"Echo...stop it. Now." Rogue's voice was stern, but past her cool expression, I could see how panicked she was.

Echo tilted his head to the side. "No, Rogue. I'd rather not."

My furniture lifted into the air and came towards us - no - towards Rogue.

"Echo. I mean it. Drop the act."

Echo tapped his chin with his finger and smirked. Everything came charging towards her.

I ran over. "Rogue!" I reached out my hand to grab her. The items engulfed her and started pulling her away.

She extended her arm to reach mine. "Amus!" I grabbed her left hand, but my glove began sliding off. "Amus! Amus, your glove! It's slipping!"

Echo was heard behind me, "Let me help with that."

The glove came off entirely and aided the other items in pulling Rogue away. Rogue clung back onto my hand with her right arm's fingers. I held onto her hand.

A burst of white light shot through and the room emptied out into a white mass of nothingness. It seemed as if Rogue and I were trapped in a blank canvas.

"What's going on?" My voice was slightly muffled, but still clear enough to understand.

Rogue's eyes opened and her lashes fluttered after seeing the brightness all around us. "I... I don't know."

We still held hands, but after realizing it, we pulled apart. She stared at her hand and the marking on it. I did the same and noticed that the 'half-of-a-four-leaf-clover' was outlined with a blue ray.

"Pass me your hand," she demanded. I obeyed and she grabbed onto it, aligning the markings. "Syllys."

The blue light expands until we are immersed. It's too bright, so I close my eyes. Once I open them again, I subconsciously act.

Making my way toward Echo, I pull out a weapon. Beside me, Rogue does the same. I'm not sure how I know that, but I do.

Rogue and I are back-to-back and we raise our weapons. That was the time I caught a glimpse of what I was holding: A long, thin, silver cannon.

I propped it up onto my shoulder and stared at Echo; my vision is once again the targeting system. Rogue did then same.

I ended up speaking to her telepathically.

At the same time, we thought to each other, 'Light Cross-Cannons...'

'5...' I thought.

'4...' she returned.

A high-pitched ringing came from the cannon that charged up some magic ammo.

'3...'

'2...'

"Stop!" Allois's voice ushered through my ears and the cannons disappeared.

Rogue and I looked at each other. "Wha..." I muttered out.

Panting, she looked down with wide eyes. "That was the power of Syllys," she responded.

"...and that is...?"

"The magic contained in our markings. Obviously, it's powerful and hard to control." She looked at Echo and spoke, "Never do that again. We could have killed you."

Echo's guard stood plainly on the side. I think he was staring at Rogue, but I couldn't tell since he had on sunglasses.

Echo looked at Rogue with wide eyes and squeezed his teddy bear.

I turned to Al. "Thanks for stopping us."

Al nodded and gave a worried look at Echo. "His little brother..." he said.

"What?"

"Echo's little brother died a long time ago. The body is inside the bear."

I swallowed hard and bit my lip. "That's...disturbing."

"I think it's sad..."

I patted Al's head and walked over to Echo. "Why do you want the Philosopher's Stone?"

He shrugged at me and got a firmer grip on his bear. He wants to resurrect his brother... I thought.

Rogue knelt down to match Echo's height. "You really shouldn't have done that, though."

Echo's eyes widened. "Don't tell him! Please, Rogue-"

"You know I have to," she interrupted. Standing up, she filled me in on the situation. "Echo has no family, so he was taken in by the guild 'Devian'. Since there's no one to look after him, the leader tries his best to do so, but whenever he can't, he asks everyone else to help out. If we do, we have to give him a report. Oh, yeah...Echo's not allowed to use his magic. I believe you could tell why."

After nodding a few times, I hear a scratching sound coming from one of the doors. Crap! The dog!

Allois practically sprinted to the door and lifted up the puppy. Echo stopped sulking and stared at it for God knows how long until he finally spoke.

"Pyrenees..." He held the bear closer to his chest and chuckled. "The 'Polar-Bear-Dog'..."

Al walked over to Echo, still cradling the puppy. "Do you want to pet him?"

Echo removed his glove. That was when I saw his syllys marking. I think it was half of a target.

He reached out hesitantly and rested his hands on the dog while Rogue and I rearranged all of the furniture and I slipped on my glove.

"What's its name?" asked Echo.

Al responded, "I don't think I can keep him...so I didn't name him..."

Echo looked at the dog with sympathy, but I zoned out before he said anything.

"Hey, Amus." Rogue snapped her fingers in my face.

"What?"

"You know, I could keep the dog. I'll bring it over whenever I visit...just for Allois. How does that sound?"

"I don't want you to go through all that trouble-"

"No, there's no trouble. It's fine," she insisted.

Rogue went over to the two boys and told them about her plan for the dog. Of course, they were all for it. She let them name the dog (which I thought was going to be a disaster) and they came up with 'Devae'. The name was based off of Echo's guild, Devian.

The dog caught on quickly and responded easily.

"Amus," Allois tugged at my sweater. "There's a girl at the doorway..."

When I looked up, there was nothing there except for the distant night sky. "What are you talking about? There's no one."

Al stared at the doorway and started to slowly shift his head. He spun around and looked intently at the far wall. His eyebrows scrunched up as he walked towards the wall.

I waved everyone else over as Lite and Zoelle came back and Rogue slipped on her shoes.

Zoelle looked at us with curiosity. "What's going o-"

"Shhhh!" I beckoned.

Allois bent down and used his finger to trace a tall rectangle on the wall. The path of the rectangle was traced again by a bright light. Standing up, Al raised his hands and knocked on the rectangle five times. Gently, he pressed his fingers against it and it opened as a doorway.

Rogue breathed heavily and grabbed her head, combing her hair back. "Obsurum Paciscor..." she whispered.

She pushed past us and led the way down a stairway. Stepping forward, a tile in the floor sank in and a pale yellow gas came out from a distant room.

Zoelle and Rogue nodded at each other. "Fluorine..."

"Go back!" Rogue urged, pushing us the other way.

I was now infront. Immediately, I obeyed and began going up the stairs. Turning my head for just a second, I saw Echo's guard hit Rogue unconscious with the butt of his gun.

I tried to call out for the others to hurry up, but soon enough, everyone got a burlap sack around their heads. After a moment, I got one myself as a needle pierced into my arm and it lugged me into a state of unknowingness.

=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=×=

Oh no! They were attacked!

For those of you smarter people out there, correct me if I got 'Fluorine' wrong. It's the pale yellow and harmful gas, right?

Eh.

Well, vote, comment, follow, continue, and tell me: What's gonna happen next? And what do you think of Echo?

(I don't even know~! ^-^)

-!Ri$