Notes: They keep messing up my schedule for work, and that in turn messes up my homework/free time schedule. I feel so antisocial. I never see my friends anymore. ):

Comments, reviews, criticisms good, but flames make me sad. ):

Icy

Again, title names are not random and will be explained in the end.


Summary: "I can hear you." She's always dreamed of being something more, but when offered the chance to take part in adventure it's more than she can handle. The once-normal college student will be faced with choices she will find difficult to make, though will be able to find clues to her past along the way, leading her to the answers of who she was - and why the others know so much more than she does about herself. But when she is finally faced with the choice between the light and the dark (not good and evil, but the things themselves), how will she be able to choose? Or...is there a way to walk the path between, the path of the twilight? ChaseOC, rated for language.


DATE: 10-17-07


CHAPTER FOUR: Lapis


Even though the dream hurts me I don't change anything...

I opened a new door...

I continue into the expanding world...

I could embrace this body until it hurts...

I could hurt myself...

In order to become just a little bit stronger...

I just... keep walking on the endlessly continuing road...

Awaken.


"Getthefuckoutofmyhead!" I yelled, wishing he would leave me alone as I bolted upright, fully expecting my head to be greeted again by the hard ceiling above my bed. When nothing made contact, I slowly opened my eyes, though couldn't see anything since my glasses were off. But…I wasn't in my dorm. I was…I actually didn't know where I was then. But I needed my glasses. I reached my hand out and found I was actually lying on a rather thin mat under a blanket, another over me, and as I made contact with the stone floor I drew back; it was cold. Very cold.

"God, where am I?" I muttered to myself, hoping I could find my glasses so I could see. I finally found the thin frames, surprised no one had stepped on them where they had been placed, and they weren't even scratched. I slid them on, suddenly realizing I had an audience.

"…Morning?" An awkward silence filled the air, though I think it was just me that thought it was awkward. I yawned, covering my mouth with my hand.

"It's actually pretty late in the evening."

Great.

It was those kids.

"Fine, fine; it doesn't matter what time it is. Can you tell me why I'm here, though?" Why did my sarcasm always have to intervene whenever I talked to strangers?

"Well…"

"It's a long story…"

"I've got nothing but time." I crossed my arms, resting them against my knees pulled to my chest.

"Why don't you join us for dinner?"

I opened my mouth to decline, but found my stomach protesting…rather loudly. I blushed, sighing and standing up to accept their invitation.

Over the rather simple but large dinner I discovered that I had been asleep for a day. Sleep—yes, not unconscious: there is a difference, and I had been asleep.

"The house!" I exclaimed, suddenly remembering that the last time I'd been there the door was torn off its hinges, shattered along with the glass door. I groaned. "They're going to kill me…and probably never let me stay there again!"

"Uh…yeah. About that."

The place had been completely destroyed.

Except the basement.

When the others had found me I was alone—he'd left me, though I couldn't figure out why, since he'd been so intent on finding me in the first place. Suddenly feeling overwhelmed I put my fork down, standing up and walking outside, though the others didn't really seem to care—I didn't even know who they were, and yet…I had the feeling I'd probably end up knowing them more than I knew Kensie back home.

Home...Iara's probably mad right now…and Lyris is trying to calm her down… I smiled, imagining the chaos that was probably happening then. It soon disappeared when I remembered that I didn't even know where I was, or when I'd be going home.

Outside, I looked up at the sky, seeing the stars lighting up the midnight-blue sky tinged with orange, wondering where I was to see the stars so clearly, compared to the city where virtually no stars were visible at night. And the moon—it was a harvest moon, large, full, orange-tinted in the blue sky. It was gorgeous. At least, to me it was.

The low roofs were tempting—so tempting for me to go climb up like I did when I was younger, when my family all lived in the same area with my cousins and aunts and uncles…back when I was free of everything, my dreams of my own will.

I sighed, giving in and finding a low stone wall to boost myself up on, carefully climbing across the shingled surface, coming to a rest on the edge of the building I was on. I sat down, knees pulled in, legs slightly straddling the middle of the roof. I looked back up at the moon in wonder, wishing I could be looking at it from the dorms instead of…wherever I was.

"I do not think that is such a good idea," came a voice from below. I glanced downward, seeing it was the short, bald kid from earlier, the one that stood out the most. Not that any of them could have blended the way they looked now, in those robes…

"What's not such a good idea?" I said, voice snapping slightly.

"If Master Fung sees you on the roof, he will most likely make you do chores."

Are you kidding me? "Look, kid, I don't even know where I am, and I never even asked to be brought here." I didn't mean to sound so sarcastic and rude, but I was pretty frustrated at that time; I had so many questions and wasn't getting any answers. I folded my arms across my chest, daring him to elude my question again.

The boy was silent a moment, thinking, before he spoke again. "Why do you not come down from there and we can all talk about what has happened?" I sighed, knowing I had little choice, since they were offering their hospitality and all. I slid down on the shingles toward the edge, my ankles and knees taking the brunt of the force as I hit the rather solid earth beneath me, causing me to stumble backward a bit.

"We never got a chance to introduce ourselves. I'm Kimiko." The Asian girl was the first to introduce herself, placing a hand on her chest (with rather well-manicured nails for living in such a…rural area, if I may add), smiling. Her black hair was pulled back in pigtails that bounced when she walked.

"I'm Clay." The southern boy was the tallest of the four, shaggy blonde hair covering his eyes and a large cowboy hat atop that hair. He had a kind face, which I hoped meant he had a kind personality too.

"Raimundo."

"You can call him Rai."

"Kimiko…!"

Raimundo—or Rai, whichever—was Brazilian, and I recognized that immediately. His features were almost exactly like Iara's, and I almost wondered if there was any relation between them.

"And I am Omi." The little short kid—he looked more at home than the others did—was the last to introduce himself, smiling slightly at me.

I nodded, smiling as well. "I'm Ren."

"Ren?"

"My real name's Serenity, but I don't really like it." I rolled my eyes. "My mom had an affinity for weird names. My brothers all got normal names."

"No sisters?" Kimiko asked. "Wow, that must've been rough. How many?"

"Four." I ticked their names off on my fingers. "Josh, Ty, Sean, and Aiden." I was cut off, however, by the same dragon I had seen in the park on campus.

"So we lost the Diadem. There's a new Wu out, though, so we'd better get on it before they do!" He was carrying the large scroll from before, opening it up to a new section. "The Jinx Rave. It emits pulsing lights that can drain your opponent's energy." The little animation showed the man from before holding a fan that was pulsing lights, the beams eventually swirling around a creature that began to slow, eventually falling to the ground, allowing the man to strike and land a killing blow. I stared at it in disinterest, unsure of what I should be doing.

"You want to come with us?"

I shrugged. "Sure." What've you got to lose?


Shivering, I pulled my sweatshirt tighter about me, glad I had thought a little ahead. Up in the clouds—it's not so warm. Nor are the clouds as fluffy and solid as you think they'd be.

"How much farther?" I asked. We weren't going very far, but the fact that most people would find a large, green dragon flying in the sky unusual made it a wise idea to keep in the clouds.

"Not too much more. The signal's getting stronger." He slowed in the air, looking around. "…This way." We were suddenly falling—falling from the sky. He'd done a nosedive, aiming right toward the ground.

This isn't at all scary, I said to myself, clutching at the large dragon's back, wondering how I could be so sarcastic at a time like this. I'd almost rather be back facing those cats from before.

He suddenly pulled up, feet above the ground. When he'd landed, I slid off, my legs shaking from fear. I wobbled over to the palm tree that I saw nearby, steadying myself as I suddenly realized we were near an oasis in the middle of a desert. I glanced around with a skeptical look on my face, wondering where we were, exactly. There was little movement on the water's surface, the cool, blue liquid pool tranquil in the midst of a burning desert. At the bottom of this rather shallow pool I could see something shimmering, glowing, almost, in the hot sun, reflecting off a metal surface submerged in the clear water. I waded in to my ankles, reaching out. "Hey, is this…?" I began, noticing it had a distinct, fan-shaped look to it. Taking a hold of it, another hand also touched it, the object beginning to glow as my heart flew to my throat, afraid. I looked up, suddenly finding myself staring into Chase Young's golden eyes. I quickly looked away, toward the others, wondering why I couldn't draw my hand away from the fan, eyes filled with a look of confusion and fear.

"You haven't told her yet?" he smirked. Though I wasn't looking at him I could tell that he was amused, and found this very funny.

"Ren, you're going to have to fight a showdown with him," Raimundo said, mind racing. "You both touched the Wu at the same time and have to fight to see who gets it."

"What about her Shen Gong Wu? We need to give her one!" Kimiko said, panicking slightly. She pulled out her own item, a small comb, and was ready to toss it to me.

"No. I have nothing, and neither will she."

It was me who was panicking now. "I have to do this alone?" I said, voice cracking slightly.

Chase nodded, smirk still fixed on his face. "You want to call it? Or do you want me to?"

What is he talking about? my mind asked. My silence to him was taken as an answer, that latter.

"Fine. I'll make it simple."

Before he had even finished his sentence the whole area around us began changing—the oasis disappeared, a large pool of water surging up below us as the fan was pulled by an unseen force up to a tall pillar of ice affixed in the center of the still-rising waters. I found myself on a rather flat surface on one side of the pool, Chase staring intently at me from just a few yards away.

"First one to the fan is the winner." With these words, the water suddenly froze, ice skates appearing on both my feet and Chase's. "It's a race to the finish. You have to get across the ice while avoiding the cracks—" said cracks appeared on the surface of the ice "—while avoiding anything else that may spring up." He pointed to the fan, a large red ribbon strung across the valley where the frozen water was.

Like what? I whispered in my head, worrying suddenly of what might happen.

"Ren! You have to say, 'Gong Yi Tanpai' to start the showdown!" came Kimiko's shout from behind me. The others had found themselves on a cliff above us, watching.

I shivered slightly in the cool air and nodded. I opened my mouth, uttering the words at precisely the time that Chase did, voices echoing across the ice as we both stepped out on the slick surface at once, heading in the same direction.

You don't like skating on smooth ice! It was true…I preferred the kind that had been skated on a bit before, which was why I hated skating first. I took a breath: You can still make it. Just…don't screw up.

In front of me, there was suddenly a hole in the ice, revealing the icy waters below, a creature of some sort popping up and growling at me. My eyes widened as I realized I couldn't go around it; I'd have to go over.

Please let this be the one time I stick it—

I jumped, begging my body to spin as I pulled my legs up, feeling my blades hit my thighs as I rose in the air, time seeming to slow to a crawl as I leapt over the creature, landing solidly on the ice past it. Yes! I shouted in my head, grinning. I heard cheers from the cliff, as well as surprised, "I didn't know she could skate" comments. I looked toward Chase, who was keeping up with me. Or was I keeping up with him? Whatever it was, he was glaring at me now. I had the feeling he didn't know I skated some, and was regretting choosing this kind of battle for us.

He began speeding up, my hopes fading as I realized I wasn't part of this world, and didn't have the abilities I knew all the others had. I felt tears rush to my eyes, my sensitive emotions suddenly confirming my fears that I would lose. A flash of light behind me suddenly made me think otherwise, though when I turned I saw nothing, and turning back I saw another break in the ice, this one larger. I managed to clear that one as well, though wondered why there was nothing in that one too. I'm not complaining. When the bright red ribbon came in sight again I saw no sign of Chase—where had he gone? I shrugged, skating as fast as I could toward the pillar of ice. When I crossed the line, though, nothing happened—the fan remained at the top of the pillar. I groaned. What now?

Looking up at the fan I tapped my toepick into the ice impatiently, wondering if they expected me to climb up it. I estimated the distance between the ground and the top of the pillar, thinking it wouldn't be too hard. I dug my toepick into the pillar, remembering the last time I'd done this was for a dare in Connecticut, with my cousins, and I'd almost broken a leg. I swallowed, not wanting to remember that. Reaching out for some kind of hand hold I felt the ice melt slightly beneath my touch, allowing me to grip the ice a bit. I climbed the pillar slowly, wondering why Chase hadn't caught up by then. He shouldn't have been too far behind, and from my dreams it was evident he had skills in other areas besides this. When I finally reached the top I was very much out of breath, wishing I had drank more that morning, suddenly dehydrated and exhausted. Reaching out, my hand brushed the handle of the fan before everything disappeared in a flash and returned to normal.

The oasis was back, and I was sitting against the palm tree with the fan in my grip. The others were staring at me, Chase nowhere to be seen.

"What…happened?" I said, dazed slightly. "What happened to Chase back there?"

"You mean, what happened to you?" Kimiko said.

"Yeah, you guys started, you cleared that first jump, and Chase sped up. Then, wham! You were gone!"

"Gone?" I repeated stupidly, knowing there was no other meaning of the word. "But…what? Why?"

"I have the feeling it has something to do with this," Dojo said, climbing up my shoulder and tapping my head, though instead of touching my skin his claws met metal. I reached up and felt what he was talking about—it was the…Diadem? I think.

"I thought that we lost that one to Chase," Omi remarked, staring at me with concern and interest.

"Apparently not." Now everyone was staring at me, and I still had no idea what was going on.

"What…" I began, my voice faltering. I felt the tears come back. "Can't…can't you guys just tell me what's going on?" I tried not to let my emotions get the best of me but it was hard—I barely knew any of them, and I had been unwillingly forced into…what was it? A…showdown? I shut my eyes against the setting sun's light, wishing once more to be back home.

"If you wish to leave them you only need speak the words." I leaned my head against the tree's trunk, frustrated. He was back—where had he gone in the first place?

"So this is the girl?" My ears were alerted to the sound of a new voice, a woman's, and she seemed interested in me. Why?

"They aren't giving you any answers. Come with me and I'll tell you everything." His voice was directed back at me.

Omi's eyes narrowed. "What are you trying to do now?"

"Take back what's mine."

I had shut my eyes for a moment to collect my thoughts but they flew open again at his words. "I…what?" I cried, pushing myself up and whirling to face him. "Yours?" I stared at him in disbelief.

When our eyes met, he was smirking, though I broke contact almost immediately and looked away, past him into the sunset.

"Serenity and I go back a long way."

PSATs suck. D: