Soft footfalls could be heard, a set of feet slowly making their way down a rather old and worn dirt path. She walked along the side of the road, just left of the worn wheel tracks, left behind from the transport carriages that so often used these roads to transport sundries and trade goods from town to town. The world was bathed in the soft glow of the setting sun; everything seemed to look as if it burned with a soft inner light, looking a beauteous shade of gentle orange. The sky itself was lovely, the colors ranging along a palette of darkening blues to a quiet sort of pink while the reddened orb sank into the horizon, letting the whole of the landscape melt into the embrace of the night. Darkness would set in so soon, and engulf the world in its seemingly endless void.

The very notion of being caught within that void made her grow slightly anxious; she was able to feel her heart flutter but a bit in her chest. Darkness… Darkness was not something she liked. Within that inky blackness lurked dangers, threats, things to fear, though it did not scare her per say, the idea of being exposed to the jeopardy the night held wasn’t something she enjoyed thinking of. Even letting her mind wander upon the things that could happen to anyone, it made her ordinarily calm breath hitch ever so slightly in her throat, and filled her with a slight sense of trepidation.

Fortunately, it would see that some luck had decided to bless itself upon her this evening, for in the distance; Lapis was able to make out the outline of a small town, awash in the color of the sun. It seemed not too far off, so it seemed possible for her to make it within the reaches of the settling before night fell, and brought with it, the perils which lurked within.

Yet still, the village was some ways off, it wasn’t entirely certain that she could make it there before she were consumed by the shadows creeping up behind her. For but a moment, the marine-haired woman stopped walking, and drawing a timid fist up to her chest, she gazed back behind her, to the world that was slowly being taken into the night. Her eyes glimmered a touch with a sentiment of melancholy, and hopelessness as she understood just how close she were to the vestiges of what she held such displeasure for.

Eliciting but a soft exhale from her lungs, Lapis said not a word before turning on her heel, taking off into a sprint for the haven before her. It was but a race she found herself in, a competition between her own self and the night. There were no sounds around her, none at all, the harsh falls of her feet as she ran, and her own haphazard breathing were the only noises the woman could hear as she went along. Though she was indeed within the confines of a forest, nature just seemed silent… It was discomforting, unpleasant and all around unnerving. A world awash in the color of reds, not having a single solitary sound to it, not even a gentle bird’s singing…

Lapis did not like it, she did not like it a single bit. The stark silence was part of the reason she did not wish to be caught within the gloom of the night, in a place seeming so devoid of life, she would have to sleep, knowing she was isolated from everything; she would truly be without anything around. Because of her constant traveling, did she not already live such a life? Was she not already isolated enough from the world around her? It felt as if she ached for the town, to already be within its confines, to be safe and around others for at least a night…

As she ran, following the worn dirt road, the woman’s mind wandered. She began to think about what lay ahead of her, what the future may bring. Anything; the experiences, the people, the knowledge… Perhaps nestled in that knowledge she would gain, would be the truth about herself, about why it was she had… Had a gemstone embedded into her soft flesh. Why did she have a stone upon her face? Why did it always appear as if she were crying? Why?

She had never known the reason; she never understood why she always had been made to look as if she were forlorn, full of sorrow. Her wanderings were so strongly influenced by this, by seeking out the truth now. However, because she had yet to find out any information about the truth concerning herself, Lapis was always left to blindly follow her instincts, and simply go wherever they took her. More often than not, this approach to the situation resulted in her getting lost or winding up a place she did not mean to be. Regardless though, it wasn’t as if that were unpleasant, in fact, she actually quite enjoyed the many misadventures she endured in her journeys. They led her to having many new experiences, meeting interesting people and so much more! Even if she did not learn anything about the reasons for her birth, or anything, the wonderful things she saw, and learned were worth their weight in gold.

Knowledge and experience were priceless, and the many things Lapis had learned in her time made her someone unique, it gave her life something, even if it was not what she desired. Even if following her gut got her into a little trouble sometimes, it was fine for her, she didn’t mind. Even if she were made to traverse a labyrinth, it was okay.

Deep down inside of herself though, she still yearned for the truth. The reality of her existence, she wanted to know who she really was, and why she was so different from others… Honestly, she did wish that someone would approach her with the facts and relay it to her, and give her the information behind her existence. Oh… how she wished.

As she had been lost in her own musings, her own thoughts, Lapis had failed to notice that her body had been moving automatically, racing against the oncoming night with all its efforts. It was only when she came to a halt that she understood her location, that she had indeed beaten the rising moon and stars; she had made it somehow, she had made it to the town before being caught up in the darkness she so found discomfort in. The world was still tinged a pleasant shade of orange, the sun had not yet completely set upon the world… Standing as she was, Lapis gazed upward and looked to the changing skies, taking in its beauty silently for a moment before deeming it time for her to move on, and to stake a claim upon a room at the local Inn. And to give herself a place to rest her weary head…

Edmund had been walking aimlessly for quite a bit, eyes turned towards the sky, observing the changes as the hour grew later. He watched the colors darken and fade out, he watched as stars began to blink into view, like the lightning of candles in a dark room. His eyes traced them as he mentally formed constellations, taking time to name each and give them a detailed story. He liked the moment when day turned to night, he thought the transition from life to lifeless was beautiful in it's own way. In turn, the moment when night turned to day was also one of his favorites, and he was always awake to see both. Not that he had a place to sleep anyway, he was a drifter. Constantly travelling between cities and living off of whatever he could. He had a very low amount of cash, and it was hard for a mute like himself to come across, if only because he couldn't vocally express his financial situation.

Regardless, he had quite a knack for making himself comfortable wherever he set his head down. And so, his eyes turned from the sky to look ahead, and he took in his surroundings. He was walking alongside a road, more specifically, to the right of a road. It wasn't like one of those newer, paved ones that seemed to be hitting it big. No, it was still just dirt, and it was worn down by constant days of wind and carriages passing through. It was still well illuminated by the sky, despite the sun inching below the horizon with every passing moment. He noted that there were more tracks to the left side of the road, and he began to wonder why that was. The left would signify that the tracks were leading away from the town. The right would be leading into it. That itself brought his attention more to the town he was approaching at a decent pace. It didn't seem too large scale, more like a place to stop and rest. Or to check out merchant stands and watch the latest news on the screens that seemed to be placed in the center of every place considered hospitable.

No distant sounds came from it. In fact, Edmund couldn't hear any sounds coming from anywhere. It was almost an impossible silence on such a lovely night. But as soon as those thoughts crossed his mind, the silence was broken by the frantic pace of foot steps, and Edmund was overshot by a running figure, heading in the same direction, but on the opposite side of the road. Edmund had guessed the figure was female, judging by the smaller frame and brief glimpse of long hair. And his mind wandered as to what she was fleeing from. Was it something that he should be alarmed of? Something that possibly could catch up to him instead? But he soon shrugged those thoughts off, leaving it at that she might have just been in a hurry. And as he halted his pace and started looking around for a possible place to get some rest, because he wouldn't possibly have been able to afford a place in the town up ahead, he just hoped that he wouldn't be tripped over by somebody running in a similar fashion.

He soon found what he was looking for, and not too far from the path. Just a small clearing in the line of trees that lay beside the road, and it seemed to be sheltered from any weather that would decide to come out of nowhere and potentially soak him. So he made a suitable bed out of twigs and leaves, and set the hood of his coat up before laying down, thinking once more about possibly getting run over, and how he didn't that much bad luck. Or, at least, he hoped he didn't, and soon began to drift off to sleep.

The sun was setting, the sun was going ahead and setting and it was getting dark. . . . And where was she? Well, she was still out wandering about like a loon. Well, maybe not a loon exactly, but she wasn’t walking around like a normal person, that was for sure! I just had to get around to leaving Halva late. . . . she sighed to herself, shaking her head. Halva; that was the last town she had rested at yesterday. Quite the little place it was, honestly just a stick and mud village, but it had an Inn. An Inn meant warmth, a bed, food and a place to bathe! It meant not having to sleep on the hard, cold ground . . . or worse, having to sleep in a tree because it was dangerous to be on the earth.

But still, what had she gone and done? She had gone ahead and slept in late, way too late. . . . And what had that caused? Well, it had caused her to get a very late start in continuing her travels. I probably should have just stayed another day, at least if I had just done that I wouldn’t have had to worry about potentially finding myself stuck in the dark with no place to stay.

It had been some hours since she had set out again, left the tiny village of Halva behind her, setting out to travel upon a rather old road, beat down by the weather, and dried up by the hot sunshine of the day. Sure, she had no idea where the road was suppose to take her, or where it lead, but then, Vega just didn’t really care. It wasn’t like she had anywhere she had to be, she had no place she called home anymore. There was no reason for her to worry about where she wound up in her rather random travels, she could take any path she wanted and it would all turn out the same for her.

Vega would just wind up in another small place whose name she didn’t know, surrounded by people who were nothing but strangers to her, and whose faces she would probably never seen again after the following morning. That was simply it, that was the life she had led for the last year or so. Wandering and wandering about, that was all she ever did since she had managed to go ahead and get her parents hurt with her weirdness. . . . At even thinking about the incident, one of Vega’s gloved hands wandered up and absentmindedly touched the exposed jewel upon her forehead. Damn thing came right out of her skin, right out of her forehead, and with the way her bangs always parted; the whole world was left being allowed to see it. Most people just assumed it was part of some sort of fashion statement; a stick on or something. Well, those people had no idea how wrong that was. The thing was actually a part of her, it grew from her very bones it seemed.

No one had ever been able to tell her parents why it was she had a gemstone stuck in her, but . . . she had always seemed a normal enough child, minus her rather diminutive size. Vega had always been intelligent, never had a problem with anything . . . except for the fact that it seemed like she could conjure lightning up to her will. Whether that in itself was actually able to be called an issue though, well, that was probably something that varied from person to person. To Vega, what she could do, the fact that electricity came to her beckon call, it was just a part of her. It was not a problem, but it wasn’t a blessing either.

It just always felt natural, like it was totally normal. the teenager found herself sighing, removing her hand from the gemstone, letting it laxly fall back to her side as she stopped walking and just looked up to the sky. The whole world looked so simple right now; all one color. It just looked . . . red. A deep shade of red, so simple, so easy. In the last year, she had grown very used to this sight, seeing the blood-colored skies slowly changing into something else, a black canvas that was littered with small twinkling bits of light, the moon draped across it like a luminescent pearl. . . . It was always beautiful, there was no doubt about that.

Regardless, that didn’t mean Vega felt like having to sleep on grass, and wind up cold tonight! The rather blank expression that had overtaken her face quickly changed as she shook her head, nothing but determination taking over as she sort nodded to herself. “There’s still some daylight left; and a town might be close by! If I hurry, maybe I can make it there before dark!” Vega assured herself, before she turned on her heel, and took off in a full out sprint down the worn road. She did not want to wind up sleeping on the ground.

This was how Vega always got when it came to her getting to a town just before night fell, she would always throw caution to the wind and just run as fast as she could. She would continue down the path she had found herself on, and hope that she found a place to stay that was indoors. However, if the sun decided to beat her in the little race Vega had decided to pit herself in against it, the girl would forfeit with a sigh, and settle into the most comfortable looking place she could find, and do her best at riding out the night as she could. If that meant being cold, she endured.

Once more, Vega threw all of her prudence out the window when she got into one of these states, she paid little attention to her surroundings, and only focused on moving ahead. While her breathing was a little bit off now from the sprinting, Vega felt like she might actually have been making some progress . . . and was also rather pleased that she had yet to trip or fall over. The world around her didn’t seem to change much, the scenery still looked the same as it had before, but she wasn’t doing too bad.

Though, it would seem that Lady Luck had decided to revoke the good fortune placed upon one Vega Delacroix around this point in time though, because as the sun sank into the skies ahead of her, the small girl found herself tripping over . . . something on the side of the road. Her foot caught on something that was definitely not a rock, and she found herself at gravity’s lack of mercy, hitting the dirt under her face first with a rather loud shriek of shock.

Her whole form hit the ground with a rather unpleasant thud, leaving the teenager herself in a state of shock, air knocked right out of her lungs while she tried to figure out what had happened to her, and what she had fallen over.

As the sun began to set, the sky was ablaze with warm colors that cascaded through the dirty windowpanes of the inn.
It easily could have been described as breathtaking...if Halley wasn't so goddamn bored!

The white-haired boy was seated at a small table in the corner of the main entrance to the inn. Silence filled the room and permeated everything, accosting Halley's senses. It was as if this entire village was trying to personally offend him.

With a dramatic sigh, he let his forehead hit the table with a dull thunk. Closing his eyes, the young man thought back to what had brought him to this measly dump...

...he had heard a voice. No, no. The Voice. A delicate whisper that seemed to come from within his own head. It overcame his senses and it was all the boy could do to keep from dropping to his knees. The Voice was dark. Regal and commanding, yet also warm.

"Do you want to hear the planet scream?"

Halley had no idea what The Voice meant, what had brought it on, or anything else for that matter. But he did not question. He merely listened.

"There are others like you. Seek them out."

Just then, a series of images flashed before his eyes. He could see colors...different colors - no. It was more like...stones. Like gemstones. First a dark green, then a deep red, a flash of purple...And then Halley saw something that made his chest flutter with awe; it was himself. He was standing, surrounded by broken shards of glass. All at once, the color began to fade. He saw it leave the ground, cover the hills, and sweep across the sky until everything was stripped. And Halley knew it was a glimpse of a future world. His future world.

And then young man left the place he called home. Left with little more than the clothes on his back and all the money he owned in his pockets. He couldn't describe how he knew where to go. It was as if there was a part of him that instinctively knew what to do. This feeling had led him miles away, over plains and through a forest, and finally the roads, leading to this village. But it had been days since he'd last heard The Voice, and Halley was starting to question the validity of his "revelation." His body ached to hear it again. Just once more. It was not unlike his own personal drug, and the boy's very soul was addicted.

A groan escaped Halley's lips as he slouched in his chair, legs spread and head tilted back lazily. He was so bored! This village wasn't exciting at all! It made him want to hurt it. To knock it down and set it on fire and punish it for being so dull!

As Halley wearily gazed about the main entrance of the inn, he put a hand to his stomach, rubbing at the small gemstone embedded there. It was a pearl. Polished and beautiful and just...there. Embedded in him just above his navel. Halley knew it was the source of his abilities. What set him apart from everybody else - made him better. Again, he couldn't explain why. It was just another one of those damn feelings.

When the last bits of sunlight finally began to fade away from sight, Halley was just about to retire to his room when the door to the inn opened. A gust of chilly wind swept through the foyer as a young girl stepped inside. A most peculiar girl indeed. Her hair was such a vibrant shade of blue that it almost seemed to glow. It reminded Halley of looking into the ocean. His boredom finally satiated, he watched, mouth slightly open, as the timid-looking girl took in her surroundings. That's when he saw it.

On her face, just below her right eye, was a mark. A blue mark. Almost like...a gemstone.

I'll be damned.

That was the first thing that came to his mind after he was suddenly awaken, a runner digging their feet directly into his stomach before falling over somewhere to his right. Judging by the pitch of the shriek, he gathered that the runner was most likely a female, and that he did, indeed, have bad luck. He sighed before sitting up, undoing a pocket of the coat and taking out a small notepad and a pen. He got up to his feet and hovered the pen over one of the pages, preparing to write whatever came to his mind first before a glint originated from the girl's head caught his eye. He moved the pen into the same hand as the notepad was in, and used his now free hand to lower his hood, revealing his hair slightly ruffled.

Crouching down, he could make features much better. It was indeed a female, and she had a head of black hair. But it didn't seem to be just composed of black, he also saw some glints of red as he better positioned himself. Normally, he wouldn't have shown that much concern for a person that had just tripped over him, but she had (mostly) black hair, and it pulled on his metaphorical heart strings. She was clearly still conscious, and so he kept his hands to himself, figuring she could roll herself over if need be. But there was still the matter of the glint that had caught he eye prior, and he focused solely on her forehead, eyes soon finding the gem that stuck out of his forehead. At first glance, he probably thought like all the others, and figured it was some sort of jewelry glued to her head. Females were doing all sorts of crazy things with gems lately. But he knew better, and sort of had a gut feeling about it.

He set the notepad and pen down gently before moving his hands to unbutton his coat, and he quickly took it off, placing it on the ground and scooping the notepad and pen back up. He worked fast, scribbling furiously in the notepad. A few moments passed by of him scribbling, stopping, looking up at the girl, and then returning to scribbling before he help up the notepad to her, pen dropping to the ground. Underneath what was drawn, he had written four words.

Night. The night was already here, feeding the world its darkness. The darkness covered everything...from the trees to the ground to even the sun. The last sunlights shone brightly suddenly like they were trying to struggle, to escape the darkness but at last, the sun lost and the darkness ate everything. He sat on the ground, leaning against a tree, watching the night became the victor as it defeated the daylight without even trying. Darkness crept up the teen's blood red eyes as he just sat there, unblinking like he was hypnotized by the sheer beauty of the dark.

Blinked.Once.Twice.

From far away, all of the sudden, a bird cried out, its cry was sad and it made the sunset scene even more bittersweet, like adding a tear in a heartbroken story...The teen looked up, there was something flickered in his blank eyes but it was gone quickly as the cry ended. The teen sighed and ran a hand through his equally red hair, making it even messier than it had been. He had understood it...sort of. He looked at the scene again and nodded slightly to himself. Yes, he really had understood why humans said the Nature was beautiful. It was true.' The nature is beautiful...or at least it used to be...' Akai thought and there was an angry look flashed quickly in his eyes before it was schooled into a more neutral look. '...at least it was beautiful before it decided to serve the humans...' He thought again and this time he couldn't stop a scowl from appearing on his face. How could such a thing like the Nature decide to serve the pathetic, pitiful, corrupted humankind was beyond his intelligence to understand. Humankind deserved to die...all of them. He had decided that long time ago. He would wipe this Earth clean of such a corrupted kind...and everyone stood on his way would be wiped off, too...including the nature.

Akai's hand unconsciously covered his right eye. This, his right eye, was the thing that marked him higher than humankind. He was better than them in any ways or forms. This was what marked his destiny. The gemstone...the Pyrope Garnet. Akai didn't know what to think about his destiny or the gemstone, really, he didn't know what to think. If it hadn't been because of his gemstone, maybe he would have had a family that cared for him, maybe he would have had more friends...maybe he wouldn't have been sold. But if he hadn't had the gemstone, he wouldn't have known the dark side of the world, the corrupted side...the dirty side of a beautiful but faked world. Akai's scowl deepened even so slightly. There was no point in thinking about the past, thinking about what had happened. What was done was done and even if he continued to think about it for another thousands of years, it wouldn't happen. He had a destiny to fulfill and a humankind to wipe out.

The darkness had covered everything at this point. It was pitch black and it was nearly impossible to see anything beyond that darkness. He could spot a few people came home late after a hard-working day, chatting happily to each other. His usual relaxed face adopted a sneer of disgust. He truly, undoubtedly hated humans. They were corrupted, pathetic, disgusting and almost every bad word he could think of could be used to describe humankind. His hands curled into fists and his eyes narrowed. Oh, how he wished he could just go there and snap their fragile necks. It would be so easy, like child-play. Calm down, my child...calm down, my little chaos... A voice purred in his ears and Akai could feel his body visibly relaxed.

"...master..." Akai murmured softly. Taking a deep breath, the teen tried to calm his rage and bloodlust toward the humans down....find the others, my child...then you can have your revenge toward humankind... The Chaos whispered in Akai's ears and he bowed his head, accepted his fate. "...yes, master..." He said quietly and the voice went silent.

Akai's eyes, once again, locked at the humans' figures from the distance. They had gone quite far and now his eyes could only catch their shadows while his ears could only hear their fainted laughters. Their shadows blurred into the big picture of the forest at night, and their echoed footsteps combined with the sounds of the birds, the squirrels, the wind gradually disappeared completely from his sights as well. Akai's body relaxed further and he leaned against the tree, removing his hand from his right eye, exposing the red stone, a part of his own body, to the world. The red stone, in the darkness of the night, became even darker and somehow, it made the colors of his eyes... unmatch. His left eye was auburn while his right eye was dark red. His right eye stared blankly at the dark while his left eye shone with deep hatred for humans.

Akai sighed again and let his hand fell to his side. The wind blew his hair playfully and the teen closed his eyes, enjoying the simple fun. When would he find the others? He asked himself that question every time but The Voice - Chaos always said 'soon'. But how soon? when could he have his revenge? But Akai knew better than to ask the Chaos because he knew for sure that his question would go unanswered...

He opened his eyes and looked at his hands. How many people had he killed with these hands? One? one hundred? One thousand? But honestly, he didn't care...no, that was not true. He did cared. He was glad, in fact...he was glad that he could kill so many people. Akai felt his lips tugged slightly and he knew he was wearing a twisted smile. Not that he cared...no one was here anyway. The teen looked at his hands and he raised his left hand.

Snapped...

He snapped his fingers and a small, red flame appeared, dancing merrily on his opened palm. Akai chuckled in amusement. No matter how many times he did this, displaying his power would always amuse him. He let his flame dance for a while, watching it with childish joy. Who said he couldn't have fun while searching for the others?

An owl hooted in the distance and Akai momentarily lost his concentration, causing the flame to burn his hand a little. He flinched and hissed in pain. Bitting back a curse, the teen examined his hand closely. His palm was slightly burned but otherwise, it was okay, there was nothing too serious. Akai frowned and looked around. If he found that stupid owl, he would burn it and then eat it. Stupid owl! He scowled angrily to hide his embarrassment. His fun was ruined by an owl! How embarrassing was that!

Soft footsteps echoed in the dark. Stepped... stepped... stepped...

Akai froze and immediately looked around wildly. He thought he just heard something. What was it? footsteps? There was somone here? In the forest? What? How? He thought he was alone. He looked around again, trying to pintpoint the location of said footsteps.

Silence...completely and utterly silence...

Maybe he just imaged things. Akai tried to convince himself to no avail. He knew he just heard something. He tried to look around as subtly as possible. Who was that? clearly, there was someone else in this forest.

Footsteps. Stepped. Stepped.

Akai frowned again. Those footsteps again! He growled silently and glared in the dark night. It was too dark to see anything let alone searching for a person with such quiet footsteps.

Stepped... stepped... stepped...

He immediately looked at his right side. A small bunny jumped out of a nearby bush. It looked at him fearfully before jumping away and Akai frowned. Those were a bunny's footsteps. He shook his head slightly. No, it couldn't be. The footsteps were of a human, not an animal.

Stepped... stepped... stepped...

The footsteps came from behind Akai. He took a deep breath and called out, forcing his body to stopped tensing and his voice to appear more relax. He knew that if he appeared nervous, it wouldn't do any good "...I know you're there...come out...It's not good to stand like that... I have cookies if you want one..." He joked in a lazy tone. His body language betrayed nothing of his nervousness. However, if one looked closely, really really closely, they could see that his fingers twitched slightly, indicated that he was ready to fight if a battle happened. He scratched his head and looked behind him. Waving his hand a little, Akai said to the dark, hoping there was actually someone there "...Hey...what 's up?"

"Da da da ~ dadada da da..." With each note she hummed, Ariane danced another step. She was moving in an interesting circle, leaping around to the edges and back to the middle - the grass having been trampled down where she'd stepped. As she drifted from side to side, almost in a drunken way, Ariane looked up at the sky. The sun had just set and the last embers of the flickering fires had been swallowed by the night. It was a sight that might have been depressing if not for the moon rising on the other side of the horizon.

No matter how dark the night, no matter how many clouds, behind them all is the light, She thought as she continued to dance lightly. It wasn't really a dance - just a release of nervous energy. Ariane had been travelling - had run away from boarding school - for over two weeks now. It wasn't that hard to live on her own. Plenty of people were kind enough to give her some little bits of money when she helped them with menial tasks and she had done decently enough with the wild plants and berries that she'd eaten. She hadn't gotten sick once - but then, Ariane had always been a very lucky person - in all aspects of life, not just in picking out the vegetation that wouldn't kill her.

Probably has something to do with the amethyst, Ariane thought. Her steps slowed as her mind went to the perfectly round stone that was embedded to the right of her chest - where her heart might be if she was someone from the looking glass world. It was well hidden beneath her loose white t-shirt, and if one looked at her - looked at the t-shirt with a random logo on the front, the black leggings and the slender, black sneakers - one would never have guessed embedded in her chest was a purple gemstone.

A soft breeze stole through the forest, gently ruffling Ariane's gray-purple hair as it did so. Very slowly, she stopped and looked up at the trees around her, the rustling leaves, the quiet almost indistinguishable sound of night creatures going on their nightly rounds.

It was so lovely -

A dark, smokey scent drifted into Ariane's nose, something like oil and death combined into a dark mess. From the tang of metal, someone was using a grill. Her nose wrinkled and she quickly covered it with one hand. It was the scent of an animal dying - being cooked by some reckless human, who was probably going to throw away most of the animal after picking out the best parts. Humans who destroyed everything - but then, it wasn't there fault. It was the way that they had been made. They were naturally selfish, naturally greedy.

It wasn't their fault.

But it's not right either, Ariane thought as she waited for the scent to pass. I'm almost half a mile from the nearest town and yet I can still smell their killings? They were polluting the world without even thinking about it. Polluting a beautiful place. Killing.

She shivered. Killing. Death. She didn't want to think about either of them. Ariane lifted a hand to her chest, touching through her clothes the hard gem in her heart. If it cracked - if it broke - she would die. She would never come back - she would never experience anything again, not even the knowledge that she was dead. There would be nothingness - not the cold nothingness that people sometimes talked about in their dreams - true nothingness.

And there would be no coming out of it.

Ever.

Nature - I have to find her. I have to bring her to fix this. I have to set this right, Ariane thought. Her words could have been taken as a response to the destruction humans brought to nature, but in the back of her mind, a desperate voice whispered, I don't want to die.

Woo - woo -

The characteristic ghostly whisper of an owl in the distance broke Ariane from her half-panicked state of mind. She listened for it again, but it made no noise. She sighed - she'd spent more than enough time lolling here, bathing in the fresh scent and taste of the forest. It was time for her to either settle down for the night or make for the town - she had a feeling that it wouldn't be the latter this time, not with the smell of death reeking in her nostrils.

So, she'd sleep in the forest that night.

Ariane began to walk forward, casting her eyes about for a good place - hopefully in a tree, where she'd be safe from any wild animals if they decided to come calling in the middle of the night. Most of the time, nothing of the sort ever bothered Ariane - the amethyst took care of that - but she didn't want to risk it - just in case her luck ran out that day.

As she walked forward, Ariane slowly realized that she wasn't alone. There was another person standing in the trees.

He was tensed at the moment, looking around for something -

Me? Ariane wondered. Did he notice me? She looked at him. He looked about eighteen - the same age as her, with hair that looked like dried blood in the mostly dark area. Is he lost? She wondered. He didn't really look like it, but then, looks weren't everything.

"...I know you're there...come out...It's not good to stand like that... I have cookies if you want one..."

That made her smile just a bit. Cute, She thought. Very cute.

She got a better look at him as he turned his head to look back at her - or more accurately to look at the darkness around her. Currently, it was too dark around her for him to see her, although she saw him decently enough. He was muscled, although from the looks of it, a bit shorter than she was, and his skin was pale - it shone in what moonlight there was. But the most startling part of his appearance were his eyes - one of them, the left one, normal, deep red - although, I'm not sure if you can call a red eye normal... - the other, a deep red stone, faceted and catching or losing the light whenever he so much as moved his head.

He's a gemstone, She thought, something like excitement and surprise stirring within her. Another gemstone. That's - amazing. She paused for a moment, wondering which stone he was - she couldn't identify any of them except for her own. Is he one of Nature's? She wondered. Or had he gone over to Chaos? - There were some gemstones like that, her mentor had told her, gemstones so engulfed in hate that they would rather destroy everything than continue watching the humans destroy their beautiful world. It would be dangerous for her to meet someone like that.

Still - won't find out like this, Ariane thought.

She stepped out into a small patch of light, where he should be able to see her better and looked at him with her gray-purple eyes. "Cookies?" She asked, letting a light smile slip onto her face. "Where are you hiding them?"

"Please...No more! I beg of you!" A young lady sat awkardly in the corner of her hut, leaving her children to hug her knees, tears of pain and sorrow rained down her cheek, until if fell onto the floor infront of her. With her children yelling at a muffled volume, her hands covered both of their mouths, keeping their voices close to pure silence. "Please, spare us...W-we've done nothing wrong!" She closed her eyes, only wishing that this was all a dream.

"...." Rain poured down, causing the path infront of Alexius to become slippery and dangerous, nevertheless he had to keep running, running like his life depended on it, running like he had to. The setting sun, merely blinded his eyes for a short while, as the night was soon to come. With his violet eyes, fixed on the path ahead of him, his mind began to play tricks on him, reminding him of the event that only happend a few moments before.

"I'll give you anything! Just...Let us be!" She cried at the top of her voice, signaling her children to cry even louder and harder. What was Alexius ment to do? Feel pity for them? Feel sympathy for this foolish family? No. No, that wasn't right, they didn't derseve to be given any mercy, any remorse or any kind of sense of hope; as Lexy saw it, what comes around comes back around...Twice as hard. Silence...Pure silence. Where was everybody within the village? Had something happend? This confused the lady for a short while, as she forced herself against the wall, as if she could escape right through it; hoping for a way to reverse what had been done. "Our Father in heaven..." She paused, noticing that there was no point, leaving herself to dwel on the fact that she was about to die right infront of her children. Despite this, the children joined in the prayer as if it was going to send them to the place that they call 'Heaven.'

"...." Night settled in, the sun was now set asleep, leaving the moon and stars to take over the black sky. For some reason, a twisted smile appeared on Alexius's face, simply because the night sky reminded him. Reminded him about how dark his life was, how he was treated like crap for all of his pointless life, but then it hit him. Skidding to a stop...Well, if you call falling on to your face a way of stopping then, yes. Ignoring the newest injury, Lexy sat up, taking his baggy shirt off...Giving the Gemstone a chance to breathe. What an odd place...Of all the body parts that it could've been formed, it had to be on his back; just how on earth was he supposed to keep an eye on it if he couldn't see it in the first place? He had no choice but to find a way of touching it, which ment he had to stretch his arm over his shoulder, just so his finger tips could get a feel of the gemstone. "Hard..." His voice sounded like a monotone, no emotion at all.

"All these years..." He said calmly. "All these years i've been treated like a damn caged animal, no...Not even that. Some sort of monster, just because of a stupid Gemstone in my back. Are all you humans this selfish? Just because i happen to be different, you find the right to treat me differently? Really?" One would suspect that he was angry, but he wasn't. Infact, a cheerful smile was set on his face which hid his true emotions. "If your so called 'God' created this world to be perfect, then tell me." He paused, kneeling down infront of the three fools, his violet eyes intimidated them like a lion eyeing its prey. "Tell me..." His voice was now a mere whisper, moving his upper body towards the small family. "Why are you Humans on the face of this world?"
"Why!" He laughed, like somebody had just told him the greatest joke in the world, with each breath, his laugh got louder and louder.

"...Cold...Hungry...Shelter...Rest." His eyes flashed open; only then did he notice that he was in the middle of the woods...Had he continued to run while he was re-living the past? Maybe that would explain why there was such silence. Yet, his shirt remained in his hand, leaving the Gemstone to glow behind him. His constant running had now died down to a worried stroll, constantly looking behind him to see if anybody was following him, that was when..He heard a voice. What was a person doing in a vast wood like this, yet alone at this time of night. Was this the guy that had been looking for him?
"Who's that?" His insides questioned, as if it was actually another person.
"I have no clue, but i don't want to stand around to find out." He replied quietly, making sure that only his imaginary friend could hear him.
" If anything happens, i'll have your back. You know that right?" It continued.
"Of course old friend." He nodded, simply ignoring the constant voices that echoed from deeper within the woods.

The female choked on her own tears, screaming out a voiceless reply, her lips making out the words... "I don't know!" By now, even her very soul was crying for mercy, backed up by the plea's of her very own children.
"You don't know?" His laughing stopped almost instantly, the twisted smile faded into a blanked out expression. "You.Don't.Know? Hmm, tell you what." He said, getting back onto his feet (After failing twice before) grabbing a chair to sit down on. "I'll make this as simple as possible, i'll be you so called...Teacher, and you'll be my...Foolish students." The wooden aged chair, screeched on the wooden floor until it stopped, setting another silence.

"...Village...Inn, Rest." His mind noted, planning out what he was going to do as soon as he reached the village. For almost a year now Alexius has been going with the wind, as he knows that he is destined for greatness...That would explain why he had the damn crystal stuck in his spine. What kind of colour was purple anyway? Wasn't that a female colour? Even so, one couldn't complain...After all, his gifts were pretty amazing. Strolling like a lost Zombie, Lexy noticed the inn which was only a few feet away. The home run...A place where he could lay low, like any normal person...Wait, normal isn't the word; he must remember that life is never going to be normal for him, that is how it was ment to be, how it was planned...Ever since he was born. "Sleep..." Repeating to himself, he dashed lazily towards the door of the inn. At that moment, he wasn't sure who would be there, nor if he was even running in the first place. Then it happend, right on time...Like a baby trying to walk for the first time, his legs turned into jelly, leaving his left foot to block out his right one, thus causing him to trip over...Face planting the door infront of him. "...."

"I'll tell you why. Because Mother nature, or you so called 'God', decided to curse this world with your kind...Corrupting it in such horrible and stupid ways. Tell me, do you think thats fair? All the wars you humans start...Over money, land and power? Ha!" He sighed, getting up from his seat. His lungs gathered the air around him, as he glanced over his shoulder; taking one last view of the foolish family. "Let this be a lession to you...What comes around...Comes back around... Farewell." The door opened, as shadows reached out from objects. Each one of them joined into each other, moulding and transforming into their biggest fears...The Devil.
"No, Please!" All three of them screamed, yet...No voice could be heard, just the sound of the door closing in the background.

The noise was awful, but Caity ignored it, staring at the blazing sunset through the dirty window with a dreamy expression on her face. She was rarely still, always moving, talking, playing with her hair or absently brushing a hand over the pearl above her eyebrow. The only times when she was completely still were when she was listening to someone, focusing on them with intensity that should have been uncomfortable but somehow never was. Caity was listening to something, though, something that no one else could hear. It was a whispering inside her head, a gentle urging in that hollow space in her chest, a feeling of being pulled, drawn south, and it was all Caity could do to just sit, thinking.

Every few seconds a shiver would pass over the girl, a gentle tremor she was helpless to stop. But she couldn’t leave yet. Caity grabbed the edge of the bench she sat on, knuckles turning white and eyes tightly shut. Why is it so strong?

She’d never felt an...an urge, as strong as this, so insistent that it was all she could do to resist it. Caity leaned forward, her long pale hair falling over her face like a curtain she hid behind. She was so self-absorbed that she jumped when someone placed a hand on her shoulder.

“You okay?” A woman only a little older than Caity looked at the girl with a worried expression, a line engraved between her eyebrows. Caity sighed as the feeling ebbed, fading enough that she could concentrate. Instead of wracking her body, it now faded to a soft insistence, a murmur at the back if her mind. When Caity met her eyes, a new whisper bloomed in her mind, and Caity oblidged.

“Oh, yes, I just…I mean, it’s nothing, I just need…to go south. I should have left already, but…I couldn’t bear to leave.” It was the truth, of course, for though Caity could see how lying could be easier in some situations, she couldn’t. Whenever she tried, she got a sick feeling in that same place in her chest, where she felt destiny pulling her and she sensed lies.

“South? Why?” The woman pushed a hand through her loosely curled hair, and shook her head. “Never mind. Can you get a ticket on an airship?”

“I didn’t think about that.” Caitlin smiled, an easy smile now, and her open face finally won the woman over. The woman pulled out a pre-paid ticket from her purse, and Caitlin shook her head. “I can’t take that. It wouldn’t be right.”

“Just take it. I have a feeling you need it more than I do.” With those parting words, she turned on her heel and disappeared from Caity’s sight, leaving the girl with a ticket to…

“Brilin….” She said, savoring the name. It felt right. With confidence in her step, she grabbed her bag and marched towards the nearest boarding point. Sitting on the ship half an hour later, her head resting against the window, she stared out at the setting sun, feeling the pull pulsing in time with her heart, a steady drumbeat that consumed her entire being. Reaching up to run an absent finger across the smooth circle on her temple, she closed her eyes and wondered what she’d find, who or where she’d be drawn. Something told her Brilin wasn’t her final destination, only a stop on the way.

Inside the inn, it was very furnished. Lush, high class furniture was strategically placed around the room. A few people scattered around the lounge. Gold and red carpet decorated the polished wood floor and a bright, crystal chandelier hung down from the ceiling. Beautiful floral wallpaper matching the carpeting trimmed the walls. Even the maids and butlers were wearing extremely high quality black and white uniforms. Clearly a room here would be quite pricey. Fortunately, Lapis could afford this with the money her “parents” had left her. She had been a high class woman for a few years now.

Unfortunately, there were no one-person rooms available anymore. Lapis had to settle for a two-person room tonight. Maybe Lapis would stay in this town for a while and change rooms when one opened? Who knew? She was hoping to find some clues about her teardrop in this town. Unfortunately so far she had no luck no matter where she went. And it wasn’t as though she could bring it up to people. Other people would turn her away like her parents did when she was born. It didn’t matter too much, but there was bound to be someone out there like her.

Most people believed her gemstone to have been glued on her face. Lapis didn’t care what they thought. When and if she found someone like her, they would know better and since her gemstone stuck out so badly they might even confront her about it. Was every person who had a gemstone embedded in them as lost as she? Were they all looking for each other too? Or was there really a chance that she was alone in the world? Lapis really hoped that she wasn’t… And she knew she couldn’t be. The world was so vast! There was bound to be at least one person out there like her.

When Lapis got her keys, she headed to her room which was just as lavish as the rest of the hotel. The blankets were soft cotton and as warm as thick wool. They matched the wallpaper and carpet that was downstairs. Two queen sized beds laid parallel to each other with a bedside table carved with vines. Across the room was a tall mirror framed with vines matching the bedside table.

Lapis floated to her bed and lie down. She looked out the window beside her and saw the moon hung high. She felt it pulling her toward it. With a sigh, she let all her troubles and worries fade away. She wouldn’t sleep for a while, but she would take some time to let her mind feel at ease before heading downstairs to request a meal. The main thing she thought about was water… Flowing through the world, providing life and piece… The light the reflected from the ripples. It was beautiful and thinking of it always made her feel at peace.

After Lapis had time to lie down and rest her head, she headed downstairs to ask for the receptionists to make her a meal. Unfortunately, the receptionist had gone out for a bit. One of the maids had said that the inn needed some supplies. So, Lapis had more time to rest. She sat on the couch and once again looked at the moon, which was watching over the world. Lapis thought of the orphanage she came from before she was taken in by the rich couple. She thought of how they all worked together so that one day they would gain respectable jobs and maybe a family. How she used to sing for them when they got upset… It wasn’t hard when everyone hated them for having no parents… The woman engulfed in her thoughts wondered what her dear friends were up to. Had they any more luck in achieving their dreams than she had? Lapis certainly hoped so. Would Lapis ever achieve her dreams of figuring out what her tear meant or why she had it imbedded in her skin? All she could figure out was that it must have had something to do with her powers… Were these powers a good thing? Certainly they had helped her and others in the past. However, people treated it as unnatural like her gemstone. It’s possible that they could be bad. But if she only used them for good, wouldn’t they be good? Lapis certainly thought so. How else did the world work? Bad things were used to hurt people for personal gain and good things were used to help others and maybe, if one was lucky enough, him/herself too.

A great sigh escaped from her lips. She was calm about everything, but also troubled. Even though she was troubled, there was no use panicking about things. Panicking would not fix the problems and might even make things worse. Lapis felt like humming the lullaby her friend wrote for her…And so, she did. Soft, high pitched notes floated from her mouth as she swayed to her song. When she sang to herself, she always felt that things would work out one way or another. The children of the orphanage felt the same when she sang to them… This was one of her abilities and it was very useful. She never felt overwhelmed or overstressed. Pain never lasted long. It would all melt away like ice when the spring came.

Still, no sign of the receptionist. Lapis wondered where she went and why she was taking so long… Maybe it hadn’t even been that long. Lapis was never very good at keeping track or telling time. It could only have been a few minutes for all she knew. It felt like a long time because she was hungry… Time always slowed down for her when she was hungry. That, she was sure, was the same for everybody. If only she could keep her appetite held up a little longer… But it had been a few days since she had eaten. It made sense that she would be hungry.

Again, Lapis sighed. She returned to her thoughts of finding people like her. She wondered, this time, about what they would be like. Perhaps they would become close and share dreams and memories with each other. Maybe it would be a lot of fun. Maybe she would meet someone she could sing with… Maybe she wouldn’t have fun… Maybe they were very cruel like the owners of the orphanage. Maybe they were hateful. If they were, Lapis was sure she couldn’t do much to change them, but she knew there was good in everyone and one day it would come out. One day, the cruel people will learn to understand others… And if the others like her who she is searching for would be friendly after they changed. Lapis hoped that they would not have to change to be friendly. Hopefully, they were already kind and loving. Hopefully…

Lapis still didn’t see the receptionist and her lack of food gave her a lack of energy… Soon, she might dose off. Trying to keep herself awake, she sat up straighter. Unfortunately, that didn’t help much… She felt even more tired, actually. It wasn’t good to fall asleep in the lounge though. It would seem like she was trying to stay in the hotel without paying. Lapis had already paid for a one-night stay though. The receptionist would no that… None the less, it was not a good thing to do… But Lapis needed to eat something before going back to bed… And… She had to… wait… Lapis fell asleep anyway. She knew she would wake up when the receptionist came in if she had fallen asleep… Hopefully.

In some remote corner of an inn, perhaps in the middle of nowhere, a soft, barely audible thump announced the awakening of a gemstone in an otherwise soundless, still-dark room. Said young adult lay face-first, almost biting the dust, instead seemingly hovering an inch off the floor against a momentarily invisible barrier. Quite frankly, rolling off the bed didn't feel any less painful. Just smashing into a cleaner, friendlier wall, really. It took an agonizing couple seconds before she could force herself awake from the nap, then push up to stand on previously neatly avoided floor. As it was, Keira was now, more or less, fit to head on down and earn her night's free board or meal; of course, by way of performance.

But who wants to go to work first thing in the morning night? Instead a candle, then a lamp, was quickly lit so she could face her dark room; potentially to waste time allowing a countdown of minutes usually given to prepare. It was then, as she held her hands over an obvious aged, dark instrument case, that a particular topic sprang to mind; like it always had for the past three years. And, in such accordance, did the memory of Chaos' voice leap forward too; an ominous shadow within her thoughts. But that had only started plaguing her two years ago; when the notion of cold, hard revenge had started it all.

When I still thought of Rhea every spare moment. But it's better not to think about it now. Instead, Keira remembered the deal she had made; the somewhat-verbal link that Chaos had established, which had realized her suspicions and given her a roundabout purpose. When Mr. Evil Spirit had found it evident that she wasn't quite so entranced at his idea of perfection (as she clearly wasn't so evil as he'd like to be, or perhaps it didn't have so much a connection to her as she'd like), a different proposal had been struck. In exchange for her help, Chaos would personally cripple, distort and altogether wipe the floor with the bandits; or those of which who'd aided in their killing of her caravan. Those from her past, such as her parents (who'd abandoned her) would be made to relive her experiences, repent, and then die. Or something along that line. Close enough.

That had been all nice and fluffy, but in reality, her part of the deal hadn't even come close to fulfilled; two years had already came and went. To be completely honest, Keira had never met anyone else with a real, actual gem attached anywhere. Those times she'd thought she'd seem someone? Let's just say that I now, quite formally, hate fashion trends, awkward jewelry and rock candy. And she knew, better than most (since she never stayed in one place longer than a week), that chances of finding anyone like that, when gems could be so easily covered, were little to nil. She'd tried. And now, tired of it. But, of course, we all know that's not true.

More than once, she'd caught herself wondering why she'd even had the misfortune of being born as a gem. Truly, life would've been different. Better, probably. Though it's not like I can say. I wouldn't have been abandoned, wouldn't have even met Rhea. I'd be living something suffocating, under rich people and their fantasies about needing a tutor for everything. And that was the end of that, as this discussion usually went.

Just in time, too. A sharp knock rapped on the door, followed by a summons to play as she'd promised. Like every night, really. It took Keira barely a moment to leave with nothing but her worn, dark case; while letting go of her personal musings for the night. An uncomfortable sense of weightlessness descended upon her as she walked down the stairs to the inn's main lobby, the cause being the fact that she was wearing a white, knee-length dress. I'm willing to bet I'll be irritable in ten minutes. At least my gem isn't big enough to be noticeable. A long, plaid red scarf tumbled around her neck; making her feel just a little bit better. She hated the thought of dresses, but she was mature enough to follow appearances.

The first thing Keira saw, as she made to pass through the lobby (and into the staged dining area)? A blue haired, blue eyed girl with, you guessed it, a blue, sparkly something under her eye. The coincidence is uncanny. However, as her mind played out, she found that it could be easily assumed to be the latest trend. Taking the traits of gems. Uncanny. The second thing she noticed was a white haired, grey eyed male staring at said female. Weird. Though I'm not one to say. The coincidence and sheer prospect that two gemstones could even possibly be right in front of her just couldn't be processed through her brain, at least not fast enough, and not when she'd spent so long searching. If this is actually true... The urge to plant a palm into her face would be far too strong.

So, in light of the fact that she couldn't believe it, Keira just walked right by between the two; as if it were the most normal thing in the world. What she did let on, though, was a simple comment to the guy as she passed him by. She smiled, waved a hand across his face, then kept going, calling behind her back. "It's rude to stare, you know? She's not going anywhere." And then, as an afterthought in the event that he might be what she thought he was: "Believe me, I probably know exactly how you feel, right now."

With all that said and done, Keira marched through the door to the dining area, and then onto the slightly raised, stage-like surface in the far corner. A smooth, black piano awaited her, as well as a pianist; whom she'd spoken to earlier for accompaniment. Then, with a well-practiced flourish, broke into a Violin Sonata, effortlessly attracting the attention of the diners within. Her thoughts, though, strayed from the violin to the two potential gems out in the lobby; staying there as she introduced herself and into the next Sonata, this one by Mozart. Well, from the looks of it, they'll be staying for the next little while. I can always go find them later. Shelter and food are more important right now. With nothing else in mind, Keira focused on her next song; making it all the more real as personal experiences flushed out to meet it. As it always was. Break is soon, I think..

'I don't believe it. A gemstone...! A real gemstone! Just like...'

Halley continued to stare open-mouthed with disbelief. After all this time, all the running around following his odd instincts - it had finally brought him to the right place. This was all supposed to happen. He continued to watch as the girl checked into a room.

She was young. Perhaps about his own age. Serene and graceful. But it was her hair that he admired most. It was brilliant. "Beautiful" just didn't seem to do her justice. Aqua-colored locks fell past her shoulders, the ends dipped in white. It was almost enchanting. Halley had never seen anyone with such an odd appearance as this girl. And then there was her gemstone...

...her gemstone. She had a pretty stone embedded in her body too, just like himself. She was...just like him? No. No, impossible! He was different - special. This wretched girl had the audacity to wear her gem out in the open? Right on her face for the world to see? How dare she!? And did that mean she had abilities like he did? Was she capable of extraordinary feats that Halley could only dream about? No, it couldn't be. She looked so weak, so...helpless. The stupid girl obviously didn't know how to use her gemstone. She didn't even deserve one!

'But she's just like me...'

Halley couldn't help but think about what the unnamed girl had been through. Surely she had endured her fair share of ridicule. The fact that she was here now proved that he was not truly alone in this world. In fact, it was likely that she understood what it was like to be born knowing you're different from everyone else. They were the same. They could talk...they could be...

Snapping back to reality, Halley looked about the room, his eyes frantically searching for the girl in blue, who was nowhere to be found.

"Damn it!"

The boy was enraged. How could he have let her just walk away while he was lost in his thoughts like that!? Trembling with anger, he grabbed ahold of an empty glass on the table and squeezed it with all his might.

Shatter!

Bits of broken glass fell across the table and landed on the floor, destroying the silence of the foyer. Looking down at his hand, Halley watched as fresh blood began to pool up in his palm.

'Ugh...how annoying!'

With that, he stormed out of the lobby and retired to his room.

As Halley went through the motions of bandaging up his hand, his mind was floundering every which way.

"I've found another person who bears a gemstone! Now what!?" He called out desperately hoping against hope that The Voice would hear him. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Finally, he heard it again. For the first time in weeks, Halley could hear the wonderous Voice again. How it filled his head with such delicious warmth!

~"They are closer than you know, boy. The wheel of fate is spinning. Follow your instincts."~

And that was it. Nothing more was said. Halley's face was flushed. He felt so high. He finally heard The Voice again. But again, it didn't stay long. But that didn't matter right now. The young man was already consumed with excitement for what was to come.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hours later, Halley had resumed his place at the corner table in the foyer. Waiting and waiting and waiting for the girl to show herself again. Twice he'd dozed off, if but for a moment. And twice he'd gouged his nails into his arm to keep himself awake.

Finally, the blue-haired girl made her appearance once more. She meandered about the lobby and practically stumbled over to the window where she began to gaze out at the night sky. Halley studied her form. She was oblivious. So pathetic, it seemed. Unworthy to wear a gemstone! Halley instantly knew he didn't like this girl. And yet he couldn't tear his eyes away.

It wasn't until a petite hand obscurred his vision, waving in front of his face. Eyes wide, Halley watched a young woman walk past him carrying a violin case. Her hair was the color of lush foliage.

"It's rude to stare, you know? She's not going anywhere. "Believe me, I probably know exactly how you feel, right now."

And just like that, she primly walked off in the direction of the dining hall.

'What in the hell...?'

What exactly was going on here? Was...was she a bearer of a gemstone as well!? It all seemed like too much to handle at once. That girl...she seemed to know something. A lot more than the ditz by the window, it seemed. His head flicking back and forth between the dining hall doors and the blue-haired girl, Halley finally decided to follow the other young lady. She was right. It looked like Blue would be there for a while. With that, Halley slipped inside the dining room. And he watched. And he listened.

Startled by the speaking, Lapis woke up. Someone was staring at me? Well, I guess that’s not too unusual for a girl with a permanent tear under her eye
She thought to herself. For a while, Lapis laid still, but she looked over as she heard the piano playing a somewhat angry song. Lapis listened in awe throughout the song. It wasn’t the kind of song she really enjoyed… But it was being played very beautifully. She fallowed the music, out of the room... Walking with the tempo. When she looked over, she saw the woman playing the piano... And the hands that moved so swiftly and gracefully as they pounded down on the keys made the song seem so intense. Certainly this woman was very talented. Lapis tapped her feet to the song, keeping tempo… Admiring the art of it, even it the song itself wasn’t one she liked. Something more peaceful would suit her tastes more…

Listening to such music made Lapis completely forget about the hunger that had consumed her mind before she passed out on the couch. She didn’t even think to look for the returning receptionist, who came in behind her. Unfortunately, this would mean the unfortunately spacey woman would be even hungrier later on. It will hurt excruciatingly, but that’s part of life when one is as spacey as Lapis.

Lapis looked over at the man who was in the room with them… He had white hair and grey eyes. He dressed kind of like a rebel teen… It was kind of arrogant looking... But at the same time, he was kind of cute. Maybe even handsome. This man... He must have been the one she was talking to earlier. He had fallowed the other woman out of the lobby before Lapis fallowed the piano sounds. Wait… On his stomach… Was that? No… It couldn’t have been. It had to have been just a piercing. There was absolutely no way there was another person with gemstone imbedded in him right in front of her! Was that why he was staring though? That would be a very plausible reason for a person to stair. But it was impossible. There was absolutely no chance that he was just like her. After debating whether he actually had a pearl permanently stuck on his tummy, Lapis wondered why he was staring once again. She knew it was because of her gemstone, but she didn’t want to believe it. Not unless… He might be a gemstone too! The chances were very unlikely. Lapis sighed with a kind of half smile on her face. She wondered if it were even possible to find a person like her. Even if there was one, it would be nearly impossible. Lapis half-laughed at herself, but of course not out loud. She knew it was crazy, but she wasn’t going to let go of her hope. It had brought her this far and it would certainly bring her much farther if she kept holding onto it.

Diverting her attention to the song that was being played, Lapis tried not to think too much about what this person in front of her might have in common with her. He had a lot of similarities… Same eye and hair color as a pearl and a pearl on him, but at this point there was no telling. The main thing that needed attention was the music. After all, once a song has ended, it ends. It cannot be played the exact same way ever again. People cannot record music. Recording is only for the announcements of towns and cities. But… If music were recorded, one could appreciated it over and over again. However, the fact that it cannot be makes it more special… Like snowflakes. Ever changing and ever beautiful.

Suddenly, the song ended. There was a pause, but the girl at the piano remained concentrated on her instrument… Just like a true musician. Lapis knew exactly what the girl was doing. She was thinking of what to play next. It didn’t take but a few moments for her to select her new piece. Ahhh… This one was Lapis’ style… Soft and soothing… Yet, it had a sad hint to it. For a minute, lapis just listed, again, keeping tempo with her feet. For a second time, the woman observed the other’s hands. It was like a swan, slowly gliding across a pond… Softly… Gracefully… Music certainly was a beautiful art. No matter who was playing or singing, if he or she knew how to do it, it would be done beautifully. Lapis began tapping her figure on her leg and stood up. She half-skipped to the stairway, humming softly to the song. When she got to the stairs, she let the notes escape her a little louder, but no less emotionally. She didn’t want to disturb the girl playing or really attract attention to herself… but when she hears a song she enjoys so much, she can’t help but sing! Still, she tried to contain it to a soft level…

Still, Lapis did not notice that she was hungry. The music had captured her heart and held onto it. Who knew when Lapis would remember that she needs to eat? Only time would tell… But certainly her floating mind would not keep her from eating for too long… All that mattered until she remembered her apatite was the drifting of notes from the piano strings to her ears… From her mouth… to the sounds of the piano to her ears… Very few things could exist other than music when music is played.

Lapis closed her eyes and took in the song and sang. Her voice glided from note to note without a hint of tension… The voice was like an angel’s… Soft, somewhat airy and high in pitch. It seemed to float down. It wasn’t shrill… Just soft like a lullaby. This was how she had always sung. Her vocal range was great… She just liked the sound of high notes much better than low ones… And nothing gave her as much peace of mind as singing. Because, singing was what controlled her powers…

Deep inside, Lapis knew that the reason sing controlled her powers had to be the gem… The mermaid’s tear… It made sense that she could sing miraculously with it embedded in her face. It made sense that her voice controlled it… All that made sense, but what didn’t was why it was there… How it got there. Humans are NOT born with gemstones on their faces, plain for everyone to see. It was unusual… No ABNORMAL. But it was okay… Because Lapis had saved enough people with her powers and she could save many more. Right now her singing could even be calming everyone who is upset in the room, like the agitate man with grey hair. She didn’t know, because she wasn’t trying. If she let her voice be heard it certainly would though. Nothing seemed to matter but the peace she felt from the song… And so she just kept singing.

She was simply lying on the ground, head turned slightly to the side as she shook a bit, trying to bring some air back into her lungs. Even if she had definitely not hit the ground hard enough to do permanent damage, Vega certainly wasn’t happy. . . . That fall had hurt enough to annoy her, and to knock the wind right out of her for goodness’ sake. Her small body quivered a touch as she let out a soft groan, trying to lift her head up some so she could look around and maybe find out what the Hell she had tripped over. Even if she had been sprinting at full speed, Vega had been tell that what her foot caught on was definitely not a rock. No, too soft to be a rock. she thought, Maybe an animal? No . . . then I would have heard it growl, hiss or yelp. Vega sighed quietly and shook her head as she began the process of trying to peel her small body from the ground and return to protesting against the effects of gravity by getting to her feet.

That didn’t exactly work out how she wished for it too though. She wound up coughing when she tried to push herself upward, her breathing was still out of whack thanks to her pointless race against Mr. Sun, and she still hadn’t gotten all back that she had managed to lose in her little fall. When this happened, Vega just groaned in defeat and let herself remain on the ground for a minute more . . . not like it mattered if she did that now, the sun was down. Night was quickly setting in as the moon rose above, everything turning dark, yet there was still some light left. Still, what had she tripped over? Well, the teenager was about to get her answer.

From behind her, she heard something move, making the grass along the side of the old worn down road rustle a bit . . . footsteps, those of a human, that was for sure. Upon realizing this, that there was another person near her . . . little Vega’s body tensed up and a look of utter horror overtook her features, crimson eyes going wide. She . . . had fallen over a person! Oh snap, I so owe them an apology!

Soon enough, the rustles and the soft footsteps stopped, everything going silent again as Vega realized; she was being stared at. A look of embarrassment and shame took over her face, cheeks going a little red as she understood what it was she had done. Pulling her head up from the rough grass, her rather showy hair ornament clinking against itself, the black-haired girl found herself staring right at whom it was she had gotten her small foot caught on. Yep . . . looks like I was right about having fallen over a person. she thought in shock, finding herself wincing back in trepidation while the guy stooped down in front of her, holding onto a notepad and pen.

He was clearly older than she was, but then, even people who were her actual age looked older than her . . . compared to other girls who were sixteen, she looked like she was still thirteen. Even through all of her travels, Vega couldn’t recall having ever seen someone though, who looked . . . quite as ‘interesting’ as he did. Even in the fading light, she could make out the fact that he had an odd shade of green hair, what hue it was, Vega herself couldn’t name it, and it was kind of on the messy side, but then she had fallen over him, so he’d been laying down, that meant he had probably been sleeping? He also had eyes that were the same green color as his hair, matching almost perfectly. There was also the fact that he was just sort of . . . staring at her.

Vega just blinked, looking at him quietly, a clear look of confusion on her face. While she did notice the odd markings underneath both of his eyes, the inverted triangles, they really didn’t raise any questions in her mind. The only thing that really mattered to her at that moment, was the fact that he was looking at her . . . more specifically, looking at what was on her forehead; the red stone which was embedded into her very bone, the pyrope garnet that’s purpose remained a mere mystery to her.

He probably thought it was a stick on, or just a fashion statement like almost everyone else in the world. . . . Okay . . . this is getting more than a little bit awkward. Vega thought, beginning to push herself up again with her thin arms. She felt the weight of her halberd balancing upon her back as she did this. The thing was heavy as ever. The buckles upon her cloak clinked and make a noise as she managed her form up to at least sitting upon her own legs. A look of embarrassment still upon her pale face, Vega made a point of acting as if she were brushing imaginary bits of grass off the tops of her stockings, which were pulled all the way up to the middle of her thighs, where the rest of the flesh upon her appendages remained exposed until the main part of her outfit.

Honestly, one could call Vega’s manner of dress rather showy, maybe even inappropriate since without her cloak her outfit seemed like it was lacking much, including the fact it did actually show a bit of skin.

While Vega continued to idly work on getting her already-pristine stockings tidy, her red eyes glanced up back at the person to whom she owed an apology . . . as he seemed to be at work scribbling something onto that notepad of his, going from looking at it to her, and back again. Why hasn’t he said anything. . . ? she questioned. He’s really mad isn’t he? The jewel adorned teenager found herself sighing quietly at thinking that, she always had a knack for getting people mad didn’t she? She hated getting people upset, but she couldn’t act like it bothered her too much. Right, what had happened was just an accident; she would just apologize to him whenever he decided to speak and find a place to settle in for the night, continue on her travels in the morning.

A few more moments passed, and Vega heard the pen drop to the grass below, this caught her attention and she looked up from the tops of her legs, questioningly. Only to find herself looking at the man’s notepad, and what he had scribbled onto it, along with a drawing depicting the basic shapes and outlines of a person’s middle upon it . . . a vertically long oval being shaded in upon the middle of the chest.

She caught the words he had written below.

‘Same. Gem. Forehead. Chest.’

Vega looked upon this with confusion, barely able to even read the scrawl thanks to the dim lighting. But . . . she was still able to commit the four simple words to memory, along with the quickly done sketch. She let out a noise of uncertainty I . . . don’t understand. Blinking, she looked back to him and shook her head before pointing to the stone upon her forehead with her right index finger, did he mean. . . ? Did this guy mean that he had a jewel too? It was probably a faux stone, just a fashion statement. Sure, Vega had heard rumors of the whole current body jewellery craze being inspired by someone who actually had a real gem embedded into their flesh like her, but in all her travels, the teenager had never actually met another person like herself . . . so, she believed it to just be that; a rumor.

So, why would she have had any reason to think that someone she had just tripped over in the woods while trying to make it to a random village shared the same situation as her? Simple; she didn’t. There was no real reason for Vega to think that way. Even if she was a positive thinker, there was just no reason to think that way . . . none at all. Yeah, I’m sure he’s just got a gemstone on him as a fashion statement. she told herself with a sigh.

The black-haired teenager let her hand drop back onto her legs, and shook her head; at least he didn’t seem mad at her for what she had done in her clumsiness. That was always a plus, right? Her lips parted in uncertainty, and she took the chance to speak, her voice cutting through the unnerving silence of the forest. “I’m sorry for falling over top of you. I was in a hurry to try to find a village or something before dark, and well, I wasn’t paying attention while I was running. I . . . didn’t wind up hurting you did I?” she asked him. Wait; what if she had hurt him? What was she going to do then?! That thought hadn’t even crossed her mind before! “If I did injure you, then I’m so sorry! I-I can afford to get you treated if that is the case!” she prattled on, feeling mortified that she didn’t even think about the fact that her idiocy might have harmed someone.

Quickly, Vega ascended to her feet and began to frantically look around for any signs of civilization, she was panicking, not even giving the guy a chance to properly answer her, just assuming that she HAD in fact injured him.

When the ship landed, Caitlin disembarked quickly, gazing up at the dark sky and breathing deeply, overjoyed to be outside once more. She closed her eyes for a second, reveling in velvet darkness, before seeking out the moon. She found it, and she stretched out a hand, seeming to cup it in her palm, feeling an undefinable bond between herself and that heavenly orb.

Her feet began to move of their own accord, walking towards the moon, gleaming like the pearl Caity wore within her skin. She simply smiled, knowing that this was the correct direction. West. She didn’t know what she would find there, but she was certain it had to be important. She amused herself by mussing over the options as the ground unreeled beneath her feet, imagining ever more fanciful situations.

There could be fairies, small as my pinky, with little glowing wings. They’d live in hollow trees and would picnic upon toadstools, use spider silk for their knitting and weave cloth from mist. They’d play the smallest flutes, but the sound, oh, the sound would be lovely, echoing to fill the forest. The birds would join in, and a deer and her fawn would come and watch as we danced the night through, sipping nectar from honeysuckle and dew from the leaves. Or perhaps it could be a great griffin, once the king of his domain, slowly growing ill, and only my tears would save him, grant him a longer life. He would soar up against the rising sun, a black silhouette against blazing orange and rose petal pink, and it would be gorgeous. Or-

She froze, but her feet didn’t quite get the message, causing Caity to feel as if the very ground beneath her had lurched. Miraculously upright, breath caught in her throat, Caity’s eyes sought out the moon, finding it quickly, desperately. It couldn’t be…

No. She wouldn’t even allow herself to think it. But still… She tore her eyes from the moon, looking around herself for the first time. Finding herself near a stand of trees, she scaled one quickly, a great gnarled oak with a fork in its branches and a great crown, befitting a tree older than any king alive. In that fork, safe from most dangers, Caity removed her heels, tucking them into her bag and hooking it over a nearby branch, but not before pulling out a gleaming golden apple. Biting into it, she found that she could see up into the sky, all the way to the moon.

Lulled by the feeling of safety, she allowed herself to dream, a dream more impossible than fairies or griffins, more earth shattering than the sun refusing to rise and the moon reigning eternal. Her fingers sought out her pearl again, a gentle brush to remind herself, and she dreamed of meeting others like her. Would they bear pearls as well? Or something else, some other stone? Was it really so unlikely that she was not unique?

Would their hair be like hers, changing under the moonlight to a pure white that gleamed like the moon herself? Or would they all be different? She’d never heard of anyone else with hair like hers. Would they understand the pull she felt, the urge to travel? Was it possible that they shared her powers? Her healing tears? She pulled at the silver chain around her neck, freeing the small glass vial that hung beneath her clothes, and held it up, sparkling, to the gentle light. It was almost empty, and Caity carefully released the seal, knowing she could fill it once more. She closed her eyes and let her emotions run rampant, overflowing into a glistening fall. Under the light of the moon she bottled her dreams, turning them into hope as she dropped off to sleep.

Soft footsteps... stepped... stepped

Akai tensed slightly as he could feel the figure moved. He narrowed his eyes, trying to see past the pitch black curtain of the night but it was too dark for him to see anything beyond the small, dimly-lit land around him. The moon was high now and its light, if that was even possible, made the forest glow a ghostly light. Out of everything the Nature had created, the Moon was his favorite. People often assumed that just because his power related to fire, the Sun must be his favorite but they were wrong. They were deathly wrong. He hated the Sun. If the Moon made him see clearer with its silver lights without revealing too much of what he'd rather hide then the Sun, with its bright and warm lights, would expose his right eye to the rest of the world. Oh, how he hated it when people just stared at him and whispered to each other about his…abnormal eyes.

Footsteps…stepped …stepped…

The footsteps were really closed to him now and Akai instinctively raised a hand to cover his right eye. His friends used to say that he should wear an eyepatch if he was afraid that the others would see his eye but he had refused every time. He could see with his right eye perfectly. Why would he want to cover a part of his body that could actually function normally? But every time he met a human liked this, with their perfectly normal eyes, he always wished he had brought an eyepatch to hide his right eye. Slowly, the figure stepped out of the dark and into the clearing and Akai stood straighter.

Stepped… stopped.

He could see the figure perfectly now. It was a human girl with…purple hair? Akai frowned slightly. That was not a normal color for hair. When did the last time he see a human with purple hair? Ah yeah, long time ago but the guy just dyed his hair so he would stand out more. How pathetic was that? Akai barely suppressed a sneer of disgust from showing on his face ‘…well, he did stood out more than the others …that’s why I killed him…’ Akai thought smugly.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as the girl took another step forward. He cocked his head to one side and observed the girl in front of him. Akai realized with annoyance that the girl was slightly taller than him, just slightly but still taller. Her eyes shone with mischief and something else he didn’t recognize. Her semi-long, purple hair and gray-purple eyes made her more special than most of the humans he had met and Akai blinked as he realized purple was her natural hair color.’… How strange!’ The teen thought. But purple hair and purple eyes were not the only things that made Akai surprised.’… she’s different…she’s… special…’ He thought as he looked at the girl again.

Growing tired as he had to constantly hide his right eye, Akai let his hand fall to his side ‘…screw it…if she’s scared of me then… fine! I’ll just kill her like I did with every other humans …’ However, thinking and actually doing were two different things. Somehow, he didn’t really want to harm the girl. He didn’t know why but he just didn’t want to even hit the girl. Akai studied the girl’s eyes but he was, once again, surprised as he saw no fear nor anger or any bad intentions in the girl’s eyes when she saw his ‘freakish’ eye. His human friends, even if they weren’t afraid of his right eye, felt very uncomfortable when they looked at it but this girl wasn’t. It made his stomach feel weird and Akai scowled himself ‘…I know she’s hot, alright? But she’s a human…’ but his traitorous heart whispered ‘…so what?...she’s a human then so what?...you like her, don’t you?...’ Akai pushed his traitorous feelings aside and looked at the girl again. Well, he had to admit. She was kinda…cute.

He smiled at her and again, realized something which bothered him a lot more than her hair color or the fact that she was taller than him. He could smile at the girl easier than he could smile at most humans. He was really starting to get soft. ”Cookies? Where are you hiding them?” She asked him with a smile and Akai had to try really hard not to give her one of his ‘real’ smile. He joked, his voice pretended to be thoughtful “…somewhere in this planet?...” He smirked and continued “…just kidding… it’s in my pouch…” He opened his pouch and took out a cookie “…hey, don’t stand there all night…come and sit here…I'm not going to bite you...” He said and waved his hand a little. Offering a cookie to her, Akai took out another one and began to eat it. After a while, he looked at her and continued with his joke “…you know, I came to the dark side for a few years ago and they give me free cookies every year… people often say something like: come to the dark side, we have cookies, right?” He gave her a feral grin. Well, he was only half-joked actually. He did came to the 'dark side' so to speak but they didn’t give him any cookies. These were taken from a corpse of a farmer. Of course, he ’absolutely’ had no idea why there was a corpse there. He was innocent, really! Well, as innocent as a serial killer could be but still…

Woo~ Woo~

He ran a hand through his hair, attempting to look ‘cool’ but his attempt was in vain as an owl hooted again and Akai had to grasp a tree to prevent himself from jumping in surprised. That damn owl! If he got his hand on the thing, he would cook it and then feed it to the wolves. Akai nearly growled as he tried his best not to go and blast that stupid bird into pieces. How was he supposed to look cool if every time he was nearly successful, an owl would appear out of nowhere and make him lose his ‘coolness’?

Akai abandoned his attempt at ‘looking cool’ and instead, he gave a girl one of his ‘softer’ smile. He said in a friendly tone, once again ignored his ‘inner voice’ as it sang ‘…Akai and cute purple-hair girl sitting under a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…’ “…so, what is a beautiful girl like you doing in this ugly forest at night?...”

Lysander

There was something beautiful about the way that played with a city, which was could be matched by no other kind of twilight. Sword-sharp shadows crept from cracks and corners, quickly overtaking the city-space like dark lucid fingers. When the city was nearly swallowed the setting orange sun would rebel; suddenly shinning upon the glass and metal surfaces. The city shone with the last brilliant and desperate glamour of the dying day.

A youth steeled himself in the growing shadows he sought to know. The warm twilight contrasted against his piercing blue eyes that he waited patiently for it’s demise.. When the sun was gone he set out for his work.

And, there was no dark such as the dark of a city. The city had torches that kept back the natural light of the moon and stars. Beyond the torches shadows cast deeper shadows, and men accomplished their darkest works; this is why cities were created.

He had been in the city a week. He was preparing.

He first learned each street (especially the darker alleys), then he bought the friendship of several local ruffians (disgusting monkeys), but most of all he searched.

He had arrived in the city glowing with confidence. But the second day his mood had soured: Had his powers abandoned him? Why couldn’t he sense anything more?

Then there were the false leads... he had abducted several suspect. After knocking them unconscious and stripping them naked, he found only dead stone jewelry. In his disappointment he beat them and left them in a bloody heap.

This evening, his spirits were at their darkest. He had come to a nicer burrow of the city, one that got quiet after-dark. He stooped beside the elegant bird-bath in the small square. It featured only stone birds and some sort of nymph. In daylight the nymph was likely beautiful, but in darkness she looked demonic.

Lysander, exiled prince whom now hunted living gemstones, glanced at his dark reflection in the torch-lit water.

His brow was covered by a black strip of cloth tied around his head like a headband. It nestled beneath his matted golden locks. Beneath were a set of deep brooding blue eyes, on a pale face spattered with dirt. The tall youth wore coat that was far to large for him; once it a warriors garment of the finest silks, but little of it’s former brilliance could be seen. It’s large bell sleeves had been torn to fit his shorter arms, holes and dirt designed the rest of it. Underneath he had even shabbier garb. A pair of dusty goggles hung about his neck, and thin leather straps were all that held up his ragged pants.

“It is pitiful what I’ve been reduced to...” he hissed under his breath. The water made him shiver, his reflection and his memories made him angry... filled with a sudden sickening rage he slammed his fist in to the shallow granite pool.

This solved none of his problems. He bruised his hand and his pride. He cursed and jumped away from the splashing pool.

Then he heard the song...

The song filled him with calm, his body still. His hand and heart ceased to ache... He did not hear the voice with his ears so much as with his soul. The beautiful gliding melody drew Lysander’s eyes to the glowing inn beyond the square. Memorized, he slowly and carefully walked to the sill of an inviting gold-lit window.

He saw her.

Through the panes, beyond the candlelight and crowd he saw the vision in blue; her hair cascaded around her like the sea, the tips even curled white like sea foam. Her body was pale and elegant. She was even garbed in the brilliant royal blue color. His breath stopped when she turned and caught sight of her simmering golden eyes... but, her most intoxicating feature was the teardrop frozen upon her cheek.

Lapis Lazuli.

An abrupt noise snapped him from his daze. He moved quickly into action. He darted towards the inn-door and nearly tripped over a body that lay before it. He growled and drew back his foot to viciously kick the obstruction--but stopped short. His eyes grew wide in shock.

Could this truly be?

Sprawled out before him was a scrawny purple-haired teen. It was not pity that stayed his blow... but the violet gleam of a gem. The boys cloths had been disheveled in his fall, his shirts were pulled up and exposed his skin... and his Amethyst.

A strange idea seized Lysander’s mind. “It has to be her, the singer... she is drawing us all together!” and a plan began to blossom in his mind.

He quickly grabbed the back of the gemstone-man’s jacket. With a firm jerk he dragged the man away from the doorstep and around to the dark ally beside the inn.

“QUIET!” He whispered the command. He knelt beside the other boy, shaking him from his sleep to sit upright. “We do not want to be found.” Lysander would have the hint of a strange accent, and a deep elegant voice. Lysander tore the black cloth from around his brow, exposing his own gemstone: Lapis Lazuli.

He looked to meet his 'brothers' eyes. “Do you know me?” he whispered, bringing his fingertips to touch his jeweled brow. “Do you know who you are?” Lysander’s blue eyes were feverish and bright. The song seemed to feed his hungry spirit. His thoughts and heart beat faster with each moment, but he patiently awaited a reply.

"...Damn door." Why was it in the way in the first place? As far as he saw it, the door jumped into the way causing him to bruise his head. The damage that it had caused... Worse than having a stone thrown at you at close range, doubled thanks to the speed at which he was running at. Being pretty light and flexible had its advantages, including speed. But when you're clumbsy like a baby learning how to walk...Well it can turn out to be your downfall.

"So, this is an inn? Hmmm... His imaginary friend appeared beside him, simply leaning its hand against the handle of the door.

"I guess so...Do you have that feeling? My Gem, it feels weird...Like its trying to tell me something." He paused, tightening his shirt. "This has never happened before, is this..normal?" Was there others like him? Is that what the gemstone was trying to warn him about, other gemholders... No it couldn't be, if that was the case, surely they would be locked away like he was for many years. But then again, his life wasn't normal, no...Not at all.
"Other Gem holders? There is a possiblity, i mean..You can't be the only one. The ghost-like figure pushed itself away from the door, backing away from Alexius, glaring at the glowing stone that was showing through the baggy shirt. "Your Gem is reacting weird, its not supposed to be glowing like that right?" It questioned.

What was Alexius supposed to say? Act like he knew...No he couldn't, this would all be explained sooner or later. Then it hit him...The dream. "Chaos...Hmm." ~ Your early life may have started with a few faults...But, its time for you to be feared. Time for you to grow as a person. Go...Find the others, you never know..They could be right under your nose~ What did this all mean? Nevertheless Alexius was too interested in his mind, leaving him to stand there like a needless child...Facing a wooden door. "...Voices."

They had returned, returned for him? Maybe so, but these voices were getting louder and clearer as every second ticked on. With that, his mind went off into a calculating state, which made everything easier for him to understand, a way of learning which was highly effective during battles. "Conversation...Information sharing...Friend making."

His vision was now turning into a blur, as his body decreased in energy. A rather depressing melody echoed through the door; what kind of person would call that music? Despite the talent that could be heard, there was no beat...Just wasted notes. "This song, relates to this world." Saying softly to himself, leaning his forehead against the door. "Such talent...Beauty... Relating to various animals, the sea..and our ability to dream." Pausing, something caught his attention. Footsteps.

Heavy ones if that, as if the person was in a hurry. Slowly, Alexius sighed deeply, slightly shuffling away from the door. "Then...The quality is ruined...Ruined simply because something is missing, or there is too much of one thing. In this case...Humans." With his sentance finished and put to rest; the door swung open. Who was it? The people that had escaped the village that he used to live in? It could've been anybody, so reacting quickly, Lexy thumped onto the ground below acting like was still hurt from the faceplant (Which he was still suffering from.)

The door remained open, lights from the inn reached into the darkness and spreaded while part of it was intercepted by a figure...A few minutes had passed, and Alexius was still playing injured and hurt, yet the figure kept still..Like it was observing his body, whoever this person was...If they wanted to kill him, they would've done it a long time ago. Or was it the simple sight of the gem? After all it was glowing like the moon, one would simply screem at the sight of a glowing stone stuck in a young males body. But no scream came, infact...More footsteps echoed, much softer than before. 1...2..3.

Before he knew it, Lexy was flung into the air...Leaving his 'playing dead' act useless. Despite this, the figure wasn't finished. Instead,it continued to drag him into a dark corner. But for some reason,Lexy didn't attack...No, he just let it all happen..Like it was all a dream. Something was telling him that there was something about this figure; this one person was like a key to many locks, unlocking one secret at a time.

“QUIET!” A voice yelled in a whisper, due to this...Alexius could tell that this person was indeed male. Nevertheless, his eyes remained close acting like he was resting..Recovering from the door; well that was until he was shaken into life. “We do not want to be found.” He continued while removing something...Showing off...A Gem.
"No way...It can't be," Lexy replied in a deep whisper.

Another Gem holder? Was his dream right? The Gem...By the looks of it, Lapis Lazuli. He couldn't believe it...All these years thinking and wondering if he was the only one...And now, a random man happens to have one; he didn't know what to say, or how to react. Infact,all he did was glare right into the heart of the other males eyes... “Do you know me?” The male questioned, deep concern and hope flared within his eyes. But how was he to reply, of course he didn't know him...But something...Deep inside, kept reminding him that he did. Somehow. As normal, Alexius replied with silence.
"Do you know who you are?” Another question was asked, leaving the male to poke at his gem.

"A sin? A curse?..." He replied quietly yet firmly. After all the years of being called a failure, Lexy has come to the point of actually believing that he was indeed a failure. "That is who i am, nothing more...Nor nothing less." His voice returned emotionless, trailing his vision away from the male towards the moon. "I am somebody, that nobody wants to know...But may i ask...Who are you?"

Ariane laughed lightly and then her eyes widened as the boy in front of her actually pulled out a cookie. She stared at it and then laughed again, a bit incredulous. "Wow. You actually had cookies. That's amazing," She smiled at him, still chuckling softly. She stepped closer and after a moment took the cookie. In the dark, she couldn't see exactly what kind it was, but it really didn't matter - it was the same either way. She bit into it, thinking, I'm not sure if this counts as prepared or extraordinarily idiotic...

It was chocolate chip - homemade if she had any taste at all, yummy, but just a bit burnt at the edges, as if a little kid had tried to make them but had been a little late in taking them out.

"The dark side?" She asked around a swallow. "What? Like from Hell?" She grinned at him, but before he could answer, an owl interrupted, its ghostly cries falling into the night and quickly absorbed without so much as an echo. She stilled upon hearing it - the owl was declaring its territory, warning other predators away from its area. Interesting, considering that she hadn't seen many other owls around. She wondered for a moment what it was warning off and then glanced at the boy again.

She turned her head away to cover a smile as he ran a hand through his hair, as if trying to calm his nerves - it was a general tactic used by both her guy and girl friends back at her old school - pretend to fix your hair like nothing just happened. He then ruined the cool aura by grabbing a tree as a second chorus of hoots rang out into the night, an action that had almost caused Ariane to laugh, though she suppressed it - Though he is so lucky that I don't know him better, or he'd get ribbed about that for weeks...

Still, she couldn't help murmuring, "Woo ~" very softly and then smiling at him.

He turned and looked at her now and smiled at her, a gentle thing that made his slightly playerish features soften into an almost gentle expression. It made her smile soften in turn, and she wondered briefly how the expression looked on her - she wasn't normally a very gentle or soft person.

Ariane looked at the boy more closely. He didn't seem particularly gentle either, being rather strong-built and with features that were almost hard, despite their seemingly young age. Though, since we don't really age, I guess he could be like over a hundred and I still wouldn't be able to tell, She thought absently.

“…so, what is a beautiful girl like you doing in this ugly forest at night?...”

The words made Ariane pause for a moment in her contemplation of the boy's features and focus in on the boy himself. She found herself laughing at the comment. "Beautiful?" Ariane gave the boy a flirty smile, the confidence coming easily to her. "You think I am? Really?" She dipped her head slightly, leaning back on a tree so that she could look up into his eyes, a pose that she found made guys feel like they had more control. "I guess that I'd have to return the compliment, cutie." She winked and then grinned, unable to suppress a light tease about his height, adding in a sing-song voice, "I love guys who are shorter than me."

As he replied, she kept smiling at him, a soft, constant thing that was meant both to look flirty and put him at ease as she went back to observing him. Hopefully, it would also keep him from noticing that she had dodged his question. She was now hidden almost in the shadows, just the lower half of her face visible, her eyes just pinpricks of light that could barely be seen - which was better. It was said that eyes were supposed to be the windows to the soul, and playful as this kid seemed, she didn't want any other gemstone looking inside of her until she could determine just what they were.

She wondered if she should ask him straight out - sometimes being straightforward had great benefits - she could stop wondering for one and actually find out. But - being straightforward in a situation like this would also present her with great dangers - great dangers. If he happened to be one of Nature's, they could form an alliance and go search for her together. She would gain a companion to travel with as well as a friend to protect her (hopefully) and someone to collect knowledge with.

However, if he happened to be from the other camp - if he happened to be one of the gemstones who had been tantalized to the other side - that would put her in great danger. He might try to stop her from doing what she wanted - might try to kill her if he was really far gone. And while she would have the advantage in a fight - she knew exactly where his gemstone was, and he wouldn't have an idea where hers was - fighting would create unnecessary risk and offer up the chance of death. The very thought of falling into the sleep of forever made Ariane want to shiver, though she suppressed it so as to keep her companion from noticing that she wasn't paying full attention to their conversation.

Instead, she pondered about the last possible thing that could happen if she asked him which alliance he was from - he could lie - humans did that, and really, gemstones were just glorified humans. She would receive false information, and, even if she didn't, she would suspect the information, and in the end, it wouldn't do her any good at all. She would wonder about it and she wouldn't be able to trust him completely no matter what he said.

And if she did ask him, she would be revealing that she had knowledge of the gemstones, a knowledge that was usually only contained by the very elderly, certain families, or other gemstones. It would lead to prying of her story, her life, her reason for being out on the road in the middle of the night without anyone or any supplies on her, and that, she certainly did not need or want.

So, Ariane decided, better to not say anything. Right now, she had the advantage. I know that he's a gemstone. She looked more closely at his right eye, wondering again what gem it was and if she could possibly ask him without arousing his suspicion. Was it a ruby maybe?

She couldn't ask. He'd want to know why she wasn't freaking out that he had a jewel for his right eye - and she didn't want to say.

So instead, Ariane decided to pretend that they were just two teenagers who had met in a forest and were up for some nice flirting. She smiled at him and gently held out her hand. "I'm Ariane," She said, pushing off the tree so that her eyes could be seen again. Ariane paused for a moment and then asked, casually, as if it had just crossed her mind, "So...you headed anywhere?" She glanced over at the town. "You maybe wanna walk over to the town with me and see if we can get a room?" She paused, realized how that might sound and added after a brief pause, "Separately, of course." She winked again.

As the song managed to play itself out, she couldn't help but engross herself within it; closing her eyes and blocking everything out but her violin. Halfway through, however, she caught a whisper of an angel's voice, so soft a melody that Keira could barely hear it; but there nonetheless. The shock of such talent, such beauty though altogether so quiet, was almost enough to suddenly cause a break in her song, had she not been so disciplined as she was. Magnificent. Like snow falling. Be that as it may, she could only roam the room with her eyes to find the culprit; only to find that said culprit was probably in the lobby. Well, I have a feeling I know who this person is, anyway.

Throughout what was left of her song, Keira diligently fought the urge to improvise and fit the magical voice in; although there were moments when she'd intentionally harmonize just for the sake of doing so. Not that it'd sound particularly different to untrained ears (and especially not when the vast majority of the audience probably couldn't hear the voice anyway), but it was the least she could do. After all, such chances shouldn't be passed by. I doubt there's another voice out there to match that, in all due respect. For her own, though, she focused so entirely on her parts where it counted; for the sake of perfecting that one moment, that memory.

Until, finally, she gently let the piece go. Like the end of a dream, hopefully. Some things are better short and sweet. A chorus of applause rang forth from the crowd as she bowed and excused herself for a moment, letting the pianist take over for a while after a general, short break in entertainment. With her instrument now safely returned to its case, she set down with it towards the lobby; almost instantly being mobbed by customers with compliments, job offers, or general conversation. It took much of her professional discipline not to shrug off and keep her appearances, as well as customers, happy. Which, incidentally, was part of her job description.

The fragrance of food all around made her stomach remind her of dinner, the reason she had played in the first place. It didn't entirely help either, when she was kept within that one place for minutes on end, sharing one-sided friendly chatter with those around her. But there's more pressing matters to deal with, first. Like wasting time and getting the heck out of this. That voice, for instance.

More than verifying the existence of other gems, the thought of meeting this much of a musically talented person was what brought Keira to so easily use up her (probably) only break into such a state of urgency. Rather than what others in her position would think, and although she wouldn't admit it, she probably valued a musician's talent the same as a gemstone. After all, they were both like finding a needle in a haystack. And even among musicians, singers were special. Probably because it's the only aspect of music that I'm not personally good at. The prospect of both a gem and talent together? It was hard to believe. But then again, she hadn't believed how she could find two gemstones without looking, either.

Finally free of the mob, Keira hefted a little sigh and resumed her way to the lobby; briskly keeping pace without making unnecessary eye contact for fear of getting mobbed again. That white-haired guy's probably out there already, anyway. Seems like the type. The uncomfortable feeling of far too much exposure, coming from the fact that she wore a dress and the eyes following her, began to settle over her short-lived feeling of contentment; involuntarily causing her to shudder. Thankfully, though, she was safely out of the danger zone (dining room) before the worst effects settled in. And by then, I'll be too preoccupied to notice. Hopefully.

From stepping out into the lobby, it was only a matter of seconds before she locked onto her victim presumed fellow gemstone/musician; the young adult clad in colours of the sea. The spacious foyer otherwise seemed quite empty, not surprising for the time of day. Funny. Now this will be all the more awkward. Oh well. Keira adjusted her grip on the dark handle of her violin case before somewhat confidently striding forward; coming to the side of the girl. As it was, thoughts of gemstones and the like hadn't occurred to her, much less spoken. Music was, for once, overriding her system so much that she actually took an initiative without an ulterior motive.

"Hey, was that you? The one who sang to my song?" She smiled and lifted up her violin just a little, verifying whatever unsaid question about 'my song', before returning a curious gaze. "I heard you, though most of them probably didn't. You were amazing!" Which actually means something, when I've practically been everywhere. By now, Keira was unusually flustered; though seemingly calm and collected in appearance. Today's full of surprises, isn't it? Damn dress. It's probably because she hasn't made a friend in a very, very long time.

Without (hopefully) further ado, she brought out her free hand to shake as she introduced herself, for the second time of the day. "I'm Keira, the violinist here for the night. Though, truth be told, I can play anything else here." Well, then. Let's all just hope that didn't sound unnecessarily awkward.

Music rang out from the violin as deft, feminine hands ran the bow along the strings. Music that brought both tears and a smile to those listening. Music that Halley could not hear. No, he was far too busy to enjoy it now. Far too overcome by feelings the boy didn't even know existed.

'Does she know? Does she know about the gemstones too? Of course she does! Just lookit her hair! She's probably one of them too! So many...just like me. Are there more? Is this what The Voice meant? Damn it, what is going on!?'

These people were...(dare he admit it?)...special. Different. Better.

'No, no, no, no, no, NO!'

Not better. Certainly not better than him.

'Do they have powers too? Can they do things like me? Can they do more!?'

Gemstones. Born with gemstone embedded in their flesh.

'They understand. They must understand! These...these are people who have lived with it! The knowledge that they're different from everybody else. I can talk to them. I can...I can be with them. I can laugh and cry and play and...and show them Pippin and -'

Singing. He heard singing. Looking up, Halley saw that the girl with green hair was still playing onstage. It wasn't anyone up there. No, someone else was singing softly. It was beautiful. Enchanting. It made Halley's heart tingle for a moment and he hunched over slightly, unaccustomed to the feeling. Where the hell was it coming from? He had to find out. Now.

Stepping around the back of the dining hall, Halley continued around a smaller corridor. His boots thud, thud, thudding ever so lightly on the thick carpeting. The singing was getting louder and louder. He could actually make out the words now. Rounding the corner, Halley came to the base of the stairs and found the source of that heavenly voice who -

'Her!?'

It was the blue-haired girl. Lost in her own little world and chirping away like a bird in a cage. She was the one with the voice of...of...!?

He felt his hands clench into fists. How dare she flaunt herself like that! The girl's back was to him. He could destroy her right now. But...he would never again hear such a beautiful voice. A beautiful voice that she didn't deserve!

Halley continued to listen...unaware that his hands were now relaxed at his sides. The girl didn't seem to notice him. She was alone. Her voice was beautiful, yes...but the boy could hear an undertone of sadness in her words. Like she had seen and been through much more than her pathetic appearance suggested. And another emotion could be heard over her sorrow. A stronger one. One of hope.

The words permeated Halley's very being and he felt that strange twinge in his chest again. It startled the young man and again he felt his rage spike.

"Shut up!" He barked out to her.

Then, feeling as if he'd just shattered a pane of glass, Halley felt himself sink as he pulled at his hair in confusion. He suddenly felt out of breath.

"I...I dont...like...that song."

The moon had risen quite high at this moment. Its silver light lit up the forest, making everything look more beautiful, more like a dream. Akai looked at the fireflies that had begun to fly out of their nests in amusement. Their lights were weak but nice. His eyes trailed from the fireflies to the girl with purple hair as some fireflies flied near her. Her face was lit from the lights of the fireflies and it made Akai nearly go into stunned silence. She looked like a goddess of the forest as she smiled at him and the fireflies danced around her like little lights. Her purple hair shone briefly under the moonlight and when she opened her mouth to ask him, he almost didn't notice since he was too busy studying the stunning beauty in front of him.

"The dark side? What? Like from Hell?"

Akai intended to answer bitterly 'no...like destroying this world and everything in it...but I guess you can say I have been from hell and back...' But he refrained himself, he wouldn't look good if he said that. He held out his hand and watched as a firefly landed on his finger. He looked at the girl as she sat down next to him and this time, he really did give her a genuine smile. She was so...pure, so beautiful, so unlike any other humans he had ever met. And for the first time, Akai wondered if there was truly this kind of people existed in this corrupted world.

"Woo~"

She murmured softly and smiled at him. Akai could feel his cheeks reddened a little bit, from embarrassment or shyness or even anger he didn't know, maybe it was a mixture of them all. He huffed childishly and chuckled as he took another cookie and chewed it slowly, enjoying the taste of the cookie and the company of the beauty next to him. He grinned and spoke "...if I know where that chicken, I mean owl, is...I will go and blast it to pieces...making me lose my coolness when I am sitting next to such beauty, that chicken has gut..."

"beautiful? You think I am? Really?"

She spoke again and Akai moved a little bit to look at her better, making the firefly on his finger fly away. He nodded his head with conviction "...of course...you are the most beautiful person I've ever met..." He said and immediately covered his mouth as he realized what he just said. After a short pause, he uncovered his mouth and said again, this time calmer "...I won't lie to you...you're really the most beautiful person I've ever met..." He added after a while "...really..." He prepared to added '...not that I have met that many people, you know... since I killed most of them...' But once again, he refrained from saying so. He chuckled as she returned his compliment with a "I guess that I'd have to return the compliment, cutie." She winked at him and smiled. Akai's eyes suddenly saddened.

He felt sorry for her, really, he did. She looked so innocent...like she had never witnessed the dark side of the world, the corrupted side of this planet. He didn't know what would happen to her if she saw that side of the world. Would she lose her innocence? Yes, that's for sure. Would she lose those happy sparkles in her eyes? The mischief glint when she looked at him? Akai honestly didn't know and he hoped she could keep her innocence forever. This world was so corrupted that even if there were some people like her, he couldn’t save it but if he could choose who to spare from the massacre, it would be her and those people like her.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the girl again. Gosh! This girl tended to pull him out of his thoughts a lot! She said in a sing-song voice "I love guys who are shorter than me." Akai couldn’t suppress a pout this time and he immediately said "…That’s just because I haven’t had my growth spurt yet…I’m a late bloomer. I’ll be taller than you in no time…" Suddenly realizing how childish it might have sounded, Akai blushed a little and added after a while "…well, yeah…u-uhm…just stating my opinion…" He fidgeted nervously. After that, everything seemed to fall into some sort of comfortable silence.

Akai looked at the moon and suddenly, he wondered why the girl didn’t seem to be scared of his right eye. He remembered the time when he was young, everyone in his village would curse him and throw rocks and do other things to him just because of his right eye. He unconsciously shivered as he remembered there was a time when he almost lost his…Akai shuddered as he remembered how he had cried after that accident. It was so terrible…so horrid that he would rather forget about it but unfortunately, he couldn’t. It was an unforgettable memory…no, not memory… nightmare. Akai bit his lips and looked at his body again, suddenly felt so dirty. He tried to shrug it off and with great difficulty; he managed to forget about it and concentrated on the girl next to him again.

She looked thoughtfully for some unknown reason. ‘probably about my eyes…’ Akai thought but still giving her a smile. It wasn’t everyday he met a human girl whom he immediately took a liking to. Akai studied her again. He chuckled quietly as he realized he was observing the girl a lot. The fireflies were flying lazily around her and they illuminated her beauty in a way Akai couldn’t understand. He closed his eyes a little, enjoying the cool air of the forest at night. Tonight was unusually beautiful. And Akai realized one more thing, he hadn’t killed anyone for an entire day. He smiled softly ‘…when was the last time I didn’t stain my hands with blood before dinner?’ And his inner voice answered for him ‘…long time ago…I forget…1 day ago? 1 year ago? 10 years ago?...’ He shook his head slightly. He really did forget.

As he was still dwelling about his past, the purple-hair girl spoke "I'm Ariane," She held out her hand and waited for him. Blinking in surprise, Akai chuckled and instead of shaking the girl’s hand, he held it and planted a firm kiss on her soft, warm hand. "…I’m Akai…" He said finally and let go of the girl’s hand before adding thoughtfully "…but you can call me Red. My friends call me Red…"

He held out his finger once again and waited for another firefly to land on it. He turned his head slightly as he heard the human girl – Ariane spoke "So...you headed anywhere?" He nodded his head and said “…yes, I’m heading toward Atsumari for some…business…” Of course he couldn’t say he was heading there because he was on his way to search for the other gemstones, right?

What the girl said next shocked him into silence "You maybe wanna walk over to the town with me and see if we can get a room?" He looked at her and tried to see if she was serious about this. ’Well, she’s looking serious enough for me…’ His ‘inner voice’ said but he paid it no mind as the girl opened her mouth and added " Separately, of course." She winked at him and Akai felt disappointed but quickly shrugged it off. What was he expecting anyway?

He decided to tease her back instead “…aww…for a moment there I thought I had a chance with you, beauty…” He joked with a smile. Stood up from his sitting position, Akai held his hand and waited for the girl to take it “…come on, let’s go…I don't want to stay here and wait for some random chickens...I mean owls...yeah, owls...I don't want to wait for some random owls appear out of nowhere and make me lose my awesomeness...” He offered her his other hand and opened his palm, exposed a small firefly in it "...for you..." He said and grinned widely.

As the song continued, Lapis heard a few times when the some would fallow her instead of the original piece. Not wanting to be heard, she shoved it off as her imagination. After all, this song was new to her. It could be the way the song was written… But somehow, it seemed like it was different. It was hard to tell when one didn’t know the song that was played… Ah… Oh well. The only thing that mattered right now was that Lapis was enjoying herself. It was rare that she heard music other than what she sang since she began traveling, so it was quite refreshing.

She listened as each note drifted to the sky, singing with the notes… Also letting her voice float away. It was so calming… It was so beautiful. Was there anything that life needed aside from this? When she sang… It was the one time she felt that her life was whole… It was a time she felt that nothing was missing. Did she even need anything? To find the gemstones? Yes. She knew she did, but Lapis couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to have a home of her own… An enchanting place. She would have a butterfly room where she would keep not only butterflies, but the most succulent flowers. There would be a library where she could gain more knowledge… And a nice, sweet bedroom. The moment she would walk in, there would be a soft feeling to it and when she would wake, she would feel at piece. Music would always spill out of the music room. Sweet, calm music. But Lapis didn’t truly care about all that. She knew if she followed suit in that want… The want for a home, she would still feel she was missing something.

Lapis’ voice continued to let her voice drift as she thought about her “Home.” Softly… Sweetly… Calmly... Her voice continued to flow out of her. It was like a sweet sigh… Relief… Calmness… That is what she felt. Nothing was wrong as she sang. Nothing could be wrong. Everything was serene and perfect…

“SHUT UP!” Someone nearby barked. Lapis stopped singing instantly. She hadn’t known anyone was around… She was lost in her own world… Thinking of calming things and things that made her happy as she always did. However, she didn’t mean to disrupt anyone. She meant only for herself to hear it... But what’s done is done and someone else had heard it. Unfortunately he didn’t like it much, but no one liked the same things.

It was the grey haired man. He was standing beside her. For a moment, he faltered. He seemed to have felt that he was walking on egg shells. Lapis knew that he didn’t want to anger or upset her, so she didn’t get upset or angry with him. She kept calm and composed. The grey haired man twiddled his hair between his fingers.

“I... I don’t… like… that song.” He mumbled under his breath. He was making a failed attempt to make an excuse for shouting “SHUT UP!” It really didn’t make that much of a difference, since Lapis had gathered that he didn’t like the song from the first thing he said anyway. It didn’t bother her either. Quite frankly, it didn’t matter. Lapis never let things like that get to her. After all, there would always be critiques and when people have different tastes, that’s what makes the world more interesting.

Sadly, Lapis did want him to like the song. She wanted everyone to like her singing. She wanted to touch everyone’s hearts with her voice. This just confirmed that it isn’t possible to appeal to everyone… But even so… Lapis reminded herself that everyone had different tastes and she didn’t let it get to her so much. Sometimes her thoughts would make her more sorrowful than the words that spew from the mouths of others. Believing that everyone would like her voice if she worked hard enough both made her motivated and could hurt, because no one could ever make everyone love his/her voice. At least Lapis could accept that, but she would never give up on becoming a better singer. She could have the voice of a mermaid… She would go to the sea and sing with them and hopefully not come across any sirens who would try to drown her.

Getting her mind back on track(and taking a long time to respond), Lapis looked up at him with a calm, yet also a confused expression. “Really? I thought it was a beautiful song…” She said in a soft, somewhat saddened voice. She wasn’t heart broken or anything. She guessed that her powers had affected this man and he just wasn’t used to the complete peaceful feeling. “I didn’t mean to disturb you. I’m sorry.” She said a few moments later.

Again, out of nowhere came the violinist. Lapis looked over at her as she said “Hey, was that you? The one who sang my song?” She gave a soft smile as she lifted her violin to confirm that she had been the one playing before curiosity of her own took over. "I heard you, though most of them probably didn't. You were amazing!" The green haired girl seemed a little exited, yet also flustered. Was she nervous about something? Lapis also wondered why this girl had had emphasized “them.” Was there something different about the people around the girls? How could that be? Or was it just because none of them seemed to have gems? Lapis didn’t know. It was almost the way people would emphasize the fact that she and her friends at the orphanage were parent-less. They would always emphasize them when talking about the orphans… Or even the word orphan was emphasized if they were only speaking of one of the children there. At least this girl didn’t seem as hateful as the people at the orphanage. She actually seemed quite nice.
"I'm Keira, the violinist here for the night. Though, truth be told, I can play anything else here." The girl seemed a little worried as she said such confident words, but Lapis believed them. After all, she had played beautifully.

“I’m sorry to have disturbed you. I didn’t mean to sing loud enough for anyone to hear… I’m glad you enjoyed my voice though. Your violin work was beautiful as well.” Lapis responded happily. She didn’t think to introduce herself, being the spacey girl she was.

Food. Lapis smelled it leaking out of the dining room… It smelled wonderful and reminded her of how hungry she was. Her face paled as she began to feel sick. She hadn’t eaten in days… She forgot all about food when she woke up. Lapis’ head began to feel light as though she would pass out. She had to get some food. Lapis could keep herself composed until she could get some, right? She wasn’t entirely sure. She was so light headed and sick feeling that there was a possibility she would pass out… But there was no way that Lapis would allow herself to feint. Especially not in front of other people.

Lysander

A wiry grin grew upon Lsyander’s face. He drank in the man’s glare, the effect of his expression and words bore deeply into Lysander's mind... his sensitivity was greatest when he was close to others, what he recived from the Amythyst was so... raw.

He truly does not know himself... Lysander had never meet another living gemstone. He was surprised to find the Amethyst upon his back... perhaps each gemstone showed their nature in a different place. Perhaps they were all lost and wondering the world in ignorance. I must awaken him...

“I am your brother.” Lysander’s right hand drifted from the Lapis in his forehead to rest upon his chest, he still held the the Amethyst boy with his left, but his grip had transformed from the rough capturing grip he had used earlier: he now gently supported the Amythyst by his shoulder. “You are neither Sin nor Curse.”

Lysander truly pitied the boy. It was unsuitable that a living gemstone so full of power and penitential might think so lowly of himself. Humanity was a pitiful pile of weakness and confusion... did he not see this? Or had he accepted the cruel judgment from the glorified-apes. It was as if they knew the boy was destined to destroy them and tried to crush his spirit...

The Amythyst looked away, the moon reflected as a pale ghost in his purple eyes. Lysander leaned closer to emphasise his intention with a quiet clear voice. He could not let the boy turn away from his destiny... he must be awakened.

“We have been born into this world together, gemstones upon us, power within us.” He spoke carefully. “We have power of infinite potential. With our brothers and sisters united together no one dare dream of stopping us.” He watched with his eyes and sensed with his mind for the boys reactions. “We are born to accomplish a great thing...” his soft voice took on a gravely quality as he finished: “greater yet than this misbegotten world has seen before... or shall ever see again.”

Lysander did not know that nature had called other gemstones to protect her, but he thought that if the others were unenlightened they might yet harbor some lover for life. They might have to be swayed, awakened.

His train of thought, and the song, was suddenly interrupted. There was a flurry of harsh thought-noise from within the inn, and a yell. “QUIET!”

Lysander cursed in the dead language of his home. He lifted his head to peer through the windowpane. He saw the blue singer talking to others... A green haired-haired girl and white-haired boy. They had been provoked by the song as well...

He knelt back down to the dirt with the Amythyst. The quick appearance of the others worried him. The white-haired boy was still restless. It was odd that the song seemed to have such a contrary affect on the boy. As for the girl... here precence was strong and steady, with a confidence unmatched by any other in the room. Could they be gemstones? What if they were all unenlightened? Lysander had seen ignorance turn to disaster in his home islands... The group inside did not seem to be leaving in a hurry, but time was still precious.

He corrected his attention back to the Amethyst. As a prince he was taught that allegiance and loyalty were built one man at a time. It was likely no coincidence he had meet the Amethyst first, he needed to be sure of his camaraderie, and his dedication to the purpose... then he would see to the rest.

“It begins tonight.” He said quietly and looked to meet the boys eyes. How many gemstones would appear this eve? He calmed his excitement to speak with his new-found brother. “Do you... understand what I speak of?” Was it to much information at once?

He had trouble keeping the blue singer form his mind. To even recall the song warmed him. Her melody was soothing... healing. There were a thousand reasons the girl might resist their mission. Simply ignorance; she might have a place of importance in this human waste or be under another‘s protection (If he had been approached while he was a prince, he would not have quickly abandoned his duties), or perhaps as a healer she did love life... likely, it was only one aspect of her power... which side was stronger?

If she would not come, they would take her.

I must awaken her...

"Beauty?" Ariane asked. "Is that my new name?" She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, a fleeting impish look. "Not that I mind, of course," She added before he could reply. "Not at all." She glanced into the distance, a faraway smile lighting her eyes. "I think it's a cute nickname." Nobody had ever told her that she was beautiful before - cute - 'you look pretty today' - 'I love your hairclip! It's so cute' - something like that, but not beautiful. She normally wasn't the kind of person one would regard as beautiful - so it was a very refreshing change.

Her gaze went back to him as he suggested that they go on and she chuckled slightly. "Chickens..." She murmured under her breath, grinning at him. It was incredibly cute - both his words and the little puff of pride - normally narcissism was something that she would willingly beat out of a person but when used it play... It's actually kind of charming... Ariane thought - then smirked. But definitely not in a Prince Charming kind of way. She looked at Akai - Red. Charming in a - For a very long moment, she scrutinized him and then shook her head. I don't know, Ariane realized after a moment of searching for the right word. I don't know how this is charming. Her eyes lit with a slight smile. Well, maybe - if I stick around long enough - I'll find out.

"Awesomeness?" She said, lightly. "What awesomeness?" Then, she smirked to let him know that she was kidding.

He opened his palm to her, holding out his hand. She looked into it and inside was a tiny black dot. Ariane frowned at it for a moment, unsure as to what it was - it was too dark to see -

The end of the tail of the firefly lit up, and her eyes opened wide as the glow lit up Akai's palm, turning it into a blanched yellow-white color. She sighed slightly in surprise.

"...for you..." Akai said and then he beamed, the grin stretching his face.

It took several moments for Ariane to realize what he was saying and then she laughed, delighted with the tiny gift. It was so cute, so - innocent - like something that a child would give to her. Ariane stared into Akai's eyes - both the normal, red human eye and the jeweled eye - and then grinned. "Thank you!" She said, reaching her hand out and extending a finger to pull the firefly from Akai's hand to her own.

She moved very slowly, unwilling to scare the firefly off before she could take hold of it. She normally didn't really like bugs - in that way, she really was the standard girl. There was just something about the way that they moved, about the way that they - they were - that she just couldn't bring herself to appreciate, no matter how much good they did in the world or how much basis they provided - none of that was enough to change her mind about the little creatures.

But this - this momentary, brief glimpse of beauty - that made Ariane extend a finger to the firefly.

Her finger brushed Akai's skin - it was warmer than hers but then, that wasn't very unusual. She was known for having odd body temperatures - cold when she should be hot, hot when she should be cold - it was just one of the things that went with being Ariane. And then - before she could pick up the firefly, it opened its wings and flew up into the sky, spiraling up and then away into the distance, its light trailing behind it like an after image.

All the movements happened so fast that Ariane didn't even have time to react. "Oh..." She said, a little disappointed. She watched it go, her hand still hovering over Akai's, then sighed. "Oh well," She said mildly mournfully to Akai. "It was a nice thought at least."

That was when she noticed that she and Akai were very, very close - her hand hovering above his, her body tilted down slightly, focused on his hand and maybe only ten - twenty centimeters away. It surprised her - she hadn't noticed, and then she grinned.

Very slowly, so that he could pull away if he felt uncomfortable with it, Ariane placed her hand in Akai's. It was a teasing action - she didn't think that she was really going to do anything with this guy that she had just met in the middle of a forest in the dead of night, but it was always fun to play around a bit. She let her hand settle in Akai's and then straightened herself, using her other hand to brush her ponytail back over her shoulders, where it made a light swooshing noise and then settled firmly into place.

"Woo ~" She murmured again, smiling as she looked into Akai's eyes. She held them for a moment, the barest hint of light - moonlight which was soft and pure and beautiful - turning them into a glimmering ruby color. They looked like crystal, pure, perfect.

And then she turned her head away, facing towards the town, where she could sense, if not see, the artificial lights, the fires, the dying prey - all that she wanted to solve by finding Nature and righting the wrongs done in the world - but still, a town would provide a safe place to rest without need for worry (not that she was particularly worried) and, more importantly for her, a comfortable place to rest. Besides, she had some extra money - and she could probably make some more without much trouble. Someone always wanted something done, whether it was help with the laundry, pulling out the weeds, walking the animals, chasing away rascals (although she rarely took jobs that had this sort of description), helping with crops or plants or just all around the house chores.

"Come on," She said as she started to walk forward. "Let's go find a good place to stay and - you know, maybe get something to eat - talk, have some fun..." She let the sentence drift off as she felt a breeze run across her face. She breathed it in, happily, then glanced back at Akai to see his reaction.