Reality Crisis

Enough time had passed, by now, that Leeloo worried Eric might be upset with how she'd disappeared. There were many reasons why her nights had not been free. She should have found the time to sneak out at least once since their relocation, but she hadn't. She hadn't found that time.

And so, at last, when the night was deep enough and the stars were in their right places, Leeloo finally did make that time tonight. The winter was still hearty and unashamed, but it had been worse before. She ventured out into the new settlement streets, ventured out into the dead suburban night, her frame swathed in layers that sealed in her warmth.

She couldn't count on finding Eric tonight, and they didn't have a wall or even a centralized place to meet. But she hoped, hoped, that she could find him all the same. And so her wandering around the streets began.

The entire group was halfway through their journey across the wilds when all hell broke loose, in a quite literal fashion. The temperature dropped quickly and snow started to fall at an alarming rate. On one end of the caravan, reality burst at the seams.

One of the trucks disappeared into the hole and the rest of the vehicles just barely stopped short. The ground started to vibrate and suddenly a loud roar could be heard nearby. A gigantic white mass moved from the direction of the hole in reality and started stomping around the caravan. Meanwhile, mounds of snow started forming into even more creatures that converged on the group and their supply trucks.

The largest of the creatures roared again, revealing a full set of snow-white teeth. The mounds of snow formed into dinosaurs that were about half the size of the largest dinosaur, ranging from the large Tyrannosaurus Rex formed out of snow to the smaller and faster Velociraptors.

A few screams rose up from the group below as people started to run in an attempt to avoid finding out if snow-dinosaurs could and would ingest them.

OOC: Just a little holiday crack!plot for you. Join in, create subthreads, and enjoy!

By the time Leeloo headed back toward the Chosen building, Eric was nowhere to be seen. She hadn't found anyone who needed her; thankfully, the attack on the dragon had gone better than they could have hoped for. No one was hurt -- no one at all, at least, not from Eric's assault on the dragon tonight. Even he was well. She smiled brightly at the remembrance of him, covered head to toe in dragon muck, stinking horribly -- but alive, alive, though by rights he shouldn't have been.

The remembrance of his hand on her face, just before he ran into the Chosen building, came back again to her, then, and she stopped smiling. They were close. They were very close. She loved Eric. But something about that motion felt...

She was standing at the window that was always left open, staring out into the settlement, when the door opened. She turned around, her troubled expression fading back into a brilliant smile -- and then dimming again, when she saw Evey and Peter... and the state of Peter.

Leeloo went straight to the door, and as she looked at Evey, her hands were already settling on Peter's waist. In answer, the Brit only gave Leeloo a surprisingly tender smile, mouthed "Feed him," then stepped backward into the corridor and closed the door.

That left Peter. She looked at him instead, smoothing her fingers over and over against his sides.

Long after the sun went down over that shivering, half-eaten settlement the first day after the breaking, Leeloo finally stopped... and sat... and closed her eyes (just for a little bit, just for a while). When she opened them again, it was to the brightness of the new morning, and the warmth of a jacket that was too large for her. She lifted her head and found Eric sitting close by her, one leg crooked, one stretched out, and his arm thrown casually over that raised knee. She sat up, rubbed at her eyes, and then gave him a big smile. "Morning," she said, her voice rough from sleep. She was tired, yet, tired and worn, but her friend was there, and it was clear he'd been there for a good portion of the night. She might not have needed the protection, but it'd been given without her asking, and she felt warmed by it. Friends were good.

There was much to do. Sometime later, she looked up and found that she'd managed to separate herself from Eric. She was certain he was still all right, but after seeing people disappear from existence before, she couldn't help the jump of her heart when she looked and he wasn't near. Concern for die Festung was beginning to worry her to distraction. She was glad to put in her hand here at Sanctuary, but she'd met many good people in die Festung, both Chosen and native alike. It didn't seem right that she wasn't there. But as fate would have it, Eric came stalking purposefully around the corner of the building where she'd been carefully salvaging, something strange in his eyes. The next hour, they were already well on their way back to die Festung.

She understood what they were about to do. She just didn't know how they were going to do it.

It wasn't really the car or the weapons that were valuable. There wasn't any gas for the car, only about three-fourths of a tank left, and the luxury vehicle wasn't made to work in broken world on terribly maintained roads. The weapons? They were okay if you had the skill or training to use them. Most people were really well armed.

No, the valuable stuff was her shampoo, her road snacks -- luxuries that were few and far in between. They were also things she could part with for trade. Until she met with Erik she was sleeping in her car. The leather seating was probably more comfortable than whatever they cobbled together in the "huts" anyway.

"Looks like we're camping," she said to the dog. As long as Bruce was safe, and by extension, the Hulk was asleep, then all was right with the world. She'd get some sleep, get a feel for the place and then...

Then there was an earthquake.

Scratch that. No good news. Everything sucks.

It wasn't just an earthquake. It was so much more than an earthquake. Where her car had been strategically parked was now a pile of rubble. The bumper of her blue car just visible. Lucky had made it out, living up to his name once again. Kate thought she heard barking, she couldn't be sure. Only that she was unable to move, would be lucky if she hadn't broken something and was probably about to loose consciousness.

Hopefully everyone else was alright.

Her side hurt. Thankfully, Kate Barton was unable to see why.

OOC: Only just slightly pre-event.

They'd left early, just as the sun warmed the cooling fall sky. Arm in arm at first, Leeloo and Eric headed out toward Sanctuary from the safety of the walls of die Festung. There would be more training today with Dinah, more to learn about each other and how they could best work together.

This time, she and he went more quietly, and there were no monsters to defeat during the journey. But there'd been quite a lot of talk, and Leeloo was smiling warmly by the time they entered Sanctuary.

It was mid-day, Leeloo was starving, but still grinning ear-to-ear. She'd just flopped down on the ground beside Eric to munch a sandwich and wait for their trainer. The day was beautiful.

The city of die Festung rested as it normally did, quiet and serene. The people that slept had no idea what waited for them in the shadows, they were too busy dreaming to realize that danger prowled the streets. Lucky for them this danger was on their side. Waiting and watching for anything that might get the inkling to disturb the peace of the evening. Even during the endless days the danger waited, lurking about the security of the wall to ensure that the bustling city born and Chosen stayed away from harm.

Eric settled against the wall, shoulder pressed against the hard stone as he waited. The sun was beginning to climb slowly through the sky, but it was still dark enough that Eric could be considered a mere shadow if one happened to look. A trick of the eye. But Leeloo would see him. She always did and the bird was never too far from where he was.

The crow perched atop the ledge of the wall itself and looked out into the now breaking day, it's keen eyes aware and watching. The ebony avian shuffled some on its perch, rustling the feathers on its breast and stretching its wings. The bird never tired. Like Eric it endured. It needed no sleep, no food and no company. Like its species it was highly intelligent, but always there was more unknown that lurked beneath the surface. Sometimes it talked to Eric and the man understood. Sometimes it tried to understand what Eric talked about, tried to figure out why he did some of the things that he did. The bird didn't know human nature, it was there to carry its burden. The great sadness.

With a caw the bird greeted the sun as it ascended slowly, and finally the avian seemed to settle.

Eric waited patiently. Leeloo was eager to meet Dinah, to train and to see the Sanctuary and Eric would take her. He knew she was capable of handling herself but that wouldn't stop him from fighting anything that even looked at her wrong. He hoped nothing chose to disturb their trek. For the sake of whatever it was that even would have the idea of bothering them. Not for themselves.

At his waist Eric had holsters with a gun settled into each, and a small blade was strapped to his back. These were what he used to fight Netvore and anything else that might creep up on the journey. The weapons were easy to handle and at this point Eric was more than seasoned in slaughtering the mindless zombie-like creatures. Sometimes he used his hands to kill them. Other times he used whatever weapons he could find or had on him. Part of him wished he was fast like Effie and Damon, the vampires he knew. But what he lacked in speed he made up for in strength, agility and being so deadly.

Eric hummed softly to himself. One of the songs he had written in an age that felt like a completely different lifetime. Technically it was, but the actual time period between then and now spanned only perhaps a little bit over a year. It seemed like an eternity. Like he had been a completely different person and perhaps he had been. His death had taught him many things he hadnt learned in his mortal life. Savoring the time you had with people was one of those things.

Some nights, Leeloo stayed in, instead of meeting with her friend in the dark night streets. They'd worked out a system, easy enough for the crow to see and translate. If there was something on the windowsill of her shared apartment by 10 p.m., she'd be out that night; and if not.... If not, Peter was probably not working late that night.

But tonight was not one of those nights. After the moon hit its zenith and started sliding down toward the trees again, Leeloo pocketed her key and headed downstairs. She'd gotten accustomed to walking at night, and she loved the cooler night air, the quiet of the streets, and the companionship of the strange man and his bird. They'd become very close to her.

She found him on a street corner not far from the Chosen building. With a big smile, she dropped in step with him and started walking. "I missed you last night," she said, the smile still full and bright. "What did you do?"

It'd been nearly a week since the earthquake. The city was slowly standing up again, dusting itself off, and getting back to work. In the most damaged part of the city, there was still a lot of cleanup to do. That's where Leeloo stayed, hidden under dirt and dark locks and bruises, working side by side with the citizens of die Festung. She was fairly certain none of them had guessed that she had recently been a resident of the Chosen building. After all, that was the first building to be restored, after the hospital, and everyone assumed that the precious Chosen returned to where they were expected to live.

Leeloo remained in the abandoned house she'd picked out from deep within the worst of the damage. It'd served her well. The water was still running, and the doors still closed and locked. She didn't sleep much, but when she did, no one troubled her in this house -- not even when she woke up with dry and aching throat and knew she'd been screaming. It could be that she was too far away from others to have disturbed them. It could be that it wasn't so strange a thing to hear at night, in these parts. Either way, she was grateful for it.

And there was Eric.

Every night at the same time, she'd venture out into the darkness and find him. First, it was on the wall. The next night, he was waiting for her just inside the wall, so she didn't have to climb again. They walked through the city, talking in low voices about a great many things. She'd grown to trust the strange no-longer-a-man, and it helped that he wasn't human, not anymore. She liked his special bird, too. She liked seeing the world with eyes that weren't hers. When she didn't understand the core of what he was saying, he showed her in a way she didn't know was possible.

Leeloo thought she'd learned a great many things about humanity. Eric showed her she'd only touched on the surface -- then showed her what was underneath. She'd started smiling again, during their night wanderings.

After a long day clearly debris, Leeloo came home with her skin full of blossoming bruises and tiny cuts, and put herself in the bath. She'd nearly fallen asleep in the tepid water. The sleeplessness was catching up with her. But after the water'd gone cold, she got herself up and started dressing. There were a few hours yet before the stars were right and she could go find Eric again.

Running a hand through dark, wet hair, Leeloo walked into the main room of the house. There came a deep groan from somewhere behind her. She looked over her shoulder, frowned, and turned around. There was just enough time to register the sight -- a folding of the ceiling, a crack that ripped over her head and then split -- and then nothing.

After leaving Carlos with a freshly-revived Peter just outside the wall, Leeloo did not immediately return to die Festung. Instead, she got out of sight of the two men, then walked outside the wall. Her head was full of contradiction. There was no clear path in front of her.

Fortune kept undesirables away, which was just as well. She had no fear of the dangers outside the wall, but no energy to challenge them either. As time passed, a plan began to take shape around what she knew -- and what she knew she needed to do.

When she finally did return to die Festung, she didn't look at all herself, which was her intent. Using knowledge she'd gained in Egypt from the last time she'd been awakened, she'd darkened her hair to a deep brown. It made her nearly unrecognizable. Although it was dreadfully late, and the building probably wasn't safe, she went back to the apartment she'd been sharing with Peter and quickly packed her clothes.

Then she went down into die Festung and blended in with the citizens of the city. She didn't talk to anyone, but simply put herself to work cleaning up the mess of the earthquake. Her heart wasn't in it. But she needed something to do with her hands.

And when she was tired, and when others finally retired, she found a deserted home that still seemed solid enough and unpacked the clothes she'd brought with her. That night, she fell asleep sitting in a rickety chair drawn to the window. The foreign stars were cold. Her dreams were worse.

The darkness was still.

Not a sound seemed to touch Eric's ears as he sat upon the wall that surrounded die Festung. In the days since the Earthquake that had cracked the very wall he was perching upon, Eric had dealt with much. Netvore's, monsters, beasts...trying to keep anything that meant harm out of the city and now....now there was finally a moment of peace.

He was a killer by nature. Before it was mostly humans. The killer of killers, they called him. Now he killed anything that even looked at the walls of the city the wrong way. He didn't do it for Belia, nor for the people that lived on the other side of the wall. He did it because maybe, just maybe he felt like redemption was the only way to be free of this awful existence.

The few people that Eric had contact with were tolerable, though he hadnt had a chance to really get to know anyone. It was probably safer that way, but even the loneliest of beings longed for contact. Eric wasnt sure that the killer in him could tolerate much contact for long, but the human part still lingered. It yearned for something more than passing conversation and a well-placed joke. He had the bird, that crow...the one that saved him...if you could call this being saved.

Eric remained silent as he sat, watching the line of trees for any sign of movement. He had replenished the ammunition in the guns at his hip, and the sword on his back glinted with light when he moved.

The crow flew over the city to watch the perimeter. Eric could see the length of wall, and yet he wasnt satisfied. He hated that bird. He wished sometimes that it would've just left him to rot in his grave instead of calling him back to the world where he didn't really belong. Without Shelly he was nothing. He meant nothing. And he burned for her.

Could he dream, Eric supposed he would've dreamed of her. She haunted his very being, calling him home though his mission was far from over. He had to get back, and biding his time was getting tedious.

But all he could do was sit. And wait.

Carlos was concerned when he left Evey and Mag. He didn't want to leave either woman, but he needed to see what he could do to trigger Peter's bracelet remotely to shut down his powers. If it didn't work, the fallout would be ugly and he didn't want either of them in there. And since Evey had a mental link with Peter, he really didn't want to risk her tipping him off.

He still didn't understand why the two had a mental link at all because there were a lot of reasons that that was a bad idea. And last he'd checked, Evey was hung up on some vampire. Had she moved on so quickly?

He certainly thought that under ordinary circumstances, Peter was a better choice than a vampire. But right now? Well, Carlos still didn't understand what had happened or how his friend could pull a complete 180 like this. The betrayal stung, but now wasn't the time for that.

Carlos picked through the wreckage of the Chosen building and managed to wrest a few supplies from his apartment. They would have to do.

Afterward, he made his way outside of the wall. It was best to not risk bringing vengeance inside the already half-destroyed town. Once he'd walked far enough away from die Festung, he started the spell to trigger the bracelet and shut down Peter's powers.

( Read more... )

(Backdated to the night after the earthquake, and after this.)

The mental link Peter established with her some weeks ago was still in place, but it had never felt like this before. Evey found herself staring at her feet as she walked, not to see where she was going, but to help her make sense of the feedback coming from Peter. He'd always protected her from the confusion of trying to separate the actions of two bodies from a pair of joined minds. He wasn't struggling to put his feet in the right place, but she certainly was. Every step, she checked to make sure she was walking through the city, not hopping over that crack in the earth in front of Peter, not kicking a fallen log out of the way, not... There were some things Peter was doing, in his anger, that Evey couldn't possibly confuse with her own limbs. But to feel his arm raise, to feel his power channel through him and into whatever hapless piece of forest got in his way -- it was horrifying.

Thankfully, she'd stopped trying to talk with him -- and he was leaving her more or less alone, as well. The anger, the hatred flooding Peter's mind was taking its toll on Evey. She raked a hand through her hair and stopped, took a breath, and looked around her. It was a matter of focus, focusing on the things in front of her, separating out what she knew was not her present position, and moving in a way that made sense for her. It was tiring. And every step felt more and more hopeless.

She'd been standing motionless for about 10 minutes in the middle of the camp just outside the hospital. Someone was in front of her. In front of her? She rubbed at her temples and looked down at her feet. Then looked at the feet across from her.. Then checked her feet again. No, that was definitely someone standing in front of her. She looked up again and focused.

"Mag?"

(5 hours after this)


Living with Peter in die Festung had changed her in small ways. One was in how she slept. When he first gave her his bed, she slept in it as if she were still in the sarcophagus where she'd waited for her 5,000-year awakening. Then, as the comfort of a mattress unwound her bit by bit, she ended up sprawling haphazardly across the expanse of the bed, frequently making a disaster of the pillows and blankets in the process. Finally, since the night she first coaxed him to stay with her, Leeloo slept curled up on her side, face against his chest. Sometimes she twined a leg between his, sometimes she draped an arm over his waist, but always, always anchored herself to him in some way. It was comforting, and it made her feel safe, and she never felt alone. This way, she also knew when the nightmares came. Although she didn't always succeed in waking him before the screaming, she could still be right there to catch him.

And so today, Leeloo woke with one arm curled on his chest, pillowing her head, with the other arm wrapped around his side. She was warm, if somewhat sore from sleeping on blanket-covered ground. Behind the hospital, she could hear the sounds of the cityborn milling through the makeshift camp at the front of the building. The sun had reached its zenith and was sinking on the other side of the roof. Shade stretched past the tent she'd made for them. Peter's chest rose and fell steadily.

Without knowing if he were awake or not, she very carefully began disentangling herself. She wouldn't leave until he was awake, but there was surely so much to do to help die Festung get back on its feet again. She wanted to begin.

[takes place a few hours after this.]

Peter still wasn't certain how Evey had convinced him to take a break, to stop hovering and go spend some time with Leeloo. He wasn't sure how that happened, but here he was, walking in a haze of exhaustion, looking for the one woman he so desperately needed right now.

He found her outside. Still shifting through wreckage, still rallying stragglers to safety. Still gathering supplies where she could find them in the rubble. Selfless, the eternal protector. The perfect woman.

"Leeloo?" he called once he was in range of her. He reached for her, and stumbled.

“AL!” The word echoed through Edward’s mind as he fell. Had it worked? Was Al back in his body? No chance to find out...Ed was back at the Gate. All around him was black...clawing, grasping black hands and those damned weird eyes. Again, Edward found himself in front of the gate and again it had demanded a price. His life for his brother’s and it was an easy trade. The only problem was he didn’t stop at the Gate. Edward wasn’t quite dead yet and it was starting to bother him.

“Think...what happ...” Before he could finish the thought a blinding white line opened in the blackness around him. Slowly it began to widen, as if watching the Gate open from the other side and again Edward found himself falling. It seemed as if he would fall forever in this blinding white. Unfortunately for Ed, the concrete he found himself on had different ideas. “Ow!” As the boy was picking himself up and checking for injuries he was also observing his surroundings.

It was dark, but not quite as dark as the Gate. Stone floor...check. Correction, MOVING stone floor. "I hope I didn't do that!" As the ground beneath him continued to rock, Ed slowly went on with his survey of the area. Man made walls, some thirty feet in each direction, and a few catwalks near a high vaulted ceiling. “I must be in some kind of warehouse. Alright, let’s get a bit of light and see what I'm working with,” there was a sharp CLAP! as Ed brought his hands together sharply, then slapped them down on the floor in front of himself. A flood of bluish light and a rather large transmutation circle began to etch itself in the floor as the stone began to change into a mix of magnesium and phosphorus. As the circle became complete Edward stepped back and began looking once again at his surroundings, now illuminated in the bright flame that was coming to life behind him.

[[Anyone in about a one block radius would notice a large flash of blueish light that quickly fades and is replaced by the rather unique white/red of a road flare on a massive scale pouring through the large windows of a warehouse. The light is accompanied by the sound of a magnesium/phosphor fire]]

It'd become a strange sort of routine to sit on the floor against the wall her studio flat shared with Aidan's one-bedroom next door. Months ago, the rattling of the wall would tell her that he was in, and that he was struggling. Now, it was always quiet -- all the better for her to wrestle with the question she still couldn't answer for herself: Why hadn't she called Peter in the wilds? What was it that kept her from making reasonable decisions? And how could she avoid such foolishness in the future?

Peter was an ever-present force in her head, now, but he was letting her work this question out for herself. When she nudged a thought or perspective his way, he seemed to make only the mildest of judgments on it -- as if he knew something, but wanted her to work it out for herself. It was maddening.

When the shaking started, her heart leaped -- not out of fear, but out of a wholly irrational excitement. She knew Aidan wasn't in the next room, but for the first moment, she imagined...

And the second second, she was getting to her feet. Earthquake? It must be. Her duffel bag from her journey had been re-packed one night after she returned from finding Aidan. In it were supplies she'd found useful. Now, her thought was to add a few more pieces of clothing that would serve as makeshift bandages or just extra warmth for someone who needed it. She grabbed another pair of shoes - well-worn sandals - and threw them in before another hard shaking knocked her sprawling across her bed.

Without thinking about it, she knew that Peter was occupied at the hospital -- but wordless urging pushed her up again. He wanted her out, he wanted her safe. Evey wanted that too, and her mouth went twistingly wry as she lurched against the wall and used it for support. The front door was surprisingly far away. She'd made it to the couch just as a familiar person walked right through the wall beside her front door.

"What th--!" Another hard tremor sent her careening against the couch she'd just passed. This was ridiculous!

Chiseling stone was a difficult task with the best of tools. Leeloo had a blunt, flat-head screwdriver and a large rock. Plunked down against the side of a gutted grocery store with all its windows shattered, Leeloo carefully worked in the bleary afternoon sun, tongue stuck between her teeth in concentration. Her hands were dusty, dry, and cracking, but she didn't notice. She'd made a hole down the length of the brick she held -- perhaps halfway through it now. It was the labor of a full 8 hours of effort. Vaguely, she recognized that she was hungry, she was thirsty -- but her concentration couldn't be broken by these things.

As she tipped out the latest bit of stone crumbles and dust, the sky finally made good with its threat and opened up, throwing down massive amounts of rain. Dismayed, Leeloo tilted her head up into the storm and shouted something in the divine language. The sky was not impressed.

Huffing, she grabbed her tools and the object of her labor, then beat it for the nearest sound shelter -- an overhang in front of a place that served very greasy, very bland food. It even smelled greasy. Leeloo set herself down again on the cracked concrete and began chiseling again. Her stomach growled angrily and she scowled, placing the tip of the screw driver into the hole she made in the brick. A pair of toes appeared in her peripheral, and she paused to glance up. Squinted.

Escorting foragers was not easy work. This time, she'd almost called for Castiel. In the end, they all got back behind the wall safely -- all five of them and their precious new supplies as well. No, it wasn’t easy work at all. But... the discomfort of her body’s new collection of scratches, bruises, strained muscles, and one long, jagged slash down her right arm -– that was an easy price. Winter was lean and times were desperate, but tonight, the people of die Festung weren't so desperate as they were this morning. It had been a good day, a good night.

Gone were the nights when she neatly set herself between sheets. Leeloo unlocked the door of apartment 801 around 4:00 a.m., stepped out of the shower at 4:23, and then promptly dropped into bed, having only just pulled on a pair of pants. The shirt... well, she'd gotten her right arm into it. The other stayed pinned against her body when she crashed. These nights, she fell into the bed with hardly any care. Most mornings, she woke tucked into bed anyway, every trace of the night before erased from her skin.

Her dreams had just begun to sift through her mind - spinning constellations, humming metal in the sky, a friendly voice filtering through an environmental suit - when her eyes snapped open. Always a light sleeper, she naturally ignored those sounds that were common in the apartment... but in the early morning now, something wrong tugged her into alert consciousness. With as little noise as she could manage, Leeloo rolled out of bed and dropped onto her toes. Her heart beat quickly, and her breath came in short, controlled sips. Crouching, she stayed in the shadow, avoiding the faint motes of light coming from the starlight through the window. Listened. Listened.

The language was full of quirks - this English. Peter was a good teacher, and she'd learned quite a bit more from the very few books she'd laid hands on. Still, this world was a far cry from the last time she'd woken. Then, it'd been Egypt, Sumer, and Akkad that had been in prominence. And, Leeloo thought to herself, she'd been on Earth. This world - this nameless planet - was not a place she knew. The stars were unfamiliar, and that was saying quite a bit. She still retained her Mondoshawan knowledge of the stars, and these constellations were nothing like what she could recall.

Her ravenous desire for knowledge drove her out of the building designated for the Chosen. The cold of winter was on her quickly, even through the layers she'd tugged on over her head. But stronger still was the need to know what this world was about.

Leeloo spent the day exploring the rag-tag city, talking with whoever would stop, putting her hands into the work of whatever citizen would allow her to touch. She'd built fences, she'd hung laundry, she'd pounded a strange grain in a quern -- and all while voraciously devouring the bits of information the citizens would give her. Apocalyptic change. Fractures in reality. Fiction taking form. The Chosen, the hope of redemption and the fear of destruction combined. Those creatures just past the wall. Belia. 75%.

As the sun slid down past the great wall around the city, Leeloo found herself picking her handholds up, up, until she had climbed the wall itself, until she stood on the parapet, overlooking the forest. She knew a little of the things that were within those woods. She didn't understand, yet, if the creatures were of this world or another, but they were dangerous. A threat to this city. Her mouth thinned, and her eyes darkened. It seemed that something needed to be done. Arms crossed, she stood close to the edge and looked down.