As usual, I own nothing except a few trainers. Sorry it took me so long, folks, I've been working on a novel that grabbed me by the hand and wouldn't let go.

LoneHowl: Nah, it's all good. Besides, I can taunt you and bother you this way. Mwahahahaha!

SS13: My pleasure! I'm glad I could help out at all. I totally know what you mean when you say you have writer's block and things are just going so slow. That happens to me all the time. That's why I hardly ever finish things… But I'm going to finish this if it kills me! XP And Eliora will show up again next chapter, no worries.

PeaceLoveOcelot: Yes, and the plot thickens! *dun dun DUUUUUUN!* Don't worry, you'll have all your questions answered before the story is finished. Maybe in this chapter I'll start answering questions instead of posing them. Maybe. Possibly. If you're all lucky.

ShiShi: A new reviewer! Yay! I love new faces! Thanks for the review, and I hope you like this chapter as well. Maybe you guys will get a few hints too… :)

~*~

"Are you going to tell them?" The gentle question pulled Belle out of her hazy half-sleeping state. She looked up faintly from where she lay next to Nyx, her head pillowed on his chest. They hadn't done anything since he said she was too tired and too sick, but she still liked to cuddle with him. Not her fault she was a cuddly person.

A shrug was his main response. The trainer rested her head on his chest again, her eyes partially closed as she moved closer to him. His arm slid around her, comforting her.

"You should. Before it's too late."

"I will," Belle promised. "Just… not now. Once I tell them, they'll all look at me pityingly and they'll treat me differently. Sera won't like it either, since I was always so healthy back home. When I tell them, I want to be sure that there's no other choice, and then I'll tell them everything at one time. That will be easier than trying to tell them separately and having to explain the story several times."

"What about the others?" Nyx asked softly.

"Well, my batch all know," Belle replied. "When the time comes, I'll just… I'll probably give them an option of returning to their homes or going with Sera or one of the others." She closed her eyes faintly in pain. "I'll keep Duo with me. He was there for the beginning of this all, it's only fit that he be there for the ending."

Nyx pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head gently. "Don't think about it too much," he said softly. "It'll make you upset. And you still have time left. Don't worry about it yet. We'll take care of you. I promise. We'll make sure everything happens as you want it. Don't worry." He kissed the top of her head, holding her closer. He was dreading the upcoming months more than most of the others. The only two more concerned than him were possibly Eclipse and Duo. Belle was right; Duo had been there since she had gotten ill, and he wouldn't leave her even if she released him. Eclipse had adopted Belle before she had even caught him, helping her out without her asking. They were the only two who had known Belle longer than he had, and Nyx was rather grateful for that. If not for those two, Belle wouldn't have survived the initial stages of the illness, and he never would have met her and would still be wandering around by himself, most likely. It hurt him more than he ever imagined it would to think about life afterwards without her.

When he was sure Belle was asleep, Nyx let his hand rest over her belly, his face nestled in her hair. He didn't want to lose her, but he didn't see any way to save her at the moment. There wasn't much any of them could do, and it was eating him alive. If he thought it would help, he'd have turned her ages ago, but he knew she didn't want that. Not yet at least. With a soft sigh, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

~*~

Sera was the first to wake the next morning and found she was cuddled between Kenshin and Thomas, with her face against Kenshin's shoulder and Thomas much closer than she normally would let anyone (except her sister, of course). She froze, looking for a way out, and shifted minutely. Kenshin had one arm draped over side, up around the middle of her back, while Thomas's arm flopped over her thigh. Feeling herself blush, Sera started trying to squirm out of the extremely awkward positioning. Why oh why did she ever think it would be wonderful to be surrounded by men?!

Thomas started shaking behind her, and Sera looked over her shoulder to find his gray eyes open and his shoulders shaking with laughter. She glared at him and managed to elbow him in the gut, making him yelp. That, of course, woke Kenshin, who blinked groggily before he yelped and fell off the bed trying to scoot away too fast. Sera used her opportunity to shove Thomas off the other side of the bed, where he lay sprawled on Harry, both of them swearing and managing to tangle themselves up even more. Sera shot off the end of the bed, glancing at where Kenshin and Kurama were disentangling themselves, and saw Graverobber over with Pavi and Luigi. As soon as she knew all her boys were present and accounted for, she grabbed her bag and darted into the bathroom, mortified.

She turned the water on loud enough to drown out the noise from the room as Anna and some of hers woke up from all the noise they'd made. Still blushing furiously, she peeled off her tank top and pajama pants that she'd worn to bed and pulled on loose black jeans and a loose t-shirt. When someone knocked on the door, Sera didn't answer immediately. She washed her face to try to bring the color down and tried to comb out her hair before she opened the door. Anna stood there, looking a little grumpy.

"What's with the racket?" she grumped, her own hair messy with sleep.

"Thomas," Sera said shortly.

Anna eyed her for a moment before she nodded. "Since we're up, do you want to go check out the stores? I wanted to go see about a few things."

"Sure," Sera said, a little surprised. Before now, Anna hadn't made any particular attempts to get close to her, but it seemed now was a good time. She smiled at the shorter trainer, who grinned back, and motioned for her to shoo. Sera obligingly moved out of the way and went over to brush out her hair. It wasn't cooperating.

"Here, let me," Thomas said softly. He was still trying not to grin, but at least he didn't say anything about how they'd woken up.

Sera grudgingly handed over her brush and Thomas had her sit in front of him on the bed, teasing all the knots out of her hair and braiding it quickly. He even twisted it into a bun and secured it in place with a few jeweled metal stick-things. He grinned and patted the top of her head. "All done, darling."

Sera rolled her eyes but turned and gave him a little smile. "Feeding off me now are we Thomas?"

Thomas grinned, completely unrepentant. "It's easier to take little bits from lots of people," he said softly before he moved off to offer Anna the same treatment. She agreed hesitantly but didn't appear to regret it. Vlad had pulled out a bottle of synthetic blood for himself and watched to make sure everything was kept in order.

Sera shook her head and pulled on shoes and socks, glancing at Kenshin. He shrugged slightly and retied his hair. Sera thought it looked rather nice loose, but she would never actually say that. It was his hair, after all. A few of the others got ready to go as well while others retreated to get more sleep. Kenshin, Harry, Thomas, Vlad, and Murphy all stayed out. The rest retreated.

"How come you're coming, Thomas?" Sera asked with a little frown as she grabbed her backpack. Anna wasn't taking hers, instead deciding to use Sera as her pack mule.

"Easier for me to feed," Thomas said easily. "I asked Belle and she said she's fine with it as long as I don't piss anyone off." He grinned easily.

Harry snorted and rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath. "You? Piss someone off? Never," he said, sarcasm practically dripping off his voice. "I mean, gosh, Thomas, you've only gotten your ass kicked how many times?"

Thomas shot Harry a glare. "Shut up. Not like your record is any better than mine, pretty boy. The only reason you're not a splat on the pavement right now is because of Mouse."

Said dog aka wooly chammoth looked up and blinked at Thomas with big innocent brown eyes, as if asking, "Who, me?" Sera laughed quietly and ruffled Mouse's ears. He promptly turned his attention to her, leaning against her legs.

Harry grumbled and shut up. Sera chuckled and continued petting Mouse as Anna yawned and headed for the door. The group of them trooped out and downstairs before going outside. It wasn't raining anymore, but it looked threatening.

The first shop they visited was a weapons shop. Thomas and Harry both looked at several things, very interested, while Vlad and Anna had a long discussion about what kind of weapon suited Sera. Kenshin smiled slightly and left his own blade alone. He knew it well enough already, and he liked it plenty. He didn't need anything else.

"I'm sorry Vlad but I don't think Sera is the type to stand around cackling madly and shoving pikes up people's—" Anna said, cut off quickly by Sera.

"Let's not go there, shall we?" Sera said, eyeing them both nervously. "Do I even need a weapon?"

"Yes," both Vlad and Anna replied at the same time before returning to their bickering, now debating the advantages and disadvantages of axes.

Sera sighed to herself and walked off, away from the two. Murphy was with Thomas and Harry, and sent Sera a look that said she knew exactly how Sera felt. Smiling at the woman, Sera continued to look at the weapons adorning the walls. Katanas, knives, rapiers, daggers, staves, needles, just about any weapon imaginable was crammed along the walls and in racks. Kenshin followed her as she examined all the weapons, testing a rapier. She'd always liked how they looked, but it felt wrong in her hands. Finally her eyes alighted on a smaller blade, Japanese styled but shorter than a katana. A dark blue sheath held it, and the blade rang softly as she pulled it out. It fit well in her hand, and it was a comfortable length that she didn't think she'd accidently slice someone open by misjudging a distance.

"A kodachi," Kenshin said softly. "A blade that's used mostly in defense, shorter and lighter than a katana, enabling the user to be faster. Aoshi would be a better teach with those than I would, that he would." He smiled at her.

"I think I like it," Sera said a little hesitantly. "I mean, if those two are going to make me get something, I'd want it to be this. I think I can handle this and not look like a total fool."

Kenshin laughed softly. "You never look like a total fool, Sera-dono," he said with a smile and a twinkle in his eye. "Not even when you go chasing off after murderous demons without us."

Sera groaned and dropped her head into her hands. "You're never going to let that die, are you?" she mumbled.

Kenshin smiled. "Never." He gently took the kodachi from her and looked it over for any potential flaws, testing it before he nodded and took the sheath as well. "This is a good blade, that it is."

"A kodachi?" Anna pouted. "I was hoping for something a little bigger but it's a good start. I'll make Aoshi give you a few pointers." She grinned in an almost evil way that made Sera rather nervous. She walked over and snatched the kodachi from her. "I'm buying it for you. Looks like Murphy found a gun anyway, and I'm sure Vlad will demand pikes. Not like he doesn't have a whole closet full of them."

"Er, thanks," Sera said, following Anna up to the register. The other bishis slowly gathered in from the other parts of the store while Anna paid, and within a few minutes Sera was debating whether to put the kodachi on her belt or put it in her backpack. She opted for the backpack. Less likely to poke someone's eye out with it in there. Kenshin seemed to approve of this course of action, while Harry merely shook his head and muttered things under his breath. The register had nearly died when he approached and he had been forced to go back to the front of the store.

"How do any of you ever pay for things?" Sera asked as they walked down the street, looking in at various other shops.

"Lots of places carry extra calculators and things in case there's too much magic in one spot," Thomas explained. "We all carry around some cash as well as credit cards and such."

"I only ever use cash," Harry said. "Credit cards don't work with me. They die. But at least they die quickly." He grinned.

Sera laughed at that. "Well, I guess it's a good thing these seem to be immune to magic, then," she said, tapping her bishidex.

"Well they were made specifically for that kind of interference," Anna said, sounding serious for once. "If they weren't, bishidexes all over the place would be dying and in need of repair. There would be too much work for any number of people to handle. I'm sure that's one of the initial problems they had when they first got this place started. They've made a few modifications just in the time I've been here, so I'm sure there have been hundreds."

Everyone assembled stared at Anna for several long seconds. She blinked. "What? I can be smart and calm when I want to!" she objected. "It's just more fun to be nuts!" That said, she jumped on Vlad again. Everyone sighed and continued walking. Anna was still Anna.

"Excuse me, could you help me?"

The voice came from a very small and petite girl with big gray eyes and thick chestnut hair in curls down her back. She wore normal hiking gear, and she looked almost nervous as she looked at the two trainers.

"Sure thing," Sera said, stepping forward. "Please excuse her, she forgot to take her medicine this morning." She grinned at the smaller trainer.

The answering smile was brilliant. "I was wondering where the nearest hotel is. Yue isn't being helpful and Clark is too busy laughing at my sense of direction to be any help." She pouted slightly.

Sera grinned. "It's right down this street," she replied. "You can't miss it." She paused before she stuck out her hand. "My name's Sera."

"Eliora," the girl replied. "Nice to meet you! How long have you been here?"

"Um." Sera paused to think. "Not all that long. Not quite a month. You?"

"A few months," Eliora said, glancing at the Clark Kent standing next to her. Sera recognized him (very vaguely) as being from Smallville. "This is Clark, Yue is back there, Nuriko is sleeping, Alzeid is somewhere, and this is Legolas."

Sera smiled. "Nice to meet you all. This is Harry Dresden, his half-brother Thomas who actually isn't mind but is tagging along, and Kenshin is mine as well. Kurama and my other bishi, Graverobber, are in their balls right now. Vlad and Murphy are both Anna's. Anna is the one that's…" Sera paused as she actually saw what Anna was doing and put her head in her hand with a sigh. "She's the crazy one."

"The one hanging upside-down from a pointy metal stick?" Eliora supplied.

"Yea. That's her."

Eliora nodded. "Do you know how full the hotel is?"

"No clue," Sera said honestly. "I'm not in charge of that department of internal affairs, I'm just the newbie of the group and entertainment." She grinned. "Maybe we'll meet up there again sometime, eh?"

"Sure thing!" Eliora said with a smile. "I'll keep an eye out for you."

"Same here," Sera replied with a smile. "Have fun with your batch. See you later!"

Eliora waved to them and went off down the street with her bishis. Clark appeared to tease her about something, because she punched his arm.

Shaking her head with a smile, Sera turned and yelped. Anna was right behind her now. Grinning like a maniac on crack, Anna grabbed her wrist and dragged her into another shop, this one a more Goth-type shop. Sera tried not to groan, failed, and hung her head, giving up on trying to get away. Hopefully she'd survive all this…

A few hours later, both girls returned to the hotel with several bags each and lunch for the entire group. Sera knocked on the door connecting their room to Belle's, but no one answered. There was complete silence from the other side. Thomas was quiet, merely watching her. Sera knocked twice more before giving up and going to go tell Shadow instead. Anna didn't even notice, too busy setting out lunch and sampling things.

The three ate lunch, Kate staying with them and munching on things too. None of them had seen Belle since the night before, and Sera was starting to get worried. The other two told her not to worry; Belle would wander off on her own for a day and come back that night, cheerful as ever. When all three spent the rest of the day wandering around town and window shopping (Sera was starting to feel bad about not having any money of her own, but Anna and Shadow both said they had lots anyway and weren't likely to stop getting any, so Sera might as well enjoy it), they turned out to be correct. Belle turned up at dinnertime, smiling and chatting with them. She sat next to Sera and talked to her the most.

When everyone had started to settle down for the evening laziness before full nighttime set in, Nyx flopped across a bed and Belle settled next to him, stroking his hair. Sera braved the bed next to Belle, looking at Nyx curiously. "So what exactly is he?" she asked softly.

"I can hear you, you know," Nyx said, voice muffled from the bed. He didn't sound upset, just factual.

"Sorry Nyx," Sera instantly apologized.

Nyx shrugged and moved his head so Belle could get to his hair more easily. "He's an incubus," Belle said softly. "Not like Thomas is, but the more traditional kind. He feeds off sex and blood, not off energy like Thomas does. He's a half-bishi, though, so I couldn't catch him even if I wanted to."

Sera nodded. "Sounds kinda interesting, at least." She raised her eyebrows slightly.

Belle laughed. "Oh he's lots of fun. You just have to get to know him."

Nyx turned his head so he could look at both of them. "I was born from a human and a demon," he said softly, startling both of them. "I was born an incubus. I started hanging around with vamps, since they're easier than most to get into bed, and one day I asked one to turn me. He obliged."

"So you're demon and vamp?" Sera asked after a moment of silence.

Nyx nodded. "But I still have enough human blood that one of those can't contain me," he said, nodding to a bishiball. "Well, trainer blood, anyway. So I'm immune." He grinned.

Sera blinked before she smiled. "Thanks. For telling me."

The incubus shrugged and went back to getting his attention from Belle, rather like a large cat. Sera smiled to herself as she watched them and went back to her bed.

"Tomorrow I'll start teaching you to use that," Aoshi said, leaning against a wall and nodding to her kodachi. "I'll get you up at 7."

Sera groaned. "Can't I sleep in a little bit?" she asked.

Kenshin's eyes flashed. "Of course you can, Sera-dono," he said. "You don't need to rise too early to train, especially with a blade. If you are tired you won't be concentrating as hard and may get hurt, that you could."

Sera nodded. "Yea, mornings and I don't mix real well. How about we start training a little later, Aoshi?"

The tall bishonen pursed his lips but nodded. "As you wish." It didn't matter to him anyway. But at least it was something to do.

When Sera finally managed to get to bed, she found all of her bishis looking at her, along with Thomas. She blinked. "What?"

"Who gets to share your bed tonight?" Graverobber asked.

"Get out!" Sera threw the nearest thing—the hotel information booklet—at him and he ran away, laughing. Kurama snickered and went to go find a place to curl up, while Kenshin settled down next to her bed meaningfully. Harry and Thomas took up the other side of the floor next to her bed, while Mister curled up next to her. Shaking her head slightly, Sera settled down to sleep, stroking Mister's head. The deep rumbling purr put her to sleep, even without her iPod. Sometimes she absolutely loved cats. Other times they were pains, but sometimes she loved them. So she fell asleep to a gray cat laying on her purring and gentle murmurings in the background.

~*~

As soon as the others were asleep, Nyx and Eclipse sat on the edge of the bed next to Belle, surveying her. They exchanged looks and Eclipse shook his head slightly. "Not yet," he said softly. "Listen to her for now. Not yet. Just wait."

"If we wait too long it will be too late," Nyx said softly, his eyes boring into the demon's fearlessly.

"I know." Eclipse looked down at his trainer sadly. "But it is yet too soon. Give her time. She will see reason if we do not find a cure soon. Leave her be for now."

Nyx nodded after a few moments and settled down to hold his sleeping mate, thinking. Supposedly there was a silver lining to every situation. If only he could find his.