FH--Part 2

[Starless::Night]

Aeya had noticed, before she’d left the room that she’d forgotten to grab some arm warmers to cover the thin silver scars along her forearms. Stopping to think about it for a few minutes, the half-mermaid decided against putting any on. After all, she was with friends and people, who shouldn’t judge her like the ones at home. Hopefully… Breaking out of her thoughts, she placed her hand once again on the doorknob, ready to finally join her friends and possibly figure out where Mikke’s room was located when a familiar voice filtered into her thoughts.

Freezing, the young woman stood there; unaware of the smile that was gradually surfacing its way onto her face. At least, until he’d telepathically yelled. Alarming the girl, she quickly opened the door and stepped out. When Kita had noticed her arrival, and pointed to where Mikke’s room was located, she almost hugged the Bastet, but decided against it, instead, making her way quickly towards the room she’d pointed too.


Kerin had looked at her surroundings a few times before the sounds of the shower faded away. During this time, she noticed that resting next to her was a neatly folded white shirt. Her ruby eyebrows shot up in interest. Somebody forgot their shirt…this keeps getting better and better! A few minutes passed by and her violet eyes once again came to rest on the bathroom door.

The young girl wasn’t sure what to expect from this guy, what type of personality he had or even what he looked like. A spark of nerves ignited for a few seconds, as she quickly began to wonder if maybe this guy would have a very bad reaction to her presence, since she knew that a lot of the people who had turned up here didn’t like others, like Cel. The worry quickly disappeared though, when the door leading to the bathroom suddenly opened. The young man who walked out seemed to have a happy gleam in his eyes, at least until he noticed the girl sitting on his bed.

Kerin couldn’t help but giggle at the youth’s reaction. It had surprised her to find that he had wings, and no shirt on. When the door came to a close with him back in the bathroom, her amusement was piqued. Standing up, she walked up to the door and rested her hands on it.

“I promise I’m not going to harm you. I just wished to introduce myself is all. Will you come out?” Her voice was cheerful, with a large smile resting on her pale pink lips. Taking a small step back, she waited for some form of response.


Cel noticed Unity’s look of possible amusement but quickly disregarded it, looking away and avoiding their stares. When a young woman swiftly left her room located next to Kerin’s, Cel debated on whether or not he should follow, since from the direction the Bastet had pointed, she was aiming towards the room with Kerin and the other boy in it. This is not going to be fun. Kerin, I’m going to have to put a leash on you…

Breaking out of his thoughts, he noticed another young woman—older than the first one—exit from her room a little farther down. When she quietly greeted him, he just stared, not coldly, just with emotionless eyes. He was not especially comfortable in the presence of a lot of people. Which meant that he really didn’t want to be where he was right then. To his slight pleasure, the newly arrived woman left through the Garden door, and it was back to the four of them. For a few seconds, until Raz and Aurora arrived.

It was the first that Cel had seen of the new male arrivals, though from what he’d heard Aurora say, he probably knew more about the young boy, than he wished too. Picking up Aurora’s look, he rolled his eyes and sighed, deciding that it would be best if he did follow the ebony haired girl into the room where Kerin was. To make sure no one got hurt.

Aeya reached the door and paused. She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to just open it, since she didn’t know what condition Mikke was in. So, holding back her urge to just enter, she knocked. Before her knuckles wrapped the door a second time, the half-mermaid noticed the presence of a tall young man a short distance behind her. They exchanged some unknown message, and Aeya continued her knocking. Still, continuing not to get any response, Aeya held her breath, and twisting the doorknob entered the room, Cel not far behind her.

Upon entering, the half-mermaid scanned the room, until her sapphire eyes came to rest on the young woman who was standing only inches from the door leading to the bathroom. If she hadn't been confused before, she most definitely was now. Who is this girl, and what is she doing in here?

Kerin hadn't expected to be so rudely interrupted. When she heard the door leading out open, it had surprised her, her violet eyes turning to rest on the two new arrivals. It wasn't that shocking to find that Cel had come, but Kerin had no idea who this other girl was, though from the look on the girl's face, she felt the same way about her.

Cel quickly brushed passed the young woman in front of him, his fuming teal eyes concentrated on only one target. In a moment's time, he was standing right in front of the Kerin, glaring at her enough to back away and look down ashamed.

All Aeya could do was stand there. It was obvious that this guy knew the girl, but their relationship was unclear. She still had no idea what the crimson haired girl was doing in Mikke's room. Speaking of Mikke... Her sapphire eyes came to rest on the closed bathroom door. It had been the place the new girl had been standing in front of upon her arrival, it must be where Mikke was.

"Mikke...?"


Meive didn’t notice Lila’s approach until the young woman had reached the edge of the fountain. The young man had been lost in thought, about pretty much everything, though mainly focused on the things that had been happening the past thirty-six hours. When his emerald gaze drifted over to Lila’s form, he was relieved to find she seemed alright, and even in good spirits.

When the onyx haired woman made the suggestion, Meive thought over it for a few minutes. Stretching out his legs in front of him, he looked up to the sky. A part of him did and didn’t want to go to the meeting. He was tired of being cooped up into places, and truly wished to just move around in the outside air, but he didn’t want to leave Lila alone, or miss any of the information that would be shared there. Looking over to the young woman’s form, he smirked.

“I’ll go, I don’t want to be the third wheel for everyone. Being third wheel is a drag. Anyways, I need to make sure you don’t contract anymore strange illnesses. So, sorry, you’re stuck with me.” His smirk gradually turned into a smile, his emerald irises shining in the sunlight.

[||Megs||]

The bathroom door slowly came open, and Mikke's head peeked out to look at Aeya. He had a blush burning across his cheeks as he cleared his throat.

"H-hey, Aeya? C-could you get me my shirt? It's on the bed," that's when he noticed yet another person was in his room--but this one was male, standing in front of Kerin in a disapproving stance.




Lila smirked back, finally getting around to finishing her apple. When she had finished chewing the last savory bite, she smiled. "It seems so! But I'm glad you are coming with me, Meive."

"Excuse me, but the meeting is about to start." a voice said gently from behind them, and as Lila turned around she was a bit surprised to see an eight-year-old walking toward them, her blond hair tied back in two pony tails. She wore shorts and a regular blue T-shirt, and she smiled brightly. "If you would follow me, mister and miss, I will lead you to the meeting room."

[Starless::Night]

Aeya took a small step towards the bathroom. When the door slid open enough for Mikke’s blushing face to peak through, the half-mermaid couldn’t help but blush and giggle silently in return. Turning around quickly in response, her sapphire eyes scanned over the bed along the wall. Spotting what she was asked to find, Aeya smoothly made her way over to it.

Lifting the folded white t-shirt into her arms, the young woman walked back over to the partially opened door. Standing within arms reach, she held out the shirt, making sure not to look into the room where Mikke was hiding.

“Here you go…” She said softly, “Are you alright?” Cel turned a little, to look at the head that popped out, in the corner of his eye. Kerin stood before him, her head still cast down, though her violet eyes no longer cast down. Just by looking at her posture, Cel could tell that she’d caught notice of the young boy. This raised a spark of anger in the tall youth, though, he hid it well.

“Kerin, let’s go…now.” His cold words broke Kerin’s thoughts, she could tell he was infuriated with her, and knew better than pushing his buttons. Quickly nodding her head, she began walking towards the door out. Before walking out, she stole a glance at the young woman who’d entered with Cel. She wore a calf length skirt, and a blue empire style shirt. Then she was out, and waiting to hear Cel’s harsh voice rip into her. He was the only person who could control her actions, and she had no idea why.

Standing in the large room, she leaned against the wall, next to the door the two had just come from. To her surprise, Cel didn’t speak a word. He did something even worse. The silent treatment. Just by looking at his body language, she could tell he was disappointed in her, and this tore at her. But she knew better, nothing she would say would calm him down until he was ready to listen. And he definitely wasn’t now. Her violet eyes followed his lean outline towards his room, before it disappeared. Sighing heavily, Kerin pushed herself off the wall and walked towards the kitchen area, deciding it was best to get some food.

Aeya watched the two people leave. She could feel the tension in the room as if it were a heavy weight. The half-mermaid was guiltily relieved that they left, taking the tension with them.


Meive smiled along with Lila, watching her finish her apple. When the voice suddenly broke into their little world, his emerald eyes came to rest on a child no older than his little sister. Gracefully standing up, Meive nodded his head, before looking over to Lila.

“So I guess it begins. Let’s see what’s going on shall we?”

[||Megs||]

(I hope you don't mind if I bump this along a bit :3!)


"Razziel has already informed you about how you came to be through his father's experimentations--but I am sure you are wondering why you were kidnapped by the renegades. Lila, what did they tell you?"

"I knew that they were under the acts of being kidnapped, and the methods of doing so were pretty severe...but I did not know why we were doing it. I believe my father was blocking my mental ability to expand so I would not find out."

There was murmuring about the table, and Lila tried to further relax. It had been made clear that she and Meive were not being judged here, but rather trying to obtain willing information and give information so that they were all on the same page. She glanced to Meive, who she had sat next to, and smiled before returning her attention to the head of the table.

"Your father had the ability to block you?" a man asked, his old blue eyes gently resting on her. Lila nodded, folding her hands in her lap.

"At the time, I had no idea. Not until he attacked me with his mind when we were trying to escape. And for the brief moment when our minds conflicted...I discovered much of what had been hidden from me. These renegades were trying to gather us all together to study us and our powers, to see if something in our genes would be able to help them to reproduce those abilities. We would be used as lab rats and, when deemed not useful anymore, killed."

Lila had not been able to tell any of her friends this, but now she knew she'd have to sooner or later. She didn't look at Meive now, almost afraid of his reaction. The young woman felt ashamed for not telling at least him...hopefully he'd understand?

"That is wrongfully intriguing, however...I am not sure how your father managed to have his own set of abilities." the old man said. Lila straightened as a realization hit her.

"I think I do! Every other day he'd inject himself with something. It was a strange orange liquid...perhaps the concoction Razziel's father came up with? He only tried one injection into willing subjects, but did not dare to try more than that. Perhaps with the multiple injections he gained his ability and is keeping it that way?"

The men and women around the table were talking a bit louder now, some gesturing. The old man who had been questioning Lila as of late remained silent, and finally gestured for them all to still. As they settled down, he again turned his gaze to Meive and Lila. "It just so happens that there were a group of raiders who showed up about three years ago. We were taken by surprise and most of the concoction that had been reserved was stolen."

Lila sat back in her seat as the chattering came up again, and looked at Meive and mentally communicated with him.

If that is indeed true, Meive, would it be wise to have the rest of the concoction destroyed? My father is greedy and would never share what he had taken...but imagine if it got into the hands of a person who could 'perfect' it?



The ocean breeze swept away the odd events of the morning, and Mikke was feeling chipper and bright. Raz had given him an interesting bracelet before he and Aurora had left --it would store any electric waves that came off his body and store and circulate it in the bracelet. So Mikke was all for learning to swim today! He had a short-sleeved blue top under his white shirt, and his shorts proved just fine for swimming in. Luckily, Aurora had pointed out a private portion of the beach where no one would bother or spy on them, so they had a whole large section to themselves.

When Mikke stepped onto the sands, he smiled again. "Here we are, Aeya!" he turned on his heel, bringing his wings around to cover his eyes. Hopefully Aeya was a good swimming instructor!

[Starless::Night]

(works for me! ^^)


Meive had remained silent almost the entire duration of the meeting. He knew that Lila had more knowledge of the events that had happened, especially their whole kidnapping process. Though, he didn’t expect her to reveal some information that she had chosen not to tell to her friends. This stung at Meive, but he tried his best to let it go. We have only met a short time ago, it makes sense not to trust everything you know to someone you hardly know. It was true, and he felt the same way, but he’d still, somewhere wished that she’d decided to divulge the information with him.

The youth listened closely, not having anything important to say, but still feeling that it was necessary for him to be here, to gather all the information. Everything they’d said made Meive realize that he truly didn’t know what was going on, and it drove him mad to think that he’d been wandering around blind this entire time.

Meive was mildly surprised to hear Lila’s voice swarm into his dark thoughts. Looking over at her out of the corner of his eye, his emerald gaze was cool, hiding everything he was feeling. He thought over her words carefully, making sure to in turn return wise words too.

“I believe that there are some things in this universe that are just not meant to exist. All things can be used for good, can have advantages and can even save people’s live. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. All good things have evil things to go along with it. Saving some lives, can take the lives of others’ away.” What else could the young man say. He didn’t know anything about the situation at hand, but he knew from experience that consequences of using something that could be used for good or bad.



Aeya breathed in the warm air, her mind racing with excitement. The surrounding beach was in a cove like setting, creating a private area, so no one would be able to intrude. This comforted the half-mermaid a lot, as she silently thanked Aurora for showing them the spot.

Looking at the young man standing next to her, her sapphire eyes quickly fell on the bracelet that Raz had given him. Mikke had asked the young woman after that if she wouldn’t mind teaching him to swim. She’d been taken aback at the request, but was quickly overjoyed to finally have a companion in the water.

Happily agreeing to help, she carefully thought over all the steps too swimming. It would be sort of difficult for her, since it was second nature, but she would give it her best shot. When Mikke turned to allow Aeya to undress, she quickly slid off the clothing, folding them neatly before setting them on the sand. Once again wearing her bathing suit, she quickly ran towards the crashing waves, and dove gracefully in.


Feeling her body transform with fins and tail, she popped her head out of the water, back towards the shore. A large smile planted firmly on her lips.

“Okay Mikke! Your turn!”

[||Megs||]

On the Zen-E5 Space Station...

"Captain Durve, you wished to see me?" Ger stood at the doorway, a little nervous. He wasn't exactly on Durve's good list...

"Aah, Ger! There you are...come on in." Durve said from his station by a big window, watching the near and distant stars slowly drift by. As Ger entered to stand next to him, the captain grinned. "Don't worry, Ger, you are safe--your mistake actually worked to our advantage."

"How so?"

"I've been able to track them down since they left. Lila left still wearing her uniform."

"Aah, so that's why it took so long to locate them on that desolate planet? The location device is very small and takes a while to signal back to us." Ger said, able to relax a bit more now.

"Exactly. We have just received it's latest signal that has been persistent and has not moved for many hours...it comes from a planet called Iing." Durve said, unable to hide the growing melancholy in his voice. "I have been secretly tapping into Lila's mind now and then...Zidane was forced to lift the disease or be discovered."

"So then, now what?"

Durve grinned wider still and went over to his desk, tapping a button that activated a screen that flickered into sight where the window had been. Ger instantly knew they were 'looking' through Lila's eyes.

"Now the fun truly begins. Keep an eye on that screen while I contact Zidane."


-----

Zidane peeked around before crossing over to the garden door, seeking privacy. Since no one seemed to be around, he went to stand beneath a tree and took a small device out from his pocket. He clicked it on, a grim expression on his face as he listened.

"Zidane, are all the Terain there yet?"

"Not that I can tell, sir. I believe there are more of them."

"Make sure to contact me as soon as you have the information on them. Now, I need you to kill Lila...she's getting closer to figuring it all out." Zidane paused for a moment before answering, his eyes flashing briefly.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Contact me soon."

As soon as the transmission ended, Zidane quickly hid the device back in his pocket. He leaned back against the tree, devising ways as to how to accomplish this. Durve had never said how he should do it, whether it should be a short and quick job or not....he grinned, knowing he was going to have fun with this.

[Starless::Night]

Cel had managed to sneak out of his room into the garden without being detected by anyone. Especially Kerin. It was immature of him to have reacted the way he was about the situation from earlier, and he knew it. But he still couldn’t let himself drop it, a small stinging sensation stabbing at his chest every time he thought about it. Which had eventually brought him to the garden.

He enjoyed being surrounded by nature, especially trees. Making his way over to one of the older trees, he rested his right hand against it, the carved symbols on his arm band glowing faintly as he quickly melted into the trees bark.

Seconds later, he appeared, stepping out of the trunk on a branch a little more than twenty-five feet above the ground. Sitting down, he rested up against the tree, and closed his teal eyes.

At least until he sensed someone enter the garden. Looking to see if it was Kerin, his eyes narrowed at the sight of the tall dark boy below. Recalling his name to be Zidane, Cel watched him closely, making sure to not make a sound.

When the youth pulled out a small gadget and a faint voice came from it, Cel’s suspicions went sky rocketing. He hadn’t cared much for the boy, but listening to what was going on now, his dislike was quickly turning into hatred. From the sounds of it, Zidane and whoever this sir was, was planning on killing one of the new arrivals, as well as trapping the others.

Rage boiled in the depths of Cel’s mind as he tried to stay where he was instead of attacking the kid. When the dark youth hid the gadget and sat there for a few minutes longer, Cel felt himself mentally trying to urge the kid to leave so he could find Kerin and hopefully the others in order to warn them what was going on.

He couldn’t believe that after everything he and the others had been through, that Zidane would work along side them, even if the kid was the offspring of darkness. We have to be careful with him, he’s incredibly powerful, and anything he does can be deadly.

Cel’s anger towards Kerin diminished completely, his mind on much more important matters. Like making sure Zidane got his. All he had to do was wait for the fellow to leave and Cel would be on his way, hopefully before it all went downhill.

[||Megs||]

Zidane tensed, standing upright. Someone was there with him...sharply looking up, he stared into the depths of the trees. There was no choice--he had to act, and now. He stepped away from the tree and clapped his hands a single time. Instantly the world around him seemed to fade of all color, then slowly appear again. Zidane chuckled, fading away as the color returned.

"Welcome to your nightmare, friends."



Lila agreed with Meive, and proposed this to the 'council'. Of course this brought up more talking, but Lila found it kind of amusing. It was obvious they hadn't had much to talk about for quite some time.

"It is agreed that the substance will be discarded of as soon as possible." the old man said, smiling at Meive and Lila.

"Is there anything we--" Lila began to say, but blinked as everything flashed to black and white, and back to color again.

"Welcome to your nightmare, friends."

Had that been Zidane's voice? Immediately Lila knew something was very wrong, and her mind had had brief contact with Zidane's. She was stuck in a 'nightmare' with Meive.

The council were glaring at them, slowly rising. Some were pulling out guns...

"Meive!" Lila stood quickly, not sure what to make of this. Meive, I don't know why but...Zidane has done something to all of us. From what I got from his mind, we are stuck in a 'nightmare'--

"Big brother! Help me!" it was the voice of Meive's little sibling, great pain and suffering in her voice. It was coming from the adjoining room...



Mikke, of course, was very nervous about being in the water. But with Aeya's guidance, it was like he had known how to swim all along. His wings made it nearly impossible to stay under water for long, but they acted as great flotation devices! As he was diving under the water again, something...strange happened. Aeya was in front of him, but she was suddenly devoid of nearly all color, like a black-and-white film. The ocean around them was zapped of the rich colors--and then it was back in a flash.


"Welcome to your nightmare, friends."

What the? Mikke's eyes widened as he saw something over Aeya's shoulder. He reached out and tapped her arm, and pointed. It was a...shark. Three of them, to be precise, swimming toward them in a hasty manner. But Aurora and Raz had clarified that sharks were not in this area at all! Mikke willed his wings to float him back to the surface, but he realized they weren't there. His wings were gone! Instantly he began to panic, and swallowed a mouthful of water.

-----


Unity couldn't help but laugh as Kita's jaw dropped open, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. Before her lay an open platform full of arcade games of different kids from different planets, many food courts and and little stores. This was amazing!

"Unity, this has GOT to be the best planet I have ever been on!" Kita all but squealed, her tail flicking rather cutely behind her.

"You bet! And look, there's another Bastet! And look at that, he already has his eyes on you!" the fiery-haired girl chuckled, spotting a black-and-brown furred Bastet boy looking in their direction. Unfazed, as usual, Kita waved to him with enthusiasm. It wasn't long until the boy joined them on a large combat-training stimulation platform, introducing himself as Nolan.

"You both are also Terain?" Nolan asked after taking both of their hands in turn. He was very attractive with his long black and brown hair, his fur a soft brown that ruffled slightly in the pleasant breeze. Unity gave him the thumbs-up while Kita nodded. But whatever conversation they were about to pursue was interrupted when the world around them began to fade of color. Unity instinctively grabbed Nolan and Kita, and around them sprung a fire that did not burn, but jut felt pleasant and warm. The color of her fire did not fade, and soon everything else flicked back to it's normal state. But now the three heard the very faint words of Zidane, as if they were being interrupted--probably because Unity had staved off the color-less void.

"Welcome to your nightmare, friends."

Unity's fire disappeared--luckily, none of the current residents of the game park had noticed anything at all. Her eyes burned with anger as she looked upon her two friends.

"I knew that blasted freak was a traitor!"

"What is he up to?" Nolan asked, trying to calm his own pounding heart.

"I don't know, but we barely missed it. He forgets that his darkness can't get through my blaze. Come, we'll go check up on Mikke and Aeya since they are closer." Unity began to lead the way, but Nolan gently gripped her wrist and set a hand on Kita's shoulder.

"Why walk when I can teleport?" he grinned, and there was a brief moment where everything zapped by in a flash--but then they were suddenly standing on the beach. Unity sucked in her breath in startlement when she saw Mikke floating, unconscious, on the water. Oh no, that meant....as if they were all on the same channel (which they probably were), Nolan darted further up the beach for the discarded towels and Kita and Unity waded into the water after kicking their shoes off. Though Kita had to tamp down her fear of being in such a deep vast area of water, she gently grabbed Mikke around the waist--he had luckily been floating on his back-- and began to lead him back to shore.

Unity dived under the water, already feeling faint from being in it for so long. But there she was--the mermaid. Unity wrapped her arm around Aeya's waist and they soon burst into the cool air as their heads surfaced. Luckily for her, Aeya was still breathing!

Nolan politely looked away as Aeya began to transform back as she was set on a spread-out towel. "I have notified the base, and it has come to my attention that the ones called Cel, Kerin, Lila and Meive are all unconscious and in the infirmary. Cel was found at the base of the tree with numerous cuts and bruises, as if he fell out of the tree. Kerin was just found clonked out, and Lila and Meive just 'fainted' while at a meeting with the council." The male Bastet reported with his eyes closed, as if he were communicating with someone. "Jerry asks what happened and where the others are."

Unity covered Aeya with a towel, and gently brushed the wet black locks of her hair away from her face. She hadn't gulped any water down, and was breathing without interruption.

"Jerry is the old man that leads the council, right? Well, tell him it had something to do with Zidane, and we need them to come get Mikke and Aeya. It seems that they are in a deep sleep, but with what we heard Zidane say...I think they have no idea that they are unconscious."

Kita suddenly gasped, going pale. "Oh no...Raz and Aurora went solar surfing today...which means if they blacked out while way up there..." Nolan turned with worry in his eyes, kneeling down by Mikke to make sure he was fairing well.

"The infirmary staff from the base will be here within minutes. I propose we go check up on Raz and Aurora." he gently took Kita's hand upon standing, and Unity stood as well and gently griped his shoulder. Then they were gone, off to a sight that would give them nightmares...

-----

Zidane stood between the beds that held Lila and Meive, one hand on each of their foreheads. The nurses didn't even know he was there--they were preparing four more beds and had already made Meive and Lila as comfortable as possible.

The others would wake up once Zidane escaped in a space ship...but he still had to kill Lila. And why not do it in her dreams? The boy chuckled then. Lila would be the only one who didn't wake up when he was far out of reach and joining up with the captain again. A bright grin settled on Zidane's lips--this would be fun. Especially when, in this dream state, everyone could join together in the same dream and still not really know if they were knocked out or not. Sure, they'd figure it out eventually...but by the time they did, he'd be long gone.


But Zidane had no idea that Unity, Kita, and Nolan had avoided his dream state nightmare.


(When I see you on messenger again, we'll talk about how to get Cel and Kerin more involved in this nightmare stuff. I don't know them as well as the others, so I wasn't sure what to do with them. Talk to ya later, and soon I hope! Have fun >3!)

[Starless::Night]

Cel didn’t even have time to fully prepare himself for Zidane’s attack. The world surrounding them suddenly seemed to go black and white, every other colour fading away, as if being drained by some force.

He’d only managed to sink back into the trunk of the large tree before it happened. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed since the traitor of a boy had disappeared, but Cel felt weird, sinking down to ground level. His mission was to find Kerin, and then the others, hopefully before anything else happened to them.


Kerin sat on the edge of her bed twisting a thin metal wire in the palm of her small hand with an invisible force. A sad look washed over her features, as she sighed and twisted to lay on her stomach across the mattress. It had been a couple of hours since the whole incident had happened and Cel still seemed to be more upset about it then ever.

The young woman didn’t know why it bugged her so much, other than the fact that he was the only real friend she had here, and all the mean things she did to him. Her violet eyes widened as something finally dawned on her. Shooting to her feet, the ruby haired maiden was just about to exit her room, when Zidane’s voice echoed into her head. His words confused her, but at the same time sent a series of chills down her back.

All time seemed to freeze for a split second, before everything returned to normal. Quickly pulling the door open, she made her way towards the garden area. Upon entering, she froze in midstep. The garden was no longer enclosed, but expanded onwards a good degree. Walking further in, she looked around, trying to catch some sign of Cel, knowing that the youth would be out here.

As more time passed, and she wandered further into the vast garden, Kerin desperation quickly started growing. A few minutes earlier, the young woman had noticed that there was no sound, not even the noise of the grass bending beneath her feet.

Beginning to lose control of reason, Kerin started yelling out Cel’s name, in hopes that maybe he would come to her if he heard her voice. Turning to look farther out into the field, she saw his faint figure, which sent a wave of relief over her. Running towards him, she came to notice that she wasn’t getting any closer. Fearful, she once again started calling out his name, but no matter how loud she yelled, he didn’t stop, or hear her.

Hot tears filled her violet eyes as they finally broke and fell down her cold cheeks in rivlets. She never thought that it would happen, that he would ever actually leave her. He knew the one thing above everything else that the young woman couldn’t stand was to be alone. And he’d promised to never leave her.


Cel reached the door leading inside, and pulled it open quickly. When his teal blue eyes came to rest on what was inside the room, his entire body froze. In the middle of the chamber was a large metal surgical table, with a tray of sharp objects and viles resting next to it. A cold sweat broke out over his body as memories of the past crashed into his mind’s eye. Closing the door, he desparately began backing away, turning around and running as far and fast as he could.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been running, or that he was still somehow in the garden, until his mind was stopped enough to process what might be going on. Stopping he looked around and realized the garden wasn’t the same anymore. I have to find Kerin, I need to get out of here!


Meive heard Lila’s voice vaguely as the darkness seemed to engulf them for a second, than the council members around them started pulling out weapons. Immediately on guard, the young man stood and made to stand protectively in front of Lila. At least until he heard a familiar voice.

His mouth dropped open slightly, as his entire mind was thrown off guard by the voice of his younger sister. Temporarily forgetting about the danger in front of him, he walked over to a door and opening it, found his sister Tara kneeling in the center of the small room. Her hands covered her face as her back heaved heavily.

“Big brofa! They won’t weafe me awone!” Meive stared at the girl, confused. He knew that she wasn’t supposed to be there, or what she was talking about. But the distress in her voice ripped at his heart, until he forced himself to take a step forward into the next chamber.


Aeya stayed a close distance to Mikke, in case he needed her for anything. She was overjoyed to find that he was in fact a very skilled swimmer. The instincts kicking in well in the short time they’d been in the water.

It was amazing to see him swimming gracefully a short distance under the water with the wings folded neatly behind him, the feathers spreading out and swaying gently in the current. When a young man’s voice suddenly broke into their happy bliss, Aeya couldn’t help but start to panic. At least a little.

Looking over to Mikke, her sapphire eyes went wide in shock. The young teenager’s wings were gone. Somehow disappeared in the three seconds her mind had been distracted. When she saw him pointing over her shoulder, she twirled around and felt her heart stop in her chest. Whipping back around she noticed that Mikke had started panicking.

Trying to regain control of herself as much as possible, she at least understood and knew that she wasn’t going to let anything happen to Mikke, especially in the water, where she had promised him it was safe to be. Swimming up to him, she wrapped her finned arms around his waist and using her powerful tail swam towards the surface, which suddenly seemed a lot farther up than before.

[||Megs||]

Zidane suddenly appeared behind Meive's little sister, setting a hand on her head and grinning wickedly. The girl screamed in terrible pain as black, thorny vines wrapped around her, squeezing her...and pulling her down into a black hole that rippled like water. It was obvious Zidane wasn't solid--he would fade every so often.

"Well, what will it be Meive? Save your sister, who may or may not actually be real...or save my sister?" the boy chuckled, pointing over Meive's shoulder to where Lila was in the other room, where gunfire suddenly exploded into their eardrums. With that Zidane faded, but the quivering pool of darkness remained.


Lila ducked as several bullets blasted over her head and hit the window, showering glass all over her. She winced as she got cut several time--but she had to act, with or without Meive. With cat-like agility she dived out the window, rolling over whatever glass glinted from the wild grass and came to a halt within the cover of the trees that lined the outside of the building. It took her a moment to figure she had been shot, right in her right shoulder. The council leaned out the window, shooting wildly. Lila rolled behind a tree and winced as the bullets pinged against the tough wood, trying to catch her breath.

What was going on? If this was a dream...then why was she in pain?

[Starless::Night]

Meive stood frozen in his tracks, staring coldly at the young boy who stood behind his baby sister. If looks had the ability to kill, they most definitely would have killed Zidane, his transparent figure fading in and out every so often. Rage was coursing through the young man’s veins, as he watched his sister disappear in a scream of fear.

When Zidane vanished, Meive remained where he was, lost in the decision he was forced to make. Zidane was right, Meive didn’t know if the vision of his sister was true or not, and he knew that he didn’t want to find out if it was, but he couldn’t leave Lila by herself either.

He was just about to jump into the black pool where Tara had disappeared when the sound of gunshots echoed around him. Once again freezing in his place, he whipped around quickly, staring into the other room. Clenching his fists and jaw, and turned on his heel and ran into the room that Lila and the council members had been in. I’m sorry Tara, but I can’t take the risk of you not being real and losing the only other person I care for.

Arriving in the room, his emerald eyes immediately fell on the blood on the floor, as well as the council members who stood at the window shooting their guns. Letting the rage from earlier flow through him, he let the stream of time warp around them, before setting off on his attack. He wasn’t going to lose Lila too, not if he could do anything about it.

[||Megs||]

There was blood...everywhere.

At least that was what Kita thought when they blinked into sight behind a group of medics, but it turned out to be some kind of spray they were issuing out of thin canisters. There were small fires around the landing pad (where solar surfers landed and took off at certain spots) and scatterings of split-up boards. The spray seemed to tame the fire and the electrical shocks that were coming out of the boards. Unity and Nolan spotted them at the same time--the two hovering stretchers with Unity and Raz on them. They brushed around the medics, avoiding their calls and spray.

Raz had his eyes half open, his breathing smooth and relaxed. Kita looked down at him in worry, but his eyes lit up in recognition of a friend.

"K...Kita," he said slowly, as if he were too tired to push the words out. "What...happened?"

"Zidane...he did something to us. But Unity protected us from...whatever it was. But whatever he did, it's been leaving the Terains' unconscious. I don't really know," Kita felt helpless, not able to give the correct information. Unity came to stand by Kita after checking on Aurora, taking a deep breath.

"I think I do."

-----

Zidane's laughter went off in Meive's head maliciously. In this dream state, Meive was under his control...! The time warp Meive had pulled up around the council literally backfired, wrapping around him and showing no signs of listening to him anymore. The council furrowed their brows at Meive, who was moving so slow one could hardly tell. One of them turned their gun to Meive, pulling the trigger--

--but the shot was pushed to the side, barely missing Meive and his time-warp bubble by fractions of an inch as Lila dived over the shooters, pulling the one who was trying to kill Meive down with her. The bubble was suddenly gone around Meive, and he would probably feel that his powers were now no longer accessible, as if they were temporarily locked away. Before the other council members could react, Lila grabbed onto Meive's ankle, and she closed her eyes as her mind worked furiously to change their dream setting....

They were suddenly on a beach, the waves lapping at the shore with such calmness that it seemed almost unreal. Lila gasped and rolled onto her back, clutching below her injured shoulder, a headache throbbing behind her temples. Since they were in a dream, in their own minds, they did still have most of the control, with or without Zane's powers to snap at the every step of the way. But it had taken a ton of effort to 'transport' them to the first spo that had come to mind...where Mikke had spoken on taking Aeya to the beach.

-----

Mikke tried to stay calm as Aeya swam them toward the surface, but it was agonizing how long it seemed to be taking. The water he had swallowed intensified the burning he felt in his throats and his lungs...and just when he was about to pass out from the pressure, their heads broke the surface. Maybe he was dreaming, but...was that Meive and Lila out on the beach? He tried to use his wings to help him float, but remembered he suddenly didn't have them. He coughed up water, finally getting it out to draw in air.

...Oh yeah, sharks were after them. Mikke made sure Aeya was still with him, the fright apparent in his eyes. Would they make it to the shore in time?