Worldwalker Kyoko Prologue A white light at the end of a tunnel. That was what Kyoko had expected to see when she finally died. Although her twentieth birthday was still half a year away, death had been at her side since childhood. Fate had played its cruel games with the girl from Japan for years, since the day it had become known that her easy and fragile constitution was due to a strange illness. A slight glimpse of hope was turned into a death sentence, when a treatment went horribly wrong, damaging her body even further. At the age of 14 years, it was sure that she wouldn't live to see her third decade of life. Her mother had cried nearly every night since then and her father buried himself in a mountain of work but Kyoko made up in mental strength for was her body was missing. The years passed and she grew weaker with each. She had celebrated her last two birthdays in hospital and now everything was over... Her body's every cell seemed to scream in agony as death was upon her, yet she was unable to move or bring out the faintest scream. She fell into a black void embracing it as it took her away from a world of pain and illness. The light she had expected never came, but with the force of a tidal wave, a pulling force took a hold of her and drew her away from the void. Time and space had no meaning so she didn't what had happened to her when finally, the awareness of a body returned to her mind and she blinked her eyes open... Chapter 1: Another land, another world "Damn machine.", she cursed in her mind, "I know that my heart is weak. It doesn't have to remind me with every silly beep." Again she listened to the noise that occurred every few seconds. As she slowly awoke further, she realized that something was wrong. According to the machine, her heartbeat had dropped to roughly 30 beats per minute and the speaker seemed to be broken, since the beeps sounded more like falling water drops to her. Still sleepy, she pushed herself upright and took a look at her surroundings. To her amazement it wasn't the hospital room she had awoke in, but a somewhere else. Due to the complete darkness around her she couldn't see anything but her other senses gave her some clues. Beneath her body, she felt cold dirty rock and a chilly wind blew over her bare skin. The noise, she now realized, was really water drops that seemed to fall into a pond somewhere in the distance. The echo persuaded her further that she was inside a cave. "How in the world did I get here?" "Hello?", she called out loud. "Is anybody here?". No answer. Slowly her hands felt for anything that might be near her and found only more rock walls and stones. Careful, like the doctors had told her, she began to stand up read to brace herself against the wall in case her legs should fail her. They didn't and Kyoko began to walk along the wall, probing every step with her toes first, before setting down her foot. Like a blind person she made her way a few steps further, before something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. In the shapeless blackness something less dark came towards her without making the slightest sound. The girl pressed herself back against the wall like a scared animal and strained her eyes to get a better a look. There was some movement in front of her. Then, a small ball of bluish light appeared out of nowhere and behind it a person revealed itself out of the darkness. To Kyoko's surprise it was no monster, quite the opposite. She looked into the most beautiful face she had ever seen. Finely chiseled female features, high cheekbones and large, yet Asian looking eyes of the deepest green met her own gaze. The thin, red lips formed a straight line, giving the face an emotionless expression. "You're supposed to come with me.", the newcomer asked with a monotone voice. "What? Why? Where am I?" Without changing her expression, the other girl sighed. "It's always the same with you 'Worldwalkers'. Look, either you come with me now or you stay here and other people will come and get you. I don't care. I don't do this for you, but for someone else." "But... Who are you?" The girl turned around and began to walk away. As she turned, Kyoko saw the girl's ears glimpsing through her hair. They were long and pointy. "An elf?", Kyoko wondered out loud. Faster than she could imagine, the girl spun around, fury in her eyes. A slim hand grabbed her throat and in a swift motion lifted her of the ground and pressed her up against the wall. Kyoko tried to loosen the grip with both her hands, with no result, she could as well have tried to pry apart a vice. Eyes, closed to slits watched her struggling and closed even a little bit more. "I am not an elf! My name is Maerve. And you will not address me by any other name. Do you understand?" Weakly, Kyoko nodded and the girl threw a bundle of clothes at her. "Good. Now put these and follow me!" The clothes, pants and a shirt were way too large for Kyoko. The amazingly strong elven girl let her drop to the floor and began to walk away, while Kyoko struggled to regain her balance. Half dazed, she followed the blue light that had reappeared. It was the only thing she could do to keep up with Maerve because the girl made not a single sound as she moved. While they walked through a maze of caves and tunnels. "Are you afraid of me?", Maerve asked after some time. Kyoko nodded once more. Somehow she knew that despite the darkness it would be sufficient as an answer. "Good. This way you'll be more careful. Don't worry about your clothes. You'll get some clothes once we're outside." They walked on for what seemed like another hour, until the air got warmer and a warm light brightened up the darkness. Against the shimmering brightness, Kyoko could finally see more of her companion. Maerve was not much taller than herself, of slender yet athletic build. Since her early childhood, like everyone else, Kyoko had thought elves to have light blond hair, but the girl in front of her had very dark purple hair, that flowed in waves down her back. And then, she stepped out into the light and turned around, a vision of grace and beauty that made Kyoko lose her breath. She now seemed very intimidating despite her slender build, there was somehow now an aura of power around her. Her eyes look in Kyoko's direction, but not at her, as if she looked inward. For a few moments she closed her eyes. "We're not alone. This is an ambush." She muttered barely audible for the other girl. "What?", Kyoko let her eyes wander but couldn't see anything but trees. "Where?" "Get back into the cave. I'll handle this." Maerve didn't move except for opening her hand. A blue long streak of shimmering light formed from her hand, lengthened further and began to flicker faster and faster. Then, with a final flicker the light solidified and a long elegant sword appeared in her hand. She looked back, saw Kyoko still standing in the open, sighed and turned around. "Get back. They're here for you. So get your butt back into there." Now facing the woods, she raised her voice. "You can come out now. Your minds are so open to me, you might as well yell out loud. Well?" A few seconds passed before, one by one, five soldiers stepped into the clearing. Not all were human. Two looked like humanoid dogs, Rotweilers to be exact. All five carried futuristic looking guns in their hands and paws. The soldier who had stepped out first walked up to Maerve. Kyoko had withdrawn further back so all she could see was Maerve's back and the face of the soldier who towered more than two heads above her. Both stood silent for a while before the soldier spoke. "If you are so smart, you know why we are here, little girl. You'll hand over the 'Worldwalker' to us. You're also under arrest, we'll take you to prison and you will not resist. Do you understand?" He had trimmed his gun straight at Maerve. "Nice speech. I'm sure just saying it makes you feel so much more like a man, right? Well, lets see how well they briefed you about potential opponents. Do you have any idea what you are up against?" Maerve seemed to do something, though Kyoko couldn't see anything, but the soldier suddenly looked like he'd seen a ghost, took a step back and raised his gun. Maerve's sword flashed up so fast, that it was visible only as a silver streak. The streak drew a smooth arc and went through the gun as if it wasn't even there. Then, one half of the gun fell to the ground. The soldier looked terrified at Maerve how now turned to face the rest of the goons. Kyoko could now see her fangs. "Just like a... vampire...", Kyoko thought. Suddenly several things happened at the same time. A shot could be heard, Maerve stumbled a step back, and from out of the forrest, a jeep like vehicle shot into the clearing, its engine roaring loudly. One of the windows slid down and two egg shaped objects flew out, scattered over the ground and instantly released thick clouds of smoke. The back door opened and a strange female voice called out for Kyoko. "Hurry up. They'll open random fire every moment. Get in here." Kyoko, now for the first time in her life experienced the feeling of an extreme high adrenaline level, found herself running towards the vehicle. She jumped in and even before she had closed the door, the vehicle sped forwards so fast that she was thrown into the seats. She tried to get up, an attempt that proved difficult because the driver threw the car from one side to the other. Finally, Kyoko pulled herself up by the front seats to take a look at the one who rescued her. She turned her head and suddenly looked into the face of a fox. Blinking her eyes a few times she took a second look. Still, she saw a humanoid fox, a female to be precisely, clad in a blue jeans overall with two tools belts around her waist, sitting on the drivers seat. "Wh....", she began, but was cut short by the fox girl. "Fenria. You was about to ask my name, weren't you?" "What about Maerve? We have to get back and..." "I'm here." Behind Kyoko, Maerve was sitting in the seat. Kyoko was sure that she hadn't been there a split second before. "But... But he shot you." The vehicle shot out of the forrest and onto a road. The fox now turned her head back to her passengers. "Oh Maerve, not again. Do you have only one outfit left, that doesn't have a bullet hole?" Now Kyoko could see a small hole with burnt edges in Maerve's outfit, just above her belly button yet no wound could be seen. "How... Why... Who..." Maerve ignored Kyoko and looked straight ahead. "All in due time, girl. First of all, we need to get you to safety. You're not the first 'Worldwalker' we take care off.", Fenria answered, her eyes again on the road in front of them. "But how could she survive a gunshot?" "She's a vampire." Fenria stated as if it was the most common thing. "A vampire? But vampires die in daylight." "Right, they do. But she's no ordinary vampire." Beside her, Kyoko could hear Maerve take in a sharp breath. "She's a Feyliama, a vampire elf, they love bright sunlight. They are at their strongest under a mid noon soon." "Fenria! I told you not to..." "Not to call you an elf, I know that, Maerve. But how would you explain yourself to her?" "There was no need to explain anything.", she said and crossed her arm in front of her chest. To Kyoko, who now took a closer look at Maerve, she looked like girl or a very young woman who hadn't laughed for ages. Her face was beautiful, yet there was something missing to her appearance. Almost as if there was no life in her, she looked more like a beautifully crafted puppet. There had been a brief expression of anger on her face just when she had argued with the fox-girl, but now she was as emotionless as she had been since they met. "Well girl... Now you know Maerve and myself. Why don't you introduce yourself now?" Kyoko's face flushed red as she thought about how rude it was of her not to introduce herself. "Uhm... My name is Kyoko Yamazaki." "Ah. Nice to meet you.", Fenria said. "That name sounds different from the names the other human worldwalkers had. You might be from a new..." She was cut short by a small explosion that occurred only a few feet away to their left. Another one followed shortly on the other side. "Shit! I should have guessed they had some V-planes with them.", the fox cursed as she brought her foot down on the accelerator. "Shouldn't you try to dodge the missiles?", Kyoko asked. "Naah. They ain't aiming for the car. They know that you're in here. You're worthless to them if you are dead. All they want is to slow us down." She looked around and finally... "There, that forrest. We'll lose them in there. Hang on. I'll start the boosters." "The what?", Kyoko leaned forward to ask, but was pushed back into the seat by Maerve. Her single arm restraining Kyoko like no seat belt could. In the front, Fenria flipped a small latch on the gear stick open and pressed the small red button it had hid. There was a whining sound of two jet thrusters coming to life in a hidden compartment and soon enough flames shot from the car's back and the car jumped at the sudden acceleration the thrusters provided. Kyoko was pushed down into the seat with even greater force now. In a few moments they had reached the forrest's border. With lightening fast reflexes, Fenria managed to maneuver the car through the trees at an insane speed. --- Back in one of the vector thrusted planes, the pilot had to make a confession to his commander. "Sir, we've lost them." "No, pilot. YOU lost them and you better make sure YOU find them before I decide that YOU lose YOUR current rank.", a serious voice answered via the plane's intercom system. "Yes sir!" He brought the plane down, barely over the tree tops, trying to get the sensors a better view on the forrest. --- "Twenty seconds till fuel underrun!", Fenria shouted. "WHAT?", the two other girls yelled back. "We're running out of gas! 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." The engines died and the car came to a rough stop as it buried itself front-first into the dirt. "Out out out!", Fenria shouted and was out of the car already. As Kyoko opened the door, she noticed that Maerve had disappeared into thin air. "How does she do that?", she wondered. Then again, a vampire was supposed to be able to do something like that. "Come on girl. The engine's heat will show up like a bonfire on their IR-sensors." Fenria had grabbed her arm and tugged her away, deeper into the forrest. For what seemed much too long to Kyoko, they ran through the woods, making sharp turns at random and looked over their shoulders, always expecting to see their pursuers right behind them. Kyoko was much too busy following Fenria for realizing that she had been running for almost twenty minutes, before she collapsed and her vision almost went black. Breathing heavily she struggled to get back on her feet once again, when a furry hand gave her shoulder a comforting tap. "It's alright. We should be safe here... At least for a while.", Fenria said, not even out of breath. "How... How... did you do that?", Kyoko asked still gasping for air. "What?" "Running like that and not getting tired." "Oh, that. I guess that's one of the advantages of being not completely human. But you... Are you ok?" "Hardly. I'm more than surprised that I'm not dead yet. By now, I should have the mother of all asthma seizures. Yet, I'm only totally winded." "Hm... So you had a frail constitution in your world?" "Yes I, was ill all my life... Just a second. My world? How do you know I'm not from this world?" Fenria sat down beside her and sighed. "Looks like we need to have what I call 'The talk'." Kyoko giggled."What's so funny?" "Where I come from, 'The talk' is something completely different." "Oh! What?" Kyoko blushed. "Nevermind. Some other time, ok?" "Alright. Now where to begin? First of all, you are not the first person from another dimension that has arrived here, nor will you be the last one. See, our world is unique because it is very 'close' to a lot of other worlds. Most sentient beings have the ability to travel between worlds. Well, at least their minds can do it. But their 'range' of traveling is quite limited and most of them travel when they don't realize it, as in dreams, coma or hypnosis. When there is no other dimension inside their 'range', they just return to their own world as if nothing happened. But sometimes, as in your case, they travel far enough to reach other worlds and because our world is so very close to lots of others, we get quite a few visitors around here." "So, I can go back?" Fenria frowned for a second. "It IS possible theoretically, yet I've only heard rumors of 'Worldwalkers' who have returned to their own dimension but never witnessed their return myself." "You said only our minds are capable of traveling, How come I have a body then?" "Because no mind can exist without a body and when your mind enters a dimension, it forms a shell around itself and manifests it as a body. You said you were very weak and ill before? Well, you left that behind with your old body. If you really want to go back, I just hope they take good care of your body back there, because to them it will look like you are comatose." "Oh.", Kyoko's face suddenly became as white as a ghost's. "What is it?" "I have no body to return to. In my world, I'm dead." "Oh my...", Fenria's eyes were wide in shock. "Are you absolutely sure?" Kyoko nodded. "Wow... That's great... I... I... mean, that's awful, but that means, that you have left nothing behind, that your whole essence traveled here, that everything that is you has bathed in the realms between the worlds. There's only one person that has...", she suddenly coughed heavily. To Kyoko, it sounded rather faked. "Nevermind that. We'll see what we can do for you, ok? Now lets get going. Maerve should catch up with us any minute now." They walked for another few minutes before they met Maerve. She was sitting on a tree's branch motionless like a statue." "I've discovered a village about two miles from here.", she said as Kyoko and Fenria got closer. She jumped down and landed as gracefully as an olympic gymnast would. She didn't make a single sound either. Fenria raised an eyebrow. "Two miles? You've been spending your energy pretty much. Are you alright?" "Just a little drained and hungry. I'll need to feed soon" "We'll see about that. Now take us to the village." "Ok, but there is something strange about that village, though" "Strange? What do you mean." "You'll see for yourself when we arrive.", Maerve said and began walking away. --- "I see what you mean, Maerve. There's no one around, the whole village looks deserted, yet there is smoke raising from the fireplaces.", Fenria said after a look through some binoculars she had summoned from one of her various pockets and bags. "A village like that should busy at this time of the day." "I agree. But have a closer look at that large barn on the farther side. If you watch thoroughly, you can see two soldiers guarding the main entrance. They are carrying heavy weapons and check the forrest's border from time to time. Looks like the same bozos who ambushed us." "But why are they guarding the barn? Other places would be much better for lookout posts.", Kyoko wondered. "I bet, they're hiding their vector-thrusters in there." "Their what?" "She means their Aeroplane.", Maerve translated. "But she may be right. It's the only building large enough to contain it and I couldn't find it anywhere else." "Girls!", Fenria said with a mean looking smile on her face. "Looks like we found our ride home." Two hours later, the three females reached the backside of the barn unseen by the guards. Surprisingly, Maerve had stayed with them this time, keeping close contact to Fenria as well as Kyoko. Something, that made the Japanese girl shiver. How they remained hidden from the guards was a mystery to her. Maerve had said something about trying to 'obfuscate' their presence, but Kyoko didn't know what she had meant. As soon as the had reached the building, Fenria announced her plan. "Ok ladies. This is going to be a quick one. Maerve, you take out the guards..... Ah.... I mean, knock them unconscious, ok? Nothing else. I know you must be hungry, but please be patient a little longer, ok?" Maerve closed her eyes for a moment before she answered. "Yes, but don't expect me to be of much help afterwards." "I hope we won't need it. I'll take care of the pilot. Kyoko, you stay here until I've started engines. As soon as you hear them, run to the front as fast as you can and climb into the plane. Should something happen to Maerve or me, run for the forrest and hide. We'll catch up to you later. Understood?" Kyoko nodded and her two companions disappeared around the corner. She pressed herself against the wall and strained her ears. She had an uncomforting about what Maerve might do to her opponents, yet she wasn't too sure of what Fenria could do. But after a short while, she thought it over again. 'In this world, looks mean even less than they did in my own world. Maerve was weakened when she found me because of the darkness. Yet, she picked me up like nothing. I wonder if there's something about Fenr...', two quiet sounds, like large bags of wheat hitting the ground interrupted her. 'Maerve!', she thought. Only a few seconds later, a scream full of fear pierced the silence, accompanied by a deep growl. "What the...", again she was cut short by the roaring noise of two jet turbines coming to live. "Ok, here goes nothing!" Kyoko began to run around the barn as fast as her weak legs could carry her. A loud crash greeted her, as one of the planes she had seen earlier that day powered its way through the front gate of the barn sending chunks of wood flying everywhere. One large piece was coming right at her, when she felt a blow in her back that knocked her over, immediately followed by a loud scream of pain, that made her shiver. As she quickly turned around, she saw Maerve on the ground, where Kyoko had stood only moments ago. To her horror the wooden missile had embedded itself into Maerve's bare stomach and dark red blood ran down her body. "Maerve!!!", she shouted barely audible over the roaring engines. Maerve had her eyes closed and her face was a distorted mask of pain as her hands clutched the wood, seemingly lacking the strength to pull it out. Behind her, Kyoko could her Fenria shout at the top of her lungs from the cockpit. "Get her... inside... Reinforcements... coming." Without thinking, Kyoko grabbed Maerve under her arms and began to drag her towards the plane. She was two thirds of the way, when she saw small clouds of dust suddenly raise from the ground. Only after she heard a sharp zipping sound barely missing her ear, she realized that those were stray bullets. Taking a quick glance to her left while still struggling with all her puny strength to get her rescuer into cover, she saw various soldiers coming down the main street towards them. It was a miracle that they hadn't hit her yet. Finally she heaved the wounded vampire girl into the plane. Only her enormous willpower kept her from collapsing before she closed the door. Then, she fell down beside Maerve, taking large deeps breaths. She could feel the plane accelerating and also felt the strange feeling in her stomach as they left the ground. A few pinging sounds told her that they had been shot but the vehicle's armor proofed to be thick enough. For a few moments, she just lay there trying to catch her breath. Never before in her life she had to endure something like that. Oh, she was no stranger to agonizing pain, but being shot at and seeing somebody being almost impaled hadn't found their way into her diary-book yet. That thought reminded her of Maerve beside her. She hadn't moved at all. "Almost as if she's paralyzed.", Kyoko wondered aloud, just as Fenria entered the room. She was fumbling with her overall almost as if she was putting it back on. "She is, Kyoko. The wood is paralyzing her. She's aware of everything around her, yet she can't do anything." "We've got to help her. Quick, what can we do?" Fenria knelt beside her. The fox's face was difficult to read, yet it showed deep concern and a small hint of fear. "I'm going to remove the wood. She'll lose lots of blood so we have to feed her with some of yours." "My blood?" "It's the only way. She'll not survive otherwise." "But why can't we give her some of yours?" "Because your kind is more related to her than mine. Anyway we have to give it to her right after the wood is removed. Do you think, you could pull it out of her cramped hands? She's no wimp, you know." "But you can?" "Yes. Although I'd prefer not to, but we have no choice. I'll deal with her the same way I did with the pilot." With this, Fenria opened her overall again and let it fall to the floor. 'She really is a fox-girl.', Kyoko thought. Besides the head, the fur and the tail, she was anatomical very close to a human being. 'And a damn sexy one.' Fenria grabbed the wood and faced Kyoko. "I'll count to three. No matter what's happening to me, on three you put you wrist to Maerve's mouth. She will bite it and drink. Don't worry, you won't feel a thing. Ok?" Kyoko nodded. "All right then. One..." The fox's hands grabbed the wood tighter and Kyoko noticed some movement under Fenria's fur. Along with that, her face took on more animal like features, as her teeth got a bit longer and her snout extended even more. "Two...." Now the change was clearly visible. With each passing second, Fenria's body grow larger and larger, putting on pounds and pounds of mass that looked like they were pure muscle. Along with that, she was losing her 'human' appearance and looked more and more like an animal, her voice now more a growl than anything else. Kyoko had to concentrate hard not to lose her focus on Maerve, as right beside her a fearsome transformation took place. "Vampire girls, Were-foxes. What's next?", she thought. "Three..." With a mighty pull, that seemed to require all her built-up strength, Fenria jerked the wooden piece out of Maerve's body. A large gush of dark red blood came along with it and Maerve instantly sat up, coughing like someone who had almost drowned. Faster than Kyoko could see, she had grabbed the Japanese girl's wrist and bit into it like a mad person. For a split second Kyoko felt a sharp pain but it was replaced by a blissful rush in an instance. A wonderful warmth spread through her body and she became light headed, almost as if she had one or two drinks too much. It felt like falling into a nice soft warm bed after a busy day, when you pull the blanket around you, snuggle into your pillow and slowly drift off into... "Damn it Maerve! You're killing her. Let go!" Fenria desperately tried to pry Maerve away from Kyoko's arm. It was no use. Although Maerve held on to Kyoko with only one hand, Fenria's bestial strength wasn't enough to even budge her. The screaming of metal could be heard, as Maerve's other hand grabbed the floor so tightly, that she tor a handful of steel out of it, like a child might pick up a hand full of wet clay from the ground. Fenria's jaw dropped. She had never seen Kyoko exert such strength that casually. And yet, she even seemed to get stronger by the second. Quickly, she grabbed a wrench that lay nearby. "Sorry Maerve...", she said and brought down the steel tool down on the vampire's head. There was a loud clang as the tool snapped in two, but it was enough to knock Maerve out of her daze and put her back into unconsciousness. She fell back to the floor. Kyoko, almost unconscious too, began to fall too but Fenria caught her and picked her up like a full grown man might pick up a toddler. The fox turned towards the cockpit but hesitated as her sensitive ears picked up a strange sound. Taking a closer look at the sleeping vampire girl, she saw her breasts raising and falling deeply as if she was soundly asleep drawing in deep breaths of air. Besides the blood stained ripped clothes, there was no hint that she had ever been injured. Her stomach was smooth and flat without any trace of the gruesome wound that had been there only moments ago. "She's breathing? But..." Fenria knelt down beside her friend and put a twitching ear on her chest. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sound that greeted her. The slow yet strong sound of a healthy heart beating. "A vampire with a beating heart? Oh Kyoko... What have we done to her. Where did you come from to have an essence so powerful?" Two hours later Kyoko awoke. She was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, the fastened seat belts preventing her from falling out of it. Fenria sat in the seat next to her. Once again, she was dressed in her jeans overall and had returned to her more human form. The was no trace left of the muscle bound monster she had been. "Oh good. You're awake. No! Don't try to move. In you current state you might as well hurt yourself." "What happened?", Kyoko asked, her head still dizzy. "I guess you could say that you were more than Maerve could take." Fenria almost laughed when she saw Kyoko's dumb folded face. But the situation had been to dangerous to be funny. "I expected Maerve to drink some of you blood and heal herself." She sighed. "But I was deadly wrong. Somehow the taste of your blood put her in a feeding frenzy and I barely managed to get her away from you before she sucked you dry. I have no idea why, but the essence your blood carried was so powerful that it made Maerve stronger than I've ever seen her before, vastly stronger, and, to top it of, made her heart beating again. As if she was alive again and not undead." It took Kyoko some moments to realize what Fenria had just told her. Her blood had brought back someone from the undead, or so it appeared. How was that possible. Back in her world, she had been more dead than alive most of her lifetime. What had happened to her on the way here? The flew in silent for another half an hour and Kyoko slowly felt less weak. Then suddenly, a loud "Noooo!" was heard from the back. In a split second, Fenria was on her feet and ran out of the cockpit. "Lock the door, Kyoko.", shouted just as she closed it behind her. Fumbling with the seat belt, Kyoko managed to free herself and locked the steel door just in the moment as Maerve began to shout at Fenria. "Where is she? Do you have any idea what you have done to me? Only the slightest idea?" Kyoko pressed her ear against the door, because Fenria spoke in a calm, silent tone. "I had no idea something like that would happen. However, if we hadn't done what we did, you would be dead by now." Kyoko winced as Maerve shouted back, now much closer to the door. "That would be better than what awaits me now. Nothing can describe the pain you have to endure, when you go from alive to undead. Nothing! The agony is almost unbearable and most of us hardly remain sane after the first experience. And now, thanks to you, I'll have to go death once again. And to make it even worse, I'm now addicted to her blood." "No! You don't want to say that...", Fenria gasped. "Yes. The power it has granted me is beyond anything I ever dreamed of and I now feel alive too. I can feel my heart beating, feel the blood flowing through my veins, like it did before I went to the seven hells and back. But soon, the blood will be exhausted. I'll die again and live forever with the memory of what I could have been. Where is she? I want to thank her for that present." "Maerve. Calm down. There is no point in..." Kyoko heard how Fenria suddenly gasped for air and then there was a short swishing sound and the noise of the fox girl's body hitting a wall a few feet away. Then there was silence. Whatever Maerve was doing, she made no noise whatsoever. Kyoko pressed her ear against the door once again. Nothing. Then, suddenly, right beside her hear a slender head forced its was through the tough steel as easy as a cannon shell might penetrate a wall of paper. With uttermost ease, the hand grabbed the door tightly from the inside and, with the painful whine of tortured steel, bent it completely out of shape until the lock and the hinges surrendered and the door came free. Maerve threw it back into the cargo bay, her back turned to Kyoko and remained in that position for some seconds. Her shoulders shuddered and Kyoko could hear her that Maerve had great difficulties to breath. Then the elven girl turned around and Kyoko took two steps back in surprise. She was crying. Thin red tears rolled down her cheeks, her normally expressionless face now filled with a hopeless gaze. Her eyes looked at Kyoko accusingly. "Is that how you thank me?", she asked. "I rescued you and you.., you damn me to die again." "I didn't mean to... How could I ever know that...", Kyoko stumbled, yet she was unable to finish. The girl in front of her now looked like a frightened child to her. No doubt, Maerve was afraid of what awaited her much more than Kyoko was afraid of her. "I don't want to die again.", Maerve whispered. "It just hurts so much. It's like..." Kyoko's heart filled with compassion as she remembered the torture she had gone through before she had came here. 'She must have experienced the same as I did. What in god's name have I done?' She decided to take some of Maerve's pain away in the only way she knew. Slowly she took a step forward and hugged her. Resting the other girls head on her own shoulder, she gave her not physical but mental support. She could feel how Maerve lost all self control and the tears flowed like waterfalls down her cheeks, seeping into Kyoko's shirt, leaving a large stain on it just as Maerve's fate left a stain on Kyoko's soul. None of the two girls noticed Fenria getting up and take her seat in the cockpit again. They broke their embrace nearly one hour later, when the plane entered the hangar of the hideout Fenria, Maerve and now Kyoko called their home.