"Lila."

The purple dragoness felt herself falling. Meaningless colors swirled around her. She tried to remember where she was and how she had gotten there. She couldn't.

"Lila."

The the single word boomed in her ears. It seemed to be coming from everywhere, and yet at the same time from nowhere. She didn't recognize the voice speaking. It was male, but that was the only thing she could tell for sure.

After a time the falling sensation stopped and the swirling colors faded to black. She felt herself come to rest on a cold, stone floor. Her eyes fluttered open, but were forced closed again by the bright light that assaulted her. Her vision quickly adjusted though, and she was soon able to look about.

But looking about was useless, for there was nothing to look upon. All that met her gaze was the color white. Nothing interrupted the unending, all consuming limbo.

Am I dead?

The purple dragoness was sure she hadn't voiced the question aloud, even so the voice boomed in response, "As a matter of a fact, you are!"

"Wh-what?" Lila turned around, searching for the source of the voice, "Where are you?" She paused a moment, "Where am I? What is this place?"

"'Where am I? What is this place?'" The voice said in a mocking tone, "Seriously?! You mortals never ask anything ELSE! How hard would it be to just say, "What's up? Have you had a good afternoon, Mortis?" But noooooooo, it's always about YOU!"

Lila simply stood there in a stunned silence, only just comprehending what the voice- Mortis apparently- had previously said, "I-I'm... dead..."

"Stop acting so surprised. You got shot in the heart! Of course you're dead!"

Then it all came back to her. The gunshot. The unbearable pain. The blood. Oh dear Ancestors. What would everyone do when they found her lifeless body? The Purple Dragon, dead. She wasn't even thirteen yet! She hadn't done anything. The prophecies foretold The Purple Dragon was to lead the world into a new age, and yet, here she was. Dead. A failure.

"Mortis," A new voice, this one female, tore Lila from her brooding, "Stop patronising the mortals."

"I'll stop patronising them when they stop acting like self entitled assholes!" Mortis shot back.

"The irony. It burns."

Mortis started to verbalize a retort, but before he could finish the female voice said, "Now! If you're quite done, I would like to talk to our... er..." she paused, "Guest." she finally decided.

"Uh... H-hi?" Lila stuttered, unsure of what to say.

"Lila, I understand you're confused-"

"That's the understatement of the century."

"-but," The female voice continued over Lila's snark, "I need you to listen very closely to what I'm about to tell you. I could well mean the difference between life and death for everyone in the mortal world."

"How?" Lila asked, "If I'm... you know... dead, what can I do in the 'mortal world'?"

"You can do quite a lot in the mortal world, for are unable to keep you here. Something we don't yet understand is pulling your soul back to your mortal body."

Lila's heart leapt, she'd be able to see her friends again!

"In fact, it's taking most of our energy just to keep you here long enough to warn you."

"Warn me about what?"

The voice didn't reply.

"Hello? Are you still there?"

"It has torn." It was Mortis speaking again.

"What?"

"The fabrics have been torn." His voice was shrill, as if something was frightening him.

Suddenly the unending white became once again a swirl of color. Mortis and the female voice screeched unintelligibly from all around her. Suddenly in unison, the two voices boomed, "You must mend the tear."

The last words echoed several times, slowly growing quieter as the world around Lila faded to black.

Two warm streams ran down Atash's face. A part of him hated himself for crying in front of the whole school like this. The Rest of him didn't care. His best friend was dead. That was all that mattered.

Beside him Suishou stood, too stunned to move. Her jaw sat agape and her breath came in quiet, but rapid gulps. It seemed to Atash that she was barely holding back tears herself. This must have really hurt her. He thought. Suishou was always so great at controlling her emotions. It was disturbing to see her like this, so near a break down.

It wasn't long before the other students started to file into the room. Shocked curses and dramatic gasps filled Atash's ears. Theories as to what happened, ranging from unlikely to completely insane, immediately started flying about.

Suddenly Suishou turned, and in a tone, surprisingly calm given the situation said, "Someone inform the Guardians about what has happened here. Everyone else back away from the body, if we have any chance of finding the culprit, the crime scene needs to stay untouched." She paused, then added "And STAY TOGETHER. We don't know whether the person who did this is still here. I don't want anyone else to... Well... ya know-" She trailed off.

There was a murmur of agreement from the crowd and Atash noticed three or four dragons in the back broke away and rushed towards the Guardian's chambers. The rest of the crowd then slowly dispersed.

It wasn't long before Atash and Suishou were alone once again. They simply stood there. Staring at the now empty doorway. Then Atash fell to his haunches and wept. He felt Suishou drape a wing over his shoulders. Normally he would have been embarrassed, perhaps even pulled away from the embrace. But not now. Now, the embrace was sanctuary.

After what felt like forever the two herd paws scraping against the stone floor in the hall. A moment later Kopaka, Terrla and Mura burst into the room. Mura swore under his breath and a look of horror leapt to Terrla's face. Kopaka's face remained emotionless, but his voice faltered, if only slightly when he asked, "What happened here?"

"I don't know," Suishou replied, "I heard a gunshot and then we found her like this."

The Guardian of Ice moved to the purple dragoness' lifeless body and investigated the wound. A moment later he reported with a sigh, "The shot pierced her heart. There's nothing we can do."

Suishou bowed her head, "That's what I feared."

Kopaka turned to the two other present Guardians, "Mura, inform the others what happened here. Terrla, you will tell Kaze to gather the swiftest guards and go after the assassin."

The two dragons offered a salute, before sprinting from the room. Once they were gone Kopaka bent down to young dragons. He placed a paw on Atash's shoulder, "I'm sorry for your loss, young ones-"

He was cut off by someone coughing loudly directly behind him. All three dragons leapt to their feet, half expecting to be assaulted by the purple dragoness' killer, despite the fact they knew he was likely long gone. But what they saw was even more impossible. The purple dragoness was sitting up. The wound on her chest was slowly shrinking as new flesh crawled from beneath her scales. In a moment one could never tell she had been injured, for not a scar nor misshapen scales marked the entry wound.

"Hey guys," She choked, "I just had the weirdest dream."