Color: The Return (IC)

Xiepher didn't bother to look at Treachery, controlling the ship needed all eyes on the control screen with nearly full concentration. He asked, "Why do we need only one?"

The same feeling that Insanity encountered just so happened to climb up into the ship. A frigid feeling, much colder than a destroyers preferred temperature. Of course, the only one in the ship that felt that feeling was Treachery.

***

Outside the arena was another giant forest. Bushes and grass cloaked the dirt. Insanity still could not escape the dark chilling sense. A bush rustled near Lethor and the sound of rushed footsteps on the grass were heard. Something was near.

Treachery was about to reply when the cold feeling struck her.

"...Nevermind that. Get us on the far side of the planet. This particular spot in orbit displeases me."

***

Lethor jumped.
"Whatwasthat?!"

Xiepher raised an eyebrow as he wondered what was wrong with Treachery. He continued to do what he was told though he also asked, "Is something wrong?"

***

Insanity also jumped once Lethor shouted. "What, what is it?" He took a scalpel from his pocket and tensed into a prepared stance.

More rustling was heard with ominous clicking and chirping from the bush.

"...It's too cold," Treachery mumbled. "Just do as I say."

- - - - -

"That bush! It is talking to me!" Lethor cried. "It sounds like...a tiny voice!"

Phaedra facepalmed.
"Leth, it is not a tiny voice," she said with exaggerated patience. "It is probably some critter."
"...I know that," Lethor said. "I was just...trying to be funny?"

Insanity did not lower his guard, "No Phaedra, I remember studying this planet. I vaguely remember telling someone that this planet was the home of cruel and vile savages. It could be one of those. I believe it was called a siither. If my memory is correct, they are indeed very vile."

The chirping continued as a small pale brown creature emerged from the bush. It was a siither. It stood upright on four legs. It's four reptile like eyes blinked at the group. One arm protruded from the siither's chest. The siither's skin was hard and armored with plates. It's mouth was insect like with tiny mandibles. It walked towards Lethor, tilting it's head. It seemed friendly, though somewhat creepy.

It was dark.

Well, not exactly dark. More like a lack of... Anything. It wasn't cold either, there was just... Nothing...

Ellie slowly came to her senses, which consisted of... Not much. She could feel other minds nearby, but she wasn't worried about that much at the moment. She had her mind, now where... Her body was gone. Now, that wasn't a big deal for her, it was how she went incorporeal at will. The problem was that she never completely got rid of it, she always had an anchor, because that was what let her see the world, and it took a lot of energy to create. That happened to be gone too.

Great.

Whatever had happened, she didn't think she had the energy at the moment to recreate it. She would be stuck ethereal for a while. Why not try to figure out what happened?

Well Ellie had attacked Madness, or more specifically defended him. She had basically abandoned her body at the time, but not entirely, that would have destroyed it. Her mind had been fighting inside of Madness' when she blacked out. What... Oh. She'd been split. Something had happened and she had lost contact to her body. Not just withdrawn from it but been cut in half, completely losing the part of her mind that had been causing it to exist. For all everyone else knew, she had just suddenly decided to leave. Luckily she had survived, which was indeed lucky, as that was a valid way to actually kill an ethereal creature. Over time she could regain lost energy and eventually impose herself into the world once again, but for now...

Well, she could talk to people, maybe even see through them, if they let her. So she looked around.

...Lethor... Phaedra... Someone else? Maybe, but she couldn't identify them. She reached out to Phaedra and spoke, somewhat nervously.

...Phaedra? Uh... One question... How long have I been gone?

Insanity kept his stance ready. "It's probably making it's plan to kill us."

The siither stared at Lethor. It clicked at him, slowly crawling towards him.

Insanity yelled at the siither, attempting to scare it away, "Go away! You aren't welcome here!" Insanity kicked a rock at it.

The rock banged into the siithers armor. It didn't seem to do much. It turned it's head and growled at Insanity. While it snarled, it seemed to have some sort of voice that could only be heard by ethereal beings. It said, "Lea' me alone!" To Ellie it sounded like a little girl.

Phaedra turned her head sharply upon hearing Ellie's voice inside her mind.

"Goodness, you must not do that!" she thought. "You startled me."
She then considered Ellie's question.
"...It has been a few hours," she answered. "Insanity appears to be on our side, for now."
This thought was tainted with a bit of mistrust.

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


Lethor gazed at the Siither.
"...It...It does not look very intimidating," he said. "Why do we not just...leave it alone and keep going? I do not want to anger the locals, and this one does not seem to like us...."

Ellie was actually quite pleased with the answer.
Thank you, at least it hasn't been as long as I feared.


She was about to comment on the situation with Insanity when she heard something else.  Odd.  She figured she would ask if Phaedra had any idea who it was.
You didn't hear that did you?  There's something else telepathic around here, sounds like a little girl...  She says to leave her alone.  Honestly I can't see anything right now, so do you?

There are not any little girls around here, Phaedra answered with utmost certainty. Or at least none that I can see.

As an afterthought she added, ...Are you okay?

Insanity shouted at the siither some more. It hissed and retreated back into the bushes. Insanity perked back up out of his defensive stance and smiled proudly, "And that is how it's done." He flipped his scalpel back into the holder, "There must be some, some sort of way out of here... There was something that saved me from corruptions control, where did it go? Perhaps it could help us."

Ellie heard a faint telepathic cry from the siither. It sobbed subtly, "I though' I coul' make a new friend..."

Corruption stared at Zal-Tek. "Take the filth away; I have no need for him." 

Lelouch smirked and grabbed Zal-Tek by the hair, jerking his head back. She then whispered, "We're gonna have a fun time, scum." She began to take him away, but noticed Corruption.

He glared a terrifying gaze at Lelouch and wheezed, "It takes more energy to steal a being from their realm than what I get in return for harvesting him."

Lelouch turned her head, "So what's that supposed to mean?"

"Lelouch, I must ask that you head to the harvesting chamber as well," Corruption slowly raised his arm and pointed at her, "Not to harvest him, but to have Anger harvest you. I must make up for the setback you have caused."

Lelouch stared back with wide eyes, "Wha-what?"

When Hatred heard the name Anger, it sparked a memory of his son. This made Hatred think. "Does this mean everyone of my relatives that have died are here too?" He thought about it for a few moments.

Anger had just walked into the palace with Madness. He looked around with contempt and a grimace. He spoke in a deep scratchy voice, "Harvesting I assume?

Corruption nodded and gestured to Anger.

Anger smiled, "Oh ho ho! Times of fun await for the two of you!"

Insanity twisted his body and glanced at Camo-Namo. "Ah, you're finally awake. That's good. I've scared the vile monster off, and now we're off to find some way to get back to my ship."

The cold feeling that affected the destroyers began to lift slightly, though not very much, just enough for Insanity's devices to work again. One in particular was about to help them immensely.

A machine vibrated in his pocket, causing him to jump slightly. An idea sped through his head, an idea that might get them back to Insanity's ship. He whipped out a tiny device from his pocket. He slid a few buttons into position. As the screen displayed a cyan hue, the device emitted a combination of a fast paced click and beep. Insanity paced around the general area, looking for something. "This mechanism tracks telepathic waves, which happen to be coming from Phaedra..." He walked towards Phaedra. The device began to click a bit louder as he walked closer.

Ellie flinched slightly.  She could feel... Something.  She still couldn't see, and up until that point had been distracted searching for whatever telepathic creature was in the area.  She had just sent it a vague idea of herself when she felt it.  She didn't know what it was, but...

Phaedra?  What's going on?


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

Zal-Tek didn't bother to fight as he was pulled away.  Not in the middle of everything.  He didn't even speak, just snarled quietly.  He REALLY did not want to know what harvesting was, but he also knew he couldn't escape from the large, guard filled room he was in.

Quite honestly he didn't know what would happen to his home if he died.  Would someone take his place?  If not...

Hatred stared at Anger, realizing how much taller he's gotten. He grew a long gray beard and an astonishing twenty feet since they've last seen eachother. He was just a child when Hatred had seen him. Now with Anger standing at forty-two feet tall, Hatred was just a pushover to him.

Corruption wheezed at Hatred, "The smog helps them grow, along with their sins."

Hatred ignored Corruption, and quickly ran towards Anger as he carried the two hostages. Hatred yelled up to his child, "Anger! It's been too long! Is everyone else here as well?"

Anger looked down at his father with look of confusion. "Who is this man Corruption?" Apparently he was brainwashed once he became Corruptions servant.

Corruption said slowly, "I believe he's your father."

Anger glanced back down at Hatred, "What? This puny grayling?" He laughed and continued walking out of the palace.

Hatred ran after them, but was cut off by Madness. He spoke dementedly, "You're not going anywhere father!

Lelouch struggled to get out of Anger's deathly grip, failing miserably . "LET GO OF ME OR ELSE I WILL- I'LL- I'L STRANGLE YOU! YA HEAR ME?"

Anger laughed and shrugged off the screaming. "You aren't going anywhere besides the harvesting plant."

...I am not really sure, Phaedra said. It- Things have rapidly spiraled out of control.

"Phaedra?" Lethor asked, looking over at her. "...You are being awfully quiet."

"Shh, I am busy," Phaedra snapped, closing her eyes. Are you going to be okay, Ellie?

Lethor threw a sidelong glance at Insanity, wondering if his name was also a contagious state of being.
"Telepathic waves? What do you mean by that?"

Yes, Ellie replied, Given some time.  Until then I don't suppose you would let me see what you see?  This is getting rather worrying, not knowing what's going on.


She had pretty much given up on the strange creature that had been there before, and it seemed to be gone anyway.

----------

Zal-Tek gulped quietly.  He rarely saw creatures as big as Anger.  As a matter of fact, the only thing he had seen much bigger was...  By his own brother, he didn't want to see that thing loose again.  As a matter of fact, neither did his brother.  He shuddered slightly, then shook the thought from his mind.  He watched the huge creatures warily, keeping a keen eye open for any available escape.

...What must I do? Phaedra asked, slightly worried. This sounded like possession.

Not much, mostly just don't hurt me, Ellie sent back, and don't worry, I don't think I could hurt you if I wanted to, right now...
She was really quite nervous.  If something ethereal or even telepathic managed to find her, and didn't like her, she would be in quite some trouble.  Not that there was anything Phaedra could do about it, bit at least Ellie would be able to see a bit of what was going on.

Insanity didn't look away from the sensor, but responded to Lethor, "Somehow Phaedra set off my telepathic wave sensor." He looked up at Phaedra giving her a suspicious look, "Perhaps you're talking to the ethereal drake?"

Mallis appeared in front of Tharan who had been sitting with Ariana the entire time, waiting for their subject to arise. He appeared in an avatar form, not being there entirely.

"So I hear you figured out how to save yourself, my dear..." he said.
"Yes. The only problem is to make you cry," said Ariana.
"Ah, the one task impossible..."

"Yes..."
----------------------------------------------

Somewhere along the side of the planet, not far from the group walked a thin figure that was tall. She was gray skinned with long black hair that had a few green streaks. She had green eyes and a face a bit like a mix between a human's and a raptor's. She wore a long green and black dress and had a green flower in her hair.

Tharan grinned at Mallis. "Someone you know is lurking closely..." he said pointing with his tail at a place behind a place where shadows covered the ground where this person was standing. "Someone that will remove you from Corruption's army..."

"What?" Mallis said. He looked to his right at the shadows. The figure stepped out.
"Hello father," she said.
"Dalia..." Mallis murmured. He then disappeared with a whistling haze of black smoke.

"Who are you, and what do you mean by father?" asked Ariana. Dalia sighed. She walked forward, obviously knowing who they were.

"It's a really long story. I am Mallis's daughter. I'll have to explain later, Ariana. But I need to find Phaedra, do you know where she is?" she asked.

"They ran off. How do you know who we are?" asked Ariana.
"I've been watching you for a few months. I've been hanging around, following all of you. I was interested when I heard my father had come to this world... just to eat it. Now I hear he's teamed up with some Lord Corruption. Now come on, lead me to her..."

"I can't really. She's busy. But I'll send her a telepathic message so she'll know to meet up with us."

Phaedra, someone is here. They claim to be looking for you. It's... it's another Allure. She seems desperate. When you're done with whatever you're doing, you have to come down here. It's urgent... Ariana sent.

Footsteps were heard behind Ariana. A group of three siither crawled by them. One of them, smaller than the others, crawled up to Mallis. It stared up at him and clicked it's mandibles while tilting it's head. The curious little creature lifted it's  feeler and poked Mallis, and recoiled a bit when the feeler made contact.

***

By then, Treachery's ship was on the other side of the planet. Xiepher continued to press buttons on the control panel. A transmission popped up onto the screen, awaiting to be accepted. Xiepher spoke, "It's Grand Master Death." He hesitated to answer it. Death had a scarring look on her face that disgruntles almost everyone the Grand Master looks at. Xiepher awaited Treachery's permission to open the transmission.

Phaedra jumped. Too many people were invading her mind.
I am a little occupied at the moment, she sent, sensing Ellie's presence take a firmer position. And I am now seeing for two people...

"Tharan and Ariana want to talk to me," Phaedra said suddenly. "They say it is urgent...And yes. I am speaking to Ellie."

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

"...Open a channel," Treachery groaned. She did not want to speak to anyone right now- the chilling feeling had not quite left her yet.

Once Xiepher pressed the button, Death's black face appeared. Xiepher looked away. The Grand Master spoke in a deep tone, almost too deep for people to realize that Death was female. "Greetings Treachery, we are crowning the new Major Destroyer in ten minutes. It is a shame that you won't be here for such a momentous occasion."

In the background, Betrayal noticed Death speaking with Treachery. The soon to be Major Destroyer smiled mischievously at Treachery. They've had a bitter rivalry ever since they were children. The slender Major Destroyer wore a beautiful black dress with small silver streaks. On her forearms she wore black ruffled sleeves attached to her dress by long, dangling laces. Betrayal's hair was nearly chrome, one of the rarest types of natural hair color for a destroyer.