It was night and the ship was sleeping. Except for one. The single watch at the wheel sat, while sending rings of smoke from his pipe floating into the air. His name was Talnet and he was alone on watch, as only one was allowed on deck for the descent into He'Anlae.
'Ruby, are you awake?' Leyva whispered into the dark of their cabin.
'Yeah. You just woke me�idiot.'
'When should we tell Lena we're here?'
'Aahhh�no clue.'
'How about tomorrow?'
'Would we just not put on our costumes when we get dressed? Would we walk out and say good morning?'
'�Good point. We'll tackle that when we come to it.'
Talnet steered The Dragon towards a black spot far out into the sea. It was getting closer and soon a barely distinguishable roaring was emerging from the depths.
'Leyva, what's that sound?' Ruby asked urgently, worry creasing her brow.
'What sound?'
'It's a dim roaring sound, coming from the east.'
The dark spot came closer and Talnet steered the ship close, waiting for his first clear sight of the whirlpool. Zav Zena�the entrance to He'Anlae.
It was a roaring mass of water, spinning round and round, a dark, empty hole in the middle of the ocean.
'Can't you hear the noise now?'
'Yeah, I can. It sounds like water moving around and arou–' Leyva was cut off as she tumbled off the bunk bed and crashed through her door, leaving a hole in the center of it, then falling into Lena's room, who was awake and being tossed about in her bed. She was trying to read, but the candle kept slipping away. Looking up at the sound of the crash, she saw Leyva pulling herself up from the floor, looking ragged and tired.
'Leyva!'
'Oh, hello Lena. I think I've decided to come along. In my normal self. Say, do you want to move in with me and Ruby?'
'Ruby?!' she screeched.
Leyva looked over towards the swinging door as Ruby came tumbling through it. Leyva dove away from her path, but it was too late, and Ruby smashed into her, sending them both crashing to the floor. They picked themselves up again and ran to help Lena, who had fallen out of bed at the surprise of seeing Ruby and Leyva, and from another rocking of the boat.
An hour later, the trio was re-united in Leyva and Ruby's room, just talking.
'Um�you guys, why the hell did you do this to me? Just to be funny?' Lena started out the conversation a little bit awkwardly, and feeling a bit betrayed.
'I seriously have no idea. I had just told Ruby that I was going somewhere on the first day of school, and then you came up and told us you were going somewhere too, the same place as us, and I had a genius plan to disguise ourselves, you know? And the rest is history. You know it all. In all seriousness, if I had told you where I was going first, and then Ruby came along, I would probably be playing the same trick on her. Except, I have an idea I wouldn't be able to trick her the way we did you.'
'Well, we did do a really good job at it. You could've,' said Ruby.
'But�how did you do it? I can tell now who you are, but�even looking back on it, I can't tell it was you under those costumes. They looked like completely different people than you do. How can you explain that?'
'I think I might have an idea�but I'm gonna run it by Banhr first, before telling you. Ruby, it has something to do with that prophecy thingy I said before we left, so he told me a lot about where where we are now. So�we fell down a whirlpool, that's the rocking about that just happened. We're now supposedly in a different world. The captain'll tell you more about it later. Hopefully.' Leyva didn't really know what to say, so, naturally, left it to the one with more knowledge. Banhr.
'But you still haven't told us why you can't tell us the reason behind your changed appearances.'
'And I said, I'm not gonna tell you. Yet.'
~*~*~FLASHBACK~*~*~
'Isn't this just really weird, Ruby? We're different people. We aren't really 'Leyva' and 'Ruby' anymore. I think somehow we've completely changed ourselves. Don't ask why I think that, it's just an idea I have.'
'I have no idea what you mean, but I'll try to understand you. You're too confusing sometimes.' A grin.
'Why thank you.' Her lips twitch into a half smile. 'But look at me! Do I look like me? I was looking in the mirror this morning, and I noticed that Lena would be able to see right through our costumes. I just said: "Me and Ruby, we're different people now." Don't know why I said it, it just came out of my mouth. I turned away, and I looked back right before I left, and I seemed to have changed. I didn't look like 'Leyva', I looked like�someone different. You're different, too. You look like someone I saw in Milan, a while back. I think I mirrored you off her.'
Confusion. Then: 'Leyva, how much coffee have you had today?'
'Um�I think about five cups. �Hey! Don't look at me like that! I was stressed out and tired!'
A hand on Leyva's forehead. 'Thought so. You're a little sick. Don't drink that much caffeine in a half an hour again�'
~*~*~END FLASHBACK~*~*~
'Yeah. I have an idea why we were so�different. But�it's about 3:30 and we should get to bed. I'm tired.'
'Okay,' was the murmured agreement from Leyva's two best friends.
The three climbed into their separate bunks and Ruby and Lena dozed off. Leyva, however, was staring out the window by her bed. The moonlight glinted off the water and shimmered in the air as the spray flew into the air after hitting the hull of the ship. She shivered and pulled the blanket tighter around herself, sitting with her back to the corner in the small sleeping area. The wood was soft, and she settled comfortably into it. Her eyes slowly drifted closed, and she didn't notice her features again slowly changing. Her hair turned deep green, almost black, ears
becoming pointed, her features sharpened, and, though you couldn't tell, her eyes changed to become blood red.