A/N- Thanks for the reviewers... ugh. I'm sorry. My heart so hasn't been into writing this, like, at all... mgnanandg...

Disclaimer- Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't own it.

Shina looked slowly up, glancing at everyone. No one was speaking. Which was hardly a rarity in this circumstance. Almost at every moment of the day, except when Sora needed to talk to herself because she needed the company, there was no speaking between the group.

Shina glanced at Malina, who was absently messing with her shoes-which was slightly odd considering the young princess usually didn't play with her feet due to the fact that Sora had told her a "scary story" about feet and what it can do to you. Anyway, back to the point.

Malina was the Princess of Hyrule, daughter of Princess Zelda, one of the greatest Princesses to be around, and Link, the Hero of Time. She was beautiful and had powers beyond belief; she also had been chosen by a great power who was called Wisdom. Her eyes looked like those of an adult's, even if she was only thirteen-and-a-half. Often now, she would be found biting her fingers or absently raking her long fingernails over her pale skin, almost forcing them to bleed.

Then there was Marit, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, warlords of all time. He was also fairly useful when he had an axe within his reach. And, if not, he had a very hard chest and head. He could just headbutt people out of the way and use his chest as some odd sort of shield. He had a large, grizzly beard by this point, but, even so, his eyes seemed to twinkle more than they ever had. He obviously enjoyed the action more than any of the others did.

Sparrow, Marit's son sat next to his father. He was absently carving something out of a small piece of wood. He was almost as clever as his father, but had gained more of his mother's slimness than anything. His perfection in arrows was amazing, best in the land. He was wearing a small beard by now, and looked older than his twenty-three years. His pale, slim fingers seemed to be tighter on the knife than anything, as though nothing could tear it away from him in these times of hardship.

Next to him sat Yuumei, Queen of Areu and the Mirrors. A warm and slightly naive woman usually, in the past few months she had turned into a somber and sober woman with dark circles under her even darker eyes. Her sabre was hooked firmly to her belt, somewhere she usually had not kept it before. A bandage covered her forehead where she had hit it two days ago. Even with all these dark things that were going on, she still managed to smile at Sparrow, whom she obviously fancied him quite a bit.

Next to Yuumei sat Shina. Shina hadn't quite realized it, but she had changed quite a bit in the past six months as well. Her avid book reading had suddenly stopped as she realized her life was much more important to her than the books were. Just yesterday, she had cut her hair very short, almost to the point that she appeared to be a boy. Before, she had a subconscious crush on Ceris, but now she was very much crushing on their soon-to-be enemy. She no longer wore bright colors, preferring earthy browns... or anything they could get their hands on. Finally, she now used small throwing knives that she had managed to find, and not just her hands.

Next to the almost-eighteen-year-old sat Sora, an eleven-year-old that had been born in this world and turned out to be the Princess of Dragons. Her innocence had been shattered the moment she had decided to come to the Realm of Light to meet her big brother. She had learned much too many things during this time... and it was obvious that she yearned the days when she was small and Yuumei would just hold her softly.

Beside Sora sat her older brother, Daysin. Over the past months, he had been hurt not physically as much as emotionally. His eyes constantly were flickering between red and purple, insecurity at its fullest. His lips would obviously be horribly scarred due to his biting. Even as no one else said anything, his silence was the worst; his silence was awkward and painful for everyone. With the learning of his true name, Great Sea, had come even more confusion. He had learned that he was so many things, and, worse still, Malina had refused to speak to him still.

Finally, Ceris was standing, leaning against a tree and staring into the fire. His job was to be Courage, and take care of Malina, who was very hateful of any help that he offered at the current moment. He seemed to be daydreaming constantly, not to be awakened. The starts of a beard were beginning to show on his face. In a few months, he would, after all, be considered a man. His journey had made him almost no different than he had been in the beginning of all this. Even so, his obvious love for Malina was making everyone feel even more awkward than they already were.

"Hey, Kai, what do you think about this one?" Sora asked, pretending to hand her imaginary friend something. "I know, it is good isn't it? I love sweets. Hm? You think that it would taste better with raisins? I don't like raisins. Yeah, I miss home, too, Kai."

"Would you please be quiet?!" Marit snapped at the younger girl. "Some of us are trying to go to sleep around here because they can't think of a stupid plan to help us save this idiotic world! I feel like the world is weighing down on my shoulders, and let me tell you, it's not as light as a feather!"

"Don't be mean to me!" Sora cried. "I hate it when people are mean to me!"

"Marit," Yuumei said patiently. "I know that you're tired and all, but we all are. These past few months haven't been exactly the most beautiful years of our lives either. Please, if you will, just try to be kinder to her. She's only eleven."

Marit snorted but did not say anything. Shina sighed and closed her eyes. Even listening to the two of them fight would have been worth hearing some sort of conversation. However, that was obviously not going to happen any time soon.

"We need to figure something out so we can kill Vaati..." Malina whispered, scratching her arms again. Almost absently, Marit grabbed her wrist, forcing her to stop.

"Shut up..." He muttered. "That's the only thing that you've said for two days now... what are you going to do about it?"

Malina stared forward, not answering. Shina was fairly concerned about both Daysin and Malina. They both seemed to be in some sort of reverie that neither could awaken from. Almost like a nightmare that you can't wake up from. It was rather disconcerting.

"We have to defeat Vaati somehow. Somehow we just have to defeat him..." Malina whispered. She started scratching again, but no one seemed to care enough by this point to stop her.

Shina sighed, clutching her arm and biting her bottom lip tightly. The world seemed to be spinning much too fast for anyone's liking. It was almost as though someone were trying to kill them all just by moving them through the evil thing that people call time. It seemed almost cruel.

These thoughts were odd.


Spinning.

Spinning.

Spinning.

Why...?

Why was it...

All spinning?

Malina asked herself this.

It felt like she was lost.

Gone.

But... where?

Black.

Blue.

Red.

These were the only colors she could see.

Gone.

Wiped.

That's what it felt like to her.

... blood?

Was she bleeding?

Why?

It seemed distant to her.

Odd.

Funny.

Dramatic.

It seemed like a far-off memory.

Something she didn't want to remember.

How annoying.

Malina... huh?

That was her name?

Why?

It seemed silly.

Like the blood.

Huh.

These thoughts were odd.


Vaati softly smirked. Their team was falling apart at the seams. The Princess was obviously completely lost. It was as though she had finally realized what a grave situation she happened to be in. To Vaati, it seemed rather humorous.

What are we going to do now?

"What do you mean, Power?" Vaati asked in a murmured tone, twirling his ring around in his finger.

What is the next part of your grand old plan?

"That's simple," Vaati answered, standing up. "Wait for the Dragon Princess to come here and destroy her. Both Yuumei and Daysin will be shattered. Malina has already lost her mind somehow. Ceris will be my only real problem. The others are easy pickings."

Vaati... don't you feel any shame at killing your own cousin?

Vaati shook his head angrily. "Why in the world would I feel any guilt or shame at killing her? It makes no difference who I kill. Darkness is darkness. Light is light. It's as simple as that, Power."

Power did not answer the man. Vaati walked over to his bed and took out the knife. It was the same knife that Princess Zelda had used to murder herself. Stained with blood from both people, it was a rust red.

He silently lifted up his sleeve and gently sliced across it. Blood slowly oozed from the slash, staining his white skin. Vaati frowned, growling slightly. The cut wasn't deep enough to satisfy him. Not nearly so. He needed more than just that...

Vaati slashed even deeper, both anger and sadness in his eyes. To make his life seem better, he needed the help of a knife. How terribly sad... and pathetic.

These thoughts were odd.


Liz glanced up and frowned. Light was busily packing to go to Japan to speak with some people... that included a few scientists who lived there and knew the people that had died by Miss Alice. It was terribly annoying to be traveling everywhere all the time.

Then again, she thought to herself, it's better than what my life used to be like.

"Liz," Light called, glancing at her. "Are you all packed?"

Liz nodded and asked, "Robert, what do you think is going on around here?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. That's why it's called a mystery."

"You're so helpful!" Liz growled sarcastically.

Liz, personally, had a few thoughts on it, and much more than one question. Such as, who was Miss Alice? What was going on? How could she kill people? How old was she? Were they stepping into something larger than just themselves?

"I'm ready!" Chester announced, striding into the room. "You guys ready?"

While Liz nodded, Light shook his head. "No, I've still got to pack a few things. And we need to stop by the flower shop so I can get a rose for Kichi."

Liz scowled. What was so great about this Kichi girl? He had been talking about her nonstop for the past few days, explaining about how she was a J-pop star, and she had a huge crush on him and blah blah blah... Liz hated this girl, and they hadn't even met yet.

"Hurry up, or we'll miss our flight!" Chester exclaimed. "And the taxi is ready, too!"

"Whatever, Eric," Light snarled.

Liz rolled her eyes, sighing. Those two could go on for hours and hours, talking about meaningless things like chocolate and cheese, and, rather suddenly, they could begin talking about important things, like how Light's parents died, or who killed them, or even something like her...

Liz glowered at herself, grabbing her heavy suitcase. This was no time to be giggling over Light like some school-girl. Now was the time to be serious and try to help figure out this latest mystery. The mystery of Miss Alice.

"Where's my iPod?!" The "great" Detective Light cried. "Did you steal it again, Cheesecake?!"

"Don't call me that," Chester growled.

"You guys, can we please just hurry up?" Liz complained. "This is my first time going out of Great Britain, and I don't want to miss our bloody flight."

"Right, right..." Light muttered, and then blinked, taking his iPod out of his pocket. "Oh. Is that were it went?"

"Apology!" Chester cried.

"Focus, squirts," Liz muttered, snapping in front of their eyes. Chester blinked, slightly dazed, but Light had no apparent reaction to it.

Liz sighed, glaring at the two of them as they finally exited the hotel room. It wasn't as though this were anything new, but it was certainly annoying. Neither of them could focus on anything for more than two seconds. Well, Light could focus on anything with twenty or more grams of sugar in it, and Chester certainly could focus on Kichi.

As they went down the elevator, Liz was amazed at the turn her life had taken. Just three weeks ago, she was an average sixteen-year-old English girl that went to a private school and had troubling affairs happening at home. Now she was working with the world's number one detective. How strange.

She glanced slowly at Light, who was bobbing his head absently to his music. He was a boy that most girls thought about in their daydreams. He was tall, had auburn hair, and warm blue eyes. He was eighteen, but looked slightly younger. He was amazingly smart, and could be as sweet as his sugar at times.

Light blinked and caught her eye, taking out one of his buds. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

Liz felt her face burn bright red. "I-it's nothing..."

These thoughts were odd.


Miss Alice glanced up slowly. Her red eyes were hidden behind thick, thick glasses. She wore a large coat, a scarf, a plaid skirt, a white button-up blouse, high socks, and black shoes. She held several text-books, and pencils. Her long, dark hair had been released from its usual pigtails.

As usual, she was waiting for someone. To be precise, she was waiting for Detective Light and his buffoons to pass by.

And there they were, with the "great detective" in the middle.

"Shut up, Rob!" The eldest one snapped. However, he looked no older than twenty-five at the very eldest.

"Why?" The younger man asked teasingly, obviously enjoying himself. Miss Alice felt her face turn a little pinker upon seeing him. This "Detective Light" was a truly beautiful person... if only in appearance. However, this was no time to be thinking about that.

"Huh, Mr. Cheesecake?" The younger man asked, still teasing.

"I said shut up!" The elder snapped.

"You two are so immature..." Murmured a cute, blond teen, who was speedily getting in front of them.

"Immature?! Me?!" Light cried. "Honestly, Leslie, I thought that you thought that I was dashing and handsome and mature and charming and wonderful and strong and prince-like and sweet and cute and funny and lovely and amazing and witty and-"

"Yeah," The girl said sarcastically, her voice fading into the distance as they continued on. "Just like I think of Eric!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" The elder man demanded. The younger laughed and said something, but he was too far away for Miss Alice to hear.

Miss Alice sighed, her breath making a small cloud in front of her face. "Vaati..." She whispered softly. "Vaati... come out, come out whever you are..."

A man stepped foreward from behind the fourteen-year-old, wearing a large, tan overcoat. Vaati. He glanced at a watch on his left hand, as though he were afraid that he was going to be late for something important.

"I'm ready," Miss Alice whispered.

Vaati cocked an eyebrow. "What was that?"

"Light... Malina..." Miss Alice closed her eyes as she muttered. "Prepare for a different world than you're used to."

"I like the sound of that," Vaati replied.

These thoughts were odd.

But Miss Alice liked them, strangely enough.

A/N- That was such a filler chapter that it wasn't even funny. Seriously. That's how much I've been floundering in this story. I thought that the last part was all right, though, because it had some basicness to it... or something. Either way, it made more sense.

R&R, no flames.