Oh gosh. I know it's been more than a year since my last update. I just lost the will to write fanfiction, dismissed it as dumb and stupid. Things like that. I even forgot where this story was going! However, I recently stumbled upon my old plans for chapter 3 and 4, rough skeletons if you will. I am still not extremely fond of fanfiction myself, but I did find myself in the mood to continue writing this. Perhaps I will write two chapters only to not update for another year, or perhaps I will submerge back into the world of fanfiction. I doubt it really, but I am still fond of this story, so. Anything is possible!

I hope you do enjoy Chapter 3, and have a nice day. : )

I was alone at last, left with nothing but myself and the dull ache of every wound, every bruise and every welt I bore as proof of their beatings.

It had been a few weeks since my last encounter with Uncle En. My body and mind still felt damaged, perverted from his forms of torture. I would do anything to avoid going down to him again, but it was not like my captors would ever pay my wishes any attention. They simply didn't care as I had begun not to care about many things in the time I spent in my cell. After all, the only constant things in my world were pain and suffering… I craved nothing but escape, a thing I hardly had the time to focus. It wasn't often when a Tao wasn't beating me to show me 'what a horrible person I was'. Time to think like this was rare. Being alone was rare. I hugged my knees to my chest, my back turned to the terrible steel door behind me that let Taos come and go. I was going to savor the moment but…

It quickly became apparent that the moment was not going to last. I flinched as the door swung open, light leaking in and illuminating my dingy cell. I braced myself for a beating, but as time dragged on I realized that nothing was happening. The presence of another was obvious… I could hear their mis-matched breathing, as if they were uncertain or afraid to be in my small world of pain and destruction. I did not turn to see them and the silence dragged on. As an hour passed, I heard them begin to pace. They were confused, perhaps about how to handle me. It was possible that they were new and I would be able to avoid my daily beating but I wasn't going to place much hope behind that thought. I knew better.

But no beating came. The sound of footsteps echoed through my cell, but nothing else. I was growing curious of this stranger and why they were doing this… Certainly it could not be a Tao in here with me. If it had been, I would have been injured within the first few minutes no doubt about it. Which left me to question who this mysterious stranger was and yet, I still did not turn my head. The mystery intrigued me and I did not want to spoil it for myself. The clack of light footsteps carried on for what must have been another hour and then at last, they stopped. A thunk echoed through the small room as the stranger dropped to the ground, presumably kneeling.

"I'm…sorry. I'm so sorry, Mikali".

My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as my entire body tensed at the sound of the stranger's voice. It was… him. I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't believe it. Every fiber of my being wanted to reject the existence of this entire encounter.

"No…."

"No…..no….. no, no, no, no, no, NO!"

The feverish whisper transformed into a shout as Mikali's eyes flew open. Unaware of her surroundings, the petite girl forced her sore body into a sitting position and began to hack violently into her hands. When she ceased coughing, she let her gaze scour the familiar room. It took a few minutes for her to register that she was in her room back in the Inn, but how? Mikali rubbed her temples and allowed herself to relax against her pillows in an attempt to coax back her memories of before.

"Oh god ...Oh god no".

The events that occurred before she fainted flooded in her cortex all at once, causing her to groan as she began to remember. Images flashed past her eyes of the previous day. Yoh and Manta, hovering over her; worried, frightened. Glimpses of a purple haired boy, a faint memory of arguing, being carried home. That left her here, in the present, to debate about what she had seen. The purple haired boy… Can't be who she thought it was, surely. Even if they were near his residence, it was still far away. Too far for him to come to her aid… Too unbelievable that he would ever come to her aid.

Shaking her head in a weak attempt to shoo away the memories of yesterday, Mikali pushed back the covers of her bed and slipped out. She shed yesterday's clothes and dressed herself in some fresh, crisp and most importantly clean clothing. Feeling somewhat refreshed, Milkali drew back the curtains to her window and inspected the weather outside. It was dreary and the skies were a miserable grey. Not even the sun was visible to her and as such she had no way to tell what time it was which left her with only one option.

To venture outside of her room and face possible confrontation about why she had fainted which was a question she herself could not answer: for she had blocked out everything of her life before she had met Yoh and Anna. She did not want to remember. But with recent events…it seemed fate had a different agenda.

Inhaling deeply, Mikali steeled herself to face the outside world and swung open her door and ventured out into the hall. She silently made her way to the front of the inn, encountering not one person until she reached the main foyer. The hushed chatter cut short as she entered the room, the eyes of the people within it fixated on her. Mikali could not move, could not speak. The girl could not believe her eyes.

She recognized them all, of course. It was not like she had entered a room full of strangers but perhaps that was a problem in this situation. Her eyes darted from person to person, studying them. Yoh looked startled, but pleased to see her awake. She saw his emotions mirrored on the faces of Anna and Manta. Normally she would have been quite at peace in this room, surrounded by her several friends but…

There was another.

"No…"