|A/N: Okay, I FINALLY got off my bum and wrote my Saturday morning away. ... especially on account of the fact Tess has started to nag me about it ^^;; That and I got a lovely ASOUE Calendar last Saturday and have been drooling over it all week. Pardon suckyness. I was up until two playing Final Fantasy and watching Tech TV until mum MADE me go to sleep... drat...|

The gust of the explosion sent all the children tumbling into the nearest wall, forming them into a large clump. The boom alone lasted a good minute... All of them screamed, although it was impossible to hear them over the roar. They all lay there, tangled and dazed, a term here meaning "confused and almost delusional", for a moment before their senses returned and they began to attempt scrambling to their feet. This however, was difficult, as the smoke from the explosion had thrown the group into utter darkness.

"Ack!! Klaus! Get your foot off my head!" Lily said irritably.

" But my foot is all the way over here!" he protested

"Well! Whoever has their foot on my head, get it OFF!"

" Op! Sorry Lily! Now get YOUR leg off my arm!" Tess snapped. There came a muffled sort of noise.

"Oh! Sorry Isadora!"

" Trying to smother me Duncan...!" she gasped. Apparently he had landed on top of her...

"OUCH!! Who kicked me!?"

"Sorry Violet!!"

This went on for some time, until all seven youngsters pulled themselves to their feet and started to feel around. As they walked out, the smoke had cleared enough for them to see the wreckage. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks at the smoldering sight. It was nothing more than a twisted piece of rubble. Isodora sniffed slightly and held back tears while walking over and picking up a small, slightly warped piece of metal. Duncan put on his best brave face and went to comfort his sibling. The Baudelaire children watched while Lily and Tess just stood where they were. The looked to one another, feeling as though they just didn't quite fit in. The others knew each other quite well, apparently, and they... they knew each other, but no one else. They knew the Baudelaires vaguely, a word here meaning ' not well enough to know that they wont set your meeting hall on fire with a box of matches', and the Quagmires were even MORE a mystery. As if they both read one another's minds, they slowly turned and started to walk away. The Quagmires and Baudelaires were much too busy to even notice them leave.

If the Baudelaires and Quagmires had noticed Lily and Tess leaving, perhaps things would have turned out differently; and for the better. But alas, as many things in this world, everything did NOT turn out okay. In fact, things didn't even turn out average. They turned out to be filled with misery and woe for many. But, I cannot reminisce while writing this, mourning for all those I have lost. I must continue to supply you with the story of the Tumbling Towers, however painstaking it may be.

It was a long while before the Baudelaires even noticed the other two were gone. Violet had been explaining how they had gotten up on the rock face when Lily and Tess came up. She turned to invite them into the conversation to find she was only speaking to a large patch of air. The Baudelaires immediately went from rather calm to frantic. the Quagmires, seeing their friends distressed, instantly got worried too. The five children had a new problem to worry about. Where were Tess and Lily?!

|A/N: Perhaps I'm not as inspired as I thought. That or perhaps It's because I'm fed up with making errors because Olaf's cage is swinging too much... creep. He could have at least secured it better so any writers he traps wouldn't have this problem.|