She awoke slowly to the sound of rain beating against stone. The wind blew fiercely. The dawn was slowly lighting the horizon through the thick curtain of clouds to the east. Leilani sat up quickly, this scene was unfamiliar to her.

There were charred ruins all around her, some stone structures still stood- like the one she'd just awoken in- otherwise the area was deserted. She thought for a moment that she must have fallen and knocked herself out, the thought passed quickly when she ensured there were no painful lumps on her head.

What did she remember? Leilani closed her eyes, by now the cold water had soaked through her hair and garments. She remembered waking and preparing to leave... Stepping through her front door... and then nothing. Leilani had been met almost immediately by darkness and then awoken here... Her heart pounded as the thought of being caught ran through her mind. She took up a defensive stance and began looking around, what if she had been kidnapped? "No." Leilani jumped in surprise at the sound of her own voice in the otherwise silent area, no, she hadn't been captured or she'd be dead already... Perhaps though, perhaps she was dreaming.

Jerking to an upright position, the dark haired thug glanzed around, vision hazed over from deleria and his disorientation. "Where the hell am I?" His own echo caused him to flinch, his hand reaching for the side arm that wasn't there. That unnerved him, where was he, what happened, and who the hell took his gun?

"Is anyone out there!?" He shouted, his heavy italian accent obvious. Rising to his feet when the only reply was his echo once again, Alec brushed the dirt from his coat, a soft sigh coming from him as he did the same, trying his best to remove the clumps of mud from his soggy hair.

"Is anyone out there!?" The echo caught her by surprise, Leilani made her way in the direction it had come from, "Hello!?" She called, shielding her eyes from the rain, "Who is there?"

Am I hearing things? Alec thought, when he caught the faint voice of a woman. When it sounded off again, he knew he wasn't crazy. Darting out of the stone figure he'd somehow been transported to, he ran towards the voice, rain pouring ontop of him as he tried his best to block it with his coat. "Where are you?!"

The man's voice was getting closer, Leilani moved faster, the rain blinded her and as she ran she felt branches raking against her flesh, and the tingling of the wounds closing, "Just follow my voice!" She had to find out what was going on.

"I can't see anything!" Alec replied loudly, briers and branches tearing through his coat almost as if the luxury jacket were mere paper. "I can't find you, the storms too heavy!" He shouted out, colliding with the woman not a moment later, sending both him, and her falling backwards into the mud.

"Mmf!" Leilani grunted in pain as she fell. She shook her head slowly, trying to clear it and tried to stand, the mud sucking at her backside making it hard to do so, "Jeez..." She muttered, "Are you okay?'

"I'm fine darlin'." Alec muttered, grunting a bit from the sudden jolt as he moved to stand. The mud acted like a vaccum of sorts as he treid to walk towards the woman, making every step difficult. Holding his mud coated hand out to her, he took her's and helped her to her feet, before shaking the grimy sludge off the best he could. "What's a dame like you doin out in a place like this?"

"I... I'm not really sure what's going on." Leilani replied, "I don't even know how I got here... One minute I was closing my door... the next I'm waking up in the rain... What about you?"

"Last thing I remember was driving down the street in the city..." Alec frowned, looking around. With the rain pouring down so heavily, visibility was next to nothing. "We should find somewhere to wait out the storm, I woke up in a stone building this way, it's not much, but it kept the rain off of me...let's go."

"Okay..." Leilani nodded, at this point all she wanted to do was get dry as is. "Hopefully the weather calms down soon though..." She frowned.

"Hopefully." Alec sighed, leading his newly found 'comerade' towards the building he'd awakened within, it wasn't very appealing to the eye, but it was dryer than standing out in the rain all night.

Leilani leaned against the wall, "I wonder if there are others..." She mused aloud, "I mean... surely we can't be alone in this area?" She shook her head, she couldn't make sense of anything

"We'll look around in the mornin'. Til then, just get some rest dollface." Alec murmered, leaning against the opening to the structure, staring blankly out into the storm. How could this happen...

"You know... you talk really strange." Leilani murmured, "Where're you from?" She didn't know if she could honestly trust this man, but seeing as how they didn't have a choice but to stick together at the moment... she didn't want to be alone in such a strange place.

"Chicago." Alec replied blandly, turning towards her with a perplexed look. "What about you babe?" He asked, brows quirked as he waited for an answer.

"Solaris... By the way, why do you keep calling me such strange names? My name is Leil- Leah." She used her assumed name, so this man was from one of the earthen colonies... she wondered how they'd even gotten to the same planet...

"Solaris? C'mon doll, you don't have to lie to me, there ain't a place called that." He replied, frowning a bit when she spat out such a preposterous name. "My name's Alec, nice to meet ya Leah."

"What reason would I have to lie to you? How do you not know about Solaris?" Leilani shook her head, clearly perplexed.

"Because it don't exist." Alec grew a bit defnesive at the question, but backing down a bit when he'd realized something. THe whole time they'd been standing there, he hadn't noticed a single light, not so much as another person's voice. "Wait...something isn't right...is it still 1929?"

"Where do you get 1929? It's been a very long time since then." Leilani's voice was tense, "And if Solaris doesn't exist, how am I here? How are either of us here? Don't tell me something doesn't exist just because you haven't seen it."

"Woman, have you gone stupid? It's February 14th, 1929, and to my knowledge, there is no city called Solaris on earth..." Alec growled, growing defensive once more.

"You're the fool! It's February 14th, 10,000." Leilani growled, "Honestly, who said Solaris was on Earth? Don't you brush up on history?" She shook her head in irritation.

"Watch what you say woman, I ain't no little street punk." alec hissed, pushing himself off the wall. "I ain't afraid to hit a dame either, I just had my boss, Capone offed, do you honestly thing that some little girl is worth anything to me?"

"You're such a cretin. I'd rather face the weather than deal with your miserable mouth another minute." Leilani growled angrily, thrusting herself away from the walls and heading for the door.

Grumbling under his breath, and rolling his eyes annoyedly, Alec reached out, grabbing the woman's arm, and slinging her back into the building surprisingly gently. "This is why I hate dealin with dames, don't you know you'll catch your death out there in that weather, doll? Atleast I have a damn jacket. Stay yer ass in here, I'll go outside..." Walking out of the small structure, Alec pulled his jacket over his shoulder length, raven black hair and leaned up against the outside of it. "That broad is gonna be the death of me..."

"A little bit of rain isn't gonna kill me." Leilani crossed her arms, leaning against the doorway, "I've endured much worse prior to coming here and being forced to deal with you. Obviously something unnatural has occurred. Why are we here? Who brought us here? How? I can't get answers just by sitting here and listening to you."

"Both of us want those answers, but we'd might as well wait for the storm to clear up to go running aimlessly through this god forsaken forest, then at least we might be able to get some bearings of where we are..."

"It's not just answers I want!" Leilani slammed her fist against the door frame and froze as a large crack sounded out above her, stone fell as she leapt forward in an attempt at escape, she felt a sharp pain in her left leg as she collapsed, partially buried beneath the rubble.

Jumping back from the building when he heard he sudden noise, Alec stared on in shock as the stone structure collapsed ontop of the woman. "Leah!?" He shouted, darting back inside after it had halted. Tossing rubble to the side, he slowly unburied the woman, dragging her out to check her wounds. "How bad are you hurt doll?"

"Give me a moment..." Leilani gritted her teeth as she felt the bones in her leg mending, her cheek tingled as the gaping wound began to close as well. It was always strange to heal as she did... She hated it.

"W-what the hell was that?" Alec stuttered out, completely flabergasted by what he'd just seen. First, she punched a stone wall so hard the roof collapsed, and how her wounds are healing right before his eyes. Something just wasn't right about this woman. "What the hell are you...?"

"Human..." She wrapped her arms around her knees, "Are you frightened now? I hadn't meant to do anything to set off any alarms. I think the foundation for this place must have been cracked or something..."

"These walls are stone, even if it was faulty, a normal human couldn't have done such damage with a punch." Alec backed away, his eyes darting towards something that had moved in the shadows of the rubble before them. "Did you see that?" He asked, blinking a few times, and shaking his head to try and clear his vision a bit.

"See what?" She turned her gaze up from the ground uncertainly, glancing this way and that, yet she didn't see anything in the foliage, "I suppose it would be wise to find another form of shelter... If there is something- someone out here... It would do best to be somewhere where we could easily defend ourselves."

"Yeah...maybe it would be be-" Alec cut off when he saw something shift through the shadows again, his eyes following it a bit closer. Some reason it looked so familiar to him...but why. What could be happening...

"Come on then..." Leilani dragged herself to her feet, she was still a bit disoriented, though otherwise bore no injury. His nervousness was contagious and she found herself looking about.

"Wait...somethings off..." Alec muttered, barely audible as he stared off blankly. The area around them began to shift, and fade in and out of view, suddenly it appeared as they were standing in down town Chicago, at the restaurant he'd just left.

"Well this is a strange and filthy place..." Leilani commented, looking around, she wrinkled her nose, "Who would want to live in such a wretched place?"

"I know, this forest is utterly despicable..." Though it had changed to Leilani, Alec wasn't affected by what ever was going on, at least not this time..

"I'm not talking about the forest..." Leilani stated, "You don't see these filthy streets and cramped buildings?" She glanced over at him.

"There aren't any buildings around though. Tch, I'd be thrilled if I saw a building right about now, doll. Don't lose your head out here..." Alec glanced at her, somewhat confused again by what she claimed to see.

Leilani knelt and touched the ground, when she felt mud instead of concrete she realized that whatever was going on wasn't real, "Look..." she trailed her fingers in the mud, sketching the scene as she saw it crudely.

"H=hey...that's my home! That's Chicago!" The dark haired lad shouted surprisingly enthusiastically. "Wait, why in the hell are you seeing it? Another one of your little tricks?" He asked, frowning a bit. But it was odd, her vision was exactly of what he'd been thinking of, right down to the exact location...

"I don't know." Leilani replied, rubbing her temples in irritation, "But I don't like it. I would much rather have the rain and trees any day."

Clearing his mind to think on what to do next, the scene that enveloped Leilani mysteriously vanished as quickly as it had erupted. "Hell, I don't know what to do..." he sighed out annoyedly.

Leilani stood and glanced around as a growl sounded low from the brush. Looking over at Alec she realized that he hadn't heard the sound, not yet at least, "Let's get somewhere safe." She managed after a few minutes, "Somewhere dry."

"Alright." Alec shrugged, turning towards Leilani, following after her. Though no matter how he tried to distract himself, something was alarming him, sending chills down his spine. "Maybe we should hurry...somethin's off here doll."

"The name's not Doll, it's Leilani." She replied crisply, "Look ahead there, looks like a solid building... Might be a safe place to wait out the storm."

"I think we should go further...that looks like an easy place to get trapped in to me..." Alec commented, glancing over his houlder quickly, a sharp growl catching his attention. "Did you hear that?"

"We are not going to make it past that place," Leilani replied firmly, "That's why it is our only option right now. Stop being so jumpy. If whatever's out there thinks that we're undoubtedly on to it... it'll attack."

"I think it's too late for that doll." Alec backed up to Leilani, a dark figure having already made it's way from the foliage, keeping it's self hidden in the shadows just out of view.

"Well, then, looks like we've no choice but to get our hands dirty." Leilani rubbed her neck in an unconscious gesture as she looked about for something to use as a weapon.

"What!? C'mon doll, I can't punch through a stone wall, are you crazy!?" Alec shouted, backing away from the beast slowly, a frown on his lips as it continued to creep towards them. Damnit...

"I'm not telling you to punch through a wall." Leilani glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, "Just defend yourself or die."

"You're insane..." Alec growled, eyes darting around for anything he could grab.

"Oh yes, me, I'm insane." Leilani muttered, shaking her head as she crouched down slowly. She hefted into her hand a rock with a point on one end, it was a little bulky in her hand, but it wouldn't matter. There was nothing else near her.

---

Artemise's nose twitched when the rain droplets trailed down his features. "What the hail is goin on?" he scrambled immediately to his feet before relaxing again. "I musta bin drinkin or somethin..." he rubbed the back of his head before stretching. He stretched and smiled up at rain that was pitter pattering off of his lithe figure.

He stared down at the mud beneath and around him and where he had slept, "The only bad part about rain...is that it makes mud." He looked on into the eerie storm that lay ahead of him, "This should prove interesting,"
Artemise smirked as he walked through the eye of the storm and started blindly into the harsh downpour.

Artemise stopped mid-step when he saw what appeared to be a building in the distance. He mindlessly slipped his hands into his pockets, cocking his head to the side. "First sign a civilization..." he whispered.

He smirked as he took in the feeling of the cold, crisp water hitting areas of exposed flesh. You have a great purpose... a voice whispered.

Artemise glared up at the slowing rain, "Oh, hail no. Not this ah geen..."

You can't ignore yourself, Artemise... the voice seemingly echoed all around him.

"But I kin sure as hail ignore ya," Artemise replied with a shrug. "Great, I'm not jis hearin voices...I'm replyin ta 'em, too..." he grumbled as he continued toward the building.

Getting closer and closer to the building it looked rather old and unreliable. Not something you would ever want to use for shelter--not that he wanted to be sheltered from the water. His cool gait evolved into a sprint when he saw two figures in the distance.

"Maybe one a them'll know what's goin on here..." Artemise tried to assure himself, though his sixth sense told him not to feel to confident with that idea. "Hail-low..." he called, his drawl obvious in the reverberating echoes.

Leilani glanced back in surprise towards the origin of the voice that now echoed about them. She had begun to think that the two of them were the only ones. She couldn't afford to be distracted now, however, and turned to face the impending threat.

"I'd say thair might jis be a chance that I got some company.." Artemise noted as he drew closer to the figures.

Glancing towards either side of them, Alec turned his attention briefly to Leilani, slowly backing into the shadows as he did. If they were to be fighting, it was best that one of them have an advantage atleast, and she seemed like the more physical one of the two anyway, tch, seemed, she punched down a stone wall for christ's sake!

Leilani didn't know what to do, out of the corner of her eye she noted Alec backing away. Tch, figures... Leaving me to take care of the problem. She thought to herself in irritation.

Disappearing into the darkness, Alec bolted through, looking around for anything he could use as a weapon, tripping over a foreign object jutting from the ground. With a loud thud, and an 'Oof', he looked back to see what he'd fallen over, a shining glint catching his eye. Reaching out, he pulled a rusted blade from the ground, about a forth of it was broken off, but the rest seemed to be quite steady. "This'll do I suppose..."

Something told Artemise that invisibility was the better solution. He took a split second to think about it and he was transparent. He continued walking toward the shadowy outlines, "Wonder what they're afraid uh..." Artemise whispered, placing his hands onee seperate hilts instinctively.

---

Back to- And so it began
       The 12