gu Dasao smiled gently, looking at Hu Sanniang. "He"s gorgeous." A wider smile now framed Hu Sanniang"s face as she looked at the child in her arms. His hair was covered thinly with silky dark hair, his face still red as he cried to his heart"s content. However, his body was still, only rattling sometimes as his chest heaved. His eyes were surprisingly large in his small face, and Hu Sanniang knew without a doubt that those were his eyes. She smiled at the child. Sun Erniang leaned over, waving her finger in front of the child"s face. Seeing it, the child instantly quietened, grabbing it and giggling, mood swing suddenly over. "Aw..." Sun Erniang smiled softly, so different from her usual demeanour. Later on, after Hu Sanniang had gone to sleep, Wang Ying would take the baby to the other Outlaws to see. A lot of cooing would go on, all admiring the child, and laughing as the child mimicked their movement, smiling brightly. The baby, in a few days, would be allowed to be handled only by those trusted by his parents. When Wu Yong would look at the baby, he would see something familiar in those large eyes and face, but would say nothing, merely thinking that it must look like either Hu Sanniang or Wang Ying, but he just hadn"t had the opportunity to compare. When Lu Zhishen looked at the baby, he would note that something was indescribably familiar at the way the baby smiled at him, eyes wide and adoring. Hu Sanniang, likewise, would note that the baby seemed extremely comfortable in the hands of the tattooed giant. However, Lu Zhishen shook it off, not wanting to disrespect either Hu Sanniang, Wang Ying, or the third party involved. Because he was sure he knew who the third party was. As he looked between Hu Sanniang and Wang Ying, he realised that his sworn brother-in-blood would only do something like this if allowed to, or if something had happened. Thus, he kept his mouth shut, and stared at the baby every moment he could, drinking in the features of his dead brother-in-arms. But, for now, Hu Sanniang looked tenderly into the baby"s eyes, seeing the large eyes finally fix adoringly on her. Chapter 1: Lady Green sighed, slightly bored with the lack of action recently as she sharpened her blades with a spare piece of rock. She looked up and her eyes lit up as she noticed Lin Chung walking towards her. "Lady Green," he nodded his head courteously, "Commander Apetrully would like you to join us in the briefing room." Lady Green stood up. Maybe it might be something good, to distract her from this seemingly endless boredom. She nodded, giving him a friendly smile. They walked side-by-side, both in comfortable silence as Lin Chung greeted many of the animal rulers and humans that they happened to bump into. When they reached the briefing room of First Squad, she was surprised to find it already full with four members of the Air Force that she was not familiar with, Second Squad, First Squad, Commander Apetrully, and Woo the Wise. Lin Chung silently left her side and went to join First Squad, while Lady Green paused for a moment, wondering where should she stand. At Lin Chung"s barely imperceptible nod, she moved to stand next to Lin Chung, near Commander Apetrully. "Now that we are all here, I will tell you what you are to do." Commander Apetrully declared. Woo the Wise pulled out a map. He unrolled it on the table, and all crowded around it. "There is a village here. Its name is not known, but it was known as Huangchun back then." "Yellow Village." Lin Chung easily translated. Commander Apetrully smiled, delighted. "Yes. It is north to where the East Citadel is, and is near a place which used to house outlaws." "Of Liangshan Marsh?" Lin Chung volunteered again. Woo the Wise nodded. "Yes. 36 "Heavenly Spirits", and 72 "Earthly Fiends". 108 important members in total, with many other bandits and men who served under them." "What"s this got to do with us?" Kowloon asked, impatient. "The people in the village are complaining of odd happenings recently. Not too long ago, a boy found a crystal, one which showed events from the past. We have positively identified two figures from the event as two warriors from Liangshan Marsh." "You want us to investigate?" Alpha Girl asked, sounding bored. "Why all of us then?" Commander Apetrully looked up sternly. "Do not take this lightly, Alpha Girl." He chided. "This is important. It is said that Liangshan Marsh is haunted with the lives of the 108 spirits who were unfairly killed after being granted amnesty from the Emperor." He looked up at each of them, before turning to Lin Chung. "You are familiar with the village?" Lin Chung nodded. "I was raised in one of the neighbouring villages." Lady Green startled. She was unaware that Lin Chung came from a small village, based on what she could see from the land around Huangchun. She would have thought that he had come from somewhere near the East Citadel. But, then again, that would explain his humbleness and modesty to all the great feats he had achieved. She looked up again as Commander Apetrully finished. "I want all of you to go to the village. There is an elder there who has descended from 3 generations. She will know anything about the Outlaws that visited her. The Air Force is to bring you there and remain there until all of you return." There were small nods. Master Chou cleared his throat. "With all due respect, Commander, Lin Chung is the only one who has passed the Parachute test and the Air test." Lady Green felt herself turn slightly nauseous. She was part of the Navy, not the Air Force. "Well then, you have to have the test taken immediately! You are to leave at dawn." For some reason, Lady Green felt a chill go down her spine. She ignored the feeling and focused on the Air Force, who were currently leading the rest to the Hanger. Rosefinch stopped her from following them. "You are a member of the Navy, Lady Green. Your training for all sorts of emergencies and situations qualifies you for flying the planes." Lady Green exchanged a quick smile with Rosefinch. She didn"t know Rosefinch well, and would look forward to knowing her better - she seemed like a strong, independent young woman, and it was rare that Lady Green found another woman in Big Green. She barely knew Alpha Girl, and Mystique Sonia used to hate her. Lady Green jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" "I"m fine." Lady Green smiled, before turning to Lin Chung. "So, tell me more about the village, if you don"t mind." As Hu Sanniang left, she banged into someone, and winced as it hit a bruise near her hip. Lin Chong, curse his sharp eyes, noticed immediately and frowned in concern. "Are you alright?" "I"m fine." She answered calmly, hoping that he believed her and left her. She was not sure how much scrutiny her facade could take before it crumbled down. "You do not seem fine." "Just a bruise. From training." She added quickly. Lin Chong frowned. "Have you not had that looked at?" Hu Sanniang looked down. "I did not have the time to." "Follow me." Lin Chong ordered without preamble and led her to his hut. Hu Sanniang"s heart pounded wildly, wondering what people would think. But then again, he was supposed to work together with her. What was he going to do? He led her inside his hut, and rummaged around in a trunk containing some neatly folded clothes. He took out a jar of a cream of some kind. "Take this." "What is it?" Hu Sanniang asked, knowing that she shouldn"t stall. But, compared to Wang Ying, Lin Chong was welcome company. She tilted her head as she realised what the cream was. "I never knew that you got so injured that you needed this much. A whole personal jar for you?" Lin Chong let a ghost of a smile flicker across his face. It changed his face immensely, even for a brief moment. His eyes crinkled up and turned tender, and any sort of worry lines on his face almost seemed to fade. She wondered why he didn"t smile more often. "Apparently so. Wu Yong gave me more in fear that I would get injured before I fully recovered." "That is a reasonable fear." She murmured. Lin Chong laughed. "That is true, indeed." He pressed the cool jar into her hand. Hu Sanniang knew she should pull her hand away, but found both of their hands lingering. Looking up, her breath hitched suddenly as she realised their close proximity. They stared at each other for a while, before Lin Chong stepped back. "Good day." "To you as well." Hu Sanniang quickly retreated from the room, wondering what she had gotten herself into. Chapter 2: They set out nice and early the next day. Master Chou, Burly, Mano, Rosefinch, Lin Chung, and Kowloon each manoeuvred their own planes, while the others hopped on behind them. Lady Green found herself sitting behind Lin Chung as Jumpy hopped on behind Mano. Mystique Sonia took up Rosefinch"s plane with Alpha Girl Latifah. Lin Chung seemed to vibrate with a certain energy. "Excited?" Lady Green asked with a teasing smile. Lin Chung smiled back. "It"s been a long time since I last went home. This village is close enough." And, with that, they set off. They arrived in the village in the afternoon, with the Air Force members, Kowloon and Lin Chung pausing for five minutes during the trip for a break. As soon as they landed, excited children gathered around them, gawking at the gleaming red rockets. Parents quickly shooed their children away while the heroes got off the planes. Lady Green looked around. It was a relatively cosy village - big enough to nearly be considered a town, but small enough to feel secure with the planting fields surrounding them. An old lady peeped out of the hut in the middle of the village. She shot them a look and disappeared back inside. Lady Green didn"t have time to ponder this as someone, presumably the leader, walked forward. He bowed his head in acknowledgement. "We have been waiting for you." "We are sorry to have kept you waiting." Lin Chung answered. Lady Green followed the man as he led the group into the hut, where the old lady was sitting on a mat. She looked up at them with eyes wrinkled beyond compare, yet they shone with wisdom. "Sit." The old woman instructed. They did so. The leader kneeled in front of her, taking her offered hand and placing it on his forehead before he turned and bowed as he left. "So are you the so-called elder who will bring us to Liangshan Marsh?" Archer demanded. They all shot him a sharp look as Lin Chung hastily covered for him. "Our apologies, madam. We have heard that this village has found evidence of what had happened during two Outlaws" stay here?" The old lady nodded, looking more satisfied now. "My name is Meiren." Lin Chung nodded. She sighed. "The story of the Outlaws has spread down generations. Stories of their bravery and of how they saved this village and its future. It is a small deed, but around here, it is a large matter." Meiren stood and lit up incense. "Two came, at the break of dawn, from Liangshan Marsh. One for her family name, the other for his knowledge in the dialect that we used to use." She waved the incense, and then put it down in a small pot filled with ash in front of a picture of...the founder, Lady Green supposed. "The first was named Hu Sunniang. She was from a good family and a fierce fighter. The other was Lin Chong, whose name was more well-known around here, near what is now the East Citadel."

There were small nods. Master Chou cleared his throat. "With all due respect, Commander, Lin Chung is the only one who has passed the Parachute test and the Air test." Lady Green felt herself turn slightly nauseous. She was part of the Navy, not the Air Force. "Well then, you have to have the test taken immediately! You are to leave at dawn." For some reason, Lady Green felt a chill go down her spine. She ignored the feeling and focused on the Air Force, who were currently leading the rest to the Hanger. Rosefinch stopped her from following them. "You are a member of the Navy, Lady Green. Your training for all sorts of emergencies and situations qualifies you for flying the planes." Lady Green exchanged a quick smile with Rosefinch. She didn"t know Rosefinch well, and would look forward to knowing her better - she seemed like a strong, independent young woman, and it was rare that Lady Green found another woman in Big Green. She barely knew Alpha Girl, and Mystique Sonia used to hate her. Lady Green jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" "I"m fine." Lady Green smiled, before turning to Lin Chung. "So, tell me more about the village, if you don"t mind." As Hu Sanniang left, she banged into someone, and winced as it hit a bruise near her hip. Lin Chong, curse his sharp eyes, noticed immediately and frowned in concern. "Are you alright?" "I"m fine." She answered calmly, hoping that he believed her and left her. She was not sure how much scrutiny her facade could take before it crumbled down. "You do not seem fine." "Just a bruise. From training." She added quickly. Lin Chong frowned. "Have you not had that looked at?" Hu Sanniang looked down. "I did not have the time to." "Follow me." Lin Chong ordered without preamble and led her to his hut. Hu Sanniang"s heart pounded wildly, wondering what people would think. But then again, he was supposed to work together with her. What was he going to do? He led her inside his hut, and rummaged around in a trunk containing some neatly folded clothes. He took out a jar of a cream of some kind. "Take this." "What is it?" Hu Sanniang asked, knowing that she shouldn"t stall. But, compared to Wang Ying, Lin Chong was welcome company. She tilted her head as she realised what the cream was. "I never knew that you got so injured that you needed this much. A whole personal jar for you?" Lin Chong let a ghost of a smile flicker across his face. It changed his face immensely, even for a brief moment. His eyes crinkled up and turned tender, and any sort of worry lines on his face almost seemed to fade. She wondered why he didn"t smile more often. "Apparently so. Wu Yong gave me more in fear that I would get injured before I fully recovered." "That is a reasonable fear." She murmured. Lin Chong laughed. "That is true, indeed." He pressed the cool jar into her hand. Hu Sanniang knew she should pull her hand away, but found both of their hands lingering. Looking up, her breath hitched suddenly as she realised their close proximity. They stared at each other for a while, before Lin Chong stepped back. "Good day." "To you as well." Hu Sanniang quickly retreated from the room, wondering what she had gotten herself into. Chapter 2: They set out nice and early the next day. Master Chou, Burly, Mano, Rosefinch, Lin Chung, and Kowloon each manoeuvred their own planes, while the others hopped on behind them. Lady Green found herself sitting behind Lin Chung as Jumpy hopped on behind Mano. Mystique Sonia took up Rosefinch"s plane with Alpha Girl Latifah. Lin Chung seemed to vibrate with a certain energy. "Excited?" Lady Green asked with a teasing smile. Lin Chung smiled back. "It"s been a long time since I last went home. This village is close enough." And, with that, they set off. They arrived in the village in the afternoon, with the Air Force members, Kowloon and Lin Chung pausing for five minutes during the trip for a break. As soon as they landed, excited children gathered around them, gawking at the gleaming red rockets. Parents quickly shooed their children away while the heroes got off the planes. Lady Green looked around. It was a relatively cosy village - big enough to nearly be considered a town, but small enough to feel secure with the planting fields surrounding them. An old lady peeped out of the hut in the middle of the village. She shot them a look and disappeared back inside. Lady Green didn"t have time to ponder this as someone, presumably the leader, walked forward. He bowed his head in acknowledgement. "We have been waiting for you." "We are sorry to have kept you waiting." Lin Chung answered. Lady Green followed the man as he led the group into the hut, where the old lady was sitting on a mat. She looked up at them with eyes wrinkled beyond compare, yet they shone with wisdom. "Sit." The old woman instructed. They did so. The leader kneeled in front of her, taking her offered hand and placing it on his forehead before he turned and bowed as he left. "So are you the so-called elder who will bring us to Liangshan Marsh?" Archer demanded. They all shot him a sharp look as Lin Chung hastily covered for him. "Our apologies, madam. We have heard that this village has found evidence of what had happened during two Outlaws" stay here?" The old lady nodded, looking more satisfied now. "My name is Meiren." Lin Chung nodded. She sighed. "The story of the Outlaws has spread down generations. Stories of their bravery and of how they saved this village and its future. It is a small deed, but around here, it is a large matter." Meiren stood and lit up incense. "Two came, at the break of dawn, from Liangshan Marsh. One for her family name, the other for his knowledge in the dialect that we used to use." She waved the incense, and then put it down in a small pot filled with ash in front of a picture of...the founder, Lady Green supposed. "The first was named Hu Sunniang. She was from a good family and a fierce fighter. The other was Lin Chong, whose name was more well-known around here, near what is now the East Citadel." "Lin Chung?" Kowloon interrupted. "No." Meiren said sharply. "Lin Chong. To some, he was invincible on his horse with his spear in his hand. There is time to explain later." She turned to Lady Green and Lin Chung, who were kneeling next to each other. She studied them for a long time, as if suddenly realising something and taking the opportunity to examine it. "You two seem familiar." Both looked puzzled at this. "But we have never met." Lady Green pointed out. Meiren was insistent. "I think I have." Lin Chung frowned. "I come from the neighbouring village." Meiren nodded slowly. "I suppose I could have mistaken someone from there when I passed through." She stood up and beckoned for them to follow. They did. She led them into a small room, where there was a small altar in the corner and two portraits hanging on the other wall. She lit the candle near the portraits. It was of a man and a woman. The man stood tall, his spear in his hand, something resembling an eight-shaped container and some red strings hanging from it. He wore a farmer"s straw hat, which didn"t hide a brand of some sort which was near the top right of his forehead. He wore leather wrist-bands wrapped around his long-sleeved shirt, sewn of rough but durable cloth. The female was small but fierce. A stern look adorned her pretty face. Her hair was tied in braids and pushed back by a red and gold headdress with a name prescribed on the middle. She wore red underneath her armour, carrying twin blades. "This is Lin Chong and Hu Sanniang." Meiren turned to Lady Green. "Do you mind if I ask where your family descends from?" Lady Green shook her head as she answered. "My family is descended from the Chus, who were originally known as the Zhus." Meiren"s face lit up. "Perfect. A Zhu." She pointed to the lady. "Hu Sanniang was also originally a Zhu before she was married off. She was a great warrior, one of the few that could not be defeated in battle." She turned to Lin Chung, who shook his head slightly forlornly. "I do not know." "You have not asked?" "I cannot ask. My parents have been deceased for a long time." Meiren nodded slowly, her eyes soft as she turned back to the portraits. "Lin Chong was a feared member that used to serve the Emperor Huizong. He was the martial arts instructor for the 800,000 strong Imperial Army, and was respected throughout the land before being exiled." She turned back. "Both set off when the Raiders from various sand tribes took the children and some parents. The children and parents returned, safe and sound, but neither warrior returned. At dawn, only Hu Sanniang returned. Lin Chong was never found after that." Hu Sanniang slammed the door of her bedroom shut, locking it and collapsing onto her bed, sobs tearing themselves out of her throat. Why would he not say it? Did he hate her? She had offered herself willingly, but now... Hu Sanniang continued to sob into her threadbare pillow. Would he tell Wang Ying? Wang Ying would be mad, for sure, and would do something worse than he already did. She trembled with fear. But, then again, Lin Chong had a right to reject her. He had sworn to his wife that he would love her for the rest of eternity - alive or dead. Fear encompassed her mind, filling her head with chilling thoughts. The only warmth that she previously had was extinguished, cast away to the depths of her mind. She shivered suddenly, wondering what would be awaiting her when she returned to Liangshan. She fell into an unconscious slumber, nightmares plaguing her sleep. However, sometime in the middle of the night, a calm voice read something out to her that she couldn"t hear clearly in her fog-addled sleep. She fell asleep again to the soothing feel on someone threading their fingers through her hair. When she woke, there was no one there. Chapter 3: When Meiren had seen them off, stating that they would start tomorrow, they had wandered around a bit before dinner. Lin Chung, who all of them had chosen as a temporary leader (Second Squad a tad reluctantly), instructed them to break off in pairs and ask around to see if anything was off, or if there was anything anyone could tell them. Burly stayed behind in order to take care of the planes. As Mystique Sonia had paired herself up with Rosefinch, Lady Green had paired up with Lin Chung. She shot Jumpy an apologetic look as she didn"t know anyone else well enough to go with. Jumpy had smiled and waved it off, but she could see how much he had wanted to go with Lin Chung. Instead, he paired up with NoHands. Lin Chung and Lady Green took the three houses nearest to the fields. The first house yielded no results, while the second one merely repeated what Meiren had told them. The third house was more interesting regarding answers. A young farmer answered the door, and seemed more than delighted to allow the visitors to talk to his great-grandfather. The great-grandfather had merely been a babe when the events had happened, yet his memory was sharp as an elephant, allowing him a clear recollection of the events. When the old man had first caught sight of the pair, his eyes had lit up. "You came back!" Lin Chung and Lady Green frowned slightly, confused. They glanced at the farmer, who looked just as confused. "I told them. All of them. You two would come back." The old man had continued. The farmer stepped forward. "Great-grandfather, you have never met them before in your life. How about you take your nap now?" He shot the pair an apologetic look, but the old man shrugged off his great-grandson"s grip. "No! I want to talk to them." Lady Green tilted her head in confusion as she looked at Lin Chung, who moved to kneel in front of the old man. His voice was low and soothing, and the farmer backed off. "And who are we?" The old man laughed in joy. "Hu Sanniang and Lin Chong!" Lin Chung bit his lip as he glanced down, but turned back to the old man with a comforting smile. "Of course. How have you been?" "Fine!" The old man beamed. "Ever since you rescued us from the Raiders. I knew you escaped!" "Oh?" Lin Chung asked. The old man nodded eagerly. "You escaped through the tunnels in the cave, right?" "What tunnels?" Lin Chung asked, looking slightly puzzled. "The tunnels we found when we went back. You had defeated all of the Raiders!" Lin Chung shot a quick look at Lady Green, who immediately understood. She smiled, kneeling to join Lin Chung on the ground in front of the old man. "Yes, we did." She looked out the window. "It"s getting dark. I"m afraid we have to go." "Will you come back?" The old man asked. "We"ll try." Lin Chung replied. The old man seemed satisfied with this answer, leaning back on his rocking chair and dozing off. After thanking the farmer, both of them left. "What should we do?" Lady Green asked. Lin Chung sighed. "We"ll try and see if we can go and explore the caves that he told us about tomorrow, after we have seen the boy and his crystal later on." Lady Green nodded. "Do we mention what the old man said at first?" The sharpshooter considered it temporarily. "No. We leave it undiscussed first, and see if we can solve it for ourselves before revealing anything." That night, a shadow arrived and killed off the boy, smashing the crystal and running away with the pieces. "Let"s go!" Lin Chong led Hu Sanniang to the direction of the open field. "They won"t have any cover in the fields." Hu Sanniang nodded, leaping aboard her horse, twin blades at the ready. Lin Chong"s spear was already in his hand as he looked out for the Raiders. Both rode after the Raiders, who were starting to panic after having lost about half of their numbers to the fighters of Liangshan Marsh. "We"re going to lose them!" Hu Sanniang realised in growing dismay as she saw the forest come up in front of them. "No, we"re not!" Lin Chong contradicted, encouraging his horse to go faster. With impressive accuracy, he threw his spear forward, catching the back-most Raider in the back. The horse slowed without the encouragement of its rider, and Lin Chung caught up with him, collecting his spear quickly and following the rest of the Raiders. Hu Sanniang mimicked his example, aiming one of her blades towards one of the Raiders carrying two children with him. He fell, and she rode up to catch him and steady the horse. The children safely tumbled down to the ground. Cliffs loomed threateningly up ahead as they cleared the forest. If Hu Sanniang would have known that they were being led into an ambush, she would never have charged so confidently in. Chapter 4: The boy found dead was the biggest surprise. The crystal missing was only part of the surprise. After offering their condolences, Lin Chung and Lady Green took a morning walk, sighing as they realised the only lead they had was dead. Eventually, they returned to breakfast, where the others were discussing trying to get back to Big Green and getting reinforcements. Lin Chung disagreed, though he did note that one of them should go back and send a message back to Big Green. Mano was quickly dispatched for the job. However, the rest stayed on in the village in unanimous decision after hearing Lin Chung and Lady Green"s peculiar tale of the "tunnels in the caves". They voted to go and check it out immediately. When they had finished discussing their plans to get there, Meiren joined them. "I have located a person from the next village. She has volunteered to lead you to Liangshan Marsh today in the afternoon, if you have nothing on." They looked dismayed, but Lin Chung quickly consoled them, nodding at Meiren. He, Lady Green, Jumpy, Kowloon and Rosefinch would go and explore the caves, while the rest of them would head over to Liangshan Marsh. They would return to Huangchun by sundown and report what they had seen - even if they haven"t found anything. Lady Green wondered why Lin Chung would choose Kowloon, but remembered that he was a pretty decent fighter. Rosefinch and Jumpy and herself she could understand - they were the closest to Lin Chung. The caves were dark and looming. A barricade of rocks covered the entrance, and a small gap was visible - probably where the boy had crept in and out. "Whoa." Kowloon stared up at the rocks in awe. "Must"ve been something powerful in order to have the rocks cover that much of the entrance. Lin Chung nodded, his face a lot calmer though the awe was still evident in his face. "Meiren mentioned that Hu Sanniang returned with the children from this direction. As did the old man. If there was a barricade here, and they were fighting, it would make sense why no one came out. It would be almost impossible to do so." Jumpy gulped. "Dead...bodies...inside?" At this, even Lin Chung looked disturbed. "We don"t know yet. We have to move the rocks first." Quickly wedging his staff between several rocks, he tugged it, and flicked the rocks away. The rocks scattered around, pebbles rolling down onto the ground. Lady Green jumped out of the way of several medium-sized boulders, but quickly returned to help Lin Chung in his task. Jumpy giggled as the rest of the group started to work, imagination taking over again. He eyed Lin Chung and Lady Green, who were surprisingly close together as they worked in sync. They seemed to know where each other was going to be. Finally, Kowloon stopped, admiring the bigger hole they managed to make. "Well, this is going to be as far as we go." Lin Chung leapt up, peering through the hole, his eyes narrowed as he tried to use his panther vision to look into the darkness. Something caught his eyes, and he squinted, trying to see it, before shaking his head. "There"s something inside, but I can"t see what it is." Rosefinch sighed, dejected. "Should we go inside?" Lin Chung looked up at the sky. "It"s getting dark. Some of us head back to inform the others and prepare food to bring, while the rest of us stay behind in order to get inside. If we wait until tomorrow, the hole might cover itself up again or someone else will get in before us." Lady Green nodded. "Then who is going back?" "I"ll go back." Rosefinch offered. "I won"t be much help here, I"m afraid." Jumpy nodded. "Jumpy...go...back...too." Lin Chung shot him a curious glance. Jumpy shivered. "Getting...cold." Kowloon sighed. "I might as well go. Alpha Girl wants me to report back to her privately." Lin Chung nodded, and he turned to Lady Green. "Well?" Lady Green nodded with determination. "I"ll stay here." "I will as well." Lin Chung nodded. Kowloon looked up, and turned back to the path. The sun was starting to set. "Good luck." He turned and started walking back. Rosefinch sighed as she turned to Lin Chung. "We"ll be back with food soon." Jumpy gave Lin Chung and Lady Green a hug before turning and hopping away as well. Lady Green turned to Lin Chung, gesturing to the hole. "Shall we?" Hu Sanniang lay on her bed, eyes wide in the darkness. A thick blanket had been pulled around her, but she had never felt so cold before. She thought back to her husband, who she supposed was still back at Liangshan. Was Wang Ying currently thinking of her now? She shivered and tightened the blanket around her. Not knowing what to do, she sat up in bed, wrapping the duvet around her. Standing up, she padded quietly to the curtain which separated the hut into two sections for her and her partner. She quietly called out, hoping that the occupant was still inside. He was. There was shuffling from the other side before Lin Chong pushed the curtain to a side, bearing a confused look. "Hu Sanniang? Is there anything that I can do for you?" Hu Sanniang opened her mouth before closing it abruptly. "I"m sorry, but I couldn"t sleep. If you aren"t busy, may I have the pleasure of having your company?" Lin Chong"s eyes softened. "Of course." They made their way outside. Hu Sanniang looked up at the night sky. "What are you looking at?" Hu Sanniang pointed up. "The stars." "What for?" His voice was low, but curious. She smiled in spite of herself. "When I was a young girl, my mother would tell me stories about the stars. There were many stars, and they each represented one of us." Lin Chong looked up, head tilted to one side. "And which one are you?" Hu Sanniang shrugged. "I haven"t decided yet." "No?" "No." Hu Sanniang spoke. "Then how are you sure that you are one of them?" He asked again. Hu Sanniang looked at him, frowning slightly. "Because we are. Whenever someone dies, a star will vanish. Whenever someone is born, a star will appear in the night sky." Humour coloured his tone. "And what star do you think I am?" Hu Sanniang turned, suddenly realising their close proximity. She was thankful of the dim lighting that the moon gave out, which allowed her blush to go unnoticed. Lin Chong"s body heat seeped through his clothing, and his bare hand brushed her arm unconsciously. "Well, I think that you can choose one yourself." Chapter 5: Lady Green climbed inside first, Lin Chung waiting outside and making sure no one tried to jump them. When she got in, she needed a few minutes to let her eyes get accustomed to the darkness. Lin Chung landed lightly beside her, and she stumbled slightly in shock. Lin Chung held an arm out to her to steady her. His eyes strayed to the floor and he backed away quickly, letting go of her arm.

Preminger stopped, a faint blush coming to his cheeks. "Well, that"s none of your business!" Julian shot Dominick a secretive smile as he picked up the vial with air inside it and sat himself down at another piece of equipment. He carefully held the vial up to the light, and then started to examine it. Dominick picked up a piece of parchment and a quill. "Ready when you are." "I"ve got it!" Julian leapt up after an hour of doing what they were doing. Preminger was filing his nails, looking completely disinterested, but Dominick leaned forward, eyes wide and earnest. "What?" "It is the air. An exposure of several of the plants there created this toxin." "But then why didn"t it act before?" Dominick frowned. "Before the doctor used it?" "Firstly, he must have needed to synthesise it. Secondly, the combination is rarer than you might think. Many of these plants cannot survive in these tropical climates, so the possibility of finding them naturally are next to none. Also, the colours do not match, nor the flowers, so no one would think about arranging them together." Dominick hissed through his breath. "But can we find an antidote?" Julian nodded. "It won"t be easy, but we"ll definitely be able to find one. The only problem is administering the toxin and if we decide to share the knowledge with the public." "Why wouldn"t we?" Dominick tilted his head. Preminger snarled. "Goodness, you are an idiot. The public may attempt to replicate this to either sell or threaten the kingdom with." Julian frowned. "Maybe we should just keep it silent. Have everyone wondering." Preminger nodded, leaning his head back. "It"d be even better if you can get the Queen to admit what happened with Radius. People would be so focused on that they wouldn"t even think much of the de-aging. Especially if the re-aging happens gradually and stops." Dominick nodded. "I"ll talk to Bismark about helping confirm this and finding a cover story for the equipment being used, but I think that will be for the best." "Of course it would." Preminger snorted, flipping his hair. "I thought of it." Julian sighed and shook his head, but for the first time in several days, saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Three weeks later... Genevieve looked up at the portrait of her, Anneliese and Radius, that had been rehung in the Throne Room and was no longer hidden by a tapestry. Julian and Dominick"s antidote had worked marvellously, and while Genevieve had enjoyed the time she had without needing her glasses or the aches accompanied with old age, she was gladder that everything was back to normal. The doctor had been arrested and another physician was appointed to tend to the royal family. The scandal had caused quite the backlash, but Anneliese had remained unaffected, thank heaven, as Genevieve had been careful to point out Anneliese"s innocence in all this. It was one of the few things she could have done after what she and Anneliese talked about. Anneliese had spoken to her a few days after she returned to her proper age, where they had settled several long-unspoken matters. Genevieve turned to look out the window, smiling at the sight of Madame Carp and Bertie hugging. Erika and Anneliese were stood to the side, smiling. When Carp let Bertie go, she hesitantly wrapped her arms around Erika, who returned the hug whole-heartedly. Anneliese merely smiled and shook Carp"s hand, but there was warmth in her gaze, and - if Genevieve was not mistaken - there was the same warmth in Carp"s eyes. With a solemn nod, Carp straightened up, picked up her suitcases, and marched out to the village like she had those few years ago. Except this time, Carp was leaving by her own choice. Bertie had invited Carp back to the emporium as a design consultant - a position which while not as prestigious as her former one, was still highly coveted for - but Carp had declined. She had stated something about wanting to "find herself" on her travels. Genevieve felt like she was missing something here, but she didn"t bother to find out. Julian and Dominick also didn"t know, but they seemed to have no interest in forcing Carp to tell her, so Genevieve stayed quiet. It was clear that the dynamic had changed somewhere, but it was for the better. As Genevieve returned her thoughts to the trio gathered outside, she noticed Seraphina and Wolfie stalk up to their owners, their newest kit curling around his mother. She smiled at the adorable sight, especially when Bertie picked up the kit and stroked him. The kit purred and snuggled deeply into Bertie"s arms, causing the three to laugh. Erika and Anneliese were going on another honeymoon with Dominick and Julian, all to talk about what happened and find their new dynamic. Genevieve smiled as she watched the carriage arrive, Dominick and Julian lugging up their trunks to load onto the back. Erika and Dominick got in first. Anneliese looked up before she headed to the carriage, shooting Genevieve a blinding smile and a small wave. Genevieve returned the gesture, mouthing for her to have fun. Anneliese nodded and turned to let Julian lead her into the carriage. And that just left... "Genevieve." The cold voice greeted her. Genevieve didn"t turn, a contrast to the last time they had spoken. "Preminger." The man joined her as he watched the carriage start to leave the castle. "So what now?" Genevieve shrugged as she thought of her and her daughter, of forgiveness and the like. "You finish your sentence. Then we talk." "Talk?" The man snorted. "You think we can talk like civilised people?" "We are now, aren"t we?" "Barely." Genevieve exhaled. "I know you will never forgive me for what I"ve done to Radius. But I want to try and change that." "You probably never will." Preminger"s eyes narrowed. "I know." Genevieve murmured, her eyes fixed on the retreating carriage. Preminger tilted his head, regarding her thoughtfully. "But maybe you will." Genevieve turned to him, but Preminger said nothing else. A small smile fixed on her face, she turned back just in time to see the carriage disappear. She turned to glance at the portrait again, at the smiling faces that indicated a happy family, that now represented a family not broken, just bent. And, for the first time in years, she finally felt something in her soul settle peacefully. Dominick woke up feeling slightly strange. Well, maybe it shouldn"t have been so strange. But he was used to getting up and dreading the day, wanting to bury into bed and stay there for a few more hours before facing the problems of running the kingdom and the mountain of paperwork he was sure was waiting for him. Even though he was technically on holiday here in Annelise"s kingdom, the feeling was almost instinctual. So waking up to find himself eager to jump out of bed and probably run around the gardens a few times came as a bit of a shock to him. Another shock was how Erika was not beside him. Sitting up in the empty bed, Dominick"s eyes softened upon seeing his wife sitting at the desk nearby, sewing something that was starting to take shape as a coat. Briefly wondering where she got the materials from, Dominick got up and stretched, walking over to Erika and kissing her good morning. "What are you working on?" Erika beamed up at him. "Bertie lent me some materials. I"m hoping to make something for Anneliese and Julian before we leave." Dominick"s smile grew at how thoughtful she was. "I"m sure they"ll love it. Do you need any help?" Erika shook her head. "I"ll be done with Julian"s coat soon, but thanks for the offer." "That fast?" The young king asked. He had heard of Anneliese singing Erika"s praise, but he never knew just how quickly she worked. "When did you start?" "This morning." Erika answered. "I woke up early and couldn"t get back to sleep, so I decided to make a start." Dominick nodded. It was upsetting that Erika couldn"t sleep and didn"t wake him up - though that was probably due to her kind nature - but he trusted Erika to tell her if there was a problem. As he got dressed, he wondered about what Erika had told him about Radius the other night. A disgraced king? How could such a thing happen? Especially without any of his ministers or Advisors telling him when he had first been announced to marry Anneliese? The scandal must"ve been kept very deeply hidden. To their credit, Anneliese and the Queen had not shown any embarrassment about the issue, though it was also true that he hadn"t had the chance to ask, what with Preminger trying to take over the throne. He briefly thought about asking Anneliese directly, but the subject could be a touchy one. Oh well. Straightening his jacket, he walked back out to find Erika already ready to go, her sewing equipment tidily put away. At his surprised look, Erika laughed. "A maid came by to make sure we were up." She admitted. Dominick joined in, laughing too as he offered Erika his arm and led them out of the room. Breakfast was a rather casual affair, and Erika and Anneliese were discussing about visiting the village again despite having already gone yesterday. The blonde princess mentioned some bandits near the borders, which immediately took up Dominick"s attention, but the king knew he shouldn"t overthink things, his army was well-trained; while he doubted the quality of this kingdom"s knights, he was sure that they would come if his kingdom was ever in need, and vice versa. Thinking back to the knights he met when he first arrived, his thoughts drifted to Preminger. He knew the former advisor had been sentenced to imprisonment for conspiring against the throne (a fact which surprised him - had they been in his kingdom, Preminger would have been executed for treason), but did not hear of how long the man would be imprisoned. Julian was sitting uncomfortably, noting down everything the girls said, but his thoughts were distracted. The queen had opted to miss the breakfast, though she had sent her sincerest apologies to the quartet, and he was wondering what was so important that she would miss it instead of waiting after breakfast, which typically wasn"t a very long affair. It was quickly decided by the girls that they would go to the town"s edge to explore the outlying lands more, though they would be sure to keep within the kingdom"s borders. Erika and Anneliese were already discussing a visit to the former"s current kingdom. Their aptitude for discussion and agreement never failed to astound Dominick, and he wistfully thought about if his ministers displayed the same determination, there wouldn"t be so many long -drawn meetings. Julian, on the other hand, as still slightly out of his element. He wasn"t used to being king, or at least the next-in-line to the throne alongside Anneliese, and he hoped that their going would be kept relatively quiet. As they approached the carriage that was prepared for them, Dominick decided to strike up conversation with Julian. "How is being king so far?" Julian looked at him uncertainly before letting out a self-deprecating chuckle. "Not as great as people make it seem." Dominick grinned. "I"ve been raised to be king since a boy, and everyday it does not get any easier to rule the kingdom." Julian"s expression was thoughtful. "I have always worried that one day I would make a mistake that would cost the kingdom dearly." He sighed. "I"ve grown up around all these people. I don"t want to let them down." "I know that feeling." Dominick sympathised. "My parents were often away, and many of the caretakers were the ones who raised me. They have become more like family to me than my own." Julian nodded, but it was clear he was still unconvinced. Dominick smiled. "I might not know you very well, Julian," he began, "but from the things I"ve seen you do in the past, I know that you will be a great king." At that, the villager-born to-be king smiled as well. "Thank you." Madame Carp stormed down the stairs, clearly furious. Her eyes were narrowed and fists clenched, and although a stout woman wearing a large feather hat, she was an intimidating sight to behold. She marched up to the bartender-slash-owner, who was cowering behind the counter, swallowing nervously as beads of sweat trickled down his face. Upon seeing Madame Carp, the bartender smiled weakly. "Hello, milady. How can I be of assistance to you today?" "Well, for one, you can fire those two stupid INCOMPETENT FOOLS!" Carp roared, her fury apparently knowing no bounds. The bartender swallowed again and leaned forward, trying to keep his voice down while projecting an image of authority. Curious eyes from those present in the inn stared at them, both surprised and interested in the happenings. "Madame, might I ask you to keep your voice down? There are other patrons, and-" The woman"s eyes bulged. "Excuse me? I did NOT pay you so that those two bumbling buffoons would go through my things and somehow break everything!" Reaching behind the counter, she snatched up the man by the collar of his shirt. "So tell me why I shouldn"t do anything now?" Swallowing again, the bartender shot a quick look around the inn. The patrons didn"t seem interested in helping him, but it was clear that Madame Carp"s reputation preceded her, even after she had been banished from the kingdom. No one dared ask what she was doing back here so soon her exile, and unless explicitly ordered to, would not dream of going to get some guards. Clearing his throat, the bartender finally nodded, grasping at straws. "I-I have a cousin. He works as a guard for the royal family. He"ll pay for all your belongings, I promise!" Madame Carp cackled, seemingly going to put him down, before suddenly going up in his face. "And what makes you think I"m ever going to set foot in the royal castle? After what happened?!" The owner fidgeted with his hands. "I don"t have any money here, Madame. And if you do anything more, I will have someone go up to the royal castle and inform them that you are here." Murmurs broke out at the cheek of the owner. But he had clearly struck a nerve; a vein throbbed from Madame Carp"s forehead as she breathed in and out. Finally, she dropped the man to the ground, storming back up the stairs - but not before she turned and roared at the crowd of patrons eagerly listening in. "What are you looking at?!" Everyone averted their eyes. After some thumping, the woman came thundering down the stairs once more, one large leather duffel bag in one hand while the other hand clutched broken pieces of her suitcase. She flung it in the direction of the owner, who yelped and ducked. The pieces smashed into the glasses behind him, causing him to groan hopelessly before the doors slammed shut, signaling the exit of Madame Carp. Queen Genevieve frowned at the report that the doctor had provided, showing the miraculous recoveries of many villagers that he had treated. Although he wasn"t the only doctor, he was the main royal doctor, and so had more clients than the others. All illnesses and problems that were either deemed untreatable or inevitable due to old age had been miraculously cured. While this would ordinarily be good news, this wasn"t something that the queen should have to worry about, especially with the bandits. She rubbed her forehead with one hand, before placing the report back onto the table. Well, if she couldn"t deal with it, she knew someone who would excel at this. Serafina glanced back at her youngest kitten, Tabitha, who was contently purring in her bed. Smiling at her daughter, she turned to Wolfie, who barked affectionately and licked her cheek. Even though she would previously be objected to such a move, she came to appreciate the affection that came along with it. At that moment, three of her kittens rolled into the room, yelling and roaring as they play-fought. Serafina shook her head at them amusedly, whipping her tail to get their attention. "Tabitha"s sleeping, you three. Lower your voices." Wolfie barked a laugh as he nudged Caden, his son. "Don"t look so down." "Who"s Tabitha, mama?" Eileen, another one of her kittens asked, blinking large brown eyes at her. "Your youngest sister." Serafina raised an eyebrow, gesturing back to the bed. She turned, only for her eyes to widen. The bed was empty, and there was no sign of- No sign of who? Aaron was her youngest kitten, and he was currently napping to the side, behind his father"s watchful gaze. Laughing to herself, Serafina shook her head. "I meant Aaron, you three. Now lower your voices." AN: And here is the next chapter! Huge thanks to Someone With A Pencil, Piano Player 47 and LavernaG for reviewing! I hope that you guys continue to enjoy the story and that I don"t let you guys down :) To be honest, Dominick had been toying with the idea of bringing up the issue of King Radius with Julian. They had just been getting off the carriage, however, before a messenger raced up to them, face red and panting as he tried to get out the message. Erika kindly placed a hand on his shoulder, encouraging him to slow down before reciting his message. Blushing at the attention he was receiving from the four royals, the messenger, barely a boy himself, nodded and then started again. "The Queen requests your presence, your majesties. Princess Anneliese and Prince Julian." Dominick frowned, wondering what was so important that the Queen couldn"t wait until dinner and would interrupt their little outing. He noticed Erika and Anneliese shoot each other a worried look before Anneliese"s shoulders set in determination and she shot her friend a smile. "You and Dominick enjoy yourselves. Julian and I will head back first, and send the carriage back for you." "Don"t be ridiculous." Erika chided. "We"re coming with you, aren"t we?" She glanced at Dominick, who nodded his support. Anneliese"s face was drawn in worry. "Are you sure? I know you were looking forward to this trip." "The village isn"t going to go anywhere." Erika replied. "Besides, this is still my home. Anything I can do to help, I"ll help." They reached the castle in record time, and hurried to the throne room, while trying to keep their composure. Again, Dominick noticed the portrait of King Radius that was slightly out of sight unless one knew what they were looking for. The man"s kind smile confused him - what sort of scandal would a king as gentle as this one seemed be involved in? He withheld a sigh, nodding at the guards who bowed and let them into the throne room. The Queen was alone, surprisingly, pacing in front of her throne while studying a list held in front of her. She looked up at their entrance, her face relieved. "Ah, Anneliese." She hurried over to her daughter. "Mother? What"s wrong?" Anneliese asked, worried. Queen Genevieve eyed Erika and Dominick a little uncertainly. Dominick exchanged a look with Erika. "If it is a private matter, Erika and I would not mind waiting outside." "No," Genevieve shook her head, waving her hand. "I was being silly. You two have proven to be valuable allies in the past, so I don"t see what that should change now." Erika smiled in delight, dropping into a light curtsy. Genevieve"s face turned worried once again as she held the list out to Anneliese, who studied it, with Julian looking over her shoulder. "There have been reports," she provided, "about some miraculous recoveries that the royal doctor has recently been seeing in the villagers. We are not sure how they came about, or what exactly this miraculous cure is, but I would like you to find out." "Of course, mother." Anneliese smiled. She looked at Julian, before looking back at her mother. "Do you think this has to do with your eyesight?" "I don"t doubt it." The Queen sighed. She smoothed out her expression, smiling at her daughter. "I would take a look at this myself, but I have a meeting with some finance ministers about recent trade with other kingdoms. I have faith in you and your friends, Anneliese." Anneliese"s smile grew, and she curtsied, taking her leave. Turning, she left with the others following her. Erika hid a smile as Anneliese strode in what seemed like a familiar path to her, talking animatedly with Julian about whatever the cure was. She exchanged another amused look with Dominick, knowing that both of them had little idea as to what the two were actually talking about. They were unlikely to be much help in the science department, but they could definitely help out in social situations, going down to talk to the villagers. Besides, Erika mused, it was a good way to catch up with her friends. Well...more like acquaintances. It would still be nice to hear from them, especially in times like these. Dominick wrapped an arm around her shoulders, smiling gently. "How are you feeling?" He asked in a low voice. "I"m good." Erika replied, smiling back. "I just hope that this cure doesn"t turn out to be some curse in disguise. I don"t want anyone to get hurt." "We"ve gone through more than this." Dominick replied. "But nothing as serious as this curse. It was dangerous, yes, but we don"t even know what this thing is." Erika voiced out her worries. "Point is," Dominick squeezed her shoulders briefly, "we"ve been through something horrible, but we can still get through this. Together."

Hitching her skirts up, Anneliese proceeded to climb the shelves, seeing how the ladder"s rungs were too far apart for her to use. She easily picked up several books, dropped them to the ground, and then leapt down. Seeing no one still, Anneliese smiled to herself and plopped down on the seat again, opening the first book in the stack. Chapter 13: Dominick found Erika and Anneliese huddled together on the windowsill, the blonde princess teaching her brunette friend how to read. Erika mouthed the word, and seeing the blonde nod encouragingly, pronounced it out loud. Smiling, the king nodded. "That was very good, Erika." Erika flushed, looking up and then ducking her head down. Anneliese, on the other hand, beamed. "Isn"t she?" "She is." Dominick nodded. "What are you two reading?" "The adventures of Robinson Crusoe." Anneliese said. "That was my favourite book growing up." Dominick noted, sitting himself in a seat nearby. "It is a good book." Anneliese nodded seriously, though her eyes shone with excitement at being treated like a grown up. "But the cannibals are scary." "They are." Dominick nodded, remembering the horror he had felt when he had first read the book. "But without them, Robinson wouldn"t have been friends with Friday, right?" Anneliese nodded, her rather enthusiastic nod dampened when her hastily pinned up sleeve fell down. Dominick frowned at that. He needed to talk to Bertie, and quickly. "Where"s Julian?" Dominick asked, looking around. Anneliese frowned. "He went to check on seals or something." "I see." Dominick nodded. Anneliese clearly didn"t remember their conversation from yesterday. "Will you two stay here while I go look for him?" "Is this something to do with Bismark?" Erika asked innocently. Dominick nodded again. "I"ll be back soon." "Before lunchtime?" Anneliese asked. "Uh..." Dominick hesitated. "We"ll have to see." Anneliese scrutinised him, before deeming him okay and returning her attention to the book and Erika. Erika gave him a shy wave and then bent her head over the book. Dominick exited the room, and then allowed himself to heave a little sigh of relief. "Bismark is here." Dominick said without any preamble. Julian nodded, still holding onto his extinguished lantern. "Well, the seal I found was authentic, so it can"t have been anything to do with Radius" background." Dominick frowned in curiosity. "But what can it be? A scandal with the king?" Julian shook his head wearily. "Anyway, how are the girls?" "They"re going fine." Dominick smiled. "Anneliese is teaching Erika to read." Julian"s expression softened into a smile. "That"s good. That they"re together." There was gentle and fond look in his eye, and it left Dominick wondering just how long Anneliese and Julian had been so close. "It is." Dominick agreed. "By the way, would you like to go see Bertie with me? I think the girls need more alterations for their dresses." Julian nodded. "I feel sorry for Bertie. At this rate, she might as well make a new dress everyday instead of trying to rush through three each." Dominick laughed, tugging his rolled-up sleeves. A little long, but not so long that it needed immediate attention. He had had to do his belt a little tighter, but that was it. He looked at Julian, who seemed a little taller than him, but not by much. Dominick didn"t really mind; after all, his growth spurt was starting in reverse, and he hadn"t been the tallest boy growing up. "Do you think we will find a cure?" Julian asked quietly as they rounded the corner. "I hope so." Dominick said. "Or else things will go badly very quickly." They walked down the corridor, and Dominick realised that it was the same one he had seen all those days ago, the one with the portrait of King Radius. Examining the painting, he noted the similarities between the queen and Anneliese. Anneliese shared Radius" smile, but that was roughly where the similarities ended. "Do you think we should tell Anneliese about Radius?" Dominick asked. Julian sighed and shook his head. "This might be mean, but we should hold it off as long as we can. Anneliese was traumatised after Radius" death." Dominick nodded slowly. "I can sympathise." "You can?" Julian asked. Dominick nodded again, keeping his gaze to the floor. "My father died when I was a child in a carriage accident. My mother died days later from injuries sustained in the same crash." "My apologies." Julian said quietly. "What about your family?" Dominick asked, interested. Julian shook his head. "I am an orphan. I don"t remember my parents. I have been living in the orphanage all my life." A small smile grew on his face. "The matron was kindly, and she managed to get me a job as a tutor. After that, I slowly worked my way to becoming Anneliese"s tutor." Dominick smiled. "It sounds like fate." "I think so." Julian smiled shyly, glancing at the floor. They stopped outside of the closed door, and knock together. Sound of footsteps from the room, and then Bertie opens the door. "Your majesties!" She drops into a quick curtsy. "How can I help you?" "No need for that, Bertie." Julian smiled. "We just needed another alteration." "Already?" Bertie asked, alarmed. She glanced back at the dress she had been working on in dismay. "Oh dear. This was quick." "Yes, we know." Julian said. "We advise that you stop making new dresses until they either slow down aging or stop at a certain age." "I can certainly agree." Bertie said, sounding flustered. She glanced at the princes. "Do you need any alterations?" "We should be alright for now." Dominick said, receiving an affirmative nod from Julian. "The princesses take priority now." "Understood." Bertie nodded. "Send them over, and I"ll start the fitting." When the two princesses entered the room, Anneliese had a deeply pensive look face on, while Erika looked around in awe at the numerous rolls of fabric. She walked over to the fabric, looking at it with wide eyes. "You can touch it." Bertie encouraged. Reaching out, Erika beamed as she felt the smoothness of the silk. "It"s so pretty." Bertie smiled. "It is, isn"t it." She beckoned to them. "Alright now, let"s see how much we have to alter those dresses." Anneliese approached her first, almost without thinking. Helping the girl onto a stand, Bertie started measuring the girl, tutting at the hastily tied up alterations. She pulled up some pins, and startled adjusting the girl"s sleeves. "What?" She suddenly heard Madame Carp snap. Frowning, Bertie turned, and her eyes widened upon seeing Erika flinch away from Carp. "Madame Carp!" Bertie scolded. "What?" Carp demanded. "She was staring." "That"s no reason to be mean." Anneliese muttered under her breath. "Just because you"re royalty doesn"t mean I"m going to cut you some slack." Madame Carp glared at her. "What, you think the world revolves around you, princess?" "Don"t be mean!" Erika cried out desperately, seeing Anneliese turn and lift her head proudly, back facing Carp. "Why ever not?" Carp rolled her eyes, setting her sewing down. Since the queen hadn"t come up with any alterations, it was assumed that the queen would still be the same size. While Bertie worked with the younger girls, Carp would continue with the dress that was nearly completed. ""Cause people won"t like you then." Carp snorted. "Who said that I want people to like me?" Erika"s disapproving eyes fixed on the woman, having gotten over her brief bout of fear. "Everyone wants to be liked. Everyone wants to have friends." She looked down and fiddled with the cloth hanging over the edge of the able. "And if you don"t change that attitude, no one will want to be friends with you." Carp froze, her eyes wide and fixed on the young lady, as if she had seen a ghost. Bertie frowned, Anneliese even turning around to see why Carp was suddenly silent. Erika shifted uncomfortably. "Carp?" Bertie called out quietly. Without a word, Carp got up and left the room. Bertie followed the stout woman out into the gardens, to find the woman pacing back and forth, an agitated look on her face. Seeing the tilt of acknowledgement, Bertie sat down on a bench nearby, watching as the woman cursed under her breath. "She"s just a girl." Bertie decided to start. "I know." Carp snapped back. She rubbed a hand over her face. "And she"s right." "What?" Bertie blinked. Carp sat herself down next to Bertie. Opened her mouth, closed it, and then finally opened it again. "My former lover." Bertie stopped, turning to her incredulously. Carp, noticing the look, glared at her. "What? You think I"m so ugly that I wouldn"t have a lover?" "What? No." Bertie tried to deny over the flush of her neck. "Just...I thought you wouldn"t have let him go." "Well," Carp rolled her eyes. "You"re wrong." "What happened?" Bertie prompted softly. "He didn"t like my attitude and left. Just like that." Carp said. She closed her eyes, clenched her fists, and then glared to the sky again. "Said almost exactly what that girl said." "If you don"t change that attitude of yours, Beatrice, then no one will ever be your friend." Bertie"s eyes softened, and she grimaced at what she was about to do. She placed a gentle hand over Carp"s, atching as Carp tried to tear her hand away. Waiting until Carp relaxed and looked up at her, Bertie kept her voice quiet. "Then let us teach you." Chapter 14: "What"s wrong, Anneliese?" Erika asked her friend. Anneliese was still standing on the stand, not having moved at all. She was still staring at the door, the way that Bertie had hurried after Carp had stormed off. If anyone came in now, they would"ve said that Anneliese was worried about Carp and Bertie. But Erika had been there when they had travelled down the corridor and saw the portrait of her family. She knew that Anneliese was thinking of something to do with them, but Erika didn"t understand why Anneliese looked so sad at the thought of her parents. "Nothing." Anneliese tried to play off. If it were anyone else, they would"ve known to stop asking. But Erika was a village girl who loved her friends, and so she persisted. "It"s not nothing." Anneliese sighed, fiddling with the edge of her gown. She exmained the shadow she made with the sun from the window behind her, then glanced up at Erika. "It"s...it"s my father." "What about him?" Erika asked carefully. "Well..." Anneliese sighed again. "My father..." She didn"t get very far, when there was a knock on the door and it opened, revealing the youthful face of Queen Genevieve, her hair swinging behind her. "Hello." "Mother!" Anneliese beamed at her mother, running over to hug her tightly. "Hello, Anneliese dear." The Queen returned the hug then let go. "Do you know where Bertie and Madame Carp are?" She shook her head. "Oh well." The Queen sighed. "I was hoping that she could help me." "Mother? You aren"t wearing your spectacles." Anneliese pointed out, eyes wide with wonder. The Queen smiled. "I"m not?" She laughed. "I don"t need them anymore." She explained. Anneliese smiled and nodded, though it was clear she didn"t understand. "Don"t slouch, Anneliese," Genevieve gently reprimanded. Anneliese immediately straightened up. Erika tilted her head, looking at the woman. The Queen. "Hello your majesty." Erika said, trying to sound grown up. The Queen smiled at her. "Hello, Erika." Erika beamed, feeling a warm feeling in her chest. But there was something distant about the woman. The Queen was like her mother in so many ways, motherly and warm and caring, but there was something cold about her, something restricting. This something was stopping her from showing Anneliese complete affection, like how she had pulled away from the hug early. "Now that you two seem to be occupying yourselves, I might as well leave." The Queen said. She glanced at the two. "You two stay here, alrigh?" Anneliese nodded obediently, and the queen closed the door. "Anneliese?" Erika asked quietly. "What were we talking about earlier?" Anneliese shook her head, looking at the floor as she once more took her place on the stand. "Mother doesn"t like to talk about it. It makes her sad." "But she"s not here anymore." Erika reasoned. "Don"t want to." Anneliese muttered, and that was the end of the conversation. Carp and Bertie were making their way back to the room, moving around guards and the like. They briefly passed by Dominick and Julian, who gave a double take at the sight of Carp free, but did nothing, just continuing their walk. They entered the room to find it in sullen silence, Anneliese standing on the stand while Erika sat nearby, watching her friend in concern. As the two entered, Anneliese plastered on a polite smile. "My mother was looking for you." "Was she?" Bertie asked, flustered. "I"d better go find her." She hesitated, glancing at Carp, then nodded to herself. "Take care of them." Carp grumbled, crossing her arms but nodding nonetheless. When the door closed, Anneliese and Erika stared at her. Carp snatched up the pin-cushion and walked over to the princess. "Arms up," she ordered, and got to work. While she felt Erika"s gaze on her, she kept her mouth shut. "It"s not that hard to be nice, you know." Erika said as Madame Carp started to adjust her dress. "What?" Carp grunted, looking up in irritation. "It"s not that hard to be nice." Erika repeated. "You act mean, but you don"t have to be." "It"s what"s expected of me." Erika shrugged. "No one should care but you." Madame Carp rolled her eyes, but listened to the girl anyway. "And you"re an expert in being nice?" "Yep!" Erika smiled. "That"s why the baker is so nice to me!" "Not just the baker." Carp muttered under her breath, but cleared her throat when Erika glanced at her in confusion. "Never mind. Go on." "You just need to be polite." Erika said. "Really?" Carp asked sarcastically. "Never would have thought." "People think that you have to be mean to get things, but you can also be nice. If people like you, they"ll give you things." "Or they"ll walk all over you." Carp replied. "Then that person is bad and you shouldn"t be around them." Erika reasoned. Childish reasoning, but reasoning nonetheless. "Really?" Carp sighed, exasperated. "So be polite." "Yes." Erika nodded, as if imparting some life-changing knowledge. "Be polite. Say please, thank you, yes, please or no, thank you. Say hello and bye bye. Hold the door for people?" "Hold the door?" Carp asked incredulously. "What do you think I am? A footman?" "A what?" Erika asked, tilting her head to the side. "A man who holds doors." Anneliese translated easily. "Oh." Erika said. She laughed. "No, silly. You"re a woman." "Oh my God." Carp rubbed a hand over her face. "I can"t believe this." "What?" Erika asked, looking confused once more. "Never mind." Carp said, waving her off. "And you should smile more." Erika informed the woman. "You have a nice smile, and I think you"ll look pretty if you smiled." Carp stopped at that, looking up at the girl. "You think I"m...pretty?" Erika shrugged. "Yes. Everyone"s pretty, especially when they smile, right Anneliese?" The princess gave her a radiant smile in response, and Erika giggled. "See?" Carp sighed. "I haven"t smiled in a long time." Erika leapt into Carp"s field of vision. "Then let"s practice!" This being nice thing wasn"t working out for her. "Dear lord help me." "I don"t look like father." Anneliese said, out of the blue, when Julian was tucking her into bed. She blinked sleepy eyes at him. Julian froze entirely, forcing a smile on his face. "What?" "I don"t look anything like father." Anneliese observed. "I saw the painting in the hall." Dammit. Julian should"ve had that removed when he had the chance. He had even been talking to Dominick about it. But he had been so caught up with arranging all the details with Bismark that he had completely forgotten. "And?" "I don"t know." Anneliese shrugged. "I love father. I"m sad that I don"t look like him." She yawned. She didn"t look very upset, but Julian was used to supposedly emotionless monologues by now. From young, Anneliese rarely showed negative emotion. If she smiled, it was blinding. If she was sad, her face would go blank until she had a solution or something else to distract her. Julian had no idea how to distract her, but thankfully, it seemed that sleep was starting to catch up on the girl. "Well, you still have a ways to grow." Julian said, keeping to the bright side. "And when you get older, you"ll probably look like him." Anneliese nodded sleepily. "Yes. I don"t want to look like mother." "Why not?" Julian asked in surprise. "She doesn"t smile so much." Anneliese said. "Father smiled a lot. He"s a happy person." "That he was." Julian smiled. He kissed her forehead and pulled the blanket up, blowing out the light. "Good night, Anneliese." "Good night, Julian." "Dominick?" "Yes, Erika?" Dominick asked, pulling out some spare blankets from the wardrobe in the corner. He and Julian would be sleeping in one of the spare guest rooms, not too far from Erika and Anneliese in case something happened at night. It was improper for them to still sleep in the same beds, since the girls were now ten. "Did you know Anneliese"s daddy?" Dominick blinked at the unexpected question, unsure how to react. After all, Julian did say to leave it off as long as possible. "Um...not really." "Oh." Erika sounded disappointed. "Why?" Dominick asked gently. "Well, we saw a painting of Anneliese"s family, but she seemed really sad when we talked about her daddy." Erika explained quietly. "And she didn"t want to talk about it. But talking fixes everything. So if she doesn"t talk, I can"t fix it." Dominick walked over to the little girl, placing a hand over her tiny tanned one. "Erika, sometimes, time is the best thing to give a person. Anneliese will speak of it when she wants to, but you need to give her time." "But she"s hurting." Large blue eyes looked at him, imploring. Dominick sighed. "I know. But it might hurt her more if she speaks of it. We"ll just have to wait, until it no longer hurts for her to tell us." Erika nodded sadly. "I hope that she feels better soon." "We all do, Erika, we all do." That night, the two men walked into the guest room, both silent as they unknowingly pondered over the same topic that the other was thinking of. They didn"t say a word to each other though, even as they climbed into the single beds at each corner of the room. The only thing they did exchange was a quiet "good night". AN: To LavernaG - Yes...I always loved the relationship between the couples...especially between Julian and Anneliese :) Chapter 15: When Erika woke up the next morning, the sun was barely up in the sky. Even so, she pushed off her blankets and jumped off the bed, landing neatly on all fours. She rushed out of the room, remembering where Anneliese"s room was, and knocked quickly. While there was no answer, there was the rustling of sheets, and Erika took that as a sign that Anneliese was awake, or, waking, at the very least. She pushed open the door and ran inside, taking a flying leap onto the bed where her friend was rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Good morning!" Anneliese yawned, shooting her a tired smile. "Good morning." Erika felt slightly bad that Anneliese was so tired, but she wanted to talk to her friend first. Clarify what she had talked about with Dominick. "Anneliese, I just wanted to say, I"m sorry for pushing you yesterday." Anneliese blinked, wide awake now and confused. Undeterred, Erika continued. "I"m sorry that I asked you about your daddy. Dominick says that I have to wait until it no longer hurts to not talk about him, and I don"t know if that will happen soon, because I still miss my daddy, but I"ll be here if you want to talk, no matter what time it is." Anneliese blinked again, a small, slow but sad, smile forming on her face. She grasped her friend"s hands. "I know, Erika. Thank you." Erika beamed at her, then lay down next to Anneliese. "So what do you want to do today?" "How about getting ready and then having some breakfast?" "Sounds good to me!" Erika stopped. "Do we have to go and get the eggs ourselves?" When Dominick woke up the next morning, the first thing he did was go to a mirror located over a dresser to check his reflection. He nearly groaned as he caught sight of himself. While he had only de-aged about two years, it was still a shocking sight to witness. He looked at the clothes on the floor and sighed. "Bertie is going to have a ball." "Agreed." Julian said, stretching. He had had to fold the sleeves of his shirt up, tucking both that and the vest he was wearing into his trousers, which he had tightened using the belt available. Dominick shot him a grin as he grabbed a comb and ran it through his hair, attempting to tame it. He would take a shower later on in the day, he decided. He shrugged on his too big clothes and grimaced at his shoes. "Here." Julian handed him two pieces of cloth, crumbling them into a ball and slipping one into Dominick"s right shoe. Dominick blinked, surprised by Julian"s ingenuity, before he followed his friend"s example. He slipped his feet inside. They fit just right. "We need to go to a cobbler soon." Dominick muttered. "Agreed." Julian said again. He straightened. "Let"s go see if the girls are up."

Suddenly, even inside the cave, they felt something rush past them. They turned instinctively in that direction, stumbling as the same rush returned. Then...a scream. Both turned to each other, startled, and sprinted out in the other direction. Still holding onto the cloak. Lin Chong held his ground as he looked at the raiders. They may have the advantage in numbers, but he wasn"t going to let that faze him. He held his ground, spear held ready in his hand. His eyes glowed in the dark. The raiders instantly attacked as one. They were well-trained, that he could admit. They moved in synchronisation and speed, and had clearly trained alongside each other with a good instructor. He had used to teach the Imperial Army troops to fight like this as well. He dodged a spear, and struck another down quickly. He dodged another blade, but blocked the third spear, before plunging his spear into the last man. Two down, two to go. The raiders seemed to realise that they weren"t going to win, going from the depressed slump in their shoulders. But they still raised their head high and attacked. They had honour - that he could also admit. He dodged one blow and stabbed at the other. The last one did one final charge...right into Lin Chong"s spear. And he fell too. Lin Chong turned to look at the avalanche of rocks. He sure as anything wasn"t going to be able to get out of this. He had to get out by another way. Entering the inside of the tunnel, he moved quickly and on sure footing, before he finally removed his cloak as the air became too humid for him. He had never been used to such humid weather - he had been raised in the Capital, where the dry north air bit into you viciously. Liangshan had been the same. He ignored the cloak as he continued on, spurred on by the thought of the village, of his brothers at Liangshan...and Hu Sanniang. Chapter 10: Quickly, the two made their way to Huangchun, stopping as they realised that everyone had been gathered in cages. They were surrounded by ghostly warriors, who looked fierce...and furious. Lady Green quickly recognised them as the Outlaws of Liangshan...but how they were here she didn"t know. First and Second Squad, along with the Air Force, had also been forced into cages. But that was not what bothered them. In the middle stood a tall man, whose warriors were guarding the cages. The tall man was holding a rattling box in his hands, and he was smirking at the ghostly person that was currently tied up in the middle. Lady Green sucked in a breath. Hu Sanniang. When Gu Dasao was called down to earth from where she had been residing in Heaven, she had been confused. Such a call hadn"t been made since...since those times when she had fought alongside her husband and her brothers of Liangshan. She had made her way down with the others, she had not expected to find the villagers from the village that had called her down in cages. And she definitely had not been prepared to see Hu Sanniang, one of her closest friends, tied and gagged in the middle. None of them had seen Hu Sanniang ever since her death even though they searched. The same had gone for Lin Chong. She noted the crazed-looking man holding a rattling box. She held up her own blades. "How dare you?!" she lunged forward, but was held back by her husband, who shook his head. She glared at him, but he didn"t back down. They watched as the man announced who he was - a hunter. "And you may ask what I"ve been hunting down all this years?" the hunter smirked. He pointed at Hu Sanniang. "Her, and all of her descendants." "What?" Wang Ying lunged forward. "Why?!" "Oh, I do it all for your sake, Wang Ying." This had confused them all. "What?" Wang Ying demanded. The hunter had laughed, looking at Hu Sanniang, who looked back up at him blankly. "Her children." "You mean...their children." Song Jiang said. The hunter shook his head, still smirking. This clicked into Gu Dasao"s head, but she ignored it for now. For now, one of her closest friends was tied up by a madman. And she would help her, despite if she had cheated on her own husband or not. Wang Ying was glaring at Hu Sanniang now, who held her own glare against him. "How could you?" his voice was deadly quiet. This wasn"t good. When he was mad, he yelled and shouted. Not like this. Not like this. Hu Sanniang glared back at him. "After what you had done to me? What would you have expected me to do?!" "Done what?" Song Jiang interrupted, but Gu Dasao had figured in all out. Looking at Sun Erniang, it was clear that she had figured it out too. "Abuse." Gu Dasao whispered. It had only been a whisper, but everyone around had heard it clearly. Sun Erniang growled at Wang Ying, about to lunge at him, but her husband stopped her in time. Her scream was ear-piercing. "When I get my hands on you, I"ll rip you piece by piece with my own hands and feed you in my buns!" The group from Big Green had asked who their respective heroes were when they had compared the 108 heroes of Liangshan Marsh to Big Green, and it was revealed that Sun Erniang was Mystique Sonia. The heroes looked alarmed as they stared at Mystique Sonia, but she shook her head. Her buns were all vegetarian. "With who?" With just those words, everyone fell quiet again. They looked at the man, who smirked as he held up the rattling box in his hands. "Guess. I"ll give you a hint...it"s a former exiled instructor." Lu Zhishen lunged forward, eyes blazing at the indignity of having had his blood brother suffer his afterlife days trapped in a box, affair easily forgotten as he realised that Hu Sanniang had been abused by Wang Ying. He was held back by Wu Yong and Song Jiang, screaming curse after curse. And, just then, two people emerged from the forest. "Ah." The man grinned. "We have company. And my last prey." They looked alarmed, looking around. It didn"t take an expert to find out what he was talking about. "Lin Chung! Lady Green!" Gu Dasao admired the similarities in both of them and their ancestors, mad as she was. Lady Green held two blades, much like Hu Sanniang, and didn"t look like a damsel in distress. Lin Chung was quiet, but eyes blazed with the same fury that Lin Chong had had whenever he went into battle. "Run!" Both pair of eyes widened as hunters surrounded them. Their weapons were raised, and, before they could blink, Lin Chung had sent one of them sprawling back to the head man, who laughed. "Incredible. To think that you even obtained his skill..." Suddenly, the man raised a blade and flung it at Lin Chung. He had no time to move as the blade pierced his chest. A scream from someone. They didn"t bother finding out who as Lin Chung collapsed, blood oozing out of the wound. The cloak he had been carrying dropped with a thump. Lady Green leapt back, eyes wide. And, just then, the rattling stopped. No one paid any attention. But then, the box rattled again. Fiercely. Caught off-guard, the man dropped the box. Thinking quickly, Gu Dasao flung one of her blades at the lock. It broke open. And then a spirit tackled the head man, eyes blazing. "Lin Chong." Song Jiang whispered, looking at the furious exiled instructor. His appearance had not changed at all from the picture - hair still long, but hat no longer there. Clothed robes, square shoes, tanned skin with the "golden mark" on the left side of his forehead. Hu Sanniang looked at him, calm, even as he lunged forward at the head man. The head man blocked it surprisingly quickly, though he stumbled back at the force. Knowing that he was outmatched, the head man leapt onto a horse. Lin Chong followed, spear in hand. Gu Dasao rushed to Hu Sanniang, releasing her from her bonds. The moment she did, Hu Sanniang sprang to her feet, her twin blades appearing in her hands. The other men looked panicked as Song Jiang released the prisoners. Following their leader"s example, they leapt aboard horses and galloped in his direction. Spearing a warrior and shoving him off, Lin Chong leapt aboard the sprinting horse and disappeared into the forest. Hu Sanniang leapt aboard a spare horse, eyes blazing as the horse, too, disappeared into the forest. Meiren"s heart thudded as she looked at the old senile man, who seemed crazy with fear. The scene seemed all too familiar. Both disappearing into the forests. But, this time, Hu Sanniang was determined to return with Lin Chong...if not, not at all. Lina peered into the room. Lin Chung was sitting there with Grandmother. She wasn"t technically their grandmother, but everyone called her by that and she treated everyone as if they were her own. Her grandmother was talking to Lin Chung, a hand on his face as he looked up at her, eyes blinking. His back was to her, and Lina felt frustrated. She couldn"t see anything now. And she wanted to play with Lin Chung. It was rare that his parents let him out at all except for school, and she wanted to take the opportunity. Then grandmother started talking to Lin Chung in a low voice as Lin Chung wiped his eyes. "Is the light still bothering your eyes?" Lin Chung nodded, frustration evident in his stance. He shifted anxiously, and looked at grandmother. "There isn"t anything wrong with me, is there?" Grandmother"s face darkened. "No, there isn"t. Your mother had no right to do that with you." she then looked up, and caught sight of Lina. "Lina"s here, Lin Chung. Go and play with her." Lina beamed as she opened the door, too elated to feel upset about being caught. But her breath caught when she saw Lin Chung. Instead of the bright purple eyes she had gotten used to seeing, they were now a dull black and white. Instead of the light that was usually in them when they played, it was replaced now by a constant thin film over it. But she could tell that they wouldn"t want her to talk about it. So she kept quiet, and only when she was in her bed did she wonder what happened to those pretty purple eyes that he used to have. Epilogue: Lady Green turned to look at Lin Chung. He still looked pale, but Woo the Wise had reassured them that he would be fine. The poison on the blade had had serious effect. He had only survived due to the healing balm that they had. Woo the Wise"s counterpart, Wu Yong, had helped them with it, having had made it, and had saved the life of the last descendant of both Lin Chong and Hu Sanniang. After waiting for a day, Gu Dasao eventually concluded that they weren"t coming back. Searching for them, they found the dead bodies and the horses waiting patiently for them. After they returned back to Big Green, Lin Chung found a stack of scrolls from Wu Yong that detailed his family history, and all helped him piece back together of what happened to his family. Not long after, things returned to normal - except for the fact that Lin Chung had asked Lady Green out. Surprised, she accepted. Now, about a year later, they were still together, and a couple supported by many. In fact, Woo the Wise had started comparing similarities between Lin Chong and Hu Sanniang"s love to theirs, wondering if they were a reincarnation to give the two spirits a second chance. Speaking of the two spirits, no one ever saw them again, but Lady Green could"ve sworn that she felt their presence when she and Lin Chung first went out. Life settled down quickly in Big Green after the discovery, but it became more chaotic. People started to learn the truth about Liangshan, and more descendants of the Outlaws were being discovered everyday. Those who would"ve liked to be kept in secret sought out Big Green, who guaranteed them the secrecy. Slowly, the ranks amongst Big Green grew. Eventually, they would find the Emperor, the rightful Emperor of East Citadel. They would fight a fearsome battle that would result in victory for the side of Big Green. They would reinstate the Emperor as the rightful ruler of Hidden Kingdom. They would swear absolute loyalty to the Emperor, and to no one else. And, one day, the inhabitants of Hidden Kingdom would welcome the newest child of Lin Chung and Lady Green. Hu Sanniang stood on a cliff not too far from Hidden Kingdom. She smiled as she saw the celebrating people of Hidden Kingdom. This had been what all of them had been fighting for. For the people of China, now Hidden Kingdom, to be free. Free from the reign of Gaoqiu and the ruthless Emperor. Governed by a new Emperor, by a new law, helped by the heroes who had seen it all, who knew how to adjust to fit the people"s expectations and demands. She looked at Lin Chong, who was looking down, his face expressionless. His hair wasn"t tied up - he preferred to keep it down now. He wore his usual black robes, much like her own, but hers were more feminine and red. He held his staff behind him, posture straight and perfect as always. "They look happy." she noted to him, searching for his reaction. He turned to her, letting a smile play on his lips. "Isn"t that what we had been fighting for all this time?" Hu Sanniang smiled at him as she took his hand in hers, and rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. "So, where to next?" "Already? I thought you would"ve wanted to settle." This was said jokingly, but Hu Sanniang sent a mock angry look at him. He chuckled, as he reciprocated, rubbing his thumb over hers. She smiled, anger immediately melting into her shoes. They would be alright. Hu Sanniang smiled tiredly at the small bundle in her arms. Gu Dasao and Sun Erniang leaned forward, both their eyes gleaming with anticipation. Gu Dasao smiled gently, looking at Hu Sanniang. "He"s gorgeous." A wider smile now framed Hu Sanniang"s face as she looked at the child in her arms. His hair was covered thinly with silky dark hair, his face still red as he cried to his heart"s content. However, his body was still, only rattling sometimes as his chest heaved. His eyes were surprisingly large in his small face, and Hu Sanniang knew without a doubt that those were his eyes. She smiled at the child. Sun Erniang leaned over, waving her finger in front of the child"s face. Seeing it, the child instantly quietened, grabbing it and giggling, mood swing suddenly over. "Aw..." Sun Erniang smiled softly, so different from her usual demeanour. Later on, after Hu Sanniang had gone to sleep, Wang Ying would take the baby to the other Outlaws to see. A lot of cooing would go on, all admiring the child, and laughing as the child mimicked their movement, smiling brightly. The baby, in a few days, would be allowed to be handled only by those trusted by his parents. When Wu Yong would look at the baby, he would see something familiar in those large eyes and face, but would say nothing, merely thinking that it must look like either Hu Sanniang or Wang Ying, but he just hadn"t had the opportunity to compare. When Lu Zhishen looked at the baby, he would note that something was indescribably familiar at the way the baby smiled at him, eyes wide and adoring. Hu Sanniang, likewise, would note that the baby seemed extremely comfortable in the hands of the tattooed giant. However, Lu Zhishen shook it off, not wanting to disrespect either Hu Sanniang, Wang Ying, or the third party involved. Because he was sure he knew who the third party was. As he looked between Hu Sanniang and Wang Ying, he realised that his sworn brother-in-blood would only do something like this if allowed to, or if something had happened. Thus, he kept his mouth shut, and stared at the baby every moment he could, drinking in the features of his dead brother-in-arms. But, for now, Hu Sanniang looked tenderly into the baby"s eyes, seeing the large eyes finally fix adoringly on her. Chapter 1: Lady Green sighed, slightly bored with the lack of action recently as she sharpened her blades with a spare piece of rock. She looked up and her eyes lit up as she noticed Lin Chung walking towards her. "Lady Green," he nodded his head courteously, "Commander Apetrully would like you to join us in the briefing room." Lady Green stood up. Maybe it might be something good, to distract her from this seemingly endless boredom. She nodded, giving him a friendly smile. They walked side-by-side, both in comfortable silence as Lin Chung greeted many of the animal rulers and humans that they happened to bump into. When they reached the briefing room of First Squad, she was surprised to find it already full with four members of the Air Force that she was not familiar with, Second Squad, First Squad, Commander Apetrully, and Woo the Wise. Lin Chung silently left her side and went to join First Squad, while Lady Green paused for a moment, wondering where should she stand. At Lin Chung"s barely imperceptible nod, she moved to stand next to Lin Chung, near Commander Apetrully. "Now that we are all here, I will tell you what you are to do." Commander Apetrully declared. Woo the Wise pulled out a map. He unrolled it on the table, and all crowded around it. "There is a village here. Its name is not known, but it was known as Huangchun back then." "Yellow Village." Lin Chung easily translated. Commander Apetrully smiled, delighted. "Yes. It is north to where the East Citadel is, and is near a place which used to house outlaws." "Of Liangshan Marsh?" Lin Chung volunteered again. Woo the Wise nodded. "Yes. 36 "Heavenly Spirits", and 72 "Earthly Fiends". 108 important members in total, with many other bandits and men who served under them." "What"s this got to do with us?" Kowloon asked, impatient. "The people in the village are complaining of odd happenings recently. Not too long ago, a boy found a crystal, one which showed events from the past. We have positively identified two figures from the event as two warriors from Liangshan Marsh." "You want us to investigate?" Alpha Girl asked, sounding bored. "Why all of us then?" Commander Apetrully looked up sternly. "Do not take this lightly, Alpha Girl." He chided. "This is important. It is said that Liangshan Marsh is haunted with the lives of the 108 spirits who were unfairly killed after being granted amnesty from the Emperor." He looked up at each of them, before turning to Lin Chung. "You are familiar with the village?" Lin Chung nodded. "I was raised in one of the neighbouring villages." Lady Green startled. She was unaware that Lin Chung came from a small village, based on what she could see from the land around Huangchun. She would have thought that he had come from somewhere near the East Citadel. But, then again, that would explain his humbleness and modesty to all the great feats he had achieved. She looked up again as Commander Apetrully finished. "I want all of you to go to the village. There is an elder there who has descended from 3 generations. She will know anything about the Outlaws that visited her. The Air Force is to bring you there and remain there until all of you return." There were small nods. Master Chou cleared his throat. "With all due respect, Commander, Lin Chung is the only one who has passed the Parachute test and the Air test." Lady Green felt herself turn slightly nauseous. She was part of the Navy, not the Air Force. "Well then, you have to have the test taken immediately! You are to leave at dawn." For some reason, Lady Green felt a chill go down her spine. She ignored the feeling and focused on the Air Force, who were currently leading the rest to the Hanger. Rosefinch stopped her from following them. "You are a member of the Navy, Lady Green. Your training for all sorts of emergencies and situations qualifies you for flying the planes." Lady Green exchanged a quick smile with Rosefinch. She didn"t know Rosefinch well, and would look forward to knowing her better - she seemed like a strong, independent young woman, and it was rare that Lady Green found another woman in Big Green. She barely knew Alpha Girl, and Mystique Sonia used to hate her. Lady Green jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" "I"m fine." Lady Green smiled, before turning to Lin Chung. "So, tell me more about the village, if you don"t mind." As Hu Sanniang left, she banged into someone, and winced as it hit a bruise near her hip. Lin Chong, curse his sharp eyes, noticed immediately and frowned in concern. "Are you alright?" "I"m fine." She answered calmly, hoping that he believed her and left her. She was not sure how much scrutiny her facade could take before it crumbled down. "You do not seem fine." "Just a bruise. From training." She added quickly. Lin Chong frowned. "Have you not had that looked at?" Hu Sanniang looked down. "I did not have the time to." "Follow me." Lin Chong ordered without preamble and led her to his hut. Hu Sanniang"s heart pounded wildly, wondering what people would think. But then again, he was supposed to work together with her. What was he going to do? He led her inside his hut, and rummaged around in a trunk containing some neatly folded clothes. He took out a jar of a cream of some kind. "Take this." "What is it?" Hu Sanniang asked, knowing that she shouldn"t stall. But, compared to Wang Ying, Lin Chong was welcome company. She tilted her head as she realised what the cream was. "I never knew that you got so injured that you needed this much. A whole personal jar for you?" Lin Chong let a ghost of a smile flicker across his face. It changed his face immensely, even for a brief moment. His eyes crinkled up and turned tender, and any sort of worry lines on his face almost seemed to fade.

"No, no. She"s right." The doctor started to pack his stethoscope away. "I shall take my leave now." "Thank you, doctor." Bertie smiled, showing him to the door. She only glanced back once. "Madame Carp has been on edge the last few days. I hope you don"t take what she says to heart." "No, of course not." The doctor smiled graciously. Tipping his hat at the two girls, he turned and left, closing the door behind him with a silent click. It was only as his footsteps receded that Bertie allowed herself a small sigh of relief. Someone tugged at her sleeve, and Bertie looked down to meet Erika"s wide eyes. "Thank you, Bertie." "Of course, Erika." Bertie smiled and ruffled Erika"s hair. She turned to Anneliese, who was still quiet but appeared more thoughtful now, glancing at the door every so often. "Anneliese? Are you alright?" Anneliese"s eyes focused and she sent Erika a reassuring nod. "I"m fine, Erika. Just thinking." "About what?" Erika hopped back on the bench beside Anneliese. "Nothing much." "Preminger." The door swung open ominously. Preminger smiled at the visitor, the Queen storming in. Her expression was grave, barely concealed fury in her eyes. Despite her put-together appearance, or maybe because of it, the Queen seemed even more out-of-control at her attempt to appear composed. Maybe it was because he knew her. Maybe it was because the Queen wanted to gain the upper hand. Regardless of what she wanted, it didn"t change the fact that the Queen had de-aged more than Preminger, and now a significant age gap separated the two. Even in her heels, the Queen had to glare up at him. "Princess Genevieve." Preminger mocked. "Queen Genevieve, to you." Genevieve snapped. "To what do I owe the displeasure?" Genevieve"s eyes narrowed. "Do not pretend you do not know what I am talking about." "But what if I wish to do so?" Preminger asked innocently. "Then I will inform you." Genevieve growled, having lost the patience that age had granted her. She was just like Preminger remembered: the annoying younger sister who had yet to keep a control on her temper. "You told Anneliese what happened." "I did not." Preminger protested, appearing offended. "Yes, you did. No one else could have done it. No one else knew about it to tell her that." Preminger snorted. "I merely nudged her in the right direction. You, on the other hand..." He frowned as the Queen flinched at the use of the word "nudge". "Why does the Princess seem so upset?" "It is none of your business." The Queen snapped at him. "And it"s Queen, Preminger. Unless you have lost your hearing alongside your kindness." "I have always been nothing but kind to you and your daughter." Preminger said smoothly. "I had promised Radius and I would continue to do so." "If you wanted to be kind, you would not have told her." Genevieve seethed. "It was far kinder to tell Anneliese than for some rumours to shred the image she had had of you and Radius." Preminger drawled, leaning back in his chair. "Anneliese deserved to know what happened to her father - to Radius. Not that moron that you slept with." Genevieve looked down, sorrow clouding her face temporarily before it hardened again. "It was for Anneliese"s own good." "Really?" Preminger finally seemed to lose his cool. "For Annelise"s sake, or for your own?!" "For Anneliese." Genevieve continued stubbornly. "No, Genevieve. Everything you"ve done has and always will be for you. Everything has to be about you, doesn"t it?" Preminger mocked. "If the world doesn"t revolve around Princess Genevieve, then the world would fall into ruins!" He lamented dramatically. Genevieve"s eyes were dangerous slits now. "Take it back." "I am not Radius, Genevieve." Preminger snarled. "I won"t fall to my knees just because you throw a little tantrum!" "How dare you!" Genevieve roared at him. "I can have you beheaded!" "Then why not?" Preminger demanded. "There are more than enough guards and executioners in good shape to execute me, and yet for some reason you still leave me here in this room, stranded. You want to know why? Because you are scared. You are a coward, much like the time you left Radius, and you will always be-" "Shut up!" Genevieve snapped, eyes now wide with rage. "Or what?" Preminger demanded again. He truly had nothing to lose now, and it showed in his posture, in how he continued to fling insult after insult to the slowly crumbling Queen. Genevieve didn"t bother gracing him with an answer. With the utmost haughtiness, she spun on her heel and exited the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Preminger watched with a sneer on his face. Drawing his curtains to a close, he strode over to his bed and threw himself on it. Stupid Queen. Stupider Princess. And absolutely imbecilic Genevieve. She hadn"t changed at all, and he was a fool for thinking otherwise. AN: to LavernaG - I"m glad...I always thought that there might be more to the story than the movie. Also, agreed...I like to pretend that Madame Carp now has a soft spot for Erika :) Chapter 21: "Have you found anything?" Dominick asked from where he watched Julian. The former tutor of the Princess was scurrying about with the old samples of water and plants, checking just to make sure that no mistake was made with their conclusions. He was already half-way through them, yet Dominick couldn"t tell. "No." Was the half-hearted answer. Julian scrubbed at his eyes, careful to cork the vial once more. "Should we try the air theory yet?" Dominick tried. Julian shook his head. "I want to be absolutely sure. This advanced technology will help us in checking our results. Just in case it does turn out to be something from the other samples." He looked up as the sun started to set, the rays touching the two men from where they were sitting in the library. His eyes widened. "I had not thought it was so late already." Dominick chuckled. "You looked pretty engrossed in your experiments." "I"m sorry." Julian looked down bashfully. "Where did Bismark go?" "He went to get some dinner and handle some business back with my kingdom." Dominick told him. "Speaking of which, we need to collect the girls soon from Bertie." "Or we have to send dinner over to them." Dominick nodded. "Either way, we need to get them dinner." "Of course." Julian sighed, rubbed his forehead. "I"m sorry," he apologised again. "I just want to find something so badly." "Don"t worry about it." Dominick said. "But it is important to remember that sometimes a break can bring about a result that was previously overlooked." "And a new perspective." Julian shot Dominick a shy look. "If you would permit, I"d be happy to show you some of the equipment and how they work. We can work together on the simpler works, and get through it that much faster." Dominick nodded, smiling. "I"d be glad to." He sighed at the sun. "For now, though, do you want to go and talk to the girls?" Julian nodded. "Let"s get them dinner and settle them down to sleep here." "Here?" Dominick asked in surprise. Julian nodded. "I would like to keep an eye on them. They seem to be de-aging more quickly than we, and I don"t want anything to happen to them without me knowing." Dominick nodded, determined. "I"ll get some servants to set up beds here." He looked down. "Funny how the doctor had not mentioned anything about this." "Funny that he hadn"t come and seen us." Julian reminded him. "Was the girls" checkup not this morning?" The two shot each other a look, clearly coming to the same thought. "We should talk to Bertie." Dominick concluded, eyes narrowed now at the thought of Erika in the presence of a bad man. "Agreed." Julian agreed, the same level of deadliness in his tone at the thought of Anneliese being hurt. Bertie opened the door at the knock, noting with relief the two boys" stark contrast. They were no longer fully-grown men, but they were still capable enough and appeared strong enough to her rather short form. Despite her de-aging, she had not gained anything more than an inch in height. Madame Carp glared at them distrustfully from behind her sewing machine, but did nothing more than scowl and toss them two sets of coats that fit them better now. Dominick nodded in sharp acceptance while Julian glared at her. "Thank you." A grunt was their only reply. "Dominick!" "Julian!" Twin cries sounded, and one streak of blue and another of pink came and collided with Dominick and Julian, respectively. "Erika!" Dominick beamed. "Hello, Anneliese." Julian smiled. "You took a long time." Erika said accusingly. "We"re sorry. We had to work." Dominick placated the young girl. "Work?" Anneliese asked, head tilted. "What sort of work?" "Important work. To do with this." Anneliese blinked, clearly confused. "This?" Dominick and Julian shot each other a quick look, also noting Madame Carp and Bertie"s own alarmed looks. Julian was quick to recover before Anneliese could read too deeply into the silence. While she might not have had much social interaction, Annelise had grown up reading people"s nuances, and Julian didn"t want to alarm her. "Yes. It is a new science experiment with equipment from Dominick"s kingdom." "Oooh." Erika looked up at Dominick in something akin to awe. "You"re a Prince?" Dominick cleared his throat, flustered. He had no idea how to sound modest without boasting. Bertie chuckled at the look on his face, interrupting and saving him from Erika"s inquisitive nature. "Yes, Erika. Dominick has his own kingdom." "I thought that he would be a king then." Anneliese said with no little suspicion. Julian cleared his own throat. Anneliese was too observant sometimes. "Well, um, Dominick is soon to inherit the kingdom." "Are your parents passed too?" Erika asked innocently. Dominick"s eyes widened, before they dropped in sadness. "Yes." Erika reached up and held his hand. "It"s ok. They"ll always be with us." It sounded like something she had repeated to herself enough that she now fully believed in it. It was the sort of childish belief that Dominick himself had never had the opportunity to have. Dominick couldn"t help the small smile he gave to the bright look he received. Bertie and Madame Carp, who had previously been tense with fear, now relaxed slowly. It wasn"t a good sign that the princesses were beginning to forget who they were, but at least they were no longer upset. In actuality, Anneliese and Erika had demonstrated themselves to be quite resilient, and both Dominick and Julian were appreciating the deeper insight they were gaining to their wives. While they loved the girls dearly, it was their first time seeing the girls in a different light, and they appreciated the opportunity the situation presented. Bertie smiled in a motherly fashion as stomachs rumbled. "Someone sounds hungry." She teased. All four blushed. "Let"s get dinner!" Erika cheered. Julian smiled and nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." "Can we have cookies and milk?" Anneliese asked shyly. "The warm milk with honey?" "Maybe..." Julian whispered back in a stage whisper. "If you don"t tell anyone else." Anneliese giggled and nodded. "Me too!" Erika piped up cheerfully, clearly having no idea of how to be subtle. Dominick couldn"t help but laugh as Julian and Anneliese jumped at her sudden cry. "All of us, Erika." "Bertie and Madame Carp too?" Erika asked, and Bertie"s heart swelled at the generosity of the little girl, who had lost so much but was still so willing to give everything she had to those she cared about. "Of course." Dominick sent Bertie a wink. "If they want to." "I think that sounds like a splendid idea." Bertie said. "And I"m sure Madame Carp thinks so too." A grunt, but it was more than they would have previously gotten. "I"ve got an idea!" Erika suddenly chirped. "Let"s make the cookies!" Anneliese looked a little unsure, but she nodded, clearly willing to try with her friend. Bertie laughed at the alarmed expressions the two young men had, and decided to intervene. "Madame Carp and I would love to help you, wouldn"t we?" Madame Carp let out an alarmed squawk. "That"s a yes." Bertie mock-whispered to the two girls, who giggled with delight. Erika let go of Dominick"s hand. "Let"s go!" She cheered, Dominick and Julian quickly forgotten. Julian laughed as he set Anneliese down, allowing her to run after Erika. Bertie hitched up her skirts and hurried after them, calling for Madame Carp to join them. Grumbling, the old woman heaved herself up and trudged after them, her actions speaking volumes. "I suppose they have done us a big favour." Dominick laughed. "Let"s try and get through most of the samples before they are finished." Julian suggested. "I get the feeling we will have our hands full now that the girls are almost completely children." "Agreed." Dominick"s laugh mingled together with Julian"s and echoed off the walls around them as they strode to the library, confident that the girls would find them when they were done. There was something undeniably beautiful about a child"s innocence, and Bertie had every intention of appreciating and enjoying it, especially seeing as she would probably never have children again. Sure, she spoiled the two girls slightly by letting them lick off the cookie dough...and anyways, no one (besides Madame Carp) was going to know anyways. Besides, the way the girls beamed at her when she let them was more than enough. "You"re a softie." Madame Carp snorted as she watched the girls playfully throw handfuls of flour at one another between mixing the bowl that had little cookie dough remaining inside it. She was wearing an apron and grimacing at the mess created. "So? They"re adorable." Bertie said quietly, not believing that she was actually telling this to her former employer, who had terrorised her life not several years ago. Madame Carp rolled her eyes as another blob of cookie dough missed Anneliese and hit the previously stainless wall. "I just hope you do realise that I"m not going to be helping you clean this up." Bertie shrugged. "Well, you can clean the girls then." Madame Carp scowled, crossing her arms at the thought and how her words had been twisted against her. Her scowl deepened when she saw that her sleeve was now covered in flour. She tried to shake it out, only to get hit in the side by another blob of cookie dough. Bertie laughed as she walked over to join the girls. "Girls, make sure that there is enough left to actually make cookies!" Chapter 22: Trusting that the girls were in safe hands, Julian started to lead Dominick back to the library. He looked around at the various candles, tables and portraits, noting with slight concern at just how tall everything seems compared to him. He glances at Dominick, wondering if the King is feeling the same way, but Dominick doesn"t seem to notice. Julian frowned as he wondered what would have happened if the portrait had never come up. If the de-aging had never happened. Would Anneliese still have wanted to find out what happened to her father? Would the Queen have been as secretive as she currently was? The thought of the Queen deepened Julian"s frown. Genevieve hadn"t been seen since she had last retreated into her room. Maria was tending to her - the only reason Julian was getting updates on the Queen - but no one else was allowed contact, or even dared. Even the guards at her door could not definitively say if the Queen was still in the room, as only Maria entered and exited. And with what the Queen had done to Anneliese? Julian wasn"t sure if he could easily forgive the Queen. What kind of mother slapped her child, just because said child wanted to know about her other parent? Besides, all of this seemed more like the Queen"s fault, if you asked Julian. "Julian?" And, to be honest, Anneliese was the victim in this, as was her father. The Queen was the evil person in this. "Julian." A hand reached out to his shoulder, and Julian jumped. He shot an apologetic look at Dominick. "Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts." Dominick shot him a kind smile. "It"s alright." And seeing that youthful smile on Dominick"s face gave Julian a chance to debate just how much they had changed. Dominick no longer bore the heavy burden of King that he had when he was older. Everything about Dominick seemed lighter, while, in contrast, everything about Julian seemed older. Heavier, for some reason. Like before he had gotten the job of tutor, and was worrying whether he and his family would make it day to day. "So what are we doing now?" Dominick asked, sending everything a quizzical look. Julian smiled as he sat down at a table, gently turning the knobs of the machine. "I"ve done this before with Anneliese, but I"m not sure if this will work as well." "I"m willing to try anything." Dominick said. "Okay, then." Julian nodded. "So, you can organise the samples to an order of your liking. Afterwards, you will give them to me one by one, and then record any observations I make down. It will be less time-consuming than if I have to stop every so often to write something down." "That works for me." Dominick nodded. He looked around and picked up a clean sheet of parchment and a quill nearby. Making sure there was an inkpot on the table, he grabbed the first sample and examined the smudged writing. He noted it down before handing it to Julian. "This one is from the tree right outside the palace gates." Julian nodded and placed it on the machinery, leaving Dominick to gape at him before Julian started speaking and Dominick started to write. More than three hours later, there was the sound of footsteps, and Julian straightened, stretching several kinks out of his back. He was far too young, physically especially, for this sort of aches, which he was more familiar with as he got older. He turned off the machine, looking up at Dominick. The man was frowning as he finished writing something, carefully placing it next to several other copies of dried parchment. The ink was still glistening on some of them. Julian was admittedly impressed with how well Dominick had kept up with him. "That sounds like trouble." Julian noted with no little amusement. Dominick rubbed his eyes, giving a tired chuckle as he proceeded to wring the cramps out of his writing hand. "How much did we get done?" Julian glanced down at the vials, surprised. "Nearly a quarter of the way through." "While I do not want to seem lazy, I think it"ll be alright to call it a day." Julian nodded in agreement just as the doors flew open. The aroma of freshly baked wafted into the room, and Dominick"s stomach grumbled. The two boys laughed as Anneliese and Erika came flying in, each balancing a plate of steaming chocolate chip cookies. Madame Carp was following behind, scowling at the mess of the library. "Julian!" Anneliese ran straight to him, though she was careful not to let her cookies fall. Erika wasn"t as daring, being more careful to walk towards Dominick. Julian plucked one cookie and blew on it to cool it down. He bit into it, and smiled. "Well done, your highness." Anneliese laughed, delighted as she was offered a mouthful from the same cookie, which she took. Erika laughed, too, as Dominick took two cookies right off the bat and crammed them in his mouth in a surprisingly regal fashion. She was offered one of the cookies, which she took eagerly after setting the plate down. Madame Carp huffed and plopped down on a nearby cushioned seat. As if remembering she was there, Erika gasped and ran towards Carp, handing her another cookie. The woman grumbled out a thanks and bit into the cookie, but it was no secret that she was grinning slightly behind the mouthful. Erika beamed at her, and proceeded to sit down in Dominick"s lap as she started to eat. For once, the room was nearly completely silent as the five occupants finished up the plates, though Erika was sure to leave a few for Bertie. "So, what have you found?" Madame Carp asked roughly. Dominick turned to Julian, who had turned to the parchment notes. He picked one up and read through Dominick"s cramped yet flowing letters. "Well, so far, there seems to be a similarity between those near the wells in the south side of the village." "Isn"t that where the doctor lives?" Anneliese asked. Julian shook his head. "It"s where he collects the herbs he uses." "Oh." Anneliese said, unbothered as she went back to her cookie. But Julian and Dominick suddenly shot each other a look of alarm. Anneliese and Erika seemed to de-age the most in the night, or after a doctor"s appointment. And despite the guards who were now younger, it was entirely possible for someone to sneak into their room. "What is it, Dominick?" Erika asked innocently, frowning. "Don"t worry about it, Erika." Dominick reassured even as he shot Julian an alarmed look. "You need to get a warrant." Madame Carp informed them. Julian nodded. "What"s a warrant, Ju?" Anneliese asked sleepily, now that the day"s excitement was over. "It"s a parchment that allows us to go to someone"s house to look for something." Julian answered distractedly. "Oh." Anneliese said again as her eyes drooped close. Bertie came not too soon after, dressed in a fresh set of clothes and with a night-candle with her. She smiled at the sight of the sleeping princesses, and the prince and King who seemed not too far behind them. Beckoning to Madame Carp, who had noticed her, the older woman let the boys wake up a little and follow the two to their bedrooms.

"Lin Chung?" Lady Green asked as she looked around. Daylight shone through the open entrance of the unblocked cave, which was strange. It had been nighttime when they had first entered the cave. Lin Chung was right next to her, looking at confused as she was. A voice outside caught their attention, and they turned, seeing two people approaching a horde of people dressed in black. The bodies in the cave, Lady Green realised belatedly. There were the sounds of crying children, before something happened. The man pulled out his long spear, still on his horse. He leapt down neatly, glaring at the group of people who gaped at him. The other lady took advantage to beckon the children over, who sprinted to her. As they approached, Lady Green"s eyes widened when she realised who they were. Hu Sanniang stood there in all her glory, blocking the children behind her. Her eyes were sharp, blades gleaming as she stared down the group of people. Lin Chong was the same, his face angular and tanned, weariness emanating from his figure. Suddenly, the group turned and fled. Lin Chong shouted out something to Hu Sanniang and hurried inside after the group of people. The people turned, one of them launching a spear at Lin Chong, who Lady Green noticed was surprisingly tall. He ducked, charging forward, even as the spear hit the top of the cave. They all turned as the cave barricaded in on itself. Lin Chong turned, eyes blazing, and the group of people seemed to back away, knowing that there was no escaping him. Their grips tightened on their weapons, but it was clear they were hesitant to attack the more experienced warrior. The crystal suddenly gleamed where it was still in Lady Green"s hands. She glanced down at it, suddenly realising she had it, and darkness surrounded them once more. Rosefinch walked into the clearing, closely followed by the rest of First and Second Squad. "Where are they?" Jumpy shrugged, and Kowloon approached the hole. "Hello?" He called into it. Lady Green sounded shaken as she responded. "We"re coming out now." Kowloon backed away. "You guys okay?" Lady Green clambered out, landing on her feet. Lin Chung was right behind her, landing on all fours before he straightened up. Both were pale, their eyes wide with fear and shock, but they kept on a calm demeanour for their friends. They turned to one another, eyes clearly sending a message. We"ll talk about this later. AN: Forgot to mention, I own none of the characters in the chapters, such as Hu Sanniang or Lin Chong. They belong to Water Margin/Outlaws of the Marsh 《水浒传》, to the author, Shi Nai"an. Chapter 6: At night, Lin Chung and Lady Green walked out into the open air and took the opportunity to discuss what they had seen. "What do you think it means?" Lin Chung shook his head. "I"m as confused as you are. The only thing they showed us was what Meiren had told us herself." "I know, but I get the feeling that something bigger that we don"t understand. Remember what Mystique Sonia told us about the history of Liangshan from the Exiles" descendants?" Lin Chung nodded slowly. "Wang Ying and Hu Sanniang were married. Lin Chong was exiled by the Emperor"s advisor, whose nephew wanted Lin Chong"s wife. After Lin Chong left, his wife committed suicide to remain loyal." "Not only that." Lady Green frowned. "Remember? She mentioned that only after Hu Sanniang returned from Huangchun did she finally have a child. Wang Ying was thought to be barren, which was why many didn"t want to be his wife, as they wanted a child." Lin Chung finished her thoughts. "But if Wang Ying was barren, then he couldn"t have produced the child with Hu Sanniang." "So who else would be able to?" Lady Green asked, frowning. Lin Chung"s eyes widened. "You don"t think that..." Lady Green froze. "Would they? They wouldn"t." "She had one child. One child only, and that was after the trip to Huangchun. None of the villagers here had had enough contact with her. None of them would dare to try and sleep with her - she was more than capable of protecting herself." "But...you think he forced himself on her?" Lin Chung shook his head distractedly. "Meiren mentioned that Hu Sanniang was really bothered by Lin Chong"s disappearance. If he had forced himself on her, she would"ve been elated. And she celebrated the birth of the child." Lady Green"s eyes widened even more. "You think they had an affair?" Lin Chung growled, raking a hand through his hair. "That doesn"t make any sense. Why would Hu Sanniang, who was happily married to Wang Ying, have an affair with Lin Chong, who had sworn to be loyal to his wife until his own death?" Lady Green then frowned, trying to look at it from a different perspective. "What if she hadn"t been as happy as she seemed?" Lin Chung eyed her curiously. She continued. "What if she hadn"t been happy, and Lin Chong had been around?" Lin Chung shook his head. "No, she wouldn"t take advantage of that. From Meiren"s stories, she didn"t seem like the type." "Then what about Lin Chong?" Lady Green asked. "None of the villagers except for the elder at that time had much contact with Lin Chong. The old man might"ve, but he would"ve viewed him in a heroic light due to Lin Chong rescuing him when he was young." "This is confusing." Lin Chung sighed. "Until we have all the facts at our disposal, we can only guess and make assumptions." "So," Lady Green said, "from what we have, Lin Chong and Hu Sanniang headed off to Huangchun together to take care of some rogues. Hu Sanniang could"ve not been as happy as she had seemed. Wang Ying was barren, so they never had any children. When they are at Huangchun, Lin Chong supposedly dies, his body never found. "Hu Sanniang is devastated. She returns to Liangshan, and has a child, who she happily celebrates with the other Exiles as a miracle. After that, she dies, leaving everything to the child. The child has great-grandchildren, before the line supposedly dies out." Lin Chung sighed. "We"ll find out in the morning." Hu Sanniang placed a hand on her swollen stomach. She sighed happily, feeling the baby kick. Wang Ying smiled at her as she turned to speak to Gu Dasao. He had been more gentle ever since she had gotten pregnant. "You have a miracle growing inside of you." He would say. And she would smile and nod whole-heartedly. Because the child was a miracle. Not because it was Wang Ying"s and he was barren, but because of something else. Everytime she felt her stomach, she would think about his eyes, his features, his smile. Would the child inherit his eyes? His ridiculously tall height? Even better, maybe his smile. She would constantly find herself daydreaming, since Song Jiang prevented her from attending any sort of missions. All the Exiles now had something to look forward to. A child from amongst their ranks. The females wouldn"t stop gossiping with her, and it got tiresome after a few days. Even the male Exiles constantly talked to her. She was, to be honest, touched by their concern. She had yet to inform her brother, though. And...she wasn"t sure whether to tell her brother the truth. He would find out eventually, though - after all, she had inherited her sharp wits from someone, and with her sort of unluckiness, he would"ve inherited it as well. But...? She looked down at her stomach, and placed a gently hand on it, a faint smile on her face. She hoped he would be proud. Outlaws of the Marsh (where some characters are from and their stories) belong to Shi Nai"an. Chapter 7: The morning was silent as they all got up to get breakfast. After much discussion, it was decided that the remaining few that hadn"t had the chance to see Liangshan would go to visit it, while some of the others stayed behind to make sure that the cave stayed protected. Along the way, Lady Green and Lin Chung didn"t talk about it much. But in the early dawn, the topic they discussed was quite often talked about. It was frustrating to both that they couldn"t form a solid conclusion. That was, until Lin Chung mentioned that his old village was near Liangshan. The Big Green members that had gone with them immediately offered to visit the village. Lin Chung agreed, his eyes lighting up at the thought of going home. Making their way to the small but cosy looking village, the group looked around in awe. It was hard to see how Lin Chung, one of the finest warriors in Hidden Kingdom, could be raised in such a small and modest-looking village. Men worked hard in the fields, occasionally calling out greetings to Lin Chung. Lin Chung called back, grinning as he walked over the fields before re-joining the rest to trek into the cluster of huts. Once they reached the inner-village, where most of the houses were gathered, Lin Chung was nearly tackled over by a 7-year-old. "Lin!" The boy was clearly excited, eyes gleaming. "Hi, Lu." Lin Chung knelt down to the boy"s level, smiling broadly. "Where"s your mother?" Lu pointed towards a young lady walking to them, expression friendly. "Lin!" She hugged him tightly, with him returning it just as well. "Uh, Lin Chung?" Kowloon prompted. "Right." Lin Chung turned to his friends. "Lina, these are my friends, Rosefinch, Kowloon, Jumpy, Lady Green, Golden-Eye Husky, and Mano." Lina smiled politely at them. "Guys, this is my adopted cousin, Lina." "Nice to meet you." Lady Green was the first to greet. Lina smiled at her. "Likewise. You have a well-known reputation around here." Lady Green ducked her head, surprised that she was known even out here. Lina seemed to sense that as she laughed. "My dear, we keep tabs on Big Green. After all, Lin Chung"s in it, isn"t he?" Lin Chung smiled bashfully at her. "So, what are you doing here?" "We need to get to Liangshan, and I realised that the village was on the way. So we decided to visit." "Yay!" Lu cheered, taking ahold of Lin Chung"s hand. "C"mon! Papa will want to see you again." Lin Chung gave the group an apologetic glance before he was dragged away, back to the fields. Lady Green watched in amusement as more children started to crowd around the sharpshooter. "Popular, isn"t he?" Lina laughed again. "You have no idea. The children love him." She beckoned to them. "C"mon, I"ll show you the fields." They followed her out into the fields, where, sure enough, Lin Chung was surrounded by some farmers, who were laughing as they talked to him, delight clearly on their faces. The children were dancing around him, Lu having hadn"t let go of his hand yet. "That"s sweet." Rosefinch stated, looking at the scene. Lina smiled fondly. "Yes...he"s always been one of them, even after he joined Big Green." "Why did he join Big Green?" Kowloon asked, curious. Lina"s eyes darkened. "It"s...hard to explain. Get him to explain it to you. It"s not my story to share." Hu Sanniang looked at Lin Chong. They had stopped for a break on their way to the village, and both sat quietly, relishing the silence for once compared to the rough sounds of battle and training. "Are you alright now?" Hu Sanniang startled at the sound of Lin Chong"s voice. "I beg your pardon?" "Are you alright now?" he repeated patiently. "After the training and the balm?" Hu Sanniang guiltily looked down at her hands, hoping that he wouldn"t notice. She had used the balm, but for bruises that weren"t the result of training. "Yes, the balm helped." Lin Chong was sometimes way too perceptive for his own good. "Just for training?" "What?" She asked, surprised. She tried to maintain a calm facade. "Those bruises. The one on your hip." His voice was low and soothing. "No one ever strikes that low, not even with the fake swords we sometimes use. No one hits the back of their blade into someone"s waist - usually someone"s heart." "What are you talking about?" Hu Sanniang tried to regain control of the conversation. Lin Chong"s dark eyes fixed hers. "Be careful, Hu Sanniang. I do not wish for you to end up like my wife." He stood up abruptly, and then turned, walking several metres away. "It"s getting late. I"ll take first watch." Any characters such as Hu Sanniang and Lin Chong belong to Shi Nai"an"s "Outlaws of the Marsh". Chapter 8: They left the village early the next morning, only saying goodbye to Lina, before they started their trek to Liangshan. Golden-Eye Husky and Mano clearly remembered the way there (thank goodness as they would"ve been sort of lost otherwise) and, mixed with Lin Chung"s knowledge of the small area around the village where he grew up, they found their way there quickly. The place was looming and intimidating. "Whoa." Rosefinch breathed out as she looked upon the old wooden sign that indicated the entrance of Liangshan Marsh. "Let"s go." Lin Chung nodded at Golden-Eye Husky and Mano to lead them inside. Both obediently did so. The inside was barren with a slight chill. There were leaf piles around the place, kept neat only be the occasional group of volunteers who cleared the area in respect for the Outlaws. The atmosphere reminded them of Big Green, but relatively older. The huts in the area were made of stone and crumbling at the edges, though the foundation still stayed strong. As they walked in and out of the various assembly halls for the Outlaws, it was clear that resources were scarce. Nothing adorned the walls, though the decorative pillars and ceiling planks more than made up for it. The decorations, surely once bright and colourful, was now faded and had lost some of its previous splendour. Once done, they began their tour of the halls, they started walking to the individual huts which housed the 108 Outlaw commanders. The doors to each room were old, with a sort of step before they entered inside. Mano warned them not to step on them, as it was considered bad luck to do so. Kowloon snorted. "What do you mean?" "Mighty Ray stepped on it by accident. He fell and nearly cracked his head if Mystique Sonia had not caught him." This silenced Kowloon. He knew better than to try and test his luck. Most of the huts were empty - to be expected after so long - and Mano led them to Hu Sanniang"s hut first. Of course, she had shared the room with Wang Ying. The room was relatively simple. The bed was still standing, the desk dusty. There was a closet full of moths, and a weapons rack in the corner. The group spread out, looking around at the many places. Lady Green knelt down beside the bed and was about to stand up again, before she noticed a little cabinet under the bed, to the very corner; so far so that unless the light shone right, they wouldn"t have be able to see it. Calling to the others, Lin Chung, whose arms were slightly longer than hers, reached out underneath the bed and dragged the dusty small thing out. It was made of metal and intricately carved, with a small door on one side. It was surprisingly strong, even after having been left there for so many years. Mano and Golden-Eye Husky seemed surprised - they hadn"t seen the box the first time they were there. Lady Green yanked the door open, but still with some respect. The dust clouded around, causing them to cough, before they looked into the box and tilted it to the side. A small half-empty jar rolled out. It was a simple thing, made of glass and covered with a cloth, which had it"s sides bound to the jar with string. Lin Chung tentatively opened it, and they backed away slightly. He peered into the content, and hesitantly dipped his fingers in, sniffing at it. "A healing balm." He reassured them. "A what?" Kowloon asked. "A healing balm. I"ve seen some in my village - used it before. This is an older version, but the smell is still there." "What would she do with healing balm?" Kowloon asked again, confused. Lady Green frowned. "Well, she was a warrior. She must"ve gotten hurt in battle a lot." The jar was still in Lin Chung"s hands. "Should we take that with us?" Lin Chung looked at it, before nodding. They moved out of the room, and headed further into the compound. The other huts had nothing interesting and had the same basic layout - bed at the furthest corner in, wardrobe right beside it. Weapons rack in reachable distance. Different shapes of jars containing the healing balm were around, but none of the group felt compelled to carry them. "Seems like each had their own unique jar." Rosefinch noted. Finally, they reached Lin Chong"s one. Entering inside, they looked around. It was relatively neat and contained more dust inside it than the outside ones. They entered carefully. "Be careful." Lin Chung noted. All of them followed his advice, carefully looking at the various furnitures and knick-knacks that had survived over the years. The weapon rack was empty, and the moths had long since finished the clothes inside. After a while, Rosefinch frowned. "There"s no jar." They turned to her, now just realising the same thing. "Maybe Lin Chong took his with him? And they never got the chance to take it back." Lady Green shook her head. "I don"t think so." She gestured to the jar that Lin Chung was still holding. "Look at that more carefully." They gathered around the jar, squinting in the dark light. "There"s some writing on it." Kowloon noted. They peered at it. The letters were intricately carved into the jar with precision. "林冲." Lin Chung read. Lady Green frowned. It sure as anything sounded a lot like Lin Chung"s own name, just with a different pronunciation. But the pronunciation made the name more unique. They stood in silence for a while, before Kowloon spoke. "Why would Hu Sanniang have Lin Chong"s jar of healing balm?" "Maybe he lent it to her? And she forgot to return it." Rosefinch suggested. "If he had given it to her right before they left, then she would never have had the opportunity to return it, right? Maybe she felt guilty and kept it." "But why risk the fact of others thinking that both were having an affair?" Lady Green said. The looks given to her were strange ones. "It makes sense, doesn"t it? Hu Sanniang had the jar of healing balm. As a warrior, she would have many injuries. Lin Chong too. We already saw that Wang Ying had his own jar. Why borrow from Lin Chong when Wang Ying would readily give her some? It would be suggestive back then as to her relationship with him." Rosefinch frowned. "That"s a good point, but there"s no explanation." Lin Chung was staring at it. "Maybe they did have an affair." All looked sharply at him. He stared steadily back at them. "Hu Sanniang could have gotten the healing balm from her husband at any time she wanted to. But she didn"t. Assuming that Lin Chong gave her the healing cream - both of them then left for the village. Something was going on between her and Wang Ying, or she would"ve just asked him or it." The silence was deafening. "You mean that...you think...that Wang Ying was..." Kowloon never finished the thought, but he didn"t need to. Lady Green did. "Abusive." "Lin Chong?" Hu Sanniang called to the meditating warrior. He opened his eyes, almost lazily, and fixed his stare on her. "Yes?" They were spending their first night in the village. Quickly, the elder of the village had given both of them sections in her own home. After trying to refuse, the elder insisted, and had their things moved there before both could further protest. Graciously, they finally accepted. They had just finished their dinner, and Hu Sanniang was still trying to think how she felt for the exiled trainer of the Imperial Army. "Are you alright?" Hu Sanniang realised how long she had been quiet. "Um, yes." Lin Chong invited her to sit next to him. She did so. "What is it?" "Do you think about your wife?" the thought was rushed out before it could be fully thought out. A moment of quiet. Hu Sanniang risked a look at Lin Chong, who was frowning slightly. "Sometimes." "Only sometimes?" Lin Chong sighed. "We are constantly in battle, Hu Sanniang. It is hard to find a moment of peace around Liangshan." "Right. I"m sorry." Hu Sanniang bit her lip. "May I ask you a question?" "I believe you just did." Hu Sanniang flushed, but quickly said something before her pride leapt out to her defence - by asking the question. "How do you think husbands should treat their wives and mistresses?" Lin Chong blinked, taken aback. And Hu Sanniang instantly knew that this was pretty much a confession as to what Wang Ying did to her. "Forget about it." She made to stand up and leave, but Lin Chong"s voice interrupted her, and she turned back, startled. "I believe that the husband should treat the wife the best. Gently, with the greatest care. The mistresses...the husband should stay loyal to the wife. I do not generally enjoy the company of people who have too many mistresses to count." "Oh." Hu Sanniang looked down. "What of the wife"s behaviour?" "She should be dutiful, taking care of the husband." Hu Sanniang peered at his face. "Was your wife like this?" she knew that she was stepping into dangerous territory. In fact, it was considered lucky that he even answered any of her questions. Lin Chong suddenly turned to her. "Why are you asking me this?" Hu Sanniang froze. Her mind frantically ran with excuses, but before she could voice any one of them, he spoke again, turning back to his meditation and closing his eyes. "If something is bothering you, Hu Sanniang...talk to someone about it." I just did. Hu Sanniang thought as she left. And I"m still not sure about what I should do.

Kat looked at the sky for assistance. The sun was just coming up, a perfect time for her to sneak on board a Copper Isles bound ship. Finally, she can leave. "Aw, Da, maybe soon." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and left him at the stables. "Bye!" she called and ran away. "I left a note for Ma!" Kat quickly made it to the docks and, using her Gift, snuck in a Copper Isles trading ship unnoticed. She found a suitable spot in a supply room and slept the whole trip to Rajmuat. a/n: Yeah!! Gettin" the party started!! Woot -woo. Woot- woo! Review!!! a/n : Thanks to all my readers and reviewers!! Ami- thanks a lot! I"m really excited about this story! Anon- I don"t know yet if Kat and Fox get together. In a little I"m going to put up a poll about who you guys think she should be with! Familiar Eyes Chapter 4 "The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend." - Henri Bergson Kat was munching on an apple when the ship finally docked at Rajmuat. She threw the core out the nearest porthole and Listened for any one near. Most of the sailors were working on deck, but she heard footsteps thumping towards her supply room. If they weren"t paying attention, she could silently sneak past, but she couldn"t make herself totally invisible. She had to wait for an opportunity to escape unseen from the boat. She didn"t have to wait long. "Eh! Mac, Solu, and Butter Bill! Get this cargo on the docks! Now, you dogs!" shouted a rough male voice. Three grunts replied and soon the storeroom door opened. Kat quickly ducked behind a barrel and threw out enough power so they wouldn"t hear her. The men were as dirty as they sounded. Clothes were stained and hair was greasy. Kat"s lips curled back in disgust. One grabbed a small chest and the other two carried a large barrel between them. As soon as they left, Kat jumped up and looked around for something she could carry off the ships. Her eyes landed on a bundle of fabrics. She grabbed the pile, holding it in front of her face as she walked on deck behind the other three. She discreetly watched the crew as she passed them, but no one even looked her way. She passed a tan, greasy man who was mopping the deck and almost slipped on the wet boards. The man never even turned at the noise. As she looked around the deck again, confused, she caught sight of the docks and city. It was easy to spot her destination- the palace. She heard the cries of slaves mingling with the calls of merchants promoting their goods. Within minutes, Kat and her group made it to the gangplank and started making their way down. On the dock, the three men set their load down. One turned to Kat while the other two walked back up to the ship. The sailor that stayed behind grabbed the fabrics from her hands and set them on top of the large barrel. Though she knew it wouldn"t help her much, Kat threw all her power into her Gifted stealth ability, hoping the man"s attention would skim over her. She had an intense urge to close her eyes and pretend that if she can"t see them, they can"t see her. A familiar chuckle caught Kat"s attention. The laughter reminded her of the day in George"s office when he had mentioned Kyprioth, the raka Trickster god. She remembered hearing that giggle, had hoped it was just a maid, but now her hopes were dashed. Unless the maid followed me here, she pondered. A rainy mist dampened her hair as she cracked one eye open. She hadn"t even realized she had actually closed them. She wearily eyed the man that had laughed. He was the sailor who had taken the fabrics out of her hands. He still looked the same, greasy dark hair and torn clothes, but he radiated an aura of godly power. "You"ve finally made it, my dear!" the sailor smiled. Kat felt a desperate need to call a healer to fix what teeth here left in his dirty mouth. But, even coming from some common sailor, his voice held power. Kat withdrew her Gift with a sigh. "You"ve come," the man repeated. He reached out and pulled Kat into a tight hug. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" She yanked herself out of the man"s grasp as she gagged at his stench. She scanned the busy dock to see if anyone was paying attention to them. Her eyes fell on a handsome, red haired man, perhaps only a few years only older than her. They held each other"s gaze before the red-haired man quickly looked away. A shiver swept Kat"s body as he looked away. It was more a tingle of fear than anything else. She had to admit that she found him handsome, his sharp features only served to heighten his looks. But, the look in his eyes was disturbing. It didn"t sparkle with "love at first sight", but something much more calculating. It was a look of shock, intrigue, and, even, a little alarm. She shot an "I-told-you-so" look at the sailor. By the time she looked back at the red-haired man, he was nowhere to be seen. She wondered if it was Fox, who had red hair, but quickly dismissed the idea. Such an infamous spy wouldn"t be so conspicuous. She was hoping her competition wasn"t going to be that stupid. She shrugged and returned her attention to the sailor. "Would I be correct in assuming you are Kyprioth? The Trickster God?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest. The god in the man tsk-ed. "You know who I am, yet you show me no respect?" His smile grew wider. Kat pretended to contemplate his words. "Hmm," she tapped a finger against her bottom lip. "Am I supposed to prostrate myself right here on the docks?" Kyprioth nodded. "Right here on the docks where everyone will see me worship a dirty, old sailor?" Her right eyebrow rose questioningly. The mist frosted her hair with small water droplets. Kyprioth patted her on the shoulder. "Not one to be trifled with, are you? Good." Kat"s other eyebrow joined the first. The sailor shooed her away. "Well, off with you then. Better get to the palace kitchens before the heavy rain starts. Blasted winter rains." The sailor shrugged and eyed the sky. "I don"t like getting wet." Kat watched the sailor-god. "Why do I feel like I won"t be rid of you that easily?" Her companion laughed and winked at her. A second later, the sailor pushed past Kat and walked back onto the ship. If the god was helping, it should be easier. Kat, too, walked away... ...right into someone"s shoulder. "Oof!" She rubbed her injured nose. "Terribly sorry," she said before trying to move on. A strong hand grabbed her upper arm and stopped her mid-stride. Kat turned, aching to hurt her captor, but knowing she would endanger her mission by doing so. Instead, she tucked her anger away and turned around with eyes wide with feigned fear. A pair of bright green eyes met hers, filled with amusement. The amusement quickly faded as they registered fear in Kat"s. She watched the change with satisfaction. Score one for the ditsy maid. "I"m sorry if I scared you," the man apologized, but still kept a tight hold on her arm. Kat studied him when he didn"t continue. He was a luarin with dirty blonde hair that fell to his eyes and the back of his shirt collar. He was leaner than the men on the docks and, judging from the lack of calluses on the hand that was presently cutting off circulation to her arm, he wasn"t a poor worker or soldier. She looked down at his clothes. The fabric wasn"t expensive enough to be a noble"s outfit. But, a patch bearing the Rittevon arms was sewn onto his shoulder. And that look in his eyes wasn"t helping. It clearly said he liked what he saw...a lot. "Oh, me? Heh, heh. I-I just scare so easily sometimes." While she spoke she feebly tried tugging her arm out of the man"s grasp. "I actually bump into people a lot, hehe, but," she gave another tug, "well, they usually let go." His green eyes laughed at her and one side of his mouth quirked up, but he got the hint; he let go, however, his hand lingered for a second more, almost like a caress. Kat"s mind was spinning. No one at home would"ve touched her like that, let alone some stranger in a different country. She forced a giggle, but her blush was genuine. He laughed. "You must be new here. Otherwise you wouldn"t look so confused and nervous." "And I thought it was my foreign clothes and travelling bag," she retorted without thinking. She clamped her hands over her mouth to stem the flow of any more mission threatening outbursts. The man just laughed again and looked down at her affectionately. Oh Gods, he thinks I"m cute, Kat thought and held back from grimacing, He"ll start acting like the others now- offering to do things for me, go out of his way to see me. It"ll be such an inconvenience. She began to edge away from him. "I have to go now. I want to find the palace before it rains harder." Of course, she already knew where the palace was, and every passage and room inside. But, Kat the luarin maid didn"t. He stopped laughing, but his green eyes still shone with amusement. "My name is Loahn." Kat didn"t care and it showed on her face. She began to walk away. Loahn lunged forward and grabbed her hand. "Mage Loahn?" he specified. Kat slowly raised her eyes from their touching hands and up to his face, suppressing the urge to hit him. Loahn sighed, "Royal Mage Loahn?" Kat continued to stare blankly at him. She took her hand out of his grasp then clasped both of hers together, hoping to discourage any more of his grabbing. Once her hand was secure, she thought about what he said. She knew the five head Rittevon mages- Zu Bramidge, Audrey Featherstone, Nell Castor, Shaylen Lan, and Issa Blackwater. All five lived with their families in a large house on palace grounds provided by some past royal. Loahn must be one"s son, old enough to have knowledge of magehood. So, he must live on palace grounds. "I live at the palace," he bragged, puffing his chest out with pride. Kat simpered accordingly. "Really? Wow!" Loahn fidgeted a moment before offering to escort her to the palace. "Only if you tell me your name." "Sorry," she giggled, "I"m Kat." She held out her hand to shake, but he grabbed it and planted a kiss on her knuckles. Kat resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I wouldn"t want to inconvenience you." She prayed he was busy. He shrugged at her suggestion and smiled widely at her. "It"s nothing that can"t wait until later." Kat was afraid of that answer. And so it begins, she thought. "Well, let"s go!" She turned to walk off in the correct direction before remembering that she wasn"t supposed to know where to go. Rookie mistake, she mentally chastised herself before spinning back to Loahn and giggled. "Oops. I don"t know where I"m going. Which way do we go?" Loahn turned her in the right direction. "It"s this way, Kat." His voice was laced with laughter. Kat didn"t know if this guy did anything other than laugh. "Oh!" she giggled. "I"m so silly." They didn"t talk until they reached the soldiers guarding the palace entrance of Rittevon"s Lance. "What do you want?" one demanded in a rough voice. Loahn showed his shoulder patch to the men. They grumbled but let both through. Kat noticed that the light rain had driven almost everyone inside. But the few people they passed stopped to offer a greeting to Loahn. By the fourth greeter, Kat was bored of them. She used her Hearing to check the people along the road. She Heard some people scurrying on the path, probably trying to get out of the rain. A devoted gardener was pruning some bushes just a little farther up. They were about half way to the palace when Kat spoke up. "You have a lot of power here, Mage Loahn," Kat said, coating her voice in school-girl awe. "Yes, I guess I do. And, please, it"s just Loahn," he told her. Only, she never heard past "Yes.' Mostly because her cheek was stinging from being smashed into some medallion. She stumbled back in surprise. She really needed to stop running into people today. She glanced up and caught her breath as she stared at a perfect specimen of manhood... ...Who was currently glaring at her with lust-free eyes. a/n: Hey friendly readers!! I"m going to put a poll up soon in my profile. I want to know who you guys want Kat to end up with! Thanks!! And Review!! a/n: Aaaah, another chapter. So here I am with chapter five and some orange soda. AND I can go outside without a coat on. Sweet. Clear Blue Rain: Thanks for your review! Kaiya: Hey, no prob. I"ll def keep that in mind too! KrisEleven: Thanks for the help!!! LadyoftheRisingSun: Hey! Thanks for giving it a chance! I hope you like it! Familiar Eyes Chapter 5 "Seeing is not always believing." -Martin Luther King, Jr. Taybur steadied the girl as she stumbled backwards. He registered a dull pain in his chest from where her head had crashed into him. Just what he needed, he thought, something else to delay him from his training session. His day had started out surprisingly well. He had a wonderful night of sleep, a great breakfast, and hadn"t heard from Topabaw or his lackeys all week. Life was beginning to look up for the captain of the King"s Guard. He almost smiled as he walked the halls to Dunevon"s room. Of course, he should"ve known better. His good days never last anymore. He could hear the little king crying even before he turned the corner to the hall that held his rooms. Fearing the worst, he rushed in only to find an incompetent maid trying to getDunevon dressed. For some reason, the maids Imajane hired for Dunevon hardly knew anything about children. Dunevon was able to chew them up and spit them out in a day- two at the most. Just as Taybur calmed the four-year-old king, Dunevon threw up on the maid...and the floor and, amazingly, the wall, which was a good three feet away. Taybur had sent the maid off to change and find someone to clean up the mess. And then he had to wait until another bevy of maids came to clean. He added "Tell I. to find new maid" to his to-do list. Once Dunevon was taken care of, he had to run across the palace grounds to get to the practice area where his soldiers waited. Luckily, the increasing rain had driven everyone inside. Finally, he was almost there... ...and the only girl on the path had to go out of her way and run into him. He spit out a mouthful of brown hair and glared down at her. At first glance he thought she was some degree of raka because of her tanned skin, but her features held no similarities and her clothes were distinctly from Tortall. He was startled by the bright color of her eyes. Recalling stories he heard of the raka god, Kyprioth, the bright eyed god, he briefly entertained the idea of the god assuming human form and taking his nickname literally. Studying the girl, just to double check her humanity, he noticed her cheek had a light red spot from colliding with his captain"s crest. Someone cleared their throat. Taybur turned to the girl"s companion and suppressed a groan. It was Loahn Blackwater. Great. He looked around for an excuse to avoid him, but found only a gardener clipping some hedges. At least he didn"t have to listen to Loahn talk about Loahn for hours. Thank the Gods he had set up a practice, even if he was running late and would never hear the end of it from his men. "Terribly sorry, Captian Sibigat," the mage apologized. "Not a problem, Mage Loahn." Taybur eyed the pair. The girl was pretty, which was most likely the reason Loahn had latched onto her. He almost felt bad for the girl, but one look at her vacant expression and his guilt subsided. But before he left, he couldn"t help giving the girl a hand. "Weren"t you supposed to return from the docks with herbs, not a girl?" he accused, pointing to the girl"s travelling bag. The girl smiled. Loahn"s face flushed a deep crimson. "Wha-, well, I-..." he turned to the girl. "Sorry, Kat. The kitchens are just up ahead." He said his farewells and ran back to the docks. Taybur also nodded farewell and hurried away. Considering how long a conversation with Loahn usually took, he chalked this short encounter up as a success. He just hoped that girl had enough brains to find the kitchens. After all those obstacles, Taybur made it to the training grounds. Ignoring any jabs at his lateness, he set his men to work. Taybur joined them and easily forgot about his run in with the mage and the girl. The gardener clipped his last branch and watched the god-touched girl hurry to the kitchens. He stayed by the hedges until she was far enough away to make sure she wouldn"t notice him. Fox pulled his head covering tighter to block out the rain as it got harder and faster. He checked the area for any pedestrians or workers. Satisfied that no one was watching, he clipped his shears onto his belt and headed off to Topabaw"s office. The Rittevon"s spymaster had sent him to the docks earlier to check on some new..."arrivals." And that"s where he caught sight of the dirty sailor hugging the tall brunette. First he had written them off as family members- father and daughter, perhaps- until he saw the girl pull away and study the docks. Had she been embarrassed? Curiosity piqued, Fox viewed them using his Gift. Nothing could surprise him more than when he saw a purple aura of godliness surrounding the sailor. Useless, Topabaw had called the Gift, and Fox agreed. But, during times like this, when the purple aura spread over to the foreign girl too, the Gift could be useful. What alarmed Fox the most was the color of the god"s mark. He"d seen the Mother Goddess"s white on people and Mithros"s orange and a few others, but never purple. As the girl walked to the kitchen, she continued to glow a faint purple to his Gifted eyes. Now he just had to figure out which god uses a purple mark and why a god-touched was hoping to get a job in the palace. The answers Fox came up with weren"t good. Topabaw must know immediately. Fox picked up his pace, causing his gardening shears to bounce annoyingly off his leg. He yanked the offending tool off of his belt and threw it into a tree trunk as he ran the path to Topabaw"s office. The shears quivered as they wedged into the wood. Fox pushed open the door and walked through Topabaw"s hallway, trying to push away the fear spells. Offenders were chained to the walls on both sides. He viewed their haggard appearances with relish. For many, he was the reason they were chained there, hungry, scared, and desperate. He laughed at their pain. They knew nothing of loyalty, he thought, and they must pay for it. Nine years ago, a hopeless teen pledged his undying loyalty to Duke Lohearn Mantawu. Such devotion gained the duke"s trust, allowing Fox to become the spymaster"s right hand man. Fox found Topabaw behind his desk, lounging in his chair and sipping at a cup of wine. Fox stood at attention in front of the desk. "Sir, I have news." Topabaw wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well, I can"t imagine you being here for any other reason." He took a long drag at the wine. "I wouldn"t want you to visit me for a social call, anyway. For you, those types of calls end in some one"s death." Fox"s lips twitched into a small smile but he quickly regained his composure. "Just following orders, sir." The other man nodded. "Sit down, Fox, and tell me your news. It better be worth it to interrupt my lunch." Topabaw picked a piece of cheese off of a plate that sat on his desk. Fox pulled a wooden stool closer to the desk and sat down. "A Tortallian woman arrived at the docks today. She"s applying for a job in the palace kitchens." He paused and studied the man across from him. Topabaw looked mildly interested. "Do you suspect this chit to be a spy for Tortall?" he asked with a mixture of anger and excitement. Fox looked a little uneasy. "Well," he drew out the word. "She seems a little-" "Stupid?" "-vacant," Fox finished, kindly for him. The girl did have to listen to Loahn Blackwater all morning, after all. "I hope you have something better than that," Topabaw warned. He glared at Fox over the rim of his cup. Fox sat up straighter under the scrutiny. "She"s god-touched, sir, by a mark I"ve never seen before." Topabaw sighed. "She probably just prayed to some Tortallian heathen god to get her a job here. You"ve told me people can be "marked", as you call it, when the gods answer their prayers." Fox wasn"t entirely convinced. "But, what about the aura, sir? I"ve never seen that color before. It could mean trouble." "Trouble?!" Topabaw growled. "Nobles being killed by raka is trouble. Dams collapsing is trouble. Missing tax collectors is trouble," he barked, angry that he hadn"t known of these raka plots until too late. "One little girl from Tortall is only trouble if she distracts you from doing your work." He waved it off. "Like I said, it was just some local heathen god." He finished his wine and set the cup on the table. He noted the unsure expression on Fox"s face. "She"s only a kitchen maid. Even if she was a spy, there won"t be much useful information she could find out as a maid. If she gets promoted to a higher position, you can bring her in her and I"ll have fun questioning her," he promised. Fox stood and bowed to his master. "Thank you, sir." Topabaw nodded, shooed his protégé out the door, and got back to eating. a/n: Sha-bang- chapter 5. A little of this, a little of that, and this story is beginning to get interesting. Haha

best friends. Perhaps it is you who will fix the story." Gareth"s great-grandfather slowly closed his eyes, tired after such a long story. Gareth jumped off his great-grand father"s lap and went to play with his best friend James, who everyone called Jim. Then, he was too young to understand. Remembering it now, he noticed the gravity of the story and the incredible parallels in his life. He couldn"t help think... Am I going to fall in love with someone named Tarys? How can I when my heart belongs to Adora? Will she die? Will Jim die? Will I marry Lasary? WHO ARE HALF OF THESE PEOPLE! ARE THEY JUST CODE NAMES OR WHAT! "I think I know what you"re talking about," Gareth said, surprising both Cul and Rys. He was going to follow his heart on this one. "And I believe I can help you with your problem and get Adora back at the same time." Jim mumbled from behind the gag. He looked very confused. "You are right, Boss captured your fiancé. I know where to find them," Cul replied. "But, how did you figure it out?" Gareth retold the tale his great-grandfather told him those 14 years ago. The company was silent for a long time, lost in thought. Even Jim didn"t say anything. Am I the girl in the story? Rys thought. We share the same name... She shrugged off the feeling of déjà vu and decided to let the subject rest. "I knew this guy was smart," Rys laughed. Gareth smiled gratefully at her. "But, who are the other people in the great ol" story to be redone? Unless we meet some more ladies on the way to the castle, Rys is the only girl. I know you can do a lot of this, Rys, but I don"t think being two people is one of them," Cul commented. "Alright, Lucius," Rys said, Cul visibly winced, "Sorry, ex- Lucius." "A little better," Cul told her. "So, Cul," she began again using the name that fit him the most. "Show us the way to the castle." She smiled at Gareth. "We"ll get your little love back, don"t worry." "When you"re helping me, how could I worry?" Gareth replied. Jim growled. "We"ll leave in the morning. Since you haven"t noticed, I"ll point out that it"s well past my bed time," Cul told them before lying down on a blanket and swiftly falling asleep. "Yeah, he"s right," Rys said. She lay down on her blanket. Jim grunted another set of incomprehensible words. "Aren"t you going to untie us?" Gareth asked. "We are all friends now, right?" Rys pondered for a moment. "Sure, we"re friends," she agreed then closed her eyes and tried to sleep. In the end, she didn"t fall asleep at all. Special thanks to all the thoughts that her new friend Gareth"s story invoked. Thoughts and, odd enough, feelings and memories she had forgotten about... Gareth and Jim woke to find that they had been untied while they were sleeping. With a sudden rush of memories from the previous night, Gareth jumped up. "Let"s get going!" he shouted. Rys looked up from the leftover fish she was eating and Cul reluctantly stirred awake. "Sure thing," Rys replied with a mouth full of fish. "Jim, you are being unreasonably quite this morning." Rys smiled, she hadn"t untied his gag. Jim ripped the gag with a mocking laugh and gave her a rude gesture accompanying some impossible threat. Forty minutes later Cul was wide awake and Gareth was bouncing off the trees with excitement. They were packed up and ready to rescue a damsel in distress and vanquish evil. Rys felt good inside. A warm fuzzy feeling tickled her veins and she felt like she was meant to do this. So this is what the other side of the law feels like...She smiled. Less than five minutes of walking in the direction Cul thought the castle was in, the four heard the sound of someone screaming and running through the woods. "What the-" Jim started as a girl with brown hair and a slightly torn dress ran out of the woods and knocked Rys onto the ground. "Saraly!" Rys and Cul shouted. "Cul!" Saraly ran to Cul and gave him a hug. "Rys!" She went over to where Rys was, still on the ground. Saraly jumped on top of her. "Rys!" "Hi, Saraly," Rys tried to breath from the suffocating hug. "Cul, help?" Cul laughed and jumped on the top of the pile instead of helping. Rys felt the last of the air in her lungs escape. "A thief family reunion. Touching, isn"t it?" Jim asked, sarcastically "Very," Gareth replied. Cul got off of Saraly and Rys and walked over to the other two guys. "We found another girl. Well, she found us." "No," Gareth and Jim sternly said simultaneously. Cul shrugged. "My thoughts exactly, but we have no choice but to bring her." "Rys!" "Saraly!" "Rys!" "Saraly get off of me." "Oh, right," Saraly picked herself up off of Rys, but not before she secretly pulled the Gem of Power out of Rys" pocket and placed it in her own. A/N: Now evil Saraly has got the gem! Dun dun dun dunnnnn Hahaha. A/N: So... it"s been awhile since I last updated! Haha. But I will finish, Scout"s honor!! Chapter 8: Strength of Many Saraly dusted off her tattered yellow dress and examined the troop. "What happened to the horses?" Gareth helped Rys up. "They ran away," Cul replied, eyeing Gareth"s action with curiosity. Jim eyed his friend, too, but not with curiosity. Saraly looked on in disgust. "So, I have to walk even more? Seriously?!" Gareth leaned into Rys. "Can we trust her?" he whispered in her ear. Goosebumps ran down her body from the spot Gareth"s breath had hit her ear. What is this she"s feeling? First, it was an attraction to Jim, now Gareth, too? What"s going on?! Well, at least Gareth didn"t hate her; too bad he had a fiancé. Finally she gained control of her senses. "Eh," she whispered back in indecision. "She doesn"t have enough brains to deceive me." Gareth chuckled low, the breath tickling Rys" skin. "Awfully confident." She replied with a smile and walked over to Cul. "Saraly, how"d you escape?" Cul asked. "Boss." Fear gripped at Cul"s heart at the mention of his father. He cleared his throat. "Figures," he replied, trying to sound nonchalant. Jim strode over to his best friend and whispered in his ear. "I don"t like that one. Her eyes scare me." Gareth had to agree with his friend. The new girl looked power hungry. He had seen the look in many eyes before. "There isn"t much we can do," he whispered back, thinking about the last person he whispered with. He wasn"t quite sure why, but the more he conversed with Rys, the more he liked her. He wasn"t afraid to admit he was attracted to her. Ok, with a fiancé, he was a little afraid of acknowledging that fact. "Just another untrustworthy thief," Jim scoffed. Gareth glanced over at Rys and Cul. "You know, the other two aren"t like this new one at all. You must admit, they are rather... good-hearted thieves. I believe them to be trustworthy." Jim didn"t want to hurt his best friend"s feelings, plus, he...well, he might agree. Pertaining to Cul. Not Rys. Ok, well, he would take Rys over Saraly. Saraly finally recognized the two other men and remembered Boss"s parting words to her. "Take care of anyone in the way. Anyone, and everyone.' "Just great," she turned to her cohorts. "You guys picked up some riffraff." She mentally calculated how she"d get rid of the newcomers. Jim scoffed, again. "Riffraff? Us? Now isn"t that funny." He tried to walk towards the girl, but Gareth held him back. Rys started toward Jim, her fist raised. Luckily, Cul held her back. "You are really getting annoying, you...you stupid boy!" she cried and tried to escape Cul"s hold. "Oh, puh-lease!" Saraly whined. "Just kiss each other already! I"ve only been here a minute and the tension between you two is killing me." Rys blushed. She hadn"t thought Saraly had hit so close to the mark before she actually said that. "Saraly!" she reprimanded. The accused just shrugged her shoulders. Jim forced a laugh. Even if he wanted to, he couldn"t like Rys. She"s a thief for crying out loud. And she tricked him. "That"s not even possible," he explained. "Never in a million years would I feel that way toward this thief," he spat, pointing at Rys. Immediately offended, the pointee pointed back. "You"re just upset because I hurt your pride," she accused. "Never in a million years would you have expected someone to do that!" Gareth looked rather guilty. "She"s right," he mumbled. "Which one?" Cul asked. He had moved beside the prince just moments ago. Gareth chuckled. "Well, I guess I"d have to say both!" Jim sputtered. "That- that has nothing to do with it!" That has everything to do with it, he thought. Gareth laughed at his friend. The whole time he had known Jim, a.k.a. his whole life, the boy had only truly fallen for a handful of girls. Jim had picked fights with all of them. This felt the same. Well, maybe to a higher degree than all the rest. Very, higher degree. Maybe that meant Jim"s affection was that much stronger. Thinking of love, Gareth couldn"t help but remember Adora. He truly loved her, the twinge in his heart, at the mere mention of her name, told him so. He knew, once this whole ordeal was over with, he would be great friends with Rys and Cul. He didn"t understand what he felt for Rys, but he knew he felt stronger towards his future wife. Now that his feelings were sorted out, he turned to his friend and gave him The Look. THE Look. The one that conveyed that sentiment: "I know exactly what"s going on in your head. You do this every time you like someone. If I can forgive her, you can. Stop being a nitwit. Plus, we still need to find Adora. If you act gentlemanly, this will go a lot faster. Nitwit.' Jim understood the conveyed message and sighed. Before he could speak, Saraly let out a high pitched whine. "Ugh! This is sooo boring! It can"t get any worse!" Just then, thunder racked the land and rain poured out of the sky, soaking everything. "Oh, drat! This is ruining my dress!" Saraly complained as the first few fat raindrops fell. Rys looked up at them black, angry clouds and sighed. "This is going to be a bad one," she announced. A loud crack of thunder agreed with her. "Anyone bring an umbrella?" Jim asked sarcastically as lightening struck overhead and rain fell in thick sheets. Gareth blushed with embarrassment. "I"m afraid I didn"t really plan for a long journey when we set out." "My friend," Jim said, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "When we left, you weren"t in the proper state to be organizing anything." Rys giggled. Jim snapped his attention to her. He didn"t think thieves giggled. It was kind of...cute. He smiled at her. Saraly noticed. "Ugh, are we there yet?" She lifted her skirts to avoid a mud puddle. "We just have to cross the river. After that, there"s a town just a few miles away. And a few miles away from the town is the castle," Cul explained. Gareth strained his eyes to try to find the river through the sheet of rain. "One problem," Cul continued. "We need to find a bridge- unless, of course, you want to wade across that." They had made it to the Lucarno. The rain had swelled the banks. Raging rapids tormented the river. A large branch flew down with the current. It hit a sharp rock and smashed. "I choose life," Jim gulped. "There has to be a bridge around here somewhere. This area looks vaguely familiar," Gareth observed. "Silly me," Saraly mumbled, "I never thought this tree looked just like any other tree here." "Jim!" Gareth called out over the noise of the storm. "I think we used to help patrol these woods!" "And that means...?" Rys asked impatiently. Jim gave a weak glare directed at Rys. "That means there is a bridge past the next bend," he explained. "It"s a little rickety, but it"ll do." Cul stopped walking and stood, hands on hips. "So, oh prince and best friend, you want us to cross a rickety bridge over a monster of a river, in the middle of a horrible storm?" The two sputtered. "A-well...." "Wh-I-yes?" The three thieves shared a similar look and rolled their eyes. "Here we go again," Rys sighed. "Again?" Gareth asked.. "Long story," Cul explained. "Seems to me like we have plenty of time," Jim said as he trudged off in the direction of the bridge. "Ok, then. You don"t want to know," Rys re-explained and started to follow. "Oh, I think I do," Jim persisted, winking at her. Throughout the walk to the bridge, they could hear Rys mumbling about which tree would be best to tie Jim to ("That nice oak over there will do perfectly..."). Saraly positioned herself far away from her. True to their word, Jim and Gareth lead the group to a rickety wooden bridge just around the bend. To Rys, rickety was an understatement. At this point, the river had worn through rock and earth, creating a small ravine. The bridge was anchored to each side with fraying ropes and had a frayed series of ropes propping it up. Rys looked down and immediately regretted it. The bridge was only a few yards above the raging river. Staring at the swirling waves only made her dizzy. She gulped. Jim heard. He looked over at her face and was surprised to see panic etched across her features. Gareth ran a hand through his rain soaked hair. "Looks like it will hold," he commented. "We should have the lightest go across first, just to make sure." He turned to Rys, about to suggest she go first, but Saraly strode up to the bridge. "I"m the lightest," she sniffed. "Anyway, now Rys will have some extra time with her lover." Saraly began to trot across the bridge as Rys and Jim argued, creating the perfect distraction. She looked back just once to make sure no one was watching her. Then, she tugged out the slim knives she had hidden discreetly in her sleeve. Placing just the right amount of pressure against the ropes, the girl made her way across the bridge, fraying even more all the already frayed ropes. Perfect, she thought as she safely reached the other side, Princey boy and Annoying boy will fall to their deaths as they try to cross the bridge! Innocently, she called to the other side, making sure they knew she reached the other side. Back with the others, Rys and Jim with still fighting about nothing Gareth could make out between their incoherent sentences. "After you," he motioned for Cul to cross the bridge. After a smile, the latter soon met Saraly on the other side. "You guys really should stop," Gareth told the two. He leaned in the between them. "Jim likes you," he told Rys. "Wha-! Gareth!" Jim made a grab at his ex-best friend, but he had already made it to the bridge and crossed. On the other side, Saraly fumed. Why isn"t her brilliant plan working?! Well, as long as Rys or Annoying boy don"t make it, she was willing to call it successful. Jim sighed and refused to look at the girl next to him. "Argh! Well, you better go next. Thieves first and all." "I believe it"s "ladies,'" Rys replied half-heartedly. Reluctantly, she put a foot on the bridge and heard the groan of old rope and wood. She made the mistake of looking down. What she saw didn"t exactly elicit a cry of joy. "Here we go," she gulped and took another small step. Another groan, this one much louder. "Eep!" After another small step, Jim shouted out to her. "What"s the matter?! You"re taking forever! Aren"t afraid of a little bridge are you?" "Oh, not this worn out old bridge that could break at any moment. Nope, not afraid of that," Rys shouted back, her voice cracking with fear. "And definently not the roaring, killer river below me. I"m all sunshine and giggles out here! How about you?" "Oh, you"re such a little girl!" Jim taunted. "Look, sturdy as ever." He took a large step onto the bridge. Rys froze. "Jim, don"t." "Jim! What do you think you"re doing?!" Gareth shouted. "No, it"s fine," He replied, taking another step towards Rys. "I"m showing this great thief here a thing or two about courage." The bridge creaked. A rope snapped. Rys, her face white, turned to face the man behind her. "Jim..." Not one to freeze in the face of imminent death, he shouted to her. "Well then, hurry up!" The girl didn"t need to be told twice; she quickly scampered across, Jim right behind her. Just as Rys was about to put her foot on land, the ropes broke. "Rys!" Gareth shouted and grabbed her hand, pulling the rest of her onto the shore. "Don"t let go," she gasped. Gareth looked over and saw her other hand holding tight to Jim"s, who just happened to be dangling mere feet above the river. "About time," Saraly whispered, leaning back to enjoy her handiwork. Cul looked over to her and noticed the look of triumph on her face. "You have no idea what you"re doing." With a quick glare, he hurried over to help Gareth. Rys huffed. "Jim, you weigh a ton! I think my arms are going to be pulled out of my body." Jim, struggling to get a foot hold, took a moment to glare. "It"s muscle," he retorted before resuming his search. He felt his hand slip farther and farther out of Rys". Before he couldn"t anymore, he looked up, into Rys" frantic eyes. Well, he was going to die. I might as well admit how beautiful she is, he thought. He realized how much he admired her strength and wit. Even how she can easily damage his ego. Ok, so maybe he could easily fall in love with her. Maybe he already was? With death mere seconds away, he didn"t mind admitting such. He focused on her eyes. His hand let go of hers. Not because the river looked inviting, but because he saw his own recently thought thoughts reflected in her eyes. Such was his surprise that he let go. The last thing he knew was that he was falling. "Jim!" Rys cried. With the extra weight gone, the two boys fell backwards, launching Rys away from the edge. After they regained their senses, the three rushed to the rim. Before any could search for Jim, a strong burst of air and water knocked them all back. The rough landing knocked the wind out of Rys. That, and the heavy weight which landed on top of her. An "oof" landed beside her. She looked up to see Gareth sprawled on top of her, stuttering apologies, but not getting off of her. "Come on, Gareth," a familiar voice reprimanded from where the "oof" had originated. "At least get a room." Much to Rys" relief, Gareth scrambled off of her and hugged his best friend. "Jim!" Rys had just caught her breath when Cul hit her in the stomach. "Oy! What was that for?" she cried. Her friend only stared open mouthed at the spot they had just been. Curious, Rys looked, too. Much to her amazement, a beautiful lady stood there. Her flowing gown was different shades of blue while her hair and skin had a green tint. "I am Naida, the water nymph," the woman explained. Her voice held the music of waves gently splashing. "I"ve come to tell you your destiny. Each of you holds a part of what is to come." All five slowly walked up to Naida, listening intently. With a nod of approval, the nymph spoke again. "It is written: One Royal Blood, True Heart- Respected; One Dark Heart, Dark Help- Traitor; One New Leaf Turned, Heart Set- Determined; One Brave Heart, Time is Now- Fighter; One Destroyer of All- Evil; The Greats against the Evilest of Evil, who is aided by Traitor One group shall prevail, the other perished. Good and Bad, Bad and Good. Who shall Conquer Life and Death?'" With a smile, Naida left the puzzled group. Rys watched as the water nymph melted into the rain drops. "Well," Gareth laughed. "I think I know which one I am." He hastily corrected himself, "Unless one of you has royal blood, that it." "I guess that makes me, how"d she put it, the "evilest of evil"?" Cul sighed. Gareth pointed to Jim. "Jim is training to be a knight. I could call him a fighter." Jim shrugged off Rys" quizzical look. "And Rys must be the "new leaf turned" or whatever because she used to be a thief, now she"s a... well, she"s a good guy!" Gareth was warming up to his theme. "Oh! This is rather fun to figure out!" He looked around. "What do we have left?" "Traitor. The one who aids the evilest of evil!" They turned, surprised to hear Saraly shout out. She stood there, looking fierce, with a red gem in her hand. Rys gasped and patted down her pockets, finding them empty. "No," she whispered, looking at Saraly. "Oh yes, dear Lasary. I have the power now," Saraly called out, using Rys" real name. "Lasary?!" Gareth gasped and eyed Rys, momentarily distracted from the crazed girl in front of him. Cul took a step forward. "Saraly, you don"t want to do this. Give me the gem," he held his hand out. The girl only laughed. "Are you kidding?! Once I break this gem and release Lucius" powers, I will be rich! I will be given all the power I want!" "Saraly, no! There"s a curse on it! You"ll die if you release the power!" Rys warned, looking warily her. "Ha! You"re lying to me, Lasary. You just want the power to yourself." Saraly raised her hand and smashed the gem off a boulder. "No!" All four cried. But it was too late. "No," Cul cried, tears streaming down his face. He let himself fall to the ground. As the gem broke, a red mist wafted out and Saraly slumped to the ground, lifeless. Rys reached Cul before the red mist did. "Cul, you are the best friend I"ve ever had! Nothing will ever change that." The red mist got closer and closer. Jim squatted down beside the two. "You"re an amazing man." The red mist touched Cul"s skin. The effect was immediate. He threw Rys off his arm and pushed Jim away. His eyes now burned a bright red. He offered the three a malicious grin. Lucius now stood before them. With a small flash, the sorcerer was gone, off to his fortress. Rys fell to her knees in tears. "Cul," she muttered before everything went blank. Jim was able to catch her before her head hit the muddy ground. a/n: Yay! And, as every writer wants, review! Hope it was ok! Thanks, guys!

Alexis looked from Sam to Kristina, and then looked to Molly for a moment. Molly looked scared but still kept quiet. "Very interesting story." She smiled, "But are you sure that"s what happened? Sam laughed nervously "Of course that"s what happened." Turning her attention to Molly "Care to add anything?" Molly looked to her sisters. "Umm..." "Would you two care to revise your statements?" Alexis asked. "Revise our statements?" Kristina asked, looking around in confusion. "Yes, or as was said in one of my favorite movies, Do you want to change your bullshit stories?" Alexis said with that dark smile that sends shivers down their spines. "You see you did tell the truth about taking it to the main lobby. But you failed to mention that your baby sister here stormed up from your table to follow Carly to the lobby and addressed her with a very ladylike expression of "YO BITCH!" and then jammed a rather large cake into her face!" Alexis looked at her youngest girl. "Molly would you like to explain yourself?" Bobbie"s House; "Next thing I know." Carly said "Here comes Molly getting right in my face with a lobby full of people." Sitting back down in front of Bobbie. "I swear to God if that girl had been a few years older I would have slapped the taste right out of her mouth." Bobbie"s eyes went wide as Carly continued. "I"m in the middle of my hotel and here"s this little brat in my face, telling me I had to apologize to her sisters, or else." "I asked her or else what? Then she said "How about this she says, and took the cake that was being used in a reception in the main ballroom on 2nd floor and shoves it in my face!" Bobbie was amazed. "Knocked me down, but when I got up I had that little brat by the hair. I informed her that her ass was mine. Turning to Bobbie. "I never raised a hand to any of my kids, but I was going to blister her ass good. Then Sister Sam show up and takes a swing at me." I decked her, Kristina tried to butt in but the desk girl Judy took hold of her. And then..." "The war started." Bobbie finished for her. "Cake, furniture, plants, anything we could get our hands on.' Carly said. "Then Dante shows up and arrests Sam and her sisters." Bobbie halted her at this point. "Did you threaten Molly, after the fight was over?" Carly smiled evilly "Yes I did. I told her that she was going to get her ass whipped by me! That little brat needs to learn some manners. And then "Sonny Lite" Carly said sarcastically, referring to Dante. "Decided to arrest me too!" Bobbie was not pleased by this, glared at her daughter. "Sounds like she"s not the only one who needs a spanking." They were in the bedroom; Carly had stripped her cake-cover cloths off to jump in the shower. "Well then I guess it"s a good thing that I"m too old to spank." She said with a touch of sarcasm. As Carly turned the water on in the shower. Bobbie said softly "Don"t bet on that Carly." Then looked to the hallway and smiled. Alexis"s House; Molly hesitated; "I admit it. I got in Carly"s face." She said. "What she said to Sam and Kristina pissed me off! So yes I followed her to the lobby. And I wanted her attention so I yelled "YO BITCH!" Molly leaned forward to her mother. "Carly was being a bitch, and I called her out." Sam and Kristina were sitting back; Molly did not realize that talking to their mother in this manner was calling her out too. Alexis narrowed her eyes; "And then what happened?" Molly happily said "Carly and I exchanged a few more insults. Then some caterer was rolling a huge cake by. Carly walked away from me like I wasn"t there. But I got her attention back. I took the top part of that cake walked over, tapped her on the arm, and when she turned around I drove it into her face and knocked her on her ass!" Alexis nodded still listening. "Next thing I knew Carly was back up and had me by the hair, saying that she was going to beat my ass. That did not get too far by that time Sam had got to the lobby and took a swing at Carly, then Kristina was there and the war was on." Sam finished "and the rest you know." Alexis glared at her girls. "So." Looking at Kristina and Sam. "You two let your 15-year old sister pick a fight in the middle of a hotel lobby, and start a riot. Do you know that people could have been hurt! Much as I can dislike Carly, she would be well within her rights to have all three of you arrested for assault! And believe me that is not a joke!" Kristina at this point lost her temper. "What the hell is this!" she snarled. "Are you standing up for that bleach blonde bimbo? I"m sorry I did not deck her myself!" Alexis sat back and stared at her middle daughter. "Since when do you use that tone of voice with me, Young lady?" Kristina fired back; "I"ll use any tone that I want too!" "Not with me you won"t." Alexis said with a smile. "Or there will be a price to pay!" Kristina rolled her eyes at Alexis and spoke sarcastically; "So what are you going to do Mom, spank us?" This was a bad choice of words as Alexis jumped to her feet. Sam and Molly wisely stepped back as Alexis walked over and took Kristina by the earlobe and yanked her to the couch sat down and pulled her middle daughter over her knee. Kristina was in shock; her mother had never put her in this position before in her life. She was even more shocked as Alexis pulled her pajama bottoms down to her knees, in front of her two sisters. Totally mortified Kristina stared to struggle in her mother"s grasp when Alexis brought her hand down on Kristina"s bare bottom with a loud SMACK! "OWWW! Mom you can"t do this to me I"m grown up now!" Kristina protested. SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK in rapid succession. "Oh I can"t? Grown up are you? You sure don"t act it!" Alexis snapped. Not taking her eyes off Kristina"s rapidly redding behind. "You have been off the chain ever since you left school, young lady!" SMACK, SMACK, SMACK." Glaring at her as she paused. " Your father may let you talk anyway you want and lets you get away with it. But I"m not Sonny." She said aiming a dozen hard and fast spanks on her bottom that made Kristina yell. "OWWWW!" she wailed. "I"m sorry Mom!" Alexis let Kristina up, and gently stroked her hair. "How the hell did you ever get to be such a hard head?" she said with affection. Kristina wiping tears from her eyes "Gee, I must have picked that up from you." She sniffed but with a small smile. Alexis kissed Kristina on the cheek, then turned her attention to her other two daughters, and smiled "Now, what were you saying Sam?" Bobbie"s house. As she wrapped herself in a towel. Carly was totally unprepared for her mother pulling her from the bathroom. "Now Mom." Carly said as she was unwillingly being pulled to a straight-backed chair in the middle of the room. If she didn"t know better Bobbie was preparing to spank her, but Mom would not dare do this. Unfortunately for Carly she had forgotten her mother"s temper. In an instant Bobbie yanked the towel from around Carly leaving her totally nude. Carly had little time to be embarrassed before she was across Bobbie"s knee. "MOM!" she yelled "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR... SMACK! OWW! DAMN YOU MOM THAT HURTS!" "Good!" was Bobbie"s response "That"s the whole point!" She immediately repeated the t SMACK but on the right side. "I can"t count how many times someone should have put you in this position Carly." SMACK,SMACK,SMACK,SMACK. "All these so-called men of action that you have had in your life." SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK. Carly was squirming and kicking, but she was not going anywhere. "Let"s see now." Bobbie said SMACK, SMACK, SMACK. "There is Sonny, the big bad mobster. SMACK, SMACK, SMACK "Who should have been able to keep you in line. Carly still struggling glared up at her mother. "This is not funny, Mom." Bobbie continues talking and unfortunately for Carly"s bare behind also continued spanking. "SMACK, SMACK. "Then there was Jason, how many time did your foolishness nearly get him killed or in jail." Carly hotly said "Jason loves me and always will protect me and the kids." SMACK, SMACK, SMACK "Maybe and then there is Jax." Bobbie said in a slightly louder voice. "He was the best things that ever happened to you, and look how you treated him. I wish that he was the one doing this to you right now, Carly." Under her breath Carly whispered "So do I" Bobbie looked down "How"s that?" her hand poised over Carly"s deep red bottom. "Nothing." She said sulkily. SMACK, SMACK, SMACK. "What was that, young lady?" Carly quickly spoke up "Nothing Mom, nothing!" Bobbie looked down at her handiwork; everything from the top of Carly"s hips to midway down her thighs was deep red. "Going to bully any more underage kids?" Bobbie asked "No, Ma"am." Carly wisely replied, sniffing. Bobbie knew that Carly was crying, but there was still something more to be done here tonight. Taking Carly firmly by the arm, she led her to the corner. Despite the fact she felt like a little child. She protested. "Mom you can"t be serious?" "Oh can"t I?" Bobbie replied. "You park your nose in that corner until you are told to move. Unless of course you would like me to put this hairbrush to use?" Carly sniffled but obediently obeyed. Bobbie walked from the bedroom, looked down the hallway with a smile. In spite of herself, Carly stayed put rubbing her sore behind trying to take the stinging away, as she heard the door open, she still faced the wall. But she was very startled when the hands on her waist were someone else"s. She looked over her shoulder to see Jax behind her. Alexis"s House; Kristina was still rubbing her bottom as Alexis was staring down her oldest daughter. "I think that I asked you if you have anything to say, Samantha!" Sam opened her mouth and closed it. She knew that there was not a lot to say. "Cat got your tongue?" Alexis asked brightly. "Well then let me talk. Instead of getting your sisters out of there. You decided to go head to head with Carly!" "But she started it!" Sam declared hotly "So what!" was the reply. "You are supposed to better then that!" Alexis said as she pulled Sam over to her, her hand in the waistband of her bottoms yanking them down. "NO MOM!" Sam yelled as she was pulled over Alexis"s lap. "So what? Is that you said to me?" Alexis snapped as she to spank Sam"s bare butt. SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK. "You got even less excuse then Kristina! SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, "You are an adult!" SMACK, SMACK, SMACK "But in the last four weeks" SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, "You sure as hell have not acted like it!" SMACK, SMACK, SMACK. Sam was kicking and fighting, but Alexis held her in a tight grip. Kristina who was still rubbing her bottom was in shock. She had never seen her big sister in such an embarrassing position. Molly stood watching in awe and fear because she was likely next. At this point, Sam decided to start cursing like a sailor. "What was that Samantha?" demanded Alexis. Sam suddenly realized that the place to curse out one"s mother was not when you were bare bottomed over her knee, with your bottom all ready feeling like it was on fire. But Alexis had a plan for her foul mouthed daughter. She yanked hard on her ear and stood her up on her feet, and quick marched Sam to the bathroom. Sam"s pajama bottoms were dangling at her ankles when they reached the bathroom sink. Alexis turned the water and got the bar of soap that was on the side wet. "MOM!" Sam said in horror "YOU CAN"T BE SERIOUS...' but that was as far as she got before a bar of soap was in her mouth. For a few minutes Sam was tasting soap, when Alexis held out her hand. Sam quickly took the soap out. "EWWWW!" she said quickly getting water to rinse the taste out of her mouth... Alexis stood with her hands on her hips. "You want to act like a child, then I"ll treat you like one! Are you going to use that sort of language to me again?" Sam whose tough girl image was truly shattered stood crying in front of her mom, and the sisters who were looking from the doorway. Alexis took Sam in her arms and let her cry for a time. Then she helped her pull her pants back up. "Sam, I want you and Kristina to go to the den for a while." Sam shook her head yes and her and Kristina went to the front of the house. Now turning her undivided attention to Molly. "Let"s go to my room, Young Lady." They both walked into Alexis"s bedroom and closed the door. Kristina and Sam were in the front room for about five minutes trying to listen when the sounds of spanking came from down the hall; "Owww, Mom!" Molly shouted. This went on for another five or ten minutes before silence took back over. The sisters could hear their mother talking to Molly and then there was quiet. Bobbie"s House: "Oh my GOD!" Carly said. She was totally mortified. "How long were you standing there?" Jax smiled his charming smile. "Well before I answer that, I think your mother told you to stand in this corner until you were told to move." Carly started to get angry "And just who"s going to make me!" Jax did not speak. He just turned Carly around to deliver about 20 hard rapid fire smacks to her already deep red behind. "OWWW, OWW! Ok you win!" Carly shouted as she turned her face back to the corner. "That"s better." Jax said. "Now as for how long I was watching this? I was here the whole time. I heard your explanation of the situation. I heard what you told Molly and I also heard what you said to your mother about being too old to spank." Carly was blushing furiously by now. "I for one am glad that Bobbie did not agree with that assessment." Jax was frowning now. "She was also right when she said I should have put you in the same position on many occasions." Carly said nothing to this declaration, for deep down in her heart. She had wanted Jax to take her in hand forever. Jax finally stepped over and put his hands on Carly"s bare shoulders. "And it looks like that"s what I am going to have to do." Carly"s eyes went wide with alarm. Her bottom was already on fire. Noticing this expression. Jax told her. "For a date in the very near future." With that he moved Carly"s golden hair aside and gave her a light kiss on the nape of her neck. This sent chills down Carly"s spine. She leaned her trim body into his, turned her head round and joined her lips to his. For a long moment they kissed when they stopped "May I leave the corner now, Sir?" Carly asked. Jax"s reply was to turn her gently around and pick her up in his arms and carry her to the bed. Carly practically ripped the clothing off from Jax, and then they kissed and rolled around on the bed. "Wait." Carly said breathlessly. "Wait?" Jax said. "Is the door locked?" Carly asked. "What do you think?" Jax said. Carly just grinned and turned off the lights. Alexis"s house: Sam and Kristina waited for a time, and then they walked down the hall to their mother"s bedroom. They could hear through the door Molly and Alexis talking quietly. As if she could see through the door. "You can come in you know." Alexis said. Sam and Kristina came timidly into the room. Molly was wiping tears from her eyes. Kristina and Sam sat down gingerly on the other side of their mother. "Well ladies." Alexis began "Are we through trying to rebuild every restaurant and bar in Port Charles by fighting?" "I think that I can speak for the three of us when I say, yes Mom we have all learned our collective lesson." Sam said. Molly and Kristina vigorously shook their heads in the affirmative on this matter. "That"s good." Alexis continued. "Because as colorful as a bar room fight can be. There is also the chance of one of you getting hurt!" she paused "or worse. And I don"t think I could live with that." Alexis was crying at this point, which got Molly crying which in turn got Sam and Kristina crying. The Davis women held each other for a time. Finally everyone"s emotions got under control. Sam looked to Molly; "What possessed you to shove cake at her?" Alexis and Kristina looked to Molly as well for that answer as well. "Seemed like a good idea at the time.' She replied. "Besides there was no pool cue handy," Sam and Kristina laughed, and Alexis just rolled her eyes, and shook her head. The next morning, Bobbie"s House Bobbie was up early having her coffee when Jax came walking into the kitchen. "Good morning, Bobbie." Bobbie smiled to her son-in-law. "How did it go last night?" "I think it went well." He replied. "Maybe we have a chance again. I know I want to happen." "So do I." Carly said as she walked into the room. She kissed Jax and turned to face Bobbie. "I"m sorry Mama, that I have been a disappointment to you." Bobbie took Carly"s hands into hers. "Let"s be clear." Bobbie began. "You have been many things to me; a disappointment has never been one of them. An irritating pain in my ass, absolutely!" Carly smiled through the tears that had formed in her eyes. "But a disappointment, never." The two women hugged each other. Then Carly stood next to Jax. The phone rang. Bobbie picked up. "Hi Alexis." She said. Looking over to Carly "Yes she up, just a minute." And handed the phone to Carly. "Yes Alexis." She said then listened for a while. "I should be there about 9:30 or so. Listened some more."Ok, I"ll be waiting for her, Ok Bye." And hung up. Molly is going to be at the Metro Court about 10:00 to apologize to me." Jax nodded, "and what are you going to do?" Carly did not hesitate with the answer. "I owe her an apology too. Like I told the two of you last night. If she was a few years older I would have slapped the taste from her mouth." She paused for a second. "But aside from that. That little girl has fire, and spirit. She stood up for her sisters. And tried to protect them even though Sam is more then able to protect herself." And I like that." Jax asked "Need a ride to town?" Carly smiled "Sure." The next morning, Alexis"s House The next morning three very contrite young women slowly made their way to the kitchen. They all spoke and kissed their mother. For they had all cried the previous night and stayed up talking and just stayed close to one another. However there were a few matters of the previous evening"s events that still had to be finished. "Ok girls here"s the deal." Alexis began. "We have to pay for the damages to the Grill and the main lobby and all charges will be dropped and that matter will be closed." Molly spoke: "Do I dare ask how much?" "Well from what I was just told, about 30 grand." Kristina was horrified "That can"t be that bad!" then in a quiet voice "is it?" Sam looked a little dubious "Who gave you the amounts Mom?" "I got the amounts from Jax." she said. "And I think we can trust him." Molly raised her hand; "How are we going to pay?" Alexis turned to her. "I got your end of it covered. Sam has a discretionary fund available to her, and Kristina will be able to pay from her trust fund that she gets when she turns 21." Sam suddenly looked uneasy and Kristina was confused. "Mom how am I supposed to get that? Kristina asked. "That"s the one that Dad set up." Alexis smiled at her. "Yes I know." Kristina thought for a moment, and then it slowly sank in; "You mean to tell me that I have to ask Dad for it?" "No, I called Sonny earlier, and he said that there was no problem with it." Kristina was relived. "However." Her mother said with an evil chuckle. "He wants to hear your explanation for why you need it." Kristina cringed at the thought. "And Sonny did mention that your explanation would be better sooner then later." Handing Kristina her cell phone, Alexis said "Sooner is better then later when dealing with your father." Kristina nodded uneasily as she dialed Sonny"s number. Turning to Sam. "You might want to consider making a call yourself. Jason was very curious when I spoke to him as to why you have a need to put money into the Metro Court as well." Handing Sam her cell phone, she stared at it for a moment. Then Alexis prompted her "Dial, dial." Sam did and after a few minutes Jason was on the other end of the line. Watching her two older daughters explain the situation was a major amusement. Molly walked over; "Who do I have to call?" Putting her arm around Molly"s shoulder "You don"t have to call anybody, but you are going to apologize to Carly this morning. In person." Molly looked a little scared at this pronouncement. "Is that a good idea?" Alexis paused to consider. "Yes it is." Turning to her other two daughters. "We"ll be back in a little while." Sam and Kristina both waved distractedly to Alexis as they were talking on their phones. They had started for town, when Alexis pull off the road in a camp area. Molly asked "What are we doing?" Alexis shut the car off. "Let"s walk a bit." They both got out of the car and started to walk. "What is it Mom?" Molly asked. Alexis stopped and looked to Molly. "I"m worried about you baby. I need to explain why I was harder on you then your other sisters." Molly"s face turned red as she considered the embarrassing events of the night, "I will not have you getting in people"s faces like you did last night." Molly nodded and continued to listen. "There is no love loss between me and Carly, for many reasons. But." Alexis said "And this is important. I will not have you talking to your elders the way you did last night, not even Carly." Her voice then hardened "That is unacceptable to me, and I will not have it!" Molly nodded "I understand, Mom." She paused for a moment "What do you think Carly"s going to do?"

Warpath pt-4: A Gunsmoke story. All characters and rights belong to their creators. Story: Matt, Chester and their band of rookie soldiers are camped for the night and are about to come under fire from the Sioux, led by the legendary war chief Crazy Horse who is looking for the rifles too. Rated T for Gun violence. As the night rolled in Chester finished walking the perimeter with two of the troopers. "Everything"s secure Mr. Dillon." He said "If we get any company we"ll sure know about it." Matt looked into the growing darkness. "That"s fine Chester, why don"t you go get some rest." Ryan sat down beside Matt; "What do you think is going to happen, Marshal? ""Well Lieutenant." Matt began "I had a feeling we"ve had company most of the afternoon." Matt gestured toward the woods in the distance... "By this time of night you would be hearing night sound, crickets, and night critters making their noise. There"s not a sound out there now." Looking to Ryan, "So that tells me that we"re not alone out here." Ryan stared off into the dark. "How many guards should we post?" "My guess is about 3, 4 at the most; we"ll change them out every five hours." Matt stared off into the dark as well. "Anyone out here will likely come calling maybe after midnight or so." Sgt. Ross came walking up, "Parker found this down by the stream." It was a small bit of colored cloth, red, and white with a trace of blue. Matt looked at the cloth and for the first time on this trip started to truly worry. Ross looked to Dillon with a knowing look on his face. Ryan looked to both men. "What is it?" Ross answered "That bit of cloth is from a Sioux warrior, sir" Ryan"s face turned a little pale." Sioux?" Matt answered "Yeah, it looks like it." The Sioux changes the situation considerably, Matt thought. The Arapaho were trouble, but the Sioux meant they were facing skilled and deadly fighters, and if they were here then there was a chance that their allies, the Cheyenne could be around as well. Then there was the sound of a night bird chirping. "Is that them?" Ryan asked. "Yep" Matt replied "They may try to slip around the camp to try and flank us. But I don"t think they"ll try to come at us from the front, not at night at any rate." Ryan looked his command over. "What would be our chances if we tried to make a run for it now?" "Chances?" Matt said "Likely none." He sat Ryan down beside him. "You see Lieutenant we have no idea how many are out there it could only be a scouting party, or it could be a full war party." Ryan shook his head "If there is a war party out there, why haven"t they come at us yet?" "That"s hard to say. They may be waiting for more braves before they strike, or they could be just scouts keeping an eye on us." Matt turned to Ryan "But if we try to move at night, I can promise you that we will not live to see sunrise." Another bird was chirping again, but much closer now. "Time to hunt some cover." Matt said. Before anyone could move, shots came from the darkness. Ryan and Matt hit the ground, Matt"s gun was out of its holster and firing before the Indian that had been firing at the camp could react. The Indian cried out as he fell to the ground. The troopers were firing into the woods as Matt and Ryan ran into the camp The soldiers were firing blind in the darkness. Matt yelled out. "Cease Fire, stop shooting at moonbeams! Ryan looked around the camp. "Anyone hurt?" Ross spoke up. "They got Prichard, Sir." gesturing to the body lying on the ground. Matt was staring out into the night as Chester came walking over. "You think they"re done, Mister Dillon?" he asked. Matt with a grim expression shook his head. "No Chester." he said. "This was just the opening round. I promise you, they"ll be back. Suddenly a shot form the dark, everyone ducked for cover. "See what I mean." Matt said. On the other side of the ravine. Crazy Horse is starting into the darkness as well. Otaktay steps beside him. "Do we attack?" he asks Crazy Horse does not answer right away. He stares into the darkness for a time. "No, not yet." he finally says. "We will keep them busy this night. Strike and run, maybe kill a few more of the bluecoats." Turning to Otaktay. "We still need them to lead us to the weapons." Otaktay looked away. "I do not mean to question your orders." Crazy Horse stopped. "And you did not. But there is far more at stake here then killing bluecoats. War is coming again and we must be ready." Otaktay nodded. "As you say." Gesturing to the camp. "They have had enough quiet time." Crazy Horse said with a grim smile. "Wake them up again." Otaktay grins and step into the darkness, soon the rifles were firing. "Yes white eyes." Crazy Horse speaks to the night. "It will be a long night." Daybreak finally put an end to the sniping, but the Sioux managed to pick off two more of the soldiers. Sgt. Ross was finishing his report. "The best I can figure they must have got Harrison and Andrews in that last bit of gunfire, Sir." Matt and Lt. Ryan didn"t say anything, they were watching the tree line on the other side of the creek. "Think they"re still out there?" Ryan asked. "Sure they are." Matt replied. "They did what they needed to do. They cut down our numbers and made sure we didn"t get any sleep." Matt turned his attention to their camp. Chester and the rest of the troopers were finishing the burial of the three dead men. Matt starts to talk. "Ok, we know the Sioux are out there. we"re heading for an old ghost town called Castle"s Folly. That"s where we"ll likely catch up with the ones that have the rifles." "Why is that Marshall?" Ryan asked. "The town"s deserted, Lt." Matt explained. "Which makes it an ideal location for outlaws, smugglers, Indians to do some shady deals." "We"re all set, Mister Dillon." Chester told him. Everyone mounted and started north again. "Remember everyone." Lt. Ryan said. "Keep your pistols close, don"t try to use the single-shots on horseback." As they moved out Matt rode next to Ryan. "Good advice you just gave them." he said. "Let"s hope so." Ryan replied. They kept moving. The Sioux also moved north at a very discrete distance. Crazy Horse and Otaktay watched. "They head for the town." Otaktay said. Crazy Horse just watched. "We will trail them till mid day. Then join up with the rest of our brothers and get the weapons." He paused. "and the bluecoats as well." Surprisingly the ride to Castle"s Folly went off without incident. But they knew they were being followed. Trooper Beckett from the rear of the column called out. "They"re still hangin on, Sir." Matt and Lt. Ryan swung out from the lead and rode back. "Yeah." Ryan said. "Just barely over that far hill." The three warriors stopped and watched. "They can"t do us much harm out there." Beckett said. "Don"t you bet on that, Son." Matt said reprovingly. "If they"re staying back there it"s for a good reason." "Well, it"s midday now." Ryan observed looking at the Sun. "How much further to Castle"s Folly?" Maybe another hour or so." Matt said. They both observed the rest of the detail. They were all tired and hungry. "Normally I would have them take a break. But with them behind us. I don"t think it"s a good idea." Ryan told Matt. "Actually, It"s a good idea." Matt said. "Hold up. Take a break, fifteen minutes." Everyone stepped down and started to eat what they had, mostly jerky, and hard biskets. Ryan looked to Matt with curiosity. Seeing the look Matt told him. "The horses need a break, so do we. The Sioux are not really going to come at us in the open now. They are going to trail us to that town and the guns." Looking to Ryan. "Then they"ll come at us." The town of Castle Folly was a like a lot of towns in that part of the country. It had a good spell for a time then it went out of business. There were maybe 10 or 15 buildings still standing. What looked like an old livery stable is what had Matt"s attention. "Looks like we"ve hit pay dirt, Lieutenant." Matt said handing Ryan the binoculars. Ryan looked down to the stable. "There"s our Winchesters. Ryan said with a grin. "How many do you figure are down there?" "Three, maybe four." Matt answered. The rest of the detail were spread out under cover. Glansing back toward the hill they just left. "We are going to have to move quick." Matt told everyone. "Our friends from last night are likely not too far away." Looking back to the town. "Here"s the plan. Ryan, you, and me plus 5 troopers we"re going to come in from the left. Chester, I want you, Ross and the rest of the detail to come in from the right." They all started to move, when Matt said one more thing. "Just remember, we may outnumber these men, but those Winchesters are real good equalizers." They quietly went down the hill and slipped into the town. As Matt and his party dismounted and drew their pistols. They could see Chester and his men were sliding along to the back of the stable. Matt and Ryan were near the front when the heard voices from inside. "When are they going to get here?" A short and scarred man asked. "They"ll be here soon enough." a sandy haired man answered. He appeared to be running the show. Glaring at the short man and the other two that were in the back. "Just remember, when those Injuns get here, don"t do anything sudden or stupid or you won"t live to spend their money." Matt cocked his pistol. "That"s really good advice friend. Pity we"ll be gone with those guns before they get here." The sandy haired man"s hands were about shoulder level. short and scared did not move yet, but he was thinking about it. "Mister, you don"t know who you"re dealing with.' "Enlighten me." Matt said. No one had moved yet. Sandy hair smirked and said "I"m Charlie Mailor." Matt considered that for a moment. Mailor was a low life paid killer for hire who fancied himself a fast draw. "Really." Matt replied not overly impressed. "Well Mailor, I"ve heard of you, and I"m sure you"ve heard of me too. I"m Matt Dillon, and the young man next to me is Lt. James Ryan of the U.S. Army. It seems you have some property that belongs to the Army." Mailor glared at Matt. "Now either you can take your chances with the Army court." Giving Ryan a nudge. "By the way who did the Colonel say would be handling the case?" "Oh, I think he mentioned something about a judge by the name of Parker." Ryan answered. The men in the barn took this bit of news poorly. Everyone west of the Mississippi river knew about "Hanging Judge Parker." "Doesn"t sound like much of a chance to me." Mailor finally said. "That"s up to you." Matt told him flatly. "Yeah." Mailor grins as he went for his gun. He never knew what hit him as Matt"s slug took him in the chest. The scarred man tried for Ryan, but Ryan and Beckett both shot him. The two men in the back elected to shoot it out with Ross and Chester, and they dropped where they were. "Everyone ok?" Ryan asked. The troopers answered yes, and Chester came walking over. "Looks like we found our rifles, Mister Dillon." he said. "Marshall." Ryan said. "This one"s still alive. gesturing toward Mailor. Matt walk over and knelt down. He took a look at the wound and knew it was fatal. Mailor was spitting up blood. "You got me good, Dillon." he rasped. "It beats a date with Judge Parker, though." he started to laugh. "But here"s the thing, you and your little band of blue bellies are not long for this world either." Mailor started to laugh. and choke. "You mean the Sioux." Matt asked. Mailor reared his head back and laughed, through his pain. "Not just the Sioux, Dillon." He was starting to get short of breath. Crazy Horse himself is coming here." Everyone in the barn suddenly felt a ice cold feeling of fear. "I just wish I could see what he"ll do to all of you.." Mailor shuddered then fell back to the barn floor dead. "Crazy Horse." Ryan said. "We"re going have to get out of here quick." "Lieutenant." Matt said. "That is an understatement." Turning to the troopers "Let"s get this wagon hitched and loaded." The men rushed to their jobs when Chester spoke up. He was looking out the door and at the top of the ridge where that had been earlier. "Mister Dillon, Lt. Ryan." he said. "You might want to have a look at this." Matt and Ryan joined Chester and looked up the hill. There were Indians up there, by Matt"s count at least 30 of them and in the middle of them, the war chief of the Sioux, Crazy Horse was glaring down at them. After the quick stare down. Matt told everyone. "We got about 30 seconds to get some cover!" They quickly slammed the doors to the stable shut. Ryan ordered. "You men, break open those crates and break out some of those Winchesters!" They shoved the crates out of the wagon to the floor, and started grabbing rifles. "Ross." Matt ordered. "You and two men cover the back." Looking quickly, "Chester, you take two men and go up top." Chester replied. "Ok Mister Dillon." "Ryan and the rest of you, cover the windows." They all got to their places and waited. Crazy Horse smiled grimly as his warriors formed up for the attack. Otaktay rode up beside him. "We are ready." Crazy Horse nodded. "Let it begin. Otaktay led out a war cry and 10 of the warriors charged toward the town and the stable. "Well there a comin, now." Chester called down to Matt. "Ok, everyone hold your fire, till they get close." Matt said. The Sioux raced down the street and made the turn for the stable. "Wait." Matt said "Wait." and then. "Now fire!" Everyone open up and three of the warriors quickly fell from their ponies dead before they hit the ground. The other 7 turned round and raced back up the hill. Ryan looked surprised. "That seemed a little too easy." Matt nodded approvingly. "You"re learning, Son." he told him. "They were just testing our firepower. They"ll be back really soon. Ross called out from the back. "How soon do you figure?" "Maybe five, ten minutes at the most." Ryan was looking up the hill. "I can"t tell but it looks like they"ve got some more friends. Matt joined him "How about it, Chester?" Yep, looks like about 20 or 30 more of them." Chester called down. "We"re gonna be in a world of hurt soon." "We can"t let them get these rifles." Ryan said as he looked to Matt. "Any suggestions? Matt looked around the stable then to the wagon. "Burn it." he said flatly. At least it"ll stop Crazy Horse." Trooper Beckett spoke up. "It"s and old-style wagon, Marshall. My pa used to make these for the army. They"re near impossible to burn quick." Ross called out from the back. "How about if it has some help?" he said "Look what I found." Matt and Ryan ran to the back, and saw what he was talking about. In one of the stalls there was boxes of coal oil and at least 10 barrels marked gunpowder. "That should do it." Ryan said. Matt looked out the back, the nearest building was the old church. "How far Ross?" Ryan asked. "40 yards, Sir." Turning to Matt, "We"ll have everyone make a break for the church. Take all the ammo that they can carry. You and I will torch this place and blow it to hell and gone." "Let"s do this." matt said. Beckett and Ross were taking boxes of ammo and passing them around while matt and Ryan were dousing down the wagon with the coal oil and setting the gunpowder barrels in and around the wagon. Calling up to the loft. "What are they up to, Chester?" Ross asked. "They"re gittin restless." Chester answered. " And there"s a whole lotta dust off to the south." He looked down to the others. "More friends, I"m thinkin." "Get ready to move." Matt ordered. They opened the back doors. "How about it, Chester?" "Now would be a good time." he called. Ryan told Ross. "Move!" Ross and his four troopers mad a dash for the church, after a few minutes they were in and waved to the others. Chester told the two that were with him. "You fellas get on down there." They both scrambled down the ladder and joined Beckett and Smith by the back. Chester looked back on the hill, and didn"t like what he saw. "They"re comin our way." "How many?" Matt asked. "All of em, and that dust cloud is a gettin closer too." "Ok Chester, you get down here." Matt said. Chester scampered down and joined the troopers. Ryan was looking out the window. "Go, Now!" he said. The troopers sated for the church, Chester stayed. Matt shook his head. "Why are you waiting, get going. "Don"t you be waiting too long Mister Dillon, Doc and Miss Kitty would never let me hear the end of it." Chester said and started down the street. When he made the church, Matt and Ryan made it to the back and waited. "You ready?" Matt asked him. Ryan laughed. "Like we have a choice?" The sound of the war cries were reaching them. "Nope." Matt said as he threw the lamp in his hand down on their improvised gunpowder fuze. It went up fast as the first Sioux led by Otaktay reached the front of the stable. he could see Matt and Ryan racing for the church. Unfortunately for him that was also when the gunpowder fuze reached the wagon and all the gunpowder and ammo. The blast that destroyed the barn was the last thing he ever saw. A thundering roar split the sky as the stable, the wagon and its cargo went to kingdom come. The blast knocked down everyone in the church, and for a few moments no on moved. Then slowly Matt and the others looked out the windows. "That sure got the job done." Chester said after a bit. But then the heard the sound of horses, lots of horses coming closer. "They"re coming, get ready." Ryan said. They all readied their weapons, when faintly they could hear the sound of a bugle. Slowly they stepped out of the church and saw Col. Anderson and at least two companies of Cavalry riding down the street. Anderson rode up to the church. Ryan saluted the Colonel as Matt walked over. "Nice bit of fireworks you men put up." Anderson said dryly. "Well that"s the way it is Seth." Matt told him. "Either Crazy Horse or St. Peter was going to get them guns." The Lieutenant decided on St. Peter." Col. Anderson stepped down off his mount, took his right glove off and shook Ryan"s hand. "Good choice, son." Ryan smiled. "Thank you. Sir." But then looked around. "What about Crazy Horse and the others?" Anderson replied. "About the same time, the stable blew up, they saw us coming over the rise there. Crazy Horse is no fool. he started back north. Unfortunately we"ll never catch up to him, at least this time. Looking Ryan over, Matt said. "Well Ryan, you survived your first patrol." Ryan replied "Thanks to you and Chester. "I"m grateful Marshall." He put his hand to Matt. Matt shook it. "You"re welcome, and call me Matt." Chester walked over and with an exasperated sigh. "Can we go home now, Mister Dillon?" Epilogue: Matt and Chester rode down the main street of Dodge. "Seems quiet enough." Chester said. Matt looked round. "Yeah, I was wondering who the Colonel was going to get as a deputy for us." They rode up to the jail, and went in. Doc Adams was coming from the back where the cells were. "Hi Doc." Matt said "Got trouble back there?" "Well kinda, Matt." Doc told him. "While you and Chester were out chasing Indians, you know those two fellas you were chasing before?" Matt nodded. "Well they come back to town, and they was just happy as all get out, till they ran into the deputy that Col. Anderson brought in for you." Matt and Chester looked in back and saw two of the sorriest looking men that they had seen in quiet a spell. "Marshall!" The tall one said. "Look what that fancy pants dude done to me." He took his worn out hat and shows Matt the bruises that cover his forehead. "Taint right, Marshall." the other one complained. "Just ain"t right." Matt treated the two to a long hard frown. "Look you two I"ve had a long few days, so unless you wants some more bruises to match them you stay real peaceful till the circuit judge gets here." Matt took a step closed. "Understand?" The two men frowned but sat back down. Matt walked out front. "So where is this fella who kept the peace for me?" The door opened, and the man walked in. He was about 6" 1" mid thirty"s dark haired, he had a pearl handled pistol tied down. But what made him stand out was he work a fancy black coat, carried a cane with a sliver knob on the top, and yes he wore a black derby hat, but then there was only one Bat Masterson. Matt laughed as he walked over. "William Barclay Masterson." Matt said as he shook hands with Bat. "It"s been a long time since you were in Dodge." Bat nodded. "Yeah, that it has been Matt. When Col. Anderson sent the telegram and said you and Chester were chasing rifles and Indians. He asked me to watch over things." Why don"t we head to Delmonico"s and trade stories about the last week or so." Doc suggested. "Ya ain"t gotta tell me more then once." Chester said as he headed for the door. Doc followed him. "Hold up Chester, the dang place isn"t going to fly away." Matt and Bat followed along. "So you were chasing Crazy Horse, I hear." Bat asked Matt. Matt snorted. "More like he was chasing us most of the time." They continued talking as the sun set on Dodge City. Fins: It took me a long time, but this tale is finally done. Thanks for your patience.

He had agreed to meet Hannah, on the condition he was only allowed one person to back him up. Before he could even choose someone he thought appropriate for the situation, Emmy had volunteered to join, even before David himself could do so. It confused Rush at first, but he simply shook his head and allowed it; all he wanted to do at the time was confront her without any problems, and Emmy was far better than Irina coming along. The last thing he needed was his sister taken from once more, giving him more heart attacks and reasons for David to take him out of the fight; reckless warriors are useless in the battlefield, especially friends you care about. The trip itself was quiet, with only Emmy bringing up Hannah now and again, wondering why Rush was acting like he was. All she got in return was silence, not even a smartass remark. She knew something was wrong if she never even got so much as an insult from her comrade. Upon arrival, they found Hannah sitting atop a pile of rubble, her usual smile adorning her beautiful face. The smile, much like what she did to Rush, betrayed her feelings. All she could feel was darkness and despair, a need to cry even. But she dare not do it in front of her own comrades, fearing she might be accused of being a traitor. And out of the seven, only her twin silver-haired sister, Hinnah, and the blood-thirsty man known as Young, accompanied her. Though her sister would never backstab her, Young would do it in a heartbeat, just for the fun. And while she and her sister were brilliant fighters, even against the Conqueror alone, their efforts would be futile. Even all of the seven warriors would fall at their lord"s unstoppable might. Hinnah and Young took out their respective weapons, the Nightbloom and Frostblade, remnants known for their beauty and power, and got into battle position. Instinct took over Emmy and Rush, taking out their swords as well, ready to engage the enemy. "Drop your weapons, both of you," ordered Hannah. "Need I remind you we are not meant to engage the enemy today?" "Yeah yeah..." muttered the twin sister, putting her Remnant aside for another day. Young was more reluctant, though eventually caved in, growling the entire time. "I knew I shouldn"t have come if I wasn"t going to kill!" Ignoring their whining, Hannah jumped down from the small hill, landing in between her two partners. She eyed Rush once again, then saw his partner, Emmy as well, the only person who had not put down her blades. Hannah didn"t blame her, for only true idiots would take the Conqueror army"s word, and even she knew that, especially with these recent events. But instead of talking, she simply kept her smile, which had now lost all of its cheerfulness. She was confident that Emmy wouldn"t attack her anyway, so long as she didn"t do anything stupid like attack. Her arms crossed over her chest as she eyed Rush once more, nearly flinching as his glare stared at her. She hated having that type of gaze on her, but never before did it feel this painful, like a vulture clutching at her heart, her breath slowing fading from her lungs as it tightened. And no longer able to take the punishment, she finally spoke. "It"s been awhile, Rush. I suppose you wish to know-" "WHY!?" the young mitra shouted to the raven-haired woman, unable to contain his own fury. "I want know why the hell you and the others did that to us! I thought we were friends, and then you just steal our Remnant and join that fucking insane bastard! Why!?" He grabbed her roughly by the collar of her loose jacket with both hands, lifting her mere inches from the ground. "ANSWER ME!" Hinnah took out her blade once more upon seeing her twin in trouble. And just as she prepared to strike, Hannah, raised her hand, wagging her finger at her sis. The white-haired twin understood, growling as she put away her Remnant once more. Hannah"s hand fell down onto Rush"s arm, her warmth spreading between the two of them. She sighed in relief as Rush relaxed more, putting her back on land, though he still had the glare directed on her and no one else. Even so, sadness was hidden behind those orbs of his. She could sense it, and it only made it harder for her to speak. She closed her eyes, her head bowed as she finally said, "Sorry, but we-I-can no longer be friends again..." "You still didn"t answer my question. Why?" He looked away from her, eyes downcast onto the broken ground he stood atop of. Disgusted with all of this, he couldn"t bring himself to be caught directly in Hannah"s gaze with his own. "Can you at least tell me why we can never be-" "LAME!" They both turned their attention to the one yelling, none other than Young, a bored and angry look on his face for once. "Hannah, why can"t we be friends? I love you so!" He mimicked poorly, enough to earn a malicious glare from both of them, even Emmy and Hinnah. The smirk returned to his face upon seeing such exciting displays of rage towards him. "Seriously, that"s a load of bullshit! We were never your friends in the first place! I mean, we tried sending you to your own deaths for fuck"s sake! But I gotta admit that you are beginning to interesting me, kid!" His Remnant came out of thin air, and he grabbed it with a single arm. "I"m in the mood to make some red ice! So how about we skip the small talk and get to the-" Before he could even continue, Hinnah was already in front of him in a mere second, her own Remnant out and near his neck, a smirk on her face. "Cool it with your damn blood fetish, you sick freak!" The smirk faded, replaced with a fake frown. "Or would you rather take it up with the Conqueror?" For once in their entire lives did they see fear in Young, sweat trailing down his face as he seemed to panic for a few seconds. If it were under normal circumstances, Rush would have considered it to be hilarious, as would Hinnah, only because she loved to see fear in those she despises. Young snorted and put away the Frostblade once more, turning his back as he prepared to leave. Looking back, he grinned in madness. "Fine, but you know what happens if you join them. If you do..." The blade of ice appeared once more, slung on top of his shoulders. Chilly, but he had gotten used to it. "You"ll be my new ingredient to a perfect Bloody Mary!" His laughter echoed throughout the area as he left, only dying down when he was no longer visible. Hinnah put away her weapon, and sighed. "I can"t believe I almost considered dating him. I must have been drunk and high at the same time!" Rush and Hannah focused on their conversation once more, with Rush"s anger concentrated solely on her and no one else, not even Hinnah. "Now are you going to tell me why, or are you just going to stand like an idiot in front of me?" "I..." Hannah crossed her hands over her legs, surprisingly nervous about what she wanted to say to him. It wasn"t that she didn"t have one, but...No. She couldn"t tell him, not yet. He still had friends who cared for him, a little sister as well. She wanted to tell him so badly, scream it from the top of her lungs. But at what price? Telling him would only bring him more sorrow, more misery to his life. And the truth...she didn"t want to face it. "Rush..." she looked up, a serious look plaguing her face. "We have our reasons, so I beg you to stop fighting. If you do, you will only know true pain." "Is that a threat?" Emmy cut in, stepping right in front of the two to prevent another brawl from emerging. "And what about what Young said earlier? That too was true?" Hannah shook her head. "Not exactly, at least not all of it. We were only meant to test you, see how much trouble you would be worth to the Conqueror. But I never imagined you would be-" "I think that"s enough, sis," said Hinnah, "You told this pansy more than enough. Anymore, and the Conqueror would kill us in a heartbeat." Hannah nodded, knowing her sister was right. "Yes, I know that." She turned to face Rush. "But there"s just one last thing I need to do." Hinnah snorted. "Make it quick. You know how pissy everyone gets when we"re late." Hannah took only one step, and one was just enough for Emmy to stand between them. To her surprise, Rush placed his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head, silently telling her to not get involved. The young general reluctantly stepped aside, following his wishes. Her hand however was still on the handle of her own weapons, just in case something horrible were to happen. Hannah encircled her arms around her former friend, burying her head into his chest, blushing. She had never done such things with Rush, let alone anyone else. And while she could hear the two gasps, and the one continuous voice of cursing she was all too familiar with, she paid no attention, fully enjoying her moment. Though Rush was practically still torn apart, the mere thought of Hannah doing something like this had left him frozen. He was conflicted, unable to decide whether to embrace her as well, or shove her aside like the traitor she was, possibly even strike her down ahead of time just to save more lives from being taken. Yes, that"s what he wanted to do the most, but not because of the innocent, but because he wanted his own vengeance for doing this to him. His anger however could no longer keep this ruse up, and he couldn"t bring himself to do such a thing. He wasn"t like the Conqueror, a heartless murderer. Even Emmy, who had a deep hatred for anyone associated with the monster because of her late mother, would never agree to murder like this. So he returned the embrace, his arms surrounding her entire body, pulling her closer to him. He could feel her sigh in both relief and joy as the warmth began to grow. And he too could sense it growing within himself as well. He briefly separated, placing a hand under her chin. No words were needed as Rush captured Hannah"s lips, and she responded back with equal force. The lava-like heat that was once anger now turned into a smooth ray of light within Rush. They had both wanted this for awhile, and both had caved into their hearts desire. But while they were in their act, Emmy and Hinnah were less pleased. Emmy turned her head away, looking at the ground to avoid the sight of it. Her heart sank, and she had no idea why. Why would she even care? She should be happy. And yet she isn"t, just the complete opposite. It was almost as if she would preferred a fight. She shook her head. "What has gotten into me?" she whispered to herself. "Jealous over Rush? Now I must have gotten hit on the head by some foul beast for sure." Hinnah"s reaction on the other hand was pure shock. She knew of her sister"s hidden feelings, but she had never expected her to do such a thing, especially in front of her. "Holy shit on a shit sandwich with shit on top!" Reluctantly separating from Rush, Hannah bowed her head once more, simply saying, "I"m truly sorry...for everything." Rush stared at her orbs, noticing that they were filling up with tears. He placed his hand on Hannah"s shoulder once again. "Hannah?" That"s when it happened: A powerful punch to the Solar Plexus, one strong enough to even topple Rush himself. He fell to his knees, spitting out blood that rushed up his throat. He looked at Hannah one final time, wondering why. Falling down onto the floor, his vision darkening, all he could see was Emmy running towards him, shouting his name. Hannah let the lone tear drop from her eye, and turned to leave alongside her sister. But before she could leave, she looked back at Emmy, who only returned a malicious glare. "Take good care of him for me." Emmy"s gaze softened, realizing why Hannah had done this in the first place. "You knew he"d follow you to the Conqueror?" "People do a lot of stupid stuff when they are in love, be it for family or friends." She began to walk away, saying within earshot of Emmy, "And I am probably doing the dumbest of all things." The twin sisters walked past the city of Nagapur, ignoring the crowds of people that were there; neither wanted to deal with anymore annoyances than today by meeting one of Rush"s mercenary friends, like Glenys or Jager. Though confident in their skills, with the way Hannah was now, even they might have stood a chance, and two soldiers of their level could not take them and the entire guild down, as it would just be a suicide tactic. During their time, Hinnah was the first to speak, concerned about her sister. "I"m surprised you had the balls to do that. I wouldn"t have done it even if I was paid so much gold I could never fight for it ever again!" Hannah slowly nodded. "It was the only way. We can"t tell him what he is, otherwise he may become even more willing to stop us." Hinnah shrugged. "I dunno. He"s definitely the type to just rush into things blindly." Hannah chuckled, earning a glare from her twin. "What"s so damn funny?" "Perhaps he is more your type then. You two nearly act similar at least in that way!" Hinnah allowed a chuckle to pass her lips. "You sure know how to pick "em, huh? First love with a Remnant of all things!" "Yeah..." Hannah ran ahead of her sister. "Now let"s hurry. The others might think we have betrayed them thanks to Young." It only took seconds to reach the border of the city with their speed. And outside, Milton and the rest of the Seven sat on the rubble just outside the city, waiting specifically for them, Young and Snievan being the most annoyed of the group. "It"s about damn time! What"s wrong? Smacking lips with the enemy wasn"t as fun as you thought it to be?" joked Young. Hinnah growled, stepping forward to hit Young. Instead, her sister pulled her out of the way, heading towards Young on her own. She gave her sister a look, and Hinnah nodded, stepping out of the way. "He"s all yours." She sighed and shook her head. "Young, you just messed with the worst of the twins." "How so?" Being daring, he faced Hannah by himself, taunting her to hit him, underestimating the twin"s strength. "I"ll give you the first shot!" Some say they saw the blaze of lightning, some say they heard rumble of thunder, but only one felt the true wrath of Hannah in the form of a devastating strike to the gut. Even Young could not stand on his feet for long, and collapsed, nearly falling face-first to the ground. Hinnah laughed. "Wow! They don"t call you The Merciless for nothing!" And for the unknown time today, she wore that fake smile, a mask of her true emotions. Her only regret would be in the future, where she and Rush would meet again on the battlefield, only as enemies... And only one leaving alive... Rush awoke several hours later, greeted with the sight of Glenys and Emmy, with Jager standing against the wall, acting like he didn"t care. Normally he would have smiled, or even cracked a joke that would have gotten him a tongue-lashing from Emmy. But with the emotional blow doing more damage to him than the one to his gut, he could do neither. Rather, he got out of bed and headed to the roof, wanting some time alone. He sat there, dangerously close to the edge. Rush knew it was a stupid idea, but even he wasn"t dumb enough to fall; the incident hadn"t made him suicidal after all. So he just sat there like a lump, questioning the situation over and over. His hands balled up into fists, anger slowly returning. All he wanted, all he needed, all he desired was to simply kill the Conqueror now. He took too much from him, and there was only one thing he could take from such a selfish brute, his own life. The door behind creaked open, another figure emerging. "Rush, are you alright?" "Emmy..." He turned his head to see her, giving the young general a fake smile. "Yeah, I"m okay." "Liar." He flinched. "Ouch. That obvious?" "When you stop making such rude remarks, I know there is something wrong." "And you didn"t think I run out of jokes?" Emmy walked over to her comrade, plopping a seat right next to him. Of course she was worried, but she wondered why her, and not someone like Glenys, who out of all the members in Nagapur had the closest relationship to Rush, though the similarities were not nearly the same as with Hannah. And of course Jager...Rush would probably jump off or throw him off if he spoke to him, what with the whole kidnapping sister for money thing. It took several minutes before she could muster up the courage to speak to him, though she was still baffled as to why it was so hard to simply talk. "I know what you and Hannah was special, but you have to face reality, Rush. And I know it"s not easy, yet if you continue to sulk, you won"t even be able to hold a sword, or even cast a spell when the time demands it." "I know," he said with no emotion. "She"s an enemy now, and there"s nothing I can do but fight." He stared at his hands, chuckling. "I pulled out my trump card, only to just lose her and feel like the biggest pile of dragon dung this side of the world. I was stupid to even consider that she would even--" Emmy shook her head. "I didn"t mean it like that. And if she didn"t care, then she wouldn"t have cried." Rush suddenly turned pale. Slowly, he turned to see Emmy staring right back at him, his jaw dropped in complete and utter disbelief. "Say wha?" Emmy nodded and repeated. "She cried, right after she knocked you out. If she hadn"t done that, knock your lights out I mean, what was the first thing you would have done?" "What do you think?" he questioned, and both already knew the answer. "I would hunt that bastard Conqueror and-" "Lose and die horribly," finished the general. "You saw what he could do to my mother and the events of Nagapur. God knows what he"ll do to you without any of us here to help you." Rush turned away from her, causing her to sigh. "Sorry, but it"s the truth. And I-I mean we-can"t let that happen, not after we saved Irina." "No, you"re right." He looked back down at the city below him, eyeing the various civilians and shopkeepers do their business throughout the small corner of what was left of the city. "I told my sis I wasn"t going to let anything ever happen to her again, and if I died, well then I can"t keep that promise, now can I?" This time Emmy was the one to be confused. Never had she heard Rush apologize for anything, and here he was, actually admitting he was wrong for a change. Nevertheless, she nodded and smiled at her comrade. "Good to see you"re finally back...I suppose." "Yep, but I gotta know, did she do anything else?" "Well..." Emmy lowered her head, covering the blush that had covered her face all of a sudden. Seriously, she needed to find a way to get rid of that! "She told me to take good care of you." After a good heart-to-heart talk, one would think Rush had no smartass comments or jokes. But then again, that person could only be someone who had never met him in the first place. With a fake pout, he leaned in too close to Emmy, his head on her shoulder. "In that case, can I have some milk and cookies, Ms. Honey?" Emmy wanted to knock him away as the blush on her face grew ten times larger, bright enough to light an entire cave, but due to where they were at the moment, the last thing she wanted was to how to make an excuse to Irina and David as to why Rush"s legs and other various parts of him were broken. She tried to put him back into place, however, her gauntlets could not support his weight for long, slipping from their grasp, and Rush hit his face into her chest armor. He quickly got up, holding his head in pain. "Well, I guess I should have asked for fresh instead of sour." ...Truly the wrong and dumbest thing to say at that time. Needless to say, Emmy was furious, even more than the time she was called an old hag by Rush, and her identity was confused for her mother"s back then. With a mind hellbent on payback, she smacked him in the back of his head. "You little bastard!" Rush moved forward to dodge, and while he did, there was still one problem he had forgotten to overlook: the fact that he was on a rooftop, dangerously close to the edge....or at least he was. He screamed and flailed his arms in the air before landing the shopping area of the grocery store, thankfully in the produce section. Though many of the fruits and vegetables were now squashed and flattened, he was okay, minus the fact that he was now seeing several strange cute yellow birds circling his head, chirping and marching in a weird fashion. Why did they seem so familiar to him? Emmy leaned over the edge and shouted, "Are you alright?" Rush, seeing her, gave a lopsided smile and a thumbs-up. "Well, other than the fact that my pants are wet from the fruit, my allowance is in the toilet, and an avocado is currently stuck in someplace I never want anything to be...I"m good! I"m great! I"m-" He fell backwards, instantly unconscious after everything he went through. Emmy scratched the back of her head, giving a nervous smile. "Back and unconscious...Just how everyone likes you!" She finished. And for a time, things went back to normal, but soon...All hell shall be unleashed. The wars will begin again, and the fated battle will soon come to pass. Finally finished! I started this on Monday and just couldn"t stop! I"m thinking about leaving it here, but if anyone can convince to continue, I will, though I would need some fresh material. Later and thank you for reading something that isn"t yaoi in this section!

But even so, she wanted to find out the truth. She had a right to know. But she knew Serge would stand in her way because he knew that if there was anything that had to do with Lynx, it would come with misery and pain. Still, that would not stop her from finding out what happened to her. She looked into Serge"s mirror and frowned as she tried to fix her hair. Serge really did like Kid better with long hair, but she hated it. It would always block her vision when in a fight and cause her to be thrown around like a rag doll by some random monster. Plus she just felt more vulnerable with her hair like that, like she was some innocent little girl who could be taken advantage of. It nearly happened to her once when she was just fifteen. She managed to get away before the men could do anything by cutting their throats as they were about to go with it. The only thing that came close to her being that terrified was Lynx burning down the orphanage. "Yo guys!" shouted Glenn from the kitchen. "Orlha"s finally made some breakfast! Get your asses off of each other and get some before I eat all of it!" Kid blushed furiously at that as soon as she finished braiding her hair. Remembering that she didn"t eat dinner last night, she opened Serge"s bedroom door and went downstairs without him, her stomach growling the entire way. When she made it down, she was greeted with the sight of Glenn devouring all of the food that was within his sight, Orlha preparing extra food in the event that Glenn eats all of it while humming to herself a song from Nikki, and Grobyc was...being Grobyc by just sitting by the window, watching the villagers that passed by. "Oi, don"t you have anythin" better to do, mate?" asked Kid. She sighed when Grobyc shook his head. "Grobyc-must-monitor-activities-of-the-populace. Grobyc-and-the-rest-of-allies-must-stay-on-guard-in-the-event-Dread-reveals-himself." "Relax, metal head." said Glenn after swallowing the last of his food. "That shadow cat wouldn"t be dumb enough to attack us as long as we stay in the village. And even so, we got Radius backing us up so we should be good." Grobyc didn"t move from his spot after hearing that. The cyborg still had a bad feeling, which was odd to him because he wasn"t supposed to have feelings. Glenn ignored the cyborg and handed his plate to Orlha. "How about some seconds, Orlha?" Kid snorted. "For you, it"s probably more like seven hundredths! How much can you eat!? It"s not like these are Viper Churros." Orlha tried to maintain a straight face as she continued to cook, but that would be broken soon. Glenn laughed. "These are no Viper Churros, but they"re still good." Orlha briefly stopped her cooking, walked over to Glenn, and put on her nicest smile, or so he thought. Kid saw that look before and it only spelled trouble, especially for a certain Dragoon if he didn"t shut up. Kid saw this as a chance to torture him a little. "Are you sure Viper Churros are better, Glenn?" Glenn nodded, which resulted in Orlha smacking him in the back of the head. When Glenn looked at Orlha, he could see the vain popping in her forehead. And when he saw the Cheshire-like grin on Kid"s face, he realized what he had done wrong. "Why you little thief/pain in the ass!' His thoughts were pushed aside as Serge finally came down, stretching his arms and yawning the entire way down. Everyone heard the inhuman growl of his stomach, so Orlha immediately prepared a nice plate for him and Kid. Serge and Kid ate their food quickly, even quicker than Glenn. And by quickly, I mean like savages who haven"t had a good meal in months. It was only until after they were done that Serge began asking questions. "Where were you last night? Glenn told me that you were supposed to be cooking dinner." "Did he now?" Orlha glared at Glenn, causing the Dragoon to shrink in his seat. "Well, after hearing about your..." Orlha stopped mid-sentence, remembering what Kid had said to her. "Uh...I mean I was out of supplies so I went out to buy some more. Then I saw some perverts harassing some girl, so I broke all of their bones and tore up the restaurant. So I ended up cleaning the place." Technically, it was the truth, stretched a little, but still the truth nonetheless. But Serge wasn"t easily fooled by Orlha"s story. Although it seemed true to him, he wondered what she was about to say earlier. "What were you going to say before?" he asked. "Huh?" She put on her best acting face, trying to act as if she didn"t know what Serge met. "I have no idea what you"re talking about." Serge crossed his arms over his chest. "You"re not fooling anyone with the innocent act." Orlha tried to think of a comeback. Then it hit her. She ran to the drawer where she hid Serge"s letter from yesterday. She pulled it out and handed it to him with a smile. "I completely forgot to hand this to you! It"s from Nikki." Serge opened the letter, only to find that it had been opened earlier. It was obvious that Orlha did this, seeing as how Grobyc isn"t interested in letters and Glenn was too busy training with the cyborg. As for Kid, he knew full well where she was yesterday. And if he even breathed a word of it, he was sure Kid would kill him. When he was done reading the letter, he was surprised that Orlha didn"t steal the two tickets for herself. "Sweet!" he cheered. "It"s been awhile since I"ve been at sea!" His cheering stopped when he realized that there are only two tickets. He sighed, knowing what he had to do. "Glenn, do you and Orlha want to go instead?" "Hell yeah!" Glenn proceeded to snatch the tickets, but stopped midway when he felt an icy glare penetrating through his back. He slowly backed his hand away from the tickets. Then he realized why Orlha was glaring. "On second thought, why don"t you just take Kid with you?" Kid coughed up her drink before turning a bright red. She gasped for air for a few seconds. Serge however didn"t notice as he blushed as well and turned his away from everyone, trying to take some interest in the photos on his shelf. "Well..." Serge gulped. Right now he was really beginning to hate his friend for doing this to him. But then again, this might be a good chance for him to get back on Kid"s side. He looked at Kid, who had now recovered from her coughing. "Kid, would you like to come with me? I"m sure that there"s a lot of food." Kid noticed the blush on his face. At first, she probably would have declined, seeing as how she wasn"t really in the mood to go out to sea just to see Nikki"s concert. But she remembered that she had only a few days left with Serge before the final battle. And since Orlha and Glenn weren"t coming, this would be the perfect time to admit her feelings. She smiled and nodded. "Sure, mate. When do we leave?" Serge looked at the date of the tickets, but instantly panicked when he saw the date. "SHIT!" "What?" He gave Kid one of the tickets, causing her to panic as well. "Bloody freakin" hell! The bloody boat leaves at 11:00 AM!?" She glanced at the clock and turned pale. It was already 10:03 AM. They both ran upstairs to get ready immediately. Orlha raised an eyebrow at their antics. "Why can"t they just use Norris" boat?" "Because he used it to go back to Porre for awhile, remember?" Glenn got up from his seat and followed the two upstairs. "Now if you"ll excuse me, I need to talk to Serge for a second." "Don"t do anything stupid." "Impossible." muttered Grobyc. When Glenn made it up to Serge"s room, he saw that he was packing as fast as he could and was now looking for something. That something was actually his swimming trunks. Glenn knew that because he constantly shouted it out during his panic. He found no sign of Kid anywhere, but figured that she must be in the bathroom or something. "Yo Serge!" Serge picked up his head from underneath his bed to look at his friend. "Not now! I gotta get ready! Where the hell are my shorts?" He lifted his bed above his head and dropped it back down when he didn"t find his shorts. He moved towards his closet and dug around in there to see if he could find the article of clothing he needs. "I"m amazed you"ll put this much effort for a pair of shorts." Glenn chuckled. He opened Serge"s suitcase, only to find his clothing, as well as the trunks he was looking for. Glenn was beginning to wonder why Serge was the leader all over again. "Your trunks are right here." Serge stopped his search, sighing in relief. He looked at his clock. It was 10:11 AM. He still had some time, but now he had to wait until Kid was ready. Though he thought that wouldn"t take too long since she had hardly anything, all because of Lynx. If he was still alive, Serge would make sure he"d annihilate any trace of his existence, even the ground on which he stood on. That demon put both of them through living hell and... "No.' he thought. "Gotta stay positive on this vacation. Otherwise, I"ll just ruin it for the both of us.' "You wanted to talk to me, right?" asked Serge as he sat on the bed. "Yeah. It"s about Kid..." Serge raised his hand in front of Glenn"s face. "No! I don"t want any of your stupid advice. The last thing I need is for Kid to think I"m a pervert!" "Hey! Last time I checked, I"m the one with an actual girlfriend around here! And not to mention Kid already does know about you perverted nature." Before Serge could counter, Glenn pulled out what appeared to be a manga book. He tossed it to Serge. "Read this. It"ll educate you on everything you need to know!" Serge cringed at Glenn"s smile. He knew there had to be something wrong. Looking at the cover, he saw character cartoons he saw whenever he read manga, though he stopped reading them when he realized they were getting more and more expensive. And since he was allegedly with Leena at the time, money was very important. He opened the book and freaked out by what he saw. Sure, he saw some familiar characters, but they were... "HENTAI!?" He threw the book at Glenn"s head, making it bounce off of his head and into his hands. "What the hell is your problem!? Orlha would kill us if she ever found out about this!" Glenn smirked. "No, she wouldn"t. You"d be surprised at what we..." Glenn immediately stopped himself when he saw Serge"s face twisted in disgust and horror. Several horrible thoughts filled his mind. He was beginning to think the rumor between those two on Fargo"s ship was true. Now he really wanted to take that vacation. Serge turned pale, his eyebrow twitching like crazy. "Congratulations, Glenn. You have done what others have failed to do. You have killed me!" Glenn laughed, really enjoying Serge"s reaction. "Relax! This"ll help you and Kid get into the mood! Not to mention it"ll show you some moves!" "Will you just shut up!?" Serge yelled. "If this is all you have to say, then just get out before my mind is completely shot!" "Would you just trust me on this, pal? Have I ever let you down in the past?" Serge nodded. "Yeah. Remember the incident at Chronopolis when Polis Police ambushed us and we were supposed to perform the X-strike?" Glenn recalled the memory of that incident. His face fell at that. "Come on! You can"t blame me for getting punched through a wall!" "I can if you were flirting with Orlha the entire time while me and Grobyc were getting our asses shot with rocket launchers and giant fists!" Glenn put his hand under his chin. "Touché..." Serge fell back on top of his bed and sighed heavily. "You have five seconds to get out of my room before I throw you out of the window and into the sea." "Would you just listen!? Besides, I also have a full proof plan for you to get Kid." Serge raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "And that is...?" Meanwhile, Kid looked through Orlha"s things for some kind of clothing in Serge"s mother"s room, seeing as how she only had the red thief outfit, but she wanted something different, something that might catch Serge"s attention. It hurt her pride when Serge refused to look at her, yet she would pummel him to a pulp if he even peeped at her in the nude. All of this was really confusing her. "What are you doing with my things?" Kid turned around to see Orlha waiting by the door, raising her eyebrows in curiosity. Kid quickly returned to rummaging around Orlha"s things, tossing aside all of Orlha"s clothing behind her. "I"m lookin" for some new clothes." Kid"s eyes turned as wide as saucer plates when she picked up a nurse"s outfit, but it seemed a little too tight for someone like Orlha to be wearing. "What the bloody hell!?" Orlha immediately snatched the outfit from Kid"s hands and hid it behind her back while looking at Kid with a red face. "You didn"t see anything!" Kid"s jaw dropped as she put two and two together. "You and Glenn are freakin" sick! Why would you even do this!?" Orlha shushed her, not wanting this kind of news to spread throughout the entire village. "Quiet! I don"t need this to spread around like wildfire!" "But the fact that you actually..." Kid"s face grimaced in fright. "Seriously, what the fuck were you bloody thinking!?" Orlha put a hand on top of her head as she closed her eyes. "It was just my old nursing outfit when I was helping Doc and I was very young back then! Cut me some slack!" "Then why the hell do you still have it!?" "..." Orlha"s silent blush was the only answer Kid needed. Kid sighed heavily and returned to rummaging her way through the clothes. "Screw it! What do you want anyway?" Orlha recovered from her blush and smiled at Kid. "I"m here to ask what happened yesterday with you and Serge." She frowned. "I"m guessing things didn"t go well." Kid shook her head. "Not at first. Serge was being a peeping Tom and we met one of Lynx"s lackeys. He said somethin" about restoring my lost memories." "Well you did mention before that you lose memories whenever you are in a bind. But why in the world would he want to do that?" Kid frowned as she thought about the earlier idea she had. "I think it may have something to do with that bastard Lynx. I think he may have..." She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Just thinking about what she needed to say made her sick. But Orlha knew exactly what she meant. Over the years of being a bartender, she could learn how to read people"s minds easily. And Kid was no exception. "You think he might have raped you, is that it?" Kid nodded, much to Orlha"s dismay. "I don"t think that would be the case. I mean, who could take on you?" "That same bastard was able to kill Lucca and brainwash me into attacking Serge." She took the dagger from her belt and stared at the blade, seeing her reflection of her face twisted in anger and disgust. "If that bastard did what I think he did, I"m gonna bring him back to life and kill him my damn self!" "Let"s not do that. I"d rather not take on that psycho. Still, if he set an orphanage on fire and you still remember it, then surely you"d remember if he..." Kid placed her dagger back in her sheathe, not wanting to tear any of Orlha"s clothing by accident. But she knew Orlha made a good point. Besides, if it did happen, surely Serge or somebody would have prevented it in the first place. "Well, the only way I"m gonna find out is by findin" that bastard meself! I"ll kick that bugger"s ass so far he"ll--" "Kiss the moons." finished Orlha. "I swear, that line is soooooooo predictable. But don"t worry about that demon thingy. Me and Glenn will hunt it down no problem!" Kid raised an eyebrow. "Only you and Glenn? What "bout our tin can for a fighter?" "He"ll be going with you, just to be safe. At least until you"re on board, then he"ll follow you via boat." Kid glared at Orlha, realizing what she really had planned. "Are you just getting" him to spy on me and Serge?" Orlha waved her hands in front of her defensively and in panic. "No! I"d never do that! What makes you think I"d do that? You"re crazy!" Kid"s glare did not fade, not even to make an easy joke she had ready in her mind after Orlha was done. Orlha knew she had to change the subject quickly, but had nothing. But before Kid could proceed to rip Orlha to ribbons, her eyes saw a box sticking underneath Serge"s mother"s bed. Curious, she picked it up and looked at Orlha. "Another one of your toys!?" She ripped it open before Orlha even had a chance to explain. When it was opened, she was greeted with the sight of black and gold clothing. She took it out and realized that it was a black and gold version of her own outfit. "What the bloody hell is this!? This is too small for you!" Orlha shook her head and pointed at Kid. "It"s for you, silly! You honestly think that I would be wearing that!? After reading the letter I opened yesterday, I thought that you might want a change of clothing suitable to your date. Plus the new black and gold look would work great for someone like you!" It was Kid"s turn to blush out of embarrassment. Now she was the one who felt like a jerk for yelling at Orlha when she was helping her all this time. "Sorry." Orlha chuckled. "Did the great Kid just apologize to me?" she said mockingly. Kid"s face turned a dark red in anger. "Oi! Don"t make me kick your arse so hard that it"ll knock you back in time." Orlha shoulders slumped and she blinked twice. What Kid said was not what she was expecting. "Huh?" Kid shrugged. "What? I thought that I ought a try somethin" new. Anyway, I don"t say this often, but..." She took a deep breath as she was about to say two words that rarely come out of her mouth. "Thank you." Overwhelmed with joy, Orlha embraced Kid in a deep hug after hearing that. Kid squirmed around, trying to pry herself away from the affectionate bartender. Eventually, she gave up. "No problem. You"re like a little sister to me." She pulled away and smiled warmly at Kid. "I just want you and Serge to be happy. After all, we only have a little time before we face the big bad." "Time..." Kid"s eyes widened as she suddenly realized something very important. "What time is it?" Orlha glanced at the clock behind her. She quickly let go of Kid and proceeded to shove her out of the room. "It"s 10:31! You guys are gonna be late!" "And that"s it, my friend." finished Glenn. "What do you think?" As much as Serge didn"t want to admit it, Glenn had actually given him good advice that wasn"t related to combat, unless you count actually dating Kid that is. But there was still a possibility that this could go wrong, seeing as how this is Glenn"s plan. When it comes to combat, Serge can easily trust Glenn without a second thought, but when it came down to women, he"d rather go to Radius. He could still remember the time that Glenn attempted to hook up with someone a couple of months ago. The Dragoon ended up stranded at sea for several hours, which was weird because they were at Termina. "Sound advice, but I"m a little concerned about this. When have your plans ever worked?" "Just go with it already!" yelled Glenn, impatient with his friend for not making any types of moves. "Listen, you guys got what, five or six days before we face the Time Devourer? I say you make the most of this time we got before that thing destroys this planet! Don"t miss out on this chance of a lifetime and live to regret it! Got it?" Serge nodded. "Yeah! You"re right!" Serge shot straight up from his bed with a determined look on his face. "This may be tough, but I can do this! I did say that I would be the one dealing the cards that would suit her." Glenn laughed out loud when he heard that, recalling the last time he said it. "Man that is lame!" Serge ignored his partner and looked at the clock behind him. His eyes nearly popped out of his head as he realized what time it was. "10:32!? Shit!" Serge grabbed the suitcase and raced downstairs. "See you later, Glenn!" Serge made it down stairs and saw Kid awaiting impatiently with her foot tapping and her arms crossed over her chest. If he was any later, than he was sure Kid would have killed him. "OI! Where the bloody hell were you!?" Serge ignored her and grabbed onto her arm. He pulled her alongside him and they both raced towards Termina together with Grobyc trailing behind. Orlha and Glenn stood outside, watching the future couple in the distance. Glenn looked at Orlha with a smirk on his face. Now that Serge and Kid were gone, they could do whatever they wanted for a few days. "Now then..." He placed his arms around Orlha from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. "What should we do while they"re off having fun?" Orlha turned around and pushed Glenn away, knocking him into the pile of broken metals that formed in front of Serge"s home. Apparently she was still angry about what had earlier. "Gee, why don"t you run to Termina and feast on this Churros you like so much!?" She stormed off into the house and locked the door. "And don"t even think about dinner tonight either!" Glenn hung his head. "Me and my big fat mouth!" His stomach growled in hunger once again. He sighed heavily as he got up. "Now how do I get on her good side again?" He looked around the village, but did not find anything useful. "Where the hell am I going to find something like that!?" It was meant to be a lot more angsty than this, but the idea I had involved Kid acting too OOC. So I settled for very light angst and some crappy comedy between Orlha and Glenn. The next chapter though is filled with more angst and drama! Look forward to it true believers! And don"t forget to review!

"Irina is Rush"s brother, and he was VERY protective of her...and highly reluctant on letting her fight. I doubt he would trust too many people to the task of teaching her how to fight. Torgal has little patience and his training has left more than a few...scars." He hesitated a bit after saying that, flashbacks becoming more vivid as he remembered his training as a young Mitra. "And he was closest to Emma out of all my Generals, and trusted her very much. Because of this, I cannot think of anyone better than you to teach Irina how to properly defend herself." She nodded, stood up straight, and crossed her right arm over her chest. "Understood, my lord! I will carry out this task." Both of them knew however that behind that salute, she had already begun to resent the idea. Walking out of the throne room with her head held high, she had thought that maybe this wouldn"t be too bad. After all, Irina did seem to know how to control her older brother...sort of. Well, at least without having to resort to verbal and forceful threats with a wide variety of weaponry and invocations. Who bad could it possibly be? ...She had no idea the hell she would soon endure. Is Rush dead? Will Emmy truly go to hell? Will I actually finish this story? Who knows? I will say that this story won"t be terribly long since I don"t have too many ideas. If anything, it will probably last about another 3-5 chapters. Besides, I"m not writing some novelization or anything, and it"s hard to write about these guys since they don"t really have too many moments together, or at all. Now that I am done with the shit-fest that was the tournament, I can finally get back on track with updating my fics. Sorry for the delay, but I actually finished this chapter months ago, but with all the work, I forgot about it. Plus I sent it to one of my betas, and she never got back with me on that; I think she may have forgotten. Regardless, this is unbetaed. Now I forget what I said in the beginnign, but for the most part, these chapters will probably be random/linkable for the most part, and mainly dealing with either the trio and building their friendship, or Emmy changing her feelings, sort of. But there is a plot, if the prologue wasn"t any indication. My muse is kinda down, so I"ll be back to to writing video game reviews on my blogs as a warm up to wake her the hell back up. Also, I will be role-playing on Shiva Dancing and Crystal Epos. I highly recommend the both of them, and I even play Hannah on Crystal Epos! XD Out of all the characters in Last Remnant, she is actually my favorite, though tied with Emmy. And I thought it"d be a good challenge to take her based on the plot I am developing for Betrayed. I thank all of you who are enjoying the story thus far, and hope you continue to read! Your praise always helps make me feel mighty good about myself! ^_^ Chapter 1: Rushing Into Trouble In another part of the palace, in the newly redecorated kitchen, Rush and Blocter stepped out, with the mitra holding a bowl of the foulest substance Blocter had ever smelt within his twenty years. Rush would be overwhelmed as well, had he not took the precaution and equipped a clothespin onto his nose. And while he couldn"t really get a good sniff out of anything, he was sure that the contents within the pot were enough to strike down even a dragon! Thankfully, the diabolical concoction wasn"t meant for eating; no living being could so much as sip it in the first place! Rather, Rush had though to fill some of the training dummies with the substance. He thought that the idea would go really well with Irina"s training, giving her more of a feel of the battlefield, minus the assortment of demons and monsters waiting outside. And since he wasn"t a vampire and unable to use real blood, he had to make due to his culinary skills. The moment he proposed that, Blocter had immediately preferred getting actual blood. He could"ve sworn his own lifespan had just dropped a few decades! The general eyed Rush carefully, making sure that none of the liquid was spilled onto the carpets; the last thing he wanted was to spend his months cleaning the halls of the palace. "You sure you"re not gonna spill it?" Rush rolled his eyes; why must everyone assume he was an incompetent? Sure, there was that time in the kitchen...and that day he taunted the giant bird in Fortstrand....and no one could forget his stupidity when he accidentally lead several Greater Demons to the entire group. ...Okay, maybe he did have his faults, but who didn"t? At least in his mind... "No, mom," he said sarcastically. "I can handle this just-GAH!" Blocter raced, or in this case, wobbled his amphibian-body in front of Rush, his hands ready to catch the pot. To his surprise however, the pot was not on the ground, or even in his hands. Instead, Rush still held the pot perfectly natural, grinning at Blocter"s panicked stricken face. The grin faded away with the Yama"s grief, and said Yama automatically reached for his axe, though he had forgotten that he left it to the blacksmith to be upgraded. Blocter shot a glare at the young mitra. As much as Blocter enjoyed jokes, in their current situation, it was not so wise to play around; it would only lead to Blocter"s true fears! "Why you little!" Rush only laughed. "Your face was priceless, dude! You looked like a fish outta the water!" "I"ll throttle you!" Blocter charged at Rush, but soon stopped when his face was mere inches away from accidentally running into the foul cauldron. Unintentionally taking a whif, he retracted himself and fell to the floor, gagging. "Damn that shit stinks!" "It"s not that bad," commented Rush, trying his best to hold in his laughter. Blocter made his best effort to get up, struggling to even stand on his small legs; he was beginning to regret being so massive in size. His head swirled, body unable to stand straight as he tilted to his sides back and forth. Normally he would pound or chase Rush until he was tired, but with such a smell, one more whiff would probably kill him. ...Maybe he could get one of the Hinnah or Hannah sisters; he kept forgetting who was who, to teach him the error of his ways, by braking his bones and such. Rush walked past his dazed teammate, snickering, and continued his trip to the training grounds. He shouted to his partner, "Would you hurry it up? You can"t seriously expect me to do all the work!" A single second flew by before Rush gave up and carried on. "Whatever. But you better come on and meet me there!" However, too distracted by his own yelling, Rush failed to notice two things in the hallway. One of which was the mysterious creature he dubbed Mr. Diggs; not too clever with titles was he. Said creature accidentally thought his master had summoned him, appearing in his unusual, and surprisingly mystical, way. With both the cauldron and yelling distracting Rush, he stepped onto the creature"s head, his foot now stuck in between the horns of the poor monster. The pain rushing through his head by the young Sykes, as well as the weight crushing his tiny body, he immediately panicked, squeaking what was probably his version of a shriek, and tried to escape. Unfortunately, the more he struggled, the more tighter the grip his horns would get on Rush"s foot. Rush, finally noticing his young pet, tried to get his foot away from the clutches of the horns, panicking as well. "Get off of me, Mr. Diggs!" He picked his leg up, trying to kick away the poor beast rapidly. "I don"t have time to play, nor do I have any morsels, so scat!" He stopped as the heat of the cauldron was in face-level, nearly burning off his skin. "Damn it!' He knew keeping this up now would only result in him becoming the first human monster repellant. Blocter, his senses finally returning to him, at least partially, ran towards his friend, grabbing Mr. Diggs, and stopping Rush from moving. Sadly, Rush was right near yet another thing he had failed to notice: The banister at the end of the hallway. As for what was on the other side, his soon-to-be accidental target was approaching... Emmy left the throne room wordlessly and unrushed, immediately heading towards the training grounds in a calm demeanor. In her head however, several words and other violent actions were swirling about as she knew Rush was going to piss her off; it"s like she developed a special sense for his stupidity. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. This wasn"t like her, at least wanting to kill a comrade wasn"t too much like her. Not to mention all of it was draining her, and she needed every ounce of it for the training regime she had already planned for Irina. The first step would be a mere day or two to get her used to weaponry, then actually take her and Rush through several areas, hunting down rare beasts in order to test her limits. While dangerous, she had made absolutely sure that they wouldn"t encounter problems to allow any fatalities during their journey; she would never under any circumstance, allow harm to Irina either, and not just because of David"s orders either. Her thoughts stopped when she spotted another comrade in arms, Nora, leaning against the wall, inspecting her new hammer as always in the event of an attack. Though technically a mercenary, she had agreed to take the place of Emmy during her absence while she and Rush trained Irina. Emmy called out to her, "Nora!" The witch look-alike picked up her head, slightly smiling at Emmy. Nora never really got along with anyone in the group, usually hanging around the bar for food and the occasional gold she could get with jobs and even gambling. Emmy and Irina however were the only two she could smile at genuinely, feeling sympathy for Rush"s sister, and treating Emmy as one of the few equals in the group, often comparing her to the late Emma. "What"s going on?" she asked, putting the hammer to her side. "I assume you guys are ready to head out soon?" Emmy shook her head. "Not yet. Before we actually get the real training started, I feel that Irina needs to have at least a small degree in weapons training first, since I don"t want her to rely on us all the time." Nora nodded, approving of the plan. "Sounds fine by me. Only problem is I am going to be bored out of my fucking mind all day!" she added with rolling eyes. "The good news is that I can at least feast on any amount of shit I want, so long as a certain soldier isn"t cooking." "No need to worry about him. He is coming along with me," she muttered regrettably. She was thankful Irina could cook during their trip. Nora chuckled, a part of her catching onto that sentence and wishing to tease her just a little; she never got such an opportunity these days. "What? You"re going to give him a private lesson or something?" Emmy blushed furiously, knowing full well the meaning behind those words. "D-don"t be ridiculous!" The mercenary shrugged. "Whatever you say. I"m just in this thing for the money. But..." She leaned forward. "Just remember to always keep your eyes on the boys." The young general arched an eyebrow. "I think Rush already knows not to do such acts around me. Otherwise I would break his arms and the usefulness of alone time would be stripped of him." The thought nearly made her shiver, recalling memories of when other gentlemen, if they could be called that in the nicest of terms, had attempted to bed her. Naturally, they met dire results, especially ones who though she was just another weak fighter. She couldn"t deny some pleasure was brought from the experience. Nora chuckled, then threw her head back and laughed, unable to picture Rush like that. "Ha! Not what I meant, though it would be interesting to see him go through a wall simply because of that! I"m talking about-" "SHIT!" The young general"s senses flared, recognizing the shriek of Rush. Forcing herself to gaze wide-eyed above, only to immediately shut them as the lava that was the concoction poured from its prison on top of her. Lady luck clearly played no hand to aid the general, for the pot containing the dreaded poison swallowed the top half of her body, trapping the acidic substance all around her. The slush trailing slowly trailing down her form sent a chill up her spine, though it quickly faded with the burning intensity piercing through her. Air was a luxury at this point, along with a bath and David"s Gae Bolg to shoot Rush! Once the slush moved away from her mouth, barely past her chin, she shouted the name behind it all. "RUSH!" "That." She heard Nora finish, able to hear the chuckling despite her predicament. Something pushed the cauldron, forcing her to step back because of the weight, nearly tilting backwards. Before she could hazard a guess, Nora"s voice came back. "Okay, just hold still and I"ll get you out. Don"t wanna kiss your mom in the heavens yet, do ya?" If the substance that entrapped her hadn"t entered her system, she would have turned pale rather than purple. "Wait! What are you doing!" she panicked, her voice echoing in fright within her chamber. "Gonna knock your head out of the park if you don"t hold still!" The young, shivering adolescent gulped in fright. He had already heard his name shouted through the cauldron, yet his legs anchored his body to the ground, forcing him to watch Nora strike Emmy...repeatedly. Like a bell, the noise echoed, and Emmy moaned in pain before falling to the ground. All Nora had accomplished was hurting the general, and a large dent that no doubt was ready to pierce right through Emmy. "Wow...Pagus" cauldrons sure got harder over the years..." Rush immediately glared at Blocter, both in fear and anger. "You blockhead! Look what you made me do!" Blocter returned the gaze, walking closer towards Rush until he was in his face. "My fault! You"re the one who decided to pull a prank on me!" "At least I can control my anger and not-" "Oh where have you been for the last year! After you joined us, your reckless crap easily topped my own!" "Well at least I didn"t make a dumb decision like pull Mr. Diggs off! Seriously, you could have just caught my damn back or something!" "Yeah, and who"s the moron to summon it in the first place!" At this, Mr. Diggs bowed his head. Rush glanced to his side, and both he and Blocter redirected their attention towards the entire cause of all of this. "You!" they said simultaneously, startling the creature. Yet the creature revealed its secret weapon, a skill used only by the most vulnerable of children, and occasionally adults as well... The puppy dog eyes. Neither hardened warrior, if they could be called that, was able resist upon seeing the cute expression of the tiny animal. "Well...maybe we can"t stay mad at you..." "I can!" shouted an all too familiar voice. Slowly, with pale and horrified expressions pasted onto their faces, the duo turned their heads around, eyeing a burnt Emmy crouching atop the railing...with Nora"s hammer ready to smash their skulls, even after the damage she had already done to the castle walls just by climbing them with it. The damage her armor sustained was minimal, with only the colors slightly obscured by Rush"s cooking, along with her hair. Her face however was beet red, both from the dragon-sized rage welling inside her, and the heat that burnt her skin. Rush was the first to speak, though he gulped and laughed nervously. "Hey Emmy...You look...tan..." His words held little effect, and so he resorted to getting onto his knees, pleading with her. "Oh come on! You know I would never do this on purpose! It was all just an accident! Ask Blocter!" He pointed to where his friend was, the key word being was. Upon seeing Emmy"s raised eyebrow, he twisted his body to stare at the vacant space. He stared at the small trail of sweat left behind, growling when Blocter retreated behind the corner of the hallway. "Traitor!" "You have five seconds, Sykes..." she said, smacking the rod supporting the hammer against her hand. Though she wasn"t exactly as handy with it as Nora, the murderous intent in her eyes said otherwise to Rush. "Umm..." Sweat simply poured out of Rush, trailing down his neck and face like a waterfall. He turned his direction to Mr. Diggs, perhaps the only thing that could stop her at this rate. "Diggs? How about some help here?" The creature pointed towards Rush, winking before flipping in the air, the mystical energy taking him away. Rush"s eyebrow twitched. "I"m going to kill them if I survive..." Emmy got up, jumping down onto the ground and tapping the hammer against her hand. "Time"s up...Any last words before I break your legs?" Rush crawled backed up as Emmy got closer, walking backwards with his hands out, trying to stop Emmy. "Can"t we talk first?" She shook her head, murderous eyes glaring down onto Rush. Panicking, he reached into his pockets, searching for some gold. Lady luck blessed him with something better however: his talisman. Torgal had advised Rush not to use it so frequently, only for survival. Given the situation, it begged to be used. As he gripped it, the mystic aura surrounded his body, and he ran like the wind, leaving Emmy behind. Emmy blinked, then growled. "Cheap trick..." she muttered, but grinned evilly before dropping the hammer; she could run faster without it. She knew the layout of the castle almost as well as Torgal and the others, while Rush still had trouble finding his way out; the perfect advantage. She ran down further into the corridors, stopping every now and then to decide which path to take. Despite knowing the layout, she had to be careful not get lost herself; there were one or two areas she had never gotten the chance to fully explore. That, and she didn"t want the others involved in this matter. She never would kill Rush...Just bruise and possibly injure him, teach him a lesson everyone else refused to. If anything, she was doing Torgal a favor, knowing the Sovani had at least wanted to punish Rush a time or two in the past. A heavy sigh escaped Irina"s lips. Flipping another page of the large book before her, her head fell onto the pages. She had said she"d give it her all by studying all sorts of magic, staying away from the blades and such for her brother"s sake, but the more she read, the more she wanted to hurl the book back onto the rack and sleep. She had already borrowed some items from Rush, some of which Pagus managed to find copies of, yet no matter how hard she tried, she couldn"t use something as basic as a Spark magic, to her dismay. The Quisti encouraged her however to learn different arts, some of which even Rush had not dabbled in. So far, she could at least perform basic healing, but that wasn"t good enough. She wanted to fight, not stand on the sidelines and play cheerleader or the damsel in distress again while Rush continued to play the reckless hero. It was her turn to protect, and she would be damned if the chance was taken away. The resolve made her snap awake, pounding the desk before returning to her studies. That"s right. For the sake of everyone, she had to keep reading... But just as quickly, she became bored once again. She was beginning to wonder when Emmy would pick her up and go adventuring. Part of her was jealous that while she was being held captive, Rush got to go around the world to various locales, and once again play the part of hero. Her jealousy only grew when he told her all the stories, some even involving dealing with such groups like the dreaded Third Committee, or when he mentioned the time going into the ruins of a castle to save a woman, though it turned out she merely lost something. There was something about that one that seemed to make Rush turn slightly red, along with Emmy. Her dull day came to a screeching halt when the doors flew open, and her brother came forth, his arm held back behind his back while being dragged by Emmy. Irina"s face drained itself of color, watching Emmy roughly slam Rush onto the table, pressing her arm against his neck. He tried to wiggle free, only for Emmy to increase the pressure, seething as she did so. Neither one had even noticed Irina was literally right in front of them "Um...guys?" Both of them had stopped, and Emmy"s grip finally loosened, her face transforming into a nice shade of red. She knew she would be caught eventually, just not by Irina. She bowed her head. "I-I"m sorry Irina." Rush on the other hand collapsed on the desk, struggling to breathe and get back up. Immediately he pointed at Emmy. "She started it!" A glare from the general was aimed towards him. "And who was the one who poured lava-like substance all over me!" "I said I was sorry!" "Technically, you only begged for your life." Before Rush could even counter, she stomped her foot onto his. She gave a small smirk, watching him shout and bounce around the room. Clearing her facial expression, she turned her attention back to Irina, remembering her earlier task from David. "Are you ready to begin your weapons training?" Irina happily nodded, ignoring her brother"s pleas for help; she had always done so when he pissed off the wrong women. She thought of it as him learning his lesson, one she really hoped he"d learn. "Naturally!" Yeah, short as hell, but hey, some comedy to keep you guys tamed eh? Like it said before in the prologue, Emmy will be going through hell and back in this story!

Now Serge and Kid were alone. "First things first." Kid walked over to Serge and whacked him on the head. "OW!" Serge put his hand on his head. "What was that for?" "For makin" me worry. I thought you were dead! And how da hell did ya come back in da first place?" He pulled out a white element that had the words Holy Healing on it. "By using this, but it did take awhile for my wound to heal." He looked at Kid straight in the eyes and she did the same. "I heard everything you said back there." He frowned as he looked at the floor. "Sorry." "Oi! Ya already apologized mate!" Kid hugged him again tightly with tears running down her face. "Just don"t eva do that again, or I"ll kick your arse so hard you"ll kiss the moons!" Serge looked down at her and smiled sadly. He returned the hug and tears started to roll down his face as well. "Kid..." She looked up at Serge. "There something I wanted to tell you..." "Yeah mate?" "You see...I...I uhh..." "What the hell is wrong with you moron!?' said the voice in his head, "Its three simple words for gods" sake! You can save the world and fight some supercomputer, yet you can"t even express your true feelings!?" She started to grow impatient. "What the bloody hell is takin" him so long!? I know he likes me, but why can"t he say it? It"s not like I"ll turn him down!' Serge finally got focused and quit stammering. "Kid, we have known each other for awhile and..." He was cut off as he started to slowly fade away. "No! Not now!" Kid only held him tighter. She didn"t want him to go. "Just hurry and give me the short version!" "I love you." She smiled. "Luv ya too mate." The distance between their faces had closed and they finally kissed passionately, neither one of them wanted to let go of each other. It was cut short though when Serge"s body had practically become transparent like a ghost and her hands just went through him. "Serge..." She looked at him with a determined yet sad face. "We will meet again. I will neva to stop searchin" for ya! I promise!" Serge smiled. "I know you will, and I"ll be waiting. I won"t forget!" END FLASHBACK Two months have passed since that day. When he arrived on the beach after the battle, he was surprised that he still remembered everything, but no one else remembered. After about a month, everyone started to remember everything about their adventure. Serge was glad that everyone came to visit him and reminisce about old times, but he still wished Kid was by his side again. Thanks to that whole fading away thing, he thought he didn"t get the chance to tell Kid his feelings the way he wanted to. He also wanted to hold her, kiss her, and be with her for the rest of his life. "Kid..." He looked at the sea sadly. "I"d go out there and search for you myself, but what if you came here one day and I wasn"t here?" He sighed. "Maybe Glenn was right. Maybe I should have told you my feelings before all of this stuff happened." He put his hand against his head. "I"m such an idiot!" He walked away from the beach and headed straight home. After sleeping for a few hours, he decided to polish the Mastermune. It was getting dusty since he didn"t really fight anymore. The weapon started to glow and speak. "Hey master! It"s about time you gave us a bath!" The blade moved a little and Serge heard a cry of pain. "Mune!" yelled a female voice from within the blade. "Don"t insult Serge or he might just leave you in the rain to rust!" "Sorry Doreen". A couple of seconds passed by before he thought of something. "Hey wait! Wouldn"t you be in the rain to if I was in it?" "Great." Serge heard a sarcastic male voice from within the Mastermune. "Mune figured out something by himself for once. It"s a miracle!" "Shut up Masa! At least I didn"t become evil!" "Moron! You did become evil, remember?" "Will you two shut up!?" yelled Doreen, who"s yell even made Serge flinch. "You are making Serge very irritated. I"m sure he wouldn"t like you two to fight on his birthday." Serge"s eyes widened. "What are you talking about!? Today isn"t my birthday!" "Isn"t today December 4th?" Serge put down the Mastermune and looked around for the calendar in his house. His mother entered the door and saw him practically flipping over the couch to look for something. "If you"re looking for your presents, don"t bother. I hid them somewhere even you wouldn"t dare look or go to." She said as she smirked. "Where? Leena"s room?" Serge chuckled, but his brain finally processed what Marge fully said and looked at the ground. "So today is my birthday...I can"t believe it"s already here." His tone was sad, stripped of any joy. "Why so glum? You should be happy. You"re finally turning 18." Serge ignored her. "I can"t believe I lost track of time. All because I want to see her..." "Maybe you should get some rest or something." Serge raised his head up to see his mother. "We can always celebrate tomorrow if you want to." Serge walked away from her and went into his room. He picked up the Mastermune and the equipment to polish it and went downstairs. He looked at his mother and said, "I don"t feel like celebrating at all." His mother"s eyes widened and Serge walked out of the house and went to the docks, hoping to be alone, but he really hoped that Kid was there. Meanwhile... Glenn and the rest of the Devas, minus his brother, were patrolling Fossil Valley for any sign of Shadow Cats. He looked at them and grinned. They could hardly even keep up with him. He was already far ahead of them. Glenn remembered when he remembered everything about his adventure. He tried to tell everyone else, but they all thought he was nuts, until they started to remember themselves. Once Viper remembered everything, he made Glenn into the leader of the 4 Devas. Karsh was a little jealous at first, but it soon faded away when he remembered the incident with Dario. He still blamed himself over his death, even though he was alive and well now. "Come on you slowpokes!" he yelled. "Those shadow balls aren"t going to kill themselves ya know!" Karsh looked at him and raised his eyebrow. "Shadow balls?" "What would you call them? I can"t say fur balls since they don"t even have that." "Whatever." He jumped over to where Glenn and looked at him seriously. "So, today"s junior"s birthday eh? Don"t tell me you still have that so called "master plan" of yours?" "So what if I do?" "It ain"t goin" to work. He hasn"t left his home for awhile now. There ain"t no way he"s goin" to Viper"s Manor for a party." Glenn started to laugh. "What"s so funny!?" "You. I have never seen you act like this before. Normally, you"d force someone to do something, right? You"d tell them, "Quit moping around and do your job!' That"s the Karsh I know. You have gone soft." Karsh got Glenn into a headlock and gave him the hardest noggie he could while laughing. "Who"s gone soft!? Tell me, who"s gone soft!?" Glenn tried to break free, but to no avail. "Not you okay! Let me go!" Karsh let him go and Glenn playfully glared at him. "Now that"s the Karsh I remember. Always beating people up." "Damn straight." They both laughed, but were interrupted when Zoah and Marcy finally reached their destination. "Are you two like done goofing around like idiots?" said Marcy, who was now getting bored. "And where are all the Shadow Cats?" "Dunno. I heard a rumor that there"s supposed to be only one, but it"s supposed to be huge!" "WELL" said Zoah, "YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY. THE BIGGER THEY ARE..." He was cut off when the beast emerged from hiding and used its paw to send Zoah flying into the stone wall. "The more bones they break." Finished Karsh, who took out his axe. Glenn took out the Einlanzers and Marcy helped Zoah up and they prepared themselves for battle. Glenn was about to strike, but saw a mysterious shadow above him. He looked closer and realized it was a girl. She kicked a machine that was next to her and it fired off a huge fireball at the beast, knocking it down. Glenn knew only one person could do that. And that person was Kid! He then saw more 5 Shadow Cats surround Kid and she was struggling to fend them off. "You guys take care of that large one. I"m going to help that woman up there." And with that, Glenn jumped up the wall and prepared himself for the fight. The Devas looked at him and then at the beast before them. "Why is he the leader again?" said Marcy. "Don"t know and don"t care." Karsh pointed his axe at the beast. "All I want to do is beat the livin" hell outta this thing! It"s been a long time since I face a worthy opponent!" Meanwhile, when Glenn made it up there, he found out that the girl was actually Kid and that she was wearing a dress! But now she was lying on the ground after getting hit by a Shadow Cat. "Hey! Over here!" He got the attention of the Shadow Cats and they charged at him. He prepared himself for the attack, but a large beam of energy hit all of them and they vanished. He looked around for the source and saw Grobyc reattaching his other arm. "Sorry I"m late." Said Grobyc. "No problem. I see Luccia fixed up your voice huh?" "Yes. It"s nice to know I can at least speak and act like a normal human being for once." Grobyc walked over to Kid, picked her up and held her in his arms. "Thank god she"s alright. If Serge found out she was dead, I"d have no idea what he would do." "I"m even more surprised that she"s wearing a dress! I can"t even imagine someone like her wearing something that girly!" He walked over to the edge of a cliff and looked on as Karsh and the others were dealing with the giant Shadow Cat. "So, when did she get back?" "I found her here about an hour ago. At first she thought that I is was some kind of assassin or some ninja, but she finally came to her senses and realized it was me. We were going to go to Serge"s house, but those Shadow Cats attacked us and we got separated." Another Shadow Cat emerged from hiding and charged at Grobyc. He quickly turned around and kicked it towards Glenn, who immediatley sliced it in half with his swords. You think that with Lynx gone for good that these beasts would just go away." An idea suddenly came to Glenn and his face was filled with determination. Grobyc recognized that look instantly and became worried about his own safety. "I have an idea. You know that party we"re having for Serge?" "Yes. What do you have planned?" "We give Serge Kid as our present." "If we keep this from it for even a second, he"ll kill us, or mainly you!" "Why me?" "Because it"s your idea!" "Just trust me on this! Nothing bad can happen." He looked back at the Devas and saw that they were struggling. "Shall we?" Grobyc managed to smile a little bit. "Sure. I got some new weaponry I need to try out anyway." The two jumped off of the cliff and proceeded to slay the monster... Meanwhile... Serge sat on the dock and looked at the sea. He remembered the time he tried to tell Kid about his feelings towards her, but it didn"t exactly go the way Serge wanted it to. FLASHBACK Serge looked at the sea while sitting on the pier. Tomorrow would be the day his friends would end this battle once and for all. But his mind was on something else. It was on Kid. Ever since he saw he in pain, he wanted to protect her no matter what. And when she told him about her childhood, he promised he would never leave her side. But he really didn"t realize he loved her until his fight with Miguel, Leena"s father. As Serge was on the brink of death, he asked him what was the most important thing to him. He told her it was Kid. He promised to be with her no matter what. He blamed himself for everything that happened to her. He wanted to set things right simply because he loved her. That gave him the strength to move on and defeat Miguel. Serge sighed. "How am I going to tell her?" Suddenly, Kid appeared behind him and said, "Tell who what?" Serge immediately got up and looked at Kid while trying to hide his blush. "Nothing." "Ya sure about that mate?" "Yeah." He turned around to face the sea, but realized too late that he was on the edge of the pier and he tried to maintain his balance. He grabbed Kid"s hands, but since he was heavier, they both fell in. Serge resurfaced and looked around frantically for Kid. She then appeared behind him and dunked him into the water. "You numbskull! Why would ya think by holdin" on ta me would help ya?" She let him go and he resurfaced. He then splashed Kid in the face and smiled. "Sorry." Kid splashed him in the face and smiled too. "What was that for?" "For splashin" me, mate." She swam over to the pier and was about to get off, but Serge grabbed her from behind and threw her into the water. "And that was for dunking me!" He was about to get out of the water, but Kid used an aquaball element and hit Serge with it. It wasn"t too powerful, but it was powerful enough to knock Serge back into the water. Serge resurfaced and looked at Kid. "Did you really have to use an element on me?" He then noticed that Kid was shivering. "Want to go back inside?" She nodded and as she was getting out, she slipped, but Serge caught her and pulled her up. He used too much of his strength though and fell on the pier on his back. He felt something on top of him and found out that it was Kid. They both looked into each other"s eyes for a few seconds until Kid decided to get off. They were both blushing as they went back into Serge"s house and dried themselves off. After they were done, they both sat on the edge of Serge"s bed. "Kid, we need to talk." "What"s up mate? If ya goin" to apologize, forget it." "That"s not it." His tone became more serious, yet it was gentle at the same time. "We"ve known each other for a long time and I was wondering if...if..." He then noticed that they had somehow became too close to each other and that only increased his nervousness. "You see... I..." "Yeah..." Their face became even closer until the Serge"s door flew opened and Glenn and Orhla saw the couple. "Awww. How cute!" said Orlha who was holding onto Glenn"s arm. Serge and Kid immediately separated from each other and blushed. Serge was the first to speak up. "What the hell are you guys doing in my room!?" Glenn scratched the back of his head nervously before answering. "We just came up here to tell you guys that dinner is ready." Orlha exited the room and Glenn was about to leave, but Serge hit him in arm hard when Kid wasn"t looking and Glenn rubbed it. "What was that for!?" "I was about to tell her how I feel you idiot!" Serge marched downstairs. "Maybe if you told her earlier when you had the chance like every 5 seconds you wouldn"t have this problem!" Glenn muttered under his breath. He was about to leave, but Kid walked up to him and kicked him in the shin. Even with armor on, he fell to the ground and was on one knee and looked at Kid. "What the hell!?" She was silent and continued to walk downstairs. After dinner, the gang decided to go to sleep early to save some of their energy. As soon as everyone was asleep though, Serge walked over to his balcony and found Kid leaning on the banister, gazing at the stars. She turned around and gave him a warm smile. "You can"t sleep either huh?" Serge nodded and put his hands on the banister and they both looked at the sky. After a couple minutes passed, Kid turned her gaze onto Serge. "Serge?" Serge turned to face her. "Yeah." "What are we goin" to do after all this is over?" She looked down at the ground. She didn"t want to ask these questions, but she felt she had to. "Everyone pretty much has a family or home to go to, but me." Serge used his hand to gently turn her head to face him. She looked into his eyes and was mesmerized. "You can always stay here. Don"t forget that I promised I would protect you and never leave you alone. We got this far by working together, for the most part, and all of us will get through this and live. That I promise." She regained her smile and it turned into a smirk. "Thanks mate. So even if I"m in da shower you won"t leave me alone?" Serge blushed into so many shades of red that he was practically glowing. Kid laughed at the site of it. "I"m just kiddin" mate." She looked up at the stars again. "What about Leena? Don"t you think she might be a little jealous?" Serge"s blushed had died down, but not much. "Did you forget? She"s in love with Norris." He looked up and gazed at the stars with Kid. "Besides, she"s not exactly my type." "What is your type then?" Serge thought about it for a second and answered, "Someone strong, yet kind. As well as beautiful." He smiled to himself. "The perfect type of girl for me is..." He turned to face Kid, but it turned out that she fell asleep on the banister. Serge bowed his head in disappointment and carried Kid in his arms with her head against his chest. He laid her on his bed and covered her with a blanket. Maybe tomorrow, after the battle, he could finally tell her. END FLASHBACK Serge sighed at that memory. "Even if I did tell her back then, what difference would it have made?" He continued to polish the Mastermune and held it up to see the edges. Glenn entered Arni with Grobyc, minus Kid, and looked for Serge. "When the hell did you get energy swords!?" said Glenn. "I stole them from Porre. I do deserve them after being used as a Guinea pig." "Did you also have to steal a freakin" rocket launcher as well!? We nearly got killed because of that!" Grobyc scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I"m still working on the bugs." Glenn sighed. "Norris better not find out about you stealing from Porre or he"s gonna flip." Glenn came to a stop and pointed at the pier. "And there"s the birthday boy!" They found him on the pier and, from their point of view, it looked like Serge was going to kill himself! "Don"t do it Serge!" yelled Glenn as he dashed towards Serge. Serge saw him and put down the weapon. "Wait! Glenn! NO!" Glenn crashed into Serge and they were both sent flying into the water. They both resurfaced and Serge glared at him. "I was polishing my weapon you moron." "Prove it!" Serge pointed at the equipment and Glenn nervously scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sorry." They both got out of the water. Grobyc quickly went to see if they were alright only to see Serge slap the back of Glenn"s head, which caused Glenn to retaliate by rapidly punching his arm. Grobyc quickly separated the two. "What!? I was just giving him his birthday punches." "He"s 18, not 29." "Whatever." Glenn turned his attention towards Serge. "Listen, all of us are having a party for you, so you better get over to..." "Not interested." Serge turned away from him. "I just want to be alone today." "I had a feeling you might say no." Glenn took out a napkin and a bottle of chloroform. He was about to put the cloth on Serge"s mouth, but Serge sensed it coming and knocked Glenn into the water. "You are going to have to do..." He was cut off when Grobyc stabbed him with a needle and injected him with something. Serge began to grow tired all of a sudden. "Better than...that?" He fell into Grobyc"s arms and he carried Serge over his shoulder. "Come on Glenn. Quit playing around!" Grobyc ran off. "Wait for me you miserable piece of scrap." Yelled Glenn as he tried to catch up. "Ugh." Moaned Serge. "Where am I?" He tried to get up, but realized he was tied to a chair. He tried to get out, but the chains were too tough. "No choice." His body glowed with white energy as he floated above the floor. He released a large burst of energy and broke free from the chains. He landed on the ground safely. "Calm down." said Grobyc as he approached Serge. "Where am I!?" Grobyc started to laugh. "You are at Viper Manor. This is also the place for your..." Everyone Serge knew and met over his adventure had jumped out of their hiding spots. "BIRTHDAY PARTY!" They all shouted in unison. Serge had an annoyed look on his face. "You injected me with something to make me sleepy just for some party!?" Grobyc nodded calmly while a few of Serge"s friends were actually frightened of him. "With friends like you, who needs enemies!" Serge looked around and saw that they had put in a lot of effort into doing this. He sighed knowing he couldn"t take the guilt for ruining his own party. "But since you guys went through so much trouble just for me... I guess it wouldn"t hurt to party." Everyone cheered after hearing that. Viper appeared after a couple minutes had passed. He told everyone that now was the time for Serge to receive his gifts. Karsh"s gift was first and Serge was a little nervous about it, but it soon faded away when he saw that the gift was a Rainbow Swallow. "That one"s just in case your weapon decides to go evil again." Said Karsh who pointed at the Mastermune. The weapon glowed white and hovered towards Karsh. "What did you say!?" yelled Masa and Mune. "That was one time!" "I know, but you two maybe stupid enough to have it happen to ya again. Serge has to have a replacement weapon." This enraged Masa and Mune and they showed their true forms by turning into small goblins. Karsh only laughed. "These pipsqueaks are the legendary weapon"s spirits!? That Fire Dragon was a hell of a lot bigger than you two small fry."

Glenn was about to strike, but saw a mysterious shadow above him. He looked closer and realized it was a girl. She kicked a machine that was next to her and it fired off a huge fireball at the beast, knocking it down. Glenn knew only one person could do that. And that person was Kid! He then saw more 5 Shadow Cats surround Kid and she was struggling to fend them off. "You guys take care of that large one. I"m going to help that woman up there." And with that, Glenn jumped up the wall and prepared himself for the fight. The Devas looked at him and then at the beast before them. "Why is he the leader again?" said Marcy. "Don"t know and don"t care." Karsh pointed his axe at the beast. "All I want to do is beat the livin" hell outta this thing! It"s been a long time since I face a worthy opponent!" Meanwhile, when Glenn made it up there, he found out that the girl was actually Kid and that she was wearing a dress! But now she was lying on the ground after getting hit by a Shadow Cat. "Hey! Over here!" He got the attention of the Shadow Cats and they charged at him. He prepared himself for the attack, but a large beam of energy hit all of them and they vanished. He looked around for the source and saw Grobyc reattaching his other arm. "Sorry I"m late." Said Grobyc. "No problem. I see Luccia fixed up your voice huh?" "Yes. It"s nice to know I can at least speak and act like a normal human being for once." Grobyc walked over to Kid, picked her up and held her in his arms. "Thank god she"s alright. If Serge found out she was dead, I"d have no idea what he would do." "I"m even more surprised that she"s wearing a dress! I can"t even imagine someone like her wearing something that girly!" He walked over to the edge of a cliff and looked on as Karsh and the others were dealing with the giant Shadow Cat. "So, when did she get back?" "I found her here about an hour ago. At first she thought that I is was some kind of assassin or some ninja, but she finally came to her senses and realized it was me. We were going to go to Serge"s house, but those Shadow Cats attacked us and we got separated." Another Shadow Cat emerged from hiding and charged at Grobyc. He quickly turned around and kicked it towards Glenn, who immediatley sliced it in half with his swords. You think that with Lynx gone for good that these beasts would just go away." An idea suddenly came to Glenn and his face was filled with determination. Grobyc recognized that look instantly and became worried about his own safety. "I have an idea. You know that party we"re having for Serge?" "Yes. What do you have planned?" "We give Serge Kid as our present." "If we keep this from it for even a second, he"ll kill us, or mainly you!" "Why me?" "Because it"s your idea!" "Just trust me on this! Nothing bad can happen." He looked back at the Devas and saw that they were struggling. "Shall we?" Grobyc managed to smile a little bit. "Sure. I got some new weaponry I need to try out anyway." The two jumped off of the cliff and proceeded to slay the monster... Meanwhile... Serge sat on the dock and looked at the sea. He remembered the time he tried to tell Kid about his feelings towards her, but it didn"t exactly go the way Serge wanted it to. FLASHBACK Serge looked at the sea while sitting on the pier. Tomorrow would be the day his friends would end this battle once and for all. But his mind was on something else. It was on Kid. Ever since he saw he in pain, he wanted to protect her no matter what. And when she told him about her childhood, he promised he would never leave her side. But he really didn"t realize he loved her until his fight with Miguel, Leena"s father. As Serge was on the brink of death, he asked him what was the most important thing to him. He told her it was Kid. He promised to be with her no matter what. He blamed himself for everything that happened to her. He wanted to set things right simply because he loved her. That gave him the strength to move on and defeat Miguel. Serge sighed. "How am I going to tell her?" Suddenly, Kid appeared behind him and said, "Tell who what?" Serge immediately got up and looked at Kid while trying to hide his blush. "Nothing." "Ya sure about that mate?" "Yeah." He turned around to face the sea, but realized too late that he was on the edge of the pier and he tried to maintain his balance. He grabbed Kid"s hands, but since he was heavier, they both fell in. Serge resurfaced and looked around frantically for Kid. She then appeared behind him and dunked him into the water. "You numbskull! Why would ya think by holdin" on ta me would help ya?" She let him go and he resurfaced. He then splashed Kid in the face and smiled. "Sorry." Kid splashed him in the face and smiled too. "What was that for?" "For splashin" me, mate." She swam over to the pier and was about to get off, but Serge grabbed her from behind and threw her into the water. "And that was for dunking me!" He was about to get out of the water, but Kid used an aquaball element and hit Serge with it. It wasn"t too powerful, but it was powerful enough to knock Serge back into the water. Serge resurfaced and looked at Kid. "Did you really have to use an element on me?" He then noticed that Kid was shivering. "Want to go back inside?" She nodded and as she was getting out, she slipped, but Serge caught her and pulled her up. He used too much of his strength though and fell on the pier on his back. He felt something on top of him and found out that it was Kid. They both looked into each other"s eyes for a few seconds until Kid decided to get off. They were both blushing as they went back into Serge"s house and dried themselves off. After they were done, they both sat on the edge of Serge"s bed. "Kid, we need to talk." "What"s up mate? If ya goin" to apologize, forget it." "That"s not it." His tone became more serious, yet it was gentle at the same time. "We"ve known each other for a long time and I was wondering if...if..." He then noticed that they had somehow became too close to each other and that only increased his nervousness. "You see... I..." "Yeah..." Their face became even closer until the Serge"s door flew opened and Glenn and Orhla saw the couple. "Awww. How cute!" said Orlha who was holding onto Glenn"s arm. Serge and Kid immediately separated from each other and blushed. Serge was the first to speak up. "What the hell are you guys doing in my room!?" Glenn scratched the back of his head nervously before answering. "We just came up here to tell you guys that dinner is ready." Orlha exited the room and Glenn was about to leave, but Serge hit him in arm hard when Kid wasn"t looking and Glenn rubbed it. "What was that for!?" "I was about to tell her how I feel you idiot!" Serge marched downstairs. "Maybe if you told her earlier when you had the chance like every 5 seconds you wouldn"t have this problem!" Glenn muttered under his breath. He was about to leave, but Kid walked up to him and kicked him in the shin. Even with armor on, he fell to the ground and was on one knee and looked at Kid. "What the hell!?" She was silent and continued to walk downstairs. After dinner, the gang decided to go to sleep early to save some of their energy. As soon as everyone was asleep though, Serge walked over to his balcony and found Kid leaning on the banister, gazing at the stars. She turned around and gave him a warm smile. "You can"t sleep either huh?" Serge nodded and put his hands on the banister and they both looked at the sky. After a couple minutes passed, Kid turned her gaze onto Serge. "Serge?" Serge turned to face her. "Yeah." "What are we goin" to do after all this is over?" She looked down at the ground. She didn"t want to ask these questions, but she felt she had to. "Everyone pretty much has a family or home to go to, but me." Serge used his hand to gently turn her head to face him. She looked into his eyes and was mesmerized. "You can always stay here. Don"t forget that I promised I would protect you and never leave you alone. We got this far by working together, for the most part, and all of us will get through this and live. That I promise." She regained her smile and it turned into a smirk. "Thanks mate. So even if I"m in da shower you won"t leave me alone?" Serge blushed into so many shades of red that he was practically glowing. Kid laughed at the site of it. "I"m just kiddin" mate." She looked up at the stars again. "What about Leena? Don"t you think she might be a little jealous?" Serge"s blushed had died down, but not much. "Did you forget? She"s in love with Norris." He looked up and gazed at the stars with Kid. "Besides, she"s not exactly my type." "What is your type then?" Serge thought about it for a second and answered, "Someone strong, yet kind. As well as beautiful." He smiled to himself. "The perfect type of girl for me is..." He turned to face Kid, but it turned out that she fell asleep on the banister. Serge bowed his head in disappointment and carried Kid in his arms with her head against his chest. He laid her on his bed and covered her with a blanket. Maybe tomorrow, after the battle, he could finally tell her. END FLASHBACK Serge sighed at that memory. "Even if I did tell her back then, what difference would it have made?" He continued to polish the Mastermune and held it up to see the edges. Glenn entered Arni with Grobyc, minus Kid, and looked for Serge. "When the hell did you get energy swords!?" said Glenn. "I stole them from Porre. I do deserve them after being used as a Guinea pig." "Did you also have to steal a freakin" rocket launcher as well!? We nearly got killed because of that!" Grobyc scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I"m still working on the bugs." Glenn sighed. "Norris better not find out about you stealing from Porre or he"s gonna flip." Glenn came to a stop and pointed at the pier. "And there"s the birthday boy!" They found him on the pier and, from their point of view, it looked like Serge was going to kill himself! "Don"t do it Serge!" yelled Glenn as he dashed towards Serge. Serge saw him and put down the weapon. "Wait! Glenn! NO!" Glenn crashed into Serge and they were both sent flying into the water. They both resurfaced and Serge glared at him. "I was polishing my weapon you moron." "Prove it!" Serge pointed at the equipment and Glenn nervously scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sorry." They both got out of the water. Grobyc quickly went to see if they were alright only to see Serge slap the back of Glenn"s head, which caused Glenn to retaliate by rapidly punching his arm. Grobyc quickly separated the two. "What!? I was just giving him his birthday punches." "He"s 18, not 29." "Whatever." Glenn turned his attention towards Serge. "Listen, all of us are having a party for you, so you better get over to..." "Not interested." Serge turned away from him. "I just want to be alone today." "I had a feeling you might say no." Glenn took out a napkin and a bottle of chloroform. He was about to put the cloth on Serge"s mouth, but Serge sensed it coming and knocked Glenn into the water. "You are going to have to do..." He was cut off when Grobyc stabbed him with a needle and injected him with something. Serge began to grow tired all of a sudden. "Better than...that?" He fell into Grobyc"s arms and he carried Serge over his shoulder. "Come on Glenn. Quit playing around!" Grobyc ran off. "Wait for me you miserable piece of scrap." Yelled Glenn as he tried to catch up. "Ugh." Moaned Serge. "Where am I?" He tried to get up, but realized he was tied to a chair. He tried to get out, but the chains were too tough. "No choice." His body glowed with white energy as he floated above the floor. He released a large burst of energy and broke free from the chains. He landed on the ground safely. "Calm down." said Grobyc as he approached Serge. "Where am I!?" Grobyc started to laugh. "You are at Viper Manor. This is also the place for your..." Everyone Serge knew and met over his adventure had jumped out of their hiding spots. "BIRTHDAY PARTY!" They all shouted in unison. Serge had an annoyed look on his face. "You injected me with something to make me sleepy just for some party!?" Grobyc nodded calmly while a few of Serge"s friends were actually frightened of him. "With friends like you, who needs enemies!" Serge looked around and saw that they had put in a lot of effort into doing this. He sighed knowing he couldn"t take the guilt for ruining his own party. "But since you guys went through so much trouble just for me... I guess it wouldn"t hurt to party." Everyone cheered after hearing that. Viper appeared after a couple minutes had passed. He told everyone that now was the time for Serge to receive his gifts. Karsh"s gift was first and Serge was a little nervous about it, but it soon faded away when he saw that the gift was a Rainbow Swallow. "That one"s just in case your weapon decides to go evil again." Said Karsh who pointed at the Mastermune. The weapon glowed white and hovered towards Karsh. "What did you say!?" yelled Masa and Mune. "That was one time!" "I know, but you two maybe stupid enough to have it happen to ya again. Serge has to have a replacement weapon." This enraged Masa and Mune and they showed their true forms by turning into small goblins. Karsh only laughed. "These pipsqueaks are the legendary weapon"s spirits!? That Fire Dragon was a hell of a lot bigger than you two small fry." The two brothers looked at each other and clapped their hands against each other. They started to glow and a giant golden monster had replaced them. "Who"s puny now!?" Karsh looked around for his axe, but remembered that it was in his room. He only had one thought on his mind and it was...RUN! Everyone laughed as they saw Masamune chase Karsh around. Eventually, they both became tired and decided to call it a truce. Viper walked up to Serge. "As for my present to you, how would you like to become a Deva? I can always make room for you." Viper extended his hand. "What do you say?" Serge thought about it for a second and looked at Viper. "On one condition: Glenn is still the leader. He"s earned that spot and I"m not going to just take it away from him." "Deal." Viper and Serge shook each other"s hands and saluted before Viper walked away. Glenn snuck up from behind Serge and patted him on the back. "Welcome to the Devas. And thanks for not taking my position as leader. But now you"ll have to do whatever I say." Serge only smirked. "And since when do I always follow orders?" "Good point." He walked ahead of Serge. "Come on. My present to you is just down the hall." They both walked down the hall and Serge tried to guess what his present was. "Is it a robot or a new weapon?" "Neither." "It"s not a prostitute or a stripper is it?" "Hell no! Orlha would kill me if I did that." They made it in front of Glenn"s private room and Serge decided to be a smartass one more time. "You"re not gonna say you..." "Don"t even finish that sentence pal." He put his hand on the door knob. "Get ready for the best gift you could possibly have!" He opened the door and Serge saw Kid on the bed wearing a dress. "Kid!?" Kid immediately got up and ran to Serge. Serge took her into his arms and lifter her up. They were both smiling now that they were together again. Serge put her down and they both embraced each other. "I"ll leave you two alone. I"m sure you want to unwrap your present as quickly as possible!" Serge and Kid blushed an insane amount of red and saw Glenn laughing as he was leaving. What they didn"t know was that Glenn stayed close to the door to hear what they were saying. "Kid..." He stared deep into her sky blue eyes. "Serge..." She stared into his ocean colored eyes. There were a couple minutes of silence, but Serge was the one who broke it. "So...why didn"t you come see me when you came back?" "I tried to, but first there were those Shadow Cats, then one of those buggas knocked me out cold, and then I"m brought ere" by Glenn and he tells me I can"t leave because of the plan he had. I tried to escape, but that damn Norris kept spottin" me." She held his hand in hers. "But at least I got to see you again." "Kid...I want to do this the right way. If that"s alright with you." She nodded. She already knew what he was going to say. "Here goes nothing." He took in a deep breath. "Kid...We have known each other for a long time. We"ve been through so much together. From the very first moment you and I met, I knew that my life would never be the same. When you were poisoned by Lynx, I vowed to protect you. When you told me about your childhood, I vowed to never leave you alone. And before the final battle, I vowed that we would all be alive and well." Kid"s eyes were filled with tears, but she refused to let them fall. Not until he was done talking. Serge continued, "The moment that I first felt my true feelings for you was when I thought you were dead, but I knew you were alive somewhere. I just knew it had to be true. At first, I tried to deny those feelings, but when Miguel almost killed me, he asked me what was the most important thing in this world was. I told him it was you. And that is when I truly accepted those feelings happily. And I knew I had to do everything I could to save you, even if it meant losing my own life. You are the one person who gives me the strength that I need to go on." Kid couldn"t hold on to the tears any longer and she let them run down her face. Serge wiped off those tears with his hands and he looked into Kid"s eyes once more. "You"re the reason I go on anymore. I love you, Kid." "I love you too Serge" She smiled.." I just wish I could say something as good as your speech." "You don"t have to. Anything you say is good to my ears." They both leaned their faces closer and closer until the distance between them was closed and they kissed passionately. Heat had risen in their bodies. They wanted more from each other. They both yearned to be touched by the other. Serge and Kid lied down on the bed and Kid"s dress was now on the floor... Glenn was actually in tears after hearing that speech. "Good one, Serge. I wish I could say something that cool to Orlha." He dried his tears and smiled. "It"s about time you told her how you felt." He walked away to go to his room, but after taking two steps, he remembered that they were in his room! He quickly ran to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. He then tried looking for the key to the door, but he remembered that he left it inside his room. "No choice." Glenn continuously knocked on the door like a maniac. "Get out of my room!" He then heard moans and they sounded a lot like Kid"s. Glenn"s eyes widened. "OPEN UP THIS INSTANT!" Serge and Kid heard the noise but that didn"t stop them. "Fine then!" He took out his Einlanzers and they began to glow with green energy. Orlha saw this as she was going to see how everything was. She grabbed Glenn and slapped him in the face until he came to his senses. "What the hell are you doing!?" she yelled. "I thought you were trying to get them together, not blow them up!" Glenn rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Sorry." Orlha sighed. "You have been doing that a lot, haven"t you?" "Sorta." "Well then..." Her voice was filled with seductiveness. "How about I help relieve you of some of that stress?" Glenn smirked and held Orlha in his arms. "Sure, but where?" "Karsh"s room." Glenn raised an eyebrow. "He"s busy getting chased by Masa and Mune again. Something about taking the last cupcake or something. I wasn"t really paying attention." "Okay! Odds are he wouldn"t mind anyway, right?" "Right!" And with that, they headed off towards Karsh"s room. 3 hours later in Glenn"s room... Serge and Kid laid on the bed with a blanket over them. They were drenched with sweat and fatigue. They both looked at each other and kissed again. "Good to have you back." "Good to be back. And happy birthday Serge!" She kissed him again. "Thanks. This really is the best present I have ever gotten." He kissed her passionately and heat stirred in both of them once more. They separated and Serge smirked. "Again?" Kid smirked as well. "Lucky for you, it"s your birthday." They went under the covers and repeated their act all over again. They were finally together and now that there was no more evil, nothing would ever separate them again. Serge thought about what to give Kid for her birthday. Maybe she would like an engagement ring... As for Glenn and Orlha... They were lying down on Karsh"s bed with a blanket over them after relieving some "stress.' "So tell me what they said if it made you so teary eyed." "Well," Glenn put his arm around Orlha. "Serge said..." He was interrupted when Karsh busted through the door. "What the hell!?" Orlha tried to cover herself with the blanket even more. Karsh"s eye was twitching and he looked lik he was about to kill Glenn. "GLENN!!!!!!" Glenn said the only thought that came to his head. "Oh shit..." THE END Lynx: Or is it? Lynx is then shot by Dante Dante: Yeah, it"s over. Sweet Dreams! I hope you all enjoyed that story. I decided to write this story because: 1. Not enough Kirges. 2. This idea would not leave me alone! I became determined to finish it. Anyway, I also decided to post this story on December 4th because it"s my birthday so I"m now 18. And what do I want from my readers on my birthday? That"s easy...REVIEWS

Despite this horrible, yet hilarious fact, there was still the problem of trying to teach Irina, and he wasn"t sure Torgal was up for the task due to his harsh training; David knew firsthand that his training should never be taken lightly, unless that particular person loved to visit the infirmary on a daily basis. Plus, David needed him, Pagus, and Blocter to stay on guard in the event someone would try to steal something from the palace. Though he never thought much of rumors and town gossip, he saw the thief himself sneaking through Athlum, using the darkness of the night as his cloak. Granted, it had been at least a week since then, but the young Marquis could not afford to take that chance, especially with the heirlooms and other valuables they had recently added to the vault, such as the newly acquired remnants. The very last thing he needed was someone like the Conqueror getting more of the relics; the loss of the Valeria Heart was far too great. But one more fact remained, one that he actually said: "Irina is Rush"s brother, and he was VERY protective of her...and highly reluctant on letting her fight. I doubt he would trust too many people to the task of teaching her how to fight. Torgal has little patience and his training has left more than a few...scars." He hesitated a bit after saying that, flashbacks becoming more vivid as he remembered his training as a young Mitra. "And he was closest to Emma out of all my Generals, and trusted her very much. Because of this, I cannot think of anyone better than you to teach Irina how to properly defend herself." She nodded, stood up straight, and crossed her right arm over her chest. "Understood, my lord! I will carry out this task." Both of them knew however that behind that salute, she had already begun to resent the idea. Walking out of the throne room with her head held high, she had thought that maybe this wouldn"t be too bad. After all, Irina did seem to know how to control her older brother...sort of. Well, at least without having to resort to verbal and forceful threats with a wide variety of weaponry and invocations. Who bad could it possibly be? ...She had no idea the hell she would soon endure. Is Rush dead? Will Emmy truly go to hell? Will I actually finish this story? Who knows? I will say that this story won"t be terribly long since I don"t have too many ideas. If anything, it will probably last about another 3-5 chapters. Besides, I"m not writing some novelization or anything, and it"s hard to write about these guys since they don"t really have too many moments together, or at all. Now that I am done with the shit-fest that was the tournament, I can finally get back on track with updating my fics. Sorry for the delay, but I actually finished this chapter months ago, but with all the work, I forgot about it. Plus I sent it to one of my betas, and she never got back with me on that; I think she may have forgotten. Regardless, this is unbetaed. Now I forget what I said in the beginnign, but for the most part, these chapters will probably be random/linkable for the most part, and mainly dealing with either the trio and building their friendship, or Emmy changing her feelings, sort of. But there is a plot, if the prologue wasn"t any indication. My muse is kinda down, so I"ll be back to to writing video game reviews on my blogs as a warm up to wake her the hell back up. Also, I will be role-playing on Shiva Dancing and Crystal Epos. I highly recommend the both of them, and I even play Hannah on Crystal Epos! XD Out of all the characters in Last Remnant, she is actually my favorite, though tied with Emmy. And I thought it"d be a good challenge to take her based on the plot I am developing for Betrayed. I thank all of you who are enjoying the story thus far, and hope you continue to read! Your praise always helps make me feel mighty good about myself! ^_^ Chapter 1: Rushing Into Trouble In another part of the palace, in the newly redecorated kitchen, Rush and Blocter stepped out, with the mitra holding a bowl of the foulest substance Blocter had ever smelt within his twenty years. Rush would be overwhelmed as well, had he not took the precaution and equipped a clothespin onto his nose. And while he couldn"t really get a good sniff out of anything, he was sure that the contents within the pot were enough to strike down even a dragon! Thankfully, the diabolical concoction wasn"t meant for eating; no living being could so much as sip it in the first place! Rather, Rush had though to fill some of the training dummies with the substance. He thought that the idea would go really well with Irina"s training, giving her more of a feel of the battlefield, minus the assortment of demons and monsters waiting outside. And since he wasn"t a vampire and unable to use real blood, he had to make due to his culinary skills. The moment he proposed that, Blocter had immediately preferred getting actual blood. He could"ve sworn his own lifespan had just dropped a few decades! The general eyed Rush carefully, making sure that none of the liquid was spilled onto the carpets; the last thing he wanted was to spend his months cleaning the halls of the palace. "You sure you"re not gonna spill it?" Rush rolled his eyes; why must everyone assume he was an incompetent? Sure, there was that time in the kitchen...and that day he taunted the giant bird in Fortstrand....and no one could forget his stupidity when he accidentally lead several Greater Demons to the entire group. ...Okay, maybe he did have his faults, but who didn"t? At least in his mind... "No, mom," he said sarcastically. "I can handle this just-GAH!" Blocter raced, or in this case, wobbled his amphibian-body in front of Rush, his hands ready to catch the pot. To his surprise however, the pot was not on the ground, or even in his hands. Instead, Rush still held the pot perfectly natural, grinning at Blocter"s panicked stricken face. The grin faded away with the Yama"s grief, and said Yama automatically reached for his axe, though he had forgotten that he left it to the blacksmith to be upgraded. Blocter shot a glare at the young mitra. As much as Blocter enjoyed jokes, in their current situation, it was not so wise to play around; it would only lead to Blocter"s true fears! "Why you little!" Rush only laughed. "Your face was priceless, dude! You looked like a fish outta the water!" "I"ll throttle you!" Blocter charged at Rush, but soon stopped when his face was mere inches away from accidentally running into the foul cauldron. Unintentionally taking a whif, he retracted himself and fell to the floor, gagging. "Damn that shit stinks!" "It"s not that bad," commented Rush, trying his best to hold in his laughter. Blocter made his best effort to get up, struggling to even stand on his small legs; he was beginning to regret being so massive in size. His head swirled, body unable to stand straight as he tilted to his sides back and forth. Normally he would pound or chase Rush until he was tired, but with such a smell, one more whiff would probably kill him. ...Maybe he could get one of the Hinnah or Hannah sisters; he kept forgetting who was who, to teach him the error of his ways, by braking his bones and such. Rush walked past his dazed teammate, snickering, and continued his trip to the training grounds. He shouted to his partner, "Would you hurry it up? You can"t seriously expect me to do all the work!" A single second flew by before Rush gave up and carried on. "Whatever. But you better come on and meet me there!" However, too distracted by his own yelling, Rush failed to notice two things in the hallway. One of which was the mysterious creature he dubbed Mr. Diggs; not too clever with titles was he. Said creature accidentally thought his master had summoned him, appearing in his unusual, and surprisingly mystical, way. With both the cauldron and yelling distracting Rush, he stepped onto the creature"s head, his foot now stuck in between the horns of the poor monster. The pain rushing through his head by the young Sykes, as well as the weight crushing his tiny body, he immediately panicked, squeaking what was probably his version of a shriek, and tried to escape. Unfortunately, the more he struggled, the more tighter the grip his horns would get on Rush"s foot. Rush, finally noticing his young pet, tried to get his foot away from the clutches of the horns, panicking as well. "Get off of me, Mr. Diggs!" He picked his leg up, trying to kick away the poor beast rapidly. "I don"t have time to play, nor do I have any morsels, so scat!" He stopped as the heat of the cauldron was in face-level, nearly burning off his skin. "Damn it!' He knew keeping this up now would only result in him becoming the first human monster repellant. Blocter, his senses finally returning to him, at least partially, ran towards his friend, grabbing Mr. Diggs, and stopping Rush from moving. Sadly, Rush was right near yet another thing he had failed to notice: The banister at the end of the hallway. As for what was on the other side, his soon-to-be accidental target was approaching... Emmy left the throne room wordlessly and unrushed, immediately heading towards the training grounds in a calm demeanor. In her head however, several words and other violent actions were swirling about as she knew Rush was going to piss her off; it"s like she developed a special sense for his stupidity. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. This wasn"t like her, at least wanting to kill a comrade wasn"t too much like her. Not to mention all of it was draining her, and she needed every ounce of it for the training regime she had already planned for Irina. The first step would be a mere day or two to get her used to weaponry, then actually take her and Rush through several areas, hunting down rare beasts in order to test her limits. While dangerous, she had made absolutely sure that they wouldn"t encounter problems to allow any fatalities during their journey; she would never under any circumstance, allow harm to Irina either, and not just because of David"s orders either. Her thoughts stopped when she spotted another comrade in arms, Nora, leaning against the wall, inspecting her new hammer as always in the event of an attack. Though technically a mercenary, she had agreed to take the place of Emmy during her absence while she and Rush trained Irina. Emmy called out to her, "Nora!" The witch look-alike picked up her head, slightly smiling at Emmy. Nora never really got along with anyone in the group, usually hanging around the bar for food and the occasional gold she could get with jobs and even gambling. Emmy and Irina however were the only two she could smile at genuinely, feeling sympathy for Rush"s sister, and treating Emmy as one of the few equals in the group, often comparing her to the late Emma. "What"s going on?" she asked, putting the hammer to her side. "I assume you guys are ready to head out soon?" Emmy shook her head. "Not yet. Before we actually get the real training started, I feel that Irina needs to have at least a small degree in weapons training first, since I don"t want her to rely on us all the time." Nora nodded, approving of the plan. "Sounds fine by me. Only problem is I am going to be bored out of my fucking mind all day!" she added with rolling eyes. "The good news is that I can at least feast on any amount of shit I want, so long as a certain soldier isn"t cooking." "No need to worry about him. He is coming along with me," she muttered regrettably. She was thankful Irina could cook during their trip. Nora chuckled, a part of her catching onto that sentence and wishing to tease her just a little; she never got such an opportunity these days. "What? You"re going to give him a private lesson or something?" Emmy blushed furiously, knowing full well the meaning behind those words. "D-don"t be ridiculous!" The mercenary shrugged. "Whatever you say. I"m just in this thing for the money. But..." She leaned forward. "Just remember to always keep your eyes on the boys." The young general arched an eyebrow. "I think Rush already knows not to do such acts around me. Otherwise I would break his arms and the usefulness of alone time would be stripped of him." The thought nearly made her shiver, recalling memories of when other gentlemen, if they could be called that in the nicest of terms, had attempted to bed her. Naturally, they met dire results, especially ones who though she was just another weak fighter. She couldn"t deny some pleasure was brought from the experience. Nora chuckled, then threw her head back and laughed, unable to picture Rush like that. "Ha! Not what I meant, though it would be interesting to see him go through a wall simply because of that! I"m talking about-" "SHIT!" The young general"s senses flared, recognizing the shriek of Rush. Forcing herself to gaze wide-eyed above, only to immediately shut them as the lava that was the concoction poured from its prison on top of her. Lady luck clearly played no hand to aid the general, for the pot containing the dreaded poison swallowed the top half of her body, trapping the acidic substance all around her. The slush trailing slowly trailing down her form sent a chill up her spine, though it quickly faded with the burning intensity piercing through her. Air was a luxury at this point, along with a bath and David"s Gae Bolg to shoot Rush! Once the slush moved away from her mouth, barely past her chin, she shouted the name behind it all. "RUSH!" "That." She heard Nora finish, able to hear the chuckling despite her predicament. Something pushed the cauldron, forcing her to step back because of the weight, nearly tilting backwards. Before she could hazard a guess, Nora"s voice came back. "Okay, just hold still and I"ll get you out. Don"t wanna kiss your mom in the heavens yet, do ya?" If the substance that entrapped her hadn"t entered her system, she would have turned pale rather than purple. "Wait! What are you doing!" she panicked, her voice echoing in fright within her chamber. "Gonna knock your head out of the park if you don"t hold still!" The young, shivering adolescent gulped in fright. He had already heard his name shouted through the cauldron, yet his legs anchored his body to the ground, forcing him to watch Nora strike Emmy...repeatedly. Like a bell, the noise echoed, and Emmy moaned in pain before falling to the ground. All Nora had accomplished was hurting the general, and a large dent that no doubt was ready to pierce right through Emmy. "Wow...Pagus" cauldrons sure got harder over the years..." Rush immediately glared at Blocter, both in fear and anger. "You blockhead! Look what you made me do!" Blocter returned the gaze, walking closer towards Rush until he was in his face. "My fault! You"re the one who decided to pull a prank on me!" "At least I can control my anger and not-" "Oh where have you been for the last year! After you joined us, your reckless crap easily topped my own!" "Well at least I didn"t make a dumb decision like pull Mr. Diggs off! Seriously, you could have just caught my damn back or something!" "Yeah, and who"s the moron to summon it in the first place!" At this, Mr. Diggs bowed his head. Rush glanced to his side, and both he and Blocter redirected their attention towards the entire cause of all of this. "You!" they said simultaneously, startling the creature. Yet the creature revealed its secret weapon, a skill used only by the most vulnerable of children, and occasionally adults as well... The puppy dog eyes. Neither hardened warrior, if they could be called that, was able resist upon seeing the cute expression of the tiny animal. "Well...maybe we can"t stay mad at you..." "I can!" shouted an all too familiar voice. Slowly, with pale and horrified expressions pasted onto their faces, the duo turned their heads around, eyeing a burnt Emmy crouching atop the railing...with Nora"s hammer ready to smash their skulls, even after the damage she had already done to the castle walls just by climbing them with it. The damage her armor sustained was minimal, with only the colors slightly obscured by Rush"s cooking, along with her hair. Her face however was beet red, both from the dragon-sized rage welling inside her, and the heat that burnt her skin. Rush was the first to speak, though he gulped and laughed nervously. "Hey Emmy...You look...tan..." His words held little effect, and so he resorted to getting onto his knees, pleading with her. "Oh come on! You know I would never do this on purpose! It was all just an accident! Ask Blocter!" He pointed to where his friend was, the key word being was. Upon seeing Emmy"s raised eyebrow, he twisted his body to stare at the vacant space. He stared at the small trail of sweat left behind, growling when Blocter retreated behind the corner of the hallway. "Traitor!" "You have five seconds, Sykes..." she said, smacking the rod supporting the hammer against her hand. Though she wasn"t exactly as handy with it as Nora, the murderous intent in her eyes said otherwise to Rush. "Umm..." Sweat simply poured out of Rush, trailing down his neck and face like a waterfall. He turned his direction to Mr. Diggs, perhaps the only thing that could stop her at this rate. "Diggs? How about some help here?" The creature pointed towards Rush, winking before flipping in the air, the mystical energy taking him away. Rush"s eyebrow twitched. "I"m going to kill them if I survive..." Emmy got up, jumping down onto the ground and tapping the hammer against her hand. "Time"s up...Any last words before I break your legs?" Rush crawled backed up as Emmy got closer, walking backwards with his hands out, trying to stop Emmy. "Can"t we talk first?" She shook her head, murderous eyes glaring down onto Rush. Panicking, he reached into his pockets, searching for some gold. Lady luck blessed him with something better however: his talisman. Torgal had advised Rush not to use it so frequently, only for survival. Given the situation, it begged to be used. As he gripped it, the mystic aura surrounded his body, and he ran like the wind, leaving Emmy behind. Emmy blinked, then growled. "Cheap trick..." she muttered, but grinned evilly before dropping the hammer; she could run faster without it. She knew the layout of the castle almost as well as Torgal and the others, while Rush still had trouble finding his way out; the perfect advantage. She ran down further into the corridors, stopping every now and then to decide which path to take. Despite knowing the layout, she had to be careful not get lost herself; there were one or two areas she had never gotten the chance to fully explore. That, and she didn"t want the others involved in this matter. She never would kill Rush...Just bruise and possibly injure him, teach him a lesson everyone else refused to. If anything, she was doing Torgal a favor, knowing the Sovani had at least wanted to punish Rush a time or two in the past. A heavy sigh escaped Irina"s lips. Flipping another page of the large book before her, her head fell onto the pages. She had said she"d give it her all by studying all sorts of magic, staying away from the blades and such for her brother"s sake, but the more she read, the more she wanted to hurl the book back onto the rack and sleep. She had already borrowed some items from Rush, some of which Pagus managed to find copies of, yet no matter how hard she tried, she couldn"t use something as basic as a Spark magic, to her dismay. The Quisti encouraged her however to learn different arts, some of which even Rush had not dabbled in. So far, she could at least perform basic healing, but that wasn"t good enough. She wanted to fight, not stand on the sidelines and play cheerleader or the damsel in distress again while Rush continued to play the reckless hero. It was her turn to protect, and she would be damned if the chance was taken away. The resolve made her snap awake, pounding the desk before returning to her studies. That"s right. For the sake of everyone, she had to keep reading... But just as quickly, she became bored once again. She was beginning to wonder when Emmy would pick her up and go adventuring. Part of her was jealous that while she was being held captive, Rush got to go around the world to various locales, and once again play the part of hero. Her jealousy only grew when he told her all the stories, some even involving dealing with such groups like the dreaded Third Committee, or when he mentioned the time going into the ruins of a castle to save a woman, though it turned out she merely lost something. There was something about that one that seemed to make Rush turn slightly red, along with Emmy. Her dull day came to a screeching halt when the doors flew open, and her brother came forth, his arm held back behind his back while being dragged by Emmy. Irina"s face drained itself of color, watching Emmy roughly slam Rush onto the table, pressing her arm against his neck. He tried to wiggle free, only for Emmy to increase the pressure, seething as she did so. Neither one had even noticed Irina was literally right in front of them

"I think being in love is a big deal". She gasped as reality rushed back into focus before dashing forward, pushing the table out of the way and pulling Riki into an embrace. He returned her hug quietly saying. "good to have you back Anego." "Oh God don"t call me that, if that were true this really would be a tad on the creepy side" she replied smiling, "By the way I still have to fulfill my promise, so meet me in our classroom after school OK?" Riki smiled, happy to have Kurugaya back. "Of course" he said "On a side note you really are cute." Kurugaya blushed, turning a bright red and began stammering, "w-w-wh-what?" Riki chuckled. "You should probably get used to me calling you that," he said "Also, is your offer of homemade bento still valid? Bread is starting to become a very boring lunch" "You really have become more confident" Kurugaya stated, a wide smile taking over her face "you might even challenge me now and yes of course it is." "Well that"s a relief and I"m sure you can still find plenty of ways to embarrass me without much effort" Riki replied, the same wide smile taking over him. With that they simply remained there in each-other"s embrace possibly to the bewilderment of any unlikely passers-by but that didn"t matter. All that mattered was that moment everything else could wait. Author"s note: Well here we are again, sorry for taking my time with this chapter but some things came up which took precedence over my time. Anyway I have taken some liberties in making Riki a much more confident individual but if you have an issue with this please let me know. I hope you enjoy the next part of this story, sorry for the short length but I didn"t want to try and cram the next part into this chapter as well. I shall also be doing a fiction on "A Certain Magical Index" at the same time as this so if you want updates for this to be regular please do review, follow etc, it really helps motivate to get more out there. Until next time everyone. Update: Right so I have a break right now and suddenly remembered that I was writing things. That being said I have gone over my stories and reformatted them hopefully making them more readable and now that I have finished a chapter on my other story I want to turn my attention back to this one. So with any luck expect a couple of chapters on this one in the coming month, I forgot how much I enjoyed writing this and reading back over it I"m still reasonably pleased with it. So with that said onwards! Story start: Light broke through the cracks in the curtains and danced upon her face beckoning her to awake from her sleeping state. Kurugaya slowly came to and began to haul herself out of bed, she may be one of the most academic and active people within her school but that didn"t make getting up any easier. This morning, however, more than any other morning she had motivation to get up, it was a weekend and the hole within her memory had finally been filled. Today was the day she would be reintroduced to the Little Busters and finally get to spend time with Riki without the impending collapse of a dream to worry about. Sitting on the edge of her bed Kurugaya leaned over and turned on some music to listen to whilst going about her morning routine. She tried to find a new artist every week to broaden her music taste and this week she had been pleasantly surprised by what was presented by English acoustic guitarist and singer/songwriter Jon Gomm. She stood up to go and have her shower, get changed and prepare for the day ahead, her music probably was too loud but it was highly unlikely that anyone would be brave enough to confront her on the matter. Once she was ready she stopped her CD and left her dorm room, she had agreed to meet Riki outside the boys dorm before meeting up with everyone else at the baseball field. As she approached there meeting point her heart began to race, she had accepted the fact that she loved Riki but after either lacking the understanding or existence of her own emotions for so long this was all very strange and new to her. Riki was standing just outside the boy"s dorm, he may have grown a lot more confident since the events of the illusion world but he was still nervous at the prospect of revealing his relationship to all of his friends. Although he remembered Kurugaya"s dream loop no one else had and Riki had not felt the need to enlighten everyone with the fact that he and Kurugaya had dated for a time.... well one day.... well a day that looped multiple times but the point still remained. He looked up from his feet and his heart rate spiked as he noticed Kurugaya walking over towards him, he flashed her a smile as she arrived and as if on queue her face turned a shade of crimson only for Riki"s to take on a similar colour as her obvious beauty sank in. Of course most male"s eyes would be drawn straight to her chest but putting that aside her long black hair fell graciously down her back with a single lock being twined with a golden ribbon trailing down the front of her body which in itself could only be described as having been sculpted to perfection and he couldn"t help but being captivated by her striking violet eyes. She was simply perfect and what"s more she was his, how, Riki would probably never understand but he wasn"t going to spend too long questioning it either. "Hey child" Kurugaya said in way of greeting, a slightly mischievous smile gracing her lips. Riki sighed "you know I"m not sure who should be embarrassed by that, the implications of that statement would make it appear that you are dating a child," he replied mimicking her mischievous look at which point they both let out a small chuckle. "Well then", he continued, taking her hand, "shall we?" Kurugaya"s face once again took on a shade of crimson but she let off a genuine smile nonetheless and replied, "Of course, it"ll be good to meet everyone again finally." He smiled back at her saying "Now that I think about it, would you please try refrain terrorising Kyousuke or Kengo too much within our fighting competitions? Masato has such a tiny brain it"s unlikely he"ll remember but those two may start giving you a wide berth if you"re not careful." "I"ll take it into consideration," she stated, laughing slightly at the thought of the almighty Kyousuke trembling before her. The light banter between them carried on like this as they made their way out to the field where everyone was waiting for them. Kurugaya was feeling incredibly happy, an emotion that she had only uncovered by being around these people known as the Little Busters, it would be great to finally meet them all again. As they walked over the mound into the field everyone rushed in to greet them all of them smiling kindly and trying to talk to her at the same time, well except for Kengo, Masato and Kyousuke who of course were far above this response but they still smiled in acknowledgement. The result of everyone talking at once of course was an indecipherable noise aside from the occasional high pitch "Wafffuuu!" escaping from Kud chan. Finally Kyousuke intervened noticing the slightly overwhelmed look upon Kurugaya"s face he simply walked to the centre of the group and raised his hand causing everyone to fall silent. Once again he looked over at Kurugaya and Riki and his eyes suddenly widened in shock. "You two do realise you"re holding hands right?" He said slowly. The couple looked at each other before letting out a laugh "No Kyousuke this perfectly obvious situation did not once occur to either of us" Kurugaya managed to get out after calming down a little. Kyousuke frowned a little "But why?" he questioned. Riki simply looked at him and said with a smirk "Seriously Kyousuke you should probably leave the idiotic comments to Masato, the lack of intelligence suits him better." A dissatisfied grumble could be heard from Masato but before it could go on Riki continued, "but seeing as none of you seem to have caught on yet" he pulled Kurugaya closer to him wrapping his arm around her waist "We"re dating." This time the reply was unified "EEEHHHHHH!" Author"s note: Right so here"s the next chapter in this story, I apologise for the massive delay but juggling hobbies and exams can be a challenge at times. Anyway I am reasonably happy with how this chapter turned out and hope that you guys enjoy reading it. As always your opinions on this piece are much appreciated. Until next time (which will hopefully be sooner rather than later). -TayloredPhoenix Music: Right so this is a new thing that I may keep going or may not, I wrote this entire thing listening to either "Summer Breeze" or "Play Your Joker" by Giyo. I feel as though either of these or any downtempo track goes well with this however that could be my music taste getting the better of me entirely so feel free to ignore this segment. I do not claim rights to the Little Busters franchise, all rights reserved to Key and the respective owners of the series. Story start: Kurugaya was sat on a school desk her head resting on Riki"s shoulder looking out the vast glass panes in front of them that made up the windows of the building. The sun had taken on a deep orange hue setting the sky alight with a gentle orange haze dancing across the few remaining clouds that could be found hanging in the sky. The vibrant light bled through the windows saturating the entire room and the couple inside with its warm glow. Bliss. Out of the many words that Kurugaya had in her considerable vocabulary this was the one she decided best suited the situation. Riki had his arm wrapped around her waist and was resting his head atop hers, both closed their eyes having already taken in the beauty before them, all that was left now was to wait for nightfall. Riki, true to his word, had organised for Kyousuke, Masato and Kengo to set off fireworks at nightfall. Of course the tradeoff being the trio wanted details on how things went with Kurugaya and how they ended up together. With everything organised Kurugaya and Riki had broken their way into a classroom on the top floor looking out over the sports field. There could be trouble but the pair had long since given up caring about that, the moment that ultimately brought them together was being repeated and this time of their own volition. Half an hour passed like this, not a word said, simply being in each other"s presence was enough. Finally the sun had set and the stars were aglow taking centre stage in the sky up above. Riki lifted his head from Kurugaya"s, both turned to face each other and smiled peacefully. "Any minute now and they"ll launch the fireworks," Riki commented. "Knowing those idiots any hour is a more likely scenario," Kurugaya added chuckling. Riki smirked and opened his mouth to reply but before he could the night sky exploded with colours. Streaks of light could be seen shooting straight up into the sky before exploding outwards in a flash of brilliant, vibrant light. The room was basked in greens, reds, blues, yellows and every shade of colour imaginable in between. "They"ve really outdone themselves this time,' Riki thought to himself. He turned his eyes away from the light show to find Kurugaya staring intently at him, he returned her gaze getting lost in the pools of violet that were staring straight back at him. The sound of the exploding fireworks became dull, distant even, his focus became undividedly drawn to the beauty before him. Before he knew what was happening Kurugaya"s lips gently caught his own, surprise was the first reaction that popped to mind but he shut it out instead closing his eyes and returning the kiss. There was one final boom accompanied by a bright red flash at which point Riki and Kurugaya finally broke apart breathing slightly heavier than before. Kurugaya lowered her head slightly her face having taken on a bright red colour. "So I suppose now would be a good time to say I love you." Riki spoke gently. It shouldn"t have been possible but Kurugaya"s face managed to go another shade brighter on the red spectrum. "Riki, before I met you I was emotionally detached, I drifted day by day not feeling anything towards myself or those around me. I understood emotions but they were not something I could ever relate to, I put on a mask resembling happiness to ease the minds of those around me. You changed all that, emotions that I had long since assumed were non-existent started surfacing around you, in that world I felt happiness, anger and misery for the first times in my life but most importantly I felt love. I suppose this is just a roundabout way of saying I love you too." As she finished speaking Riki pulled Kurugaya into an embrace with an uncontained smile on his face. "You know as much as I would like to stay here all night with you we"d best be heading back." "Oh I bet you want to spend the night with me," Kurugaya said with her trademark mischievous look. "Wait that"s n-not what I meant at all!" Riki stammered. "Hahaha you"re cute when you"re flustered, come on let"s get going." With that the couple walked out hand in hand splitting off at their respective dorms but not before Riki gave Kurugaya a peck on the lips in farewell. At her reaction Riki couldn"t help but smile, "Looks like I"m not the only one that gets flustered," he said leaving her standing in shock as he walked off to the boys dorm. Riki arrived back at the dorm to find the usual crew gathered around their make shift table, as he walked through the doorway the 3 boys looked at him expectantly. Riki raised an eyebrow at them. "Well?" Kyousuke started asking. "It was perfect thanks guys." "We know that, with my muscles how could anything have gone wrong," Masato spoke in his usual loud manner. "I believe what the idiot is trying to ask is what happened?" Kengo added in a level tone. Riki"s face started turning a little red as he thought back on the events that had transpired, "W w well we sat on one of the desks holding eachother, watching the fireworks that you set off, quite contempt simply being there, is that enough for you?" "Hmmm," Kyousuke started, "what did you think of the final firework? It"s one I"ve been saving from my travels for a long time." He smiled slightly as if recalling how he came to get his hands on it in the first place. "Eh-hehe," Riki rubbed the back of his head awkwardly with his eyes closed, "I think I owe you an apology on that one Kyousuke." He paused thinking of how to word what was to follow, "By that point Kurugaya and I were a little distracted." Everyone"s eyes widened along with Riki"s as he realised the implications of what he had said, "I only meant kissing, don"t take that the wrong way!" Everyone"s eyes remained wide "You"re a legend Riki," Kyousuke said. "Were they listening at all to my second statement?' Riki wondered. "By the way, you still haven"t explained why you two are together in the first place, I"ll make the assumption that is was something I was unaware of in "that place"?" Kyousuke asked. Riki sighed, "no way around it I suppose, during our time in that place Kurugaya somewhat unintentionally created a dream world that came about due to a wish of hers. June the 20th became the never ending day, each time it looped Kurugaya and I would meet in the broadcasting room and interact like what I assume a normal couple would. Each loop, however, was forgotten by everyone besides me, Kurugaya only remembered due to notes she left herself. When the dream faded and Kurugaya left that place only I remembered what had happened, even I was supposed to forget but how could I?" He looked down a little embarrassed. Kyousuke nodded surprisingly unphased compared to the other 2 and Rin whom Riki hadn"t even noticed had been silently sitting there the whole time. "I see, that explains some of the deja vu surrounding this whole scenario, I am curious though, what kind of wish was powerful enough to partially control my own world?" "..." Riki"s face turned red, "Do I have to tell you?" "Yeah," Kyousuke said with a grin on his face. "She"s going to kill me if she finds out," he sighed, "she wished for Little Busters to never end, she wanted to keep experiencing the emotions that were new to her but more specifically she wanted to experience love." At the final statement Riki had averted his gaze from everyone out of pure embarrassment. Again they were stunned, "the invincible Kurugaya san only wanted to experience love?' seemed to be the collective thought. Rin broke the silence "Ah love, that, tell Kurugaya I say good luck!" "She has no idea what she"s on about,' Riki thought. "If you guys don"t mind could we please bring this interrogation to a close, I would quite like some sleep before tomorrow," Riki stated. That seemed to snap everyone out of their state of stupor. "Alrighty, however, this conversation is to be continued...." Kyousuke said with a cheeky smile as he, Kengo and Rin rose off the ground and made their way to the door. Riki could only nod as the group left. Masato, seemingly tired from his day of what Riki could only assume was muscle training had fallen into bed above him and was somehow already snoring. Riki pulled out his phone to put it on charge before sleeping and found a message. Sender: [ Kurugaya ] Subject: [ Tonight ] Message: [ Thanks for tonight young man, I"ve never felt this way, I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow ] "Back to young man huh?' Riki thought to himself with a slight chuckle, he replied in kind. [ I should be the one thanking you, have good sleep and see you tomorrow, Yuiko. ] Riki smirked, that should get a reaction, although it did feel good to use her first name. A reply came through, [ .... Only you manage to make me lose my composure like this ]. Riki smiled, he couldn"t wait for tomorrow to come. Riki slowly eased his eyes open allowing them to adjust to the now light environment he was in, the more he came to the more he realised something was different. He blinked his eyes rapidly to get clear up the blurry environment in front of him. His eyes finally shot open in shock "K k kurugaya what are you doing in the boys" dorm!?" he panicked, in turn waking up Masato. Masato talked far too excitedly jumping down from the bed, "could it be Riki wants to do a morning muscle training session with me!?" "I"m amazed that you somehow managed to come to that conclusion in the first place!" Masato folded his arms smiling as if proud of himself, "thanks." "That wasn"t a compliment,' Riki said internally. It was about then that Kurugaya cleared her throat finally drawing Masato"s to her, his eyes widened and mouth dropped open. Before he could say anything Kurugaya swiftly kicked him in the head knocking him out cold all the while staying leaned over Riki. "You know it"s rude to choose to ignore your girlfriend and talk to some idiot instead," she stated. "Eh hehe," Riki laughed a little awkwardly, "So, do you mind explaining what you"re doing waking me up in the boys" dorm?" "Am I not allowed to visit my boyfriend without a reason?" She questioned. "She doesn"t see the issue with this at all,' Riki thought to himself in defeat, "well if you get off me we can get on with the day." He stated. "Young man, do you not realise the situation you are in? You are effectively alone with a beautiful girl leaning over top of you." Riki smiled, he had grown wise to Kurugaya"s attempts at making him embarrassed, "You"re absolutely right, Yuiko." Her face instantly turned red as he pecked her on the lips, he took the opportunity while Kurugaya was frozen in shock to escape and pull his uniform on in the bathroom. As he returned he found Kurugaya still frozen to the spot, "Hey, Kurugaya you awake there?" Without moving she replied, "Can you use my first name again?" Riki smiled gently, "sure, Yuiko", "this is a really big deal to her huh?' Riki thought to himself. "I wanted only the person who would marry me to use that name but I guess I"m ok with this," she said with a smile. With that the 2 stood up and left, most people would be concerned about an unconscious friend but with the amount of times Masato took a foot to the head they doubted there would be any issues. Riki and Kurugaya had decided that before moving on to new things and getting back into regular activities with the Little Busters they wanted to relive everything they did together in "that place" in the real world. They had already been to the broadcasting room together and the fireworks had been spectacular the night before. So there they were, ticking off another event, sitting in a cafe, a cafe that offered free refills on the coffee that they were drinking. They had been talking about the Little Busters and what antics they were bound to get up to over the coming weeks. As they faded into a temporary silence Riki spoke up, "I never did say this last time we were here but you did look very cute that day. It was on my mind but you were being rather thick headed about the rather obvious hints I was dropping that I liked you." He finished with a smirk. Kurugaya replied with a similar mischievous expression, "Is that so? Well it would have been easier had you just told me. Also last time I checked more people tend to agree on you being cute not so much me."

Tatsuya didn"t have the necessary ability to use this spell on a large enough scale to make it effective in such situations but with the use of his elemental sight he didn"t have to. By looking into the information dimension Tatsuya could pinpoint the nerves connecting the brain to the muscles, by using a much smaller scale version of freeze flame on these nerves the signals would be frozen and not be able to reach the muscles in turn causing the target to collapse. The effects lasted half an hour at most without the continuous application of magic making it a perfect subjugation technique. He pulled the trigger on Hattori before walking over to his briefcase and using regrowth on the idea of time. Everyone"s eyes shot open at the collapsed form of Hattori before looking over to Tatsuya casually packing away his equipment. "O-o-of-ficial t t time 0.002 seconds." Ichihara Suzune, one of the other council members present stuttered out in disbelief. "Well I believe that"s 1 thousandth of our agreed time limit, I assume you will follow through with my request Mayumi?" Tatsuya spoke with a small smirk on his face. Mayumi was still trying to work out what happened and as such didn"t reply immediately. Miyuki smiling to herself looked over to Tatsuya, "I said to make a fool of him Tatsuya but decomposition of time, that"s just unfair." Tatsuya chuckled, "there was no rule against it." "I"m sorry but what did you say he did Miyuki?" Ichihara enquired. "Tatsuya used decomposition to remove the idea of time from everything bar himself. While in that state he caused Hattori senpai to collapse with what I assume is a variation of my freeze flame and walked over to his briefcase. He then used regrowth to restore the idea of time." Ichihara looked shocked. "But that"s not...." "Possible?" Tatsuya interrupted, "Ichihara Suzune isn"t it? I assure you it"s not impossible just extremely difficult. If one were able to see the information dimension and as such directly interact with the information bodies around them would you think it possible then?" Ichihara"s eyes widened. "Elemental Sight, it"s been rumoured to be possible but I never believed it, I don"t even want to think about how hard that makes you to beat." "Oh you truly don"t want to know." He looked over at Miyuki who laughed lightly, if anyone here found out what he was he doubted they would remain in the same room as him for long. Mayumi finally spoke up having checked that Hattori was fine. "Your request will be met and it goes without saying that you"re a public morals committee member now. What was your second request or offer?" Her usual smile had returned. "My offer is related to Nine School"s as well, I would like to also take part in the engineering part of the school"s team as an overseer, this offer however comes from an alias of mine." Everyone"s eyebrows were raised at this. "I assume we will know the name of your alias?" Watanabe queried. "The offer comes from Four Leaves Technology"s third division, Taurus Silver at your service." Miyuki chuckled at his overly dramatic introduction but it had the desired effect, everyone"s mouths were hung open and wouldn"t close. First High had just received an advantage so great it could be considered unfair but whether the students would accept it or not, that was still to be seen. Author"s note: So here we are again and so soon! Thanks for all the positive support, bar that one Guest who never really stated why he hated the story.... oh well. The response is positive enough that I"ll keep the story going. So on with points on the story, first off I am considering dropping the terrorist events so I can get straight on with Nine Schools and some of the interesting scenarios I have planned. If you guys really want me to do the terrorist part then let me know and I"ll write it out anyway. Nine Schools will be when I start to introduce Tatsuya"s new skillset granted by Death so things will start picking up in the next chapter, honestly I"m sick of writing characters introducing themselves so the events at Nine Schools will make a nice break haha. Well as with last time tell me what you think and I"ll see you next time. Story Start: Miyuki stood at Tatsuya"s side smiling to herself at the gaping expressions of the students around them. It wasn"t everyday that you were offered help by someone who was widely considered one of the top minds in the field of CAD development much less for a school competition. Miyuki had discussed what secrets Tatsuya would and wouldn"t reveal at an earlier point, while it was ultimately his decision she wanted to hear his reasoning behind it. During the discussion he had said he would happily reveal any of his identities that weren"t bound to secrecy by the military. While this had at first baffled Miyuki she began to understand more as she realised that these identities were really only kept secret to benefit the Yotsuba. Not only was Tatsuya no longer bound by the Yotsuba he also reasoned that by showing the blatant difference in experience, power and knowledge between himself and the rest of the school the course one students would be forced to take a serious look at their current viewpoints. Mayumi finally broke the silence in the room, "So Mr Silver any other identities we should know about?" She said, attempting a little humour. "Nothing comes to mind right now." Tatsuya purposefully left the answer vague, this allowed him to keep the others cautious of him... Well more so than they were already which said something considering the amount of caution that he already received from those around him. With everything out in the open Tatsuya decided to let those present mull over what had just happened. Having packed up he took his leave with Miyuki in tow, on the way he turned back briefly. "I suggest organising a meeting with the other engineers on the team for Nine Schools to explain the situation to them." Over the following week things had continued without a hitch.... More or less. While there had been some doubt surrounding Tatsuya"s identity that doubt was soon shattered with the introduction of his newly invented flying type magic. The general populous of the school were kept in the dark surrounding his identity in the hope that they could keep it a secret from the other participating schools at least up until the competition. It was night time in the Shiba household no source of light was present, the two souls residing within the home were fast asleep. One however was troubled. Through his mind images flashed by millions upon millions of them, screams could be heard as each frame showed the death of a soul. He fell through these images through the dark black clouds that surrounded them lightning flashed, a woman was stabbed, another flash a man plummeted to his death from a bridge. Each flash brought a new image of death to life, their lives faded from existence into memories, an endless stream. In this realm all lives meant nothing, life in itself was simply a path to death. As he fell a deep resounding voice broke out from it all "I am the conundrum" Tatsuya awoke, while the dream may have elicited a flinch from him once this was far from the first time he had seen it. Tatsuya understood the concept of death better than anyone else alive, most humans would have been driven mad by what he knew, what he felt, Tatsuya however was most definitely not "Most humans". It was early morning so Tatsuya got himself up, he went about his daily conditioning before having a shower and heading downstairs to make breakfast for both himself and Miyuki. While he knew she would be annoyed with him for not letting her do it he felt it best to let her sleep. Today was the first day of the Nine Schools Competition both he and Miyuki were competitors for the senior teams both were doing Ice Pillar break, Tatsuya was also doing Monolith Code and Miyuki was doing Mirage Bat. When Miyuki finally rose from her bedroom Tatsuya was changed and ready for the day and had a fully prepared traditional Japanese breakfast ready for the both of them. Miyuki frowned, "Tatsuya what did I say about letting me do the work around here?" He smiled back, "I woke up earlier than expected so it was no trouble." Tatsuya and Miyuki sat together on the bus ride to the competition site, an attempt had been made to crash a car into their bus. The reaction of fellow students when nothing remained of said car was rather extreme however Tatsuya needed them to be used to his magic sooner rather than later. Surprise at his abilities was quickly becoming old so he wanted those that were to be around him relatively often to get over that stage. The first day was spent settling into accommodation, giving a final brief and planning for events to come. Tatsuya had spent his time mostly with the engineering division helping them improve their efficiency in writing magic sequences and executing skills they already had. The first two days of competition saw Speed Shooting and Crowd Ball, First High"s Mayumi Saegusa took first for the female division in both. The male division of Speed Shooting was also a first place however Crowd Ball only saw a fourth. The students around Tatsuya were finally approaching him and starting conversations rather than avoiding him like a plague. While the elitist course one students still disliked him the rest were willing to admit he had more than proven his worth in the engineering division already having contributed in someway or other to nearly every win. The third day saw Battle Board take place Hattori took a respectable second place and Watanabe won out the female division, Tatsuya had spotted a trap spell before the event and reported it to officials making the event run smoothly. Finally it was time for the first event for both Tatsuya and Miyuki, Ice Pillar Break first up the male"s division. As Tatsuya walked out onto the platform people were visibly confused at the inclusion of a first year student, his opponent held a feeling of arrogance thinking he had an easy win. Tatsuya smirked as the countdown to start began his opponent was in for the biggest embarrassment of his life. The clock hit zero and one of Tatsuya"s pillars exploded, oscillation type magic weakened and broke the structure at an alarming rate. More alarming however was the immediate reformation of the pillar as if nothing had ever happened. Keeping one CAD pointed at his own pillars Tatsuya slowly lowered his other towards his opponent"s pillars, he pulled the trigger decomposition activated the pillar"s eidos were ripped apart and scattered the pillars themselves reduced to nothing but subatomic particles. As he turned to leave there was no cheering, not a voice could be heard, everyone was in shock very few understood what Tatsuya had just done and those who did were in awe, direct interference at that level was considered nigh on impossible. A small smirk graced Tatsuya"s lips as his figure retreated from the stage. With decomposition under his belt Tatsuya had an easy victory no one could compete and no one expected to some even forfeited to avoid the embarrassment of an impossibly quick loss. Next was the female division everyone present was yet to get over the shock of Tatsuya"s win as a first year so when they saw a second first year from the same school it was safe to say everyone had given up hope. The loss of hope was warranted too as Miyuki stormed her way to victory using A ranked magics that no one could hope to match, if it wasn"t Nilfheim it was Inferno either way the result was a win for First High in both divisions. From the stands the woman known as the notorious Electron Sorceress smiled to herself, "those two don"t hold back do they?' she thought to herself, "Still we are all yet to see your true power Tatsuya, safe to say the 101 Independant Magic-Equipped Battalion are more than a little curious.' It was over the next two days that Tatsuya began to notice outside interference within the games, someone was trying to fix them. He had initially thought the trap spell in Battle Board and the car aimed at First High"s bus was a personal score but something bigger was showing itself. He approached Fujibayashi for her help on the matter in order to trace the organisation to a central location. She had agreed but at a cost other than money seeing as it was outside of official business that was fair enough but he would have to face the consequences of his payment later. The next day "No Head Dragon Eastern Branch" as an organisation were no more not only in the sense that they had disbanded but nothing remained of its members. With Tatsuya being able to focus his time on the engineering side of things he had secured First High an overall victory assuming the last two days weren"t an absolute calamity. Any time that wasn"t spent writing magic sequences for contestants and devising strategies was spent with Miyuki. While he wasn"t used to this whole couple thing he still understood the idea of doing what he could to spend time with his girlfriend whether that be taking her out to dinner or simply talking to her. One night over dinner Tatsuya had brought with him a small jewellery box. "Miyuki before Mirage Bat tomorrow I want to give you something." "Oh you"ve already given me the opportunity to fly what else could you possib-.." He opened the small box, in it was a beautiful bracelet made of platinum links with the patterns of snowflakes carved into each solid link. Miyuki had her hands covering her mouth, "It"s beautiful Tatsuya!" He smiled widely, "try it on, it"s not just for looks either push in any link and flying type magic will be initiated. Of course we can switch out the sequence but it seemed most suitable." Having put it on her wrist Miyuki looked at it in wonder. "Oh but I don"t have anything for you in return!" "No need, just leave the competition in your dust for me." As they smiled at each other they closed in for a brief kiss, it was a perfect way to end a perfect night. It was the day of Mirage Bat and leave the enemy in her dust Miyuki did, Tatsuya had revealed flying magic to the engineering team earlier but no students had enough time to master it. Because of this Miyuki shot ahead on the scoreboard not once giving her opponents the chance to catch up. That night Tatsuya had headed back from the celebrations early, tomorrow was the Monolith Code and while he was sure he could win he still wished to be left to ponder on his own. His team mates were Juumonji Katsuto and somewhat ironically Hattori Hanzou. Having seen the results of First High"s first years Third High had sent their trump cards into their senior Monolith Code division, the Crimson Prince and Cardinal George both terrifyingly powerful in their own right. Tatsuya had already deduced that the final would be between First High and Third High, with his A rank destructive decomposition banned in this game he decided he would remain at the back until the final allowing the Ten Master Clans to please their massive egos by having Juumonji wipe out everyone. Lying in bed facing the ceiling with these thoughts at the top of his mind Tatsuya began to drift off. He opened his eyes slowly once again he was falling, the uncomfortable feeling of seeing the stream of death was present once more. Each time he was here he became more and more used to it although it felt as though in doing so he was sacrificing more and more of his human side to the information body he was hosting. As the images began to fade the deep voice spoke up just like every other time. "Now you stand before me devoid of all dismay, could it be just maybe I"ll let you have your day." As everyone had predicted the preliminary rounds of First High in Monolith Code saw Juumonji obliterating the opposition with a variation of his families legendary Phalanx. However what came next was unexpected, the final was as Tatsuya predicted between First and Third High and standing at the front of First High"s team this time was Tatsuya. Ichijou smirked "Let"s see what you have miracle engineer of First High", he said to no one in particular. Tatsuya took a deep breath it was time to fulfill his side of the deal to Fujibayashi just not in a way she expected. As per usual Tatsuya held two CADs in one was the sequence for gram demolition in the other a seemingly random sequence the effects of which were yet to be seen by those who had seen him code it. As the match started the showdown between Taurus Silver and the Crimson Prince began, with Ichijou"s rupture magic classed as A rank destructive he had to use air bullet. Each time he set one off it was destroyed by Tatsuya who ran forward at an alarming rate. Ichijou couldn"t work out what he was trying to achieve, what would getting close gain him? While thinking this he was snapped out of his thoughts as he suddenly realised just how close Tatsuya was. In a panic Ichijou set off air bullet without a limiter, he suddenly realised this not only meant disqualification but could also mean a fatality for the opponent. As the 22 in total sequences surrounded him Tatsuya could only grimace this was going to hurt, he allowed them all to go off and went flying through the air towards Ichijou. Commence Retroactive Eidos Tracking Confirm Restoration Point Restoration Commence Restoration Complete. Tatsuya rotated whilst still flying through the air and landed on both feet rolling forward to break the fall. He stood up and walked towards Ichijou who could only stare in horror. "3 broken ribs, 2 vertebrae fractured, both arms and legs broken in at least 4 places and multiple points of internal bleeding.... Is that all you could do Ichijou?" The Crimson Prince was speechless, how? How? had he survived that completely unscathed it was impossible! "Now while you"re speculating as to how I survived there"s something much bigger you should be wondering about right now, what"s in my second CAD?" Ichijou"s eyes widened even more as Tatsuya pointed the pistol shaped CAD towards his own head and pulled the trigger. Doors of Death released Lock Regrowth timer set for 2 minutes Merging of consciousness in process Merge complete Black smoke engulfed Tatsuya entirely clouds of pure black formed above them as the smoke recessed. His eyes had turned pitch black and in his hands the black smoke condensed into the shape of a scythe. All those present both on and off the field froze in terror. Fujibayashi looked on with wide eyes "So this is the true form he mentioned to us." His payment to Fujibayashi had been an agreement, an agreement to reveal his unknown ability to her, she had not however expected him to do it in such a public manner, what was he hoping to achieve? Ichijou finally found his voice, "What in the hell are you!?" Tatsuya spoke, his voice impossibly low could be felt reverberating through one"s body as much as it could be heard. "I am the dreadful menace." the being took a step forward "The one whose will is done." another step "The haunting chill upon your neck." "I am the conundrum." "I have summoned armies of cold and disease and famine." With each line the being grew closer to Ichijou "Not you or any other can fathom what is nigh." "I will tell you when to jump and I will dictate how far you fall" "The ones who came before you stood strong and tall and brave but I stole their dreams away, their dreams could not be saved." It finally came to a stop in front of Ichijou. "For I am the end of all beginnings" "I am the effect that all causes lead to" "I am Death." An inhuman smirk crossed its face as it looked deep into Ichijou"s eyes. "Goodnight Prince" Each and every member of the Third High team fell unconscious immediately. Regrowth initiated Doors of death being restored Restoration complete Just as quickly as Death had appeared it was contained once more in its place stood Tatsuya once again. Miyuki looked out at her boyfriend with a worried expression, "Tatsuya what have you done?" The message from this event had been simple "The Ten Master Clans don"t hold all the power now." Author"s note: So first off I am so sorry for the massive delay on this, I was away for a large hunk of time and then struggled to get motivated to write more once I was back to full time work. However with uni coming up I thought I would try and get another chapter out. Onto the actual story itself: I skipped the terrorist arc for now as the Death idea was one I really wanted to do in this situation however I may revisit the terrorist arc at a later point but done in a different way. As for Death itself at the moment I want it to remain a mysterious aspect as to what it"s capabilities are, eventually I will introduce the technical ideas behind it but here"s a taster all the same. Also I skimmed over a lot of the Nine Schools as I didn"t want to make you guys go through events that were going to be practically the same as canon so I tried to get to the original stuff hope this is alright. Otherwise the introduction I used for death is an edited version of a poem read by Charles Dance for a Winter Olympics advert of all things and more recently used in what has become my favourite parkour film titled "Reach the Horizon" by "Team Jestion". Other than that I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I will catch you next time.

Well here we are again, sorry for taking my time with this chapter but some things came up which took precedence over my time. Anyway I have taken some liberties in making Riki a much more confident individual but if you have an issue with this please let me know. I hope you enjoy the next part of this story, sorry for the short length but I didn"t want to try and cram the next part into this chapter as well. I shall also be doing a fiction on "A Certain Magical Index" at the same time as this so if you want updates for this to be regular please do review, follow etc, it really helps motivate to get more out there. Until next time everyone. Update: Right so I have a break right now and suddenly remembered that I was writing things. That being said I have gone over my stories and reformatted them hopefully making them more readable and now that I have finished a chapter on my other story I want to turn my attention back to this one. So with any luck expect a couple of chapters on this one in the coming month, I forgot how much I enjoyed writing this and reading back over it I"m still reasonably pleased with it. So with that said onwards! Story start: Light broke through the cracks in the curtains and danced upon her face beckoning her to awake from her sleeping state. Kurugaya slowly came to and began to haul herself out of bed, she may be one of the most academic and active people within her school but that didn"t make getting up any easier. This morning, however, more than any other morning she had motivation to get up, it was a weekend and the hole within her memory had finally been filled. Today was the day she would be reintroduced to the Little Busters and finally get to spend time with Riki without the impending collapse of a dream to worry about. Sitting on the edge of her bed Kurugaya leaned over and turned on some music to listen to whilst going about her morning routine. She tried to find a new artist every week to broaden her music taste and this week she had been pleasantly surprised by what was presented by English acoustic guitarist and singer/songwriter Jon Gomm. She stood up to go and have her shower, get changed and prepare for the day ahead, her music probably was too loud but it was highly unlikely that anyone would be brave enough to confront her on the matter. Once she was ready she stopped her CD and left her dorm room, she had agreed to meet Riki outside the boys dorm before meeting up with everyone else at the baseball field. As she approached there meeting point her heart began to race, she had accepted the fact that she loved Riki but after either lacking the understanding or existence of her own emotions for so long this was all very strange and new to her. Riki was standing just outside the boy"s dorm, he may have grown a lot more confident since the events of the illusion world but he was still nervous at the prospect of revealing his relationship to all of his friends. Although he remembered Kurugaya"s dream loop no one else had and Riki had not felt the need to enlighten everyone with the fact that he and Kurugaya had dated for a time.... well one day.... well a day that looped multiple times but the point still remained. He looked up from his feet and his heart rate spiked as he noticed Kurugaya walking over towards him, he flashed her a smile as she arrived and as if on queue her face turned a shade of crimson only for Riki"s to take on a similar colour as her obvious beauty sank in. Of course most male"s eyes would be drawn straight to her chest but putting that aside her long black hair fell graciously down her back with a single lock being twined with a golden ribbon trailing down the front of her body which in itself could only be described as having been sculpted to perfection and he couldn"t help but being captivated by her striking violet eyes. She was simply perfect and what"s more she was his, how, Riki would probably never understand but he wasn"t going to spend too long questioning it either. "Hey child" Kurugaya said in way of greeting, a slightly mischievous smile gracing her lips. Riki sighed "you know I"m not sure who should be embarrassed by that, the implications of that statement would make it appear that you are dating a child," he replied mimicking her mischievous look at which point they both let out a small chuckle. "Well then", he continued, taking her hand, "shall we?" Kurugaya"s face once again took on a shade of crimson but she let off a genuine smile nonetheless and replied, "Of course, it"ll be good to meet everyone again finally." He smiled back at her saying "Now that I think about it, would you please try refrain terrorising Kyousuke or Kengo too much within our fighting competitions? Masato has such a tiny brain it"s unlikely he"ll remember but those two may start giving you a wide berth if you"re not careful." "I"ll take it into consideration," she stated, laughing slightly at the thought of the almighty Kyousuke trembling before her. The light banter between them carried on like this as they made their way out to the field where everyone was waiting for them. Kurugaya was feeling incredibly happy, an emotion that she had only uncovered by being around these people known as the Little Busters, it would be great to finally meet them all again. As they walked over the mound into the field everyone rushed in to greet them all of them smiling kindly and trying to talk to her at the same time, well except for Kengo, Masato and Kyousuke who of course were far above this response but they still smiled in acknowledgement. The result of everyone talking at once of course was an indecipherable noise aside from the occasional high pitch "Wafffuuu!" escaping from Kud chan. Finally Kyousuke intervened noticing the slightly overwhelmed look upon Kurugaya"s face he simply walked to the centre of the group and raised his hand causing everyone to fall silent. Once again he looked over at Kurugaya and Riki and his eyes suddenly widened in shock. "You two do realise you"re holding hands right?" He said slowly. The couple looked at each other before letting out a laugh "No Kyousuke this perfectly obvious situation did not once occur to either of us" Kurugaya managed to get out after calming down a little. Kyousuke frowned a little "But why?" he questioned. Riki simply looked at him and said with a smirk "Seriously Kyousuke you should probably leave the idiotic comments to Masato, the lack of intelligence suits him better." A dissatisfied grumble could be heard from Masato but before it could go on Riki continued, "but seeing as none of you seem to have caught on yet" he pulled Kurugaya closer to him wrapping his arm around her waist "We"re dating." This time the reply was unified "EEEHHHHHH!" Author"s note: Right so here"s the next chapter in this story, I apologise for the massive delay but juggling hobbies and exams can be a challenge at times. Anyway I am reasonably happy with how this chapter turned out and hope that you guys enjoy reading it. As always your opinions on this piece are much appreciated. Until next time (which will hopefully be sooner rather than later). -TayloredPhoenix Music: Right so this is a new thing that I may keep going or may not, I wrote this entire thing listening to either "Summer Breeze" or "Play Your Joker" by Giyo. I feel as though either of these or any downtempo track goes well with this however that could be my music taste getting the better of me entirely so feel free to ignore this segment. I do not claim rights to the Little Busters franchise, all rights reserved to Key and the respective owners of the series. Story start: Kurugaya was sat on a school desk her head resting on Riki"s shoulder looking out the vast glass panes in front of them that made up the windows of the building. The sun had taken on a deep orange hue setting the sky alight with a gentle orange haze dancing across the few remaining clouds that could be found hanging in the sky. The vibrant light bled through the windows saturating the entire room and the couple inside with its warm glow. Bliss. Out of the many words that Kurugaya had in her considerable vocabulary this was the one she decided best suited the situation. Riki had his arm wrapped around her waist and was resting his head atop hers, both closed their eyes having already taken in the beauty before them, all that was left now was to wait for nightfall. Riki, true to his word, had organised for Kyousuke, Masato and Kengo to set off fireworks at nightfall. Of course the tradeoff being the trio wanted details on how things went with Kurugaya and how they ended up together. With everything organised Kurugaya and Riki had broken their way into a classroom on the top floor looking out over the sports field. There could be trouble but the pair had long since given up caring about that, the moment that ultimately brought them together was being repeated and this time of their own volition. Half an hour passed like this, not a word said, simply being in each other"s presence was enough. Finally the sun had set and the stars were aglow taking centre stage in the sky up above. Riki lifted his head from Kurugaya"s, both turned to face each other and smiled peacefully. "Any minute now and they"ll launch the fireworks," Riki commented. "Knowing those idiots any hour is a more likely scenario," Kurugaya added chuckling. Riki smirked and opened his mouth to reply but before he could the night sky exploded with colours. Streaks of light could be seen shooting straight up into the sky before exploding outwards in a flash of brilliant, vibrant light. The room was basked in greens, reds, blues, yellows and every shade of colour imaginable in between. "They"ve really outdone themselves this time,' Riki thought to himself. He turned his eyes away from the light show to find Kurugaya staring intently at him, he returned her gaze getting lost in the pools of violet that were staring straight back at him. The sound of the exploding fireworks became dull, distant even, his focus became undividedly drawn to the beauty before him. Before he knew what was happening Kurugaya"s lips gently caught his own, surprise was the first reaction that popped to mind but he shut it out instead closing his eyes and returning the kiss. There was one final boom accompanied by a bright red flash at which point Riki and Kurugaya finally broke apart breathing slightly heavier than before. Kurugaya lowered her head slightly her face having taken on a bright red colour. "So I suppose now would be a good time to say I love you." Riki spoke gently. It shouldn"t have been possible but Kurugaya"s face managed to go another shade brighter on the red spectrum. "Riki, before I met you I was emotionally detached, I drifted day by day not feeling anything towards myself or those around me. I understood emotions but they were not something I could ever relate to, I put on a mask resembling happiness to ease the minds of those around me. You changed all that, emotions that I had long since assumed were non-existent started surfacing around you, in that world I felt happiness, anger and misery for the first times in my life but most importantly I felt love. I suppose this is just a roundabout way of saying I love you too." As she finished speaking Riki pulled Kurugaya into an embrace with an uncontained smile on his face. "You know as much as I would like to stay here all night with you we"d best be heading back." "Oh I bet you want to spend the night with me," Kurugaya said with her trademark mischievous look. "Wait that"s n-not what I meant at all!" Riki stammered. "Hahaha you"re cute when you"re flustered, come on let"s get going." With that the couple walked out hand in hand splitting off at their respective dorms but not before Riki gave Kurugaya a peck on the lips in farewell. At her reaction Riki couldn"t help but smile, "Looks like I"m not the only one that gets flustered," he said leaving her standing in shock as he walked off to the boys dorm. Riki arrived back at the dorm to find the usual crew gathered around their make shift table, as he walked through the doorway the 3 boys looked at him expectantly. Riki raised an eyebrow at them. "Well?" Kyousuke started asking. "It was perfect thanks guys." "We know that, with my muscles how could anything have gone wrong," Masato spoke in his usual loud manner. "I believe what the idiot is trying to ask is what happened?" Kengo added in a level tone. Riki"s face started turning a little red as he thought back on the events that had transpired, "W w well we sat on one of the desks holding eachother, watching the fireworks that you set off, quite contempt simply being there, is that enough for you?" "Hmmm," Kyousuke started, "what did you think of the final firework? It"s one I"ve been saving from my travels for a long time." He smiled slightly as if recalling how he came to get his hands on it in the first place. "Eh-hehe," Riki rubbed the back of his head awkwardly with his eyes closed, "I think I owe you an apology on that one Kyousuke." He paused thinking of how to word what was to follow, "By that point Kurugaya and I were a little distracted." Everyone"s eyes widened along with Riki"s as he realised the implications of what he had said, "I only meant kissing, don"t take that the wrong way!" Everyone"s eyes remained wide "You"re a legend Riki," Kyousuke said. "Were they listening at all to my second statement?' Riki wondered. "By the way, you still haven"t explained why you two are together in the first place, I"ll make the assumption that is was something I was unaware of in "that place"?" Kyousuke asked. Riki sighed, "no way around it I suppose, during our time in that place Kurugaya somewhat unintentionally created a dream world that came about due to a wish of hers. June the 20th became the never ending day, each time it looped Kurugaya and I would meet in the broadcasting room and interact like what I assume a normal couple would. Each loop, however, was forgotten by everyone besides me, Kurugaya only remembered due to notes she left herself. When the dream faded and Kurugaya left that place only I remembered what had happened, even I was supposed to forget but how could I?" He looked down a little embarrassed. Kyousuke nodded surprisingly unphased compared to the other 2 and Rin whom Riki hadn"t even noticed had been silently sitting there the whole time. "I see, that explains some of the deja vu surrounding this whole scenario, I am curious though, what kind of wish was powerful enough to partially control my own world?" "..." Riki"s face turned red, "Do I have to tell you?" "Yeah," Kyousuke said with a grin on his face. "She"s going to kill me if she finds out," he sighed, "she wished for Little Busters to never end, she wanted to keep experiencing the emotions that were new to her but more specifically she wanted to experience love." At the final statement Riki had averted his gaze from everyone out of pure embarrassment. Again they were stunned, "the invincible Kurugaya san only wanted to experience love?' seemed to be the collective thought. Rin broke the silence "Ah love, that, tell Kurugaya I say good luck!" "She has no idea what she"s on about,' Riki thought. "If you guys don"t mind could we please bring this interrogation to a close, I would quite like some sleep before tomorrow," Riki stated. That seemed to snap everyone out of their state of stupor. "Alrighty, however, this conversation is to be continued...." Kyousuke said with a cheeky smile as he, Kengo and Rin rose off the ground and made their way to the door. Riki could only nod as the group left. Masato, seemingly tired from his day of what Riki could only assume was muscle training had fallen into bed above him and was somehow already snoring. Riki pulled out his phone to put it on charge before sleeping and found a message. Sender: [ Kurugaya ] Subject: [ Tonight ] Message: [ Thanks for tonight young man, I"ve never felt this way, I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow ] "Back to young man huh?' Riki thought to himself with a slight chuckle, he replied in kind. [ I should be the one thanking you, have good sleep and see you tomorrow, Yuiko. ] Riki smirked, that should get a reaction, although it did feel good to use her first name. A reply came through, [ .... Only you manage to make me lose my composure like this ]. Riki smiled, he couldn"t wait for tomorrow to come. Riki slowly eased his eyes open allowing them to adjust to the now light environment he was in, the more he came to the more he realised something was different. He blinked his eyes rapidly to get clear up the blurry environment in front of him. His eyes finally shot open in shock "K k kurugaya what are you doing in the boys" dorm!?" he panicked, in turn waking up Masato. Masato talked far too excitedly jumping down from the bed, "could it be Riki wants to do a morning muscle training session with me!?" "I"m amazed that you somehow managed to come to that conclusion in the first place!" Masato folded his arms smiling as if proud of himself, "thanks." "That wasn"t a compliment,' Riki said internally. It was about then that Kurugaya cleared her throat finally drawing Masato"s to her, his eyes widened and mouth dropped open. Before he could say anything Kurugaya swiftly kicked him in the head knocking him out cold all the while staying leaned over Riki. "You know it"s rude to choose to ignore your girlfriend and talk to some idiot instead," she stated. "Eh hehe," Riki laughed a little awkwardly, "So, do you mind explaining what you"re doing waking me up in the boys" dorm?" "Am I not allowed to visit my boyfriend without a reason?" She questioned. "She doesn"t see the issue with this at all,' Riki thought to himself in defeat, "well if you get off me we can get on with the day." He stated. "Young man, do you not realise the situation you are in? You are effectively alone with a beautiful girl leaning over top of you." Riki smiled, he had grown wise to Kurugaya"s attempts at making him embarrassed, "You"re absolutely right, Yuiko." Her face instantly turned red as he pecked her on the lips, he took the opportunity while Kurugaya was frozen in shock to escape and pull his uniform on in the bathroom. As he returned he found Kurugaya still frozen to the spot, "Hey, Kurugaya you awake there?" Without moving she replied, "Can you use my first name again?" Riki smiled gently, "sure, Yuiko", "this is a really big deal to her huh?' Riki thought to himself. "I wanted only the person who would marry me to use that name but I guess I"m ok with this," she said with a smile. With that the 2 stood up and left, most people would be concerned about an unconscious friend but with the amount of times Masato took a foot to the head they doubted there would be any issues. Riki and Kurugaya had decided that before moving on to new things and getting back into regular activities with the Little Busters they wanted to relive everything they did together in "that place" in the real world. They had already been to the broadcasting room together and the fireworks had been spectacular the night before. So there they were, ticking off another event, sitting in a cafe, a cafe that offered free refills on the coffee that they were drinking. They had been talking about the Little Busters and what antics they were bound to get up to over the coming weeks. As they faded into a temporary silence Riki spoke up, "I never did say this last time we were here but you did look very cute that day. It was on my mind but you were being rather thick headed about the rather obvious hints I was dropping that I liked you." He finished with a smirk. Kurugaya replied with a similar mischievous expression, "Is that so? Well it would have been easier had you just told me. Also last time I checked more people tend to agree on you being cute not so much me." "Ugh you know I don"t like being called that but I guess I can make an exception." Kurugaya chuckled at his response, they finished up their coffee and walked out hand in hand. Once they were back on campus they headed to their usual sidewalk cafe with some tea to drink between them. They didn"t have long left before sunset again, the day had certainly passed by quickly but they had managed to tick off all the things they had done leading up to them dating. Kurugaya spoke up, "Riki, before we continue from here I want a promise." Riki looked over to her, "And what might that be?" "Don"t leave me." Riki looked a little stunned before she continued, "in that world I had to leave you truly believing at the time that there would be no happy ending and for the first time I can remember I felt pure, unfiltered misery. As much as I love the new emotions you have brought about in me that is one that I never wish to experience again. So I"ll ask, do you promise not to leave me?" At the end of her explanation Riki smiled, "Yuiko, I can"t believe you need to ask for a promise like that, of course I won"t." Kurugaya was at a loss for words, so instead she moved around behind Riki and draped her arms around his neck from behind. Riki sighed contempt with the current situation, they both remained there to watch the sunset. The future was looking bright indeed and with the past out of the way it was time to see what it held.

"Wait at the current time and with the trajectory I redirected dragon"s breath..." Touma began murmuring to himself before he suddenly, to everyone"s surprise, burst out laughing. "Ahhh Touma", Misaka started "What"s so funny?" "Aleister asked me to keep property damage beneath the trillions of dollars category and we just destroyed the worlds most advanced supercomputer, tree diagram" he burst out laughing again "I"d better flick him a message". Touma walked off to send a message explaining things and asking for the plans of the computer so he could simply replace it using his power. Still grinning he returned to the group "So after seeing what I"m capable of how do you and Stiyl feel about joining the group I"m forming named TITAN, it"s sole purpose is to protect those within the city that are innocent from threats posed from either side? I know we were enemies a moment ago but I promise you it was not by choice, I simply needed to show you my strength and have Misaka see magic in action. I hope my actions of healing your good friend show I do not wish to harm any of you." "But what of our current loyalties?" Kanzaki asked "Well if you still feel the need to remain loyal to them despite the lies I won"t argue, you can still be a part of my team, in fact it may prove helpful to have ambassadors that I could use to negotiate with the church, plus your main task would be to protect Index as I will be busy a lot so it gives you more time with her". "Well those are certainly terms that would be hard to turn down, we"ll explain the situation to Necessarius and given the lies about Index they don"t have grounds to deny our request." Touma nodded "Well then with that I"d like to invite you to meet us at the Joseph"s Restaurant at 4pm to discuss the logistics of this group, I look forward to working with you. Also there"s a hospital nearby I"d take Index to if I were you, tell them I sent you and you"ll get the best doctor possibly in the world, you"ll have to forgive his frog like appearance and she may not require the treatment but better safe than sorry." The pair gave their thanks before walking off with Index "Oh I almost forgot" Touma made 3 new I.D. cards appear these ones with level 5 clearance "These will get you anywhere in Academy City so you don"t need to hide your existence" With that the trio finally departed. Misaka turned to him "you planned all of that didn"t you?" Touma smiled "Of course, I introduced you to magic, saved Index and recruited 2 of the most powerful magicians in Necessarius all before 2pm, pretty good work if I don"t say so myself, wouldn"t you agree Misaka?" "Someone"s a little self absorbant isn"t he? But yes it was clever.... For an idiot that is" she smirked. "Whatever you say Biri-Biri" Touma replied smiling back at her playfully. Misaka found it rather embarrassing to admit that she was warming to Touma"s nickname for her, it made her feel as though she was someone different or special to Touma, wait stop that train of thought, what was she thinking!? Why would she care about that sort of thing, her face however must have been going red as Touma commented "Hey, you alright Misaka?" "What? Oh yeah, just Touma...." her face went a brighter red "I call you by your first name s-s-sooo..." she was struggling to get out what she wanted to say "Just call me Mikoto it"ll make it less weird" by this point she had turned her head away from Touma in embarrassment. "Really that"s not such a big deal, but ok... Mikoto" Touma felt a little spike of joy upon saying her name, no it must have been nothing, he dismissed that thought. Mikoto looked back at him and they both smiled, ok maybe a little something but he"d explore that later. "So" Touma started "I don"t know about you but at this point I"m pretty hungry, fancy some lunch before our meeting?" "I thought you"d never ask!"came the reply and so they finally left the railway to go do something a little more normal. Touma and Mikoto decided that they would stop by Joseph"s cafe for lunch and simply pass the time talking until the rest of those invited could arrive. After consulting Touma it was decided that Mikoto would invite everyone of her friends to the meeting. Kuroko, although irritating would prove to be very useful with her teleporting ability, Uiharu was unparalleled at hacking within her judgement unit. They ultimately thought it would be best to involve Saten to avoid her suspicions and because given the right resources it was quite possible she could quell or perpetuate rumours within Academy City as needed. With everything settled she sent off the message for everyone to meet her at 4pm. "So Biri-Biri, has your school been taking to you being absent at times well enough?" Touma asked. Mikoto nodded "Seemingly so, not that they can refute a level 6 I.D. considering that puts me literally on par with a member of the board of directors in terms of clearance. That"s raised a few eyebrows including my own but I"m starting to just expect the impossible from you. However I am worried a little about falling behind in areas of the curriculum" Touma smiled at her "That"s fair enough, if you do fall behind simply bring me a list of the material you need catch up on and I"ll transfer the information directly to your mind, however I would like to avoid that as much as possible seeing as it"s practically cheating." Mikoto raised an eyebrow "I seem to recall I needed to tutor a certain idiot on just about everything just for you to avoid remedial classes, how on earth could you know our entire curriculum?" Touma laughed "Yee of little faith, you recall that along with my powers being sealed away so too was my memory of those powers. Of course because of that any knowledge surrounding powers of any sort existed within those memories which I have only now regained access to. I probably know more than 90% of the teachers or researchers within Academy City now." "That makes sense considering the premise of your abilities, however I hope you realise that"s not going to prevent me calling you idiot" she said, poking out her tongue and winking at him. "Very well Biri-Biri, mind you that name doesn"t seem to affect you anymore, in fact aside from a little banter on occasion you"ve mellowed out quite a bit." "Oh? Would you prefer we went back to how it was, I could use good workout chasing you around" she let some sparks fly off her bangs for emphasis. "I"m not sure it"d be a fair match anymore but no I like you this way, whilst the snarky remarks suit you, I much prefer not being chased around." "Did he just compliment me?' Mikoto thought to herself feeling her face start to turn red. "Yo Biri-Biri you feeling alright? You"re not getting a fever are you?" He said feeling her forehead for any sign of an elevated temperature. At that Mikoto"s face simply became a brighter shade of red "N-n-no it"s nothing just get your hands off me idiot!" Touma smiled to himself "still same old awkward Biri-Biri, she is cute when she"s all flustered" he thought "wait! Did I really just think that, back off mind, let"s not go there!' at that moment his face began to take on a similar red tinge as Mikoto"s, luckily it was almost time for their meeting so this moderately awkward situation could be ended. The first to arrive was Tsuchimikado and despite everything that had happened earlier that day he still managed to wear his signature smile full of mischief. "Yo Kami-yan, I"m not even going to bother asking how you infected the Railgun with the Kamijou disease but how on Earth have you got the clearance level of a member of the board of directors and what is up with your eyes?" "All in good time Tsuchimikado, we"re still waiting on some more guests" To accommodate for the numbers that would be there they had lined up a couple of tables seeing as the ordinary booth wasn"t going to cut it. Next to walk in were Mikoto"s friends Saten, Uiharu and Kuroko, Kuroko"s face quickly warped from a smile into one of disgust "Onee-sama why is this ape here, you didn"t mention that in the message!" "Behave yourself Kuroko this is important," said Mikoto. Touma smiled in greeting to the rest of the party "Take a seat guys we"re still waiting on 3 more then we can crack on, also despite what Kuroko would have you believe my name is Kamijou Touma and my friend to the left is Tsuchimikado Motoharu" Kuroko simply glared but Saten replied on their behalf "It"s a pleasure to meet you two, I"m Saten and this is my best friend Uiharu, would you mind telling us what this is about? Also what is up with your eyes?" "I will explain everything once the other 3 arrive and why is everyone so obsessed with my eyes!? This is Academy City the weird should be expected." he looked away muttering under his breath "fukou da" before the trio in question caught his eye. "Oi you 3 over here!" Touma called out. "Right so first off introductions the 3 that just arrived are Stiyl Magnus, Kaori Kanzaki and Index" Each waved as their name was said "I believe you 3 should already know Tsuchimikado which leaves Misaka Mikoto also known as "Railgun" on my right and opposite to us are her friends Saten, Uiharu and Kuroko, did I remember those correctly?" All 3 nodded. "Now that that"s sorted let"s begin, first off some of you may know of my basic ability known as "Imagine Breaker", the ability to cancel out any supernatural ability with my right hand." "Wait that urban legend was you!?" Saten interrupted. "Yeah but there"s more to it, after I received quite a powerful shock from a certain electromaster", he looked knowingly at Mikoto, "The rest of my powers were awakened, to my enemies I am known as Chronos and before you ask this is due to one of my abilities which allows me to control the speed at which time flows to the point that I can stop it if I so desire." Mikoto"s friends and Tsuchimikado looked absolutely shocked not knowing what to say. Kuroko interrupted "The apes lying!" she attempted to teleport above Touma in order to kick him only to find him holding her shoulder and preventing the teleport "But I didn"t sense a shift through the 11th dimension, how did you move so quick!" "It"s simple, I paused time and moved behind you, also to prove a point I"ve drawn on your face to make you look moderately like a panda." At that everyone noticed the permanent marker and struggled to suppress their laughter, "now sit down and listen please." Kuroko simply didn"t have the will to reply, who or more importantly what was this boy? "Now then before I continue everyone should know the extent of how powerful I am, I can easily rip apart the fabric of reality and have more or less complete control of anything material within this universe. I also have a creature of legend trapped behind my right arm but I"d prefer it if I didn"t have to demonstrate this one as it requires me to dismember myself, just ask Mikoto for confirmation if you don"t believe me. If any of that worries you or scares you please leave now and I will simply remove your memories of this meeting." Surprisingly even though everyone was looking at Touma with a mixture of awe and horror everyone not only believed him but also remained seated. "Well then welcome to the task force known as TITAN, we will be protecting Academy City from threats that are too much for Antiskill, each of you will receive a level 5 clearance I.D., this will get you access to most information and get you off most minor crimes assuming I agree with your reasons. You"ll also get whatever money you require for work and you will be paid at double the salary of a normal Antiskill operative. Now for each of your jobs Tsuchimikado I want you to continue doing what you do best and be our own personal spy gathering information on either side depending on what becomes a relevant danger" He nodded with a smile at this "I think I can manage that." "Uiharu I hear you are remarkably skilled with computers so I would like you to take care of both hacking and defence of our systems." "O-of course" she stuttered "thank you" "Kuroko you will be taking care of smaller cases that are of strange nature meaning Antiskill doesn"t know or won"t act on it" "Fine, but don"t expect me to become friendly towards you just because of your power" came the reply. Touma smirked "wouldn"t have it any other way, now Saten I understand that you are quite up to date on rumours within Academy City so I would like to give you the resources necessary to remove any unnecessary rumours of our exploits and possibly perpetuate rumours that could be beneficial" "Sounds like the dream job" Saten replied. "Finally Stiyl and Kanzaki I"d like you to protect Index as your primary objective but should the need arise I will ask for your assistance on threats from the magic side" "It"s a deal" said Kanzaki "Mikoto is my right hand and also has a level 6 I.D., we will take care of any of the larger more dangerous threats, also if any information you need is classified above level 5 approach one of us and we"ll clear it for you. Before any of you ask, yes magic is real but I"ll go into further detail with that later. I know all of that is a lot to take in and I don"t want to build on that burden with the introduction of magic so I suggest you all head home and let everything sink in. I"ll message you on where we will meet and train tomorrow" with a flash of golden light Touma made the necessary I.D"s appear and handed them out. Everyone left with a hell of a lot to think about but at least the wheels could finally start turning on this project. "Touma how can you know that no one heard that conversation?" Mikoto asked. "Ha, you may call me an idiot but I did cover that basis, I had Kanzaki create an area where people won"t enter or stay in using an Opila rune, just like during our fight" "So what now?" "Well I have a meeting with Komoe sensei and her friend in about an hour and a half if you"d care to join me?" "Okay then but only because I have nothing better to do!" "That"s fine, I"m actually beginning to enjoy spending time with you even in these utterly ridiculous situations" Both of their faces turned bright red at the realisation of what he"d just said. the awkwardness passed as they sparked up a light conversation while walking, it was time for Antiskill to find out what was happening. Meanwhile in an unknown location Seria approached her boss Kaizumi, one of the twelve members of the board of directors. "Sir I need to ask how Kamijou Touma, a level 0 student, now has clearance on par with your own, it makes no sense to me." "I"m sorry but I can"t help you with that", came the emotionless reply, "the clearance was granted from even above our heads, we have simply been warned to remain out of his way, apparently not for his safety but ours." "Hmmm interesting, this gives me a lot to think about, with or without your permission I"m going to see how this plays out" "Report anything of interest, it may be of interest to you to know that Tokiwadai"s Railgun also received a level 6 clearance I.D." "Most intriguing, I will report back to you as soon as I learn anything new". With that Seria vacated the dark room "time to find out who you really are Touma" she murmured to herself. Komoe was sitting with her good friend Yomikawa having a drink but her head was elsewhere, Touma had got 100% of the answers right on every test she had given him, how had he changed so much so quickly? She sighed and turned her head to find a certain spikey haired individual walking towards her, with him however was a short brown haired girl, both were laughing at something that had just been said. Komoe smiled, how cute, were they a couple? She wondered to herself. "Hey there sensei!" Touma called out, "I brought along a good friend of mine, her name is Misaka Mikoto, I hope you don"t mind." "Not at all, it"s a pleasure to meet you Misaka, now please join us for some food, this is Yomikawa Aiho." "Nice to meet you both." Yomikawa said cheerily. "Now before we eat Touma, I have to ask, how did you get everything right in those tests? Did you cheat or is it something to do with the change in your eyes?" Touma laughed "Again with the eyes" Mikoto snickered a little at this statement "No I didn"t cheat sensei, well unless you consider slowing down time to get it done more efficiently cheating." "Oh good I was worried... wait did you say slow time? You"d better explain yourself!" "I have recently had my powers reawakened, I won"t go too far into the details but my powers are based around the manipulation of reality itself and despite them not being esper based I wouldn"t be surprised if Crowley decides to make me an honorary level 6 esper in the next couple of days." Komoe laughed a little nervously "very good joke Touma, are those special contacts you"re wearing?" With that his eyes flashed their signature golden colour and his wings of energy appeared from his back. Mikoto spoke for him "Take it from me, he"s not joking and if you"re going to trust anyone I would think a level 5 would be a place to start." Both Komoe"s and Yomikawa"s eyes were wide with disbelief "Wait Misaka.... you"re THE Railgun?" Komoe began "That"s me but believe me when I say my powers dwarf in comparison to this idiot"s." Touma spoke up "Anyway, Yomikawa I also came here to inform you that myself and Mikoto here are currently leading a new task force known as TITAN, we have been granted level 6 clearance and the rest of our group level 5 in order to do our job." After finally getting past the wings and how ridiculously powerful the individuals in front of her were she replied "is that so? Why have you come to me with that information?" "Well I"ve heard nothing but good things about you in Antiskill so I decided you would be the best person within your organisation to trust with this information. It is also an offer, if you ever need help with a case or you"re being red taped feel free to contact us and we"ll sort it for you I only ask if we get involved you remain out of the way along with the rest of Antiskill for your own safety. I would order it but I feel that"s not necessary with you." "Those were certainly kind words young man and I may just take you up on that offer, thank you." She said with a smile this could be a useful agreement indeed. "Ahh hello?" Komoe began "I"m still here! What about your school work?" "That was the point of me doing all of the tests sensei, I should now be at the top of the class with everything completed at 100% accuracy, correct?" "Well yes...." "Don"t worry I"ll still visit" Touma said with a smile. Komoe smiled as well "OK so long as you promise to visit I suppose I can deal with the new situation" "Now what would the happy couple like to eat? It"s on me" chipped in Yomikawa. Both Touma"s and Mikoto"s faces went bright red "w-wait h-he"s not my boyfriend" Mikoto stammered. "Y-yeah we"re just friends Yomikawa." Touma added Komoe and Yomikawa looked at each other knowingly and laughed, the night went well from there, everyone enjoyed the food and company and after many odd stares Touma finally remembered to dissipate the wings on his back. Touma and Mikoto took their leave as it was getting late Touma sighed "well that was rather enjoyable I think" "Yeah", Mikoto agreed, "they both seem like nice people, I"m hoping we do get to work with Yomikawa in the future." "I"m sure we will. Also Biri-Biri..." Touma felt a little embarrassed trying to get out what he wanted to say "how would you feel about making that a more regular occurrence? I had a lot of fun." Mikoto smiled at him "Sure, I never thought hanging out with an idiot could be so enjoyable" since when had she become so comfortable around him, was this what it was like to fall for someone? No that can"t be it... But maybe... she stored away that thought for another time. Touma had seen Mikoto off on the way home and continued by himself to his dorm, it had been a long and interesting day, he laughed to himself a little, his life may have been crazy just with the imagine breaker but things were about to get a whole lot crazier. Touma lay in bed staring at the ceiling, tomorrow was the day that training began and things became interesting in a hurry. He thought about the time he would spend with Mikoto and hopefully time getting to know the others, he smiled, his time spent without his powers appears to have been worth it. Meanwhile in a windowless building Aleister was talking to a modulated voice over a secured line "It"s time to initiate the level 6 shift" Aleister said in his usual cool tone. "But accelerator is nowhere near finishing off the clones" "I don"t mean on him, it"s time to focus on the #3, set the wheels in motion" "Yes sir." came the reply before the line was ended. "Well then old friend the game begins, let"s hope my gamble pays off considering it"s your crush"s life on the line" OK so sorry for the screw up, I double uploaded the chapter and the one I published had a whole bunch of bunch of errors that I didn"t check, here is the proper edited one, sorry again for that. Hey there guys, here is chapter 2 of the story I apologise for the massive delay, amongst exams and personal life I struggled with time but better late than never I suppose? Anyway I hope you all enjoy reading and please do not hesitate to let me know what you think of my take on things so far. I shall try to be a little more timely with the next chapter assuming this one is well received but cannot promise anything with exams coming up again in the not so distant future.

Cradled in the womb of this landscapes painted perfection, there was no escape of the harsh reality that engrained itself into his very being. He could vaguely hear, with the utmost certainty, the soft beckoning of the spirits of his ancestors. He would have welcomed it gladly, as warriors often do, if it weren"t for the wide eyed gaze of the youngest Munroe daughter. For a brief moment in time, the world ensconced itself in a cacophony of stillness, time slowed imperceptibly, ceasing to exist and dissolving in the confines of its own thread. In the sweetly slow decay of these fossilized seconds emerged the solitary heave of a desolate sigh, intruding the silence of this portrait of ineptitude as the rusty dagger glinted laughingly, a beam of light etched alongside its contours. A tumble of feet treading softly on scarring stones, silent movement against the worrisome landscape. His world used to be so simple, untainted by fear or worry, or even love. "Love", is that the word for it? He never fully understood it before, nor did he desire to. It wasn"t so very long ago, before she came into his life, that he could foretell his own future, and he embraced it willingly. A hunter by trade, then perhaps fulfill his Mohican duties as a husband and a father. He would have taken pride in accepting the life paved for him by Chingachgook, and would have been honoured in succeeding his family"s wishes for his future. Despite the twinge of annoyance he felt at Nathaniel"s constant brotherly teasing about marrying a Delaware woman and having her bear him many sons, he knew behind the laughter there was an undercurrent of truth to it. The tender look of contented pride that shone upon his father"s face and the bemused questions from Alexandria from the night spent at the Cameron"s cabin confirmed it. These were the tasks that he must bear, and this was the life he was to lead. And up until a few days previous, he was more than happy to fulfill it. How could he possible have ever known how quickly his world would come crashing down upon him? That his comfortable existence would be thrust open by a pair of sorrowful eyes that haunted him like no other. The cold, hard glare of Magua seemed to hypnotize time itself, as each second slowed to a bleeding still. The length of sky billowed around him as his mind reeled under the impact of Magua"s attacks. Teetering on the brink of failure, he was momentarily blinded by the sudden glint of light as the elder warrior unsheathed his knife, the tomahawk forgotten. He could vaguely see Alice move towards him as though in a trance, but swung backwards sharply by the other younger Indian. The other men stood in stoic resoluteness, confident in their leader"s abilities. The first cut came quick, a blinding flash of pain that disappeared as quickly as shifting sands. The droplets of blood, like red dewdrops, filtered through his shirt and speckled the green material. Uncas dropped to his knees, time chained to a standstill as he glanced down at the deep cut that flashed across his vision, ensuing disbelief. In agony he lifted his gaze, only to meet the worried horror etched upon the young girls face. Their stares broke barriers and spoke an ancient knowledge that every lover knew. Vague sentiments fluttering upon a lover"s language. For once, they both understood each other clearly, and without thinking Uncas rose to his feet, preparing to throw the last of his strength in honour of Alice Munroe. He knew his family wouldn"t understand why he had sacrificed himself for the girl. They knew how love could change a man in tremendous and passionate ways, as Nathaniel recently discovered, but they would never be able to realize why he chose the youngest Munroe daughter for his devotion, or why she chose him. His people had prided themselves on their strength, admiring all those who possessed it. However from all indications this particular attribute seemed to shine strongly in Cora, whereas her sister seemed to teeter on childlike innocence and a fearful need to escape from reality. Still, Uncas knew better. Dwelled inside the confines of a frightful, perpetually silent girl, there crouched a hidden fire of strength and the blistering embers of an ancient wisdom. The two struggled under the bowl of an ensconced sky, limbs expertly slashing through the air. There were no needs for words; a true warrior has never had use for any to taint the art of their stoic strength. Uncas could feel the life draining from his weary body as the elder warrior successfully blocked his attacks and reciprocated twice as much. With a final blow the young Mohican found himself stretched out against an unforgiving landscape, awaiting his last caress of death. "Uncas!" The shrill cry broke through the still terrain and shattered the silent reverie in which Uncas found himself in. Magua started in surprise at the interruption of the seemingly mute child and turned his head. Alice wrenched her arm from the young Indian with startling strength and rushed to Uncas" aid. She threw her weight against the warrior but failed to make much movement. Clinging to Magua, she sunk her nails into his weathered skin. With an annoyed sigh, he turned his attention away from Uncas and faced the youngest Munroe daughter. Swiftly grasping the rusty knife that dangled from a leather strap around his thigh, he plunged the dagger into her ribcage. Distracted by this action, he failed to notice the Mohican twist his body to his own advantage and slung Magua"s other arm around his shoulder, startling the elder warrior. His cold, black eyes slowly transformed into fear for the first time since the death of his family, as he realized his disadvantage. Uncas gazed at him with stoic resoluteness, before using the last of his fleeing strength to fling him over the cliff, his body graceful against the remains of the day. A silent breath of wind carried the body to his final point of release. Sweet sorrow was the hawk"s shrill cry. Uncas briefly watched as Magua"s body was flung against the sharp stones before gathering the last of his strength to face the other remaining warriors, confident in the knowledge that they would be unwilling to fight if their leader was not there to guide them. Clutching the wound close to his abdomen, he stood up from his crouched position and slowly turned around, gripping the edge of his recovered tomahawk. The first eyes he encountered were those of Alice, recaptured by the livid warrior. Confused disbelief creased her forehead as she gazed at him in innocent askance. A sharp pang of fear shot through his heart as his gut wrenched in dawning realization. His weary body was framed by the still light of day, and the world around him seemed to filter away as the two unassuming lovers were engrained in silent reverie. Uncas was entirely unaware of sudden arrival of Chingachgook and Nathaniel, who immediately set to the task of murdering the other remaining men. The whirl of flashing skins and glinting daggers vaguely entered his conscious, but his gaze was perpetually locked on the bewildered, sad-eyed stare of Alice Munroe. Her hair swept around her child-like face in tangled fury, a solitary braid wrapped around her shoulder. Placing a trembling hand on the stain below her ribcage, she shakily gasped as her pale fingers made contact with the stickiness of blood. Her eyes drifting to the ground, she was unable to hold her balance as her knees gave away and she stumbled forward. Instinctively Uncas swept forward and caught her in his arms, her shaking head resting on his bleeding shoulder. As both of them fell to their knees, his usual mask of stoic hardness transformed into one of fear. He had never told her how he felt, neither did she. They had their opportunities, of course, but both knew their love could never be realized. Not even under the cascade of the waterfall did they reveal their feelings, but by their trembling bodies and racing heartbeats it wasn"t a difficult perception to realize. Carefully laying her on the ground, Uncas tried to ignore the shudders that rippled through her body as he bent over her, his eyes briefly escaping hers to look at her wound. The fatal wound. Her white hand clutched softly at the crease in the dress where the dagger had passed as he closed his own hand around hers, marvelling at the contrast of their skins which slowly disappeared as red blood seeped through both their bodily particles and entwined them into one. Moonchild indeed she was, as her skin dropped to tones unrecognizable by human standards. The corner of her dew-kissed mouth etched upwards as she struggled to look at her wound. Alice wanted to weep, but was smiling instead, ensconced in sorrowful ecstasy. "Oh my..." she softly whispered in a bemused tone, her voice grainy to her ears. Turning her head away from Uncas, she felt his other arm drape behind her neck as she looked away from his frightened gaze and turned her eyes to the landscape beyond. Painted perfection, indeed. For once in her life she realized that it was she who was the true masterpiece in the landscape of this portrait of magnificence. The blue sky was cut in half by the makeshift horizon that the cliffs induced, calming her like nothing else. "Alice..." His throaty voice broke through her mind as she marvelled at the rich contouring texture and the rough edges of this hoarsely spoken word. Smiling in the realization that this was the first time he had spoken her first name, she giggled in a subdued painful struggle. "You needn"t...you needn"t worry. I may look weak, but...pardon me... this old bag of bones wouldn"t let a silly old man get the best of me..." Realizing her attempt to lighten the situation had failed by the sharp fear that penetrated his almost black eyes, she smiled softly at him as they fell back into gazing at one another. Alice felt the almost unnoticeable trembling produced by Uncas as she cupped a pale hand to the hardened edges of his warrior"s face. "Alice!" Sighing at the unexpected interruption, Alice returned her gaze back to the ocean of sky as Cora appeared from the seemingly out of nowhere and was rushing to their side. Her skirt swung past Uncas as she knelt down to her sister to view the damage done. Impatiently shoving away the hand of the young Mohican, she fervently went to work on trying to control the bleeding. Uncas felt the rough hand of his father envelop his bleeding shoulder as Nathaniel, his shirt stained with the enemy"s blood, crouched down beside Cora. Chingachgook gazed tenderly upon the young girl before looking at his son, finally realizing the extent of the feelings that he had previously ignored. Hawkeye grinded his teeth as he briefly scanned the wound that had targeted Alice. He looked at the woman who had fallen in love with, trusting her with her medical knowledge. He placed a firm hand on Cora"s shoulder, which was trembling with fear. "Will she live?" Cora ignored the tears spilling onto her cheeks as she tried to place pressure on the gaping knife-wound "We need to bring her someplace warm, or perhaps to a real doctor before I can answer that question." Nathaniel firmly nodded in understanding, before sliding his arms underneath Alice" knees and neck, staring up in surprise as a brown hand stopped his motions. Uncas looked at him with a calm, almost deadly determination. "I will carry her." Nathaniel slowly removed his arms from the young girl, staring at his brother in a new and questioning light. Uncas, his returning strength gathering into this one act, draped Alice across his muscled arms and let her head lie in the crook is his upper arm. Cora watched in alarm. "Be careful! You mustn"t tear the wound any further". He nodded and motioned for his father to lead the way, his face returning yet again to the stoic resoluteness that seemed to define him. The shrill cries from a nearby hawk forewarned their dangers untold, and the sun blinked in a glare as the five bodies continued on, always moving forward. Chapter 2 The shrill cries of the lonesome hawk were consumed by the deadly atmosphere that the gothic woods displayed, the cliffs gazing mournfully at the four departing survivors, and the limp body of the child who escaped their fatal clutches. The air hung thick, motionless and basking in its stale reveries of the previous aftermath. The seduction of the afternoon beckoned to the decrepit stench of the morning as one soulfully passed the crown to the other. "Run Alice...' Shadows and light danced upon her pale face as the rays of the hidden sun fluttered upon her eyelashes. The canopy of leaves cocooned them in its fierce embrace, tucking them into the foliage. The darkened gloom of the woods ignored the constant disturbance by the glint of brightness, clawing against her brown hair and sweetly blowing golden, honeyed kisses in the strands. The only feeling that she could comprehend was the fire. The heat consumed her mind to the point of numbness, but even in her dying state she could touch the earth with her soul. Her body trembled imperceptibly as the pool of fire rooted itself under her ribcage and with branch-like strategy wove its veins through each limb. Five figures dancing between the spaces of half-consumed leaves, their silhouettes stealing away with every blink. She vaguely felt the sinuous strength of the arms that held her, the wiry roots of limbs that, like the ancient trees that surrounded them, wholly knew its purpose. With a rhythmic faerie dance, glass-like droplets of blood began delicately pouncing on her fragile snow-white skin from its roost above her, its icy cloak shattering upon contact. Red paint on white canvas. The furious ebbing in her fragile mind served no purpose but to mock her yet again. She could feel the venomous tongue slithering in a laughing fashion, teasing her for her frailty and her perpetually frightened state. She bit back; fear no longer consumed her as it had done before. A queer, calm state began to weave its thread into each agonized particle, descending as though Poseidon himself shattered her internal prison as crown-capped mares stormed in his wake. The princess awakened from her veil of glass, the frost of her eyes un-cloaking new days, precious suns. Cora was the only one that seemed to make noise upon the crackle of decayed leaves, as the others walked as though they were inches above the soil, deft in their cautious swiftness. Hawkeye suddenly swung up his callous hand, silencing the group and enforcing an almost comical still-like swiftness. The world hung in a suspended state of awareness; the birds chirping in the wood, the hairs on their arms tickling their senses, the breath of everlasting life throughout the sleepy forest. Cocking his rifle, he spared a long look with the crouched Chingachgook, his hand deftly reaching for his dagger. Agonizing seconds ticked by, the stillness of the earth engraved in each passing sense. With a furious clatter and a great rustle of the branches, an elk leapt from its crouching stance and jumped wildly into the forest, inciting a grim smile from the two men and a nervous sigh from Cora. Uncas loosened his deadly grip around Alice, and spared a glance at her sleeping form. Startled at the sight of his blood from his wound dripping onto her pale figure, he spared a thumb to swipe it away, red streaks smearing the whiteness of her breast. Jaw clenched, he surrendered to his failure, and would not look at her again. "Mother...' In the gentle swaying of her body, she broke loose. Her soul calmly stilled by the ticking of droplets, she felt herself falling... falling. In England, everything was safe. Everything. Family, friends, people, places, they were all safe. If she was uncomfortable with a situation she could merely write it off for reasons of "propriety". In this strange new place there were no gilded bars she could hide behind when confronted with unrecognizable emotions. In England, she needn"t have to worry about anything. She had blanketed herself with an illusion that she was happy, and it was a mask of comfort that she found herself missing in the New World. Back home, she loved nothing more that to fade into the wallpaper, ensconced in patterns that became her cage. She was the perpetual wallflower, content to watch as life swept by, in grandeur unbecoming of her. A vague sentiment only occasionally remembered. Tucked away in her room, her pale, long fingers stained by ink and her nails brittle by the feathers, she drowned herself in legends and tales that dwelt in the labyrinths of her imagination. At society balls, dancing the night away, she lost herself in a sea of whirling skirts of robes Anglaises, candles and jewels glinting in every turn of the eye. Or trapping herself in her garden on the estates of the Munroe Manor, rooting her mind in decisions on wildflowers and pale petals. Trying to pretend her mother wasn"t dead. She was escaping the reality that the most beautiful thing in her life had escaped its chains. The only person that kept her free had abandoned her to a world of cynical societies, false beauty and bartered daughters. Grey clouds encroached on the landscape with the groaning weariness of a thousand elephants, invisible wheels grating against their aching joints. The tall grass shifted with sultry laughter, whispering playfully to the sand billowing against their borders. Northern stranded. She loved the feel of her light hair whipping angrily against her face, clinging on for fear of wind"s madness. Her pale brown eyes peeking from veiled lids. The hem of her petticoat unhappily drenched to the brim by the coarse, grim sea. The sand particles happily set about staining her long abandoned shoes. "Are you sure the Hurons won"t come after us?" Laughter, the consequence of love, reverberated into her senses. Sweet Lilias Munroe, the untamed jewel of England, the rhapsody of her uncontrolled joy transforming her very being. Her bodice, stays and one single stocking abandoned before they had even reached the tall grasses. The footprints in the dark beach swirled away in the wind"s ferocity. "Father, do you remember who lives west of the river? Are they trust worthy?" The stockings of Alice"s legs turned into folded knees, tucked tightly into her body, her chin wearily resting on the dagger-like bones of her knee. She was always content to gaze at the fae-like movements of her mother. As a desert-drifter becomes captivated into stillness by the sight of water, Alice was quelled into silence by the sight of beauty. It was the icy, calm stillness between hunter and doe, and just as in much danger of breaking. "Will they help us?" The cadence of the waves danced against pale feet, sand and water swept away in fiery motions. Sea water gyrating into infinite sand. Unblinking in the crash of every beat, Lilias surrendered her body to the rhythm. Her shift whipped furiously against her calves, surrendering to the roar of the wind. As much as Alice liked to study the silver swallows stitched to the edges of the rise of the waves, she much preferred to watch her mother. There was beauty in it all. The wild, unkempt black hair bound up by a white stocking, her bare arms escaped of its captor, the stinging droplets of sea-water shooting spitefully against her pale face. There was beauty in her freedom, passion in the nightingale free from its cage, even merely for a day. "Go, Nathaniel, go to them". Laughter... Oh god... there was laughter... Mother... Trying to catch every glass droplet flung by the spray of the roaring waves, she threw her long arms in utter euphoria. Turning, slowly turning upon the realization that she was sharing this moment... Her dark, laughing eyes met the wide, quiet eyes of her child across an eternity of sand; love linking the two. "Lay her down there Uncas, Nathaniel, find me some brandy. Though Cora Munroe was certainly her mother"s daughter, she could never understand this moment, this break of reality. The girl was in Austria at this time, cheeky as ever. Cora could never lose herself in the mere beauty of the moment. She was much like her father in that aspect, inheriting his defiant Scottish ways in her manners of control and leadership, in her strength. Alice was destined to carry the burden of watcher. She was the perpetual gatekeeper between reality and... stillness. The very millisecond when one loses oneself to the mere aspect of life, stilling ones soul. She would never let herself forget that day, that freedom. The warm love shining in her mother"s eyes, England in its raw beauty, the feeling of being rocked by warm waves of perpetual and unconditional love. It was the anchor that chained her to this world. After Lilias passed, she was cut loose. Lost in a sea with air that was not her own. As though she was floating in a world that was not meant for her quiet breath. Cora"s voice, why does she keep talking? In this strange new world, deprived of the ivy that shielded her eyes before, she nearly completely lost herself. If it weren"t for those dark eyes of a stoic young man that shone like a beacon in the distracting, confusion whirls of her own fear, she would have fallen into that void. A dark, penetrating gaze. Eye"s like her mothers, anchoring her back to herself. Fleeting does the heron fly, life and death weighing on its wings. Voices fluttering in the distance, the heron extends its claws and pulls her back. TBC. I have to add that a large part of the ocean scene was inspired by the song Albatross, by Judy Collins (the lyrics of which I always associated with Alice Munroe, for different reasons). As always, reviews are very much loved and appreciated, :)

His eyes crinkled in amusement. "Aye lass, tha" it would be. But tha" should remember to whisper, or thee could get me in trouble." Mary flushed in embarrassment, by both his remark and the sudden resurgence of the memories of the previous day. "I couldn"a bear to see tha" so unhappy, I needed to see if thee were alright." She smiled brilliantly up towards him. "Oh Dickon, I"m so ashamed of how I acted. I was terribly tired and cranky, and you know how spoiled I can act sometimes. Please forgive me, you would wouldn"t you? I know I can be awful some days." He grinned cheekily. "Aye, that I could. But for a price." Mary"s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. Dickon stared down at her, his eyes drawn towards a glistening corner of her lower lip. "And what could that be?" Suddenly Dickon"s eyes turned cold, as he realized what he was saying. His face turned beet red and he jumped away from her as though she were fire itself. He took his cap off and ran a shaky ran through his coarse hair. "I dinna mean anything, I was jus" teasing is all." Mary donned him a small smile, still having the feeling that something was amiss. They stared at each other for a moment, reminiscent of when they were both children and used to share a swing together, gazing softly at one another. Dickon swallowed hard, a quick flash of uncertainty replaced by his usual amused demeanour occurred so quickly even he was amazed by the transformation. However a sound of shuffling feet in the next room snapped both their attentions away from each other and towards the door. Mary looked hurriedly back at him. "I must go now, my uncle is expecting me." Dickon nodded his head in resigned understanding. His hand slipped from Mary"s as she turned towards the door. As he turned away back into the shadows, he glimpsed Mary turning her head towards him. "You are my best friend Dickon, I hope you know that." With that the door swung open, and a jovial Mr. Craven took Mary by the shoulder and they disappeared into the blackness of the room, softly illuminated by the flickering fire. Dickon"s eyes changed into a curious color as he momentarily pondered her words. They were meant to give him comfort, but it failed to give him completion. First of all, apologies must be in order to all my extremely patient reviewers. I could not be sorry enough for failing to update this chapter, and I hope that I will be forgiven. I"m making a few changes as well, I"m going to stop writing down individual reviewer remarks and instead start using that new reply thingy, unless it"s by an anonymous or whatever in which I will thank them here. I"m still uncertain about Dickon"s character, and I should have worked on the ending a bit longer, but I was much too impatient. Again I am so terribly sorry about failing to update. I hope you understand, and I would love to see more reviews. P.S. Is this new double format better or worse? Thanks! Childhood is a fountain welling, Trace its channel in the sand, and its currents, spreading, swelling, Will revive the withered land. "Childhood"- Bates Chapter 5 As much as Mary could claim to respecting her dear uncle wholeheartedly, she reluctantly admitted that he was by far no longer the role of moral perfection that used to be entrenched in her childish eyes. Much to her chagrin, she had to accept that he was yet another victim succumbing to the ghastly act of incessantly smoking one damn cigar after the other. A habit Mary Lennox hardly approved of, and likely never would. In fact, back when she attended the prestigious Miss Manners School of Etiquette ( a year that she would rather have forgotten), she was proud to claim status as head organizer of the Committee of the Prevention of Chauvinism, Sexism, Cigar Smoking, and Other Repellent Acts of Mankind. However, as much as Mary would like to fondly dwell on her somewhat (hardly) suffragette movements (No more little white gloves!) in her girlhood schooling, that particular story must be reserved for another day in which her ego has not met her daily quote of personal fulfillment in the act of changing the world. Now, where were we? Ah yes, the charming act of lung-scorching. Upon entering the den, it was this particular addiction beheld by her beloved Uncle Archie that was the first to greet Mary, much to her chagrin. The wisps of smoke wove along the curves of her nose, whisking like veins across the plains of her nostril and tickling the hairs, emitting a rather unladylike sneeze from yours truly. Accompanying this untimely noise were the harsh barks of her uncle"s hounds, undoubtedly adding a firm agreement in recognition of her vexation. Mr. Craven, who had escorted her inside instantly quieted the dogs and left her side so she could get her bearings. Wisely sidestepping the golden beasts lounging by the oaken entrance, Mary raised her head, still stiff from her unsettling nap, in order to gain a perspective on her surroundings. The room itself was essentially a four-walled chamber of darkness, choking life from nature"s naïve youth and replacing it with the intoxication of the jaundice stained memories of time past. This was not a particularly negative aspect. In fact of all things Mary felt comforted by the wise integrity the room seemed to encompass. Despite the haze of smoke circling overhead, the darkness in which the looming walls bequeathed to its musty presence, and the mere fact that the den itself slightly reeked of stale youth and a decaying past, the spicy scent of peppermint and the cackling laughter of the dying flames in the fireplace soothed Mary always, forever associating these aspects to the uncle she adored. Above all she loved how the glow of the flickering flames strung itself like webs across the crooks and crannies of the room, disappearing into the soft grains embedded into the darkly-varnished bookcases or creeping along the pages of whatever novel happened to seduce its rays. Orbs of light bounced off the golden letters that were etched along the spines of the numerous books that seemed to inhabit every wall. One could envision a group of scholarly men, in their intellectually imperial stance, lounging about and reminiscing about the days when morality was still a virtue, or debating current politics. "Welcome Mary, I trust you did not have to wait long?" Her uncle"s voice snapped Mary back into reality, jarring every nerve in her body awake. A sweet smile graced her rose-tinted lips and she replied in a soft voice, ignoring the fact that she had waited outside long enough to take a well deserved nap. "No Sir, I did not. It is to my understanding that you beckoned my presence, Uncle?" Archibald Craven lounged comfortably in the deadly curve of his imposing velvet armchair, the raven-like shoulders veiling the unsightly hardened knob that had conquered the once supple muscles of his lean back. Though his excessively long dark hair hung matted around his pale face, a stark contrast to the imposing bearing of his nose, a capricious smile lit up his ageing eyes upon viewing his beloved niece. "Yes Mary, I did. It has come to my seemingly slow knowledge that you are nearing a very sacred age...oh, goodness, I forgot. Forgive me my impertinence; there is someone I would like to introduce you to." "Uncle?" "Dearest niece, it would be my fondest pleasure to introduce to you the esteemed Lady Margaret du Bont." With a startled glance Mary"s eyes traversed to the left of the lofty armchair, undoubtedly surprised that she had not noticed the figure upon the initial inspection of the den. Time slowed to a ticking stop as the world held its breath, hanging on to reality by an almost imperceptible thread. The figure, very nearly hidden by the high-backed chair which encased the silhouette, turned its profile almost seductively towards the speaker. Mary gasped, her eyes resting on the most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes on, with the possible exception of her own mother. The first attribute she noticed was the fiery intensity of the stranger"s hair, donning the same scorching heat as the dying sun that fell to its knees every evening. It draped around her delicate features like when a silken curtain couples with the wall, forming a fashionable knot at the base and wrapping around the curve of a pale collarbone. The slopes of almost scandalously revealed shoulders arched like a winding fairy kiss, past a gentle swan-like neck to disclose the masterpiece of perfection. Lips carved by Cupid himself, bows and arrows fit for Athena"s grace. A Grecian nose delicately displayed to full advantage against the milky satin skin. Her eyes, however, transfixed Mary in a complete state of awe. They were like steel, pinpointing her prey to deadly accuracy. The woman was middle-aged, to be sure, but was the epitome of flawlessness. In her face was bestowed Aphrodite"s gift of beauty. Her entire demeanour seemed serene and calm, yet in her eyes lay a mocking beckoning, her lips sweetly curving into a snake-like arch. Without taking her eyes off Mary, the Lady spoke serenely to Archie in a sultry undertone. "My dear Lord Craven, it would not have been necessary to point her out for me, I could recognize this slip of a girl in any situation. She is the spitting image of her beloved mother." At this sentence Mary"s entire core grew frigid and barren. Taking a more composed stance, she interrupted the silent exchange without hesitation. "You knew my mother?" replied Mary in a cold voice, almost baritone with veiled emotion. Though the woman"s eyes darkened with unspoiled mockery, she had little time to reply as Archibald jovially reprimanded his niece. "My dear, like I originally began, this is the Lady Margaret du Bont, I need not remind you to address her accordingly to her title." Blushing, Mary lowered her eyes and tried to soothe her flustered state. "Pardon me my unprepared demeanour, your Ladyship. I was not aware that we were expecting company; I... forgive me, the staff here made no indication of any expected guests." Satisfied that Mary corrected her etiquette, the Lord Craven continued on. "Yes, well, her Ladyship arrived rather late last night. The staff, other then Medlock, has yet to know of her presence. Anyhow, you may not have realized it, dear niece, but Madam du Bont happened to be a particularly close friend to your very own mother. They were both wed to high ranking members of the army, as your father once was, and it is to my understanding that they became very close in their similar circumstances." It was during his speech that the Ladyship regally evicted her seat on the chair and composed herself in a standing position, a serene disposition consuming her person. When she spoke, the words floated out like delicate webs of dust. Silken and clear, she spoke with the confident assurance that only the highest bred could obtain. "It is truly a gift to finally meet you, Ms. Lennox, you have no idea how long I have dreamt of this moment. The very sight of you brings back fond memories of times long past, has it truly escaped your notice that you look remarkably similar to your dear mother?" Upon seeing the reaction on Mary"s face, Her Ladyship placed a delicate finger on her lips as she giggled softly, her laughter tinkling like silver bells. "There is not need to look so alarmed, dear; your mother happened to be one of the most beautiful women I have ever known. Much more desirable then I ever was I"m envious to say. It is unfortunate for me that until recently meeting your dear uncle, I knew very little about you. I"m afraid that due to her situational obligations in India and my own responsibilities in Arabia I was never able to manage to form an acquaintance with either you or your father, much to my dismay." With this the bitterness frosted on Mary"s eyes like an eclipse. "That hardly surprises me, Madam; my mother hardly recognized my own existence much less spread the knowledge that she even had a daughter for fear that my presence would embarrass her in some petty way. And as for my father, he was merely her messenger boy who beckoned to her every call and whistle." The cruel steel of her Ladyships eyes softened imperceptibly. "Whatever your mothers intentions were for your welfare, please know this. I want to help replace any negativity you have of your parents and provide you with, well, possibly the mother-figure that you seem to have lacked all these years." With that the Lady Margaret strode a few steps forward to clasp Mary"s hand and entwine them with her own. "May I call you Mary?" Without waiting for an answer, she tucked a strand of chestnut hair behind Mary"s shell-lobed ear. "Mary, I would love nothing more then for us to become friends and confidantes. I myself never had a daughter, only a son, and it would be my honour to take you under my wing." Mary stiffened her neck, shock consuming her entire being, Politely trying to disentangle her fingers from the creamy hands of this so-called benefactress, she managed to compose a serene smile in response. "My Lady, I am very much surprised to hear that you would take time off from your personal life in order to further mine, but you needn"t do so. Though I am honoured by your attention, and I would like to pursue an amicable relation with you, I really don"t need a mother. I have my friends and my dear uncle Craven to support me, and as for female companionship I am blessed with the company of the staff and sometimes even the head housekeeper!" With this her Ladyship sniffed disdainfully. "Ah yes, the servants. I hardly think they are appropriate beings for whom to introduce you into the wonders and excitement of society." Lord Craven, who had spent the entire time gazing at Lady Margaret with unhidden admiration, decided it was time to interject. Preventing a groan escaping his lips as he stood up, he hobbled over to where the two stood. Mary was struck at how old he seemed to aged in recent years. The lump on his back seemed to consume his entire body as his looming figure was hunched over her. He placed two sturdy hands on his niece"s shoulders and looked at her so tenderly that one would have thought they were truly father and daughter. "My dear, upon your arrival to Misselthwaite Manor, it has always been my harshest regret that I could not provide you with a mother figure. I wish to death my dear Lillias were still here to this day, not just for my benefit but to show you, our own niece, and a world that is not entirely encompassed by old decrepit men like me. And as neither my dear wife nor your mother could not be there for you to aid you into your entrance into adulthood, it is my wish that you would accept the Lady Margaret"s proposition. Mary looked down in shame, the sweep of her eyelashes blanketing her pale skin. The Lady placed a hand on Archie"s back, apparently not noticing the shiver of contact. "Sadly, due to untimely mischance I was not bestowed the honour of meeting your aunt", Her Ladyship said softly, ignoring the sadness that crept into Archie"s weathered eyes. "However I am very much glad to meet her niece, whom I can see for my very self has inherited the manners and grace of an accomplished society woman." With this Mary blushed, and looked at both of them fondly, a slight smile gracing her lips. She looked at the beauty that emanated from Madam du Bont, her obvious female resplendence revelling in the maturity only a woman can truly know. She thought of all the embarrassing times when she had to turn to Martha or, heavens forbid, Miss Medlock when it came to feminine matters as undergarments or monthly courses. It would have been so much pleasanter to have already been taught the changes in a woman"s body instead of running to Medlock one sunny afternoon screaming that you were bleeding incessantly and thus must be dying. (Mary shuddered at that memory). Unwittingly her thoughts flew back to her dearest Dickon, already a man and already graced with adult superiority. Perhaps if Madam du Bont were to teach her the womanly ways that could attain the love and respect of any man (unaware that Dickon already had the highest admiration for her) then perhaps it would be in her best interest to follow their advice and become the Ladyships companion. She could already envision the awe Dickon would have if she too had the confidant beauty that the Madam could bless her with. After all, it was not as though they were conniving and conspiring against her, they did indeed care for her. With one last sweet smile and choosing her words carefully in her mind, she nodded to the both of them. "For Dickon", she told herself. "If you could indeed help me expand my maturity as a woman, I would be honoured for any help you could bless me with, my Ladyship." With a jovial pat on the back from Lord Craven, Mary helped him back to his haven of an armchair. In doing so, she did not notice the dangerous glint flashing in the steel cold eyes of Madam du Bont. With a final smirk, her Ladyship returned her delicate profile to continue gazing into the fire. So, as I was addressing to myself why there were huge breaks between uploading chapters, I came to the conclusion that though The Secret Garden holds a special place in my heart, I tend to get distracted by other books and movies. It is so like me; I"ll be fascinated with one movie and start a fiction piece before being enticed by a different one. You have no idea how many fiction pieces I began to write but stopped, telling myself this story has got to come first. Luckily, I see myself being further entwined into my love of the Secret Garden, and I"m already envisioning further scenarios. I tend to dislike adding new characters, but Madam du Bont has a critical part to play. I love all my reviewers like crazy and they are the absolute biggest reason why I sat down today and wrote this. Only I wish I could have added more of Dickon as a reward for my fervent reviewers who adore seeing them together, but it was essential to get this chapter out of the way. I recently received a review that gave me a good tip to try to add more dialogue to this story, and I couldn"t agree with them more. It is my biggest fault, too much description and very little dialogue. However I too am maturing as an amateur and young writer, so taking these tips into account I hope that you can see them appear in future readings. Thanks so much! A loss of innocence, And of a childlike, blithe spirit, Happened before it ever could develop. I grew old while still in a child"s body; being an adult for the world"s eyes was all I knew. "Lost of Innocence"- Snyder Chapter 6 The ice-tipped wind beckoned to the seduction of the vast fields, the morning tide of infinity. The heavy clouds languished in silent mirth, mocking daylight within its perpetual gloom and rendering humanity obsolete. The coils of breeze sung in melodic angst, thieving life from its decadent glory. "Death by Harmony", thought Dickon absently, his eyes briefly sealing his existence from reality. A veil of frost coated the landscape on this unusually frigid spring morning, enveloping the young man in its forbidding embrace. For a moment in time the world seeped through the confines of fantasy as Dickon fell into oblivion, his senses heightening to new lengths. The crunch of hardened blades of grass reverberated in his ear, meadow larks betraying their hidden nests due to an overwhelming need to sing. With a dithering hesitation, he opened his eyes yet again, intimately taking pleasure as the remains of the day captivated his sight. His eyes shifting to a silver-blue as the colours wove into a tapestry of motion. Though the morning had given its sleepy welcome, a sliver of moon strung by a thread sat motionless, almost transparent in the remaining hints of periwinkle. Sultry clouds were being heralded in from the north, cantankerous in its oppressive demeanour. "The sun will not reveal its presence today", he decided with a resolute thought of absence. The moors would sorely miss the spilled honey of golden serenity that only Belenus could bestow. Dickon breathed in his senses, gazing lovingly over the moors that he wholeheartedly devoted himself to. He had always known, to some extent, his primal connection to these untamed fields. They were the pulse of his veins, the soul of his being and the drummer of his heart. Feral and free, Dickon revelled in the knowledge of this boundless liberty in which had cultivated him into the young man he was today. As he gazed longingly, a ruse of chastity sprung into fruition as the seas-caped fields draped themselves further into a distant horizon, the breadth of heavenly thumbs spanning across space and time. Dickon knew that despite the initial appearance of a barren chasm of the windswept rock-laden moors there dwelt a hidden spirit, a gasp of breath in the particles of epochs. A silken sea of fossilized truths and decaying lies, marred only by the treads of mortal toes. A chariot of time, sweeping an epic of change. This was his home, captured in its record of prehistory and early mankind entrenched in its own craggy appearance. His life, his blood.

"These are the Egyptians, not the Azrans, Desmond." It was a bit of a cheeky comment, Elaine knew that. But it was fun to annoy him sometimes. "I"m fully aware of that, dear," Desmond muttered. "But right now, we need to find a way to get through that water." "Swimming?" Elaine glanced to the water, mentally guessing the strength of it. "The water doesn"t look too strong." "Let"s try to think of more appropriate ideas first." Elaine looked to Desmond and raised a brow. "Afraid of getting your suit wet?" "N-no. Of course not." Elaine wanted to snort at that. It probably was because he didn"t want to get his suit wet. "I just think we need to look at more options, before we get into that water." Desmond looked to the water as if something was hiding in it. "We might find some material to fashion a new boat from. Or at least, some kind of platform for us to stay on in the water." "I doubt you will be that lucky," Elaine grumbled as she eyed the wood. So far the only material she noticed. It certainly wouldn"t do. Not unless Desmond has some sort of magic trick up his sleeve. "It is rather unexpected that we should find this water system." Desmond rubbed his chin. "I certainly hadn"t anticipated it. I would have brought the inflatable raft with us. But given the location, I think I could be forgiven for not allowing that to cross my mind." Desmond paused. "Do you suppose it might be late to call Raymond and see if he could move the Bostonius closer to this location so we can use the raft on board?" Sorry that this chapter is so late. I"ve been feeling pretty low lately, between anxiety for my exam results and other stuff which really isn"t that bad but my mind makes ten times worse then it is, plus making an attempt to update stories I haven"t updated in ages, my twentieth birthday two weeks ago it"s been... Well, I hope this chapter makes up for it. Desmond disliked the idea of getting his suit wet. Elaine knew that while he certainly didn"t mind getting his hands dirty in a metaphorical sense, he wasn"t too pleased to do so in literal sense if he felt it could be avoided. Even if it was just getting wet. But Elaine, who was getting a little anxious to find that crown, had pointed out that in the time they would wait for Raymond to move closer with the ship, the time would pass and that it might not be such a wise idea to stay inside a tomb that had not been open for more than two millennium. Desmond was still reluctant, but gave in. So, they used some rope they brought to tie together some of the stronger remains of the boat so they could have something to hold onto as they went down into the water. After that, they would have to leave their bags here and carry what they could in their hands to keep said items dry. This resulted in them carrying one flashlight now, as well as the translation booklet and some smaller tools that may come in handy later. "Ready?" asked Desmond, as he and Elaine sat on the edge of this river (was that the right term? Maybe canal would have been better, but Elaine couldn"t really be bothered to care much right now), items held and the bundle of wood between them to use as a type of buoyancy object. "May as well," Elaine said. The part of her legs already submerged in the water were already use to the temperature at this stage. It was cold, and anywhere else it would have made the French woman flinch more. Now however, in the hot country of Egypt, it felt more like a relief if anything. She could only hope though that her sandals wouldn"t accidently get swept away by the current once they fully got in. "Then let"s." They pushed themselves into the water, quickly resting their arms on the wood and allowed the current to carry them into the dark tunnel. Desmond, who was holding the flashlight they brought, shun the light around, trying to find anything of deep interest. There was more paintings on the walls. It looked to be showing the trials a newly deceased person, in this case the Pharaoh, faced before they were judged before Osiris before they reached the afterlife or were eaten by Ammit, was it, the Devourer of Souls. Placing the drawings in this tunnel was certainly a good choice if Elaine had to say so herself. "This isn"t as bad as I thought it would be," Elaine noted after several minutes of nothing. ""Ow do you think this was made?" "Well, it could be that there"s just a certain way this was built to make it flow as such," Desmond replied. "It would be the most likely possible answer. Though, I do question how there"s water here in the first place. I wouldn"t have thought it would be here after so long. But, perhaps there are some questions better not knowing. Or at least, not necessary to be understood. For the time being at least." "Well, as long as we find an edge to grab onto, I think we"ll be able to look back on this and maybe laugh a little." "Easy for you to say," Desmond grumbled in an almost childish manner. Elaine didn"t respond back to him, instead she just smiled to herself. It didn"t seem like a lot of time had passed when the signs of an edge appeared. It had been difficult given that the two were holding small items, and still using their make shift buoyancy aid. But being careful, they managed to get onto the ledge (Desmond first, then Elaine), and even managed to pull the wood up with them before it could float away. "I still wish we could have gotten a proper raft." "We"ll take warm baths when we get back to the ship," Elaine brushed it off. Looking to Desmond, Elaine narrowed her eyes. With only one flashlight, it was hard to see, but she was certain something was different with Desmond"s hair now that they were out of the water. She grabbed the flashlight from the ground before Desmond could and shun it in Desmond"s direction, her mouth dropping in surprise. Having only seen Desmond"s hair curled, Elaine had never really considered what his actually hair length might have been if it were not curled but now she knew. It was actually only an inch or two shorter than her own, but it was still longer then Elaine had thought it would be. It actually looked good now that Elaine considered it. A bit different, and while she did like Desmond"s curled-end hairstyle, she had to admit that seeing his hair down like this was a sight she never wanted to forget, and secretly would like to see again at some point. In fact... "Elaine!" Elaine jumped in her place, startled by Desmond"s sharp call back to reality. He was scowling a bit, and seemed to be aware of Elaine"s cause of staring as he pushed his wet locks back. "Do you really have to stare?" "It"s a different look, I can"t "elp it." Elaine tilted her head to the side as she let a new image come into her mind. Desmond"s hair fully down and blowing gently in the wind as he wears a ruffled poet shirt. With or without his glasses, the look still works. Hell, it was actually quite... arousing in a way. Though Elaine wasn"t sure if she should be slightly ashamed for letting her mind think as though she was a teenage girl again, or just commit the image to memory forever and ever. The later was winning so far. "Are you still staring at me because of my hair," Desmond faintly groaned. "Honestly, I would think my normal hairstyle to be better than just... Letting it down like this. It just feels... Naked." "They both look good on you," Madam Merry told him. Checking her soaked shirt, she decided to playfully tease the red eyed man. "What if I let you shine the light on my shirt? I think its see-through now because of the water so that might make us even~." "Th-that won"t be necessary!" Desmond had quickly taken the light from Elaine to shine around their new location, though Elaine felt certain that she had seen traces of blushing on his face. "You weren"t going to get a look anyway." Elaine picked up the rest of their things and looked in the direction of the light. There was another hallway, and the entrance of it had a statue of Sekhmet on either side of the entrance. It reminded Elaine of the entrance of the fire chamber from the Azran sanctuary, though not as intimidating. "Sekhmet. The warrior goddess," Desmond noted in a slightly absent minded way. "It also makes you wonder if it gives any indication of what"s ahead." Desmond glanced to Elaine, but didn"t respond. There wasn"t a need to. Elaine however pressed her hand against Desmond"s shoulder, and indicated him to move forward. "Let"s keep moving, shall we?" OMAKE THEATRE: Where Layton characters are chibi-fied! How did this happen? That was the question in Descole"s mind as he looked in the mirror. This wasn"t possible. It defied many laws. Biology, nature, religions that didn"t have gods like Loki or Cronus. But the evidence was in front of him in the mirror. He was pregnant. Six months too by the looks of it. Elaine sat on the bed behind him. Just as shocked as he was. Neither of them said a word. "... So who"s the father?" Elaine asked suddenly. "What?!" Descole shot Elaine a dark glare. Not that she would know because of his mask. "Well we "aven"t "ad sex, so who"s the baby daddy? Who did you cheat on me with?" Elaine questioned as she folded her arms, an angry look on her face. "I... I don"t know how this happened! It was like this this morning!" A knock came to the door, and Raymond entered. Also preggers. "Oh, good. It"s not just me," said Raymond as though it was an everyday thing for men to suddenly find themselves pregnant. "This is a dream..." Descole mumbled. "It has to be a dream." But it wasn"t just the household of the Sexy Frenchwoman, Sexy masked Frenchman-wannabe and too old to be sexy Scottish butler. Oh no... "Does this mean you"re a lady now, Professor?" Luke inquired innocently as his mentor sat in his office. The Professor had not even touched his tea and Emmy and Luke could only look at him in concern. Just in case you were wondering, Luke isn"t preggo. He"s too young, and even that"s weird for fanfiction. "There has to be a reason for this," Professor Layton mumbled as he took off his hat. "I haven"t had sexual intercourse, and Rosetta Stone hasn"t made another drug-my-tea-and-kidnap-me-to-have-her-way-with-my-professor-built-body attempt since last Saturday." "And I guess it"s unlikely you"re carrying the next saviour," Emmy said, trying to bring in some humour. "Or maybe it"s the Anti-Christ? Think about it. If Jesus was born to a woman, then the Anti-Christ, who is the opposite, would be born to the opposite gender." "While I could understand your reasoning, I doubt it." "Maybe you just ate a lot of food, Professor?" Luke chirped. "Like my dad!" "Your... father?" Professor Layton did not like where this was going. "Yeah! Before I came back here, I saw dad at breakfast with a big belly like yours!" Oh God... "Come to think of it, so was Doland! And the milkman. The binman. A policeman, in fact all of the policemen of Misthallery. In fact, I think nearly every bloke back home was preggers. I think even Crow was too!" Luke is too young, but Crow isn"t. Deal with it. "Oh, and on my way here, I think even the Dean was pregnant too! He was crying outside the bathroom for his "lost, handsome body." The phone rang and Emmy answered it while the Professor groaned. How could this get worse? "Professor, it"s Angela," Emmy told him. "She says both Henry and Randall are pregnant, as is Alphonse and basically everyone in Monte d"Or." Fuck. "Attention everyone," Dean Delmona"s voice could be heard from the intercoms. "Due to every single male in school being pregnant, from student to teachers, and from myself to the janitor, classes will be cancelled, and all facilities will be closed. We know this may interfere with your studies, but frankly, all we have to say is this; "Tough lemons." "Mother of God," Professor Layton whimpered. "This is getting worse by the second." And it wasn"t just the good guys, oh no. As far as the eye could see, all members of Targent were running around, screaming their heads off. I say all because the group appears to be sexist and has no female members. Rachel was kidnapped and never seen actually apart of the group like her husband so she doesn"t count. Neither does the wife of that one soldier who is only a part of Targent to be with his wife (according to his profile) count. It"s basically a sausage fest. Bloom was sitting across from Bronev, hoping to reason with him. "Sir, I really think we should look into this. It"s a serious problem and if we"re not careful it could end in a complete disaster!" Bronev was too busy patting his belly to care though. "If you"re a girl, I"ll name you... Racheleo Rosaleo Bronev. If you"re a boy, you"ll be Leon Leonidas Bronev the Second," Bronev said to his belly affectionately. Bloom could only stare. It was bad enough that a possible girl would end up with a horrendous combination of Leon and Rachel, and a terrible attempt to combine Rosalie and Leo. But Leon Leonidas? The second? The poor bastard (quite a literally one in this case, all things considered) would be mocked all his life until he could legally change it. "Does this mean I"m getting a sibling, or an aunt and uncle?" Johanna asked as she suddenly appeared next to Bloom. "You"re going to be one of the few people who are older than their aunt and uncle," Bloom sighed. Johanna frowned before asking another question. "How will all of the babies come out? Will there be a C-section or will they be pooped out?" So, I know these chapters are kinda annoying. You know, the author dedicating a chapter completely to an author"s note rather then the story itself. So I can hardly blame any of you if you"re kind of pissed off at me for this. But quite frankly, this is important. I know I said I"m working on the next chapter, and I have been trying. But lately, this sequel has become less fun for me to do and feels more like a chore and obligation. I thought I could do it, but I can"t. So, I plan to take some of the chapters here (such as Elaine and Desmond at her parents" house, and their trip to Germany), and group them together as one shots, and make any future ideas for Elaine and Desmond etc. one shots as well. I know some of you will be disappointed, but I really think that this is the best. As much as I love this series, I want to do ideas outside of this. Like my current story for the game OFF, "Curious Puppeteer". I"m just going to leave this chapter and story up for about a week, just to give time for everyone to read this message before I start saving each of the chapters onto my laptop and merging some of them into individual one shots and posting them on this site again. Please understand that while I love that you guys love this series, I just feel I made a mistake making a sequel and just want to make one shots for it now when I can find the inspiration. I am very sorry, and I hope (if you"re not upset with me) you will continue to enjoy my work. Vixin2. So far, everything had gone fine during dinner. Her brother and father were at the very least being polite towards Desmond. It might have helped that (unsurprisingly) her mother roast beef with horseradish crust was delicious. The only person Elaine felt who was as good of a cook as her mother was Raymond. "So, Desmond. Elaine said you were an archaeologist like her. Could you say what started your interest?" Anne asked. "I suppose you could say my parents were an influence in that area." "And, where are your parents now?" Christophe asked. "Are they still working?" "My mother actually died a few years ago, and my father and I had a disagreement over personally matters making us estranged." Elaine wondered if Desmond had practiced that line or if he just simply came up with it on the spot. He was certainly keeping his cool, that"s for certain. "The only other living family I have is my daughter." "Daughter?" Christophe"s eyes sharpened. "From a... previous marriage? I"m assuming." "My late wife, yes," Desmond replied calmly. "Lucy died during labour, I"m afraid." Christophe"s face softened and he actually looked a little guilty. "Oh. I"m... I"m sorry to "ear that." He soon noticed the light glare Anne was giving. "I wasn"t trying to be offensive! I thought maybe he was divorced so I thought-." "Maybe it"s best you forget about that, or I"m not letting your head inside my mouth tonight." After a couple seconds, Anne"s meaning became crystal clear and Madeline choke a little on the beef she had been eating, Philippe spat his wine back in the glass, Elaine choked on her saliva while Desmond was cringing a bit. All of them trying to forget the image that had been placed in their now disturbed minds. "Anne!" Christophe looked very uncomfortable. Not feeling able to look either of his children, niece or guest in the eyes. He was also blushing very much from embarrassment. "Did you have to say that, now?!" "You never seem to "ave problems with-." "Mum! We don"t need to hear what you and dad get up to when we"re not around!" Philippe looked a little sick as he spoke rapid French to his mother. Anne just pouted. "You kids are no fun. You never seemed to have problems buying those magazi-." "Those were for the articles!" Philippe was a brighter red then his father now. "Articles and nothing more!" "Do you "ave a picture of you daughter with you?" Madeline suddenly asked Desmond, though sounding curious. But everyone was still happy to change the subject. "I"d like to see if you don"t mind." "Actually, I do." Desmond removed his wallet from his suit jacket and removed the picture of himself and Johanna, before handing it to Madeline. She took it gently and smiled gently towards the photo. "She"s cute. What"s "er name?" Madeline asked as she looked back up to Desmond. "Johanna." Desmond had a little smile. "She"s nine. Ten in two months." "Let me see." Madeline handed the picture over to Anne who smiled widely as she looked at it. "She IS cute! And so adorable looking." She looked to Desmond. "Please bring her here next time you visit? I just want to spoil her now!" "You just saw a picture of her..." "You never "ad any trouble spoiling Elaine," Anne countered Christophe. "She always was a daddy"s girl, then," Philippe commented, throwing Elaine a teasing smirk. "Then by that logic, you must be a mummy"s boy," Elaine countered, throwing back a smirk of her own. ""Ey! That"s not true!" "Quiet down, both of you," Anne chided as she handed the photo back to Desmond. "Philippe started it," Elaine said as she pouted. "And as usual, I"m the mature one at the table," Madeline commented out loud, with a playful smile. "Not anymore," Philippe muttered. "Not when you"re trying to show off that you"re mature." He paused for a minute and mused aloud, "I guess if Ellie and the Prof were to..." He grimaced a little. "Get married, that would automatically make you a grandma, wouldn"t it mum?" "The most beautiful and young looking grandmother in the world," she replied back calmly, before smiling to Desmond. "So, Desmond. Apart from archaeology and being handsome, do you "ave any other talents?" "Well, I play piano. And I think my jokes are quite-." "Awful." "-Good," Desmond went on, ignoring Elaine"s sudden interjection. "Let"s "ear one then." Anne raised a brow towards Elaine but didn"t say anything directly to her. Elaine could only groan inwardly groan as she heard Desmond begin one of his simply God awful jokes. "Alright then." Desmond looked pretty confident that his joke would go well. "It had been a peaceful day at a police station in a small village. There had been no crimes whatsoever that week and it appeared as though it would last for some time. "However, just as the police present were enjoying their time to relax a little at work, a phone call came in from the local nursing home. Naturally this was a concern, so the policeman who answered the call listened carefully. Apparently, there was trouble with one of the residents. "Two officers then went to go to the retirement home. Once they arrived, they found an elderly man yelling at one of the carers. The police asked one of the carers as to what the exact situation was, to which he respond, "he"s resisting a rest"." Elaine just wanted to groan out loud. She knew she forgot something before they came here. Telling Desmond to not tell one of his lame jokes. "... That was a joke?" Philippe was the first to speak. "That was sh-." "Philippe!" Anne shot the wincing man a look. "No swearing at the table!" "But you make dirty jokes at the table all the time!" "That is completely different!" "Actually, Anne, it is the same when you think about it," Christophe pointed out before Anne lightly scowled. "No it isn"t." "You just "ad to tell one of your jokes, didn"t you?" Elaine muttered to Desmond who just gave a low, indignant huff. He just wouldn"t give up on hope that his jokes would make someone laugh. He was stubborn about it, but Elaine supposed she couldn"t really judge him for that considering how she tended to be stubborn as well. The rest of dinner went on well enough. Desmond thankfully didn"t tell anymore of his own jokes though Anne was more than happy to supply some of her own.

"Credits?" Dorothy was a little amused by this. She could recall currency with that name used in works of the Sci-Fi and Dystopian genre as a bit of an unoriginal type of currency. So for that type of money to be used in a place that was certainly not in any way scientifically futurific from what she could see. Dystopian? She would just have to wait and see. Dorothy observed the train as she and Batter walked up the steps of the platform. The first noticeable thing about it was that it was white and grey. The second was that it looked more like an old streetcar than a train. But it didn"t really make any difference. Transport was transport. As long as they got from A to B, that was all that mattered. "This train heads to Damien." Dorothy looked to her side where the Batter was looking at a bulletin board with the timetable printed on it. He looked down to her. "It leaves in two minutes." "Does it say how long the trip lasts?" asked Dorothy as they began to board the train. "Fifteen to twenty minutes about," Batter answered as he sat down. The train seats were against the wall, and there were handles hanging down for any standing passengers. Though with the time remaining until they left, there was little chance of that seeing how only Dorothy and Batter occupied the train. "Batter?" Dorothy began as she sat next to him. The seats weren"t too comfy, but bearable. "I was hoping that maybe you could tell me now how you ended up in Zone 0, asleep?" "Does it really matter how it happened?" he asked. He looked Dorothy in the face, raising a questioning eyebrow. "We have a mission to complete. That is all that matters." "But you couldn"t have been asleep there with no reason," Dorothy quickly pointed out, just as the train started to move along the tracks. "If anything, it would imply someone knew of this mission and wanted to stop it. Yes?" The Batter didn"t answer immediately, but he did appear to think over Dorothy"s words. Said girl assumed he was trying to get his thoughts straight to answer properly. "That would be true," the Batter finally admitted, looking away again and tugging the peak of his hat down a little. "My sleep was against my free will." "Good. We"re making progress," Dorothy muttered to herself under her breath. "But who caused it then? Someone you knew?" "The Queen. She and I had a difference of opinion regarding purifying the world." Dorothy heard some hard bitterness on "Queen". A bit surprising since up to know, Batter had just sounded monotone and maybe a little bored. "It"s not a surprise. She"ll have to be purified as well in the end. Until then, some of our main targets will be the Spectres." "Spectres? As in, ghosts? Spirits?" "You could use those terms. They"re nothing more but the echoes of suffering and sin, that want make this land impure and contaminate the people. We"re also going to have to take out the one in charge of the Spectres in the Zones." "Echoes of suffering and sin...?" Dorothy repeated to herself. "And I"ll be giving you orders how to fight them?" "Just give me an order to attack, and purification will be in progress until completed." "And, what if I felt there was too much risk to your health? Could I order you to flee?" Dorothy asked. The Batter"s hands clenched for a moment. "I"d rather die in this mission than flee like a coward," he said, almost coldly. "Some would call it smart." The Batter just tched in response. Dorothy glanced out the window to look at the view. Even in this Zone, the water had this strange white colour Zone 0 did. "Why exactly did this Queen do to you what she did?" "Like I said, difference of opinion. I saw the world needed to be purified, and the Queen was in denial about it all." "And when did you start noticing this... lack of purity?" "... I just saw it. I heard it. Those voices..." the Batter trailed off. It was a moment before he started again. "Those voices told me and confirmed my beliefs. I know you heard them. When I was made unable to move, they assured me they would find me a puppeteer to guide me so I could finally begin this journey." "I... I see." Dorothy cleared her throat. "And, why a puppet? Why did this Queen make you a living puppet?" "I suppose she thought it would hinder me. And if I was unable to explain myself to a person nearby, how could I ask for someone to guide me? Leaving me in that empty Zone was just a precaution I suppose. If what the Judge said was true, no one else lives there." "I can sort of see the sense in that," Dorothy said. The Batter looked at her, and seeing the faint traces of annoyance on his face, she was quick to add, "I"m just agreeing with you that the idea does seem fool proof for the most part. Although, she does seem arrogant if she thought that would be forever. If she was smarter, she would have done away with you completely." "True. I suppose she was just too weak to kill me." The Batter looked away again. There was a small silence for several minutes. The only source of sound being rattling as the train moved along the tracks. "How did the voices comes to you?" Dorothy was a little surprised by the Batter"s question. "The voices? Why are you asking?" "I"m just... curious." Dorothy looked at the Batter. He was still staring straight ahead, and Dorothy was wondering if he was actually genuinely curious. But she replied, "I was in darkness. I can"t remember how I got there, but there was a pain in my head so I may have suffered some sort of head trauma beforehand. But I heard a voice. It made an offer and a fairly good argument to come here to help you." "And what was that argument?" "Frankly, there are two case scenarios for what"s happened to me in my home world." Dorothy held a hand to her chin. "Whatever head injury I"ve received, it"s either sent me into some sort of coma, or I"m dead. I didn"t really have anything to loose coming here, and if I can do some good helping you in purifying the world then it will be well spent time. Besides, I don"t exactly have my memories of home at the moment. I can"t be missing much." "No memories at all." "No. But I was able to remember my name obviously. It could just be a temporary thing anyway. I"m sure my memories will come back with time." Dorothy paused for a moment as another thought came to mind. "Of course, chances are that this is in fact all a hallucinated dream and that none of it is real-OW!" "You talk too much, sometimes," the Batter commented as he took his hand back. Dorothy grasped her hand immediately and she looked back to her companion, her mouth slightly agape. "Did... Did you just pinch me?" "That"s how you prove you"re awake, isn"t it?" he asked bluntly. "I think it"s when you pinch yourself." "Then do it and prove this is real." "Fine," Dorothy muttered as she held some skin on her hand between her thumb and index finger. "I just won"t try to purposely make it hurt like you did." Giving a small pinch just enough to feel a slight discomfort from it, Dorothy let her hand go. "Alright, I believe that is enough proof that this is no dream." "Good. It will make you more attentive to our surroundings," the Batter nodded. "One way of looking at it I suppose." Dorothy looked back outside. She saw some buildings coming closer to them. "Looks like we"re nearly there, to Damien." "Good to know." Dorothy gave a small nod. It was good. Even if Dorothy didn"t completely understand everything, she would eventually. She would ask and learn. "Do... Do you have fate in me? In being your puppeteer?" It was something Dorothy had to ask before the train would stop and let them off. She needed to have an idea if the Batter had any kind of expectations or not about her, and if he felt she would live up to them. The Batter stood as they neared their stop. It seemed like he wasn"t going to answer, but Dorothy was surprised when she stood herself and grabbed onto a train handle. "You were chosen by them. I trust them, and their decisions. If they feel you were best suited to be my puppeteer and guide, then I don"t think there is any reason to doubt you. So, yes. I believe I do have fate in you." "... Thank you." Dorothy wasn"t entirely sure what to say. She supposed the Batter may have meant it as a compliment. True, some doubt made her think his belief was only because of those voices. But Dorothy reasoned that they had not yet started purifying the world. She would have plenty of chances to get strong. That she assured herself as the train slowly came to its stop in Damien and the doors opened. "I think then Batter, I should say then that... I promise to do my role as well as I can then." Looking back over my previous chapters, I"ve only noticed now that I made a small mistake when describing the ground in chapter two. I got mixed up in what of the four elements was used to make the ground. But I"ve fixed it now XD Hoping you readers are still into this story :) Stepping off the train, Dorothy found herself coughing a little. The air felt a bit... heavier, when she breathed in. And Dorothy could have sworn that there was a certain smell as well, though she couldn"t quite place it. A shame really seeing how it was just on the tip of her tongue. She had put off asking long enough. She had to know if it was normal or just in her head. "Batter? Does the air always seem a bit... heavy, when it"s breathed in? Or smell anything odd?" He had paused a moment but shuck his head. "No. Feels the same to me. As far as I can tell at least. Maybe you"re still getting use to the air here." "I suppose it could be different to back home," Dorothy conceded as she looked up at a sign where "Damien" was written in the same type of letters as the sign back in Elsen. "So, do the locals have a name? I mean, what would they be called as a-." "The Elsens," the Batter cut across. "In all the Zones, they"re called Elsen." "Like... Like that area we got our train from?" If the local people were called Elsens back in... Well Elsen, Dorothy wouldn"t bat an eyelid. But it... ... Then again, it wasn"t that big of a deal, Dorothy supposed. She would have liked to know why, but it was a type of question she could leave in the back of her mind for now. Besides, she was a little more curious about what the Elsen were like in person. Hopefully they would be friendly at the very least. Elsen didn"t sound very threatening, so Dorothy allowed herself to expect that. "Oh, uh... Welcome to the smoke mines." Having walked to what Dorothy had to guess was a mine, they met whom Dorothy could only assume was one of the Elsens. They were certainly... non-threatening, that was for certain. The one who had come to greet her and Batter was wringing his hands nervously, and there were some shadows under his eyes (that were darting between Batter and Dorothy, as though expecting an attack) from what could have been a lack of sleep. Or perhaps it was a common trait. At least two other Elsen passing by them had shadows under their eyes. They also seemed to dress the same in a white shirt, black trousers and tie, and Dorothy could hear their voices rasping as they talked. Definitely nothing to really worry about. "M-may I know who the two of you are?" The small frown on the Elsen"s mouth looked more anxious. "Are you inspectors?" Dorothy had contemplated lying (it would possibly make it easier to get through this area), but Batter had spoken first. "No. I"m the Batter. I"ve come to exterminate the impure spirits with Dorothy, my guide." The Elsen had stared at him, looking a bit uncertain what to say. "... Impure... Are you some sort of... prophet? Or man of belief?" "Yeah. Something like that." "And she...?" "Like he said, I"m his... guide. Of sorts," Dorothy explained as she took off her glasses briefly to clean some of the rain drops on her glasses off on her shirt. The Elsen seemed disappointed. Already Dorothy wanted to talk to other Elsens in hope that none of them were as sad as this guy. "So... You"re not a member of the superior personal?" the Elsen asked. "N-no. I"m not." "Unless it somehow happened while I was asleep,' she added in her thoughts before asking, "Um, you said this was a smoke mine I think? How exactly does that work?" "Oh, it"s quite simple really. Once you learn the tools and such," the Elsen said with a... well, not a smile. But his frown had lessened at least. "Here in the south area of Zone 1, we send workers into deep tunnels to unearth metal from the ground, to free the embedded smoke trapped in the depths of it. We use a variety of tools to bottle the smoke, so that the Queen can distribute it out to the other Zones. The rest of it flows free for us to inhale and exhale from our lungs. So we can, uh... live. And not die. "It"s the most important of the four elements, you see. It comes first. Without smoke, people would have nothing to breathe." "... I"m breathing in smoke?" Dorothy asked as it slowly sank in. It definitely explained why the air felt funny, and even had a smell when she arrived in this part of Zone 1. It made sense now. It was something the Batter and everyone else was breathing in, but for her it was something she only smelled when passing by someone who smoked or was near a fireplace that was smoky. Her memory might not exactly be able to validate whether those things have ever happened to her, but the fact her sense of smell noticed it must have meant something along those lines had happened at least once. Of course, that also made her remember that smoke was generally not so healthy for lungs. But she felt fine more or less for now so Dorothy decided to not let herself worry over the smoke. She was probably immune to the adverse effects in this world like everyone else seemed to be. But she made a mental note anyway to ask some more about that later when Batter immediately asked the question on his mind. "Where are the impures?" "The... Well, there are plenty of those Spectres in the mines. They"re becoming more aggressive actually. We sent word for help, but no one"s come yet. We actually thought that perhaps you may have been the sent help, but..." "We"ll go then," the Batter said. Not so much as an offer, but a statement. "I-I"m sorry, I can"t let you two go," declined the Elsen, holding his hands up. "I-I"d like to, but-but it"s against the rules no visitors." "But don"t you want those Spectres gone?" Dorothy questioned. The Elsen swallowed thickly before stuttering out, "W-well there"s an annex tunnel. No one ever really goes there. But, one miner did a while ago and... And he said he saw something strange. Nothing like usual, at all. M-maybe it could be the Chief of the Spectres? You could take care of him. Then the Spectres will go and we can work again!" "Could be a tough fight. Do you think you can handle it so soon?" Dorothy asked the Batter as she looked up at him. "I have no doubts at all that I can. Where"s the tunnel?" he asked the Elsen, who immediately pointed down in the direction of a tunnel with stairs not too far from them. "Th-that way!" Dorothy said a quick thank you before allowing Batter to lead the way down the tunnel. There was a damp smell, and the coldness in the tunnel felt a bit worse since they were a little damp from the rain. But it wasn"t too bad. At least for now. But the lanterns on the wall were enough to light the way, and the ground thankfully didn"t have anything did would cause them to fall or have some similar accident. Glancing over the side of the Batter, Dorothy thought she saw a faint white light up ahead but-. "My, my," a very familiar voice sounded out. The Batter had stopped, nearly causing Dorothy to bump into his back. "Who do we have here? Is that not Miss Dorothy and her picturesque jumping jack, the Batter?" Dorothy stepped to the side and looked down, seeing the white cat she knew to be the Judge. "Judge? What are you doing here?" Dorothy paused briefly. "And as a matter of fact, how did you get here first?" "Never underestimate a feline, my dear," the Judge replied, his teeth almost glowing in the lantern light as he smiled. "Cunningness is often associated with my kind for a reason after all. And as for your former question, I did say I like to go for excursions now and then, did I not?" "So, you aren"t the Spectres" leader then?" questioned the Batter, and Judge just shook his head as he laughed lightly. "Ah, no no, certainly not. I am only passing through, not unlike the smoke that originates from this pale and metallic place. If anything, I believe there has been a mild misunderstanding." "What sort of misunderstanding?" Dorothy raised a brow as she tried to think of what the Elsen could have mistaken for a Spectre. Though if they were all like the one the Batter and her had just spoken to, it really could have been anything. Especially with this dim lighting. "It"s just up ahead, dear companions." The Judge turned to lead them, and both Batter and Puppeteer followed. They stopped near some crates. The Judge sat and nudge his head in the direction behind the crates. "Just behind these wooden boxes, dear friends." The pair leaned over to look behind the crates. There was a floating white ring, about the size of a hula-hoop or a little smaller, that held a faint glow around it. The image of an angel"s halo to come to Dorothy"s mind as she looked at it. "What is it?" the Batter asked as he looked back to the Judge. "To tell the truth, I am perplexed," he admitted, giving a small shrug. "I think it"s one of those peculiar objects called a spherical Add-On. I have very well tried to approach it, but the operation has systematically failed so far. But I am thinking... Maybe one of you could successfully affiliate this spiritual entity to yours." "What do you think?" Batter looked to Dorothy, who momentarily froze. "Oh... Er..." Dorothy looked back to the ring. "... It doesn"t look like it will do us harm. It might even come in hand for our mission." "It could," Batter agreed with no sound of doubt as he eyed the floating ring with mild curiosity. The ring seemed to have heard them since it faced both the Batter and Dorothy. Or, whatever the equivalent would be. "One of us should touch it. Do you wish to do it, or shall I?" Dorothy thought it over in her mind. Chances were whoever touched them would likely have control. So almost immediately Dorothy wanted to let Batter do it. He was obviously the fighter between the two of them, and would probably have some better ideas how to fight with them than she. But then another thought occurred to the young woman. What if something were to happen to Batter, leaving her alone. Such as if he got knocked out or something. She had no weapons, and this Add-On would be helpful to at least distract whatever foe they may be against while Dorothy helped Batter. The thoughts that seemed to lean towards accepting the ring herself almost made Dorothy feel a bit selfish. The only thing that kept her from declining was the fact that if anything happened to her, it would be cripple the Batter"s progress. She was thinking of staying alive herself, but what human being wouldn"t? "I think it would be best if I did it. I can"t exactly expect you to be my sole guardian all the time," Dorothy eventually said, hiding her hesitance as she tried to read the Batter"s reaction. "Alright then." He seemed indifferent to it as far as Dorothy could tell. If he actually thought differently was another story altogether but as the decision was pretty much made now, Dorothy nodded before approaching the ring with only a little guard up. Swallowing nervously the young woman reached her arm out, ready to draw it back in if necessary. But the ring stayed in a benign mood, and appeared to even move closer to Dorothy"s outreached hand. Stealing her nerves, she grasped it. There was a brief flash of white, and the ring was gone. "Where did it..." Dorothy trailed off when she saw a mark on the back of her right hand. It looked like a tattoo of a black ring with a small symbol in the middle of it that looked a little similar to a lowercase "a". The Batter looked at her hand with some interest. "I suppose the Add-On"s joined us, then. But we still need to know how to summon it." "Oh, uh... Judge. Do you think you know what this symbol might be?" Dorothy knelt down as she held her hand out for the Judge to see. Pointing to the letter in the middle of the ring marked on her hand. "Hmm, I believe that"s the symbol for alpha. If I had to make an educated guess, that is more than likely the Add-On"s name. Perhaps saying it might summon it to your aid?" "It would be practical," noted the Batter as he held his chin in thought. "And you haven"t seen the Chief of the Spectres?" "I"m sorry but I fear I have to respond to the negative," the Judge apologised. "Apart from the Add-On, I have not crossed the way of a single soul in this lieu." "Then we"ll have to get into the main mines then. I doubt there will be any trouble convincing the Elsen we spoke with to let us through when they find out there"s nothing here." "Then I won"t keep either of you occupied any longer." The Judge stood on his legs and stretched out before he began to make his exit from the annex. "Until we meet, my friends." As he quickly strolled up the steps, Dorothy looked around one last time before she and the Batter made their leave as well and continue their search for the Chief of the Spectres of this Zone.

Away from the water Ivy cut off a slice of apple and pierced it with a knife. "Want one?" She offered to Celes. "Yes, thank you." Celes reached into Ivy"s bag to take one of the red fruits. "You okay?" "Yes why?" "You"ve been staring at my brother." Celes hung her head, Ivy picked her cheek to drag in back up. "You even try to say anything to him?" Celes pushed Ivy"s hand away. "I want to, but he"s got his mind on other thinks." "Listen to me." Ivy put her arm over Celes, pullong her close. "Zane"s problems are only going to get harder. Can"t tell you everything now, but he"s going to need all his friends to be there for him, you get it?" "Yeah." "Good, now I"m gonna give you a tip I gave one of my friends who was intrested in someone. Tomorrow you ask him to hang out somewhere, lay in all out." "Sis, Celes!" Zane called out to the girls, they dropped what they were doing and picked up their weapons. Emerging from the water a dark skinned lagiacrus crawled onto the beach. "Is this an abyssal lagiacrus!?" Asked Albert, loading his bowgun. "No! The color isn"t dark enough!" Ivy drew her switch axe in sword mode. "Albert shoot the crystals! Celes your with me! Zane, you and Fenrir keep its eyes on you!" Zane drew his sword and jumped at the sea dragon, slashing it on the nose. The lagiacrus"s head pulled back from the cut, make it worse was Fenrir biting and clawing on the large monster"s leg. Ivy and Celes circled around to behind the lagiacrus, cutting at its tail. The lagiacrus curled up, swinging it tail at Zane and changing its attention to the other two. "Get back, back up!" Ivy shouted. The lagiacrus roared to the sky as a dark thunder crackled all around its body. The attack was cut short after Albert broke the electric crystals on the beast"s back. Albert dropped the front half of his weapon in the sand to reload. "When did Lagiacrus start using black thunder?!" "I guess now." Answered Celes. The lagiacrus slithered back as dark mist formed in it mouth. It took aim at Fenrir and Zane stood in front of his companion to block wih his shield. The lagiacrus spat a dark blob of unknown substance, when it made contact with Zane"s shield it dispersed into a black cloud, engulfing the two. "Zane!" The three yelled, Celes tried to go to them but Ivy kept her back. A moment later the two emerged from the cloud, immediately going after the lagiacrus. Zane"s armor had a dark mist coming out of his armor, Fenrir"s fur was a little darker and its eyes were glowing crimson. The lagiacrus opened its mouth and champed down on Zane, the hunter dodged the mouth and stabbed the eye. Fenrir climbed on its back, biting it in the neck. The others joined in to help fight. When the monster curled up to change direction Ivy hacked away at the tail, Celes started cutting into the lagiacrus"s sides. Albert aimed for the head, hoping to keep it off balanced. TThunder crackled out of the lagiacrus again, Ivy and Celes backed away, but Zane and Fenrir were thrown off by the electricity"s force. The two got back up and when at it again. Finally a shot for Albert knocked the sea dragon on its side, Albert and the girl went to attack its undrr belly while Zane and Fenrir kept attacking the head. The lagiacrus"s struggling started to slow till at last it gave up and died under their combined might. Celes exhaled loudly. "Well that-" Fenrir pounced at Celes, claws out and fangs bared. Celes held up her longsword against the claws,pushing to keep the fangs away as well. "Fenrir stop-" Ivy commanded when Zane struck her in the head with his shield. "The hell was that for!?" Ivy used her switch axe as a shield, blocking Zane"s sword swings. Celes fell on her back from the weight of the zinogre, it fangs inching closer to her face. Albert tackled the stygian off of her, the two rolled a couple of times till Albert shoved it back. Fenrir quickly got back on its feet to continue fighting. Albert threw a tranc bomb at the beast and it fell to sleep. Ivy puched her weapon against Zane, with an opening she grabbed his sword and knocked him into the sand. Zane"s helmet fell off, letting his sister see his crimson eyes. Zane rashed at Ivy but she punched him in the face knocking Zane out cold. "What was that?!" Asked Celes, getting back up. Ivy put her switch axe on her back and picked up her brother. "We need to get home and tell the guild master about this." "And tell him what?" Albert and Celes picked up and carried Fenrir. "The frenzy virus is back." + -×#'÷$"=/:%^;_&! €*? (×_ ) Please review it keeps us writers going, till next time CG out. Peace! Chapter. 13 Zane sturd as he woke up, looking around he was in a hospital room. "Zane!" Ivy got up from her seat to her brother"s side. "How are you feeling?" She picked up a bowl of nulbarrys to Zane. "You need to eat this." Zane tried to side up, but found his arm restrained to the sides of the bed. "Mind telling what this is about?" "Sorry..." Ivy picked a nulbarry, holding it closer to Zane"s face to eat it. "You remember what happened?" "We were fighting a lagiacrus, it spit some black stuff at me and Fenrir. Nothing after, where"s Fenrir!" Ivy undid the restrains, letting Zane get up. "He"s safe, we fed him some meat covered in nulbarry juice." "Why nulbarrys? What happened out there?" "I think it would be best if uncle Agil told you." Zane climbed out of the bed, rubbing his arms. "If he"s hurt Fenrir I paint his beloved guild hall with his blood." Down at the guild building Celes and Albert waited to meet the siblings. Once they arrived Celes immediately ran up to Zane, throwing her arm around him. "Are you okay?" "Fine Celes, what happened?" "Good your all here." Agil exited the hall to meet the four hunters. "Fallow me to my office." The group did as told, inside they all took a seat while the guild master sat behind his deck. "First off, are ypu feeling better Zane?" "I would if someone would just tell me what happened!" Agil sighed. "Always so full of anger. Zane, what do you know about the fenzy virus?" Zane tilted his head. "Thought so." Agil opened a drawer and handed the hunters an old drawing pf a black dragon. "Long ago there was a monster called the gore magala. It had the ability to infect other creatures with the fenzy virus, an infection that drives the host mad." Zane took a glance at the drawing before handing it to Albert. "So what does this have to do with me?" "Once it infects something, the host can carry the frenzy virus and infect others. So far there is no known cure, but nulbarrys can hold off the infection till it works its way out of your system." The guild master took the drawing back and put it away. "It was hunted to near extinction before the last of its kind just flew way." "Why wasn"t it hunted down after running?" Asked Celes. "That"s unfortunately lot to time. Ten years ago a town called Val habar was founded on a new frontier. After reading the reports of monster"s body colors becoming darker and hunters going mad from fighting them, it"s strongly believed that Val habar is where the last of the gore magalas fled too." "So what do you want us to do?" Asked Ivy. "You four are going to Val habar and help eliminate the gore magalas anyway you can. Zane because he"s been exposed to he virus and might have built up a resistance to it. Celes and Albert because they"ve fought an infected monster. And Ivy, the G rank should speak for itself." "Understood, we"ll depart tomorrow morning." "Thank you dismissed." Everyone stood up to leave, except Zane. "Where"s Fenrir?" "He"ll be looked after while your away." "Not good enough, I want my partner or I ain"t going." Agil stood up with his hands on his desk. "Are you questioning me Zane?" Zane also rested his hands on the desk. "You think I"m gonna leave Fenrir here? Here with a bunch of hunters just waiting for some half reason to kill him?" "I said-" "I know what you said and it"s not good enough. Some people are spying on me, and I"m going to leave him behind." Zane back off of the desk. "I took him in, I"m responsible for Fenrir"s safety." Agil sank back into his chair. "It"s in the storage room." Zane turned to leave, when the door closed Agil looked at his bookshelf. "He"s just like you sister." In the storage room Zane opened the door, finding Fenrir collared to the back wall, growling at two light bowgunner. "Hey! You can"t be in here!" One shouted. "Fenrir!" The zinogre stopped growling and happily barked at Zane. "Hey boy, you okay?" Zane kneeled down to pet his furry friend. "Either of you two got the key?" The two bowgunners aimed their weapons at Zane. "Walk away kid." "Or what? You"ll shoot me?" The two fire, their bullets flying passed Zane"s head and hitting the wall. "Last chance." Seeing no choice Zane walked to the door, he put his hand on the handle when Fenrir started barking again. "Shut up!" They both yelled. While they"re attention was on the stygian Zane took out a flash bomb for his pocket, throwing it at them. The hunters dropped they"re weapons and covered their eyes. Zane punched on of the hunters in the face, sending him into a crate. The boy picked up one of the light bowguns, striking the other one in the head. Whlie they were down Zane searched them and found the key, freeing Fenrir and running for it. Back home again Zane locked the door then called outvto his sister. "Ivy, you home!" "Upstairs Zane!" Ivy came to the railing, looking down at her brother. "Where"d you find Fenrir?" "Chained up in a back room, with two guys who almost shot me." Ivy ran down the stairs, putting her hands on Zane"s shoulders. "Tell me what happened." Zane gave a recap of what happened. "This is getting worse, someone with power now wants you dead." "It"s uncle, I just know it. He wanted me to get rid of Fenrir." "I want to say your wrong, but we can"t rule it out." Ivy hugged her brother tightly then let go. "Let"s just get ready to go tomorrow. Maybe this problem will blow over while we"re gone." "Here"s hoping, you called some cats to watch the house while we"re gone?" "Will do that this evening, now go upstairs and pack some stuff." "Yes sis." Zane hugged his sister then when upstairs. Ivy watched his go into his room then felt Fenrir up against her leg. "What do I do Fenrir?" The zinogre just barked. "Don"t act like your innocent in all this, you"re job is to protect him too." Fenrir barked happily. "Glad you agree." In Zane"s room the boy just packed a few sets of chothes and a couple of things for Fenrir. When he finished the trinkets on his dresser cought his attention. Some of them he got from and with his family over the years, others from when he and his friends when they were training to become hunters. He picked up a stone shaped like a butterfly, thinking back to when he got it. It was when they were taught how to mine. The item made Zane think back to earlier that day when Celes almost tackled him, then to when he walked her home she kissed his cheek. "Celes is into you, you know that right llittle brother?" The words Ivy has told him several times echoed in his mind. - +'#×"$÷:/=;^%!&_?*€(€_%) Please review it keeps us writers going, till next time CG out. Peace! Chapter. 14 Fenrir awaken to the first light that entered the window. The stygian shook it"s whole body then went to lick Zane awake as well. "Wha, okay I"m up! Stop!" The hunter struggled under Fenrir"s weight until he slid out on to the floor. The zinogre barked happily at Zane, who heard a knock at his door. "Get up Zane, your pet isn"t gonna feed itself!" "I"m already up!" Zane opened his door, greeting Ivy in the hall. "You"re up early sis." "And why not? We"re going to a new land, think about all the things we"ll get to see." Zane patted Ivy"s arm as he walked by. "Right up there with you sis, what are you in the mood for?" Fenrir barked again from in Zane"s room. "I know what you want furball!" The went downstairs to he kitchen, Zane started grilling Fenrir"s food while Ivy made her"s and Zane"s. "So what are you taking with you? We"re going to be gone from a while at least, so we"ll have to make our equipment with what we find from val habar." "Just my hunter armor and queen rapier. You?" "My standard azure rose and gigginox armor... I just now noticed this, we both use rathian weapons." "And why not? It"s a cool monster." Zane coated the meat in honey then set on on a plate on the floor for Fenrir. "You want one?" "What?" "A rathian, do you want one?" "You can"t-" Ivy stop when she glanced at Fenrir. "Just because you have a pet a zinogre doesn"t make a monster tamer." "Those who never try never know sis." The three cooked and ate their breakfast, the siblings talking on about what monsters could be tamed. When they finished they cleaned up the house, put on their equipment and went out the door. Forty minutes later they arrived at the dessert harbor, Fenrir pounds at some bugs while the hunters got their boarding passes. "A lagiacrus may be good in the water but as much on land sis." "I kind of like the nargacuga, if I had a monster that would be it." A loud howl got the siblings attention, outside Fenrir was being attacked by a hunter using brachydios armor and hammer. "Get away from him!" Zane threw a flash bomb at the hunter. "When the hunter got his senses back Zane and Ivy had their weapons drawn, defending Fenrir. "You got one chance, move aside." "What do you want with Fenrir? Are you the basterd who"s after him?" "I was hired to kill that monster. Job said not to kill you kid but nothing about hurting you, so move." Zane charged at the hunter. "Have it your way." The hunter side swung his hammer, Zane brought up his shield and was knocked out of the way. Ivy put her switch axe in sword mode, she raised the weapon down on the hunter. The hunter countered the switch axe with his hammer with a golf swing. Ivy backed away, as the hunter dashed at her Ivy switched to axe mode. While the hunter aimed to strike Ivy on her left side she did the same, but with more reach Ivy cut into the hunter"s armor, and made him drop his weapon. With the hunter defenseless Fenrir pounced on the hunter, puttong him on his back and biting into his arm. The fought with the stygian but it was clear it wasn"t going to let go. Fenrir"s teeth were starting to crack the hunter"s gauntlet. Panicking the hunter took off the gauntlet and shove the beast off. Zane drew a knife and threw it into the hunter"s exposed arm, the hunter"s movements slowed till they finally stopped. Ivy put away her weapon and turned to her brother. "What did you do to him?" Zane pulled the knife out, showing it to Ivy. "Paralysis, not just for monsters." Zane kicked the hunter on over and took off his helmet. "Now we"ve got some questions and you better answer." "Or what?" "Fenrir, attack." The zinogre bit into the hunter"s other arm and clawed at his back. "Your bluffing!" The stygian"s claws got through the armor and scratched his back. "There was a packagefor me in the guild with the money and intrusions on what to do!" "Fenrir stop!" The monster quit scratching the hunter. "How much was it?" Asked Ivy. "Thirdy thousand and said that if I killed that little thing and I get to be G rank." Ivy let out a fusterated sigh. "I"ll get the police, you watch him till then." Zane looked down at the hunter, who now feared for his life. "I see you again, what Fenrir doesn"t eat will fertilize my garden." Ivy returned with the authorities who arrested the hunter. As he was taken away it left the siblings with an uneasy feeling. "This is getting out of hand, now whoever this is, is willing to attack you and Fenrir in broad daylight." Zane kneeled down to pet his furry companion. "All the more reason for us to leave for a while, hope this whloe mess will be over when we get back. Uncle better do his job well on this." The two headed over to the canteen, there they noticed that almost all the other hunters hand their hands on their weapons. Some of them made a few passes at Fenrir but Zane kept his sword in his hand. "Hey there you two are!" Albert shouted to them. "Did I keep you two waiting?" "You get your boarding pass yet?" Ivy took a sip of her drink, acting like he wasn"t there. Albert was about to say something then ran to the harbor master. In his haste Albert didn"t see Celes go past him. "Where"s he going too?" She asked. "Hey Celes how are you?" "Great Zane, I did some research on val habar amd found out that there"s a lot of incest monsters there!" "You and your bugs." Chuckled Ivy. "Now, now sis. Everyone needs a hobby." The sand ship"s horn blew, signaling that it was time to board. "That"s us!" Zane, Ivy, and Fenrir ran to the boat, Celes was confused about why they were in a hurry and fallowed. Once they were on the ship Albert cought up to them. "Hey! You guys can"t leave without me!" Ivy face palmed. "This ship isn"t leaving unless we"re ready to leave." The low rank hunters looked around the ship, there was a large gong on the back over some cannon balls, on both sides were two ballista guns and two cannons. "What"s with all the fire power? Not that I don"t mind having it." "The desert is just as full of life and danger and the sea. This stuff is for when the big one come to play." Ivy went below deck, she spotted a lever and pulled it. The sail came down and cought the wind. The hunters above deck fell down with a thud from the sudden force. "Better get used to it if all of you want to hunt in the sand sea!" Zane stood and watched the city he grow up in fade away. "And you all better calm down when I return." "Who are you talking too?" Asked Celes. "Something happened before you and Albert arrived." + -'#×"$÷=/:%^;!_(*_^) Please review it keeps us writers going, till next time CG out. Peace! Chapter. 15 The ship gently rocked as it sailed through the desert, Ivy worked at the back of the ship, double checking the cannon ball supply. "Hey Ivy, you got a minute?" Asked Albert. "No!" Ivy replied dryly. "Oh come on, I just wanted to talk." Ivy kept her back to the bowgunner. "You know you can"t do this, we"re going to be hunting together for a while, it"s going to be really awkward other wise." "Fine with me." "Come on! Give me something!" Ivy turned to Albert, clearly fusterated. "You want something? Stop acting like a hot shot trying to get my attention. I know what you want, I see it in most of the men I worked with. You think I"m another pretty face and an easy lay." "No! I mean I do think your pretty, but that"s not what I want!" Ivy shoved Albert back. "Okay punk, fine. What do you know about me?" "Not much because you won"t talk to me. I know the surface stuff, your a G hunter and Zane"s sister. I"d like to know more." Ivy looked the boy over then stepped back. "Okay, what do you want to know?" Albert sighed in relief. "Okay let"s start with basic, what did you do before you become a hunter?" "Well..." The veteran inhaled slowly then breathed out quickly. "I guess you could say I was your stereotypical good girl. I wore dresses, had longer hair, was well mannered, and baked with my mom when she was home." "Really?" Albert tilted his head. "No not really! Ugh, you"ll believe anything I say." "Hey, that"s not fair! What am I supposed to believe when I know nothing?" Ivy folded her arms then raised her hands to her eyes. "You"re right, I"m sorry it"s just that what happened in the harbor has me rattled." "Okay then." Albert took and seat on the steps, Ivy sat down as well but a little away from him. "Let"s start over. My family is a line of blacksmiths. I was supposed to take up the legacy, but I wanted to hunter monsters, not make weapons out of them." "So how did your parents take it?" "Upset a first, till my little brother showed some talent with a hammer." "You know some hunters are blacksmiths and hunters." Albert nodded in agreement. "Yeah my grandpa was both. Okay your turn." Ivy thought for a moment. "Not everything I said was a lie. I hate dresses, but my hair was longer. Had to cut it to fit in my helmet." "And the well mannered part?" Ivy scowled at Albert. "Are you calling me a barbarian?!" "No, no! Just making conversation." "Okay then." While Albert and Ivy talked Zane came up on deck, after a quick look around he spotted Celes at the front of the ship. Zane went to the front and stood beside her, watched the waves on the sand. "It"s just like the ocean, but not." Celes shook her head with a smerk. "How can something be like something else and not be it at the sametime? You"re trying to hard to be deep." "No I"m not, look at it this way, they"re both vast, both have a lot of life we still don"t know about, and you need a ship to cross them." "I guess so, if you look at it like that. How"s Fenrir?" "He"s fine, a roll barrel below deck have his attention." The watched the desert waves for a little while, Zane thinking back to the night before trysto see if his sister was right. "How are your eyes?" "Fine, my goggles are still good." "I think your prettier with glasses." Celes spun to Zane in suprise. "Where did that come from?" "Just saying what I"m thinking is all." "Well, thank you. That was very sweet of you." Silence fell on the pair again. "Hey Zane, what do you think of me?"

My first one-shot story, hope it"s good. Inspired by Titanfall. +×÷=+×÷=%_€£¥₩=÷×++×÷=()_%=$ The winds were furiously blowing against the mechs casing, Roddick, the second in command piloting the large machine waved his hand through his messy red hair while scanning the landscape. Two months have passed since Romeo was killed; Julius has been working none stop to further the research of robotic Gods Eaters, so that no more lives would be lost. Roddick didn"t believe that one bit, sure robots would cut down on human mortality but they didn"t have the "think out side the box" ability humans did. After a heated debate Roddick convinced him to come to a compromise, the engineering staff would build a mech controlled by a human inside it and see how far that would go. The vice leader patrolled on, listening to the red rain hitting the glass till his com-link came on. "Vice commander report, did you find the marduk? " "Nothing yet J, I"m at point E now." "You"re moving to slow, at this rate you"ll loss the target!" "Lay off J, while you were watching the engineers building this Mech, I was training to pilot it. So get off your high horse, besides I"m watching out to not be blind sided." "I knew this was a bad idea." "You think any idea that isn"t yours is a bad idea." "Just focus on, hey you can"t, no your-" The com buzzed for a few seconds then another voice came on. "Rody you there? Come in Rody!" "Hello Nana." Roddick sighed with relief, the antes of his girlfriend always found a way to cheer him up. "What happened over there?" "Julius wouldn"t let me talk to you! Are you okay? Is the robot protecting you? Are you wearing the helmet? " "I"m fine the rain can"t get me in here I don"t need-" "Put the helmet on now!" Roddick groaned as he looked at the headpiece, unwillingly he put the thing on and took a picture with his phone to send to Nana. "Happy now?" "Yes, please don"t take it off, the rain will kill you Roddick, please come back safety!" "I"ll be fine, besides I"ve got my motivation right here." Roddick ran his hand over a picture in the upper right of the cockpit; it was of him and Nana eating one of her sandwiches from opposite ends. He made a bet with her that he could get to the middle before she could. They"re lips touched as they got to the middle at the same time, it was they"re first kiss and they"ve been a couple ever since. "I"ll be back Nana, save one of your sandwiches for me, Roddick out." The second in command continued to wonder around in the rain, he"s mind wandered back to that day two months back. Was there anything he could have done? Would Romeo still be alive if he was stronger? "Incoming aragami to your left!" Roddick spun around, three vajras climbed down the rubble roaring. "Alright, let"s see what this mech can do." The first vajra looked the robot with interest then charged at it, Roddick swung the machines left arm around and backhanded the aragami away. Mounted in both arms are large god arc cannons, Roddick held out the mech"s right hand and fired ice blasts at the vajra. The vajra got up and jumped at the titan again, Roddick pulled a lever to extend the mech"s wrist blades. "Come on!" The second in command swung a right cross at the vajra, stabbing it as well. With one down Roddick unsheathed his god arc from the titan"s back to bite the core out. The second vajra roared and fired a wave of thunder orbs; Roddick rolled out of the way but as he got up the third tackled him to the ground. Roddick punches the aragami four times before he got it off of him, the second vajra tried to tackle him too but the Gods Eater punched it back. Now back on his feet Roddick kicked the third vajra then turn his attention to the other one, he stomped on the beast"s head and stabbed it in the neck, beheading it. The last vajra charged at him, Roddick sidestepped and grabbed it"s tail. "Let"s go for a ride!" Roddick spun the beast around a couple of times then swings it up and slams its back on the ground. The vajra let out an electric shack wave as it fell, the systems in the cockpit sparked furiously, Roddick was thankful that the pilot suit protect his whole body. "Roddick! You"re titans taken damage!" "I know that J! I felt it!" Roddick elbow dropped on the aragami"s torso. "I"ve got bigger things to, but i"m not done with you yet!" The pilot kept one arm on the aragami to pin it then drew out the other arm"s wrist blade, stabbing the vajra till it was silent. "Roddick, you"ve taken seventeen percent of damage in that fight." "Better then in the VR training, the vajras are down, you still got a beat on the marduk?" "The target is still in the area, it"s in point K." Roddick took off in the mech running as fast as it"ll go, at the site Roddick slowly spun around looking for the marduk, with his fists held up. When a roar was heard Roddick turned to see the target on some rubble, glaring at the mech for a challenge. Roddick fired several ice bombs as the aragami charged at him but it didn"t slow down, the marduk pounced on the mech, knocking it down and biting at the glass casing cover of the cockpit. The marduk"s teeth couldn"t break through the casing but was leaving scratch marks so it was a matter of time before it got could get in, when Roddick got back on the controls he grabbed its neck to keep its mouth away for the casing while punching the beast in the face. "Get off me, bitch!" After a few punches he got the aragami to roll off. The mech rose up to one knee, one hand on the aragami"s neck and the other stabbing it in the back. "This is for Romeo!" The pilot grabbed one of its capes and cut it off. The marduk quickly got up and clawed the mech in the legs, knocking it down on its side. Left arm has sustained moderate damage. "I can see that, this is why I hate AI." Roddick sighed, looking at a side monitor showing the mech"s damaged arm highlighted in yellow. The marduk jumped at the Roddick again but this time the Gods Eater punched it with his good arm, pushing it back. Keeping the momentum Roddick shot it with his right hand till he was close enough to slash the aragami with his left blade in the head, fallowed by a kick to under the chin. The aragami roared and unleashed a field of fire around itself, Roddick"s cockpit temperature monitor was rising fast, forcing him to back away. This gave the marduk time to recover and leap at him, Roddick sidestepped to dodge but was too late, losing his left arm. Left arm is in critical condition. "It"s not in critical condition, it"s been ripped off!" Roddick unsheathed his right blade and cut off the marduk"s tail. "That makes us even." "Roddick! The mech"s taken too much damage, pull out now!" "Shut it J, I"m still at sixty two percent." Roddick stabbed the marduk"s face as it jumped at him then swung it to the side, shooting it in the side. "You"re missing an arm and your casing is damaged, one good it and you"re in the rain." "Good thing I got a suit." The marduk clawed at the mech"s right leg, knocking it down to it"s knee for support. Roddick punched the aragami in the mouth then stabbed it in the neck. "Pull out, that"s an order!" "Again J, shut up I can do this." The marduk circled around and pounced on the mech"s back, knocking it back down and cracking the casing. Roddick elbowed the aragami"s head again and again till he rolled over, throwing it off. Roddick raised his only arm and slammed it on the marduk"s torso over and over, each strike the beast"s cries of agency were growing louder. The marduk bit the mech"s arm, cutting into the metal. Roddick pulled back while shacking off the beast and trying to stand back up. Right arm has taken low damage "I"m going to kill the mechanic who thought a computer that states the obvious was a good idea." "Roddick you-" "Julius I swear to God!" The other end of the comm went silent, Roddick only used Julius" full name was when he was serious. The aragami"s teeth fell off of the, mech"s arm but went straight for the leg, Roddick took the opportunity and stabbed it in the head, then its back, finally its neck. The marduk backed away and howled, Roddick shot it in the chest. "Sorry did I brake your concentration, actually no I"m not sorry. Die demon!" Roddick charged at the beast till his right leg"s hydraulics gave, forcing him to limp. Right leg has taken moderate damage "I know, I can feel it!" Roddick wobbled his way to the foe, the marduk growled and charged, meeting the Gods Eater head on. Roddick stopped running and stood his ground, when the beast jumped at him Roddick lunged his blade into its mouth and down its throat. The force of the tackle was still enough to knock Roddick to the ground, Roddick pushed the marduk off of him then struggled to get up. The pilots panicked when he couldn"t get the mech to stand on own but thankfully the aragami was dead. Roddick pulled out his god arc and bit out the core, Roddick laid the mech on it"s back to watch the sky in one of the cracks he saw a water droplet forming. The vice commander closed his eyes waiting for the drop of death, but it never came. The droplet flouted above him then just rolled off, Roddick sigh deeply. "Thank you Nana." "Roddick! Roddick are you there?! Answer!" "I"m fine J, the mech is in bad shape but it worked. Now we got something to fight in the rain with. I need pick up though." "Understood, the rain will stop in twenty two minutes. Just hang on I"m sending Nana and the others. Julius out." Roddick flipped off the comm switch and just watched the sky; he beat the marduk, avenged Romeo, tested a new mech suit, and proved its worth. Today was a good day. $*/£+¥÷¥_₩^*";#(€_%=×"~|◆》 ■□●□●•○()_%+×÷==÷×+ Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed, please leave a comment and tell me what you think. Till next time, Cosmic Guardian out. Peace! ()_% Chapter. 2 Roddick breathed a sigh of relief as the rain around him was just water. His mech walked through the wailing plains in search of its next target, Roddick flipped on his communication system to call his support. "Is the thing even here? I don"t see it, and hannibals aren"t know for being subtle." "It"s still here Roddick, Just keep up the search." "And?" Roddick could tell that Licca had more to say. "And be careful with your mech this time, it took a week to repair it, and another two to get on all the upgrades." "R and D Licca, you need to test stuff. Sometimes tests mean to break it." "I know that all to well." Licca laughed on the other end. "When you see it, don"t hold back anything. We need to know what that mech can do and what to improve on!" "I got it." Roddick heard a loud roar coming from the twister. "I think I got something, get on those monitors!" He turned his mech to see a hannibal climbing out. "Okay tough guy, let"s dance!" The hannibal roared and charged at the machine. The mech clashed it"s fist together and held out its hands. The aragami crashed it"s hand into the mech"s slowly pushing the machine back. Roddick tightened his grip on the controls to push back. "Roddick it"s pushing you into a building!" "That"s what I was planning!" Roddick fired ice from his mech"s palms, the ice passed through the openings in the beasts palms and into its arms. The hannibal howled in pain, Roddick locked his fingers with the hanibal"s and swung the beast around into the building. "Now let"s have some fun!" Roddick grabbed the hannibal"s neck and punched it repeatedly in the head. The hannibal grabbed onto the sides of the mech and shoved it off, now back on it"s feet the hannibal swung its claws at the mech. Roddick extended the blades in the machine"s arms, one stabbed the aragami"s arm while the other went into its chest. Roddick shoved the hannibal on its back. He pulled his blade out of its hand to thrust it into the hannibal"s neck. The hannibal dodged the blade and breathed fire on the machine. Roddick grabbed the beast"s head and slammed it into the mud. The hannibal clawed at the mech"s body, causing Roddick the grab it"s arms. The hannibal raised its head and breathed more fire on the mech. The heat inside the mech was rising. Roddick tossed the aragami aside and moved away, letting the rain put out the flames. "So struggles are out then." The hannibal growled and turned to flee. "The aragami is trying to feed to heal!" "Not on my watch!" Roddick chased the aragami. The beast stopped by some moss growing on a chunk of rubble. Roddick grabbed the hannibal by the tail then swung it around before letting go, throwing the aragami into build that collapsed on top of it. "The aragami took a lot of damage! That was incredible!" "What did you expect?" Fire rose from the ruins the buried the hannibal. The aragami burst out of the rubble, hovering over it with its wings exposed. Roddick cracked his knuckles, his mech did the same. "Round two. Bring it!" The hannibal landed as Roddick charged. The beast roared and breathed fire at the mech. "Not this time!" Roddick pulled a level to his left, the mech held out its left arm. metal plates extended from the arm to from a shield and block the flames. Roddick bashed his shield into the hannibal"s face. With his free hand Roddick reached behind his back and pulled out a large hammer. The hammer struck the hannibal in the chest and knocked it on its back. The Hannibal rolled away before Roddick could hit it again with his hammer. The aragami swung its right hand to knock the hammer out of the mech"s hand as its other hand sunk it"s claws i to the mech. Roddick pressed his back against his seat as the claws were an inch away from him. Roddick grabbed the hannibal"s arm and twisted it as he pulled the claws out. As the hannibal raised it hand to attack when Roddick slammed his mech"s shoulder into the hannibal, backing up as it staggered away. The two opponents stared at each other, ready for their final clash. The Hannibal charged at Roddrick with its hands out at its sides. Roddrick looked his controls and pulled on the handles to pull the mech away from the hannibal them slam the top of the cockpit into the hannibal. As the aragami was stunned the mech held its hands together and struck the beast in the face with them. Roddick picked up his hammer then grabbed the hannibal by its neck. "End this!" "Say goodnight lizard!" Roddick crashed the beasts head into the ground and struck with his hammer. After a few swings the hannibal"s head was nothing but paste. The mech cockpit opened as Roddick jumped out with his god arc and took out the core. "The hannibal is dead. That was fun." "Great work out there Roddick! I got some great data out of that! With just a bit more and we"ll have an unstoppable aragami killing machine!" Roddick ran his hand through his hair as he looked to the sky. "We"ll prove that man and machine can walk hand in hand without overworking the other." ! #$%^&*()_+ So yeah, this is no longer a one shot. So what aragami would you like to see Roddick and his mech to fight? Till next time, CG out. PEACE! Chapter. 3 The sun had began to set as the blood unit assaulted their former home friar. Gilbert swung his spear to trip a gods eater soldier then impaled it. "I found a way in! Everyone get to my position!" "On my way!" stated Ciel. "One sec!" A load crash was heard on Roddick"s comlink. "Okay on my way!" "Sorry guys, the soldiers got me trapped!" Nana spoke up. "I"ll have deal with these guys first!" "There"s no time, the red rain is almost here!" Shouted Ciel. "Ciel, Gillbert, get inside!" "Captain-" "That"s an order Ciel." Roddick cut his connection as his mech turned to run. Nana stood in the open as four god arc soldiers closed in. Nana tightened her hold on her god arc as she looked to the sky as red clouds formed. "So this is it." The soldiers drew closer and Nana took a step back. "At least I"ll die a hero. Save Julius everyone." "Get away from her!" Nana tapped her earpiece when Roddick"s mech ran into the clearing. The machine slammed its arm into a soldier to knock it away then grabbed another by its head, crushing it. The mech held up it hands and fired thunder mortars at the other two. The mech spun to Nana and opened up to reveal Roddick inside. "Get in!" Nana ran towards the mech and jumped into the cockpit, hugging her boyfriend as she sat in his lap. "You came for me?! But Julius-" "The others can make it. If not then we"ll just have to catch up." "Captain! Do you have Nana?" "Copy Gilbert. Coming to you guys!" "Hurry! There"s a lagre number of god arc soldiers moving towards your position." "Just means there"s less for you. Don"t worry I"ll clean up and get to you all." A couple dozen god arc soldiers broke through a side door on the mobile base friar. The mech took Nana"s god arc and attached it to the side of its leg as the cockpit closed. "All right! You bootlegged Gods Eater wanna be"s! You try to steal our jobs, you break at the worst times, you almost got Ciel killed, Romeo died because of you, AND you tried to give my Nana the black plague. You all just bought a one way trip to the scrap yard!" "And how are you going to beat all of them?" A mix of worry and curiosity hung on Nana"s expression. "Easy, old school style baby." Roddick took a hold of the controls and the mech charged forward. Roddick reached the first machine, he dodged its blade and punched its head off. Roddick picked up the machine"s body and hurled it at the next one running up to him. A god arc soldier run up to Roddick"s left. The mech put up its shield to block the incoming blade, as the blade recoiled Roddick grabbed the machine"s arm twisted it till it broke off. As four more soldiers charged Roddick extended is mech"s blades. Roddick ducked under the first soldier"s sword and cut them in half then plunged his other blade into the second one. "Catch your friend!" Roddick swung his mech"s arm to hurl the impaled soldier into another. The fourth gods arc soldier waited until two more were at its side to attack. The soldier rushed the mech with their blades on their shoulders. When the machines were close enough the mech stabbed the two of them then sheathed his blades. As the two fell the last ran past them and the mech clashed its fists together and crushed the machines head. "Five more incoming!" Pointed Nana. "No trouble." The mech dug its fist into the a soldier"s chest and pulled out it power core. the core pulsed red and Roddick threw it into the coming foes to watch it explode, destroying them all. "Penta-kill!" "That was awesome!" "Nine down!" Another machine dashed towards the mech and swung its blade. Roddick drew his hammer and knocked the sword back then punched the machine"s head off. As another charged at him. Roddick held out his mech"s free hand and blasted it with blasts of thunder till it fell. A gods eater soldier blindsided Roddick as it tackled the mech down. "Oh hell no!" The mech struke the machine in the side with its elbow to knock it off. The mech stood up and grabbed the soldier by its legs and swung it around, hurling it into another upcoming machine. "Anyone else?!" More machine were coming towards them. "Did you have to ask?" "Yes. Yes I did." The mech held up its hands and fired lighting to put down two more soldiers. A soldier got close and raised it sword to bring it down on the mech. Unable to get to his hammer Roddick extended his blades and crossed them to catch the the sword. The mech kicked the soldier in the chest, causing it to let go of its sword. Retracting his blades Roddick grabbed the sword and cut down the machine. The last eight soldiers circled around the mech. "Roddy." Nana was growing nervous. Roddick placed his hand on the back of Nana"s head and pulled her close to kiss her. "I won"t let let anything bad happen to you. You know that, right?" Roddick pulled Nana close again this she put up no resistance and returned the kiss. "Trust me, I got this." The gods eater soldiers closed in on the mech then ran at it with their swords held high. "Roddick!" Shouted Nana. Roddick waited as they drew closer. As they we close enough to strike the mech rushed and tackled the machine in front of him to dive out of the way, letting the machines destroy each other with their swords. Atop the last soldier the mech raised its fists and punched it rapidly, braking it apart. When the fight was over Roddick looked around to see all the destroyed machines in the red rain. "That should do it. Told you-" Nana threw her arms around Roddick, holding tightly onto him. "That was amazing! Your amazing!" Roddick raised his arms and held Nana. "It"s okay. It"s over." Roddick let go as Nana pulled away. "Let"s go finish this." Nana gives a nod as Roddick taps his comlink. "Ciel, Gilbert. The machines are down and we"re on our way." "Understood, please hurry!" Ciel replied. "Let"s go save Julius." Roddick collected his hammer and ran to catch up with the rest of the team. ! ##$%^&*()_+}"?{: Please review, it keeps us writers going. till next time, CG out. PEACE!

Zane looked around, all of his friends were out cold, because of him. Zane shook the thought away and took off his shield. her grabbed Ivy"s hunting horn and used it to call the emergency caravan. When that was done Zane took Ivy"s switch awe and placed it on his back. The boy tightened his fists as the gore magala was flying higher into the mountain. "Time for some pay back." Zane chased after the gore, with Fenrir still at his side. ! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{ Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time. CG out. PEACE! Chapter. 24 Zane slowly climbed the mountain, looking for ledges low enough for Fenrir to jump up with him. After an hour of climbing the hunter was feeling winded, he spotted a cliff edge big enough for him and Fenrir to rest on. Once on the edge Zane opened his bag and took out a honey steak. "Eat up fur ball." Fenrir didn"t wait and began eating the meat out of Zane"s hand. Zane let go and Fenrir pulled the steak away. Zane smiled as her watched his partner eat. "Why would anyone want to hurt something so small." Zane drew his sister"s switch axe to sharpen it. Fenrir stopped eating and barked loudly. "What is it?!" Zane stood up to fight, not finding anything he turned to Fenrir who was still growling at him. Zane put down the weapon and stepped back. The zinorge lightly growled at it. "You don"t like it?" Zane walked around the switch axe and kneeled down to calm Fenrir. "Why don"t you like it?" Fenrir looked up at Zane with sad eyes. "I"m sorry but I need to use it. We got a gore magala to gore." Zane stood up and put the switch axe on his back. A few minutes later the two found an path deeper into the mountain, on the trail they found several dead jaggi with blackened wounds. Fenrir sniffed the jaggis and backed away whimpering. Zane kneeled down to comfort Fenrir. "It"s okay, I won"t let this happen to you." Zane stroked Fenrir"s fur as the stygian rubbed its head on his torso. "Come on, we have a demon to kill." The two heard some noises further up the path and the two took off to find its source. Fenrir ran on ahead of Zane then stopped to start barking. "What is it?!" Zane caught up to Fenrir and found the gore magala eat a fallen zinogre. The sight made Zane"s anger boil over. "You"re gonna pay for this, for everything you"ve done!" The hunter drew his switch axe and charged. The gore magala roared, stopping Zane and Fenrir then charged them. Fenrir was the first to recover, the zinogre performed a front flip and slammed it"s tail on the gore"s head. Zane saw the wound that Ivy made and stabbed his weapon into it. The magala screamed in pain as the switch axe"s power exploded in its leg. Blood and bits of bone sprayed out as Zane was blown back from the blast. Fenrir leaped onto the gore"s left leg then onto its left wing, Fenrir"s claws getting tangled in the fur. The gore shook its wing to get Fenrir loose but it was doing more damage to itself as Fenrir"s claws pulled up hair. Zane reloaded the switch axe then changed it back to sword mode. The gore magala shook its wing until Fenrir"s claws put a hole in its wing, the gore roared and let out countless hairs into the air and its horns reappeared. When the dark dragon lowered its winged arms Zane stabbed his weapon through the opponent of Fenrir and began cutting. The gore tried to pull its right wing away, Zane pushed against his switch axe and cut through almost the whole wing, now barely hanging on by its humerus bone. The gore swung its wing and slammed Fenrir into a cliff wall then strike Zane with it"s tail. The gore turned to Fenrir and growled. It walked towards Fenrir, trying not to put any pressure on its ruined leg. Its raised its head to eat its prey then howled, awakening Fenrir. Behind the magala Zane sliced off it tail and took his sword back. Fenrir dashed around the gore and saw the wounded leg, Fenrir stood on its front leg and swung its tail into the leg, tearing it off. The gore magala flapped its wings, its bone snapped and its right wing fell off. The gore magala laid on its side from the pain. Zane put his switch axe on his back and pulled his sword out of the severed tail. "We took your leg, your tail, your wing, and put a hole in your other wing." Zane points his sword at the dark dragon. "What else can we take away, before we take your life?" Zane and Fenrir regrouped rushed in to attack. The magala launched a sphere of black fire, blasting to two back then spat a dark mist at them. The gore"s horns lowered as almost all the hairs in the sky were gone. The beast slow approached the mist when Zane and Fenrir emerged form it, both with crimson glowing eyes. Zane held out his sword and the gore caught it with its teeth and bit down, shattering the sword. Fenrir ran to the dragon"s side and slammed its tail on the gore"s neck. Zane drew his switch axe and swung down on the gore"s now lowered neck, cutting halfway through it. The gore magala howled one more time then fell silent. Zane and Fenrir didn"t stop, the hunter slashed at the dragon"s body and the stygian ripped and tore with its teeth and claws. After a few minutes Zane dropped his weapon and held his head, screaming. The crimson glow faded from Zane"s eyes and regained his senses. Zane saw Fenrir was still frenzied and tackled him. Fenrir struggled to get Zane off, the hunter had his right arm around Fenrir"s neck and left arm around it torso. "Fenrir! Fenrir calm down!" The stygian rolled on its back, Zane let go from the weight and Fenrir got up on it feet. The opened it jaws to bite and Zane held up his right arm, Fenrir bit the arm and was breaking the gauntlet. Zane grabbed some nulbarries from his bag and slid a couple through Fenrir"s teeth. Fenrir shook its head and threw Zane to the ground, the hunter opened a latch on the gauntlet and pulled his arm out. Zane watched Fenrir break his gauntlet and glare at him. Fenrir"s eyes were losing the red glow and its growling stopped. Zane fell on his knees and hugged his partner. Higher up the mountain a hunter in zinogre armor watched what happened. The hunter wrote on a piece of paper, rolled it up then attached it to a bird"s leg. The bird took flight and the hunter climbed down the mountain, being careful not to be seen or heard by the two down below. It was late afternoon when Zane and Fenrir returned to Val Harbor. Two hunters in leather armor approached them. "Are you Zane?" "Who"s asking?" "The guild master would like to see you." "Tell him later I need to see my Friends." Zane was about to walk away when one of the hunter put up his arm to stop him. "Your friends are at the hospital, you"ll be able to see them tomorrow. For now, please." Zane nods and fallows the two men. They arrive outside the guild hall and meet the guild master. "Thank you, you two." The hunters bow slightly and leave. "You must be Zane." the guild master examines the boy"s face. "Silver eyes..." "What about my eyes?" The master puts his hand out to Fenrir, who barks at him to stay away. Zane scratches the top of Fenrir"s head and the zinogre calms down. "Could it be? No, I need to make sure." "So what do you need, sir?" "Oh, yes. I"d like to hear your report on the gore magala." Zane tightened his fists. "The demon is dead. you"ll find its body on the mountain." "You killed it? On your own?" "No. I had Fenrir there for me." "Of course." The guild master cleared his throat. "Zane, In light of what you"ve done for Val Harbor and those who"ve fallen fight that monster, I here be make you a high rank hunter." The guild master held out his hand. "Welcome to the big games son." Zane was shocked beyond words, he was a huge step closer to learning the truth. "Thank you sir!" Zane took the master"s hand and shook it. "Now then, with a gore magala"s remains we can study it and learn how to fight back against the frenzy virus, since you killed the gore magala some of the carves are yours to keep." "Thank you and I know just what I want to do with the remains." Walking through the city Zane was on his way to Josephs when a hunter bumped into him. "Sorry!" "You should be." "The hell does that mean?" The hunter stopped. he wore rathalos armor and duel blades. He had sand colored hear, red eyes and looked as old as Zane. "It means know your place, you and your pet." Fenrir growled at the stranger. "RAAAHHH!" The stranger shouted and Fenrir tried to hide behind Zane. "Weak, like its master." "You want to say that again?!" Zane grabbed the hunter by his neck guard. "And I"m not his master, he"s my partner." The hunter shoved Zane back and straightened his armor. "Call it what you will. You"re just raising it till it"s old enough to get some sweet carves." "I would never hurt Fenrir!" The hunter laughed and walked away. Zane petted Fenrir to let him know it was okay. "I"ll never hurt you Fenrir. I swear it." Outside the caravan Nala was sweeping when she was tackled by Fenrir. "Stop! Sasha help!" she struggled as the stygian was licking her. "Fenrir!" The zinogre stopped and ran back to Zane. "Sorry about that, you okay?" "What"s happen- Zane!" Sasha jumped at Zane, clinging to his chest. "Did you rethink my offer?" "No, I"m not marrying you. Now where"s Josephs I need to speak with him." ! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{ Please review, it keep us writers going. Till next time, CG out. PEACE! Chapter. 3 The boat arrived at port, returning the three teens from their first hunt. Celes removed her helmet, runnong her hand through her hair. "Hey let"s go to my place and celebrate our first victory." "Wooo!" Shouted Albert. "I"m all for that." Zane sighed at the antics of his friends, something caught his eye at the canteen, someone wearing gigginox armor. Zane would"ve passed them by if it wasn"t for the all too familiar switch awe. "Hey sis! You going hunting today?" The person turn to reveal it was indeed Ivy. "Well you"re still alive so you must have done something right." "I love you too sis." Ivy turned to see Celes and Albert at the counter to make a report, she quickly turned back, pulling her hood over her head. "You know I found you because of the weapon, so Al can too." Ivy grabbed her drink and downed the whole thing. "I"m so sick of him, always trying to get my attention. He"s going to die if he keeps it up." "From a monster or you?" "Whichever comes first." Ivy hugged her brother and took off. "Hey Zane!" Albert yelled out as he Celes rejoined him. "Who was that?" "My sister." "Really? Come on you should"ve told me!" Zane looked away from his friend, noticing a hunter"s bag on the counter. "Uh oh." He grabbed the bag and headed for the docks. "You two go on without me I need to get this to Ivy, see you at Celes" place." On the ship several hunters talked to their parents about the what monsters they were going after. On the railing Ivy sighed as she looked out over the sea, she took out a pendent in her armor, opening it to see a picture of her family. "Was it a mistake to let Zane into this life?" "Sis you forgot your stuff!" Ivy stuffed the pendent back into her armor before facing her brother. "Zane what, why are you-" "You left your bag in the canteen, pretty clumsy for a G ranked hunter don"t you think?" Ivy didn"t know whether to laugh or be upset about her mishap. "Thank you Zane but-" The ship"s horn blow, sighaling everyone that the ship has set sail. "No, no no no!" She took Zane"s hand, dragging him back the ramp. Only to find it was gone. Ivy immediately dashed to speak with the captain while Zane saw a fellow sword and shield user practicing. The ship landed in the tundra, Ivy walked down the plank with Zane right behind. "Wow it"s cold." Ivy opened her bag, getting a hot drink for her brother. "Zane, stay here." "Okay sis." "I mean it Zane! This is were the toughest of the tough come to hunt. These things will kill you." "I get it Ivy, now think. Who took me on hunts before I became official, showed me what to do." Zane grabbed his sister"s arms. "Every time you tell me to do something I listened, I"m alive because of you. And I saved you a few times as well. Miss G rank." "Alright, just stay here, I"ll be back later." With that Ivy walked away. An hour had passed since then and Zane was started to worry. The hot drink his sister have him had long since wore off, he stayed by the fire whatching ice burgs drift by in the river. "Hungry." Zane got up and left the camp. A little bit away from the camp Zane found a couple of popos walking around. "Okay, just kill one for a snack, cook it then eat it up. Sis doesn"t need to know." Zane drew his weapon and attacked the closest one, after a few stabs to the head the monster was down and Zane started cutting off raw meat. "This is going to be great."Zane took out his BBQ set and began cooking. When it was done the hunter stared at the meat, waiting a minute for it to cool. Just as he was about to take his first bite he was tackled to the ground, Zane rolled with his attacker and shoved them off. He got back on his feet, taking a battle stance. What stood before him was a stygian zinogre, no bigger then a bullfango. Zane kept his shield up, watching the monster growl at him. "Stay, stay back I"ll, uh." He looked at his left hand still holding his food instead of his sword. Zane took a step back and the stygian stepped forward, Zane took another step and the stygian took another as well. The hunter looked at the dead popo then back at the zinogre confused. "You can have the meat over there, this is mine." The monster was unmoved and continued to glare at him. Zane started to get interested in the stygian, finally just tossing the steak to it. Once his hand was free he immediately grabbed his sword, but kept it sheathed. He watched it eat the cooked meat happily, when it finished it looked back at Zane who unsheathed half his sword. The stygian straightened up and took off. Zane put his sword back, watching the monster flee. "What was that?" He turned to the dead popo, then back to were the zinogre ran away, then back to the popo, then back to the running monster now out of sight. The hunter drew his knife to cut more meat of the popo. After the meat was cooked Zane put it on a stick and the stick in the ground. He backed away, watching his surroundings till the stygian came back. "I guess in cold places you like hot food better." Zane took out some of his rations and opened on that consisted of jerky. When the stygian was done Zane held out a piece of jerky as he slowy got closer. It slowy got closer to Zane as well, sniffing the dried meat, finally taking it away. Zane pulled his hand away as it ate the food, he grabbed some more jerky, this time holding a hand full to it, kneeling down. It sniffed the food though not as long as last time. As it ate the hunter moved his hand closer to its head, he flinched when it started looking right at him. The stygian zinogre sniffed the hand, poking it with its nose. Zane tried to keep his breathing under control, though be next to a G ranked monster was making it easy. The zinogre stopped sniffing and Zane froze. The monster pushed its head against his hand, rubbing it as well. The boy"s heart was pumping a mile a minute, he"s hand started petting its head whole his other hand scratched its chin. "This is so cool." The zinogre backed away and took off in a sprint. "Hey wait!" Zane took off after the monster, deeper into tundra. "Sis is going to have a fit when I get back." Zane chased the stygian through a cave, he felt like something was watching him and wanted out fast. Finally outside the zinogre ran to a pile of broken trees, Zane fallowed it by crawling through the same way his monster friend did. When he got up he saw the stygian run towards a bigger one sleeping. Zane backed up against the trees in fear, the smaller zinogre started barking to wake up the big one. "Quiet! You trying to get me killed? I just fed you!" After a while Zane noticed the beast wasn"t getting up he slowy walked towards the bigger monster, his hand on his sword till he was close enough to touch it. Knew he was going to die but put his foot on the monster, tryong to shack it awake. "Hey, hey wake up your kid needs you!" Zane walked around to the front of the beast till he saw a pool of blood near the head, he covered his mouth not willing to get closer. The little zinogre kept barking at its dead parent till Zane kneeled down and hugged it. The little monster finally stopped and started whimpering in Zane"s arms. When it calmed down Zane rubbed its head gently, the zinogre licked Zane"s face and snuggled against his body. "Oh crap." Reality finally it Zane like a hammer to the head. He in a land of deadly monsters that could eat him, his sister might be back at camp waiting to yell at him, to top it all a baby stygian zinogre just imprinted on him. "Well if I"m going to face death, be it monsters or my sister you better have my back little guy." The zinogre barked happily at Zane and walked at his side. "~|{}[]▪○●□■ 》《¤◆¿¡ )#($*^&+₩×¥÷£=€%_$()=÷ Please review it keeps us writers going, till next time CG out. Peace! Chapter. 4 Zame and the zinogre climbed over the fallen trees and entered the cave that would lead them back to camp, inside had the feeling again the he was being watched. The zinogre took up a battle stance and snarled. "What is it? What do you see." Zane looked around, finding an entrance on a league. Two baggis and a great baggi jumped down looking for prey. Zane drew his sword and raised his shield. The smaller baggis attacked first, the stygian pounced on one, biting into its neck. Zane shield bashed the other, knocking it down. The great baggi roared, telling the one still alive to back away so it could fight. The beast charged at the zinogre, knocking it off its fallen kin and spit at the zinogre. Zane jumped in front of it and blocked the spit with his shield, he lowered his defense and was struck in the side by the baggi"s tail. The beast chased after the boy till it fell, feeling a sharp pain in its leg. Looked down the stygian had bit into it. The baggi turned back to Zane, who was already back up and shield bashed it in the face. With its head away Zane swung his sword, cutting off one of its arms then stabbing it. The baggi swung its head around to hit Zane but the boy ducked and cut off its other arm then stab it in the chest. Zane pushed his sword down to widen the wound. The monster cried in pain, calling for any help to come. Zane backed away when the momster howled, his sister told him that the leader is never too far from its pack. Sure enough three mpre baggis appeared from the league. The stygian zinogre let go of the great baggi and faced the new threats. One baggi jumped at Zane, pushing him down. He used his shield to keep it back whole another baggi tried biting at him but kept away as Zane widely waved his weapon. Zane arm was getting tired from keeping the baggi from eating his face, its teeth got closer and closer till zinogre tackled it off him. The other baggi charged and Zane punched at it, hitting it with the rim of his shield. The stygian roared at the great baggi, red lightning forming around its body. The last baggi ran up it Zane and had his sword rammed down its throat. The zinogre did a side flip, launching a blood red orb appear, it hovered for a second then flew at the greeat baggi. The monster was knocked down and Zane stabbed it in the face, ending its life. Zane fell backwards on the ground,felt Iit was cold and sat up. "That was too close." The zinogre stood beside him and licked him in the side of the face. "I know, you saved me. Thanks." Zane pet the monster then lowered his hand to scratch its chin. "You like that better?" The hunter got up and started walking out of the cave. Once outside Zane drank a potion in one go. "That"s a lot better. " "ZAAAAANNE!" "Saw this coming." The boy watched hos sister running full speed at him. "I told you to stay at the camp, you said, get back!" Ivy pulled her brother behind her, drawing her switch axe to kill the stygian. Zane grabbed Ivy"s arm, keeping her back. "No ais stop it"s not going to hurt you!" "What? Just let go!" Ivy shoved her brother away, running at the monster. Zane took out a paint ball and threw it at Ivy, the cloud of colors blinded the girl, letting Zane get a head of her and block her path. "Zane. You are going tell me what you are doing, right now!" She yelled, wiping the paint out of her eyes. "Okay I left the camp, but I was hungry and it was only for a minute." "I told told you-" "Let me finish! You"re so quick to yell, you"re going to kill your voice doing that." Zane explained everything that happened since his sister left, leaving out the part where he fought a great baggi. "Get it now?" Ivy"s eyes darted aroind lookong for anything to look at other then the two before her. "Move." "What?" "I said move! That "thing" behind you is a monster, you"re a hunter, you kill monsters. Now move." "Didn"t you hear me? This animal lost its mother and you want to kill it, don"t you see anything wrong with that? " "This world is full of monster that will kill you given the chance, I told you your too soft hearted."

Paylor stopped typing. "I know, and this is something that is most interesting." The three passed their gazes on each other. "After speaking with Damien I"ve tried to acquire some information about our new recruit, but there"s nothing on him before becoming a Gods Eater." Paylor turned his monitors around to show them. "See? There"s no record, what I got from the American branch is that Damien showed up one day and said that they had a god arc for him. They tested him and it was true, he then filed a transfer to this den later that day." "So Damien just came out of nowhere, got his god arc, and came straight here?" Asked Kota confusingly. "That would seem to be the case, though the American branch didn"t know about Damien until he came to them." Sakuya brought her hand to her head in a thinking pose. "Damien, who is he?" "I think the better qeastion is "what" is he." Lindow commented. "As many riddles as Damien has, I fear that Alisa has some as well." The attention returns to Paylor. "Damien spoke to Tsubaki about seeing Alisa talking to herself and refering to Lance in persent tense, like he"s still alive." This news gave everyone a sense of concern, Sakuya the most. "But she"s been doing so well! Alisa"s recovered form his dead and took his place as leader." "Think Sakuya, Alisa was the closest one to him. Don"t you find it odd that the one who should"ve been the most devastated was the first to recover from it?" Sakuya considered the idea, how could she not see it, for two years? "Damien thinks she should be removed from her position and Tsubaki seems to agree. What are all of you"re thoughts?" Suprisingly Kota was the first to speak. "Alisa"s had a hard life, in this day and age who hasn"t? Let us talk to her before we do anything." Lindow pats the teen on the back. "I agree, no time like right now to do it. Thanks doc for the news." "My pleasure, please do what you can. It would a shame to loss another outstanding new type to the first unit curse." Once everyone left Paylor tunred his monitor back to himself, bringing up a photo of Damien. "It"s been two years since anything exciting has happened, my only hope is that it won"t end with another death." On the veteran floor they group walked to Alisa"s door. Sakuya was about to knock when they heard Alisa talking on the other side. "That will cover the spine, that will heal the lung... the joints will reconnect... no! You"re not getting anymore metal in it." Sakuya opened the door, inside Alisa jumped from the couch, in front of her were saveral seemingly random aragami parts. Sakuya did a quick look to find no one else was there. "Sorry to interrupt, my we come in?" "Y-Yes please." Everyone gathered inside while Alisa got them all drinks. "What can I do for all of you?" Lindow discided to be tactful. "How are holding up? You can be honest with us leader." "I"m fine Lindow, though I feel you have another meaning to your question." Sakuya sat beside the Russian girl, putting her hand on Alisa"s. "We"re just conserned is all, when Lance died we were all broken up. But you wouldn"t leave your room for a week the when you do it"s like nothing happened." Lindow leaned closer from his side of the couch. "Tell us the truth, are you in denial?" Alisa flicked Sakuya"s hand way, glaring at Lindow. "How dare you! He died, it hurt, it still hurt but we need to move on I"m not going to let his sacrifice go in vain. We all owe our lives to Lance, saving you for the hannibal and us from the venus." An uncomfortable silence hung over the room. "What"s all this for?" When Kota picked up one of the aragami parts Alisa nearly ripped his arm off to gwt ot back. "What was that for!?" "I"m sorry but I can"t let anything happen these items." "What are they all for?" Lindow swiped an avion joint from the table. Alisa fought to get it back but Lindow kept it out of reach. "Tell why you need it." "Lindow you picking on her." Said Sakuya. "No I"m, ow!" The senior felt like someone punched him in the back, Alisa grabbed the joint and started putting away the rest. "Who hit me?" Lindow wondered, it wasn"t Alisa, Sakuya wassitting down and Kota is on he other side of the room. "I would like you all to leave right now." "Alisa we"re just trying to help you." Said Kota. "I"m fine everyone, I really am. I just have something that need my attention, please leave that"s an order." The visitos passed glances with each other then finally left their leader"s room. Alisa locked her door then fell on her bed. "I agree, we"ll have to do something to make it up to them... I know but to be honest I"m glad... and less reports to make. I"m rest a bit... me too." Meanwhile in the sunken grid Damien was being pestered by two other two types, Federico and Annette. "Where did you grow up." "Classified." "Who are your parents." "Classified." "Why did you come here." "Classified." "What"s your favorite color!?" "Grey,maybe?" "Yes!" Annette threw her hands up. "We got something out of him!" Federico looked puzzlingly at Damien. "What do you mean maybe?" "I just don"t think about something like that." "So what do you like to do for fun?" Asked Annette. Damien"s eyes darted all over, looking for something to change the subject. "I don"t really have any recreational activities. When I"m not in he feild I"m training to be stronger." "Then what did you do before you became a Gods Eater?" "That"s classified." "There anything you can tell us about your past?" Asked Federico. "No." "Just no." "Yes." Damien picked up his arc and started walking, the other two confusingly fallowed. Moments later the trio found a ghoro ghoro eating a large pipe, Federico motioned to huddled up and form a plan. "This will a clean job, we move fast we"ll kill it in a minute flat." As the aragami churches on the metal pipe Annette sneaked up from behind, slamming her hammer on its tail. The beast turned around to see Annette backing up to Damien and Federico, both of which are shoot at it. The ghoro roars and charges, but Annette lays a snare trap to stop it. The boys switch to blade mode and all three take a bite, then tare into the aragami in burst mode. Once the trap wears off the three leap away in union, switch to gun mode, give each other their aid links, and finish it. Federico rubs his forehead with a rag and sighs in relief. "That was great, that had to be less then thirty seconds." Damien switches to blade mode to take the core. "Excellent work, now let"s return-" "Ah ah ah." Annette grabs Damien"s arm. "You need to have some fun, Federico, the second unit, and me are have an ogretail race. You in?" "No thank you I"d-" "I"d what? What"s more important?" Damien struggled to get free, he looks to Federico for help. "She won"t let go until you say yes and the second unit is on the way." "Okay, if that"s what you want me to do." "Was that so hard?" Annette let of the rookie. "We never see you spending time with anything but work, after today you won"t be such a workaholic." #$/^ ¥+×÷=&$)(*()*) Please review it keeps us writers going, till next time CG out. Peace! Chapter. 6 "Ready?" Gina, Brandon, Federico, and Kanon lined up at the starting line. "GO!" Annette shout and the race began. Damien watched the four do laps around the sunken grid until Tatsumi tapped his shoulder. "So what do you think?" "I don"t see what the point of this is." "There doesn"t have to be a reason for having fun." A minute later the racers finished the first lap, with Gina in the lead. "I should get my ogretail ready, my race is next." Damien watched a few more races until he decided to leave. "Where are you going?" Federico grabbed Damien, dragging him back. "Come on your ogretail is over there, go get to the starting line." The rookie had no idea what was going as he was lead to the race line. "Ready!?" Damien took a deep breath, mental preparing. "GO!" The others rushed out ahead before Damien knew what happened, the Gods Eaters on the side lines were shouting at him to go. The ogretail sprinted forward, reaching the first turn. Damien gripped the fur and pressed his legs on Noaki"s sides,holding on as best he can. When Noaki made the turn Damien was nearly thrown off, the boy sighed in relief, not noticing the next turn. Damien was thrown off and into a stack of rusted pipes. When you woke up Konon was holding up his upper body. "Damien! Can you hear me!?" He rookie blinked a few times. "What happened?" "Thank God, Damien how many fingers do you see?" "Six?" Konon shook her head. "We need to get him back now." The other Gods Eaters gpt back on their ogretails while Konon called for a copper. "I have the worst luck." "Why"s that?" This is the second time I"ve crashed on an ogretail." Federico patted the new kids shoulder. "I"ve been thrown off a few times learning how to ride one. So don"t feel bad about it, happens to all of us." The next day Damien was in the lobby thinking about which mission to take when Alisa walked passed him. "Hello Hibari, how are you today?" "I"m fine thanks, I heard they took you off leader for awhile. What happened?" "Same thing as last time, they still think I"m going to have a meltdown because it"s near the time Lance died." "I"m sorry, it"s been two years, you"d think that they would have more faith in you by now." "You would think, listen, is there any hannibal missions?" Hibari typed at her computer for a moment, reading the days mission logs. "There is one in the wailing plains, you what to go along as usual?" "Yes thank you." Alisa left the desk and went up the stairs to the lift. "Thought that she was suppose to be taken off duty?"Damien wondered she up too, he also went up the stairs to fallow. Damien rode the lift to storage, grabbed hos god arc and wepent out the door to find his ogretail, arriving just in time to see the griffin fly away. "I"ll find out what you"re up too." He mounted his aragami, when it started running it was getting harder to stay on and had to slow down. He was lossing sight of Alisa but judging the direction he guessed where she would be, a place he"s never been and never wanted too. In the wailing plains the griffin landed gracefully, Alisa climbed off without any trouble. In the distance Damien dismounted his ogretail as well to fallow silently. "What are you up too? And here of all places?" Damien read about the wailing plains back at base and hated everything about it. The endless rain, the overgrowth, Damien was never a fan of nature. The new type crept closer till he found Alisa and could hear her. "What would a holy serpent guard do?" "Something"s not right with her, I need to report this."Damien was about to leave when he heard a loud roar that froze him in place. He looked over the rubble he was hiding behind to see the hannibal climbing out of the twister, it jumped to the ground howling at Alisa. The Russian spun her arc, then swung low. "You ready? Because I saved you last time... good." Alisa dashed to the hannibals sode as the beast lowered itsbody the breath fire, Alisa swung her arc in a three sixty spin but didn"t hit the aragami. Damien watched from his hiding spot, something wasn"t right. The hannibal stomped around trying the reach behind its back while Alisa cut into it legs, nearly tripping it four times before it finally fell down. Alisa attacked the shield even after she distroyed it, the beast stood up and roared when half its face just broke off. The hannibal backed away, it cover its face and ran away. "It"s running in fear for good reason of what you did." Damien came out of hiding and gave chase, he needed to know what he just saw. How did its face break when nothing hit it, why was it fighting like there were more then one? When he sneaked around a corner Alisa dealt the finishing blow by decapitating the hannibal. The veteran"s god arc devoured the core as she pulled her hair back. "It"s not here, again... no, no wait!" A large cut formed in the Hannibal"s side, the cut turned into a hole as blood and guts flew out everywhere. The flow stopped and a sinder crystal flew out, landing in Alisa"s hand. Next the hannibal"s hand flipped over, Damien feared it was still alive. Alisa covered her mouth, giggling as the hannibal"s shield was peeling off. "You do this every time you don"t get what you want... I guess that is the most direct... Hahaha, what?" Alisa"s hand now covered her face while she laughed. Damien thought the sight was disturbing, watching on he saw Alisa hug nothing, even kiss nothing. The rookie took out his phone and snapped a couple of pictures before running back to the den. Alisa returned to the den a couple hours after Damien when she got back her phone went off. "Hello Sakuya, medbay? Okay I"ll be there shortly." She hung up and put it away. "She didn"t sound happy... that is possible, even we have our fights... I doubt you"d be a good marriage councilor right now." Alisa arrived at medbay to find Sakuya and Damien waiting. "What"s going on?" The Russian asked. "Alisa I, we think you..." Sakuya tried to find the words to say, so Damien thought to come out and say it. "You"re current mental health is in question, as such you"re no longer allowed out of the den without an escort." "What do you mean? I"m perfectly fine." "That"s not what this says." Damien showed her his phone. "You spied on me!?" "That"s not important, though what I see it was a good thing I did." Sakuya held Alisa"s gently, trying to comfort her. "Alisa you know you can talk to me about anything, What are keeping from us?" "It"s nothing you need to be concerned about, really." "This aays otherwise." Damien showed her his phone again. "And you, why where you spying on me!?" "It was because he was worried about you Alisa." Said Sakuya. Damien shook his headat the statement. "I was concerned about the den as a whole if one soldier incapable of fighting is on the feild, it would in danger the other with them." "Anyway, I think you should be put on medication. Just for now." Alisa pushed the oldervwoman away. "You think I"m losing it don"t you?" "Alisa listen to me, I know it"s hard but-" Damien stepped up to Alisa. "I"m not going to act I knew Lance but he"s dead, move on you have work to do. And right now you"re failing in your duties." Alisa pinched Damien so hard it send him to the ground. "How dare you." She glared at him, Damien got up to talk but Alisa knocked him down again without another word. Sakuya grabbed Alisa"s arm to get her to stop. "You"re well being is important to me Alisa, you know that right? So please." Alisa calmed down so Sakuya could hand her a bottle of pills. "If is this is nothing then you can stop taking them in a week, two at the latest." The Russian"s eyes darted around the room, she sighed and took the bottle. Alisa took out one of the pills and put it in her mouth when a table was flung arcoss the room. As the other two turned Alisa spit out the pill and left. "What was that?" Sakuya turned back to Alisa, seeing she was gone the gunner left as well to get her. Damien stayed in sickbay looking at the table, no touch it and this wasn"t the first odd thing to happen. When he got to the door his head slammed into it hard, knocking him down for a third time today. As he sat up, rubbing his forehead appaper fell into his lap and the door opened then closed. "That for peeping on us perv." Was writen on the paper. +×÷=%_€£¥₩₩¥£€ )#($*/&^&+₩÷£%_% Please review it keeps us writers going, till next time CG out. Peace! Chapter. 7 A week had passed since the inccedent in the medbay, since then Alisa been on full team missions. She still takes the medicine given to her, but nothing came of it. Damien watched her carefully when he spied on Alisa, something wasn"t right. Aragami would run off, parts became unbound, or they just dropped dead. Other"s haven"t noticed it as it alone happened when she was alone. The recruit sat in the lobby, waiting to meet someone he hasn"t met before. He stared at the roof till someone kicked him in the leg. "Wake up." Damien stood up to met a young man waring a blue hoody with white hair. "I"m Soma, I"ll be babysitting you today." "Well then, I"m Damien the new guy, you"re four minutes late." Damien tried to act like he was more important, but just walked to the lift. Damien jumped into the lift as it began closing. "Honestly I"m amazed by how lax everyone is here, no order what so ever." "Uh huh." "I read that this is to be my first time fighting a chi you." "Uh huh." Damien tapped his foot, think of something to say. "I"ve read about you, you have done great things." Soma didn"t reply. "Any advice for what to expect?" "Whatever shows up just slash it to hell." The door slide open, lletting the two out. An hour later the two arrived at the sunken grid, Damien"s gaze swept the landscape. "WWhat"s the plan." "Find it and kill it." Soma hooped off the ledge. Damien fallowed questionably. "That"s it? You don"t have some plan?" "It"s a simple job, we don"t have to over think it." Damien couldn"t argue with the logic and just went with it, just around a stack of pipes they found the aragami. Soma took the preemptive strike, hitting the chi you in the back of its knees to knock it down. Damien jumped over Soma and stabbed the chi you in the back, the beast stood up and spun around to shack him off. On the second pass Damien let go of his god arc, flying to the ground. The chi you stared him down, about to punch him till Soma cut it in half from the waist. The veteran offered his hand to the rookie. "Don"t ever loss your god arc, go get it." Damien nodded, getting his arc from the chi you. When he put his hand on the hilt Soma grabbed Damien"s arm. "Don"t ever loss your god arc." "I heard you the first time, ow!" Soma tightened his grip. "This weapon is your life, without it your screwed. If you don"t want to die then learn to get a better hold on it." "Yes, forgive my misunderstanding." Soma let go of Damien, who retrieved his weapon. That afternoon Damien set out on his next mission, another chi you, this time in the magma filled subway. When he got to the meeting point he found Soma, Alisa, and Kota waiting for him. "Hey D, how you feeling?" Asked Kota. "I"m in top condition and ready to fight, further more you will refer to me by my full first name or codename." "It"s more professional that way?" The boy nodded. "Why do have to have everything professional and stuffy? And you still haven"t told us anything about yourself." "Let it go Kota." Soma dragged the boy away for the rookie. Kota was about to push the matter till they saw Alisa take off down the tunnel, making the boys fallow. When she found the target Damien held the other two back. "Damien she needs our help!" Yelled Kota. "Trust me on this, watch." The two eased up and fallowed Damien wish. Alisa shot the chi you with a couple of bombs before it fell to its knees, Alisa switched to blade mode and took a bite off the aragami. Now in burst mode she cut off the chi you"s arm and stabbed it in the side. The chi you fell lifeless on the cement. "Thank you for the help!" Alisa shouted sarcastically, ripping the core out of the aragami. Kota and Soma were disgusted with Damien as the looked confused. "Why didn"t you do it!" Alisa turned to the rookie. "Do what?" "Don"t play dumb, I saw it when you fought that hannibal, parts of it were damaged even though you never touched them. How did you do that?" Alisa backed away for Damien. "You sure you weren"t seeing things?" "I saw it! The hannibal"s face broke off and she never touched it." "D your sounding like a mad man." Kota grabbed Damien"s arm trying to get him to stop. "I"m being honest! And don"t call me that!" "Aren"t you the one who said Alisa was losing it?" Said Soma. Alisa nodded. "That"s right, maybe he"s the one who needs to be looked at." Damien shook off Kota, he stepped away from the group pointing at Alisa. "You can"t deny it, I know what happened." "Can you prove it?" Damien was grinded his teeth. "If not then let"s go. You have a problem Damien, you cause problems that don"t need to happen." Damien stood there as the others walked away, he tightened his grip on his weapon. "I will find out what you"re up too." The next morning Damien stood in the hall of the veteran"s floor, waiting for Alisa. Two hours later her door finally came out. He hid behind the vending machine, watching her wait for the lift. The day dragged on for Damien as nothing interesting happening. Alisa went to the lobby and talked to some people, did some training, watched the sky on the roof. Now and then she"d take one of her pills but over all nothing note worthy happened all day. Damien returned to his room after Alisa did the same, he laid on the bed with his face in the pillow. "What I"m suppose to do now? My reason for living is gone." He picked up a little mirror from his headboard and looked at his reflection, mainly his purple eye. "Damn it." He threw the mirror at the couch across the room. "Nature is flawed, who needs it." +×÷=%_€£¥₩ #$/^&*()+×÷=%_€£¥₩ Sorry for the wait, freedom wars has been taking my attention. Also fanfictions for the game became available, so now it"s three storys. The first chapter is already up, if you have time please take a look and tell me what you think.

"H-homura-chan?" Madoka stuttered a bit before recollecting herself. "Ah, Homura-chan, is there something you wanted to talk about?" she asked the raven haired girl. "Madoka," Homura said with a small pause, before reluctantly glancing at blue haired girl. "And Sayaka..." she trailed off, making both Sayaka and Madoka apprehensive, though for different reasons. Does she- "...you guys do know that its already 10 minutes past homeroom, right?" Homura continued, smirking slightly at their reaction. "Saotome-sensei has already done lecturing Sakura-san about being late, now she"s just waiting for you two." "Ahah, well, ours can"t be worse than Kyouko-chan"s at least," Madoka said with a forced smile, trying to be optimistic with the situation as usual. "We better not keep her waiting then." "I hope it"s not going to be a rant about having a boyfriend at our age again," Sayaka muttered with a sigh. "Yeah, we better get going now." Once again, Madoka started walking towards their classroom, though with considerably less enthusiasm than earlier. Sayaka also tried to follow after her, but stopped when she felt a hand land on her shoulder. Sayaka turned her head towards the source, coming face to face with Homura who was staring at her intently. "W-what is it?" Sayaka asked nervously, not liking how Homura was focus on her. Homura just kept staring at her though, as if she hadn"t heard Sayaka. As the girl kept staring at her, Sayaka noticed that Homura"s expression changed from her usual blank stoic expression to something close to a frown. T-that doesn"t seem like a good thing... ah, what should I do!? "We really should get going so..." Sayaka thought of something to say. "...so that Madoka wont have to face Saotome-sensei"s lecture by herself." She gestured her hand towards the retreating figure of Madoka, hoping it would make Homura let her go. Homura turned her head to the direction where Madoka, who seemed to had also just notice that her two companions weren"t following her, was. Madoka turned around and was starting to backtrack towards them. "...yes, we really should get going," Homura replied without turning back to face Sayaka. I"m saved. Was what Sayaka thought, that is, until Homura turned around back to face her. "I would like to have a chat with you sometime, Sayaka Miki," Homura said, addressing Sayaka by her full name. Then she smiled, before moving towards Madoka who was getting back to them. As the Homura explained to Madoka their reasons for staying behind, Sayaka could only stare numbly at the raven haired girl. I"m screwed. well that was a rather lengthy chapter, I think my second longest one(though probably due to the explanation text above), with the longest being in my other fanfic. but anyways, expect the other girls to have their PoV looked into. as always, read and review please ^_^ so heres the 4th chapter, though some of you guys might have seen the draft of this somewhere else... also, thanks to Fanatical-Writer561 for being my beta reader for this. "Oh, good afternoon, Kyouko... why are you still eating your lunch at this time?" "...it"s "cause I got held up by my English teacher right after she dismissed the class." Kyouko made a face as she grumbled her irritation to a blond school girl who was sitting on the opposite side of the table from her. The two of them were currently outside of the school cafeteria, sitting down on one of the tables that were under the shade from the nearby trees. Kyouko was eating beef curry while the other girl was just sipping some tea. "Hmm, so why were you being held up by the teacher?" the blonde asked her. "Did you cause some trouble again?" "Hey, I didn"t cause any trouble this time!" Kyouko shook her head. "Really, Mami, I learned my lessons too, ya know," she said with a sigh. "Oh, sorry for that one," Mami apologized before smiling slightly. "It"s just that, you know, you used to rarely follow the rules back then. A lot of times you barely even listened to what I advised you to do..." "H-Hey, I did listen to you a few times in the past!" Kyouko replied, blushing a bit. "And besides, that"s all in the past. I"m a stickler for rules now." "Oh, I wonder about that..." Mami said in a mischievous tone. "From what I"ve heard, you still occasionally eat during class and there were those absences on some of your classes." "I can"t help it if I get so hungry," Kyouko defended herself. "And that last one, I only do that when there"s a coupla wraiths in the city, ya know." "Indeed you certainly do," Mami said with a giggle. "Sorry, I just felt like teasing you a bit." "Geeze, Mami." Kyouko replied with a slight huff before leaning back into her chair. The two of them stopped talking for a while as Kyouko went back to eating while Mami was sipping her tea. The two girls remained silent, just basking in the gentle flow of the breeze. Only a few students were outside, most either having finished their lunch already or preferring the conveniences of the school, so Kyouko and Mami were able to enjoy some peace and quiet. Hmm, so this is why Mami likes it out here. "...Sometimes, it really feels nice to just kick back and relax." Kyouko said with a yawn as she pushed away her empty plate. "I can see why you like eating out here instead of being inside with all the other students." "Of course, though it also has something to do with the tea being easier to make outside," Mami said with a small nod before glancing back at Kyouko. "Sometimes, you just want to be by yourself... which I"m guessing is your reason to be here as well?" "Ugh, I really can"t seem to hide anything from you..." Kyouko sighed. "How did you know, anyway?" "Well, you aren"t with your two friends, Miki-san and Kaname-san, for instance," Mami answered. "But that could be because I was, I dunno, dismissed later than them," Kyouko pointed out. "Ah, but even I know that you girls tend to hang out on the roof top during lunch," Mami replied with a knowing smile. "And I"m assuming your friends aren"t the type to leave that anytime soon without waiting for you." There was a momentary pause as Kyouko looked down. I guess I should to talk to someone about it, and Mami is the only one I can talk with this sort of thing... "...Well, we sorta got into an argument," Kyouko muttered. "I sort of, got a bit too angry there and now I don"t think it"s fine for me to just go back to them you know..." "...And why were you guy arguing?" Mami asked after Kyouko went silent again. "Does it have something to do with you getting in trouble?" "...yes," Kyouko answered reluctantly. Kyouko started to narrate the events that transpired earlier, starting from how Sayaka had woken up late, them having to run all the way, leading to the argument after they reached the school and how they ended up being late anyway. Mami silently sipped her tea during Kyouko"s recounting, waiting for her to finish up. After Kyouko finished, fidgetting slightly, Mami set her teacup down and gave an exasperated sigh. "...you already know you were in the wrong there, right?" Mami asked her to be sure, then continued after Kyouko nodded. "While Miki-san was responsible mostly for being late, and thus you had the right to be annoyed, you were a bit too harsh on her there. You have to take the time to think about what you"re saying sometimes, Kyouko." "Yeah, I realized that a bit too late..." Kyouko hung her head to the side at Mami"s lecture. "It"s just that... I"m sort of a bit worried about Sayaka." Mami, who had opened her mouth to say something, blinked in surprise instead and looked at Kyouko strangely. Kyouko didn"t notice Mami"s stare as she was still looking at the ground. "Worried...?" Mami repeated before leaning slightly forward with a concerned expression. "Why? Is there something going on with that girl?" "I"m not actually that sure..." Kyouko said hesitantly. "It sort of feels like Sayaka is not quite as cheerful or carefree as she used to be. She"s also a bit gloomy or looks troubled sometimes." "Really?" Mami asked with a frown. "From what I have seen and heard, Miki-san seems to be quite an energetic and happy person." "Well, it only happens a few times and Sayaka snaps out of it quick enough that others barely notice anything is off," Kyouko explained. "But when she thinks no one is paying attention to her... I don"t see her smiling so cheerfully," she said dejectedly. "Hmm... if you say so," Mami nodded slowly before smiling slightly at Kyouko. "You must have really been looking at her a lot to be able to notice something like that," she teased the red head. "I w-wasn"t really paying that much attention to her," Kyouko sputtered. "It was just by c-chance that I caught those little moments!" "I"m sure you did," Mami said, still smiling. "Watching over her, I mean." "L-like I said, i-it"s not like that at all!" Kyouko feebly denied the accusation, while Mami continued to look unconvinced and was starting to giggle at her reaction. Eventually, Kyouko just raised her hands in defeat and slumped down on the table, muttering "idiot Mami". Mami had stopped giggling and was now consoling the embarrassed redhaired girl. Though that was what Kyouko appeared to be doing, she was secretly smiling underneath. The heavy atmosphere from earlier had dispersed now, and she was starting to relax again and feel at ease. Wait, don"t tell me this was what Mami was aiming for? Ah, whatever. Kyouko shook away the thought and decided to just bask in the atmosphere rather than start thinking about depressing things again. "But truly," Mami said after a while. "It is quite a good thing that you do care a lot about your roommate, Kyouko." "Well, of course," Kyouko answered, raising her head back. "I do owe that girl a lot, even if she"s an idiot." "Oh yeah, that"s right..." Mami nodded slightly. "I really should thank Miki-san sometime, for her help in setting you back on the right path after that happened..." "Mami," Kyouko scowled. "Don"t tell her about that. I don"t want Sayaka to know about my past. She might also find out about us being magical girls." "... If you don"t want her to know yet, then I"ll keep silent about it," Mami said with slight reluctance. "But I will advise you that keeping it a secret might cause some problems in the future." "I know that..." Kyouko muttered back. "But as long as there"s no need for Sayaka to know about it, then I won"t tell her. She"ll just worry unnecessarily about it." Mami just smiled back faintly in response and poured out the remaining tea from her teapot to her cup before humming a tune to herself. Kyouko had pulled out her signature Pocky and stuck one of them into her mouth, as she started to think back on the past... It had been roughly a year since she had been taken in by Sayaka"s family. The girl"s parents were pretty great and didn"t really divulge much of her background, if one were to ignore how they tended to be out, leaving Sayaka to care for herself. Though that may have been a good thing for Kyouko"s case, as there would be less fuss about her attitude, and she wouldn"t have to struggle as much to keep her identity as a magical girl a secret. Of course, it wasn"t easy for Kyouko to just get along and be a part of their household. She often did get into small fights with the blue haired girl, but Sayaka had really put a lot of effort in making her comfortable and be acquainted into her new home. There were a lot of bumps during her stay, usually with her ideas and decisions clashing with Sayaka"s, but overall they had gotten along well. After several months, Kyouko had grown comfortable enough to call the place her own and considered Sayaka to be a great friend and benefactor. Though she doesn"t like to be called the latter. Kyouko chuckled lightly as she recalled on the happy times she had experienced since then, almost pushing away all the painful memories of her own dead family... "Oh? Is that Homura-san over there?" Kyouko"s reminiscence abruptly stopped as she followed the direction where Mami was looking at. True enough, there was long dark haired girl wearing the same uniform as them, who seemed to be walking around the area, frequently glancing at her sides. "Is she looking for something?" Kyouko thought out loud. Mami opened her mouth to reply, but stopped when Homura seemed to have noticed them and was now walking towards their direction. "Good afternoon, Kyouko, Mami-san." Homura nodded at each of them. "What brings you girls here?" "Good afternoon, Homura-san." Mami raised her tea cup as a greeting. "I was just having tea by myself, that is, until Kyouko decided that she was going to have her lunch at my table." "Yo, Homura," Kyouko greeted her as well. "I came here after I was finally done with Saotome-sensei. What are you doing here too?" "Nothing really..." Homura trailed off as she glanced at the side again. "Was just checking up on the area, making sure that everything is... fine." Homura was, as usual, sporting a calm and collected expression as she got closer to them. It always impressed Kyouko how the girl could maintain that expression most of the time, even when they were fighting against wraiths. She seemed to only smile a few times during class as well as grinning in rare moments when she was poking fun at her and Mami, the rest of the time though she wore a poker face that made it hard to read her. "Is that so?" Mami said."Why don"t you take a seat with us as well, Homura-san? I still have some tea left over here if you want," she said, pulling out a spare tea cup from her bag. "...I"ll take up your offer on that then," Homura accepted the tea cup from the blonde and sat down on one of the chairs. She sipped on the tea, commenting on how good it was, and its name apparently, but otherwise did nothing else. "You have any more?" Kyouko asked, feeling a bit parched herself. Mami nodded and poured another one for her, which she drank slowly and carefully, not wanting to piss off Mami. The taste was good, just like all the tea she had tasted from Mami. "By the way," Homura started after finishing her tea. "What were you guys talking about?" Oh no you don"t, you"re not embarrassing me any more for today, Mami. "Oh uh, nothing really," Kyouko answered. "We were just talking about how I got late because of Sayaka and stuff." She glanced sharply at Mami, already guessing what the blonde was going to say with that grin of hers. "That was all we talked." "...Sayaka Miki." Homura muttered as she just stared at her tea, not noticing the expressions on their faces. "Is she the reason why you were late?" she asked as before fixing her eyes directly on Kyouko, boring her down with those dark violet eyes. "Um..." Kyouko started hesitantly, not quite sure if telling Homura was something she should do. "Apparently, she had a nightmare last night," Mami answered for her. "While I can generally recover from nightmares and go back to sleep, who knows what she saw? It may have been something really bad that she couldn"t sleep easily." She raised an eyebrow at Homura, guessing already what the girl was thinking. Good one, Mami. "...you have a point there," Homura agreed after a pause. "It"s true that not everyone is the same when dealing with something horrific. Some are just too weak to handle these types of experience." "...Hey." Kyouko narrowed her eyes at Homura. "Are you implying that Sayaka is a weak person?" "No," Homura answered easily without missing a beat. "Just saying that maybe you shouldn"t worry about her so much, if you"re going to end up getting in trouble for it." "Homura-san!" Mami tried to intervene but stopped when Kyouko raised her hand. "...Sure, Sayaka"s a pain in the neck sometimes, and maybe it"s true that the things she experience pales in comparison to ours," Kyouko admitted before slowly rising from her seat. "But that girl"s been there for me a lot, sticking her nose into dangerous situations just to help me. She"s also helped me quite a bit in my studies, at the very least, she helped me take it seriously again. Sayaka aint a burden, and she aint weak!" Kyouko had raised her voice and slammed her hands on the table, rattling Mami"s tea set. Luckily no one else was the vicinity, so the only ones who noticed her outburst was a stunned blonde and a stoic brunette. Minutes passed as Mami recovered from her shock and Kyouko calmed down enough to sit back down, while Homura kept wearing her stoic expression. Then Homura raised her hand slightly, before hesitating and putting it down back again with a shake of her head. "...Looks like you have someone you really care about, Kyouko," Homura replied after a while. "W-what you mean by that?" Kyouko said defensively. "Isn"t it n-normal to care about people like that?" "No, that is - never mind." Homura sighed. "I guess I can understand what you mean, somewhat." What the- is this really Homura? After she said that, Homura"s expression shifted from being blank to something like... sadness? Kyouko and Mami weren"t able to make sure of it, as they were more surprised that brunette"s admission, and she had already shifted her face back to being neutral. "I guess it"s time to go," Homura said out load as she started walking away, leaving behind the two surprised magical girls. After a few seconds, however, she turned back to face the two girls. "Are you guys going to stay here? It"s nearly time for classes you know." Kyouko and Mami blinked once, then glanced at the time on their cellphones. It currently read as 12:57 PM, just three minutes away from their classes to begin. "W-wait up for us," Kyouko called out to the dark haired girl as she picked up her bento box and helped out Mami gather her tea set. Once all the things were gathered, Kyouko and Mami quickly dashed towards the building, making use of their magical powers to boost their speed; Kyouko couldn"t use it earlier because of Sayaka"s presence. They whirled past Homura who was walking at a leisurely pace. Time stop had its advantages. Though, I wonder what was going on in Homura"s mind from earlier... reviews would be helpful and appreciated. "Really that Kyouko... it seems like she decided to eat her lunch somewhere else." "Hmm I wonder why she didn"t eat with us..." Sayaka and Madoka were currently walking down the staircase, heading back to their classroom. The two of them were previously up on the school rooftop, eating their lunch there as usual. Kyouko was supposed to be with them, but was held back for some extra scolding from Saotome-sensei, while Sayaka and Madoka got off lightly since it was their first offence in their current year. So naturally, after finishing their lunches, both had waited for Kyouko"s arrival. Around 30 minutes had passed before it became apparent to them that she wasn"t going to show up, thus the two had decided to just head back into the classroom. Though Madoka had voiced her wonder earlier, in truth, she had a good guess on why the red head didn"t join them. It seemed that Sayaka had also thought about it as the blue haired sighed. "Ahhh, I bet that girl is being hard on herself again for shouting at me," Sayaka muttered with exasperation. "Well, Kyouko-chan has certainly been trying hard to behave and be nice in school," Madoka nodded with a sheepish smile. "So I can understand the feeling of being upset for being mad." "Heh, even though you yourself, had never gotten mad at someone else?" Sayaka said, raising one eyebrow. "E-even I get upset sometimes you know," Madoka pouted slightly. The two continued to chat until they arrived back at the classroom. They then returned back to their respective seats and sat down, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Kyouko"s still not here huh... don"t tell me she"s still eating at this time?! "Um, Sayaka-chan... is everything alright?" Madoka suddenly asked the blue girl. "Ah er... What makes you say that, Madoka?" Thoughts of the red head immediately flew away as Sayaka put on her usual cheerful expression, before carefully turning around to face the pink haired girl, who was seated at the lower right desk from her own. "Well, you seem tense ever since this morning..." Madoka said before squinting slightly. "And you were sweating quite a bit in class." "Oh that"s just cause..." Sayaka trailed off as Madoka continued to give her a doubtful but also worried expression. I really shouldn"t tell her what I"m experiencing... but I don"t think I"ll be able to fool Madoka right now. Contrary to what most people thought about Madoka, the girl wasn"t oblivious nor naive. Madoka"s friendliness and shy personality made people think she was just a meek and innocent girl. While those traits were certainly true to a degree, Madoka had a sharpness in regards to reading people. Madoka would often be able to read other people"s moods and emotions despite their effort to hide them, and sometimes she could even discover them before the other person even became aware of the feeling themselves. It was no wonder why no one would trouble the transfer student, even the delinquents wouldn"t bother her. Despite all of this though, Madoka was still a human and someone who was prone to making mistakes. She was all fine and well with everyone, but there were some times where her pity and understanding were not warranted by the other person, and needless to say they didn"t react well. Though it has only reached to the point of harsh words being said, there"s a small chance that someone would react worse the next time. While people were still friendly to Madoka, most didn"t really want to have anything to do with her.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Yomi asked hesitantly. Yomi could feel her face getting a bit more hotter after Mato"s reply. The girl was always a bit more sentimental than most people, but this seemed a bit too much even for her. As if they just didn"t see each other yesterday. Wait, perhaps Mato is... "W-wait, I think we"re going a bit too fast," Yomi said while flailing her arms. "W-we can"t just go hug each other publicly you know, think of what other people would think," she said in a hushed voice. "Ah, but if you insist I guess we can..." "Huh?" Mato frowned and tilted her head at Yomi"s behavior. "Are you alright, Yomi? You"re face looks a little red." "Good morning, Mato, Yomi!" The awkward conversation got interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice calling out their names. Yomi turned her head to the left to see Yuu walking towards them while waving her left arm in greeting, with Kagari following behind her a few steps away. Mato, of course, also turned around after hearing her name being called out. "Ah," Mato smiled as she saw them. "Good morning to you as well, Yuu," she said as she started walking towards Yuu. Yuu, meanwhile though, had a mischievous grin on her face as she saw them. "Oh oh dear, what were the two of you doing earlier?" "It"s n-not what you think," Yomi protested as she saw Yuu"s grin widen. She could feel herself sweating a bit as even Kagari started eyeing her suspiciously. "H-hugging is normal, right? We"re just-" "Yuu!" Mato raised her arms in front of herself and embraced Yuu, not unlike the way she did with Yomi earlier. This sudden action caused the rest to stop in surprise, with Yomi"s jaw left hanging mid speech. Mato seemed oblivious to their reactions though. Yuu was the first to recover from the shock and quickly hugged Mato back before she could notice. "Er, is there something wrong, Mato?" Yuu asked as she glanced back at Yomi for some explanation. The girl in question though had her head slumped so Yuu couldn"t see, but Yuu could haphazardly guess what her expression was... "Oh, its nothing really," Mato replied as she disengaged from Yuu. "I just felt like hugging you guys today." "Hmm... if you say so I guess," Yuu said after a while. Then she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Mato as she asked, "Are you sure that didn"t come from watching those animes again?" "Hey, I don"t watch that much anime," Mato protested. "Where did you guys get that idea from?" "Oh of course you don"t," Yuu answered as she put on her best doubtful expression. "You"ve been saying that like almost every time." "R-really? Oh yeah, I guess I did hehe," Mato laughed nervously. "I think it was-" "Jeez guys, how long are we going to stand here?" Kagari, who had been staying silent until now, suddenly interjected herself into the conversation. Her suddenness was enough to break Yomi out from her stupor to raise her head at her childhood friend. Kagari had an annoyed expression at the others, and only now did Yomi realize that they"ve forgotten about her. "Oh sorry, Kagari," Yomi smiled apologetically. "I guess we just got carried away..." "...Kagari-san?" Mato murmured as she turned to said person. There was a long pause she started looking the girl over, as if Mato was trying to assess her character. Kagari frowned at Mato"s gaze for while before crossing her arms. She opened her mouth to speak but stopped when Mato smiled at her. "Ah good morning to you, Kagari-san," Mato greeted her warmly. "I"m sorry I forgot to greet you earlier." Yuu looked shocked while Kagari had a dumbfounded expression at Mato"s words as she started walking towards Kagari. She could only close her mouth as Mato grabbed her hand. "But don"t worry, I definitely wont forget next time, because starting today," Mato paused as she clasped their hands together. "You"re part of our group now and we"re going to become good friends." Kagari could only stare as Mato looked at her expectantly with those bright blue eyes and big smile. She kept opening and closing her mouth, but no sound would come out. Kagari also noticed that not only Yuu was looking, but some of the student passing by were staring at the scene of her holding hands with Mato. They were eagerly waiting for her to respond, which she honestly didn"t know how. Then Yomi"s voice called out to them, diverting the attention away from Kagari. The three of them turned their heads to see that she had already passed the school entrance and was in the middle of the school field. "Hey guys we"re going to be late," she said while pointing at her watch. "We"ve got to pass our math assignments, remember?" "Wait what!? Math assignment?" Mato asked anxiously. No one answered her as everyone else started walking briskly, with Yuu immediately running ahead while Yomi seemed content to just walk normally. Kagari quickly ran forward only to walk beside Yomi. Left all alone, Mato could only sigh as she muttered, "such misfortune" before slowly walking forward, apparently having lost all her energy from earlier. Meanwhile, Kagari sighed in relief after finally pulling away from Mato as well as being back with Yomi. After a few seconds of calming down, she turned her head to the side to thank Yomi. "You really saved me back there, I really had no idea how to respond to that girl..." Kagari trailed off with another sigh. "Was that how people become... friends?" "Well, not quite, only Mato does that kind of stuff. She"ll just suddenly assert herself in front of you to become your friend..." Yomi trailed off with a chuckle as she thought back on their first meeting. "That girl is weird... or am I the one who"s weird?" Kagari asked hesitantly. "It has been a long time since I last talked with people other than doctors..." "You don"t have to worry about that, your doing fine," Yomi gave an encouraging smile to her childhood friend. "Mato is just that weird." "I guess so..." Kagari agreed hesitantly. "...you really know that girl well, Yomi." "...I guess I do know her a lot more than others," Yomi replied with a small smile. Actually, Yomi herself was also surprised earlier. But not because what Mato was doing was surprising or different, as it was true that she had done that, at least regarding Yomi. No, what surprised her was Mato doing it "now", rather than doing it yesterday when Kagari was just new. And not just for yesterday, for the previous days as well, Mato wasn"t quite like herself. ...well, at least she seems back to her old self again. Yomi she glanced back at Mato trudging towards them with a comical expression on her face, causing her to chuckle a bit. Looks like there really was nothing to worry about. Though she still felt bummed out from earlier. well guys summer classes are coming next week, probably will take longer to update. was kinda distracted this week since im learning to drive and was enrolling. so here, I hope this can satisfy you guys for now. tell me if something feels off, il try to correct it next time. ah sorry for the late chapter guys, I was rather busy during my summer classes and even now college is becoming a bit more hectic and time consuming. also, the TI4 of dota 2 is taking up a lot of my time. so anyways, here"s the chapter. I hope this will make up for it as well as show to you guys that I havent abandoned this fic yet. "Oh man... I knew I forgot to ask her about something... worse, there was even a test that I haven"t studied or learned at all..." The girl, Mato Kuroi, was currently groaning on her seat as she rested her chin on her desk. Turns out that there was a homework to be submitted today as well as a test for said topic. It also happened to be math, which Mato could confidentially say is her weakest subject. So it was a sight that was normal in their class, for the girl to be groaning about her frustrations to no one in particular. Except that she wasn"t exactly talking to no one. '...sorry. It slipped my mind due to other concerns... I should have done it much earlier before I headed out.' Currently there was someone speaking to Mato, though not physically present in the room itself. "Well, a lot did happen and it was also my fault for forgetting to check before going to sleep..." Mato trailed off as she straightened up and leaned back in her chair. '...now that I think about it, I should have taken your place to answer them...' "Ah no no, Rock-san," Mato said while shaking her head. "That"s cheating and not fair for my fellow classmates. I should answer it using my own knowledge." "It"s also not fair for you since you weren"t around.' "I-it"s still cheating," Mato still insisted. "And it"s just one failed test, I can still recover from it... hopefully..." she groaned again and gazed out at the window at her left. '...well, if that is your decision then, I"ll be silent now.' Silence passed as the voice had stopped talking. Mato stopped staring outside for a moment then glanced around her classroom, noticing Yomi, along with a few other classmates, was looking at her with a confused expression on her face. Mato put on a small smile on her face towards them, causing the students return to whatever they were doing earlier while Yomi still looked a bit worried before smiling back. "Ah, it really feels like I am talking to myself," Mato said with a slight grimace when Yomi turned back to talk with Yuu. "I can hear your words in my head instead of my ears, like there"s an echo inside my head." Mato was making conversations with being known as Black Rock Shooter, who is now currently residing within her own body and mind. Neither of them knew or had any idea how this happened though. A similar incident like this had occurred in the past where Black Rock Shooter had let Mato take control of her body in order to save Yomi, who happened to be possessed by someone called Dead Master. Mato could still remember how it felt before, where she had felt incredible power and strength in her limbs, as well as acute awareness and senses with her mind while she was inside Black Rock Shooter. It was different from now though, as neither she nor Rock had let the other possess her by their choice, and neither of them have really met each other since the incident in the past... To everyone else who were watching her, she appeared to be making various expressions on her face while murmuring to herself. Mato didn"t really mind though, as she had already been receiving weird looks in the past for her eccentric personality. "Aw man, that was really one tough test." Mato jolted back slightly in her seat at Yuu"s face suddenly appearing inches away from her face. Seems like Yuu had walked up to her seat while Mato had been busy moping around, so she was, understandably, a bit surprised. This didn"t go unnoticed by Yuu of course, who grinned at her reaction. "Muu, please don"t sneak up on me like that , Yuu," Mato whined. "So how did you do with the test?" Yuu asked, completely ignoring Mato"s request. "Did well or what?" "...not good, just as usual," Mato shook her head. "I didn"t have any idea how to solve those problems." "Eh? But didn"t you just do well with those problems yesterday?" Yuu looked at her with surprise. "You even corrected the teacher on one of them, heck a lot of us were surprised that you could understand it on the first try." Mato stared blankly at Yuu before her mouth suddenly felt dry. She quickly tried thinking of an excuse. "Ah um... I guess I just got lucky yesterday eheh," Mato replied back with a small laugh, hoping to deter Yuu away. Yuu didn"t buy it though and looked even more confused. "Huh? How can you get "lucky" on a math equation?" "Er- ah," Mato quickly thought up of an explanation. "I s-saw the equation in one of those online forums while I was browsing one of those manga forums," Mato replied as best as she could, drawing up again from her online experience. "...oh, so that"s how it is," Yuu said after a while. She tilted her head to think about it before nodding slightly. "Yeah... that sounds possible, though you have to be really lucky for that one to come out yesterday..." "I"m just... lucky I guess," Mato said with a slight chuckle. "Yeah... of course," Yuu suddenly smiled. "There"s no way you would have done well in math of course," she said with a light punch at Mato"s shoulder. "Ahaha, yeah," Mato continued chuckling, though her voice seemed a bit lower now. "I really... cant do anything for math." Mato then watched Yuu walk back to her seat before sighing. Then Mato slumped her face on the desk, feeling mentally exhausted already. '...sorry.' "Ah its not really your fault, im just really..." Mato trailed off with sigh. "Well, at least today we"re going to be doing some baking on our home economics subject," the thought of baking her own cookies to eat made Mato temporarily forget about her own failures. "I"m going to be able to make a comeback this time!" Home Economics "Wait wait, you mean you have no idea on how to cook?" "Well, it can"t be helped. She was hospitalized, remember?" Kagari also couldn"t help but wince at the topic Yuu and Yomi were discussing about, which was herself. Specifically, her knowledge and experience in cooking. As she was a new transfer student, the teacher had allowed her to choose which group she could go to for their activity. Naturally, she went for the one that had Yomi... which naturally had Mato and Yuu as well. Things started out fine until the teacher had started talking about them baking a cake and Kagari telling them she didn"t know how cooking worked. So now, Yomi was defending from Yuu while Mato was slumping down on their table, her face turned away from the group. Kagari could only guess what the girl was feeling, as earlier she heard Mato exclaim about looking forward for this class... Yuu sighed once then directed her gaze at Kagari. "Still, couldn"t she have at least seen a cooking show at least once?" she asked. "That"s-" Yomi was about to protest when Kagari raised her hand. "It"s alright, Yomi," she said. "Yuu"s got a point, and even if she didn"t it doesn"t change the fact that I"m inexperienced." Well, I"ll just sit this one out- "No can do, Kagari-san," Mato suddenly rose up from her position, interrupting Kagari"s thoughts. "You have to help participate otherwise the point of this subject will be meaningless." The three of them were surprised, Kagari especially, at how easily Mato was taking it. Yomi looked pleasantly surprised while Yuu looked shocked. "Eh are you sure about this, Mato?" Yuu asked cautiously towards the girl. "The cake may end up tasting funny or we might get into an accident." "Everyone has their first time, right?" Mato replied back with her own question. "Plus, wouldn"t it be safer and be better with all of us here compared to if she tries it on her own?" "Yes yes," Yomi nodded enthusiastically. "This will be a good learning experience for Kagari to practice, we just guide her." "Ah fine then, we"ll let her help," Yuu relented. She still looked nervous about it though. After Yuu agreed, the three of them turned around to look at Kagari, causing her to freeze slightly. Eh is this really okay?... Kagari"s thoughts trailed off at the looks of anticipation from Mato. Well, Yomi was also giving the same look but that was what she expected from her friend. Seeing it on Mato though... Kagari took a deep breathe before answering their unspoken question. "...alright, I guess," she said. "B-but don"t blame it on me if it tastes bad." "Don"t worry too much, Kagari," Yomi smiled encouragingly at her reply. "You wont know until you try it." "I hope your right about that one," Yuu sighed before putting on her apron. "Ok then," Mato exclaimed as she picked up the mixing bowl and cups. "Lets start!" "Ah, that cake was pretty good. Kagari-san really did well on her first try." '...didn"t she add a bit too much sugar and cream? The icing didn"t really stick that well and there was a few excess left in the bowl.' "Well... it was certainly better than my first attempt, where I had mixed up the sugar with the salt." '...' School had already ended several minutes ago and Mato, with Rock inside her, was now heading home in high spirits. The baking anxiety went away gradually as they had worked on their activity. Kagari followed the directions and instructions pretty faithfully, with only a slight mistake, that was attributed to her shaky fingers that weren"t used to keeping things steady due to being hospitalized for so long. So none of them, even Yuu, could really blame her for that mistake. And, well, the cake still tasted good and nothing funny happened as the girls expected. Kagari was even the one who turned off the stove in the precise time while the three of them got distracted in their conversations. "Eheh, I knew she had it in her to be good," Mato giggled as she remembered Kagari"s reaction to their compliments after they were done. The girl had looked really embarrassed and abashed, she even hid behind Yomi until the four of them had to split up and go home. She had muttered to them eventually her thanks and then left with Yomi. "I really feel like we"re going to be good friends," Mato smiled at the thought of that. "Things are going to be more fun now." '...' "Hmm? Something wrong, Rock-san?" Mato asked as she felt the other girl being hesitant. "Ah, it"s nothing... well, I just don"t feel comfortable with that girl, as she didn"t seem to like you before.' "She"s just the shy type, probably not used to making new friends," Mato reassured her. "Kagari-san is not a bad person, she just doesn"t know how to be friendly, that"s all." '...your right,' Rock relented. "It"s certainly true that her situation is different from others, thus she"ll react differently than others. Her situation is pretty pitiful but...' "...but what?" Mato asked after a long pause. '...it just doesn"t feel alright with her,' Rock continued. "Just a gut feeling I have.' Rock"s reply caused Mato to frown and stop in her tracks. "I don"t think it"s a good idea to just judge people negatively like that, Rock-san." '...yeah, your probably right,' Rock admitted with a sigh. "It"s just that in my world, you cant be too trustworthy and nice to others.' "...while that is sometimes true here as well," Mato agreed after a few seconds passed. "I think its better to think positively on other people and give them a chance." '...let"s just get back to your house,' Rock said before going silent, neither agreeing or disagreeing with her. Mato could sort of sense that Rock had something more to say but she had gone silent instead after that. A few minutes passed before it was clear that Rock was really done talking, which caused Mato to resume walking home. The quietness felt like she was by herself, just like in the past before Rock had showed up. "So that"s how you make chocolate chip cookies huh." Kagari was muttering to herself as she had her head down, studiously reading a cooking book that she had found somewhere in the bookshelves of their living room. She would occasionally scrutinize her face, look puzzled or even frown a bit on reading the book, but ultimately she continued on reading and you might even spot a slight upward curve of her mouth. Anyone who knew Kagari, even if only a little, would have been surprised at her being diligent at something like this, let alone anything at all. Ever since that accident, the girl would often be subdued and unmotivated in everything she did. She would also sport a gloomy and unfriendly expression on her face over the years that most people just gave her space, guessing that the girl would prefer it that way and remain like that onwards. Well, they were certainly correct on that assumption, at least in the past they were. Kagari certainly remained like that for several years and even now she"s still sometimes like that whenever she"s left alone. But now... "There"s a lot of good looking things to make here... ah, I should keep with the simple and basic ones for now," Kagari nodded to herself as she flipped through the baking section of the book. "If I can improve a lot on this, maybe I can impress and make Yomi proud about me." Contrary to popular belief, Kagari was fairly aware of the atmosphere she emitted as well as how people viewed her. She just didn"t care about other people"s impressions on her, Yomi being the only exception. If she was by herself in the situation earlier, she"d have let people think like that about her and not bother trying to fit in. With Yomi there and encouraging her though, she was split on either doing it and failing, or not doing it at all, both of which would make her look bad for Yomi. ...if that person didn"t encourage me as well though... "...that girl"s different," Kagari stopped her reading for a while as she thought about the girl. Kuroi Mato was a strange person indeed. Unlike all the other people who she met, with the exception of Yomi of course, Mato was the first person who was persistent to her. The people who tried to be nice to her got rebuffed almost immediately once she refused them the first time, while the others didn"t bother trying. None of them really understood or paid her any attention, even her own parents didn"t really try to communicate with her after she closed herself, leaving Kagari to her own devices and often left alone in the house like right now.

Alright, I"m sorry, I was so busy with schoolwork that I forgot to post! I promise to write during the summer! One night, the boom noise woke Jan up. She looks around immediately and then realizes it"s her own room which made her feel a little better this time. But then another boom noise but this time with a flash outside. There is a rainstorm tonight. Jan whimpers, she"s always and has been afraid of thunderstorms. She has a huge fear of it that she barely overcame. Often whenever there is a thunderstorm at night, she would crawl into her "parents" bed and sleep there with them. And at a sleepover, she would crawl into someone"s bed to make sure someone is there with her. She got up and walked out the room with her teddy bear. She went to Danny"s room and found him sleeping in his bed. She crawls into his bed to lay next to him quickly before another thunder sound. Danny felt something coming into bed. He opened his eyes to Jan"s puppy dog eyes and asked groggily, "Jan? What are you doing here?" Jan was about to answer but then another boom sound was heard and she snuggles into Danny whimpering. He noticed it and looked out his window and then realized what was going on. He smiles at his sister and then wraps his arms around her and then kisses her. He says soothingly, "it"s alright. I"ll protect you from the thunder storm. You"re safe. It"s alright. I"m here for you sweetie. Sleep now..." He kisses her again and then sings a soft lullaby. Jan looks up to him and then smiles before her eyes droop. She snuggles into him more and went back to sleep. Danny watches her for the rest of the night to make sure she doesn"t wake up again. Morning came quickly for the two, Danny opened his eyes to the sunlight and noticed the storm is over. He looked down to his sister and her eyes fluttered open. "Hey sunshine." Jan was about to reply but then she didn"t have a nickname. So she frowned instead and Danny already knew why. "It"s alright. We have more time!" Danny said and then got up. Jan asked, "Hey Danny?" He looked at her in question. "Where did that lullaby come from? Did you make that?" Jan asked. Danny shook his head. "No. Mom used to sing it to me when I was afraid or I had a bad day when I was little. I remember it because I knew it by heart. She smiled before getting up to have breakfast. "I like it!" After a couple more weeks, Jan had gotten used to be Danny"s sister, and is used to the house a lot more. She still hangs out with the Pink Ladies and Putzie. Danny is quite used to having Jan in the family. But he had a bad dream one night that Jan was killed by the same person who kidnapped her. So he promises himself to be a hero to his sister and take good care of her and not let anything happen to her ever again. But then Jan kept feeling as if Danny is protecting her because he kept holding her hand the whole time and she worries the guys will make fun of him for it. The guys didn"t know and Danny didn"t even worry a bit about them. He just worries about his sister and his girlfriend too. Then one day at Frosty Palace Jan had a meltdown and it happened. "Jan? Want a polar burger? My treat!" Danny says and Jan looks at him for a moment and then shook her head. "I already had one. It"s alright." Danny shook his head and asked, "What"s wrong?" "You can tell us Jan!" Frenchy said agreeing getting Jan to answer. Putzie sat next to Jan and wrapped an arm around her. "It"s alright." Jan"s eyes filled up with tears and then says softly, "Danny... I"m sorry I told anyone this, but why is it you"re holding my hand all this time? Why are you calling me Sunshine? That"s not the Danny Zuko I know. I mean you were tough. But what happened to you?" She then broke down and then shouts, "I"m sorry Danny! I didn"t mean to tell it in front of the guys!" Danny chuckled and says, "I"m sorry about that. It"s just that I wanted to protect you and not let anything happen to you. Besides, the guys already know. Also, you just don"t tell anyone I cook. Alright?" "Wait.. You cook?" Jan suddenly closed her mouth with her hands and Danny looked around forgetting that the guys are around him. He cursed softy and then Jan shouted, "What have I done!" Danny said to his sister, "Jan, that"s not your fault!" Jan got up and ran out of the diner crying. Doody came closer and asked, "You cook Danny?" "Danny? What"s going on?" Kenickie asked. He looked at everybody and sighed, "I got a confession to make. But Putz, I"ll tell you later." Putzie nodded before running after Jan. "Alright so, I cook. Because my folks are always busy and I needed to do something for them. So I went to some culinary school just so I can help. They need me." Danny explains. "So go ahead. Laugh at me. It"s the big deepest darkest secret." Kenickie said suddenly, "Danny. We won"t laugh at you. If this actually means a lot to you, we won"t laugh." "I won"t," Doody shook his head. "Pretty funny... But..." Sonny frowned trying not to smile or laugh. "This is hilarious. I can picture Danny Zuko in the kitchen wearing an apron, and cooking something like in a commercial." Rizzo giggles but for the first time. Nobody laughs much with her. Rizzo asked, "The hell? This is supposed to be funny." Kenickie went to his girlfriend and said, "Actually. This isn"t really funny. Danny had to do it to his family. Especially since Jan is now his sister, he has to do it for her." Marty and Frenchy nodded in agreement. Rizzo shrugs and Sandy went to Danny and asked, "Danny? How come you never told me?" "I just don"t want anyone laughing at me." Frenchy went to the window expecting Putzie bringing Jan back, but a few minutes later, they hadn"t shown up. Putzie"s car is still there but there"s no Putzie. It"s been a couple minutes later until Frenchy says worried, "Hey guys, it"s been about ten minutes and Jan isn"t back yet..." Danny got up and shouts, "Kenickie, Doody, Sonny. Let"s find them. They could be hurt!" Sandy went to Danny. "Let me come with you!" She says and Danny shook his head. "Just stay with the chicks. Alright?" Danny instructed her to join the pink ladies. Sandy nodded and then went back to her friends. Rizzo asked, "Are you sure you can let me come Zuko?" Danny shook his head again and the guys immediately left to find the couple. I know. It went to fast. But I"ll try to write a little bit more soon! PROMISE! I just gotta get through my finals! I just got and idea last night to write this. The guys went down the street to find Putzie and Jan. They looked around the area by Frosty Palace but aren"t there. Just then, they heard screaming coming from the other side of the streets. They followed the sound until it"s coming from the train tracks. Danny slid down the hill following the sound as the guys follow. "HELP! HELP US! PLEASE!" He recognized that voice. That"s Jan"s voice. He ran down the tracks until he sees two figures lying on the train tracks. "HELP US!" Jan"s voice shouted as Danny came closer and noticed the figures squirming trying to free out of the ropes. It"s them. Danny screamed, "OH MY GOD!" He went over to Jan and yelled, "KENICKIE! DOODY! SONNY! I FOUND THEM! HELP!" He tried to untie the ropes but they were knotted tight. "Don"t worry Jan! I"ll get you out of there!" Jan started crying feeling frightened. The guys came over shouting. "Kenickie! Untie Putzie! Give me the knife!" Sonny immediately gave him the knife and then started to cut the rope as Kenickie used his knife to cut the other. "Those ropes are too strong!" Kenickie yelled. Just then they all heard a whistle coming from the train about two miles away. "DAMN!" Danny screamed as he furiously tries to cut the rope with a knife. Kenickie tried too and then the rope snapped. "Yes! Putzie you"re free!" Doody took Putzie and ran up the hill. Sonny yelled, "Danny! The train is coming!" "I know!" Danny screamed. "The rope won"t snap!" Jan starts feeling frightened. Danny screamed with frustration, "DAMN IT! IT"S NOT WORKING! KENICKIE! GIVE ME THE LIGHTER!" Kenickie pulled out a lighter and Danny immediately took it from him. "Sonny! Go! Now!" Kenickie yells at Sonny and then he ran up the hill to the others. Danny lighted the rope and it caught fire. He looks and saw a small light growing bigger as he heard the whistle again. He cursed loudly and then Kenickie pulls the rope tying to get it to snap. Jan starts panicking because the train is coming about a half a mile away as a fast as their car. "Jan! Don"t worry! I"m getting you out of there! I"ll get you out!" His poor sister is feeling frightened and then finally, with the lighter and the knife and pulling by Danny and Kenickie, the rope finally snapped and then they hear the whistle coming near and near and they felt the ground shake. Kenickie ran up the hill screaming, "DANNY! THE TRAIN!" The guys all shouted individually really scared. Danny took the ropes off of Jan and then as the train was about to come as the speed of lightning. Danny immediately took Jan into his arms and carried her up the hill though he kept sliding down as the train passes by as quickly. Kenickie took Danny and Jan by the hands and the guys helped pulled them up as the train passed. Everyone calmed down panting and Danny looks at his sister safe in his arms before Putzie who is safe in Kenickie"s arms hugging him. He hugs Jan tightly and she starts crying. Danny strokes her head shaking because he started to cry too. The guys all know why he was crying. He was about to lose his sister. And it was so close he was about to lose his own sister to a speeding train. Jan cried, "I am so scared. I thought I was going to die." Danny says back, "I am too Jan... I am too." Kenickie asked Jan and Putzie, "are you two alright?" Putzie took a deep calming breaths and nodded. Jan didn"t reply. She continued to cry in Danny. "I"m sorry Jan! I"m so sorry!" Danny cried. "I failed as a brother." Jan hugged him tighter as if he"s her security blanket. The guys watched the moment and then soon Doody asked, "Putz? You know who did this?" Putzie took another deep breath and replied, "I don"t know. It"s either Crater face, or some fat drunk greaser. I don"t know. He smells like alcohol. He kidnapped me and Jan as soon as we walked out of Frosty"s." They all heard and Jan continues to cry in Danny"s arms. "I didn"t mean to run away from you. I"m sorry Danny," Jan says between hiccups. Danny hugs her tighter again as he stopped crying. He asked, "You wanna sleepover at Frenchy"s?" Jan shook her head still crying. "I wanna go home. Please! I wanna go home! Now!" Danny nodded and then everyone else stood up and went walking home. He carried his sister who was still scared and traumatized. She asked, "Danny... Please don"t tell mom and dad this.. Ok?" "Sure my girl. Sure," Danny replied and Jan wrapped her arms around his neck hugging him. "You"re not hurt or anything. Are you?" Danny asked. Jan shook her head and Danny sighed of relief. The guys went to take Putzie home so he can sleep while Danny takes Jan home. As soon as they got home Danny took her into his room and put her in his bed. Jan is wide awake still feeling scared. Danny asked, "You want me to sing to you?" Jan nodded when Danny gave her pajamas from her room and left her to change real quick. He came back in and then went into bed with her and Jan cuddles closer into him. "Remember, me and Putzie and the rest are here for you!" He kissed her forehead and then sings softly. Jan listened until her eyes drifted shut. After making sure Jan is finally asleep, he started saying a prayer. It was one of the first times he ever said a prayer. Danny whispers, "Please... God... please! I need help! My sister nearly died tonight and I don"t want it to happen. Please, help me protect her from all of it. I was a horrible brother. letting her go like that. Please." Tears went down his cheeks and then finally says, "I hope nothing bad will happen to her. Please!" He sniffles trying not to wake his sister. He kept pleading to God for help repeatedly until he fell asleep hugging his sister. Jan was watching tv on the couch with Twinkie on her lap and Danny came back to cook dinner. She starts eating Twinkies that she still has. Danny came in and asked, "Where did you get that?" "Get what?" She asked confused. Danny points the twinkie in her hand. "That." Jan replied. "It"s a twinkie." "What are they made of anyways? I know you have been eating them since we met but what are they made of?" Jan looks at it and replied again, "It"s made of spongecake, with a creamy vanilla filling on the inside." Danny asked, "Why do you keep eating these things?" Jan looks at him for a moment and then sighs, "I don"t know... Maybe it"s sort of like a drug or something to get addicted to. Why? You wanna try one?" "No thanks. I didn"t like them," Danny said about to leave the room. Jan asked, "But you haven"t tried one! Please Danny! For me!" He looked at her again and then took the twinkie from her hand and then took a bite. Then he looked at her for a moment and then walked away to make dinner. "Ok." Jan sighs. He doesn"t like twinkles. Then the next morning... Jan woke up and stretched before pulling a box from underneath her bed which has boxes and boxes of Twinkies. She opened the box and then finds the box empty. She gasped and then looks around. She went to Danny"s bedroom asking him, "Danny? Where are the twinkles?" Then she found the bed empty. But not really empty... There are at least 5 Twinkie wrappers in the sheets. Jan can"t help but grin and laugh that her jaw starts to hurt. She shook her head still smiling and then decides to walk to the store to get more boxes. I know it"s short, but I am having a writer"s block. I need help with more brother and sister bonding. In the later chapters they"re having a road trip and I need some more sibling bonding before it! Please! I need ideas! Soon a couple days before they"re vacation, Danny asked Sandy out on a double date with Jan and Putzie. The reason why is because Danny wants two people coming with Jan to New York. Never knowing this, Jan didn"t know her parents much to well and needs her close friends by her side. He tried to ask the others but they already have plans. As soon as both couples enter the Chinese restaurant, they were seated at the table looking at the menus. Danny asked, "Have you guys decided on anything?" Jan licked her lips and Putzie chuckles, "Can"t decide. Huh?" Jan shook her head as her eyes never looked away from the menu. "Sandy? Want anything?" Danny asked his girlfriend. She replied, "I don"t know. I never had Chinese food in a restaurant before. I bet it tastes good as back home." Danny asked, "How about you can have what I"m having?" She nodded. "Ok. Oh wait! I found something! Ok!" The nice waitress came to the table and says, "Welcome to the Red Dragon. May I take your order?" Putzie starts, "Alrighty then, I"ll have a chicken and broccoli with fried rice." "I"ll have a chicken and mushrooms, beef and broccoli and chow mein," Danny said. The waitress looked at him puzzled, "You want anything to go with it?" "Uhhhh..." Danny looked in the menu again. "Fried rice." The waitress shrugged and wrote it down. She asked Sandy, "Anything for you miss?" "Ummm... I"ll have the Kung Pow chicken with Lo Mein." Jan then says looking at the menu, "Orange chicken, and General TSO"s chicken, black pepper chicken, with Lo Mein." The waitress kept up with everything and writing down. "Any appetizers?" They all look at each other and then said one by one. "Dumplings!" "Wonton soup!" "Egg rolls!" "Egg drop soup!" The waitress sighed and asked one more time, "Drinks?" "Coke!" "Cherry Coke!" "Water!" "Lemon Lime Soda!" The waitress collected the menus and then sighs, "alright. It will be ready soon." She walks away mumbling under her breath, "They better have the dough." Putzie asked, "Geez Danny. That"s a lot of food. How are you gonna pay for this?" "It"s alright. I got a 50 dollar bill." Danny smiled and then he asked is girlfriend. "Sandy? Can we talk for a sec?" Sandy looked at him for a moment and then nodded. He took her by the hand saying tot he other couple, "We"ll be back." He took Sandy and went to the other side of the room and she asks, "Danny? What is going on?" He took a deep breath and said, "You know that i"ll be leaving in a few days. Jan is gonna be leaving too with me. But the problem is that my mom hasn"t really known Jan as much as me. So, Jan sort of needs a close girl with her when she needs something." "What do you mean Danny?" Sandy asked confused, but understood a bit of it. Danny asked, "Is it alright if you can come with us to New York?" Sandy looked for a second and then said slowly, "I don"t know. I"m not sure what my parents had to say. What about Rizzo?" He replied, "Rizzo is going to Italy for the whole spring break." "What about Frenchy?" "She"s going to Flordia to see her cousins," Danny sighed. "Mart-" "She has a new job and had to work. She can"t come with us. Sandy, I need you. Jan needs you." Sandy replied, "Maybe. I will go, but I don"t know about my parents." "We"ll convince them together," Danny smiled and Sandy nodded. "Hey guys! The food came!" They hear Putzie and then came back to find the appetizers on the table and Jan had started eating them. Jan asked her boyfriend while eating, "So Putzie, did you say you"re parents are on a business trip?" He nodded eating and then Jan asks, "They won"t mind if you can come to New York with us?" Putzie swallowed and asks, "are you serious? I would love too!" Jan giggles as they all start eating each other"s food until they got full and then went home. I know it"s short, but no negative reviews please! One night, Jan was staying home watching telelvison until she heard a thud coming from the front door. She got up and went to see what it is. To her shock, her brother is laying there by the front door in pain. "Danny!" Jan shouted. "What happened to you?" She ran to him and helped him get up and brought him to the couch. Danny coughed and says quietly, "I don"t know. I was walking home from Kenickie"s, but then out of nowhere some big idiot came and attacked me." Jan rushed to get some things from the bathroom and the kitchen and came back with an ice pack, raw steak and bandages. He is a bit of a wreck. Bruises on different parts and a black eye. "Is it that stupid what"s his face?" Danny understands what she"s talking about. "No... It"s not that idiot Leo. It"s some idiot who looks like a fat neighbor. All I know is that he smells like alcohol." "Wait. Did you say alcohol and fat?" Jan asked suddenly. Danny nodded. "Can it be the same guy who tied me and Putzie to the train tracks a while ago?" "Maybe." Danny said then he winced in pain. Jan shushes comforting him and heals his bruises and puts ice packs on some. "It"s ok. I"m here. I"m here!" Danny calms down and Jan gives him the steak for his eye. "Who taught you?" Danny asked. "Hmmm?" Jan asked back. Danny comments, "I never knew that you have really terrific nursing skills. Really caring. Who taught you?" Jan replied, "my mom." She paused and corrected feeling sad. "My adopted mom." She looks down and then starts to cry. Danny who started to feel better asked, "What"s wrong?" Jan replied, "I miss my adoptive parents so much. If only I can see them again." Danny feels bad for her. He then said, "how about this. Before we leave on our trip, maybe you can spend the whole day with your adoptive parents. It"s not the end of the world. They said you can visit anytime you like." Jan stops crying and smiled at her brother. He said standing up and giving the steak back. "I"m going to bed. Night Jan. Thanks." He smiles and went to his room. "You"re welcome. And thanks Danny! Goodnight!" Jan put everything away and then went to bed happy she will see her "parents" again. Siblings are there for each other to fix their problems, bruises and broken hearts. Ok. So I was thinking of making a 4th of July special. Maybe. Positive reviews please! :) Jan went to see her adoptive parents again and talked all day. They are happy to see her again. When she told them she"s going away for a few days, they encourage her even though Jan feels bad. They cheered her up and gave her apple pie. Days later, it was the night before they go on a road trip. Sandy begged her parents along with Danny and they finally said yes. So the four, with Putzie brought suitcases to their house the night before they leave because Danny mentioned their dad loves early starts. So they have to sleepover there before they leave. Jan cuddles into Putzie while watching a movie on their television with Danny and Sandy until they turned in early since they have an early start in the morning. It was soon three in the morning and their mom came to wake the kids. "Kids? Wake up! Time to leave!" Sandy awoke along with Danny and stretches. "What time is it?" She asked her boyfriend. "It"s 3:04..." Danny groans and got up. He noticed Putzie was fast asleep sitting up in the chair and Jan laying on the couch. Danny sighed and got up before Sandy did and then went to Putzie to wake him. He yawned groggily. "Morning already?" He asked.

"Who is it mom?" Evan asked coming to the door who opened up to a widely smiling face. "Hi Mrs. Hansen! Hi Evan!" Evan waves, "Hi Alana!" Alana Beck entered the house with her stuff and greets the group, "Hey guys!" Zoe waves, "Hi Alana!" "Hey," Connor only replied. "I"m so excited about the slumber party that I have packed everything this morning!" She says enthusiastically putting her stuff next to the others. Heidi came out of the kitchen bringing a bowl of chips and dip. "If anyone wants anything, the kitchen is always open!" She says cheerfully putting it down on the coffee table and the four immediately start snacking. The sound of the doorbell rang once more and Zoe answered it this time finding Jared Kleinman waltzing through the front door. "Party timmmeeee," he sing-songed as he appeared in the living room with his sleeping bag before stopping when he saw everyone. He asks a little disappointed, "I"m the last one here?" "Yup." Zoe nods. Jared only shrugged and put his stuff down. "Oh well." "Hey Jared!" Alana greets waving enthusiasically. "What up Kleinman," Connor says. Jared sat down on the last comforter asking, "Did I miss anything?" Evan replied, "Nope. J-Just getting started." Just then Heidi enters the room. "Evan, I"m calling up for pizza before I go, so here"s a twenty for when the pizza delivery man arrives." Heidi went over to the group handing them the money. Evan replied, "Thanks mom." "Alright so I bet you want to usual, extra cheese. Just the way you like?" And she got a nod from her son. She asked the other teens, "What would the rest of you like on your pizza?" "Mushrooms," Connor answered. Zoe said, "Pepperoni." "Green peppers," Alana calls out. And Jared replied, "Anchovies." The rest of the group looked at him strangely. "Really Kleinman?" Connor asked a little disgusted. Jared gave him a glare, "What? I like fish? And why mushrooms Murphy?" The taller teen was about to talk back but Heidi announces, "Ok! I"ll call it up! It might be here before 6." And then she went into the kitchen to get her phone "Y"know, your mom is so cool Hansen," Connor comments, "Our mom never lets us have take-out." Zoe shook her head in agreement. Evan blushed a little. "T-thanks..." Heidi came back in the living room. "Oh hey Connor! Can I have a word for a minute in private?" Glancing at everyone else, Connor stood up from the couch and followed Evan"s mom to the kitchen. "Mrs. Hansen? Am I in trouble already?" Connor asked. "Oh no, it"s not that! I just wanted to talk to you about Evan." "Oh..." She starts, "Well you know that it"s Evan"s first sleepover right?" "Yeah... Is this your idea?" "Oh no! It"s his idea! I was so proud of him for inviting friends overnight for the first time," Heidi says with a small smile. "You know how sometimes Evan gets?" Connor thought for a moment forgetting about Evan"s anxiety. He then nodded about three seconds later and she continued, "And you know there are "episodes" like panic attacks and such?" He nodded again. "I trust you Connor, so I know you can help if he gets all anxious or panicky. Tell him the ten things he sees in the room, do a breathing exercise. But when all else fails, just run upstairs to his bedroom at the end of the hallway on your left and get his teddy bear that"s on the bed. He only uses it as a stress ball to squeeze with and always calmed him down when he gets nightmares, or when I"m not here, etc. Think you can do it?" Taking every word as an understatement, Connor replied, "Yes ma"am." Evan"s mom beamed brightly putting her hand on his shoulder. "If anything else happens and counts as an emergency, just call the hospital and tell them to get me. Ok?" "Yes ma"am," Conner answered again. She grabs her pocket book. "Ok. I have to take half the night shift and I won"t be back till midnight so I expect lights out when I come back." Heidi chuckles at the memory. "Evan hardly stays up all night. He did it once on a road trip to our relatives when he was seven and passes out soon as the sun came up. I couldn"t wake the poor baby so I had to carry him." Connor couldn"t help but smile thinking about it. "Anyways, I"ll be back in a couple of hours. I"m counting on you Connor. This is Evan"s first slumber party and though it was his idea, I want it to be a success. Ok?" "Yes Mrs. Hansen." "Oh, just call me Heidi! I gotta run! Thanks so much!" They went back to the living room finding everyone else lounging around and eats snacks. "Alright kids! I"ll be out for a while and pizza is on the way so I want you all to be on your best behavior ok? Oh! And Evan?" She went over to him and gave him a refill. "Don"t forget." "I-I won"t..." She smiled and gave him a kiss before leaving. "See you later kids!" "Bye Mom! Bye Mrs. Hansen," The five chorused as she walked out the door. Now the five sit in silence which starts to get awkward. Evan breaks the silence, "Ummm... What are we gonna do first?" "I got a lot of good ideas!" Jared volunteers but Zoe interrupts, "If this is one of your gay or "kinky" ideas, I swear to god-" Jared shouts, "They"re not gay or "kinky"!" Connor scoffs, "Yeah right, bath bomb boy." And they all laugh. Connor continued, "Seriously Kleinman. This is Evan"s first slumber party so he should decide what we"re doing before the pizza arrives." And Zoe agreed, "Yeah. Let"s give Evan a chance!" "Yeah, what do you want to do Evan?" Alana asks Evan who shrugs. "I-I don"t know to be honest. What do you n-normally do at sleepovers?" Connor sighed thinking, "This is gonna be a long hell of a night." "We can watch movies," Alana piped up excited. "Or Netflix!" Zoe has an idea. "Maybe make ice cream sundaes!" "Ooooh! How about a game of truth or dare!?" Jared says excited. And Zoe asked scoffing, "What the hell is this? The 90"s?" "C"mon! It"s a classic game! I"ll go first! Evan, truth or dare?" Evan froze when Jared asked him a question. "You know how to play?" He suddenly rambles a little, "I-I do! I just... Never really played with any-anyone!" To stop Evan from panicking, Connor said, "How about i"ll go first! Truth or dare Kleinman?" Jared thought for a moment and said, "Truth." "You really think that I would do terrible things to you when you say dare?" Connor asked raising his eyebrow. Snorting, he shook his head. "No way Murphy." "Then is it true that you stuff your bath bombs up your ass?" Alana gasped at the thought, and Zoe starts laughing hysterically. Evan only cracked a smile calming down getting the idea of this game. Jared couldn"t believe what he was hearing. He was about to comment but Alana stops right there. "Alright! This game just got a little extreme! Why don"t we just watch a movie or something!" "I guess we can do that." Zoe said in agreement. The boys nodded and they all select through the Netflix movies. It took forever but they eventually chose Back To The Future and was about to start the movie but the doorbell rang. "Oh! Must be the pizza man! I got it guys!" Alana stands up and went to answer it and brought it in. Jared cheers, "Wooo! I"m starving!" "I wouldn"t starving since your eating pizza with fish on it," Connor said sarcastically. "Connor, lay off Jared," Zoe said as everyone else takes a slice. Alana asks Evan who is sitting on the couch, "Where are the drinks Evan?" "I-In the refrigerator," Evan replied and she got up to get it. She came back with drinks and the movie was just getting started. It was nearly 9 when the movie ended and Evan was getting tired but everyone else is completely wide awake. "Let"s go make ice cream sundaes!" Zoe cheers and she, Alana and Jared charged to the kitchen while Connor stayed with Evan. Judging but the tired look on Evan"s face, Connor asked concerned, "You ok Hansen?" "Yeah... Just a little tired." Connor suddenly remembered that Evan hardly stays up so late like Heidi said. About a five minutes later, the others returned with ice cream bowls filled with sundaes. "Let"s watch another movie! Who"s with me?" Alana asked the group. Though Zoe and Jared cheered, Conner tries to say,"Guys, maybe we should slow down a bit. Evan is-" "I have a good idea!" Alana says interrupting and hyped up on ice cream, "This may be insane, but the one who stays up all night the longest wins!" Conner cringed at the thought. He never saw that coming. "Wow Alana... I never heard that coming from you," Jared comments. "But I will destroy you guys in this challenge! I"m so in!" "What will the winner get?" Zoe asked her best friend. Alana replied, "The winner gets 20 bucks." Evan asked a little nervous, "And the loser?" "Not a single penny." Zoe shrugged in agreement, "Then we"ll do it." "Let"s just get in our jammies first!" Alana says and everyone else went to bathrooms or bedrooms to get changed before meeting up back in the living room rolling out their sleeping bags. Jared takes the center in front of the coffee table and Alana takes one corner, Zoe took another and Connor decides to sleep in an armchair which felt cozy. And Evan takes the couch. "Guys listen! Maybe we shouldn"t stay up too long-" "Nice try Murphy! I know your gonna take us out like that just so you would win," Jared said with a hint of sarcasm to Connor. Connor snapped, "It"s not like that Kleinman!" "Oh, so your so afraid of a little competition. Huh?" "But Mrs. Hansen is expecting us to be asleep when she gets back." Zoe asked shouting, "Since when are you our babysitter?" "She was holding me responsible Zoe!" The three start to argue which gets louder and louder and Alana tries to break them up. Evan who was silent the whole time watches getting petrified and starts breathing fast. There shouldn"t be any fighting at his first slumber party! Alana tries to stop but when she noticed Evan starting a shake a little violent she yells, "You guys! Evan"s going berserk!" Connor immediately looked at Evan and ran to him and tried to calm him down. "Evan! Evan! Calm down!" Tears were pouring out of his eyes and mumbles the apology over and over, "I"msorryI"msorryI"msorryI"msorryI"msorry!" "Evan! It"s alright! Just breathe with me! Ok!? Breathe!" Connor takes deep breaths trying to get Evan in rhythm but the younger boy clenched his eyes tight and has trouble breathing. Connor tries to think of what instructions Heidi gave him. And he remembered the teddy bear that"s upstairs. He asked his sister. "Zoe! Can you stay with him please? And ask him the ten things he sees in this room!" Connor ran upstairs for a minute while Zoe comforts Evan but wrapping her arms around him pulling into a hug. Alana and Jared watch on uncomfortably not knowing what to say or do. "Can you tell me the ten things you see in this room Evan?" She asked him who"s now crying and shaking. It took a moment but Evan finally answers opening his eyes stuttering, "Y-you, a-a coffee t-table, J-Jared, Alana, the flat s-screen..." But he continued to sob trying to calm down but he hiccuped. Connor came back with a tattered teddy bear in his hand and kneeled in front of Evan and holds it up in front of him for him to see it. "Evan?" He looked up at the bear and quickly took it in his arms squeezing it with all his might letting go of Zoe. Only a few minutes later, Evan"s breathing slowed but tears continue to roll down his cheeks. Finally, Evan"s breathing is back in rhythm and Connor asked, "Are you ok?" A reply he got was a nod. "What"s the matter Evan?" It was a minute before Evan replied, "I think I ruined it." "Ruined what?" Connor asked in confusion. "T-the party. All of you were f-fighting and I t-thought I didn"t do a good job making it awe-awesome like it"s supposed to be. I"m sorry." Zoe gave a sad smile and says, "Awww Evan! It"s alright! You didn"t ruin it! You threw a fantastic sleepover!" "That"s right. You really did Ev," Connor said with a smile giving him a nickname. "Your not a failure Evan. You never are. Remember that!" Alana smiled putting her hand on his shoulder affectionately earning a small smile through his tears. Then they all turn to Jared who never said a thing throughout the ordeal. He only nodded to Evan sincerely since he"s got no words to say due to being a jackass he always was, is and might be later on in life. Evan sniffled and says, "Th-thanks guys... For every-everything!" Zoe smiled giving him a hug along with Alana followed by Connor and Jared. So now the poor boy was squeezed and buried inside a pile of arms of his friends. He couldn"t breathe again. "G-guys... Can"t bre-breathe..." Evan choked a little. Connor heard it. "Give Hansen some air." But the other three didn"t listen and Connor tried to push them away before they start suffocating Evan. But that made the group knock over on the floor in a dog pile laughing like there"s no tomorrow. "Alright Evan? Wanna watch another movie?" Alana asked. Evan nodded. "Sounds good." Everyone snuggled up in their comforters or sleeping bags and they debated which movie to watch on Netflix. They eventually decided on Inside Out. "Are we still playing the game on who stays up the longest?" Jared asked everyone else. "Definitely," Zoe said. Alana nodded. "Absolutely!" Connor looked over at Evan who nodded slightly. He sighed, "Well, if I can"t beat "em. Join "em." "Ha! I"m gonna eat your dust!" Jared shouts. Zoe says back, "Why don"t you go eat our bath bombs instead of dust and then win?" Jared scoffed wondering if he should be offended while the others giggle and start watching the movie. "Thus the marathon begins," Jared confirms. Halfway through the movie, Connor felt something hit his shoulder. He turned seeing Evan fast asleep on his shoulder. He couldn"t help but smile. "Awwww..." Zoe coos seeing Evan. "So cute!" Alana checks the clock. "Really? At 10:40 PM?!" "Yes! One down!" Jared praised. Connor sighed explaining, "Guys... Evan"s mom told me he couldn"t stay up too long. Besides, that anxiety attack sort of took a lot of out him." In understatement, They all nodded and continued to watch the movie. Evan started to snore softly and Connor smiled again. He shifted Evan a little so he"s laying with his head in his lap. Evan didn"t wake up. "Such a sleepyhead," Connor thought as he ran his fingers in the younger boy"s hair. As the movie came to an end and it was around midnight. They started getting tired but tries their hardest to stay up. They suddenly heard a noise coming from outside sounding like a car door slamming. Everyone but Evan sat up in alert. "What was that?" Alana asked with a yawn. Connor looked out the window behind the couch seeing Heidi getting out of the car. "It"s Mrs. Hansen! Quick! Get in positions!" Connor said panicking little trying not to wake Evan who is still sound asleep. Zoe, Alana and Jared got into their sleeping bags and pretended to be asleep all sprawled out. Connor turned off the lamp that"s next to him making the room slightly dark with only one lamp on. They heard the door click and Heidi entered the house. As she put her car keys down. She went to check up on the teens. After seeing the sight, she grinned. "Hi Mrs. Hansen," Connor whispered. Heidi says in a quiet voice, "Connor, call me Heidi. You don"t have to be formal in this house." "Sorry," he apologized. "How"s everything going?" She asked. "Things were going fine. We had a great time!" Heidi asked again looking around. "Everyone asleep?" "Out like a light," Connor lied bending half the truth. She looks over at her sleeping son. "How is he?" She whispers a question with a small smile. "He"s alright." "Any trouble?" Connor starts to explain, "Actually he had an anxiety attack and we did all those things that you said. Don"t worry, he"s calmed down and he"s alright." Heidi kneeled and gingerly strokes her son"s sleeping face and kissed his forehead whispering, "Sleep tight baby." It made Evan hum a little in his sleep. Taking one more look, she stands up and says lowering her voice, "I"m going right to bed now. In the morning, I"m going to set things up for you all to make pancake art!" "Sounds great." Connor shrugged. Heidi couldn"t resist, she gave him a kiss on the head. "Goodnight Connor." "Night Mrs. Ha- I mean Heidi." He only blushed a little as Heidi heads upstairs to her room. It took a minute but when Connor heard the door shut. He whispered, "All clear!" Jared and Zoe immediately sat up. "Ugh! You have no idea how many times I nearly blanked out!" Jared whispered loudly. "I was this close to lose the challenge!" "Same! Right Alana?" No answer. "Alana?" Zoe calls quietly looking at her best friend who is all nestled in her sleeping bag with her eyes closed and breathing even. She crawls out and went over to Alana and calls again, "Alana?" Only a few seconds later she looked at Jared and Connor confirming it, "She"s sleeping!" "Yes! Two down!" Jared nearly shouts and the Murphy siblings immediately shushed him. "Don"t wake them!" Zoe cried taking off her glasses. Jared and Connor sniggered a little. "Guess it"s just us?" Jared asked. Connor sighed nodding, "Looks like it." Later that night, Jared and Zoe started playing a video game while Connor watches. They have it on low volume so it won"t wake Alana and Evan, or having Heidi find out they"re still awake. "This is fun!" Zoe quietly cheers. "I know right," Jared said. "Hashtag best slumber party ever!" Connor looked at his watch which says 2:50 AM. He"s so surprised that his baby sister is still awake. Not that he wants to win, but he wants to take out the competition for a different reason. "I"m getting milk," Connor announced. "Anyone else want one?" "Sure. I"m thirsty," Jared says. Connor shifted Evan"s head off his lap and moves it to a pillow, stands up and went to the kitchen. He took milk out of the refrigerator and then took out two glasses and set them on the counter. Thinking he should put a sleeping pill in one of those, but that would be too extreme and one will suspect it. So he decided to something better. When he couldn"t sleep, his mother would slip two teaspoons of honey in the milk. He searched the pantry for honey and slipped it in the glass of milk. He thought of doing Zoe, but Jared has been pretty annoying for most of the night and he doesn"t want to hear another peep out of him. So he took two glasses and went back to the living room finding the two looking at youtube videos on Jared"s laptop. "Here you are," Connor sighed giving glasses to them. Jared asked, "What took you so long Murphy? I know your trying to sabotage us so you can win!" "No way Kleinman! I didn"t put anything in it," Connor protested. "Then what took you so long?" "I was drinking my own glass and finished it," Connor lied. Jared laughed a little, "Haha! You finished your milk!" "Shush Jared!" Zoe asked him to lower her voice remembering that Evan and Alana are still sleeping. Luckily they didn"t stir. "Dude, I"m not even stoned! Which is why I wouldn"t do that to you. Just drink it and tell me what you think." Jared looked inside his glass for a second before sipping. Zoe did the same. After he tasted it, he smacked his lips. "Ok, this is good. Really sweet too! I wonder what brand it is?" "I"ll ask Mrs. Hansen in the morning," Connor said happy that Jared is going to get knocked out in a minute. Zoe sighs, "Tastes so sweet! Sweet like honey." Connor"s face suddenly drained of color. "Oh no! I must"ve gave Zoe the wrong glass! I"m taking out my own sister!" He thought. Jared soon down the entire glass and set it on the coffee table. "I"m glad i"m not lactose intolerant! This tastes really good! I wonder wh-" And suddenly he fell back on his sleeping bag, passed out and snoring. Zoe bit her lip to keep from laughing hysterically from the sight. Connor asked his sister, "You knew what I was up to?" "Yeah! We live in the same house together! I knew what you were doing! And that was pretty dirty Connor!" He said to his sister, "I don"t want to win. I just don"t want to hear that obnoxious moron for the rest of the night." Zoe giggled quietly taking off Jared"s glasses and setting them aside. "Yeah but still dirty." "Don"t worry. I owe him anyways," he sighed and sat in the comforter. "So... Now it"s just you and me?" Zoe asked eying her brother. He nodded. "Yup." The two sat in silence for a few minutes and then Zoe asked breaking the silence, "What do you want to do now?" "We can... Talk?" He asked. Zoe nodded. "Sure... We can talk till either of us loses." Connor sat on the floor next to his sister and talked for the longest time since they were kids. Connor even apologized for his behavior toward her and they even hugged tightly forgiving each other for the past mistakes. And it lasted till 4:00 in the morning and Zoe couldn"t stay awake. She was so warm in Connor"s embrace that her eyelids kept drooping and was yawning non-stop. "Go to sleep Zoe." Connor the caring brother he is starts stroking Zoe"s hair like he did when they were young. It always helped put Zoe to sleep. But she moaned snapping awake tiredly, "Noooo... I don"t wanna... You"ll win..." Her big brother sighed and explained, "Zo, I don"t want to win. To tell you the truth, I just have trouble falling asleep. I"m an insomniac unfortunately. But you need some sleep." Zoe yawned sleepily and snuggled up against her brother. She had no choice but to give in. She couldn"t keep it up anymore. "Night night Con-con."

"I am really really worried about Danny!" Marty said. "He barely talked to us in days." "Yeah, now Sandy too?" Kenickie said surprised. "Maybe they"re breaking up?" Doody asked. Kenickie asked his friend, "What made you think that Doody?" "I don"t know. Well maybe they did?" Putzie realized, "Maybe he"s right." "We gotta talk to them," Kenickie suggested and they follow Sandy. As soon as they caught up, Rizzo asked, "Sandy? Why did Danny break up with you like that?" Sandy looked at her confused. "What? No. That"s not what you think. We aren"t breaking up." "Then what is going on? Why are you sad?" Putzie asked. She replied, "I can"t tell you." "Why not?" They asked confused. "Because I can"t, leave me alone," Sandy said crying and ran off leaving them still confused. "Maybe someone died?" Sonny asked breaking the silence. They look at him with a blank expression on their faces. Then later on, the gang decided to get Danny to tell them what is wrong. They tried everything to get him to crack, but nothing worked. Then they sneaked into Danny"s house before he came. As soon as he walked in, he noticed them and asked, "What are you all doing here?" Jan shut the door and blocked it and Marty blocked the kitchen door, Putzie blocked the bedroom door, Frenchy blocked the bathroom door. And everyone else blocks the whole house. Kenickie said, "Danny. We wanna know what is going on. And we"re not letting you out until you tell us. Danny, we"re your friends. Please just tell us. You told Sandy. But why not us. Please Danny." He looked at everyone who are very deeply desperate. Tears rolled down his eyes and he sat on the couch near him. "Can you all please just go away and leave me alone. I am not even in the mood to talk right now!" Sonny asked, "Is this about not wanting to be a T-Bird anymore?" Danny then shouted, "No it"s not! It"s not like that at all! I just don"t want to talk about it with you guys. I don"t even want you all to be upset with me!" "Upset with you?" Jan asked. He looked at everyone and said, "Please go away! Flake it off and leave me alone!" Then he leans forward on the couch burying his head in his hands upset. Kenickie then finally gave up, "Alright everyone. Let"s just go and leave him be." Everyone slowly walked out except Kenickie. He took a glance at Danny and said, "You know, if you don"t want to hang out anymore or ever, that"s fine." "No Kenicks, it"s not like that," Danny sighed. Kenickie came back and sighed, "We"re best friends Danny. We tell each other everything. Please tell me what is wrong. We can still be friends." Danny took a deep breath and explained everything. After he was done, Kenickie frowned and a tear escaped his eye. "No..." Kenickie sighed and wrapped his arms around Danny in a brotherly way. "Why does this have to happen?" "That"s why I don"t want them upset. Please don"t tell them anything. Rizzo came in and shouted, "Hey! We"re waiting for you to drive us!" Kenickie shouted with more tears escaped his eyes, "Rizzo! Not now!" She stood there in shock. She never seen her boyfriend cry before. She has never seen him cry like ever before. "Kenickie. Why are you crying? Did you two get into a fight?" Rizzo asked. "No Rizz. It"s nothing. See ya later Danny." He stood up, combed his hair and walked out. She looked at Danny in confusion and then follows Kenickie. She asked, "What did he say?" "I can"t tell you. It"s a brother to brother secret." "With Sandy too?" "She"s his girlfriend and they tell each other everything," Kenickie sighed. "Look, we gotta leave him be." Rizzo rolled her eyes in annoyance. Then a few days later, Kenickie went to talk with Danny along with Sandy and said, "Even though you don"t want to tell them, but you can keep the secret either. You gotta tell them." "He"s right Danny," Sandy said feeling sad. Danny just nodded agreeing. Then later on, Kenickie and Sandy invited the rest of the gang to Danny"s house and they were excited to finally find out what was going on. They all sat in the living room together and Danny finally spoke to the gang the news. "Alright. I gotta tell you all what"s going on. I never wanted to you all because you would get upset." Danny took a deep breath thinking that he can"t believe he is saying this. Then ten seconds later after he said it, they frowned and looked down or in tears. Sandy tears and Kenickie quickly wiped his tear trying to be cool. Frenchy leaned into Marty"s shoulder sobbing hard as she tears as well. Jan hugs Putzie crying really hard and he hugs her tight crying as well. Sonny, and Doody just sat there frowning and putting their hands over their eyes. Rizzo just looked down and a tear slipped out. "Why?" Doody asked. Danny replied, "I already told you. My old man needed a permanent job. So we"re moving to Arizona." "I can"t believe this," Putzie said upset. "What are we going to do? You"re the leader Danny!" Frenchy sobbed. Danny then sighed, "I don"t know what to do. I never wanted to go!" "Can you convince them to stay?" Sonny asked. "I can"t! The problem is that his job right now is temporary and if he doesn"t get a job around here soon, we won"t have enough money to pay bills in this house. All we can afford now is to move. Besides, the house is going to be demolished because we don"t have a will or anything. This used to be my grandparents house. But when we moved in they left a will before they passed away a while ago. Unless there is some miracle or anything that would help stay for a while longer and dad finds a permanent job here." Marty asked sniffling, "Does your father have to get laid off?" Danny nodded. "Yeah." "What about your job?" "Doesn"t pay much Marty. Neither was my mom"s," he replied. Jan asks bawling and hiccuping as if she can"t breathe, "Do you really have to go?" He sighed sadly, "I"m afraid I have to Jan." She cuddles into Putzie crying like a child. "Aw Jan. Don"t cry. It"s ok." Danny came over to the couple, sat down next to them on the couch and hugged Jan. Doody asked, "But what about graduation? We made a promise that we would stay together before graduation, and during graduation, and even after graduation. We would keep in touch." "I will keep in touch," Danny replied. "I don"t think I"ll be back for graduation." Rizzo still looked down asking, "How long have you kept it from us?" "Over a week." "How come you haven"t told us?" "I didn"t want to upset you guys. I don"t want to have the gang fall apart because of me." They all fell into silence. It was all quiet except for sniffles and hiccups. Danny sighed and continued to hug Jan. The gang all sat together in a silence for a long long time. Even till the middle of the night. It was curfew and the gang were about to go home. Putzie took a worn out Jan out to his dad"s car. Doody wraps his arm around a tired and teary Frenchy and took her to his car. Marty and Sonny took Kenickie and Rizzo to their car. And Sandy and Danny decided to sleep on the couch because she doesn"t want to leave him at all. It was a couple days later and the gang did the best they could just to stay with Danny till he moves. Then Putzie finally had an idea. "How about we can make your parents let you stay? Maybe I can fake being sick or something." Kenickie replied, "That"s a good idea Putz, but I"m not sure a cold would keep Danny from moving." "Unless it"s cancer..." Putzie said with a wink. Kenickie gave them and agreeing or cool idea look. Then the day before the move, Danny went to his parents and said, "Hey! Mom! Dad! I gotta tell you something!" His mom said packing a bunch of boxes, "What?" "I can"t leave! I gotta take care of Putzie! He has cancer! And no one would help take care of him. I"m his only hope!" Dad asked shocked, "What kind of cancer?" "He has... Lekimina... Something like that..." His dad said correcting him, "It"s Leukemia. And I kinda know what your pulling. You"re trying to stay are you?" "No," Danny shook his head chuckling looking at his dad"s serious face. "Yes," he finally said telling the truth. "Son, I know you really want to stay, but we"re moving to Arizona whether you like it or not." Danny sighed getting angry. "Fine. Fine. You know what! It"s not fine! I really want to stay here! I want to graduate with my friends! We made a pact to stay together! We look out for each other and I am the leader! Now I don"t know what to do! I don"t want to leave anyone! Not even Sandy! I"ll live in someone else"s place if I want to!" Then he walked away upset leaving his parents in shock and sadness. Later that day, Sandy walked him to Frosty Palace. The gang has planned a small private party there and Vi closed up shop just for the night because they wanted her to join. As soon as they walked in, the noticed the gang sitting in silence but with light smiles on their faces with a cake on the table. "Hey guys," he said. "What is this?" "We decided to have a small party just for you Danny!" Kenickie said. Sandy says smiling, "We got wonderful goodbye presents and a cake! And Vi closed the restaurant and turned it into a private party." Danny looked at the beautiful cake and read it. ""Odd luck Danny"?" He asked confused. They all looked to see the "G" and corner of the cake missing. Marty noticed chocolate on Jan"s lip corners and scolded, "JAN! I TOLD YOU NOT YET!" And Jan sank low scared. Putzie wrapped in arm around her knowing she didn"t mean to do it. "It"s ok Jan. It"s my party, and it"s alright if you already ate," Danny chuckled. They all sat then eating in silence. Danny sighed, "My last meal here with you guys." "Oh don"t say that Danny," Frenchy squeaks with tears falling from her face. Sandy laid her head on Danny"s shoulder. "I remember when I was a little kid, I would hang out at Frosty"s on the weekends and get ice cream," he said. Vi smiled, "Oh I remember it! You always had birthday parties here!" "I remember that!" Kenickie agreed. "I was there. And this one time that we were on a baseball team when we were seven. Little league?" "Oh yeah! I remember! It was you and me and Putzie on the team!" Danny said surprised. Kenickie laughed, "Remember when Putzie accidentally broke a window while we practiced." "That was my window," Danny said smiling. Putzie just said, his cheeks turning red. "I couldn"t help it. I have wrist problems." They all laughed. Sonny asked, "Remember that me and the guys were next door neighbors. We known each other in the playpen." "I remember that!" Doody chuckles. Putzie tried to remember but couldn"t. "I don"t remember how I met you guys. I think I was the youngest." "I do. Danny took care of you Putz because you were the very youngest of the group," Kenickie said. "I actually remember that we met Jan in kindergarten," Putzie flashes back. Danny finally remembered, "Oh yeah! It was you and me in the same class with her." Then Jan remembered. "Oh yeah! We met over a sandwich!" "We couldn"t find a place to sit and we sat with you and you shared a sandwich with us," Danny said. "That was very long before Rizzo took me under her wing," Jan said eating her fries. "I remember we were nap time buddies, snack time buddies, and playtime buddies. You, me and Jan," Putzie said. "I remember one day I refused to take a nap at all and when I wanted to play with building blocks and a stupid kid knocked it down," Danny remembers once more. Putzie remembered, "OH YEAH! I also remember that Danny hit the kid for doing that and got a time out." "I remember that we met Rizzo and Frenchy," Doody remembers. "We were all in the 4th grade. Same class." "Rizzo was a rebel and still is," Danny said, "She actually took someone"s picture and cut it up to pieces." Rizzo groans, "Oh please don"t remind me. That idiot called my picture the worst picture than any. I had to go at it!" "What about when you dared Jan to eat a bunch of twinkles at once," Danny asked. She thought for a second and then says surprised, "Oh yeah! I remember! I was actually surprised her stomach was really strong!" "She actually ate her whole birthday cake at her party when it was supposed to be for all of us," Sonny chuckles. "Remember that?" They all thought and were like, "Oh yeah! I remember. Etc." "I remember that Danny dared Sonny to go into the girl"s bathroom," Jan laughs. Sonny"s face turned red with embarrassment. He whined, "Don"t tell them that!" "And Doody had to help get him out of there without anyone seeing," Jan finished. Doody then shouts, "Oh yeah? I remember that when we went to a carnival, and us guys went onto a ferris wheel and Putzie was too scared to look out!" "I was afraid of heights Doody, and I still am," he said slowly. Marty then spoke up, "I remember when I met Danny! That was when I transferred to the middle school. I had a crush on you Danny!" "How come you haven"t told me," Danny asked surprised. "I was too shy." "What about Frenchy? Anything you remember about her Danny?" Jan asked trying not to leave Frenchy out of this. "I remember that day we hung out and I accidentally spilled soda all over her hair." Frenchy remembered. "Oh, I was really upset over that." "Remember the day you met Sandy again at the pep rally?" Jan asked. "Your face was priceless Danny!" Then she laughs. "That day was the day we will never forget," Rizzo said smiling. Danny said one last thing he remembers, "I remember I won the drag race after Kenickie got hurt." "I remember that, and Putzie pushed the car door on his head," Doody said and Putzie shouts, "God! Fine! I am always the clumsy one!" They all laugh and Kenickie gave him a brotherly side hug. "I remember that I changed for you Danny," Sandy finally said. Danny sighed, "How can anyone forget? That was the day we made a pact just to stay together." They all have sad light smiles on their faces. "Don"t worry you guys, I"ll never forget you," Danny said. "I promise that I won"t." "I wish that you wouldn"t move Danny," Marty said with tears in her eyes. Kenickie didn"t want any sadness and tears at the party. He said, "How about that you can open some presents Danny?" Danny asked surprised, "Presents for me?" "Yep!" The gang all put presents on the table. "I don"t know where to start," he said excited. He opened Putzie"s present first, it was a baseball that they won when they were Marty"s which was a gold chain necklace without anything on it. Just a chain to remember her. Then Frenchy"s present to him was a black comb and grease gel. And Sonny gave him a toy car because there was nothing else to give him. And Doody gave him a comic book. Then Jan gave him a giant lollipop. And Sandy"s present a kiss and a long hug. Then Rizzo and Kenickie were the last to give him a present. "So me and Kenickie and I chipped in to give you this," Rizzo said and gave him a present. Danny took it and opened it. It"s a photo album. All different memorable photos of him and the gang. One was where when Danny and Kenickie were in a playpen together. Another was when he, Kenickie, Putzie, Jan, and Frenchy playing. And another was when Sandy was kissing Danny on the beach where they met. He looked at them and then tears come down from his eyes. He immediately wiped them and Frenchy smiles, "It"s ok Danny. Let it all out if you want." He looked at her and lets his tears fall. Everyone else"s tears fall down as well. They all sat in silence until it was time to go. It was nearly midnight and the girls were all really tired from all of this. "Hey Rizz? Wanna sleep over at my place?" Frenchy asked tiredly. "Sure. Wanna come girls?" Rizzo asked. Sandy shook her head, "I"m gonna spend a little more time with Danny." "I"ll come," Marty volunteers and went to them. "Jan you coming?" Rizzo asked. And Jan nodded rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Come along baby girl," Rizzo smiles gently and lets Jan stand up and rest her head on her shoulder as Frenchy puts her hand on her back walking out after kissing and hugging Danny. Then the guys all left hugging Danny and Kenickie and Sandy accompany him home with his presents. The next morning, the gang all came over early to see Danny before he moves. They all felt really sad about it. Danny never wanted to go. He really wanted to stay but couldn"t. And one by one, they gave him a long hug until Sandy was the last. Then finally the gang gave I"m one last huge group hug before he leaves. Everyone starts to cry as Danny went into the car. As soon as the car started leaving, he waved goodbye sadly. Then just about 2 minutes he left, the gang all sat in his vacant living room waiting a few hours until the people will come and destroy it. Putzie was playing with a ball being bored and sad. "I can"t believe he"s gone you guys," Doody whispered. Sonny sighs, "And the house will be destroyed..." "I wish none of this ever happened," Jan says with tears falling down her face again. Rizzo hugs Sandy who is still crying. "At least I still have you guys," Sandy sighed. They all nodded. But then Putzie threw the ball accidentally to the chandelier which made a crack in the ceiling making the whole chandelier fall onto the coffee table along with a tiny box which was tied along with it as the glass parts broke into a million pieces. Kenickie looked at it and then Putzie and yelled, "YA PUTZ! I CAN"T BELIEVE THAT YOU DID THAT!" Putzie just yelled back, "WELL IT AIN"T MY FAULT!" Marty went over to the tiny box and picked it up. She opened it and a piece of paper is folded into it. She took it out and read it. That piece of paper happens to be the Danny"s grandparents hidden will! "You guys! THIS IS IT! IT"S THE WILL!" Rizzo looked at it and then too the ceiling and said. "I guess they wanted to hide it up there." Doody shouted excited, "Wait! This can help keep them here and pay the bills until his dad can find a job!" And Frenchy squeaks, "And the house won"t be demolished because they own the house!" "OH MY GOD! WE GOTTA GET HIM!" Kenickie yelled also and took the will and ran to the car. The gang all scrambled trying to fit into Kenickie"s "Greased Lightning." "STEP ON IT KENICKIE! C"MON!" Marty yelled. Kenickie stepped on the gas petal and started to go as fast as he can. Putzie shouted, "You know you"re gonna go to jail for speeding? Right?" "I don"t even care! We"re getting my friend back!" "YOUR FRIEND?" Rizzo screamed. "OUR FRIEND RIZZO! BUT HE"S MY BEST FRIEND!" "YOUR BEST FRIEND?" Doody yelled. "OUR BEST FRIEND! BUT HE IS LIKE MY BROTHER!" Putzie yelled, "BUT HE"S LIKE MY BROTHER TOO!" "GODDAMMIT I LOVE HIM LIKE A BROTHERLY BEST FRIEND IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE! SO PLEASE LET ME DRIVE!" Kenickie drove as fast as he could to catch up to them. "Too fast Kenickie!" Jan yelled holding onto Putzie. "Do you see a moving truck Kenickie?" Sandy asked. "Not yet!" He replied. He"s been going down highways nearly getting everyone into a car accident. The gang held onto each other trying not to get into a horrible accident. Until he finally saw a truck. "GUYS! I FOUND THE MOVING TRUCK!" He yelled. "KEEP GOING!" Sonny yelled back. He speeds a little more up till he reaches the truck. Kenickie screamed, "GUYS THIS IS IT!" Everyone started screaming also really excited. As soon as he changes lanes to get next to the truck, he notices that"s not a moving truck. "THAT"S NOT A MOVING TRUCK! THAT"S A HOSTESS TRUCK!" Kenickie yelled getting furious. The gang groans and Jan yells happy throwing her hand up in the air, "YAY!" Kenickie speeds up to around 70 miles per hour to get past it and they finally see a moving means Danny is nearby. "IT"S THE MOVING TRUCK!" He yelled and the gang cheers. He speeds up to get past it. "Do any of you see Danny"s car?" They looked around and Frenchy yelled, "I SEE IT!" They looked and found his parents car. Kenickie changed lanes once more and speeds up to them. "DANNY!" The gang yelled calling him and getting his attention. Danny was sitting in the back of the car with a photo album in his arms feeling sad. But then he heard noises. "DANNY! DANNY! DANNY!" He looked around and noticed "Greased Lightning" coming toward them. He gasped. They were following him. "Kenickie?" Danny asked confused. He asked his dad who"s driving, "Hey dad? Pull over!" "Why son?" He asked pulling to the side of the road and stopped and Kenickie stopped behind them. Danny replied getting out, "It"s my friends." He ran to them and asked, "What"s going on? What happened?" "This happened," Marty replied giving him the will. Danny took it and read it. "We found it in the chandelier!" Doody said. He read it and then yelled, "MOM! DAD!" They ran over and asked, "What"s wrong?" "Anything alright?" His mom asked. He shouted really excited, "They found it! LOOK!" He gave them his grandparent"s will and they read it. "This shows that we own the house! This would mean we won"t move to Arizona after all!" They looked at it and they hugged his son. "C"mon! We"re going back!" His dad announced. The gang cheers jumping up and down hugging Danny. Afterwards, they stopped the workers from about to demolish their house and then the gang helps putting everything back to where it was. Danny picked up Sandy and spins her around giving her a kiss. "Welcome home Danny," Sandy said chuckling and Danny grinned that he is glad to be back with the gang again.

"Ooooh! How about a game of truth or dare!?" Jared says excited. And Zoe asked scoffing, "What the hell is this? The 90"s?" "C"mon! It"s a classic game! I"ll go first! Evan, truth or dare?" Evan froze when Jared asked him a question. "You know how to play?" He suddenly rambles a little, "I-I do! I just... Never really played with any-anyone!" To stop Evan from panicking, Connor said, "How about i"ll go first! Truth or dare Kleinman?" Jared thought for a moment and said, "Truth." "You really think that I would do terrible things to you when you say dare?" Connor asked raising his eyebrow. Snorting, he shook his head. "No way Murphy." "Then is it true that you stuff your bath bombs up your ass?" Alana gasped at the thought, and Zoe starts laughing hysterically. Evan only cracked a smile calming down getting the idea of this game. Jared couldn"t believe what he was hearing. He was about to comment but Alana stops right there. "Alright! This game just got a little extreme! Why don"t we just watch a movie or something!" "I guess we can do that." Zoe said in agreement. The boys nodded and they all select through the Netflix movies. It took forever but they eventually chose Back To The Future and was about to start the movie but the doorbell rang. "Oh! Must be the pizza man! I got it guys!" Alana stands up and went to answer it and brought it in. Jared cheers, "Wooo! I"m starving!" "I wouldn"t starving since your eating pizza with fish on it," Connor said sarcastically. "Connor, lay off Jared," Zoe said as everyone else takes a slice. Alana asks Evan who is sitting on the couch, "Where are the drinks Evan?" "I-In the refrigerator," Evan replied and she got up to get it. She came back with drinks and the movie was just getting started. It was nearly 9 when the movie ended and Evan was getting tired but everyone else is completely wide awake. "Let"s go make ice cream sundaes!" Zoe cheers and she, Alana and Jared charged to the kitchen while Connor stayed with Evan. Judging but the tired look on Evan"s face, Connor asked concerned, "You ok Hansen?" "Yeah... Just a little tired." Connor suddenly remembered that Evan hardly stays up so late like Heidi said. About a five minutes later, the others returned with ice cream bowls filled with sundaes. "Let"s watch another movie! Who"s with me?" Alana asked the group. Though Zoe and Jared cheered, Conner tries to say,"Guys, maybe we should slow down a bit. Evan is-" "I have a good idea!" Alana says interrupting and hyped up on ice cream, "This may be insane, but the one who stays up all night the longest wins!" Conner cringed at the thought. He never saw that coming. "Wow Alana... I never heard that coming from you," Jared comments. "But I will destroy you guys in this challenge! I"m so in!" "What will the winner get?" Zoe asked her best friend. Alana replied, "The winner gets 20 bucks." Evan asked a little nervous, "And the loser?" "Not a single penny." Zoe shrugged in agreement, "Then we"ll do it." "Let"s just get in our jammies first!" Alana says and everyone else went to bathrooms or bedrooms to get changed before meeting up back in the living room rolling out their sleeping bags. Jared takes the center in front of the coffee table and Alana takes one corner, Zoe took another and Connor decides to sleep in an armchair which felt cozy. And Evan takes the couch. "Guys listen! Maybe we shouldn"t stay up too long-" "Nice try Murphy! I know your gonna take us out like that just so you would win," Jared said with a hint of sarcasm to Connor. Connor snapped, "It"s not like that Kleinman!" "Oh, so your so afraid of a little competition. Huh?" "But Mrs. Hansen is expecting us to be asleep when she gets back." Zoe asked shouting, "Since when are you our babysitter?" "She was holding me responsible Zoe!" The three start to argue which gets louder and louder and Alana tries to break them up. Evan who was silent the whole time watches getting petrified and starts breathing fast. There shouldn"t be any fighting at his first slumber party! Alana tries to stop but when she noticed Evan starting a shake a little violent she yells, "You guys! Evan"s going berserk!" Connor immediately looked at Evan and ran to him and tried to calm him down. "Evan! Evan! Calm down!" Tears were pouring out of his eyes and mumbles the apology over and over, "I"msorryI"msorryI"msorryI"msorryI"msorry!" "Evan! It"s alright! Just breathe with me! Ok!? Breathe!" Connor takes deep breaths trying to get Evan in rhythm but the younger boy clenched his eyes tight and has trouble breathing. Connor tries to think of what instructions Heidi gave him. And he remembered the teddy bear that"s upstairs. He asked his sister. "Zoe! Can you stay with him please? And ask him the ten things he sees in this room!" Connor ran upstairs for a minute while Zoe comforts Evan but wrapping her arms around him pulling into a hug. Alana and Jared watch on uncomfortably not knowing what to say or do. "Can you tell me the ten things you see in this room Evan?" She asked him who"s now crying and shaking. It took a moment but Evan finally answers opening his eyes stuttering, "Y-you, a-a coffee t-table, J-Jared, Alana, the flat s-screen..." But he continued to sob trying to calm down but he hiccuped. Connor came back with a tattered teddy bear in his hand and kneeled in front of Evan and holds it up in front of him for him to see it. "Evan?" He looked up at the bear and quickly took it in his arms squeezing it with all his might letting go of Zoe. Only a few minutes later, Evan"s breathing slowed but tears continue to roll down his cheeks. Finally, Evan"s breathing is back in rhythm and Connor asked, "Are you ok?" A reply he got was a nod. "What"s the matter Evan?" It was a minute before Evan replied, "I think I ruined it." "Ruined what?" Connor asked in confusion. "T-the party. All of you were f-fighting and I t-thought I didn"t do a good job making it awe-awesome like it"s supposed to be. I"m sorry." Zoe gave a sad smile and says, "Awww Evan! It"s alright! You didn"t ruin it! You threw a fantastic sleepover!" "That"s right. You really did Ev," Connor said with a smile giving him a nickname. "Your not a failure Evan. You never are. Remember that!" Alana smiled putting her hand on his shoulder affectionately earning a small smile through his tears. Then they all turn to Jared who never said a thing throughout the ordeal. He only nodded to Evan sincerely since he"s got no words to say due to being a jackass he always was, is and might be later on in life. Evan sniffled and says, "Th-thanks guys... For every-everything!" Zoe smiled giving him a hug along with Alana followed by Connor and Jared. So now the poor boy was squeezed and buried inside a pile of arms of his friends. He couldn"t breathe again. "G-guys... Can"t bre-breathe..." Evan choked a little. Connor heard it. "Give Hansen some air." But the other three didn"t listen and Connor tried to push them away before they start suffocating Evan. But that made the group knock over on the floor in a dog pile laughing like there"s no tomorrow. "Alright Evan? Wanna watch another movie?" Alana asked. Evan nodded. "Sounds good." Everyone snuggled up in their comforters or sleeping bags and they debated which movie to watch on Netflix. They eventually decided on Inside Out. "Are we still playing the game on who stays up the longest?" Jared asked everyone else. "Definitely," Zoe said. Alana nodded. "Absolutely!" Connor looked over at Evan who nodded slightly. He sighed, "Well, if I can"t beat "em. Join "em." "Ha! I"m gonna eat your dust!" Jared shouts. Zoe says back, "Why don"t you go eat our bath bombs instead of dust and then win?" Jared scoffed wondering if he should be offended while the others giggle and start watching the movie. "Thus the marathon begins," Jared confirms. Halfway through the movie, Connor felt something hit his shoulder. He turned seeing Evan fast asleep on his shoulder. He couldn"t help but smile. "Awwww..." Zoe coos seeing Evan. "So cute!" Alana checks the clock. "Really? At 10:40 PM?!" "Yes! One down!" Jared praised. Connor sighed explaining, "Guys... Evan"s mom told me he couldn"t stay up too long. Besides, that anxiety attack sort of took a lot of out him." In understatement, They all nodded and continued to watch the movie. Evan started to snore softly and Connor smiled again. He shifted Evan a little so he"s laying with his head in his lap. Evan didn"t wake up. "Such a sleepyhead," Connor thought as he ran his fingers in the younger boy"s hair. As the movie came to an end and it was around midnight. They started getting tired but tries their hardest to stay up. They suddenly heard a noise coming from outside sounding like a car door slamming. Everyone but Evan sat up in alert. "What was that?" Alana asked with a yawn. Connor looked out the window behind the couch seeing Heidi getting out of the car. "It"s Mrs. Hansen! Quick! Get in positions!" Connor said panicking little trying not to wake Evan who is still sound asleep. Zoe, Alana and Jared got into their sleeping bags and pretended to be asleep all sprawled out. Connor turned off the lamp that"s next to him making the room slightly dark with only one lamp on. They heard the door click and Heidi entered the house. As she put her car keys down. She went to check up on the teens. After seeing the sight, she grinned. "Hi Mrs. Hansen," Connor whispered. Heidi says in a quiet voice, "Connor, call me Heidi. You don"t have to be formal in this house." "Sorry," he apologized. "How"s everything going?" She asked. "Things were going fine. We had a great time!" Heidi asked again looking around. "Everyone asleep?" "Out like a light," Connor lied bending half the truth. She looks over at her sleeping son. "How is he?" She whispers a question with a small smile. "He"s alright." "Any trouble?" Connor starts to explain, "Actually he had an anxiety attack and we did all those things that you said. Don"t worry, he"s calmed down and he"s alright." Heidi kneeled and gingerly strokes her son"s sleeping face and kissed his forehead whispering, "Sleep tight baby." It made Evan hum a little in his sleep. Taking one more look, she stands up and says lowering her voice, "I"m going right to bed now. In the morning, I"m going to set things up for you all to make pancake art!" "Sounds great." Connor shrugged. Heidi couldn"t resist, she gave him a kiss on the head. "Goodnight Connor." "Night Mrs. Ha- I mean Heidi." He only blushed a little as Heidi heads upstairs to her room. It took a minute but when Connor heard the door shut. He whispered, "All clear!" Jared and Zoe immediately sat up. "Ugh! You have no idea how many times I nearly blanked out!" Jared whispered loudly. "I was this close to lose the challenge!" "Same! Right Alana?" No answer. "Alana?" Zoe calls quietly looking at her best friend who is all nestled in her sleeping bag with her eyes closed and breathing even. She crawls out and went over to Alana and calls again, "Alana?" Only a few seconds later she looked at Jared and Connor confirming it, "She"s sleeping!" "Yes! Two down!" Jared nearly shouts and the Murphy siblings immediately shushed him. "Don"t wake them!" Zoe cried taking off her glasses. Jared and Connor sniggered a little. "Guess it"s just us?" Jared asked. Connor sighed nodding, "Looks like it." Later that night, Jared and Zoe started playing a video game while Connor watches. They have it on low volume so it won"t wake Alana and Evan, or having Heidi find out they"re still awake. "This is fun!" Zoe quietly cheers. "I know right," Jared said. "Hashtag best slumber party ever!" Connor looked at his watch which says 2:50 AM. He"s so surprised that his baby sister is still awake. Not that he wants to win, but he wants to take out the competition for a different reason. "I"m getting milk," Connor announced. "Anyone else want one?" "Sure. I"m thirsty," Jared says. Connor shifted Evan"s head off his lap and moves it to a pillow, stands up and went to the kitchen. He took milk out of the refrigerator and then took out two glasses and set them on the counter. Thinking he should put a sleeping pill in one of those, but that would be too extreme and one will suspect it. So he decided to something better. When he couldn"t sleep, his mother would slip two teaspoons of honey in the milk. He searched the pantry for honey and slipped it in the glass of milk. He thought of doing Zoe, but Jared has been pretty annoying for most of the night and he doesn"t want to hear another peep out of him. So he took two glasses and went back to the living room finding the two looking at youtube videos on Jared"s laptop. "Here you are," Connor sighed giving glasses to them. Jared asked, "What took you so long Murphy? I know your trying to sabotage us so you can win!" "No way Kleinman! I didn"t put anything in it," Connor protested. "Then what took you so long?" "I was drinking my own glass and finished it," Connor lied. Jared laughed a little, "Haha! You finished your milk!" "Shush Jared!" Zoe asked him to lower her voice remembering that Evan and Alana are still sleeping. Luckily they didn"t stir. "Dude, I"m not even stoned! Which is why I wouldn"t do that to you. Just drink it and tell me what you think." Jared looked inside his glass for a second before sipping. Zoe did the same. After he tasted it, he smacked his lips. "Ok, this is good. Really sweet too! I wonder what brand it is?" "I"ll ask Mrs. Hansen in the morning," Connor said happy that Jared is going to get knocked out in a minute. Zoe sighs, "Tastes so sweet! Sweet like honey." Connor"s face suddenly drained of color. "Oh no! I must"ve gave Zoe the wrong glass! I"m taking out my own sister!" He thought. Jared soon down the entire glass and set it on the coffee table. "I"m glad i"m not lactose intolerant! This tastes really good! I wonder wh-" And suddenly he fell back on his sleeping bag, passed out and snoring. Zoe bit her lip to keep from laughing hysterically from the sight. Connor asked his sister, "You knew what I was up to?" "Yeah! We live in the same house together! I knew what you were doing! And that was pretty dirty Connor!" He said to his sister, "I don"t want to win. I just don"t want to hear that obnoxious moron for the rest of the night." Zoe giggled quietly taking off Jared"s glasses and setting them aside. "Yeah but still dirty." "Don"t worry. I owe him anyways," he sighed and sat in the comforter. "So... Now it"s just you and me?" Zoe asked eying her brother. He nodded. "Yup." The two sat in silence for a few minutes and then Zoe asked breaking the silence, "What do you want to do now?" "We can... Talk?" He asked. Zoe nodded. "Sure... We can talk till either of us loses." Connor sat on the floor next to his sister and talked for the longest time since they were kids. Connor even apologized for his behavior toward her and they even hugged tightly forgiving each other for the past mistakes. And it lasted till 4:00 in the morning and Zoe couldn"t stay awake. She was so warm in Connor"s embrace that her eyelids kept drooping and was yawning non-stop. "Go to sleep Zoe." Connor the caring brother he is starts stroking Zoe"s hair like he did when they were young. It always helped put Zoe to sleep. But she moaned snapping awake tiredly, "Noooo... I don"t wanna... You"ll win..." Her big brother sighed and explained, "Zo, I don"t want to win. To tell you the truth, I just have trouble falling asleep. I"m an insomniac unfortunately. But you need some sleep." Zoe yawned sleepily and snuggled up against her brother. She had no choice but to give in. She couldn"t keep it up anymore. "Night night Con-con." "Night Zo..." Only a few seconds later, Zoe is out like a light. Connor put her back in her sleeping bag, kissed her forehead and went to sit in the armchair finding out it was all silent... Minus the snoring and loud breathing from all his friends around him. Satisfied that everyone"s asleep, he took out his phone and looks through his apps. It was an hour later, and he heard a stirring noise. He turned finding Evan rubbing his eyes and yawning. "Man, he"s so cute!" Connor thought. He went over to the couch and asks, "What are you doing up Ev?" Evan yawned again, "I only woke u-up.' He looked around finding others asleep. He suddenly remembered he had fallen asleep first at his own party! His cheeks turned red in embarrassment. "Oh no... I-I lost. Didn"t I?" "Yeah you did. Sorry dude," Connor said. "And I kind of won." "Congrats," Evan says still tired. Connor noticed it and said looking at the clock which read 5:26, "Hey, it"s still early. Go back to sleep Ev." "But I..." Evan trailed off still blushing. "What?" "I-I can"t f-fall back to sleep..." Connor sighed sitting next to Evan with his arms outstretched, "Then come here." Evan scooted next to him and lets Connor"s arms pull him into a hug. "Just listen to my heartbeat and maybe rest your eyes for a little bit," the taller male whispers and let Evan"s head to lean against his chest. He starts humming softly gently as Evan starts getting sleepy again. He closed his eyes and the gentle breathing returned. Connor smiled and kissed him on the head. He debated either to leave Evan and go back to the armchair or stay like this till he wakes up. By content look on the snoozing boy"s face, Connor made up his mind and stayed. The sun starts coming up over the roofs and trees outside and the clock shows 6:30. But Connor was still wide awake holding Evan in his arms. Or at least he was. His eyelids start drooping and he suddenly found it hard to stay awake. "Oh well..." He thought as he looked down at Evan. "A guess a short morning nap couldn"t hurt." He closed his eyes and finally drifted off to dreamland. Finally it was nearly 10 in the morning and Heidi came downstairs seeing the still sleeping teens. She looked at Connor who is snoring. She couldn"t help but smile again when she saw Evan in his arms. She took out her phone and took a picture of the two before going to the kitchen to start preparing breakfast for them. Back in the living room. Alana is the first to wake. She sat up and looked at all her sleeping friends. Her eyes stopped short when she saw Connor and Evan. Not wanting others to miss it, she wakes up Jared and Zoe. "The hell "lana?" Jared croaked being rudely awakened and Zoe only rolled over yawning and stretching. Alana smiled pointing at the two sleeping boys. "Look!" They look at Connor and Evan and gasped. "Are they..." Jared trails off before snickering. "Shush! You"ll wake them!" Alana cried out to silent him. "Nope. I"m awake," Evan yawned sitting up out of Connor"s arms rubbing his eyes. He looked into the concerned faces of the three. "W-what?" He asked them before facing a still sleeping Connor and immediately panics, "This-this is not w-what i-it l-looks like!" Zoe tried calming him down. "It"s alright Evan! We believe you." She shoots a glare at Jared to zip his lips and not comment to prevent Evan from getting another attack. "I won"t say anything. I"m totally cool with that," Jared says before coughing under his breath, "Kinky." After looking at her sleeping brother, Zoe says, "I guess he"s the winner. He was the last one that stayed up." "Yeah... I w-woke up a little bit and h-he was still awake," Evan said before stretching his arms. "M-Must"ve fallen asleep after me." Heidi entered from the kitchen and said, "I"m so glad your finally awake! I got pancake batter in different colors to make pancake art!" "Yay! I love pancake art!" Alana cheered getting up and running to the kitchen. Jared wen after her while Evan and Zoe stayed watching a sleeping Connor. Evan asked her, "S-Should we wake him?" "Nah, let him sleep. He stayed up all night and won. He deserves a rest." He nodded watching Zoe as she gently laid her brother on the couch from the sitting position, head on pillow and putting a blanket over him. She strokes his hair and gave him a kiss. Connor turned over and moaned thinking he was awakened by his mother, but too asleep to know it was Zoe. "Mmmmm I don"t wanna go to school mom," he mumbled sleepily. Zoe and Evan both giggled quietly and she whispers, "Watch this!" She leaned in and says in Connor"s ear sounding like their mother, "Honey, school is cancelled today. It"s Christmas, remember?" Connor smiled in his sleep and mumbles, "Merry freaking Christmas to me..." And went back to snoring. Evan giggled with Zoe. "Let"s just leave him be for awhile," she said and they go in the kitchen to make their own pancake art. Jared and Alana had just finished their"s and went to sit at the counter starting to eat. Heidi went to kiss her son on the cheek, "Morning baby! You alright?" He only blushed answering, "I"m alright mom." "Where"s Connor?" She asked concerned while Evan went to get started on his pancake.. Zoe answered, "He"s still sleeping. He"s so exhausted from staying up all night." "Aw, I"ll make a nice pancake just for him when he wakes up," Heidi said as Evan makes a ninja turtle pancake. "Sure!" Zoe said and went to make her own. After they made their pancakes, they sat at the table and Heidi asks if they has fun which they did. They all talked and laughed with one another over delicious and colorful pancakes.

"Issei are you OK." Rias asked again. Issei"s armour shattered and the speared said in place drawing a lot of blood. Issei put both hands on the spear and pulled it out. He could feel his body weakening. He wasn"t going to die, not yet anyway. Issei tried to pull himself up failed. "Issei don"t try to move. Kiba, Akeno go home and find me everything on this church and on Raynare." The pair nodded before leaving through portals. Rias looked at Issei with a stern look but opened a portal, The pair ended up in Issei room on the floor, Rias moved away from Issei for a minute and stripped down before grabbing the blanket from Issei bed She then sat down, pulling Issei up onto her lap dangerously close to her private part. She watched the man in her arms his eyes were shut but he looked like he was running a marathon, she could hear his heart pounding and his muscles twitching it was then Issei eyes shot open and he took a deep breath. "Rais? Where are we, Where"s Raynare." "We"re at home and Raynare is gone" Rias" face then looked saddened. "Why didn"t you tell me Issei I thought you trusted me. Why did you tell me that you were him, you were the red dragon." Issei put his hand on Rias cheek. "I didn"t tell you because I couldn"t, If I told you then I would be putting more stress on you for knowing, there are lots of people out there that want to kill me. I can"t trust many." "Do you trust me." Rais" asked. "Of course I do i might of only know you for long but i think ....i lo......I think i find you to be a every caring girl and someone I hold close." Rais heard Issei slip and she smiled, she wanted to try something and she decided to take the risk. "Issei can you kiss me." Issei jumped from his spot on Rias" lap only notice he was on it a few moments ago and looked at Rais. " Did you just ask me to kiss you." "Do you want to." Rias said looking at the floor in shame. Issei didn"t say anything he simply put his fingers on her chin and forced her to look at him, he then slammed his lips into hers. She fliched slightly but then melted into him. The kiss began to grow. The simple lip sucking turned into a war of tongues. This was until they had to break for breath, Issei looked deep into Rias eyes and spoke. "Thank you Rias for confirming my feelings. I"m sorry but I have to leave." Then got up entered his ensuite and got into some new clothes. He then opened the portal to Sirzechs office and was about to enter when Rias grabbed his arm. "I"m not letting go until you answer one question for me..... Do you love me?" "I don"t to be honest but eithen if I did, I know it can not be, I know about Raiser and you"re engagement. I"m going to get stronger and then I"m going to kill Raynare." Issei"s said still looking forward. "Promise you"ll come back to me afterwards....Please." Rias begged not wanting to lose Issei. "I"m sorry but i can"t promise anything. Good bye Rias." Issei said before entering the portal. /Sirzechs office./ As soon as Issei entered the office Sirzechs spoke. "If you love my sister then fight for her." "How, when I"m not strong enough." "I will help you get the strength you need but promise me you"ll protect her." "I promise." A/N and that was the end of that. Yes I am making Rias and Issei get together early on if you don"t like tell me why I want to know and leave a review telling me what you thought. Follow if you like and.... I will see you in the next chapter. A/N still looking for a editor hit me up if your interested. Chapter 6: Type two. After a day of training both issei and Sirzechs were sat at the dinner table, they were talking techniques. They were both sweating, for the last week Issei had been working with Sirzechs in training Issei physical strength. Issei was talking about human fightings that he liked and Sirzechs was showing him how to infuse them into devil techniques. This conversation then turned into a talk about devil magic and how Issei could be taught the basic skills once he had more control over his dragon skill. The only way he could prove he had control over his dragon was to defeat Raynare, the wraith she brought to Issei made his body slightly reject the devil within. The food had been served and the pair didn"t talk much. It wasn"t until the end of meal that Sirzechs popped a sensitive question, "Say issei I never got a answer from you. Do you love my sister." "I said I would fight for her didn"t I." Issei replied. "Yes you did but that"s the same. A servant would fight for their master if asked to but someone who loves someone else would stand by them no matter what. They fight for them not only to protect them but to make sure they say by their side. So i"ll ask again.....do you love Rias." "I don"t know" Issei started. "Yes or no...listen to your heart no your head." Sirzechs getting a funny look of Issei. "What." "Nothing. OK look yes I love Rias but I know it can"t be." Issei said looking at the floor. "What makes you say that." Sirzechs asked. "Because I"m a clanless, and she part of the most power bloodline going. That and she engaged to the head of the second most powerful clan." Issei said getting even more hurt. "And what"s stopping you from fighting for her hand. You know she doesn"t what the marriage to happen." Sirzechs stated in a matter of fact tone. "You also know that you"re not clanless, you have are the leader of the dragons, a clan known for it strength. They were the first to lead the devils before the Lucifer took over and changed the code of our hierarchy. The Lucifer is the title given to the leader of the devils as you know. If you build your strength. In both body and mind then you can restore your clan to it"s prime it"ll be a lot of work but I believe you can do it but first like all high ranking devils you first learn to lead." "Using the evil piece yeah I know but first I have to get a set and no devil just going to be a set." Issei stated. "Oh I know but I can"t let you follow someone who is learning to lead right now. These are the pawns of Rias. They are normally used on the weak but tactical, for you it will take all of them. They will help control your power. Normally they are used to slowly awaken the abilities of low class devils but for you they will help you control your power. Take them." Sirzechs said handing Issei 8 pawns. The pawns changed to the colour red and melted into Issei body. Issei finally felt a control he had wanted for so long. "I"m sorry Ddraig I can"t control all your power right now, i have to lock it away." Issei said. "It"s OK Partner I"m sorry for causing you so much pain." Ddraig stated. "Alright Issei let"s go. You know the drill. Let"s go to the gym." Sirzechs said as he opened a portal., /One month later./ "Ahhh Dragon burst." Issei yelled as he send multiple dragon punches into Sirzechs as he could. "Damn not even a scratch." Sirzechs shot up into the air and smiled. "You"ll have to do better than that if you want to have Rias as your own... Raiser might be the best option after all." "SHUT UP..." Issei yelled. Before a fire consumed him. "That"s it. Let the dragon flow through your veins." Sirzechs said as he landed on the ground. "Scale mail evolution ready." Ddraig stated. As Issei sent a punch to Sirzechs face. "You are ready Issei now go Rias is waiting for you." Sirzechs said as he opened a portal to Rias" location. Issei looked at Sirzechs before smirking and entering the portal. /Rias an hour before./ "Rias time is up we must go the church. We don"t have a choice the fallen aren"t one to break a promise of death." Kiba informed. "He"s right Rias." Akeno nodded. "We have to wait for Issei we can"t do this without him." Rias said not wanting to leave Issei behind. "We know you love him, Rias but the town must come first." Kenoko said as she put a hand on Rias. Rias looked down at the floor before taking a breath and strengthening her resolve. "Please Issei don"t stay away.' "alright guys lets do this." / At the church./ Rias and the gang arrived at the old church and entered to find Raynare and three other fallen were standing around a cross. On the cross was a blond haired girls who looked in pain. "Look who decided to show up. I"m sorry you"re too late the twilight healing is mine not even your dragon can help you now. Speaking of which where is he." Raynare smiled which angier Rias. "Shut up you fallen bitch. Kiba sword birth. Akeno bring the pain. Kenoko start punching." The trio followed their orders and Rias sent a ruining blast into group. The fight continued for another 10 minutes before a flash of red formed behind Rias. From it step Issei. He place a hand on Rias shoulder before he spoke. "I"ll handle this get Kiba and Kenoko to step back focus on the other two I"ll handle Raynare." Issei walked forward and spoke. "Raynare!" "Look who decided to show up. Now die." Raynare charged to Issei with great speed only to be sent back by a kick from Issei. "My turn. Scale mail!" Issei yelled as he body began to glow. "Red Dragon hunter, type two....fallen slayer." Issei new armour had more armour on it and offered more armour, Issei"s speed was not damaged by this and his body had spikes around it adding more protection and damage. "I will kill you now Raynare." Issei charged into Raynare fist first. Issei fist hit Her in the face and Raynare nose began to bleed black blood. Issei then waked over to her and sent a spiked boot into the head, the body vanished. But issei looked up and raynae in the sky holding a golden spear, She aimed it at his head and fell with it giving it extra strength. "Die!" "Not this time." Issei caught the spear and tossed it to the side. He caught Raynare by the throat and pulled his other hand back summoning a spike to form on his wrist. He then sent it into Raynare stomach. Expecting her to scream in pain Raynare surprised Issei by smiling. Asia screamed as she was forced to use her twilight healing and heal Raynare stomach wound. "Sorry to disappoint you. But I can"t die. Thanks to Asia over there." raynare smiled. "You bitch." Issei threw her to the side and walked over to her. "YOU THINK THAT"S GOING TO STOP ME" Issei was enraged now the power of wraith flowing through his veins. "It just lets me pound you some more." Issei walked over to Raynare and picked her up by her hair. Making her scream in pain. "Rias get Asia out of here." Issei didn"t see it but Rias nodded. "Akeno you heard him get the girl on the cross out of her. Koneko, Kiba help me finish off these fucking fallen assholes." Akeno flew towards Asia untied her and flew away with Asia unconscious in her arms. Rias, Kiba and Koneko finished off their targets. "Issei?" Issei answered Rias call. "Go, Your not going to want to see this." Rias waited a seconded before a tear formed in her eyes as she knew Issei was going away again. "Kiba, Koneko....let"s go." Once Rias and co were gone Issei turned back to Raynare who he was holding and using as a punching bag. Issei then removed his mask. "Look into my eyes." Raynare was weak but she did what she was told. Issei"s eyes were that of a serpent. Piecing her very soul. "These are the eyes of the leader of the dragons. I am here because you have brought pain to the innocent and must be punished." Issei paused for a moment replacing his mask. "But i am also the orphan of Rathiel and Kartiana. The human and devil general that you killed because they stood in your way. I am here to get revenge." Issei then slammed her face first into the ground. " First I must take these." Issei began to rip of Raynare wings. This cause her to scream with pain like she had never felt. Issei did it slowly to make it more painful. Once the wings were removed blood began to spill however twilight healing healed Raynare leaving her with bloody stumps on her back. Issei then picked Raynare up again by her hair. She then punched her in the gut again and again. Once he finally stopped he tossed her to the ground. He walked over to the cross and ripped it out the ground. Issei struggled to carry it but he walked over to Raynare who was crying with pain. "Please stop." She begged. "Did you stop for my parents." Issei said as he dropped the cross onto of Raynare. However her body was healing it over and over again. "You really can"t die. Uh." Issei walked over to Raynare"s head. "Let"s see you heal from having your head ripped off." "Wait." Raynare screamed. "What I thought you wanted to die or do you want to live in constant pain, I"m fine with that." Issei spat. "Kill me yes but I wanted to tell you something. It was Raiser." Raynare started, "Raiser what." "Raiser ordered me to kill you and your parents. He know about your sacred gear and is scared of it. I told him you were dead so i could get paid. No please just kill me." "If you say so." Issei said as he once again grabbed Raynare"s hair and pulled so hard that he ripped her head off. Which was something even twilight healing couldn"t heal. /Rias./ "Rias, I"m sorry I was too late.... She"s dying." Akeno said. "Looks we have no choice her sacred gear is too risky too loose." Rias said before pulling out a bishop. "Asia I you are close to death i am here to save you from death. In return you must serve me as a servant. Welcome to the house of gremory....OK lets her back to my house so we can heal her. /Issei./ Issei entered Sirzechs office. He threw the wings onto the desk. "She dead?" Sirzechs asked. "Yes she dead now... I want Raiser." Issei stated. "Only way you are going to do that is if you learn to use your devil magic." Sirzechs said. "Then teach me." Issei said. "I can"t but there is someone who can." Sirzechs stated. "Who." Issei asked. "Your father...." A/N and that was that. Good, bad let me know and.... I"ll see you in the next chapter. A/N So a review told me I was pacing thing wrong which to that I"m sorry but this is my story things will slow down later. Secondly that if i got the names wrong let me know so I can change them, finally grammar, I need an editor to help me plz. Now on with the chapter. Chapter 6: Father. "There has to be someone else who can train me. Come on." Issei begged. He wasn"t going to get stronger if he couldn"t use the powers of his clan. "I"m sorry but no." Sirzechs stated. "So what you"re saying is I wasted my time, you cheated me. You said...."Issei said getting a angry. "I know what I said, and I keep my promises. Just because your father is doesn"t mean he can"t still teach you. Unlike the humans and angels who when they die they go start a new life in a new world be it, heaven, purgatory or earth again for the angels. Us devils get to stay being devils for a second life time, when we die we go deeper into the underworld. A place known as the dumping ground. It is filled with war and death. It"s pretty empty seen as devils are always killing each other down there." Sirzechs said. "How does that help me." Issei spat. "Well i promised to help you learn more about your devil magic and i always keep my promise. You see as demon king I control all the underworld including the dumping ground. I"m the only one with access. I can give this too but of course it came at a price." Sirzechs. "The deaths of Raynare and her fallen." Issei declared. "Yes and now they are gone Azexel can move in and claim the territory. As for you. Take this." "What is it." Issei asked taking a small black compass from Sirzechs. "It"s a mini portal. It will give you limited access to the dumping ground. Don"t worry it got your father"s location pinpointed." Sirzechs smiled. "Thank you. But you do realise that"s us done, no more contracts." Issei stated. "I know, your Rias" pawn now. Oh before I forget. For your second reward I reopened your father"s bank and all his funds have been replace. The name of course went to his heir...being you. I believe it called being set for life." Sirzechs then handed Issei a blue orb. Issei touched the orb and a light shined in his eyes showing him all the gold in the vault that belonged to him. "Thank you... If you don"t mind I"ll be going now...and lord lucifer. Thank you for everything." Issei then left before SIrzechs could say anything else. "No problem.....Brother." Sirzechs said with a smile. /Dumping ground./ Issei walked out of a portal and walked forwards. The dumping grounds were just that....It was a dump. There was no structure, just chaos. Rubble and death everywhere. As issei walked he saw a tall well built man standing on a edge of cliff away from the chaos behind him. The man had long brown hair like Issei and Issei knew straight away who this was but he had to check. "Rathiel Hyoudou?" "Yes that"s me and no i won"t help you in your fight I don"t feel like dying again." Rathiel said in a deep cold voice. "I"m not here about that...My name is Issei....Issei hyoudou...I"m your" Issei was nervous but Rathiel turned round to look at Issei. Rathiel"s eyes were sea green and his face was calm and relaxed unlike his voice but his eyes looked like they were piecing your very being. "My son." Rathiel eyes began to water and the old man ran toward Issei lifting him off the floor with a bear hug. Issei could feel his ribs crushing. "Sorry dad but I don"t feel like dying today either." Issei said jokingly. "Oh yeah sorry. It just I missed you, It"s been what 6-7 years since....you know." Rathiel said but regretted it when he saw Issei pain. "Son I"m sorry. I did mean to upset you." Issei shook his head. "NO it"s fine. It"s been a long 11 years, all I"ve done is train and get strong. Me and Ddraig have got revenge. Nothing else to kill me. Well other than Raiser." "11 years. Fuck....Issei.....I." Rathiel was at a loss for words. Finding his son has gone 11 years without anyone to call family broke his heart. "Dad serious it fine, plus I met someone." Issei said with a blush thinking about Rias. His dad then grow a pervert smile. "Oh really, what her name." "Rias Gremory." "Wait thy Rias gremory sister to Sirzechs....well done son." Rathiel said with a booming laugh. "Yeah and that"s not all. I"m also the red dragon emperor, or getting there. My balance break isn"t strong enough yet. Which is why I"m here. I need the dragon clans devil magic. You"re the only one who can teach me." "Well, well, well my son. The red dragon emperor, I"ll be honoured to teach you, but know this. I"m your teacher not your father I won"t go easy on you." Rathiel said with a cold look. Issei smirked. "Fine with me." "Good let"s go." Rathiel said jumping off the cliff. He used his wings to glide into a nearby cave. "Um dad I can"t fly." Issei stated. "Didn"t Sirzech teach you anything. Get out your wings and just glide boy." Issei gulped and did what he was told. He got out his wings and jumped. The winds allowed him to land next to his father. "Well done you have passed the first test hatchling. Now come. " Issei father led Issei into a open area of the cave. He then sat cross legged in the middle of the opening. Issei join his father. "Close your eyes." Rathiel demanded. Issei did as he was told and waited for his next intrusion. "In order to learn the magic of our clan you must first understand the 3 strengths of a dragon; It"s fire, It"s voice and its wraith." Raithel then took in a deep as if he was calming himself. "All three must work as one. Fire for the attack and defense. Voice to send fear into your opponent and increase your senses. wraith to increase it speed and strength." "What happens if the dragon is out of balance." Issei asked. "Then the dragon is nothing more than a lizard. Too much fire and you get burnt, our scales may be fire resistant but our insides are not. Too much voice and you lose your senses, with out our sight, smell and hearing we can"t react. Too much wraith and you lose control, you seek nothing but destruction." Rathiel then opened his eyes to look at his son. "You have too much wraith. Your anger toward the fallen ones has made you lose your voice and weaken your fire." Issei was taken back by this. "The help me father." "For a dragon to be fixed it must be first broke down. I"m sorry my son but this won"t be pleasant." Issei father then began to chant. Issei felt his body weak and his power be taken away. The more power that was taken the weaker he got it started to hurt and then it was torture but Issei didn"t scream out he just gritted his teeth and beared with it. Rathiel stopped chanting and Issei let out a breath. He opened his eyes and saw a red orb with 8 pawn pieces deep within it. Ddraig was gone as well. Issei felt empty as if his everything was taken but then Rias entered his head. Her face along gave him the strength he needed. Issei stood up and faced his father. "What"s next." "Impressive, when my father did that to me I feinted and slept for a week. OK next we train. We rebuild you. We will know when you are fixed when this orb re-enters you." Raithel then charged at Issei, Issei was slower but was able to block it...his training had began. /Rias./ Issei wasn"t the only one training. After being shown up but Issei Rias decided to hardcore training was needed so her and her peerage left for some distant mountains to train. Kiba was to practise his magic so he didn"t reply on his sword more than his own skill as a devil. Koneko was to train her defense. As much as a heavy hitter she was a good defense was a good offense. Asia was to learn everything about her new world. Akeno was stuck in the study learning new techniques and combinations of spells she could use. Rias decided to train her body in general. Strengthening her mind with knowledge. Training muscles in the gym and then the destructive magic at the top of the mountain.

"yeah bye Louise" they said hugging her and then saying "take care of Saito OK" she nodded and said "he"s in safe hands" then the parent smiled and turned to their son. "we know where you are now but" Saito father started. "but that doesn"t mean you can visit a again in another 2 years. We want you to visit at least once a month even if it for tea" Saito mother finished off. "we will mum I promise." Saito said before taking Louise"s hand and saying "ready to go home" Louise nodded as they walk though door back to Des Ornieres and back to their lives. OK guys next chapter going to jump a year or two just a heads up and this story will two or three chapter more before the non-updated version is done I have already started going thought story and making correction where need. If you want more familiar of zero love stories then go check out my Familiar of zero: A queens knight fan fiction. It"s a Saito X Henrietta fan fic and it will contain lemons as detailed as ones in this story. Lastly if you guys have any after story romance ideas you like to try I am more than happy to try the Animes I have watched and are will to do fan fics for are; familiar of zero Sword art online future diary ( need ideas for one thought) shakugan no shana sorry there not much to choice from but I all I could do. Familiar of zero: sword of the people Warning: this fan fiction will have sexual content and bad language my story takes place after season 3 so this my own version of season 4 enjoy. Chapter 25: starting a family. Saito had been think long and hard about this decision, was it the right time, were they ready, what would he do, what would she do. All these question ran thought his head as Saito was doing some building work in the town. 2 years ago Saito and Louise returned to Des Ornieres, their home, but as promised in the middle of ever month they would put a side what plans they had to visit Saito" s parents, normally their visit were full of question about Louise world. However on their last visit they asked a more personal question. "when were they think about having a family" I truth they never really did. They love to have sex (especially Louise) but they always used the protection spell, so no children would be born. But after that one small but giant question Saito started to consider it. Once Saito job was done he head back home, once he got there he was great (as he was every day) by Louise, his wife, his world, his life. Just like every day they would welcome each other in a embrace. "how your day been" Saito asked Louise "Fine but that maid I told you about she screwed up again" Louise told Saito in angrier. "OK enough about that one maid I mean how has your day been not hers" Saito told Louise "Well it OK, like I said. The economy has increased but 2% and 2 small bandit tribes have join meaning the population has increased by another 7%" Louise told Saito "Which means me and them rest of the builders have to build more houses" Louise shook her head "No the house we"ve got should be enough and we need to take a break, Robert told me to take 2 days off and you should do the same." Louise told Saito with concern "Yeah I know it just there still so much work to be done..." was stopped what I was saying when she gave Saito the "do as I say" look "OK,OK I"ll take a short, short break." Saito emphasized the short in his sentence. "Thank you come on I need to talk to you about something." Saito nodded a he knew what she wanted to talk about. The bedroom "Saito do you know what I been thinking about because it seems you"ve been think the same, I mean we"ve been married for 2 years now and this manor has been feeling a little empty lately. " Saito stop Louise before she could say anything else. "Louise there no need to persuade me I feel the same way, lets start a real family." she nodded then we smiled. 2 weeks later For the last 3 days Louise had been feeling ill and weak, so Saito was going to ask the maid to get a doctor but then Louise stopped him and said "Saito this would be easier in your world, if we do it here i"ll be stuck in this room for 3 days as the spell to scan me when if we go to your world it can be done in seconds." "OK lets go." Louise opened a world door and the couple walked thought. Saito sent a text to his parent telling them what was happening and they said they would be there as soon as they could, which meant they would only had to wait 2 or 3 minutes. The hospital. "Mrs and Mr Hiriaga I have fantastic news, you are a weeks pregnant. Yes it early but I recommend, that you do very little travelling." the family doctor told them. "Yes sir we won"t." Saito waited until the doctor was out the room before he said, "looks like we won"t be going back to Des Ornieres for a while." Louise nodded and said "But we can"t live with your parent for the next 9 months so we"ll go fine a small house near by, close enough they can help, but far enough so were don"t feel like a endless shadow." Louise said "Yeah I"m sure they would mind us stay with them but I don"t like being 20 and living with my parents. So if you open a world door in our bed room later I"ll go get us enough money and clothes to last." she nodded and they did just that. 9 month later Louise"s due date was in 2 days and both lousier and Saito were worried and nervous so they when to the hospital. Not long after they arrived Louise got her room, the doctor said that Saito could say and the got him small bed but birth Louise and Saito knew they would need it the bed was plenty big enough for the 2 of them After 2 day of endless checks Louise went into labour, it was long and painful but Satan never left her side. After 2 hour of labour Louise gave birth to a baby boy and then a baby girl (they weren"t expecting twins). Saito named the girl Mieko meaning blessing (as she was the unexpected one) and Louise choice to name the boy Ezio (A/N only slightly a assassin creed reference, it just the name that sound like it went with Mieko). After a month Saito and Louise returned home with their children, only to return after a 2 years and adding a 3 child. This one named Alex. There family living in Des Ornieres, Louise and Saito"s happy ending and began. ...... A/N Ok guys this next chapter should be the final chapter if not the one after will be hope you guys enjoyed the story, will continue Familiar of zero: A queen"s knight after I have done the mass editing and completed my first fan fic. Once that is done there will be 2 more stories. :) see you in chapter 25. Familiar of zero: sword of the people Warning: this fan fiction will have sexual content and bad language my story takes place after season 3 so this my own version of season 4 enjoy. Chapter 25: family life. "Dad, Ezio got my sword and he won"t give it back" Mieko called. "Mum, Meiko got my wand and won"t give it back" Ezio called. "Quiet, both of you your brother is having a nap and you don"t want to face the wrath of your mother if you wake him" Saito told the twins. The twins shock their heads in fear of their mother getting Angry however Louise walked in with a crying Alex how had just been woke up. "RIGHT, you too Waking up Alex has just got you 2 days of no wands or swords" Louise told the twins coldly. "But mum that not fair." Ezio and Mieko said in unison "You think that"s unfair, when I was first summon by your mother she stopped me from eating for 2 whole days" Saito told the twin "No food for 2 days, I don"t want that, here"s my wand mummy. I"m sorry Alex" Ezio said giving Louise his wand. "That does sound horrible, here"s my sword daddy" Mieko said giving Saito her sword. "That my girl now go take you brother and go play outside." Saito told Mieko as he walk over to Louise. "Yes dad, come on Ezio lets go and play." Mieko told Ezio. "Yes lets" Ezio said, then the twins ran for their dear life, they did want to face their mother rage any longer after hearing what she did to their dad. "You know you did have to tell them about that." louise told Saito. "But if they don"t know what you can do their never listen, plus it"s always fun to see them run as fast as they can when they see your not happy" saito said smiling. I know, I know and to be honest, they did wake Alex up so taking there wand sword wasn"t really fair." Louise said holding her son"s wand. "But they were being noisy and soon either something would be sliced in half or something would go boom." Saito told Louise. "Well they are our children, wonder what Alex is going to be good at." "Who knows, he might be a bit of both, we won"t know until he"s 1 when the other 2 showed their skill." Saito told Louise. When Mieko and Ezio were 1 they had gotten hold of Louise"s wand and Saito"s old training sword and some how they were both naturals in sword and magic, well they knew how to swing and sword and smash everything and how to cast an explosion. "Yeah but lets hope it"s not as messy, you, the maid and the servants were cleaning the ball room up for about 2 weeks." Louise said jokily. "Yeah anyway lets get this one back to sleep and then get ready for next week, we are visit my mum and dad and it"s there first time seeing Alex since he was born." Saito told Louise. "Yeah I know, the twins are to excited to see your parents, they never act like that when they get to see mine" Louise told Saito a bit saddened. "Are you really surprised, you said it your self on our honey moon. Your parents are stricter and give them a harder time, where as mine just let them do what ever they want. Which gives us a hard time." Saito told Louise. "Yeah OK." Louise said before turning and going to put Alex back in his room "Wait a minute, I forgot something" Saito said giving Louise a passionate kiss. "Yes you did forget that, now let me take Alex to bed before we go talk and pack." Louise told Saito smiling and teasing as she walked away. Since Saito and Louise had got back with the twins they decide to be a very hands on family, just like how Saito was raised, they wanted to do all the chores that come with being a parent. Louise family did offer nurses but they refused with that want. Saito wanted it because it was how he had it and didn"t think it would be fair if as a parent he relied on other people to raise his children. Louise on the other hand wanted her children to be raised like Saito, she did want them to raised my maid and servants and for them to become distance from the family, like she had. This was their there family and this was there happy ending, there was no more fights, no more punishment. All there was, was pure love and happiness. A life together, a life as a family their life of peace. THE END... ...... A/N that was all she wrote. Here is the final chapter. Now I will be doing the update and soon every single chapter so far will be updated. Thank you for reading Familiar of zero: sword of the people. Familiar of zero: sword of the people Warning: this fan fiction will have sexual content and bad language my story takes place after season 3 so this my own version of season 4 enjoy. Chapter 3: The new lord of Des Ornieres Saito woke the next day in the same way Louise did he felt empty but fully ware on what was happening. He made a promise and he was going to keep his promise even if it hurt. As Saito woke up he heard a knock at the door it was Robert "M"lord if you are wake would like to come see the state of the town and see what work is need to be done" Saito replied shortly after "I think that would be a great idea and I told you before it just Saito I"m your equal the difference is name nothing else" Robert sighed and said "Saito your different to other lords in fact your the only lord to see commoners as your equal... oh before I forget you might want to to bring a blade with you, there has been several bandit attacks in the last month. "understood Robert I"ll be a few minutes wait for me in the main hall" Saito answered back pulling himself out of bed. A few minutes later Saito entered the main hall of his empty mansion as it was a ruined building with only a few room even worth living in he had hire any maids or servants. Saito and Robert walk to town and saw the state it was in, it was like a slave town that he had seen in history books back home and if thing could get any worst bandits attacks had left the town penniless. Saito walk around the town making plans and taking requests from the people of the town he wrote it all down and would give it to the queen when he went for his meet later. After several hours of walking round the town Robert told Saito it was time to go however Bandit decide to attack and Saito wasn"t going to leave his people to the hand of these bastards however Saito had a plan to grow the town and add more member of the town. So Saito called to few guards he had to try and kill the leader and as few of the grunts as possible. Saito hope was that if there leader died Saito could allow the bandits to join the town of Des Ornieres and in turn the town would develop faster. After about half an hour of fighting the bandits surrendered but they were surprised that Saito invited them to join the there town and call it home the only price was that they had to give all there money to the town to help rebuild and take up jobs in the town. Most of the bandits agreed to the terms but the few who did were take to the mansion and put in one of the ruin rooms. After the fight and most of the bandits set up homes and camps Saito was taking his leave to go to the castle and give the plans of the town to queen (or as he knew the princess) he left the town in the hands of Robert and said he would be back the next day. The castle Saito entered the castle wearing his hooded cloak (which was provided by the princess so that on the off chance that any of student at the academy saw him they would recognize him or report his activity to Louise. He made his way to the throne room when he heard a familiar voice, it was Louise as she was crying so much (which hurt Saito) but he did hear the words hate you. Satio let out a long sigh and waited for the princess to comfort her going in now would only make thing worst. He waited for what seemed like hours and then he heard the words of Derf so he decide it might be a good idea to enter. He knock on the door and it walking. After entering the room he decide it my be a good idea to a voice on to hide who he was form Louise so he made his voice go deeper (which killed his throat) and said/asked "hello your highness I would like to request a small amount of troops to defend Des Ornieres from more bandit attacks" (the guard they had at the moment would be able to defend the town if a larger gang appeared) he was going to hand her some of the gold he had of him to pay the troops with but she refused and he put the money away and then she said "lord Des Ornieres" I believe we have something we need to discuss. I nodded Louise stood up tears in her eyes and took derf out of the room heading to one of the guest rooms. As soon as the door closed Saito removed his hooded and then the princess smiled and gave him a hug knowing he felt the same way as Louise but he pulled away and nodded his head. "anyway here are the request and some of the thing I noticed the town need" Saito said giving her the list of thing needed to repair the town. Her eyes widened at the large list of thing need of the town and then she smile and asked "there is nothing her concerning your mansion what do you need of that" Saito shake his head and said "no no it"s OK the towns people need the repair more that my mansion does" she continued to smile and said "even with all the power I gave you still put other people before yourself, anyway what are you going to with the bandit I know you don"t like to kill but as a lord you may need to inorder to protect your people" "well yeah I know I thought that if I invited the bandit into the town and let them live a normal life away from combat I could hit two birds with one stone" Saito said answering her question still a bit confused Henrietta asked "what problems are these" "well the first is the number of people in the town if I get the bandits to live in the town peacefully then the population of the town will grow and more jobs will get done, the second is the number of bandits in the area if they all live in the town or locked away then there will be fewer attacks more money and peace." Saito exclaimed. "that a good idea I don"t think I have meet anyone like you Saito now are leaving or what" Henrietta asked wondering his plans "no I was wondering if was ok if I stayed here for the night and made sure to take the material need back with me tomorrow" Saito asked hoping to stay in the presence of Louise a little longer Henrietta knew this and smile before replied "yes I don"t see why not." "That good I think I"m going to stay in my room as putting that voice on kills my throat. Henrietta gave a final smile a the nodded before saito took his leave Familiar of zero: sword of the people Warning: this fan fiction will have sexual content and bad language my story takes place after season 3 so this my own version of season 4 enjoy. Chapter 4: dinner and proposal It was getting late and Saito was getting hungry so he decide to go to the kitchen and asked for some food the servant were surprised to see that he want to eat in the kitchen but they refused so he took his meal to the main dining hall but not before he grabbed his cloak in case he bumped into Louise Louise was having the same idea she wanted to get some food so she went to the main dinning hall and saw the man she knew as the hooded lord, but to her surprise he was carrying his own food and he sat then he ask for some water and the servant gave it to him Louise sat opposite him in hopes to his face but he turned away and then moved along a seat to avoid this. "may I help you you looked a bit sad when I first arrived and I just wondered if there was anything I could do to help" Saito asked in his painful deep voice and drank some more water. Louise shock her head and said "no it something no-one can help with you see someone special to me left last night and I might not be able to see him for a long time" in a saddened tone "ahh I see what was he too you because it doesn"t seem that he was your brother" saito asked again in his fake deep voice and drink some more water to smooth this throat. "well he was my familiar a rare at that at first I hated him and treated him as a dog I even said he was one but he stayed loyal and even confessed to loving me" Louise exclaimed trying to explain herself. "you say he said he loved you and I"m just curious do you feel the same way I mean how do you feel about him" saito asked trying to find the truth about her feelings for him" "i guess I did I mean yes I do I love him with all my heart and I never got the chance to tell him and now he"s gone" Lousie said starting to cry again "oh I"m sorry I didn"t mean to...umm to be honest I don"t know what to say" saito said still trying his hardest not to tell her who he was so they could be together but he made a promise a promise he swear to keep and then he got an idea "if you don"t mind could tell me his name" "His name is Saito Chevalier De Hiraga" Louise said still trying not to cry "Did you say Saito" lousie nodded confused at what he was getting at "saito was brought to Des Ornieres by my good friend Robert he said that he was sent on a mission top secret mission that would prove himself to your father so he could ask for your hand in marriage if you accepted him he"s still in Des Ornieres I"m afraid that you can"t come with back there but I if told him that would marry him he might arrange a meeting" saito asked with his hopes set high and after he finished talking he saw Louise"s face light up "tell him yes a million time yes after he proves himself to my father I will marry him he only have to ask" lousie said still crying but not tears of sadness they were tear of joy. Saito smiled and then "said when I return I will tell him that and I"m sure he would set a meeting know if you will excuse me" he got up and took his dinner plate back the kitchen and left Lousie to her own thought about there future. In Saito"s room "my throat feels like a hundred knifes have be stabbed into it but it was all worth it she said that she would marry me I can"t believe it" saito was talking to himself overjoyed by the events that just transpired. He then got into bed and closed his "lousie I love you" saito said falling a sleep In Louise"s room "Derf,Derf I have the most fantastic news Saito want to marry not siesta, not the princess not any other girl he want marry me,me,me" lousie joyfully said she skipped back into the room. "nice more partner find the truth with the girl knowing it"s who" Derf said to himself. "what was that Derf I did hear you" Louise ask Derf questionably "oh nothing congratulation but remember to keep this a secret from everybody I"m sure he want it to be a surprise to everyone when he gets back and your father want try to kill him before hand" Derf said trying to protect Satio and calm louise down

As soon as he got down the Stair Issei was left with destruction everywhere, the walls were missing, the furniture was destroyed all was left was rubble. His mother laid dead on the floor near where the kitchen was, she with left lying in a pool of blood around her growing bigger as the seconds passed. Even at a young age Issei knew this was bad, He didn"t know she was dead but he knew she was hurt. Issei wanted to go to his mother and give a plaster like she would when he was hurt but he could move something was stopping him. That thing was his father magic. Issei dad stood beaten and battered but still standing, Devil wings spread and his hand pointing to Issei making a barrier between him and the conflict. Issei saw a dark haired girl with black walk over to him with a glowing spear in her hands. "Are you ready to die you devil filth, any last words before I kill you and stop your son from discovering who he truly is." Issei father spat at the girl and spoke. "Shut up you bitch, my son will be stronger than any of his ancestors, He will hunt you and destroy you, my lord as promised it." He then stopped talking and started chanting. " I lord (insert name here:) ) release the power holding back my son and offer his service to you my demon king Sirzechs. I chose you to train him and make sure he is ready, please hear my call you owe me damnit." Issei father finished his long chant and then raynare stabbed him, "You demon king won"t be saving you or your son to day, Demon filth." Suddenly a flash of red blinded everything and from it came a large,strong, red haired man with battle armour on came out soon over the body of a dead devil, Issei father. "I am Sirzechs lucifer. King of the devils, you have killed one of high council and now I will make you pay. I place a bounty on your head. Know from this day forth you will be hunted by Issei until you take your last breath now leave or else." Raynare not wanting to face the wrath of Sirzechs left the battle laughing and asking how a 6 year old hybrid boy could hunt her but little did she know. It was then that Sirzech took Issei in, He trained him for 2 years, he told him everything; About hybrids, Devil, angels, fallen angels and of course about the dragon kings and emperors. It wasn"t until Sirzechs sister Rais was ready for training that Sirzechs asked Azexel the current Governor general of the fallen angels to retire to train the boy to be bounty hunter for the pair of them. Azexel Agreed and trained boy for another 5 years. Stepping down to become Sirzechs "advisor" on all thing fallen angel. / Issei at the end of his training./ Issei breathed heavily. He had been fighting the damned fallen angel lord for about 2 hours now and still couldn"t lay a finger on them, The other target that Azexel had given him so fair we a lot easier than this. Thankfully this was training so he couldn"t die as easierly. The fallen angel lord sent another blast to Issei, Issei dodged it and then tried to find a way to defeat the bastard. "Draig any ideas." Issei asked as another blast hit him. "Boost.... No sorry partner, I don"t just keep dodging." Ddraig said with little encouragement. Another blast hit Issei and he fell to his knees. "The only way you"re going to defeat me boy and pass the test is if you use you balance break so come on do it," The fallen angel mocked. Issei just smirked. "Why thank you sir." Issei spoke as he waited for Draig to enhance him. "Boost. Scale mail ready." Draig informed Issei. "Activate balance breaker, Red dragon scale mail, type one," Issei yelled as his body was consumed in a red light. Once the light vanished Issei was left with his armour. It was lightweight and offered little protection, However it allow Issei to be faster. His attacks didn"t get any stronger so Issei had learnt to use his speed to dish out fast light attacks to win the fight. Issei then yelled the name of his armour type. "Angel hunter." The fallen angel lord was scared now. "Azexel didn"t tell me about this." Seeing the fallen angel"s fear Issei attacked, using his speed Issei closed the distance. But when he got close Issei disappeared only to reappear behind the fallen angel. Issei sent single punch to the fallen angel"s back before moving again with great speed to the front it. He then kicked the fallen Angel"s legs and made him fall. "This is over," Was all Issei said before sending his elbow with great speed to the back of the fallen angel"s head knocking him out. As soon as the fight was over Issei heard clapping from the sidelines. It was Azexel, " Well done Issei you just need to work on getting you gear to boost faster. But here I got another name from Sirzechs." Azexel handed Issei a piece of paper. "Your next target is a fallen angel and stray devil known as seletria. Her hunting grounds are in the old shipping house by the docks.' After Issei read the piece of paper he said bye to Azexel and left the underworld. Once Issei returned to his home which Sirzechs built for him spected to Issei plan 1 year ago for his 15 birthday, Issei was over joyed not to have to live with Azexel anymore, His snores made the house shake. The house had 4 rooms downstairs and 3 room up stairs. Down stairs was a training and work out room which was equip with all the latest gym equipment and a section for sword practise and a shower. The next rooms were and living room with 4, 2 man sofas as well as 3 one man chairs, a bookshelf with human books and a secret compartment with devil history books and techniques inside of it, The living room also had a 40 inch Samsung TV. The next room was a kitchen with every you would need, there was a small off this that had a dining table that could fit 10 people on it, however Issei tended to eat in the living room watching Netflix. The final downstairs room was spare bedroom, That had a wardrobe, A queen sized bed and an ensuite the walls were painted white and the floor was wooden just like rest of the house. ( most of the other bed room were like this.) The upstairs had a normal bathroom and 3 bedrooms 2 of which were the same as down stair and the other was Issei"s, Issei had a king sized bed and had red painted wall as well as a ensuite. There was a bookshelf full of games and a 32 inch Tv with a xbox one attached to it, there was also a secret portal to the underworld that Issei only had access to when he spoke the password. Issei finished touring the house making sure he had no intruders. Once he done this Issei started to make himself some food. As he was the red dragon emperor he would eat 3X the amount a normal human would eat. Issei plated his food which was a pleasant roast lamb breast (Yes the whole breast.) with minted new potatoes and seasonal veg. Issei carried his large plate of food the living room and turned on the Tv, he was about to start to eat when he heard his doorbell ring. Issei got up and walked to the door, once he got their he and opened it he was met with the girl he had only seen photo"s of in Sirzechs office when he handing in a contract. Before him stood. Rias Gremory. Sister of Sirzechs lucifer and more commonly known as the Ruin princess. "Hello I"m Rias gremory your new house mate." A/N: Done slow start might be a bit shit, but I hope one of you awesome people can help me edit this and give me a hand as I don"t have a lot of time to go back and edit small mistakes sorry. Also please help me with a name for Issei father. I will see you in the next chapter. A/N Here we go again.. Chapter 10: Rest. Issei awoken with Rias" naked body wrapped round him. He smiled to himself, it had been a week and their relationship had developed quickly. Issei wormed his way out of Rias grip and thought back to a couple of days ago. /6 days earlier./ Issei awoke alone in bed. He tried to find the will to remove himself from the comfort of his covers. However after 5 minutes of tossing and turning in bed he began to smell bacon. It quickly made him jump out of bed. He chucked on a t-shirt and walked down stairs. He was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of boxers, when he got to the kitchen and Rias saw him she smirked. Although she seemed to be fully dressed he could tell her underwear was missing. Her nipples were poking out of top and he simple guessed she wasn"t wearing panties. "I see the power of bacon works on you." "Great another weakness you know about." Issei said as he kissed her cheek. "I know more than one." Rias joked. "Of course. I mean if you couldn"t tell but you have me wrapped round your finger." Issei whispered coolly in her ear. Rias smirked. "I would rather be wrapped round you but having your powerful body wrapped round part of me makes me feel hot." Issei laughed and flipped the bacon which Rias had forgotten about. He then grabbed a piece and suck in his mouth before walking away back to his room. Rias took the rest of the bacon off and followed Issei. She found him back in bed and sighed to herself. "Issei get up." Issei moaned. "Whhy." "You sound like a child and if you don"t get up I"ll dump my things on you." Rias said leaning in the doorway. "Your things?" Issei asked questionably. "Oh you didn"t guess. I can"t stand to be away from you and so I decided to sleep with you." Rias said as she left to her room. "Wait what." Issei called out as he felt his dragon instincts begin to kick in, He took a breath and suppressed them before he got out of bed slipped his t-shirt back on before going to help Rias. /2 hours later./ Issei walked into his room carrying Rias wardrobe, After emptying it Issei was forced by Rias to carry it into his room and place it in a very perfix place. It was then when the pair spent another 2 hours loading the wardrobe with clothes. There were a few times Issei had found some form of ecrotic clothing and would tease Rias with it before putting it where she wanted it, hidden in the depth of the wardrobe. Once They were finished Issei walked over to his bed and lifted it up. He scaned the area for something and then put the bed down. He then walked over to the side of it and started pulling stuff out from underneath it. It was then he pulled a plastic tub from his bed. He place it on the bed, before putting all the other stuff back into under the bed. "What"s that?" Rias asked. "This is the best console of all time. My playstation 2." Issei said with a smirk before going behind his TV and replacing all the plugs. "What"s it for?" Rias was getting confused. "It for us to have some fun and relax.... Hopefully." Issei put the disk in and after a little while a title screen came up. "Sonic heroes.' (A/N first game I ever played.) "Issei what do I do." "Press the X button." Issei instructed. It was going to be a very long few hours. /That evening./ It was now 10 at night and Issei had replace the console under his bed. The event had cased much pain for Issei but after a while and once Rais got what she was doing the game became fun to play for both of them. "Ahhh OK I think I"m going to hit the hay." Issei said as he stretched out. He then walked over to his wardrobe and grabbed a pair of boxers before heading into the en-suite. Rias just stood there awkwardly and waited for Issei to come out. Once he did Issei got into bed making room for Rias to go next to him. Rais next action made Issei jump. Rias slowly started to strip down to the nude. "Rias what are you doing?" "Getting ready for bed I alway sleep naked" It was then she saw Issei red face. "Oh come on Issei you seen me half naked already and the number of times you come into the bathroom when I taking a bath...." "In the en-suite and you"re right I have but never had a chance to watch you strip down, I mean it a wonderful sight but..." Issei decided to hold back on telling her his Dragon instincts were skyrocketing now. Rias shrugged her shoulders before getting to bed, She rested agaist Issei, she let her hand brush Issei member before smirking. "I can fix that for you." "No not to night." Issei whispered with all his might as he held back. The pair (some faster that others) fell asleep for the night. /Present./ Rais awoke to find Issei missing. She first checked the en-suite, she saw he was in there so she decided to search for him. She first slipped on one of Issei black T-shirts he had loose on the floor and after some searching in the depths of her wardrobe to find a thong made of very little fabric. It wasn"t hard to find Issei His grunting gave him away. She found him in the gym. Topless and very sweaty. Rais then hatched a plan. Issei was currently doing some weights. He had his music playing in his headphones full blast and it allowed him to zone out as he worked out. However it also helped Rias sneak up on Issei and sit on his crotch. She felt his member shoot up and rub on her opening. She helped Issei lift up the dumbbell before Issei pulled out his headphones. "Do you have any idea how hard you make my life." "Yes and it would become much easier if you just stopped resisting." Rias said as she kissed his neck. "Why do you want to have sex with me so much, we"ve been together for like a week?" Issei asked. "I"m a teenage devil, my hormones are very high and seeing as I found the person I want to be with the rest of my life my body has gone into overdrive." Rias said lustfully. "It worse for me trust me." Issei commented. "Then just give in." Rias moaned as he moved to kiss his lips as her hand moved to the top of his trousers. "Stop." Issei ordered as he broke the kiss. "What"s wrong, stop beating round the bush and tell me. Why can"t we just do it?" Rais huffed. "I guess if want to do it so bad I need to tell you. Follow me." Issei said as he gestured Rias to get off him, she did so and he lead the way to the room secret room under his house. When the pair entered the dimly light room Issei told her what this room was and explained to her about his mother and more on his father. He then lead her to a room off this one. It was very dark and Rias walked in first wondering where Issei had lead her. "This is my father libary. I might have a few books hidden in that bookshelf but this is the full collection. Everything my father knew about my family, devil"s, human and fallen. I spent my first year in this house in this room reading these books, and this one is the reason why I can"t bring myself to have sex with you. I want you to know what it means for you." Issei said as he turned the light on and room full of bookshelves were relieved Rias looked like she was in heaven, Issei then handed her a book which was titled. "For those who wish to become a dragon"s mate.' "Issei what is this?" Rias asked. "That is a book about what happens if a dragon has sex with a girl he plans on spending his life with." Issei said as he took the book back and flick through the pages. "What do you mean?" Rias asked. "Read." Issei said Simply and Rais did so. A dragon, a powerful creature. They attract a lot of attention and are known to have harems. However they will only ever have one mate. This mate can be of any species and race. When the dragon has chosen this person their instincts take over and their body get a boost in power. Without control a dragon would go crazy with lust, however those who wait get what they were after....they get their mate. However this isn"t a pleasant experience. When a mate is chosen The dragon will send it essence into the person causes their body to change into that of a dragon. It will allow the mate to bear the dragon children and see what their mate lives with. If a dragon doesn"t help their mate their is a high chance said mate can die. Most do. In simple terms don"t mate a dragon if you like your simple life. Rias finished reading the confusing paragraph a third time before looking into Issei eyes. "You think this book is going to stop me. I don"t care if you change my body. I know you will protect me and make sure I live." "Rias you don"t understand if you do this. We can never go back I will be mated to you and it"s for life. If you do anything against me I will kill you. But then I will kill any you dare to harm you too." "You don"t think I would do the same. It might not be forced by nature but I would die for you. And I will kill you if you every cheat." Rias said seriously. "I"m not going to stop you am I." Issei said a little saddened. "No your not. Issei look at me." Issei did as he was told. "I love you, and you shown you love me, I get your scared of what might happen to me but we have to trust it going to be ok, If want to wait a little bit longer that"s fine but know I"m right here. Talk to me about these things" Issei looked at Rias blankly for a few moments before opening the voice void. He found Rias in the voice and entered her mind. She suddenly felt everything he felt, all the pain, the sadness and all the love. "If we are going to do this then we have to be connected." Rias could feel all of Issei doubts fade away and his confidence grow. Rias did wait before teleporting the pair to their room and jumping on Issei. She slammed her lips into his and kissed him with all the passion she could. Issei did the same and their tongues entered a battle of dominance. The pair had to break for air and Issei flipped their positions so he was on top he then ripped off his top from Rias and attacked her nipples. Sucking and nibbling on them. Her moans fueled his fire and he became rougher removing his lips and kissing down Rias stomach. As he reached the hem of the fabric she wore Issei rubbed the area of Rias womanhood. This caused Rias to scream in pleasure...The fabric she swore had suddenly become every wet. Rias decided to just remove it now After Rias orgasm She looked at Issei lustfully. "My turn." was the look she gave as she moved Issei was on his back and Rias slowly kissed down Issei chest. As she did so she made sure to pull out Issei cock ready for her next action. Rias moved her lips over His cock and began to peck it softly. If she was honest she didn"t like the flavour of his dick but she put it to the back of her mind as she opened her mouth and began to bob her head. She was reward with moans and grunts from Issei and in returned she moved her head faster, sucking on him harder. It was another 5 minutes before Issei warned her he was coming, But that didn"t stop Rias she waited for him to explode in her mouth before she drank every drop of. Issei had, had enough play time was over and Rias knew it. However Issei let Rias take control over their first time. But she wasn"t carefully about it. Instead she positioned her felt over the cock and then sent it into her womanhood quick and fast. Her spit acting like a lube allowed it to slide easily, but there was still pain from losing her virginity. Rias sat still until the pain subsided and then back to move. Her grinds were slow to begin with. She moved up and down making sure Issei didn"t fall out. As the pleasure built she started to move faster and the Issei slapped his hands onto her hips and held her in place as she moved. Using her hips as a guide Issei began to thrust into Rias. Match her speed. They both moaned loudly and this carried on for the next 30 loved it were disappointed when Issei told Rias to be ready. Rias nodded fear was starting to build within her. Issei kissed her in hopes of calming her and it worked kind of. Then Issei came. Along with Rias. the pleasure was too much both screamed out eachother name. Issei broke the link between them and moved so Rias to cuddle to him. Rias laid down comfortably. "I love you Issei." Issei could hear her becoming weaker but he gave her a soft smile. "I love you too Rias." The he watched Rias slip out of consensus. Issei then stood by her side watching over her until she woke up. /Some unknown dark alley./ "We found the boy." A fallen angel reported. "He lives with the gremory girl." Another reported. "You have both done well. Finding my son and his mate." Kataria said smiley evilly. A/N and that was it, just so you know I"m taking a short break from everything, work, college and this...even xbox. Well I"m also going to be away from internet for a few days which doesn"t help. However review and let me know what you thought. If you would like to edit this fic let me know and if you liked it follow and of course..... I will see you in the next chapter. A/N Wow didn"t expect this story to blow up like it did. But please review so I know how to improve. Also the last chapter didn"t copy probably so half of it was missing. Sorry about that should of checked. Chapter 2:Hunting wings. Issei fished giving Rias the tour of the house before he stopped outside the spare room opposite his room. "And this is your room. My room is across the hall if you need anything." "Thank you....Um I didn"t get your name." Rais said as he opened her door. "It"s Issei, just call me Issei." Issei said not wanting to tell her his last name incase she either remembered who he was or that he was high class devil in hiding. "Ok Issei thank you, I"m just going to relax now." Rais said as she entered her room.

he gave her one last peck on the lips before he left the castle to the dock to board the Atlantis. Henrietta spoke in a very quite and sad whisper "goodbye" the Atlantis half an hour after departure Saito was sitting in his quarters looking over the information he had on the lord he was going to meet, there wasn"t a lot of it. All it told him was they only want to talk to him, they had important information and lastly it said they were stay on the border of the town only entering to buy food and supplies. It told him nothing of gender, name or mage type, he could be going into a trap and he would never know it. He was dragged out of his train of thought by a knock on the door. "come in" saito called out. "captain I have a report from the crew on the supplies we may need from free-lime." Louis told him. "may I ask why you didn"t get them when were in the capital." saito asked some what annoyed at this. "we"ll that was because the supplies here on the list are only available from 2 places Free-lime and...Des Ornieres, and Des Ornieres wouldn"t get the supplies to us in time." "OK I understand I plan to be about 2 hours so get the supplies then." saito said "aye captain." Louis said as he was about to leave. "oh Louis please can you send in sergeant rogers and corporal Jones please." saito asked. "of course captain." Louis said as he left. A few minutes later there was another knock on the door it was to knight saito asked for. "sergeant, corporal I will like to inform up that you will be going me on land as we go meet this unknown lord, seeing as we have very little information on them I want to ready so go get ready for when we dock. Dismissed" "yes sir" both lords said in unison and walked out the room. At free-lime dock. Saito left his quarters and made his way to the deck, once there he met with the too men he want to join him on land. "rogers, Jones. Go meet with George I"ll join you in a second. "As you wish" the men then left the Atlantis and met with lord George, saito then when to speak to Louis. "Louis I want a room prepped for the lord coming aboard, I highly doubt they will want spend there time aboard with the crew or the men, no offense." saito said "none taken, we"ll have a room set up in the hold for the lord when you get back." "thank you." saito then left to gone with Lord George. "lord saito, it a pleasure to have you here, I"m sorry that it you were forced and not here on your own accord." "it no problem and to be honest I just want to get the noble and get out... I hate Henrietta alone sorry" "yeah OK anyway the noble in just thought those gates and to the left, you can"t miss her, she stands out that all I"m going to say." was all George said before left the 3 men alone. "alright lets go." saito and his knights walked out the gate and turned left, they followed the towns wall round until they found the person they were looking for. "you"ve got to be kidding me" was all Saito said as he saw the unmistakeable bright pink hair of Louise Valliere. As he made his way to Louise (as much as he didn"t want to) his hand start to sting, the pain getting worse the closer he got to Louise once he was behind her he hissed in pain getting the attention of Louise, once this happen the pain subsided and disappeared. "Saito!" Louise yelled happily as she jumped up and wrap her arms round his neck. "I"m glad your here, as I missed you so much, but what are you doing here." Saito put his hands to her waist, making Louise gasp at his touch but then this turned to shock as he pulled her off and stared at her with angrier running deep in his eyes at the sight of her and her action. "I"m here because you asked me to and that you have important information, give to sergeant Rogers and lets go." saito said angrily as he turned around and walked away. Louise gave the document in question to the sergeant and ran to catch up to saito and spoke. "don"t mean here as in Free-lime, I mean here as in Halkeginia." saito started to walk faster to get away from Louise "I"m still here because I wan to be, Henrietta told me about you want me to go back to where I come from but I didn"t listen because I want to stay. Now stop talking and lets go. The Atlantis. Saito board the ship and dismissed the men he then spoke to quarter master telling him to keep Louise away no matter what and then made his way back to his quarters. Louise left shocked at the sight of the ship, it was given to her father as a gift from his father and he treasured it dearly no way would he give it away casually. Louise was then guide by Louis an old friend of Louise who she thought she could get some answer from, but no matter how many questions she asked as they made there way to the hold she didn"t get a single answer and was left alone in the old still having no idea what was going on. "why is no one telling me anything" she thought to her self as she lid on her make shift bed. ' and why is Saito not happy to see me" she thought as she played with the engagement ring she now wore on her a rope round her neck. ...... hi guys here is chapter 15. so yeah, the mystery noble was Louise and I know some people won"t be happy about that but I just thought it would be fun to show what her action have done and how oblivious she is to it until it is thrown in her face. Also I wanted to show how shew would react after finding out Henrietta had gotten saito and that her whole family has rejected her. Review to tell me what you think also I have a new idea to happen after this arc is complete which should be 3 or 4 more chapters. See you in chapter 16 when the ship returns home. Familiar of zero:a queen"s knight. This is a Saito x Henrietta story and takes place after just before the wedding scene and the story will continue from there. Enjoy. Chapters are uploaded and updated daily. ...... Chapter 16: the trip home. "i want to speak to Saito!" Louise yelled for the hundredth time since she got aboard the Atlantis. "silence" "let me speak to Saito, I know your out there I can leave and wonder without you escorting me now let me see Saito." "Silence" Louise was about to yell again but then her door swung open and one of Saito soldiers walked in. "Come on" "where are we going?" Louise asked hoping he would say "to see Saito". "to get you food, it time to eat" the guard told her. "will Saito be there." Louise asked. "No" "will he speak to me at all." "No" "will you answer any of my questions." "maybe" the final response made Louise smile. "lead the way." Once Louise and the Guard got to the mess she was lead to a separate room on the far side of the mess, as she walked thought the mess there was silence and she was getting a lot of stares of disgust and hatred. Once Louise she got into the room she was greeted by the same food everyone else was eating. As much as she didn"t want to eat it she didn"t complain and dug in. a moment later the guard asked her what her question were clearly want to get thought this as fast as he could. "my first question is, why haven"t saito left to where he comes from." "because he doesn"t want to he has a duty to the Queen." the guard answer trying to not to give to my away, he knew what she could if she heard something she didn"t like. "what is his duty to the Queen?" "Not from me to say." the guard said avoiding the question. Seeing that would be getting the any answer to that topic Louise moved on to a different topic. "is Saito still lord of Des Ornieres?" "yes." "am I still lady of Des Ornieres." "no and you never were?" "i was and still am still engaged to him so I was once and..." the guard interrupted her. "you stopped being the lady of the land when you ditch him at the wedding and you are nothing but his master to a familiar as much displeasure he takes to that fact it is still a fact and is all that binds you to him. Now enough of the question and finish your food. Captain quarters. Inside of his Quarters Saito was speaking to Derf about Louise and his rune. "is there anyway to free me from being her bloody Familiar, when ever I"m near her I feel like I will follow her ever word and it hurts me both physically and mentally to refuse." "yes I feared this would be the case, as a familiar you must follow your master orders no matter what but seeing as you are strong minded and not a creature like normal familiars you can resist although it doesn"t have heavy consequences to your body. As for a way to relieve you of the binding, we know of one way. " "death" saito answered. "yes but I do know of a second, however this way means a lot of pain and is very likely to kill you." saito interrupted Derf "what do I have to do." "nothing, I only found this out because I am in your rune. The way I can free you from Louise"s magic is to consume the magic and combine it to my own, this process is painful as both the magic and your body will resist." "hence the risk of death, OK lets do it but we"ll do when we get back speak to you then." saito said as he let go of his blade and sat in his room just waiting for the trip to end so he could finally be free of Louise control over him. ...... here is the 16th chapter yes I know it"s bad but I it was the best I could do. Next chapter will involve the process and the return to Tristian. See you in chapter 17 and don"t forget to send me review on what you think of the fic so far. Familiar of zero:a queen"s knight. This is a Saito x Henrietta story and takes place after just before the wedding scene and the story will continue from there. Enjoy. Chapters are uploaded and updated daily. ...... chapter 17: Arrival. As the Atlantis was getting closer to Tristian saito wrote a letter to Henrietta telling her of his plans to return to Des Ornieres to check up on thing. His plan was to go to his training grounds and get Derf to do what ever he had planned no matter how dangerous it was. Although he could involve Henrietta seeing as she would forget her royal duties to make sure he was alright. As the ship pulled into the port he told Louis to resupply on everything and make sure the ship was fully stocked then he went down to where Louise was placed. He opened the and spoke to her. "come on lets go." saito said coldly to Louise. "where are we going saito." "You"re going to the castle with the castle guards to meet with Henrietta, I"m going to Des Ornieres" "but I said I would only go to the castle with you, your the only one able to protect me." Louise protested. Saito left Louise where she was and when out of the ship to the dock and gave his letter to the guard and told him what his fake plans were and what he was to do. He then left and made his way to the stables to get his horse and head back to Des Ornieres the Atlantis. "come on miss Valerie we have to go now lord saito has asked me to take you to the queen your in safe hands I ashore you." the guard asked for the hundredth time. "NO, I"m not leaving this ship until saito comes back and returns takes me." Louise again protested. "lord Saito has thing to do and I have been asked to take you to the queen. Also how do you aspect to survive without food and water, no one will provide it for you every one is on shore leave until they are needed." the guard told her. "fine lets go." Louise finally said giving in. Des Ornieres. Once saito arrived in he put his horse in the stable and made his way to his training ground and got out his blade. He waited for a few moments before his hand started to hurt...a lot. The pain he felt was far worse from anything he felt before, it felt like someone had removed his hand and just left him to bleed out. Once Derf had awoken he spoke. "are you alright Partner?" "no what the fuck was that, why did it hurt so much." "because louse"s magic has increased in strength and I had to fight more to wake up." "well it needs to stop now that hurt like a bitch" "that will hurt ten times more and could quite possible kill you." "i know the risk just tell me what I have to do and lets get this over with." "OK all you need to do is tie a sword to your hand so you don"t lose bodily contact." Derf told saito "right OK" saito said as he when to get some thing to tie round his hand. Once he found something suitable thing he tied it round his arm. "how"s this." "perfect now sit down and relax... the best you can." saito did as he was told. "I"m going to consume Louise"s magic making the rune my home not the magic"s." Derf informed "do it" was all saito said as he sat down and closed his eyes, only to shoot them open when Derf started and he let out a cry of pain. The castle Henrietta had just finished a meeting with one of the may nobles she was meeting today, although she was doing things the way she always do things she was always thinking about saito and never paying much attention to. As she was in deep thought about saito one of her guard opened the door, It was one of the ones from the dock. "your majesty accuse me for my intuition but I have a letter from lord saito and the noble he was sent to collect" the guard said holding up the letter. "send them in and give me this letter." the guard nodded as he gave her the letter and left to bring the noble in. to my dearest Henrietta I am writing this letter to tell you that I will be in Des Ornieres for a short time to fix a few thing and get away from the noble. You will know what I mean when you see who it is. Love saito. Once she finished reading the letter she looked up to Louise kneeling. "huh... OK please may you take Louise to her room and stop anymore nobles requests coming in I"m going to Des Ornieres." Henrietta told the guard "yes your..." Louise interrupted him "no I"m coming with you. Saito still hasn"t answer my questions." Being to tried to argue and know louise was going to be stubborn about this she nodded and her and Louise made there way to Henrietta"s carriage to go to Des Ornieres. Familiar of zero:a queen"s knight. This is a Saito x Henrietta story and takes place after just before the wedding scene and the story will continue from there. Enjoy. Chapters are uploaded and updated daily. ...... Chapter 18: freedom and casting magic Saito was in all kinds of pain as Derf went to work removing the magic from his rune. The rune of Saito hand was glowing from blue to purple to yellow then back to blue. The pain saito felt made him want to rip the blade from his hand as he felt his body weaken. As the process continued he saw versions of his life in Halkeginia, he saw when he was first summoned by Louise, how she treated him for the first few months of his stay, how he traveled with her protecting her and finally falling for her. He saw his whole life with Louise and he saw how happy he was when she said she would marry him. But then he saw more resent events, he saw how Louise bailed on him at the wedding, how sad and confused she seemed after she saw the dead flowers and her glass mansion all smashed up. He saw how happy he was when he fall for Henrietta, how much happier he was with her, how much happier he was with her than he ever was with Louise. He saw everything, his last thoughts we Henrietta, her purple hair, her purple eyes, the purple dress she always wore. He was pull out of his memories but a sudden shock of pain, the most pain he has ever felt and with his body being weak his eyes slow shut and the world around him went blank, the last thing he heard was Henrietta"s worried voice calling his name. A few moments earlier. As Henrietta and Louise"s carriage pull up in front of Des Ornieres manor the exited the carriage, Louise darted straight to the entrance to look around (and find Saito). Henrietta let her look around she stood still, worrying about what might happen, will saito be forced to leave her because of his duties as a familiar, will Louise take him back or force him away. The thought of Saito leaving brought as tear to her eye she wiped it way and was bought to walked in to the manor as she sensed her knight magic fade, in a moment of panic she ran to the source. She knew where it was coming from and she wanted to get there as soon as she could. As she got to saito location she was Saito"s body , she saw his body thence then go limp. In seeing his her heart sank and she yelled out his name and ran over to him and removed the blade from his hand but removing the tie he tied. "SAITO, are you OK, please say something." Henrietta said with worry plaguing her voice, she then brought him in an embrace. "come on Saito wake up, please wake up... not leave me now." Henrietta said as a flood of tear ran from her eyes. She sat there holding him I her embrace just wanting to hold him close, she suddenly felt some weak arm wrap round her and she smiled. "hey" Saito said weakly. "Don"t you ever do that to me again I..i thought you were dead." Henrietta sopped on his shoulder. "yeah sorry about that but it"s OK. I did what I did to free my self from Louise... I"m no longer her familiar." saito said sound tied and weak. "what how." Henrietta asked complete shock at what he had said. Saito then held his blade and smiled "Derf care to explain." the rune his begin to glow a bright blue. As Derf awoke "to explain what I did is to say as I put it to Saito, I consumed Louise magic making it my own free saito from Louise." "but what about my knight magic I felt it weaken and fade." "your knight magic got in the way slightly and protected Louise"s magic so I had to consume some of that as well, he"s still has the magic inside him and your spell isn"t broken like Louise"s is." Derf confessed. As they the couple sat in each other embrace with everything explained. Then something unexpected happened, saito began to glow yellow as his body regain it"s strength and then some. Then saito spoke as he broke the embrace inspecting his hands. "Derf I feel different almost stronger but not physically." "yes thank to Louise"s magic I can now allow you to use some magic from each types as long as I consume it and seeing as you have been exposed to 2 voids spells I can give you two void spells." "wait your saying I can use explosion and world door." Saito said excitedly. "yes but it will be weak at the moment so no you can return home yet and you won"t be able to cast giant explosions. well not until you get more practice." Derf informed him. "oh OK how far can I travel with world door then and how do I cast these spells." "with world door you can travel as far as your manor so only a couple of meters. As to cast just stab the sword forward and turn it clockwise but 90 degrees" saito did as he was told and did what Derf had said moments later the door opened and he saw his manor. "nice, so how to I cast explosion." "to cast explosion hold your free hand out and hold it like your holding a ball." Saito did as he was told soon a purple orb was in his hand he then threw it and when it made contact with something in the distance an explosion went off, it was very big but was still big enough to do some damage to a group of mages. "this is awesome, so I now have strong healing from Henrietta"s magic and raw skill with any weapon from now Derf"s magic as well as the ability to cast spells." "that is correct, but partner remember my magic only works if you have a blade in your hand." "roger that Derf speak to you soon" saito said as he put the sword in it harness "you are a complete idiot, I could of helped you know " Henrietta said saito then rubbed the back of his neck and replied "well no you couldn"t not with Louise around." "you have a point speaking of which we best go find her" Henrietta said. "wait you brought her here...great" saito said deadpanned "OK come on" saito then stuck out his hand for Henrietta to take which she did and they made there way back to the manor. ...... finally Saito is free from Louise, and yes I know I gave saito magic but hey I could help it and I do want to write a bit where Saito takes Henrietta to his world. Next chapter Louise finds out about there relationship (smiley face) anyway see you in chapter 19. your what!" Louise yelled at what she had just been told. you left me at our wedding. Did you really expect me to come crying back to you after that stunt?" Saito yelled back. No I expected you to go home like My letter told you to!" how many times do I have to tell you this is my home, yes it"s not where I was born and raised but home none the less." Saito countered. Meanwhile Henrietta just watching as her lover and (ex) best friend argue over pass event. As saito took a breath to calm his anger he walk over to Henrietta who was only a few meter away." I know we said we were going to this together but I need to handle this on my own." Henrietta smiled and nodded as she made her way into the manor behind louise. Saito then turned back Louise who was now crying saito just stood there silent until Louise spoke "How long?" "Official or unofficial?" " official" Louise said hoping it would hurt less which it didn"t" "About 7 months" "And what about the ship?" "a gift from your father to get my forgiveness to your family." What happens to us?" Louise asked There is no us... Not anymore." "But I"m your fiancee." Louise said before making the mistake of showing the ring she wore round her neck.

She looked through the peephole and screamed. "Well, now I know you"re home, Miss Fitzgerald. You know who I am, so it would be in your best interests to open this door," Ivy Forrester called. "I"m waiting." Biting back a sob, Celia unlocked the door. Her entire body trembled as she opened it and she couldn"t bring herself to look at Ivy. "There. Now was that so bad?" The Australian thug barged into the mansion, hitting Celia with the door before slamming it shut. "How are you doing? It must be a difficult adjustment, going from some backwoods hovel to the capitol of the entertainment industry." "Please don"t hurt me," Celia begged with a whisper, head lowered and eyes locked on the floor. "Take whatever you want. I won"t tell anyone you were here." "They"ll know I was here, Celia. Bill has cameras. But he doesn"t scare me. You were right to be afraid of me, though. I am the big bad boogeywoman. And what is want is you." Ivy grabbed Celia"s arm and the young woman cried out of shock. The grip was strong, Ivy"s fingers biting into her skin like the teeth of a bear trap. "If you know what"s good for you, you"ll come quietly. There"s someone who needs to see you." Ivy"s threat was ice cold but Celia could see a hateful fire in the woman"s eyes. "Who? I don"t know anyone in LA!" Tears freely ran down Celia"s and the look of disdain on Ivy"s face just made her want to cry even harder. To Celia"s surprised, Ivy leaned in and whispered the six words that guaranteed her cooperation: "Your mother wants to meet you." B&B Aly chuckled as she ran the whetstone over Arnketopah. Her newest baby: a gift from her beloved husband. She whispered words of encouragement to the infant as she sharpened his edges. "You shall do well, Little One. You are my family now. Our family. And with you at my side, I shall prune the diseased branches from our family tree. Yes, Arnketopah, you are special." As the sparks showered the air, as the sound of metal bowing to stone sang through the air, Aly thought of RJ. She thought of how he would scream and cry, perhaps even fight back. But mostly, she thought of how he would die. And as she dreamed of her cousin"s blood drenching the walls and staining the floor, Aly smiled. She smiled because Nyarlathotep had told her RJ was to be the last one. Her husband would finally come to her and they would be reunited as their children fed on the flesh and bone of the degenerates of a diseased and filthy Earth. B&B "We"re here!" Ivy announced angrily. She was not some delivery person, and the package had refused to shut up the entire ride over. The beach was nearly empty. A few hipsters and homeless people were littered about, having sex in the sand or trying to soak up what little warmth remained from the long expired daylight. It wasn"t ideal, but there were no crimes taking place so it didn"t matter if there were witnesses. A woman emerged from the shadows and Ivy involuntarily stiffened. Celia noticed the changed and reacted, looking away from the approaching stranger. "Diana." The woman"s voice was shaking and so was her hand. Sheila Carter would"ve convinced anyone else that she was afraid, but Ivy knew it was just a performance. Celia fell for it. "She goes by Celia," Ivy corrected as the psychotic nurse reached out and touched her daughter"s face. She just stood there, staring at her mother, and Ivy knew the young woman didn"t know how to act in the situation. Ivy also suspected she didn"t know how to tie her own shoes. "Momma?" Celia was crying again, smiling but apprehensive. "Is it you? Where have you been? Why did you give me up?" Sheila hugged her daughter. She patted Celia"s back as she rocked her in her arms. "I never gave you up, Baby. Your father stole you from me. He hid you all these years. But I found you. You were in Pine Valley and I wanted so badly to come to you but you were taken again before I could. My Diana." "My name is Diana." Celia laughed pulled away from Sheila. She was all smiles as she looked into Sheila"s eyes. Ivy felt ill. "I named you after me," Sheila lied with a grin that radiated sincerity. "Then your name is..." "Diana Colville. And you, my daughter, aren"t Celia Fitzgerald or Celia Spencer. You"re Diana Colville II. My baby is all grown up and I missed it!" Sheila squeezed out a few tears and Ivy had to turn away before she began vomiting. People called her crazy and a terrorist, but everything she did had a purpose: even if that purpose was just entertainment. But Sheila? She was clever and charming and absolutely insane and that terrified Ivy. She had to do something to neutralize this threat. There had to be something she could do to get rid of Sheila Carter without tipping off the Forresters or Bill Spencer. They couldn"t know she was involved in the madwoman"s return. Not until she had the diamond. "Why did Dad hide me? What happened between you two?" This time, Sheila looked sad. Ivy rubbed her arms and listened to the latest well spun lie. "We met when his father inquired about buying my old newspaper. It ended up not happening, but I met Bill and it was love at first sight." Sheila stepped away from Celia and turned her head as if ashamed. "He courted me. No man had ever done that before or since. We truly did love each other, my Diana, but I was a fool. After we learned I was pregnant with you, I met another man and I strayed. I cheated on your father. "It was one time, but when Bill found out, he was furious. I feared for my life and ran. It didn"t matter how far or how fast I traveled: he always found me. When I was in the hospital, when I birthed my baby girl, he found us and he took you. You know how rich the Spencers are. He paid off the hospital and the police and he hid you from me." "Until you found me." Sheila ran back to Celia and held her. She kissed her temple and Celia cried. "That"s right, Baby Girl. Once I found you, and you were too old for him to just move you against your will, he revealed himself. He wanted to do anything he could to keep you away from me. But he failed, because you"re in my arms where you belong." All things considered, Ivy supposed it was plausible enough a lie. If investigated too deeply, it would fall apart, but Celia was an idiot and there had to be a reason Bill was lying about being her father. "But what about her?" Celia looked to Ivy. Ivy stared back, but tried to keep her disdain from appearing on her face. "What about me?" "Mom, she"s... Ivy Forrester isn"t a good person. Why is she helping you? What does she get out of this?" With a genuine smile of her own, Ivy crossed her arms. This was going to be fun. "Your father stole something from Ivy, Honey. Something important. So she agreed to help reunite us if we help her get it back. And for that, I need your help." "What is it, Mom? What does she need from Dad?" And as Sheila told her daughter about the diamond, Ivy continued to smile. Not because her mission was nearing completion: Ivy had figured out how to get the diamond and get rid of Sheila Carter without anyone knowing she was involved. "Why are we in Port Charles?" Noah asked as they sat in a booth. The place was named Kelly"s and there was a sign for BLTs on the front door. It reminded him of the places he"d go when he and his ex Adriana used to visit upstate when he lived in New York City. "Because this is where Ivy was last seen before she was in Crichton-Clark," Maya explained as they waited for someone to take their order. Noah shook his head before looking around for their server. "But we"re not investigating Ivy. We"re trying to figure out what happened to Courtney." "And we"ve reached a dead end on that front," Maya reminded him. She grabbed one of the menus nestled between the ketchup bottle and the steak sauce. "The only lead we have is that Ivy and Courtney were both in Crichton-Clark around the same time, and both saw Fascinella. It can"t be a coincidence that they were there at the same time." "But how would Ivy know Courtney? Courtney was supposed to have died before I moved to LA. I"ve never even met Ivy. I only knew about her through RJ and the press." Maya sighed and faked a smile when the waitress finally came over to take their orders. After she left, Maya looked back to Noah. "We can investigate Ivy here first, see if we can turn anything up, and then hit up Crichton-Clark later." "Did you say Crichton-Clark?" A short Asian man joined them at the booth, squeezing in next to Noah. "How do you know about that place?" "Who are you?" Maya stared at the interloper. He smiled at up at Noah. "Brad Cooper. I manage the lab at General Hospital. Are you single?" "Um. I guess so, yeah." Noah looked as uncomfortable as Maya felt. "You know Crichton-Clark?" "Oh yeah. My boss was there when the place blew up last year." Noah and Maya looked at each other. When they researched the place on the plane ride to New York, there was nothing about it blowing up. "It blew up?" "Oh yeah. Late last year. They rebuilt it awfully fast. It was kept all hush hush, though." Brad never stopped staring at Noah"s jaw. "How old are you?" Maya cleared her throat but this Brad guy didn"t look at her. Noah wouldn"t stop looking at her: he was uncomfortable. It was almost amusing. "Do you know Ivy Forrester?" That question was what was did it. Brad looked away from Noah and to Maya. It was suddenly his turn to be uncomfortable. "Ivy Forrester? How do you know her?" "I"m Maya Avant." "Who?" That was the first time she"d ever had that reaction from someone. "The former lead model for Forrester Creations? The current lead model for Logan & Moore? Ivy worked at both companies before she came here." "I am a lab manager at a county hospital. I wear scrubs to work and my idea of high fashion is the clearance rack at K-Mart." "Believe me, we can tell." Maya nodded at Brad"s plaid shirt. "Is there a reason you came interrupted our private conversation?" At that, Brad looked back to Noah who quickly looked at the ceiling. "I just thought I"d be friendly. Introduce myself to the tourists. We don"t get too many of those around here. Journalists investigating how Port Charles is after one woman wiped out the mob by herself, sure, but no actual tourists. You two aren"t journalists, are you?" "I"m a super model," Maya reminded him. "And you?" Brad asked Noah, who recoiled when a hand found itself on his thigh. "I"m a musician, I guess." "Really? What do you play?" Brad was leaning so far into Noah"s personal space that even Maya felt violated. "You wanna play something for me?" "I"m really not... I"m not prepared for that. We"re travelling light," Noah explained nervously, his back against the wall. "My guitar is back in Los Angeles." Not bothered at all, Brad licked his lips and put his face inches away from Noah. "I can get you two into Crichton-Clark as soon as tomorrow." "Why would you do that?" Maya asked suspiciously. "How would you do that?" "I told you: my boss was there when it exploded last time. She has contacts and I"m friends with her daughter. A couple of phone calls, and you"re in. I don"t really care why you need to get there." "But what do you want from us in return. You aren"t doing this out of the goodness of your heart." Brad turned away from Noah and grinned at Maya. "I"m really not." Swallowing his pride, Noah grabbed Brad"s face and turned his head so they were looking at each other. Then he kissed him. It was hard and rough and Brad pushed his body so hard against Noah"s that his head banged into the wall but none of that mattered. It didn"t even matter that the three other patrons in the restaurant were staring at them. "Where and when?" Noah breathed against Brad"s lips. The man smiled and kissed Noah again before whispering a time and address in his ear. After nodding at a very shocked Maya, he excused himself and left. "That was too easy." Maya glared at the other customers and the staff until they looked away. "How did you know?" With a nonchalant shrug, Noah played the salt shaker. "It"s not my first time at the rodeo, Maya. And it"s not a big deal. He"s kinda hot, and I"ve fucked a lot worse for a lot less." "I guess," she mumbled under her breath as she averted her eyes. B&B The ceremony was pleasant, if unspectacular. Katie was proud that Bill was behaving himself, and it was lovely of Caroline to let her new cousin Celia be her Maid of Honour while Steffy stood at her dad"s side as Best Woman. It was adorable how nervous she looked in her tux, trying to hide her annoyance and disdain. "This is going really well," Katie whispered to her husband as she slid her hand into his and gave it a loving squeeze. "It should. It cost me enough. Why am I paying for this thing? I"m not her father and I hate the groom!" Bill whispered back. It took everything Katie had not to laugh. Bill was always going to be Bill. The vows were beautiful. Ridge shared one of his poems, and Caroline talked about how she relearned everything with Ridge, from drawing on a sketchpad to eating ice cream right out of the bucket. But when the minister asked if anyone objected to the marriage, everyone in the house turned to the entrance. They weren"t disappointed. "I was going to make a big declaration, but you guys beat me to it." RJ looked different. It wasn"t just that he was wearing blue jeans and a black tank top, though that was odd in and of itself, but Katie"s nephew walked with a swagger and determination he never had before. "Yeah, I do object to this freak show." Ridge"s mouth hung open but nothing came out, so Caroline spoke for the both of them. "Get out of here, RJ! You had your invitation and you threw it in our faces! You aren"t stopping this wedding." "I don"t have to," he replied as he sauntered down the aisle, pulling his phone from his pocket. "This whole affair never had a chance of lasting. You might not have known it, but he did. I warned you about him, Caroline, but you just didn"t listen." Finally, Ridge found his voice. "Son, she"s right. You need to leave." Then RJ laughed and the entirety of the audience grew uncomfortable. "I"ll leave, but I just couldn"t let you get married without you seeing what I have on this phone first. Because after you see it, marrying Caroline will be the last thing on your mind." "Go home!" Caroline screamed, on the verge of tears. RJ ignored her as he pulled up whatever was on his phone and showed it to his father. Ridge, Caroline, and Carter all watched, but nobody else could see what RJ was showing them. After a few seconds, it didn"t matter because Ridge was huffing and puffing his way into the assembled as he tackled Bill. Katie ran from her seat as the two men started slugging each other. "You little bitch!" Caroline snatched the phone from from RJ and rewound the video. As her expression ran the gamut of emotions, going from fear to shock to revulsion before settling on anger, RJ just smirked and watched her. Everyone else who wasn"t watching Bill and Ridge was watching them. "What do you think? I know the lighting isn"t exactly professional, but we made do with what we had. I think it came out great, personally. Much better than my last one. There"s sound, too, if you wanna turn the volume up." Caroline threw the phone to the side, where it landed at Steffy"s feet, and slapped RJ so hard he fell over. "What is wrong with you? Why would you do this on my wedding day?" As he picked himself up off the floor, RJ was still wearing that same demeaning grin. "Oh, I was so hoping you"d do that." Katie gasped as RJ punched Caroline in the face, then kicked her in the stomach. He smashed a haymaker into the side of her head that knocked her to the ground. "That"s for Maya," RJ told Caroline as he hovered over her. Then he spat in her face. "And that was for the hell of it." With a vengeful cry, Caroline jumped up and tackled RJ, landing blow after blow to his face while everyone else looked on at the carnage. Everyone but Steffy, who Katie saw staring at RJ"s phone. "THIS. IS. MY. WEDDING!" Caroline grunted between blows. With a swiftness Katie had never seen before, RJ snatched one of Caroline"s arms and pulled it to his bloody mouth before biting down. She wailed in pain and punched him with her free fist three time before he turned her loose. As she pulled her injured arm away and instinctively surveyed the damage, RJ slammed his fists into her chest which caused her to fall backwards and off of him. "There is no wedding!" RJ screamed as he climbed to his feet and stomped on Caroline"s face. At that point, the initial shock had worned off and Liam ran up and pulled the two combatants apart. Nobody was paying attention to Bill and Ridge rolling around in the background. "What is wrong with you? Caroline is a woman! You can"t hit her." Liam yelled as Aly came up and helped Caroline to her feet. Katie noticed that the young woman was staring at RJ, but thought nothing of it because so was everything else. "The hell I can"t. I"m an old school feminist, Liam," RJ laughed, blood dribbling down his chin and onto his shirt. "Equality of the sexes, Bitch! She wants to hit me, then I"m gonna hit her back. And if that means she gets her ass kicked, then it"s not my problem." "Don"t bother trying to reason with him, Liam. He"s a Logan. They"re beyond reach." Steffy marched up to her brother, phone in one hand and slapping him with the other. "You"re not my brother." Something about RJ"s posture changed after he recovered from the blow, but Katie couldn"t pick out what it was. "What are you talking about?" "Exactly what I said. You aren"t my brother. Not anymore. The transformation is complete. You"re a full blown Logan, just like Hope and Brooke. You"re just an overrated, untalented whore." "Not today, Satan!" RJ screamed, kicking his leg up and hitting Steffy"s hand, sending the phone flying towards Katie who caught it. "You of all people have NO right to call anyone a whore." Twisting free, RJ kicked Liam in the groin and jumped at Steffy. His forehead slammed into her lips and they both fell to the ground. They clawed at each other, and RJ ripped out a huge chunk of Steffy"s hair with his left hand. It took a few moments, but Caroline leapt back into the fray. All three rolled around on the ground biting, scratching, and kicking at each other. As if realizing she was holding the phone, Katie looked away from the violence and to the screen: she saw that it was definitely a video. Katie pushed play and saw her husband lying on his back without a shirt, looking as if he was in pain. Except the camera panned away from his face and there were hands on Bill"s bare chest. Even though she wanted to look away, Katie kept watching while everyone else fought each other. The camera traveled up the arms of the person gyrating on her husband until it reached the person"s face. RJ"s face. When the camera pulled back and showed that RJ was riding her husband, who was willingly bucking into her nephew, Katie dropped the phone and vomited. "Haaaaaaaaa!" Katie heard RJ"s laughter break through the screaming as she ran into her house. She heard it long after the fight had been broken up and RJ had been escorted off the premises. "This is hilarious," Ivy laughed after pausing the video. She looked up at her cousin and laughed. "I am actually proud of you, my tiny poofter. You fucked your uncle, filmed it, showed it to your dad on his wedding day, beat up his bride, filmed THAT, and put both videos online. You are one conniving mini-slut." "Thank you," RJ said, beaming through his bruises and split lip. "I couldn"t have done it without Theresa. She got his ass drunk and got him started. I just slipped in and took all the credit." "Looks more like Bill is the one who slipped it in, if you were to ask me," Ivy laughed. "It really hurt at first, too. Now I get all the stallion talk," RJ mused while Ivy smirked. "I mean, Noah ain"t small and I thought Thad was rough, but damn. Bill started choking me! If you get around to watching the full video, you"ll see that." "And the midget got off on it, too. Do you know how hard it was to record 30 damn minutes of that shit without talking?" Theresa handed Ivy her glass of red wine, then joined RJ on the sofa and gave him one of the two beers in her possession. "Thirty minutes?" Ivy gagged, then covered it by taking a sip of her wine. "He wanted to do a lot of things." RJ shrugged and twisted the cap off his beer. "I had no idea what most of them were until after I agreed. They made for great video, though." Ivy blinked and opened her Twitter app. "Oh, I can tell. Your name is trending on Twitter. Again. Bill pissed on you?" "Golden showers, Ivy. Golden showers." "I used to sleep with a guy who wanted me to pissed on him," Theresa revealed more than a little too happily. "Chad and I used to fist each other, too." "Ooooookay, then." Ivy had murdered people, and the combined sexual exploits of her cousin and assistant were making her squeamish. "I get why you recorded the sex tape. It fucked up your dad"s wedding and Ridge is trash so I get it, but why record the fight?" RJ poked at the bruise under his left eye before answering. "That one was Theresa"s idea. She was my ride to the wedding. I didn"t plan on there being a video of the whole thing, but there is and the press can"t stop talking about it."

"It"s just lovely. Your home is lovely." Britt looked around the house and faked a smile. "It"s my mom"s place. Now that I"ve got long term employment, I need to find my own digs. Unless you want me to just move in with you." Lucas wiggled his eyebrows at Brad, then laughed. "Just kidding! I know that place is too small for three people. But if you ever move out, Britt, make this guy call me." "Uh, right. I"ll do just that." Britt gave Brad a stank face when Lucas wasn"t looking. She was starting to pick up on just how odd the guy was. "My mom insisted on cooking. It takes her mind of off Michael, so we"ll be in the living room with Carly and Morgan until she says dinner is ready." Lucas grabbed Brad by the hand and started to lead them away. "You can just leave that there. I"ll get it later." Abandoning the bread maker, the trio left the foyer and walked down a hall to a room where a blonde woman was sitting on the sofa looking miserable, her brunet son holding her hand. "Sorry to hear about your son," Britt offered to Carly. Brad echoed her sentiments. "I met Michael a few times. He was a handsome young man." Britt raised her eyebrows at Brad"s choice of words, but Lucas stepped between them and took the reins of the conversation. "Carly, Morgan, this is my boyfriend Brad and his friend Britt. They work at GH. Maybe you"ve seen them there?" "I know who she is, Lucas. I was at the Nurses" Ball last year." Carly eyed Britt heavily, but didn"t elaborate. "And Lulu Falconeri is my cousin." "Oh." Brad coughed and scratched the back of his neck. Of course Lulu and Michael were cousins. He"d seen both of their medical charts. He just hadn"t put it together. "Right, well, now that the mood has been established, I"ll just sit over here in the corner and pretend I"m somewhere else until the food is ready." Britt walked over to the chair furthest from everyone and pulled out her phone. Rolling his eyes, Lucas clapped a hand on Brad"s chest and leaned forward so that he was eye level with his sister and nephew. "Listen, can we have one pleasant evening? Please? Save the fighting for when we don"t have company?" "I haven"t said anything!" Morgan pointed out hastily. Carly made an unpleasant face, then groaned an agreement. GH "You called me your boyfriend." Brad stood in the doorway to Bobbie Spencer"s home. Waiting down on the sidewalk was Britt. She was eager to get home and away from Carly"s death glare, but Brad was even more so. Carly wasn"t even the worst part of the evening. "I know. The dinner went well, I thought." Lucas brushed off Brad"s shoulders and gave him a peck on the cheek. "You didn"t like it?" "It was great. I love frozen pizza. It"s just... We aren"t dating. I can"t be your boyfriend." Lucas stepped back from Brad, shock overriding his face. "What are you talking about? Brad, when I was at your place the other night, you kissed me. You said you loved me." "No, I didn"t. That was you. I said I"d try to be friends. You kissed me. You said you loved me, which is crazy because we don"t know each other. Not really. This is me reminding you that we are friends and nothing more." "Is this about Felix?" Lucas grabbed at his chest and gasped for breath. "Brad, he"s treated you like crap. You deserve better. You deserve someone who will worship you." Brad stepped away from both the doorway and Lucas. He backed two steps down so that he had to look up to see the other man. Something was not right. It was so far from right that he"d dismissed his initial instincts because he couldn"t see how wrong it was. "Nobody wants to be worshipped. Well, maybe Robin Scorpio, but that"s it. You need to calm down." Ignoring Brad"s words, Lucas stumbled over the threshold and tackled Brad in a hug. Losing his footing, Brad fell to the ground, the back of his head slamming into the concrete. Lucas landed on top of him and drove the wind from Brad"s lungs. Britt ran over to them, but Lucas pushed her away. "I"m sorry, Babe. It was an accident. Don"t leave me. Please don"t go." Lucas sat on Brad"s hips and held his face in his hands. It was impossible for Brad to see through the confusion and pain. He couldn"t move. "I love you. Just come inside and I"ll make it better. I"ll bandage your head up and make Carly apologize for being rude. There"s no need to go." "He"s not going anywhere with your crazy ass." Britt kicked Lucas in the cheek, knocking him off of Brad. She helped her friend to his feet, then put herself between the two men. "You are fucking crazy, and trust me when I say I know crazy. Stay away from me and Brad. And you better never come anywhere near my son or I"ll kill you." "Why would he..." Brad started before realizing that speaking was the last thing he wanted to do. He stumbled and Britt had to catch him. Lucas scrambled to his feet, but Britt screamed at him to back off. Then Morgan appeared at Lucas" side and grabbed his cousin"s arm. "You should probably leave now," Morgan advised as he held Lucas back. He looked sort of freaked out. "Brad! Felix doesn"t love you! I do." Lucas shouted at the top of his lungs. Carly and Bobbie joined in, helping Morgan restrain him. Snarling, Britt helped steady Brad. "Trust me, we are leaving and hell will freeze over before we ever come back here." GH "You know, I"m supposed to be the evil, crazy bitch in town, but that Lucas Jones is outdoing even me." Britt sat in the exam room with Brad, waiting on a nurse to look him over. She had offered to do it herself, but he reminded her that her speciality was in vaginae and that he didn"t have one. "Yeah, well, he seemed sorta normal at first. Especially by Port Charles standards. I mean, have you met any of the other people who live here? There are mobsters and escaped mental patients and terrorists..." "I"ve been threatened by more than a few." Britt pulled the cloth from Brad"s head and looked the wound over. "It"s not bleeding anymore, which is good. External clotting is almost always good. You know what isn"t good? Emergency room response time. We"ve been waiting thirty minutes. I"m going to talk to Mother about how lazy the nurses down here are." "We aren"t lazy. We just saw the names on the chart and prioritized." Elizabeth Webber strolled into the exam room, looking smug. "So, what happened?" "A crazy man attacked him. Didn"t you read the file?" Britt snapped. "So, you want to file a police report? I can call Dante Falconeri down here just like that." Liz snapped her fingers and leered. Speaking up, Brad declined. "It"s not serious. I don"t think he meant to hurt me. It just happened." "Brad, he is insane." "I think Lucas got the point. We should just let it go." "Lucas did this to you? Lucas Jones? I"m gonna bake him some cookies." Liz rolled Britt"s chair away from Brad and looked at the wound. "It"s not deep. I"ll clean it up and then get you a CT scan, if you want one." "Damn straight he wants one. And I"m gonna watch those tech monkeys do it so I know it"s being done right." Britt crossed her arms over her chest and glared. Brad was thankful the hate was aimed at Liz and not him, but the pale nurse seemed to revel in it. "That should be fine. Thanks." Brad winced as Liz began disinfecting the wound. "Could I get some pain meds or something? It may not be deep, but it hurts." Laughing, Liz shook her head. "Sorry, no. We want you lucid in case there are follow up questions during your scan." "Bitch, I"ve given patients meds before a scan." Britt bared her teeth and Brad could sense that violence was about to break out. "Yeah, but the pharmacy didn"t hate your patients. So, I"ll set that scan up for you." Liz pressed a bandage to the wound, pushing down harder than necessary and smiling when Brad"s eyes started to water. "I"m complaining to my mother about you, too!" Britt threatened as Liz took off her gloves and threw them into the nearby trashcan. "You do that. Meanwhile, I need to talk to Lucas Jones about his taste in men." Liz smirked at Britt, then Brad, then left the room. "I"m calling the cops." Brad put about ten feet of distance between himself and Lucas. He had his phone in hand, hoping that he wouldn"t actually have to use it. His heart was thudding so loudly in his ears that he almost couldn"t hear his own words. Holding his hands up, Lucas gave an apologetic look. "I"m sorry. I was off the other day. Way off. This whole Michael thing hit me harder than I thought it would." "It hit YOU hard?" Brad pointed at the bandage wrapped around his head. "I had to get a fucking CT scan. You are so lucky I didn"t had any permanent damage. Now seriously, leave." "But I brought you a gift." Lucas picked up a package by his feet. Brad hadn"t noticed it, what with his apparent stalker waiting outside of his apartment. "It"s a bread maker. You really liked mine, so I thought you"d want one of your own." "If I want bread, I can buy it at the grocery store. Get the fuck out of my apartment building and my life." Angry, Lucas threw the box against the wall. Brad winced, wondering if his landlord would make him pay for any possible damage. It wasn"t fair. He"d been a terrible person, but not this bad. There was no way his karma was shitty enough for him to deserve this. Britt, sure, but not Brad Cooper. "That"s it." Brad started to dial 911, but Lucas leapt and smacked the phone from his hand before he could finish. It clattered to the floor and Lucas stomped on the screen. "We are not done until I say we are. I"ve been nice about it, but you aren"t cooperating. We are soul mates, Brad Cooper. We will get married and adopt kids from a third world country and you will forget about that asshole Felix Dubois." Lucas grabbed Brad"s shirt when he tried to step away and slammed into him into the wall. "Why won"t you just let me love you? We could be perfect together. I just know it." "You aren"t crazy. You"re psychotic." Brad started to push Lucas away, but Lucas slammed his head into the wall and a wave of pain and nausea hit him. "If I"m crazy, you did it to me. I won"t let you pretend we never happened. I will not be ignored!" Lucas screamed before slamming Brad"s head into the wall again. On the verge of blacking out, Brad couldn"t stop the tears leaking from his eyes. It seemed to calm Lucas down, because he pulled Brad into a tight embrace. "See what you made me do? You need to stop fighting it, Brad. We were made for each other. Someday, I"ll make you see that. We"re perfect together and there"s nothing you can do to stop it." Then, without warning, Lucas slammed Brad"s head into the wall again and all he knew was darkness. GH When he woke up, Brad felt heavy. His head throbbed, and when he moved his legs he heard something rattle. Feeling around in the darkness, waiting for his eyes to adjust, Brad found cold steel around his leg: a manacle. It was attached to a chain, which was attached to a brick wall. It was ten minutes before someone walked into the room, if it could even be called a room. "I see you"re awake. Sorry about the squalid conditions, but it was such short notice that I just jumped on the first place. I hope that"s okay." Lucas reached out and gingerly ruffled Brad"s hair. "I know it isn"t the ideal place for us to start our life together, but I"ll fix it up in no time. You"ll love it." Shrinking away from Lucas, Brad tried to think of something to say or do. He could beg to be set free, but it wouldn"t do any good. Lucas was clearly beyond reasoning. There was nothing under the calm veneer but psychosis and violence. "Did you kill Michael?" The words trickled through his mouth, but he couldn"t really hear them. All Brad knew was the ache in the back of his head and the fear in his heart. "Please don"t kill me." "I would never hurt you if it wasn"t necessary. You have to know that." Lucas kissed Brad"s neck and rubbed his shoulders. It took everything Brad had not to vomit. "But Michael, he just didn"t understand. He would have never let us live in peace. I had to deal with him. For us. You understand, don"t you?" "Who else have you dealt with?" Pulling away from Brad, Lucas started grinning. Even in the darkness, his teeth were unmistakable. Brad held his breath. "I love you, Brad. Just remember that everything I do, I do for you." Lucas stood and blew a kiss to Brad. Rolling onto his side, Brad stared at the concrete wall and did his best to pretend that the maniac would be stopped. GH Brad was the one who was supposed to supervise Britt"s visit with Ben. He had agreed to it, signed the paperwork, and then never showed. CPS told her they"d have to reschedule. Maybe set something up at the offices. As mad as she was, Britt was also worried. Brad was a jerk and a bit of a dumb ass, but he wouldn"t let her down like this. He knew how much seeing her son meant. The feeling of dread only intensified when she called the lab at GH and was told that he had not shown up for work. He hadn"t even called in sick. And nobody cared. She called the cops and wanted to report him as a missing person, but Dante had been the officer to take the call. He laughed at her and told her to call back after 48 hours. Against her better judgement, Britt called Lucas next. Well, she called his mother"s house and asked to talk to him, but the old bitch said that her golden boy was out with his sister shopping for an apartment. Someplace more permanent where he could settle down. Bobbie Spencer then made it known that neither Britt nor Brad was welcome in her home and to never call again. "Why should I help you? I don"t really know you, but what I"ve heard is unpleasant." Ava Jerome swirled the olive around her martini, then smiled while biting it off the toothpick. "I"m an art dealer, Ms. Westbourne." "Dr. Westbourne," Britt corrected. Amusement played behind Ava"s eyes. "And we both know you aren"t just an art dealer. I"ll pay you. I make good money, and it"s clean." "Clean money is the best kind. What exactly do you need?" "I need help finding someone. Brad Cooper. He was... He was dating your nephew, and either last night or this morning he disappeared right after a bad breakup." Britt chewed on her thumbnail and Ava wrinkled her nose. "You lot, you"re good at making people disappear. Really good. How are you are bringing them back?" "Usually, when I make someone disappear, they don"t come back. So, unfortunately for you, I"m afraid I won"t be of any help. Have a good day, Dr. Westbourne." Ava finished her drink and set the glass on the table. She gave Britt an ice cold smile and walked away. GH "You just would not believe the price of real estate in Port Charles! It"s a lot cheaper than Seattle. I think the high crime rate might play a factor. My ex-brother-in-law and my father are finally good for something. Who knew?" Lucas ran his hand along the inside of Brad"s thigh. Even if he weren"t gagged, Brad"s throat was too raw to reply. While Lucas had been gone, he"d spent the day screaming for help. He screamed until he coughed up blood. Then he cried. Somehow, Lucas must have heard him, because when he returned several hours later, he fed Brad and let him drink a bottle of water before binding his legs and wrists and gagging his mouth. "It"s just a bit longer, Baby. I promise." Lucas leaned in and kissed the fresh bruises on Brad"s body. He"d picked them up trying to fight back; Lucas was stronger than he looked. A lot stronger. It was probably why Brad was bound and gagged where before he"d just been chained up. Neither one acknowledged the bucket in the corner, nor the stench coming from it. "We got a lead on a new place. It"s an old music studio that"s been converted. They kept the sound-proofing in so we can make love as loud as we want and nobody will ever hear us." Brad could feel Lucas grinning, his lips pressed against the side of his face before he moved on and started chewing on his earlobe. "It"s a gorgeous old place. You"re gonna love it. What do you think?" All Brad could think was that Lucas was crazier than he"d given him credit for. Yeah, Brad had tried to blackmail Michael into sex, but this was something a hell of a lot worse. This was worse than stealing an embryo and implanting it into Britt. It wasn"t as bad as Monica Quartermaine"s face, but that wasn"t Brad"s fault. "You look so beautiful right now." Lucas" breath was hot against Brad"s ear. But inside, all he felt was cold. GH Carrying the baby of a married man bothered Sabrina Santiago. It bothered her far more than it should have. Patrick had been two words away from marrying her when his wife showed up. And it wasn"t even that Sabrina was mad, because under those circumstances how could she be? It didn"t make her hurt go away, though. It didn"t make her feel like any less of a whore. That Catholic guilt was strong. After a long and trying day, which included being berated by the Chief of Staff for having morning sickness on the job, all Sabrina wanted to do was sleep. At least when her eyes were shut, and she was in her own bed, she could be left alone. As much as she loved Felix, he was her best friend and roommate for a reason, Sabrina hoped he wasn"t home. She pulled her keys out of the pocket of her coat and mentally chastised herself. Felix had done so much for her. He"d given up any chance with Brad to help her with her problems. Not that Brad was exactly worth Felix"s time anyway. She was glad that Felix finally saw how awful he was. When she went to unlock her door and saw that it was already done, Sabrina bit back a curse. Felix was home. He"d want to talk about what happened at the hospital. Sure, he"d had the day off, but the boy was always in tune with what happened to everyone at GH. He would know how the toxic combination of Obrecht and hormones had made her cry, then laughed at her tears and called her weak. When she opened her door, though, Sabrina saw Felix on the sofa. His head was on his chest and he was quiet. Maybe she had gotten lucky and he fell asleep while waiting for her. She stayed with this idea until she tried to sneak past him. Then she vomited. I saw this in the store and just had to buy it. I know we don"t have a baby, not yet, but we can totally get one. We"ll adopt one of those Chinese girl babies so she can look like you." Lucas held up a little dress with some pony on it, his face all smile. "You know, you"re really, really crazy. And kinda racist. I don"t know why the racism offends me more." Brad tugged at the manacle around his ankle. He knew it wouldn"t loosen, but every so often he had to remind himself that it was there. He was growing used to it and that scared him. "Also, you may have been able to move me into your new apartment, though how nobody saw you dragging my unconscious body is a mystery, but someone is eventually gonna find me." "It"s Port Charles. If you pay somebody to look the other way, then they look the other way." Lucas tossed the dress to Brad and rolled from a sitting position to his side. He laid his head on the floor and looked up at his captive"s face. "And I"ll have you know that I"m not racist and that nobody is looking for you. You"re going to be my secret treasure until you fall back in love with me. You know it"s inevitable. I have a killer smile, after all." "I was never in love with you," Brad challenged as he crossed his arms. He may have been chained up, but at least his captor brought him a change of clothes that included pants that snapped on the side of the legs. Lucas also let him sponge bathe by himself, which was only slightly creepy. Brad was trapped in the recording booth portion of the renovated studio, and he just knew Lucas was watching through the two way mirror. "Sure you were. Remember that date we had at The Floating Rib? You totally said you loved me." "The one where you assaulted your cousin before killing him?" Brad raised his eyebrows and squeezed his thumbs in his fists. "I remember it well. And I remember you saying that YOU loved ME. I said nothing of the sort." Lucas got a dreamy look on his face and closed his eyes. "Yes, I was memorable when I defended your honour. I"ll never let anyone speak ill of you like that ever again. Not Michael. Not Felix. Nobody." Brad was too acclimated to the insanity to be horrified. Lucas had killed Felix. He told Brad that he wasn"t done there, but he hadn"t named any other victims. If he was just on hiatus... "I know you won"t, because you"re batshit insane, but please stop. You don"t have to hurt anyone else. Like you said, you have me and nobody is looking. I have no friends and I alienated my family years ago. You won." Brad swallowed the rest of the words that tried to spill out of his mouth. Lucas didn"t seem to be bothered by Brad calling him insane, and he"d kindly taken to drugging him instead of beating him when he needed to move him, but he was crazy. Crazy only seemed predictable. I won"t win until you tell me that you love me." Lucas reached over and caressed Brad"s leg. It took everything Brad had to not jerk away or kick him. It was getting easier to just let Lucas think he was stealing affection. All fighting back did was result in bruising. "Oh! I forgot that I had something to show you!"

Without giving Brad a chance to reply, Lucas kissed him again, caressed his cheek, then gathered his things and left. All Brad could do was stare at the closed door. "I"m telling you, that man is a keeper. Seriously, Brad, KEEP HIM!" "You don"t have to return it. He said to bring me, not me and appliances." Rolling his eyes, Brad shuffled the bread maker under one arm and knocked on the door with the other. They waited a few moments for an answer. When one didn"t happen, Britt starting pounding on the door with a clenched fist. It opened mid-swing and Britt almost took out the homeowner. "Yes, sorry, can I help you?" Brad recognized Bobbie Spencer. He hadn"t worked at the hospital when she did, but her picture was still up all over the place. Not that she much resembled her younger self. "My name is Britt Westbourne, and this is Brad Cooper. Your son, I think he"s your son, but Lucas Jones invited us over for dinner." Britt shoved a box of white wine into Bobbie"s arms. "I would"ve gotten something a little more appropriate, but lawyers are expensive and payday isn"t until Friday." "This is... It"ll do. If nothing else, I can always send it over to Monica Quartermaine." Bobbie stepped back from the door and called for Lucas. "I"ll just go put this in the fridge." "I told you not to buy boxed wine!" Brad wanted to kick Britt, but the bread maker was getting heavier and heavier. "Now they"re going to think I"m as tacky as you." "Shut up. You"re lucky I came to be your buffer. Or did you really want to meet the boyfriend"s family all alone?" Britt stepped into the entrance, then shut the door when Brad joined her inside. "Not my boyfriend," Brad corrected. He remembered telling Lucas that they could try being friends, but he also remembered Lucas kissing him the last time they were together. "We"re just friends, and you and I are only here to help take his mind off of Michael." "It"s still weird how he offed himself." "Shut up!" Brad hissed angrily as he sat the bread maker on the floor. "This is Michael"s family, and I do not need them hating me as much as everyone in this town hates you." "But they all know you were involved in my pregnancy..." "Howdy!" Lucas interrupted cheerfully. Britt stomped her foot and muttered something about not being able to finish sentences, which seemed to confuse their host. "It"s gonna be us, my mom, and my sister Carly and her son Morgan. I hope that"s okay." "That"s, uh, it"s fine. Right, Britt?" "It"s just lovely. Your home is lovely." Britt looked around the house and faked a smile. "It"s my mom"s place. Now that I"ve got long term employment, I need to find my own digs. Unless you want me to just move in with you." Lucas wiggled his eyebrows at Brad, then laughed. "Just kidding! I know that place is too small for three people. But if you ever move out, Britt, make this guy call me." "Uh, right. I"ll do just that." Britt gave Brad a stank face when Lucas wasn"t looking. She was starting to pick up on just how odd the guy was. "My mom insisted on cooking. It takes her mind of off Michael, so we"ll be in the living room with Carly and Morgan until she says dinner is ready." Lucas grabbed Brad by the hand and started to lead them away. "You can just leave that there. I"ll get it later." Abandoning the bread maker, the trio left the foyer and walked down a hall to a room where a blonde woman was sitting on the sofa looking miserable, her brunet son holding her hand. "Sorry to hear about your son," Britt offered to Carly. Brad echoed her sentiments. "I met Michael a few times. He was a handsome young man." Britt raised her eyebrows at Brad"s choice of words, but Lucas stepped between them and took the reins of the conversation. "Carly, Morgan, this is my boyfriend Brad and his friend Britt. They work at GH. Maybe you"ve seen them there?" "I know who she is, Lucas. I was at the Nurses" Ball last year." Carly eyed Britt heavily, but didn"t elaborate. "And Lulu Falconeri is my cousin." "Oh." Brad coughed and scratched the back of his neck. Of course Lulu and Michael were cousins. He"d seen both of their medical charts. He just hadn"t put it together. "Right, well, now that the mood has been established, I"ll just sit over here in the corner and pretend I"m somewhere else until the food is ready." Britt walked over to the chair furthest from everyone and pulled out her phone. Rolling his eyes, Lucas clapped a hand on Brad"s chest and leaned forward so that he was eye level with his sister and nephew. "Listen, can we have one pleasant evening? Please? Save the fighting for when we don"t have company?" "I haven"t said anything!" Morgan pointed out hastily. Carly made an unpleasant face, then groaned an agreement. GH "You called me your boyfriend." Brad stood in the doorway to Bobbie Spencer"s home. Waiting down on the sidewalk was Britt. She was eager to get home and away from Carly"s death glare, but Brad was even more so. Carly wasn"t even the worst part of the evening. "I know. The dinner went well, I thought." Lucas brushed off Brad"s shoulders and gave him a peck on the cheek. "You didn"t like it?" "It was great. I love frozen pizza. It"s just... We aren"t dating. I can"t be your boyfriend." Lucas stepped back from Brad, shock overriding his face. "What are you talking about? Brad, when I was at your place the other night, you kissed me. You said you loved me." "No, I didn"t. That was you. I said I"d try to be friends. You kissed me. You said you loved me, which is crazy because we don"t know each other. Not really. This is me reminding you that we are friends and nothing more." "Is this about Felix?" Lucas grabbed at his chest and gasped for breath. "Brad, he"s treated you like crap. You deserve better. You deserve someone who will worship you." Brad stepped away from both the doorway and Lucas. He backed two steps down so that he had to look up to see the other man. Something was not right. It was so far from right that he"d dismissed his initial instincts because he couldn"t see how wrong it was. "Nobody wants to be worshipped. Well, maybe Robin Scorpio, but that"s it. You need to calm down." Ignoring Brad"s words, Lucas stumbled over the threshold and tackled Brad in a hug. Losing his footing, Brad fell to the ground, the back of his head slamming into the concrete. Lucas landed on top of him and drove the wind from Brad"s lungs. Britt ran over to them, but Lucas pushed her away. "I"m sorry, Babe. It was an accident. Don"t leave me. Please don"t go." Lucas sat on Brad"s hips and held his face in his hands. It was impossible for Brad to see through the confusion and pain. He couldn"t move. "I love you. Just come inside and I"ll make it better. I"ll bandage your head up and make Carly apologize for being rude. There"s no need to go." "He"s not going anywhere with your crazy ass." Britt kicked Lucas in the cheek, knocking him off of Brad. She helped her friend to his feet, then put herself between the two men. "You are fucking crazy, and trust me when I say I know crazy. Stay away from me and Brad. And you better never come anywhere near my son or I"ll kill you." "Why would he..." Brad started before realizing that speaking was the last thing he wanted to do. He stumbled and Britt had to catch him. Lucas scrambled to his feet, but Britt screamed at him to back off. Then Morgan appeared at Lucas" side and grabbed his cousin"s arm. "You should probably leave now," Morgan advised as he held Lucas back. He looked sort of freaked out. "Brad! Felix doesn"t love you! I do." Lucas shouted at the top of his lungs. Carly and Bobbie joined in, helping Morgan restrain him. Snarling, Britt helped steady Brad. "Trust me, we are leaving and hell will freeze over before we ever come back here." GH "You know, I"m supposed to be the evil, crazy bitch in town, but that Lucas Jones is outdoing even me." Britt sat in the exam room with Brad, waiting on a nurse to look him over. She had offered to do it herself, but he reminded her that her speciality was in vaginae and that he didn"t have one. "Yeah, well, he seemed sorta normal at first. Especially by Port Charles standards. I mean, have you met any of the other people who live here? There are mobsters and escaped mental patients and terrorists..." "I"ve been threatened by more than a few." Britt pulled the cloth from Brad"s head and looked the wound over. "It"s not bleeding anymore, which is good. External clotting is almost always good. You know what isn"t good? Emergency room response time. We"ve been waiting thirty minutes. I"m going to talk to Mother about how lazy the nurses down here are." "We aren"t lazy. We just saw the names on the chart and prioritized." Elizabeth Webber strolled into the exam room, looking smug. "So, what happened?" "A crazy man attacked him. Didn"t you read the file?" Britt snapped. "So, you want to file a police report? I can call Dante Falconeri down here just like that." Liz snapped her fingers and leered. Speaking up, Brad declined. "It"s not serious. I don"t think he meant to hurt me. It just happened." "Brad, he is insane." "I think Lucas got the point. We should just let it go." "Lucas did this to you? Lucas Jones? I"m gonna bake him some cookies." Liz rolled Britt"s chair away from Brad and looked at the wound. "It"s not deep. I"ll clean it up and then get you a CT scan, if you want one." "Damn straight he wants one. And I"m gonna watch those tech monkeys do it so I know it"s being done right." Britt crossed her arms over her chest and glared. Brad was thankful the hate was aimed at Liz and not him, but the pale nurse seemed to revel in it. "That should be fine. Thanks." Brad winced as Liz began disinfecting the wound. "Could I get some pain meds or something? It may not be deep, but it hurts." Laughing, Liz shook her head. "Sorry, no. We want you lucid in case there are follow up questions during your scan." "Bitch, I"ve given patients meds before a scan." Britt bared her teeth and Brad could sense that violence was about to break out. "Yeah, but the pharmacy didn"t hate your patients. So, I"ll set that scan up for you." Liz pressed a bandage to the wound, pushing down harder than necessary and smiling when Brad"s eyes started to water. "I"m complaining to my mother about you, too!" Britt threatened as Liz took off her gloves and threw them into the nearby trashcan. "You do that. Meanwhile, I need to talk to Lucas Jones about his taste in men." Liz smirked at Britt, then Brad, then left the room. "I"m calling the cops." Brad put about ten feet of distance between himself and Lucas. He had his phone in hand, hoping that he wouldn"t actually have to use it. His heart was thudding so loudly in his ears that he almost couldn"t hear his own words. Holding his hands up, Lucas gave an apologetic look. "I"m sorry. I was off the other day. Way off. This whole Michael thing hit me harder than I thought it would." "It hit YOU hard?" Brad pointed at the bandage wrapped around his head. "I had to get a fucking CT scan. You are so lucky I didn"t had any permanent damage. Now seriously, leave." "But I brought you a gift." Lucas picked up a package by his feet. Brad hadn"t noticed it, what with his apparent stalker waiting outside of his apartment. "It"s a bread maker. You really liked mine, so I thought you"d want one of your own." "If I want bread, I can buy it at the grocery store. Get the fuck out of my apartment building and my life." Angry, Lucas threw the box against the wall. Brad winced, wondering if his landlord would make him pay for any possible damage. It wasn"t fair. He"d been a terrible person, but not this bad. There was no way his karma was shitty enough for him to deserve this. Britt, sure, but not Brad Cooper. "That"s it." Brad started to dial 911, but Lucas leapt and smacked the phone from his hand before he could finish. It clattered to the floor and Lucas stomped on the screen. "We are not done until I say we are. I"ve been nice about it, but you aren"t cooperating. We are soul mates, Brad Cooper. We will get married and adopt kids from a third world country and you will forget about that asshole Felix Dubois." Lucas grabbed Brad"s shirt when he tried to step away and slammed into him into the wall. "Why won"t you just let me love you? We could be perfect together. I just know it." "You aren"t crazy. You"re psychotic." Brad started to push Lucas away, but Lucas slammed his head into the wall and a wave of pain and nausea hit him. "If I"m crazy, you did it to me. I won"t let you pretend we never happened. I will not be ignored!" Lucas screamed before slamming Brad"s head into the wall again. On the verge of blacking out, Brad couldn"t stop the tears leaking from his eyes. It seemed to calm Lucas down, because he pulled Brad into a tight embrace. "See what you made me do? You need to stop fighting it, Brad. We were made for each other. Someday, I"ll make you see that. We"re perfect together and there"s nothing you can do to stop it." Then, without warning, Lucas slammed Brad"s head into the wall again and all he knew was darkness. GH When he woke up, Brad felt heavy. His head throbbed, and when he moved his legs he heard something rattle. Feeling around in the darkness, waiting for his eyes to adjust, Brad found cold steel around his leg: a manacle. It was attached to a chain, which was attached to a brick wall. It was ten minutes before someone walked into the room, if it could even be called a room. "I see you"re awake. Sorry about the squalid conditions, but it was such short notice that I just jumped on the first place. I hope that"s okay." Lucas reached out and gingerly ruffled Brad"s hair. "I know it isn"t the ideal place for us to start our life together, but I"ll fix it up in no time. You"ll love it." Shrinking away from Lucas, Brad tried to think of something to say or do. He could beg to be set free, but it wouldn"t do any good. Lucas was clearly beyond reasoning. There was nothing under the calm veneer but psychosis and violence. "Did you kill Michael?" The words trickled through his mouth, but he couldn"t really hear them. All Brad knew was the ache in the back of his head and the fear in his heart. "Please don"t kill me." "I would never hurt you if it wasn"t necessary. You have to know that." Lucas kissed Brad"s neck and rubbed his shoulders. It took everything Brad had not to vomit. "But Michael, he just didn"t understand. He would have never let us live in peace. I had to deal with him. For us. You understand, don"t you?" "Who else have you dealt with?" Pulling away from Brad, Lucas started grinning. Even in the darkness, his teeth were unmistakable. Brad held his breath. "I love you, Brad. Just remember that everything I do, I do for you." Lucas stood and blew a kiss to Brad. Rolling onto his side, Brad stared at the concrete wall and did his best to pretend that the maniac would be stopped. GH Brad was the one who was supposed to supervise Britt"s visit with Ben. He had agreed to it, signed the paperwork, and then never showed. CPS told her they"d have to reschedule. Maybe set something up at the offices. As mad as she was, Britt was also worried. Brad was a jerk and a bit of a dumb ass, but he wouldn"t let her down like this. He knew how much seeing her son meant. The feeling of dread only intensified when she called the lab at GH and was told that he had not shown up for work. He hadn"t even called in sick. And nobody cared. She called the cops and wanted to report him as a missing person, but Dante had been the officer to take the call. He laughed at her and told her to call back after 48 hours. Against her better judgement, Britt called Lucas next. Well, she called his mother"s house and asked to talk to him, but the old bitch said that her golden boy was out with his sister shopping for an apartment. Someplace more permanent where he could settle down. Bobbie Spencer then made it known that neither Britt nor Brad was welcome in her home and to never call again. "Why should I help you? I don"t really know you, but what I"ve heard is unpleasant." Ava Jerome swirled the olive around her martini, then smiled while biting it off the toothpick. "I"m an art dealer, Ms. Westbourne." "Dr. Westbourne," Britt corrected. Amusement played behind Ava"s eyes. "And we both know you aren"t just an art dealer. I"ll pay you. I make good money, and it"s clean." "Clean money is the best kind. What exactly do you need?" "I need help finding someone. Brad Cooper. He was... He was dating your nephew, and either last night or this morning he disappeared right after a bad breakup." Britt chewed on her thumbnail and Ava wrinkled her nose. "You lot, you"re good at making people disappear. Really good. How are you are bringing them back?" "Usually, when I make someone disappear, they don"t come back. So, unfortunately for you, I"m afraid I won"t be of any help. Have a good day, Dr. Westbourne." Ava finished her drink and set the glass on the table. She gave Britt an ice cold smile and walked away. GH "You just would not believe the price of real estate in Port Charles! It"s a lot cheaper than Seattle. I think the high crime rate might play a factor. My ex-brother-in-law and my father are finally good for something. Who knew?" Lucas ran his hand along the inside of Brad"s thigh. Even if he weren"t gagged, Brad"s throat was too raw to reply. While Lucas had been gone, he"d spent the day screaming for help. He screamed until he coughed up blood. Then he cried. Somehow, Lucas must have heard him, because when he returned several hours later, he fed Brad and let him drink a bottle of water before binding his legs and wrists and gagging his mouth. "It"s just a bit longer, Baby. I promise." Lucas leaned in and kissed the fresh bruises on Brad"s body. He"d picked them up trying to fight back; Lucas was stronger than he looked. A lot stronger. It was probably why Brad was bound and gagged where before he"d just been chained up. Neither one acknowledged the bucket in the corner, nor the stench coming from it. "We got a lead on a new place. It"s an old music studio that"s been converted. They kept the sound-proofing in so we can make love as loud as we want and nobody will ever hear us." Brad could feel Lucas grinning, his lips pressed against the side of his face before he moved on and started chewing on his earlobe. "It"s a gorgeous old place. You"re gonna love it. What do you think?" All Brad could think was that Lucas was crazier than he"d given him credit for. Yeah, Brad had tried to blackmail Michael into sex, but this was something a hell of a lot worse. This was worse than stealing an embryo and implanting it into Britt. It wasn"t as bad as Monica Quartermaine"s face, but that wasn"t Brad"s fault. "You look so beautiful right now." Lucas" breath was hot against Brad"s ear. But inside, all he felt was cold. GH Carrying the baby of a married man bothered Sabrina Santiago. It bothered her far more than it should have. Patrick had been two words away from marrying her when his wife showed up. And it wasn"t even that Sabrina was mad, because under those circumstances how could she be? It didn"t make her hurt go away, though. It didn"t make her feel like any less of a whore. That Catholic guilt was strong. After a long and trying day, which included being berated by the Chief of Staff for having morning sickness on the job, all Sabrina wanted to do was sleep. At least when her eyes were shut, and she was in her own bed, she could be left alone. As much as she loved Felix, he was her best friend and roommate for a reason, Sabrina hoped he wasn"t home. She pulled her keys out of the pocket of her coat and mentally chastised herself. Felix had done so much for her. He"d given up any chance with Brad to help her with her problems. Not that Brad was exactly worth Felix"s time anyway. She was glad that Felix finally saw how awful he was. When she went to unlock her door and saw that it was already done, Sabrina bit back a curse. Felix was home. He"d want to talk about what happened at the hospital. Sure, he"d had the day off, but the boy was always in tune with what happened to everyone at GH. He would know how the toxic combination of Obrecht and hormones had made her cry, then laughed at her tears and called her weak. When she opened her door, though, Sabrina saw Felix on the sofa. His head was on his chest and he was quiet. Maybe she had gotten lucky and he fell asleep while waiting for her. She stayed with this idea until she tried to sneak past him. Then she vomited. I saw this in the store and just had to buy it. I know we don"t have a baby, not yet, but we can totally get one. We"ll adopt one of those Chinese girl babies so she can look like you." Lucas held up a little dress with some pony on it, his face all smile. "You know, you"re really, really crazy. And kinda racist. I don"t know why the racism offends me more." Brad tugged at the manacle around his ankle. He knew it wouldn"t loosen, but every so often he had to remind himself that it was there. He was growing used to it and that scared him. "Also, you may have been able to move me into your new apartment, though how nobody saw you dragging my unconscious body is a mystery, but someone is eventually gonna find me."

"Ms. Forrester," Ivy corrected with a chuckle. B&B Celia Fitzgerald was nervous. It was crazy enough finding out that her late parents weren"t her parents, but on top of that her biological father was richer than she imagined possible and she had brothers. Brothers! She felt like the little orphan Annie. She wondered how Bill would feel if she called him Daddy Warbucks. "Family dinner? This has never been a thing," one of the guys at the table complained. Celia only vaguely recognized him, but she knew RJ Logan the moment he walked in the door. It took all of her self-control to keep from fangirling. Famous people! Real life celebrities, and she was to be one of them. "You brought an intern?" Asked a woman whom Celia was certain was Bill"s wife. "Hi, sweetie. I"m Katie, Bill"s wife and VP at Spencer. It"s nice to meet you." "Hi, I"m-" Celia started before Bill held up his hand to silence her. He smiled warmly and the young woman didn"t even notice everyone else at the table exchange bewildered glances. "Let me," he requested. "Let you what, Bill? What did you do?" Katie asked her husband suspiciously. "Nothing! It"s just that, when I went to Pennsylvania, I had another reason to go besides Wyatt." "Oh! You"re my sister, then. Nice to meet you. Liam." The guy who had previously complained about having a family dinner waved at her. "Welcome to the family or whatever. I don"t know if we"re related. I think so. Step cousins or whatever." RJ Logan raised his glass of soda to Celia, who blushed. Katie sighed. "I guess that makes me the wicked stepmother. Only I"m not that evil." Grumbling, Bill"s smiled dropped. "That"s one way to ruin a moment." "Hi," Celia squeaked, her nerves frayed beyond recognition. "Hey, Sis." Liam smiled at her sincerely. That alone did wonders to soothe her. "What"s your name?" "Celia Spencer," Bill answered for her. "Celia Fitzgerald," she corrected. Suddenly, Bill looked annoyed with her and Celia wanted to crawl into a hole and die. "We"ll get that fixed," Bill assured everyone. "Nothing wrong with not taking your father"s name," RJ chimed in, looking right at Bill. "Some of us actively avoid it." Grunting, Bill disagreed with his nephew. "This is a family matter. Why are you talking?" "BILL!" Katie yelled at her husband. "This is my nephew. OUR nephew. Of course he"s allowed to talk." "I don"t claim people who use the press to attack my family. He"s lucky I"m letting him in my house." RJ laughed. "Lucky? Please. The last thing I am is lucky. Eden almost killed me and you just stood there. How do you think I feel, having to see your face? I"m only here because Aunt Katie practically begged me to come, Bill." "Then allow me to give you the ability to leave without any guilt." "Nah, since my presence pisses you off so much, I think I"m gonna stay." RJ smiled and Celia wondered what the hell was going on with these people. "Uncle Bill." "Don"t you ever call me that." "You two calm the hell down NOW!" Katie ordered, but they both ignored her. Again, RJ laughed. "How do you feel about being called "Tio"? I think it fits." Bill stood up and threw his chair against the wall. RJ threw his as well, though his didn"t go very far when he threw it. It was Bill"s turn to laugh. "You wanna go? I will beat your old ass down," RJ threatened. "Says the child who got beat up by a girl." Then Katie stood up and slapped Bill. "That"s enough. From the both of you. RJ, gather your things. I"m taking you home. And Bill? When I get back, you and I are having a talk." "I would say this isn"t normal," Liam said as he leaned in and whispered to Celia, "but it kinda is. Anyway, welcome to the family." B&B "You"re still here? The deal was that you would be gone as soon as you got the job." RJ Logan burst into his loft and threw his coat to the floor and kicked his shoes off. "I need to buy new shit. Everything is too fucking tight. And who is this bitch?" Theresa couldn"t believe that it was her first day on the job and she was meeting fashion royalty. She did find it easy to believe that he was a cunt, however. "I"m Theresa Donovan." She blinked as she answered. "Why is it speaking to me, Ivy?" RJ pulled off his shirt and started to undo his pants. This was not how she thought he would act. "If you"re going to bring stray dogs into my home, you had better make sure they"re housebroken." It took all of Theresa"s self-control to not beat the little punk down. "Theresa is my new assistant, RJ. You"d better be nice to her. You"re gonna spend a lot of time together." Ivy nodded at her employee and stood up. "You"ll be happy to know that we found a lovely retirement home for my mother and already moved her in. I"ll need a few more days." "No more days. I"m sick of the smell of Vegemite," RJ growled. "I"m already in a bad mood. You do not want to piss me off any more than I already am." Putting a hand on RJ"s back, Ivy guided her cousin to the kitchenette. "RJ, we"re family." Then she grabbed the back of RJ"s neck and slammed his head into the counter. He collapsed and she delivered a painful looking series of kicks to his ribs. From her perch, Theresa cheered. Ivy shot her a smile over her shoulder before turning her attention back to RJ. "You forget yourself, you diminutive faggot. We are not partners. You work for me. No, I own you. If I want something done, you"re gonna do it. Is that clear?" "Y-yes." The gasping noises RJ made had Theresa smiling. "Good boy." Ivy dealt another kick for emphasis, this time to RJ"s face. And as he laying on his floor, writhing in pain and blood pouring from his nose, Ivy took back her seat next to Theresa. The woman"s assistant pulled her tablet out of sleep mode. "I"ve found a few condos in your price range, but there"s also a mansion that just hit the market. It"s costs six million, but is secluded, even by LA standards. I guess some Scientologist used to live there before he got excommunicated and stopped getting acting gigs." B&B Hope Logan ran around her Venice villa, throwing things into her luggage. She couldn"t stay in Los Angeles, not for long, but she needed to go back. Too many things had happened for her to stay away. RJ had nearly died and someone leaked a sex tape of his. Wyatt, her ex-husband, he and Quinn had been attacked and out in a coma: nobody seemed to know why. Ridge and Caroline were outed as racists and Maya was outed as trans. She didn"t know what she could do for any of them, but Hope needed to do something. It was time to go home. B&B "Hurry it up, Kevin. We need to be on our plane in an hour. We bugged Fascinella"s office, so we need out of Mexico as soon as possible." Noah sat on the phone and watched as Maya nervously watched the door. They were supposed to fly to Genoa City and meet Kevin there. He was to explain everything in person, not over the phone. It was too insecure. "Noah, you guys can"t take the plane. Fascinella"s people found the bug before I could get all the info. The Mexican government, lucky for you, is as unsecured as it is corrupt. They flagged your tickets. You and Maya are on a no fly list. If you"re gonna get out of Mexico, you need to sneak out." After getting Maya"s attention and waving her over, Noah put the phone on speaker. "Are you saying we need to cross the border hiding in the back of someone"s truck? Kevin, we have almost no cash. I used my debit card to pay for this trip." "You two are idiots," Kevin told them. "Excuse you!" Maya took the phone from Noah. "We"ll worry about getting out of Mexico without being caught, but what did you find, Kevin? Did you get anything at all?" It took a few seconds for Kevin to answer her. "Yeah, I did. Just a list of patient transfers from some place in New York called Crichton-Clark. Noah, man, Courtney was on that list like you thought. She"s out there somewhere." Maya looked at Noah but said nothing. They"d agreed to not tell Kevin about their suspicions about who Eden really was. "Do you have anything else about Courtney?" Maya asked. Noah couldn"t breathe. He wanted to be proven wrong. He didn"t want it to have been Courtney, the woman he was going to marry, who was responsible for almost killing RJ. "There was another name on that list. I"ve never met her, but I"m pretty sure the two of you have. She transferred to Fascinella the same week as Courtney." "Who was she, Kevin? Because Noah and I don"t have that many people in common." There was silence on the other end of the line for just enough time to make Noah want to vomit. He squatted down on the filthy floor of their motel room. He had rented a nice place in Mexico City, but Maya insisted he draw out some cash and they crash in this hovel in one of the nearby villages immediately after the visit to Fascinella. That had probably been a good idea. It was probably why they were still alive. Noah hugged his knees and waited for Kevin"s answer. "I"m sure you"ve heard that Ivy Forrester is back at Forrester Creations." Maya and Noah looked at each other. He was confused, but there was dread in her eyes. "No, we hadn"t. She"s supposed to be dead, and is wanted for murder," Maya responded, her voice shaking as much as her hand. "Kevin, was Ivy the other person? This can"t be a coincidence if it was her." "All I know is that her name is on the transfer list." After hanging up the call without saying goodbye, Maya threw the phone against the wall. "Noah, we need to leave. Now." "Where are we going?" She offered him a hand and pulled the man to his feet. "Anywhere but here. Fascinella is dangerous, but values discretion. I don"t know if you ever actually met Ivy, but I have. Noah, the woman blew up a hotel and killed a whole lot of people, including a little girl, while trying to takeover a mob town. It was all over the newspapers." "Why would Forrester take her back? And how is she connected to Courtney?" Noah never had met much of RJ"s family on the Forrester side. Just Ridge and... and Steffy. "First, we need to get out of here, Noah. And we can"t bring our phones. GPS tracking and all that jazz. You can really learn a lot from the paranoid inmates at prison. And, once we"re back in the US, we"ll figure out what to do. After all, we only have two real leads." "And what are those?" Noah looked into Maya"s eyes. He so grateful she was helping him. He wouldn"t have been able to even get this far by himself. She was still holding his hand. "Noah, when we get back to America, we can either question Ivy or we can look into this Crichton-Clark place. But, for now, we need to leave." "RJ... No, Nicky. He never changed where RJ hid the spare key." Noah gave what he probably thought was a smile, but all Hope saw was a pained grimace. The man turned the key and opened the door. "What are you doing here?" Hope recognized the voice from the clinic. Before she could do anything, Noah had charged into the loft. There was a sound of something breaking that made her run in after him. "You fucker!" Noah yelled as he punched Ricky Williams in the face. His attack was so brutal that Hope flinched. Lamps and vases and small statues fell from tables as the two men grappled with each other. Back in New York, at the clinic, Noah and the man had also fought but it had been brief. Eden had interfered and ended things: Hope was too scared to step in and break things up. She was terrified that Noah was going to murder the man. A bit of plaster hit the floor when Noah slammed Ricky"s head into the wall. Then he grabbed Ricky"s hair and repeated the action three times before jamming a knee into the other man"s kidney and throwing him to the floor. "Piece of shit." Noah spat on Ricky and kicked him in the ribs. It felt off. Hope knew what Eden had told her. Ricky was supposed to be terrifying, a complete monster, but Noah was roughing him up with too much ease. None of that chilled her fear as he watched her friend brutalize him. "I should just put you down." Noah kicked Ricky again and then sat on his chest. He began punching Ricky in the face, but when Noah reached for the jagged pottery she found the nerve to step in and finally put a stop to it. "What the fuck are you doing in my loft?" Before Hope could do anything, her brother stormed past her and stared at Noah. He saw the makeshift weapon in Noah"s hand and her saw his battered husband. Nobody expected for him to kick Noah in the face. "GET OFF OF HIM!" he yelled as he made to kick Noah again. Except Noah caught his foot and pushed back, throwing his ex off balance and to the floor. It was then that Ricky sat up and stared at Noah. Hope could only catch a glimpse of his eyes, but it finally led her to scream. "You don"t get to touch my husband." Ricky grabbed Noah by the throat and threw him off with a shocking ease. As she watched her brother help Ricky to his feet, Hope wondered where her voice had gone. She seemed unable to speak. Nobody was paying attention to her anyway. "Get your hands off him!" Noah ordered as he climbed to his feet and pointed at Ricky. The man responded by pulling his husband close, so that his back was against Ricky"s chest. Ricky half-leaned on him and Hope saw her brother visibly soften at the man"s touch. He grabbed Ricky"s left hand and held it to his chest so that the wedding band was visible for all to see. "Get out of here, Noah. You don"t get to barge into my home and attack my husband." "Shut up, Nicky! This isn"t about you." Noah didn"t even look at him. His eyes were fixed solely on Ricky. "You don"t know what this bastard did." "Don"t talk to him like that!" Ricky balled the hand on his husband"s chest until it was a fist clenching the front of the shirt. "You don"t get to talk! You"re a psycho who is manipulating and abusing a creation of someone with a serious mental illness." "That"s not Nicky." Everyone stared at Hope, but nobody was more shocked to hear the words than the woman who spoke them. She stood next to Noah and put a calming hand on his shoulder, but looked into her brother"s eyes. There was no denying it. "You"re RJ." "You figured it out," he sneered. He was hard, but hot: Hope sensed no coldness from him. Unlike Nicky, RJ still cared. He was just lost. "You can"t be RJ." Noah"s voice was broken. She felt the muscles under her hand go from tense to slack. "He wouldn"t do this." "Do what?" Ricky asked, wrapping his other arm around RJ"s waist. Hope"s brother melted into the embrace, closing his eyes for a few seconds and smiling. "He wouldn"t marry a sociopath!" Noah yelled, though there was no fire to it. There was pain just beneath the surface that even Hope"s cousin Marcus could detect. Maybe. "You mean I wouldn"t move on from you." RJ reached an arm up and snaked it back around Ricky"s neck. He kept smiling at he opened his eyes. Hate burned at their edges. "I"m supposed to spend another three years waiting on you, right? I"m just a warm hole you can stick your dick in whenever your woman of the month decides she doesn"t want you anymore. Fuck off." "You know that"s not..." Hope started, but she couldn"t find the words to finish her thought. Her hand slipped from Noah"s shoulder and fell limply to her side. "What are you two even doing here? Because I already had a chat with Taylor and that bitch won"t be locking me up like you were planning." "What?" Noah stepped away from Hope and stared at her. "Little Miss Perfect here? She conspired with the woman who outed us. The entire Logan family wanted to lock me up. It"s why I"m a Braña now." For emphasis, RJ showed off his wedding ring. "We both are." Noah looked away from Hope and back to RJ. "They still should. God knows marrying this freak is evidence enough that you"re insane, with or without the multiple personalities." "Can we not-" Hope started before RJ interrupted. "That"s not happening. My husband here has my power of attorney. I"m not going anywhere. Right, Honey?" Ricky kissed RJ"s neck, leaving behind a spot of blood from his busted open lip. "That"s right, Babe. You"re gonna stay here with me." "The marriage won"t stand up in court. Brooke will have it annulled. RJ will get the professional help he needs, and you"ll go to prison where you belong." "Good luck trying to beat Ivy"s lawyers. She blew up a hotel and they got her off," RJ bragged. He turned around and pulled Ricky down for a full kiss, but both had their eyes open and they both watched Noah. "What does Ivy have on you?" Hope stepped in front of Noah in an attempt to keep him from attacking Ricky again. It seemed to work, even if just momentarily. "Nicky I get, but why are you still working with that woman, RJ? She"s evil!" RJ finally broke away from his husband, and when he focused on Hope she noticed that the softness he got from Ricky had disappeared. "Ivy is a lot of things. A murderer, a terrorist, a pain in the ass, but what she isn"t is fake. She"s a bitch and she knows it. "And if Ivy ever conspired with the woman who made it her mission in life to ruin mine, she would own it. She wouldn"t try to act like going to Taylor Hayes was anything other than a deliberate slap in the face. "I came back to LA wanting to make amends for what Nicky did. But you wanna know something? He was a trash bag, but he was a better person than all of you. He didn"t do anything you assholes didn"t deserve." That made Hope mad. "Are you saying I deserved to be drugged and strapped to a bed for a month in some clinic in New York? Did you really just say that?" For a moment, there was doubt in RJ"s eyes. Then Ricky stroked his back and RJ blinked. When his eyes reopened the doubt was gone. "Hell yes, you deserved it. Because you never came to see me after I almost died. My boyfriend left me, because this asshole"s grandfather" RJ pointed at Noah "had him kidnapped. My sex tape was leaked. And I didn"t hear a word from you. At least Steffy has the decency to be a cunt to my face. You"re just a coward." It was Noah"s turn to put a hand on Hope"s shoulder. She noticed it was shaking. "That"s enough." "No, Noah, it"s the truth. You"re a stupid whore content to spend your life doing nothing but being a mediocre lay for people who actually have jobs, and my sister here is a frigid bitch with a Christ complex." "And you married a murderer," Noah shit back. There was a change in RJ. He stepped away from all three of them and stared at Ricky. It was hard to tell if he was afraid. "What?" Ricky didn"t react. "Yeah. He told me and Hope all about it. Maya and Eden, too. After Courtney and you went out the window, she survived. At first. Then your new husband killed her on Victor"s orders." "Oh. Is that all? I thought it would be something I cared about." RJ bounded back to Ricky"s side and threw his arms around the man. "What?" Noah sounded incredulous, and Hope was more than a little disturbed herself. RJ squeezed Ricky, who ran a hand through RJ"s hair. "Even if what you"re telling me is true, Courtney is the bitch who impersonated Eden. Right? She tried to kill me. So, as far as I"m concerned, that"s even more reason to love him." Noah"s legs stopped working and he collapsed to a sitting position. Not knowing what else to do, Hope squatted down next to him. She stared at her brother. This was definitely RJ, but he had changed. He was no longer her sweet but slightly spoiled brother. He was just like Steffy. "You can"t." Noah argued weakly. His voice was low and Hope barely heard him. "What? I"m sorry. We didn"t hear you." Ricky chuckled and leaned in their direction, dipping RJ as if they were dancing. "Could you repeat that for us?" "Please stop." Hope knew she was begging, but she didn"t care. "RJ, please, come to your senses. I know I missed a lot, but whatever happened to you can"t have been enough to make you this bitter. You used to be so loving." "Get fired from the company you co-founded and have someone sue you for rape on the same day, Hope. Find out that your entire family wants you locked away. Then talk to me about why someone would change." RJ gave an indication that Ricky should raise him up, and as soon as they were standing RJ jumped up and wrapped his legs around Ricky"s torso. There was a grunt, probably because Ricky was still sore from Noah"s attack, but he didn"t drop RJ. They kissed and both Hope and Noah felt compelled to look away. "I don"t know why you two came here, and at this point I don"t care," RJ said after he finished making out with his husband. "But it"s time for you to go. Because we are newlyweds and that means we have needs. And one thing I don"t need is a live audience. But if you"re really curious, look me up on XTube. They"re still hosting both of my videos." "I can"t believe I ever loved you." Noah found the strength to stand. He pulled Hope up with him. "You"re just a selfish little bitch. You"re just like Victor." "Guilt trips won"t work on me, Noah. Because unlike Victor, I don"t give a fuck about you anymore. What happened back in Genoa City? Forget it. I have someone else in my life now, and he isn"t using me to replace a vagina." "Fish is overrated, anyway," Ricky added, grabbing at RJ"s ass as he continued to hold him. Having enough of everything, Hope grabbed Noah"s wrist and pulled him out of the loft. RJ hopped down off Ricky and followed them to the door.

B&B Brooke stormed into the lobby of Newman Enterprises. Security started to come over to her, but the man on her arm waved them away. She barely knew the man on her arm, they"d just met that morning, but Sharon had been right about him opening up doors. "Good morning, Mr. Newman," the receptionist said. When she saw Brooke was with him, her jaw dropped. "Can I have your autograph, Brooke?" "Sure." Brooke took the proffered pen and scratched her name down on a Post-It. She knew enough to stay on the public"s good side. Her likability carried her through many scandals. As soon as she was done, Brooke and her escort made their way down to the elevators. As soon as the elevator shut and they were alone, he asked her a question. "Are you sure you want to meet my dad? Victor managed to skate out of the charges levied against him by Eden Baldwin." Her shoulders shook as she chuckled. "You don"t understand. I spent over half my life battling with Stephanie Forrester. I bested her countless times. I was the CEO of Forrester Creations during its most profitable years. If anyone should be scared, it"s him." "I like you," he told her, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall with a smile. When the elevator dinged and the door opened, he caught Brooke"s eye. "You want me to come with you?" Brooke shook her head. "Thanks but no thanks, Adam. You got me in the door, but the rest is up to me." "Okay then. You need anything else, don"t be afraid to holler. I"ll be at the penthouse with Chelsea." After bidding him farewell, Brooke stepped off the elevator and took a deep breath. Sharon had warned Brooke about Adam Newman. He wasn"t to be trusted, but he hated Victor more than anyone else possibly could. That was yet to be seen. Victor had gone after her child more than once. She wouldn"t let that stand. "Mr. Newman is in a meeting right now," the secretary said when Brooke found Victor"s office. She ignored the woman and threw the door open. Victor Newman radiated power. His aura filled the room in a way that attempted to press Brooke to the floor. She didn"t even have to shake it off, instead opting to slam the door in the secretary"s face and lock it behind her. "Who are you?" Victor stared at Brooke from over the top of his glasses. She sat her purse down on a nearby table and smoothed the wrinkles out of her top. "Are you deaf? Who do you think you are?" With a smile, Brooke walked up to Victor"s desk and leaned on it, her hands gripping the edges so tightly her knuckles turned white. She ignored the other man in the room and stared directly into Victor"s eyes. She could tell that he was little more than a slightly more effeminate version of Stephanie Forrester. "I"m Brooke Logan." She felt no need to elaborate. The look he tried to keep off his face proved that he knew just who she was. "So, you"re what birthed that thing that nearly ruined my grandson. My sympathies." Victor then waved his hand as if to dismiss her. "I talked to your grandson just the other day, Victor." Brooke stood up and lifted a pen from his desk. "He"s the one who told me all about you. And I just had to come and see for myself if you"re the big bad villain every claims you are. But I find you lacking." "Am I supposed to care? I don"t have time for this nonsense." Victor looked back into Brooke"s eyes. She didn"t blink. "But now I know where that thing gets its sense of entitlement." "His name is RJ. After everything you"ve done, the least you could do is say his name." Brooke"s eyebrow twitched. He had gotten under her skin and they both knew it. "And regarding my son, I need to know what you did to him." "What I did to him? He"s the one who came to my home and assaulted me!" Victor slammed his hands on the desk but Brooke wasn"t intimidated: not even when he rose from his chair and assumed his full height. "I spoke to Noah the other day. I know everything." Brooke held Victor"s gaze. His aura threatened to overwhelm her but she kept her cool. This was no different than Stephanie on a Tuesday night. "The legal system may not take you down, but know that I will." "Are you sure about that?" The other man in the room finally joined the conversation. "Do you know what all your son has done? To everyone here?" Despite her better judgment, Brooke broke away from Victor"s gaze and took in the other man. "How do you know anything about my son?" "I"m Nick Newman. Noah"s father." He didn"t offer Brooke his hand. She wouldn"t have shaken it, anyway. "Your son blackmailed and attacked me." "Do you think I"m here to excuse what RJ did? I know he"s out of control. And I also know that it didn"t start until YOUR father decided to inject himself into RJ"s life." Brooke turned back to Victor. "I came here to ask you one question, Victor. And I wanted to see your face in person when I ask it." "What makes you think you have the right to ask me anything?" Victor crossed his arms over his chest. Brooke smirked. Setting the pen down on the desk, Brooke tried her best not to chuckle. "I"m sure you saw that my my son recently got married. My new son-in-law is very familiar with you, Victor. He knows things. So I"m not asking you anything I couldn"t ask him. "No, the only thing you may not know is that my son hasn"t disowned everyone in his family. He"s still quite close to his cousin Ivy. I didn"t expect you to fear me, Victor. You strike me as an intelligent man, but with that can come hubris. You would be smart to fear Ivy. She"s unpredictable and power hungry. So, tell me, are you afraid?" Brooke didn"t wait for an answer. She turned around, walked to the door and let herself out. Her smile stayed on her face. B&B Steffy climbed out of the car with a seething fury. She didn"t even tell the driver he was free to go. Taylor had gotten a phone call from Ridge, a summons from Steffy"s father. He didn"t say anything else. Taylor assumed he had made his decision about the stock and wanted her there. It didn"t take much for Steffy to convince her mother to stay home while she went in her stead. She would talk her father out of whatever RJ had talked him into, and then she would see to it that RJ never darkened her father"s doorstep again. Each second that passed between Steffy leaving her mother"s home and opening her father"s hospital room door only served to feed her anger. "Dad, we need to talk." Steffy said as soon as she opened the door to her father"s hospital room. She stopped in her tracks and found herself looking down the barrel of a gun. "Scream and die," the woman warned with a hiss. "Close the door and take a seat." She gestured to the chairs by Ridge"s bed. RJ was occupying one and he looked terrified. "Your mother was supposed to be here," the woman told Steffy. "He called her. She said she would come!" "I... I told her I was coming in her place." Steffy said next to RJ, her anger already replaced by fear. She swallowed that fear and told the most convincing lie she could. "She took a sedative and went to bed." The woman took the phone by Ridge"s bed and unplugged it, chucking it against the wall. She held her gun on the three of them and kept her eyes on Steffy. "Cell phone, please." "What?" Even as she questioned the demand, Steffy complied. "Throw it over here." Steffy tossed the phone over and the woman stomped it, shattering the screen. Then she kicked it against the wall. After that, she pulled a phone out of her pocket and looked at RJ. "What"s the password?" It took a few seconds for him to stammer it out. "Ricardo. R-I-C-A-R-D-O." Steffy snorted until the gun was focused on her. "Shut up. Let me just call your mother and see... Oh? What"s this?" The woman looked up at RJ and smiled. "Ivy is throwing a party? Oh, how perfect. I was gonna have it just be the four of us, RJ. You, me, Taylor, and Ivy, but this is perfect. Everyone can know everything that happened all at once. And I"ll just deal with Taylor later." "You"re Sheila Carter," Steffy guessed, remembering what her mother had told her. "Aren"t you?" "Who?" RJ asked before squeaking when the gun was pointed at him. "So, you do know me." Sheila chuckled and put the phone back into her pocket. "Get up, you two. We"re going to a party. And if you behave you"ll both be just fine. You aren"t my targets. Well, not yet." "What do I have to do with any of this?" RJ asked, slightly terrified. Steffy rolled her eyes. He was such a little pussy bitch. "You"ll learn that shortly, RJ. But I"ll let you know that it"s all Ivy and Taylor"s fault. Bill"s, too, but I have other plans for him." Sheila motioned with her gun for the two to rise. Then she looked back to Ridge. "You really let yourself go, Ridge." "We need to do something. I won"t let this stand. I absolutely refuse." Steffy kicked her father"s desk as she ranted. "It"s bad enough Rick let LM exist, instead of squashing it immediately, but sales are down across the board. Even his precious Layla has declining numbers. We tried with the charity line, but nobody will work with us. "If we"re going to save Forrester Creations, we need to do something and soon. I think I can get Bill on board with a takeover, and we obviously have Thomas in our pocket. All Rick has is Granddad and a history of failure." "And then what, Steffy? Because of RJ, the public hates me and your dad. Layla is pretty much immune from firing because of the bad press we"d get." Caroline made sense and it made Steffy even madder. "I agree getting Rick out is a necessity, but who is going to replace him?" "I will." Steffy crossed her arms and looked at her dad, waiting for an argument. He didn"t offer one. "I"ll be CEO, and Dad can be president. You"re fine with that?" "We don"t exactly have much choice. Forrester is still profitable, but if we don"t make a change and soon, we may end up taking a loss next quarter." Ridge bit the crunchy batter off his corn dog stick, then made sure to suck it completely clean before continuing. "This company hasn"t had a loss in many, many years." "There has to be something we can do to convince Eric to side with us." Caroline rubbed her temples but it was clear to Steffy that Caroline would be as useless in this coup as she was in everything else. "We don"t need Granddad." Steffy smiled, her lips threatening to overtake the rest of her face. "I told you already, I can get Bill on our side. Rick will be gone before you know it." "And how are you going to do that? The only person Uncle Bill hates more than Rick is Ridge." Caroline was lucky she was pretty. Steffy thought the woman might even be dumber than RJ, but he was no longer her concern. She would destroy Rick and Layla the same way she had taken out her little brother. There wasn"t a person alive who could stop her. B&B "Nice place." Aly Forrester stopped petting the fuzzy, stuffed representation of her lord and brother-in-law Cthulu. Her long, strawberry hair hung down over her face as she snarled at the trespasser. Only he would dare to taint the pure holy ground that was her bedroom. "RJ," she hissed between gritted teeth. She clutched Cthulu"s toy self to her chest and glared. Why would he be here? If she still worshiped that false god Yahweh, Aly would have railed against the disgusting and abominable life he led. "What happened to your face? Why are you in the mansion? You are no longer a Forrester." Smiling, RJ traced the outline of a wicked bruise under his left eye. "We"ll get to me, but first I want to talk about you. I know what you did, Aly. What you"ve been doing." He walked into her room, ignoring the death glares Aly was shooting. His impurity could ruin everything! "And what did I do, RJ? What is so important that you are bothering me when you could be at LM?" Aly"s manicured fingernails dug into Cthulu, tearing at his bindings. "You didn"t design that failed charity line, Aly. Yes, it reviewed well, but sales have been terrible. And it was not yours." The lining began popping as Aly pulled at her husband Nyarlathotep"s brother. Her breathing was laboured as she fought the urge to attack this beast for its hubris. "You stole it from me, Aly. You and Steffy. She"ll get what"s coming to her, but today it is all about you." RJ continued to not look at her and walked to Aly"s wall where all of her children hung. His unclean hands began to molest Sh"narta, pulling Aly"s daughter from her place of rest. "But you aren"t just a thief, are you?" With a scream, Aly tore Cthulu in half and leapt from her bed. She tackled RJ to the floor and wretched Sh"narta from his blasphemous grasp. She made to cleave his skull open, but RJ quickly produced a can of pepper spray and blasted it in her face. Her daughter falling to the floor, Aly wiped at her eyes but it only made the burning worse. As she sobbed, she heard the sound of metal dragging against wood, then the thud of a collision. "I didn"t come here to fight you, Aly," RJ said as he hung over her. Aly was choking on her own hair and he pulled it from her mouth, twisting and pulling at her as he did so. "I have an offer to make. Nobody else needs to know what you"re doing. The police are stumped because the victims have been chosen at random. Except it"s not random, is it? It"s chaotic. I"ve been watching the last few weeks. The joys of unemployment." Aly couldn"t answer her cousin. Just breathing hurt as she had also swallowed an unhealthy amount of the spray, her lungs and mouth burning as much as her eyes. "I just ask that I pick your next one, Aly. I don"t need to know why you"re doing it and I don"t really care. You can keep being a madwoman and you can even keep the credit for my designs." RJ grabbed Aly"s hands and dragged them back to Sh"narta. She was sticking out of the floor and Aly pulled her free. Fighting through the pain and blindness, Aly held her daughter to her chest and silently prayed to her dark husband. "The next time you use that, Aly, you"re going to go after Ivy. You"re going to kill that kangaroo cunt for what she did to me. And then our business will be concluded." The slamming of her bedroom door was the only indicator Aly had that RJ was gone. B&B "RJ still isn"t returning my calls." Brooke Logan stood in the doorway of the studio Amber Moore used to share with her rival and partner"s son. "Please tell me that you"ve heard from him." Shaking her head, Amber looked up from her drawing table and frowned. "I don"t have time to talk about RJ, Brooke. I"m designing our whole winter line by myself. So unless you want to pick up a pencil or hire a new designer, kindly see yourself out." "Don"t you care about RJ at all? I thought you two were friends!" "We were friends, Brooke. But then you talked me into suspending him from work and he hasn"t talked to me since. I thought you two were better after the while Eden trying to kill him thing." Amber sat her pencil down because it was obvious Brooke wasn"t going to let it go. "So did I, but then the tape leaked. And I talked to Rick... Ivy is back, Amber. I"m sure you saw it on the blogs, but she"s back at Forrester and Rick refuses to tell me why he hired her." "You do work for the competition," Amber pointed out. "And none of this has anything to do with us. I inherited Julian"s shares of LM, not Ivy. RJ got the building. She has nothing to do with this company whatsoever. She has nothing to do with RJ." Brooke coughed, then shook her head. There was terror in her eyes. "Amber, Rick told me that Ivy has been staying with RJ at the loft. And Katie told me that she had RJ over for dinner last night, I guess Bill found another kid of his, and RJ almost had a fistfight with Bill." "That doesn"t..." Amber looked at her absent partner"s drawing table. "That doesn"t sound like something RJ would do. Brooke, I thought you said he was okay after the fall." "I thought he was." Brooke was shaking, but Amber couldn"t tell if it was fear or fury causing it. "Amber, my little boy was spiraling out of control before the fall, and he"s only getting worse. I don"t know how to stop it. I"m begging you. RJ"s never really had friends, and for him to consider you one means something. Please go to the loft and see how he"s doing. See if that monster Ivy is really living with him. I don"t think I could keep myself from throttling some sense into him." "If it"ll get you out of here, I"ll do it, Brooke. I"ll see RJ first thing after I leave work. But you have to leave me alone. NOW!" B&B Layla sat in her office, trying to figure out what she could do. Steffy, Ridge, and Caroline were plotting her end at Forrester. Their plan was solid, but they were idiots for hashing it out in the Forrester Creations building with an open door. She had heard every word. The problem was that she couldn"t go to Rick with it. Not after the way he had acted after the tape was released. Steffy had been right when she said Rick needed to go. He had completely mismanaged the Ridge and Caroline situation and they were worse than ever with Steffy acting as her father"s attack dog. It took everything Layla had to keep her head above water and if they took over, they"d do everything possible to drive her out of the company. There was another solution, though Layla didn"t know if it would work. There were other Forresters. The forgotten ones. She"d never met them, just heard their names whispered around the building as if they were jokes. If Layla was going to keep her position at the company, she was going to need new allies. She just hoped she could get to them before Steffy or Ridge. As she chewed on the cap of a pen, Layla pulled up the numbers for the employees at Forrester International. She called the one Steffy had mentioned. "Hi, Thomas Forrester?" Layla asked after he had picked up his phone. "We"ve never met, but my name is Layla Williamson. We need to talk. B&B Amber found herself afraid to knock on RJ"s door. Before, when it was just her and him and Julian, she would just barge into his apartment and make herself at home. He never cared. But then Noah came back into their lives and she felt RJ begin to pull away. That was normal, though. When people got into relationships, they stopped depending so much on their friends. And Noah and RJ started hanging out with Liam for some reason, which made Amber persona non grata whenever he was around, so she stuck to just being office buddies with RJ and chatting with Noah whenever he came by the office. It was so gradual a shift, she hadn"t visited in so long, that she didn"t even realize she still had a key to RJ"s apartment on her key ring. She debated whether or not to use it before knocking. "About time you got here," she heard RJ say on the other side of the door. The door flung open and her best friend stood before her wearing nothing more than a jock strap. His face was a mess. "Oh, it"s you. What the hell do you want?" Amber just blinked at RJ. "I want you to put some clothes on so that we can talk." "I"ll get a robe. You have two minutes, because I have company coming over. I doubt he"s a fan of fish." RJ walked over to his closet without inviting Amber in, so she let herself in. The loft looked different, with new furniture and paintings on the wall. "You redecorated." "Constantly. You"d know that if you ever came by." RJ came out of the closet wearing an almost too short robe, and walked to his fridge. He never looked in Amber"s direction. "And thanks for the visit while I was in the hospital. It meant a lot." That shot actually hurt Amber. "I was taking care of L&M. You were gone, and Brooke took time off to see to you despite our entire collection being stolen. I barely had time to sleep. I thought you would understand!" "Whatever." RJ opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. He didn"t offer anything to Amber. "You aren"t 21 yet. How did you get that?" After popping the lid off, RJ threw the cap into his sink and took a drink. After swallowing it, he finally looked at his guest. "You gonna narc?" This wasn"t RJ. The fall must have done something to his head. "I"m not, but your mom is worried about you. She says you won"t answer her calls. You aren"t answering mine, either. Are you okay?" "I was just fine before your worn out slutty old ass showed up on my doorstep. And your two minutes are up. I would say we can talk more at the office, but you two cunts fired me. So how about you just leave." "RJ, you weren"t fired." Amber knew he wouldn"t care. "Whatever you say, Amber. Goodbye." Hope pounded on the door to her brother"s loft and yelled his name. She knew he was home, she could hear him inside, but after her plane touched down he ignored her calls. RJ had never ignored her calls before. "Fine. I"m coming. God, you need to pop a Midol." RJ threw open his door and Hope stared at him. He was wearing a tiny robe that left very little to the imagination. "Hope?" "I had to see you." She pulled her brother into a hug, forcing her way into the loft as she held him. "Are you really okay, RJ? Your face is still a mess. Wasn"t the fall a month ago? It shouldn"t take that long to heal." Pushing his sister away, RJ walked back to his bed where a handsome man lay. He barely covered by a bedspread. The seemed to be staring at Hope. It made her uncomfortable, but her brother didn"t notice because he climbed back into the bed and licked the side of the man"s face.

"It"s the same bar where you and I first met. I thought it would be an appropriate choice for a first date." Lucas took off his coat, then offered to take Brad"s. Shrugging, he handed it over. "Honestly, it was either or Kelly"s. The only other place in town is a Chinese restaurant and, well..." "I"ll have to show you around the Asian Quarter sometime. Those hipsters may be annoying, but since they gentrified the place, the food is a lot better," Brad suggested as they took their seats. Shortly after, a waitress with teased hair and a short skirt took their orders. As she walked away, Brad looked past her to the bartender. "Okay, the hot daddy is working tonight. I"ll forgive you." Brad looked back to Lucas, who was grinning. "What?" "We are not having a threesome with Mac Scorpio. I was friends with his sorta daughter in high school. It"d be weird." Lucas laughed heartily at Brad"s face. "Do I even wanna know what a "sorta daughter" is?" Lucas shook his head. "It"s a long story, but not very interesting. Unlike you." "Are you calling me long or interesting?" Brad was smiling despite himself. Lucas was as charming as he was hot. Why had he waited so long to finally take Lucas up on his many, many offers? "A little of column B, a whole lot of column A." When his date grinned lewdly, Brad snorted. It was obvious that their first date was gonna end up in the same place they always did. "So, you work at GH as a lab tech? What"s that like?" "It used to be great. Now it"s kinda hell. We have a new Chief of Staff who thinks Malaysian sweatshops are ideal working conditions. And my roommate kinda... Well, never mind." Brad scratched the back of his neck and silently cursed himself. Lucas was Carly"s brother, which meant he was Lulu"s cousin. That meant that Ben was an issue. All he had wanted was a quiet evening. "Britt Westbourne, right? She"s your roommate. Trust me when I tell you that she won"t be an issue." Lucas thanked the waitress for the breadsticks she brought them, then looked back to Brad. "Britt isn"t an issue; Felix isn"t an issue; tonight is all about you and me." All Brad could do was stare at Lucas. There was no way he knew Brad and Britt were, well, something like friends and didn"t care. It was impossible. Britt was literally the most despised person in town, and there were mobsters and old men who killed their grandchildren running around. The competition was fierce. When it became wider known that he"d taken her in... "Wait, how did you know Britt was my roommate? I never told you that. I haven"t told anyone that." Again, Brad was back to finding Lucas a bit odd. Even if he was the perfect man on paper, there was something about him that Brad just couldn"t pin down. "I saw her on the camera I installed in your room," Lucas snorted. When he saw that Brad didn"t find it funny, he straightened his shoulders and offered a much less creepy explanation. "You never talked about a roommate until this week, and Lulu told me that her brother Nikolas threw her out. It"s not a difficult line of logic." "Yes, well, okay then. That"s makes sense." Not sure of what else to do, Brad grabbed a breadstick and tore it in half. "They say you shouldn"t eat these things. It"s all empty calories and whatnot. I dunno." "We can always work them off later," Lucas winked. For a moment, Brad almost bought into it. He almost bought that Lucas was flirting with him like it was just a normal date. Then Lucas said something to ruin it all. "Oh! Hey, Michael. Brad, this is my nephew. Michael, this is Brad Cooper." "Oh shit." Brad sank down into his chair and tried to hide his face with half a breadstick. "Lucas?" Michael approached the table, his voice full of disgust. "Uncle Lucas, young man. You show your elders some respect." Lucas didn"t seem to pick up that Brad was attempting and failing to hide. "And say hi to Brad. You"re being rude." "I"m being rude?" Michael yelled at the top of his voice, drawing the attention of everyone in the bar. "Your date tried to blackmail me into having sex with him!" Then Michael fell silent when he realized that everyone had heard him. Brad looked and saw that even Mac Scorpio had stopped wiping out the beer mugs. Brad looked anywhere he could that wasn"t Lucas or Michael. "And you turned him down?" Lucas didn"t sound amused. Brad slowly turned his head to look at Lucas, but saw that his date was staring at his nephew. "Well, all the better for me, then." "Excuse me?" Michael was somewhere between whispering and yelling. He angrily looked at Brad, then turned his eyes back to Lucas. "Did you hear what I said?" "Yeah. Brad tried. And failed. What"s your point?" Lucas sounded irritated, but not not with Brad. Lowering his breadstick, Brad tilted his head and let his mouth hang open. Was Lucas defending him? Even though all they knew about each other were bedroom positions? "My point? My point is that the freak you"re dating wanted to sleep with me, even after I told him I was straight." Lucas laughed at Michael"s outrage. "If I walked away from every guy that told me he was straight... Three beer queers exist, Michael. Now, I really must insist that you calm down or you"ll have to leave." "WHAT?!" "That"s it. Goodbye. I"ll see you when you can learn to behave in public." Lucas flicked his wrist in the air, indicating that Michael should leave. "This isn"t over!" Michael yelled in Brad"s face. Before Brad could reply, Lucas was out of his seat and had his nephew by his shirt. Lucas threw Michael onto their table. The breadsticks went flying and so did Lucas" fist. He"d already punched Michael three times before Brad pulled them apart. "We"re leaving," Brad told the bartender before throwing a fifty dollar bill on the table next to Michael. Then he turned his attention back to Lucas. "Go, now. I"ll be just a second." Lucas looked at Michael, eyes narrowed, and shook his hand. He pecked Brad on the cheek, and stormed out of the bar. "Sorry about that." Brad offered a hand to Michael, but was pushed away. "Don"t talk to me. Don"t look at me. And stay the hell away from my family." Michael thrust a finger in Brad"s face and started to leave, but Mac Scorpio stopped him. "I don"t think it"s a good idea to leave right now. Not while Lucas is outside waiting." Taking the hint, Brad did his best to avoid Michael as he stepped out of the bar. Lucas was standing by a garbage can with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "What the hell was that?" Brad asked as he approached Lucas cautiously. "I was defending your honour." Lucas reached out and caressed Brad"s cheek. "Nobody talks about my man like that." "What?" Lucas grabbed Brad and pulled him closed, their bodies pressed against each other as Lucas kissed him. "God, but I love you." "You what? What? Huh?" Brad was confused by everything that had happened and everything that was happening. Kissing him again, Lucas pressed his hand to the small of Brad"s back and dipped him. "You really aren"t bothered by what your cousin said?" Brad asked when they finally separated. He cast an eye to the bar and saw Michael standing at the window and fuming. "Nephew," Lucas corrected. The hand on Brad"s back slid under his shirt then down the back of his pants. "And I barely know him. I don"t give a fuck about him." "You know him better than you know me," Brad argued as he reached back and removed Lucas" hand from his backside. "Also, no overly PDA in public right after your nephew just outed me as a blackmailer." "Attempted blackmailer," Lucas grinned as he pressed his head to Brad"s and began swaying his body. "You never actually slept with Mikey. Me, on the other hand, you have slept with. Multiple times. And I want you to do it again. More than once." "I have a roommate now," Brad tried pointing out. It was just supposed to be a date: a first date. "I have a room at my mother"s. She"s spending the week with Carly, so we have the place to ourselves. And oh my god I just sounded like a 17-year-old asking his boyfriend to sneak over." "As long as we don"t listen to Sheryl Crow and watch Beverly Hills 90210 after." "Just how old are you?" Lucas inquired as he kissed Brad"s jawline. "Oh, shut the fuck up." Before Lucas had awoken, Brad had dressed and left. It was still dark outside. The homeless people had come out of hiding long enough to sleep by the warm entrances of local businesses. Before long, the owners or managers would show up to open and shoo them away. He stepped around an overturned trash can in front of a coffee shop. When he noticed it was actually open, Brad checked his wallet then stepped inside. "I"ll have a black coffee and a couple of your glazed donuts," Brad told the half-asleep cashier when he approached the counter. She had to ask him to repeat his order, which he did with clenched teeth. It was too early in the morning for him to be dealing with people who didn"t know how to do their jobs. After he received his order, he sat at a small table by the window and watched Port Charles start to wake up. It was five minutes and one refill of coffee before another customer entered the shop. Brad new him, but just barely. He watched the man throw out a complicated drink order, bark at the barista for taking too long, then take his latte and not leave a tip. Brad would have judged him, but he didn"t leave a tip, either. Just as he was walking out the door, the man took notice of Brad and stopped. "Do I know you?" "Highly unlikely. I know who you are, though. Julian Jerome, publishing magnate," Brad nervously raised his styrofoam cup in an awkward toast to the mobster. He already had enough people in positions of power who hated him. There was no need to add another. "Do you work at General Hospital?" Julian watched as Brad nodded. "You were there the other day? In blue scrubs?" "Most people who work there wear scrubs." Brad took a drink of his coffee, running his words over in his head. "Is there something I can help you with? I"m not on the clock, so..." Julian let the door shut and sat down at Brad"s table. Even though he looked uncomfortable, the mobster had nothing on Brad. "You were there with Lucas Jones. You were hugging him." Julian sat his coffee on the table and stared into brad"s eyes. "Yeah, see, about that... His sister was missing. Or she"d already been found and was in the hospital. I"m not sure of the timeline, but he was worried and needed a hug. And I acquiesced." It was an odd line of questioning, and Brad found himself evolving beyond discomfort and straight into fear. "Are you one of the... are you a gay?" Julian coughed and looked away from Brad. Looking at the table, Brad took a drink of his coffee then nodded. "Y-yeah. I"m gay. Why?" "My son is a homosexual, too. And I"m trying to be understanding and stuff, but I don"t know any actual gay people. My sister comes from the art world and knows a whole bunch people like you. I"ve met some before. You know, some gays and even a couple lesbians, but they weren"t my children. And I barely even know my son as it is. There are so many questions I have, and I tried to look stuff up online and it was... unpleasant." "I don"t know what good I"ll be." Brad almost preferred the idea of getting shot in the head to the head of a crime family asking about his sex life. It had gone from scary back to weird so fast he had whiplash. "I mean, not every guy is the same just because he"s gay. And I"m going to assume your son is white, so that"s gonna be different, too." "What does being white have to do with being gay?" Julian Jerome raised his eyebrows in confusion, and for a moment he was disarmed enough for Brad to notice how hot he was. Clearing his throat, Brad took another drink of coffee. If he"d known this conversation was going to happen, he would"ve made it Irish. "Well, white gays tend to be the ones who get on TV and told they"re normal and whatnot. Whereas the rest of us are ignored at best." "I don"t know what that means." "Never mind." Brad shook his head and tried to keep a level voice. "Shouldn"t you be asking your son any questions you have? It"s his life. I"m just a complete stranger." "Except you"re not. Lucas Jones is my son." Julian scratched the back of his neck and looked at Brad, waiting for him to say something. Brad suddenly remembered Lucas talking about having a mobster for a father. He couldn"t remember if Lucas had mentioned just who his father was, but that was suddenly unimportant. What was important was that a white piece of ass had somehow become the centre of his universe. Felix may have been annoying, but at least he wasn"t this... involved. "Oh." Brad looked back to the table. "Are you... You"re just friends, right?" Julian didn"t sound antagonistic. If anything, he was concerned. "With benefits," Brad chuckled before he could stop himself. Then his eyes widened and he looked up at Julian"s unreadable face. "What I meant is that we were friends, but we sorta had our first date. Last night." "Right. Yes. Well, be good to him. Or else." With that vaguely worded threat, Julian excused himself and left the coffee shop. Brad ordered another cup of coffee to go, then left. GH "I finally met Lucas. He"s cute. How your ugly ass I got him I"ll never know." Britt didn"t looked up from her chart, but she made a note on it. "I invited him over tomorrow night for dinner. By the way, you"re cooking." "You what? I can"t cook. I flunked out of Home Economics in high school." Britt looked up at Brad, disgust written across her face. "How the hell do you fail Home Ec? It"s the class you take for filler credits because it"s an easy A." "I kinda threw my fake baby into the oven during class. It wouldn"t stop crying and I was mad. Also, when the hell did you meet Lucas?" "He stopped by the apartment this morning looking for you. You never came home, so I"m assuming you showered here at work and wore your spare scrubs. They"re wrinkly as fuck." She reached over and tugged on the neckline of his shirt. "You"re lucky they let you lab techs wear coats, or Mother would have your head hanging from a pike at the Nurses" Station as a warning to everyone else to be immaculate." "He was at the apartment?" Brad hung his head and sighed. The last few days had been nuts. He would need to reiterate to Lucas just what boundaries were and why they should be respected. Shrugging, Britt reached into the pocket of her own white coat. "Yeah. You left your phone at his place and he wanted to give it back. It was all very sweet and blah blah blah. Why are you getting sexed up by a hot dude when I"m sitting in your place on Friday nights watching old episodes of Scandal on Netflix?" "At least your plans don"t involve teaching a mobster all about being gay." "I thought all it took to be gay was liking a dick up your ass. Have I been wrong all this time?" Britt gasped in fake horror. She reached for the sandwich on Brad"s desk and took a bite out of it. "Thanks again for letting me eat in here. That bitch Elizabeth seems to have turned the while hospital against me. The cafeteria ladies don"t even bother to hide it when they spit in my food. They at least used to have the decency to do it when they thought I wasn"t looking." "Everyone hated you before the Ben stuff came out, though. It"s nothing new. How is that going? With your kid, I mean." "Horribly. My lawyer is supposedly a shark. She goes by the name of Diane Miller, but even she tells me that the case for having me declared unfit is strong. She"s said that she"ll do everything she can, though." For a moment, Britt stopped being snarky and rude. She actually let herself look afraid. "I can"t lose my son." "You won"t," Brad promised, even though he had no way to keep it. GH "Hi." Lucas was waiting outside of Brad"s building, grinning and looking pleased with himself. "Long time no see." "What are you doing here?" Brad stopped dead in tracks, reaching for the keyring in his pocket. "Did you wait around all day for me?" "No way, I"m not some stalker. When I was visiting my sister at GH, I saw your shift posted and thought I"d surprise you. You disappeared on me this morning." Lucas walked up to Brad, and Brad tightened his grip on his keys. "I missed the chance to wake up in your arms." "I had an early shift." Brad stepped back, but Lucas either didn"t notice or didn"t care. "And after last night... After a lot of things, I decided that I can"t see you anymore. In any capacity." Lucas stopped advancing, pain and confusion etched on his face. "What? Why? We work so well together. I thought we had a great time last night. I know I did." He was up against Brad before the other man could blink. Lucas had his mouth pressed against Brad"s, and for a few seconds Brad went with the flow of things. Then his senses returned and he pushed Lucas away. "No. We are not doing this again. You physically attacked your cousin last night." "I was defending you!" "I was guilty of all the charges! Michael has every reason to hate me. And you went nuts on him and he didn"t even threaten me. Not really." Lucas stepped back up to Brad and ran the back of his hand along Brad"s jaw. "Who cares about him? It"s you I love. I told you that last night, and then you took me home and we made love." Shaking his head, Brad smacked away Lucas" hand and produced his keys. He didn"t know if he would end up using them on the lock to his apartment or the man in front of him. "Stop it. You don"t love me. You can"t love me. We haven"t known each other that long. We"ve had one date and a handful of hookups. And we never "made love". Are you twelve or something? We fucked. And you"re crazy. You and your daddy issues need to get the hell away from me and stay gone." "Brad!" Lucas screamed as Brad pushed past him. He reached for Brad"s coat and got a scratch from the key for the lab. He pulled his not bleeding hand close and kept yelling at Brad"s back. "I said I love you! That doesn"t just stop! And Michael won"t be an issue anymore! I promise!" Not even bothering to give Lucas a response, Brad entered his building without once looking back. GH Kiki Jerome was having a bad year. She"d already been married and divorced, left her ex-husband for his brother, she and her mother were on the outs, and she"d just found out that she had a whole branch of her family she"d never met. And the man she"d ruined her entire life for had pretty much just thrown her out of his home. It wasn"t her fault that Michael Corinthos couldn"t look past his hatred of Franco, the former serial killer known as an artist, to see that a brain tumour had made him kill all of those people. After all, she"d heard about Michael"s uncle Jason. Jason (allegedly) killed more people than Franco could ever dream. And both of Michael"s fathers seemed to have made shooting family members into a competition. It seemed hypocritical to her for Michael to make excuses for the violence in his family, but not the violence in hers. She didn"t think it should matter that Franco technically wasn"t related to her. Even though she didn"t yet have a job, she"d managed to secure a small two room apartment, with one of the rooms being a bathroom with a shower. All she had to do was move her stuff out of Michael"s place and into her own. Of course, since she"d alienated everyone in her life to be with Michael, it meant she had to move everything herself. Michael hadn"t returned her calls. She was letting him know that she would be stopping by to pick up some clothes. Of course, she had no luggage to haul it in, so she was hoarding several plastic bags she had stolen from a department store when the cashier wasn"t looking. When she stuck her key in the lock, she"d have to give it back sooner or later, Kiki found the apartment unlocked. "Are you home? Michael?" she called as she opened the door. "I"m just here to get some clothes. I"ll have the rest of my stuff out shortly." She didn"t get an answer. Figuring maybe he"d just forgotten to lock the door, even though it was unlikely, she let herself into the apartment. The overhead light was still on. Kiki called Michael"s name. There was still no answer She opened one of the bags and walked into the bedroom to gather her things. Then she screamed. "Someone was murdered last night." Felix either didn"t see Brad or was ignoring his existence. He just continued to chat with the other nurses. "It"s Port Charles. Someone is always getting murdered," someone else commented far too casually. "Was it someone we know?" "You know Sonny Corinthos? That mob boss guy? It was his son, Michael. I met the guy a few times. He seemed nice enough, albeit wound a little too tightly." Brad stopped what he was doing and listened to what the nurse was saying. "His girlfriend, Kiki Jerome, she found him hanging from the ceiling of his apartment." "That sounds more like a suicide than a murder," Brad noted as he turned around. All of the nurses glared at him, then turned back to each other and ignored him. They also stopped talking. Picking up the feeling that he wasn"t wanted around, Brad threw up his hands and walked away. "I see the I"m not the only one being frozen out by the bitter bitch club." Britt walked up to Brad, grinned broadly at the nurses giving them dirty looks, and threw her hair over her shoulder. She chewed on the end of a pen while waiting for Brad to reply.

"BILL!" Katie yelled at her husband. "This is my nephew. OUR nephew. Of course he"s allowed to talk." "I don"t claim people who use the press to attack my family. He"s lucky I"m letting him in my house." RJ laughed. "Lucky? Please. The last thing I am is lucky. Eden almost killed me and you just stood there. How do you think I feel, having to see your face? I"m only here because Aunt Katie practically begged me to come, Bill." "Then allow me to give you the ability to leave without any guilt." "Nah, since my presence pisses you off so much, I think I"m gonna stay." RJ smiled and Celia wondered what the hell was going on with these people. "Uncle Bill." "Don"t you ever call me that." "You two calm the hell down NOW!" Katie ordered, but they both ignored her. Again, RJ laughed. "How do you feel about being called "Tio"? I think it fits." Bill stood up and threw his chair against the wall. RJ threw his as well, though his didn"t go very far when he threw it. It was Bill"s turn to laugh. "You wanna go? I will beat your old ass down," RJ threatened. "Says the child who got beat up by a girl." Then Katie stood up and slapped Bill. "That"s enough. From the both of you. RJ, gather your things. I"m taking you home. And Bill? When I get back, you and I are having a talk." "I would say this isn"t normal," Liam said as he leaned in and whispered to Celia, "but it kinda is. Anyway, welcome to the family." B&B "You"re still here? The deal was that you would be gone as soon as you got the job." RJ Logan burst into his loft and threw his coat to the floor and kicked his shoes off. "I need to buy new shit. Everything is too fucking tight. And who is this bitch?" Theresa couldn"t believe that it was her first day on the job and she was meeting fashion royalty. She did find it easy to believe that he was a cunt, however. "I"m Theresa Donovan." She blinked as she answered. "Why is it speaking to me, Ivy?" RJ pulled off his shirt and started to undo his pants. This was not how she thought he would act. "If you"re going to bring stray dogs into my home, you had better make sure they"re housebroken." It took all of Theresa"s self-control to not beat the little punk down. "Theresa is my new assistant, RJ. You"d better be nice to her. You"re gonna spend a lot of time together." Ivy nodded at her employee and stood up. "You"ll be happy to know that we found a lovely retirement home for my mother and already moved her in. I"ll need a few more days." "No more days. I"m sick of the smell of Vegemite," RJ growled. "I"m already in a bad mood. You do not want to piss me off any more than I already am." Putting a hand on RJ"s back, Ivy guided her cousin to the kitchenette. "RJ, we"re family." Then she grabbed the back of RJ"s neck and slammed his head into the counter. He collapsed and she delivered a painful looking series of kicks to his ribs. From her perch, Theresa cheered. Ivy shot her a smile over her shoulder before turning her attention back to RJ. "You forget yourself, you diminutive faggot. We are not partners. You work for me. No, I own you. If I want something done, you"re gonna do it. Is that clear?" "Y-yes." The gasping noises RJ made had Theresa smiling. "Good boy." Ivy dealt another kick for emphasis, this time to RJ"s face. And as he laying on his floor, writhing in pain and blood pouring from his nose, Ivy took back her seat next to Theresa. The woman"s assistant pulled her tablet out of sleep mode. "I"ve found a few condos in your price range, but there"s also a mansion that just hit the market. It"s costs six million, but is secluded, even by LA standards. I guess some Scientologist used to live there before he got excommunicated and stopped getting acting gigs." B&B Hope Logan ran around her Venice villa, throwing things into her luggage. She couldn"t stay in Los Angeles, not for long, but she needed to go back. Too many things had happened for her to stay away. RJ had nearly died and someone leaked a sex tape of his. Wyatt, her ex-husband, he and Quinn had been attacked and out in a coma: nobody seemed to know why. Ridge and Caroline were outed as racists and Maya was outed as trans. She didn"t know what she could do for any of them, but Hope needed to do something. It was time to go home. B&B "Hurry it up, Kevin. We need to be on our plane in an hour. We bugged Fascinella"s office, so we need out of Mexico as soon as possible." Noah sat on the phone and watched as Maya nervously watched the door. They were supposed to fly to Genoa City and meet Kevin there. He was to explain everything in person, not over the phone. It was too insecure. "Noah, you guys can"t take the plane. Fascinella"s people found the bug before I could get all the info. The Mexican government, lucky for you, is as unsecured as it is corrupt. They flagged your tickets. You and Maya are on a no fly list. If you"re gonna get out of Mexico, you need to sneak out." After getting Maya"s attention and waving her over, Noah put the phone on speaker. "Are you saying we need to cross the border hiding in the back of someone"s truck? Kevin, we have almost no cash. I used my debit card to pay for this trip." "You two are idiots," Kevin told them. "Excuse you!" Maya took the phone from Noah. "We"ll worry about getting out of Mexico without being caught, but what did you find, Kevin? Did you get anything at all?" It took a few seconds for Kevin to answer her. "Yeah, I did. Just a list of patient transfers from some place in New York called Crichton-Clark. Noah, man, Courtney was on that list like you thought. She"s out there somewhere." Maya looked at Noah but said nothing. They"d agreed to not tell Kevin about their suspicions about who Eden really was. "Do you have anything else about Courtney?" Maya asked. Noah couldn"t breathe. He wanted to be proven wrong. He didn"t want it to have been Courtney, the woman he was going to marry, who was responsible for almost killing RJ. "There was another name on that list. I"ve never met her, but I"m pretty sure the two of you have. She transferred to Fascinella the same week as Courtney." "Who was she, Kevin? Because Noah and I don"t have that many people in common." There was silence on the other end of the line for just enough time to make Noah want to vomit. He squatted down on the filthy floor of their motel room. He had rented a nice place in Mexico City, but Maya insisted he draw out some cash and they crash in this hovel in one of the nearby villages immediately after the visit to Fascinella. That had probably been a good idea. It was probably why they were still alive. Noah hugged his knees and waited for Kevin"s answer. "I"m sure you"ve heard that Ivy Forrester is back at Forrester Creations." Maya and Noah looked at each other. He was confused, but there was dread in her eyes. "No, we hadn"t. She"s supposed to be dead, and is wanted for murder," Maya responded, her voice shaking as much as her hand. "Kevin, was Ivy the other person? This can"t be a coincidence if it was her." "All I know is that her name is on the transfer list." After hanging up the call without saying goodbye, Maya threw the phone against the wall. "Noah, we need to leave. Now." "Where are we going?" She offered him a hand and pulled the man to his feet. "Anywhere but here. Fascinella is dangerous, but values discretion. I don"t know if you ever actually met Ivy, but I have. Noah, the woman blew up a hotel and killed a whole lot of people, including a little girl, while trying to takeover a mob town. It was all over the newspapers." "Why would Forrester take her back? And how is she connected to Courtney?" Noah never had met much of RJ"s family on the Forrester side. Just Ridge and... and Steffy. "First, we need to get out of here, Noah. And we can"t bring our phones. GPS tracking and all that jazz. You can really learn a lot from the paranoid inmates at prison. And, once we"re back in the US, we"ll figure out what to do. After all, we only have two real leads." "And what are those?" Noah looked into Maya"s eyes. He so grateful she was helping him. He wouldn"t have been able to even get this far by himself. She was still holding his hand. "Noah, when we get back to America, we can either question Ivy or we can look into this Crichton-Clark place. But, for now, we need to leave." "RJ... No, Nicky. He never changed where RJ hid the spare key." Noah gave what he probably thought was a smile, but all Hope saw was a pained grimace. The man turned the key and opened the door. "What are you doing here?" Hope recognized the voice from the clinic. Before she could do anything, Noah had charged into the loft. There was a sound of something breaking that made her run in after him. "You fucker!" Noah yelled as he punched Ricky Williams in the face. His attack was so brutal that Hope flinched. Lamps and vases and small statues fell from tables as the two men grappled with each other. Back in New York, at the clinic, Noah and the man had also fought but it had been brief. Eden had interfered and ended things: Hope was too scared to step in and break things up. She was terrified that Noah was going to murder the man. A bit of plaster hit the floor when Noah slammed Ricky"s head into the wall. Then he grabbed Ricky"s hair and repeated the action three times before jamming a knee into the other man"s kidney and throwing him to the floor. "Piece of shit." Noah spat on Ricky and kicked him in the ribs. It felt off. Hope knew what Eden had told her. Ricky was supposed to be terrifying, a complete monster, but Noah was roughing him up with too much ease. None of that chilled her fear as he watched her friend brutalize him. "I should just put you down." Noah kicked Ricky again and then sat on his chest. He began punching Ricky in the face, but when Noah reached for the jagged pottery she found the nerve to step in and finally put a stop to it. "What the fuck are you doing in my loft?" Before Hope could do anything, her brother stormed past her and stared at Noah. He saw the makeshift weapon in Noah"s hand and her saw his battered husband. Nobody expected for him to kick Noah in the face. "GET OFF OF HIM!" he yelled as he made to kick Noah again. Except Noah caught his foot and pushed back, throwing his ex off balance and to the floor. It was then that Ricky sat up and stared at Noah. Hope could only catch a glimpse of his eyes, but it finally led her to scream. "You don"t get to touch my husband." Ricky grabbed Noah by the throat and threw him off with a shocking ease. As she watched her brother help Ricky to his feet, Hope wondered where her voice had gone. She seemed unable to speak. Nobody was paying attention to her anyway. "Get your hands off him!" Noah ordered as he climbed to his feet and pointed at Ricky. The man responded by pulling his husband close, so that his back was against Ricky"s chest. Ricky half-leaned on him and Hope saw her brother visibly soften at the man"s touch. He grabbed Ricky"s left hand and held it to his chest so that the wedding band was visible for all to see. "Get out of here, Noah. You don"t get to barge into my home and attack my husband." "Shut up, Nicky! This isn"t about you." Noah didn"t even look at him. His eyes were fixed solely on Ricky. "You don"t know what this bastard did." "Don"t talk to him like that!" Ricky balled the hand on his husband"s chest until it was a fist clenching the front of the shirt. "You don"t get to talk! You"re a psycho who is manipulating and abusing a creation of someone with a serious mental illness." "That"s not Nicky." Everyone stared at Hope, but nobody was more shocked to hear the words than the woman who spoke them. She stood next to Noah and put a calming hand on his shoulder, but looked into her brother"s eyes. There was no denying it. "You"re RJ." "You figured it out," he sneered. He was hard, but hot: Hope sensed no coldness from him. Unlike Nicky, RJ still cared. He was just lost. "You can"t be RJ." Noah"s voice was broken. She felt the muscles under her hand go from tense to slack. "He wouldn"t do this." "Do what?" Ricky asked, wrapping his other arm around RJ"s waist. Hope"s brother melted into the embrace, closing his eyes for a few seconds and smiling. "He wouldn"t marry a sociopath!" Noah yelled, though there was no fire to it. There was pain just beneath the surface that even Hope"s cousin Marcus could detect. Maybe. "You mean I wouldn"t move on from you." RJ reached an arm up and snaked it back around Ricky"s neck. He kept smiling at he opened his eyes. Hate burned at their edges. "I"m supposed to spend another three years waiting on you, right? I"m just a warm hole you can stick your dick in whenever your woman of the month decides she doesn"t want you anymore. Fuck off." "You know that"s not..." Hope started, but she couldn"t find the words to finish her thought. Her hand slipped from Noah"s shoulder and fell limply to her side. "What are you two even doing here? Because I already had a chat with Taylor and that bitch won"t be locking me up like you were planning." "What?" Noah stepped away from Hope and stared at her. "Little Miss Perfect here? She conspired with the woman who outed us. The entire Logan family wanted to lock me up. It"s why I"m a Braña now." For emphasis, RJ showed off his wedding ring. "We both are." Noah looked away from Hope and back to RJ. "They still should. God knows marrying this freak is evidence enough that you"re insane, with or without the multiple personalities." "Can we not-" Hope started before RJ interrupted. "That"s not happening. My husband here has my power of attorney. I"m not going anywhere. Right, Honey?" Ricky kissed RJ"s neck, leaving behind a spot of blood from his busted open lip. "That"s right, Babe. You"re gonna stay here with me." "The marriage won"t stand up in court. Brooke will have it annulled. RJ will get the professional help he needs, and you"ll go to prison where you belong." "Good luck trying to beat Ivy"s lawyers. She blew up a hotel and they got her off," RJ bragged. He turned around and pulled Ricky down for a full kiss, but both had their eyes open and they both watched Noah. "What does Ivy have on you?" Hope stepped in front of Noah in an attempt to keep him from attacking Ricky again. It seemed to work, even if just momentarily. "Nicky I get, but why are you still working with that woman, RJ? She"s evil!" RJ finally broke away from his husband, and when he focused on Hope she noticed that the softness he got from Ricky had disappeared. "Ivy is a lot of things. A murderer, a terrorist, a pain in the ass, but what she isn"t is fake. She"s a bitch and she knows it. "And if Ivy ever conspired with the woman who made it her mission in life to ruin mine, she would own it. She wouldn"t try to act like going to Taylor Hayes was anything other than a deliberate slap in the face. "I came back to LA wanting to make amends for what Nicky did. But you wanna know something? He was a trash bag, but he was a better person than all of you. He didn"t do anything you assholes didn"t deserve." That made Hope mad. "Are you saying I deserved to be drugged and strapped to a bed for a month in some clinic in New York? Did you really just say that?" For a moment, there was doubt in RJ"s eyes. Then Ricky stroked his back and RJ blinked. When his eyes reopened the doubt was gone. "Hell yes, you deserved it. Because you never came to see me after I almost died. My boyfriend left me, because this asshole"s grandfather" RJ pointed at Noah "had him kidnapped. My sex tape was leaked. And I didn"t hear a word from you. At least Steffy has the decency to be a cunt to my face. You"re just a coward." It was Noah"s turn to put a hand on Hope"s shoulder. She noticed it was shaking. "That"s enough." "No, Noah, it"s the truth. You"re a stupid whore content to spend your life doing nothing but being a mediocre lay for people who actually have jobs, and my sister here is a frigid bitch with a Christ complex." "And you married a murderer," Noah shit back. There was a change in RJ. He stepped away from all three of them and stared at Ricky. It was hard to tell if he was afraid. "What?" Ricky didn"t react. "Yeah. He told me and Hope all about it. Maya and Eden, too. After Courtney and you went out the window, she survived. At first. Then your new husband killed her on Victor"s orders." "Oh. Is that all? I thought it would be something I cared about." RJ bounded back to Ricky"s side and threw his arms around the man. "What?" Noah sounded incredulous, and Hope was more than a little disturbed herself. RJ squeezed Ricky, who ran a hand through RJ"s hair. "Even if what you"re telling me is true, Courtney is the bitch who impersonated Eden. Right? She tried to kill me. So, as far as I"m concerned, that"s even more reason to love him." Noah"s legs stopped working and he collapsed to a sitting position. Not knowing what else to do, Hope squatted down next to him. She stared at her brother. This was definitely RJ, but he had changed. He was no longer her sweet but slightly spoiled brother. He was just like Steffy. "You can"t." Noah argued weakly. His voice was low and Hope barely heard him. "What? I"m sorry. We didn"t hear you." Ricky chuckled and leaned in their direction, dipping RJ as if they were dancing. "Could you repeat that for us?" "Please stop." Hope knew she was begging, but she didn"t care. "RJ, please, come to your senses. I know I missed a lot, but whatever happened to you can"t have been enough to make you this bitter. You used to be so loving." "Get fired from the company you co-founded and have someone sue you for rape on the same day, Hope. Find out that your entire family wants you locked away. Then talk to me about why someone would change." RJ gave an indication that Ricky should raise him up, and as soon as they were standing RJ jumped up and wrapped his legs around Ricky"s torso. There was a grunt, probably because Ricky was still sore from Noah"s attack, but he didn"t drop RJ. They kissed and both Hope and Noah felt compelled to look away. "I don"t know why you two came here, and at this point I don"t care," RJ said after he finished making out with his husband. "But it"s time for you to go. Because we are newlyweds and that means we have needs. And one thing I don"t need is a live audience. But if you"re really curious, look me up on XTube. They"re still hosting both of my videos." "I can"t believe I ever loved you." Noah found the strength to stand. He pulled Hope up with him. "You"re just a selfish little bitch. You"re just like Victor." "Guilt trips won"t work on me, Noah. Because unlike Victor, I don"t give a fuck about you anymore. What happened back in Genoa City? Forget it. I have someone else in my life now, and he isn"t using me to replace a vagina." "Fish is overrated, anyway," Ricky added, grabbing at RJ"s ass as he continued to hold him. Having enough of everything, Hope grabbed Noah"s wrist and pulled him out of the loft. RJ hopped down off Ricky and followed them to the door. "You can keep the key. Consider it a reminder of everything you lost, because I"m getting the locks changed. But first, I"m gonna go make love to my husband." RJ slammed the door in their faces. Neither Hope nor Noah knew what else to say. They left. "You do realize I"m white, right? I don"t tan like you. I burn." RJ slathered on more sunscreen and tried to stay under the protective cover of his umbrella. "Why are we at the beach, anyway? There"s a private pool back home. I don"t have that expensive lease for nothing." "Because if we want people to think this marriage is real, we need to be seen doing stuff like this," Ricky answered. He took the bottle of sunscreen from his husband and squirted some into his hands. "I"ll get your back." RJ almost declined, but the moment Ricky"s fingers touched his skin he acquiesced with a low moan. The paparazzi and the hipsters could snap all the pics they wanted. It would be good for the two men to be all over the tabloids and Instagram: it would help legitimize their marriage in the eyes of the naysayers. And that was important because it was the only thing keeping RJ out of the loony bin and Ricky out of prison. Pissing off RJ"s entire family was just icing on the cake. "All done," Ricky whispered. His breath tickled RJ"s ear and the kiss planted on his neck did more to make him melt than the sun overhead. As he watched his husband stand and run to the water, RJ did his best to ignore his phone vibrating in the pocket of his swimming trunks. He may have grown up in a Parisian boarding school, but RJ was never comfortable enough to wear a speedo: he was glad Ricky didn"t have those same body issues. "Are you RJ Logan?" A kid, a young man of maybe 16, sat beside him. "I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday! Your outfits are amazing." "What?" RJ blinked at the kid. "Oh, I"m sorry. I thought you were him. You guys look a lot alike." Not even bothering to excuse himself, RJ climbed to his feet and walked away from his fan. He fished his phone out of his pocket and checked the date. It was official: he was 21. RJ slipped the phone back into his pocket and watched his husband. Noticing his audience, Ricky left the water and approached RJ. Even with the bruises that Noah had left, the man was beautiful. There would probably be questions from the press as to why Ricky and RJ were both in such bad shape, probably speculative headlines of the newlyweds abusing each other, but Ivy would take care of it.

"That woman scares me." Throwing her hair back, Britt looked at the time on her cell phone. "Imagine how I felt growing up with her. But that is going to be nothing compared to what I"m gonna do if the rude as fuck wait staff at this dump doesn"t come out soon!" She screamed the last words for emphasis. "I"m coming!" A man yelled in return as he burst out of the back. Then he froze when he saw Brad. "Get the hell out of my restaurant." "Oh, hi, Mikey," Brad leered before he could stop himself. "Listen, we just want some food." "I"m not going to serve anyone who tries to blackmail me into sex!" Michael Corinthos screamed at Brad as he thrust a finger in his direction. Then Britt started laughing raucously. "A skinny white boy? Seriously, Brad? If you"re gonna go that route, you could at least blackmail someone a little more attractive. And you, Mikey or whatever, stop screaming. It"s unprofessional. Now take your constipated ass over to the hostess table and get some damn menus so I can eat your shitty food before going home. I"ve had a rough few days and I"m not in the mood for any shit." "I was being polite before," Michael shouted at Britt, before turning back to Brad. "Get the hell out of my restaurant before I call the cops." "But your father is a mobster. Do you really want the cops involved?" Brad countered with a raised hand. "I mean, I didn"t even know you worked here." "My dad owns this place. It"s a legitimate business. Now leave." Standing, Britt slung her purse over her shoulder. Brad followed her lead, sans purse. "You know," Britt sneered at Michael, "if this is a legitimate business, then I"m the fucking Virgin Mary. Come on, Brad. I"m not in the mood for trade today." "What"s trade?" Brad asked as he looked Michael over. "You are a terrible gay," Britt informed Brad before she stormed out of the restaurant. "I am so leaving you a negative review on Yelp," Brad warned Michael before following Britt out the door. "You can"t move in with me. I mean, you"re a doctor. Surely you can afford your own place." Brad stared at Britt as she dragged her bags into his apartment. "I mean, this is a studio. You aren"t on the lease and there"s only one bed!" "And when you steal an embryo from the son of a mob boss, it reduces your chances of finding a place to stay. Nik threw me out, and I can"t even get a room at the Metrocourt because the owners are Dante"s mother and Lulu"s cousin! Or something. Not to mention my son is in foster care until the courts determine who gets custody. Foster care. Ugh. Some strangers are collecting a check and my son is probably in a planter or something." "Well, if you"re going to force your way into my home, at least you aren"t bringing a kid with you. I hate kids." Brad didn"t offer to help Britt. Britt threw her stuff onto Brad"s floor then looked at his bed. "Is this thing clean, or is it covered in crusty reminders of one night stands long gone?" "It"s clean." Brad slammed his door and Britt threw herself onto his bed. He really didn"t know why Britt came to him for help. It wasn"t like she"d actually done anything to help him. Sure, she got him a promotion, but he"d done a hell of a lot more for her than she had for him. "You still haven"t told me why I should let you stay here." Sitting up, Britt ran one hand through her hair and picked crud from the corners of her eyes with the other. She tilted her head as if in thought. Then she fell back onto the bed and looked at the ceiling. Brad heard her sigh before she spoke. "Listen, Brad, neither one of us has any actual friends here. It"s not your fault I"m a callous and vindictive bitch, and it"s not my fault that you"re a skeevy and lecherous douche. But right now we"re all we have." She rolled onto her side and looked at him. "Felix is probably back to living full time in Sabrina"s chola snatch, and Nik was the only person who actually liked me. Face it, we started from the bottom and we stayed there." "Please, do not ever reference a Drake song when talking about my life. I am neither a light skinned black man nor a white woman." Brad leaned back against the door and ignored the buzzing in his pocket. If it was important, whoever it was calling would leave a voice mail. "Fine, you can stay. But you"re sleeping on the sofa. And whenever I have guys over you need to make yourself scarce. And it"s only until you can find someplace else to live. I"m sure your mutter would let you stay with her or something." Insulted, Britt chucked a pillow at Brad. "I would sooner be homeless before I"d voluntarily live with my mother again!" "Keep throwing stuff at me, and that can be arranged." GH "Why do you keep calling me?" Brad was annoyed. "I thought we agreed that there would be no more calls, no more texts, no more following me around town like a white girl looking for a GBF." "We also agreed on no more one night stands, but then you called me." Lucas almost had a point, but Brad didn"t want to give him any credit. "And your other guy, Felix? He asked me out. You wanna talk about awkward? That"s what I was calling to tell you." "Felix asked you out?" Brad looked at the door to his bathroom, where Britt was singing a very off key version of Dog and Butterfly while taking a shower. He remembered Felix seeing a picture of Lucas on his phone, but for him to actually ask Lucas out was weird. Almost as weird as Lucas. There was chuckling on the other end of the line. "Yeah. Why wouldn"t he? I""m a catch. Handsome, well off, interesting personality..." "Humble," Brad interjected with a laugh. "So, are you gonna go out with him?" "Only if you won"t go with me." Lucas was smooth. Brad couldn"t deny that. And there weren"t that many other men beating down his down, even if Lucas was using a chainsaw to do it. "Fine, you win. One date. One actual date, on the town and everything. I"ll let you make the plans." Even though he was apprehensive about it, Brad was also relieved. He wished he could have worked things out with Felix, but it was obviously time to let go of that dream. Maybe Lucas would be good for him. "Great! My cousin Michael is the manager of this really nice Italian restaurant and..." "...and I hate Italian. Sorry." Brad rubbed the back of his neck as he lied, glaring at his bathroom door as though he could somehow blame his new roommate for what happened earlier that week. Michael was Lucas" cousin, which meant that sooner or later he"d have to deal with it. He happily opted for later. "Just text me the when and the where." "Okay?" Lucas sounded unsure. "Is there something wrong? You just totally changed." "Roommate problems." Brad sighed and rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand. "I"ll explain it later. Bye." He didn"t even wait for Lucas to reply before hanging up. Britt came out of the bathroom shortly after, drying her hair with a towel. "Is that my robe?" he whined when he saw the familiar terrycloth article she was wearing. "Oh, shut up. I have my bra and panties on underneath it so I don"t get my nasty girl cooties all over it," she snarked in reply. Britt pulled a brush out of the pocket of the robe and sat on the edge of his bed. "Who was that on the phone?" "Do you care?" Britt grinned. "It was that Lucas guy, wasn"t it? Sooner or later I"m gonna meet him." "I"ll tell him you call you "The Britch"." Brad laughed from his computer chair. "But yeah, it was Lucas. Since things are pretty much done with Felix thanks you, too, I"m going on a date." "Good. At least one of us has something resembling a personal life. And Felix wasn"t my fault. You impregnated me willingly, you little cunt." Britt ran the brush through her wet hair and sighed. "I hate that you don"t have a hair dryer. You are such a useless gay." "That"s offensive," Brad pointed out as he waved his finger in her face. Rolling her eyes, Britt laughed again. "I"m offensive? Last night, you told me that my queefs sound like a Katy Perry song. And you tried to blackmail a sexually confused twink into sleeping with you. I"m a fucking angel in comparison." GH As much as he wanted to pretend otherwise, Brad was not impressed with the choice in dining locales that Lucas had made. "It"s a bar. A straight bar." "It"s the same bar where you and I first met. I thought it would be an appropriate choice for a first date." Lucas took off his coat, then offered to take Brad"s. Shrugging, he handed it over. "Honestly, it was either or Kelly"s. The only other place in town is a Chinese restaurant and, well..." "I"ll have to show you around the Asian Quarter sometime. Those hipsters may be annoying, but since they gentrified the place, the food is a lot better," Brad suggested as they took their seats. Shortly after, a waitress with teased hair and a short skirt took their orders. As she walked away, Brad looked past her to the bartender. "Okay, the hot daddy is working tonight. I"ll forgive you." Brad looked back to Lucas, who was grinning. "What?" "We are not having a threesome with Mac Scorpio. I was friends with his sorta daughter in high school. It"d be weird." Lucas laughed heartily at Brad"s face. "Do I even wanna know what a "sorta daughter" is?" Lucas shook his head. "It"s a long story, but not very interesting. Unlike you." "Are you calling me long or interesting?" Brad was smiling despite himself. Lucas was as charming as he was hot. Why had he waited so long to finally take Lucas up on his many, many offers? "A little of column B, a whole lot of column A." When his date grinned lewdly, Brad snorted. It was obvious that their first date was gonna end up in the same place they always did. "So, you work at GH as a lab tech? What"s that like?" "It used to be great. Now it"s kinda hell. We have a new Chief of Staff who thinks Malaysian sweatshops are ideal working conditions. And my roommate kinda... Well, never mind." Brad scratched the back of his neck and silently cursed himself. Lucas was Carly"s brother, which meant he was Lulu"s cousin. That meant that Ben was an issue. All he had wanted was a quiet evening. "Britt Westbourne, right? She"s your roommate. Trust me when I tell you that she won"t be an issue." Lucas thanked the waitress for the breadsticks she brought them, then looked back to Brad. "Britt isn"t an issue; Felix isn"t an issue; tonight is all about you and me." All Brad could do was stare at Lucas. There was no way he knew Brad and Britt were, well, something like friends and didn"t care. It was impossible. Britt was literally the most despised person in town, and there were mobsters and old men who killed their grandchildren running around. The competition was fierce. When it became wider known that he"d taken her in... "Wait, how did you know Britt was my roommate? I never told you that. I haven"t told anyone that." Again, Brad was back to finding Lucas a bit odd. Even if he was the perfect man on paper, there was something about him that Brad just couldn"t pin down. "I saw her on the camera I installed in your room," Lucas snorted. When he saw that Brad didn"t find it funny, he straightened his shoulders and offered a much less creepy explanation. "You never talked about a roommate until this week, and Lulu told me that her brother Nikolas threw her out. It"s not a difficult line of logic." "Yes, well, okay then. That"s makes sense." Not sure of what else to do, Brad grabbed a breadstick and tore it in half. "They say you shouldn"t eat these things. It"s all empty calories and whatnot. I dunno." "We can always work them off later," Lucas winked. For a moment, Brad almost bought into it. He almost bought that Lucas was flirting with him like it was just a normal date. Then Lucas said something to ruin it all. "Oh! Hey, Michael. Brad, this is my nephew. Michael, this is Brad Cooper." "Oh shit." Brad sank down into his chair and tried to hide his face with half a breadstick. "Lucas?" Michael approached the table, his voice full of disgust. "Uncle Lucas, young man. You show your elders some respect." Lucas didn"t seem to pick up that Brad was attempting and failing to hide. "And say hi to Brad. You"re being rude." "I"m being rude?" Michael yelled at the top of his voice, drawing the attention of everyone in the bar. "Your date tried to blackmail me into having sex with him!" Then Michael fell silent when he realized that everyone had heard him. Brad looked and saw that even Mac Scorpio had stopped wiping out the beer mugs. Brad looked anywhere he could that wasn"t Lucas or Michael. "And you turned him down?" Lucas didn"t sound amused. Brad slowly turned his head to look at Lucas, but saw that his date was staring at his nephew. "Well, all the better for me, then." "Excuse me?" Michael was somewhere between whispering and yelling. He angrily looked at Brad, then turned his eyes back to Lucas. "Did you hear what I said?" "Yeah. Brad tried. And failed. What"s your point?" Lucas sounded irritated, but not not with Brad. Lowering his breadstick, Brad tilted his head and let his mouth hang open. Was Lucas defending him? Even though all they knew about each other were bedroom positions? "My point? My point is that the freak you"re dating wanted to sleep with me, even after I told him I was straight." Lucas laughed at Michael"s outrage. "If I walked away from every guy that told me he was straight... Three beer queers exist, Michael. Now, I really must insist that you calm down or you"ll have to leave." "WHAT?!" "That"s it. Goodbye. I"ll see you when you can learn to behave in public." Lucas flicked his wrist in the air, indicating that Michael should leave. "This isn"t over!" Michael yelled in Brad"s face. Before Brad could reply, Lucas was out of his seat and had his nephew by his shirt. Lucas threw Michael onto their table. The breadsticks went flying and so did Lucas" fist. He"d already punched Michael three times before Brad pulled them apart. "We"re leaving," Brad told the bartender before throwing a fifty dollar bill on the table next to Michael. Then he turned his attention back to Lucas. "Go, now. I"ll be just a second." Lucas looked at Michael, eyes narrowed, and shook his hand. He pecked Brad on the cheek, and stormed out of the bar. "Sorry about that." Brad offered a hand to Michael, but was pushed away. "Don"t talk to me. Don"t look at me. And stay the hell away from my family." Michael thrust a finger in Brad"s face and started to leave, but Mac Scorpio stopped him. "I don"t think it"s a good idea to leave right now. Not while Lucas is outside waiting." Taking the hint, Brad did his best to avoid Michael as he stepped out of the bar. Lucas was standing by a garbage can with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "What the hell was that?" Brad asked as he approached Lucas cautiously. "I was defending your honour." Lucas reached out and caressed Brad"s cheek. "Nobody talks about my man like that." "What?" Lucas grabbed Brad and pulled him closed, their bodies pressed against each other as Lucas kissed him. "God, but I love you." "You what? What? Huh?" Brad was confused by everything that had happened and everything that was happening. Kissing him again, Lucas pressed his hand to the small of Brad"s back and dipped him. "You really aren"t bothered by what your cousin said?" Brad asked when they finally separated. He cast an eye to the bar and saw Michael standing at the window and fuming. "Nephew," Lucas corrected. The hand on Brad"s back slid under his shirt then down the back of his pants. "And I barely know him. I don"t give a fuck about him." "You know him better than you know me," Brad argued as he reached back and removed Lucas" hand from his backside. "Also, no overly PDA in public right after your nephew just outed me as a blackmailer." "Attempted blackmailer," Lucas grinned as he pressed his head to Brad"s and began swaying his body. "You never actually slept with Mikey. Me, on the other hand, you have slept with. Multiple times. And I want you to do it again. More than once." "I have a roommate now," Brad tried pointing out. It was just supposed to be a date: a first date. "I have a room at my mother"s. She"s spending the week with Carly, so we have the place to ourselves. And oh my god I just sounded like a 17-year-old asking his boyfriend to sneak over." "As long as we don"t listen to Sheryl Crow and watch Beverly Hills 90210 after." "Just how old are you?" Lucas inquired as he kissed Brad"s jawline. "Oh, shut the fuck up." Before Lucas had awoken, Brad had dressed and left. It was still dark outside. The homeless people had come out of hiding long enough to sleep by the warm entrances of local businesses. Before long, the owners or managers would show up to open and shoo them away. He stepped around an overturned trash can in front of a coffee shop. When he noticed it was actually open, Brad checked his wallet then stepped inside. "I"ll have a black coffee and a couple of your glazed donuts," Brad told the half-asleep cashier when he approached the counter. She had to ask him to repeat his order, which he did with clenched teeth. It was too early in the morning for him to be dealing with people who didn"t know how to do their jobs. After he received his order, he sat at a small table by the window and watched Port Charles start to wake up. It was five minutes and one refill of coffee before another customer entered the shop. Brad new him, but just barely. He watched the man throw out a complicated drink order, bark at the barista for taking too long, then take his latte and not leave a tip. Brad would have judged him, but he didn"t leave a tip, either. Just as he was walking out the door, the man took notice of Brad and stopped. "Do I know you?" "Highly unlikely. I know who you are, though. Julian Jerome, publishing magnate," Brad nervously raised his styrofoam cup in an awkward toast to the mobster. He already had enough people in positions of power who hated him. There was no need to add another. "Do you work at General Hospital?" Julian watched as Brad nodded. "You were there the other day? In blue scrubs?" "Most people who work there wear scrubs." Brad took a drink of his coffee, running his words over in his head. "Is there something I can help you with? I"m not on the clock, so..." Julian let the door shut and sat down at Brad"s table. Even though he looked uncomfortable, the mobster had nothing on Brad. "You were there with Lucas Jones. You were hugging him." Julian sat his coffee on the table and stared into brad"s eyes. "Yeah, see, about that... His sister was missing. Or she"d already been found and was in the hospital. I"m not sure of the timeline, but he was worried and needed a hug. And I acquiesced." It was an odd line of questioning, and Brad found himself evolving beyond discomfort and straight into fear. "Are you one of the... are you a gay?" Julian coughed and looked away from Brad. Looking at the table, Brad took a drink of his coffee then nodded. "Y-yeah. I"m gay. Why?" "My son is a homosexual, too. And I"m trying to be understanding and stuff, but I don"t know any actual gay people. My sister comes from the art world and knows a whole bunch people like you. I"ve met some before. You know, some gays and even a couple lesbians, but they weren"t my children. And I barely even know my son as it is. There are so many questions I have, and I tried to look stuff up online and it was... unpleasant." "I don"t know what good I"ll be." Brad almost preferred the idea of getting shot in the head to the head of a crime family asking about his sex life. It had gone from scary back to weird so fast he had whiplash. "I mean, not every guy is the same just because he"s gay. And I"m going to assume your son is white, so that"s gonna be different, too." "What does being white have to do with being gay?" Julian Jerome raised his eyebrows in confusion, and for a moment he was disarmed enough for Brad to notice how hot he was. Clearing his throat, Brad took another drink of coffee. If he"d known this conversation was going to happen, he would"ve made it Irish. "Well, white gays tend to be the ones who get on TV and told they"re normal and whatnot. Whereas the rest of us are ignored at best." "I don"t know what that means." "Never mind." Brad shook his head and tried to keep a level voice. "Shouldn"t you be asking your son any questions you have? It"s his life. I"m just a complete stranger." "Except you"re not. Lucas Jones is my son." Julian scratched the back of his neck and looked at Brad, waiting for him to say something. Brad suddenly remembered Lucas talking about having a mobster for a father. He couldn"t remember if Lucas had mentioned just who his father was, but that was suddenly unimportant. What was important was that a white piece of ass had somehow become the centre of his universe. Felix may have been annoying, but at least he wasn"t this... involved. "Oh." Brad looked back to the table. "Are you... You"re just friends, right?" Julian didn"t sound antagonistic. If anything, he was concerned. "With benefits," Brad chuckled before he could stop himself. Then his eyes widened and he looked up at Julian"s unreadable face. "What I meant is that we were friends, but we sorta had our first date. Last night."

"Taylor Hayes?" RJ had stopped yelling, but his barely contained fury rippled under his skin. "The cunt who outed me to the press? The bitch who spent all my childhood ruining my mother"s relationships?" Nodding, Ricky grabbed at RJ"s arm. He tried to pull loose, but RJ found himself drawn back to the man. "Yes, her. RJ, what your alter did? Hell, what I did? It"s nothing compared to what that woman did. Even after Courtney tried to kill you she stayed silent. Because of her, that guy Wyatt and his mother were attacked." "What did she do, Ricky?" RJ grabbed the man"s shirt and shook him. "What did that fucking whore do?" "Do you know the name Sheila Carter?" Ricky asked. RJ nodded, having heard the stories growing up. "Taylor kept her alive, RJ. After the boat explosion in Genoa City, Taylor had Sheila spirited away and locked up. She took Sheila"s daughter Diana and hid her. And even when Sheila got loose, Taylor said nothing. Just like when Courtney tried to kill you." "I"m gonna kill her." RJ released Ricky and began thinking of what to do. "That BITCH is gonna pay!" "If you help me, I"ll do everything I can to help you, RJ." Then RJ made a decision he knew was foolish. "Do you have a phone?" "Just a prepaid burner. Why?" Ricky pulled it out of his back pocket and RJ tried to remember her number. "Just give it to me," he ordered when the last digit clicked into place. Sneering a bit at it being a flip phone, RJ began dialing. "Who is this?" the woman asked after the fourth ring. "Ivy, it"s RJ. You need to come to my loft." "This isn"t a good time." She sounded as pissed off and tired as RJ felt, but he didn"t care. "Ivy, trust me, you need to hear this. I"ll make it worth your while." "There is a condo for lease in your building." Ivy threw her purse and jacket at her cousin and looked the loft over. "It better be at least this size." "What are you talking about?" Ivy heard RJ kick the door shut and watched as he dumped her belongings on a nearby table. "Hang it up. That"s real panda fur and I don"t need it getting damaged," she ordered as she walked across the loft to the fridge. She opened it and saw an expensive-looking bottle of beer. There was a cough that she ignored. "What? Aren"t pandas endangered?" "That"s the point, you whiny little poofter. I have it because nobody else can." Ivy scoffed, grabbed the bottle opener from the fridge, and popped the lid off the beer. "Now why am I here?" "Can you keep a secret?" Rolling her eyes, Ivy took a drink from the beer and refused to answer him. It was such a ludicrous question. Did he forget that she was the who covered up what happened to that twit Aly? The beer, however, was dark and bitter. It reminded her of her youth. She smiled. "Okay, fine, you can"t tell anybody he"s here." RJ walked to his closet and Ivy leaned against the counter. A tall, attractive man of an indeterminate ethnicity walked out and Ivy felt a stirring in her nether regions. She covered it up by taking another drink of beer. "Who is this?" Ivy did her best to focus on her cousin and not the man whose very presence reminded her that she hadn"t had sex since before her exploits in New York. "This is Tha... Ricky. We used to be an item. Sorta." "Sorta?" Then the man spoke and Ivy felt a tingle run through her body. "Victor Newman hired me to seduce RJ." "Newman?" That piqued Ivy"s interest and she managed to suppress her horniness. She looked into RJ"s eyes. "As in your ex-boyfriend? The one with the video?" "No, we had the video." Ricky pointed at RJ, then back at himself. "Victor leaked it after he had me locked up." "No, she means the video of me an Noah at the airport," RJ corrected. "How many sex tapes do you have?" Ricky stared RJ and Ivy chuckled. Sighing, RJ shook his head. "This wasn"t... You know what? I don"t even know anymore." "What does this have to do with me?" As amusing as the conversation was, Ivy was more concerned with her recent financial difficulties. "This better not be a waste of my time." "I was at Crichton-Clark." Ricky sat on the sofa and RJ joined him. Curious, Ivy leaned forward. "That"s where Victor kept me. He didn"t want it getting out that he hired me." "When Noah and Maya were investigating Eden, that"s where they found Hope. And Ricky." "It sounds like there"s a lot to this story, but skip to the part where I care." RJ looked at Ricky and nodded. "I"ve got this." "Okay." "Do you know who Sheila Carter is?" RJ asked. It took every ounce of control Ivy had to not react. "I"ve heard the stories." "She was at Crichton-Clark, too. Ivy, Taylor Hayes, Steffy"s mom, she faked Sheila"s death and had her locked up. Nobody knew. We"re the only ones who know." "She escaped a few months ago," Ricky added. "Before Victor had me locked up. I was the one who had to keep Taylor quiet about Courtney. Sheila was my bargaining chip." "Courtney?" Ivy was lost, but she remembered Sheila telling her about Taylor. "It"s a long story, but Taylor knew about me from the beginning. Me and Courtney. She has access to Dr. Fascinella and his records. It seems they"re friends of some sort." And there it was. They had given Ivy a reason to care. The last thing she needed was to be connected to Fascinella or Crichton-Clark. And if this Taylor knew about everything else, there was a chance she knew about Ivy"s connections and just who funded her recovery. It was unacceptable. "You said you would make this worth my while, but all you"ve done is tell me parts of a story." Ivy pulled at the pearls around her neck, wrapping them around her fingers. "What would you have me do? Why should I care?" RJ sighed and Ricky touched his back. Ivy noted how her cousin tensed up at the contact. "Taylor needs to pay, Ivy. Ricky was just doing a job, but Taylor has done nothing but fuck me over my entire life. I have nobody else to turn to right now." "Still waiting on why I should care." Then RJ smiled. "Isn"t it obvious? Ivy, if you help me with Taylor, and Ricky with his legal problems, I"ll give you Forrester Creations." This caught Ivy off guard. She didn"t like that. "How would pull that off?" "I have my ways. Besides, it"s not like it"s my company. I have LM, after all." "I"m not so sure about that." This time it was RJ"s turn to be surprised. "What are you talking about?" "Your friend here didn"t tell you?" Ivy looked into Ricky"s eyes but couldn"t read him. It excited her. "You"ve been fired from LM. It hit the news shortly after the reports of the lawsuit." "Lawsuit? Fired?" RJ closed his eyes, shook his head, and then stared at Ivy. "WHAT?!" "How could you not know?" Amused, Ivy pulled up an article on her new phone and handed it to her cousin. She watched the disbelief and rage build on his face. Ricky read over his shoulder but said nothing. "I didn"t rape anybody." RJ was shaking, and it wasn"t from fear. "Bill wouldn"t use the courts. This whole thing reeks of synthetic hair and botox." "Pardon?" Ricky put a hand on RJ"s thigh and Ivy watched the him grip the couch cushion. "Steffy." RJ"s voice was ice cold. Ivy was glad she"d decided to come over. She would have hated to miss this. "You"ve never met my sister, have you? The fucking bitch. This is her doing. God. I actually felt bad about everything I"d done, but he was right. He was fucking right! These people deserved every bit of it. And more. "Steffy. Taylor. Bill. My dad. They thought it was bad before? It"s about to get so much fucking worse." RJ stormed out of the loft, leaving Ivy with Ricky. She just watched him for a few moments. Thoughts ran through her mind that would have made even the most seasoned of whores uncomfortable. With a smile, she excused herself. After all, she had to see a man about a condo. B&B She wasn"t sure why, but when Pam found the woman she wasn"t at all surprised to see her fighting with a chicken. One hand wielded a steak knife. "Cherylyn?" Pam closed the door behind her and gave her biggest smile. "Cherylyn Barnes?" "Yes. Whazzit? Who are you?" The woman lost her grip on the chicken and it flapped away to the other side of the room. "You ain"t seen nuffin, mate." "Not a thing." Pam shook her head and smoothed out her dress. "My name is Pamela Douglas. I used to be a friend of your daughter"s." "Dez? She don"t have friends. Not after she gots herself caught stealin them ciggies from the convenience market and didn"t pay nobodies back for the bail money." "Not Desiree. Your other daughter. Ivy." Pam joined Cherylyn at the small table and looked at the black candle. "I like your kitty ears." "Pussi kisses!" Cherylyn laughed, puckering up and blowing kisses to Pam. "Yes, well, about Ivy..." Pam started before Cherylyn interrupted her. "Me and me Terry don"t like talking bout her. Not after whats all she did." Cherylyn adjusted her glasses and frowned. "How do you know me Ivy, anyway?" Clearing her throat, Pam reached into her purse and produced a small container of lemon bars. "We used to work at Forrester Creations together. Surely you heard about everything in the news." "I know that Ivy and me lived with that boy here for awhile. She pretended to be her sissy Dez and conned me outs of me own home. I bet that stupid home wrecker slag Karen done took up wiv me Terry while I been here. They don"t like me practicing me black magic in this home but she needs a good cursing." "But I thought Eric"s brother was Ivy"s father. Who is Terry?" "Terry is me husband and Dez"s father. He also raised that ingrate Ivy after I had me an affair with that John Forresturd. He was a right sexy thing. I couldn"t control meself. You know how it is." "That I do, Pumpkin." Pam popped open the lemon bars and offered one to the mother of her nemesis. "Ivy framed me for her husband"s murder. I was only just released." "I"m sorry. I did me best to raise that girl right, Miss Pam, but Ivy never liked rules. She and that boyfriend of hers were always trouble back home." "Boyfriend?" Pam tilted her head and Cherylyn held a hand to her mouth in shock. "I didn"t say nuffin bout no boyfriend." Pam blinked and put a lemon bar in Cherylyn"s hand. "Sweetie, it"s okay. I just want to help you get your daughter under control. I"ll get you out of this hole and someplace nice. I own a very expensive apartment building. I have a suite, its own floor, where you can stay. You can sacrifice all the chickens and perform all the dark arts you want. "I just need you to tell me what you know. What is so important that Ivy had to haul you across an entire ocean and bury you in this retirement home? And just who is this boyfriend of hers?" Cherylyn Barnes stared right into Pam"s eyes and took a bite of the lemon bar. B&B The pounding on the door woke Steffy. She rolled over and found her bed empty, but heard the running of her shower. She ran her hand over the rumpled sheets and inhaled the scent of Bill Spencer. The pounding continued. Hatefully, Steffy glared at her door and pulled herself from the warmth of her bed. She grabbed a robe hanging off a bedpost and wrapped it around herself as she walked to the door. She wasn"t surprised to see the little bastard who dared to bother her. "RJ," she greeted with a sneer. He responded by slapping her across the face and shoving her back into her apartment. "Who the hell do you think you are?" RJ demanded as he stormed into her apartment and slammed the door shut behind him. Steffy slapped him back with such force her little brother slammed into the wall. "I am your better in every way, RJ. You haven"t figured that out yet? What possessed you to come to MY home and hit ME?" "Don"t act like you don"t know." RJ straightened himself out. Even though his bruising and scratches from the wedding had faded, he still looked like shit. It was impossible for Steffy to not laugh in his face. "You mean your termination? I have nothing to do with LM, RJ. That"s all on you. Same with the lawsuit. Maybe if you spent more time going to work and less time raping straight men, you wouldn"t be having these problems." "You know what? I was feeling horrible for everything I"d done the few months. Legitimately terrible-" "As you should. You"re a piece of garbage," Steffy interrupted. Her brother contracted his fingers until both hands were fists. "But the one thing I will never regret," he continued, a smile forming on his lips, "is beating your ass down at that abominable wedding." "Is that what you think happened?" Steffy laughed loudly in his face. He punched her in her face. "You wanna give it another go without that bitch Caroline here to back you up?" RJ yelled at the top of his voice. Obliging her brother"s request, Steffy tackled him to the floor and sunk her nails into his cheeks. He grabbed her extensions and pulled them out. With a scream, Steffy dragged her nails down his face and bloody lines followed wherever they touched. RJ managed to kick her off and her back hit an end table. As Steffy tried to recover, RJ wrapped her extensions around her neck and began to strangle her. Even though she couldn"t breathe, Steffy somehow managed to scream as she laid blow after blow on her brother. He just seemed to draw the extensions tighter around her throat. Why did the Brazilians have to make them so durable? After kneeing RJ in the groin, Steffy managed to kick him away. He hit the floor and she sucked in mouthfuls of air. Before they could resume combat, Steffy"s bathroom door opened and Bill walked out. He wore only a towel around his waist and water dripped from his well-muscled body and to the floor. "Are you okay? I thought I heard..." Bill looked from Steffy and saw RJ lying on the floor. Before anybody in the apartment could blink, Bill had RJ by the throat and threw him across the apartment. The kid slammed into a mirror and Steffy snorted. "What the hell is he doing here?" Bill asked, shaking with fury. Tossing her uneven hair over her shoulder, Steffy latched onto Bill"s arm and smirked as her brother tried to stand. "Bill, be a dear and don"t ask why the trash is here: just dispose if it properly." His footing was unsteady, but RJ still rose and touched the back of his head. It was bleeding from the collision with the mirror. "You would take my sloppy seconds, Steffy. It"s what you do. First you took Hope"s, now mine. Who"s next?" Bill stomped over to RJ and backhanded him into the wall while Steffy laughed. She watched as Bill grabbed RJ by the collar of his shirt and dragged him across the floor. She opened her front door and Bill flung him into the hallway. After slamming the door shut, Steffy locked it and pressed herself up again Bill. "Make love to me," she ordered. "Now." "You"re back!" Nicole threw her arms around D the moment he walked through the door. "I was so worried. After the last time you didn"t come home..." "Nobody is dead," D assured his girlfriend. He held her and kicked shut the door to their tiny room. "It wasn"t like last time. I just needed some time to clear my thoughts." "So you finally slept with him?" It bothered D how there was no accusation to her voice. The tone was the same one she"d use if asking if he"d washed the dishes or taken out the trash. She just expected it to happen. Nicole wanted it to happen. He held her a little while longer and breathed in her scent. "I didn"t. I won"t. She knows, Nicole." Feeling his girlfriend squeeze him made D feel a bit better, but the feeling only lasted until she let him go. "Your sister? Hope?" "She"s in town," D answered, nodding as he spoke. "Somehow, she had RJ"s phone. She showed up to dinner in his place. And she still had no clue who I was! It wasn"t until Amber told her that she a clue. And then she..." "She what?" Nicole sat on the bed and beckoned him over. Even though he was taller and stronger, she was the one who held him. He snuggled up against her and continued his story. "She fainted." There was a touch of laughter to his voice he hadn"t intended. "Can you believe it? She finally learns who I am and she faints. It"s over." "What?" As Nicole held her lover; she began to rock him as best she could. "We can salvage-" "No!" D insisted, burying his face in her chest. He was certain that she could hear in his voice that he was doing his best not to cry. It made him feel like dirt. "Okay then." "Are you sure?" D didn"t pull away from Nicole, but he did look up at her. "It"s finally over?" She smiled and ran a hand through his hair before drawing him up for a kiss. "It"s over. We"ll eat the money we spent. We"ll go to some town where nobody knows either one of us. We"ll disappear." "I love you." She clearly knew it was coming, so Nicole said it for him. "But?" "But before we leave, I need to see them one last time. Both the kid and my sister." B&B Liam bounced his little brother on his knee and watched Katie try to figure out what to say. He was fine waiting because he didn"t know how to feel, either. "She was your sister." Katie was staring at her phone instead of Liam. He was fine with this. "I guess. Even though we met, that"s about all we did." Guilt stung at Liam"s stomach and he stopped bouncing Will. "You lived with her. Are you okay? Everything with Dad and RJ, and then this?" "I don"t want to talk about RJ." Katie bit her lip and Liam could see the pain she was trying to hide. "Okay." Liam sat Will down and his brother wandered away to his toy chest. "Can we talk about my dad, then? Have you heard from him?" Shaking her head, Katie sighed. "We"re divorced." "And it was crazy fast. Did you file your divorce abroad?" "We had already settled on the terms. No sense in dragging it out." Katie picked at an invisible piece of lint on her dress. "I"m still worried about him, though. Wyatt was hit by a car, then he and Quinn were put into those weird comas. Now Celia and Quinn are both murdered and nobody knows what"s happening. They still haven"t caught the axe murderer that got Aly." "It"s a scary world," Liam agreed. Then, he popped his knuckles. "Why did you ask me out here, Katie? Was it really about my dad?" "Yes and no. We discussed the yes part..." "But the no?" Liam didn"t like how she had drifted off. "I"ll always care about you, Liam. You"re practically my own son at this point and that"s why I want you to be careful. You and Brooke both." He gasped. "You know? How?" "You two aren"t as clever as you think." She gave him half a smile. "What you two do is your business, but things are getting crazy for our families. RJ is at war with everyone, and now Bill"s part of it and I don"t want you getting dragged into it if you can avoid it." "I thought you didn"t want to talk about RJ." "It"s not about him. It"s about you keeping my sister safe." B&B "I don"t think this feels right. It"s like an ambush." Amber licked her thumb and rubbed a speck of dirt off her boots. "It"s not an ambush, Amber. It"s an intervention," Taylor corrected. "If what you"ve told me is true, RJ is a very ill young man. It explains a lot of his more rash actions the last few months." "But what about Ivy?" Rick looked uncomfortable and Amber wasn"t sure why. "This isn"t about Ivy, Rick. It"s about helping your little brother!" Brooke reminded him. "Ivy isn"t important." "Tell that to Hope." Rick looked at his little sister but Amber didn"t do the same. She found it hard to even sit in the same room as her. "Ivy"s the one that had her locked up in that clinic." At this, Amber did look at Hope, who was decidedly not looking at anyone else. "Ivy had you at a clinic?" Taylor sounded way too interested, but Amber was right there with her. She leaned in to hear Hope"s answer. "She was helping RJ. Or Nicky, but I don"t think she knew that. Honestly, there isn"t even any proof that Ivy did it." Hope"s explanation left a lot to be desired. This was a lot less interesting than the last time Amber had a friend with DID. What were sex tapes and bridal brawls compared to robbing banks and chipmunk heads? "What clinic was it?" "Does it matter?" Hope asked, looking right at Taylor. "We"re never going to prove Ivy did it. If there was a paper trail, it"s already gone. This is a woman who blew up a hotel and got the charges dropped. "My only concern right now is getting my brother back." "Hope, you could be suffering PTSD or some sort of Stockholm Syndrome. It"s important to talk about these things," Taylor continued, ignoring Hope"s protest. "What was the name of the clinic?" "That"s enough, Taylor!" Brooke snapped, putting a comforting hand on Hope"s shoulder. "If Hope wants to talk about what happened to her, she"ll do it on her own time. This is about RJ. The only clinic I"m concerned with right now is the one he"ll admitted to." "He should be here any minute. His text said he"d show up at 2 to talk with me and Brooke about his firing." Amber reminded them. Then she saw that the front door was cracked open. Holding a finger up to the assembled, Amber stood up and walked to the door. Throwing it open, Amber saw her best friend running to a taxi and jumping in the back seat. He"d heard them and was making a break for it! "Guys, that was RJ. Or Nicky. Whatever his name is today. He"s kinda getting away." Amber pointed out to the crowd. "What do we do now?"

"A little of column B, a whole lot of column A." When his date grinned lewdly, Brad snorted. It was obvious that their first date was gonna end up in the same place they always did. "So, you work at GH as a lab tech? What"s that like?" "It used to be great. Now it"s kinda hell. We have a new Chief of Staff who thinks Malaysian sweatshops are ideal working conditions. And my roommate kinda... Well, never mind." Brad scratched the back of his neck and silently cursed himself. Lucas was Carly"s brother, which meant he was Lulu"s cousin. That meant that Ben was an issue. All he had wanted was a quiet evening. "Britt Westbourne, right? She"s your roommate. Trust me when I tell you that she won"t be an issue." Lucas thanked the waitress for the breadsticks she brought them, then looked back to Brad. "Britt isn"t an issue; Felix isn"t an issue; tonight is all about you and me." All Brad could do was stare at Lucas. There was no way he knew Brad and Britt were, well, something like friends and didn"t care. It was impossible. Britt was literally the most despised person in town, and there were mobsters and old men who killed their grandchildren running around. The competition was fierce. When it became wider known that he"d taken her in... "Wait, how did you know Britt was my roommate? I never told you that. I haven"t told anyone that." Again, Brad was back to finding Lucas a bit odd. Even if he was the perfect man on paper, there was something about him that Brad just couldn"t pin down. "I saw her on the camera I installed in your room," Lucas snorted. When he saw that Brad didn"t find it funny, he straightened his shoulders and offered a much less creepy explanation. "You never talked about a roommate until this week, and Lulu told me that her brother Nikolas threw her out. It"s not a difficult line of logic." "Yes, well, okay then. That"s makes sense." Not sure of what else to do, Brad grabbed a breadstick and tore it in half. "They say you shouldn"t eat these things. It"s all empty calories and whatnot. I dunno." "We can always work them off later," Lucas winked. For a moment, Brad almost bought into it. He almost bought that Lucas was flirting with him like it was just a normal date. Then Lucas said something to ruin it all. "Oh! Hey, Michael. Brad, this is my nephew. Michael, this is Brad Cooper." "Oh shit." Brad sank down into his chair and tried to hide his face with half a breadstick. "Lucas?" Michael approached the table, his voice full of disgust. "Uncle Lucas, young man. You show your elders some respect." Lucas didn"t seem to pick up that Brad was attempting and failing to hide. "And say hi to Brad. You"re being rude." "I"m being rude?" Michael yelled at the top of his voice, drawing the attention of everyone in the bar. "Your date tried to blackmail me into having sex with him!" Then Michael fell silent when he realized that everyone had heard him. Brad looked and saw that even Mac Scorpio had stopped wiping out the beer mugs. Brad looked anywhere he could that wasn"t Lucas or Michael. "And you turned him down?" Lucas didn"t sound amused. Brad slowly turned his head to look at Lucas, but saw that his date was staring at his nephew. "Well, all the better for me, then." "Excuse me?" Michael was somewhere between whispering and yelling. He angrily looked at Brad, then turned his eyes back to Lucas. "Did you hear what I said?" "Yeah. Brad tried. And failed. What"s your point?" Lucas sounded irritated, but not not with Brad. Lowering his breadstick, Brad tilted his head and let his mouth hang open. Was Lucas defending him? Even though all they knew about each other were bedroom positions? "My point? My point is that the freak you"re dating wanted to sleep with me, even after I told him I was straight." Lucas laughed at Michael"s outrage. "If I walked away from every guy that told me he was straight... Three beer queers exist, Michael. Now, I really must insist that you calm down or you"ll have to leave." "WHAT?!" "That"s it. Goodbye. I"ll see you when you can learn to behave in public." Lucas flicked his wrist in the air, indicating that Michael should leave. "This isn"t over!" Michael yelled in Brad"s face. Before Brad could reply, Lucas was out of his seat and had his nephew by his shirt. Lucas threw Michael onto their table. The breadsticks went flying and so did Lucas" fist. He"d already punched Michael three times before Brad pulled them apart. "We"re leaving," Brad told the bartender before throwing a fifty dollar bill on the table next to Michael. Then he turned his attention back to Lucas. "Go, now. I"ll be just a second." Lucas looked at Michael, eyes narrowed, and shook his hand. He pecked Brad on the cheek, and stormed out of the bar. "Sorry about that." Brad offered a hand to Michael, but was pushed away. "Don"t talk to me. Don"t look at me. And stay the hell away from my family." Michael thrust a finger in Brad"s face and started to leave, but Mac Scorpio stopped him. "I don"t think it"s a good idea to leave right now. Not while Lucas is outside waiting." Taking the hint, Brad did his best to avoid Michael as he stepped out of the bar. Lucas was standing by a garbage can with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "What the hell was that?" Brad asked as he approached Lucas cautiously. "I was defending your honour." Lucas reached out and caressed Brad"s cheek. "Nobody talks about my man like that." "What?" Lucas grabbed Brad and pulled him closed, their bodies pressed against each other as Lucas kissed him. "God, but I love you." "You what? What? Huh?" Brad was confused by everything that had happened and everything that was happening. Kissing him again, Lucas pressed his hand to the small of Brad"s back and dipped him. "You really aren"t bothered by what your cousin said?" Brad asked when they finally separated. He cast an eye to the bar and saw Michael standing at the window and fuming. "Nephew," Lucas corrected. The hand on Brad"s back slid under his shirt then down the back of his pants. "And I barely know him. I don"t give a fuck about him." "You know him better than you know me," Brad argued as he reached back and removed Lucas" hand from his backside. "Also, no overly PDA in public right after your nephew just outed me as a blackmailer." "Attempted blackmailer," Lucas grinned as he pressed his head to Brad"s and began swaying his body. "You never actually slept with Mikey. Me, on the other hand, you have slept with. Multiple times. And I want you to do it again. More than once." "I have a roommate now," Brad tried pointing out. It was just supposed to be a date: a first date. "I have a room at my mother"s. She"s spending the week with Carly, so we have the place to ourselves. And oh my god I just sounded like a 17-year-old asking his boyfriend to sneak over." "As long as we don"t listen to Sheryl Crow and watch Beverly Hills 90210 after." "Just how old are you?" Lucas inquired as he kissed Brad"s jawline. "Oh, shut the fuck up." Before Lucas had awoken, Brad had dressed and left. It was still dark outside. The homeless people had come out of hiding long enough to sleep by the warm entrances of local businesses. Before long, the owners or managers would show up to open and shoo them away. He stepped around an overturned trash can in front of a coffee shop. When he noticed it was actually open, Brad checked his wallet then stepped inside. "I"ll have a black coffee and a couple of your glazed donuts," Brad told the half-asleep cashier when he approached the counter. She had to ask him to repeat his order, which he did with clenched teeth. It was too early in the morning for him to be dealing with people who didn"t know how to do their jobs. After he received his order, he sat at a small table by the window and watched Port Charles start to wake up. It was five minutes and one refill of coffee before another customer entered the shop. Brad new him, but just barely. He watched the man throw out a complicated drink order, bark at the barista for taking too long, then take his latte and not leave a tip. Brad would have judged him, but he didn"t leave a tip, either. Just as he was walking out the door, the man took notice of Brad and stopped. "Do I know you?" "Highly unlikely. I know who you are, though. Julian Jerome, publishing magnate," Brad nervously raised his styrofoam cup in an awkward toast to the mobster. He already had enough people in positions of power who hated him. There was no need to add another. "Do you work at General Hospital?" Julian watched as Brad nodded. "You were there the other day? In blue scrubs?" "Most people who work there wear scrubs." Brad took a drink of his coffee, running his words over in his head. "Is there something I can help you with? I"m not on the clock, so..." Julian let the door shut and sat down at Brad"s table. Even though he looked uncomfortable, the mobster had nothing on Brad. "You were there with Lucas Jones. You were hugging him." Julian sat his coffee on the table and stared into brad"s eyes. "Yeah, see, about that... His sister was missing. Or she"d already been found and was in the hospital. I"m not sure of the timeline, but he was worried and needed a hug. And I acquiesced." It was an odd line of questioning, and Brad found himself evolving beyond discomfort and straight into fear. "Are you one of the... are you a gay?" Julian coughed and looked away from Brad. Looking at the table, Brad took a drink of his coffee then nodded. "Y-yeah. I"m gay. Why?" "My son is a homosexual, too. And I"m trying to be understanding and stuff, but I don"t know any actual gay people. My sister comes from the art world and knows a whole bunch people like you. I"ve met some before. You know, some gays and even a couple lesbians, but they weren"t my children. And I barely even know my son as it is. There are so many questions I have, and I tried to look stuff up online and it was... unpleasant." "I don"t know what good I"ll be." Brad almost preferred the idea of getting shot in the head to the head of a crime family asking about his sex life. It had gone from scary back to weird so fast he had whiplash. "I mean, not every guy is the same just because he"s gay. And I"m going to assume your son is white, so that"s gonna be different, too." "What does being white have to do with being gay?" Julian Jerome raised his eyebrows in confusion, and for a moment he was disarmed enough for Brad to notice how hot he was. Clearing his throat, Brad took another drink of coffee. If he"d known this conversation was going to happen, he would"ve made it Irish. "Well, white gays tend to be the ones who get on TV and told they"re normal and whatnot. Whereas the rest of us are ignored at best." "I don"t know what that means." "Never mind." Brad shook his head and tried to keep a level voice. "Shouldn"t you be asking your son any questions you have? It"s his life. I"m just a complete stranger." "Except you"re not. Lucas Jones is my son." Julian scratched the back of his neck and looked at Brad, waiting for him to say something. Brad suddenly remembered Lucas talking about having a mobster for a father. He couldn"t remember if Lucas had mentioned just who his father was, but that was suddenly unimportant. What was important was that a white piece of ass had somehow become the centre of his universe. Felix may have been annoying, but at least he wasn"t this... involved. "Oh." Brad looked back to the table. "Are you... You"re just friends, right?" Julian didn"t sound antagonistic. If anything, he was concerned. "With benefits," Brad chuckled before he could stop himself. Then his eyes widened and he looked up at Julian"s unreadable face. "What I meant is that we were friends, but we sorta had our first date. Last night." "Right. Yes. Well, be good to him. Or else." With that vaguely worded threat, Julian excused himself and left the coffee shop. Brad ordered another cup of coffee to go, then left. GH "I finally met Lucas. He"s cute. How your ugly ass I got him I"ll never know." Britt didn"t looked up from her chart, but she made a note on it. "I invited him over tomorrow night for dinner. By the way, you"re cooking." "You what? I can"t cook. I flunked out of Home Economics in high school." Britt looked up at Brad, disgust written across her face. "How the hell do you fail Home Ec? It"s the class you take for filler credits because it"s an easy A." "I kinda threw my fake baby into the oven during class. It wouldn"t stop crying and I was mad. Also, when the hell did you meet Lucas?" "He stopped by the apartment this morning looking for you. You never came home, so I"m assuming you showered here at work and wore your spare scrubs. They"re wrinkly as fuck." She reached over and tugged on the neckline of his shirt. "You"re lucky they let you lab techs wear coats, or Mother would have your head hanging from a pike at the Nurses" Station as a warning to everyone else to be immaculate." "He was at the apartment?" Brad hung his head and sighed. The last few days had been nuts. He would need to reiterate to Lucas just what boundaries were and why they should be respected. Shrugging, Britt reached into the pocket of her own white coat. "Yeah. You left your phone at his place and he wanted to give it back. It was all very sweet and blah blah blah. Why are you getting sexed up by a hot dude when I"m sitting in your place on Friday nights watching old episodes of Scandal on Netflix?" "At least your plans don"t involve teaching a mobster all about being gay." "I thought all it took to be gay was liking a dick up your ass. Have I been wrong all this time?" Britt gasped in fake horror. She reached for the sandwich on Brad"s desk and took a bite out of it. "Thanks again for letting me eat in here. That bitch Elizabeth seems to have turned the while hospital against me. The cafeteria ladies don"t even bother to hide it when they spit in my food. They at least used to have the decency to do it when they thought I wasn"t looking." "Everyone hated you before the Ben stuff came out, though. It"s nothing new. How is that going? With your kid, I mean." "Horribly. My lawyer is supposedly a shark. She goes by the name of Diane Miller, but even she tells me that the case for having me declared unfit is strong. She"s said that she"ll do everything she can, though." For a moment, Britt stopped being snarky and rude. She actually let herself look afraid. "I can"t lose my son." "You won"t," Brad promised, even though he had no way to keep it. GH "Hi." Lucas was waiting outside of Brad"s building, grinning and looking pleased with himself. "Long time no see." "What are you doing here?" Brad stopped dead in tracks, reaching for the keyring in his pocket. "Did you wait around all day for me?" "No way, I"m not some stalker. When I was visiting my sister at GH, I saw your shift posted and thought I"d surprise you. You disappeared on me this morning." Lucas walked up to Brad, and Brad tightened his grip on his keys. "I missed the chance to wake up in your arms." "I had an early shift." Brad stepped back, but Lucas either didn"t notice or didn"t care. "And after last night... After a lot of things, I decided that I can"t see you anymore. In any capacity." Lucas stopped advancing, pain and confusion etched on his face. "What? Why? We work so well together. I thought we had a great time last night. I know I did." He was up against Brad before the other man could blink. Lucas had his mouth pressed against Brad"s, and for a few seconds Brad went with the flow of things. Then his senses returned and he pushed Lucas away. "No. We are not doing this again. You physically attacked your cousin last night." "I was defending you!" "I was guilty of all the charges! Michael has every reason to hate me. And you went nuts on him and he didn"t even threaten me. Not really." Lucas stepped back up to Brad and ran the back of his hand along Brad"s jaw. "Who cares about him? It"s you I love. I told you that last night, and then you took me home and we made love." Shaking his head, Brad smacked away Lucas" hand and produced his keys. He didn"t know if he would end up using them on the lock to his apartment or the man in front of him. "Stop it. You don"t love me. You can"t love me. We haven"t known each other that long. We"ve had one date and a handful of hookups. And we never "made love". Are you twelve or something? We fucked. And you"re crazy. You and your daddy issues need to get the hell away from me and stay gone." "Brad!" Lucas screamed as Brad pushed past him. He reached for Brad"s coat and got a scratch from the key for the lab. He pulled his not bleeding hand close and kept yelling at Brad"s back. "I said I love you! That doesn"t just stop! And Michael won"t be an issue anymore! I promise!" Not even bothering to give Lucas a response, Brad entered his building without once looking back. GH Kiki Jerome was having a bad year. She"d already been married and divorced, left her ex-husband for his brother, she and her mother were on the outs, and she"d just found out that she had a whole branch of her family she"d never met. And the man she"d ruined her entire life for had pretty much just thrown her out of his home. It wasn"t her fault that Michael Corinthos couldn"t look past his hatred of Franco, the former serial killer known as an artist, to see that a brain tumour had made him kill all of those people. After all, she"d heard about Michael"s uncle Jason. Jason (allegedly) killed more people than Franco could ever dream. And both of Michael"s fathers seemed to have made shooting family members into a competition. It seemed hypocritical to her for Michael to make excuses for the violence in his family, but not the violence in hers. She didn"t think it should matter that Franco technically wasn"t related to her. Even though she didn"t yet have a job, she"d managed to secure a small two room apartment, with one of the rooms being a bathroom with a shower. All she had to do was move her stuff out of Michael"s place and into her own. Of course, since she"d alienated everyone in her life to be with Michael, it meant she had to move everything herself. Michael hadn"t returned her calls. She was letting him know that she would be stopping by to pick up some clothes. Of course, she had no luggage to haul it in, so she was hoarding several plastic bags she had stolen from a department store when the cashier wasn"t looking. When she stuck her key in the lock, she"d have to give it back sooner or later, Kiki found the apartment unlocked. "Are you home? Michael?" she called as she opened the door. "I"m just here to get some clothes. I"ll have the rest of my stuff out shortly." She didn"t get an answer. Figuring maybe he"d just forgotten to lock the door, even though it was unlikely, she let herself into the apartment. The overhead light was still on. Kiki called Michael"s name. There was still no answer She opened one of the bags and walked into the bedroom to gather her things. Then she screamed. "Someone was murdered last night." Felix either didn"t see Brad or was ignoring his existence. He just continued to chat with the other nurses. "It"s Port Charles. Someone is always getting murdered," someone else commented far too casually. "Was it someone we know?" "You know Sonny Corinthos? That mob boss guy? It was his son, Michael. I met the guy a few times. He seemed nice enough, albeit wound a little too tightly." Brad stopped what he was doing and listened to what the nurse was saying. "His girlfriend, Kiki Jerome, she found him hanging from the ceiling of his apartment." "That sounds more like a suicide than a murder," Brad noted as he turned around. All of the nurses glared at him, then turned back to each other and ignored him. They also stopped talking. Picking up the feeling that he wasn"t wanted around, Brad threw up his hands and walked away. "I see the I"m not the only one being frozen out by the bitter bitch club." Britt walked up to Brad, grinned broadly at the nurses giving them dirty looks, and threw her hair over her shoulder. She chewed on the end of a pen while waiting for Brad to reply. He looked over to Felix, who looked away, then sighed. "Whatever happened to people being professionals? I swear." "Didn"t you try to sleep with Felix in one of the exam rooms?" Britt asked around her pen. She sorted through the papers on her clipboard. "Can you rerun the tests on this patient"s biopsy sample? The bitch is whining about how she can"t have lung cancer because she never smoked." "You are such a kind person." "Ha ha," Britt laughed sarcastically. "Just page me when they"re done, okay?" "Yeah, right, I"ll have you paged. Whatever." Brad took the papers from the doctor, looked at Felix who was decidedly not looking at him, and shrugged. GH Before he even opened the door, Brad smelled fresh bread still baking in the oven. "Honey, I"m home!" "Hey, Lover," Lucas greeted back from the kitchenette. "Britt"s in the shower. I guess some woman threw up on her on the bus ride home from the hospital." Leaving his keys in the door, Brad stepped back into the hallway and closed his eyes. He shook his head, picked the wax out of his ears with his fingernails, and then reopened his eyes. Lucas was still there in his apartment.

Her boyfriend agreed. "And how. Those people are crazy, man! We may be fans but let"s just say we ain"t one for jumpin" and screamin" with thousands of people. Unless it"s out of a last resort, but you get the point. "Anyhoo, we wanna help you two. We"ve been looking to meet them as well but without having to go through that!" The guy thumbed to his shoulder the still screaming masses, most female, some male, but if not all, were teenagers. Nothing was keeping them together. "Golly..." Sherman simply said, looking at the scene. "Splendid!" Peabody said. "I"m glad you kids are so kind enough to offer us a hand. "But first, let us introduce ourselves. I am Mr. Peabody," he bowed then motioned his arms to Sherman, "And this is my boy, Sherman." Sherman waved with a big grin on his face. "Hello!" "Nice to meet you!" the girl said then introducing herself in the same manner. "My name"s Gen and this is Jake, my guy." "What"s up?" Jake pointed and winked. The familiar name didn"t slip Peabody"s thoughts. Then again, it was a very common name so this was just a simple coincidence. "Nice to meet you, too!" Peabody replied. "So regarding our plan to meet the fabulous foursome, have you two any?" Jake began, "Well... if you"re talking about a plan that required a bit of thinking and blueprints of the hotel they"re staying in so we could see any possible passages to meet them..." Peabody and Sherman anticipated their answer with wide-eyed excitement. "...Nope!" The two just slumped at the answer. "We usually just wing it with these things. For now, let"s just see where this goes as soon as they"re out of here, alright? Later, they were right by the hotel in which the band was staying in. The scenes there were just as chaotic if not more. It was just like in the airport but with the police, some on horseback, trying to hold them back. "Should"ve seen this coming," Gen admitted. "And I"ve been to Elvis." While everybody talked among themselves, Peabody analyzed the scene to somehow make a path out of the sea of humans cheering around the building. However, the plan would be risky but then again, considering the adventures he and Sherman had in much earlier parts of history in which worse things were of abundance, need he worry anymore? "You wouldn"t happen to have a plan now, right Mr. Jake?" Sherman, including Jake"s girlfriend pleaded silently for a positive answer. When he shook his head quickly with a grin, they simultaneously let out an "aww" of disappointment. "Quite the contrary," Peabody stated. "Jake, didn"t you say you two just wing it in situations like this." "Um, I think so. Were you referring to what I said back in the JFKIA terminal?" "Precisely," Peabody looked at the crowd with determination in his eyes. "Jake would you mind placing Sherman upon your shoulders?" "Ya mean like this?" Jake doing exactly as told, carried the boy holding his arms as Sherman sat above him. "Good! Now Gen," he said and turned to her, "You shall carry me." "Like what Jake is doing with Sherman?" she asked. "I don"t know. My shoulders ain"t that strong and as for my hair-" "No, no, my dear. Just carry me like you would to a-dare I say it, a dog," he instructed. "But keep my hands free as I will lead you all the way." So Gen did and took him in her arms with a grunt. "You"re heavier than you look..." "That woman just jumped to the side creating an opening wide enough for us to squeeze in," he pointed out. "Hurry now, before it closes in! Gen?" "Okay, here I go!" she said, running to it. "Jake. Sherman. Follow our lead." The young man with the boy in his shoulders came running after and found themselves in the first row of the uproarious crowd. "Give me a boost. I must see from above our next path," Peabody said. Gen gave it her all to lift the dog above her head just for him to navigate all over the scene. "Goodness!" she exclaimed, beginning to sweat. "Shouldn"t Jake be doing this?" "I doubt you can carry this kid, Gen," he said. "What you been feeding him, Peabody?" Peabody ignored the question, having been busy trying to look for more spaces they can squeeze themselves into. And there it was and Peabody pointed once again. "There is an impressive channel by the left, starting from a group of girls hugging and crying up to a man right there doing the same, and we"ll be near the cops holding them off. Once we reach them, it"ll be much easier to get through. "We have to keep our chins up on this one," Peabody commanded once more. "Which means you must carry on holding me like this, lest I get smothered." "Oof!" Gen hiccupped, adjusting her tired limbs. "My arms are killing me!" Generally, they all just tried to tolerate how hot and compressed they felt. Jake had to keep Sherman above, and Gen had been forced to do the same since he was the one giving them the directions. The crowd was so busy in their frenzied state of minds cheering that no one seem to had any qualms a couple of teenagers sneaking past them with a kid and a dog above their heads. Jake and Gen found themselves squirming their way to the edge, all the while saying their "excuse me"s, pushing the people out of their way. They successfully made it to their checkpoint where a man in hysterics thrashed about along with the many female fans, giving Sherman an uncanny feeling to be having the displeasure being near him. "Mr. Peabody?" Sherman held on tight to Jake"s shoulders, "It"s weird up here..." "Not to worry, Sherman," Peabody reassured. "We"re almost there- Ah!" Gen had almost dropped him to the ground but was able to catch him on time. "I"m sorry, but please understand that I am simply dying here!" "She"s been carryin" your weight this whole time. You better think of something to get through these coppers right now, or else!" Peabody adjusted his glasses, turned to Jake and said, "You underestimate me. Of course I have. I just need to tell Sherman about it first. Sherman?" he then called to him. "I want you to listen..." They were now at the very front of the crowd, which was quite a feat considering the number of people around them, constantly closing in on them when they walked. The people showed no signs of stopping from screaming and jumping about, their cries filling the air. But a selected few, the front most to be specific, had their thoughts caught to a loud bark coming from a white dog that ran to the doors of the hotel. If that wasn"t strange enough, out of nowhere, a boy and a couple chased it. "Get back here...boy!" the redhead cried (rather Sherman acted to have had). And a couple followed them. Some of them stayed still, completely baffled, the cops included. Not any sooner, the tumultuous nature of the crowd returned, completely shrugging them off. Once inside, Peabody returned to his usual bipedal stance, Sherman standing by. Both Jake and Gen tried to catch their breaths, their hands holding on to a sore part of their body thanks having to support the two. "I say, that went better than I expected," Peabody dusted off the bit of dirt he got on his fur from running on all fours. But it was worth it just to get inside the building at last. "Speak for yourself," Jake winded. At first, both the teens were feeling upset from being used like that. However once they put aside how tired and aching their bodies were and looked around their surroundings, they were captivated. "Oh my gosh, Jake!" Gen started, tugging on his shirt "I can"t believe we made it this far! Look where we are!" "Shh!" he suddenly said, putting a finger to her lips. "We have to be totally invisible. Let"s just walk and try to find their room..." "To the 12th floor then," Peabody said. "Act natural, everybody. Got that Sherman?" "Yes, Mr. Peabody!" The four were still a bit roughed up from being so packed outside. As they tried to clean themselves up, Jake pressing his shirt and pants, Gen fixing her hair with a bit of spray net, and Mr. Peabody and Sherman simply adjusting their glasses, the former straightening his red bowtie, they were on their feet. They walked like nothing was happening and in complete contrast with the action all around. A few fans that had managed to sneak past the police as well, running up the steps to the top floors. Some reporters were there, too. They were met with the sight of the band predictably being besieged by fans and reporters. "Oh no," Sherman said. "Have you also seen this coming, Ms. Gen?" Peabody asked her. "This is the farthest I"ve ever gone to sneaking in just to see a band I love," she said. "What do you think?" "I think we need another diversion like we did down there," Jake suggested. "What do you say, Mr. Peabody?" "I"m sorry but I can only do that for so many times," Peabody said, knowing what the teen was implying but refused to do it again for whatever reason. "Please, Mr. Peabody?" Sherman pleaded with his hands clasped together. "We"re so close and all we need to do is one more thing. We don"t have time to plan for anything else." "Yeah, c"mon. We know that even a dog like you has pride but for once, can"t ya just do it again for us, and for your kid?" "This is not a matter of pride. Think about it; we do not want to get ourselves out on a limb among people that have been heavily compressed in such a small space. The results would not be good." "It would add fuel to this fire. Therefore, I meant to say that we"re not taking any chances due to the situation at hand." Gen whispered to Sherman who was now beside her, "How do you get what he says if he always talks like that?" "Well...sometimes I"m quiet and just pretend I do. Sometimes I just laugh. But then I just tell him about what I thought about it," he answered. "Okay, then we just have to find a way to get their attention without making a scene," Jake paused a bit rethinking the structure of the sentence he had said, "How does that make any sense?" "I think I know how!" Sherman said, "I got an idea. Hey Mr. Peabody, remember those acting classes I took?" Reporters kept asking them questions that weren"t even close to relevant when the idea Sherman was suggesting was currently in motion. A female reporter (or possibly pretending to be one) with an overly made-up face had a mike to John"s face when she asked, "Tell me, what is your favorite color and why it"s the one I"m wearing?" He looked away confused and asked, "...I beg your pardon?" The influx of questions continued until they hear the cry of a little boy. They felt little hands trying to make its way out of the crowd. They all gasped at the sight of a redheaded kid with glasses looking quite upset. Sherman, in the back of his mind, was overjoyed that he"d convinced everyone in the room so much that everybody stopped and paid attention to him. "Waah... My dog ran in here and now I cannot find him!" he cried. "What am I going to do?" Almost instantly, everybody sympathized with him. Yes, including the four themselves. "Aww, poor lamb..." George said. "He lost his doggy." "Little boy," Paul called. "Are you sure he went in here? You just walked in on a very busy matter." "I"m sorry, Mister," Sherman said, sounding as feeble as possible, "I just swore I saw..." and then feigned a sniffle coming in and then he sneezed. Which was actually the cue for Peabody to do his part with the help of the teenage couple. Everyone turned at the sound of barking from the entrance of the room, accompanied by two young lovers. "Excuse us," Gen said, "Couple with a dog, coming through!" Peabody jumped out of her arms and ran to Sherman. Sherman had to give it his all in this scene. He had an overjoyed expression, and the glint on his eyes sparkling. "There you are!" he said, "Oh boy, was I scared when I couldn"t find you!" They couldn"t help but go "aww" and smile, including the band themselves who simply smiled. Peabody was barking and wagging his tail. He pretended to support himself upright by placing his paws on Sherman"s shoulders. "Come on, Mr. Peabody," he whispered. "Do it!" "Must I?" he whined. "Do you know how uncomfortable this is beginning to feel?" "Please...?" Sherman then scratched the back of Peabody"s ear to which the dog felt a guilty pleasure setting in. "For me?" Peabody saw the boy"s eyes, and couldn"t resist how much they begged by just seeing how they twinkle. Giving in, he happily licked him on the face, Sherman turning away and holding his muzzle telling him to stop. Sherman sure was dedicated to his role. Many found the moment adorable. Peabody blushed under his fur. When Jake and Gen were noticed by the crew, Ringo then asked them, "Are you this boy"s parents?" The teens were surprised but understood why he asked. They stammered their answers and shook their heads. "No way!" Jake said. "We, er, just found him and...we figured since we saw this boy running around the building looking for him, we knew instantly who this dog belonged to... Yeah!" Gen said, acting her best. "Alright! Nice to see young people helping out a kid in need," he complimented them. "Am I right?" Everybody in the room applauded. Jake and Gen felt so proud, but at the same time felt really bad since it was all just a ruse to get to them. But they had no choice but to play along. "By the way," Peabody suddenly spoke, and stood up on his hind legs, "we apologize for the intrusion. But if it weren"t for this we wouldn"t have gottn a chance to meet these talented young men whom we"re all delighted to be near with." John then spoke, in a surprised tone, "You"re fans? But you"re all so calm!" Laughs were heard from the crowd. "True. But those two can barely contain their joy," he referred to the couple behind him, the girl holding on to her guy"s hand as she fanned herself with a handkerchief. The two came near, "I"d say I want to hold your hand, but he"s here," she said. "I"m Gen and this is Jake." Cameras flashed when the four proceeded to shake their hands. The teenagers looked so happy, smiling as they greeted each member. Fans behind looked sort of jealous. They wished they were as lucky as they. Mr. Peabody and Sherman just smiled to each other as the cameras flashed, watching them posing for the cameras beside the fab four. They were all outside again but far from the crowd, Mr. Peabody and Sherman telling them that they shall part right there. "You guys asked for just one photograph, after all the trouble you"ve been through and you"re already gonna say goodbye just like that?" Jake said. "Exactly! We had four tickets. Come and watch with us at their concert!" Gen said. "As much as we loved to, we really must get going now," Peabody said. "Our reasons are classified. Do not ask why we must leave so soon." Jake sighed. "Well, I just gotta say: you two are the coolest little geeks we ever met. And we meant that in the best way." "We"ll always remember this day," Gen said, welling up a bit. "Oh, don"t worry Ms. Gen," Sherman said. "Maybe once you meet another dog and his boy trying to sneak in to meet another band you guys love, you"ll forget all about us!" That did not help. The girl had to wipe a running tear with a hanky. "Oh, you stop that!" she said. "You two have a wonderful time at the concert. Don"t let this ruin your day, alright?" "Gotcha!" Jake said, with a wink. Peabody and Sherman paused for a bit. The dog broke the silence, and held Sherman"s hand. They both waved to them as they walked further away from the young lovers. "Farewell, you two. May your love live long." "Bye, Jake! Bye, Gen!" "Goodbye!" Gen cried, waving her hanky. "Later!" Jake said, saluting them in lieu of a wave. In no time, when they rode on their WABAC that was still parked in the airport, they were back in Peabody"s apartment. Stepping out, Sherman looked at the picture on his hand. In the photo, he stood by their legs while Peabody sat in a regular fashion, but managed to look quite sophisticated. "You may add that to your album if you like." "Gee, thanks, Mr. Peabody!" "But before we do, let"s see how our guest is doing all by himself." "You know, I just realized something, Mr. Peabody," Sherman began, "Didn"t Mr. Belsinger and Jake share the same name? And they had the same way of talking too!" "That and Belsinger was from the 60s," Peabody added. "Well, Jake is a rather common name, and at the same time, the Jake we just met might just indicate that every teenage boy acted that way. "It may be outdated for you new millennium youngsters, but that"s how trends usually work." They find Jake, this time referring to their unexpected visitor, surfing on his laptop with his headphones on, apparently chatting with somebody. "Yeah. Really nice that was, I tell you!" the elderly man said laughing to the microphone. "Yeah, I"m kinda waiting for them. They didn"t tell me when exactly they"re coming back. I"m kinda bored now since I"ve already caught up with all my statuses." "Sorry to have kept you waiting," Peabody said to him, deliberately making him jump, "though I"m relieved to find that you kept the place together." "Listen, gotta go, they"re back. Later!" Jake said, putting his headphones down. "Heck yeah, I did! What? You expect to see this place like a wild party just took place or somethin" when you came back?" "More or less, I had my worries." "I guess it"s time," Jake began to pack his things, shutting down his laptop and placing it back on the case. "Gotta get going now. My wife"s been looking for me." "Oh, I didn"t know you were married," Peabody said. "Why of course I am!" Jake stood up. "You"ve doubted my charisma since I came in here," Jake said. "Not only that, I had me some kids too, and grandkids. One big family!" Their visitor made his way to the elevator, and opened the door. "Heheh, sorry Peabody if I ever startled you when I first came here." "Since you apologized, I can forgive and forget." "Well, I"ll be on my way. Later, you two!" "So long, Jake." "Bye, Mr. Belsinger!" Sherman waved. Jake shook his head and chuckled, "Sonny, just call me grandpa. Ironically, being called by my surname just makes me feel older. At least with grandpa, I"ll feel old in the right way... you get the point! "I"ll be back, by the way. This ain"t the last time we"ll meet now that I"ve finally seen you guys. Okay, later! For real!" He stepped inside the elevator and before the doors closed, Sherman gave one last goodbye. "Bye, grandpa!" Jake smiled before the doors finally closed and he went down. "I"m gonna go to my room and put this picture up somewhere, Mr. Peabody!" Sherman said, now running. "I"ll be here tidying up the sofa." Peabody, about to do the chore he assigned himself to suddenly stopped when he heard the phone. Wasting no time wondering who it was, he picked answered. "Hello. Peabody here." "Hey, it"s Belsinger! I just wanna tell you that I left a note by the couch. I assume you"re gonna tidy up the pillows there, so I ought to let you know before you mistake it for trash. Remember, just make sure you"re the only one who reads it. "Okay, that"s all." Jake then hung up on him. Peabody scratched his head. "I shall have to see what this note he is referring to..." Getting to the couch, he saw pieces of paper stuck between the cushions. He unfolded them and found something written on it. He noticed that for someone like Jake, he sure had exquisite penmanship. Right away, he recognized the quote that was written on the paper. "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make..." he read out loudly. Peabody knew what it meant, but didn"t know why Jake had written it. Then he read more of the words at the bottom of the paper, imagining the elder"s voice as he did. His body trembled and his ears laid tightly back against his head. The indications were there though no names had been used as to who it referred. All things considered, it was deliberately ambiguous. It brought Peabody an extreme feeling of disbelief. On behalf of the Belsinger family, we thank you for having found him. May he be safer in your paws and never be taken away from you as he was from us that one faithful night. You"ve cared for him as your own and we wish you and for him the best of health so it can continue. -Sincerely, Jake P.S. I used your printer to print out a picture I should show you. I hope you don"t mind! Accidentally letting the first sheet of paper that contained the note slip his paw, he was greeted with a black and white picture dated from decades ago. There his whole world just stopped. The caption on the picture was not that hard to miss. Written as legibly as possible in beautiful cursive on the corner of the picture with a thick black marker: Jake + Gen w/ the Beatles ca. "64 -End-I chose the 60s because I liked their aesthetic. And chose the Beatles because, though I"m not that big a fan, I still remember the lessons taught to us during Pop Music History and used most of my stock knowledge on this. Despite having said that, it didn"t seem like you"d learn anything from here after reading it but that"s exactly the point anyway since both incarnations used artistic license or just deliberately made the historical events silly for hilarity"s sake. You either learn something (in its warped and misguided presentation) or learn nothing at all. And as for that ending... Gee, what could that mean? Yeah, I"ll be more enthusiastic to explain that if you... PLEASE REVIEW!

AN: Longest. Fic. Ever. Originally created as a prologue for the chaptered fanfiction I was working on. Instead, it became a very long interquel of fantastic proportions. It"s unusually long for me even for this oneshot. I"d recommend you read the amateur and lazily written first fanfic "One Little Catnap" to get what happened here, unless you already had. I still think this one is also amateur written. I"m feeling weird for this one having too interactive a narration. Storytelling in the second person and all that. Why it"s an interquel? Well...find out. I"m not good at explaining. I should warn you that it contains certain situations that suggest-well, I wouldn"t say "mature suggestions" because I"d let kids read this too but I"m going to rate this fic higher so I can follow the guidelines and not get in trouble here. /irrelevance One Little Hour It was a beautiful, beautiful night. The moon was out, the stars were shining and...nightly activities were taking place somewhere in the seediest parts of the world whose countries are currently in the dark side of the earth. Speaking of nightly activities, the endless daytime Cat Kingdom was having one of these as well and if you"ve remembered where we left in the middle of our last story, what will happen right here, right now would be pretty straightforward to you. "Oh man, that was awesome babe," the hairy monarch expressed in laid-back delight. Lying on his bed, he was still remembering the ecstasy that he had experienced. The curtains covered the windows which made the room itself look dark and was in great contrast with the always sun-shining mood that was supposed to light-up the room for the Cat Kingdom had never changed its time of day. The only light currently aglow inside is the-you"ve guessed it-half-closed door. Seriously, no one bothered to check on that. "Y-yes, sire..." Another cat in the room was kind of jittery, however. "That was indeed...uh, w-what you just said...Indeed." For now, he could not talk straight. In the same room, he was standing while he frantically put his robe back on. He was fixing himself up, putting on his glasses and brushing his fur. From head to toe, he was still shaking. Running in his mind, he kept saying to himself that he could not believe what he just did. "Oh dear..." He could not help shaking his head in dismay. Seeing how Natori was feeling sort of unsettled of the situation, the Cat King got out of his bed and tried to console him in his own special way. "Come on, it wasn"t that bad." He placed a paw on the elderly cat"s shoulder. "It"s not like it"s your first time, right?" That question did not help. His ears jolted as a sole reaction but his face remained expressionless. "I don"t know how to respond to that, sire..." In short, he was speechless if his statement of unknown response didn"t count. "Hahaha! I understand. You don"t have to tell me everything." The Cat King patted the worried advisor"s back trying to cheer him up. Natori stayed silent for a while, until he suddenly remembered what he came here for after he had set his mind straight again. The king was supposed to go somewhere and he was to remind him of it. Where was it again, now... Where...? "Wait...The party!" It was then he quickly got up on his legs and he turned to the king. "Your Majesty... we"ve been here for too long! We"re missing the-" "Shh, shh, shhhh!" He put up a paw to the cat"s mouth. "Calm down babe, I haven"t forgotten," he reminded. "And besides, who am I to let a good party pass by, huh?" "So, you"re going to go down, now?" he asked, mumbling from the Cat King"s mandatory hush. "Oh sure, the party must"ve been very boring without I, the Cat King, to entertain it." "Of...course..." The advisor thought of making a snarky response to that but was in no time to think of a funny enough phrase to do so. "...Lead the way, sire?" "Oh yeah, time for partyin"!" While doing the funky chicken, he waltzed to the door while his advisor followed from behind. When he finally arrived there, he suddenly noticed something not right about it. The door was...-well, need not to say it because it"s been a running commotion throughout the scene from whence it started. It"s relieving that one of them, at last, has noticed it. "Um, Natori?" He turned around to look at the advisor. "Who came through this door last?" "What ever do you mean, sire?" He tried to find out what the question was all about. Then he noticed the light from the hall that shone from the open entrance. Not very open, but its size could possibly still fit ones eye for someone to peep on it. Not too long, Natori realized that he had made a huge mistake. "Oh my...I thought-" "You thought!?" This was when the Cat King has exhibited his loud but unsurprisingly common outbursts. "Haven"t you heard of double checking!?" He started to claw on him, only barely missing his whiskers. "I-I"m sorry, I forgot," Terrified, Natori stepped back as the Cat King started to close on him, trying to prevent himself from being shred to pieces. "Please, have mercy!" But the king was still too enraged. "I could not let a stupid mistake by a fool pass on," he hissed. "Even if that fool who made it was to be my friend." Angry and hacked off, he continued to step closer to the quivering old cat. Then suddenly, he stopped on his tracks and the tone of his voice changed. "Then again, in value of our friendship, I shouldn"t think of punishing you too severely now, should I?" It was to a less threatening circumstance, arguably. But, this has not made Natori less than scared. Only such times has he heard the king talk that way. Who knew being in the middle of it, especially as the one being talked to, would be this terrifying. Natori had no choice and he was feeling defenseless. He realized that he may not come out of here, unscathed. He prepared for the worst. "Do with me what you wish, sire." He got down on his knees and set his head lowered on the floor, giving in to whatever kind of sentence he must face. "One request?" He looked up to the king, "Do it quickly, please..." and he quickly reverted back to his position. The Cat King had never doubted his advisor"s unusually extreme loyalty. He was willing to do anything for him. He already lied down beside him in his bed and Natori was just there to let whatever happen, happened. That was when he started to feel some sort of sympathy for him. A stupid thing he did, yes but it"s not worthy of a very cruel punishment to waste on someone, right? In fact, he never actually implied from the start that he was going to snuff the advisor out or anything of the sort. He had another thing in mind. He forced the gray cat"s head to look him in the eyes by grabbing his head up with his own claw, though he made sure he wasn"t impaling on the advisor"s skin. "Why are you in that weird position, huh?" he asked of him bitingly. Natori"s eyes were about to shed a tear and a good amount of it was gathering in his eyes. "I...I"m just making this easy for you, Your Majesty." He rubbed his eyes with an overly long sleeve that constantly dangled from his outfit. "I"ve already placed myself in my most vulnerable position yet." He guessed that Natori thought that he was going to execute him. That"s a bit dark to think of the Cat King doing something like that to a friend. Why would his advisor put that in mind? No matter, he just shrugged it off. ""Most vulnerable position"?" he repeated with a mocking reprise. "For me, it doesn"t look like it at all. But since you seem to be so accepting of what"s coming to you, I have no choice but to order you one last time since I don"t have much time to be the Cat King nor were you going to be advisor too." He let go of the advisor"s head and it quickly dropped to the ground from where it was. "We were going to retire together after all." Here, he started to execute the words toward his advisor. "Lie down for me. On your back, now!" Natori did as what he"d been told. From his position of a very deep bow, it quickly changed to a lying position. Flat on the floor, he tried to look at the king. He was heavily curious what the longhaired feline was going to do next. "Okay, now raise your back a little. I wouldn"t want you to miss every bit of action that I"m going to do to you." It was getting very suggestive but Natori did it anyway and was now in a semi-sitting position. "Would you like to take off those glasses of yours or shall I do it for you?" It"s already evident what was going to take place yet he remained to not question these commands nor had he the courage in doing it for he may get to receive another tongue lashing from the king. Without further ado, he removed them. "Purrfect... wouldn"t wanna get those dirty," The Cat King was now feeling assertive and before he could do what he was about to do, he was going to disclose what all was that for. "The motion carries. Your punishment begins..." This is where we leave these two. For now- It however solved the mystery why it took an hour for Natori and the Cat King to finally arrive at the party. Prior to that, there were "minor" events that have left a bit of impression. Natoru was peeking through the half-closed door but quickly came down after hearing of the king about to proceed punishing Natori and seeing the commands he was put through before it. As he quickly did, he felt his heart beating, merely from so much running. Besides that, he had a faded blush on his face. The newly wedded Prince Lune and Yuki were somewhere sitting. Lune saw the floppy eared panting feline near the stairs. The prince was getting impatient but he stayed in composure. He approached Natoru quickly to ask him a question. Obvious what he"s going to ask about, yes? "What news have you of my father"s delay?" He stood tall to the stout, still blushing cat. "Well...?" Natoru wasn"t sure what to answer and just scratched the back of his head. But before he could think of anything to say-which was probably going to be a lie-from the stairs that he went down from, a loud meow echoed which traveled to the ball room. As cats that obviously have a good sense of hearing, it was heard ever so clearly. A louder harsher one seemed to have accompanied it. "Natoru, what"s happening up there?" Another question he asked to Natoru "I think you know something..." His expression right now would be represented of him having a large sweatdrop on the side of his head. He felt the prince getting really suspicious which made him anxious so. "Your Majesty, I promise you, er...I"m just as curious as you are." Stuttering was the least of his problems. Lying wasn"t really his best job. "They could be... intruders! Or assassins! Or Ninjas!" "Oh really?" It"s either Lune was being sarcastic or it"s simply his normal speaking voice. Little was known if he"d ever raise his voice at all. "Should I send some of the guards up there?" "NO! I-I-I mean, I-I shall check on them- I mean, it!...again!" He had something to hide and he did not want anybody to see what he has seen. It cannot be unseen and he was making sure that nobody shall feel the same way that he felt. "I don"t know..." The meowing from up the floor continued echoing. Some guests were speculating the castle being haunted. "Those "intruders", you say, do sound dangerous". "Lune, I"m getting worried of these sounds," Yuki suddenly cuts in as she held on to her husband"s shoulders. "Guests kept saying, ghosts and whatever they could think of. I don"t want to panic, but what on earth is making that noise?" she asked with a worried voice. "Do not fear, my love." He brushed his paw against her cheek. "We may be able to find out what, as soon as Natoru here tells us everything since he was the last one to go down from there." His arm held out to where he was ought to be standing. "Natoru?" She moved her head back and forth. "What do you mean? I don"t see him." "What...?" Lune turned around and he discovered too late that Natoru had in fact disappeared. It"s because of that, he did something that nobody of the Cat Kingdom"s people could"ve predicted coming from the prince. His eyes fixed a hard stare, his fangs clenched, his claws retracted out of his paws, and... "RAAARRRGGGHHH!" and lastly, he screamed at the top of his lungs all the while his fur was bristling in anger. At last, the universe has proven that nobody in this world was perfect. This time, the guests were distracted by his scream and the topic of the noise coming from nowhere but up, was forgotten. All were staring at him, especially Yuki who was near him at the time and her paws over her mouth. She was shocked, big time. The prince upon noticing it, shut his mouth closed. Surprised that he did such a thing in public, he grabbed Yuki by the arms and they went back to their seats. They remain seated with the witnesses still in awe. Yuki, still shocked, decided not to think much of this and she kept silent. Lune had not changed emotion and remained surprised. The subjects" eyes were still at him. No exception to the guards that were supposed to watch the outside of the castle"s doors and they too looked at him with the same expression as the guests. Some have still tried not to show too much emotion, particularly for the tuxedo (secret service) cats that must keep a straight face at all times. Unbeknownst to them-the guards-who have lost their sight to a commotion in the castle, there was a large fat cat with a brown spot on the one side of his face walking outside with a net full of fish that he was dragging. Was it that loud that it can be heard from outside? Anyway, he heard it too and the cat remained looking at where the sound came from. With a sigh and head shake, he had nothing to say about but just one: Just like his father... And he continued walked off. We return to our furry little friend who had lied to the prince to keep the secret of what"s happening between the Cat King and Natori. Upstairs, he was again, went back to the door where he first saw the two in a "bind". The door was still as ajar as ever but he didn"t bother to look inside it anymore despite the noise coming from it was still strong. It was finally closed by Natoru, cutting off the meows emitting from the opening made by the two equally aged cats. No one shall hear it now. He made a deep, heavy sigh of relief. It was over at last. He leaned against the wall, reminding himself that everything was going to be okay, now. But it all changed quickly after he remembered another certain noise that, this time, came from down the stairs. His eyes opened up wide and he started to bite his nails while his teeth chatter around them. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!" Suddenly he was panicking as he spun around the floors uncontrollably. This would be another thing that nobody would expect from a usually jolly character in a royal family"s servant. "Prince Lune...screamed?" That one act seemed to be starting an issue. "I"ll be in big, big trouble if I go down there now," he said to himself, still jumpy and shaky. "And if I do, am I going to be-" he gasped for air, "-punished?" That"s when he started to think about it. Should he go down or stay up here? He paced the floors, thinking about what to choose. There were imaginary dots flashing over his head. After some minutes of thinking, it was finally decided that he should just go down and face the music if the Prince was planning anything to scold him whatsoever. Reluctantly, he went down to the party that was once again, in full swing. For some reason, everybody just dropped off what just happened and they all went on with dancing, chatting, eating, etc. Also, the guards have returned to their posts. "Well, here goes nothing..." He said to himself and a hesitant smile formed on his face. Finally there again, he slowly walked beside the prince and his bride. More specifically on the prince"s side. Carefully, he made his way and he tried not showing any signs of fear that would look very noticeable. He had the feeling that the prince"s anger towards him hasn"t been doused yet. In fact, Lune had no ill will against the brown servant. He wasn"t the kind of cat to hold a grudge but he was still very displeased with Natoru"s insubordination. The two ignored each other for quite some time. Back in the room, where the supposed punishment has taken place, there was currently nothing much going on anymore. Worth that it must be ignored for the sake of respecting their privacy. It might have been a far too vivid sight. Lune would"ve regretted it if he had seen all of it himself. The Cat King was sitting on the floor with his mustache wiggling a bit. He was breathing deeply and his eyes felt heavy. Natori was also on the floor but in a fetal position and shivering. His rear legs were closed tightly, pressing something inbetween them. They were both tired. It felt like they"ve been lying around all day though it"s really just about almost an hour. The feeling was indescribable and they could only show it through their indicative positions. It would either be mixed feelings of pain and comfort or plain fatigue. Nevertheless, both were going through an afterglow. Natori slowly crawled to the Cat King. He reached to pull one of the monarch"s long hairs. "...Your Majesty?" his voice creaked, still sounding weakly. "Hm?" He looked down at him where the other cat was tugging on his legs. "I feel..so tired...too tired." "We just did it, twice." The king fondled the cat on his old exhausted head. "What do you expect?" "I just didn"t expect that I"d feel this worn out." Natori, still as worn out as he said, climbed to the king"s side. "Am I... going to die?" It could be said that that was just a naïve question that shouldn"t be taken too seriously. Though, it sounded like an honest question, it"s unidentified whether it"s a joke or not. "Don"t insult me, I"m feeling the same way." He pulled Natori closer to him for warmth. "We"ll be okay. We"re just really, really, really...really tired." Curiosity killed no cat here. Natori had never felt anything like that. It wasn"t his first time doing it but the fact that he had to suffer it twice on the same day was much unanticipated. He was leaning against the Cat King and was in the verge of falling asleep beside his body. The Cat King felt the head pressuring on his shoulders. "What? Now you need a catnap?" After the Cat King gazed around the room, he spotted Natori"s glasses. They were still on the floor from where the advisor had taken them off. Having had found them, he placed them back on Natori"s face. "That"s better." Natori"s eyes were flickering. The punishment took a toll on his energy and so tired he was, by now he would"ve drifted off to a deep snooze. "I guess I"ll be going to the party alone then?" A question he had asked to him. But Natori did not answer. Unfortunately, he wasn"t awake anymore. He sighed. "...You deserve a little rest." Poignant but understanding, he did not try to awaken him. The Cat King, in an act of admiration, stood up and carried the sleeping feline to his bed which was to a basket of soft pillows and thick blankets. Despite tiredness still visible from his face, he carried on walking with Natori in his arms until he can put him in the bed which he finally did. Silence filled the room. The dark was still concealing everything because of the curtains but the king decided to take them down to light up the room for Natori. He"d like for him to wake up to a beautiful day yet midnight had struck by now on Earth. He looked at him for a while. He was near at the door of the bedroom and he had already opened it half-through so he can exit. There was a smile on his face as he escorted himself out. "Hmm...Thanks a lot, babe..." The door made a soft bang as he exited. Still, Lune and the prince have not spoken. That is, until... "Well, what happened?" Lune asked Natoru. Apparently, the feline felt that he mustn"t say anything about what he saw. He kept his mouth shut, therefore. He was feeling guilty at this point because he already left the Prince out of turn and that was a very rude gesture, especially if done in front of someone considered higher than anyone else. Who knew an hour passed by since the advisor went to talk to the king? The Cat King was first to make his grand entrance and then Natori came second who just slowly paced to the entrance while fixing himself up, still a bit ruffled from events that took place approximately 62 minutes ago. Natoru was standing in front of the advisor all of a sudden, with a devious look on his face and paws behind his back. Natori so knew what he just saw. Before he could drop a sweat of nervousness, Natoru just said, "Want some cake?" He held out a plate to him. "Um, sure..." From Natoru"s paws he took the plate, and then sniffed it. Possibly, to find out what flavor it was. He picked up some icing on the cake with his nail and tasted it. "Creamy... Thank you." "You"re welcome!" he replied. "But I think I can tell that you"ve had better." "Much better, Natoru. Much better... Wait, what am I saying?" And the party went on all through the live long day. -Finis- What do you think? Please review and whatnot. I"m supposed to be studying now while I was writing this so I have to get myself in trouble so I can finish it. Make it worth the effort. Also, I"ve actually finished this story many weeks ago way before I decided to upload this story. This shows how goddamn reluctant I can get. Also, I"ve hinted a cameo here. Guess who it is.

"No, you don"t have to do this now, you can work on your strength." Jenny said trying to help. But Paul pulled, and pulled and pulled till my arm was in a pile on the floor. "That was amazing!" Paul said. "I know," I said feeling sleepy already, "May I take a short nap? Th-then I promise I will tell you how these powers came to be..." I said slowly blacking out. PAUL Should we get some medical attention? I thought, No, then they will find out about the fact she"s not normal, probably better off sleeping, wait, is she still sleeping? I looked over to her, and saw her eyes open, she looked sad. "What"s the matter?" I asked her. "Deep in thought, I miss my brother, and sisters, and mom, and dad." she said adding one as she thought of them. "Oh, well I can appreciate that," My brain started to think at a rapid rate, then it came to a halt, "Hey, you said you were with John, right, well maybe you can get back the way you came. And take me back with you!" "Good idea, but i"m pretty sure it was my sister," "Tell me about your granddad! You said right before you fell asleep, you would tell us if we left you alone long enough to sleep! SPEAK!" "I WOULD IF YOU"D STOP YELLING!" She yelled, even louder than I ever could, "Thank you, now it"s a bit confusing, so pay attention, Well our granddad, he is well immortal unless killed, which means, he won"t die of old age. He came across the ocean on the Nina, one of Christopher Columbus"s ships. His powers are Time-travel, and Sight." "Wait, he can see, that"s his super power?" "No dummy, Sight into the future." She rolled her eyes at me, "Any who, he was "Blesses by the Indian spirits" Or so he said." "What was his name?" "Crow," "Crow? Like the bird?" "Well his name was originally Gulliver, but he saw into the future, and changed it to Crow." "Crow, Crow? So how many times before a giant void comes up and swallows us whole?" "It"s not like Beetle Juice! It doesn"t do anything like that!" Hope you liked this chapter, i don"t know how long it is, but Celestarts, THANK YOU FOR THE NAMES! George I almost have my hearing back! I know, cause I woke up to someone crying. I looked over at the steel bed next to mine, the bird Ringo brought in yesterday. Her arm was stuck in an odd position, under her pillow. I slowly got up out of bed, and moved her arm, she almost screamed. I slowly moved towards the other side of the bed. "Are you my guardian angel?" She asked. I shook my head and giggled a little. "No, why of course not!" I said as she smothered her face in her pillow. I chuckled a little. "Why were you stuck to the bed frame?" I asked her. "Well, you won"t believe me, but it runs in my family." She said sitting up. "I have traveled through time, lived through an explosion AND met Sherlock stinking Holmes! I don"t think I couldn"t believe anything ever again!" "Yeah," She shook her head, "I guess this entire story is kinda bizarre I"m sorry, I don"t know what I was thinking! I just popped back in time, then I would EXPLODE ON CONTACT!" She yelled at me. "What are you talking about?" I asked, "YOU WERE THE EXPLOSION?" "Uh, Yeah, i think so, I"m not sure," She looked at her lap like she was ashamed of something. "Well there is nothing to be upset about! I can now say i was in an explosion! That is a good thing!" I said trying to cheer her up. we soon heard foot step, and I tried to get to bed but, before I could Ringo walked into the room and saw her sitting up. "She"s alive?" Ringo said to me pointing. "Well yeah!" I said. He tiptoed over to her over to her, and tapped her shoulder. She jumped a little. "Hi, I"m Richie. I am the one that brought you in here." He said as he sat next to her. "Hi Richie, I"m a little woozy." She said as she stood up. "What"s your name?" He asked. "Uh, Astrid, I think. Yeah, Astrid Jones. I have two sisters, and one brother. He was named Charles, and the girls were, us, I think they were Karma, and I think Row." She said shaking her head. "Well we"ll find them, they gotta be here somewhere." he said, trying to reassure her. "No they aren"t anywhere near here, they live in America, and not in this year. they live in 2012. More than 200 years." She said shaking her head. She looked at Ringo, and buried her face in his shoulder. "Uh," Ringo said awkwardly patting her back. She sat up and looked around, and stood up. "You, you believe me, don"t you!" She said pointing at me. "I, uh," "You said that you couldn"t not believe anything any more!" She yelled. "Good thing Watson, and Sherlock are out tonight." Ringo said as she stood on shaky legs. "Well, I have to wrap my head around the fact that YOUR CRAZY!" I said. "I am not crazy, ROU is crazy, I am not crazy. you haven"t seen crazy til you see Rou." She said back her legs shaking and vibrating against one another. She then mumbled, "I have to get out of here," she then shrunk down to an unusual size. She became a rodent and stood on her hind legs. "Your a rat!" Ringo said pulling his legs to his chest. "I am not you ninny, I am a mouse!" "HA, HA HA! The great Ringo is afraid of a mouse!" I said erupting into laughter. As always REVIEW! I know, I need to make my chapters longer! I"m really trying though! John"s POV At dinner we all were extremely quiet as Charlie blabbered on, and on, and on, about his speed. "And I owe it all to John, if he hadn"t pushed me to race him I wouldn"t have gone really fast!" "But then the tree caught on fire," I mumbled. "What caught on fire?" Karyzma asked. "The old oak, I"m sorry mom, my attention was focused on the tree cause we were racing to the tr-" She interrupted Charlie. "NO! YOU BURNT IT DOWN! YOU WILL BE CURSED FOR ALL OF ETERNITY!" She yelled, she stormed out of the room and into the hallway. "Bellona," Their dad said as he followed her. "We"ll that was fun," I said. "This is no time to be sarcastic! Do you know what was so important about that tree? That tree was put there by Crow, He planted it as a child and it has grown as he has! Now you have put a curse on us all," Karyzma said going to her room And slamming the door shut. "What is up with them?" I asked. "I don"t know, but there is something I don"t like about that crow guy," Charlie said, "Hey! You wanna go and play my favorite game?" "Sure what is it?" I asked. "BEATLES ROCK BAND!" He shouted like I should know. Astrid"s POV I walked along the grubby street, "Why did I even leave that house?' I asked myself. I went around a corner and saw the 2 Beatles, Ringo and George went in opposite directions, Ringo went into a clock shop, and George went around the other corner to where I couldn"t see him. "Ringo is the gentler of the two, so I"ll follow him first.' I thought, I slowly went into the clock shop and was immediately stopped at the door. "My dear, no woman without proper clothing is allowed unless accompanied by a gentleman." He said pushing me back out the door. "Wait! Astrid, darling, where have you been? I"ve looked all over town trying to find you, when I saw this clock shop and thought that clock would be a perfect addition to your collection!" Ringo said pointing at a clock that looked like a pile of rubbish. "Oh, my sweet," I said through clenched teeth, "Where have you been? I"ve looked all over for you too! Then I saw this clock and fell instantly in love with it!" I said. Ringo walked me over to the glass case and saw George walking towards the store. "GEORGE!" Ringo screamed. "OH! Hey Richie!" He said walking in, "You caught our little mouse?" He said. "Yeah, she walked right into the store, got pushed out for how inappropriately she was dressed, then I saved her!" He said putting his arm around my shoulders playfully. I giggled a little and started to listen to them. "Well how will we get home?" George asked. "Well I don"t know, how did we get here? First we must answer that question." "Wow, some of Sherlock rubbed off on you Richie," Ringo looked infuriated. "Stop calling me Richie, I am Ringo for a reason, NOW! I have a pl-" "You can"t have a plan, I know exactly how I got here, and I get myself and you two back to John, but I can"t get you home, not without Paul!" "THEN DO IT HONEY!" George screamed. A man walked up to the counter and sighed. "I"m sorry boys you all must leave, people are staring, and I already have enough of a headache! So...GO!" He said ushering us out the door. "Grab my arms," I said the reluctantly did, and soon there was nothing but to tight grips on my wrists, but other than that, it was utter darkness. Rou"s POV I had spent 3 weeks with Paul and Jenny, and it was the day they were expected to get married. Paul and I have been devising a plan to get the heck out of there, and thank heaven for the BBC. I thought about the days and weeks I had spent watching Doctor Who. After that I studied up on the subject of time travel, an. I did everything possible, I even got the stability app to see if it was stable or not. Some how I had reduced the bulky box I had everything in, to a square inch cube. "Paul, are you willing to risk your watch to take us home?" I asked holding out my hand. He nodded. I set the cube to 3:00 pm. "Alright, it"s gonna take about 30 minutes to see if it works." "Why soo long?" He asked as it slowly disappeared. "Well nearest hour, and it"s too late now!" I said. 30 MINUTES LATER A small black cube showed up on the table next to me. I gasped. "PAUL! PAUL WE CAN GO HOME NOW!" I screamed running into the room. I found Paul standing in some sort of trance. I screamed in his ear repeatedly. But it was no use, his mouth was partly open and his eyes were glazed over. No use trying to wake him... a voice echoed in my head, His concision mind is tucked away, and I am here to stay... It faded off. I freaked out, I dialed the numbers to get back home, I knew taking a trip this soon after using it would corrode the inside, but I had to get Paul out of there. I didn"t know if my small body would make such a trip, but I knew Paul would, and that was all that mattered. A cold, sharp wind hit my face as I held the cube between mine and Paul"s hands. Daylight invaded my space, as we crash-landed on the pavement of our driveway. Charlie"s POV We went outside after I brutally beat John at his own game (Literally at his own game) As soon as we got past the cars, we saw 2 bodies laying on the driveway. "Paul?" John ventured. "Rou, Astrid?" I couldn"t tell which. She sat up rubbing her head. I realized it was Rou, "What"s wrong with Paul, Rou?" I asked. "I- Help Paul inside," I realized she was crying and looking at her left arm. I walked over to her with John following. "Take Paul inside Charlie," John said to me. I put my arm around John"s shoulders and started dragging him inside, "I GOT SPEED, NOT STRENGTH!" I yelled over my shoulder. John"s POV Charlie pulled Paul inside as I sat down next to Rou. I looked at her arm and saw the odd angle it was in. I picked up her arm and ran my finger down the cut that rand across the inside of it from the wrist to the elbow. She winced alot, but she didn"t scream or pass out from the pain. She was tough, but stubborn. I helped her up and noticed a little black box steaming in her hand, it looked like it had burst into flames. I slowly took it from her, and looked at it. We walked back in the house. "ROU MY BABY GIRL! Are you alright?" Bellona, (Their Mom), bustled in, and took her daughter"s arm and st to fix it. "HEY PAULIE! HOW YA FEELIN?" I asked loudly. "Now, I have a headache," Paul said as he sat up. There was a loud knock on the door, I went to answer it. "Hey, John," Hi, if there are any who haven"t given up on this story, I an truly sorry that I haven"t updated in like an eternity, but I have written a really long chapter to show how sorry I am, So am I forgiven? ~ShortyBlackwell1 Astrid I slowly opened my eyes and saw my brilliant home, it looked different. I had realized how off I was when I saw 2 adult looking people and a shorter person. They walked out the door. "Astrid?" The smaller girl asked after she saw me. She decided it was me, and ran up to give me a hug, she was a little taller then me, but I could tell it was Rou, "Oh, Astrid," She pulled back. "UH, ROU? SHE"S AWAKE...AGAIN!" A man yelled from the door way, with a baby in his arms. "Alright! I"ll be right there, after I talk to someone...very special." She smiled, "OH! I almost forgot," She handed me a rusty old bronze telescope, "You-you don"t recognize me, do you?" She asked. "You"re Rou, my younger sister, or right now, should I say older!" I chuckled, "Who"s that?" I asked gesturing to the man, and the baby. "Bellona, after Mom," She said smiling. "Where did my life go?" I asked. The boys cleared their throats. "OH! You have to go...like NOW! Just let me talk to the boys," She gave me another hug, and walked to George and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. Then turned to Ringo. "No matter what I tell you in the past, you are and were my favorite Beatle." She gave him a hug too, "GO AND SAVE THE WORLD FOR ME!" She yelled as she disappeared into the darkness. We soon reappeared in the right time, and the right place. "This way boys," I said realizing I was still in a night gown, "I need a change of clothes!" I said as I knocked on the door. Charlie A man rummaged through a filing cabinet and closed his eyes. He soon disappeared as a hooded figure blasted through the door. "CROW!" Someone yelled. "OW!" I said quietly, John saw my pain and walked over. "Hey Charles," He said sitting next to me. My vision had blurred, but it slowly came into focus. "Charlie?" He asked again. "Oh, yeah?" I asked. "You alright, you look sickly, like someone kicked you in the stomach," He said. "Oh, yeah, I"m fine, just a bit of a headache." I answered. "You"ve been having headaches for awhile now, you sure your alright?" "You"ve been having headaches?" their mother asked, "Maybe you have one of Crow"s powers, foresight." She said. "No, Mom, I don"t think-" "But it is! What did you-" "Just see, well it was a man, he was rifling through a filing cabinet, then he disappeared, and another man in a hooded cloak busted in and shouted something about a bird." I said quickly. "What kind of bird?" John asked. "Oh, it was just a pigeon, or a crow or something like that." I answered, "Why?" "Crow?" Rou said he eyes got wide. "Yes what can you remember about the legends that had to do with a crow, or a man maybe named Crow." Their mom asked. "Uh, Crow is the son of Damien, he was on of the original pioneers, and he AND his son are both our ancestors, and it"s like their our granddad, and great granddad. They are immortal unless killed, and here"s my question, what are they doing in our neck of the woods?" Rou spouted knowledge, like that was all she had ever known, "And, bad news for you Charlie, They both have time-travel abilities AND can see into the future. It"s said, that whoever has these abilities is cursed, and destined to...uh, Mom, can I talk to you for a minute," She asked. "Sure, what is it? What"s the end of your sentence?" "Well, the book said one shall die, and the other be forever crippled in some way," She said quietly, "And I think Astrid is the other one mentioned." She swallowed hard. A knock came to the door. "I"ll get it...AGAIN!" John said, the first time it had been a traveling sales men, but this time... John "JOHN! OH I AM SO GLAD TO SEE YOU!" A young girl who was accompanied by Ringo and George jumped up and gave me a hug. "Who"s this?" I mouthed. "Astrid, you might want to let John breathe, ok?" George said. "Where"s Charlie? Is Rou back? Do you have Paul? How"s Karyzma? MOM?" She yelled pushing past me, and running to the living room. "Astrid?" Charlie asked. He jumped up and gave his sister a hug, and she kissed his head. "Oh, I missed you! Mom, I have Time-Travel..." she said smiling brightly, we all sighed, and looked at the two, "What, do I have dirt on my face? Is there something wrong?" She asked. "Yeah, I have to tell you we have to find these two me, and stop them from doing something, I think they want to destroy our ENTIRE family." Rou said. "Tell me what I have to do," She said. DUN DUN DUUUUUUUH! I have had no Ideas for this story, but now...OH HO HO! I have a headache thinking about all the possibilities! Please Review! ~Shoryblackwell1 Charlie "Oh, boy," I mumbled as I crumbled into a pile on the floor. "Charlie!" Astrid yelled and knelt beside me, and sat me up. "What do you see?" Mom asked. "Umm, Well there is a man, he has a file, and is running down a hall, and a dark figure is getting closer the faster he runs. The man with the file is the same one that the dark figure called after he ran with whatever it was in his hand at the time." I soon lost the image, but gained access to see where they were, "The woods behind the house, and their coming fast!" As if to prove my point a knock came mere seconds after I spoke. "We can"t let him in! It"s Crow! He"s one of the bad guys!" Karyzma yelled from the door. "NO! Let him in! He has something we need!" I shouted. She opened the door to let him in. "Hello, my name is Gulliver Crow, and I have something that will save your lives," He handed the file to me. I opened it, and read the legend that went like this. "When Daemon returns 6 shall answer the call with the chosen 3-" I started. "That"s me, you , and her," Crow said pointing to Astrid, I glared, "Continue, Continue!" "They shall fight, and 1- 1 shall end. They must out-wit, out-last, and out-stand. Only then shall he fall, and Crow shall be free to age again." "Girls, Boys, go get changed up," Mom said, "And..." She looked around, "Get the Christmas Presents." What Mom meant about "Christmas Presents" Was our own way to protect ourselves, based on our personalities. Rou is attractive, but dangerous, and quite tomboy-ish so they got her a dagger with various jewels in the hilt. Astrid is closed up most of the time. Always far from the fight. She is tall and thin, so Mom, and Dad got her a long bow. Karyzma is tall, and thin. She is extremely girly, and loves anything pink and/or sparkly. So they got her a sword that is clear as a mirror, and tinted pink. And finally me, I am pretty much a mixture of Rou, and Astrid, so they got me a silver long sword. Once we were all ready a dark cloud rested over the lawn. Rou shivered, and looked around. "I"m scared," She said she was breathing hard, and looking like she was either gonna cry, or throw up, "I"ve never used this, I don"t know how! What am I gonna do?" She said. We all stopped, and looked at her. She began to cry. She tried to rein it in, and calm down, but this only made her cry harder. John looked at her, and gave her a hug. He really had a soft spot for her. She pulled back, and took a deep breath. She nodded, and began to walk again. (Ok, from this point on it"ll be in the narrators POV) The 8 walked into the forest, and came to a clearing. There was a swirl of dry leaves, and there was a hooded figure. He whipped off the cloak, and revealed his ever-changing skin. His appearance never stayed for more than a few seconds. "Alright, who"s first," His voice was neither man, nor woman, "Who shall out-wit me?" He asked. "I will!" Astrid yelled. "The yelling was a bit unnecessary," Rou said, "Just saying," Astrid rolled her eyes, and stepped forward. "Choose your weapon," He said. Astrid thought back to when she read the Hobbit, and decided to do riddles. "Riddles," "Alright, you go first," He said "No, he who strikes first loses," She said, "You go," She said. "What has holes, but still holds water?" He asked. "A sponge. What is the only thing you can put in a bucket to make it lighter?" "A hole. What is in my pocket?" He asked. She looked at his outfit, and noticed something. "Nothing, you have no pockets," She said. "Clever girl," He said scoffing, "but can you fight?" He pulled a sword out of thin air, and lunged. DU DU DUUUUUUUHHHH! Author"s Note: John ends up where and (obviously) when I live. Unless I"m In La-La Land! GEORGE"S POV "MAN I"M NOT GOIN IN THERE! IT ATE RINGO, AND PAUL, IT AIN"T GETTING A SLICE OF GEORGIE TOO!" I yelled. "Oh, YES YOU ARE!" John yelled with a swift push I fell into the abyss of nothingness. I soon realized I was yelling for no apparent reason, I opened my eyes and saw Ringo standing next to a man with a pipe hanging out of his mouth. I closed my eyes again. "Ringo, whe-where am I?" I asked, almost afraid of the answer. "London, England 1877. Where else?" The man said. "How on earth did I get here?" I asked Ringo. "You went through the box." Ringo said calmly. "Then where"s Paul? He went through the box too! And...And-did you re-replace Me?" I asked. "No, This, This is Sherlock Holmes! The one and only Consulting Detective!" Ringo said excitedly. "Oh, I see, I just hit the side of the box and as I did, I blacked out! and now i"m in a dream! this isn"t happening!" I said. "Nope, try again!" Ringo said. "Wha..?" I started. "Nope, Welcome to a new reality!" "Watson, You might want to put some tea on for our new guest..." Sherlock yelled. "New...Guest, when did he get here? Oh, Never mind! Hello, I"m Dr. John Watson, uh, his friend." I shook the hand that was held out to me. I started to stare. Ringo cleared his throat, and motioned to my hand.

I kissed him on the forehead, which woke him up. "Where ya goin?" he asked. "Home..." I started. He got up, wrapped his arms around my waist, and pulled me close. I turned around and draped my arms over his shoulders "Can"t you stay?" he whispered to me quietly. "I gotta go to wor-" flashing and many questions like "Are you together?' and "Will you be engaged?' and who can forget "What did you have for lunch?' cut me off. I looked at my watch. "Oh no! It is 2:30...I"ll be late and then I"ll get fired and then I"ll get evicted from my house..." I just kept babbling and babbling and babbling until he grabbed my hand and bolted so naturally I stopped and ran. We found an abandon cottage that looked like it had no inhabitants for about 50 years. We ran in hoping there was a lock to get away from the heat! Just our luck, there was not. "What are we going to do?" I screamed as he leaned against the door. "I don"t know..." he looked down as if he was shamed. Then I realized something the reporters and Peter did not. "It"s a push door from the inside." I whispered to him as I moved him away from the door and slid a chair under the handle. "Oh...wow." He said, now looking a bit embarrassed. I giggled at him as he blushed a little and took me in his arms. My smile never went away as he kissed me gently before sitting down on the floor with me in his arms. This gave us a chance to look around the old cottage. It was small, but just big enough to hold a family of three or four. It had a small kitchen with just enough counter space to use for cooking, and a small dining area with an old broken table. We stayed there till twilight... The end "COME ON!" Bella pulled on my arm. "We are like 3 yards from the playground, I think you can go on." I let go of the 6 year old"s hand and she sped off. "IZZY!" she yelled as she hugged her best friend Izabelle. I had just sat on my knees in the grass as someone sat next to me. "JIMMY! WAIT YOUR TURN ON THE SLIDE!" He yelled in an accent that meant he had come from the south. "Is he yours?" I asked. "No, I"m his baby-sitter," He laughed like the monster/child couldn"t possibly belong to him. "Hang on a moment," I said politely, as I ran over to Bella, "Now, Bella, is it Izzy"s doll?" I asked sternly. "Yeah, but sh-" "No, "buts", give Izzy her doll back," I said as I looked back to where I sat. The man was gone but his things stayed there. I walked back and saw there was a guitar case, but still no guy. "HEY!" Someone yelled as I bent over to open the case, I slowly stood up and put my arms up, "Why are you touchin" my guitar case?" He asked. "Sorry," I said as I slowly turned around, and saw the huge smile on his face. "So, who are you Darlin?" He asked. I told him my name, and he laughed. I shook my head and started to grab my book from the ground, "No, don"t go! I was laughing cause my name is worse than that," "Oh, and what is this hideous thing you call a name?" I asked cocking an eyebrow. "Well, Robert Michael Nesmith...?" He said like it was a question. "Nes what?" I asked. "Mith, Nesmith," I erupted into giggles, and sat down on the grass where I was, "So you forgive me for laughing at your name?" he asked. "Sure...BELLA!" I yelled for her, she scurried up the hill, and sat next to me, "Your parents are here, so in a minute you"ll have to go, so say good-bye to Izzy," I said "She said I wasn"t her friend anymore...she said she hated me, and then pulled my hair." She said sitting next to me, and resting her head on my chest. "Oh, I remember when me and my best buddy broke up for the first time," "First time?" She asked in astonishment. "Oh, yeah, she and I have like broken up like 800 Million times! The first time was in kinder-garden, I was trying to build a car out of blocks, and she took them all from me, but I was the one that broke up with her! So, my point is maybe you did something to make her angry," I said. "Really, all I did was put sand in her shoe..." "Oh, that"ll do it!" I said. "BELLA HONEY!" Her parents called. "Go on," I said. She ran off and waved at me. "Wow, you don"t work for a rich snob?" Mike asked. "No, I work for the Jameson family! They are really nice, but sometimes they have to work at the same time, and so they hire me!" "Really, I work for the Lotsocash"s...They are not nice...but they pay me a lot..." He said looking down. "HA!" I said as I walked away towards the fountain. "Where you goin?" He asked getting up and following me. "For a walk..." I said putting emphasis on the k in walk. "Really? May I walk with you?" "NO!" I yelled running down the sidewalk. The Next Day... I went to the park just like yesterday, but the difference was no Bella. I went to the fountain, and tossed a coin in wishing I could see Mr. Nesmith again. As if my wish had come true, there he was with a hat out with some change and his guitar over his lap. He put his guitar down after a few hours, and by that time, it had gotten dark. I leaned over and splashed him. He looked over at me, and laughed a little. "You shouldn"t have done that..." He said as he stood up, I splashed him again, "Alright... now you"ve asked for it!" He said chasing me around it. I kept stopping, "I"ve got you my pretty!" His southern accent came through, he jumped in the fountain and grabbed me around my waist and pulled me in. "NO!" I screamed and kicked but he just held me tighter. I soon got loose, and pulled him down and into the water. "AW!" He screamed. "Who"s got who? My Pretty?" I asked laughing and walking back over to the side, I felt a tug at my ankle, and soon I was all wet. I surfaced, and saw Mike laughing wildly. "I now got you my PRETTY!" He said once again. I gave in. "FINE! YOU GOT ME! So, why don"t you have me?" I asked. "What are you talking about?" He said as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "Oh, I don"t know, I jus-" "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING OUT HERE?" A voice came from the darkness, he came into the light and saw we were in the fountain, "THIS FOUNTAIN IS OFF LIMITS DURING THE DAY...AND IT REALLY IS OFF LIMITS AFTER HOURS! GET OUT OF HERE!" He yelled Mike scrambled to his feet and helped me up. We got out of the fountain and walked over to his guitar case, as he put the change in his pocket, he put the hat on my head. His guitar was already put away when we walked out of the park, and down the road. "So, where you live?" He asked taking my hand. "Oh, down the road." I said, we walked up to the door of my apartment, and stopped. "What?" He asked. "Well, you won"t kiss me?" I asked getting fakely offended. "Well, if you want me to, I suppose one kiss won"t hurt anything." He said as he leaned down and kissed my lips. I knew I would probably neversee him again, but I had this moment... I woke up to my lousy radio-alarm-clock blaring "Raunchy" by Bill Justis. I pulled the curtains back and let the sunshine warm my freezing skin. I sat down on my bed and thought for about 15 minutes on what I was gonna do today. I finally decided on going for a walk in the park. As I walked down to the garage to start my car I realized something leaking from the engine. I bent over to see what it was when I slipped and fell hitting my head on the pavement. I then blacked out, but could still feel around me. I felt someone pick me up and carry me back inside, and place me down on a warm couch. A blanket went over me, and I soon fell asleep, and forgot the whole thing. "Dr. Smith, I have no idea why I"ve been having these headaches, they all started in May. I remember going out to my car, and leaning over, and then a sharp pain in my head. What is wrong with me?" "Nothing, a lot of sleep won"t cure!" Dr. Smith said, helping me down off the table. "Alright, thanks." I began to walk home, and I became very dizzy. I began stumbling about and soon saw a shadow behind me. I nearly fell over, but didn"t cause the shadow caught me. He sat down in the grass, and started to breath really hard. "You almost took a tumble, there didn"t you!" He said. "Who are you? Why did you save me? Anyone else would"ve left me in the dirt! But you didn"t, Why?" I blurted. "Well, I"m Micky Dolenz, I have saved you before, do you remember?" He asked. "Remember what?" "You have been having headaches, right? Do you remember that one time you went to your car, and fell, and you nearly cracked your head open?" "No, and I have no clue who you are, so please leave me alone?" I said, and went home, as soon as I got there I passed out again, not even on the couch, in the doorway, not even shutting the door. I felt myself being lifted, and placed on my own couch. The next morning I woke up with a jerk. I saw a note. hi, Micky here, I wanted to let you know that"s 3 times I"ve saved you. So you owe me a date! I live 1334 North Beachwood Drive. See you there at around 8! "Oh, that boy!" I said slamming the note down on the table. I decided to walk over to his house. I knocked on the door, and soon got an answer, "Micky, I will not go on a date with you at 8!" I said, then he leaned down and kissed me. "Please will you go on a date with me now?" He asked. I could do nothing but nod. THE END! A knock on my door came. It was twelve in the afternoon, and I"m cooking lunch for myself. Here I was living alone with my cat, Calico and so far, I"m getting really busy all week, since that job I got in the radio station KZWDB. I dropped the knife on my chopping board while I grabbed a towel to wipe off my hands. I opened the door and Davy stood on the front porch as usual looking down at his nails. He was dressed in a casual outfit; an eight-buttoned down, double-breasted, blue shirt and bell bottoms. By contrast, I looked like a poor maid with a disheveled hair that was put into a loose ponytail, a messed up hand-me-down clothes from my mom needing a groovy outfit to wear. I looked like a pig who had been playing around the mud. Davy pecked on my cheek and hugged me. I pulled away from him abruptly. "Darling, what"s wrong?" "Oh, Davy. I don"t want your precious clothes to be dirty. I mean look at you" "I don"t care," Davy interrupted. "You"re still beautiful just the way you are." He leaned in to kiss me. Tingles shot up and down my spine. What I loved about him was that he was the less judgmental Monkee in the group. He thought that every woman were pretty. No matter how old they could get, they were still beautiful in his eyes. "So, what are you doing today?" Davy asked as he crashed on the living room couch. "Cooking lunch. How about you? I though you guys have a gig to go to." "We decided to re-schedule it. I have to go to England on Saturday to visit my family." "Oh..." "I want you to come with me. I want you to get to know my family." Davy held my hand. "Oh, Davy. I don"t know about that. I just got a job at the radio station yesterday and I"m gonna be really busy. I have it on the weekends and on Tuesday nights, as well." "Call in sick, then." "Davy, that"s ridiculous." There was no way I could do that. Was he crazy? "I need this job. I need to earn money to pay the rent, so my landlord won"t kick me out." "Okay, okay. How about tomorrow? I could change the schedule from the airport." "Tomorrow"s fine." I smiled. He cupped my face and leaned in to kiss me. I kissed him back. The next day, Davy called me to get ready to leave, so he would pick me up and go to the airport. One thing for sure that I wasn"t ready for was to meet his family. What if they were rich? What if they looked even way more and talk more sophisticated than me? What if they didn"t like me, or hate me? What if they were judgmental? What if they don"t accept me for who I am? "Oh, quit it! Stop fooling around!' I rummaged for my clothes to get it all packed up in my luggage. I ate breakfast quickly, took a shower, brushed my teeth, and went in my room to find a perfect outfit for me to wear. I gave up and just put on a casual dress and my black go-go boots. I put my hair in a braid. I tapped my feet while I was waiting for Davy. Yesterday, I called my friend to take care of the cat, since there were no pets allowed in the airport. I checked on my watch. It was 7:31 in the morning until a knock came at the door. Just in time. I opened it, and Davy looked astounding. He wore a suit and a tie, along with his shades, his dress pants, and his black shoes, as if it had been shine by a wax, or as if it was brand new. He smelled delightful with that Yardley Black Label aftershave of his, even though he hadn"t grown any facial hair. I hugged Davy and he hugged me back. "Are you ready?" He asked. "Yeah, I"m ready." "Manchester England, here we come!" He grinned. Yes indeed. Here we come. The flight to Manchester, England was swell. We had a pleasant breakfast, we talked, we made out a million times, but Davy didn"t mind. Right now, we"re in a cab. The driver was sitting on the opposite side, instead of the other way around like Americans drove these days. I looked out the window observing the scenery. The place was magnificent; people wore old-fashioned clothes, the red double-decker buses, and by just seeing this view, it was very refreshing. The car jolted to a halt near a row of townhouses. It was groovy. Mixtures of colours captivated the house; almost like a pattern. But, I didn"t know he lived in a house like this. I thought he would be living in a mansion with a butler, a majestic, gigantic lawn, like that movie I just watch,"My Fair Lady". Davy helped me with the luggage, while he rang the doorbell. My stomach churned. There were butterflies in my stomach. Davy noticed my expression and gave me a genuine smile. "It"s okay. You"ll be fine." Davy pecked on my cheek. I held his hand tightly. The door opened and an old man with grey hair stood in front of us. He had the same height as Davy"s, same bushy eyebrows as his, the same with his pillow lips, and his warm, chocolate-brown eyes. "Hello, dad." Davy smiled. "Oh, Davy my lad," His father looked at me and to Davy. "Oh well hello. Who is this lovely lady?" Davy looked at me. He wrapped his arm affectionately around my waist. He introduced me to his father and let us in the house. The place looked warm and cozy, it was very lovely. There were family pictures hanging from the walls of the hallway, the living room had Davy"s award from the horse race and an apprenticeship that he had for five years with his coach, Basil Foster. I took a look around the place. I sighed. "Davy, this is amazing." He held my hand. "See, now you"re not scared anymore. I promise you, that you have nothing to worry about." I nodded. We had a lovely talk with Davy"s father. Sadly, his mother passed away when Davy was fourteen. I also got a chance to meet his sisters as well. I realized he was the only brother they had, which I found it quite cute. The sisters introduced themselves to me, and we somehow ended up talking and talking for countless hours about Davy. I giggled every time they would make fun of him, it was adorable. One of Davy"s sisters, Beryl, had so much in common with me. We had a great time, I must say. I even got a chance to meet Davy"s dog, Dodger. After the laughter and all the giggling from the Jones sisters, Davy led me upstairs to his bedroom. He opened the door for me and led me in. He closed the door once he got inside and sat at the edge of his bed. His room was quite small filled with Broadway posters, pictures, and his wall painted with horses, galloping towards the sunset. He had a bookshelf stacked with photo albums and books that were alphabetized and very well-organized; his room smelled of cologne. On his desk were some pictures of his horses, and his family. He was a clean-cut kid after all. Davy patted his bed. "Come here." I sat beside him. He put his arm around me as I nuzzled my head against his chest. I could hear his heart beating at a steady pulse. "So what do you think?" Davy asked. "I think it"s amazing. I really loved your family." "See, I told you everything was going to be fine," he kissed the top of my head as I nuzzled against him once more. "So, we have a guest room downstairs. I hope you"re okay with that." "Oh, that"s great. I"ll be fine really." I looked up at him. He looked back. I cupped his face in my hands and close my eyes, nuzzling my nose against his. "I love you, Davy." Davy chuckled. He brushed away a lock of hair from my face. He tilted my chin, my face hot. "I love you too, my love." He leaned in and kissed me. I kissed him back. We stayed in his room for God knows how long. The next morning, I was awaken by the alarm clock, ringing beside my bed. I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and turned off the alarm. I stretched and made an irritable yawn. I took off the blanket and stood up, stretching once again. I opened the drawn curtains, blinding me from the bright light outside, then I realized I wasn"t at my house. I was in my boyfriend"s house, having to stay for a vacation. I smiled. I made my bed, while I tied my hair into a bun and went to the living room. "Good morning, love!" Davy said as he stood up from the couch and pecked my cheek. "Good morning, Davy." I smiled. "Want any breakfast? My sisters are making pancakes, bacon and eggs." I nodded. The delightful smell of the food in the kitchen wafted through my nose, making me all mouth-watered. Davy and I went to the kitchen, seeing Davy"s sisters cooking in synchronization. They turned around and smiled. "Good morning!" They"d all chorused. "Good morning, Beryl, Linda, and Hazel." I responded, trying to be cheerful, but my voice came out groggy. "Dear, take a seat and eat." Hazel insisted as she pulled out six plates out of the cabinet and put it on their small kitchen table, then got some forks and napkins and sat down. "Thanks." I said as Davy offered me a chair. "You"re quite welcome, love." He pecked on my cheek. I stayed quiet as Linda was scrambling eggs, stirring it with the flick of her wrist, sliding a generous portion of yellow, fluffy eggs onto the plate in front of me. She put each egg on each plate. Davy called his father to eat and we started to dig in. After breakfast, I helped Davy"s sisters to do the dishes and clean the place. We were all damped with sweat, yet we had fun. Beryl played "Drive My Car" from the turntable while we bopped our heads along to the song. "Baby you can drive my car, yes I"m gonna be a star, baby you can drive my car and maybe I love you. Beep beep beep beep yeah!" We all chorused. After all the cleaning, Davy and I sat down from the front porch bench, while Davy"s head rested on my lap as I stroked his soft chestnut hair. "Do you want to go riding with me today?" He asked. "On horses?" "I think you"d really enjoy it after I give you a few brief lessons. I would love to show you the place and the horses; 14 of them." Yesterday, Beryl told me about Davy. When he became a stable lad in Newmarket, England, and he remained a committed and hands-on horseman. Whenever he was not performing or on the road doing concerts, he was up at 5am and in the stables feeding, grooming, riding and caring for his horses. My jaw dropped. "14? Oh my, Davy. That must"ve cost you a lot of money, doing a lot of horse work. I bet you have a big ranch." "I"m keeping all our family finances in shape, need not to worry about it, love. So, what do you say?" He looked up at me. I touched his face. "Well, I do love horses... alright." He smiled. "Great! We"ll leave soon. I"ll tell dad and my sisters." "How far is the place?" I asked. "It"s in Newmarket, so that"ll take us three hours of drive. If we take a train or a double-decker, it"ll take us longer." Davy explained. "Okay then. Sure, I"d love to come!" I grinned at him. Davy drove us to Newmarket using his father"s car. I was at one of the stables as Davy watered the horses, and groomed them by brushing the long manes and its body as well. He gave me a tour around the stables, introducing me to the horses, one by one. "This is Anastasia." He showed me the white horse, it was drinking from a trough. I touched its soft long mane and she didn"t flinch or move once I stroked its hair. She was calm and a very gentle horse. "I have three retired race horses from my father"s good friend. One was the Black Stallion, El Magnifico -" I giggled when he said that. "Then Manchester Jones and Baz Foster." "You named it after your trainer?" I raised my eyebrows. "Yeah, he"s a good friend of mine. He"s very good at riding one of these horses, very good with them. He"s like a second father to me." I nodded when he said this. An hour or so, we went to the field as Davy helped me climb on the saddle, on his horse Manchester Jones, nervous about falling down. "Hold on, hold on, I"ll ride with you." I nodded, and smiled a little, still afraid of falling off. Davy chuckled. "What are you laughing at?" I asked. "You"re so nervous! It"s cute!" I opened my mouth, and was about to say something, but the horse reared, and I was thrown back. "AH!" Davy yelled, he ran over to me, and kneeled down next to me, "Are you alright?" He asked. I slowly nodded. He pressed his lips to mine and kissed me. I decided this was the man I wanted to marry...

"Hey, I didn"t think I was goin to come," Mike said, "But I"m glad I did." He smiled a sheepish smile. Luca lead them to the refreshments table, and told them to help themselves. Micky looked at Luca, and smiled. She wore a sunhat with a yellow band with purple polka dots. The hat itself was a darker shade of Purple. She walked off, and went to speak with her relatives. The funeral soon ended, and Luca gave Mike one last hug. "Why don"t you come over sometime?" Mike asked. "Why not now?" Micky commented. "Sure, why not now?" Mike asked. "Well, I have to-" "DON"T BE AN IDIOT! We"d love to come!" a girl said coming up to the boys. "Nan, I have a lot of paperwork to do!" Luca complained. "No, you have a lot of family time to catch up on!" She said. "This is Nancy, Nancy, Mike and his friends that he still hasn"t introduced me to!" She said. "Micky, Peter, and Davy," Mike said pointing to each in turn. "Good, we all know each other! Let"s go to your place!" Nancy said smiling like an idiot. This is by Ecc309! YAY! Nancy"s POV The funeral was lovely I"m gonna miss Mr. Jackson he was a nice man I started to walk over to Luca and I saw the most cutest boy I have ever seen I walked up quickly and smiled at him when he smiled back I almost fell over! As soon as I got there they were asking us to come over she started to say no but I couldn"t let that happen how else could be with "the boy" I immediately cut in. "Don"t be an idiot we would love to come!" She introduced me to the four boys there was Mike which I already knew his name there was Micky who I could tell she liked there was Peter and most importantly the beautiful one was Davy oh he was a dream! I couldn"t stop smiling at him it was like we had a connection I probably looked like an idiot because I could tell Luca was looking at me strange but I didn"t care. "Okay let"s go then." Said Mike as we started walking in a group toward the car. "Okay I"ll drive and here a Peter you sit next me and in the back Nancy you sit by the window Davy you sit next to her and Micky next to Davy and Luca next to Micky." I almost died when Mike told Davy to sit next to me when he told Luca to sit next to Micky I could see her smile and start to blush a little. The car was silent Davy never stopped staring at me I know because I never stopped staring at him. Luca just kept staring out the window and then at her feet and then out the window again Micky kept looking at us odd and then he would roll his eyes and then he would start to stare at Luca but when ever she looked at her feet he would look away. We finally got to there apartment and walked in the just started walking around when Davy started to talk to me so I didn"t pay attention to them anymore. "Would you like to go to the balcony?" "Sure" I said as I started to giggle to myself We walked on the balcony and he started to talk again. "You know Nancy your a really nice girl I"d like to get to know you better." "I want to get to know you better too" I said sheepishly as I put my hands on the railing then he put is hand on mine and I looked up at him and almost fainted at the look on his face.He leaned in to me I could start to feel his lips touch mine ever so slightly I pulled back a little and he stopped and I thought to myself "what are you doing you like him he likes you... Hey you only live once!' I shoved forward and started to kiss him I was bit harder than I expected but soon softened down we kissed for what seemed like ages when I felt something almost like someone watching us I think he felt it to because he pulled away kinda awkwardly and we both looked at the window to see Mike eyes wide and jaw dropped I started to stutter. "Uh.. Dddavy and I were jjust a..." "Hold on..." Davy whispered as he walked over to Mike they walked in and started arguing. I couldn"t make out everything they were saying because Davy had shut the door but did hear Mike say. "What are you doing you don"t even know her!?" "It"s okay Mike! We just kissing that doesn"t mean that you have to flip out!" "Um... excuse me... is something the matter?" I said silently as they both just started at me with weird angry faces. "No Mike and I were just discussing something but we will talk about it later. lets go back to the balcony so Mike can catch up on family." We walked over to the balcony. "So Nancy tell me about yourself." "Well I"ve lived in Beachwood, California my whole life my mother passed away when I was very young my father and I lived together we were pretty happy until some robbers broke in our house and my father went to scare them off they shot him in the stomach and before they ran away they lit the house on fire and ran away I was in hiding and quickly ran out to my father he told me to run as fast as I could so I did I kept running and running although I didn"t get very far so I watched my house burn down with my father in it..." I said as some tears came to my just at the thought of it. "That"s when I met Luca she practically a sister to me and mister Jackson he was almost like a father... it"s hard to loose to father"s..." I turn my head as I started to cry harder I could be like this in front of him... "Excuse me I"ll be back" I ran inside past Luca and Micky on the couch and ran out there door I knew Davy was following me so I cut through the bushes so he wouldn"t follow anymore. There was a weird place here in the bushes there were spots on the ground were you could tell someone was walking here there was a chair, a table and a book on the table and some swimming trucks and clothes? I decided to sit down I looked at the book and picked it up and started to read. Davy" s POV She was telling me all about her life as a little girl it was so sad she started to cry and ran away she ran outside and I quickly followed but then I could find her so I came back inside and shut the front door.I turned to Micky and Luca. "What happened?" Said Micky "She was telling me about her backstory and started to cry and ran off." I said as I started to feel bad for even bringing it up. "Oh no poor Nancy! I guess just give her a minute or two she"ll be back soon don"t worry" Said Luca "I"ll be back in a little while..." I said as I walked out the door with some bathing trunks and my blue jacket. When I feel bad I go to the beach and walk a little while then I go to my secret place in the bushes so I can be alone and I usually read to get my mind of whatever it is that"s bothering me so I did. Josephine"s POV- "Josie, will you go and fetch me that switch blade from your brother?" Josie"s Mother asked pointing toward the woods. Josephine gulped and looked into the dark woods, "Go one now!" She nodded and slowly walked into the woods. She felt herself shaking in terror as darkness surrounded her. She hugged herself as she looked around for her brother. She was terrified of the woods. She always had been, and she never really knew why. She was sure something rather traumatic happened when she was little, but her mind blocked it out over the years. As she walked she thought she saw a coyote lurking behind the trees and she shut her eyes tight as she stood as still as she could. She suddenly started to sob and she couldn"t stop it. This always happened in the woods. Sometimes she thought her mother sent her in here just to hear her cry. There was a loud rustling in the leaves and Josie shrieked when something wrapped around her. Peter"s POV- Peter Tork was walking through the woods in an unhappy manner. Davy and Mike had been fighting over some girl that Mike"s friend knew. He didn"t like when they fought. He didn"t like when anyone fought. He didn"t know why, it just upset him. He was sure it had something to do with the way his childhood was, but he didn"t like to think about that. As he walked he tried to think of happy things like the birds chirping and all the other animals. He was doing great not thinking about sad things until he heard crying. He frowned and tried to find it. "Hello?" he called gently. As he walked closer to the sound he ran into a grey cat that was behind a tree. He gasped with surprise and he clutched at his pounding heart. He looked around and he saw a girl with dark hair and rather tan skin. She was the one crying, but as Peter watched her it looked more like hysterical sobbing. He didn"t like seeing people upset so he walked toward her. The leaves rustled loudly under his feet as he moved closer to the girl. He studied her more as he walked to her. She was tall, and she wore a dark purple dress with a white blouse underneath it. It went most of the way down her leg, but it stopped below her knees. Peter finally made it to the girl and he put his arms around her in a show of comfort. She didn"t see it that way. She suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs and then Peter was stunned and on the ground. She looked at him, and he looked back with wide eyes. He groaned and tried to get up, but she held him down with her could tell she was scared out of her mind. "Uh," Peter was trying to come up with something to say, "I"m not gonna hurt you." he said with another slight groan of pain. The girl lifted her foot from his chest and she helped him up. "I"m so sorry!" she said quickly, "I just thought...I mean, I don"t like the woods, and I thought maybe you were- Nevermind. I"m Josie." Peter nodded and smiled kindly at her. "I"m Peter." he said, "So how come you"re in the woods all by yourself?" "Oh, I"m supposed to be finding my brother." Josie said, "What"re you doing in the woods?" She looked at him curiously as they started to walk together. "I was getting away from my friends" fighting." Peter said shrugging. He found Josie very pretty, and he was surprised that he was able to talk to her so easily. "Oh," Josie said, "Um, thank you." Peter frowned at her and she giggled. "For what exactly?" "For trying to make me feel better," she said laughing, "And even though I kinda body slammed you I appreciate it." "Yeah that hurt." Peter said rubbing the back of his neck. Josie blushed. "I"m sorry." she said sincerely. Peter shrugged. "I"ll live," he said waving it off, "So how come you were crying?" Josie looked at the leaf covered ground and sighed. "I was scared." she admitted, "But it"s childish and I"d rather not talk about it." Peter nodded and they walked silently. When they came to a clearing Losie shoved Peter to the ground behind a bush. "OW!" Peter said rubbing the spot on his head he"d smacked on the ground. "Shh!" Josie said harshly. "Oh Josie," a boy said. Peter peaked over the bush he was behind and saw a boy with dark black hair. He was wearing a bandana on his head with baggy pants and just a vest, leaving his chest exposed. He had a switchblade in his hands, "You actually managed to make it here." Josie ignored his remarks, "Mama needs your blade." she said sternly. The boy shrugged. "So?" he asked throwing the blade in the air and catching it again like he"d been doing it for a long time. And maybe he had Peter didn"t know who these people were. "Give it to me Seb," she said holding out her hand. She gave him a glare that made Peter shrink back a little, even though he wasn"t who she was looking at. "Why? Mama wouldn"t care if you came back empty handed," Seb said, "She"ll just think you got scared and ran off before you could find me." "Well I did find you, so give me the knife!" Josie demanded. Seb shook his head and ran away. Josie sighed and plopped down on the ground. Peter got up and ran after Seb. He was unusually good at being quiet and sneaky at times. He snuck up behind the boy and waited for him to stop. When he did Seb laughed to himself and he threw the switch blade into a tree. "When will she ever learn?" Seb asked himself, "I"m Big Brother. I always win." He retrieved the blade and Peter ran silently around the tree and hid there waiting for the blade to be thrown into the tree again. "Little Josephine, scared of the forest." He teased, "Why does she think I hide here?" He threw the knife with all his might at the tree, but he missed. Peter was suddenly thankful he wasn"t peaking around to look then. He saw where the blade landed and when Seb came to look for it, he moved and grabbed it quickly. He closed the blade and stuffed it in his pocket before he slipped away, back to Josie. Josie"s POV- This was hopeless. Seb was such a jerk! She"d made into the forest fine, and though the middle was sort of pathetic, Peter came and helped her! Josie suddenly realized she was alone. Peter had left her. She started to cry again. What if she never got out of the forest? What if she was attacked by some dark and mysterious animal? Then Seb would be sorry. Josie cried for what felt like hours until someone grabbed her again. She squealed and squirmed away, kicking whoever or whatever t was in the process. There was a groan and then; "Josie, you have to stop doing that." She gasped and hurried over to Peter. "I"m so sorry, Peter!" she said, "I was just." "I"m fine." he said shaking his head, "Uh I got you this." He offered her the switchblade and she smiled a brilliant smile that Peter was stunned to see. "Oh Peter!" She said throwing her arms around him, "Thank you so much!" She said. Peter awkwardly hugged her back before they both got up off the ground. "Peter!" Peter heard Mike call. Peter gasped and looked in the direction Mike was calling from, "Pete, I"m sorry Davy and I was fighting! Come on, buddy where are you!?" "I better go." Josie said. Peter nodded as Mike called out for him again, "Thanks again Peter." She stood up on her tip toes and she pecked his cheek before she ran off. As he watched her go he wondered if she ran so fast because she was barefoot. As he thought this Mike found him. "There you are Peter." He panted, "I"ve been looking everywhere for you. Come one back to the pad, I think Luca and Nancy are making dinner." "Oh, OK." Peter said. Josie ran back to camp and she found her mother quickly and she handed her the switchblade, "Here," she said harshly, "The next time you want a switchblade ask someone else to get it or go and get it yourself." She knew she get slapped for her attitude towards her mother, and in a second she was, but she didn"t care. She was in a state of bliss swirled with confusion and slight sadness and longing. She held her burning cheek and walked to her tent. She picked up a long red scarf and draped it over her shoulders as a Peter echoed through her mind. All of him. The way he talked and the way he looked and the way he got the knife for her from her mean older brother. Peter"s POV- Peter and Mike walked into the pad with an aroma of smells floating around. Mike grinned and greeted Luca before he started to help her with the food. Micky was sitting at his drum set banging around and all Peter could do was sit on the couch and think. Often people thought he was dim or stupid because he always made strange comments that didn"t sound like they made sense. But Peter knew they made sense. He"d spend a long time thinking about what to say, and when he thought it was good enough he"d say it. Only sometimes the conversation had shifted and it didn"t fit in. Although sometimes it was just too deep of a comment for most people to understand. So as he sat on the couch he thought about Josie. He wondered where she lived and if he"d see her again. She was a very pretty girl and she seemed nice enough. Peter suddenly decided to go to the woods tomorrow and hope he found her there. He wondered if she"d be crying like before. He made a note to speak before he"d try and comfort her, to keep injuries to a minimum. Peter"s POV After dinner even though it was late I couldn"t help myself! I had to see if Josie was out there still! I snick out and made my way through the nearly dark woods until I heard a scream. At first I was excited thinking it might be Josie but it didn"t sound like her. I suddenly became concerned and started walking faster. I came up to a clearing were Seb was holding a knife to some blond girl. She was crying as he tried to kiss her. That Seb was a dirty skunk! I don"t know what happened after that, all of a sudden I was on top of Seb punching him in the face. I didn"t know I had it in me. I got up and walked over to the girl other than a few cuts and being completely frightened she seemed ok. "Hi! I"m Peter." I said panting rather heavily, "I-i"m C-Charlotte..." she stammered. "Come on, I"ll take you to my place and you can get cleaned up!" I smiled kindly at her so she would trust me. "Ok..." she said hesitantly before following me back through the woods. As we made it back to the house I remembered that I was looking for Josie but it was definitely too late now. "Peter! There you are! You"ve got to quit running off like that!" Davy walked up to us with Nancy holding his hand. He suddenly dropped her hand and his mouth dropped open. "You"re Charlotte Manson! Female racing wonder!" He grinned and Nancy gave him a sad look of disapproval. Charlotte chuckled. "That"s right." "Wow..." he looked her up and down, "What happened to you?" "I was attacked in the woods by some gypsy man!" "You must have been terrified! Here come inside and we"ll get you cleaned up and something to wear. Nancy do you have a dress Charlotte can borrow?" "Sure..." Nancy said flatly. "Great! Come on then! Oh! Tell me about the time you-" Davy"s voice trailed off as they went inside and I was left standing outside with Nancy. Who had her arms crossed. "Oh!" She finally exclaimed and ran off somewhere. I sighed and walked inside thinking about how I would find Josie tomorrow. Charlotte"s POV I followed Davy inside as he jabbered on about racing things. Honestly I was trying to get away from all of that but I didn"t want to be rude. I smiled at him. He was cute but... rather short... "Oh hi Mike this is Charlotte Manson!" He practically squealed. "Forgive me but I don"t know who you are." Mike smiled kindly. I stared at him blankly for a second. Something about him made me... just... wow... I smiled at him. "Oh that"s fine." I finally said and then I felt stupid about saying it. "She was attacked in the woods so I"m going to help her." Davy grinned. "Oh wow! Are you ok?" Mike said frowning. "Um yeah, just a few cuts and bruises..." I looked down and realized just how bad I looked and how torn up my dress was. I suddenly felt embarrassed to be like this in front of him, "Um... if you two will excuse me I"ll just go change..." I motioned toward the bedroom. "Alright! I"ll go find Nancy and she can help you find something." Davy grinned and walked away. "You"ll probably end up wanting to ignore him." Mike chuckled a little and I blushed. He smiled and blushed a little then walked away awkwardly. I quickly walked into the bedroom and felt my warm cheeks which made me blush more. I walked into the bathroom and found a wash cloth and started washing the dirt and blood away. Mike"s POV I walked away from Charlotte awkwardly. She was very pretty with her long blond hair and kinda cute. "What are you smiling about?!" Luca walked over to me grinning. "Oh, nothing..." "Not nothing! Something! Let me guess... Charlotte Manson! Female racing wonder!" She said doing a bad imitation of Davy, I laughed, "So where is she?" She raised an eyebrow still grinning. "She"s in there getting cleaned up. Why don"t you go help her. She was attacked and she needs something to wear and I don"t know if Nancy will be too keen on helping her with the Davy"s acting. I should talk to him..." I grinned. She laughed, "Will do Mr. Nesmith!" She saluted. "It"s good to see you"re feeling better! By the way where"s Micky?" "Oh, um... I don"t know... why would I know?!..." she said and walked away quickly. I laughed and walked downstairs. "Hey Mike!" Peter smiled. "Hey, what were you doing in the woods?" I asked crossing my arms. "Um, well... I heard someone scream and I went to go save them!" He grinned. I wasn"t sure if he was telling the whole truth but I didn"t want to push it. After all if he hadn"t been out there then Charlotte might have... well it didn"t happen... I sat down in an armchair and started playing my guitar. A few minutes later the girls came down the stairs. Charlotte was all cleaned up and in a simple but lovely pale pink dress. I studied her a little closer as she walked down the stairs. She had fairly pale skin but rosie pink cheeks, long straight blond hair and lovely pink lips looking very kissable right now. I suddenly felt very happy until she walked over to Peter gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Peter. How can I ever repay you?" She said sweetly. He just blushed and grinned. I felt very jealous but I was able to calm myself down. Then she looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. "Would you like to stay?!" Davy came out of nowhere. "Um, no, I"m staying at a hotel nearby. But thank you." She turned Luca, "Thank you for letting me borrow the dress. I can bring it back tomorrow." She smiled. "Don"t worry about it." Luca smiled back. "Unless you want to!" Davy cut in. I shook my head as Charlotte gave Davy a strange look. "Here Charlotte I"ll take you home." I said smiling at her. "Ok Mike, thank you." She smiled at me and my insides melted a little bit.

"But, I don"t know..." I said, daring myself to look at him. I never in a million years would tell him I wanted him to propose to me, that would ruin anything that we had if he didn"t want to get married. "Do you think You"ll ever get married?" He asked biting his lip. "I hope so," I shrugged again and he giggled and shrugged back, "What about you, do you ever want to get married?" "Maybe to the right person I guess," he said with a grin. "Who would that be?" I persisted. He sighed and wrapped his arm around my waist. "I let you know when I find her, ok?" he said half joking. I giggled and nodded before putting my head against his shoulder. George"s POV: I tried to come up with some way to get the way Teddy was thinking about getting married to see if maybe she"d be interested, but she wasn"t very helpful until I all out asked her. I liked her answer, but she seemed disappointed at mine. I wanted to ask her, but just not yet... We walked around a bit more before going back to the hotel to find Ivy and Ringo covered in mud. Teddy exploded and started lecturing Ivy in irresponsibility and criminal records while Brian yelled at Ringo for close to the same thing. I put my hand on her shoulder and she stopped yelling and told Ivy to go shower. She groaned and put her head in my shoulder. I kissed the top of her head and wrapped my arms around her. Ringo came out of the room Brian had been scolding him in and he looked upset for a split second before running into his room, pulling me away from Teddy by the arm. Teddy frowned and I shrugged at her before Ringo shut me in our room. "Did you do it!?" he asked excitedly. I sighed and shook my head, and he made a face, "Why not!?" "Because..." I couldn"t come up with anything. I"ve wanted to marry Teddy since she agreed to be my girlfriend, but Ringo HAD to go and ask Ivy first, "Well I don"t wanna step on You and Ivy"s toes and burst your happy bubble or whatever you wanna call it." I sighed and sat down on my bed. "Do you know it she wants you to ask?" Ringo asked curiously. I shrugged and sat back on the bed. "I don"t know. She said she wants to eventually, but it didn"t sound like she was ready for something like that yet." I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. Ringo stood over me and he gave me a sympathetic look before I groaned, "Why"d you have to go and ask Ivy before I could ask Teddy!?" "What?" Ringo asked making a face, "I didn"t know you were thinking about it until after I asked!" "I know, but I was just trying to find a place for it. I was gonna do it on Valentines day but that didn"t go well, and nothing seemed like the right time or place for it!" I said with a huff. "That"s why you were so upset over Valentines day being terrible and ruined?" Ringo asked grinning. I nodded, and so badly wanted to smack him. he giggled and I rolled my eyes before starting to walk out of the room. Ringo grabbed my arm again as I got to the hallway. "God! What is it Ringo!?" I asked, slightly irritated by him. "I want to show you something." he said pulling a ring out of his pocket. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "You only have to propose once," I said. "I know that," Ringo said rolling his eyes, "I just...I wanted to get her a better one." I looked at the ring and saw it was the one he"d already given Ivy, and I made a face at him, "She is probably flipping out because she can"t find it." "I know, but I want her to have a better one." Ringo said as Ivy walked out of the room she and Teddy were staying in. She looked like she"d been crying as she held out a ring to Ringo. He took it and made a face before throwing it away. She made a face at him and he put her ring on her finger. "But, I thought..." I didn"t hear the rest of what was said because I grabbed Teddy and pulled her into her room and shut the door. "Teddy," I said looking her straight in the eyes, "I do love you, you know that right?" She looked confused as she nodded. I kissed her, and she kissed me back and put her arms around me. "I love you too, George," she said smiling, "But why"re you so worried?" I couldn"t really answer that, so I shrugged. "I just don"t wanna lose you." I said to her softly before I kissed her again. She put her head on my shoulder and I sighed. "You promise to always love me?" She asked me quietly. I smiled and kissed her cheek. "Always, love." I said. She giggled and I kissed her again. I hugged her tight and then she shoved me out of her room as Ivy walked in. "Goodnight," I said with a laugh and a wave. She smiled and waved before shutting the door. I went back to my room and went to bed, ignoring Ringo talking to me about Ivy. ~Ivy Teddy and I slept well, and the next day I went on a hunt. A hunt for documents. "What are you doing?" Teddy asked as I plopped a box on my bed. "Well, Ringo said we couldn"t really have a HUGE wedding cause it"ll be in the news papers, and all over the place! So, we"re doing it tomorrow, and I need a birth certificate!" "Oh, well in that case, could you get me one too?" "Oh, did George finally ask?" I asked. "NO! But if he does, or if any one else does, then I"ll have it at the ready!" She said, "And I want to get my drivers licence here!" She exclaimed, "What makes you so sure we have a birth certificate here anyways?" "Well, think about it, we exist here, so I am guessing we have certificates!" She nodded as I pulled out another box. "Those are all the T"s, are you sure we"ll be in there?" I nodded. "Just look!" She opened the box, and rifled through it. "Found mine!" She yelled, and held it up triumphantly. "Keep looking for mine!" I said as I closed the box I was looking through. "Found it! YES!" She said. "YOU FOUND MINE?" I yelled in excitement. "No, I found the chip I dropped in this box." She put it in her mouth, and frowned, "That wasn"t mine," She said after she swallowed. I rolled my eyes, and kept working. We looked for hours, until we finally gave up. I looked around the room, and saw all of the birth certificates scattered about. I groaned and fell face first on my bed. There was a knock. "IT"S OPEN!" Teddy yelled too loud. "Thanks, you girls hungry, we are ordering room service, and we wondered if you wanted some dinner." John asked, "Hey why does this paper have your name on it Ivy?" John asked as he picked it up, and waved it around like a flag. "What has my name on it?" I asked slowly sitting up. "This paper," Teddy said taking it from him, "It"s your birth certificate!" She yelled and handed it to me. "YES!" I yelled as I ran out to the hall where Ringo was standing. "WE CAN GET MARRIED NOW!" He yelled and kissed my cheek. Teddy walked out of the room and saw that I was hyped upon excitement. "Ok, you can"t get married NOW, but you can tomorrow!" "Is it done?" Cynthia asked mysteriously. "Yeah, I placed the call earlier," Teddy answered. The next day "Let"s go!" Ringo said as we walked down the hall to the car. When we finished, Teddy, George, Cynthia, Julian, and John came in. "Is it official?" Teddy asked. "Yep!" I said. Julian walked up with a cupcake in his hand. It had white frosting, and had the bride and groom figurine on top. I chuckled. "The people are made of chocolate, can I have them?" Julian asked. "What do you think? Should he have it?" I asked. Ringo nodded, and pulled it off, and handed it to him. He bit off the groom"s head, and the bride"s feet. "Yikes, he has it out for you two." Cynthia chuckled, and walked out to their car. "Let us leave," John said as we walked out to our car. Welcome Back! Just wanna say real quick, thanks for reading so far! Even if you"re bored out of your mind, your view is still appreciated. I want you warn you however, Reviews are soooo much more appreciated though, soooo REVIEW! And PM me cause I don"t get to see what you guy think otherwise! ~Natasha BE HAPPY! chapter 3 Teddy"s POV I quickly got ready to go to school with Ivy (who by the way likes to go by Peanut suddenly...), and nearly missed the bus because George was pestering me about not knowing what was going on. I sat on the bus alone until my math tutor, Danny sat down next to me. He was super cute, and this is not a good thing for me when I embarrass myself easily (N/A Yes, before you ask; I stink and algebra and so my father got me a tutor...). Danny played the guitar and he looked very much like George Harrison did when he was 16. "Hey, Teddy," he said casually waving at me, "Been studying your algebra?" I nodded and looked out the window to keep myself from saying something stupid. We ride the bus in an awkward silence and I am more than relived when we get off and go to our separate classes. I sigh and go to my locker to get my required books, and I find that there"s a girl staring at me. "Hi," I say frowning at her, because I"m a little weirded out by her, "I"m Teddy..." She grinned, "I"m Patricia," she said holding out an enthusiastic hand. I shook her hand still a little bit awkward. "That"s cool, you know that George Harrison"s first wife"s name was Patricia; She went by Pattie though." I gushed before I could stop myself. "You can totally call me that!" she said as the bell rang and she ran off to her first class. I was still a little confused as I entered geography class and sat down right next to Maggie Mae. She was the girl who made it her special job to make my life in high school the worst experience of my life. "Hello, Teddy," she said with a fake smile. I rolled my eyes and ignored her as she bragged on and on to her friend Rita how John Lennon wrote a song about her. The made me laugh out loud. She was bragging about her name when she"d clearly never heard the song before. She sent me a deathly glare as our teacher stood up and quieted the class so she could start teaching. I tried to pay attention, but I started to think about Paul and what he might do sitting in a boring class. I immediately saw him sitting at the teachers desk copying what she was doing in a mocking manner. I held back my giggles at first, but Paul saw how I reacted and decided to make it worse. He got up out of the chair and bounced around the screaming the words to Maggie Mae. that was when my giggles came through. I was lucky that was all it was because I got a stern look from My teacher and a detention slip for Friday after school for it. I looked at the slip in distaste on my way to lunch while Paul walked next to me apologizing over and over again, "Gosh, Paul." I said quietly so only he could hear, "I forgive you if you shut up and leave me ALONE!" He suddenly vanished as Pattie walked back up to me and she looked excited. We bother picked up a tray for out food and got our lunches. When I got two apples instead of one, she asked me why, and I groaned not wanting to explain how weird I was to the new girl. "Because someone else eats it." I said as I sat down in by normal area. She followed my lead as John appeared and picked up the apple. I looked at him and sighed. "I heard Paul got you detention." John said with a smirk. "Shut it, Lennon," I muttered. Pattie looked at me with a frown. "I"m sorry?" she asked only hearing my mutter. "Nothing, Pattie," I told her looking around, "I really wouldn"t be seen sitting with me, by the way." "How come?" Pattie asked innocently as she ate her lunch. "Because I am what you call the "weird girl"; well me and my twin sister." I said casually putting that part about me in there. Pattie gawked at me, "You have a twin?" she asked in amazement, "That"s so COOL!" I rolled my eyes at her and she ended up eating lunch with me anyway. When all my classes were finally over, I met up with Ivy as she climbed up on the bus that would take us home. We had a small conversation before Pattie squished herself between us, and crowded poor Ivy until she was forced to get up. I knew she didn"t mind all that much because she went to sit in front of Zack Komet a drummer in our grade. I sighed and listened to Pattie babble on about some sort of weird polka group and just when I thought my misery couldn"t last any longer the bus stopped in the middle of the road. We were all ushered out because the engine had shut down from the cold and it was highly dangerous for anyone to be on board evidently. It was freezing out and luckily I had my coat, but I saw that Ivy wasn"t so lucky. I was interrupted from my mental bragging when Maggie stepped in front of me. "So, Teddy, great job getting detention, by the way." she said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes and turned away when I had a brilliant idea. I grinned evilly and said, "Oh dirty Maggie Mae they have taken her away. And she never walk down Lime Street any more;Oh the judge he guilty found her For robbing a homeward bounder. That dirty no good robbin" Maggie Mae! To the port of Liverpool the air it turns me tool! Two pounds ten a week, that was my pay!" She looked at me blankly for a second and she seemed taken aback, "What was that exactly?" she asked angrily cocking an eyebrow at me. "Oh, you mean you don"t the the song?" I asked naively, "Ya know the one John Lennon sang about you?" She narrowed her eyes and me and stormed away with Rita following close behind. I laughed at her and looked to see Pattie laughing with me, and Ivy walking up with a frozen Paul. He was wearing what he wore in Help when they were filming in the Bahamas, and he had ice cycles hanging dramatically off his nose and chin. I giggled and Ivy did too, because she knew what I was laughing at. "So, They said they were gonna call another bus, and it"ll only take about a half hour." Ivy said groaning. I groaned too, "We could"ve been home by now!" I said longing to talk to George without getting strange looks. "We could sneak off and walk?" Ivy suggested with a very John Lennon smirk. I giggled and nodded. As we walked and after Pattie went back to the bus Ivy told about her day and other things we chose to talk about. We"re almost home and there seemed to be a lot of traffic going on on our street and we don"t see the car behind us until we"re knocked to the ground and crash into the snow with tow other people. George"s POV I was sitting on The girl from this morning"s neatly made bed and looked over to Ringo, who was sitting on the opposite bed with a sigh. after a long time of arguing about whether of not we should we exit the bedroom and walk through the house before exiting completely and finding it was freezing and there was snow on the ground. We look around and see two figures walking down the street towards the house. We watch them for a second and determine that they are the girls from earlier, and that"s when everything started to spin into craziness. There was a car behind them and it had no intentions of slowing down. I showed Ringo the car and he bolted for the two girls, with me following close behind. Ringo and I tackled them tot he ground and successfully saved them from being killed by the car. There was a groan from underneath me as I"ve realized I was on top of one of them still. I rolled over into the snow next to her and saw it was the one I"d woken up to that morning. She had wide eyes and she looked more than startled. "Ivy!" she said frustrated, "It"s not fair! Dad said we weren"t supposed to be able to touch them! He said it wouldn"t happen!" I frowned at her and glanced at Ringo who was staring at the other girl who was evidently called Ivy. She seemed to be caught up in his bright blue eyes and she didn"t appear to hear her sister, who was now freaking out and asking me ridiculous questions. "How are you even here!? You aren"t supposed to even show up unless one of us imagines you!" She stood up and I followed her lead as she started to walk toward their home again. "Hey, wait a second!" I said to her more than confused again, "I don"t know how I"m here either!" the girl turned around and looked me in the eye. I nearly wavered and looked away but she looked away before that could happen. she thought for a second and she gasped and started talking to one of the walls of her house. "I don"t get it either!" she exclaimed to the wall, "You"re right here! and right there!" she gestured to the wall then to me and I frowned as Ivy and Ringo finally came up and decided to confuse me more. "Teddy, why"re there two George"s?" Kay, so that was chapter 3! PM me and tell me what you think! BE HAPPY! Excuse me, madam, These young men I"m with wondered if two of us could come over and join you. I"d ask you meself only I"m shy. - Paul McCartney Teddy: Ivy and I spent most of the day looking for her birth certificate. I found mine right off the bat, but we had some trouble with hers. After hours of looking and one stale chip that I miss took for mine, John came in and asked us if we wanted dinner. He then found Ivy"s birth certificate. She was happy, and so was Ringo. I rolled my eyes at them as they did a little happy dance before going into the kitchen to find George making himself a sandwich. He offered half of it to me and I took it as I sat down next to him at the table. "So, Ivy and Ringo are getting married tomorrow." he said keeping his gaze on the table. I nodded and bit into my half of my sandwich. "Yup," I said with a sigh, "Have you found that girl you want to marry yet?" I was mostly joking with him, but he looked at me and nodded. I raised my eyebrows at him and he snickered. I poked his arm and he looked down at the table shyly. "George," I said quietly, "You said you"d tell me who it was!" He shook his head at me and got up out of his chair. I grabbed his arm before he could walk off. I gave him a puppy dog look and he shook his head before giving me a quick kiss and walking out of the room. I huffed and finished my food before going upstairs. The following day: The next day Ringo and Ivy obviously got married and I was bored while we waited. George sat next to me, impatiently tapping his foot. "You got someplace to be Harrison?" John asked with a snicker. George simply nodded and went back to focusing on the tiled floor, deep in thought. I put my head on his shoulder and he put his arm around me. I sighed and closed my eyes. Ringo and Ivy finally arrived, and they were smiling widely. I hugged Ivy and Ringo before George pulled me out of the place. We were practically running down the street. "George, can we slow down a bit?" I asked, panting as I pulled him to a stop. He looked at me and nodded before wrapping his arms around me. I kissed him lightly and I put me head on his shoulder with a sigh, "Where are we going exactly?" George shrugged and grabbed my hand as we started walking down the street. We were being as casual as possible. George had his other hand stuffed deep into his pocket and I leaned against his arm. We were unfortunately spotted by a group of girls. George pulled me along as we started to run. I made sure not to fall this time as someone jumped out of and alley and pulled us in. I yelped and George put a protective arm around me. "It"s alright, Geo," a familiar voice said. George grinned. "Hello Ed," he said smiling, "Thanks." "No problem." Ed said. I remembered Ed from when George and I got caught in the street the first time, "Hello Teddy." he said with a wave. I waved back and tried to catch my breath. George: It was a few days after Ringo and Ivy got married and they went on a holiday for their honey moon. John and Cynthia went out to eat with Julian, and Paul said he didn"t know where he was going, he was just going out. I was fine with that, because that left me and Teddy alone. We were sitting on the couch watching some movie. I wasn"t really paying attention to it, but Teddy was so concentrated on it, her brow was furrowed slightly and all I found my self watching was her. She didn"t notice me for a while, so I didn"t stop. She finally looked up at me and blushed. "What?" she asked, pushing back her long hair and wiping her hand over her face for good measure. I giggled and shook my head. "Nuthin"." I said. She looked back to the TV and leaned her head against my chest. I rubbed her arm lightly and sighed. She looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back and kissed the tip of her nose. There was a loud noise coming from the TV and she jumped and hid in the folds of my shirt. I giggled at her and pulled her closer. She wrapped her arm over me. When the movie ended, Teddy sat up and cleared the coffee table of our drink glasses and dinner plates. I suddenly remembered I wanted to do something, so I got ready while she was in the kitchen. I cleared my throat nervously as she walked back in and sat down. "Um, Teddy?" I asked putting an arm around her again. She answered me with a hum and nuzzled into my shirt, "Well, erm I was wondering. You know how I told you I found the girl I wanted to marry?" She sat up suddenly and nodded worriedly. "Yes," she said biting her lip, "You gonna tell me who it is now?" I nodded and leaned toward her, giving her the best kiss I could. She put her arms around me and kissed me back. I deepened the kiss quite a bit and she didn"t mind at all. When I pulled back I gave he nose a peck and smiled at her. "It"s you," I said quietly. She looked at me blankly for a second then bit her lip with a slight frown, "Teddy, love, I"m trying to ask you to marry me."

"I have no time for your games, Isabel," I growled at her. Losing my temper what exactly what Isabel had been aiming for. "Lives are at stake. The Vespers are back. Do you not care for your branch?" My thoughts went straight to my friends and family. Adrienne and Dora could die. There was a chance that I might loose Minnie too, and I didn"t want to. "My branch betrayed me," she replied. "Do you think I would care?" My fist hit the table so hard that it shook. I winched mentally, but physically, I tried hard to control my anger towards this woman. "Tell me Isabel!" She smirked widely. "How about no? Guard! He"s unstable!" I watched her stalk out, but before she reached the door, I called out, "No, wait! At least tell me how I saw Addy that day in the cell." "Adrienne, your sister?" The satisfaction in her voice increased. She repeated what she had said originally, "You have the serum Alexander. Figure it out yourself." With a smug smirk, she was gone. Isabel just made me so frustrated. Couldn"t she just tell me? Why did she want me to figure it out so badly? Maybe the mole was someone that I knew, someone that I trusted with my life. Maybe she wanted my reaction to be so dreadful and angry that she would be proud to call me her grandson. Maybe it had something to do with what the Vespers were planning, and in that case, I had better hurry and uncover the identity of the mole. It all started with the serum. Maybe if I didn"t have it... But I was a Cahill, what did I expect? There was really nothing one could do in my scenario, I was born into it. Cahills can"t help the danger it puts us all in. I vow to find out the identities of those children with the serum, the ones who were given it unwillingly. The Vespers will be after them. And what is worse is that I don"t think they know you can only extract the serum for that person once, and willingly. I still have no idea how Fiske thought it all out. This is Andy Cahill signing out from his life story. Yes, this is the end of The Secret to Survival. What is the secret, you ask? It"s love, of course. Hello, my name is Adrienne Cahill, Andy"s fifteen year old sister. Years have passed since he"s written in this, and I"m writing now to say...well... My idiot of a brother has been kidnapped. His wife is pregnant, and he gets kidnapped. But what is even worse is that I have to find him. Dearest Readers, I must regrettably say that this is the end of "The Secret to Survival". Many of you want a sequel, so I"ll get started on that. It will be about Adrienne"s mission to find her brother, and then multiple times, it will switch to her and Andy"s mission to find their cousin, Dora, after she went missing. Hopefully it"ll be up soon. Thanks to my friends Alejandro, Latifa and Abby for continuing to support me in my writing. Also to my friend Kimmy who wordlessly listens to my ramblings about this story and it"s sequel. To my awesome Beta Alex who, through thick and thin, continued to work hard on making this story the best she can. Also, I want to thank all of you for continuing to read this story and loyally reviewing. Thanks so much for giving your opinions. It really helped! The sequel, "Thicker Than Water" (or so I"m planning) will be posted soon (I hope). THANKS AGAIN, HUNTEROFLIGHT123 P.S. The acknowledgements chapter will be up soon! That"s why this shall not be marked as "complete" just yet. :) AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! Okay, I can"t believe that this story"s got 211 reviews! Thanks SOOO much you guys. I can"t say how much that means to me, but all I can say it you guys ROCK! As a gift to show how much I appriceate this: SURPRISE! A special sneak peek of the sequel: THICKER THAN WATER! Chapter One: Prologue Dora"s Birthday and... My name is Pandora. I know you probably already read about my cousins, Andy and Addy. I don"t think I"ll be as interesting as they are. I have to face it-I"ll never be as good as they are, or as attractive as they are. My mother loved the story of Pandora"s Box, and how when all of the world"s problems flew out, all she was left with was hope. That was what she always wanted me to remember. Have hope, Dora. That"s why your name is Pandora Hope Cahill - so you will always remember... I never knew how much that would help me in the future. I think that I"m pretty much one color - a sort of orangey-yellow. My hair is dark blonde, which I get from my dad, but I didn"t get those beautiful jade eyes like what Addy has. Or those stunning amber-jade eyes like what Andy has. I got stuck with just stupid, plain brown which is occasionally amber, depending on the light. My mom and uncle look amazing with amber eyes, but - it really doesn"t really suit me, especially since I"ve got dishwater blonde hair. Sure, I have my mother"s face, which should make me gorgeous, but I have my dad"s peachy skin. My mom has forever tried to get me to wear "girly" clothes, like the ones that Addy wears. She doesn"t understand that I don"t want to try to be her, because I know I will never be her. She"s beautiful, and I"m just Dora. The only thing that I suppose I"m better at than Andy and Addy are video-games. Addy is quite easy to beat, because she is so much like her parents, but Andy seemed to inherit the competitive gamer spark from my dad. I have it too, and when we"re playing each other, everyone stops to watch. I wonder if Andy"s little son, Ivan, will be a gamer too. That would be fun. Andy"s wife, Minnie, is quite good at video games. Hopefully, Ivan has gets that "gamer gene" from one of them. It"s about ten months since Addy saved Andy - with the help of Amiens, of course. He visits once in a while, and caught up to all of the Cahill business. Whenever he"s here, though, Addy locks herself in her room for hours. She doesn"t even talk to him much when he"s here. I know that must hurt his feelings. I wish I knew what happened between them (since without him, Addy wouldn"t have found Andy, and I KNOW she"s grateful for his help) but Addy refuses to tell. She and I are the one of the closest family members in the...well, family. Right after her mom and my dad, and they"re siblings. So there I was, on my birthday, sitting on a pillow with a controller in my hand, Andy beside me. I know that both of our faces were scrunched up, gazing intently at the television in front of us. Addy was behind us, leaning forwards. For a second, her dark-red hair blinded me. That second was what Andy used to get ahead. But, he was temporarily distracted by little Ivan"s wails. Something that occurred to me once that Ivan"s name could be Eye-van, and Minnie"s name is Min-E, Addy"s name is Ad-D, and Andy"s name is An-D - and mine was just Dora. Well, anyway, however you want to pronounce his name, I was thanking the Lord for Ivan as I won the game. I smiled smugly at Andy who in return sent me a death glare. Thank God for Ivan! I cheer in my mind as I win the game. I smile smugly at Andy, who in return sends me a deadly Lucian glare. Addy grinned at me, and rested an elbow on Andy"s head, using her strength to try to push his head down. It"s surprising how much they look different. Andy has short, black hair and light caramel-coloured skin. His eyes are jade green with flecks of amber-brown in them. His mom once said that they were even more beautiful than her eyes - which both my dad and Addy took as an insult, seeing as they all have the same eyes with a slight difference in Addy"s. Addy however, has long, red hair. I have no idea who she got it from, since Aunt Amy"s is red-brown. Her skin is lighter than Andy"s and her father"s, but not as light as my dad and Aunt Amy"s. Her eyes are magnificent jade, only a tone or two lighter than Dad"s and Aunt Amy"s. They are both very beautiful, in my opinion. Amiens was here too, and so were Sabrina, Aunt Nellie and Uncle Caleb. They said that it was due time they all came for a visit. They all look so much like family. Uncle Caleb has dark brown hair that"s a little on the long side. His eyes are almost identical to Amiens" - a marvelous dark blue like the midnight sky. (I"d love to have those eyes.) Uncle Caleb is also quite the cook. He has many different nationalities, too. His mother was from France, his father Italian, and his grandmother was born and raised in Greece. His accent is mostly French, as he spent his whole life there before he moved to America, and in the process, meeting Aunt Nellie. He"s also very distantly related to one of Nellie"s ex"s. What"s his name again? Cleo? No, that"s definitely not it. Sabrina takes after her mother. She loves to dye her hair all different colours. When they were little, she and Addy didn"t get along much, but now they are very close. Sabrina used to be a snobby girl, who was a few months younger than Andy - and I suspect she had a crush on him, just like a surprising number of girls did - but now she"s very bubbly. Addy tells me she suspects that Sabrina"s found that "special someone". Right now, Sabrina"s hair is dark with blue streaks. She has brown eyes. She is quite pretty with high-cheekbones like her father and a wide smile that shows off all of her white teeth. Aunt Nellie"s got dark hair that falls into some wacky-hairdo that she styled it in. It really suits her. Aunt Nellie never grew out of her punk side, and sadly, passed that onto Amiens. She and Sabrina have the same dark-chocolate eyes. Aunt Nellie was a very good friend of my dad"s and Aunt Amy"s. She took care of them when they were younger, and she also saved them countless times. I"ve always loved Aunt Nellie. Amiens was born around the time that Nellie was just getting over her obsession over Shakespeare, but she hadn"t been over it completely. She named the poor boy after one of Shakespeare"s characters, Amiens. That prompted a series of bullying that started from a young age. Addy met Amiens a year ago, while on a mission to save her "dreadfully idiotic older brother", as she put it. Well, I have to hand it to her; it was a stupid idea to go after Vespers when you just found out that your wife was pregnant. It makes sense how Andy is not an Ekaterina. Aunt Amy swears that he got his "quick thinking" from my dad, his Uncle Dan. Of course, my dad"s "quick thinking" mostly always left Aunt Amy and him into very sticky situations, and she says that it"s thanks to her quick thinking that got them out. Amiens is someone whom we Americans call "emo". I taught Addy that word, and I regretted it. He had already tried to end his life once, but thank god that he failed. Addy told me she once that she now hates all Owens in the world and begged Andy not to name his son that. Andy really wanted to name Ivan that, but changed his mind after Addy "nicely" shrieked at him and nearly beat him up with her high-heeled shoe. Don"t ask. She hadn"t explained why she hates the name Owen. The second time that Amiens nearly died, he swore was an accident. There, Addy learned that in America, the number was nine-one-one. And then Sabrina blamed Addy, and somehow they were friends after that. I found it strange. Why did Addy keep avoiding Amiens? Maybe it had to do with an "Owen"? I have to ask Amiens what"s going on, I decided. So I went after him. I swore I saw him enter the maze. I knew that Sabrina and Amiens loved the maze. They said it was a good way for them to test their Ekaterina knowledge. So I ran after him. How was I supposed to know that he was long gone, already finding a shortcut in which he followed, resulting on him already being in the middle of the maze while I had just started? How was I to know that Vespers were inside that very maze, trying to find him, but found me instead? I didn"t. And I realized, as I was knocked unconscious, that I had walked right into their trap. "I hate you," I spat at the person before me. "All Cahills hate Vespers," Slasher answered. I glared, then thought of a good comeback. "Well, my grandfather Arthur was a Vesper, and he fell in love with my grandmother Hope," I said. "She loved him too, and they had my father and his older sister Amy." Then I thought of something else. "My other grandmother was a Vesper too, and I don"t think that she hated her children." Slasher looked like he wanted to hit me, but thankfully, he wasn"t allowed to. "I don"t know why we have to keep you alive," he growled, "or why we can"t just duct-tape your mouth closed." I grin. "I know why. Because your boss gave you strict orders. Keep me alive." He smirked then. "But then again, he said nothing about duct-taping your mouth." I bet that Addy and Andy wouldn"t have my luck. Andy would know when to keep his mouth shut, and Addy would talk them out of it. So here I am - in a cage like the pandas at the zoo, with my mouth taped shut and metal cuffs around my hands and feet. Dirt is on every inch of my body, and my hair is a mess. I am a caged panda. But I am not without hope. You know about me. You know my name, and who my parents are. My life - but that does NOT mean you know who I am. What I would do. You do not know me. I wish I could say that to these Vespers. Most of all, to Slasher. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. Maybe even as much as Addy hates Owens for a remarkably unknown reason because Addy cannot keep secrets unless they are really important. I am Dora though. I am stupid. I am NOT brave. Just plain, ugly, video-game obsessed Dora, stuck in a cage. Like a caged Panda that you can see in zoos. Like that. Just like that. ...Addy In America 10 Months Before Hello Big D, It"s Addy. In America. I never thought that I would go here without anyone with me. Sure, I planned to...in the future, but NOT to save my idiot of a brother Andy. He"s SOOO stupid! Mum says that I have to be the one to look for him in America. She or Uncle Dan would go, but Dan wants to stay to protect his daughter if the Vespers become a threat to her. He wants us all to stay together, so Dan, Dora and Natalie are currently staying in our guest rooms in our London home. Mum is depressed over losing Andy. She can"t go anywhere. Liz Jacobs has gone to help her out. They used to be quite close when Minnie and Andy were kids. Dad doesn"t feel good leaving her, or letting me go in his place, but Nellie swore she"s make sure no harm came to me. Yes, Nellie. Nellie Gomez, now Parks. Oh right. And now that Minnie"s pregnant, she needs Mum and Liz even more, AND Andy, but the git-boy was too frightened at the aspect of becoming a father, so he got Langley to send him on a mission, in hopes of clearing his mind. He didn"t plan on getting kidnapped, but hey, no one ever does, do they? So I called Langley. I ordered him to give me information on the whereabouts of my brother, but he didn"t know where he was. What good is that boy these days? He did tell me something useful though. :) That"s my Lucian grin. (I wish I was a Lucian instead of a Madrigal. But since Andy"s got the serum, HE gets to be the Lucian in the family.) Well, anyways, the useful thing he told me was: Open up Andy"s "The Secret to Survival" and READ! So I did. I hacked into his computer. The password was easy to break (GET-AWAY-FROM-MY-COMPUTER-ADDY!). I opened up his Word Documents, and sure enough I saw "The Secret to Survival" by Alexander Cahill. And I read. I don"t understand HOW the baboon (Andy) saw me, that"s for sure. I"m magnificent, but I regrettably must say I cannot go back in time. Insert Lucian sigh here. When I was done reading, and I was about to exit out of it, a message popped up. DONE READING ADDY? I blinked, and clicked "yes". Another message popped up: GOOD. IF YOU"RE READING THIS, THAT MEANS I"VE DISAPPEARED OR DIED. RIGHT? There were two choices, "RIGHT!' or "LEFT!'. Andy was so weird. I clicked "RIGHT". OH. WELL IN THAT CASE, TELL EVERYONE I"M SORRY. There was no choice for that, but the next message popped up soon after. ESPECIALLY MINNIE! I grinned. WELL ADDY, MY LAST MISSION WAS TO FIND THE SERUM HOLDERS. I MUST TELL YOU I CAN"T TELL YOU ANYTHING YET...IN CASE VESPERS ARE READING THIS TOO. SO, SORRY ABOUT THIS. A blinking red message showed up. VERIFY THAT YOU ARE ADRIENNE GRACE CAHILL! THREE QUESTIONS SHOULD BE ANSWERED CORRECTLY OR NO INFORMATION WILL BE GIVEN. I started to panic. What type of questions were these? Sorry Big D, but I can"t tell you any of the questions because they were VERY embarrassing and were about what I did when I was young. No need to embarrass myself. :) I answered all of them correctly, and the message was: GO VISIT AMERICA, WOULD YOU? YOUR ENEMIES" MOTHER SHOULD BE HAPPY TO HAVE YOU.-ANDY I sure knew what he meant. My enemies were Amiens and Sabrina Parks. It"s a long story, so it shall be considerably shortened. Amiens thought it would be funny to lock me in a closet. So he got Sabrina and Langley in on it, and they together locked me in a closet for five hours until my parents saw I was missing. I was six years old. My parents were cooing over Andy and Minnie"s relationship (I thought it was disgusting at that time.) so they didn"t notice that their angel was gone for quite a long time. I was LOCKED in a EXTREMELY small room, for FIVE HOURS, in the DARK, with a strange ANIMAL! I still have no idea what that animal was. I was screaming my lungs off, and banging on the door as Sabrina, Amiens, Langley and my family stuffed their faces with food and forgot all about me. Until beautiful, kind, amazing Dora cried for her cousin to come play with her. Thank God for Dora, because as soon as my parents noticed that I was not playing with the butler, or the cook, or the maid or any of the people who worked for us, Sabrina broke and told them where they had locked me. The (insert inappropriate word here) had TOTALLY forgot that they had locked me up in a CLOSET for FIVE freaking hours! And from then on, I was claustrophobic. Now enough about my past. Here I am, just getting off of the plane, waiting to see Aunt Nellie for the first time since that "incident". She and Sabrina know everything about Andy being missing, but... :}-my Lucian SMIRK. Little Amiens Parks has NO CLUE. This is the perrrr-fect time for my revenge. Excuse my evil talk. Jet Lag has finally gotten the better of me. Before I start to sound like Isabel Kabra, I"d best go. --ADRIENNE Who is Slasher? you wonder. Well, he"s an idiot. And a Vesper. And also a disgusting, old man. Okay, maybe not that old-maybe around his forties-but he"s evil. EVIL, I tell you! He really enjoys his knives. And he has scars on his face and hands that I just assumed came from them. He"s pretty good at handling them too. He"s better than any Cahill I"ve seen at them. Did I just say that? I practically complimented a Vesper! Maybe sitting alone in this cage is getting to me. I"m sooo happy! My first story is FINALLY going to be marked as COMPLETE. Thanks to all of the reviewers. I LOVE YOU ALL! -Hunter Thanks for all the reviews, and the people who reviewed. HUGS AND KISSES. XOXO. "Anything interesting on the news, Andy?" Mom asked as she came in from her job, placing her keys on the coffee table and glancing at me as she took off her jacket. There was a lump in my throat and it prevented me from speaking for a few seconds. Swallowing, I said, "Nothing Mom. Just the normal stuff." I wondered whether I should tell her... "This lady escaped from prison-Isabel Kabra." I continued. Mom paled. "Are you okay, mom?" She looked as if she were somewhere else. There was a flash of fear in her eyes, but maybe I was imagining it. She gave me a smile. "I"m okay, honey." She mussed my hair and walked into her room. Something was definitely wrong. The next day, as I was heading out to school, Mom stopped me. "Andy, be careful alright? If anyone that you don"t know-." "I know, mom." I said, a bit annoyed. She"d been giving me this speech for as long as I could remember. Stay away from strangers. Tell me if anything weird happens. If someone starts to look at you strangely, or acts strangely towards you, tell me. I had to trust no one, she told me. No teachers or friends. "Okay Andy," She said, looking a bit hurt. I felt sorry I"d snapped at her. She wanted to keep me safe because she didn"t want to lose me. "Sorry mom." I said, giving her a small hug. "Its okay, Andy." She gave me a smile that looked forced. "Get going now. See you soon!" She stood the door, waving. I ran to school, and kept looking back at her until I rounded the corner. NOTES: Strange People (1) Gym teacher. BIG beefy guy. Loves football. English teacher. Pretty, with red hair and blue eyes. Says she admires Albert Einstein Mysterious men following me around -Andy Chapter 3, done! To answer some questions, Amy lost contact with Dan to keep him and Andy safe, since the people who worked with Isabel were after them. No one knows about Andy except Dan. I"m not sure if the other clue hunters will be in this, but Dan, Natalie, Ian, Isabel and Hamilton will. I"m still thinking about Nellie... I think that soon, the action will start. You know what"ll happen, Isabel"s going to find out about Andy, and Amy will have to keep him safe. I can"t reveal too much, sorry :) I met Minnie at our usual spot by the school doors. I looked around to see if those creepy men were there. Fortunately, they weren"t.

Rolling her eyes, Sabrina couldn"t stop the smirk from riding up to her lips. Not taking Puck along was golden. She couldn"t wait to see his face. Laughing, she said, "Let"s just go. Common!" Love? Hate? Please REVIEW! ~Hunter I don"t own The Sisters Grimm. Summary: What if Sabrina and Daphne hadn"t have awoken their parents two years after the spell was placed on them? What if they did when they were older? 15 years older to be exact. This is what I would think would happen. _~~~S~~~_ Rolling her eyes, Sabrina couldn"t stop the smirk from riding up to her lips. Not taking Puck along was golden. She couldn"t wait to see his face. Laughing, she said, "Let"s just go. Common!" "You know, I just have the worst timing. We wake up Mom and Dad, and now I"m cursed!" Daphne giggled, "It is good news. Don"t-" They gasped. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a storm emerged. The strong wind made their eyes water and cause them to look away, and when they turned back, two girls appeared in front of them. The older-looking one cradled her sister in her arms protectively away from the women. She had a hard look and fierce eyes. The smaller one studied them with a bewildered look on her round face. Sabrina and Daphne shared a glance, immediately realizing who the young girls were. It was hard not to when they practically saw them every day. The older girl looked about twelve years old and was very pretty for her tender age. She had long blonde hair that surrounded her thin face and slightly pointed chin. Her eyes were big and a beautiful blue. Thick, long eyelashes framed them. She had high-cheekbones and thin lips. She looked just like a young warrior. The little girl looked younger than eight. She had a round face, and unlike her sister (Sabrina and Daphne knew they were sisters), her hair was dark, along with her eyes. She had a bulb of innocence deep within her, and her expression was guarded, but bubbly inside. To the sisters, she looked so adorable. "Who are you?" The blonde one asked, her eyes narrowing and her grip on her sister tightening until the little girl yelped in alarm. The blonde then loosened her tight grip. "Oh my god," Sabrina breathed, face-palming her forehead and groaning. "How could I have forgotten?" "Who are you?" The girl repeated with an edge in her voice, exactly the way Henry had done when they had woken him and Veronica from their sleeping spell. She got up, spreading her legs slightly apart and balling her fists. Sabrina recognized the fighting stance Snow White had thought them. "Okay," Daphne stepped forwards slowly, showing the girl that she had nothing in her hands. "Calm down. I know that this may be hard to believe, but...you"re in the future." The girl looked stunned momentarily, then her expression hardened again and she bent her legs, getting ready to leap on Daphne. "Whoa whoa whoa!" Sabrina stepped between them, much to Daphne"s frustration. Daphne soon caught on though, "You have to believe us!" "Why should we?" The blonde cried. "For all we know, you could be working for the Hand!" "I never knew I was so stubborn..." Sabrina mumbled. Only Daphne heard her, and she shot her an amused look. "Sorry about this," Daphne said solemnly, grabbing the girls both by the hand. Sabrina recognized the thing in her hand and immediately latched onto her sister"s arm. She felt the familiar sensation of being folded and folded again until she felt she was nothing at all. The girls were soon unconscious. Sabrina had found out from Daphne that that always happened to people the first time they were teleported. At first, Sabrina was frightened, but Daphne re-assured her it was safe. When the four showed up on the doorstep, Basil was confused as to who the girls were in their arms. The family gathered around them, only Granny, Canis, Jake and their parents realizing who they were. "How did I not see this coming?" Sabrina asked herself. ""Brina," Basil tried to calm down his sister. ""Brina, who are they?" Sabrina, much to Basil"s shock, started to cry. "Can you see, Bas? They"re us! Me and Daphne! We came to the future once because of Cinderella"s husband Tom, but I totally forgot we came when I was nearly twenty-seven!" Basil patted her back uncomfortably. "It"s okay, Sabrina. It"s not your fault. We"ll be able to send them back." "Of course we will!" Daphne answered. "Wait wait wait." Puck blinked. "They"re you two. From the past?" "Yes," Sabrina sniffed. Puck also uncomfortably patted her back. "Don"t you remember? I was mad at you and I told you that we were married in the future? That was how I found out." "Oh..." "Hold on," Henry frowned. "My daughters went into the future?" Sabrina and Daphne winched. Sabrina, however, found she could not control the anger she felt toward her father in that moment, "It"s not like we could help it, Dad. It"s not like we could stop it! It helped us so much! When Daphne and I went into the future, you and Mom were still asleep, we didn"t know about Basil, Jake was dead, Snow was dead. Mirror was winning. " Daphne continued for her sister, "I had a scar from Nottingham, Dad. Mr. Canis was taken over by the wolf. We were fighting for years. It wasn"t going to stop." And with what great timing she had, the younger Sabrina woke up. "Hello little Grimm!" Puck said. Younger Sabrina scowled. "Who are you?" Puck frowned, "I"m hurt, Grimm. You don"t remember me?" "I don"t know you!" The younger Sabrina shouted. The younger Daphne slept on. "Okay, this may be hard to believe," Sabrina found herself repeating the same words that Daphne had said when she first saw them. "You are in the future. I...I am you. My name is Sabrina Grimm and I"m twenty-seven years old." The younger Sabrina studied her for a moment. Sabrina knew that she was starting to believe...herself. "And this is Daphne..." Sabrina pointed to her sister, the awake one, not the one who was sleeping. Daphne waved. Puck pouted, "And I"m Puck!" Younger Sabrina laughed, "As if! Everafters don"t age!" "No. Most of them just don"t have a good enough reason." Puck smirked. "What was your reason then?" Much to Henry"s annoyance, Puck wrapped an arm around the older version of his daughter, saying, "You." The older Sabrina smiled at him, kissing his cheek. Younger Sabrina"s jaw dropped, "NO! NO! NO! This cannot be happening! No!" Older Sabrina was quite amused at her younger self"s reaction. Then the younger Daphne picked this moment to awaken from her slumber. Yawning, she noted the expression on her older sister"s face. Rubbing her eyes, she asked, "What happened?" The younger Sabrina scowled. So many of you reviewed and asked if Sabrina was pregnant. Sorry to you all, but I can"t tell. That would just be a spoiler, but I"m giving VERY big hints. Hmmm. I wonder where Charming is then... Love? Hate? Please REVIEW! ~Hunter I don"t own The Sisters Grimm. Sorry if there"s any mistakes. I just finished writing this, after working on my other story. Summary: What if Sabrina and Daphne hadn"t have awoken their parents two years after the spell was placed on them? What if they did when they were older? 15 years older to be exact. This is what I would think would happen. _~~~S~~~_ Then the younger Daphne picked this moment to awaken from her slumber. Yawning, she noted the expression on her older sister"s face. Rubbing her eyes, she asked, "What happened?" The younger Sabrina scowled. "You"re not sick, are you?" Sabrina swung around, face to face with herself-her younger version. "What do you mean?" She asked, but was surprised at the quiver that was present in her voice. Younger Sabrina frowned, placing her hands on her hips. "You"re not sick. You lied to Mom. What"s the matter?" "Nothing," Older Sabrina answered quickly. A little too quickly. "I"m perfectly fine..." Younger Sabrina raised her golden eyebrows in disbelief. "...or I will be in eight months." Sabrina finished softly, hoping that her younger self hadn"t heard. But she had. The younger Sabrina"s blue eyes bulged, "Hold on. That freak baby got ME pregnant?" "Please lower your voice," Older Sabrina begged. "I don"t want Dad or Uncle Jake to find out yet. They might..." "Rip him to pieces?" Younger Sabrina thought for a moment, a slow smile creeping up her face. "That sounds like a good idea. But...if you-I-really do love him..." She trailed off, glancing at her older self. Older Sabrina let out the breath she didn"t know she was holding. "So, who else knows?" Younger Sabrina questioned. "Daphne, that"s all." Younger Sabrina smiled slightly, nodding...but her expression was troubled. "Why did you marry him?" The answer was simply, "Because I love him." "But-" "And you love him too. You just haven"t realized that yet." "I don"t-" "Yes you do, "Brina. Okay, this is going to sound totally corny, but look deep within." She made a face, "Yeah, it kinda does." "So Sabrina and Puck are married?" Younger Daphne squeaked at her older counter-part. "Yep." Older Daphne grinned at her younger self. "And you"re in love." "With who?" She bit down on her palm. Older Daphne smiled at her innocence. She couldn"t believe how different she was fifteen years ago. Grinning wider, she leaned over and whispered something in her little self"s ear. Daphne"s eyes grew as wide as saucers, "Really? That"s so mucho-awesome-o!" Daphne suddenly realized that that had been her word when they had gone into the future. "Yeah, but you can"t tell anyone!" She shook her index finger at her warningly. Daphne squealed, her smile nearly breaking her face in half. "I won"t. My lips are sealed!" At sunset, as the Grimms got ready to send Younger Sabrina and Daphne back, a question popped out of Puck"s mouth. "Hey," He asked the sisters. They turned to him, and he continued slowly, "Didn"t Charming come with you two?" Sabrina and Daphne groaned. Great. Now they had to go look for Charming. Who do you want Daphne to be engaged to? Peter Pan, Mustardseed, or OTHER?Review or PM me your answer. :D Love? Hate? Please REVIEW! ^I think that"s getting annoying now...^ ~Hunter of Light I"M BACK! The explanation is at the bottom. Please read. :) Sorry that this chapter is so short. It"s just to get me back on track. And if there"s mistakes, please tell me so I can fix them. I was just focused on uploading that I didn"t have much time to check over everything. I don"t own The Sisters Grimm. Sorry if there"s any mistakes. I just finished writing this, after working on my other story. Summary: What if Sabrina and Daphne hadn"t have awoken their parents two years after the spell was placed on them? What if they did when they were older? 15 years older to be exact. This is what I would think would happen. _~~~S~~~_ At sunset, as the Grimms got ready to send Younger Sabrina and Daphne back, a question popped out of Puck"s mouth. "Hey," He asked the sisters. They turned to him, and he continued slowly, "Didn"t Charming come with you two?" Sabrina and Daphne groaned. Great. Now they had to go look for Charming. "What are you doing?" Older Sabrina nearly jumped out of her skin,"PUCK! Don"t do that!" Puck chuckled at the look on his wife"s face. "What are you thinking about?" Sabrina frowned slightly. "If I were Charming, where would I be?" Puck rolled his eyes, "Standing in front of a mirror of course." They glanced at each other at the same moment, wide grins upon their faces. "We know where Charming is!" Sabrina and Puck said in unison as the approached Daphne, their hands entwined. Daphne giggled. "So do I. It took you long enough." "Yeah, well Sabrina got...distracted in the woods." Sabrina smacked his shoulder. "Shut up! I didn"t! I was just thinking." Daphne watched them bicker in amusement. She wondered how long it would take Sabrina to tell Puck. She hoped it was soon, because she didn"t like keeping a secret this big from her brother-in-law. Puck was bound to notice that something was going on, and when he did, the first person he would question would be Daphne. She knew Puck"s intense, scary look would make anyone tell him right away. "A-ha! I was right! You were thinking about me!" "No I wasn"t! No, don"t tickle me!" "WHAT"S GOING ON HERE?!" Daphne, Sabrina and Puck winched as they took in Henry"s angry form. Puck bravely kept his hold tight on Sabrina, not letting her go, which made Sabrina"s father angrier. "We found out where Charming is, Dad." Daphne told him. "I sent Basil, Elvis and Red to find him." "And my pixies," Puck added with a slight glare in Daphne"s direction. "Sorry about that," Daphne smiled apologetically at him. "And what was that?" Henry asked, obviously meaning Puck tickling Sabrina. "We were...er...celebrating?" Puck responded, though it came out as more of a question. "Stay away from my daughter, fairy boy." Henry growled at Puck. "Dad!" Sabrina shouted in rage. "And you missy, you"re grounded!" Henry pointed to her. "For what?" Sabrina asked, laughing harshly. "For being in love with him? For marrying him? For being with him? What is your problem dad? Are you that mad about me being happy?" "You can be happy, just not with him." Henry stated, his voice steady while in the inside he was still fuming. "Well how about this? NO! I am staying with Puck, even if it means I have to stay away from you!" Sabrina hissed, then grabbing Puck"s arm, she dragged him back into the woods, where they had just come from. Henry ran a hand through his hair and turned the Daphne, who was frowning disapprovingly at him. It was a look that reminded him of his mother and his wife at the same time. "I messed up, didn"t I?" Daphne just shook her head and walked away. REVIEW! And here"s the explanation as to why I"ve been away for over a year now. It isn"t a good one. I just didn"t know what to write. And I was so busy that it just kept slipping my mind. I also found another website that I was on for quite some time, and I write stories there too. I just want to apologize yet again for my tardiness. I didn"t mean to do it, and I hope now I can finish this story. I want to thank everyone that stood by my side and didn"t give up. Those that continued to read this story and hope. I also want to thank everyone that reviewed and read this story. You gave me inspiration to write, so thank you, thank you, thank you. :) ~HunterofLight123 HEY GUYS! THANKS FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS! I LOVE YOU ALL! And this story is in the "Best Of Sisters Grimm" community! I didn"t know that! :P And it"s because of all of you guys! Thanks soooo much! I was thinking that there"s only going to be like 10 more chapters in this. It"s not really going to have a lot of action in it, mostly just family stuff... :) And if there"s mistakes, please tell me so I can fix them. I was just focused on uploading that I didn"t have much time to check over everything. I don"t own The Sisters Grimm. Sorry if there"s any mistakes. Summary: What if Sabrina and Daphne hadn"t have awoken their parents two years after the spell was placed on them? What if they did when they were older? 15 years older to be exact. This is what I would think would happen. _~~~S~~~_ "You can be happy, just not with him." Henry stated, his voice steady while in the inside he was still fuming. "Well how about this? NO! I am staying with Puck, even if it means I have to stay away from you!" Sabrina hissed, then grabbing Puck"s arm, she dragged him back into the woods, where they had just come from. Henry ran a hand through his hair and turned the Daphne, who was frowning disapprovingly at him. It was a look that reminded him of his mother and his wife at the same time. "I messed up, didn"t I?" Daphne just shook her head and walked away. "I can"t believe him! He"s so frustrating!" Sabrina growled, throwing her hands in the air with so much ferocity that Puck quickly grew frightened. Though he would never admit he was frightened, but would say he was concerned. In an effort to calm his wife, he immediately found himself acting as the role of the peace keeper "Sabrina, you"ve got to put yourself in his shoes. How would you feel if you woke up one day and you found out that your daughters were all grown up when the last memory you had of them was when they were children? It"s hard for Henry to let go of you and Daphne so quickly. He"s not used to you not needing him. You"ve grown up and it"s not easy. He just wants what he thinks is best for you." "I know that Puck," Sabrina muttered with tears of frustration building up in her blue eyes. "But I keep telling him that I"m happy with you, that you"re what"s good for me. You keep me sane, but he just doesn"t understand. I hate the way he looks at you and the way the treats you like dirt." Puck smiled slightly, "Trust me Sabrina. Henry"s hate isn"t as bad as other people"s. Did I ever tell you about that kingdom that I accidentally dropped a sink bomb on?" "Puck, knowing you, I doubt it was an accident," Sabrina smiled along with him. "You know me too well," Puck grinned, pulling her into a much-needed hug. Sabrina felt comforted in his warm embrace. "Everything will be alright." Puck promised, his voice soothing her, "Trust me." "Sabrina and Puck better get here soon," Daphne told Basil as she glanced down at her watch. "It"s almost time. Basil stood on the patch of dirt that in other time had been marked by Snow White"s grave. He looked up at the sky, noticing that it was getting darker rapidly. He looked back at his sister, who looked anxious for the arrival of Sabrina and Puck. Although he hid it well, Basil was too. "Is it almost time yet?" The younger Sabrina asked. Basil still found it strange to see his sisters this young, as they were when he was just a baby. He was used to his sisters looking like they did now, and not like how they did fifteen years ago. "Almost," Daphne forced a smile, glancing around for Sabrina and Puck. Her face broke into a smile as she watched them coming out of the woods hand in hand, Henry steaming beside her. "Calm down dad," she spoke gently to her father. "Remember what you promised." While Sabrina and Puck were away, Daphne had decided to give their father a large piece of her mind. Sabrina and Puck deserved to be together after all that they went through. Veronica placed a hand on Henry"s shoulder, feeling pride at how well her daughters had grown up. She was proud of her son too, but she"d never had the chance to get to know him much. She vowed to change that. "Sorry we"re late!" A voice called from above them. Glancing upwards, the family spotted the couple. Puck landed effortlessly onto the ground, Sabrina stumbling off of his back and looking a little green. "I think I"m going to be sick," she groaned as she rubbed her temples and steadied herself against Puck. Daphne waited for Henry to yell at Puck, but as she glanced back at her father, she was glad to see that he was holding his anger in-as one could see by the way he was clenching his fists. "Are you okay honey?" Veronica asked, worry coating her voice. "Yeah, I"m used to it now," she said, smiling slightly and cuddling closer to Puck, who wrapped his arm around her and smiled. Daphne sent her a look, mouthing something to her. Sabrina shook her head. "So..." Basil spoke up. "It"s almost time." He turned to the younger versions of his sisters. "Are you two ready?" Younger Sabrina shrugged. "I can"t wait to get back. It"s so weird seeing everyone this old and me cuddling next to the freak-baby." Puck chuckled at her. He almost missed how Sabrina had used to act when they were young. "You two are so cute!" Younger Daphne giggled, biting down on her palm. "Thanks," Sabrina replied weakly. She looked even greener than before. ""Brina, you look a little sick." Uncle Jake told her as he approached the group. "We"ll be back!" Daphne announced as she grabbed her sister by the hand away from the family. Veronica watched her daughters walk away-Daphne allowing Sabrina to lean on her a little, and Sabrina trying hard to catch up to her sister"s brisk pace. Her suspicions were being roused, and she deeply hoped, for Puck"s sake, she was wrong. After the sisters and Charming were transported back into the past, Veronica Grimm sat her daughters down privately, thinking of an appropriate way to voice her suspicions. "You two have some explaining to do," she bluntly told them. The sisters glanced at each other. "I"m sorry Mom-" Sabrina started, but Veronica interrupted her. "Sabrina, answer me truthfully this time. Are you, or are you not, pregnant?" REVIEW! I"m going to start to answer to my reviews on each chapter, so if any of you have any questions, feel free to ask! :) scooby13- AWW! THANKS SOOO MUCH! :) Elephant4ever47-Well, you don"t know for sure if Sabrina"s pregnant of not yet, but the next chapter should give you a straight answer. Here"s the next chapter! LOL, yes well Henry is always mad most of the time. It would be hard to wake up and find your daughters have changed so much! Everyone needs some Sabrina and Puck! Sure I will. rangthesquirrel- Too true! MUSTARDSEED all the way! Alexandra Jackson rocks Hades- Updated! :) Gifted Shadows- Hehe. Yeah, I haven"t written in a while. That"s probably why. karatequeen78- Thanks a lot. That was so poetic! And It really means a lot to me that I made your day! You made mine! ~HunterofLight123

"Secrets and Seekers?" The short boy with spiked hair asked. "The show, the cartoon," I specified. "Whichever you want to call it. The main characters fight using titans and powers against the Organization in the first season and the Blood-Spirals in the second season..." A pause. "Aren"t you cosplaying them?" "Cosplaying?" Now they seemed very confused. "Cartoon?" I hit my forehead with the heel of my hand. "Please tell me I"m not crazy..." "With those claims, you might as well be," an accented voice came from the group, belonging to the brown-haired girl. "Seriously? Why am I the only one seeing these crazy cosplayers..." I looked around, only to find that there were no people around us at all. "Wh- where is everyone?!" I could feel my eyes widen as I looked more desperately. "Allison?! Where"s Allison?!" I glared at the four people (and gargoyle) in front of me. "What did you do to make everyone in the market disappear and where is my sister?!" They were obviously crazy if they were cosplaying and didn"t even know the name of the show their characters were from. "We didn"t do anything to the people here," the first girl replied to my question, a threat in her voice. "You were the only one here when we showed up." I was absolutely fuming now. No one hurts my sister, no one. I could feel the familiar focus of energy in my hands as they seemed to tingle. "You expect me to believe that?!" I practically growled. "This is just a misunderstanding," the second girl said, stepping forward. "We showed up because there was a Titan in the area that needed to be subdued." With just that sentence, I could feel my anger slip away out of my grasp and sighed, letting the energy that had been gathered in my hands dissipate. "Okay, okay," I said, looking at them. "Now would you mind explaining how I happen to be talking with people that look, act, and talk the exact same as the characters in a show I watch?" "We"re just as confused as you are," the black haired girl said, looking me up and down. I sighed; it looks like I was on my own to figure this out... "The only way it"d work is if the show was actually true but everyone knows that what you watch on T.V. isn"t real... Oh, great... Okay, calm down, Becca...Right, I"ll start with that." "What"re you doing?" The guy with spiky hair asked, looking kind of annoyed. "Talking to myself," I pointed out, looking closer at the group. "Just to be sure, you guys are the Huntik team: Lok Lambert, Sophie Casterwill, Zhalia Moon, and Den Fears? Oh, and Cherit, can"t forget you. No Dante but that corresponds with the last episode when Dante was shown to have joined the council..." I had moved one of my hands up towards my face and shifted my weight to one foot in a thinking gesture. Lok nodded, confirming my theory while Cerit seemed delighted that someone had remembered him. "Oh, great," I said again. "I really must be going crazy." With as sigh, I tried to come up possible solutions to the little dilemma I had found myself in. "...probably a Seeker..." I heard the whisper from their group. "...mind didn"t work..." "You know whispering doesn"t help at all," I called over to them, walking closer. "I don"t know why Simple Mind didn"t work but didn"t Zhalia herself say that it only works on the weak willed? I"m pretty sure that description doesn"t fit me." Great, now I was acting like this was actually the show instead of life... Actually, everyone is gone, so why couldn"t it be? "Stop it,' I thought to myself. "Worrying about it will get you nowhere. Just go along until a good explanation can be found.' "How do you-" Sophie started accusingly. "Let me put it this way," I cut her off. "Basically, I watched a show that showed your team"s adventures starting with when Lok first found out about Seekers and everything." "That"s..." Sophie trailed off, obviously trying to figure it out for herself. "Anyway," I continued. "I"m Becca Brown, a fan of yours." "Fan...?" Den said, thinking about it. "I like the way that sounds." "Don"t let it get to your head," I said with a sigh. "You"re still learning about everything that happened." Den shrugged but his eyes seemed to show a challenge. "Hey guys, why don"t we let the girl join the Huntik Foundation?" "It would be a good idea," Sophie said, putting the other matters aside for now. "The Foundation could always use more Seekers," Lok agreed and Zhalia nodded. "Sounds interesting at least," I said with a smile. "Nice to meet you then, Becca," Lok said, friendly as usual. "Nice to meet you," Sophie repeated. "Nice to meet you, Becca," Den added his greeting to the chorus, his own smile mirroring mine. It looked like I"d be having a fun time after all and a rival to go with it. Pairings Pairings Pairings :3 Sorry if they"re OOC, I was trying my best but I haven"t rewatched the series enough to be able to perfectly get them all right. This is just the introduction (hopefully I"ll be able to get the next part up soon) and if you couldn"t tell, the rival my character was thinking of is Den since they"re both relatively new seekers and each have their own strengths (mine knows the story thus far and everything they have gone through and Den has actual Seeker experience. I personally love pairings so I"ll definitely be making this have some Lok X Sophie, Dante X Zhalia, and (since he is so far not taken) Den X Becca(OC) :3 I hope you"ll keep reading and please, please, please review :3 Doesn"t have to be long, just enough so I know I actually have some people reading my story, not that people accidentally clicked on it. Ellos! I"m back with the second chapter of Wind"s Source. I had a very hard time coming up with what would happen through this chapter (other than the beginning, that was just plain fun to write :3). Anywho, please Read, Enjoy, and Review. :3 "After all that talk, the thing that"s slowing you down was the fact that you aren"t in shape!" That comment came from my ever helpful rival and fellow trainee Den. "Well, sorry I was never interested in any sports," I growled, rolling my eyes. Of course, he had to come in when I was out of breath from my practice. Everything had gone smoothly most of the way for me becoming a Seeker but, looking back, I really shouldn"t have told them how I know everything about them. Most of the group had been kind of creeped out by that while Den used it to tease me almost endlessly. "Ah, and here I thought I might get someone to spar with that wouldn"t absolutely kick my butt, not that you could anyways," Den was grinning, apparently trying to egg me on into a spar. "Whatever," I shrugged, finally catching my breath as I sat down on my bed. "And who said you could barge in here in the first place?" I asked as I pointed out that this was my room. "Isn"t it a little impolite to go into a girl"s room?" He seemed quick enough to pick up on the fact that I"d spread the news around if he didn"t leave and was out of my room in a flash, closing the door behind him. With him gone, I was finally able to lie back on my bed and stare at the ceiling. Nothing had been found about my family or friends and, according to the databases, they had never even existed in the first place. My phone had also disappeared so the only things I had left of them were things I had with me at the time I had been found: a bag holding my sketchbook, my purse, the grey hat that used to be my sister"s, and a red and black flash drive that contained almost all of my stories and pictures. That was it. Well, I did have my jewelry; the ring my mom had thought was mine that I ended up keeping, the necklace my sister had given me with an inscription that said "a sister is a forever friend", and the silver and turquoise bracelet my mom had gotten for me. I guess it was enough to remind me of them yet not make me miss them too much. I was currently staying and training at the Seattle branch of the Huntik foundation, mostly working on learning powers and getting in shape. The team still had missions to go on but after every one of them, Den would come as a representative of the team to check up on me. Other than the fact that he had also lost his brother for a time and that we were both new to being Seekers, I couldn"t see a reason why he kept coming back. Sure, they had been the ones to find me but if they thought I was weird and kind of creepy, why even keep in touch? I know that I stay away from people that creep me out, no matter who it is. "What to do, huh?" I asked myself. I smiled at the thoughts running through my head. Without my family, I was slowly becoming more and more introverted, keeping myself in my room unless I was needed somewhere else for training or food, practicing by myself no matter who offered to spar with me, and driving anyone that come to my room away with a few (usually) carefully planned sentences. Oh, I had cried when I found out I wouldn"t be seeing my family and friends again, at least for awhile, but I was now back to usual, or at least what these people thought was usual for me. The good thing about meeting new people is that they didn"t know who you were before they met you. "Yep, I know," I told myself, leaping up back onto my feet. "My lessons will be starting soon, aren"t they?" I went to my bathroom to brush my long dark brown hair out and put it up in a (still kind of messy) high ponytail. "I"ve never been good at that," I commented, looking over my hair in the mirror for a second. "Where"s Allison when you need her?" With one last grin at myself, I turned and went down the stairs to the training area where the teacher was waiting. It took me about a month to get into shape enough to actually be qualified to go on missions but I decided to stick to training for awhile longer so I could actually be of some help to any team I was assigned to. Another part of that decision was that, no matter how many times I tried, I was unable to bond with any of the common Titans that the Foundation provided. What that meant was that if I did go on a mission, I would have to rely on powers to get though any possible battle. During training, I had already learned how to use Bolt Flare, Ray Pulse, and the other basic Huntik spells. The teacher, an old man named Mr. Newman, was amazed at how fast I progressed from one spell to the next but it was probably all because I already knew all of the powers from watching the show, even if no one believed me. Talking about Mr. Newman, every time I hear his name, I can"t help but laugh since it seems to be the total opposite of how he looks. Unfortunately for me, no one else here at the base seems to have a sense of humor because they always look at me weird when I start laughing. I can"t help the fact that I was raised in a family where sarcasm was the norm... Technically, it would"ve been funnier if Mr. Newman"s name had been Mr. Youngman but it was still pretty funny for me to have an old man named "New"man around. Anyways, according to Mr. Newman *snicker*, my training for the next month would consist of working on my knowledge of titans and the seeker world. Seekers, easy. Titans, not so much. After he would explain as much as was possible to fit into an hour or two of training, I would be given a pile of books to read over the next 24 (well, 22 actually) hours. Most of the books were about mythology, the legends, and what actually had happened in terms of the Seeker world. Personally, I love reading books... as long as they interest me. These books weren"t very interesting. Page after page of descriptions, back stories, and some not very well written legends seem to have a tendency to give me a headache. Between running in the morning, power practice, Seeker/Titan classes, and reading headache-inducing books, my days were pretty busy yet boring at the same time. Luckily for me, the boring day to day life was going to end soon. It had been a month since Den had last come to check up on me and the Huntik team left on a mission to retrieve the titan "Thunderbird" from deep in the North American wilderness. The team that was assigned to finding out what happened was Dante Vale, Harrison Fears, and me, Rebecca Brown. Well, at least it was a break from the boring life and training, even if it would be the start of a strange journey. Like I mentioned before, I had a really, really hard time actually finishing this chapter since all of my ideas seemed to just die in the middle of when I was making them. Basically, I was very happy to be able to have an idea come to me that might be kinda interesting to follow, thus the disappearance of the Huntik team. Sorry its so short... I"ll try to make the next one a lot longer if you guys want it to be but I thought I couldn"t just make it jump to the action... And for those of you that are wondering where the "Crossover" I promised is going to come in, I"m still working on it but it"ll probably be awhile later. :3 Oh, right. If you guys have any suggestions for what the crossover would be from, feel free to tell me your ideas. I haven"t read Harry Potter, Twilight, or the Hunger Games so I can"t use those but I will definitely be using Winx Club (same people made that as made Huntik), maybe some Tales games, and anime will probably make it into the mix somewhere as well. Review Replies :3 (added in on 9/3/12 since I forgot them earlier X_X) linds01 : Thanks so much for your review and I"m glad you think that its funny. :3 I usually have trouble making things funny but I"m glad it worked. Guest : Thanks for your review and I hope you"ll keep reading :3 Lady Elvira : Thanks for your review :3 I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. :3 Actiongirl101 : Thanks for the review :3 I was very happy to help out with your idea and would love to help with any others (ideas are fun :3) Sam : Longest review so far! Very glad you like the idea of a Self Insert where the world comes to the character instead of the other way around and there"s no way I"ll leave this half way (unless I run out of ideas which is very unlikely) Aurora2001 : Thanks alot for the review :3 I"m glad I"m not the only one that likes the concept of the story :3 Thanks so much for reading my story (even though I myself am kinda unsatisfied with it...). Hope you enjoyed it and please review :3 Every review makes me want to write so much more :3 -Kazane Hime Ellos :3 Sorry for the long wait, I"ve been kinda stuck on this story. Sorry if the cannon characters seem OOC... Anywho, Please Read, Enjoy and Review :3 If someone ever asks you if you want to become a Seeker, don"t. Well, if you"re someone like me that is. Being clumsy and anti-social doesn"t very well usually doesn"t come in handy when you"re going to be in tough situations. Ugh, sorry, I"m getting ahead of myself again. It was bad from the start. As I got out of the car at the private airport, a piece of my hair caught on the door. Cursing my clumsiness, I turned to the door to untangle myself. I could feel the eyes of my teammates watching me and my face heated up with embarrassment in response. "Sorry," I said quietly when I finally turned back towards Dante and Harrison. I headed towards them only to realize that I had forgotten to grab my bags and whirled around. Imagining what they were thinking only accomplished getting a stronger heat in my cheeks but I shook my head and tried to ignore it, grabbing my bags out of the back and thanking the person that had giving me a ride. "So... Where is Thunderbird supposed to be?" I asked no one in particular once we were on the plane and ready to go. "I"ll go over the details once we"re in the air," Dante said over his shoulder as he worked in the pilot"s seat. "Okay," I said. Patiently, I looked out the window as we took off. A few minutes later, when the plane reached safe flying height for the auto pilot to be initiated, Dante left the pilot"s seat to come back and go over the mission as promised. "Mission: Thunderbird"s Lair. Objective: Retrieve the titan Thunderbird and discover what has happened to the other Huntik team that was sent to retrieve it." Dante said, sitting down in one of the cabin"s seats across from where I was seated by myself. "And? Where exactly will we be?" I asked. "Thunderbird was originally in the Pacific Northwest but when it bonded with a Native American Seeker, it was moved to what was usually referred to as the Great Plains: Central North America. It was recently discovered that there were strange storms happening in the forests west Helena, Montana. That is where we"re headed." Dante finished. I looked at Harrison, who was being strangely quiet but, then again, I didn"t really know how his personality had changed since he had joined the Huntik foundation. "I have..." I paused. "Well, had, family in Helena. They"ve probably disappeared as well. Also, if I remember correctly, Mt. St... ugh, Mt. Helena is to the west of the city. Would that be the area we should look in?" "Perhaps," Dante said, taking out his holotome. "We"ll start out by checking that area. Rebecca, you"ll have to lead the way since you know the area best." I gripped my seat tightly, nerves kicking in. "Um... I might not be the best to lead..." I said, adding quietly. "I have a tendency to get lost." "We"ll work on that," was the reply with a reassuring smile. The red-haired man got to his feet to go back to piloting the plane when I added one more thing. "And just call me Becca, it"s easier to say." He nodded. I smiled, happy, before turning my gaze out the window to the clouds and trees passing below us. We spent a long time like that until I started getting bored and looked at Harrison, who seemed worried despite the brave front he appeared to be trying to put up. "Um..." I started nervously. "We"ll... I"m sure this sounds weird coming from someone you just met but..." My gaze flickered around until I was able to make myself meet his surprised eyes. "We"ll find them." I felt my eyes become determined. "Zhalia, Den, Lok, and Sophie, we"ll find them and get Thunderbird, I"m sure of it." "Yeah," He agreed; his expression hard to read. "We"ll find them." To me, it sounded like he was trying to convince himself. Just fine, I guess though my statement ended up being wrong, for then at least. Less than 1,000 words... I feel horrible but I wanted to be able to post this before I went to bed today. How was everyone"s "End of the World" day? 12-21-12 didn"t amount to much other than a lonely day for me. Anywho, thanks for reading the story (and my random ramblings). I hope you review. I love any and all critisim though please don"t flame (not that you would since you took time to read this much x_x). Oh, right. I"ll try to get the next chapter up before (or on) Christmas but in case I don"t make it, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year :3 Thanks to E whose small review inspired me to write more and to all of you ghost readers that haven"t yet reviewed :3 Yes, it"s been much longer than promised... I feel horrible about this... Sorry in advance too, the chapter"s really short since I couldn"t figure out where to have it go... Taking a deep breath, I could taste the familiar Montana air. It didn"t have the cool, evergreen taste that I grew up with but was still familiar. We had just landed in Helena, Montana a few minutes ago and were waiting for out ride to the mountain"s hiking trails. As we waited, dark clouds bubbled up behind the mountain. "Looks like dry lightning," I commented, watching the sky. "There"s not enough moisture for it to rain." I looked over at my teammates. "This the effect of Thunderbird?" A clap of thunder answered my question, drowning out Dante"s reply. Harrison had simply nodded. "I"ll take that as a yes," I said towards the clouds, a grin tugging at the corners of my mouth. "Our ride"s here," Dante announced. I looked over to see a simple, red, old farming truck as it pulled up. The person behind the wheel had scruffy hair and a dust-stained button up shirt. Seemed more like a farmer than a Seeker. Harrison and Dante started towards the truck and I followed a bit behind, watching what they did for clues of what I should do. Dante sat in the front with the farmer and Harrison took one of the back seats. Silently, I took the other back seat and buckled myself in before we headed off. "This is Mr. Green," Dante said as we reached the paved road. "Mr. Green, this is Harrison Fears and Rebecca Brown." "Nice to meet you," Mr. Green said. "You all going up to Mt. Helena to get Thunderbird?" "Yeah," I nodded, my shyness around new people refusing to let up. "There was a team that went up there a while ago," Mr. Green continued, not seeming to be bothered. "Haven"t seen them since." I looked at Harrison and Dante in turn but their expressions where unreadable. With an almost inaudible sigh, I turned to the window and watched the dry Montana scenery until we reached the mountain. "Here we are," Mr. Green said, parking his truck. "Good luck up there, Dante. Kids." Sorry it"s so short again... I"ve been really, really busy with school and have been having writer"s block problems for this story...

Sliding out from under the covers, I noticed that a cold sweat that covered my skin from the nightmare. With a sigh, I headed to the bathroom to wash off. Finally clean, I pulled her hair back in the usual double ponytail, fastening some holders around it to stop it from poofing out, and got dressed before returning to my room. It was just another day; no burning and no death. There should be no reason for such a nightmare to affect me, but the emotions showed no sign of fading and every detail was still crystal clear. Caught up in my thoughts, I didn"t notice the door opening or the hurried footsteps that swept across my room. "La-ta~!" A sing-song voice came from right next to my ear as arms encircled me, making me jump. "You okay?" The voice asked as the arms let go so the other girl could stand in front of me with a worried look. "Yeah," I said, forcing a smile onto my face. "You just startled me, El." "You sure?" The girl asked, still looking worried. I nodded, studying the two braids resting on the rest of El"s hair to avoid meeting her expressive eyes. "I"m sure that I"m fine, okay?" "That"s good," Elfleda smiled, not noticing that I couldn"t meet her gaze. "Mom sent me up to get you for breakfast." "Okay," I said, happy for the distraction. "What"s for breakfast?" I asked as we headed down the stairs. "Rice Porridge," El answered. "As usual," I said with a smile, walking into the dining room where Lorraine was setting the table. "Good morning Lorraine." "Morning, sleepyhead," Lorraine said as she looked up from setting the porridge on the table. "You"re just in time." El and I took our seats on each side of the table with a smile. As Lorraine passed me the Rice Porridge, I put some into my bowl and passed the Porridge on to Elfleda. In Orlen, Rice Porridge was a common dish since the rice was easy to get and the tea fields were right outside the woods so we almost always had an ample supply of tea leaves. "Where"s dad?" Elfleda asked after taking a bite. "Did he already head out to work?" Lorraine nodded. "He ate earlier then headed out. He wanted to finish earlier than usual today since it"ll be too dark to work at night." "Too dark?" I asked, fear bubbling up in my chest. "Please don"t let it be the same... please don"t-' "It"s a new moon tonight," Lorraine confirmed what I had feared. Silently, I set down my spoon and stood up with my bowl only half empty. "I"m going to go see Brandi," I said, picking up my dishes. "Thanks for the meal, Lorraine." I quickly put my dishes away and headed out of the house, too absorbed in my thoughts to notice the worried look simmering in Elfleda"s eyes. Usually I would wait for her to finish eating before leaving but right now, I needed something to take my mind off of that dream - vision - or whatever it had been. I paused slightly before knocking on the door to my teacher"s house. A clanking sound came from the other side before the door swung open to welcome me into its mechanical depths. My teacher was nowhere to be found in the jumble of machines that greeted me but I knew where she would be. A machine-clear path led to a large room towards the back of the house and the air buzzed with the sound of all of the machines around me. There was the usual sound of clanking but there was also a barely audible high pitched buzzing from the machines" power source. I walked along the path, a click behind me alerting me to the fact that the door had closed itself behind me. My head ached a bit from the unusual yet somehow familiar high pitched whine but, later, that ache was the only indicator that the sound was still there once it faded from my hearing. As I approached the end of the walkway, a mostly machine-free room opened up in from of me. Stepping out into the room, I saw a familiar vested figure at the end of the room. The figure"s red and white hair was pulled back and tied at the nape of her neck and fell to her waist. It swung back and forth as they shook their head in annoyance with the malfunctioning object in front of them. "Brandi," I called out as I walked over to her. "What are you working on this time?" The hair wrapped itself around the person"s torso as she spun around to face me. Her left hand held the object she had been tinkering with behind her back, out of my sight, while the other came to rest on her hip. "Just another idea I had." The strict look on Brandi"s face stopped any other questions from crossing my lips. "Okay, I guess," I said, shrugging. This wasn"t the first time I had caught my mentor working on something she wouldn"t show me. "What is it child?" Brandi asked, her perceptive eyes picking up the start of a worried frown on my face. "I"m not a child anymore: I"m 20 years old already,' I stopped myself from voicing the thought; it wouldn"t do anything but make Brandi annoyed with me. "I had a bad dream, that"s all." The Armenian gave me an unbelieving look but let it go. "So? Why are you here?" "Practice," I started. "I felt like getting some practice in." Brandi regarded me for a bit before speaking. "Just warm up in here," she said. "Once you"re done with that, go out into the woods to fight against the monsters there." "Yes Ma"am." My last opponents in the woods were wolves. Two Wolf Cubs waited behind an older wolf for an opportunity to attack or simply for protection; either one worked for me. I grabbed my Brandistock from where it was strapped onto my back and held it ready. The Wolf rushed forward, trying to finish this battle in the first strike but was knocked into the air as I swung my staff in an upwards arc. Another strike sent the Wolf crashing into a tree. The cubs yipped in agitation and leapt forward only to cower back to avoid a sweeping strike. With them far enough away, I began casting the only long-distance spell I knew. "Flickering blaze, burn: Fireball!" I called out, aiming at the mostly unconscious Wolf. Five Fireballs arched towards my helpless enemy and they each seemed to explode when they came into contact with the Wolf. There was the smell of burning fur and flesh before the monster let out a screech and collapsed, deathly silent and unmoving. "One down," I said, casting away the thoughts that threatened to invade my mind. "Two to go..." In a single, smooth movement I twirled my staff and planted one end on the ground. A sharpened spear point popped up from the top of the staff and locked into place. With the spear head out, I spun my weapon again and pointed it towards the two Wolf Pups in a silent challenge. They accepted the challenge with growls and loped towards me. As they got within striking distance, I stabbed the spear head into the ground. "Volcanic Burst," I called out as ripples of fire erupted from where my spear pierced the ground. Both cubs wailed in fear and pain as the fire consumed them. Once their cried had been silenced, I retracted the spear point and set my Brandistock back onto my back before starting to pick up anything that would be useful. All I could salvage was a bit of charred fur and a chunk of meat. After carefully wrapping my prizes and putting them away into my bag, I cast a look around to see where I was. There was more light filtering through the trees than usual, suggesting that I was near the edge of the forest. Shouldering my bag, I walked along the well trodden path towards the open tea fields that separated us from the capital, Barona. Thinking back, I had probably figured that Lorraine was probably running low on tea leaves by then so it would be a good idea to gather some for her. I went to the edge of the tea field and started to gather the outlying leaves, the scent of them smothering all the other scents. After gathering about 25 fresh tea leaves for Lorraine, I turned back towards the forest, only to see a pillar of smoke drifting above the trees. Fire was something that was almost only used for lighting and warmth in Orlen and there was almost never any outbreaks of fire from those alone. I carefully but quickly stuffed the tea leaves into my bag and put the strap over my shoulder before running off down the path towards the village. Many desperate thoughts ran through my mind during that time but all I can remember was that maybe they were burning the old stumps to make room for new trees to grow, or maybe my nightmares were coming true. As I got closer to Orlen, I had to slow down because the air was so thick with smoke. Screams rung in the air and tears fell down my face as the smoke stung my eyes. I couldn"t let this happen! Desperately, I searched my mind for any water spell I knew but I couldn"t remember any and the situation wasn"t doing much to help with that. It was then that I saw the creatures, wolf-like things with glowing eyes that pierced right through me. They were attacking the village, killing the villagers, burning everything down with the strange beams they shot from their mouths. I stared that the scene in shock until one of the creatures turned towards me, its eyes locking onto its new prey. No fire spell was going to save me from this kind of wolf. The instinct to survive took over as I turned and fled back into the forest, weaving in and out of the trees in an attempt to lose the wolf. Where was Elfleda? Where was Lorraine? Where were the foresters? Had the wolves found them first then followed their trails back to the village? A burning hot beam scathed my side, driving all the other thoughts out of my head as I ran for my life, deeper into the forest. Nice cliffy at the end :3 Sorry I haven"t updated for so long I got stuck on the fight scene against the first wolves and couldn"t think of how to continue it till a few days ago. Hope I didn"t make you wait too long :3 Anywho, please review so I can know what you think. Just saying that you like it is perfectly fine and I am totally open to constructive criticism (Not Flames). -Kazane Hime Hello again, everyone! Sorry it"s been so long. I"ve been really, really busy with school. Anywho, here"s the next chapter of White Wishes. Please read, enjoy and review. Darkness, similar to that that my dream had foretold, engulfed me as I collapsed on top of a tree arch. I had stumbled through the undergrowth during my flight, adding many developing bruises to the searing wound on my side from the strange wolf. It was the pain from that wound that made me pass out there on that natural bridge, almost to the safety of North Barona Road. When I woke up, the sun was high in the sky, shining down on my moss encrusted bed. The dry, prickly pieces tickled the bare skin on my legs, arms, and neck. I tried to turn over onto my side to escape the itchy feeling but the movement ended up just sending waves of pain through my body from the wound in my side. White spots, like stars in the sky, danced around my vision from the pain. It wasn"t the most pleasant of things but it kept me distracted from the hunger and thirst. I lay there, helpless and waiting for the strange greyish-brown wolves to attack, for hours. Though, I actually lost track of the time it really took before I heard the slightly clanking steps of knights. "U-up here!" I croaked out. My dry throat made it hard to get the sounds out but I managed to get the knights" attention. From what I could see out of the corner of my eyes without moving was them looking around for the source of the sound. "There!" One of them called out, pointing up to the tree arch. I sighed then immediately regretted it as the burning in my side rekindled. Desperate to not make the same mistake again, I stopped watching the knights as they made their way up to the arch. "Are you alright?" One of them asked, kneeling next to my head. Now that they were entirely in my field of vision, I could tell there were only two of them. The other one was digging something out of his supply bag. "Not... really," I managed. The closer one nodded in understanding and looked at his partner. "Here," the other knight said, handing over a small bag. Apple gels, I thought as the knight took one out of the bag and held it close to me. "Eat this," he said. I opened my mouth and accepted the healing gummy. A feeling of warmth washed through me, much more comfortable than the searing pain I had been feeling earlier. I could feel my wound start to heal as the knights started to talk to each other. "What should we do, Rick?" The furthest away knight asked as he replaced the apple gels in their supply bag. "We can"t leave her here, but there might be more further in," the other one, Rick, responded, standing back up. "Elfleda," I said, making both of them look at me. "My sister!" "It"s alright," Rick said to me. "If there are any others, we"ll find them." "O-okay," I said, sitting up. There was only a dull throbbing left where my wound had been. "Fred," Rick said, looking back at the other knight. "Take her to the Turtlez just outside the forest and have them take her to Barona then meet me at Orlen. The captain is going to be bringing one of his students out on his first field mission." Fred nodded in agreement. He reached down and helped me to my feet. I stood shakily, my legs weak. "Come on," he said softly, lending me his armored shoulder for support. I nodded, a lump in my throat as I glanced towards my home, out of view through the trees. I don"t remember exactly how long it took us to reach the edge of the forest, but eventually we finally made it out and past the tea fields to where the Turtlez was with his Turtlez Transport. "Woah, whatz happened to her?" The Turtlez asked as we reached him. "We"re not sure," Fred said. "But we need to get her back to Barona to be treated." "Surez," the Turtlez said. "Just getz her in the backz of the Tranzport." "Thank you." Fred helped me onto the tamed turtle monster"s saddle before speaking to me. "You should be brought to the Barona inn where the knights can find someone to treat you." "Alright," I said. The pain was creeping back into my consciousness. I watched Fred gave the Turtlez gald for the transport and for a night at the inn before he started back towards the woods. After a few minutes, the Turtlez got on the front of the Transport and started the turtle walking. "Holdz on tightz," he called back to me as the slow movement began. I nodded, even though he probably couldn"t see, and leaned back against the wall of the saddle. The sun had moved about a third of the way down the sky by the time we reached Barona"s Inn. "Thank you," I told the Turtlez as he dropped me off and gave me the money Fred had given him for the Inn. "No Problemz," he said, smiling. I didn"t stay to watch him leave on his turtle; My side was starting to burn again. With a hand clasped over the wound, I made my way into the Inn. I paid for a room and went to it before laying down on the bed, almost totally exhausted. Flashes of what had happened the night before and in my dream kept playing through my mind until I couldn"t tell one from the other. Was Elfleda alive? Brandi? Everyone else? What was that strange power that the wolf-like monster had? Why had they suddenly attacked? I sighed, pushing the thoughts out of my head. What I needed now was sleep, not pessimistic thoughts. Rolling over on the bed, I closed my eyes and let myself drift off to sleep. Everything would make sense in the morning, or so I hoped. There we go :3 Thanks for reading. The next chapter should be up within the month though I can"t give a definite date since I"m still busy. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please, please review :3 Here"s the next chapter as promised :3 Cheria, Asbel and Malik make appearances. Please Read, Enjoy and Review. I woke up to a knocking on the door. The sun, as I could tell through the window in my room, was already partially up. "Come in," I called, starting to sit up. A girl with dark pink hair came in. As soon as she saw me, she rushed over. "Oh, don"t sit up," she said. "You"ll hurt yourself more." I stared at her, confused. Then it finally dawned on me; this was the healer that the knight had mentioned would come. Slowly, noticing the pain reawakening from my sudden jolt, I laid back down. As soon as I laid back down, the healer placed her hands on my side. I slightly jumped but managed to calm myself back down enough to observe what she was doing. A bright glow shone from her hands, enveloping the wound. Within a minute, it was completely healed. "That should be good," she said. "Not to pry, but what happened to you?" I looked away. "Did the knights not tell you?" She shook her head. "Well..." I trailed off but it seemed to get the point across. "Its alright, you don"t need to tell me if you don"t want to." "Thanks again," I said. "Ah, excuse me for being rude," she said. I looked at her, confused for a second. "I"m Cheria Barnes." "Lata Aurelia," I replied, smiling. "Nice to meet you." "It"s nice to meet you too, Ms. Aurelia." "Just Lata," I told her, my last name reminding me of my worries. She nodded in agreement. "The knights should be coming later today to ask you about what happened." "Alright, thanks," I took a glance at the door to see if they were coming yet. "Well then. I need to get going," she said. "It was nice to meet you, Lata." "Same," I replied. She left my inn room and I got up. My reflection in a mirror near the edge of the room caught my attention. Pieces of my blonde hair were sticking up at strange angles and my ponytails were tangled and falling apart. I needed to get washed up quickly. By the time I finished washing up, it was about noon. I was on my way out to get something to eat when I accidentally bumped into a guy. "Sorry," I said, turning to apologize. The guy was a bit taller than me with dark red-brown hair that stuck up a bit in a few places. He had bright blue eyes and looked somehow familiar, though I couldn"t exactly place why. I felt my brow furrow in thought, wondering if I had met him before. "Are you Lata Aurelia?" A deep voice asked, turning my attention to the guy"s companion. He was much taller than me and had dirty blond hair and a beard. I couldn"t tell the exact color of his eyes from just the glance I got but they seemed to be some sort of brown color. "Yes," I responded. "That"s me." "We"re here from the knights," the tall guy said in the same deep voice from earlier. "We need to ask you a few questions about what happened in Orlen." "Alright," I said reluctantly. I had been trying to push that matter to the back of my mind since last night but... if they had news on everyone then... My stomach rumbled as if it was annoyed that it had been forgotten. "Captain," the reddish haired knight said, looking up at his older companion. "Should we talk over food?" "Yes, great idea Asbel," the Captain nodded, arms crossed. I went along with the two of them to a bar called Tactics. As we entered, the bartender looked up. "Ah, Malik! Finally decide to take me up on my offer?" He called out. "No, I have more to do still," The Captain, Malik, replied. He led us over to a table and offered me a chair. After we ordered, the knights looked at each other before Asbel spoke. "So, what do you know about what happened in Orlen?" I looked at the wall, trying to recall the details of what had happened. It wasn"t too hard since it was still fresh in my mind, imprinted there from the shock. "I- I had gone out into the woods to practice," I started. The words had to be forced out but I could feel myself getting closer and closer to just spilling out everything. "I had had a nightmare the night before and needed something to distract me. I wasn"t out there very long but when I came back, the town was in flames and there were these... wolf-like monsters." "Did you try to fight them?" Asbel asked when I stopped for breath. I shook my head. "No, I didn"t. There was something about them... Something that told me that I wouldn"t be able to beat them. Plus, there were too many for me to take on by myself." "Then?" The Captain said. "Then I ran. One of the wolves fired a beam or something that scathed my side but I managed to lose them in the woods," I said. Neither of the knights offered any comments. "Here"s your food," a waitress said, setting down some plates on our table. I stared at my curry for a bit before taking a bite. The others also started eating their food. Asbel had gotten non-spicy curry and the Captain, Sea Bream Porridge. I was the first to be done eating, not even finishing all of my meal. It didn"t taste right but I had forced myself to eat enough to calm my protesting stomach. While the others finished eating, I gathered myself and my thoughts. "Do you want to continue?" Asbel asked when he finished eating. "Sure," I nodded. "I guess I collapsed after I got away from the wolves and the knights found me then sent me here. That"s about all." "Did the healer come by?" The Captain asked. "Yeah. She came by a few hours before I ran into you guys." "Good," he said. "Now we"ll just need you to help us with an official report and we"ll be done." "Thank you." So, so? What do you all think :3 Please, please, please review even if just to say one or two words if you want :3

But monsters of different species usually go hand-in-hand these days, as they concoct their devious plans together in an organized matter. Evan and the other kingdoms are successful to repel these attacks, but the monsters never seemed to surrender. In fact, Ferdinand was mobilized in some skirmishes just last week, before the coronation. "It"s a miracle that Evermore wasn"t attacked during my coronation," Ferdinand joked. He was slumped on the throne, exhausted after finishing multiple stacks of paper at his desk. "No kiddin.'" Lofty jumped from behind. "Flippin" suckers are gettin" stronger by the day, eh?" "Why won"t you just turn into your dragon form and take care of them, Lofty? It would keep my men safe." Lofty sneered. "Aye, I would if I could. Ask me again when I"m your Kingmaker, eh?" The room went silent. Ferdinand"s coronation was only the passing of the crown. Evan and Lofty are still connected by the lifelong Kingsbond even with the symbol of the bond, the Sword of Unity, was by Ferdinand"s side. And because Evan is growing weaker by the day, so too the bond wanes. The only way to obtain a new bond without forcibly removing it would be to challenge the Kingmaker directly, but it is not possible with for such hasty circumstances. Lofty averted his gaze. "...Sorry mun. I shouldn"t have made fun of you an" yur pappy. We didn"t even bond much in yur childhood." "It"s fine," he reassured. "I wish I can just venture off like my father did other than for diplomatic reasons. He learned from first experience how the world worked. That way we can know more about each other. Then I can challenge you." The small fairy laughed. He gave a big grin and folded his hands behind his head. "Chill, mun. I"m sure we can get along well in time, ain"t it?" He hopped a bit. "Anywho, it"s "round time for you to visit some refugees." "Right." Ferdinand left the castle and went into town. Whenever he was not busy with international affairs, he would make rounds around the palace and the city proper, just as Evan once did before, to make sure everything is running smoothly. Sometimes he would be distracted and try to resolve a small conflict between two men or a help lost grimalkin girl find her mother. Whatever the case, Ferdinand would try his best to fix it, despite Lofty"s objections. And today is no different. Ferdinand and Lofty traveled all the way to the edge of the city walls where the refugees lived. Evermore is a prosperous kingdom, but there are only so much livable land in a given area-some humans and merfolk were given temporary houses to share amongst themselves, but the rest of them stayed outside of the walls in tents by the inner river. It was like walking in a dank alleyway in the middle of the night; a silent, lifeless part of town at the edge of the walls. There were barely any children playing in the sidewalks, and the people were gossiping behind his back. The rest were indoors, masking their fear and hatred behind social walls. Nothing changed. Even with Ferdinand"s best interests, he could not seem to win the refugee"s hearts. Lofty nudged him and whispered, "Go on, then. Give "em the news." Ferdinand cleared his throat. "Refugees of Hydropolis. I am King Ferdinand of Evermore. I come again to bring fortunate news." Restless, the refugees stopped whatever they were doing and gathered in a circle surrounding Ferdinand and Lofty. There were more murmurs as they discussed about their predicament. The king raised his hand and silence permeated the area again. Ferdinand continued, "As you all are aware, Evermore can only take care of so many of its people within its walls, and thus, is only a temporary home for the displaced. My father, King Evan, was in the middle of finding a new place for all of you while the other Kingdoms Under One Banner will work on restoring Hydropolis back to normal." The refugees knew in their hearts that it was not possible for one country to take care of another country, but their expectations for a kingdom with high repute overpowered them nevertheless. Collectively, the refugees thought, indeed, it is nice of them to help clean up the soot and ashes and rebuild the capital, but they should focus more on treating them, its people, slightly better. For what is a country if its people are not there? Ferdinand continued, "I continued negotiating with the other leaders to find if there is any land that matched the criteria I needed." "Criteria?" a built merman questioned. "Yes. First, there must be livable land that the other kingdoms have to spare, along with the land having the necessities of life: water, weather, vegetation, and the like. A place not infested with monsters. Second, the land must have nearby sea water because three quarters of Hydropolitans are merfolk, who need to rehydrate every so often." The built merman was surprised. "W-Well? Did you find a place?" "Of course ye blue-faced bum!" Lofty interjected. "Why else is he here for?!" "Eugh!" "Lofty, please!" Ferdinand said. "Ahem. Yes, there is one place that fits all criteria. And all leaders agreed to this proposal, including King Leander and Queen Nerea themselves. They"re currently doing the final inspections." "Where is it?" A concerned mother asked. He is still unsure about releasing this information. If he wanted to be just like his father, he would have to face his people (or anyone else"s people) and, above all, forget all of his indecisions. Ferdinand took a deep breath. "...You"ll be sharing land with New Allegoria. In Nazcaä." [] Nevertheless, the refugees reluctantly agreed to move again. Not that they had much of a choice in the matter. The process was a long and strenuous one-moving the entire population of Hydropolis is an enormous task that has never been attempted before. The people who escaped of Ding Dong Dell during King Mausinger"s tyranny two decades prior, for instance, were few and far between, scattered and insignificant, such that the newly built Evermore welcomed its new residences, both permanent and temporary. The transfer of Ding Dong Dell"s refugees is like filling a barrel of water to the brim, while the transfer of Hydropolis" refugees is like refilling an entire lake. There were several refugees who are old, sick, or in maternity leave that were allowed to stay in Evermore for extended periods of time. Other refugees liked living in Evermore and chose to become a citizen. The merfolk who stayed have to take prescribed medicine as the only alternative for their daily seawater intake, however. The process to move the Hydropolitans to Nazcaä took time and costed many resources, much to King Ferdinand"s dismay. When the people started complaining about the constant rise of taxes needed to build ships and supply the Hydropolitans with food, Ferdinand had to look for an alternative source by looking at the Kingdoms Under One Banner for help. He constantly had to negotiate with Goldpaw and Broadleaf for their ships and airships, and had to borrow the ridiculous amount of wealth Goldpaw had. He would have to use those same resources to start the cleanup near Hydropolis, too, but that would be for another time. A few days later, in the Evermore Weapon Workshop, a hammer slammed onto malleable metals to bend them into shape. Cling! Clang! Workers were in an assembly line, waiting for their turn to melt and bend the precious metals. "Pfah!" a young armorer cursed. "Why is Hydropolis gettin" all of Ferdinand"s attention? I don"t even build ships!" "Woof! Hold yer tongue, newbie! Don"t speak of your king like that!" a seasoned armorer barked. "Do you want this place to go under?!" "N-no. It"s just this man"s been taking our money and using it not on us, but on them. I have a family to take care of. Don"t you have one too, Miss Ah Chu?" ""Course I do," Ah Chu replied. "Sure, the taxes have been soaring, but I"m sure it"ll be back to normal anytime soon." "And when will that be?" the young armorer retorted. "Ferdinand"s borrowed so much money, it"ll take years to recover. Pfah, it"ll rise even higher, I"m sure of it!" "Now, little one." A third armorer laughed. "I know it may seem like it, but I think you"re over-exaggerating a bit, aren"t you?" All of the workers in the workshop stopped moving, all mouths gaping open at the voice. The voice came from a dogfolk with black fur and short, periwinkle hair. He walked downstairs from the research room. "W-wait, you"re..." the young armorer trailed off. "Master Nu Bi! I-I can explain!" "You have every right to complain," Nu Bi explained. "But know this: King Evan would surely do the same thing, right?" "Yeah, but, how do you know? If Ferdinand could do it just as well?" Nu Bi sighed. "I don"t." "Huh? What do you mean?" "I mean what I mean. But can you at least pretend to have trust? Ferdinand"s only king for a few months and he did so much for the Hydropolitans. Doesn"t that mean he has the power to change Evermore for the better if he can do it to other kingdoms?" The youngster paused. "I... I suppose, now that I think about it." Nu Bi inspected the young armorer"s metal ship components. "Your bends have been improving. Heh, all that ship building is not all for nothing after all." He then patted the newbie on the back and looked at the rest of the workers. "Alright then, back to work! Those Hydropolitans can"t get anywhere without these parts! King Ferdinand will be visiting Nazcaä soon, too, so make them good!" Clang! Cling! Hello again. As you may have noticed, I self-check these chapters grammatically, but not structurally. Yes, I have at some ideas in my head, but I think I"m not conveying them correctly to you, the audience. I"m no writer, but I want to improve concepts like foreshadowing or "show not telling," but it"s actually hard. Also, I have some chapters completed, but I can"t release them yet because I need to edit them. They"ll be released weekly, if you may have noticed with this chapter. That way I can have time to edit and write more chapters. (I"m stuck writing one at the moment haha. Sorry in advance if I can"t finish future chapters in time.) Thanks for reading, NazoLuk3 2018 3 - Act I: iii. Plans Version 1.11, updated 6/3/18 Notice: Chapter 2 formatting fixed. Em dashes (-) replaced normal dashes (-) for clarity. Evermore"s fabled Dispellery resided near the woods by the western walls, comprised of only a dispelling platform and a small, quaint hut. Unlike the kingdom"s four main institutions, Master Li Li insisted on a small research center devoid of the technological marvels from Broadleaf. Instead of installing a circuit capable of channeling "optimized magical circulation within the building" as engineer Bracken would have said many years ago, Li Li wanted to harness the earth"s own natural energy to power her magics. Besides, Li Li was comfortable honing her own dispelling skills without any artificial assistance. Only she and Sai Fer, her young assistant and future successor, resided within the Dispellery. Numerous magical dispelling devices were scattered around Li Li"s desk as she used each instrument one by one on an ancient stone with undecipherable symbols. Sai Fer studied the process by the sidelines by taking notes in her journal. It was a process not unlike a lockpicker"s job-weaving finely-threaded magic to reveal the stone"s true contents inside. Finally, with a puff of smoke the magical barrier dissipated and the stone"s symbols were replaced with a new set of symbols from some other language: it was filled with curved and zig-zagged strokes both. Li Li took her eyes off of the stone scriptures and sighed. "Another tomestone with ancient glyphs..." "That"s the fifth one this week, Miss!" Sai Fer said. "Do I transcribe it again?" "Please do." Sai Fer went to her desk to retrieve a rather long scroll from one of her jars. She unraveled it to unveil its length to be as long as the entire table and began the transcribing process. Li Li went to her workbench to scavenge another tomestone, but she found nothing new; only the ones piled in the "Curse-Free" bin remained. But this misfortune became an opportunity, for Li Li"s head sparked an idea. "Say, Sai..." Li Li trailed off. Sai Fer removed her goggles. She then placed paperweights on all four edges of the scroll. "Yes, Miss Li Li?" "I"ve been thinking of traveling a bit to find more tomestones to decipher. Goldpaw"s library still has dozens that we didn"t solve yet, but there"s one place I"ve been interested in a while now." "And you want me to watch over this place, as usual?" Sai Fer"s ears drooped in dejection. "Well..." Knock, knock. The sudden noise made both of their ears jump as they turned towards the door. They were not expecting anyone today. Li Li unlocked the door to see jolly Khunbish all by himself in the flesh. She embraced the fellow. "Khunbish!" she exclaimed. "Nice to see you again!" ""ello lasses!" he scratched the back of his neck. Sai Fer sighed in relief. "Are you here to commission for more dispelleries?" Li Li laughed. "The weapons you bring recently are getting harder to crack, but it"s nothing that I can"t do." "Har, har! You"re right. "ere, I brought a whole sack of "em!" Khunbish dragged a wagon full of them into the small shack, like trying to fit a rope into a needle hole. "Woah!" Sai Fer yelped. She leaned to a wall stacked with books, trying her best avoid the spiky objects while preventing the books from falling. The sack filled the air with a sickening atmosphere, its stench filled with "undeniable curse" all over it. "Wow, that"s...a lot," Li Li said. "All of these were from the monster skirmishes this past month?" "Checkmate!" Khunbish snapped his fingers. "Weird thing is, is that all of the weapons that we salvaged the fallen monsters from were all cursed!" "That is certainly abnormal..." Li Li stroked her chin. Sai Fer wondered if they could even dispel all of the weapons in a reasonable amount of time. Li Li shook her head. There was no point in thinking about such things. "Anyways," she resumed. "The commission still stands. Judging by the quantity and complexity of these curses, I"d say...ten thousand guilders." "And that"s half of the commission!" Sai Fer chimed in. "Ten thousand upon starting, and ten thousand when we"re done!" "Oh, damn!" Khunbish cursed. "Uh, keep it on my tab?" Li Li shook her head slowly. She motioned her hand to pay. "Aw, can"t you lower that a wee bit? You know how most of the kingsgilders are for Aquapolis-or whatever they"re called-and th" army"s not made of money." "No." "You know how close I am to Chief Cap"n General Batu..." he squeaked. "...and we could use more weapons..." Li Li paused for a bit. She thought she could use this as an advantage and surrendered. "...Fine. But under one condition." "And that is...?" "Give me an audience with former King Evan. I don"t care how, then I"ll cut the price in half." His face lit up. "Really?!" "Huh?" Sai Fer questioned. "I thought you"re in good terms with King Evan, Miss Li Li? Can"t you just make a visit?" She sighed. "I wish I could, but he"s just too sick to move." "He doesn"t want people to visit him," Khunbish added. "Might"a spread, Batu says. But okay, I"ll try to get your audience; might take a bit." "Thank you. And keep it a secret from his son, or the deal"s off. It"s a perfect time, too. He"s leaving for international business." Khunbish nodded. [] Nazcaä was a dead land, devoid of the most basic lifeforms, surrounded by a feeling of dread. An eternal nighttime, with only a cracked purple sky above and pale brown granite beneath one"s feet. Ghastly monsters would roam around mindlessly, and the Horned One"s corpse would silently tower over the entire continent. But not anymore. Former Hydropolitan soldiers were the first ones to be taken aback at the sudden transformation. It was only a few decades ago when the continent returned home and brought notorious monsters along with it. Indeed, like in a history book"s depiction of Old Allegoria, New Allegoria is it"s splitting image. With the Horned One"s curse destroyed, all cursed souls left and plant life infested its dry lands and covered up the Horned One, masking it as a moldy-looking mountain. But there were not many signs of fauna in its ecosystem and the ruins of Old Allegoria persisted. Once, King Doloran accepted people of all races and strived to make New Allegoria just like Evermore, but only a handful of groups moved in, like the greenlings from Niall"s Forest who were interested with how little human interaction Nazcaä had over the centuries. Whatever New Allegoria did, Evermore did better. Doloran rarely visited his "subjects" and instead wandered in and out of trip doors to visit various parts of the world. No one dared to find out what he did, but he was forgiven for his sincere change of heart, as long as he was not dabbling in the dark arts again. The city of Old Allegoria inside of the Horned One"s pocket dimension was sealed away because it is part of an interdimensional space that could collapse in any moment. Since the merfolk of Hydropolis have a strong affinity with water, they elected to stay by the shoreline while the humans settled near higher ground. "What"s the matter, love?" Leander"s eyes widened as he heard the voice of his beloved. He was having tea with Nerea in the rulers" tent; they were supervising construction in one of the many beaches in Nazcaä. Leander rubbed the rim of his lukewarm teacup. He said, "Oh, nothing. I was just reminiscing about the past." "About your adventures?" "Mhm. Funny to think Doloran caused chaos a couple of years ago." Nerea laughed. "Certainly. It"s strange to see how people change quickly. Same with our people, too-they were skeptical at first, but they like living here more than in Evermore"s edges." "Yes, but, they don"t really like the idea of living in Allegoria"s walls, either. It"s far safer to stay closer to land than in the shore. Another catastrophe like all those centuries ago could happen again." Nerea placed her cup down and frowned. "You"re sounding a lot like I was back when I lost my kingsbond." She leaned closer to Leander and noticed his weary eyes of sleepless nights and his slightly outgrown hair limping over his shoulders. She placed her hand over his chest. "What are you..." Leander trailed off. Nerea hushed his lips with a kiss. He did not reject the offer, and instead, embraced it. It lasted at least an hour for Leander, but in actuality, lasted for a few seconds. Nerea released herself and said, "Stay strong for yourself. For your people. I"m still responsible for losing my kingsbond and no one, not even Doloran, knows how to return it back." Leander folded his arms. "That"s why I challenged Brineskimmer and retrieved him in the first place. I didn"t want you to get hurt again." "I"m still Queen. I share responsibility too. Lean on me a bit." Leander did just that. [] Khunbish and Batu gathered privately within one of the many of the castle"s halls. Even in the most secluded parts of the castle with little to no hall guards, Batu was as loud as ever. His booming voice echoed in the corridor as Khunbish competed for domination, too. "What"s this, Khunbish? You want me to let a girlie in Evan"s room?" Batu looked furious. Even with a few stray gray hairs, the pirate chief is still game for a bar fight. "Hell no!" "Dammit old man!" Khunbish yelled. He motioned his hands violently. "It"s not just any gal, Chief! It"s Li Li, I say!" "Who?" Batu raised his eyebrows. They both paused for a second. "Uh, Li Li? Dogfolk, white-fur, dispelled that weapon you"re holdin" right now?" He pointed at the hammer, embroidered with threads weaved within each other in an intricate order. The body was surrounded by tough bones and had the skull of a ferocious monster, perhaps a bull, to intimidate even the most bravest of men. "...Right." Batu shook his head. "Never mind that! Why Evan though? Lil" Ferdie"s the new king, so whatever"s her problem should go to him." "What"s all this about?" Another man entered the conversation and coughed. The faint steps stopped and Batu and Khunbish turned their heads to see the origin of the voice. "E-Evan!" Batu exclaimed. "Let me hear the details, old friend." He smiled weakly. [] Two days later, a silhouette walked towards the rulers" tent in Nazcaä. "King Leander, Queen Nerea," the voice said. "You may enter," Leander commanded. It was a merwoman messenger. She stated, "It"s King Ferdinand from Evermore." Leander looked at Nerea and she nodded. "Let"s go," she whispered. He replied, "Yes, let"s." The messenger led the drapes open from the tent and the couple walked out. It seemed Ferdinand had a safe landing as his royal ship anchored in the port of what was now called Little Hydropolis. I wrote the entire chapter with the names "Aquapolis" and "Bantu." ...And promptly replaced every instance of the word. Also, hope you don"t mind the OC, Sai Fer. She serves as the Watson for that part I guess? I don"t know if I have any future plans with her. Chapters will release slowly from now on because I"m almost out of reserves. Improvements are welcome! - NazoLuk3

I calmly pointed at the rather small lady who seems to be in a surprised state. "It"s you, isn"t it? Tachibana." I wonder...why did I decide to become a detective? [x] Everyone seemed to be surprised about my deduction. Ibara"s voice raised a bit and demanded, "Oreki! How do you explain this?" Let us go back. The deceased man, Ichirou-san, invited a couple of friends to celebrate his promotion. There were three people who were invited: Togata, Tachibana, and Akamatsu. Everyone except Akamatsu entered Ichirou-san"s room; Akamatsu went to buy grocery for the party. The guest rooms were on the second floor, while Ichirou-san"s room is on the ground floor. I took a deep breath before staring my long explanation. "Akamatsu is obviously out, since the time of death matches the receipt from the supermarket. So that means it"s either Togata or Tachibana. Ichirou-san was found in his locked room. Someone was in there while the door was locked." "How?" Ibara interjected. "Someone could have lied about sleeping," I continued. "They could have easily hid in his room while he was occupied. Anyways, Ichirou"s room was extremely dark room, making it easier to hide in a dark jacket. You killed him in his sleep; that"s why there were no signs of struggle." I could hear the culprit"s harsh breathing. Checkmate. I continued, "Tachibana, you could have escaped via window without anyone knowing and entered the neighboring window since everyone was sleeping upstairs." "H-hey!" The culprit exclaimed. "Your theory works with Togata-san, too! He could"ve hidden dark clothing and do the same thing!" "I didn"t do it!" Togata rejected. "I have evidence," I replied. I pulled out a plastic bag from my inside pocket. The plastic bag contained a strip of cloth that was discovered in the neighboring window. Already understand what"s happening? "Tachibana, this was found in as window. This is the only type of cloth that was found in the house. If we were to investigate the materials of this cloth and your jacket that you"re wearing, this is proof that you are the murderer." I feel the need for a beverage right now. Finally, the perpetrator gave in. Tachibana did not resist and explained her motive. She was then taken away for more questioning to complete this case. Ibara Mayaka and I are detectives for the police of the Kamiyama Prefecture. She wanted justice and peace for this small community, while I just want to have some peace and quiet. What I like about this job is the lack of energy I have to use. Solving these cases are like major exercises for my normal gray-matter brain. The case earlier is my third case finished-up-to-date, as murders here are extremely rare to see here. Minor cases, such as robbery or lost items are handled by a different group. A couple of hours passed since I have solved a case, an I"m still exhausted. At last, I reach my small desk and sat down in a tired position. I heavily breathe as I try to catch the new air in my mouth. Ibara came afterwards with an annoyed face. "Oreki, you didn"t do anything, so why are you tired?" "The summer heat got me," I simply replied. What"s worse is that I have to file a report about the "Manager"s Death" Case. Great. Ibara placed her hands on her hips. "Oreki, you better finish that report, unlike last time. I don"t want to do your dirty work again." I just nodded and then proceeded to start this dreadful report. Now, I have to write everything in detail: the time, date, location, and other important stuff about the case. But I have to do this quickly. As my motto states: If I don"t have to, I won"t. If I have to, make it quick. That means I won"t aimlessly waste my energy like randomly catching a criminal. Using the mind uses less energy, and much more efficient. All I have to do is to find the criminal and write a report about it. Everything else is someone else"s job. Rinse and repeat. This lifestyle isn"t horrible. And I"m not praising this gray life at all. However, I can say this: -Being a detective isn"t boring. As I think about this, I continue to finish this report to send to the higher-ups. Click. ...? It seems that this pen ran out of ink. The utensil is no use to me anymore, and I threw it away. As I search for another pen, I can hear footsteps. Light, timid footsteps, but loud enough to hear. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. I never heard these type of steps before. It sounds... foreign. "Ah...hello." A soothing voice, but I ignored it. I have to find a pen. "It"s nice to meet you. I"m Chitanda Eru." I open up all the drawers and rummaged though the boxes and papers inside. Chitanda...? That surname sounds familiar. "From this day forth, I will be a part of the group so..." I finally found one. Before I went to get the pen, something told me to look up. I don"t know why, but I just did. "...please take care of me!" A bow from this person. And I looked up to see this young lady"s curious eyes looking down at me. [No evidence needed.] Yes, this is AU. I never read any detective novels (in fact, my Sherlock Holmes book was left untouched until this day) and I only saw Detective Conan and some live action shows that involve crime. So I"m not sure if this is "realistic" in a way. Of course, not every chapter is going to be a case like Conan lol, I want to make it similar to the original novels, where there is no huge deal about something (excluding murder), and the usual slice of life stuff. Hold on for the next chapter...! ~NazoLuk3 8/1/12 In advance, sorry for the slightly random OOC. Here"s the next chapter. HYOUKA: Classic Cases Chapter 1: The Cat that Disappeared in Sight A week passed since the "Manager"s Death Case" and a newcomer in the police department named Chitanda Eru arrived. I had hoped that I could overcome any obstacles, but apparently my luck ran out. I can point a few things about this young lady: she is indeed a striking beauty, but she wants to know everything. For instance, she was curious how powder can find fingerprints or how a certain liquid can make blood show up in crime scenes. Didn"t she go though the police academy? "I understand how it works, but I want to know it, like a system," she would say. Not that I know what it means. Chitanda already made friends in a span of three days. I should note that she goes along well with Ibara. She could even be friends with a certain friend of mine in an instant. On a certain day, Chitanda went to my office. She asked, "Um, Oreki Hotarou-san?" "Oreki is fine," I replied. "Then Oreki-san, do you want to go out?" What? It"s been barely a week and she wants to go out with someone like me? Sorry Chitanda, but I"m sure that you"re better off with someone other than me. Still, I don"t have anything to do, so I answered with a "sure." "Okay!" Chitanda smiled. "But first," I stopped her. "We"re going to the Group Two Building." Allow me to explain. The Kamiyama Police Department has groups depending on the case. Group 1, which has me, Ibara, and Chitanda in it, deals with homicide, kidnapping, and such. Group 2 deals with more minor things, like theft or negotiations. Of course there is the Bomb Squad and the Road Police in different groups too. Luckily, I don"t have to waste as much energy; the building of Group 2 is right next to my Group building. About ten minutes passed during the walk. During that time, both Chitanda and I did not speak. There wasn"t many things to talk about. Chitanda the Brave decided to speak out loud. "Oreki-san, how long have you been in Group One?" "Two years." "Two years? Then why don"t you have so many cases?" Her determined eyes practically screams I"m curious to my face. I physically reply It doesn"t matter with my expression, but she doesn"t understand. I tried to avoid the question, answering, "There are other people who solve cases other than me. You"ll have to do one someday." And the walk became silent again. Another five minutes passed, and we"re finally in the doors of Group Two"s building. I was greeted by a receptionist who then questioned, "How may I help you?" I pulled out my ID and told her to page Fukube Satoshi to come down here. Chitanda also clumsily brought her ID out, but there was no need for her to do that. "Waiting for someone?" Chitanda asked. I just nodded. [x] Finally, a young man in his early twenties arrived. He was in a conspicuous outfit that will make him even more suspicious. The man noticed me and waved. "Oh, it"s Hotarou! Nice to see you here!" He ran up to me and continued, "Have you come here to return my book...?" He abruptly stopped when he saw Chitanda next to me. Then he exclaimed, "H-hey Hotarou! Is she your girlfriend?" Chitanda shook her head and disagreed entirely. "No...I-I just..." I cut in. "Satoshi, she"s Chitanda Eru. She just joined Group One." He was surprised again. "Chitanda!...Sorry Chitanda-san, I don"t know what got into me. I"m Fukube Satoshi, Group Two." I don"t understand the sudden character change. From happy to surprised to apologetic. That must have cost a handful of energy. Satoshi continues to blabber on. "That Chitanda, right? I heard that they are part of the four "Exponential Clans" that include the Juumonjis, Sarasuberis, and Manninbashis. The first kanji of their surnames is shown by an exponent of the number ten." "Really," I said, unamused. But that answers my question about Chitanda"s familiar surname. "It"s the first time I have heard of it," Chitanda says. It"s probably those things that Satoshi does to spread legends or rumors. With no time to waste, I heanded the book I lent from him and prepared to leave. "Let"s go Chitanda," I said without looking back. The young lady nodded in agreement and followed. Satoshi was left dumbfounded until he exclaimed, "Wait, I"m coming with you!" Great, more passengers coming in my train. Besides, I"m just hanging out with Chitanda. I"m not sure why, but Satoshi doesn"t have to tag along. Being Satoshi, I"ll assume that he"s skipping his duties again. If he keeps this up, he"ll never be promoted. As we walked across the street, I just started looking around. Hey, it doesn"t hurt to check your surroundings. We are near a strip mall, full of variety of stores. One is a toy store, another is a mini department store, and another is the infamous WcDonald"s that is known aroung the world. Near the fast-food restaurant, there were people in strange clothing, hokding signs and yelling, "Circus, Circus! It"s right in the corner of the train station!" I salute thee of thy energy usage. "So, where are we going?" Satoshi thoughtfully asked, hands behind his head. I"m not sure myself, so I shrugged. "We are going to the Tropical Cafe," Chitanda immediately answered. "I figured that I wanted to know more about you, Oreki-san. Oh, and Fukube-san, too." "I see," I simply replied. (Unfortunately, the voyage to the cafe felt too long to travel.) [x] Soon after, there was a young boy, probably in elementary school, that we encountered on the sidewalk. He was in a panic, showing a picture to any bypasser. A woman has also helped by showing a copy of the picture. "Excuse me, have you seen my cat Taro? Please, tell us anything you know!" Some people completely ignored the boy, while some answer, "I don"t know." Sure, he"s wastingn his time and energy, but he just wants to find his cat. (I"m not sure why I am getting so worked up about this.) I can sense Chitanda"s sympathy from one-hundred kilometers from here. With a worried look, she kneeled down and kindly asked the boy, "What"s wrong?" "Have you seen Mr. Taro, my cat?" The boy gave a picture of a Kurilian Bobtail. The cat had greyish fur with random spots, as if someone randomly splattered paint on it. Chitanda shook her head. "How about you guys?" She was referring to me and Satoshi. My answer: "No." Satoshi stated, "Sorry, no. If I did, I would remember him." Fukube Satoshi has great memory. However, he uses seventy-percent of it in random trivia. He might say something like, "Kurilian Bobtails not only originated in Japan, but in Russia as well." The boy had a dejected face after hearing our answers. "I see." Chitanda looked like a kind and caring type, she might be a great older sister. She cheered, "Don"t give up! ...What"s your name?" The boy sniffled. "Kazuto." "Kazuto-san, we"ll help find Mr. Taro." She winked. ...Are you serious? I don"t want to search the whole city or even a couple of streets. Too much energy to be expended. Kazuto waved at the young lady across the street, exclaiming, "Mom! These people want to help find Mr. Taro!" The mother of the child noticed the signal and went to him. I didn"t agree to the search, I spoke. Chitanda, don"t pull unrelated people to help. "Oh, but Oreki-san!" There. Right there. At that moment, I felt like metal attracted to a magnet. Sorry, bad metaphor; this is quite hard to describe. What is causing me to feel this way? I can hear Chitanda mutter, "...I"m a bit curious..." And she looks at me with those eyes. Those purple eyes that seems to shine its surroundings. ...It"s too bright. I can imagine Chitanda as a nurse. She gives me tests and shots for my health, and as a patient, I can"t do anything but to follow her. "Fine," I hear myself say. What in the world am I doing? "I"m okay with that," Satoshi said. Thanks, my friend. I needed an extra hand. Before this curious lady starts to have some ideas, I pointed out, "We can"t just search the entire neighborhood. We need to eliminate some spots." Kazuto"s mother spoke. "We already tried that. We tried going to places where Taro might end up." I need more information. So I began to "interrogate" her. "Such as?" "The animal shelter, the shrine, some restaurants, and Kazuto"s school-Minami Elementary." School? I"d assume the cat would follow Kazuto all the way to his school on a daily basis. And shrine-there"s two of them. The Sanno Shrine and the Sakurayama Hachiman must have checked the Sanno Shrine, since the other is temporarily closed until autumn. This information is not helpful. Maybe the cat is attracted to something he likes? I asked the mother, but she did not know much about the bobtail. Kazuto answered instead. "He really likes balls. Like, he would just play around with it most of the time." Balls? I would think the cat is in the toy store or something. Incidentally, I muttered "toy store" by accident. It was more of a whisper, actually. Also, Chitanda fluttered in excitement as if she wanted to ride a roller coaster so badly. She must have heard my mutter. "I get it!" She yells, but not enough to disturb anyone. "The toy store-it has playing balls! Taro must be there, still playing!" Kazuto was jumoing up and down in happiness. He was bragging with Chitanda and his mother, which in return kept them busy. Still, something doesn"t feel right... I placed my hand under my chin out of pure habit, thinking. I just realized this, but Satoshi was silent the whole time. He"s not the type to just observe-he"s more of a participant. I don"t remember when we became friends; we"ve known each other for a long time. I recall in his high school days, he was a self-proclaimed "human database." Speaking of which, Satoshi is great at remembering what my actions mean. He became impressed at my thoughtful expression. He dumbfoundedly declared, "Hotarou, is that your doubtful face?" I just confirmed him with a hum. I added, "What led the cat to the store? A ball coincidentally rolls in it? And Satoshi, use your human GPS. What did the store look like?" As fast as lightning, Satoshi snapped his finger. "Oh! There were no round toys in the front window!" That"s right. There was nothing that persuaded the cat to join in. The toys in the other side of the window must be crying. If that"s the case, what lured the cat? Food-no, they checked the restaurants earlier. Something round. Round. Ball... ...Ball? I get it. [x] I unconsciously pull a plentiful of hair on my forehead. In addition. I tend to rub them to and fro. Satoshi notices my behavior. He nudges my shoulder, as if he is asking, You know the answer? I nodded and replied, "Get everyone in front of the train station." [x] A couple of minutes later, everyone arrived at the train station. We squeezed in Satoshi"s car and he drove there. That was an expensive car; how Satoshi got it is a mystery. Anyways, Chitanda was confused. Chitanda, who was with the boy for the entire time, was left out of my thinking process earlier. She questioned, "Why are we in the train station?" I didn"t immediately answer the novice. The car ride got me slightly sick. Before I have the urge of throwing up, I answered, "Just check the circus by the corner." She bobbed her head for a bit. Until finally, she walked over the medium-sized circus tent. Once she took a peek inside. She exclaimed, "Kazuto, it"s Taro! Look, the jugglers are juggling Taro and the balls!" As soon as Kazuto heard his beloved cat"s name, he ran as fast as the wind to watch his cat as a part of a perfomance. Chitanda payed for herself and the boy to enter legally. Satoshi payed as well. I didn"t enter the traveling circus tent. I just saved money and energy. After the show, Chitanda and Kazuto returned with the Kurilian Bobtail in hand. Probably some negotiations were used. Kazuto"s mother bowed down in an orderly manner. She whispered, "Thank you so much for finding Taro. How can we repay you?" I try to hold my blushes, but it was too late. "No, it"s fine," I say. I don"t know if I should be flattered by such gratitude. ...Therefore, the small family parted ways with three detectives. The voyage was too long to Tropical Cafe, so Satoshi just drove there with Chitanda and I on toll. We had a short break on this "incident." As I order coffee, Chitanda took a sip of her cafe au lait, while Satoshi took a gulp of his orange juice. Setting her cup down, Chitanda asked, "Oreki-san, how did you know that Taro was in the circus? I"m curious!" Even when the search was over, she"s still curious. Her irises are reflecting the light produced by her pupils. Someone please tell me I"m hallucinating. Satoshi became interested, too. Ugh, why me...? ...I can"t escape. I explained, "Before we met Kazuto, we saw many things on the way. What were they?" Chitanda pointed in the air. "Um...the toy store, a department store, and WcDonald"s. They were part of the strip mall, correct?" I took a sip. "Yeah. You may have noticed some clowns and acrobats advertising. There were also jugglers with balls." Chitanda gasped. "You can"t be saying...!" Satoshi filled in. "I see! Taro was mesmerized by the balls and accidentally followed them into the tent! Then, the people found him and decided to take care of him!" Correct. I wish my colleagues could use their heads more than to rely on me. Bzzt. Bzzt. That was my cell phone in vibration mode. Reading the caller ID, it was Ibara Mayaka. I answered, "...Hello-" I was cut off by an arrogant tone. "Oreki! Where the heck are you?!" I should play around with her for a little bit. I reply, "Tropical Cafe. Chitanda"s with me." "Chii-chan is there too? What were you doin-sorry..." Since when did she call her "Chii-chan?" Additionally, Ibara was too loud on the other side of the phone, interrupting others around her. Consequently, I had to remove the phone out of my ear. I made an excuse that was neither true nor false. "We were solving a case, including Satoshi." "Huh?" "Ask "Chii-chan" for details. Bye." "Hey, wait-" I hung up. That will probably piss Ibara even more, but whatever. Time to get back to work. [No evidence needed.] Thank you so much for reading chapter two of this story! It was sort of hard to think of a "case,' or even a simple "search and destroy (?)' like this. In fact, I decided to change the original plot of this chapter. Originally, Taro the cat is supposedly lost for a few weeks, and had symptoms of alopecia areata (fur loss). Kazuto didn"t know about it, but Taro was supposed to have odd-eyes so it would be easier to identify him even with a patch of hair lost. But then Hotarou would"ve wasted most of his energy in finding a cat... I had to research about Hyouka-land, which is based on a real place in Japan called Hida-Takayama. Fun fact: Kamiyama High School is based on the Yamada Campus of the Hida Takayama High School. The strip mall is made up, but Kazuto"s school is real. As a side note, Satoshi"s car is a 2012 Infiniti FX. I originally planned to mention it as "...everyone squeezed in the 2012 Infinity Effex-Satoshi"s car." I hope you will continue to read "Classic Casses" and wait for the next chapter. I don"t have anything in mind yet... ;_ ; ~NazoLuk3 8/24/12 HYOUKA: Classic Cases Okay guys, this is Part A of this "case". Hopefully, I"ll finish Part B, but I have work to do :( Stay sharp! Chapter 2: The Whistle Heard from Downstairs "Hey," I say, bringing attention to my peers. "We"re going back." Novice member Chitanda Eru asked, "Huh? Why?" "Because Ibara wants us back. Not sure why though." Satoshi stood up. He gave the happy-go-lucky smile that he always has. He offered, "I can drive you guys back there again. I don"t mind...but about Hotarou"s motion sickness..." That"s right; I get motion sickness easily. If I were to count today, that would be three journeys via automobile-one to the train station, one to Tropical Cafe, and now, back to the Group One building. It"s basically a miracle that didn"t lose consciousness. I answer, "Sure. As long as I don"t waste energy."

"The only pinch in the world big enough to take out Las Vegas is two hundred and twenty miles away in Pasadena," Basher admitted. "Guess were gonna have to break that rule about tomorrow, guys," Danny sighed. "Not like we needed luck anyway. I mean were the best thieves in the world. Can you imagine all the brain power in this room?" Rusty tried cheering everyone up. "Yeah, we all could have been brain surgeons and astronauts" I said sarcastically. "Maybe..." Rusty replied. "Are you high?" I cried. IN THE CAR "So, how"s everyone?" Danny asked cheerfully. "It"s five o"clock in the morning and were in a car that smells like weed, heading away from Vegas to pick up a bomb that is not a bomb from some nuclear plant. So, other than all that I"m pretty good," I said sarcastically. "Oooo, your optimism is earth shattering," Rusty replied, his voice dripping with as much sarcasm as mine had been. "Since were near Virginia why don"t we drop by Fort Knox? I could fly a helicopter through the lobby and set it down right inside the vault. And it would be a hell of a lot easier than breaking into the goddamn CIA!" Reuben joined in with me. I high-five him. "Hey, I think we all need to calm down! Basher did his best, you can"t blame him that the casino decided to update their surveillance," Linus tried. "Yeah, thanks for screwing everything up Basher!" I muttered. "Okay, were here everyone!" Danny called out loudly drowning out my comment. A big green sign read plainly "High Security Keep Out!" "Well how many places we break into say that?" I muttered. Danny pulled up to the front of the building that basically screamed government. Everyone hopped out. "So how are we gonna play this one?" Rebuen asked. "Aunt Jemima?" Danny looked questionly at Rusty. "Sounds about right, being it"s a government building," Rusty agreed. "Wait a minute, what"s the Aunt Jemima?" "The name really has nothing to do with the plan actually. It"s named that cause Rusty, Danny, and me were eating pancakes and when Rusty poured Aunt Jemima"s on his pancakes he came up with it," I explained. Everyone began to get our supplies. Black heist rope, a small blowtorch, a drill, and a government lawyer outfit for me. "Do you care to explain about this?" Linus asked as he gestured to the racks of government official and personnel clothes. "All I can say is that we"ve done a lot of heists. It takes too much time to do costume changes, so we just keep the outfits we stole," I explained as I picked up one of them and smelled it. I grimaced and put it back. "But no one ever takes them home and washes them so it"s hard to find a good one. You can"t imagine how much you sweat during a heist." I continued. I finally found one that was clean enough. "So are you gonna be a gentlemen and leave?" I asked. "Oh, of course," Linus stuttered as he climbed out of the van. I rolled my eyes. I had high class blouse on and had just taken off my jeans when Rusty opened the door. "Rusty!" I screamed. "Opps!" Rusty grinned as he shut the door. "Pervert!" I yelled so everyone outside the van could hear. I exited the van and was greeted by an argument going on between Linus and Danny. "I"m coming with you!" "Your still a rookie. Plus we have everyone we need to pull off an Aunt Jemima," Danny explained. "Abby, tell him I"m ready!" Linus pulled me into it. "Sorry kid," I sighed. "We have everyone." Linus, Turk, and Virgil all were staying behind. If Turk and Virgil didn"t kill each other before we got back everything would turn out fine. "Nice black underwear." Rusty said as we headed to the building. I socked him in the stomach hard. A trick I had learned from Danny. Everyone had eventually learned they didn"t want to be on the receiving end of one of them. IN THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING I walked around. Smiled and talked to the employees till I saw Rusty. I knew the play as good as anyone. "Code Red! We got a Code Red!" I yelled into my radio we had made sure was tapped into the other security guards. as I ran after Rusty. He ran away from me and I eventually pummeled him the to the ground hard. "I got the suspect!" I said into my radio. I kicked him and Rusty moaned. "You couldn"t have done that any softer!" "I gotta make it look good don"t I!" I hissed. The security guards arrived as I was handcuffing Rusty. "You love this part don"t you?" "You have no idea!" I replied as I pulled him up and shoved him through the crowd. IN THE INTEROGATION ROOM "So, what did you plan to do once you got in here? Massacre everyone?" an old interrogation officer asked. "I"m sorry sir. But that is not in Mr. Bond"s MO," I replied. He looked at me confused. "Who are you?" I laughed. "You dare ask me that? Haven"t you heard of Regina Falange?" He stared blankly at me. "Well that"s some embarrassment on your part. I was sent undercover here tonight because my agency got a tip that Mr. Bond may strike again here." I handed him a file that we had made ready for this play many years before. It showed fake jail photos and gave very believable information about him stealing bomb materials from different government facilities. He looked over it slowly still cautious about me. "Bond?" he asked me skeptically. "Yes sir. Named after the 007 himself," I replied. He kept eyeing me like he knew something was up, but he couldn"t figure it out. "Do you mind if you go and double check this information?" he asked carefully. "Not at all. I wouldn"t mind a few minutes interrogating him after all these years of chasing him!" I said smoothly, giving Rusty a dirty look. I wasn"t worried cause I knew what he was suspicious about was not the file. It was me. But we had already covered this problem a long time ago. When he looked up my name in his database he would find newspaper editorials with quotes from me, information saying that I was on this case, and pictures of me doing charity work in India. The last one was added to soften him up a little, though they were real pictures from when I had disappear for a while. My choices were either Yemen or India and I had chosen India. "So you thought you were gonna get away from me again did you?" I asked sitting down in the chair across from Rusty. Rusty looked at his feet. "Did you? You little punk?" I asked as I abruptly stood up and threw the table against the wall. "Well you didn"t did you? You know how long it"s gonna be before you see sunlight? 20-30 years and that"s only for the robberies we know about! I"m sure we could have you for much more! Your operation is going down Bond!" I yelled. Rusty"s face was one of pure shock. The man came back this time more trusting of me. "Regina, your partner called and said he is ready to transport him to a safer location pending his trial." "Thank you, it"s good I wasn"t in here longer with him or I may not have been a able to control myself," I agreed as I brushed off my shirt. I jerked Rusty along with me, but the old man stopped me. "I just want you to know I looked you up and I was very impressed by your dedication to your job. We need more people like you madam," he said. I smiled. "Thank you sir. I just love my job." I replied. "You know you actually gave me some chills back in there?" Rusty said. I paused in shock. "Really?" "Yeah, if we weren"t in this business maybe you would have had a calling in interrogation," Rusty admitted. There was a long pause, before we broke into laughter. "Could you imagine!" I squealed in laughter. "Not in a million years!" Rusty replied. "How"d it go?" Danny asked, as we hopped into the van. "Danny, you know you can always count on us," I replied. Danny cringed remembering certain cases where that had not been the case. "Did you guys get it?" Rusty implored, as we headed away from the government facility. "Yeah...eventually. Basher didn"t know what room it was so we got a little lost..." Danny admitted. "It"s the most heavily guarded room! How hard it to find?" I pointed out. "Everything is heavily guarded, it"s a government facility," Danny reminded me. "Touché," I agreed. The car went quiet, as I realized something. "Uh, Danny?" "Yeah?" "Did you change your mind about Linus working the Aunt Jemima?" "No, why?" "Cause he"s not here," I cringed as Turk breaked, sending everyone flying forward. "Could you give us a little more warning next time, Turk! God!" Virgil moaned. "Are you positive he"s not here?" Danny cried, fear in his voice. "Danny, I think I know if someone"s here or not," I replied sarcastically. Suddenly, as if on cue sirens and alarms whirred from the government building behind us. "Abby would you mind reprising your role?" "Not at all." I smiled. OUTSIDE THE GOVERNMENT CENTER The people were filed outside and many more were running from the building. At a government site, you"d think they"d be more orderly. I flashed my badge to someone who looked like they were first in command and proceeded to pass the yellow tape set up. "Excuse me, what are you doing intruding upon my crime scene?" "Regina Falange, crime scene investigator and someone who can get you fired within minutes with one call to a judge. So I suggest you fill me in," I retorted, giving him a huge smile. "Of...of course, Miss Falange," he stuttered. "Good, now what exactly happened?" I inquired. The officer proceeded to tell me about how a nuclear device called a pinch was missing. "Have you searched your men stationed here?" "We didn"t feel there was a need-" he started. "Well it didn"t just walk out of here did it? You do you thorough search of your men and I can guarantee you"ll find something." I interrupted as I walked into the building. "I want all personnel on the crime scene out of here and out of site! This is now my jurisdiction and I am the only one with authorization allowed in here! Is that clear?" "Yes, Madame," the officer at the door replied. He was deathly scared of me, that I could tell. I stopped and patted him. "Dinner tomorrow, seven, Chinese, don"t be late." Once I was out of hearing from the cops and the doors of the facility were closed I laughed at my own cleverness. "Linus? Where are you?" I hissed. "Linus?" I yelled. "What?" a voice returned. "Where the hell are you?" I yelled. "Look up," Linus directed. I did. There he was tangled in black spy rope where he had smashed through the sky light. I stifled a laugh. "You have seen too many spy movies my friend!" I yelled. "Are you gonna help me get down or what?" "I"ll think about it," I admitted. "Come on, Abby it"s not funny!" Linus groaned. "It kind of is! The boys are gonna get a kick out of this!" I laughed as I took out my digital camera and proceeded to take pictures. "Hey, cut it out!" "Don"t worry kid. We all did stupid things as rookies. Basher blew up his house, Rusty spelled the security code apple wrong, Turk and Virgil got in a public fight and were arrested, Reuben got wasted instead of performing his job in the heist and went streaking in the mall, and well Danny didn"t do any of that. But don"t tell anyone I told you about the Reuben thing." "Have you taken enough pictures now?" "Yeah I guess so," I admitted. "Okay brace yourself I"m gonna cut you down." "Wait, what?" Linus cried, but he didn"t have time to react as he hit the ground. "Now, don"t be a baby! We still got to get out of here and my alias isn"t going to support you being here." "So, what do you suggest?" "Danny?" I spoke into my radio on my shoulder. "You ready for pick-up?" "We"ll be there in 2 secs." "Good, get Turk into uniform as my partner, get a squad car, and get Rusty in the back." "Shouldn"t be a problem." "Good, we"ll meet at Casper"s road and switch into the van then." Danny pulled up in the back and picked up Linus, while I headed to the front. It was just the way I had left it. Chaos! "Nothing inside. No prints, no trace, no evidence. Whoever did it was good." I alerted the first officer in change I had talked to before. "You were right, Madam," he said gesturing toward the area where the workers were stripping. I smiled. "We already found one man who confessed to stealing government property from here, thanks to your suggestion of striping." "Good to know I could be of help sir. I hope to work with you in the future." I said, shaking his hand. "Don"t you want to stay and interrogate the suspect? I heard you did a good job with that Bond guy today." "Oh, that was nothing." I scoffed. Abruptly a voice came through the radio static. "A 422 murder, bridge comb and herald. I repeat bridge comb and herald," Danny"s voice rang out. "Duty calls," I answered into the radio. "It has been a pleasure, Madame. The work you do keeps criminals off the street, and I"d be surprised if it hasn"t decreased with all the work you"ve done." he replied. I smiled knowingly. "There should be more law enforcement professionals like you, Madame." he said, saluting me. "Goodbye sir." I replied as I saluted him back. I shook my head as I headed toward the cop car. Turk was in the front seat and Rusty was in the back. "I can"t believe you suggested the stripping," Rusty laughed. "Hey, I wanted to make things interesting," I defended as we pulled away. "What about that guy though? Total weirdo with the whole salute and compliments thing," Turk brought up. "He was pretty weird," Rusty agreed. "You guys are just jealous because he didn"t compliment you or salute you for that matter! Oh, and the fact that neither of you could pull off what I just did." "Your right we couldn"t fit into the dress and pantyhose," Rusty joked. I smacked him. Author"s note: This isn"t my favorite chapter, but it"s the best I got... I hope you like it! "If someone doesn"t remove Abby from my lap she"s gonna end up on the floor," Rusty cried. "She"s been on your lap for five hours now, you can wait two more minutes," Danny replied. "She kind of looks like a doll you know," Linus admitted, gazing down on Abby"s face. Abby let out a loud snore. "Yeah, a doll with a sinus problem maybe," Rusty stated. "Man, she"s gonna have one bloody headache once she wakes up. You slammed her head pretty hard into the van when you were carrying her," Basher admitted. "Relax, she"ll just think it"s a hangover if nobody tells her," Rusty replied, calmly. "You know her way too well, you know that," Linus stated. "Tell me about it," Rusty groaned. ABBY"S P.O.V. "Ugh, why does my head feel like someone took a chain saw to it," I groaned, as I looked up to see Rusty"s face. "But more importantly why am I on Rusty"s lap?" I asked bluntly. "Believe me darling, I"m not liking this any more than you are," Rusty replied, looking away. I smiled as I moved closer to him. "I think whoever invented Mondays needs to be taken out in the middle of the street and shot repeatedly with a Taser," I muttered. "I"m sure you would like to the honors," Rusty played along. "You know it," I snorted. "Okay, everyone were here. Someone call Reuben and Saul and tell them," Danny stated. I crawled off Rusty"s lap and made my way to the door. Rusty made it there first and opened it for me. "Wow, what do you know Rusty"s becoming a gentlemen," I joked. "What, Turk you didn"t open my door for me!" Virgil cried. "Dudes don"t open other dudes door, its like an unwritten rule," Turk scoffed. "You could still be courteous!" "Stop being a girl!" "Your both being girls!" Linus yelled. INSIDE THE STADIUM "Your late!" Saul"s voice yelled into my ear. "God, Saul! Could you talk any louder! I have a headache cause Rusty apparently accidentally slammed my head into the car while he was carrying me," I groaned as I held my head. "Why was Rusty carrying you?" "It"s a long story," I admitted. "Sounds interesting, but I got some bad news." I stopped dead in my tracks. This was something we did not need. Danny, Rusty, and Linus were just ahead of me and didn"t realize I had stopped. "You"ve been red-flagged. It means the moment you step on the casino floor, they"ll be watching you. Like hawks. Hawks with video cameras," Saul continued. "They couldn"t have flagged all of us. I don"t have a record-" "But Danny does." "And who knows about everyone else." I whispered in fear. Tears started to run down my cheeks in panic. "How did this happen Saul?" I cried. "Did anyone meet with Tess or Benedict alone? Cause them to be suspicious?" "Yes, someone did." I recalled what Danny had said about meeting my mom. I looked up to see everyone was about to enter the building. "DANNY!" I screamed. Danny turned around, his eyes filled with fear at my cry. I ran up to him and the others. They all looked at me intrigued. "We have a major problem." I said harshly. "You just couldn"t leave her alone could you?" I whispered. "Wait who are we talking about?" Linus asked confused. "My wife," Danny answered, his eyes never leaving my face. "Ex-wife," Rusty corrected. Which was about the time Saul lightened the mood by appearing outside the boxing arena in nothing, but a bathrobe. "Tess is here?" he asked adding to the conversation. "Wait, they let you out here in just a bathrobe?" I asked, confused. "They don"t question a guy who is paying a small fortune for a box seat. Besides you should have seen the looks I got from the ladies on my way here." "Is there a reason you"re here other than to play the role of the creepy guy in a bathrobe?" Virgil pointed out. "Yes, there is. I"m sorry. You"re out, Danny." Everyone stopped, waiting for his reaction. I looked to him in shock. He smiled softly, though his eyes showed a world of hurt. "It"s that or we shut down right now. His involvement puts us all at risk," Rusty cried angrily. He and Danny stared each other down. "This isn"t your call," Danny yelled. "You made it my call. When you put her ahead of us. You made it mine!" Rusty shot back. "This is my job!" Danny protested. "Not anymore," Rusty finished. I looked around the room and saw that everyone in the room was on Rusty"s side. "Hey, listen everyone! If Danny put the operation in danger it was not on purpose! We can hold our own. But don"t blame Danny for loving the one person who can"t live without! My mother. Someone took her from us, without thinking of the repercussions and we are here to take her back. The most important rule of the game is to play it like you have nothing to lose. But we lost something, not something, the one thing that matters to both of us. I lost a mother, and Danny lost a wife. So if you take this away from him, it"ll kill him and me. We"ve all had it worse than being red flagged!" I pointed out, defending Danny. I looked around unable to read their expressions for once. "Thank you Abby. But Rusty is right. I would jeopardize the operation," Danny admitted. "Your giving up?" I cried. He stopped in front of me. "Your letting him win," I whispered. "What do you think were doing right now, Abby? Were stopping Benedict!" Rusty objected. "If Danny isn"t there he wins," he stated, my gaze never leaving Danny"s. Danny smiled softly, as he wrapped me in a hug. "Listen to Rusty, hon. He knows what he"s doing," he whispered in my ear. I closed my eyes. "But it isn"t fair," I cried. "You know as well as all of us life isn"t fair, sweetheart. I know I wasn"t always there for you-" "That"s a lie! You were always there! You taught me everything I know!" I protested. "Hey, your gonna get Benedict! You have to take him down now! Make sure you see his face when he sees his precious money is gone. I"ll be seeing you," he finished, as he let me go. I turned to watch my father disappear into the night. When I turned back around everyone was staring at me. "But, but... he can"t just be out. Who"s gonna take his place?" Virgil asked, confused. Kid, you up for it?" Rusty asked. Linus nodded reluctantly. "Find everyone else. Let "em know the change in plan. Curtain goes up at seven," Rusty instructed. Everyone looked at each other unsure of what to do, what Rusty"s glare told them to get a move on. He walked towards me, as if to console me, but he never was good at that. I brushed past him harshly. "Tess is with Benedict now?" Turk asked confused. "She"s too tall for him," Virgil agreed. I went to the bar and ordered a shot at the bar. We could be in the stadium as long as we stayed away from each other until it was time for our jobs. But Saul surprising decided to break that rule by sitting next to me, still in his bathrobe. "I thought the point of a job was to not attract attention," I joked. "Yeah, well honey, you"ve been attracting attention since the day you were born. I couldn"t attract more by talking to you than you already have since you entered," Saul laughed. I smiled. "That was a pretty good show you put on back there." "You think so, cause I worked really hard on it. You don"t think the whole brushing past Rusty thing was too much?" I asked, concerned. "Not at all. My question is why did you just fool the whole team into thinking Danny is out?" "I don"t know," I shrugged. "Danny needed to do some things before he joins us again." Saul gave me a look. "I know this might be a shock to you but Danny does not tell me everything!" I pointed out. "So he"s in?" "Absolutely." "And you trust him?" "With my life and everyone else"s." Saul started to walk away, but I stopped him. "Hey, could you not tell everyone that it was an act. I promised Danny."

and I gave in to laughter. We laughed so hard and leaned against each other for support. Mikey had seen it so many times that he wasn"t fazed by it. "Come on Mouth let him in." Mikey said as he set the contraption in motion. "Oh, Thanks Mikey! You"re a life saver! I knew you wouldn"t start without me Mike!" Chunk said as he ran up the steps. Mouth just shook his head as he walked into the house. I knew he wanted to tease Chunk more. "So Brand what was it you wanted to ask me?" I said. Brand looked at me blankly for a moment. Then suddenly his whole face got red. "Oh, I just was wondering if you wanted to go out Friday?" he replied. Today"s Thursday I thought. "Sure!" I answered. We had been going steady for about a couple years. "So, Mikeeeeeeey what are we gonna do today? Huh?" Mouth said as he climbed into the sink. "Yeah Mikey!" Chunk said as he managed to pour a whole bottle of whip topping into his mouth. "Dude, when you gonna start on a diet?" Mouth said as he neatly combed his hair while staring intently at the toaster as he mirror. "Never!" Chunk said as he licked his lips which were covered in white. I boosted myself up onto the counter with the others. "So Mikey, you gonna start or somethin before Chunk eats all the whipped cream and goes for the icecream?" Ellie said. "Icecream?" Chunk said taking the whipped topping bottle out of his mouth. "Mikey, why didn"t you tell me we had ice cream?" Chunk said now concerned with finding the ice cream. The whipped topping bottle lay on the floor abandoned. Ellie quickly picked it up and gave it to Data. Data quickly handed it to Mouth. "What am I supposed to do with it?" Mouth replied. "Order in the court!" Mikey said loud enough for all of us to hear. "Order? You mean you"ll actually take our order? Thanks Mike! Cause then I want a cheese burger..." Chunk said as he climbed on top of the counter with us. "Shut up CHUNK!" everybody yelled. "Okay, guys I was thinking that this Summer should be better than last year"s. Remember all we did was lay around being bored!" Mikey said waving his arms everywhere. We all looked at him in amazement. "Ahh, gross! Chunk"s spit"s on this!" Mouth said looking at the clear gooey substance in his hand. "Shut up Mouth!" Brand said "Continue" I told Mikey. "Well, remember when we went up to the attic and found the map. Well I think that there"s more things that may lead to where Willy"s ship went. Remember how it just left like that. What happened to it?" "It probably sunk somewhere Mikey. Besides how do you know that we have anything else that may lead to that?" Brand said. "Come on you guys! Think Rich stuff!" Mikey said throwing his hands up in the air. "I don"t want to get caught up in one of your adventures Mikey" Chunk said leaving the room with Brand. Everybody started to leave except Ellie and me. "I"m in I said putting my hand in the middle of us. "me too!" Ellie said I wouldn"t miss this for the world. I looked at the others who were staring at us like we were crazy. Finally Mouth walked over and said "If Ellie"s going then I am too." he put his hand with ours. I looked at the others. They all walked over and placed their hands on ours. "So your in?" Mikey asked. "Yeah, we won"t find anything anyway." Brand said. I smiled at him. That was his way of saying I"m-in-whether-I-like-it-or-not "Goonies Never say die!" we all yelled as we raced up the stairs. Chapter 2: The attic "Neato! " "Wow!" "Awesome!" "It"s just like I remember!" We all started picking things up and exploring. "Hey, Mikey what exactly are we looking for?" Chunk asked as he slipped on a blue pirate coat that matched the pirate hat. Mikey was checking for any secret passages. Like a part of the wall that"s hollow or something like that. And of course all he was finding was wall, more wall, dust, and more dust. "Anything suspicious! Like something that Willie or one of his men would have used." Mikey answered as he coughed. "Take your inhaler Wuss before I get in trouble for letting you up here!" Brand said as he flipped the page of a book titled One Eyed Willie and The Armada. "He"s right Mike" I said going over and sitting beside him on a box of one thing or another. "We couldn"t have you getting a Asthma attack." I said teasingly as I ruffled his hair. "Mikey smiled. We were still good friends no matter what. Not even Sam leaving put a strain on our relationship. He was the same Mikey. The same Mikey that I met eight years ago. They all were the same believe it or not. They looked the same too. None of them had grown it seemed. "You ready Abby!" Chunk yelled as he walked over and handed me a sword. We always dueled each other whenever we had a chance. And he was always begging for a rematch. "Come on Chunk! I"m tired of beating of you!" I said leaning even further against the boxes. "Your just saying that cause you"re a scared of losing against Chunk the 1st greatest swordsman of all time!" Chunk said as he put the sword on my lap. I stood up in shook. Mouth and Data looked at each other and Brand put down the book. "He didn"t!" Data said in amazement. "He did!" Mouth said his mouth gaping. "YOUR ON!" I yelled lunging at him so fast he hardly had time to block my swing. " You are never going to beat Abigail The fencing Extraordinaire!" I yelled. We soon had a battle going with Data and Mouth cheering in the background. Ellie was still going through boxes of pirate stuff unfazed by what was going on. She had seen it so many times that according to her it was boring. "Ab, Do you have to embarrass Chunk in front of us?" Ellie said as she sorted through a trunk filled with pirate hats. "Well, I can"t very well let him win! Can I" I replied as I easily blocked another attempt. Ellie rolled her eyes. Mouth and Data started plotting who was going to win. "It"s going to be Abby hands down!" Data said. "Yeah, Mouth replied Chunk always gets beat up by girls..." "Shut up Mouth!" Chunk yelled as he blocked me again. "... You know Carrie that tough girl. Well some guys at school were playing truth or Dare and Chunk was dared to ask her out. And he did. And she came up to him in the woods that day and gave him a black eye!" "Not true Mouth!" Chunk cried. "Then how"d you get that black eye in 5th grade? Huh? Don"t tell me Michael Jackson gave it to you when he came over to your house!" Mouth shot back. "For the last time Michael Jackson didn"t come over to my house! His sister did!" Chunk shot back just as I twirled his sword out of his hand. The sword went flying toward Mouth and Data. "Duck!" I screamed. "Where?" Mouth said staring at the ceiling. Then he caught sight of the sword coming toward him. "Ahhhhhhh!" Data and Mouth screamed in usion. The both ducked as the sword"s blade stuck into the wall just above where Mouth"s head had been a moment before. Mouth and Data finally grabbed up the courage to look up. "Were alive!" Mouth and Data yelled. They quickly got up. Everyone hurried over to them to make sure they were okay. "Wow, now we know you have good aim!" Mouth said combing his hair. "I swear I didn"t try it!" I cried upset that I could have killed them. "Don"t worry Ab, everyone"s okay." Brand said as he pulled me close. "Yeah, he"s right" Ellie said. The others had gone back to what they were doing. I walked over to Chunk and said "You were great." "Thanks!" he said beaming. Suddenly something caught my eye. "Hey, Chunk can I see that coat for a minute?" I asked. "Sure!" Chunk answered. He shook it off and then walked over to some lava lamps that Data had found. Which apparently had nothing to do with One Eyed Willie. Unless one Eyed Willie had one of them which I highly doubt. I reached into the coat"s pocket and pulled out three letters. I opened the first which wasn"t hard because of how yellow it was. The front read.. To: Angela From: Willie I looked around and saw that no one was watching me. I quickly hid behind some boxes. No reason to get their hopes up if it"s another Willie. I started to read... My Dearest Angela,I told you before that you didn"t want to get involved with a pirate like me. But now I see that your more dear to me than I knew. I think I am in love with you. Please meet me at this place. Since you know me and know that I love riddles. I made the place a riddle. Where you see water, And here the sound, But it is dark and sounds hollow to the ear, it is hard to find and only few know of it Love, Willie At the bottom it read in much neater handwriting... My dearest William,Of course I will meet you there. To be exact I am quite taken with you too. Love, Angela I sat there in shook. It was him. I was sure of it. The only problem was would the others believe me? I opened the next letter which I was surprised to find that it was from Angela"s diary. I read the first line then stopped. I reread it again and found I was not dreaming. It read... Dear Diary,Last night I went out with William or as his crew calls him One eyed Willie. I read on to engrossed with what she wrote to tell the others just yet. Dear Diary, Last night I want out with William or as his crew calls him One Eyed Willie. We had a nice time, but I have to admit he"s very secretive. He wouldn"t even let me go further than the cave entrance. Very strange. Am I to expect this of all pirates? I really do think I love him, but just in case I brought along a bottle of Whisky. I know all pirates can"t hold their Whisky. Especially a pirate in Love. I knew that as soon as he drank at least half the bottle he would tell me all of his secrets. And he did. Well most of them. He was still secretive even under the influence. But after I coasted him he told me one of his darkest secrets than I don"t know even now why I dare to write this. But I do. I am praying no one with read this page. He told me that he didn"t want me going into that cave because it"s filled with bobby traps that he himself made.! He lives in a cave exactly like that one! He lives in there with is crew. He said that he is the only one that knows how to get out. And he"s holding his men there to make the bobby traps at gunpoint. Then if you don"t listen to him he said he kills them then uses their skulls as a part of the bobby trap! He told me he even made one man into a piano1 Which I have no idea how? He told me that as soon as the traps are finished he will kill all his men. I asked him why he makes these traps and why he doesn"t let his men and him out. He said that he has treasure beyond what I could imagine and he wants it to be safe. All his crew know he has the treasure, but none of them are smart enough to find where he put it. Those poor men. He soon fell asleep from the whisky and I checked him for the maps to the caves. I found them both and stuffed them in my corset. I ran home and changed into my nightgown. I put the gown in the box with the others. I knew that if I ever needed them I could easily get them. I am praying that William will not suspect me of taking them. I really do love him, but what he"s doing to those men is horrible! And I must do something about it. I don"t know what. I hope to have a answer in the morning. Your faithful writer, Angela I was not dreaming! "Guys!" I called. "everybody looked at me. "I think I found a lead!" I announced. Mikey looked up from where he was going through boxes. Everybody walked over to where I was holding the letters. "Read this" I said handing it to Mikey. Mikey read the first one out loud. "where did you find these?" Mikey asked in amazement. " Chunk"s pirate outfit" I replied as I started searching for a chest or trunk of some kind. I handed Mikey the other one to read. And that triggered my memory. I still had one more letter. I sat down on a box and started to read. I was surprised to find that this letter was a account from Willie"s diary. Dear journal, As soon as I awoke the next morning I saw that I didn"t have the maps. I had lost them. Then I remembered that Angela was the only one who was with me last night. I went to her house to find her alone. I was just about to demand it back when I saw her diary sitting on the bench on the porch. I quickly thumbed through it and found what she had written last night. She had indeed taken my maps and put them in her corset! Who would of thought? I climbed into her bedroom window and started going through her trunk. I was almost to the bottom when she found me. She grabbed a sword that was mounted on the wall. I pulled out mine. " What do you want?" she cried as she pointed the sword at me. "You know what I want" I replied. She knew. "Well, you won"t find it!" she cried defiantly. "really?" I replied. "you don"t know where it is!" she answered. "Oh, Angela I will find it once I finish this!" I yelled as I plunged my sword into her heart. It was a dreadful act and I well regret it. As soon as I saw what I had done I sat down beside her and cried. I"m not proud of what I did. But she knew it was coming. She was a good girl. When she had a good death. No pain. No suffering. She should be happy I didn"t torture her. I knew I didn"t have much time so I started looking for the corset, but no matter how hard I looked I couldn"t find it. She knew more than I thought. I left her there as a gift for her family. It would be mean of me to use her as one of my bobby traps. And I pray for her soul. Your heartbroken Willie I stared in horror at what he had done. It seemed to me as if I had seen it before my eyes. Before I knew it the tears were falling in bucket loads. But they were silent tears. Tears for the girl who had given her life so unselfishly for the maps. I knew then that we the Goonies were destined to find that treasure. I was given a new reason to find the map. I was going to do what Angela only wished. And I would do it all for Angela. A girl I didn"t even know. She didn"t deserve to die as she did, but she knew that someone someday would thank her. She was a hero to me. A true hero. Suddenly I looked up. Everyone was looking at me. "Oh, sorry" I said wiping my eyes and handing the letter to Mikey. Brand came over and wrapped his arms around me. "You okay?" he asked concerned. "I am now." I replied getting out of his arms and looking for a trunk that could fit a lot of dresses but to no avail. Then it hit me as it usually does. The answer was right under my nose. Well actually my butt! I had been sitting on it the whole time! I am not a good detective. As you have seen. Mikey had just finished reading the Journal entry. And everyone was in shock at what Willie had done. "I thought that it"s a pirate rule never to hurt a lady?" Data said. "Well, Willie was no ordinary pirate." Ellie said sighing. Chunk was shivering in fright, "It remind me of the dead guy in the freezer at the fertellis." "Do you think he really loved her Abby?" Mikey asked. "Abby?" Mikey repeated. "Over here" I called as I tired to open the chest which just would not budge. Brand was the first one over to where I was. "Abby, what in the world are you doing?" Brand yelled as he saw me trying to open the trunk. "Your back"s strained enough without you trying to do the impossible!*" Brand said. I gave him the don"t-mess-with-me-right-now look. Everyone else gathered around me and tried their luck with the lock, but it just wouldn"t budge! " * I know I haven"t mentioned this but I have back problems. "Hey, Ellie what"s that French on the top?" Mouth asked. Ellie leaned over and dusted it off so that you could make out some words. " It says Angelique." Ellie replied. "Earth speak please!" Chunk said. "It means Angela." Ellie said matter a factly. "It"s it! It"s her! I know it is!" Mikey said throwing his arms in a weird fashion. "Whoa, Mike! Cool it for a sec! Okay, so how do we find it if One Eyed Willie, The one Eyed Willie greatest pirate in history couldn"t find it than how can we?" Mouth asked. " Yeah, he"s right Mike!" Chunk said lightly jumping up to leave the room. " Get back here!" Data and Mouth said in union as he pulled chunk back. "Your just a wuss! Abby and Mike are right we have to open this chest." Brand said. I stared at Brand in surprise. He winked at me as he sat down to try again on the lock. "Hey, I got a idea!" Mouth said his mouth brightening into a mischievous grin. "What? Painting the trunk in Chocolate and let Chunk eat his way through." Brand said. "No!" Mouth said like Brand was the dumbest person in the world. He quickly stepped in front of where me and said "Hey, Chunk I got pictures of your mom taking a shower! Wanna buy them?" "No!" I yelled as Chunk charged and Mouth who forgot to get out of the way landed on top of me. And I fell on top of the box. Mouth pulled Chunk with him so before I knew it the trunk lid had cracked open and I had two fighting boys on top of me. Not the best thing in the world I can tell you. "Take that back!" Chunk yelled. "What are you gonna do if I don"t? Fart on me? Huh?" Mouth shot back. " Guys, cool it!" I yelled over Chunk"s next comment so no one heard it. "I can"t if Laurence Marie doesn"t get off of me!" Mouth yelled. "You promised never to tell my middle name!" Chunk screamed in rage. "And you actually thought I listen?" Mouth sneered. "I"m gonna kill you!" Chunk screamed even louder than before so that everyone else had to cover their ears. "Oh, god not on top if me!" I yelled. Then with all the strength that I could muster I pushed them off me. I almost fell over from the effort. That"s when I felt it my spine cracked. I stifled a scream. But I could tell that my face read the scream that I hadn"t done. Ellie ran over and I fell onto her. She helped support me. Everyone was asking me if I was all right. "I"m fine" I said though my if you looked in my pain filled face you would know that I was not fine. Brand insisted that he should drive me to the hospital. "Oh, really that"s such a nice offer from a person who hasn"t passed his driver"s test yet!" I replied smartly. "This used to happen all the time in the other world. It"s no biggie." And that was true. Sam often called me a "old lady" which I always replied "It takes one to know one!" Mouth and Chunk were still on the floor fighting oblivious to the world around them. I got off Ellie"s arm and slowly and painfully walked over to them. "Hey, the trunk opened guys!" I yelled so they could hear me over their screams. That made both of them run over to the trunk. "You sure your okay?" Brand asked as we followed the others over to the trunk. "yeah, I replied as I stumbled over to the others. Mikey had pulled the broken lid off to reveal the prettiest dresses in the world. Any girl like me would die to have dresses as beautiful as these. I gently lifted up the one on top . It was red velvet and edged with golden sting. It was the most remarkable thing I"d ever seen. I stared at it in awe. "Hey, Ab! Abby! Abby!" Ellie yelled. I was suddenly shaken from my dream world. "Yeah?" I asked quickly taking my eyes off the dress. " I reluctantly handed the dress to Chunk. "What me? I"m not checking the corset!" Chunk said as if it was unbelievable that I ever thought he would do it. "And why not?" I asked not getting what he was worried about. "You don"t know if there is dead things in there!" Ellie shook her head at how dumb Chunk was. "What dead things would there be Chunk!" "Spiders, tarantulas, Centipedes,..." "Just shut up!" Mouth said. I handed the dress to Brand. I was a little weak after what Chunk just said. I get worked up when I see spiders worse than even Chunk. Mouth especially knew this. A couple times we had gone down to a meadow and I would see a spider. And I would tense up and start to scream. Brand could tell that I was tensing up and took over with handing out dresses for everyone to check. By the time we were at the last dress we still hadn"t found the map. "Exactly told you we won"t find anything!" Chunk said. I started tapping the bottom. "Hey, Ellie does this sound hollow to you?" I asked as I tapped it again. Ellie tapped it. "Hey, your right!" Ellie replied. "It"s a false bottom!" Mikey said "Chunk hold this." I said as I gave him the trunk. "Hey, why me Ab?" he asked as he took it. "Hey, Mikey you know there"s this new ice cream that"s made with chocolate and..." No one was listening because we were all counting down in our heads. And sure enough at zero the trunk hit the floor with a thud. As soon as it hit the floor the false bottom broke spilling the real bottom"s contents everywhere. And low and behold at the bottom of the mess was the prettiest dress of them all. It was turquoise with pearls sewn onto the bodice and around the neck. The sleeves were so long and flowy that I could just imagine wearing it. Mikey gently reached inside the corset and pulled out a rolled up yellowed piece of paper. We all stood there in awe. Mikey unraveled it to reveal a map. The map We all gathered around Mikey. "Wow!" Mouth said. "Hey, what"s that French junk?" Brand said pointing to various places around the map. "Ellie can you translate this for us?" Mikey asked handing her the map. Ellie took it from him and started to read. "Ye intruders beware crossing death and pain, Fore for the intruder there is no gain." "ye intruder"s beware crossing death and pain, Fore for the intruder there is no gain." Mikey whispered to himself. "But Mikey that doesn"t make sense." Chunk said puzzling over it. "Yeah, he"s right Mike!" Mouth said. "El

"Eva get some sense!" I said shaking my head. "We didn"t lock it." The others came over and helped us push the door open. Out fell Chunk with the dead guy on top of him. Chunk had his eyes closed the whole time. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" He yelled as he came face to face with the dead guy. "Why me! Why! Why! Cried Krista as she stared down at the dead guy who had landed on her foot! Eva quickly pushed the dead guy off him even though I could tell she hated touching him as much as Brand did. "Have a good trip Chunk?" Mouth asked teasingly. "Shut up!" Chunk said. As Eva helped him up. By then everyone had put the dead man back in the freezer. Suddenly we heard foot steps. "Chunk, I"m praying that"s your stomach." Ellie said. "The fireplace! That"s it! Mikey whispered to us. We all hurried over to the fireplace. Brand quickly pushed away the wood and there revealed a hidden passageway. "Go! Go! Go!" yelled Brand. "Wait! Someone has to go for help in case you guys don"t get out!" Krista said. "I"ll go" Eva and Chunk said. "I"ll go too!" Krista said. They excaped out the back window just as The fertelies appeared. Brand quickly pulled the wood back over the fireplace where we were just as the Fertalies turned. "Somebody"s been here! The door"s broken!" Mama fertali yelled. "It could have been the rats Ma!" Francis said. "Go check on your brother!" Mama fertali yelled as hse slapped him across the face. "Ouch" Chunk whispered grimacing at the sound of the slap. We all quickly shushed him. "Who"s down there" Mama Ferteli yelled. r/r: A cliffie! I know! Ha ha ha ha! I feel like being evil the first time around! And I promise not to do it again! As I said before please review! "Chunk, you sure your going the right way?" Krista asked. " Yeah, we"ve been walking forever and I"m hungry!" Eva said. At that moment Krista swung a branch into Eva"s face. "I"m gonna get you for that !" Eva cried charging at Krista who quickly moved out of the way. So before Eva could stop herself she had pummeled Chunk to the ground. Chunk looked up at her. They both in a moment of shock. Chunk broke the silence. "Want a baby Ruth?" Back in the tunnels We all huddled together praying she wouldn"t hear us. Morgan, Ellie, and me were cuddled together. We all knew this was not part of the movie and what they would do if they caught us. Sam had on her flip fops and had stubbed her toe. So she was licking up her blood. Not really listening to what was going on up above us. Data was staring at her disgusted. Everyone else was huddled together on their own trying not to make a sound. "That"s probably nothing Ma just the wind..." Francis said before he was slapped across the face again. Suddenly, without warning Morgan sneezed. We all knew very well that they heard us. "Run" I screamed as we all ran even farther into the tunnels. I made sure I was going to be the last one out but Brand pushed me forward into the darkness. Back with Chunk, Eva, and Krista "Guys, I think I hear the road!" Chunk said. " You can"t hear a road" Krista protested trying to make him look dumb. "You know what I mean" Chunk said. They pushed back more trees to find indeed a road. Before anyone could stop him Chunk ran in front of a car. "No" Eva screamed putting her hands over her eyes. Krista laughed. The car had stopped right in front of Chunk who had started doing pretty poor jumping jacks to get their attention. Eva peeked through her fingers. Then seeing he wasn"t dead ran over with Krista. "That"s one way to commit suicide!" laughed Krista. "What seems to be problem" a familiar voice asked. "Hey, mister we need a ride. Me and my friends just had a run in with these discussing people. You might have heard of them. The Fertelis. Well, we found their hideout. We all can describe them. So can you please take us to the police station..." Krista had put her hand over his mouth. The light had turned on in the car and there was Francis and Mama ferteli. "Ahhhh," they all screamed. Krista ran into a sprint getting away just in time. But she soon noticed that the others weren"t following her. The other ferteli brother had them thrown into the back trunk. Both of them screaming. Chunk was staring at Eva when suddenly his eyes opened wide. "What," Eva asked afraid of what was behind her. Chunk pointed. There behind her was the dead guy propped up against the trunk wall. "Ahhh, they both screamed again. Back in the tunnels "Data thinks they"ll come after us!" Data said. We hadn"t stopped running. And were huffing and puffing. "Were gonna die from exhaustion if we keep this up!" Ellie said. "Well, what are you supposed to do when your running from people who may try to kill..." I replied but stopped in my tracks. Everyone was still running so they all bumped into me. Which ended with me spalling on the floor with eight people on top of me. "You could have told us you were stopping!" Mouth said smartly. "And you could weigh less!" I shot back lifting up my head. "Ahh," I screamed. There in front of me was the head of a dead guy. Or as some would put it a scull. I pushed everyone off me. And ran to Morgan who was freaking out too. "Were gonna die" I kept saying getting divisional. "Abby, Abby calm down. Everything is going to be fine. Were gonna make it out of here. Your gonna die a old woman in your bed. Have lots of children..." "Ellie don"t quote from The Titanic!!!!" I cried freaking out even more. I held onto Morgan our faces mirrored in horror. "Oh, come on Abo it"s a dead guy you would look the same if you were stuck in here for a million years" Sam scoffed creeping up behind the others who were investigating who he was. "Eww, look at him guys..." I overheard Brand saying. "Don"t touch it guys" Data warned. Through it all Mouth was whimpering about how gross it was. And that was Sam"s opportune moment (I know so Jack Sparrow). Sam grabbed Mouth from behind and started pulling him backwards. All the while mouth was screaming about how a monster had him. But no one was paying any mind. " Guys, I think he"s Chester Copperpott." Data was saying. "Chester who" "Don"t you guys remember from the attic. They say he was the last guy that went looking for the rich stuff. See he went in, but he never came back out. But that was 1932 guys. Wait a sec guys if he didn"t make it out and he was expert how are we gonna get out guys?" "We can"tbe sure it"s Chester Copperpott." Mikey countered knowing that if it was I would get even more freaked out. "I know it"s him..." Data shot back but was interrupted by a loud scream. We all went silent. "Someone"s alive down here" Morgan said breaking the silence. "Hey, where"s Sam and Mouth?" Ellie said. Suddenly, I knew. "Oh, no" she didn"t Back with Krista They must not have seen me in dark Krista thought. She hadn"t stopped running ever since she"d watched Eva and Chunk be captured. She knew she had to get to the police. Back with Eva and Chunk "Tell us where your little friends are." Mama Ferteli said. Eva and Chunk were both tied to a chair. "Or what?" Eva shot back. Mama ferteli smiled her evil smile. "Francis go get it!" she shouted. "Ma why can"t he get it?" Francis said gesturing to his brother. "Cause I told you so!" she said as she smacked him across the face for what the millionth time that day. "Why do you let her treat you that way" Eva asked as he stalked off not answering at all. He brought back the mixer.... r/r: Come on someone review about this story besides SilvermusicChic!!!! At least tell me that someone is reading this!!!!!! I work so hard!!!! I know that"s a major cliffy. But come on. I might even tell everyone that reviews about this what happens next!!!!! r/r Just to let all my readers know... If you see I"m not updating on one of my stories and really want me to update then just tell me. I will certainly try to get it up within a few days. That"s the down side of having so many stories. You can never finish any of them... Abby"s pov I ran into another cave behind us. The others followed cautiously not knowing what they"d find. But I knew. Sure enough hanging upside down by a long piece of rope(which I have no idea where Sam got that) was Mouth. His head was dangling into a little passageway or as Sam would put it a hole in the ground. Sam beside it looking completely innocent. But really who would believe her. Mikey? Maybe. Me? No. "Sam what you"d do this time" I moaned walking over to Mouth with Ellie and Morgan. "Oh, nothing" Sam said giving me a faked smile then sashaying over to Mikey. "Mouth" Ellie yelled stifling a laugh. "Mikey" Mouth moaned. Sam snickered. "It"s not funny Sam" I said daring her to disagree. "Oh, it"s funny all right" Sam said laughing so hard she fell over and fell down a hole. Everyone gathered around where Sam had fell. Yelling franticly. Especially Morgan and Mikey. I scoffed. Served her right. "Mouth I"m coming down" I yelled down the hole. "Love Ellie" I heard him say back. A smile gleamed on my face. Oh how Ellie would live to hear that. I took another piece of rope and tied it around my waist. Then tied it to what looked like a strong rock. I have learned now never trust rocks. They take sides. And apparently this one chose Fate"s. No one was watching me which was good. They would definitely say not to do it. I had done the impossible before. I would do it again. Well maybe... Krista"s pov "You have to believe me! My friends are stuck in the basement of The feteli"s hideout! Two of my friends are captured by them. And are probably about to be killed!" A young black haired guy was sitting at his desk listening to Krista"s story. He looked at her supiously. "Really, Okay what"s the restaurant"s name?" "Uhh, Okay so I was never good at remembering names!" Krista cried devastated. Eva and Chunk"s pov "Then the plump fleshy arm..." Mama ferteli said. Eva and chunk were now completely scared out of their wits. "In the Fireplace" Eva and chunk cried in usion. "Ahh, in the fireplace is it? We"ll get more out them after they had some time with Sloth..." R/r I know it"s may not seem in the Goonies spirit. I"m sorry I just am really out of it at this moment... I just updated my profile so please look! Hey thank you Val for agreeing to be in this. I am really excited! This is your big daybeau! Hope you enjoy! SilvermusicChic I"m sorry you weren"t in it as much in the other chapters. I just end up having trouble keeping you in character so I end up not writing a lot about you. I just don"t want to mess up something and make you do something that you would never do... Anyway enjoy! With Krista Krista leaned up against the counter. There is no way I"m gonna live in the eighties Krista thought pushing her short purple hair behind her ears. At least in the 21st century we someone would be out there looking for them and have caught the ferteli"s by now! Krista banged her hand against the desk she could barely see over. "What are you in here for" a voice asked from beside her said. Krista quickly picked up a missing people"s sheet and a clip board trying to ignore whoever it was. Suddenly she dropped her clipboard. The girl had a mixture of hot pink/purple hair color. She had on a long orange t-shirt that read "Hippie smippie I"m here to save the Earth!" with orange Parashoot pants. Her hair was done in a ornate fashion that clearly wasn"t inn in our time. "So, why are you here?" the girl asked again as she picked up Krista"s clipboard pretending not to notice Krista"s stare. The girl noticed the form that was on the clipboard. "so who"s the missing person?" I girl drawled chewing a wad of gum leaning up against the counter. Krista finally came out of shock and took the clipboard back. "You didn"t answer my question!" the girl said still chewing. "It doesn"t matter anyway it"s not like you could get the head chief to actually listen to my case and not criticize it." Krista snapped the chewing was definitely getting to her. The other girl smiled mischievously. The girl quickly whispered to her. "Your serious!" Krista exclaimed. But what they didn"t know was that the secretaries where watching them from over the counter... Da da da I know it"s kind of boring! Thanks for bearing with me. Oh, yeah and I know that I didn"t exactly use Val"s name in there. I couldn"t find the right place to put it, but it will be in the next one. And yes Val and Krista end up going after the Goonies and it ends up in a big funny mess. Read all about it! "You sure about this?" "Come on what"s the worst that could happen? We end up running out of air or something?" Val replied sarcastically pulling another pack of gum out of her t-shirt while sticking the chewed one on a deodorant add. "What if someone needed that add" Krista asked disgusted. "Who would need a deodorant add" Val asked nonchalantly chewing loudly. Krista shrugged. "So how about we come here at night when all the old people who believe that aliens are after them are here. They"ll never see us!" "Yeah, I guess so." Krista grimaced. "So where you Wanna go till then?" Krista asked innocently. "I knew you were gonna ask that" Val smiled mischievously. Back with the others "Abby!!!!!!!!" Morgan screamed as she turned around at the last minute as I plummeted through the air and landed in the tunnel. "Mouth" I yelled at the top of my lungs as I grabbed his leg. Oh, god she tied him by his leg! I was so gonna get her back. How are you gonna do that? Sam"s haughting voice said. Oh yeah well I would show her. By now Morgan was screaming hysterically and everyone else was gathered around us now. All except for Mikey. Figures! "Abby, what are you doing!" Ellie asked getting freaked out as well. "Well, I"m not having lunch with Han Solo am I?"(I just love comparing things to Star Wars! Sigh!!!) I said annoyed trying to pull Mouth up with my feet supported on the side of the runnel wall. "Ellie this is your boyfriend I"m saving you could at least help!" I screamed desperately trying to keep my feet from slipping off the side. Suddenly, I heard a sound that will haught me forever. The sound of a million bats all heading for our heads. "Ahh," I screamed it echoing all through the tunnels. r/r I just realized I always end on a cliffy! Sorry about that. I see a star in my head and shoot. I know you may not understand that. But I do. Sorry. Val hope you like this cause it took me a while but I"m back on feet and ready to have some fun. By the way the place they go is not bad at all. Promise! It"s fun! This is chapter is gonna be full of laughs and just plain weird things that you would never come to expect from other writers. Okay, I admit there has to be someone out there like me!!!! But sadly I haven"t met them yet? What a bummer! Anyway what are you reading this for probably everyone that"s reading this decided to go ahead when I stated that it was full of laughs and all things weird. Well, I"m used to it. Hey yo shout out to SilvermusicChic! And Val! Both have awesome debus in this so.... READ!!!!! Val and Krista "Come on Krista I swear you"ll love it!" "No way!" " Your gonna do it!" "No I"m not! You can"t make me wear a dress! Especially a orange one like that!" "Come on I promise that you"ll love it!" Val and Krista were backstage in a concert dressing room. "You never once warned me that you had signed us up for dancers at a dance hall." "Hey, come on I did something for you! You have to do something for me!" "Who said that Shakespeare?" Krista scoffed. "Who taught you Shakespeare? It wasn"t Shakespeare I can tell you that" Val said as she sat down at a dressing table and proceeded to put in long orange earrings that hung so low they almost touched her shoulders. She was wearing a short orange skirt the color of barf as Krista put it, with a black skater dude jacket with a bright orange V on it. She had a bright pink shirt underneath that clearly read in bold orange letters "Vote for Pedro." He hair was down and shimmered down her back. It was all curled perfectly into tiny ringlets. Krista ignored her. "I"m not going!" Krista said again in defiance stamping her foot. Val smiled mysteriously. "Then I guess the deals off. That"s your loss not mine." She got up to get some make-up. "I just thought this would be fun you know. But go ahead back to the police station and wait in the waiting room your whole life and never see your friends again." Val said simply returning with a big container of make-up. Krista groaned. "Okay, so I need you and you need me. And since this is the only way out of this mess we created I"ll do it." Val swiveled around in the chair and faced her. "I thought you might say that." " Okay, let"s get to it." she announced as she got up quickly and pushed Krista into a chair. "Lets see what we can do with that hair!" "By the way, Val who"s Pedro?" Krista asked a as Val started to wet her hair. Val giggled. "Haven"t you heard of "Napoleon dynamite?" Back in the caves with the others "Ahhh," the caves were filled with screams of terror. "Okay, it"s okay! I learned how to handle this in basketball camp. All you got to do is yell Rabies and they go away!" Ellie was screaming as she ran around trying to duck away from a pack of bats. Morgan was screaming her head off running in circles with Mikey running toward her. "Or was that for Dinosaurs!!!!!!" Ellie screamed as her body disappeared into a hole. I was screaming as I hung on with all strength to Mouth who was screaming that he wanted anchovies on his pizza. Data was trying to hit them with his "pinchers of hell" which only made them madder. Brand was trying to pull us up by the rope which at that second broke causing Brand to grab hold of my legs right as I almost let go of Mouth. Which woke Mouth up who realized he wasn"t eating pizza. It was a bat. He started to panic screaming "Mikey." And all the while Sam had crawled out of the hole she had fallen into and was laughing at everyone screaming that she fell into the hole again. "Uph!!!!" she moaned as she hit the bottom. Finally I heard Mikey yell "Hey, guys there going away." Everyone stopped. They were. Suddenly, all the screeching of the bats stopped. "Get us out of here" I shouted as Mouth started to wiggle fiercely not realizing it was me. "I"m on it." Brand yelled as I felt my feet being pulled up. Then I felt a great draft of sir. That wasn"t my feet being lifted up. It was my pants... Back with Val and Krista After fighting Krista about clothes, make-up, and hair she was finally finished. They stood back in awe. She looked the prettiest that she had ever seen. She was wearing a pink dress with a orange belt that read in gold letters "Pedro". With her hair down in a cute bob fashion that in our time Krista wouldn"t be caught dead in. "I"m so awesome aren"t I?" Val sighed to the mirror. It was time for the show, but what Krista didn"t know wouldn"t hurt her... Or would it.... Back with the others "Nice pink underwear Abo" Sam laughed. "Okay, who helped Sam out" I cried as I shook my legs. I could hear the boys snickering at me. I heard Morgan yell for everyone to go into another cave while her and Ellie would get us out. The boys must of done it because when I came out no one else was there but them. "Well, at least someone knows what to do when their friend is hanging over a hole and her pants fall off..." I commented my face turning bright red. Ellie shrugged. "It was the least we could do. It"s not like we could let the boys watch you put your pants back on." "By the way, where are my pants?" I asked grouping around. "Uhh," Morgan and Ellie exchanged glances. "Don"t tell me with the boys?" I asked hating to hear the answer. "Actually, no there in the mud puddle over there" Morgan said smiling. I groaned as I ran in my hot pink underwear to my pants. They were wet and muddy but I put them on anyway. Man I was gonna hate facing the boys. Back with Krista and Eva Krista and Val were pushed on stage harshly as a big bright blinding light showed upon the stage. Everyone went silent. " Uhh, Val why are people staring at us????" Krista said out of the corner of my mouth. "Uhh, there kind of waiting for you to sing!" Val whispered back. "What!!!!" Krista screamed. "Sing" Val repeated as a guy came out with a microphone. "Sing What?" Krista yelled making the microphone squeak causing everyone to cover their ears. Krista looked embarrassed. "Umm, you guys know if you were Gay?" Krista asked hesitantly. Everyone started to boo. "Okay, kind of inappropriate for a dance hall." Krista said trying to cover that up. "How about Hoedown Throw down by Hannah Montana?" Krista subjected as a last resort. There weren"t so many boos since no one had heard that song title before. "Okay it goes like this." It started off good but soon flying fruit was could be seen. And at the end Krista and Val were soaked with tomatoes. Backstage "I can"t believe you didn"t tell me!!!!!!" Krista screamed in frustration as she shattered a mirror. "Ohh, ten years bad luck" Val commented as she tried to wash tomato off her face. "I really thought you"d like it. You know. You just seemed like the type. I"m sorry Okay." Val cried as she slipped into a dressing room. " I got the ninja outfits for tonight." Val said as she tossed a sleek black outfit over the dressing room stall. Krista sighed. Maybe it wouldn"t be that bad.... r/r Okay, I"m not gonna give some long thing about how much I want reviews because no one but SilvermusicChic and Val review anyway, nod I just wrote all that in one sitting!!!!!!

"You both have tip toed around that fact long enough. Are you really planning to have a long distance relationship with him? Don"t lead each other on honey. If you don"t intend to work with him on your relationship you might as well make it known to him. One thing jail does is it gives you time on your hands. And when you have time on your hands you get to thinking and you start falling more and more in love with someone on the outside that over time is starting to fall out of love with you. I"ve seen it happen to the best of relationships," Danny advised. "This is real Dad," I said using the term I hadn"t used in a long time. "I know where he"s gonna be in a few years and even if he has doubts I know where I"ll be in those same years." "And that is?" "Waiting for him." I knew that was the last time I would be talking to Danny for a long time. I wasn"t good a goodbyes, that was the hardest part of being a thief for me. It wasn"t the heavy lifting, gunfire, possibility of being killed or thrown in jail, or working with a group of highly trained thieves. It was saying goodbye, whether to your fellow thieves after having just performed a heist together that bonded you all together for the rest of your lives or to people that were in jail that chose you to be their last call before you lose contact for years. I heard the police officer in the background yelling for Danny to hurry up and that other inmates had to have their turn. "I have to go honey" he said, and I could hear the sadness in his voice. "But there is so much more to say! I have so much more to tell you" I whispered, tears streaming down my face. "Abigail-" he started. "I know, when you say it"s time to go, no if"s and"s or but"s. But I don"t want this conversation to end cause then it"s really over" I choked. "What"s over?" Danny asked. "The story, the story of the greatest heist of all time. When you hang up it will be like closing the book and you"ll be back where you started and-and" I stuttered. "You won"t" he finished. "I know, it seems like dejavu doesn"t it? But only if you let it be that way. Don"t change honey, because one of these days I"m going to be back and I will still want to come home to my little girl." I smiled when he called me that. We both knew full well I hadn"t been a little girl in a long time. It was easier then, not knowing what my dad"s profession was or why there were mysterious men with building plans consistently in my living room. Little did I know one day I would join them, and one day, today to be exact, pull off the greatest heist in the history of heists. "Take care of your mother, darling. Don"t hold her past mistakes against her, remember you"ve made mistakes too. Don"t get into too much trouble, cause if you do you know I"ll hear about it..." They were trying to rip the phone from his hands at this point and I could hear the struggle. "Dad! Dad!" I started screaming into the phone. "And most of all Abigail Ocean, I love you!" was his closing words as the phone cut out. I held the phone as my whole body shook. It was over, all of it. The heist was done and though there no doubt would be backlash it was over. No more planning, we had what we wanted. Or at least we were supposed to. Now, I had lost two people that that were worth so much more than the money. I had won my mother, but lost my father and the love of my life. That"s when I realized there was one more thing I could do. The heist would not be over till they were home. I would not feel whole, or like I had accomplished anything if they weren"t beside me. That"s when I knew that I would have to go and do the one thing I had promised myself I would never do. I"m the girl that stole from the highest security vault ever in the most security filled casino in the world, and I was going to have to see Bobby Caldwell. I wiped my eyes, and knew that before I did anything I needed to see the rest of my team even if they wouldn"t help me and I had to do it alone they needed to know. I walked the halls of the abandoned building preparing myself for what I had to tell them, or what they already knew. I pushed open the door, and there they stood all of them, hovered around a sound recording device that I was sure was transmitting from the place I had just left. "Why can"t we hear anything anymore?" Linus asked as he banged his hand down on the unit. "I"m trying to fix it and that is not helping!" Livingston answered, sweating profusely as usual. "Ahem" Turk cleared his throat and pointed at my wet figure in the doorway. They looked at me in awe, the mess I had become. They stared in silence, never had they seen me like this and quite frankly neither had I. Not when Danny got taken to jail the first time or when my mom started dating Benedict. "What happened?" Linus finally got up enough courage to break the silence. "You don"t know?" I asked sincerely, gesturing towards the computer monitor. "It cut out about thirty minutes ago. Where"s Rusty?" Turk asked the one question they had all been asking in their brains since I had walked in alone. Linus shook his head in realization of what his absence meant. "I"m sorry Abby. So sorry-" he reached out for me, but I brushed him aside. "That"s why I"m here for all your help. I"m gonna get them out, and not in twenty years." "Abby there is nothing you can do now it"s out of all of our hands" Reuben interjected. "No, your right but I still I have one more card to play." "You wouldn"t" Basher whispered. "I"m going to see Bobby Caldwell" I stated as gasps filled the room. "Abs, you know he left this life. He wants nothing to do with any of us. He personally stated if he sees any one of us again were toast. If he even knows that Linus was in on this heist with us-" Turk reminded me as if I didn"t know. "Like I don"t know that Turk. That"s why none of you are coming with me. Bobby has a soft part in his heart for me and I have something he wants." "I hate to break it to ya Abs but any chance of you guys working out left a long time ago" Turk pointed out. "No, I know what she means. You have me." Linus stated. I nodded my head, this was going to work. It didn"t take long to create a good plan. Let"s face it in a room of thieves it doesn"t take long to figure out a way to fake a kidnapping. Not gonna lie we have all been involved in some way in some kidnapping plots, whether we were the driver, the napper, or well... the kidnapped. The last one happened every once in a while, but with the skills we each had acquired that made it next to impossible for someone to pull off. Which is why it normally was other disgruntled thieves that were hired to kidnap us, because as you all know by now we are in the "next to impossible" business. Anyway, the good thing about being kidnapped or having been attempted to be is that you learn the in"s and the out"s of kidnapping. Which you also could learn from CSI or your regular old fashioned crime show, but who doesn"t want some hands on experience? We all grabbed our gear and were out the door with a list of demands, ready to be personally given by me, our hostage, and a plan. "So is this your first solo mission?" Linus asked far too loud for my liking. I shushed him as I climbed the black rope up the wall. He was close behind on his own rope and I knew he had been staring at my butt the whole time we had been suspended in the air. "Sorry" Linus whispered much more quietly this time. "I was trained on solo missions. You ever hear of the Guape diamond?" "Who hasn"t?" "Yeah, well that was my first solo mission and as you know it was pretty successful." "Yeah, except for your shoe falling off and dropping from the airvent onto one of the laser beams and setting off the alarm" Linus laughed. "A minor detail" I shrugged. Livingston was already set up to take care of each security camera when we came to it so there was no fear of being seen except by maids. And well in case you didn"t know maids aren"t very loyal. I had kept tabs on Bobby over the years and I knew that he wasn"t a person that many people would be loyal to anymore. And yes, for a thief it is protocol to keep up with your past boyfriends, you never know when that information will come in handy. Especially if that information is that Bobby likes to give most of his staff and security the day off every so often. Of course hacking into his online schedule and changing that date from next month to this month on his calendar was an easy feet. We entered the building from the roof, Linus and me. We climbed down our black ropes and landed in what was the grand hall. Yes, I will say it again the grand hall. Bobby wasn"t in the thieving world anymore, but that didn"t mean he wouldn"t use the money he accumulated from it to live as extravagantly as possible. "Ok, Linus this is where you come in" I said as I looked around for the exits we would need to use later. "Where would Bobby," I stopped myself. "I mean your dad be around this time?" "In his study" Linus said gesturing down the hall. "Okay, so here"s the plan. I do all the talking, you act like the kidnapped person here. Follow my lead and do whatever I tell you to do. If you do that, maybe you"ll stay alive" I said as I cocked my big military gun. "Wait, wait a minute why are you acting like this is life or death when you"re the only one with the gun? And why are you acting like I don"t have a big part in this?" I turned around and faced him. "Do you really want to know Linus? Maybe it"s cause the man I love"s life is on the line. As well as my father"s. I don"t need a newbie to screw up my future, my boyfriend"s, or my father"s. And it is life or death with me because I need them to live. If that means you think I will kill you to get what I want, so be it. We might as well look legit. And as for me, you have never seen me in your life. You were-" I paused. "Where does your father think you were gonna be for a month?" "At college" Linus replied. "Well it"s good to know your actually getting a real education with us. Now, let"s go" I said as I pulled a black ski mask over my face and pointed the gun at Linus, urging him to walk. Linus put his hands up and if his look of shock was good enough to fool me it would be good enough to fool his father, the human lie detector. We barged into the room where as expected Bobby was sitting reading a book. As soon as we barged in he jumped up from the chair, having grabbed a small gun from a hidden place in the chair and pointed it at me. He didn"t know who I was yet. For all he knew I was just a kidnapper holding his son"s life in his hands. But I knew what he would soon know I was much more than that to him. "Put the gun down or his guts go all over this pretty carpet! Is that what you want?" I asked in my most macho many voice. Bobby looked at me, then back at his son. "Who is it Linus? I know you know so you might as well tell me who is holding you hostage" he said, like a father afraid for his son"s life. "Honestly dad I don"t know. I was blindfolded the whole ride here and when they snatched me!" Linus cried, with enough honesty to make the lie detector believe him. "Who are you and what do you want with me?" Bobby asked pointedly. "How about you toss you gun out the window and I"ll take off my mask so you can find out before I take the life of your only child?" I replied back in the same gruff voice. Bobby looked down at his gun, nodded then proceeded to do as I asked. I smiled as I pulled off the mask. "I guess you really did give up your thieving ways Bobby. If you were a thief you would have shot my brains out by now. Aren"t I lucky you gave up our ways" I smiled at his shocked face. Honestly I don"t think he could have been any more shocked if I had been the Easter bunny. "Abby?" he questioned almost as if he didn"t want to believe it. "Yep, it"s me. The girl you wronged back for revenge right? Well, you"d be wrong to think that cause actually I"m here for much more than that" I laughed as I poured myself a glass of wine with one hand, while still pointing my gun at Linus with the other. "What do you want money? Cause I"m sure you have your own ways of getting that" Bobby replied still in shock. "Your right. I do have my own ways of getting that. And those ways used to be your ways too" I reminded him. "I"m done with that life, Abigail. I walked away and never looked back so if you want me to go back to that life I won"t" Bobby answered. I smiled. "As much as I miss our little escapades Bobby that"s not what I"m here for exactly. I"m here for more of a favor concerning your new life." "I don"t like what your suggesting" Bobby said, staring into my eyes. "Well, do you like what I am suggesting by holding a gun at your son?" I pointed out. "I"m sure you know by now because let"s face it you always were the one to keep tabs on everyone. And I"m sure you had to be even more in-depth when you left that life just in case any of us decided to come into your life again. And I don"t blame you, if I did what you did I"d do the same thing." "You know I had no choice. It was me or the team-" "Don"t act like I don"t know what the choice was!" I cried, firing a warning shot at the ceiling. "Let"s not forget I"m the one holding the gun here. And I have no problem killing off your offspring Bobby." "You know I never meant to hurt you, Abby." "Don"t lump what happened between you and me in with what you did to the team. Those are two separate instances where I trusted you and you lied to me. And if you have forgotten I hate being lied to." "Abby, you know who your talking to. Your beef is with me, not my son. Let him go and let"s talk this out between the two of us." "You really think I"m gonna fall for that physiology crap? You know where Rusty and Danny are right now? In a prison cell and you are going to get them both a four month sentence or your son dies!" I pointed the gun directly at Linus. Bobby went quiet. "Abigail, there is no need for this talk. Come, tell me what kind of heists have you been up to lately? More Barbra Strizand"s or Shakespeare"s?" "I"m sure my life now is no less secret to you than it was back then" I replied, coldly. "Yes, I have seen news of your work. That last one was a brutal one wasn"t it? I"m surprised you pulled that one off." "There were casualties as I mentioned but that won"t be much of a problem once were done here." "Did you and Rusty ever-?" Bobby asked, not wanting to know the answer. "I don"t see how it"s any of your business my relationship with Rusty. And if I were you I would be getting on that phone to call in one of your favors right about now. You know how my finger can sometimes slip on the trigger" I threatened, still pointing the gun at Linus. "And why would you think I any favors I can redeem? How do you know I wouldn"t get the sentence reversed once you left?" Bobby asked pointedly. I hesitated not wanting to admit it. "Because...because I trust you. I know you are a man of your word. No matter what happened in the past I know that is something that will never change. You owe me a favor Bobby. And today I"ll calling it in. And Bobby I know when you return the favor you don"t disappoint." Bobby smiled as he picked up the phone. Author"s Note: Hey Guys! I just want to say thank you to anyone reading this! It means the world to me that you guys actually read my writing and enjoy it! I have to say it"s amazing looking back now and seeing how my writing has evolved from the beginning! I started out with a lighted hearted story without really gritty emotion or seriousness to it. I am so thankful for all of you that critiqued me and made this story the best that it can be! You all have had such an impact on this story and this story is yours as much as it is mine! This is the last chapter and I must say thank you for sticking this out with me! I will be creating a sequel to this story also following the films somewhat. If you have any ideas as to how this story should continue and concerning the fates of the characters I would love to hear them! Look for the sequel which should be coming soon! Love ya all!-Gooniegirl "Come on Mom! Were gonna be late! And if were late I will never hear the end of it from Rusty!" I yelled into the house. Mom was packing up the last of the boxes and I was honking the horn of the car outside. We were leaving. We were leaving the bad memories and starting over. This concept was nothing new to me, as it"s something that thieves do often in their lifetime. I can"t count how many schools I have gone to and different states I have visited. Probably all of them, they all start to run together after a while. I"ve never been good at geography. Now on the other hand I can name all the countries I have visited. Most were for work, though not the work that normal people were going there for. I was going there to steal something or other from someone of other. Though that wasn"t always the case. Sometimes I went to other countries to lie low for a while, having done a crime too publicized that crossing the border into another state wouldn"t help me. This was one of those times. We were off to somewhere, we didn"t know yet. We made the decision to let the boys pick since We knew it would be out of the country of course. But we decided to let the boys pick the destination, they were in jail after all. So basically we were packing everything, leaving and never coming back. Thieves aren"t supposed to be sentimental and if you"re a sentimental person and are looking at becoming a thief for your line of work, I am advising you against it. It"s not worth it. You have to be a person who has all the essentials already packed and ready to go at a moments notice. Honestly I was ready to leave this house, the place wasn"t my home anymore. My home lied elsewhere, in the heart of a man that I was going to be picking up from jail. We all needed a new beginning, a fresh start. You would think that Danny, Rusty, and me would look back on The Bellango Heist with pride having pulled off the greatest heist in the world. But we didn"t. It was bittersweet for us. A whole lot of bitter and not enough sweet if you asked me. We wanted to forget about the whole ordeal all together and that"s what we sent out to do. "Coming Darling! This is the last box" she said as she walked out of the house, giving it once last look with teary eyes. My mom was one of those sentimental people not cut out to be a thief if you hadn"t noticed. The mother daughter relationship that was broken when she walked out that door was repaired after much fighting and crying on both sides. I forgave her for her infidelity and we became closer. We were moving on and starting anew. Mom put the last box in the trunk and we drove out of our neighborhood for the last time. Mom stopped and looked back on where we used to live. But I didn"t. Looking back is too hard, thieves only look forward. AT THE JAIL I watched the metal gates that had separated us for so long go up. I had dreamed of this moment since the very day they took them. They took the two people who meant the most to me. But this time it wasn"t a dream. It was real. I had replayed the scene so many times in my head. What I would do, what I would say. But none of what I had imagined happened. Rusty stood there right before me, neither of us moving, neither of us speaking. It seemed as if the world stood still. We just stared right into each other"s eyes. Right into the soul that we knew was in the love with the other. Years later when we talked about this moment Rusty said that words couldn"t express the feelings he felt seeing me for the first time in so long. That he was scared to touch me, to talk to me in case I wouldn"t be there. In case I was his imagination and vanished as soon as one of us made a movement. He wanted to see me, to hold me with his eyes for as long as he could in case I would vanish any second. I made the first move. I took the few steps that existed between us. I stood and inch away from his face, felt his breath on my skin and kissed him. Right then and there, kissed him like my life depended on it and he was the air I needed to survive. We kissed the most passionate kiss in the history of kisses, the kiss the movies portray and that you hope is out there somewhere for you. But this kiss surpassed all of those because our kiss was the kiss of Abby and Rusty. My dad eventually came along and broke us up with a loud "Hey, Hey, Hey! You think you can just kiss my daughter in front of me the second we get out of jail! Have some respect!" I laughed breaking away from his kisses. "Sorry Dad, I"m the guilty one here. I started it" I admitted lightheartedly. "That word takes on new meaning after being jail" Danny replied, solemnly. "What? Guilty?" I asked seriously. "No, Dad" Danny replied. I smiled and hugged him like I had wanted to for the longest time. I was home. Me and Rusty weren"t perfect. There are things we didn"t talk about, him and me. There just were things that were off the book, unable to be talked about that happened to the both of us that we could never tell each other. Telling each other all our secrets would open the floodgates to things we didn"t want to know about the other. It would hurt the other one too much to know. To know about all his past relationships in my case. And in his, to hear anything about Bobby Caldwell would send his blood pressure through the roof. Which is why he didn"t know about how I got him and Danny out in such a short period of time. It was one of those "don"t ask, don"t tell kind of things." I"m saying this because little did we know those flood gates were about to open for the both of us. Some past secrets can"t be kept hidden. Mine went by the name of Bobby and his went by the name of Isabel.

Lyra sat, with Pan by her side, but otherwise alone on the bench she had come to know so very, very well. Four years since she had made her promise to Will, and left him. She still remembered their time together as if it were yesterday, no, even as if they had only parted two minutes ago. Pan sat on her lap, and Lyra stroked his ermine fur. Lyra sighed, as in the distance a bell tolled midnight. " We"d better go, Lyra. Dame Hannah will be wondering where we are." " Oh, Pan. I"ve worked with her for ages, and I still can"t read the alethiometer as well as she can." " Lyra, you know half the symbols and their meanings already! Look, I know Will and Kirjava. He already said that he"d hate it if you were depressed all the time! Please, Lyra." Dame Hannah opened the door of the Botanic Garden. She knew that Lyra stayed out here on this day every year, but she didn"t know why. Lyra didn"t talk much about Will. She ushered Lyra inside. If someone had been looking closely, they would have seen Lyra wipe a tear from her eye. Will Will walked along the tarmac, his bag weighing him down, but his conscious was heavier by far. He set off down the drive to Mary"s flat, where he and his mother now lived. He still couldn"t even begin to move on. He"d never forget Lyra. He hadn"t told anyone about what had happened, unless you count Mary. They wouldn"t believe him, anyway. More likely take him in for examination and lock him in Bedlam or something. " Hello Mum!" He called as he came in through the door. His mum had been slowly getting better, and she didn"t need Will"s help everywhere. She was even safe shopping on her own. " Hi Will, how was school?" Fine, he thought, except for the hundreds of children who have no idea what I had done ... where I had been... " It was good." But Kirjava knew better. After Will had gone into his room, Kirjava asked him what had really happened. " ... Kirjava ... That girl asked me out ... AGAIN ..." "And you said no? Maybe you could try it. One little date. Lyra wouldn"t want you to be upset, she said herself." " And since when did you know Lyra!" Will yelled furiously. Kirjava knew Lyra better than Will thought. After 5 years she still hadn"t told Will anything about her and Pan"s conversation. Slowly, Kirjava walked away, as Mary opened the door, attracted by the noise. " I know you miss her. We all do. Just ... try to move on. Just try." She quietly closed the door, leaving Will with his thoughts. Lyra Lyra sat with the alethiometer in her hands, slowly turning the hands and studying the book for directions. She still couldn"t ask complex questions, but she could ask simple ones. So far she could tell that Will was living with Dr. Malone, but the rest was hazy, and she couldn"t understand it. She was sitting in a small bedroom in Jordan with her roommate, Katie. They had both been invited to a huge oxford party, to celebrate Dame Hannah"s Birthday. She was getting ready, and she couldn"t help taking the alethiometer. She took it all over the place, everywhere she went. The truth was, every atom of her missed Will. She had tried to move on. But she couldn"t. There was no way she could ever forget. His soft kiss. The way when they were together, it felt so good and so ... so right. With Will, she belonged. So she thought, this is love. Will Will was walking, walking through Oxford with Katie, his date, next to him. Kirjava was walking a little way behind, trying not to get involved. They had just seen a movie, and Will... Will hadn"t enjoyed it. After being with Lyra, movies were the most boring thing in any world in comparison. Katie looked at Will. " Aren"t you going to kiss me then?" Will was taken aback. He knew in his head, he"d never love anyone as much as he loved Lyra. They were like person and daemon. Inseparable. And here came this, this stupid girl who he could never love, asking for a kiss. Holding back his feelings, Will sighed. Katie looked a little hurt. " Isn"t that what people do when they"re in love?" How can this be love... " Go on then," Katie urged. Will began to walk away. Slowly at first, then faster and faster until he broke into a run. " What"s wrong?" Katie called. Everything was wrong. It would always be wrong as long as he was away from his one true love, his soul mate, his other half. She felt like more than half. More like his whole being. They were symbiotic. One couldn"t live without the other. Through the battle of thoughts in his head, Will could make out the words:why are you running? That was easy enough. He was running, running as fast as he could, running and running and running out of the street, out of the city, out of the country, out of the world. Out of the world. Out of his world. A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I"ve decided to carry on. Warning: Contains huge plot twist. Trust me. I wrote it. It"s pretty short, but it"s good. R&R please! So, without further delay... Lost In Past Chapter 2 Lyra Lyra was at the party. She was there, and also ... elsewhere. The noise escaped her. She had this terrible feeling inside. After what she had done she had changed. She was a different person. When she had gone away to Mrs. Coulter from Jordan, she had been like the kids around her. Now... she was so different. She didn"t fit in. She felt like a tiny light, glowing red while all others glowed blue. Even those who return from war never truly come home... All their games seemed meaningless. All their talk seemed babyish and stupid. Their lives seemed boring. She looked at them and looked at herself. None of them could possibly know... She didn"t fit. She had become part of a different jigsaw. And it scared her. She walked over to the door. And silently, slowly, walked back to her dormitory. And although she had turned seventeen a few months ago, she felt like she was 70. Iorek Iorek Byrnison was at his bear kingdom. The palaces had been torn down, bears were behaving like bears and the ice had stopped melting. It was all good. Except for a band of bears that had appeared recently. People had taken them in, but Iorek was wiser. He could easily tell that there was something wrong. When he was walking to his sleeping area, a single bear came out. Then another and another. They suddenly leaped out and slashed him. He bit down on one, who disappeared and then reappeared as a bird, which flew away. He was outnumbered and slowly let his death take him away. A boatman appeared and he began to tell Iorek to go. He said " You must go back. Tell Will." And then he had been yanked to Will"s world, still completely confused and injured. Will Will was on his way. 1:00 in the morning and he was still running, his energy depleted but still running and running and running. He was running to Mary"s flat by pure chance, and didn"t notice the Armoured Bear, completely out of place. Running alongside him. Iorek. Only when he stopped did he see Iorek. And then he gasped. Iorek gazed at Will and knew he was in Will"s world. " I"m dead." Said Iorek. " Those things killed me. My own people." " I died. But... how did I come to be here?" Will wasn"t thinking about that. Will was wondering if there was still another gateway open. Then he noticed the huge gash that Iorek had across his neck. He was bleeding. And this time, he had no bloodmoss. Iorek was dying. Iorek was right. He should have died. But he had come here for a reason. Before he died, he had to tell Will something. He knew he had to tell him what had happened to him. He told him. He told him of the new bears, how he had not trusted them. How they had sneaked up on him. How they had outnumbered him and left him for dead. And then the worse part to tell. He had been headed for the world of the dead and then pulled back. And that came to here. After this, he spoke his final words. "Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye Will Parry. Goodbye Armoured Bears. Goodbye Lyra Silvertounge. May you all live long." And then his death took him away. Took him to the world of the dead. Mary Mary Malone lay deep in thought, early in the morning. She could see her daemon, affectionately called Chinan (after China) without even having to try. Now that wasn"t why she was worried. She was worried because of what had just happened. In her sleep, she had had a dream. But not an ordinary dream. She was with the mulefa. Their lush land was changed since she had last seen it. Hundreds of Wheel-pod trees were growing. A single zalif whom she did not recognize spoke out to her. " The mulefa"s problems have been solved. We owe you eternal gratitude. But we fear one thing. We have discovered a race called the-" The zalif was cut off by a large bird flying through the air. A seagull. It screeched loudly. She could barely make out anything over the screeches. " They intend to destro------ dividuality and ---telligence and love. ------- Stopped. ---- Ill and Lyra --- Only you----- before --- too late.-----Important------ange." Slowly, the colour faded to black. Then, that too faded. She scrawled down what she had heard when she woke up. She had filled in most of the gaps. What she now had was: "The mulefa"s problems have been solved. We owe you eternal gratitude. But we fear one thing. We have discovered a race called the---- They intend to destroy individuality and intelligence and love. They Must be(?) stopped. ---Will and Lyra. --- Only you can save(?)-Before it"s too late. ----- Important. ---- change." She was uncertain about some, but then again, it could all be wrong. It had been 5 years since she had spoken to a zalif. But then she imagined a world without any individuality. Without any intelligence. Without any love. And then a thought came into her head. " I have to save China..." she whispered. A/N:. Thanks For the Reviews! Sorry that it took a while for me to update, I"ve been away from the computer for a while. Chapter 3: The end of the beginning Will Will silently opened the door to Mary"s flat, his head threatening to explode. Iorek... he was dead. As he opened the door, he got a shock. Mary was standing in the doorway, and she looked if she had been waiting for him. ' I"ve got to tell you something important!' Said Mary, as Will was about to say the exact same thing. Will walked into the room and sat down in an armchair. His mum was asleep upstairs. Will began and told Mary about Iorek"s message. Mary said nothing. Her mind was still reeling from what she had seen. Iorek had told Will almost the same thing. They were here. And she knew all too well that they were the ones that killed Iorek. Will listened to Mary"s story, about the dream and the Mulefa. And what Xaphania had said to him came back. "A friend of yours has already taken the first steps." He knew that friend was Mary. The realization blossomed inside him like a flower growing in springtime. He could learn to visit other worlds. Lyra Lyra sighed, depressed. She could still hear the noise of the party. At least they were having fun. She unlatched the lock on her window and began to climb down. It reminded her of when she was younger, and used to climb over the roofs of Jordan and have fights with the clay-burners children. She seemed to be a whole different person now. She couldn"t imagine herself doing anything like that, not any more. Lyra walked along a road, deep in thought. The people in the party, the whole building was too much. She needed a place to think, to be on her own. The botanic gardens. She walked over to there, the cool breeze blowing her hair. She turned the key in the lock. The gate swung open. She sat down on the bench, and just as she did, a creature with red-gold fur flowed over to her like water. Pan? Then, the creature began to change. This was no daemon. Mulefa The mulefa were frightened, and with good reason. Things that looked like tualapi were behaving strangely. They were not attacking villages, but instead the wheel-pod trees. There were more of them now, and the sraf went straight down into the flowers, and so they grew. But these creatures, they were new. They had brought down three trees and attacked their supplies. And there were only three of them. They had learnt little, except that there were five of them and they could change at will, into anything they wanted. They called themselves The Five. Mary Mary was trying to get into Lyra"s world to warn her about the Five. The mulefa had managed to speak to her again, and told her that they were called The Five, but then the zalif who had been talking to her had had to quickly wheel itself away from a huge lion. It was difficult, and risky. She felt as if she was on a lifeline, and she couldn"t let go, or she"d die. But she could see Lyra, sitting on a bench in the Botanical Gardens. As the mental mist cleared, she could see that Lyra was frightened. And there was a merciless creature closing in for the kill. Mary knew what it was, and what it was going to do. It was one of The Five, and it was about to kill Lyra. A/N: Two quick chapters in succession! They"re small, but this isn"t a novel. Thanks for the reviews! This chapter basically clears up the loose ends. It tells you about The Origins of The Five (obviously). It is set around and after Northern Lights (The Golden Compass). Lost In Past Chapter 4: The Origins of The Five The Bolvanger Institute " And Cut." The silver guillotine flew down and severed human and daemon. A cry of pain followed. Irrelevant to the scientists. They were doing what they had been paid to do. Another child successfully separated. They dumped them. They were no longer useful. All sorts of kids they got here. The General Oblation Board took them all. And the experiments were most interesting. They altered the daemons. Some died, but they were no great loss to the scientists. But some survived. They changed them, made them powerful. Made them hate. They were going to be used as weapons to destroy all those who resisted the Authority. And they could travel through the worlds, and make cuts like the subtle knife. They would be magnificent. ---PAGE BREAK--- The lights flickered on. Pain. Light. Pain. Pain was all they knew. The Five daemons who had been chosen. Modifications were made. Their states would never fix. They were made to hate. Made to destroy all in their paths. They had been separated from their humans for a very long time. They were dead, long dead. The daemons should be long dead. But they were kept forcibly alive. And what did the scientists get? Nothing. They didn"t even discover the true purpose of Dust. The thing is, they were getting nowhere and creating their own worst enemy, who would rise to destroy the worlds. ---PAGE BREAK--- Later... Bolvanger was damaged and almost destroyed. But 10 cages remained. Stayed for years and years. The humans were long dead, but the edited, mutated daemons survived. Clocks ticked away the dark years... months and months they had been imprisoned. But now one of them had escaped. She quickly unlocked all other cages. Four of them awoke. The rest were gone. Over the dark and dusty years, these daemons tried desperately to break down the walls. They grew mad. Mad and vengeful. They had a right to be. And so they decided. They must destroy all conscious life. Every living being. A/N: This is truly the end. This is the last chapter. The characters come together in Part 1 of this chapter, and the second (shorter, and a fixed narrative) part of this chapter is the finale! R&R please. ( I was away from the internet and I will sometimes revise this now its done.) Lost In Past Chapter 5: The Lost Daemons. Part 1 Lyra The one of The Five that was attacking Lyra was formed as a cheetah. Slowly it crept towards Lyra. Her heart was beating a tattoo on her chest. But she looked at the cheetah, and behind it she could see ... Mary Malone! How did she get here? Lyra thought. Then: Is there another window? She was excited and also frightened at the same time. She judged the situation. She couldn"t outrun the cheetah, but maybe if she distracted it she could get inside in time. Desperately she looked around. Nothing of use. Then she had an idea. She took off her coat and threw it at the cheetah. As the cheetah was blinded by the coat, she ran indoors. The cheetah flew through the air. Its claws raked the door Lyra had just slammed shut. It slammed at the door a few more times, then gave up. It changed into a bizarre red creature, a little like a meercat, only bigger. Its claws shot out of its paws. Carefully, it used one of its claws to slice a thin line. This line was incredibly thin, but the creature could fit its claws inside the line. Slowly, gradually it pulled it open, as you might pull open some curtains. On the other side was another world. Silently, it slipped away. Will While Mary was in the other room, deep in concentration, Will was sitting on a sofa. Could he learn to travel through worlds? Was he capable of that? Mary seemed to be able to. He knew that he could not have it as a gift. He knew that it wouldn"t be easy. But... if he could... He decided to think of something else. Divert his mind from these problems. He was good at running away and hiding. It occurred to him that maybe he had been running away from himself. But then, before he could think any more, a rift opened through the air. Someone- or something - was cutting a gap between the worlds. Mary Mary was shocked at what she had just seen. Lyra had run away from the cheetah, which had opened up a window into a different world. Mary looked closer, and what she saw next shocked her. She could faintly see a flat through the window. In that flat, she could just make out someone sitting on a bed in deep concentration. Then she realized that it was herself. The doorway was right outside her flat. Mulefa The Five were gone. Devastation and destruction lay in their wake. They had destroyed many wheel-pod trees and hundreds of wheel-pods. Thankfully, only a few Mulefa were killed. But they had seen them leave. They had all slipped out through a window into Lyra"s world. At the last moment, a fourth had come. The mulefa were worried about a new attack, but it too went through the window. The Mulefa were no war-crazed species, but when the Five had threatened them they had retaliated. Some people had thrown rocks and others had even rammed into some of them, but they lost overall. The Five were just too powerful and too hard to hurt. Even if they did get hurt, they would just change into another form. This seemed to heal them. They were unstoppable. Will Will was staring at the window. It went straight through into what looked like... but couldn"t be ... He ran faster than he had ever run before, and this time he ran through into Lyra"s world. He ran into Jordan and ran upstairs. He looked and looked and saw a teenage girl, sixteen going on seventeen. " Lyra..." He whispered in amazement and pure joy. " Will..." Lyra said softly, so happy she felt like she would burst. They hugged each other tightly, and never wanted to let go. Mary Mary followed Will through the window, and found Will and Lyra. Together again. As happy as anyone could be. She felt happy for them as well. But just as they were so happy, The Five were smashing down the walls of Jordan College. (A/N: From now on, there"s no need for separate narratives.) Jordan College was not a battlefield, and had absolutely no defences. It was soon been smashed to bits by a huge block creature that one of the Five had changed into. All of the others had gone inside the building as various animals to destroy the content and people inside. Lyra and Will were the first to be aware of the attack. Mary and Will quickly told Lyra about The Five. The odds didn"t look good. They had almost no chance. 4 of the 5 were destroying people and the other one was smashing the building down. Lyra could see Will beginning to panic, and could also see peoples daemons being snuffed out like candles. She was incredibly sad and frightened, but also angry. She and Will had just got back together, and they might... they might die... She mustered every scrap of courage she had and faced one of the Five. " Why?" she asked. The One ignored her. " Why are you killing us?" Another One ran round the corner, followed by another. " Why are you killing us?" She repeated, shouting now. The other two came to listen. " Why?" And so the Five looked. They looked deep into Lyra, just as Metatron could do to Mrs. Coulter. They saw her love for Will. And so they said. They told them their story, and afterwards they asked a question. " What can we do?" They still felt the pain. They were all mad, but seeing Will and Lyra reminded them of their humans. They had realized that they were not doing anything that would help them. And Mary answered their question. " Just let go. Let yourselves drift away." The Five concentrated, and what they did next was amazing. They let go. They let love and happiness consume them. They divided into atoms, and each atom flew upwards. They were grateful for a rest from the pain. They flew up, and then divided, spreading a little morehappiness and understanding over the world. It made the worlds atiny bitmore like something Lyra had said. The republic of heaven. Fin. A/N I know that it isn"t amazing and the ending is quite weak, but that"s how I choose to write it. It"s short, I know, but I think it"s rather good for my first fic.

TIGHT!" He cried with a last effort. He then died in a puff of improbability. The poofle Shnucks then had a revolutionary idea. There would be nothing to be pessimistic out if they destroyed it all. And so they began on their rampage( although most of them thought it could never work) and wiped out so much that they have only been matched by the Krikkit Wars. Their rampage was ended, because they realized that they had to destroy themselves as well. A/N: I know it"s been done a thousand million times before, but here goes... This is the second chapter, as I have decided to continue it. The Hitchhiker"s Guide To Random Stuff Entry Id No: 3 ( The third most important thing in the guide) Alcohol. It is known by almost every planet that "teasers" don"t "buzz" that the best drink in the universe is , of course, the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. It"s not worth going into it now, as it has two whole chapters to itself. Let me say this about it. It"s not for the faint-hearted. The effects of a well-mixed Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster are similar to having your brain smashed out by a lemon wrapped around a gold brick. It takes most sentient beings a whole year to recuperate from one glassful. It is also well known that the most popular drink is Jynnan tonix or Gin an toniques. There are many versions that all taste different but are called basically the same thing. The weakest has been so badly criticised that its name has become a curse word, almost as bad as a word beginning with be and ending with lgium. The strongest has been the cause of the largest bar tabs and the most use of the words "credit" and ' arghh" in conjunction. There are many odd drinks in the galaxy, so we shall go over some of the more odd. The first, the Garlang Maker is very used by people, aliens and small furry ameboids who appear in Playbeing because it makes you (temporarily) very attractive. This is only in Females however. In males it does nothing at all. Another very odd one is Grittish Mass. This drink is very popular with those on the planet Daborgaman. The Daborgs ( as the call themselves) are all amazingly anorexic. They refuse to eat anything and spend all day drinking this drink. Its effects are these: It makes the drinker feel full and it nourishes their every need. That is why it is so popular. There are many more things to say about alcohol. For more information, check chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,9, 10-20 inclusive, and most of the rest of the book. Entry Id 673746372: Traffic Cones. Traffic cones have been voted some of the most despised things in the galaxy. This is because of the galaxy"s first president, T. Raffic Cone. He demanded a new invention to control the traffic on roads and in airways. Instead of telling everyone to drive more safely, or more dangerously in the case of the B Ring inhabitants, he took the stupid and despised idea and made small cones that jumped out and yelled at people that they were driving TOO FAST, SO PLEASE STOP NOW AND TAKE A 5000 ALTARIAN DOLLAR FINE before smashing through their windscreens and bombarding them with small mauve cones. The president was assassinated but the traffic cones stayed in place, as it had been a dying wish and in most galactic societies, they must be grudgingly accepted. There is more on Traffic Cones and what machines can prevent you from encountering them in chapter 224352. Entry Id 978748378695874: Earth Mostly Harmless. The Hitchhikers Guide to Random Stuff! Part 3 Entry ID 3278487538: Bathtubs The bathtub is a extremely primitive method of becoming clean, for those beings who feel the need for hygiene. They are only well known because of the Bathtub Battles, a horrific war between two planets. Luckily it was confined to those two planets, or it would still be raging today. The planet Mangatoon was locked in a dreadful combat with the planet Soapopera. They had completely different ideas, but mostly, and most importantly, they both loved and hated bathtubs. The people of Soapopera all agreed that being clean was the greater good. The people of Mangatoon resented this, because they smell more than the buckets of Hyena Offal that the Pogril people permanently talk about. So they engaged in a terrible, but largely unnoticed war. Nobody cared until many ships failed to move from the pure pong of perfumes and stink combined made many of them ill. They Galactic Empire agreed that enough was enough, and decided that they wanted to put the proverbial foot down. Diverting their attention from a huge swarm of endless Lintillas, they made sure that the two countries exchanged a gift of peace. The Soapopera people sent over a present: A huge bathtub. The Mangatoons also sent a gift: A gigantic container of hyena offal. The two planets warred some more, and it looked like all hope had been lost when a young person came up with a highly expensive solution. The planet Mangatoon was dragged through a wormhole, and sent to the opposite arm of the galaxy. When asked who would pay, the person promptly swallowed a grenade. As some small way of remembrance, the two planets both kept each other"s gifts. The king of Mangatoon often relaxes in his bathtub, and the head of Soapopera, Corrie Nation Street, always begins her day with a bath in her wonderful hyena offal. Entry ID No 11483758937957987: The Endless Army Of Lintillas. One of the Infinite problems we are faced with is what to do with, possibly infinite in number, Lintilla. Lintilla was a generally nice archaeologist, whom had been put into a cloning machine to make seven copies of her. Unfortunately, the machine malfunctioned, beginning a new Lintilla when it was halfway through creating the one before it, so no one could turn it off without murdering someone. Oddly, one of the Lintillas, the 20435352nd, turned it off out of spite. She said that she didn"t like having someone exactly like her. But the other 20435351 didn"t agree. They gathered themselves together, and decided they could all make a profit. They set up a company, Lintilla Unlimited (Limited). Now they roam the galaxy, getting every job they can so that they can make loads of Flainian Poggle beads, Altarian dollars and even 6 ningis. They are still trying to find space for a seventh. So if a nice Lintilla asks you to give her a job, run away, very fast. Entry Id 448678: Zaphod Beeblebrox Well, Zaphod"s just this guy, you know? The Hitchhikers Guide to Random Stuff Chapter 4 A/N: Thanks for the Beatles Entry Idea, (forgot the name) but thanks very much! Entry ID 350615: The Beatles. As is widely known, the classical music industry of the galaxy was extremely poor. Voted twenty times the second most useless thing in the galaxy in Play being magazine (the most useless being the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation (excluding the complaints department.).) Until one day, something extremely interesting happened. In the far future, the Planet Earth exploded. Thousands of shards were blasted into all corners of the universe, and, by some weird, crazy coincidence, a time capsule that hadn"t been found blasted into the site of the restaurant at the end of the universe (Milliways). It fell directly through the window of Quillet Nangaze"s ship, the Cracker. Quillet was a gambler, and he decided that maybe he could scrape some value out of the time capsule. He found tapes of a band called ' The Beatles". He finally found a device old enough, and played some of the tapes. He was mesmerized. They were simply the best. Since then, they have been sold, translated, made Most Popular Dead Band in the galaxy and even plagarized. One of their most popular songs is ' Strawberry Fields Forever" or in the case of the Shaltanags, ' Mauve-y Pinky Russet Shades of Fields forever". These are now available at all good book stores. Entry ID: 274872389754386894876098978085068807098506987 (very recent): The Nutrimatic Machine"s Origins. The Nutrimatic Machine has been discovered to have originated from a prank. A rich boy invested in a tramp"s idea, which he promised would analyze the subjects taste buds and more, and give them exactly what they wanted to drink. The tramp built a load of trashy machines and kept the spare money. The machine would always disperse a cup of what was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea (Acturan Mega-chip grease). By another of the Mind boggling coincidences that are threatening to consume the galaxy, he liked it and sold millions of machines all around the galaxy. He is now in hiding somewhere in the horsehead nebula. The machines, however, cannot see why. Their lack of eyes may have something to do with it. The Hitchhikers Guide to Random stuff Part 5 A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Thanks for the star wars idea. For those who care, this is slightly longer than the rest of the chapters. Entry ID 13325235436534: Automatic Pencil Sharpeners One of the many things that people have decided to outlaw on their various planets is the Automatic pencil sharpner. The reason is simple. To tell you, imagine that you go back 5,000 million years in a time capsule. Then imagine that a small dog shaped creature travels forward in time to witness these events. Many years ago there was another terrible war. Wars are numerous almost everywhere in the known universe, but this one was particularly nasty. The two sides had been locked in stalemate for hundreds and hundreds of years, until one side was met by a time traveller from the future who would, many years later, travel back in time to them to tell them how to make a time machine, using future technology, then sent a person who would be dead in the future to go back and wipe out the other side, an act of genocide. The reasons he did this are unclear, but neurologists from the future think he travelled to the past in order to get the race to travel in the past so that things would be a lot better for him in the future, or his present. At that very moment, as the time machine was travelling, a peace treaty had been agreed on. This was a maxi-megilon peace treaty, beaming the news of peace into the brains of the warring race or races. However, they decided to sign it using primitive writing implements, I.E pencils. The time traveller, however, had gone back to the past in order to wipe out the opposition, when he found a small race of very primitive sea slugs, which would evolve to be his opponents. He primed his Kill-O-Zap blaster pistol and aimed. Meanwhile, the second president was just about to sign the peace treaty when his pencil, Unfortunatley of course, snapped. Luckily (he thought) he had a pencil-O-Matic, which should have sharpened his pencil. However, when he slid the pencil in, the machine immediately sharpened it to such a degree that the led snapped. He tried again and again, but did not succeed. Before someone thought of lending him a biro, the time traveller commited genocide and killed 5,000,000,000 ant-moose hybrids. Thus, automatic pencil sharpeners have been banned from that day onwards. Entry ID 32543573764332345: Star Wars A Long, Long Time ago, In a Galaxy Far Far away, someone was eating peanuts that used to belong to a certain Darth Vader. Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon in our galaxy, someone who was searching for those peanuts found a history sheet of wars which were fought a long long time ago in this galaxy, between the Jedi and the Sith. They fought with extremely primitive yet powerful weapons called lightsabers, a impossible idea involving light being able to slice through nearly anything. An added interview said that the lightsabers simply stopped time around them while the owners found a good rusty sword to cut through the wood, metal droidskin, R2-D2"s eyestalk or Anakin Skywalker"s Legs, or whatever else they were chopping. They would then throw the sword away and turn time back on. The mysterious thing was that it turned out that the Sith were weaklings who were almost instantly crushed. However, the (much stronger) Campaign For Real Time allied with them, and together, without any Jedi discovering, they built robots and fake figureheads to do the fighting for them. Their greatest success was when they replaced one Anakin Skywalker with a cleverly made fake. They slaughtered nearly all the Jedi. However, one remained, who then died when a huge piggy-bank fell on his head. However (again) the Jedi had only written fictitious records claiming that they won. Every person who is not a fan of these stories is now trying to convince them that this is not so. However, they will only accept written proof from a Sith Lord, so those people who were bothered and had nothing better to do went out in search of Darth Vader"s peanuts, on which he had written the true tale. Their quest was in vain, however, as they were eaten by a very lost blue furry creature from Alpha Centurai. The Hitch Hikers Guide to Random Stuff Part 6 A/N: Sorry about the wait! Entry ID: 5434235452211378909000: Lampshades Lampshades are now one of the many , many implements which are now banned. For a full list, you can visit the official planet where the list is kept. Considering 90 of the planet is covered by the list, this is surprising. The Lampshade was banned for a simple reason, yet even mentioning it is almost taboo. Many years ago, there was a dramatic meeting of presidents. One of these was a traitor to the Galactic Government, though only one person knew which one. His name is not important, or so he would say, though he was later proved to be wrong by Prak, as there was someone inside his head noting down everything he said. He was told to point at the traitor, thanks to a lack of Babel fish. At that moment, a supporter of the traitor threw a lampshade at the man"s head. He then grabbed several out of a bag and covered everyone present"s eyes. While they were confused, he took the traitor away and cleverly arranged the line so no one would notice. When the court had realized what had happened, they simply went on with their ceremony. One of them began to remove the lampshade on his head, one beautifully emblazoned with a cricket (or Krikkit) bat. However, the traitor made his last malicious move. " Justice should be blind!" He then ran out of the door and had his brains bashed out by a copy of the Sirius Cybernetics Frequently Asked Questions Book, a book over 3,000 pages long which answers most questions with ' Go stick your head in a pig.' In the court, a Danish Chopped Sausage pointed to the wrong person, leading to a series of Galactic Wars, which ended when they all went home for Fish Sticks. Entry ID 11294954093905439332: The Lollipop Guild The Lollipop Guild is a recently discovered race of pacifists. Like nearly all races of pacifists, such as the Fistfuls, they had been quashed for so long that they were slowly driven to immoral, insane creatures. Eventually, like so many other moral races before them, including (but not limited to) the Krikkiters, they decided that warring with the rest of the galaxy would be a good idea. Unlike Krikkiters, they had a special technology to help them. They could shrink down to the size of a molecule. So they travelled the time waves, with their huge lollipops ready to smash their opponents into Dictator Come. When they got to their destination, they planted some of their number in an infamous man called Prak"s brain. They noted down the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the truth, then killed Prak and leaped out of his ears. They then tried to escape the heart of gold, but were crushed by Arthur Dent. The rest of them tried to get their vengeance by shrinking themselves and tried to invade his body, but they were foiled by bacteria (a/n: War of the Worlds, anyone?) when Arthur sneezed and killed all but one. That one then earned a fortune from the interviews, and eventually appeared on play being"s Tri-d TV channel. His other star appearances include the Sirius Cybernetics Troubleshooting channel, watched by many who have had one too many Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters. (A/N: This is a little bonus part, not that good but it came into my head while I was typing this Author"s Note.) Entry ID : 20974983759825039275837637867: The Planet Orwell There is a planet in the western spiral arm of the Galaxy, (a place which has had a record breaking 42,403,259,860,934,287,673,376,042,061,942 insane and probably impossible coincidences to date) where it seems to have been manipulated by a totally insane madman. These crazy happenings include a part of the planet with an odd dictator called ' Big Brother", who appears on one very primitive version of a two-way videophone, manipulating a civilization into believing some atrocious and almost entirely rubbished facts, such as two plus two equalling five instead of forty-two, as it must. Another land is a huge farm, where animals are ruling, as opposed to recommending various parts of their anatomy to be eaten by people who want to meet the meat. One is even named after a madman who decided to bungee jump of a cliff without the bungee, though he was the owner of a fortune to rival that of Playbeing"s owner. We advise everyone to leave such a planet, or be subjected to room 101. A/N: If you haven"t read any George Orwell ( Animal Farm and 1984 especially) you won"t have a clue about the humour. But never mind. A/N: Thanks again to LandUnderWave, and me of course. The Hitch Hikers Guide to Random Stuff Part Seven Entry ID 768098309530-903965-9397: Scotch Eggs Scotch eggs, thought by many to be a desirable treat, actually had a sinister beginning. The race of Scotia began to collect art. They collected so much art, their gallery would make a grown man weep. And that was not only because they were slicing onions next door. You see, the Scotia were also very good cooks, almost as good as the Dentrassi. They made money which they used to buy paintings. It was all wonderful and blissful in their little world, but outside there were plenty of jealous money collectors ( an odd little race of people who were taking up more and more planets in their vain attempts to collect a Pu) and of course, art collectors. You may imagine at this point there would be a huge interplanetary war, but the allied Money And Painting ( MAP) people were a lot smarter than that- they had got A"s in their Sabotage Alpha class. One brilliant young member of MAP decided to simply invite them to a cooking competition. He sent an invitation for them to taste each other"s food. Now, as the Scotia were also very smart, they came up with a plan. And so they day arrived. There were grand golden platters, fish swimming, and of course all of the best paintings the Scotia had collected in their Great Gallery were prepared. And when the MAP people arrived, they sniggered and laughed out loud at their evil plan to kill all the Scotia. Meanwhile, the Scotia were marvelling at their wonderful plan to destroy all of the people at MAP. So the Babel Fish took naps inside ears, and the dishes were unveiled. At the MAP table, a thousand and forty-two Money collectors and painting persons, frogs, amoeboid and small blue furry creatures from Alpha Centurai, (who travel across the galaxy more than the red ones gave them credit for) discovered a terrible sight. They had been given an odd ball covered in breadcrumbs. They stared in horror, and then slowly ate them, so as not to break the rules of the Galactic Politeness Code. As soon as their tongues came into contact with the inside of the breadcrumbs, the Scotch eggs exploded. They were ripped apart from the inside, which is generally very painful, and then causes death, which can be fatal. On the Scotia table, a similar thing happened, except the grenades made a chain reaction which blasted the Map people, the Scotia and the paintings into the space time continuum. The fact that the Scotia didn"t realize that even if their plan had succeeded, they would have blasted the entire population of their race into the space time continuum proves that the Galactic examiners were right in failing them for common sense when they were children. Entry ID: 193809025240964840865075407897-8687: Petunias Petunias are simply another protrusion into this world from the dimension where Brokian Ultra Cricket is played. Only a few are immune to its smell, and those few are dead or dying. You see, the petunia is a sick creation made by people in the higher dimensions who like to muck about with ours. The petunia is called the war flower for a simple reason. When they are smelt, they make the smeller(s) go completely power hungry and often drive them to war. So far, these have been kept to wars within races own planets, but many poor people are still having their strings tweaked by these evil flowers. Thus, the Petunia Killers were formed. The PK people wanted to kill every petunia there has ever been, ever will be and is. So, they go round shooting flowers until they have burnt to a crisp. Eventually, due to all this flower power that they destroyed, they too inhaled the petunias maddening scent. They then went on a mad rampage until they realized that no one of their number actually had anything that could kill anyone, so they decided to give in and drink some tea capsules, newly rediscovered and one of the main reasons that the Nutrimatic machine went out of business, leaving a very annoyed Martian who liked the rubbish, who then turned his head into a bomb and blew up the planet Mars.

BJ felt like Hawkeye but he wasn"t quite convinced that it was real. What if Frank had written to gain sympathy from them if was found. As much as he hated to think like it when Frank was missing and possible dead. BJ did not want to believe that he had been so wrong about Frank. Kneeling down beside the trunk, he examined the area where the book had been fallen out of. The seam of the loose lining was exactly like that of the lid, blending in perfectly. He carefully pulled the staples out so the whole top lining pulled off. BJ was surprised to see that the trunk appeared to have an entire false top. Popping it off he gave a low whistle at the treasure"s he found. "Hawk, I think you better come see this." Hawkeye came to kneel next to BJ to investigate what Frank hid away. The first thing he noticed was a mountain of photos and a camera. Hawkeye picked up the photos and started to shuffle through them. There were ones of everybody in the camp. Klinger is many of his ridiculous outfits. Father Mulcahy boxing his duffle bag. Henry with a cigar in his mouth smiling. Margret with her head back laughing, and Radar cuddled with his teddy bear. There where ones of Trapper and Hawkeye dressed up in their ridicules outfits. There were even ones where they were just lounging in the Swamp. Hawkeye had no idea how Frank managed to take it. There were more of Trapper and Hawkeye, but a neat pile of BJ and Hawkeye. On the back of each photo was the names and dates of the photos. As Hawkeye continued to look through the photos, he pulled out some neatly address envelopes. "Hawkeye, Frank"s got a letter here from you Dad, and Peg." Hawkeye dropped the photos and snatched the envelope that had his Dad"s neat handwriting on it. Dear Dr. Burns, I have indeed heard many things from my son about you and I will assure you that the knowledge that you have contacted me will stay between us until after Benjamin comes back from the war. I must thank-you for the photos that you sent me. I often receive letters from my son, but it is a comfort to be able to see that he is alright as well. I don"t know how I can thank-you. Yours"s truly, Dr. Daniel Pierce. Hawkeye looked over at BJ. "Does your letter say something about Frank sending photos?" BJ nodded, "It appears that Frank sent her monthly photos to her. She never mentioned it to me in any of her letters." "Does he have any other letters in there?" asked Hawkeye. BJ leaned down and ruffled through the photos and pulled out a few more envelopes. "It seems like one from Radar"s family, Trappers, Potters, and even Henry Blakes" said BJ handing the packet over to Hawkeye. Trapper appeared to have sent Frank a personal letter after leaving, cussing Frank for sending pictures in secret. But in the end gave a heartfelt thank-you to his fellow surgeon and asked Frank to keep sending photos of Hawkeye so Trapper could see that the other surgeon wasn"t working himself to death. Hawkeye couldn"t believe it, he had exchanged letters with Trapper and he had never mentioned this. Mrs. Potter and Mrs. O"Reily"s letters were along the same lines, thank-full and filled with promises of not informing their loved ones that they were receiving photos. Hawkeye could almost not make it through Henry"s wife"s letter. There were clear tear stains on the page that thanked Frank over and over for the photos of her husband. That she would treasure them forever. Hawkeye was rubbing tears out of his eyes at the end of it. BJ had continued to look through the photos unwilling to go through the rest of it until Hawkeye was ready. "You know it"s sad, in all these pictures show the members of the 4077th at our happiest times. But there is always one missing from the photos" mused BJ. "Did we really ignore Frank so much that he was able to stand right in front of us and take a photo without us realizing it?" Hawkeye felt immediate shame, because it was the only explanation. "I guess so. You know I never gave you a chance to get to know Frank on your own. I gave my opinion of him to you before you two even met. It explains why he was so angry when you arrived. He probably was hoping for an unbiased person that he might befriend. But I made sure that didn"t happen." BJ was ashamed also that he knew it was true, and explained some of Frank"s more petty behavior in regards to the other two men. The box was full of other nick-knacks, one of Henry"s fly lures, a buckle from Potter"s busted saddle, one of Klinger"s monogramed handkerchiefs, the frames of Radar"s old glasses, Margret"s hair pin, Trapper"s party hat, BJ"s favorite pen that ran dry, a cross Father Mulcahy carved to raise funds for the orphanage, and wrapped carefully in tissue was one of Hawkeye"s martini glasses. "It"s a treasure trove of life here" said Hawkeye lowly. "Why would he want to be reminded of this place?" "Maybe because this was where he felt the happiest" said BJ slowly. "With the way he carried on with Hot Lips, you know his marriage was not very happy. He never mentions he"s married and didn"t you say you saw the wedding video." Hawkeye nodded, "Frank looked happy, but not his wife. I made fun of it when I saw it, but now I"m not sure. But I know one thing for certain. We can"t send this stuff back to his wife" insisted Hawkeye. "None of this stuff has any value to her. She might get rid of it before Frank comes back." Neither pointed out that by this point it was most likely that Frank wasn"t going to be coming back. Nevertheless BJ agreed with Hawkeye. "We can go see if Klinger has any hat boxes left, it would be big enough to put all of this in." It turned out that Klinger had an extra hat box that he gladly gave to the two Doctors. It was big enough that everything that had once been in the false lid fit inside the box. Once that was finished they went to see Colonel Potter, letters and box in hand. "Colonel we need to speak to you. It"s about something we found in Frank"s stuff" said Hawkeye bursting into the office like he had done so many times before. "If it"s personal I don"t want to know about it" said Potter not looking up from the paperwork he was filling out. "Not even when that personal item directly involves you and your wife?" asked BJ sitting the hat box in the chair in front of Potter"s desk. This had Potter looking up. "What does Mildred have to do with any of this!" he demanded. Hawkeye gave the letter he found to the Colonel to read as he helped himself to a glass of the good stuff, BJ not far behind him. "This letter doesn"t make any sense. What pictures is she talking about?" asked Potter as soon as he was done reading. BJ sighed, "When we were packing Frank"s stuff up, we found that his trunk had a false lid. Inside were probably hundreds of pictures he took around camp of everything and everybody. Apparently Frank has been sending some people"s family photos that he"s taken. We found letters from Hawk"s dad, Peg, Radar"s mom, and a few others. All the replies saying that they won"t inform us like Frank asked until after we come home." To illustrate his point he opened the hat box and drew out a handful of photos to show Potter. Potter slowly began to flip through them, but still listening as BJ continued. "He didn"t want anyone to know. Didn"t want us to know that he was sending our families reassurances that we were alive and alright over here" intoned BJ, he still couldn"t quite believe it. "It seems I underestimated Frank"s character" said Potter gravely taking off his glasses and making his way over to the liquor cabinet where he helped himself to two thumbs of scotch. "I think we all managed that Sherman" said Hawkeye truthfully. "I think we all did." First off, note to my two guest reviews. doctorjay- There is a episode where footage of Frank"s wedding is shown. Aki- I do no abandon my fics, let them sit around for months without updating yes, sometimes close a year yes. It"s called Life and adulating and wandering plot bunnies that pull a person to Star Wars fanfic for the time being. But never give up hope that I will ever abandon a fic. Despite it being really early in the morning in Maine, Hawkeye had Radar ring up his Dad. The surgeon had to know when this all started. "Hello," came the much missed voice of his father over the line. "Hey Dad, it"s me." "Benjamin! It"s good to hear your voice son," said Daniel, yawning at the end of his sentence. "Is something wrong son?" "Dad when did the letters from Frank begin arriving?" asked Hawkeye. There was a surprised pause over the phone before Daniel answered. "I got the first one about two months after you had been sent over there. And every few months after that he sent me a package of photos. He never sent a letter with them after the first one." "What did the letter say Dad?" "He introduced himself, explained his connection to you, and asked to please not let you know about the pictures. He sounded nothing like you described in your letters son, the man you described would have never did such a thing. I just know I am grateful to him for sending me the photos." "It seems we didn"t know Frank at all," sighed Hawkeye rubbing a hand over his face. "It seemed that you didn"t Benjamin." "Hawk," said Radar softly, not needing to tell the older man that his time was up. "Look Dad, I"ve got to go. I love you." "Ben, don"t beat yourself over this. Even if you had known it wouldn"t have changed anything," Daniel said gently. "Take care of yourself, and I love you to." Hawkeye gently sat down the receiver, and sighed. "Two months after I got here, that was the first time." "I"m sure if we called everyone you found letters from, we would get the same answer Hawk," Potter said quietly. He understood what the younger man must be going through. Hawkeye had been here the longest out of everyone in the came with the exception of Radar. During all that time he never noticed Frank. Never noticed the Frank that took pictures of everything he saw, the Frank that assured family members of their relatives were doing okay, and the Frank who asked for no recognition. All they saw was a mask. One that Frank never let anyone see beyond. Never let anyone see the hidden depths that lay within him. "Sirs, Choppers!" Radar announced, breaking the silence. For a moment Frank was forgotten as the surgeons scrambled for the choppers that were landing with fresh wounded. Frank knew something had happened when his captors did not enter his cell at the usual time. And Frank had learned that any deviation from the routine had serious consequences for himself. Frank huddled into the corner, wishing that he could disappear as the doors opened and his captors entered. Except they did not seem to be interested in him, no they were focused on the figure that they were dragging in with them. For the first time his captors barely looked at him as they dropped the person and left the cell. Frank tried to make himself small as possible as the other person slowly sat up revealing his Korean features. The moment their eyes met, the Korean surprised him by scrambling back from him, until he was in the opposite corner of Frank. For a few minutes all they did was star at each other in mutual fear, both thinking that the other was here to hurt him. The Korean studied the other figure that he had been left in, taking in the features, and the bloody stained cloths that clung to his frame. "Sol-dier?" he said slowly pointing at Frank. "G I Joe." Frank shook his head, "D-Doctor," he said softly. The man cocked his head to the side, confusion written on his face. Frank mimed a sewing motion on his skin, "Doctor," he said again. "Doc-tor," the other said slowly repeating the miming motion of sewing and then wrapping of a wound. Frank nodded. "Ah," the other man said a Korean word, Frank assumed meant Doctor as the man repeated the motion. Frank repeated the word, the unfamiliar word stumbled off his tongue, the man stared at him for a moment before he started to laugh. Frank jumped a little at it. It was a warm, unlike the cold, cruel laughter of their captors. Hesitantly he smiled back at Lin and attempted to say the Korean word for Doctor again. It was slightly better, but not by much. The man smiled again and slowly uncurled from his position and placed a hand on his chest, "Lin." Frank pointed to the man, "Lin." The now named Lin nodded, "Lin." Frank uncurled from his position and placed a hand on his chest, "Frank." Like he did, Lin stumbled over the unfamiliar word, he had to repeat it a few times before it sounded right. "Doc-Tor Frank," Lin said with a smile. Frank was weary, he didn"t put it past his captors to trick him with a plant to try to get the information they were convinced he had. Lin didn"t seem to have that problem. Even though it was clear Frank couldn"t understand him, he talked. Frank didn"t realize how starved he was for kind human interactions until Lin began to talk. Frank listened, letting the words flow over him. Enjoying the strange sense of peace he felt at that moment. Hours passed, perhaps the whole night. Frank had no idea when one day ended and the next began since the day he had been tossed into this cell. Lin only stopped when the sound of feet could be heard outside their doorway. Then he like Frank, shrank as far from the door as possible. With dread the door opened, and three entered the small room as per usual. Two to drag Frank away, and the third armed with a rifle to make sure no funny business happened. Frank began to tremble with fear as they went straight to him. He feebly tried to dodge their hands, but they clasped around his arms like bands of steel. They pulled him to his feet and dragged him towards the door. Lin stood up and began what Frank could assume was a protest, only to receive a rifle butt to his stomach by the third guard. Frank looked over his shoulder, seeing his new companion on his knees, clutching his stomach. His eyes were staring into Frank"s with such worry, that it surprised the surgeon. The eye contact was cut off when the third man came up behind Frank, shutting the door shut firmly behind them. Frank was dragged to a familiar room that smelt of blood and despair. Frank was only distantly aware that he was dragged back to his cell by the fact his body was dropped onto a hard floor and left. Frank lay there softly shuddering as blood slowly seeped from his fresh wounds. Unexpectedly Frank became aware of someone touching him. Frank jerked away with a small cry, expecting for more pain to rain down on him. However they disappeared and no new pain blossomed on his body. Frank slowly calmed down again, and as he did the hands returned. Frank flinched away from them, but they wouldn"t leave him. They gently rolled him onto his back, and then lifted his head up. Something cool was pressed to his lips and blessed water was poured into his mouth. Frank swallowed greedily, his raw throat instantly soothed. With the water came new strength and he was finally able to open his eyes and look into the worried eyes of Lin. "O-K Doc-tor Frank?" "S-soon Lin, soon," croaked Frank. It would be a few hours but he would regain enough strength to sit up and look after himself. He wearily closed his eyes as Lin began to softly talk. Frank slowly drifted off into a light sleep listening to Lin talk. The days seemed to go quicker and were a little brighter with Lin there. Frank hadn"t realized how starved he was for friendly words until Lin and he communicated. Slowly they began to teach each other their respective languages. Frank found it was easy to learn a language when one had literally nothing else to do for the whole entire day, week after week, between their respective times being dragged from the room. The day after Lin had taken care of Frank, Frank was given the chance to return the favor. It was he who gently turned Lin over and offered him a drink. His gentle hands that cleaned Lin"s wounds, wrapping them in strips of his old dress uniform. It was the cleanest thing Frank had to use as bandages. Frank talked as he did all of this, finding himself talking about daily life at the 4077th. They would be something he would repeat in the weeks to come as Frank became fluent in Korean and Lin in English. Lin loved to hear stories about the 4077th, and Frank would always tell them. They developed a system between themselves. Nursing each other after their respective session. It was the first real connection Frank had ever made in his life. No pretending, no trying to fit in as expected, and no putting his foot in his mouth. Lin was Frank"s first and most unlikely of friends. They held each other together when they were breaking apart. Two people forced to co-depend on each other. The sessions seemed less painful, more bearable with the knowledge there was someone waiting back in the cell with gentle hands to chase the pain and hurt away. Though of everything they talked about, they never spoke of what happened within that room. They talked about their lives instead and their cultures. Frank couldn"t believe how different there two people were, and how complex the Korean culture was. It was steeped in hundreds of years of beliefs that had rarely changed. Lin was just as fascinated with the American culture that Frank was able to explain. Frank realized as he tried to explain everything how ignorant he was of many aspects of his culture. He couldn"t answer many of Lin"s questions of why things were the way they were. Just that they were. Some nights, the bad nights they would talk about their homes. Lin would talk about his Mother and Father, and his older brother, all whom had been killed because of this war. On the worst nights, Lin would talk about Mei-ling, the girl he loved. It was because of her he was here. She had been caught spying on the North Korean, and Lin had helped her escape. The North Koreans wanted Lin to reveal where she was, Lin had refused and they had brought him here. Frank found himself describing the light days at the 4077th. The pranks, the outfits, and the people; rarely did he speak of his life in the states. And Lin sensing a sensitive subject did not ask about his life in the United States. "Something is wrong," Frank said quietly, slipping into Korean naturally. His tongue no longer stumbling over the foreign words. It had been too long since a visit from their captors. And they both knew that could only mean bad things were to come. "Worrying will get you nowhere my friend," Lin said wisely, making his move in the game they had made up with Frank"s buttons. "True my friend true," Frank replied. "But one cannot help but worry." No sooner had these words been uttered then the sound of feet could be heard, however it was not the normal amount, it was a greater number. The two friends swept the buttons from view and shrank to their respective corners as the door opened and six men came pouring into the room. For the first time Frank and Lin were taken together and dragged through the hallways, but instead of being dragged to the familiar room of pain they were dragged in the opposite direction. A door was thrown open and sunlight streamed through. Frank blinked against the sun he hadn"t seen in months, his lungs pulling in the first breath of fresh air since then to. However he had no time to appreciate it. He grunted as he was forced to his knees, and watched as a Lin was pushed down a few feet in front of him. An object was thrown in front of Lin. To Frank it looked like a flower carved out of bone, strung on a leather cord with two blue beads on it, a necklace. "No Mei-Ling!" cried Lin seeing the necklace at his feet. Frank understood, the only way they would have that necklace was if they had finally caught Mei-Ling. A strength seemed to come to Lin, and he struggled against the arms holding him. In the struggle the necklace was kicked in front of Frank, who reached down and grabbed it, curling his fists around it. Lin was soon forced back onto his knee, his hands tied roughly behind him. The man that Lin and Frank both agreed was in charge of the compound came behind Lin and unbuckled his pistol holster. The two men in that moment knew that this was the end. With Mei-Ling dead, there was no use for Lin to be alive anymore. The pistol was leveled to the back of Lin"s head, the barrel just barely touching the skull making Lin flinch. "Good-bye my friend" whispered Lin looking into Frank"s eyes, Frank gave Lin a small smile despite the tears that were gathering. "I will miss our conversations," whispered Frank back, locking eyes with Lin as they both tensed as the man behind Lin cocked the hammer back. Frank was still looking into Lin"s eyes as the gun went off and Lin"s blood flew through the air to hit him in the face. Despite knowing it was coming Lin"s eyes were open in a surprised look. Frank didn"t take his eyes off of Lin"s body as it slowly fell to the side, blood pouring out of the bullet hole in his forehead. Frank didn"t struggled as hands grabbed under his arms and dragged him back into the building. Lin"s lifeless eyes watching it all play out. Frank didn"t struggle when they dragged him back into the building. He felt numb as they pulled him back into room that held nothing but misery and despair. What Frank"s captors didn"t realize was that Lin"s death was the straw that finally broke Frank. He didn"t care from this point forward if he lived or died. He just wished they had killed him to.

A week had passed since the whipping and instead of getting better Heath was getting worse. Day and night he burned with fever. Tossing and turning from nightmares, he constantly reopened the barely healed wounds on his back. Some of which had begun to ooze a clear liquid. A tell-tale sign of infection. Nick spent more and more time within the tent tending to Heath, who had not fully woken up lucid since the second day after the whipping. "You will love the ranch Heath" murmured Nick as he wiped the sweat off of the boy"s forehead. "My Father and Mother settled on beautiful land, land that stretches as far as the eye can see with no walls and everything is green. And water comes down from the mountains, cool and clear and enough to sate anyone"s thirst. My Father built a cabin up in those mountains and there is great hunting and fishing, a man could find real peace up there." He paused to spoon another spoonful of willow tea down Heath"s throat, massaging his throat so that he would swallow. "Our butler Silias, makes the best biscuits and he always tries to feed people more than they can eat. When we get home he"ll probably won"t let us leave the table for a full week, that is if Mother hasn"t locked us in a room. You"ll be welcomed to stay as long as you want as my guest. But if you get too bored you can help me on the range, Lord knows that I will need someone that I can trust to get things done during roundup and calving season. If you can"t tell I"m basically saying I"m keeping you. Which of course you brought upon yourself with your blonde hair and blue eyes, and you saving me. You awoke my brotherly instincts, so you can blame yourself for. My younger brother Eugene is not much younger than you. But I already know he won"t be no cattleman. He"s like my older brother Jared, he likes books to much. And I don"t know about my sister, she was just a kid when I left. Probably a young lady now." Nick sighed as the memories washed over him, but he pushed them away and continued to talk about the future. A part of him believing that if he talked about it enough that it would turn into a reality. "So you can see my problem. Besides my Pa, I have no one to work the ranch with besides the hired hands. I need someone who I can trust to keep up with me, which again is your fault since you saved me." Nick sighed as the sound of evening roll sounded. He was reluctant to leave, but he needed the rations that might be there. Following the steady stream of prisoners, Nick got into his unit to be counted for the night. But all the soldiers were surprised when from the office came the figure of Matt Bentel. It was once in a blue moon if the man showed himself for evening roll call. Nick twitched in his place, he couldn"t help but think bitterly that someone else was about to be whipped to an inch of his life. "Men, I have been you Commandant for all of you ever since you walked through that door. A lot of you might disagree, but I have tried my best to be fair. Now you might be wondering why I am addressing you. But for many of you this will be glad tidings. The South is losing boys, and we are losing badly. We can"t feed our own boys, let alone thousands of prisoners. Which is why I have received orders today. Tomorrow morning all those that are strong enough we be loaded onto trains and shipped North. For you boys, the war is over, go home." With that Bentell turned and walked back into his office. Nick and the rest of the prisoners stood there dumbly not processing what Bentell had just told them. Finally the message seemed to sink through. "We"re going to be able to go home!" said one soldier beside Nick, looking more alive than a skeleton had a right to be. Nick couldn"t believe it. He would be able to get Heath help in a Northern hospital. Nick could hardly wait to his rations. All around the prison the spirit lifted like it never had before as the news spread and prisoners began to prepare for the journey the next day. Nick wished Heath was aware so that he could tell him. Knowing that they were going to get out, was something that Heath could have used to keep going. Nick could hardly sleep, but he managed to catch a few hours before sunrise. Using the last of the willow, Nick forced another cup down Heath"s throat and bathed the wounds in it before using his coat to wrap around Heath"s back. Nick remembered the train ride down to Carterson. How crapped and disgusting the cars got. The coat would help protect Heath"s wounds from getting something bad into the open sores. Making sure that he had everything that was important, Nick took Heath into his arms and left the little tent for the last time. Though it was earlier than roll call was taken, men were already walking, crawling, and even dragging themselves towards the main gate where they would be led to the train. Keeping his head down, and walking with a group Nick managed to pass the guards at the main gate. It hadn"t escaped his notice last night that Bentell had said healthy prisoners. None of the prisoners in Carterson were healthy but Nick supposed Bentell meant that those that could walk on their own would be allowed to get on the train North. Nick prayed that the guard taking roll would welcome a bribe or else he would be staying with Heath here at the prison. Even though the song of freedom called to him, Nick couldn"t in good conscious just leave Heath to die in Carterson while he himself got on the train North. The line was long but moved quickly. Some men were openly weeping as they left the walls for the first time since they arrived. They took deep breaths of fresh air that was clear of the smoke that hovered over the prison. Others were gazing at the sight of green grass growing. A splash of color that had been unknown inside the prison walls. A single guard stood at the front of the cars writing down the names of those who boarded, while several others patrolled the line between the train and the prison. Soon Nick was standing before the recorder. The guard didn"t look up as he stared in his book. "Name?" "Nick Barkley and Heath Barkley" said Nick. The guard looked up at the sound of two names from one voice, his eyes staring blandly at Heath cradled in Nick"s arms. "Only healthy prisoners get on this train, Major Bentell"s orders" said the guard. "Take him back to camp and you can return." "Please, he needs a Doctor and getting out of here is his only chance" pleaded Nick. The guard didn"t seem moved at his plea so Nick changed tactics. "Also I can pay you if you will just look the other way, Union dollars." This seemed to catch the guards attention as his eyes sharpened on Nick. "How much you got Yank?" Nick hesitated not knowing if he should start out low and then go higher if the guard refused. But decided that he would just say the whole amount that he had left. "Thirty dollars, cash money." The Guard seemed to study Nick, "Let me see the money first." Nick shifted Heath to reach into his pocket and drew out his last thirty dollars and showed it to the guard. The guard quickly snatched the money from Nick"s hand and seemed to weigh it in his hand. "Alright, be quick about it." Nick thanked God as he entered the cattle car and pushed his way to the back, out of sight of any other guards. The car was quickly filled up with other prisoners, until a man could barely turn around. It was hot and it was miserable but there was a sense of hope within the prisoners. A small cheer went up as the car jolted and groaned before it finally began to pull away from the station heading North. But even that sense of hope was soon forced away as the heat of the railcar amplified the stench that soon secreted every inch of the box car as men were forced to do their business where they stood. Nick pressed as close to the walls as he could, letting the wind created from the movement of the train cool him down as well as let him breath fresh air. The train stopped only a few times, but none of these times were prisoners allowed out of the cars. No rations, no water was passed out and night fell, men were forced to sleep on their feet. Even though Heath was nothing but skin and bones, Nick"s arms shook from holding him. Nick eventually had to lower Heath to his feet and have him lying against his chest. With Heath"s head on his chest, Nick could feel his continued breathing. Nick propping himself against the wall of the grain allowed the rocking motions of the car to let him drift into a semi state of sleep. Where he was aware of what was happening around him, such as Heath lying against him. All night Nick drifted in this state, occasionally jerked to full awareness when the train rocked harshly or made another stop. By the time morning came, Nick was exhausted but wide awake when the car came to a stop again. But unlike the last stops, there was sounds of people messing with the locks of the cattle car. All around Nick"s fellow soldiers became aware. When the door opened, everyone including Nick expected to see more grey uniforms of the Confederates. But he and everybody else was surprised to see the crisp blue uniforms of the Union. The young soldier that had opened the door look dumbstruck at the sight and the smell of the men before him. So overwhelmed was the boy, that he quickly ducked out of view and the sound of vomiting could be heard. An older soldier with grey in his hair stepped into view. "Let"s get you men down from there" said the man in a thick Irish accent. He reached out and helped the men in the front begin to step down. Nick waited patiently until he was one of the last. To the Irish man he handed down Heath. "Please be careful with him." The Irish man looked at Nick with compassion but no pity in his eyes as he gently took Heath from him. "It"s alright laddie I"ve got him." Another soldier reached up and helped Nick down to the platform."My God," Nick heard some of the Union soldiers whispered as they caught sight of the emancipated frames that exited the train car. Nick imagined that it was a gruesome sight to behold. Men who looked nothing like men, but more like walking skeletons. Some litters were bringing brought up to carry off the prisoners that had perished in the grueling ride to freedom. Prayers were whispered by fellow prisoners as those men passed. It was a cruel joke that the prison hadn"t killed them, but the ride home had. The young soldiers averted their eyes completely. Nick knew that they were a frightful sight. But he felt no shame in his appearance. He had survived hell on earth, which was more than some of these fresh faced looking boys could say. Nick turned to take Heath back, but the Irish man shook his head. "This lad needs a Doctor. We were expecting healthy men, the Doctors will soon be overwhelmed by you lot. I will get you there first so that they can see to him. Follow me." Nick didn"t argue with the men, not as long as it meant getting Heath the help he most desperately needed. Though he felt that he needed to say something the Irish man. "Sir, these are the healthy prisoners." The Irish man stopped in his tracks to stare at Nick, "These are the healthy men?" Nick nodded, "Anyone with the strength to walk is considered extremely healthy Sir. And those that couldn"t weren"t allowed on it. Unless you had money to bribe the guards to look away" explained Nick. The Irish man looked furious, but seemed to remember that Heath was in his arms. "I will have to inform the General this. But first the Doctor, come lad." Nick followed the Irish man to the stables were they were placed in the back of a wagon and pulled out into the streets. Nick hadn"t seen beautiful sight as the streets of the town they were pulled through. Soon they pulled in front of a big white building. The Irish man pulled the single horse to a stop and applied the brake before going back and taking Heath back into his arms Nick only seconds behind. The old soldier led the way into the hospital where they shocked the Nurse that was on duty. "If you please Ma"am this boy needs a Doctor." The young lady stood there for a second staring at Heath and Nick before the Irish man growled. "Now lass, now!" Snapped out of her shock the young Nurse all but ran to get some Doctors. When she reappeared she brought not one, but four. Heath was taken from the old soldier and began to get looked over by the Doctors. Nick was so focused on watching them examine Heath, that he almost didn"t catch the sight of the old soldier turning and walking out of the hospital. Deciding Heath would be safe for the moment Nick took off after the man. Nick managed to catch him before he climbed "Thank-you Sir, for getting Heath here. I can"t pay you anything" Nick began only to be cut off. "Lad, I"m no ones Sir, names Sean O"Connell. And you don"t have to thank-me or anything like that. It"s clear that you have been through something horrific. I"m just glad that I could help in this small way." "Nick Barkley" returned Nick holding out his hand. Sean shook it firmly. "Good luck lad and good luck to your brother, I have to return now." Nick nodded and returned inside where Doctors were beginning to exam Heath. Their faces were grim as they felt his pulse and his forehead before looking at his wounds. They were still an angry red and oozing. Most shook their heads and left to make preperations for the massive POW"s that were going to be headed their way. Only one was left and he approached Nick. Nick was shaking his head even before he began to speak. "I"m sorry son, but he is too far for us to help him" said the white haired doctor. "Infection has already set in and he is not well. The infection is too much for his weakened body, he probably won"t make it." But Nick refused to be denied, he didn"t care if he had to beg. "Please help him!" begged Nick, there was still a chance. Heath was still breathing, that was all that was needed. "He"s my brother! I can"t go home without him!" Those words slipped out so easily, to Nick it didn"t even feel like a lie, like when he told the recorder Heath"s last name was Barkley. A bond had been forged in Carterson between the two young men. In Nick"s mind, Heath was as much his brother like Jared and Eugene was. The Union Doctor"s eyes grew soft and his earlier reluctance was gone as he gently laid Heath in the clean bed. The words moving him despite his earlier assessment. Heath looked no more than a child on the white sheets, not the sixteen that he was. Nick refused to leave his side, he stayed there while Heath wounds were washed and infected flesh scraped out. He stayed there as nurses spooned broth and water down his throat as his fever rose. He even stayed as the fever dreams started. Doctors in realizing that they wouldn"t be able to remove Nick from Heath"s side made him a bed next to the blonde boy so that Nick could at least lay down as his body struggled to recover from the month in Carterson. While also making him take a bath and shaved his head to control the lice that he was infected with, the same with Heath. Every day he watched the doctors come and he knew that every day they came they expected to find Heath dead. But as the week passed and everyday Heath lay there breathing they were surprised. It was such a relief that on the sixth day after they had arrived that Heath opened his eyes for the first time in weeks and they were clear. "Nick?" he said his voice hoarse from disuse. "Heath!" cried Nick practically leaping out of his cot to kneel next to Heath"s head. The look of relief on Heath"s face was almost tangible. Tension melted out of his frame as he took in the sight of the black haired man. Though last he remembered Nick used to have more hair than the slight fuzz on his head. After a few long moments that Heath convinced himself that Nick was real did his eyes stray to look where they were. If he thought he was dreaming before it was nothing compared to what he was feeling now. They were in a light airy room with cots lining the walls, there was actual space to walk between the beds and the air was fresh. Looking at Nick again he realized that his face was clean of the soot that covered his face for so long. "Are we dead?" he asked, because he couldn"t believe what he was seeing. Nick chuckled, though his eyes began to water as he clasped Heath"s hand. "No Heath, the war is over, Lee surrendered, we can go home." Heath stared at Nick froze, and then he blinked and blinked again as tears began to fall from his eyes. Nick gently maneuvered Heath into the sitting position and slipped in behind, leaning Heath against his chest before wrapping his arms around him. Nick gently rocked Heath back and forth as sobs racked Heath"s frame. "Shhh" he whispered "It"s alright Heath. It will be all right. You"ll see." So I kind of speeded a few things up. Prisoners just didn"t get shipped back North. Southern camps usually sent prisoners to other southern towns to get them out of Georgia, because of Sherman"s march to the sea. In the show, Matt Bentell said he did the best he could, that he was a good man. So instead of sending the prisoners to other camps, he just sent them North. Also the war did not end when Lee surrendered, just to point out. Hoped you enjoyed. Even though the weather was ideal for a joyous mood, the Barkley ranch in California had been in a state of melancholy ever since the news from the army of Nick"s disappearance. The only solace was that from Jarod"s telegrams saying that now the war was over in the East he would be coming home soon. Victoria tried to keep the image that everything was alright for Audra. The young girl didn"t seem to notice the somber mood her parents were in. Neither Victoria or Tom had told their youngest that it was most likely that Nick would not be coming home. Eugene seemed to know something was up, had seen how sad his Mother was, how their never seemed to be any letters from his older brother. But he kept his mouth shut, because he had seen the charade his parents were putting up for Audra and decided to do the same. He also felt that if he said anything the whole charade would fall apart and it would be true, that Nick wasn"t coming home. So he kept his mouth shut and played along for Audra"s sake. But he made sure to make a few more extra gestures to his parents. Such as spending more time with his Father on the ranch, and giving his Mother extra hugs when she got a sad look on his face. Right now he brought her some of her favorite flowers. She had smiled a real smile before shooing him outside. Victoria was now calmly cutting the flowers to fill a vase in front of her, though her heart was in this simple task. She was simply doing it because it was expected of her. Audra would wonder why her Mother wasn"t taking advantage of all the flowers blooming at the moment, when usually Victoria would fill the house with their sweet smells as she did every spring. She was drawn out of this mundane task by the sound of the door knocking and moments later Silias entering the parlor with a letter in his hand. "Mrs. Barkley, this letter just came for you" said Silias softly as he held the official looking envelope out for the lady of the house. The butler knew the last time he handed an envelope that had come to the ranch, that they had learned Nick might not be making it home. He only hoped that this letter held better news. "Thank-you Silias" said Victoria taking the letter, noticing immediately that it bore the Union"s post mark and was from Maryland. Victoria"s hands shook as she opened the letter. She feared the contents, the last letter they received reported that Nick was missing, either dead or captured, no one knew. Her hands trembled as she broke the seal and slowly pulled the letter out. Only to be greeted by a familiar scrawl inside. Dear Mother and Father, I am alive and well. I have spent the last month as a prisoner of war in Georgia. It will be a month before I am fit enough to make the long journey home. When I do return I will not be alone. A boy I met at Carterson will be coming with me. He is the only reason I am here today, you can say that I"ve adopted him. I will see you both soon, please give my love to the rest of the family. Love your son, Nick Victoria breathed a sigh of relief and pressed the letter to her chest, her boy was alive and coming home. Though it was just like her son not to put much detail in the letter. But Victoria couldn"t find it in herself to complain, her son was coming, the son she thought she would never hear from again. Tom found her in the same position minutes later. He immediately thought something was wrong when he saw the tears streaming down her face. "Victoria, what is it?" "Nick" she said smiling through her tears, "He"s alive." She offered him the letter for him to read. Tom quickly took the letter from her hands and soon his own tears were streaming down his face. Putting the letter aside for a moment he gathered Victoria in his arms and together they just clung to each other in joy that the son they had thought lost was now coming home. Welcome to the End of this story! Keep an eye out for the sequel, it will get up someday.

He thought of many things as he sat in his cell. Mostly of his life at the 4077th, of the people there and his attitude towards them. He realized how big of a prick he had been to the people that surrounded him. He was embarrassed by all he said about South Koreans, how he thought he deserved a purple heart. How he gave Blake a very hard time, and how he wished he could take it all back. He regretted not taking the drinks Hawkeye offered, joining in on the pranks, blaming the nurses for his mistakes and always thinking himself above the enlisted men. It seemed like a life time ago that he thought they he was so tough carrying around his pistol, worrying about money, and cheating on his wife that he didn"t actually love. Promising a beautiful woman all sorts of things but never intending on keeping any of them. Terrorizing Radar because it made him feel like a big shot. He often wished he could go home, but now all he wished was that he was back there so he could tell them all that he was sorry. It was that crummy camp that his mind tried to retreat to when the pain started. Because in all reality it was where he had been the happiest at. A warzone halfway across the world and he felt more comfortable there than he did in his home. It was only when they were done with him for the day and he was once again left alone in his cell that he allowed his self to break down and cry silently. It had been two months since Frank"s capture. To many in the 4077th they couldn"t believe it. Potter came by earlier that day with some news from HQ concerning Frank. Since it had been two months without word from the North Koreans about Frank"s whereabouts, the Army was officially declaring him Missing in Action and had sent order for the remaining of Frank"s belongings be packaged up and sent to his presumable widow in the states. It was up to Hawkeye and BJ to finish packing Frank"s belongings. Most had been packed up to make room for Charles, who had come to replace Frank until he could be found. But since the Army was giving up on Frank, Charles was to be stationed permanently on the base. To say Charles wasn"t taking the news well was an understatement. But he had respected the difficult time it was to his fellow surgeons and had not mentioned it in front of them and had taken his "celebrating" elsewhere. Hawkeye couldn"t believe that Frank was gone. He had been one of the few that was still present from the original crew. Now it was just Margret, Radar, and Father Mulcany. Hawkeye would take back every little mean and petty thing that he had done to Frank over the years if it meant that the man would return safely. As BJ prepared to close the lid to Frank"s footlocker for one last time, a small book fell from the lining. It was one that neither Doctor had seen in Frank"s procession. And Hawkeye had routinely gone through Frank"s stuff had never seen it until now. Reaching out he gently picked it up and opened it. His eyes skimmed across the pages, shocked at what he was reading. BJ must have seen the shock because the blonde man was soon standing over his shoulder reading alongside Hawkeye Korea Stupid, stupid, stupid, I"m a Doctor not a soldier. Why do I feel the need to do things the military way! It"s because of them that I"m stuck here in the first place. Oh who am I kidding, the whole Yankee Doodle routine is to impress one person. Margret. She is everything that I want in a woman. Maybe that"s why I try everything in my power to make myself appealing to her. Even if it alienates me from my fellow male Doctors. Henry, Trapper, Hawkeye, and Spearchucker have made it quite clear they have little love for the army. And trying to make the camp more militaristic has alienated me further from them all. BJ reached over and flipped a page, trying to make sense of writing. It was almost unbelievable that it had been Frank who wrote this. Hawkeye and Trapper pulled another prank on me today, not that I didn"t deserve it; they boxed me in a crate while I was sleeping. It took all I had not to start laughing, but not laughing aggravated my hernia. Margret convinced me that going to those two would be the best. I would never admit this to their faces but they are the best surgeons I"ve ever seen. My skills are like a wood cutters next to those two. I really wish we could be friends, but I burnt that bridge a long time ago. I have no right to ask for it now. I don"t know why I am so disagreeable when I"m around those two. I never know what to say, and when I do open my big mouth I always say the wrong things and I don"t mean many of the things I say. At the worst time"s I always find myself saying things I heard my Father say and I never wanted to be like him. Most men want to grow up to be like their Father"s, I never did, not after all the things that he did to me. Hawkeye flipped through more of the pages picking one at random. Margret came back today with the biggest news, she"s engaged! In a way I"m glad, though I will miss her greatly. She deserves to be happy, to have someone love her with all their heart. To give her what she deserves, not some empty promises like I have. To be honest, I always thought that if I lost Margret to someone that it would be Hawkeye. Even a blind man can see the attraction those two have for each other, I just wonder when they will figure it out if they ever do. It was too much for Hawkeye as he shut the book and collapsed on his cot. If what this book said was true, he had never really known the real Frank Burns. He doubted that even Margret knew who Frank was. It seemed that he had hidden his real self from them all. And he had only read three entries and the book was full of them. He didn"t even think that they were all from Korea, the beginning pages looked as if they had been from before the war. BJ felt like Hawkeye but he wasn"t quite convinced that it was real. What if Frank had written to gain sympathy from them if was found. As much as he hated to think like it when Frank was missing and possible dead. BJ did not want to believe that he had been so wrong about Frank. Kneeling down beside the trunk, he examined the area where the book had been fallen out of. The seam of the loose lining was exactly like that of the lid, blending in perfectly. He carefully pulled the staples out so the whole top lining pulled off. BJ was surprised to see that the trunk appeared to have an entire false top. Popping it off he gave a low whistle at the treasure"s he found. "Hawk, I think you better come see this." Hawkeye came to kneel next to BJ to investigate what Frank hid away. The first thing he noticed was a mountain of photos and a camera. Hawkeye picked up the photos and started to shuffle through them. There were ones of everybody in the camp. Klinger is many of his ridiculous outfits. Father Mulcahy boxing his duffle bag. Henry with a cigar in his mouth smiling. Margret with her head back laughing, and Radar cuddled with his teddy bear. There where ones of Trapper and Hawkeye dressed up in their ridicules outfits. There were even ones where they were just lounging in the Swamp. Hawkeye had no idea how Frank managed to take it. There were more of Trapper and Hawkeye, but a neat pile of BJ and Hawkeye. On the back of each photo was the names and dates of the photos. As Hawkeye continued to look through the photos, he pulled out some neatly address envelopes. "Hawkeye, Frank"s got a letter here from you Dad, and Peg." Hawkeye dropped the photos and snatched the envelope that had his Dad"s neat handwriting on it. Dear Dr. Burns, I have indeed heard many things from my son about you and I will assure you that the knowledge that you have contacted me will stay between us until after Benjamin comes back from the war. I must thank-you for the photos that you sent me. I often receive letters from my son, but it is a comfort to be able to see that he is alright as well. I don"t know how I can thank-you. Yours"s truly, Dr. Daniel Pierce. Hawkeye looked over at BJ. "Does your letter say something about Frank sending photos?" BJ nodded, "It appears that Frank sent her monthly photos to her. She never mentioned it to me in any of her letters." "Does he have any other letters in there?" asked Hawkeye. BJ leaned down and ruffled through the photos and pulled out a few more envelopes. "It seems like one from Radar"s family, Trappers, Potters, and even Henry Blakes" said BJ handing the packet over to Hawkeye. Trapper appeared to have sent Frank a personal letter after leaving, cussing Frank for sending pictures in secret. But in the end gave a heartfelt thank-you to his fellow surgeon and asked Frank to keep sending photos of Hawkeye so Trapper could see that the other surgeon wasn"t working himself to death. Hawkeye couldn"t believe it, he had exchanged letters with Trapper and he had never mentioned this. Mrs. Potter and Mrs. O"Reily"s letters were along the same lines, thank-full and filled with promises of not informing their loved ones that they were receiving photos. Hawkeye could almost not make it through Henry"s wife"s letter. There were clear tear stains on the page that thanked Frank over and over for the photos of her husband. That she would treasure them forever. Hawkeye was rubbing tears out of his eyes at the end of it. BJ had continued to look through the photos unwilling to go through the rest of it until Hawkeye was ready. "You know it"s sad, in all these pictures show the members of the 4077th at our happiest times. But there is always one missing from the photos" mused BJ. "Did we really ignore Frank so much that he was able to stand right in front of us and take a photo without us realizing it?" Hawkeye felt immediate shame, because it was the only explanation. "I guess so. You know I never gave you a chance to get to know Frank on your own. I gave my opinion of him to you before you two even met. It explains why he was so angry when you arrived. He probably was hoping for an unbiased person that he might befriend. But I made sure that didn"t happen." BJ was ashamed also that he knew it was true, and explained some of Frank"s more petty behavior in regards to the other two men. The box was full of other nick-knacks, one of Henry"s fly lures, a buckle from Potter"s busted saddle, one of Klinger"s monogramed handkerchiefs, the frames of Radar"s old glasses, Margret"s hair pin, Trapper"s party hat, BJ"s favorite pen that ran dry, a cross Father Mulcahy carved to raise funds for the orphanage, and wrapped carefully in tissue was one of Hawkeye"s martini glasses. "It"s a treasure trove of life here" said Hawkeye lowly. "Why would he want to be reminded of this place?" "Maybe because this was where he felt the happiest" said BJ slowly. "With the way he carried on with Hot Lips, you know his marriage was not very happy. He never mentions he"s married and didn"t you say you saw the wedding video." Hawkeye nodded, "Frank looked happy, but not his wife. I made fun of it when I saw it, but now I"m not sure. But I know one thing for certain. We can"t send this stuff back to his wife" insisted Hawkeye. "None of this stuff has any value to her. She might get rid of it before Frank comes back." Neither pointed out that by this point it was most likely that Frank wasn"t going to be coming back. Nevertheless BJ agreed with Hawkeye. "We can go see if Klinger has any hat boxes left, it would be big enough to put all of this in." It turned out that Klinger had an extra hat box that he gladly gave to the two Doctors. It was big enough that everything that had once been in the false lid fit inside the box. Once that was finished they went to see Colonel Potter, letters and box in hand. "Colonel we need to speak to you. It"s about something we found in Frank"s stuff" said Hawkeye bursting into the office like he had done so many times before. "If it"s personal I don"t want to know about it" said Potter not looking up from the paperwork he was filling out. "Not even when that personal item directly involves you and your wife?" asked BJ sitting the hat box in the chair in front of Potter"s desk. This had Potter looking up. "What does Mildred have to do with any of this!" he demanded. Hawkeye gave the letter he found to the Colonel to read as he helped himself to a glass of the good stuff, BJ not far behind him. "This letter doesn"t make any sense. What pictures is she talking about?" asked Potter as soon as he was done reading. BJ sighed, "When we were packing Frank"s stuff up, we found that his trunk had a false lid. Inside were probably hundreds of pictures he took around camp of everything and everybody. Apparently Frank has been sending some people"s family photos that he"s taken. We found letters from Hawk"s dad, Peg, Radar"s mom, and a few others. All the replies saying that they won"t inform us like Frank asked until after we come home." To illustrate his point he opened the hat box and drew out a handful of photos to show Potter. Potter slowly began to flip through them, but still listening as BJ continued. "He didn"t want anyone to know. Didn"t want us to know that he was sending our families reassurances that we were alive and alright over here" intoned BJ, he still couldn"t quite believe it. "It seems I underestimated Frank"s character" said Potter gravely taking off his glasses and making his way over to the liquor cabinet where he helped himself to two thumbs of scotch. "I think we all managed that Sherman" said Hawkeye truthfully. "I think we all did." First off, note to my two guest reviews. doctorjay- There is a episode where footage of Frank"s wedding is shown. Aki- I do no abandon my fics, let them sit around for months without updating yes, sometimes close a year yes. It"s called Life and adulating and wandering plot bunnies that pull a person to Star Wars fanfic for the time being. But never give up hope that I will ever abandon a fic. Despite it being really early in the morning in Maine, Hawkeye had Radar ring up his Dad. The surgeon had to know when this all started. "Hello," came the much missed voice of his father over the line. "Hey Dad, it"s me." "Benjamin! It"s good to hear your voice son," said Daniel, yawning at the end of his sentence. "Is something wrong son?" "Dad when did the letters from Frank begin arriving?" asked Hawkeye. There was a surprised pause over the phone before Daniel answered. "I got the first one about two months after you had been sent over there. And every few months after that he sent me a package of photos. He never sent a letter with them after the first one." "What did the letter say Dad?" "He introduced himself, explained his connection to you, and asked to please not let you know about the pictures. He sounded nothing like you described in your letters son, the man you described would have never did such a thing. I just know I am grateful to him for sending me the photos." "It seems we didn"t know Frank at all," sighed Hawkeye rubbing a hand over his face. "It seemed that you didn"t Benjamin." "Hawk," said Radar softly, not needing to tell the older man that his time was up. "Look Dad, I"ve got to go. I love you." "Ben, don"t beat yourself over this. Even if you had known it wouldn"t have changed anything," Daniel said gently. "Take care of yourself, and I love you to." Hawkeye gently sat down the receiver, and sighed. "Two months after I got here, that was the first time." "I"m sure if we called everyone you found letters from, we would get the same answer Hawk," Potter said quietly. He understood what the younger man must be going through. Hawkeye had been here the longest out of everyone in the came with the exception of Radar. During all that time he never noticed Frank. Never noticed the Frank that took pictures of everything he saw, the Frank that assured family members of their relatives were doing okay, and the Frank who asked for no recognition. All they saw was a mask. One that Frank never let anyone see beyond. Never let anyone see the hidden depths that lay within him. "Sirs, Choppers!" Radar announced, breaking the silence. For a moment Frank was forgotten as the surgeons scrambled for the choppers that were landing with fresh wounded. Frank knew something had happened when his captors did not enter his cell at the usual time. And Frank had learned that any deviation from the routine had serious consequences for himself. Frank huddled into the corner, wishing that he could disappear as the doors opened and his captors entered. Except they did not seem to be interested in him, no they were focused on the figure that they were dragging in with them. For the first time his captors barely looked at him as they dropped the person and left the cell. Frank tried to make himself small as possible as the other person slowly sat up revealing his Korean features. The moment their eyes met, the Korean surprised him by scrambling back from him, until he was in the opposite corner of Frank. For a few minutes all they did was star at each other in mutual fear, both thinking that the other was here to hurt him. The Korean studied the other figure that he had been left in, taking in the features, and the bloody stained cloths that clung to his frame. "Sol-dier?" he said slowly pointing at Frank. "G I Joe." Frank shook his head, "D-Doctor," he said softly. The man cocked his head to the side, confusion written on his face. Frank mimed a sewing motion on his skin, "Doctor," he said again. "Doc-tor," the other said slowly repeating the miming motion of sewing and then wrapping of a wound. Frank nodded. "Ah," the other man said a Korean word, Frank assumed meant Doctor as the man repeated the motion. Frank repeated the word, the unfamiliar word stumbled off his tongue, the man stared at him for a moment before he started to laugh. Frank jumped a little at it. It was a warm, unlike the cold, cruel laughter of their captors. Hesitantly he smiled back at Lin and attempted to say the Korean word for Doctor again. It was slightly better, but not by much. The man smiled again and slowly uncurled from his position and placed a hand on his chest, "Lin." Frank pointed to the man, "Lin." The now named Lin nodded, "Lin." Frank uncurled from his position and placed a hand on his chest, "Frank." Like he did, Lin stumbled over the unfamiliar word, he had to repeat it a few times before it sounded right. "Doc-Tor Frank," Lin said with a smile. Frank was weary, he didn"t put it past his captors to trick him with a plant to try to get the information they were convinced he had. Lin didn"t seem to have that problem. Even though it was clear Frank couldn"t understand him, he talked. Frank didn"t realize how starved he was for kind human interactions until Lin began to talk. Frank listened, letting the words flow over him. Enjoying the strange sense of peace he felt at that moment. Hours passed, perhaps the whole night. Frank had no idea when one day ended and the next began since the day he had been tossed into this cell. Lin only stopped when the sound of feet could be heard outside their doorway. Then he like Frank, shrank as far from the door as possible. With dread the door opened, and three entered the small room as per usual. Two to drag Frank away, and the third armed with a rifle to make sure no funny business happened. Frank began to tremble with fear as they went straight to him. He feebly tried to dodge their hands, but they clasped around his arms like bands of steel. They pulled him to his feet and dragged him towards the door. Lin stood up and began what Frank could assume was a protest, only to receive a rifle butt to his stomach by the third guard. Frank looked over his shoulder, seeing his new companion on his knees, clutching his stomach. His eyes were staring into Frank"s with such worry, that it surprised the surgeon. The eye contact was cut off when the third man came up behind Frank, shutting the door shut firmly behind them. Frank was dragged to a familiar room that smelt of blood and despair. Frank was only distantly aware that he was dragged back to his cell by the fact his body was dropped onto a hard floor and left. Frank lay there softly shuddering as blood slowly seeped from his fresh wounds. Unexpectedly Frank became aware of someone touching him. Frank jerked away with a small cry, expecting for more pain to rain down on him. However they disappeared and no new pain blossomed on his body. Frank slowly calmed down again, and as he did the hands returned. Frank flinched away from them, but they wouldn"t leave him. They gently rolled him onto his back, and then lifted his head up. Something cool was pressed to his lips and blessed water was poured into his mouth. Frank swallowed greedily, his raw throat instantly soothed. With the water came new strength and he was finally able to open his eyes and look into the worried eyes of Lin. "O-K Doc-tor Frank?" "S-soon Lin, soon," croaked Frank. It would be a few hours but he would regain enough strength to sit up and look after himself. He wearily closed his eyes as Lin began to softly talk. Frank slowly drifted off into a light sleep listening to Lin talk.

"I need to speak with Major Bentell" snarled Nick glaring at the guard. "No Yankee scum talks to the Major, go back to whatever hole you crawled out of boy" sneered the guard. "Let him pass Private" said a voice from the doorway and both turned to see Bentell standing there. Nick glared at the guard as he stepped around him and stood in front of Bentell. "Now what can I do for you soldier?" asked Bentell staring down at Nick from his place above him. "Major Bentell, I would like to be on wood detail today" Nick said between clenched teeth. The Major said nothing except to calmly study Nick. "You were the prisoner from this morning" observed the Major. "The one that carried his friend away." Nick bite his tongue hard to stop his temper from exploding. "I was Sir." Bentell seemed to think for a moment before asking, "Do you swear, on your honor that you will not try to escape?" "I"m not going anywhere" growled Nick staring Bentell in the eye. Major Bentell gave him a thoughtful look, "I don"t imagine you will"" he said before he turned around clearly dismissing Nick. "Private make sure he is added to the wood detail." "Yes Sir" answered the guard. The guard turned to Nick, "This way Yank." The guard led him to the south gate where a wagon and a handful of fellow soldiers were gathering. Nick didn"t have to wait long before enough Rebs had assembled to guard them. Very slowly the south doors opened, and for the first time in weeks Nick walked out into the open. Nick was shocked as he drew in a deep breath of fresh air. He had forgotten that air could smell so sweet. For a traitorous moment his mind whispered that he could escape, he didn"t have to go back to that hellhole. It was common for men on wood detail to slip away from the guards and run. Few ever made it very far before being recaptured but a handful managed to escape. Nick"s mind whispered that he could be one of those few to make it all the way back. But then the image of Heath"s blue eyes appear in his mind and he knew that there was no way he was leaving that kid to die back in the prison. If Heath was going to die it was after Nick exhausted every way he could to help. He wasn"t going to let Heath die alone. Nick set to work collecting fallen pieces of wood. No matter how big or how small he picked it all up and put it into the wagon. He knew that every piece was worth its weight in gold. The wagon was almost was full when he saw it. Nick gently set down the armful of wood he had collected and approached the willow tree. He might not be able to get medicine for Heath, but willow bark tea would help. He quickly cut big strips of the bark from the tree and stuffed in in the small bag he used to carry extra rounds. He stuffed as much as he could in the bag. "You there, get back to the wagon, were going back to the camp" ordered a nearby guard, his rifle pointing at Nick as if he though Nick would make a run for it. Nick quickly put his pocket knife back into his pocket, and picked up his arm load of wood that he had set down quickly. It would be better to not lollygag around when there was a trigger happy Reb who could care less if there was one less prisoner to guard back at the camp. Nick"s feet dragged as they drew closer to the camp. It was bittersweet to leave the trees, grass, and fresh air. There was so much life outside the wooden walls, and so much death within. From his position Nick could see the grave diggers digging a new trench to bury the dead near the east wall of the prison. The death wagon was making its way out of the South door, overflowing with dead naked men. There cloths had already been stripped and probably distributed to fellow prisoners. Nick shivered at the thought of Heath being one of the nameless men being buried in a shallow trench, with no words spoken over him or even a proper marker. Just those grim thoughts made Nick even more determined as he walked through the tent city with an armful of wood, not twigs but actual limbs that would take a while to burn. He tried to go down less populated areas. People had been killed for less in Caterson, and Nick was a prime target with a valuable resource taking both hands to carry, he was essentially vulnerable. He somehow made it back to his tent without any trouble. Nick sighed as he entered the tent to find that Heath was basically in the same position he had left him in and that he was still asleep. Nick stashed the wood on the far side of Heath, in the shadows. He then grabbed the small pot Heath had brought with him when they joined tents. Nick walked across the compound heading towards the head of the creek that flowed through the camp. It was the only place Nick could think of to get semi clean water. He would not dare to try to get some downstream. To thousands of men this creek was the only source for drinking and bathing water, and relieving oneself. The smell alone was enough to make Nick want to gag, but he couldn"t afford to lose what was in his stomach. He passed hundreds of men performing all three of the mentioned activities. He walked as far upstream as he could, until he reached the dead line. Even here the water had a film on it from backwash. Nick dipped the pot into the cleanest looking part and made the long trip back to the tent. Once back in the tent he built up the fire and hung the pot over it and added the willow bark. Nick then took off his shirt, the cleanest piece of cloth he owned. He began to tear the shirt into strips to use both as bandages and rags to clean his back. As soon as the water was hot Nick took it off the fire and then used this shirt to clean the wounds on Heath"s back as best as he could. He managed to coax about half of the remaining willow tea down Heath"s throat. Only after he had finished that did he focus on another main problem, their stomachs. Nick reached into the food storage hole and pulled out there corn rations. His original plan was out, reaching into the bag he let the corn run through his fingers. It was rough ground, and would tear their intestines to piece he they tried to eat it as is. Laying the corn bag as flat as he could on a rock, he took another rock and begun to crush it more finely between two rocks. Once he made it as fine as it could he put it in the pot with what was left of the willow water creating a bastard version of grits. He made sure to wake Heath so that he could eat his own share before Nick started on his own. It wasn"t the corn bread he expected to make that morning, but the warm corn mush filled his stomach. Nick leaned back and allowed himself to rest for a moment. In a few short hours he would have to get up for evening roll call. Nick prayed that rations would be handed out. To many nights Heath had warned that evening roll call would be a formality and no rations would be handed out. Nick reached over and smoothed the hair out of Heath"s face. He hoped the war would end soon, to many men had died and he wanted nothing more than to go home. Home to where the war hadn"t touched, and he wanted to bring this blonde boy with him. There was just something about this boy that made Nick want to protect him, and like hell would he roll over and let Heath die without a fight. Even if he had to crawl to hell and back he would not give up on this boy. Heath forehead began to scrunch up as a nightmare began to grip the boy. "Shhh" Nick whispered continuing to smooth the hair back. "It"s alright Heath, I"m watching over you" he whispered. Slowly Heath"s forehead smooth back out as he listened to Nick"s voice, subconsciously knowing that he was safe with that voice. A week had passed since the whipping and instead of getting better Heath was getting worse. Day and night he burned with fever. Tossing and turning from nightmares, he constantly reopened the barely healed wounds on his back. Some of which had begun to ooze a clear liquid. A tell-tale sign of infection. Nick spent more and more time within the tent tending to Heath, who had not fully woken up lucid since the second day after the whipping. "You will love the ranch Heath" murmured Nick as he wiped the sweat off of the boy"s forehead. "My Father and Mother settled on beautiful land, land that stretches as far as the eye can see with no walls and everything is green. And water comes down from the mountains, cool and clear and enough to sate anyone"s thirst. My Father built a cabin up in those mountains and there is great hunting and fishing, a man could find real peace up there." He paused to spoon another spoonful of willow tea down Heath"s throat, massaging his throat so that he would swallow. "Our butler Silias, makes the best biscuits and he always tries to feed people more than they can eat. When we get home he"ll probably won"t let us leave the table for a full week, that is if Mother hasn"t locked us in a room. You"ll be welcomed to stay as long as you want as my guest. But if you get too bored you can help me on the range, Lord knows that I will need someone that I can trust to get things done during roundup and calving season. If you can"t tell I"m basically saying I"m keeping you. Which of course you brought upon yourself with your blonde hair and blue eyes, and you saving me. You awoke my brotherly instincts, so you can blame yourself for. My younger brother Eugene is not much younger than you. But I already know he won"t be no cattleman. He"s like my older brother Jared, he likes books to much. And I don"t know about my sister, she was just a kid when I left. Probably a young lady now." Nick sighed as the memories washed over him, but he pushed them away and continued to talk about the future. A part of him believing that if he talked about it enough that it would turn into a reality. "So you can see my problem. Besides my Pa, I have no one to work the ranch with besides the hired hands. I need someone who I can trust to keep up with me, which again is your fault since you saved me." Nick sighed as the sound of evening roll sounded. He was reluctant to leave, but he needed the rations that might be there. Following the steady stream of prisoners, Nick got into his unit to be counted for the night. But all the soldiers were surprised when from the office came the figure of Matt Bentel. It was once in a blue moon if the man showed himself for evening roll call. Nick twitched in his place, he couldn"t help but think bitterly that someone else was about to be whipped to an inch of his life. "Men, I have been you Commandant for all of you ever since you walked through that door. A lot of you might disagree, but I have tried my best to be fair. Now you might be wondering why I am addressing you. But for many of you this will be glad tidings. The South is losing boys, and we are losing badly. We can"t feed our own boys, let alone thousands of prisoners. Which is why I have received orders today. Tomorrow morning all those that are strong enough we be loaded onto trains and shipped North. For you boys, the war is over, go home." With that Bentell turned and walked back into his office. Nick and the rest of the prisoners stood there dumbly not processing what Bentell had just told them. Finally the message seemed to sink through. "We"re going to be able to go home!" said one soldier beside Nick, looking more alive than a skeleton had a right to be. Nick couldn"t believe it. He would be able to get Heath help in a Northern hospital. Nick could hardly wait to his rations. All around the prison the spirit lifted like it never had before as the news spread and prisoners began to prepare for the journey the next day. Nick wished Heath was aware so that he could tell him. Knowing that they were going to get out, was something that Heath could have used to keep going. Nick could hardly sleep, but he managed to catch a few hours before sunrise. Using the last of the willow, Nick forced another cup down Heath"s throat and bathed the wounds in it before using his coat to wrap around Heath"s back. Nick remembered the train ride down to Carterson. How crapped and disgusting the cars got. The coat would help protect Heath"s wounds from getting something bad into the open sores. Making sure that he had everything that was important, Nick took Heath into his arms and left the little tent for the last time. Though it was earlier than roll call was taken, men were already walking, crawling, and even dragging themselves towards the main gate where they would be led to the train. Keeping his head down, and walking with a group Nick managed to pass the guards at the main gate. It hadn"t escaped his notice last night that Bentell had said healthy prisoners. None of the prisoners in Carterson were healthy but Nick supposed Bentell meant that those that could walk on their own would be allowed to get on the train North. Nick prayed that the guard taking roll would welcome a bribe or else he would be staying with Heath here at the prison. Even though the song of freedom called to him, Nick couldn"t in good conscious just leave Heath to die in Carterson while he himself got on the train North. The line was long but moved quickly. Some men were openly weeping as they left the walls for the first time since they arrived. They took deep breaths of fresh air that was clear of the smoke that hovered over the prison. Others were gazing at the sight of green grass growing. A splash of color that had been unknown inside the prison walls. A single guard stood at the front of the cars writing down the names of those who boarded, while several others patrolled the line between the train and the prison. Soon Nick was standing before the recorder. The guard didn"t look up as he stared in his book. "Name?" "Nick Barkley and Heath Barkley" said Nick. The guard looked up at the sound of two names from one voice, his eyes staring blandly at Heath cradled in Nick"s arms. "Only healthy prisoners get on this train, Major Bentell"s orders" said the guard. "Take him back to camp and you can return." "Please, he needs a Doctor and getting out of here is his only chance" pleaded Nick. The guard didn"t seem moved at his plea so Nick changed tactics. "Also I can pay you if you will just look the other way, Union dollars." This seemed to catch the guards attention as his eyes sharpened on Nick. "How much you got Yank?" Nick hesitated not knowing if he should start out low and then go higher if the guard refused. But decided that he would just say the whole amount that he had left. "Thirty dollars, cash money." The Guard seemed to study Nick, "Let me see the money first." Nick shifted Heath to reach into his pocket and drew out his last thirty dollars and showed it to the guard. The guard quickly snatched the money from Nick"s hand and seemed to weigh it in his hand. "Alright, be quick about it." Nick thanked God as he entered the cattle car and pushed his way to the back, out of sight of any other guards. The car was quickly filled up with other prisoners, until a man could barely turn around. It was hot and it was miserable but there was a sense of hope within the prisoners. A small cheer went up as the car jolted and groaned before it finally began to pull away from the station heading North. But even that sense of hope was soon forced away as the heat of the railcar amplified the stench that soon secreted every inch of the box car as men were forced to do their business where they stood. Nick pressed as close to the walls as he could, letting the wind created from the movement of the train cool him down as well as let him breath fresh air. The train stopped only a few times, but none of these times were prisoners allowed out of the cars. No rations, no water was passed out and night fell, men were forced to sleep on their feet. Even though Heath was nothing but skin and bones, Nick"s arms shook from holding him. Nick eventually had to lower Heath to his feet and have him lying against his chest. With Heath"s head on his chest, Nick could feel his continued breathing. Nick propping himself against the wall of the grain allowed the rocking motions of the car to let him drift into a semi state of sleep. Where he was aware of what was happening around him, such as Heath lying against him. All night Nick drifted in this state, occasionally jerked to full awareness when the train rocked harshly or made another stop. By the time morning came, Nick was exhausted but wide awake when the car came to a stop again. But unlike the last stops, there was sounds of people messing with the locks of the cattle car. All around Nick"s fellow soldiers became aware. When the door opened, everyone including Nick expected to see more grey uniforms of the Confederates. But he and everybody else was surprised to see the crisp blue uniforms of the Union. The young soldier that had opened the door look dumbstruck at the sight and the smell of the men before him. So overwhelmed was the boy, that he quickly ducked out of view and the sound of vomiting could be heard. An older soldier with grey in his hair stepped into view. "Let"s get you men down from there" said the man in a thick Irish accent. He reached out and helped the men in the front begin to step down. Nick waited patiently until he was one of the last. To the Irish man he handed down Heath. "Please be careful with him." The Irish man looked at Nick with compassion but no pity in his eyes as he gently took Heath from him. "It"s alright laddie I"ve got him." Another soldier reached up and helped Nick down to the platform."My God," Nick heard some of the Union soldiers whispered as they caught sight of the emancipated frames that exited the train car. Nick imagined that it was a gruesome sight to behold. Men who looked nothing like men, but more like walking skeletons. Some litters were bringing brought up to carry off the prisoners that had perished in the grueling ride to freedom. Prayers were whispered by fellow prisoners as those men passed. It was a cruel joke that the prison hadn"t killed them, but the ride home had. The young soldiers averted their eyes completely. Nick knew that they were a frightful sight. But he felt no shame in his appearance. He had survived hell on earth, which was more than some of these fresh faced looking boys could say. Nick turned to take Heath back, but the Irish man shook his head. "This lad needs a Doctor. We were expecting healthy men, the Doctors will soon be overwhelmed by you lot. I will get you there first so that they can see to him. Follow me." Nick didn"t argue with the men, not as long as it meant getting Heath the help he most desperately needed. Though he felt that he needed to say something the Irish man. "Sir, these are the healthy prisoners." The Irish man stopped in his tracks to stare at Nick, "These are the healthy men?" Nick nodded, "Anyone with the strength to walk is considered extremely healthy Sir. And those that couldn"t weren"t allowed on it. Unless you had money to bribe the guards to look away" explained Nick. The Irish man looked furious, but seemed to remember that Heath was in his arms. "I will have to inform the General this. But first the Doctor, come lad." Nick followed the Irish man to the stables were they were placed in the back of a wagon and pulled out into the streets. Nick hadn"t seen beautiful sight as the streets of the town they were pulled through. Soon they pulled in front of a big white building. The Irish man pulled the single horse to a stop and applied the brake before going back and taking Heath back into his arms Nick only seconds behind. The old soldier led the way into the hospital where they shocked the Nurse that was on duty. "If you please Ma"am this boy needs a Doctor." The young lady stood there for a second staring at Heath and Nick before the Irish man growled. "Now lass, now!" Snapped out of her shock the young Nurse all but ran to get some Doctors. When she reappeared she brought not one, but four. Heath was taken from the old soldier and began to get looked over by the Doctors. Nick was so focused on watching them examine Heath, that he almost didn"t catch the sight of the old soldier turning and walking out of the hospital. Deciding Heath would be safe for the moment Nick took off after the man. Nick managed to catch him before he climbed "Thank-you Sir, for getting Heath here. I can"t pay you anything" Nick began only to be cut off. "Lad, I"m no ones Sir, names Sean O"Connell. And you don"t have to thank-me or anything like that. It"s clear that you have been through something horrific. I"m just glad that I could help in this small way." "Nick Barkley" returned Nick holding out his hand. Sean shook it firmly. "Good luck lad and good luck to your brother, I have to return now." Nick nodded and returned inside where Doctors were beginning to exam Heath. Their faces were grim as they felt his pulse and his forehead before looking at his wounds. They were still an angry red and oozing. Most shook their heads and left to make preperations for the massive POW"s that were going to be headed their way. Only one was left and he approached Nick. Nick was shaking his head even before he began to speak.