Author's Note: It has been way too long since I updated. I know this. But now that school is out, I can devote my time to writing and you should be getting regular updates! The thing is, I've got another fic on the way too. I was thinking about getting that started once I get this chapter out. I'll need to find a beta reader for it though. Grrrrrrrr. So what I'm going to do is get this chapter out, and then start on the other fic. When I get the first chapter of that out, I'll start on LF16. Then it goes on and on. If I can't handle it, I'll put that one on hiatus and keep with this one until I finish it. This fic is the most important to me, thanks to you guys. Thanks a bunch to Shadray. Please read: If you'd like updates on how far I am, or snippets of future chapters, check out my LJ. I listed it as my homepage on my author's page so check it out. This comment is aimed at you, Shadray. ) Though you haven't emailed me for a while...

Anyway, that was just a waste of time that I didn't need to tell you but I did so that I could have a bigger word count. I mean ... that was very important. Whatever, just read the fic!

Hospital in Kazas

The girls all sat around the waiting room, hoping and praying for any news. Well actually, Lily was nervous. How would Areon react at her sudden outburst? What possessed her to do that anyways? She looked back on it and didn't understand. It was a very stupid thing to do. She felt like a total idiot. Not that I care what that half-witted monkey thinks of me, but still, she thought, I can't believe I did that. Nobody will believe him anyways.

Jun has absolutely no idea what was going on. As Lily's mother, she was the oldest, so you'd think she would have some sort of grasp on the situation. However, she was more confused than anybody. She had no choice other than to be pulled in to this. Besides Lily, she didn't really know any of these people. She hadn't had any chance to get to know them, because most of the time she had been with them, the group had been quietly sitting in a hospital.

Crystal couldn't think of anything but weather or not the guys were alright. She knew Areon would be okay. She didn't even know what happened to Josh, and she could care less about him. It was Valen she was worried about. Em had really gone crazy on him, and she wasn't sure she could ever forgive her for that. She could understand the first attack, but when he was lying on the ground, writhing in pain, and she just kept kicking him and kicking him ... that memory would never be erased from her mind. It brought tears to Crystal's eyes just thinking about it.

Em, like Crystal, knew that Areon would be alright. Em pretended not to care about Valen, but she did hope he was alright. That was only because she didn't want Crystal to kill her over it. She knew Crystal was mad at her, but she didn't see why. Valen had attacked Josh, and because he was unable to fight back, Em had done it for him. If somebody had attacked you, wouldn't you want to hurt them to the point where they wouldn't do it again? It made sense to Em. Crystal was apparently unable to understand.

So they all sat there, each thinking their own thoughts. There was no noise, until the door suddenly swung open.

"Valen!"

There he was, good as new. The color had returned to his face and his long black hair was free of tangles produced from staying in the hospital bed all that time. His green eyes no longer looked dead, they were now as beautiful as they had always been.

Crystal had to restrain herself from jumping on him as he walked in. Then she took a closer look, she realized he wasn't very happy. He was healthy, of course, but looked infuriated and sad. That wasn't a surprise, if he had his way he wouldn't be anywhere near this group of people. But some cruel twist of fate had brought him here, and he couldn't escape.

"Alright, I'm fine. Now I'm leaving." He did.

" Well that was delightful." Em remarked. Crystal growled, and followed after him.

"Valen, where are you going?"

Valen turned around. Crystal looked hurt, and for no good reason. He hadn't done anything to her. He didn't want anything to do with any of these people.

"I'm getting away from you people. I don't know you, I don't want your help, and I want to forget this ever happened."

"You can't. You're a dragoon, and you can't avoid it."

"I know. That's the part that sucks. I don't like any of you, and I want to leave." He said bitterly.

"You can't leave."

"I could if I really wanted to."

"Then do it."

Valen just stood there. He had been cleared to leave from the doctor, he could find Hoshiko and rejoin the search for the angels. He could tell her where the escaped angels were. If he did, he would probably be promoted to Tanya's old place. Yet he felt like he needed to stay. He couldn't explain why, he hated these people. Was this the reason why the dragoons stuck together through previous Dragon Campaigns? He had heard all about them, everybody had. There were certain members of the group that hated each other, yet nobody ever left. These were during times when the future of the planet was at stake. Was something this big really happening? Valen felt the need to stay.

"I don't really want to." He said smiling at her. It was one of the few times he smiled. Crystal couldn't help put notice how gorgeous his smile was. She could feel her face getting hot, so she turned on her heel and walked away, hoping she didn't look like a retard in doing so.

Crystal walked quietly back to the room the girls were in, trying to get the picture of Valen with a smile on his face out of her mind. When she got into the room, Em asked her a question at once.

"Wouldn't it be a lot faster if Lily just healed Josh and Areon so we could get out of here?"

"No. How would she do that without the doctors noticing?"

"She wouldn't. I just don't see how that matters."

"What do you mean it doesn't matter? We can't let everybody know there are dragoons again!"

"Why not? Oh, I know what's going on." Em said with a hateful tone in her voice.

"So do I! I don't want to blow the secret and you do."

"No, you just hate Josh's guts, don't you? You don't care if we blow our cover, you just don't want him healed. You'd be delighted just to watch him writhe in pain on that hospital bed, while you laugh like nothing's wrong. You know It's true. You keep sticking up for Valen, even though he decided to attack Josh for no reason."

"Of course I hate him! He killed my parents, for Soa's sake! Is there any reason for me not to hate him? Josh deserved what he got."

"Are you saying that Valen didn't?"

"Yes. You could have just attacked him enough for the message to sink in. You didn't have to beat him around, after he was helpless and squirming on the ground, you still kept torturing him. Like a murderer. That's what you are. A cold-blooded killer who just wants him dead."

The two of them were almost in tears. Lily and Jun were whispering in the corner where they were seated.

"What are you two whispering about?" Em demanded.

"We were ... not taking bets!" Said Lily in an unconvincing tone.

"We really weren't." Jun agreed.

As soon as she said this, something flew through the door and crashed right into the wall. The girls got a closer look at it, and gasped, recognizing it as an angel. His wings were broken, as well as his neck. It was like he had been killed and thrown through the door for no reason.

"What's going on?" asked Em.

"I don't know. I'll find Valen." said Crystal.

"Of course you will."

Crystal opened the door and couldn't believe her eyes. There were angels flying around everywhere. They weren't happy because they escaped from Hellena, they actually looked more miserable now. They were flying around with weapons, attacking walls and innocent people. The rest of the girls rushed to see the scene.

"What the hell?" Lily and Em said together. They both turned into dragoons and left.

"Idiots!" Crystal screamed at them. They either couldn't hear her, or didn't pay her any mind, because they didn't respond.

Crystal growled to herself, and then ran out into the battlefield. The angels had apparently gone nuts. They were attacking everybody without wings. It was only a matter of time before one of them crashed down on her with a sword. Luckily, he just barely cut her forearm. The angel wasted no time talking and charged at her. Crystal easily stepped aside and ran past him. It was like they were drones. Existing only for the purpose of fighting, and they were bad at it, so the only advantage they had was in numbers. I really hope I don't have to transform into a dragoon to get out of this. Those idiots have already blown out cover though. Now where is Valen?

Running down the hall, he was easy to spot. He had also gone dragoon, with his black armor and transparent wings he was hard not to see. Crystal bit her lip to keep from screaming. Valen had his sword raised up high, and he was standing in front of a man. The had no weapon in his hands, but was standing in a fighting stance. His hands were covered in blood, it was impossible to tell weather it was Valen's or his. He was not an angel, nor was he a dragoon. You could still tell that Valen was having a hard time. He was sweaty and he was trying to take deep breathes.

The stranger had greasy blonde hair, and blue eyes. He looked like a typical pretty boy, but judging by the scene in front of her, Crystal could tell that was not the case. When he saw Crystal, he jumped out of his fighting stance and walked off, motioning to a group of angels behind him to keep fighting. Without a word, Crystal and Valen drew their swords.

"Death Dimension!"

As soon as he said that Valen flew off at a high speed. Crystal brought out her wingly wings and flew off to catch up to him.

"Valen , we've got to find Lily and Em. They just flew off somewhere. And I have no clue where Jun is."

"Okay, let's find Jun first. She's an angel, these other angels might be here to bring her back."

Areon and Josh's room

Lily and Em, still in Dragoon armor, rushed into the room. Areon and Josh were being threatened by a female angel.

Em swooped over her, channeling electricity in her fists. Before the angel could notice she was there, Em had punched her in the side of the head and knocked her our cold. She didn't need to tell Lily what to do. She was over by the guys, using the power of the White Silver Dragon to heal them. She was trying not to look at Areon in the process.

"Thanks, Lily."

She didn't respond. Areon wasn't waiting for a response though. He jumped right out of bed, grabbed his dragoon spirit and transformed himself into the Jade Dragoon. He picked up his dagger and waited for everyone else to follow him outside the room.

They didn't need to be told. Areon, Lily and Em flew out of the room, leaving Josh running to catch up.

"Lily!"

Lily turned around and saw Jun, gasping for breath, fly over to meet them.

"Jun, what's the deal, are they looking for you?" asked Em.

"No, they saw me, but they didn't do anything. They didn't attack me, or try to take me hostage."

"Then what the hell are they doing here?" asked Areon.

"I honestly have no idea. It's got to have something to do with being in Hellena. I'm glad I didn't get stuck there."

They all stood there thinking for a moment, until Valen and Crystal showed up.

"Do you two know what's going on?" asked Areon.

"No clue," replied Valen, "But I was fighting a guy who seemed to have control over the angels. He wasn't an angel though. I've seen him before in Hellena, but I've never talked to him. I don't even know his name. I was never told about any mind control crap."

Later...

"What do we do now? The hospital is barely standing, all those Hellena people know we're dragoons, and Liam is gone."

"I think we should go find Liam." said Lily.

"He said in the letter not to go find him." Crystal told her.

"So what?"

Crystal thought about it for a while. Then she smiled and said,

"Fine."

A/n: WHEEEEEEEE! I really suck at long chapters, but this one is over 2000 words. Go me!