(A/N: Sorry if this is late, or a little out there in content. I appreciate all the support, and I hope you guys can help me grow as an author. Any opinion is appreciated!)

Chapter Nine.

"The Dresden Slate seems to be acting peculiar today, don't you think, Weismann?"

The aging man stood affirmatively, staring down at the clear floor below him. Illuminated by a rainbow sheen of light, the slate in question gleamed mysteriously back up at him. Eyes narrowed, he began to pace across it. 'What could this mean?'

Over time, the Slate would react to all kinds of abnormalities where the King phenomena was concerned. Over the past few decades, the Slate would act as such when gifting a new King with the power of his rightful color. Even so, the Slate wasn't reacting to any new decisions upon a king-the current kings were very much alive and well, and the last time the Slate reacted so violently to an outside source was when the Eight king was chosen.

He had personally sent the Seventh king to speak with the newcomer almost two years ago, although the old man was absolutely certain this Eight King wasn't a proper king. Even still, the Slate performed its duty and the Eight color reached out for clansmen.

'I highly doubt that there is a Ninth king-the Slate would have shown it as such...'

He found pondering becoming painful and troublesome, and took to rubbing his temple. 'Could it be...?'

Almost immediately, he shook his head to himself. The neuro-link hadn't happened in ages, the system itself had all but died with the test rats used to perform it. Even still, he had to keep the thought in mind. The Slate was beyond any ones control-his job was only to protect it. It was highly unlikely that clan members from separate groups would connect neurologically to that extent anyhow.

-.-.-.-.

Alessa couldn't move or speak. She could only stare as she watched the two boys in the alley, arguing with each other. It was more like Yatagarasu was doing the arguing, and the other unfamiliar man was just grinning. It was almost creepy, how his grin stretched across his face in a manic way, but she could feel Yatas pure hurt and betrayal, and it radiated around him.

"How could you betray us?" the young man pressed his fist to the blue haired strangers chest. "Don't you remember this symbol? Its a symbol of our pride!"

Yata was shaking, and Alessas heart went out to him. If it had been her, if Echo had betrayed the Rose, she would have died inside, too. She wanted to run to him, pull him away from the stranger and comfort him. The struggling tears in his eyes were very much real, and she hated the backlash.

The taller man held a flaming hand up to his chest, confirming her suspicions. This was a member of HOMRA. Or from the sound of it, an ex-member. With fingers like claws, he dragged the flames across his skin over and over again, and Alessa felt like throwing up. Body mutilation was a game she had once played well, but this was a whole other level of sickening.

His symbol was streaked now, remnants of tissue dragged to form new smothering patterns in his skin, the smell of smoking flesh hot in the air. She was at a loss. Was this real? It was all she could do to crouch on the ground, close her eyes, and try to disappear.

.-.-.-.

She opened her arms, muttering the words he thought back on and understood.

"I'm sorry."

And then she fell.

His heart beating in wild succession against his chest, Yata forced his eyes open. He was lying on the floor among bits of splinters and wood chunks, dazed. The girl he had caught was already crawling out from under him, whimpering as she scrambled to get up. Clutching her elbow, Alessa stared down at him for a moment and he stared at her. Trapped in each others gaze for a few moments, the realization of their hallucinations dawned on each other simultaneously and neither could bare to look at the other.

They didn't have long to ponder what exactly had happened when a voice from above cooed . "Oh, she's still alive? Bummer."

"You bitch!"

Shocked, Alessa regained a little of her sanity and watched, dumbfounded, as Echo bound up the stairs. The older girls features were lit with her aura, and she disappeared behind the broken banister. The sounds of a scuffle didn't last long-Echo dragged the girl down each painstaking stair by the locks of her unkempt hair and thrust the girl down in front of Alessa.

Pressing a foot into the girls spine, Echo forced the girl to lay on the ground. The girl wasn't able to resist this kind of force- Echo was at her strongest when her friends got hurt. Yata was already scrambling out of the way, Echos irritation an obvious sign that anyone in her way was going to get hit.

"As much as I want to punish you myself for trying to kill my best friend, I think she deserves to do the honor," Echo ground her heel into the drug ridden girls spine, making her cry out. She glanced up at Alessa in concern-the other girl was usually quicker to take command of the situation. Obviously something had shaken her. Clicking two and two together, Echo gave her a comforting smile.

Alessa had once almost fallen from a distance much farther than the staircase. No doubt her heart was still racing. Echo would have to personally thank the punk from the reds later. Still with her heel in the girls back, Echo raised an eyebrow at her best friend.

"Are you able to...?"

Seeming to snap to consciousness again, Alessa nodded a response and then held her fists up. "Let her up. I want to see her face."

Echo removed her foot, standing taunt as the girl pulled herself to her knees.

"You're all fucking crazy," the girl spat, glaring at Alessa. "Who do you think you are, the police?"

"Pretty much," Alessa had had enough of this girl. "Stand up. I'm not through with you."

The girl massaged her back for a moment before pulling herself to her feet.

"Oh yeah?" She slipped a knife from her pocket and flipped it open. "Then lets go. You weren't much of a fight earlier. It was pathetic, really."

Wickedly, she twirled the knife around and put her hands up.

"Pathetic? Sweetheart, you haven't seen anything yet." Her aura poured from every limb of her body, the memories of the bridge and the sheer terror of coming so close to death again blinding her to the fact that instead of a beautiful shimmering quartz, she was blossoming with red dark as blood.

Lurching forward, Alessa made a grab for the girls wrist as she lunged to stab her, kicking her foot out to make her slip. The nameless female didn't know what pain was. Alessa would show her.

Whipping around counter clockwise, Alessa clocked her in the face, jamming her elbow into her jaw so hard she felt a crunch. The knife dropped, useless now since she was still in a vice grip. In a motion of mangled limbs, Alessa released the girls wrist and twisted her own body another 180 degrees, launching her knee into the other girls side. With an oof, she doubled over and Alessa brought her elbow down on the girls skull. Or she would have, if the girl hadn't dropped her weight down to dodge it. Throwing herself back, the girl nearly ran into Echo, which was a big mistake.

"This is taking to long," Echo sighed, pulling the girl up short and slamming a fist into her gut. The girl crumpled, weak from the exhaustion.

"Two against one, that's not fair!"

"Neither is knocking someone over a banister down two stories, but you don't see me bitching."

Her aura exploding around her, Alessa kicked her foot forward, ready to land a hit directly through the girls face.

"That'senough!"

Someone grabbed her from behind, pulling her off of her feet and away from landing the hit that would have knocked the infesting female straight out. Struggling against her living chains, Alessa tried over and over again to break free.

"She could have killed me, I deserve to hit her!"

"No, Alessa. That's enough. Not like this, okay? Not like this."

Alexander stood over her, locking her in his arms and giving her a harsh glare. She was coming back to her senses and surroundings, the memories flooding through her and pooling around her in an aura of red. Before she could say another word, her aura dissipated and she crumpled against him, crying.

Echo glared at Alexander, her aura of smoking tinted pink flaring. "If you won't let her, I will."

Ever so casually, she raised her leg and shot a kick straight to her head, knocking the girl out cold. Her eyes never left Alexanders.

"You know what happened to her. You weren't there for all of it. Don't pretend like you wouldn't do the same damn thing."

Blood rushing through her as Alexander released her, Alessa smiled in thanks at Echo before everything became too much and the world went black.

Dumbfounded, the other members of the rose and red clans gathered closer. They had witnessed every moment of it, and confusion sprang out among them.

Yata watched Alessas figure carefully. Alexander had caught her before she hit the ground, picking her up to carry her. Though the situation wasn't clear to him, he had no doubt in his mind now. The hallucination he had witnessed, catching her from the stairs, hadn't been a hallucination at all, but a memory that had plagued her for who knows how long. Why he had seen it in his own mind wasn't clear.

And why she had been brimming with HOMRAs fire was a mystery.

-.-.-.-.-

"What the fuck was that?!"

Alexander glared across the table to the members present. Yatagarasu, Mikoto and Izumo watched him in return, in varying degrees of emotion. Yata, looking pale and bitter, paced back and forth behind the chairs the other members of his clan sat in. Izumo was leaning his head in his hand, his eyes calculating. Mikoto stared coldly forward, shrugging his shoulders.

"You're going to have to be more clear," Mikoto said smoothly. "I wasn't there, after all."

"Well you damn well heard about it. Why is one of my members surrounded in your aura?!" Alexander was brimming with anger, papers strewn across his desk. He couldn't figure it out. Alessa wouldn't secretly join HOMRA, she wasn't a traitor. But the brimming red was clear as day around her, her anger throwing forth flames that had scalded his hands when her first touched her before they became benevolent.

When they had returned, he had taken her straight to her room and laid her down in her bed. He had turned to Echo, who was still itching from the fight, to scold her but she brushed past him for the bathroom, wetting a washcloth for the sleeping girls forehead. Exasperated, he had stalked away from the room on the promise that he would talk to her about her actions later.

"I don't know. I didn't invite her to join my clan, if that's what you're accusing me of," Mikotos eyes narrowed as he watched the Rose king.

Clenching his fists, Alexander turned to the pacing vanguard.

"You haven't been able to sit still since this little incident happened. What do you know that your not telling me?"

With a start, Yatagarasu stopped in his pacing to look dead on at the other king. "None of your fucking business."

Which didn't suit well for Alexander.

Izumo was the first to react, tapping Mikotos shoulder and nodding for the door. Standing, the men turned to leave. Scoffing, Yata attempted to follow only to be stopped by Izumos firm hand.

"Stay here, Yatagarasu," Izumo whispered, "As her king, he has the right to know whatever you do. And it's obvious you don't want to share it with the two of us here. So calm down."

Reluctantly, Yata stood back as the other men continued to leave. The door closing, he sighed and turned back to the stricken Rose king.

"Look, I don't know what to tell you about all this. I can't figure a damn thing out about it myself."

He paused, waiting for some reaction from the king, but Alexander sat in irritated patience. Gripping the back of one of the seats, Yata leaned forward and rested his elbows there.

"I saw it, you know."

With a raise of an eyebrow, Alexander watched him cautiously. "You saw what, exactly?"

"The bridge incident. In my head. She was crying. Like, a lot. And she was drunk as hell," Yata cringed, but forced himself to continue. "She stepped off the bridge and you caught her. She didn't tell me about it. I haven't known her long enough for her to talk about it, I guess. But when I caught her earlier when she fell, it was like I was reliving that memory."

Alexander sat quietly for several moments, and Yata began to feel uncomfortable standing there. The silence was almost unbearable before Alexander spoke next.

"So you know then. That's how I met her."

"Huh?"

Alexander motioned for the vanguard to sit before he continued, and reluctantly, the boy obliged.

"I was driving back to the Hotel. I had just gotten a call from Steven about a business matter that needed my attention. It was shortly after I had become a king. I saw a girl standing on the wrong side of the ledge, and something told me to stop. So I pulled off to the side of the road and got out of the car.

It didn't take me long to deduce the situation-her whole area was trashed with bottles and the like. I didn't speak, I was afraid I would scare her into falling. I only heard her say one thing-that she was sorry-before she stepped off. That's when I grabbed her."

Yata nodded slowly, taking this in. He could still see the image of the scene, pasted in his mind like a movie reel.

"I wont tell you why she was like that. That's a story only she can tell. I can only say that for three days after it happened, I didn't even know her name. She wouldn't speak to me, only nodding thanks and slowly examining her surroundings. I gave her a room a floor below mine so I could watch her carefully. She knocked on my door on the fourth day to tell me that she wanted to be called Alessa, and that she was grateful to me for what I had done for her. Right there she pledged her servitude to me, and became my third clansmen. Steven and Ivy where first and second. It was a strange time for all of us."

Alexander sighed, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "It still doesn't explain why she has your aura-"

Yata bolted upright, his face reddening. "That's notmy aura!"

"Whatever, an aura like yours," Alexander waved his outburst away. "The fact of the matter is, that little scene might have something to do with it. Sadly, that's all we can say for now. I suggest you talk to her, when she is conscious again."

Alexander quickly dismissed the vanguard, irritation still obvious in his features as he turned to stare through the window.

His face flushed with heat, Yata stood and swiftly left the room, breathing a sigh of relief when the door closed behind him. 'What is happening?!'

He began to move exhaustively down the hallway. 'This is so stupid.'

-.-.-.-.