Welcome to Gaia! ::

The frei looked around. They had just been outside and gone through an open doorway. Instead of being on the other side of the marble wall, they were in an opulent hall with silver walls, white marble floors, silver drapery. Everything seemed to have a glow. And, she noted with surprise, looking around, there were TONS of people here! But I thought Shanna said no one else was here?! ”Spirits,” the girl responded, answering the cat’s unasked question. Looking around the crowd, Shanna smiled wide and, grabbing Lucia’s hand, basically skipped towards her intended destination. ”Grandma!” she cried out. An elderly woman standing with a man she obviously cared a lot for looked over and smiled welcomingly at Shanna. ”Have you ever heard of a body coming to this world?” Shanna asked her grandmother. The woman chortled and shook her head, ”Oh no my dear! No one on Earth is able to understand death well enough to come here and leave intact! Who is your little friend? She’s odd isn’t she, Norbert.”

Shanna turned to Lucia in time to see the frei’s face fall. She was getting weak, not only from the news that she would probably never get home again, but also because she hadn’t eaten since…the night she met Shanna. It had been too long, she realized. Had she known about it, Lucia would have realized that the virus had obviously given her an energy boost of some sort, or at least made her not rationally think about the need to eat. Now, she realized, it was too late. The kitten paled further and sunk down to the floor. She was struggling to breathe, let alone float in the air. She felt confined. She was going to die. Or she was already dead. Maybe if she died her arm would stop hurting.

The frei tuned out everything around her and thought about her life. Yuurei. She tried so hard most of the time. It’s just, Lucia sighed, a tear escaping her closed eye. If she had another chance she would be more patient with Yuu. Vyn. She was like her best friend. But she hardly ever saw her. She didn’t treat her very well at her party, basically ignoring her once Rivener had shown up and then left again. Rivener. He was harder. She really liked him. It was like Marissa said in that last romance novel, “If you really love him, try harder. He’ll forget the hussy and realize he really loves you.” If only. . . And Pasha…she was so sweet. Lucia really enjoyed her time with the girl, even though they were so different. Pasha was the last one the frei had seen. And the kitten had acted awful. Lucia bent in half, her chin falling to her chest. She was so weak.

Looking around with just her eyes, she still didn’t understand. Where was this? She was dying – in the world of the dead. Ironic. The frei went to lean against Shanna, but her head slipped right through the spirit and she toppled over. She landed, trying to rescue her wrist but not being too successful. The frei felt so drained she couldn’t even cry out in pain. Sobs raked her body and she closed her eyes, curling up. ”I want to go home!” she cried, running out of strength. She had avoided death once today, luckily transferring here before she was impaled on the scarecrow’s steak. She wouldn’t be so lucky in this world. As Lucia took what she thought would be her last breath she tried to will herself to live, her body to continue. She didn’t want to die around strangers. She wanted. . . she wanted to live! She wanted to be in a graveyard eating and gaining strength. She wanted Rivener to be there. She wanted Yuurei to be there. She did not want to die. Closing her eyes for the last time, the kitten frei let out a final sob. She wished this wasn’t the end, but it was not to be.

Yuurei pulled out her cell phone right after they got on the road. Dialing the lab’s number it went right to voicemail. Sighing she slapped her phone closed and traveled to Barton Hospital. It was the easiest hospital to get to between Aphi and Yuurei’s homes and she would call and “leave a detailed message” later. She wasn’t sure if anything of what Lucia was up to had to do with a virus or whatever, but it would be better to leave a message and make sure than ignore it and not.

Pulling into the emergency room parking, Yuurei sighed. It always took way too long to do anything in the emergency room. Yuurei went around and opened Lucia’s door. ”Come on. The sooner we get in there the sooner we’ll get home.”

Lucia scowled. She didn’t want to go into the ER. She didn’t want to deal with people staring at her. And now that her wrist was beginning to throb painfully, she really didn’t want anyone to touch it. She kept her seatbelt on and cross her right arm over her body. She wouldn’t – no – couldn’t make her get out of the car.

Yuurei sighed when the frei was beligerant. ”Lucia get out of the car or so help me I will never let you see Rivener again.” Her sharp eyes caught Lucia’s glaring ones. ”Don’t try me.” She smiled satisfactorily as the cat undid the seat buckle and got out of the car. Moving aside she winced as Lucia slammed the car door as hard as possible, but decided to ignore it. She led the girl towards the emergency room door and headed over to reception.

Lucia couldn’t stand this crap. Yuurei couldn’t actually keep her from visiting Rivener, but she could make it more difficult. She didn’t go over to reception with the blonde, but instead plopped down on a waiting chair. While Rivener was definitely occupying most of her thoughts, the cat was also thinking about the place she visited. One moment she had been about to die. The other she was in that place. Then she had begged, in her mind, to live. And she did. What was that place even? Though slightly afraid, Lucia wanted to know more about it. Where did she go…and how did she end up in that cemetery? She hadn’t even known about it.

Yuurei waved her over. Rolling her eyes, she got up and floated over. These people were so annoying. They needed something like vitals? However, when the nurse noticed she was a cat/bat girl without a lower half the woman mumbled something and told her to take a seat. ”See! What are we even doing here? I don’t want to deal with this s**t.”

Yuurei flashed a scolding look. ”Don’t curse!” She couldn’t wait to get this over with. Suddenly she heard a call, “Loo –see-ya”.

”You’re joking right” the cat said, floating up and staring deadpan at the nurse. ”It’s Lou-sh-ya.” Stupid woman. Following the dumb bimbo nurse, and in front of the other dumb bimbo without a nursing license, Lucia and her guardian were dumped in a room to wait for a doctor.

Pretty quickly a doctor opened the door and walked in. Woah, was the kitten’s initial thought. The doctor was actually spiffy looking!

Dr. Anthony Proto opened the door and looked in at the patient and her mother with a gentle face that he had been taught to use for initial examinations. The doctor had been a boy prodigy; attending college at age 16, he was only 25 years old with a full medical degree. His youth was reflected on his face; cursing his genes, which he would probably love later in life, he looked like he could hardly be 19. His chocolate brown hair fell slightly shaggily in front of a pair of bright blue eyes. His body was muscular, despite the long hours and stressful work as a doctor in the ER. His white lab coat contrasted starkly with his tan skin and brilliant smile. The nurse had mentioned something about a missing lower half and, panicking, he rushed in to see what she was talking about. ”Hi, Lou-sh-ya? he asked the cat/bat/girl/floating thing. When she gave him an obvious once over and then nodded with a smile, Tony shrugged mentally. Whatever this thing was, it didn’t stop her from needing care. ”I’m Dr. Proto. So I hear there’s a problem with your arm?”

Lucia nodded and then used her right hand to point at her left wrist. ”I think I broke my wrist or something.” ”Oh really! Well how did that happen?” The doctor really was interested in this being, but less so in her wrist and more in how she worked. In the harsh fluorescent lighting, he could still see that something underneath her was shining brightly.

”Well I smacked it against the head of a shovel. When I looked at it, it looked like the bone was pushing against the skin from the inside, so I wrapped my ribbon around it to keep me from moving it.” Lucia liked this doctor. He reached out and gently undid the buckle clasp and began unwrapping the ribbon from around the girl’s wrist. ”And does it hurt to move it?” he asked with a quick nod from Lucia. ”Alright, why don’t we get it x-rayed and we can take a look. It might need to be set, if it was pressing against the skin, but we won’t worry about that yet. Why don’t you stay here,” he said, turning to Yuurei. ”And you come with me and we’ll get that x-ray done quick.” With a nod Lucia hopped off of the examination table and followed the handsome doctor as he laid a hand on her shoulder and walked her out of the door.

Dr. Proto’s good looks and charm with Lucia were not lost on Yuurei at all. He looked hot. She tried to picture him without the doctor’s garb and smiled at the thought. Just him, her, her bedroom and a fun game of “doctor.” With a smile Yuurei watched him as he walked away, slightly pissed that she didn’t have time to look better before she went on the wild chase that was finding the frei. Running her fingers through her hair, the blonde waited for the sexy doctor and the little brat to return.

Lost Location

Who: Lucia and Varun
Where: Aekea
When: mid-morning
Weather: cool and cloudy

Lucia sneaks out of the house, somehow gets lost, but runs into Varun in Aekea. The two raevans need to find out how to get to their destinations! What will happen when the Lost Location turns out to be not so nice a place?

Sand, Surf, and Infection Fun!

Who: Namini, Prajna, Yuurei and Lucia
Where: The beach where the 2008 Lab 305 event was held
When: Afternoon, around 12:30
Weather: Actually a warmer day than normal, temperature in the low 60s and a clear sunny sky

The infection has spread and two infected frei and their guardians stumble into each other. Only chaos could ensue with the Sand, Surf, and Infection Fun!

Before this, Kyou had only been able to listen to the messages left on his voice message box helplessly. He was probably ashamed of his uselessness, of his own mistakes that all these problems had arisen. That is probably why he never called back. However, today is different. He will have good news today and he will be able to help finally. Picking up the receiver confidently, he dialed the first number of one of the many callers.

He reached a voice message box, talk about irony.

"Hello? This is Dr Kyou from the lab. I finally have the cure to the infection!" He announced happily, couldn't contain the excitement in his voice, although he knew he should be more sympathetic about the situation. Coughing once, he assumed back a more professional tone. "The virus's weakness is ice, or extreme low temperature. Keeping your Raevan in a freezing cold surrounding would be able to clear their head a little."

"The aforementioned cure is in the form of an injection of liquidized hydrogen sulfide. This will induce hypothermia to your Raevan and the body's low temperature will be able to kill the virus from within. Your Raevan would fall into a short coma or hibernation, but so far the cure had been proven to work on two Raevans and there doesn't seem to be any extra side effects or health consequences. If you could, it is best if you try and send your Raevan to the laboratory for the injection. But if your Raevan could not leave the house at the moment, I will send Alex over with the injection. Please call back with a date and time of your visit, and whether you want to visit the laboratory or you required someone to come over. Thank you and good day."

Now that's one down, just a few more to go.

Yuurei looked drove Lucia home in a considerably more quiet and less angsty trip than on the way to the lab. The frei had woken up after a few hours and the injection and she had been fairly silent since. It was a nice change, but Yuurei was still worried. What if there was some weird side effect?

Lucia had been in thought since she woke up, regained feeling in her arms, and began to feel more like herself. She spoke to Dr. Kyou only when she had to, and she couldn’t look him in the eyes. She didn’t know which was worse: that she tried to manipulate the man who created her, who was more like a father or a god than like someone who would have a real relationship, or that he had lied to her. He had tricked her, deceived her, manipulated her. And she didn’t even know it.

The frei stared out the window. ”Is there anywhere you want to stop on the way home?” Lucia shook her head slightly and sighed. She didn’t know what to think. The cat had done a lot of stuff she didn’t understand in the past month. She would need to get it all straight in her head before she could really move on. And Kyou…could she ever trust him again? Lucia didn’t know. It didn’t produce a nice feeling in her chest as Yuurei drove her home.

The frei bit her lip. She wanted to open it. But she didn't. It told her not to! But she did. Because it told her not to!

Screw it, the frei thought, tossing open the lid and staring at...coal. A small smile spread on her face.