Ruins and relics, and spaces still undone (Shiny!!)

[Anonymous]

((Brought to you by Daylight! XD))

Being a faerie sucked. Everyone expected you to grant wishes, to wield wands made from willow with dragon heartstring cores, and to have wings and the like. So she did have wings, beautiful iridescent wings but the number of times she'd torn them when she'd tripped up playing in the turf!

All these gloomy thoughts were no good, Jae thought. They'd only make you age faster. Whether or not that was true still remained to be seen, but she hadn't dared disbelief the words of the other faeries. Maybe she was simply too naïve.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" Jae read aloud to the balmy air and the sunny sun, and to all that was good and bright and full of life on this world. Her eyes sparkled in her romantic imaginings, and as she twirled around in this lovely wooded glade, she could almost picture a gallant elfin knight riding up to her and fighting for her honour.

She clutched a small book to her chest and sighed dramatically, before plopping down on a rock to fan herself with her wings. The tiny book was faded leather, worn from the precious years of being kept and the name of the author of this book had long been lost; all she knew was that the poems were relics from an age long since gone. Now the words were passed down from word of mouth, and during her mother's adolescence, Jae's mother had scribbled them down avidly, during the period when an elfin lover had wooed her.

I wish an elf would love me, Jae thought to herself.

She really was too young and naïve and dramatic for her own good. All her friends said so. But if it wasn't for her, then they wouldn't have rescued that baby griffen which had fallen to the edge of some treacherous rocks. Or, that other time when they'd gone exploring and...

"Faerie, faerie, faerie!"

"Hmm?" She murmured. Opening her eyes, Jae looked down and saw that she was wearing a pearl white dress. "Oh, I must be dreaming again."

Jae smiled, a sparkling smile that can only be achieved in dreams. She was in a similar forest, only this one was slightly darker in atmosphere. Where there had been sweet smelling roses in the wood of her waking world, here thorns entwined with vines, twisting and burying their pain into the old, silently screaming oaks. The sky here was greyer too. In the distance, she heard the canter of horses hooves.

Who was it?

She listened with anticipation. Could it be her prince?

((Heh heh, feel free to interrupt! =P))

[Anonymous]

Are they gone? Nara's eyes, usually wide enough at the best of times, had taken on roughly the same size and shape as a pair of saucers. Small saucers, that is. At any rate, his expression looked almost painful.

Don't stop, Nyx replied, her own face pinched with anxiety.

A stream of complaints countered his big sister's order as Nara found himself being dragged along with his twin. He was tired; they'd been running for half an hour straight, flat-out, and Nyx wouldn't even let them check if the humans were still chasing them. Much as breathing was an issue, he was beginning to fear that his legs might fall clean off. It was obvious that his sister wanted to get as far away from the humans as possible, but if they both dropped dead, it sort of ruined the point of running for their lives.

And she called herself the logical one?!

"OW!" Nara yelped, trying to pause again in order to shake his head free of the sudden burst of pain. Nyx had lashed out like a mental whip, probably in direct response to his inner grumbling. Their clasped hands wobbled as he staggered on, still wincing. Are you getting stronger?

No, came the short reply. Nyx's other voice was always cool, even when she was making them run a four hour marathon in one. You're just getting weaker. I'm outrunning you, after all.

The cheap attempt worked, as it always did. She had a point, of course; she was the delicate, frail one. Nara was her protector; robust and brave and strong. He forced his legs to push and push, until they started to feel numb.
-
As their speed doubled, Nyx wished that her twin wasn't so predictable. Once he'd put his mind to it again, he was really flying, and her legs suddenly felt stupid and short. She couldn't seem to cover as much ground as he was taking on, and her lungs felt like they were on fire. In a way, it was a good thing. It took her mind off the fear that was still knotted, weaved in her stomach. She was fervently glad that her brother had stopped trying to look behind them, because she was terrified of what he might see. People had tried to kill them. For years, she'd been telling Nara that would happen, that humans were petty and the various other creatures were often cruel, and now she couldn't even bring herself to say 'I told you so!'

The trees began to flit past in a blur as Narayan strove to break some sort of Haithian landspeed record. The sight, combined with the heat of the day and the shortness of breath, was making Nyx sweat harder and feel lightheaded. Dizzy, even. As Nara ploughed on at breakneck speed, she felt her step faltering, and just as her knees turned to jelly, everything went into a sudden spin. Before her twin had even slowed his pace, the world floated away.
-
Nara had barely registered the strange feeling and his sister's stumbling when she went down like a falling tree. Trying at once to stop running and catch her, he found his momentum was simply carrying him forward with her. They both hit the grass of the small clearing, and then Nara was on his hands and knees, shaking his sister with a look of horror. His mind clamoured at her, but got no response. The silence spurred total panic; his eyes began to well as he shouted every which way, desperate to wake her up.

"Nyx! NYX!" With trembling hands, he poked at her cheeks and slapped her hands. "Wake up! WakeupwakeupWAKEUP why won't you wake up?!"

Suddenly afraid that the humans had done something to her when he wasn't looking, he began to choke on his own sobs, totally oblivious to the idea that she might simply have fainted.

[Anonymous]

A wonderful elfin knight in shining silver armour, with hair that was so long and flowing, rode up to her on a horse as white as the aura which radiated from his body. His motions were so fluid; he commanded the horse as if it were an extension of his own body, and when he lifted his visor, and fixed her with that deep, penetrating stare, Jae almost fainted on the spot. He was oh, so, dreamy.

"Wow," Jae said, eyes wide in disbelief.

She made as if to rise up from the stone where she was sat upon, but the knight raised a finger up to his lips, and she complied. He slid off his steed and walked over to her, inspecting her. Every gaze was like a caress to her young, overexcited and impressionable imagination. Even though it was a dream, she still felt the tingles, and a light sizzle of magic escaped her fingertips, a brief electric spark.

"What do we have here then?" He asked, in a voice she always imagined beautiful male elfin knights to have.

Jae blushed to the tips of her hair roots, and with a visible effort, strove to keep calm. However, her wing flutter speed increased somewhat, to cool her down.

"A young, beautiful, mute faerie?" He enquired with a sardonic smile.

"Uh..." She couldn't speak! The words just got trapped in her throat, and all she could do was to make guttural noises. It was as if a wall had been placed between her brain and her vocal cords.

The knight walked around her slowly, scrutinising her with a fierce intensity that bordered on being uncomfortable. All the while Jae shifted, fidgeting uneasily.

"...wings too small," he murmured thoughtfully.

Jae frowned. Whaaaaat??

"Squinty eyed, nose not in perfect alignment, ungraceful bone structure, fingers too long, insubstantial hair..."

Jae listened to this criticism, wide-eyed, and...and...and...

What in the name of Titiana?!?

"...lips too thin..."

"Waaaah!!" She wailed, and woke up, just as the two beings crashed into the arbour, shattering the dream-turned-nightmare, thankfully.

Jae shuddered, struggling to throw off the last few wisps of the nightmare that had clung to her. Daylight streamed through the mottled canopy of the trees, daylight tinted a candied green. The intrusion of the two beings had created a tremor in the forest, every tree and living being trembled at the crash. Birds had taken off, and even Jae had instinctively flung herself behind the rock.

But now, a few seconds later, the clamour had settled, and all was quiet. The birds returned, the butterflies resumed their feeding of the bluebell nectars, and one by one, the silent busy atmosphere of the forest resumed it's pace.

Jae's heart slowed down from it's mad rapid flutter, and once she caught her breath, she peeked from behind the rock, wings ready to flitter into action in a split second's notice.

Imagine her surprise to find two...human-like beings lying there! Humans didn't really come here much, this place was safely owned by the folk of the forest, but every now and then, a stray straggler would wander here, lost. After all, the main travelling path was only fifty metres or so away.

The two beings weren't moving, so Jae edged forwards, confidence slowly being restored. Her natural curiosity took over, and she spent the next minute inspecting them, much in the way the knight had done so in her dream. The two beings appeared to be male and female, other than that they looked pretty similar and if it wasn't for the tiny stone set in their skin, she would've thought they were human!

Just then, one of them stirred.

A split second later, Jae's wings had flitted into action and she was back behind the rock. She'd have to keep her wings so still...the tiniest beating would sound like a faint buzzing and could alert them to her presence. Here, she could observe what was gong on, and hopefully, they wouldn't realise.

"Nyx! NYX! Wake up! WakeupwakeupWAKEUP why won't you wake up?!"

Jae bolted upright at the sheer anguish in the being's voice. It seemed to be the male one, and...she couldn't help but raising her head and peeking over.

[Anonymous]

The first thing Nyx was aware of was a sore head. Perplexed, she opened her eyes and stared at the canopy of leaves above her, trying to work out why there was such a ringing in her ears. After a few moments, she correctly identified it as her brother's uncontrollable wailing, and once she'd done that, everything came back to her. She was aching and roasted and, most of all, very very thirsty.

I'm okay, she muttered (so to speak) as she slowly pulled herself upright. Nara, you're being a crybaby. Give over, will you?

The only discernable effect this had was to increase the volume and frequency of Narayan's sobs. Nyx held still as her twin threw his arms around her, eventually patting his back and waiting patiently for him to calm down. His emotions were so jumbled that her head spun again just being near them; she couldn't have stood up again if she'd wanted to. Raising a pale hand, she wiped the sweat from her forehead, wishing he would get himself under control before she died of dehydration.
-
The turmoil Nara was struggling with began to fade as his sister wordlessly soothed him, the touch on his back light and reassuring. He snuffled a little, then - as usual - wiped his face on the shoulder of her dress. Now that she was awake, and full of patience and what seemed to be thirst, he didn't need to panic. And if she was thirsty, then he would have to get her some water. That's what big brothers did, after all.

Releasing her, Nara plucked at his oversized shirt and wished there was a breeze to cool them down. It was exceptionally humid, if only to those who'd been running around for half an hour.

I'll find a stream, okay? Wait here, and make sure you're in the shade.

Wait, Nyx responded, immediately. What happened to the water skin?

Nara's face fell again, and a moment later his head did, too.

I lost our bag in the ruins. He could feel his twin's disappointment as clear as day, and instinctively began chewing on his knuckle. I'll make up for it. Just as he promised this, he realised there was a nagging feeling amidst his own; one that had been there for a while. It must have been Nyx's. What are you so curious about?

What? Nyx answered, feeling every bit as perplexed as she sounded. Nara's bafflement echoed hers, but he put a finger to his lips to signal silence. In their case, silence stretched beyond not talking or moving; Nyx would have to try not to think or feel very much. It wasn't an easy job.

Very slowly, Nara turned around. At first, he couldn't see anything, but the feelings were still there. He tried to work out which direction they were coming from, but that never really worked out. He was certain, though, that there was somebody there. He didn't feel what animals felt. Turning his head this way and that, he cleared his throat.

"I know somebody's there," he called, testing the water. A few seconds later, he felt another wave of thirst wash over him, and he glanced at Nyx. She grimaced briefly; it was hard to hide things like that. "If... if there's anyone there, do you know where we can find water? My sister's sick. We won't hurt you, I promise!"

Nara.

What?

What if it's one of those men?

"Oh." His voice sounded quite blank. "I didn't think of that."

[Anonymous]

When the two beings stood up, Jae noted just how small they were. Ah, kinda like my size, she thought happily. She wasn't one of the miniscule fey, and if it wasn't for her butterfly wings, she could pass herself off as an incredibly tiny dwarfish human. She'd never tried it before though, but figured that if she threw a cloak over her body and kept her wings folded reeeal nice and tight, or if she paid attention in advanced magic studies, then it'd be a challenge well met.

As it was, she preferred her daydreams and poetry. Speaking of poetry, Jae glanced around her immediate vicinity, but all that lay here were leafy ferns and jewelled grass. The book, the book! Where was the book? Ye gods, what would she do without her book?

Her florid tome turned out to be by a log, a foot away from one of the beings, the male looking one. Jae's fidgeting was almost beyond control now. What if...what if he picked it up and read through it!?!? Such a hysterical thought almost caused a high-pitched sound to emit from her throat. It was all she could do to control her wing-beat.

Jae's attention flicked back to the two beings, who were behaving extremely oddly. Jae cocked her head to the side and scrutinised them with her eyes scrunched up. Such strange behaviour.

The hairs on the back of her neck began to prickle when the male began to turn around slowly, as if he was sensing her presence. Holy Titania did he have some ultra weird radar?!

Waaaaah!! Jae closed her eyes and shook her head, striving to wake up. But when she opened them again, she was still here in this clearing, with two potentially dangerous beings, one of whom seemed to have sensed her.

"I know somebody's there."

No-you-don't-there's-nobody-here-nobody-at-all, Jae thought furiously.

Suddenly she had an idea. If it worked, then all would be good, and she could retrieve her book and be out of here in two seconds flat. If not, then, well... Cracking the knuckles of her fingers, Jae wiggled her fingertips. She'd recently upgraded from a wand to using her own body as a channel for magic. Of course some faeries preferred to use wands, but in class, it was standard to learn to channel magic through your body, in case your wand broke. For the faeries who invested all their time in their wands, once the wand broke, it was the same as if their soul was snapped in half, a tale her teachers used to try and persuade the unwilling faeries to abandon their willows, and their oaks, and their phoenix tail wands.

Jae lifted a finger and pointed at a tree, willing for something to happen.

Something did.

The tree shook, and suddenly, globes of white fruit tumbled down from the branches. She sincerely hoped it would distract them enough so she could get her book. Keeping her eye on the two beings, she edged across the glade, inching her way to the log...almost there...

"If... if there's anyone there, do you know where we can find water? My sister's sick. We won't hurt you, I promise!"

"Kra'jit!" She swore softly to herself, frozen in a half-step, sincerely hoping they wouldn't turn around.

[Anonymous]

Nyx edged backwards, beneath a tall tree of impressive girth. It was a combination of both shade and possible protection if anybody murderous leapt out. No sooner had her heel found the trunk, however, than a shower of something regrettably unlike water burst from the boughs. She gave a silent yelp that nearly caused her twin to leap out of his skin, and raised her arms just in time to block a few hits from thunking her head. She could tell Nara was dropping everything - metaphorically speaking, since they didn't actually have anything to carry anymore - to rush over, and irritably waved a hand that was trying to cradle her skull.

It's nothing, just the wind! Find out if it's one of those men!

What they would do if it was one of those men, neither of them tried to think about. Haithians weren't the fighting type, and particularly not Nara. Nyx could possibly sneeze on them, but really, running was their only option - and that had just disappeared.

"Kra'jit!"

Startled again, Nara jumped slightly, whirling around and holding up his hands in a gesture of instinctive submission. His eyes locked on... a someone. He couldn't find a better description than that. It was a someone with wings.

Nyx, check it out! It's like those little spirits back home! Only big! Look!

Does it have water? came the tired reply. Nyx clearly felt that if it wasn't an immediate threat, it was nothing of great importance.

"Hi!" Nara burbled, a grin blooming on his face. "Thanks for coming out!"

I don't think she meant to, Nara.

"She did," Nyx's twin answered, defensively. He looked back towards the fairy, his expression infused with hope and defiance of his sister's cynicism. "You did, right? You came to help us find water! Thank you!"

I bet she's the one that threw that fruit at me.

Don't be so mean, Nyx! She can help us. I thought you'd be glad she wasn't one of those men.

A vague snort sounded from the tree behind him as Nyx considered this.

At least I know where we stand with those men.

[Anonymous]

Jae blinked once, then again, foot still frozen in the air. This wasn't going so well at all then. Her magic party trick sucked, and instead of sneaking around suavely, she'd just blown her cover by swearing. She'd jumped the shotgun, hadn't she? Jumped the shotgun, and assumed that she'd been discovered. Heck, the speaker's question could've even been directed at another Mysterious Hidden Entity. But if it was, then she was Mysterious Hidden Entity #1 and the other one was Mysterious Hidden Entity #2. Her overactive imagination sped on, and it was only when her leg muscle grew tired that she realised she was still stuck in this position.

Both feet now on the ground, with her body less tense, Jae swallowed, meeting eyes with the young male. She'd expected hostility of some sort, but there was nothing unfriendly in his large amber eyes. In fact, everything about him seemed open, and her shrewd personality assessment was followed up by his enthusiastic chirpy greeting.

"Hi! Thanks for coming out!"

"Hi too!" Jae said with a high pitched eeping noise.

She glanced at the other female, who was currently underneath the tree of bombarding white fruit. The white globes had ceased to fall from the tree. She wondered if they knew just how succulent and juicy those fruits were. The female didn't look quite as open as the male did; there was something guarded in the wary way she regarded Jae.

Jae's attention flicked back to the male. She expected him to say something else, and was rather surprised when he next opened his mouth, for the words he spoke made no sense at all to her!

"She did."

I did...what? Jae's head cocked to the side in a silent question.

"You did, right?"

Uh...

"You came to help us find water! Thank you!"

"Oh, sure." Jae's face finally broke into understanding. "I will, after..." Darting to the clump of leafy ferns, she kneeled down against the rotting log and fumbled around in the grass, whilst her head was turned towards the male, smiling stupidly. Her hands closed around the rough leather of her book, and she clutched it close to her heart as she stood up.

"You said your sister's sick?" She tilted her head to the side again, addressing the male, for he looked as if he'd be more responding than the female would be. It wasn't that Jae was ignoring the other girl; it was more a case of not knowing what she would be like. "There is a stream about fifty metres this way, if you'll follow me."

Always wanting to be helpful, Jae skipped towards a little path by the white fruit tree. Twirling around, she lifted an arm up and a shower of blue sparks drifted over her body, causing it to shrink until she was a foot tall. With a leap, her wings began to beat and she rose a metre and a half above ground, still clutching the book, which was now about half her size.

"It'll be quicker for me to lead you if I'm like this," she said. Her voice was now a tinkling of bluebell, and she buzzed once around the male, before indicating him to follow her.

Jae zipped through the air, pausing every now and then to make sure the siblings were still behind her. In her miniature form, she didn't have to worry about tripping over the great gnarled roots of the patriarch trees, or about stepping into anything any animal may have left behind, or about having branches being whacked into her face. In fact, when she was in her larger form, she spent so much time worrying about all these things that when she got to a place, she'd often forgotten why she wanted to go there in the first place.

They had to get through some extremely tangled and brambly undergrowth before they reached the stream. Jae's nostrils were overcome with the scent of wild roses, and she fluttered her wings happily as she breathed in deeply. Did the others appreciate nature as much as she did?

Speaking of them, where were they? Jae glanced around, wondering if she'd gone ahead too far or not.

[Anonymous]

Nara shifted from foot to foot as he watched the fairy dig around for something in the grass. Behind them, Nyx rather sullenly kicked a fallen fruit out of the way before turning her gaze back to the intruder. It was occurring to her that perhaps the sudden rain of fruit hadn't been due to a distant wind after all. To be honest, she'd said that mostly to stop Nara dropping everything to protect her from fruit-based missiles, but now didn't seem like a good time to mention it. Her brother was clearly about to explode with delirious glee.

Sometimes it was really, really hard to be Narayan's twin.

"You said your sister's sick?"

Only a little, Nyx protested. Her general avoidance of speaking verbally rendered it a fairly useless thing to do.

"There is a stream about fifty metres this way, if you'll follow me."

"Great!" Nara answered, his whole face lighting up. "That's really great of you, it's just- it's so-"

"Great." The single word emerged from Nyx, whose expression was carefully blank. By comparison to her twin's, though, it practically became a glower of hatred. We don't know her, Narayan. She could be taking us anywhere.

At times like these, Nara felt really bad for his sister. She wasn't really empathic, not like he and the rest of their race. She had no idea what it was like to feel the emotions of other people like they were her own, and she could never understand why he seemed so trusting of strangers. It must have been like watching a play in another language, or reading a book with every other sentence blanked out. The only person she could relate to on such a level was Nara himself, and she was always afraid somebody would break into that private world somehow. Instead of being upset that Nyx treated everyone they met like an enemy, he got upset that he had to act as a translator for them, and that she could never really believe what he said.

She wants to help, I promise. And loooook, look! She's going all little! It's just like being back home, isn't it?

Nara and his eager smile followed the fairy as she darted on, feeling slightly clumsy when he tripped and stumbled now and then. Without really thinking about it, he held his hand out to grasp Nyx's as she stumped along beside him, her brows drawn together. She made no reply to his nostalgic comment, and stayed conspicuously silent as they followed their guide. Before long, however, they ran into a little trouble. A thick tangle of undergrowth claimed one of Nyx's feet and half her lower leg. Nara tried to drag her out of it, but the brambles scraped at her skin and they both whined at the sting. His face contorting with worry again, Nara turned to ask their guide for help, and alarm flickered when he realised the little winged girl had disappeared.

"Uh, Fairy? Fairy Type Person! We- we need some more help, please!"

I knew it, Nyx muttered darkly as she tried to pry the vice of brambles away from her skin. She meant for this to happen. Just because she has wings doesn't mean she's good! You are so gullible sometimes.

"Nyx is stuck!" Nara called again, blatantly ignoring his sister. She couldn't help it, after all. "I think the forest wants to eat her!"

He didn't turn around in time to see Nyx pressing a hand to her forehead as she sighed.

[Anonymous]

"Male, female?" Jae called to the still, balmy air. In response, the wind shook the leaves, and a strain of birdsong filtered through the sentient woodland. She thought she heard a muffled sound that could've been the male's voice.

Hmm, so perhaps she had flown a little too quickly. Jae bit her lip, darting to and fro as she tried to decide what to do. It had only been five metres since she had last glanced around, so chances were, the two beings were somewhere behind the thicket she had easily sailed through. That dense, thorny thicket...

"Kra'jit!" Jae swore, slapping her forehead.

Slightly slow on the uptake, she'd finally realised what the problem was. In her miniature form, she could get through easily. Dodging the thorns and zipping through the gaps proved to be no problem, if you were one foot tall. On the other hand, if she'd been her larger size...!

This was her first adventure, and already she'd screwed up! She was such a failure, in lessons and in real life. She couldn't even get two travellers from A to B, and yet, in her fairytales the protagonists always came across obstacles, and they always rose up to the challenge. Jae could do that.

Retracing her flight path, she flew more slowly, trying to see where the two beings were, but it was a lot darker here, and the dense undergrowth seemed to stretch for ages, well, that's how it seemed for such a small being.

Wait...squinting, she raised a hand to her forehead, in the way the sailors did when shielding their eyes from the sun, and scanned the thicket. So it wasn't really sunny at all over here. She only did it because that's what she thought other people would do in this situation. Jae was somewhere in the middle of the brambly thicket, and down here, the sounds were oddly muffled, as if they'd been swallowed up by the forest itself. The atmosphere pressed down too, so the air hung heavy.

"Aha!" A gasp of relief escaped her tiny body, and her chest heaved a sigh. "There you are!"

She flew over to the two struggling bodies, and assessed the situation. They were much too big to get through here, and add to that, they'd unfortunately encountered the Snare Vines, creepers that locked onto movement with their tendrils. Jae gulped, not wanting to say that the vines were carnivorous.

In herbology, she'd learned that what the vines did was this: first they would be inanimate, until something was unfortunate enough to brush up against the vines. Then, tendrils would wrap around the victim, and digestive juices would be secreted. All of this could happen rather quickly, depending on how hungry the plants were. For vines with beautiful white flowers, they sure as hell were a deadly lure.

So, when Nara had said that he thought the forest wanted to eat his sister, how close had he been to the truth!

"I can't believe I forgot how hard it would be for you two to get through here," she half-wailed, zipping backwards and forwards frantically like a bee. Her eyes never left the vines, and she furiously tried to think of a way to get them free, without alarming them to their fate.

One of the ways to free someone from the grip of the vines was to find the root bulb, the source of the vine, and stab it a few times. The plant would recoil in pain, giving the trapped enough time to escape. Unfortunately, the root bulb would be extremely hard to find down here where the light was dark and mottled, and where so many other plants grew. Jae also didn't want to touch the vines herself in case she got trapped.

After a few seconds of buzzing around, she couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"Um, I hate to break it to you, but the vines you are trapped in have a carnivorous agenda." She hastily added, "But don't fret or struggle any more! I will help you!"

With that, she dropped her book to the ground, and began her search for the root bulb. Please, please, please let the plant already be well fed, she hoped, crossing her fingers in a silent wish.

[Anonymous]

By the time the fairy returned, Nyx was feeling distinctly unhappy. The skin around her lower leg felt itchy and hot, and Nara's bemusement and alarm was beginning to give her a headache. Sourly making a point to ignore the little creature's exclamations, Nyx joined her twin in trying to yank the vines away.

It's okay, Narayan informed her, sounding oddly cheerful. The fairy will help you get out.

He straightened up a moment later, turning to watch the fairy as she buzzed about and feeling proud that he had managed to calm down so quickly. Unfortunately, his newfound serenity was destined to be short-lived.

"Um, I hate to break it to you, but the vines you are trapped in have a carnivorous agenda."

WHAT?

WHAT?

The two yelps blended with each other as the fairy's words sank in with hideous clarity.

"But don't fret or struggle any more! I will help you!"

Nara's hands went to his head, where his fingers clamped down on bunches of hair and pulled slightly. He could feel the panic welling up, ready to burst at any moment and send him sobbing and shrieking to his sister, whom he estimated didn't really need that sort of behaviour right at this moment. His eyes squeezed shut and he tried to start counting backwards from ten while breathing deeply, more as a favour to Nyx than a desire to stop overreacting.

Meanwhile, because a balance always worked itself out between the twins, Nyx was thrown into a panicked frenzy. Forgetting all about the advice not to fret or struggle, she dived down again and dragged furiously at the vines. They tightened their hold and the burning sensation increased twofold, which did nothing for Nyx's current state of mind. Almost swallowing her own tongue, she grabbed a free vine and hauled on it, trying to hurt the plant into letting her go. Instead, it whipped around with surprising speed. Before she could grasp what was going on, it had firmly encircled her wrist, with ambitions shoulderward.

"It got my arm!" It no longer mattered if the fairy was out to get them or not; Nara was standing around being quiet and generally useless and, of course, IT HAD HER ARM. "It got my arm and it has my leg and it's going to eat me, isn't it?!"

"Of course not!" Nara cried, his eyes still shut. "The fairy's gone to help! It's going to be okay! I got as far as four, even!"

For just a few seconds, clips of Nyx's life filtered through her mind. They included catching the plague, every virus, bug and cold going around, getting slightly kidnapped and almost murdered several times - mostly due to Nara's determination to Make Friends - and finding carnivorous plants that mistook her for a tasty treat.

"Why?" She groaned, through gritted teeth. "Why is it always me?"

[Anonymous]

The struggles of the two beings attracted Jae's attention, causing her to glance up from her search. Damn, she shouldn't have said anything to them about the plant! If she'd known they would struggle, then she would've just kept quiet. Jae gulped, shaking her head silently. Silly, silly, silly!

Flitting back up to the twins, she burst out, "Please don't do that! You're going to make it worse!"

Wringing her hands, she zipped and darted between the sinister vines, so they couldn't catch her. But it seemed as if they couldn't hear her anymore. Jae caught a manic look in the male's eyes, before they were squeezed shut. Oh no, he was shutting down on her. Jae bit her lip, suppressing the panic that was rising in her throat.

"It got my arm!"

The yelp drew Jae towards the other being, the female, whose eyes now echoed the look of pure fear in the male's. Oh, please stop, can't you see you're making it worse?! Jae shook her head in sheer frustration. The plant hadn't started to secrete anything yet- she would know, for in herbology the teacher had brought in a bottle of the most rancid smelling liquid ever. It was a golden yellow in colour, and even uncorking it for a second had caused half of the class to lose the contents of their stomachs.

Jae didn't plan on being around for the smell for the second time. She hadn't been particularly brave back in the class, but now, she had to. This was a life threatening situation-and-thank-the-heavens-she-had-been-paying-attention-in-class!

Stop hyperventilating!

Get a grip on yourself, she thought, clenching her teeth and her fists to make a point. Both of the beings were lost to her until she got them freed. They had that lost look in their eyes, a look that was all too common with humans.

And then things got ten times worse, when the girl made a lunge for one of the vines. The lithe, snaky stems whipped round, locking onto her movements with a predatory intensity that chilled Jae's blood.

"Please," she wailed, not wanting to see anymore. She huddled into a ball, with her fists covering her eyes, and took a few deep breaths, trying to clear her mind. What would the heroes and heroines do in a situation like this? They would expect her to be brave, to be level-headed. But it was easier said than done. When it came down to it...

No, this was her fault! That one thought snapped Jae out of it, and at that, she darted back down, redoubling her efforts to locate the heart of the plant. She couldn't be sure, but a minute later, she thought she'd found it, half under a stone. It took all her muscles to strain and struggle before the stone came loose, revealing a large, angry looking purple bulb. She imagined it pulsating with life, and bit her lip. She couldn't kill a plant could she?

She was just going to hurt it.

With a sharp stick in her hand, Jae glanced once more at the beings, one of which seemed to have gone catatonic. Jae emitted a wail, and plunged the stick into the bulb. Her wail was echoed by a thin high pitched squeal that sounded alien to her ears. The plant responded in the only way it could, by relaxing it's grip on the two bodied, which fell to the ground with two heavy thumps.

"Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod," she breathed, hyperventilating again, eyes wide. Now her panic escalated. Flitting over, she darted around them both, hoping that they would do something, anything! What if she had been too late? What if they had been strangled? A sob escaped her throat, and she clung to the boy's clothing, shaking him gently but hopelessly.