Disclaimer: Don't own SH, do own a few worlds (heh heh…).

**

[Yuri]

I heard an animal sound, some kind of chattering. I looked through blurry eyes, seeing Alice just a few feet away, still curled up in sleep. Sitting up, I located the noise and blinked a few times.

There were the exact same monsters Lilia had summoned on us. Blue skinned, hairless monkeys with wings. If there had been any doubt before about which world we were on, that settled it.

The monkeys huddled around something, something that flashed. Metal? Squinting, I forced my eyes to make it out. It looked like one of my claws.

My claws!

They had our gear!

I almost yelled at them before I caught myself. That would have been stupid. Instead I got up as quietly as I could. The monkeys were busy chattering away as they went through our armor and weapons. One of them was stupid and cut itself on my claw. It began screeching loudly.

Stepping closer, I had almost reached them when one turned around. The monkey saw me and screeched, sending them all flying--carrying our equipment.

"Oh, dammit--!"

I wanted to chase them, but I couldn't leave Alice behind, so I woke her up. At first she was sleepy, shielding her eyes from the harsh sunlight, but once I'd told her what happened, she was wide awake.

"Which way did they go?" she asked.

"Across," I said, pointing to the river. "Come on."

Walking along the river, we eventually found a bridge to cross over. The sight of a bridge was reassuring. We couldn't be far away from some town.

The trees became more dense and soon we were in a forest. As the plant life increased, I spotted some animals too, squirrels and birds.

Alice was watching two squirrels and said, "Do you think we're really in another world? Maybe we're still on earth."

I shrugged. "Never seen anything like those monkeys before."

"A new kind of monster?"

I grabbed her wrist, stopping her. I put a finger to my lips. We both listened. The damn chattering sound. We'd found them.

I walked forward a few steps by myself and saw them. Some were in the ground, while others were flying from branch to branch in a large tree. As soon as they saw me, the screeching started. Rocks came flying at me.

At this point I was past being annoyed. Last time I couldn't fuse, but this time…I cracked my knuckles and grinned.

"Let's see how you baboons like this."

One fusion to Seraphic Radience and two dozen dead monkeys later, I started searching for our gear.

Still fused, I flew up into the tree and circled around. There was a hole in the tree among the lower branches. I landed on a nearby branch and undid the fusion, grabbing our weapons and armor.

The monkeys had been into collecting. Under our stuff, there was clothing, jewelry, and coins. They must have stolen from quite a few people. I took one of the coins out. It was a silvery color. There was an image of a smashed goblet.

I undid the fusion to shout, "Hey Alice, look at this." Then I realized I couldn't see her. Hadn't she followed me?

The equipment was dropped to the ground. On second thought, I also grabbed the coins. They'd be useful. I then dropped down myself and looked around.

Alice was standing just a few feet off, which was a relief. But standing right next to her was a fox--no, a kitsuune.

"Alice? Get away from that--you!"

Fox Face snarled at me and Alice turned around. "Yuri-"

"Get away from her!" I yelled at the fox.

"It's alright Yuri, it's only Fox Face."

I stared at her in disbelief. "Only Fox Face?"

He growled. Alice turned back to him and said, like she was replying to something he'd said, "So, not too far from here?"

"Do you need a Pure root?"

More growling and this time she nodded. "That's good."

"Hey!" I walked over to Alice, making sure to keep an eye on Fox Face. "Alice, you're starting to worry me. C'mon, cut it out."

"Cut what out?"

I started wondering if I'd have to give her a Pure root. Then I realized we didn't have one anyway. "You're talking to a fox."

"What do you mean? It's Fox Face."

"What does that mean? All he's doing is growling."

"You mean, you can't hear him?" She seemed confused.

I turned my attention to Fox Face. "Whatever the hell you're doing, you better stop it right now."

Alice grabbed my arm. "Yuri! He's not doing anything. Leave him alone."

"What do you mean?! He's growling and you think he's talking? I think it's kind of obvious he's doing something to you."

"Yuri, he's you. He can't do any magic."

"He is not--"

She glared at me, seeming close to losing her temper. "Yuri. Sit down."

I sat.

"You really can't hear him?" she asked me.

"He's not talking!"

She shook her head. "So…we've been going in the wrong direction."

"Or so says the demon fox."

"So Fox Face says," she said. "And he says he knows the way to a city."

"And I say that's bull." Fox Face growled and Alice merely shook her head.

"Will you two please stop baiting each other…?"

"Just saying," I muttered. Then I realized what she had said. I looked at her. "What did he say?" I asked, forgetting that he couldn't say anything.

"I'm not repeating it," she said stubbornly. "So, the question is, do we follow him?"

"No way in hell."

"I think we should," Alice said. "We don't know where to go. And I think he's telling the truth."

"He might know the way, but he'd probably lead us to our deaths first."

Alice sighed. "I thought you two accepted each other."

"He's kind of tried to kill me since then, so that's a moot point," I said sarcastically.

Fox Face growled some more, and Alice turned to him, listening. Finally she sighed. "Alright, lead the way."

He silently padded off, with Alice following behind. "Hey, Alice…what are you doing? We're not going with him," I yelled after them. She didn't even pause. "Alice, come on…shit…hold on, wait up!" I shouted as I got up and started running after them.

**

[Halley]

"Yuri's note…"

"Yes?" Zhuzhen prompted Margarete.

She toyed with the piece of paper, and then said, "Well, didn't any of you notice anything about it?"

I looked at it. There was writing on both sides, which I'd noticed before but hadn't thought about. "What's on the other side?" I asked.

"It's another note. This one's in Japanese too," Margarete said. "But it's not Yuri's. Different handwriting."

"So…" Zhuzhen waited for what Margarete had to say.

"Did Yuri ever mention the note to any of you?"

Keith shook his head. "Is the note important?"

"I think so."

I looked through the window at the fields we were passing, then shook my head and turned back. "Margarete, just spit it out already."

"It's a suicide note," she told us.

Zhuzhen leaned forward in his seat, now interested. "A suicide note by who?"

"There's no name," Margarete said. "But it mentions clans. A war that hurt all clans. And that the war was started by a person descended from their clan."

"The person who started it…they could be talking about either Yuri's ancestor or Regina," Keith mused. "Which means the person who wrote the note was either from the Fire or Darkness clan."

"Yeah, but…how does this help us?"

Margarete bit her lip. She was crumpling the note in her hands. "I don't know. Maybe it's useless. The kiddo must've thought so, if he never mentioned it."

She suddenly looked tired. "Why don't you sleep?" Keith suggested. "We still have a few hours until we arrive."

The spy shook her head. "I can't sleep." She laughed. "I should never have asked Yuri about that. About how I died." Margarete held her head in her hands. "Whenever I go to sleep, I dream of drowning. I know it's only because he mentioned it, but sometimes…" She trailed off and shook her head. "It's just a dream."

"Maybe it isn't," I said without thinking.

Keith glared at me. "What do you think it is?"

I blinked. I didn't want to talk about my dream, so I quickly said, "Maybe it's symbolic. Don't water and death both have to do with change? And we're trying to go to another world. That's a big change." I realized at this point I was about to babble, and shut up.

Margarete bought it, even though I wasn't even sure of what I was saying, and left for her compartment.

If both of us were dreaming about our deaths…but the other's weren't, I reminded myself. Maybe just suggestion…

But you dreamed before he told you, you already knew…

Just like mom knew without being told that Yuri and Alice had left. When we got there, I'd have to ask her how exactly…no point in trying it now…I'd probably miss her answer. Just a few more hours…

**

[Yuri]

It'd been three days now. Fox Face had yet to do anything sneaky. Although that might have had something to do with my threat. 'Make one wrong move and I'll skin ya alive' would probably discourage anyone.

And at least he was keeping his distance.

I glared at him as he walked ahead. He wasn't really trying to help us. Why would he? Never before had he done anything good to me.

The fact that Alice could hear him speaking and I couldn't was by itself disturbing. If he was my other half, shouldn't I be able to understand whatever it was he was saying?

Alice was walking ahead with him. Suddenly they both stopped and Alice gasped, turning around. "Come on Yuri! Look!"

I walked forward up the hill, meeting them at the top. My eyes widened as I took in the city, but most of all the palace, that looked as if it was covered in gold. Fox Face gave a low growl.

Alice translated for me. "This is Tripura, the city of Air."

**

[Halley]

Chris rushed to meet us when we came in. "Does Sharon really have to go with you?" was her first question.

I sighed. "Trust me Chris, if there was an alternative, I wouldn't even consider it."

"Well…she's almost ready." Chris still looked uncertain, but she shook her head and said, "Just make sure when you leave that Joshua doesn't come with you. I think he might try sneaking out." She looked over to where Joshua was half-heartedly playing with some of his toys.

"We'll be doing the ritual here," Keith said. "That's not a concern."

She looked at both of us. "Really?"

I nodded. Keith's brother had appeared on the train ride to tell us the details. Not that there were many. Because this was our first time, we had to go to the other world through Sharon's Graveyard--although Leon had said the proper name for it was 'spiritual world', since not everyone had graves. There was no reason why Sharon would, and I was a bit curious about what her spiritual world looked like.

He said we would know the entrance when we saw it. Go through that, and we'd get into the other world. It sounded simple enough.

"Well, Koudelka will be relieved," Chris said.

"By the way, Chris…do you know how Koudelka found out?"

She bit her lip. "Three days ago, just a little while after dinner…we were all cleaning, when she suddenly fainted."

"Fainted?"

"Yeah. When she woke up, she asked Sharon if she'd be willing to go." She shook her head. "I thought maybe your telepathy had made her faint maybe…"

"I didn't even try contacting her then," I told her.

Chris shrugged. "Then I don't know."

"Let's go see her then," Margarete said.

"She's in the room upstairs, with Sharon."

Sharon looked up as we entered. She seemed nervous, but when she saw me she grinned. "Got everything," she said cheerfully.

Once again I realized how stupid this was. She was only a kid. How could we just drag her with us to another world?

"Are you sure?" I asked.

She nodded and then held up something. A slingshot. "Joshua made it for me!"

"This way she can at least defend herself," Koudelka added.

"Can't she just summon…?" I stopped when Sharon's face fell. I remembered the others telling me about her last summoning. Like she'd want to summon after that. "Guess I'll be teaching you how to use a slingshot then."

She cheered up on hearing that. "I'll be a fast learner, promise!"

"You should say goodbye to Joshua and Chris now," Koudelka told her. She nodded and went downstairs.

Zhuzhen asked first. "Koudelka, how did you know we'd need Sharon's help right after Yuri and Alice left?"

"Chris said you fainted," I said quickly.

"Yuri told me," Koudelka said.

"He did?" Margarete looked puzzled. "But he wanted to go by himself. He didn't want us coming with. So why…"

"I guess it was because Alice had come with him. Except…Yuri seemed different in a way," my mom said slowly. "He wore a cloak with the hood down."

"Did Yuri already know Sharon was required?" Keith asked.

Koudelka shook her head. "He didn't mention her by name. He only said to find someone of Darkness or Light…she was the only person I could think of." She said nothing more.

"Well, if that's all," Margarete said, "We better get started. Let's go downstairs." She went down, followed by Keith. Zhuzhen was right behind me.

We gathered around Sharon, who was already lying down in the room Carl set up for her summoning.

"Now, everyone's got to get in the spiritual world," Zhuzhen said. "Make sure you don't fall asleep." He glance at Margarete, who shook her head.

"I've got it, I've got it."

I laid down near Sharon and glanced at her round face. Then I closed my eyes and slowly drifted, trying to focus on Sharon…

I opened my eyes, this time standing up. Zhuzhen was already there, and Keith came soon after. Margarete took the longest, but she eventually showed up.

Sharon was standing just a few feet away from us, staring into her world. "Good job, Sharon," I said. It must have been difficult for her especially, since she was so young.

She was silent. What was she looking at? Our view was blocked on both sides, since we were in an alley of some sort, but she was on the open street. I walked forward, calling out, "Is something wrong?"

When I stepped out into the open street, I could instantly see what was wrong. There were bodies lying all around the street…

I looked down at Sharon, and she looked up at me, tears in her eyes.

"Why are they here? Why are they in my world? What does it mean, Halley?"

There was nothing I could say.

**

Author's Note: Now…you shall see Yuri…how great the writer's powers are!

Yuri: ::yawn::

::sweatdrop:: Cut that out. Anyway, you shall now see me make a character OOC.

Yuri: Any idiot can do that.

. Shut up.

Yuri: ::rolls eyes:: So, who's the victim?

Alice.

Yuri: What?!

Alice: ::comes in with Regina's cat-o'-nine-tails:: Oh Yuri ^^ my little foxie…

Yuri: o.o

Halley: Yep, that's about as OOC as they come.

Yuri: What are you doing here?

Halley: Watching the fun.

Alice: ::cracks whip:: Now, you must call me 'mistress'! (Anyone ever watch/read Sorceror Hunters?)

Yuri: O.O ::runs as Alice whips him:: Sanctuary! ::dives under Kim's futon::

Halley: You just lost your muse.

::nod:: I need a new one.

Halley: …::disappears in a flash::

-.- That's no fun, Halley…fine. Alice is my new muse!

Regina: ::storms in:: Give me back my whip, Sarah! ::gets a fireball::

Alice: ::gets Margarete's gun and shoots Regina in the head:: Bibles are for sissies.

o.o But first I should probably get her back in-character, before she kills anyone else.

**

Reviewers:

Special K: I just realized my story is the longest. I always thought Nights Mistress's was the longest. ::shrugs::

Glad you like the fic.

Gutterfiend: What villain hasn't needed an attitude adjustment, besides the misunderstood ones?

I kind of like Kain now too, although originally I thought of him as a jerk ^^;;.

MikoNoNyte: Alice is not the typical RPG heroine. What other heroine has gotten hit on in their first meeting with the hero? Well, there was Sodina…but he was nicer about it, didn't touch her (slap him, darn it! Why didn't you slap him Alice! But this is just a minor side-rant). I always thought the squealing was rather funny.

Of course Persephone would be convinced that Alice is Sarah. Who's telling her otherwise? ::Chesire cat grin:: That answer might come very soon.

I see people are starting to hate Regina now. I wonder why all of the sudden? Was it because of what she did last chapter?

You know, you signing in really confused me. I thought at first "MikoNoNyte" was a new reviewer. ^^;;

Oh yes. My point was there were no Light class human enemies. At least as far I remember. ::pause:: Slightly sane Light class human enemies.

Araschid: Hmm…I can't think of anyone he really looks like, so no comparisons…I'm just mesmerized by the glassy hair. o.o Oooh…pretty.

Rex: Two people were sleepy when reviewing…-.- I'm not sending you guys to sleep, am I?

Steel: What, you weren't a YxA fan before? ^^ YxA=Good…and children. Yay! ::goes off to play with Anne and Isaiah::