"Ren, I don't know if either of us can take that... Zombie, you said?" Ren rolled her eyes, frowning, no, not a zommbie, so she said that, "I didn't say zombie, no I didn't, that was Seth, he say's it's a zombie. And yes I could take it." She didn't look at Maggie, she was too busy being distracted by the not-a-zombie that had snatched the boy she'd been dragging, and attacked him, as much as destroying the not-zombie would satisfy her, Ren knew the boy was doomed. She wasn't sacrificing herself for a lost cause, no sir, she was going to use this as a way to gauge the not-a-zombie's skill and style, though it seemed to be lacking both.

So of course she saw the thing go straight through the boy disappearing before her eyes. Maggie was talking, but Ren didn't answer. Not until the girl asked what, to Ren, seemed like the craziest question ever, "Hey, what did you mean by that, about me not teleporting? I proved it earlier to that other guy who asked about it. Need I prove it again?" She just looked at Maggie, slightly speechless, "You really don't know?" there had been something in the way Maggie had said it that told Ren that Maggie believed wholeheartedly that it was teleporting. "How about we get out of here? I don't like the air, it smells, wrong." She went and offered her hand to help the boy up, he was probably in shock, Ren decided, she definitely would be if that had been her. "I'm hungry, let's get some food, I'll talk to you about this teleporting business, once we've found some food. Any guesses of how we get out of here?" She asked, looking round and realizing that she had been blindly following Maggie, and before that, she had been too……… feral to bother paying attention to the twists and turns of this labyrinth.

---

“Heh, you make a nice door stopper Seth, Righty, righty, let’s go explore some more! Or should we get to class? Third period is about to start. Hmm…nah, Onee-chan won’t be that mad at us. Right Akane?” Seth frowned, Ruki was taking this way too lightly, but then again that could be a good thing. He decided following behind was the best idea, less chance of a …… dramatic episode, or at least such an obvious one. He was shocked, however, when he saw a mental image come through from Ren, more of a mental video really, of the 'zombie' attacking and then going straight through the boy and disappearing. The hostile 'waves' were slowly fading from Ren and there was more puzzlement than anything else. He was a bit dubious about Ruki's declaration that Yoshino wouldn't mind, that they were essentially skipping school, but he just went along with it, it wasn't his problem if they got yelled at, well it probably was but Ren was already likely to have received detention, so Seth just shrugged off the possibility of his being in detention.

Hikaru Shouto

After trying his heroic propaganda, the girls reacted rather angrily, well one of them atleast. "Woah, woah, woah. Run first, fight later." and "No you will not." was what he heard in a worried and angry tone respectively. He was then dragged off by Ren, who seemed to become angrier at him for his attempt. All of a sudden, the grip of the Ren slightly released which caused Hikaru to stumble down and be caught by that thing that was crawling on the walls, it had practically landed on top of him, the hot and decaying breath right on his face. Hikaru had never really prepared to die, but somewhere in his mind, he felt a bit contempt, thinking something along the lines, Atleast this will give them enough time to escape, I hope. A smile formed on his face, as he saw no possible way for him to escape.

Waiting at the clutches of death, it's dead eyes somewhat reminded him of himself, closing his eyes, he waited for deaths caress. "End it." He then felt something disgusting phase through him, he saw the woman's memories, aspirations in the like. Hikaru felt a surge of different emotions plunge him. It went on and on that Hikaru, when it ended, felt mentally fatigued. Getting up from the ground, he almost fell again as he lacked the energy but saved his grace. He began dusting himself off, he then sees, a distant figure, what looked to be Kenji What is that guy planning. he thought to himself before he disappeared again.

Barely having any energy after the ordeal, he said outloud to the girls "I am not dead yet." before grabbing the walls as a crutch and silently pondering on what in the world just happened.

"Wait, Seth called it a zombie? Is that Seth," pointing a thumb at the guy with them, "and I put the wrong voice to your mouth?" Maggie was confused. Even more so when Ren said "You really don't know?" "I know that I teleport. Why are you so persistent that I can't?" Maggie frowned at Ren, her hands back on her hips. I know that I teleport. SHe's not even the first person to say it. Why are people insistent that I don't teleport. I don't even know what that park-oor stuff they talked about is.
Ren had helped up the guy when he mentioned "I am not dead yet." Maggie smirked at him and said "Really? Are you sure? I couldn't tell by the lack of not breathing. Wait, I mean the fact that you're still breathing. Or was it the non-stiffness? Crap, I forgot what I meant." Maggie's cheecks went a little pink-ish as she squeezed her eyes shut from how stupid she felt. I had a great comeback for that. Why did I forget? Oh, well. Opening her eyes again, she continued to say "At any rate, alive is much better than dead. As food is much better than hunger," her stomach rumbling in agreement, "well, once we find our way out. I don't even know where we are, let alone how to get out. Anyone seen that guy around?" Maggie looked around, trying to decipher which way would be best to start lookking down for a way out.

"Wait, Seth called it a zombie? Is that Seth," Ren looked at Maggie, perplexed as to when Seth’s name had been brought up for Maggie to know it. “Huh? No, that’s not Seth; I don’t think his name is Seth.” She replied to the question, “I said Seth? Huh. Okay.” And she shrugged her shoulders, oh well.

“And I am insisting you can’t teleport, because you can’t.”

"I am not dead yet." “Aparrently.” Just as Maggie pulled her "Really? Are you sure? I couldn't tell by the lack of not breathing. Wait, I mean the fact that you're still breathing. Or was it the non-stiffness? Crap, I forgot what I meant." stunt. Which made Ren smirk.

"At any rate, alive is much better than dead. As food is much better than hunger, well, once we find our way out. I don't even know where we are, let alone how to get out. Anyone seen that guy around?" Shrugging again Ren headed off down the ally back in the direction they had been running from. “We should have left a scent trace, dunno why I didn’t think of this earlier, although it will probably be faint, and that can get us somewhere, but this isn’t my area of expertise, soooo………….” She paused facing back toward the others, “Although… we could follow the left rule. At every junction turn left, if there is no left turn than straight ahead. It’ll get you out of any maze…… eventually.”

It was actually Seth who came who with the idea. Hey, Ren, don’t yell, I had a thought She rolled her eyes, Watch out that’s dangerous, No, really. he continued; Get the girl to use her ‘teleporting’ up to the top of a building and lead you out.

That could actually work. Opening her mouth she repeated the idea to the others. "You could," she pointed at Maggie, "try using your not-teleporting to get yourself up a building, and from there see if you could lead us out."

---

There wasn't much for Seth, he was just tagging along. So instead he focused his attention on what was happening on Ren's end of things, sniggering profoundly at Maggie's failed sarcasm. But he did try to be helpful, and the fact Ren wasn't yelling at him meant that he timidly put forward an idea, grimacing when Ren implied thinking was a new thing to him.

"You could, try using your not-teleporting to get yourself up a building, and from there see if you could lead us out." Maggie rolled her eyes at "not-teleporting", but nodded her head. "Yeah, I can try. I'll just call out the turns it'd take to get out. I'll be right back, then." Making a winky-with-tongue-out face, Maggie focuses on a near rooftop and "blinks", reappearing on top of the building. Her unconscious self had to use a lot of long-distance jumps in the parkour to get up top, since a lot of the things she could use for footing or grabbing were well spaced out. When Maggie was fully conscious again and on top of the building, she was silent for a few seconds.
"Uh... Ren? It may take us a while. I don't see any gap wide enough to be the road. This maze of alleyways goes on to the horizon... Any ideas?" Maggie sat on the edge of the building, kicking her feet and looking down at the other two that are trapped with her. "I mean, there's always running along the rooftops, but dude over there doesn't really have a way up to the rooftops." Maggie finally felt a sting on her kneecap. Her unconscious-parkour self had scraped her knee on the way up. Maggie looked at it, dabbing up a little blood on her fingers. "Hm? When did this happen?" Saying it more to herself than anyone, but still aloud, she really didn't remember it happening. Remembering Ren offering “Although… we could follow the left rule. At every junction turn left, if there is no left turn than straight ahead. It’ll get you out of any maze…… eventually.” Maggie offered it again. "Maybe we should use that left rule thingie. I can't even see an exit. I dunno what's going on though."

“Halt!”

The command came from further down the alleyway, near the group of children actually. The figure’s movements were silent and so that was probably accounted for how they had snuck up on the students so easily. Now that they had, they pointed an accusing finger first at Hikaru and Ren and then up at Maggie.

“By order of the grand imperator of common sense, I hereby demand you all to return to school immediately,” the figure, who turned out to be a girl, announced. “And you,” she said to Maggie. “You, uh, go out and get a job or something. Stop keeping these fine minds from learning!”

Ren would know the girl just by reputation. Yoshino’s personal secretary and the overall lapdog of the Student Council-

“I am NOT a lapdog!”

The girl seemed to be yelling to her…or the narration. In any case, Ren would know her as simple Kuro. Kinda funny, all things considering-

“And don’t make fun of my name!”

…right then. Kuro continued to glare at the group of ditchers who decided to skip school for the day. If she was here, that must have meant Yoshino had sent her to personally retrieve them…right?

Back at the Student Council office, Yoshino barely glanced up from her paperwork.

“That damn secretary better not forget my coffee again…what’s taking her so long anyway?” she muttered to herself.

So apparently not.

"Yeah, I can try. I'll just call out the turns it'd take to get out. I'll be right back, then." Ren laughed at the face Maggie pulled after that, it just looked so funny. she was still grinning when Maggie reached the top of the building, definitely not teleporting, to report a dead end. Her grin dropping like a stone, Ren's ears flattened, a soft hiss forthcoming, annoyance obvious in every move she made. "Left rule it is then" She had turned to call back up to Maggie when another voice cut across them; “Halt!” Flinching Ren froze, she had heard that voice before, although not many times. Turning round slowly she searched for the source of the voice. “By order of the grand imperator of common sense, I hereby demand you all to return to school immediately. And you. You, uh, go out and get a job or something. Stop keeping these fine minds from learning!” Sure enough it was who Ren had thought it was, Kuro known as the… “I am NOT a lapdog!” ………Okaaay. “And don’t make fun of my name!” Well Ren hadn't been considering that, but now it sounded sooo tempting. But never mind.

She was busy getting growled at, in a manner of speaking, and that rankled. So what if she actually attended school now? Surely that didn't mean they had to bite her head off for every day that she missed! It was so very tempting to go back to their old ways of skipping school, of even before they were enrolled, disappearing somewhere in the city, exploring whatever they wanted to, fighting in the back alleys, you name it they probably did it. But that wasn't all easy, and when they were taken in it had taken quite a while for them to adjust, you could argue they still were adjusting.

"Hey, hey" Ren yelled up at Maggie, not entirely sure what she wanted to say, "Come with us? ……Unless you have something you need to do. Or meet me after school?" She had no idea why she was offering, or even what she was offering, but… "Please?" Seth gasped in her head; Ren asking someone something with a please, and actually meaning it, not just in politeness? Yeah he was jealous. That girl was lucky, definitely. Smiling Ren sent him a mental hug, Don't worry, you're always first. Kay? He nodded and then realized she couldn't see him, Yeah, always. :) She got his message, including the happy smiley feeling at the end, it wasn't something she heard so much as felt. A warm bubbly feeling, the sort you get when happy for no apparent reason, making you smile.

She then turned to Hikaru and offered up a piece of information, "You're new to the school, right? Well, this here is Kuro, who is Not the lap dog of the student council something or other, great at yelling at people, and secretary to Yoshino, miss apathetic from back there." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, referring to back when they had all been in one pack. With the introductions over, Ren purred, just the tiniest bit. "Oh and, just in case it got lost in the run for our lives, I'm Ren."

Maggie nodded at Ren's "Left rule it is then", but before she could "teleport" back to the ground, a girl had started yelling about them getting back to school and her getting a job or something. [color=00ff99]I might be enrolled. I don't think I was all that great of a student. Maybe I got held back once or twice...? The quick splash of memory checking was deep enough to start another scene, but shallow enough that Maggie could control it, with nothing more than clenching her jaw on her finger and shaking for a few seconds.
At that point, Maggie 'teleported', or rather, hopped down, using the wall to slow her descent, though she was unaware of it. "Come with us? ……Unless you have something you need to do. Or meet me after school? Please?" Ren's offer was very nice, and since she didn't have anything else to do, she nodded with a big smile on her face. "How about both. Unless I am enrolled in school. I dunno if I am. If I'm not, I can at least walk with you guys and we can meet up afterwards for food. Cause food's always good." Hearing Ren properly introduce herself made Maggie realize she didn't give a name either. "Oh, and I'm Maggie. Actually, I don't think I've told either of you my name before. Well, now I have." With an embarrassed smile, she looked to both of them. Then to the girl who interrupted their lost-ness. "Um, so how did you get here? I saw nothing but miles of alleyway from the rooftop."

“These introductions are all fine and everything, but couldn’t you do them in school at least?” Kuro put in, a little disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to drag at least one of them back. “And you. How old are you exactly? Are you allowed to be near these kids?”

She was pointing a finger at Maggie and then stopped when she realized she was only wasting time from getting to school. It had to be the lunch period right about now, so in hindsight it didn’t really matter if they were away…best not to let the group know that.


“Never mind. Can we please go already?”

"Oh, and I'm Maggie. Actually, I don't think I've told either of you my name before. Well, now I have." Ren grinned softly. I call it soft, because some of her grins were hard, a sort of menacing, Cheshire grin, where as the grin she wore now was more of a, dare I say it, real grin, slightly lazy, while also truly happy. "Maggie's a nice name."


“Never mind. Can we please go already?”

"Yeah, yeah, coming coming." Ren drawled, yawning just a tad. She was reluctant to go back, although there was no way she wanted to stay here any longer than necessary, but Seth was also at school, and she had had enough of people dragging her round by the collar, or hoodie as the case was. Softly lashing her tail, she wasn't agitated, it was just a habit, Ren stretched, purposely dawdling so as to annoy Kuro.

Ren's smile and words had Maggie caught off guard, since Ren hadn't shown kindness of that kind to anyone that she'd seen. Thus, her cheeks flushed with a rose red color. "Oh. Uh, thank you." At the new lady's request, she followed. I guess I'm still in school. Don't wanna think about that for the sake of my health and the mood of everyone around me... With that thought settled with no more than a mild sting to her head, Maggie followed Kuro and the trailing Ren.

"Um... Truth be told: I have no memories past last week. I dunno if I'm supposed to be in school, whether or not I have a job, or where I actually live. I've been living on the streets as best I can, which is made easier by my teleportation. There were a few people who would just give me stuff when I asked for it. No clue why, but I was too hungry to think about it too long when I did ask. I used proper manners and stuff, don't get me wrong, but it's weird looking back at it. Oh, and if I try to remember anything after my... tenth birthday and before now, I get a really bad headache, and possibly bleed from my facial or-i-fi-ces." Remembering a word she heard last week in an alleyway a few guys used, Maggie used it in the same context, but had to sound out the syllables to make sure she got it right.

Kuro gave Ren a sour look, knowing full well the cat-girl was only stalling more time to avoid school. She didn’t act though. Instead, she sighed in defeat as the group of them trudged along back the way they came. Long and tedious, but worth it in the end for the benefit of education.

Or something like that.

“Lady, I think you’re a bit older than high school,” Kuro told Maggie. “You’re like, what, twenty or something? Also, teleportation? Please, I’ve seen people with strange abilities before, and you don’t have any except for parkour.”

The group soon made their way out of the criss-crossing maze of alleyways and into the broader parts of the city. A train station was nearby with at least seven freights all laced together, moving at top speeds that seemed to be just a little bit illegal. They would have to wait to cross.

“And furthermore, I think you’d should see a doctor about your….um, bleeding problem.”

Blinking Ren just stared at Maggie for a few seconds, this was a shocking revelation. Well that explains the constant toppling over. Seth mildly stated. Uh huh. Think we should…… Ren asked, trailing off instead of finishing the thought. Mhim. Seth agreed.

Grinning mischievously at Kuro's swallowed a lemon face, Ren skipped after the others, humming a tune to herself.

She was definitely glad Kuro knew how to get out of the maze, as there was no way she'd have been able to on her own.

Staring at the train as is speed past, Ren frowned, surely that wasn't safe?
She was proved right when the train hit a corner, and went sailing off for Never-land.

Plowing through a construction site and across a mostly quiet road, the train finally hit a building, slamming the front to a stop, while the rest compacted behind.

Ren just stood there in shock, watching as the train derailed, her mouth dropping open, rather like a goldfish is rumored to.

Holy Mackerel! she screamed in her head, making Seth jump, What, what, what? he queried, not feeling the terror from earlier, but still assuming it was something pretty bad. Train, …D……de……derailed. Ren stuttered, still not fully believing it was happening.

When the train finally ground to a halt, it resembled a zig-zag of tipping crates.

"Uhhh…………" Ren gaped, glaring at the train wreck. "Wha…………?"

This new lady's words didn't help much, other than telling her that she's too old for high school. Well, at least I know that I don't go to school there. Well, that's too bad.

Maggie thought her last sentence looking over at Ren, and slightly blushing as she skipped along behind Kuro. Maggie smiled at the playfulness of the cat-like girl, and was still very thankful of her kindness and help with Maggie's condition before. Then, remembering the one girl who'd nearly stuck her in the arm with a needle and mentally shivered. When she came back to the present, they were nearing a train crossing.

Maggie watched the train derail in just as much shock as those around her. The first loud CRASH made Maggie jump towards Ren, bumping Ren's side, blushing, and taking a step away from Ren. "Geez, what's with this city?" Maggie asked after the shock of all this finally passed.

"I have a week's worth of memories in this city, and it's all craziness..." Which is very true.