TOC3

CHAPTER 3 - A change of circumstances

Dreams are not dreams at all, but our deepest wishes come to life. The use of our subconscious to make our wish come true. That is why our wishes and our dreams are so alike. Both fueled by imagination and the unknown possibility of reality. Yet, what does one do after one has both dreams and wishes come true? Does that only leave nightmares?

     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My eyes widened as I saw the principal. "Hello...miss!" My voice took on a squeaky tone that always happens when a teacher is listening, or nearby.

Mrs Knott, my Principal stared down on me. "Hall pass." She said dangerously. I just stare since usually the Principal wasn't this, well, menacing.

It didn't help that I didn't have a hall pass. I was going to the bathroom after all.

"Err, I was just going to the toilets miss." I said nervously, almost cowering. Pretty funny since I was actually TALLER than the principal.

She narrowed her eyes combined with the well known nose flare. It kinda reminds me of that quote from Looking for Alibrandi, "she must have been a horse in another life ", sure seems like it anyway. And she looked REAL pissed right now.

"Come with me to my office young lady!" She said snobbishly.

//Oooh...this can't be good.// I thought worriedly as she dragged me, painfully, by my arm.

     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first thing that struck me when I entered the office was the sound of humming. Familiar humming.

Silver twirled in the air almost entrancingly.

"PUT THAT DOWN!!!" Mrs Knott screamed.

I jumped in fright. The person in the chair turned around and put the letter opener calmly on the table. I started blink.

"Anita? I thought you were in sick bay!" Well, this sure explained alot. But she looked different...

Anita looked at me with equal shock before composing herself. "R-right. Anita. Hehehe." I raised her eyebrows at her as I sat down on the chair beside her.

"I take it you two know each other."

We both looked forward at Mrs Knott, and had to lean back at the incredibly scary look on her face. Well, I did. Anita was just frowning slightly.

"Going through the halls without a pass! Skipping class! Disrespect to your principal!" Geez, it sounded like she was sentencing us to death or something. I was sooo glad that death glare wasn't aimed at me. But Anita wasn't so well off. But instead of finding her cringing and stammering like she usually does under pressure, she just stared directly at the Principal.

"So what?"

//WHHHHHHAAAAT!?!?!?// My eyes nearly bugged out of my head at her soft response. It wasn't her usual hateful-teacher-muttering thing she did, it was a direct response. I sank low on my chair. //My mum's going to KILL me when she finds out about this!!!// was all I could think.

Yes, sadly, my mother works for the department of education, meaning she finds out EVERYTHING about my school life. As you guessed it, she is VERY over protective. My whole family is. The WHOLE gazillion of them all over the world. Sometimes I get the feeling they all work for my mum to spy on me.

Who am I do you ask?

"JOCELYN HABIB!!!" Mrs Knott screamed. I shrank a little more into my chair, wishing I could disappear. "It says here, that you two delinquents are supposed to be in fifth period SCIENCE! Is there a REASON why you are not in class?!" Her shrewd eyes, narrowed in anger, her face matching that HORRIBLE and reknown red suit. Was it just me or did all Principal's had distinctive clothes to hurt the eyes of their students?

I stammer an answer. //I CAN'T WORK UNDER PRESSURE DAMMIT!!!//
"M-Miss, I was just going to the bathroom..." Her eyes narrowed. "And, um, Anita was just in sick bay..." I always seem to cover for her, since she gets in trouble a lot, or maybe she's just spastic a lot. Probably both.

To my relief, the Principal swivelled over to bore down on Anita, who looked strangely calm. "You do not look sick young lady."

Anita looked to be thoughtful for a second. I was just trying to calm my racing heart. Is it LEGAL to interrogate students like this? I'm not a bad girl!!!

"I got better." Anita said simply. I had the urge to whack her over the head. She's not making anything better for herself! Or for me!!!

Mrs Knott remained silent for a moment. Her face contorted and went red.

"DETENTION FOR A WEEK!!!"

I nearly had a heart attack at those horrible words.

//My mum's gonna SLAUGHTER ME!!!!!!//

     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I sighed in my bed, looking up at the lovely anime posters on my wall. Anita had gotten me hooked on that. They at least brought SOME joy in my home life. Not like my mum. I really hate her at times like this. She keeps thinking I need to be watched all the friggin' time. That anything I do wrong is the end of the world and will majorly affect my future.

She didn't recieve the news that I got detention lightly. A volcano blowing up would seem insignificant against the temper of my mum. Now I'm grounded, and I stared mournfully at my computer where the Internet will be off limits till god knows when.

I try to set my mind on sleep, but my thoughts were stuck on today.

Today was weird. Or, Anita was weird today. Something was just...off. Especially the fact that she attacked Necie and Tara today. So strange. Usually she isn't so violent. I mean, that was one a helluva bitch slapping session going on. She also seemed shocked to see Catherine. Which was weird in itself since they see each other every day. In fact, everything she looked at seemed well, UNboring to her. Which was just plain, weird.

I am seriously worried about that girl.

Then again, I have my own problems without worrying about other people's. I do wonder when Anita was going to finish that new story of hers. It would be great to have powers. Like maybe blasting a few certain relatives to hell and back.

With that happy thought, I fell asleep.

And awoke to pain.

     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A millions shards of...something, attacked my mind, consuming all thought in soundless wave of pain. It was as if my mind was being attacked all at once, scorching, painful and overwhelming.

"What's happening to her?!" Agitated, familiar voices shouted around me, piercing through my pain filled mind. An almost numb feeling convulsed over my body, in a feeling of...loss?

I could vaguely feel my knees on some kind of tiled floor, I realised my hands were digging into my head from the sudden attack of pain, that seemed, foreign and, strange.

One thought was clear in my mind. //WASN'T I SUPPOSED TO BE ASLEEP!?//

My vision cleared a little to see a familiar face staring worriedly down at me.

"A-Anita?"

Her expression turned to one of shock and confusion. Slowly, the blurry figures standing around me came into focus.

I looked around in confusion, regretting that movement as a stab of pain shot across my mind.

"Alita, is your friend okay?" My eyes swiveled to what looked to be...CATHERINE??? She wore strange clothes with pastel colours. Okay, the pastel part wasn't so strange. Wait a minute. ALITA?

I brought a hand to my head, shielding my eyes for a moment. When I uncovered my eyes, they were still there. This was too strange.

"Yes, can we talk about this later Catsyile? I need to talk to Liathano for a mument." Anita said almost nervously.

Catsyile?! What kind was name was that?! Did she just call me LIATHANO!?!

Catherine, or Catsyile nodded. "As you wish sister, take your time. Through that door." She gestured toward a door I hadn't noticed in my haze. Anita grabbed my arm, pulling me towards the door. SISTER!?!

"Just play along." She hissed, pushing me in, then turned to smile at the small group of people who I only caught a glance at before closing the door behind her.

I looked at her with wide eyes. The scream tore from my lips before it could stop.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!?"

Immediately a hand clamped over my mouth. She looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"Shut up...Jocelyn? It IS you in there right?" I just nodded, mouth still covered by her hand. "Okay," She took a deep breath. "Look, Jocelyn, first thing first, stop trying to scream and I'll explain." I nodded again and she took her hand away. "Remember that story I was writing? This is it." Way to explain lady.

I just stared at her. "You're bullshitting." I deadpanned.

Anita shook her head. "I'm not kidding. This is my story. By some weird chance, I just woke up in this body. I have no idea how you got here though. You have no connection to this, except the fact Liathano is your alter ego." This explained a lot. Especially Anita's or was it someone else's behaviour this morning. Was it even morning at all?

I blink. Once. Twice. "This is not happening." There is no way...no way...

Anita levelled her palm in front of my eyes and suddenly, my eyes was struck with a sense of coldness, staring unbelieving as a pure ball of ice formed in her hands. Yet, somehow, it didn't seem so strange at all. A part of me, Liathano, was used to this.

Tentatively, I reached out to touch it. It was solid. Real. And COLD. I withdrew my fingers quickly.

She smiled and the ball of ice somehow receded back into her hand. "Now do you believe Jocelyn? I took a while for me too, thankfully I have GREAT coping devices."

"Ahem." I coughed. Well, that confirmed it, only Anita could boast something totally...ok, partially untrue.

She suddenly frowned, looking at my eyes. "If you are in there..." Her knuckles rapped on my head. "Liathano? You in there?"

I frowned at her. "What the hell are you doing?"

Something, for lack of a better word, MOVED in my mind. "Yes." My lips moved without me moving them. The word was resounding in my mind. Nothing prepared for the mental shout that pounded at me next.

*GET OUT OF MY BODY!!!*

I reached a hand to my head, gasping, and eyes wide. Anita patted me worriedly.

"So she is in there." She murmured.

"Who are you?" I asked. No answer.

"You have to mentally ask her. That's how it worked with me and Alita."

//Her and Alita?//

*YOU TELL ME!!! GET OUT OF MY BODY YOU IMPOSTER!!!* The voice physically flung me back a bit. It was just so loud!

"Well, I can tell Liathano ain't taking it well." Anita said matter of factly as she pulled me upright. "Both your personalities are too strong to share a body, much less have one taken away from you."

I concentrated on the presence in my mind, adjusting my mind to talk mentally. //Who are you?//

*The rightful owner of this body you imposter! GET OUT!!!* Once again I was flung back to be steadied by Anita.

"Liathano." Anita looked me in the eyes but didn't seem to see me. "Calm down. You're not doing any good for either of you."

The equivalent of a sighed breath echoed in my mind.

*Who are you?* It asked me the same question I was asking it.

//Jocelyn. Jocelyn Habib. Who are you?//

It seemed reluctant. *Liathano Blackstar.*

Liathano...Blackstar? That was the name of my alter ego...what was going on?

//Ask your FRIEND.// Liathano said in almost contempt, somehow reading my thoughts.

I looked at Anita for an answer, who was staring at me with raised eyebrows.

She crossed her arms. "Spastic, I can't read your mind!"

"Oh, hehehe, she asked what was going on." I translated.

Anita shrugged. "I dunno. I just woke up in this world. Found out that Necie and Tara, who are known as Opal and Harlequinn here rule the world, or "Blackstar" as the world is called, and we have to kill them."

"Wha...???" There are times I wished she could make sense!

"LOOOOONG STORY Joc, ask Liathano." Anita said dismissively.

I prepared myself for the mental relash that was going to get. //Liathano?//

*I heard. The state of the world at the moment has two bitches ruling it. Opal and Harlequinn. They are evil and we, as Team Vengeance were hired to kill them, or at least one of them. Turns out the people who hired us, calling themselves the "Legacy" want our help in a rebellion of some sort. Alita's sister, Catsyile, is leading them.*

I took in the facts slowly. "Necie and Tara are..."

"Evil." Anita answered. "And in this world I'm Catherine's sister...apparently." She added as an after thought as though she just found out herself.

"This is..."

*Who are these fictional people that she keeps going on about?* Liathano interupted me.

//Wait, you're the ones that are fictional. Anita wrote this story...// I retorted.

*So did Alita.* She quipped back.

"So this happened because the Anita's in both worlds wrote a story about the other at the same time?" I said aloud.

"That could be it." Anita said thoughtfully.

"Then that means...THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!" I whacked the top of her head.

"OW!!!"

     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Have you made your decision? Will you help us?" Catherine, no, Catsyile looked at us with clear watery blue eyes. Damn that was creepy. I frowned and reflexively stepped away from her. Catherine and I were not on very good terms back home.

Anita looked at her. "For how much?" Always the cheap woman she is...

*I was thinking that too.* Liathano added. They had asked me to play along for now, explaining almost the whole thing between them, though it took a while. Now I itched to try out the magic that I have inside me in the form of Fire. Magic. I have magic...

I looked around me, trying to not stare too much. There was Alisha, or Little Lost Leesha as they tell me, who was a shape shifter, Cathy, or Kayashi with the power of wind.

*Stop staring and pay attention, you're ruining my reputation.*

//Shut up Liath.//

*WILL YOU STOP CALLING ME THAT!! The name is LIATHANO!!!*

//But you're so cute when you're angry I thought teasingly...//

A mental slap on the head was my answer.

"I can only pay you the same as everyone else who works for us." Catsyile's voice interrupted in my mental war.

"And how much is that?" My lips moved without my will, Liathano's doing I suspect.

"Join us! It'll be fun!!!" Leesha said cheerily.

"I can only offer 15 pieces of gold for two cycles of the moon." Catsyile said smoothly as Kayashi elbowed Leesha beside her.

"60 pieces." My lips moved again without my doing. I could tell that was alot especially since it was gold.

"20." Catsyile bargained.

Anita looked between us in amusement. "30 pieces each." She added.

I never thought of that. Catherine was cunning in our world and was probably as cunning if not more in this world.

"Done."

"Why do you need our help so bad anyway?" Anita asked.

She just smiled. "We need all the help we can get."

"Well, well what have we here?" A voice sounded behind me. I spun and bumped into a what felt like a wall, a reflex of this body drawing a dagger from somewhere in my clothes.

The low growling in my mind was disconcerting.

Anita was sniggering behind me.

I looked up, eyes narrowed, yet trying to widen all the same, in the combination of dual personalities. The result was a weird eye twitch.

I turned to see that it was a person who had collided into me. A male by the low chuckle. My eyes glared at how he towered over me since I was pretty damn tall but he loomed over me at 6�3 in height. A white silk shirt hid what I somehow knew to be taut muscles framed a black cape trailing down his back. My eyes moved downward of their own accord and noted his leather pants and well used boots.

I looked up to see blond, spiked up hair and a glint in his grey eyes. His face was completed by a knowing smile.

The mental recoil was almost painful.

Liathano thinned my features into a scowl, not re-sheathing the dagger in my hands.

�Xas.� My lips said menacingly. Almost growling.

I could just see Anita raise an eyebrow behind me.

"Liath. You've...grown." His eyes looked down directly at my chest.

A booted heel came down on its own accord on his foot, making him wince.

"I was talking about all growth of course." He said a little less smoothly once I took the heel off.

Arms crossed over my chest I could feel Liathano's anger inside me while I only felt mass confusion. That face...I've only seen photos of it, though there was no mistaking whom it was. Haydz. But what was his relationship with Liathano to make her feel this angry?

"General Xas, you know Liathano?" Catsyile asked.

He strode past me, smirking an infernal male smirk. "We used to date."

At this point, Anita burst into laughter.

It was my duty to pinch her arm, though I didn't know if it was Liathano or I that prompted the action.

Catsyile raised an eyebrow. "Sister, this is General Xas, he is our communications expert and is also in charge of training our people."

Anita narrowed her eyes. "Training?"

Xas smirked, "My power allows me to change the type of training according to speciality of the person."

"A...ha." She said skeptically.

"Follow me ladies...Liath..." He tossed an infuriating smirk over his shoulder at me. He wasn't so confident when a fireball exploded on the back of his head curtesy of Liathano. In fact he was screaming for someone to put it out.

Catsyile rubbed her nose ridge, putting the flames out a thin beam of water from her fingertips. Xas, who now has a close resemblance to a singed rooster, glared at me.

I just stared at my hand. //Liathano....//

*HAHAHAHAHAHA!! He was screaming like a girl!!!* It was kinda funny...

Anita strode past me, smiling teasingly. "Looks like somebody likes someone..."

"Of course she does, " Xas added before I could say or do anything like, say, whack her on the head. "I am of course very hard to resist." He continued smoothly.

My eye started to twitch.

//You are SO telling about this 'relationship' later!!!// I thought sharply at Liathano.

*WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?! Why would I get involved with that stupid, idiotic son of a...* Her angry reply was cut off as a loud, ear splitting screech seared through the air.

"XAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The so-called General winced, looking at the entrance, which he had obviously come through, in less than happy apprehension.

That voice...it was...

Anita's eyes widened, but quickly changed to a eye roll. "Figures..." I heard her mutter under her breath. An almost smirk of amusement was displayed across Catsyile's face. Kayashi growled in annoyance, while Leesha had suspiciously missing ears beside her. Must be nice to be able to do that...

The door that sprang from the wall revealed a dark skinned girl, beaming from ear to ear, her long black hair done up in a high pony tail, bouncing along behind her in wispy motions. Her eyes sparkled from dark brown orbs and locked on the person beside me, lips spreading in an even wider smile if possible. What looked to be a clinging dress in patterns of mesmerising chocolate and white swished under a hooded cloak of silky black. But all this detail went completely from my mind once her mouth opened.

"OH MY GAWD!!! You're BAAAAACK!!!" The girl shrieked happily and LOUDLY. Anita winced, grabbing her head to check for any damages or bleeding ears.

The chocolate streak, displaying a flash of legs from the mid-thigh splited dress went from one side of the room to the other. Promptly glomping Xas.

He smiled tightly down at the girl that was only about 3/4 his size. "Hello Samiya...back already from cleaning up Leesha's mess at Black Tower?"

The way she was contricting blood pressure from Xas's arm rang a note of satisfaction from Liathano. *Justice is served.* Came the snorted reply.

Samiya? Wasn't that Jasmeen's real name? And wasn't Little Lost Leesha Alisha's email address? Gee...Anita must've been running out of ideas when she named her...

Anita raised an eyebrow at the name, probably thinking along the same lines.

"Hey! I resent that! I did a good job!!!" Leesha's voice cried out indignantly in answer to Samiya's taunt. "So what if I was a little sloppy, I didn't exactly have all the time in the world..."

Jasmeen, wait...Samiya leaned even closer to Xas, pressing herself against him. "And left all those guards awake and running. You could've at least knocked them out, not just set the place on fire." Her voice resounded highly and loudly, even normally. One obvious guess at what this girl's power is. Jasmeen was always a loud girl. The power of Sound suited her.

A low growl resounded in my head in correspondence with Leesha's stuck out tongue. I could almost feel Liathano's eyes narrowing as my, I mean, our eyes locked on the dark skinned girl who's arm hooked annoyingly around Xas's.

It felt strangely like...jealousy.

*I AM NOT JEALOUS!!!* Came the automatic response.

Kayashi was frowning. "Did you check to see if anyone was following behind you?"

"Er..."

Xas and Catsyile looked sharply at Samiya.

"Samiya...you should know better..." Catsyile started.

The floor suddenly shook, violently, making the whole floor move in thunderous shudders. Debris fell from the roof of the room, caking the ground in dust and rock.

"YOU IDIOT!!! YOU LED THEM STRAIGHT TO YOU!!!" Kayashi screamed, her eyes wide in anger. Her grey cloak fluttered as a sudden wind spread around the room.

Xas shook himself from Samiya's grip. "We can stay hidden yet. It should only be another projection. Opal only knows Samiya is here. We have to lure them away!" He nodded at Kayashi, eyes fogging into an inner vision.

Xas's words were drowned by the scream in my head. "MOVE DAMMIT!!!" The sound of a huge slab of rock falling on the floor, mere feet from me as my body reacted into a roll exploded in my ears.

"Holy shit!!!" My own voice screamed as a torrent of wind swirled powerfully around me and I had a sudden feeling of flight. Voices yelling at each other floated into my ears, including one familiar scream that sounded as the wind stopped. Yet I was still strangely floating.

My eyes cleared to see two pinnacles of calm in the centre of the torrent of winds. Xas, with the soft glow of silver around him, eyes inward and blank staring off in concentration. Kayashi beside him, arms spread in determination, the winds rippling around her as she controlled the mass tornado that howled around us. The eye of the storm.

A sudden sense of recognition entered my mind. Kayashi's power was Wind. She conjured this.

And just as suddenly the winds died down. My throat constricted in fear as the sky flashed around me.

"Gotcha." Someone had their arms around me especially around certain parts of me. Liathano's reaction was instant, tearing out of my mouth angrily.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME YOU PERVERT!!!" My arms pushed away by themselves, feet suddenly finding stability in the air. The first thing I noticed was the conjured disc of fire beneath my feet, unburning yet entrancingly hot. The second was the sky. The sky that was divided in unnatural darkness and light. An eerie split that defied every natural law. The sound of battle exploded in my ears all at once.

"Jo...Liathano!!!" The cry was thankfully familiar and distant, yet I couldn't make out the speaker in the chaos.

*Let me take over!!!* The urgency in Liathano's mental voice rang clear. Stunned from the sudden change in environment, I was helpless as the strange sense of control was taken away in the same feeling of loss that I felt before. All feeling seemed to disappear but...not. I looked through the eyes and mind of someone else.

Thought flooded in my mind, strategies and information passing at once. It was through this I recognised the dark laughter, and the horrible power along with it.

Eyes that were not mine took in everything around her. Leesha's form had changed, shifting into that of a gigantic red dragon, roaring beams of power through it's mouth at the army of dark shadows that spread in the sky, impressive leathery wings beating at the air.

Another tornado raged in the Light, blowing the lightning forms of what looked to be an army of ghosts straight into a wall of water, which enclosed into a globe, the electricity exploding in the liquid in white ferocity. The globe suddenly moved, hurling at the dark, and crashing in a great liquid fire against the howling shadows.

A figure stood where the globe was, tinged in blue. Catsyile opened her eyes that were now glowing a magnificent blue.

Further away, a loud scream could be heard, the one that started when the wind stopped. It slowly went into decibels that any normal human couldn't hear. The mass of both Shadows and Ghosts exploded into fragments when an unknown source hit them, leaving a chocolate brown figure smiling in the center.

The flash of a ice blue beam spread and froze a path of Ghosts, who dropped to the ground and shattered. Anita looked worriedly around before more came at her, making me lose sight of her distant figure.

We, Liathano and I, stood at the pinnacle of Light and Dark. Enemies on both sides closing around us. And no help from any of the others as they were all at least 500m away from us. Even Xas who was facing off with another enemy, this time a man who sparked with dangerous looking Lightning, was too far away to help. Ghosts and Shadows alike closed in on us, hollow eyes of red and green staring at us with almost hunger. Yet I couldn't detect any fear in Liathano's consciousness only grim determination.

Gloved arms rose to clasp together in front of our face, eyes closing to see an endless well of red flames. The source of our power.

"Genocide attack! FIRE! FLAME! FLASH!!!" Liathano's voice screamed both physically and mentally, eyes opening to a haze of red and gold.

Wait a sec...GENOCIDE!?!

The sudden feeling of heat flared around us, almost painful in intensity, blocking all vision behind pure wall of fire expanding around us in ripples of terrible magnitude.

The flames dissipated to a radius of empty sky.

Raspy breathing came from our throats as well as the sense of satisfaction. I could feel a sudden apprehension.

"Liathano!!!" Anita's voice cried out, coming closer as terrible joint laughter rang behind me. It rang with amusement and menace. And familiar. That laughter...

Liathano's weariness rippled through my mind, as she turned slowly. I could only glimpse at the two people I knew so well before darkness claimed our joint minds.

Light and Shadow alike. Necie and Tara.

     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I think I understand now."

I looked around with strange feeling that was neither surprised nor confused. It was...understanding.

The surroundings around us were comfortable. She sat in a large wing-backed, cushioned chair, opposite mine. Black leather shining under the warm fire blazing in the old-fashioned brick fireplace.

Liathano bit into a biscuit that came from a silver tray on a small table beside her chair, smiling contentedly. I stared at her.

Battles, memories that were not my own ran through my mind.

"Understand what?" I heard myself ask. In my own voice, which somehow seemed different from Liathano's. Higher for one thing. She didn't take singing lessons like I did. I can see it in her memories.

"I understand now why Alita and this Anita in your world swapped." She took another content bite of the chocolate biscuit. "I know the Alita that I know craves normalcy. Ever since the time when her family was killed in the Dark Wars, she's been involved in warfare. Magic. Never the normalcy that she craved. Which is why she started to write her surprisingly good stories."

I nodded. Anita was the same. She wanted the adventure, writing stories of great and impossible things. It could be why she adapts better. She WANTS the danger, the adventure, and possible death as she always jokes. Though the surprisingly good stories comment was true, but that girl had HORRIBLE grammar.

"Exactly. They swapped because it is their wish to have the other's life. And when they started writing about the other..."

"You've been going through my mind." I say suddenly.

Liathano shook her head. "Our memories are trading. My knowledge melding into yours, yours into mine. Though I doubt Alita thought of this. She never thinks ahead much."

"Tell me about it. Anita doesn't think AT ALL sometimes." I joke, the weird sensation of thoughts running through a mind receiving knowledge at an unimaginable rate. A sudden thought did ring clear. "What is this?"

"The Genocide attack is too draining. Though our power is unlimited, the mind can only take so much use. So I need to swap lives with you, though I'm not happy about it, the impostor that you are, our body needs you to heal."

"Hey! I'm not an impostor!!!" I blinked. "WHAT!?!?!?!"

Liathano shrugged. "I trade lives with you. You always wanted the freedom right? You're family, weird as they are, isn't as much of a worry to me as they are to you. Plus, what is this 'Internet' thing your memories are telling me to worship? And this a-ni-me thing. You lead a strange life lady." She quipped.

My mind tried to adjust. "We can't! I don't know ANYTHING about your world!!! And what about the HSC!?!" That last strange sentence popped out of my mouth for no reason whatsoever. It was just luring in my mind for a while so I said it.

Liathano shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I can handle whatever this 'HSC' monster you fear."

I groaned, but jolted up when the surroundings started to fade. "Wait!" A sharp pain in my head, like a flickering from the fire poured into my consciousness, filling me with knowledge of our, my power.

"What?" Liathano asked.

Something was missing from these memories...

"What happened between you and Xas, Liath?" I teased, finding the missing link.

Liathano spluttered, her cheeks reddening in a blush that Anita always teases me of doing. "That doesn't matter! Stay away from that bastard! And stop calling me THAT!!! It�s LIATHANO!!! And I'm serious...he...he..um..." She was suspiciously at a loss. "Just don't flirt or do ANYTHING romantically inclined with that jerk! It'll ruin my image!!!" She said hurriedly, her voice fading as well though no less angry.

"So you were romantically 'involved'!?!" I scream into the now darkness.

"SHUT UP!!!" Came the immediate reply.

The darkness consumed both consciousnesses. Two minds awoke in different worlds. One into a battleground where the horror is only beginning, and one into a soft bed, in a room partly covered with so called 'anime' posters, sighing softly before falling into a exhausted sleep.

     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: Damn that took long!!!! I mean JOCELYN'S pov is DAMNED hard to do!!! And yes, you may ahve noticed nothing actually HAPPENED persay...

Oh well, ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTOR!

~ Alita Battle Angel causing havoc in the nice and structured life of Anita Downs.