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*Aly remained silent. Thoughts vigorously consumed her mind. Both of the past, and some thoughts of the future. Would she ever be able to let go? As much as she despised the realizations, Spirit was correct. She was filled with anger and hatred to those who had wronged her in the past. Her father was dead by those hands of the vile village people. Nothing would change it, and nothing could have prevented it. As much as she pleaded with herself to forget the past, she was unable to. She needed to be strong, to close her heart and focus on the present. If her heart was made of stone, it could not be penetrated. No emotions would surface, and no repercussions would come of it. Aly let out a frustrated sigh, nothing could ever come easy. "What about nature?" Aly interrupted Maya, rather abruptly. "You said that the Dark could be defeated with your power of the mind. Would the elements of the earth be able to destroy these dark forces?" Aly wanted to be haunted no more. She wanted closure to the past, as well as with herself. The Dark was calling out to her, and she was trying her hardest of ignore it. She would not give in to the temptations. It was not what she wanted, and it was not what she was taught. *

*Aly quirked an eyebrow in surprise, and yet a small glimmer of interest sparked deep within her mind. To withstand the horrors and darkness of the Earth was a difficult task to do, one that Aly would rank as near impossible. This Dark Clan seem to have a very powerful aurora, one that even the most respected elders cowered from. Even for that, Aly held a small amount of respect for them. Their choice in lifestyle, to live the life of malevolence, was a sickening thought, but their capability of authority was to be admired. Surely, most tribes formed often-encountered complications that would lead to their demise, but the Dark Clan held strong. Or so it seemed. Was there more information that Maya withheld? Aly was not sure, and she was only as strong as the information she knew. Aly’s interests continued rise as she noted Spirit’s silence. It was apparent to her that Spirit had not yet shown her abilities. It was evident that Spirit was not human. However, she had never shown her abilities. Moreover, through all this information, she had said nothing. “What’s the plan?” Aly asked quietly, “what are we going to do? What will happen if we don’t stop them?” Aly needed more answers; she thirsted for them. *

Bella closed her eyes, letting her mind, which was normally racing through a thousand thoughts a second anyway, slow down and ponder each one individually. She was silent for a long while, the tension in the air apparent even despite her relaxed demeanor, "I think..." She started, softly at first, but since that soft tone was not enough to get everyone's attention, she spoke a little louder, "I think that you really do want to help your friends. While that is an admirable quality, whatever this 'Dark' is doesn't seem to want you to help them. I can provide as much assistance as you care to ask of me within reason. I think the plans should be left to someone more experienced in this area of things. Just know that I am a friend. I will help where I can." she said simply, her words eloquent beyond what one would expect of someone her size and her apparent age. She opened her eyes back up when she was done speaking, running her fingers through her silky hair and looking over at Spirit, which was what the other girls had called her, to see if she had anything to say.

*Maya looked at Aly. Her question should have been all that they needed to get started. Things were not actually that simple. "What do we do?" she had asked. But there were so many questions that went along with that one. Where do we start? What can we do? What can we use? Who can we use? Maya became frustrated with all of the questions and possible answers floating around in her head. She took a deep breath and did something she had been trained to do when the challenges that lay ahead of her seemed overwhelming - she cleared her mind. After taking a couple more deep breaths, the best question she could ask to kick-start their undertaking came to her freshly-cleared mind. If you are going to work in a team, it is best to know your teammates, the ones you will work with, she thought. "Okay," she said aloud. "I think that first we should get to know each other a bit. You know, give each other a bit of history on ourselves. And I think we should also share our full capabilities with each other. I know that can be a touchy subject and many prefer to keep their powers secret from everyone else for fear that that information can be used against them. But look at it this way: we can trust each other. I sense it, although I'm not sure the rest of you do. Either way, we are fighting against a greater and more dangerous evil than any of us individuals could be. We need to be united against this evil. We need to know our resources so that we can pool them. We need to have faith in each other and work together completely, or we'll never win our war. The less trust there is between us, the easier we are to defeat. I know we all have backgrounds that have made us suspicious and unwilling to open up to others, but we have to put that aside now because something more important needs to happen. We need to make it happen. And if we don't, it is then that our personal security, and the security of all others, is at risk. As I said, I trust all of you. I hope you trust me and each other, too. What do you say? Who wants to be the first one to share?"

*Maya listened attentively as Bella spoke. So she was a vampire... Maya had met a few vampires in her life, as they sometimes collaborated with her clan. They were all very withdrawn, almost snobby, but Bella didn't seem like that at all. Her autobiography was quite short, however, and Maya had a few more questions for her. "As a vampire, Bella, do you have any special abilities, talents, powers, or whatever you'd like to call them?" Maya took a breath. She was a bit nervous about her next question, as the answer could affect the plan the four of them would create to battle the Dark. "And I as much as I know this is none of my business, I must ask you, are you able to survive without drinking human blood?"

*Maya was relieved to hear that Bella could survive without human blood. Yes, she did prefer human blood, but she seemed ashamed of it. That was really all Maya needed - a group of people who knew right from wrong, people who had morals. Even if they couldn't exactly be called people. Or could they? Maya knew that none of them were human, or at least not one hundred percent. Maya herself wasn't even human. It was just that the majority of the world was. But did it really matter who was human and who wasn't as long as they all had humanity? She could sense that everyone in their little group did, anyway, and that they all stood firmly against evil. As long as that was the case, and as long as they were willing to fight for what was right, there would be no problems. Maya smiled kindly at Bella. "Don't worry," she said, "I only asked because I was worried that you might get distracted or - forgive me for saying this - go on a blood-drinking rampage if we were ever to come into contact with humans on our journey. I just wanted to make sure you could resist so that we wouldn't encounter any problems." If she really needed to, Maya could stop Bella from doing anything rash; Bella wouldn't have any choice in the matter. But Maya really didn't want to have to do that to Bella. It would probably anger her and maybe even make her lose faith in Maya. Besides, having to apprehend a vampire would be inconvient considering that they were all going to try to stop the most powerful evil there was.

*Maya suddenly saw Aly in a new light. What she had gone through was terrible, and she had been a young, innocent child. No wonder she had so much anger built up, the poor thing, thought Maya. But Maya knew Aly probably didn't want her pity, so she kept silent. Still, she couldn't help but notice that both Bella's and Aly's stories had seemed so much worse than her own. Their lives had been far more complicated. Bella's life had been completely turned around because someone had merely bitten her. It could even be said that her life had started over again and this time she was a different person, physically at least. It was hard to imagine that such a change wouldn't have an emotional effect on her and change her personality as well as her body. It made Maya shudder to think that life could change that quickly, that simply, just with a bite. She reminded herself that no vampire's bite could ever change who she was; she was protected by the magic that encased and filled her body. But that didn't mean that something just as quick and simple couldn't happen to change her life that drastically. Had Bella even seen it coming? Would she herself see something like that coming? And then there was Aly. Heartless villagers had torn her father out of her life. Aly's heart must have been torn out at the same time. Then, her mother, the one person she thought she could depend on, abandoned her in her time of need. It was understandable for her mother to have been depressed, but by leaving Aly to feel alone in the world, she had only made things worse. No wonder Aly didn't let anyone in. Maya thought she would have gone crazy if she had ever had to go through what Bella and Aly had had to go through. The memory that Aly had gone crazy drifted into her mind, but she pushed it aside. That is all over now and it is to be forgotten, Maya told herself. But instinctively, she felt a bit worried and as much as she hated to admit it, suspicious. It was probably because of the way she had been brought up and trained - to be a warrior. Of course, as a warrior, she had also been trained not to let any of these emotions show and she kept her face inscrutable. However, she decided to break her silence and speak to both of the girls indirectly. "I am truly sorry for what you both had to go through. I hope everything is alright with you now." She fleetingly made eye contact with Aly and Bella and smiled what she hoped was a warm smile at both of them. Maya could have told her story next, but she thought that since she had initiated this, she should be the last to go. Maya waited for Spirit, but she decided that she would go next if Spirit felt uncomfortable going next.