Lumina felt pressure against her shoulder. It intensified until pain settled in the spot and Lumina sat straight up, her watering eyes fluttering open. Lumina blinked a few times, the spinning room slowing and coming into focus. The walls were a bleach white in color. Metallic instruments were settled down on a silver tray beside her. An off-white bed with tissue paper lining the middle was beneath her. Lumina cocked an eyebrow, perplexed.

Soal walked over, her hands tucked behind her. She looked over at a man dressed in a pristine white lab coat, green, orange, and black tipped pens sticking out of his pocket. His dark hair was neatly cropped into an ivy league hair style, his clever, piercing, grey eyes looking Lumina over. Then, with a side glance at Soal, nodded, and walked out of the room, the door snapping shut behind him.

Soal's blue eyes slid over to Lumina. Lumina's lips started to part, but she kept silent. Soal stepped forward, stopped, and then flung her arms around Lumina's neck. Lumina's jaw dropped as she was wrenched forward, almost falling off the edge of the bedside.

"Please don't go into a comma again," Soal pleaded.

Lumina just looked at Soal. 'I was in a comma?"

"Yes. After we had just hit the button to transport Ground 2, you went down and out like a light."

"How long was I out?"

"For about a week It's funny, though, because that is how long Ground 2 took to transport. Ground 2 just arrived a minute before you awoke."

Lumina put a gentle palm to her throbbing forehead. "Weird."

"Even weirder," Soal added, "is that Ground 2 isn't all here."

"What do you mean?" Lumina asked.

Soal placed a hand on Lumina's shoulder and tugged her toward the door. They both stepped out into the hallway and took a left. They walked straight until they exited through two, glass doors. Soal lead her through a maze of hedges before they spilled out into the parking lot. There, a perfect view of Ground 2 was before them.

Lumina's mouth dropped straight to her chest.

Ground 2 was there, but it was a sickly green color. And, on top of that, there was a transparency to it. "It's missing solids."

"Yet, you can see people walking along its surface."

Lumina turned, her neck craning to the side. "How do you know?"

"Let's get you discharged, and then you can see."

» » » »

Soal drove a borrowed hover to the spot that Lumina knew well after two long years. As she sat closer to Ground 1's edge, Ground 2's ribbon began to appear, the crimson ribbon limply strewn across the stake and the ground.

The hover slowed to a stop.

Lumina got out of the car, her hands tracing the body of the hover as her legs trembled like Jell-O beneath her. Soal rounded the hood. Lumina looked to Soal, then back at Ground 2.

Lumina's head let go of the hover's hood and walked towards the edge. She crouched by the stake and watched the transparent area before her.

After a few minutes, Lumina's eyes caught on a woman's figure. Transparent, just like the rest of Ground 2. But, Lumina could make out some of the woman's fine details. Then, with a start, Lumina's hand went to her mouth. She looked back at Soal. Soal nodded, knowing just what Lumina was thinking.

Lumina turned back to the transparent woman, finding a slight comfort in the fact that her sister was still alive.