Magic this, magic that. She was done with all that crap.

Forget the existential nonsense. Humans suck, goddesses (or whatever that women was) suck, the whole stupid world sucks and can go ram into the sun and burst into the flames for all she cared. Now that would be a magic trick.

"I hate everything!" Her rage raced up to the clouds floating by without the world weighing them down.

"Me to! Ah! I love screaming and blaming the world for my problems!"

Rene rolled over to see Danny grinning at her. His brown eyes bright again without the haze of pain. 

"I hate you too."

"You'll get over it." He laughed pushing himself up and brushing off the grass. "So oh fearless leader, where are we?"

Sitting up, her eyes scanned the horizon taking in the waving grass of the meadow. It couldn't be...

"I don't think we've moved."

"What!" A teal head popped out from the grass and began darting about. "That's not possible. Cause there was like that gunfire, and explosion, and fire, and ice, no wait think I dreamed that part."

"Point being the field we were in went through shit to hell and back with a smattering of blood for a pop of color. There's no way this could be it." Danny walked around, his feet sweeping back and forth through the grass. "Hold on, look at this."

His hand raised high, showing them a familiar gun. 

"You gotta be kidding me. Where's the guy usually attached to it?" Rene flopped back down. 

Great no Michael or Declan and somehow the meadow had been restored. She wasn't sure how she felt about all this yet. 

Anytime would be a perfect moment to fill with your little chitter-chatter.

No answer. They could probably tell she was being short and salty. It seemed justified though given they had almost died and then were kidnapped by a magic queen lady. Rene refused to call her the Two-Faced Queen, like seriously what kinda name was that. 

"Well, it appears we are down two men. Luckily for all of us, Rene is more manly than them both combined." 

Rene raised her middle finger salute. "I'm going to kill you in your sleep Danny."

"We both know you're to lazy for that."

Cassie floated over, her tiny body weaving through the ocean of grass. She sat cross-legged beside Rene, a smile on her face. She held out a single red tulip. It's petal delicate and soft. The red pulled and threatened to fly away with each puff of the breeze. With each passing moment she was more sure, the flower was one of the girl's...Kara's.

Seeing Rene's face twist, Cassie sighed. "Look I know, but the color is so pure. If I could recreate this for a drawing or painting, it'd be so awesome."

"Whatever. Crush it into pigment then. I don't care. It's just a stupid flower."

"Perhaps, but it was magic at one point and it's obviously a survivor. All the other flowers are gone, like she was never even here, just like all the damage. This is proof that we bled here, that we survived." Again that smile. "I have ideas for it."

Wind blew, dragging with it the scents of the forest. Rene breathed deep, withholding the urge to roll her eyes. She didn't always get the artsy stuff Cassie saw and said. She supposed she'd had to wait to see what became of it. Breathing again, she sniffed at the air more carefully. She couldn't catch the whiff of smoke and fire that accompanied Michael everywhere he went. It was unsettling, had he been taken or wandered off trying to help or look for them? Also where was Declan? He was there only contact to the outside world with that phone he kept in his pocket. Not to mention that he was just human and at serious risk given everything, especially unarmed. Hopefully they were together, even arguing, she knew they'd have each other's backs. 

"Well?" Danny drawled, gazing up at the passing clouds to find his facial expressions. 

"I chose what we did last time and look where that got us."

"Actually if I recall correctly, I decided what we did by abandoning you with Declan to go get Cassie taken care of." Her glare made him laugh. "All actions done with love of course."

Cassie tapped her lip thoughtfully with the tulip. "Does that mean it's my turn to be leader?"

"Sure pick whatever shenanigan you want. It's choose your own adventure except if you choose the wrong path we all die." Rene said.

Danny laughed, before ruffling her teal hair. "So no pressure. I mean we've all lived way beyond when I calculated." 

"Wait when was I supposed to die?" Cassie booped his nose with the tulip. 

"Two days after you met Rene, who would've guessed you could've cut through that icy exterior and survive."

Rene sat up and threw a handful of grass at him. "All joking aside, we do need a plan."

The other two made noises of agreement and upset. Call them crazy, but on a level none of them were illusioned by the realities they faced. They had all known the hell of the Asylum. Together they had recognized and accepted it. So even though they may have tried to make a game of it at times, but they had done it with an acknowledgment of what was behind the veil. The truth between the words they shared and laughed. This was no different. 

"Hide and seek then?"

"I prefer home free." Danny held out a hand to her.

Cassie skipped over and laid her hand on top of their intertwined ones. "No home to go to though. Suppose we don't need one when we are together, isn't that a saying?"

Rene popped up, letting them pull her into a stand. Her support, her friends, her family that could pull her out of the dark. 

"Let's go find our missing pieces. Time to save some damsels."