Another world, another time, another place, another reality.

A man with a bunch of unruly dreadlocks laughed mirthlessly as he examined the month's haul. His yellowed teeth and stagnant breath were of no concern to him, as long as he lived long enough to feed the colony. If the colony failed, what was left of humankind would wither and die. There was not much time left.

"C'mon, Jak." He grouched. "There's not much left here. We'd best go before the goddamned Anima show up."

Jak, a weedy kid with the quickest fingers anyone had ever seen, yelled a warning in reply. "Shit, I think one of them's coming!!!"

Then Jak and Eric both flattened themselves to the floor as a bolt of pure white energy shot downwards from the sky, arcing downwards to impact at ground zero. For a second, everything flashed white.

Eric looked up, his dreadlocks smouldering slightly. "What the HELL was that?"

"I dunno." Jak replied, shaking slightly. "Something the Anima have been working on to kill us, maybe?"

"Them Anima ain't got no brains, dumbass. This is something else." Eric raised himself over an incline or trash to look at the small scorched crater in the dirt. "What the hell is that?" He repeated, gesturing at the figure curled up in a foetal position in the middle of the crater.

Said figure had brown hair plaited in an unruly ponytail, a belt with a pair of sheathed combat knives in them, and a pair of brown fingerless gloves with strange orbs in the knuckles on top of a black skintight bodysuit. On one shoulder a stylized logo of a '7' in a silver circle was visible.

The bodysuit was ripped and torn in places, charred slightly in others.

A pair of eyelids opened, revealing russet orbs set in a beautiful, high-cheeked face. The facial expression was dazed, even somewhat... mystified? Eric was damned if he knew.

Jak, already captivated by the female figure, jogged down the heap of junk and stood next to her, unsure whether to touch her or not. The girl in the crater made that decision for him, as she stood up and stretched in a gesture that would have killed most fanboys.

"...Where... where am I?"

Eric sighed and walked up next to Jak. The kid was way too curious. Oh well, the lady asked a question. Best to answer her. "This is the scrapheap belonging to Tribe Omega, the last colony on Earth."

Her wondering expression did not change. "...Who am I?"

Jak, excited, grinned. "She's got amno-whatsit! What the Doc was telling us about!"

The other scavenger palmed his forehead. "Shut up, kid." Addressing the girl, he continued. "Don't you even remember your name?"

"...K...K..." The girl paused. "I think it begins with a K."

Then Jak screamed, as blood gushed in a crimson fountain in his chest.

The shapeshifting body of an Anima was behind him, one hand formed into a long, curved claw that had pierced through whatever clothing the boy had scrounged. A face blank of features besides the eyes glared menacingly at Eric, daring him to move.

The girl was the only one who moved.

With a flash of steel, a knife appeared in the Anima's forehead. It fell backwards, hurt, and shifted to a formless mass again, disappearing into the pile of trash.

"Shit." Eric cursed. He would be blamed for a death on his watch. "Come with me, girl. Help me get the kid back to the camp."

"...Kyrina." The girl responded.

"What?"

"My name is Kyrina."

And with that, she joined the man, leaving the small crater where a triangle within a circle was scorched into the earth.



f i n a l f a n t a s y : r e a l i t y

FINAL FANTASY REALITY

an angelhawk studios production

original concept by redshadow

written by chaosrayne

disk one: 9ine: cr4sh d4 p4r7ay



"It's just one of those days
Feelin' like a freight train
First one to complain
Leaves with a blood stain
Damn right I'm a maniac
You'd better watch your back
Cause I'm fuckin' up your program
And if you're stuck up
You just lucked up
Next in line to get fucked up.
I think you'd better stop talking that shit
So come and get it..."

Limp Bizkit - 'Break stuff'

Another universe, another time, another place.

Tara awoke to blinding light.

Next to her, on the verge of dropping off, was the blonde girl that the others called 'Alex'. Supposedly it was short for Alexandria, or something. Tara hadn't had the time to take notice.

"Hey." Alex smiled through tired eyes. "You're awake."

Tara nodded slightly as she let Durandal go through a diagnostics check. Seconds later, a metal tube poked into her mouth, pouring water down her parched throat.

"Whoa." Tara grinned weakly after taking a breath. "I guess that Aero spell really took a lot out of me, didn't it?"

Alex rolled her eyes in return. But the thief had saved all their lives. Magic wasn't her strong suit, and Patch had to drive, unless he let Durandal take that over for him.

And that Aero spell had been powerful as all heck.

If she could learn to do things like that... The blonde's tired eyes glazed over as she imagined having a large repetoire of magical spells at her disposal. Then there would be no need for this... person here intruding on their lives.

Alex then immediately hated herself for thinking so shallowly. She had saved them, after all. Even if Rain had still been in shape to fight after downing two MEDUSA in a row.

"...Can I learn how to do that?" She asked, innocently. "Magic, I mean."

"Huh?" Said Tara, nearly choking on a mouthful of water. Coughing for a while, she replied, thinking. "Sure..."

She was thinking a lot harder than she appeared to be. If she taught the other girl magic, Alex would probably use it against her one day when her cover was finally blown. But then again, maybe she could just hand them all in without them ever knowing that she was actually an Imperial assassin.

It was Alex's tired look that finally made up her mind. It contained confidence, assurance, and most importantly, trust.

Trust was a tool. It could be put to use.

Sighing, Tara reached for her materia pouch and withdrew a handful of small green orbs. "Okay. Take for example this Fire materia..."

I wiped sweat from my brow and finished adding the last touches to the Chaos mecha. It hadn't been damaged too badly in the fight with the MEDUSA, only sporting a few plasma burns that were for the most part superficial. A few patches soon took care of that, however.

But that was not what I had in mind.

Patch, coming in, paused to admire my handiwork. "You sure about this?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "This is what I want."

The Chaos mecha that I had nicknamed 'Bob' now sported a new coat of black over its scratched and scuffed white. Black and grey was a much better color scheme, after all. And the Imperials would surely be on the lookout for any mecha with the white of the original Chaos-type colors.

Plus, it looked cooler in black. I added two small detailed silver dragon heads on the left shoulder armor plate - confirmed kills. It took time, but that was something I had a lot of, since we hadn't arrived where Patch wanted us to be, yet.

It had been upgraded a lot more since its last fight, as well. Aside from the beamstaff it now sported full armor, a wave motion cannon, and a pair of wicked Chaos-sized plasma rifles.

"Not bad." Patch muttered, circling the crouching mecha. "Just one final touch..." He smeared a stray dollop of silver paint on his thumb and daubed a circle with a '7' in it on the right shoulder.

I grinned at him as he smiled back.

"Just in time too." He commented. "We should be there in a few hours. I'm going to have Durandal comm everyone to meet in the lounge."

I tried not to show my shock at going into a possible battle situation again so soon, but it still showed on my face. "A few hours?"

"What, you want to live forever?" He taunted. "Arm yourself, do whatever you want to do, and say your prayers. We crash the Reality Engine party tonight."

I sighed. I had two girls who very probably had attachments to me, after a fashion. Both had kissed me, in uncompromising positions, as well. I was also very much an emotional neophyte, in that sense.

I would have to sort this out. Hopefully they weren't fighting tooth and nail to see who ended up with me.

Wiping my paint-splattered hands on my jeans, I strode out of the cargo hold, my mind already conjuring up images of Tara converted into a bloody smear, or Alex charred to a crisp by a magical fireball.

I found them sitting on Alex's bunk, chatting quite amiably to each other, although Alex glared fiercely when she saw Tara flash me a coy smile. I hoped to hell she still didn't know about that kiss I got from Tara... and vice versa. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, the saying went, and I would be living proof of that.

"Nice to see you two bonding." I let fly a remark, only slightly tinged with sarcasm. "I'd hate to see you two fight over me."

"Men and their over-inflated egos." Alex retorted, picking up her M41-A trooper issue knife. "Why would we be fighting over you?" She put such an obvious emphasis on the word 'you' that it nearly made me wince.

I held up my hands in protest. "I'm not here to engage in vicious reparte. Just telling you two that we'll be arriving soon, so we'd better get ready."

A strange expression came over Tara's face. I wondered what it was. She is normally so readable.

"Is the mecha okay?" Alex didn't miss a beat. The girl was about to stride into a war zone in a few hours, and she didn't even seem concerned. "You guys have been fussing over that thing for the last few days."

"Boys and their toys." Tara chimed in, shaking her reddish-auburn tresses from side to side. "While we're on the topic, I guess we'd better tell you."

"We've got something for you." Alex stood up and hugged herself, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet. "You said you needed a new weapon, right? You lost your staff when you got captured."

"Yeah..." I pause. "Have you two been keeping a secret?"

Alex nodded, embarrassed. "It isn't much... but..." She reached under the bed and pulled out a staff similar to the one I had had before.

"Whoa..." My jaw hangs loosely as I touch it. It is covered in a silvery metal that I immediately recognise - the metal that I have been welding to Bob. The grip is loose and well moulded, and as I twist my grip on the handle, I hear a small 'click' and a plasma blade springs to life at one end.

Tara smiles. "It wasn't hard making something under your nose - you were always too busy with the Chaos unit. We based it off an 'ashandarei', a single-bladed staff. Hope you like it."

The blonde grins as I twirl it in a flashy arc, the plasma energy humming as it passed through air, stopping a bare inch from her throat. She doesn't even flinch. "Took us some time, though. The plasma wouldn't stay stable, so we had to use a magical holding field to stop it from getting out of control."

"Magic, eh?" I looked sideways at the redhead, remembering the time Tara had fried Durandal, Alex, and Patch into the bargain.

She feigned innocence. "Who, me? Hey, it was for a good cause this time, wasn't it?"

I sighed. Girls.

Patch frowned as he tapped his fingers idly on Durandal's steering system. The Reality Engine facility, as he saw it through the tank's scope sensors, had been put under twice as much guard as it had been last time. Men wearing the blue coats and red armor of the Imperial Guard stalked about nervously, carrying what he judged to be plasma rifles. More importantly, a pair of hulking shadows loomed in the background: artillery omega-type MEDUSA. Furthermore, a large aircraft, all spikes and edges, was situated near the camp.

They would be trying to move the Reality Engine to the Imperial Citadel as soon as possible. A wise choice, since the main Imperial city (just called the 'City' by some), was heavily defended by a miracle of magic and Ancient technology that they called a 'shield-wall'. Virtually impenetrable.

Attacking them now was the best option available. After all, once the Reality Engine was moved to the Imperial Citadel, Kira would be beyond his reach forever. There would be no chance at reclaiming her whatsoever. This was his chance.

Plus, it would be good to work out some stress he had been experiencing at doing the entire O7's job for it after it had been destroyed.

He leaned forward, showing a jaw-crushing smile, as the others walked in. Rain was in the lead, leaning on his new staff and looking moody. He had dumped his old denim blazer for a black combat jacket sewn with kevlar. Black suited his mood more anyway.

Alex was in her old gear, white blouse and slacks, but the sleeves had been rolled up to expose armguards, and in her belt was her knife, studded with new materia and sharp as a razor. The new member of their team was now dressed in freshly-cleaned thief gear - headband framing short red tresses, tan shorts, materia gloves, and a pair of sai at her belt added to the image.

Inspecting his troops, Patch sighed. A little young, but that couldn't be helped. They were skilled to at least a moderate degree, after all.

It didn't take long for Durandal to draw up a 3D schematic of the area, showing the building in a flickering holoprojector.

"Okay." He muttered. "There are more guards this time, so the illusion trick I used to sneak in last time won't work. They've even got a laser gate that we can't shut off without killing the power to the inside."

Rain nodded, peering at the revolving 3D map. "Dave, freeze frame." The computer instantly complied, the map stopping. Gesturing at the image, he continued. "There's a ventilation chute out top. Does it go anywhere?"

Before he finished the question Durandal was already answering. "I can detect large amounts of magical radiation from the area. My only natural conclusion was that there is a materia store inside the room, wherever it is."

"A materia store?" Tara's ears perked up. "Say what?"

Alex shook her head. She may not have liked the other girl, but her honest opinion was that Tara was a thief, and would most likely help herself to whatever she wanted on the way. "Maybe they have some spells down there that we could use to cause more damage."

Patch's grizzled face tilted to one side. "So... okay. If we divide into two teams..."

The blonde SFMA cadet was about to interrupt, but Tara had already glomped on to Rain. "I'm a team with Rain!" She stuck a tongue out at Alex.

The O7 trooper palmed his forehead. "Kids..."

Alex smiled. They were putting so much pressure on Patch, and all she could think about was Rain... how selfish could she be? "I don't mind." Tara just held on to Rain all the tighter, on the verge of cutting off his oxygen. The dark-haired teen began to turn a slight tinge of purple. "It makes more sense. Tara's a stronger mage, and if she found the materia store, could cause more damage than I could."

Tara almost seemed surprised to see the other girl allowing her to take over. "Well... okay then. You go with the big guy..." Patch growled slightly. "And nuke some Imperial butt!"

"So here's what we do." Patch said firmly before anyone else voiced a complaint. Rain would have, had he been not too busy trying to breathe. "Alex, you and me hit the building with Durandal."

"Aye aye." Durandal said over the speakers, sounding slightly amused. "Ready when you are, mon capitan."

Patch ignored the cyborg. "Rain, you and Tara take the Chaos mech and drop yourselves into the facility through the vet chute. Once there, cut the power to the laser gates, and we'll come in. Okay?"

Rain nodded weakly, finally managing to pry the thief off his neck. He took heaving breaths, relishing the free air once more.

"Then we join up again. You'll find us easy enough - just follow the explosions." For emphasis, Alex drove the point of her knife into the small table that was present in the lounge. It was heavy metal, but the blade still dug in slightly.

There was a young Imperial guard at the gate.

Scratching the shirt collar of his blue Imperial uniform uncomfortably, he sighed, taking off the helmet that came with the red Imperial Guard uniform. Sweat marred his brow.

For the sake of plot, let's just call him Jamie. He has no real importance to this story, and he will not ever. I just called him Jamie because I like the name, okay?

He had trained long and hard for many years in the way of the ninja. Although his parents had cried when he had said he wanted to join the war against the Rebels, the Imperial recruiting office had been quick to snap him up. They were short on manpower, after all. To them, anybody who could point a gun and shoot was considered cannon fodder.

Sure, he was a third generation Imperial citizen and would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a Rebel and a bunch of little kids off for adventure. Sure, he hadn't really had a 'master' during any of his hard years of training, unless you counted his many ninja videos, both animated and live action, that he had bought from some weird guy with a straw hat and rose-tinted glasses. Sure, he had never actually been to Japan, and had only picked up a few words of Japanese here and there through watching leftover DVD's. But he was confident that, if you traced back his lineage far enough, you would find many proud ninjas hiding in his family tree.

Truly, the blood of his ancestors ran strong in him! Jamie waited stock still in his position, guarding the outer wall to the Reality Engine facility. He would finish the mission objectives perfectly! If he discovered any rogue Rebels, he would give the attack squad the signal to, um, attack! He would succeed and show everyone exactly what he was made of! He was invisible like a shadow. He was quiet like a ghost. He was silent like greased monkey. He was-

A impossibly large tank appeared as if from nowhere, gliding out from the fog in front of him to level one hell of a cannon at the barrier.

-in deep shit, realized Jamie as terror took hold.

In a somewhat cruel, yet not entirely undeserved, joke of fate on the poor Jamie, every thought he had during this (his first real mission) was true, although not exactly in the way he had hoped.

For instance, while there were many ninjas within his family tree, most of them had been quite well known during their lives. Indeed, Jamie was standing guard with about the same degree of pride. And while it was true that the blood of his ancestors ran strong in him, Jamie would have been surprised to learn that many of his ancestors had been tragically killed in their first missions.

He would show everyone who saw him exactly what he was made of (a red liquid, mostly). He was as invisible as a shadow at 10:30 in the morning on a brilliantly sunny day. He was as quiet as the kind of ghost that wakes you up at midnight to chat about forging chains in life and likes to moan and rattle his copious examples. He was, indeed, as silent as a monkey who had suddenly been coated with a thick layer of greasy sludge.

And most of all, he was in extremely deep shit. In fact, it would not be inaccurate to say that it had no bottom.

A rocket ejected from one of the side-mounted tubes on the tank and exploded in the area where he had been standing, leaving a smear of red and blue Imperial uniform in the dirt.

"Main cannon, fire!" Alex ordered.

The large central cannon mounted on the turret brought itself around and fired a slug the approximate size and shape of a Ford Fiesta into the wall, where it impacted with a large 'boom'. Unfortunately, a large dent in the wall was the only sign that any damage had occured there at all.

"Damn." Patch muttered. "I guess we'll just have to go with our original plan after all. Rain, you ready?"

"Yeah." Rain replied into his comlink. With a heavy 'clunk', the back of Durandal fell open and one black Chaos mecha jetted out, a small form huddled in the crook of one mechanical arm.

"Incoming." Durandal calmly stated, right before a large explosion shook the tank.

"Who the hell was that?" Patch said, surprisingly coherently given the gravity of the situation.

Part of the central control screen focused and resolved into a littls square at the lower left of the display, showing the forms of two MEDUSA. Not just any MEDUSA, though - these were wingless, a pair of gaussguns replacing the standard wing components. They were artillery mecha - Omega class MEDUSA.

"Break off and engage." Patch barked. "Alex, save the missiles for later. Let's show 'em what else the tank cannon can do."

"Right on." Alex slapped a targeting visor over her head and took manual control of weapons. With this, the power of the tank was hers to command. Turning to face the new threat, she keyed the main cannon and fired another high-explosive shell in the way of the Imperial MEDUSAs.

The Omega-type MEDUSA, while being flightless, still had some advantages over normal artillery cannons. That being they were still MEDUSA. While slower than the aerial attack Beta-types and the general all-purpose Alpha-types, it could still move quite fast - it could match Durandal at max speed in fact.

It still didn't manage to dodge the shell entirely, however. It clipped the right shoulder of the nearest one, and that happened to be enough, as the large gaussgun's ammo contributed to the explosion.

The MEDUSA was now effectively reduced by half. Unusually, however, it was still up and moving, the left gaussgun returning fire. Obviously the Imperials had seen fit to equip simple computers into their MEDUSAs instead of pilots - cheaper and more cost-effective.

"Shit." Alex cursed at the controls, as both the mecha returned fire, rocking Durandal severely and nearly throwing Patch off his feet. "Damage report!"

"Armor down to 75% integrity. Missile tube #4 damaged." Durandal muttered, sounding slightly grim. "I'd suggest destroying those two MEDUSA as soon as possible. Failing that, we should avoid them."

"Got it." Patch grumped, getting to his feet and taking a firm grip on his steering in case he was knocked flying again. He spoke into his comlink: "Rain, I don't know where the hell you are, but hurry the hell up!"

"Incoming!" Durandal repeated, sounding strained.

'Bob' jetted up and over the barrier that the Imperials had put up for their protection. Behind me, I heard a muffled 'boom' as Durandal engaged the perimeter Imperials.

"Okay?" I yelled over the engine noise.

Tara grinned, her hair whipping about in the wind, huddled in the arm of the Chaos mech. She tapped on the cockpit window to show her enthusiasm, her voice sounding excited over the comlink in her ear.

Seconds later we were met not entirely too cheerfully by a barrage of anti-aircraft fire.

"Shit!" I screamed into my comlink, while I veered Bob away from the building and our supposed landing point. "Tara, can you get to the chute without me? I need to take care of business!" I moaned as another sprinkle of automatic gunfire peppered the new paint job.

She nodded. Muttering a chant I did not catch, she summoned a small disk of magical energy, stepped on it, and zoomed away. I hoped to hell she didn't get hit - mecha armor was one thing, but human flesh was quite another.

"Okay." I keyed the weapons, selecting the plasma cannons. "Let's get serious."

Taking a leaf from Shade's book, I jetted across the base in wide arcs, firing the cannons. The soft hum of the buildup plus the zap of the discharge was pure joy for me that moment, as I dived to ground zero again and again, every time aiming for an unsuspecting group of gunners at their posts.

Without further ado, I proceeded to systematically demolish the small group of deactivated MEDUSAs inside the base. No place better to fight them when they're down.

Then, I saw a black-cloaked figure step away from the pile of burning machinery that had formerly been a gunning platform and launch a large fireball at me that I managed to dodge.

Great. Goddamn mage.

I opened fire, but a magical shield was already in place, deflecting the burning pockets of plasma harmlessly away. Whoever that was, the mage was good. Tara had warned me against facing mages.

Taking her hint, I streaked away across the sky, hoping to make it before the mage caught on and begun seriously using spells...

A sharp crack of thunder, and I was falling.

Damn. Just too much to hope for, isn't it? I watched the normally stable displays on the Chaos's control system whirl out of control, shorted out or fried by the magical lightning bolt.

My momentum kept me going, though. Working desperately, I managed to control the engines to get me close enough, and then I unstrapped myself, opened the cockpit hatch, and bailed.

Jumping out of a moving mecha above a building that looks only a few feet below you but actually a lot, lot further is no fun at all.

I hit the roof and nearly rolled over the edge before I caught the edge and stabilized myself. Glad that I had kept a firm grip on the 'ashandarei' the girls had constructed for me, I used it as leverage to prop myself up.

A few metres in front of me, Bob skidded off the roof, and took a plunge as its engines finally died.

And to think I spent so much time working on that thing.

At least it made a satisfyingly powerful explosion when it landed.

I sighed. Does anything ever go my way? Reaching the ventilation tube, I offer a silent prayer in hope that I'm not about to drop into a room where 20 or so high-powered rifles were aimed at my person, I shot down it feet-first.

Catherine Shaw smiled, whipping her black cloak around her regardless of the cold. It didn't really affect her, anyways.

That Chaos mecha had been easy to down. And to think it caused so much havoc. The Imperial Empire should really look into drafting more mages. One simple Bolt spell and they all malfunctioned.

Why Renaku had called her was a mystery. She had been relieved of all duties regarding the Reality Engine, due to her failure in the last debacle when a Rebel had managed to escape with the Key.

It didn't matter now. She supposed anybody with her magical ability really should be asked to do a job like this, not forced.

"We got one of them... well, more like she gave herself up." A red-armored trooper of the Imperial Guard walked up to her. "Says her name is Tara - she works for some top-level Imperial guy called Renaku. Is she one of us, or not?"

Catherine Shaw paused. No. Not THAT Tara. Renaku wouldn't have hired her if he still had a sane brain cell in his body. There was no way he would have done that... would he?

Maybe he was just playing them all against each other, like some sort of twisted game.

"Can I see her?" The Imperial scientist put on an imploring look.

"Dunno." The trooper shrugged. "She whined so much that Keith thought of killing her right then."

"Dammit! I need to see her!!!"

"Might already be too late." The Imperial foot soldier put on a bemused expression. "Keith, ya know, he has a short temper." But he beckoned, and Catherine followed, growing increasingly uncomfortable about the entire situation.

Inside the complex, Tara said her prayers.

"Any last words?" The grinning man stared down at her, bound wrists to ankles like a turkey ready for roasting. "Want a smoke or somethin'?"

She glared up at him. "For the last time, I'm one of you! I work for a man called Renaku! That's R-E-N-A-K-U, for those of you who can't spell! And he'll be well pissed off if you inconvenience me..."

He glared right back, and in a dangerously low voice he said, "How about you shut your trap right now, little missy, or I'll will off you."

"Where's the Imperial tattoo she got if she's one of us?" A thin, gangly trooper piped up. "She ain't got no mark on her forehead."

"I have the tattoo." She flushed. "It's on the inside of my left thigh."

Whistles and catcalls sounded. "Then show 'em, lady."

She ground her teeth. Idiots... when she was back in power, just for the hell of it, she would come back here to this guy and watch him die by her own hand.

"Show 'em." The gangly trooper repeated. "Or we kill you."

This was an affront to her dignity! Would she truly sink that low just to save her own skin? Wait a second... those ropes they used were loose. Maybe she could work her way out of this one yet...

"Screw this." A heavyset man added, leveling a nine mil at her. "Die, Rebel scum."

And with that, he fired.

In that split second before the slide slams backwards, the spent shell ejects out the side of the gun and the bullet slams forward, a few very important things happened.

The first was that a very dirty, scuffed Rain barged through the door, staff in hand.

The second was that Tara realised that she was about to die. Getting loose of the ropes took time even for a professional like her, and she did not have that time.

The third was that Rain threw himself in the path of the bullet.

Restart time around here if you used the slow-motion play-by-play camera angle. If you didn't, on with the story, although you may want to record this: it's so much cooler in slo-mo.

The redhead's eyes grew wide as the full impact of the shell hitting flesh resounded through the room.

Utter silence reigned.

Rain collapsed in a heap, eyes vacant and staring, a hole punched through his body at chest level.

"...you... shot him." Tara said, head bowed, barely shaking with rage. "You shot him."

"No shit." Heavyset muttered, blowing smoke off the end of one finger as if reliving the moment.

In the next few moments the men standing to either side of her realised they had made a mistake by not tying her up tightly enough and leaving her weapons within easy reach.

With an almost primal roar, Tara broke free of the ropes, and before the startled men could even blink, had both her sai in her hands, and held them up in a fighting position.

Heavyset fired again, but missed due to his startlement. That motion was all the thief needed - she flipped her body up, kicking the weapon out of the man's hand, and with the downstroke slashed sideways to score his face across. He stumbled back, face a bloody mess.

Dropping to the floor, the redhead stabbed one of her sai through one's foot. Kicking off the blade, she leaped up and backwards to plant a kick in the stomach of one who had been trying to sneak up behind her.

She bent down, retrived her sai off the one who was screaming bloody murder about his foot being shish kebabed, and punched him in the chest, with the blade of the other sai protruding from between her fingers.

Twisting, she knocked one back and away with a simple roundhouse kick, and finally blew him into the wall with the use of a Fire spell.

Sighing as the trooper breathed his last, she was on her knees and pumping healing magic into Rain before the bodies dropped.

"Unnnh?" The boy groaned intelligently. "Damn... that hurt."

But even as he was speaking the bullet wound in his chest shrunk to almost nothing, leaving only a sore pink patch of skin where the bullet had hit. As he got up he was held by a sobbing Tara, holding him close.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." Rain muttered weakly. "I'm just freaking F-I-N-E."

"Fine?" She murmured quizzically.

"...Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional."

She giggled for a moment, unable to help herself. "At least your sense of humor remains intact."

"We should cut the power. Alex and Patch out there are counting on us to shut down the gates..." Before he had finished speaking, a blue bolt of magical electricity had arced from her hand into the lightstick that lit the room.

The facility was plunged into darkness as the energy surge overloaded all the capacitors in the building's energy supply and shoved it forcefully back into the Dark Ages.

"I'm sure we can wait on that."