Raven pokes his head out from around a corner and asks, "Is it gone?" He has a worried look in his eyes as he asks and scans the area. Seeing the spirit to be nowhere in sight he steps out from around the corner his upper torso covers in healed scratch marks and a few bruises. "That was close. I have been stuck down here for quite some time. I heard some comotion and ran here to see what was happening." He gives a weak smile. "I'm glad I did."

Emily couldnt keep her attenchion on one thing, first it was Zack, then Mirabella, Then Tali, and now a new person had joinned them. It wasnt like she was complaning or anything but the sudden things that kept happening caused her head to spin. It didnt help that this new person was rather dashing in his appernce and Emilys hormones were running wilde on her.
"Umm, H-hello!" She managed to say looking timidly up at the man as he peeked around the corner. "Everything is sort of fine now, y-you dont have to be hiding like that!" Emily added as she watched this new person carfully.
"Who are you muttering to?" Sam asked his attenchion of Tali directed away and back to where it belonged. Looking up in the same direction as his lovely Emily Sam spotted the whom she was addressing. "Hnum, Who are you!?" Sam more stated than asked as he tughtened his grip around emily, this in turn caused the girl to cringe in pain as he had managed to grip the wrong part of her ribs. "Bahh! Im sorry Emm Emm!!" Sam panaced and atemped to fix the problem one handedly.
"Its ok, Im fine,"Emily said patting the prro foxes hand."Just dont bump, touch, or squeez that spot!" She breathed and held her lower ribs.

"Oh! Im sorry! Where are my manners? My name is Raven. Raven NightShade. Pleasure to meet you all." He gaves a nice smile. "Is something the matter with your ribs? If you need to be healed I can help with that. That's one of the two specialties of Elementals." He looks over the two and notices the closeness. "You do not have to worry about me trying to steal... I'm going to guess her name is Emily? I'm not going to try and steal her from you. The reason I am down here is because my village cast me out for being gay." He looks down and turns away slightly. "Do you guys want me to go away too?" He asks to no particular person.

Malone let out a snort of laughter when this new person showed up and started speaking so freely,that is after laughing himself hoarse at Zack's predicament."Anyone is welcome to join us,so long as they can deal with the danger that is sure to come.As you can tell,we tend to get into life threatening situations.My name is Malone by the way." Winking at Emily he kissed her lightly on the cheek,before standing up to converse silently with Onyx,his dragon,before turning to Tali."Do you know any way out of here?"

Belden took the box from Mirabella's hands carefully to examine it.Carefully he tried opening the ornate box,but it wouldn't budge."IT has to be important,and must serve a purpose...Mira,you should keep it,since you went trough so much trouble to get it,just be careful alright?" The young man was rather worried the princess would get into trouble again.She seemed to attract it like a flower brought bees.

Irian blushed when Sam started kissing their joint hands lightly.When he asked about the girl,she turned to look in the red-head's direction.Then another person introduced himself ,but still concerned about Tali,Irian disentangled her hand from Sam's. Quietly she kissed him on the lips,before going to the girl,who was now talking with Malone."Tali? Is there anything the matter?Maybe I could help." A gentle smile,that hadn't crossed her face in many years, appeared on Fade's face.

He gives a small smile. "There is one way that I know of but it is guarded well, by more than one of those spirit bad guys. I can fight. I just got caught off guard because of the darkness. If my element was of the earth I would be able to tell you every nook and crany of this place. Alas, my only element is Fire. Are any of you injured? Like I told your friend there I can heal. Most Elementals can."

MIrabella looked at Belden then smiled happily as she giggled. "I shall try Belden." she looked at the box then gently took it out of Belden's hand. As Mirabella looked at the box, she turned her head to see the newcomer, "My name is Mirabella, pleased to meet you." she said before the box started to rattle slightly. Mirabella held it tightly before a thin beam of light came out of the keyhole and two statues hidden by shadows glowed and a door started to open slowly revealing the outside. "I-I-I gu-guess when I picked up the box, those door were suppose to open up." she said standing up slowly holding the box close to her.

Jason looked at the newcomer then replied "I'm Jason, and I would not mind if you joined us." he said knowing that Princess Mirabella wouldn't mind the newcomer. Suddenly Jason's attention was taken by the appearance of the two statues and the door slowly opening. "A way out has been granted to us instead." Jason said looking at the dooors then at Mirabella and Belden.

Talos and Illumina looked at the newcomer then the doors. "Are you ok Lumi?" Talos aske taking his tail and gently lifted Illumina in the air and on his back. "NO, My leg is in pain and it hurts." she saidtrying to hold it in as much as she could. Talos turned to Raven. "I am Talos, do you think you can heal my sister, elemental?" he asked leaning his head closer to the man and waited for an answer from him.

Raven kneels down next to the girl and places a hand over her leg a red light radiating from it, "Both your Tibia and your Femur are broken. An easy fix." The light brightens a bit and what looks like fire enters her leg and spreads all over her bones. He pulls his hand away and the "fire" with it. The glowing dies down and stops. "There you go. Good as new!" He gives here a nice smile.

Emily blushed a deep color of red as Malone had kissed her getly on the cheek. She continued to blush as Sam stood up behind her and then hoisted the blushing gil to her feet.
"Ohhhh looks like some one has a crush!" Sam stated with a very sly smile. This caused Emily weel around and slap the man in the stomach.
"A-any girl would blush at being kissed on the cheek!" Emily stated with a small stamp of her foot. Sam only laughed a little.
"Heh Yeah, You dont fool me Miss. E-M-I-L-Y!" He stated sounding out her name. Emily glaired at sam for a moment before pulling a prank. She held her ribs and doubled over groaning and moaning as if she were in emece pain. Sam responded imedatly and asked "What happened, Where does it hurt, Emm Emm You ok, What happened!"
"You did it to me Sam, your a horrible guardian!" She groaned as she went to her knees then pretended to pass out on the floor.
"AHHHH I KILLED HER!!" Sam shouted and pulled Emily up into his lap and fanned her with his hand. "Shes out WATER WATER WE NEED WATER!!" He continued not paying attenchion to Emily as she was clearly doing just fine,and silently holding in her laughter as well as motioning for who ever seen her awak to be quiet.

Zack looked over the new comer as he began to heal Illuminas wonds. He seemed like a rather nice man, and a very usefull one at that. It seemed like anyone with the ability to heal quickly was a good asset to the "team". Zack only gave his sister a small glance as he could tell that her act was fake. She had done the same thing to him once and he now knew better than to fall for it. The only sound she would make if she were really in ain would be screams and cries.
"So your an Elimental!?" Zack asked the man as he approched him once he was done healing Illumina. "It seems weve been gathering people of all species here!" Zack stated as he motioned to everyone who was not human. "I'm Zack, and that actress over their is my sister!" Zack explained as he watched sam freak out some more about Emily's cruel game. "I wouldnt play along, it would only give Sam a heart attack." He infromed before being jummped by his gurdian.
"I know who you are now Zackey Poo!" Mai stated. "YOur my mistresses husbind, no doubt about that!" She cooed into the mans ear.
"Bahhh, GET OFF!" Zack complained pushing the nymph off his back. "I am NOT My motehrs HUSBIND!" he stated ready to fend off the Nymph once more. "God dont you EVER listen!?" He asked still prepaired to keep Mai off of him.
"Not your mothers husbind!?" Mai repeted with thought added to each word. Suddenly it clicked. "NO, it cant be!" She stated pointing at Zack then over to Emily. She placed her hand down at her side indicating the hight of some one.
"Yes, Your mistress Was mine and Emilys mother!" Zack stated dryly. "I am Zack and that is Emily!" he added the introduction, still rather dry, as it helped the nymph to inder stand.
"OH MY GOODNESS YOU TWO HAVE GROWN!!" Mai shouted and lunged forward to codel Zack, but the man only stepped to the side causing her to miss.
"Would you like a water guardian?" he asked Raven with the motion of his hand. "They come free with the any water stone!" he added holding out the stone he had found and nearly died for. "I'll make a deal with you!?" He said trying hard to entice the other man.
"ZACKERY MICHLE TYLER YOU CANNOT GIVE ME AWAY!" Mai shouted in the mans face.
"Plase take her away!" Zack whined to Raven.
" What would your mother say to you trying to sell me hummm!?" Mai asked both hands on her hips.
"She would winder how I managed to do it!" Zack replied witha small groan to his voice. Of course Mai didn't like this answer so she just garbbed Zack by the colar of his shirt and pulled him forward.
"Look here young man, Just because youve gotten bigger doesnt mean i wont spank you!" She thretend.
"Ohhh kinkey!" Zack stated with a sly smile, causing mai to become bafeled and grasping for words. "Yeay I win!" The man chuckled and pocketed the stone. "Sorry friend looks like she wont let me get rid of her!" Zack said with a sad face as he wrapped his arm around raven as a friendly guester.

((Wow long post! SOOOO what do you guys think of Mai (m-aye)?? Inst she fab!?))

He smiles wide and blushes deeply. "No need to be sorry. If I was going to have a guardian I prefer it to be male. As it is. I am a guardian myself. Or... atleast I was..." His smile fades and he looks to the ceiling. "The man I was to protect, I protected from birth until he was 20. In that time. I fell in love with him. Sadly he did not have these same feelings for me. I was hurt so I ran away for a few hours. In that time the Underground came and took him away. When I got back the place was trashed. There was blood all over. When I examined it. It was his." He wipes away the tears that had started to roll down his cheeks, and dusted off his blue jeans. "Oh yay! A new hole in them..." He says while sticking a finger into the hole above his right knee. He blushes again when he notices the arm around him, but does not say anything and just weakly smiles.

Zack didnt quite know how to react to this story, he felt bad for the other man, but he also felt a little nervous. He could clearly see the man was blushing, and zack didnt know what to do. He had herd of people who are attrached to the same sex but never actually seen one. So one could understand his nervousness as well as his intrest. When Raven commented on his own pants having a hole in them Zack couldnt help but look. Then he was confused.
"How is having holes in your pants a good thing?" Zack asked removing his arm from around ravens shoulders to cross over his chest. "I would rather have patches than holes." he said tilting his head from side to side to see exactly how many holes this elimntal had.

Raven giggles at Zacks curiosity. "Im a fire elemental. The more skin open to the air the more power over fire I have. That's why I wear no shirt. My heart must not get coverd. If it is, I will die." He bends at the waist and points he each hole. One on each knee. They bold uncover skin. Which abosrbs air so it may be used when I need to fight, or heal." He gives a small smile. "Have you never encountered an Elemental?"

"Well, well. A wolf. Last time I saw one of those it attacked me. Made a nice meal too." He giggles the last words of obvious sarcasm. "Thank you for your welcome. I was actually born in these lands. But I have not been back im many centuries."

"Well this is all very touching but when exactly are you all going to leave this place?" the half dead man said croutching on a rock behind everyone. His hair a mess and claws dug deep in the rock. Illumina's eyes widen as she was about to thank Raven for healing her as a smile came on her face. "Harlod, your ok." she said hugging him tightly, "Whoa whoa whoa, careful I'm sitting a rock remember. Rocks still hurt even if your dead." Harold said tapping a claw on his knees. "So we have old and new faces, I can't wait to meet you all, properly hopefully." he said as he made his sam eerie dead smile that he made the day they first meet.

Mirabella looked at the dead man, "I don't believe it. He made it after all." she said in a voice that neither sounded scared and somewhat happy. Mirabella backed away a little but tried to stand her ground. Talos and Jason looked at Harold as they widen their eyes, "That's just down right creepy." Talos said sitting down and Jason folded his arms ready to defend Mirabella from any surprises.

Raven looks away from the wolf and towards this new man named Harold. "Why hello there. My name is Raven. Nice to meet you." He gives a weak smile towards the man and looks him up and down. "You may be dead, but your kinda cute."

When the tentacle had gone slack, Tali had fallen first, being the only one whose feet were actually suspended from the ground. The tentacle had come next, landing on and crushing her right ankle with an audible snap, though she managed not to cry out. Instead she just groaned in frustration as she burned the tentacle to ashes in moments. The constant waves of fear, anger, and other intense emotions had left her exhausted with a major migraine to boot. If she could, she would have fallen asleep right then, but she hurt way too much to get any sleep. Irian and Malone had come over to check on her, though they had left shortly afterwards. Not that she minded. When she felt like this, it was much better for her to be left alone.

Slowly, so as to avoid agitating her broken ribs or ankle, she slid backwards to rest against the wall, completely unaware of the fact that she was urinating again, soaking her pants and agitating the sore skin at the top of her legs. When the skin rubbed against the fabric of her pants, she let out a gasp of pain, looking down at her thighs in further frustration. "Darnit," she muttered under her breath, unable to summon the energy to care very much.

Jai'kar was still lost in his own little world, helping Raeyk to consciousness. He pulled a canteen of water from his belt and splashed a bit in the Wraith's face, urging him to consciousness. The ghostly being's eyes fluttered open and he gasped, jumping to his feet, entirely alert of his surroundings. "Oh thank God you're okay, Raeyk," Jai'kar said, grinning like a madman, though his smile was shattered as he remembered Tali. Whipping around, he scanned for her tiny body. When he spotted her, he dashed over, crying out, "Milady, are you okay?" as he went.

"I'm fine," she responded to the befuddled knight. "Just leave me alone." He looked at her strangely for a moment before nodding and leaving as requested.

Raven wanders over to the bickering couple. "Are you hurt? I can heal you if you like." He gives them a quick smile.

Emily stopped playing once she caught sight of a small figuar moving her way to a wall. Springing up from Sams panic she hurried to the poor girl whom looked wose thany she. "Oh Tali, your a mess!" Emily cooed softly as she knelt beside the girl and examined the extent of the damage. Emily only looked up for a moment to see that Capatan Herold had joined them. this placed a small smile on her face as she could now properly appologize to the walking dead man. But right now all emily was concirned about was making Tali as confertable as possible. Never mind that her own ribs were hot and aching from her sudden movement to get to Tali. Seeing that the girl had wet herself, Emily pulled off the night shirt she had been weraing all this time. "Its a little big I know, But it will be much better than wet pants!" She said not caring if anyone seen her with just a undershirt on. Tali was more inportant than that! so being carful as to not harm the child more than what she was Emily, gentily pulled the soated pants off of Tali and tossed them asid. She was then carful to pull the clearly oversized shirt over Talis head. "Their!" Emily said with a kind smile, though it seemed Tali was in no mood to be smiling!

Zack looked up at herold with a small smile, he was glad to see that the dead man had made it out of the problem they sort of put him in. "Glad to see your ok Herold!" Zack stated with a smiled as he stepped forward towards the man. "How about My horses, did they manage to survive the trip as well!?" Zack asked knowing he left Herold with two stirdy horses.
"He probably ate them!" Mai stated her arms crossed as she placed herself at Zack side. She was clearly upset with loosing the "fight" with her new master.
"Hah, if he did then I would have to send him to hell!" Zact stated as he crossed his own arms. "That or make him buy me two more horses!" He added a small smile on his face. Mai only gave a small snort at this and went deciited to see how many cute boys she could find."Dont mind her shes actually quite pleasent once she gets use to you!" Zack explained both hands on his hips as he spoke. "Anyways Back to those horses!" he said with a smile.

Sam popped up the same instant emily did, he then realized she was playing with him and it caused a deep frown to spred accross his face. With a small huff he stopmed over to Irian and wrapped his arms aroudn her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. "Emily is being MEAN!" He stated with a small grawl as he spoke.

Mai stroad aound Raven giveing him a small look over as she did, but something more interesting caught her eye. A familuar form came into view. It was Onyx, the black dragon she had once known, and plaied games with. it didnt mater if he was in human from or not she was over joyed to see the beast.
"ON-EY!!" She nearly screamed as she hurried to the dragon and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Its been such a long time... Whos this!?" She asked noticing the cute little himan boy next to him.

(( i didnt know if Onyx was in Human from or not, :P))

Harold looked at Zach with one eye on him and the other on everyone else. He remembered the horses were with them on the ship. Harold make an angry face as his eye twitched and he growled at his conmment, "First off, I already went to Hell I practically live there no. And second, WE DON'T EAT HORSES!! Their not lean enough. We eat humans but anyways your horses are fine and I stole a new ship. So we got the new pampered crap that you humans love." he said calming down then smiled wider again, "I don't think you want to know why I went to help." he said as his teeth started to sharpen a little and turned to Mirabella. "Lady Mirabella, It's so good to see you again." Harold as tilting his head slowling.

Mirabella jumped then just stared at Harold. This was the second time she froze up seeing him again. Jason noticed her face and immediately went to Harold, "Don't even think about it. If you do, I'll make sure your experience here a torturous one." he said pointing his sword at Harold's throat. "Don't worry I've changed my ways so very much." he said with an eeire smile. Mirabella held Belden's arm, somehow knowing that holding him would make her feel safe.

Tali let Emily fuss over her, not really caring all that much. As is common among people, especially children, she got noticeably apathetic when she grew this tired. She winced and gasped in pain when Emily's fussing jostled her ribs, or her ankle. In all honesty, she did feel much better when she was out of those soaked pants. The night shirt was definitely too long, coming down to mid-shin on Tali's petite frame, but Emily was right; it was better than a wet pair of pants. It was then that Tali noticed the dead man. His appearance caused her to jump in fear, which resulted in her crying out in pain as she jostled her ribs. If it hadn't been for the reactions of everyone else to the dead man, she would have probably shrieked in terror.

"I just don't know Raeyk. Did I do something wrong?" Jai'kar asked from around the corner, off a ways from the rest of the group.

"Beats me," Raeyk responded, shrugging his pale, bony shoulders. He had switched to his human form by now, which he found a bit more comfortable talking to others in. "Girls are weird like that."

"I thought that was only after they went through puberty," Jai'kar responded with a puzzled look.

"Well, how do you know she's not going through puberty?" Raeyk asked in response.

"Because girls who are six years old don't go through puberty!" Jai'kar exclaimed. "And don't say she's not six. I know, but the principle is the same. If you have the body of a six year old, it works like a six year old's."

"Hey, I'm just trying to help."

"I know. I just don't get it," Jai'kar stated in an exasperated tone. "I mean, she let Emily help her. Why wouldn't she let me?"

"Beats me," Raeyk replied with another shrug.

"Come on, let's go train for a bit. I need to clear my mind," Jai'kar said, standing and making for the room where the barrier had covered.

Emily gasped along with tali knowing that te girl had to be in emese pain at any move ment. She had noticed Talis sudden movemnt and glanced in the direction the girl was looking.
"Don't worry, he wont hurt you so long as you stay around me!" Emily said with a small smile. Wether or not what she waid was true didnt matter as long as Tali was confertable was all that mattered. With a small sigh Emily seated herself agenst the wall besid Tali. She reached over to the girl and gently stroaked her head hopeing this would ease the child in some way. Though a surge of anger passed over her body as she witnessed Talis "guardian" heding towards the room Mirabella had been traped in. The girl became visibly angry as her face redened a little and her chest puffed up. How could he be leaving Tali alone when she needed him most!? Their would be no doubt about it now, Emily was going to be keeping closer tabs on the man in later events.
Zack gave a small laugh at Harolds resopnce. He wasnt all that surprised to here that the half dead....things would be eating humans, though it was a little unsettling. He was glad too here his horses were doing fine and that the un dead crew had a new ship.Perhaps they would be less moody on a more lugerious ship. Regardless Zack turned his attenchion to Mai. He knew it wasnt good to let he be alon for too long.

"O-Okay, if you say so," Tali replied to Emily's soothing remarks, forcing herself to take her eyes off of the terrifying man. "I didn't hurt you when I jumped, did I? That's not why your face is red, is it?" Tali asked the latter questions as a reaction to seeing Emily's face and reading her body language. She was a bit surprised when she felt Emily stroke her hair, especially considering the fact that it hadn't been combed since she was little and was probably filthy, but she didn't mind, actually finding the action to be quite soothing and pleasant.

"Do...You...Still...Think...She's...Mad...At...Me? " Jai'kar asked, using his hands and arms to push his body, fully armored, up and down from a horizontal position. After finishing his pushups, he kicked off the ground, using his hands as a pivot for a somersault. With an unnerving grace, he landed on his feet, looking at his companion while panting slightly.

"Beats me," Raeyk asked, floating around in his natural Wraithy form. "How the heck am I supposed to understand how the teenage girl's mind works?"

Jai'kar could do nothing but shrug in response to that comment, and so went about investigating the room. "Something about that spirit seemed fishy to me," he said, squatting to examine some of the rubble from where the creature had appeared. "What does the Codex say about the death of a Stonebearer?"

"It says something about how it would throw everything into chaos until the successor to the Stone was found," Raeyk responded quizzically.

"What about for Ether and Spirit?"

"The consequence would be much, much worse. Why?"

"Call me crazy, but what if that spirit wasn't meant for Princess Mirabella?" Jai'kar asked, examining a bit of glittery powder. "What if it was meant for a different Princess, or even Malone?"

"You may be onto something," Raeyk admitted. "But what about the box?"

"Oh, the box was definitely for Princess Mirabella, that's for certain," Jai'kar explained. "It was of Darklight make after all. This mana dust I found is a little puzzling though."

"Why would they bother using the box at all then if Princess Mirabella wasn't their target? And why is mana dust puzzling?"

"They probably thought that Princess Tali or Malone would go with her," Jai'kar stated in response to Raeyk's questions. "And the dust is puzzling because mana dust is usually used in runes, symbols of power, and summoning circles. It makes it look like someone, or something, summoned that spirit being and gave it specific instructions as to what to do. Quite recently too. I'd say a week ago at most, give or take a few days. The mana dust hasn't really had time to dissipate, and the air is thick with the stuff."

((Anyone notice Tali's new honorific? :D))

Emily smiled down at Tali as she was concerned for Emily. "Your too kind Tali!" Emily said still smiling. "You should be more worried about yourself, I only have a few bruised ribs, your nearly broken in two!" she said with a sad smile. "Don't worry for me, I will be fine!" She added and continued to stroke Tali's head. She looked up at Herold as he was jumping around and saying something, but she paid no mind to him figuring of they were going to leave then some one would come for the two of them. With a small sigh Emily relaxed herself and began to hum a slow and soothing tune for both herself and Tali.

Zack stopped beside Malone and heaved a sigh. "If I were you Malone, I would hurry to Emily and stay their!" He stated as he watched Mai flirt with Onyx. The two seemed to know each other, so Zack didn't bother with trying to save the dragon. Looking about Zack did notice Harold talking about getting cleaned up back on his ship, but with a small glance over to his sister and Ttali, it seemed like both of them were quite comfortable where they were. he could even here a familiar lullaby coming from Emily.

Malone jumped around when he heard Zack's comment quickly he went to aid her. Or try to at least since Emily seemed to already have everythign under control. "Seeing Harold again has me confused. Reminds me of our first journey here." Without thinking he slipped into telling the young woman what he'd been wanting to for a while. "That's probably when I realized that I love you." He looked away to see Onyx being attacked by the newest guardian.

"Get off me!" Roared the dragon while he pinned the nymph to the ground with his claws. Purposefully he leaned down and breathed in her face, letting out a belch.

(I'll post more later)