Hey guys, sorry I'm being so tardy with my updates. I'm in the midst of exams right now, not fun. At least I got a 94 on my English FSE. That's definitely reassuring. Anyways, here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy!

Explosive Horizons

Hino ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Another explosion went off behind her to the right and she covered her head with her arms in reaction to it.

'Just keep running… Keep running and you'll be okay…'

*TWO HOURS EARLIER*

Hino was sitting in the cafeteria with Xerxes, eyeing Jeff out the corner of her eye. Xerxes glaringly watched her friend pay all of her attention to the purple haired boy across the cafeteria as she slowly bit into her sandwich.

"If he's so damn interesting, why don't you just go over there and shove your tongue down his throat?"

Hino shifted her eyes quickly over to Xerxes, squinting them into a glare, "Why don't you try manners for once?"

Hino hated being mad at Xerxes, but she couldn't help it at the moment. She was mad at everyone, at everything. She had yelled at her pillow this morning in frustration.

"Calm down, I just want to be able to talk to the person I'm eating with instead of watching her lust after some guy across the room," Xerxes explained, taking another bite out of her sandwich.

Hino sighed as she straightened up in her seat and grabbed an apple she had gotten from the cafeteria kitchen. She took a bite out of it, not bothering to reply to Xerxes' comment.

As Hino took another bite, a loud thud sounded throughout the building. A couple students stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to where the sound had come from.

"What the-?"

A blast was shot through the wall to the cafeteria. Hino and Xerxes stood up, alarmed. They watched as a familiar blonde haired girl stepped through the giant hole that had been created in the wall.

Grace.

She stood in the middle of the rubble she had created and gave a triumphant smirk at her work. She looked up from the pile of debris and scanned the cafeteria full of awe-struck students. Her smirk grew as she created on orb of energy within her hands and randomly fired a group of teens. Chaos broke out as students ran about trying to get out of the room and away from Grace. The blonde teen walked further into the room casually, followed by Stephanie and Zebel, who looked just as ready and willing to blow up the premises.

Hino and Xerxes looked at each other, both unmoving. Hino struggled to make her way over to Xerxes, completely overcome with shock.

"What do we do?" Xerxes asked her pink-haired friend.

Hino hesitated before delivering her answer. "Fight."

*PRESENT*

"What the fuck was I thinking!" Hino exclaimed as she ran out of the partially destroyed building.

She kept going, running into the city. She wound her way through buildings and alleys, never stopping to even take a breather. She choked on her own spit, and started to become exhausted, but she wouldn't let herself stop running.

"I can't stop," she told herself as she kept going, "Not now. Not when she's after me."

*ONE HOUR, FORTY-TWO MINUTES EARLIER*

Hino dodged another one of Grace's orbs as she took cover behind a cafeteria table that had landed on its side after an explosion. Xerxes resided behind another table getting ready for another assault on the blonde leader of the trio.

Xerxes stood and created a projectile with her psychic powers, flinging it in Grace's direction. Grace dodged it narrowly and created another orb that destroyed the table Xerxes had been using for protection.

Xerxes ran over to Hino and hid with her.

"Well this was a bright idea. Congrats shit-for-brains, your noble suggestion has guaranteed the end of our pathetic lives at the hands of some psychopathic blondie, a fidgety loner and a Mexican super model!" Xerxes whispered intensely.

Hino shot her the finger before standing up and running to another table. Grace shot an orb in Hino's direction, which missed and shattered a window instead.

"You girls can't keep running forever! You'll eventually run out of tables to hide behind! Then what will you do?" Grace taunted as she blew up another table for fun.

A flying rock hit Grace in the stomach and knocked her over, making her curse as she squirmed in pain. Hino looked at Xerxes to see if it was her doing, but Xerxes was looking at Hino the same way. Both became confused until Jeff popped up next to Hino.

"Come on! We need to get out of here!" Jeff ordered as he took Hino's hand and ran for the nearest hallway.

"Xerxes!" Hino called as she was pulled along by Jeff.

Xerxes ran after them as Stephanie created an orb in her hands. Jeff and Hino rounded the corner into the hallway as they heard the orb shoot off and create an explosion. Hino kept looking back to see if Xerxes turned the corner into the hallway as Jeff kept tugging her along.

"Hino, come on!" He called desperately.

They turned another corner as more explosions were heard, Xerxes never entering the hallway after them. Hino gave one last glance before complying with Jeff and running down another hallway.

*PRESENT*

Hino spotted the Hospital, contemplating whether or not to enter it. Explosions could be heard in various parts of the city.

'They're looking for me,' she thought as she continued to run.

She turned down an alley way that lead towards the hospital, entering the white building through a side entrance that looked to be for emergencies.

Hino found herself in a corridor filled with gurneys and metal shelves with plastic bags on them. She jogged down the narrow aisle and came across a sign that read 'POST-EMERGENCY'. The hallway past the sign was lined with doors to patient rooms.

"Post-Emergency… Oh my God!"

Hino jogged down the hallway, looking in each window, searching for two specific people she knew would be there.

*ONE HOUR, TWENTY FOUR MINUTES EARLIER*

"Where are we going?" Hino asked as they kept turning down hallways.

"Out of this building," Jeff replied as he kept leading her through the school.

"What about Xerxes? We just left her in the cafeteria, what if she's hurt-"

"I'm not worried about her, okay? She can take care of herself!" Jeff cut her off, becoming agitated with her questioning.

"But what if-"

"No, Hino!" Jeff exclaimed, stopping them both in their tracks. "No… Xerxes is tough. She's strong. She can handle herself, alright? I'm just worried about you right now, okay?"

Jeff looked into Hino's eyes, seeing fear and shock in them. He took her form and cradled it in his arms, attempting to give her a moment to breath.

Kheika and Cleotra turned into the same hallway Jeff and Hino were in, running as fast as they could.

"RUN!" Kheika called as a wave of dark purple energy blasted a portion of the wall in that hallway.

Hino and Jeff pulled away in time to see the most decked out disco girl they had ever seen immerse into the area and prepare another wave of energy. They ran after Kheika and Cleotra, managing to turn the corner just in time to dodge the wave.

Sigi briskly strode down the hallway preparing another wave, "You can't run forever Kurayami! Kaji!"

The four continued to run, turning down a couple more hallways until the blasts of waves grew quieter. They stopped for a minute to compose themselves and breath.

"What in the world is going on?" Kheika asked the other three.

Jeff pulled his shirt up to reveal a brown marking on his stomach in the shape of a triangle with a filled in octagon in the middle of it, "This."

Cleotra looked to her wrist where her own mark resided. She looked up to Jeff, showing him her wrist as she did so.

"These? What do they mean?" The darkly dressed teen asked.

Jeff released his shirt, slightly to the displeasure of two of the girls there. His hand hovered over his stomach as he answered, "I don't know exactly, but I'm sure they have something to do with this."

Hino tapped her shoulder lightly as she recalled what Sigi had yelled after them, "What do you think Sigi meant when she called 'Kurayami' and 'Kaji'?"

The three looked to her as they too recalled was the disco girl had said. All of them pondered the names and their possible meanings before recollecting themselves and hurrying off toward an exit.

Hino took Jeff's hand, making them stay a bit behind the other two, and squeezed him.

He squeezed back reassuringly, "We're going to be fine, I promise."

Hino contemplated her response, "If we're not, then you owe me a date."

Jeff smirked, "Deal."

Kheika overheard the conversion, and an ache rose in her chest.

*PRESENT*

Hino had searched at least 50 rooms before she found Takeshi and Alexianna's room.

She entered the room to find the two teens on the same bed, cuddling. She took a moment to admire and envy them before speaking, "We've got a situation on our hands."

Both black haired teens blinked at Hino for a minute before deciding to respond.

"What?" Alexianna finally asked.

Hino sighed as she closed the door behind her.

"The school has been attacked by a group of students. They've been blowing up whole sections of the school, hurting other students… They're basically insane," Hino explained.

The couple stared at Hino in disbelief for a while before a sudden stroke of understanding came over them.

Takeshi rolled up the sleeve of his hospital gown, revealing his mark, "Unido?"

Hino nodded as she took her leather jacket off and pointed to her own mark, "Ikazuchi?"

Takeshi was hit with a sudden familiarity, and nodded at the pink-haired girl.

"We need to find the others and stop those lunatics."

/

Setsuka groaned as she clutched her arm, "Of all the-"

Another blast was shot at her as she rolled behind a large pile of rubble for shelter. The icy woman peered around the edge of the temperate barricade to scan for the source of the attack. She was pulled up by the collar of her blazer by Vanitas, who smirked in her face.

"Well, look what we have here! Toru! You're supposed to be one of the stronger ones too," he shook his head in disapproval, "How is it that Kurayami and Unido slipped away from us so easily, but you and Akeno fall in the first battle?"

Setsuka's eyes widened briefly at the mention of the Sage of Light, "Akeno?"

Vanitas' smirk grew larger as he prepared another beam of energy in his free hand.

Setsuka kneed him in the groin, making him release her and fall to the ground in pain. Setsuka landed in a lounge and rolled to her feet, creating a beam of water from her hands, then freezing it over once it hit Vanitas.

"I'm sorry, I thought you said I was the one who was falling during the first battle?"

A small squeal came from the newly made ice sculpture as she turned and walked away, searching for him accomplice.

"Ryuusei?" Setsuka called as she paused in the middle of the gymnasium.

Ryuusei backed up into the gym, followed by a blast of energy and an angered Grace.

"Yes sweetie-pie?" Ryuusei sarcastically called back as he dodged a bunch of orbs shot at him by the angry teen.

Setsuka stood in the middle of the destroyed dome with a hand on her hip, "We should probably find the others and put a plan together."

Ryuusei dodged another wave of attacks from Grace swiftly as he slowly made his way around a pile of destroyed wall and over to Setsuka, "Just a second babe, I'm a little pre-occupied at the moment. I'll get right on that, though."

Setsuka raised an eyebrow at the man who kept dodging Grace's advances, "Really? You sure you can manage it?"

"Anything for you, dear," Ryuusei called back as he managed to get over to her, grab her arm, and book it out of the gym before Grace could follow them.

The angry blonde grunted and screamed as she stomped her foot and watched them leave. She turned her attention to Vanitas who was frozen on the floor and rolled her eyes.

"You're got to be kidding…"

She blasted the iced over boy, freeing him, and helped him up.

"Thanks…"

Grace huffed, "Next time I won't do anything. Get your head on straight."

Stephanie, Zebel and Sigi entered the gym, all baring glowing marks on their arms and a malicious look in their eyes. Grace turned to them with a devilish smirk on her face that did not belong to her, nor did anyone else possess the evil looks in their eyes.

"Hoshi."

Zebel nodded.

"Yuuwa."

Sigi gave a stiff nod.

"Kaemon."

Stephanie smiled and winked.

"Kaori."

Vanitas smirked.

Grace stood triumphantly before all of them. They all bowed their heads to her and brought their mark baring arms up, as if offering Grace their marks.

"Chiyo," all four of them said out of respect, maintaining their bowed heads.

Grace brought her leg up on top of a large boulder, showing off her mark on her thigh as she gave a possessed, maniacal laugh.

"I'm coming for you, Tamika! I'm coming!"

END

Whoa! Oh my goodness! The good guys are scattered, the bad guys are together, the school is ruined, and some people are hurt, or worse… EXPELLED! See what I did there? Review please!