(A/N): I should probably be sleeping but I feel like I write better when I'm drunk off of lack of sleep. It also keeps the nightmares away. Again, thank you all for reading and I'm glad to say Sana finally meets everyone. Question, do you believe this story is going to slow? I try to leave out as few details as possible, but I feel like it's causing the storyline to become boring and dragged out. As always, opinions and constructive criticism are welcome!

Minutes passed by. Quite a few of them actually.

How long exactly, Snippy was unsure of because he had fallen into a light sleep after the first fifteen. It wasn't until a nightmare roused him from his slumber that he remembered what was going on.

'How long have I been out?' He rubbed his eyes trying to get the last memory of his nightmare of being killed by the large red mass out of his head.

"Sana?" he tried, listening for an answer. None came. He waited a bit longer before deciding he had waited long enough. Grabbing his mask he walked to the door and placed an ear to it, again listening for any disturbances. Hearing none, he slowly tested the knob, turning it and opening the door slowly. Harsh creaks that seemed louder than they actually were broke the silence.

When the door was cracked enough he poked his head out, looking down a hallway that extended both ways. Lit by small fluorescent lamps, he looked to the right where the hallway extended for about twenty paces before it met its end at another door. There was no light showing through the small crack between the door and the floor so he assumed Sana would not be there, so he further walked out into the open hallway and began walking the other way until he met a 'T' intersection.

'Left or right?' he asked himself. 'When in a maze, follow the right wall. Right it is.' And so that was the way he continued. He passed light after light, locked door after locked door. The hallway seemed to go on forever, that is, until it came to an end at another door, same as the others that had a large sign reading 'Speak at your own risk' in the same black paint with the same curly letters as the gravestones.

Intrigued he tried the handle that was surprisingly unlocked and walked inside the dark room. The little bit of light that filed in behind him didn't reveal much. He squinted trying to find another source of light within the confines of the area.

All of a sudden the area opened to brightness, lights were everywhere , blinding Snippy who's eyes were now used to the dark.

"Gah!" He turned around quickly, seeing Sana in the doorway. Her appearance had changed. Hazel eyes were now framed above by shapely eyebrows that had been fixed. Her long dirty blonde hair was combed out, the bulk of it up in a ponytail with bangs let down to frame her face. The ash on her cheeks was cleaned off; her pale appearance still seemed sickly though with her face showing no emotion. The clothes she wore were no longer dangling off her giving her the appearance of a small boy in a father's clothes. The jacket she wore was ashen grey, fitting snuggly, but still keeping her female anatomy hidden. Her hips and legs, however, filled out the faded black jeans she wore at least until her lower calf where they slightly flared out. The bottoms of them were ragged, apparently cut off to fit her short frame.

She brought a finger to her lips motioning him to make no more sounds and motioned a hand to guide him from the room. He nodded and began to walk towards her looking about the newly lit room. Books everywhere. They lined the shelves and littered the floor. Piles of them were neatly stacked on a small desk with a single reading lamp. So many scriptures of old. 'I didn't even know these things existed anymore,' he thought to himself remembering most of the people getting any needed information from the internet searches through their neural interface.

One he reached the door, he walked past her into the doorway, and she slowly closed the door behind him.

Snippy stared at her for a second waiting for a sign he was able to speak again. None came so he chanced it. "You look nice," he said quietly, shyly lowering his head like a dog who'd done wrong.

Any question of if he had actually done something wrong was whisked away with her smile as she replied, "Thank you! Now, are we ready to go?"

"Yea, after I get my rifle and bag back. You lead the way." He raised an arm motioning her too take the front which she did with pleasure skipping down the hallway. Snippy, trailing behind, only had to walk quickly to keep up with her shorter legs.

Snippy walked out again into the fouled air, mask again in place, rifle at the ready. He noticed he was coming out of a trapdoor next to his previous goal, the lone house in good condition amidst piles of houses less fortunate. 'Well, at least I was technically successful.'

Sana followed Snippy out into the open, closing a trapdoor behind her. Much less concerned, she continued to skip across the wasteland, dodging the larger piles of debris.

'She's almost as bad as Pilot at this,' he though shaking his head slightly before following her, still focusing on the areas around them, searching for anything odd.

Sana stopped and looked back noticing the distance had grown. Placing hands on her hips, she began tapping her foot impatiently waiting for the Sniper to catch up. When he finally did, she gave and exasperated sigh, "Finally!"

"This is the wasteland. It's better to take our time and make sure we don't attract any unwanted attention." Snippy replied, his logic infallible to anyone sane.

"Okay, Mr. Debbie Downer. Since we're so-o susceptible to attack here, we'll go at your pace slowpoke." Her sarcasm evident, she crossed her arms and began walking exaggeratedly slow, taking long sluggish steps as if walking through particularly deep mud.

"Oh, cut it out." Snippy snapped, still paying more attention to his surroundings. At this she stopped for a moment, her goggles staring at Snippy, black as oil.

"Fine," she muttered, half under her breath, before walking, arms crossed beside Snippy. The silence between them quickly grew tense and Snippy was unsure why.

To ease the tension, he tried to make light chit chat. "So, that was a huge library."

Silence.

"You must have had a lot of time to read." He tried again, looking over at her.

She continued to look forward, arms crossed, not speaking.

"Which book was your favorite?" He asked, hoping a question would coax some words from her lips. He looked at her again, imploring for a break in her vow of silence.

Still nothing came from her. Snippy's heart sank.

"Sana?" He watched her for any movement, any visible action that indicated she had heard him. Still nothing.

He stopped, turning toward her and grabbing her arm. "Speak to me, Sana," he now commanded, hoping he'd at least get an argument from her. Instead of the argument he was hoping for, she instead pulled away and raised her rifle, aiming for a moment before pulling the trigger.

Snippy had no time to react. He waited for the pain, but the pain never came. He looked down, but saw no blood. He looked at Sana, then down at her rifle. The angle was barely to the right of him. He followed the trajectory, looking over his left shoulder. Approximately ten feet away lie a dead wolf-like creature. A single hole, right between the eyes is what had brought it down, it's lifeless eyes now covered in black blood.

Snippy looked away from the now dead creature back to Sana. "Thank you," weakly came from his lips.

Sana grunted in reply before turning forward again and continuing to walk. After a step or so she halted quickly and turned back to the still dazed Snippy. "By the way, if you're going to bitch about me not paying attention, you should at least pay attention yourself." And with that she turned around again and continued walking.

Snippy abashedly walked behind her, making sure to direct his attention to his surroundings again.

They walked in silence a while before Sana finally spoke, startling Snippy. "How much further?"

"Ah, only about ten minutes or so." He didn't look at her this time, wanting to stay alert.

There was another moment of silence before she spoke again. "So tell me about these acquaintances of yours." Her toned seemed a bit friendlier so he chanced a look. Her goggles shimmered blue as she turned to glance at him as well.

He turned back away, focusing again on his environment. "Well there's Engie. He's an Engineer. He's pretty normal but really quiet so I don't know much about him."

"Engie." She repeated after him, seemingly lost in thought.

"Yep, then there's Pilot. Now, there's a nutjob." He leaned back his head in frustration.

Sana looked at him, expecting him to continue on. When he didn't she again spoke up. "What do you mean?"

Snippy groaned throatily. "He's completely lost it! He's constantly on my case about the most ridiculous things. He thinks I'm out to 'steal Captain' from him so he's constantly blaming me for every little thing, calling me a Shoe, and trying to kill me every chance he gets!"

"Well that doesn't sound very nice. Why do you stay there if he hates you so much?" The tone in her voice was sincere, but for some reason it hurt Snippy to think about it.

'Why do I stay there?' He asked himself shaking his head. The back of his mind answered him teasingly, 'So you can at least pretend like you have friends.' Snippy growled under his breath. "I don't know," he finally answered, ignoring the mocking voice. "I guess because they're all pretty defenseless without me so I feel responsible in a way. I'm the only one who has any real survival skills."

"Oh." She was silent again pondering something. "What about this Captain guy?" She finally asked.

"Captain?" Snippy thought for a second, trying to think of a good way to describe Captain. "Well, you know, he's kinda messed up. He's constantly sending us on these odd missions to find or build stupid useless things. Sometimes it gets really dangerous. I've almost lost my life a few times because of him actually." That last sentence caused Snippy to grimace as he remembered all the missions that ended with him almost succumbing to death.

Sana took note of the pained look on his face. "I don't get it. If Pilot wants you dead and Captain is trying to get you killed, why do you stay to keep them safe if they obviously don't care about you?"

Snippy remained quiet, staring forward trying to think of the best way to answer, not willing to share the truth the voice in his mind had spoken earlier. It was then he was saved by a familiar sight.

"We're here."

"Ah , Mr. Snippy! You're back!" Captain yelled from one of the upper floors windows staring down on Snippy and Sana as they neared the entrance to the current base. "You're late! Or my watch is two days fast." He looked down at his wrist and tapped on an old leather bracelet which, although Snippy couldn't see at the time, had a watch face drawn on it in crayon. "Oh! And you bring another delicious volunteer for my army of minions! Wonderful! I'll be down to properly greet him to Captania after Engie finishes the latest chapter on how I defeated the army of Platypi led by Ceasar at the Battle of The Bulge during the Civil War of Sudan in Switzerland!" And with that Captain disappeared from the window.

Sana cocked her head. "The Battle of the Bulge was held in what was known at the time the Ardennes during World War Two and Caesar wa-"

Snippy cut her off before she could spout off everything wrong with his statement. "Just go along with whatever he says and stay close. There's no point trying to argue with him."

"But he's wrong!" She implored, sounding disgusted I could let him get away with such a treachery.

Snippy sighed, unsure how to explain this to her when a thought came to mind. "Think of it as an epic fictional fairytale. I told you Captain liked stories, especially ones that aren't real."

Sana stared at him for a second before nodding her head slowly. "I understand."

Snippy smiled behind his mask as he began to walk forward leading Sana inside.

Pilot was the first on to greet them in at the stairway.

"Halt, Shoe! What's the password!" Pilot held out his right hand, his left hand placed on his hip.

"What are you going on about? Get out of the way." Snippy didn't feel like dealing with this right now. He just wanted to get his report to Captain so they could all start heading to the new base Sana had so graciously offered them to use.

Pilot stood his ground. "BZZZZZ! Wrong! Two more wrong attempts and you're forever banned from Captania!"

Snippy could almost see the smug smile behind his mask. He closed his eyes put a hand behind his head; he really did not feel like dealing with Pilots shenanigans today, and to his surprise he didn't have to for now. He felt someone fly by him and his eyes jerked open, turning to see Pilot standing in front of Sana.

Sana stood still at attention as Pilot circled around her. Her lenses glinted green as her goggles stared straightforward. Pilot again stood in front of her. "Cadet!" He shouted into her face. Snippy was about to tackle him, upset that he would yell at a newcomer like that but held off at hearing her response.

"Yes, sir!" She still stood at attention, her mask straight forward, staring at Pilots chest. Her voice was deep again as she pretended to be a man.

Pilot also came to attention in front of her. "You have passed inspection! Carry on soldier! And be careful of this shoe!" He motioned at Snippy.

"Yes, sir!" She saluted Pilot who in turn saluted her and Pilot marched on down another hallway yelling cadences as he went.

Sana giggled as she skipped toward Snippy. "He's funny; I like him!" Snippy just shook his head in response, unsure if he liked this new development, but continued up the stairs now that the path had been cleared.

The finally reached the floor Captain was located on. It was easy to tell as you could hear the crashing and yelling as Captain described a particularly violent scene of his 'life.' They walked down the corridor until they found the room holding Engie and Captain.

Engie was sitting near the door, still unaware of the new arrivals. Captain was continuing his tirade around the room detailing how one particular platypi riding a horse had decapitated George Washington. Snippy leaned over Engie's shoulder to see the progress on Captains 'biography.' Instead of words Snippy saw images of a naked woman and Engie choking Captain among other doodles. "Some biography." Snippy said to Engie causing him to jump and slam the drawings into his chest so no one else could see.

"Damnit Charles!" Engie stare at him for a second before looking over his shoulder, noticing Sana in the background. "Who are you?"

Captain, finished with his story, interrupted before Sana could speak. "Of course! This is the newest of mein minions! Welcome to Captainia! We are happy to have you aboard!" Captain took a deep bow.

Sana curtseyed in response. "Thank you!" Her happy voice causing Engie to double back, looking her over again. Captain continued on as normal, talking about the nonsensical rules of Captania.

He leaned close to Snippy, whispering in his ear. "You found a female?" Snippy nodded slowly. "I'll be damned." The both watched as Sana's currently green lenses enthusiastically nodded, taking in every word that Captain said.

When he finished, he turned to Snippy. "Report, mein minion! Tell me all the fantastical facts of your current mission."

Snippy stepped forward. "Well Sana has a base, a very sturdy one in fact, that she's kindly offered us to bunk in. There's food and beds." Snippy looked over at Sana who nodded to reaffirm what Snippy had said.

"What scrumptious news! We shall make haste come morning, but for now let us feast in celebration then revitalize ourselves with the nightly sleepy expeditions into dreamland!"

As they settled into makeshift beds, Snippy turned to Sana saying a final goodnight. "If you need anything, just wake me up."

"I'm sure I can manage." She replied.

Snippy turned over and closed his eyes. He could have sworn he heard her softly whisper "Thank you." As he drifted into a surprisingly nightmare free sleep.

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." -Anais Nin