With permission from their computer teacher, Sora and Tracey stayed after school to record some sound files for their web page. The lab was rather small. From the door it had a normal desk where the teacher normally sat and a file cabinet, then in the center was a large table that went around like a U then in the middle of that was an overhead projector. The walls were white and quite dull looking, no windows or anything else. The computer teacher liked to keep things simple, no one would have guessed if they had taken his class and heard him speak. Yeesh.

The black haired telepath shook his head. "I know this was my idea, but I think the quality might suck."

"Well at least we can say we tried." Catherine stated. She had been recruited by Tracey to be the keyboardist of Sleepless. She jumped at the chance to help out her friend and she was very enthused about the web site.

Sora nodded in agreement at the girl's words. "If this fails than we can try something else. As a last resort we can go to the mall and use the CD recorder thing."

"That might work better than this…" the violet-eyed boy mumble.

The singer shot him a small glare, but couldn't help laughing. Once he had composed himself Sora set up the recording equipment then glanced back to the blond. "Get ready. I'm going to record a snippet of each of us separately then all together."

She smiled at him then stood behind her keyboard and with the blue haired teen's cue she let her fingers dance across the keys, giving off the sound of a soft melody. She stopped when her "boss" signaled her to.

"Okay, lets see how this sounds." He hit the playback button. A smile appeared on his face as he and his friends listened. "What do you know? It works!"

Tracey slipped out a tiny chuckle. 'I hope that smile never fades…'

"Trace?"

"Hm?" he mumbled in surprise.

"Are you ready?"

"Uh… sure…" he sat on a stool and waited for the signal. When he got it his hands mindlessly went along the cords. When it came to music it almost amazed anyone at how well this boy could play. He received the second signal and stopped.

Sora again played it back and his smile grew. "And you thought the quality would suck."

"Well, now lets hear you."

The other boy thought for a moment before he got a good distance away so his mouth wasn't directly on the mouthpiece. Tracey was near the mouse so he could hit the record button once his friend was situated.

The other male in the room gave the telepath a nod, shut his eyes and let his voice fill the air. "Take my hand in yours. No one is here to witness it, don't be shy. Someday my love we will be one." After the last word, he approached the mouse and clicked stop. Then made it play back.

The violet-eyed youth let a smile appear as he heard the lyrics again. He seemed to be in his own world until Catherine had opened her mouth.

"I don't think we have ever preformed that song before."

"We haven't. It's one of the poems that were in the back of Rache's diary. It's quite a romantic song, I didn't really think Rachel would want me singing something like this. Especially since I don't know who she wrote it about."

"It's still very cool though. I think it would make an awesome ballad. What do you think, Tracey?" the word Tracey seemed to be a little sarcastic.

"Uh…" he snapped back into reality, "I think we can manage doing it as a ballad, but Sora that is completely up to you."

'If I wrote it… I know who had inspired me…' The wind caster saved the files that had been recorded before he spun around in the computer chair to face his friends. "I think I want to wait to sing the whole thing as well as doing the group recording for this. I would like to sing this song for the site, but I want to make sure I am positive on that."

The keyboardist tied her blond hair back into a braid, then set her hazel eyes on the singer. "That's fine. I have to dash off and get home so I can go to work at five." She packed up her keyboard then flashed her buddies a quick smile. "See ya later." She was then out the door.

"Sora?"

"It's nothing…" he wiped away his oncoming tears.

"Hey, it's alright." Tracey knelt before his friend, "You know you can tell me anything and this time I refuse to go in and find it. What's wrong?"

"Rachel was kidnapped on this day…" his voice was nothing above a whisper, but the telepath still managed to make out his statement.

"That's why you wanted to stop and not sing at the bar today?"

"Yeah. I knew doing a whole performance might make me break down, but I didn't think a snippet would. I didn't want Catherine knowing there was something wrong, so I just held back my tears."

"Okay. Why don't we go over to Jay's and check on him and Travis? Then we can go to my house and start on our creative writing project."

"Sounds good." The boy's gentle smile retook its position on his face. "Thanks."

"No prob. Let's go."

Sora removed the disk from the system and flung his shoulder bag over his left shoulder as his friend packed up his guitar, then they were out the door. The halls were quiet and rather dirty, locker doors hung open and some had nasty, unidentifiable odors emitting from them.

"Okay Trace, let's play guess that smell."

"I'd have to say vomit and feet."

"Eeww. Though I think you're right on the feet…" He brought his right hand up to block his nostrils.

"What do you think it is?"

"Feet mixed with a smidgen of pine scented cleaner."

Tracey took a nice whiff and then regretted it. "Yeah… I can see that too."

The two managed to find an exit and enjoyed a long breath of fresh, cool air. The slender, blue-haired teen stopped momentarily to put on his windbreaker. "I didn't think it was going to be this cold…"

"That's why I never rarely take this jacket off." The boy waited for his friend then they were back on their way to Tracey's white Camry. The black haired youth was about to unlock the vehicle when a small mumble was heard behind him. "What was that?"

"I need to you to teach me how to drive."

"Sora" he whipped around in shock, "I can't teach you. I could lose my license if I got caught."

"I know, but obviously my mother can't teach me and Aunt Sarah is a little too busy if you know what I mean. And I hate being a burden in asking you to take me places."

"It's no trouble. I don't mind driving you places and my mom doesn't really care either."

"She does when I ask you for a ride and you're grounded."

"Hey, she had no problems last time when I took somewhere."

"That's because it was a doctor's appointment." He sighed and shook his head, "Never mind. Just forget I said anything."

Laying on the guilt trip never fails because Tracey hated seeing his friend hurt, sad or disappointed. "Okay."

"Hm?"

"I said okay. I'll teach you how to drive, but promise me you'll be careful."

"I promise." Sora reached out his hand and received the keys. "This is going to be fun." He unlocked the doors, threw his bag into the backseat then sat on the driver's side.

The car was one of a good size, not too cramped and not too roomy either. It was very basic with a radio and tape deck, except that Tracey had his Discman hooked up to the tape deck so he could listen to his CDs while he was driving. And on the steering wheel had a slipcover that had the Japanese symbols for love, hope and shine. The sapphire-eyed young man placed his blue, fingerless-gloved hands on each end of the wheel after he had fastened his lap belt.

"All right, the first thing check your mirrors." He watched his friend then gave the next instruction, "Start the car, put your foot on the break, put it in reverse and slowly back up. Slowly."

"I got it." The singer did as told and the back up went smoothly until he slammed his foot back on the break after he was out of the parking space, which resulted in the two jolting forward. "Now what?"

"Try not to jar every time you step on the break, but for your first time it wasn't bad. Okay, now put it in drive and gently place your foot on the gas."

Once the order was given they were off at a semi high speed. When they got to the first light, which was only five minutes away from the school, Sora stopped the car with screech at the red light and turned on Tracey's CD player. The music came on blasting some kind of techno/Jpop thing.

"So, how am I doing?"

"Fine, just try to go a little slower."

"Sure thing. Oh, green light." He peeled off. Within 20 minutes they arrived at their destination.

The black haired teen took in a couple of breaths before he faced his best friend. "Well… that was a little slower."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. I did worse when I was first staring out."

"You're just saying that to make feel better. I stink at this."

"No, you don't and no I'm not lying to you. The first time I went out, my mother, Grandpa Jake and I went out for a small ride. We passed an empty parking lot so my mom turned around and drove in. Grandpa had stepped out and stood on the sidelines, mom got on the passenger's side and I was behind the wheel. Once I had started the car, I put my foot down on the gas and I was off. I came very close to hitting my grandfather."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I was about 2 ½ inches away from hitting him. The second driving lesson I had was even better. It was the three of us again, except my mom was in the backseat and I swear Grandpa and mom were going to have a heart attack."

"What happened?"

"They wanted me to try passing some cars, I wasn't paying too close attention and we almost got into an accident. So you see, you did better than I did. You just went a bit above the speed limit."

"I still say you're trying to cheer me up." He opened the door and stepped out.

Tracey followed and retrieved his keys from his companion. "I am, but that doesn't make my story a lie." The two young men then entered the apartment complex, rode the elevator to the third floor and knocked on the door to their friend's residence.

Jason opened the door and gave a small, tired smile then allowed them to enter. "How was school?"

"Awful." The telepath commented. "Since you weren't there I had to do a lab all on my own."

"Sorry."

Sora's eyes widened when he saw a blond woman with blue eyes and wearing a lavender skirt and blouse sitting on the sofa with Travis in her lap. "Aunt Sarah?"

"Hi boys." She sounded very calm, something that usually had the three older males on edge.

"Jason, what's my aunt doing here?"

"Oh, that. I called her to see if I could get paid for the missions for awhile."

"Why?" Tracey questioned then thought he should go into the redhead's mind to get the entire story, but then shook that thought away.

"I lost my job."

"Daddy's boss, meanie." The blond child said in his little angry tone.

"Yes, he was."

"Jay, what exactly happened?" Sarah asked.

"I had two bosses, the head cook and the owner of the restaurant. When Travis got sick I called Kyle, the head chef and explained that my son was sick and that I wasn't going to be in until he was better. He understood and even said that he'd give me some grocery money out of his paycheck. But Brad, the owner, hates kids and didn't like the idea of the image a teen father would give him. He told me it was the last straw and" he snapped his fingers, "dropped me like that."

"I understand." The older woman placed the boy on the other side of the couch so she could stand before his father, "I will notify my boss of this. He doesn't want anything bad to happen to the two of you. I'll see you all later." She headed for the door and stopped. "Sora, are you spending the night at Tracey's?"

"Yeah…"

"Okay." With that she left.

The three young men stared at each other, then the violet-eyed guitarist spoke up. "What does she mean 'boss'? Isn't she the head of Iyada?"

"That's what I thought." Sora was stumped to say the least as were the other two.

The three-year-old walked over and tugged on the leg of his father's black jeans. "Daddy, what's Iyada?"

Jay knelt down to be at somewhat eye level with his son. "Iyada is a secret club. So" he put the index finger of his right hand up to his lips, "sshhh."

Travis mimicked him, "Sshhh." He looked over to his faithful friend, the pastel blue Marty Bunny, "Marty Bunny 'sshhh' too."

The odd sounding voice filled the heads of everyone again, like it had done a week and a half ago and the stuffed toy was moving on its own again. "Okay." It brought its paw up to its face; "Sshhh. Secret's safe with me. Let's go play, Travis." It jumped off the sofa and hopped its way into Travis' bedroom.

"Wait for me!!!" the boy shouts as he runs after his plush companion.

"He knows that's you." Jason said rather flatly.

"Meh, as long as it makes him happy." The telepath then turned his attention to their boss' nephew, "You okay?"

"Hm? Yeah. I was just… thinking."

A few hours later the two boys found their way to Tracey's house. The building was somewhat large, but simple in a way seeing that it was only Tracey and his mother, Helen living there. From the outside the structure was slate gray with a white trim. To the right was the driveway and garage and they could enter the home through there as well as the front and back doors. Inside the basement was rather clean and uncluttered with junk, but held Tracey's weight lifting stuff which a lot of people doubted he used and or needed. To the right were the washer and dryer along with the back door. Then to left was a tiny staircase that led to the upper level.

When coming up the stairs, to the left was a dining room that usually had papers and such laying about the tabletop and chairs. Hitting the top of the stairs and heading right through the swinging door was the kitchen. Heading back into the dining area/hallway and heading left past the table you enter the living room. The room was made up of a long couch that was maroonish red on the far wall. Next to that and a little bit in the left-hand corner was a black recliner under a tall lamp and right next to and between the sofa and chair was a medium sized oak bookcase. Straight ahead was a small coffee table and on the other wall was an entertainment unit that held a TV, VCR, DVD player, a video game console and nice collection of movies and games.

Down the other hall that was on the opposite side of the stairs held four other rooms. The first door on the right led to a bathroom while the one across from it was Helen's study. The room next to the study was Tracey's bedroom.

The walls were panted an odd shade of white and very few posters clung to the surface, but the ones that were there were of dragons. From the door and to the right was a desk in front of a large window that held some schoolbooks, a computer, a telephone and a sketchpad. A few inches from that rested a black nightstand, which held a lamp for late night reading or studying and an alarm clock. And of course right next to it was a double sized bed, which however it was unmade at this moment in time and right above it was a hand panted black dragon. A cross from the bed was a bathroom that had its normal bathroomy stuff; a toilet, a sink and a shower stall. To the left of the bathroom was a small entertainment center that held a moderate size television, VCR and some anime memorabilia.

And then the last room in the house belonged to the telepath's mother.

Sora lay on his friend's bed while the other boy surfed the Internet. Tracey glanced over to him. "So why am I looking up manga?"

"To find an art style that would be easy to mimic."

"Why don't we just do it out? There's no reason we have to imitate something."

"Because I can't really draw and I don't want to put all the work on you."

The violet-eyed one sighed and shook his head, "You won't be. Come up with the story line and dialog and I'll help you when you need it. I will draw the cover and frames and we can both ink them in then one of us will color the cover. It's about an even workload. In my opinion your job is harder."

"Yeah… maybe."

That night Sora slept on the floor next to the bed and in front of the nightstand as he tossed and turned in his sleeping bag. "Rachel…" he groaned in agony. His fingers managed to find the end of the sleeping bag and he clung to it with a death grip, since the young singer was pale to begin with his knuckles began to turn white. "Rachel, please… Leave her alone! Stop it! STOP!!!" he shot straight up, breathing heavily. As quietly as he could the boy removed himself from his sleeping place and got to his feet, almost tripping over the pair of blue, flannel pants he was wearing. Careful he made his way into Tracey's bathroom. He shut the door just enough so no light would disturb his friend then knelt down in front of the toilet.

His breathing remained heavy and like every time prior to this one he threw up, only this time it had little, tiny specks of blood within it.

"Sora?" Came a quiet voice behind him.

"I'm fine, Trace. Go, back to sleep…"

The black haired telepath gazed over the boy's shoulder, "You're bringing up blood now. You're not fine." He crouched down beside him and placed his left hand over the black, purple and red-violet flame shaped birthmark that rested on Sora's right shoulder blade. "Are your nightmares getting worse?"

"They're getting more graphic. Yes."

"You need help. Why not go into therapy? It helped Kelly."

"My mom thought she was to blame and she did things she didn't mean to, whether it be to me or to herself. She needed all the help she could get." Tears started to well up in the boy's eyes, "I'm the rightful one to blame for Rache's death…"

"No… You could not help getting sick and right now you are making yourself sick."

"All I want to know is why." The tears then slid down his cheeks. He now faced Tracey, but his head was down cast so if he did see anything through his tears it would only have been his friend's dark purple pajama pants. "Why her? Why my little sister? She was only nine years old…"

The telepath pulled him into his arms now that the other teen's falling tears turned into pure crying. "I don't know…" he whispered, "It shouldn't have happened, but it wasn't your fault…"

The phone rang about that time. The violet-eyed teen pulled back, "How much do you want to bet that that's your aunt?" seeing that his friend really wasn't in any sort of mood to laugh he stood and picked up the phone. "Yeah."

"Did I wake you?" Sarah's voice held a slight twinge of humor.

"No." Came the flat reply.

"No matter. You have a mission."

"Figures." He hung up then turned to see Sora standing in the doorframe of the bathroom. "You don't have to come."

"Yes, I do." The blue-haired boy stared his friend down before he heard that sigh of defeat, then the two of them proceeded to change into their Iyada gear.

~*~*~*

The four members of Iyada sat in their usual spots in the apartment as Sarah played the tape to show the team their new target. "This is the target." The tape showed a pale, light blond, blue-eyed man that seemed to be in his mid to late 30's. "His name is Jesse Randle. He is known for molesting and raping kids from the ages of 6-13."

'He looks familiar…' Sora thought, his eyes glued to the TV screen.

"If that wasn't bad enough it is rumored that he has killed a few of those kids." The woman set her gaze on her nephew, "Sora, knowing what happened three years ago today, I am giving you permission to back out of this one."

He shook his head; "I joined Iyada to help people with my powers and to get the money for Mom's operation. If I don't go I can't do either."

"Hn." Kimberly snorted, "If you are going to get all emotional it is best that you stay here."

"Kim, leave him alone." Jason retorted back.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tracey asked, concern was clearly in his voice.

"Yes."

Their boss nodded now seeing that there was no way in changing her nephew's mind. "Go forth into the night…"

~*~*~*

The four teens stood atop a rundown apartment complex located on the "other side of the tracks". The entire neighborhood was trashed, litter was scatter along the streets, and buildings either looked burned or just plan falling apart. There was hardly any light as well; the only source of it was the two lampposts that the team was near.

"Where is this guy?" the blond asked impatiently.

"I would hate to think he's out with another child." The lightning caster stated. "But it is highly likely that is where and what he is doing."

Sora glared at the two, "Would you stop it?! I don't want to hear anything about the molestation, rape or murder of a kid!"

"Listen you little brat." Kimberly approached and grabbed the aqua-eyed teen by the wrist, "I told you if you were to get emotional to stay out of this."

"Don't" he placed a firm grip on the girl's hand and removed her grasp from his arm, "touch me." he threw it back towards her.

The four of them were suddenly lifted into the air and brought to the ground. All of them were on their feet, searching the area of where they stood when a semi low voice caught their attention.

"Do I have a bounty on my head or something?"

Looking in the direction of the voice, Tracey saw a man around six feet tall walking into the light of the lamppost. The telepath felt nervous just then and it wasn't just because this man had found out about them, it was utter fear for his childhood friend.

"So" the target smirked, "this is the covert group known as Iyada… I've heard rumors about you, but I never would have imagined they were true."

"How did you know we were on the roof?!" The green-eyed fire caster shouted.

"Simple my dear." "I can do this."

"A telepath…"

"That is correct. But not only that, I can do this." He held out his left hand, having palm, facing Jason. Slowly he moved his fingers inward, with each movement the redhead moved closer to the ground and was having difficulty getting back to his feet.

"You can control gravity as well…" Tracey muttered.

"Hey, you all pass the test. Now you die!" concentrating his power, he set a force of gravity out to pull the entire group to the ground, but Sora managed to escape it by pushing himself into the air. Then with a quick, swift kick to the head from the wind user's foot Jesse noticed the boy's bright aqua eyes.

He still managed to hold the other three down, but he forced the blue-haired one up against the lamppost. "You have such beautiful eyes…" he whispered in an eerie, calm voice. He then placed his hand under then boy's chin, "They remind me of someone I had not so long ago. Rachel, I believe her name was…"

Sora's eyes widened at that moment now remembering where he had seen this man's face.

*****Flashback: 3 years ago*****

13 year old Sora entered his sister's third grade classroom. He smiled at his younger sister, who was cleaning the blackboard. "You ready to go, Rache?"

"Not quite. I want to help Mr. Randle with the rest of the clean up." She stated in a happy tone. Her long brown hair was tied back into a French braid and her aqua eyes sparkled like the ocean and her smile could brighten anyone's day. "It shouldn't be too much longer though."

"Is that okay with you?" the teacher asked from behind his desk.

"If she wants to kiss up, that's fine with me."

"I am NOT kissing up!"

Mr. Randle laughed as the brown haired boy said, "Ya-huh."

"You've been around Tracey way too long." Rachel pouted, then noticed that her statement seemed to hit a soar spot with him. "I'm sorry, Sora. I forgot…"

"It's okay." He said softly and hugged his little sister.

"What did she forget?"

"My best friend, Tracey, he moved to Germany sometime last year…" he shook that thought out of his mind. "If Rachel is still helping you, is it all right if I do some of my homework here while I wait?"

"Of course." He smiled at the boy.

'No wonder Rachel likes him so much.' Sora thought, 'He's really kind. It's rather of hard not to like him…'

*****End flashback*****

"You…" he said under his breath. A light dusting of snow began to fall as the singer started to make the wind pick up. "I trusted you!" the wind sent the older man back a few feet.

With anger in the young man's eyes he removed one of his uncle's guns and stalked over to the teacher. The other three were now free from their gravitation bonds, but had slight trouble maintaining their balance. Kimberly was about to toss some fire out to scorch the man's body, but Jason stepped in the way of her shot, his back to her.

"No. This is something he must do…" his blue eyes were set on his teammate.

"Sora!" Tracey shouted, but didn't even get a look from his friend.

The 16 year old aimed the gun at the man's head, "Why?! Why Rachel?! Why my sister?!"

"Sora…" the man chuckled.

"Don't laugh at me…" the wind picked up again.

"Hn. You want the truth? The truth is… I wanted you, but your sister did just as well."

"She trusted you…" he whispered. Tears once again made their presence on his normally gentle face, then he pulled the trigger repeatedly until everyone of his bullets were lodged into the man's skull. The wind continued to pick up now making howling sounds and razor shape gusts went every which way. "I'm going to tare you apart…" a strange glow formed under his feet that seemed to be in the shape of a flame along with that his birthmark could now be seen glowing through his teal coat. He raised the body into the air and tore him limb from limb.

Kimberly and Jason were blown back a bit from the amount of wind, but the violet-eyed telepath stood firm. He blocked his face enough so that he could still see, but his right arm was taking all the blows from the powerful gust.

"Sora!!" he yelled.

The wind died down, the snow continued to fall and there stood Sora in the middle of a pool of blood. He re-holstered the gun and noticed his hands shaking, "What have I done?" not waiting for his teammates he took off into the air and flew away.

The next day at school Tracey walked over to his friend's locker, seeing that Sora was late he was going to fill him in on what he had missed in their math class. "Sora, you okay? I went to pick you up this morning and your mom said you were sleeping." He placed his right hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Trace, I…" he tried to look over at him, but couldn't get passed his companion's arm. Underneath Tracey's jacket was a white bandage. "I have to go." He shrugged the guitarist's hand off and ran down the hall.

"Sora…"