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"That's what I thought." Allan seemed to be talking more to himself - very loudly - than anyone in particular. "In fact it seems we may have-"

- Behind the Sun Division leader was just a simple kid, plainly dressed, rather ordinary, if it was not for his scalp torn open, head literally dripping blood on the ground. He looked straight up at the trainees, eyes stricken, wide open-

- And then everything around the trainees disappeared. There was still the convention hallway, there was still the floor, the other trainees, but everything else had disappeared. The walls themselves, the floor, the ceiling was an odd, off-colour grey, occasionally blurring into non-existence, a strange fog misting over the area. Allan was entirely gone. It was as if he was never here in the first place, in this strange bizarre reality where only the five of them existed.

The five of them and the one kid, still staring up at them. Their form flickered, eyes wide as they pointed behind the trainees. Behind them was a simple tunnel, a single tunnel in fact, that lead to a point that burned a dark black. There was a strange smell coming from that area, not a strong or sickly smell but simple the taste of something burning lightly, the thick fragrance of incense, perhaps. The room continued to shake and quaver further every step they took, the walls growing closer, narrower, one point walls, the next gates, and then after that-

- A simple white picket fence. A girl was laughing on the other side of the brightly saturated green yard, running towards her father as he picked her up and swung her. Several children were running in the background, one second the fence flickering to swings, the next to a playground, the last to them holding hands, laughing and running in a circle, their voices echoing in a strange, hollow tone. The noise grew louder as everything moved bright, colourful, there was shouting, happy laughing, screaming, blurring into one singular echo, the same colour same sounds, all a cacophony of noise, sound light, light light lightlightlight-

- And then a single figure standing a little further away, cloaked purely in black. They turned around, raising one hand. An ornate silver bracelet around their wrist jingled, forming a strange echo, a whisper.

"Have you lost your way, little sheep?"

NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO!!!


Everything had been at an almost even keel with Cass - until the boy appeared behind Allan. That's about when Cass started looking about ready to flip her s**t and break stuff - another unusual state of being for Cass. Anger? Ready to flip her s**t? If it wasn't known to somebody already, Cass's 'ghost thing' was kind of starting to show very clearly. In fact, someone would have to physically drag Cass with them to keep her from just having an angry leer-down with the ghost kid for the rest of this alternative dimension.

Or whatever was going on. Either way, Cass's 'pissed off'ometer was rising, and even Nicodemus was starting to have a difficult time trying to calm her to a functional level. CASS She was hyperventilating and everything. It was a raw and exposed part of her that was hidden well amongst all the other things she dealt with on a day to day basis.

And yet, it didn't seem to get any better when they reached the other end of the tunnel - complete with picket fences, playgrounds, swingsets, happy children. A child paradise - paradise! But she couldn't focus on that, reaching out to grab someone's shoulder tightly as she began to deteriorate into what could have been described as a full-on panic attack.

Or a growing state of 'Berserker' in that within a few minutes, Cass was just going to pull out her weapon and start going nuts on things.

"NOPE. MEANT TO TAKE THAT LAST TURN PAST BY THE JIGGLYPUFF PAST ******** VILLE AND INTO GHOSTLAND." she answered, not quite yelling, but that 'ready to flip her s**t' was getting more obvious. Ghosts. Why ghosts. Ghostghostghostghost.

Gale decided that Allan was, in fact, an enigma.

And that he was really very strange.

Standing beside the others, Gale lifted a hand and absently rubbed the back of his neck, trying to make sense of what on earth was going on. He didn't really understand why they were here in the first place - all Gale had seen was a child with a large scrape on his head.

But...come to think of it, why had that child had the scrape? Where had that gash even come from? It didn't seem like a wound that a normal, accidental play fight would cause, and there was nothing in the immediate vicinity that seemed to be able to make such a terrible injury.

So where did it come from?

Gale's eyes flickered back to Allan - and then at the small figure behind him.

What the hell -

Everything seemed to melt away quite abruptly - the stands, the voices, the sounds, everything simply disappeared, leaving behind only the barest of things - the walls, the floors, but nothing else. A smearing grey fog was misting throughout the passage - and Allan was gone.

"What the hell - " said Gale, but this time out loud as he spun around, his gaze moving from one place to another, trying to discern what had just happened. The other trainees were still there - and the child that had been standing behind the Sun Division Leader.

It felt blurry. Why was it blurry?

What's going on?

Down the hall a ways there was a tunnel that looked starkly out of place, disappearing into complete blackness. A strange, sweet fragrance was drifting out, something akin to incense, or maybe something cooking or a candle burning, but Gale could not quite figure out what. And there was also a fence, blatantly white in the grey mist -

Wait, thought Gale. A fence?

A small girl was there, followed by several more children - and a man, that looked as though he might be her father. Everything seemed to be colliding suddenly in Gale's view - there were swing sets, a playground, laughter that drifted around, sounding muted and odd in his ears - more laughter, brightness, so bright - Gale lifted his hands, pressing them against the sides of his head, squeezing his eyes shut - it was loud, so loud, everything was reverberating and echoing inside of his mind and then -

It stopped. And there was a single figure, a black smear in the grey mist.

Something jangled - a bracelet?

Slowly Gale lowered his hands, his eyes fixed on the shadowy figure.

"Who the hell are you?"

That strange smell, old and dank, dark and sweet grew stronger, pervading.

"Come this way, this way, take the final path home."

As the voice talked, softly, soothingly, several children, flickering in form, one second taller, shorter, blonde, brunette, boy, girl, but inevitably children teach took one of the trainee's hands, leading them closer towards the figure seated in the center. Their grip was impossibly strong.

"It will be okay." Soothed the children, speaking in unison as they forced the trainees forward one step at a time. "It will be okay, you'll see. She's taking us all home, all of us forgotten children."

The trainees were now gathered around her, surrounded by other figments of other children, ghosts perhaps, spirits, perhaps something else entirely, their transparent bodies blocking all escape, blocking all resistance. The smell of the incense burned thick, making the trainees feel oddly drained, tired, their weapons impossibly hard to reach or even talk to, as if looking through an impossibly thick veil.

It was getting easier now to closer their eyes, as the trainees still struggled, as they watched the cloaked figure in the center take a few steps forward -

- She touched Dakota first with one gentle hand on his forehead, the trainee crumpling to the ground like a rock. Gale was second, and then Cass, Ryan. Lastly, she looked up, dark hood still covering her face, as she grasped Otto with both hands. All five trainees lay on the ground, collapsed.

But they were no longer struggling, they were no longer afraid. They saw it now, at first a ticking growing into a full onslaught of nostalgia. The age-old scents of their memories coming to life, their fondest, thickest memories, a moment of sheer elation and joy. They moved proudly, relived it vicarious and most of all-

- Forgot who they really were.

Otto flinched at the child's grip. Crap, they were becoming surrounded. What were they going to do?! He could feel something begin to happen. Tiredness, the annoying babbling of his weapon slower fuzzing out. He looked to search for an exit, or maybe for Allen. None were present, and he was good and trapped.

Going home? Their home or his? The creepy children were speaking in unison, like a weird horror film.

Soon, that strange hooded lady began to touch his team mates. Dropping like flies, one by one, Otto began to really get scared. She'd saved him for last, and he looked down at the figure with uncertainty, even fear. What was she doing...
As soon as she gripped hold of him, he felt everything fade to black.

The pain, fear and dread. Soon it melted away with that blackness, giving way to a soft light.

It was so warm here. He didn't feel unsure. He didn't feel confused. He didn't feel an ounce of hate or jaded thoughts. A warm breeze swept through his hair and clothes. He was laying his head on something soft and warm. His eyes opened to look up, the features of a familiar face visible. Dyed hair in a scene style do, pierced lip and eyebrow, pale skin and dark eyes. It was his girlfriend.

"..Kim?" She giggled, a smirk spreading over her face. "It's alright. You can keep sleeping." She said in that soft voice of hers. She threaded her long fingers through his hair, making him feel calm, and sleepy. He remembered days like this. Times when they just ran away from it all. Just each other as company. It never had to be anywhere special. Nothing but each other. He'd forgotten how it felt to simply let go and enjoy the company of someone, let someone inside that hard shell of his.

Something was calling him.. it wasn't his girlfriend's voice. Who was that? In and out of consciousness, he could almost see them. No.. no it must be his imagination. He didn't want to even try to hear them. Why bother, when everything was so nice here?

"Still can't sleep? Want me to sing for you like you did for me?" She asked sweetly, softly humming to him. That felt so familiar.. not just the soft singing of his girl, but something even further back in his mind. Someone who held him dear, and sang a soft lullaby to get him to sleep. It was too far away of a memory. He just couldn't grasp it. It too was warm...

Again.. that other voice came back, even more difficult to hear than before. All of these voices had been female, so he figured in his daze he wasn't hearing Kim's voice properly after all.

Surey.. there was only Kim. She and him. No one else.

Alone... together.. forever..

"Mama - mama, look what I found!"

A small child, no older than six, with pale, white blonde hair and big gold eyes.

"Look, mama!"

A gentle hand, pressing down atop his head, smoothing down his stray locks affectionately. And then a softly amused voice to accompany it -

"What is it, Gale?"

"Look!"

He opened his hands. Inside was a tiny rock, jewel bright and glistening, a small treasure. He had found it by the river, of course, and he wasn't really supposed to be playing there, but Miss Anne, their nanny, had said he could as long as he stayed close.

"Gale, that's beautiful." A small laugh.

"Leslie said it was a just a rock, but she's just jealous 'cause she didn't find one herself," he said primly, and held the little object to the light, squinting at the brightness. "But it's mine and she can't have it."

Another laugh. "Gale, be nice to your sister."

He huffed indignantly. "I am being nice."

Something warm enveloped him - arms, wrapping around his shoulders, pulling him close. A face pressed against his hair, and breathed deeply, a smile in her voice as she said "You're always nice, aren't you, Gale?"

He snuggled closer, happy and content. "Yes, Mama."


Fast forward several years.


"Leslie. Leslie."

She turned, looking slightly scared. "What?"

He bounced towards her cheerfully. "Let's go to the cinema!"

Now she stared at him blankly. "What? Why?"

Pointing a finger at her conspiratorially, he said gleefully "Mum and Dad gave me some extra allowance 'cause I did all my chores when I was supposed to. Come on, let's go!"

"B-but," she said, trembling a little, even as he had grasped her fingers impatiently and was tugging her towards the front door. "Won't they get mad, we're not supposed to just l-l-leave - "

He stopped, and turned around. "Come on," he said, grinning. "Live a little! Besides, I left a note and told Miss Anne, and she said she'll cover for us."

A small, tentative smile crossed her face. "R-really?"

"Yes," he said firmly. "Now let's go."

She nodded, and still holding her hand, he pushed open the front door, the two of them giggling and laughing all the way down the front steps.


<< ..........................Gale. >>

The voice sounded oddly familiar, strained. He could hear it first close, then far away, as though it were waning in and out of focus. But he didn't know who was calling his name - it didn't sound like his twin sister's voice, nor like his mother's or Miss Anne's -

Who is that?

<< GALE. >>

He blinked, twisted his head, rubbed his eyes. A pale grey, misty fog slid in and out of view, along with a distorted something just a short ways away.

Gale rubbed his eyes again.

...Jinhai?

<< Gale, come on, wake up..... >>

He was so tired. Why was he so tired? What was the name "Jinhai" again? There was some heavy sort of importance to it, but he couldn't remember why that was.

So very tired.

Gale closed his eyes again.

The fact that Ryan hadn't woken up no matter how much Locke yelled at him terrified the carbuncle. He always woke up when he yelled at him. That was the beauty of it. Even when Ryan was determined to sleep, if the carbuncle was persistent enough, he could always get him to wake up. So why not now?

Trying to keep his panic under control, Locke started to take a closer look, reaching out towards---reaching?

He froze.

When had he started reaching out? How was he reaching out like that?

The carbuncle blinked, looking over what appeared to be his own hands. Turning them over, he then followed his arms up and saw his body. His physical body. Not a memory of it, but his actual body. How was--he was... free? No no no! That wasn't possible! Even he knew that it was impossible to be freed and back in his physical body. This was a trick! It must be! And if Ryan died here, he probably would too.

"s**t... Ryan! Wake up! Don't live in the past, you Jack damned idiot!" Locke gave the trainee another rude shove, trying to force his own memories--any memory the two of them had to cancel out the other. Unfortunately, despite his efforts, the memory was too weak and crumbled, failing to have the desired effect.

"Ahh come on already! Wake UP!"

"Otto!"

Tenya's throat felt like it was getting sore. She kept calling for her Hunter but he just couldn't hear her.

"Otto! I swear I will smack you something awful if you don't answer meeeee!!!" She shrieked at him, knowing full well her threats never meant anything with no body. She yelled in frustration, stomping her foot on the---

Wait... her foot?



Tenya gasped. The dropbear stared down, looking at her old checkered heels, down at her blue painted nails, staring at her-- "OH MY JACK, THEY'RE BACK!" She squealed happily, grasping her bosom. Wait, no. Her heart fell. This wasn't right. This couldn't be real. Besides, Otto was in trouble. She could never just leave him. They had a bond. One she had no intention of running from.

"Otto! Otto it's me! It's Tenya! Come on! Wake up!!" She tried calling again. And again and again. Her voice wouldn't reach him.