As soon as the old yet bright door to Lumi's house closed, her older sister walked past slowly. As soon as she saw Lumi, she sighed in relief, and hugged her. The sister smell of freshly cut grass and sweet blossoms engulfed her, as Lumi hugged her just as tightly.

Their mother coughed. The sisters drew apart, and turned to face their mother. She was smiling. "Nice reunion. But we've got bigger things to deal with." Beside her, Alice stiffened. Lumi stared at her. Alice could no longer meet her gaze.

"It's bad." She said quietly. The thoughts of yesterday rose up again, like they had when she had passed that field. Where her friends okay? Was anyone dead? Was-

Her mother cut off her thoughts with a sigh. Her smile dropped and was replaced by a scared expression. Her mother, scared. Lumi had never seen anything like that.

She sunk down so her knees were folded under her. Tears welled in her mother's eyes. "It's... It's Sally." With those three words, any sense of good humor vanished. Sally...

Lumi could remember her being hit by the dart... She would of been in the same position, whatever that was, had it been not for... Whatever had happened back then.

"What about her?" Lumi demanded. Neither Alice nor the mother replied for a moment, until her mother spoke up.

"It's easier to show you." She explained. "Follow me."

Lumi trailed behind her mother sadly as they walked through the streets. Stormy grey clouds dampened everyone's mood - either that or the news of the young girl had spread quickly.

The mother and daughter stopped outside a small cottage. The healers house. Every child had been there at least once in their life, some more. It bad never looked so depressing.

After staring at the house for a moment, the pair walked into the small room.

The second they were both inside, the door slammed shut behind them. Lumi grabbed her mother's hand, and squeezed. Her mother squeezed back.

The kindly old woman that most people called Lepo walked in. A smile swept across her face when she saw the two. "Hello." She greeted. Her voice was croaky, and it gave off the image of rusting nails.

Lumi's mother smiled back just as warmly. "Hello, Lepo. We've come to see Sally."

Lepo's face darkened ever so slightly, not enough for either of them to notice. She nodded.

"Come with me."

The old woman lead them through the building, and underground. Lamps hung on the walls, making shadows flicker. Lumi shivered. Every child had nightmares about this place.

This is where the deadly diseases go.

So why was Sally down here? That simple dart couldn't of been that deadly, right?

Wrong.

Lumi could see just how much damage that dart alone had caused.

Where it had punctured her friends skin was a black dot. Where her veins were was now black, or grey, it was hard to tell. Her lips were grey.

Lumi stared at her friend, her Soul sister, and wept.

Lepo started to talk to the mother. "I've never seen anything like this before. It's so odd... I'm not sure if I can treat her. It must have something to do with this." She held up a dart - the same one that had hurt her friend. Even from where Lumi was, she could see the darkness radiating off it. It seemed to wash away the light like water washing away a crude painting.

Lumi over heard this, but didn't comment. She clutched her friends hand, and wept more.

"Can you try?" Her mother asked in a hushed tone. Lepo nodded.

"I can try."

As if those were magic words, Sally's eyes sprung open. Her eyes were clouding over, like a summer sky turning cloudy. Peaks of blue could be seen under the grey. Staring at that was like staring into Tem's eyes, just without the blue.

Lumi shook that thought out of her head. Why was she thinking of that white-haired idiot!?

Sally stared at Lumi. Lumi stared behind her. The two adults were still talking. She turned her eyes to Sally again.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Sally continued to stare at her, pain etched in her face like a carving on marble. "Y-You got shot." Lumi explained in a whisper still. "I dunno what happened."

Sally stared.

Lumi gazed back.

Finally, Sally opened her mouth to talk. "H-Hel-Help... M-Me...." She uttered, before arching her back and screaming. The scream as filled with pain, suffering, worry...

... And it suddenly cut off, like someone was clenching her throat. Her eyes burgled for a second, then shut. Her body went limp, and her regular breathing began again.

The two adults were looking on with alarm in their eyes. As soon as Sally passed out again, they drew closer.

"Are... Are you sure she'll be okay?" Lumi's mother asked in a husky voice. Lepo sighed.

"I can't say."

Tears welled up in Lumi's eyes. The fact that she may never hear her best friend laugh, or talk normally, or even see her walk again was too much.

She collapsed on the floor, the weeping making her body shake. No-one moved to comfort her. She was left to sob until she had no more tears.

And that took long enough.

Her mother bought her home after she finished. She was still gulping sadly, mourning for her friend.

She crawled up the stairs, past her sisters worried looks to her room. The smooth, bleached wood was comforting, and warm. Her small paintings from when she was younger still hung there, with a paintbrush and some dyes next to it, in case she wanted to add anymore. She sobbed on her bed for a while more, and stared at her old drawings. Cartoon sunshines and clouds hung high, with green spring grass. All that on one wall.

She stared at it more. Now that she knew what the middle bit, the side that separated Senca and Sevlata, looked like, she could add that, and make it more proportioned.

Maybe once she had enough will-power to get up.