Episode 2: A moment's respite... peaceful, beautiful days.

Serenity shook her aching head at the two. The movement caused her to sway, and small little lights danced across her vision. Things started to fade, and the ground was once again coming up to meet her as she collapsed.

Collin gasped and Alice rose from her position a little quicker than she should have. She gasped in pain as she propped herself up on her hands and knees and crawled to Serenity's side. Collin shook his head violently. Did he really do that much damage to her? He would have to apologize for it later, again... Alice too for the shock she probably caused. Collin spoke up. "We need to get her out of the hallway. Maybe to our room?" Collin suggested and felt Alice swipe the air by his face in a failed attempt to smack him.

"We can't take her there. What if she's seriously inju- Wait?! This would be perfect! We can practice our Kido, more specifically healing Kido. If one of us gets weaker, we can switch out. We both have the same Kido strength so this should work." Alice smiled. Collin got up and knelt down in front of Serenity.

"Help her onto my back." Alice opened her mouth to protest but Collin continued. "Your in pain. Do you wanna drop her on the way there or have me carry her?" Alice frowned and picked up Serenity around her ribs and struggled to get her onto Colin's back. To make it easier for Alice, Collin curled up into a ball, his face staring at the floor. Suddenly, Serenity was placed gently onto his back and he picked her up in a piggy back. He shook his head at Alice and gestured for sister to follow him as they both ran for their room.

Getting to their room, Alice opened the door and Collin walked in. Alice closed the door after she and her brother had entered. She began rubbing her sore side again. Collin blushed as he felt Serenity's breath on his neck when he shifted her. With help from Alice, the twins helped Serenity onto Alice's bed. Alice grabbed an extra obi she had and stealthily wrapped it around her ribs tightly. "Do you wanna start or should I? Personally, I'm a little tired and should rest." Collin's blush became more profuse.

"You start. I carried her here... Wait. Rock, Paper, Scissors." Collin crawled onto his bed and Alice followed. After a few tied rounds of their game, Alice and Collin both lay down but continued to play. They both yawned and fell asleep as Alice had won their game.

Serenity was surrounded by fog, and all was dark. She felt the damp air brushing her skin as she stood in the middle of nowhere. She caught a small glimpse of movement, and thought it to be Colin. Her eyes tried to focus through the fog, and Serenity moved forward as she watched Colin turn and dash farther into the fog. She realized that she would be alone in an unknown place, and fear began to ebb at her heart. She stumbled forward, yelling at his back: "COLIN, NO!!!! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!!!". The cold swept through her and the cold and damp became sufficating. She struggled to pull in air.

Little did Serenity know that she was still asleep. She had began to toss and turn, and called out from her sleep what she said in her dream. Her breathing became laboured and shallow.

Both twins only having dozed heard the scream and jumped up, facing each other. "We" "have" "to" "help" "Sen!" They yelled at each other and scrambled out of bed. Dashing to her after tripping over each other, the twins were finally at her side. Alice climbed onto the bed and crawled over Serenity to her left side. Behind Alice sat a wall. Collin climbed on the bed too and both looked down at Serenity with worry.

"She's barely breathing..." Alice said, pointing out the obvious. Collin shook his head.

"We could just wake her up. Then she'd be ok." Collin gestured to wake up Serenity only to have his hand smacked away.

"We could hurt her more that way, dummy." Alice said and she just waited for a few more signed to appear before making her moves. Collin began to think of ways to try and help the predicament.

Serenity tried to paw the fog away from her, to catch her breath. Tears fell from her eyes as she quietly called. "Colin.........I can't......breath....................... Pleas..........hel-...................me............"

Collin looked up and his eyes locked with Alice's. Could we...?

"I don't think it'll work. It's a dream."

"But she'll be alive and breathing." The twins argued but finally came to a decision. Collin and Alice both jumped at the chance for CPR chest compressions and but stopped. Alice and Collin both glared at each other. "I won't do that to Sen." Collin closed his eyes and began to reason.

"Your were the better diver when we would swim and I'm a bit stronger than you. It's only fair that you do that first. We'll..... Switch if the other gets tired but only when the other is tired. Got it?" Collin's face had a slight pink tinge to it compared to Alice's bright red face. She nodded and positioned herself over Serenity's face, staring down at the girl. Collin began compressions and managed to get to 30 before turning to Alice, who didn't move. Sighing frustratingly, Collin pushed Alice's face toward Serenity's until he heard a muffled gasp. Alice froze up but with more encouragement from Collin, finally got back into the mind set of saving someones life. They continued their repetitions, waiting for a response from Serenity.

Her tears flowed freely, her eyes starting to close. She felt herself pawing at the cold, hard ground as she felt her lungs burning and her body slowly shutting down.

Alice only barely began gasping for air and Collin was a little more exhausted for this and the transportation to the room. They still pressed onward. determined to save their friend.

As the ground under her began to lose its solid feeling, Serenity could have swore she felt pressure on her chest.

Struggling to keep their strength, the twins finally changed positions with Collin providing air and Alice performing the chest compressions.

The pressure on her chest became stronger and Serenity was finding it easier to breath. Slowly, the fog melted away, and she felt like she could sore. Her eyes opened, and she saw a face, and felt lips touched to her own. Realising this, her face immediately flushed a vivid red.

Collin rose slowly and smiled knowing that Serenity was awake but blushed too as he realized that he had kissed her. Not only him but Alice too. The twins, both exhausted and flushed, jumped off of the bed and had retreated a few steps away from the bed. Collin scratched his head nervously and Alice curled her hair around her finger, both not saying a word.

Serenity, resembling that of a tomato, slowly sat up and looked at the twins. Tears still glistened in her eyes as she realised that two kids like her that met her only the day before had just saved her life. Tears began to flow once more as this dawned on her.

Alice and Collin both jumped in surprise and turned to each other. They sighed happily knowing that their friend was ok but they were still red faced. They were both visibly shaking from either exhaustion or nervousness they couldn't tell. They walked over to the bed and sat up onto it, Collin sitting on the right side of Serenity and Alice on the left. Smiling, they enveloped the crying girl in a hug. Both realizing that they were hugging her, they glared at the other.

Serenity hugged them back, one arm around each, and her head resting against Collin's. Her legs were tangled in Alices, and they looked like a giant knot.

Alice rubbed her head against Serenity as if she was a cat and Collin sighed happily and fell asleep. Alice smirked but also fell asleep. They were both tired from everything and needed a nap.

Serenity leaned back as the twins fell asleep and fell into a light sleep herself.

-Training Barracks-

Zero grinned to himself as he watched the twins and Serenity fall asleep. Having been attracted by her screams he witnessed the whole thing, and once he realized Serenity was in no immediate danger, had to prevent himself from laughing at the situation... after all, it was kinda serious.

"Hehe... That was kinda cute. Well, I'm bored now. Guess I'll see what bizarre gadgets Tod's come up with now" He said to himself, heading out the barracks and towards the R&D Department...

-???-

(I'll post a character sheet for this person when I fully unveil them. First I gotta get their story straight. Although, if I can't have a second character... now is defiantly the time to tell me)

Little did Zero realize, a figure in a tattered hooded cloak was watching him from the trees. A malicious grin evident on it's face. "Hehehehehehehe... Long time, no see... Asashi. Hahahaha..."

-Meanwhile, In the R&D Department-

(Heads up, this guy's not a third character. He's just a background dude)

"FINALLY!! It's finished. Took me fuckin' long enough" Todaski 'Tod' Wakamori, one of the most brilliant minds to ever graduate the Academy, had just finished his newest prototype. A scanner designed to analyze the environment for hidden Reitsu signatures, traces of traps or other tampering, and generally boosting the perception of any who uses it. To make it easy to use Tod compacted the original design into a convenient eyepatch. The best part was that it didn't hamper the user's eyesight. "That fucker Kurotsuchi probably won't give me credit for this thing... again. God, I hate that guy. Hmph... Captain my ass. Anyways I need a test subject for this thing. Wonder what Asashi is doing. He always likes testin' my gadgets"...

As Higgins made his way around, he spotted Asashi walking somewhere. He shouted, "Don't forget that you should clean you gear every now and then!" Not waiting for an answer, Higgins continued on his morning constitution.

Asashi heard Higgins shout to him "Oh, right. Thanks for the reminder!" He shouted back when he got an idea. He ran over to Higgins "Hey, I'm bored, wanna spar? I need to work on my shikai"...

"No time, constitutionals." Higgins informed Asashi while continuing his rounds.

(What the hell is are constitutionals?)

"Oh, okay! Later then!" Asashi said, taking off on his original path towards the R&D Department...

Serenity woke not too long after, still early in the morning. She saw the twins were still sleeping, so she got up and quietly left them to sleep. She walked slowly in the sunshine, enjoying the feeling of the rays washing over her skin.

The peaceful days have drawn to a close, bringing with them the mixture of happy and strenuous memories the day's events had brought. This may well be the last chance to relax the neo-shinigami will enjoy in a long time...

**Episode 2 end***

Stat updates:

Kohaku: Kido advanced from "excels" to "strong"

Letha: Zanjutsu advanced from "excels" to "Strong"

Serenity: Zanjutsu advanced from "weak" to "average" Shikai manifested, limited control (one combat turn)

Colin: Hakuda advanced from "weak" to "average"

Alice: Zanjutsu advanced from "weak" to "average"

Castor: Hakuda advanced from "excels" to "strong"

Jin: Zanjutsu advanced from "weak" to "average. Shikai trained, intermediate control (lasts three combat turns)

Higgins: Zanjutsu advanced from "excels" to "strong"

Phoenix: Hakuda advanced from "excels" to "strong" Kido advanced from "weak" to "average"

Asashi: Zanjutsu advanced from "average" to "excels"


That's everybody's watermelons for this chapter. be sure to update your character sheets!