Lei Eton's Story

"Y...your hair... it... it is the color of the flowers that bloom by the roadside..."

'Roadside....?' Aria thought to herself, the first thing coming to her mind, 'What's.... a roadside?' She wondered since she really only had paths to follow rather than actual roads. In fact, hardly paths. There was always grass, flowers, bushes, trees, all sorts of wild things blocking the way, so there was really not even a path. Then, realizing that it may have been a compliment, maybe not, she just said to be polite, "A-ah, thank you sir!"

"A... ahem yes M'lady, I believe I am in the same situation as you... should that be a good or a bad thing I have yet to see."

"I see...." Aria seemed to have said disappointedly, hoping that someone knew a way back to her home, even though the whole entire room was filled with strangers, "Well," Aria began, trying to stay optimistic, "I'm sure it won't be bad!"



Yuu found the way the stranger, also known as Joshua, spoke, but ignored it, not really caring since he was such a lazy young man to even care, "Aye, this young man is correct, if those weapons are drawn then how can relations be continued in peace? It is most appropriate that you would sheathe them post haste."

"Outdated or not.... this weapons are enough to slice through anything. And that includes your pretty face if you do not back off".

"Thank you." He said to Joshua with a tiring sounding sigh, seeming to be glaring at the armed girl known was Mikasa, "At least someone agrees with me on that. And I think I'll hold off on having... whatever that is," He referred to her weapons since he had no clue what to call them, "Cutting me to pieces." Unlike most people who could be in that position, he didn't seem to be very frightened at all. Or, as mentioned before, maybe he was just too lazy to be afraid.

"Why Sire Edard, you surprise me. Seeing how you hurried to save miss Aria. I would have thought you would want to see if there are any other people trapped before we exit the building, but I see I was mistaken"

Aria, hoping not to cause any trouble, quickly said, "W-well that's probably just because I was the first person to call out... and everyone being in the same situation apparently, i-it'd only be expected to run for the first calling voice, right?" She gave a small smile, though based on her stuttering she was still a little scared about the weapons Mikasa had, even though she was certain that she wouldn't, hopefully, take out her weapon.

Of course, after the two introduced themselves, Yuu and Aria did their regular polite thing of saying 'Nice to meet you' or something around that sort.

"As for you... head out and show yourself."

"Who?" The emerald eyed young man and pink-haired girl asked in unison before seeing a girl with amethyst colored eyes appear.

"Ummm... Hello? My name is Naomi Kosatsu. I didn't mean to interrupt and to eavesdrop on everyone, but... I don't know what's happening either. All I remember is heading to school, and then waking up in here... Is it true? Was there really an earthquake?"

Again, Aria and Yuu say their hellos and introduced themselves to be polite and then they began to respond. Yuu, of course, went first since the girl with odd colored eyes turned to him first, "So.... you were also going to school?" The uniform she wore was similar to his, well... similar enough that is. It looked older than the girls' uniforms at his current school, but that didn't matter. Seeing a sort of familiar face made him relieved, "H-Hey... you go to (Enter random highschool name because I don't know one!) also, don't you?"

Just as Yuu was about to explain, Joshua seemed to have covered for him, which he didn't mind, since he didn't exactly feel like explaining anyways. Then, two other people entered the room, and although they weren't exactly the same, both Aria and Yuu suspected they were related, in some way at least.

"We are quite sorry to interrupt your conversation but we seem to be lost inside this building and we were in hopes one of you may be able to direct us towards the exit."

"I'm not sorry."

"Riye."

Yuu and Aria only stared at the two, one with confusion, and the other with his usual blank and dull eyes, "No need for the little lady to be so rude...." He said, staring at the girl with the brown hair.

Aria, trying to smile a second time though she grew even more frightened at the amount of people, "U-Um.... no one knows the exit at the moment... We're all stuck in the same situation I'm afraid..."

"And who are you to call our colors wrong wench!? I'll admit what you are reffering to eludes me... still, if you insist on picking on colors when talking to complete strangers I'd suggest you hold your tongue lest someone poke fun at that obviously thick skull and stupendously foolish brain hidden under a sea of vomit-inducing orange... I assume you heard my second introduction then ser? I assure you your interruption is no trouble... however we to are prisoners of this place and as such, seek its exit with equal zest and confusion... now you see we believe there has been an..."

Aria shifted a little. What was worse than a bunch of people was a bunch of people arguing and what such, but since she was not a fan of crowds, she decided not to say anything, 'If things happen... then things happen....' She thought to herself, more quietly than she actually thought she would. Instead, she glanced down at her pocket and whispered very quietly to the fairy, who was also peeking out at the group, "Mavin... there are so many now..."

*Whimper*

"Did you all hear that?"

"Hear... what..." Yuu asked, since he was spacing out during the whole time the two people came in and what such. He leaned off the wall to follow Joshua before seeing another girl with abnormal purple eyes, but regular brown eyes. While Joshua tried to confront her, Aria stood in the back of the group, and Yuu, like always, spaced out, almost seeming to have been sleeping.

"G..Good day to you all, I am Ariana Ahikito Kaizuke, Mister Rowan here has briefed me on the situation and told me your names... so a renewal of introductions are unnecessary..."

For the third time, Aria said her hellos, very quietly, probably most likely underneath her own breath, but only Aria this time. Yuu actually was sleeping, leaning on the wall, and probably almost falling off, but he didn't notice. Because he was sleeping obviously.

"Please just call us Kei and Riye and don't mind my sister's choice of...titles."

Aria said the same, and Yuu, hardly sleeping, but hardly sleeping now that the commotion had been waking himself up, "So..." Aria began, raising her hand like she was in a classroom. Mostly since her mother told her it was polite, "S-shouldn't we begin to look for the exit?"

---

---

Lei woke up in a strange place. Empty room. Yeah. Things you'd see in a prison. Well... at least ones you'd see in the movies since Lei wasn't a criminal. He was too much of a cheerful and nice guy to do anything bad. Even asking for something would make him feel guilty. Though, now he was quite in a little trouble, and he had to do something, "Whoa.... where is this? Did I do something wrong?" He asked, thinking he actually was in a jail, though if he was, he didn't seem too let down.

But the door was hanging open, so he went outside of the dull room he was staying in, and wandered around. Unlike most of the people there, he had no memories at all of what happened last, or at least, no memories of the incident. All he remembered was selling a white bouquet of flowers to a costumer and then all of a sudden blacking out before finally arriving in a suspicious old building.

"Neh, Neh..." He called out, being unable to see anything, especially since he walked past a whole group. He needed glasses anyways, "Anyone here? Jailer?" Lei asked, still believing he was in a jail.

[center] Joshua raised an eyebrow at Ariana's sudden stuttering and defensive attitude. What a strange reaction... if she was simply daydreaming then why did she seem so embarrassed? Did she have a crush on him or something? Not likely, considering they had just met and that he had his... strange, eye. Then what... maybe she was just a generally shy person... though she had been staring at him so deeply. Hmm... no, he was probably just overthinking things. She was probably deep in thought and startled by his words, nothing more. "Ahh I see, of course."

Ariana was about to say something else when her eyes widened drastically, she had spotted a young man with green hair, walking past the entire group while calling out for a "jailer"... was he blind? Could he not see that there were people so close to him? Or, more importantly, that he wasn't in any form of prison whatsoever. As he noticed Ariana's wide eyes and followed her gaze, Joshua physically recoiled in shock at the sight of the man with green hair. "H... His hair! It resembles the humble grass that would grow in the long stretching fields that I have walked! What on Earth is the cause such foliage inspired hair coloring such as that with which I have witnessed this day?!" Ariana grimaced at Joshua's tone and approach. Honestly, was this guy stuck in the past or what?

Approaching the green haired and obviously lost man cautiously, Ariana prodded his shoulder gently and awkwardly began to speak. "I'm afraid that we are no jailers... merely prisoners like yourself. Sorry to interrupt you sir, but I am Ariana and I believe you may just be in the same situation as myself and these others with me... may I ask you your name?"

Ian grunted as he woke up. His clothes were ripped in various places by bullets flying at him, and in some of those cuts, blood could be seen. He didn't remember what happened. All Ian remembered was that he was fighting in a battle in the Arctic, and Ian took his post as the sniper in his platoon. Another person was there with him, in case the enemy somehow discovered the sniper's position. After all, Ian was only useful in ranged fights. Up close, he's practically dead.

Mid-battle, the enemy managed to push back Ian's platoon, as well as discovering their position. Thinking fast, Ian's partner was about to throw a flashbang. About to. The land began to shake, and the snow on a nearby mountain began to fall down to the battle. The force of the spontaneous natural disaster caused the soldier to drop the flashbang, allowing it to detonate right under Ian as he was taking aim for the nearest enemy. The result was the deafening of the sniper's ears and the temporary blindness, which, in reality, allowed the incoming avalanche and the occurring earthquake to wreak havoc without Ian's notice.

"Ugh... my head..." Ian muttered as he rubbed the aching noggin of his. Looking around, he realized that he wasn't in the battlefield anymore. "Well... crap." Did I get captured by the enemy or something...? Ugh... Ian thought as he stood up. It was a dark room, with a bit of light coming from the space the closed door to the room didn't cover. Feeling for anything in the floor, Ian smirked as he almost immediately found his weapons. No way... Not even anyone would be dumb enough to leave the prisoner's weapons with him.

Looking around some more inside the room, Ian saw that it was practically ravaged. Geez...Did an earthquake occur here...? Every single thing inside the room had either fallen on the floor, toppled over, or laid as multiple pieces of itself on the said floor. Suddenly, Ian heard voices from outside the door. "Huh...? Who's there...?" He muttered as he approached the doorway. The sniper put his ear against the door, trying to listen in and see if he can get a hint at what's going on. To him, it was just some random nonsense, but through it all, Ian could hear one distinct voice. "As for you... head out and show yourself."

Ian nearly froze at the command, but the voice wasn't really directed towards him. Realizing that, Ian moved his hand away from the handle- that is until his mind registered something about that voice. Wait... could it be...? Ian thought. He moved his hand back towards the handle. No... I thought she was half a world away... There was a bit of joy to the thought as Ian twisted the doorknob. Opening it a bit, he could see a group of people. None of which, Ian could recognize by sight. Of course, now that he revealed his presence to the group (if they happened to be facing Ian's direction), it just became very awkward for him. Ian bit his tongue, secretly, as he can't find the words to say first.

One of those people walked past the whole group, asking for a sort of jailer. What is he- blind? Ian thought. Another of the group had her back towards Ian as she said "I'm afraid that we are no jailers... merely prisoners like yourself. Sorry to interrupt you sir, but I am Ariana and I believe you may just be in the same situation as myself and these others with me... May I ask your name?"

"..." Ian kept silent still, not knowing what to do or say. Sighing, Ian got out of the room. "Uh... excuse me... But, can any of you tell me what's going on?" Ian said, trying to keep a smile.



Great... Fan-freaking-tastic. The man in the dark green cloak thought. His head was pounding as hard as a heart of an athlete in the Olympics, and he isn't in New York City. Other than that, the man felt like crud after discovering that he just ate expired food products in a restaurant in- wait. I'm not in New York City.

Looking around, Asher Lucian Evans could see, via the designs of the items inside the dark room he was in, that he wasn't in New York City. In fact, he wasn't in America. "Why... the hell am I in Japan...?" Asher muttered. Trying to remember what had happened, Asher realized that an earthquake ripped through New York City, which was unheard of because no one even recorded an earthquake in that large area. Yet in happened... How?

As Asher inspected the room again, he could tell that wherever in Japan he was, the place met the same fate as New York City. Must've been a powerful earthquake as well to topple all that... Asher thought. Still looking around, Asher finally found a door, but he heard voices. The sounds were too far to be heard clearly, so Asher couldn't make out what anyone was saying. Without having the door opened more than it originally had, Asher peeked through the little space that the door left alone. He can see 9 other people in the house. They were all in front of him, but Asher's position was from a nearby hallway that led to the single room he was located in. Sighing, Asher stood up straight. Alright... So I got an earthquake, transportation into Japan and into a run-down house with at least 9 other people, and nowhere to go... What to do? Asher thought. To keep his distance, or to be apart of the group? That is the ques- "Yeah. I'll stay away for now and see how this will turn out." Asher muttered as he stayed in the room.

Before anyone answered her question, she heard a male voice talking, "So.... you were also going to school?" he said, Naomi turned her eyes to see Yuu starring at her. "Yes, all I remember is heading to school, and then I woke up in here..." she said admittedly. "H-Hey... you go to Hokkaidō also, don't you?" surprised at his observation, and relieved that he had also noticed the similarity in their uniforms, although they were slightly different, she answered quickly with a little excitement, "Yes! do you know my school? I don't believe that I had seen you before, but your uniform..." she gave a quick pause eyeing his clothing before talking again, "wait, did you just say 'also'?" she asked with curiosity. Before she gave him time to answer, she remembered what they had said before, and seeing the situation there were better questions to ask "then... do you know what is happening? was there really and earthquake?"


Before Yuu could answer her question, Joshua introduced himself again to Naomi, he answered her question by confirming Naomi's suspicion, "...I would hasten to guess, albeit reluctantly, that an Earthquake did in fact take place." Naomi couldn't understand the situation, and was unable to answer immediately to his breaking news. But, before a tear could form in her eye and before her voice broke, she gave Joshua a nod and said in a whisper "I see..."Without noticing a tear had formed in her right eye, in embarrassment she rapidly turned her eyes down and hastily she cleaned her eyes.

Although Naomi has already heard their names when she had eavesdropped on their introduction, Aria kindly introduced herself again, to which Naomi answered with a small smile and with a respectful bow. "Nice to meet you Aria" she said respectfully. Naomi was not used to talking with girls, as she had grown used to being with boys girls would often tease her, but Aria inspired her some kind of confidence.

Soon after, everyone was interrupted by a girl and a boy that were approaching them. "We are quite sorry to interrupt your conversation but we seem to be lost inside this building and we were in hopes one of you may be able to direct us towards the exit." said the male with the very pale blonde hair. Strangely he also had an eye colored different one being some sort of blue and the other a sort of hazel, it was something different no doubt but beautiful for Naomi all the same.

"I'm not sorry." said the girl with the orange hair to Naomi's surprise.

"Riye." said her companion somewhat scornfully.

"What? I haven't done anything to feel sorry for. They are weird looking." the girl said before covering her mouth as she yawned, Naomi contagiously after seeing the girl, yawned too. "Their colors are all wrong." she finally said. Naomi felt strange, she didn't know what the girl meant by their colors. She felt uncomfortable at her remark but did not say anything nonetheless, she had would always hear offensive remarks and knew when to identify one when she received it, however this seemed more like an observation rather than an insult to Naomi.


"Their colors are all wrong." said the girl rudely. Mikasa was sure not in a high spirit after her remark but did not say anything. She knew that the girl was not referring to their hair color or the color of their garments. Instead she fixed her eyes on her with a daring stare, if looks could kill Mikasa's stare then Riye would have probably fallen to the ground lifeless.

Showing that he was not the only one disapproving of her rude ways, and after the girl kept on seeing Joshua, he spoke without hesitation and with out boldness "and who are you to call our colors wrong wench!? I'll admit what you are referring to eludes me... still, if you insist on picking on colors when talking to complete strangers I'd suggest you hold your tongue lest someone poke fun at that obviously thick skull and stupendously foolish brain hidden under a sea of vomit-inducing orange..."

For the first time since she has woken up, Mikasa let out a small smile. Did she think Joshua's tone was a bit excesive? Yes, but at the same time she would have done the same had the girl looked at her the same way as she had looked Joshua. It was obvious her comment has touched a soft spot in the boy with the crimson eye, something Mikasa understood perfectly as she also felt the same. Ever since she was young, she was secluded by others simply because she was 'different' and being singled out like that was simply rude.

On the other hand however, Naomi was taken by surprise at the mans aggressive behavior, for the way that he had answered her inquiry she believed him to be a gentleman, and did not expect him to speak the way that he just had.

He smirked lightly and turned to her male companion. "I assume you heard my second introduction then ser? I assure you your interruption is no trouble... however we to are prisoners of this place and as such, seek its exit with equal zest and confusion... now you see we believe there has been an..."

Suddenly Joshua got distracted at the same time as Mikasa heard a noise, 'did he hear that?'. Suddenly he presented a new addition to the group, a female to be exact. "G..Good day to you all, I am Ariana Ahikito Kaizuke, Mister Rowan here has briefed me on the situation and told me your names... so a renewal of introductions are unnecessary..." she said eyeing everyone in the room except from the newest male and female. Once she did, she asked them "He didn't, however, mention your names... just who are you two anyway?"

After the girl with the orange hair replied, that they were siblings, the male concluded by simply saying, "Please just call us Kei and Riye and don't mind my sister's choice of...titles."

Mikasa remained quiet studying everyone in the room waiting for anyone to make a move, besides she had already done more interaction than she had initially intended. Mikasa was most comfortable when she could observe at a distance rather than interacting, she talked when necessary rather than as a priority.

She was particularly interested in the conversation when Aria suggested to look for an exit first, and even more interested when Joshua said there could be a possibility that they would have to exit through the window. Right now everything was a theory and nobody knew where could they exit as soon as possible under such strange circumstances in which nobody knew what exactly was going on.

At the end, Mikasa did not utter a single word again, instead she closely observed a boy whose hair was brightly green, asking something about a jailer, 'Don't tell me... he must be the older brother of pink-a-hair aka Aria here' she thought to herself for a minute. Everything that was happening was too random and too strange for Mikasa to handle for the moment and a little inside humor would not kill her. She saw Ariana and Joshua as they too acknowledge his presence, she saw Ariana talking with the green guy but was unsure as she was distracted by another voice. "Uh... excuse me... But, can any of you tell me what's going on?" asked a familiar male voice.

'that voice... I can recognize that voice anywhere, anytime' she concluded with a small grin on her face. "Ian" she whispered before letting out a sigh of relief, he had somehow survived even though she believed he had died on a mission. She felt almost as if weight has been lifted off her shoulders and for a moment in this bizarre situation she felt somewhat at ease.

Ryu remained as silent as he could the whole time, trying to remain unoticed from everyone. He used his ability and remained invisible of course, he attempted to learn as much as he could from everyone that was at the room, at first he had innitially tried talking to the girl with the mid length hair, 'her name's Mikasa I think...' he thought for a moment. However, after seeing her distorted energy that showed she was absolutely under no way human, and her weapons he thought twice before doing so and instead he used his ability of invisibility.

He did not remember what he was doing before he woke up, all he remembers was waking up feeling week and dizzy. Even more so, after he started feeling all sorts of energies emanating from all over the place. Some were dark and heavy, while others much lighter, all in all something was clear for Ryu, something was definitely wrong...


He heard everyone's introductions, from Joshua's to the latest female addition Ariana, and he was about to find out about the male with green hair when his head felt like it was about to explode. One of the side effects of his power of being invisible was that if he used it for a long period of time his head would overheat and start getting a terrible pain. He wanted to make a run towards the nearest room as his power had yet another disadvantage.

As soon as he became invisible his clothes would fall to the ground leaving him... exposed/nude. Seeing how he could no longer control his invisibility he hid in a room near the girl whose name was Naomi, she was standing the farthest apart from the group and happened to be close to the room where Ryu had particularly left his clothes He remained quiet, clothing himself up again, as he grabbed the clothes that he himself had left in that particular room.

However the girl with the purple eyes upon hearing a noise turned around to see him missing only his shirt. As soon as her eyes met his, Naomi opened her eyes in shock, and was about to scream when Ryu suddenly closed her mouth with his hand. It was obvious he was going to be seen now that he had no energy or strength to become invisible, but he did not want to make the situation worse than what it really was. He smiled charmingly at the girl, probably not the wisest move considering how he was shirtless and practically having some fort of skin-ship but dumb Ryu thought it could calm her.

'Somebody, please save me!' Naomi yelled in desperation in her mind, however did not make any sound. With his last effort Ryu used his other power of telepathy, 'I don't want to hurt you. This situation... just happened'. he paused for a moment, his head hurting now more than ever. 'My name is Ryu' he was finally able to say in pain. 'how? how did he do that?! how did he read my mind? wait he didn't even speak so how could I hear what he's saying!?!? Naomi wondered over and over.

Finally after releasing Naomi, he whispered to her ear "I'm sorry about that, I know I am not the only one with... gifts if that is what you want to call them" he said as he gave the girl a smile and a wink, "so please don't look at me like I'm some kind of freak."

Naomi was speechless and could not respond in any other way than a stare full of shock. 'What does he want? How does he know?! How... why...?' and so on.

---

Riye was...overwhelmed? Perhaps was the term. Every time she turned around their seemed to be someone new making introductions and quite honestly she was having a hard time keeping up. Not just because of the introductions but also because there seemed to be multiple different conversations taking place. Even further, she had started to question her own judgement and sight. Why? Because she could have sworn she was staring at the aura of a living person, dim though it may be, and yet there was no one there. Multiple times she closed her eyes and opened them again, somewhat dramatically, but alas the aura was still there. No, it was moving.

Either this place really has ghosts, or I've completely lost my mind. Neither would really surprise me. She interrupted her own thoughts when the aura suddenly took off in the direction of a room near the girl called Naomi. Riye blinked and stared tiredly after the faded aura. Once it was in the room it suddenly brightened and strengthened. I'm not that crazy...am I? No sooner did she think it did her sanity reaffirm itself. A blonde boy, rather cute, almost as attractive as her brother, despite being shirtless, scare the wits out of the girl known as Naomi. Riye yawned and ran her fingers through her hair. There was one more person in this mass of strangely colored people. Still though, what did all the different colors mean. She got the feeling no one here was normal. Their auras had a similar air as Kei and herself, and they most certainly were far from normal. However, there was more to it than that she just wasn't sure what it was.

She looked up at her brother. His usually pale hair was darkening in one spot, which told her his head was still bleeding. They really needed to get medical attention for him. Needless to say it was annoying her that despite having already mentioned once or twice finding an exit no one had made any attempt to actually go anywhere. Even if the exit was a window she wasn't so proud that she wouldn't climb out of one.

Riye crossed her arms and turned around, opting to look back down the hallway she had come down. That was when she saw perhaps one of the most powerful auras in the building, how anyone could miss it was beyond her because it was overwhelmingly not human. No one here had an aura like that. It seemed ancient and that was what made so different and so strong. The red-head wasn't sure if she was scared of it, or curious. It's kind of...cool. Curious it is.

Stealing a glance at her brother who seemed somewhat distracted by the conversations and probably by his throbbing head she slid by him and headed lazily down the hallways towards the singular aura. It was located in a room down the hallway behind the group with its door barely ajar. She swayed a little as she walked, almost as if she was falling asleep but a small smack to her face kept her awake as she wandered. Finally she was within four feet of the door and she went to take the final few steps of her journey to appease her curiosity. Unfortunately, the floor had other plans and her foot went straight through the floorboard and she went down with it face planting right in front of the door. "Damn it." It was muffled admittedly, but it was obviously a declaration of pain and annoyance.

Lifting her face off the ground she then proceeded to reach out with her right hand and knock on the door causing it to open just a little more. Afterwards she waved a bit, "Knock Knock."

---

---

---

Kei was more than slightly annoyed with this group. While he couldn't very well blame them for his situation, since they were in the same one as him, he could blame them for their complete and utter inefficiency in locating an exit. It seemed to be the one topic of conversation that everyone had a hard time actually talking about. Introductions could be made, repeatedly, after they were out of this structurally unsound building. The fact that his head hurt him terribly wasn't really helping his mood. Still though he tried to smile.

As more people continued to appear and cut the conversation of exiting the building short, Kei finally felt the last bit of patience he had disappear. Smiling he coughed just loud enough to get everyone's attention, "While this may strike all of you all as being somewhat rude, I can't help but feel the need to point out the fact that this building is by no means safe and it may be in all of our best interests to leave as soon as possible. Introductions and reunions can be had after we are no longer in harms way...can we agree on this?" Unconsciously he rubbed his throbbing head before motioning to Joshua and continuing, "You mentioned a window. While a door may be preferable I think it best that we wander this building as little as possible in order to avoid incident, in order to do this we should take path we are familiar with rather than search for a different one. Does anyone have any qualms with that?"

He wasn't really one that was fond of taking command, he felt it was somewhat rude and that was the last thing he wanted people to perceive him as. Especially after all the trouble he put into being polite. However, in a situation like this where it is imperative that a large group of people move along someone had to take control and no one else was rising to the occasion. While he wasn't demanding anyone listen to him or obey him, yet, he could at least try to point the group in the right direction. Especially if it meant that his sister would be safe.

Glancing down at his hand he noticed the red for the first time. Ah, I'm bleeding. So I received more than a minor bump on the head during that earthquake...crap. He sighed, for a moment he felt dizzy and tired. He would have to ask Riye for an energy boost when they were finally out of here. He closed his for a moment and lightly rubbed his temples. Getting out of here was only the first of their problems. Figuring out how they got in in the first place was another on a long list of riddles that needed solving and he would solve them eventually. First he needed an aspirin for the migraine that was coming on. Then he would focus on solving the puzzle.

He turned to his sister. Or rather he thought he turned to his sister but strangely the red-head was no longer where he had last seen her. He turned full circle, but alas his sister was gone. He pointed at the area where she was last seen standing and cocked his head in question. He then voiced his obvious curiosity just under his breath, "Where did she go?"

---

---

Mikasa kept ignoring everybody and everything else, despite there were a lot of distinctive conversations and noises. Her eyes were locked on the new group addition, someone she knew very well since a young age, someone she thought was out of her life, once again all thanks to the war.

As Ian started walking towards Mikasa, "wait..." he started smiling to which Mikasa responded with a smile right back, "out of all the places, I didn't think I'd see you here". You're not the only one who thinks that Mikasa thought. As soon as he stretched his arm hugging her Mikasa was surprised, but smiling nonetheless, knowing that he was alive and doing well was enough to bring another smile to Mikasa's face.

"Mikasa!" he said in exclamation. "I thought I'd never see you again... Ian" she said admittedly. For a moment she remembered how they had been separated after Ian had gone with a special team focusing on stealth while Mikasa was sent to the front lines.

"I was training with a friend when I passed out" she paused for a minute, "and then I woke up here..." She knew she couldn't trust anyone else for the moment and sharing some knowledge with an old friend did not seem like a bad idea. "I don't know what's going on but, I honestly don't think this is a coincidence" another pause, only this time a little longer, "everyone seems a bit off too..." she finally said, hoping that Ian could make sense into whatever this strange situation was.

---

---

---

---

Ryu understood why Naomi had so many questions as she did, but after Kei pointed once again that the building was about to collapse, and after he put his shirt on, it didn't seemed like he would have enough time to even begin explaining himself. besides he was too tired to communicate with her through his mind again.
At the end, he simply smiled again trying to reassure the girl with so many questions, "look, I understand. You want to know how I know about your... talents and all, but I think the guy with the weird eye is right. he paused a bit eyeing at Kei "We need to get out ASAP."

Naomi didn't say anything as she was still too shocked to even say anything, but somehow she felt a feeling of relief in knowing she was not the only one who was 'different'. Understanding the situation she simply gave a nod to the boy with the blonde hair, seeing closer how he was very handsome she stuttered for a bit, "I... I think you're right" she pointed out looking both at Kei and at Ryu.

"What will you have us do?" she asked at Kei seeing how he seemed to have a plan already. However before she heard his answer she eyed at Joshua who seemed to be on the move already, seeking for what seemed to be the window he had talked about before. She turned her eyes back to Kei who seemed to be a bit worried now, and she turned her eyes where his had, his hands. There was blood in it, 'what's wrong' she wondered a bit concerned for the boy.

She looked around to see if the girl with the orange hair had also noticed his injury, however she was nowhere to be found. Naomi was dumbfounded as she also noticed that Joshua and Ariana had also gone missing, the most obvious answer was that they had probably found an exit already.

"Are you all right?" she asked Kei, coming closer to him, leaving Ryu behind.

---

---

---

Riye laid her chin on the floor as she awaited the response from the person behind the door. Deep down she was curious to discover what the creature was. With an aura so ancient she could come up with thousands of different appearances; her favorite one was most definitely the image of a a wrinkled old dwarf with a long grey beard and long wiry hair framing a bald patch on the top of his head. Dwarves are supposed to have unnaturally long lives, right? Admittedly, though she was extremely tired, she was getting a little excited at the thought of meeting a funny looking old dude. What she ended up receiving was most unexpected and on one hand a little disappointing but on the other not so bad.

"Who's there." The door opened revealing the first the feet of a rather young looking boy with silver hair and icy blue eyes. Riye blinked once, twice, three times as she stared at the face of neither a dwarf not and old man. While it was a little saddening that this was not a fantastical creature it was also a little intriguing that someone that seems to be the same age as herself could have such an aged aura. Plus, something about him seemed really experienced and daunting. Cocking her head Riye put some thought into what she was seeing. Between his physical appearance and his aura she wasn't entirely sure which one to trust. She watched him look around her head and speak again, "I guess you need some help there, huh?"

Riye raised an eyebrow and after a second and a withheld yawn turned her head and body around in order to see what it was he was referring to. As it would turn out her leg was still stuck in the floor, oddly enough she had forgotten about it. Whoops. Wiggling it a bit she found that yes, she did in fact need some help, "So it would seem."

Looking up at the boy she watched him extend his hand to her, as he did so Riye felt her sleeping mental faculties come to no reasonable conclusion as to why he did so. This resulted in her awkwardly ogling his hand. Fortunately, the boy wasted no time in explaining his purposes, "C'mon. I'll pull you up." Riye blinked again then looked at her right hand. That would make sense. A few seconds went by before she shook herself back to reality and returned his smile.

Giving him her hand she responded, "Thanks." As he helped lifted her out of the hole she adjusted her leg in order to make the process a little easier and reduce the chances of getting a cut. Afterwards she brushed herself off. "I wish I could say this kind of stuff doesn't usually happen to me, but I think I'll keep wishing." She shrugged slightly and turned her gaze back to his aura. One could only imagine just how badly she wanted to question him and simply put no one could very well stop her.

"How old are you?" There was no beating around the bush with Riye, if she had a question she asked it, who needs to waste time having pointless conversation? She smiled a little and scratched her cheek in a way that suggested it was a nervous tick, the red-head was fully aware of how out of order the question was considering she didn't even know the guy's name.

---

---

---

"look, I understand. You want to know how I know about your... talents and all, but I think the guy with the weird eye is right." For a slight moment Kei's normal smile wavered, what an insulting thing to say and this was coming from the guy who was shirtless only moments ago? "We need to get out ASAP." Looking away from the blonde boy, Kei exhaled and closed his eyes so that his kind smile could once again return to his face. It was certainly a good thing he had so many years of practicing this smile of his otherwise there was no way he would be able to keep his cold demeanor from being discovered.

Back to the important thing however, Riye had disappeared again and he needed to find her. What if she fell asleep somewhere in this forsaken building and it collapses on top of her. The horror of the idea made Kei's brows furrow and made him chew the inside of his lip. Damn. If only I hadn't looked away...no...if only she had common sense enough not to go wandering off. No matter how much he loved and adored his little sister even he can be find her odd demeanor a little annoying, but only when it threatened her safety. I would have seen her if she had gone forward, which means she probably wen-

"What will you have us do?" Kei eyed the girl who had just spoken, a little dumbfounded after having been in such deep thought. Quickly his mind scrambled to catch up with his eyes and ears and translated her words so that he could offer up a response. Thinking about her question he leered at the red-eyed boy as he slipped away. Where is that imbecile sneaking off to? He would have made a move to follow him, however, he didn't want to leave this spot for fear that his sister would return looking for him. It would be just like her to return right after he left. He furrowed his brows, still, if the red-eyed boy was headed in the direction of the window he spoke of earlier it would not be a bad idea to trail after him. Kei did not trust him to return to the group and actually guide the lot of them to an exit.

A sharp jolt shot from the back of his head down to his neck and Kei felt himself wince in pain and wobble slightly. He wasn't entirely sure if the wobbling was due to the injury or the lack of sleep. Perhaps it was his selfishness and need for Riye's touch speaking, but he really wished his younger sister was by his side right now. While it wasn't entirely fair nor healthy for either of them that he was constantly leeching off his sister's energy the boy did not have a choice in the matter. He couldn't survive without her energy.

"Are you all right?" Kei turned to look at the girl called Naomi, a small smile encompassed his face as he nodded a little.

"Thank you for your worry, but I am quite alright. I just received a slight bump to the head earlier during the earthquake. Nothing life threatening I assure you." From up ahead he heard Ariana yelling after the group, apparently they had located an exit, nodding in that general direction Kei spoke again, "You should quickly make your way out of the building. I'll follow as soon as I locate my sister, so please don't wait up for me."

Turning on his heels Kei headed down the hallway that he and his sister had originally come from and much to his gratification soon located the red head speaking to another man not too far away. A small glare adorned his face as he observed the boy, but no sooner did it appear was it replaced with his normal gentle features. "Riye. There you are, please don't wander off like that it worries me."

The red-head turned to look at her brother and pursed her lips, "You worry too much, you're going to be old way before me." The girl eyed his pained and faded aura and held out her hand to her brother. His smile left his face as he looked at it then at the third member of the small ensemble, "You're tired, right? Give m-"

"Not now, Riye. Come, they've found an exit we should quickly escape the confines of this rather rundown abode." The elder twin turned and motioned for his sibling to follow him back down the hallway towards the before mentioned window.

"It must be exhausting having to be polite all the time."

"Not really. No."

Shaking her head, the girl lazily started to follow her brother but halted after only a couple of steps. Turning back at the boy with the antique aura she arched an eyebrow before yawning out a sentence, "You coming or would you rather stay in the abandoned building?" Deep down inside, Kei felt his soul grimace. It would seem there would be one more addition to the massive throng of incompetent people.

Mikasa was listening Ian when she got distracted by a far off noise, she heard a female voice, "Everyone quickly, the window's open we can finally get out of here!". Without thinking twice, Mikasa headed out where Ariana's voice came from. Apparently, the window Joshua had claimed to see prior their meeting was indeed where he had said it was. The window was now opened and Mikasa did not want to wait any second longer to get away, however when she remembered everyone that was still inside she let out a sigh and returned where she had left the group.

Mikasa was not used to socialize with others, neither was she easy to make friends and she didn't know anyone besides Ian, that much was true. Even so, that did not mean she would allow herself to leave them to possibly die from the collapsing building. Most if, not everyone, seemed to be unharmed civilians in her eyes, though she knew they were more than probably normal humans and they were far from helpless seeing from the energy that the gave off. Even so, she went back in case they had not heard Ariana.

She first noticed the main group where Naomi, Yuu, and... 'wait a minute... there's a new one' she thought as she saw the new blonde addition. 'you better not give any trouble' she thought seriously giving him a look. At the end she simply told them in an order-like fashion, like she always did, "The others have found an exit, I suggest you better follow it." Before anyone could give her attitude or question her or all the above, she continued. "We do not know if there is another exit, however as you may have noticed the building is about to collapse. The window is already opened, go straight all the the way through the hallway, turn left and go straight again. The last room to the left". she finally said before finding out there were still others missing. 'great... she thought before she was on her way.

She continued walking until she finally heard distant chatter, "You coming or would you rather stay in the abandoned building?". Before she continued listening, or put any attention to their conversation they were having, she moved closer finally seeing the girl with the orange hair, her brother and... yes a new addition. "And to answer your question, I'm eighteen" the new male said.

Mikasa simply spoke again, making her presence noticeable again, "They found an exit" she said before turning to Kei, he seemed a bit weakened, almost as if he was hurt. Also, he seemed the most civilized for the moment being. "A window nearby, the one Rowan mentioned, we weren't able to find another exit yet and we are running out of time. I suggest you leave before that time comes." She finally said before taking her leave.

Without making further delay, she headed towards the window. She hastened her pace when suddenly someone bumped into her, the girl named Naomi. "Gomenasai~! the girl said a bit frightened and surprised.

Naomi was still waiting for Kei to answer when he reassured her, "Thank you for your worry, but I am quite alright. I just received a slight bump to the head earlier during the earthquake. Nothing life threatening I assure you." after Ariana said she had found the exit he spoke again, "You should quickly make your way out of the building. I'll follow as soon as I locate my sister, so please don't wait up for me."

He left as soon as he finished talking, not letting Naomi to answer to his suggestion. "Wait~!" she said but he was already out of her sight. Not too later after, someone else entered the room, it was none other than Mikasa. Naomi didn't know what to think of her, but she felt somewhat intimidated by her. As soon as she finished telling them again about the exit, she disappeared again.

Naomi didn't know whether to wait for the others to leave so she could leave with them, but at the end she decided to go help Kei to find his sister. After all, he was the person she trusted more, alongside with Yuu and Aria, besides she was worried about his injury. She walked through the hallways not being able to find anyone, she felt strange from the atmosphere and having a horrible
sense of direction did not help either.

She suddenly heard a loud noise, a piece of wood from the upper floor collapsed almost crushing Naomi, it was obvious it would not take long before the structure finally collapsed.

She let out a cry as the wood only stood a few inches away, and she started running where she oped would be the window. 'Maybe the others are already there' she thought as she started walking faster. It was then when she bumped into something, more like into someone. It was nonetheless than the girl who had warned her to leave, suddenly a little scared, not knowing what she would do as she learned that she had ignored her command/suggestion. "Gomenasai~! she said quickly.

"What are you doing here?" Mikasa said a bit annoyed. Naomi was about to explain herself when Mikasa spoke again "it doesn't matter, we need to get out of here" she said walking towards the exit. Naomi trembling a bit remembering her strange armor put herself in front of her with both hands in front stopping Mikasa, she bowed her head saying, "Please... wait..." Naomi hesitated a bit before speaking again, but at the end she finished almost yelling, "I think someone is hurt, I also don't know if everyone is out yet!"

Mikasa starred at her seriously, "look, we don't have time to waste here. I assume the person you say that is hurt is none other than Wakahisa, however we cannot do anything if he doesn't evacuate can we? I have already said what I had to say. That is all." she said before she moved her hands away and kept walking.