sweetheart

"I can't imagine what my parents would do if I told them," Elise said as she walked arm-in-arm with Landon. "I doubt they'd believe me. They'd probably make fun of me or something." She shrugged it off, her gaze going from their feet on the damp street to the buildings above them. She didn't recognize this part of town.

"Landon...where are we?" she asked, stopping her pace to take a look around. They had been wandering, but she didn't think they'd get lost or wander all the way to another city. "I don't think I've ever been here before." She looked to him for some sort of answer, though she could tell that he was just as lost as she was.

Landon, who hadn't been playing attention at all to their surroundings, stopped dead in his tracks when he realized they were in a completely unfamiliar place. He looked around for anything he recognized, and saw nothing.

"I have no idea..." he replied honestly. He looked to Elise with a little bit of a smile. "You think we should try and find out?"

He kind of wanted to stay, because it was someplace new and interesting, but if Elise didn't want to then they wouldn't. He would just come back another time by himself, if he could even remember how to get here.

Alexander and Idina were just sort of hanging around when they got word that there was intruders in the city, and were told to go check it out, so they did.

Alexander was quite happy to be given something to do, and with a bounce in his step he happily followed Idina.

"Wonder if we'll get to hurt somebody?" he asked her.

Dina was a lot less enthused about the security breech than her Fighter. While Alexander saw the security breech as something to do, Dina saw it as a potential threat to the secrets of the city. She was all business right now.

"We don't hurt people, Alex," she said coolly, using the nickname he hated. "We get them out of the city as quickly as possible." She gave him a look that a teacher would give a misbehaving student.

Elise smiled back at Landon when he suggested them finding out where they were. "Sounds like fun to me," she said regrabbing Landon's arm with her own. "How do you suggest we find out? We could ask people, but that seems a little boring."

She always loved going on adventures with Landon, and this city seemed so inviting. A little weird, but something drew her to it. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of places were here. :3

Landon grinned. He loved it when Elise wanted to do the same things as him, because he always did what she wanted to do. "Let's explore," he suggested. "Just have a look around, see what kind of places are here. It already seems more interesting than Rellim."

That was probably because he had lived in Rellim his whole life and knew the city like the back of his hand. The only fun things Rellim had to do, Landon had already done about five hundred times each.

Idina wrote:

"We get them out of the city as quickly as possible."

"Right right," Alexander replied, then his voice got slightly whiny. "And it's Alexander not Alex."

He hated being called Alex, mostly because that's what his controlling crazy parents use to call him, plus Alexander just seemed much more formal, and he liked formal. He stuck his hands in his pockets and quietly hummed a random tune that he probably was making up as he went.

"Hey Dina?" he asked her. "Can we have soup for dinner tonight?"

"Uh, sure," Dina replied to the random change in subject. They kept walking through the city. It was getting dark, and Dina starting to think that this was probably just another person who had accidentally stumbled across the city, rather than an actual threat.

"I love exploring!" Elise exclaimed, her face brightening with happiness. "It can be our own little adventure. And anything is more interesting than Rellim." She laughed lightly, not even thinking about how they were going to get home or how long it would take or what their parents would say. She knew her parents wouldn't care if she never came home.

Okay, so she was thinking of all these things. But they were being pushed back by how curious she was about this city they'd walked into. She held Landon a bit tighter, as if for protection...or maybe for warmth. It was a bit chilly and her scarf wasn't helping with her arms much.

Landon was about to reply when suddenly, as if he had crossed some sort of invisible barrier, a strange, powerful sensation hit him. It hurt his head and he froze. "Ow...what was that??" he exclaimed, looking at Elise. She didn't look like she had noticed anything, but how could she not have? It was so...strong.

Alexander stopped walking for a moment, it felt like somebody pushed him ever so slightly. "There's another Fighter Unit nearby," he explained to his master, "But it's weak."

He stepped closer to Idina, ready to protect her if it was necessary.

That was interesting. If the intruder was a Fighter Unit, it meant that it was one who had never been to Skye before. Dina thought just about every Fighter and Sacrifice in the area either lived in or spent a lot of time in Skye. This was almost unprecedented.

But the question was, were they harmless or malevolent?

"If they're weak we shouldn't have to worry, but we should check it out anyways," she said. "A Fighter Unit we've never seen before...This should be interesting."

Elise stopped when she noticed something weird happen to Landon. "I didn't feel anything, Landon...are you okay?" She looked up at him, wondering and worrying about what it could have been. She looked down the street and noticed two people walking in their direction. "Do you want me to ask them to help? I don't want you to pass out or anything." Instead of waiting for an answer, she turned to the two walking this way.

"Excuse me!" she said loudly. She wasn't the kind of person who would ever talk to strangers, but Landon was hurt, so she didn't even think about them being strangers...walking toward them as it got dark...in a strange city they'd never been in. Eek. Fortunately, she didn't get so freaked by that because her instincts to nurture were kicking in. "Do you think you could help us?"

Just as soon as the sensation came it went away. Although Landon still felt something weird, like a presence nearby, his head didn't hurt anymore. He was about to tell Elise he was fine when she asked two approaching strangers for help.

"Uh, I'm fine Elise..." he muttered to her, but it was kinda too late. He looked up at the two people who looked really...serious. Like he and Elise had done something wrong and these people were coming to get them in trouble. "Actually we don't need any help! We were...just leaving, actually..."

"Hang on a second you two," Alexander said sternly, "What, who're, why...er...Dina?"

Alexander always had trouble trying to sound all big and tough, he did much better at sounding cheerful, and to him this was a very inappropriate time to sound cheerful.

Idina was much better and at sounding strict and authoritative. To most people she was considered a woman who was not to be crossed. "Tell us your name," she ordered. Maybe this was a pair she'd heard of before but never met.

Eek, these people seemed scary. Maybe this wasn't the best place to explore.

"My name is Elise, and this is Landon," she said, gesturing toward him. "We didn't mean to come into your city, we'll just leave now." She nodded, trying to sound like she knew what she was saying, but it was really hard when this authoritative person was talking to her like that. Were they police? Had they crossed some line? Shit, were they trespassing?

She turned to Landon, mouthing an apology. She didn't mean to get them into this mess.

Landon wasn't sure how they were doing anything wrong. Two people couldn't own an entire city. It's not like they'd hopped the border with sixteen pounds of hidden drugs. They were just walking down the street.

"Why don't you tell us what we did?" he said to the people. "I didn't happen to see any 'no trespassing' signs around. We're not doing anything wrong."

Standing behind Idina, Alexander sort of smiled and waved at the two newcomers. That must have been the Fighter Unit he sensed, so it was alright for them to be here, in Skye City.

He put his hand back down and turned his face back into a serious one, to humor Idina.

Idina turned around and shot a suspiscious glare at Alexander before turning back to the newcomers. "No, no, I mean what's your name," she emphasized. "The one you share." As an example she held up her arm, where ENDLESS was proudly displayed on her inner wrist.

Elise had no idea what these people were talking about, or why they hadn't answered any of Landon's questions. She turned to Landon as the girl mentioned a shared name.

"They have those birthmarks too. It must mean something. How do they know that we have them too?" she was whispering questions that she knew he couldn't answer. She figured they had to do something. "Tell them," she declared, feeling a strong sense of authority over Landon.

Landon felt quite the opposite as Elise. He felt overwhelmingly submissive towards Elise. He needed to do whatever she said. And the answer to Endless's question came easily to his lips, as if it were his real name. "We're Listless," he answered. He could feel the connection between him and Elise.

"I had a feeling they belonged," Alexander whispered into Dina's ear.

He stepped away from Dina and smiled once again, "Welcome, Listless!"

"Sorry for freaking you out or whatever," Idina told them. It seemed they really were a pair who had never been to Skye before. Interesting. "We didn't know you were one of us. By the look of it, you didn't know you were one of us either."

Elise blinked at them. They seemed strangely friendly now. "What do you mean, 'one of us?' What are you -- er...we?" She stepped forward, not feeling the need to be protected any longer. She felt the need to be in control now.

"And where are we, anyway?"