[i]'Missing? How. . .how could he be missing? It's not possible, right? This. . . .This is a joke, right!?'[/i] Panic begins to well up inside the nightmare minion and tears spring to his eyes as his breath begins leaving him in short, ragged bursts. “No. . . .” The sound of his voice is one of the saddest most pathetic things the dream has ever heard and from his spot on Enasi's lap he reaches around the edge of the chair with one paw, as if trying to reach out and comfort the small minion. However it only take a moment for him to pull the paw back in shock and duck behind the back of the chair in pain. 

Crios had been prepared for this however and fighting the urge to vomit he gives Inui another shot and the cloud around the small minion begins to dissipate. The pain isn't any less, but Inui is unable to panic, he simply can't. His body just won't let him. So instead, he simply cries. Rasha peeks over the chair and mewls pathetically, reaching out with one paw towards the minion, pawing air needfully in his desire to make Inui feel all better. The doctor watches the gesture sadly, looking to Enasi to see if he thinks it's safe now.

~*~*~*~*~

It's hard to miss the sudden surge of positive energy entering the area, but rather than going after it Kaila simply continues stroking his brother's hair soothingly, the blond's head resting comfortably on the spot where his shoulder meets his collar bone. They sit side by side on a parked car, Jentou working on staying calm after the encounter with the dream minion, he fleeing body making him rather sick as he thinks how displeased Master Seishu would be if he saw and thought they'd hurt it. They'd been careful, kept all their energy bottled up, best they could, but it still ran like it's backside was on fire.

However the minions, two of them, approach swiftly and all too soon for the elder brother he's forced to stop cuddling and to get to his feet. Kaila's head rotates a little like a radar dish and without a word the two of them set off around a house, emerging almost directly on to the street, this neighborhood not big on yards. Kaila is slow, deliberate, and Jentou does his best to not look intimidating.

~*~

The chastising by his little brother seems to put Jentou in his place and with a last fuming huff he settles, looking to the ground as he tries to get himself under control. Harper watches and accepts the situation as “safe enough” for now and stops trying to hide Rue. The little fairy buzzes off the ground and hovers around the rabbit man for a few seconds before drifting over to Kaila. He still feels so grateful for what the man had done for his guardian that despite the tense exchange he still feels happy to see him. However, as Seishu's first friend in the Dream Realm, he feels likewise the shame of having lost the man.

Settling to his feet in front of the violet haired male Rue glances at Jentou – the latter having tensed slightly when the fairy had approached – before kneeling down silently and taking Kaila's hand, pressing the back of said hand to his forehead in promise. Kaila watches the dream minion, a part of him feeling almost touched that the minion had adopted a Nightmare Realm custom, but on the surface his expression doesn't change. When Rue looks up the golden eyed male nods, the flicker of a smile on his lips for an instant. The expression is foreign, but if the fairy is going to got out of his way for him, it's the least he can do in return.

Rue smiles brightly, returning to Harper's side, hovering quietly as he can, the buzz from his wings unavoidable. Harper wants to ask what just happened, having watched it from beginning to end with a stiff spine and sharp look, but right now, it's not important. [i]'He would make a great emissary I think, or a messenger, once this is all over. . .'[/i] The general muses before going back to hunting in his own way. 

Kaila senses that the dream is doing more than just standing there and waits, his patience despite his internal turmoil endless as it's always been. Jentou however was never patient before his rewiring and in an agitated state he finds it a little more difficult than usual to reach the peace his Master had instilled in him. Once he finds it however he looks over at Harper curiously, opening his eyes slowly under the light of the street lamp overhead. He looks as calm and blissful as ever. He feels two other positive forces coming, but, that doesn't bother him. Not really.

Moments later Finn and Starla appear, having doing all of the houses in the area before returning to Harper to give their report. They eye the nightmare second and his companion but do not address them however, instead reporting that Seishu isn't in the area. At the end of the report Harper lets out a sigh and looks over at Kaila. The two walk a little ways away and converse quietly. Rue takes care of introductions and the plant siblings give respectful nods while Jentou waves back vaguely with a smile, his focus mostly on his brother who is entirely too far away as far as he's concerned.

When he comes back Kaila quickly summons a portal and vanishes through it. The remaining three minions look at Harper in confusion, and he explains quietly. “They've gone off to grab a couple more minions. We're going to travel in twos, you two, Rue and me, Kaila and his brother, and whatever pair he's going to grab.”

Rue pipes up, “Probably Lan and Ran.” before falling silent, looking a little scared that he spoke up out of turn.

Harper looks at him, nodding. [i]'He knows more about the other side than we do, so I do not doubt that his guess is more spot on than any we could make'[/i] He goes on as if he wasn't interrupted. “This will make our sides even, and will hopefully keep us safe.” He lets out a faint sigh, glancing down for a moment before looking back up. “Let's face it, the planet's huge. Rue and I are the fastest and even we would take weeks searching it from top to bottom. Instead though, we're going to do it continent by continent, traveling together to each place then spreading out from the middle.” He glances at the spot where Kaila and his brother vanished then looks back at his “team”.

We're going to focus on places large enough, with a high enough population to support a good number of dreams and dram minions since I don't see many of them returning home very often. They will need the local dreams of many minds to stay strong enough to control Seishu, even in his weakened state. So, population a thousand and above, the more the better since it will be easier to hide their activities the more they have to feed off of and hide under.” Harper bites his lip. The idea of them hiding behind the good feelings around them coming from Kaila had irked him. He's not sure if it's more because the nightmare minions have noticed the tactic, or that he seemed to look down on one of the basic tactics taught all earth bound minions.

Just as he's finishing up explaining the route they will take the dark portal appears again and Kaila returns, Jentou close behind, and following after two minions who look clearly related. They also look clearly upset, but no resentful gazes dart in the dream denizens' direction. Kaila gives the men a look and quickly they do as they've been taught, burying and refocusing their feelings. They have a job to do. No time to be upset. 

Harper nods at the group and Kaila returns the gesture, raising a hand to those standing behind him. With a sound almost like rippling cloth mixed with someone snapping a towel, four sets of wings appear. Finn and Starla let out faint gasps, the sight actually stunning to see in the perfect synchronization that the nightmare minions managed effortlessly. Not for the last time Harper wonders if all nightmare denizens have wings, but he does not bring it up. Rue smiles, his eyes jumping from the two dark blue sets of bird like wings with yellow tips to each feather, over to Kaila's lovely black bat wings, and at last settling on Jentou's identical bat wings save for the color. He's never seen a purer white in his life. The two seconds stare at one another a moment longer, then with a silent command from Kaila, and a verbal one from Harper, the group breaks, the sudden movement tossing up a huge cloud of dust and dirt from the oil stained asphalt that even a blind human would be able to see, even if they can't see the source of it.