Alright, another chapter done. ^_^ I want to thank all my friends for their continuing support, everyone who ever left a review, and specifically Byakko who has helped correct my terrible Pin Yin (since I can't seem to get ahold of him by mail).
Alica's Inner Turmoil
Alica smiled at the sound of his laughter, but on the inside she was a bit jealous. Long seemed so certain of himself. He'd obviously taken a lot of time and put a lot of thought into this killing, planned things out meticulously. He was sure his plan would work. Alica was envious because she now wanted to have a plan like that for killing Van. Something that was just as well thought out and wouldn't fail due to some miserable fluke like her first two attempts had. She was determined to find something, anything to get her half-brother out of her life. She despised him even more than she cared to admit. However, she didn't want to take him out personally, like Long had planned to do with his father. Somehow she was afraid of him, afraid that somehow he would overpower her. And if he catches me then God knows what he'll do... she thought, very aware that he might decide to use her as some kind of test subject for his work. I don't want to be given to Busuzima. She made a face just thinking about it.
"Alica...?" Long asked, poking her in the side. "Was it something I said?"
"Oh no, it wasn't you at all." she quickly replied. "I was just thinking..."
"About?"
"Killing Van, what else?" She smiled again, hiding her anger at her brother with the happiness she would feel if she could be rid of him.
"I see... well if you'd ever like to coordinate an effort to be rid of him, you know whom you may call on." He smiled back at her, nearly as anxious to be rid of her bothersome sibling as she was.
"I want to have something waiting for him when he gets back from his vacation." Alica decided. "But I have no idea what to do... maybe you can help me think of something?"
"It would be my pleasure, wo de qin."
"I've already tried poisoning his food and sabotaging his vehicle... so what other options do we have?"
"There are many methods available to dispatch the unwary. I believe we must find something that works quickly and quietly, something that can't be traced back to the perpetrators."
"I like your way of thinking." she smiled. "Any suggestions then?"
"Several... perhaps we ought to hold a brainstorming session. Do you mind if I get a bit of paper and a few pens for note-taking?"
"Not at all." she replied. He waited a few seconds for a further response.
"You might want to get off me so I can get up."
"Oh." she blinked in surprise, having nearly forgotten that she was laying on top of him. "Aw, but I'm so comfy here..."
"You want to kill Van, don't you?"
"Alright..." she aquiesced, climbing off of him and walking over to sit down on the couch instead.
"Thank you." he replied. He walked into his room and she heard him shuffling around in some desk drawers before he came back out with two pens and several pieces of paper. He set it all down on the coffe table and then sat on the floor in front of it, squeezing between the couch and the coffe table. She slid down off the couch to sit beside him and he handed her a pen and set a few pieces before her on the table. He wrote a title on his paper: 'Ideas for killing Van'. "Obviously we're going to have to destroy these papers when we're through. Don't want any incirminating evidence lying around." She nodded and duplicated the title on her paper. "Poisoning would have been the first thing that came to my mind." he admitted. "However, as that's been tried already I see no need for a repeat performance." Alica nodded again in agreement.
"We've got to find something that will not fail to find it's mark. Something that cannot be undone by any unfortunate twist of fate."
"It would be so much easier to just walk up to him and kill him..."
"He usually carries guns around." she warned. "And he can draw them pretty quick."
"Hm... in that case I'll ditch that idea. I don't think I'd like to try my hand at dodging bullets. Anything else I should know?"
"Well, when he's here he's usually either in his office with Vark or walking around the building supervising things."
"He's got to sleep sometime, doesn't he?"
"His suite is at the top of the building, but it's got very high security that even I can't penetrate right now."
"Damn."
"That's why I tried the poisoning and sabotage... not much else you can do."
"We'll just have to be a bit creative about this." He leaned his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand, trying to think things through. "Well, we can't attack him head on... not unless we take him by surprise. Even then we'd probably wind up in some kind of gun battle. Personally, I don't use guns. They're a coward's weapon. So, we're going to have to find a method to attack him indirectly." Alica nodded in agreement. "Do you have any idea which flight he's taking back? Maybe we can shoot his plane down..."
"Long, that would kill hundreds of innocent people!"
"But it would also kill him, wouldn't it? Think of all the lives we'd be saving by-"
"That's insane, I won't go along with it."
"Foiled again." he mumbled. "Van's a frustrating person to get rid of."
"You're telling me."
"We could leave a bomb up in his bedroom, if we could get into it in the first place..."
"But we can't."
"We could leave a bomb in his car then."
"Which one? You can never tell which he's going to use."
"We'll leave bombs in all of them!"
"It won't work right now Long, once he gets back from his vacation a chauffeur will take the car to go pick him up. We'll just end up killing some useless pawns and alerting him to the fact that someone's trying to get rid of him. Then he'll be sure and check the rest of his cars."
"How about some kind of booby trap?"
"Sounds good... anything specific in mind?"
"I don't know... we could lock him in his office and fill it with poison gass."
"That would be worth a try... but he's already got the waiting room rigged with some kind of gas, so he always carries a gas mask with him."
"That stubborn piece of s**t!"
"It's not like no one's tried to kill him before you know." Alica stated. "It's gonna be a lot of trouble getting to him."
"I can't think of anything else now!" he complained. "Maybe we'll discuss this later, after I've had some time to think it over."
"Alright." she agreed, seeing that the discussion wasn't getting them anywhere and only frustrating her friend. She understood how he felt, the matter had frustrated her just as much when she first considered it.
"I need time... and perhaps a bit of meditation." he concluded. "In fact I would suggest you think about it as well. Two minds are better than one afterall."
"I can't help but think about it anyway."
"Well, for the meditation I also need solitude..." he hinted.
"Oh." she got the hint.
"Let's sleep on it, shall we? We'll think of what we can and then talk about it tomorrow."
"Okay..." she realized that it was a good idea, even though she didn't like the thought of being alone for the rest of the day. Still, thinking about ways to kill Van could keep her pretty preoccupied. If only Stephen were here... she thought. Somehow Dr. Goldberg always found a way to cheer her up. Long was different. Althought she knew that he cared for her it sometimes seemed as though he were too wrapped up in his own problems to have time for her. Besides which it was true that he had a tendency to be a bit gloomy, while Stephen on the other hand was usually very friendly and cheerful. She really needed that, but decided that she would just have to make do with what she had.
She got up from the couch and walked over to the front door wth Long trailing after her. He speed up a bit and got there ahead of her, insisting upon opening the door and holding it for her as she walked out. He nodded to her politely as she left, but before he could retreat back into his room she threw her arms around him for a hug. A bit of a smirk tugged at the edges of his lips and he patted her back gently before letting her go.
"Oh how sweet... but, no kiss goodbye?" A high pitched voice to their left asked. They turned to see Fox walking down the hall towards them, probably on his way up to his dorm.
"None of your business Hans." Long growled.
"Aw... you mean I can't get a hug too?"
"Can it." Alica hissed.
"I only hug people that I feel comfortable with." the top assassin stated.
"In case you didn't get the hint that rules you out, Hans." she added.
"I think your rudeness is starting to rub off on him, what a shame." Fox frowned. "He actually treated me halfway decent back in China."
"That was before you started hitting on me, Hans." Long explained. "Your treatment is the direct result of your own actions."
"Oh? But I can't help myself deary, you're so much fun to tease!"
"Then I suggest you make an effort to resist the compulsion to do so."
"I'm going back to my dorm now." Alica declared, turning away from them both and heading off. She walked a few steps towards her door and then turned back to Long for a moment and waved. "I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded in reply and she walked into her dorm and closed the door behind her.
"I guess she got tired of arguing with me." Fox assumed.
"She's not the only one."
"What say we call a truce then?"
"Are you serious?"
"Well I certainly got tired of being strangled halfway to death..."
"Well now, I can't promise that won't happen again." He looked up and down the hallway in a casual manner, realizing that no one was around and wondering if he could get away with killing Hans this very second.
"Look, I really wanted to apologize for the thing about the make-up. I know you didn't take that well." Long gave him a critical glance, wondering if he could actually be serious. Maybe he just doesn't want me to kill him. "I really am sorry about it." Fox insisted. "I do know that you don't like that sort of thing... Well, I guess I just got a bit carried away. You are so lovely afterall." Long found himself wishing that he were ugly again. "Anyway, I'd probably better get up to my dorm now, so I'll see you around." Fox walked off down the hall, giving him a swift wave before dissapearing into the elevator.
"Missed my chance, damnit." Long muttered to himself. "Meh... probably wouldn't have worked anyway. I would've gotten blood stains on the carpet and someone would've seen me carrying him out to the dumpster." he sighed in anoyance, wishing that he could simply kill someone and get it over with. His father, Van, Fox, anyone. No more waiting and carefull planning, just blood and death. The time will come, he assured himself, as he often had to. Yet the assurance was beginning to wear thin. It seemed as though the more he had to wait, and the more his patience was tried, the more he lost control of his desire to kill. He frowned at nothing and went back into his dorm, slamming the door and locking it behind him. He thought that he desperately needed some time alone, to think things through, but at the same time he had to wonder if it would accomplish more bad than good.
The next morning Alica Tylon got up a little earlier than usual. She was happy at first, quickly getting herself washed and dressed. She'd been thinking of ways to kill Van all evening the day before and finally thought about something that she believed might work. She smiled to herself, quite pleased with her idea, and thought that she couldn't wait to tell Long all about it. But first they would need to get a bit of breakfast in them, so she decided to drag him down to the cafeteria. She went over to his dorm and knocked loudly, but no one answered. He must still be asleep, she thought. What a shame... she tried the door knob just out of curiosity and found it open. Did he forget to lock the door again? She walked into his living room and up to his bedroom door, opening it silently and peeking in just a bit. She couldn't see much more than a large lump on top of the bed and under the blankets.
"Long? you awake?" He rolled over from one side to the other and groaned in discomfort at the sound of her voice. Then he lifted the covers down off of his head and blinked at her face in his doorway.
"I am now... what do you want?"
"Buffet breakfast in the cafeteria."
"Go get it then." he mumbled, pulling the covers back over his head. She waited a few seconds to see if he'd get up, but he staid in his bed and soon the sound of deep breathing told her that he'd fallen back asleep again.
"I see this needs an Alica Tylon solution..." she said. She waited another minute to see if the sound of her voice had disturbed him, but he didn't stir. She wasn't surprised at all. She went back into her room and foraged around for a few minutes before finding a bucket, and then filled it with ice and cold water. She was just heading for the door when another little thought came to her mind and she found a bathrobe and wrapped it around herself so tightly that her clothes didn't show under it. Then she smiled to herself, This is going to be fun. She hurried back into his room and dumped the entire bucketfull right over his head.
"Get up!" she commanded.
"Ack!" he cried, jumping to a sitting position. "What did you do that for!?!"
"To get you up." she explained. "Would you rather I have slipped into your bed naked and mad it look like we f**ked?" His eyes went wide in shock at her suggestion and she smirked her trade mark Alica smirk.
"If you keep scaring me like this I'm going to stay in China."
"I don't think Van'll be happy with that." she reminded.
"Damn." he muttered angrilly. She set the bucket down on his floor and walked over to his dresser to start picking out some clothes, anxious to be on her way.
"Now let's get you dressed."
"I can probably do that without your help if you'd kindly leave the room for a moment..." Long pleaded. Alica ignored him in favor of continuing her search and pulled out a light blue sleeveless shirt with some oriental design on back, along with some blue pants and a black and red belt.
"Here, this will look nice." Then she tossed them on the bed.
"Where did you find these?" he wondered, looking them over as though he'd never seen them before.
"They were in here." she answered, pointint to a few drawers.
"Well no wonder I couldn't find them earlier, they were in the wrong place!" he declared. "I was certain I'd brought at least one casual outfit... I don't usually dress this way though. Then again I suppose it wouldn't hurt since it's highly unlikely I'll get any work today."
"See? Cutting loose already." she said, smiling brightly.
"I suppose, although I wouldn't bet on that lasting very long..."
"...but still." She shrugged, and for the first time he noticed that she was standing around in her bathrobe.
"You know it wouldn't hurt you to get dressed either."
"I know but I stripped in case the bucket failed." His face took on it's shocked look again.
"Alica, please!"
"Just kidding!"
"Ugh..." he groaned, rubbing his forehead as though weary. Alica undid her robe and he forze in horror for a moment before she opened it up and revealed her work clothes underneath. He sighed in relief. "Whew, you had me really scared there for a minute. Why do you enjoy scaring me like that?"
"Your adorble when your terrified..." she explained. "I'm not Hans, I wouldn't drop that... but they say I have mental problems and mess with peoples heads."
"Well, it's still not nice to terrorize people."
"Sorry..." she apologized, laughing nervously. He gave her a curious look, wondering why she was acting so strangely.
"You know, every time you say something like that it does make me more afraid of you." he warned. "So you really ought to stop."
She forwned, realizing that what she was doing might make him even more scared of him than he already was. She couldn't think of anything better to do than apologize again. "Oh... sorry."
"Anyway... you can go now..." Long hinted, with a meaningfull cough.
"Right... ok." She picked up the bucket and headed back to her room. He watched carefully as she left, waiting to make sure she was gone before climbing out of the bed in nothing but some pajama bottoms. He got himself undressed and took a quick shower before getting dressed in the clothes she'd set out. Then he brushed through his hair and put it up in his usual low ponytail. Once he was done he went straight back to her dorm and knocked on the door, thinking that it was unusually quiet.
"Alright. I'm up and I'm dressed, what more do you want?"
"Gimme a sec!" her voice cried through the door. It sounded a bit twisted, like she was in some kind of pain.
"Alica, are you alright?"
"I'm FINE!"
"Whoa, okay..." he was getting very suspicious. Something was obviously going on in there and she wasn't usually the type to yell like that. "What's going on in there anyway?"
"Nothing. I'm fine..." she sounded better this time, maybe just a little too happy, which indicated to him that she was hiding something.
"You sure?" His hand drifted towards the door nob and he turned it slightly, untill it made a clicking sound. Then she opened it rather suddely, as though she had heard it and wanted to stop him. He blinked and then realized that she'd changed from the T-shirt she'd been wearing earlier into a long sleeve. Suspicious... he thought. "Why the sudden change? Spill something?"
"Yeah, I got makup on my other shirt." He could sense her lie easilly, her false happiness gave her away.
"Hm, I never figured you for the sort to wear it..."
"I don't, I was getting my brush and it spilt."
"If you don't wear it, then why do you even have it?" he wondered, certain that the makeup was a false excuse for something more sinister. "If you don't mind me saying so, you certainly don't need it." He smiled shyly, in order to assure her that he had meant the compliment. She smirked, realizing that he was trying to get some sort of information out of her. She was on top of the game.
"People give it to me, and I'm not exaclty in a position to refuse." He nodded, accepting that he wasn't going to get the truth out of her quite yet.
"Alright then..." he moved up next to her and took her arm in his own, ready to lead her down to teh cafeteria. "Shall we be off wo de qin?
"Sure..." she smiled a little and shifted in his grasp as though uncomfortable. Before she pulled her arm away he'd felt something under her sleeve, a slight bump, maybe from some kind of bandage. Enough is enough, Alica. You're beginning to scare me... He grabbed her arm and pulled the sleeve down to find half her arm all bandaged up. He gasped in shock at the size of it. It must be a major wound she's trying to hide... but where did she get it?
"Alica..." She twisted away from him and pulled her sleeve back down.
"I'm fine."
"I hope that was accidental." But then... how could it be?
"Yes... it was."
He frowned, thinking he'd just given her another excuse. And then he decided that he was going to get to the bottom of this. "Alica, I'm concerned for you... promise me you'll be more careful."
"You have nothing to worry about. I'm perfectly fine." She was obviously trying to assure him of the statement, but ended up sounding more like she was trying to convince herself. He eyed her curiously for a moment and then warped his arms around her and whispered in her ear.
"You know, I would be devastated if anything happened to you."
"I know..." her words were weak, having no substance to back up her claim. Long noticed it immediately, along with the fact that she was getting a little shaky. Why doesn't she want to tell me what's wrong? He gently rubed her back with one hand and nuzzled his cheek against hers.
"Forget about whatever is bothering you, let's go and get that breakfast, alright?"
"I can't..." she finally admitted, her voice sounding torn.
"Why not? It's something serious...?"
"I'm broken..." He was surprised at the sincerity of the comment, and pulled back to look into her eyes and smile reassuringly.
"You are strong Alica, you will survive it." She looked away from him for a minute, as though afraid of something. It wasn't normal behavior for her and he couldn't help but wonder what was wrong. He lifted one hand to stroke at her cheek, trying to give her a reason not to fear him. "Don't you believe me? Alica, if you ever need my help, I'll be here for you."
"You can't fix this. I'm broken." He frowned at the word again.
"What do you mean?"
"My mind is broken..." she whispered, afraid to say anymore. He sighed sorrowfully, and realized that this was a problem he couldn't just dismiss simply by trying to make her feel better.
"Why don't you go sit down for a bit?" He took her arm once more and lead her back into her dorm. "I'm assuming you don't mind my presence here..." he led her to a couch in the middle of the room and sat down next to her. "Now... Is there anything you want to talk with me about?" She shook her head and stared at the ground, having already told him all she could manange. She was unable to bear revealing anymore about her unstable mental condition. He looked around the room idly for a moment. It was done in a very modern style and the predominant colors were red, silver, and black. Appropriate enough... he thought. Then he noticed a few pill continers on the table top in front of him.
"Are you on some kind of medication?" She nodded slightly and he picked one of the containers up and realized that it was emtpy. Then he looked back at the others, they were all empty. He read the labels and realized that they were all medications for various mental disorders. So this is what she was trying to tell me! How could I be so dense! "I see now..." he commented, looking for some response from her, but finding none. "I might find some of these useful myself..." he admitted with a smirk. "However... have you been taking these appropriately? I don't mean to seem so suspicious, but I am concerned..."
"They're gone..." she stated the obvious. It left him wondering exactly how long they'd been gone, and why she hadn't gone to get more of them. He checked the wirtting on the labels to see if she had any refils left and it turned out she did.
"So you need refils? I suppose that can be arranged... where do you usually get these?"
"The pharmacy at the lab."
"The lab, eh? And you trust those people? I certainly wouldn't trust them with my life..."
"It's the only place..."
He nodded and picked up the bottles. "In which case, perhaps it is best if I take these down and get the refils for you... do I have your permission?"
She got out a pen and wrote something down on a piece of paper. "Give them this and the card."
"Alright..." She handed him the note she'd just written and some kind of medical insurance card. He took them from her and then watched her for a bit, wondering if she'd be alright if he left her alone for a bit. A low hiss emerged from her lips and her eyes started turning yellow, the pupils turning to slits instead of staying round. He blinked in confusion, unwilling to believe what he was seeing. "Alica?" she just stared at him blankly with her wild, animal eyes. He wasn't sure quite what to do. "Hm... perhaps I ought to find someone to watch over you for a minute while I'm gone..." The problem was that he couldn't think of anyone off the top of his head that would do it since Van and Stephen were both gone. Finally she started to shift, seemingly unable to control the transformation. Her body twisted into a different form and scales covered her skin.
"This doesn't look good..." he dropped the bottles and got up off the couch, crouching nearby in a defensive posture. She hissed one more time and finished morphing, one great clawed hand raised up for a slash. At first he was to too shocked to do anything but back up a bit. She charged foreward with her claw held up, ready to strike, but he ducked and rolled aside at the last minute. She hit the door instead, her claw buried in the middle of the wood. Her raptor eyes blinked and she growled in fury, yanking on her claw in an effort to dislodge it. He realized that he couldn't afford to wait untill she was free, he must act immediately.
"I hate to do this, but..." he did a hard jumping kick, putting all his force into the blow. It knocked her claw free from the door and sent her flying through the air untill she hit the next wall.
"Ergh!" she growled, trying to stand up. She stumbled back to the floor, obviously dazed, but only for a moment.
"Forgive me Alica..." He walked up to her and punched her in the stomach with another powerfull blow, hoping that if he did her enough damage she'd revert to human form. She growled in pain and threw her head against the wall. The impact was hard enough that she reverted to her human form, and she was knocked out. He picked her up off the ground and laid her gently on the couch, checking to make sure her vital signs were strong. "Alica? Can you hear me?" There was no response, she was still out, but otherwise she was breathing well and he could feel a strong pulse. It seemed as though she was going to be fine. He sat down on the floor next to the couch for a minute, watching her carefully to make sure she kept breathing. She had given herself quite a nasty bump on the head, but it was already starting to heal.
Finally he decided that she'd be fine for a minute and that he'd better go and get her medications before she woke up. He picked the pill bottles back up from where he'd dropped them earlier and left the room, closing the door carefully behind him. He noticed the deep gash her claw had made, the hole went all the way through the door. That could've been me... he reminded himself. Then he walked down to the lab. It was pretty emtpy with most of the doctors gone, but unfortunately his father was there doing his work. He tried to pass by the man unnoticed, but it proved an impossible task. The man yelled out to him, asking where he was going, but Long just ignored him and walked on past to the pharmacy. It took awhile for them to fill Alica's perscription since there were a lot of pills, but it was done soon enough and he took the back way out to avoid his father.
When he got back to her dorm she was still sleeping peacefully. He checked around the room a bit and everything looked in place, so it seemed as if nothing had happened while he'd been gone. He set the pills back down on the table and noticed that the bandages were falling off her arm. They'd come lose during her transformation, which had also ruined her sleeves. He bent down to put them back and finally saw what she'd been trying to hide from him all along. She had been carving a word into her own flesh. He peeled off the rest of the bandage to get a better look. 'NO LOV' was what her arm read. It ended there, as he had obviously disturbed her before she could finish what she'd been doing. "Hm, this is disturbing. I wonder what else it would have said if..." he purposely let the sentence trail off. "Best not think about that."
Then he realized that it wasn't the only scar on her arm. The blood coming from the wound uncovered that others were also there, only it seemed they were slightly lightened up. He brushed his hand over her arm and found that it was covered in a sort of make-up. He got up for a minute and got a warm cloth, washing the blood and skin colored gunk away. What he saw astonished him. There were several older scars that looked like attempts to kill herself, most likely from past mental episodes. Only a few looked as though they could possibly be scars from any kind of fight. He ran his fingers over the uneven surface once more and then bent down to kiss it softly, as if somehow it would help her to heal.
I had no idea it was this bad... I shall do what I can to protect you, Alica. He threw the old bandages out and wrapped a new one around the cleaned area before trying to pull down what was left of her sleeve to cover it. Then he curled up on the floor next to the couch and watched her as she slept. He really hadn't had any experience with mental illnesses before, not quite like this anyway. He'd always had his own problems of course, and his father as well, there had always been something wrong with him. But never like this. All he understood was hatred and anger towards others, that was what his father had taught him. He admitted that he felt a bit of self-hatred too, but he'd always taken that out on others as well, never on himself like she had. He laid there thinking such thoughts for the better part of an hour, untill she finally woke up and rubbed tenderly at the bump on the back of her skull.
"So you're finally awake. Sorry about that, but it was necessary."
"What happened...?"
"Well... you transformed and attacked me."
"S**t." she cried, her face taking on a shocked look. "Meds... where..." She started looking around frantically.
"You had depleted your supply, so I went to refill it for you..." he explained, pointing to where he'd set them on the table. She grabbed them from the table and clutched them like a psychopath for a few seconds, and he looked at her as though afraid she'd start acting strangely again. Then she calmed down and headed for her bathroom to get some water.
"You really ought to be more carefull about refilling those on time... wouldn't want to run out again."
"Thanks..." her voice came back to him from the bathroom. "I'm, so sorry..."
"Oh, it's alright. I'm just glad that it happened while I was here. Otherwise who knows what kind of trouble you might have gotten yourself into."
"Yes..." She walked back out momentarilly and placed the pills back on the table they'd started on. She looked at him then, as she sat on the couch, and then looked away in shame.
"It's alright Alica..." he got up off the floor adn sat down next to her. Then he patted her back, hoping it would bring her some comfort. "I was just worried about you."
"You must think I'm some sort of dependent psychopath..." she assumed, her voice sad, "no one would want that."
"No, I think you're a very independent and intelligent woman." he assured her. "You must have been in order to survive Tylon for this long." She sighed in relief.
"Thanks to the wonders that are psychiatric drungs!"
Long laughed and added, "Well they certainly have their uses."
"Merf... at least thats over... I just stayed in here correct?"
"Yes, I knocked you out before you could leave the room, and then laid you on the couch."
"Thank god... I don't need anyone seeing me in that form."
"What is it exactly? If you don't mind me asking."
"A raptor." she answered. "A Utahraptor to be precise."
"I can see why you don't want Van knowing about it."
She nodded absently. "At least someone was here to catch me... last time it hapepened it wasn't pretty."
"I bet..." he mumbled.
"Hm?"
"Never mind, the past is irrelevant."
"Perhaps, in most cases."
"Hopefully..."
"I'm just glad this happend before we left."
"Yes, it could have been a real disaster."
"What time is the flight?" He looked around the room for a clock.
"Um... I believe it was around 6pm."
"And it's what now?" He finally found one in the corner of the room.
"It's around 4, we'd better get ready to go. Are you packed?
"No... but not to worry." She got up from her couch and pulled a small suitcase out from her room. "I always leave essential items in the here."
"Good idea." he nodded, thinking that he ought to do the same that himself. "Well, I do have a few things to pack myself, so I'd probably better get to it." She nodded and walked over towards her closet, but then came back over to him.
"Yes?" She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, kissing him on the cheek.
"Thank you..." he was quite a bit startled.
"Oh, uh... it was not a problem." He blushed a bit, unsued to the attention.
"You probibly saved me from killing myself. I owe you everything for that."
"Well, I couldn't just stand aside and let you hurt yourself." he replied. She nodded in agreement, and smiled a little bit, thinking how lucky she was to have a friend like him. "Anyway, it was the least I could do. You're the only real friend I've had since coming here."
"I could say the same about you... we should pack though." She finally let go of him and moved back a bit. "What's the weather like there?"
"Yes, of course... well, at this time of year it should probably be fairly pleasant. Not to warm, not too cold. We'll probably be inside most of the time anyway."
"Anything I should avoid packing?"
"Hm... well probably anything that would set of the metal detectors they'll run our bags through. But not much besides that."
"Alright."
"I'll come and knock on your door when I'm done packing then."
"Okay." he nodded to her politely and then went back to his dorm, and they both started packing quickly.
"Alica...?" Long asked, poking her in the side. "Was it something I said?"
"Oh no, it wasn't you at all." she quickly replied. "I was just thinking..."
"About?"
"Killing Van, what else?" She smiled again, hiding her anger at her brother with the happiness she would feel if she could be rid of him.
"I see... well if you'd ever like to coordinate an effort to be rid of him, you know whom you may call on." He smiled back at her, nearly as anxious to be rid of her bothersome sibling as she was.
"I want to have something waiting for him when he gets back from his vacation." Alica decided. "But I have no idea what to do... maybe you can help me think of something?"
"It would be my pleasure, wo de qin."
"I've already tried poisoning his food and sabotaging his vehicle... so what other options do we have?"
"There are many methods available to dispatch the unwary. I believe we must find something that works quickly and quietly, something that can't be traced back to the perpetrators."
"I like your way of thinking." she smiled. "Any suggestions then?"
"Several... perhaps we ought to hold a brainstorming session. Do you mind if I get a bit of paper and a few pens for note-taking?"
"Not at all." she replied. He waited a few seconds for a further response.
"You might want to get off me so I can get up."
"Oh." she blinked in surprise, having nearly forgotten that she was laying on top of him. "Aw, but I'm so comfy here..."
"You want to kill Van, don't you?"
"Alright..." she aquiesced, climbing off of him and walking over to sit down on the couch instead.
"Thank you." he replied. He walked into his room and she heard him shuffling around in some desk drawers before he came back out with two pens and several pieces of paper. He set it all down on the coffe table and then sat on the floor in front of it, squeezing between the couch and the coffe table. She slid down off the couch to sit beside him and he handed her a pen and set a few pieces before her on the table. He wrote a title on his paper: 'Ideas for killing Van'. "Obviously we're going to have to destroy these papers when we're through. Don't want any incirminating evidence lying around." She nodded and duplicated the title on her paper. "Poisoning would have been the first thing that came to my mind." he admitted. "However, as that's been tried already I see no need for a repeat performance." Alica nodded again in agreement.
"We've got to find something that will not fail to find it's mark. Something that cannot be undone by any unfortunate twist of fate."
"It would be so much easier to just walk up to him and kill him..."
"He usually carries guns around." she warned. "And he can draw them pretty quick."
"Hm... in that case I'll ditch that idea. I don't think I'd like to try my hand at dodging bullets. Anything else I should know?"
"Well, when he's here he's usually either in his office with Vark or walking around the building supervising things."
"He's got to sleep sometime, doesn't he?"
"His suite is at the top of the building, but it's got very high security that even I can't penetrate right now."
"Damn."
"That's why I tried the poisoning and sabotage... not much else you can do."
"We'll just have to be a bit creative about this." He leaned his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand, trying to think things through. "Well, we can't attack him head on... not unless we take him by surprise. Even then we'd probably wind up in some kind of gun battle. Personally, I don't use guns. They're a coward's weapon. So, we're going to have to find a method to attack him indirectly." Alica nodded in agreement. "Do you have any idea which flight he's taking back? Maybe we can shoot his plane down..."
"Long, that would kill hundreds of innocent people!"
"But it would also kill him, wouldn't it? Think of all the lives we'd be saving by-"
"That's insane, I won't go along with it."
"Foiled again." he mumbled. "Van's a frustrating person to get rid of."
"You're telling me."
"We could leave a bomb up in his bedroom, if we could get into it in the first place..."
"But we can't."
"We could leave a bomb in his car then."
"Which one? You can never tell which he's going to use."
"We'll leave bombs in all of them!"
"It won't work right now Long, once he gets back from his vacation a chauffeur will take the car to go pick him up. We'll just end up killing some useless pawns and alerting him to the fact that someone's trying to get rid of him. Then he'll be sure and check the rest of his cars."
"How about some kind of booby trap?"
"Sounds good... anything specific in mind?"
"I don't know... we could lock him in his office and fill it with poison gass."
"That would be worth a try... but he's already got the waiting room rigged with some kind of gas, so he always carries a gas mask with him."
"That stubborn piece of s**t!"
"It's not like no one's tried to kill him before you know." Alica stated. "It's gonna be a lot of trouble getting to him."
"I can't think of anything else now!" he complained. "Maybe we'll discuss this later, after I've had some time to think it over."
"Alright." she agreed, seeing that the discussion wasn't getting them anywhere and only frustrating her friend. She understood how he felt, the matter had frustrated her just as much when she first considered it.
"I need time... and perhaps a bit of meditation." he concluded. "In fact I would suggest you think about it as well. Two minds are better than one afterall."
"I can't help but think about it anyway."
"Well, for the meditation I also need solitude..." he hinted.
"Oh." she got the hint.
"Let's sleep on it, shall we? We'll think of what we can and then talk about it tomorrow."
"Okay..." she realized that it was a good idea, even though she didn't like the thought of being alone for the rest of the day. Still, thinking about ways to kill Van could keep her pretty preoccupied. If only Stephen were here... she thought. Somehow Dr. Goldberg always found a way to cheer her up. Long was different. Althought she knew that he cared for her it sometimes seemed as though he were too wrapped up in his own problems to have time for her. Besides which it was true that he had a tendency to be a bit gloomy, while Stephen on the other hand was usually very friendly and cheerful. She really needed that, but decided that she would just have to make do with what she had.
She got up from the couch and walked over to the front door wth Long trailing after her. He speed up a bit and got there ahead of her, insisting upon opening the door and holding it for her as she walked out. He nodded to her politely as she left, but before he could retreat back into his room she threw her arms around him for a hug. A bit of a smirk tugged at the edges of his lips and he patted her back gently before letting her go.
"Oh how sweet... but, no kiss goodbye?" A high pitched voice to their left asked. They turned to see Fox walking down the hall towards them, probably on his way up to his dorm.
"None of your business Hans." Long growled.
"Aw... you mean I can't get a hug too?"
"Can it." Alica hissed.
"I only hug people that I feel comfortable with." the top assassin stated.
"In case you didn't get the hint that rules you out, Hans." she added.
"I think your rudeness is starting to rub off on him, what a shame." Fox frowned. "He actually treated me halfway decent back in China."
"That was before you started hitting on me, Hans." Long explained. "Your treatment is the direct result of your own actions."
"Oh? But I can't help myself deary, you're so much fun to tease!"
"Then I suggest you make an effort to resist the compulsion to do so."
"I'm going back to my dorm now." Alica declared, turning away from them both and heading off. She walked a few steps towards her door and then turned back to Long for a moment and waved. "I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded in reply and she walked into her dorm and closed the door behind her.
"I guess she got tired of arguing with me." Fox assumed.
"She's not the only one."
"What say we call a truce then?"
"Are you serious?"
"Well I certainly got tired of being strangled halfway to death..."
"Well now, I can't promise that won't happen again." He looked up and down the hallway in a casual manner, realizing that no one was around and wondering if he could get away with killing Hans this very second.
"Look, I really wanted to apologize for the thing about the make-up. I know you didn't take that well." Long gave him a critical glance, wondering if he could actually be serious. Maybe he just doesn't want me to kill him. "I really am sorry about it." Fox insisted. "I do know that you don't like that sort of thing... Well, I guess I just got a bit carried away. You are so lovely afterall." Long found himself wishing that he were ugly again. "Anyway, I'd probably better get up to my dorm now, so I'll see you around." Fox walked off down the hall, giving him a swift wave before dissapearing into the elevator.
"Missed my chance, damnit." Long muttered to himself. "Meh... probably wouldn't have worked anyway. I would've gotten blood stains on the carpet and someone would've seen me carrying him out to the dumpster." he sighed in anoyance, wishing that he could simply kill someone and get it over with. His father, Van, Fox, anyone. No more waiting and carefull planning, just blood and death. The time will come, he assured himself, as he often had to. Yet the assurance was beginning to wear thin. It seemed as though the more he had to wait, and the more his patience was tried, the more he lost control of his desire to kill. He frowned at nothing and went back into his dorm, slamming the door and locking it behind him. He thought that he desperately needed some time alone, to think things through, but at the same time he had to wonder if it would accomplish more bad than good.
The next morning Alica Tylon got up a little earlier than usual. She was happy at first, quickly getting herself washed and dressed. She'd been thinking of ways to kill Van all evening the day before and finally thought about something that she believed might work. She smiled to herself, quite pleased with her idea, and thought that she couldn't wait to tell Long all about it. But first they would need to get a bit of breakfast in them, so she decided to drag him down to the cafeteria. She went over to his dorm and knocked loudly, but no one answered. He must still be asleep, she thought. What a shame... she tried the door knob just out of curiosity and found it open. Did he forget to lock the door again? She walked into his living room and up to his bedroom door, opening it silently and peeking in just a bit. She couldn't see much more than a large lump on top of the bed and under the blankets.
"Long? you awake?" He rolled over from one side to the other and groaned in discomfort at the sound of her voice. Then he lifted the covers down off of his head and blinked at her face in his doorway.
"I am now... what do you want?"
"Buffet breakfast in the cafeteria."
"Go get it then." he mumbled, pulling the covers back over his head. She waited a few seconds to see if he'd get up, but he staid in his bed and soon the sound of deep breathing told her that he'd fallen back asleep again.
"I see this needs an Alica Tylon solution..." she said. She waited another minute to see if the sound of her voice had disturbed him, but he didn't stir. She wasn't surprised at all. She went back into her room and foraged around for a few minutes before finding a bucket, and then filled it with ice and cold water. She was just heading for the door when another little thought came to her mind and she found a bathrobe and wrapped it around herself so tightly that her clothes didn't show under it. Then she smiled to herself, This is going to be fun. She hurried back into his room and dumped the entire bucketfull right over his head.
"Get up!" she commanded.
"Ack!" he cried, jumping to a sitting position. "What did you do that for!?!"
"To get you up." she explained. "Would you rather I have slipped into your bed naked and mad it look like we f**ked?" His eyes went wide in shock at her suggestion and she smirked her trade mark Alica smirk.
"If you keep scaring me like this I'm going to stay in China."
"I don't think Van'll be happy with that." she reminded.
"Damn." he muttered angrilly. She set the bucket down on his floor and walked over to his dresser to start picking out some clothes, anxious to be on her way.
"Now let's get you dressed."
"I can probably do that without your help if you'd kindly leave the room for a moment..." Long pleaded. Alica ignored him in favor of continuing her search and pulled out a light blue sleeveless shirt with some oriental design on back, along with some blue pants and a black and red belt.
"Here, this will look nice." Then she tossed them on the bed.
"Where did you find these?" he wondered, looking them over as though he'd never seen them before.
"They were in here." she answered, pointint to a few drawers.
"Well no wonder I couldn't find them earlier, they were in the wrong place!" he declared. "I was certain I'd brought at least one casual outfit... I don't usually dress this way though. Then again I suppose it wouldn't hurt since it's highly unlikely I'll get any work today."
"See? Cutting loose already." she said, smiling brightly.
"I suppose, although I wouldn't bet on that lasting very long..."
"...but still." She shrugged, and for the first time he noticed that she was standing around in her bathrobe.
"You know it wouldn't hurt you to get dressed either."
"I know but I stripped in case the bucket failed." His face took on it's shocked look again.
"Alica, please!"
"Just kidding!"
"Ugh..." he groaned, rubbing his forehead as though weary. Alica undid her robe and he forze in horror for a moment before she opened it up and revealed her work clothes underneath. He sighed in relief. "Whew, you had me really scared there for a minute. Why do you enjoy scaring me like that?"
"Your adorble when your terrified..." she explained. "I'm not Hans, I wouldn't drop that... but they say I have mental problems and mess with peoples heads."
"Well, it's still not nice to terrorize people."
"Sorry..." she apologized, laughing nervously. He gave her a curious look, wondering why she was acting so strangely.
"You know, every time you say something like that it does make me more afraid of you." he warned. "So you really ought to stop."
She forwned, realizing that what she was doing might make him even more scared of him than he already was. She couldn't think of anything better to do than apologize again. "Oh... sorry."
"Anyway... you can go now..." Long hinted, with a meaningfull cough.
"Right... ok." She picked up the bucket and headed back to her room. He watched carefully as she left, waiting to make sure she was gone before climbing out of the bed in nothing but some pajama bottoms. He got himself undressed and took a quick shower before getting dressed in the clothes she'd set out. Then he brushed through his hair and put it up in his usual low ponytail. Once he was done he went straight back to her dorm and knocked on the door, thinking that it was unusually quiet.
"Alright. I'm up and I'm dressed, what more do you want?"
"Gimme a sec!" her voice cried through the door. It sounded a bit twisted, like she was in some kind of pain.
"Alica, are you alright?"
"I'm FINE!"
"Whoa, okay..." he was getting very suspicious. Something was obviously going on in there and she wasn't usually the type to yell like that. "What's going on in there anyway?"
"Nothing. I'm fine..." she sounded better this time, maybe just a little too happy, which indicated to him that she was hiding something.
"You sure?" His hand drifted towards the door nob and he turned it slightly, untill it made a clicking sound. Then she opened it rather suddely, as though she had heard it and wanted to stop him. He blinked and then realized that she'd changed from the T-shirt she'd been wearing earlier into a long sleeve. Suspicious... he thought. "Why the sudden change? Spill something?"
"Yeah, I got makup on my other shirt." He could sense her lie easilly, her false happiness gave her away.
"Hm, I never figured you for the sort to wear it..."
"I don't, I was getting my brush and it spilt."
"If you don't wear it, then why do you even have it?" he wondered, certain that the makeup was a false excuse for something more sinister. "If you don't mind me saying so, you certainly don't need it." He smiled shyly, in order to assure her that he had meant the compliment. She smirked, realizing that he was trying to get some sort of information out of her. She was on top of the game.
"People give it to me, and I'm not exaclty in a position to refuse." He nodded, accepting that he wasn't going to get the truth out of her quite yet.
"Alright then..." he moved up next to her and took her arm in his own, ready to lead her down to teh cafeteria. "Shall we be off wo de qin?
"Sure..." she smiled a little and shifted in his grasp as though uncomfortable. Before she pulled her arm away he'd felt something under her sleeve, a slight bump, maybe from some kind of bandage. Enough is enough, Alica. You're beginning to scare me... He grabbed her arm and pulled the sleeve down to find half her arm all bandaged up. He gasped in shock at the size of it. It must be a major wound she's trying to hide... but where did she get it?
"Alica..." She twisted away from him and pulled her sleeve back down.
"I'm fine."
"I hope that was accidental." But then... how could it be?
"Yes... it was."
He frowned, thinking he'd just given her another excuse. And then he decided that he was going to get to the bottom of this. "Alica, I'm concerned for you... promise me you'll be more careful."
"You have nothing to worry about. I'm perfectly fine." She was obviously trying to assure him of the statement, but ended up sounding more like she was trying to convince herself. He eyed her curiously for a moment and then warped his arms around her and whispered in her ear.
"You know, I would be devastated if anything happened to you."
"I know..." her words were weak, having no substance to back up her claim. Long noticed it immediately, along with the fact that she was getting a little shaky. Why doesn't she want to tell me what's wrong? He gently rubed her back with one hand and nuzzled his cheek against hers.
"Forget about whatever is bothering you, let's go and get that breakfast, alright?"
"I can't..." she finally admitted, her voice sounding torn.
"Why not? It's something serious...?"
"I'm broken..." He was surprised at the sincerity of the comment, and pulled back to look into her eyes and smile reassuringly.
"You are strong Alica, you will survive it." She looked away from him for a minute, as though afraid of something. It wasn't normal behavior for her and he couldn't help but wonder what was wrong. He lifted one hand to stroke at her cheek, trying to give her a reason not to fear him. "Don't you believe me? Alica, if you ever need my help, I'll be here for you."
"You can't fix this. I'm broken." He frowned at the word again.
"What do you mean?"
"My mind is broken..." she whispered, afraid to say anymore. He sighed sorrowfully, and realized that this was a problem he couldn't just dismiss simply by trying to make her feel better.
"Why don't you go sit down for a bit?" He took her arm once more and lead her back into her dorm. "I'm assuming you don't mind my presence here..." he led her to a couch in the middle of the room and sat down next to her. "Now... Is there anything you want to talk with me about?" She shook her head and stared at the ground, having already told him all she could manange. She was unable to bear revealing anymore about her unstable mental condition. He looked around the room idly for a moment. It was done in a very modern style and the predominant colors were red, silver, and black. Appropriate enough... he thought. Then he noticed a few pill continers on the table top in front of him.
"Are you on some kind of medication?" She nodded slightly and he picked one of the containers up and realized that it was emtpy. Then he looked back at the others, they were all empty. He read the labels and realized that they were all medications for various mental disorders. So this is what she was trying to tell me! How could I be so dense! "I see now..." he commented, looking for some response from her, but finding none. "I might find some of these useful myself..." he admitted with a smirk. "However... have you been taking these appropriately? I don't mean to seem so suspicious, but I am concerned..."
"They're gone..." she stated the obvious. It left him wondering exactly how long they'd been gone, and why she hadn't gone to get more of them. He checked the wirtting on the labels to see if she had any refils left and it turned out she did.
"So you need refils? I suppose that can be arranged... where do you usually get these?"
"The pharmacy at the lab."
"The lab, eh? And you trust those people? I certainly wouldn't trust them with my life..."
"It's the only place..."
He nodded and picked up the bottles. "In which case, perhaps it is best if I take these down and get the refils for you... do I have your permission?"
She got out a pen and wrote something down on a piece of paper. "Give them this and the card."
"Alright..." She handed him the note she'd just written and some kind of medical insurance card. He took them from her and then watched her for a bit, wondering if she'd be alright if he left her alone for a bit. A low hiss emerged from her lips and her eyes started turning yellow, the pupils turning to slits instead of staying round. He blinked in confusion, unwilling to believe what he was seeing. "Alica?" she just stared at him blankly with her wild, animal eyes. He wasn't sure quite what to do. "Hm... perhaps I ought to find someone to watch over you for a minute while I'm gone..." The problem was that he couldn't think of anyone off the top of his head that would do it since Van and Stephen were both gone. Finally she started to shift, seemingly unable to control the transformation. Her body twisted into a different form and scales covered her skin.
"This doesn't look good..." he dropped the bottles and got up off the couch, crouching nearby in a defensive posture. She hissed one more time and finished morphing, one great clawed hand raised up for a slash. At first he was to too shocked to do anything but back up a bit. She charged foreward with her claw held up, ready to strike, but he ducked and rolled aside at the last minute. She hit the door instead, her claw buried in the middle of the wood. Her raptor eyes blinked and she growled in fury, yanking on her claw in an effort to dislodge it. He realized that he couldn't afford to wait untill she was free, he must act immediately.
"I hate to do this, but..." he did a hard jumping kick, putting all his force into the blow. It knocked her claw free from the door and sent her flying through the air untill she hit the next wall.
"Ergh!" she growled, trying to stand up. She stumbled back to the floor, obviously dazed, but only for a moment.
"Forgive me Alica..." He walked up to her and punched her in the stomach with another powerfull blow, hoping that if he did her enough damage she'd revert to human form. She growled in pain and threw her head against the wall. The impact was hard enough that she reverted to her human form, and she was knocked out. He picked her up off the ground and laid her gently on the couch, checking to make sure her vital signs were strong. "Alica? Can you hear me?" There was no response, she was still out, but otherwise she was breathing well and he could feel a strong pulse. It seemed as though she was going to be fine. He sat down on the floor next to the couch for a minute, watching her carefully to make sure she kept breathing. She had given herself quite a nasty bump on the head, but it was already starting to heal.
Finally he decided that she'd be fine for a minute and that he'd better go and get her medications before she woke up. He picked the pill bottles back up from where he'd dropped them earlier and left the room, closing the door carefully behind him. He noticed the deep gash her claw had made, the hole went all the way through the door. That could've been me... he reminded himself. Then he walked down to the lab. It was pretty emtpy with most of the doctors gone, but unfortunately his father was there doing his work. He tried to pass by the man unnoticed, but it proved an impossible task. The man yelled out to him, asking where he was going, but Long just ignored him and walked on past to the pharmacy. It took awhile for them to fill Alica's perscription since there were a lot of pills, but it was done soon enough and he took the back way out to avoid his father.
When he got back to her dorm she was still sleeping peacefully. He checked around the room a bit and everything looked in place, so it seemed as if nothing had happened while he'd been gone. He set the pills back down on the table and noticed that the bandages were falling off her arm. They'd come lose during her transformation, which had also ruined her sleeves. He bent down to put them back and finally saw what she'd been trying to hide from him all along. She had been carving a word into her own flesh. He peeled off the rest of the bandage to get a better look. 'NO LOV' was what her arm read. It ended there, as he had obviously disturbed her before she could finish what she'd been doing. "Hm, this is disturbing. I wonder what else it would have said if..." he purposely let the sentence trail off. "Best not think about that."
Then he realized that it wasn't the only scar on her arm. The blood coming from the wound uncovered that others were also there, only it seemed they were slightly lightened up. He brushed his hand over her arm and found that it was covered in a sort of make-up. He got up for a minute and got a warm cloth, washing the blood and skin colored gunk away. What he saw astonished him. There were several older scars that looked like attempts to kill herself, most likely from past mental episodes. Only a few looked as though they could possibly be scars from any kind of fight. He ran his fingers over the uneven surface once more and then bent down to kiss it softly, as if somehow it would help her to heal.
I had no idea it was this bad... I shall do what I can to protect you, Alica. He threw the old bandages out and wrapped a new one around the cleaned area before trying to pull down what was left of her sleeve to cover it. Then he curled up on the floor next to the couch and watched her as she slept. He really hadn't had any experience with mental illnesses before, not quite like this anyway. He'd always had his own problems of course, and his father as well, there had always been something wrong with him. But never like this. All he understood was hatred and anger towards others, that was what his father had taught him. He admitted that he felt a bit of self-hatred too, but he'd always taken that out on others as well, never on himself like she had. He laid there thinking such thoughts for the better part of an hour, untill she finally woke up and rubbed tenderly at the bump on the back of her skull.
"So you're finally awake. Sorry about that, but it was necessary."
"What happened...?"
"Well... you transformed and attacked me."
"S**t." she cried, her face taking on a shocked look. "Meds... where..." She started looking around frantically.
"You had depleted your supply, so I went to refill it for you..." he explained, pointing to where he'd set them on the table. She grabbed them from the table and clutched them like a psychopath for a few seconds, and he looked at her as though afraid she'd start acting strangely again. Then she calmed down and headed for her bathroom to get some water.
"You really ought to be more carefull about refilling those on time... wouldn't want to run out again."
"Thanks..." her voice came back to him from the bathroom. "I'm, so sorry..."
"Oh, it's alright. I'm just glad that it happened while I was here. Otherwise who knows what kind of trouble you might have gotten yourself into."
"Yes..." She walked back out momentarilly and placed the pills back on the table they'd started on. She looked at him then, as she sat on the couch, and then looked away in shame.
"It's alright Alica..." he got up off the floor adn sat down next to her. Then he patted her back, hoping it would bring her some comfort. "I was just worried about you."
"You must think I'm some sort of dependent psychopath..." she assumed, her voice sad, "no one would want that."
"No, I think you're a very independent and intelligent woman." he assured her. "You must have been in order to survive Tylon for this long." She sighed in relief.
"Thanks to the wonders that are psychiatric drungs!"
Long laughed and added, "Well they certainly have their uses."
"Merf... at least thats over... I just stayed in here correct?"
"Yes, I knocked you out before you could leave the room, and then laid you on the couch."
"Thank god... I don't need anyone seeing me in that form."
"What is it exactly? If you don't mind me asking."
"A raptor." she answered. "A Utahraptor to be precise."
"I can see why you don't want Van knowing about it."
She nodded absently. "At least someone was here to catch me... last time it hapepened it wasn't pretty."
"I bet..." he mumbled.
"Hm?"
"Never mind, the past is irrelevant."
"Perhaps, in most cases."
"Hopefully..."
"I'm just glad this happend before we left."
"Yes, it could have been a real disaster."
"What time is the flight?" He looked around the room for a clock.
"Um... I believe it was around 6pm."
"And it's what now?" He finally found one in the corner of the room.
"It's around 4, we'd better get ready to go. Are you packed?
"No... but not to worry." She got up from her couch and pulled a small suitcase out from her room. "I always leave essential items in the here."
"Good idea." he nodded, thinking that he ought to do the same that himself. "Well, I do have a few things to pack myself, so I'd probably better get to it." She nodded and walked over towards her closet, but then came back over to him.
"Yes?" She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, kissing him on the cheek.
"Thank you..." he was quite a bit startled.
"Oh, uh... it was not a problem." He blushed a bit, unsued to the attention.
"You probibly saved me from killing myself. I owe you everything for that."
"Well, I couldn't just stand aside and let you hurt yourself." he replied. She nodded in agreement, and smiled a little bit, thinking how lucky she was to have a friend like him. "Anyway, it was the least I could do. You're the only real friend I've had since coming here."
"I could say the same about you... we should pack though." She finally let go of him and moved back a bit. "What's the weather like there?"
"Yes, of course... well, at this time of year it should probably be fairly pleasant. Not to warm, not too cold. We'll probably be inside most of the time anyway."
"Anything I should avoid packing?"
"Hm... well probably anything that would set of the metal detectors they'll run our bags through. But not much besides that."
"Alright."
"I'll come and knock on your door when I'm done packing then."
"Okay." he nodded to her politely and then went back to his dorm, and they both started packing quickly.