What Really Matters

she let out a terrified shriek as she sat bolt upright, looking around frantically, before she could move around too much she was half tackled and hugged,

"I'm so glad you're ok! Damien, Bobby and I were trying so hard to get you back!" Annakhin cried,

"Annakhin? Get me back from where?"

"You went into 'veggie-mode' after that last war of the words with Clare. We've been trying everything we could think of to wake you. We were even going to try to get Zykan to go into your thoughts and drag your ass back to reality, but he wouldn't do it. No matter how many times he went 'down'."

"Not fuckin funny!" Zykan yelled from his perch on the tree he'd been in for most of the day.

"I...what? I went into shock again?" she said, clearly confused at the whole thing.

"Damien! Skayr, Miko, she's awake!" Annakhin cried, the group was around her shortly after, Miko and Bobby looked slightly apologetic,

"we...thought you were gone for good." Miko said,

"I kept telling them to just leave you in some random town and keep on course." Bobby admitted, "I'm real sorry."

"No apologies are needed."

"You're ok, then?" Damien said, crouching down in front of her, she nodded, then was the victim of Pardoner jumping on her. The little kitten scrambled his way up onto her shoulder purring and rubbing his head on her cheek, she gave a tiny smile and seemed very relieved to see the cat, Damien frowned, "more sins, then, eh?" she nodded again, "if you mean that freaky spaz you had the last time we saw your sister, forget it. Like I said a while back, I told them to leave it alone. Whatever it is that caused that, it's history. Ok?" she hesitated for a long moment, then, nodded.

"I can't say that it will never happen again, though. I was concentrating so hard on holding back the transformation that I didn't notice her-it" she seemed reluctant to go on with that sentence after that slip up, but she finished it, "slide right past me...I spoke too much, please, forgive me."

"Who's 'she'?" Bobby asked, Damien gave her a look,

"didn't I say drop it?" he said, "though I'm curious myself. But, I'll leave it be too."

"Thank you" then she watched in confusion as Damien turned around and flipped Zykan off, yelling at him to 'quit with that shit', only resulting in Zykan falling out of the tree he was in, laughing hystericly, "Damien...?" he froze, Zykan stopped laughing and watched for a second, "what are you talking about? What did Zykan do now?"

"Yeah, really, this one looks like a good one." Miko said, now everyone was interested and Damien was spazzing, babbling bits and pieces of the truth and several things he had planned on using to save his ass later on, Zykan was in hysterics again, every now and then managing to breathe properly. Azuril and Pardoner watched the entire thing, then she looked st the kitten,

"it seems I will have to ask you to forgive me for lighting this fire as well." she said, Pardoner mewed loudly, "my sentiments exactly." she said, going back to silently watching the humorous scene she'd managed to crawl away from, just in case she might get stepped on.

"Come on, Damien, you didn't get hurt! Lemme alone!" Zykan cried, climbing as high as he could up a tree, Damien stopped under the tree, glaring up at Zykan,

"because, you little ass! You know what I'm talking about! Get the hell down here so I can kill you!"

"How fucking stupid do you think I am! Not on your life!"

"Get down here, you freak!"

"No!"

"Should we stop them?" Miko asked, she was sitting next to Bobby, helping with cooking lunch, Skayr was watching the pot on a grate over the fire, making sure nothing boiled over, Annakhin was bringing over some vegetables, glancing over her shoulder at the two boys of the group,

"no," she said, setting the vegetables down between Miko and Bobby, then she started chopping them up to put in the stew, Bobby was dealing with the meat, cutting it up and separating it into several piles, trying to figure out how much to use in the stew to leave them a fair enough amount for later on. Miko was examining some small jars with different spices and herbs in them for cooking, "let's let them burn out. They'll stop Eventually."

"Ok." Bobby said, finally putting the meat into the stew, she went back to the chopped bits she'd been working on and blinked a bit, "hey! Get away from my meat, fuzz ball!" she snapped, diving at Pardoner as he grabbed up a large piece of meat in his mouth and ran with it, hiding in Azuril's arms as she caught him from a flying leap away from Bobby, she settled back against the small pile of wood they had gathered up for their fire, holding the kitten as he watched Bobby come to a sudden stop in front of her, "that cat ate my meat!"

"He needs to eat too." Azuril said blandly, defending her kitten, petting him as he ate his dinner, "you've plenty more where this one piece came from, and we will be buying more at the nearest town. I think it's safe to say that you can spare one piece for him." Bobby sputtered slightly, then stared in confusion as Azuril pointed at something behind her, "your stew is boiling over. And your kitchen-mates are panicking." Bobby's eyes widened and she turned around, running back over to the fire, and her stew, screaming profanities. Azuril smirked with some amusement, then she closed her eyes, leaning back, relaxing all of her muscles, she was tired, though it had been a week since she'd come out of her state of shock, she was still exhausted, mentally and physically. She vaguely registered the sound of Annakhin finally getting fed up with Damien and Zykan and yelling 'down' about six times in a row, followed by Bobby announcing the stew was ready, apparently she'd saved it. That meant her rest was short lived,

"I should kill you right now!" suddenly played through her head, whenever she was conscious, properly thinking, that phrase haunted her.

"Azuril?" it was Miko, "though I think I know the answer already, are you hungry?" Azuril shook her head,

"no. I'm fine, but, I will come to join you if that is part of it." she said, Pardoner had just finished his meal and looked around, searching for something, "and I will ask for water for Pardoner."

"We can do that." Miko said, walking back over by the fire, taking some lunch, Azuril sat down next to Bobby, Skayr was sitting on Bobby's other side, Azuril was trying to keep close to them, after what Clare had said, she wasn't going to leave them alone again, not ever. Bobby glared at Pardoner, who had caught on to the fact that, no matter what he'd done, all he had to do was run to Azuril and no one could touch him. The 'mother and child' effect. Azuril filled a small bowl with water and set it down for Pardoner, who happily took advantage of its presence.

"Azuril, are you ok? You look tired." Annakhin said, with everything that her friend had gone through in such a short amount of time, she was worried for her health.

"I am fine. Just tired, that is all."

"Hope you're not shittin us, cuz I ain't carrying you if you pass out." Zykan said, back up in the closest tree, eating his lunch, though it looked as though he didn't like it.

"Are you alright, Zykan? You look ill." Azuril half teased, he glared at her,

"I ate too much that's all. It's all yours, Bobby." he said, passing the bowl of stew down to Bobby, who gave it a suspicious look,

"you didn't drug it or something, did you?"

"No! Why the hell would I do that!"

"It's just a little suspicious that nothing's changed about it since I gave it to you, you know, how much is in the bowl. Did you even eat a bite of this?"

"Yes, I did. And I don't want it."

"A moment ago you said you'd eaten too much, now you just don't want it? Big switch, Zykan."

"Who said you could talk, Miko?"

"She has a point."

"shut up, Damien!

"My, touchy, aren't we?"

"Bravo, Skayr, now ya got him even more pissed."

"So?"

"I hate all of you."

"I'm hurt."

"Good, dammit!"

"Aw, let him be, guys. If he isn't hungry then he doesn't have to eat."

"Yes! I love you!"

"Will you people finish eating so we can continue towards the next town. I need to buy more ammo."

"Yes, ma-am."

"Do we get to stay here and sleep in real beds for the night, Damien?" Bobby asked, Damien was exhausted, he'd broken up several fights between Skayr and Zykan, several fights between Miko and Zykan, and several murder attempts by Bobby, Annakhin had done most of the work with Zykan, though.

"Yes. Bed. Bed good." Damien mumbled, slightly irritated at being bugged right away once they first entered the town,

"I'll go rent some rooms." Miko said,

"Zykan and I will take care of getting more food and medical supplies." Annakhin said,

"we will?"

"Zykan, I don't want to say it in public, but you know I will."

"Yes, ma'am."

"She has him cock-whipped." Bobby said, Skayr snickered a bit at that, "we'll go hunt down more supplies, miscellaneous stuff." she said, leading Skayr away into one of the shops nearby. Damien and Azuril stood staring dumbly at the space where people had once been.

"They did that on purpose." Damien said, Azuril gave him an odd look,

"am I truly that displeasing to the eye?" she said, half serious, she still knew she looked like the freak monster she was, but when she had her friends around her, she'd forget about it for a while. Damien blanched, then jumped back a bit, shaking his head,

"no, that's not what I meant, I mean, well, you and, uh, well, and I, uh..."

"Forget it." she said flatly, "I will allow the general public to judge me. Not someone who will say I don't look like a monster just because he is a friend." she said, Pardoner was asleep in her arms and she wondered how she would go about doing things while he was there. She didn't want to wake him, but she did want to get her shopping done.

"You still think you look like a monster, huh?" Damien said, walking over to stand in front of her, "well, gain some self-confidence. You don't look like a monster, or freak or whatever, ignore Zykan's vampire remarks, he's just mocking the coffin we found you in, that's where that all came from."

"I had it figured that that came from his demented conscious, but it still irks me. Though, I'm growing used to it."

"Yeah. You answered to 'Vampire Girl' several times so far. I'm not sure whether that's good or bad though..."

"We will find out later at some point, I'm sure." she said, then she looked around, found what she was looking for and headed towards it, a weapons and munitions store,

"that girl is a predictable basket-case." Damien muttered before following her. When he caught up with her she was staring at something on the shelf in front of her longingly, she obviously needed it, but hadn't grabbed it, or anything for that matter. Then he noticed why, Pardoner was still asleep in her arms. "What do you need? I'll carry it." he said, she nodded towards something on the shelf and he grabbed it for her, this continued until they went to the counter with only three or four small things and several larger things, she didn't over spend like everyone else, she got what she wanted then left, blunt enough, cheap enough. Sometimes he thought that that was the only reason she'd grab only a few things, because she wanted to save them some money. They paid and left, "damn, this stuff is heavy. And you lug it around like it's nothing."

"I am used to carrying what I need to, light or heavy." she said, he sighed and shook his head, she wasn't much of a conversationalist unless you caught her off guard. On their way to the inn Miko was waiting for them at, they got several odd looks, Damien seemed to be the only one who noticed, or maybe he was just the only one who cared. Several boys, about Damien's age, if not older, snickered as the pair walked by,

"now that is an odd couple." one of them said, Damien glared over his shoulder at them, just getting pissier when they laughed more,

"Damien, do not waste time and energy on fools and clowns, Miko is waiting." Azuril said, thus vexing one of the boys,

"she's a fine one to call someone a clown, look at the wardrobe on her part, it just makes her look like a femmie." his friends snickered at that, another one of them spoke up,

"y'know, I'd have to check on that to see if she's just a queer, or just some creepy, confused chick. about those, And her boyfriend isn't saving her much either, that's where the 'fool' bart of the relationship comes from, right?" Azuril was slowing her pace greatly, Damien gave her a confused look, especially when she stopped walking and seemed to be listening to something, then he registered the teasing continuing behind their backs,

"it takes a fool to date a clown, I get it now. He'd have to be a fool to be seen with someone who looks like her."

"Don't you mean 'it'? I thought those things kinda had their own category."

"Yeah, it does. But they all end out saying; either 'there's guy dragging a little queer femmie towards the inn, or the kid's just nuts and that really is a chick." Azuril walked over to Damien, handing him Pardoner,

"hold him, I won't kill them." she said, then she walked back to the boys, staring at them expectantly.

"What the hell are you doing you freak!" Azuril shrugged slightly,

"waiting for the talking monkey's next performance. Or are the curtains closed for today?"

"What?"

"You seemed quite talkative when you thought we weren't listening. Now, I would like to know what was said about me. If you are going to insult me, mock me or taunt me, than say the words to my face, instead of taking the coward's way out. And, if you have such a problem with seeing Damien, go home, stay a bit longer and continue to stare dumbly and I'll shoot you." she said in her normal monotone, holding up her gun. The group scattered. "I thought as much."

"Why are you always using that thing to get out of trouble?" Damien said as he handed Pardoner over to Azuril. She shrugged,

"I'd be hypocritical if I lied to them. I thought it best to tell the truth." she said, then she started walking again, Damien staring bug-eyed after her.

"you threatened to shoot someone again?" Bobby said, Azuril just sat in silence, waiting for the rant to end so she could walk away, she knew this routine from her time spent with her cousin. "Why are you always using your gun instead of your brain?"

"Because had I not warned them first, I would have fired anyway." Azuril said plainly,

"a blunt and effective approach, if I do say so myself." Zykan said from his seat on the ceiling of the hotel room, Bobby glared at him,

"well, you don't have a say here. So shut up." he flipped her off, but she was already back at Azuril, "they could arrest you for that sort of thing, not to mention, out of paranoia from your appearance, they might shoot you. Then what?"

"Then I would die knowing that I truly do look like a monster, as you said." Azuril said, Bobby did a double-take,

"what? When did I say-"

"lemme see if I can quote it...oh! Here we go! 'Not to mention, out of paranoia from your appearance, they might shoot you.'." Zykan said, Bobby glared at him,

"I didn't mean-"

"'out of paranoia from her appearance'...nice way of saying you think they'll think she's a freak and shoot her. You're so generous, Bobby." he added, Bobby cringed,

"is that really what it sounded like?" she said, Zykan seemed to think on it for a second, then he nodded,

"pretty much."

"Shit! Azuril, I didn't mean-"

"I do not care about words. Though, I use them to figure out what it is I am."

"You take a freak 'head-count' sorta thing to decide on what it is you really are?" Zykan said,

"Zykan, don't say it like that." Annakhin said, Damien sighed loudly,

"I think we've had enough time to bash Azuril today. get outta her room. Let's go. Let her alone." he said, jabbing Zykan with his sword, "you too, freak-job."

"Dammit! I'm going, I'm going! Cut it out!" Zykan snapped, falling off the ceiling, landing on his feet near the door, he picked up his scythe and left the room, pausing a second to look behind him, raise an eyebrow and smirk at Damien, who flipped him off, then he left the room completely.

"What is it that has you acting so oddly like that?" Azuril said, putting Pardoner down on her bed, Damien blanched, then repeated his earlier response of incoherent babble, she sighed and shook her head, "never mind." he looked somewhat relieved by that statement. "You become stranger and stranger by the minute, Damien."

"Well, I'm glad you don't hate me, at least."

"Would I have defended you if I hated you?"

"Guess not. Thanks, by the way."

"It was nothing."

"Hey, Azuril," Damien sat down on the girl's bed, automatically getting attacked by Pardoner, who wanted to play with a thread he'd found somewhere, Damien complied, not having much choice. Azuril looked up from her work, she was sitting on a chair against the wall a small ways away from the bed, cleaning her gun, parts were laid out on the dresser top next to her and she was obviously having somewhat of a tough time pulling off cleaning them with only one human hand, he raised an eyebrow, "want some help with that?"

"Is that what you wanted to say?" she looked slightly confused, if he sat around by her when he knew most of her attention was focused on something else, he'd normally say or ask something a little more relevant and serious than that.

"No, just noticed you seemed to be having trouble." he said with a shrug, "ow!" Pardoner had a good grip on his hand and wasn't letting go. "Get off me, ya fuzz-ball!" he said, finally getting Pardoner to let go, "evil little demon cat." he muttered, glaring at the kitten, who was already busy playing with the thread again.

"I'm positive that wasn't your intended reason for staying here either." Azuril said absently, still concentrating on her cleaning.

"No, no, it wasn't. I wanted to make sure none of those insults or jokes got to you at all, you know, the comments about you being a monster or a freak?"

"Words have no power to impress the mind compared to the exquisite horror of their reality. Damien, I am not affected by the truth anymore."

"Whoa. Ok. That was eerie in a way, poetic, but eerie." Damien said, then he stood up and headed for the door, "just checking. I guess, I think, I mean I hope that meant that you're alright." he left the room after that.

"Zykan, you shit-head, you cheated!"

"The more stupid they are, the more they try to blame it on somebody else."

"Oh yeah! Then answer me this, fat-head, how do you get four aces four times in a row! How! How! By cheating, that's how!"

"Look, don't blame me because you're stupid!"

"I'm stupid for thinking you would play fair!"

"No, you're just stupid."

"They've been arguing like that for the past hour. Damien, can't you take the cards away or something?" Bobby said, looking at the blond sitting across the table from her, he groaned and let his head hit the table as he fell forward,

"no more, dammit! No more!" he whined, Zykan and Miko had been playing cards for quite sometime and couldn't get through a game without arguing every turn. Suddenly, there were two loud 'thwack' noises, followed by Zykan and Miko cursing,

"ow-what the hell'd you do that for!" Zykan snapped, when Damien and Bobby turned to see what had just happened, they saw a very miffed Skayr, holding, what looked to be, some sort of fan, glaring at them. Then she started kicking at Zykan's head, still glaring,

"just shut up, and play nice, and if you make another sound, I'll do it again!" then she stalked away. Miko snickered at Zykan as he tried to fix his hair, he looked like a girl with it hanging down out of a pony tail, her laughter was cut short by a book hitting her in the face, "didn't I say 'shut up'!" Skayr practically screamed from across the lobby, they were waiting for a few more members of the party before they went to the next room, which had a huge breakfast buffet in it, only for people who had rented a room the night before though. Annakhin and Azuril were still no shows.

"Can't we leave without them?-" another book was thrown,

"damn you, I said shut up!"

"How does she do that?" Damien said, Bobby shrugged, then looked at Zykan, who was rubbing his head where the book had hit him and growling under his breath, "Zykan, you know damned well that you won't get very far without Annakhin and that freaky bracelet of hers-" Zykan jumped to his feet, covering her mouth, preparing to at least attempt to duck some random blunt object Skayr might throw at him,

"shut up about that! Remember, I'm still a spell-locked fugitive! People will have been told what to do to control me, or kill me. I like living. No jewelry, kyay?" he whispered, loud enough for her to hear over the rest of the noise in the lobby, she nodded, then ducked, Damien and Zykan both looked oddly at her, then heard a noise similar to a creaking of old springs in a chair. The pair looked up and spazzed,

"Skayr! Skayr! No! Don't-" Damien was cut short when a couch landed on him, and Zykan.

"...down down down down down down down!" Annakhin finished, she'd had Skayr drag Zykan outside, then started yelling at him, for, what she called, terrorizing the general public, he was starting to feel the hurt from the bracelet's hold on him as well as the pain inflicted by being repeatedly bashed into the dirt. Azuril had simply stood aside, watching Skayr clean up the mess she made, Bobby scolding Miko about being stupid enough to play a game against the devil, Damien stood aside as well, Miko was his best friend, and he'd give anything for her because of that, but not if Bobby, her huge boomerang, and hot temper were involved. He wasn't an idiot, like hell he'd go in there, especially since Bobby had her boomerang on her back, where she could easily yank it off and beat him with it. He sighed and walked away, sitting down on one of the chairs Skayr hadn't thrown at someone,

"I have an odd feeling I'm not going to make it through this journey sane." he muttered, Azuril looked at him, Pardoner was running around by her feet, she wasn't letting him go too far, she didn't want to lose him.

"I can't say that I disagree with you." she said, then Annakhin came back inside, Zykan limping in, healing quickly, but still in pain, the bracelet's effects fading as well.

"dammit! That hurt-" he was hit with a book

"Skayr!"

"It was a reflex."

"Sure...whatever."

"Come on, you guys, let's go eat."

"Alright!"

"Bobby, wait for us!"

"You're yelling after deaf ears."

"Whatever, I'm hungry."

"Then let's go before I let Skayr chuck a book or piece of furniture at your head."

"You're cruel..."

"...come, Pardoner, I do not wish to be left alone with them..."

"Ha, ha, Azuril!"

"Walk, all of you, before I become too annoyed..."

"Going!"

Despite the odd glances, for both Bobby's endless eating, and Zykan, Skayr and Azuril's appearances, breakfast went well enough, even though Azuril had to hide Pardoner under the table to give him breakfast without getting him thrown outside.

"So, where are we off to next, oh fearless leader?" Zykan said, then he snagged the last piece of sausage,

"hey!" Miko snapped, "that's my sausage, you freak-job!" she ended out snatching at it frantically when Zykan waved it around in front of her face, then the group was rescued again, Skayr hit them with the harrisan, Azuril had called it a harrisan,

"god! Give her the damn sausage and go grab your own!" then she pointed at Miko, "and you quit being such a little moron!"

"I hate my life." Damien moaned, hiding his face behind his hands. Finally, Skayr sat down and Zykan and Miko shut up. "Well, now that that fiasco's over and done with, Zykan, to answer your earlier question, we're going west from here. Someone saw a woman matching Angela's description, down to the letter, headed west."

"But, how many other people are out there that might fit that description, Damien? It's too broad a category." Azuril said, popping another whole piece of bacon into her mouth.

"I can just hear your arteries hardening." Bobby said, Azuril looked at her quickly, but calmed down right away,

"my cousin would say that exact same phrase whenever she looked over what food I was going to eat." then she grabbed a piece of bacon right out of Zykan's hand, he blinked a bit, decided against arguing with the girl with a gun, and grabbed some toast.

"You're eating every piece of bacon or sausage you can get at. What's that about?" Damien said, Azuril just shrugged,

"my favorite foods." then she bent down and put a piece of sausage down under the table for Pardoner, who tackled it, he hadn't eaten yet, she'd given him a small bowl of milk, but she'd been waiting until the best moment to sneak him his breakfast.

"You're feeding him restaurant style sausage? The cat's gonna clog an artery or two, or go into cardiac arrest, or whatever." Zykan said, then he smirked and grabbed the last piece of sausage,

"Zykan, you shit-head, you did that on purpose!" Miko snapped as she watched him eat the sausage in one bite,

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liar!"

smacksmack

"will you shut up!" Skayr snapped, glaring at the pair she'd hit, for the umpteenth time that morning.

"Fine! I won't purposely provoke her anymore! Geez!" Zykan said, Annakhin came back from her quick run to get more sausage and bacon, she put the bacon down in front of Azuril automatically, then she put the sausage in the middle of the table and took her seat again, sipping at her tea, she wasn't a coffee person.

"Azuril's right, dude. She may be an evil psycho fuck up bitch, but she does a good job at blending in.-ow! Fuck!" Zykan said, Pardoner was on his lap, holding his hand down by standing on it, claws out to insure he stayed up properly, eating his sausage, "why you little-!" he went after the kitten with a fork, but only succeeded in stabbing himself in the arm when the cat took the sausage and ran. From the slight jump Azuril did a second later, he'd taken a seat on her lap, she gave Zykan a flat look while watching him licking at the places he'd been stabbed or clawed,

"apparently he likes restaurant style sausage." she said, he glared at her,

"teach that thing how to act like a pet, not a brat! He ain't living through trying to steal my food again!" he snapped, he could hear a familiar 'click' sort of noise under the table and he paled, "um...forget I talked." 'Un-click'. He sighed in relief, then went back to his wounds.

"Oo...kyay..." Damien said, giving Zykan an awkward look as he watched Annakhin, one, heal his wounds, and, two, scold him for trying to skewer Pardoner. "I know she has a point there but, there's one thing Angela has that the other girls won't have, unless she opened a tattoo parlor, Angela has a small pair of black bat's wings tattooed on her neck. That's why I'm only following certain leads, they mention it."

"Dude, I am so not gonna ask how you know where and what that tattoo is." Zykan said, then he yelped and ducked a fork,

"shut up!" Damien said, slightly red in the face. Some of the girls gave him odd looks, the rest either chose to ignore it, or concentrate on blocking it out. Miko glared at Zykan for a second, he hid behind Annakhin, more remarks on Damien's love life...when he had one...followed, then they were back to business.

"So, we're seeking the girl with a tattoo on her neck?" Skayr said, she was one of those who just ignored her surroundings. Damien nodded,

"and, from what I've gathered and what I said earlier, she's headed west."

"Well, then that's where we're headed for certain." Skayr said, slightly angry just from talking about Angela,

"cool it, Skayr. You'll get your chance." Bobby said, Skayr growled, but calmed down, grabbing the last of the sausage, no one complained.

"If we are all finished frightening the other guests in the room, I suggest we take our leave." Azuril said, picking up Pardoner, Damien nodded, Bobby as well,

"I think we've freaked these people out enough for the rest of their lives. Let's leave them with some sanity." she said, following Damien and Azuril, Skayr close behind, Miko, Annakhin and Zykan, who'd been overly paranoid about the 'too big for him' robe he wore slid off one of his shoulder, or show off too many seals and wards that took up much space on him, also, stealing a quick glance over his shoulder as they left, following.

"Uh, Damien, I hate to be a broken record-"

"what the hell is a record, anyway?" Skayr said, Bobby looked at Azuril,

"you mentioned it before, tell all what a record is."

"A disk with different grooves and lines marked on it, they somehow make music when you put them on a turn table, a record player, a spin them around fast, with a pin of some kind touching the surface...I'm not sure, I only ever saw my cousin use one, I never really learned anything more."

"Oh...I don't get it." Zykan said,

"then let it be." Azuril said, "you were in the middle of saying something to Damien, I believe."

"Oh! Yeah, thanks! Damien, I hate to, um, repeat my self continuously, but, are you sure we're going in the right direction?"

"Of course I'm sure...ok, no I'm not."

"Just go by where the sun is, genius." Bobby said, "the sunrises in the east and sets in the west."

"Ok, Bobby, whatever."

"You wanna bet me money?"

"No. Fine, let's 'follow the light'."

"Funny, Damien..."

"Yeah, even Azuril's cat's laughing."

"Shut up, Zykan!"

"Moving on, we are moving on!"

"Thank you, Miko."

"No prob. Hey! I said move!"

"...Pardoner, will it be a sin to shoot them?"

"Ok, yeah, we're moving!"

After that riveting conversation, Damien led the way, Azuril stayed in the back with her hand on her gun, and her cat on her shoulder.

"Hey, Azuril, how come you're not up by Bobby?" Zykan said, he'd noted Bobby's somewhat control over Azuril, Skayr as well, but no where near as much as Bobby, Damien was the only other person besides those two that could tell her to do something knowing she'll do it.

"I will do as I please unless ordered otherwise." she said, tilting her head a bit to get her hair away from Pardoner, "not now, my friend, I must keep my focus." then she kept walking.

"I swear it, she likes that cat more than she does all of us combined." Zykan said, giving Azuril a short glance from behind him, Miko nodded,

"but, she's not our problem. She can jump off a cliff for all I care." she said, Annakhin looked at her friend,

"she can hear you, and you shouldn't say all of those horrible things just because you're jealous of her unwanted devotion from Damien."

"Unwanted?" Zykan tilted his head to the side a bit, giving her a confused look, "what do you mean by that? She seems fine with it to me."

"But, that's because you're an observer, and a guy. We're talking about one of the people that are being observed, a female one. Different genders, different brains, different answers." Annakhin said, looking over shoulder at Azuril, who had busied herself with trying to detatch Pardoner from her shoulder so she could carry him, but he wasn't budging. "She's human too-"

"she's human?" Miko said, "she's told us several hundred times that she isn't human, and she's proved it repeatedly."

"Yo, I gotta agree with Missy here. You're turning green, my friend."

"What?"

"Green with envy." he said, "you're buggin out because someone you care about is trying to have a life, and you don't like it. Glad I'm not in Damien's spot."

"Miko, I'm sure he still cares about you. That's never going to change. You're always going to be his best friend. But, if you are his friend, you'll let him be happy."

"Besides, we all know that, Eventually, with all of the disasters that come with that girl, he'll hit the ground like a rock. Then you can comfort him, or whatever it is you people do." Zykan said flippantly. Annakhin gave him a look,

"if you weren't almost exactly correct, I'd say it." she said. "But you did hit something there. Azuril will just keep pushing him away, and in the end, he'll need someone who does care to help him. Just hold on Miko. You have so far. You're strong enough to last a little bit longer, right?" Miko nodded,

"you're right. He'll come around when she keeps pushing him away from her. I can help him then."

"Alright. Enough of that, I'm gonna barf."

"Down."

thud

"very nice."

"I hate you both."

They found the nearest town before nightfall, it was a ghost town, no one on the streets or in front of any of the buildings,

Why am I having flashbacks to old shit-western movies? Azuril thought, looking around, "we should try to find some form of life." then, a tumbleweed rolled by and Azuril did a double take, "wha...?" her eye twitched a bit, ok, now that was just damned ridiculous! I'm adding another ten minutes onto that woman's torment session for confusing me and slightly weirding me out.

"what's wrong?" Miko asked, Azuril shook her head slowly,

"nothing."

"You're a shit liar, but we'll leave it at that. Unless told otherwise." Damien said, "ok, now what the hell're we supposed to do? Searching for life would be pointless because we'd probably get ourselves killed if these old buildings cave under us."

we could go with stereotype. Azuril's brain said, she followed its lead, looking at a building with a sign in old, faded painted letters that read 'Saloon', she made a face at it, ok, I am now freaked, I didn't think I'd actually find a saloon! I didn't know they even made these kind of towns here! Aaaaaggggh! Confused! she shook her head rapidly, trying to clear it of Young Gums scenes and stereotype western movie scenes, flashbacks were the last thing she needed.

"What's with her?" Zykan said, giving Azuril an odd look as she shook her head, looked up, then shook her head,

"don't ask me." Bobby said, "she's just weird. That's all."

"And we are the perfect group of people to be insulting one another about lack of normality." Skayr said, glaring at Bobby and Zykan, then she glared at Miko too, "I find the lot of you odd as well." then she walked over to stand next to Azuril, who finally pulled it together, "what is it? What is this place?" Azuril looked at her in shock for a second, then relaxed, picking up Pardoner, who had made a mad dash after the tumbleweed, but wandered back when he gave up on trying to keep up with it.

"It's a very well known setting in my time. Gun fights, women, drinking...wretched impersonations of southern accents..."

"Women, huh?" Zykan said, then he looked around, "choices seem limited at best-ow!" Bobby hit him several more times before Miko kicked him in the face, then Skayr beamed him across the back of his head with her harrisan.

"Keep your forked tongue in your mouth if you don't want to lose it, imp." she snapped, then they looked at Azuril, who seemed unfazed by the comment.

"You're not gonna try to shoot me or anything?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Waste of bullets and precious energy."

"Ouch."

"Ok, ok, you've finished your revenge, let's go." Damien said, "I assume, with your obvious knowledge of this scene, you know exactly where all the action is." he said, looking at Azuril, she nodded, then looked at the saloon again. "Ok, let's go." as can be expected of him, Zykan popped up next to Damien, smirking, "what ever it is you're about to say, go choke on it and die."

"I'm hurt."

"I hope so."

"That's cold, my friend, very cold." Zykan said, smirk never faltering, thus somewhat creeping out Damien.

"What do you want, get it over with and go away, you're giving me the creeps."

"'women'."

"What?"

"'women'. She said 'women', and we get zip, save for the rag dolls back there."

"What do you want, Zykan!"

"Figure it out. If she said this scene is supposed to have chicks, then why don't we use our brains, numbskull." he smacked Damien on the head, looking somewhat annoyed, "take advantage of that fact. The fact that this place is supposed to have girls, and I'm guess there's supposed to be a bar in there, I'm also guessing the guys did all the talking in there, though she doesn't make much of a conversationalist, now, does she..."

"This is about Azuril!"

"Uhh..." Zykan took a few steps away from Damien as the pair both turned around slowly, "it was all him." Damien blanched,

"what! You're the one trying to play match-maker!"

"Trying. Failing. You can clean up your own damn screw up. I'm out." then he popped out of sight.

"Damien...?" Azuril started, planning on asking him why he'd said her name, that overlapping what? But she decided to just sit and wait for him to talk. She blinked in confusion when he clenched his fists and turned back around,

"let's go." he said tensely, he sounded almost...angry. Why would he be angry? If it had something to do with Zykan then there was no need to be confused, but this was a new one on her.

first he has a whispering session with Zykan, then he bugs out and yells my name, then he gets mad. Did I do something? she tried to think of something she could have done to get him angry, nothing out of the ordinary. So it must be Zykan. No mysteries there, then. she thought to herself following the group into the saloon, with her cape and gun, she was the only one that even remotely seemed to belong in the dilapidated bar. Bobby was behind the counter, looking at bottles, she took her gaze away from that quickly, Jessi... she found Skayr poking at a piano as though she'd never seen one in her life, scaring herself something terrible when she poked one of the keys and it made noise. Lisa... she looked around the room more, Miko and Annakhin were clearing off the stools and bar top, Lizz, Anna... she looked around again, not finding the two boys of the group, oh, man, not only is Vincent one of the oldest members of their group, but he's apparently the baby sitter as well! "Zykan? Damien?" she said, her way of asking if anyone had seen the pair, Skayr looked up from her slow process of dismembering the piano to see what made it tick,

"I've not seen them." she said, then she continued her killing of the piano.

"She's never seen a piano before?" Miko said flatly, Bobby sighed, now she was cleaning out some glasses, again, Azuril found something else to look at.

"She wasn't raised in a town with those kind of things. Her people live deep in a closed off forest area, it's got mountains all around it, along with some very nice springs I've been told, that's what I mean by closed off. They weren't into making pianos and guitars or any instruments, save for some types of flutes and lyres, some drums and harp/guitar crossover, you know, basics. Nothing big. They lived off of what was provided for them. But, somehow, our resident psychopath got a hold of her and her family, she managed to escape, after watching the slow process of losing everything she had. That's why she's so sympathetic towards you, too, Azuril. She knows, slightly, where you're coming from on all of this."

"I much appreciate it. I didn't enjoy the feeling of being alone again."

"Again?"

"I have my own scars and secrets. I'm sorry, but I would prefer it if they were never brought up, consciously, in conversation again."

"Kyay. Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize. None of you have seen those two?"

"I think they went to look around upstairs." Annakhin said, pointing to the staircase, just as she'd thought, it looked like a true western saloon,

"Brothel." she muttered, then she put Pardoner down on the bar, "if you would, please, watch him for me."

"No prob." Bobby said, watching the cat go straight after its owner, grabbing it as it ran past her, "Annakhin, gimme a hand here."

"Alright." Annakhin said, taking Pardoner from Bobby, petting him smiling when he started purring.

"That cat's pampered." Bobby muttered, Miko nodded her agreement.

Azuril looked around when she got to the top of the stairs, they should be easier to spot than this...and easier to hear. Where are they? she started walking around the open hallway, opening door as she went by them, but, finally, she found something behind one of the doors that made her freeze up and stare pale faced what the fuck! There are people here! Ack! A grown woman with a teenager's brain should not be seeing this! she backed away as far as she could before the railing behind her impeded her movement, she bit back a scream, especially when the pair reacted, the woman staring dumbly, probably at the fact that Azuril was a female and fully clothed at the same time. The man in the room went after his pants, and more so, his gun. Azuril got to hers first. "I do not wish to shoot you. If you leave your weapon where it is, I will leave without killing you." she said, she knew her face betrayed her voice, which she'd finally learned to keep emotionless in even more odd situations than she had earlier. Her eyes widened further from fright and she pressed back against the railing harder, the man was yelling, but no sound was coming out, then he grabbed his gun in her moment of shock, firing it, no sound. She decided not to test theories and ducked the bullet, bolting away from the room.

"Hey, Skayr, leave that poor thing alone for a second and come over here." Bobby said, looking up, she was joined by her friend, then she pointed up, "all of you, tell me what you see."

"Azuril."

"Opening doors."

"Why?"

"Watch this next little bit, I'm positive something's gonna be there. I can just feel it."

"Uh, Bobby..." Annakhin was backing away from the bar slowly, as was Miko, Bobby and Skayr were still watching Azuril,

"Hey!" Bobby cried, Azuril had whipped out her gun and was aiming at something in the room she was in front of, freaked out to the extent of her abilities. "There's something up there!" then she became even more confused when Azuril ducked down, then ran like mad. "There was nothing there."

"Then why was she so frightened?"

"Bobby! Skayr!" Miko snapped, pointing to the bar, there was a bartender standing there, giving the pair of girls a miffed look, there was a barmaid(/slut...) There as well, giving the girls an odd look. They stood frozen for a second, then dove over the bar, knocking over a few stools when they landed, Bobby grabbed her boomerang, ready for anything that might come, but stopped and stared when the bar tender started snapping at them,

"he's not making any noise." Annakhin said, Pardoner was fluffed up and hissing, "you see them too?"

"Let's get out of here." Bobby said, the other three girls just gave blank nods, but when they turned to make a break for it, they froze up again. "Ghosts!"

"Everywhere!" Miko cried, patrons were showing up, still no noise, anywhere.

"Hey, can you hear Azuril, or Damien, or Zykan?" Bobby said suddenly, they all shook their heads, "I knew it. it's a time gap."

"A what?" Skayr said, raising an eyebrow, Bobby huffed, then started to explain,

"a gap in time, this town, well, the reason it isn't on the maps is because it keeps switching what it is."

"What?"

"A town was built here, but they built it on some sort of sacred space, one that dealt with the proper flow of time."

"Ok, but why are we surrounded by ghosts?"

"I'm getting to that. Shut up."

"Sorry."

"Ok, the reason why these guys can apparently see and hear us is because, right now, we've partly gone back in time to god knows how many years ago, and since we're the ones invading their time space, we're visible and audible to them. They're ghosts to us because they're from the past."

"So we're standing on sacred ground, being yanked around in time?" Miko said,

"pretty much."

"Well, that's not too disconcerting or anything."

"You mentioned that it keeps changing what it is. What was that about?"

"Well, since the sacred space is responsible for time related magic, this part I think Zykan will be better at explaining, since he's the one that's dragging us back in time."

"What! I'll kill him!" Miko shrieked, Bobby grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her,

"give him a break, he doesn't know it's him that's responsible. It's an unconscious reaction the sacred space is having to the fact that we have him here with us on this space. The flow if time shift from how ever far backwards or forward in time it wants, and now I think he's just made it pause for a bit. The two magic, his and this space's, are somehow reacting to one another."

"We need to find Zykan." Annakhin said, "who knows what will happen if he tries to us his tricks too much."

"Eek! Point! We're off to find a freak!"

"A very powerful one, Bobby. Remember that."

"Shut up, Skayr..."

"Wait!"

"What is it, Miko?"

"Azuril! She's from the past! If this place is gonna change time periods, she might be the only person here that can help at all! She knew about this place! Let's go find her too."

"Yeah, we'll see how far her flight from nothing took her."

"I'm telling her you said that."

"No women."

"Zykan, is that all you can think about?" Damien said, raising an eyebrow when Zykan shook his head,

"no. it isn't. Do you hear anything?"

"No." Damien said, "so? The girls are doing their own thing."

"With all of them in the same room together, do you honestly think they're just gonna sit and be quiet? We'd hear something. There's nothing. Even the silence is creepy."

"You have a point. You start checking doors down the hall over there, I'll go back to the stairs from here."

"How do I know you won't bail on me?"

"Because you're the only one that would be stupid enough to ask that question. Now walk. I'll meet you back here. Even if it doesn't work, yell if you get into trouble."

"Right." they split off, Zykan slightly more paranoid than Damien, "how the hell does he stay so damn calm during this kind of stuff? He-" he stopped walking, he'd heard something. "What the...?" he turned around to looked down at the bar, and nearly fell over the railing, "People! There are fucking people here!" he screamed almost everyone in the bar stopped moving and looked up at him, he backed up fast, backing into the room he'd been checking, hitting the bed, falling over on it, freaking out further and in the process, knocking his scythe under the bed. "Goddam!" he yanked himself free from the sheets on the bed, still choosing to keep his black robe, even if it took him quite some time to untangle it. "Where's my scythe?" he muttered, looking around for a second, he froze when he heard a floor board creak near the door way, "please, dear god, let that be Damien." he muttered, standing up and turning around slowly, "Sweet Jesus! What the hell! How-!"

Everyone froze up when they heard the first noise of the evening aside from their own voices,

"was that Zykan?" Annakhin said, referring to the scream they'd just heard, Bobby looked up,

"musta been. Looky there." she said, pointing up, Azuril was bolting around the corner upstairs, either still being chased or going to see what was wrong with Zykan, they didn't know. Damien was running back down the hall he and Zykan had originally come from, "let's go. Our ticket home might have gotten himself killed."

"Ticket home?" Miko said, Bobby smacked her forehead,

"geez! If he's the one whose magic is reacting to this place, and vis-versa, then don't ya think he's the one that can reverse it! just when I think you guys catch on to something, you amaze me further!" she said, running upstairs, "let's go! He gets killed, we're stuck as ghosts, or we might end out stuck here fully and completely!" that got the girls moving.

"Damn you, be gone!" Azuril snapped, finally going off a hunch, stopping abruptly, turning around, and shooting at the man, who, much to Azuril's surprise, bled where her bullet would have hit him, finally falling over, she assumed dead. "So, we can harm them..." she logged that away and ran after the scream she'd just heard, "Zykan, you had better not be dead!"

"Shit, shit shit! Zykan! If you're dead, you little ass, I'm going after you into the afterlife and kicking your ass all the way back up to the rest of us!" Damien said, finally finding the right door, "fuck!" he hissed, "nothing."

"Damien!" Azuril slowed to a walk until she was standing next to him, "where is he?"

"I don't know. Dammit!"

"Blaming yourself will get you nowhere. There is nothing you could have done even if you had been there. Apparently, we are becoming more 'alive' for lack of better word, in this time period. We must find him, and leave. We can be seen, I believe their ability to hear us is slowly forming. I do not know if they can do us any harm, but we can touch them."

"How do you know this?" Damien raised an eyebrow, then blanched at her rather blunt answer, it did do some damage though...

"earlier, while looking for you, I came across a very awkward situation in one of the rooms over there and in the end, I was chased around this floor by the enraged 'customer'. I didn't bother to pause in my escape to test the theory of their weapons doing me any harm, I did, however, find out about our ability to affect them. If you are looking for a shorter, more blunt, answer, I finally lost my temper and shot him." she said, then she smirked a bit at the look on Damien's face,

"you scare me sometimes."

"Damien!" Miko yelled from down the hall, "where's Zykan!"

"Funny you should worry about that. We don't know." he said, Miko raised an eyebrow,

"'we'?" Azuril stepped away from Damien a bit, out of the shadows more, thus making her visible. "Oh." Miko said, Bobby, Skayr and Annakhin exchanged a knowing look. Pardoner wriggled free of Annakhin's hold and ran for Azuril, who picked him up, held him for a second, then allowed him to climb up onto her shoulder, she suddenly looked distracted, depressed, and guilty.

"What's wrong?" Damien asked, she shook her head,

"nothing. It is nothing."

"Azuril..." but he stopped, he wouldn't force it, "let's go find the freak-"

"hold!" Skayr said, running into the room next to them, she bent down and managed to pull Zykan's scythe out from under the bed, "he is disarmed, weaponless. Will they fight fairly?"

"Well, I damn well hope so." Damien said, leading the group out of the bar,

once they got outside, the first thing they didn't want to happen happened, Annakhin bumped into someone. She didn't pass through him, nor did she not feel it, he seemed to notice too,

"watch where you're going, girl." then he kept walking.

"Wow, what a jackass." Miko said,

"be careful, my friends." Azuril said suddenly, "it appears we are now solid and completely visible to them. If we can be seen, and felt, then I'm positive they can hear us as well. And in this time period, women weren't treated like gold. They were not as independent as we all are and were forced to follow a strict set of rules, the main one, men ruled over all others, if a man said something needed to be done and you were ordered to do it, you shouldn't even hesitate in starting it. A sad system, really, but the ruling one all the same."

"Damn." Miko said,

"what about Damien? He's traveling with a bunch of girls, how're they gonna take that?" Bobby said,

"I am not sure."

"And the fact that we're not exactly dressed to fit the times." Bobby looked down at her denim duster and jeans, a large faded star was situated on the front of her shirt and she wore canvas sneakers. Skayr's clothes were even worse, a shirt that zipped in the front, zipped down to the bottom of her rib cage, bandages were the only thing she had under it, her sleeves were rolled up, her pants had been torn apart enough that they'd become more like a mini skirt, and combat style ankle boots, along with an innumerable amount of tattoos and scars, a missing right eye, scar marking proof of the gash, all made up her outfit.

"I don't think I belong very well either." she said. Miko looked down at herself, "I don't help matters much either." she said, she wore her gloves, which went up to mid-biceps, and a pair of jeans, rolled up to her knees, and a slightly gray tinted shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a tank top under it plus a pair of boots, made up her outfit.

"Annakhin at least wears a skirt or dress or something".Damien said, then all eyes were on Azuril. "Uh..."

"She's got her own wardrobe category, and I don't think it fits this time period in the least." Miko said, "Damien, your outfit doesn't fit either." Damien shrugged,

"I say we endure more odd stares, find Zykan and get the hell back to our own time period." he said, Azuril nodded,

"we will have to hurry, superstition is also a great part of this time period, strangers are not very welcome." she said,

"and if they think we're odd, we'll have to find Zykan before he's killed, he's the most inhuman thing in our group." Skayr said. They nodded, then Bobby looked at Annakhin,

"isn't there some way you can use that seal to track him down or something?" she said, Annakhin shrugged.

"I can try."she folded her hands in front of her, closed her eyes and started to concentrate solely on Zykan, finally, the symbol on his choker, which held the most power out of all of his adornments, it being the thing Annakhin had put the spell on to control him further, appeared, followed by several snaps of pictures, most likely of his surroundings, appeared. "He's locked in a cell. The building should be easy enough to find, it says 'Jail House' on it. And there's someone sitting outside tying knots in a rope." Azuril spazzed, then started looking around frantically,

"what's up?" Bobby asked, Azuril spared her a short glance,

"they're preparing to kill him. I told you strangers are not welcome in this time period. He was the one in the most danger from the beginning...we should have guessed that." suddenly, Pardoner jumped off of Azuril's shoulder, running down the street, "Pardoner, wait!" she cried, running after him, Damien snatched the end of her cape,

"what are you doing! Leave the cat for now! We need to find Zykan." he said, but his only answer was her unbuckling the cape, letting it fall away from her, then bolting down the street after her cat.

"Pardoner! Pardoner! Where did you run of to? Pardoner!" she was walking now, looking around, ignoring the odd and somewhat frightened stares she was receiving, looking from side to side, "Pardoner, come out. Where are you?" she said, finally sighing loudly and acknowledging several people, she looked at a pair of women standing near her, they jumped when she did so, "did you notice a small black kitten run through here?" one woman shook her head, the other just kept staring, "does something you see frighten you? My best guess is that I am the one who is the cause, .if I am, then my apologies." she said, then she walked away from them. Next she tried several children, that proved to be a bad idea when the boys wanted to play with her gun, or arm, and the girls wanted to play with her hair. "I now remember why I hate children..." she mumbled as she walked away, finally, she tried the opposite gender, maybe they'd respond to her better than the women had, and hopefully better than the children had, she might not be able to knock several men out at one time, if she was shooting them, then she would, but keeping them alive was normally not her strong point, even though I finally killed someone back in the saloon...will I be able to get over that? Well, you know what they say; 'after you've done it once, you'll have no trouble or regret doing it again.. she thought, then she found herself by a hitching post, a large black horse in front of her, part of her mind started jumping around madly, a Friesian! A Friesian! Ooo, my favorite type of horse! she reached out slowly and touched its neck, when it didn't spaz she started petting it, so soft.. And it's so well taken care of...whoever owns this animal is one lucky son of a bitch.

"hey, get away from my horse!" a, half-drunken, voice shouted from near by, a man who was sober enough to walk and talk coherently walked over to her, "what're you doin to my horse?"

"Nothing." she answered flatly, "you reek of stale alcohol. You should take a rest and break from it for a while, you may live through heavy drinking that way." he blinked a bit, looking confused, then he said possibly the stupidest thing Azuril thought she'd hear,

"you're a woman." she resisted the urge to hit him

"yes. I am. You're a genius." she said, trying to keep her voice neutral, her eye twitched slightly.

"Women shouldn't be out ridin horses, or snappin at men, they should be inside, especially the saloon."

"Pig."

"What'd you say!"

"I said 'pig', you are a disgusting, sexist pig." then she stepped back a bit, right out of his reach when he tried to hit her, "a pig with no balance."

"Shut up."

"I don't enjoy taking orders from strangers."

"You shouldn't be snapping at me anyways, you shouldn't be carryin a gun, or ridin a horse or snappin at people, you should be inside, listenin to what yer told to do, waitin for customers." she stopped moving,

"what did you-" he finally got a hit in, backhanding her, she staggered a bit, hand covering the dark bruise already forming on her cheek where he'd hit her, she winced slightly, then straightened up, glaring, "waiting to sell ourselves out as possessions for some small amount of pay? I knew women could be stupid, but I'd forgotten just how stupid we could get. Pathetic." she said, she wasn't quite mad enough to pop yet, and she decided she'd not drag this out and test limits. "I suggest you apologize and walk away, you will regret it if you do not." he just snapped at her about their sexist society more, finally, as opposed to waiting that last tiny little bit of push to get her to change into the Galian Beast, she pulled her gun out, obviously very fat, he stared at it in shock, "yes, it's a gun, I am sure you have a holster and gun in one of your saddlebags, though I would suggest carrying it around with you more often. And, yes, continue to speak to me in the manner you have been using, I will shoot you. Now, I have a very simple question to ask, since I now have an audience..." she looked around, a small crowd had gathered and they were waiting for her to just haul off and shoot him. "I want to know if you've seen my cat. He's small, completely black and will answer to the name 'Pardoner'." several seconds of silence went by, "fine." she aimed at his forehead, tensing up to fire, but something brushing up against her leg stopped her. She looked down, put her gun away, picked up her cat, and walked away, leaving the crowd confused, she then heard several whispered remarks about sanity, or lack there of, attitude, wardrobe, appearance, the most popular being her left arm, and finally,

"she should be headed for the gallows with that demon from earlier." suddenly, the poor person had Azuril yanking him towards her by the collar of his shirt,

"what demon?" she said, Pardoner took his seat on her shoulder, just incase she ended out using both hands and forgot she was holding him,

"someone caught a boy in the saloon with eyes that weren't human, he was covered in tattoos and charms-"

"where is he now?"

"In the jail house, right over there, they're getting ready to have a preacher try to send him back to Hell, if that doesn't work, they're hanging him-ack!" she dropped him and he fell on his ass, without another word, she was running to find either Damien or the jail house, whichever she came across first. She found Damien first, relayed what she'd heard, then let Bobby yell at her for a few minutes for scaring the general public.

"Ok, that's good, she's got the message." Damien said, grabbing Azuril by the shoulders and pulling her back, away from Bobby, "let's go find Zykan before they kill him." then he ran for it, leaving the girls standing there for a second, Bobby was blinking rapidly, staring at the spot where her friend had once been standing, then she looked at Azuril, who blinked a bit, allowed Pardoner to crawl back up onto her shoulder after jumping down into her arms to escape Damien.

"What just happened?" Miko said

"I think Zykan's prodding at him earlier, along with built up stress, is finally starting to make him crack." Bobby said

"whatever, let's go." Skayr said, running after Damien, Azuril the next to follow. Bobby then turned to Miko and gave her a look, she could practically feel the jealousy,

"grow the fuck up and cool your damn jets." she said, then she and Annakhin followed after Skayr, Azuril and Damien, Miko watching for a second, then running after them.

"Well, isn't this lovely, nice decor you've got going for ya." Zykan said, slightly pissed, slightly worried for his own life. He was looking around the cell they'd put him in, "damn the fact that I can't use any tricks, Missy said 'not even one trick', so, I'm stuck, dammit." he sky rocketed when someone hit the bars of his cell, making quite a loud noise, "Jesusrich! What the hell-!"

"Shut up in there, you got no right to even be here." the man that had been, basically, guarding Zykan's cell snapped, Zykan blew a raspberry at him, then flipped him off,

"I'll do as I please, thank you much." he said, sounding slightly offended, "you're the jackass here, buddy." shortly after that comment was made, he gave a yelp and jumped up onto the ceiling, just early missing getting shot, "Fuck!" he snapped, "get an anger management therapist!" then he ended out dodging more bullets, ending out back in place on the ceiling, "ha, ha, you ran outta ammo!" he teased, smirking when his, apparently easily angered, guard had to dig around for more bullets, "I really hope he doesn't find any, there are enough people standing outside, looking in, damn them, to make me wish I was back in that bracelet-waah!" there was a pulse that went through his body, making him dizzy for a second. Enough time for him to lose track on where he was and fall off of the ceiling, making a small noise when he hit the ground, "what the clutter fuck was that!"

click

the noise came from directly behind him, he sat up slowly, then turned around, also taking it slow, and stared at the gun that was being aimed at him, then he crawled back, away from the gun, and leaned back against a wall, resting leisurely, "it's not my usual spot, but, it'll do." he said, closing his eyes and, on reflex, wrapped his robe around himself tighter, no point in showing off every little marking on him. "I just hope Damien can me before this takes a turn for the worst." a couple minutes of relaxation went by, before the sound of the cell door opening could be heard. He looked up fast, pupils slightly dilated from sleep, they slowly narrowed themselves up again, thus giving him the ability to see clearly again, "what now?" he still sounded mostly asleep, and he wasn't happy about his nap being cut short. There was no verbal answer, just someone yanking at his robe, most likely trying to yank him to his feet, that didn't work. The robe, too loose and big for him, was only yanked off, leaving him sitting still, tensed and paranoid style freaked out, "oh, shit. Please don't let them figure it out, please don't let them figure it out-" his voiced mental mantra was cut short when there was a small yelp from outside the cell, he looked in the direction of the noise, then started swearing rapidly, apparently the priest did some reading on old spells and magic, the only thing Zykan could figure about that knowledge was that some of the books had pictures of a few of the charms or tattoos in them. "I am in seriously deep shit." he said, eyes wide, "this can be worked out, sans bodily harm, hopefully on both of our sides." he said nervously, holding his hands up, making sure they knew he had nothing to hurt them with him. He just went into a swearing fit again, in several languages, when he was yanked to his feet by the collar of his tunic, "I said we can reach a mutual!" he cried desperately, he didn't like the idea of figuring out his own limits in the 'kill me factor' list. He gagged when he was dragged out of the jail house by the tails of his choker. (it's just a long, thin strip of leather, when tightened, while being wrapped around something, there's a lot left hanging there, gimme a break, ok.) On the way out, he managed to snatch his robe away from the earlier moron who'd accidently yanked it off him, "thank you." he said, dark sarcasm used in that statement, he narrowed his eyes and glared dangerously at some of the spectators when he was dragged out of the jail house, "and just what, pray tell, are you staring at, y'freaks?" he snapped, pulling his robe back on, then gagging again when the hold on his choker was yanked on harder. "Where are those losers? I need my ass saved." he muttered, looking around in an attempt to see any familiar faces, none were there. His nervousness took a jump up to the beginnings of fear, I might actually die here. Ok, I admit it, but never out loud, I'm scared. I'm death and evil incarnate, and I'm scared of this situation. I don't wanna die...

"You didn't happen to get a location as to where the jail house might be from that poor individual you were torturing, did you, Azuril?" Damien said, she shook her head,

"I didn't think to. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, it isn't your fault." Damien said, glancing at her for a second, "hey, where did your cat run off to earlier?"

"I don't know. But I am glad he led me on such a chase. If he hadn't, we wouldn't know Zykan's current situation."

"You've got a bruise on your cheek." Skayr noted,

"yes. There was a small argument had with a near drunken man. I walked away with Pardoner before I could shoot him."

"You're just damned trigger happy, aren't you?"

"I prefer to think of it as 'overly cautious'."

"Well, don't be too 'overly cautious', or I'll take your gun away again." Damien said, she made a derisive noise, but didn't respond otherwise.

"Look! A crowd!" Skayr said, pointing ahead of them, "that freak must be in there somewhere."

"Let's haul ass again." Damien said, the three of them not waiting for Bobby, Annakhin and Miko to catch up as they started shoving through the crowd. Damien pushing past people with only enough force to move them, unlike Skayr, who was knocking any and everyone in her way off to the side, she wanted to leave quick, so she'd screw over politeness even more than she normally did.. Azuril was trying to weave around people, she still didn't have her cape which meant that it was harder to avoid people seeing her left arm, and she didn't want to start shoving people using a clawed metal hand.. The trio picked up the pace when they heard shouting from ahead of them, very familiar shouting.

"God damn it, I told you already, I am not the devil! Nor am I his damn offspring! Now get the fucking hell away from me! Let go! I said let fucking go of me damn you!"

"Zykan!" Damien yelled hoping his friend had heard him over the crowd, he had.

"Damien? Damien, where the hell are you! Get me out of here, they're trying to kill me!-ow! Shit you, preacher man! Fuck off!"

"Ah, god damn it!" Damien seethed, then he heard some more familiar shouting, Skayr had joined the fray.

"Zykan, you little freak, how the hell did you manage to get caught by these weaklings?"

"Well, excuse me, little miss 'I think I'll beam people with random blunt objects until they bend to my will'! It was a cheap shot, damn you, woman!"

"When Azuril catches up, I'm demanding she shoot you."

"You wouldn't!"

"Try me, freak."

"You are a fine one to talk!"

"Guys, shut the hell up!" Damien yelled, "this is not the arguing part, this is the hauling ass part!" then he paused, "hey, where is Azuril?" then there was a single gun shot from off to Damien's left, he turned to look while the crowd was splitting and rapidly dispersing, Azuril was standing there, gun pointed at the sky, "warning shot..."

"Now, I believe you will listen when I ask you to move. Stay out of my way." Azuril snapped, great, she was crabby.

"This won't end well...Skayr!" when he turned to look at where Skayr and Zykan were, he blanched and hid his face behind his hands, "god, Skayr...put that poor man down and get off that man's head..." Skayr dropped her hold on one of the men up on the platform, he fell off the side, laid there for a second, then made a break for it. She looked down at the man she had pinned under her foot,

"but he talks too much." she said, Zykan then popped in his comment,

"he's the one that kept shoving this in my face," he held up a crucifix, "and calling me the spawn of Satan. Please can she step on his head a little longer."

"No! Now get off of him!" Skayr huffed and stepped back, shoving the man off of the platform with her foot "god help me..."

"Damien, we should go." Azuril said, walking over to him, returning her gun to its holster, Skayr and Zykan jumped down off of the platform and ran over to the pair, the others catching up.

"We missed the show." Bobby joked.

"I'm so glad you're alright. I was worried." Annakhin said, Zykan shrugged,

"I think it'll take more than that to kill me. I don't know though, I've never bothered to try to figure out what will and will not kill me." then he ducked Azuril's gun when she whipped it out and pointed it at where his head had been, "what the hell-!"

"Shut up." she said, "don't speak..." she was watching something closely, looking quite nervous, when they finally looked they noticed where her nervousness had come from,

"um, damn...that's a lotta guns..." Zykan said, looking around, almost everyone who owned a gun or had access to one seemed to be standing around them, poised and ready to shoot them.

"It's like facing an army..." Annakhin said, "oh!" then she took Zykan's scythe from Miko and passed it off to its owner, "don't kill them." was all she said, he smirked, then disappeared, half of the 'wall of guns' went down, that set the others off, Damien blocking what he could with his sword, Bobby, dove in front of him, holding up her boomerang, the bullets hit the surface and bounced right off.

"Geez! When do you think they'll run out of ammo!" Damien said, Bobby shook her head,

"I don't know. But, I vote we stay alive long enough to find out." she said, Annakhin was using some magic to put up a shield around herself, Miko and Skayr, who had no weapon remotely for long distance fighting. Azuril, on the other hand, was crouched down, hiding Pardoner, and using up all of her ammo, slowly, but effectively.

my hit count's sky rocketing...it does get easier and easier the more you kill someone... she thought, then she found a use for her metal arm, she unconsciously raised it to shield herself from a few bullets, that bounced right off of it. She blinked a bit, then looked at her arm for a second, cool. she then started shooting people again, deciding to move back a bit, even closer to her friends, "Annakhin, where is Zykan?"

"I don't know, he's running rampant with the only restriction being not to kill anyone."

"Keep track of him, remember, without him, we are trapped here. And," She picked up Pardoner, "please..." Annakhin took the kitten from her, that made things a little easier, then something shot past them, with the fact that everyone in front of them went down after that, they figured they'd found Zykan...

"Zykan, hold still!" Azuril said, she was rewarded with the epitome of evil skidding to a stop in front of her, then overbalancing and falling over.

"Ouch. What?"

"Stay here, make sure you don't die, and concentrate all of your energy into one spot, then think solely of your time period."

"The one we came from? If I think of my time period we'll be stuck in the beginning of time."

"Yes. Now do it." Azuril said, shooting off to the side, ignoring the fact that she'd just hit someone.

"Whatever you say."

"Shouldn't we put him in a shield so he doesn't get hit?" Damien said, Azuril shook her head,

"I don't know how that will affect the power he needs to get us home."

"Whatever."

"Damien, look out!" Miko screamed, he started to turn around to see what she was screaming about, but was stopped by Skayr shoving him hard off to the side, Bobby stared, horrified, for a second as her friend was hit with several bullets, falling back and landing on Azuril, then she swung around and threw her boomerang as hard as she could, taking out almost all of the remaining fire power. When she caught her boomerang, she swung it back over her shoulder and ran over to Skayr, Azuril finally getting herself out from under the other girl, then she started examining the damage,

"is she stable enough to get through whatever it is Zykan's gonna dish out?" she asked, Azuril nodded,

"she will make it through if he hurries."

"Move your ass, Zykan!"

"You try doing this!"

"I don't care about your whining, just move it along!"

"Fine!" after several minutes of concentrating, a black glowing pentagram appeared under Zykan, "hey, I can't go any higher! The seal's holding it down!" he yelled, a wind was rising, circling them. He looked at Annakhin, "lift the seal! Around my neck, I need the power!" she hesitated, but in the end she weakened it greatly, she wasn't going to take any seal off of him completely, his power was still too terrible and unstable for him to be let loose. He took what he could get, gave one last boost of power and they vanished.

"Skayr, look at me! Talk to me, Skayr! Skayr!" Bobby cried frantically, Skayr was out cold, Damien and Annakhin were doing their best at trying to stop her bleeding, Azuril, Zykan and Miko stood in silence, watching their friends,

"I wish there was something we could do..." Miko said, Zykan and Azuril nodded.

"If the bullets had gone all the way through, this would be much easier, but firearms from that period weren't very well made, nor were the bullets, they did do some considerable damage, though." Azuril said, Zykan looked at her,

"you know about those things?" he said, she nodded,

"not much, but yes."

"Then go help. Even a tiny bit of info is better than none." he said, pointing to where his friends were, she sighed, then walked over to where Skayr lay,

"stopping the bleeding and bandaging her up will do no good. The bullets must be removed, they will only cause further problems, problems even her altered body will not be able to handle." Bobby looked at Azuril,

"then you do something!"

"Fine." she knelt down next to Skayr, looking her over, finally, she gathered up enough resolve and dug down into one of the wounds with her left hand, Skayr hissed from the pain and Bobby went to pull Azuril back, only stopping when the other girl tossed a bullet off to the side, "this can be tended to now." she repeated that process two more times, finally standing up and backing away, grabbing up a cloth to wipe the blood off of her left hand/claw/whatever.

"That was gross." Miko said,

"but effective." Zykan pointed out, "nice job."

"Yeah, you really did help us out there." Bobby said, then she continued bandaging Skayr's wounds.

"You really were a big help. I'm glad you stepped up like that." Annakhin said, knowing that Azuril probably hadn't wanted to do that. Pardoner mewed and brushed his head across her cheek several times, she patted his head lightly, then looked straight forward when Damien spoke up,

"thanks. Even if you probably hate hearing it from all of us, you were a literal lifesaver."

"Thank you." she said, then she sat down next to the fire, putting Pardoner on her lap, petting him once he'd settled himself down. I'd do it for any one else too.

a week went by with them not moving on, finally, Skayr was up and moving, even well enough to grab Zykan's scythe and try to kill him with it for taking her dessert-chocolate seemed to be the only thing he'd eat aside from some meats and toast. He still snuck off every night, no excuses now, he'd just up and walk away into the shadows, he'd pop up again a while later, no lame story, just a simple walk back into camp and jump into a tree to sleep.

"Zykan, where do you go every night?" Miko asked, she was helping Skayr change her bandages, though Skayr was healing rapidly enough for her to need less and less treatment by the day, she was right, her body was different, she didn't get hurt half as easily as everyone else, nor did any injury she might sustain take a long time to heal. Zykan twitched from up on his branch,

"none of your business, woman." he said, Annakhin opened her mouth to say that one overused word, but stopped,

"He's sorta right. He doesn't need to tell you if he doesn't want to."

"Let it die, Miko. You ask him every night, and you still get brushed off." Damien said, leaning against a large rock, Azuril was sitting on top of the rock with Pardoner sleeping on her cape, which she'd taken off and folded up next to her. Bobby was sitting across the fire from Miko and Skayr, Zykan was off to her right a ways, Annakhin sitting practically under him. Miko huffed, finally finishing with Skayr's bandages, then she leaned back against a tree, Skayr simply curling up near the fire.

"Fine, I'll let it alone. I'm still curious though."

"I think we all are." Damien said, "but, he's too complex to even try to figure out. We'll live in the dark on that one." Bobby looked at Azuril,

"You seem distracted, what's up?"

"Merely thinking. Nothing more." Azuril said, Bobby shrugged, then went back to poking the fire with a stick. thinking...yeah...that's rich. I'm trying not to fall asleep. If I do, I'll either fall on Pardoner, fall on my face, or fall on Damien. All three are 'no no's. It seems like these guys are becoming more and more like themselves to me, instead of me thinking they're my friends from home, or my family from home...Clare's a different story...that isn't someone who resembles Clare, that is Clare. She juiced herself up and went psycho-evil on me...I'm beginning to think I'm more like Cloud than I am Vincent...well, there'll be more twists and turns along the way, I know there will be...and I know they'll all be attempts to break me...

"Azuril?" it was Damien. She looked down at him, he was looking up at her with a slightly confused expression on his face,

"yes?"

"Just checking. You weren't talking when we were trying to ask you some questions a second ago and I kinda worried, for a second, that you'd somehow-"

"Relapsed into shock again?" she finished for him, he nodded, "no, I'm fine. I am slightly lost in thought, but otherwise fine."

"Alright. That's good. Like I said, you had me worried." he said, giving her a tiny smile, she returned the expression then went back to her thoughts,

Angela, try as hard as you want, bitch, I won't break, not for you, not for anyone. Not while I have something to care for and protect... she looked at her friends, then down at Damien, not while I still have someone who cares for me.

another shock to Azuril's system came several days later when her sister showed up again,

"What is it now, you annoying brat?" Skayr snapped, cracking her knuckles, Bobby had a good grip on her boomerang, Zykan's scythe was held out in front of him like a staff, that stance gave him better lift when he attacked, but at that point Annakhin was behind him, he wasn't moving. Miko's fists were up and she looked pissy, she'd had enough of Azuril's sister for one life time, and she wanted her out of the way. Damien's sword was out and Azuril's hand was on her gun, ready to draw it if necessary. Clare smirked,

"so, you're finally ready to attack instead of run, sister? Well, bravo, that's a big step for you. I hope you live through it, so you can watch me kill your friends one by one."

"An empty threat, thrown like a feather in the wind, sister." Azuril said, "we both know that you were not sent to kill us, you never were. I thought about it for some time, and realized, she wants me to finish this game of hers. She wants me to make it through to the end, you won't kill me because you don't feel like it. You won't kill me because that's what you were told to do. Am I wrong?" Clare was silent, "I also realized, that means she cannot kill my friends against the story's whim. She must stick to the storyline of the game she is mimicking, it is what she planned on from the beginning, it is what was making it fun and drawing it out. My friends are safe, as am I. You have no purpose in being here, save for filling an empty roll. You've no business with us now that I am finally aware of what is going on. Go back to her, tell her of my enlightenment.."

"And send my love." Damien said mockingly, flipping Clare off. All of them dawned confused looks when Clare started snickering,

"you're right about some of that. I can't kill you, purposely, but there's one thing you forgot, the rest of the characters' roles and how they relate to me." she said, smirking still. Azuril's eyes widened in horror, she'd forgotten about that, some of her friends would die along the way, some of her friends would be hurt along the way, and, more importantly, some of her friends, one of her friends, will get into continual fights with Clare's character, fights that were to the death one way and til retreat the other.

"No. Don't." she half whispered, still partly in shock, "You can't hurt them, please!" she cried, bearing it when her sister started laughing, "I won't let it happen." she ducked in front of her friends and whipped out her gun, aiming at Clare, "do you remember last time? I said I would not hold back. Even if I have to kill you." Clare watched her silently,

"you won't pull the trigger. No matter how much you want to, no matter how much you might need to. You won't be able to do it." Azuril's arm was shaking, she was right, Clare was right.

she's right. I could never shoot you...no matter what, I think...damn it! she lowered the gun, arms hanging limply at her sides, "you are right, I could never kill a family member, no matter what I was forced to say...I could not do it." she looked over her shoulder quick, "I can, however, pray that that shred of memories in your mind has, at least, one small memory of a point in time when we were truly sisters. I remember many times. But I am not the one who needs to be reminded. Please, try at least." Clare made a small hacking noise,

"that was just sappy. That was something you would have either laughed at or run from back home. You and I, as sisters, are not why I came here. I came for a good fight, and hopefully, a good win. Now, who is it that I'm supposed to kill first?"

"Don't, Clare. Stop."

"Well, if memories serve right, from what I was told...your boyfriend over there is my main target...I can try to kill him at any point in time..."

"Clare, stop it! Don't be stupid! Just leave! Please, just go!" and he's not my boyfriend!

"what do you mean by all that? There are people who are supposed to die out of my friends? You're nuts!" Damien snapped, Clare's smirk was back,

"oh, yeah. But, I don't think you should learn anymore. She'll know. She'll kill more of you. Cover your own ass cutie."

"Clare! Leave him be!"

"Not your boyfriend, huh? Sure seems like he is." Azuril was seething angry, her sister was acting far too much like her old self, and that was bringing out the worst in her.

"You have no right to say any of that! I do not-"

"love him? Broken record. Try something new. And something that's not a lie."

"I am starting to truly hate you, little sister. I truly am. Stay away from them!" Azuril growled, glaring, Clare pretending to be wounded, then she dove at Azuril, her replica-Masa Mune swinging around like a baseball bat. "Stop this foolishness, and leave us be!"

"No way this is fun." she paused for a second, "and, just to make sure we don't have any interruptions..." she pointed at the group that still stood behind Azuril, sending an energy pulse out, knocking all of them, save Zykan, who'd blocked it, back and onto the ground. "Shit. I forgot about you!" Zykan stuck his tongue out at her, flipping her off at the same time, she glared, he feigned fear and snickered at the look on her face,

"you suck, brat." was all he said.

"Zykan, don't be too foolish." Azuril warned, he scoffed,

"I'm allowed to use more power now, I can defend myself better, like I needed it before...your sister's slow, pissy and immature."

"I tried getting those points across to her years ago, she wouldn't listen." Azuril said, "do not treat her like a child, unless you intend to act the same as her. The character she mimics is very powerful, I do not know her limits at all." again, he scoffed,

"I'm not afraid of a brat. Remember? I scare Death with how powerful I am. She's nothing." then he made a quick block from the Masa Mune, "but I am a little nervous when it comes to that giant tooth pick..." he said, shoving her sword away from him, "can I kill her?"

"No!" Annakhin and Azuril both cried at once.

"I already told you, you're not allowed to kill anyone! Even the bad guy!" Annakhin said, Zykan gave her a look,

"you're no fun."

"She is my sister! I must try to get her back into her right mind! And, if I cannot do that, then, killing her should be my right." Azuril said. Zykan nodded, then blocked another blow,

"geez! Can I paralyze her from the mouth down!"

"Zykan!"

"Fine!"

"What are you, for real?" Clare said, Zykan blinked a bit,

"what am I?"

"Yeah, that's what I said!"

"I'm evil, but I ain't tellin you shit else!" then he pointed at her, a black flame shooting out of his fingertip at her, encircling her,

"What the!"

"Time out time for you, brat. You won't be able to put that flame out, and you won't be able to get out of that circle. Ok, bye bye." he turned towards the group, "Go!" he snapped, glancing back at Clare, "tell that bitch we caught on. Tell her she's got a lot more than some humans and altered beings to deal with, and that I swear it, even if I die doing so, I'll wipe out everything until I think she's dead." he hisses, eyes flashing with anger, then he bolted after his friends, waiting a good long time to finally let Clare loose, if she comes after us again, I'm risking death and skinning her alive!

"Zykan, you didn't hurt her too badly, did you?" Annakhin asked, he shook his head,

"I early put a scratch on her. Just sent her out on a message run. And, I'm sorry, but, if she pops up out of nothingness any time soon, I'm risking my life and making sushi out of her!" he said angrily, she didn't respond.

"Bravo, Zykan. You saved our butts again." Damien said, it was late evening, hours after their 'sibling reunion' and Miko and Annakhin were helping Bobby make food. Skayr was asleep in a tree, Zykan was lounging on a branch in another tree, Damien was sitting across the fire from the food, watching the girls work, not much else to do. He then realized something, "where's Azuril?" he asked, looking around, Skayr cracked an eyelid a bit,

"she went for a walk, she said she wanted to clear her head a bit." she said, Damien stood up,

"Which way did she go?"

"Damien," Miko said, "she went to be alone. Let her."

"I want to talk to her about something...well, a couple somethings...where'd she walk off to?"

"I'm not sure as to her current position, but she went that way." Skayr said, pointing off to her right.

"Thanks." Damien said, running away from the group. Once he was gone, everyone's eyes were on Miko,

"don't even talk." Bobby said, "take your frustration out on the vegetables, here, start chopping."

Azuril had found some fireflies, following them, lacking too much else to do, that wasn't go back by the others. She wanted time to think, and, even though they left her alone unless absolutely necessary, she wanted to be away from the group for a bit. More accurately, she wanted to be away from Damien, he was confusing her horribly. First, his getting angry when he mentioned her name to Zykan, then his taking hold of her and getting her away from Bobby's wrath, and that dream, plus Miko's jealousy, Zykan's extra teasing and prodding as of late wasn't helping any. She was starting to wonder if he was also directing all of it at her as well. She didn't like that idea much. If he kept it all up, then she might be the one taking his advice, after spending quite sometime listening to it over and over again. Then again, why was it bad to fall in love? She stopped walking, she'd walked so far away from camp that all she could see of it was a quarter sized dot of light that was most likely the fire they'd lit up. She sighed, "how long have we been walking, Pardoner?" the kitten only mewed, batting at a firefly, she smiled, sitting down on the grass right outside of the small forest they'd settled down in the middle of, watching the kitten as he ran around, chasing fireflies, "you don't get the chance to play very much, do you? Have fun, my friend." she relaxed a bit, that was another thing she'd noticed along the way, she was always tensed up, as though waiting for someone to attack. Finally, she decided to relax a bit. pulling her knees up a bit, resting her elbows on them, cradling her chin in her hands, watching her kitten play. "This new world is changing me, Pardoner, I do not know how I acted before I came here anymore. I am only reminded when I see Zykan and the way he acts. what does that say about who I was? I remember why I was locked away. I will never forget those nightmares. I know I loved them all so much that it still hurts. But, I'm missing so much. Who was I? I'm starting to forget my name, the name that was mine so long ago." Pardoner paused in his playing to brush against her side a bit, she smiled thankfully, petting his head, after a second he ran after a firefly again, "if I forget who I used to be, would that be alright? Would that make it easier here?" she closed her eyes, "no, no, it would not. I will still know them, even if I don't know myself. Then it'll just bring me more pain when I can't figure out who they were to me, and still remember whatever pain I caused them." she opened her eyes when she felt something on her nose, a firefly had landed on it. It sat there for a bit, then left, she watched it diaper into a group of lights, blending in and vanishing from her sight. "There might be something to that..." she said quietly, "if I can finally allow myself to blend in, I may feel less confused. " Pardoner managed to catch one of the fire flies, bringing it down, and having it quickly removed from his possession, "these may not agree with you later." then she let the firefly go, he blended in as well. "One large low, and finally, a high."

"You're talking to bugs now?" came a voice from behind her, she jumped a bit, tensing back up, then relaxing when Pardoner ran at whoever it was happily,

"hello, Damien." she said, hearing Pardoner mew. Damien sat down next to her, Pardoner in his arms,

"I believe this evil little demon cat is yours." he said, setting Pardoner back onto the grass, watching him chase fireflies more. "He's got a lot of pent up energy."

"The only exercise he ever gets is running from something, running to hide, or running from Bobby. He deserves to play for a while." Azuril said, Damien was watching the kitten with detached interest, seemingly thinking, "why did you come looking for me? You know I always come back to you all." Damien gave a tiny laugh, a small grin on his face, still watching Pardoner,

"the hunter got tired of the chase and went looking for the fox on a quick solo job."

"And so you have caught the fox."

"No, I haven't." he said, she was surprised at the seriousness in his tone, "I only found her, I haven't been able to actually catch that damn fox yet." she was staring slightly wide eyed, so that was his angle in following her, to finally trap the fox.

not on your life, blondie! then she started to stand up, somewhat hastily, "if you came to find me, then you have done so. Let's go back to the group." she said, part of her brain didn't like this setting, the rest didn't like the other member of the situation being there. That one didn't want this act in the play, or part of the hunt, in this case. She was almost all the way out of there, but Damien grabbed her wrist, yanking her back down next to him, now all of her wanted out, but it didn't want to hurt Damien in its quick retreat. He held her there, keeping a firm grip on her wrist, she stared at his hand for a second, then she looked up to face him, eyes still wide, now with the small bit of fear that was starting to manifest there, but with pure shock, if there's one think Damien had never once done to this extent, to any of them, even Zykan when he wouldn't get off of the ceiling at times, was force someone down like this. She started for his hand telling herself, even if it hurt him, she needed him to let go of her, her nervousness had peaked and she didn't like it. She was shocked yet again when he managed to catch her before she had the chance to actually make contact with his arm. Now he had both of her wrists pinned. He didn't look detached and distant like she'd thought he would, he seemed fully aware of what he was doing, and that scared her. "Damien," her voice was shaking a bit, and urgent, "let go." he shook his head,

"No." then he shoved her backwards, making her fall onto her back, with him pinning her wrists above her head, kneeling over her, not touching her in any way, only pinning her wrists. "Not until you listen to me and stop running away or leaving fake trails." he paused, then let go of her wrists with one hand, the other still pinning her, and unbuckled her cape, the worst ran through her mind, but he only then used that hand to keep himself upright, positioning it next to her head, he stopped there, he didn't touch her again, "I need to see your face while I talk to you this time. I need to see all of your face this time, Azuril." he was so serious, and now seemingly frustrated and melancholic. What was he so upset about? She was the one that should be upset, she was the one pinned down. Why was he doing this? What was he really doing, or thinking of doing? Why was she so unbelievably frightened?

"Damien, please, let go." she said, now she decided to screw over the mask and just allow her face and eyes betray her with the frantic emotions coursing through her. He shook his head again,

"not until this is done and out of my hands, then I'll let go."

"Hey, can you see that?" Bobby suddenly said, standing a short distance away from camp, Skayr, Miko and Annakhin went over by her,

"see what?" Annakhin said, Bobby pointed straight ahead of her,

"that." she could just early see the situation between Damien and Azuril, when Miko let out an angry shriek and started running away from them, towards Damien, she knew she was right. "What the hell is he doing!" she snapped, but, before Miko could get too far away from them, and before Bobby could catch up to her, the last member of the group could be heard,

"oh, no, you don't." he said, never leaving his branch, he pointed at the girls, the same black flame that he'd used earlier to subdue Clare encircled the camp, "he's riding this out, whether you like it or not." he said, relaxing back, "he needs to do this. And she needs to hear it. So, even though it might just hurt me a lot doing this to you all, I can't let you interrupt them. Sorry, ladies." he said, still lounging like nothing was going on. Miko growled angrily,

"you put that out right now! I'm going over there!" she snapped, he waved his hand dismissively,

"and that's the exact reason as to why you go nowhere."

"Zykan, please, let us go help her." Annakhin said, preparing herself to say the one word he feared. Oddly enough, he shook his head, seemingly unfazed,

"like I said, even though it's gonna hurt me something awful, you guys stay here. Sorry, Missy." she sighed and sat back down under the tree he was in, he was dead-set on keeping them there, and wasn't even remotely afraid of being beaten into the dirt.

"We won't get anywhere anytime soon. He won't give up on it. He's done this before, remember, and he even knows that it'll hurt him if he doesn't follow what I ask him to do. We'll have to wait until they get back to confront them."

"Thank you."

"Zykan, damn you, let us out, we need to see if she's alright! We don't know what Damien could do to her." Bobby snapped, Zykan only shook his head,

"he ain't gonna hurt her jack-shit, Bobby, and you know it. He isn't capable of hurting any of us...save for me on occasion..."

"Well, this looks like he's capable of it!" Bobby screamed, Zykan blanched, then sat bolt upright, looking over at his two companions, he turned pale for a second, then paused, blinked a bit, and started laughing, "what the...?"

"What is so funny about her current position? Let us out." Skayr said, glaring death at him, he kept laughing,

"you...guys-you guys think he's-oh, God!" he was clutching his sides and leaning against the tree for support, he didn't want to fall, it hurt. "You are-you are-Jesus! Air! I need air! You guys are hilarious! God! Air! Can't breathe!"

"Then, they're wrong?" Annakhin said, Zykan calmed down enough to speak coherently,

"as wrong as I am sane, Missy." then he started laughing again,

"can I kill him?" Skayr asked, Bobby beamed her with her own harrisan,

"no. you can't. Besides, we don't even know if he can die."

"Amen to that, sister." Zykan said, he'd finally stopped laughing at them, "you guys are great, I want a repeat performance! Come on, one more time."

"No. Now, what's so funny?" Miko snapped,

"you! You honestly think he's trying to actually hurt her? How thick are you?" the girls looked amongst each other, realizing just how stupid they'd been a second ago, Miko still pissed, for a totally different reason, but, as usual, Zykan ignored her. "He can't even get too close to that girl without being affected-that should have been proof enough, especially that incident a while back..." he grinned Cheshire Cat style,

"yeah, yeah, we remember! Move on!" Miko snapped,

"being too close to her, being in the spotlight when she's talking to someone, and a lot of pent up stress probably helped him none over there."

"Zykan, we know what you're saying. He has it bad for her somethin' nasty, but, why's he practically on top of her over there? That's being close to her, really close to her." Bobby said,

"Oh, come one, ya bunch'a bricks!" they all gave him dirty looks, "Damien's wanted to talk to that girl for I dunno how long now. Sometimes he chickens out, other times she does a faint move."

"Gets him confused so she can get away from him? But if she knows he wants to talk to her, why doesn't she just stop and listen?" Annakhin said, Zykan looked at her,

"because it's something she doesn't want to hear. As we've been putting it; the fox was doing a damned good job of confusing the hunter, that is, until the hunter decided to go for the blunt approach. Now we'll see if he bags the prize or not."

"If he doesn't?" Skayr said, Zykan paused, he hadn't thought on that one. How would he take it if the fox managed to haul ass and run free of the hunter's pursuit?

shit. I hadn't thought about that! That bitch had better damned well say she agrees, or at least gives in to the hunter. Or I'll skim the fox alive for making my life a living hell! he thought, narrowing his eyes, watching Azuril and Damien.

"Damien-" she'd been about to ask if he'd return to his senses and get away from her, but he interrupted, the interruption making her even more nervous.

"Shut up. Just don't talk, ok?" he said tensely, she just stared,

" whatever it is you want from me, take it and go away. " she didn't realize that she'd said that out loud and not solely in her mind like she'd planned until she felt his grip on her wrists tighten, the hand next to her head balled into a fist, oh, God...! no. not him. Not this...not him... she closed her eyes and turned away, submitting ahead of time, it would just make it easier, and quicker.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I'm really not. In fact, it's a major surprise to me that you thought I would. I could never really hurt you. I just could never do it. Don't worry, I'm not even gonna touch you, save for making sure you can't claw me to death." she opened her eyes, but didn't look at him,

"why are you doing this to me, Damien? You would normally just say whatever it is that was running through your head, then leave me, all of us, confused when you don't address the statement at all after saying it. Why am I so special that you need to stop any and all of my attempts to get away? What is different this time?"

"All those other times, it was a stupid or simple thing that I had to talk with you about. But, it got more and more awkward and difficult to keep that up. Even if he was being an ass, Zykan was right from the start. I should have done this a while ago. I was stupid for avoiding it, and ever letting the hunt begin."

you were stupid to not leave me in a position to scream 'rape'? I feel so ignored... she thought bitterly, my life's going down hill, I'm starting to forget who I am/used to be, my sister's a psychopathic, juiced up, genocidal maniac, my two alter egos have been kidnaped, she left me with the ability to transform into a monster, and she let her stay...the personality I've nicknamed 'Jenova'. The one I can't control, the one that can and will kill on a whim, or just because she finds it fun. Angela left me with the Galian Beast and Jenova...she's made me twice the monster Vincent was convinced he was...

"...you"

"What?"

"I-I said I'm..." he hesitated, she blinked a bit,

WTH?

"I said that I-I'm in love with you." he said quickly, trying to get it out before he lost his nerve. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see her reaction, I should have let her keep the cape on...at least it blocked something...

WHAT THE BLOODY FUCKING HELL? "Damien, why-what did you-how-why would you..." she stopped babbling, then lay still, after several minutes of silence she was the one to break it. "Damien, please, let go of me." she said quietly, he winced and backed away from her, allowing her to sit up, then he quickly stood up, she followed, slower, he still wouldn't look at her,

"you should find Pardoner, he normally never leaves your side." he said quietly,

"Damien, why love someone like me? Why not Miko? She loves you deeply-" she stopped talking while she bent down to pick up Pardoner, who had come to her quickly, as though he'd heard and understood Damien. "I'm not deserving of anyone's affections. Everything about me is too far gone to save."

"It doesn't matter. You're wrong, but, it doesn't matter. I just don't get why you keep running from people. Not everyone wants to hurt you. Some of us want to help you. Even if you think that's impossible." he said, then he started to walk away,

go after him, ya stupid shit! her brain snapped at her, she put Pardoner down and ran after Damien, Pardoner following. "Damien!"

"What? What would you like to rub in my face now?"

"Did you plan on asking me how I felt? Or what my real response might have been?" he was clearly confused, "ask me."

"What is it that you feel for me? Do you hate me now? Or are you trying not to laugh or cry?" he said, then he waited for her response.

Zykan was tensed up, watching closely,

"Say you love him, bitch!" he hissed, not wanting to deal with Damien on a downer. The girls were watching closely, though they couldn't hear what was being said, they had guesses and applied them to the situation as it progressed. Miko getting angrier and angrier with each passing second those two spent together. Bobby and Skayr watched her twitch from anger several times, then they looked at each other,

"do you own a tranqu gun?" Bobby asked Skayr, who shook her head,

"just a large assortment of blunt objects."

"That'll work. We need to keep her from murdering those two when they get back here."

"Yes. Most defiantly."

"What do you feel about me?" Damien asked, Azuril only hesitated for that one moment in time when she decided on something to do for her reaction, a reaction that she knew would need to last forever, not just for that one moment,

this is definetly a crucial one...can I do this? how do I say it to him? How will I get this out without somehow ruining the rest of both our lives...? she moved forward a bit, yeah, this is crucial alright...he's shaking, is he that nervous? Or is he worried I'll just leave him in pain? I'm starting to act more like a woman my age should...I'm making a life long decision, and I know this is what I want. I know it. It's just...how I want it to end... "Damien, I..." she stood in silence for a minute, this is it... then she walked towards him, stopping when she was about a foot away from him, this is how it ends. then she dove at him, hugging him, letting the tears she didn't know were there fall silently, "I'm sorry." she whispered, "I played you. Made it obvious that I cared, but kept running. I'm sorry." he hugged her tightly,

"at least you cared throughout all of that. I was scared that this was the biggest mistake of my life. Like you'd diaper for good if I opened my big mouth." then he grinned a bit, "now I've caught the fox."

"The fox surrenders." Azuril said, still hanging onto him tightly, "will the hunter truly take care of the fox? Or is the fox truly as broken as it thinks it is?"

"You're not broken, you're just hurting. You aren't the kind of person to be broken. You weren't when I found you and you aren't now. So don't think that. You're not the horrible creature you think you are. You're just not." she looked at him, face to face,

"thank you, Damien. Thank you for all of this. Everything here. Everything I've seen, done and felt. Thank you." he grinned then seemed to hesitate on something, finally leaning in to kiss her, she met him half way, wow. And I said I'd totally never fall for this guy. But, that was before he was truly himself to my mind. Now, I fully know he's a real and separate person from who he resembles, he's a different person, and he's a person who loves me..

Miko was bright red from anger, knuckles white with how hard she had her fists clenched, she was glaring at the pair far off from them, Bobby was watching them with a smirk, Skayr was holding her harrisan, ready for Miko, and grinning as she watched them. Annakhin was smiling happily,

"I'm so happy they finally got this sorted out. I'm so happy for them." she said, Zykan looked slightly green and nauseous

"Ugh! I said 'go say you love her', not 'go make me wanna barf'!"

"You don't eat anyway, why are you complaining?" Bobby said,

"I eat! Meat and anything sugary." he said defensively, Skayr gave him a flat look,

"you're helping yourself none, imp." he flipped her off.

"I'll. Kill. Her!" Miko seethed through clenched teeth, "she will die slowly and painfully. And I will relish it greatly."

"You are a very unpleasant individual, y'know that?" Zykan said, she glared at him, he brushed her off and fell asleep.

"I hate him!"

"'hate' is such a strong word." Bobby said,

"how about 'loath'?"

"Nope." she shook her head a bit to accompany her answer.

"'Dislike with a great and strong passion'?"

"I'll let that slide." she said after a few seconds of looking thoughtful.

"Good. Because it's true."

"You're just inhumanly jealous because he's happy finally and it isn't with you." Bobby said, Annakhin and Skayr nodded.

"Jealousy is a wretched thing among humans. It turns friends against friends, brothers against brothers, and so on. It's a foolish emotion, it makes you seem rather ignorant, stupid and childish as well." Skayr said, Annakhin gave Miko a slightly shocked look,

"you don't want Damien to be happy? I thought you were his friend." she said, confused. Miko stared at the trio wide eyed, then, even Zykan put her on the spot,

"y'know, I think you've done ten times as much work at trying to keep those two away from each other than you have actually trying to get closer to Damien yourself. Kinda stupid, if ya ask me."

"And for once," Bobby said, "we did."

"Yay, I've been included in conversation in a positive way." he said, fake enthusiastic. "But, really, I say again, so much of your time was spent trying to keep Azuril away from Damien, and trying to figure out ways to do just that, that you never bothered to even try getting closer to your little lover-boy. Skayr, I second your earlier statement totally. Humans are just flippin weird." then he went back to sleep.

The sorting out of the situation went rather fast, Skayr beat Miko's head in with her harrisan before the girl could even get a word in. ("Well," Damien said, "whatever works." everyone nodded their agreement) several blissful weeks without disturbance followed, Zykan being excused every now and then to 'vomit it's so sickeningly sweet around here', as he'd put it. Damien had taken his chance at revenge, teasing and tormenting Zykan about his success constantly, Annakhin's voice was nearly taken from her because of how many 'down's she was dishing out, Bobby and Skayr were doing a damned good job of keeping Miko in line, and away from Azuril, and Azuril spent most of her time watching the others, or playing with Pardoner, sometimes both at once. Bobby continued her nightly attacks on Pardoner while the kitten stole some meat for his dinner, then bolted for Azuril, they were always fun to watch, especially when Azuril calmly and cooly told Bobby off, then lose interest in her in favor of Pardoner. Miko glared coldly at Azuril,

"every night you have something flip to say to tell her off. Doesn't that bother you that you can insult your friends so easily? Or don't you care? now that you've got a crutch to lean on-" Azuril wasn't positive if Miko had kept talking or not, she was sure of some sort of memory connected to that phrase, though. 'A crutch to lean on' you pull all of your weight on a crutch, depending on it to keep you up when you're afraid you'll fall. In a way she was right, Azuril did depend on Damien, but she figured he felt the same of her. He could stand partly on his own, but he needed help, someone there for him to keep him standing. She could take care of herself, but there was that large place inside her that needed to be filled to balance her out, she needed support and help as much as the next person. She depended on him for that, she thought of Damien as her support. He was a friend, and more to her. As long as she had him there to either catch her or at least help her get back up if she fell, she'd go on. Crutch or no crutch, she'd move forward. She snapped out of her thoughts when Damien spoke up,

"Miko, cut it out. I know you hate her now, but don't put her through this stuff daily, don't put all of us through it daily."

"Try hourly." Zykan said from the branch he'd found to lounge on, Annakhin just sighed and shook her head, in most cases, she'd given up on using her spell to try to get him to rein in his mouth, he just kept using it anyway. Now she only used the spell when she was angry, or when it was necessary for the situation.

"Zykan, though I'm sorry to say that you have somewhat of a point, that's not very nice."

"Fine. I'll shove it for now-hey! You gonna eat that?" he said, eyes lighting up, figuratively, though they had done so literally at times, when he snatched the remainder of a chocolate cake away from Annakhin, who had been handing it up to him. "Bobby, if there's one think I love you for, it's your cooking. You kick ass." he said, then he was lost to the rest of the world as he ate the cake.

"Well, at least I'm loved." Bobby said, shrugging. Skayr was looking at Zykan,

"I can just hear his arteries hardening." she muttered, Annakhin and Bobby shrugged a bit,

"true that." Bobby said.

"Now, I'll need to work with him on proper eating habits..." Annakhin muttered miserably.

"Chill, guys. Let him enjoy himself, remember, without him, we'd be dead right now. He deserves some quiet time with his desert...though I didn't see him eat anything for dinner again..."

"He took his trip into the shadows during dinner, he won't be leaving anymore tonight...I think." Azuril said, Miko and Skayr sagged,

"aw, man, my life just keeps getting worse!" Miko whined,

"as does mine." Skayr said.

"Grow up, drama queens." Bobby said, throwing a large soup spoon at Skayr, and a spatula at Miko, "Skayr, can you taste test for me?" she paused, "clean the spoon off first."

"Isn't it called a ladle?" Miko said, rubbing her head where the spatula has hit her. Bobby shrugged,

"dunno, honestly, don't care. Now, gimme my spatula."

"Ladle, Ladle, Ladle! I made it out of clay! Ladle, Ladle, Ladle! I broke it the first day!" damn you, Clare, you got your stupid song stuck in my head! Azuril thought, a tiny smile drifted across her face, but it didn't stay long, no expression or emotion every did. She'd only let her guard down several times since she'd woken up, but she tried her best to keep them away from the surface. The song made her think of almost every time they had spaghetti and their mother wanted them to taste the sauce, Clare would sing that song the instant the word 'Ladle' was mentioned. She was glad, at least, that Bobby wasn't making spaghetti. She was making soup.

"That's the tenth night in a row we've had soup of some freak kind." Zykan said, "can't you make anything else anymore?"

"I'll be able to once we get to town tomorrow and buy more food stuffs."

"Whatever."

"not the soup!" "No more soup!" "Ack! No, don't hurt the squirrels!" Lisa and I never did finish that story... she paused mid-thought, Lisa... "she committed suicide right after the funeral for you, and you were still alive when she did so the entire time. You were the cause of her suffering, and you could easily have changed that, but you didn't, you as good as killed her yourself." ...Lisa! she made a small noise in protest to the fact that she'd just made herself cry, the noise got Damien, Skayr and Zykan's attention, Skayr and Zykan because of altered levels of the senses.

"What the hell?" Zykan said, the other girls looked up,

"What is it?" Bobby said,

"over there." Skayr pointed across the fire from where she and Bobby sat, Azuril had pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, then hid her face on them, the could tell she was crying, Pardoner was mewing and rubbing against her, but she wasn't budging

"What the..." Bobby started, then she stopped, "I can't go over there."

"Why?" Skayr said,

"she's probably remembering something, I can't go and disturb her memories with a face identical to one of them. I think she'd snap."

"But that means none of us can go over there." Miko said, Damien didn't care for that. He kept his seat next to her, then touched her shoulder lightly, her head snapped up and she looked around wide eyed for a second, finally she dove at Damien, latching onto him as tightly as she could, still avoiding her left arm, even in her current state, and continued to cry. He held onto her tightly, not really sure on what to do in a situation that he didn't know the beginning of.

"What's wrong? What happened all of a sudden? Hey, talk to me..." he said softly, she shook her head,

"I should be over this by now..." she murmured, he blinked a bit,

"so you were remembering something..." she only tightened her grip on him, "it's ok. You can cry if you want to. It'll be ok." though he sounded stable, no one missed the fact that his hands were shaking, he was nervous, afraid even. He'd been afraid of that one moment where he didn't know what to do. They knew that much, Annakhin and Bobby gave him sympathetic looks, Skayr just watched silently with no true expression on her face, Miko, though jealous still, looked worried, and full of some type of pity. Even Zykan had an empathetic look on his face, for all they knew, he could truly be an empath, no one cared to ask at that point, though.

"Damien..." Annakhin started, but nothing came to mind to say after that, so she stopped there.

"Man..." Zykan said, clearly to himself, but everyone else heard too, "that's gotta hurt something terrible..."

"You've never felt love before, Zykan..." Annakhin reminded him, "if you did know what it felt like, this'd be even worse for you to watch."

"Then I think I get it somewhat..." he said, still watching his friend, "I've seen him scared around her, I've seen him angry around her, but, until he finally talked to her, I'd never seen him happy one hundred percent around her..." he jumped down out of the tree, landing next to Annakhin, "I liked seeing him happy, angry, nervous, or anything like that, way better than this. This makes something hurt inside me, and I don't know what it is or why, but I want it to stop."

"Then Damien must be hurting a lot, if you're finally feeling something like that." Skayr said, "it is called heartache, Zykan. It comes from feeling pain or helplessness when you know your friend is suffering. It is grief, Zykan. You feel the pain and helplessness that we all feel. It will pass when his grief does."

"Well, I don't much appreciate it. But if it's necessary..." he said, crossing his arms over his chest and watching Damien, "then I guess I have to."

"We all do now." Miko said, "Love hurts." she said as the group continued to watch Damien try to calm Azuril down, both of them seemed miserable.

"I am sorry, Damien. I was childish last night at dinner..." Azuril said quietly, she hadn't talked much since she'd finally cried herself out, falling asleep from exhaustion. "I should be past those memories by now. I shouldn't have let even that name get to me..." Bobby put a hand on her shoulder,

"don't worry about it. We completely understand it all. We all have our own memories like that. It's ok." she said, the rest of the group nodded. Skayr raised an eyebrow in confusion when Azuril quickly turned away so she couldn't see the other girl.

"And myself? Why are you suddenly attempting to avoid me? Have I done something?"

"No, I apologize. You have done nothing to upset me, it's just..." "she committed suicide right after the funeral for you, and you were still alive when she did so the entire time. You were the cause of her suffering, and you could easily have changed that, but you didn't, you as good as killed her yourself." "you're so much like the girl I once knew..."

"Lisa?" Skayr said, Azuril cringed and nodded,

"there were several connections made to her at dinner last night that were too much for me, stupid connections that shouldn't have meant anything. But, I still..."

"I understand. But I cannot help what I look like or who I resemble. The pain will Eventually pass...over how much time, I do not know...but you will eventually be free of this burden." Skayr said, surprised when Pardoner made a daredevil leap from Azuril's shoulder into her arms. Azuril stopped walking abruptly, turning around fast to follow her cat, pausing and relaxing when she noticed he was safe.

"It seems he likes you. You may hold him for now, if he wishes to stay." she said, then she turned away and started walking again. Skayr shook her head slowly, as did Bobby when she walked back to her friend's side, sparing Pardoner a pat on the head.

"That girl will be difficult to handle until she forgets who she was." Skayr said quietly, Bobby shook her head,

"no. she'll never fully forget. I have a feeling she'll forget herself completely, who she was, her connections to people, the names of all of the people she knew, all of that. But, I think there's one thing she'll keep over time, the memories of her friend's faces...and of things she might have done with them, heard from them, but, she won't know who they are."

"She will completely forget herself and all else from her past life, but her friends will remain...? what of her sister?" Skayr said, Bobby shrugged,

"I'm thinking she'll just believe what she's been continually told. No matter what else she forgets, she will hear both all of us, and Clare, call that spazoid her little sister. That's what she'll hear, that's what she'll believe."

"She will unconsciously remember her sister, and remember only the faces of her friends, nothing more?"

"I'm thinkin' so." Bobby said, putting her hands in to her pockets, "she'll remember the reason why she's here, she'll remember their faces, she'll know they're important and that it causes a lot of pain to her heart whenever she remembers them, but I think she'll be damned if she knows anything more than that. She'll remember faces, maybe some different things they'd all done with each other, at a long stretch maybe words or phrases corresponding to them, but she won't know a thing else, names, relations to her, anything past their faces...that's all she'll have."

"So, she will know to be sad at certain times, know that the faces in her head look like ours, and believe what she's being told continually about Clare, and that will be all that is left?" Skayr had a look somewhere between disbelief and sympathetic on her face. Bobby nodded,

"I think our resident bitch planned it like that. She wants Azuril to keep on suffering, even if she doesn't know why it makes her hurt."

"I'll rip her heart out myself, then." Skayr said, "I owe her my own vengeance and pay back for my friend as well."

"I think Azuril will like that." Bobby said, Pardoner mewed several times, seemingly in agreement. At the front of the group, Azuril was watching the ground as she walked, she still felt ashamed of herself for what she'd done the night before. To her, it was getting to the point where she was unknowingly following an old rule of hers, crying was a weakness never to be shown.

"You ok?" Damien asked her quietly, she shuts her eyes for a second, then looked at him,

"fine. I am fine. Just-"

"tired?" he finished for her, giving her a skeptical look, "you say that every time anyone ever asks you that. What's really wrong? If you're tired, we can stop for a bit. But you're just using it as an escape, aren't you?" he stopped walking, turning to look at her fully, she stopped as well, looking at him, "I thought we were done with escapes and fake trails. What's wrong?" she lowers her gaze right away, he sighed, reaching out towards her, "I want you to be able to tell me. Please." she leaned against him, glad for the contact, the comfort.

"I can't remember." she said, he looked down at her with a confused look on his face,

"what?"

"I don't remember who I was. I know I had a life before this, but I'm starting to forget it, Damien. I'm starting to forget who I am..." she truly sounded tired this time, "did I ever tell you who I was? Can you remind me? Damien?" he kept staring

uh-oh. "yes. You told us all a bit of it, once. But it was pointless to remember. I don't know the person you were at all, how she acted, what seemed to make her happy, what or who she loved, hated, or anything else about her. I only got a name. And I didn't care to log it away. I only remember you as you, not her." he held onto her for a second, "I don't want to know her, I want to know you. So, maybe, it's better if she rests in peace. Forget her for now."

"Yes, Damien. As you wish." she said quietly, still wondering as to who she had been, but, if she wasn't important enough for Damien to remember, then she was to be left alone. She started walking again, catching up to Damien quickly, she'd forget the past soon. She knew that. But, she'd remember what truly mattered to her. She would always know what was important to her, the things that really mattered to her. Things like her friends, new and old, things like her new life, things like Damien.

"What day is it - and in what month
This clock never seemed so alive
I can't keep up and I can't back down
I've been losing so much time

'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do
Nothing to lose
And it's you and me and all of the people
And I don't know why
I can't keep my eyes off of you

All of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out right
I'm tripping on words
You've got my head spinning
I don't know where to go from here

'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do
Nothing to prove
And it's you and me and all of the people
And I don't know why
I can't keep my eyes off of you

There's something about you now
I can't quite figure out
Everything she does is beautiful
Everything she does is right

'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do
Nothing to lose
And it's you and me and all of the people
And I don't know why
I can't keep my eyes off of you
and me and all of the people with nothing to do
Nothing to prove
And it's you and me and all of the peopleAnd I don't know why
I can't keep my eyes off of you

What day is it
And in what month
This clock never seemed so alive"

---

Lifehouse; You and Me; (lost the CD case, not sure, think it's just called 'Lifehouse')