Natalie sighed so heavily, it could have even been called dramatic. She hated saturdays. Well, not ALL of saturday. The mornings were fun, watching cartoons and finishing up some Home Work so that Sunday would be totally free. But the afternoons. Oh she hated the afternoons. Mostly because she had to go to therapy in the afternoons.
She knew it was probably good for her. She did have a lot of stuff that was all bottled up inside about her past and such. Lot's of dark stuff too. But she still hated it, because every saturday afternoon she was forced to TALK about it. And that always accomplished one thing: brining it all back to life after she had worked so hard to kill it and put it away.
But she didn't really have a choice...well...that was bull too. She WAS going of her own free will. But the thing was she was in college now, and there were no parents making her do this any more. Maybe it was a force of habit. Who knew.

Jessica was kind enough to come with her this time. (I assume because that's what you wrote in the sign ups.) It was nice to have her best friend for company, at least on the walk to and from the mental insitution where her therapists office was.
That always creeped her out. She was going for therapy at a MENTAL insitution? Did that imply something? Oh well, who cares?
Finally the two teenage girls reached their destination. Jessica stayed out in the waiting area while Natalie stepped into her therapists office. She sighed dramatically once more. Zack...stick with me today. She thought, just before she started.

======

Screams echoed down the hallways. Enraged screams. Outraged screams of injustice. They issued from an older man. A man in his fifties. He didn't look like anything spectacular. He was on the thin side, probably from little to no eating. He was balding, gray uncontrolled whisps of hair issuing from either side of his head. He had a small graying beard as well, and a wrinkely old face. He in truth looked much older then he was. He had a pair of little rimless glasses perked ontop a bumpy old nose that was red in color.
He screamed again, enraged at the injustice. Two orderlys held onto the struggeling man. One on each of his arms.
"You don't belive me but it's true! Magic exsists in me and you!!!" He cried, rhyming as always.
"Come on old man. We're just taking you to a different cell! It's bigger you'll like it more."
"No! I'm not insaine! I will not stay here and play your little game! I've stayed much too long, trying to convice you of your wrong! If you will not listen to me, then the magic will FORCE you to see!!!" The old man raised his boney skinny fingures then and suddenly shafts of white, blinding light came from them, shooting off into the hallway he was being dragged down. The orderlys screamed with shock, but it was much too late. They dropped the man in their shock, and the man quickly stood back up, raising his hands higher as the light shot from his fingertips. The light pierced through the walls, floors and cielings, as if they were not even there! The entire building becan too shake and shutter, and the walls began to glow faintly.
The other patients in the hospital started screaming and yelling, and clawing at their padded walls, terrified, or convinced that the aliens had finally come to take them home. The building continued to shake and glow, but the orderlys had gotten over their shock. They turned to watch the man, eyes wide.
With light coming out his finger tips and the building shaking around him, the man seemed almost like some sort of God! They stood terrified as he glared at them.
"Punishment for a closed mind, is enlightenment which I will assign! Those who hide their other halves, will now be forced to cross paths. Deal with yourself, this you must! Put in yourself, gravely needed trust. Or this spell will never undo, the only way out is through you." His voice echoed throughout the entire building, every living thing inside able to hear his demented poem of warning. Then suddenly, he turned, ran at a window, and jumped through it.
The Orderlys shocked, ran to the window and looked down expecting to see a body three stories below, but instead, they saw nothing. The man had dissapeared.
"We're SO fired." The building began to stop shaking, and the glowing settled down and stopped. Soon the chaos was over, and other then the shaken people inside the building everyting appeared normal.

======

In the middle of Natalie's session, in the middle of telling an immensly difficult story about her past, she was suddenly shot with a bean of light, and knocked to the ground. SHe wasn't even conscious long enough to witness the shaking building. But somehow...even while she was blacked out, she heard the strange man's poem. ... .but her mind was slipping away... . into a place she knew well, but had never expected to visit.

======

Zack groaned. His head was killing him. Throbbing as if he had hit it on something. He opened his deep brown eyes slowley, and the first thing he saw was a floor. A carpeted floor. He blinked. Had he...fainted somehow? He groaned again as he moved and a flash of pain zipped throguh his head. He sat up slowley, one palm to his golden head of hair. He blinked then and looked around. His eyes widened in shock. Where was he? This was NOT his apartment, that was certain!
Then he heard a slight wimpering to his left. He looked over and saw a wooden desk, and standing crouched against the far wall behind it was an older woman with brown hair and glasses. She looked like a therapist of sorts. A...very frightened therapist.
"..s...stay back!!! Y..you!!!" She studdered helplessly. Now Zack was thoughouly confused. How had he gotten here? Who was this woman? What had just happened? He stood up slowly trying to take in his surroundings. He looked to the terrified woman.
"Um..a...are you ok?"
"Don't come any closer!!!' She shrieked when he had taken a step forward.
"But..I...can you tell me how I got here?"
"Go away!!!" She screamed again.

Outside in the waitinroom where Natalie had left Jessica, a high pitched femal scream zipped through the walls. Then suddenly, the door to the therapists office burst open, and a frazzeled, and confused blonde boy ran out into the waitingroom.

"In the words of Harrison Ford. Snakes, it had to be snakes?!?!?!" Sean was deep asleep, or whatever you call a hypnotic state. "Anaconda. It started with Anaconda."

"The movie?" Dr. Vinear was interested in getting to the root of Sean's raging ophidiaphobia at any cost to his parents. He had been testing all sorts of new treatments on Sean, desperate to make a breakthrough and become the next Frued. "What about that movie scared you Sean?"

"THe snake! It was the snake!" His eyes were shut and his head hung with his chin touching his chest. Suddenly the building began to shake, tiles fell from the ceiling and lights shorted out. Sean fell frmo the couch he had been sitting on and a stream of light came through the window. THe light engulfed him completely and he began to transform. He hissed and slithered about the floor as he became ridiculously thin and his hair receeded until it was gone. His pupils dialated from the light and he flicked his tongue madly. Dr. Vinear suddenly fainted and the new entity that used to be Sean burst from the floor and out the door.

"This is why you fear snakes Sean...because deep down you are one. In every sense of the word, you are a snak. You've repressed me long enough." Sean's mind began to scream out in his voice instead of the raspy, reptilian tone this new person spoke in.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT! I AM SEAN MCCORMACK! A HUMAN BEING! I AM NOT A GOD DAMN SNAKE!"

"And I am Josh my friend, my confidant, myself. You and I are one Sean." Sean's innervoice gasped.

"No! Get out! NOW!"

"You seem surprised, you knew it all along. You know you weren't like everyone else." Sean began to thrash about wildly in the back of his own mind and his body crashed to the ground. His hair grew out again and he returned to being himself.

"What was that light? What did it do to me?"

So this was it. Heather's long awaited vacation at the loony bin. She couldn't say she hadn't been expecting it.. After all genetics were genetics. A grandmother who was crazy.. and a mother who had taken a Christmas vacation along similar terms.. Well, soon enough the blood work would tell if she was bipolar or whatever.
At least she was here of her own freewill. She was tired of waiting for someone to notice her problems as she internalized more and more of them. She was tired of feeling like she was trapped in a cycle of pain. She was just plain tired.
As she looked at the room that was to be hers she sighed. "Well, at least my room is not among the really crazy ones. Hopefully no one will steal my underwear. wasn't that a wonderful Christmas memory..." She sat down on the bed and put her head in her hands. mumbling to her self she spoke "It will get better now.. they said it would.."
That's when things took a turn for the worst.
Light bust through the wall and smashed into her sending her sprawling backwards
"Punishment for a closed mind, is enlightenment which I will assign! Those who hide their other halves, will now be forced to cross paths. Deal with yourself, this you must! Put in yourself, gravely needed trust. Or this spell will never undo, the only way out is through you." Word echoed through her head and it threatened to burst. It felt like someone was prying her scull into." the only way out is through you."She blacked out.
He woke up. As he looked around him a sense of joy filled his heart.
"could.. it be? I'm.. free!" He leapt to his feet. "I'm free! ahahahaa!" he laughed and wagged his tail with glee. His ears perked up as an orderly stepped into the doorway.
"Hey you! Get out of there! That room is received for a new girl and visiting hours have not yet been scheduled for her!" Grinning from floppy ear to floppy ear he replied
"Oh yes sure right away. I'm so far gone I'm in next week." He raced out the door through the lobby toward the exit into the rest of the facility.

--2 months ago--

It wasn't a particulary difficult life that the hand of fate had dealt him, but sometimes there were a few obsticles. He had strode down this same hallway numerous times in the past, the same staircase, the same classrooms, the same lockers, the same idiots stopping short in the hallway before him...leading him to quietly curse them. A few people knew him on his way, and they'd toss a casual "hey" to him and throw up their hand. The usual responce from him was a quiet nod, if he was more than an acquintance to the person, it'd be actual speech or a friendly slap to meet the other's outstretched hand. It was a bit sharp and rude, and he often contemplated changing the greeting...but he felt the simplist way to go about it was keep everything the way it was....11th grade was the best year of his life, and he didn't want to change a thing. The best year in his life.

Has he ventured down the corridor, he had felt the prescene of another trailing behind him for quite some time. Finally, in the dark corners behind the auditorium, he had stopped short...the intruder stopped with him. With a sign, the boy began to turn to this adversary, but he was stopped by his words.

"Dark Enix?" He inquired.

The boy smiled, and slipped on a pair of tarnished sunglasses that had been concealed in his pockets
"Have you come to kill me? So the wind god has decided to show his face here again?"He challenged to the other, a light tone in his voice held back laughter. The other boy, about the same age as him, probably in a few classes with him shook his head and glowered.

He held out his arm, fragmented into three at the wrist. With a wheezy grind the components split apart and gave way to a powerful proton cannon. He held it in front of his face.

"I am Dash Hazard, and I was made to kill you...."

---present day---

"Do some volunteer work...the colleges would love it"
That's what they always told Brian. Yeah, of course volunteer work is nice, and the little high you get off of knowing you did something just for the heck of it is pretty cool...but there was none of that here. He despised having to work in order to impress someone else...if he wanted to do volunteer work, it would be of his own volition.

Of course waiting this long made it difficult to find many jobs, the closest was the local looney bin...well, if you can consider a hefty 18 miles away local. It was a lot different than the "aslyums" that he was used to seeing in the media. Places where everyone is screaming and in constant turmoil. The walls would be burnt and rusted, or blood stained mattresses...and unspeakable monsters would roam the halls. But this was far different, white paint, a simple salt and pepper tile scheme, and a friendly atmosphere with a staff that for the most part had golden hearts each. Of course there would probably be an incident every once in a while, but this won't be so bad, right?

The first thing he was assigned to do was to accompany a small crew to refurnish an older wing of the building. This was more to Brian's speed, the walls were dialapatated, a musty odor filled the air, and your feet would stick to the ground.

"Hey kid, can you lift that over there?" One of the workers asked him, pointing to a small scaffording set up that layed in decadence in the corner.
"We're going to set it up now."

"What's the hurry?" Brian asked, "I mean, shouldn't we work on the floors and work our way up?" He asked out of nature, spending a few months in front of a monitor coloring in sprites from the foot up sorta gave you that sorta logic.

"Nah, if we paint the ceiling after we do the floors there would just be a huge mess."

Made enough sense, he supposed...a lot of things did here, contary to what he had thought would've been. Walking to the scafford he felt an omnious prescene about him, and as he pulled it from the ground an intense beam of light struck him.

It felt like a good 20 minutes before he woke up again...he was alone...and he felt the power of the "faux wind god" within him.

He we go again....

Derek had finally arrived at his destination. The Mental Institution didnt seem like the most enjoyable place to go, but he needed work. He had dropped off applications everywhere he could think of, but never got called back. Apparantly having a christmas warehouse as your only reference doesnt open many doors for you in the job market.
"I cant say Im not surprised to be coming here, but I never thought it would be to get a job... What kind of "experience" could Funcoland possibly want anyway? I can work a cash register... I think."
Dragging his feet behind him, he went to a desk in the front office to hand in the application. He stood in front of the desk for a good three minutes, but the woman behind it didnt take any notice.
'Geez, they're just like the people in the main office at school. Totally oblivious.'
Once he lost his patience, Derek simply dropped the application on top of the others. the two others to be exact. This place didnt exactly seem like the most pleasant place to work.
"*sigh* Whatever, its not like Im getting the job anyway."
And with that, he turned to leave. However, before he reached the exit, he heard loud screams, and the shattering of glass. The next thing he knew, he was getting hit by a beam of light, and fell to the floor.
"What the-?!?" He cried in shock as he pulled himself to his feet. Looking around, he noticed that nobody else was paying attention to him.
"Okay.... Nothing happened... I-its this place, it must be getting to me. Yeah, thats it."
"I know what you mean. This place gives me the creeps."
Derek looked around to see who was talking to him, but there wasnt a single person anywhere near him.
"W-who said that?" he asked nervously. The voice replied again, seeming as though it were coming from Derek's lips themselves.
"Oh right, we havent really met yet. I'm Wayne. Wayne Keder. Nice to meet you."

It's been three months since jay had been admitted.....and not one of his freidns had come to visit him. maybe they didnt even know he was there. Jason often wondered about what his friends were doing.....even the ones that pretended to like him but talked about him behind his back. ah how he missed them.....jess, sean, his girlfriend nikkie, heather, derek, brian........all of them. even tom he missed, well.....only the arguing. as he sat in his white prisoner.....er....patient outfit, he was shot by a blinding light and thrown into one of his padded walls. he was out for only a few moments but when he awoke he grabbed his head and shook it wildly like a dog just coming inside from the rain.

jjaassoonn a voice said inside his head

"who's there?!" jay asked in a crazed tone.

who do you think you fucking idiot?! the voice said.

"NO!!! NOT YOU, NOT NOW!!!! I'M DOING SO WELL!!!" jason screamed as he grabbed his head. he fell to his knees and began sweating immensly. he started shaking wildly until he blacked out.







Bones awoke in the padded room in his usual outfit, the black tanktop, leather trenchcoat, snow camoflauged army pants and hiking boots. as he stood up he found the door was unlocked and smiled maniacly.

"yes jay....bones is back" he said as he strolled out of the room whisteling an eerie tone.

::Jess was wandering around while Natalie was in her session, both happy for and missing her best friend. She was happy cause she knew Natalie needed the help, and even though Jess was her support and confidante, not everything could be solved by friendship. In the middle of the session, Jess had flipped through a few random magazines and looked around, utterly bored. And soon she needed to use the restroom. She got up and was in search of the bathroom when a weird song met her ears, and she was struck by a beam of white light. Jess blacked out in a daze, hoping Natalie was ok, and Sean too, who was here for his snake thing.::

::Ryah awoke and heard the familair clanking of her chainmail, but this time against a solid, hard surface she couldn't identify. She sat up. Had she passed out somewhere during the journey to Sharonia? Id's cursed portal had sent her into blackness. But she stood and looked around, astounded. This was nothing like the world she knew. It was cold, sterile, and horribly white.::

Where the bloody hell AM I?!? ::A figure came running out of a hall. It was a golden-haired young boy. Ryah whistled shrilly. Something irked her about him though, something oddly familair.::

OI! You there!! Can you tell me where I am? ::She tried to hide her sword as the sight might perturb him.::

Sean froze. He knew he was going mad now, he was seeing RP characters from Moorim. "Wow. I've downright lost it." Somewhere in his mind he thought though. "If I'm seeing Ryah, then this is probably really Jess." He looked at her, straining his eyes. Deciding to go along with his imagination's madness he spoke. "Ryah." He knew Jess wouldn't mind being called Ryah. "Are you alright?" He was trying to ask Jess if she was okay from all the rumbling and screaming. He knew his mind would probably deceive him as to what she said as well but he had to try.

Zack skidded to a stop, almost tripping on the carpet as he was adressed as "You there!" He stopped and looked over seeing a...strange looking girl. She had dark hair that fell down past her shoulders and she was wearing...chainmail? Where was he...the midevil times? The girl asked if he could tel her where she was, but before he could another person entered the room. Zack recognized the young male instantly as Sean from Natalie's memory banks.
"Sean?!?" Zack exclaimed with wonderment and confusion. "What...What're you...why're we....HUH?"

Matt glided through the silent hallway. A small "noise-maker" created a soft buzzing sound next to him. He sat, trying to remain his calm interior. He hated seeing the social worker, the anxiety before a session was unbearable. It made Saturdays dissapointing, and a dissapointing Saturday could ruin an entire week.
As the door of his social worker's office slowly opened, he felt a rumble beneath him. It passed quickley, but within a second it return in an absurd proportion. He fell off the chair, and allowed his legs to crumble under him. Suddenly, a tingling sensation erupted within his back. He could hear the frantic muffled voices of his social worker beside him. Suddenly, a gigantic beam laid upon him. It crashed through his body, and left him limp for a matter of minutes.
He awoke in a daze, sitting on the soft leather couches in the office. The worker was in front of him, his face pale and unsure.
"What happened?" Matt asked, his voice unbalanced.
"I don't know, are you alright?" The man asked. Matt could tell he was further worried of a lawsuit then his overall health.
"I'm fine, I'd like to go to the bathroom." Before the man could reply, Matt had scurried out.

::A second or two later.::

Matt had broken into a run, down the hall. He approached the bathroom door as he found himself running into a small group of people. His vision drifted from Sean..to..
"Oh my..LORD!" He hollered, his heart somersaulting up into his throat. He tripped over his own legs after he had hesitated. He bounced into the air, in more of a daze then ever. He fell hard into the ground, quickley rolling back up to look at the group before him. Again, his vision drifted from Sean..to..
"I'm losing my mind. Maybe I should have stayed in the office." He had not meant to say the words aloud.

He paused and waved to the clerk behind the glass in the control booth. The doors were mechanically locked to prevent any escape or unlawful entry. The nurse paused, checked her list, looked at him with a raised eyebrow, then checked her list again. A dog boy was not on the list of patients or staff. He had to be a visitor. She was not in the mood too look too deeply at a Brown haired green eyed boy with dog ears and tail, so she buzzed him through. Not wanting to tempt fate he calmly strolled through the doors. He waited until he was around a corner and out of view before he began running all out. "FREEEEE! Hah hah hahaha!" he cried as he raced down innumerable halls. His Journey to freedom was halted by his sudden impact with a blond haired brown eyed boy, and he was sent crashing to the ground.
"ooh." He groaned. as the hall spun "look at all the birdies!"

Before Sean could answer him, before anyone could answer the girl, and before the strange boy on the floor could be answered either, ANOTHER newcomer came into view, crashing violently into Zack. He hit the floor hard.
"UGH!" He cried. Zack shook his head, rubbing it with one hand , then looked over to see a....a...um...what was it? A dog...boy...wagging his tail at him half crazily. Zack was totally confused, and completely lost.
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?!"

"Oh my God...WHAT IS THAT!?" Matt screamed, leaping to his feet. He stared at Sean, and then back to the three others he wasn't exactly "familiar" with.
"What is going on here! What is going..on?" His mouth fell lop sided, and his eyesbrows reached so high that they had almost been sliding off his forehead.
He felt his neck tense, and a small pain erupt from the back of his skull.
"Oh come on, out of all times.." He mumbled, rubbing it slightly. The pain only began to grow worse..

The voice was so close, but there was nobody even looking at Derek, let alone talking to him.
"Uh... this might sound kind of stupid, but where are you exactly?"
The strange voice laughed at the question.
"heh heh. You're right that does sound kind of stupid! Look at your reflection in the window."
Hessitantly Derek walked over to a window to check his reflection.
"Yeah I see me. Whats your-"
"And you see me too. See?" And with that said, Wayne started waving his (and Derek's) arms maniacally.
Derek's mouth opened in shock. There was no way that this could be happening. It just didn't make sense.
"That's it, Im outta here." So Derek took a step forward to leave... Just one.
"I don't think so." His other leg however, didn't budge. Caught by surprise, and completely off balance, Derek fell forward flat on his face.
"Ow..."
"Well you can't leave yet anyway. I still have some... stuff to do."
With Wayne's help, Derek awkwardly rose to his feet. People were finally starting to notice him.
"If we weren't already at a mental asylum I'd feel really wierd right now." Derek said sarcastically.
"...and what kind of stuff?"
Wayne forced a smile across their face.
"Oh... you'll see. Heh heh. Let's just say it involves a few familiar faces, and some others you might not recognize."
By now, Wayne had taken complete control of their body, and made his way for the elevator. A man got in his way and asked if anything was wrong, but Wayne just pushed him out of the way and got on the elevator.
"Hey, what did you do that for?" Derek asked accusingly.
"Comic relief?" Wayne replied innocently. "Then again I guess a face like yours is funny enough."
"And what face do you have exactly?"
"....Yours.....Shut up.... Now lets see here. What floor should we try first?"

Shaking his head in a very doggish manner he got to his feet and extended his hand with it's fingerless glove to the person he had knocked down.
"uh.. I'm not so sure what's going on here since I just got here." He shrugged "My name is kael and.." Then in a moment that showed just how unlike his other half he was he finished his sentence. "Oh fuck. You're Zack aren't you!" He looked around him finally seeing the group he had smashed into. "Sean.. Ryah.. and I don't know you by sight or discription, but you probably have a connection with her." His hand dropped to his side in astonishment. "Out of all the groups in this place i had to run in to her friends!" Kael seemed not to notice he was rambling. His hands went to his ears. "Uh.. I mean.. I know nothing!! You saw nothing! I don't know anything about Heather!" Realizing his mistake he opened his mouth once more.
"Damn it."

Sean rubbed his eyes in amazement. Gelfman had shown up and Zack! Of all people it had to be Zack. Now some random boy talking about Heather. "That settles it. I've fuckin lost it." He banged his head against the wall and returned to looking. His mind was tricking him. Zack had to be Natalie, Ryah was Jess, Gelfman was of course Gelfman, and the boy had to be Heather. "Okay there's only one way to figure this all out." He also thought that what they were saying was being completely distorted by his mind into babble. "Natalie, listen. I need you to tell me what's going on. You look like Zack right now." He was talking to Zack, trying to get a job done. His eyes wandered to Ryah, scantily clad as he had guessed. "Hun. I'm seeing you as Ryah right now. Please tell me I'm actually talking to you."

::Ryah blinked. A whole slew of people had entered the horribly white room, half of which seemed to know her. The long-haired, darker one was speaking to her, speaking to her like he knew her. He knew her name at any rate.::

How do you know my name? Who are you, and why do you call me "hun?" ::Something triggered in her memory as she closed her eyes, and she opened them again as Jess.::

Hun? What happened? What have I been doing? ::She hugged Sean, and did a double take as she turned around and saw... Zack. Her mouth dropped open.:: ZACK?! How is THAT possible? What the hell HAPPENED?

Zack stared, eyes bugging out.
"Woah..." The dark haired girl had just transformed into Jessica, Natalie's best friend. AT least Zack recognized her well, along with Sean. He glanced at The dog boy...what had he said his name was? Ah yes, Kael. He was a new face. Not from any rp on the board, and not from anything in Natalie's memory banks. The kid called Gelfmen, who Zack recognized the name of from off the board was still laying on the ground looking stunned.
Zack walked over to him and reached a hand down, yanking him up onto his feet. Then he turned to the rest of the group.
"Ok, I'm not sure exactly what's going on...but I think a good guess is that our alternate universes have somehow crossed paths...and..." Something odd tickled in the back of his head then. Was he hearing...a voice? No, he wasn't actually HEARING anything, but he definatly felt something, and for some unexplained reason he knew exactly what it was. "Hey, you guys. Natalie says she heard some strange poem when she was struck unconscious. She thinks it has a connection to this." Zack explained as best he could. It was so weird! Was this how Natalie heard his thoughts all the time? Through not easily hearable words but by gut insinct?
The situation suddenly didn't seem as drastic as before, and the stress was wearing off. Especially with Sean Jess Gelfmen and ...well...sort of Heather there. All people Natalie knew well, and were comfortable with. Zack sighed a bit, and felt a tingeling in the center of his body. Natalie's consciousness was returning. But then...
"THERE HE IS!!!" The therapist who had seen Natalie transform screamed! "The intruder! Right there! He had accomplises! Get them!!!" And suddenly five big security guards were running after them. Zack popped back into controle.
"RUN!" He cried, then grabbed Kael's hand and Gelfmen's as well to make sure they didn't lose anyone. For some reason, Natalie's confidence that Jess and Sean would not leave him and the others portrayed into him, so he didn't worry about losing them by mistake as much. They began to race down the hall.

"YIPE!" kael yelped as he was grabbed by the hand and dragged down the hall. Taking one look at the bulky security guards behind them he quickly gained his own feet and began running with Zack. He wasn't too happy to be with her friends since they would want him to become her again, but he didn't want to be caught alone with the guards either. Seeing his options as limited he resigned himself to running as fast as he could.

It was too good to be true.

Yet, she willed her right arm to lift...and it lifted. She willed herself to take a step foward...and she took a step foward. She willed herself to sneer. She sneered. She had a thought. She willed herself to speak it.

"I've got you now!" she said. A voice in her head was screaming "NO" at the top of it's...lungs. But that was all it could do. Think.

"Haha! I've got you, trapped where you've kept me trapped all these years! You think I'm about to let you out? No way! I'm getting out of here!" Katrina shouted. She was in the cafeteria. Puke, which Diane considered food, was on a tray in front of her. She picked up the tray and tossed it across the room as hard as she could. It clattered against the wall and splattered mess everywhere. It felt so good!

She leaped up onto a table and began running across them, towards the cafeteria door. She passed by a window...and stopped short. She stared at her reflection in it. Not the face she was used to. Not Diane's hidiously happy face. This face was younger and angrier, and though it didn't look too much different...Katrina smiled. The face smiled, but it was not an innocent smile. Yes, it was true. This was her own face. Katrina's face.

She burst through the doors, banging one so hard against the wall that the window glass cracked. She laughed. She ran down the hall. Diane was in the institution voluntarily, but Katrina was not. Katrina was leaving.

As Derek/Wayne was waiting on the elevator, Wayne took out a wallet and started counting the bills inside.
"Hey put that back! That's-.....Wait a minute. I didn't bring my wallet with me... Who's is that?"
Wayne forced a smile across their face.
"Remember that guy in front of the elevator that I pushed down?"
"Yeah... Oh come on. You have got to be-"
"Hey, the doors opening, I guess its our floor." Wayne interrupted, attempting to change the subject.
Just before they stepped out of the elevator, Zack, Kael, and Gelfman ran by in a hurry.
".....Did I just see Matt run by with a dogguy thing and one of Natalie's characters?"
"I could say no... but keep in mind I'm a lying thief."
"That's reassuring... So should we follow them?"
"I'm right behind ya."
Wayne finally loosened his hold on Derek and gave him control over his body. Stepping out of the elevator, he looked to the right. Gelfman and the others were still in sight. Looking to the left, he saw Sean and Jess, but security guards were running in their direction. Thinking he'd be better off staying away from the guards, Derek took chase after the others. After all, he had a stolen wallet on him. He couldn't risk getting caught.

Matt tripped over his own legs as he was dragged viciously by Zack, or Natalie, he wasn't sure exactly. Though as the hectic chaos dragged on, he felt his headache grow worse. It spread over his head, throbbing painfully.
Suddenly, things simply became blank for a moment.
"What the HELL is going on?!" Grane hollered, tearing his hand out of Zack's grip. His mind forced him to keep up with the group, and he complied out of confusion.
"Who the hell are these people chasing us dammit!?" His face was crumpled into piles of tense muscles.
"Get, the, F**K, away from me!" He boomed, thrashing wildly at the man (therapist) who was almost running onto his heels. The back of his fist made contact with the therapist's cheek, and in a dazed blur the therapist swung sideways and tripped over himself. Crashing to the ground hard, Grane continued to follow.
"So, where we headed?" A content smile was planted onto his face.

"Hun, we'd better get the fuck out of here. These guys don't look as though they're looking for a fair fight." Sean, cocky as always and constantly ready to fight if need be took off, grabbing Jess' hand in the process.


(BTW guys I'm changing my personality, I don't know to what yet but you'll know when you see it.)

This went from weird to weirder. Suddenly Derek looped in and started running with them from a different hallway, and Matt, who Zack had been dragging along transformed into...someone else. Did EVERYONE have an alter ego? Zack didn't know, and there was no time to figure it out. He glanced over his shoulder at Matt...or...the dude that WAS Matt knocked down a therapist. The therapist tumbled to the ground, and the security guards who were chasing them tripped over the fallen therapist. They all landed in a heap. Zack saw Sean and Jess just behind them, good, no one had gotten lost.
He saw light upahead and found doors that led outside. They were almost there. Suddenly a man jumped in front of them, trying to block their passage.
"I don't think so!" Zack cried, and raised his free hand that had been holding Matt. A blue glow escaped his palm, and it slid the man across the floor and out of the way without hurting him. Zack blinked a little surprised. Apparently, his powers worked in Natalie's world as well as in his own.
They neared the door and Zack slammed his shoulder into it, forcing it open. They barged on through, and soon the entire group was out in the sunlight of day. Zack glanced over his shoulder and saw that everyone was still together. Good, that was the most importaint thing. Kael looked really excited...like they were running for fun. Zack looked forward...they needed a place to hide.
"Guys! Is anyone's hose nearbye we can bunk at?!" He called back to the group of escaped...well...mental cases!

::Jess panted heavily. Running didn't suit her. Zackalie (For she really was now) asked if their was anyone's house they could hide at for a time.::

The only two places I can think of are my house or Sean's. My mom's working tonight so only the kids'll be home. Sean's parents don't care. Are they home hun? ::She clutched his hand. She searched his eyes for answers. Why had she blacked out?::

Anyway, what happened? Why is Zack here? Why are half of you guys different?

Katrina heard a ruckus coming from down the hall. Instintively, she went in the other direction. She wanted to escape, and remaining unseen was best for that.
She knew this mental institution inside and out, from being stuck in it for six freaking years...and turned to go up the stairs. She reached a window just above the front door when sirens began to wail. She saw a bunch of kids run out the front door, and froze, halfway out the window. Some of them looked familiar. She squinted, trying to see.

Suddenly, footsteps echoed up the stairs. Quickly, Katrina climbed out onto the branch of the large tree she'd known was there. She scittered across, her tree-climbing skills good as ever, and slid down the back of the trunk. Silently, but quickly, she began running after the group of kids. She knew something weird was going on, and that they had something to do with it. She would follow them, stalk them, until she figured it out.

Sirens wailed, and before Zack could answer jessica's questions, the cops pulled up.
"FREEZE!" One of them shouted pointing their gun at them.
"Aw shit!" Zack exclaimed. He glanced at the group behind him, how many kids were there running with them now...Jess, Sean, Matt...or..well...kid that WAS Matt, Derek, Kael, and Zack...that was 6. An idea sparked in Zack's mind...well..no not really. Natalie was yelling the idea at him. Telling him to do something. ...but 6 was a lot of people. Natalie assured him he could do it. So, Zack stopped short suddenly. Poor Kael running right into his back.

Sean, Derek, and Jess caught up and looked at Zack like he was crazy.
"Don't worry, stress gives me more strength!" Zack said trying to re-assure them. But...then again this was hard, he wasn't sure if he could do it himself. Zack's aura began to glow around him, then suddenly, his glow surrounded each of the other people in the group.
"It's the only way we can outrace cop cars." Zack explained. Then suddenly, everyones sneakers...or paws, were lifted off of the ground as they began to float up into the air. The police were too shocked to shoot at them, and a moment later, when they were all high enough to be able to glide over the tree tops Zack prepelled everyone forward. They zoomed off in a direction away from the Mental institution. The police were much too amazed to follow right away.
"Jessica, I can't keep six teenagers up for long, where the heck is your house? Or Seans...or...somewhere nearbye!" And it was clear he spoke the truth, he was already straining under everyones weight. Needing to concentrate in 6 different places at once...was difficult. Sweat broke out on his fourhead as they started to lose a bit of altitude. But they were far enough away from the hospital and the police so that they didn't need to worry about being caught anymore. They just had to worry about...well.......falling.

Everything was happening so fast. Derek had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that he was up a lot higher than he would have liked.
"Am I still afraid of heights?" He asked himself, afraid of the answer. Slowly he looked down, and then quickly back up.
"Yup, definitely still afraid."
Once more he slowly gazed back down, watching the landscape pass by beneath everyone. Just the thought of the fall made Derek shiver. Wayne on the other hand wasn't bothered by it one bit. While Derek was thinking how he could brace himself for a fall, Wayne broke out singing.
"I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the-"
"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!" Derek interupted.
"Can anyone tell me what the heck is going on here?"
"And what's that smell?"
"Do you ever shut up?!?!"

Running. Running fun! I forgot how fun running is. I should run more often. That's it from now on I run everywhere. These were the thoughts in Kale's head before he smacked in to Zack for the second time in less then 30 minutes. "Yip!" He expressed his displeasure in a single syllable. Before he could express him self in more syllables he was surrounded by a blue aura. Then he was floating. Then he was flying. His brain could not handle such a shock and he did the first thing he could think of: He death gripped the nearest humanoid near him with a "Yipe!" then he saw who it was he had gripped. Derek. Her boy friend. "ACK!" He let go. "YOU!" In that shocked moment he contemplated why he couldn't seem to form a coherent sentence.

"OKAY! THIS IS FUCKING RIDICULOUS! Zack, you whiny little bastard, you must have access to natalie's memories to know who we are so what you're going to do is remember the way to smithtown middle school from here. My hosue is right near it and you're going to bring us there. My mother and sister are away and my dad's at work. So what we're doing is going to my house, going into my basement and figuring all this shit out." Sean clenched his fists. "The last thing I need is another good looking blonde guy here who's close to Jess. THis bastard better watch himself. Next logical step in human evolution or not, I'll kill him." Ever wary of things that could threaten his happiness Sean multitasked in his mind, trying to figure out what was going on and at the same time wondering if Zack would make a false move to earn himself a nice big piece of steel to the back of his head.

((That's my Sean. 9.9))

::Jess felt herself levitated by Zack's powers. This was so WEIRD. How can this even be happening in the real world?? And where was Natalie?? Jess had to know she was ok. They were going to Sean's, that was good. She looked down. Zack's flight was speedy and they were passing the school road now.. At the pace they were going they'd be travelling down 25-A rather quickly. There went the Seven-Eleven, and next the His house was right below them.::

There it is! Land us! Zack when you put us down get Natalie out here so I know she's ok, please? ::She had to be in there, right?::

Zack suddenly shot a dirty look Sean's way.
"And who the HELL put you in charge! I don't think any of us need such a high and mighty attitude right now, try to speak without the condesending tones!" Zack barked. He sighed, wiping the sweat off of his fourhead with his palm. Six people were rather heavy. But Jess pointed out the house they needed so zack started to lower everyone down. He landed, then tried his best to land everyone else as gently as he could...but they were heavy. Some of the kids landed a bit harder then he wanted, including himself who landed on his knees in the yard.
"Sorry! Sorry!" He apologized. Zack sighed heavily, just KNOWING Sean would give him flack for that. What was his problem anyway!? Standing back up and brushing himself off he turned back to Jess.
"I'm not sure if I'm totally right or not...but it seems to me that Natalie only comes out when she's perfectly comfortable with a situation. I think we can safely assume that changing bodies and switching personalities in a mental istitution may have scared her into my subconscious. I bet she'll come back out when things settle down." Zack explained.

Sean fought back his snide comments as hard as he could. The last thing he needed was to be fighting and harming Zack when Natalie was still in there somewhere. "So it looks like we're stuck with Bumble the boy wonder for now." He thought to himself, he couldn't help but grin a bit. Sean walked up to the door of his house and unlocked it with the spare key. At his first step inside Rocket (his dog) was all over him and everyone else. "Calm down Rocket. No use getting excited." He turned to the rest of them,s tanding on the lawn. "What are you all waiting for?"

::Jess scratched the eager Rocket on the head and quickly hurried her outside before she had the chance to pee on the floor like she always did. What was all this talk about switching personalities and bodies and such? Jess was getting way too overwhemled.::

Will somebody PLEASE tell me what's going on! Why is Zack here? What do you MEAN, switching bodies?? What happened when I was blacked out before??

Suddenly, the group of kids turned blue and lifted up into the air...flying away.
"What the fuck?" Katrina said, quietly so as to not alert her position to the police. Her attention was only distracted for a moment, however. She used the fact that the police were out of sorts to sneak around them and into the woods surrounding the road. Just as she was out of earshot and her escape looked secure, Diane attacked her brain.

"Give me my body back!" she shouted. Katrina grabbed the sides of her head.

"Shut up! It's my body! You're just a weak, pathetic excuse of a human being!"

"Get out of me! I hate you! If I hated people."

"Do you see what I mean?!?! UGH!" Katrina shouted in frustration and began running through the woods, alongside the road. She didn't know where she was or where she was going, but she didn't care.

The whole group piled into Sean's basement, people sitting on the floor, ontop the washer and dryer and basically anywhere they would fit. Everyone was dreadfully silent for a while, each person looking over at one another every now and then. No one really knew how to start. That Saturday had been...needless to say...very odd indeed.
But being in a place that was at least semi farmilar and with a lot of people she cared about. Natalie started to relax. And in doing so, Zack was no longer needed to protect her. So slowey, the bones in zack's body started to shift and change, making disturbing crunching sounds, but oddly enough there was no pain. His muscles shrank, his hair grew, and his large body sharnk back into Natalie's petite. Even the clothes changed with the transformation. The only thing that remained the same on Natalie as it had on Zack were her eyes. The outer shape of them may have changed, but they were the same deep brown color.
Natalie blinked, seeming to come back to life. She smiled suddenly and waved at the group.
"Hi guys! Miss me?" She said. Before anyone could answer, she continued.
"Jess, what happened, as far as I and Zack can tell, is that there was some sort of magical phenominon. we THINk it involved a person...maybe a curse of sorts, for when we...when I fell unconscious I heard a poem. And from what I heard all of you guys did too. (You had to have heard the poem guys. It's a requirment.) After those weird lights shot us...some of us transformed into what I assume are our split personalities. You changed too, Zack saw you. I guess...even though I'm aware of my other half...you're not." She said finally explaining the situation to her confused best friend. "The only question now is...what are we going to do about this?"

((Jess.))

::Jess blinked in absolute astonishment. Zack had just changed in front of her eyes, into Natalie. She WAS Zackalie.::

Yeah I remember, I heard some sort of singsong poem too, then I blacked out.. next thing I knew I heard Sean calling me out of my blackness and I woke up. I don't get any of this. I changed?? I changed into what? ::Frustration mounted up in Jess, and she recoiled in agony. How could she have changed and not felt it? Why did everyone else know what was going on and she didn't? Jess got so confused.. she closed her eyes to take a deep breath and passed out again.::

::Ryah opened her eyes and took a look around. All those damn people again, now a girl's face stared back at her with brown eyes that she recognized. Her mail clanked. Her sword was once again back at her side like the events of the day had not happened. And to Ryah it was like awaking from a long sleep. Where had she been? Well, where was she now?::

Who ARE all of you? How did I get here? Why do I keep appearing near you? ::She paused and looked at the faces. They called to her, dimly, in the back of her head. And something in the room was calling her as well. A presence she didn't like. The dank basement housed a spirit and it was calling her name.::

Whatever brought me here I can accept, but I beg you to let me leave this place. There is something down here I do not wish to meet. I will stay and address this if you let me move from here. Now.

Kael had landed on his tail. "damn it!" he had said shortly before leaping to his feet. He had rubbed his rump with a sour look before starting to edge away from the group. He had hoped to find away to separate himself before they could take notice of him again. Too many people related to her in one way or another for his comfort. Then rocket came out the front door. unable to resist he had raced around with her until he landed on his rump once more too dizzy to stand. This distraction took his mind off escape and so he followed the rest in to the basement.
Nat changed back and then started blabbing on about split personalities and magic and curses... Kael was bored out of his mind. Then Jess became Ryah. His ears perked up. She wanted to leave.
"I'm with the blade wielding chick. I would rather not be trapped inside on a day such as this. Besides I'm me and not anybody else understand?" The last part had a bit of growl in it

((Here's the deal. I didn't transform earlier okay? You will forget Josh and bow down to my new split personality...Id without his mask.))


"Hoo boy. Listen Ryah." Sean addressed Ryah, knowing he could make a connection to her somehow. "Why don't we go upstairs and head out the back door to please you and the dog kid?" They all walked out the back door and sat down in the patch of moss where Sean had spent many quiet moments, trying to clear his mind. THe bit of moss sat before a tree in his back yard where he had practiced his swordsmanship in days gone by. "Ryah. THis is hard to explain but, you're inhabiting the body of my girlfriend Jess. It seems when something upsets her she transforms into you." He threw himself back and sighed. THe moss comforted his back. "I'm just wondering why I haven't transformed yet?" Sean's mind wandered to Zack, who did he think he was just lifting him into the air like that. "Why I oughta."[/COLOR] His mind froze and he blacked out. His chest and stomach receeded. His clothes began turning black, as did his hair. It began to shorten and the scars on his arms moved towards his face, culminating and then splitting to become the scars of a 27 year old warrior.

[COLOR=maroon]"Finally." A raspy voice emenated from within the man's throat. He sounded relieved. "The black door shouldn't have taken this lon-" He froze and realized that he was not in Sharonia where he thought he would be when he opened his eyes.

COMMANDER! ::She shouted happily. Finally a face she knew! But the blonde one's words had peaked her interest. She was inhabiting the body of some other girl? Like a reverse channeling.. Ryah screwed up her eyes and looked, looked around in her head. She found a presence there, a sleeping girl with brown hair and spectacles. But she wasn't awake enough yet to learn of Ryah. Instead Ryah got down on one knee to address her commander and let him know fo what's going on.::

Well I can't explain this easily commander, but somehow we've been brought to earth, channeling through the bodies of humans. Isn't that peachy? Anyway I don't know quite how to explain all of this.. but I am exceedingly happy to see you.