"You need to get some rest and recover, Azura. Not be trying to arrange everything at once. You're still hurt for crying out loud!"

Killian sat opposite of Azura in a small conference room. It was the two of them, Killian dressed in his normal attire, Azura wearing one of the ugly colored suits she had worn when she had been here with Lucas. Her jacket was partly zipped up, exposing the bandages around her chest and ribs. Her left arm was in a sling as it was healing. She had taken some heavy damage on that arm and shoulder as they were falling. Would she be a normal human being, the bones would have been crushed and damaged beyond repair. Not just in her arm but in several places of her body. The shift back had not helped either and Azura had blacked out from it temporary.

"I have no time for that. I'll be fine." She grimaced as she moved 

"Yeah... I can see that. Azu, not even two hours ago you went tumbling down a cliff, over a sixty meters high, together with Marric. You have not given yourself any rest at all you're exhausted! You can't keep going like this! If you keep this up, you won't be able to help Lucas or save the world." Killian reached over the table and grabbed hold of her right hand while sending her a concerned look.

Her sweaty ebony hair fell before her eyes as she lowered her head for a moment. Her hand started to tremble right before she pulled it back and placed it against her chest. A deep sigh escaped her lips and Killian took a small breathe of relief as she seemed to release a bit of the tension. It was short-lived, as, for the next moment, Azura tensed up again. Her head shot up and she stared him straight in the eye. Her determination visible even stronger than before.

"I - Can't," She almost spit out the words, venom coated her voice. "If I don't continue on, it'll be too late!"

Azura stood up in such a rush she winched and gritted her teeth. Biting away the pain and in the process, biting her cheek.

"I'll be fine!" She hissed. "Now to w-" She stumbled as all the blood in her head seemed to drain in an instant.

Azura grabbed the chair in a hurry to support herself, twisting her torso again in a way pain reared up from her ribs. She gasped as the pain hit her. Her feet lost balance and as Killian jumped up, she crashed on the ground. Her head hitting the concrete floor with a bang.

*

The image rippled around her as Azura slowly waved her hand from side to side in front of her. She raised an eyebrow as she found herself in a forest she vaguely remembered. The ripple effect was the same as if touching water only it was the air, the mossy ground, the trees... Everything rippled around her. When she tried touching a plant, her hand moved right through causing another ripple. It blurred the image a bit and the more Azura moved the 'wilder' the image became and the more blurred. She stopped when two figures appeared on the muddy pathway. They were running and halted a bit away from where she was standing. Azura stopped moving, watched as the rippling image became still again. She let out a gasp in shock as the image became clear.

"Mommy! I don't want to run anymore!" The little black-haired girl was crying, tears ran down her face as her mother placed her on the ground.

The older woman's eyes darted all over the place as if to make sure they were safe. The young girl couldn't be any older than two and a half, three years old.

"I know, honey, I know..." The mother breathed exhausted. Her auburn hair all tangled up, sweat dripping from her forehead.

She kneeled down in front of the child and wiped a few loose strands of hair out of her daughter's puffed-up face. A gentle smile appeared on her face as she stared into her daughters' radiant blue eyes. She was about to talk but swallowed her words and instead, reached into her pocket and pulled out a necklace. It was a simple gold chain necklace with a golden ring dangling from it.

"Here. You see this, Azura? This here is very special to me. It reminded me of your father and I want you to have it." She opened the necklace and moved to hang it around the young girl's neck.

When she finished, she grabbed the ring and started mumbling words Azura could not make out. Tears sprang into her eyes as she watched her mother caress the face of her younger self with a love. She was a bystander, just a bystander, forced to watch the moment she could never remember. The smell of her mother hit her nose, her gentle blue eyes, her voice. It used to be soft and sweet but sounded almost scared now.

The girl whimpered when Eliora finished chanting and let her go.

"Mommy! I can't smell you!" The youngster lurched forward and buried her nose into her mother's neck. She slammed with her little fists against her mother's shoulder. "What's going on!"

Eliora caressed her daughter's back, keeping the young one enveloped in a tight hug for a while before she pried her loose.

"It's alright, darling," She smiled while tears formed in her eyes. "That means it's working. You hang on to that ring for me alright. It will keep you safe from him you hear me? " She grabbed her daughter by her shoulders. "Listen to me, Azura, " Her voice changed to a stern, desperate tone, "This ring will protect you. You keep it around your neck every day from now on. Everyday till you're old enough it fits around your finger. Then you will keep it there for as long as you need it. With it, he won't be able to find you. And... one day, when you're big and strong, the ring will know and you will take it off."

"But... mommy? I don't understand... How will it know?" The young girl looked utterly confused as she tried to look down at the ring.

"Magic, honey. listen to me, please. Promise me... One day you will kill him. When the ring has done its job it means you're strong enough and that's when you come back and kill him. For me, for your father and for yourself. You kill that bastard and show them what you really are!"

Azura flinched at the harshness of the way her mother spoke to her younger self. She reached out, only to curse herself for rippling the image and distorting the sound. She froze, hoping it would smooth out again. Seconds later it did just that, showing Eliora had placed her forehead against that of her daughter. She let it rest there for a moment before pulling back and getting up.

"We're going to play a game of hide and seek now, honey." Eliora's gentle smile at her daughter eased none of the young girl's uneasiness at the strange behavior of her mother.

"You go hide now, Azura! You go hide and be very, very quiet just as we always did back home. You hide for as long as needed."

"But M-" The youngster hopped from foot to foot while chewing her lip and fiddling with the ring dangling on her tummy.

"No buts!" Her mother interrupted her. "You go hide now."

The girl stood there, bewildered as her mother waved her off to the trees around them. She tapped her foot while starting to count and the young child ran off.

Eliora was counting, going up to a hundred and fell silent. She sniffed the air around her and for a moment, her eyes fell upon Azura as she took a big whiff. The woman cocked her head to the side before shaking her head. She turned and stared back at the place where her daughter had disappeared. A single tear ran down her cheek as she shifted into her snow leopard and ran.

*

There was a constant high pitched beeping noise. Like a tap that had been left open so the water kept on dripping. There were no other sounds and the beeping only seemed to get louder and louder till it filled the whole room. Every beep was a small stab to her ears. One was almost not noticeable. two was fine. A thousand were starting to hurt. She wanted to move her arms to cover her ears but they did not respond. A growl of frustration got stuck somewhere as she heard it only in her mind. She tried again to move her hand and when it didn't respond, fixed her mind to move only one finger.

It felt like her head was going to explode and not just from the beeping noise but it worked. The finger moved and the more she wiggled it, the less loud the noise became. The less loud the beeping became, the more the invisible strands holding her down were leaving. Soon after she was moving her hand, her arm and finally she managed to open her eyes.

Cold blue eyes gazed up, blinking against the bright light of the fluorescent light in the ceiling. She groaned, happy to hear an actual sound coming from deep within her throat

"Y-Y-You awwwake! Good." Azura turned her head a tad towards where the familiar voice was coming from. Zahair stood on her left side. His crooked half-smile greeted her as he dabbed her forehead with a cloth. "Y-Y-You h-have been ou-t ffor," He raised two fingers in the air, "dayss"

Azura grunted in response. Two days. Two days too long. She did not have the time for this and they had let her stay like this for two days. She tried to speak up but her throat was constricted and dry; no words left her mouth except for some indistinct croaking. Zahair grabbed a cup of water straight away and placed it at her lips so she could drink some.

The cold liquid did wonders as she closed her eyes for a moment trying to relax herself a bit. There was nothing she could do know. she could get angry for keeping her here for two days but it would not change a thing. She had to leave soon and she would do anything to get going as soon as possible. Azura tried to speak up again as she slowly felt her strength returning to her. She was fully healed from what she felt, a bit of soreness still left here and there.

"What... What's been happening here?" As she spoke, she straightened herself and sat up in the bed.

"Killl-ian... took c-control off SS-Sci-r." Zahair had watched her from the moment she woke up and had send a quick message to Killian, "H-he.. g-got ppeople-ba-ack too woorrk, b-b-burrned M-marrr-rics -bb-bodd-y.... s-s-ssset thing- b-ack to-to norr-mal."

He took a deep breath as he rattled everything out as fast as possible. He was nervous, and his way of talking betrayed it. It wasn't that he was scared of her but more that he did not know what to expect. Zahair always had been a bit more skittish around people.

"Good. It was exactly what I hoped he would do." With a yank, she pulled all the equipment attached to her loose.

The beeping noise became a flatline making her flinch. Zahair moved over and pulled the plug so the noise stopped and came over to help her get out of bed. She was sore alright, just as expected. When she caught Zahairs concerned she raised an eyebrow.

"Was I really hurt that bad?"

He nodded but kept his mouth shut for the rest. She would have to take that as a yes without knowing anything else. Azura sighed and stretched herself to loosen up her stiff muscles.

"I think I've been dreaming," She spoke without addressing Zahair directly. More as if she was talking to herself. "I just... Can't recall what it was but it felt important."

The door opened and Killian walked in. He cocked his head in surprise at seeing Azura out of bed and scowled at Zahair. He shrugged in return and flashed him something that should resemble a smile.

"You were supposed to keep her in bed, Zahair!" Killian immediately stepped towards the only woman in the room and grabbed hold of her, examining her from top to bottom. He turned her around and did the same from the back.

When he was satisfied he let her go earning himself a snarl from Azura. She crossed her arms as she moved to the wall and leaned against it.

"What the hell, Killian," She snorted, "I am fine. Unlike you when I'm done with you! Keeping me under for two whole days?!"

He flinched as she let some of her anger seep through her words. Straightening his back, Killian pushed down any fears and just imagined her to be his little annoying sister who needed a lesson.

"I did what I had to do since you needed to recover, sis. And now you need to do what is needed. You defeated Marric, you are the new leader here and you need to take responsibility."

Azura glanced at Zahair, a small smirk on her lips. Zahair carried the same crooked grin and gave her a little nod in return. The exchange between hem did not go unnoticed by the lean man who watched his lover and unofficial sister. It was short and straight after Azura's eyes found Killian's again.

"Who's the one who has been handling things since Marric died? Who has been in control for the last two days and has made sure things have been going... smoothly?" She paused for a moment. "It... has been going smooth right?"

"Wha-What? Y-Yes Things are going good.. considering the circumstances." Question marks filled his face.

"Good then there are no issues and you will continue whatever you've been doing together with Zahair." She pushed herself away from the wall and searched around the room for something. "Where are my clothes?"

"C-Cll-loset." Zahair pointed at the only closet in the room.

"Hold up, Azu! What exactly do you mean?" Killian grabbed hold of her wrist as she walked past him.

"What don't you understand Killian? I'm not a leader. I might have been born here but I wasn't raised here. I have no idea who everyone is, they probably won't accept me and frankly, I do not wish to be the leader of anything at all. I can do many things, but leading a group of people? That's not one of my specialties. You can. You already have the trust of these people. You are the right person to lead them and set things right here."