I'm not dead! Believe it or not! I know I've been MIA for a while now and have been almost completely off the grid, but I am alive. In all honesty, I've just been really lazy and I'm disappointed in myself. I'm so sorry! BUT I AM ALIVE AND I AM CONTINUING MY STORIES!

Nyx let out a sigh. She and the other scouts had their own cell that was separate from the others. When they had first woken up, they had spent every waking moment of the first day trying to figure a way out. They had no success however, since they were without their weapons and gear. Whoever had captured them was smart enough to have searched them all and confiscated anything that could possibly be used as a means for escape. Whoever was behind all this was not stupid and knew just how to deal with them. But who could possibly know them so well?

Unlike the others, the scouts weren't chained up in shackles. At first Nyx had believed that they were being underestimated, but when she found out that her scouts still couldn't escape, she realized that she was the one underestimating their captor. Had they been chained, the scouts could have easily escaped confinement. It was one of the many skills the scouts had burned into their minds.

One of the other scouts kicked a pebble across the floor, "I can't take this anymore!"

Nyx looked up to see Chase grab hold of the cell bars. She tugged on them for a moment before giving up. Chase groaned in frustration and whipped back around to face her captain. Her long, blonde ponytail swayed back and forth behind her. "This is an insult! We're scouts, we should be able to get out of a simple jail cell!"

"Well obviously this is not a simple jail cell!" Fury replied from the rock she had positioned herself on. Unlike the others she was still on high alert and up until now she had been quiet.

Chase let out a frustrated sigh and was about to argue with her when suddenly Fury held her hand up to her. In an instant a wave of anger overcame her. "Don't you hold your hand up at me like that!"

"Shh!" Fury ordered.

Chase scoffed, "Excuse me! You can't just shush me!"

"Keep quiet!" Fury's tone was intense, but hushed.

This caught Nyx's attention instantly, "Fury, what's going on?"

"Someone's coming this way."

"Everyone get into your positions," Nyx ordered.

Several pairs of guards rounded the corner and approached the scouts' cell. One of the guards stepped forward and inserted a key into the lock on the door, "Alright, on your feet, now!"

Nyx pushed herself up off the wall and turned her attention to the guard. Other than the ones that had been put on patrol, no one ever came to the cell. Something was going on, something more than just being held captive in a cell.

The scouts exited the cell, one by one, and the moment they stepped out a pair of guards took hold of both of their arms. Chase, on the other hand, took the first chance she got to try and make a break for it. As the guard behind her was about to grab her wrists, she stomped down hard on his foot. He groaned in pain and grabbed his foot. For added measure, she elbowed him hard in the rubs.

When the guard fell to the ground, Chase made the mistake of taking a moment to look down at her handiwork. Before she had the chance to run, two more guards grabbed her. The scout shrieked and kicked and punched furiously. A hand firmly covered her mouth and she bit down as hard as she possibly could. The guard yelped, but was immediately overcome by anger raised his hand to slap her.

Chase was defenseless and instantly braced herself for the blow. Her eyes were squeezed shut so tight that, at first, she didn't even notice that it never came. Then there was a wave of gasps and Chase opened hers to see someone standing in front of her. The scout let out a sigh of relief.

Nyx stood there, gripping the guard's arm tight, immobilizing him almost entirely. It was obvious that even the smallest of movements on his part would lead to a broken wrist. "You will not attack and abuse my scouts! Try it again and I will make it my personal mission to see to it that you leave with a broken nose!"

She let go of the guard's hand and turned to his leader, "Let's get this over with."

Nyx and the rest of the scouts were then lead through a series of maze like hallways. No one said a word for the longest time. The scouts were trying to make mental maps of the corridors and the guards already knew what would happen if they angered one of them. There was no telling what they would do if they were angered further.

After a few moments the group came face to face with a large pair of double doors. They swung upon with a loud creek and the scouts were guided into what appeared to be a throne room. It was similar to the one in the Pixie Dust Tree, but this one was shadowy and black. The walls and throne were made of glittering crystals instead of wood. Any and all light came from a single opening overhead that let in the moonlight.

Nyx was so busy taking it all in that she didn't even realize it when the guards were speaking to her, "Bow down before her Majesty!"

Immediately, Chase spoke up, "Your queen is no queen of ours! There is only one queen we will ever bow down to, and her name is Queen Clarion!"

"Oh don't worry!" a female voice rang out around the room and a figure appeared sitting on the dark throne, "That will change in due time, and I will be your one and only queen!"

The scouts all gasped in horror at the evil looking fairy that had just appeared. There was no denying the resemblance between her and Queen Janet. Without even thinking, one of the scouts called out to her, "Queen Janet?"

"Why of course dear!" Janet laughed as she made herself comfortable, "Why would you think otherwise?"

Nyx took another quick glance around the room and realized that she had been here before. They were being held captive in the Kingdom of the Dream Fairies! Slowly the pieces began to fall into place and Nyx was able to connect the dots. Those guards, they were once dream fairies, and whoever that was sitting on that throne, had once been Queen Janet.

"Captain, I don't like this," Fury whispered.

"Silence!" Janet hissed and with the wave of her hand black smoke wrapped around Fury.

Nyx watched as she began to struggle against her binds, "You're not Queen Janet! She would never use dark magic!"

"Oh wouldn't I?" With the wave of her hand, dark magic went flying towards Nyx.

The captain froze in fear, but as she was about to get grabbed, a figure dove in front of her. In the next instant Chase was on the ground, pinned down by smokey arms. Without a second thought, Queen Janet shot another flood of magic towards Nyx. Then two of the other scouts leaped forward to intercept it. They were bound together and tumbled to the floor.

"Captain! Run!" Chase yelled.

Nyx leaped into action and made a run towards the doors they had entered from. She knew that more magic was heading towards her, but then she heard another thud of one of the scouts leaping into its path. The doors were getting closer and closer when a jolt of magic landed at her feet, causing her to stumble forward.

The scout looked back to see another scout pinned to the floor by her feet. Nyx's instincts told her to run, but everything else was telling her to stand up and fight. She had learned long ago that you never leave a scout behind. These scouts were the closest she would ever have to a family, but Nyx knew for a fact that if she ever wanted to see them again, her only option was to run.

So she did. Nyx scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could through the doorway. She kept running and running until she managed to find an exit. The instant the light of day hit her face she collapsed down into the snow.

Back inside the palace, the guards were dragging away the now unconscious scouts that were left behind. The lead guard approached the throne, "Your majesty, what do we do about their leader? Should we go after her?"

"No," she replied simply and a smile appeared across her face, "No. She'll go back to the Hollow, and she'll bring them straight here, right where I want them. And I will have my vengeance, once and for all."