Time is but a Gentle Stream, the Past Still at its Murky Depths

Shade chased them, then stopped smashing the syringe. "Heh...I'm...Just...Undercover...K?" She was exhausted from running. "I won't hurt you out here when they can't find us..."

After several moments, Evangeline stirred in Dark's arms, and slowly blinked her eyes awake. "Wha?" she said sleepily before opening her eyes fully. They turned wide as she looked up at Dark. "You!" she snarled, shifting upward, and punching him straight in the jaw. She didn't seem to have noticed their surroundings.

Nev appeared from atop a branch of a nearby tree, and looked utterly exhausted. "You-huff- don't - huff - know how -huff - tiring chasing you was." He slumped down in his branch, trying to catch his breath. He looked at the exhausted Shade and angry Evangeline curiously. "What exactly did I miss?"

Dark took the punch, going back a few feet and ending up dropping Evangeline. 'This the thanks I get getting you out,' he asked her, getting up. 'I guess you re angry. I did inject you, but would you really have listened to reasoning?' After a few moments of rubbing his jaw, he looked at Evangeline. 'Im not going to ask for forgiveness. I'll just be gone so you don't have to worry,' he told her, turning in another direction having turned his form back.

"Hm...Alright, I'm gonna go back now." She walked back into the director's room. "I couldn't catch them, and some Pikachu destroyed the syringe...I coldn't inject her, but it wasn't my fault, got it?"

Evangeline slammed into the ground, and grunted. It was then she noticed they weren't in the lab. "Wait," she said, "Dark, did you...save me?"

"It was your fault for failing." the Director replied. He took out one more syringe of the same composition. "Do not return until you are successful," he said to her. "If you come back failing, we will kill you."

'Youre someone I like, and they were doing evil things. I saw the girl, and thought you'd end up that way,' Dark said, explaining himself. 'So, yes, I saved you. But it seems you're angry at me, so I'll just leave and live in a cave. At least I'll be away from humans who'll pick there.'

"You just don't get it do you? I'm here to help, and you can't get rid of me. Besides, I have no idea where they would've gone...And I'm sure the Zorua wouldn't know either."

"You don't have to leave, when I woke up, I just assumed..." she trailed off. "I had no idea you had decided to leave those evil scientists. If you still want, we can travel together."

"If you truly wish to help," the Director said angrily, "you would already be gone doing my bidding. That's the problem with free will, it doesn't get the job done fast enough. You can't start finding them if you don't start looking, so go. Now."

Dark turned to Evangeline, and he looked at her. "While I was there, I figured out something," he told her, helping her up. "They're using machinery on certain subjects to take their free will away. If they would've done that to me, then I would've had to kill you anyway, and I wouldn't be able to survive killing someone that's innocent..." It was then he wrapped his arms around her and shook a bit. "I'm just a bit scared. My other personality isn't so afraid, but I'm definitely afraid, especially after I said I'd help then denied them where they stood."

"You realize how far people like them could've gotten so fast? I'm trying to be logical...There's no way I could catch them...But maybe I could get them back...They think I'm their friend...We act like you got me, and they come back, sound good? If they're still close enough...It should work."

(dun dun dunnnn...Whose side is she really on? *gasp*)

"That's not good," Evangeline said when Dark mentioned the machinery. "And you can keep control of your other self, I'll help you." When Dark had mentioned it, it actually explained a lot, she understood his actions now, and accepted that he may not be able to fully be trusted. "So, uh, what's our next move."

"It's your idea," the Director muttered, "So long as she's injected, do what you must. You have my guards at your command. For now."

Dark looked at Evangeline. "We have to get away from the facility," Dark said as he started looking a bit tired. "We have to go back to the facility," he said, giving Evangeline a grin and grabbing her hand. "Dark aura isn't something to be trifled with, especially when it's untrained," he said as he grinned at her.

Shade ran out as some guards chased her and grabbed her once they were close to Evangeline and Dark. 'Perfect.' "Evangeline, help! They got me!"

"We aren't going back there Dark, we-" she cut off as Shade came running toward them, cased by a bunch of guards. A cry for help was all she needed to burst into action. The temperature began to drop, and her breath grew frosty. She broke out of Dark's hold, and concentrated on the guard holding Shade, and launched a deadly Ice Beam at him. "Dark," she said, "You mind helping with the others. These long distance attacks take a lot out of me."

Dark looked at the guards, then looked at the person held in them. He grabbed Evangeline's arm, pulling her back before she could actually start attacking the guard. "Don't," he told her, his hand a bit warm from his aura. "Did you think we wouldn't find out you're trying to help them," he asked shade, his eyes a bit darker as he looked at the person being held by the guards. "I can see straight into that little mind of yours with my aura. Something's fishy about you." Not too much sooner was it his aura disbanded, and Dark held his head looking down. "Evangeline my head hurts," he said to her, having let her arm go. It was obvious his aura had to do something with his personality.

The guards dodged and walked swlowly towards the base. Shade kept yelling for their help. 'It's all going perfect...' "No, please! Help me, Evangeline! Just help! Please! Nev! Anybody!"

Evangeline looked from Dark to Shade, and over at Nev. He looked confused as she was, and shrugged at her. She ruffled her wings in confusion, but nodded slowly. She turned toward the screaming Shade. "I've barely known you, and your actions have been suspicious. I'm going to have to believe Dark more than I believe you."

She held out her arm, and Nev jumped onto it. Turning around, she smiled at Dark. "It's okay Dark, I'll help you out with your head and aura. Let's go." She started to walk away from Shade and the guards.

Dark took Evangeline's hand, holding it as he held his face with his other one and walked with her. "My head is turning about what to do," he told Evangeline. "My head hurts. I can tell my other personality is moving and working to have control. Evangeline, I don't like having to sit by and watch it," he told her as he kept jerking a bit, as if he was fighting with the personality.

"Fine...Be that way..." She made it look like he kicked the guards away and ran towards them, huffing when she got to them. "Great...That was close..." 'I need to bring them in...Somehow...' "I already told you I'm undercover...I'm not really with them...I promise...Um...Please, believe me..." She revealed her Zorua ears to them. "I'm like you..."

Evangeline narrowed her eyes and bit her lip. "And how do I know they didn't create you to work for them. I'm not sure you can be trusted." She suddenly grinned, and stepped closer to Shade. She put one hand on her (Shade's) jugular vein, and another on the vein on her wrist, clearly feeling her pulse from two different areas. "Funny thing about lying, your pulse goes up when you do it. Mind saying you aren't working with them again?"

Dark turned his head and he looked at Evangeline. He looked at Shade as well, knowing she was going to be lying. "Evangeline," he told her, heaving a bit because he felt warm. "My head feels like it's going to explode..."

"Don't strain yourself Dark," Evangeline said to him, continuing her touch on Shade. "Once we figure her out, I'm going to help you. If you'd like, Nev can get you some painkillers. He knows where I stashed the medicine I got for you."

Dark looked at Evangeline, a bit dizzy. His other personality was putting up a good fight, not wanting him to have control for much longer, and using the built up aura he had to take control. He laid down a few feet from Evangeline, holding his head with both hands so he didn't have to look at the sun and burn his eyes out. He just hoped Evangeline would be finished soon, as his aura started showing around him having built up that much over the years. "I'll try not to strain myself," he said to her after he had laid down, requesting Nev get the painkillers.

"I'm just not with them." Her pulse didn't change a bit. "But they don't know that..."

Nev nodded once, disappeared, and returned a moment later with a bundle of herbs in his jaws. He jumped onto Dark's shoulder, and offered them to him. Evangeline removed her hands from Shade's veins, and stepped back. "I still don't trust you," she said apprehensiveness. "Why pretend to side with them any more? We know what they're up to, and we've escaped their lab, there's no use in keeping connections. Break your ties with them and don't go back, and I'll consider letting you come with us."