AUTHORS NOTES: Hello everyone! It's been quite a long time since I updated this so this is a brand new chapter! Following ruegel's private review to me they made quite a few nice valid points. So I have added in a lot more character development and hopefully you can start to see where things are heading. Who is starting to crack, and who wants to go home?

As always thank you for the reviews! Enjoy the chapter :)

It seemed like only an hour since I was last awake, a glowing picked at my eyes to open. It was from my television in the distance, a faint glow simmered as my vision was still blurry. My body however was surprisingly warm, it was soothing and comfortable. Wanting to fall back asleep I had only just realized where I was. The people who I'd thought I'd been merely dreaming of were still here, and one of them was slumbering next to me peacefully. Shifting myself in the covers I noticed I had been in Archie's arms, the sudden realization shot me in the head and I squealed falling off my bed.

My head hit against the hard flooring, for a few more moments my vision proceeded to be faded. I snagged my glasses which had fallen on the floor while I was sleeping so I could finally see. Once my eyes returned to clear sight, I was staring up into my best friends sly face that was displaying a greasy smirk. I gave her glare of disapproval as I lifted myself to my feet. The humming of the T.V. caught my attention when I noticed an intrigued Colress enveloped into the morning cartoons.

Quickly I decided that it would be fair to do a head count, just to make sure they were all present. Darting my head around I found Maxie, Ghetsis, N, Archie, and Giovanni still slumbering soundly. However to my own panic Lysandre, and Cyrus were nowhere to be found at least within the safety of my bedroom. My stomach began to knot with anxiety, if I had not found them fast I could be in huge trouble.

Without thinking I blurted out, "Where's Lysandre, and Cyrus?"

The booming of my loud voice stirred Maxie and Giovanni awake; Maxie had nearly leaped to his feet from the noise while Giovanni lifted his head with a ruffled brow as if he were disturbed from a pleasant dream. Colress drawn his attention to me, his golden eyes reflecting the images on the television. His stare was one of interest, it seemed that he was surprised by my sudden outburst.

Colress smiled sympathetically, "Lysandre is in the bathroom, I saw him walk in there precisely two hours ago."

"Two hours ago, what could he possibly doing for two hours?" I asked in disbelief.

The blonde male shrugged, "I have not the slightest clue what that man would be up to."

"Okay well what about Cyrus, has anyone seen him?"

Glancing around the room with purple walls, all the leaders seemed to shake their heads. So it was certain that one of them was missing, what a wonderful way to start the day. Spinning myself to face the rooms door I began to walk towards it with lazy undetermined footsteps. It wasn't long until I had reached the same familiar staircase, the steps creaked as I climbed up them. The first door I came in contact with I opened, it was a spare room full of random trinkets and the cat box. Unfortunately for me, there was not a soul to be found. Leaving the dusty shelved room, I proceeded to the door that was placed right next to it.

This time it was an office room my father had used often just to play Facebook games. I slowly opened the plain white door, it let out a little squeak as it was pushed. To my utter confusion there was Cyrus, he was hacking into my fathers touch screen computer. I knew this man was intelligent but he had seemed to be hard wiring something into its system. I observed him before announcing my presence as he seemed to not have noticed me there yet. His hair was ruffled and messy, and his face pale, the idea of him being up all night crossed my mind. What had he been up to?

"What are you doing?" I whispered as politely as I could.

The man was startled and spun around, "Get out!"

"This is my house..." I said awkwardly.

"I'm doing something, leave me in peace and we'll all be out of your hair shortly" Cyrus replied with cruel certainty.

Unable to come up with an argument I stuttered, "but-"

"Are you going to stand there and irritate me or do something useful? I'm trying to figure out how to get us back in our own world. So scram, beat it!" The man persisted again sounding emotionless.

"Okay god fine, but just don't mess anything up okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

That encounter was certainly far more awkward than it should have been. Shrugging it off I dragged myself back downstairs into my room. Entering once again I felt a comforting feeling boil in my heart, I always had been safe here. I passed myself by all the people who had taken it upon them to make themselves at home; I had to make sure Lysandre wasn't flooding the bathroom or something weird like that. At the bathrooms door which had been a few steps from my bed, I lifted my fist lightly and knocked three times.

Unable to make out a response I heard the noise of a hair dryer blowing loudly from inside. In pure curiosity I slipped through the door to see what was happening. Lysandre's hair was wild and a huge mess, he must have just taken a shower as it seemed partially wet; talk about getting comfortable. The lion haired man glared at me through the mirror acknowledging my presence, he lifted one eyebrow in a curious manner.

"Good morning Britney, may I help you?" Lysandre asked in a smooth voice.

Baffled by his calmness I responded, "Good morning, I just heard you where in here a long while so I came to make sure you're okay."

The tall man chuckled at this smirking at me, "Did you honestly think it was easy to style my hair this way?"

"Actually no I didn't so I guess that makes sense" I agreed.

"Well as I have observed beauty must come easy to you and your friend I presume?" He complimented mischievously.

I cocked my head in confusion, "What do you mean by that, why are you being so nice?"

The man gave me an attractive sly grin, "As a guest I would assume it would be common sense to treat you nicely. However that is not the matter I do indeed have plans for at least one of you."

"Plans?" I swallowed with a tinge of fear in my gut.

"Ah yes I have been thinking, we'll see how things pan out."

After he left me with a little silence I back peddled out to give both of us some personal space. My body shivered as I closed the door behind him, he definitely had a way with words and it was more than unsettling. Turning around I faced the couch, it was about time I sat down and relaxed. Plopping next to Colress I let out a light sigh of relief. With barely any time to think Giovanni crashed next to me gently caressing my elderly black cat.

My cat comet purred as he stroked her fur firmly, he certainly seemed to enjoy the company of cats but that was granted. I pictured in my head how much he must have missed his Persian, it didn't pass the universal plain with him. Observing him he seemed to be in a subtle comfort, he was not frowning and he allowed himself to sink into the leather couch. It was then I had a moment of sympathy for this 'evil' man, perhaps he wasn't so malicious after all.

Throwing my gaze to the television I wondered aloud, "So what are you guys thinking, are you going to find a way home as soon as you can?"

Colress poked his glasses to his face and smiled, "I'm actually planning on staying for awhile to study this strange alternate reality. It would be a rather magnificent discovery for scientists everywhere."

"Oh, I see" I nodded feeling slightly relieved; a part of me didn't want them to leave.

"I miss my Persian" Giovanni sighed.

I gazed a him with sorrow, "Cyrus is working on something to get you back home, you must really hate it here."

"I'll work with what I'm given, your creature reminds me a lot of my Persian" the slick haired male responded politely.

"Yeah, she's a good cat. She was close to death once since she's so old, it's a miracle she's still alive" I reminisced sadly.

The older males eyes widened as he faced me, "How terrible, I've had my Persian since I was young. How old do these animals even live for?"

"Not long enough, and they have the biggest hearts" I answered solemnly.

Giovanni frowned while looking down at the cat, "I wish I could change that."

It was very rare that you would ever share a moment of sympathy with a villain, but sometimes I had to remember that everyone had good in their heart. Awhile after our short conversation Vicki joined us on the couch for some early morning cartoons, happily zoning out in an alternate reality. Within hours my eyes grew heavy once again threatening my body to fall back asleep, but I continued to flick my eyes open to try and stay alert unlike the other night.

I drowned out my senses only focusing on the softness of my black couch, how lovely it was to just sink in and relax. All the conversations around me blurred out as I stared off into space, how wonderful it was to have selective hearing. My moment of salvation however was rather short lived as I heard Archie and Maxie arguing so loud I couldn't even think.

I shouted to them in annoyance, "would the both of you just clam down?"

Maxie darted his head in my direction a bit ruffled, "Did you just say clam?"

"Yeah, good reef what did you think I said? Cod, why are you being so crabby?" I replied attempting to get a rise out of him.

"No, please stop, stop this right now!" Maxie screeched in agony, while Archie spilled his guts in laughter.

"Can I kelp you with something? I fail to sea what the problem is" I continued to prod at the poor red haired man.

This time Vicki gave a few giggles while Maxie proceeded to protest, "I hate the ocean! Damnit!"

"Okay I'll stop, it was really funny though" I chuckled.

Maxie sighed in relief, "Thank you."

Archie sprinted towards me giving me a quick high five while skidding on the ground. The man was certainly attractive and enthusiastic, but not very intelligent. The pirate's hair was tied back in his bandanna as always, and he was wearing the same punk like clothes as yesterday. He flattened himself on the floor, crossing his arms behind his back. While doing this he stared up at me with taunting blue eyes, my mind wondered what exactly he was thinking. However those wonders were short lived as I watched him give me a teasing wink, I felt like giving a face palm but I ignored my instinct and just let him believe what he wanted to.

Vicki soon had disappeared to the left corner of the room, chatting it up with N again. Curiosity tickled me once again, and I gave her a teasing glare; it was way to obvious their attraction to each other. It was too bad that they were from another world and couldn't actually be together, that is if they did find a way home. However if they never made their way home, all of our lives would probably be doomed. Perhaps though we could make it work, the odd idea made me curious if these would really be our friends for a long while.

Observing the two interact once more I realized a sudden pang of unhappiness, only one day with them and our lives have been significantly better. They gave a bizarre excitement, something new, I suddenly didn't want to see all of that taken away. Especially not to Vicki, she seemed so content with hanging around them. With glazed eyes I tried to avoid attention, my focus was directed towards the ceiling.

Ghetsis was the last to awaken and his roaring yawn made me snap out of my self pity and back into this surreal reality. His tall and tough figure lumbered over to where the most of us were sitting. However he seemed rather content this time, as if one good rest cured his ill attitude; but I knew better than to trust that. Ghetsis was most likely the kind to make up some sort of manipulative and cruel plan, maybe he was going to murder us all. Pondering about such disastrous things sent a shiver up my spine, and his mere presence made me go cold.

Attempting to hide my fear I greeted him, "Good morning Ghetsis, did you sleep well?"

"Barely, but I appreciate the concern" The large man grumbled as he sat on too close for comfort.

I again tried to be polite, "Well I'm glad that you're better than yesterday."

The powerful male glared right through me, "You are right to be afraid of me, but you need not worry about my intentions. You're overwhelming fear is even making me feel stressed out."

"I'm not afraid of you, you're just very manly, powerful-manly" I stuttered sounding like a complete imbecile.

Ghetsis let out a dark chuckle, "Indeed then it must be attraction? I don't presume that is the case, but I'll take the compliment."

I felt like I had shrunk down to two inches tall, I was lying to myself saying I wasn't terrified. However the more terrifying thought was that he could snap me like twig, but instead was biding his time as if he were a lion stalking its prey. Watching the man observe me was killing me, his bright red eyes piercing my soul. Instead of giving into my fear though instead I kept staring back at him becoming immersed in his sharp stare. I was not one to easily be trapped, and when a petty fear got in the way I always conquered it.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" I asked more confident this time.

He laughed once more, "You're a rather difficult spirit to break, you're afraid of me yet you don't cower. Instead you continue to battle that fear, I could use that sort of strength. Perhaps you could prove useful."

"Ghetsis enough, you're making this weird for everyone. I tried to help you become more social, but instead you just blow it by acting like a creep" Colress piped in sarcastically.

The towering powerful man simply rolled his eyes at his scientist companion, not making another remark. I turned my head to face the scrawnier blonde male and he simply nudged and winked at me as if he had just saved my life. Returning his help I let out a soft sigh and gave him a faint smile, at least some one here was looking out for me.

******
END CHAPTER

ENDING NOTES: So what do you think all these evil villains are plotting? Asides from Giovanni and his cat of course, have a great night everyone. I always appreciate your reviews!