Hey! Thanks for all the reviews! They made my day! Here is chapter five. A reviewer recently let me know that it was hard to distinguish character breaks! I wasn't aware of this, so from now on I am going to say what characters POV it is from. Sorry about that, and thanks for letting me know!

Review and enjoy,

-GoneLoverMM

Chapter Five

Caine

Bug screamed like a little girl when Caine threw him. Caine laughed to himself, as if he would let Bug die. He only had to make him think that. A second before Bug hit the wall, Caine used his power to sort of catch him. Bug opened his eyes that had been shut tight a moment earlier.

"How do you know this?" Caine said each word slowly as if he were talking to a small child or someone who doesn't speak English.

"I heard her say it." Bug said.

Caine forced him closer to the wall.

"Bug don't be an idiot. You know what I want you to say. Now tell me Bug, was Diana just talking to herself?"

"No." Bug stammered and Caine tightened his hold around Bug's neck.

"Then who was she talking to?" Caine had lost all of his patience for the day.

"Sam!" Bug gasped, "She was talking to Sam!"

Caine let Bug drop. He fell the short distance to the floor where he lay gasping and quivering all over.

"What did she say? How did she say it?"

Caine still didn't completely believe the little worm. It wouldn't be the first time he was wrong. What if the little traitor had switched sides and was just playing a cruel joke on him? No, Caine thought to himself, he would never do that. A practical joke was not worth his life. He must be telling the truth, or he could have misunderstood. He must have misunderstood!

"Sam said that he would protect his nephew or niece, from you…" Bug didn't dare look into Caine's eyes, and Caine didn't look at Bug.

He thought about that for a moment. "Why would he need to protect my child?" Caine asked not fully understanding. The whole concept seemed strange.

"I don't know," Bug answered honestly, "Diana was really scared though, and she said something about powers…"

In an instant Caine was hovering over Bug, pinning him to the ground. "The child has powers!" Caine spat in Bug's face.

"I-I-I think so," Bug stammered, "She thinks it does, at least."

Caine lessened his hold. "What was she scared of?" Caine asked, softer now.

"You, I think." Bug said, "She's scared of what you'll do."

Caine took that in. Diana? Scared of him… He didn't know what to think. Caine had always thought that she was afraid of his powers. He must have guessed wrong. That's why she had gone to the lake! She was scared of him… and what he might do to their unborn child.

Caine couldn't believe it. His queen had run off, fled town, because she was scared of him. She wanted to protect their unborn child, his heir. Every king had an heir after all. For a moment, Caine found himself daydreaming about the unborn child and about Diana. However, it didn't take long for him to get angry.

That child was just as much his as it was hers. He had just as much right to it as he did. How dare she take off without so much as telling him! He had to find out that his girl was pregnant with his child, second hand from some loser freak. It wasn't right; nobody treated the king like that! Not even his queen.

"Bug," Caine addressed the little weasel, "Bring my queen to me, I must speak to her."

"I'm not sure if she will come." Bug whispered.

"What did you say?" Caine used more force. It must have felt like a load of bricks was sitting on his chest.

"I said that I'm not sure if she will come!" Bug said louder.

"Why wouldn't she come?" Caine asked in disbelief.

Bug shrugged his shoulders. "You know her better than I do. Do you think that she would really come to you? She never has before."

Caine slapped him across the face, hard. "Go," He commanded, "Now!"

Bug scurried off like the little cockroach he was. Caine's ego was bruised. Of course she wouldn't come to him. That's when it hit him. If his queen wouldn't come to him, then he would go to her. Now all he had to do was find a driver…

Astrid

It was dark when Astrid woke up. A flurry of activity was going on in the room around her. Several faces looked down on her, but she couldn't really focus on any.

"She's waking up! She's waking up!" Astrid heard someone yell, but she couldn't pinpoint the exact voice. It kind of sounded like she was listening to them through a tunnel. The voices sounded far away. She opened her eyes wider and saw a dark haired girl hovering over her. The girl's hand was touching her shoulder.

"Are you an angel?" Astrid asked. Her mouth felt thick, and her tongue heavy.

"Astrid, It's Lana…" The voice said. Astrid recognized that voice now. Of course it was Lana, Lana the healer. She was touching Astrid, this meant that she had been harmed, but by what? That's when Astrid remembered, the whip. Drake's whip as it had struck her again and again. Astrid whimpered. She saw another face then, heard another voice.

"Astrid, it's Dahra." The voice said, "You are going to be okay!"

Astrid believed her. The pain she had felt was dulling quickly, to the point where she barely felt anything. This relived her. Astrid had a very low pain tolerance.

"I'm so thirsty." Astrid croaked.

"Here," Dahra said bringing a cup to her lips, "Drink this, you'll feel better."

Once Astrid had drunk, Lana asked her a question. "So what exactly where you doing by that mine shaft?"

Astrid shivered. "You don't want to know!"

Lana laughed a short, hard laugh. "You're right, that's why they call you the genius."

Astrid sighed, and then sat up. The room swirled, but eventually settled. She was going to be okay. "Thanks," She addressed both girl, "I wouldn't be here without you guys."

"No problem," Lana said, "It's kind of my job, or at least what Albert pays me for.

The three girls shared a laugh. The laugh died, and then they sat in silence. Lana healed her, and Dahra attended to her two other patients. The two other kids had mild stomach viruses; Dahra said it had been going on for days. She hadn't seen the sunlight for at least three.

"What about you, Lana?"' Astrid asked, "When was the last time you went outside?"

"Well I walked here yesterday, and that was that." Lana said.

"I think I'm good now," Astrid said and Lana's hand fell.

Astrid tested everything out. She stretched her fingers, wiggled her toes, and stretched her back. She felt no pain, none at all.

"Well," Astrid began, "I guess I will be going now."

"Why don't you go to?" Dahra addressed Lana, "These two seem to be on the mend."

"Alright," Lana agreed not needing to be asked twice, "You make sure that you see the light of day sometime."

Dahra laughed. "Duty calls," She joked, "Again, and again, and again!"

The girls laughed again. Lana and Astrid made their way up the church steps and stepped outside.

"It's dark." Lana said, "I guess I lost track of time down there."

"Yeah." Astrid had no idea what time it was, or how long she had been out. She did know what she had to do though. "I have to go find Sam."

"Catch you later then." Lana waved her off.

"Thanks!" Astrid called, but Lana didn't respond. Lana had grown tired of people's near reverential awe for her. She barely responded to people's thanks anymore. Instead she just gave them a bob of the head. It was her way of telling them that she had heard.

Astrid walked in the darkness until she heard a truck firing up. It lumbered down the road towards her and she jumped into the pick-up trucks bed. The driver and passenger didn't notice that they had a hitchhiker. Astrid lay flat and looked up at the star-filled sky. Soon enough she would be with Sam.

Sam

Sam had accepted that it was just going to be dark. No more light would shine in the FAYZ until someone could figure out what had happened. Albert was probably already trying to, and maybe Caine was with him. Sam thought of one person that would be able to help. Astrid. However, that person was off in the dessert somewhere.

Once the discovery had been made, nobody left each other's side other than to use the washroom or get water. Sam, Edilio, Brianna, Computer Jack, Dekka, Toto, and even Diana had formed a sort of family at the lake. In hard times you needed family. You needed people, people who you would trust, with your life even. Sam trusted these people. Maybe not Diana, but even she was growing on him.

There was nothing they could do now but go about their daily lives. This new crazy would eventually run its course and they would figure out a way to make it go away. Then they would wait for the next wave of crazy. It was kind of like the flu. It came every year, rain or shine, but every year it was sort of different. It changed, adapted.

"I should probably call a community meeting." Sam said to the little group. "The other kids will be just as worried as we are."

"Yeah, you should." Edilio agreed, "I'll go sound the horn."

Sam nodded to him, and Edilio got up. One of the boats they had found had a horn on it. Back in the day it must have been used to signal other ships, but now it made the perfect summoning tool. Edilio sounded the horn and within a few minutes kids started to show up.

Some were crying others shouting out questions that Sam didn't have answers to. He could handle the crying kids, but the question askers were the worse. He hated not having the answers. He was just as lost and confused as he was. It kind of felt like that first day all over again. Kids had been asking him what to do, and he didn't know. Sam was, once again, powerless to the FAYZ.

Once a sufficient amount of kids arrived, Sam started the meeting. It wasn't official or anything, there wasn't protocol or reading of the minutes, he just sort of talked.

"Hey," He said to the group of kids. A hush fell over the crowd and he continued. "So I'm sure that most of you have noticed that it is dark, that the sun is no longer shining."

It was very quite, Sam noticed, but then he heard one long wail within the crowd. He couldn't pinpoint the kid it was coming from, so he continued on. "I know it seems kind of scary, but we just have to wait it out."

"When will the sun come out? I'm scared of the dark!" A kid cried.

"I don't know little man," Sam answered honestly, "But I do know that we can make it through this. Look at how much we've made it through already. I know we can do this, just hang on."

The group in front of him didn't cheer like they did in movies. They didn't all run up and try to surf him through the crowd while they cheered his name. Instead they just kind of stared at him like zombies. Most of the kids were kind of like zombies. They just shuffled through their days, counting down the days till they turned fifteen and were given the option to poof.

Sam was looking at all of their tired faces when he saw someone he never expected to see again. Her golden blonde hair was matted, and her clothes were dirty and torn, but she was still beautiful.

"Astrid!" Sam said and she smiled. The crowd of kids all turned to stare at her. Whispers ran through the crowd.

"I hear she killed her brother!" Whispered a voice.

"I hear she has mad powers and took on Drake!" Said another.

"I hear…"

The theories came from many mouths, each more disturbing than the last.

"Go," Sam said to the kids, "You are dismissed, now go!"

The crowd of grumbling kids left. Then it was only him and Astrid.

"Astrid." He said.

"Sam." She responded.

Sam ran to her then. He picked her up and spun her around. Had she always been so skinny?

"Is it really you?" He asked in disbelief.

"It is Sam, it really is!" She had tears in her eyes.

Sam kissed her then, he couldn't help himself, and she kissed him back. He pulled away first, smiling crazily at her. He looked at her as if he was a blind man seeing the light. He stared into her crystal blue eyes. He was still staring at them when they changed. They changed so quickly, he could have been wrong; it could have been a trick of light or something. However, for a brief second Astrid's eyes glowed neon green before reverting back to their original blue.

"Let's go to the dock!" Astrid said then.

"Okay!" Sam said as he followed her. He looked her over. She seemed normal, but he couldn't shake what he had seen. Maybe he was the one going crazy…