A/N:

Willowwind: ::wide, evil grin::

Escurcae: ::wide, evil grin::

Lieh: ::wide, evil grin::

Nachzes: ::walks in with a wide, evil grin::

Legolas: ::sweatdrop:: Er, one of the usual, then?

Escurcae: Sort of, but not...::wider, eviler grin::

Legolas: Oh no...

Escurcae: Oh yes...::even wider, eviler grin::

Seto: ::pops up:: This is beginning to sound familiar...haven't I had this argument with your yami, Lieh?

Lieh: ::happily:: Yup! ::to readers:: You haven't read the fic yet. Heehee, sucks to be you!

Yami: ::walks in:: ::to Willowwind:: What are you getting us into now?

Willowwind: ::holding Lieh and Nachzes back from attacking Yami:: You don't want to kn—::gets cut off by Lieh::

Lieh: Get out of my sight, jerk!

Seto: I would advise doing so, before you regret it.

Yami: ::snort:: I doubt anything would happen to me. I'm immortal, hence invincible.

Willowwind: Fine. Just don't say we didn't warn you. Now hurry up and do the disclaimer, somebody, before my arms give way.

::crickets chirp::

Willowwind: ::snaps:: Fine! I'll do the stupid thing! We actually own basically everything in this chapter. Nachzes and Lieh own themselves and Thrain with all its characters (Jes and Jes' teacher are about the only ones mentioned here), and me and Escurcae own...ourselves...just like Yousei Youko owns herself.... Oh, and a note on Thrain: The characters from Thrain are from Nachzes' novel, and are only used in this fic by special permission. Under no circumstances should anyone use any of the characters from Thrain in a fic of their own without obtaining special permission from Nachzes first. If anyone does, you will have much trouble on your hands, I promise you that. Oh, and the idea of different types of mages (air, water, fire, earth, ice) also belongs exclusively to Nachzes. So don't even think about using it, people. Anyways, that's it for the disclaimer, for now. Roll fic!

Warnings: What, do I have to warn you too? O.K., fine! Mass mary-sue. Nothing else in this chapter. Happy???

--Finding Home

-Chapter One – Of Sugar and Slipping Mental Knives

Jes and Lieh were sugar high ::A/N: Hey, that rhymes!::. Which was bad. Very bad. Especially when there were two other teenage girls present; one who is beyond sugar high, and one who was, at the time, hiding in a closet from the insane people outside, shivering.

Willowwind Adurois, the 15-year-old telepathic elf was lying on the ground, rolling around and laughing hysterically at absolutely nothing at all. Yousei Youko, the 16-year-old faerie, was hiding in the closet, rocking back and forth with her knees tucked into her chest, and she was shaking with fear of the hyper people outside.

Jes and Lieh were giggling as they read a manga, quoting small sections in turn. "No! Get out of – the hall, and come in." 16-year-old Lieh laughed, collapsing into a giggling heap on the bed, dangerously close to the edge.

"No no no," 16-year-old Jes, first ice(1) mage in a century, said, doubled over in fits of silent giggles, "Now you can't take me off! W-hahaha!" Lieh snorted and gasped for breath, then managed to choke out:

"Kuriboh, I would have lost without you!" The pair cracked up again, and Lieh rolled closer to the edge of the bed, the mattress corner sinking in warning.

"One potato, two potato, three potato, four..." Jes choked, then jumped about a foot as Lieh, lost in another fit of laughter at the quote, fell out of the bed with a loud 'thump' as she hit the floor. Suddenly, Jes stiffened as she felt a featherlight touch the corner of her mind (2), and the words "magechild(3), get over here, now!" inserted themselves into her thoughts.

"Be right there," Jes called back through the mental link, snapping her fingers and seizing a handful of air. Carefully, she concentrated on slicing the air with her will – forming it into a blade and picturing the symbols of transport and speed in her mind. Unfortunately, at that precise moment, Lieh had to speak up, breaking Jes' fragile concentration.

"What about my potato song?"

The razor-sharp point of the blade sliced through the air in a wide arc, opening a portal that engulfed the whole room as the seams in the atmosphere split. The four teenagers felt themselves being pulled from the room, and a roaring filled their ears. The last thing any of them heard before a wave of excruciating pain washed over them and they blacked out was the sound of Jes' teacher's astonished shout.

---

(1)-In Thrain, there are more than one type of mage. Jes is an ice mage. You should know that by now.

(2)-Basically, Jes' teacher is sending her a mental message.

(3)-magechild is Jes' mage name. That's another idea from Thrain.

---

Willowwind: There endeth chapter one.

Lieh: What? That took 'us', like, an hour, tops. Including planning!

Escurcae: I know. It's short.

Lieh: ::stares:: I see what you mean. Author's notes and all, it's only 3 pages!

Willowwind: Let's do a Nachzes-like thing and say 'tis a teaser. If it gets 5 reviews, we'll post the next chapter. Which will be longer.

Escurcae: 'kay...hey, Lieh, what did you and Nachzes do to Yami?

Nachzes: ::BIG grin:: Oh, you mean after we tortured him, and hog-tied him so we could force him to watch 15 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 United Learning videos?

Escurcae: Erm, yeah.

Nachzes: ::wider grin:: We tied him to a rocket and sent him to Pluto.

Escurcae: ...

Willowwind: O-kay...well, press the magic review button, people!