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___Esprit flung herself over her mother's unmoving body. Did the great tree voice kill her too? Was something big going to grow over her mother, was everything shattered into a million pieces? Thoughts raced through the child's mind, as she turned around and looked at her friends and guardians. Why were the humans the only ones getting sick ... the little girl didn't understand.
___"Mama ..." She cried, tracing her fingertips on her mother's nose. "Mama please wake up."

___The red fruit pulsed ominously on the ground beside the kneeling child, and filled with terror over what might happen if she disobeyed the voice again, she flitted away from her Uenoh'ai's side and rushed to the sapling, fighting her way through the sleeping bodies to the evil sapling that had once threatened her life. Esprit gripped the large fruit between her two hands and began to squeeze, the dark juice dripping down her arms and onto the plant.
___"Please ..." The little girl said quietly to whomever was listening. "Wake mama up."

___Uenoh'ai shifted, her head aching and hand twisted into the satchel which had once been in Amelia's arms. She turned her head, seeking the darting bit of trademark pink. Ah, there it was. The Researcher focused her eyes, before her heart jumped into her throat. Red! Red stains on Esprit's hands! Scrambling up, and stumbling to the side as she fought vertigo, the mother sprinted groggily towards her hurt daughter.
___What have I done, what have I done! If I hadn't ... I shouldn't ... Uennie cried out as she reached the child and gripped her hands tightly. "Sweetheart! I-!" The woman stopped, staring down at the tiny hands in her larger ones. Flipping them over, and inspecting them carefully, she sighed and said derisively, "JUICE?"
___Esprit stared at her mother in shock, it must have worked. Awe became overcome with joy as she hugged her mother, crying with shameless abandon into her blouse.
___"Mama!"

Eden ran to his surrogate mother, grabbing her head up and resting it on his knees.
"Please, wake up! Please..." He pleaded quietly. After a minute or two, her eyelashes fluttered open and a hand came up to keep the gaze of the sun out.
"What happened, are you alright?" An alarmed voice beamed up at him. To tell the truth, he wasn't sure if he was, but he nodded to keep her from being alarmed. Whatever this place was, he was sure that he didn't want to be there any longer.
" Can we go home now?" He asked meekly. Instead of answering, his guardian sat up and began looking around at everything, finding what she was looking for, she got up and began to walk over toward Uenoh'ai. "Come on." She mumbled, grabbing Eden's hand in the process.

___Uenoh'ai gently cradled her daughter's head in her arms, delicately running her fingers through the ever-darkening stands. What a precious little girl, how lucky she was to have Esprit in her life. Gently she leaned down and kissed the child on top of her head. This all seems so foolish, what was the point in continuing this mission, what was the point in keeping the Vale going after it having been a doomed project the moment Amelia left. They could have had the chance to take their Specimen ... No, their children, out into the real world to have happy normal lives. Why had pride made the Researcher so foolish as to overlook what could have been truly beautiful.

___Ragnarok.

___The young woman wished for an instant that she had never met Amelia, that this would have all simply been a breath of nothing, visible for a moment in the cold air before evaporating. No one would be hurt, everything would have gone along. Uennie reached down and gently picked up her daughter, and kissed her on the cheek. There was so much guilt felt. No way to ease it.

___"Mommy." Esprit said softly, still gripping the fruit in her stained hands. The juice dripped slowly, spattering upon Uenoh'ai's blouse and blossoming into a red flower-like curl. "The tree told me to." She held out the almost-finished fruit as an offering of apology for the stain.
___"The tree, honey girl?" She smiled, Baldr, what now. Why couldn't it be finished? Edwin trotted up behind his superior, about to open his mouth about the readings near the tree, but decided not to. He watched Uennie take the fruit from her Specimen and lean forward, squeezing the very last few drops upon the sapling. Whatever her reasoning was, he didn't understand it.

___The earth shook once more, the sapling began to glow, and the stars went out overhead.

Sodashi only once dared to sneak a glance at Aly as the pair finally reached Uennie, Kyo, Ali, and their charges. Likewise, Aly was trying her very best to ignore Sodashi beside her. The air between them shivered.

The two children (for Sodashi had always been a child at heart) sought so eagerly to stand alone on their own two feet on top of their own world, yet the air between them spoke of a yearning. Each reaching out for something they couldn't see, but as far as they reached, their fingertips could only brush air. (Whether they were only reaching for an audience to stroke their ego was another story). But now, the two, both a little in awe of the other, had found someone like themselves, who thought like themselves.
And suddenly, our two hard-headed rivals suddenly found themselves a little confused as to where they stood in regard to the other.

Neither was really paying attention to what was happening within their group, so enraptured by their own thoughts. One of them did, however, notice a slight change in their environment when the earth beneath their feet shook and jostled her out of her thoughts. Aly silently elbowed Sodashi and pointed at the twinkling sky. Which, it seemed, was rapidly ceasing to twinkle.

"That's... um. Yeah, I feel like.. stars usually do that.." Sodashi murmured back to the elf.

___The sapling began to twist and grow rapidly, the trunk filling as though it would burst with life, and limbs reaching for the dark sky. Charged with natural energy, it grew wild. The world began to ache as it thrust each electric atom it could spare into this small tree. Time was slowing down around the Observers, and speeding up in a haze around the sapling, which was now over six feet and growing. The trunk widened, the diameter giving way to rings dictating an age older than it was. Branches widened and spread out to create a flat canopy, and the large tree that was once Baldr began to die.

___Baldr's last remnants began to quickly decay, surrendering itself to the greater power and giving the last of the Vale's life to the newer supreme. Vines dropped from the new branches of the now even larger tree, leaves burst from the bark until the very last had unfurled. Heavily laden with green, and oddly without a flower or fruit in sight, the roots trembled and sighed. It ceased glowing, and the stars overhead came back into light. The moon once more shone peacefully, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened on that night.

___Esprit shook quietly as she slipped from her mother's protective arms and gently touched the tree's wide body with her small hand. A small light radiated from her touch into the tree before buds began swiftly popping like bubbles to reveal the froth of rainbow shower tree flowers along the curve of the tree's foliage. Uenoh'ai watched slowly, analytically, before grasping Eden's arm and gently touching it to the tree as well. The light illuminated, and apple blossoms began to blossom and the fruit congealed from nowhere, to hang heavily on the branches.
___"Fantastic ..." She muttered quietly in awe.

___Esprit traced her fingers along the curves of the tree until she came to a large hole. As her hands caressed it, it sighed before opening widely to accompany anyone her size. She peered in, it was so dark ... she couldn't see the back of it. Could it possibly go anywhere? She gently tilted her head to get a better look. There, at the very bottom was a small speck of golden light, could she hear water echoing up?
___"Mama?" Esprit questioned, pointing at it. The woman walked over and attempted to reach a hand in, but was repelled by an unseen force.
___"What ... is ..." She puzzled before pulling Esprit away carefully. If Esprit could get through, she could fall, and Uennie would be unable to get her. She turned to Edwin and barked an order.
___"Bring everyone here, now. Have Jenny bring me the prototype amplifiers." He stared at her, before fumbling for a cellphone.
___"Oh ... I have a small signal here." He mumbled as he wandered off, to seek a better point. His superior turned back to the tree and regarded it thoughtfully. Something new had begun.