[h3] The Parting Of the Ways [/h3]  Mat, Emiliah, Fenros, Yuri, Marcus, Abby, Coraline. 
 
"NO!" Screamed Charon quickly. "That is CHEATING" Suddenly the room vanished and most of the hunters  and Abby, found themselves right outside the church, the sun rising and the air feeling...less evil. In a way that only a fresh sunrise could. 

Emiliah blinked in the harsh sunlight, making out the faces of those around her. To her left, were Mat and Yuri. Her right, Coraline and Fenros. Right in front of her was Marcus, with the tiny child, Abby, holding on to him, sobbing softly.  

Flint and Liz were nowhere to be seen. Despite her protesting body, Emiliah forced herself to her feet. A hollow feeling settling deep in her stomach the longer she looked, without seeing her friends.  Finally she looked up and Fenros, her eyes aching with either tears of knowing her friends could still be with that [i]thing[/i] or  from exhaustion...or from....any number of things. [color=bc8dbf]"Fenros...what...what happened. Why...why did he let us go and...where is Flint...and Liz?"[/color] She really didn't expect him to have the answers to her question, but she couldn't help but ask them. 
 
Coraline was taken by surprise when the dark room turned into the bright outdoors. Her eyes hurt and she quickly lost her balance due to the magic leaving her body. Coraline felt to both knees, her hands on the cobblestone path in front of the church. Her sword, Arcadia, clanged as it fell. Her breath was ragged and she was sweating and shaking from the magical purge the ritual had caused.

"That ritual... For nothing., Coraline clenched her teeth.

Only after the ordeal in the cathedral had passed, the fatigue of a long journey from Arcadia to the hunt in the catacombs had caught up with her. Along with the exhaustion of her banishing ritual, Coraline struggled to remain awake. The struggle got the better of her and she slumped down onto the cobblestone. Coraline didn't even have time to think about what the other hunters would do. Kill her? Leave her? Bring her back to Seren's Folly? None of it crossed her mind. Only rest.
 
 Mat himself was attempting to stop his stomach from puking once again after the group was teleported once more and was very close to failing.  “The deal Charon,” he whispered.  “Do I get my end?”  At that moment Mat felt searing pain on his hand, feeling letters write themselves on it.  On his left palm, Mat saw a name on his hand written by his blood.  “I have to go now…” Mat said to no one in particular as his eyes stared wide open at his hand.
 
 Emiliah glanced over at Mat, who, unlike the rest, seemed to have come up with a second wind from somewhere.  There was a bit of blood running down Mat's hand, but the new injury explained nothing. [color=bc8dbf]"Go? Where could you possibly have to go right now?"[/color] snapped Emiliah, her emotions a little of the raw side after tonight. [color=bc8dbf]"We all almost died, Flint and Liz are missing and you have to 'go now'?" [/color]
 
Andri was done for. That VERY quick ending to the situation down there had come very surprising, but he felt he should be glad about it. For Khan, it wasn't the same thing exactly. [color=00a99d][i]Khan ? To make one thing clear: I still don't really like you. But I think everyone here owes you a tiny bit and I won't be such an asshole to let everyone here just ignore that when thinking about exorcising or killing or anything else.[/i][/color] Andri felt that this statement wasn't reassuring to himself at all. He knew very well he sucked at open combat where he couldn't use his talent and training for stealth and vicious surprise attacks. So if anyone like Fenros would come around and... No, he just refused to think about it any further at the moment. [color=00a99d][i]We must keep a very low profile on this, you understand ?[/i][/color] The assassin looked around. Apparently all the hunters where there. Or no... Liz and Flint were missing - but likely everyone had already noticed that. He turned around, wordlessly approaching the horse that would have to take him back to Seren's Folley.
 

 Mat slowly turned to face Emiliah, his eyes giving a sullen look.  “Death kept his deal,” he slowly mumbled to himself.  “I'm so sorry Emiliah.”  His eyes began crawling towards the horses where Andri was already approaching them.  “I know I still owe you everything for saving my life and for me breaking your fingers over a false deal, but I need to do this.  An actual lead, after all this time.”
 
 [i]"Hm, I shouldn't have to save pathtic life forms to get you to obey and respect me,"[/i]  grumbed Khan, seemingly only half listening to  what Andri was saying. 
 
 Emiliah glanced over at Coraline who seemed to have passout. She had very mixed feelings about the woman.  She hated her for being a witch, but at the same time, she only attacked her because a demon told her to...and if a demon wanted Coraline dead...how bad could she be? She then turned her attention back to Mat, who was following Andri towards his horse. [color=bc8dbf]"Are you serious Mat? Your going after her now?  I know how important this is to you, trust me. But even you have to see that if you go after her now, you will die, right?" [/color] 
 
[color=00a99d][i]You were pretty eager to get into on of these 'pathetic' life forms...[/i][/color] Andri responded. However he had to admit that the style he was attempting to get on his huge horse indeed was very pathetic. There was just barely any strength left in his body, so he really had trouble climbing into the saddle. When he finally was sitting in place, he turned his head to check what the other hunters did. [color=00a99d][i]Tell me Khan. Will you let me sleep or will you wake me up multiple times ?[/i][/color]

Mar made a slow nod to Emiliah and looked down at the ground.  “Emiliah…” he began but paused and looked her in the eye.  “Charon reminded me who I was and that building some fake happy-go-lucky personality wouldn't work in the long run.  Believe me I wish I was just a sarcastic bastard who won't stop talking, it'd be much more fun than what I have.  You need to find your friends Emiliah, but I need to fill the gap that's made me the maniac you saw in my memories.  I don't know if I'll die, but I'll do my best not to if you do yours, deal?”

[color=bc8dbf]"I don't make deals with idiots and if you leave right now, that is what you are,"[/color]  Had Emiliah had the energy, she might have tried to stop him. But there was no way for her to...not right now and not with everything else they had to worry about at the moment. 

Mat looked at the ground and sighed.  “I don't want to leave like this, but I suppose I am an idiot.  Find your friends Emiliah,” he said, and with that he turned and started walking to the horses.

Fenros looked around, after Emiliah answered him, he didn't answer right away. He was acutally surprised how quickly Death gave up...he was expecting a very long battle and now it seemed.... like he was unfulfilled. But that quickly went away as he tried to look for his little brother. His mind began to work, if Death sent them all out here...why would he not send them as well? Also , why wouldn't he just keep them all and send them in a pocket in the earth with no way out? He didn't feel that Flint was dead...it couldn't be. 

He looked to Emiliah who was arguing with Mat. "Forget about him." he said bluntly. " He's not worth the breath." He said as he figured out that he made a deal with death. Despicable. As he walked back to his horses, Mishka and Alltia came running up to him. 

After a brief mental conversation he shook his head and Mishka tucked her ears down and whined. "We should all head back to Seren Falls.... There is no way we can find Flint here... not if death was behind it. He glanced over to the witch hunter, Coraline? His brother briefly mentioned her before being sent towards death. He walked over to her and after sheathing his sword , he reached down with one arm around her waist and slowly lifted her up with ease to and slipped an arm under her legs. Before standing up, his hand under her legs reached down and gripped her sword that was on the ground, holding it backwards as it pointed to the ground. 


He then turned and started to walk to the horses as well.