Midsummer Shadows

[Skarx]

As she got back to the clearing she immediatly had to leave, though she noticed Sen was covered in mud and dirt. While she wanted to get closer to him she didn't really get a chance and didn't want to seem too... attached to the boy. She silently walked as ordered to and not complaining anymore. When they got closer to the gate she saw the creatures pulling the carriage. What... in all hell was that!? She just stared at these creature not knowing what to say. Bat winged horse... like these Nightmare stories she had read about. Was... were they nightmare? Did they really exists? When she heard a door open she came back to the reality and looked at the cage they were getting in. Great.

 

She climbed in the biggest the swordsman was telling them to go and sat near Sen. They ex-captor had said something about plants... and Sen was covered in dirt and he could speak with plants. There was one way to know.

 

"Hey... Sen what happened to you? You're all dirty."

 

She quickly brushed some more dirt from his hairs to prove it. Then smile to him.

 

"Or maybe you had a suddent urge to roll on the ground."

 

Since they were stuck in a cage now she might as well TRY and be nicer to the other two. Though she glared at them. They were so close... she then noticed that both of them had silverish or gray hair. Funny. Where they the same kind of hybrid? Sen and her had green hairs, maybe they had the same kind too, but she could not speak with plants...

[RheaZen]

Sen shivered a little when he saw the carts, but he stopped shivering and his eyes widened when he saw what was to be pulling the carts, and the other ones that were standing not far off. In the short amount of time he had before he had to enter into the carriage, he looked the creatures carefully up and down, noting down their distinctive features. Horns, strange wings, a seemingly impossibly dark coat of black on some of them, the colors of the others... SO COOL! How do they work? I mean, can they actually fly? That's insane! They shouldn't be... but I was just dragged underground by plants, so who knows. Does that mean there will be other creatures like that?! Do the creatures of myth actually exist?

 

Even after the creatures were out of sight, Sen was so preoccupied with wild thoughts and theories that he hardly noticed that Sophia had started talking to him. It was only after she'd brushed some dirt off of him that he blinked, the gleam fading from his eye. He shook his head, returning to reality.

 

"Or maybe you had a sudden urge to roll on the ground."

 

Sen blinked again. He'd missed the first thing she'd said, but presumably she was wondering about why he was covered in dirt. He pursed his lips, trying to think of a relatively sane way to describe what had happened, but gave up in a matter of milliseconds and told her what had occurred as plainly as he could. "Uuuh... it was kind of odd, really. I was feeling sorry for myself, so I was whining a bit. Some plants asked me whether I wanted to really get away, and i said yes, so they pulled me underground." He paused, then added, "It wasn't actually all that scary. It was rather wet, but kinda... snug. And quieter than on the surface."

 

He sat down and slumped, then yelped as he discovered how splintery the benches were. He rubbed his butt - today wasn't a good day for his arse, was it? - and then carefully inspected the seat for any more splinters before sitting down again. Wrinkling his nose, he noted a rather... stale and old smell. Like what they were sitting in wasn't used much. Not that that'd be a surprise, as this thing's kinda rickety. I sure wouldn't use this on a regular basis.

 

Looking around, he waved meekly at the others in the carriage. Might as well get this over with... looks like we might be stuck like this for a while. He cleared his throat, then spoke. "Uh, hi, I'm Sen. Since it seems like we're all stuck like this, it might be better if we got to know each other and at least tried to get along...

[myahoo]

“At that clearing where you were hiding, there are nine total, not including them. I don’t know how many others of your kind there are, but right now there are four. And hopefully, none of them are like her.”

 

Mark 'hmmed' and continued walking, going over what he knew. It was something concrete to think about and more useful than trying to guess what would happen next. So there're four other people, most likely teens, that are 'my kind' and five others that are 'his kind.' And that last part would have to mean that he hasn't really spoken with them. When he reached the clearing, the first thing he noticed was that the green-haired boy was now covered in mud and dirt, sitting beside a hole in the ground. Mark blinked, before deciding that he didn't want to know. He followed the other swordsman to the edge of the park, perking up in interest when he saw what was there. Things are definitely getting interesting.

 

Glancing briefly at the carriages, Mark turned his gaze towards the horse-like creatures standing in front of them. Four of them were hitched up to the carriages and they looked like horses, but the small goat horns on their heads said otherwise. What really roused his curiosity, though, were the five elegant, not-quite horses that stood away from the carriages. Their dignified stance practically screamed that they were riding creatures, not to be restricted by anything. Bat wings were nestled at their sides, which told Mark that these were another group of creatures that came from the world that he was just entering. I wonder if 'his kind' use these things like horses. And if they started flying, how would the other people stay on?

 

Wondering if it was worth it to say something, he decided not to comment and readily entered the carriage he was pointed towards. Placing his back to a wall and facing the door of the carriage, he listened as the green-haired boy and girl spoke to each other, absently noting the musty, unused smell of the carriage. With a pang of sadness, he noticed how the girl treated the boy like a sibling, before turning to look out a window and burying the thoughts of his own brother. He turned his attention to the boy again when he addressed everyone else, ignoring the glare the girl sent in his general direction.

 

"Uh, hi, I'm Sen. Since it seems like we're all stuck like this, it might be better if we got to know each other and at least tried to get along..."

 

"I suppose you're right, Sen," Mark sighed. "The name's Mark. It's not short for anything, so..." He shrugged. "It's just Mark."

[SandMessiah]

When Clay saw the carriages, he quickly noticed that one of them was just a box. "Ah crud" lowly muttered Clay as he turned his attention the horses that moved them. But as Clay's eyes turned to the horse, his mouth dropped, and out came the words "what in the hell?" He noticed the horns, the black fur and black wings, and was convinced they were not horses at all. He couldn't believe his eyes, how could creatures like these exist?

 

“You, You go in this one, and the rest of you go in the bigger one. And no, there aren’t any plants in there, so no worries.”

 

Clay noticed Tristen pointing at him, then the smaller carriage. Clay looked at Tristen and thought "You have got to be kidding me." But he knew that it would only please him, so he turned to Tristen and said with a mocking smirk "Sweet, i get my own carriage, and i thought you hated my kind." As Clay made his way to the smaller carriage, he noticed that some of the others were doing introductions. Clay shook his head and entered the carriage, he wasn't going to give any of his names to these people unless he had to.

 

Once he entered inside however, his face told another story. He covered his face with his hand once he smelled the inside of the carriage. "JESUS CHRIST!" Shouted Clay into his hand, the smell was overwhelming him. He decided to breath through his mouth, and let go of his face. The air tasted bad, but it was better then through his nose. He sat on one of the wooden bench, which was already rotten. Clay looked up and saw a small slit, and he knew once the door closed, that was going to be his light. In other words, he wasn't going to know where he was heading.

Edited January 28, 2010 by SandMessiah

[Skarx]

When Sen tried to explain his experience to her she didn’t know what to think. Just like he said it was odd…

 

”Wow… I guess plants take everything literally… Could you at least breathe under there? If you did it’s a great way to escape a pursuer…”

 

When the boy suddenly yelped and rubbed his butt from something she laughs a bit. He was so unpredictable, but seemed so nice. She looked at the others as Sen spoke to them.

 

"Uh, hi, I'm Sen. Since it seems like we're all stuck like this, it might be better if we got to know each other and at least tried to get along...”

 

The gray haired boy answered him. She did feel a bit guilty of having snapped out at him for no reason, but she was not about to say she was sorry.

 

"I suppose you're right, Sen. The name's Mark. It's not short for anything, so... It's just Mark.

 

Well he didn’t seem so bad. Maybe she could talk to him in new terms now and she never did introduce herself to anyone else than the green haired boy.

 

“My name is Sophia. Do you know what kind of fearie hybrid you are? Sen is one related to plant.”

She looked at Sen. “Since you can speak and interact with them.”

 

She tried to get herself in a more confortable position, but in this cage it seemed rather futile... not that much space in it and since they were not leaving now there was probably more coming their way. More hybrid like them. She looked at her skin. She was not sure what kind of fearie hybrid she could be. How many different kind was there? If she tried to related her blood to her dream the one place that seemed safe was the pond. Not next to it, but inside of it. Under the water. Was she related to water? Was that why she was stuck with a hard to miss wierd skin? She looked around, but found no water to try and test her luck on it. She sigh.

[jaina]

Shirayuki quietly climbed aboard the carriage without complaint. The carriage had hard, solid, and very uncomfortable bench seats that all of them, bar two were being herded into. She wasn't exactly sure how she should feel about this. She would possibly be getting the answers she wanted, but she was being taken away without any real say in what was happening.

 

When a girl in the carriage announced her name was Sophia, and that the green haired boy was Sen, she nodded to each of them before saying, "It would probably be nice to meet you under different circumstances, but for now, I'm not sure. My name is Shirayuki, but you can call me 'Shira' or 'Snow' for short."

 

[Mangaholic]

Kiril started in surprise as he watched a huge ball of mud flying toward Emilia. It was strangely in slow motion, from the time it left Carlie’s hand to when it struck Emilia on her left forearm. As soon as the mud hit its mark, time seemed to resume to normal pace once more. Carlie bent down once more, gathering up mud that would potentially be thrown at Breckin. In a second, Kiril flitted to Emilia’s side and grabbed her wrist before she could reach back and pull an arrow from her quiver. She hissed angrily and tried to wrench her arm from his grip, but he kept hold onto it tightly. He could feel her trembling uncontrollably with rage, and he knew that the moment he released her, Emilia would loose an arrow on Carlie. It didn’t matter where it hit. They couldn’t afford to bring back someone who was more crippled than he already was.

 

“Calm down, Emilia,” Kiril hissed under his breath. ”It’s not a great idea to be impaling these kids with your arrows, at least not yet.”

 

Emilia stopped struggling, but her blue eyes retained their angry blaze. ”Fine then, but they do prove useless to us, I get dibs on killing the mud monster.”

 

Kiril nodded, before switching his attention to Carlie once more. He didn’t look at Breckin to see if the mud had hit its target. ”So what is your answer, then?” he asked loudly, preparing himself to have another mud ball flying at his head. ”Or are you going to keep frolicking in the mud like some child?”

 

He wasn’t sure if his words would ignite the boy’s anger again, but if Carlie hated being called a child, he probably wasn’t going to resort to flinging mud at people again. If I pulled my sword out now, would he immediately surrender, or would he take it as a challenge to fight?

 

Whatever Emilia said, Kiril was still certain that she would loose one of her arrows on Carlie the moment her hand was free. Maybe she wouldn’t shoot him right through the skull, but she probably wouldn’t let the chance to pin both of his feet down with her arrows slip through her fingers either.

 

------------------------------

 

As soon as the last of them, the Asian hybrid named Shirayuki, had entered the large carriage, Tristen shut the doors, before turning to the Dark hybrid, who had given him a mocking smirk.

 

"Sweet, I get my own carriage, and I thought you hated my kind."

 

Tristen didn’t answer, at least not until the Dark boy had entered the cart. Then, he watched the boy’s face contort in disgust as the disgusting stench of the cart hit his nostrils. A wide sneer split Tristen’s face. “Whoever said that you were getting this for your own?” he laughed scornfully, somehow managing not to breathe in the putrid scent of the carriage.

 

As the words left his mouth, Brunor was placing the unconscious raven girl on the opposite side of the boy. The blood in her hair had dried and crusted, but a thin stream of crimson liquid continued to trickle out of the corner of her mouth. Her hands, both upon her lap, glistened with blood. Her pale face, disheveled black hair, and bloody hands gave her the impression of some angry ghost from one of those horror movies.

 

“There’s dear Branwen here to keep you company. Just be careful when she wakes up, though. She might tear your heart out too,” Tristen added with a venomous snarl, before slamming the doors shut with an deafening slam. No sooner had he done so did he feel a hand upon his shoulder. He nearly jumped in surprise, and whirled around to see that his addresser was Belinos. Before he could say anything, Belinos spoke up.

 

“Tristen, could you take Rhiannon’s motorcycle and make sure that she and Hadyn get home safely please?”

 

Tristen glanced at Hadyn, who was probably looking sheepish because he had taken the motorcycles instead of riding his own steed. Rhiannon was standing beside him, looking pale and half-dead.

 

“What about Arod?” Tristen argued, meaning the silver stallion. “Why don’t you get someone else to take them home? I’m not their babysitter or anything.”

 

Belinos stared at him, looking rather puzzled. “What’s your real reason for not wanting to do so?” he asked sternly.

 

Tristen froze, unsure of what to say. He could see Hadyn watching him out of the corner of his eye, and he could imagine the red-haired boy laughing his head inside. Finally, he muttered lowly beneath his breath, “She doesn’t need me. She’s got Hadyn. I’m pretty much useless to her.”

 

Just as he had predicted, Hadyn snorted with laughter, but under Belinos’ gaze, Tristen didn’t dare to glare at the teen, as much as he wanted to. “You’re not useless,” answered Belinos, “so just take them home, and don’t think too much about it.”

 

“And don’t worry about Arod either,” Hadyn added, managing to compose his face. ”He can find his way home. He’s smarter than you, you know.”

 

“Shut up,” Tristen retorted. “Just tell me where the freaking motorcycles are so we can leave.”

 

“Sure thing,” replied Hadyn, as he dragged Rhiannon by the wrist toward wherever the bikes were parked. Tristen sighed and glanced at his stallion, whose expression seemed to look exasperated, before following after the two teens.

[RheaZen]

Sen waved cheerfully. "Hiya, Mark! Hiya Snow!" He cocked his head to one side, then turned to address Sophia. "To escape? Oh, shoot, you're right! Why didn't I think of that earlier?" He banged his head against the carriage wall behind him, frustrated. "Gah! Faeries? Faerie hybrids? Bah. And to be stuck with a plant one, too. Why can't I have been something cool, like... fire, or thunder, or something? Or do faeries only have nature-themed sorta breeds?" He looked around at the others in the carriage. "What do you think?"

 

While Sen listened, waiting for the others to talk, he though. Damn, I could have escaped and I didn't! I wonder how deep down I can get. Only as far as the plants can get, I suppose. How long are grass roots? Not too long, but tree roots... but, hm. If I am going to be stuck like this and have plant-themed powers, I should try to think of ways to use them. Maybe it'll get me out of this situation. But I wonder what my folks would think about me permanently having green hair. I could always run off and become a farmer... ha. Right, plant-themed powers. Seems like I can make plants do things, and I can talk to them. I wonder what is classified as a plant, in concerns to these powers. Ah, too much to think about, need to stop and find a starting point.... ha, stop and start. Silly sentence, isn't it? Or would it be wasn't it? Damn, now I'm digressing...

[SandMessiah]

“Whoever said that you were getting this for your own?”

 

Clay quickly looked at Tristen, who laughed scornfully at him. His teeth began to show in a very angry and aggressive manner. "Nobody laughs at me like that and gets away with it!" Thought Clay as he tried to get up. But what he saw change his face from angry to a slightly fearful gaze. He saw a person being placed on the opposite side of him. It was a girl, around his age. But her hair was covered in dry blood, and the corner of her mouth was still bleeding. Her hands were also covered in blood, all of this made Clay mutter "Dear god..."

 

“There’s dear Branwen here to keep you company. Just be careful when she wakes up, though. She might tear your heart out too."

 

Suddenly, the door closed in a deafening slam. Clay sat there in almost utter darkness, quiet and still. Suddenly, he got up and began to bang on the door. His anger renewed, he shouted at the top of his lungs "Don't think you'll get away with assaulting her, if i ever see you again I'll kill you, I'LL *** KILL YOU!" As the last of his anger began to disappear, his exhaustion finally caught up with him. He made his way to the bench and sat down.

 

He looked at the girl again, and began to feel sorry for her. He knew that a girl should never suffer such a beating as horrible as that. He then looked around the carriage, besides the little light that came from the roof, it was totally dark. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he adjusted his position. He lied horizontally on the bench with his eyes now looking at the floor. He wasn't angry or sad, he was just plain tired...and he just needed to rest his eyes for a few moments. He closed his eyes and drifted into a light sleep, oblivious to the carriage and it's smell.

Edited January 29, 2010 by SandMessiah

[myahoo]

Mark crossed his arms as the girl sitting next to Sen introduced herself, noting that this was the girl who had snapped at him earlier. He made sure to remember her name, so that he could get back at her in some way later on, and blinked when she mentioned faeries. Distantly, he noted that the white-haired girl's name was Shirayuki, but most of his thoughts were focused on the words 'faerie hybrid.' She better not be joking about this. It's childish, even for her. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he observed how she shifted and sighed, but they indicated nothing about a lie. Turning his full attention towards the both of them, he watched as Sen hit his head against the wall, listening as Sen complained about which faerie hybrid he was.

 

"Gah! Faeries? Faerie hybrids? Bah. And to be stuck with a plant one, too. Why can't I have been something cool, like... fire, or thunder, or something? Or do faeries only have nature-themed sorta breeds? What do you think?"

 

Looking down, he contemplated what he just heard. Sen believes her... He looked at said person. Well, okay, maybe he's not the best person to trust. However, they seem to have been here longer than I have. And they probably had more interaction with 'his kind,' so they might have more of an idea of what's going on...

 

"What are you guys talking about?" Mark asked, as he looked back up, still slightly bewildered by the mention of fictional creatures. "What do faeries have to do with this? And what do you mean faerie hybrids?"

 

[jaina]

"What do faeries have to do with this? And what do you mean faerie hybrids?"

 

Shira listened quietly to this before taking a deep breath to explain. "While we were waiting for the rest of out cheery little group to get rounded up by them, I took some time and tried to speak to some of them, though it might not have been the best idea, the one I talked to was fairly straight forward." Shira replied calmly, she was doing her best to give a detailed explanation of what she had experienced. "The one I spoke to said they were all part of a group called Umbralatronis. They even said they're not really human, though I kind of doubt that. They also said, that the reason for everything that's been happening to us, like out hair and eyes changing are caused because all of us are part faerie. Unfortunately I didn't really get any more out of them before their leader got back and cut off the conversation." she finished. She had related it as best she could, she might have had a few facts out of order, but she was fairly certain she had most everything else right. "whether you believe me or not is up to you, but given this information came from the people who are more or less kidnapping us, I'm a bit dubious about it as well." Shira added quickly.

Edited January 30, 2010 by jaina

[MURDERcomplexx]

Being the second to be targeted, Breckin saw the mud coming a mile away. Scoffing somewhat and sidestepping, the ball grazed the edge of his chest, narrowly avoiding what could have been a much more irritating outcome.

He cast an apathetic glance toward Carlie's condescending expression and brushed the drying mud off the already dark hoodie.

"How childish."

 

Interested in the new arrival though, Breckin let his ochre eyes settle on Emilia, restrained from unleashing a bitter rage upon the boy. Which, of course, was something Breckin wouldn't mind seeing, but even he knew Carlie had some kind of importance to their cause.

Not for long he hoped.

He watched the two oddities exchange a conversation he could hardly hear, but the jist of it all quickly settled upon them.

Impatiently, he began to fidget. How much time would they waste?

[myahoo]

"Whether you believe me or not is up to you, but given this information came from the people who are more or less kidnapping us, I'm a bit dubious about it as well."

 

Mark nodded, listening calmly as Shira explained what she could. As she finished, he couldn't help but grin faintly at her last sentence. Who wouldn't be skeptical about what he'd just heard? It was just so far out there, it was ridiculous. Seriously, faeries? Or, better yet, faerie hybrids? And humans who weren't humans, but Umbralatronis(whatever those were)? He would have laughed, if he wasn't actually considering the idea. Although there was no other logical explanation for their color changes, there was no proof either. He sighed, shaking his head at the weirdness of the situation he found himself in. Reluctantly, he accepted the explanation for the time being.

 

"Okaay. I...suppose I could accept that," Mark stated, dubiously. His mind wandered to the reason (More like lack of reason.) they were sitting in the carriage. "But, that doesn't explain why they'd need to kidnap us. Couldn't they have just told us and then let us on our way?" He looked down, thinking. It doesn't make any sense. I think I'm missing something... Accidentally wondering aloud, he mumbled, "What's so special about us?"

[jaina]

"What's so special about us?"

 

Shira could only shrug in response as she said, "I don't know, our conversation got cut short when the one who seems to be in charge arrived, and he said we'd get answers, but I'm not sure." Her mood seemed to drop a little as she spoke, nothing about their situation could even possibly be considered good, other then the fact that they hadn't been outright killed. She looked up, scanning the faces of everyone in the carriage, committing them to memory, just in case. She wondered just how long this torturous process would continue for them.

[Skarx]

When Sen hit his head on the wall she wondered if he had hurt himself, but it seemed like he had not since he looked quite fine. She found finny his sudden realization of a use for his power.

 

"Gah! Faeries? Faerie hybrids? Bah. And to be stuck with a plant one, too. Why can't I have been something cool, like... fire, or thunder, or something? Or do faeries only have nature-themed sorta breeds? What do you think?"

 

She thought about it a bit.

 

“Well it is rather nice to have a power linked to plants; there is a lot of it in the world. As for the breed… I truly don’t know. I don’t really know what I would be. Judging from my skin maybe something linked to water, but I could be wrong.”

 

When Mark asked what the fearie had to do with this he was quickly answered by Shira.

 

"While we were waiting for the rest of out cheery little group to get rounded up by them, I took some time and tried to speak to some of them, though it might not have been the best idea, the one I talked to was fairly straight forward. The one I spoke to said they were all part of a group called Umbralatronis. They even said they're not really human, though I kind of doubt that. They also said, that the reason for everything that's been happening to us, like out hair and eyes changing are caused because all of us are part faerie. Unfortunately I didn't really get any more out of them before their leader got back and cut off the conversation. Whether you believe me or not is up to you, but given this information came from the people who are more or less kidnapping us, I'm a bit dubious about it as well."

 

After the long speech Sophia remained silent, thinking. True the fact that this information came from these thugs didn’t help her believe it. For all she knew it could be a way to calm them. But a good part was hard not to believe…

 

“You know… the fact that we may not be completely human may have some truth in it. You guys didn’t change to be that strange, but my skin became blue and that unconscious girl has feathers and I swear she had some strange feathery thing in the back of her top. Sen talk to plant and get dragged underground. Part of it must be true and the more I see the more I can’t deny what they say even if I hate it.” She stopped to breathe a bit. She disliked having such less control over her situation. “The only part I can’t believe is them having good intention. They are violent and unkind. To them we’re little more than dirt they seem forced to interact with and left alive!”

 

She looked at them. She didn’t what else to say. They knew nothing and were now forced to travel together with them. She managed to find a good position in a corner and looked at the other two carefully. She disliked the girl and Mark was not in her esteem for now. She knew she should have apologized for her outbreak before but there was no way she was going to do so. When they added something more she gave them a quick answer.

 

“It would seem that they need us alive for something. That they cannot do it themselves and depends on us. Who knows what it is though.”

 

 

 

Edited February 1, 2010 by Skarx

[RheaZen]

"What's so special about us?"

 

"I don't know, our conversation got cut short when the one who seems to be in charge arrived, and he said we'd get answers, but I'm not sure."

 

Sen blinked. "Hm... well, we could always try a little process of elimination. We've all the time in the world at the moment. We've only got a bit of information, but it's probably more than enough to narrow down the list of "why are they kidnapping us?" They obviously don't like us, especially the, uh..." He tried to look out of the cart. "Those others. Yet, even though they don't like us, they seem unwilling to kill us. Then there's also the strange things that have started happening recently. The murders in the park, for one." He sat down again, having given up trying to spot the black-haired girl and the guy who'd tried to dig him up earlier.

[myahoo]

Mark listened to each of the others as they offered their opinions and what they knew. He noticed that Shira was the most straight-forward, giving direct answers and keeping her responses concise. Sophia seemed a bit touchy and tense, but he waved that off as a result of the situation. Sen, however, seemed pretty calm and tried to look out of the cart before sitting down again.

 

Sorting through the information that they gave, he took out what he thought to be the main points and remembered those. Right, so evidence that 'his kind' are telling the truth: Sophia's skin turned blue, the unconscious girl has feathers, and Sen can talk to plants. Reasons we are sitting in this cart right now: they need us alive to do something that they can't and they don't like us. He could feel his frustration mounting; a combination of crankiness from lack of sleep and irritability from lack of answers causing his patience to wear thin. Oh yeah, can't forget. They haven't told us what's going on, and there're no benefits that I can see, besides information. Mark growled in frustration, annoyed at his situation, but, for some reason, not wanting to leave it. He took a deep breath, reached up with his right hand, and started to fiddle with the cloud pendant on his necklace, as he turned towards the window again. He could almost feel the frustration draining out of him as his fingers rubbed the familar edges and grooves, and he was left feeling tired from emotional roller coaster he had been through, so far.

 

"So we're basically stuck in this cart until they feel like opening it, in the park that was closed due to murders?" Mark turned and dropped his hand, hoping they wouldn't ask, while traces of tired annoyance flitted through his words. "They could have at least given us some answers before closing that door." A thought crossed his mind, causing him to pause, before looking at the door. "Is that even locked?"

[Walker]

Lakshmi shivered and drew the blanket up higher. The house was unbelievably chilly today. Even after she had turned up the thermostat and covered herself in layers of blankets, it seemed as if she was going to freeze to death. There was no real explanation for the chill seeping into her bones, but it didn’t really matter all that much. She was just happy to be here, back in her father’s house in America. A few chills were worth the price. She turned her head away from the blaringly bright television to look at her father, sitting on the sofa next to her. He had a head of messy red hair that looked as if it hadn’t been combed in ages. There was a layer of stubble on his chin because he hadn’t bothered to shave this morning. He seemed to sense his daughter’s eyes on him and turned to face her too. His eyes were a beautiful shade of blue that Lakshmi could get lost in…

 

“Hon? Did you hear me? I asked if you were ready for bed.” Her father repeated slowly. He didn’t seem too bothered at repeating himself. He was used to doing it when Lakshmi was around.

 

Lakshmi looked around the darkening room and smiled. She was having too much fun to go to sleep. She didn’t want to miss a single minute of the time she had in America. Being a little tired was worth the joy she got out of being near her father, drinking in his presence and his love. She shook her head furiously in response. She did not want to retreat to her lonely room with only Beatrix for company. As if in response to this stray passing thought, Beatrix sat up from her position on the floor and looked at Lakshmi with a cocked head. A small whine escaped between the large dog’s lips as she examined Lakshmi with her large shining eyes. Beatrix was an extremely large dog, a mix of a Great Dane and a Dalmatian. She had the spots of her Dalmatian forbears but the large size of a Great Dane. She was one of the calmest and well mannered dogs that Lakshmi had ever met, but being alone with her still didn’t quite fill that emptiness that bubbled up in her chest whenever she was alone. Beatrix chased away most of it, but not in the same way the presence of her father did. She wasn’t quite ready to give up her comfortable perch on the couch in favor of her less comforting room. Richard sighed and shook his head, burying his face in his hands. Lakshmi felt a flicker of guilt for keeping him up so late at night, but she couldn’t help wanting to be with him.

 

“I’m sorry Lock, but we have a busy day tomorrow and we need to go to sleep.” Her father said slowly and hesitantly, afraid of bursting Lakshmi’s ‘happy bubble’.

 

Lakshmi sighed and wriggled on the couch for a moment. She didn’t want to go to sleep, but her father was right. It was one of the unavoidable necessary functions of life and putting it off any longer wouldn’t help anything. She threw off the blankets and stood up, almost accidentally tripping over the hulking form of Beatrix in her haste to get up. Beatrix whined again, but silently stood up and trotted to Lakshmi’s side. She knew the routine by this time. Lakshmi’s father sighed again and stood up, giving his daughter a half-hearted smile. Lakshmi gave him a dazzling one in response. It was so rare to see her father smile at all these days, even half-heartedly, that it made her joyous to see him attempt being happy. It was better than the moping about the house that he usually was prone to. Ever since the divorce and her sister’s disappearance, her father had not been the happy man he had once been. Seeing the return of that man, even for a glimmer of a moment, made her heart flutter for joy. Her father’s hesitant smile only broadened at seeing Lakshmi’s almost childish joy, “Thanks Lock. I need the sleep.”

 

Lakshmi ran her hand over Beatrix’s head as she nodded at her father, acknowledging his show of thanks. Beatrix started to wag her tail happily as Lakshmi scratched the place just at the base of her neck that was her favorite place to be pet. They stood there a moment, gazes locked before Lakshmi turned around and headed towards the stairs. She took her merry sweet time climbing up them and then meandering to her room. Unlike her father, she wasn’t eager to get to sleep. The only thing that awaited her behind her door was bad memories and nervousness, but even her slow meandering couldn’t put off the inevitable.

 

Sooner then she would have liked, Lakshmi was standing in front of her bedroom door. Across the front of her white door was painted red roses, her favorite flower. She pushed open the door and walked into her old room, getting lost in memories of times long ago. The room wasn’t suited for a teenager. It had a sort of innocent childishness to it that made her want to laugh and play like she used to. Of course, she hadn’t slept in this room for quite a while after her mother gained full custody. Once she had stopped coming, the décor had stopped changing to suit her climb toward adulthood. It was frozen in a time she had passed. It was easy to see by the stuffed animals and soft pink comforter that the room was designed for someone younger. If she was here for an extended length of time she would have done a revamp, but it was only a few more days until she had to return home. Redecorating would only be a waste of the little time she did have. She didn’t bother turning on the light. Soft moonbeams fell through the window, illuminating the room in an eerie half-light. She felt almost as if she had stepped back in time to when she was a child.

 

Walking across her room to her brass bed, she wished that she hadn’t taken the time to get into her pajamas earlier. She wanted to prolong the time before she had to curl up under the sheets and suffer through another night of loneliness, but it was too late for that. She had to face this or she would end up sitting up all night and not getting a wink of sleep. With a weary sigh, she pulled back the sheets and cuddled into her bed. A shiver ran up her spine. It was still unbelievably chilly in the house. She pulled the sheets over her face and wrapped herself in a cocoon of blankets. It was a funny thing, but she usually slept like this. Night was the one time where she could handle being separated from the world by any sort of barrier. She heard the bedsprings creek as Beatrix climbed onto the bed and took up her usual position curled up at Lakshmi’s feet. Beatrix moved around for a few moments, but in less then a minute loud dog snores were filling the room.

 

Lakshmi sighed and curled up, drowning under the crushing loneliness. Night was terrible. She couldn’t sleep with her parents. She was too old for that. On the other side of things though, she couldn’t sleep alone. That was the whole reason that her father had purchased Bearix, as a way to soothe some of Lakshmi’s fears. Her parents had no idea sometimes it took her hours to fall asleep, but she was grateful for Beatirx’s company. She kept away the worst of the crippling fear and loneliness. Lakshmi focused on the steady snores of her pet, letting it slowly lull her into sleep. She wasn’t sure how long it took, but eventually the crippling emotions subsided enough for her to shut her eyes and drift off.

 

The field was full of brightly colored flowers. Lakshmi giggled happily and sat down, drinking in the heady scents and dazzling colors. It was so beautiful she was mesmerized. She could spend all of eternity just sitting here, taking in all this beauty. She sat down on the ground and giggled happily. She began reaching out and picking as many flowers as she could. She spent hours just picking, examing every flower as if it held the answers to life. She became lost in the green veins in their leaves and stems, the varying scents that made her dizzy, the beautiful colors that seemed too bright to be reality…

 

“Would you get your head out of the flowers a moment long enough to hear what I have to say?!”

 

Lakshmi’s head shot up as she tried to place the voice. She looked around frantically for the source, but only saw miles and miles of beautiful wildflowers. She was starting to think she had imagined it all when the voice assaulted her hearing again.

 

“Gosh! You’re worse then the kid with temper issues. I though he was as dumb as a post, but now I get stuck with you!”

 

Lakshmi raised her eyebrow and started turning around, still trying to place the voice. This was way too freaky. Disembodied voices were a sure sign that she was going crazy, especially voices that insulted her.

 

“I’m not in the mood to fool around with you like I did with the other guy. As much fun as it would be to drown you in a mud sea, I think I’ll get to the point. Go to Forest Park. Got that? Good. I’m going to go watch the Exorcist now.”

 

“Excorsist?” Lakshmi asked curiously. That seemed like an odd activity for a disembodied voice.

 

“Gosh darn it! What the hell is with you people? All you seem to care about is the fact that I can watch the Exorcist. I’m leaving now.”

 

Lakshmi woke up abruptly, sweating heavily under the layers of blankets. She kicked them off. She had went from being freezing to absolutely stifling hot. She turned her eyes to the window and noted that rays of moonlight filtering through. She sighed. It was still night. There was a strange scratching sound coming from outside the window too, but Lakshmi didn’t think much of it. It was probably just an animal or something. Curling back up, she drifted back off to sleep.

 

…

 

Carlie glared at the couple, then turned his eyes to glare briefly at Breckin. He couldn’t care less if they called him childish. The truth was the truth. He was legally still a minor. He had no fantasies to the other. What bothered him was them. He simply didn’t like them. He wanted to march off back into the forest with all his might. It would be a whole lot easier then standing here and talking to this bunch of freaking circus clowns, but the implied dare from earlier still rung in his mind. He couldn’t leave here without showing weakness. He would stay, but he sure as hell wouldn’t be happy about it.

 

”If I was planning on leaving, I would have done it by now. You have my divided attention. By the way, I’ll quit frolicking in the mud when you quit frolicking with pay-by-the-minute hookers on the street corners.” He smirked to himself and leaned against the stage, purposefully turning his back on the others. It made a point that even though he was staying, he wouldn’t make it easy. It also announced that he would listen to only what he wanted to. Why else would he have implied ‘divided’ attention?

 

He looked back at the mud puddle on the ground and wondered how it had gotten there. He was more then sure it hadn’t been there when he approached. He would have noticed it. It wasn’t worth troubling himself over though. He had tons more problems at the current moment. He tipped his head in the direction of the group so he could catch their replies, but he made no other move to speak or interact with them. In his mind, they were below him.

[Sesshia]

Evelyn's mouth flew open at what Breckin said to her. It wasn't used to people biting back at her, but the fact that his tone irritated her completely. She noticed the rising tension around her, especially when another girl came into play -make that two.

 

She smirked when the mud went flying at those two. "Serves you right. she hissed at Breckin, almost cursing when it missed. "Believe me, I would've probably cried in happiness if it hit. And Sadie, or whatever your name is, shut up because you don't know what your talking about." She narrowed her eyes and stared down the fey that had gotten her angry in the first place.

 

"If you plan on kidnapping all of us to your freak-o factory, then you're going to have to make me." She said with finality, curling her lip into a challenge. Briefly she thought about her mother, when she rolled her eyes.

'What do I have to lose? She was never a mother to me. There's nothing else keeping me in this world, either.'

[Odio]

Gordon shielded his eyes with his hand as he gazed up at the sky. The sun felt baking hot to him, but none of the others seemed to notice. He looked up at the baleful bright orb.

 

"Ow!" he cried. Just as the sun burned itself into his eyes, the hacky-sack smacked him in the mouth. It was a light hit, but it still caught him off guard.

 

"What are you doin', man?" someone asked with a heavy Queens accent. His friends looked at him incredulously. He wondered the same thing. It wasn't like him to fade off in the middle of a game like that, and it wasn't like him to miss the hacky-sack. Something strange was happening today, but Gordon couldn't quite put his finger on it. He had a peculiar feeling in his gut. He didn't want to admit it, but it felt almost like something dreadful was about to happen. He looked around at his friends who were all standing in a circle, staring at him with quizzical expressions on their faces. The hackey-sack sagged, forlorn on the ground, looking as out-of-place as Gordon felt. The one who'd spoken piped up again.

 

"You don't look so good, Gordon," he said. "Maybe you should go drink some water." Gordon blinked. He felt red in the face. Sweat was starting to bead on his forehead. It wasn't even that hot out! Maybe he was coming down with a cold. But in the middle of the summer? He sighed, scratched his straggly blonde hair, and bent down to pick up his hackey-sack.

 

"Okay guys," he said, his voice sounding heavy with fatigue, "I think I'm gonna head home for dinner. We still on for tomorrow?" They all nodded and affirmed their plans, and Gordon turned away, pocketing his little toy. They waved their good-byes, and then they picked up their game again with one of their own hackey-sacks, while Gordon picked up speed to jog home. He rounded the corner, but then he slowed to a walk. He was coming down with a headache, another unfamiliar feeling. He wasn't prone to headaches. He shook his head, but that only worsened the sensation. He sighed again and tried to ignore that odd feeling in the back of his mind. He walked on, the afternoon sun burning down on him as it dipped slowly toward the horizon.

 

As he approached his home, the streets got progressively nicer, and his stomach felt progressively worse. By the time his fancy red-brick townhome came into view, Gordon felt dizzy. Maybe it's just sun-stroke or something, he thought to himself, as he fished for his keys in front of the door. It seemed to take forever to find them in his pocket, but he eventually got them out and unlocked the door. The A/C was on blast, and he drank in the cool air like tonic. Sighing, this time with relief, Gordon shivered as his body adjusted to the indoor climate, then headed straight for the pantry.

 

"Ma? Dad?" Gordon called into the house, but nobody answered. It was getting late in the afternoon, he'd expected at least one of them to be home. Then he noticed a note on the table:

 

Gone out to eat! See you tomorrow honey!

 

Oh yeah! He'd forgotten that his parents were going out on some yacht on the river tonight. He shrugged and turned back to the pantry, but soon realized that he wasn't hungry at all. It wasn't evening yet, but he felt tired. He grabbed a bag of chips in case he got hungry and headed for the stairs. On the way he passed his mom's bird. It squawked at him.

 

"Shutup, bird!" he shouted, taking the stairs at a run. He rolled his eyes as he heard it caw up at him, "Shutup bird! Shutup bird!" He grabbed the top of the banister and swung around onto the landing, then pushed through his bedroom door into his room with all its familiar posters and junk. He flopped onto the bed and smiled up at the image of Jessica Alba winking down at him from his ceiling. "You'll always love me, right Jessica?" But she didn't reply. She just kept winking at him, like always. He smiled, and rested his hands behind his head. He had barely kicked his shoes off before he was asleep.

 

 

 

 

He was dreaming, he knew it automatically. He didn't mind though, it was a pleasant dream. He was walking. Slowly, his surroundings became clear to him. First, he heard the crunch of leaves, and looked down to see that he walking on a dirt trail, in the woods. He noticed that it wasn't hot out anymore. He looked up from the ground, and saw all the leaves falling around him. Their colors looked very bright: red, yellow, green, brown. There was that strange feeling again. He screwed up his face, frustrated now. Then, there was a booming laugh, followed by a number of devilish giggles. He whipped his head around, but he didn't see anyone in the trees.

 

A cold wind rose up, blew his hair back, and scratched at his eyes. He guarded his face with his arm. The leaves were done falling now; they lay all around him, so deep they buried his feet. All the while the booming voice laughed from above, and the little voices all chittered around him. The wind swept up the leaves, swirled them around him, then, just as suddenly, the wind and the leaves and the voices were gone. Gordon lowered his arm and raised his head up to the sky. It was cold now, so cold he could see his breath.

 

Where am I? What's happening? he called out. A delicate snowflake drifted lazily down from the murky sky. It meandered this way and that through the trees, and then it landed, ever-so-lightly, on Gordon's eyelash, and melted. A gentle wind stirred, and carried a whisper:

 

"You are exactly where you are supposed to be. Go to Forest Park, Gordon White. Go."

 

Gordon blinked a few times to get the moisture out of his eye, and when he looked up, the world around him was a blanket of snow. It was wonderful! He felt happy and excited. He was elated! He wanted to giggle like all those faeries had been giggling a moment before. He lifted his hands in delight as snowflakes began to fall around him, sparce at first, then heavier. He tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and let out a joyous laugh.

 

Then he paused. Faeries? Huh? Just as he thought that, the dark and foreboding sensation came back with a rush. He was seized with a gripping fear. He had a sudden vision of glowing red eyes in a black face. It smiled evilly, briefly, before it was blown away by a fierce, cold wind.

 

"Go!" the wind screamed. "Go!"

 

 

 

He was abruptly awake, gasping, eyes wide, ears ringing. It was dark. He was confused. Where am I? he thought, and then his dream came back to him. His eyes focused, sharpened, and Jessica Alba's shiny physique came into view. Gordon realized where he was, and that he had only been dreaming, but just before he drifted back to sleep a sawing, scratching noise shook the air. It frightened him, and he sat up, wondering what it was. Was he still dreaming? He didn't like this, not at all. He looked around his room and imagined dark things in every shadowy corner. When the noise stopped as suddenly as it started, he was hardly comforted. He leaned back in bed, slowly, and pulled the covers up to his chin, staring about the room. It took him a moment, but eventually his heartbeat slowed, and his breathing, and his eyes drifted closed again. He forgot all about the dream, and the noise, and the dark boding, and finally rested in sweet black unconciousness.

[Kira1]

Danni stood there, her eyes looking over to whoever was speaking, and silently listened to the conversation. After awhile, she was wondering why she was still here. Everyone around her seemed to just be arguing or threatening another and no one was getting along. Though, she supposed the only thing keeping her here was that crazy chick with the bow. That girl didn't seem the kind to hesitate at firing her arrows.

 

Now the only thing to do was wait for one of them to finally take them all to this "place" they were supposedly going to. And what was with people always hiding the truth from others? I mean, she was going to find out soon anyways, so why not tell her now? Though, they might be taking into consideration the fact that if she didn't like what the truth was, that she would leave. It almost seemed like they wanted her, and the others gathered here, alive. Like they were needed for something.

 

Ha, what could she be needed for. She wasn't anything special, and if she was, then that was new to her. She had been living with her normal family for quite some time now and was perfectly fine. And now this comes along and suddenly it seemed like she was going to be thrown into a series of complex events that would change her life forever. She didn't really need that.

 

While she was lost in her thoughts, she had completely ignored that conversation and didn't know if they were any closer to leaving or not. Absentmindedly, she stared at the chick who had threatened her with that bow, wondering what was up with these people anyways.

[Walker]

Short Lakshmi Version

 

Lakshmi awakened and looked around the room. Frantically, she noted that Beatrix was missing from her usual place on the bed. Before she could stop herself, tears started cascading from her eyes. She was too busy being miserable to notice that her father had enter until his voice cut through her misery-clouded mind, “Lock?! Did you hear me? What happened here?”

 

He took the briefest moment to examine his daughter as she giggled nervously, wiping the tears from her eyes. He opened his mouth to speak again, “Hon… What did you do to your hair and your eyes? Did you sneak out last night and have that done? If something is wrong then just talk to me. There is no reason to act out like this. Rebellion never helped anyone. You’re mother is going to kill me when she sees how you dyed your hair. And how did you even pull of the eyes? Are you wearing those newfangled contacts that change your eye color?”

 

Lakshmi looked at him curiously, not sure what he was talking about. Her father sighed and continued on, “We need to talk Lock, but I’ll let you get dressed first, but right after that, come to the kitchen straightaway. We have lots of things that need to be discussed. By the way, where is Beatrix? I haven’t seen her around the house all day so I assumed she was still sleeping with you, but… Are you going to be all right by yourself Lock? If you want to talk right now…”

 

Lakshmi shook her head no quickly. Something about the look of anxiety in her father’s eyes made her think it wouldn’t be good to break down now. She would handle getting dressed alone for him. Usually Beatrix was around when she changed and did other things, but the dog had disappeared. Her father nodded and left the room. The moment he did the anxiety returned, but she ignored it to the best of her ability. Instead, she slipped into plain jeans and a random t-shirt, going as fast as her shaking frame would allow. The moment she was done she rushed to the kitchen and sat across from her father at the table.

 

“I don’t know how to tell you this hon but…” her father began

 

”I’m sorry about the hair and the eyes dad. I’m not sure what’s going on with that, but I’m still sorry.”

 

“I’m sorry Lock, but when I said we needed to talk, I wasn’t meaning the hair or eyes. We can talk about that later, but I have something more urgent I need to tell you… I’m sick hon.”

 

”Well, if you aren’t feeling well, we can just stay home today. It’s no big,”

 

Her father frowned and shook his head. “Not sick in that way Lock. I wish it were that simple. I’m sick, very sick. When I invited you here for the week, it was more than the fact that I missed you, though that was my biggest motivation, but there are other reasons. I was so adamant about it because I’m not sure how much time we have left together Lock, because I might… well… It’s bad. I could survive, but there isn’t a very good chance of recovery.”

 

She finally got it. He was sick and he might die. She felt disbelief bubble up in her chest like a fountain. The universe just didn’t work this way. She remained silent, waiting for her father to burst out saying it was all a joke, yet, instead of retracting his earlier claim, he continued on speaking about this lie as if it were the truth, “This is going to be hard on all of us Lock, but I ask that you don’t tell your mother. She already has enough on her plate as it is without this. I’ll get around to telling her, when I’m ready.”

 

”I get it. This is all some sort of joke. You got me dad,” Lakshmi said, a small but nervous giggle escaping her lips.

 

She didn’t want to hear anymore of this, so instead of listening as her father continued speaking, her gaze moved to the window. What met her eyes immediately made her stand up and mutter hastily to her father, ”Beatrix is outside dad. I need to go get her and bring her back inside before she becomes lost.”

 

She rushed out of the room to the door before her father could stop her. She reflexively picked up a pair of shoes on the ground and quickly made her way out of the house. When she stepped outside, Beatrix was sitting in front of the house, looking at Lakshmi with her large, sad eyes.

 

Long Lakshmi Version

 

Lakshmi rose hesitantly and slowly. After that strange dream that had awakened her in the middle of the night, her dreams had taken a sweeter and more comforting route. She was hesitant to return to the world of reality, until of course, she remembered where she was. She was in America, but only for one week. She couldn’t waste a moment of it. Her eyelids opened excitedly and a smile eclipsed her face as she thought of the exciting day to come.

 

Stretching, she sat up and examined the room around her. Playful beams of sunlight were filtering through the windows and light pink curtains, drowning her room in a strange pink light. It was a beautiful illusion, but it only held her attention for a moment. Her instincts were scream ing that something was terribly long. Her stomach did an uncomfortable flip as she scanned the room for the source of her discomfort. Her eyes started to sting the moment she saw the place where Beatrix was usually resting was vacated.

 

She took one shaky breath, trying to hold back the tears and unbearable weight of loneliness and fear, but it wasn’t possible. She wasn’t enough to conquer her fear of being alone. Large fat tears started to roll down her cheeks in abundance as memories of that day crowded her mind like a buzzing hive of honey bees. Her head was so full of it all, she couldn’t even consider stopping the tears or hysteric sobbing. All she could think of was the misery.

 

“Lock?! Did you hear me? What happened here?” her father’s slightly frantic voice broke through her misery.

 

Lakshmi looked up at him, trying to wipe the hysteria from her face. She giggled nervously and wiped the tears out of her eyes with her arm. Everything was fine now. She wasn’t alone anymore. As long as her father was here then she would be great. It wasn’t the first time he had caught her crying hysterically like this. Actually, it had become sort of a routine, but not usually in the morning. Beatrix never left the room until after Lakshmi was out of bed. It was just the way of the universe. It was wrong for it to happen any other way.

 

Her father looked at her strangely again, drinking in her appearance. Lakshmi was slightly confused. Why was he looking at her like that? Sure, he had found her crying like a baby, but that sure didn’t constitute him staring at her like she was a stranger or an alien. On the contrary, he should only have been looking at her like that if he had walked in here when she was alone and she had looked calm and collected. This was far from out of the ordinary for her. Both of her parents were perfectly aware of her ‘problems’.

 

“Hon… What did you do to your hair and your eyes? Did you sneak out last night and have that done? If something is wrong then just talk to me. There is no reason to act out like this. Rebellion never helped anyone. You’re mother is going to kill me when she sees how you dyed your hair. And how did you even pull of the eyes? Are you wearing those newfangled contacts that change your eye color?”

 

Lakshmi looked up at her father with confused eyes. What was he talking about? None of it made sense. Her hair and her eyes were perfectly normal. She hadn’t done anything at all to change them. Her father looked back, concern, and something else… perhaps fear, written on his face. Opening his mouth, he spoke again, “We need to talk Lock, but I’ll let you get dressed first, but right after that, come to the kitchen straightaway. We have lots of things that need to be discussed. By the way, where is Beatrix? I haven’t seen her around the house all day so I assumed she was still sleeping with you, but…”

 

Lakshmi shrugged in response. She had no idea where Beatrix was, but now that her father was here, she wasn’t too worried. Perhaps Beatrix had just decided to wander off to some remote corner of the house. She was a dog after all, a big dog too, perfectly capable of taking care of herself. The thought of being left alone again though, even to get dressed, made her stomach twist. She usually had Beatrix here to sit in the room while she dressed and did other things, but as she looked at the frantic look in her father’s eyes, she knew she would just have to handle this alone today, for her father’s sake.

 

“Are you going to be all right by yourself Lock? If you want to talk right now…” her father said slowly, knowing quite well the thoughts that would be swirling around his daughter’s head.

 

Lakshmi shook her head no. Her father gave her a reluctant smile in return and nodded back, before turning around and leaving her alone again. The moment t his presence disappeared, Lakshmi felt the familiar twist of anxiety in her chest, but for some strange reason, she was able to wrestle it down. Something about the look of fear in her father’s eyes made her think she couldn’t afford to break down now. Her father needed her. It wasn’t easy, but she managed to keep the fear contained enough to prevent herself from sobbing hysterically. As long as she could function, this would only take a moment.

 

She shakily made her way over to the closet and grabbed whatever her hands alighted on. She didn’t really pay attention to what she was choosing as she usually did. She just grabbed a pair of plain jeans off the shelf and a random t-shirt. Struggling into them, she spent a few more minutes then she usually would to get dressed. Her anxiousness was making her have to take things slowly and concentrate. Pulling the shirt over her head felt like climbing Mount Everest, but the moment she had changed completely, she dashed from the room like she was on fire.

 

She didn’t spare any amount of speed as she dashed to the kitchen. She didn’t even stop at the bathroom to brush her hair or teeth. She was in too much hurry to just be in someone’s company again, anyone’s. She had to chase off the growing ache in her chest. As she skyrocketed around the corner, she nearly found herself barreling through the kitchen doorway. Stopping suddenly, she gave her father a huge smile and relaxed. His eyebrows lifted as he looked at her chest heaving from running so quickly, but he didn’t ask questions. Instead, he gestured toward an empty seat at the table.

 

No longer worried or scared, Lakshmi silently slid into the seat. She gave her father another dazzling smile, making him look at her with amusement, but behind it all was an urgency she couldn’t understand. What was so important? He sighed and closed his eyes before opening his mouth to speak, “We have a lot we need to talk about Lock.”

 

Lakshmi paused and nodded. He had said this multiple times already, and yet he was saying it again, as if he was trying to prevent the talk from actually happening. How bad were her hair and eyes that they would cause him such hesitation? She continued sitting silently, knowing he would speak when the time came.

 

“I don’t know how to tell you this hon but…” he paused again, seemingly frightened to go on.

 

”I’m sorry about the hair and the eyes dad. I’m not sure what’s going on with that, but I’m still sorry.”

 

Her father looked up at her in surprise, as if that was the last thing he had expected her to say. He started laughing uproariously. Lakshmi wasn’t sure what the laughter was about, but she had never seen her father so happy in such a long time. It didn’t really matter why he was happy. He just was. Before she could stop herself, she was laughing along with him. They both struggled to keep in the hysterical laughing, but ever so slowly, her father’s face returned to urgent and worried. The last of his laughter died away just as Lakshmi notice his troubled expression.

 

“I’m sorry Lock, but when I said we needed to talk, I wasn’t meaning the hair or eyes. We can talk about that later, but I have something more urgent I need to tell you… I’m sick hon.”

 

Lakshmi raised her eyebrows and looked at her father. What was so urgent about that? ”Well, if you aren’t feeling well, we can just stay home today. It’s no big,” In her mind it wasn’t. She was happy just be here. It didn’t matter if she spent the day at home with her father while he lied on the couch with a cold or the flu or out doing all the great things they had planned. All that mattered was that she spent time with him.

 

Her father frowned and shook his head. “Not sick in that way Lock. I wish it were that simple. I’m sick, very sick.”

 

Lakshmi gave him a questioning look. She still didn’t understand what he was getting at. He sighed when he saw her bewildered look, cleared his throat, and started speaking again, “When I invited you here for the week, it was more than the fact that I missed you, though that was my biggest motivation, but there are other reasons. I was so adamant about it because I’m not sure how much time we have left together Lock, because I might… well… It’s bad. I could survive, but there isn’t a very good chance of recovery.”

 

Lakshmi felt like she had been slapped in the face. She finally got it. A wild blaze of righteous fury grew in her breast. He was sick and he might die. She wasn’t sure she could believe it. The man sitting before her was her father for gosh sake. Father’s don’t die when their children are teenagers, just like sisters don’t disappear randomly in the mall. The universe just didn’t work that way. She remained silent, waiting for her father to burst out saying it was all a joke.

 

Her father appraised her reaction and seemingly got the wrong vibe. Instead of retracting his earlier claim, he continued on speaking about this lie as if it were the truth, “This is going to be hard on all of us Lock, but I ask that you don’t tell your mother. She already has enough on her plate as it is without this. I’ll get around to telling her, when I’m ready.”

 

Lakshmi’s eyebrows raised. Her father hadn’t bothered to even tell her mother that he was dying? This only solidified her belief that this was all some huge joke. If he was really sick, he wouldn’t go through the trouble of burdening her mother with such terrible false information. ”I get it. This is all some sort of joke. You got me dad,” Lakshmi said, a small but nervous giggle escaping her lips.

 

Her father sighed and shook his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but Lakshmi turned her attention away and looked out the window. She didn’t want to hear what he had to say because she already knew what it was. He was going to say this was all a joke and everything was going to be fine. She heard the steady drone of his voice in the back of her mind, but she didn’t register any of what he was saying. Instead, she watched a large variety of people streaming past the window on their way to work and other places.

 

She became so absorbed in the shifting mass of humanity; she was able to forget what her father had just said. She could pretend that the world wasn’t just about to fall apart. As she continued to stare out the window silently, she thought she saw a strange flash of white. Squinting her eyes, she watched as a white dog with black spots emerged from the tide of humans and looked straight at her through the window. Her heart skipped a beat as she stared back. Standing up in the flash of a second, she hastily interrupted whatever her father was saying, ”Beatrix is outside dad. I need to go get her and bring her back inside before she becomes lost.”

 

She didn’t bother to look at her father, instead dashing out of the kitchen to the main hallway. She briefly noted the voice of her father behind her, but it didn’t stop her from rushing to the front door and opening it frantically. Before her father had a chance to chase after her, she reflexively grabbed a pair of shoes from the floor beside her, stepped across the threshold into the outdoors, and slammed the door behind her. Beatrix stood in the sidewalk in front of her house, staring at Lakshmi with her large, sad eyes.

Edited February 5, 2010 by Dashidragon

[Mangaholic]

Everyone was on edge now, and they were all impatient to see what would happen next. Kril could feel Emilia’s blood pulse in her wrist, and it was enough to tell him that she was still royally pissed. He was pretty sure that it wasn’t the mud on her coat sleeve that had ticked her off so much, but Carlie’s sheer impudence and pigheadedness. In fact, they probably all got on her nerves, but for now, it was Carlie who stood out the most, and the lone tree amid the field of weeds was always the first to be knocked down.

 

“We don’t need your divided attention here,” he answered angrily, flashing a cold glare at the muddy boy in return. ”I’m not saying anything here, so it’s your problem if you’re too weak to drag yourself back there.”

 

Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught the smirk that spread across Emilia’s face as she listened to the thinly veiled insult in his words. It was obvious that Emilia disliked Carlie with a passion, and Emilia was scary when she was passionate.

 

Just as Emilia hated Carlie completely, Kiril came to hate the pigheaded blonde girl standing at the edge of the stage as her furious words rang. It was the last straw. Something snapped, and Kiril immediately released Emilia. In that instant, both of the Umbralatronis were armed once more, Kiril with his sword pointed threateningly at the Thunder hybrid, and Emilia with an arrow notched to her bow.

 

“I could make you come along,” he snarled with a venomous smile that didn’t reach his gray eyes. ”How would you like feeling a blade run through your gut?”

 

Sense told him that he couldn’t carry out his threat, as much as he wanted to, but the girl could lost an arm and survive. She could lose her tongue, if it was possible.

 

The smirk on Emilia’s face had widened significantly at the fact that Kiril was being a total hypocrite. She didn’t release her irritation on Carlie yet, but her blue eyes were still fixed on him, watching his every movement. Occasionally, they flickered to the other hybrids, to keep them in check.

 

[Skarx]

Sophia listened, not knowing what to say. Narrowing down what they were needed for? It was probably impossible since all they once knew was crumbling away slowly. They changed, there was mythical creatures living in their world they never knew about, the Umbrala-something race that was now capturing them even though they are getting wiped from the face of the earth and the murders that had been committed by something that was not human it seemed. Why would they be of any use if even these superhuman creatures could not do it?

 

"So we're basically stuck in this cart until they feel like opening it, in the park that was closed due to murders? They could have at least given us some answers before closing that door."

 

Now she was completely on his side for that. Caging them with no information like that was bound to just raise their worry. Maybe that’s what they wanted. When you hate someone you usually want them to have a hard time and enjoy it. This situation was irritating her so much.

 

"Is that even locked?"

 

Surprised Sophia also turned her attention to the door. She stood walked to it.

 

”Good question. Only one way to find out now is there.”

 

She then opened the door a bit just to see if it was locked or not. She looked outside. Malduk and some other of his race were around. Escaping was not an option again since they ran much faster then them. Closing the door as silently as she could then went back to her own sitting spot.

 

”Well that the answer of one of the many questions. What now? They won’t give us the answers we want so how do we “narrow” down the subject? Don’t you two have an ability of some sort you know of?” She was talking to the two silver haired teens. ”With nothing to do, no lead and plenty of time to kill we might as well make use of our caged time together. Anyone has a suggestion to make or will you all remain silent until our captors decide to move a bit faster before we die of old age in this cage?”

 

She made sure that last part about moving faster was heard from those outside. She had no way to run so might as well go with it. The faster the best at least if it was bad it would be over faster…

Edited February 16, 2010 by Skarx

[RheaZen]

Sophia walked over to the door and opened it slightly. It... wasn't locked. But she didn't seem to want to try and escape. They were probably being guarded, anyways. She walked back and sat down.

 

”Well that the answer of one of the many questions. What now? They won’t give us the answers we want so how do we “narrow” down the subject? Don’t you two have an ability of some sort you know of?" Sophia seemed to be directing this to the two silver-haired kids in the carriage. "With nothing to do, no lead and plenty of time to kill we might as well make use of our caged time together. Anyone has a suggestion to make or will you all remain silent until our captors decide to move a bit faster before we die of old age in this cage?”

 

Sen reflexively started to raise his hand, then stopped. No need for raising hands in here; the atmosphere just felt so tense it was like back in school, with that crabby Ms. Morphored who wouldn't let anyone say anything at all. Say anything and you'd get sent out. And we're freaking 16, for crying out loud, not kindergarteners... He coughed - *coffcoff* - then spoke. "Uh... I could try to ask some plants to eavesdrop or tell us about what's happened around here. I mean, I'm sure there's something growing in this carriage, given how cr@ppy and run-down it is."