"I don't think this snowstorm is going to be letting up anytime soon," White commented, the slightest downward curve to her eyebrows as she stood at the opening of the cave, staring out into the raging blizzard before her. "And I don't think it'd be a good idea to try to travel through it either."

Leaf sighed, running a hand through her hair as the other one hovered over the bandage wrapped around May's side. "Well we need to get May help as soon as possible," she said, carefully unraveling the bandage as to not wake the injured girl. Her throat felt tight as she examined the swelled, slightly purple skin around the puncture wound near May's hip. "I don't know how long she'll be able to last without any professional medical help."

White turned to face her. "Then how are we going to get to Stonecrest? We're too far away from Silverhaven to turn back."

"The tunnels."

"The tunnels?" Leaf repeated in confusion, looking up from tending to May's wound to eye Gary as he strolled toward them—torch in hand—returning from his venture further into the cave.

"Yeah. When I went further into the cave I found out that it connects to this bigger cavern with tunnels leading off in every direction. I'm fairly sure one of them will lead through this mountain." Gary regarded her with a cautious expression as he spoke, one that made Leaf dig her nails into her thighs and bite her tongue to refrain from saying anything.

Leaf thought she'd been making progress with Gary last night, getting him to start acting normally around her again, but when she'd woken up this morning the careful distance was present between them once again, and as much as she would have liked to confront him, her concerns for May's health and getting through this mountain were far more pressing.

"That's great!" White answered cheerily before Leaf could reply. "But how do we know we won't pick the wrong tunnel and get lost?"

Gary shrugged. "We won't, but May needs help as soon as she can get it, and going through that blizzard sure as hell won't be any faster or safer."

"I guess you're right," she relented. "I'll start packing up everything so we can get moving as soon as possible."

As the other two moved off to their dragons, Leaf finished tending to May's dart wound and gently but firmly wrapped new bandages around her side. As Leaf secured the bandages in place, May groaned and shifted under her hands, one eye opening a slit.

"Drew…?" she quietly moaned.

"No, May. It's me, Leaf," her friend quickly answered, grabbing her hands and peering into her eyes. May groaned and squeezed her eyes shut again, shifting positions in discomfort. Leaf stared at her, relieved, but worry settled in again just as quickly.

As relieved as she was to see May awake and conscious, the single thing she had said made Leaf's stomach tie itself in knots. Drew. Whatever May had dreamed of in her sickly state had something to do with him, and that in itself was enough to worry Leaf.

May's eyes suddenly shot open and she grabbed the collar of Leaf's jacket as she lurched upward into a sitting position, despite the pain it caused her. "Drew!" she gasped out. "He's—we have to go help—my pendant—he—!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. May, calm down," Leaf soothed, prying the panicked girl's fingers off of her and gently lowering her friend back down to the ground. "You shouldn't move," she lightly chided. "You had a dart in your side, May. It'll be sore in that area."

"But Drew," she moaned, the sound bordering on a wail. She flung her head back, a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead, and when Leaf pressed the back of her hand to the aforementioned area she was startled by how warm it was.

Cursing under her breath, she called out to White and Gary, and they rushed over. "She's feels like she's running a fever," she explained. Turning to White, she asked, "Do we have any medicine for fevers?"

"I'll check," she replied, her lips pressing into a thin line as she glanced at May before skirting around Gary and approaching Alkali, who had been worriedly hovering over her Rider all morning. White fished the first-aid kit out of one of the crimson dragon's saddle bags, and quickly popped it open and began sifting through the contents inside.

"Leaf," May whined, opening one eye and grabbing her friend's wrist. "I don't feel so good…"

"You'll be fine," Leaf hushed her, stroking her hair in an attempt to soothe her. The action brought up the memory of a similar instance, one in which Leaf had been the one injured. Clenching her teeth, she tried to push the memory away and concentrate on the present issue just as White cried out in triumph.

The brunette hurried over, dropping to her knees and shaking two small white tablets into her open palm. "Here," she said, pressing the pills into Leaf's hands. "Those should help."

"Here, May, take these." Leaf tried to coax her into taking them, but she groaned and pushed them away.

"Water," was all she uttered.

Leaf frowned. "Gary?" she said without looking back at him.

"On it," he said, fetching one of their water canteens from Alkali's saddle bag.

Taking the canteen from his outstretched hand, Leaf offered it to May, who took one sip of water, then popped the pills into her mouth and downed them with the second swig.

As she wiped her mouth with her sleeve, White pushed herself off of her knees and stood up. "We need to start moving soon," she reminded the others.

Leaf nodded, and May slipped one of her arms around Leaf's shoulders to allow her to help her stand. The pair began their stumble towards Alkali, and Gary rolled his eyes before moving to help them.

May scrambled up onto her dragon with their help, and once she'd caught her breath she said to Leaf, "I think I'll be okay to ride on my own today." Her brunette friend hesitated for a split second, but then relented and nodded her agreement before moving to mount her psychic beast.

Once White and Gary were also on top of their dragons, the latter lead the others deeper into the cave, away from the snowstorm still raging outside.

"Lord N, sir, all of the remaining survivors have been rounded up and brought outside the council building, just as you ordered. What you like us to do with them?"

The green-haired man released a sigh, shifting his gaze from the window to the soldier kneeling on the ground before him. His face was cold and carefully blank as he said, "I will deal with them," in a clipped tone, motioning for the man to leave. The soldier bowed his head in respect before standing up and making his hasty retreat from the room.

N turned to stare out the window again, gazing across the once beautiful landscape of the Silverhaven Resistance Base, now reduced to nothing but scorched plants, gouged earth, and collapsed buildings.

He exhaled deeply. "What a waste," he murmured, turning to face the desk situated behind him. Papers completely covered the desk, scattered across it in complete disarray. The smaller Resistance bases were normally disorganized, but it seemed as though this room he was in had been the meeting place for the board of council members.

They probably would have defended this information with their life, N thought as he idly sifted through the papers; his eyes skimming over the words they held. Oh, wait. His lips curved upward in a sinister smile. They did.

His smile faded just as quickly as it happened appeared, though. "All except for that damn base leader," he hissed, slamming his palm against the desk. During the battle the disguised prince had slipped out his grasp, disappearing before N could end him. Oh, how happy his master would have been if he had gotten rid of one of the Adair children for him, but that dream was for naught now that both of them have vanished.

Of course, that wasn't really an issue; now that he knew the aliases of the prince and princess it wouldn't be too terribly difficult to track them down. He also still had a mission to track down that despicable, traitorous, lying wench named Touko Grey.

If she was still traveling with the princess, then he would easily be able to kill—quite literally—two birds with one stone.

Chuckling quietly to himself, he smoothed down his shirt and exited the room, heading outside. The day would come when he could get his revenge on "White", but at the moment he had other things to deal with, such as the scum known as the surviving Resistance members.

Stepping outside, he took in with great satisfaction the sight of the eleven men and women on their knees before them; their hands tied behind their backs. So few survivors out of so many people, he thought, surprise. Looks like most of the idiots fought until the death, rather than join under Master's beautiful leadership.

"Lord N." The soldiers watching over the prisoners dropped to their knees as soon as they spotted him.

"Rise," he said, his eyes remaining on their captives as the soldiers stood.

One courageous prisoner—a blond teenager with orange eyes—lifted his head, spitting on the ground in front of N's shoes. "We'll never join that tyrant ya' call a leader, not even if he offered us a million dollars!" he spit out. His lip was split, and it started to bleed as he spoke. "You might as well just kill us now, because we won't ever listen to you!"

N raised an eyebrow, amused. "Oh, really? It's such a shame, though." He sighed. "All of your talent going to waste. Why waste it? Why harm others like you're doing?"

"I'm fighting to free people from the king's control! And the only way my efforts would be wasted would be if I was working for you!" the blonde yelled.

N paused, staring at him for a long, long moment. The boy stared back with his lips pressed into a thin line; his eyes clear with determination; bruised, bloody, and dirty.

"Take the prisoners away," he finally said with a dismissive flick of his hand. "We will leave them to think about the offer to join us, and then I will ask again. They obviously don't know how much sin they've committed by being in the Resistance. Surely they'll see the light in our ways soon."

Each soldier picked up one of the captives; the blond boy yelling out curses and something about "fining every single one of them" even as he was being dragged away.

N watched them leave, and was about to turn and head back inside when he heard a growl.

You're despicable.

The green-haired man turned, spotting his black dragon crouched under one of the trees that hadn't fallen during the attack.

What? he said, hurt and offended by the dragon's words. What did I do wrong? Those people have been disillusioned—treating dragons badly and hurting people under the claim of fighting for "freedom". I just want them to see how wrong they've been, and to join us in stopping others.

Didn't sound like it to me, Tarit snorted, resting his head on his clawed paws. I think you're the one that's disillusioned. Your so-called "Master" is a horrible man.

N gasped. No he is not! he protested. It's people like your old Rider and his despicable sister who are in the wrong!

How dare you bring them into this! Tarit snarled, rising to his feet. Touya and Touko were the most pure-hearted, selfless people I've ever met! You may try to charm me into thinking you are as well, but you're not!

Pure-hearted? N scoffed. Touko—no, "White"—was a liar! How is that pure?

Well being a liar is better than being somebody like you. Take a look at what you've done. You and your men killed over a hundred people and dragons—the very creatures you said you wanted to protect—and yet you claim that they're the bad people? Give me a break.

Shut up! N screeched, digging his nail into his scalp. You don't know what you're talking about! I'm doing something good! I'm helping the world! Just—just—SHUT UP!

The cavern Gary had found was nothing less than massive.

"Wow, this cavern is huge!" White whistled, impressed.

Leaf silently agreed, craning her head back to look up at the ceiling in awe. It was too high to see the top, but the tips of large stalactites hung from the darkness, glittering in the light of the torches they were carrying. More than once she'd thanked Red's hindsight in packing them, since they would be stumbling around in utter and complete darkness without them.

"Ooooh, so pretty!" May squealed from where she sat on top of Alkali, her blue eyes wide as she stared at a stalagmite sprouting from the ground next to her. She tried to reach out to touch it, but reached too far and nearly fell out of Alkali's saddle.

Leaf grimaced and had to physically hold herself back from stopping May, as she'd had to do countless times already since they'd started their journey through the mountain. May was nothing less than loopy thanks to the poison in her system, and she was visibly getting worse with every passing minute. Leaf could only help that they could get out of this mountain and get her help as soon possible.

"Be careful, May," she warned for the nth time, aware that May was paying no attention to her words.

She giggled and continued looking around in wonder, and Leaf sighed before heading towards Gary and White.

The two turned to her as she approached. "How's she doing?" White asked apprehensively.

"Not good, I'm afraid," the fellow brunette answered with a sigh. "But beside that, which tunnel are we going to follow?"

Lining the walls of the gigantic cavern were six tunnels, including the one they had come from. Each opening varied in height and width, and Leaf was fairly sure that not even Alkali—the smallest of the four dragons—would be able to fit through some of them. The humans could easily enter all of them, but leaving their dragons behind was not an option.

"Well Stonecrest is north of here, and according to my compass that tunnel leads north," White explained, pointing towards one of the tunnels.

Leaf mentally estimated how large the opening was. "Don't you think it's a bit…small?" she hesitantly pointed out.

"Well, yes. That's the problem. We're trying to figure out which of the other tunnels we can take."

"And?"

"We think that one might be the best one to take," Gary answered, pointing towards a large tunnel opening to the right of the northern one. Despite being the closest tunnel to the northern one, it was quite a ways away from it and obviously didn't lead north.

"Any other options?" Leaf sighed wearily.

"Not really." White released a sigh of her own. "C'mon, we need to keep moving."

As Azreth and Titaia headed towards the tunnel with their Riders, Leaf twisted in her seat to call out to May, who had—somehow; Leaf wasn't sure—descended Alkali and was in the middle of intense staring match with a misshapen stone.

"May," Leaf groaned, quickly sliding off of Lithium and jogging over to her. "Come on, we're leaving," she said, trying to pull the girl towards Alkali, but May wouldn't budge.

Nearly five unsuccessful minutes later, May's frown suddenly turned into a wide grin and she started giggling. Leaf was utterly confused until May pointed at the stone and giggled, "It's a giraffe!"

He grunted, stabbing the blade of the ruby encrusted sword into the ground and leaning heavily on it. As his breathing evened out, a quiet voice timidly called out to him.

"…Are you okay?"

Forcing a cheerful smile to mask his pain, Red turned and faced the speaker.

"Yep. Just a bit rusty with my sword," he said, letting out a small laugh. Yellow gave him a doubtful look, but he just smiled wider. In reality, though, his right arm was screaming in pain. It felt as though his muscles had been completely torn apart and shredded, then stitched back together again—which really wasn't far off the mark. Granted, he had received a few slashes through his biceps and triceps, but Yellow had sewn them up with a steady hand and determined focus Red would never have imagined her shy and skittish self possible of.

He should have been thankful that he hadn't been injured even worse—but really; did it have to be his sword arm?

"Okay…well I just wanted to make sure your wounds aren't bothering you. Are they?" she asked, her voice a quiet mumble. She couldn't meet his eyes, so she instead she kept her gaze on his feet.

"Nope. I'm perfectly fine." A lie.

After Red had regained consciousness, he hadn't stayed in bed for long before his restlessness had driven him out of it, despite Yellow's protests.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he'd insisted despite the groan of his injuries, and warily Yellow had backed off. Not for very long, though. She constantly checked in with him to make sure he was doing well, but his manly pride—or was it his bravado?—wouldn't allow him to show that he was feeling any pain.

"Well…okay. But tell me if you're not feeling well, alright? I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything, Ravlen." And with that Yellow crossed the small stretch of ground back to her house, disappearing inside.

With an exhausted sigh, Red wiped the sweat off of his forehead and pulled his sword out of the ground. He gripped the sword with both hands and gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the bursts of pain shooting up his arms as he took up an offensive stance.

Ravlen. That was another problem wearing at his mind.

In a lapse of reason he had accidently given Yellow his real name instead of his alias. It was a major mess up on his part. If she were to figure out who he was—or even worse; tell somebody else who he was—he'd be in a load of trouble.

With a low growl he threw his sword aside, letting it spin through the air and lodge itself into the trunk of a nearby tree.

"I can't focus like this," he groaned, flopping backwards onto the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his face with his hands, groaning once more.

The reality of everything pressed down on him. He'd lost his base; he'd let down so many people—how had he not seen who Harmonius really was sooner? If he had figured out who he really was sooner could he have saved the lives of all of the people lost? Would he still have ended up here at Yellow's secluded cottage in the middle of the woods, too injured to leave?

No good, he thought. Thinking about the "What Ifs" would help him get nowhere. He was still a base leader—even if he base had fallen—and he had to recover as quickly as possible so that he could get to the nearest Resistance base and check on the wellbeing of those who had safely escaped Silverhaven.

He felt something wet trickle down the side of his face, and blinked, causing him to realize the source. Laughter sprung into his throat, and he furiously wiped away the tears in his eyes. Oh, how would White would tease him if she could see the "suave, fearless Silverhaven base leader" crying. He couldn't imagine what Leaf's reaction would be if she saw him crying. He hoped that she would never see him cry; he couldn't bear to shatter his little sister's imagine of him. He could see it in her eyes; Leaf had built up an image of him being wise, confident—everything he wasn't.

Her disappointment would be devastating.

Leaf was miles away, though; he didn't have a reason to worry. He couldn't feel her through their bond, so she had to be out of range by now. Hopefully she and her friends had reached Stonecrest and were safe in Inlusio Academy already. He couldn't bring her into the mess he had made; if Yellow tried to get to know him better he would carefully avoid any mention of family, as well as his involvement in the Resistance. Yellow had no reason to be bothered with that piece of information.

A scream suddenly broke through his train of thought.

Yellow. He instantly recognized the voice; lurching to his feet before his brain had even given the command. He yanked his sword out of the tree as he sprinted towards the house, ignoring the scream in his muscles.

Images of Vesu's men, cloaked in all black, pinning Yellow to a wall with a knife to her throat flashed through his mind as he tore through the house, following the sound of Yellow's screams. He couldn't leave his little hostess in danger after she'd brought him back from the brink of death; the thought was unthinkable.

And so he dashed through the living room, past the doorway of the room he'd been staying in, and practically slid across the floor as he turned the corner into the kitchen, sword in hand as his eyes darted around the kitchen, searching for a threat—

…Only to find Yellow cowering against the wall on side of the room, pointing with a visibly shaking finger towards an open cupboard, inside of which sat a familiar, yellow-eyed, gray-scaled beast.

"Lazare?" Red blurted out dumbly.

"Y-you know that thing?" Yellow squeaked, inching not-so-subtly towards the safety of Red as Lazare slunk out of the cupboard.

"Yeah…he's this dragon I've been taking care of for a…n acquaintance." You can never be too careful, Red thought, relaxing his grip on his weapon as Lazare cautiously padded towards him, constantly glancing at the female by his side.

Yellow shrunk away, pressing close to Red's side. "Keep him away, please!" she begged desperately.

"What? Why?" He gave her a weird look.

"I h-have a…um…a f-fear of dragons," she mumbled, practically hiding behind Red as Lazare took another cautious step forward.

Red blinked. "Oh. Well then...um…he won't hurt you, if that makes you feel any better?"

"How do you know he won't?" she asked, still fearful.

"Because I've known him for a long, long time, and I know he wouldn't ever do anything like that," he assured her.

Yellow relaxed slightly, but still looked tense as she stared at Lazare. "So is he…your dragon?" she hesitantly asked.

"No," he said, bending down to stretch out a hand for Lazare to sniff as the dragon came closer. "Like I said, Lazare's not my dragon. I've just been taking care of him. And I do have my own dragon…" He visibly grimaced. "…I just don't know where he is."

Gary cursed under his breath. "We have to turn back, guys," he called out over his shoulder.

"What? Why?" White asked, peering around Titaia's head.

"The tunnel is getting narrower and Azreth is too fat to squeeze through."

Hey, I am not fat! Azreth growled.

Gary rolled his eyes. And I suppose all that extra weight under your scales is muscle?

You bet your perfect little hairdo it is. You humans, on the other hand…

Jeez, Reth, I was just kidding. No need to make it person, eh?

Actually, I quite agreed with your earlier statement, human, a feminine voice spoke in Gary's head, causing him to jump.

Arceus—I hate it when you suddenly talk to me like that, he complained. Lithium speaking to Gary was a rare occurrence in comparison to Azreth and Leaf, so he was not at all used to hearing her voice in his head.

Lithium was silent for a moment, and Gary realized he had made a grave mistake. Oh? And would you rather I did something worse than talking, inferior human? she snarled.

Whoa, my lovely lady dragon, calm down for a second, Azreth cut it. Cut the kid a break. He has lapses in common sense sometimes.

Hey! Gary objected, insulted.

You have no right to talk to me like that, Lithium huffed. Fatty.

Oooh, sassy. I likey, Azreth teased.

Gary couldn't see her, but he could imagine Lithium's nostrils flaring. Why you—

"Hey, Gary, could you get your dragon to shut up?" Leaf grumbled from the back of the party. When he looked back she was hunched over with her forehead against Lithium's neck. "Between their argument being broadcasted into my head and May going loco I'm getting a headache."

Between them, White looked confused. "Wait, what? What's going on?"

Lithium blew out a puff of smoke and tossed her head, whereas Azreth let out of low growl that rumbled in his chest. "Nothing," the two partners replied at the same time with an accompanying sigh.

"Let's just turn back and take the other path in that split in the tunnel," Gary said.

May cried out from in front of Leaf, "Adventure!"

There was this faint buzzing in her ear. It sounded like a voice, a familiar voice, but she couldn't concentrate on it because there was too much stuff going on and too many things to look at and so much other stuff.

When the voice grew louder and she thought she heard her name, May swung her head around and slurred out an irritated, "Whadaya want?"

Leaf's worried face peered back at her from on top of a silver dragon. "May, are you feeling okay?"

"Rights a raining!" May gave her the "A-okay" sign and a lopsided grin in response.

The brunette stared at her for a moment before yelling around Alkali, "I think she's getting worse!"

May's head swung around at the sound of another girl's voice. "Do you think we should give her more medicine?" the brunette in front of her called back.

"I'm afraid doing that might react badly with the poison in her system."

May laughed loudly and both of them stared at her. "See-yist-stem is a funny word!" she giggled.

"On second thought…" Leaf muttered.

"Guys, there's another split in the tunnel up ahead," Gary informed them from up front. "Three different paths. Left, right, or center?"

"Right!" May cheered, throwing her hand up into the air.

White groaned. "How many branching tunnels have we come across already? I swear this entire mountain is a giant labyrinth of caves and tunnels."

"I completely agree with you," Leaf said, flopping backwards onto Lithium's saddle. "I just want to get of here," she moaned.

"I'm taking that as a left," Gary said as Azreth began moving forward.

Right, left, up, down—what they were talking about didn't matter to May. She was too absorbed in the walls of the tunnel to pay attention to their words. White and Titaia moved forward, and then Alkali underneath her, but May paid no heed as she stared at the rough surface of the wall.

Sometimes parts of the wall sparkled and glittered in the torchlight; small gems in the rock reflecting the light. May was transfixed on the small specks of light, so much so that she barely noticed Alkali nearing the next tunnel.

So pretty, she thought. The green gems and blue gems and red gems and green…hair?

May did a double take.

There, standing at the entrance of the right cave, was a familiar boy with meticulously combed green hair and a uniform just as neat.

Drew?

He looked directly at her and smirked, flicking a pesky lock of hair out of his eyes.

Oh my Arceus. It's him.

She rubbed her eyes furiously with the back of her hands, then opened them again, not believing her eyes.

He was still there.

"No way," she whispered, her eyes widening. "Drew?"

"May?" Leaf questioned worriedly. "Is something wrong?"

"It's…it's DREW!" she screamed, scrambling off of Alkali.

"May! What are you talking about?" Leaf cried out, sliding off of Lithium. "Wait, where are you going? May, come back!" she yelled as May ran towards the right tunnel.

The blue-eyed brunette didn't hear her, though, because she was too focused on the male before her. "Drew," she whispered as she came within a few meters of him, reaching out a hand to touch him…

…only for him to vanish into thin air.

Skidding to a halt, May looked around wildly for any sight of the chartreuse-haired boy, but he was nowhere in sight. "No...no…no," she muttered, her eyes widely scanning every surface of the tunnel.

"May! May!" she heard Leaf shouting as she ran towards her, but her mind was elsewhere as she turn and sprinted down the tunnel in which she had seen Drew, and disappeared into the darkness.

The realization had come the first night after Red regained consciousness.

He'd been lying in bed, trying to find the comfort of sleep to escape the ache of his injuries, but his mind wouldn't rest. Memories of the attack on the base kept running through his mind, and he kept trying to see what had gone wrong, what flaw had lead to their defeat.

He remembered that after warding off Harmonius—no, N, he had to keep reminding himself—long enough to flee he'd escaped into the midst of the battle between the Resistance members and Vesuvius's army, who had just arrived.

After retrieving his sword he'd met up with Ceprien and the two had fought together before N reappeared. His dragon had attacked Ceprien while Red and N dueled with their swords, and the two had been separated.

Red hadn't seen Ceprien since.

Now, some two odd days later, he'd tried reaching out to Ceprien through their bond, but he hadn't felt anything. It was just…empty.

Red was horrified at first—his first thought being that Ceprien was dead, but no, he would have felt something if that had been the case. If his dragon had died Red would have felt like a hole had been ripped in his heart, not this…emptiness.

He explained all of this to Yellow as they sat in her living room. Lazare was curled up comfortably by the fire (he had refused to go outside, despite Red trying to throw him out of the house because Yellow was terrified by him) and so the aforementioned girl was sitting in the armchair all the way across the room, as far away as she could get from him.

"Ceprien is alive," he told her, "but I can't communicate with him. It's almost like he's blocking me out, or something's in the way of our bond." He sighed, his shoulders drooping as he hung his head. "You wouldn't understand, though. The bond between a Rider and dragon is…" He tried to chuckle, but his throat felt tight and instead it came out broken, hoarse. "…never mind. I'm sorry for bothering you with all of this."

"No, it's fine," she whispered, and the room settled into silence.

"She ran off that way before I could reach her," Leaf explained to Gary and White in a distressed tone. She ran her fingers through her hair, tugging at her scalp as if it would help ease her worry. "I think she saw something and ran after it."

"Well we have to go find her," White said. "Who knows what could be lurking in these caves," she added, apprehension creeping into her voice.

"True." Gary closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them again. "The dragons should stay here while we search, just so we have a place to meet up if we get separated or lost."

Leaf made a sound of agreement, and after sharing a word with Lithium the three set off in a jog down the tunnel. "Hopefully this tunnel leads straight to May," she mumbled, praying for no splitting paths.

A minute later she groaned and slowed to a stop as a side tunnel appeared, branching off the original. Crap, I jinxed it, she thought as Gary and White stopped beside her.

"Which way should we go?" White asked, glancing unsurely between their two options. "We don't know which way May might have gone…"

"We should split up," Gary said. Turning to White, he asked her, "I'm sure you can handle being on your own, right?"

"Uh—oh, yeah, sure," she stammered, taken aback.

"Good. C'mon, Leaf, we'll take this path," he said, looping his arm through his partner's and dragging her towards the main tunnel.

"A-ah, wait, what?" She fumbled for words, startled by his sudden spontaneity. "Hey, wait!" she complained, her voice edged with irritation as Gary dragged her away.

White held back a smile as she watched the partners vanish, glad that they seemed to be acting normally towards each other again—at least on Gary's part, albeit only slightly. She hadn't known them for long, but she'd known them long enough that she was certain they'd be teasing and insulting each other if everything was completely normal.

Once the sound of Leaf's complaints died out, White turned towards the entrance to the side tunnel, reaching for her throwing stars as she slowly crept down the tunnel.

You can never be too careful, she thought, her eyes scanning the darkness beyond the torchlight. I could run into anything down here.

Just then she heard a sound, one that sounded like shoes scuffing against rock.

Could it be May?

"May?" she called out quietly, and instantly the sound vanished.

Well, that was strange. Why would May try to hide from her? She was probably too delusional to remember to be cautious by now. Frowning, she edged forward, wondering if perhaps it wasn't May. But who else would be in a tunnel like this, of all places? Nonetheless, White continued inching forward, trying to dim the flame of her torch so that its light wouldn't give away her presence as she looked for the source of the noise.

Slowly a bend in the tunnel revealed itself, and White cursed; she couldn't see what was beyond it. Gripping her throwing stars in one hand and the torch in the other, she suddenly jumped around the corner, trying to surprise whoever was there.

As soon as she turned she crashed into another body, and both of them cried out as the stumbled back. White recovered from the shock in an instant, though, and fell into a defensive stance, her eyes taking in the other person as they tripped and fell backwards onto the ground.

It was a boy—Not May, she thought with a twinge of angst—who had to be at least the same age as her companions, although his slightly babyish face didn't help give him the look of maturity. His hair was dark, with unruly locks of it sticking out at odd angles. It was almost like a messier version of Red's hair, or a more toned down version of Gary's, she remarked to herself with slight amusement.

"Oww…" The boy sat up, rubbing his tailbone. "Didn't expect to run into anybody down here," he groaned.

"Who are you?" White demanded, throwing a star past his head to get his attention. It whistled past his ear, causing his eyes to pop open, immediately falling on hers as he stared in surprise.

"I'm not threat, I swear!" he exclaimed, scrambling to his feet and waving his hands widely. His eyes flickered between her throwing stars and her face worriedly.

White narrowed her eyes. There was no way she was going to try a guy she didn't know. She'd already learned that once the hard way.

"Leaf! Gary!" she yelled, hoping that the two were still close enough to hear her. She might need back up if this boy decided to attack her. As she waited for any sound of a reply, her gaze stayed locked on the boy; her weapon poised to throw, warning him not to move.

His brown eyes widened in an almost comical fashion, which White would have laughed at if not for the fact that his next words sent her reeling in confusion. "You know them…?"

"What?" Her eyes narrowed, and she was just about to demand for him to explain when the sound of rapid footsteps reached her ears.

Both White and the mysterious boy tilted their heads to watch as light slowly crept around the corner of the tunnel, growing brighter as it came towards them.

"White?" a feminine voice said girl quickly recognized to be Leaf shouted out to her, and she was quick to respond with, "Over here!"

Not a second later Leaf and Gary appeared with an unconscious May draped over the latter's back. Leaf opened her mouth to speak. "We found May—!"

She skidded to a stop, nearly making Gary crash into her; her eyes widening as they took in the scene in front of her. White was about to begin explaining when she noticed a sudden flash of recognition in Leaf's eyes just as said girl gasped out:

"Ash?"

okay so let's see... *ticks off things on fingers* May's gone insane, Gary is still acting off, N is completely confused, and Red's having a meltdown. Oh, yeah. And our favorite idiot reappears.

I hope that bit with Lazare/Ceprien satisfied you at least somewhat, NoProb. Now get off my back about it. XD

Oh oh also, did anybody catch the reference in this chapter? :D If you think you did, send in a review to see if you got it right!

as always, many thanks for reading c:

-Aqua