Okay. I'm finishing the last chapter of Run But Never Hide as we speak, so give me a bit with that, and this....is my new project. I am really really having fun with this one and I'm incorporating alot of new big ideas into it. I hope you guys like it.

Warnings: Will have slash. Will have a slight bit of language. It seems I cuss when I get emotional. Sorry. And nothing big will happen until later anyway, but I will put a warning on those chapters as well just in case.

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"Go Dylan!"

The crowd surged and seemingly pulsated around him, jostling his shoulders, messing with his balance. Faceless people were jumping and vibrating with nervous energy all around, and the situation probably would have been funny if he wasn't just as far gone as they were. With a loopy grin he felt himself being shoved into his companion. Looking over his shoulder Paige smiled, rolling her eyes at the energetic people surrounding them.

It was a Friday night and the hockey stadium was filled to the breaking point with cheering fans and supportive parents, friends, and significant others. The energy was palpable, as was the excitement and giddy feeling. Marco loved Dylan's hockey matches. He always felt so alive, and even with the mugginess due to the crowd's combined body heat, he felt as if he could breathe easier. Plus...watching a sweaty, adrenaline crazed Dylan was always a bonus.

"Oh my god! He's going for it!"

Marco instantaneously jumped to stand on top of his flimsy plastic seat to see what was going on, damning his lack of a decent growth spurt yet again. Craning his neck to see over the sea of heads before him he watched as Dylan skated down the rink, looking like a bolt of lightning forking across a bright white sky. Many oohs and encouraging roars issued from the stadium's occupants and emotions were rising quickly. Dylan was so close....twenty feet, ten feet...five...four....three....

A sudden movement from Dylan's right grabbed the audience's attention, and most importantly, Marco's. In a split second the delicate balance of the tables was thrown off and an opponent hit the puck, changing the direction a complete ninety degrees. Before Marco could even blink, pain erupted from his forehead.

All he could really remember was the flashing of the bright, alien blue lights over the ice and the terrified shriek from Paige from his right, or so he had guessed, and the pain. The most mind-numbing and nerve tearing pain he had ever experienced.. It was intense, spidering its way from his head to every spot on his body like a deadly poison racing against the clock.

The last thing he remembered before his mind succumbed to the blessed, pain relieving darkness was a passion filled yell from the illuminated ice below.

"MARCO!"

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"MARCO!"

Marco squinted his eyes against the too bright light that was situated over his head and slowly tested his eyes out. Squint. Quick blink. Cringe. Nope. Not happening.

"Oh my god! Bryce! Get everyone....I can't belie-...he- he's WAKING UP!"

Marco scrunched his face slightly. He recognized that voice. Or atleast he thought he did. What was going on anyway? He woke up everyday after all. Slowly Marco tried to peice everything together. There had been bright lights, like the one above him, and screaming, like here. But...it was different. These yells seemed almost...happy? Lights. Yells. Dylan. Hockey match. Dylan had been going for a goal...he had almost been there.....

Oh.

Hearing very loud shuffles around his bed, yes, he was in a bed, he decided that his poor eyes would have to suffer. Finding out what was going on was more important. With unworldly strength he somehow managed to lift his leaden eyelids. The blinding light assaulted his eyes but he toughed it out, blinking owlishly against all the white.

White. White and green. Lots of it. Peering blearily ahead of him the first thing he saw was quite a relief.

"El?"

The redheaded girl bounded from a very uncomfortable looking burgandy chair in the corner and all but launched herself at her Italian friend, a muffled greeting ending up in his shoulder. Marco patted her head awkwardly and was a bit frightened when he felt the scaulding warmth of tears on his neck.

"El? Oh El, what's wrong? Why are crying."

This was odd. Really odd. One, he'd never seen Ellie really cry. She was a master at hiding her feelings from the world, preferring to lock her emotions within herself than to be hurt. Secondly, she had also never been the most tactile of people. And yet here she was clinging for dear life to his neck and not appearing to let up anytime soon. Uncomfortable was perhaps the best word for this rather bizarre situation.

"El? Are you okay? Don't cry. Please, I hate to see you like this. What's wrong?"

His questions were not answered, and if anything her tears seemed to intensify with the very sound of his voice. After about half an hour of her sobs and shaking shoulders, she finally sat back slightly to look into Marco's dark eyes with her red-ringed ones. When she spoke her voice cracked horribly, but never raised at all, so quiet it was almost unheard.

"You- you're actually awake. You're freaking AWAKE! It's all so amazing."

Marco was beyond confused. Cocking his head slightly he gazed at her stupidly. "El, I couldn't have been out for more than a week. What has gotten you so upset?"

He should have known something was wrong the second he saw her bewildered stare. It seemed to hold a sense of unknown that was unsettling in a way that made you want to instinctively run in the opposite direction. It seemed dark.

"Marco...Marco listen to me love." Marco's head jerked roughly at the pet name. Something was definitely wrong. Ellie never tossed affection around so lighlty. This couldn't be Ellie. Surely. She was so out of character.

"Marco...you have to tell me. What was the last thing you remember?"

With a heavy sigh he scrubbed at his head, mussing his hair up and raising his eyes up to meet his slightly different friend. "I was at the hockey match, watching Dylan play. One of the other players....he showed up out of nowhere. There was no way to stop him."

Marco gulped audibly and looked down at his hands that were clenching the sterile bedsheets tightly. "Next thing I know a puck is heading straight for my head and everyone's screaming. Then it all went black....and I woke up here."

Ellie was staring at him with a look of dumb confusion. "You were at Dylan's hockey match?"

"Yes," he replied uneasily.

"Oh jesus. I'll be right back. Don't move!"

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