Not again.

Keiko didn't seem to notice the bugs all around us but once glance at Shizuru and I knew she could see the infestation as clearly as I could. Running through the city after a runaway spirit beast was already exhausting but trying to avoid the insects without drawing too much attention to ourselves added a solid weight that I wasn't keen on carrying today.

Keiko groaned as we watched our opportunity to cross the intersection disappear, breathing hard. "I swear we've caught every red light. How can we find Yusuke and your brother now, Shizuru? We can't even find Puu."

"Chill, Princess. We saw the blue wonder fly off in this direction." Shizuru glanced to the left and furrowed her brow at a particularly thick hoard that was facing us above the street. "Besides, knowing my brother, we can just follow the bugs. He's probably playing with them."

I rubbed my forehead, feeling a pull that I couldn't really explain. From the moment my adrenaline began to fade from the competition the pull was present, and until this intersection it seemed to correspond perfectly with Puu's flight. The only problem was; Puu was obviously trying to find Yusuke and whatever was compelling me was trying to force me off of that path now. Under any other circumstances I could trust that feeling and follow wherever it took me, but I had an obligation to meet up with the group.

I opened my eyes to muffled noises from the city, the blur of the vehicles and their lights in front of me. It was like a scene from a movie. The image of the cars captured mid-tire spin, blurred as though they had been moving at a hundred miles an hour but skating by so slowly I could have simply walked to the other side between the flow with no risk to my person. I looked to Keiko and my cousin, Keiko's face frozen in confusion while Shizuru's eyes were just beginning to widen in surprise. Only the wings from the demon bugs echoed clearly in the too still streets.

"You can feel it, can't you?"

Every inch of me froze in absolute terror. I knew that voice.

"You were born to remake this world, Ella. All that you are, all that you could ever hope to be... it is all in reach."

This wasn't like my dream. When I told my legs to move, they begrudgingly obeyed. My breath was rapid but I was controlling it. Even my eyes were my own. It seemed that, while conscious, this mysterious man couldn't control my body.

Those cold amber eyes bore through my sole, his pale face surrounded my locks of teal that he couldn't be bothered to do anything with. He was ethereal, even for a demon of his class.

"Come with me." He held out a colorless hand to me, his mouth forming a calming smile that did not reach his eyes.

I backed away from him, feeling my power bubble in my chest, ready to lash out the moment I needed it. He just shook his head, closing his eyes as though he were trying not to lose his temper at a particularly petulant child.

"Still playing for the losing team. That will change." He reassured, letting his hand fall to cross over his chest. "We will see you soon, little one, and then you will understand your role in the coming rapture."

"Ella?"

Shizuru gripped my shoulders, her face so close I could smell her last cigarette on her breath. I jerked away, whirling to try and find the demon who had frozen the world, but all I could see was traffic moving at a normal place, the infestation still spreading, and the concerned faces of my companions at my dissociation. The world, it seemed, hadn't moved more than a few moments. How did he do that?

An ambulance sped past us, creating a blessed distraction from me, and Puu wasn't far behind, the slippery little bastard.

"Yusuke must be inside." I frowned, taking off after it. I could hear Keiko hot on my heels.

"Ella, Keiko, we don't know for sure!" Shizuru yelled, swearing as she darted after us. The streets were crowded and people stared as we ran block after block but this new adrenaline spike allowed some sort of distraction from that same pull telling me to turn left and keep moving until my legs gave out.

I couldn't hear Puu any longer when we barreled through the open doors to the city hospital, and I felt sick at the bodies strewn across the lobby. This space... this territory... this had to be where one of the maniacs was hiding out.

"All these sick people... but where are the doctors?" Keiko put her hand to her mouth to quell her shock, and I knelt next to the closest man. His skin was green and he smelled like the rot of an infection, his breathing labored. I dared not to touch him in case whatever was going on was contagious.

"I feel it. We've walked into something." Shizuru grit out.

"I feel it too." I confirmed, standing up and looking around. I could feel Genkai, Yusuke... where were they?

Keiko knelt next to a nurse, wrapping her arm around her to support the woman in a seated position, shock written on her face. "Even the medical staff is unconscious. What's wrong with her skin?"

"We need to get moving." I interjected, cutting off Shizuru from speaking and keeping my eyes on the corridor. "Whatever made these people sick is still here."

"But Puu must think Yusuke is here." Keiko stood up, said spirit beast making a ruckus at her mention of his owner. Before I could get another word out to shut him up the insects came out en force from the darkness, speeding towards us. I whipped out a strand of water from the nearby faucet and disintegrated a few of them, Shizuru grunting behind me as she whacked the two that got past me.

"The insects!" She cried to Keiko. "I saw them outside, but I... I didn't tell you. But these are attacking!"

"But how come I can't see anything?!"

"Just run!" My cousin and I grabbed hold of Keiko's hands and scrambled the opposite direction, towards the elevators.

"Faster Keiko!" Shizuru shouted, taking the lead.

"I'm coming!"

I whipped out another lash of water from my own sweat at the closest swarm, focusing on my heartbeat. When the elevators came into view I turned, bringing my hands up and circling around me, bringing a shield around us that the first wave impacted into and fell in pieces to the ground. The air was dry here, and mustering enough water to surround us felt strange and wrong. It wasn't like borrowing from the plants around me. Here... it was like sucking up a chunk of ice through a straw. I couldn't do more without bursting the pipes and possibly flooding everyone unconscious on the floor.

At the ding of the elevator I backed up, feeling the resistance growing against the shield, and I let it fall just as the doors began to close. Shizuru crossed her arms, her jacket tossed over her shoulder to combat the heat.

"I guess that bought us a little time." She sighed.

Keiko nodded, tucking Puu against her chest. "This is awful. I hope Yusuke's alright."

"Kid, don't you ever think about yourself?" My cousin scoffed. I noticed too late the needle-like nose inject into her skin and watched her fall in slow motion with Puu in her arms, the whimper filling the space like a dagger.

"Keiko!" I caught her shivering form, wrapping an arm around her and pushing a hand to her forehead. She was burning hot to the touch.

"Cold..." She chattered her teeth, sinking further into herself.

I held my hand over Keiko, pulling more water from our sweat and trying to see inside her to heal whatever sickness was boiling her blood but it just caused her to shiver more. "Shizuru, what do we do?"

She laid her coat over Keiko's shoulders, rubbing the fabric to create friction. "We have to find the others."

The elevator doors popped open on cue, and Genkai stared at us like we were ghosts.

"Genkai!" Shizuru jumped to her feet. "Keiko is sick. I think she's in real trouble."

"Genkai!" I raised an arm, a whip tearing apart a column of invading insects, and she shoved Shizuru back into the elevator, creating a pulse of energy to destroy the nearest ones.

"We're all in trouble."

"There must be some place those bugs haven't gotten to." My cousin insisted, kneeling next to us again.

"Yes, in here for now."

"We're trapped?"

"There has to be another option." I rubbed Keiko's arm again.

"The only option is that you girls are going to stay in here." Genkai pressed the first floor button. "This is the safest spot at present, and when it ceases to be Ella will get you to a new area."

"She'll get better when Yusuke beats him, right?" I grabbed her hand, the blue and white flames of her soul dancing along my skin. I was so small, so useless. Her faith that I could make a difference when I could barely pick the water from the air was a crushing blow that sent my resolve shattering across the floor.

Like she could feel me breaking down, Genkai held onto my hand, forcing me to keep eye contact. "Just breathe. Take your time. You'll do fine, Ella."

And she was gone with the opening of the doors, her pulse of spirit energy lighting the dark corridor as Shizuru slammed the door close button. "Shit."

I glanced around the dark elevator, the emergency bulb the only source of light in here. If I couldn't take water from the air and I couldn't take water from the pipes...

"We have to get to a drinking fountain." I brushed hair out of Keiko's damp face, Puu staring at me with dark eyes. "Before the insects find their way in here. There's one on the second floor just outside of the elevator doors. If they breach us that's going to be our best bet so I can make a stronger shield."

"We'll wait it out in here until then." Shizuru confirmed, nodding. "I don't want to move until we have to, the doors will open the second we get to the floor and the last thing we need is to fend off more of them."

It wasn't long until the elevator shaft sounded funny, like glass had exploded above us and was tinkling all around the metal box. I eased Keiko onto the ground, standing and staring at the ceiling. Shizuru was already poised to hit the button to level 2.

"You got this?" She breathed, never taking her gaze from the small panel that served as the meager door to the outside, to the demon insect swarming just out of view.

"It's going to be rough." I admitted, flexing my fingers to reach out for all of the liquid that was available to me in the small space. It wasn't much; Shizuru had stopped sweating and I had felt the scratch in my throat since we had started running the first time and used my own sweat as a whip. "We can make it to the second floor, we'll be solid."

She slammed the button, flinging her jacket out against the swarm as the panel fell open. I flung my arms out, creating a thin barrier between us that didn't do much in the way of killing them but certainly sparked them when they made contact. The problem was that, like most demons, pain did little to deter them and they started slamming against it. I grit my teeth, pushing to keep it strong but such a flimsy thing had weaknesses and too many of them were piling against it, wiggling and creating holes.

"Save yourselves." Keiko murmured from the floor. I ignored her.

"Shizuru, get ready to run."

My cousin gripped Keiko, crouched and ready to leap from the space. The moment the doors open I felt her propel herself forward and I gave one final shove against them right as a whip slammed through my water and slashed the remaining insects, two or three dozen falling on the barrier. I gagged and waved it to the side, letting it all slide down the wall in a disaster of internals and sweat.

"What on Earth are you two doing here?!" Shuichi boggled at the two on the ground.

"It's my fault." I threw my arms around the redhead, holding back the tidal wave of emotion threatening to overwhelm me at seeing one of my friends safe. "We got trapped in the elevator and the air is so dry here."

He rested his hand on my back in acknowledgement and I pulled away to respect his space, getting my head right.

"Genkai went to check on Yusuke and Kido." I continued, evening out my breathing and standing up straight. "I can take care of them from here with the fountain."

He nodded, touching my shoulder. A thousand things ran through my mind to say to him, but the silence was comfortable, and I could feel his words without speaking. 'Be safe'. I pulled water around us when he disappeared down the hallway and froze it in place, feeling my body pulse with the element around me in abundance. What kind of hospital didn't have drinking fountains readily available?

"Drink." I urged Keiko, putting a small cup to her lips and helping tilt her head. "You're going to be okay."

Shizuru sat next to her and accepted the cup, downing it. "I guess now we wait it out."

"I guess so." I agreed, easing on the other side of my sick friend. "I'm sorry Shizuru."

"You weren't going to stop us from coming with you." She stopped my apology with firm voice. "Don't tear yourself up that we're in this mess; we had to try and help. You're the only reason that we're conscious right now, or even sitting having this conversation."

"Keiko-"

"I didn't see it either, Gav." She snorted. "You and I can see them, but Keiko isn't a psychic. The only thing she has is an insane amount of love for a boy who needs to get his head out of his ass and give her the life she deserves. She'll be okay as soon as the doctor is taken care of."

I nodded, looking up at the ceiling again and fidgeting with my fingers. What was going on with me? What did the amber eyed man mean by being on the wrong side? Was he with Sensui? He had to be, right?

"Is your power weaker because of whatever is going on with my little bro?" She broke my train of thought, and I met her honey colored eyes in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"The air is dry, yeah, but I've seen you pull water out of nothing but your own body before. Don't get me wrong, you saved our asses back there, but I've never seen your water so strained against anything before."

I frowned, staring at my ice. It hadn't even begun to melt yet, and it held strong. "I don't know. I didn't want to bring down the plumbing, and we're all dehydrated so I didn't want to pull anything out of us just in case we were going to need to make more breaks for it. Is it really seeming weaker?"

"I've just noticed you've been concentrating on it more, like when you first came back from the compound. I didn't notice at first, but the more I've been watching the more obvious it's become that the things you didn't have to think about to make happen you are putting effort into. When your adrenaline kicks in your defenses should too, but even then your water only reacts when you command it."

"Huh?" Keiko opened her eyes, and I shut down the protest on my tongue. How could I tell her that the reason was because of fear? Because of whatever this fate was that the amber eyed demon was trying to convince me of?

Groans began to echo through the hallway, and through the ice I could see stirring. I brought down the barrier and led it to the drain in the fountain before anyone would become sentient enough to think this was strange, and stared at Keiko.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm feeling fine. Is it over?"

"I think so, kid." Shizuru sighed, taking out a cigarette from her jacket pocket. I glared at her, and she rolled her eyes but tucked it behind her ear with what passed for a pout when it came to my stoic older cousin.

"Let's look for the rest." I suggested, helping up Keiko and watching as Puu scrambled into flight ahead of us. "Damnit, he's going to get us in trouble one of these days."

"Yeah, one of these days." Shizuru snorted, following close behind.