The girl sat up with a sudden gasp- then flinched back and placed a cold hand on her pounding forehead. Faded thick pink hair in strands stuck to her forehead. Not to her knowledge, one grey eye sat dully besides a bright yellow one, dazed and not shining with the usual cocky inventiveness.

Max blinked for a moment then looked around to see where she was. The first thing she noticed was not being able to sit still for long, a harsh swaying motion, along with many sudden jerks rocked her across the room.

There was a singular barred window at the back of the room that Max could just peer out of and see the unfamiliar dead grass- it also seemed darker than usual. She seemed to be in some sort of delivery truck. It felt rather familiar..like she'd seen this vehicle she sat in before.

And the wind elemental could not remember exactly what had just taken place. She could remember blood

-and a fuzzy gray figure moving in front of her.

For a minute she didn't feel anything at all except a dazed confusion and the cold metal beneath her legs. A flash of moonlight shone through the window and she flinched out of sight- when it all came crashing back.

'Taube, Oliver, Maya.'

Max's eyes widened and she stood up, stumbling to the window and clutching the bars in the moving vehicle as she stared out into the unfamiliar darkness.

The grass was all a dirty-yellowed dry heap. The trees held no leaves, just charred bark. Glowing yellow eyes of disfigured arks lurked in the shadows. But most importantly she could see Pure Towers.

They were towering into the night sky, across the vast ocean, on the whole other island she used to call home.

Oliver's faded eyes opened slowly, his dark green hair falling over his face. He sat up slowly, muscles aching from the cold floor and being beaten multiple times by Varick, still in the familiar prison he'd been kept in; the boy glanced in the shiny reflectiveness of the chair to find that some of the bruises that had been on his face were now gone. He narrowed his eyes for a moment, then glanced down to see the unconscious fairy laying by his side.

"Taube!" Oliver gasped, then very gently flipped the other on his back and examined him. He didn't seem to be too terribly injured, just unconscious..however there was a large tear in his pink top that revealed a dark purple bruise on his side, and his wings were still terribly tattered.

"Y-you shouldn't have healed me!" Oliver whispered to nobody. He knew the fairy was only unconscious but Taube had used his last bit of draining energy on healing the bug elemental- and that fact alone was killing Oliver more than any of the physical wounds.

The bug elemental felt for a pulse, just to ease his worried mind, then once he got one, decided not to wake the fairy so Taube wouldn't have to face the same nightmareish reality Oliver had been facing for the past two days. Though it was inevitable and he knew it.

"Th-they came to save me..." Oliver whispered, then sighed shakily and tucked his knees up to his chest, looking down at Taube's freckled dark face. "But why?"

"Do we have a deal?" Maya said, sticking out a sturdy hand for a handshake.

"My my! You must be pretty desperate to be using these measures, huh?" Valencia let out a small chuckle that sounded much like 'oh ho ho ho!' Then smirked and grasped Maya's hand firmly.

"And if you don't go through with the deal, I'll just do this all myself and you won't get your end of the bargain." The Psychic harangued.

"Well of course. You can trust us." The raven-haired psychic grinned at the halfbreed, red eyes glinting mischievously. Maya knew there was no trust behind those eyes but it wasn't like she knew anyone else besides the gang who wanted to kill her that could break into Pure Towers and save her friends. She couldn't rescue Oliver with her friends because she had been too worried about them...but maybe rescuing her friends with her enemies? She wouldn't have to worry as much about these people,

Maya scoffed at Valencia's grin, then glanced back at Wilson, the scraggly cigar man, and Pheonix, the silent giant. She shook her head, discolored eyes narrowed at the three. "Seriously if you three backstab me then I will definitely kill you."

Valencia laughed at this, and Wilson let out a few chuckles, smoke wheezing out of his lungs.

"I wouldn't laugh just yet." Maya said, her cocky grin was hiding the truth that she wasn't sure of anything except saving her newly found friends anymore. "I still have a fairy, bug elemental, and wind elemental on my side."

Valencia stopped laughing, sending a glance back at Wilson who coughed up a cigarette as they sat in the dusty silence of the broken down bar.

"Very well." She said, "let me get this straight. We help you break into Pure Towers so you can rescue your friends- who will then go to Azuki Asylum to rescue your other friend...and when the whole ordeal is over, you will be our slave for life?"

Maya swallowed, took a deep breath, then nodded.

Valencia's grin slowly returned to her face. "Well...a deals a deal. Let's go wreak some havoc, boys."