I wish you'd unclench your fists, and unpack your suitcase.
Lately there's been too much of this
But don't think it's too late.

"Alex! Alex, would you g-"Mia looked around, a sick feeling in her gut. "Alex?" She went into the bedroom to find him staring blankly out the window at the lighthouse. "Alex, are you ok?"

"The lighthouse... We were told to never let anyone in the lighthouse..." He stood, turning to face his sister.

"Alex, what's wrong?" She noticed he was dressed in traveler's clothing, a small bag in his hand. "What are you doing?!" It occurred to her that he planned to leave her. Tears came to her eyes, the warmth fully drawn from his face.

"We were told to protect the mercury tribe... we were told a lot of things." If she could go against her teachings and teach normal children ply. If she thought she could just forget that she had a brother and that things were normal. Then he could do the same. "I'll be back soon enough..."

"Alex..." She followed him to the door. "Alex, no!" She cried as she clung to his arm.

"I'll be back soon." He shook her off and left.

"Alex... don't do this..." She cried as he drifted off out of sight as snow started to come down again.

Soon enough a few days passed, then weeks and Mia lost track of time. Somehow, she was able to shake off her brother's absence from her outward appearance.

She still felt it inside...

And it grew with every day...

Where would he go? What would he do? What did he mean before he left?

They were the last of their family. The rest had been killed guarding the lighthouse or had died of old age. They were closer than anyone could ever be- closer than a husband and a wife.

But now...

But now he was gone.

She felt as if someone had pulled all of her insides out and left her with an empty shell. The smallest bit of comfort lay in the winter. The flu season would hit soon and she'd be busy. Hopefully too busy to worry.

But she still knew she'd get home every night and cry. It hurt, not just in her heart, but her body.

She also knew that this would happen. A long time ago on the steps of mercury lighthouse she knew. For it was at that moment Alex had learned to hate. And that was the kind of hate that grew. The more he would grow, the more he would realize how cruel the world was.

That was one of the scariest things.

In Imil, Alex had been insulated. Everything was so perfect.

But now, now he was who knows where. He would see many things and she knew that the hate would grow. He hated outsiders because they had killed their parents, the outsiders had tried to hurt her countless times. She knew he blamed the outsiders for everything that made him how he was. How would he act now that he was the outsider?

Then another thought hit her. She sat up straight where Alex had been sitting before he left. Her eyes grew wide and jaw dropped. Muscles tight and twitching from time to time as tears welled up in her eyes. Her jaw shook as she attempted to speak. Lungs were frozen, along with her body.

Her eyes were set on the lighthouse, but her thoughts were seeing what had happened.

The loving boy she once knew was gone and before her stood a cold man. 'We were told to protect the mercury tribe... we were told a lot of things.' Could he have meant... did he blame HER?

She thought about the boy that she thought she knew. He would never had blamed her... the boy she knew was the same one she'd used to tickle and play catch with. The one who giggled and laughed easily. The one that clung to her skirts.

"Alex... what happened to you..."

'I'll take care of you. Forever, I Promise. You'll always be the most important thing to me. It's all going to be ok.' Did he mean... that he didn't believe her?

"Alex!" She screamed, curling up, crying hard. "Alex, I never meant to hurt you! What did I do! Please, come back..." She fell asleep crying.

The next day she dragged herself out of bed and stumbled into town with blood shot eyes to answer the first flu call.

"Mia, you don't look well. Maybe you should lay down as well." Megan tried to convince her. "Justin and I can take care of everything. We're ready."

"No, you wouldn't understand. I need to heal people, I need to make myself busy. It's for the best. Watch the sanctum for more calls." She fumbled outside, falling into the snow. "Come on Mia... keep it together..." She straightened herself out, walking calmly to the old couple's house. "Just keep breathing..." you too, Alex. Please keep breathing... The ground shook and the sky lit up with fantastic colors. "What?!" Mia was knocked off her feet. "That was... the south! That's whe-"She stopped herself and stood up, shaking herself off stubbornly. "I'm sure I'll hear news soon enough. Right now, there are people out there who actually need me."

-&-

Ame: In case you're wonder, Mt. Aleph's bolder just fell. This chapter's shorter, but there's a lot of them like this. I like to think short chapters help the story move. Long one's get boring -o

Alex: Either that or you're just lazy...

Ame: I got lazy on part 2 u-u REALLY lazy... but now we're editing, so it should be ok! Oh, and all reviews are answered on the website. Even though I haven't linked the webpage yet -o Feel free to email me if you want something explained or you want some spoilers -o questions like 'what where those 'ghost' things on Mercury lighthouse are common . Quick hint: that's answered in part ((Counts on fingers)) six?? I think... One thing n-n Though, those who are smart enough should be able to guess it in the first chapter of part one -o