Last Airbender

slowly, the boy approached her. Staring down at her curled up self, he was reminded of himself and those dark, dank stones. But they were outside. Then again, it didn't change the fact that he needed to do something. He plopped down next to her, trying not to make a noise when his side exploded in pain from him not being too careful.

Silence for a while. birds chirping. Someone nearby, but Gale ignored it. "Not you." He said. "Taint. Not Alexis in Alexis." slowly, he reached out, placing his fingertips to her back. "I think.... I can get rid of it.... Isolate, maybe... and drag out." He remembered that one time in the desert, when he entered her mind. He knew the feel of it, knew what was Alexis and what wasn't. "I can... get it out, Lexis." He whispered, pressure unchanging on her back.

Alexis flinched as Gale’s hands pressed up against her back. She took a deep breath, trying to remain stoic. She did it back in the old days back with the Moipai, she could do it now. She was afraid of his statement. Where was the line between what was her and what wasn’t her? If she was even right about her assumptions, what could she do? From what she saw inside her mind, everything was affected, twisted and broken. How much of her was truly hers alone? She remembered the doll, it had been terribly important for some reason. It was the only thing inside her mind not touched by the shadows. Such a small little thing, fragile against the forces that churned around them. Would she end up like that doll? Hallowed out and empty?

“….What… What if I’m different? What if after you, or Pala, or someone else were to do this, and I’m not me anymore? I’d never be me again… If all is lost, one could always retreat to the mind, that’s not even safe for me…. I…. I just don’t know….”

The boy paused, inner power ready for a dive into her mind. Her speaking stopped him. He didn't know what to say. No one but him was allowed in his mind. Nothing had ever forced its way in there to desecrate his sanctuary. he didn't know hot much of Alexis has been badded, but... maybe...

"...I... I can just look around. There... I..." He couldn't explain it. It was just... like tarnished silver. He he could polish the black away, then she would be Alexis again. That he knew. But... was she saying some of that black was her? But... when he did it last time - slowly, slowly... memory - he isolated it and dragged it out. It was still there.

"I'll... still have it... but... not... in you... I think." He didn't like Alexis like this. She was his friend - he didn't want things in her messing her up. "I..." What to say? Nothing... but his hand didn't leave her back.

"It's...fine, i don't know much about your powers anyhow...we've just met."
Pala felt an incredible sense of trepidation, as she knew Alexis would come back, eventually.
"I'm..sorry, angelique. I need to go for some time alone." Like Alexis, she'd need to do some soul-searching. "If i'm going to help her, and myself, i'll need to invoke my shamanism...again...spirits know i'm not charismatic enough to convince her myself. She needs guidance."
Pala got up, sighed, and looked for wide open space, alone.


Pala came into a small clearing, where she knew she wouldn't be disturbed. She began to practice her elementalism, to push her balance to the shaman side. She began pulling up slabs of earth, and scultping them. It required a lot more delicacy the she was used to, and it helped hone her talents.
She carved the first block into something simple, a rough image of a wolf. Pulling up another block, she decided to entertain herself. She carved it into Coden. It was from memory, and didn't look very good, but it was close enough. Staring at it for a few moments, she smashed the head.
"Hehehehe."

Alexis didn’t say anything, afraid to let someone else inside her head. After seeing that foreign presence in her head, she was hesitant for any more mind meddling. Even if the intentions were good. One thing messed up unintentionally… and bye bye sanity. Then again… How much of that was there she wasn’t all that sure anymore.

Alexis turned away from the mossy stone for a moment. Staring silently through the trees at a figure she knew to be out there. “….Hey” She said in a saddened tone, before resuming staring at the rock. His presence both comforted her and frightened her. She knew that she loved him, cared for him… But what if she was being influenced to do so? What if… What if she didn’t care for him, or Gale, or others in the same way? She wasn’t too sure about all this…

He'd been listening in silence for the longest time. Standing still as a doll in the middle of the forest. Alexis' thoughts becoming his own as she voiced her fears to Gale. Who's would-be actions had Coden on the verge of darting out and stopping the child, while a mental weight kept him firmly planted. Though a single word was powerful enough to jerk him forward. Or was it the voice that carried his footsteps?

Reaching the clearing, he found Alexis and peeled her away from the rock and away from Gale. Pulling her up into his chest to cradle her comfortably. He didn't take her back to the road as might be expected, though. Instead turning to sit on the cold moss covered rock she'd taken residence at. Groped her fully against one shoulder, and hovered forward to drag Gale into his other. Gently rocking as he hummed some strange tune to himself in a stressful series of erratic notes.

He squirmed slightly in Coden's arms, fear escalating to the closeness to the man. What if he hurt him again!? What if he tried to beat him and kick him and then break him?! What if Coden decided to bash in his head against the rock and then laugh as Gale's brains fell out?! What if he did the same to Alexis?!

His panic induced a catatonic state in Gale. He stared over the man's shoulder, eyes hide, not taking in the forest that he saw. A hand snaked under Coden's to hold the shoulder, giving him something to grip in case Coden decided to rip him off.

Because of that fear, it took a while for the humming to reach his flattened ears. They perked slightly and he liked it. Soft and low, deep and powerful. But he didn't relax fully against the Gyspus.

His body did relax though.

the boy coughed. Then the other arms wrapped around Coden's neck and the boy used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe off the blood on his hand.

Angelique twitched as Pala took off. So it seemed that despite the fact that they were so close to what was supposed to be safety, everyone had a sudden burning desire to split up and take longer getting there, preferring to stay in the war zone. Lovely.

Taking off from her perch on the edge of the cart, she landed behind it, transforming back and after a false start, pulling off the fire nation gear and stuffing it in with her things. She'd work on spells for better storage later. For now? She walked around to the front of the cart, draping the shawl around her shoulders. She had no doubt that the farmer had seen her red eyes already. Hell he'd seen more than enough to turn them in to the authorities if he so chose...she'd have to fix that.

"So...tell me more about this Ba Sing Se place," she asked, leaning against the cart. To be honest the farmer looked like he was about ready to bolt without them.

"I-it's the only place the war hasn't been able to reach," he replied, glancing around.

"I see...and how are we getting there, pray tell?"

"There's the ferry up ahead...I told your cousin about it--"

"Yes I know, but I want to know details," Angelique straightened up, adopting a very business-like attitude. "How far is the ferry? Is it secure and if so, how are they guarding it? Surely there must be some method of screening or else Fire Nation would be swarming the place..."

"Well...you do need a passport to get a ticket..."

Angelique paused, resisting the urge to hit her head against the cart. Passports...they had proof of residency in the Earth Kingdom, of course. Forcing a smile, she nodded her head. "Thank you for clearing that up. I'll have to dig around to make sure have our passports out and ready for the ferry." She paused, watching him out of her monocular vision. "By the way I had one other question, sir...just what did you say your name was again?"

****

Five minutes later found the farmer much more relaxed, having forgotten many of the more...outlandish events of the past few days. He whistled slightly as Angelique rubbed her temple, moving to the back of the cart to bundle up her things (random articles of stolen clothes, mostly) and then headed back to the front.

"I'm going ahead to take care of some of the paperwork at Full Moon Bay," she said to the farmer. "Do let everyone know when they get back, would you?"

"Of course," he said, nodding to her. "Though are you sure you don't want to wait? It'll take longer on foot..."

"Oh don't worry about me," she smiled. "And thank you." Turning, she began to walk down the path, transforming again once she was out of view and flying the rest of the way.

Now to get them passports.

He stayed that way for a few minutes. Letting a phantom lullaby out from the pit of his inky memories. Letting it fill his voice and comfort if company until the song was long over and the awkwardness began to settle in. He was still getting use to being....well...this.
Clearing the dryness from his throat and nuzzling away from the pair in his arm, Coden muttered with a cracked voice, "Lets get back."

Alexis didn't speak; didn't struggle. She was like the Gale they always use to deal with. Mentally secluded and mute. While he wished she would say something, he was glad for the lack of possible struggle; as he looped a strong arm around her back and under her legs. Hugging Alexis to his chest. His other hand carefully pried Gale away from his neck, muttering small praises to the child. "Good boy. Such a big boy." little things like that while he entwined his fingers in Gales and walked them back to the cart.

Once there, He looked around for the others. Pala was gone, but he heard something just beyond the brush n the other side. A casual smashing of something hallow and soft. Not at all malicious or struggled. So he ignored it. Where was Pinky, though?
Coden Deposited Alexis on the back of the cart. Then lifted Gale and set him beside her. "Watch Alexis," He told the boy with a ruffle of his hair. Then spun around to the front of the cart to have a little chat with the farmer, whom was looking oddly chipper compared to earlier.

He sat next to Alexis silently, wrapped an arm around his waist. His mind was carefully blank, not thinking of Coden's words of praise nor how to help Alexis. Each time he breathed, his chest throbbed. Each time he moved, pain flared up before dying down before repeating.

He hunched over, staring at Alexis from the corner of his eye. Again, he coughed, shuddering slightly as another dribble of blood came from his mouth. It was all right, though, he thought to himself as he wiped it away with his sleeve again. If no one saw it, then they wouldn't know. It would also get better in time. Yes it would.

so for now, he would wait for that time when it got better and no longer hurt to breathe.

Alexis stared at the ground, her thoughts still a jumbled mess. Confusion, turmoil and doubts plagued her as she sat close to Coden. The tune bringing a small comfort, his presence alone more so. She felt oddly detached from everything, observing the events going on as if not a true participant in them. Shifting back and forth between the real world and her mind.

Finding herself in some other time in the future surrounded by hay, Alexis glanced up towards Gale, unnerved by the reddened aura pulsing through his core. She knew it was bad, but couldn’t figure out what caused it. She eventually recalled attacking him before, as if it were a half remembered dream. She caused it… Her hand shakily reached out towards the boy, recalling magic that she had used far to often to count, magic she forgot she couldn’t use. Her hands stung as the cuts reopened, her magic pulsing through her like it was aflame. She curled up, clenching her fists.

“……Gale…. You gotta get someone to look at that… “ She said in a quiet distant tone, pointing a finger at his chest. “…..It could kill you if you don’t…. I’m…. I’m sorry…..”

The boy shrugged. "Not your fault. Taint's fault." There was a way he could fix his injury himself. But he couldn't remember right now. He was sure he would remember when the time came. Dying made people remember lots of things. Or it just pissed them the hell off. He gave Alexis another look, searching her again.

There was that taint still there. And... something else that was clearly not her. Foreign. Oil on water. "There's... something e-else." He mumbled, wiping at his mouth again. How could he explain this one? "... S'a net." He said, making motions with his hands. Holding up a little finger and then clasping over it with the the other hand. "Think... I can... make it go a-away." He shook his head, but that did no good. It only sloshed his brain around more. "C-can't remember..."

Alexis gave Gale a small smile, before reaching over to lightly scratch his head with her fingers. The comfort and familiarity of the action was quickly broken as her hand suddenly hesitated, as Alexis pulled back and wrapped her arm back around her, as if afraid it would lash out on it’s own command. She stared at the floorboards again, “………Gale….. You have to….. have to take care of that first. Can’t help if your dead… Can’t hurt if your dead either….” She grew quiet again.

“…..You’ll…. You’ll remember soon enough… Now that you’ve started getting them back, it’s only a matter of time. So cheer up… ok? Get yourself better before you start worrying about me… I’m worrying enough as it is to cover us both….”

Alexis slumped down slightly, head leaning back on the wooden walls of the cart. “….It seems we’ve both had…. A rather rough day…… How long has it been really? A day… a week… a minute? It’s hard to tell….” She mumbled in a dream like manner, continuing to mutter to herself as the moment of clarity was gone, and she returned to that semi-lucid state she hid herself away in.

"Don't like not Alexis." He said after a slight pause when the head scratchies ended. Then he listened idly while she mumbled off about time and worlds, curling in on herself. His ears perked and he turned to look at her.

He could feel her not wanting his pain. That was Alexis. He did not like the not Alexis that was in her. He could get it out. He could... if he could remember. He coughed again and this time the blood that came was more than before.

He needed to deal with this first. So, scooting next to Alexis, he took comfort in her closeness. He took comfort in her not being alone - just like he had after she came back to her room when he had forgotten. The loneliness had hurt. And Gale saw himself curled up, reflected in Alexis' actions.

Shifting her hands around, he curled up next to her side, closed his eyes and decided to figure out how his powers worked again.

He could feel the well - could feel the power stored inside. It didn't completely fill the well, for some was used to keep back the more painful memories. Carefully, he drew it up. Fumbled, dropped the power. With a huff of irritation that it wasn’t going his way, the boy tried again, getting some up this time. Good. Tossing it about made things explode. Now… could he use it to look inside himself to find what was wrong. He took a deep breath and tried diving lower. There – in that mental level of his mind, looking at the inside of his eyelids. All black except for the red stripe of light.

Down some more – through his mouth and throat and to his lungs and chest. Feeling, not seeing and seeing. The black floor and red strip of power and light. Seeing his lungs, the fleshy sack, lined with red and blue, filling with blood from a rib that punctured it like a sword. More ribs floating about like satellites, the body keeping the afloat. He opened his eyes and remembered the double vision of power seeing and normal seeing.

He could see his lungs and with each pitiful throb of the muscle, red filling it. He could see himself yanking up his shirt, seeing bruise the color of rotten fruit and carrion.

Eyes closed again and back to the inside. That bit of power. So little and delicate. Carefully harnessed it, strapping around the lung. Slowly. Tug. Tug tug. The rib came out to float elsewhere in his body. And he induced a coughing fit, hacking and crying out as blood, now unhindered, flowed into his lung, gushing to fill the hollowness. He cried out and coughed and hacked, blood now spraying to the ground from his mouth and nose. He was drowning. He was drowning in his own body.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic.

He didn’t panic. Instead, he closed off the hole. A tiny shield, not know what it was. Weaving it through the muscle of the lung, supporting it as well as weaving to create a gateway. Strands going down, up, across, diagonal, weaving to create a blanket akin to the muscle. Stopping up the hole, no more blood seeped in and he stopped drowning, coughing up the red water that remained.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself sprawled out on the floor of the wagon, a puddle of blood down his face and on the wooden floor. It still hurt, but he had stopped drowning himself.

Angelique was rather irritated when she returned to the cart, finding it to be in the same place she had left it. The farmer waved at her from where he sat talking to Coden. Hopefully the man would realize not to mention any of the events she had detached from his memory. As she passed, she slipped a passport into Coden's hand and continued on to the back of the cart.

Alexis, Gale, no Pala, and a lot of blood. Well it seemed that she had missed quite the party.

She climbed up into the wagon, using a fire spell to turn the blood to ash. A little less conspicuous anyway.

"So...I see that we're still not going anywhere," she snapped, reaching for the passports. She thought better of giving these two theirs, however, upon closer inspection of their current state. Sighing in irritation she put them away. Reaching over, she snapped her fingers in front of Alexis' face.

"Hey Alexis, earth calling...or whatever planet we're on." She rolled her eyes at the lack of response. "Oh DON'T tell me you're going emo..."

Coden fumbled over the passport as it was stored into his hands. None too surprised, other than curious, by the 'gift'. The old man had explained to him of Pinkies where a bouts. pushing it into his sleeve, Coden shrugged and returned to his conversation. He didn't get far though when he heard Angelique bothering Alexis.

Turning in his seat, Coden bit back on his irate tone of voice. "Leave her be! We're all having a rotten time. Don't badger the poor girl..." He hardly registered what he was saying. He simply didn't like Angelique's tone or choice of words towards Alexis.
"Just find a seat. We'll be moving soon enough." Excusing himself from the farmers company, Coden slid away from the cart to retrieve Pala.

Pala heard noises in the bush nearby. One set of feet rustling through plants from the cart - more from where they had been running from. Preparing herself, she got ready for company somewhat less enjoyable then Coden's.
Five soldiers burst through the tree line, eager for blood and battle.
"Is that all you've brought?" Pala smirked, unimpressed. "You're going to regret coming here."
The soldiers didn't react to her taunts, and merely rushed her, gouts of fire erupting from their palms. A wall of stone rose to preotect Pala, then proceeded to break into smaller peices and launch themselves at their enemy, bringing two men down in a hail of rubble.
The remaining three men grew angry as their companions fell, and launched another barrage of flame, which only just missed pala. Pala countered which a burst of stone from the ground, yet only managed to catch one of the men. Before she could prepare another wave of stone, the two soldiers dashed to her sides and attacked from both quarters. She avoided one, only to run in to the other blast of fire.
She screamed with unimaginable agony, as a gout of fire leapt up her back, burning away the clothing and scorching skin. Her head emptied with all normal thought and was replaced with a world of pain, so thick that she passed out, badly burnt.

Pala's scream sent Coden's none too eager pace into a full out sprint through the brush. At the edge of the clearing, Coden sat behind a tree and watched the two remaining soldiers collect themselves and over look Pala's burnt and carnage heap of a body.

He had half a mind to turn away and tell the group Pala had been killed in an ambush. His blood lust wanted it so badly; after what she'd done to Alexis. That idea became tempting. He stood and began to walk away. A sinister smile curving across his lips.

Not three steps he he felt something tug him to a stop. A nagging at the back of his mind. A question. A warning. Alexis would only blame herself if Coden left Pala behind and lied about her fate. Cursing to himself, the Gyspus turned back to the clearing.

Looming over Pala, the soldiers were probing and kicking at her."Not so tough now, are you ya' stinking' Earth bending wench." A small bough of laughter as they debated killing her or keeping her. Their decision looked grim. For Pala, any way.

As heat flared up in their hands, Coden launched his own surprise attack. He came out of nowhere, to the soldiers, grabbing one from behind. One arm hugged the man neck. squeezed and twisted before letting him drop lifeless beside Pala with a grotesquely malformed neck.
The next soldier had his flames full blast in his palms. He'd never get to shoot them though. Instead of darting out of the way as expected, Coden charged right into the mans attack. Clasping his hands over the mans flaming fists, Coden twisted hard and snapped the limb. While he screamed in stifled agony, Coden twisted him around by his other arm, dislocating his shoulder. Kicked him in the chest, felling him to the ground. And as he lay on his back, struggling to sit up, Coden stomped on his neck.

He stare at the dead man for a moment or two before wiping off his boot in the grass and turning to Pala. "........." There was a boasting deride, just hanging from the tip of his tongue. For what ever reason he couldn't fathom, he sucked it back and carefully gathered Pala into his arms. And rushed her back to the cart. Trying to mind her oozing, tender burns, much as enjoyed hearing her whimpers and moans of pain.

He reached the cart in no time at all, it seemed. And jumped into the front seat with Pala cradled close. Unwilling to waste his time stuffing her in the back. Where there were a few soldiers, there were sure to be more not far behind. "Go!" was all he had to say, and the Farmer was in a panic enough to jar the cart into full speed down the road.

Pala made an attempt to lie on her front, as consciousness came and went. An accidental bump on the back made her wail again, another bout of sobs and moans coming up. It was the most terrible experience she had ever gone through in her life. All she could think of as she laid on her chest was the immense blistering pain. She needed help, it had to stop, please, somebody had to! Coden showed little empathy, he even seemed to be enjoying the immense amount of suffering she was going through. The woman was extremely vulnerable - critically injured, and surrounded by people she herself had made enemies of. The only person she felt she could depend on angelique, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Please, soembody..make it go away...i don't want to die...

Alexis was deathly still, oblivious to the chaos around her. Unaware that Gale was on the floor, bloody and still. Unresponsive to Angelique, who kept trying to get some sort of reaction from her. Ignorant of Pala and Coden’s sudden return, and the changing scenery around her. Eyes half shut and dulled, she clenched her arms around herself, feeling rather cold.

As her physical self was deadened to the world, her mental self wandered in confusion. Sometimes she’d find herself wandering back through the corridors and courtyards of her mind, walking barefoot on the rubble and debris from before, leaving bloody footprints on the stones. Trying to find the stairs to go upwards, always clutching that small doll. Then the scene would fade out in a haze of blue, and a misty version of the real world would appear. Watching as if she weren’t a part of the scene at all. Just as soon as the scene would start to make sense it was gone. And back she was in the hallways. The shadows were still there, clinging onto her, but they didn’t pull like they did before… Didn’t try to drag her down. She watched silently as the broken beams and doors were repaired using the strange blackened material. All the while the sound of her heartbeat reverberated through her mind. Far to soft and far too fast, it kept pulling her in the right directions through the maze.

Alexis kept flowing in and out of that place in her mind, one moment they were going through the woods at a quickened pace, the next she passed by a door that once she opened it, lead down a hallway with thousands of doors behind it. Each doorway led to another hallway full of doors, which all lead to more hallways. Another moment she saw that they were in the cave, surrounded by soldiers. Some were talking to the people in the front of the cart, as others took Pala away. Back in the corridors she wandered, still unsure as to where she was going. After some unknowable period of time she found herself on the ground, leaning against a wall, bags with the groups scant possessions nearby. She didn’t know who was with her, as her mind noticed an odd aura coming from a group of children. While all of their auras were bright, one stood out, even for her in that state to notice. Her eyes followed the aura that reached out far beyond normal. It wasn’t the most powerful she had seen before, but it was the most powerful she had seen on this world… and on such a small child… hmm…

His aura blurred and dulled like the rest of them as the world faded away again, once again to be lost in the corridors, trying to find her way upwards, afraid to go down to the lower levels again.

He stayed next to Alexis the entire time, as quiet and reserved as she was. It felt strange, having the shield woven into his lungs. But he could breathe. Ignoring the hunger and tiredness that seeped into his body, he was all right for now.

He was jostled around, wing covered up and then sat next to Alexis as he 'passport' thing was dealt with. But he didn't care right now. He was... very tired. So he leaned up against the Moipai slightly and rested.

Angelique had eventually given up on reaching Alexis. IN fact, she had shifted as far away from the girl as she could, feeling rather disconcerted being near her while she was like this. She sat in the corner of the cart, ignoring Pala's screams whenever whatever wound she had apparently managed to obtain was jostled.

Then they came to the bay. Getting out of the cart, she began to head straight for the ticket counter, stopping when she noticed the state of Pala's back. Twitching slightly at the current turn of events, she turned to scan the crowd. Refugees, homeless and broken, not a one of them looking like they might be able to help...

Except the strange little troupe a way's off with a winged monkey and a bald kid in bright orange. Actually there were quite a few bald kids in bright orange.

Ignoring the oddity of a bunch of refugees dressing alike, she walked up to the ticket counter, winding up in line behind the odd children. She twitched slightly at the delay when they didn't have passports, twitching even more when that word 'avatar' was thrown around again. Finally they moved to the side and she handed the woman her passport as well as Alexis', Pala's, and Gale's which she had kept, motioning to them as the tickets were dealt with.

"I have a question...is there medical staff anywhere nearby?" Angelique asked after the woman had turned away from her. "We had a run in with the...fire nation on the way here and one of our party was badly burned."

"No medical staff on site," the woman said, handing her back the tickets. "You'll have to wait until you get into Ba Sing Se."

"I see..." Taking the ticket, Angelique turned to go back to the group, only to find herself face to face with the girl in blue, the bald boy and rest of the the troupe standing behind her.

"I couldn't help overhearing...somebody's hurt?" She asked, looking rather worried.

"I'm sure a lot of people are in this place," Angelique said. "But yes, my..." she tried to remember how she was supposed to be related to Pala, but drew a blank. "Companion is injured. Do you have medical training?"

Honestly Pala would probably live long enough for them to get into Ba Sing Se, no need to stoop so low as to have children trying to fix her...

"I'm a waterbender," the girl said as if that should answer her question.

"Good for you," Angelique said, moving to go around them.

"If you want I can take a look at your friend," the girl offered.

Rolling her eyes, Angelique motioned for them to follow. "Sure, have at it. She's the one with the open wounds on her back, as you can probably guess." She heard a sharp intake of breath from behind her before the blue water girl went over and knelt beside Pala.

Pala remained on her chest, trying to enjoy every brush of soft, cool air onto her multilated back, The pain was sitll immense, but slowly she was building up her threshold, learning to withstand it. But sadly, she couldn't do that just yet. Her head ached, and she felt incredibly weak all over. She wouldn't be able to walk, even if she wanted to.

She managed to hear angelique's conversation, and was thankful that she was on her side...for now. She couldn't see whoever it was she was talking to, but the girl sounded young, but not too much younger then herself. And she felt the girl's reaction to her back, and knew that it must look horrendous.

After a few moments, she felt water trickle, and slowly gather on her back. She moaned at first when her ruined nerves protested at the touch, but the water managed to grow cold, and eventually, it even felt a little good. Then, the most peculiar feeling ran through inbetween the pain and the...wrongness that come from her wound. Slowly, and gently, part of the pain diminshed, and she felt skin and muscle...weaving back together...yet only ever so slightly. She still pained terribly, but she could feel traces of healed skin and muscle just below her shoulders, and just above her behind. She could no longer feel blood churning and oozing about, either...she felt clean. Hopefully she was no longer that close to a death from blood loss, or even worse, some horrible sickness in the wound. It was a good blessing, for sure. She wanted to see who it was who was healing her, but her muscles refused to let her move her head without hurting again.

"That's...all i can do, i'm sorry. I'm new to this, and i've never seen an injury this bad before."
"It's alright...." Pala mumbled. "Th...thank you...so much."
She wanted to say more, to ask how the girl did what she did, but sleep came to her once more.

the boy sat, eyes half closed, staring at the new group of people as they wandered near Pala, healing her back. There was one male in the group with part of his head shaved and pulled back into some sort of ponytail that stared at him.

Gale stared back, golden eyes unwavering. There was another hat over his head, and most of his dark hair was hidden.

"Hey, guys..." The boy whispered, thinking Gale couldn't hear them "I think that kid-"

Suddenly, a strange... monkey with wings flew out from the bald kid and landed on Gale's head, chattering and hopping about, pulling at the tuffs of Gale's hair. He was about to explode it when the bald kid rushed over.

"Momo, no!" He chided the monkey thing, pulling it off. Gale settled back down, power resting once more when the boy apologized and gave the Momo an excuse before backing off and going with the rest of the group again. The woman who looked at Pala stood up, apologizing to Angelique. The boy looked at Alexis again, nudging her slightly.

Why didn't she say anything?

Alexis sat in a slump, seemingly asleep to those who weren’t looking closely. As the people conversed around her, she still wandered inside. The walls still had the dark shadows clinging to them, but they didn’t seem as malicious up at this level. If anything, they seemed to be pushing her forward. She half wondered if it was because it didn’t help IT when she was like this either. It didn’t help anyone, not even herself… She couldn’t hide from this… The thought clung to her as she started to hear voices. Quiet garbles of noise, nonsensical and echoing down the silent hallways.

She took a step towards the sound, still clutching onto the doll. The sound grew a little bit louder, and the words seemed to become a little clearer. She followed the voice, twisting and turning through the hallways. As she went other senses flooded her. She could feel a familiar presence prodding her arm. She turned to look to see a faint ghost of an aura that disappeared as soon as she saw it. A white blue light began to brighten the dimly light halls, coaxing her towards it. She followed the sound and light until they seemed to become a force of their own. She continued until the stonework ended, leaving her at a dead end.

She fell to the ground, despairing that she would be lost in this place forever. That she’d never get out of this wrenched ruin of her own mind. Her hand clasped around her necklace out of habit, twisting and pulling on it as she tried to think through the haze of another option. After a few minutes, she realized that she hadn’t been wearing the jewelry while in here before. Pulling on it a little harder, she realized it wasn’t around her neck. Glancing upward, she saw the faint outline of a door above her. Yanking down on the string proved successful, as a ladder fell down, leading up to a doorway awash with light. Taking a small glance back, she managed to climb upwards, and just as soon as she made it to the top she blacked out.

Alexis eyes began to focus as she slowly made her way through her murky thoughts. She realized that Gale was next to her, and that other familiar faces were nearby. Unfamiliar faces as well, she realized as she looked around sluggishly, her journey inside her mind slipping away from memory. Though the root cause remained, the events ingrained inside her. She had no idea where she was, or who the others were interacting with, but she knew that they were special. Their aura’s were much brighter than the other people’s around here, and the small boy… His aura was near god like in power, but still retained the innocence of a youth. Interesting….

Her arm lifted up slightly, as if it were weighed down, in attempt of a wave, “…….Hey” She mumbled, as her arm wrapped around herself, having just realized how freezing it was. A cold sweat had her clothes sticking to her, and a mental exhaustion clung to her. Momentarily forgetting that they were on a different world, she glanced at the four possible new recruits. “…..My name’s Alexis….. and I want to ask you about joining…. The resistance……….” She slurred before falling over on the floor, fatigue dragging her off to sleep.