Thanx for the nice feedback RoswellJunkie and RedJewel2662. Hope you enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 53

When Maria arrived back at the campus most of the turmoil had died down. The firemen were in the process to pack their things and leave, the last ambulances drove away and just a handfull of reportes were still there. They interviewed some students, who either survived the explosion unharmed or had just witnessed the whole spectacle. But she didn´t pay great attention to the people around her, she had enough to do with the huge black hole that was engulfing her bleeding heart. Part of her wanted to go back and tell Michael that he shouldn´t take what she said seriously, that she had been high or that her evil twin had taken over her. And the other part was glad to have ended things now, something she should have done the first time everything fell apart around them. Her head was so sure that she made the right decision, in contrast to her heart, which was telling her that she made the biggest mistake of her life. Sadly she wrapped her arms tighter around her body, because a cold wind started to blow and made her freeze slightly. Unfortunately her favourite jacket had been in the library. For a moment she thought about looking for it in the ruins, but dismissed it immediately. She had other problems at the moment, namely planning a tactic to avoid Michael. Not so easy when your brother was the roommate and the own roommate the sister of the said person. At least she had time to think about something. As long as he was staying in the hospital she wouldn´t see him. The downside was that Tess or at least Kyle would question her about her decision. Suddenly she heard someone calling her name and looked up startled.

" Oh god. I´m so relieved to see you".

Maria was shocked when Nolak threw his arms around her and pressed her tightly at his body. Surprised she needed a few seconds to respond to the embrace, mildly freaked about the openly showing of emotions from someone she thought was the last person who would do that. " Yeah thanks. Is everything alright with you?".

Nolak pushed her softly away from him to look for himself that it was her and she wasn´t hurt in any kind. Happily he noted that it was indeed her and there were no visible injuries. " I should ask the same. How are you?".

" Fine, a little worse for the wear and pretty tired, but otherwise good", Maria wanted to ask him so many questions at the moment. About the appearance of Rath, the explosion and what they should do now. She even was tempted to tell him about the deal she got offered from her half brother. But she didn´t have the strength for it right now. Maybe tomorrow, when the shock settled down and she was rested.

Nolak noticed the depressing tone in her voice and worried instantly. Especially when he realized that she was alone and he saw the pain in her eyes. " What is it? Where are the others?".

Maria had to swallow the lump in her throat. Just the mention of the others was letting her mind wander to Michael and the last conversation they had. Quickly blinking back tears she tried to appear strong, although every part of her told that she was weak. " They´re still at the hospital. Alex has a broken bone and M..Michael a few broken ribs", she almost stumbled over the name of her ex lover.

" Then why are you looking like someone died?", Nolak knew her long enough to read every emotion on her face. It wasn´t always easy, because she could be so guarded that not even an empath could decipher what was going on in her. But sometimes she let a small glimpse of her feelings out and it appeared in her expression or even in her stance. Like right now.

Maria wanted to scream at him that he should finally stop questioning her and just to leave her alone. But she knew that her problems weren´t with Nolak or his many questions. No he was reminding her about the pain she caused herself and probably on Michael too. " Can we talk about it tomorrow? I´m not in the condition right now. I have to tell you something anyway. But not now".

Nolak recognized the tired circles under her eyes and the hanging of her shoulders. Yeah, she had been through enough for today. They still had time to discuss everything in private. Even more time than she thought. " Didn´t you hear it? The college will be closed until they know what caused the explosion and why it hit the library. Everbody was told to pack their things and go back home. When everything is over, they will send the message".

" Great. They will never found the source of the bomb or the reason", Maria rubbed her face with shaking hands. She suddenly felt a little lightheaded and her stomach clenched. Her body was on the brink to give up the fight to stay on her feets.

Nolak picked up that she was close to fall over. Immediately he wrapped his arms around her middle to steady her. He was pretty worried about her condition. At least a few minutes ago she had been having color in her cheeks, but within seconds it had been gone. Now she looked like she was not far away from fainting. " I should bring you to your room. You don´t look very healthy".

Maria didn´t even have the strength to nod anymore, but she didn´t have to do that anyway, because in that moment the world around her sunk in absolute darkness. Like a stone her body dropped down and was just hindered from crashing to the ground by the grip of Nolak. He instantly lifted her in his arms and carried her carefully towards the women building. The day had finally took its toll on her and now her body claimed its rest. She still had to learn that she had the powers of an alien, but the body of a human, which meant that she couldn´t strain it like she wanted. He watched her angelic face while he climbed up the staircases. She was so young and so inexperienced and yet everybody expected her to lead a war against one of the cruelest person in this universe. All right, she had help from her friends and Michael at her side, but still she was pretty much alone. Just because of a damn prophecy made thousands of years ago. She is the last of her kind, a goddess with the strength of the acient world. They always thought that she and Rath, the most powerful creature on Antar, were equally. But after this morning when Larek called him to tell him that they finally figured out the last part of the prophecy in the destiny book, they knew that Maria was so far above him that he would need thousands of years to come to her level. All she had to do was use the gift she received and she could be ruling the whole universe. Of course with so much power there was always the worry about getting addicted to it, which usually ended at the dark side or getting so consumed by it that the person died. They didn´t want that with her, so they decided to keep that information about her for themself and hoped that it wouldn´t come to the point where they had to spill the beans. Yeah, hope was the only thing they had right now. Finally Nolak looked up and noticed that he walked past the room of Tess and Maria. Briskly he turned around and went down the hall. Thankfully the girls were pretty much at the end of the floor and he didn´t need too long before he came to the right place. Slowly he opened the door and brought her to the bed, where he laid her tenderly on. Just as he was in the process to cover her with the light blanket, someone stomped angrily through the threshold.

" What are you doing here?".

Nolak whirled around and looked steadily at the furious blonde girl standing opposite him. She had her hands on her hips and her eyes twinkled dangerously. He didn´t like the tone in her voice and especially now. She maybe had been a future queen on Antar, but the things were different here on earth. " What does it look like I´m doing?".

Tess glared at him and her stance changed slightly. She had no time for this shit, she had to talk with someone she thought was a friend. " Leave".

" Why? What is going on here?", Nolak didn´t understand what happened at the moment. He never saw the other girl like that. Not even when Rath had been playing his pranks on her. What had her so angry at her friend?

Tess was close to explode. She had to strain her powers not to let them out, because then it could get ugly really fast here. With clenched fist and a great deal of willpower she pushed the words through pinched teeths. " Maria broke up with Michael".

Nolak glanced shocked at her and then faced the girl lying in the bed. No wonder Maria had been so rattled. It wasn´t because of the explosion, although part of it might be true, but more about the break up. The pain in her eyes had been about Michael. But why would she ditch him when she felt so deeply for him? " That´s not possible. They both love each other".

" Yeah, I thought the same until an hour ago. Before I knew which kind of person my supposed friend was", Tess knew that would regret most of the things she said as soon as her anger disappeared. She didn´t even mean half of the things she blurted out. But to her defence, she had to witness the pain her brother had been in and it hadn´t been exactly pleasant. Michael loved Maria more than anything else.

Nolak shook his head at her. She couldn´t believe the things tumbling out of her mouth, could she? Maria wasn´t someone that would hurt somebody on purpose, especially not someone she loved as much as she did Michael. " Don´t do that. Don´t make your friend the bad guy here. She probably had a reason for breaking up".

Tess snorted very unladylike and her face twisted into a sarcastic mask. Of course she had a damn good reason, she was scared of making a commitment towards her brother. End of story. " Yeah, she told Michael something about protecting him. She didn´t want him getting killed because of her or some other garbage".

" Makes sense", Nolak thought about the fight between Marianna and Rath near the end. She even had wanted to disappear from the castle just to protect the others. If not for the stubborn interfere of Larek and Rath himself, she would have been gone. The girl was too devoted for her own good. Someday she would get really hurt because of her pigheaded mentality.

Tess noticed the far away look of their mentor. He seemed to be trapped in a memory. " How does it make sense? I don´t understand".

Nolak jerked his head in her direction and chased away the picture haunting his dreams, sometimes even his awakened state. It had been the most horrible day of his life. His charges had been too young to handle the responsibility and they paid it with their lifes. He didn´t want to see that happening again. " You don´t remember it, because you had been already dead. But Rath and Marianna had this awful fight. Rath was angry and pretty mean towards her while she was broken hearted about the battle where most of the royal family died. She thought that it was her fault that the attack happened. After the funeral she packed her things and wanted to go away before more died because of her, but Rath wouldn´t let her leave and you know the rest already".

" That sounds horrible. Poor Maria. The explosion must have triggered her memory and now she´s afraid that everything will be happening again", Tess felt lousy for damning her roommate without listening to her side. But her first priority was her brother and then her friends. A part understood the motivation behind the break up. And yet she was angry at Maria for taking the decision in her hands and not even thinking about what it would do to Michael.

Nolak was glad that he was of help. He didn´t want to see such a great friendship getting damaged because of a small misunderstanding. Now he had only one problem to solve. Bringing Michael and Maria together again. They both needed each other, now more than ever. " Yeah. How are the others?".

For the first time since storming into the room Tess smiled. Everything had been looking worse than it had been in reality and everybody had been relieved to know that. " Michael has to stay overnight, but tomorrow he can go home. Well he has to rest for a week or so, but with the quick healing powers he will be back to his old self in less time. Alex leg looks a little scary. He has all this screws in it and everything. But he´s determined to walk out of the hospital in no time. Unfortunately nobody had the heart to tell him otherwise".

" That´s sounds really good. A few days at home should get everyone on their feets again", Nolak would have enough time to plan something with Larek. After all they received their first warning from the other side. Now it was up to them to show what they still had up their sleeves. They would need a few days til a week to work on a plan, time the others would need to recover from the attack.

Tess screwed up her face. What was he talking about? Home? They had still classes and exams to write, which they all would fail now, because nobody had been getting around to learn for anything. But nontheless the life at campus was going on. " Nobody is going home. Why did you say that?".

Nolak remembered that he forgot to tell her about the announcement from Dean Slater. She hadn´t been here to hear it. " Sorry. The campus will be closed until they knew more about the bomb. Everybody has to leave until tomorrow evening".

" Oh shit! That could take forever", Tess was already thinking about the arrangement she had to do. She had to call Juanita for preparing their arrival, tell her grandfather about it, pack her things and then do the same for her brother. Hopefully he was up to a long drive to Tucson.

Nolak smiled at her, because that had been the first reaction from Maria, too. They both seemed to have more in common than a past life and the love for their brothers. " At least enough time that we can prepare a counter attack. Believe me it wasn´t some coincidence that the library exploded just when you all had been in there".

Tess noticed a cold shiver ran down her back and the hair on her neck stood up. So that was what it felt like to be scared. Not the most pleasurable feeling in the world. She thought the only time she had been afraid was when she hid her grandfathers briefcase and he searched for it for hours. He cursed and threatened anybody he thought could have anything to do with the vanishing of it. Scared she disappeared in her brothers room and went in his wall closet. She only had wanted that her grandfather stayed and spent time with her. She hadn´t wanted to make him angry. In the end everything hadn´t been so bad like she thought and her little world had been going the right way again. But she knew that it wouldn´t be like that in this case. " Do you think our time is up?".

" Yes. The attack wasn´t just for the fun, it was a message. A message that the honeymoon is over and the reality begins", Nolak feared that it was too soon again. They were barely out of their teenager age and had just stepped into adulthood. They didn´t know anything about making sacrifices and taking charge for something.

Tess shook her head in astonishment. She had known that someday she had to fight, but she wasn´t prepared that it was so soon already. They haven´t even had time to be glad about surviving the explosion. Now they had to think about sending their enemies a warning, too. Where was the time when she only worried about if her grandfather and her brother would finally find a common ground? Or if she would find a man worthy of her? Or even if she would figure out what she wanted to do with her life. " Then we have to warn everybody. We have to plan something, make those bastards almost piss their pants for messing with us".

Nolak was impressed about the display of command. But it was no surprise for him, after all she had the commando when both commanders were gone, which was the case here. Michael was lying injured in the hospital and Maria was out like a light. " That´s already in work. Don´t worry about that. We just want you to rest a while and heal your injuries".

" But don´t you think they will expect an immediate rebound?", Tess had never shown an interest in warfare or watched movies which had been about a war, but she knew that they had to act fast, shouldn´t give their enemy too much time to think about the consequences.

Nolak would have never guessed that sweet little Ava could be so observant. She had been always more in the background and kept her mouth shut. Maybe it had been because of the commanding presence of Rath or the loud appearance of Vilandra. Both had been very dominating and it probably got worse when Marianna came to them, who was the mix of both of them. But now she had overcome her shyness and took an active role in this battle. Just before he could answer her questions however, a small voice from the bed was heard. " No. They won´t expect an attack right now".

Tess kneeled besides the bed and took the hand of her roommate. Usually Maria looked like she could walk through solid walls without a scratch. But now she appeared like a small breeze could blow her away. She was pretty pale and sweat was covering her forehead." Oh hell, you look like shit".

" Thanks. That´s what every girl loves to hear", Maria wanted to move up a little, so that she was in a sitting position, but the queasy feeling in her stomach wouldn´t let her. She had never felt so aweful in her life and that included the time when she fell from the ladder at Liz´ balcony and dashed on the dumpster under her.

Nolak stepped closer to the bed and eyed his charge. Tess was right, she didn´t look very well. " What is wrong and don´t tell me it´s nothing again or I will give you a good beating this time".

Maria finally managed to lean her head on the dashboard without puking her guts out. " I think everything caught up with me. It will go away as soon as I have rested", she noticed that her mouth was dry and she had problems swallowing. Slowly she turned her head to her roommate. " Can you get me a glass of water, please?".

" Sure. You want something to eat, too", Tess thought her friend should get something in her stomach. But after she received a shaking head, she relented and left the room to find a nice cold bottle of water.

Nolak waited until the other girl was gone before he focused all his attention on Maria. Carefully he took a seat on the bed, all the while looking out that he wouldn´t sat on her. " What is going on? Why did you break up with Michael and what did you mean with the statement about the others not expecting an attack?

Maria licked her lips and was relieved when she noticed the seasick feeling was going away. Wow, where should she start? There was so much she wanted to tell him, so much answers she wanted. But Tess wouldn´t be gone for too long and they hadn´t much time. " Nicolai made me an offer about joining their side. He said he would give me enough time to let me think about his deal. So we will be left in peace for a few days".

" Oh god! Is this little rotten son of a bitch really that dense? Why would he think you would go against your friends and family and follow him?", Nolak had enough from this scumbag. The next time some of his children had a problem with the dirty bootlicker from hell, they should contact him and he would rip him apart, slow and painfully.

Maria knew that he would hear it sooner or later. That was the reason why she didn´t beat around the bush so long like she usually did. It was no use in keeping Nolak in the dark anyway. He had his eyes and ears everywhere. " Because they have Rath on their side".

Nolak nearly swallowed his own tongue at that. For a few seconds he opened and closed his mouth like a fish. It was like he was trying to say something, but didn´t find the right words for it. Then he regained his countenance. " Rath? Are you sure about that? It could be a shapeshifter".

" That had been my first thought, too. But it was him, right down to the last detail. Nicolai made a clone of him with some of his blood and hair. I don´t know how, I just know he did", Maria would have like the thought more that it had been a shapeshifter. Then she wouldn´t have felt so guilty for letting him down. Him and his family.

Nolak brushed his hand through his slightly thinning dark hair. Now that was a factor they couldn´t have planned. Fk, another problem in their already huge list of things that haven´t went as they should. Hopefully Khivar didn´t already know about the hidden strenght in her, that would really blow their whole tactic. After all he would want to possess her power and use it against the universe. Damn bastard, he knew something or he wouldn´t have hesitated to get Rath into the play. And although they had the more powerful creature on their side, it could still be obstacle. Especially if Maria had feelings for her past lover, which could be a possibility. Thankfully they had time to think about something. That would give them a little room to prepare a really good attack. " We could still use it for our advantage. If he´s indeed the real deal as you say, he will still have the bond you shared".

Maria was surprised about this aspect of the situation. That had been something she hadn´t considered or she forgot. Of course it could be that the connection with him was still intact, after all Michael had felt it, too and he had just the essence of Rath. But she wouldn´t count on it. " I don´t know. We shouldn´t discard the option, but we also shouldn´t bet on it".

" Hey sweety, look who I found", Tess entered the room again, a small bottle of water in her right hand and some salty cracker in her other. Behind her the rest of their friends was standing and looked cautiously through the now open door.

Nolak turned to the young teens waiting for a sign that they could enter or at least a word of allowance. Sighing loudly he faced Maria again and told her quietly that they would continue their talk later. After he got a nod, he stood up from the place on the bed, said goodbye to the others and then disappeared from the room.

Maria rubbed her face and hoped that she didn´t look so bad anymore. She didn´t want to scare her friends. They would just think something was wrong with her and they would worry. Both things she didn´t want. " Why don´t you come in?".

" We didn´t know if you wanted company or not", Kyle hesitantly stepped through the door and sat on the spot Nolak had vacated just moments ago. He had been scared when he he noticed that she was gone without telling anybody anything. And the feeling got worse when he heard about the break up. Something had been happening in the time she had been missing.

Maria smiled at her brother. He was always so damn sweet and knew what to do to make her feel a little better, even if he didn´t say anything funny at all. Sometimes just his presence was needed and she wasn´t sad anymore. " Sorry for bailing on you in the hospital. I just couldn´t stay there anymore".

Kyle took his sisters hand and patted it lovingly. He understand what she had been through and couldn´t hold it against her. For the first time he had felt everything she had felt. The fear, the anger and then the sadness. It hadn´t been an easy decision for her, despite what everyone else thought. " Don´t worry about that".

" How are you?", Liz released the hand of her boyfriend and joined the siblings on the bed. Her best friend was looking like she went through hell and back, which was even true in some kinda twisted way. How else was her behaviour to explain? She had to have a good reason for ending her relationship with Michael.

Maria took a swig from the water bottle Tess had brought her and opened the little bag of crackers. Delightfully she bit into one and imagined herself eating a thick, greasy cheeseburger. Strange, minutes ago already the thought of food was triggering her gag reflex. And now she could stomach half a cow with onion rings and the largest chocolate milkshake humans had seen. " I´m feeling better", and that wasn´t even a lie. " How is Alex doing? Did you have time to talk to him?".

Liz grinned at her friend to take away the worry. " Don´t bother to have pity with him. He´s playing the injured hero in front of Isabel. She´s treating him like he saved the world and does everything he wishes for. Hopefully she never figures out that Alex hadn´t been exactly truthfull to her or there will be hell to pay".

" Lucky for him my sister is too relieved that he´s alive, that she wouldn´t even find it out when someone would spell it out for her", Max finally entered the conversation. He had hung back because he was afraid about Marias condition. The last time she broke down, they died. But thankfully she got a little color back in her face.

Maria was glad to hear that. But she sensed that everybody was just trying to avoid one topic. The break up with Michael. She looked at the faces of her friends and wondered what kind of bitch they thought she was, dumping her boyfriend after he almost died. " I know why you´re all here", she saw the shocked and surprised expressions and knew she had their attention." But I won´t, no I don´t have to justify my decision in front of you. If you can´t accept that, then I´m sorry, because I won´t change my mind".

Kyle faced the others and prepared himself to pummel everybody disagreeing with his sister. But that wasn´t necessary, because nobody dared to say something. They all were silently staring at her, probably building their own opinion about the situation in their minds. " I´m behind you. Even if I can´t understand why you did what you did".

" I can partly understand you and I won´t rip your head off like I intented to do. But I´m still a little pissed at you for hurting my brother", Tess would be neutral with the little quarrel between them. However she couldn´t guarantee that she could hold back a few comments once in a while. Her roommate should get her body armour out of the closet, because even if she looked innocent, she could be more poisonous like a snake, especially when it concerned her family.

Maria could respect the opinion. She would do the same thing if something like that would happen to her brother. So she couldn´t hold that against her friend. With a small nod she acknowledged the deal between them. Then she glanced to other three person in the room. Max and Liz were openly giving her their support and they would back her up no matter her decision. Relieved she let herself slump deeper into the bedding, feeling the strain on her body for the first time. The last few hours had been worse than she thought. " I don´t want to be rude, but I´m wasted".

Kyle realized that his sister was in a dire need of rest. They didn´t know what happened to the hours she had been gone, but she would tell them in her own time. One thing he learned from her, she wasn´t exactly the type to share everything with the people around her. However if it was important she would find the time to do it. Slightly smiling he bent down and kissed her forehead. " Alright. Call me if you need me. Or if you just wanna talk".

" Okay", Maria snuggled into the cover. She felt like a child getting a good night kiss from the parents or getting tucked in. Strangly she missed the times her father would carry her to bed and then stay with her until he was sure that the bad things in her closet had disappeared.

Tess squeezed her friends hand before she stood up together with Kyle. It was obvious that they both would sleep in one room tonight. Wishing a good night they both made a hasty retreat out the door, closely followed from Max and Liz, who seemed exactly eager to go. They just managed a short good night before they were gone.

Maria watched the pairs walking out. Hand in hand they were on the way to the rooms they would be sharing for the night and celebrate that nobody died. They would kiss, talk, kiss some more and then stop talking for a long time. Sadly she looked around and noticed the shadows all across the room. It seemed like they wanted to mock her and show her things she would miss or would never have the chance to do. With tears in her eyes she faced the nightstand where a picture of her and Michael was standing. They had been so happy when Kyle had made the snapshot of them. She had been sitting at the tree in the middle of the campus and had tried to solve the problem in her business class when Michael startled her from behind. He had held a voilet flower in front of her face and said that he missed her. Touched she had kissed him deeply. In that moment Kyle had shot a picture of this moment, which was now a reminder about what never could be. Finally she grasped what she had done and everything tumbled down around her. Taking the photo, she pressed it tightly at her chest before weeping bitterly.

That night

Maria was standing on a beach. The water was calm and clear, the sand under her feet warm and the sky so blue that it looked like a painting. Just a small breeze was waving through the air and let her long hair fly around her head while a smell of sunlotion and the deeply scent of the ozean was hanging thickly over her. The flimsy light green sundress was following the movement of her hair and did nothing to cover her body. With closed eyes she inhaled the salty air and let the peace wash over her. For a small amount of time she felt relaxed and really happy, like nothing in this place could hurt her or be taken away from her. The quiet was soothing her damaged soul and gave her mind a litte rest from worrying about everything. Suddenly something stumbled near her and crashed in front of her feet. Worriedly she bent down to the bundle lying on the ground and noticed that it was a young girl.

" Are you okay, kiddo?".

The girl looked up at her startled and a slightly embarrassed. Maria was shocked for a second when she saw the sparkling brown eyes and the blond hair. Except for the eyes she was the exact copy of her when she had been eight or nine years old. Scared she stepped a little back, in case this was a trap. Strangly the girl didn´t seem to fear her and just calmly stood up to knock the sand out of her clothes. " Don´t be afraid. I´m not here to hurt you".

Maria raised an eyebrow. She would be the judge if she could trust this mini version of her or not. And it wasn´t looking good for her right now. " What are you doing here, then?".

" I´m just a guide. Well my brother is part of that, too. But he´s late as usual", the girl glanced around and searched the area for the missing person.

Maria used the opportunity to eye her opponent closer. The small thing couldn´t be older than ten, maybe eleven at the most. But something in her behaviour let her appear more mature than the average kids in this age. " Who are you?".

The girl turned towards her and smiled. " Me and my brother don´t have a name yet. But you can choose one if it makes you feel better".

" Okay. How about I call you Belle", the name seemed to fit. Besides Maria always had dreamed about naming her daughter like that someday. It had such a nice ring to it and reminded her about Gone with the wind.

The girl grinned happily and her eyes seemed to twinkle full of joy. The expression let her look like a small fairy princess. " I´d like that", then her face lost the youth and a shadow passed over it. Fearful she scanned the surrounding. " We have to go. We´re not safe here".

Maria looked around and didn´t see anything that would be dangerous. They were alone and most important heavily armed. Besides it was just a dream, nothing could harm them in this place. But all of the sudden she heard a rumble in the distance. Startled she whirled around and witness a black hole was appearing out of thin air and was swallowing everything in sight. Shocked she gripped Belle´s hand and started to run away with her. The sand under their feet was making their escape a little difficult and the pull from the sucking behind them wasn´t a big help either. But strangly Maria put as much strength in her legs and managed to come forward. For a moment she turned her head around to look how much distance she had put between them and the black nothing. However it was like their feets hand´t moved an inch and the hole was fastly making its way towards them. Scared she put Belle behind her and faced the thing threatening the calm. Alright, if they couldn´t flee from it, they had to destroy it. Breathing deeply she reached into the darkest corner of her soul and dragged it in the light. With a primal scream she released a blast that knocked her off of her feet and let her world go black. Sometime later she heard small voices near her. They were talking quietly and she just understood a few sentences.

" She saved my life. And she scared away the nothing", that was Belle.

" Yeah. It´s her job to do that. She has to protect us and fend off the dark. She´s the warrior after all", that was the voice of a boy. Probably the same age as the girl.

" But she doesn´t know about that. She risked her life for me, even without knowing who I am".

" That won´t change anything. We´re not allowed to say something until she figures it out for herself. And I hope you keep that promise".

Maria had enough that they were talking like she wasn´t there. Groaning, because every part of her body felt like it survived a car crash, she rested on her ellbows and looked at the small children sitting in front of her. Relieved she noticed that Belle was alright and healthy. Then she let her gaze wander to the boy besides her. She almost swallowed her tongue at his appearance. It was like he was a mini version of Michael. At least what she could still remember from the day he watched over her in Disneyland. Strangly the boy´s eyes were not brown like she was used to, but rather a darker green. Confused she shook her head and realized for the first time that they were in some kinda cave or something close to that. It was oddly homey even if it was bare and sparse. " Where am I?".

Belle ignored the shifting of her brother and went to her. " You´re home", after she received a rather shocked expression she realized how it must have sounded. " Not Antar. Roswell"

" What is going on here? Who are you really? How do you know about Antar? What am I doing here?", Maria just had wanted to have a little break from the real world. Now she didn´t even had peace in her own dreams anymore. Was this another trick of Nicolai to weaken her?

Now the boy finally stepped into the conversation. His green eyes were daring her to make a wrong move and he would gladly kill her. " We are the one asking the questions".

Maria glared at the little brat. Who did he think he was? She was older and more mature and much more powerful than him. Great, now she was behaving like a child herself. Couning things she could do better. Very mature of her. Getting her anger in check she faced the boy. " Hey, I don´t know you, but I´m not against smacking the younger generation, okay"

" Yeah whatever", the boy crossed his arms over his chest and didn´t let his gaze waver from her. Like he wanted to keep an eye on her, so that she couldn´t do something to them. Like he wanted to protect his sister.

Maria bristled about the coldness and was close to choke him. But then she remembered that she was older and should behave like that, too. And yet something in her screamed that he was annoying like Rath had been. Startled she stopped in her train of thoughts. After a while she shook herself. No, that couldn´t be. " Alright. Why don´t you tell me what I´m doing here?".

Belle looked apologetically at her. She seemed to have expected that from her brother already. " You were send here to look for answers. We have to lead you to them".

" Great. Couldn´t you have waited a little longer for that? I just broke up with my boyfriend, my friends barely escaped an explosion and my body is on strike right now. I just want to have a nice peaceful sleep", Maria rubbed her face wasted. She didn´t have the strength to listen to things that involved the war between them and their enemy. They could have at least given her a few days to recover from everything until they bombarded her with information again. She was in an instable condition at the moment.

The boy jumped to his feet at that and the anger was pouring out of every pore in his body. His glance was almost burning her with rage. " We don´t have time to cuddle you. I´m sorry if we´re not fitting into your time shedule".

Belle followed her brother and stood up from the ground as well. Fearless she put herself in his sight and gripped his shoulders roughly. Too roughly for someone so small and delicate. Maybe the girl had more strength than it appeared. " Don´t start now. We went through it time and time again. We do what we were told to do".

" Fine. I don´t care anyway. She didn´t care the last time, why should it be different now", for the first time the boy seemed to lose the fight and his expression was replaced with a mask of indifference. Just a tiny second he showed an emotion, when his eyes meet those of Maria. In those seconds she saw fear and sadness before he turned away from her.

Belle took the face of her brother in her hands and made him look at her. She wanted to have his undivided attention when she talked to him. " She didn´t know about us then".

The boy shook off the grip of his sister and pushed her slightly away from him. " It doesn´t matter. We have to bring her to the secret chamber".

" The what?", Maria felt like she was in a movie, where she didn´t know what it was about nor had any idea where it would lead. All these information and she couldn´t grasp a real thought. They talked about her past self, so much did she realize. But how did they knew Marianna?

Belle wiped a few tears from her face before she turned to her. " Just follow us", then she and her brother started marching through a small passage in the cave wall.

Maria was torn between staying where she was and hoping that she would wake up in the next few minutes or going with them and probably got slaughtered in her sleep. But she was also curious what they had to show her. Maybe it was a weapon or it was some kinda power or even a person who would give her all the answers she needed. Debating with herself she didn´t even notice her feet already dragging her after the two children. Carefully she followed them and observed the walls around her. They seemed to tell a story with the scratches, holes and markings on them. Strangly it wasn´t as dark as it should have been in a cave and she wondered where the lights were coming. Unfortunately she didn´t find anything and put the blame on her imagination. Then after they walked over enough stony path, passed a few tunnels and Maria bumped her head at a low stone ceiling, they finally arrived at a massive steel door, which by the way looked pretty out of place. Surprised she witnessed Belle waving her hand over a spot at the door and opened itself automatically after a mechanic voice told that the access was granted. At this point Marias eyebrows were nearly under her hairline, which got only worse when she stepped into the room, where a thing that look like a huge crystal was standing. It was shimmering in all those great colors and launched a humming noise.

" I saw that thing on Antar. Mael showed it to me and Rath when we got our armour. It hadn´t been ready then. How did it get here?", Maria was overwhelmed about the power she could feel coming from it. Slowly she stepped closer to it and touched the surface tenderly. As smooth as she had imagined it and slightly cold.

The boy trailed after her and was angry at the obvious awe about something that wasn´t even alive. " It´s the granilith. Larek and Nolak took it with them. It´s pretty dangerous in the wrong hands and can kill everybody who can´t handle the raw power from it".

Maria heard the obvious disdain in his voice. What did he have against her? He was showing her nothing than seething hatred since she was here. He was slowly reminding her about her half brother Nicolai. Maybe she should name him like that. " Interesting. Could come in handy in a battle".

" That´s the reason why we were showing you it. If anybody is capable of contolling this thing it´s you", Belle shoved her brother aside and pointed with a finger in another direction. With her eyes she told him that he should go. Then she turned her attention back to the other girl. " But that´s just a theory. We didn´t check it out yet and we have to warn you. Just use it in an extreme emergency or if you don´t have another option left".

Maria glanced down at her and saw something that touched her deeply. She saw herself in the girls eyes. Kneeling down to be on the same level she grabbed Belle´s face and kissed her cheek. " Thank you", then she scanned the area around them and noticed that someone was missing. " Where´s your brother?".

Belle smiled at her and there was this light twinkle again. " He is where he´s supposed to be".

" Okay, you don´t have it a bit more cryptic, do you?", Maria wasn´t sure if the punch on her head was responsible for her mind to talk in riddles or if she finally really lost her sanity. But then something smelled fishy at the picture. " Why did he leave you alone?".

Belle looked over her shoulder at something. Something that obviously just she could see, because Maria saw nothing. " I´m never alone. We´re always together. And now I have to follow him".

Maria didn´t want to say goodbye just yet. There was so much she wanted to know, so much question she could ask as long as she had the chance. But she felt that their time was up. " Will I ever see you again?".

" Of course. We´re always with you. You just have to look for us".

Maria just wanted to ask how she should do that, when Belle disappeared in front of her eyes. For a few seconds she stared at the spot where the small girl had been standing before she left the cave herself. Minutes later she opened her eyes and looked around her room at campus. Slowly she sat up and glanced out of the window, where the sun was already in the process to appear on the horizont. She had slept through the night and yet she didn´t feel any rested. On the contrary she felt worse than before. It was like something heavy would sit on her heart and it had started as soon as she had left the cave in her dream. Rubbing her face and wiping the sweat from her forehead she promised herself to never go to sleep with an empty stomach. She just got strange dreams from it.