Worlds Apart

Hawk has a bottle in his mouth and looks into a cradle, trying to get his tiny baby sister to take it. Melidy, a tiny light pink colored newborn piglet with black patches, keeps scrumming and refusing her bottle. Hawk keeps forcing it into her face. "Come on Melidy, you want to grow up big and strong like your brothers, don't you?"

"Mild that's not how to feed her;" says Wild; "Let me show you how it's done."

"Ok, but she hasn't taken the bottle from you yet either."

Wild takes the bottle into his mouth, holds his sister's tiny head in place, and shoves the nipple into her mouth, along with half the bottle. Tears form in Melidy's eyes, and she screams in terror.

A human woman with chocolate colored skin rushes to the cradle.

"Guys you're choking her. Move!" She takes the bottle out of Melidy's mouth, picks her up and cradles her, which calms her down. "Boys, I know you want her to accept the bottle from you both, but you can't force her, especially when she's not hungry."

"But the baby care pamphlet said to feed her every two hours;" informs Wild; "It's been two hours and five minutes."

"Wild, don't believe everything those pamphlets tell you;" says Hawk.

"Hawky, Hawky, piggyback." Three small girls ages 2, 5, and 8, rush in and start jumping on Hawk's back.

"Oh boy, it's piggyback time again;" says Hawk exasperated; "Why don't you give them a ride for a change Wild?"

"Because they like you. Plus, I'm too tall for them to get on;" Wild laughs as Hawk is forced to give the girls their umpteenth piggyback ride of the day.

Just then, the woman gets a strange feeling and walks outside onto a cliff overlooking a beach, still cradling a now sleeping Melidy. Wild follows her. "Do you feel a strange presence again, Jaz?"

She nods. "It feels like the energy of a vortex."

"Like the one Scout used to bring us here. She's out there right now, isn't she?"

Jaz nods again. "She'll investigate it. And that was a dimensional gate that brought you here, not a vortex.

222222222222222222222222222222

After being swallowed by the vortex, the next thing Ban knew he was spitting out salt water and needed to swim.

"What the hell?" He's inside what looks like a mostly underwater cave with crystal clear water that glows bright blue. "How the...ELAINE! Captain! ANYBODY ANSWER ME!"

"BAN!"

"Elizabeth!" The two swim towards each other, the waves causing them both to bump their heads on the cave ceiling.

"Ban. (Spit) Where's everybody else?"

Suddenly, Zeldris surfaces next to them, gasping for breath.

"Oh look, it's the captain's creepy brother."

"Can it Ale Head. Elizabeth. (Spit). Have you seen Gelda or Meliodas?"

"Let's check." They all dive under and look but fail to see anybody else inside the small cave. Oddly, they find Meliodas's sacred treasure, but not Meliodas.

"It's just the three of us;" says Zeldris.

"How the hell did we get here?" asks Ban; "and where's Elaine and everybody else?"

"That vortex must have transported us to another location;" informs Zeldris.

"Fine, but how do we get out of here? Is it just me or is this cave filling up even more?"

"It must be the evening high tide;" says Elizabeth; "Look for a way out."

"That's easy;" says Ban; "We'll just punch our way out."

"No, you idiot!" says Zeldris; "You could cause a cave in and we have no way of knowing what's above us."

"You've got a better idea chump?"

"Try looking for brighter light spots and water flows;" replies Elizabeth, "May mean a way out."

They spend the next several minutes searching. The cave proves to be a small one and they do spot some brighter light coming their way. The trio braces themselves as another person surfaces, holding what appears to be an underwater torch. The face is obstructed by the water and the light, as is the color of the long hair seemly pulled into a ponytail. The person raises their hand and gestures the trio to follow. They do so but remain on guard. The person and the light take them through a small and mostly underwater opening. They soon surface, the person gesturing for them to keep following. After swimming for what must have been a few miles, they finally see the person and light exit the water and waves the torch. They make it out of the water, completely exhausted. The light leads them just a few feet from the beach, over what appears to be a small cliff or wall made from beach rock. Finally, the light disappears inside a building. There's enough light to reveal that the building looks like a church, a cross on top confirming this, yet it looks a little different from the churches in Britannia. It's simple and clean looking, appears to be an off-white sand color (at least in the dark), and it's actually elevated on stilts. They go around back where the person had gone, and are surprised to hear the sounds of several animals, including goats and ducks. There also what appears to be a barn behind the church and a connecting building with lights on inside.

Elizabeth and Ban then hear a strangely familiar voice and are surprised to see a full-size talking pig trotting around with 3 kids and a couple of dogs on his back, then passing out from exhaustion. "That's enough for today. Piggy's pooped."

"HAWK, is that you?"

Hawk looks over and can't believe his eyes. "Elizabeth, Ban, Melio..." he realizes that the Meliodas look-a-like has black hair with a stoic expression. A second later, Hawk is being smothering by Ban. "MASTER! It's so good to see you!"

Hawk's happy to see him too, but he can't breathe. Finally, Elizabeth gets a hold of him and gives him a big but breathable hug.

"Hawk, what are you doing here?"

"Scout brought us here."

"Scout?"

During all this, the children and dogs watch with curiosity and the dogs try to sniff and figure out the new comers, two dogs taking to them while one barks, especially towards Zeldris. Hawk then warns them that the two-year-old is heading towards the edge of the cliff. Wild arrives seemly out of the blue to get her.

"Wild?!" goes Ban.

"Well, do my eyes deceive me or is that my old buddy Ban?"

"Let's get everybody in so you'll can dry off shall we;" comes an unfamiliar voice. It's Jaz. The trio is surprised to see somebody with skin as dark as hers. Her hair's chocolate brown and curly, pulled into a pony-tail falling just below the shoulder line. She's wearing a somewhat loose fitted khaki shirt, relaxed fitted blue jeans, and pink flip-flops. While Ban and Zeldris wonder if she's human, Elizabeth has seen pictures of people who look like her.

"Are we in Africa?"

"Of course, she's human;" answers Hawk guessing what was on their minds; "And this isn't Africa, this is Amalfi."

"Where?"

Jaz calls the girls to come in. Naturally, they want another piggyback ride before bed. However, Hawk convinces them to go on Wild as he flips each girl onto his brother's back and rushes off.

"Mild, I'm going to get you for this."

The others can't help but laugh, even Zeldris smiles a little. As they go inside, they are surprised to see stuff on a table to make sandwiches, along with fruit, warm almond milk, water and juice, plus towels and dry clothes waiting for them. Two more girls, ages 13 and 16, are waiting for them and greet them in their language. Jaz translates; "They said they helped Scout lay out the food and that she's feeding the babies." Elizabeth, Ban, and Zeldris tell them thank you, wrap the towels around themselves, and sit in front of a warm fire. It isn't long before they realize that these older girls can both speak Britannian (English) fluently, or British as they call it.

"Are you from Britain?" ask the 13-year-old.

"Britain?" replies Ban. "No, we're from Britannia."

"Ban;" says Elizabeth; "I think that's what they call our land."

"Really? Well, we mustn't be far then if they know our language."

"Actually;" says Jaz; "Britannia is over 1500 miles from here. You're in the Kingdom of Naples (modern day Italy) of the Holy Eastern Latin Empire. That's the Mediterranean Sea next to us." The trio gasp hearing this, wondering how they ended up so far from home. After hearing what happened, their host informs them that she felt a vortex open up and that her sister had informed her that it was very unstable. While it's possible that the others could be nearby, most likely they've landed in other locations, maybe even different lands that could be hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

"What do we do then?" ask Zeldris; "I need to find Gelda, especially since she's hurt!"

"I believe I healed her enough that she'll be alright;" says Elizabeth; "but I know what you mean."

"What about Elaine, Captain and the others?" ask Ban; "What do we do now?"

"We could try to look for them;" says Elizabeth huffing; "but we should probably rest a little. They are all strong and expert survivors. We need to trust that they'll all be alright."

"As long as Elaine isn't alone, which I hope she isn't, then I'll be more at ease;" replies Ban.

"Same with Gelda;" adds Zeldris.

Jaz nods, then tells the younger girls it's time for bed, the older girls help to wisp them off.

"I have a question;" says Hawk; "How come Meliodas's sword is here, but not him?"

"Captain never used to let go of that broken dragon handle sword;" replies Ban; "but he's got a bad habit of losing his scared treasure."

"That's Meliodas for you;" adds Zeldris.

"Hey Mild, you going to tell them the good news, or should I?" asks Wild.

"Oh, that's right;" Hawk stands up proudly; "I'm no longer just plain Sir Hawk Captain of the Order of Scraps Disposal;"

"Don't I eat more than you do little brother?"

Hawk give Wild the annoyed eyes and continues. "I am now Sir Hawk Big Brother Extraordinaire to Melidy!"

"What?"

"Yes;" answers Wild; "we have a new sister born just three weeks ago. She almost didn't make it, but thanks to Scout, she's doing well."

Elizabeth and the guys are blown away to hear this news and express their congratulations, then a thought hits Ban.

"Hang on, just who is this Scout person?"

"Oh, she's the one who found us in Purgatory and brought us here to save Melidy;" answers Wild.

"Do you guys want to see her?" asks Hawk with twinkles in his eyes; "She's the most beautiful baby there ever was."

"She's asleep;" says the 13-year-old coming in.

"Did she eat?" the brothers ask in unison.

"Yes, she did."

"Why is it she'll only let Scout, Jaz, or Chloe feed her?" ask Hawk, being overdramatic.

Elizabeth suddenly feels nauseous and excuses herself. She runs outside and throws up, then she feels fine again. "Where did that come from? Is it something I ate? Maybe I'm just worried about the others." Elizabeth decides to take a moment and listen to the waves, maybe the calm ocean atmosphere will calm her down. She goes to the top of the stone cliff and looks out, the mostly full moon gives good light, although Elizabeth's goddess abilities give her night vision. She hears dolphins near the shore and can sees them jumping and splashing. She then notices somebody standing on the shoreline watching them. She believes it's the same person who led them out of the cave. Scout perhaps? The person, wearing long boyish swim trunks and a loose-fitting t-shirt, turns and looks at Elizabeth. She can't make out the face, although the now loose shoulder length hair seems to be an auburn color with loose curly blowing in the wind. 

After a few seconds, the person looks back at the dolphins and joins them in the sea.

222222222222222222222222222222222222

"HOLY CRAP! How did it get so cold all of a sudden?"

In just a few passing seconds, King is hit with a very sudden stinging cold. He immediately activates his pollen barrier to block out the cold and looks around. Despite being night, the area is fairly well lite by the almost full moon and numerous stars. King's breath is almost taken away by how many stars are in the sky, and at how big and close the moon seems to be, much different than what he's used to seeing. Then he realizes that the surrounding area seems to be very mountainous with the tallest mountain peaks he's ever seen, and even at night there seems to be snow gleaming on these mountains.

"Snow, in mid-April? That can't be right? Where am I? DIANE!"

Diane doesn't answer. King looks around but doesn't see her. He does see two others near him, shivering in the cold. He moves his barrier over them and only then does he see the mostly naked and still somewhat burnt bodies of Merlin and Gelda. He faints immediately as blood spurs from his nose.

"King, wake up." Merlin zaps him with a little lightning bolt. He wakes up hollering and turns his back towards them.

"Don't worry ladies, I'll make you some clothes right away. This is a disaster." King panics as he tries to make a tree outside the barrier, but it quickly shrivels away. "What? That's not right."

"King."

"No no, I just need to try harder, in here."

"King!"

He ignores Merlin and tries again to grow a tree inside the barrier. It almost works until King suddenly seems to run out of power and collapses. The barrier also disappears, the cold hitting again like knives.

"Oh, sorry ladies. I'll try again!"

"KING!"

"What Merlin?"

"I could make clothes from those animals over there if you would herd a couple over."

King looks and notices some large sleeping animals with horns huddled together. "Oh, of course, but let me do this." Again, he attempts to split Chastiefol, instead Gelda and Merlin light small fire balls from their hands to keep warm. "Hurry before our magic runs low! And don't strain yourself."

"Got it." King flies to the animals (Yaks), which resemble cattle but are bigger, bulkier, and hairier with larger horns, and uses guardian to wake them up and scares them towards their direction. They quickly kill two of them and Merlin works quickly to make warm clothes with her magic, including some for King. Once she's finished, she barely has enough energy left to put them on. All the while, King never once looks at the ladies until they are fully clothed.

Merlin and King then make a tent just big enough for the three of them, then go inside, starting a small fire out of rocks right next to the tent's opening, which they leave partially open for the smoke to escape, and cook some of the yak's meat. However, they find that despite being hungry earlier, they are too exhausted to bring themselves to eat much, and are even starting to feel a little nauseous. The exhaustion seems to have hit them rather quickly, King is so exhausted that he no longer can sit up and rest on his Chastiefol pillow, also returning to his more kid-like form with the little wings. No longer in survival mode, his hostility towards Merlin returns.

"Alright Merlin, what the heck happened? Why is it so cold here? And why are we suddenly so exhausted and drained. And where the heck is Diane and Elaine and everybody else?!"

"Please, calm down and don't strain yourself;" Merlin replies, putting out the fire and closing the tent. Gelda has laid down and can barely keep her eyes open.

"I'm not sure exactly, but I believe we're somewhere in the Himalayas."

"The Himalayas?" ask Gelda.

King freaks out; "THE WAIT?! Where in Britannia are the those? I've never heard of them."

"We're no longer in Britannia;" answer Merlin; "We are thousands of miles from Britannia, probably 5,000 miles, in the continent of Asia."

Gelda's eyes widen in shock, and King is flipped out.

"5,000 MILES?! How did this happen?"

"King please, calm down;" says Merlin; "You'll pass out if you use to much energy."

"How can I calm down? I'm thousands of miles from home, and how? Where's Diane? I sure hope she's still in Britannia and not out there in this cold. Elaine too."

"I don't know;" says Merlin; "I'm sorry that I was passed out but I did feel the vortex energy as we were being pulled through. The truth is if it was just the three of us here, then I don't believe anybody else landed here."

"I saw the vortex;" says Gelda; "I think it engulfed everybody, including Diane and Elaine."

"Then where are they?"

Merlin catches herself before she looks down, trying to maintain her normal calm, stoic expression. "King, I heard something about a bottle that the captain wasn't supposed to open. Fill me in on that please."

"Something about that bottle shouldn't be open when it's not a full moon. It had some purple stuff in it."

Merlin thinks for a moment then it hits her; "Transport Witchhazel salt. It's very delicate and only works properly when the moon is full. Even then only under certain conditions. With it being triggered around a full moon and under such unstable conditions, with that many people, it must have sent us all to different locations, most likely high energy regions."

"Do you have any of that salt Merlin?" asks Gelda.

"I do, back in my lab in Lions."

King yawns, struggling to stay awake. "So, just transport us home Merlin."

"Unfortunately, I can't. I can only teleport up to 300 miles, and in locations that I'm familiar with. Plus (yawn) my magic's depleted right now."

"How do I even know that I trust you anymore?" asks King, rubbing his eyes; "Why am I so exhausted. I haven't felt this exhausted since (yawn) we battled the Demon King."

Gelda and Merlin also yawn, laying their heads down. "High altitude. We're not used to..." Merlin drifts off to sleep, followed by King and Gelda.

222222222222222222222222222222222222222

Meliodas wakes up with his face buried in sand. He coughs sand out of his mouth and rubs his head. As he attempts to brush sand off his still wet clothes, he realizes that the ocean has disappeared and there's nothing but sand all around, as well as the moon which seems to be larger. He also notices that the air he's breathing feels hot and dry, and it's suddenly a lot warmer.

"Man, why is so warm? Where's, Elizabeth! Ban! Dian...ouf!"

He trips over something, or someone, landing with his face in the sand again.

"Hey, watch where you're going."

Meliodas looks up and sees Willie.

"Oh, it's you."

"Whatever. Melius is it?"

"Meliodas, and you are?"

"Wildelfredico."

"Huh?"

"Wildelfredico."

"What does that mean?" Meliodas takes off his boots to dump the sand from them.

"That's my name."

The dragon sin gets an awkward look on his face. "You're kidding right?"

"NO!"

Meliodas puts his boots back on; "Ok, foreign guy who was in drag, what happened and where are we? What happened to my friends?"

Willie's agitated. "You may call me Wildelfredico. The transport salt activated and we're somewhere in the Sahara."

"The what?"

"The Sahara Desert."

Meliodas is confused. "Desert? As in all sand and no water?"

Willie rolls his eyes. "Mostly. Thanks a lot for opening that bottle."

"HEY! That was an accident, ok;" Meliodas stands up, scratching his head; "Did you just say transport salt? Why did we end up here? Where's everybody else, and why is it so hot here?"

"Hot? At 80 degrees and dropping? It's nighttime and it's April. This temperature is cool. What until July and August in the daytime."

"Well, I don't intend to be here that long. ELIZABETH! BAN!"

Willie jumps in front of him puts his finger towards the dragon sin's lips. "Not so loud. Carnivorous gigantic cacti and other things might be out here. As far as where your friends are, they could be anywhere on the planet."

"Planet? I'm really confused. Well then, just use that magic salt of yours and take me to them."

"I can't. The full moon's tomorrow night. Any other time the salt goes chaotic, especially under such unstable conditions. Your friends are probably hundreds or thousands of miles away."

Meliodas is beyond shocked. "NO ELIZABETH!" He gets on his knees and puts his hands on his head; "Hang on Elizabeth, I'll find you. I always do. Wait a minute. Did I see Zeldris? Don't tell me he's lost too."

"I said to keep it down;" Willie shakes the sand from his backpack. "Look, most likely we were all divided into groups. So hopefully they're not alone. As long as they're not with Herman. Tomorrow night I can transport us to Cairo."

"Cairo? Where's that? Why not Britannia?"

"Because my bishop can search for them with his magic."

Meliodas relaxes a little and goes into his usual causal poss. Hopefully Zeldris and Elizabeth are together with the others. Doesn't mean he's not concerned for them, though.

"So, what do we do right now?" Willie's no longer next to him. "HEY! WHERE DID YOU GO?"

"Down here."

"Where?"

"To your left, a couple of steps."

Meliodas moves a couple of steps and sees Willie carefully going down a sand dome with a magic light ball. "Hey wait!" He starts sliding down but stumbles and slides down past Willie. When the monk makes it to the bottom, he's surprised to find Meliodas laughing with a big smile on his face.

"That was fun. Let's do it again."

"What?!" He grabs Willie and leaps back up the slope, then slides down, tumbling over on purpose this time, laughing gleefully.

"Again."

"Put me down!"

"Sure." Meliodas drops him and goes up and down the sand dunes several times. Willie is frustrated. The dragon sin arrives next to him, laughing. "Come on, Will, you're missing all the desert fun."

"The deserts not supposed to be fun, Mr. Meliodas. And my name's Wildelfredrico."

"Like I'm going to remember that. Who gave you such a ridiculous name anyway?"

"My mother!"

"Of course. How about I call you Will, or how about Willie?"

"NO, YOU MAY NOT!"

"Willie it is then."

"That's not my name!"

"Whatever."

"What about your name? What kind of name is Meliodas? Did your mother think of that?"

Meliodas is caught off guard with that question and must think about it. 

"Actually;" he says scratching his head; "I'm not sure I ever had a mother."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that, I don't know. As a kid I was told that my father made me from clay and brought me to life. Guess I'm a bit old to believe that story huh?" Meliodas grins and laughs. Willie shakes his head. "Well, I suppose I had one once, but I never heard about her. Honestly, I guess I never really thought about it."

GROWL! Meliodas grabs his stomach. "Hey Willie, you got any food in that bag of yours. I'm thirsty too."

Willie huffs in frustrated but takes out a bottle and hands it to him.

"Thanks." Meliodas takes huge gulps and has drunk over 3/4 of the bottle when Willie tries to snatch it back.

"That's enough! Does it take the whole Nile to quench your thirst?"

"Is that what this stuff's called?"

"No! It's fig juice."

"Oh;" Meliodas finishes the juice, belches, then hands the bottle back; "Not bad, but it would be so much better with alcohol. Got anything to eat?"

Willie huffs but hands him a tin can of almonds. "Don't eat too many, we must ration..." Meliodas downs the whole can. "HEY!"

"Oh, did you want some?" the dragon sin says with his mouth full.

"Seriously? I said to ration."

Meliodas swallows; "Got anything else?"

"You've had enough..." Meliodas swipes his bag and digs through it. "HEY! THAT'S MY BAG!"

"Weren't you the one who said to keep our voices down? Oh, is this taffy?"

Willie's eyes bug out; "I wouldn't eat that..."

Meliodas stuffs the taffy into his mouth, but it's so repulsive that he makes a disgusted face and spits it out. "YUCK! What was that? It's about as disgusting as my cooking."

"Don't ask."

He reaches into the bag again. Willie tries to get it back from him, but Meliodas won't let go. Willie then tries to punch him, only to end up with a hurt fist.

"OUCH! What are you made of a brick wall?"

"Nah, just solid steel muscle. And brick really isn't tough at all, not to me anyway."

A couple of strange, angry growling sounds are heard.

"Shh Meliodas, hear that?"

"Yea, that's my stomach."

"Not that, the other growl."

They hear the growl again and Meliodas realizes it's not coming from him. Feeling something sinister, he reaches for his sword, only to discover that it's not back there. "Crap where's my sword? I must have dropped it."

The sand behind them rises as a giant monster, about the size of Diane and resembling a tarantula, but with ten legs and the smell and look of rotting flesh, shows it ugly face, or lack of except for a mouth.

"A Goliath sand devil! Run Meliodas."

However, Meliodas jumps on the monster's back, squashing it in a couple of hits. Willie's beyond astounded, he had sensed great high level demon race powers in Meliodas, but hadn't considered his physical strength. Suddenly another one appears, Meliodas taking it out with one hit.

"Yikes."

Meliodas returns and brushes his hands. "Easy peasy. Looks like I'm going to have some dinner. Want to join me?"

"No, you're not! That thing is nothing but wasted negative energy in a physical form. Its outer shell is made up of dead decomposing flesh."

Meliodas gets an awkward, very disappointed look, "Ah, ok."

The ground suddenly starts shaking, and several more of those monsters appear, much bigger then the first two with what looks like needles all over their bodies. They start shooting stuff from their mouths, Meliodas barely pushing Willie out the way. He then takes off his scabbard to use Full Counter.

"Meliodas wait?"

"Full Count..." Meliodas gets hit with dark energy, which burns him. Another attack about hits him when some threads appear and pull him out of the way. It was Willie.

"They're made with anti-magic!"

"What the hell is anti-magic?"

"Just as it's said. It disrupts and repeals magic."

"CRAP!" Meliodas's scabbard is damaged. He throws it aside and leaps into the air; "Guess I've got to do this hard way."

His demon mark appears and he shapes his black demon energy into swords, slicing up all the Goliath sand devils. Unfortunately, they all regenerate, and multiple. Worst yet, dozens more rise to the surface. All Willie can do is use his thread magic to get Meliodas out of jams and help maneuver his movements.

"I though you said you had no combat abilities."

"I don't;" replies Willie.

"Well, throughs threads of yours sure do come in handy." They both get caught by long, sticky tongues, but Meliodas rips the tongue apart and frees himself. He then jumps up and rips out the tongue of the one that has Willie. The dragon sin increases his power to blow these things to smithereens, when suddenly another powerful blast burns the one in front of him into ash.

"Nuri!" Willie calls out.

Meliodas is surprised to see her, but joins her in the burning process. After about half an hour, they finally burn every single Goliath sand devil to ash beyond the point of regenerating. Meliodas returns to normal, then collapses.

A couple of hours later, they have taken Meliodas to some abandoned mosque ruins that Nuri found earlier. He remains unconscious but seems fine otherwise. Nuri returns with two unfertilized ostrich eggs she managed to find.

"Nuri, why did get two. Just one of those eggs would keep both of us feed for days."

They look at Meliodas as he stomach rumbles loudly. He has also started snoring, which is about as loud. Willie goes over to Meliodas, he is out cold. "I don't think he's waking up anytime soon. Guess we'd better attempt to rest as well. Although it'll be a miracle if we can sleep with all this, racket." All of a sudden, Meliodas subconsciously grabs the monk and starts snuggling with him.

"Oh Elizabeth, you're so delicious."

"HEY! Let me go!" Meliodas rubs his hand up Willie's body and attempts to grope his breast, or lack of.

"I'm not your lover! Nuri help me!"

Nuri quickly whips the smirk off her face and gets Meliodas to let go of Willie, but he grabs her and attempts to lick her lips. She blocks his tongue with hand, which gets licked instead.

"Mmm Elizabeth."

Nuri starts to growl, and her eyes starts to glow.

"Nuri, stay calm." Willie holds a peace amulet to keep the volcano lady's rage in check.

"Throw me my bag, HURRY!"

Willie throws Nuri her bag and she puts it between herself and Meliodas, getting him to snuggle and lick it instead. Nuri clearly is struggling not to blow up. Willie holds up the amulet, approaches her with caution, and gently puts his hand on her shoulder. "Deep breathes." He starts singing a Coptic hymn, she soon joins him, the peace amulet shakes in Willie's hand as if it's about to explode, but Nuri calms down enough. She then jerks away and goes outside.

Willie nearly passes outs; "This is going to be a long night."

REVIEWS AND COMMENTS! PLEASE! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!