If it were not for the adminstrations of Juri, or the loving touch of Mimi, Kuro would be driven mad by this experience. Ten years..Ten long years in a Dimension so far removed from the Natural world. A living Dimension, a vastness filled with many, many vast and complex Super Hives. These Super Hives home to countless Insect spirits, cruel, cold and alien beings with vaguely Humanoid forms. Buzzing, humming, moving, always moving, building, tearing down day and night, in a Sunless Universe. A madding twisting maze of tunnels and chambers, Kuro running and hiding from these things.

The horrors he saw, chambers where Insect spirits took the spirit forms of people, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, etc. and impregnented these poor souls with the incubated and larvae form of Insect spirits. Then the victims cocooned, only to wake up tearing out of these cocoons, new Insect spirits. Just as cold and hidious as their progenitiors. There was also the horror of Kuro having to eat the remains of Humans and MetaHumans left over from Insects meals. Strangly enough Kuro did have to eat here and for liquid, he substisted on Honey, purer then anything on the Mortal plane made by normal Bees. Kuro had to resort to Cannibalism, it made him sick over and over. But he had to survive, he had to hope that he would escape. When he did sleep, which was rare, Kuro would dream of Mimi, the woman he Loved, back home on Rhydin. Its all he had to keep his Sanity, his Reason, his Soul.

Kuro had the misfortune of finding himself in the chambers of Queens a few times, on accident. Bloated, coldly intelligent Insect Queens, mainly Ants and Bees, some attended by traitorous Insect Shamans. Mortals that served the Insect spirits. Some themselves now Insect flesh forms, or Hybrid of Humanoid and Insect. The whispers in his head promising a better life as one of them. A loss of Freedom and Soul and invidiual thought. If it wasn't for the fact that Kuro's Halberd wasn't slightly magically enchanted or that his Cyber wrist spurs were a part of him, Kuro would have been defensless. He had some big victories and small victories, whether by Luck or Fate, Kuro in those Ten Years of Hell, killed two Insect Queens, one Bee, one Ant. Big victories to him, but in the vastness of these interconnected Super Hives it was a small victory. The Hives continued on, he was made even more a target to Kill, not convert.

And just as Kuro was finally cornered, tired, near death, maddened, nearly beaten. Facing certain death at the hands of three very big and strong Beetle spirits, Fate grabbed Kuro, the Nexus pulled out the Drake. For he was changed, the highly magical nature of the Metaplane he was on, changed Kuro, it altered his form. He also gained the ability to see into the Astral Plane, the Spiritual realm of the Mortal world. Of course when he returned, Kuro returned Insane and with Memory loss. Had it not been for Mimi, Kuro's new Lover and Juri, Kuro's new slient friend, a Mute assassin, Kuro would be completly lost.

Juri pulled himself from the wall with such grace it was as if he was a puppet being pulled by strings. Not often does he move with such swagger, but he had already finished a bottle of wine himself, and the cig that he threw out into the night...was a little more than a cig. He moved towards her and finally acknowledged her request to join her inside with a nod, then he offered a traditional greeting in sign before reaching down and 'borrowing' her bottle. He took a long drink, and was slightly disappointing after comparing it to the wine he had at his house, but oh well.

He handed her the bottle back and moved past her into the shop, Finally he had gotten in and now he had a permanent key, as he walked over to the largest set of tools he could find and dropped a copy of one of his daggers into the pile...yup...key to the building. With that done, he turned back around and crossed his arms over his chest casually, then smirked as he looked her over quizzically, essentially asking her what SHE was doing here.

Juri's attention was diverted towards the stairs as Kuro made his way down, it was a regular party at this point. He went through the signs that was being sent his way and smirked, shaking his head about getting in because of the dagger, then pointed at Ixa and blamed her for the intrusion. Juri then flashed a few signs explaining that NEXT time he came in, it would probably be for that reason.

Arms crossed over his chest and he shot a worried look to Ixa in regards to Kuro. He slowly moved towards the man and began pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket...pre-written, and handed the note to Kuro explaining the following, "I was not skilled enough to actually remove the demons from your head, but I could hide your 'astral form' from seeing the creatures while you are awake, however when you sleep, There is little that can be prevented. Additionally, I cant 'cure' your problem with the telepathy I am familiar with, and if i knew a cure, I probably could not perform it. However we can use an exorcise that has enabled me to at least control my problem, which is similar. Every time my life-stealing dagger takes a soul and I absorb those memories and skills from that person, a piece of that person's soul is attached to mine."

Juri let him take this all in before motioning with his fingers to flip the paper over and finish reading on the other side, which was his proposed plan, "I believe you can gain control over the thoughts by actually..." The words on the paper skipped a few lines before he actually wrote them down, since it was truly the only thing he could come up with, since technology could not solve this problem, magic seemed the only logical choice, and Juri was not the best at it, since he was never originally able to do magic, only stole the talents from other people... the message continued, "Going back in your head.... With a small team, we can go in and make an attempt to slay the Queen Insects and allow your body to control these thoughts, instead of the thoughts themselves."

He knew that this 'theory' wasnt truly a solution. But if Kuro faced the fears, with friends at his side, then he WOULD begin to take control of his demonic thoughts the way Juri can control his own haunting memories. And truth be told. If they visit the part of his mind often enough to slay all the insects over time, perhaps there is actually gain in it for Kuro.

Knowing full well the paper he wrote was long, he made his way over to the chair that Ixa was sitting in. They exchanged various looks and moved to the side of it, standing beside her and resting a calming hand on her shoulder. He had no clue what his answer would be, but he knew Kuro's reaction was not going to be one of happiness. The situation truly called for the standard of 'facing your own fear' which was never the easiest solution to ANY problem.

That hand squeezed lightly for an instance, before he patted her should once and let his hand fall to his side. He then knelt down on one knee and slipped off his glove over his left hand, produced his paper and pencil, and jotted down a quick message, "I'm sure she is doing a great job, but it might take some help from a few more people if he agrees with my idea." Juri smiled reassuringly, knowing full well that there was plenty of good friends to help that were up for some bug squashing. Wondering how far along Kuro was with the note, he paused then and looked back at the man and titled his head as he questioned how Kuro was going to respond to all that.

He nodded as he looked at the piece of paper Juri wrote on, yawned a bit and turned to Ixxy..

"First Ixxy, I am gonna get you a key for the garage so you stop breaking into my place ok? Its getting a little old, and I don't want you giving me lip about it."

Then back to Juri.."You're right friend, I should face this head on, but I think that you, Me and Zeo maybe should do this mind thing. Ixxy and Kendall I doubt would be able to handle." Turns to Ixxy again. "Sorry Ixxy but you don't seem to know a lot about this stuff and you seem to have a hard time beliviing me that I went to the Hive Dimension. And Kendall has had enough shit happen in her Life, she don't need to see what I been through those past ten years. "He paused."So Juri when do we start this little exercise in my Head, the sooner the better. I can't take these nightmares anymore."

She took the key from Kuro, moving it to store it inside the confines of her vest. She had a small pocket in the lining for such things as that, her Credstick and business cards that she had collected. She was a little annoyed with Kuro's suggesting that she couldn't handle it all. Not that she wanted to. It was more or less that he insinuated her as being weak. Her hand toyed with the bottle of rum as she watched the two.

"Where is Zeo?" She inquired, a slender brow piqued and she mulled something over. "You can get a hold o' him with you commacommalink thing, right?" She had entirely butchered the word, unable to recollect the exact term for it. Even if the part about Zeo had been discussed through sign language on both their parts, she had assumed that the pilot was due to assist in the entire matter since Kuro had offered reasons for why both her and Kendall shouldn't participate. She was ready to leave if and when Zeollas arrived and she needed to get out of there. Until then, she was laying across her recliner.

Juri shook his head at Ixa. He needed her to be here as well, and her job was equally as important as everyone elses. "Ixa... We need you here to watch over our bodies when we pass into Kuro's mind, in fact having Kendrell around to help you would be even better." He turned back to Kuro then and nodded quickly, things needed to be done as fast as possible since the current situation had changed dramatically. He knew a secret that he could not tell the both of them. The worry would disrupt Kuro too much for him to have full concentration in the Nexus world. But the danger wasn't just on the three that were going into Kuro's mind, because an almost equal or possibly greater threat could endanger Ixa and anyone that was with her when Juri's body... When all three of them... were unconscious.

Kuro directed his attention to Ixxy...

"I am sure Kendall is arround somewhere if not here tinkering away on something, she is probably on a run for stolen parts, cars or guns. Gives her good training it does. And as soon as we track Zeo and Kendall down we can do this Mind trip. The sooner the better, as I said these damn nightmares are getting to me and I need my head clear for the big Op."

Then back over to Juri..

"Not a bad idea, Ixxy and Kendall can keep watch over me, you and Zeo, no tellin how long this thing is going to take. Hours, all day, who knows, I should let Mimi now whats going on, she has the right to know. I am doing this just not for myself, or the team but for her. Cuz for the first time in a long time I got someone I love and I am not gonna lose Mimi. I'll do what I have to for her."

Kendall?s return to the garage was heralded by a clatter of metal being dropped on the garage floor, a string of fluent swearing in a pronounced street accent, and the sharp bang of a door slamming. She stomped into the office, didn?t even pause when she saw the gathering there. Straight for the coffee, doctored with lots of cream and sugar. Half the mug was drained in one long swallow. She topped it back up, added more cream and sugar.

Light grey eyes flicked around when she turned, back to the desk with the coffeepot, really looked around the room. ?Someone strike gold?r somethin? here? Yer all lookin' too damn happy.? Too-skinny fingers curled around her mug, held it near her chest. Cynical smile was in full force as she waited for someone to explain.

Kuro nodded to Kendall and to Ixxy, then spoke to Kendall..

"Yeah kiddo, I need to ask you a big favor, I know I ask so much of you but this is important. Juri here, Myself and if I can get a hold of Zeo, are going to try something very dangerous. We are gonna attempt to free my Mind from the Demons in my Head." He paused..

"These Nightmares of that Hive dimension are getting to me bad, I see shapes in the corner of my Vision when I am alone. And I feel myself going mad inch by inch, as well as a desire to go back to that Hive Dimension to join the Bug Spirits. I hope and pray that Juri can pull this off, this Mind journey or if you like a form of Vision Quest. So he is going to try and link my mind with him and Zeo's to battle the Monsters inside me. Its very dangerous, one wrong move and the three of us can end up dead. We need you and Ixxy to keep watch over us incase something goes bad. To wake us up Kendall, this process could take hours, so we need an extra watcher. And the positive energy from you and Ixxy could help without you having to join in the Mind journey."

Rubbing his chin.. "I know its a lot to ask, its a huge thing to ask of you Kendall, so its your choice kiddo."

Rubbing his chin..then spoke to Kendall..

"Well kiddo we will wake up on our own if all goes well, but if something starts to go wrong say our bodies start to convulse say, then yeah wake us the Hell up as something bad is going down. As for staying up too long in regards to you and Ixxy, sleep in shifts, best way I know how you and Ixxy can do that. So are you up for this Kendall?"

Awaiting her awnser on the matter, a very dangerous and life-threatening matter indeed. If anything went wrong, Kuro, Juri and Zeo if he joined could pay dearly. At least on the Real world side of things, their bodies would be fine, but it was a whole nother matter in the Astral Plane. If one dies there, the body dies in the Real world.