Seth had remained mostly quiet while he munched on his breakfast, not minding the silence. He looked down when the conversation between his friends stirred up and then away when it got secretive. Seth was surprised to hear Michael's reaction about his first attempt at making something. He smiled shyly and put his empty dish in the sink with a little water to run over it. Then, he remembered that his previous clothes had been left in his room. Wide-eyed, Seth turned around and looked out into the hallway. "I'm going to take a trip to the stream and wash out my clothes," he said, taking a step into the corridor. Seth looked back only once to wave silently at Michael before he considered himself out of conversational earshot of the group and in the more tranquil environment of his assigned room. He sat on the side of his bed and sighed, pulling out his jacket across his lap and studying the small 'rip' that corresponded to the location where he was injured. Seth knew it would need some kind of tailoring, but it went so easily unnoticed that he decided to put it off a while. He traced the terar in the fabric with his hand, slightly distressed with its nature. 'What a clean cut..'

When Seth mentioned the stream he remembered leaving his guitar with Krystal by the lake and nearly kicked himself for it. "I left something by the lake, be right back alright?" He smirked then was out the door and heading towards the lake where Krystal was under her favorite tree. Michael blew a puff of air out and picked up the guitar before patting Krystal's side and heading back to the hut.

Seth managed to snap out of his terrified daze about the time he heard Michael get back. Seth looked up again and folded his jacket's rip inwards so he couldn't see it. Then, he slipped out of the hut within a few moments through the window of his room. Seth had always wanted to do that ever since his old room was at least a story above the ground his entire life.

Upon reaching the stream part of the lake, Seth went about the usual routine he had used the first time his clothes were stained with red. The color was faded and less vibrant, looking more like clay or mud rather than blood. Once Seth had completely rinsed everything clean, he laid his clothes out on the soft grass to air-dry. There, he pulled his knees into his chest and watched the glittery water. After some time, though, Seth laid back and fell into thought about Michael as he listened to the nature around him.

By the time he got back the girl were finished eating and they were cleaning up the mess they made. Marcia lifted her gaze and shooed him as if he were a mouse. He rose and eyebrow then turned and headed down the hall to he and Seth's room. Marcia went back to cleaning with Ariel. 'Women...' He thought to himself with a chuckle. Michael set himself on the bed and waited, his back to wall and guitar laying beside him. He smiled to himself and thought about coming clean with Seth- something guys normally had a hard time with- or maybe it was just him. Either way, it was done and he was the happiest boy around.

Seth caught himself in the middle of a nightmare about Onyx less than a few minutes after lying down. He sat straight up, not even realizing that he'd fallen asleep, and looked around himself. 'No one's here..' he thought with irritation. Seth glanced at his surroundings- the grass was even untouched except for his footsteps. Still, he was paranoid, so he re-folded his clothes and bundled them tightly up before heading back to what he called home. Seth wandered around the side of the hut the same way he'd left and slipped in through the window at a sharp angle, only noticing Michael when he landed with two feet on the ground. He merely grinned outwardly but on the inside, Seth was extremely relieved to see his companion standing before him. It proved his dreams wrong and freed him of worry. "Hey," he said as he set his clothes down next to his bed.

Michael looked at him and smiled. "Hey yourself, I wasn't sure if you alone-time or not." He grinned a little and rubbed the back of his neck then noticed something off. "Everything alright?" Michael asked with a hint of concern.

[[ x.x sorry for being gone so long, conflicts came about .-.;; ]]

Seth sat back on his heels and almost sunk into thought over Michael's question. Logically, Seth had no idea whether or not he was in the position to be able to say that things were 'all right.' His entire family was gone, his best friend betrayed him, he got himself caught up in the concept of love, and the universe was most likely doomed if nothing changed immediately. "Probably not," he admitted to himself as he walked over to where Michael was. He sat down next to his companion and watched him at an eye-to-eye level. Seth knew that there was something about Michael that was unique, but he couldn't narrow anything down- much less could he pinpoint the conclusion. "It's different when I look at you, though," he began to say after a moment of edgy silence. "I would never guess why. Somehow, it feels all right, so maybe it really is."

[[ it's okay~ conflicts? O.o ]]

Michael sat on the edge of the bed and sighed a little. "Well, you're still alive. Despite everything bad that's happened..." He said quietly. "I think that's a plus." Michael added as he looked at Seth with a small smile.

[[ yeah- long story short my v-ball season ended after claiming my weekend and I messed up my freetime for a day afterwards. .-.;; I had to re-think my motives, but I think it's settled enough now ^^; ]]

Seth's expression faltered and almost lost its peacefulness upon hearing about actually being 'still alive.' He glanced off and his smile soon returned at the sound of Michael's voice. "Only if you're here with me," he added. Seth then realized that he was being a little childish, if not selfish. A pang of pain fluttered inside of him for a moment before dying off. It was the same dull pain from whatever Onyx used to bother him. He frowned a bit, though- for some reason that feeling hadn't bothered him and it was like Seth was in a grace period. "I need to show you something," he said and slipped a hand into his pocket to take out the crystal shard that glinted at different angles.

[[ ah, ^~^ ]]

Michael smirked a little and nodded slightly. He blinked a few times and looked at the crystal shard then back at Seth with both a curious and confused expression then back at the shard. He didn't know what to say or ask really. Michael was at a loss of words.

Seth realized that he, too, was nearly in the same state of a loss in words that Michael was in. His mind was beginning to show signs of clouded thoughts and his logic was beginning to become unstable. The structure still held its ground, though. "It's just like Onyx," he explained. Then, it occurred to him that only he had experienced the strange dream with the Crystal girl. "Ariel broke a plate this morning and we fixed it with this. All we did was lay the pieces out like a puzzle and this shard.. It sealed every seam as if it were never broken. I had this dream a while ago about a conversation with some girl who gave me some information-"

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Seth was in the middle of a small town near his home. A stranger was standing in front of him as well as a spirit who seemed to affiliate herself with the person. The scene was blurry to Seth, as the light blinded his sensitive eyes as it usually did. "..Can you see her?..." "Ariel? Yeah, she's my best friend." Seth knew at that moment that he and this stranger had something very special in common; the supernatural ability that was only possessed by someone that wasn't exactly human.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

It struck Seth that Michael was someone who was just like himself. A few insane ideas were loosely laced into Seth's mind- they gave him both inspiration and fear for the side-effects of failure. He felt like he wasn't alone, though, and that there would be someone there by his side if such an event occurred. "Michael, give me your hand."

Michael listened to Seth's words but only became more confused. When he heard about the thing with a plate Ariel broke and the fixed it like nothing had ever happened after they laid the pieces out like a puzzle then Seth paused in mid-sentence of talking about a dream he had. He blinked a few times and held his hand out like he was told. Really, nothing was making any since right now.

Seth took a hold of Michael's hand and held it above his own, as if to place something in it. Then, he took the shard with his other hand and He thought about simply giving it to his friend, but something inside of him wanted to prove a fact, so he held the shard up a little higher than his other hand and let it roll off of his fingertips.

That was about when time nearly slowed to a halt. The shard of crystal immediately lost it's shimmer and turned into a clear, average piece of glass falling through the air. The grace period Seth had felt was replaced by a strong wave of pain that arced across his mind. He thought it felt more like electricity than a mere headache. He smiled through the feeling, though, as the shard re-gained it's beauty the second it touched Michael's palm. Seth let go of Michael's hand and faced his palms to the ceiling. "You can use it, too, can't you?" he asked in wonder as the shard continued to glow as if nothing had ever taken the life out of it. His own life, however, was strained from the lack of Crystal support. So many answers began filling in the blanks in the questions Seth desperately wanted to be able to ask to someone. It began to make sense..Somewhat.

Michael blinked several times as he watched the shard then looked at Seth. "Um... Mind filling me in...?" He asked quietly in a very small voice due to being very confused and not having a clue on what was going on.

Seth smirked and let out a small laugh. He reached forwards and closed Michael's fingers around the shard. "Keep it," he said before shifting gears. "I took a nap to kill time after we brought you back from my house," he began. "Some girl brought me to this palace-like place made out of all Crystal when I started to dream." Seth went on trying to recreate the way he'd heard nothingness, darkness, and light being explained at the same time. He made sure to add their relationship and the agreement between Crystal and Onyx about never interfering with other forms of life in chaotic chance. Then, he brought up the color of what souls looked like in their natural state and how the clearer-white colored souls corresponded to the existence of nothingness, the dark-gray/black ones to darkness, and the white-blue ones- obviously Michael and himself- to light. "They play out in our lives as neutral humans, Onyx, and Crystal.. She basically said that the old friend I told you about stirred up the Onyx and gained control over it and that the Crystal would react the same way to people who could use it." Seth paused for a moment. "She said that the powers were limitless.." He stopped before he blurted something about having used the powers before- Seth didn't recall ever being some superhuman, nor did he want to pretend like it was going to happen. He wanted to live in reality. "'Think of you and your friends' was one of the last things she told me.."

Michael placed his free hand under his chin as he listened carefully to every detail. "One question; how do you know if I can use it too? The crystal, I mean." He asked as he gazed a the crystal shard in his hand.

"Michael something's wrong with Krystal! She's totally gone berserk!!" Ariel, still completely physical and wearing her necklace, hovered outside the window of the boys' bedroom. "You gotta calm her down before she trashes the town- or gets hurt!" Her gaze moved and she flew into the room to hide under the bed so only her head was visible.

Michael looked out the window. "Oh great... Well, I guess I really don't have a choice then." He tightly gripped the shard and glanced at Seth before jumping out the window and running towards the direction of the rampaging dragon.

Seth had opened his mouth to say something about the Crystal when Ariel appeared with the emergency news. He shifted in his position and turned to see what it was. There wasn't much time between the events that followed- it took a moment to register Michael jumping out of a window and out of sight. Seth wondered why the dragon would have any reason at all to go out of control. Soon after Michael had left in a hurry, he sat in silence thinking over that topic. 'Krystal is passive aggressive..' he thought nervously between the memories of Krystal's interaction with other people between people like her own dragon tamer and Marcia. 'Something's up.' Seth was so unsettled that within moments he was out the window quickly following the direction he'd seen Michael take off in.

"Seth wait!" Ariel called but he was already out of sight and hearing range. 'Oh dear...' She thought with a small voice as she crawled further under the bed.

Krystal didn't looked any different, except the glowing pure white eyes. "Krystal, be still!" Michael practically yelled. The dragon screeched and swung it's mace-tail towards Michael like he was an enemy. His eyes went wide and he took a direct hit before he knew what hit him, hurling him into a building. He groaned and held his head. "Oooww." Michael saw the tail coming at him again and he scrambled to the ground to dodge the mace-tail. "I see how it is then." Michael muttered under his breath. He ducked to avoid another swing the rolled out of the way and headed straight towards her at full speed.

Seth never got the chance to even look back for anything he might regret later. He made it to the horrifying scene at a good pace of speed for someone who was fighting the resisting strains of both pure-crystal and impure-crystal substances. His head was foggy and Seth was proud of himself for being able to say that he could run in a straight line. He was sort of mesmerized by the beauty of Krystal's eyes when he came into view of the heart of the event in town. That's about when his eyes caught sight of the vicious swing of the dragon that caught Michael and threw him into a building.

At that moment, Seth's mind began to boil in rage. He gritted his teeth and his face cracked into a slightly insane expression of pure hatred that radiated in his aura. "Hey!" he yelled across the stretch of land between him, Krystal, and Michael. Seth wanted to know what was going on, why it was going on, and he wanted to know sooner rather than later.

Ariel came out of hiding and flew after Seth. Despite being human, she still had her special abilities. He didn't need to get himself caught up in battle between a berserk dragon and it's tamer.

Michael, of course, skid to a stop and looked in the direction of Seth's voice. Krystal lowered her head in Seth's direction and growled deeply before letting out a loud roar.

Seth realized shortly after standing his ground in front of Krystal that he was most likely acting somewhat irrationally with his decision-making. The logical, more-normal side of his mind that still thrived repeated his actions like it was his conscience. 'I'm standing in front of a giant dragon who just went rogue,' he thought. Then, defensively, he noted that Michael was also doing the same thing. After all, he'd promised to stay by his companion's side. Seth didn't want to bend that promise ever again.

His eyes narrowed when the dragon roared at him. Seth took a deep breath, waited a moment, and screamed uselessly right back at the dragon before he even took notice of what he'd done. Knowing his own oddly-loud shrieking capabilities, he probably would've shattered an eardrum that was within a foot of his own bellow. 'What am I doing, trying to yell at a dragon?' he wondered somewhat stupidly. Then, he ran over to where Michael was without another second spent on thinking. "Michael, what's going on?" he asked with confusion. His face was still full of concern but it wasn't as lacking in sanity. He was close to Michael which comforted him immensely.

[[ amg, i read the second half of the post and now i can't stop laughing~ not trying to- but if you think about a dragon and a person getting into a screaming contest... it's actually quite funny xD ]]

Krystal actually backed-off a little with a puppy face when Seth screamed right back, totally not expecting that. Michael however covered his ears and bit his lip extremely hard due to not being that far from Seth. "Don't... Ever... Do that again... Okay?" He muttered in a slight strained voice as he slowly uncovered his ears and looked at Seth. "As for what's going on, Ariel was right. She's completely berserk. She doesn't even recognize her tamer."

[[ x3 happy to make you smile~ heehee, little kid tendencies are for the win >u< ]]

Seth hugged his arms shyly and looked away when he noticed the effect his 'roar' had on Michael. He wasn't too distressed, though, as at least it stopped the dragon for two seconds. "Alright then, no promises- how are you going to get Krystal to stop?" he asked quickly after his side-comment. His mind was running through all of the options Michael had in order to deal with Krystal. It bothered him that the dragon went so off-track. Seth wasn't upset that Krystal was destroying things and getting mad- his first impression of Krystal was like that anyway. He was pestered by the fact that it had all happened in less than fifteen minutes. 'Didn't Michael go up to the lake before I got back?' he wondered. Seth would be less surprised, if so at all, if Michael had gone on a leave and then tried to come back after a few years, but in that short amount of time?. "If she won't recognize you, can you tame her like you did last time?"

[[ yuss~ x3 ]]

Michael sighed. "Then at least warn me..." He said quietly. Michael glanced at Krystal then back at Seth and thought a moment. "Possibly. Only it won't be the same unless we were brought into AD like last time..." He ducked when the tail coming again, only this time he grabbed a hold of it and was tossed on to Krystal back. He landed on his feet and stumbled back a little and landed on his bum. A little girl around 10 years old with foot-length pure white flowing hair and eyes that matched Krystal's right about now. 'Holy mother of fudge... There's a person small enough to hide herself on the back of Krystal's neck... I can't hurt a little girl! But what if she's somehow the source of this? Cripes!'

Seth braced himself as one of his tiny hopes were crushed. He'd remembered that they'd barely gotten out alive before the entire place destroyed itself. 'All because of that dagger..' He looked up just in time to see Michael be swept from his feet- this time, though, it was safely. Seth's eyes widened at how fast it happened, but he recomposed himself soon after. He noticed the look in Michael's eyes on Krystal's back and he took a step forwards curiously. "What is it?" he asked into the distance.