AN: Hi guys! I hope you enjoy the story. If you like it, please, please leave reviews, especially if you follow or fave it! I already have it written out and currently am editing it, but editing takes a little time and I'm in college. I'll upload one or two chapters a week, three if I don't have much work to do. I'll see you guys later! :)

"You have to try harder, Carmine."

Liam's voice made her face turn red, and she found herself glowering at him as she sat down across from him. He watched her from across his living room, his green eyes shining with intent as he watched the hand that she had raised in the air. "I am trying," she avoided his stare, instead planting her eyes on the crimson red walls.

The blond heaved a large sigh as he rested his elbows on his knees, slumping forward with a frown on his features. "You have Nidalee's powers, and you can't even make a spear," Liam said, exasperated as his light brows furrowed in frustration.

"I said I'm trying," she hissed, her glare sharp and angry as she sent it towards him again.

"Not hard enough," he didn't falter as he met her look with his own. "Do you want to do this or not?"

Carmine felt like launching a string of curses at the male, but instead, she turned back to her raised arm. It was starting to hurt after keeping it in the air for so long. But she knew that she had to muster enough energy to create a spear. They had been at it since the early hours of the morning, and it was already almost midday. There was no way that she could quit now, not after how hard she had been working at it. Time passed as she focused intently, trying to imagine the shaft of the spear pressed against her palm. For a few moments, she thought that nothing was going to happen, that Liam was once again going to shake his head and snigger, but she began to feel some sort of energy surging up her forearm and running up to her hand.

Liam perked up as a strange light began to form in her palm. "Ah," he smiled wildly, obviously delighted with the sight of the javelin forming in Carmine's hand. "There it is!"

The weapon was strong, but it was also heavier that she imagined. It tipped forward as it landed on her palm, the metal tip effortlessly piercing Liam's wooden floors. Carmine simply stared at it, her eyes wide as her friend ran his hand over his face at the damage to his apartment. "Woah," she said in awe. Even though it had cost a significant amount of energy, she had to admit—she was rather impressed with her new abilities.

"Yeah, yeah," Liam's face was annoyed. "I told you can do it. Now, can you tell me who's going to fix my god damn floors?"

"Hey, you said that you know about this sort of stuff. You still didn't tell me how you know."

He set his jaw. "Listen, have you ever seen that anime where those people get stuck in that weird fantasy video game? Well, think of it like that—but the video game is stuck in our world, instead."

Carmine blinked in surprise as she tested out the weight of the spear in her hand. "So League is stuck in our world?"

"Yeah," Liam stated. "Trust me, you're not the only one with powers like that."

"But how do you know? How exactly did you find all of this out?" Carmine insisted.

"Well…" Liam suddenly avoided her look as he shifted his gaze to the coffee table in between them, his finger coming up to scratch at his chin. "Uh… how do I say this?"

Carmine frowned, tipping her head as she expected what he was going to say. "Don't tell me you have powers, too," she vocalized.

"You answered your own question," Liam's frown suddenly broke into a nervous smile as Carmine leaned forward in her seat, a dangerous look in her eye. "N-now, now, I thought I was insane. How do you think I felt when I wake up to… two weird, bird-headed sand soldiers hovering over me in my bed when I'm not even fully dressed?"

"How long ago was this?"

"… About a week or so, I suppose," Liam scratched the back of his head.

Carmine once again looked at the javelin in her hand, biting the inside of her cheek as she thought. If Liam had powers, and she had powers—then there definitely had to be more people like them that are out and about. She wondered if they were safe for now, or if it was a death sentence to even walk out into the streets. "Is there anyone else other than us?"

"I don't know. I don't even know what's going on."

"Do you think it's safe to go outside?"

"I've been going outside since I got the power to summon soldiers from the goddamned sand. No one has even had an idea that I'm… not normal. You're the first one who I encountered that's in the same situation."

She couldn't help but snicker at Liam's tone. The poor guy was probably desperate to find a solution to this whole issue, but there was no solution in sight—at least, not to her. "We should start heading to the diner," Carmine suggested as she set the spear against the wall. "Maybe we can calm down at the party there."

Liam sighed, obviously struggling with his frayed nerves. "Yeah," he lifted himself off of the side of the couch, his eyes staring down at her as he spoke. "Apparently Sully and this chick are raffling off this amazing super computer at the end of the party."

"Super computer?"

"Uh-huh. It's a gaming computer, apparently. At least, that's what Zachary told me."

Carmine cocked her head, puzzled. Why would Sully suddenly give away something that was worth thousands of dollars? Usually, he raffled off a few minor things, like new books signed by authors or some fancy headphones. "That's weird. Why a gaming computer, of all things?"

Liam set his jaw once more as he pulled on a black jacket. "Are you complaining?" he asked her bluntly. When she shook her head, he turned his back towards her as he made his way to the floor. "Then we should probably get going, then. All the tasty punch Sully makes during these things has to be gone by now…"

Liam's footsteps were swifter than hers; Carmine could hardly keep up with the taller man as he led her towards the diner. He was quiet as he basically sprint-walked, his hands shoved within his pockets as his breath billowed in the chilly weather. Her eyes drifted towards the sky as she followed, noticing that the sun was blotted out by thick, dark gray clouds. It surprised her to see the difference in temperature and weather from the day before— she truly believed that they had a few more days of warm weather before the wintery weather set in. It wasn't even Halloween, yet.

Soon enough, the sight of the diner graced their vision. Liam wasted no time in trotting down the street and up the few steps that led to the door. "Come on," his voice sounded irate as he watched her from several feet away, his eyes rushing her.

"Calm down," Carmine told him as she approached. "The punch isn't going anywhere."

"Zach's already got a seat for us," he told her, opening the door for her as she walked up the stairs. She nodded in thanks as she entered, and she felt Liam walk in behind her as he closed the door. Her eyes scanned the diner's main room, seeing only a few people sitting down in at the tables.

Strange… she told herself. Usually there's a lot more people at Sully's parties. Carmine turned around to voice her concerns to Liam, but the man simply shoved against her as he ushered her towards the familiar, black-haired man sitting at a booth. A brunette woman sat across from him, and she recognized her as Naomi. Her mouth opened, about to question her presence, but she was caught off guard by Liam shoving her from behind. "Hey!" she snarled back at him as he continued to push her. "Keep your hands off of me!"

"Hurry up!" Liam snapped back under his breath. "You're drawing attention to yourself."

The blonde man quite literally placed her on the seat across from Zach, making her puff out her cheeks in anger. She hated when she was treated like a child, but Liam seemed to adore doing such a thing to her. It frustrated her to no end. "You're late," Zach said, turning towards Liam as he eyed him. "Sully's already gone to get the punch."

Naomi nodded, her eyes wide. Her face looked pale, but her eyes were bright and lively. Carmine wondered if she still felt ill, or she decided to leave her house on her lonesome. Either way, she couldn't help but become a little frustrated with her friend. She would chide her when they left—it was best not to cause a scene in front of the others.

Liam snickered as Carmine rolled her eyes. "Then are we actually truly late?" he questioned his friend.

"He dragged me all the way from his place over here," Carmine whined to Zach, who looked at her with curiosity.

"Why were you at his place?"

Naomi's voice was somewhat breathy as she spoke next. "Oooooh," she sang out, drawing forth a blush from Carmine. "Sounds pretty fun. What kinda games did you play, hm~?"

The black-haired woman felt her patience wear thin. Maybe it was because of the blood that was rushing to her face, and Zach and Naomi stared with intent. "We didn't play any games, you stupid—"

"Heh, when's that Sully gonna come with the punch?" the tall young man laughed nervously as he glanced over his shoulder. However, the other male didn't seem to appreciate having his question avoided. His eyes darted swiftly between the two, his arm coming up to rest upon the table.

"What did you guys do?" came Zach's voice once more.

Carmine shook her head. "Nothing," she answered quickly, her face as straight as she could make it. "I got locked out of my apartment in the middle of the night. So, Liam let me stay at his place."

Zach watched Liam as she spoke, his gray eyes cold. "Ah," he stated simply. "I hope you didn't take… advantage of her situation."

"No!" Liam replied quickly. "I slept on the couch while she slept on the bed."

The woman couldn't help but laugh at Liam's antics. Even though the blond tried to act like an uptight, serious man most of the time, he became easily flustered. He reminded her of herself. Perhaps that was why they were friends? "I'm thirsty," Carmine stated, tapping her fingers on the edge of the table as she glanced around. "But, isn't it strange that there's so few people around here?"

"What do you mean?" Liam asked her.

Carmine couldn't help but scowl at him. "Look around, why don't you?" she told him. "There's only about four or five people here, probably including us. Don't you think that's really weird?"

Naomi's eyes peered around. "Yeah…" she sighed. "It's kinda off, isn't it?"

However, before the rest of her companions could reply, she heard a door swing open. She turned around to see another male; he was broad-shouldered and thick armed, and appeared to have an annoyed expression on his face as he emerged from the kitchen. In his hands was a bowl filled to the brim with purple liquid. "Hey, Sully looks pretty miffed today," Liam commented.

It was true that the male looked upset—but then again, he always did. Carmine didn't remember the last time he tossed a smile at her. It would be much more frightening if he did smile at her. That would be when she knew that something was wrong, overall. "He has the punch at least. No need to complain about his attitude if there's no change in it," Zach spoke up next, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he watched the man fill glasses with the juice.

Her upbeat partner-in-crime claimed the first glass, sipping at the punch eagerly as she smiled. "I was so thirsty! Thanks, Sully!" Naomi chimed as she turned towards the older man. However, he didn't seem to hear, simply going about his task as he poured another cup.

The sight of the colorful liquid made Carmine start to salivate. She didn't know when was the last time she had a drink—she has spent the whole morning at Liam's house trying to summon some spear. He didn't even let her rest for a moment. The sight of the blessed fruit punch literally made her mouth water, and when it was finally placed before her, she didn't hesitate to take a sip. "Ah," she breathed out, savoring the sweet taste as Sully passed out two other glasses to Liam and Zach. "Thanks, Sully. It tastes as great as ever."

Usually the man would curl the corner of his lip upward in response, but once again he turned away and began to serve the rest of the few people that had gathered. She wondered what exactly was bothering the guy, but perhaps it wouldn't have been wise to question him. Sully never really liked questions, she realized—especially when they were about something he didn't want to talk about. Carmine shrugged to herself, taking another sip out of the drink as she eyed Liam, who furrowed his brow at the violet punch. "Huh," he murmured aloud.

"What?" she asked him before gulping down the rest of the drink.

"It tastes… I don't know… sweeter than the other times he's given us punch. Did he add extra sugar or something?"

Carmine took on a blank expression. "How am I supposed to know?" she answered as she yawned widely.

Zach's mouth opened next, but no words escaped him as he sipped at his drink. His eyes appeared watery as he, too, yawned. "Yawning's pretty contagious," he stated simply.

The girl that sat next to her slowly bobbed her head in response. "It is," Naomi's lips parted to let out a sound of drowsiness.

She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt extremely tired. Perhaps it was the yawning or the quietness of the dining space, but her head felt as heavy as a watermelon and her vision became foggy. "Hey…" Carmine murmured aloud as her eyes rested on the drink. Even though the cup was basically right before her eyes, she felt as if it was far way, just out of her reach. "Does anyone else… feel weird?"

When she looked back up at Zach and Liam, however, she realized that they were not with her. The younger of the males' forehead rested heavily against the table while the other one leant against the windowsill. Both breathed evenly as they appeared to be as heavily sleepy as she was. Naomi had dozed off as well, her head basically in her arms as she snored. She struggled to form words, but she couldn't even form legible words. Her head felt like a bowling ball; there was no way that she could keep it up atop her neck. Before she knew it, her chin was resting upon the table, and her eyes felt heavier than ever.

Darkness took over her sight, sleep enveloping her as she was sent to her dreams.