I'm a walkin' horse-pig cont [Alecis]

When Alecis couldn't breath anymore, when she couldn't scream anymore, she dropped to the ground. Her heart was hammering, racing one hundred, a million times faster than it should have.

Her babies were gone.

They were gone.

Eva and Lorrik.

Gone.

Why? Why was this happening?

Lumi ran over to where Alecis had dropped to the ground. She needed to see that note, no matter how distraught she was.

"Leci...I found this by Zachary...look," she said in a wavering voice, shakily holding the note out for Alecis to read. What in the hell was this? Why would someone do this to Leci? Was there someone with a grudge against her?

'Further instructions...' No, this was for ransom. Blackmail. Someone was trying to blackmail her. And considering Leci's position...this was dangerous.

Alecis, dazedly, took the paper from Lumi. The words swam on the page, black ink dancing across the white. Some how she made out what the note said, she read the conditions over and over again, mortified.

Some freak had her babies. Some freak was going to hurt them if Alecis didn't comply to whatever it was that they wanted from her. Some freak was ripping up the last bit of sanity that Alecis was clinging to.

They had killed her adviser. They had stolen her Eva, her Lorrik. They had taken her life away from her, and Alecis hadn't even noticed.

It was all her fault. She hadn't protected them. She hadn't helped them. She was supposed to be there. She should have been there.

Her breathing got heavier than it already was, it was coming out in rasps. Hyperventilating and getting dizzy, she realized she didn't deserve to live. She let her babies go. She didn't keep them safe.

She might as well have been the one to kill them.

"Alecis, I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now, but you need to think," Lumi said urgently, her reasoning overcoming her emotion. "You need to think about if you know anyone who could or would have done this, any enemies of you or Cuir. Anything at all that can help us solve this. Can you do that, Alecis?"

Lumi knew that she might not be able to. She might be unresponsive for hours, or days, or...No, she needed to think about this. For her siblings' sakes and her own. But whether or not she needed to wasn't the issue...it was whether or not she even could.

Alecis stared up at Lumi. "Help me, please... Lumi..." her voice was strained, her eyes wider than they were last night. "I... I... I need them," her voice cracked as she realized they might be dead already. There might be nothing she or Lumi could do.

Her eyes were full of water, they stung, she couldn't see, but she didn't care. She couldn't move, she couldn't blink. All she could do was beg for salvation. She sat on her knees, her eyes wide in fear, and wished to die.

"You know I will, Lec, I'll do everything and anything I can," Lumi assured her, kneeling down to her level. She was actually a little confident that she'd be useful in helping Alecis figure this out. After all, she'd solved a murder before. "That's why I need you to tell me if you have an enemies you know of. Maybe someone with a grudge against Cuir."

"I, I..." Alecis stammered, releasing a few tears from the pool that had gathered in her eyes and lashes. Her mind whirled, but she had no idea who could hate her this much.

Who would take them? Such innocent babies who hadn't ever done a thing wrong.

"Who would do this Lumi? Who could hate someone so much?" she cried out in pain, "What did I do so wrong? What did I do?!"

"There are evil clio out there Lec, clio who don't care who they hurt to get what they want," Lumi told her, trying to be calm, but her voice shook. "You didn't do anything wrong. Whoever did this is just evil, and they don't care if you do anything wrong or everything right. You didn't do anything wrong."

But Alecis knew Lumi had to be lying. On some level, she must have deserved this. She hadn't helped Rowan enough, she hadn't spent enough time with Eva and Lorrik, she hadn't lived up to the standards of past Overloridians, she wasn't nice enough, she had caused this. It was her fault.

And now whoever it was that created Amelia, whatever god was out there was punishing her for her wrong doings(aw, -sam pats alecis on her head-. i don't hate you, i love you. you didn't do anything wrong, this is just tough love. it isn't your fault, i just want some amusement. it'll be okay... i think).

But they didn't deserve it, not them. She needed to find them. She needed to help them. She needed to let them know she was sorry, sorry for everything.

By this time, the tears were flowing freely from her glassy eyes, pouring into her lap. "What can we do, Lumi? Who can help us? What is there to do?"

"I'm helping you," Lumi assured her, rubbing her back a little bit. "This is my area of expertise, Lec. I'm sure I can be useful somehow."

Solving one crime hardly makes this your 'area of expertise, Moxie said, speaking for the first time since like a million posts ago.

I can still help! Lumi insisted. Though honestly, she had no idea what they could do, especially since the kidnapper had forbade them from showing the letter to anyone else. It seemed like for now, all Leci could do was follow the clio's instructions.

"But how?" Alecis cried, her arms finally moving up to wipe her eyes. She stood, teetered for a moment, then steadied herself as much as possible.

Her eyes searched for what she knew was gone, her heart hoped for something she knew couldn't happen, and somehow she stopped crying. "Lumi, I don't know what to do."

"Lec, I'll do everything I can, but for now," Lumi hesitated. She didn't want to admit she didn't know what to do either. She wanted to help. She wanted to be useful. "For now...all you can really do is wait for them to contact you again..."

She lowered her head beseechingly.

Just wait? To Alecis, this didn't seem possible. How could she go on living when her siblings were out there somewhere. She had no idea what they were going through.

No idea what they were doing right now. No idea where they were.