_ ᔕTᖇᗩᑎGE ᗪIᗩᖇY 2 _

[Xura]

GUYS! I just realized something! Xura is 16, she's going to turn 17 on the 8th of June in the story... Matthew is 2 years older than her, WHICH MEANS HES TURNING 19!!! AHHH WHEN DID MY CHARACTERS GET SO OLD?!!!

[CookieCat000]

OLDDDDDDDDDDDD

I actually thought Xura was pronounced Ex-Aura XD

I thought it was Ex-zura. O.O But the 'ex' is short and light.

Yeah, that's more accurate way of how I pronounced it. : P

[Piefan]

I've always pronounced it Zura, as well. I read somewhere that X, when in the beginning of words, equals a Z sound. It turns out that the rule only applies to words of Greek origin, but eh.

Also, 17 already? I wasn't really keeping track of their ages. xD

[Xura]

OLDDDDDDDDDDDD

I actually thought Xura was pronounced Ex-Aura XD

I thought it was Ex-zura. O.O But the 'ex' is short and light.

Yeah, that's more accurate way of how I pronounced it. : P

Ikr! They're so old. My characters are growing up so fast *wipes away a tear*

I've always pronounced it Zura, as well. I read somewhere that X, when in the beginning of words, equals a Z sound. It turns out that the rule only applies to words of Greek origin, but eh.

Also, 17 already? I wasn't really keeping track of their ages. xD

Oh that's actually a pretty cool fact. I guess I would have gone for "zura" but I really just like the letter 'x' a lot better. IDK. I'm sorry for confusing you all X3

But YEAH LIKE 17! WHAT THE HECK?! The years just flew by!

[riftintime]

Okay! I finally finished reading this, and yeah...

[Xura]

Okay! I finally finished reading this, and yeah...

Aww! That's great! I'm really glad to hear there's still more people reading this! :) what did you think?

[riftintime]

Okay! I finally finished reading this, and yeah...

Aww! That's great! I'm really glad to hear there's still more people reading this! what did you think?

Its really awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!¡!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Xura]

Sky: So, Xura.
We were in a closed off room with no windows, and a deep metallic tone to it. I was sitting at a table with a plate of cookies in front of me, Sky standing across from me, and a lie detector attached to my arm.
Sky: I've been denied access to any of your files. I find that a bit suspicious.
She lifted an eyebrow.
Sky: Is someone here hiding a dirty secret for you?
Me: No.
Sky: Oh really?
She threw a newspaper on the table. It was a picture of me falling through the sky- she had circled my face.
Sky: Is that not you?
Me: That's me.
Sky: Where did you fall from?
Me: A plane
Sky: And do you jump out of planes often?
Me: Actually, yes. Yes I do.
She gritted her teeth when she saw the lie detector pass the question.
Sky: Why?
Me: It's part of the job.
She sighed.
Sky: Where did you disappear to? And why didn't you have a parachute?
Me: I have a sort of friend- whose also kinda an enemy- who knows magic and stuff. And I was kinda jumping into the sky because I was trying to get away.
Sky: What's this friend's name?
Me: Loki
Sky: Ha! That's-
She glanced at the lie detector. It had passed as truth.
Sky: That's- that's... True.
She gave me a skeptical glare.
Sky: Where's he from?
Me: Asgard
Sky: What?
Me: Asgard. You know, nine realms-
Sky: Yeah, yeah! I know what Asgard is. I just... What.
She shook her head and paced.
Sky: what you're saying is passing as truth but it makes no sense.
Me: That's my life summed up in a sentence
She bit her lip.
Sky: On that plane, who were you trying to get away from?
I paused.
Me: The enemy
It passed as truth.
Sky: AGH! Fine. Where were you the past three weeks?
Me: I became a notorious thief by the name Scarlett Hunter.
She glanced at the lie detector once more
Sky: Truth. You're Scarlett Hunter?
Me: Yeah. Have you heard of me?
Sky: Have I heard of you? I read fanfictions about you! I keep track of every item you've stolen. You were just in Maine yesterday and you stole Rita Mandaia's buyer list.
Me: How do you know that?
Sky: I read Amy's blog
Me: Amy has a blog?
Sky: She never told you?
Me: I think I would've remembered something like that
Sky: You know, as long as you're on a lie detector, I might as well ask a few questions for Scarlett Hunter
Me: Okie-doke
Sky: are you and Xaiviar together?
Me: Nope.
Sky: Are you in love with each other?
Me: Shawn? Ha! Not a chance.
Sky: Well that's disappointing. Do you have a boyfriend?
Me: Yup
Sky: What's his name?
Me: Jake
Sky: Is he a thief?
Me: Nope.
Sky: Does he know what you do?
Me: uh... Sort of but not really :T
Sky: Then why would you want to date someone like that?
Me: He's the sweetest, most romantic, and loyal person you could ever meet
She laughed.
Me: What?
Sky: A relationship like that never works out. You'll find that out soon enough.
I stood and smacked my hands down on the table suddenly. The cookies swirled around as the plate reared on an axis, making that plate-y sound. She flinched.
Me: Our relationship has always been fine, and don't you dare imply that it would be anything less
I tried to flip my chair but my foot was caught in one of the legs, so I awkwardly untangled myself, stole a cookie, and went to the door.
Me: Are we done here?
She paused.
Sky: ... You know kid, you got guts. But even if everything's going great with you and what's-his-face, it doesn't mean it can't change. From what I can tell, you're still new here. You haven't even seen the worst of it.

The door made a large resounding "bumph!" as I shut it closed. The eyes in the room were all on me at once.
Me: She wants to see Rubix.
The tension in the room decreased significantly, and a girl scuffled away to be Sky's next victim. Amy immediately ran over to me.
Amy: Are you okay? How did it go? Did you say anything that would raise questions? Did she mention me? Or a hotdog? I really hope she didn't mention hotdog, I mean it was one time-!
Me: Woah! Amy calm down. I'm fine. What about hotdogs?
Amy: Nothing, nothing at all. HEHEHHH.... *mutters something about a burn book*
Me: Okay then.
I sighed.
Me: So all you have to do is your interrogation and then we can ditch this place, right?
Amy: Uh... I'd like to say yes, but the answer is no.
Me: What?
Amy: Yeah, it actually gets much worse. The interrogations are just to root out the weaklings.
We all turned our heads when Rubix ran screaming from the interrogation room. She was stopped in seconds by a tranquillizer dart in the leg. She reached out toward me and Amy.
Rubix: H-help...
She fell to the ground and was picked up by two buff agents. Sky came out of the room.
Sky: First mole, FBI agent's daughter. Whose next? No one? Alright, I'll chose. Ennie-menie-miney-mo!
She smiled deviously as she pointed out a nerdy boy from the crowd.
Sky: Carl, I choose you, now let's go.
The two buff agents then dragged Rubix away into a deeper darker section of the building. No seriously, it's darker- there's a few lights out.
Me: What's going to happen to her?
Amy took a bite of a pink frosted doughnut with white sprinkles.
Amy: They're going to interrogate her, maybe for three weeks. From the looks of it, it doesn't seem like she'd be hard to crack.
Me: You mean like how sky is interrogating us?
Amy: uh... Let's just say they have more creative ways of getting out the truth.
Me: What happens after that?
Amy: I'd assume, since she's young and could be useful in the future, they'd lock her in some kind of underground bunker for a few months or so.
She took another bite of her doughnut.
Me: That's horrible!
Amy: actually, I'm a big fan of the pink frosting
Me: No, not your donut! I'm talking about Rubix. We should break her out... Or give her some spoons. Maybe a shovel.
Amy: No! We can't break her out
Me: Why? She needs our help
Amy: And we need our cover.
Me: But Rubix-!
Amy: No. Don't fight me on this. When you sign up for Thunder, you sign up for all the chaos that comes with it.
Me: I didn't sign up... And it's just not fair
Amy: Life's not fair.
Me: yeah, it's not. That doesn't mean we have to play by the rules. I bet more than anything she wants to go home to her dad. But instead, she's going to be interrogated and stored away for months to come. Why can't we bend the rules?
She redirected her gaze to the dark one-sided window.
Amy: I was like Rubix once.
She paused then sat criss-cross applesauce on top a desk. I sat next to her.
Amy: It was only a couple years ago.
She took a shaky breath.
Amy: In Cobra.
Me: Cobra?
Amy: Yes. I was captured on a mission in Kairo. It was sudden, I didn't even know Cobra existed until I was betrayed that day by my partner.
Me: That's bad
Amy: You're telling me. Anyway, Thunder at the time had begun to develop a master plan for something. Since I was the boss's right hand, they thought I would have known about it. Like Rubix, I was interrogated. She's lucky that she only has a few weeks, I had months. Eventually, they gave up on me and threw me into a prison cell. I managed to seduce a security guard, and almost made it away; but to my dismay, I was stopped by one of their agents.
She bit the tip of her thumb nail.
Amy: When they saw how persistent I had been to escape, they-
She stopped and almost seemed to choke on her words.
Amy: they-they... tried to conform me. They would starve me if I didn't say the Cobra Code, keep me up for hours in my cell with ear-splitting music until I had said that I worked for Cobra and only Cobra twenty times every night, and they threw me in front of a screen that talked about their twisted organization for hours on end.
Me: Oh Amy-
I reached over to try and hug her but she lifted her hand.
Amy: Not here.
Reluctantly, I nodded.
Amy: After four months, I started to cave. And when the seven month
marker hit- I knew Cobra's code back and forth, the weeks I had spent lying to myself that I worked for Cobra and would never betray them sunk in, and I knew them inside and out.
She shivered. Regardless of her unwillingness, I put my hand on her shoulder. She didn't move it.
Me: What happened after that?
She shook her head.
Amy: That's a story for another time. However, my point is that Rubix will be okay. They aren't going to put her through the horrors Cobra did to me.
Me: But that doesn't mean it's right.
Amy: No, it doesn't. But you can't save everyone, especially not at a time like this. Promise me you won't go after her.
She gave me a serious glare that eventually wore me down.
Me: Fine. I promise I won't go after her.
Amy: Good.
Carl came out from the room and called Amy's name.
Amy: I guess it's my turn. You better keep your promise.
Me: I will.
She stood up, made the "I'm watching you" signal, then left the room.

Amy came out after twenty minutes, even though the room had been soundproof, we could hear faintly that Sky and Amy had been screaming at each other. She had walked out over toward me, a cookie in hand.
Amy: Well, I'd say that went well.
About two hours passed when the entire room had been questioned. I had seen about three more people dragged away because they were enemy spies, I was beginning to lose hope. I felt for them the way I felt for Rubix; unfortunately, there was nothing I would be able to do to help them- and that was just the tip of the iceberg according to Amy.
After a minute or so, Sky came out. She looked just as high-energy and confident as she was this morning.
Sky: Alright delinquents, you were good enough liars to make it to the next round- good for you. Now, is the test of sacrifice.
Amy: Oh boy.
Sky: You will each undergo a simulation that will truly test your loyalty. The simulation will be based on the important things in your life, and how much you'd be willing to give up for Thunder. Everything will feel completely real, but you will be unaware that you're in the test- heck! It could even be happening right now.
She smirked as the whole room was put on edge.
Sky: We'll be starting with Samantha. As for the rest of you-
She narrowed her eyes.
Sky: Get out while you still can.
She stepped away and motioned to black-haired, confident-looking girl in the back. The girl, presumably Samantha, followed her into a white room.
Amy: This isn't good.
Me: Why? I can pass this test.
Amy: No Xura, you won't even know it's a test. It's going to feel completely real
Me: Oh. So how do I keep my cover?
Amy: the human brain is susceptible to a repeated lie, just like my Cobra story. Just keep telling yourself that you'd do anything to stay in Thunder
Me: But I wouldn't! What if I can't pass?
Amy: You can do it, I know you can.
I sighed.
Me: I don't know, Amy.
Amy: Trust me and remember that even if you fail this test, I will do everything to save you. You're my best friend.
She smiled. I smiled back and gave her a hug.
Me: Alright.
About ten minutes passed before Samantha stepped out of the room, all the while I was telling myself what Amy had told me. Sky stepped out and scanned the room.
Sky: Xura!
I stood, trying my best to act strong. Amy placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and whispered an encouragement. I walked into the white room and Sky shut the door.
The room was divided by a wall into two sections. The one we were standing in was full of medical and technical equipment, while the other one- made visible through the glass door- was kinda like a black dome.
Sky: Do you know how this works?
Me: Not really
Sky: You're going to stand in that second room, and I'm going to insert a chip into the side of your neck. After that, I'll inject you with a serum. Once you fall asleep, I'll be able to monitor your simulation progress from inside this room. Understand?
I nodded.
Sky: Good.
She took a microchip and placed it on the side of my neck. I flinched as it sunk into my skin with a bit of a pinch.
Sky: Now follow me into the room.
She led me through the glass door and to the center of the dome-shaped room. Next, she took out a cotton ball and a needle filed with a bright pink liquid.
Me: So I just stand here?
Sky: Basically. It enhances the dream.
She dabbed the inside of my elbow with the cotton ball, then inserted the needle.
Sky: Alright. See you when you wake up.
She went into the other room as my eyes began to droop. I used my last bit of time to again try to convince myself that Thunder was the only thing I cared about. I only hope it works. Wish me luck!

*Thank you Chinchillax!

[riftintime]

NO A CLIFFHANGER
.... this reminds me of Divergent

[Apyrisol]

I feel like I should be outside but I'm not... welp...