"You do know I'm skipping school for this, right?"

After cooking dinner last night for your brothers, yourself and your little friends (you had to sneak in some mac n' cheese for them, surprisingly they do need to eat to survive) you had taken a quick shower before flopping back into the warmth of your bed to pass out again.

Though, you thankfully had a dreamless sleep. No terrifying snake towering over you, and there definietly wasn't any sign of Slist and his ugly mug. You would say you had a great night sleep.

When you opened your eyes the next morning, you were greeted by the Green Ninja himself who grinned down at you. You had almost screamed in surprise, nearly throwing the small boy into a wall with how quick you sat up.

You scolded him lightly after you got over your tiny heart attack, but you just as quickly apologized at his disheartened pout.

After those events, you had changed into the appropriate gear and checked the date and time. It was a school day. You nearly forgot your own education. If you thought about it, wasn't saving your universe more important then learning algebra?

"Well, shouldn't you be thanking me then?" Lloyd was quick to retort, sending you a teasing grin which you only snorted to in responce.

Like every battle you had gone through with the rest of the team, you were in your large backyard. You knew your brothers wouldn't be come barging out to spot you two, they had both already got on the bus to school which left you hours before they came back.

"Hey! Shoo! Shoo!" Lloyd waved his little arms at the stray cat in the yard, the taby cat simply titling its head at the ninja with curiosity.

Probably trying to work out if he could eat Lloyd for breakfast or not. You chuckled at your thoughts, watching as the cat quickly scurried off after Lloyd had sent a blast of green energy at it as a warning.

"What're you laughing at over there?" Lloyd huffed out, shooting you a defensive look.

"Oh," You laughed, shaking your head, "It's just the cat. It seems to always jump over our fence whenever you're out here." It was true. Whenever Lloyd seemed to come outside to get some fresh air or watch you put out the wet laundry, that same cat always came to greet him or use its paws to pat him on the head, which made the ninja shout at it to leave him alone.

Lloyd furrowed his eyebrows and looked behind him to try and spot the cat again, only to see it eyeing him off on the top of the fence, it's tail happily swaying side to side in the air.

"Maybe you have a new friend." You chirped with a giggle, watching as Lloyd scoffed.

"Don't let it distract you with it's cuteness, (Y/N)!" Lloyd took a few steps until he was right in front of you, shaking you by your shoulders. "All it see's is food!"

You only laughed and pushed him off you, "Yeah, yeah. Sorry, it's fluffy cheeks got to me."

Lloyd only puffed out his cheeks, "Well, don't let it happen again. Especially when we're in battle!" He raises a clenched hand, his eyes narrowed.

You were really tempted to fist pump him but lost your chance when he took off, running a little bit away from you to get some distance between you both.

"Are you ready!?" He calls out, his hands already sparking to life.

You watched the green mist form around his hands, almost entranced by how pretty it actually looked. You shake your head, snapping your thoughts back to the task at hand.

"R-Right! I'm ready!" You shout back, your arms coming up to prepare for any incoming attacks.

Lloyd sends you an approving nod before the atmosphere went tense. You barely had time to see Lloyd take his first step towards you before his fist was suddenly aiming towards your face.

You squeaked in shock and quickly countered the attack, raising your own arm up to cover your face. His fist ends up punching your arm, most likely going to leave a bruise. Clenching your teeth you use your inhuman strength to grab him by the upper arm and throw him to the side.

No one has ever gotten that close to me before. You had a very good point, Lloyd was skillfully trained to be the top notch ninja he was, so it shouldn't have been a surprise that he was this good.

You watched Lloyd quickly regain himself, barely a scratch on his figure as he pushes himself up from the dirt. He wipes a smudge of mud off his cheek, a grin on his face. Smug bastard.

"I told you to stay focused, (Y/N)." Lloyd shrugged, now taking slow steps around you after he had lost the element of surprise.

"I was focused." You forced out between your teeth in a growl, your eye twitching in annoyance.

Lloyd furrowed his eyebrows, watching your movements intently. "Hey, I was only joking-" He didn't get to finish his whole sentence before you spoke.

"This isn't just some joke, Lloyd." Lightning sparks between your clawed hand at your words. You take your own step towards him, the green grass beneath your feet burning to a crisp.

Lloyd's eyes widen, stumbling backwards in shock. The smoke from the burnt grass wafted up, rising to cloud parts of your darkened face. You looked absolutely terrifying.

"This isn't one of your stupid pranks." You continued, your right hand raising to point at him.

Just like you before the battle had barely begun, Lloyd had little to no time to react. The grass and earth around him was ripped from under his feet, pieces of it traveling up his body like vines, coiling around him.

He was quick to panic, struggling and wiggling his body around. Nothing worked. The vines of grass continued their work, wrapping around his arms and upper body, small but sharp rocks digging into his sides.

Lloyd hissed in pain, his eyes drifting from the nature holding him to their controller, though he never stopped struggling against their hold, he wouldn't quit.

You had finally stopped in front of him, a wicked and toothy smile on your face. Without you knowing, your eyes flashed a quick ruby before returning to their normal colour.

"You're just a kid." You placed a hand on his forehead, watching as his eyes glanced from the hand to your unwavering gaze. "And like every kid, you're going to have to learn about life the hard way."

Your arm was first to suddenly glow a brillaint purple, the colour travelling up your shoulder to your neck and down your body. You sent the shaking boy one final grin before your face was covered and your sight vanished.

When your sight returned, you found yourself floating in what looked like a black void. You couldn't tell where the floor started or where the ceiling ended. You couldn't see or picture anything. It was all black, like your eyes were still closed and consumed by darkness before you fell asleep.

"Hello?" Your voice echoed around you, bouncing off the invisible walls. This place was so different to what everyone else's souls looked like. That's if you were ever in anyones soul. Or was it their spirit? Were those two the same thing?

"I really need to stop changing the subject." You mutter under your breath, stretching one of your legs out beneath you to try and find some level ground.

You grunted, your foot getting nothing but air and a mild cramp in your calf. Giving up on that idea, you puffed out your cheeks and had another look around.

There didn't seem to be any instructions or glowing energy sources around, which was even stranger. Did Lloyd not have a power source that you could hack into? Was it impossible to copy his element?

Pursing your lips, you closed your eyes. No, no he must have something around here. You just needed to look harder.

Opening your eyes again to meet the inky blackness, you decided to try a different tactic. You started to move your arms around in front of you and kick your legs, almost in a swimming motion.

It took a while to get the hang of and for a second you thought you weren't even moving an inch. The only thing that proved that you were moving was the very dull colour up ahead in the distance.

Grinning to yourself, you pushed your limbs to move faster, your fingers eager and ready to take that power source. You ignored the light throbbing of your arms and legs, getting the element was too important to care about some pain.

After what honestly felt like hours, you were finally floating in front of the glowing green mist in the shape of an orb. The only thing that stopped you from taking it was what held it in its fingers - more so who.

Your whole body felt cold, like the blood in your veins had suddenly frozen. You were staring at your own face, or what looked almost like an exact copy of yourself.

There were some major differences though. Her skin was completely charcoal black, it almost looked like she was dipped in sticky tar. Her hair seemed to be the same shade, if not even darker somehow. You were lucky her eyes were closed, you were too scared to even imagine what they looked like. You didn't want your so called 'hallucination' the other day to be real.

You were hesitant to even touch the orb, the thought of her suddenly waking up made your skin crawl. What was she even doing in a place like this? Inside Lloyd's soul?

You knew you needed to complete your mission, even if this copy of you got in your way. Nibbling on your bottom lip, you slowly wrapped your fingers around the misty orb, your breathing stuck in your throat.

Pulling at the element gently, you almost shouted in shock when your copy flew her eyelids open, the orb in her hand being yanked out of your own.

Just like you thought, two ruby eyes stared back into your (E/C) ones, sending shocks down your spine. The copy smirked, which gave you sight to her unusually sharp teeth.

"If it isn't our little legend?" She chuckles, her voice just the smidge different to your own vocal cords.

"L-Legend?" You swallowed the built up saliva in your mouth, shakily speaking.

She only laughed louder at your confused face, tucking Lloyds element under her arm as if it was some soccer ball. "That's right, you don't even know your own legend, do you?"

Getting over your shock, you took in her words, taking a few moments before speaking. "Do you mean... defeating Slist?" You squeak out, your voice still lost.

She rolled her ruby eyes and flicked your nose almost innocently, "Oh darling, no. That's only a shimmer of the story."

You started to get annoyed with how much information she was holding off, most likely to piss you off. Sadly, it was working.

"Look," You narrowed your eyes at her, your feet kicking in the air underneath yourself, "I don't even know you and you look just like me!"

"That's because I am you." She shrugs, leaning back in the air like she was lounging casually in a couch. "Well, a new you basically."

"Can you stop speaking in riddles and answer my question." You huff out angrily, running a hand through your hair to try and squeeze the stress out.

"Nope. There's only one way I'll tell you everything." Your copy grabs the element out from underneath her arms and spins it on her finger. "I'll tell you what you need to know if you lend me your body."

"Uh!" Your cheeks flush a dark crimson, your body flinching back at her words. "Excuse me?!"

She giggles and throws the orb up in the air and catches it, like gravity didn't matter to it. "Not like that, honey." She straightens her posture and floats closer to your face, nose almost touching your own, "I meant share the same body. Sort of like a possession, but you'll have main control."

You scowl at her, though you don't move away from her close position. "Why?"

"Easy," She leans away from you, looking down at her nails, "You've been pushing me to the back of your mind, fighting against me." Her eyes snap back up to your own, watching as you jump in fright, "It hurts, you know." She fakes a pout, hugging the orb to her chest. "All I want is to be free. Stop pushing me away, and I'll help you."

She watches as you think things over, your lip twitching. She shrugs after a second, turning her back to you. "Or you could just say no and I'll stay here with this thing keeping me company." She raises the orb above her head for extra credit.

You groan and rub your eyes with your palm, "Fine! Okay, you can share my body, just give me the orb."

Your copy turns around quickly, her sharp teeth grinning as she eyes your outstretched hand. "Pleasure doing business with you, kid."

She grips your hand and gives it one good shake before she explodes into dark ash, the particles filling up your nose. You cough loudly, flying your hands around to try and wave the dust away.

"I'm so fucking done." You don't take your time in reaching out for the now lonely floating orb, the tip of your finger barely scratching its surface before it seemed to explode into a blinding green and white light.

You squeeze your eyes shut, letting the light die down before opening your eyes again to come face to face with a small green dragon made of see through mist.

It was stunning, to say the least. It was tiny, but that didn't make you any less impressed. Your skin prickled as the dragon latched itself to your arm, slithering it way up your shoulder, around your neck, its tail tickling your flesh.

Its snout reached your necklace, looking at it intently. It sniffed at the star piece until it touched the small button with its nose. You could only watch on in horror as the dragon was sucked into the small hole, vanishing into a green mist. When the hole closed over, your body began to tingle with two new powers, each different than the last. And with the new energy flowing through you, your thoughts went silent as you blacked out.

What felt like a short nap was only a few minutes before you snapped your eyes back open to stare at Lloyd, his face somehow a pale yellow.

"(Y/N)?" He questions softly, flinching back when you nodded your head.

"I'm sorry, Lloyd." You finally muttered, letting the grass and rocks falls dead from his body. "I... I took things too far."

"It's fine..." Lloyd rubbed at his sore wrists, not meeting your gaze. "I get it."

You both stood there in silence, Lloyd never once meeting your face. Sighing, you wrapped your arms around the boy and dug your face into his neck, wincing to yourself at how stiff he went at your touch.

"No, Lloyd. You don't get it. I went overboard, and I really didn't mean to frighten you like that." You mumble into his shoulder, your arm tightening around his body. "I really am so sorry."

"I already forgave you, silly." Lloyd wrapped his own arms around your waist, chuckling. "You were just really into our fight, huh?"

"Yeah." You forced a small laugh, sweat lining your forehead. "You could say that."

You two stayed like that for another ten minutes, too content in being in the warmth of one another yet you both had different thoughts going on in your heads.

Yours were all jumbled, scolding yourself for not telling him the truth about your dream and keeping the secret of your copy to yourself.

Lloyd on the other hand, while he had still forgiven you, was concerned. It wasn't like you to lash out like that, and the look in your eyes seemed to scare the energy out of him. It looked like you were ready to murder him there and then. He reminded himself to talk to the team about it without you knowing.

---
Well, this was a really long chapter but its my favorite one yet! I really hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it!

Things are getting bad now, huh? Just you wait till later.
=)

- The Winged Mortal