LV

Song

When I woke up, Soma was gone. I was stretched across his bed, and I wondered for a moment if I'd pushed him out of his own bed. But when I looked over the side, he wasn't there.

In fact, he wasn't anywhere. The room was completely empty.

Now what? I asked myself. I looked for the time, but Soma didn't keep an alarm clock on his night table. So I was alone in Soma's room, with no idea what time it was. For all I knew I could have slept through the entire day.

I might as well get dressed.

I pushed myself out of bed, looking at my nightclothes in disdain. It was a simple t-shirt and shorts, nothing much, but if anyone saw me leaving Soma's room wearing only that, with my hair tousled from last's night wrestle with death…the implications made me blush.

Well, technically you did sleep in his bed with him in it.

I pushed that thought away, listening for footsteps. I heard none, so hopefully the hallway was empty. The moment I set foot out of Soma's room I rushed to my own. Well, at least as rushed as I could be with my leg in a cast.

For a second I forgot about the mess I made. I went straight to the closet, but not after catching a glance of myself in the mirror. My hair was a nest of tangles. I had black bags under my eyes. Worst of all, the patch that Soma had put over my wound was slightly stained with blood, and a bit of red was smeared around my neck.

Okay, maybe I should take a shower first.

When that was done, I slipped into my regular clothes. I winced as I slipped the choke collar over my neck — it chafed where I'd been cut. Even worse, it didn't hide the wound completely: you could still see a thin red line that ended just shy of my breastbone. I managed to fit my shorts on, but could only wear one sock and shoe because they wouldn't fit over my cast.

I was about to leave when I saw my bed. No wonder Soma had seemed scared. There was a long smear of blood where I had slid off. That would have been the first thing he saw after he turned on the lights. Then he would have seen my struggling, wrapped up in blankets…

Yep. What had been my bedcovers were most definitely torn to ribbons. Some of them were a little bloody.

I frowned, remembering something. Sure enough, once I'd searched through the tattered remains, I found it: the knife that that man had tried to slit my throat with.

I turned it over in my hands. It looked like one of the simple Fenrir-issued knives that every Gods Eater got. We had to bring them along on missions, just in case. The blade was still flipped out, the edge slightly red.

Sakuya and Soma have to be right. There's no way an anti-Fenrir activist could have something like this. But, just to be sure, I checked my dresser. My own knife was still there, so there was no way the man could have stolen it from me.

Someone really was trying to kill me.

My door slid open, startling me. I whipped my head around to see Soma standing in the doorway.

"There you are. Don't disappear on me like that." He said, somewhat gruffly.

He was the one who disappeared on me, not the other way around. But I decided that I didn't need an angry Soma this morning, so I didn't mention it.

He'd brought food, I noticed. My mouth started to water. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until that moment. Maybe I shouldn't have skipped supper last night. But before Soma could hand the tray to me, he bent over, picking up a note from the floor and frowning at it.

I didn't pay any attention to that. When he put the tray on my little coffee table I tried my best not to rush over, wishing to preserve some dignity. Still, it was hard not to tear into my food. I was lucky Soma wasn't really paying attention — he'd sat on my couch, still reading the piece of paper.

"Song." He said, right after I'd dipped my fork into some scrambled eggs. They had cheese melted into them and were really good.

I looked up. He was holding the note out to me. "You need to read this."

I took it, stuffing my mouth with the forkful of eggs. It looked like Alisa's handwriting, but it was written with such haste that it was hard to tell.

Song,

First I need to catch you up on some things. When Sakuya took Lindow's armlet to her room, she used it to unlock a disk that she found. Inside we found some documents that revealed that the Aegis project was really just a front for something called the "Ark Project". We found a list of names of scientists, Gods Eaters, and some Fenrir workers along with their families. We also learned that there was a plan to infiltrate Aegis, to find out what was going on. Lindow was trying to get this plan to work.

I was worried that Sakuya wanted to continue Lindow's work. I definitely wanted to. But then she told me to forget about it because it was too dangerous. I don't think she really did give up on the idea, though.

My suspicions were right. I've been watching closely for the last few days, and noticed that she was gathering up supplies and almost leaving no knot untied, as if she was worried that she would never be back here again. I came here last night and found her room empty. She must have gone to Aegis!

Song, I don't know how you could have possibly slept through my knocks, but when you do get this note, don't be worried about us. We'll definitely be branded as traitors. Don't try to come after us. If anything, it would be better that we have a strong link without Fenrir itself. Please, be on the lookout for anything that could have to do with the Ark Project. And…tell Kota that I'll be back soon.

Alisa.

I stared at the letter, food forgotten. This…this was crazy! What were Alisa and Sakuya thinking?!

"They haven't come back." Soma said. "I haven't been able to find Sakuya all morning, even though she said we would discuss what to do next. I don't like this one bit."

I nodded in agreement. I felt sick to my stomach. I almost couldn't finish my plate, but decided that skipping supper had been bad enough and there was no way I was going to skip two meals in a row.

Then Soma handed me something else…a list. All it said was "The Ark Project" on the top, along with a list of names. I browsed through it quickly, but the only things that jumped out at me were that all our names were on it…and our families, even Aiko and Mrs. Oguri.

So now Alisa and Sakuya were on the run, quite possibly outlaws.

Kota's not going to take this very well.

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! ;A; I missed an update. :(

I was just really busy with school - I had an essay due, calculus assignment and quiz, bio quiz, an assignment for one of my computer courses, and a computer lab to finish. I also had a bio lab quiz that I completely forgot about and ended up failing it. :(

So hopefully this double update makes up for it! I worked really hard to make sure that I had two chapters ready for this week. :) The first one's actually pretty long! XD One of the longest so far, I think. So anyway, I hope you enjoy! And thank you all for the support, as always! :3