((I know what you mean. I've had that on more than one occasion))

((This is like the 3rd time I've had Strep throat in my life >< It sucks. It hurts to take, to shallow, to cough.))

"Hold tight." Columbus told him before breaking out into long leaping strides. It was true, traveling this way seemed to be much faster but how much further did they have to go? How big was a soul really? Or was it so big in here because Ceres had lived for so long? Did Souls have sizes?

Regardless, Columbus did not slow down till they ended up in a large valley with floating clouds with what appeared to be images playing on them. "Valley of the Past. Memories from her past. We must be careful here. Do not disturb the clouds." Columbus said walking carefully around one bubble.

Loki turned his head and before he could react a cloud flomped onto his face.

*
It was dark as the world around him began to appear. Laughter, a childish voice singing nursery rhyme. He appeared in a strange garden of sorts where spirits of all kinds roamed about.


A little girl with short curly pink hair came running past him, singing in a language he couldn't understand but after a moment or two, he seemed to start understand it.

"Red Ribbon, Red Ribbon, all tied in a bow, I wonder if it will let my heart grow. Red Ribbon, Red Ribbon..." She sang to herself taking water from the pond and sling shotting it onto the garden beds with her magic.

"So, let's see it." Came a voice behind Loki, and there standing against the entrance to the garden was a boy with black hair and red eyes; the same age as this little girl.

"You know, it's rude to sneak up on people." The little girl put her hands on her hips and took a wide stance but it was clear she was happy to see him as her pout turned into a grin.

The change in environment threw Loki for a bit of a loop. He cocked his head to the side while watching the young Ceres skip around and sing, a bit of a smile touching his lips. The appearance of the boy however caused the smile of falter. The king turned to look at him, not entirely fond of the red in his eyes.

There was something familiar about the boy but it wasn't clear what exactly.

The boy had a soul gem just like Ceres only his was a dark Reddish pink. He grinned at Ceres' statement, "If I had done that I would have..." He raced over and chased Ceres around and around until they both flomped over onto the grass.

"You're silly." Ceres giggled sitting up.
"And you're clever." The boy said, each clearing refering to themselves.

"You wanna see?" The little boy sat up and nodded. Ceres took a deep breath and placed her palms on the ground and a crystal rose bloomed.

"Wow. Creation magic huh?"
Little Ceres nodded, "Here." She took his palms and placed them on a new patch of ground, her palms over his.

"Ceres, what are you?" He began but as soon as their hands touched he stopped and stared. Ceres did the same. It was like something clicked in their heads at the same time.

"I'll teach you." She smiled sweetly.
"You know it doesn't work like that." He looked down at their touching hands. She gripped his tighter.
"I believe you can... Just try. Here I'll help." She said starting the magic off. Her pink magic and his red began to wrap together as a plant began to grow.

"Ceres..."
"Does this feel..." Ceres continued his sentence as the plant burst up between them a mixture of dark and bright colours blossomed as the stem shot high into the sky.
"Ceres I can't stop."
"Neither can I." The two began to panic unable to let go of each other. The sky above them began to twist and turn in ways a sky should not. The spirits in the garden hid in fear.

Ceres let out a scream.

Stepping forward with some haste, Loki reached out to grab her, "Ceres-Ceres!" he called

She didn't react to him and he felt a tingle in his stomach as he saw someone run through him to get to Ceres. His dark skinned arms wrapped around Ceres and a flash of multi coloured light filled the area.

Their magic stopped, the flower disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Are you alright, sweetie?" The man asked.
"True Daddy?" She looked up at him as tears started to form, "I... I..."
"It's ok, dry those eyes." He said softly setting her down. He turned, "Boy." A sort of hate filled his eyes as he advanced.
"No Daddy. It was an accident!"
"No... this was no accident. I can see that clearly now." The boy crawled backward, scared.

"Please sir, I-" The boy began to beg.
The man with hair of many shades raised his arm in a means to slap the boy but Ceres wrapped her arms around him.
"Ceres mov-"
"No! He's my special."

The man's face turned pale, whatever he had realized it was more than clear at that moment.

"Are you two alright?"

Ceres turned, "Mommy, please!"

The woman approached along with a teenaged girl with long red braided hair. The woman looking very famailar indeed to Loki.

"Vesta, take your sister home." The woman ordered seeing the look in her husband's eyes. "Klarion...go home."

The man who appeared to be True father seemed to be really to burst at the seems with rage but the look Ceres was giving him, his hand gripped into a fist.

Ceres argued with Vesta as she was scooped up and carried away, the little boy once no longer holding onto Ceres made a break for it.

The image began to fade as Ceres started to cry into Vesta's shoulder as harsh voices from the garden began to yell at one another.

Loki only managed to hear a few sentences as that's what Ceres heard as Vesta carried her as quickly as she could away. The scenery around Loki following Ceres as this was her memory.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!?"
"...You're so obsessed with your mortals you can't even have time for what's really important!"

The image faded more and more and Loki could feel like someone was pulling on his pant leg.

Loki could feel his teeth grinding a bit in anger, the tugging on his pant leg pulled him out of it as he blinked and looked to see what it was.

It was nothing he could see but seconds later the world around him vanished as Columbus pulled out of the cloud. "Are you alright?" He said, a worried motherly look to his eyes.

Loki shook his head to get rid of the odd feeling it left with him. "I am perfectly fine" he replied, pinching the bridge of his nose as he thought about what he had seen. Klarion, that certainly explained his great interest in Ceres.

"Do you want to talk about it?" It was obvious Loki was not fine. Columbus started walking along a path through the valley. Perhaps it would be best if Loki didn't ride his back through here. Who knows what other memories he'd get his head in. "You didn't try and interact with it did you?"

Loki paused, "... Why would that be a negative thing?"

"The darkness would know and try and prevent us from getting to the center. Let's hurry."

"I thought the darkness would welcome my arrival" Loki commented, "seeing as how it apparently wants to get back to me"

"True... But right now it has full control over Ceres. She's no longer resisting it... why she hasn't mounted you already I can't say... I suppose it would try to take you over if it got the chance in here..."

"... that is a lovely sentiment" Loki replied dryly, "and she has tried..."

"Tried yes. But now it just has to pick up the pieces just enough to get her functioning again." The large cat jumped onto a set of giant sized stairs leading up into the gloomy clouds above. "The air will bet getting thicker, let me know if you need aid climbing."

"I shall be fine" Loki replied as ever.

The air began to get thick like jello as the climbed higher and higher. Yet Columbus didn't seem as affected by this as Loki seemed; he was about 5 steps ahead of Loki.

Once at the top the walked down a great hall of sorts till they reached the center room. The air was so thick it felt like walking through mud and there was dark fog everywhere. A faint bird like chirp could be heard very faintly.


In the center of the room was a ginormous spiraling tree, hovering above a man made pond. The tree looked to be dying as leaves slowly fell down onto the calm surface of the water.


"There." Columbus pointed out the small golden bird cage high in the tree which had a strange reddish glow surrounding it.

And a large black smoke like snake was ramming itself over and over at the cage, trying to get whatever was inside.

*FLAIL!*