If you are somehow STILL confused as to why this is a rewritten version of chapter 6, please read the two A/N's titled "Future Edits Coming Possibly(?)" and "This is happening-- Hold on to your butts."

Now read on, fellow fangirl/fanboy ;)

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   ¤@^!&$?; Jan. 3, 2009
   The Abandoned Observatory
   Mount Alliance¤

   Tony guided Aphmau through the forest quickly, bringing her to a large cave entrance. She looked up at the cliff above her, seeing the tops of trees just behind the cliff's edge. She looked directly in front of her to the large gaping hole that lead into pure darkness.

   "This is it. The Crystal Caves." Tony stated. Her eyes widened as she saw a light start to glow from deep within the cave, just barely showing through. Aphmau and Tony tensed as they heard howling in the distance. It didn't sound like a wolf to Aphmau.

   "What is that?" She asked warily. Tony tightened his grip on her arm, and started pulling her towards the cave.

   "You don't wanna stick around to find out." Tony murmured as they walked towards the light emitting from the cave. Aphmau looked back and watched as the trees and night sky faded away behind the cave entrance's walls.

   As they traveled deeper into the cave, Aphmau began to notice crystals that were embedded in the walls. They approached the source of the light, and Aphmau stared in awe as she took in the sight before her. The crystals formed on the ceiling in the cave, they were emitted a rainbow of colors that reflected off the caves walls.

   "Wow..." She said breathlessly.

   "Welcome to my home, the Crystal Caves." Tony gestured to the large room in front of them. He started walking towards the right to one branch out of many in the cave, and Aphmau hastily followed him. Right, then left, then maybe another few turns? Aphmau honestly wasn't paying attention to where exactly they were going or for how long they were walking. She was far too preoccupied with the glowing crystals and rainbow of pink, blue, white, and all sorts of colors reflecting on the somewhat smooth cave walls.

   "Here we are." Aphmau snapped back to reality and found herself standing in front of a rather large stone door. It looked strong enough to keep a hurricane from breaking it down. Aphmau noticed that it didn't have a handle of any kind, and if it had hinges, they were hidden from view by the crystals surrounding its edge. It looked almost as if it was carved out from the wall itself. The crystals weren't glowing like the one's behind them, which made it difficult to make out the detailing on the door.

   Tony placed his hand on the middle of the door inside of a circle that was etched into the stone. The crystals glowed with a blinding white light, making Aphmau squint and cover her eyes. She heard the sound of stone moving against stone, and she peaked out from behind her hand to see the door swinging out slowly to reveal a large room of glowing crystals much like the one they first entered. The blinding glow dimmed down enough so Aphmau could uncover her eyes, and she followed Tony into the room.

   In the middle of the room was a large, round stone table with some sort of large map on the top. The map looked old, with its edges worn. Aphmau took in the room around her, scanning every corner of it. She saw large, heavy looking wooden shelves lining part of the wall, each one filled with some kind of bottles containing a colored liquid. Some of the liquid looked like glitter had been dumped into it, and some of the bottles looked much sturdier than others, as if some of them were meant to be broken. Aphmau looked past the table and saw a small incline. At the top of it was a rather large cauldron and another stone door in the wall. This stone door seemed considerably smaller and less fortified than the door before it, and it actually had a handle.

   "Ah, Tony. Welcome back." A man with white hair who was standing at the cauldron spoke. His glittering, emerald green eyes fell on Aphmau.

   "You must be the one who ventured up this mountain a few days ago. Aphmau, is it?" He asked, his head turning ever so slightly.

   "Uh, yeah, that's me. How did you know that?" Aphmau said cautiously.

   "I know all that come to this mountain. I've seen you from the moment you walked up here. I felt your every intention and every ounce of determination within you." He said. Aphmau widened her eyes. This guy was the real deal. He knew everything and they had never even met. Suddenly, he laughed lightheartedly.

   "I'm just messing with you. Tony and Aaron told me about you earlier today." Aphmau gaped at him and he smiled brightly. He walked over to her and took her hand. She snapped back to reality and forced her mouth shut. "The name's Travis. Travis Valkrum. As I'm sure Tony has told you, I'm the guardian of this mountain and all of the pure living beings on it." He placed a quick, soft kiss on the back of her hand, and she resisted the urge to blush and/or slap him. As soon as he let go of her hand, she pulled it behind her back, but he didn't seem to notice.

   "You've obviously already met my apprentice, Tony. But I was... perplexed when you entered the caves alone." Travis turned to Tony. "Why have you not brought Aaron with you?" Tony gave him a small frown and glanced at Aphmau. Aphmau looked at the ground, her eyebrows furrowing. Travis' gaze fell on Aphmau again.

   "Ah... I see. Well, no matter. You are welcome to stay in the caves tonight. Just stay within these large clearings and don't go out the door. We wouldn't want you to get lost. These caves are rather large."

   "Thank you..." Aphmau murmured. Travis smiled at her one last time before turning to the door and entering it. Aphmau watched him disappear behind it as it shut.

   "What's in there?" She asked, turning to Tony.

   "That leads to our rooms. Unfortunately, we don't have an extra room, but my room has two beds in it still from when Aaron stayed here if you don't mind sharing a room." Aphmau cringed. She somehow didn't enjoy the idea of sleeping in the same bed as Aaron. "Well, I didn't think it was that bad of an idea..." Tony pouted childishly.

   "Uh, no! It has nothing to do with you... but, uh..." Aphmau decided not to tell him what she was disgusted at. "I was just wondering why Aaron ever stayed here."

   "Well, he didn't just walk up to the observatory on his own, you know. We actually found him injured at the cave entrance and we let him stay here a few nights. He's just lucky he didn't go in and get lost. Eventually, he proved... high maintenance and anti-social, to put it mildly, so we offered him the observatory if he wanted to be in a place of his own. He's been staying there ever since." Tony explained. Aphmau looked at him quizzically. Injured?

   "Anyways, follow me." Aphmau followed closely at Tony's heels. They walked through the door and to the right. Aphmau looked back to the hall that led to the left. The walls looked carved as if they weren't always there. Aphmau bumped into Tony when he stopped in front of another door. Tony glanced back at her out of the corner of his eye, smiling slightly and chuckling, but she didn't seem to notice as she stared down in embarrassment.

   Tony opened the door and stepped inside. Aphmau followed him in. This room was smaller then the previous, and the stone looked smoother. There was a cluster of glowing crystals on the ceiling, serving almost as a chandelier. There were two beds as he said there would be. Both were just made of wood and a mattress. The wood looked thick and had some carvings in it. Aphmau continued searching the room with her eyes and saw a pedestal with a glowing orb hovering over some sort of holder on the top of the pedestal.

   "What is that?" Aphmau asked. Tony followed her gaze to the orb. The longer Aphmau stared at it, the more she noticed that it seemed as if there was lightning inside of it, flashing around like it was trying to escape.

   "That's an electricity orb. It gives off energy waves that certain objects, like specially made batteries, absorb and turn into power. It also gives off light." Tony explained, and then continued what he was doing. Aphmau wasn't sure she entirely understood what he said, but she tried to make sense of it in her head.

   "I guess it would be pretty hard to get electricity up here through telephone poles." Aphmau thought.

   "Here. You can sleep in this bed. You should get some rest, you've had a rough couple of days." Tony said caringly. Aphmau turned to him, but didn't move. He looked at her, confused. She had something on her mind that was bothering her.

   "Are you... going to make me go back to the observatory?" Aphmau said softly. She fought back tears as all the things that Aaron had done to her came flooding back. She felt a slight stinging in the cuts on her arm an ankles. Tony looked at her frowning.

   "I..." Tony hesitated. His frown deepened when tears started spilling over onto Aphmau's cheeks. She quickly hid her face.

   "I can't make you do anything. If you don't want to go back, then that's your call. But it isn't safe in the open on this mountain, especially at night. That's why he stays in the observatory, and we stay in the caves. Aphmau didn't say anything. She couldn't tell if he hadn't picked up on what she was trying to say or if this was just his way of saying no before she even asked. She decided to drop it for now. It's not like Aaron wanted her back anyway, right? He's the one who made her leave. She thought about the whole ordeal, remembering every word that was said, including her's.

   "Maybe I took it too far..." She thought, beginning to doubt herself.

   "Let's not think about it right now. You should sleep. I'll have a healing elixir for you by the time you wake up for those... wounds. Then we'll talk about it, okay?" Tony smiled reassuringly. Aphmau forced a smile back.

   "Okay." Aphmau eventually walked over to the bed, laying down. She closed her eyes, ignoring the sound of footsteps.

   "You're safe here. I promise." Tony said, gently petting the top of her head. She fell asleep almost immediately, the warmth lingering from Tony's touch.

   ¤@&!^$~£? Jan. 3~4 (basically, this means that it is either close to, or past midnight, but we wouldn't know because no way to check time), 2009
   Kage Forest
   Mount Alliance¤

   The sound of crickets and the gentle breeze filled her senses as she walked through the forest, the moon looming overhead. Her long, raven black hair swayed in the wind and her dark eyes shone in the moonlight. She walked through the darkness, unphased by the distant howling.

   "I can't believe I got lost. Brother is gonna be mad when he finds out I lost his map again." She stopped and looked around as she heard a rustling noise. She looked into the thick, large bushes to her right. She saw glowing red eyes staring at her, and heard a low growling that echoed ominously. She smiled, turning her body towards it.

   "Excuse me for interrupting you, but can you help me? I'm kind of lost. I need to find my brother. He lives in the observatory." Her smile never faltered. The growling stopped, and the eyes faded. The bushes rustled again and a large, shadowed figure jumped out of them, walking towards the trees, never sparing another glance at her. Her eyes lit up, and she followed the creature.

   "Thank you!"

   ¤%€¤£₩¿ Jan. 3~4, 2009
   The Crystal Caves
   Mount Alliance¤

   Aphmau's eyes fluttered open. The room around her was almost pitch black, the only light provided being from the electricity orb, which wasn't nearly as bright as it was before. It was no linger floating, and was sitting in the holder beneath it. Aphmau sat up, rubbing her arms and shivering.

   "It's freezing in here... but at least I have a bed." Aphmau looked to Tony, who was sleeping peacefully on his side. His tail was draped over his body, and his ears twitched slightly. She watched his chest move up and down with his slow, steady breathing.

   "No fair. He has a built in blanket." Aphmau thought, partly joking. She couldn't help but be jealous though as she pulled her knees up to her chest. She pulled the blanket she had around her, trying to keep warm. The cave walls seemed to radiate with cold, and lucky little Aphmau was right next to one. She touched the wall and sure enough, it was ice cold.

   "Can't sleep?" Aphmau jumped and turned to Tony, who was now sitting up. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned.

   "I didn't wake you up, did I?" Aphmau asked guiltily. He shook his head.

   "It's alright. I always wake up because my sensitive hearing. What's wrong?" He asked, forcing his eyes to stay open.

   "Nothing. Just woke up is all." Aphmau lied. She didn't want to bother him anymore than she already had. She had intruded on Travis and Tony enough as it was. She didn't want to be a nuisance. Tony looked over her, and then back to her face

   "Cold?" He asked, the corners of his mouth turning up a little. Aphmau hid her face behind her knees. She didn't even bother trying to lie, because she was always a terrible liar. Tony stood up from his bed and grabbed his blanket, walking over to her. He sat down next to her in the bed, wrapping his blanket around both of them, pulling her closer. She was grateful that it was pretty much impossible to see so that he couldn't see her blush.

   "I don't blame you. It does get rather cold down here." He said, rubbing her arm through her own blanket. His tail wrapped around her back. She leaned into him and rest her head on his shoulder, unable to deny herself of the only source of warmth she had. She was embarrassed, but happy that he noticed how cold she was.

   "Try to sleep. I'll keep you cozy." He laughed quietly and she smiled gratefully. She felt even safer like this. She closed her eyes, and listened to his breathing. As she leaned against him and he held her close, she couldn't help but wonder how someone so kind could be friends with Aaron, who was so cruel.

   "Opposites attract, I guess..." Aphmau thought as finally dozed off, getting the best sleep she had had in what seemed like a long time.

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   Yup. I added Travis in. Because I can.

   And I felt like he fit in well to this story. Just so you know, his personality (at least for now) is more based off his MCD rendition.

   So what will happen? Will Aphmau be forced to go back to the observatory, or will Travis and Tony take pity on her and let her stay with them for a while? Find out, NeXt TiEm!1!

   *ahem*

   Anyways,

   Chapter 5 is officially being unpublished and is being moved to its new home in my book, "Just for Funzies." If you ever want to read the original, go there! The same thing will happen to the original version of chapter 5 once the rewritten version of chapter 6 comes out.

   Thanks for reading! :3

   Check out Woof Woof YT lady ;)

   Word count: 2505

   Writer:
   Nylo
   Editor:
   Nylo