Disclaimer: I don't own anything Super Smash Brothers related.

Night had long settled in on the Smash Mansion's grounds when Drey found herself exiting the mansion to search with her group. It was a cool, damp sort of darkness, and the moon was hidden by a haze of clouds that blanketed the sky. It was hard to see anything due to the moon, but Drey herself wasn't looking for anything. What was the point? What were they searching for?

She turned to look at her group mates which consisted of only five other people; Peach, Pikachu, Red, Kirby and Toon Link. She knew that five other Smashers, along with Cammy were searching the ground's backyard which consisted of a garden, and then a little ways off a forest that tapered off to a lake where a dock sat.

The majority of the Smashers (Of which included Link, Drey was quick to note) along with Rio had opted to stay indoors to search for the rest of her friends and to try finding out anything else there that would help them. Drey couldn't blame them. She figured that if there was anything that would be found, it would be in the Mansion itself.

So why was she outdoors? It was a good question. There was virtually no hope of finding anything outside that would help them find out what happened. Still, there were two reasons Drey wanted to go outside.

The first reason was Link.

Link, with his blond hair, depthless blue eyes, that perpetual easy smile and normally easygoing nature. Everything about Link had initially drawn Drey to him. There was just something about the way he held himself that attracted her to him. Seeing him in matches, she felt as if she'd had a connection to him somehow. Was it just a normal fan's reaction? She didn't think it was possible to feel this attached to a person, and yet here she was with him always on her mind.

That was before she met him.

Now she just wasn't sure about her feelings for him. She still thought about him quite often, but most of her thoughts nowadays were laced in pain. Link hated her for something that was a part of her. And if he couldn't accept the darker parts of her, she reflected sadly and somewhat angrily, then she had to stop trying to vie for his affections. She had to back off.

The way he'd dismissed her back at the mansion had been the final straw for Drey. It was that moment, looking into his now icy blue eyes, that she realized that she had to forget about him quickly. So even though she wanted desperately to stay in the Mansion to have a look around and to do it by Link's side, she knew that the best thing for her well being was to stay away from him.

Which was why, she thought to herself as she pulled her long blonde hair up in a pony, she was peering uselessly through the blanket of darkness outside.

The second reason, which was a lot more important to the case at hand, was how she felt when she was outdoors. Many people forgot that even though Dreygon was a princess, she was raised outdoors by some of the most powerful dragons. She wasn't your average princess for this very reason.

"Ivysaur, I want you and Charizard to scout the trees," Red quietly addressed two of the three pokemon that he'd called out. "Squirtle, you stick with me." The cute little turtle nodded in understanding while Ivysaur scampered off to the trees. Charizard grumbled softly and with a mighty swish of its wings, it took off and soar lowly over the forest. It began to scan the tops of the trees.

"What now?" Princess Peach asked, shivering in the darkness. Drey suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.

It wasn't that Drey had a problem with Peach or Zelda personally; It was more about the fact that Peach and Zelda constantly needed saving that irritated her. Drey knew that the princesses were probably not total damsels in distress - After all Peach had been close to winning last year's tournament and Zelda had actually won the Team Battle tournament with her partner, who had happened to be Link. But they were both constantly getting kidnapped. It bothered Drey that they'd made the title, "princess" synonymous with "damsel in distress".

"Pika, pikachu!" Pikachu said, a small frown playing over its mouth.

"What did he say?" Drey asked, distracted by her thoughts.

"He said there's probably nothing out here that would help us figure out what's going on," Toon Link translated.

"He has a point, you know," Kirby said. "Even if whoever is behind these attacks hid something for us to find outside, we'd probably never find it especially since we don't even know what we're looking for. What if whoever it is, buried it in the dirt? Then we'd never know." He rubbed a pink paw over his mouth thoughtfully.

Drey knew all of this already, had thought about it before Samus had ordered a search party to look outdoors. "I'm going to go search through the woods," she announced. Everybody looked at her in surprise.

"You can't go there alone!" Red burst out, astonished.

Drey fixed him with a look. "Why not?" she asked.

"Well, because," he muttered, quailing underneath her threatening gaze.

Seeing that Drey was going to go whether the others liked it or not, Peach said, "At least take one of us along with you. I don't feel comfortable with you going alone. Who knows what lies in there..." she broke off shuddering. She didn't feel compelled to add that Drey herself made Peach uneasy. Zelda had already told her how she'd almost gotten killed by the dragon princess.

Drey wanted to retort that any kind of wilderness had always been her home, but thought better of it. She knew Peach was just trying to be kind. So she shrugged carelessly and said, "Who would like to come alone with me, then?"

There was a silence as none of the Smashers were willing to go forth. Finally, Toon Link stepped forward. "I'll go," he said bravely.

He was hardly the person Drey would have chosen, but she wasn't going to complain. She had to admit, the woods did look scary. "Fine, be my guest," she said carelessly. The young boy scampered after her, trying to keep up with her long strides.

They walked in silence for a moment. Then, "My older self seems to hate you."

Drey blanched. She hadn't expected Toon Link to broach the topic so quickly. "Yes," she muttered. "Well you know why." Toon Link had, after all, witnessed her transformation into a dragon.

They were entering the woods now. Drey fought to maintain her composure. She'd seen Zelda and Peach and the way they always seemed so... well... Princesslike.

Toon Link unsheathed his sword, hacking away at some moss up ahead. "You think he's overreacting." It wasn't a question.

It was amazing how kids sometimes seemed to understand better than adults.

"Well, it was an accident," Drey said, pushing back some blond hair that had escaped its elastic band. "He acts like it all happened on purpose."

Cammy took a deep breath, inhaling the heaviness of the night air. Darkness didn't frighten her much as it normally should with little children. Precious little frightened her. After all, she wasn't like your average little girl. Her blue eyes gleamed as they stared impassively at the lake.

"Um, somebody should check the garden," Marth said. Though it was an order, he made it sound like a question. His pale complexion seemed to glow with nervousness. Cammy was surprised; She'd been to one of Marth's matches (The one that she'd coincidentally bought a winning ticket to) and he always looked unwaveringly calm even as he fought. It was strange to see this new side to him.

Zelda asked, "Do you think anything would be outside here?" Since the moon was covered, rendering the area almost pitch black, she had conjured up a ball of flame in her right palm and stretched it out in front of them. Its light enabled them to see almost ten feet ahead of them.

"I don't think so," Bowser grunted. "But then again, if I didn't want any evidence to be found, I'd dump it in a place easy to get rid of. So I'd dump it in a lake."

"The lake," Olimar repeated slowly. He frowned. "That would make sense. Except for the fact that if somebody did dump all the evidence in the lake, it would take ages to get it out." They all peered out to the vast lake which was at least half a mile deep and spanned ten miles across.

"Puff, Jiggly?" Jigglypuff asked gloomily, her luminous eyes looking downcast.

"She sarcastically asked if anybody wanted to swim in the lake," Olimar translated quickly, looking at Cammy's bemused expression.

They all stared gloomily at the lake.

Cammy could easily see that her group was in serious need of cheering up. So she stretched her mouth into a smile, the way she had so many times before.

"Come on guys," she said, standing in front of them. "We have to try! This isn't the end yet."

Marth gave her a half-hearted smile. "Of course it isn't." Cammy knew he was just saying that to placate her. Because she was a little kid. Why did adults insist on treating her like one? She couldn't wait to grow up and be taken seriously.

She tugged at one of her brown pigtails, trying to calm herself down. She took a deep breath, thinking quickly as she let it out. Then she said, "Seriously guys. Who are you?"

"Marth Lowell, ruler of Altea," he responded.

"Jigglypuff!"

"Princess Zelda, ruler of Hyrule, and whatever many forms it takes upon, and also the possessor of the Triforce of Wisdom."

"Captain Olimar."

"King Bowser." Bowser grunted.

Cammy smiled. "Of course. And each one of you play an important part in your stories. I may not know everything about you, but I do know one thing. I know that all of you didn't become who you were because you gave up." She rounded on Zelda. "I used to want to be you, you know. I know a lot of people don't like you because you always have to be saved by Link but it's not like you asked to be kidnapped. It happens, because your enemies know who you are. But you never let that stop you. When you were kidnapped, did you just sit around? Did any of you sit around when things got bad?"

They all just stared at her.

"No! You all fought to win, to understand the situation you were under. Even you," she said to Jigglypuff who had opened her mouth in protest. "You came here because you wanted to be a star. You all don't understand why you have so many fans." She sighed. "But I do."

She made sure to look each of them in the eye. "Even when you failed, you still got up. You still survived." She finished softly. Her gaze lingered on Marth and he finally met her eyes. Determination replaced the hopelessness in his blue eyes. She was surprised how hard her words had hit home.

"Smash Mansion is under threat," he said. "Let's find the cause and eliminate it. This is our home!"

Cammy felt a fierce rush of pride at the fact that she'd managed to cheer them up. "Yay!" She exclaimed. She bounced ahead, leading the way to the docks.

Marth stared after her, smiling. Thanks Cammy. You're not such a kid after all.

"Rio?"

The angel turned around at the sound of her voice; it was Link. "What is it?" she inquired warily, fixing the elf with her unwavering gaze. Since coming here, she had to admit that Link's first impressions weren't doing her judgement on him any favors. She was fiercely loyal after all, and even though Drey looked nothing like her sister Dark, she couldn't help but compare the two. They were both quite similar in some ways and while one was her actual older sister, the other almost felt like one.

"I want you, Game and Watch and Ike to go up to the lab where Samus, Snake and Captain Falcon are. See if they've figured out anything, will you?"

She felt herself redden; she wanted to go yet at the same time she didn't. "Okay," she heard herself mumble.

The three trudged up the stairs in silence that began to stretch thinly. If Mr. Game and Watch felt the awkwardness, he did not bleep anything.

After some time though, Rio felt herself growing frustrated. Stealing a glance sideways at Ike, she was irrationally irritated that he appeared calm and not at all flustered. Was she the only one who could not stand the silence? Several times she wanted to say something but couldn't figure out what to say. She spent several moments constructing a sentence in her brain and finally she said in as casually a voice as she could muster, "So, who do you think is behind this?" Clever, Rio.

He looked surprised that she'd broken the silence but then a second later he shrugged, not looking at her. "Could be anyone."

Thanks for that input, Captain Obvious.

"Do you think it's one of the Smashers?" she pressed, not wanting to revert back into silence.

They reached the end of the staircase. He turned around to face her. "The Smashers would never do that. I know them," he said confidently.

The way he seemed so sure of it, irritated her. "So you think it's one of us?" she asked pointedly.

He looked startled. "I don't think it's you. I know you."

"Oh really?" Rio cocked her hip and crossed her arms in a challenging pose. It wasn't what Ike had said, but rather what he had left out. He hadn't answered her question really, which meant he probably did suspect her friends. "Then who do you think it is? Brandon? Or no, Drey perhaps? Maybe Elizebeth?" Her voice raised a notch higher with each accusation.

Ike's eyebrows shot up at her hostility. "What is wrong with you?" He demanded. "How well do you know your group? You don't know them at all, do you? So why are you sticking up for them?"

Rio laughed; she had no idea where all this rage was coming from. Or maybe she did, and refused to acknowledge it. "They're my friends," she said stubbornly. "And for the record, Ike," she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she walked past him heatedly. "You don't know anything about me."

"That isn't fair," he hissed through his teeth. A large, warm hand grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back so that he could get a proper look at her. Now they were only a foot apart. Mr. Game and Watch bleeped something in alarm, but Rio couldn't tell what it was and she wasn't sure that she even had the brains to figure it out. Her pulse had started to race erratically. When was the last time she'd been this close to Ike? Probably during the Subspace. And that had been years ago. She wasn't sure whether to slap him away or remain there.

"Let go of me," she said furiously, trying to tug her arm away from him. She cursed his inhumane strength more than once.

"I don't get you, Rio. First you push me for suspects, and when I give you my opinion you shoot it down and accuse me of being unfair. What's bugging you? Am I missing something?" His eyes bore into hers. He looked angry.

"The fact that you have to even ask is what's bugging me!" she exclaimed, trying once again to tug her arm out of Ike's grasp. The more flustered she felt, the more she felt as if she had to get away. But it was no use; his grip was too strong.

Ike's eyes softened suddenly as he watched her struggle. "This isn't about the attacks. It's about Peach, isn't it?" he asked quietly.

She instantly stopped struggling. Because now that he said it, it sounded ridiculous.

And also very true.

She stopped struggling and fixed him with a glare. Might as well get this over with now. "Was nothing between us real? Was I the only person that imagined the spark between us?" Each sentence came from a place deep inside her. These were questions she thought would never surface and yet now they did. "I thought about you every single day," she said tremblingly.

Ike opened his mouth before shutting it wordlessly. His grip on her arm loosened but he didn't let go of it. "Rio," he said, his voice unnaturally thin. "You didn't imagine it. It was real. But," he said. He paused, trying to marshal his thoughts. "I had to move on. I couldn't wait for you, especially when I didn't know if you were even coming back. I thought you were gone for good. And then Peach asked me out... So..." He trailed off, finishing lamely.

So that was it. That was the reason why. Rio turned her face away from him so that he wouldn't see the expression that had slowly begun to spider across her face. "I see," she simply said. To be this close to him and not being able to have him was torture. So she did something she had done years ago. She pulled her arm free and left before he could see the tears fall.

"Master Hand, there's been a possible death."

"What?!"

Samus closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. She quickly relayed the events that had happened. "Can you come down here?"

There was a heavy silence on the other end of the phone. Finally he spoke, "Look, Crazy Hand isn't in good condition. I thought it was just the usual burns, but he's in really bad shape. He might not make it. I need to be here."

Samus tried to comprehend what Master Hand was saying. "So what you're saying is..." she said slowly.

"What I'm saying is that I'm placing my faith you all. Especially you, Mario, Link, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Fox and Pikachu. You seven are responsible for putting a stop to this."

"Master Hand, don't do this! We need you!" Samus cried out, panicked. Captain Falcon and Snake both shot her a look of surprise; Samus was hardly one to panic or show any sort of fear. "I don't know where to begin. What do I do?"

"You must, Samus. We're all counting on you. I might drop in once I find out if Crazy will make it or not. In the mean time you're on your own. Got it?"

Samus hung her head and took a deep, shuddering breath. When she looked up, her face was a mask of steel. "Of course, Master." She ended the call and turned around.

"He's not coming?" Captain Falcon inquired.

Samus shook her head. "It's up to us now." She could not believe that Master Hand had left them with a madman on the loose in the Mansion, but now was not the time to dwell on her Master's inability to come in their time of need.

The doors to the lab automatically opened when the three approached the lab, but before they stepped in, she heard Mr. Game and Watch and Ike call out.

"Samus!"

She turned around in surprise.

"Oh good, you two are here," she said crisply. "I need you two to pass on a message to Mario, Link, Kirby, DK, Fox and Pikachu to come up here to discuss some issues. After that, gather everyone you know to convene in the Great Hall. We are on our own. Once I am done here, we must discuss protocols."

Ike and Game and Watch looked at her, stupefied.

"Go!" she barked, making them flinch. They scurried away.

"What about us?" Captain Falcon asked apprehensively.

She rounded on Captain Falcon. "Go outdoors, get the Smashers and fans indoors. You," she said, facing Snake. "Find the first person you spot and the both of you must go to Master Hand's office. Get the Chosen Ones' files and bring them to me. Got it?"

Snake nodded. "And let everybody know that it is dangerous to roam the corridors alone. From now on, everybody must be with somebody that they trust and know."

Snake nodded again and began running down the hallway. Samus watched him leave before walking into the lab, her thoughts spinning out of control.

They all stared grimly at the body. At long last, Ri had managed to stop crying, but her horror was still evident all over her face.

Lyn was the first to break the silence. "We need to tell somebody before they find us down here."

That seemed to break Joeb and Ri out of their reverie. "You're right," Joeb finally responded, glancing at Ri who was trying to stop the hiccups.

"A-are you sure... It's Wario?" she asked, quivering.

"We'll figure that out later," Joeb responded. He knew that Ri was undergoing some serious mental trauma and that the only way to prevent it from messing her head up even further was to take her away. He grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and began to steer her away quickly.

As for Lyn, she gave one last long glance at the body. It was full of curiosity and fascination. Then, she turned around swiftly and drifted away.

When the party of three at last reached the outside of the basement, they were met by Pit who took one glance at Ri's shaken expression and demanded, "What happened?"

Lyn and Joeb took turns to explain what they had found. "We think it's Wario, but we can't be sure," Joeb finished as calmly as he could.

Pit narrowed his eyes at the three of them. His wings tensed in anger and suspicion. "What were you three doing down there in the first place?"

Lyn and Joeb exchanged glances; Now that they thought about it, it seemed stupid to go off looking for answers without a Smasher present to attest that they were completely innocent.

"It was my idea. If you're going to blame anybody, blame me." Ri spoke. Her voice was unnaturally high-pitched, but it was determined. "We noticed the arrow before you did. We wanted to check it out."

"And you didn't think to bring a fighter along with you?" Pit asked, rounding on her. Once again, his sky blue eyes found the feather perched on her ear.

"I can fight," Joeb responded firmly.

Lyn added, "I too, am not completely defenseless."

Pit snorted. "Be real. You may know a couple of tricks, but you two aren't real fighters. You're not us." Then his expression changed abruptly. "Or maybe," he said softly, his eyes flitting back to the feather. "Maybe you just think you're invincible to do whatever you want."

Ri's eyebrows shot up in confusion. "What are you talking about?" she asked vehemently. "I don't understand your problem with me."

Pit snarled, "Don't act like you're ignorant of that." His wings stretched out menacingly as he jabbed a finger at the feather behind her ear. "Don't tell me you don't know what that is!"

Ri's eyes transformed from confusion to anger. "It's just a stupid feather. And I'll thank you not to make a big deal about it, because that's all it is!"

Pit shook his head angrily. "Playing innocent, are we, Riina? You theif."

"What do we tell the others?" Jeka asked his two companions as they exited the door. "We didn't find Brandon but I think we found something else far more interesting, all the same."

Zack shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets and hunching his shoulders up. For once, he had nothing witty or lighthearted to say. He cast a wary eye at the room they'd just exited and shivered involuntarily.

"Perhaps we should just focus on finding Brandon first," Elizebeth said nervously. Scarcely had she said those words when she felt something pink and hard knock into her. She would have fallen to the floor if it weren't for Zack who managed to catch her at the last second by the shoulders. The person who had bumped into her looked somewhat familiar, Elizebeth noted when she saw her straighten up.

"Rio?" Jeka asked, astonished.

But the angel probably didn't hear him because she continued to run down the corridor in a very agitated state.

They all looked at each other, confused. "What happened to her?" Zack asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Beats me," Elizebeth said, annoyed that Rio hadn't bothered to apologize. Honestly, what else was new? People were always rude to her.

"You three!"

The three fans spun around at the commanding voice. It was Captain Falcon who looked slightly out of breath. As he approached them he looked at the door that the three were in front of. "What are you doing here?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," all three of them responded but in three very different ways. Jeka was smooth, Zack defensive and Elizebeth stammered it.

Falcon raised an eyebrow. "You can't be wandering around here alone."

"We aren't," Jeka pointed out. He gestured to Zack and Elizebeth. "We're together."

A muscle jumped in Falcon's jaw which surprised the three; Falcon was generally an amiable person to be around. "I don't want to hear it. From now on, all three of you must be accompanied by a Smasher. The Mansion is under attack and we're trying to fix the situation as soon as possible."

Jeka opened his mouth in protest but Falcon interrupted him. "Follow me."

"Where are you taking us?" Elizebeth asked, some of her older iciness injected in it. She was surprised she still had it in her. After all the events that had unfolded, she had thought she would never revert back to her usual self.

Falcon said, not bothered to turn around, "That's for me to know and you to find out."

Seeing no choice, the three followed in silence, not daring to look at each other.

They had reached a clearing where Drey felt certain was good enough. She stopped in her tracks to smell the clean night air. Yes, this would certainly do.

"Why'd we stop?" Toon Link asked, his eyes darting about like a frightened rabbit.

Drey turned around, her eyes glowing brightly at Toon Link. "Can't you feel it?" she whispered.

"What?" Toon Link was thoroughly nonplussed. Drey's face looked unusually enthusiastic and he let his fingers trail to his sword casually. Just in case, he told himself.

"The magic?"

"What are you talking about?"

Drey whipped around back again. "I would have thought, you as a possessor of a third of the Triforce would be able to sense some magic here."

Toon Link shrugged, and his fingers ached to draw his sword. But he mustn't. Not yet. "I don't have much magical power," he admitted. "Zelda's usually in charge of that kind of stuff."

Drey said nothing. She had learned, growing up in the wilderness that magic was present in the earth's very core and because she developed such a close bond with the dragons and nature, she was especially attuned to sensing it. On the surface, the magic was usually negligible to draw upon, but there were some places where there was more than enough to perform simple tricks.

Like here.

"I need you to be quiet Toon Link. I have to concentrate."

"Why?" Toon Link asked. His fingers grasped the hilt of his sword. His other hand went to his shield.

"I'm contacting an old friend of mine."

Rio wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered violently. She tried hard not to cry but as she approached a deserted and dark end of the hall she couldn't help it. The tears escaped her eyes as she went in deeper. She felt empty and this was worse than feeling angry. All along, she had blamed Ike. He was a womanizer, she had thought, a player, a flirt, a cheat. And that Peach!

But now that she knew the truth, Rio felt simply hollow. She hadn't wanted to confront it, but Ike had told it to her plainly; she couldn't expect him to wait for her. And he hadn't. This wasn't his fault but this only made it worse.

Because it was really her fault. She was responsible for her heartbreak. It was she who left due to her angelic duties and it was she who had to pay the ultimate price. Why was life so unfair? She walked past empty, unlit rooms on the main floor and then she heard somebody whispering, causing the hair on the back of her neck to prick.

For one absurdly naive moment, she considered calling out but at the last moment, she pulled her words back in. She strained to hear the whispering.

"Ri..." She began to walk closer to the voice. "Ri... o."

It was her name.

"Dioclopse, I am in great need of your help," Drey called out, after concentrating on her stone for nearly two minutes. It had been awhile since she'd last talked to her beloved dragons so the connection was harder to find. Still, the stone enabled her to talk and she sought advice. She had finally made up her mind to pursue the dragon that she least liked talking to, but she knew that it was completely necessary to do so. Dioclopse, she'd reasoned although she didn't like it, was the dragon of darkness. She figured that anybody who knew anything about what was going on at the mansion would be one who was associated by darkness and so she waited with bated breath to see if the normally ill-tempered dragon would respond.

"I am here Princess... What is it you need?"

The voice was smooth, silky and loud enough for Toon Link to hear. He jumped in surprise and looked around to see where it belonged, but there was nobody there. It was a disembodied voice. A breeze swept up and rippled through the grass, making the young Smasher shiver in his boots. How did you defend against an opponent you couldn't even see, he wondered as he warily ducked behind his shield.

Although Drey was headstrong and not much really scared her, her voice still held a tremor in it when she said, "Strange things are happening at the Mansion. Already two people have died."

"And it soon may be three if nobody takes action, my dear."

A shiver ran through Drey. "What do you mean?" she called out.

"You mean to ask me who the culprit of these most heinous acts are, do you not?" Dioclopse said, ignoring her question completely. He sounded bored. "That must be the only reason you have awakened me.

"Well, yes," Drey admitted.

"Foolish girl... I can seek out the darkness young one. But I can't tell you the exact whereabouts especially when it seems that many of your companions have darkness within them. Few are entirely pure. I can tell you one thing though. The one you seek is not to be trifled with. A greater evil lurks within and this person cannot be saved at all from it. This person was born for evil. Beware of those you think close to you..."

The magic was fading away. Drey was forced to let go of the connection. She slumped to her knees. Toon Link approached her warily.

"What a waste of time," she muttered to herself. "He couldn't even give me a gender. We already know the person is pure evil!"

Toon Link didn't know what to say to make her feel better. "Well, we weren't entirely sure before. Maybe the guy was trying to exact revenge on only a couple of people."

Drey got up. "Yeah," she said. She still felt disheartened.

"And besides, we have to hurry," Toon Link pressed. "We have to go back to the Mansion. Your dragon friend said somebody might be in big trouble!"

Drey straightened. "You're right. At least he wasn't totally useless!" With that she began to run, Toon Link hot on her heels.

"Rio." The whisper was more insistent, urgent. Rio could hear it coming from behind a couch. She warily approached it to see Brandon crouched behind it.

"Brandon?!" she squealed aloud.

"Shh!" He whispered furiously. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of plain sight.

"What's going on?" she said in a low voice.

"I heard something," Brandon said. "I don't know who it is, but they seem to be searching for me. I've been hiding here ever since, hoping they'd leave."

"Well whoever it is, is gone," Rio said. She began to stand up. "They would've got me with all the noise I was making."

"Wait! Rio! Be careful!" Brandon stood up too, but at that precise moment there was a firing of lasers that narrowly missed Rio by centimeters. "Run!" he yelled. She didn't need to be told twice; all thoughts of Ike and her heartbreak vanished. At that moment she had to get out.

They ran towards the door but at that moment the door swung shut effectively trapping them in the darkness. Brandon swore under his breath.

"What now?" Rio asked nervously.

"We have to get to that door," Brandon responded, trying to stay calm. "Stay by me," he said. "And try not to make any noise. Maybe they can't see in the darkness too. We'll have to feel our way around." Very quietly, they began to tiptoe towards where they'd spotted the door. Brandon prayed that there were no objects in his path. Their progress was slow but sure, until he stepped on a controller and crushed the joystick on it. The noise of it seemed loud and oppressive. Brandon jumped backward, jumping into Rio who gasped in alarm. A shot rang by Brandon's ear and he completely lost it. He began to ran blindly towards the door, not caring how much noise he was making.

"Brandon, wait!" Rio wailed, but Brandon didn't stop until he'd gotten to the door. Shots were firing everywhere around him but blood was pounding against his ears, making it difficult for him to understand anything else. He began to feel for the door. It was a long arduous process to finally find the doorknob and when he finally wrenched it open, light flooded in exposing a sliver of room where Rio was standing. He caught a glimpse of Rio, her face blank with surprise.

But it wasn't the most surprising thing about her. The most surprising thing was the blood dripping down her face. It took a heart's beat for Brandon to realize that one of the shots had finally found its mark. He watched Rio fall to her knees, her face not crumpling in pain, but in faint wonderment. Then she slumped forward. Brandon began to feel lightheaded. He began to chuckle, before laughing out loud. Then he slumped forward against the open door, shutting it fully separating him from the murderer and Rio.

Separating himself from reality and subconscious. Because he had just fainted.

Oh em gee. Sorry this chapter took forever guys! I was distracted by another story, and then I wasn't feeling very motivated about this one. I still am not but I felt it'd be a disservice if I didn't update. So here I am updating. Well anyways, please review. Sorry once again for the delay!