The storm had gotten worse. With each passing minute the winds blew harder and the soft, thick snow had turned to tiny, sharp crystals: small enough to cut skin.

Lily pulled her dark purple hood up over her green hair which blew across her face. She leaned against the wind and peered into the whiteness of the storm ahead of her. The looming, faded shadows of trees guided her path as she trekked through the storm.

The wind forced the girl to close her eyes, and when she opened them, a tree was tilting towards her. It's branches were snapping and crackling under the weight of the wind.

A flash of red proved her safe as she teleported away. The tree crashed in a puff of white and dead limbs exploded off in the snow. Lily peered at it for a moment, muttering "Shit.." under her breath.

If the storm was strong enough to knock a tree down in a forest, she couldn't begin to imagine the horrors of a storm like this in the chaos of Pure Towers.

'Pure Towers will suffer tremendously in this storm while under attack.' Lily thought, then a dangerous thought entered her mind and she peered her eyes more, leaning into the wind and forcing her way onward, 'This can't be a coincidence.'

         Taube slurped on his stew. Steam puffed up in his face and a vegetable went down his throat, causing him to choke for a moment until he chugged Maya's water dramatically.

To his luck and surprise, nobody saw.

Max was busy with her soup, Oliver was pacing the floor, and Maya was attempting to calm him down.

The wind whipped dangerously, a soft whistle rocked the house as the group awaited for Lily's return and news.

A small chirp caught the attention of Oliver, stopping him in the midst of his pacing. He cocked an eyebrow and his lime green eyes glanced over his shoulder to see a small black beetle sitting on his jacket sleeve.

The group all seemed to notice the beetle simultaneously.

"Hey Oliver.""Can bug elementals talk to bugs?" "there's a beetle over there. Maybe it can help us?"

Max flinched at the sudden memory that flooded into her mind.

It wasn't hers.

"Hi there." Oliver said, allowing the beetle to climb on his hand. "Trying to escape the storm, Huh?"

The beetle lowered its body and antennae, as if curling up from the cold.

The group watched in awe as Oliver made his way to the fireplace and sat the beetle down on the carpet. It chirped it's thanks and rested itself gently against the flowers next to the crackling fire.

It wasn't often they got to see Oliver communicating with a bug. Over the last month, they'd seen the boy save a bird from a forest fire and a fish that jumped out of a pond. Not to mention, a strange cat-looking creature from drowning in the same pond. Yet, Oliver never had many chances to save bugs.

"Oli, is that-?" Taube asked, eyes lighting up.

"Yeah." Oliver responded shortly.

"What?" Maya asked, exchanging glances with Max who shrugged. "What is it?"

"That's the little beetle that helped us escape from Varick! Didn't he lead you guys to us?" Taube exclaimed, fluttering over to the beetle and placing a cooked herb next to it.

Maya thought for a moment, then her eyes widened as she remembered. "Oh yeah! Uh-...can...can you tell the beetle I said...thanks?"

Oliver turned to the beetle, then smiled sweetly while making a small chirping noise. The beetle seemed to bow, then curl back up in his rose by the fire.

"H-He said you're welcome." Oliver said.

"Cool!" Taube exclaimed, his wings fluttering as he rose off the ground in excitement. "What else can it do?!"

Oliver, flustered by the sudden interest in his abilities, smiled faintly as a blush rose to his cheeks.

"Well I-I mean, I can ask him to do things for us but he seems pretty tired so I say we should l-let him rest for now..."

Taube groaned and fluttered to his spot on the couch. Max noticed this and, finishing her soup, threw herself over the side of the couch. She laid halfway across Taube and halfway off the couch,  sliding onto the floor.

The fairy giggled and levitated the girl, who laughed and crinkled her nose up, sticking her tongue out. The pink aura around Max flashed red and the girl was gently placed down on the floor, criss-cross. She cocked an eyebrow at Maya.

"Don't want her getting hurt." Maya said with a nervous smile in her eyes. Her reckless personality always seemed to clash when it came to Max. Though the others had let it slide, thinking it was because she felt bad for what she did to Max, it was beginning to make Maya seem somewhat of a downer.

"Aw come on, Maya!" Taube whined. The Psychic glanced at him, smirked, and then rolled her eyes.

The room grew quiet for a moment, the howling of the wind forcing an eerie song into the calming crackling of the fireplace. The beetle chirped a few times awkwardly as it settled itself into its rose.

"H-hey Maya, you know you don't need to worry about Max, right?" Oliver said, shyly.

"Yeah!" Max said, poking her head into the Psychic's view. "I can take care of myself! How dare you!" With that, she found herself so funny, she fell over laughing. Taube, attempting to control his laughter, picked her up by the arms and, struggling, dragged her off to another room so Oliver and Maya could talk.

"Seriously, I-I know you feel bad but she's not gonna get hurt."

"I know, I know." Maya said, sighing. After a moment, she spoke again, "but-"

"But nothing! What happened happened, M-Max is still alive and well. Th-that's all that matters."

"But she used to be so independent and smart! Oliver, it's my fault she's not the way she used to be so you have to understand why I'm trying to protect her."

"What are you trying to protect her from?" Oliver asked, then glanced up at her with a look of intrigued empathy, "Wait. I-I-I know. You're...trying to protect Max from..yourself!"

"What?! No! That's ridiculous!" Maya laughed as Oliver took a step forward.

"It all makes sense now! E-every time she's even in a r-remotely dangerous situation, y-your  mind automatically portrays that situation as the one you put her in and y-you keep trying to fix it. Th-there's nothing to fix! She's not broken!"

The room grew quiet once more and Oliver's narrowed eyes softened and Maya sat down on the couch, facing the opposite direction.

"Sorry Oliver, you just can't understand this. I don't need you trying to figure me out."

"You..you think I can't understand you? Can't understand your s-situation?" He asked, shy and amused. "Listen. Wh-while we're on the topic of 'talking about people who currently aren't in the room', I need to talk to you about Taube..." Oliver lowered his voice.

Maya couldn't help but let a small smirk work it's way onto her face, which she knew the green-haired boy would ignore.

"You said it's your fault Max is the way she is. W-well it's m-my fault Taube is ignoring me..."

Maya cocked an eyebrow, still facing away from the boy.

"Um- wh-when we were at the asylum...I-I think I really hurt his feelings, and I know it sounds childish! B-but, but-!"

"I saw." Maya cooed. "When we had just gotten Max out and I was talking to her outside the asylum, you yanked your hand away from Taube's because you didn't want me to see." 

Oliver's face grew bright red as Maya turned to face him.

"You know I'll support you no matter what, right? Both you and Taube." She grinned and shook her head, "silly of you to think otherwise."

Oliver's face grew bright red and a few tears threatened to prick at the corner of his eyes. He shook them off and muttered a quiet, shy "thank you" under his breath.

The two collected themselves for a moment, specifically Oliver, and just as he opened his mouth to speak, the ground shook once more, knocking them both to their knees.

They exchanged nervous glances as the world grew still and silent. Then the sound of glass shattering along with another tremor made their heart drops. Without thinking, Maya put her hand on Oliver's shoulder and, in a flash of red, teleported them to Max and Taube, just as the ceiling caved in.