Is This Love?

Hello to all of you reading my story. This is my very first attempt to write a fanfiction on "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest" so I don't know how it will turn out. I'm a newer fan of the show so I don't know all that much about the characters, sorry.

Disclaimer: this is the usual, I don't own any of the rights to the characters in my story besides the few I might make up. (example, Cilia)

"About time! Hadji coming?" Jonny asked while jumping onto his own hoverboard. Hadji came out the door with a slightly disappointed expression on his face. "What's up Hadj?"

"Aww Hadj!" Jonny cried. All of them had been busy for the past week and it was the first time that Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji had planned to have some fun together.

"Don't worry about it. Maybe I'll be done later and we can do something else," Hadji waved before heading towards the lighthouse.

"Come on Jonny, let's get going! Remember, this is a race to the edge of town!" Jessie moved forward a bit and turned to look at Jonny.

When they reached the road, Jonny took the lead and laughed. The red-haired girl narrowed her eyes in determination and rushed to catch up.

"Oh come on, Jess!" Jonny said, glancing behind him. `What's that?' Jonny looked up and saw a dark helicopter flying above them, "Jess, look!"

"Huh?" Jessie looked up to see the helicopter lowering down. A man leaned out of the window and aimed a gun at Jonny, "Look out!" She knocked Jonny off his board and felt a sharp pain in her neck.

"You okay? Jess…?" Jonny looked at her neck and picked something out of her skin, "What's this?" It was a small dart. The man shot again and this time caught Jonny in his line of fire. "Owe!"

It was around five o'clock when Hadji and Benton Quest walked into the family room. Race sat in an armchair reading the paper. "Where's Jonny and Jessie? Aren't they back yet?" Benton asked.

Hadji tried to think of what they might have done, "I know that the two of them had a score to settle with hoverboard racing… but that wouldn't take this long. We never planned what we were going to do so I'm not sure where they are or what they might have been doing."

"Well let's not wait too long," Benton broke the silence, "I'm willing to wait for another hour, but that's it." Race and Hadji agreed, all were now a little worried.

"Jess…" Jonny muttered as colors and shapes swam before his eyes. In a few moments he could make out some type of computer lab. Equipment of all kinds were laid out on tables and shelves.

Next to him he felt movement. He turned his head slightly and noticed Jessie strapped onto a table like that of the ones from the movies when the mad scientist brings the monster to life. Jonny noticed that he too was strapped to a similar table. "Where… are we?" Jessie asked as she came awake.

A bright light clicked on near them and slowly a dark-haired woman walked forward. The new woman looked young, maybe about 20 or so, she had dark brown hair and violet eyes. Her tank top clung to her like a second skin and the black leggings that she wore revealed that she was in good shape. Over all, she was one of the most gorgeous women either Jonny or Jessie had ever seen. But Jonny knew her… Maybe her hair was shorter now, it used to be knee length but was now about mid-back, but she was still very much the same person.

"You remember me Jonny… how sweet," the woman walked over to him and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. Jessie gasped, surprised that Jonny already knew the woman. "As for you…" the woman turned to Jessie, " I'm sure you're wondering who I am. Well my name is Cilia Klaygon… and you better remember it." The hatred was apparent in Cilia's voice and Jessie wondered exactly who she was.

The pretty woman turned to her other prisoner, "I give you a chance, Jonny. You can come with me… we'd be so perfect, Jonny, really we would. You could have almost anything… all you ever wanted. Jonny, if you come with me you can live for eternity!"

"Am I?" Cilia mused, "You know now what you could have. But I believe it's time to tell you what will happen if you leave me again," Cilia smiled, "Starting in one hour, I will put you in virtual reality… much like your `Quest World'. You will experience many things… I suppose I could tell you what, but that would spoil the surprise, wouldn't it?" She smiled again, "The girl and you will die… slowly but painfully. You don't cross Cilia Klaygon, you don't get me mad or you pay. And guess what? You are going to pay."

She came over to Jonny again and stroked his cheek softly, "Why don't you come with me? You can spare yourself the pain… even Bannon there."

Finally Jonny explained, "I met her about a month ago when Dad and I went to Utah. She was on the research teams for looking into this UFO siting spot… she was quite enthusiastic about it and seemed real interested in all that space, and other dimension stuff…"

Jonny struggled uncomfortably, "Well… I- uh we kinda dated… but only for the week we were there… but…" Jonny stooped.

"Me either… I feel like something's wrong," Race also stood and looked hard at the door as if Jonny and Jessie would suddenly appear.

"Good idea Hadji… IRIS, who has been in the compound this afternoon?" Everyone waited to hear the soft voice of IRIS respond, "IRIS?"

Still no reply, "Let me check the system," Hadji went to a computer and brought up IRIS's system profile. He skimmed the readings and announced, "IRIS has been shut down. Nothing is on, the phone lines are down… and the whole system's down."

"What?" Benton and Race ran over to look at the screen as Hadji typed in some access codes. `Access Denied' was the message that came up on the screen.

"Someone must have hacked into the system. But how? That would be very hard to do… almost impossible!" Hadji exclaimed.

"It would have to be someone who is accustomed to complex systems… IRIS is, or was, well protected…" Dr. Quest typed in one last thing before turning around, "It will take time to get the system back online."

Cilia returned exactly on schedule, she walked into the room in the same black outfit but she looked weaker… as if out of energy. Slowly she made her way to an intercom off to the side of the room. "Greg… come here," she ordered.

In a few minutes, a black-haired man strode into the room. As soon as the door shut, Cilia grabbed the man around the neck and dug her nails into his skin. The man gasped for a moment before going totally limp. The man's bones could been seen through his wrinkled skin. Jessie whimpered in terror and Jonny tried to remember when else he had seen something like this… that was it!

It had been in New Orleans, Jessie, Hadji, and Jonny had been staying there themselves. The first night they had run into `Elise', she had been running from these men… at the time Jonny had thought the men the people doing wrong. But later on Jonny had found out that Elise was some type of creature that fed off the energy of men and every fifty years during an eclipse, the creature would pick a new body. Elise had her sight set on Jessie, together Hadji and Jonny had destroyed the creature. But now here was another, standing right before him.

Cilia stood up again and smiled, she looked much better now that she had new energy, "You see," she hissed, "You're death could be as his… quick and painful. But that is nothing compared to what you will suffer…" She went towards Jonny and Jessie and put the VR mechanism on one ear each. "Jonny… this is your last chance…"

"Have it your way," Cilia spat. She went over to a wall with many large visual screens and hit a button on a keyboard. Immediately the mechanisms over Jessie's and Jonny's ears started up.

In the virtual reality world, Jonny slowly turned to look around. Jessie stood next to him and both wondered what was going to happen. Right now they were in a dark forest with very little light. There was no noise… nothing. All of the sudden a shadowed figure appeared beneath a tree. "Do you like my world?" Cilia stepped forward from the shadows. She now wore a black sleeveless top that revealed a little cleavage. She still wore the tight leggings and knee-high boots. Her hair was up in a high ponytail.

Jonny stepped in front of Jessie, he had an idea why Cilia was after Jessie… she was… jealous. He remembered the real reason why he had left Cilia. He recalled clearly now, when they were in Utah Jonny had missed Jessie and Hadji terribly… but really it had been Jessie. Cilia had appealed to Jonny because of her beauty, but soon he had longed for Jessie to be there. He had always talked about things that he and Jessie did, or things that Hadji, Jessie and he did. Cilia had become angry most likely and when he had told her that he didn't want to `see' her anymore, she had vowed revenge.

"So, Jonny, you realize now… you have had your chance. I really did like you, and I still do now but Bannon is in the way!" She growled and held up her hand. An energy sword appeared in her hand and she welded it with skill.

Thoughts rushed through Jessie's head as she ran with Jonny, `What in the world is she talking about? She's just like Elise… she feeds off the energy of men. But… how am I in the way of her getting Jonny? Not that I'd want her to… but still, what does she mean?'

Cilia's laugh echoed in their ears, "That's right, run! You won't be able to get away from your fate… why don't you just face it and save some suffering?"

The ground started to shake and Jessie and Jonny stopped running. A crack formed under Jessie's feet and she screamed. Jonny grabbed her hand and tried to pull her back up, "Jessie! Hold on!" More ground broke loose and both of them fell. Streams of light flashed by them as they fell. Jonny tried to hold tight to Jessie's hand but slowly she slipped away, "NO! JESSIE!"

Cilia went out of the VR world and returned to the lab. She accessed the screens and was content to see that Jessie and Jonny were fall down separate ways. Now was the time to inform the Quest team. Her lips turned up into a cruel smile as she typed in a command.

Race, Benton, and Hadji were in the lighthouse working on every computer trying to re-access IRIS. "Hey! Who did this?" Race stood up and folded his arms while looking at the screens on one of the lighthouse walls.

"You don't need to know. It's not important… but could you possibly have been looking for… let's say Jonny? And Jessie? Take a look at your screens, it's the last you'll ever see of them!" The voice dimmed and went out. The screens came on, showing both Jonny and Jessie in the VR world… they were still falling and each was grabbing for something.

The silky voice answered, "I want nothing that you can give me. It was up to Jonny, but he didn't take my offer… he'll pay…"

"Benton, can't you do something?" Race asked, looking at his daughter on the screen. Hadji and Dr. Quest were both typing frantically on the computer but nothing was working.

"You won't be able to save them… face it. You don't have control over your computer systems, and you won't gain control them either."

Benton tried to place the voice, he knew that person but somehow he couldn't place who the woman was… `Wait a minute!' "Cilia Klaygon…" Benton said.

Benton shook off the question, "I'll explain later. But she was on the work team in Utah…" he decided not to mention that she and Jonny had seemed to be together for a lot of the time.

Jonny landed hard. He stood up slowly and looked around, he could barely see anything. Black surrounded him, yet there was a dim light. He felt as if he were dreaming… but he knew that he wasn't. "Jess…?" He called, "Jessie!" He shivered, what was Cilia up to? Nothing good… that he was sure of.

Suddenly he noticed a figure coming towards him. It was Jessie! "Oh Jess, I was really worried for a minute there!" Jonny walked towards her.

She looked at him and sneered, "Don't you think that I can take care of myself? Is it so hard to believe that not everyone needs you? I don't need you Jonny Quest, so leave me alone!"

"Shut up! You never think about consequences. You always jump into things and get us in trouble! You always drag me, or Hadji, into your stupid adventures! Why don't you leave us out of your crazy schemes? You should just leave… you don't belong with the Quest team… go away! You're just trouble!" She continued on and on.

"No…" Jonny whispered, he covered his ears as he sunk to his knees, "No! Jess… please…" He shook his head, `This can't be real… she'd never do this…!"

Jessie finally ended up in a room in a castle. As she looked out the window she realized that she was in a high tower, `Why in the world am I here?' She wondered. "Jonny… Jonny!" She couldn't see him anywhere and there was no reply.

She shrugged and started to walk to the door. Slowly chains appeared on the floor and crept towards her. Jessie screamed as the chains wrapped around her legs and waist. The next thing she knew, she was hanging upside-down out of the window. "HELP!" She yelled, "HELP!" Where were the people she needed? Where was Jonny?

Cilia appeared in the window above Jessie, she sneered at the girl that was dangling there, `This twit thinks that she can capture Jonny's attention so much? We'll see about that… he'll change his mind soon enough. Tonight is the full moon and I can complete my project, and by then Jonny will be at my side…'

The brown-haired woman ignored the dangling girl, Cilia walked to the door and passed through- making her way to Jonny.

A soft hand rested on Jonny's shoulder, "She was so mean, Jonny. How can you be so captivated with her? She obviously doesn't care for you… like I do."

Jonny looked up into the violet eyes and slowly his brain drowned in lies. The truth fought valiantly to reach his main thought line but it was defeated. "I just can't believe… that she turned on me like that. It's not like Jess…"

"But didn't you hear her? She was so serious," Cilia helped Jonny up and twisted an arm around his neck. She took her free hand and ran her fingers through his hair, "I could be so good to you Jonny… if only you let me. You'll save yourself a lot of pain if you come with me…"

A cry rose to his lips as he felt her lies rake through his brain like her fingers through his hair. He pulled back and yelled, "NO! You're lying! This is your pathetic excuse for a virtual reality game it's your creation! This is your doing! You're lying! Jessie would never turn on me like that!"

"Really?" Cilia asked, amused, "I think she might, Jonny. I really think she might…" she laughed softly, "Don't worry, love, we'll be together… I can promise you that!" And she vanished.

"CILIA! You jerk! Get back here!" Jonny pounded his fists together, `I gotta find Jess!' And with that thought he walked ahead, hoping to find something.

Suddenly Jessie was pulled back up into the tower. `Now what?' Her mind demanded. She looked around and found nothing so she went through the door. Surprisingly, it led into a large room with fountains and plants all around. In one corner she began to notice movement.

Slowly she crept up and found Jonny standing there and talking-or flirting- with Cilia. Jessie gaped at the site, "And what do you want done with the Bannon girl?" Cilia was asking.

"Anything you want to do is fine… Jessie doesn't mean anything," Jonny replied while holding Cilia close against him.

`I don't believe it!' Jonny bent his head down and kissed Cilia deeply. His hand brushed through her hair as his other hand was on the small of her back. `No… he wouldn't do this…' Suddenly Jessie was contained in a small glass-like cell. She was forced to watch and hear Jonny and Cilia.

Then Jessie was left alone, all in blackness. She was frightened, more frightened than she had been in a long time. There was just this feeling that kept growing in side of her.

Jonny stumbled on through the darkness, still searching. `Oh Jessie… this is all my fault!' Jonny shook his head in despair the feelings he had for Jessie were strong, but he refused to let them show only because he knew that she cared for Hadji, `It's so obvious! The time in Bangaloure (sp? It's not in my spellcheck)… then there was also that incident with Elise…' He had no chance, he knew that.

Suddenly he realized that up ahead he could make out the form of a person. His heart leapt to think it was Jessie. "Jess…? Jessie?!" He called.

The figure came forward hesitantly and made Jonny wonder if it was another of Cilia's tricks. "Jonny," was the confused reply.

She started to wonder about what she saw, could he really have been so interested in Cilia? Jessie didn't think that he had all that bad of luck with women, not like Hadji, `Really… Elise and Aniya, great choices…'

"Jess?" Jonny suddenly panicked, maybe this was another one of Cilia's tricks. Or maybe Cilia had done something to turn Jessie against him… "Jess… what did she do? Jessie…?" Jonny backed one step away, not understanding the look of betrayal in her eyes.

`He would not have done that. Sure Jonny gets into trouble… but he wouldn't go to Cilia on his on free will, would he?' As Jonny asked her the question with concern, Jessie knew that what she had seen was an illusion, "Jonny… we have to get out of here!"

Jonny smiled, glad to find that this was the real Jessie that he knew, "I know… but how? This VR world is so strange! It's hard to tell what's real…" Jessie nodded in agreement.

As the two of them started to walk away, a voice shattered the silence, "You found each other, but for how long? Since you refuse me, Jonny, you will suffer dearly… don't cross me, for if you do, you pay with your life!"

"I don't know! Hang on, Jess, try not to separate!" Cilia appeared and snarled at them, angry that nothing had worked. She kicked her foot up between the bound hands and the two of them were sucked into separate portholes.

"That will take care of them for a few hours… then the real pain starts…" Cilia smiled, nobody got the best of her- nobody.

Race, Benton, and Hadji watched in horror as Jonny underwent `Jessie's' cruel remarks. "Can't we help them out?!" Race demanded, glancing at the other screens where Jessie watched `Jonny' and Cilia.

"I don't know how… Cilia Klaygon is a magician with computers and technical equipment. And with her having control of our systems, I don't know how to track her!" Benton looked desperately at his son. "What's this…?" He watched as `Jessie' faded into the background and Cilia appear.

"I don't like this…" Hadji remarked as he listened to Cilia's lies, "I think she's trying to get Jonny. But why?" He turned to Benton.

"And over there she's turning Jonny against Jess…" Race added, noting the screen where Jessie watched the flirtation between Cilia and `Jonny'.

"It was something that happened in Utah… don't worry about it," Dr. Quest shook off the question, he didn't know much about what had happened between Jonny and Cilia back in Utah so he wouldn't worry the others about it.

Benton saw the look slightly hidden in Race's eyes, "Hadji, let's try hacking into the computer again. Maybe she didn't guard part of it so carefully."

Jonny was floating in the air with a star like scene surrounding him. He slowly realized that the stars were lined up in patterns that formed the outline of the faces of Hadji, Race, Jessie, and his father. "Now what?"

Their voices filled the air as each person blamed him for all of the troubles… for all of the weird things they had seen. Jonny didn't understand what they meant, but then his father's voice came to him, "You're a disgrace… always in trouble and always needing someone to get you out of it. You would have been dead by now if Race hadn't been saving your life all of the time…"

"Dad… but…" Jonny shook his head, this was all lies. He had to remember that, all lies. But slowly as the hours dragged by and the accusations got stronger and harder, the lies filled his head. `I can't… hold onto the truth… for much… longer…' he thought in despair. "STOP! STOP IT!" He screamed. But nothing stopped.

Jessie was also floating in a dark void like where Jonny had been before. She became aware of voices and she saw that around her faded images of Dr. Quest, her father, Jonny, Hadji, and her mother appeared. They started to shout at her, telling her all her weaknesses.

Images of her worst fears appeared as the voices yelled at her, `I can't stand this!' Jessie finally screamed, trying to drown out the voices, "Please… STOP! STOP!" It continued on as the hours dragged by, she was limp and weak from crying. The voices had continued on, strong and horrific.

At the Quest compound, Hadji and Benton worked hard trying to tap into Cilia's computer. "Dr. Quest, she has it too well guarded," Hadji said.

"There has to be a way! Keep trying!" Race shouted, he watched the screens painfully as Jessie and Jonny suffered from the attacking lies.

Benton shook his head, his face was downcast, "I don't know what else to do… but we'll continue trying." Benton stared at his lap, four hours. They had been trying for four hours, and that was only since Jonny and Jessie had ended up at the end of the portholes. "We have to get them out of there…"

Cilia watched her surveillance screens, Jonny and Jessie had been facing their worst fears for almost four and a half-hours. Just thirty more minutes and she'd draw them back to the real world… she had plans for them.

"Too bad Jonny, you were great but you were also a fool," She looked at the boy on the table. Shaking her head she decided to leave the lab for a moment and get more energy.

Jonny watched painfully as Hadji and Jessie walked arm and arm away from him, "No…" he shook his head, his head ached from all of the shouting. He had no idea how long he had been in the VR world but it was starting to get to him. Though no physical pain had been inflicted, but his mind was throbbing while it tried to sort out lies and truths.

"You don't deserve to be with us anymore… why don't you just go join your mother and leave us be?" As the words escaped Race's mouth Jonny fell back, totally shocked.

"No… Race, you don't mean that… you can't… mean it…" tears stung Jonny's eyes as he realized what his friend had just said, "No… please, stop… it can't be true!" Tears flowed down his face as more things were said to him.

Benton's hands shook as he watched Jonny still be tortured by the lies. When the first comment about Rachel came up, pain filled Benton's heart. Race's hands were clenched in anger, "I'd never say anything like that…"

"How long must they be in there?" Race demanded to no one in particular. Suddenly the screens flickered and went blank, "What the-?"

Cilia's silky voice echoed through the room, "They are returned to the real world now. You will not see them for a little bit longer… and when you do, you'll wish that you didn't. Good night gentlemen." Her laugh echoed long after the connection was broken.

Jessie was pulled violently back into the real world. Tears still stained her cheeks as she finally could focus on her surrounds. It was the lab again and absently she wondered what time it was.

Cilia came forward and watched Jessie with interest, "Did you enjoy my virtual world?" Jessie didn't respond. Cilia shrugged slightly and turned to something, or someone, next to Jess

The mumbled reply couldn't be heard. Jessie turned her head to find Jonny in about the same state that she was. Tearstains were left on his face and the pain showed on his face. "If you thought that was bad… wait five more minutes until midnight…" Cilia laughed, "It will suit as my revenge and it will provide me with the energy I need…"

She walked over to one of the many computers and typed something in. A skylight opened above and just in front of her two prisoners. And then a small pillar rose slowly from the floor. Cilia placed a red crystal the size of her fist on the pillar and watched the moonlight play over the surface, "Tonight is the full moon, in case you did not know. And on these nights my kind hold the power to take much more energy from those that we want… it is very painful and will suffice for my revenge on you. Jonny, you can save yourself, this if your very last chance.

Jessie gasped, "Jonny Quest, stop talking like that! It's not your fault, some how it seems that we're always the targets… it's just that way…"

Cilia silenced them and they watched in fear as the moonlight directly hit the stone. Cilia mumbled something in another type of language and red power shot towards Jonny and Jessie, it entered their bodies and slowly the pain started.

Jonny bit his lip as the lightning type power struck him. Next to him, Jessie screamed out. "Stop it! Cilia stop it!" He shouted.

"It's too late. There's nothing you can do, you'll die in twenty four hours," the smile on her lips showed her true evil side. She hit a button and released Jonny and Jessie. They could barely stand because of the pain but she pushed them through the door and the hallway. Finally she tossed them into the back of her helicopter. She took off and flew towards the Quest compound.

Jessie lay next to Jonny in the back, breathing slowly she could control the pain somewhat, "Jonny…do you know where we're… going?"

They landed a few minutes later and Cilia pushed them out onto the road. She took off again, laughing the whole time. Their energy was being linked to the stone in her lab so she didn't need to keep them, this way they all suffered.

"We're at the main gates…" Jonny sighed, he forced himself to stand and walk forward, Jessie got up too and together they pushed the gate open. They had been surprised when IRIS had not automatically opened the gate, but were grateful enough to get in.

"I know… but we gotta find dad, I'll help you," he supported her as they stumbled up the path. Both collapsed a few feet from the door to the main house. The porch light turned on and illuminated the yard.

Hadji stared unseeing out the window, no one had come up with anything that they could do. Nothing had worked with hacking into the computer system…

He sighed and wished desperately that he had also gone with his friends, perhaps then he could help. Suddenly he was pulled back into the present as the lights on the main house turned on, "Dr. Quest, someone must be at the house… the lights are on!"

Race and Benton came up next to Hadji, they couldn't see anything or anyone from their vantage point so they raced down the stairs. As they came up to the house, they could hear painful gasps. "What the…" Benton started.

Benton and Race came forward too. Jessie and Jonny lay on the ground, both trying to breathe slowly as more pain filled them, "Hey…" Jonny muttered, his eyes half closed.

Race and Benton laid Jonny and Jess on the floor of the family room, both breathed hard trying to keep the pain under control. Hadji knelt by and asked, "What happened?"

"We know it was Cilia… she somehow has control of IRIS and our computer system. We were forced to watch you both in the virtual world that she had you in…" Benton added.

Jonny lay his head back, `Wonderful,' he thought. "We were just racing when this helicopter came it took us away. Since you saw the VR world part you don't need that explanation, but she's… she's like-" He was cut off as new pain started, he bit his lip until it bled.

She continued again, "She took this one man's energy before her virtual game. When we returned to the real world it was around midnight. She has this stone and when the moonlight hit it she's able to take much more energy from whatever victims she chooses… it only happens on full moons- but…" Jessie sighed, she was so tired and the pain hit her body in full force.

Jonny ended, "We only have twenty four hours… as she said `there's no way to stop it'." Slowly he closed his eyes and fought with the pain.

"No, we'll find a way. We'll stop this, just hold on," Benton looked at Hadji, he obviously seemed to know about Elise more than any of them. Benton and Race hadn't gotten much of a description of what happened with Elise in New Orleans.

"No…" both Jonny and Jessie replied. "But," Jonny added, "The ride was short… about five minutes. And I think the helicopter was facing north."

"Don't go," Jessie whispered, "please don't. She'll take your energy, usually she can only take men's but this time she's tapped into mine."

Benton watched as his son slowly drifted off into a painful sleep, `I won't lose you Jonny. Not you too, I wouldn't be able to lose you. We'll stop her, so help me!'

Hadji watched his friends with pain in his heart. They meant so much to him and he couldn't imagine them not around. They'd find a way to save Jonny and Jessie, he knew that they would… they had to.

It was one o'clock in the morning when Hadji, Benton, and Race went to their rooms and turned in. Jonny and Jessie had fallen asleep earlier and didn't show any signs of waking anytime soon.

Jonny woke up around eight in the morning. He turned his head to the side and looked at Jessie, she was sleeping peacefully and he then made up his mind. `I have to do this… if Dad, Race, or Hadji go they could be killed. Well so could I, but…' he sighed. He just couldn't stand to think that Jessie wouldn't live. He just couldn't let Cilia win… so he slowly sat up and then kneeled next to Jessie.

Slowly he bent down and brushed his lips against Jessie's forehead, `I'm sorry that I never told you…' Jessie stirred a little but settled quickly. Painfully Jonny stood and made his way out the door, when he reached the outside Jonny found a hoverboard by the door and grabbed it. His whole body ached and he felt so weak but he forced himself to get on the board.

Quickly he headed out the front gate and went south, `I hope this is the right way…' Jonny prayed that he'd find Cilia before it was too late to do anything, `I can't let Jessie down…' with that thought he forced himself on. After fifteen minutes of searching, Jonny found a large stone building surrounded by trees. He decided to try this place first, just maybe…

Jonny left the hoverboard next to the steps and half-hidden under a bush. As he lifted his hand to knock the door opened and Cilia stood there in a tight blue dress. "Jonny…" she murmured, "come in and tell me why you're here."

"Cilia… I just came back to say that I will accept," she raised in eyebrow, "I'll stay with you if you stop transferring my energy and Jessie's." Her eyes narrowed for a moment but then she smiled.

"I'm glad you see the true path, come with me and I'll reverse the spell," Jonny followed Cilia slowly, the pain in his head lessened but was still there.

They stopped in front of an automatic door and Cilia keyed in the entry code. When they walked through the door, Jonny immediately recognized it as the lab. He shuddered slightly as he saw the red stone, it glowed from its place on one of the tables. Cilia ordered, "You stay right there and I'll reverse the spell on you… and Jessie." She said the last name with hate hinted in her voice.

Cilia said something as she moved a hand over the stone. "There, all finished. You feel better now?" Jonny blinked, the pain was totally gone.

"Good, then let us return to the living room," Cilia turned to leave but the phone rang she picked it up and asked irritably, "Hello? Oh! Just a minute," she turned to Jonny, "I have a phone call, I'll be back in a few." She stepped through a door and into another room, Jonny leaned up against the wall and listened.

"Rene, why are you calling? Why are you spying on me?!" Cilia sounded very mad. "Okay, okay. Yeah, I freed him off of my spell… does it bug you that I actually might like him? Rene, don't worry. I've told you before, that stone's power will last for three more days… that gives me more than enough time to find the energy I need… no, the girl is still being drained of her life energy… I wouldn't leave her alive!"

Jonny backed away from the wall, three days. He couldn't believe that the stone still had that much power and could be used again. `I'll have to destroy it…' he looked around for something to crush the stone but didn't really find anything that would break the stone. `Great… I'll bring it back home,' he went for the stone and grabbed it. Stuffing it in his pocket, he found one of the windows open and he ran for it. He jumped out the window to find that he was in the front of the house, from inside he heard a scream of rage and he ran to his hoverboard.

He jumped on the board and increased his speed to the fastest he could go. He rushed towards the Quest compound, at one point he turned his head back and saw a strange bird-like creature. Jonny gulped and sped up, he remembered when Elise had transformed... in the bird-like state she had been fast and dangerous. `How am I gonna get rid of that thing?' He remembered that silver had to be something that stopped, or at least slowed the thing down, because the men looking for Elise always had silver bullets in their guns.

Jessie woke up slowly and noted that the time was around seven thirty, as she slowly turned her head she realized that the pain that went through her body increased. She wondered how Jonny was doing and looked to her left. There was no one there, in panic she sat up quickly- again the pain caught her hard. She looked around, looking for a sign of Jonny afraid of where he might be.

Hadji, Race, and Benton rushed down the stairs to find Jessie staring at the open front door, her mouth hung open as she whispered, "No…"

The new arrivals registered what was going on, Benton glanced into the family room and noticed that his son was missing. "Damnit! He went after Cilia himself!" Benton rushed out the door but saw Jonny no where.

Race went to his daughter and stroked her hair, "It'll be alright… Jonny gets through everything and anything…" at least he hoped that this time would be the same.

Hadji went outside and looked around, he noted that the hoverboard was gone. He cursed silently, "I don't know how he can still ride that Hoverboard…" He was cut off as he heard yells and strange screeches.

Jonny could see the main gate up ahead, `Only a little farther…' "What?!" Suddenly he was lifted from the board and he looked up to see the Cilia (in the bird-like form) curl her claws around his arms. "No you don't!" Jonny yelled, he noticed that they were almost at the main gates, quickly he tore himself free and fell, hoping to land on the other side of the gate.

"It's Jonny! What is that thing that's chasing him?" Race asked, running out with the others. Jonny rolled and jumped up, dodging the bird again.

"You'll pay! You don't trick me and live!" The bird screamed, "Give me the stone!" Cilia lunged at Jonny again but he ran out of the way.

"Dad! Catch! Break it, okay? Hurry!" Jonny threw the stone to his father who caught it. Race took it from Benton and threw it hard at the ground, only a small crack appeared but Race picked up a heavy rock and slammed it down.

"Curse you Jonny Quest!" The Bird wailed and dove again, it landed and transformed back into her human form- but this time she looked different. She had long knife-like nails on he hands and her teeth looked like fangs.

Jonny backed away from Cilia but stopped as he realized he was heading towards the cliffs. Cilia pounced then and nailed him down, Jonny pushed her back and they rolled to a halt near the edge. The sound of crashing water far below reached Jonny's ears, the next thing he heard was Jessie's mad cries. He looked up for a moment and saw Jessie throw a rock at Cilia, she looked quite mad as she stood there with another rock in hand. Race, Benton, and Hadji had moved forward, but didn't get too close.

Cilia snarled at the girl, "You would have died! But no, Jonny here had to go and save you!" She stood up and headed towards Jessie. Jonny watched in horror as she hit Jessie across the face, leaving four long, bloody cuts.

He reached out for an object any object, his hand found a sharp pointed rock and he aimed carefully. Pulling his hand back and then bringing sharply forward, he created a strong throw and the rock hit its target. Cilia clawed at her shoulder, trying to dislodge the stone buried there. She turned back to Jonny with hatred in her eyes.

At that moment, everything was a whirlwind of events. Jessie tackled Cilia from behind and they ended up at the edge of the cliff, Jonny reached out to pull Jessie back but both Cilia and Jessie ended up falling over the edge. At the last moment, Cilia grabbed out and clung to Jonny's hand… pulling him over too.

"Jonny! Jessie!" Benton screamed. Hadji, Race, and Dr. Quest rushed to the edge of the cliff to find Jonny clinging to a rock with Jessie, and Cilia clinging onto him.

Jonny held on tightly to the rock, not daring to look down. Somehow Jessie had managed to grab him and she now clung onto his arm, below her Cilia held Jessie's foot. "Jess…" Jonny said, "I'm going to ask you to try and swing your legs, get Cilia off you. It's too much weight."

She lashed out at Cilia with her free foot, catching Cilia right in the face. The woman screamed in pain and slowly her grip lessened and she fell back- screaming the whole way. Jessie didn't look and shut her eyes tight.

Dumbly she nodded, slowly she started to climb back up. Jonny helped push her up towards Race's and Hadji's waiting hands.

Reaching out he caught a better hold and did his best to climb. The wind butted his back and seemed to try and drive him off the cliff. Finally he came in reach of Benton and Race and they helped him up. Dr. Quest sighed in relief and held his son for a moment, "For a while there I was convinced that I'd lose you…"

Jonny shrugged, "Awe, you know me. I'm fine… but tired…" He glanced slightly at Hadji and Jessie, they talked softly and he turned away again. "I think I'm going to go sleep…" He stood up and headed towards the house.

Benton looked at Jonny in concern, there was more here than what was apparent. He didn't miss the last sad look that Jonny gave Jessie before he vanished into the house. `Something is definitely going on here…'

Jessie yawned and agreed that she also was tired but feeling much better than she had been. Race and Hadji escorted her back to help bandage her wounded face as Benton headed to the lighthouse to think. What was going on between Jonny and Jessie? Somehow he didn't think Jessie was aware of it… He went over the events in his head. Then he went back to remember Utah.

Jonny and Cilia had dated or been together for the better part of the week. Near the end, though, Jonny had become more distant and kept more to himself and when asked he replied, "Just thinking…" one time Benton had caught the last words, "About someone."

That was it. Benton sat up and shook his head, "Why didn't I ever see this coming?" He laughed softly, of course. His son was obviously in love with Jessie Bannon. He shook his head and smiled a little, "I should have guessed…" But then he wondered about the sad look Jonny had given. Jessie had seemed oblivious to the look so she didn't really know what was going on. He decided to keep his discovery to himself and wait to see what happened.

That went too fast. Sorry, but I didn't have a nice long story plan laid out. Oh well, I'll try better next time. If you hadn't guessed, I'll try my hand at continuing from this story. J