Wolf and Leo: Own nothing!

"What do you mean?" Kitty asked Yoh, scared by the desolate expression on his face.

"I mean that either me or Hao is going to wind up dead before then, in one way or another." Yoh sighed.

"I feel like I'm going crazy." He sat down on the stairs. Kitty sat down beside him and Pyro sat on the other side.

"You're not going crazy." Kitty protested.

"Aren't I?" Yoh countered. "I feel like everything's closing in on me, everyone wants something from me, and I think, no I know, that I can't give it to them."

"It's like everyone wants a piece, and there's nothing left for you." Pyro offered calmly. Yoh gave her a glum look.

"Exactly."

%&%&%&%

Hao walked with Pib perched on his shoulder the whole ride home. He was amazed that no one saw the little faerie, particularly since the little man was chattering the entire way home, in broad daylight, in the middle of crowded streets.

"Nobody is even looking at us." Hao murmured in bemusement. Pib laughed.

"Of course not!" He exclaimed. "Like I said, humans don't look. They don't want to see. They don't want to believe in anything else but their own little lives." Pib snorted derisively. "Then again, who would want to remember that there are creatures in the dark, waiting to devour them?" Pib shrugged. "Most of the Fae don't want humans to know either."

"Because then it would make catching their prey more difficult." Hao said with a faint shudder.

"Hmm, there is that, but they also don't want to get into a war with humans either." Pib explained.

"Why not? The Fae have the advantage, don't they?"

"Not as much these days, but there is one other advantage you humans got on us."

"What's that?"

"You can lie." Pib explained. Hao raised an eyebrow at him. "Fae can't lie."

"I have heard that before." Hao said thoughtfully.

"Well, it's true." Pib griped. "We can't lie about a thing, not one little insignificant fib."

"I can see why that would be annoying." Hao commented as he opened the door to his temporary home. Pib flew off his shoulder as Hao took off the iron pendant. Looking around Hao saw Kitty, Pyro and Yoh sitting on the stairs. He gave them a scowl and brushed by them on the way up the stairs. When he'd gone Yoh heaved a sigh.

"I had one like that once." Yoh looked up to see Pib hovering in front of him, an angry and upset look on his face.

"What?" Yoh asked.

"I had a brother like that once." Pib explained. "Oh, by the way, my name is Pib."

"Yoh Asakura." Pib nodded. "What was your brother like?"

"Like most Fae." Pib sighed. "Us pixies, we spend more time up in the air, in the open, than do most Fae. They rarely venture out of their holes, unless their looking for entertainment." Pib sighed. "As a result, us pixies get a chance to really see humans, and a lot of us see that they're not so different from us. You don't see a lot of pixies at a Fae party for this reason." Pib paused a second.

"But your brother liked it." Pyro supplied.

"He did, and he could not for the life of him understand why I didn't." Pib sighed. "I didn't have any great attachment to humans, but I didn't want to watch them being tortured. When I told him about Tim and Josh saving me he didn't want to hear it, and then demanded that I join him at the next party. When I refused he told me to get out and threatened to serve me up at the next party, and not as a guest."

Yoh, Kitty and Pyro all shivered. Pib nodded. "I took my girls, thankfully they all felt the way I did, and got out of there as fast as I could. Came here, hoping that the twins would help me out again. Thanks be to the gods that they did."

"The girls?" Kitty asked, tilting her head in confusion. Pib grinned.

"Yeah, I'll get them for you." He threw his head back and yelled at the ceiling. "LADIES!" Almost instantly four brightly coloured whirlwinds darted down the stairs and around Pib. They chattered and laughed and kissed and hugged the male pixie. "Alright, alright. Enough with the mushy stuff." The four females stood still to hover lightly in the air.

"They're so pretty." Kitty breathed. The four female pixies giggled.

"Alrighty then, this is Wink." Wink, a blonde and purple eyed pixie wearing a pink dress curtsied. "And Dina." A dark-skinned, brown-eyed girl in a yellow dress nodded her head politely. "Teaka." A yellow-eyed, brown-haired girl in a blue dress waved. "And Mixie." The last, a redhead and blue-eyed pixie in a green dress smiled. "These are my girls."

"Pleased to meet you." The girls chorused. They darted playfully around the three teenagers, making them laugh.

"I hope you're liking our home." Wink giggled.

"It's very nice." Yoh said.

"As long as there's no poltergeists." Dina added sarcastically.

"The poltergeists are kind of funny." Kitty protested.

"Not when they can whirl you around until you throw up." Mixie protested in return. Kitty grimaced and didn't comment anymore.

"What's up girls? Pib?" Tim and Josh dashed down the stairs. "Haven't seen you all in awhile."

The girls instantly whirled around the twins, chattering so quickly that Yoh, Kitty or Pyro couldn't tell what they were saying. The twins however, had no such trouble and laughed and chatted back at the girls.

"What is this?" They all turned to see Marco and Jeanne descending the stairs. They politely moved out of the way while the pixies found perches on their friends' shoulders. "Are they Fae?" Marco demanded.

"Yeah." Tim replied, folding his arms.

"Then what are those monsters doing here?" Pib lifted off Josh's shoulder, wings whirring angrily.

"Hey, watch what you're saying about my girls." He growled, shaking a fist at Marco.

"Come on now Marco, you're not afraid of something so tiny, are you?" Hao taunted from atop the stairs. Pib glared at him.

"Hey, buddy, I got a reputation to uphold here, you're not helping." He snapped.

"Hmph, like you could do any damage, really." Hao snorted derisively.

"I could come up there and punch you in the nose, if you'd like." Pib replied, shaking a tiny fist at Hao. Hao made a face.

"I'm being threatened by a man a fraction of my size, what is the world coming to?" Hao asked aloud and then walked away. Pib settled back down on Josh's shoulder.

"Man, guy has a way of getting under your skin, don't he?"

"It's a talent." Pyro sighed resignedly. "Not entirely intentional, but it seems to have become so with him."

"You're no different than he, she-demon." Marco growled. Pyro glared so hotly at him that everyone watched expected to see him singe.

"Hao's not the only one talented in getting under people's skin." She simply commented. Marco sniffed and wandered off. The Iron Maiden stayed however, watching the pixies with expressionless eyes.

"So why are there Fae here?" She asked.

"Because not all of us are nasty." Pib replied. "Some of us just want to be left alone." The Iron Maiden nodded, apparently satisfied, and followed after Marco. Yoh sighed and stood.

"I should go, it's practice time." He said reluctantly. As he walked away Pib tapped Tim's shoulder.

"He don't look too good." Pib commented.

"He's depressed." Pyro explained. "Poor boy's got a lot of pressure on him, and he's reaching the end of his rope."

"Poor kid." Teaka sighed dramatically. "And he's so sweet too. It's always the nice ones that get the crap in life, isn't it?"

Pyro shrugged, " It does seem that way doesn't it. But then again those who live through the crap of life are stronger than those who are sheltered from it."

Teaka sighed "If only he knew that."

Leo : the deeper we go the stronger we feel, the higher we go the more we feel the ground, the harder the trial we go through, the more reason there is to go on.

Wolf: (raises eyebrow) where did that come from?

Leo: its just something that came to me that's all.

Wolf: I see...

Leo: review please! :D