Cross Ice

by Crimrose-A-Bee

Snow Hisayuki moves to the mysterious "Lost City" of Akutetsu in search of closure for a damaging past she could never truly overcome. When she becomes faced with pure magic, friendships she feels she doesn't deserve, and the burden of her first love, she realizes just how much of her life she lost to despair. However, she soon realizes that she holds a deadly mystery of her own...

16. Chapter XIV- Memento Mori

Did y'all think I was dead? MWAHAHA NEVER!

Anywho, Crimrose wants to hurry and get on with this chapter, so let's just dive right in!

Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara etc etc.

Chapter XIV

Memento Mori

You would think that a newly aged adult would be positively elated to be living completely on their own, with no one to tell them what to do all the time, and to just have their own private space where everything was there own. When I first moved here, this was indeed the case for me. However, having been without my Shugo Chara for merely a day and then finally getting them back, hearing their voices bounce around my apartment walls as they squealed and snuggled into their familiar space, I was more than thrilled to not be alone. The apartment seemed less like an obscure, dark place now, and more like a home again. I was too preoccupied with being so glad that at least two of them were home that I didn't even bother reminding myself that I couldn't be here for that much longer; I couldn't get too comfortable in this place, for the day would come when I would have to leave it all behind.

Nevertheless, those kinds of thoughts didn't even take the stage in my mind at the moment, for Lilith and Vivian would not stop complaining about how hungry they were- apparently Nikaidou purposely neglected to feed them. I was so aggravated and hostile towards the man that I was almost sizzling just like the bacon and eggs I was frying in the pan. It was late in the evening by the time we had arrived back at the apartment, and I decided that something to sate their hunger quickly would be more orthodox than going out of my way to prepare a standard dinner meal for them. But I supposed it wouldn't have even mattered what I gave to them, since they instantly began devouring the meal the second I placed teeny, tiny bits on doll plates for them. For once my monster of an appetite wasn't acting up, and instead I sat at the island with them with a steaming French cappucino in my hand, longing for Satsuki like she was my own daughter missing from the scene. She would probably be even hungrier than these two by the time I got to her. Nikaidou probably didn't even give them proper accommodations; maybe he shoved them in a cage or something and called it done.

My hands clenched more tightly around the mug when I thought of him, the hot liquid penetrating through the ceramic surface and scalding my hands. Though I didn't remove them, since it was most likely only a smidgen of the pain the girls could have been feeling when I wasn't around, when I began to doubt in their very existence. This entire incident was my fault for not taking good enough care of them, and now I was compensating for it by being deprived of their presence that I so desperately longed for. But it wasn't nearly enough atonement for just letting them slip away like that; there should have been a jail for this sort of thing. I expelled a noise that resembled both a sigh and a growl, and removed one hand from the mug to place my forehead in. I had to work tomorrow, so that could only mean that I had to skip the Guardians' meeting and immediately hitch a bus or something to reach where Nikaidou said his "research lab" was; and even then I would most likely be late. Showing up tardy after only a month of working there was practically like I was beginning to be fired, especially with Mrs. Garrett as my little troll boss. With rent to pay, groceries to buy, and other necessities, I obviously needed a job, and it was more than plausible that I'd have trouble finding another one on my own. I couldn't just leave Satsuki, but my entire living situation depended on being on time. Plus, I had homework every day...

"Snow?" Lilith inquired quietly, ripping me from my thoughts. An expression I hardly ever saw was on her face, one of deep concern, with her red slashes of eyebrows drawn over her eyes. "What's the matter?"

I shook my head, pursing my lips slightly. "Nothing much. Just wondering how to get everything sorted out for tomorrow."

While she nodded in understanding, Vivian began to act strange. She actually fidgeted with her small rabbit, tugging at the patchwork covering its black ears, and pushed her small plate away. She clearly wanted to say something, but for once actually seemed quite awkward about it. I raised my eyebrows at her, but she didn't even notice until I said, "Viv. Something on your mind?"

Her unearthly purple eyes stared up at me, and I was a little shocked to see that she actually looked vulnerable. "Well..." She raked a hand through her pitch hair in frustration, a gesture that was so like me I had to shake myself for a moment. Then she expelled a noise that sounded like a mixture of a sigh and a groan, and said, "I'm sorry, okay? You wouldn't be having all of this trouble if it weren't for us."

Lilith was nodding in agreement as I sat in completely stupefied silence. "Yeah. Don't get us wrong; we know you appreciate our existence, even when you doubted it for a moment." My face flushed guiltily, a horribly negative feeling spilling what felt like boiling oil inside of my chest, but she continued as if nothing had happened. "But you came here with one goal in mind, and we completely distracted you from that. Now you're involved with the Guardians, Easter, Lee..."

"I don't really want to talk about him right now," I muttered stiffly, much to their surprise. But then my expression softened as I gazed down at them, almost in a motherly way. "I will admit that my schedule is a bit more cluttered now, but I can't say that it bothers me. I'm glad to have you here, so I don't have to live here by myself." I tore my gaze from them to shift my eyes over my apartment, glancing at the television, the couches, the coffee table, basically only necessities without much decoration. It was so barren, so completely unlike the cluttered and lively home I had in New Orleans, that the space itself screamed loneliness. "I never realized how empty this place was until I was without you guys. I don't think I would have made it this far without chickening out without you." I flashed a smile at them, my dimples popping out in the corners of my cheeks. "So, really, I should be thanking you. I never told you before- I think assumed you knew anyway- but you kind of gave me another chance at life."

The reaction I got wasn't the one I was expecting; instead of seeming at least a little pleased that they had not put my situation into a rut, they seemed even more remorseful than before. After I had asked them what was wrong, they looked like they were about to confess something that they had been holding back for a long time. Their tiny bodies shook with restraint, until they settled down again and shook their heads in defeat, and Vivian said, "No. I think we may have just made your life more complicated than before."

"It wasn't really-" I began, not just to defend them but because I thought it was true that my life wasn't so complex, but Lilith interrupted before I could finish.

"No, trust me, it was," she muttered, biting down on her lower lip with pointed teeth. "You just didn't know it."

My brows furrowed. "Okay, now I'm even more lost then before."

"I don't think you will be for long." Vivian closed her eyes, almost like she was giving in to some divine force, and tipped her head back. "Soon you'll know everything we've been hiding from you."

The best impression of a statue I could have ever pulled off was accomplished when I went so still I almost solidified. They didn't even acknowledge my shock; their eyes remained closed, in acceptance and hopelessness, and only opened when I quietly asked, "Why do you say that? Are you finally going to tell me what I've been missing about myself?"

"Oh, we're not," the first-born said, exchanging a worried glance with her younger sister. When Viv nodded, she just turned to me and said, "But someone else will. Snow, we promise, after Satsuki comes home and things have cooled down, you'll finally get the piece of yourself youswore you've been missing all this time."

"I don't understand why you guys can't just tell me," I huffed angrily, bolting up from my seat and rummaging around in a cupboard for some crackers I knew were there. "This is something about me, my identity, that I should already know. But I'm just stumbling around in the dark all the time."

One of Vivian's graceful brows perked, and she snorted lightly. "Oh? So no matter what the truth may be- no matter how much of a freak you really are- you're ready to accept it now?"

My chewing on the cracker slowed, one hand in the box while the other held it, and my eyes narrowed. However, she made a good point. I was always so concerned about what others thought of me, so desperate to not be alone, that I groped for any possibility of normalcy I had. If learning the truth about my ice abilities and the strange voice poking out in my head sometimes meant I got further from "average", I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle it just yet. So I didn't even bother to swallow just to spite her and spoke around a mouthful: "No, I'm not."

A quick bob of her glossy black head only furthered my agitation. "That's what I thought."

Every time they added new information about me that I never knew, the more unnerved and insecure I became. Why have these things been a secret for most of my life? Why are powers surfacing only now? After sliding the crackers back into their place in the cupboard, I reached underneath my curtain of hair and rubbed my neck tenderly, trying to calm myself down. Why didn't I know anything about myself? The two girls continued munching away as if our conversation had never even happened, but I still couldn't help but feel immensely bothered. I figured I was probably going through an existential crisis.

That meant it was time to change the subject. "So, did you guys learn anything from Nikaidou's?" I asked, plopping back down on the stool at the island. Snarls contorted both of their faces, expressing nothing but distaste, and I would have laughed if mine wasn't a mirror image.

"Not much," Lilith confessed, glaring so much she got a double-chin. "He spoke on the phone with someone every now and again, and we heard him typing a lot. There were also the sounds of X-Eggs everywhere."

Inconsequential as it seemed to her, I perked up slightly, my eyes turning to slits. "X-Eggs? I wonder what they would be doing around him. And didn't he say something about cooking?" My eyes snapped open in horror. "You don't think he's doing some weird kind of chimeric experimenting, do you?"

"Who knows," Vivian muttered, twirling a strand of inky black around her finger. "We didn't see or hear anything about his specific plans; though there were machines everywhere, and one big, hulking shadow in the corner..."

"That sounds awfully suspicious," I admitted, narrowing my eyes. "Now what exactly could be going on with a load of X-Eggs and machines...? And why would he want you guys in the first place?"

"Oh, we got a reason for that." Lilith finished her food and nudged her small plate away with her foot, then retracted her leg to cross it over the other at her ankles. "He said he needed us because we're the most powerful Shugo Chara he's come across." She looked mighty proud of herself, with her chin stuck out all haughtily, but it only proceeded to worry me even more than before.

"Why are you guys so powerful?" I wondered, more to myself than them. "I'm not anything special-" When I caught the look on their faces, one of guilt and pleading, I stopped right in the middle of my sentence and clenched my jaw. Going just off of that, I assumed it was safe to say that whatever was wrong with me- whatever gave me strange ice powers, and maybe even the fact that I'm from some extinct race- probably influenced them in some way, as well, making them more powerful than average Shugo Chara. It felt like I was only missing one valuable piece of information, and it was the one that would make everything click together if I had it. Solving the mysteries behind my Shugo Chara, Nikaidou, everything, felt just within my reach; it was frustrating to have it so close but not feel ready to have it discovered yet. However, I figured that was enough making myself angry for one day.

By the time we had confronted the Easter employees, and I got the girls back and made my way home, it was about the middle of third period at the academy. So the other Guardians cut their losses and took the rest of the day off, while Tadase-kun went to relay the information to the headmaster that our "business" took longer than we originally thought. Thus, as soon as I got home, I got the starving Lilith and Vivian some food, and spent that while talking. It was still only about three-thirty in the afternoon, so I had some time before I had to work. That was time that could be well spent figuring out what I had to do tomorrow when I went to Nikaidou's.

It was somewhat astonishing to find how calculating of a person I had become since getting my little guardian angels. I came up with plans, thought them through, remained dedicated. I hadn't felt so full, so used by myself in my whole life. It was not a bad feeling; it gave me a sense of fulfillment I had never experienced before. There was no doubt I would use this newfound scheming mind of mine to save Satsuki, no matter what. Things around me- despite how short of time they'd been around- just didn't feel the same without her.

It may have been presumptuous to think, but I was more than furious, and hell-bent on getting some sort of vengeance: Nikaidou had seriously messed with the wrong girl. He was about to get more than his ass kicked now.

---

When Lee and I emerged from our apartments with the smooth snick of our doors opening at the same time the next morning, I didn't say a word.

To say I even acknowledged him would have been generous. I knew it was petty to just outright ignore him out of spite and resentment, not to mention immature. However, I just couldn't even attempt to understand him and what he was doing. First of all, he was still a completely enigmatic stranger to me, even if we did live beside each other. He has the time to drive me places- which is greatly appreciated, don't get me wrong- and yet he suddenly works as a city council member? Other than that, I don't know anything about him besides his age. And now, he revealed that he had been able to see my Shugo Chara the entire time. Had he merely observed? Or had they communicated before? I wasn't entirely sure if I even wanted to know. Not to mention that he also seemed to know my father in some way, which was a fact I tended to forget for the sake of my own sanity.

Deryn and Will could see Shugo Chara, but the Guardians said it was probably because they had a strong sixth sense- the kind that allows you to be more in tune with spiritual and supernatural happenings around you. Lee could have been the same way, and he had mentioned that he had a keen sense of such. But I wasn't entirely sure he was telling the truth. It wasn't just that I had developed trust issues towards him ever since the startling reveal of his "sight"; there was something about him altogether- the mask, his relations with my father, his position in the city- that made him seem... off, somehow. Nobuko Saeki had mentioned that he was "cold", as well, and that I was the same way. Little guardian angels that stayed by your side existed, and I was also beginning to believe in vampires as well as shapeshifters. So... could that mean that some of the people around me, Lee included, were something other than human? The theory may have been excessive, but it was logical, in a sense that went beyond the reaches of mundane science.

The most surprising thing about the whole conundrum was that I didn't want to believe that Lee was more than human, that he was malevolent. He had never outright lied to me, since I had never bothered to ask him if he could see the Shugo Chara; he just neglected to inform me of such. Disregarding that whole incident completely, and his spontaneous mood swings that sprung up here and there, he was kind to me and treated me like I was family to him, despite not even knowing me. Maybe I had begun to trust and rely on him too much, as well, since it was getting harder and harder to dislike him. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now on how much faith I should or should not instill in people.

With a clenched jaw, I began to breeze right past him and down the stairs so as to avoid sharing the small, cramped elevator space with him, when he suddenly called out, "I'm glad you found them."

So he wasn't going to pretend it didn't even happen, then. At least he was owning up to the fact that he had confessed something huge to me without shoving it out of his life afterwards. If he had chosen to just run away from me, I would have labelled him a coward- much like myself- and might not have been able to bring myself to converse with him as much as we had. My hands felt restless at my sides, like something was almost trying to burst out of them, and I barely even mumbled in return, "Thanks."

Even from a fair distance away, he heard me, which might have been even more evidence leading to him not being entirely "average". "Satsuki's still missing, though?" He asked, and my hands buried into my skirt and clenched the fabric until sweat began to bead on my palms. He even knew their names? How was that possible? Just out of curiosity, I looked to Lilith and Vivian to see how they were reacting to the whole situation, and they looked understandably shocked. They also looked culpable, as if they had committed yet another crime to add to the 'List of Things We Neglect to Tell Snow'. That was enough to tell me that they knew of Lee as much as he knew of them, because they had actually conversed before. Behind my back.

Are you fucking kidding me? I slid a derisive, withering stare to the two palm-sized girls floating within close proximity to my head, every thought flying through my mind clearly expressed on my face. They flinched and smiled helplessly, as if to say, "what can you do?" when they very well knew that something they could have done was talked to me about this. Through gritted teeth, I edged out, "We'll talk about it later", emphasizing each 'T'.

Well, since he already seemed to know everything else, might as well cut my losses and tell him what was going on. "She's not missing," I explained, leaning against the door to the stairwell. I ground my teeth together just thinking about how she felt with Nikaidou, all alone, surrounded by X-Eggs and not knowing what was going to happen next, and found that I needed to cross my arms and burrow my hands in my armpits to keep from hitting something out of sheer frustration. "None of them were ever really missing. They were stolen."

At least he was gracious enough to look both shocked and sympathetic. "Stolen?" He repeated incredulously. "By who?"

Not knowing if the girls had delved into any Easter details, I settled for saying, "Some creep."

"Now why would they do that?"

"That's the one thing I need to know, but don't. He wasn't exactly precise about the details when flaunting his maliciousness in front of me." It probably wasn't right to be snarky with him when he was trying to be concerned for me, but it was safe to say that I wasn't exactly in the right head space at that moment."I suppose that's fair," he admitted, and I instantly felt like I needed to be smacked upside the head when I heard the slightly wounded tone of his voice. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

I was shaking my head before he even finished. "No, thank you. This is something I have to do by myself. Besides... I made a promise with someone to do this alone, and I don't intend to break it."

Like two crow's feathers drifting laconically to the ground, his eyebrows drew downwards in something like concern. The effect would have maybe won me over again, if not for the look in his eyes. While his posture, expression, and attentive stance would have implied that he was listening carefully and actually worried for me and the girls, his green eyes were alight with something resembling mirth. I stared at him unabashedly, my own brow slashed downwards so much a wrinkle was created between my two lines of white hair, a feeling stirring in my chest that was exactly like the one I got around the talking snake. The feeling that something was horribly wrong, like the scene I was acting in right then was one not at all scripted, something unpredictable and foreign. So when Lee asked, "Are you sure? I can give you a ride to school, if you'd like," I began shaking my head slowly, almost cautiously, and reached for the handle to the door to the stairwell.

"No," I hedged, opening the heavy door with an eerie squeal that caused him to cock his head to the side in a way that reminded me of an animal regarding a meal. "I'm fine on my own." What I really meant was, I'm fine without you. Then I thundered down the stairs, not even bothering to conceal the hurry I was in to get away from him.

As soon as I exited the back door of the building and began making my way through the parking lot, I let go of a breath I wasn't aware I was holding. Shudders kept coursing through me as I replayed the look in Lee's eyes over and over again, the one that seemed like he got amusement from my misfortune. All this time I had been dimly aware that something mysterious was going on around me, something that wasn't as normal as I had thought it was. Now things just kept getting worse and worse, more and more foreboding. I was almost afraid to turn around, since a crawling stare was working its way up my neck, indicating that I was being watched. Was it Lee? Or something else?

"Snow, you need to calm down," Viv warned me, tugging hard on my hair to snap me out of my worrying. I snapped my head around to look at her, a panicked expression on my face, then looked forward again with my eyebrows severely drawn over my eyes. I could barely trust the very city around me anymore; everything seemed foreign all over again, every figure passing by a shadow that threatened to drown me. The girls were trying to guide me, giving me directions to get to work, but I was barely listening. My stride was becoming more of a stumbling shuffle, my legs shaking with premonition and fear. When Viv drew my attention to her again, I could barely even see her. My vision was beginning to blur, almost like it was being clouded with tears, except there was no trace of water in my eyes.

When I tried to blink the feeling away, it remained. I squinted, shook my head, rubbed my eyes, and yet I still couldn't see anything properly. Everything was like smudged of gray and white paint, slowly dripping down a wet canvas as if water had been poured over it. It only intensified until I was near-blind, and had to blindly grope for something to hold on to so I didn't run into anyone. "What's going on?" I breathed heavily, asking both myself and the girls. Their voices seemed to come from far away, undoubtedly disembodied from my fading vision.

"It's just-" Lilith began, then cut herself off. Vaguely I heard her swallow loudly, as if a lump had formed in her throat, and then she said, "It'll probably pass soon. Just take a break for a while."

As I leaned against what felt like the side of a brick building for support, colour slowly began to bleed back into sight, and then eventually shapes as well. I forced my breath to slow and even out, and eventually everything looked normal again. There were some people casting me odd looks, such as concern or even disgust, but I just twitched the side of my mouth into an almost-smile and walked off, dragging my hand against the building so as not to fall.

"Am I getting sick?" I wondered aloud, rubbing my eyes again with my fingertips. It left dark afterimages on my eyelids, but the strange state of blindness did not return. Then I shook my head at the thought. I hardly ever got sick, even when the Swine flu broke out five years ago. I couldn't even recall being sick in bed with a cold, and the only time I had ever been brought to a hospital was when the paramedics rushed in the house after my mother had been taken away. The only other explanation I could come up with was that I was just overtired. Nightmares plagued my sleep almost every night now, something that hadn't happened since I was five. My body was mostly reacting to them in the worst possible way, and I figured I should get to bed earlier tonight to rest for tomorrow.

When I walked in the front door to East Side Mario's, Louise flashed me a smile before returning to seating a family of three. It was rather busy that night, far more than yesterday, and I was already dreading working with the weird dizzy spells I was getting. I made my way through the hordes of filled seats to the locker room, and changed as quickly as I could.

"Stay with me tonight, you guys," I told them as I shrugged into my shirt. "I don't want to take any more chances." As I was working my hair up into a ponytail, I paused for a moment as a sudden thought occurred to me. "How did Nikaidou know you were here, anyway? And how did he get in?"

That was when Lilith gave me her trademark sneer, and I instantly knew it was because I had done something stupid. "You told him where you worked when you were rushing off yesterday." That confirmed everyone's suspicions that I was indeed a huge idiot. I had only given him such a specific location for advertising purposes, as what was standard to do in my employee training courtesy of Mrs. Garrett. If only I had acted on that vibe I was getting from him in the beginning, the one that said he wasn't entirely to be trusted, then this whole incident might have been avoided. Even as I constantly banged my head against the locker at my own expense, Lilith was carrying on. "You also left the locker room unlocked in your hurry to get out of here. He just waltzed in and out without anyone noticing."

"So this whole mess was my fault, then," I muttered, slowly closing the locker door with a metallic squeal.

They both began to avoid eye contact. "Well..." It was clear that they weren't trying to pin all the blame on me, but the truth of the matter was that I really didn't deserve to have Shugo Chara. I was so irresponsible with them, and the slightest mistake made me even question their very existence. You probably wouldn't ever find a worse bearer than me, especially since I was still so immature and unprepared to deal with complexities that they felt the need to hide things from me all the time. Which brought back the recurring question: why did I have them in the first place? I was far too old for Shugo Chara now, a legal adult, and even if I did have the mentality of a child, that shouldn't have been enough reason for them to be born. I blew out a heavy, hot breath that ruffled my bangs and rubbed my temples, the dull throbbing ache in them screaming at me that a headache was coming on. I bolted the lock on the door and turned to exit the locker room, when suddenly my phone in the back pocket of my pants gave a cheerful blip that definitely didn't match my mood.

I tugged it out of my pocket in a hurry, not wanting Mrs. Garrett to storm in and demand what the hell was taking me so long, but my hand froze with a lurch of my heart when I saw it was from Tadase-kun. I blinked rapidly as a blush covered my cheeks, and while I knew I shouldn't have been getting so flustered over a simple text, I couldn't help it. Just the thought that he actually wanted to talk with me, that he was even concerned about me, sent the dormant butterflies in my stomach into a frenzy. The text was simple: "How are you feeling?", but it was enough to make me smile when I thought of his actual, kind voice saying it. I typed back a simple, mundane reply before practically bouncing out of the room, feeling like a million bucks from simply having a friend like him.

As soon as I was out on the floor, a table already needed to be tended to. Scratch that; about four needed a waitress/server, one of those with a birthday for a thirteen-year-old girl who looked as though she'd rather be anywhere else. I was practically jogging throughout the whole restaurant to deal with everyone, dodging other servers and Louise as she guided folks to their tables, and I had to admit that the whole thing was giving me a bit of vertigo. The constant clanging of pots and pans was like shrill screams in my ear, which was not a good compliment to the actual cries of small children and crowing laughter of teenagers and slightly tipsy adults at the bar. It was the first night since I began working there that I actually felt tempted to begin pulling my hair out from all the noise, and maybe even break a few dishes. Which was probably a bad thing to think about, in hindsight, for when I was juggling three plates to a table- two in each of my hands, one precariously balanced on my forearm- a familiar screeching sound penetrated through my skull until I was unable to hear anything else. I attempted to push aside the encroaching sense of sheer panic that was coming on until I reached the table and placed down the plates, but I had gone completely deaf yet again before I could make it, and the recognizable feeling of being bashed in the back of my head with a bat left a searing pain pounding at the base of my skull.

The same voice from the first time this had happened- my voice- broke through the silence, more faint than last time, but not any less demanding. "Stop... resisting..."

Resisting what? I wanted to scream as I watched in horror as the plates slowly began slipping from my grasp. What exactly am I resisting? I don't even know what's going on!

"Think of... how easy it'd be... to just let go..." it whispered tantalizingly, and I swore I could almost hear a smile in its disembodied voice. I didn't think it was exactly what the voice was talking about, but at that moment the plates fell from my arms and shattered against the floor, shards of porcelein white against the smooth red tiles. I followed suit soon after, the sauces and seasonings of the food seeping through the knees of my pants, clutching at my head both in fury and in pain. What was this voice that kept coming back to plague me? Why did the girls tell me not to listen to it? As if it was aware of all the questions stinging every corner of my mind like wasps, the voice was no longer just that, but now a stream of incessant, malicious laughter as well. It just kept laughing and laughing at me, at my helplessness, at my inability to stop it. My teeth were grating together, so hard I feared they may begin to break, and my eyes that were squeezed closed began to have colourful, flashing images dance on the back of my lids from being shut too hard.

"You're just a silly... naive little girl," the voice chortled, as if every bit of my pain and grievance was merely a part of some show I was performing for its entertainment. "But you already know that... don't you? You can't... do anything alone... but I can give you-"

STOP! I screamed, and even though I felt my lips move, I was positive no sound came out. Yet immediately afterwards, the rush of sound blew back into my ears with a strong pop! that probably shattered the drum. There was an eerie hush breezing through the bustling crowds of the restaurant, the only voices those of Mrs. Garrett and Louise shaking my shoulders roughly. Once both of them saw that whatever episode I was having had passed, Louise carefully drew my hands away from my face. They came away with a bright red digging underneath my nails, and I became aware that I had actually clawed wounds into my face. Not only that, but the recognizable feeling of warmth trickling from my nose made me raise a hand to cover it before any of the customers could see. Now that I was actually able to move from my kneeling position on the ground, Mrs. Garrett yanked my up by my free arm and dragged me to the kitchen, yelling at Louise to clean up the mess I had made.

Still in a slight, panicked daze, I didn't know what to expect when the kitchen door swung shut behind us. But I did, however, manage to pull a cringe when she began shouting at me, her face as plump and red as a very pissed-off tomato. "What the hell was that!" She demanded, throwing her hands in the air exaggeratedly. "Those dishes and food are coming right out of your paycheck, missy! Tell me what happened in there before I fire your ass right now!"

There must have been something completely frightened and vulnerable in my eyes, because when I looked at her, the flames surrounding her fury seemed to calm a bit, and my bottom lip shook slightly. "I don't know," I told her honestly, my voice cracking a bit at the end.

She blew out a hot, angry breath. "On your resume it said you didn't have any health conditions to worry about. So what is it then? Are you smashed?"

I was able to cut her a look. "No, I don't drink."

"On drugs?"

"I don't do that, either."

She paused in her heated rant to regard me like she was skeptical. "Really?" I nodded mutely. "What the hell kind of teenager are you?"

Taken aback, I flinched away. "I thought it would've been a good thing?" Since I didn't sound too sure of myself, she rolled her eyes and turned away.

"Anyway, you'd better make fucking sure this does not happen again," she growled, sounding more like an angry Rottweiler than anything. "And you're going to apologize to those customers for ruining their meal. But first go and clean yourself up; you look like you just walked off the set for The Exorcist." I only nodded again, something about her words striking a deep chord within me that resonated nothing but fear and anxiety. As I turned to hurry to the washroom and get back out on the floor, she called to me, "Oh, by the way- your ears are bleeding a bit there."

My nails dug into my palms so hard they drew even more blood.

As I splashed water all over my face, scrubbed the red crust away from my nose, ears, nails, and the sides of my neck, and attempted to calm my laboured breathing, I couldn't help but think I had seen something like this many times before. In some shows, in movies, even in some books. It was something I was so afraid to think of that I didn't even put a name to it; I just watched my face intently in my reflection until my wounds began to web themselves back together, as they had that time I was struck down at the shrine. I sucked in a short breath and began shaking my head, my eyes strangely glossy. This had to be some sort of nightmare. Whatever I thought this was couldn't really be happening to me. I'm normal. There's nothing wrong with me. I'm normal...

"I don't understand," I whispered to my reflection, my voice sounding completely weighed down by so much fear that I was beginning to feel crushed. It was a phrase I was coming to use a lot nowadays, one that I had never really needed before; arrogant as it may have been, I believe myself to be pretty smart, and fairly confident. But now I was just so unsure, so insecure, that I didn't even feel like myself anymore- whoever that person was in the first place. This city, the people that surrounded me... I knew that they had to begun to change me, and I believed that it was for the better. Now I wasn't too sure, since I had become afraid of my own reflection staring back at me, as if it were a stranger.

The first thing I did when I finally dragged myself from the safe confines of the bathroom apologized to the customers sincerely for ruining their meal. They had gotten more food as replacement by then, and free dessert as a means of compensation, so they were very gracious about it, and even bothered to ask if I was alright. I dragged my customer service smile out of the sense of loss surrounding me, figuring that if nothing else, all I could do now was just smile. Thus, I spent the rest of the evening working harder than ever, being so cautious and careful not to make mistakes, completely immersing myself in hopes of not having to hear the voice again.

"The voice". Now I really was going crazy. I wondered if Mother had heard voices telling her what to do before she sliced into me with a knife, if insanity just ran in the family.

I worked a longer shift than usual, and thus was one of the last girls in the locker room. I stood before my open locker, tugging on my pants, acting as if I were numb and unfeeling. After what had happened, after all that was beginning to change, I recognized something I was definitely aware of when I was younger; I was afraid to feel. Afraid to tune in to the world around, be exposed to more pain, get hurt more and more. It was a human defense mechanism to shut out emotions and meaningless thoughts when you were afraid, and I understood that. That, however, only made me feel worse, and much more like a pathetic coward.

"Snow," Lilith implored me, attempting to sound comforting- though she was definitely no match for Satsuki. A strong wave of an emotion that physically pained me washed throughout my chest, and I wanted to see the youngest sister more than ever right then. "You have to know that what's happening... it's not something you can help. It's more like..."

"... Our fault," Vivian finished for her, snorting bitterly at the end.

I turned curious yet helpless eyes on them, pulling my bag out of the locker and shutting the door with a firm, metallic slam. "How is it your fault?" I demanded, though it was quiet and didn't come out very powerfully. "The problem is inside of me. Though I suppose you already know that."

A flash of guilt still seared through me when I saw the pleading look on their faces, as if begging me to understand, but I tried not to feel sympathetic for them. I believed that I did have a right to know my own life, to have some control over it. But now it was rapidly slipping right through my fingers, and all I could do was watch as it slowly fell into a void in which no one would be able to reach it again. That feeling of hopelessness, of knowing that there was absolutely nothing in my power I could do to fix whatever was wrong with me, was probably even worse than having almost everyone around me pity me for most of my life. Thus, I couldn't keep trying to understand why they were hiding things from me; I had to figure things out on my own, to stop running and confront whatever got in my way from just living.

"Yes, we know the problem lies inside of you," Vivian said slowly, as if testing the waters to see how I would react. When I did nothing but take a seat on the bench and look at her calmly and expectantly, she heaved a sigh and carried on. "However... our presence does contribute to this problem. You see, you were confronted by a voice in your own head when you were without us, weren't you."

It wasn't a question. And now that she mentioned it, I had never heard the voice before until they were born and I lost them temporarily. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, trying to work out the jigsaw puzzle in my head, but Lilith attempted to do it for me. "That voice is the last thing you want to listen to. And we-"

"What is it, exactly?" I cut in, mostly in hopes of flushing it out, but they had that look on their face I was coming to recognize- the "please-don't-ask-because-we-won't-tell" look. I pursed my lips in frustration, but fell silent once again.

Lilith rolled her eyes at my temper and said, "Nonetheless, the voice gets more powerful, more demanding when we're not around. Since only one of us is missing this time, it wasn't as strong. But you can't be away from us without hearing it anymore." She floated closer to me, the look in her zapping golden eyes grave and unusually serious, and then put her hand on the tip of my nose. Her eyes bored in to mine, enough to make me slightly wary of what she was going to say next, and the only reflection of myself I could see was my own eyes, wide and frightened. "That voice is nothing but trouble. And trust me- you're not going crazy. It's completely normal for you, of all people, to hear. If there's nothing us you're willing to believe us about, believe us when we say this-"

She looked to Vivian as if for approval, and they nodded at each other. "You cannot, under any circumstance, listen to it. Even if it gives you doubts about us, about yourself, it's nothing but evil. If you do what it says..."

The dramatic pause gave me room to swallow the block in my throat, to listen to the sickening lurches of my heart. Whatever they were going to say, I knew it was going to be bad, something I didn't want to hear. But I couldn't run away anymore. I had to face every problem thrown at me, in order to become the person I wanted to be. In order to be worthy of the people I cared about.

"... You won't be yourself anymore," Vivian finished, the light in her eyes having all but gone out. "You really will lose your mind."

I blinked rapidly, then moved my face away from Lilith. My mouth pressed into a thin line as my fingers interlocked and squeezed into the backs of my hands. The voice was telling me to give in- to stop resisting something. It knew how powerless I felt all by myself. Now if I listened to it, I would actually go crazy, just like my mother? As if just hearing it wasn't odd enough. My mouth suddenly ran dry, and a pulse began to beat on my brain like the rhythm of a drum. This was something I knew I wasn't going to be able to stop. Now I needed Satsuki back more than ever- both because I missed her to pieces, and because I didn't know what was going to happen without her.

I remembered the reflection I saw, the way I couldn't recognize myself. The blood running from my nose, my ears, the way I clawed into my own forehead without knowing it. The nightmares of my younger, helpless self. The possibilities of vampires, shapeshifters- things that were more than human. Thinking back on all of those happenings made shudders course all throughout my body, from fear and something else. Then that familiar warm, trickling feeling dancing its way down to my lips happened again.

Wiping the blood away from my nose, I ignored the worried Viv and Lilith trying to ask if I was alright. I slid from the bench and on to the floor, watching as red droplets fell into one big, crimson pool. The girls left and returned lugging a toilet paper roll together, and they set it beside me. I ripped a fair amount off, pressed it to my nostrils, and began cleaning up the rest. When that was done, I leaned back, put my head into my hands. Then my teeth grit together, grinding until I feared they may break.

"I'm just sick," I hissed to myself, rocking back and forth slightly. "I'm just sick I'm just sick I'm just sick-"

No matter how many times I repeated it to myself, I knew it wasn't true. Something much worse than a sickness, than a disease, than going crazy was happening to me. And there was no way in Hell I would be able to stop it.

---

"Is everything alright, Hisayuki-san?" Tadase-kun asked, his voice slightly crackly and electronic from the receiving end of my phone. "It's really unlike you to skip a Guardian meeting..."

"Everything's fine," I said easily, my tone light, but my expression grave. "I'm just... not feeling so up to it today, you know? I'm really sorry. I'll make it up to you-"

"It's no trouble," he cut in, and even through the phone I felt completely soothed by his familiar, kind voice. "Take all the time you need. We'll be waiting for you when you're ready."

"Thank you so much," I murmured, my voice just overflowing with emotions- guilt, remorse, fear, anticipation. For even though I said I wasn't feeling well, I was already taking quick, purposeful steps in the opposite direction of my apartment from the academy. I was slightly worried he'd be able to detect the lie from the fierce wind howling through the phone, but he didn't mention it if he did, which was a kindness in itself. "I promise I'll be back tomorrow. Um..." Now here was the part when the nervous, girly teenager part of me began to hesitate. Even in serious situations, I knew I was still a girl who had next to no relations with any boys besides Mao, and talking to one even over the phone made me feel slightly giddy- especially since it was Tadase-kun. "Can I call you later? To just... maybe talk about things."

"Of course." He sounded surprised. "You can call me whenever you like. I'll fill you in on what you missed."

No need to tell him that I didn't want to talk to him later to get information, but just because I wanted to. "Alright. Talk to you later then." Before I hung up, I uttered one more, "Thanks."

Once the call was done, I slipped my phone back into the pocket of my jacket and picked up the pace. Nikaidou had given me no insight as to where his research lab could be located besides "on the outskirts of town", which meant that me, of all people, was going to have trouble finding it. The only thing I figured I could do was hop on the bus and make it as far as I could, then continue my search from there. Such was how I ended up skipping the Guardian's meeting on the appointed day to make my way down unknown streets to locate a bus stop that- according to the map of the city I always kept in my purse- was right down the hill from Seiyo Academy. As grim as the situation was, and seemingly hopeless as well, I couldn't help but feel slightly elated by the weather. It was by far the best autumn day I had experienced, with crusty leaves being dragged across the pavement by the powerful wind, the sky heavily overcast with dark slate clouds, and the trees sprinkling their small gifts of red, yellow, and brown from their branches. It was finally the right weather for me to actually wear a coat without overheating, as well as my bright candy apple-coloured scarf. Vivian and Satsuki were hardly as cheery- in fact, they seemed the most bleak I had ever seen them. It looked like the concept of fighting for their sister was very imposing to them.

"Are you sure you have to go alone?" Lilith finally asked, the question that was weighing her down since we had begun walking out in the open. "I mean, Nikaidou is an adult, and he has the ability to turn eggs into X's..."

"He said that I had to come by myself," I said blandly, meaning it was not up for discussion. "I don't even want to mention it to the Guardians in case they insist on coming with us. He has Satsuki," I reminded them, and they gave me a look that implied it was something they couldn't forget. "I don't know what he'll do to her if we don't do what he wants."

"It's still pretty odd he's giving you this chance in the first place," Vivian muttered, clutching her rabbit a bit closer to her chest. "I mean, why not just take Satsuki and be done with it?"

"I think it's pretty obvious what he's doing," I snorted pessimistically. I might have been slightly dense, but I knew a trap when the signs were there. Nikaidou had something planned for me, wherever this "abandoned dorm" was. As well as going to rescue what seemed to be my youngest daughter, it may have been interesting to see what he was thinking.

Apparently Lilith had done enough brooding for the day, for she very suddenly clapped her hands together and was shouting right in my ear. "Alright, well, it doesn't matter if the Guardians are with us or not! We can defeat Nikaidou all by ourselves."

I nodded in agreement, an eager smile spreading across my features. "Absolutely."

"You have us here," Vivian contributed, mustering up a small, twitchy, Deryn grin of her own. "If we're together, nothing can stop us."

My smile grew as my voice became more of a crescendo. "Yeah, that's right! I'll kick his ass from here to Pluto!"

They were both instantly confused. "But Pluto isn't a planet anymore."

I cast them a look over my shoulder, a malicious glint in my eye. "I'm aware."

Given both my situation and the location I was meandering about at the time, the very last thing I expected was to run into someone I knew. However, I was fairly experienced with some of the bombs life threw at you out of nowhere. So perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised when I felt a solid, crashing pressure come down on the top of my head, not meaning to knock me out (as has happened before), but more like to just get my attention. Normally I would have whirled around and unleashed the wrath of my dialect on whoever the culprit was, but considering recent events, I was trying to be on my best behaviour. Thus I ended up whipping my head back with an incredulous look to see who had done it and if it had actually meant to hurt me, but when I saw who it was, my quizzical expression withered into one of slight annoyance.

"Now you may not be aware of this," Ikuto began, his tone teasing, but his expression almost humorously apathetic, "but it is not considered the societal norm to be talking to yourself about kicking ass on the street."

I ignored the shot and smacked his karate-chop straight hand out of the way, turning into more of a high-five than an attempt at brushing him off. "Ikuto, you may be a flirt, but this is not what people mean when they say 'hitting on someone'."

The eyebrow waggle he pulled off was that of an evil mastermind. "Really? I should do it again and see if I get better results."

"Mm, how about no." Apparently my protests were in vain, for he reached out his hand as if to hit me again. By reflex, I grabbed his wrist, and was somewhat shocked to feel how solid and bony it was; not thin and gentle like a girl's. Yet another definite difference between genders that got me overly conscious and blushing, which he completely noticed, judging from the satisfied smirk on his face. He took a step closer to me and stretched his free hand towards me, and the gesture had Lilith and Satsuki outwardly expressing what I felt inside- squealing and snickering. When I moved to catch his other wrist, holding them both securely in my own grip, he got into a position that should have only been used for push-ups and began letting me take all his weight. I would have let go, but the fear of him actually falling and getting hurt won over the knowledge that he definitely would have easily returned to his usual smug yet uncaring stance.

This was how two unfamiliar guys discovered us when they strode along and called Ikuto's name. He threw an annoyed glance over his shoulder, like they were possibly interrupting something interesting, leaving me to bear his bodyweight and bore holes into the side of his face. One of them had untamed dark hair and a baby face with wicked eyebrows, which he quirked at that moment suggestively. "Kidnapping some girl? I didn't know you were such a-" Then Ikuto finally stepped back from me and turned to face them, allowing me to let go and cross my arms over my chest in defiance. When the guy spotted me, his eyes widened a tiny bit, and then he just said, "What."

The other boy, with a face almost as serious as Ikuto's if not for the laugh lines around his mouth and crow's feet in the corners of his eyes, rolled his eyes and said, "We'll see you there," to my feline friend.

"Oh!" The dark-haired one said as the other began walking away. "She's that Guardian chick! The one with the legs!" My eyes widened so that the whites could be seen all around, completely nonplussed. Didn't everyone have legs?

"Touma, we're going," the other guy said again, grabbing him by the collar and tugging until his protests ceased.

Once they had left, Ikuto turned back to me and shrugged as if to say, "What can you do?", but I had my mind on other things. My eyes pursued their retreating figures, which kept casting glances back at us. When I felt they were a fair distance away, my jaw went slack and I said, "You have friends?"

The miffed look on his face was almost comical. "Uh, ouch."

I realized my completely ignorant mistake too late. A hiss of embarrassed laughter streamed out of me, and it only escalated when I saw that he was giving me an I-can't-believe-you-right-now look. "God, I'm sorry," I said automatically, forgetting just who exactly I was talking to. "That was really rude, huh."

He caught me by surprise when he started chuckling along. "Nah, it's fine. I'm just surprised you thought I didn't."

"Well," I drawled, looking up at him demurely. "You really give off a 'lone wolf' kind of vibe."

A teasing glint entered his eyes, as it did the majority of the times we spoke. "The ladies like lone wolves."

"What a shame that this one doesn't care." The look on his face said he didn't believe me. I decided it was for the best if I just dropped the subject, as I tended to go on bantering with him for minutes on end. "What are you doing out here, anyway?"

"What does it look like? I was going to hang out with my friends." He emphasized the last word to probably get a rise out of me, but I just dimpled innocently at him. He rolled his eyes and said, "Not like it matters. What are you doing here?"

I tried to be as blasé as he was by shrugging only one shoulder and rolling my head to the side. "Can I not go out on the town by myself?" Even I realized how lame that sounded, and immediately wanted to kick myself afterwards.

The boy blessed me by ignoring my awkward attempt at socialization. "With your sense of direction? No." I opened my mouth as if to object, but slowly closed it and gave myself a withering look when I realized he had a profoundly valid point. "I think you're going to confront Nikaidou."

Too stunned to even make a sorry attempt at lying, I screwed any chance I had of secrecy when I demanded, "How did you know?!"

"Snow, you were literally just talking about it to yourself." He slid a glance towards Lilith and Vivian who, I swear, tilted their noses up at him at the same time. "Or I guess to those two. But it's not like anyone else can see them."

Funny how I always seemed to forget that one defining detail. I flushed when I realized how that must have looked and pursed my lips, frustrated with myself. "Oh. Well, you're not wrong." As he turned slightly, as if to begin walking, but waiting for me to follow, staring at his back triggered a realization in my mind with an almost audible snap: Ikuto worked for Easter, just as Nikaidou did. Regardless of how often he helped me, or how even I admitted that we were close enough to become friends, I could not allow myself to forget that fact. So I steeled my frame and froze in place, narrowing my eyes as he stopped and looked at me with quirked eyebrows. "Were you planning on stopping me?" He avoided my gaze, almost like he was guilty of something. "It doesn't matter if you are. I'm not planning on letting anything get in my way... even you-" Then I noticed that he was not averting his eyes remorsefully, but to gaze lethargically at a dark, ominous cloud shaped like a fleeing rabbit. "You're not even listening!"

He smirked as if that were obvious, then continued walking, with me following cautiously behind this time. "The former Easter employee dorm was abandoned a while ago, and was nothing but ruin," he began, much to my evident shock. "However, Nikaidou rented it out recently. Said it was for some sort of 'research'."

Disregarding why Ikuto felt the need to share all this with me, my eyebrows furrowed, recalling Lilith and Vivian telling me that Nikaidou was talking about 'cooking' and that there were machines everywhere in his room. "Research," I repeated thoughtfully, the suspicious tone in my voice enough to make Ikuto glance back curiously. "What kind of research?"

He gave me a carelessly helpless look as he shrugged. "Dunno. No one tells a grunt much of anything."

I scowled at him, not entirely trusting that he was telling me everything he knew- but then I recalled again that he wasn't obligated to. A sigh escaped past my lips without my awareness, and I couldn't help but think that I would have to get going soon, lest I be late and something happens to Satsuki. Just as I was about ready to say my goodbyes and be on my way, Lilith gasped and slammed a fist into her open palm. "That's right! The phone call!"

Both Ikuto's and my interest peaked as we stopped striding along and slid our eyes to look back at her. "What about it?" I asked slowly, praying she actually remembered something that could be of some use to us.

She glared at me, like she was aware I was thinking trash about her, but continued on nonetheless. "When Nikaidou was on the phone yesterday," she began, rubbing her temples as if trying to grind the memories back into her brain, "he kept saying something about the Embryo..."

Vivian snapped her head up, clearly having her memories triggered as well. "That's right!" She hissed, narrowing her eyes warily. "He said he was going to 'make the Embryo'."

Before either Ikuto or I could cut in, Lilith began nodding eagerly, the light of recognition dawning in her ochre eyes. "Yeah, yeah! He was also saying something about 'the Boss'? Whatever that means."

While they remained oblivious as to what exactly the meaning of Nikaidou's words were, my flesh felt as though it was crawling beneath my skin as the hairs on my arms and neck rose. If Easter really did have a boss, it meant that Ikuto really was working for someone else's wishes, Nikaidou turning Eggs into X's under another's demands. What kind of person would be sick enough to wish for something like that, regardless of the outcome? Although I didn't necessarily agree with King Tadase-kun's schemes to take over the world with the Embryo, at least he was doing it honestly, whilst kindly requesting the help of others, and without forcing anyone. There had to be something seriously wrong with the boss of Easter to want to manipulate others and destroy dreams just for their own selfish gain. My arms and hands suddenly felt very prickling, the anger and contempt hissing inside me like sleets of rain and begging to release bursts of ice from beneath my skin. I clenched my hands into fists out of restraint, my shoulders shaking in rage.

But suddenly all of those feelings of hatred completely evaporated into an almost visible steam of mortification as I felt someone's warm hands slip around the sides of my neck and towards my chin to tilt my head up. I found myself staring straight up into Ikuto's shimmering cobalt eyes, my head right against his chest and the back of my body pressed slightly into his front. He seemed oblivious- or maybe just apathetic- to my internal screaming as I was unable to move and flushing so much my throat ran dry, for he said nonchalantly, "The Boss is the most powerful person in Easter. No one can go against him without consequences." His eyes glittered like the edges of very sharp knives as he spoke, as if the disgust he felt towards his employer was leaking out. "I'm willing to bet that Nikaidou was collecting all of those X-Eggs for him. More than that, I'll say that he's leading you into a trap."

Like I didn't figure that out already. He completely brushed off the look I gave him, his fingers tightening slightly on my jaw. I needed to swallow all of the saliva in my mouth to clear my airy throat, but I was afraid he'd be able to see what a simple touch from him did to me by feeling the movement of my throat. All I could do to ignore the way his breath ruffled the hair on top of my head, the heat emanating from his close proximity, was to focus on the words streaming fluently yet indifferently from his mouth. "He tricked every single kid and the teachers at the academy, including you Guardians. Plus he's an adult, much more cunning than kids like us. You're going to get hurt."

That earned a snort from me. "Well, memento mori, right?"

He chuckled, the rumble of his chest compelling me to arch my back away from embarrassment. "Morbid." He cocked his head to the side, a new, unfamiliar look on his face, his hair falling into his eyes and getting caught on the lashes any girl would kill for. "But you're still going to go."

It wasn't a question, but I resigned myself and answered regardless. "Of course. I won't just let him do whatever he wants with innocent people's hopes and dreams." I paused, and then added, "Besides, a promise is a promise."

Then an even more foreign expression crossed his features, making me feel like I was observing rough sand being smoothed away by a gentle wave caressing the shore. He smiled slightly, one of his rare, genuine smiles that actually inhibited my breathing, and whispered, "I thought as much." One of his hands lifted from my neck, making it feel strangely empty and tingling from small shocks running throughout my bloodstream. "As you will."

He pointed at something in front of us, and when my eyes travelled to follow his hand, I didn't see the vaguely familiar winding street leading to the bus stop from the academy; instead, there was a roughed-up old Tudor house with black shingled roofs and white paneling on the side, encased by an almost graveyard-like iron fence. Dead trees were captured inside, the grass yellowing and dead, with no signs of any plant life whatsoever besides withering vines clawing their gnarly way up the sides. To complete the whole 'haunted house' atmosphere that was sending shivers scuttling down my back, a crow cried mournfully from one of the bare branches, taking flight and leaving a single black plume behind. It reminded me of Ikuto's hair permanently hiding his eyes- the windows to his soul- and I whirled around, looking for him and not finding him everywhere.

Now that was bizarre. My eyes rounded so much I looked like a cartoon character, looking both shocked and appalled. "What, is he a wizard now?" I wondered aloud, trying to distract myself from how freaked-out I felt. Then again, who was I to talk, with crazy ice powers going slightly haywire whenever I was in a mood? I glanced around, trying to find anything that looked slightly familiar in a big, strange city, but found nothing on either side of me except for stretches of dirt roads with crumbling rocks dotting them. And judging from the only sounds to be heard were the wind and the screeching of the crows, I highly doubted we were barely in the city anymore. When I noticed that, my eyes widened, and I lightly put a hand on my neck, right where Ikuto's had been only moments ago. The remainder of his touch still felt tingly, almost like that particular spot was experiencing some pins-and-needles that weren't entirely terrible. Could it be that he had brought me to the Easter dorms? But... why?

"Snow!" Lilith crowed to me, and I snapped my head around to look at her. She was pointing at a distressed white square laying discarded in the dead ground, and when I picked it up and turned it over, it did indeed read, "Easter Dorms" in big block letters. There was some contact information at the bottom, as well as a 'Private Property' warning, and I wondered if the number was still up-to-date. Just in case, I snapped a picture of it with my phone, should we ever need it. As I slipped the mobile back into my jacket pocket, I regarded the huge iron gate before me, imposing and resembling what could have been the Gates of Hell. My eyes narrowed and scanned along the sides of the building, only to find that most of the long, rectangular windows were boarded off or broken. But that didn't stop me from believing that Nikaidou would be able to see my entry somehow.

So I made use of the two companions I had finally got back, and Character Changed with Lilith. It was a simple task to curl my legs beneath me and spring up and over the fence, grabbing onto a rusting iron bar at the top to gain momentum and swing over. I landed on the ground with a dull thud against the crumbling concrete, sending only slight shocks up my legs, and hugged the side of the gates while trying to duck behind the taller, unmowed grasses. Once I believed myself to be safely out of sight, behind a withered tree with a fairly large trunk and peeling, unhealthy bark, I slipped off my jacket, scarf, blazer, and my mesenger bag, loosening my tie last of all. If I was going to be skulking around, or- at worst- fighting many an X-Egg, I wanted to be free of any inhibiting factors. When all of my troublesome belongings were discarded and hidden, I slithered through the tall grasses once again, glaring at the large building as if it were the hulking shadow of premonition.

I'm right here for you, Satsuki!

---

Satsuki's melted silver eyes snapped wide open as she quickly scrambled from lying down, hopeless and alone, at the bottom of the rusting, vintage birdcage. She felt Snow's presence as though it were right on the property, along with the tingling sensation in the back of her head that indicated more Shugo Chara were nearby- specifically, her two elder sisters. Had they really come to save her? She knew full well how much Snow hated troublesome things, especially when she was so close to giving up on them to begin with. Her tiny hands the colour of fresh cream gripped the bars of the cage as it swung back and forth, the hands of a clock merely timing her escape. A warmth flowed through her chest, making the backs of her eyes sting with tears as the trails of wetness slithered down her cheeks. Her bearer had really come for her, caring enough to put herself at risk for the sake of a dream she figured long dead. Satsuki was completely overwhelmed with the pure, unfiltered loyalty and respect she felt for her master, even though the person in question hardly had as much faith in herself. Snow seemed to always look at herself through a clouded, dirty mirror, unable to define anything about herself properly; but Satsuki had always known, since her bearer was just a child, that she was a person with a strong, true heart, and would always follow through if she truly believed in something.

Nikaidouwas tap-tap-tapping away on his large-screened computer, the luminescent blue reflected in squares on his glasses. Satsuki knew she shouldn't get too excited about knowing that Snow had come for her; she most likely wanted to manipulate the element of surprise, so she couldn't let Nikaidou feel like she sensed her presence. She settled back into a sitting position in the cage, staring forlornly around the strangely hollow room around her, despite being filled with blinking machinery and a hodgepodge pile of unidentifiable objects. She needed something to distract him, to keep him from looking at the computer screens that showed various squares of video surveillance all around the property. Her eyes trailed to the mug of coffee placed near his arm on the desk, which was once steaming hot, but now even looked cold from a distance. A grin spread across her face when an idea came to mind, and she began shifting her weight back and forth in the cage so that it rocked rhythmically in time with her whining.

"Sensei," she began, covering her face with a worried, frantic mask. "Sensei! Excuse me!"

Nikaidou pivoted around to face her, a wild, irritated look in his eyes, only deepened by the fierce wrinkle forming between his eyebrows. "What do you want?! I'm trying to work here."

She used one pale finger to point at the offending cup, slipping a pout on her face. "But... your coffee is cold. Don't you want a new cup?"

He snorted and whirled back around to face his screens. "I don't care."

"AH!" She screamed, causing him to cover his ears and wince. When he turned back to glare at her, she smiled sheepishly and said, "The room is messy as well. I could clean it for you, if you'd like."

He elevated one brow and regarded her as though certifiable. "You don't honestly believe I'm foolish enough to fall for a trick like that, right? This is almost as bogus as 'Snow dying if you weren't returned to her'."

Satsuki's blood ran cold and her breath lodged in her throat, even though she was well aware that she should not be showing weakness to an enemy. Nikaidou didn't understand how true those words were; he was merely a human, after all, and they always dismissed that which they did not understand. He- nor anyone else, for that matter- would never be able to comprehend how deeply Snow and her Shugo Chara were connected, how important they were not only to keep her hopes and dreams alive, but to keep her sane. Satsuki cared deeply for her bearer, not only because she was brought alive due to her existence, but also because she was truly one-of-a-kind, the only one of her being in this world and the next- the one her father hailed from. She was not only a special human girl, one who knew strength, pain, courage, and cowardice, but the link between worlds that would never be found again in many lifetimes. It was frightening how true the Chara's warnings were; Snow would die without them. What would be left in her place would be an evil more terrifying, more monstrous than any mortal could fathom. And they all knew that time was running out. The voice in her head gained persistence with each passing day, and while Snow may have written it off as sickness or a mental condition, such as her mother had, it was far more powerful and irresistible than that. Far more inhuman.

She had to get back to her bearer. No matter what.

"I swear I won't try to escape," she murmured, now completely sober and without charming smiles. Her starlight eyes must have been so serious, so faithful that it caused Nikaidou to hesitate in his refusal, leaving him staring at her in contemplation. Finally he sighed, unlocked the hatch of the birdcage, and unleashed her on the mass of mess that was the room around them.

Satsuki was the true definition of perpetuating the stereotype of typical housewives knowing nothing besides housework and chores. Such was a trait Snow believed her mother to have had before she completely went of her rocker, and wanted to inherit for herself. Satsuki was born from the wish "to be strong", and the way Snow defined strength was being able to take care of oneself. Thus many of Satsuki's abilities revolved around performing household tasks and the like efficiently and quickly, without wasting a moment of time. This allowed her to make Nikaidou's once dusty and desolate room practically sparkle when she located a duster and some rags in a completely nondescript hallway closet. His desk gleamed almost a new shade of black as opposed to the matte it had once been from all the dust, and it now adorned a new piping hot cup of coffee, and she figured him the type to like it black. And so he had; he gave it an almost disapproving look before giving in and taking a sip, and the strangest motion crossed his face: the corner of his mouth scrunching, like he was trying very hard not to let a small smile slip through his evil mask. Thus Satsuki ended up smiling for him, beaming as she flew and tidied all around the room, not leaving a speck of dust or dirt behind.

As her weapon of choice completely annihilated the battlefield of dust and grime, something in the corner of the room caught her eye. The dim, blinking lights of the machinery around them were being thrown off a shiny, metallic surface, one that seemed to almost be dull, but still held some light to it. Confirming that Nikaidou was not looking in her direction but simply at his computer screen, Satsuki inched closer to the strange reflective surface, slowly until the shadows began to melt away and shapes could be defined. There was a whole heap of these... things, each with long appendaged tangled together. Finally she was close enough to distinguish that these appendages were indeed limbs, such as arms and legs, only they were made of metal and even plastic. Their expressions- or lack thereof- reminded her so much of her bearer throughout childhood that she needed to stop moving altogether and take a moment just to examine them.

They were robots, that much was obvious. And judging from the size of them, they were all toys, not meant for any actual uses such as androids or AIs. More than that, they almost looked like... well, junk. Their surfaces were marred with scratches, dirt, rust, and sometimes what even appeared to be burns. They were disposed of, considered worthless and just tossed aside. Overwhelmed with such a sense of sympathy and camaraderie, Satsuki found herself reaching out a shaking hand to touch the nearest one without making the conscious decision to do so. As her soft hand found the rough, cold surface of a rusty metal bot's chest, she could almost sense that something else was thrown away along with these toys.

"Hey," she heard a gruff voice bark, and she snatched her hand back guiltily and turned to see Nikaidou staring at her with a narrowed, suspicious gaze. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Oh," she murmured slowly, coming back to reality. She dragged an easy smile across her face, remembering what she had been doing before getting so distracted. "These robots are so dirty. Would you like me to clean them?"

He threw his hand over his shoulder in a dismissive gesture, then whirled around in his chair to continue furiously tapping away at his keyboard. "No, just leave them. They're junk."

Then why keep them here? She wondered, but chose not to voice her concerns out loud, lest he accost her for being too nosy again. But before she turned to move away, something discarded along with the mechanical toys demanded her attention. Concealed beneath the pile of rust and discarded metal, was a perfectly rectangular, unremarkable picture frame made from simple dark wood, but it made Satsuki stop and stare all the same. As if a pile of robots wasn't odd enough, but now there was a picture as well, completely forgotten and left to rot away with a pile of 'junk'? She threw a quick glance back at Nikaidou, to see his hunched over back, his eyes glazed over with focus but with heavy bags and dark circles under them, and knew there was a lot more to this man than what he lead on. Was that what becoming an adult really meant? Forgetting your dreams and leaving everything behind? Was that why it was so easy for Snow to stop believing in her Shugo Chara? But Satsuki and her sisters were born despite all that had happened, like losing both of her parents, being torn apart and hospitalized, put into an orphanage with a bunch of strange children... could that mean that there was still hope for Nikaidou as well?

Satsuki knew nothing about the lost man, but she desperately wanted it to be true.

"Don't touch anything," he muttered harshly just then, shocking her out of her trance. She quickly gathered herself and responded with a cheerful 'yes!', before getting up to float away. Her gaze remained on the heap of rubbish even as she flew, and thus making her incapable of seeing what was before her. This was how she ended up bumping into a cold, metal surface so hard she bit her own tongue with a yelp of shock, then reared back violently to stare at what could only be described as evil personified.

The tarp had come off of the largest hulking shadow in the room, leaving a huge, almost egg-shaped machine exposed to the world. Wires hung off almost every visible surface and strung into the huge outlets and breakers on the wall, a giant venomous spider's web in which children's dreams were trapped in and devoured. Since there was a completely unbelievable amount of X-Eggs locked inside, all squirming against each other and crying weakly, Satsuki's reaction of unfiltered horror and disgust was completely justified. Could that have been Nikaidou's project?The reason why he required so many X-Eggs from all those innocent kids at the academy? She staggered backwards, but the giant mass of broken hopes fated to meet some regrettable end was inescapable.

Nikaidou had noticed her discovery, and watched her reaction with what could only be a satisfied look on his face. "Impressive, isn't it?" He asked, his voice carrying the unmistakbale tone of arrogance and pride. That only made Satsuki all the more horrified, the way he sounded so proud of himself for trapping all of those eggs in a machine, leaving children abandoned and hopeless. He had ripped their hearts from their chests and he was bragging about it. Satsuki turned her wavering, panicked gaze on the monster of an adult, tears stinging her eyes, only to see the smirk of a tyrant watching destruction and war. "This is my kitchen. Everything will finally be completed tonight. The X-Eggs are all of my ingredients, but you are by far the most special of them all." He leaned back in his computer chair, stroking his chin thoughtfully and continued, "It's a mystery as to why Snow Hisayuki's Eggs are so superior to everyone else's, but I suppose it won't matter much after I've succeeded. And if she's stupid enough to truly come here by herself, I'll use her other Eggs, as well."

"No," Satsuki gasped, her voice wavering with completely raw fear and the warbled sound of weeping. "No, no, no... you can't do that!" Before she realized what she was doing, she was right on Nikaidou's leg, tugging at the end of his sleeve pleadingly. He looked down in surprise, expecting to see the fright in her eyes and perhaps even begging, but that surely was not what he received. Instead, the Chara looked like she had holes in her head for eyes, for they had become so wide and eclipsed in shadows of insanity that she was unrecognizable. "You don't know what she'll do to you if you take Vivian and Lilith as well! She won't even be Snow anymore!"
"Do you think I care?" He snorted condescendingly, flinging her off and straight back into her cage. Her back cracked with the force she hit the bars with, leaving her compltely immobile as he strolled over and locked it up again. "What happens to that kid is no concern of mine."

"You don't understand!" Satsuki was screaming now, shaking and shivering while clutching the bars as if they were all that could protect her from the appalling truth of her words. "You know that she has powers! We told you she'll die without them!" She stopped to take large, panting breaths, and saw that he wasn't even listening. Snow might not have been strong enough to fight him all on her own, and if he truly did manage to get a hold of her sisters... Becoming desperate now, she found the strength in her tiny, breakable arms to pull herself into a standing position with great effort, and started shaking the entire cage roughly. "Nikaidou-sensei, please listen!"

"I'm not a teacher anymore," he simply muttered, gruff and apathetic.

Now Satsuki was just getting furious. A smile resembling that of Snow's mother's overcame her usually delicate and graceful features as she observed the oblivious man, only caring about himself and the success of his inhumane project. "You don't even know where you live," she whispered, so quiet she wasn't sure he'd be able to hear her. "Everything here is a lie. You humans are all just minor roles in a much larger production. You're just his puppets."

Satsuki was well aware that neither Snow nor he would be entirely pleased with her blabbing all of this information to an enemy, a human one at that. But these prophetic thoughts kept consuming her mind, of the monster Snow would be unable to resist becoming if she lost all of her Shugo Chara for real. It was too soon. They would inevitably disappear someday- they were well aware of that. However, that was only meant to be after Snow found herself, the very task she thought she came here to do. When in reality, it was all fate. It was no coincidence that her mother had been placed in Akutetsu, what was known amongst outsiders as The Forgotten City. If Snow lost them, and the beast lying in wait inside of her was unleashed, no human resident would be left unscathed.

For the city was an unmistakable haven for the supernatural, all created by one person who was still manipulating Satsuki and her sisters to keep it all a secret from Snow, even then.

Nikaidou, on the other hand, was completely ignorant to the entire conspiracy consuming the very area around him. None of it mattered so long as he would finally achieve something, something he had worked so hard for but everyone else discouraged. He would succeed in creating the Embryo, and he would move up higher in the business world. All of the sacrifices he made would not be in vain. Even though the Egg of a seemingly innocent teenager kept screaming at him, calling him 'Sensei' despite the fact that it was all a farce, he would not waver when so close to his ultimate goal. He had come too far for that now. There was no going back.

Besides, there was no fixing something that was broken. Humpty Dumpty could never be put back together again after he fell.

"What exactly are you planning to do?" The Chara demanded of him, though it didn't come out as domineering for it was covered with sobs. He slid a glance over to her, to see that she still shook and quaked the entire cage with her trembling, and her eyes still had that deranged look to them behind all of her tears. He supposed anyone, human or not, would react this way if faced with their own mortality. But it was odd that she seemed more desperate for her bearer than for herself. Obscurely, he wondered about Snow Hisayuki, and what could have made her so damaged that she would basically stop living if she lost her Shugo Chara. Naturally, this reminded him of long ago, when his own dreams began to get away from him until they were quite literally shattered altogether.

Nikaidou clenched his fist on the desk to conceal how it shook slightly, and smirked at the panicked Chara locked in an inescapable cage. "You see that machine full of X-Eggs?" She only panted in response, her eyebrows drawing down in frustration. "Of course you do. Well, I'm going to extract alllll the negative energy from those Eggs, and import it straight into you. The result will be that your Egg will modifiedinto a different, more powerful Egg than ever before- otherwise known as the Embryo."

"You..." Satsuki gasped, her knuckles turning white from clutching the bars. "You're planning to make the Embryo?"

"All attempts to capture it thus far have failed," he said nonchalantly, with an uncaring shrug of his shoulders. "So I figured we should try something different. Since the Embryo is a collection of many dreams, so powerful it's said to grant a wish, I knew we'd need many Heart's Eggs to create it, along with an Egg that was more powerful than your average Shugo Chara." His malicious ochre gaze slid to meet hers, and it felt as though she was being completely drowned in golden tree sap, which would harden into amber and trap her forever. "Meaning you."

He stood from his chair abruptly, then went to the suitcase in which Snow's Shugo Chara were held captive in. From there, he retrieved the dark Egg covered in the phases of the moon, which undoubtedly belonged to Satsuki. Then he rummaged in his computer desk drawer, and his hand emerged holding a roll of tape- unmistakably the very same tape that had been plastered over their Eggs to prevent them from escaping. "Since you understand all of that now," he started conversationally, as if they were discussing plans for lunch, "then you know that you have to get back in your Egg now."

If anything, at least no one would be able to say that Satsuki didn't fight him. She clung to the cage bars, batted his hand away, and even bit him, but her and every other Chara's stature were their failings- there was no way she could outmatch his strength. Just as he was shoving her back into her Egg, trying to force the top and bottom halves closed, she poked her hand out and grabbed the end of his sleeve again, clenching it in her small fist.

"Why, Sensei?" She begged, much to his irritation. "Is money and power really worth all of this? Of destroying children from the inside out?" Nikaidou knew that losing an Egg could not have been that extreme. She was just trying to guilt trip him. Nonetheless, he paused all the same, memories he had shoved far down the drains of his mind swirling back up again and threatening to drown him. "If you can see us, that means you must have had a Shugo Chara at some point too, right?! So why are you taking others' away?!"

The answer was simple, though it was not one he was willing to share. Since his own Egg had been taken away, it seemed only fitting that he be the man to achieve the power to take away the Eggs of others. Only it hadn't just disappeared, nor had it been physically stolen as Snow Hisayuki's had been- no, his Egg had died before it had even hatched.

It had already been so many years since he'd first begun to see the Shugo Chara, and just as many since he began to realize that dreams served no purpose nor held any value. His parents were the type of people to mercilessly pound such beliefs in his head, until they reverberated around in his brain in an actual physical ache. Despite this, he could always catch a moment's respite in the last place anyone would expect- school. He had always been interested in mechanics, the way things worked and building working machines. Therefore, it was no surprise that shop class had been his absolute favourite. The teacher there had been a kind, elderly man, with a rumbling belly that was so often shaking with good-natured laughter at the smallest thing. He would always listen to Yuu Nikaidou's dreams of teaching robotics, of making things in order to help people. He never sicced the cruel existence of reality on his young, impressionable mind; instead he let his imagination flourish and grow, and encouraged him whenever it was necessary. He even proposed that he and Nikaidou compete to see who could make their dream robot first, which made the young boy with sparkling eyes all the more eager to keep trying, no matter what anyone said.

That was when his Egg was born, a pale yellow, warm little thing covered in prism-coloured gears all on its surface. Though its life was admittedly very short; soon after, Nikaidou learned that his favourite teacher had to return because of his ill wife. Nikaidou didn't wish to let that affect him very much, since his dream would live regardless of whether or not his teacher would be there to help make it flourish. But his parents grew all the more hard on him when he had no one to help support his interests and dreams. They told him to throw away all of the useless junk he kept playing with, saying that it would get him nowhere in life. That he would ultimately become a loser in the end. No matter how hard he tried to keep building robots, he could never actually make one work. They were all immobile, lifeless things that stared at him with vacant eyes, reflecting his own as a dark shroud very slowly began to consume his heart. He had thrown one of these failed attempts in a fit of rage, meaning for it to merely hit the wall or the ground, but it instead hit the mysterious Egg that had appeared in front of him one day, as if by magic. The Egg shattered so easily, even more breakable than glass, and nothing was left but a broken, ravaged shell. There was nothing inside. And so Yuu Nikaidou began to wonder if anything had been in the first place.

From then on, he could see the Eggs of the Heart, as well as any rare Shugo Chara that actually managed to hatch from them. He was completely blinded by jealousy and self-contempt, thinking it unfair that he couldn't have what he thought he deserved after struggling and working so hard for so long. Soon he found himself able to steal the Eggs away, to turn them completely pitch black with a bright white 'X' covering the front. The children he took them from took on the same appearance as he, with completely dead eyes and no aspirations whatsoever. Eventually, he learned of the Easter company looking for some engineers to hire, and found that there was a whole ulterior motive to the huge, national corporation; they were looking for a very special one of these Eggs, one that could grant the wishes of anyone who held it. He took the job eagerly, and once searching for this unique Egg proved futile, he began hatching the plan to make one himself by using his very exclusive ability to steal the Eggs from others to harvest the energy and make it with machines. He had chosen to face reality and work with what he had, as opposed to keeping his head in the clouds and hoping for what could never be. That was what made him a winner. What made him smarter than all of those kids.

Shaking off his reverie and those bitter feelings that left a foul taste in his mouth, he looked down at the Chara once more, her gunmetal eyes glistening over like polished steel. "It doesn't matter why," he muttered, closing his eyes momentarily in something faintly resembling acceptance. "All that matters is that, this time, I get what I want."

Then there was an explosion.

Perhaps explosion was not an entirely accurate term, but that was certainly what it sounded like. Nikaidou was so startled he nearly dropped the precious, final ingredient he needed for his project, and then he whirled around to face the screens that displayed what the cameras he had rigged up recorded all over the property. It didn't take him long to find the source of the noise- right in the entryway stood the perpetrator, leaning down slightly from the weight of their blow.

Nikaidou certainly had been expecting Snow Hisayuki to show up, regardless of whether she came alone or not. What he had not expected was that she would arrive completely unnoticed by him, Character Transform with the dark-haired Chara, and use her ax-like weapon to chop the entire doorway to smithereens.

"What the hell!" Nikaidou screeched, practically flinging Satsuki back into the birdcage and locking it in a frenzy. "The door was unlocked!"

Satsuki was dumbfounded herself. She had assumed her master would sneak in and steal through the house, completely unbeknownst to Nikaidou, until she wound up in the room she was captive in and would simply take her. But nope, apparently that was not good enough for her, so she had to go smashing through the house whilst Character Transformed with Vivian. She watched the camera screens in a daze as Snow freed her bass-ax from where it had slammed and got stuck in the floor boards, then stood and held it aloft in a defensive stance, a look of determination on her face. And then Satsuki understood why she hadn't just snuck in; she did not just want to save her Chara, but she wanted to bring a stop to the whole operation, to take Nikaidou completely off-guard and show him she was not willing to old anything back. Snow was showing him that she was willing to fight, no matter what it took.

Without any doubt whatsoever, Satsuki believed that her bearer would fight. And she would win.

---

"Man, that was awesome!" Lilith exclaimed as she flew in behind me, wiping an excited sweat away from her brow. "Talk about making an impression!"

"I've always wanted to do that," I admitted shyly, shifting the bass-ax to one hand to brush a strand of hair behind my ear, a chore considering the top hat resting precariously on my head.

You two are missing the point, Vivian grunted from inside of me, and even though she wasn't physically present, I knew she had that look of disgusted disapproval on her face. Now Nikaidou knows we're here; there's no doubt about that. We have to find his lab and get Satsuki and the other Eggs out of there.

"It felt like we climbed some steps when we were carried in here," Lilith muttered gruffly, clearly displeased with the memory. "So it should be on the second floor."

I nodded vigorously. "Right." Even though breaking in was easy- to be expected, considering the size of the weapon I carried- I was still intensely cautious. This was undoubtedly a trap I was walking straight in to, and I had no idea what Nikaidou could have set up to get in our way. There was nothing I could see in the foyer, even with the sunlight leaking through the huge, gaping hole in the doorway, though that was no reason to let my guard down.

As it turned out, my wariness upon entering the old, creaking building was not misplaced; almost as soon as I took one step past the wreckage of chunks of wood and splinters left behind by the ax,figures seemed to melt from the shadows. At first I assumed the worst- that it was some of those supernatural things that I was gradually coming to accept the existence of, that darkness itself was solidifying and finally coming to claim me. But no- gradually the figures began to take shape as they leaked out into the light, and I realized that the shapes were almost humanoid, except smaller, more pointed and square. When light began glinting off of them dangerously, it was plain to see that they were made from metal, and when they finally fully emerged, I had to admit that I was not expecting to see robots. Hundreds of small, doll-sized robots, all shuffling forward as if pulled by puppet strings, and they weren't only coming from the dark corners of the foyer. They began flooding down the stairs in a sea of sharp edges and shining surfaces, like waves made of knives, and from all different rooms that branched off of the foyer. Then there weren't only around one hundred, but more like hundreds. I could barely see any sign of the floor after they had fully accumulated before me.

Well, then I felt like crap because Ikuto had been giving some pretty sound advice when he said that I wouldn't be able to Nikaidou on alone. How on earth was I supposed to fight through an entire army of robots to charge my way to the second floor? Breaking through the front door was a very bad idea, in hindsight. Though it was pretty obvious I was going to have to try fighting them all the same; I was not about to just give up now, not when Satsuki and those others Eggs were so close.

"Be careful, Snow," Lilith hissed from behind me, obviously taking cover in a far safer area. "These aren't just any robots. I think they're being manipulated by some kind of dark energy."

It feels similar to that of the X-Eggs, Vivian added in an echo from inside me, and the task laid out before me became all the more strenuous. Dealing with X-Eggs on their own was a pain in the ass in the first place, but now I had actually opposable robots with the same kind of negative energy fueling them? Not fun.

"Should I try to purify them, then?" I asked cautiously, as they slowly began to make their shuffling advance towards me. All that earned was a reverberating, derisive laugh from Vivian, and she responded haughtily, Nope, just chop them aside. They are not worth our time.

I nodded eagerly. "Roger that." With a single step forward, I reeled the ax behind me and brought it forward in the same motion one would use when swinging a baseball bat, knocking around the first line of mechanical soldiers away and flying into the wall beyond. No matter how much I swung as such, they would merely just get back up and come staggering forward again, despite the huge cavaties and dents the blade of the ax left in their surfaces. Where did one get that many robots, anyway? Nikaidou clearly had quite a few problems to work out if this was what he did in his spare time.

As the vicious cycle of swinging and shuffling continued, it became quite clear that this battle was pretty much rigged. There was no way I would be able to struggle through that many robots, some with hands resembling the claws of a crab reaching to nip my legs, others with sharp tools attached to their arms. If I didn't know any better, I would have said that Nikaidou was actually trying to knock me down and send me to the emergency room.

Before I could even attempt to think up a not-so-elaborate escape plan and try to find another way in, however, something black and white whizzed right by my head and nearly gave me a heart attack, causing me to gasp and stumble back in shock. When I looked back to see what it was, or what had caused it, I saw something that made my jaw completely detach from my skull and fall to the floor.

"You guys?!" I demanded of the Guardians, who stood right on the front steps of the dorms like they owned the place. Kukai-kun kicked a soccer ball between his two feet before resting one foot upon it, smirking with satisfaction at my reaction to him startling me. "What are you doing here?!" I had tried the best I could to keep it from them, but was it possible that Tadase-kun could detect that something was wrong from my phone call and proposed to track me down? The thought actually made the tops of my cheeks heat, not enough to be considered a blush, but a fair amount to see that I was exhilarated by the thought.

However, Kukai-kun just snorted. "I obviously can't let you hog the spotlight, Hisayuki."

I slashed away another line of robots and whirled to face them again. "But how did you know I was here?" I demanded with a roll of my eyes, simultaneously trying to keep watch of the little metallic minions with clamps and bolts hungry for my flesh.

The question seemed to make them uncomfortable, though I couldn't imagine why. Nadeshiko-san stepped forward and said, "Mr. Black Cat showed up out of nowhere and told us you were here. He said you might need our help."

Ah. So it wasn't Tadase-kun, but that damned irritating cat that just couldn't seem to mind his own business. Well... it wasn't exactly like I minded that he had gone out of his way to get me some backup. Could that have meant he was worried about me? The chance of that being the case was very, veeeeery low, but it still made my cheeks go completely red this time and unable to match any of their gazes.

Oblivious to my bashful reaction to Ikuto's interference, Tadase-kun got a pensive yet irritated look on his face and said, "I wonder what that cat burglar is up to. Why should it matter to him what Nikaidou does or not?" While he did have a very fair point, I couldn't bring myself to suggest my theory- that Ikuto actually didn't like working for Easter, that he did it because he had no other choice. The way he acted towards the other employees and his opinions of the company in general definitely seemed to imply that there was some animosity there. But such thoughts weren't worth being voiced if it meant that the Guardians would become suspicious of me right after I finally felt accepted by them; besides, I was probably just over-analyzing things again.

"Who cares?" Yaya-san demanded, placing her hands on her hips indignantly. "All that matters is that we found Snowcchi- and just in time, by the looks of it!"

Kukai-kun nodded, that ferally excited smile twisted his face and igniting his eyes. "Let's get this show on the road."

Then the four of them Character Changed, each holding their respective method of offense or defense aloft. I regarded them curiously and suspiciously, wondering what they were planning. "What are you guys doing?" I challenged aloud, much to their evident shock.

"Isn't it obvious?" Nadeshiko-san hedged cautiously, brushing her ponytail behind her back. "We're going to fight them off while you go look for your Shugo Chara."

My mouth fell open. "But why?"

This time Tadase-kun was the one to respond, looking equally at a loss and concerned. "We're your comrades, aren't we? More than that- we're your friends." Just when I thought I could not get more surprised today, they all pushed their way ahead of me, to face the army of machines that I had been more than ready to take down all on my own. Tadase-kun threw a reassuring glance back at me, his charming and heart-stopping smile in place, and said, "You're not alone anymore. We're all here for you now."

His words struck deeper than he could have ever imagined, leaving a warm and searing feeling resonating all through my body. He had been referring to the current situation, obviously, but all I could think of was how I had never been very close to anyone since I was young, after my family had essentially abandoned me to face the world on my own. Yes, I loved my adopted family, and cared for Mao, which was the closest thing I ever had to a brother, but that was all. These were the first people willing to put their own safety and feelings on the line for my sake, willing to fight for me in a way no one else had. I realized that perhaps for all those years, it was just me being stubborn, unwilling to grow closer to anyone because I was too much of a coward to go through the pain of betrayal again. But all those years of denial, of running away might have been worth it- because it brought me to this moment, where I felt more at home and safe than I had in a very long time. These were people I knew I could trust, who I could laugh with honestly, who would welcome someone like me without question. And I would accept their kindness, both because I was selfish and because I knew they were the type of people to never abandon a friend in need.

Perhaps it was just me being presumptuous, but to me, they were the very definition of a family.

"Alright," I said suddenly, spreading my first genuine smile in a very long time across my face. "I'll leave it to you then."

They all grinned back, then surged forward into the fray, swinging their weapons and clearing a pathway straight to the staircase for me. Even if they struggled, or even if they looked tired, they didn't stop fighting for me, just so I could get my Shugo Chara back. Despite the fact that I should definitely have been focused on other things, all I could think of was that I couldn't recall a moment in my life when I'd felt happier.

"Thank you!" I quickly called to them, charging through the path they had cleared for me and swinging any obnoxious robots that dared to escape their frightening grasp. The steps creaked and groaned in protest as I thundered my way up them, and I used one powerful slice of my ax straight through the air to make a strong wind blow all of the robots that pursued me backwards and onto the floor. Then I proceeded to panic, for I did not know which way I was to turn- there was a hallway on both my left and right. But then I remembered- the girls could sense Satsuki's presence. Before I could relish in the fact that I truly could rely on them, Lilith was shouting, "This way!" and taking off down the left hallway. We flew by four doors before coming to the one Lilith sensed Satsuki in, the second last one down the narrow, stuffy hall. I briefly considered chopping it down again, but I didn't want to risk breaking anything important inside, such as any Eggs or Satsuki herself. So I bust in the boring way by simply kicking the door open and aside, still holding the ax in front of me almost like I was lifting some barbells.

As expected, Nikaidou stood inside, looking at me without an inch of surprise or fear, merely standing in front of luminescent blue computer screens and smirking like he ruled the world. Lilith and Vivian weren't kidding about a large number of machines; they cluttered almost every visible space, specifically a large one shaped like an egg and housing so many X-Eggs inside that I felt sick to my stomach. In another machine right next to it, more cylindrical and deadly looking, was a mechanism that resembled a claw from on of those machines at an arcade, Satsuki's Egg caged in its death grip.

Nikaidou's hands were on the keyboard to his master machine, and I was willing to bet that if I made one false move, he'd press a magic button and do something to Satsuki while she was helpless and immobile inside that machine. So I slowly released my ax from my vise-like grip and let it hang limp at my side, making my expression unreadable. He let out a low whistle, almost like he was admiring my lack of resistance.

"I've got to say, I didn't expect you to be so obedient," he snorted, the only trace of the teacher I knew the flyaway hair and horrid beige suit. The person in front of me was a stranger, a real life villain, hurting people from the inside instead of the out- which could potentially be considered worse. "I do hope you're going to sit back and enjoy the show of the creation of the new Embryo, Hisayuki-chan."

Now he was really getting on my nerves, treating me like a child and expecting me to honestly sit still as he did God-knows-what with my Egg, something that was essentially like my child. A slight plan was tickling the edges of my mind, ticking away like the millisecond hand on a watch, though I wasn't entirely sure if it would work. I was still inexperienced, and if I could take anything away from watching a cinephilic amount of movies as a child, it was that "with great power comes great responsibility". However, given the situation, I figured any risk was worth taking so long as I took this man down and got my girl back.

So I did take a small, challenging step forward- though it clearly was not what Nikaidou was expecting. He did not look surprised to see me move forward; however, he seemed more than shocked to see ice begin cracking out from beneath my foot, my body shaking and quaking with concentration. I was channeling every single ounce of energy and power I felt into my leg, willing it outside of me and making it spread into a frozen, physical form. The ax clattered to the ground from my hand, the rest of my body feeling completely weak and drained exempt from my legs, which kept dragging me forward and spreading the ice all over the room until it resembled a walk-in freezer. The once muted walls were now a vibrant blue and violet, glaring at me as if it were a reflection of my own eyes, covering all of the power outlets and causing them to spark and spasm. Nikaidou was looking at me the exact way I imagined I appeared; like I was a monster. But I was completely fine with that if it meant I would defeat him.

"Snow," Satsuki cried from within her Egg, and I could have sworn I heard a mournful tone in her voice, as if she had just witness something die instead of her salvation. It didn't matter in the slightest to me; I was getting her out of there, even if I collapsed trying. Maybe I would freeze Nikaidou where he stood as well. I wondered how the Guardians would react if I brought them a sculpture of our common enemy, if they'd enjoy the trophy I'd created.

"Calm down!" Lilith was practically screeching at me, and I could see in my peripheral vision that she was tugging at me hair- but I couldn't feel it. I felt completely numb, only my legs burning and the energy I had built up leaking out of me and into the room, and slowly my vision began flashing white as well, as it had only yesterday. "Focus, Snow! You're not here to destroy, you're here to save my sister, remember?!"

I could barely even hear her; all I could focus on was my reflection that appeared in the glass of Nikaidou's spectacles, dangling from the 'V' left in his suit. It wasn't the same reflection I woke up to every morning, sometimes cheerfully, sometimes begrudgingly; it was something else entirely, something with pupils so dilated they almost devoured its entire eyes, with lips that were turning blue, with skin that was becoming translucent. The horrifying reality of the situation struck me so suddenly that I reared back and the reflection of whatever that thing was melted away, leaving only me with wide, frightened eyes and a shaking frame.

Though I had to admit, Nikaidou didn't look as frightened as I was of myself; if anything, he just looked frustrated. I had to remind myself that he was the mysterious figure at the ballet studio, the one who had seen my ice spread across the wall; he had known about these strange abilities I had for a while now. But I knew I couldn't stand around being terrified all day- I had to take advantage of the opportunity I had created for myself and do what I could. And so I Character Transformed with Lilith more quickly than I had thought possible, a simple, blinding flash of crimson light, and summoned the Serpentine to slash the top of the glass case of the machine Satsuki was captive in. I took out its legs next, much to Nikaidou's satisfying horror, and the whole mechanism completely collapsed, the claws tearing the X tape from Satsuki's surface and setting her free. Nikaidou tried to run over to us and, I don't know, try and shove her back inside her Egg, but he seemed to have a brain fart and forget that ice covered the entire floor, effectively leaving him to fall flat on his face and shout, "FUCK!" like he was a thug or something.

The completely unrestrained euphoria and confidence I felt shoot through me at seeing Satsuki's smiling face again seemed to sweep feeling back into all of my limbs, leaving me to whip apart the other machine, the one holding all of the X-Eggs prisoner. In hindsight, I could chalk that up to the top of "Snow's Very Bad Ideas" list, since hey, very dangerous and aggressive Eggs suddenly covered the walls and ceiling of a room slick with magical ice. Before I could even begin to wonder why in the name of the seven Hells I had done that, all of the X-Eggs dropped to the ground, and some sort of toxic purple vapor began leaking out of them and into- you've got to be fucking kidding me- some more robots that Nikaidou had so lovingly stashed away in here.

"Is what's happening now good or bad?" I asked tentatively, clutching the handle to the Serpentine tighter in my hand as it slithered its way back into a resting position.

"You're such a spaz," Vivian spat, her expression giving me all the answers I needed: very, very bad.

As fate would have it, the robots began struggling to their feet, seeming to bear some invisible weight that only the owners of the X-Eggs could know. Then they began merging together, and of course that first thing that pops into my head is the Transformers theme, which turned out to be completely accurate since they had all become one huge metal monster, a real Megatron if I had ever seen one.

Nikaidou, being the useless adult he was, only crawled backwards at the sight of the huge, shadow-esque robot arching over him, so tall it nearly burst through the ceiling. It was odd; even though Nikaidou seemed to have the ability to harness the X-Eggs' energy, the mass of negative energy they created seemed as though it wanted to hurt him, like they resented him for locking them away. It was terrifying large, that was for sure, but that was also its downfall- its size made it slow. It looked almost like it was moving through water as it reached for him, and before he could try standing and dodging its grasp, his hands slid on the ice and he fell backwards, a horrible cracking sound coming from him as he hit the ground. This time, I was unable to think about what I was doing; I only rushed into action, using the ice on the ground to my advantage and sliding over to him to very awkwardly end up placing myself between his legs and using the whip to capture the robot's hand before it get him in its deathly metal clutch.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Nikaidou demanded of me, scrambling backwards a bit. I grit my teeth and pulled harder on the whip, so as to potentially sever the hand altogether. But before I could, Satsuki flung herself at my face and made me fall backwards as well. The robotic monster retracted its hand momentarily and let out a roar that resembled the scratching of metal on metal, one that pierced your eardrums and left a resounding headache.

"You can't destroy it!" Satsuki yelled at me, and I was surprised to see that she had little gleams of tears in her eyes. "Use me instead! You know what we have to do!"

I stared at her for a moment, wondering why she seemed so sympathetic towards these robots, towards the man that took her away from me. Then I realized that was just her Character; part of the person I wanted to be was someone who would save and protect people from danger, no matter what crimes they may have committed. As far as I was concerned, a quality like that was weak and foolish; however, staring into Satsuki's earnest and tearful eyes, I figured that it had a strength of its own, as well.

This time, the Character Transformation was merely a bright, electric spark of midnight blue, leaving me now standing with the scarlet and navy katanas at my sides. I had to recall the memory of purifying Ayame-san's X-Character at the shrine to remember what I had to do, then slid the weapons from their sheaths and held them in an X- formation in front of me, watching with grim fascination as their colours intertwined and became that bright violet flame that almost seemed to sear the ice away despite its resilience.

With only a bit of mortification, I recalled what I had to say, and yelled, "Break X- Uchikudaku!" whilst slashing the blades apart and sending a bright flaming X straight into the robots middle. It was like the attack was physically pushing all of the dark energy from the robots, leaving it to gather in some sort of poisonous cloud that quickly diminished afterward. All of the Eggs that had fallen to the ground slowly began to lose their pitch shell, falling apart to reveal a pearly white one like shards of black glass. Despite the girls saying that my ice could not be melted easily, the spiritual purple flames licking up from the swords actually caused it to drip into puddles of water, leaving all of the electrical equipment sparking temperamentally and basically throwing electronic fits. Nikaidou was finally able to move freely without slipping or falling, so he quickly got to his feet and scuttled away from the outlets before he got electrocuted.

His expression was unreadable as he stared at his ruined "kitchen", watching as all of the purified Eggs disappeared to make their way back to their owners. Showers of sparks rained down from the walls, giving the room a surreal appearance, as if we were watching a waterfall of falling stars. When one looked past how horrifically dangerous that actually was, it was really quite beautiful, but perhaps melancholy as well. Nikaidou had lost this battle, if it could even be considered that. And judging from the darkness creeping into his eyes, he didn't have the will to try fighting again.

Amidst all of the buzzing and glittering sparks suddenly emerged a form that greatly resembled that of an egg- a Character Egg, to be precise. It was a pale, yellow colour, with prism wheels and cogs coating the surface, and it floated right before Nikaidou, who stared at it as if it were a beautiful song you only heard once in your life, only to forget it soon after, but then remember it again.

"My Egg..." he barely whispered, reaching out to touch it with a shaking hand, almost afraid it might break.

My lips popped into a tight 'O'. "Plot twist!"

The Egg slowly floated into his outstretched hands, and he cradled it like a newborn child, with a gentleness that seemed almost impossible for him to possess. "I thought I'd lost it," he murmured, staring in disbelief. Despite all that had happened, I found myself smiling at the adult man looking at a magical Egg like it was a fleeting dream, a salvation he thought he'd never find. Maybe it was because I saw myself in him at that moment, having been given another chance to be something more than what you were, to be someone who could actually fulfill your dreams. I wondered why he had done all of this in the first place, why he went to all of this trouble if he truly did understand what it was like to lose a Shugo Chara. But then I decided that it didn't matter. Not now, at least.

Taking everyone by surprise, the Egg cracked and popped right open, revealing a little man identical to his bearer, but with dark violet hair and earthy green eyes. It beamed at him, holding a mini wrench in his hands, leaving me only to guess what it was Nikaidou wanted to be. "I'm glad I finally got to meet you!" The new Chara said, though his voice sounded disconnected, almost like he was speaking from outside reality. "Goodbye, Yuu. I'll see you again." Just as suddenly as it had appeared, he returned to his Egg and faded away, leaving Nikaidou alone and with nothing in his hands to hold.

His arms slowly dropped to his sides, his hands clenching into white-knuckled fists. "I knew it," he muttered, surprising me with a wavering voice. "I chose a different path to follow, one where I abandoned all of my dreams because I thought it was futile. I can't go back anymore. I can't..." He bowed his head, and for one mortifying moment, I actually believed that he would start to cry. "I can't put my broken Egg together again." Turning to me, I saw that there were no tears in his eyes, but a dreary look of loss that I identified with so well that it seemed to hit me in the chest. "Those dreams were already shattered a long time ago. Why do you kids just get to enjoy your lives without any suffering?!"

For once, I actually had an immediate response to a question like that, and I crossed my arms over my chest as my Character Transformation came undone. "Because we still have time before we have to face reality. We can dream just a bit longer, but then we all have to let those dreams go eventually." I looked to my own Shugo Chara, at their resolute and morose expressions, and knew that I spoke for myself, as well. "Besides, we all have our scars, our own means of suffering. Some are just easier to see than others."

Nikaidou's expression didn't change. It was as if all I said had merely gone in one ear and out the other- or maybe it was just that he didn't want to hear it. He turned away again, staring forlornly at the place where his Shugo Chara just was, and very quietly asked, "Does that make us depressed?"

He probably assumed that I couldn't hear him, but thanks to my ears from Hell, I was able to surprise him with a response. "We're not depressed. Maybe just... empty." I smiled self-depreciatingly, recalling all of those times when I felt as though there were a gaping hole in my chest where my heart should have been. But before anyone could think to input a response, Satsuki when in front of Nikaidou, much to my very evident shock.

"But just because you're empty doesn't mean that nothing can fill the void again!" She shouted cheerfully, shaking her fist at the sky as if daring the Heavens to challenge her. "You can dream many new things, create many new hopes, and then your Shugo Chara will be born again and again! Even if you feel nothing," she continued with a gentle, almost motherly smile on her face, actually getting so close to her captor that she could poke his chest, right where his heart was, "that doesn't mean that there truly isn't anything there."

Nikaidou looked from her to me, standing there smiling like an idiot at my little Chara who was encouraging a grown man to move on with his life and keep dreaming. Then, very slowly, a smile of his own spread across his face, possibly the first real one I had ever seen on him. He smiled at me, at the monster who had frozen his lab over and completely destroyed his project, like we were comrades-in-arms, having reached a common understanding.

"Well, I do suppose this means I've lost," he spat, huffing like he was honestly insulted at my having defeated him. "Guess I have to be punished now, huh."

I made a face, taken aback by his comment. "There's not a whole lot I can do," I told him, shrugging like it were obvious. "I can't just go up to the police and say, 'Hey, this guy took children's Eggs from them and made them into evil little warriors of doom'. Besides, all of the Eggs are all right, and your lab is destroyed." I smirked at his scowling expression. "I think that's about fair."

"I do know your secret now, though," he mumbled, and my smile melted away as my ice had not too long ago.

"And I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone," I snapped, stepping forward threateningly. "Otherwise I might have to reconsider not properly punishing you."

"I wasn't planning on it, anyway." He rolled his amber eyes, something in them I hadn't seen before; something that looked a little bit like hope. "I don't really want to involve myself with you kids anymore. You've all been nothing but trouble since the day I met you."

Just as I began smiling at him again, sending him the silent message that we'd continue to be trouble if he tried pulling a stunt like that again, the Guardians burst through the doorway behind us, panting and looking very much like a group of pissed-off cats. "Are you alright, Snow-chan?!" Nadeshiko-san demanded of me, holding her naginata in Nikaidou's direction like she was honestly considering turning him into a shish kebab.

"Forget it; he didn't hurt us," I told them with an easy grin, though it quickly became an effort to do so. As I stood there talking to them, watching their admittedly hilarious reactions to water being all over the floor and sparks flying in the room, something like a strong, intense pulse began beating at the sides of my brain. It made my vision flash white over and over again, the scene in front of me fading in and out of consciousness, and it took a lot of physical effort to even remain standing. All of my limbs felt weak again, as they had when I unleashed all of that ice on the room. My skin began to crawl and itch, and despite how I was able to not waver as I stood and tried to listen to what the Guardians were saying, I couldn't help but pull up my sleeve and scratch my arm, feeling like I needed to eradicate any sort of impurities that tainted my body.

When I got to work later that night, I was unable to keep up the facade. I couldn't let my performance be affected again, lest I lose my job and the financial stability I needed to keep living here. So on my quick break, I locked myself in the bathroom again and clutched at my head, shivering and shaking like something was actually trying to come out of my body. An itch at the back of my throat caused me to cough, and when I leaned over the sink to do so, my saliva came out red.

With a shaking hand, I rubbed the spittle away from my mouth, staring at the blood left on its pale, smooth surface. "What's happening," I whispered, recalling only the previous night when I was convinced I was merely sick. That still could have been true, but I was sure there was no illness such as this, where it felt like my body was only a shell harvesting something else inside of it, waiting to break free.

My Shugo Chara were astonishingly empathetic this time; they hugged my face, which still felt slightly odd, and didn't cry, only shook slightly. "It'll be over soon," I heard Satsuki breathe, and I could only close my eyes and pray that was true.

---

"Has their battle finally ended?" A voice called from the pitch blackness, surrounding the two near-invisible figures like a physical entity. Even from the sound of it, you could tell that the speaker was quite exasperated, almost annoyed by the very subject they discussed. More than that, they sounded bored.

"Yes," the other voice hissed, the one a higher pitch than the first, perhaps belonging to a woman. At least, that is what one would have believed if it didn't carry a warbled undertone, like it was a cheap imitation of someone else's voice. "However, that means she did obtain all of her Shugo Chara again, my lord."

The first voice, sounding as if belonged to an adult man, scoffed into the darkness. "I don't understand why she is so determined to keep them. They will only get in her way."

"I agree completely, my lord."

The owner of the first voice moved within the darkness, the only sign of them doing so a slight shuffle of fabric from their clothes. Their footsteps echoed across the floor, sounding like new, polished wood from the way it did not creak or groan, and when they reached their destination, they tore open a blind concealing a window that was normally used to block out any sort of daylight. The speaker did not enjoy the daylight or sunshine; it was always too overwhelmingly hot, which was perfectly reasonable, considering the sort of abilities they possessed.

Gleaming, glittering lights from the vibrant city pulsed through the window, showing all signs of life within the once dark space. The first voice belonged to a man, indeed, who smirked down at the city below, being elevated stories above the ground. It amused him to see his own creation beat and pound with energy, believing it was actually its own. The stage he had set for the oncoming revelation, which would by far be the most interesting play he had seen in all of his many, many years. The man, only a dark figure from being illuminated in the front by the lights and moon, leaned back with a very relaxed posture, enjoying the very images of what he knew was going to come very soon.

"It's finally time," he murmured, pinching his elegant, pointed chin between his thumb and forefinger. "I have waited thirteen years for this moment. It truly was a good choice to bring her mother back to this city, since it lured her here." A shadowy smirk dominated his sharp, chiseled features. "Fate has played its part; now it's time to take matters into our own hands."

"What will you have me do?" Asked the second, more indistinct voice, an emotion sounding almost like glee carried through it.

"Test her. See if she truly is ready for what we have in store." The man turned back to his partner, his vivid green eyes snapping to life outside of the phosphorescent blue circle closing around his pupil. "Do you think you're capable of performing this task, 'Isabelle'?"

The other figure, a girl with tumbling dark hair and the red eyes of a deadly snake, laughed and laughed at the name, as if it were some sort of crude joke. "Naturally. I am but your servant, after all."

"Excellent."

The man, under the pretense of being a respectable, dignified adult known as Lee Carceon, turned back to the window to stare at the entrance to the apartments stories below, where his titanium-haired puppet stumbled into the doors of her new "home" as if finally reaching an oasis after an endless trek in the barren desert. "It's finally time for Snow Hisayuki to stop being human." A monstrous smile twisted up his entire face, though a tone of melancholy could be seen in his eyes- if one was so foolish to get close enough to see. "Just like her father wanted it."

Crimrose: OOOOH WHAT A TWIST!

Snow: And here I honestly believed things couldn't get much worse.

Crimrose: Oh, if you thought that was bad, just you wait. Remember how I said we were going to play a game last time?

Snow: (...Shit.)

Crimrose: OH YES! WE'RE DOING IT!

Ikuto: *pops up out of freaking nowhere* So what game is it?

Crimrose: So eager. That's good. Alright, guys, the game we will be playing with all of the main characters is... CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY!

Snow: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND?!

Crimrose: Maybe. Okay, so for those of you who don't know the game, you get a hand of ten white cards, each with a response to a question or fill-in-the-blank statement on them. You use these cards to answer the black cards, which will have the question or phrase on them. However, I'm modifying it slightly just for the sake of variety, so each of these goofballs will pick one black card and then a white card to go with it! Also: this game is inappropriately humorous, so look forward to that.

[Everyone gathers together at a round table, some obvious tension in the air since the Guardians and Easter employees are being forced together by me]

Snow: *Sighs* So, who goes first?

Yaya: ME! ME! I'M THE YOUNGEST!

Ikuto: Aw.

Snow: You're not getting any arguments here. Let's just get this over with already.

[Yaya randomly reaches into the pile of black cards and pulls out the first one...]

Yaya: Black Card- Air Canada guidelines now prohibit _ on airplanes.

White Card- Laying an egg.

[Everyone bursts out laughing]

Snow: Okay, that's pretty funny. This might not be so bad. If we're going by age then I think Nadeshiko-san goes next?

Nadeshiko: *Nods* Alright, here I go!

Black Card- What did I bring back from Mexico?

White Card- Men.

[Snow starts giggling like an idiot, along with the more immature players]

Ikuto: *Gives Snow a look* Are you serious? This isn't even inappropriate.

Snow: But it's funny!

Crimrose: Okay, enough of Snow's mental instability. Tadase, you're up next.

Tadase: *Chuckles* I like this game so far!

Black Card- Why am I sticky?

Snow: *Stops laughing*

Tadase: White Card- My relationship status. *Blushes*

Ikuto: AHAHAHA THAT'S HILARIOUS.

Snow: AHH STOP IT THAT WAS SO IRONIC.

Crimrose: *Snickering* Kukai, you can do better than that!

Kukai: *Smirks* You bet I can!

Black Card- I'm sorry, Professor, but I couldn't complete my homework because of...

White Card- ... A pyramid of severed heads.

[Everyone but Ikuto, who is chuckling like a maniac, looks horrified]

Crimrose: Come on, that was funny. Alright, Utau, let's see what you got.

Utau: *Makes disgusted face* I'm not enjoying this at all.

Black Card- For my next trick, I will pull _ out of _.

White card- A defective condom out of a mopey zoo lion. *DISGUSTED EXPRESSION INTENSIFIES*

Snow: *Actually has to hide her laughter*

Ikuto: *Nudges Snow with elbow* See? I knew our sense of humor was similar.

Tadase: Hisayuki-san...

Snow: Sorry, sorry, but... *laughs even harder*

Ikuto: I guess it's my turn now. Ooh, I hope I get a raunchy one. I was promised raunchy.

Crimrose: You were indeed. Go forth, my disciple.

Ikuto: Black Card- What never fails to liven up the party?

Snow: Oh god.

Ikuto: *smirks and chooses white card* White Card- Panda sex.

Snow: OH GOOD LORD.

Utau: Ikuto, stop laughing. That's gross.

Ikuto: Don't be such a downer, Utau. Besides... It's Snow's turn now.

Snow: *Cringes intensely* Whatever. Black Card- Fun tip! When your man asks you to go down on him, try surprising him with _ instead... IKUTO WIPE THAT GRIN OFF YOUR FACE OR I SWEAR TO GOD.

Ikuto: *Sly grin widens even more*

Snow: *Sighs* White Card- Foreskin.

[Complete and utter silence]

Snow: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAHAHA!

Kukai: Hisayuki, what the hell?!

Nadeshiko: That is fairly disgusting.

Ikuto: *Head in his hands, shaking from restraining laughter* I cannot believe you find that funny.

Snow: *Can't breathe* No, no, but, just imagine the guy's reaction... *keeps laughing, so much that Ikuto starts to*

Utau: You two are nasty.

Tadase: I changed my mind, this isn't as fun as I thought it was going to be.

Crimrose: Oh, don't be a spoilsport just because you were disillusioned. Finally, Lee gets to choose some cards!

Lee: I don't even know if I want to.

Snow: *Slams fist on table* I had to, you brat, so get to it!

Lee: *Holds hands up defensively* Alright, alright! I got it. Black Card- What helps Obama unwind?

White Card- The penny whistle solo from "My Heart Will Go On".

[Everyone starts laughing this time]

Snow: Feel the groove.

Ikuto: Shut up, robots in disguise.

Snow: COME ON IT WAS ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT. AND HEY! *Whirls to face Crimrose, who blinks innocently* WHY DON'T YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE A CARD?!

Crimrose: Oh, I will if you want me to. *Grins evilly* Black Card- Introducing the amazing superhero/sidekick duo! It's _ and _!

White Card- Centaurs and surprise sex!

[Everyone groans, except for- well, take a guess]

Crimrose: Whew, that turned out to be super long! Anyway, hope you enjoyed our game as much as I did, and I hope to see you next time!