The Dimension Wanderer *HIATUS*

Chapter Ten ~the eden disorder~

It was the spell of a sorceress that broke the strongest sailor. The allure of a mermaid. So naturally, Kellan was defeated by the scream of a banshee.

Normally, a scream meant pain and despair and fright. But this scream meant something else. Kellan could hear it in every vibration of the piercing sound. He leapt up and ran toward the scream. "Aelia!"

Aelia stopped, gasping a breath of the sweet, thick air. Her whole form was trembling, and her eyes never left Kellan's. He could see the sad awareness behind her eyes and the tiny lines in her forehead again. It reminded him of when he had first found her. Alone, barely surviving in her misery, desperation showing in her starved form. On the side of the road, clothed in mud-streaked garments, struggling with the simplest things like talking or even crawling. He didn't know who she was or why she was there or how. He hadn't asked then. All he knew was that she was lost, just like the creatures she now cared for. And so Kellan understood why Aelia wanted to help the creatures. She had been a lost creature herself.

Now she looked at him with eyes that needed help again. She was lost again, after wandering far from what she knew. She was strong, but scared, though that wasn't something to be ashamed of. She lifted a quivering hand and clenched it into a fist. It stopped shaking.

"Where am I?"

"Here. With me. With us." Where was here? Kellan didn't know. But here was together. That was what mattered.

Aelia looked around, a certain kind of understanding washing over her face. She turned back to him, a weary grin tugging at her mouth. "Good answer, polo."

Kellan couldn't smile back- not yet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." Aelia lifted a hand to her head, and the lines on her forehead creased. "Just a little headache."

"You sure?" Kellan knelt down next to her, and Bongo shuffled to the side. "You screamed."

"I'm fine. I woke up from a nightmare, I think. Can't remember it now, though."

"You were awake." Fear for Aelia that Kellan knew all too well shot through his veins, icy and unyielding.

"Don't worry her, Kellan!" Sierra's voice came from behind him, practically oozing peace and calm. Kellan had no idea how she did it. "Hey, how do you feel, Aelia? It'd good to have you back."

"Thanks." Aelia gave a pointed look to Kellan. "Like I was saying, I feel absolutely fine."

Kellan huffed.

"I'm glad." Sierra laid her hand on Aelia's forehead. "You don't feel feverish or anything."

"Yep. Fine, see, Kellan?"

"I just get nervous, that's all." Kellan crossed his arms. "You're my best friend."

Aelia's face softened, eyes creasing at the corners. "I know." She let out a deep breath. "Come here?"

Kellan obliged, for the second time that day embracing Aelia in relief, hands all too ready to wrap around her. Hopefully this time was for real. He didn't want to lose her. To lose this. This, this most worrying, heart-wrenching thing he had ever known was also the most beautiful, amazing, wonderful thing he had ever known. It was worth every ounce of worry. And Aelia was quite the worrying person.

She pulled away, and this time she mirrored his expression of concern. She sighed and settled back. "What happened?"

"You woke up, earlier. But you weren't exactly yourself. It's... hard to explain."

Sierra stood up. "You couldn't understand good and evil. Right and wrong. Like when we told you something bad had happened- um. If we had told you something bad had happened, you wouldn't have understood it well, or wouldn't understand what was wrong with it."