A/N: another chapter to be up! And I'm slowly counting the chapters until the real plot is thrown out into the open… Kevin's POV

Disclaimer: I own no part of this. Characters by Man Of Action and plot by Crushed Hale.x

She stared at me like the monster I was, eyes wide and threatened almost. "Quit asking me how I did that!" she said, voice with a sharp and biting edge to it. If she hadn't been sitting across the fire from me, I had a good feeling I would've been slugged in the shoulder by that point. "I have no clue, Kevin! I don't know what I did!" Her hands were thrown up in the air with exasperation. "I would tell you if I knew."

"I know," I replied coolly, trying to keep calm. Trust was essential. Even after being trapped in the Null Void for nearly three years together. And we were still going over the surge of power that hadn't come back since she saved our lives from the pack of Necrofriggins. "I know you'd tell me, Gwen. I just want to see if it could provide us a portal out or something, that's all."

Her teeth began to grind together, fury touching her roughened features. She had picked up some angry traits from me in all the time we'd spent here. And she had gone from a petite little girl to a lithe, agile warrior of the red plains that stretched across the open spans of the Null Void. "I can't do a burst of power, let alone make a freaking portal." Her emerald orbs glowed with rage as she straightened the wing fabric that covered up the majority of her torso, exposing her stomach that had been tanned a darker shade of her skin with crimson dirt. "You're really thinking imaginatively, aren't you?"

I shrugged and leaned back, the fire that glowed in front of us warming me up. "Just need to keep hoping, Gwen. We can't lose that tiny bit of hope." I watched her slowly calming expression with a careful eye. "It's all we got left 'round here."

She just sighed and ran her fingers through her long red hair. It had crested down around her waistline, using one of the crystals from my arm to chop off only the ends. She kept on telling me that it looked better longer because it gave her the chance to braid it. And that kept her fiery mane out of the way in battles. Or at least, that was what she told me. Whatever the reason, I liked it.

"Alright, alright," she said, giving in before cracking a bone in her hands and tossing a chunk of the meaty leg across the blaze to me. "I won't dampen the mood." A soft smile was shot my way.

I tore into the food, not bothering to return the gesture. It always came across as a grimace or a glare anyways. My monstrous body held me back from anything even relatively human. I leaned back, my limbs relaxing. "So any plans on where to go from here?" I asked.

Gwen had taken on the role of our planner, the one who schemed like Hell to get things done, to find a route out of here. And I let her. Because she seemed to enjoy it. And thinking somewhat hurt me. So I let her do everything. No questions were asked; things were just done with her around. The responsibility was pulled off my shoulders. She was just great to have as a partner in crime.

"From here," she began, tearing into her own charred hunk of dinner, "we start using the farmers on the far side of the crater to get to some equipment that we can call the Plumbers with. And once we have them-"

"We're homeward bound," I finished for her.

She nodded, emerald green orbs brilliantly sparkling with that evil twinkle that they had recently taken on. I liked it. I liked it a lot.

"We should probably get some rest," said Gwen, her fingers toying with the few stray strands of hair that hung across her vision. "Long day ahe-"

A roar escaped me as a throbbing pain raged in my skull, bringing waves of pain rippling through my skin and sending agonizing fire through my veins. It thundered through me like I was nothing at all.

"Kevin!" Her voice was hardly a squeak when I heard it, the blood racing through my brain drowning out all other sounds as I moved from sitting on the log into a kneeling position, ready to keel over at any second and lose myself to the torrents of agony that threatened to drown me. Her hands were placed on my skin.

At her touch, I moved away, pulling away the best I could; if she was too close, she could've gotten hurt. Or worse. I wanted to swallow the words down as I thought them. And another howl erupted from my throat as pain flooded my senses, driving everything else from my mind except for my need to get rid of this body, to shed the skin that was holding me back from any true potential. I writhed, slowly moving over to my bed of wings to try and get out of the way so Gwen could never be hurt by my wrath.

"Kevin," she gasped, reeling away from me as I roared again. I opened one eye to see her pressed against the wall, watching me with horrified eyes, a hint of excitement and wonder residing behind the panic and worry. "Ke-"

I let out another long, low, loud cry that made the entire cave shake. I had- had to shake- leave this-this wretched body-

And the darkness consumed me, the predator turned prey.

A/N: I couldn't leave it all in one perspective, now could I? Review if you know what's coming!

~Sky