TheFallenHer0: I liked Tigress, too. She was character who managed to come in so powerfully, even though she was only present for a short time. I might put something in about her later, in a different story, but it's unlikely. I might, though, I might. I liked her character.

Note: When words look like this and it means that the speech is in Element, a language that Philyra doesn't know.

"I need a hero.

I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light.

He's gotta be sure,

and it's gotta be soon."

—Bonnie Tyler

Chapter 4—(Chapter 55)

Philyra woke the next day to a yelp from Selene. "Dude, there are other ways of waking people up, you moronic barbarian!" While Philyra couldn't tell what she was saying, but she could tell that Selene was irritated.

"You will shut your mouth and do as your told." responded the guard who had kicked Selene awake. Philyra made sure she was huddled in a corner, making herself as unnoticeable as possible. She wasn't Selene. She was terrified and didn't want to get hurt.

Selene snorted, "Since when, in my time here, have I been very cooperative?"

"Oh, princess, you'll cooperate eventually, whether you want to or not." Cooed a voice—Jerkwad's—from the open doorway. "Now, you've got to get dressed. We've got a meeting to attend, princess, and you need to be a little dolled up. One of my partners needs assurance that I've indeed done my end of the deal. Have it"—he gestured to Philyra, who silently whimpered—"help you."

"How am I supposed to change when I'm, you know, strapped to the floor?" Selene sneered, jangling the chains that kept her in place.

"Oh, princess, come now, you're too pretty to be making such an ugly face." The creep smiled, then snapped his fingers. The minion who had woken her up came over and inserted a key into a shackle, and it soon fell away from the cuff. He did it with the other three, and soon, Selene wasn't connected to the floor anymore—but still had those magic-preventing manacles encasing her wrists and ankles. "Oh, and would you clean her too?" Selene gasped as she was suddenly enveloped in water. When it disappeared, she was clean and shivering. The elemental who had done it had icy blue hair, and Philyra would guess he was a water-ice elemental.

"I'm going to shut the door, but there will be guards waiting outside for you." Jerkwad said, then left, closing the door behind him. Philyra didn't hear the click of a lock. They locked the kids, the docile, hopeless kids, but not the rebellious princess who fought everything they did? It just didn't make sense..

Philyra crawled over to the bag before lugging it over towards Selene. She waved the younger girl away and unzipped it herself. Inside was a piece of pink clothing that was so pale that it was nearly white. She pulled it out. It was a fancy dress, with dark pink roses embroidered at the ends of the skirt and sleeves and neckline, along with the bodice.

"I never did like roses." Selene muttered. "Gosh, this thing is ugly."

Philyra agreed. It was gaudy and reminded her of her stepmother.

"At least I won't have to associate anything I like with this point in my life. I far prefer lilies. Simple, and yet beautiful for it." Selene admitted. She convinced Philyra to help her tear off the roses on the bottom of the dress and the ends of the sleeves. It wasn't an easy task. It also took a while to help get Selene into the dress. But they managed it, after lots of winces on Selene's part. She still had all her injuries from the previous day.

The opened the door, Selene leaning on Philyra, who was helping her walk. The guards surrounded them, leading them to wherever they were going. Then Selene started to lean a little less on Philyra, and surprised everything where when she snatched the belt knife of the guard closest to her And before anyone could react, she gripped her long hair in one hand and quickly slashed it off with the knife, cutting it to where it was uneven and choppy. The guards all stopped and she casually slipped the knife back in it's scabbard, then threw the locks of hair behind her. "Sorry. It was getting annoying. We can proceed now." She leaned back on Lyra and they started forward. The shocked guards hurried to catch up and surround them again.

When they got to the door, Selene whispered in Philyra's ear, "Go hide, near, but not to close. Conceal yourself. This might get nasty." Philyra nodded slightly and Selene took all of her weight off the shorter girl, standing up straight. Philyra scampered off to a hidden corner that allowed her a good view of the proceedings.

Selene walked bold, firmly, up to Jerkwad and another elemental. While she didn't show it on her face, Philyra knew she must be hurting. A lot.

The two turned towards Selene. "Ah, princess, you look lovely. It's a pity what you've done to the dress and your hair, though." Philyra couldn't understand what was being said, but she managed to get the gist of the conversation from the body language. Being silent taught you how to do a lot of things.

"I'd rather not trip and fall on my face." Selene said loftily, "That wouldn't be too graceful, now would it? As for my hair,"—she shrugged—"it was getting annoying. Not that it's any of your business, Jerkwad."

"Jerkwad?" the new elemental said, sounding amused.

"The two of us, ah, have an interesting relationship." Jerkwad said.

"If by interesting, you mean that you're an evil piece of scum that I utterly loathe with all my heart, mind, and soul." Selene replied cheerily, "I'd be perfectly happy if you just went and slit your wrists. Or your throat. Or anywhere that'd cause you to die a slow, excruciating death."

"She's certainly lively." The smile on the newcomer made it seem like he was condescending as he looked Selene up and down. Philyra shivered. That was more than just a simple look. "She also looks just like her grandmother, down to the eyes!"

"I've decided something," Selene announced, "He's Jerkwad, but you,"—pointing to the newer person—"you're Dumb Diablo. Diablo, since you're such a moron you probably don't know what it means, translates to 'devil'." Selene gave him a (clearly fake) winning smile.

"Of course she's lively," Jerkwad continued as if she had never spoken, "She takes after the fire side of her heritage. Which is why she just needs to be tamed a bit. Fire is very easily managed after you show it who's in charge."

"I'm not just fire—I'm pure, stubborn 21st century woman." I retorted, "fire can't compare to those whom it bare. Hey! I just made that up!" She giggled like she was insane. Philyra then new that she was starting Plan C. It was technically Plan B, Selene said, but she was going to call it Plan C, as in 'Plan Crazy'. Selene was going to pretend like Jerkwad had broken her mentally to the point to where she was no longer of use in their plan. Selene was clever, moreso than most people would realize.

"You know what I also made up?" Selene widened her eyes comically, "Ring around the rosies,"—she pointed at some of the roses left on her dress—"pockets full of dummies,"—she pointed to Jerkwad and the other elemental—"Ashes! Ashes! I'll burn you all doooooown!" She began to cackle, sounding like a mad woman as she began spinning in circles like she was drunk. The guards inched away from her. Clearly something in her tone unnerved them. Philyra knew it was fake…it still freaked her out.

"Oo! Oo! How about this? Can you answer this?" She looked at them, all eager, leaning forward and on her tippy toes. "No legs have I to dance, no lungs have I to breathe, no life have I to live or die and yet I do all three! What am I? What am I?" her voice was just ever-so-slightly higher pitched than it was before. "You'll never ever get it! Neither of the two answers! Never! Never! Neeee-ver!" She taunted, shriek-laughing again.

"Garrick," The new elemental gave Jerkwad a disapproving look, "Don't tell me you've broken her mind that much. Those bruises I can see on her arms don't look like you've been treating her all that well."

"You're not even trying to answer it!" Selene whined. They ignored her.

"She's perfectly fine. I'm pretty sure she's just pretending. She's been as stubborn as her grandfather up until now." Jerkwad responded. He was good at hiding it, but Philyra could tell he was getting nervous.

"What am I? What am I!?" Selene was practically screaming at this point, "WHAT AM I?!"

The new guy gave Jerkwad a glare, and then disappeared. Jerkwad looked murderous, and marched over to Selene, and was about to grab her arm when a large crashing BOOM! sound shook the room, coming from just outside. The guards hurried to the large front doors of the room and they crashed open, a few other guards flying into the room.

A man—a clearly human man whom Philyra identified, from Selene's detailed descriptions, as Klaus Goldstein—worn and a big ragged, was fighting off several of the remaining guards from outside. But then the ones from the room joined their comrades, quickly overpowering the already tired man.

Selene screamed his name as the sharp snap of wood echoed through the room.