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[color=skyblue][h1]Ariella Taraman[/h1][h3]The Gate; The Outlands[/h3][/color][/center]
Ariella noticed all of the looks from the people around them and just shook her head, as they made their way back inside. They were all in the room. They saw who the partners were. They honestly should have recognized what was going on. She was blushing, slightly, as he had his hand on her lower back. Once they got into the elevators, she adjusted slightly so she was farther away from him and he was no longer touching her back. The ride up was awkward and silent until he apologized for having his shirt open and it being hot outside. She just nodded silently, staring at the doors, waiting for them to open. 

When the doors finally did open, after what seemed like an hour which was probably only a few moments, she stalked out first, heading to her room. Hers was the first closest to the elevator. She thought it was fairly funny, as in an emergency, she would be the first one on call from this floor, as she was closest to the elevator. She swung into her room, tossing the Guard gear onto the bed, and immediately stripped down. She tossed her beautiful dress onto the bed and grabbed the compression shorts that were in the package. The shorts had no room for underwear, so she just went commando and pulled them on. She pulled on a sports bra ad slipped the skin tight blue shirt on over her head, sliding her arms into the long sleeves. Once she got it situated tight, she pulled up her hood and touched a button on the side. A metal mask snapped over her nose and mouth. This would allow her to breathe easier with the run from back behind the gate out into the Outlands. 

She slipped into some broken in tennis shoes and immediately walked back out, the whole changing ordeal only taking her a few minutes. Waiting another minute for Noah, she nodded to him when he walked out. She didn't look for too long, but when she turned away to press the button, she mouthed [i]Wow![/i] to herself. She had never noticed how good he looked before, and with the uniform being so tight fitting, it outlined almost every one of his muscles. Her eyes slightly widened, she made her way into the elevator and the doors shut once more. 

The elevator was silent, yet again, on the way down, but once they opened, a bunch of drunken, slurring Guards made their way in, forcing Ariella and Noah to slide out around them without touching them. Shaking her head, Ariella led the way down the hallway to where Cru, Nau, and Sky were all waiting. Sky and Cru were still decked out in their uniforms, and Nau now had a communicator in his hands. He looked up as the two new Guards approached. 

"Good. You two are here," he said. Pulling out another communicator, he handed one to both Noah and Ariella. "Take these. If you ever get separated, you can just pressed that red button on the side and it will alert someone to your position. They will help you out. Now you must leave. It's a fifteen minute run to the Gate, and you guys have twenty minutes to midnight."

"Yes sir," Ariella said and both Sky and Cru drew up their hoods, tapping the button to have their masks go around their faces. They both took off out the door, and Ariella and Noah followed behind them. They ran, nonstop, for the full fifteen minutes, until the large, looming, dark gate appeared in front of them. Cru and Sky did not say anything. Instead, they stopped and waited, looking at the Gate. Ariella looked at it closely. She had only seen it from a distance before, never up close. It was a lot more... intimidating up close. 

She took a deep breath and looked over at Noah. "Six hours in the Outlands..." she said aloud, looking for some form of reactions, but not getting any. She sighed and turned back forward, but right then, there was a loud chiming coming from a nearby tower, and the large gate immediately began to open. Cru and Sky, with no warning, sprinted forward, heading out into the Outlands. Noah and Ariella exchanged a glance before they too both sprinted out after them. Two minutes was a short amount of time, by the time they got to the Gate running, it was already closely. 

Cru and Sky were already out, and Ariella had to slide to get the rest of the way out. She was panting, hard, and she kneeled over, her hands on her knees. She didn't know it would be that hard. With the extra help from the mask, however, she was standing up right again, her chest heaving up and down only a little bit. She looked around. So this was the Outlands...