[[ hehe ^^' i can tell you one thing, Ratchet is t-i-c-k-e-d at Alister x3 -- nini~ <3 ]]

Ariel rubbed her arm and stared into the water. The onyx girl looked at Seth and tilted her head. ~Never answered what~?~ She asked innocently.

Seth blinked at the dim glows beneath him. His eyes caught sight of Ariel for a brief second before they focused on the spirit. "My question," he stated. "How did you get like that?" Seth pointed across the way, hinting towards the spirit's abnormally deep-colored appearance that wasn't light like Ariel. The thought of Ariel bothered him a little, as Seth was trying his hardest not to face whatever truth hidden just out of his sight on Ariel's arm.

The girl thought for a moment, she didn't recall him ever asking... She shrugged. ~Got infected by another spirit and gave in to it without a care in the world. I'm already dead so it's not like I had anything to lose...~ She responded simply.

Seth sat forwards and put his hands on his knees for support. He was still dazed and his senses were beginning to shut down due to their betrayal-attitude against any area with Crystal in it. 'But.. I do..' he thought, looking away for a few moments. A strange thought crossed his mind, but he wanted to wait. Seth didn't like feeling arrogant, but he also despised looking like a loser. "So, if you weren't crystallized, you'd die? Or would you just go back to being a regular spirit?"

~I'd die...~ She answered quietly. Ariel shivered a little at the sadness in her voice. 'You must some regrets then.' She said as she looked at the tainted spirit. The girl blinked and turned to Ariel with a light flush across her cheeks. ~D-don't be stupid! >///<~ She retorted. Ariel giggled. 'Right~' She teased. Michael glanced at her with an arched eyebrow.

Seth's eyes lowered and his hopes floated off the edge of a cliff. "You'd die.." he repeated. Just the thought made his heart sink. His vision was completely blurred, so all he saw was a glowy white fuzz with some medium-shaded shapes out of one eye and a black haze through the other. It reminded him of when he'd gotten caught up at Alex's house..

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
...Seth felt a cold burn in his side as he stumbled back. He gritted his teeth and glared at Alex, his vision starting to get black and foggy at the edges. Seth could feel the poison-like consuming effects of this Onyx...
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Seth shuddered and almost slipped off of his tree branch without realizing so. He caught himself before he was in a complete free fall from that kind of a height. He saw Michael's expression and thought back to the closest of the fiery-burns he felt; the shard in his pocket. 'Why does everything have to burn like this?' he wondered. 'If she got in contact with this..'

Michael carefully moved to the branch Seth was hanging onto and offered his hand to pull his friend up. Ariel hovered over to the girl and took her hands into her own, the dark stain almost completely visible. 'You shouldn't lie to yourself, it's not right.' She smiled sweetly. The onyx averted her eyes and pulled back from Ariel's grip, blushing deeply. ~Y-you wouldn't understand! You've been a spirit your whole life... What could you possibly know about love?~ 'Love?' Ariel tilted her head then grinned childishly. 'I knew it!' The onyx girl glanced back at her. ~What?~ Ariel giggled. 'You made it obvious. There's someone here you want to see again isn't there?' ~It's none of your business!~ The onyx girl stuck her tongue out which only made the younger giggle again.

Seth watched Michael from the corner of his eye before facing him and holding out his own hand. He wasn't surprised that there were numerous black markings that had covered his hands while he'd sparred so mindlessly. When his eyes finally met Michael's, Seth was lost in a sea of blue. He realized that it had been a while since he'd actually looked at Michael straight-on. He thought back to when they'd first met and everything that had happened in the time between then and the present. Seth looked down and away just as quickly, feeling like his old self again. "Ah, thank you," he said. He brushed his jacket off and checked his footing, listening to Ariel accuse the Onyx spirit of a secret past. "..Michael, what are we doing out here?" he wondered aloud.

Michael gives a light nod and smiles. He then looks up at where Krystal was flying around above the tree tops then back at Seth and smirk. "We were rescuing the missing kids, but now we're finished so how about we head back?" Ariel glanced over and grinned childishly.


[[ amg! i have the perfect song for Michael and Seth- well, how Michi feels about Seth ^////^ it's totally a 'love' song but i think it fits the rela~ Breaking Benjamin Anthem Of The Angels Lyrics - YouTube (i got bored ^^') ]]

[[ zomg i've heard this! *listens while typing* ]]

Seth looked up, following Michael's gaze to the dragon. Hearing Michael's response, somehow Seth's own actions just didn't seem to settle within his mind. He looked to the Onyx spirit with an expression of absent confusion. Seth felt like he was forgetting something, but he wasn't sure if his emotions were telling the truth. So, he nodded and yawned out of pure exhaustion. "I guess we are," he said. "So long as she stops her little kidnapping routines."

[[ Epic theme. //nuffsaid// >w< ]]

[[ *claps* ^//~//^ ]]

Michael whistles softly and Krystal "put it in parking" before lowering her head to the group. Michael climbed up first then looked back to see if Seth had followed him.

'We'll meet you guys there okay?' Ariel spoke up as she watched the boys. ~We?~ The onyx girl asked confused. 'Yes, we.' She smirked. ~Oh no...~ The girl quickly turned and tailed off, Ariel following her.

Seth wasn't hesitant to follow Michael up the side of the dragon. He clung to Krystal like he usually did. Seth turned back for Ariel and ended up frowning when he realized that she wasn't going to be with Michael or himself. "If you say so," he surrendered to the two. He had already vowed himself to Michael's side and didn't want to have to leave it again. However, he still turned to Michael for approval of his last statement out of curiosity. Seeing as the spirits were already on their way away from the scene, he didn't have time to protest. Seth didn't want to think, but he did want to know what Ariel and the Onyx girl were up to.. It pained him to think of the possibilities, especially considering the mark he swore he saw on Ariel's arm.

[[ Last post~ nini nova-chan ^^]]

[[ nini yume-chan~ ^-^ ]]

"Girls will be girls.. whether they're a spirit or infected.. or both..." Michael said quietly before lightly patting the crystal dragons side since he planted on her back with Seth in front of him. Krystal raised her head and started for shore.

Seth's face faded into a bit of worry when he glanced back at the last location he was at. He wanted nothing to do with the dangers of that Onyx spirit, nor did he want Ariel to be any more of a part of it than she already was. Seth pulled his focus away from the forest and onto the sky. The stars were out and the light from the sun was gone. Only the moonlight provided a visible path to see far ahead. "Yeah.." he finally said after a long silence. "Still, I'm troubled as to why Ariel would want to suddenly run off. What about you?"

"Ariel knows that the onyx girl has someone she likes.. maybe even before she became a spirit. So, she wants to bring her to see that person. Her 'regret'." Michael explained softly as if finally at least half-understanding what it means to love someone even after you die. "I don't know if it makes since, but that's what I saw in Ariel's expression." He added, looking up at the stars.

Seth smirked and turned around to face Michael, daringly swinging his feet out over the dragon in the air to re-position himself. He trusted Krystal enough that nothing catastrophic would happen. 'Regardless, it doesn't matter..' he thought as he caught another glimpse of his hands. For a moment, Seth wondered what he actually looked like and wished that he'd gotten to be by the lake for just a few more moments. He grimaced a little within the same breath and looked out on the horizon. "I guess we all have our reasons for doing strange things.." he said. He guessed that Ariel just had a passion for helping people, Michael included.

Michael smirks and puts his hands behind his head, his mind drifting else-where. Not into the dark like it usually did, just actually taking in the details of the night sky and thinking about the little things in life. Something he's never done before.

Seth smiled and closed his eyes for a brief moment before folding his hands together and crossing his legs. He rested his arm on his knee and propped his chin up on his palms, a curious expression seeping into sight. "I never really got to ask you much of anything," he confessed. 'Other than anything that related to saving someone's life.. There's so little time- what have I been doing?. Seth looked up at Michael honestly. "What was it like living with Ariel back at the tree-house?"

Michael glances at Seth and blinks. Thinking back to when the two first built the thing like an actually house that ran off of water and solar power. "It was like.. having a little sister. She was loud, clumsy, and cried over breaking a plate or something small like that. But- she helped keep the place tidy, and helped me build it." He replies while trying not to ramble.

Seth continued to watch Michael through his explanation. The setting reminded himself of his own home and the childishness he'd brought on in ways Michael described that Ariel already had done. Seth tried not to laugh when Michael cut off short. He sighed inwardly and looked at the dragon scales for a moment. "We can get it back.." he said softly. Seth wanted to repay Michael for all the havoc he'd wreaked within the few days their destinies' paths had crossed, and he had strange feeling inside of him that almost let him know instinctively what would go wrong versus how to do it right. It tingled in his fingers similar to how the rage of the Onyx did earlier that day. "I know we can."

Michael midnight blue eyes softened as he looked at Seth then he leaned back, using his arms to hold him up as he closed his eyes. "I'm fine with building a new one.. fit for three." He smiled.

Seth smiled happily and turned to face the stars. They were on the slight side of the sky where the moon was so that the light reflected off of his face and cast a shadow only behind himself. Seth was warmed on the inside to be called a type of friend that Michael would even consider being with for longer than a short stay. He yawned again quietly and stretched. Seth wasn't comfortable with the concept of falling asleep on the back of a dragon so early into that friendship- turning around on Krystal's back was enough of a trust test for one day. He glanced behind their path of flight at the distant forest that was getting even smaller. "How close are we to Marcia's?" he asked out into nothingness. It was nearly silent aside from Krystal's movement of her wings.

Krystal landed by her tree and lowered her neck for the boys to get down and Michael was brought back into reality. He remembered the bad ending that happened before they left for the crystal forest. "Not far." He answered after a few moments of silence then sat up right and slid down Krystal's tail, leaping off before hitting the mace and landing on his feet like a pro.

Seth was assured their closeness to the village by the dull headache that returned on the way there. Only that time it had evolved into the feeling like Seth was literally being crushed by everything around him. Seth could have sworn that waves of some sort were trying to shove him into the dirt- literally. When Krystal landed, the tiniest impact toppled him to the ground with a loud 'thud!' By the time Seth realized that he'd fallen off, he was already rising to stand to his feet. He put his hands out for balance until his sense of location returned to him and he was completely upright. "Ah, that's a bright side." he said positively.

Michael blinked and looked at Seth when he heard the thud, but by then Seth was already upright. He sighed softly and under his breath, realizing that he worried about his friend in more ways than one. Shaking his head, he smirked a little and began to lead the way.