Axel Lerate's Story

Adrien

Adrien watched and cheered on as Hallie, Mikhail, Zara, and James played the game. It was pretty exciting, and by the end he was out of breath. He was upset to see Danny go, but understood why he would. "Tomorrow sounds good to me," he said with a smile. He would enjoy a road trip or something of the sorts. The school was nice, but it wasn't as free and he had to admit he was getting a bit stir crazy. "Thanks," he finished to Danny, making a mental note to retrieve his trunks from the laundry once they were washed.

The water felt comfortable as he floated through it, things were getting quiet so he decided to relax for a while. He went under the water, the silence underneath it helped him concentrate, and the water flowing around him was soothing. Bursting back to the surface he sighed, deciding that under water was an extremely awesome place to practice his powers, it was a lot easier to concentrate. "Well, what do you guys wanna do next?" He asked, awaiting a response. There were so many possibilities and opportunities in a pool party, he didn't want to miss one.

Liesel

Liesel glanced at Daniel as he left the pool, waiting until he had entered the changing room before letting out a slight smirk, without him there things could go a lot more smoothly. She kept her mental guard up, watching her thoughts carefully, just in case Arian was fishing around her head, years of training from the Germans helped with guarding thoughts. If she waited for a while until he and Arian left she could even snoop around the school seeing as everyone was still in the pool.

She smiled, though gaining everyone's trust was important, it wasn't as important as finding information. "I think I might go soon you guys," she called out to the group, "I don't have a swimsuit, so there's not much for me to do," she said, letting emotions of disappointment shine through. She was slightly disappointed, she wanted to gain the groups trust, so she took from that emotion and amplified it, just in case Hallie looked for emotions from her. She was good at guarding her thoughts, but emotions weren't as easy to guard, so manipulating them would have to do. As long as no one offered to let her borrow a suit, operation snoop was a go.

Hallie

Her smile fell and she stepped away from Mikhail guiltily. "No, we don't have to," she told him, eyes sad. He was the picture the relaxed, but his emotions betrayed him as always. Her mind wandered briefly, wondering why he did such a thing. Why did he try to look so picture perfect all the time...

Adrien asked what they should do next and Hallie backed up onto a wall to rest, twiddling her toes together under the water. She shrugged to him, lips together.

"We could make this a real party," Chandler said loud enough to reach them on that side of the pool.

By then, Liesel was saying she had to go. Hallie noticed Danny had left as well. Some party. "How are we gunna do that if everyone keeps leaving?" she pouted, eyes trailing over to Liesel. "Anyone have a suit for her?"

James was more interested in Chandler's words than Liesel's, his emotions very clipped toward the girl. Conflicted. It seemed nearly everyone's were when she spoke. Hallie didn't' quite understand it, but felt she could trust their judgement. Lips tight, her hazel eyes rested on Liesel for a long moment, but all she read was disappointment for missing out on the party. Why was everyone so weird all of a sudden? Or ignoring her completely?

James pushed his hair back, standing up as much as he could in the deep end and replied to Chandler, "What exactly did you have in mind?"

The two boys plotted for a brief moment, Chandler popped them out of the pool and they vanished from the room altogether.

Hallie sighed. Her emotions from before were waning. She even put up blockers in her mind so nothing could seep in at all. It was all Hallie now and she was getting tired already. Wiping at her eyes, she blinked to Mikhail, smiling slightly, but only slightly. She felt bad for hurting him so, even if she hadn't been the one to tell him to use his power.

Should she feel bad? Slumping even more, she contemplated more ideas to keep the party going, to keep Liesel there, to just have fun like they were moments before. What happened? Danny left, that's what happened. He threw everything off. She huffed a little, jokingly, remembering to chastise him later.

Then Chandler and James reappeared. Bottles in hand.

"No way," she breathed, climbing out of the pool at once toward the table they started setting up at. Chandler popped back and forth a few times, red cups in hand, vodka, wine, whiskey, rum, some sodas if someone didn't want to drink, or if mixed drinks were more preferable. Hallie grabbed the green apple vodka at once, giggling. Chandler snatched it away at once.

"Straight?" he questioned.

"What?"

"I don't think..."

"You're not my mother," she teased, taking it from him and twisting the cap off. Not knowing if anyone else had put their lips to the bottle, she hesitated. "Eh, whatever." She took a swig, the burning sensation a bit much. She must not have had alcohol in awhile. Coughing once, she laughed.

James shook his head. "I have a bad feeling about you," he teased and turned to everyone else. "Come on! Hallie's gunna soak it all up."

Chandler had brought a little CD player too, old as hell, but in working condition. He quickly popped back to his room and back for his own CD's. "You still have...CD's?"

He nodded, grin wide. "Of course." Finding a mixed selection of 90's music, Britney came on, echoing across the water making Hallie feel a thousand times better, head lighter, as she tugged Mikhail over to her.

"You have to dance again."

James

When Zara took the vodka away, James was laughing to see Zara take a bunch herself, mixing it and wincing. It was randomly endearing. He popped open a coke, mixing it with some rum, something he'd never had before and he sniffed the concoction curiously. "Is this supposed to be good?"

Chandler shrugged. "I'm with Hallie on this one." He took the vodka bottle.

Putting his arm around the shorter Zara, he sighed, sipping his drink and cringing himself at the strange taste. "I don't know any games. What I used to do is just drink and play marco polo." He took another drink. "Anyone in?"

"I hate marco polo," Hallie sighed, poking Mikhail as he danced. She nearly joined in, but took another drink instead. James shook his head at her, but didn't stop it. She then giggled madly, snapping the waistband of Mikhail's weird excuse for a swimming suit, her eyes already wide and hyper.

Chandler seemed to think differently about Hallie's sudden touchy feely though. A concern flitted across his face. He even moved to take the bottle again, which somehow ended up in Hallie's hands. Then he shrugged and turned back to Zoe.

As Axel floated underwater, he let himself review everyone he had really met so far. Liesel seemed nice, but what Danny had said just didn't let her sit right with him. Danny himself was an okay guy, but a little tetchy, by Axel's standards. Hallie... was... better? Mikhail seemed like a good guy, but didn't look at the big picture all too often, it seemed. Zara he liked, maybe it was just the cut of her jib. James was great, he reminded Axel of an old frie-

Pain.

Pain he had never felt since he lost his leg seared across Axel's mind as he tried to recall his memories of Belmont High. His mental shield dropped as he gasped in shock, inadvertantly taking in half a lung's worth of water as he did so. His attempts to cough it up only let more burning water into his lungs as he began to swim in a direction, any direction. He was lucky enough to break the surface right away, and he dissipated the tail so he could use a tentacle to pull himself aground, coughing up water as he did so. After he had gotten himself mostly drained, he curled up into the fetal position, clutching his head and whimpering to himself. Why? Why was there pain there? It couldn't have come from repressed memories, if he could remember seeing a smoldering corpse not three feet from him the day of the incident, which he was sure he would have repressed first. So why did it hurt so much?

Zoe

Zoe reluctantly got out of the pool, not wanting to leave the warm water. She put on her hoodie and zipped it up, wanting to get warmer now that she was out of the pool and wanting to cover herself up a bit more. She took a seat by everyone else and poured herself some soda, usually, she only drank alcohol when she was under extreme stress, not just because she's at a party. She wondered what time it was anyways, it seemed like everything was going by so fast but she was sure it was getting pretty late in the afternoon.

Taking a sip of her drink she watched everyone else, glancing around from person to person. She was surprised at how calm she was in such a large group of people, she wasn't talking that much but she wasn't panicking either and she was pretty content with that. Noticing Chandler had turned back to her she smirked slightly, enjoying her time with him.

Adrien

Once he saw Chandler and James appear with the drinks, his smiled widened completely. He knew the party needed an extra boost, and he guessed alcohol could do that perfectly. Pulling himself out of the pool, he got a cup and poured some rum in, mixing it with Sprite. At the suggestion of playing marco polo he grinned, but forgot about it once it was shot down, there was no use in doing something if someone didn't enjoy it.

Liesel

Liesel laughed a bit once everyone began ignoring her. It seemed just about no one trusted her. It didn't matter, she decided, as long as they trusted her enough to let her stay in the school until the Germans came for her and her mark, she was okay. "Alright, well, I'm gonna go now," she said with a slight wave, leaving the facility. Almost everyone was going to get drunk anyways, so she had even less things to worry about while she looked around.

But before she left she noticed something in the corner of her eye, it was Axel, he seemed to be panicking or something. He was coughing up water, maybe he almost drowned? For a moment she hesitating, having a quick moment of indecision on whether or not to help him. She had been determined at the start to not let herself get invested in other people during her last mission, but she couldn't just leave him there when he had been so kind to her. Finally, she decided that she'd help him, and then when she was done she would leave.

She ran over to him and kneeled down next to him, checking out the situation. It seemed like he was going through some kind of trauma. The fact he was in fetal positon and clutching his head indicated it had to be some kind of bad memory or delusion, in any case she had to bring him back to reality. "Are you okay?" She asked, placing her hand on his back. If there was no response she wasn't sure what she'd do next. She wasn't even sure why she cared that much, it wasn't like these people were her friends...she had just met them recently and she was pretty sure that all of them hated her, or had at least a slight mistrust for her. Yet here she was, helping one of them, as easy as it would be to say she was doing this to gain there trust like she did when she shot April instead of Danny, she wasn't, and that couldn't be good...

The Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster is a potent drink invented by Zaphod Beeblebrox. The effects have been likened to having your brains smashed out with a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick. Axel wished the pain hurt like that, mainly because it would have been a pinch on the arm compared to this.

{Axel... Why do you hold back?}

The voice came from everywhere in his head and nowhere at all.

{Axel... You're not meant to be with these weaklings...}

It... it sounded like an angel... An angel speaking from a containment tube... Odd, why would that be the first thing to come to mind?

{Come to my side, Axel, and learn your true strength...}

Axel felt himself fearing the voice now, and yet pulling towards it...

{Yes, AXEL... Be my experiment... But... are you okay?}
Axel's eyes shot open as he heard Liesel, their entirety bright lilac purple, and his aura swirled around his arm to create a gauntlet around his fist, which he swung into the tile next to her in a blind rage, not knowing what was what. However, the force from the strike dragged his mind back into relative sanity, allowing him to take control of himself again. As he turned his head to look at Liesel, the purple began to dissolve from his eyes, leaving the Axel she had seen in pain. As he stood up on his one leg, he began to teeter a bit, but smiled.

"Ugh... I... Might need to see the nurse soon." Having given the heads-up, he passed out, collapsing back to the floor. This time, however, his mind was only his, and he slept/coma'd where he lay.

Liesel

Liesel eyed Axel's eyes, enveloped in purple light, she was confused at what exactly was going on. She didn't have much time to think though, as she had to jump back in shock as Axel smashed the ground right next to her. Eventually the purple glow from his eyes disappated, she assumed that was the end of his rage. It had seemed he was back to normal as he was back to his original smiley self. His smile didn't last for long though, as he was soon passed out on the floor.

She sighed, sitting down on the floor so she could catch her breath, whatever was going on with him, it couldn't be good. She eyed his unconscious body strangely, wondering what had happened. Eventually she came to a conclusion, he had to be hiding something. There was no way that he could be a smiley guy like that, and then have breakdowns like that without there being something up with him. She was concerned...but she kept telling herself it didn't matter, she was going to be gone soon enough, so why was she so invested in these people. She sat down for a while longer, if no one volunteered to take him to the nurse she would do it herself, then search the school.

Liesel

She sighed, guessing no one was going to take this guy to the Nurse. Standing up she hooked her arms under his, pulling him up off the ground. Eventually, she adjusted him so that he was behind her back, his arms went over her shoulders, and so that she held onto his wrists. Eventually, she pulled him out of the room, not even glancing at the others, they must have been too invested in their party to do anything. For a moment her guard went down and slight resentment shone through. Luckily, she remembered the way to the Nurse's office from the brochure, but it would take a while until she got there. She grumbled under her breath as she felt her back getting wet from Axel's chest, the guy was heavy enough to carry at the start, but as she got more tired he felt even heavier. Eventually, she saw the doors to the Nurse's office and let out a sigh of relief.

Pushing the doors open, she entered the office, panting slightly. She smiled once a Nurse took him off of her shoulders, and sat down to catch her breath. "What happened?" Another Nurse asked as the first Nurse placed him on some sort of bed in an adjacent room. Liesel summarized the events honestly, gauging their reactions. The two Nurse's looked at each other for a moment, with distress evident in their eyes, "Is he gonna be okay?" Liesel asked with a tinge of worry. "Yes, we're just going to let him rest here, you're free to go," the first Nurse said, but Liesel was still suspicious. Her power showed that the chances were slim that they were just going to let him rest, they were going to do something. Liesel eyed the passed out boy, before turning back to the Nurses, "Okay," she said, standing up, the Nurses smiled and both went into the room with Axel, closing the door.

Liesel eyed the now door for a moment and decided she would start her snooping in the office. She opened and closed the door she was supposed to leave from and then moved to the door of the room Axel was in, pressing her ear against the door but making sure her shadow wasn't seen. She listened closely, carefully.

The two Nurses stared at each other for a moment. One opened up a file on Axel on their computer, beginning to panic a bit. The second Nurse calmed her down, pulling her away from the computer. Eventually the first Nurse called, "There seems to be something wrong with Axel, I suggest we repress memories of his creation even further," she stated, awaiting the response of the higher up, "Hm? Very well then, bring him down here," she replied, "Roger." One Nurse put Axel in a wheel chair, while the other went to a wall of the room pulled open one corner of the carpet, taking out a key. The second Nurse pushed the key in a hidden hole on the wall, opening up a small door shaped opening in the wall. She entered a password that let the doors from the opening slide open, revealing an elevator. The first Nurse rolled Axel into the elevator while the other put the key back and re-concealed the opening, and finally entered the elevator. The doors of the elevator closed and they pushed a button to take them down a floor, into a hidden basement. Once the elevator doors opened they stepped into the basement, the laboratory where they created Axel. "Hello, Dr. Ziles," the Nurse said. The Doctor moved over to Axel, smiling slightly, "Let's begin," she said, applying anesthesia to make sure he didn't wake up during the procedure.

Liesel

Once everything seemed to quiet down, Liesel opened the door a bit, absolutely confused. No one was there, including Axel. The Nurses had taken him somewhere. What she heard was muffled, she couldn't hear anything Liesel paced, through the room, wondering what was going on. The Germans had informed her that Psy Prep wasn't exactly what it seemed, but they never gave her many details.

Eventually, she noticed an open laptop and ran towards it. She was going to get information but she wasn't sure how she was going to keep it. She didn't bring a flash drive with her, if she printed it she risked them finding out that she had actually printed it by checking the print history. She decided she would print out the file on Axel that was already open, and not delve any further, if she got caught before she got out of the school she could be in danger. So, she printed it out, a few papers spurting out of the printer. She rolled them up and put them in her bag, getting out of the room, she decided she'd read them once she got back to her room. She left the Nurse's office, speed walking to her room, she decided that was enough. She didn't do enough scanning before that, she might have been caught on camera, this was what happened when you became too invested, and it probably wasn't good.

Zara

Zara didn't notice Axel's breakdown. The only thing she was focused on was getting drunk off her ass. And why not? At least this time it would be voluntary.

She moved on from the vodka to the whiskey, drinking the later straight. She winced a lot at the taste, but held her own until the bottle was suddenly pulled away.

"I think that's enough for now," Mikhail said teasingly, holding the bottle out of reach. Her ears were burning, but she just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Party pooper!" she said, vision already starting to blur and unable to catch the mild concern that flitted behind his smiling eyes. Her ears were burning like crazy now, but she just stuck out her tongue. Whatever understanding or reasoning she had before had pretty much jumped out the window, leaving behind an intoxicated mess.

"Drunk Pollock," he teased back, putting the bottle down.

"Heyyy!" she slurred, holding out a finger, "Don't...don't be hatin! 'sides....I bet....that I could hollllld more....more alcohol than you anyways! So....so there!" She crossed her arms definitively, swaying slightly and sniffing her nose.

Mikhail laughed. "Is that a challenge?" he asked, fingers still on the bottle neck.

"Ya bet yar ssssocks it is!" she barked.

He laughed some more before shaking his head, pulling his hand completely away. "I'm afraid I won't be able to accept such a challenge," he said, smiling, "I prefer to spectate."

"Chicken!" Zara sang and she made chicken wings out of her arms, "I hear a chicken! Bawk bawk BAWK! What, are you...are you compensating fffffor the fact that....yyYOU lost....Chicken fight? Huh? C'mon guys!"

She motioned at the others to join in on her chant: "Chicken! Chicken! Chicken!"

Zoe

...Was she dancing? She hadn't danced since she was in her old home...wait no, she hadn't danced since the mission in the forest, not wanting to remember any of that she repressed it. She felt like an idiot, but continued anyways, even if he wasn't sober he was still Chandler and just about anything could be fun as long as she was doing it with him. But soon they stopped, tensions were flaring between Hallie and James, and then Mikhail and James and apparently...Hallie was pregnant.

Hallie seemed to be in a really bad shape, not taking the information well. Soon enough, Chandler was gone, gathering their stuff and leaving with her. Zoe dropped her arms down from their elevated stance and slouched over for a moment, walking back to the table and pouring some whiskey. She drank it down in one go, allowing the smooth burning sensation to flow down her throat. Everything was going so fast around her but she was starting to feel detached from it all, pouring more whiskey and taking it down, coughing slightly. Now that Chandler wasn't there, there was no incentive for her to stay. She opened the door and began walking, but stopped for a moment and leaned on the wall, wondering if she should go look for Chandler...Hallie was probably in too bad of a mental state for anyone to be near her, which probably meant she wouldn't be able to get close to him, but she wanted to see him, she wanted to give in to her selfishness for once.

Adrien

Well, that party just died a tragic death. Once James dropped the bomb that Hallie was pregnant everything went down in flames. Hallie was a mess, Mikhail was a mess, Zara was a mess, James was infuriated, Chandler was gone to help Hallie, and Zoe was as quiet as ever. There was absolutely no saving this party. Taking another sip of his drink he sighed, feeling bad for everyone who just got effected by that whole scene.

There was more going on, apparently two of Mikhail's friends from outside of the school were both dead, and Mikhail didn't take hearing that well at all. Zara was in tears and Mikhail had ran away. What the heck was going on? This was supposed to be a night of fun, not revealing secrets and sadness! Everything was silent and all that echoed through the room were Zara's wails. Soon enough James came to help her which was good. He wasn't sure whether he should leave or stay, not wanting to seem heartless but also not wanting to stay in such a tragic situation. He ended up staying, just because he was too shocked to even move.

Liesel

Liesel eventually made it back to her room. The back of her clothes were still damp from Axel so she decided to change, discarding the colorful clothes she began with, and putting on the plain white clothes that the school gave her. The fabric was odd and didn't feel very comfortable at all but she didn't care, at least it wasn't wet. She then decided to read the information she had stolen, wondering why there was such a thing on Axel. Wondering what she could find out.

She read the pages closely, eventually she finished and what she had found out shocked her. Axel was Psy Preps first attempt at creating a psychic from scratch, a completely artificial body, completely artificial memories. She wondered how they did this, why they did this, but nothing came to mind. Were they just having fun with little science experiments here? Liesel shook her head, wondering what she should do...

Dr. Ziles

A large grin spread across her face as she slid her finger up Axel's arm. Her lips were painted a glossy red, making the crooked grin look even more sinister. She ran the operation to create Axel, hell, she pretty much did all the work herself if you asked her. But he wasn't perfected. He was scrap metal in comparison to her objectives. She picked up a scalpel, she hadn't used the cold thing in so long, yet, now was unfortunately, still not the time. How she wished to cut up the boys body, find out where she made mistakes, what she did wrong. But it didn't matter, she would perfect this new technique, she would reach her goals.

But for the moment, she had to focus on the sleeping boy, the Nurses had prepped everything and it was time for her to repress memories of his creation even further, to perfect his mind. She pushed him into what appeared to be an MRI scanner and moved to a computer, watching the status of his brain on a monitor as the machine strengthened his fake memories, and weakened his real memories of his creation. He still remembered everything from the school, but before that, everything was fake. All of his true memories about how he came into this world were almost completely erased. She took him back out of the machine, thinking if she had to do anything else...

Axel stirred in his slumber, the meds keeping him under for the procedure. That is, until, the voice decided it was time to make a scene.

{Axel. It's time for you to get up, rise and shine! Witness what you have yet to remember!}

Well, at least whoever it was had dropped the bold font and the italics. Those things gave Axel a headache. As his eyes flickered open, he saw a shining light in his eyes.

{Aw, come on, I still had plans for before I died!} Axel thought to himself, flexing his fingers to feel small sparks of aura ripple through them.

{You're not dead yet, genius, look around. You're in the R&D of this place...} As the voice spoke, it began to fog up, and the voice changed from calming to panicked as if it had been nothing but a tip of the hat.
{SHIT! Look, get your ass up and out or so help me I will take a treble fish hook and shove it so far up your ass you'll bleed from the esophagus!}

Axel, quite liking his esophagus, stirred a little more, his memories of the voice disappearing into his subconscious. As he went to lift his head, it made contact with a hard surface... Odd, it looked like an MRI... he turned to face the nearest personnel, and rubbed his eyes, the sliver of purple that had been there disappearing from view.
"Ma'am?" He said, barely able to focus with the remainder of the migraine still throbbing in his head, "How bad was my incident? I mean, I had seizures like that once in a while when I was little, but it's been so long since my last one..."
That statement was all the proof needed to show the rewrite had been successful. As he looked around, he remembered where he had been and what he was wearing, and quickly looked down to check his modesty.

Dr. Ziles

She smiled lightly at Axel, wondering how he woke up when he was under anesthesia. She guessed they wouldn't run anything else on him yet, but she wondered how they were gonna get him out of the basement without seeming suspicious. "It was pretty bad," she said calmly, "But it's all under control now, but you'll be experiencing some dizziness, and might faint, so we recommend you stay in bed for the rest of the day."

She laughed softly when she noticed him looking down at himself, she wondered why the team had implanted memories of buying him a speedo and why they gave him one, normally she would be angry but it could be what saved her. "Here, let me give you something to cover up," she said, leaving him under the supervision of the Nurses as she grabbed a blanket from the back, along with a cup of water dowsed with sedatives, it would seem like he merely fainted even to himself. When she came back she put the blanket on his lap and handed him the cup of water. "Just drink some water and you'll be free to go, make sure to drink more fluids when you get to your room as well," she said smiling nicely.

Axel blankly took the water and downed it, the sedatives taking effect shortly after. He yawned a bit, and then stretched, standing up and weaving a little bit as a pegleg prosthetic formed instead of the usual blade. He was simply too tired for anything else. Letting his mind haze over from the drugs, he immediately sat back down, the blood rushing to his head as he did so. With all the grace of a flying brick, he flopped back down onto his impromptu bed and passed out cold. At least, that's what he acted like had happened. Something weird was going on here, and he was going to find out what. If not tonight, later, but he still needed knowledge of where to go. Acting on acting instinct(Yes, I mean that exact phrasing), he let his weight go where it pleased, making himself dead weight, much like a comatose teenager. He then also sent a quick thanks to Belmont High for having drama classes, smoldering remains and all. The fact that the tranquilizers made his entire body feel like jelly only added to the unconscious look.

Dr. Ziles

She stood and watched as the sedatives took effect, and eventually, Axel's eyes were closed shut and he was asleep. A short smile crept onto her face as she spun to the two Nurses and spoke in a hushed tone, "Take him back to his room and make sure he stays asleep, we don't want him finding out." With that the Doctor went back to her work and the two Nurses took Axel away, one watching his eyes and the other navigating him.

Liesel

Liesel began folding up her stolen information as she took one of the spare books around the room. She cut a hole in some of the pages and hid the information in there, closing the book back up. She flushed the cut pages down the toilet and hid the book in one of her drawers of clothes that the school gave her. She guessed that was the best she could do in a room that wasn't necessarily hers.

It was a good thing she hid the information because she heard a knock at the door about a minute later. "Who is it?" Liesel asked, hoping she wasn't caught. "Nurses," they stated swiftly. She gulped, preparing for battle if need be. Opening the door she saw smiling faces as they rolled Axel into the room and put him on, the bed. "Thank you," Liesel said as they left. Once they closed the door she turned to Axel, she knew what he was...but he didn't. She frowned slightly, feeling bad for him, noticing he was still wet she sighed, the bed he was lying down on looked like it was being affected already. She slumped back down onto her bed, still staring at him, thinking. She rationalized it as thinking of her options, but it might have been concern...she wasn't really even sure anymore.

James

The crystal glowed on his chest.

He wanted to remain with Zara, but this opportunity...He quickly decided and pecked Zara on top of her head, panic coursing through him. "Stay here," he instructed. "I'll be back soon, I promise."

He dashed from Mikhail's room and slowly made his way through the halls, bypassing a crying Zoe and a distraught looking Chandler. Where was Hallie? That didn't matter at the moment. He started toward the infirmary, Axel in his mind.

Coming across a nurse before the new guy, he asked, "Is Axel all right?" all the while using every ounce of his will to channel the crystal toward Axel, groping for his location. He had to find him. He had to see what was happening. Images flitted in front of his eyes like pages of book, but he couldn't pinpoint anything. He knew a doctor was there...he knew Axel was there...but where was there? Information was right there, luring him in, and he just needed to reach out...reach out...

Axel opened one eye to make sure the coast was clear, then weakly rolled himself up and sat on his bed, this time having the decency to make a screen between him and Liesel with a blanket and a rod of aura as he changed into black sweatpants and a grey T-shirt. When the blanket dropped, Axel looked as if he had never left the room, and he turned to face Liesel, having been air dried for a few minutes now.
"So. What'd I do, and what'd I miss?"
His question was quick and concise, he was starting to have second-feelings about this school, and answers were going to be the only way to get his thoughts straight. That, and maybe some sleep after this...

Liesel

Well, Liesel was glad that this time there was a blanket between them while Axel changed this time, it made things a lot less awkward to say the least. She wondered how they did it...how they created a whole human from scratch, every body part, every thought...it was kind of scary. But she put on a straight face anyways, not wanting to raise suspicions. "Well, you almost whacked me with a purple gauntlet if that counts for anything," Liesel said laughing a bit. "As for what you missed I don't really have a clue, I took you to the Nurse and didn't go back to the pool. I wasn't exactly welcome there," Liesel said shrugging slightly.

Chandler

"The library," he murmured, starting to lead the way. "We have to hurry."

When they made it back, Hallie was still hunched over moaning, crying from the pain. Chandler fell to his knees, but not sure what to do. "Can you...help? I..." His head felt like it was splitting open, different worms of energy coursing through. "I...Zoe I..."

Now he was bent over himself in pain. What was happening? He remembered...the pool...and the drinking...and Hallie...pregnant but...no...no...no...

"Zoe I...I didn't...I didn't!" he gasped out, eyes widening. "I didn't do it, I swear!" He couldn't believe what he was seeing, like a horrible movie. Hallie coming closer, her lips touching his, the soft feel, her hair clasped in her hair. "No...I didn't!"

He was standing somehow. Somehow across the room. Teleportation. His ability. And Zoe...his...

"I'm so sorry."

Hallie cried out in pain, unable to speak. She sobbed into her legs, bent awkwardly. Chandler went to her at once, teleporting them to the infirmary. "She's hurt!" he exclaimed, seeing James there. What mattered was getting Hallie help though, serious help. She was red in the face and wailing. Arms and legs going different directions.

James hurried over. "What's going on?"

"She's...hurt...I don't know!" Chandler pushed his hair back, then vanished from the infirmary back to the library. He was panicked and shaking and when he saw Zoe, he hugged her tight. "I'm sorry."


James

Within a few minutes, Hallie was sedated. One nurse even suggested strapping her down. Before James could protest this, he was shoved out of the room. Part of him didn't want to leave. Another was still on Axel's trail.

Something was off about his location. He was sure Axel was here, or had been here, or...near here. Why wasn't anything making sense?

He started back to the dorms, wondering if he was in his room. When he passed Mikhail's door however...he yelped from the burning pain.

The things that his crystal picked up on confused him. Like this. How did it know that this was important? How could anything he "divined" be important to a rock? It was hard to decipher, but he didn't have time for that.

The flash of red told him everything.

"Stop!" he shouted, running forward toward April.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"
That was all the warning the creature got as Axel used an aura-spring-and-piston-boosted flying side kick into what he thought was it's jaw. The saliva that had dissolved Zara's coat splattered his aura-covered leg, but didn't dissolve it, as he dissipated the aura around his prosthetic and made a tentacle to latch onto a branch for his arm, glowing softly in the darkness.
"THAT is for looking as hideous as you do!" He said, looking at the acidic spittle hissing and smoking as it hit the ground, thankful that his aura was by all means atomically stable-
{Does my aura even HAVE atoms?}
(...It's atomically stable... F*ck it, it's made of hardened light.)
{But what if I'm put in a dark-}
(IT'S MAGIC.)
{But isn't this-}
ATOMICALLY STABLE, and thus incredibly difficult to get a reaction from. As he dropped down from his perch, he ran over to Zara to make sure she was safe, throwing his coat over her and not even checking to see if whatever he had just kicked would stay down.
"Are you okay? I came as fast as I could after I saw James race out of the school! Apparently, I got here just in time!" He smiled and laughed weakly, trying to help calm her down from whatever was currently rearing up behind him. As it leapt forward to strike, Axel grimaced as he took the tentacle around his arm and snapped it forward, the hardened tip piercing through its mouth and pinning it to a tree, making sure to dissipate his aura this time for fear that the saliva might run down it. As it slid down, whatever semblance of life it had before dwindling, he took a step back and dropped to the forest floor, shaking from the sudden adrenaline rush.

Zoe

It was dark.

She couldn't see anything, but still had a slight bit of consciousness, the cold around her kept her awake, but made her desperate at the same time. Everything was numb, she couldn't feel her body, she couldn't feel the blood dripping from her cuts, all she could feel was the cold gusts of wind. She could hear, Chandler spoke in her ear with a hushed tone, telling them they had to move. Move where? Where were they anyways? Oh...right...the library, the dorm, the helicopter, the crash, she remembered everything in an instant, images of the memories buzzing in her mind.

She was beginning to feel a bit warmer, and wondered why, but soon enough it was cold again, the only moving her sleeping body was making was shivering. She tried waking up, trying to do what Chandler told her...but she couldn't, she just couldn't get up...she couldn't do anything. Soon enough she was clutched by Chandler, and felt herself being moved, slipping in and out of consciousness, without even realized she smiled, or at least she thought she was, honestly she wasn't sure, but even with the circumstances she was happy, happy Chandler was okay, happy she was with him.

But it seemed whenever she got up the world pushed her down. She didn't want to feel the pain of falling again. She wanted to stay up at the top...she didn't mind dying with this feeling.

Soon she couldn't feel anything. She gave up, consciousness fading completely, the darkness enveloping her completely. She couldn't feel anything, not even the cold, soon enough she stopped thinking...her thoughts faded away...they were muffled, incomplete, until they died out...except for one...Chandler. She didn't want to die, she didn't want to lose how she felt when she was with him, whether it be good or bad!

...

Her eyes burst open, and she gasped heavily, shaking uncontrollably again. She trembled as she tried getting up, falling back down and heaving continuously. Tears rushed out of her eyes as her head sporadically looked around. James, Zara, Axel...what were they all doing here? Her head shifted quickly to the ground next to her and she caught sight of Chandler. Once she did she immediately scrambled over to him, ignoring the fact everyone else was there, and picked him up, crying louder. She pulled him closer to her, noticing he was shirtless...it was freezing out here, he would freeze to death! Where was his sweater? It...it was on her...that's why she had that brief period of warmth...it was because of him. She looked over to James, noticing he had some clothes for all of them, she helped put some on Chandler first and then took some for herself. Once they were dressed she pulled Chandler back up to her still crying. "Wake up, wake up, wake up," she whispered, voice shaky and strained with tears.

Turning back to the others she asked, "What now?"

She had no clue where they were and how to get back. Hopefully Axel or James remembered or they were goners...she realized soon just how bad she was getting. Her body was turning blue and she could barely feel her legs. She was scared of what was going to happen, especially for Chandler. Blood was streaming down his head, and he was probably just as cold. She just held him in her arms and kept whispering to him, pleading him to wake up, it was all she could do, if he died, she'd lose hope...he was her last hope.