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Francis slowed to a stop and panted. She was gone. With a sigh, he turned back.

Willow turned her head. Her hair whipped and blew around her face. Opening her mouth to speak, Willow began spitting out her hair.

"We're looking for one of Them." Rowan shouted, glancing at the boy. "I'm Rowan, that's Willow." Up head he spotted Francis. "Stop." Rowan threw his arm out in front of Willow, who screeched to a halt.

"Where'd she go?" Rowan asked, marching promptly up to Francis.

"I don't know." He replied. "She just disappeared. Probably woke up."

"Doragon, huh?" Willow said, more to herself than anyone else. "Odd name." She stared at the boy. He looked familiar.

Aria slid onto a stool at her kitchen counter, gulping water from her mostly empty bottle, and watched as Whitney half-fell into the seat next to her. "I can't believe I went to dance," Whitney moaned, brushing dark red bangs off her sweaty forehead.
"Don't cry to me," gasped Aria, coming up for air, "I got even less sleep than you did." She sent a pointed glare in the direction of her friend.
"I said I was sorry," mumbled Whitney, studying the marble counter.
"Who cares about sorry," snapped Aria. Normally she would have been a bit more merciful, but she was in an understandably horrible mood. "Did you get the party back on, or not?"
Whitney sighed, twirling her ponytail around her fingers. "Not yet. Mom's completely freaking out. Not that she knows the kid."
"She's never seen him?" asked Aria, curious in spite of herself.
Whitney shook her head, her brown eyes serious. "Nope. I think she's setting herself up for heartbreak, but obviously my opinion wasn't asked for." She rolled her eyes. "I don't think the boyfriend even knows she has a daughter."Aria nodded vaguely, drinking from her water bottle again. Whitney's face became suddenly intense. "Actually, the whole thing's pretty weird. Obviously this is second hand, but..." she trailed off, waiting for the go ahead. Aria gave it by raising her eyebrows expectantly.
"Well," continued Whitney eagerly, "The kid's still unconscious, right? And they hook him up and do all these brain scans to make sure there's no damage, 'cause he's pretty banged up. And this is the weird bit. All the parts of the brain that are supposed to be active when he's asleep are, but so are all the parts that are supposed to be active when he's awake, as well as parts of the brain that aren't supposed to be active at all! The boyfriend's flipping out, of course, but the kid was supposed to be pretty weird to begin with-" she broke off, noticing the expression on Aria's face. "What? What's that look for?"
"Gonna go shower," said Aria, her voice sounding overly bright to her own ears. "Help yourself to whatever." She started to walk out, as quickly as she could without seeming scared, but then stopped. Turning around casually, she asked, "What's the kid's name?"
Whitney's face was lost and a little frightened. "I don't remember."
"Kay. Gotta shower." With that, Aria fled to the bathroom, trying to escape the horrible idea that this was exactly how a fly felt right before it realized the thing it was caught in was a web.

Kat turned around and ran through the forest, noticing wearily that the branches whipped out of her way of their own accord. she ran until she bumped into one of the elves she had seen by the water earlier. she sat down, hard, then stood back up again. she saw the newcomer, another elf by the looks of him, and sighed. 'oh, goodie, more elves.' her green hair was tangled and she brushed it out of her face, tucking it behind a pointed ear.

"Well, that's not doing us any good." Rowan sighed as he ran his hands down his face.

"Yeah," Francis had no clue as to why he was agreeing. He began to shiver. "Does it feel cold to you." He asked watching his breath drift up into the clear sky.

Rowan slowly shook his head.

"What's your last name?" Willow asked softly touching her fist to her forehead, trying to remember.

*~*

Francis woke up with his knees up at his chest. It was freezing. He sat up and pulled his shades to the side. Snow blanketed the ground and drifted from the sky.

Looking at his clock, Francis' heart stopped his bus came in seven minutes.

After scrambling to change, he tripped down the stairs and met his sister, bundled up with a mug in her hand, getting ready to leave. "What are you doing?" She asked. Her voice was muffled by a large scarf.

"I have to go." Francis gasped, pulling on boots.

"No you don't" She explained, pulling her scarf down to talk. "Snow day, there's eighteen inches out there."

Monollius sighed, almost regretfully. "It's something you must see, child," he said, looking out at the plain. "Why, they are the most glorious--" When he spun to face Siri once more, she was gone. "--...shape Nature has to offer us..." He sighed again. "She could have merely informed me I was of no interest. Such horrible manners." His eyes turned to the plains before him. "I will miss you." And as if on cue--

~*~

Leonidus sat up quickly. He was coughing, choking, suffocating. Something was in the way, and it had to be moved. The gag reflex kicked in, and Leonidus leaned over the gurney. The piece of his own cheek that had become lodged in his throat, now became dislodged, and spattered on the tiled flooring with bile and collected blood. Feeling dizzy, he almost fell over the side as well, but a hand of latex showed him the way back to the pillow. With a shaky breath, he lay back again, and tried to fall asleep. Try as he might, though, he could not find rest.

He experienced the entire trip to his ER room, the hospital jargon flying through his ears incoherently. When the gurney stopped, the jargon continued to batter his drums, but otherwise had no direct effect upon him. A needle was driven into his right arm, and a monitor attached to his left finger, but otherwise, he did not feel a thing. Hell, he couldn't even feel his own eyelids... Was he drugged? Must be...

"We're going to have to put him under. Two broken ribs, a third fractured. Possibly a pierced lung--"

"Just sedate him," a second voice answered. "We need to get going. You can finish the synopsis while you work."

"Yes, sir."

And Leonidus was out once more...

~*~

Monollius lifted his head quickly, disturbed from his nap... "How did I fall asleep?" His gaze shifted quickly, his hand clenching the staff tightly. And there was Siri, seated on the ground. He was standing behind her, so he strode forward. "You could have simply told me I was not striking your interest," he muttered. "That would have been far more kind, and proper." He sighed. "No matter. You have many years to perfect that art."