In the distant future, Earth is a utopia, ruled by a perfect queen.

Humanity lives unfettered by the threat of disease, including the debilitating illness of aging.

But not all of the queen’s subjects approve of such perfection.  These rebels argue that the flesh vessel is meant to decay.  To deny death is to deny God, and to attempt immortality equable to blasphemy.   Eternity belongs to God, not to the weakness of breakable skin and bones.  In all living things must blood eventually run cold.

They are ignored until the murders begin.  The rebels severed the bindings of everlasting life with death.  Human bodies, strengthened by the pure light of their queen’s power, were immune to viruses, poisons, and harmful bacteria.  But their bones still shattered under enough pressure, and their skin was no armor for knives in their veins.

Finally the queen sentenced the rebels to exile, casting them onto the cold, dark planet Nemesis. The already unstable core of the planet fed off the rebels’ hate and contempt, gorging itself upon their resentment.  When the rebels fought back, they used Nemesis’s power, but were nonetheless struck down by the queen and her soldiers.

Seeing this power, one member of the Black Moon Family (as the rebels had dubbed themselves) tried to duplicate it by asking Nemesis for its true strength.  But even though her request was granted, she never again fought.  The wild energy of Nemesis poisoned her frail body, and she buckled beneath the virulent chaos, slowly sickening and dying.  As her vision dimmed from the pain, she blamed not herself or the planet, but the folly of humankind that drove her desires.  She died with vengeance sparking across every synapse.

Such was the story Amethyst told her comrades.

“Wait, wait—“ said Jada. “So you guys are officially an item now?”

Kaitlyn blushed deeply. “I…I guess so.”

“Damn,” said Jada. “Damn.”

“Hey now,” Kaitlyn said, “What about you and Charon, huh?”

Jada turned away quickly. “Th-that’s different!  Besides, he hasn’t gone around confessing his love for me or anything.”

“He doesn’t need to,” said Lani. “It’s obvious.”

“You can’t talk either,” Jada muttered, “with the way you’re on about Xin.”

“Ah, such sordid love lives!” said Roan. “As for me, I’ve no time for these things.”

Roan spoke through a plump blue pillow, as her tall body sprawled over the length of Kaitlyn’s bed.  The others sat in a circle on the floor before the bed, drinking coke.

“Please tell me you did not call this meeting just to announce Etienne’s decision to state the obvious,” Kiera said.

“Who’s Etienne?” said Celina.  Dagan echoed the question with a nod.

“No one you want to know,” answered Jada.

“Jada,” Kaitlyn frowned.

She shrugged. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”

“He’s our friend,” Kaitlyn said to Celina and Dagan, ignoring Jada’s protesting grimace, “and I called this meeting to see what you guys might know about our enemy.  Since Celina had to go home just when we got to the topic the other day…”

Celina shifted her sitting position uncomfortably.  She folded her legs into a butterfly position. “Well, I… I don’t really know that much.”

“You’re a girlfriend of evil,” said Lani. “Surely you know something.”

“He just started acting weird a while back,” Celina’s skin warmed with the memory of his aggressive kiss. “He…showed up one day wearing all different clothes with that black moon tattoo.”

“So, is Amethyst converting students?” Jada mused.

“If that were so, why aren’t there more?” said Azura.

“I believe it was a deliberate selection,” said Kiera. “Did Assyrius ever exhibit misanthropic tendencies?”

“I always thought he was pretty gentle,” Celina mumbled. “He loved animals.”

“How did he react to animal cruelty?” Kiera prodded.

“It’s not like we saw it much,” Celina shrugged. “But there was a news segment once about this guy who had grilled this poor kitten.  Syrius grit his teeth….his face got all red, and he clenched his fists, but he didn’t say anything.”

She bit her lip. “Actually, he nearly had an asthma attack.”

“Ugh, I remember that story,” said Kaitlyn. “That poor kitten.”

“I was upset too,” Celina said. “I mean, anyone would be.”

“But to bottle up such intense rage,” Kiera murmured.

“So we’re dealing with a society of misanthropes.  Not new,” said Jada.  “Humans suck, kill them all, destroy the planet, blah blah blah.”

“But…” said CK, from her sitting position in Kaitlyn’s lap, “In the future, the world is intact.  There just aren’t any people in it.”

“So they only want to eradicate the human race,” said Jada.  “Okay.  How?”

CK shrugged helplessly.  “I don’t know.  That’s why I came here.”

“How would collecting the seeds facilitate such a thing is the real question…” Kiera said.

“I know about much about them as you,” CK replied.

Just then, Kaitlyn’s front door slammed open, banging mercilessly against the wall with a clatter that reached down the hall and into her bedroom.

“What the hell was that!” Jada grabbed for her pen instinctively.

Angry stomping beat the wood panel floor until it reached Kaitlyn’s bedroom door, which was flung open with similar violence.

“Jigoku!” Kaitlyn cried. “Stop abusing my doors!”

Jigoku, ignoring the nine others crammed onto Kaitlyn’s floor, strode over to her and gripped her shoulders in a death vise.

“What were you thinking!”

“Huh?” Kaitlyn blinked in confusion.

“That… that bastard says he loves you and you just fall into his arms?” Jigoku spat. “Woman, are you insane?”

“No,” Kaitlyn said hotly, pulling away from him. “Are you?”

“Me?” Jigoku said. “I don’t go around accepting declarations of love from any pathetic sod offering!”

“Probably never gets any,” Jada muttered, settling comfortably into a heckling spectator’s role.

“You shut up,” Jigoku hissed.

“How did you find out about it anyway?” Kaitlyn frowned. “I only told these guys a minute ago.”

“O-Omnes told me,” Jigoku stammered, his righteous anger faltering briefly. “But that’s not important!”

“It’s none of your business,” Kaitlyn sighed.

“The hell it isn’t,” said Jigoku. “I’m your guardian.  I’m concerned for your welfare.”

“That’s true,” said Kaitlyn. “You are my guardian.  But you’re not my father.”

“W-well,” said Jigoku, “It’s about time someone stepped up to the job!”

“Please,” Kaitlyn said tiredly. “It’s not like you even care. You’re just having a weird possessive reaction.”

“Am not,” he insisted. “I’m trying to prevent you from ruining your life.”

“It’s not like he proposed, Jigoku.”

“Thank God for that!” Jigoku cried. “Kaitlyn, he’s a drunkard.”

“This is getting good,” Jada remarked.

“Needs popcorn,” said Lani, but nobody moved.

“Oh, he is not,” Kaitlyn snapped. “First of all, he’s hardly had anything to drink in weeks.  Secondly, he only drinks wine.”

“A selective drunk is still a drunk,” Jigoku said harshly.

“What are you going to do about it?” Kaitlyn said. “Ground me?”

“No,” said Jigoku. “I’m going to kill him!”

He stomped out of the room and through the front entrance, proceeding to bang his fists vehemently on Etienne’s door.

Kaitlyn, followed by the audience of her friends, ran out after him, in time to see Etienne groggily peek out behind his chain latch.

"Meh?" he said, momentarily stunned by the assemblage of expectant, worried, and, in Jigoku's case, enraged faces. "What'd I do?"

"Unlock your door, you worthless bastard!" Jigoku demanded.

"Why would I want to do that?" Etienne said warily.

"So I can rip out your throat and smear the blood on the wall."

"Oh," said Etienne. "Alright then."

He shut the door, undid the latch, and let them in.

“You’re drunk!” Jigoku said incredulously. “Not one day back with your wine and you’re already smashed!”

“I am not,” Etienne said weakly, sitting down on the nearest bit of floor. His work shirt was halfway buttoned, and his belt was a notch away from removal.  His hair shadowed his thin face in unbrushed black waves as his back hit the tile.  Jigoku’s anger ebbed at the piteous sight.

“Aren’t you going to kill him?” said Roan.

“No joy in killing a half-dead man,” Jigoku muttered.

“Oh, hon,” said Kaitlyn, stroking Etienne’s hair from his forehead. “What happened?”

“I just haven’t slept,” he said, “since I… told you.”

“That was two days ago,” Kaitlyn said, affronted.

“Damn,” he said.

“Why haven’t you slept?” she asked.

“Not sure,” he answered. “I think I knew at one point, but not anymore… brain is mushy.  Like noodle soup.  Or porridge… strawberry porridge…”

Kaitlyn cradled him in her lap, stroking his hair sympathetically.

“Good lord,” said Jada. “I can feel the bile rising.”

“You’re mean, Jada,” Etienne yawned. “So very mean.”

“Maybe you should sleep,” Kaitlyn suggested.

“No…can’t…” he muttered. “Well…maybe...”

Jigoku grabbed his legs. “Come on.”

“Unhand me, wretch!” Etienne cried, even as Kaitlyn was pulling him up by the arms.  They carried him to his bed, whereupon Jigoku dropped him unceremoniously and Kaitlyn set him gingerly on the mattress.

“Nnn,” he said, “Kaitlyn, wait…”

“Yes?”

“I remembered…” Etienne propped himself against the headboard, speaking with mostly closed eyes. “I couldn’t sleep because I was afraid…”

“Of what?”

“Afraid… I’d wake up again, and nothing I said to you, or nothing you said to me, would have happened…”

“That’s it,” said Jada. “I’m vomiting.”

“Get me a bag too,” Lani grumbled.

“I think it’s sweet,” Azura smiled.

Jigoku, his features belying the inner battle of courtesy and violence raging inside him, finally growled, “I’ll kill you when you’re coherent.”

He waved his arms in a herding motion, “Come on, clear out, it’s rude to stare at the pathetically hopeless.”

Kaitlyn wasn’t sure whether to frown or smile as he left, shutting the door behind him.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Etienne’s voice was sluggish, thick with a tired softness. “But you know they’re right… I’m pathetic.  I don’t deserve to be with anyone… least of all you.”

“Etienne…” Kaitlyn said. “You’re not pathetic.  You’re just being dumb right now.  And I’m only forgiving you because I know you haven’t slept.”

“You’d forgive me anyway,” Etienne said.

“I know,” she said. “I can’t help it.”

He closed his eyes. “That’s why I love you.”

Celina left the apartment building with a sharp ache biting at her temples.  A cold, inner uncertainty weighted her stomach as she walked to the bus stop.  She wondered if Kaitlyn and the rest trusted her.  The narrow-eyed, suspicious reactions to her lack of prudent knowledge about Assyrius disturbed her.  Though she admittedly did not wish to take him down with such extreme prejudice as perhaps Jada or Roan, it wasn’t as if she thought nothing should be done.  She just hoped they would both come out of this alive.

“Hey, Lina!  Celina!”

She turned her head, and Assyrius was smiling and waving to her.  For a moment, she remembered the quiet boy that blushed when he said hello to her, the boy that took ten minutes of endearing verbal stumbling to ask her to the spring formal, the boy who gasped and clutched her hand at horror movies, and the boy who had ensured her a passing grade in Biology with his patient tutelage.

“Yo, Lina!” Assyrius clapped his hands in front of her face. “Come down from the moon, man.”

“Uh…” she said, blinking out of her nostalgia. “Sorry, I, I was just thinking of you.”

“Were you?” he said. “Only pleasant thoughts, I trust?”

“Yeah…” she said softly.

“So, want to go to a movie on Saturday?” he asked.

“What’s playing?”

“I want to see Bloodfeast,” he grinned. “It sounds exciting.”

“I thought you hated gory movies,” Celina replied warily.

“Thought I might broaden my horizons a bit,” he shrugged. “C’mon, we haven’t gone out in weeks.”

“You’re right,” she said.

“So what time can I pick you up?”

Against her better judgment, she said, “Seven.”

“Pathos, I’m entrusting this mission to you,” Amethyst said.

“You are?” he said, startled. “Are you sure that’s wise?”

“You need more confidence, Pathos,” she said.  She tapped his half-mask gently. “Though I can’t imagine your appearance, doubtlessly it alone is a useful weapon.”

He grumbled. “I can’t believe you’d talk about confidence and my face in the same breath.”

“It’s not that bad,” Peripetaia murmured, her eyes connecting with his.

“Anyway, what I’m really saying is that you’ll be the one to detain the target,” Amethyst explained. “We need more subtlety.”

“Ah, yes, what better way to achieve that than by frightening them with my hideous deformity?” Pathos said, nonplussed.

She smiled. “I’m glad you see my point.”

“I wish I had less respect for Kaitlyn,” Jada said. “Then maybe I would have tried to beat the crap out of Etienne like you.”

“The hell?” Jigoku snapped. “First of all, I did what I did out of respect.  Second, since when did you have any respect for Kaitlyn?”

Jada stood outside Jigoku’s apartment with him and Kiera, the latter of which was quietly annoyed at the delay in her return home.

“I have all kinds of respect for Kaitlyn,” said Jada, adding meaningfully, “It’s not her fault losers keep getting crushes on her.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Jigoku seethed.

“Nothing,” she replied. “And as for her tendency to not actually want to fight battles, well, we all have our weaknesses.”

“Do you really consider her pacifism a weakness?” Kiera asked.

“In a war, pacifism is always a weakness,” said Jada.

“Hmm,” Kiera said. “Jada, we really must go.  Mother and Father expect us for dinner.”

“I’m not done telling her she’s wrong,” Jigoku said, but he weakened under Kiera’s withering glare. “…it can wait until tomorrow though.”

“That’s right,” Jada said, walking backwards as Kiera pulled her hand, “You and me, pal.  Tomorrow.”

Jigoku rolled his eyes and went inside his apartment.

Pathos rang the doorbell with an irritated feeling needling at the back of his brain.  The strength in his muscles was of no use.  His mind, educated with experience and books, meant nothing.  It was his abominable appearance, his face that was only half there, that was valuable.  The ability to horrify strangers into screaming fits, sickness, and possible comas.

"I'm sorry, sir, it's not quite Halloween yet," the young butler at the door said, with an easy meanness and a cursory glare. "The mask is lovely, though, very Andrew Lloyd Weber."

"Pleasant child," thought Pathos. He said, "Are you Eugene Frances Xavier?"

"My God, sir," said the boy, now genuinely irritated, "You're a psychic."

"I'll take that as a yes." Pathos took off his mask.

Xavier stared for thirty uncomfortable seconds before he fainted, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as his body pitched forwards.

"Well, at least there wasn't any projectile vomiting," Pathos sighed, catching Xavier's limp body.

Ten minutes after the doorbell rang, Mrs. Kasmira said, “Xavier is certainly taking his time with our visitor…”

Kiera took the cue and excused herself. “I’ll check on it.”

Not wanting to be left out (or at the dinner table with Kiera’s parents), Jada followed her friend to investigate.

The towering double-doors in the entry were shut, and Xavier was nowhere nearby.  Kiera pushed open the left door and squinted into the warm evening.  Birds hopping from branch to branch upset the tree leaves, chirping occasionally to each other and the wind threading through the grass.  Jada joined her on the porch, her head and eyes looking around for any sign of Xavier’s flagrantly pink hair.

“Maybe it was a prank and he just went back to the kitchen without telling us?” she suggested.

“Xavier wouldn’t do that,” said Kiera.

“I think he would,” Jada muttered.

Inside the house, they conducted a fruitless search for Xavier, checking rooms and shouting his name.

“Where does he live anyway?” said Jada.  “I mean, I know he lives here, but I’ve never actually seen his room.”

“Neither have I,” Kiera admitted. “And I’ve known him since we were very small.  I know where it is though.”

“Why didn’t we check there first?”

“I suppose I just didn’t think of it…” Kiera said.  “Like I told you, I’ve never been in there.  Anyway, he usually wouldn’t be in his room when he’s supposed to be working.”

“Let’s have a look,” Jada prodded.

“You only want to see if he has something horrible in his room, don’t you,” Kiera said dryly.

“You know I can’t resist violating a person’s privacy,” Jada grinned.

Kiera relented with a perturbed grumble.  “Just a quick glance.”

She showed Jada to Xavier’s second floor, east wing bedroom, but Jada’s gleeful invasion was halted by a locked door.

“Aw, suck,” she said.

“Really, Jada,” Kiera slid her key into the lock, “Of course I have a skeleton key.”

Xavier’s room was spacious but bare, furnished only with a dresser and a locked trunk at the foot of the bed.

“You treat your help well,” Jada remarked.

“We do,” Kiera glared. “But Xavier never asks for anything.  Besides which, we’ll be paying for his college education.”

“He doesn’t go to our school, does he?” Jada blinked.

“No…” Kiera said, with a trace of disappointment, “He’s home-schooled by his mother.”

“Anyway, he’s not in here, unless he’s locked himself in the trunk,” said Jada. “Let’s go.”

Xavier’s parents were understandably distraught.  His father sobbed for an hour, babbling incoherently, while his mother vowed violent revenge on the culprit (since she was waving a butcher knife as she did this, Kiera, her parents, and Jada kept a safe distance).

“We can’t report it unless he’s been gone for twenty-four hours, Mrs. Xavier,” Kiera said calmly.

“I don’t understand it,” said Mr. Kasmira. “We didn’t even hear a shout.”

Mr. Xavier sobbed harder.

“Father, you’re not helping,” said Kiera.

“We’ll go look for him right now,” Jada patted Mr. Xavier soothingly on the back.

“We’ll all go,” Mr. Kasmira said quickly.

“No—“ said Kiera. “You must stay here, in case he returns on his own.  Let us take care of it.”

Mr. Kasmira’s argument died in his throat.

“Man,” said Jada, when they were outside, “If I talked to my mom that way, she would kick my ass.”

Kiera answered, “You’ve been speaking as if you don’t know me.”

“Sometimes I wonder,” Jada admitted.

Kiera could not think of a response.

Kiera and Jada gathered the rest of their group to aid their search.  Only Dagan was unreachable, with phone calls to his house yielding the answering machine.

“Tell me how this is sailor business,” Lani grumbled. “I don’t know why anyone would kidnap your butler anyway.  I’m sure if you just wait a day or two, they’ll be begging for you to take him back.”

“You’re being a bit harsh,” said Azura.

“Who are we looking for?” said Celina.

“It’s a pink-haired guy,” said Jada. “Can’t miss’im.”

“Besides which,” said Kiera, “I suspect it’s related to the Mana seeds.”

“But… you are rich…” Lani said slowly.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Kiera said, struggling for an even tone.

“Maybe it’s a ransom thing?” she shrugged. “Realistically, it makes more sense.”

“If that was the case, they would have taken me.”

“It’s safer to take the help,” Lani argued. “They’re expendable.”

Kiera’s crimson eyes narrowed into a glare of death.

“In the kidnapper’s mind,” Lani added hastily.

“I think it’s related to the seeds, too,” Kaitlyn said. “In the context of our lives, a supernatural association is more logical than just a ransom.”

“Eh…” Lani conceded. “I guess you’re right.”

“You should hope it’s not regular kidnappers,” said Roan. “They usually have guns.”

Predictably, their search yielded no useful results, a consequence of not knowing where to look in the first place.  Moslty they wandered the nearby streets in Kaitlyn’s car, vainly scanning the sidewalks and peering into the depths of thick forest near Kiera’s mansion.  They called his name (Jada insisting on yelling out Eugene Frances, in hopes of inciting Xavier into a violent and presumably revealing fit), and were rejoined with only the evening wind.

When the streetlamps began attracting the nightly crowd of moths, they realized they were getting nowhere.

“This sucks,” Lani announced.

“Um,” said Celina, “I could try something.”

She withdrew a pack of tarot cards from her purse.

“That’s a strange thing to keep next to your lipstick,” said Azura.

“Er, yeah,” said Celina.  She didn’t carry lipstick. “It’s a hobby.”

She spread the deck out on the sidewalk, collated the cards, and then shuffled and cut the deck three times.  Her eyes closed, and she chose the cards blind, laying them on their backs in a grand cross pattern.  The others observed with admiration.

Celina turned the cards on their faces, pretending to stare thoughtfully at them to keep up her illusion of professionalism.  The images flowed in response to her question as she pressed her fingers against the cards.

A line of downtown buildings, luridly bright against the freshly fallen darkness.  A boy with white hair, clutching his face.  And Xavier, placidly unconscious, slumped in the booth of a bar.

“Can’t we rough him up a bit?” said Harmatia.

“What purpose would that serve?” said Amethyst.

“Fun?”

“No,” Amethyst said.

“Aw,” Harmatia pouted.  Next to her, Peripetaia smiled in relief.

“The bar is opening in half an hour,” Pathos warned.

“Right,” Amethyst laid her hand across Xavier’s forehead, pulling the desired knowledge from his unconscious mind.

“A question…” said Peripetaia. “How will we retrieve the seed if it is in the boy’s house?”

“The usual way,” Amethyst said. “With all of us, the family shouldn’t be difficult to detain.”

“But, I…” said Pathos, silenced by Amethyst’s depthless glare.

“All of us,” she repeated.
 

The bars were open by the time Kaitlyn’s car reached the downtown area.  Kiera’s cell phone rang as they approached the Café Apocalypse.

“Hello?” she said. “Father?”

The group stood quietly.  Kiera grit her teeth and said, “Stay where you are.  We’ll be right there.”

She flipped the phone’s case shut.  “My assumption was correct.  They’ve infiltrated my house.  Mother and Xavier’s parents are already knocked out—Father is hiding in the panty.”

Kaitlyn shattered the speed limit.  As a person who had never had so much as a parking violation, she secretly found it rather exhilarating.

“Jesus, Kait!” Jada cried, grasping at the sides of her seat, “Are you trying to kill us?!”

“N-no,” Kaitlyn said, stuttering from the rush of speed, “I’m just trying to get there quickly.”

“We’re gonna get pulled over,” said Lani, “especially if you don’t relax, Roan!”

Roan was on her knees in her seat, poking her head out of the sunroof as she flailed her arms and shouted, “Whee!”

“There’re no police anywhere,” Kaitlyn answered, pressing harder on the gas pedal.

“Damn you, Omnes,” Azura squirmed, half-wishing they would be stopped.

But they arrived at Kiera’s house unscathed (if a bit shaken), tumbling from the car and transforming on the lawn.

“Hope no one saw that,” Luna said as they ran into the house.

“They never do,” said Sylphid.

“Father?”  Shade called, walking towards the pantry.  She opened the door and found her father cowering on the floor.

“Wh-who are you?” he said.

“I’m—“ Shade began, “I’m… here to help.”

“Are you sure?” he said.

“Yes.  Stay there.”

She shut the door.

“How could he not recognize you?” Luna asked in awe. “We’re only wearing dumb costumes.”

“Our auras change,” Undine informed her.

“Oh.  Convenient.”

Amethyst led her group into the mansion’s cellar.  Pathos and Assyrius flanked her, while Harmatia and Peripetaia walked behind.  For his part, Pathos felt rather silly.  A battalion of five abnormally powered people for a house of over-whelmed, middle-aged humans seemed like overkill.

The back of the cellar, the very bowels of the house, marked their destination.  Here the cellar's moist, airless scent accosted them in force.  It seeped through the blackened walls, which were long ago subjugated to an invasion of moss and grime.  Amethyst’s fingers, thin and pale like bones, pressed against the slick moss.  Bright veins of light, delicate like a spider’s web, snaked through the moss, which glowed green as it drank greedily.

Amethyst pulled the seed forth, but it was in her hands for only a moment before Mana’s voice called, “There they are!”

“Must you always bother me?” said Amethyst.

“This is…breaking and entering…you know,” Sylphid panted, winded from running.

“I had no idea,” Amethyst deadpanned.

“Where’s Xavier?” Shade demanded.

“Oh, you mean the slave?” Amethyst said. “We threw him on a couch somewhere.”

“Slave?” Shade hissed, and for the first time, real anger escaped into her voice. “He’s not a slave.”

“Isn’t he?” Amethyst said.

“No—“ Shade began, and then caught herself for a second time, just as Lumina prepared to clap her hand over her friend’s mouth.

“Why are you doing this?” Mana interjected.

“None of your business,” Amethyst snapped. “Pathos!”

Pathos stepped forward, holding his mask in his right hand.  The weak light of the basement cast gruesome shadows over his malformed face.  Again, the revulsed reactions were immediate—nearly every girl covered her mouth or turned away in disgusted horror.  But Pathos watched the tallest, a girl with long green hair in tight ringlets, walk towards him without fear.  Surprised, Pathos did not move when she touched his normal cheek, her gloved hands soft against his skin.  She pulled off her white glove and touched the raw muscles and nerves of his missing skin.  He flinched automatically, but relaxed as he realized that he felt no pain.  Her eyes, lacking the condescending pity he received from so many, were creased instead with concern and warm sympathy.

Disarmed, he stood stupidly, until Amethyst’s cold fingers pinched the back of his neck.  Pathos recovered his sense and punched the girl soundly in her gut.

She reeled back, her breath stolen, dropping the glove.

“You bastard.” Lumina snapped. “Lucent Beam!”

Harsh shafts of luminescence cut through the dank basement darkness, slicing Pathos and his surrounding company.  Pathos seethed, clapping his mask on as Assyrius doubled over, bleeding across his chest.

Luna stopped herself from reaching for him in concern as he pawed uselessly at the wound, soaking his hands in blood.

In response, Harmatia loosed her knives.  Jada ducked, and the daggers struck a shelf of wine, one biting into the wood and the other shattering a bottle.

“That was vintage 1896!” Shade growled to herself. “Dark Gate!”

The swirling mass of black energy crackled open behind Harmatia, reacting with the black moon symbol on her forehead.  It hissed from the overload, and Harmatia crumpled.

Amethyst glowered, but Mana, with Sylphid and Undine on either side, cried out shakily. “Wall!”

The green barrier shimmered around all the senshi, in time to deflect Amethyst’s vicious psychic blast.

“Now,” Mana said with more confidence, pulling her glove back on.

Sylphid and Undine spoke in unison.

“Air Blast!” “Freeze!”

Icicles coated the jagged edges of the wind blades, which struck systematically around Amethyst’s legs and arms.

She dropped the seed in shock as the sharp cold bit into her skin.  Salamando took the opportunity and grabbed for it, knocking Pathos away with a swift kick.  She tossed the seed to Luna, who caught it despite being still transfixed on Assyrius.

Pathos caught his breath and struck back, landing a strong blow to Salamando’s neck with his knife hand.

“Niice,” Salamando sneered, her neck red and throbbing, “Black belt?”

“Brown,” he said grimly. “From a long time ago.”

“Aw,” she said, opening her palm. “Fire Bouquet!”

He jumped backwards to avoid the flames.

“Watch it!” Mana warned.

“Relax,” said Salamando, also scooting back. “It’s all under control.”

“I don’t know about that,” Sylphid muttered.

“Give me the seed,” Assyrius growled throatily at Luna, outstretching his bloody hand. “Or some of this blood will soon be yours.”

Luna didn’t move, paralyzed by his hateful sincerity. She whispered, “I can’t.”

He snatched her wrist, smearing his warm blood on her glove. “You will.”

She winced as his fingers, strong with rage, clenched her little bones.

“Damn it,” Lumina said. “You want some more, huh!”

Another wave of light beams cut through his arms, and he stumbled, his teeth grit with unvoiced pain. Peripetaia, who had watched the battle helplessly, caught him before he hit the hard floor.

“Enough!” said Amethyst.  “You’ve won this one.”  She swept her hand, and the group disappeared.

“What the fuck, man!” Jada yelled at Celina not moments after. “Why didn’t you attack?”

“I…I couldn’t,” she whispered, hugging the seed.

“Come on, lay off,” said Kaitlyn.

“And you!” Jada wheeled around. “I love you, Kaitlyn, but what masochistic demon possessed you to touch that guy’s face?”

“I don’t know,” she said simply.

“Did you not think he would hit you?  The guy’s a monster!”

“Oh, he is not,” Kaitlyn said irritably.

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this.  He knocked the wind out of you, and you defend him!”

“Just because he’s our enemy doesn’t mean he’s evil,” she insisted.

“Oh my God, dude,” Jada said. “They want to eradicate the human race.  Where are you seeing the non-evil?”

“In his face,” Kaitlyn muttered.

“He barely has a face!”

“Look, I can’t help it, okay?” Kaitlyn said.

“She’s right, she can’t,” Omnes said, smugly cheerful as his body coalesced into the cellar. “But before I tell you about that, maybe you should check on your butler?”

Xavier was lying serenely on a couch in the living room, his face tranquil.

“Maybe we should just leave him like that,” Lani said. “He looks pretty happy.”

“You’re hilarious,” Kiera said, waving smelling salts under Xavier’s nose.  He woke up coughing, one hand clutching his chest and the other gripping his head.

“Kiera?” he said, sounding like a different person with his weak, dull voice.  He coughed again and managed to sit up against the pillows.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“Yes, I think so,” he said softly.

“Holy crap,” said Jada. “That’s not Xavier!  They’ve killed him and given us a pod person!”

“As always, your insight into the situation is stunning,” Xavier responded, regaining his malicious edge.

“There you are, baby,” Jada cooed.

They left Xavier to the emotional fawnings of his parents, gathering in Kiera’s room to hear Omnes’s story.

“Let me ask you something, Kaitlyn,” Omnes said. “Do you hate anyone?”

“Um… no?” Kaitlyn said.

“Severely dislike?”

“Not particularly…”

“Would rather not see if you could help it?”

“Uh, Amethyst and them, but that’s just because they want to kill me.”

“But do you hate them?”

“I don’t think I do…”

“I’d say not, after that whole touchy feely crap a minute ago,” Jada retorted.

“Riordan?  Did you hate him?”

“No,” Kaitlyn said. “What’s your point?”

“My point is that of course you don’t,” Omnes said. “Because you can’t.”

“Uh…”

“Take the Exitium Heart you’ve got sitting in your jewelry box like it’s just a common necklace,” he said with some disdain, “Do you think such a thing would be entrusted to a heart capable of hate?  Only a person with absolutely the best interests of the world in mind could wield such power.  Thus, when the forces of Mana converged to create the heart and soul of the first Priestess, they cancelled in her the ability to harbor real hate for anyone.  Such as it is for you, Kaitlyn.”

“That explains a lot,” Jada said, as if Omnes had just explained that Kaitlyn had been repeatedly dropped on her head as a child.

“Can I especially dislike?” Kaitlyn asked.

“With some effort, perhaps,” Omnes said, “But you said yourself you merely would not prefer the company of your enemies, and that’s only because they keep trying to kill you.”

“What about the rest of us?” Azura said. “We can hate, right?”

“Right,” said Omnes. “The emotion is barred only from Kaitlyn’s heart, and to even do that was a necessary evil.”

“Why is it evil to not hate?” Kaitlyn said in frustration.

“Oh, Kaitlyn,” said Omnes. “You’re a smart girl.  Surely you don’t need my help for that question.”

He disappeared.

“That man,” said Roan, “is a punk.”

Amethyst’s flat palm struck the red muscles of Pathos’s ruined cheek.  Indescribable agony burst through him, sizzling in his nerves as his knees failed him and he slumped to the floor.

“You missed a perfect chance to finish her,” Amethyst said. “Her guard was completely down—as was yours.”

“S-sorry,” he choked out, the words mangled with pain.

“If it happens again…” she threatened, “You’ll think that hit a love tap in comparison to what I’ll do.”

She slammed his apartment door with such violence that his paintings trembled in fear.

He kept his position on the carpet, his hands hovering over his stinging face.  His muscles screamed, and through the mist of his weakened senses he saw the tall girl’s long, naked fingers.  The pain abated as he recalled her trembling fingertips against the exposed veins and wires.

He remembered the gentle pressure.  He remembered that it did not hurt.

You'd think this would be longer, considering how long it took me to write it. XB  But actually I intended this to be a short chapter... it just took forever because of college (just finished my first semester).  Suffice it to say, the next chapter will be quite a bit longer (but it won't be started until I write the next Claris chapter :B).

And let me just say it now--no, Pathos is not going to fall in love with Kaitlyn. =P  Three is enough :B;

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