Okay… chapter two…

First and most important: Holy Spork, still, does not own Baten Kaitos. So please don't sue me.

Second, I've fixed the thing blocking anonymous reviews. Hell, I didn't even know there was a block for that. I'm sorry if anyone tried to review and didn't get through. That's been fixed so now please review if you would like! I'll still take absolutely anything.

Thirdly…

The story…

Chapter II: Among The Living

The man with the blue hair looked down at the person the guards had brought in. He was lying on one of the infirmary beds, out cold.The guards that brought him insaid that they had found this man buried in the snow, in the Ice Mountains, almost frozen to death. He was skinny, almost unnaturally so, even for a man who had been starved for days and days. His skin was pale, as if it had never seen the sun. His long black hair fell over the pillow his head rested on like black water over white rocks. His face was fair, elfin almost. The blue haired man looked down at him, trying to rationalize the suspicious feelings he had. He heard footsteps behind him. He turned around to see his wife walking into the infirmary. Her blonde hair caught the light, making it seem lighter than it had before. As she walked up to him they embraced tightly, each reveling in the presence of the other. "Something bothering you?" asked the woman, "And don't lie, I know something's bothering you."

The blue haired man looked back at the man lying on the bed, thinking about how to word his thoughts. He knew that his feelings and fears were irrational, but he did not want his wife to think that. "I just…" he started, "I have a bad feeling."

His wife hugged him tightly, closing her eyes. "I love you," she said, "But you have a problem with trusting people." He gave her an indignant look.

"I just…" he said, groping around in his mind for the right words, "I just have this feeling that something isn't right." He said finally.

"Don't worry so much." Said the woman, hugging him a little tighter. "There's nothing to worry about." They both turned around when they heard the man on the bed give a moan. He looked up at them his eyes glazed an unfocused.

"Where am I?" he asked, looking around, trying to get a sense of his new surroundings.

"In the palace in Wazn, at the capital," said the woman, She pointed to herself, "I'm Xelha," and indicating the blue haired man next to her with a hand said, "And this is Kalas." Then turning to the man on the bed, asked, " Who are you?"

"Morjidza." Said the man on the bed, eyes that were almost black still unfocused, "My name is Morjidza,"

Allyr did not wake up right away, instead she lay on the ground, eyes closed in a half-sleep. She lay on the soft, leaf-covered ground for a long minute, trying to get her bearings. When she opened her eyes, she looked around, and realized that she was lying on the ground in the city park. What had happened just now? How did she end up on the ground, and in the park? When she remembered the spirit she had seen, she sat bolt upright, alert and looked around. The ring of feather lights could not be seen, anywhere around her. She lay back down on the ground with a heavy sigh of relief. It had not happened, it had all been some kind of bizarre waking dream. Then she felt something in the back of her mind, a presence, as if someone, or something, was beginning to stir from sleep. She sat up bolt upright again, trying to figure out what it was. She looked around her, in vain for there was clearly no one else there. She heard a voice mutter, "Damn it…" in her mind. It was as if someone else was thinking in her head, rather than hearing the sound through her ears, and then reaching her brain. She recognized the voice, as the one of the spirit. Though the echo, and the distant sound were gone. The speaker could have been sitting right next to her for all its volume and clarity. Allyr recognized the voice itself, and it was like a hard slap to the face.

"K…Kalas?" she said, not sure what to say, or where to say it to, "Is that you?"

"Huh?" said the voice again. Allyr looked around for the source of the voice. But it seemed to be coming right into her head, bypassing her ears, which told her nothing about the location of the speaker. That, and she seemed to be completely alone in the park, which did nothing to lessen her confusion. "How do you know my name?" inquired the voice.

"Um…" said Allyr, still very confused. She tried looking up at the tree where the spirit had been. Nothing was there. "I'm Allyr." She said, even sounding confused, "Remember me? Your old Guardian?"

"Allyr!" said the voice, half surprise, half relief, "Really? Thank the gods it's you!"

"Wait a minute," she said, looking around, "Where are you? Why can't I see you? And why can I hear your voice in my head? Hell, why can I feel you in my mind?"

There was silence. Allyr quickly thought of something. She closed her eyes, and tried to reach out with her mind. When she found Kalas, though some kind of mental link she gave a start. It was like the voice being in her mind, but this feeling was like another soul inside her, a warm light deep inside. It was also a presence, and a feeling, she recognized. She knew that feeling, for over two long years she had felt that, except, she had felt like she had been the one inside, as a part of someone else. She knew that presence, because she had felt it for the vast majority of those two years. Her theory was confirmed. "Did you do that on purpose?" she asked, eyes still closed.

"Do what?" asked Kalas, confused.

"Um, did you mean to bond with me?" asked Allyr, starting to feel a little embarrassed. She reached out for him with her mind again, and this time, she knew exactly where he was. This only deepened her blush, as the possible complications came to her, "Like um… as a Guardian Spirit?"

Kalas was silent for almost a full minute, contemplating this, and feeling a little awkward himself. He had not intended to bond with Allyr. It had just sort of… well… happened. "Um… no," he said, "I didn't mean to."

As this sank if for both of them, there followed an awkward, and rather pregnant silence.

"Wait a minute," said Allyr, realizing something that should have been terribly, blaringly, shockingly, horribly, blindingly, obvious, "Why are you like this?"

"What do you mean?" asked Kalas, thinking he knew what was coming, and dreaded it.

"Why are you a spirit in the first place?" asked Ally, looking up to where Kalas was floating above her. He was a disembodied spirit now, and thus invisible to her. She only knew where he was in relation to her by feeling for him through their new bond. He was nineteen when she left his world, and because time flows the same between their two worlds, he could not be here for natural causes. Either Kalas was in a coma and had crossed over that way, or something, or someone, had killed him, "What happened to you?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Muttered Kalas, looking away from Allyr.

"I just want to help," said Allyr, looking concerned, "Sometimes just talking about something makes it less painful. Or maybe there's something I can do to help-"

"I'm dead!" he suddenly snapped, "What can you possibly do to help me!" After a pause, he swore to himself under his breath. (Or as close to 'under his breath' as he could get, while not actually having any breath.) Allyr did just want to help, and he went and snapped at her. Gods, he was just going from one mistake to the next.

Allyr stared at Kalas blankly, "You're… dead?" she said, stunned.

"Is it that much of a surprise?" he muttered.

"Um… yes." Said Allyr, "I mean, I hadn't died and I stillendedup in your world. I had just fallen into a coma. I was hoping that you hadn't…" she trailed off and fell into silence. She took a deep breath, and asked, "How did you die?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Muttered Kalas again. Though he did think about what Allyr had said. He thought she had died, and had come to his world as a dead spirit. But then, he had never asked how she had ended up in his world. He had just assumed that maybe she just could not find her way to whatever afterlife there was, which was more or less what had happened to him. As to how exactly he had gotten to be this way, he really did not want to talk about it. Not even to Allyr. Not now. That was filled with all the things he felt that he should have done, and things he felt that he should not have done. Allyr felt a strong feeling of guilt and regret from Kalas. It was like his emotions spilled over their bond, like water overflowing over the rim of a cup, and Allyr could feel it. The feeling was so strong that she herself started feeling a little depressed. Allyr knew Kalas well enough to know that he did not beat himself up about just anything. Whenever he did beat himself up about something, it was always something big, and he did not usually get over it fast because it was such a big deal. She did not know the cause of his guilt and regrets, but was still plenty worried about him. She wondered what could have happened to make him feel this way. Did something happen to Xelha or one of the others?

"Are you alright?" Allyr asked.

"I'm fine," said Kalas bluntly.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" asked Allyr, hoping that maybe needling Kalas would get her the answer.

"I'm sure," he said, with a finality that told Allyr that he would not talk about it anymore.

They were silent for a minute. Allyr sighed. Well, the reason Kalas was here could probably wait for a while anyway. Then Allyr started. She jumped up with a yelp, remembering something. How the hell could she have possibly forgotten that? "What's wrong?" asked Kalas alarmed.

Allyr, her haste, had for a minute forgotten Kalas completely. This resulted in her jumping in surprise upon hearing his voice, and slipping on the decaying leaves on the ground. She landed heavily on the dirty ground, with a muttered curse and a loud "Ow!"

"Are you alright?" asked Kalas alarmed, silently hoping she was not hurt. He did not like the thought of being with Allyr in a hospital for several days while she recovered from a broken leg or something.

Allyr jumped up again, this time careful not to trip or slip on anything, "I'm fine," she said quickly, brushing the leaves off of her shirt, "But I need to go now!"

"Go where?" asked Kalas confused, "Why?" He had been hoping for a clear, concise answer to his questions.

He did not get one, "Go now!" she shouted, "Talk later!" Allyr ran to the asphalt path and bolted down it towards end of the park. Kalas could do nothing more than float after her in a confused silence.

Allyr bolted out of the park, and started running as fast as she could in the direction of her school. When Kalas emerged out of the park, he got his first real glimpse of the city he was now in. Tall buildings made from glass and concrete were all over the place, many taller than anything he had seen before. Noises of distant machinery that Kalas did not recognize filled the air, sounds he had not heard or noticed before while he had been in what he had assumed to be a forest. He looked back at the clump of trees he and Allyr had come out of. Then he realized that it had been a park he had been in. He looked back out at the buildings and the city. There were long streets of some black stone Kalas did not recognize between the buildings, with white and yellow markings he could not understand. Strange, wheeled machines of all shapes, sizes and colors sped past on the streets, their human passengers clearly intent on whatever their destinations were. There were loads of other things to take in, such as the strange signs, various objects, and people but Kalas became acutely aware that Allyr was already speeding off. He felt a tugging, like that of small child tugging at a sleeve to get attention, as she got further and further away. Eventually, the tugging became so strong he had to follow her, but still took every opportunity to snatch glances at his new surroundings.

When Allyr arrived her school, she slowed down and panted for breath. It was a cold fall day and the freezing air dried out her lungs and made it hard and painful to breathe. She looked up at her school when she got most of her breath back. It was a rectangular building made of dark brown bricks. Over the front double doors there was a radial clock, telling Allyr that an hour had elapsed since she had left school. She sighed with relief. That was good. She thought she had been out longer. "What's this place?" asked Kalas, trying to figure it out.

"School," panted Allyr, "Where they… work us… seven hours a day…"

Kalas stared up at the building, thinking. When Allyr could breathe normally again, she walked out into the parking lot, Kalas floating close behind. Allyr walked up to her mother's green car, which Allyr unlocked with her keys, and the car gave a beep. She was about to open the driver side door, when she noticed that Kalas had gotten no closer to the car. She looked back to where she knew he was floating, staring at the car. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"Um… what is this thing?" he asked, "I saw a bunch of them back in the city too."

It suddenly occurred to Allyr just how ignorant Kalas was about the ways of her world. He had asked Allyr about her world when they were bound before, butshe had never gone into detail. She neither remembered exactly how much she had told him, nor knew how much he remembered. Clearly, cars were something new to him, "This," she said, patting the roof of the car, "Is a car. It's our method of transportation in the cities and over some distances."

"Why don't you fly?" he asked bewildered, "Or even walk in a city?"

"Humans have never been able to fly here," said Allyr, choosing some basic facts to give to Kalas. It seemed like he would really need them, "And many of our cities are so big walking would take too long. And before you ask: The continents have never floated in the sky. We have several oceans that have always been there. And here, there are no such things as Magnus or magic." She paused for a minute, making sure that Kalas was taking this in.

"You don't have Magnus here?" he asked after a pause, "How the hell do you carry stuff around?"

"We manage." Said Allyr shrugging, "Come on," she added, "I need to go home." And with that, she swung herself into her car. Kalas floated in quickly after her, examining the strange vehicle from the inside.

How the hell do you work this thing? Thought Kalas and he watched Allyr turn the key and work some other things strange to Kalas. There were various buttons and gadges who's functions Kalas could not even begin to guess. When the engine revved, he gave a start, which was an interesting experience, as he no longer had a body to actually start.

"It's just the engine Kalas," said Allyr patiently.

"Oh…" said Kalas feeling embarrassed at his panic. Allyr then pulled out of the parking space, and drove off in the direction of home.

Apparently, meeting up with an old friend (albeit a dead one) up in an oak tree did not constitute as a reasonable excuse for coming home late. Particularly as Allyr could neither actually say this, or blame her lateness on school or work. Allyr did not participate in that many extra-curricular activities that take place after school. And she had lost her job because she had been in a coma for over two years, and had not yet found a new, permanent one. Allyr had snuck into the mudroom at the front of the house, and deposited her backpack on the floor. Allyr had been hastily removing her right sneaker when her mother cornered her.

Her mother was a short, overweight woman in her late forties. She was wearing a short sleeve red shirt and very new looking black pants. She had a round, red face that had those wrinkles around the eyes that come from smiling a lot. Thought right now, she was not smiling at all. In fact, she was giving Allyr a look that could probably wither plants.

"Young lady!" snapped Allyr's mother as she walked into the mudroom. Allyr had been leaning against the wall for support as she raised her right foot and attempt to remove the shoe. Her mother caught her by surprise, making Allyr jump and almost lost her balance. "Where have you been?" continued her mother loudly, "You're well over an hour late! Explain yourself! And why do you have dirt and dead leaves on your shirt?"

Allyr knew that if she did not come up with a reasonable excuse very, very soon, her mother would jump to conclusions. She would think that Allyr had been a bad, baaaaaad girl, doing bad, baaaaaad things in the park. She groped around for an excuse. She would probably have to include the park, which would be the only way to explain all the leaves and the dirt. Though if she actually told her mother she had met up with a dead guy in the park, Allyr's mother would think her daughter nuts. She sent Kalas a feeling of needing help through their bond. They could not exchange thoughts comprised of words telepathically, but they could share emotions, feelings, and occasionally images that way. His response was the equivalent of the message given when one shrugs, without the shrug. Clearly he meant, "I don't know!"

"Um, I took a quick walk in the park," invented Allyr wildly, hoping her lie sounded convincing, "Just a quick one. But I tripped on a tree root and hit my head on a rock. I got knocked out and woke up much later-"

"Oh, honey!" interrupted her mother, sounding worried now, "Are you alright?"

"Oh yeah I'm fine," said Allyr, though she knew she said it a little too fast, "There's no blood or anything! When I came to I ran back to school, grabbed my car, and here I am!" Allyr smiled what she hoped was a convincing smile. This was a faulty half-truth to be sure, or maybe just a quarter truth. Thought Allyr hoped that half, or a quarter, would be enough to convince her mother.

It was. Thought Allyr's mother still went about being an irritating mother, "Alright," she said, "Do you want me to look at your head?"

"No!" said Allyr, again, knowing she had been too quick, "I'm fine. Really! No blood! No concussion! Nothing!"

Her mother gave Allyr a worried look. "Okay," she said, "Just give me a yell if you don't feel well. Alright?"

"Alright," said Allyr, hugging her short mother quickly to reassure her. Then after removing both of her shoes, she picked up her backpack and headed off to her sanctuary, her room. After closing the door behind her, she dumped her backpack by her bed, opened it, and proceeded to rifle through it. By the time she had wrestled out her biology textbook, (Which could probably double as a baseball bat it was so big) she finally noticed that Kalas was being uncharacteristically silent. Sure, he was not the most talkative person in the world, but neither was he the quietest. That, and he had been pretty talkative up until that point. He had asked Allyr to explain everything he had seen on the drive over, displaying a curiosity Allyr had not noticed previously. She had thought there was enough junk in her room, let a lone her house, which he should have been asking about. Now he was totally silent. "Kalas are you okay?" asked Allyr.

"Huh?" said Kalas, who had not really been paying attention. He had been lost in his own thoughts, and had not really noticed anything since Allyr arrived home.

"You're being really quiet," said Allyr, "Something bothering you. And don't say it's nothing," she added quickly, "I know something's wrong. I can even feel it now."

Kalas was totally silent for a little while. "I don't want to talk about it," He said simply, looking at the ceiling.

Allyr nodded. "Alright," she said, deciding not to press the issue, "But if you ever do want to talk about it, just say and I'll be all ears." Unless I'm driving in which case being all ears would get me killed. She thought dully, but decided not to voice that thought.

There was a sudden knocking at the door, "Allyr?" said a muffled male voice from the other side of the door, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" said Allyr loudly in the direction of the door, "What makes you think something's up?"

"You're talking when there's no one else in your room," said the voice, "Are you hiding someone in there? Or are you on the phone or something?"

"YES!" said Allyr, louder than was really necessary, even when eight feet and a door separated her from whom she was talking to, "I'm on the phone! Who'd you think I was talking to? Dead people or something?"

"All right all right!" said the voice, "I'll leave you alone Allyr."

There were footsteps as whoever Allyr had been talking to walked away. After a pause, Kalas said, "That wasn't funny."

"Of course it was!" said Allyr laughing, "If you can't laugh at yourself who can you laugh at?"

"Who was that anyway?" asked Kalas, wanting to change the subject.

"My brother," said Allyr, "His name's Takei."

"Weird name." Said Kalas simply.

"You're one to talk," said Allyr smiling up at where Kalas was floating, "Who's named after a carrion-eating bird?"

They were silent for a long minute after. Allyr retuned to getting her junk out of her backpack, feeling embarrassed at her bad attempts to cheer Kalas up. Kalas suddenly said, "Hey Allyr,"

"What?" asked Allyr, trying to dislodge her world history textbook.

"What's a 'phone'?"

Okay, there's the end of the chapter. Again, please review! Yet again, I'll take anything, good reviews, bad, flames, anything. Just please, please review!

Though I'll go and hide in this bomb shelter while you review, 'cuz someone out there probably wants a piece of me for what I did to Kalas, particularly since now there's no doubt about his 'condition'. I promise, there will be a happy ending to this fic! I was going to have one anyway… so there will be one! Please don't kill me!

I'll be back with another chapter later. Until then… I'll hide in the bomb shelter...