It was now Monday, the last Monday of school before it got out. Lana wanted to go to school, but the others wouldn't hear of it. Her armor disappeared in the middle of the night, but that doesn't mean that she healed completely.

"Why not!?" she protested.

"Can you stand?" Rowen asked gently.

Lana just stared at him for a few minutes, still paralyzed from the waist down and stuck in the bed. One of the others went back up to Lana's house to get the old wheelchair there so she wouldn't be so limited, but she still wasn't very happy.

"Still, it's the last week of school and how are you going to explain why I can't come?"

"You're at home sick."

Lana frowned. "I never get sick."

"Well, this is the first," Ryo answered. "Someone that actually wants to go to school."

Lana just sort of glared at him. "Fine, I'll stay home, but I won't stay put."

Ryo, Sage, Kento, and Cye walked out to the Jeep, then waited a few more minutes before Rowen finally came out.

"Jeez, Rowen, what took you so long?" Cye asked once they got started down the road.

Rowen's blue eyes were gazing out to the sky. "Nothing."

"Just a long kiss good-bye," Kento joked.

"Yeah, well at least I have a girlfriend."

Kento turned bright red with anger. "Just because I don't have a girlfriend doesn't mean I can't get one!"

"I would like to see you try."

"I give Lana about two more minutes before getting out of bed," Cye interrupted.

"Really?" Sage asked. "I figured she was out and moving by now."

Lana closed her eyes and concentrated, her left hand out stretched. Slowly, the wheel chair rolled to the edge of the bed and stopped. With some difficulty, Lana finally got on the wheechair and got comfortable. After a few minutes of experimenting, she was able to get out of the room and into the rest of the house without crashing.

White Blaze growled and sided up with Lana. Lana scratched his head and he purred. "I promise not to go anywhere without you by me, okay?"

White Blaze growled and kept on purring.

"Fine by me."

"Hey, um, Sage Date?"

Sage looked up from his lunch to the girl that stood beside him. Her green eyes and short brown hair seemed to enhance her worried expression.

"Yes?"

"Have you seen Lana? I know that she spends her time frequently with you, I knowing because I'm one of her closes friends. I'm worried about her."

"She home sick," Rowen answered the girl.

She frowned. "Lana never gets sick."

Rowen just shrugged and took another bite out of his lunch. Sage shook his head and looked back to the girl. He moved over a little and she sat down beside him. "So, you know my name, what is your's?"

"Mandi Haile." She smiled weakly. "Is Lana really sick?"

"Just like Rowen said. He's been in constant contact with her all day."

Rowen glared at Sage, startling him. "I haven't been in constant contact with her. Last I saw her was before we left."

Lana stretched as she sat up on the soft grass, her back greatly sore. It was close to the time the rest of the warriors were supposed to get home and so far, Lana found out that her legs are a partial use. Meaning, she could stand but not walk. And there was a lot of pain.

She scratched White Blaze's head, who was laying right behind her, before she moved over to a tree where her bow and arrows leaned against beside the wheelchair.

"Still injured from Traent's blow, I see." A staff struck the ground by Lana's hand, barely missing it.

Lana grabbed the bow and arrow and tried to see who it was, but knew before she saw. "Fraezi!"

White Blaze suddenly got between her and the ice warrior, trying to protect her. Lana stood the best she could, using the tree behind her to support her weight. She held her bow and two arrow lightly in her hand as she saw the warrior come towards her, grabbing his staff in one hand.

Lana concentrated for a second, and her sub-armor formed, the silver headband extending and turning her hair snowy-white and braiding it. She could feel the pendant around her neck begin to hum with power as the vampire part of her mind came to life.

"So now I see what my mistake did to you, Lady Lančna."

Don't call me Lančna! She fitted one arrow and shot it toward Fraezi. Before it hit, it froze in midair and fell to the ground. But when she shot the next, it flew straight up into the air and she extended her mind to it, super- heating the air around it.

The arrow burst into flames as it flew toward Toyama like a shooting star. Fraezi turned back to Lana and sneered. "You shall pay!"

The ice staff hummed through the air and connect, striking the side of Lana's skull. She fell back into a pair of open, armored arms, unconscious.

"We're to late!" Dais said as he looked at the unconscious warrior in his arms, then back to the others.

"Get her out of here!" Lady Kayura yelled back as she pulled her swords out. She looked to Fraezi, who seemed to be just standing there, waiting for something.

Dais nodded, then concentrated as he held the Warrior of the Night close. Within moments, they disappeared to the Nether Realm. A surge of ice crashed into the ground where Dais stood a moment before.

Dais stood in the middle of nothingness, his hand gently probing the side of Lana's skull. He could feel the bump that was fighting to form there, but couldn't. But there was a great chance of a concussion.

"Lana!" Dais whispered urgently. "Wake up."

Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, a bright, shocking blue. She shook her head and looked at Dais, seeing him for the first time in his armor without his helmet. Dais?

He nodded as Lana stood on her own. He also noticed that the symbols on her hand was glowing brightly. Lana moved slightly to her left and collapsed suddenly onto the non-existent floor.

Dais quickly picked her up. "Is there anything wrong with your legs? Do they hurt?"

Lana shook her head. They're still regenerating from my mix up with Traent. I can stand, but not walk. I guess I forgot that.

"Are you ready to return to the fight?"

Lana nodded. Ready and willing.

She closed her eyes as Dais put an arm around her shoulders and concentrated, teleporting both of them back to the real world. When Lana opened her eyes, she immediately searched for her bow and arrows.

There they were, leaning against the tree and scattered across the ground. Lana raised her left hand and the bow and a few arrows flew to it. She fitted another arrow on the bow and used her mental powers again. As she released it toward Fraezi, it went into flames and struck against his armor.

Fraezi seemed to be in pain as he turned to Lana with an icy fire in his eyes. He raised his staff and struck it into the ground. Black lightning flared out from the staff and struck Lana, sending her crashing into the tree behind her with great force.

Black power surged through her veins and began to attack her sub-armor. The sub-armor began to contract painfully and it slowly faded. Lana screamed in pain as the protection of the armor disappeared and the force hit her full.

Kale swung at the power with his sword, but was thrown back away from it as Fraezi hit him with a different surge of power. Lana could barely see as the former Warlords tried different ways of attacking, but none seemed to have worked.

Then, what felt like an eternity, the pain suddenly stopped and Lana collapsed to the ground like a lifeless doll. Kale looked over to the fallen warrior and yelled in shock, "She's fading!"

"What?!"

Everyone looked to her and sure enough, her body was fading in and out of the real world. Dais ran toward Lana just as her body faded fully away. The warlords heard a screech of tires and turned to see the others pull up and stop.

Fraezi smiled wickedly. "My time here is done."

Rowen took off running to Fraezi, no armor, when he just disappeared into the air. Rowen tripped and fell onto the ground, tears streaming down his cheeks. "No!"

Lana suddenly opened her eyes, and looked around the black nothingness. She knew that she can make the darkness go away, but that was all she knew. She didn't know the people she just saw, she didn't remember her first home, she didn't remember a thing of her past life.

A tall man in green armor walked up to her slowly. "It is good to see you again, Lady Lančna."

"Lančna?" Lana looked up, her eyes flashing a cold black.

The warrior smiled. "You may call me Traent if you like."

Lana looked at her open hands. Black energy danced from her fingertips, just waiting to be released. "I. . . I don't remember a thing."

Traent smiled again and walked closer to Lana. "Let me help you remember." He placed an armored hand on her face, his fingertips touching her cheek, chin, and forehead.

He began to supply false images and when Lana looked into his bright green eyes, he knew something was wrong. Lana's eyes flashed from black to blue and back. Suddenly, a silver glow framed her face and the raced down her body. Her hair became silvery-white, her skin whiter, and her eyes brighter.

Suddenly the gold necklace appeared through the sub-armor that formed and black, blue, and silver energy began to gather around her, then exploded outward. Lana stood before Traent, wearing her Night Amor.

The mask of the helmet slipped into it and she looked to Traent with bright blue eyes. "I guess the scratch White Blaze gave you and the power that hit you from my attack wasn't enough." She pulled out the twin swords and stood in a fighting stance.

Traent suddenly lunged at her. Lana tried to twist away, but three metal claws gouged into her cheeks, catching her across the nose and lips. Lana cried out in pain and black electricity arced across the space and hit Traent.

He cried out and suddenly, he transferred Lana back to the real world.

The wind howled, pushing at the standing humans, nearly knocking them over. Rowen stood, unaffected by the windstorm, a blue aura surrounding him. He looked toward the woods and everything stopped.

Everyone looked to where he was looking and gasped. Lana limped out of the woods, her swords dragging along the ground, dark red blood streaming down her face from three large wounds, the blood mingling with tears. Slowly, the armor disappeared, then the sub-armor and Lana collapsed to the ground.

"Lana!" Rowen ran to the fallen warrior with all of the speed in him. When he reached her, the gashes on her face had stopped bleeding and began to heal.

Her blue eyes opened suddenly and she whirled out of Rowen's arms into a fighting stance, her hair falling to the ground. Her face was laced with confusion and what could have been possibly anger. She looked between Rowen, the other four warriors, and the warlords.

Her feet slowly came off the ground and her eyes became a light blue, black lightning flashing through them. She suddenly turned and ran into the woods. Rowen saw Cye start to run after her and held up an arm to stop the warrior.

"Let her go. She needs time to straighten her thoughts." He watched Lana's retreating form as the others walked back to the house. He had no idea what happened, but he knew Lana would prefer to get it out of her system in her own time.

Rowen walked through the seemingly deserted house, shadows swallowing nearly everything. As he wandered up the stairs, pain flashed through his mind and his hands. The flashes of pain seemed to get more frequent, but less painful.

He walked into what appeared to be a small gym, barely any light coming in. "Is there anything wrong?" a voice came.

"I just want to see how you're feeling," Rowen said, turning to find Lana no where in sight. "I was worried about you. We all are. Even Lady Kayura and the others."

Lana's form suddenly materialized right in front of his eyes, the shadows parting for her. Her long hair hung loosely around her body and back to it's brown color. The silver band was still there.

Rowen touched the band as Lana came closer and blinked in surprise. "It's metal?"

Lana nodded and slowly slid it off. The pain flashed back and Rowen saw Lana's kanji, hope, glow silver in her forehead. "This band is the tiara I wore to the school dance. It became like this when my powers were fully activated, and now I can't leave it off. It stops my powers from becoming to serious."

Slowly, the kanji stopped glowing as Lana concentrated on it. It left a scar like mark on her forehead. "I'll always need to cover this up if no one is to know my true powers." She placed the band back on and looked to Rowen.

Then it seemed that a mask shattered. Tears began to run down her cheeks as Rowen stepped forward and held her shoulders tight. The wearer of Strata hold onto Lana as if she was the only thing that mattered.

After a few minutes, her crying quieted and her mind calmed. Rowen squeezed her shoulders gently and looked at her deep blue eyes. "Come on. You'll need to get some rest for tomorrow." He lead Lana towards the door of the house. "You got a physical test tomorrow, did you know that?"

Lana nodded and smiled slightly. "And I'm going to take it no matter wha-" Her legs suddenly gave out, toppling her right into Rowen's outstretched arms. "No matter what you say," she finished, looking up into Rowen's eyes, smiling.