Kara pulled Adriane through the portal, followed by Emily, and then Dreamer. Ozzy and Lyra had opted to stay and watch the preserve, which would have been just fine if it had been any other day. Unfortunately today was not any other day.

"I was just about to call you" Zach approached them, hastily getting ready to leave. "Something's happening in Aquatania."

"What? Is Marlin alright?" Emily asked, a look of worry crossing her gentle features.

"He's fine..." Zach assured her.

"What's going on?" she pushed.

"I dunno, something about sirens?" Zach shrugged. "That's all I know... I was just going to check it out..." In all honesty it didn't sound like such a big deal to him. Sure, sirens liked to wreak havoc, and wreck stuff, but they were fairly easy to scare off.

"We'll go with you then" Emily offered, Aquatania was her area of expertise after all.

"Okay, I guess" Zach agreed, climbing onto Drake's back. The dragon, who had previously been occupied with Adriane, straightened out, flapping his massive wings a couple of times.

Adriane took Zach's hand, jumping into Drake's saddle. She turned, lending her hand to Emily, and then Kara. Dreamer jumped up into the basket, secured tightly to the back of the saddle. Drake was in the air in seconds, soaring over the Mooregroves before flying through a portal, which brought them to the Mountains of Glass. The ocean lingered in the distance, a striking blue line that separated the light afternoon sky from the glittering, orange-washed beach. In no time they were soaring towards the shoreline.

"Down there" Emily pointed to a large group of merfolk, it looked as though the entirety of Aquatania had been evacuated. With the tiniest of gestures, Zack instructed Drake to land. The dragon stooped low, spiralling towards the beach. Drake skidded to a stop, spraying sand towards a giggling group of sea-children.

"Sorry" Drake apologized, a lick of fire escaping his mouth. Drake crouched, allowing his passengers an easy way down.

"Drake, you stay here, okay?" Adriane advised the dragon as she slid out of his saddle.

"Alright, mama" Drake settled down on the sand, eyeing the young merfolk as they cautiously came his way.

"And be nice" Zach added as he followed Adriane, who was already making her way towards a small, but intimidating group of dragon riders. Adriane pushed through the group, politely excusing herself until she found what she was looking for.

"Jaraan" Adriane called his name, spotting the older merboy.

"Adriane!" Jaraan walked swiftly towards her, extracting himself from his prior conversation and wrapping her in a tight hug. "Zach" Jaraan regarded the mage, an inaudible groan barely escaping his mouth. Of course, wherever Adriane went, the blonde always seemed to follow.

Zach tensed. Of course, Adriane would look for the one person Zach couldn't stand. The pair had never gotten along, not really. Something in the way he looked at Adriane, the way his eyes lingered. Even now, Zach was filled with the minute urge to tell him to get the hell off of his girlfriend. Still, he kept his thoughts to himself, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What's going on?" Adriane asked, pulling away from the taller boy, ignoring the tension that had suddenly filled their small circle.

"I don't know... First we were overrun by sirens. It was nothing we couldn't handle until the sea wolves showed up."

"There are sea wolves now?" Zach asked in a worried tone.

"Yeah, they just came out of nowhere" Jaraan raked his fingers through his long seagreen hair, chewing his bottom lip nervously. "It's like... they're looking for something"

"Where's Marlin?" a breathless Emily asked, joining the group. Emily and Kara had checked all through the crowd, the prince was nowhere to be found.

"He's still evacuating the city, don't worry, he's okay" Jaraan informed her, confident that Marlin would be just fine.

Dreamer pawed at the ground in an uncertain manner. Sniffing at the sand, he took a few steps ahead of the team.

"You feel it too, Dreamer?" Emily asked with a frown.

"Feel what?" Kara looked around.

"Magic" Dreamer stated, before trotting onto the open sand. The group followed, breaking out of the crowd of merfolk, and traveling further down the beach.

"It... it feels like it's coming from over there" Emily pointed towards the cliff-line that edged along the other side of the beach.

"Right" Adriane nodded, taking lead of the group, hurrying towards the tall walls of rock. Zach and Jaraan fell into step beside her.

"I don't like the looks of this" Emily followed close behind the warrior. "It might be dangerous" she warned.

"Nothing we can't handle, right Xena?" Kara beamed confidently.

Adriane grinned in return "Right." She trekked across the soft sand, Dreamer padding in front of her. The group made their way across the beach, reaching the cliffs in no time. There was a thin ledge that made a path along the side of the cliff. It started at the waters' edge, gradually getting higher until it reached a small cave about half way up the clifface.

"In there, maybe?" Emily mused, pointing towards the dark hole in the wall.

"There's only one way to find out" Adriane murmured, climbing onto the ledge. The path was quite narrow; only two people could walk side-by-side along it without fear of falling into the water. Adriane and Dreamer stayed in the lead, with Emily and Zach close on their heels. Kara and Jaaran took up the rear. The upward slope was gradual, almost unnoticeable.

"Why would anyone hide up here?" Emily asked, looking down into the ferocious blue waters.

"It seems pretty inconvenient..." Kara added, following Emily's gaze.

Adriane remained silent, pushing forward at a quicker pace.

Emily continued to stare into the swirling waters. Water was her element, but she had to admit, she wasn't the greatest of swimmers. They weren't far from the water's surface, but they had already walked a great deal. She could already tell that the water was very deep. Suddenly the ground beneath her felt soft; before she could react she was falling. The last thing she saw was Zach reaching for her, before being engulfed in the freezing cold waters of the Aquatanian Sea.

"Emily!"

Adriane turned at the sound of Kara's cry. Without a moments hesitation she jumped. It was less than a five foot drop before the water's icy surface. Adriane swam out to the healer, grabbing her with one arm and pulling her back to the clifface. Emily took Jaraan and Kara's hands as they helped her up. Zach stooped low, extending a hand to Adriane. She reached up, her hand just inches from his.

"Ah!" the quiet sound barely escaped Adriane's lips as she was dragged back under the waves. There was something wrapped tightly around her ankle. Salt water stung her eyes as she tried to get a good look around. Adriane choked out a sharp breath as sudden shock hit her; she was completely surrounded by sirens. Adriane closed her eyes tight, focusing hard on the jewel on her wrist.

"Adriane!" Jaraan got ready to jump into the water; he was obviously the strongest swimmer.

"Wait" Zach grabbed Jaraan's arm, pulling him back from the cliff's edge. The water began to bubble as light exploded from beneath its surface. Time stood still as the water slowly settled down to its natural ebb and flow. Zach could hear his heart beating in his ears. Where was she? Zach held his breath, the mere seconds that ticked by felt like an eternity. Where the hell was she?

Zach gave a silent sigh of relief, kneeling as Adriane finally appeared.

Gasping for air, Adriane climbed out of the water and onto the ledge, rejecting his hand.

Emily and Dreamer were by her side in an instant. "Are you okay?" Emily asked, her rainbow jewel glowing with concern.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine" Adriane took a couple more deep breaths before standing.

"What is wrong with you! That was way too reckless!" Zach exclaimed angrily.

Adriane stared at him through wet bangs. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?" she shot back.

"That was completely idiotic!" Zach yelled.

"Idiotic? I saved Emily!" She exclaimed, meeting his angry gaze.

"Water is Emily's element, I'm sure she could have handled it" he said, shooting the healer and blazing star a look. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"You've never had a problem with the way I've done things before" Adriane couldn't believe this. Zach had never spoken to her like this. They had never fought before.

"Well now I do" Zach replied, most of his anger spent.

Dreamer stood by his bonded's side, adding quiet howls of confusion to the chaos around them.

"Hey, guys, c-calm down" Jaraan said in a soothing tone, attempting to step in between the couple. The others just stood in shock.

"This has nothing to do with you!" Zach shot Jaraan a nasty look.

"Don't talk to him like that" Adriane demanded. "Listen Zach, I don't know what the hell has gotten into you lately, but quite frankly, I don't care." Adriane pushed her sopping bangs out of her eyes "Just... leave"

Zach couldn't believe this. She was sending him away?

"Fine" he turned, storming past Emily and Kara, who were still in a state of shock.

"Are you alright?" Zach heard Jaraan ask Adriane. He paused for a moment, clenching his fists. Of course that asshole would take this opportunity to try to get closer to Adriane. Zach sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and proceeded back down the trail. It wasn't long before he was back on the beach. "Come on, Drake, we're going back to the Fairy Glen" he mumbled, patting the dragon's neck.

"Mama?" Drake asked, feeling the tension between his two bonded's, even from this far away.

"She's gunna take a mirror home" Zach explained, hoping into the saddle.

Drake stretched before taking off into the air. They flew in silence for a great deal of time. "What's wrong?" Drake asked.

"I don't want to talk about it" Zach answered.

"That probably means you should..." Drake replied.

"When did you get all insightful?" Zach asked in a joking manner. "Can we not talk about this while we're flying over the Mountains of Glass? They're hard enough to fly through to begin with" Zach knew this was a lie; they could navigate these mountains blindfolded. Still, He didn't want to talk about it.


I really really love the Zach/Adriane/Jaraan love triangle, but you all know Adriane will always pick Zack in the end :3 Taking that week long break from writing was probably the best decision I have ever made in my life, not that theres much competition, as I tend to make bad decisions on a regular basis. I seriously re-wrote this chapter three times, and I'm still not completely happy with it. I'll come back to it later, I'm sure. I've never really been that good at writing action-y, conflict-y scenes like this one. Still, I hope you enjoyed reading! Don't forget to tell me what you think :3