No one could believe it. Kite had somehow managed to escape with Mahpari without being seen?

How it was possible, they didn't know.

But it had happened.

"What do we do now?" Alit asked. "Durbe is gonna wake up any moment. If he finds out his little sister is gone again, he's gonna freak out!"

"No dip," Shark said, sitting up and groaning. He shook himself off, then stood up, half way doubled over from the pain of the explosion. That had taken a toll on him that was slightly bigger than he had first thought.

It didn't matter. He could handle the pain.

"Back to our little problem," Gilag said, crossing his arms as he looked back down at Durbe. "We need to find Mahpari before he wakes up. If we don't..."

"That could end up so badly that I don't wanna think about it," Alit interrupted. He sighed and sat on the ground, but bolted up instantly with Durbe in his grasp, ready to take him back to the base.

"Exactly," Shark replied. He growled, then looked at the hill. Something shiny that was glistening in the moon's light caught his eye. As he took a closer look at it, he realized exactly what it was.

A trail of blood.

"Hey!" Shark yelled, pointing to the blood trail. "We can follow that blood. Maybe we'll find Kite and Mahpari."

Alit nodded. "Good idea, dude. Let's see if we can find the little turd that took the moon fairy. That way, Durbe won't have to worry about it."

"But, he'll only not be able to worry about it if we can find them before he wakes up. How are we going to pull that off?"

Now, Alit paled. He gulped, then hung his head low. "Yeah... I suppose there's a problem there."

"We're never going to get this guy if we just stand around trying to figure out how we're going to do it," Gilag said. "That means we need to get going and take this opportunity to get a move on."

Shark nodded. He took Durbe from Alit's grasp, making a whimperish sound because of the extra weight to support. His ocean-blue eyes fought back pain tears as he stood completely. "I'll take Durbe back to the base. You two go find his little sister. Got that? No taco breaks or anything like that."

"Got it!" Alit yelled, rushing up the hill with Gilag and appearing to be glued to the new assignment. Shark rolled his eyes, then began to drag Durbe back with him.

This was going to be a very long day when Durbe woke up.

XxXxXxXx

Small, dim rays of sun shined through the cracks in the room. They were enough light for Mahpari to see where she was. A small room with vines on the inside. Now that her vision began to clear up, she could see some of the things that were around her. An old, worn out coffee table was right in front of her. There was a small TV on top of it, and it was playing a country music CD.

Mahpari sat up. She stared at the curtains. They were stained yellow, probably from the sun that constantly shined through them. Nevertheless, they fit with the scenery, being frayed at the ends. The blinds on them were somewhat open, but you couldn't see out the window enough to see the outside world.

It was just then that Mahpari realized she wasn't laying on the floor. She was laying on a very comfortable couch, covered by a slightly dusty blanket that looked as though it was made with lots of love.

"Where...am I?" Mahpari whispered to herself. She pushed the blanket off just a little bit, only enough to sit up and take in a better view. There was a lot of ticking from the room she was in. At first, thanks to last night's incident, Mahpari thought it was another bomb. Being surrounded by so many things made her feel uneasy.

But soon, she realized it was only the sound of about a million clocks. All of them were crowded into one room, but even at that, it was a very peaceful scene.

"You're awake?"

Mahpari turned and looked at where the voice had come from, and she almost shrieked when she saw Kite standing there. His sky-blue eyes stared into her smokey-gray ones, sending a calm feeling into her and making her feel more at home. A smile crossed Mahpari's lips as she continued to stare at the man that was in front of her.

"Where are we?" Mahpari asked, standing up and walking in front of Kite. His calm look turned to that of a slightly pained expression, but it was masked instantly by a warm and friendly smile.

"This is the old cabin that my little brother and I used to live in. I thought you'd be safer here because this place is in the middle of nowhere. Vector and his soldiers can't find you here."

A saddened expression overtook Kite's features. He sighed, then walked away. Mahpari tilted her head to the left, then decided to go ahead and explore. She walked to the mantle that was right above the chimney at the other end of the room. A few framed photographs were lined on it.

These caught Mahpari's eye easily. She noticed that, unlike most everything else in this house, these were cleaned and dusted. By the looks of it, this was done regularly to them to make them stand out from each and every other thing in here.

Mahpari grabbed one and examined it. There was Kite, and on top of him was a small child with blue hair and big, innocent amber eyes. He was clinging onto Kite happily, the kindest smile Mahpari had ever seen on his face.

Is this cutie Hart? Kite's little brother? Mahpari thought to herself.

Kite came walking around the corner a few seconds later. He spotted Mahpari, then smiled gently. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Mahpari didn't respond very quickly. She only turned around, the picture still clutched in her grasp.

"Is this Hart?" she whispered, pointing to the picture and allowing her finger nail to gently touch the surface of the glass. "Is he your little brother?"

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Kite allowed the tears to fall from his eyes and drip down his cheeks as he looked at the floor.

Uh-oh, Mahpari thought. I hit a nerve.

A few more tears began to fall from Kite's eyes. Mahpari couldn't take it anymore. She sniffled, then set the picture back where she found it. The gray-haired girl stood there, motionless.

Only seconds later, she was latched onto Kite in an affectionate little girl hug.

Kite blinked, but he didn't resist Mahpari's attempt to be sweet and caring. Rather, he sank into the embrace and put his arms around the girl's waist. Mahpari smiled, then pulled away and stared into the sky-blue eyes that were across from her.

"I'm sorry," Mahpari said. "I should've left the subject alone, knowing how sensitive it is to you."

"No, it's fine Mahpari. Maybe it would be better if I spoke a bit about it, instead of keeping it all bottled up inside."

"Okay. Hey, it's up to you, not me."

Both of them smiled at one another again. Kite turned and grabbed another one of the framed photos that was sitting on the mantle. He turned and allowed Mahpari to look at it. Hart was the only one in this picture, and perched delicately on his finger was a butterfly. In his free hand was a net, which sparkled from the sun rays that hit it.

Mahpari could only smile.

Thoughts began to swim in Mahpari's mind like crazy. Hart looked like such and adorable and sweet kid. She couldn't fathom why anyone would want to hurt him, or why anyone would kill him. It puzzled her beyond words.

"Do you happen to know...why he was killed?"

Kite was about to answer, but was unable to. Before either of them even knew what was happening, the front door had been kicked in, and two soldiers stood outside. Mahpari went wide-eyed, for she recognized these two.

Alit and Gilag.

Oh, no, Mahpari thought.

This would not end well, and she knew it.