Marin screamed in pain, everything was wet. Her back was pressed against the ground, the mud soaked into her clothes. Flinching again, she put her right arm in front of her to shield herself from the Valron, her arm felt heavy.

"Don't move!" Fahd's voice yelled in her ear.

Someone grabbed her right elbow and she screamed again in pain, as it shot up and down her arm. Her right hand was in the wrong place compared to her elbow.

The Valron wasn't there. She saw sky and trees from where she lay on the ground.

The rain spattered her face, her whole body was heavy.

She tried to get up with her good arm. Everything was so heavy.

"I said don't move!" Strong arms pressed down no her shoulders, pinning her down.

Marin whimpered out. "What happened?"

"Her Materia." Fahd again., ignoring her question.

"Is- is it dead?" Marin pressed her chin against her chest, bringing Fahd into view.

She could also see the mess that the Valron had made of her, from her collarbone to her stomach. She tried to convince herself that she was seeing someone else. That she was not seeing inside herself. Where the Valron had torn her open.

Marin screamed, she had no words for the sight of herself.

Fahd shook his head and barked more instructions, before he received Marin's bracelet, he snapped off his own spell.

Marin's eyelids were heavy now.

Something with wings flew over their heads and trees.

"Look, out." She mumbled with a thick tongue, "There's anoth-"

The pain slipped away as the sky became a black nothing.


Marin's head bumped against something soft, her head was full of softness, cotton balls, and cobwebs. She was, was soft, warm and dry.

Her eyes bolted open, "Look out! Above you!" She tried to sit up. Her chest muscles screamed against whatever was wrapped around them. Her whole torso was sore and tight. There was a white, stuccoed, ceiling over head, and dark beams holding the ceiling up. She was inside, no longer laying on her back of the muddy gravel road. Her right arm was tied down against her body.

A hand, no a finger, pressed against her shoulder, holding her down. "Shhh, Marin. It's okay." Shawn looked down at her.

"Where's Jamie? Danny? The others?"

Shawn shook his head, "They'll catch up."

Marin felt her eyes go huge. "What do you mean?"

"They went to get the car." Shawn sounded bitter.

Marin looked down, a light blanket covered her. She lifted her left hand, it was fine. Checking under the blankets, her torso had been mummified with bandages. Wriggling her toes, her boots were gone. At least she was not longer soaked from the rain and mud. Marin was dry, no longer cold or wet. But she still felt miserable and tired.

The bandages kept her decent. Though feeling vulnerable without her Materia, the bracelet was absent from her left arm.

A stranger came into the room, through the single door. "I heard voices, is she awake?" An older woman, her while coat covered a flannel shirt and jeans. The white lab coat was in pristine condition. Heeled cowboy boots sounded across the wood flooring to Marin's bed. The place looked more like an inn than a hospital room.

The woman checked Marin's pulse without asking.

Marin sputtered at the doctor's terrible bedside manner. She grasped for words of protest.

Shawn only looked morose.

Marin asked Shawn again, "Where are the others?"

"They're coming." Shawn insisted again. The words sounded rehearsed.

The doctor stood there with the stethoscope, her foot was tapping.

Marin only stared at Shawn.

He explained, "I helped Fahd get you in the car after the second Cura had been interrupted. He ran the three of us to town. As soon as he found the doctor, he went back."

"How are they?"

Shawn shrugged, "We'll know when they get here."

"How long have I been out?"

"I finished bandaging you minutes ago. Though those wounds took a bit more than that to put you back together" the doctor quirked down the side of her mouth. "I need privacy with my patient."

Shawn shook his head, "I'm not leaving my friend."

The woman tsked. "And you?"

Marin was surprised, she had known Shawn for days. 'He called me friend.' They had been through a lot over the last week and a half. Knowing which building she was in now, Marin looked at Shawn. Nibelheim was a village in the middle of nowhere. But it was on her mind because of what was supposed to happen here, at some point. "Shawn," Marin started. "can you, as my friend, give me some privacy with the doctor?" she looked at the window, the curtains had been drawn, sunlight poked under the hem of the curtains. "Wait in the lobby. Please?"

Shawn gave a sober nod, not saying either way if he would stay downstairs or look for trouble in town.

Marin didn't push the point. She was too tired to tell Shawn to behave.

The doctor waited for the door to close behind Shawn. "You should be sleeping." she pulled the blanket back a little to check on the bandages. "At least you didn't get up. You might have torn the stitches."

Marin sighed, "everything is so hard."

"You should sleep for hours with the sleepel your other friend gave you. It would be better if you got some rest."

"My Materia...I have cure." Marin tried to jangle the bracelet missing from her arm, "I have cure…" Her mind was full of fog, she didn't realize that she had repeated herself until the words were already said.

"Your other friend took it with him."

Marin swallowed. After what had happened to her... "Jamie." Tears formed in her eyes.

The doctor took Marin's left hand, gently. "Oh poor dear. Stop. Don't worry. The stress could kill you."

Marin's jaw hit her chest. "How can you say that?!"

The doctor shook her head. "You're alive. Shawn is alive, you're other friend's are alive. Think on that."

"But-"

"It is what it is. They'll get here when they get here. But you have to think of yourself, you could undo the work I've already done if you don't take it easy." A firmness and command entered the doctor's tone at the last words she said.

Marin shuffled to rise.

The doctor let go of Marin's hand to put an iron grip on her shoulders. "I'm not going to watch you hurt yourself after all the work I did for you."

Marin stopped struggling.

"Done?"

Marin nodded once, her head swam. She remained at ease on the bed.

The doctor released the pressure on Marin's shoulders. "I only have two of these." she waved at her white lab coat. "I don't want to get blood on this one too."

"You patched me up?" she asked. "What happened?"

The doctor shrugged, "Nothing that couldn't be put back together. You're lucky to still have everything you started with, if shifted a little."

Marin yawned. The doctor yawned with her. "Don't doctors have magic Materia?"

The doctor squeezed her jaw shut from the yawn, covering Marin back up with the blanket. "I only have so much I can do in a day, I have limits. Besides the rest of your friends aren't back yet. They might need me to work on them too."

Marin cracked her jaw, fighting another yawn.

"I need to check on you three times an hour." the doctor looked at the door. "I can let your friend back in here, But." the woman folded her arms. "Under no circumstances are you to get up."

"Yes doctor."

"All right." the woman called for Shawn through the door. "Hey you!"

"His name is Shawn."

"Hey Shawn?"

A voice floated up from downstairs, Marin couldn't hear what he said.

"Get back up here!"

The doctor left Shawn with Marin.

Marin didn't want him to watch her sleep while the others fought for their lives. Her eyelids wanted to close again.

Marin Drifted in and out of sleep anyway, the two of them hoped the others would come back. And that they would be alive.


Marin opened her bleary eyes at the light in her face. The light glowed green.

She tried reached with her right hand, still heavy and stiff and bound to her side. As the streams of magic settled on her.

Fahd and the doctor, stood over her. Fahd looking worse for wear. Marin didn't know how long it had been. It was very dark in the room.

Marin sighed as the healing magic eroded the pain. "You're alive." she murmured.

"You doubted me?" Fahd asked.

"I didn't..." she yawned. The pain that leaked from under the drugs was no longer there to keep her awake. "...see what you were going back to." she tried to keep her eyes open. "Jamie?"

"She's fine after borrowing this." Fahd held up something that glinted in the fading streams of healing magic. Marin's bracelet and Materia.

"Danny and Val?" Marin yawned again.

"Same."

"You okay?" she asked.

Fahd was dripping onto the floor, blood shone in the lamp light. He plinked the bracelet on the nightstand. "Get some rest."

Marin closed her eyes, after saying "you really should buy more healing Materia." Marin was asleep before he replied.


Marin woke-up, her chest and stomach itched. She had dreamed of everyone being OK, of Fahd healing her.

Someone snored in the room.

"Jamie?"

Jamie, asleep in the other bed, snorted awake. "Mare-" Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes before continuing, "You're awake."

"You're okay."

Jamie looked confused, "Fahd said he told you we made it."

Marin shook her head, "I was so tired I thought that was a dream."

"It wasn't. We're okay." Jamie looked like she was going to cry. "I thought you were dying. Then more wolves showed up-"

Marin out a hand, to relieve Jamie's babbling.

Jamie continued, "we all did what we could."

Marin felt hurt when Jamie didn't take her hand. So she said something else. "Shawn was here earlier. Danny?"

"He's sleeping it off in the other room. The concierge downstairs seemed happy to get the business. But they're out of beds after the doctor turned this floor into a hospital."

Marin's whole torso itched, she resisted the urge to scratch the bandages. 'I'm okay now and there's a bed right here,' Marin didn't say it. She didn't know how to bridge the gap between them. And pushing Jamie too hard could make it wider. "What about Val?"

"Same." Jamie looked at the window. "I don't like how dark it is in here." throwing open the curtains, Jamie opened the window to the autumn air.

Marin squinted her eyes from the sunlight of mid-morning or mid-afternoon. She couldn't remember which way the inn in Nibelheim faced.

Marin asked "What time is it?"

Jamie shrugged, "Afternoon." Jamie looked out the window. "How long did your head and leg heal three years ago?"

"Three weeks, three and a half weeks. And Fahd healed me last night. I'll be okay way sooner than that with magic this time."

"Maybe." Jamie said.

Marin pulled the blanket up, so even the bandage-wraps around her shoulders couldn't be seen. Her right arm was still in a splint, she had to use her left hand. "Jamie, was there something you wanted to talk about?"

Jamie shook her head. "Now's a bad time. Just get some rest and eat."

"I'm not hungry." She hadn't eaten anything since the cold breakfast the day before they had taken that last stretch of road to this town.

"Listen to your friend." the doctor came, followed by Danny.

Danny held a tray of food.

"Eat." she said as she waved Danny over with the tray.

"I'm not hung-" Marin's stomach growled at the smell.

The doctor looked at Marin, "you're not tired either? Don't make me bind you with sleepel again." The doctor touched the bracer on her left arm. "Eat, then sleep. You need it."

Marin opened her mouth to protest the doctor's request.

Danny had the tray on the nightstand, looking between Marin and the Doctor.

"No, no." the doctor rode over whatever Marin was going to say. "You were in a state when you got to town. I did what I could for you. I'm surprised you were even talking yesterday. But no mind." she waved for Danny to put the food tray on the bed next to Marin. "I'm here to check on your bandages, then you can have dinner and rest some more."

Marin wanted to scratch the bandages badly. She balled her left hand into a fist rather than mess with whatever was waiting for her underneath.

"You and you, out." the doctor planted a doctor's bag on the bed.

The doctor didn't start until her and Marin were alone.


Marin surveyed her collar bone in the bathroom mirror. A little bit of an old-looking scar poked out from above the neck line of her remaining shirt. At least it was dry.

The doctor had been there for Fahd to heal her. But she didn't remove the bandages until today. No one spoke about the state the others were in. Or how badly they had been hurt by the Valrons or the Nibel wolves.

Marin's chest and stomach now looked like a botched autopsy of scar tissue. The doctor had said something about the timing of the healing and that scarring was inevitable. With Magic Materia, her injuries took a couple of days to treat. That under normal circumstances would have taken months and months.

The doctor had said, "Well, maybe in the big city, they would have big healing spells and things. But around here, we make due with what we have. Especially when there's more patients coming to triage." The doctor had apologized for Marin's scars.

Marin looked at herself in the mirror 'Maybe an autopsy with bear claws instead of a scalpel.' She was alive at least.

Jamie had a haunted look, she looked tired when she was awake.

Marin touched the bit of scar above the collar. It felt old and looked pale, just like the ones on her legs. As badly as it appeared. It looked like she had fought the Valron years ago. As bad as it had been, well timed healing magic and stitches had put her back together the way she was before, just with more texture across her torso.

The doctor had removed all the stitches and told Marin she had been lucky to not have bled internally. The woman had made a black humor joke about it all being external bleeding. Marin had chuckled out of politeness, but the laughter didn't last very long.

The woman had never asked any of them their names, and had not offered her own. Marin had given her the respect of her title, but that was all.

'We're strangers here, strangers bring trouble. And money.' She thought. Even the big cities had mixed feelings about about tourists. Though in cities like Marin's, most people did not have to deal with obnoxious tourists. Her home city was too big. In small towns, everyone knew everyone and strangers stood out.

'Now I just have to keep Shawn out of trouble.' She reminded herself.

It felt a small problem, after fighting for her life. As much as she had been vivisected by that monster, she still lived. And she remembered standing up to the thing in vain. 'Stupid. Valrons are resistant to ice. I should have used fire.' She had nearly been killed, mixing up one monster with another.

Flexing her right arm, it felt normal now. The broken bones healed as well as they could with magic, maybe even better.

As upsetting as the memory was of seeing her chest and stomach laid open. It hadn't Marin's first time she had seen her muscles. But this time her friends had witnessed it. They might be more traumatized than she was.

Marin had remembered how much more upset here own parents were to her incident with those dogs that winter years ago. Even her mother had had nightmares for months, when Marin slept like a baby. Now Jamie was on that side. Of seeing the trauma happen to someone else.

Marin shrugged it off. She would have felt better with someone to talk to, a counselor or something. For now, she could put a brave face on for the others, let them know she was okay. It might help them feel better about it all.

Jangling her Materia bracelet, she went downstairs.


The rain had stopped while Marin slept. The sun was out in force, everything outside was dry and dusty already.

Marin sat in a suede leather jacket bought here. Her other jacket had been torn to shreds. What had been salvaged was waiting in her room for Marin to go through.

For now, she sat on a box under the water tower in the town square. Shawn leaned on the box next to her.

The sun would be behind the mountains soon. Sunset came early in this mountain town.

Shawn was in the prefect position to see the path to the ShinRa Manor where he sat.

"Shawn." Was all Marin said.

"What?"

"Don't do anything stupid. We're guests here."

Shawn protested. "What? I wasn't gonna to do anything."

Marin turned to look up at him. "Promise me."

"What? Why?"

"Just promise me."

"Okay, okay, I promise not to talk to-"

"Shawn!" she demanded quietly. "Just stay out of trouble."

"Okay, okay. I promise." He mumbled something.

"What was that?"

"I can't do anything about trouble that finds us."

"Shawn, please."

"Okay, okay. I'll-" the breeze kicked up, blowing sand and dust on both of them.

Shawn got it right in the face. "Ah!" He spat and coughed, wiping his face.

Marin had closed her eyes in time, she waited for the breeze to pass, before dusting herself off. Of the two of them, Shawn was the only one spitting out dirt. "Shawn, anything else, I'd rather talk about inside."

Hearing children's laughter, Marin looked over. She didn't recognize anyone playing in that circle with marbles. They looked too young to be teenagers, somewhere between nine or twelve years old.

"He's not there." Shawn told her.

"What? No, I-"

Shawn looked at the ground, while he carefully went at the grit in his eyes. "There's a blond kid watching them from the window over there." He said under his breath.

Marin saw the paler shade before the curtains were drawn on that window. Everything started lining up. 'They're just kids.'

"Mmm." Shawn hummed happily to himself. "Satisfied?"

"I'm done with the sand, Shawn. Let's head inside."


The car had been towed into town while Marin had slept. The damage to the roof and body was relatively minor. But there was no magic fix for it, like there was for people.

They had to wait for the locals to do what they could for Fahd and Val's car. Meanwhile, the six of them were stuck in town.

At least the rain had stopped and they weren't under threat any time. They were dry and safe now.

Fahd didn't let that slow down his training routine. Though he took the group just outside of town. While Val kept watch for anything that might try to sneak up on them, so they could practice.

Everything was fine until Marin was squared off against Shawn. Her using knives against him using one of Val's extra spears.

Shawn lunged at her, at a clear advantage with his reach.

When Marin looked, her resolve from the last fight fell away. All she could see was tooth and claw and wing lunge at her. She had blacked out the claw strikes. As it was, she still flinched and curled into a standing ball. Grunting to hold back the scream from leaving her throat.

"Marin?" Shawn backed up, holding the padded spear tip well away from making contact. "Are you OK?"

She shook her head, "No, but I will be." 'Where the fuck did that come from?' she wasn't as trauma free as she'd thought.

A hand landed on Marin's shoulder. She nearly leapt out of her skin, shouting in surprise.

"You're on edge," Fahd.

"No shit," she mumbled.

"It's been a bit of a day." He told her.

Shawn was wide eyed with concern.

"I've had worse." she told Fahd. Flipping the knives in her hands, she took a stance again. "I only got over that fear by confronting it." She didn't get over her cynophobia by staying at home those years ago. No one had been surprised that she had gained a fear of dogs. But Marin had only gotten rid of it by confronting it at every opportunity.

Her home city had a lot of dog walkers.

Fahd had an unreadable look for Marin. "Suit yourself."

Marin slid her shoulder out from his grip. "I'm fi-." she stopped when she realized she wasn't being lectured. "Oh, okay." She turned back to Shawn. Her knives had no edge, Fahd seemed to have an unending supply of practice knives at hand.

Her heart pounded in her chest, it would be a while before she calmed down. But practice was better than being alone. 'I'm not avoiding it, I'm confronting.' Is what she told herself. Instead of trying to heal the scars she carried inside her.


Marin found herself outside that night. The first night she was allowed out of bed.

The November mountain air was cold Nibelheim. But this high in the mountains, the sky was full of stars. Most of the sky was covered with that blur that Marin had seen once, on a farm as a child.

The middle of the galaxy, the blur to the center. With stars all over, as well as closer ones that made up the local constellations. Marin didn't know astronomy. Or if the locals called the star-smear the Milky Way. Or something else. Here, it was too green. Every star was some shade of more or less green-white. Even the center of this galaxy was a hazy smear of green-ish stars and off-black-green in the black night sky.

'How far have we come, in just a few weeks?' Marin thought to herself.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Danny had joined her outside the Inn, to look at the sky.

"It's so green." Marin whispered.

"Yeah," Danny whispered back. "It doesn't look like home at all."

"Hmm." Marin made a noise. "I wouldn't know. I'm not an astronomer."

"I know the stars," Danny said. "but in November? I don't recognize these."

"The Milky Way was a big place."

"Was, Marin?"

They were both whispering to each other.

Marin answered, "it was our home, and now we're here."

"Don't you want to go back?"

"I don't know how."

"Maybe that Ardyn guy will know?" Danny offered.

Marin kept looking up at the stars. "He said he would tell me how, for a favor."

"What? Really? You don't talk much about him."

"He's frustrating as fuck. I hate talking to him."

"Wait, you said for a favor?"

Marin shook her head, "He said I'd know when and how. He's frustrating as all hell. We have to talk to him again, all four of us. Ask him better questions."

"Can you call him?" Danny asked, "This Ardyn guy?"

"He just shows up on his own."

"Then give me a holler next time he shows his face."

"Okay." Marin kept to herself that the man, or whatever he was, could stop time. Such as when Danny was in the shower. Marin might be the only person that could talk to him. Even if she wanted Danny to ask questions as well. 'I'll deal with it when it happens.'

Marin asked Danny, "Can you see anything that looks like our constellations? Anything at all?"

"Hmmm." Danny studied the sky, "There is a minor problem."

"What?" Marin looked at Danny, feeling concerned.

"Let's say we ARE in the same galaxy. Just elsewhere."

"Yeah?"

"Without a frame of reference. I have no idea if we're looking at Orion's belt. From the side or behind. Same as the North Star. And we'd never know."

Marin shrugged, "Everything is green anyway. Not white or yellow or blue."

"That's another thing Marin. Have you ever seen the pollution around here?"

"No."

"Well, guess what color of condensation reactors put out?"

Marin had never considered the pollution. It wasn't pollution or smog, it was water vapor. They didn't use coal or other fossil fuels like earth. Their old car had had no crank oil that needed changing, they just didn't know how to change the equivalent of oil in a Mako-powered car.

Danny poked Marin I the shoulder, "It's green Marin."

"Of course it is." She sighed and looked back up at the sky.

The condensation from the Mako reactors all over the world had a little bit of Mako in them. Air pollution that colored all the stars in the sky.

If one of those green-ish-white stars was her home sun with Earth nearby. Marin couldn't tell.


Marin poked at her food. She was hungry, but she wanted to talk without the presence of the innkeeper around her and her friends.

When the door shut the four of them in alone, Shawn started before Marin could.

"We saw Cloud, yesterday."

"Who?" Jamie asked.

Marin shook her head, "Doesn't matter."

"Shawn, what was the point of coming here?" Danny asked.

Shawn smiled "Now we know when we are."

Jamie still looked confused, "And that matters how?"

Marin chewed her first bite slowly. This town was larger than she had expected. Still a small mountain town. But there were differences and it didn't sit well with her.

"So, he looked what? Ten? Twelve years old?" Shawn asked Marin.

Marin swallowed, "I only saw him for a moment."

"I thought you played the same game I did." Shawn told her before turning to the other two. "It's the game we both played, one of those retro games."

"Yeah," Danny stabbed a piece of meat, "You already told us we're trapped in a Video game. So why does it matter how old this kid is?"

"It means we have several years, until things get interesting. Maybe four at the least?" Shawn smiled.

Marin slowly chewed another piece of food. She hardly noticed the texture as her teeth mashed it apart. The door from the lounge was shut. No one else could hear them talk about this world being imaginary.

"Define interesting." Jamie asked Shawn.

"The war ends, this whole town burns down, some people die. Then things get really interesting." Shawn said, smiling.

Jamie dropped her fork on her plate, saying nothing and staring.

Danny shook his head.

Marin swallowed her food. "Shawn!"

"What?"

"Those are people out there. Real people."

Shawn only shrugged, "we're the only real people here. They're just video game characters."

"Says the guy whose had their life save by Val and Fahd HOW many times?" Danny demanded.

"Hey hey calm down." Shawn tried placating Danny.

None of it worked.

Danny got up and leaned towards Shawn. "Say that again."

"Danny." Jamie pulled on Danny's sleeve.

Danny yanked his arm away. Sounding quiet and dangerous, he repeated himself "Tell me again that Jane, Fel, and Garet aren't real." He held out his hands. "that their blood and none of this is real!" He thundered.

Shawn put his hands up, between the two of them. "Calm down, it's not that bad."

Danny jabbed a finger at Marin. "Explain how Marin's scars are 'no big deal!' " He faced Marin apologetically, "Sorry Marin."

Marin shrugged it off. In this moment she was more upset that Shawn wasn't taking any of this seriously, once again. Her fresh, old-looking, scars chose that moment to itch and tingle. She scratched her ribs to no relief.

Jamie shot a concerned look at Danny's side, he didn't catch it. "Are you seriously seeing the same things we are Shawn?" Jamie shook her head. "Real or not, this place hurts! I just want to go home before somebody..." She trailed off.

"Dies, before somebody dies." Danny said. He dropped back in his chair. "What if some of us don't have a life to go back to?"

Marin stabbed the next piece of food with her fork. 'What if I don't want to go back to that life, since you're all here now?' She thought. Marin knew it was selfish. But she knew that it was what she wanted. Not the Valron attack, but to be here. Where she could exist with neither of her parents, no Cal. Just her and her best friends. And Shawn. She missed her great-grandmother Ayame, but that woman was long dead. There was no going back to her if Marin ever went home.

"We don't even know how we got here." Shawn told them. "Even less on how to get back. Besides." He looked at Danny. "If you could go back, before..." He changed what he was about to say. "If you could go back. Would you?"

"Of course I would. I'd rather go back to mid-terms than this." He waved at the mystery meat. Whatever the steak was from, it was not a cow and it tasted like chicken.

Jamie and Shawn were filling up on everything but the mystery steak.

Marin wanted the protein more than she wanted to copy Jamie's eating habits from Earth. She ate the chicken-steak.

"That's a surprise." Shawn said.

"How you like almost dying every day!?" Danny demanded of the other man.

"Well, no. But those monsters. I know they want to kill me. I can't say the same about other people."

Danny's plate creaked under his knife. "What are you implying?"

"I just thought that us having a break from racists, homophobes, or transphobes was a relief." Shawn waved his fork to punctuate his point. "But I guess I was wrong."

Danny paused cutting his meat to reply, "for a moment there, I thought you were talking about someone at this table."

"Well, I am. But not that way."

Shawn put down his knife and pointed with his finger instead. Pointing at Danny, "I don't think I need to tell you what you look like in the mirror. Or why your parents tossed you on the street."

Danny's knuckles went paler as he gripped his knife.

Nobody at that table needed to be reminded of that.

Shawn continued "My parents would not 'approve' of who Jamie was secretly dating." He pointed at Jamie and Marin.

"And you?" Danny demanded.

Shawn scoffed, "Jamie told me you've known each other for years. Surely I don't need to remind you how familiar my parents are not with my new look."

Danny put down his knife and massaged his knuckles. "Pretend I'm dumb."

"Don't worry, that's easy."

Danny launched out of his seat and lunged at Shawn.

Marin and Jamie had him by each arm. "He's not worth it." Marin told him.

"Don't hurt him, please. He's my brother." Jamie said at the same time.

"Shawn!" Marin warned him. "You're not taking any of this seriously!"

"Oh please. You stupid, naive, girl!"

Danny shook off both women and put himself back in his own seat.

Marin was angry now, "I'm a woman. Shawn." She wasn't woman everyday, but it was better than being called a girl or a child.

"Just take your damn music and keep believing that you can play away all your problems."

Jamie covered her mouth in shock.

Marin glared at the man, "Music is not running away from my problems."

"Well, you could have fooled me."

"Anyway, you two go take your secret romance back home. See how that goes. I don't want to be humiliated or murdered for who I am."

Jamie sounded angry now, "What are you saying Shawn?"

"Oh no." Danny said, still sounding angry. "They can find any number of other reasons to kill us. Then what? What happened when you, or you, or you die here?" Danny sighed, "Or me?" Shaking his head he threw his cutlery down. "I'll be outside."

"Danny." Jamie told him.

"Leave me." He told her, before storming out of the lounge, leaving his half eaten dinner behind.

"Shawn!" Jamie yelled at her brother.

"What?" Shawn's hand was halfway to Danny's plate.

"What if he comes back?" Jamie pulled the half-empty plate where Shawn couldn't reach.

Marin hadn't touched any of her own food in a while. "Here Shawn." she pushed her plate closer to him.

"Marin?" Jamie pleaded.

"Give me a minute." Marin told Jamie, as Marin got up to leave.

Jamie got up to follow Marin. Shooting a look to Shawn.

"No Jamie." Marin covered Jamie's hand with her own. And tugged that hand off of Marin's Sleeve. "I want some time alone. And I think Danny needs some time to cool off."

"But-"

"Jamie." Marin was a little harsher this time, regretting the hurt that it triggered on Jamie's face. "Talk to your brother. And teach him some manners."

"I can hear you." Shawn called from the table.

Marin yelled at him, "Drop dead Shawn." She exhaled for some calm and told Jamie, "I'll just be upstairs. But give me and Danny some time. Okay?"

Jamie nodded. She looked over her shoulder at Shawn.

Marin didn't see the look on her face, but she did see how Shawn reacted. He didn't look happy about it. Marin wasn't happy either. Shawn was ripping them all apart. She wanted to cling to hope, that this anger would pass. So Marin went upstairs to settle herself after everyone else had been yelling at each other. She had been reminded of her mother yelling. It left her numb and disturbed. There was no taking back being like her mother to Shawn. But she could leave the room before she said any more that she might also regret.

In the drawer, was her dried notebooks. One had been shredded, it would have to be re-written, though it was barely salvageable. But it was her lore and time line notes. They were worth more than the music.

The other notebook had only been rained on. She needed to keep her memories fresh, but at least one of the two notebooks were intact.

Marin no longer regretted writing them both in pencil now. Graphite didn't run in the rain.

Moving the ocarina to her rucksack before the attack had saved it. The notebooks had been in her coat, that coat was shredded now. Something as delicate as that ocarina would have been chipped, cracked or worse in her pocket.

So laying her music notes flat, she hung the ocarina around her neck. Looking for peace in all the anger Shawn had stirred up, she played a song.