[IC] The Midnight Train to Nowhere

[MUG]

Inadi shot Ace a little bit of a laugh as he listened to her deny his idea of the injured stay in the middle of the group. Rolling his eyes he waved her off and shook his head. “Do what you want to do Ace. Just don't trip and fall anywhere. I don't know how much juice that feather has left in it for us.” The quick little jab left Inadi's throat with a chuckle as he returned his attention to Lesley. He was still thinking on how he was gonna carry the man when he had a brilliant idea. Granted his size was a bit of a problem not to mention that Inadi still needed to carry his spear as well just in case he needed to fight against something else that the group had yet to face off against. So he decided he would kill two birds with one stone.

As Lesley quickly jumped onto his back and began adjusting himself to try and find a good spot to sit. Inadi winced on a few of the sudden movements but kept his groans to himself so as to not give Lesley the idea that he was uncomfortable. Last thing that he needed to do right now was make it seem like this whole thing was a bother. Lesley needed to take a break for however long he could. He had been through a lot. As Lesley shifted his leg's forward Inadi threw his spear underneath the other boy's thighs and bottom to lift him up higher. Lifting with his legs Inadi let out a small grunt and smiled. Without saying a word he began walking with the rest of the group and hearing about how the search for the bratty dragon was going.

That stupid dragon seemed to be just as good at hiding now as it was before. Inadi hated that stupid thing more than ever now. He had been thrown around and beaten up by that little beast and he was embarrassed in front of the whole group at the time when Haku decided to hoist him up high in that cave and put him on display. If Inadi got his hands on the damned thing he might just choke it out and turn it into some kind of statue to hang in his personal writing room when he got back home. He wasn't sure how hard it would be to stuff something that was made out of a cloud but it would definitely be worth the effort.

While thinking about destroying the baby dragon, Inadi began feeling Lesley rubbing his head on his neck. Inadi wanted to turn around to check on him but decided it was best not to look at him. Sometimes it was best to leave someone to their emotions so they could at least have them. Inadi felt terrible that he couldn't do much else at this point but decided to continue walking forward. While doing so he felt some tears hit his neck and Inadi let out a sigh. He couldn't say anything, but knew he should have said something.

Harper walked by and apologized to Lesley and Leila not too long after approached them and asked if it hurt. Lesley ended up stepping off of his back and began talking Leila after giving him an appreciative nod. Returning it, he allowed the two to talk as he stayed with the rest of the group and threw his spear over his shoulder. As the group moved towards a cabin Riley began suggesting burning down the thing if there was nothing inside. While Inadi didn't see an issue with the idea it seemed as if everyone and their brother did. Honestly it wasn't like this place was a good place for a summer home. Plus with all the undead in the area it probably destroyed the property value.

Riley then asked for him and Jasper to join her in another extension of the search. “Well if I was a witch I probably wouldn't need switches or trap doors. Probably better off just using a spell to keep it hidden in plain sight. Sometimes the best things in life are hidden in plain sight.” Inadi explained as he looked around the room and gave a few chairs in the cabin a quick kick. Inadi didn't find any reason to keep looking in the damn place. All that was here were shadows and rotting wood.

Jasper then suddenly began talking about how she saw something of interest. Inadi rushed over to see what it was all about and noticed it was just a piece of metal. Letting out a sigh of disappointment he began spinning his spear in his arms. He was hoping that the stupid dragon would show up at some point here soon and he really didn't care to hear about some stupid corps that the person was training for that was in this cabin before. Looking over to Riley he let his agitation show on his face. Slamming the but end of his spear on the ground he blew some air up his face to throw a bang out of his eyesight. “The damn thing is made out of a cloud. How can something, even a witch, hide a living cloud without any sign of the stupid lizard being noticeable,” He told her as he leaned against the wall behind him. “Something tells me that the little guys either isn't here or Witchypoo out there may have already eaten him.” He announced with a bit of worry in his voice as he said that. If the baby was dead, no doubt the parents would take out their anger on them. And there would be even less left of them then what they had left behind of the witch that had given them hell just a few minutes ago.

Thinking back to everyone's revealing of their day before landing in Nowhere Inadi thought of his own situation. New Year's Eve was always an event he tried to enjoy privately. That night however he had some stupid desire to be out and among the crowd. "If I remember correctly I was out trying to find a party for the festivities. Ended up taking a wrong turn and found myself at an above ground subway station. Trying to figure out what place I needed to get to I saw a map that said the next train would take me to where I needed to go. After that the train that you all saw showed up for me as well. I thought the train was full of people in bunny suits and everything else under the sun. Harmless fun to be had during New Years day and all that," He told the group as he pushed himself off the wall with a grunt. "After that I ended up here and would do anything to get myself back home to see what all I have missed." He said as he listened to the rest of the group discuss their memories.

After Lesley finished his speech it was clear that the anger had boiled over in his mind. Inadi immediately dropped his spear and got between Lesley and the mermaid Martini. Grabbing Lesley by the shoulders he tried calming him down as best he could with a calm face, but it was clear that this kind of thing was needed in the end. He also had some questions about the whole sincerity of the bringing of them all here to Nowhere. Eventually letting go of Lesley he turned to look at Martini and the other guides with a bit of a cold stare. He walked away back to where he was before and picked up his spear with his eyes still similar to that of steely knives. He spun the weapon in his hands and let a smile creep up on his face. "Surely there has to be an answer to that question guides. An answer you have to know about. So how about it then," He said as he stopped spinning the spear, the tip pointed at the guides as the smile disappeared and light reflecting off his glasses, hiding his dark glare. "What exactly does Nowhere need with us humans in the end?" He asked with a completely monotone voice. He still had the newspaper clipping about Mr. Cuddles, and he figured there had to be other things this place was hiding from them.

[Kimchi]

Shooting around the room, it never occurred to her that Avian had uttered something in response to the item she had found. In all her excitement, everyone else didn't seem to be too thrilled with the find and as a result, she decided that if it wasn't the hidden switch, then there was no use in making a huge fuss about it.

"Y'know bear, that could actually be bad news. For all we know, the witch has already roasted the poor rider. If they were here, you think we'd at least hear them? This place is pretty small."

Her eyes grew wide in horror. How could he say something so horrid. Having previously felt so happy about the discovery of the armour, she now looked at it as the last remnant the rider might've left before dying. Running her fingertips over the engravings on the arm piece, she felt mournful and she hated how quickly Hakuren could flip her mood upside down. Something about him was just so cold and unwelcoming. Sniffling a bit, she placed the metal part back onto its former spot on the shelf and sighed somberly in defeat, wishing that she'd never pointed it out to begin with. He could be right, the rider could very well be gone by now, the baby dragon too. Clenching her eyes tightly, she didn't want to cry again, she had lost too much water already and was getting severely dehydrated.

"Martini, you're good friends with the Queen right? Do you know when or why you guys started getting human shipments? People even die on these missions don't they? Look what happened to Vince!"

At first she wasn't really paying much attention to the conversation behind her, but as she felt the tension rise in his aura, she turned around to see Lesley hunched over Martini who was sitting with a shocked expression on the chair.

"Tell me. Tell me how many shipments of humans you guys have gotten and tell me how many have died!"

She flinched as he smacked his hand down on the table, his rage clearly fueling this outburst. He had lost a hand and she could only imagine what that felt like and how it could emotionally damage a person. To have the knowledge staring you right in the face for the rest of your life, that you would never be the same again. Everyone else in the room looked just as startled as Martini, but she knew that everyone was having the same mental battle in their heads. Who to side with? Lesley was human and all his points were valid. Jasper's breaths were beginning to quicken as the argument continued to heat up.

"Lesley! She risked her life for you!"

"Well," he looked uncertain, "they could have left us long ago, but they didn't."

Heart rate gradually beating faster, she saw Inadi step in to remove the panting Lesley away from Martini who was still dumbstruck with the sudden turn in atmosphere.

"Yeah," Hakuren sneered, "well, this is a job to them."

Jasper watched as Harper approached Hakuren with steady footsteps, yet they were filled with alarming annoyance. The ice mage seemed to beckon him on as he let out a laugh and Harper snapped. A loud gasp escaped her mouth as Harper's fist made contact with Haku's jaw. The albino was mortified, tears were welling up in her eyes and her legs were weakening. They were supposed to be a family and she felt so thankful just moments ago, what was happening? She couldn't think straight and her head was buzzing with questions again. The guides had always been people she felt safe with, but now she was viewing them in a new light, a dark and ominous presence.

"Hakuren has a point," his voice was frantic. "Just how many humans have died here?" He was repeating Lesley, "how many batches have come and gone?" The boy's eyes went steely. "You've seen this happen all before, but you don't care, do you? Because to all of you, we're just another batch, just another casualty! Vince is dead, but it doesn't really mean anything but a drop in your paycheck, isn't the right?"

All of Leon's panicked outcrys were flooding into her head to join all the other accusations made by both Lesley and Hakuren. Her own questions were now a big ugly mix with everyone else's said inquiries. The tension and chaos in the room was so high and her body heat shot up as she broke out into sweats.

"Surely there has to be an answer to that question guides. An answer you have to know about. So how about it then," He said as he stopped spinning the spear, the tip pointed at the guides as the smile disappeared and light reflecting off his glasses, hiding his dark glare. "What exactly does Nowhere need with us humans in the end?"

This was it, she could feel the anxiety attack coming onto her as she was losing the ability to suppress it. Mind racing with millions of unanswered questions, all the horrors she had witnessed and all the zombies she had slaughtered, the euphoria she felt as she realized just how precious all these people were to her and how much they had reshaped her personality, her heart pumping and pulsing, her mind hazing... Taking slow steps towards Inadi, her legs could barely carry her as she fought the "black out" to her utmost ability. The only sound in the painfully silent room was the light thuds of her footsteps. Reaching out, she placed a hand on Inadi's hand and pushed down to lower the weapon back to his side. Then, with her body quivering and tears flowing down the sides of her face, she turned to look at the rest of the group.

"Stop..." It was all so exhausting and she let go of her final grasp on staying upright. She slowly lowered herself down to her knees as she felt so weakened by the all the fighting and emotions bombarding her mind.

[Fox of Spades]

Collab between Orpheus and Fox





The pink-haired Lost Soul, the one who was always around Martini giggling about some fashion show along with another boy, was now yelling in her face. The mermaid seemed to have frozen up; she didn’t do anything to defend herself, not even when Lesley smacked his palm down on the table like Martini was some low vermin he had to interrogate in order to catch the mafia boss.

‘Like she did something wrong. Martiniwhyallofasudden.’

One of the other humans got agitated as well, although it wasn’t that dumbmouth Hakuren he was angry at. Songbird was glad Harper punched the idiot before he had the chance to hurl the toolbox at Hakuren to shut his big mouth. His collars were tugged and he was put on pulled down by Leon. Another one of Martini’s friends.

‘I thought they liked her?’

Why were the two of them the first to scream at her like that?

The question was plastered all over the mermaid’s face too, underneath all the shock and weariness.

He was overcome by a complex feeling and his stomach churned in an unpleasant way as the human continued to ask him questions, throttling him by the collar like he was…

a… suspect?

Leon yelped when Songbird suddenly opened his mouth wide and gnashed his teeth, and he instinctively let go thinking that the item hunter was meaning to bite him. The enamel colliding down against each other made a sharp, threatening sound. “You haven’t answered my quest- Ack!” The human tried to grab onto the white-haired nobody’s scarves again but Songbird slammed their foreheads together. Leon staggered back and fell down on his butt in a dazed heap.

“Get out of my face, punk,” Songbird snarled and then rushed off towards help Martini.

“Stand up,” Avian pulled Leon up to his feet and aided the boy towards his other friends. The dragoon was, in a way, the middle party here. Sure, he was a nobody, but he was unaffiliated with Queen Delirium and the real reason the kingdom sent him as a guide was to retrieve the lost dragon and the captured riders. He had nothing to gain by pledging his loyalty to another monarchy while his King yet lives. “Songbird! What was that for!?” He snapped uncharacteristically before going after the livid item hunter.

“You’re not the only ones going through “trouble” here! You’re not the only one making sacrifices! Are we in perfect condition, you blind trolls!?” Songbird went in between Lesley and Martini, his arms spread out as if he was trying to prevent any of them from going near the mermaid. True to his words, none of the guides looked good. Avian was, for one, was in worse shape than most of the humans. “You got a limb cut off? Anyone could have lost their hand today, for pity’s sake! Anyone! I’m sorry you had to go through that, but this wasn’t anybody’s intention!”

“'You left your family'!? OH WOW! BOO HOO! I LEFT MINE TOO! All of us did just to accompany you humans on this quest of yours! None of them died on you, did they!? Mine did! That blasted Mado friend of yours attacked my friend and now he doesn’t have half of his tail! Do you know how painful it is for micekits like Bark to get their tails destroyed!? Fjotli, Mard and Dibby fell off the Shakespearean and so did "your" Emily! You think simply because you’re all “humans” that you’re different, that that sets you up a bar from us “nobodies”? That we can’t feel what you feel, get hurt and bleed and cry and die like any of you do!? That because of that you can think of us as lowly sniveling creatures up to no good?” He screamed in pent-up frustration. He had tried so hard to talk with these humans for them to accept him, to make it easier for them to ease up at Nowhere’s oddities, but most of the time he was ignored while they talked with one another.

“Who is Delirium to us that we follow her!? She’s our queen! OUR QUEEN! THIS IS NOWHERE, NOT YOUR WORLD! Don’t force your ideologies on us, that this has to be like this, that has to be like that because IT ISN’T! None of what happens in YOUR world happens in OURS! Isn’t that obvious enough already!? AND IF ANY OF YOU ACTUALLY LISTENED TO WHAT WE SAID WHEN WE INTRODUCED OURSELVES, YOU WOULD HAVE THE ANSWER TO ALL OF YOUR QUESTIONS BECAUSE WE ALL SAID THIS WAS OUR FIRST TIME TO BE GUIDES! But we tried to help and we did! We bought supplies, mapped out rest spots, patrolled whenever everyone was asleep so nobody died, and THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US!? By being huge, sarcastic-“ a pointed look at Hakuren- “jerks!?” Songbird snarled out, too far gone in his rage to consider their feelings. Only a few of them saw things through the guides’ eyes anyway.

Things went from bad to worst when Inadi jabbed that spear of his towards the guides.





"What are you doing?" This was unbelievable, Riley's eyes flitted from the wobbly Jasper to the spear twirling Inadi. Emotions were skyrocketing and things were getting out of hand. "You can't just point your spear at them, Inadi!" Yes, she was a human. Yes, she didn't trust these guides 100 percent. Hell, how could she, after she had met them? Something in Nowhere seemed fishy, but these guides had done nothing but risk their own lives for them and they didn't deserve this crappy treatment, not by a long shot.

Martini had a shocked look on her face, and was just about ready to start crying.

"I get it, we're all tired," She shoved herself between Inadi and the guides. "We're confused and we're angry, but we can't take it out on the people who have been trying to send our butts back home." She let out a huff, her eyebrows furrowed in irritation. Frankly, without the guides they would have been dead long ago. "So just take a deep breath, and calm yourselves," Her eyes flitted towards the pale healer. "You're all scaring Jasper." Lesley, Inadi, and Leon were her companions and friends, but this wasn't right. "C'mon, we're almost through, let's not turn on each other."

Harper gave Hakuren one last glare, the guides had been with him since day one and he didn't like the way they were being treated either. Surely, Jasper and Leila understood how he felt. Haku probably didn't, but all the same, they would have died back on the Shakespearean if not for Brandy throwing the cherry bombs overboard. "This is going too far, let's just put down the spear." He made his way towards Jasper. Harper wanted to offer his friend a reassuring smile, but couldn't even manage that, so instead he offered the healer a hand and led the wobbly girl to a nearby chair.

“Inadi, what the hell!?” Avian’s voice rose and it was a good thing Jasper already pulled him down. That wasn’t a good move to make. Threatening the guides in what was already a hostile situation? Was he crazy? What was he trying to prove, that he can stab the nobodies if they didn’t- Urgh!

"You've made it clear on several occasions that your trust for us nobodies is basically at zero amount, but you don't have to be so rude!" The dragoon’s head pounded and he intervened, forcibly pushing away Inadi, Lesley and poor Jasper and setting himself in between the warring groups. He gave the humans a lingering look, each and every one of them, that told the extent of his disappointment and shock that they had been harboring these suspicions for so long and, Avian made a point to scowl at Inadi for this one, actually threaten the guides with physical violence.

The room froze over. Songbird was rooted in his place, and his face was hidden from view by his long white hair. The murderous atmosphere was enough to tell anyone how he took having a spear pointed at him, no, at all of them, like that.

“Yes, we’re paid to look after this batch. It’s a smaller sum than the one we get from our original jobs, but for some infernal reason… We took it,” The item hunter finally said in a completely different tone of voice. He raised his head and stared at the humans with eyes that were glazed in ice cold fury. “This just proved that it was never worth the trouble.”

Never worth the trouble...

Harper winced. The guides, they had every right to be as upset as they were.

Time and time again they had been saved by these nobodies. Lesley's and Leon's comments had been isulting and beyond rude and Inadi, he actually had the nerve to point his spear at them. He wanted answers just as much as they did, but this was ridiculous.

"They're right you know," Inadi had been nothing but kind to him, but Harper couldn't help but glare disapprovingly at his friend. They were all stressed, they all wanted out, and this! Well, this wasn't an excuse. "Jasper, Leila, you guys get what I'm saying, don't you?" He took a step towards the mermaid then turned to look at his friends. "If Brandy hadn't thrown those cherry bombs overboard, we would have died on the SSF." His eyes fell on the shaky mermaid. "If Martini, Songbird, and Brandy hadn't come back for us in Yonder, we would have become fish food."

Riley nodded at this. "Think about it, if they hadn't helped us back in Sol, those elemental wolves would have torn us apart."

Harper's eyes went steely, "And if they hadn't come back for us in that cave, those criminals would have taken away our list." The boy placed a hand on Martini's shoulder, his eyes flitting to meet the item hunter's own. "None of you guys deserve this. I can't speak for everyone in the group," he gave Hakuren and Lesley a somewhat pointed glare. "But we're sorry."

The fire mage backed him up, for someone so timid, Harper managed to step up whenever he was needed. "I haven't known you guys for long, but I do know you didn't deserve that. Emotions are high and we're all a little scared," Hakuren didn't look very apologetic and a part of her wanted to kick him where the sun didn't shine. "You don't have to forgive us, but personally, I'd thank you guys a hundred times over."

She shot Inadi an angry look, but what happened next was completely unexpected...

The house let out a shrill creak and the rafters started groaning as the wind howling inside the cabin intensified. The rusted pots and pans stacked up on the shelves rattled and fell down one by one and the furniture shook. Suddenly an immense force caused the front wooden wall to cave in from the door outwards; splinters and chunks of torn wood were sent flying at everyone, but what stood out the most was the item that had been sent crashing through the wall.

Thrown right in the middle of them all was the unicorn's limp and battered form, its white coat stained a fresh crimson.

"The unicorn, what's going on?" Riley took a step forward, but suddenly the house shook and an eerie coolness filled the room. A tremendous force knocked them back and Riley slammed into one of the many bookshelves, there hadn't even been time to yell.

The same thing happened to everyone in the room, including the guides. Even though her vision was blurring at the edges, the fire mage could have sworn she had seen a flicker of dark wisps. At one instant they had been almost in reach, but in the snap of a finger they disappeared, only for the wisps to reappear before Leila.

The witch wasn't dead at all.

"NO! LEILA!" Riley launched herself to her feet, but with a flick of the witch's wrist, she found herself knocked back into another shelf. The girl curled up on the ground. DAMN IT ALL. The witch was now in front of her friend, whole, alive, and with a dagger raised right above the archer's chest.

"Get out of the damn way, you french loaf!" Songbird was winded from getting thrown against the wall, but he was near enough to notice the witch's approach. He didn't have time to express his shock; he simply acted out of instinct and got up, tackling Leila out of harm's way and ending up at the mercy of the revived witch. The hag's arms swung down and she disappeared once more, and the item hunter was frozen in shock. The blade had been rammed through his shoulder, buried to the hilt in his flesh, and he soundlessly crumpled down to the floor.

Harper coughed and sputtered, he had crashed into a nearby wall, the air knocked right out of him.

The witch, it was moving too fast for them to even see. They would catch glimpses of dark wisps, and blurry outlines of a human being but aside from that, nothing. He could only watch as the woman reappeared behind Lelsley with claws that were now as long as swords.

He wanted to shout out a warning, but the woman raked her sharp talons into flesh after suddenly materializing above the stunned human, only it wasn't Lesley's...

Avian Rider. Harper felt the world tilt, as dark splotches of red began falling to the floor.

The witch twisted her talons into him, a squelching sound filling the room. She had stabbed her entire hand through his armor like it was butter. Avian's eyes glazed over as she lifted him up single-handedly, her colorless eyes seemingly glowing in manic glee as his blood ran down in rivulets over her arm. His daggers clattered uselessly from his hands to the stained floorboards as his head finally hung limp.

And then she threw him away, out into the field, like one would do to a rag doll that has fulfilled its use for entertainment.

[AkiBlue]

"What interesting lives you guys have. They sound exciting." She was off to the side tapping her foot lightly and waiting for the results of the piece of armor. Unfortunately, it didn't do much good. But boredom hit once more and she stopped carelessly breaking the objects in the house. After Lesley started explaining a little on backstories, the pink haired person all of a sudden went into a fit of...rage? Frustration definitely. Ace raised an eyebrow as Lesley yelled at the mermaid. Inadi started to calm the pink one down, but then he too was upset. "Well, shifty or not, they've been helping us for quite some time. So, we can prosecute them later. Right now we have other things to worry about don't we?"

She didn't have to push the two out of the way of the guides because everyone else was doing so, but she gestured towards the house. "We have other things to worry about now. Yell at them later." And things further continued to escalate- meaning Haku took a hit to the face by none other than Harper. "HA! Nice hit." She was sure that he had wanted to do that for quite some time. But still, things started escalating and now the guides were defending themselves.

"What is wrong with you all, all of a sudden?"
She whistled to get everyone's attention. Ace crossed her arms and looked at them. "I don't know what's gotten into you guys, but everyone just calm down! We have things to do before we go crazy...Everyone is tired and grumpy, but that doesn't mean start lashing out-" Ace didn't point fingers at anyone. Surprisingly, she was being pretty sensible too instead of getting angry. Suddenly the unicorn came crashing. She shielded herself from the flying debris before eyeing the limp form. "...at each other." She finished the sentence, only to be knocked backwards by some sudden force. Ace hit the bookshelf as well, only to cause dust and torn books to fall.
She started coughing and waving away the dust, only to see the witch. Alive and seemingly perfect condition. "That old hag..." Why was she still alive? Ace rubbed her head when one of the books fell on her. She could only watch as Riley tried and failed to save Leila- only for Birdy to intervene. Ace sat up quickly, but noticed he moved. Good, he was still alive. But once again the witch faded away. The swordswoman caught sight of the talons first before she saw the witch.

"W-Watch out!" But it was too late. She winced at the sounds of the swords impaling not Lesley, but Avian... Ace watched as the blood dripped from the dragon rider's body. For a moment, she did grow cold. The witch killed Avian... The hag could've easily killed her friends as well... The guides, they sacrificed themselves for them. Some random humans that they were told to watch over. All because the Queen told them to. The girl's fists clenched and she grabbed the nearest book by her side. As the witch tossed Avian aside, she hurled the book at her head while she was distracted.

"Avian... He had a wife... And wanted a family." Ace stood up and her sword sparked to life. "This is what your queen instructed you guides to do? Die for complete strangers?? You guys have lives too! Families even, but you are being thrown through hell to keep us safe! And you see what that causes?" Ace kept her eyes on the witch as she continued. "And to think, we could ever be so ungrateful and to accuse you guys of anything. They've been nothing but loyal... and this is how it ends up.... With an old hag trying to get rid of us all. So, if you all are done with your petty arguing, as I said before we have other things to worry about. One being, to avenge the dragon rider."

Ace didn't rush up to attack the witch. She knew that was complete insanity. There was no use dying with him, so they had to come up with some other ideas. And her first idea? Well, what harm could go to burning down the place. But she couldn't do that if the witch was blocking them from their destination. 'If we can't go forward, how about going backwards... If I can't burn the building down, we should at least break the back wall to get out. That means we need some way to slow the hag down... She couldn't voice her opinions out loud, so she decided to just act on them. Ace's sword disappeared and she moved towards the bookshelf. "Out of the way." Ace waited till they moved in order to grab the sides and pull it forward. Unfortunately, it wasn't large enough to flatten the witch, but when it fell it did come close to hitting her. "Knock down the back wall!" She pointed out as the shelf collided with the ground. In every escape, Ace learned to always find more than one exit. And if you could find only one, you had to make an exit. That was the plan at the moment. She was making it up as she went, after all, planning wasn't her best.

[Crescendo]

"Tell me. Tell me how many shipments of humans you guys have gotten and tell me how many have died!"

Martini reeled back in fear as Lesley slammed a hand against the tabletop, shrinking as far back as she could from his angry gaze. Tears were already forming in her eyes before the whole room erupted into chaos, with humans both accusing and defending the guides as the Nobodies themselves started to react. Songbird was livid, coming to stand between the mermaid and Lesley and shouting at the humans while Brandy glared wordlessly at the humans, fist clenched in his robes at the mere gall of them daring to accuse the guides.

“Yes, we’re paid to look after this batch. It’s a smaller sum than the one we get from our original jobs, but for some infernal reason… We took it. This just proved that it was never worth the trouble.”

The rabbit couldn't help but agree. Did the humans not realize the risks being a guide posed? He supposed that it was easy enough for them to forget that the Nobodies could die just as the humans could, just because that this was supposed to be their world. At least the Harper boy was being reasonable, and Martini couldn't help but cling onto the reassuring hand he placed on her shoulder, lower lip quivering.

Brandy's lips were pressed into hard lines, but after the apologies he could only shake his head. It wasn't completely the humans' fault that they had snapped- it had been a long day, not to mention the questions they had about the train weren't completely invalid. Still, snapping and threatening the guides with a spear was hardly the way to get them home- they had to complete the list; it was the only way.

The door to the cabin burst open before anyone else had the chance to do anything, the corpse of the unicorn that had helped them earlier splayed out on the ground. The scent of blood was strong and its neck was stained with red, blood still oozing out from the wound where its throat was slit. Martini only managed a small shriek before everyone in the room was sent flying, slamming into various pieces of furniture.

Brandy staggered to his feet, the wound on his head having reopened and dripping blood down the side of his face. He swore, wanting to punch himself for not noticing that they had forgotten the most vital part of witch slaying- taking the heart.

"Song-!" The rabbit snarled as the witch plunged the dagger into the item-hunter's shoulder, blood spraying into the air. He lunged forward, catching the man before he managed to hit the ground, surveying him frantically. The wound was deep and bleeding heavily, and Brandy didn't dare pull out the knife in fear of causing blood loss.

The mermaid had managed to crawl her way over to the heavily wounded dragoon, tail flopping uselessly against the floor as she cradled the heavily bleeding Avian, shielding them from the falling debris with a wavering bubble that threatened to pop at any moment. "J-Jasper!" She sobbed, calling for the healer. "Hurry, Avi is- He's-"

"Knock down the back wall!"

A large blast followed Ace's command, the wall blasting into mere fragments from the force of magic. Due to the dilapidated status of the house the other walls quickly followed, raining chunks of rubble down only to bounce off a crackling green barrier that surrounded the humans. Brandy panted in the middle of the debris that was what used to be the cabin, one hand outstretched as the other wiped blood out of his eye, rather relieved to have remembered the barrier spell he hadn't touched in a long while. It shrank as the dust cleared until it settled onto Martini's bubble under which the two wounded Nobodies lay. "Bring the wounded or exhausted under the dome," he instructed, stripping off his scarf and pressing it around the dagger wound. The material quickly soaked red, and Brandy winced as Song let out a groan of pain. They would uphold the shield until it exhausted all their magic, and hopefully that would be enough to withstand at least a few blows from the witch.

No matter what the humans believed about them, they weren't about to abandon the brats that they had worked so hard to keep alive till now.

[Anonymous]

The moment he realized what he had just done, a boulder of guilt dropped to the pit of his stomach and made him want to throw up. Worst of all, he had flipped out on his best guide friend Martini who looked like she was on the brink of crying with a terrified expression on her face. As Inadi began to pull him away and Songbird planted himself in front of the frightened mermaid, the image of her cowering away from him with tears in her eyes haunted him. A sweet girl always smiling and cheerful now so afraid she wanted to hide in a corner and it was all because of him. He was so disgusted with himself that he couldn't even comprehend what the others had said in support of his accusations and harsh questions. All he could think about was Martini's face after he did that just a moment ago as he sat down in a guilt-struck daze.

Lesley couldn't bring himself to look at Songbird as he shot right back at them with points that were so sincere, you would be heartless to still feel that the guides were the "bad guys". Hands covering his face as he stared right at the ground, every single word that came out of Song's mouth felt like a dropkick to the gut as tears began to stream out. It was true, humans were so selfish, always thinking for themselves above all else. Look at Earth for example. It's so ruined that Mother Nature lurks threateningly, waiting to pounce and eliminate humanity at any given moment. Every resource constantly being stripped until there's nothing left, animals becoming extinct for lack of basic components of life, breathing in air so packed with chemicals that one can look at it from a distance and see a yellow hue.

As Harper explained how many times the guides had saved them, though he wasn't there to witness it or experience the emotion of thanks that came from being rescued, he still felt horrid for assuming that the guides were familiar to managing humans. If he had known that it was their first time doing all this too, he would have felt a stronger connection with them than seeing them as Nobodies that would take innocent people in to finish off deadly chores that no one wanted to do. But still, having taking all they said into account, he didn't have a single right to be acting that way and he knew he had to apologize at some point, especially to Martini who would be feeling rather cross with him after all this.

Right as he was about to stand up and go out for some air, the rutty building began to groan and rattle, furniture vibrating about the room. Suddenly, the entrance, along with its wooden walling, caved in towards them and on the floor lay the dead and lifeless body of the unicorn. His eyes went wide in terror and confusion; staring with an angry and pained expression at his steed. But before he could mourn over the loss and find out who the hell murdered his companion, an unknowing force sent him colliding against the wall. As the impact let loose, he dropped to his knees clutching his chest. When he had recovered, he looked up to see Songbird with a dagger stabbed into his arm and Avian was brought up to the air with pitch black nails as long as branches sticking out of his back. He stared, stunned as the witch threw the dragoon off to the side.

Ace: "Knock down the back wall!"

The fiery red head had pushed them all behind her and shoved a bookshelf at the witch to distract the hag for a moment as she commanded them to blow out the back wall of the cabin. But the whole structure was already caving in over them. Luckily, Brandy cast a protection spell that shielded them from the collapsing debris. 'How is she still alive?! We decapitated her and- Crap, her heart...' Lesley froze up briefly, but stood up, a colorful orb rotating viciously at his side. 'She may have taken my hand and killed the unicorn, but she's not murdering anyone in this group!' Letting out a vociferous growl for the witch's annihilation as he charged at her, enraged veins pulsed above his temples and he sent the orb straight for her chest.

Disappearing from her previous spot, she dodged the one way shot easily and teleported in front of him as his stampede was cut short. Next thing Lesley knew, he had a tight grip around his neck, threatening to crush his lungs.

Sputtering and choking, he clawed at her hands as she glared him right in the pupil, he felt like she was looking into his soul. Feeling her hold compress even further, he summoned enough sense to whisper "Rainbow puke" just in time. A shower of rainbows splashed out of his gaping mouth and right into her face. A shrill scream escaped the sorcerer as she let go of him and stumbled back. Lunging at her as soon as he saw that she was vulnerable, he used his handless arm to backhand her to the ground and he climb over, landing an orb engulfed fist in the center of her face.

Unfortunately, he was only able to get two hits at her before she dissipated from under him again. 'Damn, since we destroyed her physical form, she's even more advantaged than before.'

[Kimchi]

"You're all scaring Jasper."

Trying to clear her head and push her anxiety attack down, she was glad that Harper came in to help her to a seat. Her weakened state called for a lot more down time and rest, but the action was never over in Nowhere. Being thrown back harshly against the wall while still in her seat wasn't the most pleasant feeling while her head was hurting from the bickering and shouting. Chair rocking back down to stand on all fours, she shrieked and shielded herself from flying planks of smashed wood. Meekly opening her eyes, the unicorn was limp at the center of the room with a slit throat. She gagged and her empty stomach twisted into a painful knot. Grimacing, she could spot familiar black wisps appear and reform elsewhere in the room. 'Oh no, not again'

First, it was Songbird who took a stab for Leila, then it was Avian. The dragoon took a fatal one for Lesley. Her heart heaved and sank miserably as Victoria flashed into her mind.

"J-Jasper! Hurry, Avi is- He's-"

She was already crawling towards them before the mermaid cried out to her, avoiding falling wreckage until she finally reached the protective dome which was a combination of Martini's bubble and Brandy's spell. Inspecting the dragoon's wounds and Martini's panic stricken expression, tears spilling from the frantic guide's eyes; Jasper was having an anxiety attack and she was still having trouble gasping for breaths, but she had to pull it together. "U-u-uh, we n-need to st-stop the bleeding.." She was blinking rapidly as she looked around the dome uselessly, but she couldn't focus and there was no time. Stripping off her top, she would never do this in any other situation, but she could worry about showing too much skin than she was comfortable with after this was over.

Ripping the thick robe at the seams, she tore the now larger piece of fabric into long strips. Once she had finished destroying the clothing, she asked Martini to keep Avian's top half up as she wrapped the bandages around the Nobody's rib cage and torso area, using balls of textile to soak up the bleeding before tying the wounds down securely. At the moment, she still didn't have enough essence in her amulet to fully heal the dragoon, but she knew how to at least give him a shot at making it. Shouting at the top of her lungs for Hakuren, she told the ice mage to cool down Avian's body temperature to slow down blood flow out of the cuts. Closing her eyes, she placed both hands on his chest and summoned her wisps. Immediately, the blood loss he was suffering from stopped almost completely as she caused the blood to crust over quickly and clog the openings.

Jasper wiped the grime from his cheeks as she cupped the dragoon's face in her hands. "Don't worry, we'll get you home," she whispered to him as she cried softly. She looked up at Martini, "I-I thi-think he can ho-hold up until this fight is over, but he n-needs to rest. Once I g-gain more essence, I can continue to further heal his c-cuts ok?" She wanted to provide Martini with some reassurance, but she wasn't sure herself. The guy was in critical condition and she was no doctor. Everything she had just done was all based off of survival movies she'd watched in the past.

Turning to Brandy who had Songbird in hand, she helped him lower the white-haired guide onto his safe side. If they put him down on his back, the dagger would budge and he'd bleed out like Avian was supposed to suffer. The best thing to do was keep the dagger in there for it kept the blood from escaping even more. Nodding at Brandy, she sent the message that the others needed more help and she and Martini would tend to the injuries.

The scarf was completely drenched, dripping in scarlet liquid. 'They bleed.. they're not much different from us,' she thought and she asked Martini to soak the scarf in clean water so she could wring it out. Healing the skin around the dagger, it caused a tighter seal around the weapon and she gawked at how horrid the temporary solution was, but his bleeding had halted. Using the wet scarf after she had cleared it of blood, she used it to wipe the area clean.

As the rest of the group fought outside of the dome, her anxiety attack eventually died out and she was able to breathe a sigh of relief. She kept Songbird from rolling onto his back by keeping him leaning against her shoulder as he groaned every now and then. Hearing a being's sounds of pain right beside you, almost right into your ear, is probably one of the most humbling experiences she'd ever had in her life.

"Martini," she turned to the mermaid who had Avian resting on her thighs, "How do you go around all day in just a bra?" Jasper's question was uttered with utmost genuinity and innocence. Shivering in her top undergarment she looked at Martini, head tilted to one side with a concerned expression. "Doesn't it get cold?"

(0.0)?

[MUG]

Listening to the arguments from both sides supporting the guides made Inadi very agitated. Oh they left their families and all that as well? Difference was that their families were at least in the same world as them for the most part. Inadi didn't know how much time had passed in his world or if his parents had already buried him in their minds as lost. Riley could shoot all the dirty looks at him that she wanted to, it wouldn't do her any good. Lesley began looking guilty and suddenly Jasper came to him and tried to calm him down. Seeing how stressed out she had become and how the guides were now clearly not in any mood to deal with questioning he pulled his spear down and scoffed slightly.

Looking down at Jasper Inadi gave her a quick nod and turned his attention to Riley. “I'll stop for her, not for them. We all have things we've sacrificed and sure these guys may have helped the others in prior situations before we showed. But here's the thing and its the one lesson I took from my father seriously considering what a goof he actually was,” Inadi said as he watched Lesley walk away from the scene for the moment. He was the one who started the questioning and it seemed that the revelations struck him deeply. Then again it might still be leftover emotion from the whole scare earlier. “When people help you because they are paid to, take away the motivation and see how quickly they turn their attention to other ventures.” He said in a hushed tone as he threw an arm around Jasper to try and calm the girl down a bit.

However it would soon be that Inadi would need some calming as a crash brought his attention to something that was apparently sent in through a very strong airmail package. Too bad they couldn't be bothered with wrapping it up first. The unicorn they had helped earlier was now a broken down corpse and it was clear that whatever did it was not very merciful in how they went about it. “Well that's diff..” Inadi was stopped in his speech by a sudden push that threw him into the wall behind him. Now whatever killed the damned unicorn was after them too. Groaning as he tried to gain his composure again Inadi shook his head and reached for his spear that landed next to him. His vision still blurred he looked up towards where a lot of screaming seemed to be going towards. Someone looked like they were floating in the middle of the room from as far as he could tell. Leon no doubt showing off some magic of his or something. Yet the earrings were missing it seemed. And the garb looked all wrong...

Inadi's vision soon cleared up and he realized that it was Avian with what looked like a claw going right through his chest. Terrifying noises of flesh being torn and armor being rendered useless echoed in his ears as his eyes showed signs of absolute terror. The black mist that seemed to be taking up the room was similar to that of the witch. And that's when he remembered the stupid list. The heart. They didn't get the damn heart! Growling as he picked himself up off the ground the framed man watched the body of Avian be thrown into the field and Brandy cast a protective shield around them to stop the roof from caving in on top of them. And now it seemed like Lesley wanted to get a shot in at the witch by himself.

Quickly picking himself off of the ground and towards the witch's location only to have her disappear and attack Lesley. It looked like he was choking or something similar to that. Inadi began running over to try and help only to have his momentum halted by a sudden stinging sensation in his leg. And a strange wetness as well. Slowly dropping his eyes down to his leg he saw the strange black smoke surrounding Lesley's neck was now shooting through his leg. Blood soon pouring out as well. Inadi growled in pain as another sting came into his shoulder suddenly. Looking over he saw the same exact thing that was on his leg. “So you can split your spirit into numerous spots huh? Isn't that precious?” Inadi mocked the spirit as the knife-like claws digged further into his skin. He knew he needed to do something to get these things out of him but his spear wouldn't reach them. Plus these things were like mist so it was impossible to actually hit it.

Inadi looked over to Lesley and saw him use a rainbow attack and saw that it made the thing react. Magic clearly was their best option at this point and luckily for Inadi he had saved a bunch of magic in case of something for this. Thinking about how to do it thought was something tough. Inadi couldn't grab it since the witch could just disappear again. That was when his spear came to mind. Inadi slammed the but end of the spear on the ground and began focusing his mind on summoning a bolt for him to use. A quick cloud showed overhead and a flash of light shot down in front of him. It connected to the spear and shot through his body. Using his weapon as a lightening rod and his his own blood as a conductor he felt the lightening shoot through him. This time however it seemed like it didn't affect him like it did last time with the mushroom monster. Maybe the dragon's magic from before had something to do with it. Maybe his body got used to the magic itself. Whatever it was it helped his cause.

The current shot into the dagger like nails of the witch and a shriek came from behind him. The nails did some shaking in his leg and arm but the pain didn't seem to phase Inadi at all. The nails left him soon after and the bolt disappeared as well. Looking at his necklace he saw that took half of what magic he had left and was now left with a quarter full necklace. Turning around he saw the mist of the witch still twitching back and forth like it was still suffering from the bolt. Inadi smiled as he took his spear, still shining with a few left over bolts from the attack, and quickly sliced at the mist in front of him. Another shriek went out over the field and saw the mist disappear. Inadi's pleasure was shown on his face but he quickly lost his grin as his pain suddenly shot through him. Looking at his leg and shoulder it was clear that this was a deep cut. Shaking it off Inadi looked over to Lesley. “How much more magic you got over there Les? Since I think that this thing can only be hit by magic for the time being.” Inadi said as he grabbed his leg and felt the blood begin to drench his leg. Too bad the dragon wasn't nearby. Definitely needed a good collection of dragon magic to make this pain go away.

[Fox of Spades]

Meanwhile in the cellar...



The lamp above them swung back and forth, and not long after the entire house followed.

The lights in the cellar flickered, threatening to submerge them all in darkness. It was a cramped and dusty place, filled to the brim with barrels and barrels of rum, a filthy room that smelled of alcohol and rotting wood.

Three people were seated with their backs towards each other, arms bound behind them and feet tied together. On the opposite side of the room was the baby cloud dragon, and a black dragon a tad older than it. The latter was around the size of a healthy horse and unlike it's cloudy friend, it was covered in dark and heavy scales. Both creatures were bound to the walls by magical chains and both of them had muzzles over their snouts. The cloud dragon in particular, had a glowing blue chain around its neck, one that prevented it from tuning into its non-solid state.

"Something is going on up there," Ise was the dragon rider who had saved Toby and Ran from the clock beast, and ever since then, she had been tasked with showing them what life in Aven was like. Things went well at first, until the witch snatched them away. To be honest, ever since they had been captured things had felt bleak. They were dealing with a witch after all, and she was still nothing but a trainee.

The girl screwed her eyes shut and tried to remember everything she had ever learned about those hags.

Okay. Firstly, never engage combat against a witch without backup. Secondly, they can only be killed by removing the heart...

If she had been with her fellow riders, they could have attempted to fight back, but she only had these untrained humans and they were all tied up to boot. Still, something was happening above ground and if they didn't take this opportunity to escape, there was no doubt they would wind up dead. Thankfully, the old hag had underestimated them. She was too busy above ground that she didn't even manage to drop in.

Lucky for them, Ise kept a small knife hidden in one of her boots. With teamwork, they managed to pull out the knife. The trio was currently seated with their backs against each other, the knife was in Ise's hands. "This could be our only shot to get out of this alive...so stay still, I don't want to accidentally slit your wrists." It took a lot of effort but they managed to move the knife in a cutting motion. If they could keep it up, they'd be able to cut through the the rope and free themselves and the dragons. "Toby, Ran, if we manage to get out of the cellar, I'll need you both to run away from this cabin as fast as possible." The girl sighed, "I need to see whoever is causing that commotion, it could be someone from the Guardian Sect, and if that's the case," Ise's expression went steely. "I'm going to stay behind and help."

[John]

”Who is Delirium to us that we follow her!? She’s our queen! OUR QUEEN! THIS IS NOWHERE, NOT YOUR WORLD!”

Leila winced on that notion.

She stepped aside, to allow Inadi’s twirling spear to tap to a stop against his fingers, the tip pointing straight at the nobodies through where Leila had just stepped away from. Several other humans rushed over to try to relax the atmosphere, yet it wasn’t long until the whole room erupted into a whirlpool of questions, accusations, objections, and eventually deteriorating into threats and personal insults.

Leila wouldn’t be called an expert on human emotion, yet she isn't exactly unfamiliar with scenes like this. Memories of her distant past surfaced in her mind - of the time when she stll lived with her parents and the rest of the family.

And she was thinking that the minds of the inhabitants of such an exotic realm would be wildly different from those back at home. She expected to learn from them. Yet now she found herself reacting just as the way she would deal with such things at home: to stand aside, and watch. Ironic, how things here end up not being actually all that different after all.

How utterly disappointing.

”...This just proved that it was never worth the trouble.” Songbird's hiss was one of the distinct things that were possible to hear clearly.

...That’s that, then.

Rather disheartened, Leila stared blankly into the wall on the other side of the crowded room as the arguments raged on. The battered, decayed wooden planks; the rusted hinges to which the door was connected, creaking, accompanying the howling of the wind. The traces of black mist that seeped through the cracks -

- wait, wha - ?

The split-second in which she realized what was happening - the wisps, the Living List, the Witch's heart - was a revelation in despair as she had no time to voice anything, before the front wall detonated into an explosion of shards and fragments - and the bloody corpse of of a unicorn, its coats now devoid of the iridiscent twinkle, turning pale under the streaks of dark red that ran down its sides.

Leila coughed, struggling to pull herself back up, grabbing onto a shelf nailed onto the wall she just crashed into. The shelf itself detached, the items on it cascading onto the ground beside her as she staggered into a stance against the wall.

Unicorn...

She forced herself to step forward, towards the fallen creature. Can't miss the chance to take a closer look at -

"NO! LEILA!" Riley.

"Get out of the way you French loaf!"

French - what? How rude -

Crash.

She tried in vain to stand back up again, only to have to accept that she didn't have the strength to do so this time. Crouching on the ground, she turned her head to the direction the blast that propelled her to smash onto the ground, to see - only blurrily - the dreaded skeletal figure in black, swinging her arm and driving a blade into a mass of stained greyish white.

No voice came out of her throat in Leila's attempt to scream out the Nobody's name.

Ushering what strength that's left at her disposal she launched herself in that direction, only to fall through the intangible mass of black that the witch dissipated into, and to collapse onto herself once again onto the wooden floor - sharpnel of wood flying out as the planks creaked painfully under the impact.

The heart, the heart! - Leila was on her feet now, yet still too out of breath to utter any words.

Inside the cabin - of what's left of the cabin - projectiles shot around everywhere, tearing down anything in their way. Mists shot around here and there, and attempting to follow them as they gathered and dissipated at various locations would turn everything into an indistinct blur, only with the figure of the witch temporarily materializing at unpredictable locations, followed by yells and cries and screams of pain.

"Uhhh..."

Eyebrows locked, Leila turned around in a panic, trying to track down what was happening, to no avail. Her left hand reached instinctively over her shoulder, only to remember that the quiver was empty - the arrows Hakuren provided with his magic have long melted away. This space was too small for arrows to be effective anyway. And at that moment she noticed wisps gathering at the edge of her sight -

"Knock down the back wall!" Ace.

Having brought up her arms in time to shield her face and upper body, Leila was a bit surprised by the fact that she managed to withstand the impact from the shockwave that was produced by the explosion, and remained standing, even if it was just barely - about time, though, to think - the third time in succession that things exploded in her face just now. She lowered her hands to see that the cabin had been reduced to piles of debris, the damage of the collapse apparently alleviated by some kind of force field, presumably magic cast by some of their group. She also noticed that she lost her bow.

She flung the strap over her head, and the empty quiver fell to the ground. No good carrying that anymore. peeling away at the remains of the cabin that piled in her way as she got out into the open area, she grabbed hold of a long piece of wood, pulling it out. It was hot to the touch - the other end that was then buried in a burning heap of mess still glared with flickers of remaining flames.

The area had turned into an all-out battlefield, with the others still fighting - the witch persisted in appearing and disappearing at unpredictable positions, making it difficult to land any blows and just as hard to fend off the witch's attacks.

How is this done? Leila's mind raced as she, not having much choice but to remain in constant motion around the field to avoid being a standing target. She looked at what was happening around her, in hope of finding a pattern, or a mechanism through which the witch was able to do all this; only to hopelessly conclude in frustration that nothing she knew could serve as a foundation to a theory that would explain all this. Ideas were conceived and almost invariably instantly thrown away as the next attack the witch landed on the group was somewhere she didn't expect. She almost found the thinking physically painful to do when at one moment, the witch was nowhere to be found on the field -

"- Ach!"

Sputtering, she fell onto one knee as she realized too late that the wicked creature had condensed into form out of her sight right behind her, and her right arm going numb as pain pulsed outwards, originating from the gash on the back of her right shoulder.

She coughed several times. No blood came out from her mouth because this was not an intentionally dramatic Hollywood fight scene. An injury to the shoulder also felt a lot worse than suggested by popular media.

Formulations of plans to flee of fight back lost meaning as, as swiftly it appeared, the cloaked figure lost its form again and disintegrated into pieces of black. Then another impulse of unidentified origin sent her tumbling across the ground yet again.

She gaped for air. More futile struggles to remain standing - it was already a fight to even remain conscious. Couldn’t think straight.

Couldn’t think straight.

That was the sort of thing she feared most.

She turned and saw Lesley and Inadi at the side, fighting, but the second encounter with the witch, with the opponent’s form destroyed and apparently rebuilt into something much more elusive, was ending up less of a fight and more of a massacre. This wasn’t going to hold for long.

And with her sight and mind both blurry at the moment, she couldn’t feel more upset about this - the idea of going out, of dying here like this - she usually restrained her mind from wandering unto thoughts like this, but it seemed that panic attacks are among the least of concerns under these circumstances. The journey ending here - in a place where there was still so much she had to see, to understand; at a time when she hadn’t gotten the chance to get to the explanations of so many things that aren’t making sense yet - it was a truly disheartening, yet unavoidable thought.

She almost regretted stepping onto the train back on that day - that idea flashed through her mind as the characteristic wicked laugher of the witch echoed in the background - distressed shrieks, actually? Leila shook her head hard and what was left of clear memories of the sounds she just heard blurred into a giant mess of indistinct cacophony.

”ENOUGH ALREADY!”

It wasn't the kind of voice anyone would expect from the girl that remained silent throughout most of the trip and spoke only in whispers even when she did.

Leila was yelling.

”ENOUGH OF THIS! STOP IT! YOU'RE BEING CONFUSING!"

Paused a moment - was still panting. Needed the time to breathe. Pain in chest, strained muscles, potential fractured or broken ribs. Her right hand still dangled on the side of her body without strength, blood soaking the sleeve and dripping off the tip of her fingers. Yet she somehow succeeded in persuading herself that she didn’t feel all that, because it was drowned out by something else.

She furrowed her brows in further confusion. What was this? She couldn’t remember the last time she was angry. Or did those cries carry a larger proportion of despair, desperation, a tint of grief, and the displeasing idea that she was being mocked - which would stir together in her now utterly unreliable mind to be identified as anger -

- that thought just made her feel a lot worse.

She squinted her left eye, trying to keep out the blood that reached her lashes from a cut in her forehead - she didn’t even remember where she got that from - while keeping the time her eye was shut as short as possible as she staggered, at the spot, sight following the convergence and dissipation of the elusive wisps. If anyone ever gets the chance to stand at the centre of a tornado and look at the howling winds and sharpnel flung into circular orbits and out in tangent trajectories - this was probably what it felt like, except probably worse.

Leila disliked that feeling to no end.

"Stop throwing at me things that are incomprehensible…ach...” Still painful, she reluctantly reminded herself as she had to stop to cough, yet still outraged - and her hands shivered as she delivered the following words: ”...if you’re noT GOING TO COME OUT HERE AND EXPLAIN IT PROPERLY!”

If this was ending like this, there was one thing she’ll protect. She brought up both hands to grab onto the piece of wood, shoving the fractured, burnt end against the ground and pushing herself back onto both legs. She didn't know whether she was directing it at the creature - the witch that had cause their group all this suffering - or just herself and her own very confused mind; when her cries escalated into a full-out scream, at the top of what’s left of her lungs and over the noise in her head:

“This may be Nowhere, this may be your world, BUT THIS IS MY BRAIN, AND I HAVE NOT GIVEN YOU PERMISSION TO MESS WITH IT!”

[Fox of Spades]

Collab Between Orpheus anf Fox





Everything had gone to hell...

"You're okay, we're getting out of here," Harper sounded distant, as if he had been put in autopilot. The boy hooked his arms underneath Riley's own and pulled the girl to her feet. Her head lolled to the side, as blood trickled down her neck. "Can you walk?" There was no response. It looked like the cabin was about to cave in, and soon enough, the roof gave way. Luckily, Brandy prevented it from crushing them.

Why... Why didn't the guides just leave? They were dying for humans they barely even knew and it was madness.

"Leila, Avian!" Riley suddenly lurched forward, and she probably would have fallen to the floor, if not for his tight hold. "Harper?" He released his hold. "Gods...Where are the others?" The girl brought a hand to her head and winced as soon as she felt something warm and sticky. It was hard to think straight when her head was throbbing so much, but there wasn't time to take a breather. "Let's go," Before Harper could have time to fret, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him outside.

Avian and Songbird were lying motionless inside Martini's bubble dome.

There was no way to determine what state they were in, especially Avian who most likely was dead, but it was a relief to see Martini and Jasper with them. He held out his sword in front of him, they had all been scattered. The witch appeared and reappeared at her leisure, easily picking them off one by one. The last he had seen her, she had been toying with Inadi and Lesley, but at the moment, everything seemed far too quiet.

The ground his rumbled and Harper stepped back into an old tree. In the distance, he could make out weird flashes of red. He saw a trace of a smile on of the nearby trees and something just clicked. "Don't go near the tre-- AAGH!" Before he could finish his sentence the tree behind him growled and he dove forward, falling into the ground.

"Damn it all!" Riley stepped in front of the boy, embers flickering around both hands. She had enough for one more attack! She launched a fireball at the old tree and it fell back, screams leaving a hole in its trunk. "Keep away from the trees!" The girl snapped.

Leon scowled. "She keeps teleporting!" Even his bursts of wind weren't fast enough, "Does anyone know where the witch is?"

”ENOUGH OF THIS! STOP IT! YOU'RE BEING CONFUSING!"

Harper's eyes went wide. "Leila..."

Riley jerked her head in the direction the boy was facing. Sure enough, she managed to catch a glimpse of black wisps. The rest of Leila's speech was a dull buzz in her ears and soon the girl was running towards her friend with a look of utter terror on her face.

Branches curled around her ankles and Riley was yanked down. She let out a pained hiss and struggled to her feet, but the roots held her in place and the only thing she could do was grit her teeth and watch.





"Permission..." The voice almost sounded sad. "Did anyone ask for our permission when they made us this way?" She placed an ice-cold hand on the archer's shoulder. "We never wanted to be made this way." There was a pause, "but we aren't like you, and we can't be anything else." The archer felt herself sinking into the earth.

"No one wants to be hated-- to be like US!" Leila sunk deeper into the earth. It swallowed her slowly, like a snake.

The witch's eyes glazed over and the army of trees approached, in a few moments they would be surrounded and to make it worse almost all of them were out of energy, and out of the guides, only Martini and Brandy were still conscious.

"That witch," Hakuren gritted his teeth in frustration. "Bear, I'm not just going to sit here."

Songbird and Avian would be alright without his ice powers. The ice mage left the protective dome and eyes his surroundings. The forest was alive, but none of the trees could leave their spot. If they stayed away, they would most likely be alright.

"Hang in their Leila!" Hakuren ran forward but the next thing that happened rendered them all immobile.

Wooden hands had latched onto their ankles, rooting them to the spot.

"You think you children will be able to best me?" She left the archer alone, but she continued to sink into the earth. If no one saved her, it would eventually pull her under and suffocate her to death. It was like quicksand. "Even with your petty amulets!" She reappeared beside Leon and ran a finger down his cheek.

The wind mage shuddered as the witch clamped her fingers around his wrist. "You're merely playing heroes," She turned her head and held eye contact with Ace. "But can any of you really save each other?" The witch's voice faded in and out in a manner reminiscent of TV static, "WHEN YOU CAN'T EVEN SAVE YOURSELVES?"

No matter how hard the humans tried, they found themselves unable to take a single step.

The witch snapped her fingers and the wooden hands around Ace's ankles sunk back into the earth. "YOU CAN'T SAVE ANYONE!"

She yanked Leon up into the air. "Can you rescue him?" She challenged Ace to make a move, but as soon as the human would try anything, the witch would flick her wrist and send the girl careening back.

"Help me!" Leon yelled as he squirmed and kicked, but the witch held him up with relative ease.

He didn't even have time to beg. "Time is up!" The witch threw him at one of the trees and the old oak wrapped its branches around the boy. "You can't save anyone." Leon yelled and fought but the tree dug its branches deeper into his flesh. In time his screams and cries died down, and eventually he stopped struggling. They could only watch as Leon's eyes finally rolled into the back of his head as his outstretched arm dropped limply back to his side, his final breath nothing more than a faint, strangled gurgle.

Riley was rendered speechless and Harper, the boy snapped.

"I... I-'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!" He was crying so hard, but he didn't care. One of his friends was dead and they couldn't do a single damned thing about it! NOT A SINGLE DAMNED THING!

A gaping maw appeared where the oak's trunk should have been, and slowly Leon was pulled within. Eventually nothing was left, and the only proof of his existence were the splotches of blood that surrounded the evil tree.

Hakuren's shoulders shook. Just like that, Leon's life had been snuffed out. He took a step forward, and surpisingly, the roots that bound them in place were no longer there. The same thing happened to everyone and he made a mad dash for the witch.

"Hakuren!" Riley couldn't believe what was happening. They were all dropping like flies. Her eyes flitted to Leila, the girl was now buried neck-deep in the earth. If they didn't get to her soon... She'd end up just like Leon. Maybe this was their chance.

He'd freeze that witch alive! Frost snaked up the ice mage's arms and he leaped forward, prepared to strike the woman down with an icy uppercut. However, as soon as Hakuren had thrown his punch the witch disappeared in a puff of dark wisps. "Playing hard to get?" He snarled, "Cowards always find ways to play dirty, yes?"

Oh how amusing this human was. She appeared behind him and yanked him back by the collar of his shirt.

She leaned in to whisper in Hakuren's ear. "If you die here, everything will end."

An absolute ending. Hakuren's eyes went wide and a chill ran down his spine. "You lying bitch!" He swiveled around and threw another punch, but it connected with nothing but thin air. "An "absolute end" does not exist..."

He threw another punch, but the witch caught it in her hand and slowly, his arm began turning into stone.

"An absolute ending does exist. If you die in Nowhere, you will cease to be. Your past, present, and future, it will amount to nothing. You will be forgotten. Your name will be borne on the wind and nobody shall remember who you are, nor recall what you have done."

Hakuren's eyes landed on his petrified arm and he screamed. "You're bluffing...!" The man's knees had gone weak.

If any of the lost souls had tried to help, the witch had simply blown them back with a flick of her wrist. They couldn't beat her, it was becoming very easy to see. Hakuren pulled back his free hand and struck her in the face, but she didn't seem fazed in the slightest.

"Every photograph, every memory. Not even your loved ones will remember your name. You will become nothing..." She raised her free hand and before Haku could say it, she had her nails buried in his stomach. The ice mage watch in terror as blood seeped into his coat.

"NO! NO! I REFUSE TO BECOME NOTHING! I REFUSE AN ULTIMATE ENDING!" He was on his knees, screaming his lungs out. He couldn't not exist, the thought terrified him and before he could say anything, tears began trickling down his cheeks. "I CAN'T JUST DISAPPEAR!"

The stoneflesh spell began creeping up his arm and shoulders, even the base of his neck had gone stiff now. Hakuren couldn't believe it. He was going to die like this and no one would remember him. Not Axel, not Aika, not even his own parents. "An infinite end, cannot exist." The witch slammed her foot onto his back and pushed him into the ground. Hakuren pleaded, but his cries fell on deaf ears.

The stone spell consumed him, and in the end he turned into a stone statue and nothing more.

Hakuren was dead.

Dead, gone, and nothing but a memory.

Harper couldn't even think, the boy gritted his teeth and ran straight for the witch. "GRAAAAAAH" As soon as he had swung his sword, the woman before him had vanished. He turned around and swung again and again and again.

"Enough of this," the witch's eyes glowed a bright orange. "You can choose to die here, or turn back!"

The next thing Harper felt was a piercing pain. He looked down to see his own sword buried deep into his stomach. There was so much red...

In one swift motion, the witch pulled out the boy's sword and tossed it across the battle field.

Harper crumpled to the ground and the last thing he thought of was home. It was a shame he'd never see it again...

The world went dark.

[AkiBlue]

The wall was blown down like she asked. Good. "Now everyone get out!" The order went dismissed because it appeared the witch had gotten to them already. She was fast. She rushed to help Lesley and then Inadi, but she was too slow. She couldn't keep up with the witch. The teleporting was too much. Ace frowned and tightened her grip on the sword. No. There was no time to think like that. They had an injured dragon rider and an injured bird. Not to mention all the injuries the humans had gotten from the short amount of time. She looked over seeing Jasper and the guides were still safe. The rabbit was still helping.

This was nothing like she was taught. None of the skills she learned could match up with the witch. But there was no time to think like that. There was no time to stop. She had to act. Ace has to help. Swinging her sword around wasn't working, and it only wasted her energy. So, she helped everyone else. At least try and get to safety. Her heart was beating through her ears at this point. She had to keep up though. There was no way Ace was about to lose. Not now. Not ever.

Suddenly, Leila spoke. More like, she yelled out. A small smirk broke the frown she had. 'Alright Leila, just act on that anger. Fight. Help us win.' But the thought was silenced when she saw Leila sinking. Ace was close, but not as close as Haku was. For some reason, it seemed like the home got larger. Maybe that was because it wasn't much of a home at all. More like a foundation and maybe two walls standing weakly. All the open space gave way to the tree army they were surrounded by. But Ace wasn't backing down. Just as Haku went to help Leila, she followed behind.

"Leave her alone!" Ace yelled out, planning to make a quick detour to the witch's heart instead of going for Leila. She jumped to reach, but as soon as she landed, she stumbled forward and couldn't move. "What the-!?" Roots were grabbing at her ankles. She pulled as hard as she could, and tried to burn them off. But it was all to no avail. That adrenaline was still running through her. Leila was still sinking, but she couldn't reach the girl. Maybe if she reached out far enough-

Witch said "You're merely playing heroes," She turned her head and held eye contact with Ace. "But can any of you really save each other?" The witch's voice faded in and out in a manner reminiscent of TV static, "WHEN YOU CAN'T EVEN SAVE YOURSELVES?"

Ace met eyes with the witch. The redhead held a glare that none would believe such a cheerful person could muster. "There's no way I'm going to die because of some old hag like you! Stop being such a coward and face us then! We'll show you who needs to be saved." Her grip was unbearably tight on the hilt of her sword. Her knuckles turned white as she held it. Ace felt herself sink down a little, but her eyes never left the witch. The adrenaline was going to overdrive as she challenged Ace. The girl was downright furious. 'I can save him! I can win! I will win!' Her thoughts screamed out as she finally managed to tear free from the roots. She lunged at the witch only to be tossed back, earning herself a piece of wood jabbed into her left leg. Ace winced but pulled it out and stood up.

She went to attack the witch again, but was suddenly paused when she heard 'Time's up'. Her eyes went wide as she tossed Leon out to the trees. "No..." Her voice was barely over a whisper. She could've saved him. Ace knew she could. There was...always....a way- and in seconds, Leon, the boy she started her adventure with... He was gone.

Witch said "You can't save anyone."

"I-I.." Ace was still staring where Leon had disappeared. "I'm sorry..." What was this sudden pain she was feeling? Why did it hurt so much to see what just happened? Ace had seen many, countless deaths before. Some, the members of the gang she knew..but not once did she cry. Not once did she feel pain. This... The feeling was sickening. "I c-can save them..." Time slowed down and everything went silent. It felt as though the last of her energy was pulled out of her. Ace staggered to one knee, but that was because of the pain she started feeling shoot up her leg.

Everything was in slow motion. When she turned, Leila was sinking and Haku- He was fighting the witch. She tried to say something. Ace tried to move to help...but it felt like something locked her in place. She couldn't move. And then...

Haku was dead too.

"No..No... I can..." Ace's hands went over her head for brief seconds. 'I can save them! What's- What's wrong with me!? Move! Leila needs help! I can't sit here!' A yell snapped her head up. It was Harper. He broke her out of the hellish trance she was put in. "HaRPER NO!" Ace jumped up, though ended up falling back thanks to the debris the witch flung again. This time, it managed to pierce her shoulder. She couldn't get to Harper in time, but Leila still needed help. She would save her. Harper was stronger than that. Ace wasn't counting him out just yet. He was their team captain, he had to survive. She jumped up again, staggering to get her balance.

"As...As long as I can s-still breathe...I-I can still fight. I will help them."

Her head was lowered a little, a shadow casting over her eyes thanks to her hat. Ace was not going to cry. She refused it. Like hell she would make the witch feel better than her. As fast as she could, she ran to Leila, grabbing the one hand she could and yanked her upwards. It only made the pain in her body worse, but she didn't stop until Leila could at least climb out on her own. "You're not- dying with them!"

Feeling Leila was safe for the most part, Ace looked down at her amulet. She had little to nothing left. But she was going to do something useful. If it wasn't killing the witch, then it was going to be killing her minions.

"H-Hey Riley... What do you say... to causing a forest fire?" She gestured towards the evil trees at the back wall and gave a weak smirk. If they moved fast enough, they could get past the witch while the trees burned. Once at least two caught on fire, it would have a domino effect on the rest...... Not saying she ever caused a forest fire.

She had to trust that the others, the ones that came up with better ideas, could figure out how to stop the old hag. As much as she wanted the glory of killing the witch, she would let the others have it. They were smarter, and much better at planning than she was. She would just have to learn from them eventually.

[Orpheus]

Collab Between Orpheus and Fox













"I hate to rain on the parade, but..." A tall person wearing a patterned green hoodie glanced up at the skies when a bunch of crows flew out from the gnarled trees. Talk about horror. He had a feeling Freddie Kreuger or that Jason guy would just pop out of nowhere and run at them. Not that's a situation where Gary's pole could do a world of good. "Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Don't be a crab, Bunbuns," Gary piped up from behind the massive wall of paper that was their map. "If we turn right at the next ugly tree we're gonna get there."

Numair shrugged and looked ahead. Every tree in this godforsaken place was ugly as hell.

"Oi, isn't the picnic ground supposed to be prettier than this?" Luke arched an eyebrow at the resident hobbit. "Gargar, your direction skills suck." The boy grinned from ear to ear before casually taking a step behind Sacha, his roommate served as a pretty good shield. "It looks like it's going to rain," he whined, "why can't we have a picnic somewhere less, y'know dead looking?"

"Stop complaining, the food's going to get cold if we don't find the picnic ground soon." ??? narrowed her eyes at all the crusty looking trees. "Which one is the ugliest?" To be honest, she thought each tree was pretty in its own way. She definitely needed to buy some seeds so they could plant one outside their home.

Gary peered over the map again just to glare at Luke. "Shut up, diaper. You're the one who chose the venue!" She growled and jabbed her pole at him twice. Unfortunately, this action required her using another hand, and what with both hands required to properly hold that giant map, it was no wonder that a breeze easily blew the thing out of the girl's reach.

"Hey, hey. No pole jabbing. We're in a haunted forest, not a fight club," Numair joked as he caught the map and took a look at it. "Well, no wonder we're lost. This thing looks like shit," He said disparagingly when he saw the blurred drawings writ on it.

Gary was distracted from her anti-Luke propaganda and she turned to face the surfer. "Of course it looks like a sheet. It is a sheet!" She exclaimed. "Silly Bunbuns. And we're not lost!"

Luke raised both hands in mock surrender. "I suggested a lovely forest not too far from home." He made a face, "It was C's idea to pick one with dead trees. Apparently, none of those bunny guards would find us here. What's it with those losers, always chasing after us anyways?" He stared at the giant map now in Numair's hands. "I'm sure if someone other than Gary does the navigations, we'll be fine. So Nums, where are we?"

??? popped up behind the white-haired surfer and eyed the blurry images on the map. "Stone of Sacrifice," she mumbled.

Luke arched an eyebrow. "Man, that sounds like such a lovely name for a picnic ground." He peered into the pitch black forest ahead of them. "Holy Cellery, I offer thee Mr. Porkchop." He eyed the tiny winged-pig that trailed behind them before grinning at the foot tall Rainbowzilla Luke had taken in as some sort of pet/sidekick.

It wiggled its tiny arms when it saw Luke before opening its mouth wide and biting down on Porkchop's ear.

"Oi! Get off mi Porkchop or Imma turn your scaly hide into a purse!" Gary screeched and lunged towards Rainbowzilla. Porkchop squealed and flew away, dragging the tiny dinosaur along with it while the pink-haired girl chased from behind while waving her pole in the air.

The boy broke into a fit of laughter. "So C? Is the Stone of Sacrifice the new park run by Mr. Badger?"

"We won't know till we get there." ??? shrugged before taking the map out of Numair's hands. The girl handed it to Sacha, he was always better at these things.

Numair frowned and pulled his hood over his head. "You ask me, that Stone of Sacrifice name already tells that it's one helluva place. I kinda expect a horror mansion. Or corpses everywhere. Like the Draugr tombs in Skyrim where there's a Hagraven standing over an altar with a burnt body on it," he sighed and effortlessly held Gary back when she passed by in case she really beat Rainbowzilla into a pulp. The wrath of the hobbit kneweth no bounds. "Or maybe there's Slenderman."

"Slenderman?" Luke piped in, "who is that guy? You seem to know a lout about him." Numair seemed to know about a lot of things they didn't. "I have to agree though, it doesn't sound all too pleasant."

Suddenly, the sounds of yelling filled the air and ??? looked crestfallen. "I think they're starting the fireworks without us."

"Don't know about you guys, but that doesn't sound like fireworks to me...." Numair narrowed his eyes and the group hurried onwards.

[Anonymous]

Hands on his knees as he rested for a short period of time, he allowed the others to distract the witch from his presence a bit, but every time his friends took a hit, just watching was painful all on its own. Seeing Inadi land a blow to the witch using a strategic plan, he was surprised that the electricity didn't seem to be fazing the frame faced boy at all, yet the old hag looked like she was suffering.

Inadi: “How much more magic you got over there Les? Since I think that this thing can only be hit by magic for the time being.”

Peeking down at his necklace, it looked just about empty for the most part and he shook his head in slight defeat. "I'm pretty much out of juice," he replied as he shook the amulet within his palm. Suddenly, he heard one of the females shouting at the witch in annoyance, but the voice sounded unfamiliar, alien. Flicking his head around swiftly, he was caught off guard to find that the one yelling had been Leila. She barely ever used a voice above a whisper and now she was full on screeching sentences at the witch in the most frustrated tone he's ever heard from her. It was rather bold, he had to admit and he looked at her with an expression of both shock and worry because of the evil crone's possible reactions towards being scolded.

After a sickening moment of silence following Leila's outcry, it seemed as if the timid girl had scared the witch off, but of course, there was no way this fight was going to end just like that. Quiet during a battle with a monster is probably more nerve wracking than an on going non-stop fight. During the eerie lapse of time, the soil began to rumble and crack as roots below started to shift as a warning that the trees were now being awakened. Leila was now sinking into the ground and as Riley and Haku took failed attempts to save her, everyone was anchored down with wooden hands which uprooted out of the dirt beneath them. They couldn't do anything but listen to the witch's belittling speech which spoke the gut wrenching truth. Without the amulets they were practically useless, just a group of humans trapped in this dangerously whimsical land called Nowhere.

Leon was plucked up off his feet and suspended in the air, she used him to toy with Ace like she was a kitten and Leon was a ball of yarn. Lesley groaned and yelled as he tried to pry his feet out of the tight grasps holding onto his ankles. Splinters were digging into his skin and flesh, but Leon needed him. Watching the wind mage get thrown into the crowd of wicked trees, Lesley was basically thrashing like a maniac trying to yank himself out of his stuck state. Clawing wildly at the ground as he watched sharp branches dig into the boy's sides, like a fork piercing a piece of meat, he tired out as fast as Leon's life hold decreased and he was devoured by a plant- ironically. In the end, the pink haired man was sprawled on the ground, feet still fastened in place, while he thumped a fist against the dirt in exhausted desperation.

Feeling the secure hold of the roots let go, he looked up to see Hakuren making a rushed attack at the witch. The normally non-emotional man looked ten levels above enraged. The ice mage threw swift punches without much strategy and the witch used the same disappearing act with ease. Then the next thing that happened really rattled him to a personal playing field, the stone spell was consuming Hakuren at alarming speeds and subsequent to all their failed attempts to save him, he too, like Vince, ended up as a rock sculpture.

Harper broke just like Haku, charging head on and aimlessly swinging around attempts that they all knew, deep inside, would never make a hit. The witch was done with their "games" and she was very well capable of killing them all from the very beginning. She was just giving them false hope of defeating her to make their own endings feel a million times worse. While Ace took care of Leila, Lesley stumbled his way to Harper who looked to be bleeding out in a fetal pose. His stomach had been punctured and he was out cold. Shaking the boy as he stared into Harper's paling face, he lifted him onto his lap and rocked back and forth, pressing his head against the kid's forehead. "Please don't die, please, please, please," he was whispering the same words over and over again, his own tears falling onto Harper's cheeks. The pleading was aimed at any higher being above, if there was one or any, and he willed with all his might that there would be a miracle cast down on them.

[Thundercat]

It was unbelievably cramped and the flickering light was making Toby nervous, he avoided telling the others about his claustrophobia and wanted to avoid doing so, but it may be obvious to tell with the expression on his face. The sight of the two cute baby dragons calmed him though, even though they were tied up and looked rather upset. Sitting still and tied up in a dirty basement with nothing to do and the ugly room verging on the edge of darkness, this was without a doubt the most uncomfortable he had been since arriving to Nowhere. Niran being with him would have made everything bearable, by now he can certainly call him a friend, but the situation was kind of...awkward.

When Toby met Ise she was able to save him and Niran from the clock monster they encountered. They probably would have been time bait if not for her arrival, she was definitely strong, even more so when he found out she was only a trainee. But the witch provoked a response in Ise from what Toby could tell and he wasn't sure how afraid he should be at the moment. He was more scared of the light going out than the witch herself and didn't want to make Ise upset by having a lighthearted conversation with Ran in such a potentially dire situation, no matter how boring sitting in a basement may be. He and Ran had managed pretty well so far, things ought to turn out well, even if they didn't seem like they would.

"It could be a big rainstorm, or something? Does it rain a lot around here, or ever?" Toby gladly cooperated with the others as they sat in their teamwork huddle, backs against one another trying to cut eachother free. He couldn't help but think of running around in plains of grass or swimming in the ocean, large and open spaces where he wouldn't feel restrained, it sounded like bliss. His knees were sore from the awkward position he was forced to sit in and his messy hair had somehow gotten messier because it was now covering half of his eyes and there was nothing he could do about it. He pondered singing the Japanese song Ran had taught him, or, at least tried to teach. Maybe it'd lighten the mood.

"Geez, no pressure" Toby muttered in remark to having his wrist slit. Even so he was glad Ise was with them, no doubt they wouldn't have thought of anything so clever. He didn't even have a weapon, and was pretty sure Ran didn't either. Or maybe Ran did, who knows. "I'm getting kinda hungry," Mumbling to himself Toby eyed the cloud dragon, his famished brain couldn't help but wonder what it tasted like. Probably like a marshmallow. He looked around for a second, embarrassed the thought crossed his mind, as if the others could hear him think.

"Stay?! Don't stay here, this place is gross!" Toby protested and jumped as he did so, surprised at Ise's command. As a result he sort of messed up the cutting motion of the knife and stalled the trio's progress. "The noises and stuff could just be the witch doing some weird experiment, y'know? Or maybe an earthquake, or maybe something fell or whatever. It would be wrong for me and Ran to leave you here, right Ran?"

The thought of leaving Ise in a place like this made Toby uncomfortable. He didn't care what some ugly (and probably smelly) witch was going to do, plus it was three against one. Granted, Toby didn't have much fighting experience, but how hard could beating up an old hag be? He only hoped Ran felt the same way.

[John]

"Permission..."

Shivers crawled down Leila's spine as she heard the ringing voice from behind her, a whisper in volume, but somehow even more intimidating than anything else she heard - the witch's breath tickled behind her neck.

"...but we aren't like you, and we can't be anything else..."

Leila swung around, only to have the witch place a hand on her left shoulder, and the charred wooden plank she was holding clattered to the ground as her hand hung limp at the side. She felt like all strength leave her body, an effect spreading from the point where the ice-old palm touched her - even though it didn't, the chilliness crept straight through her clothing - and where the nails and fingers dug into her flesh as the grip tightened by the moment.

She crumbled onto her knees. The witch's grip persisted as her empty eyes looked now downwards, emotionless, but the expression of the pale, sunken face was one that was a mix of pity, sorrow, and - most prominently - outright anger. It was a look that would strike fear into even the most courageous of beholders, and the witch was staring straight into her eyes.

She tried to utter something, yet only a painful choking sound came out of the mouth opened wide. Tears streamed down her face as the pain spread through her body - the accumulated injuries, the cut on her shoulder, her ribs, or just another kind of sinister, inexplicable magic of Nowhere's night that was causing the screeching in her head. Her mind went blank.

"...No one wants to be hated-- to be like US!"

What words followed Leila couldn't hear clearly. And then she felt it: the ground. The ground beneath her knees was giving way as the witch pressed downwards. In little time her ankles were already entirely submerged in the damp, chilly soil.

Leila gaped and tried to break free, but the witch pressed harder - all her struggling didn't budge the clasping claws one bit, but only accelerating her sinking. She felt the earth clutching tightly around her legs pulled beneath. It felt like she wasn't just sinking into the ground by the force of gravity - the earth itself was pulling her into it. She felt grains of soil clawing onto her skin, pulling her downwards at every point of contact.

"You think you children will be able to best me? Even with your petty amulets..."

The witch drew her fingertips out of her shoulder, pushing Leila away as she left her there, and turned her wrath on the others in the group. Leila bent forward, arms too weak to break the fall as her forehead touched the ground. She desperately tried to push herself back upright to alleviate the compression in the chest. She succeeded in doing so only to see the witch standing in front, facing away from her and waving her hands in the air as invisible forces pulsed through the air, knocking back anyone that came this way.

"Time is up!"

The witch's voice echoed in the distanced, coupled by an unsettling series of yells and screams, which gradually faded out. The voice was Leon's.

"Wha-"

Leila clawed on the ground in a panic. It persisted in pulling, the surface now reaching the bottom of her ribcage. Her fingers sunk through the cold sand like it was fluid, with nothing for her to hold onto, and then she would have to draw her arms out from the soil that was again starting to engulf her hands - an act that pushed herself even deeper.

Did Leon just -

Her struggling became weaker - almost pathetic - as her strength was exhausted and there was nothing left she could do but to allow the rolling cascade of particles to keep dragging her downwards, deeper. She found herself sobbing incoherently as she felt the breath being squeezed out of her lungs.

All but her head and shoulders were above the surface now, and she was still sinking. Through her sight blurred by blood and tears she could make out the figures that were her fellow Lost Souls. Is...is everyone else okay? She couldn't bring herself to actually look for Leon. Then she saw someone running this way - until the witch materialized behind him. Leila saw the silhouette of the witch grabbing the man by the collar, and raising her spare hand…

Haku. It wasn’t clear if she was actually trying to utter the name, or just a painful hiccup - or an attempt at the first that ended up the latter.

”...NO! I REFUSE...”

Leila drowned out the voice of the rest of Hakuren’s final pleads with her own screams.

Was this it, then? How this ends? Her voice broke as she ran out of breath. With each exhale the jaws of the earth closed tighter and made the next inhale more impossible. Even a cough couldn't be ushered at the moment, and the sounds she made were reduced to a series of inaudible whimpers.

She heard Harper’s growls, and then those, as well, faded. She felt dizzy, probably both from the lack of air and the unbearable pain.

The last thing she saw was the sky - a burning blood-red with clouds like claws spreading throughout. Then she closed her eyes and the ground swallowed her, shivering fingertips being the last part of her body that touched the open air.

Then there was darkness.

There was no panting from panic, as the dense soil pushed tightly around her body, threatening to crush her ribcage. Her mouth gaped in vain to draw in air, only to have grains of sand flood into her throat. There was no shivering, the earth didn't allow even that. With every whimper of remaining breath in her lungs exhaled, the dirt caved in further. The pounding in her ears, the voice of the fight going on above, the hope for light that'd seep through from the surface, all her thoughts - they faded out. The embrace of the deeper earth was warm, less biting to the touch, but no less aggressive. In her closed eyes, Leila almost believed she saw fireworks - the ones set off on that midnight of the 31st of December...

And then, silence.

* * * *

”I-I can still fight. I will help them.”

-huh?

Leila eyes would've shot open if it weren't for the sand pressing down on her eyelids.

In the dampened silence of the underground, submerged in the spell-induced quicksand, Leila’s mind started spinning again as she heard the muffled voice.

A distance away, Leila felt something soft brush against the tip of her fingers.

In confusion, she tried twitching her fingers. The next thing was what felt like a whole palm crashing into hers, fingers wrapping tightly around it, and then it jerked upwards.

She would've been screaming if she wasn't buried. The weight of the sand on her arms and shoulders refused to give way as her hand was pulled upwards with great force, and it was as if her arm was used as a rope in some sort of cruel tug-of-war competition, being torn apart. She almost wanted to beg for whoever was pulling to stop - not like she could, and not like they could hear her anyway.

Leila accepted that she would have to go through with this, and ushered the little strength she had left into securing the grip.

She felt the sand start to give way, grains of it rolling off the edge of her skin as her arm continued to be pulled. A few moments later, another palm slapped into the side of her arm - now exposed in the air, and joined the effort.

”You’re - not - dying with them!”

She heard these words clearly, through unobscured ears; although her mind wasn’t clear enough yet to process it. Dying with...who? Who died? Who’s still alive? What’s happening? Where am I…Her eyelids flickered in instinctive attempts to expel any grains of sand still stuck between her lashes. The world was spinning. And soon even the fingers she held together so dearly around Ace’s hand loosened.

Her fingers clutched together again when the red-haired human wrapped her arms around Leila’s shoulders, and yanked hard - a distressed gasp escaped her mouth. Leila found herself being capable of breathing again, and she gaped in as much air as possible even though each breath felt like being rammed into the wall by the mushroom monster back at the caves all over again. Despite that - Leila started coughing. Her whole ribcage felt like it was falling apart as she did, but she continued, sputtering every last grain of sand out of her throat in a mixture of saliva and blood and tears.

Ace - as Leila was now able to identify her through the edge of her sight - secured her grip onto her arms.

The yank that finally pulled Leila’s feet clear of the fluid soil also knocked her out.

* * * *

Leila didn’t know how long it took for her to fully regain consciousness.

She reacted fast enough not to have put to action any instinctive attempts to stand up from her collapse, sparing herself from more pain - something she surely didn’t need now. The dull throbbing senses of discomfort were persistent throughout her body.

Instead, she just blinked and watched.

Ace was not in sight. Neither was Riley.

"Please don't die, please, please, please..."

Lazily, Leila turned her head to a side to see the scene, rotated ninety degrees from a normal perspective, the scene of Lesley, kneeled on the ground, shoulders throbbing, and with Harper in his embrace, the boy without any signs of life.

Who was still there? What’s left? Who was left?

Why was she there?

Too many questions. Leila thought of closing her eyes and resting, but dared not do so. She hadn’t gotten a chance to thank Ace yet...

“Gah...”

...The sky was the same burning blood-red.

[Kimchi]

Before Martini could open her mouth to answer, the two of them snapped their attention to a booming voice hollering not too far from the protective dome.

”ENOUGH ALREADY! ENOUGH OF THIS! STOP IT! YOU'RE BEING CONFUSING! Stop throwing at me things that are incomprehensible…ach...if you’re noT GOING TO COME OUT HERE AND EXPLAIN IT PROPERLY! This may be Nowhere, this may be your world, BUT THIS IS MYBRAIN, AND I HAVE NOT GIVEN YOU PERMISSION TO MESS WITH IT!"

It was Leila, a girl she'd never once spoken to before. The funny thing was, she was one of three that had been there since the very beginning. Harper, Leila, and herself. They were together since day one, but she never realized how detached she was to this soft spoken girl, who for the first time, was now screaming her lungs out at the witch.

Martini and Jasper met gazes again in slight panic until the ground, on which she sat, began to vibrate and rattle; its crusted surface cracking into zig-zags that would connect with other zig-zags. The trees had been brought out of slumber and were now assisting the evil hag. Hand-like roots sprouted from the breakage in the soil and curled around each person's feet, securing them in place. Though she couldn't hear what the witch was saying, she did shift a little as she felt the urge to grab Leila, who was sinking further into the ground.

"That witch. Bear, I'm not just going to sit here."

And with that, the ice mage sprinted out of the shelter and towards Leila who had fallen over and was continually being swallowed by the earth. But the man was stopped dead in his tracks by the same root-fingers that were holding down everyone else.

Songbird was groaning a bit louder now, most likely because he too could still hear what was going on outside, plus his shoulder was probably throbbing with pain. With the time she had to sit there after tending to them, she was able to replenish a little more essence and she used it to bring Songbird a bit of comfort as she cast a spell of peace over him along with Avian.

Screams of anguish tore her eyes from her patients and the scene she came to watch was of Leon being skewered at all sides by branches as sharp as swords. Mouth fell agape and her breath caught midway. Then he was eaten up, just like that, Leon- the fancy, feather earringed, suit loving boy- was gone. Dead... forever. Jasper coughed and she forced air in and out of her lungs as she hastily moved Songbird to lean against a nearby rock. 'I can't just sit here and do nothing while they're dying out there.' Her vision was blurring from even more tears welling up. How many times had she cried that same night. Too much to count. And though she was getting extremely dehydrated, the couldn't stop herself from crying.

"Martini, take care of th-" A chill waved down her spine and she stared at Avian with wide eyes, her healers amulet had given her the ability to hear another beings heart beat since day one, but she could clearly make out Avian's heart thumping slower. She had done all she could to the best of her capability, but she knew this was it. Falling to her knees, she looked into Martini's eyes and with a mere croak she said, "He's dying..." At least he was going to have a tranquil death by virtue of the calming wisps she'd blanketed him with earlier.

She started to hum him a lullaby.

Wiping her tears dry as she watched Martini weep quietly, Avian's fainting heartbeat was thudding slowly in her ears, decreasing in speed while she continued to hum.

Placing a soft hand on the mermaid's shoulder, she signaled the female guide that she had to go and join the others. Wrapping her lanky arms around Martini, the two of them fell into a sorrowful embrace. As they hugged, Jasper was glad that Martini was facing the opposite way because what played before her was yet another melancholy display. Hakuren was turning into stone right in front of her and just before the virus was able to consume him whole, Jasper clenched her eyes as tight as she could, squeezing out any water that may have been there. It was better that the memory of her own kind dying in front of her was paused abruptly and not complete. Seeing Leon was enough, she just wanted all this to stop.

The caress lasted for what felt like a very long time, but she was hoping that she could just stay like that forever. Releasing her grasp, she nodded at Martini before- getting up, crossing the green barrier of the dome, and walking out onto the battle field.

[Ryver et Rhine]

Ran inhaled deeply. The smell of rum brought a smile to his face, but it also caused his stomach to growl again. The man tried his best to hide his embarrassment by pretending to lick his chapped lips. Feeling his parched tongue run over the cracking skin only reminded him how thirsty he was. He yelled loudly as he flailed about for a moment. No matter how he threshed the barrel of rum remained firmly out of reach. Stupid old hag.

He wiggled a little and felt the rope restricting his movement. Damn, he forgot about the other two for a while there. They must think he was delirious or something. He broke into a slight smile as he imagined how silly he would have looked if there was a mirror in front of him. He shook his head blearily. Gosh the lack of sleep was killing him! He needed a cup of coffee badly or at least that sweet goopy drink they were given back in Aven. Tea would be great too! Maybe Earl Grey rather than Matcha. He could never fathom why anyone would ever like that bitter medicine like concoction. Naturally coconut water was the best. Thinking of the fruit made him hum an all too familiar tune.

He continued humming as he had forgotten the lyrics. At the back of his mind he vaguely remembered watching a cartoon about a lion and a singing baboon. What was that show called…? He bet it was something African. Odd though because he believed it was actually created by Disney. Yet why would Elton John be singing anything for a cartoon? He frowned. Yet the answer continued to elude him. When they get out of here he will have to try to get someone to discover coffee… having little sleep and no coffee was making him feel like a demented old man. He hated forgetting things even though they were insignificant.

He smiled as the little cloud dragon looked his way. His heart wrenched slightly when he saw how sad it looked. He wished he could cheer the baby up, because he bet being bound by those chains was far worse than being tied up with a thick rope. The dark skinned man chuckled. A little song should cheer the poor thing up. He hummed again to warm up his throat. Cobalt was sure to recognize this song.

“Koganemushi wa kanemochi da. Kanegura tateta. Kura tateta.”

The lyrics brought some comfort to him. It reminded him of the nights by the hearth back in Aven. Toby would be sleepy after a full meal and Cobalt would be staring at the lazy golden beetles flying in through the window. This strange dream world had so many wonderful unnamed creatures - the most golden beetle he had ever seen, all sorts of dragons and even bouncy rubber pigeons that never get injured after people trample all over them. So many wonderful, friendly creatures to observe and so many nooks and crannies to explore. He and Toby certainly had fun trying to map out this dreamscape though they did have one or two major mishaps - like the clock creature that chased them or the strange ghostlike things at the inn that stole his credit card. Till now he wondered where the ghosties hid it. Thankfully they won’t be able to withdraw anything since they wouldn’t know his pin, and he hasn’t seen any ATMs around yet.

The enraged giant-clock-squirrel was certainly the scariest thing they encountered since they got off the train. The two of them had been resting near a field of thorny berry bushes when a loud ring made them jump. Before they could calm down, Toby yelled and pointed to the huge furry alarm clock that was making a beeline for them, and so they ran for their lives, screaming all the way. They were still yelling like mad men when they fell down the muddy hill and came crashing through the tall ferns. The two of them barely noticed Ise as they streaked towards the nearest lamp post tree and scrambled up it. Unfortunately they were far too heavy and the tree came crashing down. Barely 12 feet from where the young girl stood.

Boy did she looked startled! The bucket she was carrying fell from her hands and she didn’t even notice that the golden liquid had spilled all over her dress. The look on her face was epic! To be honest he bet they were the only two alive to ever see her look so startled. Pity they couldn’t teased her afterwards because they had lost their voice due to the excessive screaming. It took them almost four days and loads of that nectar thick goop before they could speak again. The same goop that made Toby hyper and insomniac for an additional three days after they recovered.

“Ame-ya de mizuame katte kita.”

Ise said "Something is going on up there."

Toby said "It could be a big rainstorm, or something? Does it rain a lot around here, or ever?"

Ran stopped singing as he felt Ise move. He listened as she told them about her knife, and he gentle reached in her direction. It didn’t take too long for him to feel Toby’s hand also feeling around for the knife. The older male paused to let Toby find the dagger hilt, so that he could avoid groping the young girl. Still his fingers managed to press against the small of Ise’s back. The poor man blurted out a hasty apology. After she reassured him that everything was fine, the blushing man continued feeling around till he found Toby’s wrist. His hand wandered downwards till they wrapped around the hilt too. The humans worked together to bring the knife towards the rider’s hand.

Toby said "Geez, no pressure. I'm getting kinda hungry."

“I am sure we could find something later. Most of the things growing in the forest seems edible,” the other human replied.

Both dragons were now watching the trio intently as the blade sawed against the thick ropes. Occasionally there would be the odd exclamation when someone felt the cold metal brush against their skin, or there would harried instructions as they tried to readjust the knife. Ran asked the other two to stop for a while after they dropped the knife for the third time. He noted that they managed to cut through at least a third of the rope. Another two or three minutes of sawing and they should be able to break free.

Ise said "Toby, Ran, if we manage to get out of the cellar, I'll need you both to run away from this cabin as fast as possible. I need to see whoever is causing that commotion, it could be someone from the Guardian Sect, and if that's the case I'm going to stay behind and help."

Toby said "Stay?! Don't stay here, this place is gross. The noises and stuff could just be the witch doing some weird experiment, y'know? Or maybe an earthquake, or maybe something fell or whatever. It would be wrong for me and Ran to leave you here, right Ran?"

A defiant silence lapsed following Toby’s outburst. Ran remained quiet as his tired mind tried to figure out what to address first. There was the wet substance oozing down the palm of his hand from where the knife pierced through his skin, and then there was Ise’s request. Based on what he observed he doubted they could persuade the girl to change her mind, and well, they have yet to defy her since she saved. Still running off like that was equally foolhardy. For all they know, there might be more witches out there, or there was a battle raging on outside between god-knows-what.

“I think we should focus on freeing ourselves first,” he replied cheerfully. “I don’t know how much time we have left. The roof doesn’t look like it would…”

There was another rumble and the lamp swung so violently that it detached from the hook above. Niran gaped as he watched their only source of light plunged downwards and smashed on top of one of the rotting barrels. The light in the room dimmed considerable though the flames did not extinguish. Ran sucked in his breathe. He prayed that was not a kerosene lamp. He tried to ignore the burning smell wafting through the room. The scent mixed with the alcoholic fumes was making him feel really heady.

“… Ise… I think the knife is somewhere between the two of us. Erm… Let’s focus? We are almost free.” Ran said quickly.

[Fox of Spades]

The Cellar : (Niran and Toby)

"It could be," Ise mumbled, "but to be honest, it doesn't sound that like an experiment, and if it's a fight, we can't just leave whoever's up there alone." The girl let out a sigh, "both of you aren't exactly fighters." The first time she had met them, they had been running away from a clock creature, and those things weren't even that tough. A witch, well, she'd be able to kill them with a flick of her wrists. "I don't want any of you two to get hurt." She didn't want to go against it either, and having both Toby and Ran's cheer would help, but it was just too dangerous.

The girl's eyes flitted to the dragons that were chained to the wall.

Cobalt, the black dragon and her faithful partner gave the trio a determined stare. Awhile ago, he had been restless, but after Ran hummed a little tune, he calmed down and instead of tugging at his bindings in vain, he curled up beside the younger cloud dragon, in an attempt to comfort it. Ise couldn't help but feel proud of Cobalt. She nodded her head in his direction and mustered a small smile.

"Okay, okay, we can do this. Say, if we live through this...I'll take you both to a buffet in the city, kay? It'll be my treat."

To be honest, she was thankful for their company. Oddly, their ignorance to the danger they were all in soothed her frayed nerves. Had she been caught with her fellow riders, they would have worked more efficiently, but the atmosphere would have been ten times more grim. At least if they died...they'd be ignorant and happy till the end. "Hey, hold still you two."

Ran told them to focus on the present and she couldn't help but agree. They continued moving the knife up and down in a cutting sort of motion, but the room shook harder than it ever had before and they were enveloped in complete darkness.

"I have the knife, don't worry." Her fingers wrapped around the cool metal handle. "Okay, I think we'll be able to snap it. You two, at the count of three, tug on the rope." Ise quickened the sawing motion. "One, two, three!" The knife clattered to the ground as they all pulled and the rope finally snapped. "Good job you two! Maybe you have what it takes to be a rider after all." Encouraging them and joking around, it was all Ise could do to stop herself from worrying. "Toby, Ran, you two oka--whoa!" The entire room shook as pieces of the roof began caving in. "Ran go kick down the door!" Instantly, the girl's kind tone of voice shifted into a more commanding one, it was the tone she used during training drills. "Toby, help me free the dragons."

Ise rushed towards the walls and felt for the chains. "Cellery," she cursed, "we don't have the keys."

The room continued to shake and the lone light bulb fell to the ground and shattered. The room would cave in soon and if they didn't leave, they would die. Ise screwed her eyes shut, trying to remember the things the room had to offer. There had been an axe by one of the of the barrels. "Toby pull off their muzzles," she rushed towards the cluster of barrels, practically slamming into several before she managed to reach for the axe's handle. "Okay! Cobalt, Cloudy, pull on your chains." With a grunt she lifted the axe over her head and managed to break the dragon's chains. However, as soon as they freed the dragons, dust filled the room and the roof above both Ise and Toby caved in.

The girl let out a yelp, but for some reason they remained unharmed. She looked up to see a blue-ish glow, it was keeping them safe.

"C-Cobalt?" She asked hesitantly, but the black dragon shook his head and flicked his tail in the cloud dragon's direction. So...it was a force dragon too? "Thanks for the save cloudy," Ise pushed Toby forward, "run up the stairs." The baby cloud dragon looked tired and he seemed to be rather inexperienced as well. If the rest of the room cave in, there was doubt about it, they would be buried alive.

---

Forest of the Ancients: Stone of Sacrifice

If someone told them Hakuren had been a statue from the begin, she would have believed them.

The only sign of life, were the bloodstains over where his heart should have been, but even his heart had been turned to stone. They couldn't save Leon or him and the thought made Riley grit her teeth in anger. No, no, this couldn't be real.

Her eyes flitted to where Leila had been held captive and what she saw next made her heart leap into her throat. Ace was rushing towards the scene, but there was no sign of Leila and it became obvious that the earth had swallowed her whole. Riley fell to her knees but stuck out her hands to soften her fall. Her legs felt like jelly and her thoughts were nothing but an incomprehensible mess.

Was it really going to end here? Would their existence really be erased? Would their lives amount to nothing?

The despair was paralyzing and in the end it was Lesley's voice that knocked her out of her stupor. No! No! They already lost Vince, she wouldn't lose Lesley too...they had entered Nowhere together and they were leaving it together too. Slowly, she turned her head to face him. Lesley was fine, but cradled in his arms was Harper. His shirt was soaked in red and he was so pale.

Riley wondered if he was dead. It looked like he was.

She wanted to say something to Lesley, to cheer the others on, but she had nothing to say. The girl pushed herself to her feet, everything was hurting, but she was alive and she could still help those who needed it. "We're not dying here, Les." Riley was fighting back tears and failing and it was all she managed to say before Ace appeared with Leila. Her friend was safe...

"Forest fire..." She placed a hand on Ace's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "That doesn't sound half bad." Her voice was shaking, but she forced a determined look onto her face. "Inadi, help us start a fire?"





"To be honest," a young man piped in, "that sounds like a really stupid idea." he grinned from ear to ear while the girl who stood beside him stared blankly at everything that was happening. "It'd spread really quickly and the smoke would kill us." Luke continued to stare at Ace, "hey, C? Is it just me or do some of them look really familiar." He narrowed his eyes at Ace. "I think I know you, are you one of our neighbors? Hey, hey, are you here for the picnic too?"

He gestured to the picnic basket that rested atop Rainbowzilla's head.

"Oi, C? Are you listening." Luke frowned then turned to look at Sacha, Numair, and Gary.

"It's a witch..." ??? announced and suddenly the thought of a nice picnic flew out of her head. They had done this all before. The list. The witch. The death. She clenched her hands into fists, but Rainbowzilla didn't mind and instead waddled up to the witch, the picnic basket swaying from side to side on his flat head.

Luke stared in curiosity before suddenly the witch kicked Rainbowzilla away. The basket tumbled to the ground, the contents spilling out. Rainbowzilla let out a startled squeak then scampered away. "Oh...witch, I remember." The boy bounced in place and recited something someone important had told him long, long ago. "Gouge out their eyes for they might capture you with a glance, hack off their limbs so they can't fight back and--"

??? interrupted him, "and rip out their hearts for it is evil beyond repair..."

He spun around then gave Ace, Riley, and Inadi the biggest grin he could muster. "Hey, would you mind distracting her for us. We need to get to a picnic real soon and we can't do that if witchy wants to kill us all."

"If you don't help us," she scowled, "we'll all die."

[Orpheus]

“She didn’t just kick Rainbowzilla.”

“She did,” Numair’s eyes, in contrast to Gary’s offended and slightly surprised expression, were narrowed at the sorry state of his fellow humans. A pink-haired person was cradling a heavily bleeding boy, a pale girl was flat out sprawled over the ground, and well, they all looked like shit. He turned a worried glance to C and Luke to see what they would do, but as usual they were in their own world… Rainbowzilla ran to Sacha who scooped him up and petted him, while Gary…

Gary was thinking.

She opened her mouth hesitantly, then pursed her lips together. “I made a song about this so I wouldn’t forget,” The girl murmured and at once broke into a subdued, but still unmistakable melody, “Ivor’s skull, it may be fractured and/Jane’s arm is severed to the bone/Miranda is dying/I think Carl is frying…”

Numair recognized the melody after a moment. Circle You, a VOCALOID song.

As if she had suddenly absorbed the meaning of her words, Gary’s brows knitted together and she scowled. “Hey Sacchin, that thing killed a lot of everyone,” She spat out to her best friend and then readied her pole, completely oblivious to the presence of the Lost Souls.

Numair, on the other hand…

“You’re that girl from the SSF,” He knelt down beside Leila and observed her expression. Did she die with her eyes open? … Ah. Nope; the young lady blinked. He bit his lip, relieved, and then realized that the glazed look in those irises meant that Leila was looking at something. Numair turned his head and saw… Oh, that guy’s probably dead. It wouldn’t hurt to make sure though… He just didn’t want people to die if there was so much as a tiny chance that they could, y’know, not die. Especially if he was around.

The surfer briskly walked over to Lesley while the other Hooded Figures did their thing. Upon reaching the two, he knelt down again, checked for a pulse, and then studied the injured boy’s wounds with a critical eye. Back in the … er… human realm, one of the competitors in a surfing competition he was in got bitten by a shark. He wasn’t one to get sick at the sight of blood, so he got a load of the gore when he tried to help. This kid… He had it okay, since the wound wasn’t serrated or widespread.

“Hey,” He called out to Lesley, lowering his voice and speaking gently so as to not scare him. “I’m here to help, okay?” Numair waited for a moment before softly prodding their heads apart and then forcing a strange bottle to Harper’s lips. After the boy had a few drops of the tart liquid inside he pulled it back and dropped it in his pocket, and then pulled his sleeves up and stared at his watch. “Okay, that should do it,” Numair said, and he fished out a roll of bandages from his pocket. “These are in case Gary and Luke have another one of their fights,” He briefly peered up at Lesley as he started to clean the area around the wound which was not bleeding anymore, keeping conversation, despite one-sided, just to prevent the Lost Soul from collapsing into shock, “And that thing I made him drink? You’re not gonna like it, but it was poison. Don’t worry, it’s not deadly. It got tested on me when I broke my leg. It should slow his heart down and mitigate the bleeding for a few hours, and it would take a day for him to get his mobility back, but it was the only way, yeah?”

Back to the assault team.

“Curty. We know our specialties, let’s go with that one. They’re going to keep those trees away, right?” Gary nodded at the humans but kept her eyes on the witch, who was staring back at them with an unparalleled amount of malevolence. “Diaper, I’m gonna need back-up!” She let out a loud war cry before charging at the hag, feinting a swift jab at the witch’s face and then stepping to the side when the earth rose from under her feet. “Earthbending, eee,” Gary grumbled as she jumped away, then twirled her pole once more.