[Save Me from] Axel [The nothing I've become.]

[I Am Agent Z]

How Can you see into my eyes, like open doors? Laying you down into my core, where I become so numb. You fill my soul, my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold.... until you find me there and bring me back home. (WAKE ME UP)

Galloping through the forest trails. Truly magnificent and unstoppable the duo were. Axel and Snap, the brown stallion and the amethyst eyed man. The galloped through the forest trails, this was Snap's starter training. Jumping logs and ledges, darting past trees, splashing through shallow streams. You had to be prepared for anything in a race, and what better way to train than by a run through the forest? Snap and Axel's hearts and breathing were almost matched, so that they both could get the rush out of a great run.


wake me up inside, wake me up inside. Call my name and save me from the dark. Make my blood to run, before I come undone. Save me from the nothing I've become.

Now they were past the forest and galloping across a field, though there were no predators in the area as this was still part of Axel's land. They continued running until they got to a drop-off of sorts. Axel stopped Snap and turned him so that his side faced the town below. Axel looked down at the town, wondering what his grandfather would have felt if he were in the same position he was in. Sitting atop a genuine racing horse, looking down at a town below, and your heart racing as though it were a race horse as you feel as though you're king of the world as all this happens. He then laughed, turning Snap just sharply enough it made him rear only slightly, then took off back the way they had come.

Now that I know what I'm without, you can't just leave me. Bring me to being and make me breathe. Bring me.... to life. (WAKE ME UP)

Back across the field, into the forest, and back through the entire way they had come. Oh if only he could actually be in a true race in this town just once, he'd prove to them all, he'd prove that he was one of, if not the, best of all horse racers.

wake me up inside, wake me up inside. Call my name and save me from the dark. Make my blood to run, before I come undone. Save me from the nothing I've become.

[Frenzi™]

<sup>;; A chorus of hooves added itself to the forest harmony, making a dull thumping sound on the earth as the horse and rider passed through the forest. The equine moved at a slow trot, taking a jaunting stroll, and causing no trouble what-so-ever. The rider's outfit did not blend in with the surroundings, but neither did the bright mahogany bay mare. The pair didn't fit in, but they were not conspicuous. The dark blue shirt and even darker jeans fit in nicely, and the mare wasn't worried about attracting attention, oh no, Breaking Dawn was having a grand time. Her cranium was held high, jet black locks settling easily on one side of her boa, and banner flicking. There was nothing in this pair to disturb the forest in the least, and the only thing they left behind them were a set of hoof-prints, easily washed away by the slightest amount of rainfall.

;; At the small tap of the rider's heels, the equine switched quickly into a canter, the thumping becoming slightly more of a pounding, but the forests' creatures didn't seem to mind, as they kind singing, and going about their daily business. The rider's honey-blonde hair swung out behind her, following the same rhythm as the mare's black banner. The two seemed to be in perfect sync, each movement a small bit of choreography, every sound the accompanying music. Ana's thoughts rumbled through her mind, and she found herself thinking to the beat of Dawn's pounding hooves. "Dawn's not the only horse that needs to be ridden... Robbie and Impulse, Pulse is going to be so full of energy... that'll be interesting," she mused. Breaking Dawn continued at a steady pace, muscles bunching and then releasing in a continuous rhythm.

;; Dawn's ears flicked to the side, and Ana turned her head in that direction curiously as another pair of pounding hooves met her ears. There was silence for about two seconds, and then the pounding started again, leaving Ana assuming that the horse had jumped over something. "Have we gone too far, Dawn?" Ana asked, looking around. This part of the forest seemed pretty familiar for her, though maybe someone had just built a ranch, and bought some of the forested-land. "Hello?" Ana's voice called out, as she brought the mare back down to a slow trot. Breaking Dawn was tugging slightly on the reins, wanting to follow the hoofbeats, matching them with a gallop of her own, but for the moment, Ana wouldn't let her.</sup>

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[I Am Agent Z]

BRING ME TO LIFE wake me up inside, wake me up inside. Call my name and save me from the dark. Make my blood to run, before I come undone. Save me from the nothing I've become. Bring me to life. (I've been living a lie...)

The stallion and man suddenly burst through the trees and stopped right in the path. Axel was slightly hunched over, breathing hard. Then sat up, brushing his hair out of his eyes, then looked over at Ana. "Oh, Hello, Ana." He said, smiling as he turned his head just enough that he faced her.

Snap flicked his tail and shook his mane as his new owner talked from the saddle on his back. Snap could never understand his owner's accent, even though -something- about it seemed natural when he spoke to him. Snap wasn't the least bit tired He wanted to keep running. but also knew that as long as Axel was his owner, he'd have to listen to him. So he instead pawed the ground impatiently, trying to let Axel know that he wanted to keep running.

Axel chuckled, lightly patting his horse's shoulders, as he said "Easy ol' boy...." And then laughed when the stallion knickered to the mare in greeting, then held his head a bit higher, Axel merely shook his head at Snap's actions. "Sorry if we scared you..." Axel said, smiling. "Ve had no idea you vere even here..." he said, chuckling slightly and rubbing the back of his neck.

[/i] (Can't stop me inside.) Bring Me To Life.[/i]

[Frenzi™]

^{;; A surprised look came over Ana's and Breaking Dawn's faces as Axel and his horse came bursting through the trees. "Axel?" she breathed, finally noticing him after the hair had been swept out of his face, and the amethyst eyes gazed at her. "Hi there!" she exclaimed, keeping her voice slightly lowered as to not startle Axel's horse. The mahogany mare took a step forward, nostrils flared as she took in the pair's scent, not recognizing either of them, but from the tone of Illiana's voice, it sounded like she did. Breaking Dawn watched the stallion for a moment, watching him paw the ground impatiently and raise his cranium. With a snort, the mahogany mare raised his cranium slightly higher than his, flicking her ebony banner. "Oh stop it," Ana whispered to the mare, flicking off a stray fly that had settled on the mare's boa. "Oh, you didn't scare us, just startled us a bit, and who is this?" Ana questioned, nodding her head towards Axel's stallion. "Well, it is a trail, you meet all sorts of people out here, speaking of which, is your ranch nearby or something?" she asked curiously, for the last time they had met, Axel said something about owning his own ranch.}

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[I Am Agent Z]

Axel smiled slightly. "Hi." He chuckled. "Vell, zen I am sorry zat I startled you... oh. Zis is Snap." He said, gently patting the Stallion's shoulders. "Yes, I suppose you vould meet people out here..." he chuckled slightly. "Oh, my ranch, yes, actually, it is nearby... just beyond zose trees, in fact." He said, nodding his head toward the direction in which they had been heading. "Umm, vould you like to come and see it?" he asked, smiling at her, "Ve'll even take ze path route so that you don't have to worry about cuts from branches or anyzing." He said leaning forward and rubbing the horse's neck. He then chuckled and said "Besides, I zink Snap wants to keep running." He said, laughing slightly when his Stallion started pawing the ground again. "Vould you like to come and see my ranch?" he asked again, smiling.

[Frenzi™]

^{;; Ana smiled, "Snap? What an awesome name. Did you just get him? He looks fantastic!" Axel answered her question about his ranch, and she looked towards where he pointed, but the foliage seemed to bow in front of her vision, blocking any tiny-bit of his ranch out of view. He offered to show her his ranch, and she nodded, "That'd be lovely, and don't worry about it." Illiana said, referring to his offer of taking a less-foresty route. "Cuts are shallow for one, and two, they just look like battle scars!" Ana laughed, hoping Axel knew that she was joking. She watched as Snap pawed the ground, but Dawn had just turned her head away from the stallion, looking in the opposite direction. Her black banner whisked to the side, quite happy that most of the flies and annoying pests had gone away for the coming winter. "Yah, he does look like he wants to, and I'd love to," Ana replied, wondering if the path was large enough for two horses to run side by side.}

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[I Am Agent Z]

"Vell, come along, zen" he said, turning Snap back in the General direction of his ranch and waited for Ana to ome up beside him, then nudged Snap's sides, and Snap reared, and took off through the trees, full gallop. Snap darted through the trees, jumped over logs and splashed through the shallow stream that marked the edge of the forest. Then burst through the last layer of trees, galloping towards the relatively large ranch with four completed stables, another in the making, and a very pretty green and light blue European style house with the deck wrapping around half the house, they were currently galloping through one of the pastures on a trail that lead from the forest to one of the stables. The sign at the front of the ranch read 'Blazing Fame Stables for Racing Champions.' And Axel stopped Snap right in front of the main stable, and then jumped off Snap's back, taking him by the reigns and leading him into the stable. He, eventually, got Snap into one of the horse stalls on the side with the sign across the top read 'Stallions' The other side read 'Mares.' There was enough room in here for twelve horses. As well, there were twelve stalls. But, so far, only one horse, Snap, resided there. Axel gently stroked Snap's muzzle, then after feeding him a decent amount of food, gave him a couple sugar cubes. "There ya go, Ol' boy..." he said, patting Snap's neck, then walked back out of the stable, looking around for Ana. It wasn't much longer when he saw a shadow coming around the corner...

[Frenzi™]

^{;; As Snap reared and broke into a gallop, Ana gave Dawn her head, and leaned forward as the mare made the smooth transition into a gallop. However, Ana kept the mare at a loping gallop, and not a full-out-run, for she did not want Dawn to jump over the obstacles, she was purely a flat-track race horse, and not a jumper. The few jumps that were unavoidable, Ana went over them at a canter, and was surprised at how smoothly Dawn jumped. Then, as the ranch came into sight, and with a slight kick of her heels, the mahogany mare shot forward, loving the freedom of the moment. "Whoa there," Ana clucked, slowing Dawn down to a trot to take a look at the ranch. It was very nice. "Nice name," Illiana said, then saw Axel. "Sorry! I didn't really want to jump over all of the obstacles, flat-race tracks are more Dawn's style," she grinned, leaping off the mare and leading her over to the stables with the reigns. "Anywhere specific you want me to put her?" Ana asked, really thinking that she should just teach the horses the concept of ground-tying... though who knows if that would work with high-strung thoroughbreds. Breaking Dawn snorted when she saw Snap in the stables, almost laughing at him in a good-natured way.}

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[I Am Agent Z]

Axel smiled "It's alright, and zank you, it vas a custom-made name." he said, nodding at the sign at the front. Then smiled when she asked where he wanted her to put the mare. "Umm, zere are designated areas for each type of horse, I'm currently having some people help me build a fifth stable for visitor and extra horses. It's not quite finished as of yet, zough." he said, then said, softly "You can put her in ze same stable as Snap, Zough." he said, nodding slightly. "I don't zink zat Snap vould mind too much, but, uhh, vell, it doesn't really matter, but I'd prefer you put her on ze Mares side. I have a sign above each side of stalls, one says Stallions, ze other says Mares." He said, nodding up at the signs hanging from the ceiling of the stable.

[Frenzi™]

<sup>;; "Custom made, huh? So you didn't go look it up on the internet or something?" Ana teased, smiling. As Axel started telling Ana about the stabling area, although all that came out of a single asked question, Breaking Dawn was turning her head, looking around, and wondering why they were stopping at another person's ranch. It didn't smell like a race-track... it was quiet, not an overwhelming number of horse-smells, no frantic-running-humans, and no loud-shouting-voices. She continued to look around questioningly, and Ana laid a soothing hand on the mare's boa.

;; Then, Axel finished and Ana looked up at the signs that he had nodded to. "Oops, didn't notice those before," Ana said, grinning and leading Breaking Dawn to the first stall on the mare side. A brief thought crossed her mind, how long would she be here? There were other horses to exercise, and she wanted to be at the ranch to greet the new stablehands, and see if Dakota could be an exercise trainer. But refrained from asking, incase Axel took it in the way that she wanted to be out of here as soon as possible, which of course, wasn't very polite. "So," Ana started, "Is there more?" she asked teasingly, still smiling.</sup>

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[I Am Agent Z]

"Vell, zere's about 250 acres of pasture and field. I am still waiting for someone, anyone at all, to sign up for a job here, only one person has so far, Skye.." he then sighed heavily, "You'd think zat vith a stable vith ze name zat zis one has, people vould be lining up for about a mile to get a job here. Plus, I intend to raise champions... it's not just ze name zat I'm hoping vill attract people, but I wonder if anyone would join because ze application says you can bring up to three of your own horses to the stables." He said softly, tracing the golden belt buckle on the belt of his pants which was carved into a serpentine dragon. He then smiled slightly at Ana and said "Is zere anyzing else you wanted to know? Answer any question about my stable, you will recieve no lie." He said, smiling and nodding slightly to her.

[Frenzi™]

^{;; Ana listened to him and nodded her head quietly, "Just wait, I'm sure they'll come. I had to wait forever to grab people's attention. Try going in a race, that's a great attention grabber!" she offered, pondering. "Also Axel, intending isn't necessarily an action... so... maybe you should just start with the plans even before people arrive? That would make for an even better-looking ranch, although it's magnificent at the moment, to people that come. Seeing a single horse looks kind of lonely. That's why I bought Dawn!" Ana exclaimed, wondering why she was rambling. Normally, she wasn't a rambler. "Well... there is one question I've been just dying to ask," Ana said, eyes twinkling. "Since you seem so much happier and all... did you find someone?" She grinned at him, wondering if he would actually answer the question... since it wasn't quite about the ranch.}

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[mAdDiE!]

Skye glanced up and blew her hair out of her face as she walked behind the stables, gathering the loose strands and tying them up in a ponytail with a band. Jogging over to the pasture, she climbed over the fence and checked the water trough. She had cleaned it a few minutes ago, and now the water level was slowly rising as the hose trickled. Jumping over the fence again, she stood up straight and yawned. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night, and now she somewhat regretted it. She just shrugged in the end, she usually didn't get much sleep anyways. And waking up early hadn't affected her as much as she thought it would. Walking over to the water pump, she cut off the hose and stretched. She was comfortable in her jeans, boots, and green and white striped tanktop. These past few days had been amazing. She still couldn't believe that she was staying with Axel. It was more than great to talk to him late into the night and wake up every morning to know he was still there.

Blowing her straight black sidebangs away from her eyes again, her blue eyes sparkled as she strode into the barn. Seeing Mudslyde, she approached the mare and kissed her muzzle, scratching her withers over the stall door. The horse blew into her hands softly and snorted, nickering. "Hello, girl" she greeted the paint cheerfully. She had plans of riding after she finished barn chores. Showing the same affection to her chestnut thoroughbred Shawnee, she turned around and approached Snap. She lifted his forelock and rubbed his forehead. She had grown fond of Axel's horse too. Spinning around to walk back out of the stables, she noticed a mare that she didn't recognize. She was beautiful. Skye looked curious as she approached the mare, then decided that it would be smarter to learn about her temperment and where she came from first. She looked sweet enough, but you could never be sure. Had Axel gotten a new horse? She didn't think so. Besides, he would have told her. Someone must be visiting. Skipping out of the stables, she brightened up as she saw Axel, and someone who must be his friend. She didn't recognize the girl. Sneaking up from behind, she threw her arms around Axel. "Boo! And how are you today?" she smiled and kissed him, feeling sparks. She was left breathless, even though it hadn't lasted long at all. Pulling away because there was company, she turned around and smiled at the girl, holding out her hand. "Hi, I'm Skye"

[I Am Agent Z]

Axel stiffened when she surprised him. But then smiled when she kissed him, "I am doing just fine, my love..." He said softly. Then looked over at Ana, "Yes, in fact, zis lovely little lady is who I found." He said softly as he gently kissed Skye's cheek. "Skye, Zis is Ana, Ana, Skye..." He said softly, "How are you today, my love?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He then said softly "You can take a break, if you like. Get to know Ana, vhatever you like for ze time being." He said softly. He then smiled and said to Ana, "I must go check the applications, see if anyone else has signed up for a job lately..." He said, smiling. "If either of you needs anyzing, just let me know..." he said, kissing Skye again before saying to Ana "And, Zanks for your advice, Ana." He said, nodding his head, then turned and started walking.

[Frenzi™]

<sup>;; Ana turned her head slightly when a bouncing figure caught at the corner of her vision, and a grin leapt over her face as the girl gave him a kiss, although she did have to refrain from awwwing over the sight. Her face continued to light as they conversed for a moment, and a gentle purring aww slipped between her lips, most likely inaudible. She smiled back and shook the hand, "Ana, as he's already pointed out," she chuckled, immensely happy that Axel had found someone that he truly loved. It was a wonderful feeling, almost as great as being in love yourself, that bubbled up from the ground, and into your feet, traveling up until it reached your eyes and mouth, and set them alight with happiness.

;; Yet there were always those people who could turn the bubbles into fizz, and almost as if the fizz burned their nose, they would smile fakely, and pretend, though of course one could always tell when that was happening. Fake smiles got people nowhere. When Axel thanked her, Ana nodded her head slightly, "No problem, good luck," she replied, holding up her hand and turning it to the side, one of her little waves. A thought reached Ana's mind, 'I hope that Skye doesn't think I like him more than a friend, that would turn out quite badly,' but she shoved the thought outside. Skye looked like the sort of person that would definately tell you if they had a problem with you.</sup>

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