For the first time, I truly dreamt. Kami, in the Traditional sense, danced around me. Each name, I knew, but could not speak. Each face was beyond familiar, a part of me so incomprehensibly vital, that I could not forget them. It was so utterly beautiful. A Silver dragon entwined a creature with bat-wings that stood as a human, but had no visible hands. Vampire. Part of me. The realization was stunning. This was, perhaps, just a dream. Then I realized something. Silver dragons, if you believed the more modern myths, were very friendly. Perhaps these were my ancestors. Oriental silver dragon, entwining a vampire bat. Why did it sound so… right? Why did I want to say 'Vlad' and 'Kurai'… Such strange things.

Beyond them, stood someone that I could NOT name. A woman, somewhere between a wolf, and a huntress, stood tall, howling at the moon, covered in bronze and steel scale mail. But she herself was… grey. Almost as if she was covered in fur. This dream was stranger by the second. I jerked awake, Sakura's hand on my chest, pulling slowly at a single curled hair. "Owwww… That's tender you know…"

"You think that's tender?" I ever so slightly twitched my ankle, and groaned. "Okay, you're right; there are things FAR tenderer." The sound of a Frying-pan smacking someone came from Ariana's Room, and Garnet yelped. "BAD! DRAGON!"

Garnet put his wings over his ears in an attempt to soothe the ringing in his skull. "WHAT?!" He whimpered harshly. 'I wasn't touching you, I swear!' A Cat meowed lightly, and hopped onto Garnet's back, curling up quietly. "I thought your tongue was furry last night…."

"Yes, it was the cat. Not me. I'm still sore from that, thank you…" He arched his neck back, and licked at some fur, accelerant eating away at the fur, and leaving a slowly hardening scale. The Trace amounts of Platinum in his accelerant hardened it quickly as it burned from contact with the hydrogen. The Scorched flesh raised and hardened further from the platinum, and it took on his dull red sheen. The color of Blood. He hadn't realized anything was strange.

Ariana gawked at him as she flapped her now bigger wings. The Course of a night had had its effect. Her wings were a good inch larger in all dimensions save thickness, and her tail had grown a further three inches. She actually wagged it, glancing at her talons, growing from her toes, even as they slowly but surely darkened before her eyes. She was simply amazed. Garnet stretched, still very much a traditional dragon, but much shorter than the night before, and stockier, much more compact. His every move spoke of enormous strength.

I groaned as I walked to the door, opening to see a red eyed Hiiro staring at me. "If… you ever… do that again… I will gut you." I grabbed the nearest towel, and wrapped it about my hips, preserving what little modesty I had after that last night. He growled as he yanked his Steel blade out of the door, eliciting a yelp from the other side. Kadan jumped off of the floor quickly. "I'm alright. Not scared at all…" He sat down, and inhaled deeply, but not before sobbing as he smelled what had happened. Rohan Groaned. "Not again…" Kadan sniffed. "I can't help it man! I got scared…"

"Clean your bed sheets and get dressed. You too, Hiiro." A trio of Grunts greeted me. "Hey, Did I give you permission to bitch?"

Hiiro muttered from the other side of the door, "Like I give a rat's ass what you think… Bloody up all night fucking that girl and you don't even have the decency to bloody give us a break… Slave driver." I Growled, and walked back into my room. Sakura groaned as she lowered her legs onto the floor, wincing.

"You're a Bastard Kai." Every one of them said it in unison. Even Sakura. I blinked. "Oh sure, just because –I- get lucky, and –I- happen to be the guy who knows what's up next, I'm the bastard."

Sakura giggled. "You're a bastard because you didn't TELL me you were so damned good."

Ariana growled. "You're a bastard because you didn't TELL me it was a cat."

Garnet laughed. 'You're a bastard because you didn't tell her it was a cat.'

Rohan snarled. "You're a bastard because you're just a bastard."

Kadan grunted. "Ditto!"

Hiiro stomped. "He's just a bastard okay? Would you all please just shut the hell up? You didn't have to LISTEN to the freaking HEADBOARD all damn night!" He snarled. "I'm going down to get breakfast. You're buying me a side of bacon, damn it Kai!"

I Sighed, and Shrugged. "So, that's how it is, eh?" Felan Smirked at me, and trotted up, nudging me. 'You need a bath, master.'

I sniffed at my armpits, and looked away gagging. "Good GOD I smell like an Eta!"

Sakura smirked. "No better than me and Elimine is a Goddess, moron."

"You're a Goddess, and trust me on this; Elimine isn't a big worry for me…" The Door behind me nearly jumped off the hinges. "ROOM. SERVICE." Someone was EXTREMELY pissed. I opened the door, getting bowled out of the way, and Elimine's very likeness walking into the room. "Here. To change. The Sheets."

"Sakura? Can I ask you to step outside? I'll be down to get breakfast in a Second. I want to have something arranged for tonight."

Sakura nodded slowly, and got dressed, kissing my cheek as she went out. I smirked. That was unlike the Sakura I had known. Not everything was a mirror image. Perhaps it was almost ten years of pent up… emotion from last night. Maybe.

Elimine glared at me. "You think me THAT Insignificant? I am the Ultimate power in THIS Realm, Kai."

"Wrong. Felix is. My Twin. Might I remind you that YOU called me into this realm, all because of that bastard?"

Elimine stared at me with eyes as small as pennies. "Hige?" I sighed. "Yes, Felix is my twin. At 32, we went out separate ways, of a disagreement about, of all things, the difference between us. He went out of his way to make himself Anathema to me. I followed one religion, he, the polar opposite. While I was kind and benevolent, he was Cruel and malevolent." I snarled. "He's still my twin, but that just means I've got first dibs on his skull."

Elimine blinked at me. "You're Felix's Twin?"

"Yes… I'd rather not go into every little detail about my past life, but let's just say there are quite a few similarities between the worlds. Almost like the Souls of those I … Never mind."

"Whatever, look. I need you to go to Ilia. You'll meet three people there. Or on the way. But, you'll need their help for what's coming next. Lyn's doing fine, and she's extremely happy."

"Kent?"

"Yes." She blushed. "GAH! I wasn't going to tell you that! Why the blue hell can you make me do things I'm not supposed to?" She growled at me. "If I could smite you, I would… damned treaties…"

"You may be a Goddess, but you're not MY Goddess. Trust me on this one, Elimine. There are things you don't quite realize going on here. Such as Akasha." Elimine cocked her eyebrow.

"Akasha?"

"Don't worry about it. Just trust me on this one… She's one of the worst beings in existence."

"Eh?"

"A really badass Demoness."

Elimine blinked at me.

There was something odd going on. I realized that I shouldn't take her knowledge of Lyn and Kent as a Sign that she was truly the goddess Elimine. Anything that could scry could discover that, if I knew those two. I could almost swear they were screwing like rabbits at this very instant. But still, something about this Elimine bothered me. Badly.

Elimine leaned towards me, and licked her lips… with a forked tongue. I nearly shit myself as her eyes changed. Twin slits in each pupil, horns erupting from the girl the demon had possessed splattering the room with blood. "Kai, my dear sweet prince… My little child Felix destroyed your fa-" My fist hammered her throat with a vengeance. I was seeing red. This bitch was the cause of EVERYTHING that had gone wrong with my life. And she was here, in front of me. Quills erupted from the back of the now very deceased girl's head, and down her back, blood dripping to the floor as her skin split in two. The macabre disguise slowly flowed off of the Demoness' body. Almost as elegantly as dropping a slip off of her body.

Suddenly, everything around me vanished. Ariana and Garnet looked around at the now burned out shell of what had once been some back-woods town. All part of the Bitch's illusion that had been this town. Sakura was holding her Wakizashi at the ready, with a look of pure terror apparent on her face. Bones jutted out of the ground at odd intervals, and our few pack horses were nothing but devoured corpses by now. Our supplies had been strewn about, and the 'snow' we could now see, was nothing but the burned up ashes of the town. The Demoness stood in front of me, but I noticed something strange about her…

Yellow blood. Not the Green Ichors I had seen her bleed at one time, due to some random fluke. This wasn't Akasha. This was a Morph, and a particularly skilled one at that. The Dream with the Dragon flashed back into my mind. Nils… Nils hadn't been the dragon. It had been Ninian. Roaring in PAIN! What the hell?! Suddenly, a huge number of Discrepancies flooded into my mind… The uncanny feeling I had had just before my own half-breed body had fallen into the acid. It was all a sham, played out by this bitches' will! This wasn't just a morph; this was one of Felix's chosen. Some of the vilest quintessence he could gather. "What is the matter, Kai? Am I not as beautiful as you once thought me? Am I not the 'savior' you called me on the day I emerged from that cage?" I smirked. I was capable of lies too.

"You didn't see through it, did you?"

The Demoness cocked her head to the side. "You're not Akasha. Felix hasn't finished the only body that he would accept as Akasha. In fact… You're nowhere near her power! And now I know why. A Morph." I snarled, and slipped into a loose fighting stance. "You just don't get it, do you? I've got nothing to lose. Everything I once was is gone. My life is here now. And do me a Favor? When you die, make sure Felix feels it."

She snarled, and leapt an impossible distance away, I rushed over to Sakura and Ariana, who were getting ready, Garnet snarling his fury, even as Rohan twirled his axe lightly. Kadan and Hiiro both looked depressed. "I was seriously looking forward to that steak…"

"You and I both…"

Ariana glanced over at me. "What's going on?"

I smirked. 'That's one of Felix's morphs, one made of a pure quintessence. She's an extremely powerful mage. We fucked up big time. We need to get back to Lyndis, NOW. But right now, we have bigger problems…'

Malformed bodies began to ease from within the ruined buildings, obviously this creature's own twisted formations with the quintessence of the townspeople. Every negative emotion she could find, compiled into these revenants that shambled towards us, jerking wildly as the stumbled along. Some were… our horses. The Bitch had made our horses into a disgusting blend of man and horse. Two of the ghouls had decidedly horse like heads, while two others had a human's torso on top of a grotesque mimicry of the horse's body. These weren't supposed to exist here… more of Felix's Tampering.

They closed their ranks, the Demoness chanting in the background, more of the quintessence of blood spilled here emerging and forming the foul legions. Felan Growled at my side. I balled my fists up, wincing as I accidentally cut myself… but my blood was glowing. The yellowish light fell onto a beast's shin, and with a sickening snap, it seemed to… implode! The appendage shriveled, and evaporated. The Ghoul fell onto the ground, howling in utter pain as I opened my hand a little more, still more of my blood touching the air. It as well, began to glow. Slowly, the beast was being dissolved by the light my hand was generating. I remembered this spell. It had been the first spell I had cast when I learned of magic in my Home world. Magic was extremely weak in my world, and the strongest of spells could barely scratch an enemy, even the fire and earth based ones.

But here, magic was rampant and fluid, as much a part of life as anything else. I grinned. "Ramuh's Guide!" I shouted it aloud, and my hand nearly exploded as the pure white streak of lightning threw the entire group of us in completely random directions. We had been separated by my own folly. Calling on the Lighting Nephilim's energy in a world that was, for all intents and purposes, made of magic, was a bad move. Magical overload. The space where I had cast the spell glowed a brilliant blue-yellow, and slowly dissipated. My hand ached, my bones felt like jelly, and I hurt all over. But there wasn't anything left of the ghoul who had challenged me. Score one for the good guys. I coughed out the breath of smoke I had inhaled.

Sakura landed gracefully on her feet, glaring daggers at the ghouls ahead of her. She slipped into a very low stance, and I could see her rear. Skin tight body suits were always a weakness of mine. And I could see every single move she made. It was almost like leather squeaking as she charged the ghoul in front of her, her Wakizashi flashing in a small crescent before she gave a low sweeping kick and flipped backwards out of the way. The ghoul slowly fell to the ground, its legs broken and its head perfectly bisected. By this point? I was a quivering mass of flesh. If she could move like this IN Leather… wait, I already knew that. No time to drool Kai. You've got monsters to slay.

Ariana gulped as she looked out over the ghouls. Completely disgusting. She quenched the bile in the back of her throat, and reached from the garnet-encrusted brooch on her neck. The ghouls stood still, and she tossed it off, the wind catching the cloak to give it a rather dramatic twirl. She stood tall, a small bikini top and pair of bottoms on, but they weren't made of cloth. Scales encrusted her body in various places. Over her breasts and around her hips, from the tips of her toes up to her knees, where a budding horn erupted. Her elbows had the same horn like appendage beginning to grow from their backs, and the scales rippling along her flesh were much more defined. The scale pattern on her face began at her hairline, and drifted down a bit over her forehead, before sweeping back with her skull, and discoloring the hair, her twin horns just beginning to grow from her forehead. Of course, seeing all this was only thanks to my strategist's gift of astral presence. She was actually wearing clothes, I just wanted to see how far along she was… I suddenly felt like Elimine was going to honestly smite me there for a minute, but I shrugged it off. Ariana snapped her fingers, a gout of blood coming to the surface. She made a motion in the air, and yelled out, "Eldaris Elfanim!" The blood glowed like a rune in the middle of the air. "Terra corrun!" I knew the spell.

The ground under the ghouls in a cone in front of her suddenly fractured. There was a brief moment where nothing happened. Red light began to spill from the cracks, reaching towards the sky as Ariana drew one slim line from the center of the rune to the top, just as I had taught her on the journey. Her hand stopped, and then almost made a circle before cutting back, and tracing the inside. The red lights in the sky multiplied, becoming too many to count. Even the Demonic Magi we faced was interested now. As Ariana finished the second semi-circle, she twirled her finger one more time. I shuddered. "Oh shit." Was all I said. She jerked her hand down towards the center of the circle, her small skirt flaring out behind her. "BAHAM'S BLASTER!" The ground beneath the ghouls up heaved into a massive chunk of rock, and was struck by a blast of lightning no smaller than the face of a church. The entire rock shattered, the ghouls in mid air were instantly deep fired, and clattered back to the ground as char-coal, the sheer force of the spell pushing enough oxygen away to keep them from burning. With that, she sighed, and put her finger in her mouth, trying to relieve the sting.

Hiiro wasn't having a problem at all doing his job. His Steel Blade was a slowly whirling pendulum of death. Every move he made, his chain mail barely made a noise. The singing air from the tip of his blade made music with the blood streaming off. He would swing wide to his side, and simply roll his wrist, the blade flowing like water, even as he pulled it down towards the ground. The ghoul in front of him fell apart almost the instant the blade touched him. The solid wood of the ruins beneath gave Hiiro the leverage he needed to flip upwards, before slamming his blade down again, sending a shockwave of dirt blasting forward, knocking the next ghoul off his feet as he flipped the blade again, letting it cut through the next ghoul, before he began the cycle again.

Kadan had slipped into his predictable Parry Slash Thrust movements, while Rohan continued to perform erratically, actually getting hit by their claws a time or two. Sakura was completely autonomous, cutting them up without waiting for any sign from me, or the others. I Refocused on myself, and opened my eyes, looking at the Centaur-ghoul who pulled his axe back with a snarl. I clenched my fists, and looked over at my side, Felan's fur bristling wildly. The beast swung horizontally, and we both ducked low, the axe flying clean away from us. I dashed in, Felan hot on my heels. I opened my palm, and I felt the urge to do a flip. I did.

The glowing blood ignited from my palm, and I was shot back by a blast of pure white light that simply ripped through the creature's human torso, and right behind that bolt was my dog, jumping straight for its neck.

If the centaur hadn't been ugly as a Tasmanian devil in the first place, it DAMN sure was now. Felan dug his claws into the creature's shoulders and human hips, ripping at its throat horribly fast. I could barely see Felan's head and jaws moving as he pulled the creature's neck apart, piece by piece.

"Felan, heel!" He jumped off, and came back to me, growling loudly. 'Take it easy next time, alright?' Felan merely barked. He bounced away a little, and curled his lips up to a ghoul. I was stuck looking at the face of one of her Horse-men creations. I groaned, and stepped back a little, rubbing my two fingers in the blood coming out of my palm. "Alright, let's do this."

The Horse-ghoul charged me with surprising speed, and I ducked down, and put my fingers towards his chest. "REPULSE!" The brief flash of blinding white light left nothing of the creature. My hand stung like hell, but the creature was gone. Another ghoul rushed me, and I punched right at his chest, an open palm strike. The creature stopped moving about an inch before kissing me, and I pulled my arm out of it's chest, spitting out a little of my last meal. I balled my fist up, the white light from the blood merely becoming blades from the pressure.

I ducked down, dodging the swing from the enemy, its poisonous claws leaving a green mist above me. I delivered an uppercut at an air-splitting speed. I popped my hands into his jaw, and watched the head go flying, my claws of light unfortunate enough to have cut off the creature's nose.

While I was freaking out about having a dead man's nose on my hand, Garnet was staring at the two remaining special ghouls. The Centaur and the Revenant Knight were together, and the Revenant Knight mounted its compatriot. They slowly came at him. He simply sat down, and watched with an almost puppy like interest. They came closer, within his snapping distance, and he waited just a moment more. I could hear him growling.

There was nothing more than a red flash. Garnet's fangs slipped through the centaur's chest like a hot knife through butter, and his feet shifted to the side, allowing his front left paw room to push the unfortunate revenant riding the dead centaur into the air, where it collided with a falling, damp white mist. Garnet exhaled a little, the accelerant burned quickly, and as the small white trail touched the soaked air, it simply imploded, nothing but black smoke visible in less than a second, where there should have been two corpses. Garnet stretched an almost cat-like stretch, and lashed his tail through another ghoul behind him, before lazily plodding towards Ariana, who was slinging fire spells at an amazing rate, sometimes splitting the spell into a trio of fire balls to attack a multitude of enemies at once. Garnet left a wide berth behind him. Mostly of corpses, but there was the occasional black smoke cloud left from his flash-fire snorts at a ghoul.

Ariana glanced over at him, and jumped on his back. He took a few steps back, and turned side on to the demons. Ariana reached above her head, and drew a very simple rune in the air. A fire ball as big as her torso floated above her hand, and she smirked. As she tossed it, garnet roared in fury, the roar alone slaying some of the creatures. But that wasn't what caused the most damage. The white mist of his breath suddenly became an absolute inferno as Ariana tossed the spinning fireball into the mist. Garnet shut his mouth quickly, and smirked, the area ten foot around Ariana's fireball impact lit up like a tornado. "Boom." The flaming tornado was gone in a second, leaving clothes scorched, Garnet's last few bits of fur singed, and both their ears ringing.

"Well Duh." I said as I flipped over the pair, Felan dashing between Garnet's legs, I raised my hand, and shot a bolt of light out wordlessly, afraid to use a vocal incantation at the moment, mainly because of the dissipating ether around us from the burned blood and accelerant. The bolt of light lanced through a Ghoul's head, and left him with a nice big chuck of ash floating in air where most of his torso used to be. Felan curved around to the side, and jumped up, burying his fangs into a ghoul's throat and tearing away leaving the creature staggering as another of my rapid fire bolts took him in the shoulder, causing his arm to fall off. I held my wrist tightly, and shouted aloud, "ELDARIS ELUIM RAID!" Raid was actually the elfin word for rapid. Go figure. The bolts of pure white light were barely as thick as my thumb, but they completely obliterated whatever they touched. I turned the flying streams of light on the mage who stood at the other end of the village. "EAT THIS!" I held the bolts back, letting them accumulate. Felan dashed to my wide, and I held my hand down, twitching my fingers as more and more blood spilled from them into the orb of light I now held. Felan side stepped quickly, and I jumped into the air.

Felan's claws and teeth mangled the creature's left leg, leaving her standing on little but a stump that happened to be long enough to reach the ground. She feebly flapped her wings, but Felan lifted into the sky with a jump, and grabbed on, snarling at the crunch of fragile wing bone. I thrust my hand forward. "DIE!" I shouted, and the light erupted from my hand, sending me flying, well past the tree tops. Of course, from what I could tell of the beast's last few seconds of life…. That had to REALLY Freaking hurt.

Then again, this was going to hurt more. I sighed as I sailed through the air, wondering when I was going to fall and break my skull wide open. For some reason, I was feeling peaceful. Not to mention, the flight was fun! Of course, that illusion ended the moment I had the ill fortune to go flying into a hickory tree's leaves. "SHIT!" I grunted as a branch caught my shirt, which by some utterly DIVINE miracle, didn't shred. I bounced up and down on the branch slowly, being flung too and fro, and then, of a sudden, the branch began to still. I looked down, and then quickly covered my eyes. "AGH! I DIDN'T WANT TO SEE THIS!!!" Kent looked up from his rather… lewd position between Lyn's legs, and then felt his face shoved back in. "Ignore the birds, Kent! IGNORE THEM FOR GODS SAKE! HnnN!" I covered my eyes. And then I plugged my ears. Hearing it was almost as freaking bad.

A/N: And here's part 2 of this chapter. You might want to go get some kleenex and clean up. Hehe. Don't worry, I'll give you time.

I rubbed the balm on my face, nodding to Garnet. "Yes. We're back with Lyn now. Fetch the others for me?" I groaned, and fell back onto the cot, putting the raw meat back on my eye. "Didn't have to deck me, Lyn…" She growled. She leaned close, and in a VERY dark tone, there was a small, quiet whisper. "I was… so… close… asshole." I blanched.

"Right, I deserved this big walloping for preventing you from getting your nut for three minutes longer, three minutes which, if sound is a good judge, you THROUGHLY enjoyed." Sain and Florina both blushed, looked at each other, and then turned their heads to the side with a 'HMPH!'

"What's with them?" I motioned blankly as Lyn walked away. Dorcas sighed. "He's too big."

"For anything?"

"Everything."

"Poor guy."

"Florina blames it on his 'meat and beans' diet."

"He's been eating beans?"

"He now has something luscious made for his pants. Lucious calls it an 'air freshener'."

"… Convenient."

"The poor guy is all over Wil though."

"Wait, What?!"

"You heard me. Turns out, Wil was wooing ladies one night, and ended up seeing Lucious in his err… glory."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. Lucious isn't gay, Trust me on this one. He's just milking the joke."

"I'll determine if he's gay or not."

"You're willing to put your ass on the line for Wil?"

"… No, but, I know someone who will gladly put her ass on the line."

"HELL THE FUCK NO." Sakura yelled at me, glaring daggers into my busted eye. That hurt.

"Oh come on. It's not like you're not interested too!" I pleaded my case as Ariana and Garnet watched on, Dorcas bringing a bowl of 'puffing corn' to them, and sitting down beside them. The two ate discretely within their cloaks. No one had said names, but Dorcas had picked up on it right away.

"Oh, Look, I'm not asking a guy if he would rather the front or back door."

"You asked ME that last night…"

"That's different!"

"Just barely!"

"…. What's in it for me?"

"I'll tell you Sain's exact measurements."

Her eyebrow rose at this. "You'll give me numbers?" Everyone around the camp knew she was odd, and loved to peek on men when they bathed. It wasn't too odd by now to see a slightly damp cherry blossom nearby when you got out of the river. Of course, mine were always freaking soggy, while Kent's were almost dry as a bone. I also knew she kept a diary with a little table in the back. She was almost anal about counting certain things in her life.

"Numbers."

"…. Deal, you dirty double crosser."

"Love you too, Decoy!"

She flipped me off as she meandered over to Lucious. I watched them talk. Her eyebrow shot up, and she some-what staggered back to me. She bent closer, and said quietly, "He uh…. Said my front, his back."

I fell over face first, and groaned. "Wonderful."

"Well, it could be worse, you know…"

"He's a bloody bisexual priest."

"Well, the BBP over there has his eyes on you."

The record skipped. I sat stock still, and raised my eyes slowly. I glanced at Sakura, then over at Lucious.

"Dear. Sweet. Mother of Glory."

"What's wrong Kai?"

I sighed, and picked up a pillow, flinging it at Lucious. "You're too damned pale!!!"

Of course, that was kind of a buzz kill, but a bigger buzz kill was when Nils came through the clearing at a dead run, tripped on my foot, and managed to plow directly into Garnet. I stood up instantly, grabbing Nils by the back of the shirt, as I heard the growl in the back of his throat. I nodded my head. "Sakura, You two, let's go." I glared at the rest of the party. "Matthew, you too!" I quickly walked out of the clearing. Such horrid luck.

We walked for a good bit. I put my hand on Nil's mouth, and kept him silent as we walked. "Alright then…" I set Nils down, and he nearly screamed. "HUSH!" I glared at him. "Be silent! This is so bloody inconvenient…"

Nils snarled into my hand, and I looked down at him with a bit of disdain. "Bite off my hand, and I blow this whole damned world to kingdom come. And you should know I can." I looked back as Dorcas came running in behind Matthew. "Dorcas, speak not a word of this to ANY you find." Hiiro stumbled in after that, a little drunk. "You either, Hiiro."

"Ya bloody bastard. Ain't said sheet yet… won't say it nhaow." He shook his head a little. Nils glanced around the circle, as Garnet paced, his eyes locked on Nils. "Let the boy speak." I stopped dead, and glanced back at Garnet. He said those words with his own voice. Hot damn. "Dragon to Dragon." Garnet folded back his hood. "You're a Bit Surprised, I wager?"

"A bit? No, I'm honestly REALLY Surprised. Nergal let more than me and Ninian out?"

"No. I'm natural Born."

"Bullshit!" He began to growl and snarl, quite obviously his native language. I could feel a roar building in his chest. I gulped. "Garnet…."

Garnet's reply was harsh and fast, and packed the sting of a whip within. "A Youngling like you? HA! I don't need to be raised by a dragon to know an empty threat when I hear one."

Nils snarled louder, and I felt his temperature spike as I held him against the tree. His eyes were growing tighter, a battle-lust forming quietly. Garnet replied in kind, but for some reason, his growls and snarls felt clumsy and detached.

"STOP!" It was Ariana. Nils instantly cooled down, turning a shade of red I didn't think he could. Did Nils have a crush on Ariana? I could see why he woul-… Oh shit. Her heat!

"Nils…" I looked down at him. His eyes were a different tone, but still narrowed.

Garnet trudged between Nils' Gaze and Ariana. "Touch her and die." Instead of leaving the threat empty, I could see his chest cave in a little, muscles around his Accelerant gland contracting.

"Try and stop me, Crème-puff!"

"Little shit, I'll make you eat those words!!!!" He dived for Nils, and I dived out of the way. His claws were soaked in accelerant. Holy shit! I scrambled back, grabbing Dorcas and Matthew. Hiiro looked at me dumbly. Then he realized what was about to happen.

The shit was about to hit the fan.