(Sorry the pic wasn't better to describe the scope)

Richard Weston's POV

As we stepped outside the door the crowded walkways filled with supernatural fell nearly silent. All eyes, both young and old, were fixed on Aria, for the most part. Some with fear, others with what seemed like pride. I guess she was making them all feel proud of her somehow. Maybe because she has stood up to this world and is still standing tall, despite what she is. A fine representation of how they should have been with the world all along, yet can be now since she was ushering in a New Era for supes unknowingly. Though I believe she realizes that now. Unfortunately, it can also make her a target for the undesirables.

Smiling brightly, she modestly bowed her head to them all, so I did the same. Lacing my fingers with hers, we began walking out to the large, once empty parking lot, that had at one time been a battle zone.

Passing by the huge pool, we then walked back beyond the overhang where we could see about one hundred RV's parked. Passing in between two of them, she turned to me and our eyes met. Her brown eyes were filled with anxiety, and a little hesitation, which I picked up on while she bit her lower lip and kept looking down. "You sure you still wanna do this?" She took my other hand in hers and stepped a bit closer.

I couldn't help but grin at this point. The very thought of flying again had me filled with excitement. "Oh hell yeah! This is going to be fun, don't you think?" It was also a time that could get very emotional for her.

Shrugging, she slowly allowed her molecules to spread out into a fine dark mist, her clothing dropping to the blacktop of the parking lot. Little by little, her hands disappeared from mine, and I missed them. Moving behind me silently, she wrapped her mist form around my body. Little tendrils of her reached into and tickled my ears.

"Can you hear me clearly?" She asked me inside the auditory sensors of my ears and the comprehension areas of my mind.

"Yes, I hear you perfectly. Are you ready for this?" I asked in concern.

"I..uh, yes. I'm just going to shift my gravity pull to the earth, and we'll be off." She wasn't kidding either, within moments her shadow mist molecules floated out alongside us in undulating waves that lifted us both from the ground, slowly. It was an amazing rush.

We levitated a few moments above the height of the RV's, while people raised their heads and pointed at us. I could feel a tremor race through Aria's molecules that surrounded me. "What is it, Aria?" Her molecules tightened around me slightly in an odd type of hug.

The sound of her voice tickled strangely in my ears along the tendrils "All the staring and pointing, it just makes me uneasy. Let's get moving." No sooner had she said it, did we begin to rise higher and higher until we were far above the hotel.

The streets were filled with cars that were parked along the curbs, and others trying to navigate along. Never had I seen such traffic in my life. Not even in a New York rush hour. The higher we got, the more we could see.

The city of Little Rock, Arkansas was overrun with supernaturals. Even beyond, out toward fields RV's and tents filled with people crowded in. You could swear it was another Woodstock.

When she began to speak again, I could hear the resignation in her voice and my heart went out to her. "I can't stop this... Damn foolish creatures. He will kill them all at the slightest interference."

I looked down at the undulating mist that surrounded me and smiled softly. "Now how would you know that, Aria?" Her tendrils tickled my ears again as she spoke.

"Because I would have. That's how I know." A shiver of fear ran through my body and I knew she felt it.

"Would have, are the keywords here. You have changed a great deal. He just hasn't had the chance to know us yet."

She was quiet for a moment before she answered me, and did so quietly. "Yes, I have changed, because I wanted to get to understand humans better. I was fascinated. Xavier however, is not. Nor does he care. He feels absolutely nothing toward the life on this planet and would just as soon kill it all off." I looked outward toward the RV filled horizon and tried to put myself in her shoes. When I thought about it, the best word I could think of was 'devastated'. Devastated that she could do nothing about the lives that could be lost below.

As we flew over the fields it seemed that they were completely overrun, and yet it was also highly organized. Some were down below that were helping to direct others on where to go, and where to park. Did Gabriel organize all this too?

Aria cut an arc in the air and turned us back toward the hotel, moving us fast. I smiled as her words tickled my ears literally. "I just thought that maybe it was time to return. When we get there, snatch up my clothing if it's still there, and I'll follow you to the room in this form. I think that since I came here to this planet, enough have seen my naked body already." Her smile was evident in her words and it made me laugh.

"Does this mean, you're going to cut me off then?" Her laughter rang through the tendrils in my ears, as we approached the parking lot.

"No. You, I want to show my body to. Did you want me showing them?" She asked this so innocently, yet my possessive side almost had me growling.

"Oh, hell no! You are mine, Aria. Just as I am yours." I watched as the ground between the RV's came up to meet us. "And Aria? I do not share. Though when it comes to Xavier, I may have no choice in the matter. It certainly seems as if you don't. But, I'll be fine. I just hope that you will be." She removed her tendrils from my mind and ears. Then slowly drew back as I picked up the clothes that no one had touched.

"Come on, let's get back to the room." As I started walking, I noticed she was staying a few steps behind me and I wondered why.

Only once we were in the room and her molecules solidified again, did I see all the tears that she had cried. I kicked myself for being a fool. I took her naked form into my arms and held her as the stress was finally hitting her. When she looked up and I wiped her tears away with my thumbs, only then did I catch a glimpse of the terror in her big brown eyes.

Had I lived as long as she, the thought of possible death would have me feeling the same way.

Holding onto her tightly, I kissed her tenderly. "That's not going to happen Aria." I brought my hands up to hold her face in my hands. "It can't. We've just begun." When she nodded My lips crashed down on hers and I picked her up in my arms with determination and stepping into the bedroom, I kicked the door shut with a loud bang.