Young Writers Society

Elijah Woods - Fire

The pod ride was hell, pure unadulturated hell. I didn't like small tight places, I was claustrophobic actually, and when I had to climb into that too small container I nearly died twice. The fact that the walls were glass was the only thing keeping me from screaming out and banging on the walls until I broke out. Being able to see the world around me made the pod seem a bit bigger and calmed my nerves. It also reminded me that this was only a ride and I'd be out soon enough. Still, I wiggled into a corner, which was hard considering the pod was a cylinder, and pressed as tightly into it as possible. Never in my life have I been so happy that I was small, but today it made keeping distance between myself and the others possible.

When the pod stopped I was happy because it meant we would be leaving but when I looked around and saw water everywhere I got confused again. Shelly explained the lack of solid ground easily enough and when everyone started to walk out I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I was last to exit and I breathed the nice fresh sea air in relief. We started to walk on in, everyone staying more or less in the middle of whatever it is we were walking on. I guess it was because no one wanted to stray too far off and fall into the water.

For some reason I felt drained and it's probably the cause of being around so much water for so long. Water puts out fire, it's as simply as that. In fact, I was so sluggish and weak it was a pain just to walk and I didn't see any "tree" anywhere.

"God," I groaned, "I wish this place would just show up already!" My voice didn't potray the amount of anger I was feeling, not even a bit. Instead it was just deflated and tired. I'd been through too much today and I needed a nap. If I got more than three hours of sleep last night I would have probably been better off but I couldn't change that now. And the void between the other Fire's and I probably contributed to my drain. I didn't care too much about if I was friends with the others, but the Fire's I wanted to befriend especially. Fire plus fire equals a bigger fire. We weren't supposed to snuff each other out.

It was time to grow up, I knew this, so I took the first step. Arwen and Jerr were walking ahead of me, actually I was walking so slow everyone was ahead of me, so I mustered up some strength and jogged towards them. They both turned towards me and I sighed.

"I'm sorry," I said. It seems that I've been saying "I'm sorry" a lot lately. "I don't want to go through this whole trip with a rift between us. Can we just-"

"Woah, where did that come from?!" I turned at the sound of someone calling out excitedly. I didn't get it, why they called out, until I saw the giant tree in the middle of ocean. My eyes grew wide and I starred in amazement. It looked magnificent. The leaves seemed to sparkle and glow in the sun and the trunk was thick and strong. No door in sight though, but I guess Thuake and Aurora could handle that. Everyone started to jog towards the tree but I was simply too tired for that. My legs felt as if they were about to give out.

I turned back to my fellow Fire's and folded my arms. I was a bit unsteady on my feet and wobbled a bit to my horror. Yeah, I guess I should have eaten before leaving too, but the whole mess between the others and I really didn't allow time for that.

"Well," I asked impatiently. My legs quivered and I needed their answer quick so we could get into the next Continent before I passed out.

Jerrson Hastings- Fire; Hanna Parker - Water

"Please don't hate me Ar." Jerr whispered to Arwen as he walked to catch up to her.

She looked down. "I don't hate you, you hate me."

"I don't." Jerr muttered. "I know you like me, but you're a sister to me, Arwen."

Arwen nodded, biting her lip. "I understand."

"I'm sorry." Jerr sighed, feeling horrible.

Jerr swung his sword. He was pleased the King gave him a sword that wouldn't burn. He enjoyed fighting with a sword, but they always burned up when he get caught up in the moment.

"Nice sword." Liam called to Jerr, sticking out his tongue.

Jerr chuckled. "Nice wand, Potter." Liam waved the wand threatingly. Jerr laughed and turned to see Eli runningup to him.

"Guys, I'm sorry. Can we just start over?" Jerr's smile faltered.

"Sure." Jerr and Arwen said at the same time. "Jinx!" He hit her shoulder and she laughed.

Eli's smile looked strained, uncomfortable, and sad. He was terribly conused. One minute she was pushing him away, next she was apologizing. She was so confusing. She was always sad, and angry, and beautiful.

Jerr looked at her. Shd met his gaze. He smiled at her. Eli's eyes lit up and she smiled back.

"What was your life like?" Jerr asked her.

*

Hanna walked quietly by Antony, feeling invisible. She felt lik she didn't belong here. She tried to converse with people, but it just didn't work. She decided to try again.

"How are you going along so far? With all of this?" Hanna asked Antony awkardly.

Antony Cove - Water

"How are you going along so far? With all of this?" I smiled down at Hannah and shrugged as Thuake and Rory tried to find the door.

"Oh, I'm actually fine. A bit bummed that I had to leave my family... Actually I'm wondering how they took my suicide. They'd be devestated, especially my sister..." I trailed off and looked at the sky. I was actually surprised about how much this saddened me. I thought I was over it by now but I see that I've just been avoiding it.

"You have a sister," Hannah asked. I smiled widely at the clear sky and nodded before looking back down at her.

"My step sister actually, her name's Janice."

"Oh, she was adopted," Hannah said with a small smile. "I see." I laughed at her, shook my head, and rubbed the back of my neck nervously.

"Oh no, Hannah, I was the adopted one. Janice is all blonde hair and brown eyes, I, obviously, am not." I saw her eyes drop and suddenly felt bad for making her feel bad. I bumped her shoulder with my own and grinned when she looked up at me. "Don't look down as if it was your fault. Anyway, I'm taking this all fine I guess. If i'm saving people's lives then I'm okay with it. I'd hate for this Karzai person to get to the mortal world. I love my family too much. I'd do anything for them."

"That's really nice of you," she replied. I laughed at her and sighed.

"Not really, I'm sure everyone here would risk their lives for the ones they loved. Wouldn't you?"

"I would." I grinned at her and ruffled her hair, she batted my hand away with a stern look but the glare didn't last long.

Both Rory and Thuake were still circling the tree.

"How's it going," I called out to them. Rory turned around, looking angry.

"There's no door here!" I gave a sympathetic sigh.

"I would help but all I can do is this." With a wave of my hand I spread the water away from the invisible solid ground. Once it was clear I sat down. Hannah sat next to me. "At least we can all rest while you too keep working hard," I teased. Rory just rolled her eyes and went back to the tree. Thuake glared at me before chuckling and shaking his head.

"Yeah, have fun," he called. I raised my hand in a thumbs up before lying back with my hands behind my head.

"So what about you, Hannah, how are you taking this?"

Aurora Clavelle; Earth

Riddles did not sit well with me. Riddles and puzzles and things that involved using the mind to be clever and think in a different way. I'd been relieved when Arwen interrupted Thuake and I earlier because I hadn't wanted to admit that I didn't have any ideas. But now I was taxing my brain trying to think of something, anything.

"I guess this is what they meant when they said we had to be resourceful," I grumbled.

"Or maybe we have to think like Earth," Thuake mused.

"But we don't even know what Earth is!" I let out a frustrated sigh and glared at the vast tree before us. Fine. Think like Earth. I'd bloody well pound this tree to the ground. Drawing back my fist I slammed it into the tree hard-

"That's more like fire." Thuake sounded a little amused - but I let out a cry of alarm as I felt something shoot out of my knuckles and slash into the tree. I pulled back sharply and my hand came out clean and easy, the four deep scores in the tree healing before my eyes. Scores. I looked at my hand and there were claws. Fine. I should have known there would be more surprises around the corner.

"Well that didn't work," I said with a sigh.

"You got some new claws though." Thuake was looking at my hand with interest and then decided to go do some tree punching of his own. "Those weren't in the book." He came back but his hands were still hands.

"I was frustrated," I told him calmly. "Probably a trigger or something." That at least was very clear, that our powers were linked to our emotions in some way.

Thuake seemed to decide he was more interested in obtaining some claws than dealing with the tree. I'd have sooner not had them. They felt vaguely uncomfortable and there was a dull sort of throb there. And... and they retracted. As quick as they'd come they were gone and they left no sign that they'd been there at all. I turned to tell Thuake only to see that he had not one but two hands of claws and was slashing the air with them. Despite myself I couldn't help but smile.

"Alright, Wolverine, now let's work this one out. What was it that woman was always saying, stubborn as stone?"

"Yeah, but how does that help?"

"I have no idea."

Liam Rivera

"I'm bored," I admitted, shuffling from foot to foot. David nodded, leaning against his staff with about as much exuberance as I'm sure he could. I wished I could help. Anything would be better than simply waiting for something to happen.

"We could practice," David added. "I heard your patronus..."

"Don't even."

"Right, right," he chuckled. "But in all seriousness, this is a good opportunity. You've got your water and I've got lots of air. Why don't we try a tag-team effect seeing as everyone else is simply sticking with their own elements."

Tag-team. I liked this idea.

"Fine," I said, smirking. "Let's see what you can do."

I took my wand in hand, though not really securely as I wasn't quite used to using it all that much, then spread my arms, letting the waves pulse through me. It was an odd feeling, like balling up all of ones energy before letting it slip through. The water started to ripple then spread away, leaving the bare ground underneath my feet.

"You're not the only one who can do that," David smirked before twirling his staff quite expertly then slamming it down in front of him. The end of the staff caused the air to push all the water away, his clothing tugging and pulling violently. He was surrounded by turbulent winds and seemed to be completely comfortable with it.

I lowered myself down in a stronger stance, then started moving rhythmically. Nothing overly powerful as water was a ease of motion. It was slow and simple; a movement from the core whereas my arms would swing and variate and my feet would move to match the movement. As I did so, the water rose, taking a turn towards David who watched with quite the look of amusement.

"Alright, black swan, I'll take it from here." and with that he swung his staff again, this time by twirling it in front of him, hands blurred before the wave split in half, leaving just enough of a gap so that he hadn't been hit with it. When it had past him, he slammed his staff down once more, the wave joining and gaining speed from the force of wind he had given it. It was growing quite violently, which made me stop my motions as I watched it careen towards the rest of the group.

"Whups," I stated, eyes wide. I tried back-tracking my movements to steady out the water, but it had already picked up enough speed. David, on the other hand was laughing.

"Well I'll be," he stated, resting his hands against his hips. "Isn't this fun!"

"David," I growled. "Help."

And he did just that. Just in time.

Elijah Woods, Fire

The water cleared away from the solid ground under us and, I don't know who did it, but I silently thanked whoever it was and sat down. The area around me was spinning dangerously and I couldn't breathe. I don't know what was wrong with me but I needed to get over it, and quick. Jerr and Arwen sat too, both of them watching me with strange eyes.

"You okay, Eli," Jerr asked. He leaned forward a bit, as if to study me closer. I felt a blush starting and fought it away.

"Peachy," I replied. I actually was and didn't mean the reply in any sarcastic way. Once I sat down I felt all my energy come back. I was swimming and running for most of the day, maybe I was just tired. "Might as well practice since it's taking a certain pair of Fundamentals to find the damn door!" I shouted out the last part, instantly angry again. Good, I was slowly returning to my normal self. That was a relief. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair - it was my way of calming myself down.

"Practice," Jerr asked. "You look too drained for practice."

"You're so right," I exclaimed sarcastically. "Thanks, Dad, you always know what's best for me." I rolled my eyes and grinned to show him I was just teasing. He laughed and I conjured a small fire ball in the palm of my hand. Without warning I tossed it at Arwen, who was starring into the distance. She turned quickly and caught the ball in her hand before it could catch on her hair and clothes.

"What was that for," she snapped. I shrugged and stretched out my arms and legs.

"You looked bored," I told her, "thought I'd give you something to do. Toss it back." She chucked it at me and I caught it and made it bigger. "Let's play a game." I stood and brushed off my pants. As Jerr was starting to stand I threw the fireball at him. He jumped back and landed back on his butt. It was actually kinda cute, the look on his face when he fell. I laughed out loud, surprising even myself.

"I wasn't even up yet," he protested. I smiled and shrugged.

"So..." He grinned evilly and stood up, making a fireball of his own. I pulled out my sword and braced it in front of me. Arwen grabbed her daggers and got into a fighting stance.

"Let's play then."

Thuake Brooks - Earth

It was indeed a surprise to see claws materialize on Aurora's hands from hitting the tree. I hit the tree myself with full force to see what happened, my hands had nothing on them, only pain coursed through them.

"I was frustrated," Aurora said calmly. "Probably a trigger or something."

That was pretty interesting, I tried to remember a frustrating moment in my life before hitting the tree. And the memory came; the little girl stuck in the building site and a huge boulder about to fall on her flashed before my eyes.

I hit the tree hard almost instinctively with both hands. The memory had done the trick, two claws had appeared on my hands.

I looked at Aurora and saw an amused smile peering back at me.

"Alright, Wolverine, now let's work this one out. What was it that woman was always saying, stubborn as stone?"

"Yeah, but how does that help?"

Aurora rolled her eyes and said, "I have no idea."

I tried to think more about those words, stubborn as stone. So if stubbornness was an emotion that we hit the tree with, could something happen then?

"Aurora, I have an idea", I said quickly.

Aurora looked at me with curiosity on her face.

"Like you said, our emotions can be a trigger. So if we hit the tree while experiencing different emotions we may start to find a way to solve this problem. Lets try being stubborn, so remember a time when you were really stubborn and hit the tree. I will do the same.".

As I tried to recall a memory from my past I couldn't help but notice the rest of our group was getting a bit impatient, I hoped this plan would work.

Aurora Clavelle; Earth

Hit the tree again? That had been a mistake the first time so doing it again would only make us doubly mistaken. But it wasn't like I had any better plans so I gave Thuake a stern nod and turned to face the tree. Stubborn. The most recent incident of course had been in the conference room when I stood instead of taking a seat so I thought of that now. But I didn't hit the tree. Somehow the action didn't seem right. It was violent and rash. That didn't match being stubborn. Stubborn asked for a different kind of strength, a certain relentlessness and instead I placed the palm of my hand against the tree and pushed.

I didn't just just push though. I pushed. I pushed and in my head I decided that I wasn't going to stop pushing until it let me in. I pushed and pushed until my hand sank right into the tree and my arm and more as I stepped forward to follow it. By the time I realised what was going on, I was standing inside the hollow of the tree and Thuake was standing right beside me. Whatever he'd done, whether punching or pushing, it must have worked as well.

"We're in," Thuake said, sounding somewhat surprised.

"Yes, but now we need to get out."

"There's a switch." It was dark inside the tree and hard to see much of anything at all. I was also aware of how closely my body pressed against Thuake's. And strangely the combination was almost comfortable. I thought: in here we're safe. In here we don't have to worry about anything at all. For just a moment I considered leaning my head on Thuake's shoulder, just to see what it felt like. But then Thuake pulled the switch and light flooded in as the front of the tree swung open like a door. Our disappearance must have been noticed by someone because the others had gathered around the tree.

"It's about time," Elijah grumbled.

Liam

I turned my eyes towards the opening then back at David. He seemed to be just as amused, if not more excited than I seemed to feel, but that was David, after all.

"Well I'll be damned," David said, once again leaning against his staff. "They got in."

"This is their place," I added, trying to sound a little less jovial. He didn't seem to care.

"I suppose this means we go?"

As we all turned towards the entrance, I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. This was it. My element was already through before it even began. Things would only get worse off from here.

"I don't really care for the dark all that much," it was a girl who spoke. One I hadn't expected to talk to but talk to, mind you, but was not completely opposed to conversing with. The young one out of the group... Natalie was her name, I believed, and she took to standing on my left side, looking straight at the hollow of the tree with quite the wide-eyed expression.

"It's just a tree," David said, walking forward with more determination then I probably would ever in my lifetime. "There'll only be a couple spiders, maybe, or a few small rodents. Nothing to get all worked up about."

Her eyes appeared to widen further, hands wrapping around her staff tightly. "I don't know about this."

As we approached, I noticed the winding staircase. It had a rather disquieting demeanor about it that left me wondering if this was such a good idea. Apparently the rest of the group seemed alright with it and some where even filing down it in ones and twos.

"Is this really necessary?" the girl looked up at me, shaking her head back and forth. "Isn't there another way into the earth realm? Surely..."

"We'll get the human torches to light some fires," David said. "Nothing to worry about."

I'm sure if the fire fundamentals had heard him say that, they wouldn't have done it, but luckily they had been unaware of our conversation and lit small balls of fire that shed light into the murky depth of the tree. As soon as everyone but David, Natalie, and I were traversing the staircase, we entered as well. Natalie clung to my arm almost instinctively, which I shan't say I minded, and David walked with an almost superior air. At least, in that, he made this whole thing seem a little less foreboding.

Yes, for some strange reason, I had surrounded myself with air fundamentals. Who would have ever thought..

Hanna Parker - Water; Jerrson Hastings - Fire

Hanna sighed. "It's hard. I just want to be normal again. I miss my family, especially Annie."

"Your sister?" Antony asked.

"My twin sister." Hanna corrected. "She's my best friend. We told each other everything; she could read me like a book. I remember promising her I would never harm myself again, when she found I was cutting. She must hate me, thinking I committed suicide."

Antony patted her shoulder. "I'm sure she doesn't. She loves you too much to hate you."

"I miss her. So much." Hanna whispered. Antony hugged her close.

"You'll see her again. But for now, you'll have to settle with lame ol' me."

Hanna laughed weakly, wiping away a tear. "Oh, Lord. Kill me now." Antony folded his arms around his chest and pretended to be mad. Hanna grinned and poked him, then waved her wand, flicking water at him.

"Stop!" He whined, flicking it back at her. Hanna laughed harder.

"It's about time!" Eli growled. Hanna turned to see a door in the tree trunk.

Jerr created a ball of fire and glanced inside the doorway. "It's a staircase." He allowed Rory, Thuake, and Arwen to lead the way, then grabbed Eli's hand and dragged her inside with him.

"He fancies her." Antony muttered.

"Nah!" Hanna snickered, sticking her tongue out. He ruffled her hair and wraped an arm around her shoulders. "

"Anyone know where this goes?" Natalie asked.

"When I meet these Earth rulers, I will shove Modern Technology for Dummies in their eye." David grumbled.

"Is an elevator against the law?!" Alice chirped.

"Silence, Air chick. You can float up the stairs, while us Earth's have to drag our weight." Thuake growled.

"I could use some water." Hanna snickered. "How about you, Eli?"

"Stay away from me." Eli warned. Jerr chuckled.

"My feet hurt." Alice whined again.

"Quit, all of you." Rory snapped, much like an annoyed parent.

"Yes sir!" Hanna mock-saluted her.

"I'll get you." Rory shook a fist threatingly.

"Come get some, foo!" Hanna held out her arms, trying to keep her tough face from cracking.

"Easy." Antony laughed, holding Hanna back. "Don't kill the girl, Ror." Rory grumbled and continued walking. Now everyone was chatting and laughing.

"Are we.. bonding?" Liam questioned, causing everyone to stop talking and walking.

It was silent for a minute. Then Hanna spoke. "I guess we are."

Everyone nodded. "It's nice." Liam said. He looked at each of the Fundamentals. "Guys, we're a team now. We rely on each other. Bonding is a good thing."

"It is. We've already lost one of our kind." David said quietly. Everyone looked down, some of them fidgeting with their hands.

"Jayk would scoff at the idea of us bonding." Hanna said thoughtfully.

"That he would." Rory smiled sadly. "But he would agree that we're a team now. We can't afford to battle each other." She turned to the Fire Fundamentals. "Whatever was going on between you three, it looks like it's over. That's good. Fighting over stupid things will tear us apart and weaken us. We need to stick together. We're a team."

"If we're a team, we need a name." Natalie said.

"The Fun and Mental Crew!" Antony cracked up. Everyone groaned at his silly joke.

"Jerr Is Kewl!" Jerr yelled.

"Liam Is Kewl!" Liam yelled.

"Liam Is Lame'" Hanna teased.

Everyone started yelling out options. Rory yelled for them to calm down, the name will be decided and voted on later. As everyone continued walking and chatting, Hanna drank in the laughter of her new group of friends.

"Feel better?" Antony asked.

Hanna smiled happily. "Much better."

Antony Cove - Water (We have another monster coming our way. Head's up!)

I smiled at Hanna and laced my hands behind my head. This staircase seemed endless and I was actually hoping I could momentarily switch teams and become an Air for a while, at least so I could float up the stairs like they were doing. There was laughter all around and it made me smile to see that everyone was finally getting along. I saw Jerr's hand holding Eli's and I winked at him. He smirked and Eli just rolled her eyes but didn't take her hand away.

"You're not the only one with mad lady skills," I teased. To prove my point I grabbed both Hanna and Rory's hand. "I have two!" I threw my arms around their shoulders and smiled widely, showing my teeth. Rory pushed me off, grumbling something that I didn't quite catch. I laughed at her and hugged Hanna tightly.

"Okay," I started, "I lied. I only have one." Hanna laughed and ducked from under my arm. She pushed me in the shoulder and shook her head.

"Okay none."

"We can't all be as charming as I am," Jerr said slyly.

"Charming? You just wouldn't leave me the hell alone," Elijah grumbled. I laughed along with the rest and was about to pick on the two some more when the ground rumbled. The fun and games stopped immediately and everyone was instantly on defense. I heard the sound of everyone drawing their weapons and readied my own. The fires spread their light, trying to see if there was anything nearby we should be wary of.

It's such a tight space here in the tree. Not big enough for a battle.

"Dear God," I mumbled.

"Just be ready," David whispered. I nodded sternly and turned to glance at Natalie. She looked utterly petrified. Poor girl, she was way too young to be going through this. Well, in all honestly, we all kind of were. I looked down at Hanna and she had a determined look on her face. Everyone else, more or less, looked the same. I fixed my eyes forward and starred into the darkness.

The ground shook again, knocking me slightly off my feet. I was able to catch my balance before hitting the ground thankfully. Something slithered across the walls then, making a low hissing sound as it passed. I heard Alice squeal and I gave her a urgent shh. Everyone gravitated slowly towards the middle, our backs towards the middle of a tight circle. The thing slithered past again but no one moved or even dared gasp. I slowly removed water from the center of my wand and readied it at my fingertips. One loud rumbling later and the thing shot out of the dark, coming straight for our small group.

Arwen, Elijah, and Jerr attacked it with a thick steady stream of fire. The thing dodged it barely and when the fire stream died out the whole inside of the tree went dark. I could hear the beast approaching.

"Keep that light up," Rory yelled, tossing off earth blindly. I froze the water around my hand into deadly points and threw both hands out. I heard the sound of them cutting through something with a sickening squish. I shuddered but ready both my hands again. The Fire's brought back the light and I could see the thing on the wall in front of us. It's long sleek brown body nearly blended with the walls and white eyes stood out in extreme contrast on its narrow head. Sharp and jagged teeth protruded from it's closed mouth and it just watched us, nose flaring as it breathed. I starred back in horror and everything was quiet as we were starred down by this monster.

"The Fundamentalsssss," it hissed. "What a pleasssant sssurprisssse." I frowned at his slurred speech and hardened my glare. He reminded me of my mother when she would come home drunk. It's tail flicked out behind it before settling on the wall. "Allow me to introduce myssself. I am Lacertae. Sssservant of Lord Karzai. Enemy of the Earth Continent." He paused and smiled, showing all of his crooked yellowed teeth. "The bringer of your death." The thing laughed then, and started to slowly advance on us.

"Don't just stand there," Thuake yelled. And everything burst into chaos. I sent out another round of daggers and took my wand in both hands, spinning it in the air, conjuring a type of water tornado. Hanna added to it and we both sent it spiraling towards the beast. Alice worked on pushing the air forward and keeping the thing from getting too close to our group, working defense. The other airs were hitting it as hard as they could with pressurized air attacks. The fire rotated around the thing, hitting anywhere they could with every fire attack out of the book. Rory and Thuake, they charged the thing head on, slashing it with claws I didn't know they had.

Everyone was giving their all and, thankfully, the thing fell not too long later. I sunk to my knees, my breathing labored and my face flushed. I was exhausted and everything hurt.

"Jesus Christ," I gasped. I took a few deep breaths and held my hands in my head. "I hope I never have to fight anything on a freaking staircase again."

"Let's just get out of here," Liam said after me. "Before anything else can happen."

"Is everyone okay," Rory asked.

"Actually," Alice piped up, "I think I might have sprained my ankle..." I heard Thuake groan.

"Can you still use the air to float around."

"Yes," she replied.

"Then do that." I heard footsteps and could only assume it was him finishing the climb. "Let's just get out of here. Can we get some light please?" The tree was illuminated and I threw a small thanks towards the Fire's but I don't think they heard me.

Finially we were out of the tree and onto solid ground. I laid down almost immediately and groaned loudly.

"Well, I could go for some chocolate milk right now, but, since this world doesn't seem to believe in chocolate milk, how does everyone feel about some water?" There was a round of mumbled yes's and I sat up, holding my wand in my lap. I opened the bottom and more water poured out even though I'd already used way more than it could hold. I held the water in the air in front of me and focused on separating the pure water away from the salt inside of it. Once that was done I held the pure water suspended in mid air and waited as everyone lined up to take a drink.

"This is the longest day of my life," I muttered as everyone took their turns.

"I think we should set up camp tonight," Rory stated. "There doesn't seem to be any civilization in sight and I don't think everyone's up for the journey."

"I'm all too ready to agree with you on that one," I laughed.

Elijah Woods - Fire

I blushed furiously when Jerr grabbed my hand and had a sudden thought to punch him int he gut but I stopped myself. It was nice actually. I didn't mind and the contanct didn't send a joly of panic through me. It calmed me instead, which was a strange but plesant alternative. When we enetered the tree and he still didn't let go I blushed but I didn't let go either.

Good God, I was turning into one of those girls.

"I can see you blushing," he whispered. I glared up at him and huffed.

"I don't blush, idiot."

"You obviously do," Arwen chimed in. I glared at her too but was only met with a sly grin. This was a conspiracy. They were all plotting against me, trying to embarras me to no end. Suddenly, as if to prove my point, Ant turned around, noticed my hand in Jerr's and winked. The bastard.

"You're not the only one with mad lady skills," he said to Jerr. I nearly died. This was too much, really, and that was just so un-cool. Ant grabbed Rory and Hanna's hands and I sighed. "I got two!" Boys were dumb-asses, that was the conclusion I reached and I was sticking to it. Rory grumbled and pulled her hand away, mumbling something about how Antony was being stupid and I couldn't help but to agree. But when Hanna moved away also I felt myself smiling a little. I didn't hate these people as much as I wanted myself to believe, really.

"We can't all be as charming as I am," Jerr said with a cocky smile. I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"Charming? You just wouldn't leave me alone..." Everyone laughed and I smiled.

"Never knew Jerr was a stalker," Arwen whispered to me. I turned towards her, nodded, and whispered back a "Hell yes".

Suddenly the ground shook and that's when everything in me froze and went into auto pilot. Another attack! Damn it all, couldn't we get a freaking break?! The whole thing passed in a tense blur. Some demon named Lacertae sent to us by that devil Karzai tried to attack and kill us. Luckily we all defeated it and got out without any injuries, well, almost. When Alice admited that she sprined her ankle I couldn't help but to think "Of course".

We finished our seemingly endless climb and once the outside was revealed another wave of pure exhaustion swept me off my feet, literally. I collapsed on the ground, groaning about how tired I was. Antony said something about water and I dragged myself over to him so I could quench a thirst I didn't recognize until that moment. I even said thank you. The cool ground felt good on my face and I sighed, ready to just sleep. When Rory suggested we set up camp I couldn't have been happier. I didn't want to keep walking but even I knew that if both of the Earth's said we should I would have had to keep going. That frightened me a bit actually.

"You tired too," Arwen asked, her sentence cut off with a yawn. I didn't even notice her approach me.

"More than you could ever know. Today's been..."

"Ridiculos?"

"Yeah... Excatly that." Everyone settled down and said their goodnights. It was cold once the sun completely went down a few minutes later and shiveres rocked my body, keeping me away from the sleep that I needed. I conjured up a small ball of fire and gathered a few leaves and twigs in front of me. I tried to start a fire but the damned things would burn. So I just gave up and curled into myself, waiting for sleep to take me.

Arwen ¬

I couldn't sleep. My stomach hurt too much. I could feel the sticky blood clinging to my hand when I pressed it over the wound. I curled up, squeezing my eyes shut. I hadn't told anyone yet, because when I'd been teasing Elijah, I hadn't noticed; my body had been fueled with adrenaline. The pain was excruciating. Slowly, I slipped into a restless sleep...

Thuake Brooks - Earth

It wasn't easy but we finally seemed to be a in a safe place.

If only I was alone when that agent of Karzai attacked, I needed a way to reach Karzai. I had to join him!

We had all set up camp, everyone was slowly going off to sleep. That's when I heard heavy breathing and rustling about, I followed the noise to find Arwen, and some blood underneath her.

She had a light wound on her stomach, it must be hurting. There hadn't been too much blood loss yet, a quick bandage would make sure she's safe. It was obvious to me that Arwen had been feeling really rejected as Eli and Jerr were getting closer. She had no other close friend in the group, perhaps she could join me now that she realized how selfish humans really are.

I bent down near her and forced some water down her mouth, this quickly woke her up.

"Drink the water and don't say a word. I have a bandage and I'll be able to take care of your wound," I whispered to her.

She looked confused.

I continued, "Arwen this is how humans are, no-one even came near you to say good night. Jerr doesn't notice you and Eli hated Jerr but seems to be falling for him once she realized you were falling for him. Selfish and cruel is how I always saw most humans."

"No they aren't like that. They really aren't," she groaned to me.

"Arwen you know this is true. Think back to your days at school, with the exception of a few that's how most people were like. But we don't need to suffer this, there is a way out. Join me and lets go and find Karzai, if we help him succeed we can rule over humans. We can redeem our selfish race! You can get whatever you want, you can rule as Queen next to Karzai!"

"That's ridiculous, we're fundamentals. We're meant to help humans and bring justice to the world, not put it in eternal darkness!" whispered Arwen loudly.

"What justice Arwen? Selfish people, crime, wars? Humans have destroyed the planet Earth, we have led to more extinction of species than any sort of natural disaster. Karzai plans to change that, what if it isn't the Devil who is wrong? What if humans themselves were the evil for the planet. This is a way to join Karzai, help him and then eventually we can even convince him to spare humans and let us rule over them." I said peering into her eyes.

I continued on, "We can change the world at his side by ruling over humans, as a fundamental we can do nothing. We may kill Karzai but what then? we can't go back to our families, the organization can't let the existence of this immortal world be known. We may even be killed let alone be able to change the way humans act."

I could see Arwen was lost for words.

I grabbed her hand so she looked at me once more.

"Think about what I'm saying Arwen, joining Karzai will be what's best for us and for the planet in the end. Join me, I'll bandage you up and let's leave tonight. If Karzai's agent was here there may be more we can befriend." I said with as much force as I could muster.

Arwen ¬

He was right. Eli falling for Jerr. She only started falling for him when she knew I liked him. He was right. Nobody had said goodnight. He was right.

School had been very much the same. I'd been bullied and hurt. And I'd never fallen for anyone, for fear of hurting myself. Until Jerr. It hurt more than I imagined. I never would again.

I caught Thuake's eyes. Then I nodded.

"I'll do it,"

He smiled. We got my wound bandaged up and we set off. Before we went, I stood next to Jerr's sleeping form.

"Well, brother, have fun with Eli. I'm sure you'll be glad I'm gone, you never really cared. No one ever did,"

And me and Thuake set off into the night, carefull not to wake anyone. I felt like kicking Eli, or setting her hair on fire, but I decided against it. I didn't need her waking up.

Humans really were selfish.