Morning.

Carol tried to stay awake, but she couldn't. Exhaustion claimed her instantly. A tiny note of panic ran through her as she realised she couldn't hear footsteps. Wasn't Torque going to help her? Her thoughts ended there. She drifted off into a deep slumber.

She stood in a foreboding metal corridor.

The floor and ceiling were red as blood. It was dark here. Furnaces burned nearby. She could smell the acrid smoke they gave off. The heat soaked through her fur. She looked around herself in fear. Carol had to fight to keep her breathing steady. She wished she could close her ears. The sound of burning fuel and pistons pulsed against her eardrums and matched the beating of her heart. The cacophony hurt her head, and she subconsciously lifted her hand to her ears. She peered nervously down the hallway.

A door lay in the distance. It divided in the centre like a set of steel teeth. Carol's heart missed a beat and then pulsed all the quicker to make up the sudden shortfall. She stood stock still and stared with dread at Brevon's awful portal. She knew what lay behind it. She never wanted to see it again. She made her decision and lifted her foot to begin backing away down the dreadful corridor.

This is a dream. I don't have to face this again.

She forced herself to turn away. Lilac's scream echoed from behind the metal door. Carol's blood ran cold. She closed her eyes. She trembled for a second, then forced herself to walk on. She blocked out Lilac's terrified cries with the sound of her own footsteps.

It's not real. It's just a dream.

You're leaving her behind!

It's not real.

Lilac's screams pursued her all the way, but she reached the end of the corridor. A door lay before her. Somehow, she knew it would lead her out of the base. She felt the key card in her hand. She reached down to swipe it. Lilac let out one final, bloodcurdling cry. It sounded horribly different. The pain, anguish and misery dwarfed any that came before. It sounded final. Carol's blood turned to ice. Her resolve wavered, and she froze mid-motion. Her pupils dilated to pinpricks. She began to tremble as a horrible silence filled the corridor.

She's dead. You left her to die. What's wrong with you?!

The card key dropped from her quavering hands.

"It's not real. It's not real. It's not real-"

Cold metal grabbed her shoulder. Carol squeaked. She closed her eyes.

"Found you."

Brevon's knife pierced her back before she could scream.

Carol did scream. She hollered at the top of her lungs. She threw herself upwards and stumbled to her feet before she knew what she was doing. Someone yelped beside her. She heard them fall back onto the ground.

UGH!

She looked around in a panic. A cold wind cut through her ragged clothing. She closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them, she saw trees. She could feel heat behind her, but it didn't feel like Brevon's furnaces. A second cold blast of wind made her shiver from head to toe.

Where am I?

She needed time to stop hyperventilating. Her heart felt like it would explode from her chest and leap off through the bushes. As she slowly came back down to Avalice, she began to see familiar details.

I've been here before.

Her memory began to work again.

I'm still in the north. Thank the Ancient Dragons for that.

She brought her left hand up to meet her face and tried to block out the world for a moment.

I was dreaming?

She shivered violently. Her hand came away wet with tears.

I was crying in my sleep?!

She stared at her damp glove. Upset, she folded her arms self-consciously and stared at the ground. Her shoulders arched. A blanket lay at her feet.

It was a dream. You know it was a dream. Get a grip!

She pushed the nightmare to one side though not completely out of her mind. She could still hear Lilac scream. Brevon's hand seemed to rest on her shoulder like a ghost. She decided quickly that she couldn't do anything about that. She tried to focus elsewhere. She glanced nervously round the clearing. Her eyes opened in surprise when she looked right.

"Milla?!"

Milla sat wordlessly on the floor. She'd been sitting there the whole time. She hadn't moved a muscle or made a sound. If she had, then Carol hadn't heard it. She stared up at Carol like a deer in headlights. Carol stared numbly back. Her brow furrowed in worry as the dawn sun shone upon her face.

"You were up all night looking after me?" She asked quietly.

Milla shivered guiltily. She looked away. Carol crouched down hastily beside her.

"Did you get any rest at all?"

Milla didn't respond. She shook her head, but it seemed more a request for privacy than an answer to Carol's question. Carol's face fell. She looked away. She noticed that Milla at least refrained from curling up into a protective ball. Milla's eyes glistened with tears, but they were wide and alert. She seemed a little more alive than she had yesterday. Her eyelids were dark and heavy from lack of sleep. Carol crawled over and took a seat beside her. She kept her hands awkwardly to herself.

"Thanks for keeping watch," she said quietly, "Do you want to get some sleep? There's time. We're not going anywhere for a while, I think."

Milla remained completely silent, but she glanced nervously at Carol. A lance of sympathetic agony shot through Carol at how quiet Milla was, but she took some heart.

At least she's responding.

Carol could see the weary exhaustion in Milla's eyes. She beckoned her to lie down.

"Come on. Hit the hay." she recommended. Her voice croaked a little.

Milla whined, but did as she was told. She lay down quietly and curled up on her side. Carol gave her a weak smile, then stood up and moved away. She retrieved the blanket from earlier and draped it over Milla's shoulders. Milla's eyes were already closed. Carol watched her drift off to sleep with a moan. Her heart broke.

I guess we did ok. You're going to be alright, Milla. I promise.

She looked down at the sleeping little girl. She seemed so peaceful now. At least she could take some temporary refuge from the cruelty of the world. Carol stuffed her pockets in her hand for warmth.

I wish someone would take care of me. she thought sadly.

"Hey, you did a good job. "

A male voice spoke behind her. Carol jumped. She turned round to see the soldier from before. He regarded her quietly from the other side of the fire. She eyed him warily.

"Where's Torque?" She demanded.

She looked around the clearing. The soldier stared back at her non-plussed.

"Torque? What are you talking about?"

Carol's temper flared.

"The alien! From outer space! Where is he?!" She demanded.

The soldier's expression folded into a frown. He suddenly seemed very serious.

"Miss, are you ok?" He asked.

Carol looked at him in confusion. She didn't like the way he was looking at her.

"I'm telling you, I saw him enter the clearing! Before I..."

Before I passed out on the ground from exhaustion.

She fell quiet as the soldier looked at her gravely.

"Miss, no one has entered this clearing," he said quietly, "It's been just the three of us since you arrived."

Carol stared. She looked away and ran a hand over her head.

I must be seeing things. I guess I just hoped...

She eyed the soldier. A troubled expression came onto her face.

"You've got blood on your armour." she observed quietly.

The soldier looked down. He stared at his stained plate for a moment.

"Yeah," he said sadly, "I suppose I do."

Carol continued to stare at him anxiously. He looked up. When he saw her staring, he sighed.

"You want to know how it got here, don't you?" He said quietly. "My name's Fai, by the way."

Carol looked away into the woods. Her face scrunched up irritably. She couldn't have cared less who he was, but at least he seemed friendly. She didn't know why she was giving him such a hard time in the first place. She realised on some level that she was taking her stress and worry out on him.

Did he save Milla's life?

Maybe she should be a bit nicer to him.

"It would be nice." she said tiredly.

Her attempt to mend bridges sounded half-hearted even to her. Fai sighed. He looked away. A troubled expression came onto his face. Carol was surprised by how young he was.

Is he even any older than Spade? She wondered.

"There were three of us on that ship of yours, myself, my friend and our sergeant, Wei Fan."

Carol's eyes widened as Fai almost spat Wei's name. She looked away as he continued.

"We were ordered to find more petal essence for your friend."

"I know," Carol interrupted, "I was there when your general was making his dumb plan that nearly got us all killed. So what happened?" she snapped.

Fai's face fell. He hesitated out of nerves.

"We managed to find some petal essence back at camp. The doctors didn't have much to spare. There were a lot of wounded in the battle. We still managed to grab a few leaves, but when we got back, you were gone," he explained.

Carol shifted guiltily and looked at her feet. She snapped defensively at Fai.

"It's just as well I went. Gong would have been dead if I hadn't."

She took some satisfaction at the look of astonishment on Fai's face. He stumbled over his next words.

"W-well, your dragon friend, Li…"

"Lilac." Carol prompted irritably.

How do you forget a name like Lilac?

"Lilac was still fast asleep," Fai explained hastily. "Your other friend was still out cold on the table. We didn't know how to set that medical rig of hers up. We were afraid we'd hurt her instead, but it had run out completely. We didn't know what to do, so we woke Lilac up."

"You think Lilac knows how to set up a drip?" Carol asked. Her tone was scathing, "She's fifteen. She can just about put a bandage on!"

"Well… she managed ok when she woke," Fai said, visibly shaken, "We didn't even realise she was a kid. She got the essence flowing again like she'd done it a hundred times before, though we were afraid she might knock the drip over the way she was shaking."

Carol scowled. She looked at her feet.

She wasn't scared about the drip. She was scared about me, about Milla and about everything else that had gone wrong! She probably just dropped the liquid straight into the bag! Though… maybe Torque showed her how to do it or something?

She had to fight back a powerful wave of guilt. She knew she could have taken Lilac with her. At least then she wouldn't have gotten such a horrid fright. Quietly, she was glad Lilac had been there to give Milla medicine. At least someone in that ship had had a bit of courage.

"When she saw your message, she shot off like a bolt of lightning," Fai explained, "She told us to watch over Milla and then disappeared over the horizon. We lost sight of her before we could even shout. We didn't know what to do, so we decided to stay put. Shun went to check the cockpit."

Carol mentally filled in the blanks. Shun must have been this third soldier, the one who was conspicuously absent. She noted how Fai's face fell. It didn't take her long to fill in the gaps.

"What happened?" She asked, subdued.

"Shun wanted to check the Kingdom Stone. We figured you'd have it on the ship. When we found it wasn't there, Wei flew into a rage."

Fai looked away, wide-eyed. He seemed to shudder slightly at the memory. His voice began to rise.

"He started ranting about you three and how the kingdoms were going to collapse. We tried to calm him down… then he struck Shun with the back of his sword. He had him down in seconds! I tried to stop him, but he knocked me down too. I think he hit me with his shield."

"You let that creep take both of you down?" Carol asked.

Yet another thing she didn't understand surfaced. Fai was a grown man. He'd presumably had training. How did people like that let scum like Brevon and Wei consistently overpower them?

Why do we have to keep sorting out the adults' messes? She fumed.

"I didn't have my sword out," Fai admitted miserably, "Shun saw what was happening, but Wei got in first. I tried to use my hands. I didn't stand a chance. When I woke up, we were both tied up in the front of the ship. We heard Wei throwing Milla out into the snow."

Carol closed her eyes. She had to fight back a scream. The horrid, stupid nature of Avalicians burst over her for a second. She felt closer to Spade than to Lilac in that moment.

She would have been terrified, she thought darkly, She wouldn't have known anything about what was going on. She was probably trying to find Lilac.

"So you let my friend get driven into the middle of a blizzard while a crazy guy got hold of the ship. Great job," she snarled, "Thanks for making our lives easier."

Fai hung his head. Carol winced. She shifted uncomfortably as the grown man in front of her struggled with his emotions.

Oh boy, is he going to start crying? I wish I could just give up and cry. Crying doesn't help. Get a grip.

Fai eventually recovered, but his face was drawn and filled with grief when he rose. Heat rose in Carol's cheeks. She felt like she'd kicked a toddler. She was suddenly glad Lilac wasn't party to this conversation and hoped Milla was sound asleep. She decided to remain silent.

"Wei threw us off the ship," Fai said, shame heavy in his voice, "He left us in the jeep, and then locked us out of the ship. We had to choose between stopping him and saving her. We got after her as soon as we could. By the time we caught up with her, she was face down in the snow. We were out of fuel, so we dragged her into these woods. We thought she was dead."

Carol stared at the ground. She suddenly felt ashamed of herself.

"So what happened?" She asked miserably.

Fai hesitated. He looked like he'd seen a ghost. His mouth fell open, then he closed it and looked away. He suddenly looked distinctly uncomfortable. Carol grew desperate.

"Come on, I need to know," she pleaded, "I need to know what happened to my friend if I'm gonna look after her. So please, tell me what happened."

"When she woke up, she was terrified of us," he whispered. He wouldn't face Carol, and tears slid down his face, "We tried to lure her in with food, but she turned and ran instead. We chased after her when…"

He clenched his eyes shut. Carol winced and tensed up as she listened. Fai looked at the ground. He barely breathed, yet Carol heard every single syllable of what he said next.

"She was attacked by a wild animal. Shun died fighting it off. She watched it swallow him whole. She tried to kill herself afterwards."

Carol felt like the bottom of her stomach had just dropped out. She stared at Fai blankly. Fai stared miserably downwards. A horrible silence fell over the clearing. Carol's mouth fell open with shock. She twisted around and stared at Milla as she slept peacefully on the forest floor.

That's where the blood came from? She thought numbly, She saw someone being attacked? She watched someone die?

Suicide?

Carol's blood ran cold. She shut her eyes. She didn't feel any urge to cry. Instead, a deep, dark sense of overwhelming pressure and misery began to mount inside her. She felt utterly alone. She opened her eyes and stared down at Milla as she wondered what she was going to do. She realised numbly that she held Milla's life in her hands.

Fai seemed to recognise the battle she was fighting. He spoke quietly.

"Are you scared?"

Carol trembled for a moment. Her eyes were glassy when she looked up.

"Yes." she whispered desperately.

Fai stared at her. Even through his own tears, he tried to be sympathetic.

"You're not alone. Everyone knows what you three had to do yesterday. People want to help. They're not going to let you sink."

Carol stared at him wordlessly. She nodded. A single tear ran down her cheek. She looked away. Fai hung his head.

As if on cue, they heard engines in the distance. Carol shot round.

"That must be the rescue party." Fai observed.

Warm relief broke over Carol. At least they were going home. She seized on the opportunity to focus on something else. Anything else was preferable to thinking about the challenges they faced in the future. She knelt down and shook Milla by the shoulders.

"Hey, c'mon. Milla?"

Milla stirred groggily. She opened her eyes. For a moment, Carol thought she might even speak. The moment passed. Milla stared up at her wordlessly. Carol gave her best smile.

"It's time to go home."

Ten minutes later, Carol stood by the side of a military jeep. It stood ready to take them to a camp to the south. Fai had separated from them. He was taking a separate jeep back to camp. A large band of soldiers would accompany them, but they had all already boarded. All she had to do was get in and they would take her back down south. Carol stared at the side door.

She hesitated.

"Miss?"

Carol heard the driver call out to her. She was keenly aware of the soldiers stares. They'd been kind. Milla sat in one of the back seats with a warm coat and a serving of rations. Carol couldn't bring herself to reach towards the door. She turned and stared up at the forest. The driver became more insistent.

"Miss Tea, we have to leave. It isn't safe here."

Carol stared into the lonely woods.

"But…"

Her face contorted.

"…Lilac."

She burst into tears. Carol had held herself together for so many hours out of sheer hope that Lilac might be alive. Even after she'd burst into that clearing, she'd clung futilely to the hope that somehow, her friend might still be out there. Leaving these woods… leaving the one likely place that Lilac might conceivably have made it to without her in tow, that meant giving up. It didn't matter if she had expired on the ice or if some darker force was at play. Lilac was gone. It was final. Carol covered her face with her hand. She wept uncontrollably as a kind soldier wrapped a blanket round her shoulder and quietly guided her into the jeep. She felt herself being sat down gently next to Milla. She could feel her stares. Carol didn't try to hide her grief this time. Milla lay a gentle arm over her shoulder. She began to cry too. Carol lay against her shoulder. She tried to draw what warmth and comfort she could. Someone fastened their seatbelts for them. The ignition started. Carol felt the truck begin to pull away.

"It's ok girls," lied the driver, "We'll get you back home safely.

Goodbye Lilac.

Author's Note.

Apologies for the wait folks. I had critical teacher training interviews and I had to focus on them. I was aware that this might prove a problem for the chapter and I should have alerted everyone that it could pose a problem. I will endeavour to ensure that any further delays are informed of in advance. If for whatever reason a chapter is not updated on time, please check my profile. Short of a heart attack, I will have at least given my reasoning.

This part will conclude in one or two chapters time. There will be a planned hiatus as I consider the story as a while and do some advance planning for the next part.