Chapter 7: A Personal War.

"All great men in history have a past be they of noble or common birth, for some the past is best left there."

Foreword: This chapter is going to be rather dark in tone though is not past a T rating, I am just warning you forehand that certain illnesses and otherwise elements that could be perceived as unethical or extreme will be present. (Forced Genetic Experimentation, Children being forced to kill and other difficult situations.)

It is not farther than a T rating in content but is exceptionally dark compared to the previous chapters. For those that don't mind, enjoy.

7 years ago, 2003 AD. - California, United States, Earth.

Memories flowed through Ray's mind as he recalled two points in time, the moment he met his childhood friend Laura Kylani and the day he was abducted by the previous Imperator, Alpha Destriex and was forced into a military procedure that made all of mankind's suffering put together like a random itch on your back compared to having a foreign and conventionally lethal substance forcibly injected into your circulatory system and have it tear you apart at the sub-atomic level, put you back together and repeat the process until it had finished it's horrors.

At only 10 years old Ray had an innocent perspective on life to an extent but a difficult period when he was 6 to 8 caused by a disease incurable to Terran medical science had changed that outlook. Through a miracle he managed to survive it and it's complications and by 10 was focused on making up for lost time in the realm of education but even still, medical complications from treatment had made it difficult.

One day he was merely playing at a local playground alongside someone he had just met, Laura Kylani.

At this date she was cheerful and innocent as well, entirely unaware of what was about to happen and it wouldn't be for seven years that she would become aware that it was her very parents and older sister (by 5 years) who set her up because of some misinterpreted text that a cult had taken seriously to the point of having enough firepower to take over a third world country.

A van parked in the front lot of the playground opened it's side doors, out rushed several men in full tactical gear, quickly they turned the innocent playground into a hostage situation. Not one police officer in sight.

Quickly they rounded up all the kids and knocked them unconscious with tranquilizer rounds, the parents subdued and forced to watch their children be kidnapped from them.

The Next Day, 2003 AD, POV - 10 Year old Ray Zenji - Status - Unaware of any superhuman abilities, not yet nano-augmented or infused with project "Shadow-Walker"

He woke to an alien environment, a concrete cell which looked like a 1930s prison cell. It was hot and humid, sweat poured across his skin as a rush of fear hit him, he had not felt fear this bad before, not even during his cancer years.

A man opened the cell door, he was an adult and at this time Ray did not have the maturity to accurately gauge someone's age though looking back he was probably 30 years to 33 of age. Ray was led at gunpoint to a makeshift medical lab and was told that if he cooperated he would not be harmed.

Being at gunpoint but also having a slightly different outlook on life he complied but began to examine his environment, all they wanted seemingly was a sample of his blood and he was then promptly placed back in his cell.

Days passed and with no means of tracking the passage of time it could have been two, three or even a week before he was moved to a larger room with other children, among them the cheerful girl Laura Kylani who was now scared beyond her mind, withdrawn from most of the others who were surprisingly calm, the other thing was that none of them were among the kids kidnapped from the park, Laura and Ray were the only ones from there.

Being the only person familiar to him he approached her and immediately said "Laura, from the park? It's me Ray, we were playing before all this happened."

Even though she was 10 years old her hair was still long, going down to her waist, her eyes were not their green like in the present, they were dark brown like Ray's. Her complexion was fair and her features were Caucasian.

She took a moment to look at Ray and didn't respond, she was obviously scared whilst Ray though showing a degree of fear was not petrified. Ray spoke again, saying "I know you're scared, I am too but we need to keep together and not let the fear control us, if we let it control us we won't be able to get through this."

She nodded slightly, too scared to speak though Ray's display of kindness had helped her a bit as she suddenly clung onto him tightly as if holding on for her very life, though initially surprised Ray wrapped his arms around her and patted her back slightly as he said "I'll keep you safe, no matter what happens. Okay?" Laura finally spoke in response, saying "Okay, thank you."

Time passed and Ray made careful observations of his surroundings, the food that was given to them was better than when he was in the cell, he could have sworn that they had a darn good cook as it was beyond anything he had ever eaten before in terms of taste. On his observations both their captors and the other kids in this part of the facility as he called it were part of some cult and the only reason they took all the kids from the park was because they actually needed two individuals, one for some kind of ritual which he hoped to God wasn't lethal and the other to keep her calm. The target of the ritual was undoubtably Laura based on conversations he overheard though he had to get close because he was hard of hearing though they paid little attention to him, brushing him off as just a curious and scared kid, a mistake that would cost them later.

He was now given the means to track time, a calander in part of the room with the guards constantly updating it showed him that he had been there for over two months in total, both time in the cell and in the larger room.

Conversations with Laura had revealed they were the same age to the day, both of them being born in March and were perhaps only hours apart but from what he could piece together from this prophecy the cult followed he deduced that somehow both he and Laura were involved in it and eventually he just asked one of the older kids what it was and he told him it in full.

"The promised day will come when it will be revealed that the daughter of Kylanos will be revealed to be in the guise of a young human girl. Three years each shall pass when the time occurs that she can be awakened. Many will threaten her awakening though one man, born on the same day to the very second yet not related to her by blood shall bond with her and lead her to awakening, protecting her from those who would attempt to manipulate her for their own gain. Once she awakens either Kylanos shall return to rule or together with her equal she shall destroy the demon and usher a golden age for mankind in which the boy will be revealed to be that which even the gods worship."

When he asked about the ritual the kid explained that it was to take place the next day, and the details horrified Ray and Laura who was within earshot also heard what the "awakening" was. An ancient sword was to be thrust through her heart to awaken her true self, an otherwise fatal action.

Ray's expression of shock changed entirely after a few seconds, his face seemed to radiate hatred, even for one of such a young age. His eyes had lost their innocence, having a sort of dark "feel" to them whenever someone made eye contact, he never talked with any of the other cultists again, neither the adults nor the guards and with Laura who was merely pushed into a state of depression was isolated from them, preferring to stay in a corner and became hostile whenever someone else approached them, adult or child.

As part of this prophecy the cult had decided to have the two share a room with only one bed, a decision that would lead to their escape as when the next day came, Ray woke early and shook Laura awake, saying "Wake up, I need you to get behind the door over there and follow my lead once things start." He pointed to the space between the door next to it's hinges meaning when the door opened, they would be behind it, out of sight.

Laura felt a tear roll down her eyes as she said "Their bigger and older than us, even if we tried to fight we couldn't do anything. They're going to kill me and not-"

Ray interrupted her by placing his index finger on her lips and said "Trust me." Laura nodded and gave him a brief hug before hiding, Ray got affront of her and the two waited, in Ray's eyes was something no child should ever have.

Killing Intent.

About two hours passed, Laura grabbed Ray's hand tightly and when the door opened Ray waited and let go of Laura's grip. The man thought to look behind the door and when he did Ray quickily rammed his head into the man's vulnerable spot which caused enough pain to knock the adult onto his back as Ray quickly acted and pulled a M92F Berretta pistol from the holster, despite the weight of the gun Ray was able to hold it and along with Laura, ran out to seek an exit, the adult got up after and went after them.

He caught them trying to open a door, Ray was about to open the door when Laura screamed, the adult approached cautiously, knowing Ray had his sidearm. He said "Just calm down kid, we're not going to hurt you. Just hand me the gun." Ray took one look at the adult and said nothing, rose the pistol and with both index fingers pulled the trigger, the recoil sent the pistol back a bit but Ray had the fortune of being allowed to use firearms at a gun show once before and was not unsurprised by the recoil. As for the man, his attempt to get Ray to surrender were his last words, the bullet went right between his eyes, a short flush of blood followed by him falling back as if someone had hit his forehead with a baseball bat in terms of impact. His eyes remained open and Ray returned to opening the door, ignoring the sudden, strange, nauseating feeling in his stomach. He would vomit later because right now, he had someone to protect and if he hesitated, she would die.

Laura was petrified until Ray grabbed her hand and shouted "Come on!"

They had the fortune to find an escape before others could get to them.

Ray told everything to the police, the two ex-hostages had managed to find a police car and shouted for help though it wasn't just the shout that caught the officer off-guard, it was that the boy had a gun tucked in the side of his pants and after a tense moment relieved the young Ray of his firearm to which he had no qualms against and explained that they had escaped from armed men.

Memories continued to flow within Ray's mind as he then recalled that during his time at the station his parents and other family members arrived and when they learned of what had transpired, much like the officers they had a mixed reaction. They felt pity on them because of their kidnapping but also were concerned at the fact that Ray, only 10 years old, was forced to kill someone in self-defense. Laura's family was missing, conveniently they went missing only three days after the kidnapping happened, their house showed signs of forced entry and a scuffle meaning they were likely kidnapped, the truth was that it was a set-up scene so that suspicion wouldn't fall on them.

Following that incident Ray managed to convince his parents to adopt Laura into their family and though the incident haunted Ray slightly in his young years, he managed to get past it at age 12.

2009 AD, unaltered timeline.

Now 16, Ray and Laura had shared the same room for six years, the two were close. A second attempt by this "Cult of Kylanos" was made when they were 13 and again Ray stepped up to protect Laura to the point of "running away" instead of trusting the police to find her and eventually tracked her down to someplace in Mexico City, he had to kill 13 people to save her and at one point Laura was forced to fatally shoot one of the cultists in order to keep Ray alive who was unconscious from a gunshot wound. Complications, Good Samaritans and sheer luck had saved them several times during that adventure.

Ray woke up to get a late snack, carefully leaving the bed so as to not disturb his friend/adoptive sister and heard a sound outside.

A Birthday present from a vacation, a combat knife, was on a table nearby, he grabbed it and curiously inspected the back padio when suddenly a bright light nearly blinded him and he felt a strange sensation, as if being pulled apart but without pain or discomfort.

He woke to the sight of a humanoid in heavy armor firing a blue energy pistol at him, knocking him unconscious nearly instantly.

Shadow-Walker Research Facility, Alpha Omicron System, Imperial Kylandarian Republic

He woke with strapped arms and legs to a table, he noticed that there was an IV in each of his limbs but nothing seemed to be going through, yet.

A large tank was connected to the IVs and had a strange, pitch black substance inside it, a strange feeling was coming from it, as it were partially alive when suddenly, it began to move through the IV and into Ray's body, fear became replaced by pain, sheer and utter pain. It felt like some kind of boiling temperature and very thick fluid, as if like some kind of heavy oil was being flushed into his veins, Ray convulsed in pain, screaming to no response in an isolated room with mirrors which were actually one-way mirrors, the occupants of the observation room could see him but to Ray it was a mirror, darkly reflecting the environment he was trapped in.

The pain was unbearable, but something was keeping him from passing out, something un-natural, the very substance being injected into him was keeping him awake and though it was painful, he also felt rejuvenated to a degree until he then felt a different yet even more painful sensation, as if the recently injected material was eating him from the inside-out, tearing him apart one DNA strand at a time until it began to feel different, as if it was putting him back together, and then it repeated several times and somehow the substance prevented him from dying of a heart attack or passing out because of the stress, his pain receptors never shut down, constantly active as if defying all known medical science.

Finally it settled after a couple hours though to him it felt like days, every second was more agonizing than the last and it was at this moment that he passed out.

He woke to a rather futuristic looking room, it seemed he wasn't meant to be a prisoner this time but rather a guest. The door opened, sliding into the wall as a tall individual approached him whilst dressed in what appeared to be a regal military uniform, black with red trims.

The man spoke with a human voice, his face was human as well. He said "My name is Alpha Destriex, an inhabitant from a planet 41 lightyears from your own. I selected you because of a rare genetic marker in your body that I believed would allow you to survive the ordeal you went through. It seems I was correct as the Shadow-Walker died yet passed it's powers onto you instead of simply consuming you like the last subject.

Ray replied "Where am I right now, what about my family?" AD replied "Safe though concerned about your disappearance, we are monitoring them in real time, you can bring up our information at the computer terminal on your desk. There is much for us to talk about."

Ray's memories flashed forward, his reluctant but eventual acceptance of Alpha Destriex's terms to serve the Imperial Kylandarian Republic as a High General (In their ranking system this was a position which held authority over all military branches, in effect a General, Air General and a Grand Admiral at the same time, their equivalent of an Executive Officer who wasn't chief executive though still had executive authority over all military branches.)

Three years passed and Ray occasionally paid covert visits to his family, watching from afar as Laura was continually visiting the park he first met her at, talking to herself at times, likely hoping, somehow that Ray could hear her. She was depressed about his disappearance but valued her life, knowing Ray would never approve if she attempted suicide, her views of him were extremely high, beyond that of a friend, sister or any other relationship had determined. As far as she was concerned, he was her savior, her best friend and her brother at the same time until she said something more softly though Ray's senses had been enhanced by the procedure he went through as well as other procedures including Nano-Augmentation and Bio-Mechanical Cybernetic modifications to his eyes which allowed him to have an Augmented Reality display, a direct feed to his optic nerve allowed him to view advanced information without the worry of anyone else seeing him.

He was dressed in a white hoodie, his upper face concealed and he sat far across from Laura, she was the size of half of his index finger to his perception at that distance though his enhancements allowed him to observe and listen in on her at that distance.

Laura softly said to herself "If only you were still here, if you would come back now, I would tell you without holding back how I truly feel. Please come back to me, I love you too much to lose you forever."

He was about to get up and fulfill her request when suddenly he was contacted about an emergency on Mars, the locals were preparing a full scale invasion of Earth and Ray was to command a pacification of their forces before it could be carried out. Ray promptly left, knowing that what he was doing was still protecting Laura, if only from the shadows. After this op however, he would return directly and explain to Laura and his family exactly what had happened, and what he needs to do. If possible as well, he would try to have Laura come with him.

December 21st, 2012 AD. Unaltered Timeline.

Mars had been pacified, but Ray's assistant immediately informed him of a crisis back on Earth, Laura had been kidnapped and in the process Ray's family had either been killed or had gone into witness protection. Fury filled Ray's mind as for a brief moment as his dark brown eyes flashed golden, his subconscious abilities were awakening and he materialized around him a full armor and immediately gave a controversial order.

He shouted "Take this flagship to Earth and use the sensors to find Laura immediately, once we find her I'm taking a squad of my best and getting her out of there."

The Captain wanted to object but Ray's eyes gave the hint that he would lose his life if he did and thus he complied with the order, the Flagship notified the fleet that it was proceeding to Earth to deal with an emergency situation and would return once the crisis was dealt with.

The ship entered orbit and was cloaked, undetectable by Earth's various satellites and telescopes. Ray got onto a smaller transport with a tactical team and the dropship proceeded rapidly towards the ground, attracting two F-22 Raptors in pursuit which were too slow to intercept the dropship before it dropped below the Radar floor and activated some kind of signal jammer to avoid being detected further, yet another UFO encounter though not one that would likely be relevant for long.

Ray activated his emotion suppressants to avoid becoming compromised during the fight, his mission was to protect Laura and he wouldn't let his biology cause a problem in pursuit of that goal, the team landed in a mountain resort and he noticed that one of the cultists had Laura in the middle of a symbol which seemed demonic in nature, Laura wasn't restrained in any measure, it seemed she had lost the will to live when Ray immediately showed his powers before his squad could take a shot, his left arm deformed into a shadow-like whip, formless and shapeless the whip dashed into the skull of the cultist who would have killed his friend and suddenly the other cultists around them noticed the dropship which had landed without a sound whilst they were preoccupied with some kind of chant. Though they immediately grabbed their rifles and opened fire the IKST (Imperial Kylandarian Shock Troopers) just stood there as the bullets bounced off their armor as if they were rubber bullets despite being 7.62x12mm Full Metal Jacket lead/brass rounds which would have gone through Kevlar. Ray unlike his men however was not silently taunting them as more shadow whips broke off from his left "arm" which impaled the lead cultist, the constant gunfire however was deafening Laura and she covered her ears and ducked down before she could notice Ray, the proximity to several AK-47s firing off causing her ears to feel like they were being assaulted by jackhammers.

Ray's eyes turned from dark brown to golden and his shadow whips continued to tear into the cultists, his men were no longer not shooting because of a silent taunt but now because Ray didn't need them, effortlessly slaughtering the cultists in visual range by impaling them each in their chests.

After less than a minute the gunfire stopped, Laura slowly removed her hands from her ears and looked towards the source of the strange, formless black whips retracting back to the man who was about to kill her (and he was now missing a head) until that larger whip retracted to a sight that sent disbelief, shock and relief to her. Ray Zenji, alive and well, changed forever as his eyes seemed to be glowing a golden hue, his left arm was a formless shadow, the very whip that was retracting, oddly there was no blood on it or on the previous whips, probably absorbed into the appendage which reshaped itself once it was of normal arm's length into a human arm and hand, albeit covered in rather advanced armor.

She got up and silently began to walk slowly towards Ray who nodded and even smiled slightly, letting some emotional suppressants down but not entirely, knowing there could be more cultists nearby. Laura was about to say something when one of the cultists suddenly got up, he wasn't fatally injured because he had been born with his heart on his right instead of his left and thus Ray's shadow whip had missed the vital organ, causing only a flesh wound, one bleeding profusely but not enough to quickly kill or incapacitate. Ray was about to draw his sidearm when the cultist moved with rapid dexterity, eyes glowing red and his hair becoming a more silver color, the man was a Valkyur and likely did not know it. Grabbing and infusing the ancient blade with energy he vaulted it at Laura instead of Ray, knowing it would do nothing against Ray but at the least he could complete the ritual to spite him. The Blade moved more rapidly as if fired from a gun instead of being thrown, it impaled itself from behind through Laura's heart, the sudden pain and shock hit her rapidly and Ray's face changed immediately, her sight of his face caused a brief moment of fear. He was so angry that one could mistake such anger as being the Wrath of God.

With an instant he vaporized the Valkyrian Cultist and all the corpses around them, across all of Earth people were suddenly vaporized, in public view as well including several politicians of various countries. Laura's own family, in hiding and out of public eye, were also vaporized, unaware of what had killed them or why they were killed.

The Ancient Blade absorbed itself into Laura, turning her eyes a bright jade green and her wound healed instantly, though the blade absorbing itself into her and her eyes changing were not Ray's doing, the injury healing itself instantly was. All of this happened in only a third of a second and after the second passed during which Laura was stunned momentarily, a rift opened up, sucking both Ray and Laura into it.

2010 AD. Altered Timeline, Present Day, Nishinomiya, Japan.

The rift had propelled them to the year 1473 AD and subsequently the change the ritual had done to Laura coupled with Ray's enhancements had made the two unaging once they had reached the age of 26 years biologically. For over 500 years the two stayed out of history's way though sometimes were forced to intervene in history and learned much, such as the existence of an ancient order calling itself the Assassin's Brotherhood and that the Knights Templar had survived their purging in secret, and were formed for an entirely different reason, one that only a few of their numbers during the crusades were aware of.

History had somehow been changed, likely by Ray himself as time passed and he and Laura were never born, the two were Temporal Enigmas which meant although their families were alive, they had no knowledge of them. Ray's parents had instead given birth to a girl who was genetically Ray's twin and Laura's older sister was the only child of her family, the entire cult of Kylanos prophecy and conspiracy did not exist in the past, present or future.

During their time in the past Ray had told Laura that her eyes changed color and after looking in a mirror was shocked to an extent but still overjoyed that Ray was back into her life. Ray instantly became aware of why they were sent back in time, or rather how and what happened in the unaltered timeline. He was a Shinjin, and he had done all of that subconsciously. Afraid of himself and of the possibility that he could unknowingly cause Laura harm he destroyed his subconscious and activated his emotional suppressants at full, although they only responded to 50% as half of them had overloaded and become inert because his sheer rage had been stronger than the technology, partially because of the chemical overload and partially because he was in-fact, a blazer which meant his anger was psionically charged and directly burned out most of the nanites. As time passed the nanites that were inert left his system naturally and the functional ones replaced them through self-replication, converting nutrients and bonding them together to form more of themselves which for 30 years gave Ray a heavy appetite.

With his emotions suppressed and with Laura shocked by the sudden changes the two never mentioned anything about their feelings to eachother. Ray no longer physically felt them and Laura hid them because she realized that Ray had changed within the three years he spent wandering space and she did not want to risk causing tension between the two, that coupled with a fear of rejection, thinking that because she was his adopted sister, he might not feel that way towards her, forgetting that when the two met, they were absolute strangers and not related by blood though Ray had noticed, but kept to himself that the two had similarities not on the genetic level, but the quantum level. Something bonded the two together beyond family, a psionic link which was reinforced when the two began using telepathy and although Ray was the only one who could initiate it, because of that very bond there was no physical stress when the two were linked.

School had passed and Haruhi had given him a significant amount of leeway and free-time, likely to give him time to reveal his feelings for Laura which he intended to do after their meeting with Selvaria.

The meeting itself was uneventful, simple revelations such as the fact that Haruhi was now fully aware of what she is and what she can do. Selvaria was concerned that she might be reacting adversely to the revelations but Laura replied that she was reacting very similarly to how Ray reacted when he learned of his powers. Confused, yet accepting of them and also unwilling to risk changing something important by altering history or physics, his accidental temporal rift had taught him that. Haruhi seemed to have taken the news better as she wasn't provoked by stress and anger but rather by a deduction which was confirmed by Ray.

Selvaria later departed to her residence leaving Ray and Laura alone near the stream that Kyon had heard Mikuru's confession of being a time traveler.

It was night and the stars were shining brightly, Laura noticed Ray staring at the stars as if he still held some wonder as to what they were and said "Is there something on your mind?" Ray nodded and replied "Yeah, I've been thinking about the past, remembering all the hard times we've gone through before history changed. Only our direct memories are transferred during telepathy, not our feelings or more subtle memories." Laura looked at him seriously and listened as he continued. He resumed speaking, saying "I remember one time I was covertly visiting you, about four hours before that cult took you for the last time. I overheard what you were saying to yourself." Laura looked down at the stream for a moment and spoke, saying "Ray, if we're going to talk about that, I want you to promise not to treat or look at me differently than before." Ray nodded and said "I promise." Laura replied "Thank you, I want you to know that, I still feel that way, from the day we met, before the cult took us, I found you cute and interesting, of course we were just 10 back then but the feeling never went away. When I felt alone and scared, you came up to me in that room, I fell in love with you wholeheartedly that day and I was too shy to confess my feelings. I had planned to do that the day after you were abducted but because of the abduction I wasn't able to. I've always loved you, it's why I've always stood by your side all these years, past and present. It's a little strange right now though because you're still undercover technically, biologically you're 17 and I'm 22 but chronologically we're both the same, down to the last second. I never said anything before because I thought that because I was adopted into your family that you only saw me as a sister, I was afraid you didn't feel the same way."

Laura stared at the stream in silence when Ray, rather surprisingly embraced her in a hug much like the one she gave him those many years ago (centuries to their point of view). Ray spoke softly, saying "I've felt the same way from the start as well, I suppressed my emotions so I wouldn't accidentally hurt you with closed space or if I would lose control of my shadow abilities, it has happened before. The first feeling I got back when I released the suppressants was this one that I feel right now." A tear rolled down Laura's left eye as she returned Ray's embrace, saying "This feels out of place almost, not just because of our concealed ages but because you're the Imperator, I'm just a Praetorii whose been designated as Epsilon." Ray replied "Laura, we've been together long before the Kylandarian Empire became involved, we've been friends, adoptive siblings and comrades in arms years before we associated ourselves with the empire and during our tenure there, before I became Imperator. There's nothing out of place here, just one man and one women in love with eachother."

Laura gripped slightly tighter and was about to say something when Ray again surprised her, she had never seen Ray act so directly before, he was always evasive or over-explanative in his speech and actions but now he wasn't dancing around any questions, he wasn't being overly descriptive, he was being simple and direct.

That moment, that feeling mattered more to her than anything else when he pulled her into a kiss, softly holding her for what seemed an eternity.

That moment lasted for more than three minutes before both of them broke the kiss slowly at around the same time. Laura didn't say anything and neither did Ray, the two just smiled at eachother and got out of the bench. Ray broke the silence and said "There are still some things left to do. As much as I want this moment to last the night we still have to deal with the fact that Haruhi is now aware. She told me she wouldn't reply to my offer of becoming a Praetorii until later, most likely during or after she graduates from High School here on Earth. I also have to inform the rest of the SOS-dan that she is no longer in the dark about her powers."

Laura nodded and said "I know, just because we're open with eachother now doesn't change the fact that you're still the Imperator of a Galactic Superpower and thus you have responsibilities." Ray nodded and said "I'll see you tomorrow Laura, for now, good night." Laura nodded and said "Good night.".

The two walked in opposite directions, each with a smile on their face and feeling calm and peaceful. Ray felt as if a large burden had been lifted from his shoulders as he knew that although the galaxy was heading possibly into the largest military conflict since the Drona War, he wouldn't be facing it alone.

POV Shift - Suzumiya Haruhi

Haruhi had managed to mask her presence and followed Ray to the meeting. She didn't have much care for the meeting Ray and Laura had with Selvaria and was more interested in seeing if Ray would tell Laura how he felt like he said he would yesterday and indeed he did. Haruhi felt mixed feelings when she saw the two kiss.

She felt happy for Ray but also felt a bit of regret within herself, she did not want to admit it but ever since Ray had revealed to her that he wasn't an ordinary human she had felt an interest towards him that was beyond curiosity. Still she took it well, accepting that there was still a chance she might be able to live a happy life and the knowledge that there were others out there who were inordinary humans that might also be socially considerate unlike most terran men who only focus on intimacy whilst at the same time she knew there were some terran people who knew what was right and what was wrong. Haruhi quietly walked off, using her newfound abilities to avoid even Ray's extremely high senses. To her parents she had gone to bed though she promptly snuck out afterwards, using her abilities to avoid making any sounds or being detected. It was scary to her in a way, that she had so much power. It was worse that there was a galactic power out there, the Valkyur, that were waging war in her name despite the fact she neither approved of it nor even was aware of it until recent revelations. Haruhi was torn on whether to try and change Earth into a better place or accept Ray's offer to become a Praetorii. Either way, once she was a far enough distance from Ray she released the stealth she had placed around her and teleported herself into her room without a sound and promptly got into bed, too tired to change out of her school uniform which she had kept on as she was with the rest of the SOS-dan fiddling about with the computers and playing board games. She still hadn't told the rest that she was now aware but was certain that Ray would do so, she had after-all overheard everything he and Laura talked about.

For now, she would let sleep claim her and had decided to accept Ray's advice. She would keep her emotions for better or worse.

To be continued...