Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Time's Folly; A Bittersweet Symphony ❯ Presentations: Setting The Stage ( Chapter 9 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: cyzay

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Chap 9*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The group settled themselves in the living room. Piccolo leaned one of his shoulders against a wall on the far side of the room, while Mirai stood in front of the television,andGoku and Gohan stood next to Bulma, who sat in a chair near the couch. Vegita stood off the side of the couch, at an angle that he could see the entire room.

“So, Trunks, what's goin' on?” Goku asked for everyone. Mirai cleared his throat and began to speak:

“A race, called the Aujin-jin, came to Earth not too long ago.[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]Their plan was to enslave us and use our planet's resources to replenish their race and[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]feed life into the planets already under their control. Originally, they werea magic-wieldingrace with few fighting abilities, but somehow they bio-enhanced themselves to become fighting warriors as well. They have a wide range of abilities, which includes their fighting skills and the ability to manipulatemagic and ki energies. What they lack in overall ki strength, their magic more than makes up for it.”

“Doesn't seem like they would be much of a threat then,” Bulma commented without worry.

“No, they don't[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ], but there is more to them than meets the eye,” Mirai answered calmly.

“Exactly what kind of abilities do they possess?” Gohan asked curiously.

“They can regenerate endlessly, absorb ki, and apparently some of them can join together into one being, making them even stronger.”

“Fusion,” Gohan stated.

“How many?” Piccolo asked.

“I fought five of them. They were the leaders.”

“Five?” Goku repeated again.

“Yes, but because they generate copies of themselves, they have a ready army to back themselves up. And that's what you end up fighting against. The copies seem to be both enhancements of themselves and double sometimes as lackeys. Before I could do any real damage to the actual beingsthemselves[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ], they backed off[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ].”

“Why?” Goku asked.

“Because I was winning and I suppose they got scared. But then they started boasting about how they were going to go back in time to avoid me and use our planet's resources and technology to bring the Legendary Super Saiya-jin that destroyed their homeplanet under their control. They swore that they were going to finish what they had started.”

“They want to bring Broli back?” Gohan muttered, troubled by this news. “Not again,” he added with a soft groan.

“Again?” Mirai questioned.

[Author ID2: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]

“Yea, somehow he was able to come back[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ],after [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]Dad[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]…well, defeatedhim the first time.”[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]

“I [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]can't say for certain if the[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]Aujin-jin were actually[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]referring to Broli[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ].” [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]

“But I thought Broli [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]was[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ][Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]the[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]Super Saiya-jin[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]of legend,” Gohan pointed out, looking at Mirai curiously. Mirai [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]resumed his story: [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]

“Right before the Aujin-jin showed up, [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]another alienship [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]made a forced crash-landing on our planet. [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]When I arrived at the crash site, I discovered that it was manned by a teamof Frieza's men who[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]were apparently being pursued by the Aujin-jin [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]in retaliation for their participation in the destruction of the Aujin-jin[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]'shome planet. The[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]se warriors[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]also happened to be[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]on the runfrom this [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]`Legendary[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]',who was after them for some other reason that I [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]was never[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]quite able tof[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]indout.[Author ID0: at ]

[Author ID0: at ]

“[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]The[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]se other guys were so terrified that they[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]couldn't wait to informme about the Aujin-jin and [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]about what their pursuers were planning to do. They also[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]wanted to warnme about the [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]Super Saiya-jin that was [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]also heading towards the Earth. [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]Soon afterwards, some Aujin-jin scout copies [Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]showed up and start[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]ed[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]an attack against me and Frieza's men, right before one of the true Augin-jinappear[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]ed with some more clones, followed bya couple more Augin-jin andtheir clones and the fighting increased. In between the skirmishes, they and their copies kept mouthing off, boasting of their intentions to conquer our planet and confirming[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]what Frieza's men had previously told me.[Author ID1: at Mon Jun 27 13:54:00 2005 ]

Finally, I had enough and went Super Saiya-jin. All of them, Frieza's men and the Augin-jin, stopped dead in their tracks. Then one from Frieza's group began to cheer wildly, proclaiming that they would now be saved from the Augin-jins'vengeance, because the son of the Legendary Saiya-jin would destroy all their enemies,” Mirai said, grimacing a little. “From that point on, they kept referring to me as this Saiya-jin's `son.'”

“Well, you're definitely notBroli's son!” Bulma huffed with much annoyance.

“Maybe this particular `Legendary' Saiya-jin is not the one from the original legend,” Gohan said after a moment.

“What?” Goku asked, confused. Vegita looked at Gohan with interest, curious of where the young manwasgoing to take his observation.

“Well, if you think about it, all of us here are Legendary Super Saiya-jin.”

Gohan paused and looked to Vegita, who was nodding slightly back at him. Puzzledexpressions on everyone else's faceslooked at Gohan for further explanation.

“Vegita, I remember you saying that my dad was the first one in a thousand years to reach this pinnacle of our race.” Vegita nodded again, now fully knowing where Gohan was heading with this. Gohan turned his attention to all in the room. “Since those were Frieza's men, I'm certain that they must've been a little familiar withSaiya-jinhistory, so it's possible that they could have heard of the legend.”

“Many of Frieza's men did hear of the legend because many Saiya-jin spoke of it,” Vegita confirmed.

“Which means,” Gohan added, now facing Mirai Trunks, “Since none of them would have ever seen a Super Saiya-jin before, your transformation was enough for them to assume that you, in fact, were the legend about which they'd been told.”

“But who would I be the `son' of, Gohan? They called me the `Sonof the Legendary Super Saiya-jin,' remember?” Stuck for an answer, Gohan just shrugged.

Piccolo's voice broke the silencejust as the chibis entered the living room, eagerly planting themselves in front of Mirai. “Trunks, since we don't have an answer for that at present, I suggest that you continue on. I'm sure there is more to tell.” Mirai nodded and continued:

“From the information that I've gathered, these Augin-jin are hell-bent on finding this Super Saiya-jin so that they gain control of it and make it do their bidding. The thing that worries me the most is that, when they dofinally arrive to this time, the weaknesses that I had seen in them may not, and very possibly willnot, be the same. If given enough time, they will adapt, changing themselves at will so that they can defeat their enemies, and they will most likely do so.”

“Did you tell them about us?” Goku asked and Mirai shook his head.

“I spent most of the time fighting them off, so I didn't have the chance to. In the short time that we battled, I only uncovered those few pieces of information about their intentions. When I think back on it, I don't believe that they had expected to be where they ended up; almost as if their arrival in my timeline was…unintentional. But, once they did arrive, they found the Earth and its resources to be something they could readily profitfrom,” he said, pausing for a bit before adding, “and they did make reference to Vegita a couple of times.”

Vegita cocked a dark eyebrow at this. “However, they never referred directly to him by name; they just kept calling him `The Saiya-jin Prince.'”Mirai Trunks then turned towards his father with concern in his blue eyes. “My mom told me that she believes that the Augin-jin may also be looking for you.”

So, these Augin-jinare aware ofme, eh? But…there is more to this than he is saying. Out with it, boy!Vegita thought as he threw a questioning glare at his son. While awaiting an answer, Vegita switched his attention to scan the ki's of the three girls still upstairs. The one girl's was still significantly higher than the other two. Suddenly, the image of the falling Saiya-jin female came rushing back into his thoughts. “No…” hemurmured softly to himself.

“Why would they be looking for Vegita? How would they even know if Vegita was still alive?” Gohan asked aloud.

“I don't know,” Mirai answered with a shrug.

“Vegita, do you know them?” Goku asked.

“I'm not familiar with any such race!” Vegita snapped back.

Piccolo was the first to speak following the short pause. “We can figure all that out later. First, when should we expect them?”

“Roughly, within two years,” Mirai replied.

“And you are going to stay here for two years,” Vegita stated more than asked. Yes,I know,Mirai heard his father's voice in his mind. Mirai eyes widened as he stared into Vegita's face for a quick moment before blinking hard and tearing his gaze away.

“Yes,” he said softly. Bulma noticed the slight change in her son's voice and knew that something wasn't right. Chibi was quick to notice it as well and looked up at his older self with a questioning and slightly worried look.

“Um, what about the girls upstairs?” Goten abruptly asked, shifting the topic.

“I think we should bring them down,” Gohan suggested. “I want to hear what they have to say.”

“Oh, right! They're still up there,” Goku said absently.

“I'll bring them down,” Bulma announced as she stood up.

“Trunks, Goten, go with her,” Gohan instructed. The two boys obediently fell in behind Bulma, although Chibi shot back a small, annoyed look over his shoulder at Gohan.

<><><><>

“I can't believe this!” Asia repeated aloud for the umpteenth time, while removing the ice pack from the back of her neck. “This can't be real! Theycan't be real, so then why does this look and feel so damn real?

“Because it is real, you idiot,” Azure stated bluntly. “Deal with it!”

“Oh, shut up! I should've known that Vegita would like you!”

“Guys…” Autumn began to interject, but then Asia spoke up again, panic evident her voice.

“What are we gonna tell them?”

“The truth,” Autumn answered simply.

Asia's mouth dropped open and she blinked at her in disbelief. “What?” Sighing a bit, Autumn shifted the ice pack on her wrist and looked directly at her friend.

“We tell them that we were all in that warehouse; it was a stormy night, Azure and Venus were fighting, then a black hole showed up from out of nowhere, and well…whatever happened after that, I don't know. All I remember is that I blacked out.”

“So did I,” Asia agreed. When they looked over at Azure for confirmation, she only shrugged.

“You must know something. Did you win?” Asia asked, this time she received just a vague body movement in reply.

“Well then, I suppose that there's nothing else that we can add to that,” Autumn said. “That's all we know.”

“But what do we say to them about knowing who and what they are?”

“That's a bit trickier. We've already ruined some options, since they obviously know that we know something about their identities and that they are Saiya-jins. We have to be really careful of what we end up revealing to them. The fewer suspicions we raise, the better,” Autumn said. “And…no mentioning of the whole `cartoon' thing, either. We need to find some other way of explaining about how we may know so much about them.”

“Hm,” Asia said thoughtfully, propping her elbow on her knee, her chin resting in the palm of her hand.

While Asia was deep in thought, Autumn turned around slightly to observe Azure. She had gotten up from the cot and had attempted to walk around a little. After taking a few slightly faltering steps around the room, she was standing and walking normally. She must have had some fight, to be stumbling around like that. Bulma did say that she was found pretty bad off. “Hey, Azure?” Azure stopped her pacing to turned and look at her. “You alright?”

“Of course!” she answered with some annoyance, before turning away to resume her walking.

Autumn frowned a little but shifted her attention to Asia, who said, “How bout this then? It's simple. We tell them that we live in a parallel realm on Earth where their lives and worlds are thought to be just stories made up by someone!”

“That's as creative as you can get?” Azure asked with a smirk.

“Shut up! And you can do better?”

“GUYS!” Autumn finally snapped in irritation. Surprised by her reaction, the other two went silent and stared at her.

A moment of silence passed before Asia spoke up again. “Well, at least our being here won't affect the timeline we know.”

“Actually, we shouldn't think that way.” That drew another perplexed look from Asia. “It wouldn't be smart to lie; but at the same time, we cannot assume anything. They already know we know who they are. That's fine, we can't do anything about that, but let's not divulge anything more than necessary. That may help in decreasing their suspicion. We also can't assume that we know everything about their lives, their pasts, what they've done, or even about the enemies they've fought against up to now. Besides, you never know, some things may actually be different in this timeline from what we think we `know,'” Autumn explained thoughtfully. “Plus, it's obvious there is something else going on.”

“I guess you do have a good point, but what should we say when they ask us to explain?” Asia asked, fretting.

“What you came up with is fine. Let's just say that the names of the characters which appear in the stories and theirs happen to be a coincidence.”

“Wouldn't that be a lie?”

“Who's to say that all we know is really real? Or the absolute truth, for that matter? Until they tell us themselves…”

Asia nodded. “I got it. So, would it be okay to ask about stuff? Just to see?”

“Let's not do that for now. It's more important to figure out our situation first, and make sure they don't see us as a threat.”

Relieved, Asia smiled and said, “As always, you're the great thinker!”

Autumn turned her head towards Azure. “You have no problem with that, right?”

Azure gave her a bored look. “I don't know anything.”

“You have nothing to worry about from her, Autumn,” Asia stated. “She hardly watched the show, remember?”

“Yea, still, I'm just tryin' to figure out every possibility before we get ourselves into a bigger mess than we already are.”

Puzzled as to why Azure suddenly stopped in her walking to turn and face the door, Autumn and Asia looked at each other in surprise, when seconds later, it opened and Bulma walked into the room. “Well now, you three are looking much improved,” she observed as she approached the cots. “How are you all feeling?”

“Besides being a little sore, I'm alright,” Asia replied, stretching a little bit. Autumn just nodded.

“Are you ready to join us downstairs then?”

“Sure,” Asia said with some slight hesitation. Autumn and Azure silently nodded.

“Good, everyone is curious about you girls, Please, follow me,” Bulma said, beckoning with her hand for them to follow her. Asia and Autumn slid off their shared cot and walked behind her as Azure fell in behind them.

<><><><>

Goten and Trunks were rather intrigued at what they had heard. It was pretty evident in their faces, as they exchanged glances while the grown-ups had spoken. During their 10-minute sentry duty on the girls, the boys had briefly snuck away to the living room, just in time to catch the end of Mirai's story about the attack, and to hear Bulma mention Broli's name, which was a little bit of a downer as to them it meant that Broli might be coming back. It was a silent, reprimanding glare from Piccolo that prompted the two boys to head back upstairs to finish out their assigned guard duty.

The only other thing said that had given them both pause was when Trunk's older version of himself announced that he would be staying to await the aliens' arrival in two years.

It was when that particular subject came up that Chibi felt a strange feeling tease the back of his mind. It was a weird feeling; not one that he felt too often, or with too many people.Weird, I usually only feel it with my dad and Goten, he realized. He looked up from his musings when Bulma and the girls emerged from the room. Standing against the wall, both he and Goten went unnoticed by the girls as they made their way past them. Without saying anything, Chibi Trunks and Goten moved from their stations against the wall and quietly followed.

<><><><>

“What about the ki? You guys felt that, didn't you?” Mirai asked curiously “That ki was pretty strong for a human.”

“Right before I found her, I felt a dark, cold aura. It's possible that it came from her,” Piccolo stated, mostly for the other adults that hadn't been around when the girls were found.

“We felt that too, right before we found the other two. But, I don't think it came from them. Besides, they are human, I have no doubt bout that,” Mirai said confidently. “Their ki signatures are comparable to that of any other human.”

“Guys, don't you think you should hear what they have to say first?” Goku interrupted. “Gohan?”

Gohan hesitated slightly before answering, “Yea, I guess so.” But I don't like it at all!

Piccolo nodded, sensing Gohan's worry. Goku eyed his son, and then just gave a short nod.

“When exactly did you get here?” Piccolo asked suddenly of Mirai, who took a moment to think about it.

“Only a few hours ago - earlier today.”

“Hn,” was Piccolo's reply, accompanied by a short nod. Goku and Vegita looked at Piccolo curiously, then at each other. The quiet that followed was short-lived as Bulma and her group entered the living room.

Goten and Chibi automatically moved to stand next to Mirai, both casting quick glances at the three girls before smiling slyly at each other. For them, this could only get better; especially after hearing all that Mirai had said. Their attentions fell upon Azure for a moment, who returned their inquisitive stares with a frown and a darted look. Not fazed by this, Goten just cocked his head to the side slightly as Chibi studied her with renewed interest. They both had felt the strength of her earlier ki spike, which still felt more than a little tainted to them.

Vegita and Mirai caught the silent knowing looks exchanged by the two children. Then both of them automatically re-focused their senses upon the girls to read and confirm their guests' ki signatures. Vegita shot a glance briefly at Gohan then towards Goku, who was probably the most unconcerned of them all.

But he has to be able to see… Mirai thought to himself as he too glanced at the unconcerned Goku. Maybe he sees something we don't, he thought to himself, but quite doubtfully. He came out of his musings as Goku moved to greet them…

<><><><>

Followed by Asia, who was slightly behind her, Autumn had walked confidently, for the most part, further into the room and into the curious faces turned towards them. Most of the looks they received were filled with a friendly curiosity, along with some skeptical looks coming from Gohan, Piccolo, and Vegita. Those were directed mostly towards Azure, who seemed indifferent to them. Bulma motioned for the girls to sit on the vacant couch.

Asia took a seat in the middle, with Autumn on the side nearest Bulma. Azure, folding her arms across her chest, sat directly in front of Vegita, who had moved to stand on the other side of his older son. Goku offered a welcoming smile to the girls and was the first to say something as they sat down.

“Hi, again! Are you guys feeling better?” Vegita rolled his eyes at Goku's cheerful greeting, but stayed quiet.

“Yes, for the most part,” Autumn answered, as Asia also nodded. Azure gave a short nod, briefly looking up at Goku before settling herself in a face-forward posture, eyes pointed downwards.

Mirai posed the first question. “How did you get so far out into those clearings?”

There was silence for a moment before Autumn spoke. “Well, we really don't know.” Vegita cocked a skeptical eyebrow as Piccolo gave a similar look.

“Wait, let's start from the beginning. Where are you from?” Gohan questioned next, effectively preventing Vegita from giving any kind of sarcastic retort.

“We're from Earth.”

“All of you?” Vegita asked skeptically, narrowing his eyes.

Asia gave him a weird look, but quickly averted her eyes to Autumn, who lifted her head and replied calmly with a “Yea.”

“Vegita, stop interrupting!” Piccolo stated.

“I will not!” he snapped back. “I will ask whatever I want when I want to!”

“You do that and we will be here all day!” Bulma shot at him.

“Shut up, woman!”

Goku could see that Bulma was about to explode so he decided to step in and settle things down. “Calm down, Bulma,” he said firmly. “There's all sorts of things we need to figure out, one way or another”

Miffed, Bulma sat back in her seat, folded her arms across her chest and gave Goku a vehement look, but said nothing. Vegeta smirked smugly as Goku prompted Autumn. “Go ahead.” Autumn nodded.

“Well, the best we can offer as an explanation to all of this is that we three come from a parallel realm of Earth. Think of it, if you will, as a separate world, co-existing on the same planet. But our realm, while similar in many respects to your own, is quite different. You see, in our realm, we have these stories, which happen to contain people and beings and circumstances that seem to run pretty parallel to the reality that is your world. When we came to upstairs, we automatically associated everyone here with the names of their closest counterparts from those stories. I can't say for certain if what we know is real or not in this world. All I can say is that the stories existent in our world are nothing more than that, stories…and if they prove to be a reality here, it must all be some type of incredibly weird coincidence.”

While the kids were awed and confused at what was just said, the adults had mixed results. Goku was intrigued, to say the least, while Vegita was quite bothered by this explanation, as was Piccolo. Since he also came from an alternate timeline, Mirai decided to keep his acceptance of their story tempered with a little skepticism. Gohan's curiosity grew, and Bulma was torn between being intrigued and a little disturbed about what she'd heard. All their various reactions showed plainly on their faces. An awkward silence hung in the room for a of couple moments.

“What you're trying to tell us is that you three managed to get here through some weird, interdimensional-type travel?” Gohan stated more than asked. Asia shrugged mutely and looked at Autumn.

“That's the only logical explanation we could come up with.”

Mirai shifted his stance and crossed his arms over his chest before asking point-blank, “What exactly happened when you came here?”

“What do you mean?” Autumn asked, a little confused by that question.

“What's the last thing you remember happening right before you came here?” Gohan restated.

“The last place we were in was a warehouse. It was nighttime and really stormy outside, when all of a sudden some kind of black mist appeared inside the building, and that's the last thing we remember before waking up here.”

“Why were you girls in a warehouse, of all places?” Bulma asked curiously. Asia immediately looked over at Azure, which prompted the group to also look at Azure, who kept her eyes forward, refusing to acknowledge that anyone's attention had been turned towards her.

Autumn had a feeling Azure wasn't going to volunteer anything so she continued. “Azure and this girl named Venus were fighting.” Somehow, Gohan wasn't surprised by that piece of information.

“Why?”

“She and Venus are bitter rivals, so when Azure pissed off Venus a day earlier, Venus challenged her to a fight.” Vegita smirked, seeing Azure smirk slightly at Autumn's explanation.

Reactions to this newest information about Azure varied among the group. Gohan's former curiosity about her now turned into suspicion, while the chibis were undecided and continued to stare at her with increased fascination. Goku stood unbothered as Bulma sat back in her chair, analyzing and digesting it all.

“And that's all you guys remember?” Gohan prompted. Asia and Autumn nodded.

After a moment, a still doubtful and cautious Gohan first looked towards Piccolo, then to his father, then to Mirai and Vegita for some kind of affirmation to his own doubts.

There was a short pause before someone spoke up again.

“That's quite a story, though, it seems honest enough” Bulma remarked, looking at the three girls, before looking to Goku. “What do you want to do now, Goku?”

“There are a lot of things we still need to figure out,” Gohan stated, mainly towards Piccolo and his father, both of whom who got the hint and nodded. Glancing briefly at Vegita, Goku then turned to Bulma. “Bulma, you think you could take care of them for now?”

Autumn shyly glanced up at Goku before anxiously looking back towards Bulma, who had caught Goku's glance at Vegita. Mirai gave Bulma a reassuring look.

“Since you girls don't really have a place to go anyway,” Bulma resolved, getting up from her seat to face the three to give them all a gentle smile of welcome. “I can agree to that.”

Relieved, Asia and Autumn both leaned forward and said, “Thank you!” simultaneously, while Azure only responded with a short nod. “If you three will accompany me, I'll set up some rooms so that you can all get cleaned up and have a proper place to rest.” Asia's face broke into a broad, thankful smile as she fell in behind Autumn, who chuckled softly at her friend's expression. Like a sullen shadow, Azure quietly rose from her seat and followed the other two out of the room.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*