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Sabe hobbled into the kitchen, wondering how so many people got here so quickly. He got the octopus box out of the freezer, pulled the note out of it, and got stuff out to defrost it. He and the others in HQ would have been eating already if Ari didn't come running here.

The octopus was taken out of the box, and as it sat to defrost Sabe pondered what to put with it. Later, with some difficulty, he took out a bunch of potatoes and other vegetables to start cubing them up. Can't go wrong with potatoes, at least.

He checked how the octopus was coming along. It had shifted from its original spot a little. Unsuprising, but it needed more time to thaw.

The fact that everyone was afraid of their group was bewildering to Koji. Sure he had been set apart in the vampire-run parts of Durem, but dark elves were never something to be feared there. They were taunted and looked down upon and mistreated, but in a completely different way. The whole situation was so familiar, yet completely different at the same time. He stopped thinking about it before it gave him a headache and gladly picked up one of the apples to munch on. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until all the adrenaline wore off and he remembered that he hadn't eaten breakfast before this whole time warp nonsense began. "Is it possible..." he said between swallowing. "That the device needs to create a warp for everyone who came along in order to loop back?" He swallowed the rest of his bite then continued. "I mean, we've gone to almost everybody's past, and when someone who's already warped tries to take us home, it just goes somewhere else in their past. Maybe if whoever hasn't had a trip yet grabs on we can get out of here.." He took another bite then shrugged. "Just a thought."

{Well lets get this party started}

"If that is the case Koji then we have three people who haven't used the device." Looking over her shoulder at Jade, she turned back to the house. "I however don't trust Jade is the prime choice."

"How come," Jade sounded a little hurt and looked at the elf's back. Pen turned back and gave him a glare.

"Oh, you think I would take us back to when we met. How sweet of you to think that." Jade gave a big grin now thinking back to when they met. Maybe then the rest of the group would accept him a little more if they knew exactly what had transpired between them. Otherwise he never thought of being lost in the past would accomplish anything. It was their future that made him wonder.

Finally Pen heard the door open and jumped up. She peered at those five smiling faces as if trying to remember every feature they had. Her foster parents in particular. It had been 15 years to see them this youthful again. They were not very youthful to begin with but Pen could now remember what they were instead of what they become as death knocked on their doorsteps. It was comforting to see them healthy again. She was content to leave now and turned back to the group.

"Well I had...." a shot rung out that stopped Pen in her tracks. Looking petrified she stood very still.

"SAPHEAR!" Aiden cried out diving to his daughter's side, who was still holding the now crying baby. Gracie was sent running towards the sound of the shot. Once a cold wind, that seem to uncharacteristically, came and went she returned. Pen by that time was being held back by Jade, as she scrambled to run to the house.

"MOTHER!" Pen now knew who they were and at the worst time possible. This is how her mother died, not in birth. She was visiting Pen's foster parents. But why?! Why did these elves leave their grandchild behind?! What was the reason of why her mother had just been shot?! She kept fighting against Jade's grip.

"Let me go! Mother! Mother..." Pen was now going limp, tears welling up and she finally just fell to her knees.

"Why? why did that happen? I could have had a real family. Why... did I have to miss this chance..."

As Pen fell, punching the ground as she did, the device fell on to the ground. Jade trying to comfort her bumped it and the group was once again bathed in the blue light.

Next thing they knew Pen was still trying to pound answers out of the ground by a Durem playground. Jade was thrown by the warp and landed not far away. Before he could get up Pen made a mad dash away from the group.

(Welcome to the future 3nodding )

The way the humans looked at them didn't help KD to not think about her flash to the past. She did her best to ignore them and followed the group in silence and in a daze. I wasn't until Pen began yelling and crying that she snapped out of it and before she could realize what was going on the blue light surrounded them again. This time she curled up into a ball and landed rolling. It helped soften the impact... a little.

Sabe finished cutting up vegetables and put them in the large cooking pot. He checked the octopus again and deemed it ready to cook, but he wondered if he should cut it up or have it in there whole.

Then again, it would be easier if I just sliced it up first... I don't think that would change anything.

He got a butcher knife out of the drawer and approached the octopus, grabbing its tentacles and spreading them out; sometimes the tentacles would retract or wriggle when he touched them. Sabe looked intently at it to see how he should cut it up, imagining how the pieces would look in a soup or stew and how easy it would be to bite into them. The sound of things sizzling distracted him, as he forgot to make sure the water didn't boil too low.

While he was attending to that, the octopus moved even more, and eventually turned face-up. It was alive, and didn't behave like an octopus.

When Sabe turned around to the purple octopus-like thing, it jumped on his head and latched onto it. Screams could be heard from the kitchen.

The little octopus-thing was gripping tightly on Sabe's head. He had dropped the butcher knife in surprise, and unfortunately it landed on his foot edge-down. He tried his darned hardest to detach the pest, but it would not let go.

His wailing turned to screeching when the pesky head-sucker started to bore into his skull with teeth he never cared to look for. The blood quickly ran down his head and soaked his undershirt.

---

Meanwhile, two cloaked figures swiftly moved through the castle halls, making little sound as they approached the portal inside. They stepped in not knowing where exactly it would take them, but knowing it was their only way to where they needed to go; one of them, a squidlike humanoid, sensed a new, weak psionic presense in the distance somewhere and figured it came from Durem. Specifically, HQ.