"Well?" Janet was watching Brandon, her voice and eyes filled with annoyance. "Where is she?"

"Who?" Brandon just barely changed his gaze to meet that of the windian standing before him at the entrance of the palace.

"Lucy!" Janet hissed. "You all brought her here yesterday, I know you did!"

"There is no Lucy here." Brandon stated simply.

"Fine, Nina then!" Janet just continued to get even more annoyed. "Whatever name you people are calling her... just, where the hell is she already?"

"Princess Nina is in her quarters right now. She will be staying in the castle."

Janet growled again. "What the hell do they want with her?"

"That is not my business to know."

"Yea yea..." Janet muttered as she glared at Brandon again. "Just like you said yesterday. But aren't you the guard who's supposed to be taking care of her anyway? Kinda lousy way to do your job, take her someplace and not even know why she's there!" There was a challenging tone in her voice now.

Brandon turned to meet Janet's gaze. "My job is to watch over her when she is not within the castle walls. While she is here, I am just a guard, like any other. It is not my job to know everything about her, or why she has been summoned here."

Janet grumbled in annoyance. "Fine, yea, right, sure..." She turned and stalked away. Her mood today wasn't doing any better then it had been yesterday.

Something is up... she thought bitterly. There was no one in Windia who knew Lucy better then Janet did, and probably no one in Windia who knew Janet better then Lucy did. The two had been friends since they had met in first grade. Janet knew everything there was to know about her. Her past, her secretes, her dreams... even her destiny that she had wanted to live out when she was a child. The destiny that came to the Windian Princess whose birth-name was Nina.

But destiny is dead Janet continued walking, her mind racing with various thoughts. The great battle fought in the last destined cycle was supposed to end it altogether. There is supposed to be no more need for the destined ones. Janet could feel her temper flaring even more. Ever since the day she had heard that Lucy had been kicked out of the palace because of her wings, and was sent to live the life of a daughter of a soldier, Janet had always feared that sooner or later, the past would come back to haunt them. Eleven years... eleven fucking years I've been helping her forget about that stupid past and try the live the life she has now. Eleven years of trying to protect her from this stupid, so-called destiny that is supposed to effect her. She doesn't need all of this now... Janet's mind flowed with memories of when she was younger. Of days when she and Lucy would spend their times together, before Lucy had been kicked out of the palace.

"When I grow up," Lucy would start, beaming happily in her little dress as she walked about the palace garden, Janet following behind her curiously. "When I grow up, Daddy says that it is my destiny to be like the other Nina's. I'll get to go on a great quest, and meet a dragon named Ryu, and we'll fall in love." Lucy would turn and smile innocently. Childhood dreams like that had seemed like so much fun.

When you're younger, anything seems like it could become a reality in the future. Lucy had always wanted to be like the other Nina's, going on a grand quest, meeting a Ryu, living happily in the palace. But that was now the very thing Janet had been busy protecting Lucy from for the past eleven years.

She's not a Nina anymore. The bitter thoughts flooded back into Janet's head. She doesn't want that destiny any more, she's told me herself. But it looked like it was too late now. Something was happening, and Lucy had been pulled into it with no hope of escaping. And I can't save her from it... The thought struck Janet violently. Eleven years of her life she had been struggling to do something that just now she realized she had no power over. Because you can't fight destiny...

But destiny is dead! The thoughts seemed to repeat on an endless circle in her mind. She remembered again the childhood conversations she and Lucy had had in the palace garden.

"... and I'll meet a dragon named Ryu... " Janet paused in the middle of her walking as a sudden thought entered her mind. So he's got something to do with this... Ray's imaged flashed inside her head for a second and Janet glanced around, as if she expected to see him standing somewhere nearby. "That dragon..." Janet muttered in a low growl just under her breath. With a quick adjustment to her walk, Janet turned and began heading towards Windian High. Now there is someone else I have to find...

Justin, Jason, Candice and Chad were standing together in a small circle in the school's courtyard. Janet spotted them easily and made her way quickly to the group. Justin was the first to see her approaching.

"Hey babe!" He grinned as she met up with the group.

"Have you seen Lucy around?" Jason asked her quickly.

Janet just ignored his question and glanced around the small group. "Have any of you seen Frank and his friends around?"

"Um... why?" Justin looked at her curiously.

"I just need to find them."

Jason shrugged. "Yea, we've seen them around. So, have you seen Lucy?"

"Forget about Lucy!" Janet whirled to face Jason, startling him greatly. "Now where did you see Frank and his friends?"

"The park..." Chad started, watching Janet carefully. "That's why we're all here... because that group is over there... Are you feeling okay, Janet?"

Janet didn't bother to answer him. She just turned and began walking again, this time towards the park, wondering if Frank and his group was still there. Justin and Chad exchanged a few confused glances.

"She's been acting really odd lately..."

Jason studied Janet as she walked away. "Something's up I think. I'm gonna see if I can't find out what it is." He slid past Candice and Justin and began to follow Janet.

A small group of teens were standing in the park. Three humans, Frank, Ellen, and Nate, three worens, Kate, Alex, and Diane, and the dragon, Ray made up the group. Janet spotted them out as she entered the park and made her way towards them quickly. No one seemed to notice her until she spoke up.

"You!"

The startled group glanced up as she shoved her way through them and stopped right in front of Ray, glaring up at him angrily. The startled dragon wasn't quite sure how to react.

"Me what?"

"Oh don't start with that 'me what' stuff." Janet let out a quick mutter of annoyance. "You'll know soon enough, she'll probably tell you herself!"

Diane, glanced up at Janet and gave her an odd look. "What the heck are ya goin' on about now?"

Janet just shot a quick look at her. "Shut up furball, I'm not talking to you!"

Ray continued to look at her in confusion. "What? Who'll tell me what soon?"

Janet growled back up at him. "You'll find out..." She studied him for a second before continuing. "Filthy dragon, you're hardly fit for it." She spun around and begin to storm away again. One of the group reached out the try and stop her.

"Now hold on a second! You can't just come barging in her, yell at Ray, and leave like that without giving any sort of explanation!"

"Why not? I just did." She muttered as she continued walking away. She had to get away from that group, from that dragon. She could feel the pent up annoyance, anger, stress, everything, building up inside her and she had to get somewhere else before it burst out of her in an uncontrollable flood. She had hardly noticed Jason before she shoved by him.

"Janet!" Jason turned, grabbing a hold of her shoulder and turning her around to face him. "What the hell was that about?"

"Let go of me, Jason..." Her voice was quivering with anger and annoyance.

Jason shook his head. "No, I'm not letting you go until you tell me what the hell is going on here! Why have you been acting so irritable lately? Where is Lucy? And what was all of that about?" He motioned to the scene that Janet had just left.

Janet jerked herself out of Jason's grasp, glaring at him harshly. "This as nothing to do with you." Her voice was quiet and threatening and she spoke through clenched teeth. Then, without another word, she turned and stalked hotly off, leaving Jason behind as he just stood and watched her go.

With a quick shrug and a shake of his head, Jason stuck his hands casually in his pockets and turned to leave, still wondering just what had gotten Janet so worked up lately.