"There were many other titles I could've used, ex: 'Lyra is a protective tsundere' and 'Entering the first test site' but you guys all waited for him to blow it up, so here you go!" 

"And yes, he will and I swear on the River Styx (it's a Percy Jackson thing, a serious oath if you don't know about it) that it's true." 

"The budget for the explosions were... so expensive..." 

"Evan, I thought you were the one who said we can just pay for it earlier?" 

"U-um, right! That's right, my lady!" 

"Great. Without further ado, let's get going!" 

"A Zodiac Applyfic, Act 1, Final Scene (Scene 5), Take 1!" 

"ACTION!" 

(Fun fact: I struggled TREMENDOUSLY with how Lyra's first knee-jerk reaction should be and how to start this chapter. I told you, strong emotions are just not my thing. TvT)

Also, just a warning, the action scenes are gonna SUCK. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone was too stunned to react. Then Noise fell over, and they erupted in chaos. "Noise!!" Zaalia, Haru, and Eira were focused mainly on the said person on the ground, but everyone else was watching Lyra. 

I. Am. Furious. 

The snow around them at a five-kilometer radius instantly melted and evaporated as a deadly aura surrounded Lyra, who was eerily silent. Finally he spoke. "That won't kill him. I've just reactivated your abilities completely." He stood up and lifted Noise up. They followed him worriedly into the house, where he set him down again on the couch. "Turtle and Haru. Come with me." 

"Where are we going?" Turtle asked, looking torn between the person that just got shot in the head or following orders. 

Lyra's eyes were burning with anger as he looked back. "To find the army." 

"Why me?" Haru asked quietly. 

"You can deflect things. I don't want either of you to get hurt-I would take Willie, but he's still a newbie to this whole 'powers' thing. Better safe than sorry." Lyra replied. "As for Turtle, you can copy abilities. Can you copy a tracking skill for me?" 

"Um... sure." She inhaled. "I don't know what level it'll be at, though..." A gold circle surrounded her irises and a moment later she sniffed the air. Her hair twitched in the direction where she was pointing. "I know where the sniper is." 

"Good." Lyra's voice and face were eerily calm as he snapped his fingers and a moment, the tree where Turtle had pointed at instantly exploded. (News flash, the sniper died) "Now, the army?" 

Turtle looked warily at Haru before answering. "Just keep on going forward. But I assume you don't need to know that." 

"I don't. But good job with finding the sniper." Turtle nodded and quickly deleted the tracking ability. Truth to be told, she was feeling pretty terrified of Lyra right now. Being this calm and quiet was not like him at all. She was also careful to keep her hair in normal mode as she and Haru followed him through the path in the forest.

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the army site-the warm glow from the mini civilization there was a dead giveaway, along with the faint scent of army things and gunpowder and man machines.

Lyra stepped right into the army, as casual as if he were stepping right into his own home. The soldiers stood up immediately. "Who are you?" 

"Nobody," Lyra answered, flashing a smile. "Just someone that you pissed off. Greatly so." And he proceded to punch a soldier in the face. 

"Hey, um... should we stop him?" Haru asked nervously as Lyra took down soldier after soldier. 

"Nah," Turtle said. "I'm mad too. Mr. Noise is nice." (And because she really didn't like the army for ruining her shippy moment, but that's not important)

Meanwhile, in the army, General Wilson's walkie-talkie crackled. "Shot. Confirmed. Target presumably dead." 

"Good job, men." General Wilson said, taking a long drag from his cigar. "We can't let anyone near our campsite. We'll deal with the kids later-capture them or kill them, most likely. Where's the sniper?" 

"D-Dead, sir," Another soldier reported. "The tree he was in unexpectedly exploded. There was no time to get him out." 

Wilson clicked his tongue in annoyance. "How annoying. Well, send in another." 

"Roger that, sir-AHHH!" A loud boom! sounded through the walkie-talkie, and the line was fizzled into static. "Soldier? Soldier!" Wilson stabbed his walkie-talkie. "Damn this old thing!" 

Just then a soldier ran in. "General! General!" 

"Speak." 

"We're under attack! Somebody appeared at the other side of camp, and they're blowing everything up!" 

Wilson shot out of his chair. "What?! And nobody fired at him?!" 

"We did, sir, but he's got some sort of strange ability! He didn't even have to touch any of the tanks before they exploded! Many of our soldiers died, and the ones who did manage to fire a shot also died! There are two of the kids there, one who also has a strange ability! He deflected all of our shots! The girl is telling them what to do so there are barely any blind spots, it's like she can see the future!" 

"Dammit!!" His cigar crunched in his teeth. "Did you get a clear picture of them?" 

"N-No, but the one attacking seems to be around eighteen?" 

"Eighteen?" Wilson asked incredulously. "This is ridiculous!" He pushed the soldier aside and strode towards the door. "We're the U.S. Army, for god's sake!! Start acting like it and attack!! Use the tanks!!" 

"Yes sir!" 

But unfortunately for him, he was met with a horrific sight as he stepped outside. Fire was raging everywhere and to him, it looked as if everything had literally crumbled to dust. Everything was burning. He saw several soldiers on the ground. 

His cigar dropped out of his mouth as he finally saw the person standing in the middle of it all. Even at this distance, he could feel the deadly aura around them and sure enough, the kid only looked eighteen. Standing slightly behind were two other kids, younger than he was. 

"Dammit!! Where are the reinforcements?!" Wilson barked. 

"All of our reinforcements are dead or too wounded to move!" 

"Alright, enough beating around the bush! I want that ridiculous kid blown to pieces on my count!!" He ordered his men. 

"Yes, sir, yes!" His remaining forces scrambled, then the firearms clicked into place. Lyra looked at the firearms in boredom, clicking his tongue in distaste as a cocky smile grew on his face. 

"On the count of three, fire!" Wilson commanded them. "One... two... three!!!" 

The army unleashed tremendous firepower on the three. But before the bullets could hit them, a powerful shockwave destroyed most of them, and the rest melted. "Hold your fire!" Wilson ordered when he realized they were wasting bullets. He gnashed his teeth. "Damn... who is that kid...?!" 

Slowly the teen started walking towards them slowly, the kids following hesitantly. General Wilson didn't know why, but as he got closer, he started backing up, until he stumbled into the Sergeant. "General! What are your orders? We're almost out of bullets!" 

"I'm thinking, Sergeant, I'm thinking!" he snapped. "We still have our batch of tanks. Use them to-" 

At that moment, Lyra snapped his fingers. Wilson's jaw dropped as one after another, the tanks exploded. All the while he was getting closer to him. "Holy mother of explosions!!" 

Finally, Lyra stopped right in front of him. His posture was so casual, but General Wilson felt his knees tremble under his furious gaze. "You're the army?" His tone irritated him and he straightened. "Yes, we are. I am General Wilson of the U.S. Army, and who the hell are you?!" 

Lyra smiled. "I'm no one. No one you need to remember. All of this will be gone from your memories in a day's time, anyway." 

"T-Then what do you want from us?" Wilson stammered as Lyra stepped even closer. Danger signs were going off wildly in his head. This kid... something's not right about him...!!

"You were the one who gave orders to shoot." His smile dropped out of his face as he stepped closer. "Do you realize that the person you shot is very much alive?" 

"W-What? That's im-impossible!! It was a clean headshot through the temple!" 

"And do you realize," He continued, stepping closer. "That it is considered the lowest of the low to shoot someone when they are off-guard? Now, normally, that bullet wouldn't have hit its mark. But it did, while he wasn't paying attention. And do you know..." He leaned closer and Wilson shivered and the murderous look in his eyes. "... There are some people that will care very much if that happens." 

General Wilson trembled under his gaze. "A-Alright! We're sorry! We have strict orders not to allow anyone-" 

"Does it look like I give a shit about your orders?" Lyra cut in. "Tomorrow morning my group and I are going to walk through the entrance that you're guarding, and I don't want to see a single gun out or you know what will happen." He narrowed his eyes. "Got it?" 

"G-Got it!" Wilson stuttered. 

Unfortunately, some people weren't listening to him, and five or seven soldiers popped out and charged Lyra. "Die, you little punk!" 

Wilson's jaw dropped again when Lyra barely even batted an eye and in seconds, the soldiers were passed out at his feet. His face was displeased. "Honestly. And you people call yourselves the military." 

"W-Who are you?!" Wilson demanded. "This is crazy!" 

Lyra brushed his hands off. "Look me up in the records if you want, but you won't find me. That's because..." His eyes reflected the fires eerily. "... I died over a thousand years ago." 

General Wilson fell onto his knees as Lyra turned around and waved a hand. "Luckily for you, if I still want to be an NPC and not get a lecture from Universe and Ophiuchus, I'm not going to kill you." 

He met Turtle and Haru at the end of the field. "Pathetic, honestly. Let's go." 

"What about the fires?" Turtle asked, running to catch up with them. Her hair was bright lavender in relief and satisfaction, although she couldn't resist throwing a slightly concerned glance back at the destroyed army. 

"Universe and Ursa will take care of it," was Lyra's simple reply. She looked at Haru, who shrugged a little (he was just happy the forest was completely fine and unburnt), then back to Lyra. "Hey, I heard what you said back there," she said hesitantly. "Are you... really dead on Earth?" 

"'Course I am," Lyra said offhandedly. "All of the NPCs are 'reincarnations' of our human selves, who are very much dead. We died thousands of years ago, as I said, and when we did, our records were erased from everywhere." 

"That's... kind of hard to wrap my head around," Haru admitted, and Turtle nodded. 

"Then don't," Lyra said bluntly, tucking his hands into his pocket. "Hurry up." 

Meanwhile, in the house, Noise had, just as Lyra said, woken up after molecularizing himself, although he had a splitting headache. He clutched his head. "Argh... how dare they shoot me while I was just enjoying myself..." 

Amanda rushed to his side. "He's awake!" She called the rest of the house. "How are you feeling, Noise?" 

"How are you alive, for that matter?" Bliss added. 

Noise looked at them, but what he asked instead was, "Where's Lyra?" 

Willie grinned. "Your prince charming is off to kick some army butt. He's super pissed about the whole shooting thing." 

"What? No!" Noise shot out of the couch, then regretted it when his head pulsed in pain. He sat back down. "And you didn't stop him?" 

"Why should we?" Ariana asked. "Those guys shot you while you were enjoying yourself. They deserve some time-out time, in my opinion." The rest of them nodded in agreement, and Noise smiled a little at their care. 

"Oh! Right, you probably have a headache, right?" Eira rushed over and snapped her fingers. A light flurry of snow fell onto his head, and a moment later the headache lessened. He blinked in surprise. "Oh. Thank you." 

"Of course!" Eira smiled. "That's all my snow would be good for, anyway." She glanced at his body, which was fine. If she hadn't witnessed the shooting herself, she would've totally thought he had just woken up from a bad nap with a headache.

"How are you alive?" Blaine echoed his twin's earlier question. 

"I'm an NPC," Noise said. "I already died once. Besides, thanks to Turtle's warning, I managed to stir up some friction so the shot avoided my brain. From there it was a simple matter of molecularizing myself and back." 

"Yeah, that girl is kinda weird," Hitomi said. "She-or should I say he-knew ahead of time to ask Universe for a scarf. Is one of her powers future sight?" 

"Nope," Einar popped the p. "In her own words, she gets random flashes of the future at random times. Sometimes they help, sometimes they don't." 

"I see..." 

"Anyways, what's the time?" Noise asked, looking around. 

"It's almost 11:00," Vanira reported. 

"11?! Why aren't you guys sleeping?!" 

"Why aren't you sleeping?" Bliss shot back. "You got shot in the head, for cryin' out loud!"

"NPCs technically don't need to sleep or eat. All NPCs are dead on Earth," Noise explained. "But we still do so because food is great and to blend in." 

"PFFFT-WHAT?!" 

"Yeah. We're all dead." 

"Then how are you here?" Hunter edged away. "Please don't tell me you're a ghost..." 

Noise rolled his eyes. "I'm not a ghost." 

"Then how are you solid?!" 

"Just listen, will you? Universe sent me a letter a long, long, long time ago and I took these tests, same as you're about to. I managed to get past them all, but I rejected his offer to become an Angel. After that, as you know, I got kidnapped by Orion, blah blah blah, Lyra 'rescued' me, blah blah, and then Orion found me and poisoned my drink. I died. But I got an offer to be reincarnated as an NPC, and since hell did I want to murder Orion, obviously I took it. I went through training, became appointed as Aquila's assistant, and here we are." Noise finished. 

"Wait a minute," Ariana asked. "You're all... dead? Aquila, Lyra, even Ophiuchus?" 

"Yep," Noise confirmed. "You shouldn't ask them how they died, it's a touchy subject for most of us."

(SPEAKING OF WHICH, CREATORS OF THE MAIN NPCs, PLEASE TELL ME PRIVATELY HOW YOUR CHARACTER DIED. THANK YOU.)

"That's kind of weird," Hitomi said. "You seem very much real to me."

"Thank you, that's because we are real. In this life, anyway." Noise shrugged. "Do you know when they're going to come back?" As if on cue, a loud explosion came from the camp. "Oh. Shoot. That's probably not good." 

"He's just getting revenge," Willie chirped as if that wasn't a bad thing. "In our place." 

Which didn't really reassure Noise, since he definitely did not want to get lectured by Aquila or Universe again. The last time that had happened, he got so sore that it became hard to walk-since not only did they lecture, they made sure you sat in the exact same position while they talked, if you had done something really bad. 

Going back to Lyra's side, Turtle was still asking him questions. Lyra, having released part of his anger on the army, answered most of them. "What'd you do to Orion? What are the other assistants like? What-" Halfway back, she turned male and became quiet immediately. 

"Genderfluid, huh?" Lyra noted. Turtle-as Kuro-nodded. "Huh. Ophiuchus would love you." 

A few moments later, he became female again. "Jeez, Kuro, just because we're in a mutual agreement, that doesn't mean that you can just possess me to get quiet," she grumbled, her hair spiking up into fizzy orange spikes in annoyance. 

"I hope everyone is okay in the house," Haru said worriedly as the house came into view. Lyra put his hand on the doorknob. "They're probably fine." With that, he swung open the door.

They were met with an adorably domestic scene. "And then like that, you have to fold the paper this way and puff it out," Zaalia was in the middle of teaching Noise the art of origami, several papers already lined up on the table in the middle. 

"Welcome home!" Eira said cheerfully, looking up. She proudly displayed her snowflake. "Look what I made!" Hanging from the ceiling were several more snowflakes, and the table was covered in tiny pieces of cut paper.

Noise's face lit up when he saw them. "Lyra!!" Before Lyra could react the bluenette (Lavendernette? Purplenette? Idk) had flung his arms around him in an enthusiastic hug. He staggered back in surprise. "N-Noise?! You're not supposed to be up yet! You just took a bullet to the head, you idiot-!" 

"Hee hee, well, it's boring if I just keep on getting hit," Noise laughed, pulled back a little, beaming. "I heard you laid waste on the army for me?" 

Lyra was about to deny it, but Turtle, whose hair was in a pink fluffy cloud of fluffy watching-the-gay pleasure, cut in. "You bet he did!" 

Haru collapsed onto a couch. "It was terrifying pleasing... I'm glad they learned their lesson, though... it's not nice to hit people when they're already down..."

"Really?" Lyra attempted to hide his red face. "Did that bullet do something to you? You're acting like a f*ckin' schoolgirl." 

"Aw~ But the last time you fought someone for me was a long time ago," Noise protested, still smiling. Then he affectionately kissed Lyra's cheek. Willie and Turtle quickly snapped a photo. "Thanks for that." He waved a hand, seemingly unaware of the bonafide (pronounce as: bone-eh-fied, and do not picture as a white jiggly raw fish dish like I do) mess he left in his wake. "Come on, these zodiacs are surprisingly good at folding paper!" 

"Aww~ They're too cute~" Willie swooned. 

"You know, I would actually like to know the reason why too," Ariana commented as she watched Noise excitedly chatter away to Lyra about his origami. "I swear, there are literal sparkles coming off of him." She held up her arms playfully as if to block the light. 

"I think it's cute~" Hunter and Willie swooned in unison. 

Pretty soon, though, it was time to go to bed. "All right kids, you guys have been up way past your bedtime," Lyra announced, apparently past his earlier embarrassment. "Get into your beds. Tomorrow is gonna be hard on you guys." 

"What's up with the weird paintings?" Vanira asked as they passed painting after painting hung up on the second level walls, each of a different person and each different-but all painted with impeccable depth of detail.

"You'll probably find out tomorrow," Noise said with a mischievous grin. "Now sleep." 

~*~

The next morning the zodiacs woke up to the smell of breakfast wafting up from the kitchen and the morning sun shining brightly on their faces. 

Einar was the first to jump out of bed. "I smell breakfast!" 

"Dude," Hunter groaned, holding his foot, which Einar had just stepped on. "Mind the feet." 

"Do you guys eat different foods than we do on Earth?" Willie asked. "Like, I dunno, fancy angel food or something?" 

"Not really," Haru said quietly. "Although I have to say that it's much less likely in Heaven than on Earth that you'll die because of unhealthy and germ-filled food." 

"Whatever the case, it's food, and I'm hungry!" Blaine shouted enthusiastically, throwing the covers right into an annoyed Bliss's face. "Race you guys!" 

Which, of course, led to a stampede of zodiacs. When they got downstairs Noise looked up from where he was flipping a pancake. He was wearing a bright pink apron with the words "Kiss the Cook!" embroidered on it, with the o's as hearts. "Good morning." 

"Morning," the zodiacs chorused, sitting down at the table. "Haha, the girls aren't down yet," Einar gloated. (Obviously, the girls slept in one room and the boys in another)

"Hey, uh, Noise?" Bliss suddenly asked. "What's up with that portrait of Lyra?" 

The rest of the zodiacs looked to where he was pointing and yes, indeed, there was a portrait of Lyra sitting on the countertop. 

"Oh, that's a dream-painting," Noise said, slipping a pancake onto a plate. "Every time someone comes into this house, when a person sleeps, the house will choose to 'dream-paint' for one or two people. Basically, the main person or what their dream is centered around will be 'painted' overnight while you sleep. In this case, I found that by my head when I woke up. Thank goodness Lyra's a sort-of heavy sleeper." 

"It's a very good likeness," Haru said earnestly. 

"Thank you, being around someone for over a thousand years does that to your memory," Noise replied offhandedly, setting down two pancakes on a plate in front of all of them. "Will someone go get the girls? They're still up there and I don't want them to miss out on breakfa-" 

A shrill screech interrupted them. Einar looked up. "That's sis!" Right as he was about to stand up, Vanira charged down the stairs. Her eyes were wide. "Look at this!" Amanda and Eira came down, carrying... a portrait of Hunter in their arms. 

"Hey, that's me!" Hunter exclaimed in surprise-happiness. 

"Oh, looks like the house painted another last night," Noise commented. "Sit down, girls, there are pancakes." 

"This is so cool!" Turtle was prodding the painting. "When did it get painted? It's so realistic! Vanira, I didn't know you could paint!" 

"I-I can't!" Vanira protested, blushing. 

"Then who painted this?" Zaalia wondered. 

"I am getting some weird vibes right now," Ariana reported monotonously. 

Noise quickly explained the situation to them. "Oh wait-sis, did that mean you dreamed about Hunter?!" Einar immediately pounced on the question, and she turned redder. "N-NO! I didn't! We were all in it, but I guess the house only chose one person!" 

"Right..." 

Lyra walked into the kitchen, yawning and stretching leisurely. His already-fluffy hair was messy, and he looked tired. "G'morning..." 

"Good morning!" Noise said cheerfully. "Sit down, I'm almost done with the food." 

Lyra froze midway through sitting down. "Wait. Why is there a portrait of me sitting on the counter?!" 

"It's the dream-painting thing," Noise filled in. "Remember? Ursa told us about that once." 

Lyra's face turned red so fast it was almost funny. Then he covered his face. "Dammit, why you gotta do that to me first thing in the morning..." 

"There's a portrait of Hunter, too," Hitomi said, pointing to the other picture which was sitting next to the first. 

"Now that's kind of funny," Lyra said, recovering. "Thanks." He took a sip from the coffee that Noise had just set down. 

"It-It is not!" Vanira fumed adorably, pulling a Lyra-style tsundere blush. 

"I don't know," Ariana said, stirring her tea. "What my emotions report is saying kinda contradicts that-okay, okay, shutting up now, shutting up now."

"Moving on from that," Amanda said, sticking a fork into her pancake, "Where's the entrance? We're not going to get blown to bits the minute we step foot onto the army?" 

"Trust me," Turtle said drily, "After what Lyra did yesterday, I would be surprised if there even is an army to fight." 

"Aw," Vanira pouted. "I was looking to test out a new method of mine on them... since I would have an excuse to anyway!" 

"Nobody is killing anyone this morning," Noise said, taking off his apron and sitting down. "Eat. We need to get to the first stage site as quickly as possible." 

"So can you like, tell us what the first stage is about?" Willie said through a mouthful of pancake. "A hint would be nice." 

"No f*ckin' way," Lyra replied casually. "It changes every time, obviously so that people can't ask for a cheat code or anything like that." 

"Shoot."

Soon enough, they finished breakfast. "I kind of want to stay here a little longer," Blaine admitted, touching the seats fondly. "Who knows how long it'll be until we come back." 

Noise was hanging up the portraits. "You can always come back!" He called. "Once the tests are finished, anyway." 

"That could be until forever!" Blaine whined. Noise just shrugged. "Sorry, but if it helps the residences inside the test grounds are just as nice."

"The snow still hasn't finished falling all the way," Hitomi noted, looking outside where only a thin layer of snow covered the ground-courtesy of Lyra, who had melted all the snow there before the previous night. 

Eira pulled on her boots. "Yay? It's snow-y nice outside-oh. Wait." Snowing had started falling. "I forgot my powers are back..." 

"Turtle, can you tell your hair to stop waving in my face?" Hunter asked politely. Turtle's hair, which were currently bright tendrils of pink and yellow, had subconsciously grown and were wiggling around in his face, matching her excitement. 

"Oh! Sorry!" She reined them back in. "I'm sad to leave, but excited for what's to come!" 

"We all are," Amanda said brightly. 

Lyra pulled on his gloves. "Hurry up, we need to leave already."

Noise ran downstairs. "Wait wait wait, I need to go and scout out to make sure the army's moderately okay! Be right back!" 

"I hope he doesn't get too worked up over it," Haru whispered slightly nervously to Turtle as Noise disappeared out the door, who responded with a very Turtle-like sage nod.

"Judging by how he reacted last night, it should be fiiiii-" Suddenly Willie disappeared, then reappeared. "Curse this... time travel...!!" 

There was a knock on the door. "I've got it!" Turtle ran to get the door and was met with a woman. "Um... hello? Are you an NPC?" 

The woman standing there had long yellow-to-pink ombre hair done in a high ponytail. Behind her pink heart-shaped sunglasses, a pair of bright golden eyes very much like Universe's twinkled. She was wearing a long red-maroon trench-coat style coat with a long bow tie. Her eyes lit up when she saw them. "You..." She spread her arms. "Must be Turtle!!" And then she promptly hugged Turtle enthusiastically. "And the rest of the zodiacs!" She took turns hugging each of them regardless of response, to their immense confusion. "Who are you?" 

"What are a group of charming children like you doing with Lyra?" She asked instead, frowning. "How about me? I'm much more charming than he is!!" 

Just then Lyra came back downstairs. He froze at the sight of her. "Lovene?! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be running the Ability Shop?" 

She narrowed her eyes at him and then rushed over-not to hug him, like the zodiacs had expected, but to instead stretch his cheeks. "Lyra! You naughty child, none of us asked for you to blow up the army! Do you know what kind of damage control we're going to have to do!?" 

"I'm sowwy," Lyra winced. "Now wet go of wmy chweeks!" 

"You," Bliss said, "Have immediately earned my respect." 

The woman beamed at him. "Thank you, dear, you're quite kind. This guy, on the other hand..." She glared daggers at him. "Oh, right, I almost forgot to introduce myself! I'm Lovene, and I run the Ability Shop!" She spun to Lyra. "You guys were supposed to get tickets from me! I was so excited to meet them, and then you robbed me of that chance! Humph!" 

"She's... kind of childish..." Hitomi whispered to Vanira, who nodded. 

"That was Universe's fault," Lyra said, rubbing his red cheeks. "He was the one who insisted we accompany him." 

Lovene's jaw fell open. "Well, I never-He LIED to me!" 

"She reminds me of someone I know..." Hunter whispered to Einar, covertly gesturing towards Turtle. Einar nodded in agreement. 

"Well, past that, where's Noise?" She peeked out the window. "I thought he was here too..." 

"He's checking on the army," Lyra filled in, right as Noise floated down from the sky, carrying an umbrella-thingy just like Nova's, except his was glowing lavender and blue like his hair and eyes. 

"Everything's okay!" He chirped cheerfully, closing his umbrella as he entered the house. "Damaged and blown up, yes-not to mention tramautizecd greatly, but no man-curable injuries-Woah! Lovene?!" 

"Noise!" Lovene hugged him too. "How are you? I heard you got shot! Did LyLy avenge you?" 

"That's what I've been TRYING to say," Lyra called irritably. "And stop calling me LyLy!!"

"I'm fine," Noise said. "Stop poking me, thanks." 

"Are you an NPC too?" Willie asked curiously. 

She shrugged. "I guess. I'm dead on Earth, but I don't run tests or anything. Too much work for me!" 

"You're a high-ranker," Lyra said drily, putting his coat on. "It shouldn't be that troublesome for you." 

Lovene pouted. "But the kids are so cute that I feel bad if I smack them down!" 

"Aw yeah! Gimme five!" Turtle high-fived her. "I approve!" 

"Me too!" Amanda, Eira, and Zaalia all high-fived her. (They were all part of the 'Let's resolve things calmly if possible, but we're not afraid to kick ass for our loved ones' group)

"Oh geez..." Bliss said, looking at the group of girls laughing and talking with Lovene. "Why do I get the feeling that things are going to be very loud from now on...?" 

"Anyway," Lyra cut in. "Why are you here, Lovene? Besides to yell at me, that is." 

"Oh, right!" Lovene dug in her pockets and produced twelve tickets. "Here are your tickets for the second stage! I guess Universe also forgot to mention that you need a ticket to enter the second stage." 

The tickets were black with a white bar code and a red butterfly above that. "Interesting..." Ariana turned it over. 

"You can store them in your arms inventories," Lovene explained. "See?" She snapped her fingers and a glowing blue screen puffed into existence in front of them. "Just touch the ticket to the screen and it'll be stored there. When you need it again just picture what you need and it'll come into your hands."

"That's... really cool!" Haru couldn't resist exclaiming, then blushed. Lovene beamed him, hugging him. "You're so cute, and yes, it is!" 

"Lovene, keep your hands to yourself," Lyra said, annoyed. "And we need to leave." 

"Yes, yes," Lovene rolled her eyes at him. "But I can't help it! I just love teasing kids like you~!♥" 

"Is she always like this?" Einar whispered to Noise, who sighed. "Yes." 

"Anywho, I just dropped by to yell at LyLy then give you the tickets," Lovene said. "So I'll be off now~! Have a nice trip! I'll see you soon, I hope!" 

"Byyyee!" The zodiacs followed her outside, where they watched her disappear with a flash of light. 

"Whew..." Lyra wiped his brow. 

"Why are you sighing?" Hitomi asked curiously. 

"That lady likes to touch people everywhere," Noise explained. "But Lyra can't do much about it, since she'll get her way anyway." 

"But it's okay!" Lyra flashed them a thumbs-up. "Thanks to your presence, she didn't touch me as much!" 

"UM, AND IT'S OKAY FOR HER TO TOUCH US?!" 

Noise quickly stepped in. "Moving past that... follow us." The zodiacs bid farewell to the house, then followed them through the forest. 

Their jaws dropped at the same time when they saw the destruction that Lyra had caused. 

"... Damn, Lyra, you're hard-core," Hunter whistled. 

There were some soldiers out on duty, but they all fled at the sight of Lyra. "Noise, can you put your shield up around us just in case?" Lyra murmured. "I don't feel quite safe." 

"Of course." A moment later the air shimmered slightly as his shield expanded around them. 

General Wilson was waiting for them. To his credit, he was not completely shaking in fear. "G-Good morning. The entrance you're looking for is right this way." 

"Thank you." The zodiacs exchanged looks-that was the leader of the army, and he was cowering... what exactly did Lyra do?!-but followed him. 

Eventually, they arrived at the entrance. The entrance was... a plain old wooden door on the side of a gigantic rock pile with a giant red X painted on it, which was peeling. 

Vanira was the first to speak. "This... doesn't look like the entrance to our deaths. At all." 

"You said it, sis." 

"I actually like the X on the door," Turtle mused. "Tasteful." 

"Are you kidding?" Blaine blinked when she just looked at him. "Wait, you're not joking are you...?" 

"All of the entrances on Earth have this X," Lyra said, tugging open the door. A bright light shone from inside. "Come on." 

Some of them hesitated, looking back at Earth. "Don't worry," Noise said kindly. "You'll be able to come back." 

"All right." With that, the zodiacs stepped through the doorway. 

A wave of something like release passed over them, and when they opened their eyes they found themselves in where it must've been a piece of Heaven passed through the 'Earth' filter. Their winter clothes had also disappeared, replaced with their normal clothes. 

Lyra stretched. "That's better." There was a bright flash of light from him and he looked more alive. "Earth isn't good for me, apparently." 

"Were you feeling ill?" Noise immediately asked worriedly. "Why didn't you tell me?" 

Lyra blinked at him. "I'm fine. Just the aftereffects of last night catching up to me." 

Suddenly Turtle held her head as a throb passed through her head. "Argh...!" Her hair turned bright white in pain.

"Turtle, what's wrong?" Eira put a hand on her back. 

"That's not right..." Turtle muttered. "What did I copy...?" Suddenly she gasped as she recalled previous events. "Shit. What's Lovene's ability?"

"Ability or special skill?" Noise asked. 

"Either." 

"Let's see... for her ability, she's got Flame Skill. Basically pyrokinesis, but on a much higher level. Her flames are like, er... divine. For special skill, Foreseeing." Noise recited. 

"What level? You mentioned she was a high-ranker, right?" 

"She is," Lyra said. 

Turtle groaned. "Ugh... I must've copied one of her skills by accident when she hugged me... Dammit." 

"Oh, I can help with that." Noise pointed his remote control at her and pressed a button. Instantly her headache disappeared. "Thank you..." 

"So, where's this test site?" Amanda patted Turtle. 

"Around the corner," Lyra said, pointing. 

"Great!" Zaalia paused. "Come on!" 

"We can't enter the test site," Noise said. "Ursa Minor would flip out if she knew we were here. She gets really... excited." 

"Does that mean... you're leaving?" Haru asked. Everyone's face became a little sad because believe it or not the two NPCs had grown on them. 

"Yes," Lyra said, but softened his voice. 

"Don't worry," Noise ruffled their hair one by one. "We'll drop by after the first test ends to see how you're doing. Right, Lyra?" he elbowed him. 

"Ow, but yes," Lyra grumbled. 

"I'm going to miss you guys!" Turtle was the first to throw herself at them and before the two could react the zodiacs had all piled on top of them-even Vanira and Hitomi. 

"All right, all right, stop acting like babies," Lyra managed to speak. "If you really miss us that much then here." He tossed a silver square-thingy to them. Bliss caught it. "When you really need to talk to us, just press that button and we'll appear." 

"Wow, thanks!" Bliss put it in his Inventory. 

"Better not forget about it," Amanda half-teased. 

"As if, witch." 

"Hey, what-" 

"No fighting, thank you," Hitomi held her hands between them. 

"Okay then." Lyra and Noise stepped back. "We'll take our leave, now. It's been fun." 

Noise grabbed Lyra's arm and motioned for them to step back as a glowing lavender teleportation circle puffed into existence beneath their feet. "Good luck, zodiacs." There was a beam of lavender light, then our dear NPCs and our current favorite ship (don't take me too seriously) disappeared. 

There was a moment of silence, then Turtle said sadly, "I miss them already." 

"Let's not feel too down just yet!" Amanda encouraged them. "We have to beat that test, don't we?" 

Bliss grinned. "For once I agree with you." 

"Let's kick that test's ass!" Hunter cheered enthusiastically. 

"This way," Vanira beckoned for them to follow her. "Let's go and show those Earthlings who's boss." 

Newly energized, the zodiacs followed her and they gasped when they entered a bustling square filled with 'players' just like them. Beyond the square, there were a pair of towering gates and past that, a sprawling town. "So many people..." Ariana said almost in awe. 

"I'm watching you," Eira said seriously at Einar, glaring at him. 

Haru started edging away reflexively from the crowd, but bumped into Hitomi. She smiled a little, reassuringly. "It's okay, just look for us. Turtle, can you make your hair especially crazy so we can find you?" 

"Sure!" Turtle chirped, and a moment later her hair shot straight up, becoming sparkly and rainbow and towering above most people. "How's that?" (Troll-style XD)

"Perfect," Hitomi called, then guided Haru to follow them. "C'mon. You can't be lost if you follow that flag of brightness." 

Haru smiled gratefully at her. "Thank you." 

She winked. "Anytime." 

"Hey, Hitomi?" Blaine called. "Why do you always wear that scarf? Won't you get hot? And how come your sleeves are so long?" 

"Nunya." 

"Nunya what?" 

"Nunya business," She sniped at him. Eira, who was nearby, burst into laughter. "Nice one!" 

"Fine," Blaine huffed. "I'm going to find my twin." 

"Aww, c'mon..." Eira followed him.

"Stay together, guys!" Amanda called as the zodiacs started to spread out. "We don't when the test will star-" 

"HE-LLOOOOO, PLAYERS!!" 

There was a burst of sparkles and young girl, maybe twelve or so, became clear in the sky. She was also holding an umbrella and was floating. She had bright, sparkling eyes and long, cascading hair in all the colors of the rainbow. Over her shoulders she wore a bear-fur cape. "Eyyyyy! I'm your first test, first stage NPC, Ursa Minor! Call me Minor for short." She beamed at them. "It's so good to see you all again! Who's ready to play?!" 

The crowd cheered eagerly in response. 

"She acts like a game show host," Willie shouted over the crowd at Einar, who nodded in agreement. 

"All right then!" Minor's eyes gleamed. "It's time!" 

"Let's start... the first stage of Test 1." 

---------------------------------------------------------

Test 1

Stage One

'Tag the Flag' 

Begin

---------------------------------------------------------

"CUT!" 

"I'm dreaming. I'm actually not dreaming. I FINISHED IN TIME OH MY GODS" 

"You're not dreaming, my lady." 

"Are you sure about that, Evan? I feel like I am. Anywhoo..." 

This marks the end of the first act! We shall bid farewell to our dear Lyra and Noise, who will, rest assured, make another appearance. *bows* Now you also have an explanation for that tease kiss I snuck in there ;)

And this is also where all the fun stuff comes in. Just a warning, MY ACTION SCENES WILL SUCK. So please. Forgive me. 

And also, from this point forward, the chapter updates may be slower than usual, because it takes a hecka lot of time to write out the tests! Why I like to stick to fanfics at times. 

Some notes: 

-Coco is in Haru's Arms Inventory, taking a nap. 

-When they got transferred to New York they instantly were dressed in normal human clothes. 

-The reason why Turtle had a headache is because Lovene's ability is very high class. The higher the level of ability the most toll it would take on her body. For example, if she copied Noise's or Lyra's ability, she would only be able to handle it long enough to punch one of them before she started coughing blood and faint. She can learn how to overcome that but overuse of Copying will shatter her body from the inside. 

Speaking of which, OC creators, please tell me drawbacks and advantages of your OC's powers. Thank you! 

Also... if anyone has a birthday or knows a holiday coming up soon, please tell me, because I got some great ideas for special chapters! Very excited for those ekekekeke...

Here's the 'lil extra!

~ Lovene ~

(My OC)

Ability - Flame Skill. A very high class pyrokinesis skill where she can wield 'divine' flames. She would be ranked very high with this ability but doesn't really feel the need to. 

Special Skill - Foreseeing. She can see the future when she wants to. Can be about general things or one person, or looking for one specific thing. 

✩ Really, really, really likes to hug people and touch them

✩ A hard-core mother 

✩ May seem relatively harmless but can be serious and even wrathful when the time calls for it

- The 'umbrella-thingys' that the NPCs are occasionally seen with are used for those who don't have to the ability to float and don't want to go through the trouble fo unveiling their wings. The umbrella lets them float/fly. 

Story Update/Note: Soo... this story is going to have a LOT of LBGT(Q)+ ships. Of course, there will still be straight ships, but yeah, I thought I'd warn you. If you're not okay with it, tell me and maybe I can do some arrangements.

I'd like to thank each and every one of you for commenting and encouraging me! That's what keeps me going! I love you all! 

As always, 

Your loving author, 

-awakened-angel-chan