Hey you guys. Sorry it's been so long! Hopefully you're still following me if you'd done so before – I feel bad for leaving all of you behind for so long. Good news and bad news.

Bad news: Tellus, City of the Fallen, and Running Blind, for now, are all abandoned. The characters are not, however, and this brings us to the good news.

There may be a small chance that I will be doing side stories for AU's of these characters. All of them – this also means you may see them together for the first time! Should be interesting seeing how Feng and Ari deal with one another.

So! Here we are again, my friends. I present to you, the first chapter of a story based around these characters and their view points, not all of them in order – 'Tired', inspired by Savant's "The Horror". Seriously, you need to check him out. A-fucking-mazing.

Let's go!

Edit: A little more detail.

P-tcshh

A pair of silver-gray eyes shot up, black hair framing a pale face. He stuck out like a sore thumb among the tanned skin of his friends, but he supposed nothing could be done about that… he had lived the majority of his adult life in a cave under the ocean.

Time seemed to run in slow-motion. Next to him his lover jerked in pain and fell back, her leather armor pierced. She kept silent, lest she signal other hostile creatures – Mnem wrapped an arm around Ari's waist and lifted her, stumbling slightly as the Skeleton in the distance let out a rattling, disturbing moan. He couldn't comprehend how the thing could do it – it hadn't the parts.

He didn't dwell on it for long – he had a mission to fulfill. Ari moaned against him, holding her hand over her breast, fingers soaking in the blood as it managed its way through the armor.

Damn it. I finally get her to wear it and she proves me wrong in its protective promises. Women… you can never win.

"Don't touch it," Mnem breathed, but Ari only glared at him, brown eyes blazing in fury.

"Don't tell me what to do." Her voice rasped, attempting to pry herself from the other's arms. Her stubbornness, even in the face of danger, was still a force to be reckoned with, and Mnem struggled against her wriggling defenses to keep her still.

"What not to do, and I'll do what I want you little wretch," he whispered worriedly, and Ari huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Oh yes, of course, because my being independent is a hindrance on your own freedom—look out!"

The hiss had been noticed far too late. In a frantic attempt to save the woman he shoved her in front of him, blocking the majority of the blast with his own body. Luckily it hadn't been much – he didn't bother to thank whatever deity was responsible for that stroke of generosity. Instead he picked the injured and cranky woman from the ground, opting to simply carry her instead of drag her through the dense forest.

"I can walk—"

"Not fast enough. We need to run."

Mnem sprinted through the trees, long and slender legs put to good use. Moonlight dappled through the leaves and onto the ground, creating a light strobe-effect in the injured and barely-conscious woman's eyes. Ari yelped when he jumped from a higher point in the hills, squeezing her eyes closed and cringing. He landed without a problem. Their home was in the distance, far enough to keep them sprinting but close enough for them to relax. An arrow shot out at them from the shadow of the forest as they burst into the open, missing the man's shoulder by just a few inches. The brunette in his arms bounced and hissed in pain, undoing the laces on her armor to look at her bleeding chest.

"B-blood…"

"That tends to happen when you get shot."

"B-but… The armor—"

"Don't dwell on that, damn it!"

Mnem leapt up the stairs, skipping all three, and slammed open the door, closing it behind him and leaning against it to keep the monsters from slamming it open. Ari rolled out of his arms on her own volition and crawled to the other side of the house, breathing heavily. He jerked a little at the force of a zombie banging its fist against the wood, screamed as it reached through the small holes in the top, gripping his shirt. Ari stared at the window behind him, helpless without her weapon. She groaned when she called it being lost in a scuffle prior to her being shot. With dwindling consciousness she stood, grunting and digging around in their chest by the bed.

An iron sword made its way out and she pulled Mnem out of the way, whipping open the door with a force high enough to nearly break it off its hinges.

Urrrgh

The blade sliced through the rotten flesh of the creature easily, a putrid stench rising around them as near-black blood spattered on Ari's face and clothes. She stood open to attacks as the sun rose, though she made no move to defend herself. As Mnem came out to join her he watched the Skeletons and Zombies burn away, falling on the ground and moaning for mercy. She trembled violently and closed her eyes, her fingers loosening their grip on the weapon. She swayed as her vision blurred and the Earth spun beneath her feet.

Mnem cried out and rushed to the woman, just in time for the girl to collapse onto her knees. She watched in apathy as her black-haired lover frantically worked over her, watching his image fade and his voice fall into silence.