Ugh... Exams are such a pain in the butt. I want to get to the next chapter but I have to study for the finals. Grr... Well anyways. We see who the Black Plague is. I've also been reading "Wicked Lovely" by Melissa Marr and added a summary in the story... it's a good book.

I do not own work of Wickedly lovely, Paramore's Emergency, nor Losh...

-LadyProtecta out! PEACE!

As time passed by, the meal became rather…awkward. Brainy, in a snobbish manner watched from his fork as his “acquaintance” shoved the food down her throat in a bashful mood. He chewed slowly, scowling at the fact that she still had not grown from her rude habits and was utterly disgusted to the fact that he once enjoyed them. She looked up and blushed at his glare, feeling rather guilty than embarrassed of her actions. She swallowed slowly and awkwardly coughed as she sunk deeper into her chair. He drummed his fingertips against the table while making invisible circles around her with his fork.

“Hey…” she looked up to see him sipping his coffee, his neon green eyes were like toxic, a drug that she struggled to get rid of. She bit her lip and shifted her gaze to the floor.

“Just because we’re not friends anymore doesn’t mean you can give me the cold shoulder, Salu…” his voice pierced her soul. She leapt up and quickly retreated to the soft leather couch with a book, wishing this was all just some freakish nightmare and that she would wake up and it would all be over. The door slammed behind her and she let out a sigh of relief and snuggled into the pillow and fell asleep.

Drew threw another useless scroll on the tile floor. “WHY! ALL OUR PEOPLE’S HISTORY IS USELESS!” he cried. Skittles looked up from a well inked drawn of a map and shook her head.

“You’re only going to cause earthquakes dear brother…” she sighed. A mischievous grin spread on her face at the amusing event earlier when she locked Abel in the kitchen closet. She knew he would awake soon to see the cook rather, red in the face with a knife in hand.

“Oh and your destruction isn’t bad enough…”

“You’re right… keep at it… but this time use magic…” she took out a compass and began to trace the longitude of the map.

The noble lord sighed and emptied out all of his thoughts. He paced to and fro, cradling a book that was located in the forgotten shelves of the archives. He violently coughed a cloud of dust burst out of the murky colored pages of the ancient book. Like many of the books of knowledge of the magic planets, the book spoke to the boy.

“What is it you asked,” its voice rattled the pages.

“Please, I wish to know of the forbidden lives of the cursed races… ones that were beyond the times of Lady Areses and Clark Kent. The Medusians, the ones who nearly killed the Titans’ race. Only wise ones know of there whereabouts and many have forgotten their presence. Present me the knowledge as well.”

The room shifted and Drew no longer could hear his barbaric sister’s footsteps echoing the room. He opened his eyes to a world of burning land and polluted waters. The trees were barren like skeletons without flesh and the sky was nothing but clouds of smoke. Drew fell to his hands and knees, feeling the pain of the world around him. It was dying.

Bones of the animals that once lived there perished in the flames as screams echoed the canyons. Drew laid to the ground, accepting the pain that the ground fed to his young soul. A cold touch laid against his leg and he turned and screamed as he stared into eyeless sockets of a undead warrior of an unknown species.

“Water… Water!” it screamed. As if the eyes were still intact, it’s gaze pierced the boy’s soul.

“A mage… and human… come to me… I need your body to live!” He realized that this was a Medusian not an unknown species.

“Friznotimious!” Drew’s eyes flashed in terror as energy spilled from his body and into the undead being’s bones. The creature shrieked but kept its hold, growing increasingly immune to the young Mage’s powers. Drew gasped as his powers weakened his magic and he groaned in pain as the last of his energy was drained. On this world… this world that the book brought him to… was against his powers and was killing him off slowly.

“Foolish mortal child… this may be just a story of history… but this world is real. You are in this world… our world… We will-”

“Oh can it, Grandpa!” A giant silver sword cut through the Medusian warrior’s skull and the body fell to dust. As the dust blew away, a smirking reflection with mysterious magenta eyes stood in the undead Medusian’s place, offering him a relieving hand.

“Brothers… oh you are all so typical that it ceases to amuse me,” she grinned, tapping on the hilt of her sword.

“Oh shut it, Lady of the insanity.” Drew took her hand and she swung his arm around her neck. Her eyes reflected the colors of the burning land and the childish grin was wiped from her face as she waved her hand in the air. Instantly water bled from her fingers and swept through the land. He looked into her eyes and saw she was in pain as well… much more pain as the world cried out to the daughter of nature. But not as much that could make her show the pain physically.

“They destroyed their own word… nearly their own kind,” he gasped. They moved throughout this vast and hell-like dimension with Skittles transferring the harmful flames into healing green fires for her brother, uncovering answers that were bizarre to even the greatest of minds.

The roar of thunder caused his eyes to immediately open without warning. He sat up from the bed and franticly looked about the dark room. His heart raced as a smell of a pungent gas wrinkled his nose and Zero’s constant barks rang in his ears. He jumped out of the bed and flung open the door to feel the full force of the stench.

There doubling over a trashcan was his hostess. Her snow-white face was stained with a blush of pea green, and her ratty black and violet hair was soaked with sweat and some other substance that he didn’t want to figure out. Her four-legged, moonlight colored fur companion laid underneath the kitchen table, whimpering pitifully. Her delicate body trembled uncontrollably.

“Sprock… I feel like Psyche,” she mumbled when she caught sight of him. He flinched at the statement. Before he could even have a chance to see her crystal eyes, her bangs flopped back down. She scooted towards the corner and pulled herself up. The sink filled to the brim with water spilling. She drew in a deep breath and plunged head into the clear blue water for at least ten seconds.

Brainiac rolled his eyes at her exaggerated action and stormed over to the sink and pulled her head out. She gasped and coughed up the water.

“Idiot… what are you trying to do, kill yourself?” he snapped. She turned to look at him, water splattering all over his face. He glared at her and nearly clenched his fists. Stubborn girl… such a childish fool who acted rashly. And there staring back was two amethyst colored eyes filled with innocence and fear, like a child realizing that she had done something bad. He suddenly felt his arm tug at his undershirt as his heart somersaulted at least two times. She turned away to avoid his gaze and slammed to medicine drawer open, snatching a white bottle filled with giant vitamin capsules. She filled a glass with iced water and shoved the pill into her mouth, taking at least three disgusted gulps to swallow it. Tears dribbled down her pale cheeks as she choked on the last gulp and slammed the cabinet door. She leaned against the counter, her face in her hands.

Far across the room, the radio blared Paramore’s song “Emergency”:

“It's really not your fault
That no one cares to talk about it,
Talk about it

Cause I've seen love die
Way too many times
When it deserved to be alive
(When it deserved to be alive)
I've seen you cry
Way too many times
When you deserve to be alive, alive”

Violet could still feel his daunting presence standing right in front of her. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? It was bad enough that her life was a wreck… one of the events was his fault. And yet she couldn’t bring it to terms to tell him the truth about her problem.

They were once young and naïve and in love, they did know better. But that one night when the electricity failed and fear had overwhelmed them, they clung to each other for warmth… and it went downhill from there.

And here they were… so ever far apart and he didn’t know anything… so she kept silent. The words to the song haunting her like a broken record till she began to cry again… just right in front of him.

Abel watched the girl of his life walk boldly down the velvet red carpet towards the Emperor, her hair accessories clinking together in tune to each step to took. She just looked so beautiful despite her fierce expression. If only she took his feelings seriously. He wasn’t teasing her… he truly wasn’t. He would just have to settle with loving her from a far.

“You still madly in love with my twin sister?”

He turned to see the grinning brother of his love. He smiled in return as he shook his head sadly.

“I wish she knew… and that she felt the same way for me as well,” he sighed. Drew snickered.

“Oh and Ayla hasn’t rejected your feelings yet!” Drew blushed at the thought of the light blue-eyed sister of Garth. Abel slapped his head with a laugh; his teal eyes sparkled with amusement. He and Drew had been very good pals since the very first time he had met the Keonden. Inside his heart he could understand how the twins had coped with loneliness. For once a upon a time, he was lonely child gifted with an intelligent mind. His robotic caretaker was destroyed and he was destined to create the very item that saved a dangerous enemy in the future. Yet he was saved and given a second chance for life and found a family his very own.

He turned back to look at Drew and found him looking doubtful of a thought that was currently occupying his mind.

“What’s up?” He asked as he smoothened out his golden tunic. He hated it when Drew held that “oh so serious” look. The noble shook his head in somber.

“We found a monster in the misted of the Legion…” his voice sounded like one of an android.

“Everyone looks different, Drew…”

“It’s not that… she’s of a dangerous race … one that pollutes a being’s mind. It was our br- our ally, Brainiac 5.1’s second ex-girlfriend. We do not know if she has damaged anyone else’s mind but we are struggling to stop her and her race. Skittles is now warning his majesty of this horrid event.”

Abel cocked his head… of course he never really knew what they were talking about. It was usually about magic and what not. This type of stuff wasn’t him. Instead of listening to his wise friend, he continued to gawk over the beauty of his barbarian twin sister.

A wet floppy tongue smeared drool all over her face and she opened her eyes to see the white German Shepherd madly wagging his tail in greeting.

“Morning Zero…” she groaned. She slowly got up and hobbled to the kitchen, coughing at the smell of her barf lingering in the trashcan. She sprayed Febreze all over the kitchen, covering it in a cloud of spring flowers. Her stomach growled unhappily, wanting to be fed right at that very moment. She gave a small grin and opened the fridge.

Soon the smell of scrambled eggs and greasy bacon replaced the pungent smell of barf and spring flowers. Zero’s mouth foamed with drool that was dripping to the floor, creating a little puddle. His bushy white tail eagerly swept against the dirty tiled floor as if it were a broom. Violet hummed quietly to a lullaby the twins’ birth mother had once sung to them.

A cold hand settled itself on the surface of her pale forehead and she felt something lean against her. His breath tickled her ear and made her tremble at his touch. Everything around her became fuzzy and she felt so nauseated that she seemed to collapse the very being holding her up.

“You don’t have a fever, so you can stop faking it,” his satin like voice lingered on every word, luring her deeper and deeper into that stupid trance she struggled to avoid. With her quick reflexes, she grabbed his hand and twisted it away from her face with fire burning in her eyes.

“You’re supposed to be watching me, not flirt with me, you jerk,” she hissed. It was the first sentence she ever spoke directly towards him. She struggled to give him an enraged look. She knew that there was no passionate feeling towards her that flowed from his heart so why bother of seeking it.

She remembered reading a 21st century classic named “Wicked Lovely”. She remembered the Winter Girl, Donia and how she loved the Summer King. But he betrayed her though she wasn’t his queen. And on and on, he told her that he “loved” her no matter what. Yea right…

The damn sprocking jerk dumped her in his mother’s powers and she was no longer a mortal but a faery… a winter one. Bound she was forever… a poor helpless outcast, only to watch him look for his Summer Queen and yet he still had feeling for her.

This story… it felt like it had come to life and she became Donia the Winter Queen, Zero as Donia’s pet wolf, Sasha and Brainiac… as the ever so beautiful Summer King Keenan. Only… he dumped her and never showed any compassion to her again and she was alone…

She took a plate and two small clay bowls from the cupboard and placed the sizzling breakfast on his plate, not bothering to say anything else that might spark an argument between them. She then turned and filled one of the bowls with water and the other with scraps of eggs and two large slabs of bacon and set it at the feet of the patient canine.

Just as dinner, they ate in silence like an elderly married couple. The only voices were of forks and knives scraping up against their plates and the loud clunking noise the coffee cups set down against the table. Vi stole a glance at Brainy. He looked so different now…

His hair was now the messy version of his once perfected spike hair that reminded her of young Drew only with green skin and a shorter blond haircut. He was a tad more muscular than before but no so much as the rest of the men in the legion. Add with his cool expression he just looked more beautiful than before, almost like a handsome prince stepping out of a fairy tale.

And she… well she was the Cinderella with no happy ending. She was the “Yang” of him. She looked like the daughter of a troll and a vampire with her pale skin, matted ebony and violet hair, wrinkled clothing, a stained face of scars and mascara tears and most of all… a round belly that constantly cried for food. How embarrassing.

“I wish that I could just disappear! I mean I’m sitting straight across from my Ex-boyfriend who is hot nerd of any girl’s dream and I’m like the gothic freak from the Ninth Nebula!” she thought as she dug her nails into the seat cushion as a lump of pain and doubt formed inside her throat.

“I can’t cry… I promised would brave this storm!”

There was nowhere to run… nowhere for her to escape. Even if she did manage to flee… he or they would only come after her…

“If only he knew…”

Moments later her guest vanished into the bedroom. This was her chance! Quickly she grabbed a cloak and Zero’s leash from the bin by the door.

“Okay boy, I know I’m going against the rules. Today’s the anniversary of my parents’ death and I want to visit them! I need you to protect me while I’m there, please!” she whispered stroking the dog’s pure white coat. Zero gave a quiet yip in approval and allowed her to place on his halter.

Within moments, Brainiac returned to see the bolted front door swung wide open and Violet and zero nowhere in sight.

“Damn her!” he growled in rage.

Zero stood with loyalty next to his companion, his head firmly looking onto the horizon. He licked his lips at the bitter cold as he waited for her to finish. Violet sat on her haunches as she stared at a gravestone with a beautiful angel carved on top carrying roses and wheat.

“Hey mom, dad… it’s me… your … buttercup boo boo…listen… I want you to know and daddy please don’t go mad on me! Pretty please! But I have a problem a huge problem!” She could already see their faces, now looking a little elderly, her mother’s pretty snow-white face and her father’s flaming purple eyes both patiently waiting to here what she had to say.

‘What’s wrong honey?’ her mom would ask, her voice as calm as the sea breeze.

‘Did someone hurt my pumpkin?’ her father would screech.

“No, daddy… it’s just that… that…I’m… oh man!” Zero broke in to her words when he jumped up on all fours, alerted that something wasn’t right. She stopped and looked around. They were here…

Black cloaks assembled out of a large crypt of some dead rich guy from the 27th century, all in a line as if they were tin soldiers with windup keys on their backs. Violet held Zero steady as they stood before her… their faces hidden from the darkness.

“Failure… we do not accept failure…” they hissed in unison… sounding like the dreadful song of an undead tenors chorus.

“I’m… sorry… but I got arrested! And I can’t do anything now! Nothing!” she cried, her hold became tighter on Zero’s halter. Fear rose and spread through out her heart. No she couldn’t resist the horrors of their power, the very thing they hungered. She couldn't breath as she felt an invisible dagger at her throat.

“That is not an excuse… we made a contract…”

“You made it! And forced me to sign it! I didn’t want to do your bidding! You made me into this freak, causing everyone to turn against me! I didn’t want to steal… I didn’t want to hurt others… just leave me alone! Leave us alone!” she screamed. Her heart stopped when the eldest one of the Black Plague, Dove drew a dagger from his cloak and threw it at the tombstone that Salu and Zero sat in front of, smack-dab close to Vi’s cheek. Small strands of her black hair fell to the earthy ground. Violet shook with horror as Zero continued to bark like mad. Vi covered her eyes, expecting the next blow to be the last one they ever threw.

“HEY!”

She opened her eyes. Black Plague faded into dust and there alone were green eyes with blond hair boy that made her go weak stood in their place. His face was darkish green with a tin of red as he gasped in fury of her escape.

“What do you think you’re doing? You dumb stupid…idiot!” he boomed. Violet only stared in silence as he continued yell at her. He followed her… and saved her from those monsters. His voice calmed her down and the lump of fear suddenly faded. Why…

“YOU KNEW BETTER! YOU DUMB SPROCKING IDIOT! MY MOTHER WOULD HAVE KILLED ME IF YOU WERE RUNNING AROUND THIS PLACE! WHY-” She leapt up from her spot and flung her arms around his waist. He stopped in midsentence and stared down at her as she cried into his shirt. His first reaction was to push her off and call her an idiot. But when she placed her arms around, he felt a sense of peace… He looked over to see the angelic tombstone that she had been sit at.

“HERE LIES SAMUEL E. AND GEMIZAU W. DIGSBY. BROTHER, SISTER AND LOVING PARENTS. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE.”

“She needed them…” his face softened a little as he listened the loud hiccups coming from his hostess. Compared to his height, she looked like a little girl frightened and alone. He patted her head and felt that he should let this one slip… for now. A bright shard embedded in the base of the tombstone caught his eye.

“A knife? Was someone trying to kill her?”

He didn’t believe in ghosts or spirits though he still had no proof over the fact that there was a “Spirit world,” nor that Tinya was truly a ghost. But something definitely scared her. Perhaps it was the alibi that she was formally working with.

That night he laid in bed, listening to Violet’s nervous shuffling outside his door, her breath heavy with the wisp of fear. “Salu go to sleep!” he boomed. The shuffling stopped and the gentle creaking of the sofa was soon followed after. He sighed in relaxation as the chorus of raindrops fell outside.

Brainy opened his eyes to a vast dimension filled with colorful sakura trees, a sparkling aqua blue lake and a golden meadow. The wind was filled with sweet scents that relieved the boy of all of his troubles. The sparkling waters swirled from the lake and danced around him.

“Sooooo, whatcha doin’?”

The dancing waters retreated as the warrior walked towards him, her mystic eyes glimmering green and light blue and a plant like reptile was bumbling at her feet. . A knot formed in his stomach as she looked up at him, her face just as stoic and extremely stubborn as ever.

“Hey, uh Lady Diana,” he murmured, wishing to call her little sister rather than her given title.

“It’s Skittles, Doofus,” she snapped but kept her cold expression. He sometimes wondered how she could change the tone of her voice without changing her expression. She summoned him into the dimension of her mind. These dimensions many Keondens had… a dimension that was like a paradise that one could escape for comfort and revitalization of the soul. The Guardians and those of their descent had a much more powerful mind for they could summon anyone at anytime to the dimension.

“So what is that you are doing? Mom says that you’re looking after the Blue Rose Gypsy.”

“Yes… I’m looking after Violet…”

“Vi?! Ya jokin’ righ?” For a Lady Guardian, Skittles sure didn’t act like one. She tapped on her hilt as he explained, a small mischievous smile forming on her face.

“It’s not like that Skit… I’m looking after her for medical reasons, it’s our duty as children of a Captain to look after those with less “strict” charges.”

“Your job… Mom would kill us if she found out that Me and Drew-”

“ ‘Drew and I’, Skittles.”

“Whateva! Me and Drew, Drew and I blah blah bleh! She would go bonckas if we volunteered!”

“So why did you summon me?” Brainy sighed knelt down and stroked her plant lizard.

“We found out more and are preparing to ambush them goon headed freaks! But I’m worried bout Drew… You see… he went into one of the ancient books and… nearly killed himself doing it. It was the one about Medusaians. Believe me, it nearly killed me as well… I had the power of Fire to keep me going but an hour later after we found more facts of these freaks, Drew had seizure and I had to get him to a hospital.”

“Is he going to be okay?”

“Yea… but he’s staying out of the library for a while… those books give me the creeps. So anything new on Mars?”

“Well… Vi tried to escape but I found her and Zero in the cemetery. For some odd reason, she was in shock for a moment then started bawling in my arms. I… found this… knife wedged in her parents’ tombstone…”

Skittles turned away from him and clasped her arms behind her back. “The Black Plague makes another move with their knight pawn. I would’ve never thought that Vi was one of them. You may be another target and they do not want you to interfere with their plans to revive the Medusains. These assassins could be targeting the United Planets. Just because you are no longer with her… I suggest as a guardian that you be alert, if they are present on Mars… they will stop at nothing to get what they want.”