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Zasalamel heard Rouge try to talk with the shadows, and while he had his questions too...the Drow was stunned to silence. He hadn't blinked in quite a while, but it didn't seem to bother him. His eyes ere transfixed on the shadows as they confired, then...vanished, leaving his own shadow against the wall.

But then, the dots came. Unwittingly he took a single step backwards...unable to do much else. When he realized they eren't hurting him, his mind wandered. Ilhar. His Ilhar was in the building, too! She'd left him. He didn't now where she went!

Now, he had something else to panic about. Turning around, he tried to look through the grey to find his Mother, or anyone else he knew that might have an idea as to where she was. Through his panic, he could feel a sort of draining sensation, as though he were losing his energy...this was not god, not good!

"....Ilhar?" He called out suddenly. He couldn't see her, but that didn't mean she couldn't hear him. Zasalamel left Rouge's side to hesitantly walk through the grey area, looking desperately for the butterfly. He'd made a promise to protect her after that whole senario with Phlios...and with a sense of foreboding creeping up in the place of his draining energy, he felt he had to find her. Now.

---

Meanwhile, Neveah stood in the Gardens. Or rather, on the ledge of the fountain. Shed noticed the plants as they died and withered, and she noticed the spots of grey...and like her son, she didn't like it. The strange grey seemed to be coming from the headquarters and spreading outwards, and while her first instinct was to back deeper into he guardens, it was her worry over Zasalamel that kept her where she was. She did however, pull Kyo and Oak up beside her.

"What the ******** is going on?" She cried out to the women and their babies after hearing the one making the bird noises. "Get over here! A group is probably better than being alone!".

Not quite like the shadows before, were these dots; they didn't seem inclined to react to the people or the actions people took. Beyond flocking to them, that was, and drifting around them. Whatever intelligence they possesseed, if that were any, did not seem able or willing to recognize Rouge's attempts to make contact.

No sooner was that conclusion arrived at, naturally, than was it terribly upsetted. It was Shira that first happened to catch a close enough look at one of the dots to make the startling discovery- human faces. On each tiny little dot, there was a tiny little face; men, women, and children alike (though far more men and women than children), eyes glazed and face slack as the little things swarmed slowly about.

Lilianna kept her gaze on the many dots that swirled around her until she could tell that something wasn't right with them. She let her attention falter from the dots for a few seconds as she over heard Rogue say something to Shina. Shaking her head, she was about to walk over to the two women when she spotted a dot out of the corner of her eye that looked different. She quickly spun her head around and saw that the dots had human faces in the center.

"Do you see this?" she asked Taka curiously. The hawk canted her head to one side and snapped her beak at the dots only to realize that they weren't tangible. "This is...starting to freak me out." The tamer quickly spun around and then remembered the jolt she recieved from the grey area wall. Shuddering, she began to wander over to Rogue, not wanting to recieve another jolt if she got the sudden urge to leave the grey area.

If someone was willing to take charge, Danny was going to be only too glad to follow. Running one hand soothingly through the grieving girl's hair, she picked her way over to the fountain, doing her best not to disturb any of the plants and thereby risk upsetting Vana further.

Swallowing back the lump in her throat, Danny managed to stammer out some form of assertion- "I, uh... I... do you know what's happening at all?" So, all right, that didn't come out as assertive as she wanted. In fact, her panic had pretty much hijacked her words mid-sentence. But at least she wasn't looking faint and dramatic, without anything to say!

Meanwhile, dark cheeks lit pale as she peeked around at the smattering of dead plants, the little girl in Danny's arms didn't seem as though she were going to draw to an end in her wildly uncontrolled chirping just yet. The noise was at least muffled as she buried her mouth in Danny's shoulder, letting the cloth soak up some of the teardrops running down her face (and, less pleasantly, the drip coming out of her nose... mm, baby snot). Resigned that her Guardian wasn't about to let her down to try and care after the poor plants, she just seemed content to let her emotions run wild with the situation.

It all made sense....

Nicolai clung to Wiko, suddenly a little afraid for his child's well-being. There were spirits. Wasn't Wiko a spirit? Wasn't he in that realm of the dead once before?

He leaned in to look at the faces himself. Disturbed, he fought not to look, shoving his eyelids over his cobalt eyes. No... faces were not something Nicolai liked seeing outside of people that were right before him, full-bodied, and in total existence. This was starting to look like a bad idea...

... but how well could he have gotten out of this?

"Rouge...?" he muttered, repeating the name he'd heard the blonde referred to as. "I think you made it call the dead or something."

Ari looked back at the lady with the chirping child, "None, although it seems they are feeding on our energy." She explained, recalling Kyo's words. She looked down at Artemis, "The lil ones seem to be having it the hardest..."

Zasalamel heard Rouge's words, and instantly stopped moving. That was an order if he ever heard one! It was an order, and it was coming form a woman...his mind told him he had no choice but to obey. Quietly, Zasalamel straightened himself out, but didn't move from the spot he'd been in since the pirate gave him the order.

But that didn't mean he didn't stop looking for his Ilhar...nor did he stop listening to those around him...so of course he heard what Shira said about the dots.

"Lodias...Athiyk?" He parrotted Shira softly, though his voice faltered. Spirits...of people? Shuddering, the Drow turned his attention towards the dots that had surrounded him, the morbid part of him wanting to make sure.

Sure enough, he saw faces staring back at him. Curling his lip in disgust, and perhaps a bit in distrust, he quickly looked away.

Ele zhah nindol sha'nalt" He asked Rouge, still not realizing he wasn't speaking English.

---

"I've no idea what's going on." The butterfly woman grumped, the shattered splinters and slivers of what used to be full wings shuddered in discomfort. "But...its giving me the creeps...and its not making the little ones too happy." She grimanced; the babies just woldn't stop! They are annoying, though Neveah couldn't blame them.

Stealing their energy....? Thats what she was feeling! Pressing her lips together, she lowered her gaze.

It wasn't until then she realized the shadows forming around the fountain. "Uuh...I vote getting off the fountain." Using her current height to her adventage, she looked around. "...There's a not...dead...spot over there." She pointed towards the back of the garden, before jumping off. After, she headed towards it, carefully picking her way across the shadows and other nasties.

"...What's it like in there?" She quickly asked the two women. "...My Kid's in there..." She said grumpily after she reached the not-yet-dead spot, her aqua eyes staring into the dark area that was the headquarters.