Hi everybody! I'm back with a new chapter! I'm so sorry it took this long to get a new chapter out, but I, um, may have gotten caught up in the manga/anime series Bleach... and I'm a great procrastinator. So I'm sorry that this took awhile! I don't exactly have a firm upload schedule yet, but it may be something like once every one-two weeks or so. It depends on if I'm busy or not.

On a more serious note, if you are in Florida, Mexico, or near any of the current disaster zones, I hope that you are all safe and remain unhurt! Hopefully it will all be over soon!

Again, thank you for your patience, and onto the next chapter!

The sounds of a babbling brook trickled down the hill. Above, several birds chirped happily, ignoring the mages below them. It felt so pristine, so pure, so... so...

So wrong.

Calypso shot up. "Where am I?" Glancing around, she furiously observed her surroundings. A small pond lay a couple feet ahead, with a couple of ducks in it. Above, a canopy of thick vines and branches shaded her, with small sunbeams streaming through the gaps. Several mossy rocks loomed out of the ground, each one the perfect size of a dragon egg. The grass was lush and green, and beautiful wildflowers sprouted in small patches every couple feet.

She blinked. This couldn't be near the lab. It was too untouched! Plant growth near the lab was scarce, except for the pine trees. But wildflowers never sprouted. Perhaps she was in the lab's plant centre. The scientists gathered many specimens to study for whatever purposes. She had never seen the centre itself, but she would always imagine it as a pristine, calm place. This place, however, was much too calm. She didn't like it. She half-expected a scientist or guard to jump out from behind the rock and capture her. But if this wasn't the lab, then where...?

Calypso plucked a beautiful stalk of lavender from the ground. She marvelled at it's pale purple shading and sweet fragrance. "Am I... in heaven?"

"Soren, she's talking to a flower. Is that normal?"

The young mage practically jumped out of her skin. Behind her, sitting on a mossy log, was a young girl that looked about her age. She wore light grey shorts and a tight black shirt with a white collar. But what shocked Calypso the most was her hair. It was like a mix of orange and pink. Sherbert? Who knew? Her words of surprise caught in her throat. Who was this girl? Was she aggressive? Did she plan to help Calypso or kill her? Her mind was going at a million miles a minute. Already she was plotting three available escape routes, plus two backups for good measure. Oh, and a diversionary tactic if she needed it.

The girl leaned forward and observed her closely. Calypso leaned away. The girl blinked and then laughed. "Don't worry! I won't hurt you!" When Calypso didn't respond, she added "Me and my brother found you lying in the woods, with a giant infection in your shoulder. We dragged you over here to get you patched up." Calypso still felt uneasy about this. She smiled weakly. "Well, um, thank you for the aid... um..."

"Nisha."

"Thank you for the aid, Nisha, but I really have to get going... I'm looking for something extremely important and I... have no time to lose!" She swung her arm weakly. Arrrgh, this is going SOO well... looking for something? That's too vague! She'll start asking nosy questions soon enough. I have to get out of here before it gets awkward...

She rose to her feet ready to get the heck out of here. But the moment she stood up, a wave of nausea passed over her, and her shoulder throbbed like it was about to fall off. She moaned and fell forward onto the grass. Nisha casually picked some dirt out from behind her nails. "I tried to warn you, but your arm will make moving around quickly quite difficult. It's safer for you if you stay here and let us help you." Calypso gritted her teeth. This is just great. The last thing I want is to get stuck with her. And i don't recall her warning me about anything!

Nisha seemed to be pleased with the condition of her nails, so she turned around and glanced at the trees. "Soren! Have you established a contact yet?"

A boy jumped down from the canopy, landing right between the two of them and scaring the living heck out of Calypso. He was holding a small orb. A communication lacrima, she realized. The boy put in in his pocket and stared at his sister. "I managed to find a signal and got contact with dad. He yelled at me for two minutes about being late for practice and says he'll be over in a bit with Wendy and Steele." Nisha raised an eyebrow. "That's what took you so long?" The boy glared at her. "You know that when Dad gets angry, it's impossible to get a word in until he finishes. I managed to convince him that is was important and that someone was hurt, so he says he'll get here as soon as he can." Nisha sighed. "Good. We'll be able get back to Porlyusica's faster that way. It'll be easier then lugging a dead weight around." Amid all of her nervousness and confusion, Calypso felt a spark of indignity. I'm not a dead weight! I'm a respectable size for girls my age!

The boy turned around to look at Calypso. He smiled. "Don't worry. We're taking you to see Porlyusica, our healer. She'll get you patched up." He jumped up onto a tree branch and began observing the distance ahead of them. She and Nisha were all alone now. The girl stared at her. "By the way, what's your name? I've told you mine." Calypso blinked. "Ca-Calypso." Nisha smiled. "Calypso, huh? That's a beautiful name, you know."

Calypso stared at her in confusion. No one had ever told her that before. She was usually known in the labs as a nobody, or Test Subject Number Insert-Something-Here. But no one, except for her mother, had ever acknowledged her by her full name. It felt nice, like a bright flame was warming her up from the inside out.

A crash sounded above her, and she nearly jumped out of her skin for a third time. The boy (Soren?) jumped down from the tree. "Dad sent a signal! He must be nearby!" Calypso gulped. "Your... father?" Soren turned around and smiled. "Don't worry, he's very kind. He'll be able to help you!" When she didn't look convinced, Nisha added "You can't judge a book by it's cover! You know," she continued, getting up and standing beside Soren "Me and Soren are actually twins! We sure don't look alive, huh?"

Calypso mentally compared the two: Nisha was tough, excitable, and easygoing. Soren was meeker, slightly smaller, and much more gentle then his sister. On top of that, he had light-ish dirty blonde hair, while his sister's hair was a shocking orange-pink. For twins, they sure seemed quite the opposites!

She was about to speak her conclusion aloud when what seemed to be a fiery missile shot out of the bushes. She, Soren and Nisha all shouted mixed words of surprise in unison as it crashed into the log Soren and Nisha had been sitting on. Splinters of the trunk went flying, and Calypso covered her head. Through all the chaos, she heard a yell. Panic spun through her. Was it the lab goons? Had they come to capture her and take her back to her brother?

When the smoke cleared, Calypso saw the attacker: not a lab soldier, but what appeared to be a young man in his late twenties. What came as a shock was the fact that his hair was a bright pink, almost the same shade as Nisha's hair, maybe a little lighter? He gave a giant laugh at the pile of splintered remains as a figure rose from the wreckage. "Okay, you got me, dad." A very battered and fried Soren moaned weakly. The man laughed. "Don't feel too bad, Soren. You just need to work on your reflexes, that's all. Now, where's that sister of yours hiding?"

He walked around on tiptoe before freezing. Looking up, Calypso saw Nisha perched in the foliage of a tree like a monkey. Their father snickered before jumping a shocking ten feet in the air and BLASTING A FREAKING BALL OF FIRE FROM HIS MOUTH? She stared in awe as Nisha fell from the tree and landed in the pond. The ducks quacked indignantly and scattered. The man fell down and landed on a dragon-egg rock, smiling like had won a lottery. "I beat you all again!" He called, grinning. "No fair!" Soren shouted. "Surprise attacks don't count!" their father laughed. "I don't think Sabertooth or Mermaid Heel would play fairly in battle! You have to learn to expect attacks at all times!" he turned and saw Calypso, who's mouth was wide open like a goldfish. "Oh, is this the person you found?" he leaned in as if to get a better look, and Calypso squirmed away nervously. Soren appeared behind him and pulled him off her. "Dad, don't scare her. She got injured somehow and needs healing." Their father turned and stared at the inflamed wound on her shoulder. "Ouch, you're right. Porlyusica will have to heal that, but I think Wendy can check it out first."

"I'm here!" a young voice squealed. A girl, maybe three or four years younger then Soren's father came out of the bushes. She had dark blue hair and brown eyes, and a very kind composure. Behind her were two- exceeds? I guess it makes sense. The lab had plenty of exceeds, so there must be more of their kind in the world. A small spark of grief wormed it's way into her heart as she remembered Aaron, the bright little cat who'd given his life to help her escape. She felt a lump grow in her throat. No. I'm not gonna cry. I'm not gonna cry.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a warm glow. Blinking, she realized the woman who'd followed Soren and Nisha's father was holding her hand to the wound. It felt warm, like a pillow. The woman smiled. "It's okay. I'm mending the flesh around the wound so that it doesn't spread. You'll still need to get treated though."

When she was done, Calypso stared at her arm. It was still infected, but it didn't hurt as much to move it, and it looked less red. She turned to her helpers. "Th-thank you." she stammered. The two mages smiled. "Don't mention it. Hey your name's Calypso, right?" The pink-haired one asked. She blinked. 'Y-yes." He smiled nice to meet you! My name's Natsu. Natsu Dragneel." "And I'm Wendy Marvell." the mage beside him said with a smile. "We're Fairy Tail Wizards! Nice to meet you!"

So how was that? Was Natsu too OOC? Did Soren and Nisha get a good introduction? Let me know what you think by leaving a review! And if you want to see artwork, WIPs, and spoilers for upcoming chapters, check out my extremely outdated Youtube channel ( KitsuneSOUL) my twitter ( DragonAlphaStar) or Deviantart! ( Dragonslayer-ETOILE) Links are in my profile bio! Thanks again for your support, sorry for the late update, and see you in the next chapter!

-KitsuneSOUL

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