Jenna had a dream.

She was crying, great salty tears that stuck to her face and fingers, blurring her vision and making her nose run. She wasn't feeling particularly sad or hurt, just fearful. Of what she didn't know, only that something loomed over her, something unnamed and unseen, but still terrifying.

It lurked, an unwanted friend or perhaps a welcome enemy, she couldn't be sure. Only that it was there, and that it teased her subconscious.

Her surroundings faded in and out, going black and white to a multitude of colors. Constantly changing, but still the hauntingly familiar ground of her home. The once great city, that was nothing but rubble and debris. A repressed memory in her mind.

She shivered, not from the cold, but from the realization that this was a memory and not a dream.

Jenna saw Felix.

He was young, like she remembered. Covered in dirt and looking heart-wrenchingly noble and brave. Jenna longed to reach out to him, she longed to revert to her eight year old self, to cry.

But this was a memory in a dream, and she could only watch him from afar while her dream self was able to give in.

The ground shook, and they ran. They ran and ran and her small legs tried to keep up with Felix's desperate strides. And then the titan came.

The behemoth looked at her, through her, looked with her own eyes. It was there and not and Jenna lost her mind.

She raged, and fire burned. She lashed out and Felix was consumed by the flames, whether from her or the titan she couldn't be sure, she didn't want to know. She couldn't handle the truth- it burned too badly.

Jenna woke.

There was just the simple and gentle opening of her eyes, no screaming or sweating, just the peaceful rest she had long been denied.

She was in the mad bay again, Garet and Isaac faces close by and watching her intently.

"Jenna?" Garet asked quietly, his deep voice gruff, "Can you hear me?"

She blinked a few times, trying to get her cotton filled mouth to work properly, "How...long...?" she managed, trying to sit up.

Garet pushed her back down, "You've been out for three days! We were worried that..." he trailed off, "Don't ever do that again!" he fumed, "Do you know what I went through!"

"What happened?" she whispered, not meeting Garet's eyes after his outburst.

Isaac answered this time, "You beat him."

"What?"

"You beat him," he repeated, "Your fire... I never saw anything like it... it totally destroyed Boreas."

She was breathing heavily now, "He's dead?"

Isaac shook his head, "No, we captured him."

"You've had him this entire time?" she asked in disbelief, "Why isn't he dead?"

"No," Garet replied, sitting back into one of the chairs, "We captured him only a few hours ago. After the... battle... he was almost demolished and couldn't get away quickly. We had to search him out, the bastard was hiding."

"He was badly wounded," Isaac continued, "We had to treat him, or he would die before we got any information out of him."

"He is still unconscious in one of the heavily guarded private rooms," Garet muttered, "Kaja insisted on it."

Jenna frowned, "Is Hama still...?"

The two pilots looked at each other before Garet answered, "There's been no change."

She kept their gaze, still putting up a strong front. Somehow she believed that attacking Boreas would bring Hama back, and in the back of her mind- Susa and Felix. She knew it was impossible, but rage does things like that. It makes you think crazy and impossible things that a sane person would dismiss in an instant.

Perhaps she was insane. Not able to tell the difference between dreams and reality.

"How long do I have to stay here?" she asked, effectively changing the subject.

Garet looked relieved, "Mia said once you wake up you'd be fine. Do you want me to get her?"

Jenna nodded gratefully, she had enough of laying in bed for a lifetime. Garet left, leaving the slightly pale and drawn Isaac at her side. The boy pilot watched her intently for a moment before asking, "Do you want to see him?"

She brushed her long knotted hair out of her face, "Boreas?"

Isaac nodded, his large blue eyes still on her.

Clutching the immaculate white sheets, Jenna replied, "I might need to be restrained."

"I don't blame you."

"Why do you hate him so?" she asked out of curiosity. Anything that could command such loathing in the childlike Isaac was certainty worth her interest.

Isaac finally looked away from her, his innocent eyes becoming distant and secretive, "I don't hate him, I just don't blame you for doing so."

But that didn't make any sense, Jenna thought to herself. Isaac and Boreas clearly held animosity towards each other, how else could one explain their previous battles? Suddenly she was reminded of Hama's request, the request that she keep an eye on Isaac.

"Do you hate anything?" she asked softly.

"The Prox," he answered instantly, "What the Prox have done to us, what they have done to our world."

They were silent until Garet returned with Mia. The healer was looking harassed.

"Thank you, Garet," she sarcastically said, "I don't know how I would have ever known Jenna woke up."

"I just told you!"

Mia gave an unladylike snort, "'Just told me?'" she launched into a very good impression of the burly pilot, "'Mia! Jenna woke up! You have to release her NOW!' As he proceeded to nearly drag me out of my office!"

Garet looked miffed, "That's not true!"

Mia strode up to the taller pilot, "Oh?"

He cringed, "Just release her alright? We have work to do."

"As if I don't," Mia muttered loudly before turning to Jenna, "I just need to take out the IV, but take it easy for the next few hours, okay?"

"Since when do I ever take it easy?"

Mia glared at her.

"Alright, alright!" Jenna held out her arm.

The healer removed the needle with more force than necessary, and Jenna winced, "What's got you in such a huff?

"The prisoner woke up," all three pilots turned to her at this announcement, "And I'm apparently not cleared to examine him! It's not enough that I'm the most qualified and experienced healer here, but Kaja actually had Justin do it! Justin! That lazy-"

"Boreas is awake?" Garet asked, interrupting Mia's rant.

"That's the rumor," Mia said, clearly disgusted, "And then Kaja said some utter nonsense about the assignment being for my own safety! That medieval, chauvinistic-"

"Whoa, Mia," Jenna shook her head, "Do you know for certain?"

"It must be true, otherwise Kaja wouldn't be so insistent on it."

The three pilots exchanged the briefest of looks before hurriedly heading out the door, leaving a cross Mia behind.

Not far away, in another room of the med bay, a boy kept a silent vigil for his sister.

He waited patiently at her side, now that the enemy had been captured and he was free from his responsibilities. Capturing Boreas seemed trivial compared to his sister, his beautiful strong sister.

Ivan had not gotten any sleep for days, just the fitful restlessness that accompanied him like a shadow these few horrible days. He was haggard beyond his years, and sat at her side with an air of hopelessness that pervaded the entire room.

He had never felt so alone in his life. Hama had always been there, whether he liked it at the time or not. She was a constant in his world, the anchor he held onto.

And he desperately wanted her to anchor him now.

No more childish arrogance, or proving himself, Ivan just wanted to be held and know that Hama was alright. She was his family, he had never known the mother and father of assorted pictures his sister still possessed.

He only had Hama to fill the role of mother and father and sister.

But Hama... might not ever return to him, he admitted to himself, a sharp pang tearing at his chest. It was a hard thing for a fifteen year old to realize the mortality of those around him, especially those who seemed untouchable by an insignificant thing such as death.

Mortality was something the young did not think about.

But Ivan was immersed in it.

He thought about death, his fear of it now and the previous hilarity that it could ever happen to him or those around him. Not to him or Hama or Jenna or Garet, not really even to Susa. He had never felt his death, not like Jenna or Garet did. He had never understood why they mourned for so long, and continued to mourn even now. He never understood why they desperately clung to each other after the earth adept died.

But he understood now, even if he didn't want to. He wanted the days of ignorance back, days where the world was good- not bitter and lonely. He didn't want to grow up if it meant he had to live in that kind of a world.

But he couldn't have those days back anymore.

"What is it, old friend?" Hydros asked over the com, his lined face more strained than ever.

There was rummaging sounds in the background, and the loud heaving of Kraden lifting something clearly too heavy, "I've found it!" he gasped out, "I've finally found it, Hydros!"

The ancient council member leaned forward into the com, "Found it? What Kraden? What have you found?"

"Ha!" Kraden exclaimed as a thunk carried over the line, "The missing piece, Hydros! The 'key' that we have been looking for. The 'key' that will unseal the Stone of Sages resting in Sol Sanctum. The 'key' that will bring this war to an end!"

Hydros asked calmly, "Truly?"

"It is all right here," Kraden spoke, "It was all right here, right under our noses! We overlooked it."

Stunned, Hydros leaned back in his chair, staring at his blank office walls, "Tell me, old friend."

She didn't know what to expect, walking through the high security and into the prisoner's cell. Finally, she would meet the bastard Boreas face-to-face, she would finally have a tangible person to hate.

The guards nodded to her as she stepped through, knowing what the prisoner did, knowing what she felt. The whole station had been affected by their star pilot's death, only she felt it more keenly. They had mourned with her, though, and she nodded back to them, acknowledging their sympathies.

Garet and Isaac flanked her as she entered the small area in front of the cell joining Kaja. The older man was looking grim, his typically roguish features set in a scowl, "Good, you're here."

"So," Jenna motioned towards the dark cell, "Where is he?"

"I am right here."

He was handsome, was the first thought through Jenna's mind, tall and lithe with sharp features and dark blue eyes. Even the bruises, large and black and plentiful, didn't detract from his masculine beauty. He seemed also strangely familiar, with his almost blue black hair and something else that Jenna couldn't identify, this was followed by the realization that this man was responsible for the death of Susa.

He smirked at the sight of her, running his eyes up and down her body hungrily, "You must be the lovely Megaera."

Jenna fought the urge to both shiver in disgust and hit him, "You are sick."

He just continued to smirk at her, "And I suppose you are accompanied by Kirin and Charon?" he asked without looking away from her.

Garet stepped forward, "Watch it. Give us a reason and you'll be swimming with the fishes."

Boreas raised an elegantly arched eyebrow, "How droll, I see that your stupidity is not limited to the battlefield, Kirin."

Garet was about to rush towards him, but Isaac interrupted, "You can not escape from here, Boreas. If you will not tell us what we want to know, then we have no further use for you." he warned.

Jenna looked at the boy pilot, surprised at his ominous tone. Boreas also moved his eyes over to Isaac, deftly gauging the earth adept, "I suppose that is only fair, as I am a prisoner here. I certainly would expect the same courtesy from you."

"How very... noble... of you," Jenna said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Tch tch tch," Boreas tutted, "I would have expected you to be more lady-like, but I think I like this side better."

Jenna turned away, unable to face the despicable bastard.

"Where did you get your mech?" Kaja asked, "It is Proxian, isn't it?"

"Of course it is, Proxian mechs are superior to your own pathetic contraptions."

Kaja frowned, but didn't contradict him, "And just how, exactly, did you come into the possession of one?'

"Why, the Prox gave it to me," Boreas smiled.

"And why would they do that?"

"Well, they just happened to have a spare one laying around."

"Don't give me bullshit," Kaja cracked his knuckles menacingly, "This isn't the time for it."

Boreas was clearly weighing his options against the much larger man. Jenna didn't think he stood a chance if left alone with the muscular Kaja, not with the injuries he had already sustained.

"But I think it is," Boreas challenged.

There was silence for a long moment while the two men stared each other down. Kaja finally spoke after some consideration, "You three, leave."

Jenna exchanged glances with Garet and Isaac before asking, "Is that an order, sir?"

"Yes."

"Quite, listen to your CO." Boreas mocked from behind the bars.

"C'mon," Garet muttered, grabbing Jenna by the arm and leading her out of the room. Isaac followed a second later, his face harried.

Jenna looked back over her shoulder, catching a final glimpse of Kaja and Boreas before the reinforced door slid shut, blocking them from view.

Dramatis Personae

Jenna: Megaera, Fire Adept

Isaac: Charon, Earth Adept

Felix: Deceased

Garet: Kirin, Fire Adept

Ivan: Eclipse, Wind Adept

Mia: Healer, Water Adept

Alex: Boreas, Water Adept

Saturos: Proxian Commander, Fire Adept

Menardi: Proxian Commander, Fire Adept

Agatio: Proxian Commander, Fire Adept

Karst: Proxian Commander, Fire Adept

Susa: Haures, Earth Adept, deceased

Hama: Commander of Western HQ, Wind Adept

Uzume: Command Liaison, Earth Adept

Kaja: Second in Command- Western HQ

Fiehzi: Communications Officer- Western HQ, implanted Wind Adept

Hsu: Navigational Officer- Western HQ

Kay: Kraden's assistant

Obaba: Council Chair

Babi: Council member

Faran: Council member

Akafubu: Council member

Donpa: Council member

Dodonpa: Council member

Lunpa: Council member

Moapa: Council member

Hydros: Council member

Iodem: Babi's aide

Kraden: Scholar

Briggs: Mech Communications Officer-Western HQ, implanted Wind Adept

Chaucha: Mech Communications Officer- Western HQ, implanted Wind Adept

Defense Elite: Mech Warriors

Ouranos: DE captain

Sean: DE sergeant

Drones: Plant-like servants of the Prox.

Garusia?

Child of the Winds?

Traitor?

Judgement?

Anemos: People who lived in the sky.

Lemuria: People who lived in the ocean.

Emperor?

And here's another chapter. Just a few notes:

Some may be wondering why Boreas just didn't teleport out of the cell. Well, the answer is that the adepts can't really use psynergy without the aid of their mechs. At least not to that degree of control. The exceptions being Jenna and her fire, and the wind adepts and their telepathy. And to a certain extent, the other adepts have an innate awareness of their element at all times. Without his mech, Boreas cannot teleport given his injuries. And if the mech is damaged enough, he can't teleport. The same goes for using psynergy in a damaged mech- it doesn't work well at all.

So what has Kraden found? Will he blabber about it incessantly? Will Kraden save everyone?

And last, but certainly not least, the reviews!

SpasticDjinn: I haven't gotten a review from you in a long time! Thanks! I know about the run on sentences, trust me it was the bane of my existence in high school English class.

Guy: Thanks! The plot is picking up now, so that will mean shorter chapters. But the chapters will be more plot oriented than character oriented like the last- four? five?- have been.

Shiny Milotic: Thanks! I always said that Sheba would be in the story, and hopefully with a nice twist just to make things interesting :)