Axel Lerate's Story

Axel held tightly to Anna's hand as they made their way through a cold field, dainty snowflakes falling from the ivory sky above. Though it was winter, she felt warm with him. She began dancing barefoot through the snow, faint music rang through the air urging her to spin. With her long hair swirling about her she couldn't help but laugh and smile, reaching out for Axel to join her. As their fingertips touched----


She was woken abruptly as a loud crash came from one of the upper floors, jerking violently off of Axel and the couch, and onto the hard floor below. As she rose, rubbing her elbow from her landing she glanced over at Axel, hoping that he hadn't woken from her sudden movement.
What the hell is going on up there? she thought glancing up at the ceiling. Looking over at Axel she stroked his head and leaned over to plant a kiss on his cheek and whisper softly into his ear, "I'll be right back sweetie."

Making her way up the stairs it was overly quiet, as if everything was being dulled, "I mist be imagining it," she murmured softly to herself as she rubbed her ear, continuing up to the dorm level. She saw nothing down her hall. Approaching her door she placed her fingertips on the wood, listening to the rooms speak to her. A vision came to her,
Mortimer was here,,,waiting for me... she sifted through the images continuing to look for more clues. Almost as if walking into a dream she was pulled into the vision, and instead of seeing in her mind, it was as if she were watching a black and white movie, standing off to the side as a bystander.
Well this is new... she began to think, but as she did so a horrified scream tore into her head. Dropping to her knees she clutched her ears, but the sound was echoing inside of her head. The vision began to fade as the pain in her head grew. Turning to the direction of the sound she screamed SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! but the girl she was yelling at didn't answer, and the memory kept unfolding. Finally she turned back into the room two doors down from her own.
That's whats his names room...O why can I not remember..." she mumbled to herself as she heard her frantic accusations about a there being a zombie in the school. Looking back to Mortimer she saw that he had already turned tail. Chasing after him the vision faded as she turned the corner to see two other students picking at Axel's door handle, one of which was the screaming girl. There was something unnatural about the air around them, a weak force filling the halls. She had noticed it before, the unnatural silence, the thickness in the air. It was stronger around these two, one of them was the source.

Am I still watching a vision? Or am I really here?
She had no idea, she could very well still be downstairs, sleeping soundly on Axel....she could be seeing what was unfolding in her dreams...she could still be stuck in the vision of the past...
In any case she had to try something. Anger boiled up inside as she screamed as loud as she could, "What do you think you are doing to Mortimer!?!?!"

Axel awoke to Anna missing. That was unnerving thing #1. He then heard her voice shriek out in reference to Mortimer. This was reason to move at Mach 4 #0. As he dashed out of the room, his foot and aura-made falsie were moving fast enough to start a small trail of fire, or at least, they would if he was in a cartoon, however, they were muffled by both carpet and psychic energy, leaving only the gentle creaking of the mansion around him in response to his weight. The stairs were cleared in three steps, each gaining more speed as he accelerated upward. The hallways blurred past as he moved, details being erased from his mind as soon as they registered for lack of need, until he silently stopped behind the corner leading to his dorm, where he pressed up against the wall and cocked his head to listen in on the conversation.

"-ded if you hadn't screamed Danny out of focus!" Axel was surprised at Zara saying that(Her voice wasn't exactly hard to forget), he'd thought that once time stopped, sound wouldn't be accessible from "outside". As she continued to freak, Axel thought to jump in, but decided against it, thinking it better to see how Anna'd react, which she did with superb manner, even if her-... Did she just call him her... BOYFRIEND? Well. That made him feel warm little bubblies... Strange. If the good Doctor Ziles wouldn't probably dissect him like a frog the second he told her he'd both become self-aware and was now experiencing emotions that he hadn't been programmed with, he would have asked her opinion. Although, thinking about how doctors that are willing to break the morality rules(such as cloning humans) tend to dissociate themselves from emotion, that would have been a bad idea anyways. That issue'd need to be dealt with later. {For now...} he thought, turning the corner to reveal himself like a ghost from the mist, the smile on his face as real as a fake one could look, {I have a feeling this will only escalate unless I step in.}

"Zara!" he said, taking his place by Anna's side as he switched over to Polish and keeping the tone cheerful so Anna couldn't understand, hoping that he hadn't forgotten any of the language, "Co ty do cholery robisz próbuje włamać się do mojego pokoju? Facet tam nie tylko zombie, to mój współlokator. I Danny, jeśli jego moc jest to, co myślę, że jest, nie byłby w stanie być zakłócony przez Annę, więc wina nie jest jej. Niezależnie od tego, dlaczego nie myśleć szukać właściciela pokoju pierwszego, czy innej randze? Szczerze wątpię, że dwóch nastolatków, psychiczny lub nie, może obsługiwać Pacjenta Zero sytuacji." A little off on the pronouns and some of the grammar, maybe, but it was more or less understandable: Zara dun goof'd by trying to enter Axel's room without permission, regardless of how big an emergency she thought it, and he was not happy about it.

Daniel

Danny poked his head out of his shirt. Sleep wasn't coming easily with people shouting all around him, and as much as he'd like to just shut it out he had something vitally important to say here: "She burned you so bad you're gonna need new eyebrows." Wait, that wasn't it. Oh, right. "And she didn't mess up my concentration. How would she even do that? Nobody else can move when time, y'know, stops moving them. You let go. Started lockpicking. I got tired. Now will everyone please shut up so I can sleep? I think I'm going on thirty-somefuck hours without sleep."

And with that he turtled up again and promptly tried to block out the world around him. Unfortunately it was a very noisy world. This would be the perfect time to stop time and get some peace and quiet, if only that weren't hella hard to do right now. Irony. He hated irony. Normally he liked it, but right here and now he hated everything up to and including kittens, rainbows and sunshine.

Especially sunshine.

Zara

It was as if the girl, Anna. had taken Zara's words out her mouth and then slapped her hard across the face with them like a baseball bat. With her original retort used against, Zara was rendered speechless.

It didn't take her long to realize what Anna's power was. She wasn't exactly super-subtle about it, what with the unpermissible touching and then suddenly knowing everything about her. Yet she had nothing to say back. Axel's bad Polish just fell around her, barely making it through her ears, as Zara stood shakily, stunned, by the door.

Her eyes started to well up without her permission, and before she knew it, tears were rolling down her face. Zara was an honest person. She couldn't tell a convincing lie to save her life. Everything she said had to be true, or at least something she thought was true. There was a reason why Zara was never used as an undercover agent, why she was strictly kept in the van, or the occasional physical job where her small stature came in handy. Hiding facts was torture and difficult, and she had a terrible poker face. She had even revealed her true intentions about why she was trying to break into Axel's room. She thought she had been doing something right. She thought she was protecting people. But now everyone was jumping on her like she was some villainous bitch?

And Anna...Anna...using her family against her. Using her words, her information against her...she would have told her about her family. Gladly. How she hated them and how she had never kissed any one of them because none of them had ever kissed her. But instead Anna had to rip that out. Make it seem like something Zara had hid, even though the only reason she never told was because no one ever asked.

She was just like James, with his stupid crystal. The stupid condescending way he spoke, like he knew everything. Using her information against her, but only when it was convenient. Never when he should actually use it.

The tears were really pouring now, and Zara whipped her hand up to slap the girl, but as she did she heard James' voice in her head, demanding "Hit me again!" and she stopped. Clenched her fist, fingers curling, arm shaking with the rest of her body. Anna was just like James, like Ziles, like Arian, like everyone else. Even Mikhail...someone she thought was different. Where was he now? Why had he run off? He had changed...he wasn't the same anymore. He didn't care anymore. Of course he didn't, not after what she said. The secret she had tried to keep had exploded and hurt everyone. He said he'd always be here for her, but where was he now?

Zara was in too distressed to actually find the answer to that question, at this point crying uncontrollably. Turning away, she ran down the hall to her own room, not Mikhail's, and flung herself inside, slamming the door hard and throwing herself onto the bed in a mess of tears.

Mikhail

It wasn't clear what exactly had set him off. Perhaps he had unconsciously grown too involved, the computer screen with new information bringing back memories, the speed-reading, eyes scanning back and forth, in a restricted area. Perhaps it was the familiarity of the name.

Perhaps it was actually being caught. The computer inexplicably powering off. Maybe it was the usage of his last name. Perhaps it was the older female voice, the woman he had seduced the other night to figure out how to get to this room, the way she almost sounded like she was glad he found this information, as if she was amused, yet darker tones hinted at a darker fate. Perhaps it was the sound of her footsteps, the clicking of her heels against the tile, the way the hair on the back of his neck prickled up, the tension, the adrenaline building, the way he knew she was leaning against the door without needing to turn around to see.

Maybe it was all of these things combined.

Yet maybe it was none of these things.

In the blink of an eye, he had yanked the computer mouse out and in the second after that he had spun around and flung the mouse at the woman. The keyboard was next, and he wielded it with one strong hand as he grabbed the wheeled computer chair with the other and shoved it towards the woman. The ceiling started to cave, yet he was unaware of the fact that it was indeed his doing. He was using his power unconsciously, at the moment not even aware that he had it, meaning his ability was much more volatile.

He pounced on top of the desk now, holding the keyboard in front of him just in case she had a gun. His mission...what was his mission again...the files! Right, the files...but his flashdrive. Damnit, he didn't have it on him!

"Саша, у меня нет флэш-накопитель," he muttered into his watch.

"Забудьте о том, что, есть бомба!" a staticky voice said back desperately, "И Йо-Йо повредил ногу очень плохо!"

Shit. "Я сейчас," he answered, "но эта сука блокирует мой путь. Может занять некоторое время."

He thought he saw movement, but before he could re-raise the keyboard, the ceiling suddenly crushed down between him and the woman. It had fallen conveniently at an angle, and Mikhail grinned. "На самом деле, только несколько секунд" he adjusted, and ran up the collapsed ceiling to the next floor.

"Вы должны будете дать мне направления," he spoke worriedly. He didn't even have so much as a pen-knife on him...this would be tricky. After relaying his location to Sasha, though, his friend relayed over instructions and he found the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time to the 20th floor.

Something welled inside Anna, a feeling she had never felt before. She felt powerful as her heart raced in her chest. This was what it felt like, to be the strong one for once. As Axel stepped beside her her pride swelled, now she had someone backing her up. It was intoxicating. Even the boy lying on the ground, though he seemed to be mostly out of it, made a comment towards what she felt was quite a clever quip. For a moment she couldn't help but smirk at the girl as she crossed her arms, waiting for a response.

However all that changed as Zara's eyes began to wet, as this girl she didn't even know began to break down in front of her. Anna had come to do one simple thing, defend her friend, however she had taken it too far by insulting this innocent girl. Who was she to use her powers this way? She hadn't deserved such disrespect. As she thought more about it, the horror of what she had done really sunk in. By taking the absolute worst even of her past, one of her most painful memories, and using it against her... she very well may have destroyed any chance of ever redeeming herself in Zara's eyes.

When Zara raised her hand to her, Anna actually wished she would have hit her. She deserved every bit of punishment Zara deemed fit. However all she could do was watch as she lowered her fist and ran down the hall, slamming the door behind her with tears steaming from her face.

Anna's power high quickly wore off as her eyes too began to grow heavy with tears. She wanted nothing more than to take back the last five minutes, to repair this broken encounter. However now she was torn, should she go after Zara and attempt to redeem herself for the misery she had just layed upon her? OR should she go after Mortimer now that he had more than likely fled from the school? Both would surely feel utter loneliness, however she could only help one at this moment. Glancing from one door to the other she broke down sobbing, turning to Axel.

"What have I done? What should I do?"

Part of her knew that he would rather her comfort Zara at this moment, based on his protective behavior over her when it came to Mortimer. However, allowing someone else to make the decision for her would lift the stress of the situation from her shoulders. Throwing her arms over his shoulders she continued,

"I need to make this right....but I have to find Mortimer...please help me."

Axel sighed in relief as Anna realized her mistake. While he hadn't wished for Zara to be hurt, he knew the full potential of Anna's powers, and so wanted her to realize one of the largest powers and pains behind it: the words used to hurt others.
"I have a feeling Mort's being helped right now, considering Adrien isn't around." he said, frowning in feigned disappointment, and looked her dead in the eye. "You need to apologize to Zara when we get back, though. She might have acted painfully, but she was only doing what she perceived as right. If you thought there was a flesh-eating beast in the school that could turn your loved ones against you, wouldn't you do everything in your power to defend against it?" Before she could object to what he'd called Mort, he added "I'm merely saying what Zara was thinking. Her methods were wrong, but her heart was where she thought was the right place." As he finished, he turned around and walked towards the stairs, hoping he could reach the forest with Anna before Mort fled for good.

As she looked back toward Zara's door she wiped her eyes, guilt still welling up inside her. Letting Zara be for a while seemed the best, but when they returned she would be sure to make amends.
Quickly she reached out to take Axel's hand, and pulling him toward her room.
"It's cold outside Axel, if we are going to go look for Mort then I need my coat."
Sliding her key in the door she pushed open the door and opened the small coat closet just inside the door. Pulling out a gray wool jacket, lavender scarf and gloves. As she dressed in her warm clothes she looked over Axel, who was not dressed for winter weather in her opinion. Reaching over she grabbed a blue hat, scarf, and glove set and tossed it to him.
"I wouldn't want you to freeze out there, I still need you around," she chuckled. Though she was still upset about the way she had acted before, being around him always made her mood lighter.

Glancing out the window out toward the frosty forest beyond her worry grew. The snow was falling hard in thick chunks of ice as opposed to the dainty flakes from her dream. Ice frosted across the window and the wind pounded against the pane. She prayed that Mortimer was alright, and knowing that Adrein was out there with him didn't help lessen her grief.

Taking Axel's hand once more they made their way out to the cold outdoors, and began their search for Mort.

Adrien

He left once Mortimer placed the key in his hand. He began making his way back to the school, looking back once or twice to ensure Mortimer didn't end up running away entirely in spite of their arrangement, though he doubted he would do that. He had to find out what was going on, and why everyone was hunting him for some reason, and even then he had his second objective of delivering the pen to Anna. It was going to be difficult but he had to do it.

He made his way through the woods, stumbling over some roots as he continued, eventually after not too long he made it out of the woods at a distance where he could see the school. He noted two faint figures by the school walking toward him and immediately his mind went to think of the people trying to hurt Mortimer. He rushed over to them, noticing that it was Anna and Axel when he got closer. The revelation had shocked him, why would they be chasing Mort of all people? His mind did go back to when Axel had acted strangely to Mortimer...could that have anything to do with what was going on? It did make things easier for him though...he could end this hunt and deliver the pen to Anna in a close succession, perhaps this would be easier than he imagined...although he knew from experience that ending disputes was barely ever easy.

Once he got close enough he began speaking immediately, it wasn't the time for formalities. "You guys what's going on? Mortimer's going to leave the school because he says that everyone's trying to kill him, so some explanation would be nice."

Zoe

"Oh. There you are. Lookin' all over for you."

She smiled slightly once Chandler woke up again, happy to see him conscious again. His voice seemed raspy, and she thought they might as well get some water or something. She shifted in the creaky bed to face him, "You shouldn't have followed after me...we both could have died in that cabin," she said, her worry evident in her voice. Although she could have died had he not followed her, he would be safe.

"Then I'd say the chances of us dying are the same as long as we stay in this school," she said with a small laugh. She had been trying to lighten up the mood but the truth in her attempt at a joke remained.

She shook her head, ready to move on to another topic. "You wanna get something to eat? If you're still not feeling well it can wait."

Dr. Ziles

Mikhail's response was definitely not one she had expected, the ceiling had come crashing down before she could even realize what was going on, thankfully she had responded fast enough to not be completely be crushed by the debris but she wasn't completely spared, rubble and tech crashing on top of her among other things.

Her mind raced through ways she wanted to kill the boy, but she had to repress her urges as she heard the sound of some of the students coming. One of them came to her, assisting in the removal of what had crashed on top of her, she coughed slightly as he helped her, noticing the scrying crystal on his neck. She already knew who it was but a good look at his face let her know for sure it was James.

She smiled as he helped her up. "Thank you," she said weakly, "If it weren't for you two coming as fast as you did who knows what would have happened to me." Her eyes moved over to the girl, it was Hallie the empath...two psychics with powers like theirs being so close to this much information wasn't exactly favorable.

"Do you think that you may be able to escort me to the Nurse's Office? Any other day I'd go by myself but I fear I may end up falling on the way there," she said with a laugh. Her whole body was pulsating with pain but she had to focus.

The pair's boots sank in the snow, it seemed there was almost a foot on the ground now and no sign of it stopping. The cold cut through Anna's jacket quickly, but she ignored the shivering of her body as she made her way towards the woods. The walk was awkward...she couldn't tell whether it was due to the wind and cold that Axel wasn't speaking...or if it was something else. Either way his face was bright red, and she only hoped it was because of the cold.
Maybe he thinks differently of me now...he didn't seem upset back at the school...but I did say some awful things...
Crossing her arms over her chest she tucked her hands under her arms to keep them warm. She had left them dangling in the hopes that maybe Axel would have taken hold of one, but it seemed his distance was not worth her hands freezing.
Not long into their trek they saw a figure coming towards them in the distance. Anna's heart leapt in her chest as she thought maybe it was Mort coming home, but it was Adrien. Still she was glad to see that at least he was okay.
He had a look of worry on his face as he reached them and asked, "You guys what's going on? Mortimer's going to leave the school because he says that everyone's trying to kill him, so some explanation would be nice."
"Oh, this situation is dreadful! Some of the other students saw him in the hallway upstairs and thought there was some kind of zombie apocalypse descending on the school...they chased him into Axel's room. By the time I cleared things up with them he had already fled...Axel and I came to look for him and make sure that he is alright. Please Adrien, you have to tell us where he is!"
As she spoke the last part she took Adrien's hands in her own and gave them a slight squeeze.
"And you have been out here for quite a while, you need to get back to the school and warm up before you catch your death out here!"

Axel walked behind Anna rather quietly, his blush failing to hide itself as he realized what Anna had said back when talking to Zara. For some reason, he knew that the word "boyfriend" meant something incredibly important, but he had no idea of how to actually ask her about it without sounding like a complete fool. He sent a silent prayer of thanks to Freddie Mercury when Adrien showed up to accuse them of being the reason for Mort's departure. He put his now-mitted hands up in a stopping motion so he could speak.
"Whoa, there, I LIKE Mort. He might have all the personality of a bowl of petunias, but he's one of us, and that's that. Zara was the one who has to be kinamortophobic... Pun not intended. I was in the movie room passed out with Anna, and by the time I woke up, Anna gave the mother-in-law of all telling offs to her, and Mort was long gone... Ironically, if Zara were here, she'd find him lickety-split. Shame we don't have any discarded items of his, or we might have been able to have Anna try to track him down."

((THUNDER YOU'RE WELCOME BUT WHAT DID I DO?))
Adrien

As Annabel and Axel explained to him what had happened he felt a wave of relief that it was all a misunderstanding, but he was still extremely worried for Mortimer. He wondered how he was doing out there, knowing it must have been awful to think that everyone was trying to hunt you down and kill you...he hoped that Mortimer didn't choose to run away before he returned because he hoped that this misunderstanding could be cleared up completely.

When Anna took his hands into hers he snapped out of his thoughts and finally realized how cold he was compared to the rest of them, shivering due to the fact that he had been out so long.

"And you have been out here for quite a while, you need to get back to the school and warm up before you catch your death out here!"

Adrien considered going inside at the suggestion and letting them find Mortimer, but he knew that couldn't work. There was no way they'd be able to find him by themselves without knowing the way to get there. Even if they did manage to find him he would run away, Mortimer had told him explicitly that he had to come get him rather than anyone else, so either way he had to go. "I'll be able to warm up after we get Mort...until then I'll have to stick with you guys so he knows everything's okay," Adrien responded after some thought.

At Axel's mentioning of the possibility of Anna being able to track Mort down with one of his discarded items Adrien's mind immediately went to the pen that he gave him...but he couldn't give the pen to Anna now, he was warned to give it to her in private when he got the chance, so he couldn't give it to her now in front of Axel. "It's alright, I think I remember the way to him, he said he'd wait for me in case I could work things out with everyone..." Adrien said, "Does everyone know Mortimer's okay now? If not, one of us should find everyone and let them know that he's not the coming of a zombie apocalypse," Adrien continued, hoping Axel would volunteer to everyone so he could give Anna the pen...hopefully that would work out.

Zoe

Her eyes felt heavy as she continued lying down on the hospital bed, but it was difficult to try and attempt to sleep as the springs were poking into her like dull knives and the voices of Ziles, Hallie, and James rang out close by. What they were conversing about didn't matter much to her but just the sound of Hallie and Ziles brought a sour taste in her mouth and a pit in her stomach.

Her eyes shifted to the window nearby where she was situated, the snowy backdrop was dark as the night began, she hadn't felt so tired in quite some time she thought with a yawn. She couldn't get to sleep though, the memory of the library coming up over and over again along with other unpleasant ones that she didn't want to remember.

She dwelled on it for quite some time until loud noises had erupted from somewhere else within the room, the metallic creaking and groaning of machine hinges, cracking and breaking noises paired with a consecutive slam of objects falling on the floor. She knew most of the noises all to well, noises that went along with destructive powers going out of control. Her eyes widened at the noise and her hands went to her ears, but she could only dull the sound of the screaming and yelling that followed. She wondered who it was before the male voice registered in her mind, it was Mikhail. His powers were the only one that fit the description anyways.

She turned around in her bed as the noise lowered, until she could barely hear anything left at all. She noticed a Nurse pacing out of the room and signaled for her to come over. "What happened?" She asked, she would have went up to check for herself but it wasn't like she was on good terms with anyone in that room, in her mind at least. "A patients powers went a bit out of control during some X-Rays, the patient's sedated now so you have no need to worry for your well being," the Nurse reassured, leaving quickly before she could even ask to see if he was okay.

She shook her head silently before turning around again, whether or not anyone out there was okay wasn't really her business anyways...

(OoC: YOU GAVE AXEL AN OPPORTUNITY TO START TALKING AGAIN.)
Axel rubbed the back of his head, smiling weakly.
"I think everyone knows by now... But I'll go. Best they hear it from the now-not-new guy." He went to walk away, but stopped, and pivoted back to face Anna, face still red. "Also, I, uh... I have to ask you something when you get back. It's been niggling at me for a while, and I'd rather ask when it's not so cold." With that, he walked away until he was out of sight, then took off the hat and scarf. He was swimming in the lake without notice it was cold, and he was warm enough with the trenchcoat. The hat and scarf had sent him boiling, and he was glad to be out of them. As he walked back to the school, he realized he had no idea where everyone was, and so decided to go to the first place he expected people to be after multiple people came back from multiple things.

Apparently, the hot spring was empty.

The nurse's area was a bit more occupied, and Axel found Zoe, Ziles, Hallie, and James all together.
"Perfect timing!" Axel said as he walked up to them, "James, you tell everyone about the new guy? If not, I will: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the new sitcom, My Roommate Is A Psychic Zombie, starring Axel Lerate and Mortimer Mene!" ...That might have been funnier if Mik hadn't just brought the place down a few minutes ago.

Chandler

Everyone was troubled it seemed, but most of all Mikhail, practically tearing the place down around such a calm moment with Zoe. He had his arm around her, just for a moment, feeling like he could fall asleep into fluffy happiness. He wouldn't of course, not with Fina making trouble in his mind. Perhaps he should speak with one of the teachers. See if there was a psychiatrist here. Maybe they knew of his...past.

Though, with Mikhail's reactions to his surroundings, maybe he needed one more than Chandler at the moment.

Everything settled quicker than he thought it would. Curtain lay in tatters, rings scattered and windows cracked. Snow fell gently outside though, quite unaffected, which was something to be grateful for he supposed. He didn't even realize he had made it to his feet, toes precariously close to glass shards.

"Could have been worse?" he suggested to Zoe comically. Axel arrived then. Mentioning some sort of zombie sitcom. Chandler wasn't exactly fully awake to comprehend it completely.

"Hilarious," James jibed Axel's way, pulling a knocked over tray off of Hallie's leg. She'd ended up on the floor, white hair in disarray and face contorted with pain. Physical or mental, he couldn't tell. His eyes found Zoe instead.

Chandler took her hand, finally taking in the impact of the events. He had to blink a few times, clear his head of pink-haired girls, but knew that someone could have died just then. Died. Killed. By Mikhail. The Russian in question had been sedated and was back on a bed. Chandler's grip tightened on Zoe's hand.

"Maybe we should leave," he decided, already heading to the door.


Hallie

Apparently everything wasn't completely back in her mind, at least not clearly, because she never saw this coming. Mikhail's breakdown nearly toppled the entire wing of the school to the snowy ground. He was still twitching, even under sedation. His mind was melting, or would, with everything going on inside of it. She could hardly keep it at bay from her own, the fall jolting her concentration considerably.

Axel's input wasn't appreciated, but his mood certainly helped. She motioned for James to help her to her feet. She glanced Axel's way, confused by his comments, but at least acknowledging him. "Not the best time," she said gently. Then she had eyes for Mikhail. Her anger with Ziles had vanished. All she wanted was to know what was going on.

"You want to...sit?" James suggested, not following her to Mikhail's bedside. Nurses had just finished their xray of his hand while he was still. She took their place when they left his side, taking his metal fingers and lamenting at their coolness.

"I'm fine," she said softly, pushing Mikhail's hair across his hot forehead. "See if everyone's okay."


James

Sure, abandon me to Zara's glares. He checked on everyone, and everyone seemed alive enough. His feet fidgeted and he ultimately passed Axel by to head to his dorm. He wasn't going to make headway with Zara tonight and he was fatigued beyond belief having not slept well at all previously. There wasn't anything to do, at least, nothing useful. Or perhaps he just didn't want to help. Didn't want to be in the way anymore.

He curled up in his bed moments later, hardly remembering every emotion of the day. He was exhausted. Yet stared across the dark room with wide open eyes.

double post...my apologies...

*awkwardly steps off stage*

Zara

The whole ordeal had been frightening. Zara actually thought Mikhail was going to completely destroy the hospital wing, whether he realized it or not. The storm was over quickly, even though it felt like forever. Zara had pressed up against the wall by the door, debating the entire time whether to just run out of there entirely when a nurse had finally stabbed a hypodermic needle into Mikhail's arm and pushed the syringe. Mikhail had calmed immediately after that.

Axel's appearance earned a glare from Zara at the inappropriateness. It would have been nice to get such a nice explanation about Mortimer without unearthing all of her backstory without permission. She glared at Axel and moved away from the door, arms crossed.

James finally left, and she didn't so much as blink as she continued glaring at the black-haired boy. When she had sent enough mental lightning bolts towards him, she turned away and looked at Mikhail, arms still crossed as the nurse tended to Mikhail's hand, a similar cast to his leg being wrapped around his fingers.

What was going on with him? Zara felt the need to ask, to get answers, but she was also afraid of setting off another incident. He didn't say a word on their way to the nurses. His voice, yelling and screaming, rasping and cracking and growing hoarse as he had tried to escape that hospital bed--now noticeably more reclined than before--haunted her mind. What had he gone through to make him like this? Or, perhaps...Zara remembered Hallie mentioning something several weeks ago, and herself thinking he was slipping more so than before. And that time outside, when he had also been tranquilized. And then the gym...

Maybe this wasn't something entirely new after all...

Mikhail

His mind was foggy and blank, and he didn't know what he was looking at for the longest time.

Finally his eyes cleared, but his head still felt cushioned. It wasn't the same sensation as before...he didn't feel entirely disoriented. He was fairly certain what he was seeing now, what was happening now, was reality. Hopefully his hair wouldn't turn green again too...

No, this was different. There was...less on his mind. Clouds covered what had plagued him only moments before, hiding them away from him and forcing him to only focus on the present.

He wasn't happy. He wasn't sad. But he was...calm. At last.

He breathed in and out through his mouth, body weak. His leg felt heavier, no doubt because his power had been affected as well, but the pain from it and his hand were only barely tangible.

He felt cold fingers moving across his forehead, an icy relief against how hot he felt. No doubt sweaty as well...he needed to take a shower.

He fluttered his eyes open, unaware that they had shut earlier, and glanced to the side. The sight of Hallie pulled his mouth into a small smile. "Hey," he breathed out, turning his head towards her, "How are you?"

Adrien

Once Axel had left to spread the news about Mortimer, Adrien decided that he might as well take the chance and give Anna the pen now before continuing. "Hey, uh...Mortimer told me to give this to you once we were alone, said it was pretty important," Adrien said, rustling through his pockets until he received the pen. Before giving it to her, he continued, "I'm guessing it has some information in it that he wants you to get from your power? I guess it's none of my business though, so you don't really need to answer that," he said, holding it out to her.

He guessed that once she took the pen the best option would be to make their way towards Mortimer before he ended up running away or something, if Anna's powers were able to help find him from the pen that would make things even easier. He gave a light smile to her as she took the pen, eager to continue.

Zoe

She hadn't realized that his arm was around her until after Mikhail's wreckage was complete, the cold air that escaped from the broken window didn't seem as cold anymore...and her bad mood was fading away as she stayed close to him.

That was, until Axel burst into the room, speaking of zombie sitcoms and the like, a name stuck out, Mortimer Mene, the one who she assumed was Axel's brand new zombie roommate. Zoe rubbed her temples slightly, the timing of Axel's entrance being absolutely horrible due to the events that had just occurred.

Chandler had soon taken her hand into his, again nullifying her bad mood almost instantly, she wondered if it was healthy...for her to be like she was and be so reliant on one person, but at the moment she didn't care, she felt happy and that was all that mattered. Wasn't it? His hold on her hand grew tighter when he decided they might as well leave, making his way towards the door after the suggestion, she was all for leaving so she didn't really mind. "So...where do you want to go?" She asked, enjoying the feeling of their hands laced together.

Anna watched as Axel turned back toward the school to spread the news to the rest of the student. Before he went too far he looked back at her and said, "Also, I, uh... I have to ask you something when you get back. It's been niggling at me for a while, and I'd rather ask when it's not so cold."
In that moment her face flushed red, though the cold air was previously biting at her cheeks, she couldn't hide the worry and embaressment that his comment had brought on.
Quickly she dropped her gaze and responded, "Ok...we won't be long... I won't let them freeze to death out here."

Looking to the forest she scanned the tree line for signs of Mort in vain. She knew that without help she would never find him. Adrein broke her from her thoughts as he pulled an ornate pen from him pocket and handed it to her. "Hey, uh...Mortimer told me to give this to you once we were alone, said it was pretty important,...I'm guessing it has some information in it that he wants you to get from your power? I guess it's none of my business though, so you don't really need to answer that."
Taking it in her gloved hand she rolled it over on her palm and looked it over. It was quite beautiful, engraved with an intricate design and what looked like a name. She wondered where he had gotten it from, however, she slid it into her pocket to examine closer once they had reached the school.
"This looks like a personal piece, I should be able to get a lot of information from it. I look it over when we get back and I am warm again. "

Reaching out she took Adrein's hand in the cold, something she was becoming much more comfortable with recently. Though the school was strange she could admit that being here has given her much more confidence and the ability to come in contact with others without fear.

"Lets go find Mort, and then all of us are going to sit in front of a warm fire and drink some hot cocoa."

Having decided that he had gotten his point across, Axel went back outside, forming a small red orb in his hand. He still wasn't used to having to acknowledge his newfound weakness. Moreover, he still wasn't entirely sure as to what else had changed since the incident. He'd noticed a slight tingle throughout his body whenever he tried using his power, but he just assumed that was his blood. However, he was still going to have to be careful from now on, especially so with Anna in his life. As he walked back to the forest, he rolled the ball around in his hand, trailing blood-colored dust behind it... It was funny how fast he and Anna had become friends, and quite frankly, he had no idea how much she saw in him, or how much of him she wanted in her life... And it was right about then Axel had another nosebleed. He groaned and dispersed the ball as he stuck his nose in a handful of snow to wait it out. He marked it as odd, since they had never happened before... Right. False life. For all he knew, they were just more proof of his inhumanity.

Axel sniffed a bit, and sneezed, the sound reverberating through the school's courtyard in a way that would make any TSA officer crap themselves in terror.
"NYAGH-" he whined as the pain of such a potent sneeze came into play. However, once it had subsided, he was laughing like a hyena. "JESUS, that felt like I'd been holding it in for MONTHS! I was expecting another aneurysm from that!" he said aloud, the emo brooding over his powers that he had been just a few seconds ago already gone and replaced by the manic personality he'd grown in the short time he had been alive. His stomach growling from a lack of having not eaten in the past half-hour, he made his way to the cafeteria for breakfast, JUST in time to get the intense waves of rage coming off of Zara as she had finished her What the Hell, Man? speech. For fear of having the knife come his direction, he just slowly moseyed over to the food-getting area and grabbed some pancakes and hashbrowns, the squeaking of the wood floor underneath his feet only amplifying the fact that he was being as obnoxious as possible by trying to be inconspicuous. As he headed over to an unoccupied table, for his own sake, and so Zara wasn't expelled for provoked synthomanslaughter, he bit his cheek a little and made a dark red vicegrip over his mouth so the comments he was GOING to make were shut up rather quickly. And then realized that was going to make eating so much harder.

James

Whatever was happening to her, James couldn't think anything else except he had to help her. The range of painful emotions that fluttering across her features before the collapse alerted him to the situation. But he had no idea what was happening. He fell tot he floor, scrambling to her and shaking with surprise and fear.

"Zara?" he called, wiping the blood away from her nose quickly, as if that would do anything. She was shivering. Cold. Gaze vanished from him, from the room. "Hey, wake up. Listen to me. Don't do this."

As if she had any control over what was happening to her. Shut up and think, James! He saw Axel and yelped, "Get Doctors! Now!"

He cradled Zara's head in his lap and smoothed down her hair. He'd never learned about strokes or fits or...whatever the hell this was. And with her powers, how was he supposed to? What was he supposed to do? Was this some adverse affect of being able to locate people? What was happening in her mind?

In all the commotion, James had forgotten his own ability. The crystal. It rocked against his chest and he twitched, seizing it in his hand. Would this work? He wasn't sure.

"Zara?" he tried again, holding the blue crystal tight in a fist. "Focus on me...c'mon. Look up. I'm right here."

He laid his other hand on her forehead and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, and accessed what he could. The information. The reasons. The cause. What was making this happen to her?

Numbers fluttered past his eyes as he searched. From her or the cause, he couldn't tell. Nothing was solid.

"Come back to me," he muttered, searching farther into her past and trying to pin down a single image. A clue. Anything.

They were both shaking, as if an earthquake had erupted underneath them.