Chapter One: Who Is He? Zoey's Destiny To Be A General? Zoey walked up the stairs and to her bedroom. At least her aunt wouldn't be home for about an hour. Closing the door, she sat at her desk and picked up the phone to make a call. Her friend picked up on the other line.

"Hey, Sora. It's Zoey."

"You think I don't know my best friend? You call me everyday after school."

"Does it annoy you?" Zoey smiled. She always called Sora after she got home. Unless her aunt was home or she had too much to do around the house.

"Not at all. So, what's on your mind? Did you write anymore?"

"Nothing at the moment. I'm hoping something will come soon, though, or I'll go insane."

"Heh heh," Sora laughed. Zoey wrote many stories in her spare time and Sora loved to read every one of them. "I'm sure you'll get some sort of idea soon."

"Probably." Zoey picked a pen up off the desk and twirled it between her fingers. Her gaze fell upon the picture of her with her parents. Before the car accident. Now her aunt, who was the only relative she had in Tokyo, took care of her. If anyone could call it that. One more year and she could move away. She wouldn't have to listen to her aunt who despised her so. It was unfair. Unfair how she had to live with someone who really didn't care about her. She wished someone cared for her. She didn't have very many friends, many kids thought she was strange. She appeared cold to them. But she was really the opposite. She had no friends, which gave her more study time. She had pretty decent grades and looked forward to going away to college.

"Zoey? Are you still there?" Sora asked sounding slightly annoyed.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, gomen ne, I sorta-"

"Left this planet for a minute?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Zoey! I thought I told you the living room and kitchen better look halfway decent when I got home!" Zoey's aunt, had come home. "Get off the stupid phone and get down here, NOW!"

"I gotta go, Sora. Sorry. My 'loving aunt' is home." Zoey said.

"Okay. See you tomorrow then."

"Bye."

Zoey walked downstairs angrily, making sure to stomp as loudly as possible.

* * * *

That night, Zoey was too tired to do anything but sleep. She went straight to bed without calling Sora back.

"Zoycite," a voice called. Who was Zoycite? "Zoycite!" The name was called again.

A tall man came to her. He had silver hair and icy blue eyes. "Zoycite," he said to her. "I have been looking for you."

"My name is Zoey. Who is Zoycite?" She was confused. The name seemed vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"You must come with me."

"You mean leave here?" She had always wanted to get out of there. To leave and never come back.

Beeeep......beeeep......beeeep!

"You have no time to waste. Come with me now." The man extened his hand to Zoey.

Beeeep......beeeep......beeeep!

"Ugh!" It was six AM. Zoey smacked the alarm clock that disturbed her sleep. "Only a dream. That guy, he seemed so familiar." Zoey wondered who he was. He hadn't told her his name in the dream. Reluctantly, she got out of bed and got ready for school. Good thing the weekend was near. She needed time to think, and she was going to Sora's house on Saturday and staying until Sunday. Sora could help her figure out the meaning.

She crossed the room to her closet and removed the school uniform from its hanger. She never could decide whether or not she liked the sailor-style uniform she had to wear. Some days decided it wasn't that bad, and some days she despised it more than anything.

Zoey got to school a good hour before the bell. She always left home early. It wasn't much of a home, anyway. She looked around for her friend Sora, but couldn't find her anywhere.

She went to a tree and sat underneath it. Taking out a small notebook, she began to record the deatils of her dream so she wouldn't forget. She wondered who this guy who called her Zoycite was, and why she was to go with him. Was he someone from the future? Someone from the past? Zoycite always wondered about those kind of things. That was one thing that others thought was strange. The dream certainly was going to be the center of her thoughts for the rest of the day. His face was still clear in her mind.

Zoycite? Why did that name sound familiar? Was it her name? Maybe Zoey was short for Zoycite. If that was true, then how come no one ever told her?

Malachite looked around the courtyard of Juuban Gakuen. His gaze fell upon a beautiful girl who sat alone under a cherry blossom tree. She had long, wavy copper hair, and from what he could see, she looked very much like the young girl in the photograph. He walked towards her, wondering why she would be alone.

Out of the coner of her eye, Zoey saw a silver haired man, clad in a strange uniform of some sort. He looked incongruous at the high school wearing that uniform. She wondered about the uniform, then wondered what to do.

He approached Zoey calmly, what might have been a smile on his face. "Mind if I join you? You look awfully lonely here, all by yourself."

"I hate most people. I don't care too much for company. Who are you?" Zoey asked catiously. She wondered what he was doing at the school.

"I am Malachite." He sensed her fear. "Don't be afraid, Zoycite. I am here to take you back to where you truly belong."

She looked at him, with sudden realization. "You're the guy from my dream last night. What are you here for? Who are you really?"

"I come from a demension called the Negaverse." Malachite replied. "You are supposed to live there too."

"You're lying."

"I am not lying to you," Malachite stood. "I am supposed to bring you back to your rightful home."

"I can't leave!" Zoey exclaimed. "At least not right this minute."

"There is no choice. I am sorry, but I must take you with me."

"What are you?! Some kind of kidnapper?!" Zoey felt even more scared. She was just supposed to go with him? She didn't even know him. How could she be sure he was telling the truth about this Negaverse?

"Zoey, please!" Malachite was getting angry with the girl. He didn't like the idea of getting too much attention, as he already drew too much attention with his uniform. "We have no time to waste."

"Prove to me that your from this Negaverse you speak of."

Malachite held out a hand. A pink rose materialized out of the air, which he handed to Zoey.

"It's beautiful. That is so cool, I've always wondered what it'd be like to have magic powers."

"You do have powers, Zoycite. And when we return to the Negaverse, I will be training you to use those powers."

"I have...." Zoey still couldn't believe him. "What kind of prank are you trying to pull?"

"I am not fooling you, my dear. I was sent by Her Majesty, Queen Beryl to recover our lost general."

"General?" Zoey asked. "I'm a general? I can't be! I'm just a student."

"I don't have time to explain everything right now. Let's go." Malachite held a hand out to her.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. The only place I'm going right now is to class." Zoey stood and attempted to walk away.

"Wait," Malachite caught her arm.

"Let go of me!" Zoey pulled her arm away. "If you don't leave me alone, I'll call the police!"

"I highly doubt they willl be able to do much to stop me from completing the assignment given to me by my Queen. You will have to come with me sooner or later, and I guess it will just have to be later." With that, Malachite was gone in a swirl of blue light.

Zoey quickly turned around and walked as fast as she possibly could, near running, to her first class. On the way she ran into Sora.

"Hey! Why are you running, you look like you've seen a ghost. Are you okay?"

Zoey shook her head. "I'm definitely not okay. Sora, I feel sick. I think I may be seeing things. I don't think I can stay at school today."

"You want to call my mom and have her come pick you up? She's not working today."

"I don't know. I just feel sick." Zoey put one hand to her forehead. "I'm getting a headache. Or a fever. Or both."

"I'll walk you to the office and call my mom." Sora offered.

Zoey shook her head. "If I go home, I'll just be around my aunt more than necessary, and I really doubt that'll help me any."

"Then, stay at my house." Sora suggested. Before Zoey could protest, Sora dragged her by her arm toward the office.

Zoey stopped her when they got to the door of the office. "No, I really don't want to go home. But then again, I do, but I really don't-"

"Make up your mind. If I don't get an answer, I'm calling my mom."

"I'll stay."

"If you feel worse, call her."

"Okay." Zoey turned away and walked toward the classroom, Sora following behind her.

"You said you were seeing things?"

"Yeah, here, read this." Zoey handed the book to Sora. Sora read it quickly.

"Wow. Is it for your story?"

"No, it was the dream I had last night." Zoey replied. "The guy from the dream was here. Just a few minutes ago and he said pretty much the same thing to me. I have to go with him somwhere and there's this Queen and I have magic powers. But I don't know if it's real or not."

"Wow." Sora said again.

"Sora, what if it is real? What if I'm not who I always thought I was? What if-"

"Quit with the 'what if,' Zoey. It doesn't matter who you are, to me you're still Zoey, my best friend."

"Demo, it's still bothering me." Zoey said. She shook her head slowly. "His face is still in my mind. I can still see it so clearly, I'm never going to forget it."

"Maybe you should go home."

"Gee, thanks." Zoey said sarcastically. "I love being told I'm clinically insane."

"I didn't mean it that way Zoey."

"I know. I'm sorry." Zoey looked back towards the tree where Malachite had found her. "What if he comes back? What if he's telling the truth?"

"I don't know, Zoey." Sora said. At tht moment the first period bell rang. "But if we don't hurry, we'll be late."

The two girls walked together to their first period class.

* * * * "Have you found her yet Malachite?" Beryl asked impatiently. She sat in her throne, staring into her crystal ball at the image of Zoey.

Malachite shook his head. "I have found her, but I haven't taken her yet."

"And why not, Malachite?"

"There were too many people around, Your Majesty. I did not have the chance. She ran."

"And why are you back if have no good news for me?" Beryl demanded to know. She was getting angry with her general. "If you can't do the job, then maybe I misjudged your ability. Maybe Nephlite or Jedite could complete the task. What do you think, Malachite?"

Malachite tired not to show his anger. "I think I'm going back to the Earth Realm to bring Zoey back here."

"Good. Now get out of my sight before I decide against it."

Malachite teleported away. He reappeared in front of Juuban Gakuen, inside the gates. Walking around the campus, he found Zoey, sitting with another girl in the courtyard.

Zoey looked up at him as if she'd seen a ghost. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"I've come for you, Zoycite," was all he said.

Sora looked from Zoey to Malachite, slightly confused. "What's going on?"

"It's him." Zoey said. "The guy."

"It's time for you to leave, Zoycite. Come with me."

"I'm not going anywhere. I already told you that." Zoey insisted. "And my name is Zoey. Zoey!"

"You have no choice. I already told you that."

"Well, I'm not going and you can't make me."

"Watch me." Malachite said.

"Get away from my friend!" Sora said, holding her backpack up as if she were going to swing it at him. "I won't hesitate to hit you with this. And believe me, you don't want to be hit with my heavy backpack!"

"I have orders from the Queen to bring you to the Negaverse unharmed." Malachite said to Zoey ignoring Sora's threat.

"I told you I'd call the police if you didn't leave me alone. Keep following me, and I will."

"Why are you following Zoey anyway?" Sora asked.

"She's chosen by Metallia to be a general in command of a youma army."

"What if I refuse?"

"I'll be back for you." Malachite said, teleporting away.

Zoey frowned slightly. "You did see him too, right?" she asked turning to Sora.

"No, I threatened my imaginary friend with a heavy backpack."

"That's good to know. Maybe I'm not seeing things. Maybe this is for real."

"And maybe we should call the police. Or at least tell the school to watch for a man in a grey uniform and cape."

"I want to find what this Negaverse actually is." Zoey said. "I have to find him. I have to talk to him again."

"Not alone, though. I want to go with you." Sora insisted. "How exactly do you plan to talk to him? I mean, find him."

"Not sure yet." Zoey said. "But he'll be back, and I'll talk to him then."

* * * * That night, Zoey sat up in her room, brushing out her long copper hair. She had just gotten off the phone with Sora, who brought up the idea that this Malachite guy might kidnap her in the middle of the night. Taking no chances, Zoey locked the windows and doors securely, even though she knew he could easily teleport in. She wondered if maybe garlic would keep him away.

Standing up, she went to the mirror that sat on the dresser, which faced the window. She looked up at her reflection only to see Malachite standing behind her. Before she could scream, he was directly behind her with one hand over her mouth.

"Don't say a word." Malachite said. "I don't plan to hurt you, but you must listen to me, and if I release you, you will run from me again."

Zoey struggled gainst him, trying desperately to escape. He only held her tighter, not releasing her.

"I'm taking you to the Negaverse now." Malachite uncovered her mouth.

"The picture. Get the picture on the dresser." Zoey said, pointing to the picture frame on her dresser.

"When you wake up, you'll be in the Negaverse." Malachite touched her forehead and within seconds, she was asleep.

With one hand, he teleported the framed photograph to the castle. Then, he lifted her carefully off the ground and prepared for teleport.