Locke walked into the Grand Ballroom, his mouth very faintly showing a smile. He loved the Grand Ballroom, it reminded him of so many wonderful times he had. Locke was a hopeless romantic, and often times when he would have a crush he would pay a certain person to let them have some privacy in the Grand Ballroom. He walked over towards the Northern Hemisphere of the spherical room, lined with huge windows, reminding him of the ballroom from that Disney movie.....what was it again? Ah well, he'd remember later. Locke walked out into the center of the dance floor, the very center of the circle in fact, turned to the to the right and created four small orbs of different size. He flicked his wrist as the orbs began to bounce, their taps on the floor making perfect notes to a simple song. He turned and held out his hands as very small and delicate hands of light fit perfectly into his, leading down to the body of a very petite woman, smiling as the two began to dance, man and woman, human and light. Perhaps there was some symbolism there of man's inadequacy to a woman's purity, but right now Locke just continued the dance. He smiled as a perfect pirouette was acheived, and the dance slowly ended as the song began to unravel. The light was dissolving as the song ended, Locke's smile becoming a tiny twitch of his lips, a tear or two falling down as the melody became a Swan Song, dying in beauty as Locke's soul became very cloudy, and his music reflected it. The orbs disappeared as Locke gave a small sigh, wiped his eyes, and looked around

"Ah, Rachel, what could have been."

Locke walked over again to the windowed wall, and turned back to the room, taking in the scenery, and wondering what the Beginning of School Party would be like. Hopefully better than last year, although the year would certainly unfold much graver than the last, with the threat of the Nightmare returning again. Memories still haunted Locke of the last time the Nightmare was rumored to appear, the way the fights broke out all over school, students afraid of each other, Locke himself getting in a few brawls. Hopefully this time the Nightmare would not come. Locke new it was too much to wish for, but there was no shame in hoping.

Locke tossed away the thought and threw up his hands, the ballroom exploding as decorations flew out, the railings becoming gold lines down the stairs, banners flying around with the Crest symbols, explosions of color lighting up the room. Locke smiled at his craftmaship, as he flicked his wrist and the magic unraveled. He stayed there quite a while. Maybe he would have some company.

It was good to be back again. Astral was home now; she loved this old building more than anything. The house she had been brought up in was too sad a place now- her mother was only just hanging on and Tegan couldn't bear to see the once beautiful, vivid woman so frail and weak.

She wandered aimlessly, just taking in the familiar sights, scents and sounds. Greetings various students as they passed, she began to feel that well-loved zing of being around young people. It gave ehr such a buzz to teach.

She almost walked straight past the Grand Ballroom, before she heard a strain of music, coming from inside. She stopped curiously and peeked inside. Who was there at this time of day, and on the first day back? She thought it might be a student, but it turned out to be Locke, the deupty head. She watched silently until the music faded and the dacning stopped.

"Hallo, Locke," she said quietly, stepping inside.


(Tegan and Locke old friends from their days at Astral, possibly?)

((It's quite possible indeed.))

Locke spun around to see Tegan, very quietly stepping inside.

"Oh, hey Tegan, you snuck up on me."

Locke walked over and gave her a quick hug. Tegan was an old friend of his, but they had not spoken for a while after they left Astral, until they had returned. The school was able to bring people together. Locke was always amazed at what the school could do.

"I suppose you heard my music."

Locke felt a bit embarassed that someone had caught him, but it didn't matter that much, he liked to talk to people.

She returned the hug, smiling. Locke was one of her very oldest friends, and they'de been through a lot. They'd supported each other a lot during that terrible time when the Nightmare was... She pushed such thoughts out of her head, but there was unrest in the pit of her stomach. The students wern't the only ones to hear rumours.

"So, how was your summer?" she asked, trying to sound cheery and failing.

"Yeah, but it was nice." She didn't really have the words, but her eyes had that look in them; here was someone who understood the pain of loosing someone.

[Yeah, but it was nice.]

Locke smiled serenely, any thought of discomfort quickly dispelling. He loved to play his music, so a compliment was one of the best things in the world to him. He walked out onto the dance floor.

[So how was your summer]

Her voice faltered as she spoke, and Locke's mind began to process what it could mean. He didn't have the ability to read minds, but this was a time when he knew exactly what she was feeling and why. He soon felt a wave of anguish pour over him as he was given memories of a terrible time. Locke felt a great deal of pity for Tegan, for his loss was not that of a horrible death like hers. He could not possibly understand what it was like for her. Locke covered his pity, remembering that Tegan was tough.

"Well, it was pretty good for me, I got to go see my parents for a bit, I ran into some old friends, I did a few shows with my old band, in fact, we might have a special performance here if Vicky will let me."

Locke called the Headmaster by her first name, but he meant no disrespect by it.

"And what has our English teacher done with herself all summer?"

"Oh, not much. Spent the summer with Mum and Dad, really." She spoke factually and calmly. "The doctors reckon she hasn't got much longer left. They're suprised she's hanging on. But she reckons she's staying for a reason," she shook her head, smiling sadly. "Typical her."


"Awesome," Tegan smiled. "If it's anything like you used to be, I'm sure it'll be great. The kid'll love it. She sighed, glancing around as if someone might be behind her. "E-everyones saying the kids will need something to cheer them up. I- I've been hearing... Rumours. Have you heard anything recently?"

Locke put on a grave look and sealed the door's, so no sound would escape. Two chairs appeared, and Locke took a seat in the first, offering the other to Tegan.

"Unfortunately, yes, it seems the rumors are spreading. That's the first thing about the Nightmare, it always has the prophets coming before it to tell us. Well, hopefully this time we'll be able to handle it. Last time we were a bit shocked, but I think now we have enough time to get ready, since we're aware of the attacks."

Locke strayed off subject.

"Well, I hope your mother is at least content with her life. The worst thing in the world is to die unhappy with your life."

Tegan took the offered seat.

"Yeah, I agree we should be more ready for it this time. I know I will be, at any rate. It's just the students I'm worried about." Her vocie grew detached. We can't allow any of our pupils to be harmed. There was too much of that last time; I don't wan't anymore kids to die from this, this evil thing. How much do you think the pupils know? I guess some of them already know a little... The one's with old elemental families certainly should."

"True," she agreed. "She's had a good life, and she's not distressed about dying." She paused, and then she clapped her hand to her forehead. "Of course! I know why she's so insistent on hanging on. It's, well, got to be something to do with the nightmare, hasn't it?"

Locke nodded in agreement, and gave a small smile.

"Yes, I suppose the Nightmare has caused many people to fight, whether against it, or against death. Either way, your mother is a very strong person I'm sure, and if she's held on this long, I'm sure there's a reason."

Locke turned back around and stood up, walking up to the glass window. By now it was slightly dimming, the sun beginning its descent. Locke threw up his hand as the windows became mirrors, reflecting Locke and Tegan's small reflections. Locke then threw his hand back, as thousands of figures sprung from the ground, their reflections filling the mirrored wall.

"It is best that we all be joined on this, and that we all have some understanding of what is coming. A little knowledge is dangerous, yes, but no knowledge at all can prove fatal. The teachers alone cannot stop this-" the reflections of light disappeared "-it seems that once again the youth will have to grow up quicker than planned." The reflections reappeared.

She sighed, and leant back in her chair as she watched the relfections cast in the mirror. She studied her own relfection, musing on how little she had changed in ten years. There had been roughly ten years of peace, now. She'd been grieving, but not worried. But she had been doing nothing but worrying for the past couple of days.

"There is no grave sadder than that of a child," she quoted one of her favourite poets. "The school can't take any more deaths. It'll be shut down for sure." She frowned. Astral, closed? it was scarely imaginable. And yet increasingly possible... "It isn't fair," she said finally, her voice tired. "It really isn't fair at all. This should be the best time of the students lives, not the worst." She rubbed her eyes with long-fingered hands. "We really ought to talk to Vicky, find out exactly what she thinks."

Locke paced the room. He was more of a show-off than he liked to admit, but whenever he had the chance he would flaunt his powers. Go figure. Soon the mirrors reappeared, this time showing nothing but white. As Locke turned, the mirrored image went black, dark and empty. Soon, specks of light began to arise, and in the center, millions of particles came together to form a very detailed earth. Locke smiled at his own creativeness. The Earth became much larger, and the image zoomed down onto the very section where Astral was. The school grounds were lit up in white, the rest of the world a pasty green and brown.

"The school is on sacred ground, which means the Nightmare is deeply hurt when it comes, so we have an advantage that if it does come it can't come past here without losing alot of it's energy. What I personally think, though, is that the Nightmare has brought something much greater this time. I've heard reports from many of my friends that the Nightmare is supposed to have a much dangerous weapon this time."

Soon the pure white ground was encroached upon by a moving black mass, it's shadows sweeping in and overtaking the light.

"Of course, you can never underestimate the abilities of this school. There are places here that thousands of people who spent their whole lives here have never seen. I don't know at least half of the secret rooms, and probably never will. Many of the battles of the Nightmare were fought here before, but our school is so strategically designed that we can usually withstand it."

As Locke said this, the image zoomed in onto a perfectly proportioned model of Astral. The black shadow began to attack it, as small red, green, blue, black, white, and brown figures began to attack it. He paid speciall attention to the staff figures, his own replica running out into the onslaught to fight.

"There have been old reports on the attacks here. Thousands of the records tell about people literally popping out of trees, coming out of the lake, people coming out of the fountains to attack. The school has been searched again and again, but noone's ever found the way to get to these places. There are also accounts of many people running through the halls as the attacks happened, and finding doors appearing. They said they'd run inside, wait a while, and come back out in a different area of the school. There are thousands of other accounts that say people have fallen through the floor into an underground walkway lit up to show the way to safety. This school is a very well designed school."

Locke left out his office's secret passage down to the underground walkway, but she didn't need to know about that. There was also one that led to Vicky's room secretly, in case of an attack and they needed to discuss a plan.

"All in all, I'd say that, if anything, Astral can pretty much take care of the people inside of it. Except for....the few who don't make it."

Locke left out names.

"I think Vicky would want to keep the school intact. Astral, for lack of a better word, has sacred mojo on it. If we were to lose this, there would be chaos among the Elemental world."

A small bell rang through the room. Locke took a small pocketwatch out of his pocket, examined it, and released his hold on the image, which soon dissolved away.

"Well, I'm sorry to have to cut this short, but I'm afraid I have somewhere to be. I'll talk to you later Tegan."

Locke hurried off to the Headmistress' office, he had some things to discuss. He gave a small wave as he left the room.