We waddled ourselves back to the campfire, its warmth flooded into our bodies as we sat near its flames. A circle was formed around the pit as everyone sat quietly enjoying the fires dance. I closed my eyes softly, taking deep breaths I could feel myself almost drift to sleep. However I startled awake as I leaned forward, Vicki caught me with an annoyed glare. I should be more careful, but sometimes I seemed to lose common sense.

Lysandre poked at the fire a bit with a stick, "What were you two conversing about back there? I heard screaming."

"I think we all heard screaming" Cyrus confirmed with narrowing eyes at us.

Vicki nudged me hard and I flinched, "We saw an owl and it startled us."

"You saw an owl and you didn't bother to come and tell me!" Colress grumbled at us.

"Yeah, an owl that Britney really shouldn't have talked about!" Vicki stared at me angrily and I lowered my head.

Cowering in her ill mood I picked at the ground digging a tiny hole in the soft soil. Around us the ambient songs of frogs and a whistling stream delighted our hearts, or at least mine. At least I could take comfort in the nature around us, not worrying about what happens next. Smiling in the glowing light of the fire I gazed back up into the flickering flames. The hypnotizing nature made me feel relaxed, almost making me forget about my stresses.

Peering past the flames I watched Cyrus stare blankly into the sky. The universe seemed to hover above us in a lovely display of stars. They twinkled brightly lighting up the sky. Nights like this made me never even miss the daytime, I could watch the sea of stars for hours. It seemed as if Cyrus could too, his eyes so trained above him as if lost in thought. Timeless enough as it was, the night had to get colder and the fire died out slowly.

"Time for bed" Giovanni mumbled while covering the rest of the fire.

We all complied to this zipping into our tents, I was camped with Vicki while the others used their own. The stir of the night continued to sound as I slipped into my sleeping bag. In a few moments I shut my eyes and began to float inside my own mind. Unsure of my own self I drifted off to sleep.

******

My eyes fluttered open suddenly, I was lying in the middle of a green field. The sun beat down gently onto my skin heating what was exposed. A large lake of stars was openly formed around me, I must be on a small island somewhere. Pushing myself off the ground I tried to find a way home, there was nothing but a dark colored sea for as long as I could see. I was all alone.

Leaning over the lake I gazed into its odd reflective surface that resembled the night sky. My face warped in its reflection until I could no longer recognize who I was. In curiosity I touched the water and it sent a ripple shattering across the lake. It shaped and twisted washing over me sinking me down into the starry water. It was in fact space, Earth cracked in half causing the solar system to break apart. Watching the chaos I could no longer breath, I was suffocating in the blanket of stars.

******

My head slammed forward as I finally awakened, my breath heaved heavily. Vicki was already up and awake outside, I could see her silhouette from outside the tent. The nightmares were returning again, but what did they mean? They could just be insignificant, but what if I was having them for a reason? Shaking my head I pushed back my thoughts, I wanted to enjoy myself, I needed to stop worrying.

I collected myself and my fresh clothes from a bag and struggled to change into them. Shoving on a dark blue pullover hoodie I walked outside to greet my friends. The sun shined intensely this morning almost immediately stinging my eyes, I had to put my hand over my eyes to see anything in front of me. In front of me Vicki was sitting brushing her hair on the ground, she wore a hoodie like mine but in a white color. Her pants were baggy and black with multiple pockets just like the pair I wore, they were comfy and functional.

Next to her Colress was packing up a backpack with what appeared to be hiking gear along with food, and water. His eyes were glowing in excitement, I could only assume there was to be some hiking this morning. Archie helped him pack as well, almost as excited as he was. Meanwhile Giovanni not really in the mood of it sighed as stood above him, it was obvious he wasn't too into the roughing it scene. This appeared to be the case with Lysandre as well, he didn't do well with less pampering. His air was flat and unusually normal for once, I chuckled lightly at his dismay.

Not far off I could see N at peace leaning against a tree with his cap covering his face. It was difficult to tell if he was just very comfortable or sound asleep, not wanting to disturb him I just looked elsewhere. Maxie seemed well observant to his surroundings much like Cyrus, the two always seemed to get along together. Lastly in the center was Ghetsis sharpening a stick with a long machete, the sight of him holding a knife should have made me scared but instead I was indifferent about it.

I walked to Vicki's side awkwardly, "Are we going hiking today?"

"Yeah, Colress really wanted to go and see stuff" She answered after a long yawn, "You slept in so long ugh, I was going to wake you up but Ghetsis insisted you get your sleep."

I blushed at the mention but hid it behind my hair, "Odd... You could just have woke me up anyway, you know how much I sleep."

"You sleep too much!" Vicki teased me gently pushing my side, "I thought it would be better if I didn't get in the middle of your weird relationship..."

"It's not a relationship!" I snapped at her in an embarrassed rage.

Unfortunately for me I was a bit more loud than I should have been, everyone must have heard my outburst. The entire group gave me an odd glare as if they were looking at their own shipping stories. Vicki however just stared at me sarcastically as if to prove some kind of point. I only gave her a glare in annoyance, if anyone should belong with the villains it would be her. She was way too cunning, and evil for her own good sometimes and it scared me.

After a long awkward pause Archie spoke up, "What's not a relationship?"

"Nothing, Vicki is just being annoying!" I grumbled at her as she grinned widely.

"YOU'RE DATING VICKI!" Archie assumed in a mocking scream.

As if on mark we both screamed, "NO!"

I set my eyes on Archie this time, "Why would you even say that?"

He blushed brightly at the notice of his incompetence, "I don't know it just seemed that way..."

"Just forget it, anyway where are we hiking to Colress?" I asked changing the subject aggressively.

Colress hopped up in excitement, "We're going to hike up into the mountains and back!"

"Yes, so very exciting" Giovanni moaned at the sight of the climb even though he was fairly athletic.

N smiled ear to ear and picked up his pack, "I'm ready to go whenever you are!"

"Let's go I don't want to wait any longer!" Archie replied staring at the others.

We all just sort of complied with their demands, even though I haven't even eaten breakfast yet. I picked up a small pack with water, and sandwiches with a complacent grin. Starting our trail we began on a upwards slope, it seemed much easier at sight than on path as I began to pant. I surely didn't realize how much an upwards slope could take out of you, we weren't even halfway and I could feel my body paining. The path was full of twisting roots and rocks that climbed like a staircase.

Pushing through some branches I fell behind a bit trying to go at my own pace. My stomach grumbled loudly and twisted in pain as if it were yelling at me to feed it. Attempting to ignore it I pushed forward with my climb catching up to them once again. In the midst of the forest I saw the figure of a large and tall creature, it had to be a moose as its antlers displayed high up like a pair of giant catchers mitts. Not another person had noticed yet and we were heading straight into its path, knowing they were dangerous and proud I quickly leaped ahead.

"Careful there's a moose!" I whispered while stopping in front of them.

Colress leading the group stopped dead in his tracks, "Whoa! They're so much bigger in person..."

"Don't get any closer they can be really skittish and might try to attack us" I warned as the graceful creature chewed upon a branch.

"I want to touch it" N whispered in a naive way.

I hissed at him stopping him before he could move forward, "This is not a Pokemon! We don't know if it will try to attack you or not..."

"This is going into my research for sure, in the mean time let's go around it quietly" Colress smiled back at us in a singing tone.

As we proceeded the moose did as well parting our ways, it was the first time any of us had even seen them in person. Further into the woods I slowed even more as my hunger chewed away at my body. This time I was not able to ignore it and I tightly wrapped my arms around my stomach. Vicki gave me a worried glance behind her shoulder, she sluggishly matched my pace to see what the matter was.

"Is everything alright?" She questioned now by my side.

I waved her off with a fake smile, "I'm fine just hungry."

"Oh right we forgot to get you breakfast! Oh no I'm so sorry!" Vicki panicked quietly.

As if out of nowhere Ghetsis crept from behind, "I figured that would happen."

Vicki jumped from his sudden appearance, "Good god! Don't sneak up on people like that! Also if you knew why didn't you say anything?"

"I was just curious to see how much her best friend had cared" The man replied with a voice of silk, he extended his hand an orange, "Here have food."

I took it reluctantly but was relieved to bite into it, "Thank you so much!"

"Just because I forgot one tiny thing doesn't mean I'm a bad friend!" Vicki growled at him with pure hatred.

He smirked lightly, "Perhaps, but how many small things is it going to take to make something bigger?"

She growled intensely at him getting prepared to maul him, but before she could move I gently grasped her shoulder shaking my head. I wanted her to understand that he was just trying to get under his skin, it was what he wanted. Vicki would only be fueling him if she were to go guns blazing into a fight with him, which if were physical she would most certainly lose. The man himself had the advantage of being much taller, and was much stronger too. One could call foul play of an unfair advantage, but that wouldn't change anything.

Calming down she sighed giving me a relentless stare as if she wished I hadn't stopped her. Not only a minute after we arrived at a wide green field, it was a beautiful open space of short grass. Taking a break we sat down and I finished the orange I was given, I left the peels down on the ground for animals of decomposition. I glanced over at Giovanni to notice he wasn't even phased by the trip, not even a sweat broke. I shivered wondering what exactly it would take to break him.

Vicki whispered to me while setting a glare at Ghetsis who sat not far away, "You don't think I'm a bad friend do you?"

"No, don't let Ghetsis get to you he's just doing what he does" I assured her in a quiet voice so he wouldn't hear.

She picked at a blade of grass and sighed, "It's hard to know if you're in love with him."

"Stop talking so loud! I'm not in love with him, I just said that I liked him there's a difference" I quietly scolded her, "He's nothing but a thought in my mind that just needs to be dispelled."

Vicki gave me an awkward stare, "How many people have you just dismissed from your mind?"

"Lots of people, sometimes it just takes effort to restrain" I explained to her while checking our surroundings, "Remember that guy back in High School with the long hair and that jacket he always wore?"

"What! You could have asked him out?" She snorted in disbelief.

I shrugged my shoulders while gazing off into the forest, "There were more important things I kept in mind, besides I wasn't about to date some guy I didn't know simply because I had a crush."

"I don't like the whole relationship idea it sounds complicated" The girl laid her head onto her knees.

"Don't think of it like that, I'm sure you'll meet the right person in time!" I explained not wanting to discourage her.

She rolled her eyes and smirked, "Maybe you should take your own advice!"

"Oh whatever!" I laughed catching a glimpse of Ghetsis staring in my direction, "I'll be right back."

He averted his gaze almost immediately after I had caught his stare, how much did he really hear? It made me think how much he'd listened to this entire time. Trotting off into the trees I searched for a quieter place to conceal my thoughts. Above me a squirrel darted across a few branches with a mouthful of nuts, I watched it crawl into a hole. The trees covered the sun leaving a cut up array of sun spots on the scattered soil below. My stomach twisted with confusion, I needed to convince myself somehow that I was better off leaving things alone.

I lied down into the soil as if to give no care to all of the life buzzing around me. Why did it feel so much more difficult to come up with reasons to ignore how I felt? Perhaps all this time was finally chipping away at me, I didn't need people trying to seed themselves into my mind. It enraged me to a point I was afraid of myself, and afraid of the mistakes I would make. What was important was getting things back to normal, but normal was the exact opposite of what I really desired.

"Daydreaming I presume?" Ghetsis asked as he sneaked in once again.

I flinched but didn't move from my position, "You really need to stop sneaking up on people, it's creepy."

"As much as I may be creepy you still dodged the question" The man claimed gazing down at me in the dirt.

"I thought that was supposed to be more of a rhetorical question" I sighed attempting to focus on my thoughts.

He circled around me out of my sight like a hyena circling prey, "You know honestly I wouldn't be so nosy if I wasn't involved in almost every one of your little conversations."

I scrunched my face shutting my eyes tight, "Great how much did you hear?"

"I heard enough" He responded vaguely, "Acting so toxic towards me, when in fact the entire opposite is true."

I bit down hard onto my lip regretting I said anything, "You can't prove anything..."

"I can't, but you can lie to yourself as long as you want" Ghetsis continued as if his entire plan was falling into place, "Go ahead, tell yourself exactly what you want. Tell yourself that you want to be here, that you don't desire something more than an average life. I'll wait right here behind you, because every lie cracks eventually."

I sat upwards and proceeded deeper into the woods, I couldn't listen to him, I couldn't let him break me down. Yet the faster I walked he followed behind like a dog. I began to run but he grabbed onto my arm pulling me back. Struggling I attempted to break free but it was no use, giving up he loosened his grip and I stood staring at the ground.

"What do you want from me?" I sighed deeply.

Ghetsis' voice lurked close to my ear, "Well first of all you almost walked straight off a cliff to your death..."

Gazing forward I noticed a steep drop into a deeper part of the mountain, if I had continued I would have plummeted to my death. How had I not noticed this gaping hole in front of me? My head was overclouded with mixed feelings that confused me, I couldn't grasp onto a sense of reality. I peered downwards taking in a whole sense of what could have happened.

"I won't force you to follow me blindly into the unknown" The man explained pulling me back away from the edge, "I will wait patiently for the moment to arise where you willingly come back with me. Eventually you will understand, and I will be waiting to take what is rightfully mine."

I shuttered and backed up realized he was closer than I thought, "You sure pride yourself on believing I belong to you like some sort of possession."

"Perhaps I am using the wrong words, I just don't like using formalities" Ghetsis chuckled observing my clumsy dismay.

I began to head back to the clearing, "That's awful ironic since you seem to use formalities all the time..."

Gazing back at him he shrugged with a wide grin, "You're far too observant"

"So are you..." I murmured as we entered the clearing.

Vicki from afar watched me in my display of red cheeks and nervous stature with a cold glare. I quickly crashed down next to Vicki with my arms wrapped around my knees, her eyes trained on mine. Before she could open her mouth I shook my head violently and looked over to Colress who was writing notes into a book. At least when I was surrounded by people I wouldn't be so bothered, I guess this was the only way to feel safe anymore.

It wasn't only Vicki to notice the strangeness in the current state I was in, Cyrus seemed to have too and he only shook his head in disgust. Giovanni however was much more suspicious but barely seemed to question it, knowing he was surrounded by idiots. However the rest of them were just enveloped in their own activities, N played with a bunch of baby ducks, Archie rolled in the grass like a dog, and everyone else just seemed to take in the scenery.

As soon as I was getting comfortable Ghetsis had to be a complete asshole, he reached over me and pulled me into a hug. Something no one had ever seen or thought possible, but it was probably just because he wanted to be a total jack ass. I froze nervously and completely confused, my whole face felt hot like fire from embarrassment. Letting me go I glared awkwardly up at him in utter shock, his face one of triumph as he displayed a maddening smirk.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared, the one thing I had hoped they wouldn't do. N nearly puked and ran away screaming, and Cyrus groaned of annoyance, but the rest just glared blankly as if they had no idea what just happened. I pushed my hood over my face and whimpered, how embarrassing. What did he think he was doing?

******
END CHAPTER

Authors Note: I kind of died of laughter by my own dumbness here! Sorry so much X'D and hi again Tatopatato. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! Chezepuff haha, I find he can be more than a little overbearing being the kind of character he already portrays. The next chapter is already planned and is going to be another one of those Giovanni Chapters. The reasoning someone I know already knows and it involves a bear that's my only clue.